> Tales of the Oppressed
>  by Terran34
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1. The Things I've Lost. (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainier State University. That's the name given to the collection of modernized buildings set at the base of Rainier mountain. It doesn't sound like much, but it was the pride of Grenville. Set in the southern portion of the United States, it was a city renowned for its technological production and ability to produce well rounded graduates in the field. The school itself was relatively small, possessing only a few thousand students compared to the average 15,000 of the bigger institutes up north. Despite the small scale, it's a well to do school with a zealous focus on computer science and engineering, with graduates having little issue landing a job. But joining the working class is still far in the future. Right now I’m focusing on not falling asleep in the back row of Foreign Languages.

“Mr. Rogers, can you tell me what is wrong in this sentence?” Professor Birch asks in that ‘gotcha’ tone she is oh-so fond of using on students not paying attention.

I lift my head up and take a moment to look at where her hand is pointing on the messy blackboard. “Madchen is neutral, not feminine, and it should be kein Buch instead of nicht ein Buch. The full sentence is ‘Das klein Madchen hat kein Buch’...oh and I suppose there is a forgotten period at the end,” I answer in a short, clipped tone.

The professor turns her head towards the blackboard herself, as if another mistake would materialize if she stares long enough. “Correct, full points,” she says begrudgingly. I snort softly at her attempt to put me on the spot. Seriously, this isn't highschool anymore. If a student doesn’t want to work hard, that’s on them.

Behind me, I can hear two students giggling at some inane joke they must’ve shared with each other. I pay them no mind and rest on my raised fist, wiping my shoulder-length black hair off to the side so I can at least pretend I’m paying attention.

My phone buzzes on the desk. Making sure the professor's back is turned, I turn it on and glance at the message with a small smile.

“Are you in class?”

“Not for long.”

With a packed messenger bag slung on my shoulder, I jostle past a few students down the main aisle towards the class exit, completely ignoring the glares sent my way. Generally I play the good boy and don’t leave mid-class, but I haven’t seen Amaryllis much recently, what with our schoolwork and her martial arts classes. Plus I’m acing the next test with how piss easy the class is.

It isn't long before I leave the Literature building behind. Amaryllis is already waiting for me outside, resting against one of the many pillars holding up the entrance awning with one leg curled over the other and engrossed in yet another book. Everyone calls her Amy for short, but I don’t. There are thousands of Amy’s out there, but there’s one Amaryllis.



“Took you long enough,” Amaryllis scoffs, snapping the book shut and stuffing it in her bag. She finally looks up at me with her icy-blue eyes with her typical cold expression. She's as beautiful as always, especially her hair. It's a glittering crimson, cascading to just below her waist like a waterfall. She tells me she spends more time on it than its worth, but I can tell she really likes it. “I thought you were gonna keep me waiting all day.”

“I was considering it, if only to see how pissed off you'd get,” I tease back. Amaryllis scoffs and falls into step beside me as I walk past her towards the IT building. 

“Whatever,” Amaryllis grunts. “How were your tests? You said you had two today.”

“First one was fine, but the second was nonsense,” I snap in irritation. “I studied the textbook like nobody's business, but I still saw material I've never seen before.”

“How many times have I told you to study more than just the textbook in his class?” Amaryllis criticizes me harshly, causing me to wince. “That professor loves his stupid oral lectures, and tests usually have material from them.”

“It’s not my fault the guy’s voice is drier than the Sahara desert. He could bore a raging elephant to sleep,” I retort back with a groan.

“What do you want me to do? Pat you on the back and say, 'oh, you poor baby?'” Amaryllis returns sarcastically in a poor imitation of my mother's voice.

“Go to hell, Amaryllis.” 

“I’ll save you a spot, Seth.”

Soon, the IT building comes into view, just across the street from the parking lot we're walking through. Well, I say IT building, but it’s really a building where classes from a mixture of mathematics, sciences, and computers are housed.

Amaryllis and I stop at the crosswalk, watching for any passing cars. Sure enough, the crazy bus driver that always drives through here zips past at a break-neck speed, causing the wind to whip through our hair. The two of us watch him go in irritation. That guy always does this. If there are people at the bus stop, he slams his brakes at the last possible second. I'm beginning to suspect he gets his thrills from that sort of thing.

After crossing the street, the two of us make for our spot in the small park situated just in front of and to the left of the science building. It's not much of a park. In reality, it's more like a bunch of trees with a small clearing in the center and a single swinging bench. Nobody really comes to this area, though that’s mostly our doing. In the odd case someone is here when we arrive, a few scathing words from Amaryllis gets rid of them.

“Anything interesting happen to you today?” I ask, sitting on the bench. “You know, besides 'annoying crap' and 'screw people.'”

“Well, there goes my summation of the day,” Amaryllis retorts with a bit of a smirk, sitting down next to me.  “Something actually did happen. Remember Sam?”

Immediately my mood drops. “Sam the meathead who asked you out on a date? Who you accepted because you wanted to see what he’ll do to get to first base? Never heard of him,” I answer tersely.

“I caught him outside the dining hall, telling everyone he slept with me,” Amaryllis relates.

“Please tell me you didn't just take that,” I express irritably.

“Of course not. He was all bark, no bite. I had him on the ground squealing in front of all of his stupid friends.” My spirits lift up at the thought of her teaching that slimeball a lesson.  “I'm pretty sure everybody else knew he was full of it.”

“Good. Otherwise I might have taught him a lesson myself,” I grunt. Amaryllis gives me a rather surprised look.

“Oh? Are you feeling protective of me? That's just soooo sweet, Seth,” Amaryllis teases while getting closer.

“Not on your life. I just hate people like him who think they can 'conquer' women like trophies” I retort, trying to ignore the fact I was seriously considering getting up and finding the guy just a few seconds ago. Amaryllis is more than tough enough to fight her own battles.

“Uh-huh,” Amaryllis quips, her eyebrow raised. I look down, feeling my face heat up a little from her scrutinizing gaze. The bench gently rocks as Amaryllis's feet push against the ground.

The silence doesn't last very long before my phone starts to ring and break our alone time. Knowing immediately who it is by the ringtone, I quickly answer it, giving Amaryllis an apologetic look. She shrugs and pulls out her book. “What, mom?” I ask. I hear a chuckle from the other end of the line.

“Nice to hear from you too, Seth,” Elaine Rogers responds in a dry tone. “If you can tear yourself away from Amaryllis for one second, you might be interested to know that your uncle's company is offering you an internship down in Chile.”

“Wait, seriously? All the way down in Chile?” Beside me, Amaryllis looks up from her book  in interest. “I'd have to take a summer off. Is it worth it?”

“I'd say it is. They're offering to pay you well. Plus, if you do well, the job's pretty much yours once you graduate,” Elaine answers.

“I’ll need to work it into the schedule, but if I’m paid tell them hell yes.” I’ve resigned myself to a hard spring semester, but right now it’s halfway through the fall semester. I can worry about it when I get there.

“Oh, they'll be happy to hear that. I'm proud of the decision you're making,” Elaine responds, the happiness easily detectable in her voice. I roll my eyes at that. I just did what made sense, there's nothing to be proud of.

“That's great. So can I go now? I was a little busy before you interrupted,” I say in a tired voice.

“Yes, you can go. Make sure you remember to actually go to class once you’re done,” Elaine admonishes me. She then proceeds to talk in a slightly louder voice. “Amy, do try not to keep him too long.”

“I'll keep him as long as I want, thanks,” Amaryllis retorts without looking up from her book. “God knows without somebody to whip him into shape, he'll never do anything.”

“Ha! I hear that!” Elaine agrees.

“Okay, do you two mind? I'm hanging up now!” The last thing I hear before I hit the end call button on the phone is the sound of my mother laughing. “Remind me never to let you two in the same room together whenever I'm around.”

“Oh, I'm sorry if the truth gets on your nerves, princess,” Amaryllis quips with a pout, putting her book away.“There's a sale on pretty pink dresses over at the nearby thrift store, if you're interested.”

“I'm going to kill you,” I groan in the most exasperated way possible. Amaryllis's musical laughter fills the air, causing me to give a small smile despite myself. 

Once Amaryllis composes herself, she gives me a curious expression. “So what, you're apparently going to Chile now?” When I nod, she scoffs. “Well, have fun with that. All they eat down there is meat, as far as I've heard.”

“Of course they do. So much for variety in my diet,” I complain, rubbing my forehead. That just gets Amaryllis to chuckle.

Finally, I glance at my phone and check the time. Much to my disappointment, it's time for me to get moving if I want to get to class on time. “Well, I should probably get moving. There's not much time left before my class starts.” Amaryllis shrugs and stands up, stretching out her arms and legs. As I start towards the science building, I notice she's following me. “Are you coming with?”

“Do I look like I'm going anywhere?” Amaryllis retorts as if it's no big deal. I shrug and keep walking, inwardly pleased. “Just to the door though. I have other things to do today besides babysitting you.”

“Please, you couldn't babysit even if you were being paid for it. You and children? Recipe for disaster,” I snipe at her, grinning at my chance to mess with her some too. Rather than argue the point, she stops to think about it and nods in agreement.

After leaving the park, it isn't long before we rejoin the throng of students moving to and from their classes. Because this building has the largest number of classrooms, it can be pretty difficult to get from place to place...unless you're Amaryllis.

Those that know us move quickly out of the way. Those that don't, Amaryllis pretty much shoves out of our way. I'm not really one to go out of my way to assert myself like that, but Amaryllis is, and I have no problem following in her wake of destruction.

Once we reach the entrance to the building, we come to a short halt. I turn to face Amaryllis with a rueful expression, wishing I had more chances to see her during the week.

“I guess I'll see you later,” I tell her regretfully. Amaryllis nods. She looks uncomfortable for some reason.. Before I can figure out what it is, she steps forward and gives me a hug, her slender arms slipping beneath mine and snaking up my back.

I'm so shocked, I don't even react for a good second before I realize that she probably wants to be hugged back. I awkwardly reciprocate, but my body seizes up with tension. Out of all the people that I've met, I would’ve bet Amaryllis would’ve been more likely to break my spine than give me a hug. 

“What's this? Is Amaryllis getting sentimental? I hope you're not going soft on me,” I comment with a devilish grin on my face, finally leaning into the hug. Amaryllis's immediate response is to shove me away with a disgruntled expression.

“You are such an ass,” Amaryllis complains, which only causes me to snicker at her expense. 

“Yeah, hello? Have you met me?” I remark, waving a hand in front of her face. Amaryllis scoffs and walks back the other direction towards the stream of students.

“Just go to class already so I can be rid of you,” she shoots back. I watch her walk away with a warm smile. Just before I lose sight of her, she lifts up her hand and gives me a small wave without looking back.

Soon after she's gone, any trace of good humor disappears, my smile dropping from my face. Slowly, the loud cacophony of the conversations around me makes itself known. I reach into my bag, pull out a case of imported headphones, and slide them over my ears. My eyes brighten as the sounds of the outside world are replaced with synth guitar.

Now that I can properly ignore the people around me, I make my way past the elevator to the stairs that lead to the second floor. The stairs themselves are made of metal and concrete and are colored a thick red. My feet tap rhythmically on the smooth material as I push myself upstairs. On the walls, heating and cooling pipes for air conditioning and water are fastened, completely visible. In addition, multitudes of electrical wires snake across the pipes and open spaces. I guess that the school figured it would be too much money to bother hiding them, so the stairwell just looks permanently unfinished.

Turns out my hurry is mostly unnecessary. As usual, the professor is nowhere to be seen. The guy always seems to be late for his own class. It must be nice knowing that you've got tenure and your life doesn't get screwed if you fail a single test.

While this class is challenging and the subject is cool, I hate it the most. I sit between two guys, and both of them drive me up the wall. The guy on my left is your stereotypical jock, no doubt taking this class because it's a prerequisite. He always brings his girlfriend to class with him and rants to her about sports.. Every. Damn. Day. It's all I hear from him, so it gets very old.

The student on my right isn’t any better. He’s a nerd who doesn’t know when to put a sock in it. Doesn’t matter if the teacher is talking, or another student, or someone makes an off-hand comment, he always has something to say.

When the professor finally shows up, I take off the headphones and pull out my laptop. Wednesdays are the days when the professor lectures instead of the teacher assistant, so we actually learn how the code works instead of listening to some late 20’s sap waxing about theory and written code like he’s reciting bootleg Shakespeare.

Just as the class is starting to end, my phone buzzes in my pocket, alerting me to yet another text message. Hoping it’s Amaryllis again, I slip out my phone and check, only to be slightly disappointed that it's my older brother, Adam.

Adam's a smart guy. He graduated from this same college a few years ago, and now works in an electrical plant. He prefers to play sports and pursue other physical activities like rock climbing, but he told me he's using the degree to help fund that stuff. That being said, I'm not really that close with him. We didn’t talk much until one day he walked in on me watching anime and got really into  it. Knowing him, it’s something that was released with the new season.

“Hey bro, check this out. Your Lie in April. Everyone and their extended family is hyping it up as the hottest stuff this season. We have to get on it!” My brow slowly raises up to my hairline. I guess it can't be more ridiculous than the ending of Guren Lagann. Though it was awesome, once I suspended my disbelief in a black hole somewhere.

The class soon comes to an end, the professor wrapping up his lecture with the vague promise of a study guide later, or in other words a test next week. I suppose I can think about that later. I stand up from my desk and replace my headphones just in time to drown out the guy next to me as he calls out a goodbye to me like he’s done since term started, as if we wouldn’t see each other again in two days.

I should probably respond to my brother. He lives an hour or so from campus, so we have to plan a time when we can both get together. We made a promise never to watch new shows without one another, so we generally meet up once every two weeks to binge-watch.

I pull out my phone as I’m walking down the stairs, ready to ask if Sunday was a good day to meet, when out of the corner of my eye I notice a ghastly radioactive green glow in front of me. I look up and ram straight into the broad shoulder of a man in a suit standing still in the middle of the stairs. With a gruff grunt, the man spins around and loses his balance. In a last ditch attempt to stop his momentum, he grabs me roughly by the chest, and both of us tumble down the remaining flight of stairs. I thrust out my forearm to absorb some of the impact, but that doesn't stop it from hurting.

I cry out in pain, pushing myself to my feet and checking to see if anything is broken. The man had fallen right on his back in front of me, but he too is standing back up no worse for wear. I take off my headphones and glare at the man in front of me, but then any tirade I may have been cooking up dies in my throat when I get a good look at him. “What in the hell...?”

The man towers over me by at least a foot. With the positioning of the lights behind him, he casts a dark shadow over me. His skin is ashen gray and completely smooth in complexion, such that he strikes me as unsettling. He possesses a square jaw and handsomely sculpted features. His face is framed by carefully trimmed sideburns, but the rest of his hair is long and wild, strewn back over his shoulders and held there by what looks to be a silver black crown. It seems to be made from a polished metal that I can't identify, with archaic-looking runes engraved into the band. The centerpiece of the crown is this strange red gem that seems almost like it's pulsating.

Getting more and more unsettled the more I look at him, I look down to see that he's wearing a tight-fitting black suit, reinforced with steel plate metal. Despite what common sense would dictate, it was clear that I'm actually looking at real alloyed steel the likes that you'd see in a medieval museum. To top it all off, there's a long red cape attached to his neck by an ornate gem, the edges decorated with white fur.

I don't know what to think. I've never even seen a cosplayer wear an outfit this realistic. The kind of material I'm seeing looks authentic and not at all cheesy like most costumes do. If one person could define a single word, this man would do so for the word 'King.' What's going on? Who is this guy? 

What is this uneasiness I'm feeling? Just by standing close to him, the atmosphere feels so cold and so wrong that I can physically feel it in the air as an odd pressure that causes me to become short of breath, my skin to feel clammy, and the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end.

Music: The Life Force Here Shall Renew Me - Fire Emblem Awakening OST

The man's eyes shoot open, revealing them to be a vivid, menacing red. He transfixes me with an angry glare, to the point where I step back, starting to feel a little intimidated. He growls, revealing a set of sharpened white teeth that wouldn't look out of place on a carnivore, serving to freak me out even more.

In the blink of an eye, his gauntleted hand is at my throat, causing me to cough and choke as my airway is suddenly restricted. Seemingly without effort, the man lifts me clear off of the ground. My mind races and my legs kick at the air. My hands reach up and pull at his grip pathetically, my vision starting to narrow as he squeezes me harder and harder.

With an enraged grunt, the man hurls me back up the stairs into the foyer with a simple flick of his wrist. My vision blurs as my surroundings pass by me in a flash, and before I know it, my back explodes with pain as I collide with the railing. A cry of agony leaves my throat, and then seconds later I'm coughing, my lungs sucking in air as fast as I possibly can.

My heart jumps in my throat when I hear him slowly walking up the stairs, his metal boots resounding off of the concrete surface. I take off my bag and set it aside, standing up to face him. This man just tried to kill me...all for running into him. 

A student steps out into the stairwell with two of his friends just as I'm trying to determine what to do next. They start to walk down the stairs as usual, but then they catch sight of us. Their faces soon exhibit the same confusion that I'm feeling, but it doesn't last long. The armored man transfixes the students with an intense stare, filled with so much intimidation and authority that the students run back to the second level, quickly understanding that this man was not to be trifled with.

Just as I'm trying to slip around him, the man's gaze snaps back to me, and he looks furious. “That spell was not meant for thee!” the man roars, his deep bass voice echoing ominously throughout the stairwell. I back away from him, pressing myself into the railing, utterly confused. Spell? What is he talking about? What does that have to do with me running into him? “Dost thou not understand the gravity of such a spell?! How dost thou intend to atone for this heinous theft?!”

“What are you even talking about? All I did was run into you..and you were the one standing in the middle of the stairwell!” I demand, finally finding my voice. Nothing he just said makes any kind of sense, so now confusion is mingling with the anger and fear that I feel. The man remains silent, approaching me steadily, his boots clanging upon each step. I lift my hands, hoping that if he tries to attack me again, I can try to do something. I'm starting to regret not asking Amaryllis to teach me any of her boxing techniques. "Atone!? Atone for what!? I didn't take anything from you!"

“That spell....was not meant for thee,” the man repeats calmly as he comes to a halt in front of me, his teeth gritting together. The way he says that makes it seem like he expects me to understand, but I still have no idea.

“That doesn't make any sense! What spell? Who even are you!?” I shoot right back. The man shakes his head slowly and raises a fist. A strange green glow starts to leak out from between his fingers, and the pressure in the air intensifies as though an oppressing blanket were being constricted about me.

“Thou shalt return what thou hast stolen from me...” he starts to say, but then he pauses, looking at me oddly. He emits a low hum as if noticing something for the first time. He lowers his hand, and the glow disappears, “Intriguing. Most Intriguing. Perhaps 'tis not a total loss after all.”

The man starts to walk in a slow circle around me, looking me up and down as if sizing me up. He focuses especially on my face as if trying to memorize my features. Whatever he's doing, I know that I've never been more frightened than I am right now. I just want to get as far away from this strange man as I possibly can.

“What are you doing?” I try to ask with a shaking voice, but the man doesn't respond, continuing to size me up. Hoping that this is a chance to leave, I try to move.

“Remain still,” the man commands me. I blink in surprise, but that surprise quickly turns to irritation and impatience.

“Like hell. I'm leaving!” Just as I start to move, the man's eyes narrow, and then the oppressing feeling in the air intensifies a hundredfold, crushing me on all sides by an intangible weight. I can't move, no matter how hard I try, and even breathing becomes a struggle. Finally, as I begin to sweat and grow lightheaded, the pressure lessens, and I'm left free and beyond terrified. What exactly am I dealing with here? “How....how did you...?”

At last, the man appears to have seen enough. His stern expression changes and he gives a satisfied smile, which looks plain unsettling with those pointed teeth of his. “Indeed. Thou shalt do just fine,” he decides. He turns the other direction and descends the stairs, his cape fluttering in the air behind him in the process. As he gets further away from me, the fear I'm feeling starts to become replaced by utter confusion and anger.

“What? What the hell? You're just gonna show up, beat me half to death, and then leave? Who the hell are you!?” I shout after him incredulously. The man doesn't even pause in his stride, opening the door at the bottom of the stairs. As he disappears from view, the pressure in the air goes with him.  “Hey!”

I have to sit down, disoriented and completely at a loss for words. I have so many questions that I can't even begin to answer. I'd have just thought he was a crazy guy cosplayer with too much money, but that strength I felt...enough to toss a nearly full-grown man like myself several meters up through the air...that was real. My back and neck still ache from the beating he gave me.

“Hey, I heard you yelling,” another student steps out of the second-floor hallway, looking with concern down at me. I recognize him as one of the guys in my foreign language class. “You all right down there, Seth?”

“Don't...please don't talk to me. I can't think. Just leave!” I snap back at him. The edge in my voice as well as the callousness of my words causes the student to look at me in disbelief. He then scoffs and leaves me behind, bothered by my rudeness.

I can't bring myself to move. I'm still trying to make sense of what happened. All sorts of possible explanations for his nature pass through my mind and are just as quickly disregarded. Deprived of any other solution, I start to ramble to myself. “No, it was probably just some guy who wanted to stay in character too much. It's not that hard to get some gray makeup for your skin, or contacts for the eyes,” I reason senselessly “That strength....no, he probably just works out, and it's just so great because I don't...yes, everything's normal...I..”

There's nothing for it. I need to talk to someone. And there's only one person I know will listen to me seriously right now. I fumble with my phone, almost dropping it in the process. I quickly dial the number and hold the phone to my ear. The phone rings for several seconds. "Come on, pick up!"

“Seth? You do know I'm in class right now, right? I literally went to the bathroom to talk to you,” Amaryllis's annoyed voice sounds over the speakers, and I give a relieved sigh.

“Yeah...yeah I do...sorry...,” I reply, stammering a little. Amaryllis notices something wrong in my tone because the next thing she says is in a softer, more serious voice that she only ever uses with me.

“What happened? You usually don't call me sounding like a troubled toddler,” Amaryllis questions. Despite her quip, I can tell that she's worried now.

“I have no idea what just happened. I...I don't know what to think,” I admit to her, hating how it makes me sound. However, I'm just happy she's here now, even if it's only over the phone.

“Okay. Calm down, and start over from the beginning,” Amaryllis replies calmly and patiently. Gone are her insults and sarcastic remarks, which I'm grateful for. I do as she told me, breathing deeply until my heart rate returns to normal.

I tell her everything I can about the strange man, starting with how I ran into him and then moving on to a physical description. I include the way he spoke, his unreal strength, and even the strange green glow I saw right before meeting him, and then in his hand. Amaryllis remains quiet for the whole thing, no doubt reserving judgment until I'm finished.

As I talk, I start to feel something strange in the pit of my stomach. It's difficult to describe, but it feels like something is buzzing inside of me, trickling through my veins to the furthest reaches of my body. I start to breathe harder, and I quickly finish up my summation of the previous events. What is happening to me?

“Seth, I'm not gonna lie, but this all sounds a little fantastic,” Amaryllis admits, much to my horror. And here I thought she would... “But I've known you long enough to know you wouldn't make up bullshit like this. I'm cutting class now. Can you meet me in front of the science building?”

“Hell yes, I'm done with this whole situation. I'll meet you outside in...whoa...” I cut off because the feeling in my stomach is getting worse, to the point where I'm starting to feel nauseous and a little drowsy. My legs wobble and feel like giving out, to the point where I have to steady myself on the railing.

“Seth? What is it? What's the problem?” Amaryllis asks sharply. It takes me a little while to respond, because now I'm starting to feel light-headed, and it's getting even harder and harder to maintain coherent thought.

“I feel...really weird...” is all I manage to get out before the dizziness gets too much to bear. I collapse to the floor, barely registering the pain from the fall. My phone falls from my hand and lands on the floor just in front of me with a clatter.

“Seth! What's going on? Are you there? Shit...hang on, I'm coming!” I vaguely hear Amaryllis yell over the phone as my senses dull. I can't think...I can't move...and I can't keep my eyes open. Despite my efforts to maintain hold of myself, my consciousness slowly slips away, until I'm clouded in darkness.
> 2. The End of Humanity (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rather than all at once, Consciousness returns to me a little at a time. The first thing I become aware of is the cold floor pressing against my cheek. The chill seeps through my clothes and causes me to shiver. My eyes blink several times as I return to consciousness.

A groan leaves me when feeling returns to my limbs. There's a dull pain permeating throughout my whole body, such that I start to wonder if I'd been run over by a truck. I try to move, but my muscles feel stiff, making even that extremely difficult. I close my eyes and remain still in an attempt to give my body time to wake up.

I try to remember what exactly I was doing last night that caused me to wake up in such a miserable state. I don't drink, so I can't have done anything too stupid...unless Amaryllis had spiked my drink with something. I wouldn't put it past her to do so for a prank. Before I start to go down that line of thought, I remember with a start exactly what had happened before I passed out.

Against my better judgment, I lurch upright, forcing my body into a sitting position. Immediately my body screams in protest. I let out a curse and clamp my hand around the nearest solid object to keep me upright. “Ah...bad idea...” I grunt. Once I'm sitting up straight, I look around to get a sense of my surroundings.

At first it's too dark to see anything, so I trace my hands around. I feel a cold, dusty floor beneath my fingertips. There are bits of what feel like rock scattered about as well. The grime sticks to my fingers, causing me to brush them together in distaste. This is confusing; wherever I am is filthy, and I can't come up with any reason why I would be here. I collapsed in the science building, so wouldn't someone have picked me up by then?

When my eyes adjust to the darkness, I can make a vague outline of my surroundings. I can make out the stairwell in which I collapsed, but not much else beyond its outline. That doesn't make any sense...for it to be this dark, they would have had to shut down the building for the night. I can't believe that nobody would have noticed me lying here.

I cast my hand around in the darkness, and eventually my fingers come into contact with my phone. A quick click later, and the screen comes to life. I shield my eyes at first so that the sudden contrast in the level of light doesn't blind me. With the new source of light, I get a better look at the area I'm sitting in. No, this is definitely the science building stairwell.

Bitterness overcomes me as I jump to the first available conclusion. Did everyone really just walk right on by me, leaving me collapsed in the middle of the school? Did no one even think to lift a hand to help me, when I might have been hurt? Why the hell did nobody try to help me when I've been lying here for hours!? Are people really that spiteful and cruel?

I need to call Amaryllis. I left her at quite an inopportune moment, so no doubt she's worried sick about me. That leads me to my next discovery; upon trying to access my contact list on the phone, I notice that in place of the signal strength indicator are the words “no service.”

“No service...?” I whisper to myself as if reaffirming that I was actually seeing this correctly. Why wouldn't my phone have service? I have a decent plan and plenty of data, as well as a notable provider that's not known for having that many dead zones. Actually, that in and of itself doesn't make sense, because I've never been denied service in this building before. My brow wrinkles with frustration upon realizing that my phone is practically useless. “Just great...useless piece of garbage.”

It appears I'm on my own until I get back outside. Gripping the railing of the stairwell, I painstakingly force myself to my feet. As my weight is redistributed on the platform, the metal creaks and groans. Then, I stretch out my limbs in an attempt to alleviate the stiffness I'm feeling, but it's slow going. It feels like I haven't used my muscles for days.

Grasping my phone, I turn on the flashlight on the back of the device. With it, I get a better look at what's around me. The first thing I notice is the debris lying all over the place. I can see shards of metal, bits of concrete, and strips of plastic littering the platform and stairs. To top it all off, a fine layer of dust coats every visible surface.

Casting the beam around the stairwell reveals a bewildering sight. The place appears ancient and decrepit everywhere I look. The water and heating pipes that covered the walls appeared rusted and filthy, and there are even sections where the pipes themselves are missing. In fact, I even see one of them lying on the floor down a level from me. The electrical wires that usually convey power to and from the different levels are frayed and torn, yet none of them appear to be live. Come to think of it, I don't even think I hear the constant hum of the air conditioning in the background. There's nothing but complete silence...a silence so oppressive that I feel as though the air is pressing down around my skin.

“What the hell?” My voice echoes in the empty stairwell. I'm starting to get the feeling that something is very wrong. My heartbeat quickens and puts me on edge, even though there's no sign of any exterior threat. The only conclusion I can arrive at is that the building must have lost power...but even as sensible as that sounds, it doesn't explain the mess, or why everything appears so old. In fact...it was almost as if everything had aged by at least a hundred years.

“Come on, that's ridiculous. This has to be some kind of prank,” I surmise, as the alternative conclusion was so far out there that that it wasn't even worth considering. If it really was a prank, I intend to give the perpetrator a piece of my mind as soon as I get out of here.

I guess there's nothing I can really do except leave. Once I get outside, I'll find the nearest person and make them tell me just what was going on. Then I'll go back to my dorm and see if I can't get cell service long enough to call Amaryllis.

Now that I have a plan of action, my confidence rises. I lift my computer bag off of the ground and sling it over my shoulder. Then, keeping my phone out in front of me, I start to descend the stairs. The metal construct groans beneath the weight, causing my heart to pound in my chest. I quicken my pace.

I don't get more than a few steps before the staircase shudders. With a colossal crash, the metal gives way before my feet, unable to withstand my weight. A cry tears loose from my throat as the ground disappears beneath me and sends me plummeting. Acting on reflex, I shoot out my hands and grasp onto the nearest surface. The staircase completely collapses below, the metal disintegrating upon itself, unable to even sustain its own weight. The impact sends of a cloud of dust and concrete, causing me to cough and choke.

Thanks to my quick save, I am hanging from the edge of the steps close to the foyer. Looking down, I notice that it's a three meter drop, which could be very nasty if I fell. To add to the danger, the debris from the shattered staircase littered the bottom, making it a very hazardous drop. I'm not going to risk that. Clenching the ledge tightly, I heft my computer bag up and onto the foyer, hoping that it would make it easier to pull myself up.

Just as I start to do so, the steps to which I'm clinging bends downwards with a screech of metal. My eyes widen and I try to shoot out a hand to a more sturdy area, but doing so only causes the force of my weight to be focused entirely on the other hand. “Oh shi...” the curse hardly leaves my mouth before the metal tears itself loose and sends me hurtling to the floor three meters below.

Just before I hit the ground, I hear a tearing sound, and then a line of white hot agony shoots across my right side. I slam into the floor and bounce, causing pain to explode throughout my entire body. A helpless moan of pain escapes me as I lie there and attempt to catch my breath.

“How the hell...?” I groan. The staircase has completely given way and is in pieces, the remains surrounding me. This is getting to be too much for me. Those stairs were made of concrete and metal, and were designed with structural integrity in mind. They wouldn't just break like that. None of this is making any sense to me.

My side feels as though it's on fire. Doing my best to ignore the pain, I reach over and press my hand against my side. I immediately recoil my hand, a burning pain erupting at the simple touch. To my horror, my hand comes away wet with blood. “Oh...that's not good,” I utter weakly.

Acting quickly, I inspect the damage to my skin, using a free hand to hold my phone above the wound. I inhale with a worried hiss after seeing the thin gash that's oozing with my blood. I'm no doctor, but it doesn't look that deep. Even so, I can't just leave it alone.

My shirt was torn from whatever injured me, so I finish tearing off a thin strip of cloth long enough to encompass my ribs. I tie it around the wound and fasten it tight with a double knot, gritting my teeth against the pain. I don't know if I'm doing this right, but it's better than nothing.

Now I have two reasons to get out of here. I wipe the blood left on my hand on my shirt as best I can, no doubt staining the material irreparably. I get to my feet and grasp my phone with my clean hand, using it to light the way forward. I should be on the first level, where there's several exits out onto campus. It won't be long before I can get some answers.

I take a look around in an attempt to determine what injured me, but when the source isn't apparent among the metallic debris, I decide to move on. Thank my lucky stars that I had my tetanus shots recently, otherwise I would have been doomed to a very painful death. My computer bag is still up on the foyer, but it's too high for me to get back up to it, so I make the difficult decision to leave it. Once I get out of here and find out what the hell is going on, I'll come back for it with some help.

With every step, my side twinges painfully, making it very difficult to put all of my weight on that side of my body. I adjust my gait and limp towards the door that exits out onto the first floor classroom hallway.

The doors that separate the classroom hallways from the stairwells are made of solid metal several inches thick, and are present on each floor. They had no windows on them, so it was always impossible to tell if someone was on the other side trying to get through. I remember always getting annoyed when the door would open in my face, nearly hitting me.

As the light from my phone illuminates the doorway, I'm shocked to find that the door for this floor is missing. A glance around the frame reveals damaged hinges with rusted screws still hanging from the holes. When I take a step forward to get a closer look, my foot lands upon something metallic.

Angling the light down reveals the remains of the door, which is now rusted and degrading. The metal has been dented heavily and rent with gashes, as though something from the hallway had forced its way through.

I start to breathe faster, a sense of panic threatening to overtake me. I have no earthly idea what's going on. My only theories don't make any logical sense, and everything I see just makes things more confusing. I need to get out of here. It's all I can think about. I need to get out and find someone. Find Amaryllis. I need her to tell me what to think about all of this.

Looking out into the hallway, I notice that this entire floor seems to be in the same state as the stairwell. The building is completely abandoned and covered in dust and debris. If I didn't know better, I'd say that I am the first human to inhabit this place in a long, long time.

Fallen ceiling tiles litter the floor ahead as I turn to the right and limp down the hallway. There's an exit at the end of this hall; if I can just get out and get in contact with someone, I'll be safe. I'll be able to get some help.

I notice power cords hanging from the ceiling where the tiles have fallen, completely inert and devoid of any power at all. The classrooms themselves are in equally bad shape; some of the doors have been blocked off from the other side by boards and nails, while others were lying on the floor in the middle of the hallway, shattered to pieces by an unknown force.

Ahead, there are rusty metal tables and chairs turned on their sides and lashed together with decaying rope to make makeshift barricades. If that had been the case, they hadn't been effective; there was a massive hole in the center of the barricade where tables had been rent in half and chairs had been shattered. Looking down, I notice cylindrical objects scattered about the base of the barricades. They look almost like...

“S-Shell casings?” My voice comes out as a high pitched squeak, lacking any sense of dignity. Everything up to now I've been doing my best to ignore, but...these are empty shell casings. This tells me that beyond the shadow of a doubt, there had been a firefight here. “How...but when...”

If these were all shell casings, then these tables really were barricades, and there had been a battle here. Just what in the hell happened while I was unconscious? I desperately search my mind for possible explanations and theories, but I'm coming up completely blank. While there are these casings, there no sign of the weapons that fired them, or any bodies to suggest the outcome of the battle, if there really had been a battle. This is way beyond a simple prank at this point.

I let out a cry and push forward, the exit only a few feet away from me. I extend my hands and push against the door handle, only for the door to remain stubbornly shut. I don't even stop to think about why this could be. I shut my eyes and try again, using as much strength as I can muster given my injury. It's only when dirt spills in from the top of the door frame that I actually look to see what's blocking the door.

Through the window and on the other side of the door is a solid wall of earth and rock. Thick tree roots trace through the dirt, and I can even see what looks like the den of a small animal, although its inhabitant was not currently present.

I take a step back, my heart pounding loudly in my chest. I'm completely speechless. Every defense and placating reassurance that I've been repeating to myself this whole time are rendered completely useless. My jaw falls open and I take another few steps back, unable to form a coherent thought to describe what I was seeing.

I let out a scream and back away from the door, falling on my butt in the process. Unwilling to stop, I back myself into the corner made between the barricade and the wall and curl up with my knees pressed against my chest. I can't believe this is happening. I'm underground. The building is underground. How can it be underground? This is impossible. What's happening? Where's Amaryllis? I just want to go home.

I can't bring myself to move. No, I don't want to move. This can't be real. I can't be underground. This building is situated atop a hill at a higher elevation than the rest of campus. There wasn't even the possibility of a flood, much less a landslide. If...if this building is underground...then that means that the rest of campus is...oh god, I'm not making myself feel any better.

Eventually I come to the conclusion that this has to be real. I can still feel the waves of stinging pain emanating from the gash in my side. If I focus on that, I can ground myself and remember where I am. I don't know what's happened. But I do know that I can't stay here. If I don't get some proper first aid, this injury could spell the end of me.

I slap myself a few times and get to my feet. I don't know what's going on, but I need to focus on a goal. Looking around with the light from my camera, I find that the building still looks as though it's been through an apocalypse. First things first, I need a goal. I have to get to safety and get this injury treated. I'll be okay; there's several exits to this building. I just have to find them and get out.

There's another exit back down the hallway, but it's likely buried as well, as it's lower in elevation than the rest of the building. Nevertheless, I feel the need to see for myself. Turning back down the hallway, I limp until I reach the end, where the hall opens up into a large study area that divides the math and science sections of the building.

To my left, there should have been a long glass wall that separated this section of the building from the science study area, which had access to the science labs and storage areas if you went all the way down. However, the glass had long since shattered, and now littered the floor of the study area on this side. Looking through it reveals the remains of the larger study area, where the tables and chairs had collapsed. The hanging televisions were shattered on the floor and looked as though they'd been scavenged for parts. I can't help but let out a whimpering sigh. Those television sets used to display the school news and tell us of upcoming events...and now they were destroyed, just like the rest of this building.

There's a set of metal stairs in the larger study area leading to the upper floors, but there's no way out up there as far as I remember. Even if there were, I'm not going to risk climbing those stairs to reach it; my side throbs painfully as a reminder of the dangers of such a course of action.

I move through the smaller study room towards the carpeted staircase that I had climbed not too long ago. It was from here that the majority of student traffic would enter the building and climb the stairs to reach the first level.

I don't trust these stairs. Rather than attempting to climb down, I approach the edge and gaze down, hoping that I can see the doors from here. Sure enough, there's no exit down there either. The multiple sets of double doors are now broken or missing; instead a huge wave of earth had cascaded through the entrance.

More than ever, I wish I knew what was happening. The observations that I've made so far aren't adding up in my head. So far all I have is that there was a battle, we're underground, and everything looks far older than it should be. There has to be something I'm missing that can connect those three theories together into a cohesive whole.

Putting those thoughts away, I focus back on finding a way out of here. Logically speaking, if we're underground and there's no way out down here, then going up is the only solution left to me. If I remember correctly, there's a roof access hatch on the top floor of this building; with luck, it'll lead me out onto the surface.

However, that plan comes with complications of its own. The stairwells are clearly too dangerous, so getting to the upper levels will be a problem. Glancing over to the side of the room opposite the hallway I came in from, I determine that the automatic doors are still standing, although busted. If the walls were still intact, those would bar my passage due to the power being out. There was a staircase over that way at the far end of the science wing, if I remember correctly....but who knows how stable that one will be.

“Come on, there has to be a way up somehow,” I assert, casting my gaze around the area. I let out a colorful string of curses underneath my breath at this whole situation. My side is still paining me; I need to clean it somehow before it gets infected.

My gaze falls upon the elevator situated just beyond the automatic doors. While there are stairs everywhere, this elevator was installed by order of the school administrators so that the handicapped could still reach the upper floors. Granted, you had lazy people use it all the time, but that was its intended purpose. If I'm lucky, there will be a maintenance ladder in the shaft that will help me get further up. It's a long shot, but right now, it might just be my salvation.

I step over the shattered glass walls and walk around the automatic doors until I'm standing in front of the elevator. The doors are shut and there's no power, so they won't open on their own. That means I have to do things manually. I check the bandage at my side to see how well it's doing. Thankfully, it doesn't seem to have soaked through yet, but I think it's only a matter of time.

I clip my phone to my belt such that the flashlight faces outwards, lighting up the path before me while leaving my hands free. Attempting to open the elevator doors with my hands hardly does anything, so I adjust my stance to give myself as much leverage as possible. With my fingers hooked into the tiny gap between the doors, I strain my shoulders, using as much strength as I can muster. The doors move very slowly, the rusty metal grinding along the floor.

Once the gap is large enough, I wedge my body between the doors and use my newfound leverage to get it the rest of the way open. I gasp and brace myself against the wall, my side throbbing from the exertion. This is not how I expected to be spending my evening.

“You've got to be fucking kidding,” I groan upon seeing the elevator car just inside. Just my luck that the car would be parked on this floor in particular. I was hoping it would be on a higher floor so I could get a few floors up, but this is the worst case scenario.

I step inside the car and look around. If I recall correcting, all these elevators have an exit hatch in place in case of an emergency. If I'm lucky, there will be one in here. A few moments of searching later, and I discover the hatch on the roof of the elevator. Thank god...if it had been on the bottom, I'd have been out of options. I put on a grin and grasp the handle of the hatch and pull down...only to find that the hatch is locked. I heave an annoyed sigh; I just can't catch a break.

The hatch looks to be locked shut by a simple deadbolt, which has long since rusted. With a little force, I think I'll be able to bust my way through. The only issue is that the hatch is high up, leaving me without much leverage. I'm going to need to get creative.

The sides of the elevator car are lined with railings. After testing their durability with some of my weight, I use them to get up higher, bracing myself against the wall in the process. I can't help but notice the sound of the elevator car creaking. I gulp nervously, breaking out into a cold sweat. I need to get out of here fast.

Now that I'm up here, I give the hatch a good punch, making sure to hit with my knuckles to keep from breaking my hand. Unfortunately, the hatch resists the hit, but I can see that I had some effect. A few good hits later, and the deadbolt breaks to pieces, allowing the hatch to swing open.

With a leap, I grasp the edges of the square hole and pull myself up, straining my muscles as hard as I can. I do my best to ignore the pain and hoist myself out onto the top of the elevator car, where I can see the cables keeping it suspended.

As the creaking and groaning of metal intensifies, I look at the cables and notice with horror that they're nearly rusted through. I quickly spot the ladder on the edge of the shaft and make a running jump towards it, just as the cables snap with a horrendous screech and the elevator plummets down into the depths of the lower levels.

I reach out a hand and grab onto the nearest rung, but it snaps beneath my weight. Adrenaline surges through me as my hands scrabble against the wall, looking for something...anything to grab onto. I fall for several feet until my hands catch on a lower, more stable rung. Dust and bits of rock shower over me from the damaged wall above.

Moments later, I hear the elevator car land onto the bottom of the shaft far below with a tremendous crash, sending vibrations up through the walls. All I can do is hold myself still against the wall, breathing quickly and heavily. The adrenaline still surges through my body, causing my heart to feel as though it's beating against my rib cage. That was too close. A second later, and I'd be dead.

I close my eyes, trying not to let out the feelings of fear and hopeless I'm feeling. I've never had to face my mortality this close before...hell, I've never even had to think about dying...but I have to admit that there's a very real chance that I could die down here.

Once I catch my breath, I begin to climb the ladder. There's a long way to go until I reach the top and my body is aching all over, so I can't afford to remain in one place for too long. When I reach the gap in the ladder created by my desperate jump, I'm forced to balance on the lower rung and leap up to the next stable rung. It's not easy, and my limbs feel as though they're creaking with protest as I continue my slow progress upwards.

I stop a moment, clinging to the wall and panting heavily. I need to give my limbs a chance to rest; I feel as though they're on fire. I regret more than ever not taking Amaryllis up on her invitations to work out with her at the gym; that extra muscle would have come in real handy right about now.

Against my better judgment, I look down towards the bottom of the shaft. To my curiosity, I notice that the shaft extends past the first level, going even further down into the darkness. I wasn't aware this place had a basement level...or more than one, considering the depth of the shaft. There isn't a button for one in the elevator in the car.

As I look down in the darkness, the hairs on the back of my neck prickle and stand up on end. I feel as though something is down there, staring back up at me. In the dead silence, I even start to think that I hear something whispering in the darkness.

No. Screw this. Unsettled, I go back to climbing, anxious to get to the top of the shaft, where hopefully I'll be able to get onto the roof. Rung after rung after rung I climb, my limbs burning with every moment. Over time, I start to mutter under my breath, expressing my pain in the form of colorful curse words that would make anyone blush.

The seconds seem to blur together, making me feel as though I've been climbing this ladder for hours, even though I know it hasn't been more than a few minutes. Along the way, I pass the closed doors that exit out onto the second and third floors. There's no way I could get through them even if I wanted to, so I push forward, hoping beyond hope that I can find a way through into the fourth floor at the top.

I praise my lucky stars once the fourth door comes into view. The shaft doors are partially open...open wide enough for somebody as skinny as me to get through. The ledge leading out onto it is incredibly tiny; it's too small for me to stand on. I'll have to jump...and if I mess this up...I'm dead.

“Here goes,” I whisper to psyche myself up. I force myself to ignore everything around me except for the door in front of me. There's no elevator shaft, no several story drop, and no chance of an untimely death from a fall. Just focus on the goal, Seth, or you'll never make it.

With a shout, I propel myself from the wall, stretching out my hands for the gap in the shaft doors ahead of me. I managed to get one leg through the door, but my head hits the side of the door, causing me to see stars and nearly fall over backwards, but I have the presence of mind to hook my arms through the gap and anchor myself. Holy...that's the third time today I've nearly died...this is crazy. I need to get out of here.

I stumble into the fourth floor, nursing the affected spot on my head. Goddammit, that hurt. Just by rubbing my head, I can already feel the forming lump. As much as it hurts, it's mostly an annoyance. It could have been much worse, so I guess I should be grateful I got away with just that.

This fourth floor hallway contains the offices of the various professors, administration, and other various faculty members that spend the majority of their time in this building. For example, the professor whose class I had attended right before meeting that strange armored man had his office right around...here. My hand scrapes off the dust on the brass nameplate beside one of the office doors to reveal the professor's name. It's barely legible due to rust, but it's definitely there.

The roof access should be at the end of this hallway at the top of the stairwell. However, I've never been to this portion of the building before. Combined with the fact that I've lost my bearings due to my long climb in the elevator shaft, and I'm not entirely sure which direction the stairwell is in.

There's another brass panel affixed to the wall in front of me. It's coated in dust, but brushing it away with my hands reveals directions, much to my good fortune. Hm, according to what I'm seeing, the top floor covers the entirety of the math and science wings, and as such the main stairwell should be in the center near where I am.

Before I leave, however, I notice that there's a security room on this floor, at the opposite end of the hallway. There are cameras all over the building, so it makes sense that there would be a central location from which to access to the footage in the case of emergencies. I hesitate, wondering if I should visit the room or not.

There's no power, so I doubt I'll get anything from visiting the room, but usually in important locations such as this, there tend to be backup generators in the case of catastrophic power failures. As one of the most important rooms in the entire building, there may be such a generator in the security room.

On the other hand, I'm running out of time and I should get out out of here as soon as I can for the sake of my own well-being. If I do that, however, I'll be missing out on the albeit very slim chance there is to find out what happened here, and why everything looks as ancient as it does.

“To hell with it,” I eventually grunt and turn towards the direction of the security room. My search there may be fruitless, but it's at least worth a cursory look. The roof access isn't going anywhere, and I think I have time.

Immediately after turning the corner, I notice a lump of something I can't make out lying against the wall near the far end of the hall. It doesn't look like any other debris I've seen so far. It's not furniture; I can tell because the outline is too curved and irregular.

I squint my eyes and draw closer, curiosity getting the better of me. The light from my phone traces across the ground, revealing multiple bullet casings, as well as the first signs of a real struggle that I've seen. The floor is covered in dark stains from a source I can't identify. In addition, the carpeting is shredded and torn up all over the place. My breathing quickens once again at the implications of such a sight.

Once the light from my phone alights upon the large debris, I stop cold, my eyes widening. Lying on the ground, with its back braced against the wall, is a mummified human corpse.

Bile immediately rises in my throat and I gag, turning away from the grotesque sight and retching on the carpet nearby. There's been signs of battle all over the place, but never have I seen any actual bodies...maybe that's what's allowed me to keep continuing on in denial like this. Something huge happened when I was out, and I was unconscious long enough for a body to end up in this shape.

“Oh god,” I choke, wiping my mouth. I can't get around it now. I've really been out for a very long time, though I can't seem to make sense of that conclusion. Even unconscious, the human body still needs nutrition, and if I've been out long enough for the building to end up in this shape, I would have withered away and died. Something I can't understand is happening and I don't even have a clue how to piece it all together.

I force myself to look back at the body. As horrible as it is, analyzing it is the only way I can get another clue to this mystery. The body won't hurt me now...but that doesn't mean it doesn't freak me out.

The body itself is clad in the ragged remains of a military outfit, judging from the faded camouflage design. This isn't just a police outfit...this was once a member of the full U.S. Armed Forces. There's an ammunition and utility belt wrapped around its waist, stocked fully with decrepit ammunition and other utilities. Whatever happened here, whoever this was must never have had a chance to reload his weapon.

Speaking of weapon, the corpse is holding a fully equipped military assault rifle. I'm no expert on guns, so I can't tell what model it is, nor do I particularly care. I reach out my hands and gingerly clasp the haft of the rifle in an attempt to take it from the corpse.

The corpse's dried out fingers are clenched tightly around the handle of the rifle. I shut my eyes and cringe as I tug against its death grip. I doubt this thing still works, but it seems sturdy enough to at least use as a makeshift club. Plus, it's a weapon; even if it doesn't work, it'll do wonders for my peace of mind.

With a sickening crack, the gun comes free. I stagger backwards and shudder. I've never touched a dead body before, and I've no intention to start now. I open my eyes and glance down at the gun, noticing that it's in relatively decent condition considering its age. It is abnormally cold and arid down here, so I'm guessing that contributed to the condition of this weapon. If this place really is fully underground, there must be a layer of rock or something over everything to keep any rainwater from getting down here.

I don't know how to use a gun. Apart from pointing and pulling the trigger that you learn from reading any basic book involving guns, I know absolutely nothing. If it still worked and I tried to use it, I'd likely hurt myself. However, I do know enough from reading and playing games what certain parts of the gun are. There's a magazine fitted into the weapon, though I don't know how much ammunition it has.

I'm getting really scared; battles need two sides to be in conflict by definition. If I assume that the U.S. Armed Forces was one side, then what was the other? First of all, what the hell was the UAF doing here in the first place? It must have been a serious threat if they were called in to protect a college.

I've only seen hints of the other side. The dented doorways, the destroyed barricades, and the gouges scored into the carpet and doors...whatever they were fighting, it must have been bestial in nature...but that doesn't make any sense. We live near a nature reserve, yes, and there are dangerous animals such as bears there, but even if a bear or two were to come near campus (which they never do), the Wildlife Services would have been called in, not the UAF.

This is just getting more complicated with every clue I find. For every question I answer, more questions arise to which I just don't have the answers. This whole situation is impossible to begin with. There's no way I could have been unconscious long enough for the school to degrade to this degree. I would have died.

I shoulder my worries and advance towards the security room, carrying the rifle with me. Upon reaching the security room, the first thing I notice is that area around the door is damaged. The carpet is completely missing in an area around the door, and the fringes of the carpet that's still there are blackened, as if burnt. The bare floor is also scorched black.

The door to the security room is utterly destroyed, the shrapnel scattered over the inside of the room. That tells me that whatever broke it down did so from outside, likely with explosives. Or maybe those explosives were thrown after the door was broken. That has to be the case; from what I see from the mostly intact pieces of the door, there are more gashes, like claw marks.

I can't help it. I've come this far without panicking, but there's only so much I can take before I lose it. I start to hyperventilate, my chest heaving. I can't seem to get enough air, causing me to stumble against the frame of the door, a hand on my chest. If there was just someone else here with me, I would feel so much better. I'm strong enough to get by on my own, but...this is just not normal. I shouldn't have to face this by myself.

I calm myself down by taking several deep breaths, my vision flashing a few times as my body pulls in as much oxygen as it can. The air down here is choked with dust, so I cough violently several times to clear my airway. Okay, I think I'm okay now....or as close to okay as I can get. Come on, Seth, shape up. Something like this wouldn't phase Amaryllis. What would she do in this situation?

She would continue on. I can't stop here. I push into the small security room. Inside, there are a variety of security consoles arrayed against the wall. Some of the monitors are cracked and damaged, while others seem better preserved. If luck holds, some of these should work...though I guess that depends on how long I've been down here.

Much to my good fortune, there's what looks like a generator at the far side of the room, connected to the computers by way of thick cords. Judging by the state of the other cords in the building, I'd have thought that these would be damaged as well, but these look very well preserved. They don't look the same as the other cords; these appear more...advanced somehow. So does the generator, now that I think about it. Maybe that has something to do with why they're in better condition than everything else.

Glancing over the generator doesn't give me any more clues, but I do discover a power button, an intake port for fuel, and a hand crank at the bottom. So the fuel must be the primary source of power, and should fuel run out, there's a hand crank in the case of emergencies.

I tentatively hit the power button, but nothing happens. Figures. It's either out of gas, or the gas is too diluted to be of any use. Resigning myself, I get down on my knees and start to work the hand crank.

After a few seconds of cranking, the generator starts to hum and some of the indicator lights on top flicker to life. Hallelujah...some good luck at last. No doubt I have to crank this thing for several minutes until I can power those computers over there. I don't know how much power they draw, but it's probably a lot.

Eventually, some of the screens behind me sputter to life. Many of them are in bad shape and are flicking or corrupted by static. I keep cranking for another few minutes before I go to check out the monitors.

The first thing I notice is that I don't recognize the operating system. It looks similar to Windows like I'm used to, but the user interface is different. Like the generator and wires, it looks more advanced than Windows 7, which was what our school used.

There's no login screen, nor is there any sort of dialogue box asking me for authentication. The first screen I'm brought to is one that shows me a list of logged security footage. That's really strange. My college is strict on security protocols, and I'd imagine the UAF would be even more so. So was this battle that occurred really so dire that security protocols were completely bypassed?

Either way, I can access the footage, so I'd better act fast before the power I've accumulated runs out. My eyes move to the most recent video in the list, and then I stop cold. That date...that date doesn't make any sense. It's dated February 12th, 2083. I have to rub my eyes and look again, but that's definitely what I read. Okay, judging from the state of this place, that would make sense, but I'm here, and I definitely haven't been in a coma for over 70 years. That's just impossible. I'd have died of malnutrition a long time ago.

But what if it wasn't a mistake? What if that was really the date? That would mean...that would mean...no, it's a mistake. It has to be. There has to be something else on here that can tell me what's really going on. I refuse to accept that I've been out for over 70 years. That's just too fantastic, even given everything I've seen so far.

I scroll down the list of videos until I come across one marked with an exclamation point.

02/27/2014 Southern Stairwell: Math Wing: Concerning Priority Alpha

The 27th? I glance at my phone, noting that the date on the monitor matches the date on my phone. That's today, or it should be. All of this decay and destruction couldn't have happened in one day. Either way, that has to tell me something about what happened. Considering the military-esque label, the military must have found that day to be important.

There's no mouse, so I hesitantly tap on the file with my finger. The main monitor stutters, and then the video opens up on the screen, immediately starting to play. The stairwell in which I'd awoken is the first thing I see, only now it's exactly as I remember it, complete with students moving to and from their classes.

Then, I see myself walk on screen through the bottom door. Just as my past self does so, a circular icon appears around my body, complete with a line of text that labels me as “Priority Alpha.” Wait, I'm Priority Alpha? I'm confused. Just what happened that day that caused the military to take an interest in me of all people? Granted, my father was in the military, but nowhere near the rank necessary for me to become important.

The label follows me until I exit the stairwell onto the second floor, on my way to class. Then it disappears. Hm, this means I won't re-enter the stairwell for another hour. I look back down at the touch-pad and tap the fast-forward button, causing the video to speed up rapidly. I watch the time counter until it reaches the time when my class lets out, and then I let the video resume its normal speed.

The stairwell is now empty, as not many students have late classes. The bottom door opens, and in strides the tall armored man, looking every bit as terrifying as I remember. The man's gait is confident and he held himself like someone sure of his own authority, or self-importance. Now that I'm seeing him from here, his demeanor seems almost kingly.

Much to my surprise, another label appears atop the man, naming him as “King Sombra.” That's his name? It has to be, there's no other explanation. However, that title confuses me. Was he really a king? I don't recall there being that many countries left with monarchies, and certainly none that wore that sort of attire.

King Sombra comes to a halt halfway up the stairs. His eyes flash, and to my shock, his corneas turn a bright green, and a trail of purple light emanates from the corner of his eyes. He raises his hands and a glowing emerald orb appears there from nothing, steadily growing in size until it reaches the size of a soccer ball.

What am I seeing? He just created something from nothing, though I have no idea exactly what it is he created. That's impossible. The very laws of physics dictate that you can't create something from nothing, not even light. Everything comes from somewhere; that's why we have the laws for the conservation of matter and energy. So for him to do that...he's breaking every law that I've ever studied. The only thing I can call it...is magic.

I watch breathlessly as the video continues. Soon, my past self re-enters the stairwell and the label reappears. I was just walking down the stairs, listening to my music, unwittingly walking myself right into this inexplicable situation. If I'd have just known this would happen, I'd have used the other stairwell.

Just as I remember, my past self runs right into Sombra's shoulder, taking the king by surprise and spinning him right around, such that his hands...as well as the glowing orb he had been creating, go right onto my chest. It happens so fast that I have to rewind and watch it several times; the glowing green orb sinks right into my chest and disappears.

I immediately pause the video and look down at my chest and press my hands against it, but I can't find any evidence of any changes. There's nothing to indicate there's anything wrong with me at all. So then what exactly just happened to me? Was that orb the “spell” Sombra had been angry about losing?

If that's the case, then the only conclusion I can make is that he really had been using magic. Except everybody knows that magic doesn't exist. Magic, sorcery, wizardry, or whatever other names there are for such things are merely the creations of medieval humans that didn't understand how the world worked, and was later romanticized into popular fiction. But there's no other explanation for what Sombra had done; the evidence fits the hypothesis, as impossible as the hypothesis is.

This can't be happening. If I admit that King Sombra was really using magic, then not only will I have to admit that my preconceptions of the world are wrong, but also that the preconceptions of every scientist worthy of the name are also wrong, and that magic really does exist.

I press the play button again with a trembling finger. King Sombra is just as enraged as I remember, and I watch him manhandle my past self as though I weighed no more than a feather. For a human, Sombra appears impossibly strong. The amount of force necessary to throw a full grown man like me uphill over half a staircase and all the way to the back of the foyer (for a total of 2 and a half meters) while overcoming the force of gravity is ridiculous, yet Sombra does it on camera for me to see without expending any effort. I'm extremely lucky that he didn't break my back.

Eventually, Sombra leaves me behind just as inexplicably as he arrived, leaving me alone in the stairwell. My past self pulls out his phone and dials Amaryllis...this is it. I'm going to fall unconscious soon, and then I'll figure out exactly what happened.

Once I watch myself fall, I narrow my eyes and lean in to get a better look. The second after my past self loses consciousness, that same green glow from before appears right on his chest and flares brightly. I watch with disbelieving eyes as my body rises into the air, my limbs flopping around like a ragdoll. That glowing green light suddenly expands to encompass my entire body, and then it, me, and everything with a short radius of me completely winks out of existence.

As the video keeps playing, I look down at myself with shock. “What the hell did he do to me?” I question, running my hands over my chest. If I disappeared, where did I go? I awoke in the same place, so I can't have disappeared completely. Dammit, this doesn't answer anything! It just gives me even more questions that I can't answer!

Not long after my disappearance, I see Amaryllis running into the stairwell at her top speed. However, the video ends as she reaches the foyer. Despite not seeing anything else, I can't help but feel relieved. So the reason nobody found me was because they couldn't find me, and Amaryllis was damn quick on the scene. A feeling of warmth fills my chest as I realize just how much she must have been worried to run that fast to me. I need to get out of here and find her. I need to tell her just how much I appreciate her.

The computer soon dies from a lack of power, and the hum from the generator dies as well. However, I haven't seen enough. After checking over my wound and binding it with another strip of clothing, I return to the generator and return to cranking it back to life with a quiet determination. I need to see more. I need to understand more. I have too many questions that don't have answers, and it's driving me crazy.

This time, the generator makes a strange grinding and clunking sound as it powers up, making me rather anxious. No matter how advanced the craftsmanship, it's been a long time and the device is falling apart. I don't know how much longer it will last. By the time I finish cranking, the generator emits a shower of sparks, causing me to curse and back away. Nevermind, I think I have enough power.

When the computer comes back alive, I return to the console and click the first video on the list; the one dated in 2083. If anything will give me some answers, this one will. The video comes up on screen, and the speakers come to life, albeit with a great deal of crackling and static. The fact that they work at all is a miracle.

The video is of this own room. The first thing I notice are all the soldiers inside. These are definitely members of the UAF, dressed in full military body armor and armed to the teeth with all sorts of weapons. Some seem to be setting up a barricade a few feet away from the door, as if attempting to keep something out. Others are tending or reloading their weapons. None of them are smiling; they all look as though death is staring them in the face, and they’re cornered.

Standing in front of the camera is an elderly woman of around sixty or so years old, dressed in similar clothing with a combat shotgun resting against the console at her side. Her hair is a wispy blond, tied up in a bun on the back of her head to keep it from interfering with her vision. Her vivid green eyes stare directly at the camera, such that I start to feel uncomfortable, as if they’re staring right at me.

Strangely enough, she seems familiar to me. She almost looks like she could be related to me due to her eye color, the shade of her hair, and the structure of her face, but that wouldn't make any sense...unless the date on this video really is right. My blood starts to run cold at the possibility.

When the video plays, the audio and video is corrupted. Every so often, the frame will pause momentarily and skip ahead, frustrating me. I have no doubt that I'm being robbed of potentially useful information every time this happens.

“This --- final report of Acting-General Maka Rogers,” the woman states in a shaking, yet firm voice. In the background, I can hear the sounds of faint gunfire and yells. Whatever's going on has her shaken, but she doesn't look as though she's panicking. She looks almost as though she's resigned herself. “Today's date is February 12, 2083.”

That name. From the moment I saw her, I thought she could be related to me, but that confirms it. Come to think of it, she looks very similar to my brother; she has his hair and eyes. But...that would mean...that this really is 2083...

Despite the video corruption, the realizations start to collapse upon me at once, and I finally start to connect the dots. My body starts to shake as I work through the clues I've found so far. After seeing the video with Sombra, I discovered that I disappeared due to an unknown force...and if this really is 2083, then the only way for me to survive such a long extended sleep is if I disappeared from 2014 entirely...putting me in the future. This hypothesis is so beyond the limitations of reality, but there's no other explanation that thoroughly fits all of the evidence that I've seen so far.

The video continues before I can finish thinking, causing me to suspend my thought process and keep watching. 

“We've ---- merry chase, but their commander is shrewd ---- there's no way out now,” Maka reveals with a rueful smile. She looks rather proud of the effort she's put in, even though her words indicate she's in a hopeless situation. “The Oppressed are here, and there's ---- against a force that renders all ---- heaviest of ammunition useless.”

“General! Our front line reports ---- out of HE rounds!” A soldier interrupts, running in from the hallway. His face and outfit are streaked with blood, and his expression is haggard, but filled with respect for the woman standing at the console.

Maka lets a small flicker of annoyance cross her face at being interrupted, but doesn't let it get to her. She immediately turns to the soldier and snaps out her orders. “Bring them our reserves! When you run out, switch to normal rounds ---- concentrate your fire! Aim for the ---- their movement!”

“Yes, ma'am!” the soldier salutes and rushes to do as he's told. It isn't long before he leaves the room carrying a box filled with the reserve ammunition.

Maka sighs and turns back to the console, looking tired. “Listen closely. Our struggle has ended, and I leave this message ---- may  find it,” she says to the computer. “The one who has defeated the human race ---- King Sombra and possess untold power of an ---- that has rendered all of our defenses ineffective. He and his servants ---- ability to twist human flesh into grotesque quadruped forms ---- call the Oppressed, and can ---- this power remotely. Soldiers ---- no signs of corruption will change ---- warning, often within our defenses.”

Suddenly, several soldiers run in from the hallway and shut the door, locking it tightly. They immediately start to board it shut by grabbing wooden blanks from a stack nearby. The sound of hammering nails gets Maka's attention.

“Why are you here? What of the front lines ---- hallway?” Maka snaps out with alarm. Of the working soldiers turns and salutes, a grim expression on his face.

“Wasted or turned, general. We're...we're the only ones left...” the soldier answers, choking with despair. Maka's face falls, and a bitter smile crosses her face, as if she knew this was coming. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a strange stick, upon which a red button is blinking. Perhaps it's a detonator?

“I see. I suppose ---- only a matter of time,” Maka says with a sigh. Seeing that look on her face makes my heart hurt within my chest. I never knew her before today...but she's my family. I don't have proof, but I feel it. The way she carries herself, the expressions she makes...she's related to my brother somehow. Seeing her so resigned to death makes my eyes water with emotion.

“Soldiers!” Maka calls out to the soldiers situated throughout the room. Upon her shout, they all turn to face her. She gives them all a salute. “It's been a ride, everyone. This end ---- regrettable, but I don't regret ---- time we've spent together.”

Maka lifts up her shotgun and loads with with multiple shells, preparing for battle. “The preparations have been made, and our end approaches,” she states to them all. She turns to the soldier that had reported the deaths of the front line. “Where is their commander, Grant?”

“He's here, general. I saw him ---- numbers, leading from the back,” Grant responds, looking surprised at being addressed by his name without his rank.

Maka gives a grin. “Then for better or worse, this invasion of theirs ends today,” she asserts with confidence. “We may die, but we'll die knowing that we took the bastards ----. Stand strong, men, and make yourselves proud!”

The soldiers cheer loudly, saluting her with smiles on their faces. Immediately after that, the door leading to the hallway splinters as something heavy rams into it.

Maka returns to the console, her face grim. “To whomever --- message may reach, I give you one last ---- of advice. King Sombra has already returned to the future, but he did not come here ---- a goal. Our intelligence is limited, but it is clear he ---- objective. Whatever happens, you MUST not let him find ---- Alpha...my uncle. If he does...”

Before she can finish her explanation, the door breaks down entirely, and a veritable swarm of twisted, grotesque...things that disturbingly resemble broken humans charge through the door like the coming of the tide, roaring and attacking anything in range.

Maka curses and pivots on her right heel, firing her shotgun towards the nearest monster, blowing its legs off. The first soldiers behind the barricade lift detonators and activate them. The hallway explodes with fire and shrapnel, blowing apart several of the Oppressed and slowing their advance.

“Grenades, now!” Maka commands her men, pulling the pin off a grenade of her own. Under her command, the remaining soldiers manage to deal significant damage to the front lines of the monsters, but soon...they run out of explosives. There's nothing they can do to stop the tide of death that approaches them.

I cover my mouth in horror, choking as I watch all of those brave soldiers die en masse. There's nothing they can do; the monsters soak up their bullets like sponges and swarm over them like water on rock, cutting through their body armor like butter and tearing them to bloody shreds.

Maka manages to deal serious damage to them with her heavy shotgun, but then...something happens. I hear a sickening crack, and Maka cries out in pain. She bends over, and it seems like something inside of her is shifting, causing her immense pain. “No... not me too...” Maka grunts, hardly able to stand. While this is happening, the Oppressed curiously ignore her and strike at the other soldiers instead.

“You won't have ----...not before I take you ---- down!” Maka grunts. Several more cracks are heard, and she's forced down onto her knees. She lifts up the flashing button and mashes it with her thumb.

The video ends abruptly as power dies, but I don't want to see any more. My mental strength fails, and I stagger backwards until my back hits the wall. I slide to the ground and hug my knees, tears rolling down my cheeks. I let out a choking sob as realizations start to crash down upon me, the dots connecting to tell me exactly what happened.

King Sombra. That man came from the future with the power of magic on his side. I can't deny the existence of magic anymore...not after Maka confirmed it and I saw its use for myself. With his power he...twisted or destroyed humanity over the course of eighty years. For some reason, I'm very important to him...and it has something to do with that spell he used on me, intentionally or not.

But...if I accept all of this...then...I have to accept that I'm in the future...and...the realization crashes down upon me, and my cries only intensify. My hands reach up to my hair and tear at the strands in my desperation.

If humanity is dead...then so is my family. My mother...Elaine...my father, Gerome...and my brother, Adam. It feels as a hole is physically being torn in my chest as I realize all of the things that I'll never get to do with them. I never told my family how much I really cared....all I ever did was yell at them, argue with them over stupid shit, and push them away.

All those late nights I spent with Adam, watching some silly anime he found on the internet...I'll never get to spend another night with him, nor argue over which character was stronger, nor go to another convention with him. All those times he stood by me, no matter what I said to him...and I can never tell him how much I appreciated that.

And...Amaryllis. This one really gets to me, causing me to yell out with furious despair and punch the ground, actually relishing the pain when the debris there cuts into my skin and draws blood. Compared to her loss...no amount of physical pain can ever compare. I don't believe in love...but I couldn't imagine a future in which she wasn't present. She was my closest friend...the only one that I could depend on.

“Goddammit, why!?” I yell helplessly at the ceiling. This isn't fair. In just a few short minutes, my entire life has come crashing down upon my head. Everyone...everyone I've ever cared about...is gone.

Even worse than that...something else clicks in my head. Maka Rogers. Acting General of the last defense of mankind. She was my family...family that I just now discovered that I had...and she's gone. She was Adam's daughter...she had to be. It's not just because they look similar; I knew from the moment I heard her name, whether I wanted to admit it or not, that she was his daughter. Adam named her Maka, after the main character of the first anime he and I ever watched together...the first time I ever let him share a part of my life.

“I'm so sorry...all of you...” I whisper. I can't do anything for them other than apologize...apologize that I couldn't have been there for any of them. I never got to tell any of them my true feelings...and as for Maka...I never even got a chance to know her...never got a chance to love her. Anger wells up within me at the injustice of this whole situation. “This just isn't fair!”

The urge to smash everything nearby comes to me, but I force myself to ignore it, instead taking out my anger and despair on myself, my nails digging into the skin of my arms and drawing blood. I won't let myself destroy what's left of mankind.

It's not fair. Why am I the only one to live through this catastrophe, while everyone else is dead? I don't even see the point in leaving here anymore. There's nothing out there for me...nowhere to go, nobody to see. There's just emptiness, a void that nothing in this world can fill. I sit down against the wall and sit there motionlessly, gazing with empty eyes at the floor.

I don't even know how long I sit there. It could have been hours, or even just a few minutes. At some point, however, a single thought enters my head. King Sombra. Maka said that he had returned to the future. That means that even though I don't know what will be outside when I go there...he'll be here.

With that realization comes a new resolve. If my family...if Amaryllis and everyone are all gone...then the only thing left for me is to find Sombra and kill him. I've never considered taking the life of another living thing before...but for that monster, I'll make an exception. Oh boy, will I make an exception. I'll make his end painful beyond painful, until he can feel the pain that I'm feeling right now.

I rise to my feet, grabbing the rifle from where I left it. I'm a mess; my side throbs, my head aches, and my arms sting from my own self-inflicted injuries. However, all of that pain feels as if it's sealed behind a wall in my mind. It's there, but it feels almost veiled. Or maybe it's because I've just stopped caring.

The moment I step towards the door, I hear something from the hallway. It sounds almost as if a horse is walking down the hallway, but instead of the clopping that I'd expect from hooves, it's making an odd clicking sound, followed by an extended scraping. Click-sccraaape. Click-sccraaape. The sounds are coming closer.

I freeze. That's the first sign of activity in this ruin ever since I woke up...yet I already know what it is. There's only one thing it can be. Maka spoke of taking them all down with her...which probably has something do with why this place is underground. It only stands to reason that there'd be at least one of those monsters still left.

Is this how I die? I don't see any way of getting out of this. The door is the only way out of the room, and every other door in this hallway is a dead end. I'm caught between the exit and the monster that's coming. My only weapon is the rifle at my side, and it probably doesn't even work.

There's nothing for it. I can't run and I can't hide. If I'm going to die, I'm going to face it like Maka did. I brazenly walk out into the hallway to get a look at the monster that's very likely going to kill me.

Just like I expected, there's one of the Oppressed ambling down the hall towards me. Even though I'm standing right here, it hasn't noticed me. This gives me enough time to get a good look at it.

The creature scraping towards me is an absolute mockery of a human being. If I didn't know it was once a human, I never would have come to that conclusion. It looks as though someone ripped the skin off of a living creature and wrapped it around the wire frame of a small horse, like a pony, and then sewed together the seams. The skin is too tight in some places, and too loose in others. What used to be the hands are now the forelegs, complete with twisted claws of enamel erupting from the fingertips large and sharp enough to rend flesh. Its mouth looks as though the jaw has been unhinged to make room for vicious teeth that never should be seen in a human mouth.

What's worse...is that I can tell who the Oppressed used to be. The creature's green eyes were now a milky and pale, no sign of life left in the once vibrant orbs. It's wizened blond hair hung by its sides in wisps, still tied up into a bun at the back. King Sombra hadn't just killed her, he ruined her.

I can't help it. A soft bitter chuckle escapes my lips. I raise a hand and rub my forehead, the chuckle turning into a full blown laugh that could have come from a psychopath. I can't help it; it's just ironically funny how life is turning out for me. It's as if some cosmic being chose me to be dealt the worst hand today. I'm in the future, the last of my kind, separated from everything I've ever known; I find that I have family that I never knew I had...only to find that very same family bringing to me the end that I've been narrowly avoiding ever since I woke up.

The remains of the once-proud Acting-General Maka finally notices me, having heard my bitter laughing. The Oppressed opens its mouth and roars a twisted, horrible roar that's vaguely reminiscent of what used to be a woman. With the scraping of enamel claws on plaster, the creature breaks into an inhumanly fast run, charging towards with me with the intent to rip me asunder.

I don't move, the rifle hanging limply from my grasp. What does it matter if I die here? I've lost everything; my family, my friend, my future...what's my life in comparison to all of that? My only regret is that I won't get to take revenge upon King Sombra.

As I gaze at the charging Maka, I start to wonder whether or not she's still alive in there, watching helplessly from inside the confines of her ruined mind. The camera footage showed me very clearly, so she must know what I look like. I grow angry at the thought; even if that was the case, there's nothing I can do to help her now. She's gone...replaced by this rampaging beast.

Just as the creature comes within a few meters from me, my stance suddenly changes. I start to run, determination and adrenaline in equal measures running through my veins. I don't know where this willpower is coming from...but I will not die here...not by what should have been my beloved niece. If she is still alive in there, I'm not going to make her live with the knowledge that she killed her only remaining family.

Maka and I streak across the hallway towards one another. I lift the rifle, clenching it with both hands. As we meet in the center of the hallway, Maka's lethal claws rise to deal me a killing blow. Her attack is met with the haft of my rifle, all of my strength put behind the blow.

My feet grind against the aged floor as I contend with the creature's unnatural strength. Maka's toothed mouth gnashes over the haft of the rifle as she relentlessly tries to reach me. With a grunt, I kick her ruthlessly in the stomach, attempting to force her back. While my attack does connect, she's barely affected by it all, driven back only enough for her to make her next charge.

Maka rears up on her back legs and swings her claws at me viciously, each attack filled with the intent to kill. I manage to block one attack with the rifle and dodge another, but I'm no fighter. I don't have the capability to read her movements. Maka pivots on her claws and bucks me right in the stomach with her back legs.

My breath whooshes out of my lungs and my stomach burns with pain. The impact sends me hurtling back into the wall, colliding with a burst of pain that causes me to cry out. Maka is upon me like a whirlwind, her claws whipping through the air and her jaws open wide.

I yelp and duck beneath her claws, which cut into the wooden walls as though they aren't even there. With no way out, I take the only remaining option and ram my shoulder into her chest, putting all of my body weight behind the attack. I manage to muster enough force to knock her backwards, but her claws rake across my shoulders, tearing my shirt further and cutting into my skin.

Maka hits the wall on the other side of the hallway and struggles to rise, but I don't let her. With rage burning throughout my body, I leap across the hall and land atop her, slamming my legs down on her forelegs and pinning her claws down. She shrieks and roars, flailing her back legs and attempting to bite at me, but she can't reach me.

I grasp the rifle tightly, and then with every bit of strength that I can muster, I bring it down on Maka's head with a sickening thump. A blow like that would have been enough to knock out or even kill an ordinary human, but the monster doesn't stop struggling. I bite my lip, tears rolling down my cheeks as I hit her again and again, her skull fracturing with every hit. Blackened blood soon stains the wall behind her. Eventually, Maka's roars die down and her body slowly ceases its movements, once there's nothing left of its head but a pulpy mass.

The danger passed, I rise from the twisted body of my dead niece, the tears dripping from my face. Now that she's gone, the rage fades away, to be replaced by emptiness. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't be here to stop this from happening. I'm sorry I had to do that to you, but it was the only way. Maybe now, wherever you are, you can rest in peace.

I stand there for a while, feeling as though I've already died. It wouldn't surprise me at this point; Hell can't be any worse than this.

Either way, now that the battle is over, my original goal returns. I need to get out of here, find King Sombra, and murder him in cold blood. However, I need to leave soon. I don't know if there are any more of those things around, but it's likely considering how many were in the recording. Even if I could get the generator working again, I don't have enough time to study anymore. After that battle, I'm losing even more blood.

I limp towards the stairwell listlessly, carrying the rifle in one hand and applying pressure to my side with the other. The roof access hatch is just inside the stairwell, consisting of a simple crimson ladder and a hatch to the rooftop. The hatch was designed in such a way that it could be easily opened in the case of an emergency. I think this qualifies.

Leaving the rifle on the ground for now, I climb up the ladder, noticing with satisfaction that the rungs are still somewhat sturdy. Upon reaching the hatch, I clamp my hands around the wheel and turn. I grunt and strain my aching muscles until the rusty wheel starts to turn.

The moment the hatch becomes loose enough to open, the thing slams open with a loud bang, and what seems to be a torrent of dark earth pours through the opening and cascades over me with enough force to knock me right off the ladder, taking me right down to the floor.

I cry out with pain and surprise as several pounds of earth flows down from the opening and covers me. I cover my eyes with an arm to keep them safe from the cloud of earth, but even then I can't keep it from covering my face and getting in my mouth, such that I hack and cough.

Eventually, the stream of earth dissipates, leaving me free to rise. I cough again and rise to a sitting position, dirt sliding down from my body in the process. I take my arm away from my face and notice that light is shining down from the hole. That has to be the light of the outside world. I need to get out and find someplace to get some water. With all the earth covering my body, I need to get clean or my wounds definitely will get infected.

I get to my feet and fish around in the dirt until I find the rifle. I toss it up the hole first, and then climb up the ladder after it. After ascending the ladder, I find myself in a narrow hole that leads up through the earth to what looks like leaves swaying in the night sky. I don't think I've ever been happier to see the sky in my entire life.

It takes some doing to get up through the hole, but with the help of embedded rocks and protruding tree roots, I manage to lever myself up and out of the hole into the fresh air. I gasp and breathe in as much of the outside air as I can, finding it much sweeter than I remember. The air down in the ruin was getting to be extremely stale...no doubt I would have suffocated if I stayed down there too long.

Casting my gaze around, I notice I'm in the midst of a thick green forest. The tree trunks are wide and the branches stretch up to nearly cover the sky with their wide leaves. Plants, brush, and tree roots cover the ground as far as I can see. Every direction looks the same as the last, letting me know that I'm completely lost. This area looks like nothing that I remember...though I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

This is probably fortunate. The area seems alive with wildlife activity just out of sight, letting me know that if it comes down to it, I can find and kill small animals for food. If I'm lucky, I can find a river to clean myself off and quench my thirst. I don't know the first thing about surviving in the wilderness, but at this point, I either adapt or I die. It's as simple as that.

I start to walk in a randomly chosen direction. If everything I heard in the footage is true, then everyone's dead. There's no human civilization remaining. I'm the only one. I'd be happy if just my family and Amaryllis could come back, but as it stands...I'm all on my own. It doesn't matter which direction I go. There's nowhere for me to go.

The bandage at my side is nearly soaked through, and blood is steadily trickling down my chest from the wounds on my shoulders. As everything about me is filthy, there's nothing else I can use to patch myself up. I let out another bitter laugh. After all this, blood loss may well be the end of me.

The further I go, the more I notice that this forest isn't normal. The plants are all twisted and climb up the trunks like parasites, and even the trees themselves appear twisted and gnarled. There were no forests like this in the area of our campus, so I've never seen anything like this. I feel something strange in the atmosphere around me that I can't quite place. It's like the air is constantly humming with something I can't see...but it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

After a long period of walking, I hear a rustling in the brush near me. I've been hearing signs of life all over the place, but this is the closest any of the animals have ever been. I turn my head and raise my rifle to defend myself.

The first thing I see are two glowing green eyes emerging from the underbrush. “What now?” I say with a sigh. Whatever possesses eyes like that, it can't be good.

A wolf stalks out from the brush, growling angrily at me. I do a double-take when I realize that the wolf is unlike any wolf I've ever seen. It's made entirely out of wood, down to the very teeth in its mouth. Its pupil-less eyes are glowing green with malevolent intent, promising imminent death should I make any sudden moves.

A creature like this is impossible...but in the face of all of the revelations I've had today, it's no more impossible than everything else. Either way...it wants to kill me. That much I think I can be assured of.

I take a step back, but that's exactly the wrong thing to do. The moment the wolf sees me attempting to retreat, it lunges at me faster than I can react. Its claws slice into my chest even as I'm knocked completely off of my feet. My back skids against the ground and I shove my rifle up into the wolf's jaws to keep it from biting down on my throat.

The wolf is incredibly strong despite having such a thin frame. I have to use both hands to keep the rifle wedged into its mouth. However, keeping it from biting leaves both of my arms occupied, so its claws tear into my chest and arms, causing me to cry out in agony.

Thinking quickly, I kick the wolf in the chest multiple times until I hear something crack. The wolf lets out a whimpering cry and leaps back, nursing the wound on its chest. I leap to my feet, blood seeping from my wounds.

“I am not going to die today!” I yell at the wolf, brandishing the rifle before me. I am getting sick and tired of facing death. Everything I've seen since waking up has tried to kill me in some form or fashion, and I'm really losing my temper.

The wolf's whimpers turn into furious growls, and to my horror, more wolves emerge from the brush, each one identical in composition to the first. This situation just went from bad to worse. As a last-ditch effort, I angle the muzzle of my rifle and pull the trigger...but nothing sounds from the rifle except useless clicking and grinding. I guess I should have expected as much.

Faced with overwhelming numbers and bleeding heavily, there's really only one last course of action for me to take. I spin on one heel and break into a sprint, not caring what direction I'm running in as long as it was away from those wolves.

I can hear them behind me, barking and howling in anticipation of the hunt. They're fast and relentless; without muscles, I don't think they can get tired. That means that unless I find safety soon, they're going to catch me and tear me to ribbons.

A leafy bough that I push out of the way swipes back in my direction and slices my cheek, leaving behind a stinging gash. “Goddammit!” I curse loudly, wincing from the pain. I cast my gaze around as I run, hoping to find something...anything to offer me shelter.

As if answering my prayers, I see a light in the distance, piercing through the darkness of the forest and promising me safe haven. I don't care how improbable it is that it's coming from a civilized source. I don't care what it's coming from at this point. I change my course and head directly for it. It can't be any worse than what's chasing me.

The source of light soon reveals itself to be coming from a window carved into the side of an ornately carved tree. It's clearly not a naturally made structure; an assumption that is cemented when I see the door set into the trunk, with a menacing-looking mask hanging above it. Without heeding the implications of such décor, I pull open the door and dash inside, slamming it behind me.

I immediately turn and fiddle with the lock that's present on the other side of the door, fastening it tightly. Just in time too, as the door is soon impacted by the wolves on the other side, whining in frustration and tearing into the wood with their claws. Thankfully, the door is extremely thick and resists their efforts.

“Suck it! I'm not going to die to a bunch of wire frame phonies!” I shout back through the door, even though I know they can't understand me. Reveling in my newfound safety, I shut my eyes and let out a twisted laugh of relief. To anyone else, it would sound as if I had gone crazy. At this point, I think I am going crazy. It wouldn't surprise me.

“Well now, this is quite the unexpected surprise. What manner of being presents itself before my eyes?” I hear a deep female voice sound from further inside the tree home. Her tone was heavily accented, sounding almost tribalistic in nature.

I open my eyes to see the strangest creature walking towards me. The closest thing I can compare it to is a zebra, but it's much too small. Its eyes are too large and its face seems more expressive than any animal I've ever seen. That's not even counting the multitude of earrings and bracelets adorning its body, almost as if it had personalized its appearance. I attempt to look around the strange animal for the owner of the voice, but there's no one else here.

The zebra then starts to look impatient. “Come now, I know you can speak. Use your voice now, don't be meek.” My jaw drops as I see the creature's mouth moving its lips in time with the words I'm hearing. It...the zebra is talking to me.

I guess that settles it. I'm definitely going crazy.
> 3. The Gateway to Equestria (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I don’t know how long I remain asleep. Every so often, I’ll partially emerge into a conscious state, but trying to open my eyes seems to require a colossal effort, so I can never maintain it for long. My mind and thoughts are unclear and in disarray; my body is awash in pain, suffused with heat, and covered in sweat. It’s impossible for me to glean anything about my current situation.

Someone is tending to me. Sometimes, when I’m hovering in and out of consciousness, I feel gentle, yet firm touches on my upper body, accompanied by a soft, feminine humming. This time, I can tell she’s here again. I feel her peel something away from my body. Moments later, I hear the trickling of liquid, and then a cool and damp sensation pressing against my skin. The pain is dulled somewhat by that, providing me with a brief moment of sweet relief. I hear her humming again, lulling me back into blissful unconsciousness.

A bright light bleeds through my eyelids. I grunt softly and open my eyes, finding it much easier to do so now. The first thing I become aware of is the sunlight shining in through the window just above where I’m lying. The reality of my situation doesn’t hit me until I try to get a closer look, noticing the leafy boughs of the forest trees swaying outside.

I wake with a start, remembering where I am as well as the events in the school. My first reaction is to lurch up into a sitting position, but I don’t get that far. An intense wave of agony courses through my body at the sudden motion, causing my eyes to water. I can’t keep it up, so I fall backwards… onto a comfortable mattress.

Confusion shoots through my mind. Why would there be a mattress here? There’s also a window beside me, which shouldn’t be possible. Am I still in the forest? What about the wolves? Once again, the urge to rise strikes me, but any attempt I make results in unending pain.

My breathing quickens, my eyes darting around the area in an attempt to make sense of my surroundings. The more I see, the calmer I become, as  I seem to be lying in a bed, with a fluffed pillow tucked beneath my head and a yellow wool blanket pulled up to my waist, leaving my upper body open to the air. 

I notice first that I’ve been cleaned thoroughly of all the dirt, sweat, and blood that once coated my body. Additionally, all of the injuries I’d accumulated in that hellish school have been tightly bound by white bandages that wrap around my body, complete with linen gauze that looks as though it’s been soaked with something medicinal. Judging from the pungent smell oozing up from my body, I’d guess the ointment was herbal.  Judging from the tight feeling around my head, there’s another bandage wrapped around it.

The bed that I’m lying in is situated in a wooden alcove in a back corner. There’s a wall directly to my right, upon which a series of shelves containing multicolored bottles have been installed. I can’t read the labels on them, as they appear to be written in a language that I don’t understand. The wall cuts off my view of the rest of the dwelling, so I can’t tell what sort of place I’ve stumbled into. I remember being chased by a whole pack of wolves made from wood. I cringe, recalling the feeling of its wooden claws slicing into my skin.

Looking out the window reveals nothing other than an expanse of thick green forest. There seems to be a path consisting of beaten leaves and dried mud stretching out into the distance. I wrinkle my brow, confused at that observation. A beaten path implies civilization, and according to what I’ve learned, such a thing doesn’t exist anymore. Come to think of it, this house that I’m in doesn’t make sense either.

Once again, my understanding of the situation I’m in is upturned. I was certain from Maka’s last message as well as her… her body… that there were no other living humans in existence. Yet this dwelling is unmistakably human, despite the fact that it’s been built into a tree. Does… does this mean I’m not alone after all?

If that’s true, then it’s no coincidence that I’ve been patched up like this. What I can’t understand, however, is why this mystery benefactor would help me at all. Is it because I’m one of the few surviving humans? Or is there another more nefarious reason for this? To be honest with myself, there’s no guarantee that whoever it is has good intentions. Nobody helps a random stranger out of the goodness of their own heart.

My mind races. What could they possibly want from me? Money? I have some in my wallet, but would my money even work so far in the future? Come to think of it, where are my clothes? 

My shirt was torn to shreds, but my pants were still in one piece, more or less. Additionally, my phone and wallet should have been in them. Whoever patched me up also stripped me down, and my clothes are nowhere to be seen. 

A sense of panic falls over me. I don’t like this.  I don’t know where I am, who saved me, and what this person even wants with me. There’s too many unknowns.  I hate unknowns. For all I know, the school could have been safer than where I am right now.

I have to get out of here. With a grunt, I attempt to force myself to rise. Pain surges through my chest with such intensity that my vision flashes red. My side feels like it’s going to split apart, and my head pounds with an acute headache, causing me to see stars. It would be so easy to lay back down, but I won’t. 

Pushing aside the pain, I move the blankets aside, wincing as the cool air assaulted my bare injured body. I lower my feet to the smooth wooden floor, the material feeling cool against my toes.  I grit my teeth and stand, gingerly placing weight on my feet. My legs wobble dangerously, the limbs feeling weak and rubbery. 

Trying to take a step causes my knee to give out, sending me careening forward. I let out a helpless cry and slam into the wall across from me. My first reflex is the grab the shelves and hang onto them to keep from falling. The bottles shook and fell from the sudden vibration, battering my shoulders and shattering on the ground below, their contents spilling over the once pristine floor.

Breath leaves me in short and ragged bursts. My head throbs mercilessly, my eyes water, and my chest burns like fire. It’s only by sheer force of will that I haven’t collapsed. The door… I need to find the door. I turn my eyes down the small hallway and started to walk, my whole body screaming with protest. The bandages around my injuries slowly start to stain red as my wounds reopen. 

The hall opens out into a sizeable circular chamber, in the center of which is a rotund black cauldron. There’s a fire lit beneath it, and I can hear the sound of bubbling liquid inside. There are more shelves containing vases and jars set into the wall on my left, with a archaic mask the size of my torso pinned to the wall just above it. Bottles hang from the ceiling as well, containing strange substances of an unknown nature. 

Everything about this place screams danger to me. I need to get out. It’s so hard to move my legs. Yet, one step at a time, I steadily move forward, grasping the knots in the uneven wooden wall to keep myself upright. I keep my eyes trained on the door leading outside. So intent am I on my goal that I don’t register the sound of hooves clopping against the wood just behind me.

“What are you doing, creature I’ve only just met?! You are much too hurt to be leaving just yet!” an accented voice filled with alarm addresses me from behind. I immediately turn in place, stifling a groan at the bolt of agony that passes through me at such a sudden motion. 

Where I expected to see a human is standing a strange quadrupedal creature, resembling a zebra. Come to think of it, I vaguely remember seeing this thing when I escaped the wolves. Before I can process the meaning of this, the voice speaks again, and this time, the zebra’s mouth moves in time with the words.

“Come away from that door and rest; until you have healed, a lack of motion would be best,” the zebra says. My eyes blink as I try to process what I’m seeing. There’s no other explanation. That zebra is talking to me with its strangely expressive face set into a worried frown.

I give a weary chuckle. It’s obvious to me what’s happening here. “I must be hallucinating,” I mutter to myself, ignoring the zebra entirely. I guess I shouldn’t be too  surprised. Wolves made from wood and a zebra that can talk? I’m beginning to think that my mind was so scrambled by that hit to my head that I’m starting to see nonsense. 

I turn back around and fumble with the door. The handle at first doesn’t turn, leading me to realize that it’s still locked. Just as I start trying to unlatch it, I hear the voice again. “Why do you continue to persist? I urge you to immediately desist!” it insisted. 

“Shut up!” I snap. Whether I’m actually hearing that voice or not, it isn’t going away and it’s starting to get on my nerves. “Just stop talking. I don’t need this right now. I just need to get outside and… and…” and what? What exactly am I going to do once I leave this place?

“My treatment you disregard and you begin to bleed! Do not endanger your life merely because of your own greed!” 

“Why do you care!?” I turn my head and glare at the offending zebra. Part of me is ridiculing myself for talking to a hallucination, but judging from the way it’s talking, it acting like it’s the one who has been treating me. The zebra looks genuinely taken aback by my question, her mouth opening slightly. “I don’t ever remember asking for your help. I don’t know what you want from me, but I’ll have no part of it! I won’t owe you anything!”

The zebra appears to be speechless, so I grunt and turn back to the door. This time, I manage to undo the lock and push the door open, revealing the open expanse of forest stretching out before me. 

Without a clear destination in mind, I take the first step out the door, finding that it’s getting harder and harder to move. With a pained groan of exertion, I shift my leg over the threshold. My foot catches on something and I lose my balance, careening forward. Unable to grab onto anything except empty air, I fall flat on my stomach.

“Gah!” The air leaves my lungs and the pain strikes me like a hammer blow. My vision dulls and narrows as I can feel myself slipping into unconsciousness. I hold on and attempt to rise, but I can’t withstand the sheer agony that such an action causes. I flop helplessly back to the ground. As I allow myself to slip back into unconsciousness, my last thought is that I forgot to look for my clothes.





I wake up to the feeling of a cool damp cloth pressed against my forehead. Additionally, I feel a deep chill on the side of my head, where the swelling from that earlier knock should be. An ice pack?

Awareness returns to me in full when I remember my previous thoughts.  I’m lying back in the bed, once more tucked in with the blankets up to my waist. I turn my head to get a look around, and the first thing I see is that zebra from before, resting on its haunches directly beside the bed.

Seeing it this close up makes it difficult to believe that this is a hallucination. Hallucinations are generally indistinct, unclear. Yet, how can this be real? Its eyes are too large to be those of a typical zebra, no matter how I look at it. Its face seems to be making expressions that a real zebra can’t make, simply because they don’t have the muscle structure. The kicker is that it’s wearing jewelry.

Golden earrings dangle from each of its striped ears, indicating that they’ve been pierced. Similarly colored rings encircle her neck and one of her forelegs. It seems to me like it has personalized its appearance. 

This is way too detailed to be a hallucination.  I attempt to rise once more, the all too familiar pain shooting back through my body. This time, the zebra doesn’t let me. Its hoof reaches forward and presses down gently on one of the uninjured areas on my chest. I don’t have the strength to resist, so I have no choice except to lie there.

“I suggest you stay down, lest you once more hit the ground,” the zebra once again talks to me. This time, I can’t deny that it’s happening. It’s too close, so I can tell that the feminine voice is coming from it

“Why are you still talking? What the hell are you?” That is the only question I can think to ask. If this talking zebra is real, then I have a plethora of questions that need answers.

“My name is Zecora, if that is what you seek. Why does it surprise you that I am able to speak?” the zebra replies, understanding me clearly. I give a sigh, at a loss to explain what exactly I’m looking at. King Sombra, the future, and magic existing was hard enough to swallow, but the threads eventually tied together in the end. Where does this creature fit into the mix?

“Because you look like a zebra, and zebras don’t talk,” I tell her flatly. I should probably call the zebra by its name now. It’s strange to accept that an animal is capable of intelligent speech, but to be honest with myself, it’s hardly the weirdest thing I’ve come across recently.

Zecora, who I believe I can classify as female by her voice, blinks at my explanation, looking nonplussed. “A zebra I am, you are right. It is you that I find a most curious sight,” she points out. “Of your kind, I’ve never seen the like. I doubt that you were simply out for a hike.”

“That’s for certain,” I mutter. It sounds like this encounter is as strange to her as it is to me. The difference is that I physically can’t comprehend how she exists. Zebras physically don’t have the vocal chord structure necessary to form a human language. However, that’s not what’s most important. My eyes narrow. “Why are you helping me?”

“You were gravely hurt,” Zecora reminds me, raising a brow. It’s very strange to see that sort of expression on a zebra of all creatures. “Why do you sound so curt?”

“Don’t insult me; I’m not some naive kid. You clearly want something, otherwise you wouldn’t have bothered saving me, a random stranger of a species you’ve never met,” I accuse her. It probably isn’t too smart to question her when I’m at such a disadvantage, but I don’t care what she does to me. “So what is it? Money? Something else? Don’t try to tell me it’s out of kindness.”

Zecora looks offended at first, but her expression softens. She nods, as if understanding something. A smile plays about her lips. “You needn’t worry about compensation,” she begins. I try to interrupt with a protest, but then she continues. “All I’ll ask for is some simple information.”

“Information?” That I wasn’t expecting. Out of everything she could have asked for, that seems the most reasonable; it’s understandable to think she’d save me if she thought she could learn something… provided she’s telling the truth. “What sort of information? Is it really worth risking your life for? I’m assuming those wolves didn’t go away because they got bored.”

The zebra ponders for several seconds. “I am very curious about your desperate flight, and your unique form is quite the intriguing sight,” she reveals. I give a nod. She wants to know what I am and why I barged into her house. Just as I’m about to answer, she forestalls my words by raising a hoof. “Hold, don’t let that thought fade. First, I will have us partake of this soup I have made.”

“Hold on, what? You made me a meal?” I question her alertly. As if on cue, my stomach rumbles unpleasantly, reminding me of just how long it has been since the last time I’ve eaten. Any food at all would be nice, but I don’t trust her. “Why?”

Zecora pauses as she’s on her way to the cauldron. She looks back, giving me a smile. “You are quite the suspicious one. Asking questions of the hungry would not be any fun,” she attempts to assure me, and then she disappears around the corner. 

I stare after her momentarily. Information for medical attention and food. Depending on how valuable this information is to her, that could be considered an even trade. I can accept that. Though I do have one question: why on earth does each of her sentences rhyme? At first I thought it was coincidence, but she’s done it every time.

The trickling of liquid into bowls is audible from the other room. As I rest my head back against the pillow, I let out an incredulous exhale. It’s getting harder to believe that what I’m experiencing is real with every passing moment. From meeting that superhuman king in the stairwell, to finding myself in the future, and now having soup with a talking zebra, I’m beginning to wonder if all of this isn’t in fact one incredibly vivid acid trip.

When Zecora returns, there are two bowls of steaming soup resting on her back. It’s somewhat impressive that she’s managing to balance them like that without any of it spilling. That aside, I’m rather anxious about what’s in this soup. Would a zebra’s diet even be digestible for me? Would I find blades of grass in the broth?

Zecora cranes her head back and gently bites down on the rim of one of the bowls. Her mouth seems to have a powerful grip, as the bowl doesn’t even wobble as she brings it over to rest on the chair she’d previously been sitting on. She does the same with the other bowl. From here, I notice an amber liquid in them, in which brown mushrooms are floating around.

She notices the state I’m in and clicks her tongue. “Now, this will not do. Please, allow me to help you,” Zecora requests, moving closer to me. Before I can question her intent, she places one hoof on my chest and worms the other beneath my back. She keeps eye contact with me and applies upwards pressure on my back.

I see what she’s trying to do. Wincing, I start to rise, supported by her hooves. With her help, I assume a position where I’m sitting mostly upright, with pillows propped beneath my back to provide support. The pain isn’t as intense as it was the first time I tried to move; I guess I have these herbal mixtures to thank for that. I don’t know what’s in them, but they’re doing a good job dulling the pain. 

Zecora nods with satisfaction, and then she moves one of the bowls to my lap with her mouth. Thankfully, her lips don’t touch the soup at all. That would have been disgusting. I glance down at the soup and then look around for a spoon. A second later, I realize I’m not going to get one. Zecora has no reason to use utensils, as she only has hooves.

“What’s in this?” I ask, angling my head down towards the broth. 

“This meal consists of mostly honey as its primary ingredient,” Zecora explains. I raise an eyebrow. I’m not confused about the fact that there’s honey in it; I’m more curious as to how she’s going to make a rhyme with that. “It’s also quite hot; your consumption need not be expedient.” 

I exhale quietly with disbelief as she pulled it off despite my skepticism. I can’t hold it back any longer. “I have to ask; why do you rhyme every couple of sentences you say?” I inquire bluntly. 

Zecora doesn’t seem irritated in the slightest at the question. Instead, she chuckled, as if she had been expecting it. “I’m not surprised you felt compelled to pose that question to me,” she responded with a wry shake of her head. She then puts on a rather mysterious smile. “That story, however, I would rather keep to myself, you see.” 

So, she’s not going to tell me. This could get annoying real fast...but I guess I’m not in a position to be worrying about that. “Right…” I reply awkwardly. I lift the bowl of soup with my hands, finding that while my shoulders sting from the exterior, I can manage well enough to bring it to my mouth for a sip.

It’s surprisingly good. The taste of honey is the most prevalent, but the added mushroom enhances the flavor well enough. Additionally, I think I can detect a hint of basil. It’s an interesting mix, but not a distasteful one. The consistency seems to  have been thinned by simple water, so this meal not only fills my stomach, but helps to quench my thirst. I wonder if she cooked this in that large cauldron out there?

As for Zecora, she brings over a small table and places the bowl on top of it. She then climbs up onto the chair and lowers her head to drink directly from the soup. Seeing her like this, she reminds me a lot of a typical animal. Honestly, the only difference is that she talks and acts like one of us.

“That I have not asked this before now fills me with shame. Would you first grace me with your species and your name?” Zecora begins, looking up from her meal. Oh, I suppose I haven’t introduced myself yet.

“My name is Seth Rogers, and I’m human,” I answer simply. To my surprise, Zecora’s eyes widen in awe, as if she’s heard of my kind before. I crank an eyebrow. “You know about us?”

Zecora nods, appraising me in a whole new light. “In ancient legends and ruins, all of ponykind has heard of your name. Among historians, your species has garnered much fame. From a long time before us, you originate. Mystery and misinformation have yet to dissipate,” she reveals to me.

I nearly drop the bowl. I question my own hearing, wondering if I heard all of that right. She knows about us through ancient ruins and legends? I thought I was only out of the picture for eighty years. Humanity has built a great deal of infrastructure and wonders that have lasted for centuries. If it’s been long enough for all of that disappear, how long has it really been? My hands tremble as I lift the bowl back to my mouth for another sip.

I don’t know why I let myself believe that there might be more humans out there. Once again, I succumbed to foolish hope. It’s just me now. I close my eyes. After venting my emotions out in the school, all I feel now is a dull emptiness. Then it struck me. Did she just say “ponykind?”

“Common knowledge has it that your kind is naught but dust. I imagine the tale of your arrival must be quite robust. So that the facts may be laid bare, your tale, would you kindly share?” Zecora presses before I can finish processing that thought. She looks over me with a whole new interest. I shove my questions into the back of my mind and take a moment to determine how best to answer her. In the end, I decide to be as honest as I can with her.

“To be honest, I couldn’t tell you. First of all, I don’t even know where ‘here’ is. Secondly, I know next to nothing about magic. There was a spell involved with my arrival, but that’s all I know,” I answer her. It’s a half truth at best. Her explanation about how my race is viewed has caused my distrust of her to grow. Therefore, I’m not going to tell her everything; just enough to absolve myself of any debt to her.

“To not know one’s origins is an unfortunate woe,” Zecora acknowledges solemnly. A few moments later, her lips curve into a wry smile. “I recall a particular unicorn who would have very much liked to know.”

“Okay, stop,” I interrupt, unable to take it any longer. That’s twice now that she’s said something that doesn’t make any sense. “Ponykind? Unicorn? What on earth are you talking about? Are you being serious!?”

Zecora blinks, surprised by my sudden outburst. After a moment, understanding dawns on her face. “It seems that of ponies you are quite unaware. I suppose to expect otherwise is quite unfair,” she observes.

“Don’t be stupid; of course I know what a pony is. But you keep talking about them like they’re some kind of civilization,” I correct her.

“You will be quite surprised, I expect. Listen close, so your ignorance I may correct. However, my explanation may not cause a dent, as my knowledge is but a small fragment,” Zecora begins. She takes a brief moment to gulp down some more of her soup before continuing. "Equestria is the name of our fair nation. Of peacetime, there is no cessation. Ponies of three kinds primarily live here. To the princesses, they are subjects most dear. Unfortunately, all else that I can say would seem trite. You would be better off speaking with Twilight."

I look at Zecora incredulously, wondering if she could actually hear what she’s saying. Everything that comes out of her mouth sounds like pure nonsense, but any counter argument I can come up with is negated by the fact that I’m holding a conversation with a talking zebra. Am I supposed to believe that humans died off, only to be replaced by… ponies? I can’t help it. I burst out into incredulous laughter. This can’t be real. This has to be one hell of a bad joke.

Zecora watches me as I keep laughing, until I finally have to stop due to the pain. I take several deep breaths, calming myself down. “That’s utterly ridiculous,” I admit. “You honestly expect me to believe humans have been replaced by talking ponies?”

“To you, their existence may seem like bad humor at its peak, yet I assure you that your presence to them is just as unique,” Zecora admonishes me. “Of my appearance, you seem to grasp the concept. Is the existence of ponies really so hard to accept?”

“I’m not even over the fact that you can talk!” I snap back at her. Despite the painkillers, my headache returns, causing me to rub my forehead in irritation. I heave a heavy sigh. “What the hell has happened to my world?”

In the end, as crazy as it sounds, none of this matters. I know one thing that’s a fact; Sombra is somewhere in this world. I don’t know where or what he’s doing, but finding him is my top priority. I can’t stay shut in here with this zebra forever. I want to ask her about this ‘Twilight’ she mentioned. I’m assuming she’s not referring to the time of day by the same name. However, she’s supposed to be asking me questions, not the other way around. I’ve already pushed it more than I’d like.

Zecora remains silent, waiting for me to recollect myself. Eventually, I gaze back at her, feeling resigned. “Whatever, I don’t care anymore. Just, ask me another question,” I tell her. I go back to drinking my soup sullenly.

“Your flight through the forest sounded quite frantic; tell me, does your kind not possess any magic?” Zecora obliges after a moment’s awkwardness. I give her a blank stare.

“What? No, we didn’t have any magic. We advanced our civilization through advanced technology, rather than relying on something that at the time didn’t exist,” I retort. I wish I did have some magic, through. Maybe then, I wouldn’t have been taken by surprise. Maybe then, I wouldn’t have had to lose everything I cared about. 

“Hmmm, your statement proves many a scientist wrong. The belief in that theory was quite strong,” Zecora states with a mixture of surprise and interest. I can’t help but raise an eyebrow. The ponies believed we had magic? Exactly where would the basis for that belief come from? “Now, my questions are nearly done. Are there more humans than just one?”

I don’t say anything at first, causing Zecora to tilt her head curiously. Hearing her ask something like that so casually causes a bitter feeling to arise within me. I can’t help but let that bitterness show in my response. “Gee, why don’t you  tell me? The very fact that you have to ask that should tell you that there aren’t any. You were just saying how we were all ‘dust.’” Zecora’s ears flatten at my scathing reply, but I’m not finished. “No, the others are dead...long dead. It’s just me now.”

Those words hurt, even as I say them. Saying it like that means that I’ve accepted that they’re gone, and I’ll never see them again. I would do anything to be able to see just my friend and family again. I don’t care about anyone else. 

Zecora’s expression is replaced by one of sympathy, which just makes me feel worse. When I notice her raise her hoof and extend it towards me as if in reassurance, I hold up a hand and stop her. “Don’t. I didn’t ask for your sympathy, nor do I have any use for it,” I snap harshly.  

I know even before looking that Zecora is hurt by my words. An awkward silence falls between us after that. I’m no longer in the mood to answer any more questions “Can we take a break?” I ask eventually, leaning my head back on the pillow. “I’m starting to get tired again.”

Zecora nods, relieved now that the subject has changed. “With your wounds, this is no surprise. Taking some time to rest would be most wise,” she responds in a solemn tone. She rises from her chair, reights herself, and then gathers up both of the empty bowls one at a time, placing them on her back.

“Allow me one moment to place these in the sink. I will return soon, with something to drink,” the zebra tells me, and then she walks around the corner and out of sight. 

Now that I’m alone for a moment, I sigh and close my eyes, shifting my position. Lying in one place for too long is making me feel restless and cramped. I would love to stretch out, but anything other than minor movements causes pain to shoot through my chest. 

When Zecora returns, she’s carrying two glasses of liquid on her back. I notice her leaning her head back to grab them. The thought of that makes me cringe, so I reach out with my arm and grab one of them before she can touch it. My shoulder sting a little, but the wounds there aren’t nearly as deep as the one in my side, so it’s tolerable.

I notice Zecora staring in disapproval. “What? It’s a simple task. I don’t need you to do everything for me,” I say defensively before she can say anything. I then look away from her and at the glass in my hands. It’s made of smooth mottled glass colored with a hint of turquoise. Inside is a clear liquid, which I’m assuming is water. However, given all of the bottles of liquid out there, it could be anything.

A tentative sip reveals to me that it is in fact water. It’s cool and sweet, and soon I disregard all earlier reservations and drain the cup dry. I grab the other cup and do the same. It’s such a relief to wash away the thirst that had been plaguing me since I was wandering around in the school.

“Now, from these questions I will offer you reprieve. In the forest there lies a task for which I must leave,” Zecora informs me as she takes back both of the glasses. Her words register with me just as she’s starting to walk away.

“Leave? You’re going out into the forest?” I question her with some alarm. When she nods, I let out a disbelieving huff. “Why? Are you crazy? What about those wolves? They’ll tear you apart!”

Zecora pauses and gives a knowing smile. “There is no need for concern. There is little threat to me, as far as I can discern,” she assures me. She then taps her snout with a hoof. “One does not live in a magical forest as long as me, without encountering its denizens, you see.”

“I’ll take your word for it. But what the hell am I supposed to do when you’re not here? It’s not like I can easily get up and move around,” I point out. 

Zecora nods, as if she had forgotten something. She wordlessly ducks around the corner and returns with a small pan in her mouth and a few books on her back. She sets the pan down carefully right next to my bed, and places the books one by one onto the table that is within arms reach of me. 

“While I am away in the forest, for herbs I look. Until I return, you may make use of a book. Should nature call and I am not around, I have placed this pan on the ground,” Zecora explains, resuming her preparations for departure.

I can’t help but cringe at her last statement. I don’t relish the idea of using a pan to relieve myself, but it’s not as if I’m able to painlessly move just yet. I nod, remaining silent. I appreciate having a book to read. It might help me learn a little more about this world I’ve been thrust into.

I hear the sound of the door opening. Just as Zecora is leaving, she gives a reassuring smile. “Your injuries are not so severe; it won’t be long before you are up off your rear,” she promises me.

Then, the door shuts with a click, and I’m left alone in her hut. She says my wounds aren’t that severe, but I’ve never been hurt this bad in my life.  However, the pain isn’t nearly as bad as it was before. 

This leads me to conclude that Zecora is an able herbalist. It isn’t unheard of for plants to possess medicinal qualities; no doubt Zecora knew exactly which ones to use to deaden the pain and encourage blood clotting. It shouldn’t be long before the more minor wounds on my shoulders and arms to scab over. However, the gash in my side and the claw marks on my chest are another matter. 

There’s nothing I can do now except wait for her return. Then, I’ll find some way to ask her about this Twilight person, and where I can find him or her. Zecora talks about them like they’re knowledgeable, perhaps a scholar. Someone like that would help me to understand the world I’m in now. Additionally, with a little luck, they may know where I can find Sombra. 

I reach over and bring one of the books over to me. The cover is thick and coarse, making it easy to keep a grip on it. As I look down at the brownish book and open it up, several questions come to mind. How would a pony use this? Their hooves aren’t nearly as dexterous as hands, so turning the pages should be quite an ordeal for them.

Secondly, what language is this? I had assumed (or rather, hoped) that because our spoken languages are the same, our written words would be similar as well. Yet I can’t make heads nor tails of this. There doesn't seem to be any words, but rather a long string of symbols of varying shapes. I can’t read this at all. 

Thirdly, albeit less importantly, the symbols appear to be printed on the page. The typewriter is an early industrial era technology. Therefore, if this exists, then the ponies must be in that era as well. My mind paints a picture of dank streets and factories pumping out harmful exhaust gasses into the air, and I grimace. The industrial era was not the most glamorous of time periods. 

I groan and set the book aside, sighing in annoyance. So my only means of entertainment is completely inaccessible to me. Yet, just seeing the printed words raises hundreds of questions. Exactly what kind of technology do these ponies possess? What is their architecture like? What is their social structure, their government, or their economy? Of course, this is all assuming they’re actually a civilization by human standards. For all I know, it could just be that pony “civilization” is just a bunch of talking ponies standing around in a field, grazing and talking about the weather.

There’s no point in thinking about it. I don’t have any answers, and purely speculating is just going to frustrate me. In all honestly, there’s not a lot of options on what to do now. I suppose I’ll try to nap. That way I’ll at least be doing something other than lying here helpless.

It’s nearly impossible for me to get any real sleep. With the sun trickling in through the window as well as the fact that I had a decent night’s sleep before this makes it difficult to nap for long periods of time. However, I do notice that as the minutes turn into hours, my strength is slowly returning. 

My upper body has been cut to ribbons, but the injuries are mostly superficial, and my legs are completely fine. Perhaps my earlier difficulties were due in part to fatigue as well. Nevertheless… now may be a good time to try moving again.

This time, I take it slowly and carefully. I remove the blankets from my legs and place my feet on the floor. I apply my weight to them gradually, using the nearby table to steady myself. At last, I hoist myself up and try to stand.

My legs wobble and feel weak, but once I’m used to it, it isn’t nearly as hard to stay upright anymore. If I move my torso too much, it starts to pain me greatly, but if I keep it as still as possible when I walk, I can manage.

With my hand braced against the wall, I walk out into the main room,. A cursory glance around the room allows me to locate my jeans, shirt, which are hanging from a rack on the far wall. On a shelf just beneath them is the rifle I found in the ruins, as well as my boxers, socks, and shoes stacked neatly next to it. My phone and wallet are resting on the shelf as well, just in front of the rifle. I make my way over to them, relieved to see that Zecora hasn’t done anything stupid with my belongings.

I note that my clothes have been washed clean of dirt and blood. My shirt is still in tatters from… from my niece, but my jeans are in good shape. I’m curious as to how she got the blood out of it, however. To my knowledge, bloodstains are near impossible to remove.

With a grunt and some mild pain, I put on my boxers first, and then my jeans. It feels good to be clothed again, even if I don’t have much of a shirt left. I continue on and finish dressing by wearing my socks and shoes. 

I grab my wallet and slide it into my right pocket, and then I unlock my phone to get a sense of how much battery it has. Hm, there’s about ninety percent left. That’s rather generous for a phone of this model, especially considering it was on all night. However, I can’t be too surprised; I did just get the battery replaced. Despite this stroke of good luck, it doesn’t matter in the end. I don’t know if ponies have electricity or not, but even if they do, there’s no way they’ll have an adapter for my phone. That means that once it runs out of battery, it’s gone for good.

That’s a painful thought. Memories of the last five years are saved inside of this small device: pictures, text messages, and voicemails. Now that I think about it, it’s all that I have left of them. I grit my teeth and navigate to the settings panel. The first thing I do is turn the battery on low power mode, and then switch airplane mode to on. The best thing to do would be to turn it off, but I may need it.

Suddenly an idea comes to me. I look down at the phone, and then over to the door. Interesting… I may have just found my ticket out of here. I slide my phone into my left pocket. I’ll deal with that when Zecora gets back.

Speaking of my benefactor, I will say that I’m lucky that all she wanted was information. I’m even luckier for the fact that she lives here in the first place. Without anywhere to hide, I’d certainly be dead now… though honestly, it’s not as though I have a lot to live for. After finding and killing Sombra… I don’t know what I’ll be doing. Thoughts for the future, I suppose.

While I wait for Zecora to return, I practice walking, getting used to my own weight again. It hurts at first, but eventually walking becomes easier. As soon as Zecora returns, I’ll bid this place goodbye. My next stop will be someone with a great deal of knowledge, like a scholar. 

Once early afternoon rolls around, the door opens, and Zecora trots inside with a basket filled with herbs clutched in her mouth. She pauses and her eyes widen with surprise when she sees me standing with my back to the opposite wall. She sets down the basket on a nearby shelf and approaches me.

“What is this miracle that I see? The human standing on his own, proud as can be?” Zecora questions. She gives me another look of disapproval. “Lying in bed may not be enjoyable in part, but moving before you’re ready is not very smart.”

“Spare me the lecture. You said yourself my wounds weren’t that bad,” I retort, crossing my arms. “Even if they were, I have no intentions of staying shut up in this house with you for the time it takes to heal.”

Zecora’s head snaps back at the harsh words, visibly hurt. She licks her lips nervously, and then heaves a sigh. “While your words are harsh, they ring true. What then, are you planning to do?” she questions me seriously. “You are quite the stranger in this realm. If you are not careful, you could be overwhelmed.”

“Trust me, I don’t need you to tell me that,” I remind her, recalling my desperate run through the woods. In addition, I’ve been told that this world is familiar with magic, has a pony civilization, and views my kind as if we are ancient history. I’m already overwhelmed. “Now then, I have a deal for you. I’ll share with you some more information in exchange for you answering a question of mine.”

“You need not worry about making a trade. As for information, that debt has already been paid,” Zecora attempts to assure me. “I will answer your question for free. This is a better solution, don’t you agree?”

“Absolutely not,” I tell her resolutely, not even needing to think about it. “I traded information about myself for treatment and food. Nowhere in the equation were you compelled to give information to me.”

“Once again, you prove difficult to persuade,” Zecora responded with a frustrated huff. “Why are you so insistent upon an even trade?”

“I don’t have to answer that. Now, are you interested in the deal or not?” I repeat, getting annoyed. 

Zecora looks as though she wants to protest some more, but then she sighs and nods. I then gingerly place my weight back on my legs and approach her. I reach my hand into my pocket and retrieve my phone for her to see. The zebra blinks and angles her head to get a better look at it. 

“You likely saw this when you were cleaning my clothes. Do you know what this is?” I begin. Zecora pauses, and then shakes her head. That confirms that ponies, assuming that Zecora isn’t a hermit with no technology, aren’t anywhere near the level of humanity as far as technological advancements go.  “This is what my kind refers to as a cell phone. It’s a device that allows us to talk to one another over long distances.”

“Ah, this is quite the advanced device! Ponies correspond mainly through post, which is not nearly as nice,” Zecora marvels, confirming my suspicions. At the most, ponies are in the early industrial era if they still rely on a postal service.

“That’s not all it can do. It also allows us to keep record of important dates and appointments, perform basic mathematical functions, watch movies, take measurements, and endless other functions,” I continue. I can’t help but feel proud at the way Zecora’s ears fold back and her eyes widen further. Regardless of how I feel about them, I can at least be proud of humanity’s technological accomplishments. Not that it did them a lot of good in the end. “Where I come from, these are pretty common sights. Nearly everyone had one.”

“My respect for the human race only continues to grow,” Zecora admits, peering closer at the phone. “Are there any functions that you would be willing to show?”

I flick on the screen, causing the zebra to recoil slightly from the sudden bright light. “Yes, but you wouldn’t understand any of it. I discovered when I looked at your books that although we share a spoken language, our systems of writing are completely different,” I reveal to her. I don’t understand how that’s possible, to be honest with myself. Then again, considering I don’t understand how in all of creation ponies learned to talk anyway, as their vocal chords just aren’t made for that.

Zecora gave me an apologetic look. “Such a thing had never crossed my mind. Merely some enjoyment for you, I had hoped to find. I apologize for leaving you to boredom without respite; for entertainment, you must have been desperate.”

“I don’t really care. Entertainment isn’t really at the forefront of my mind,” I tell her flatly. “More importantly, the fact that we share a spoken language in the first place seems impossible to me. Languages change over time, and from what you’ve said, humans have been gone for a while.”

“About your kind are mysteries galore; I don’t know the answer, but Twilight may know more,” Zecora admits, rolling her forelegs in a strange fashion. It takes me a moment to realize that I just saw the quadruped equivalent of a shrug. That aside, she just mentioned Twilight again.

“That leads me into the question I wanted to ask in the first place,” I say, returning my phone to my pocket. I’m not sure it was a good idea to show her my phone in the first place, but I don’t have anything else to offer. “Who is this Twilight you keep mentioning, and where can I find them?”

Zecora  raises an eyebrow, surprised at my odd choice of question. “Twilight Sparkle is a unicorn, in academics she does shine. I met her several months ago; she is a now a dear friend of mine,” she begins. 

My eye starts to twitch somewhat. I was right in assuming that Twilight is a scholar, but a unicorn? Seriously? Not for the first time, I wonder if any of this is for real. Maybe Sombra hit me harder than I thought, and I’m actually in a feverish coma.

“She resides just outside the forest in a town called Ponyville, in matters of magic, she possesses much skill. During her time in town, she has met with much success. She is also the personal student of the Solar Princess,” Zecora continues.

I try to make note of everything she says, but I’m only coming up with more questions. First of all, “Ponyville?” Everything I hear about this situation only grows more ridiculous by the second. Ponies living in Ponyville, princesses, and unicorns… I’m beginning to become convinced that I’m not in a feverish dream, but in a young girl’s feverish dream.

“Outside the forest, huh? Alright then. That means there’s no point in sticking around here any longer.” I grab my rifle from the nearby table, testing its weight with my arms. It’s nothing more than a glorified club at this point, but I’m not getting rid of it. I give a quick look around to make sure that I’m not leaving anything of mine behind, and then I head for the door without another word.

Zecora immediately moves to stand between the door and me, looking astonished. “Just where do you think you are going? In your condition, it would be dangerous to enter the forest unknowing!” she protests firmly. “It would be wise to take more time to heal, else more pain you will inevitably feel.”

I stare at her with a deadpan expression. “Thank you for telling me everything I already know,” I snap sarcastically, causing her to flinch. “I’m not your child; you have no obligation to look over me. I gave you the information you wanted; what I do from here is none of your business.”

Zecora looks hurt, but remains stubbornly in place. “It seems you have yet to learn; all I do for you has been out of honest concern,” she expresses to me with soulful eyes. My response is a derisive scoff.

“Don’t give me that. I don’t need your ‘concern,’ or whatever else you want to call it. I have no more information to give you,” I retort, my eyes narrowing. I step around her and grasp the handle, pulling the door open to reveal the forest. “Now if you’ll excuse me.”

The forest looks very different in the daylight. The leaves and foliage are a vibrant green, and the sun’s rays filtering down through the canopy makes for a beautiful sight. It doesn’t look nearly as threatening as it did the previous night.

Granted, compared to the forests I’ve been through before, it definitely looks odd, almost predatory. The plants and vines crawl over the rocks and trees as if devouring them, the trees are gnarled and twisted, and just like the previous night, I can feel something in the air:  a humming whose source I can’t quite place.

I take it back. This place is just as threatening as before. I find myself clenching my fingers tighter around my rifle.

Before me stretches the wide path I saw from the window earlier, stretching out into the distance. This must be where I need to go. I start down the path, wincing slightly. The bandages wrapped tightly around my body are feeling a little uncomfortable now that I’m out in the open air like this.

I hear hoofbeats behind me, causing me to groan. Zecora is following me, still refusing to give up, much to my annoyance. “Before you so rashly go, one last quiz. Do you know where the road to Ponyville is?” she questions with a hint of smugness in her tone.

“I’m assuming it’s at the end of this path,” I remark dryly, not even bothering to look at her. Judging from the silence behind me, I’m probably right. However, I can still hear her walking behind me. “Why are you still here?”

“The process of treatment is not yet finished. Should you fall on your own, I would feel diminished,” Zecora responds, and this time she definitely sounds smug. “Making you healthy was part of our deal. Surely reneging would not be ideal?”

I open my mouth to argue, but then realize that I can’t. She has a valid point on that, as much as I hate to admit it. It would not be fair to me if I gave her information, and then she just let me get hurt again. Ugh, I hate this, but I have to accept her presence for now. I remain silent, letting her continue to follow me.

After a few minutes of walking, I start to breathe heavily. I’m starting to realize that exerting myself so soon after waking up may not have been the best idea. Occasionally, I have to stop and rest against a tree so I can catch my breath. Before long, my side starts to ache.

Apart from our initial conversation Zecora and I have said nothing to one another. We’ve been walking in silence for a while now. This isn’t surprising; I have nothing else to say to her. My mind is focused on finding Twilight now. I will find out as much as I can about this world, and then I will find Sombra. That’s my only purpose in life now. I can think of nothing else.

“I do not mean to pry. You seem troubled; may I ask why?” Zecora finally asks, breaking the silence between us.

“Are you serious? Have you forgotten what and where I am? How could you even ask a question like that?” I demand incredulously, turning my head to glare at her.

Zecora shakes her head. “I have not forgotten your situation, you see. I am referring to your bitterness towards me,” she clarifies. Zecora’s words cause me to think for a moment. To be fair, she hasn’t done anything to me so far, but… I don’t think I have it in me to care. There’s no room in my current goal for anyone else.

“You may call it bitterness, but I don’t really care about you,” I correct her, an empty feeling forming in my chest. “You fed me and patched me up, and in return I gave you information. That’s as far as it goes. In case you were wondering, I’m not looking for friends: now or ever again.” 

Zecora remains silent in response to my ice cold response, visibly hurt. She looks back up at me with her dark eyes. I return my gaze to the front, satisfied that I’ve cleared up any further misunderstandings about our current relationship.

Several seconds later, I hear Zecora say something in a low, quiet voice. "No one can be an island, else the pain will soon get out of hand.” 

I don’t say anything in response. I want to scoff, but her words make me feel troubled. I shake my head wordlessly. I don’t have to worry about that. I’m only alive now to kill Sombra.

Nothing else matters.





The remainder of the journey to the edge of the forest is uneventful; we are disturbed neither by conversation nor the wildlife. I suspect Zecora has something to do with the latter, due to the fact that I’ll see her scattering drops of a strangely colored liquid from a bottle along the edges of the path. Immediately afterwards, I would hear the sounds of creatures fleeing through the underbrush. I suppose that cauldron, as well as all of those filled and labeled bottles, aren’t just for show.

When the trees finally thin out, the shadows have grown longer and the forest has grown darker. I’m glad we reached the edge of the forest now; I don’t relish another trip through here in the dark. Now, after a quick look at my phone, I can tell that it’s about six in the evening. Of course, this is assuming that my phone’s kept time is accurate.

Most importantly, I can get my first look at this world that I’m in now, at long last. However, when I step out of the woods, I stop in my tracks, frozen from shock. 

Rolling hills topped with lush green grass spreads into the distance as far as my eyes can see, the blades swaying and rustling in the gentle blowing wind. Just down the hill, there is a quietly flowing river wide enough to sail several yachts through. My eyes follow the river all the way to the silhouette of a gigantic mountain spire jutting straight up into the air, a long way out in the distance. 

On one side of the mountain is a cascading waterfall that I assume is the river’s source. Additionally, there is a magnificent white castle built into a plateau halfway up the mountain, giving the illusion that it is hanging from the side of the rock face. Even from here, the architecture takes my breath away.

Just beyond the river down below is a fairly large village constructed on a roughly round portion of land framed by the river on three sides. The buildings look to be constructed from white plaster and built with wooden frames and thatched roofs, similar to the style of early 19th century human dwellings. Cementing this assumption is the railroad running directly through the center of the village, as well as the way the village is organized.

There is a towering cylindrical structure with a spired red roof in the rough center of the town, and the buildings nearby are constructed in a circle around it, leaving an open area at its foundation. That must be the town square and that building must house the town’s leadership.

On the left side of the town just across the river is a series of trees arranged in an orderly fashion, like an orchard of sorts. Judging from the bright red dots I can make out from here, I can only conclude that those are apple trees. My only guess is that, considering that orchard is so large, apples are the primary agricultural product of this town.

I’m beginning to think my estimation that the ponies are in the early industrial period is true. In the village, I can’t see anything that would be commonplace in a human settlement. For example, there’s no sign of anything that looks like a power plant. There are no telephone poles, no power lines, no transformers, and certainly no radio towers. I can’t help but chuckle at the irony present in this situation. Sombra, inadvertently or not, sent me far into the future, yet it seems as though I am far into the past.

“I’m heading into town. I don’t need you to follow me any longer. You can consider your end of the deal upheld,” I say to Zecora firmly. I don’t want her following me into town.

Zecora nods, much to my relief. She dips her head slightly. “Goodbye, Seth, and be careful in the city. Many ponies may find you to be an oddity.” With that, Zecora turns and starts to plod back into the forest, sparing me one last look over her shoulder.

“Noted,” I respond tersely. I’m on my own now, and I have a task to accomplish. I don’t have the time to stand around and enjoy the sights. I begin my trek down the hill.

That being said, the scenery is beautiful, but it also doesn’t make sense. There’s absolutely no sign that there used to be a college here. Granted, the majority of it is underground, but it’s still disconcerting to see nothing but rolling hills where a metropolis should have been. I also don’t remember a mountain as high as the one in the distance being present anywhere near the college. There was Rainier Mountain, but that was more like a glorified hill where students would go to hike. 

I don’t see any ponies yet. I am least curious as to what one looks like, considering they supposedly rule America now. If they’re anything like Zecora, then they’re hardly different from humans. I hope they don’t rhyme like her. Zecora never would tell me why she insisted on doing that.

Crossing the river is easy enough. The ponies have constructed a bridge spanning its width. Walking on it reveals its sturdy construction, as it doesn’t even tremble beneath my weight. As I cross it, I glance down into the river below, noting the slender shapes of fish darting beneath the surface.

It isn’t long before I reach the outskirts of town. I pause momentarily, remembering Zecora’s words. I’m not sure how these ponies are going to react to me, and I’m not even sure how I’m going to react to them.

There’s nothing to think about. I don’t have any other options here than to just walk in and hope for the best. With that in mind, I step onto the smooth stone streets of Ponyville. I look around curiously, taking in the sights of the buildings around me. 

“..for the help. Will you be attending the Cake’s party in a few days?” 

“Flits, you know I’d never miss one. Pinkie parties are the greatest!”

I stop in place, hearing the sounds of two individuals talking to one another nearby. I plant my back against the wall of a nearby house and peer around the corner. There, I get my first look at a pony.

They look nothing like what I expected. Zecora, at least, is clearly recognizable as a zebra at first glance, despite the obvious visual differences. She had the typical white and black stripes, like any normal zebra. These ponies… throw conventional evolutionary reason out the window.

The coat of the first pony I look at is a vibrant shade of sky blue. Its mane is a lighter, pale blue and looks as though it has been personalized, complete with a pink bow on top of her head, similar to how women would style their hair in all sorts of different ways. Its mane falls down one side of its face and frames its extremely expressive face, which is currently smiling as it talks to the other pony.

The other pony is similarly colored, though its mane is messier and somewhat frizzy. They’re both talking about some party or another, but I don’t pay much attention to the content of their words. Instead, I derive from the timbre of their voices that they’re both female… or mares, if you will. 

“Right, well, I gotta skedaddle, or Rainbow is going to have my hide,” the messy maned pony remarks with a wry smile, turning the other direction. To  my surprise, two feathery wings unfurl from her flanks, and she takes to the skies. “Later, sis!”

“Bye, Cloud! See you tonight!” the other mare replies, waving after her.  A quick glance lets me know that she too possesses a pair of wings. So there’s unicorns, and now pegasi? This just gets more and more strange with every passing moment.

Before I can consolidate my thoughts, the remaining mare starts to walk in my direction. In a few moments, when she passes my hiding place, it would be difficult for her to miss my presence. This means that I no longer have any choice on when to reveal myself. It’s probably best that there’s only one pony to deal with.

“Hold up a second,” I call out to her, announcing my presence. I don’t walk out from behind the house just yet.

“Huh?” the mare pauses, her ears flicking at my voice. She looks around for the source, and adopts a worried expression when she doesn’t see anyone. “Is somepony there?”

“Yes, but I’m not exactly a pony,” I remark, trying to ignore her utter butchering of the word “someone.” “I want to ask you something.”

“Not a pony? What are you the...” the mare cuts off when she sees me walk around the corner. Her eyes widen and her jaw slowly drops, shock and wonder crossing her face.  “O-Oh.”

I stop a few paces away from her, making sure not to get too close. It probably wouldn’t be good for me if the first pony I met panicked and ran away. Surprisingly though, she doesn’t to be that scared. She seems more shy… and a little intrigued. 

The mare gulps and bravely walks up to me, brushing her mane out of her eyes with a hoof almost like a human girl would. “Are… you a human?” she stammers. I’m honestly surprised that she knows what I am. She doesn’t look like a historian. Are we that common knowledge?

“That’s right. I’m surprised you know that,” I respond, my tone even. Now that she’s this close to me, I notice how small she is. She can’t be taller than three feet, so her head reaches up to the middle of my chest. I also notice that she’s scared of me. Every slight movement I make causes her eyes to dart and her body to tremble. Yet she’s still here, talking to me. I have to hand it to her; she’s rather brave. “I’m assuming you’re one of the ponies I’ve heard so much about.”

“Well… yes, I am. I’m called Flitter. It’s very nice to meet you, sir,” the mare responds politely. I raise a brow at her use of the word ‘sir.’ Having the first pony I meet treat me with respect is more than I expected. “Everypony has at least heard of your kind. I never thought I’d actually meet one.”

“You’re being very calm about this,” I note curiously. “It doesn’t strike you as odd that I walk upright like this, in a world filled with quadrupeds?”

Flitter shakes her head. “I mean, I don’t see it very often, if that’s what you mean. But you aren’t the only species that walks on two legs,” she reveals to me as I listen with interest. Just how many other species are there that my appearance doesn’t shock her? In my era, any species other than us capable of speech would have caused quite the shock among our scientific community. “Um… what’s your name?”

“My name is Seth Rogers,” I explain to her. I have so many questions I want to ask her, but as it stands, I can’t ask information from her without giving some myself. “Tell you what; I’m in town looking for a pony in particular. If you tell me where I can find her, I’ll show you something cool.”

Flitter tilts her head to one side, her eyes wide with innocent curiosity. “Something cool?” She peers at the rifle that I’m still carrying with me. “Do you mean that stick you have?”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know what that is,” I assure her with a smirk. I can only imagine how this creature would react if I told her it was an extremely efficient instrument of death. I pull out my phone, using it once again as a means to get information. “Instead, I want to show you this. It’s human technology. Curious?”

Flitter nods, craning her head forward to sniff at it. Then, just like I did with Zecora, I settle down next to her and explain the phone’s basic functions to her. I even go a little further and show off some of the applications, such as the clock, the calculator, the calendar, and the like. The whole time, she seems enthralled.

I discover from her reactions that ponies also have a twenty four hour system of telling time, as well as a twelve month calendar that incorporates leap years. The similarities to human society is astonishing and rather improbable. Once more, I find myself curious exactly how much time has passed since humanity’s destruction. I have no idea where these ponies fit into the equation. Where did they even come from?

“That’s so amazing; you really are one of our precursors,” Flitter says with awe as I return my phone to my pocket. “Didn’t you want to ask me something?”

“Yes, actually. First though, I’m curious. Why do you even know about humans?” I question her first. Zecora stated that we were known to historians, but I didn’t realize I’d be recognized on sight.

“Oh, all foals are taught about them in school. A lot of our inventions are based off of human creations,” Flitter explains, confirming my earlier suspicions. That would explain why it feels like I’m in a human settlement, except with ponies. “We don’t actually know what you look like. We know you stood on two legs and were smaller than minotaurs… I just guessed when I saw you.”

“Good guess,” I comment, stuck on the fact that she referred to minotaurs as if they were real creatures. So much is being thrown at me ever since I woke up in the school; I think my head is going to explode.

Flitter looks somewhat sheepish as she continues. “There’s also a series of books about humans that are pretty good,” she reveals to me. I blink, and then I sigh. There’s no way anything in those books could be close to accurate.

“Interesting. Anyway, to get back on track, where can I find a pony called Twilight Sparkle?” I asked one more question than I intended to, but showing her the phone should technically entitle me to as many questions as I want.

Flitter seems to know that name, as she immediately answers. “Oh, Twilight? She’s our librarian, a pretty well known one. You can usually find her in her home in Golden Oaks Library.” She suddenly brightens up, as if getting an idea. “Oh, I’ll show you!”

“No, I’d rather you just tell me how to get there,” I interrupt before she can bound away. I’ve already talked to her longer than I should have. I don’t want her getting attached. The last thing I need are these ponies trying to be friends with me.

Flitter pauses in the middle of turning around, a sad look forming on her face. “But… why not? It’s not that far, and I’d love to show you around,” she whined, looking at me with wide, liquid eyes. I wince when I look at her. I didn’t realize these ponies could do the cute eyes, like a dog would when it gets in trouble. Unfortunately for her, that doesn’t work on me.

“I didn’t ask for a tour. I asked for directions,” I reply sharply. Now it was her turn to wince at the ice in my tone. “Now are you going to hold up your end of the deal or not?”

“Of course… but…” I fight the urge to groan; Flitter still looks as though she’s trying to argue. Stupid mare; you can’t just decide you’re going to do something and then get upset when it doesn’t happen. Especially when that thing involves another person. “Don’t you think that if you’re with me, other ponies will be quicker to accept you? I may have guessed what you are, but not everypony will.”

“You… have a point, I suppose,” I grudgingly admit. In the worst case scenario, the ponies would panic. However, accepting Flitter as a companion, even temporary, would just end up in her getting attached. Weighing my options, it’s clear which one is the best one. I let out an irritated sigh. “Fine. Lead the way.”

Flitter beams happily, and then she turns around and breaks into a trot, a visible spring in her step. I shake my head exasperatedly. I don’t see a reason for that to make her so happy, unless she’s hoping to show me off to her friends like a trophy. I grit my teeth as I come to that conclusion. Nothing I can do except deal with it, for now.

As she leads me further into the town, I begin to see more ponies. The first thing I notice is that Flitter isn’t the exception. Every single one of these ponies are just as brightly colored as she is. After only a few seconds of looking at them, I feel like I can pick out every single color and shade of the rainbow reflected in their coats and manes. The mishmash of color makes me eyes hurt just looking at it all. 

I don’t see how this makes evolutionary sense. Animals possess drab colors so that they don’t stick out of the landscape for predators to see them. Though, I guess it’s possible that these ponies have dyed themselves. I glance over at Flitter, but I can’t tell from looking at her whether or not her coat is dyed.

Additionally, I notice three different types of ponies. There are the ones with wings, like Flitter, which I going to call pegasi because I can’t help but think of the winged horse from Greek mythology. Then, there are those that possess short spiraled horns that look to be made from bone jutting from the tops of their heads. There’s no other name I can give them that would make more sense than unicorn. Lastly, there are the ponies that have neither wings nor a horn, and are the closest thing to the ponies I know from my era… apart from the ridiculous colors.

I also can’t help but notice that nearly every pony I see has a unique mark on their flanks. Even Flitter has one; hers in in the shape of three insectoid creatures that resemble dragonflies. What on earth does that mean?

I’m broken out of my thoughts when the first pony apart from Flitter notices my presence, it lets out a feminine gasp and points a hoof at me. As if someone had flipped a switch, the chatter in the streets dies down and nearly every pony nearby turns their gazes on me, their eyes wide with curiosity, wonder, and an ever-present hint of fear. 

Flitter coughs nervously, her gait growing less confident under all of those stares. I think that it’s because she’s with me that none of the ponies are panicking. Every time we draw close to a group of ponies, they quickly scatter to make room for us.

“Mommy, what is it?” 

“Shh, it can hear you…” 

My irritation returns in full force upon hearing that one exchange. Judging from the other quiet whispers I hear, it’s not the only one of the sort. Flitter squeaks, seeming to notice how I’m glaring out at the ponies.

“U-Um… so… if you’ll look over here…” Flitter interjects before I lose my temper. Glad for the distraction, I turn to see her pointing down one particular street, a forced smile on her face. “Down this way you’ll find Sugarcube Corner, where you’ll find a wide variety of sweets and desserts for sale!”

I notice that when she started speaking to me, the fear lessened in the eyes of the watching ponies. Oh, I see what she’s doing. “‘A variety of sweets?’ So I’m assuming that doesn’t just mean an array of sugarcubes?” I remark sardonically, remembering the typical horse treat in my era. Now all of the watching ponies look surprised. I don’t think they expected me to be able to talk.

Flitter shakes her head, her voice coming to her more easily now that we’re having a conversation. “Oh no, there’s much more than that. Everything from fudge to cakes, Sugarcube Corner has everything! I’d go more often, but…” Flitter pauses, looking with a blush back towards her flank. “All of that fat tends to go to my flank.”

I give her a cursory glance, noticing how slender she is. I don’t think there’s anything about her that could be considered “fat.”. “Don’t be stupid, go if you want. It’s not like you have any fat to lose,” I point out. I don’t have the patience for girls that talk like that, especially when they look as healthy as can be.

Although my words were spoken out of annoyance, Flitter looks really happy. “You think so?” she responds. I realize what I did a moment later and suppress a groan. Great… she’s only going to get more attached. I remain silent so I don’t make it any worse, but it looks like the damage has already been done. “Thank you!” 

One good thing about that exchange is that the other ponies seem to be relaxing. Chatter starts back up again and life resumes its normal course… or whatever normal is in a village like this.

I’ve come to the conclusion that these ponies are not that different from humans, in the way that they speak and act. The streets around me are evidence of this; the marked signs hanging from store windows, the tables and chairs set up outside what I assume are restaurants, the mailboxes planted beside the doors of every house; they all look as though they could have been created by us. One would think this would be reassuring. I feel differently. The downside of the ponies being similar to humans… is that they’re similar to humans. I’ll need to stay on my guard.

Flitter looks shyly at me as we walk. “Would… you want to grab a dessert from Sugarcube Corner later?,” she asks. I can’t help but sigh this time. I knew it. Thankfully, this provides me with an easy way to deal with that attachment problem. “It would be a great way to introduce you to the Cakes, as well as Pinkie Pie!”

I do my best to keep from raising an eyebrow. What kind of dessert would be called “Pinkie Pie?” I’ve never heard of a flavor like that. Either way, it’s not happening. “No, I would not,” I turn her down firmly.

“What? Why not? “ Flitter pleads, disappointment evident in her oversized eyes. “I promise you the desserts are delicious!”

“I’m not here for pleasure. I’m here to see Twilight, and nothing more. After I’m done here, you’ll probably never see me again,” I tell her flatly.

Flitter looks crushed. “You’re not coming back? But… I wanted to be fr-”

“Just stop. You’re getting on my nerves. I wouldn’t have the money to pay for my own dessert even if I did want one. So the answer is no, and that’s final,” I cut across her coldly. Flitter looks as though she wants to say something, but she decides better of it, instead lowering her head and nodding sadly. “Good. Now how much further to the library?”

“Just a little further…” Flitter responds listlessly. The spring in her step is gone now, and she’s hanging her head slightly. I nod, satisfied. She’d only feel worse if she got involved with me. I hear her then say in a quieter voice. “I would have paid for your dessert…”

I think about replying to that, but I decide not to. I’ve gotten my point across; I don’t need to rub salt in the wound.





Flitter comes to a stop at the end of a T-shaped intersection; the street continues forward ahead of me, and forks off to my left. “We’re here! Just down the street is Gold Oaks Library,” the mare announces. “Twilight should still be in; she doesn’t leave her home that often this late in the evening.”

I look in the direction she’s indicating. From here, all I can see is a row of buildings, with the branches of a large tree towering over the rooftops. I don’t see anything that looks like a library. “What, next to the tree?” I question.

Flitter giggles and shakes her head. “No, it is the tree,” she corrects me.

I nod dumbly. “Right, it is the tree.” It takes me a few seconds to realize what she just said. I turn my head to her with a deadpan expression. “What.”

The mare seems to find this incredibly amusing for some reason. “Just go take a look, you’ll see,” she promises me. I huff in annoyance; that tells me nothing.

“I guess I will,” I grunt. There’s nothing left for me to do here. Without wasting any time, I break away from Flitter and head for the left street, where the library supposedly is. 

“Hey,” Flitter calls after me. I pause and turn my head to see her standing a few paces away, gazing at me with hesitant eyes. I say nothing, waiting for her to continue. “It was nice meeting you.”

Without another word, I turn back forward and continue on my way. The next time I look back, Flitter is gone. No doubt she headed back into town.

I turn the corner and navigate towards the extremely large tree at the end of the street. Once I’m close enough to make out its features, I understand what Flitter was talking about. Similar to Zecora’s hut, there’s a house built into the wide trunk. 

It looks as though there’s at least two floors, as there are two layers of circular glass windows. In the upper branches, there’s a wooden balcony with a telescope on top and an entrance into the upper floors. Finally, a bright red door made for ponies is set directly into the front.  

I have no way of knowing whether or not this is Golden Oaks Library, due to the fact the sign hanging beside the door is written in… I guess the language would be called Equestrian. I suppose there’s only one way to find out.

Just as I’m taking my first steps towards the treehouse, the door slams open. “..great, I’ll see you there! Whee!” a bright pink blur zooms out of the entrance so fast I can’t keep track of its trajectory. Before I can react, something barrels into my chest at top speed, knocking me over. “Whoop!”

“Aaah!” I cry out in agony as I hit the ground, pain exploding from my side as though someone had just hit me with a sledgehammer. The suffering is so intense that I can’t move. I breathe in frantically in an attempt to catch my breath, but end up inhaling dirt in the process, causing me to hack and cough violently.  I’m scared to look at the bandage on my side. “F-Fuck!”

“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry! I just have so much to do, what with the upcoming super awesome party hosted by yours truly, and all the deliveries I still have yet to do that I can’t be late for, I just didn’t see you there…” 

Whoever it is that’s apologizing to me has the most annoyingly high-pitched voice I’ve ever heard. She’s also talking a mile a minute, the words practically gushing from her mouth like a waterfall. I ignore her at first, using my rifle to steadily rise back to my feet. My side is afire with white hot pain and feels warm; I really hope it hasn’t started bleeding again.

She just won’t stop. The pony talking possesses a bright pink coat and a darker pink mane that is impossibly frizzy. Her eyes are a light blue, and the mark on her flank is of three balloons. The moment she sees what I am, she lets out a loud over-exaggerated gasp, her body physically lifting into the air in a seemingly impossible manner. A wide grin stretches across her whole face, and then she immediately starts to gush words again.

“..never seen anything like you, which must mean you’re a new species the world has never seen! How exciting! Ooh! I nearly forgot. If I’ve never seen anything like you that means you haven’t been around for long, and that would mean you wouldn’t have any friends,  which means I can…”

She talks so fast and so high-pitched, a headache starts to form in my head. My patience wears thinner and thinner, until finally I snap. “Jesus Christ, shut up!” I yell loud enough to be heard over her inane rambling. Not only does she stop mid-sentence, but every other pony nearby looks shocked speechless. I give the pink pony a withering glare. “Can’t you stop talking for one second and get some damn perspective!? I could care less about your ‘super awesome party’ or whatever nonsense you were talking about when you may have just reopened that wound in my side!” 

My voice has risen to a shout at that point, causing the pony’s ears to flatten and her expression to turn distraught. My right hand is clenched tightly to my side, hoping that no real damage was done. 

The pink pony’s eyes trail down to the bandages on my side, and understanding dawns in her eyes. Her expression looks genuinely apologetic after that, her hoof brushing at the ground nervously. “Oh… I’m so sorry… I didn’t realize that…” she tries to say, but just hearing her voice is enough to irritate me again.

“If you’re so sorry, then just keep quiet and get out of my way. I don’t have time for this,” I interrupt her once more. Bracing myself on a nearby wall, I limp past her and head for the library, leaving the annoying pony behind.

> 4. Memories of Another Time (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A shroud of silence falls over the street after my encounter with the bright pink pony. Some of the ponies that had been nearby scattered at the sound of my raised voice, while the remainder are looking at me with fear and anger, as opposed to the fear and wonder I was getting earlier. I wonder if yelling at that pony is what made them angry?

I glance back towards where the pony had run into me to see that she’s gone. There’s no sign of her no matter where I look. Was that pony someone that the other townsfolk are fond of? If so, that would explain the glares I’m getting now. I suppose I should thank her. It makes my job easier if I don’t have ponies trying to be friendly all the time.

More importantly, I check my side. It’s throbbing painfully, as though I’m being repeatedly struck with a hammer. I sigh in relief once I determine that I’m not bleeding hard enough to soak through the bandages. I’d be furious if that damned pony had injured me again. I don’t know if these ponies have a decent medical system. If anything, it would be similar to early industrial medicine. I wince; if that’s true, then I am extremely lucky to have found an herbalist to treat me. 

Now, I should move on to the task at hand. Ahead of me is the large tree house. Now that I’m this close, I notice that the sign hanging beside the door has a smaller image of a stack of books. There’s no question; this is the library.

Just as I start to approach the tree, the door opens to reveal a normal pony with a brown coat. This one looks noticeably different from the other ponies I’ve seen so far in that it’s larger and its muscles are more pronounced. Additionally, its jaw is rougher and squarish. Is this what a stallion looks like in this world?

“Thanks for the help, sir. Do give my regards to Twilight, will you?” the pony calls back into the library. Sure enough, his timbre is instantly recognizable as male. He sounds remarkably well spoken as well, each of his words articulated clearly. The stallion traipses out from the threshold with a pleased expression. I also notice that he’s wearing a set of saddlebags similar to what humans would use to store cargo for long distances. Inside of them are the books that I assume he just checked out. He swings his head forward. “What a nice young lad!”

The stallion opens his eyes to see me standing to the side of the street ahead and to his right, my curious eyes resting on him. He slows down stops dead in place, his jaw falling open. “My word, is that a… oh dear, how fascinating,” he emits with awe, stepping somewhat closer.

“Do I look like some kind of zoo exhibit? Turn your gaze,” I respond irritably. I don’t appreciate how he seems to be regarding me like some sort of exotic animal. If anything, that’s how I should be viewing him, if I had the time or desire.

He jumps, startled at my sudden speech. He dips his head apologetically. “Oh, pardon me, I did not mean to offend. I’ll just get out of your way,” he retracts hastily, and then he breaks into a canter, moving around me and out of sight.

I approach the still open door next, glad to be rid of the interruption. This place doesn’t look that big for a library, so I’m hoping there won’t be any more ponies getting in my way. Judging from what the stallion said, however, there’s likely two ponies in there.

There’s also no way to ease myself into the introduction like I did with Flitter, so there’s no point in hesitating. I ignore the hint of dread that I’m feeling and step through the door. I have to duck to avoid hitting my head on the door frame, due to it being made for ponies about half my size.

I close the door behind me, and then I get my first look at the inside of the library. Just like Zecora’s hut, the room appears to have been carved directly into the inside of the trunk. Unlike Zecora’s hut, however, the surfaces appear to be smoothed and polished, making the risk of splinters almost non-existent.

Shelves stocked full of books of varying colors and thicknesses are set into the walls all along circumference of the room. Paper tabs jut out from between books at regular intervals. I can’t read the text on them, but it’s easy to figure out that they’re used to organize or categorize the books for ease of use.

The shelves are probably pretty high by pony standards, but the top shelf only rests about a foot or two above my head, such that I can easily reach it with my arm. 

Directly in the center of the room is a table carved from a stump that was likely once the heartwood of the tree. Surrounding it are six blue cushions to be used as seats, I assume. On top of the table is a large horsehead idol carved from a different type of wood, appearing lighter in color than the rosy wood surrounding me. The surface of the table and idol both are spotless, devoid of any blemishes or dust. In fact, the same could be said for the rest of the room. It’s immaculately clean.

Looking up, I notice the expansive mural of a blazing golden sun stretching across the majority of the ceiling. I remember Zecora mentioning something along the lines of a “Solar Princess.” I wonder if that and this mural are connected in some way. Come to think of it, I’m certain that’s the case. Zecora told me Twilight was the personal student of the Solar Princess. What would someone so important be doing out here in the country?

I take a few steps forward, continuing to look around the interesting interior. Whether or not I care for ponies, their architecture gives me the feeling that I’ve walked into a fantasy, and it’s spectacular.

There’s a flight of stairs that curves inward and climbs up the far wall, leading to a second floor. Just behind the stairs, I notice an open archway that leads to a kitchen that looks surprisingly modern, given my assumption of pony technology.

The sound of a book hitting the floor startles me out of my thoughts. I look around to find a most peculiar sight. Standing at the corner made between the stairs and the wall is a purple creature standing on two feet, complete with green spikes climbing up its back. It looks reptilian in nature due to the scales lining its body, but it doesn’t look like any reptile I’ve ever seen. What on earth is that?

The lizard widens its eyes, and its jaw drops in horror, leading me to believe that this creature is also sapient. Its claw is open and trembling, the book resting open on the floor just beneath it. Unlike the ponies in the street, the lizard shows nothing but fear for me.

Before I can say anything, the lizard scrambles up the stairs at a breakneck pace. “Aaaah! Twilight, there’s a monster in the library!” it screams in a panicked young male voice, confirming my suspicions about its sapience. This world just never ceases to confuse me. 

“Give me a break… I should be saying that to you,” I grumble, resting my face in my palm. After all, he looks more monstrous than I do. I stand still with my hands in my pockets, waiting for the lizard to return with Twilight.

The door to the second floor slams open and a pony mare bursts out, leaping down the stairs and transfixing me with a determined glare. The horn on her head lights up a bright magenta. It gives me an ominous feeling, so I try to distance myself from her, but I find that I’m completely unable to move.

“What the…” I grunt and strain, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t even so much as twitch a muscle. I then realize that I am completely encompassed in the same magenta aura that’s shimmering around her horn. Is she doing this?

She has to be. I remember Zecora telling me that Twilight was skilled in magic. Assuming this is Twilight, she must be using magic to immobilize me. I can’t help but have flashbacks to the spell I saw Sombra casting in the stairwell of my school.

I feel strange. All of the hairs on my body are standing on end, goosebumps forming on my flesh. I feel the air humming all round me, as if it was charged with static electricity. Additionally, I feel a strange pressure in my chest that hadn’t been there before, emanating directly from the center of my torso.

Because I’m completely unable to move, I focus on the pony in front of me instead. Like the other ponies I’ve seen, her coat isn’t a natural color, being a shade of soft lavender. Her mane and tail are a deep blue, with two regular stripes of purple and magenta running through them. Her orderly mane is groomed and curls around one side of her head to rest neatly on her neck. Her large violet eyes are fixed on me in a glare that quickly turns to surprise and awe once she gets a clear look at me.

“That’s… that’s not a monster, Spike, that’s a human! I can’t believe it!” Twilight gasps, a wide smile slowly forming on her face. The lizard, whom she addressed as Spike, peeks out from behind her, looking no less afraid.

“What’s a human? How can you tell?” Spike questions, his voice still trembling.

“It’s easy! Humans are bipedal and have thinner skeletal structures than a standard minotaur, but don’t have curved spines and elongated skulls like the diamond dogs do, so this has to be a human!” Twilight analyzes me with a single look before I can even think of a response. She looks up at me, addressing me directly. “Are you intelligent? Can you talk?”

I try to move my mouth and find that I can. “Yes, now that you’ve given me a chance to get a word in edgewise,” I snap, causing the both of them to flinch. “Is this how you treat all of your guests? I don’t exactly feel very welcome.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I just reacted when Spike yelled,” Twilight apologizes quickly, and the glow from her horn dies away. I grunt uncomfortably as I feel the magic dissipate, my muscles tensing up instinctively now that they’re free to move. The pressure in my chest also fades away, so I put it out of my mind, assuming that was an effect of the magic.

“Well how was I supposed to know? All the two legged things I’ve seen haven’t exactly been friendly,” Spike retorted defensively. “I still don’t know what a human is.”

“Ask your friend later; I didn’t come here to be gawked at like an animal on exhibit.” An edge creeps into my voice, revealing my growing irritation to the two of them.

“Yes of course, I’m sorry,” Twilight apologizes again, her ears folding back. “But can I ask you one tiny little question?”

“What?” 

“I am correct about you being a human, right?” Twilight questions nervously. I give her a nod of confirmation, much to her relief. Her smile reappears and widens, and the mare bounces up and down on the tips of her hooves. “This is so exciting! I thought you were all extinct! There have been no humans in Equestria for over three thousand years!”

“Don’t get too excited; I’m not here to ease your scientific curiosity,” I warn her. Then, her words register in my mind. My breath catches in my throat, and my blood runs cold. “Wait. Humans haven’t been seen in how long?”

“Three thousand! You’re the oldest civilization we know of, dating all the way back before early pony civilization. Yet you’re also the most influential, because…” Twilight pauses when she sees my shaking shoulders. She tilts her head. “Are you okay?”

Everything is starting to fall into place in my mind. King Sombra sent me to the future; that much is undeniable. However, I was wrong in assuming that it had only been eighty years. Humanity fell in eighty years or more, but it’s been much longer than that. Three thousand years...that’s such a staggering number. Not only does that explain why my old college looked like an ancient ruin, but it also explains why the landscape is so drastically different than I remember. Zecora was right… humans, and everything we were… are really nothing but dust now.

I back up, leaning on the table in the center of the room. My mind is rebelling against this entire situation. How am I supposed to deal with this? Two days ago, my biggest worry was recovering from poor performance on my last exam. Now I’m the only living human three thousand years in the future.

I resist the urge to break something. Once again, I question how any of this is fair. What is the point of me standing here, in Equestria, right now? Why did Sombra send me here in the first place? Why in god’s name did it have to be me?

“Um… sir?” Twilight stepped a bit closer, looking at me with confusion. When she still doesn’t get an answer, she swallows and tries a different tack. “Where did you come from? Are there still humans hiding away somewhere?”

“No,” I tell her in a low voice. I thought I would be more upset by this. I thought that I’d feel something more about the fact that I’ve left everything I’ve known far behind. Instead, I just feel a dull emptiness. The only other emotion I feel is a burning rage deep inside of me that’s been steadily growing, directed towards this whole situation, and Sombra himself. “There’s no humans left. It’s just me… and don’t look at me like that, I didn’t ask for it.”

The moment I said I was the last human, Twilight’s eyes grew wide and she started to look at me with sympathy, which is what prompted me to snap at her. An awkward silence falls between us. Eventually, Spike starts to sidle away.

“I’m… just gonna go make some tea,” he stammers, and then he zips into the kitchen so fast he leaves a dust cloud behind.

Twilight brightens up at that. “That’s a wonderful idea! You must have come to me for a reason; why don’t you share your story with me over a warm cup of tea?”

I rub my chin, considering her offer. I have no interest in sharing anything with her, but I’m not stupid enough to think I can get anything out of her without doing something in return. I don’t necessarily care for tea, but I am thirsty.

“Do whatever you want. I just have a few questions I want to ask you,” I answer her finally, crossing my arms. 

“Great! I have a multitude of questions I want to ask you as well! Oh, this is going to be so much fun!” The apathy in my voice doesn’t seem to faze her; instead, Twilight just beams and turns the other direction, her tail brushing the table as she went. “Come on, I’ll lead you to the kitchen.”

I wordlessly follow Twilight into the doorway behind the stairs, getting my first look at the kitchen. As I noted before, the technology here seems to much more modern than I originally anticipated. The reason I say that is due to the large refrigerator tucked into one corner of the room. It looks similar to one I’d see in a typical human household. Yet, that implies that ponies are further than the industrial era. Refrigeration in homes wasn’t achieved until the early twentieth century.

Confused, I continue to observe the room. A counter stretches out from the refrigerator, complete with drawers, overhanging cabinets, and a dual sink. Beside that what looks suspiciously like an electric stove, complete with dials. I spot a toaster as well on top of the counter, along with a coffee maker.

To further compound my increasing confusion, there’s one extra anomaly that all of these appliances share: each of them has a translucent, faintly luminescent orb made of a material I can’t identify set into where their circuitry should be. Additionally, there are no LCD displays on any of these devices, unlike a modern kitchen. Furthermore, the toaster and coffeemaker I notice don’t have any cords. I finally have to admit that pony technology makes no sense to me. Do these appliances use something other than electricity as a power source?

Spike stands atop a wooden footstool beside the stove, where he is no doubt brewing the aforementioned tea. A dark green kettle rests on the stove in front of him, steaming gently from the spout. He gives a lazy wave to Twilight as she enters with me. “The tea is almost done!” he announces.

Twilight nods and leads me to a decently sized table made of a lighter shade of wood. Seven stools are situated around it, one of which Twilight sits down in. As far as I can see, only she and this lizard live here, so the number of stools seems rather excessive to me. Either way, I lean my rifle against the wall and then take a seat across from her without waiting for an invitation.

The table is a little low, but not so low that I’d struggle to eat from it. Glancing at Twilight reveals that our sitting height is relatively the same, give or take a few inches. That’s likely because half of my height comes from my legs; Twilight can sit on her haunches like that and maintain most of her own height.

I look back to Twilight. An infinite maelstrom of questions concerning pony civilization and technology rages in my head. I’m curious, but none of the answers are relevant in the end. They won’t help me find Sombra.

Twilight coughs nervously beneath my focused gaze. “Could I start by learning your name?” she requests, trying to push past the awkward silence between us.

“Seth Rogers,” I respond curtly. That much I can give her. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Rogers,” Twilight returns happily with a  nod and a smile. She offers her hoof out for me to shake. “I’m Twilight Sparkle.”

I eye her outstretched hoof with veiled surprise. That looks like she’s asking for a handshake, but that doesn’t make sense to me. Handshakes are human, and were supposedly invented as a means of showing another that an individual was unarmed. The fact that she’s offering that to me suggests that at one point in pony history, they were capable of wielding weapons in their hooves.  Looking at the underside of her hoof, there’s nothing to suggest a gripping mechanism of any kind.

Twilight’s smile falters when I don’t make any indications of accepting her hoof. She withdraws her hoof and gives a nervous laugh. “So… you said you had some questions to ask me?”

“You first,” I decide, crossing my arms. It would be best to take care of that first. I don’t intend on staying long once she’s helped me determine where Sombra can be found. 

“Are you sure? I uh… I have a lot of questions,” Twilight admits with a sheepish grin. A moment later, I hear the kettle whistle as the water inside reaches a boil. Spike leaps down from the stool he’s standing on and carries a tray of delicate porcelain cups over to us. Once he gets close enough, the tray is encompassed by a magenta glow and lifts itself out of Spike’s claws.

I watch with interest as Twilight levitates the tray onto the table without any sign of strain, her horn glowing the same shade of magenta. Magic indeed… scientists could never do something like that without the use of an exterior force, and certainly not to that degree of precision. The tray never even wobbled once.

“I obviously won’t let you keep me for very long,” I retract. I don’t miss the look of disappointment that briefly flashes on her face. I realize I’m being vague about that, so I decide to be more specific. “Three topics. That’s all you can ask me about.”

“Only three? Can’t I persuade you to raise that to maybe five? Or seven? Ten?” Twilight can’t help but protest that, though I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s not hard to tell what kind of person she is. “...Twenty-three?”

“Absolutely not. I’m being more than generous already, considering I only have one question that I particularly need answered,” I cut across her firmly before she can try to raise that number to even more absurd heights. Twilight’s resulting disappointment is so visible that I could swear I’m looking at a dog whose food was just eaten in front of it. “Besides, you didn’t get a scholar or an engineer. I’m a student. I’ve done my fair share of reading, but all I can give you is random facts at the most.”

“I understand that, but what I’m most interested in is your culture and society. You said you were a student? Already that raises scores of questions about your educational system that only you could answer!” Twilight argues, her rump practically bouncing in her seat. She proceeds to give me a pleading expression, her eyes wide and liquid. “What if I offer to answer some questions about pony society? Can I have at least five topics? Please?”

“I bet you just want to write a book on what I tell you and get rich,” I point out, unmoved by her vain attempts to be cute. “What other reason would you have to ask me so many questions?”

“Write a book? I suppose I could, but first and foremost, I want to learn from you. You possess a veritable wellspring of potential knowledge that I’d love to research, and nothing would make me happier. That’s my reason!” Twilight at first looks taken aback by my cynicism, but it isn’t long before she’s excited again, leaning over the table somewhat.

I don’t buy that for a second. If I’m truly a precursor race about whom little is known, then anything I tell her would be worth a great deal. As if I’d really believe that she just wants to learn for learning’s sake when it comes to humanity.

“I’d just tell her what she wants to know, buddy. Otherwise she’ll just chase you around,” Spike chimes in with a wry grin, hopping up on a stool beside the two of us. He withers beneath the glare that I send his way.

“I don’t remember asking for your input,” I snap at him, irritated at the interruption. I then turn my stare back onto Twilight. “You get four. That’s all I’m willing to give. If you ‘chase me around’ like your lizard friend said, it will not end well for you.”

“Hey, I’m a dragon!” Spike protests indignantly. Upon hearing that, I glance at him in shock, taking in his features once more. It’s true that he looks nothing like any lizard I’ve seen, but these ponies also don’t look like any pony I’ve seen. My skeptical thoughts are stifled when Spike opens his mouth and spits a mild tongue of green flame into the air that swiftly fizzles out. 

I try to sort out this new information in my head. Ponies, pegasi, unicorns, minotaurs, diamond dogs, zebras, and now dragons? Just how many new sapient species am I going to discover? It’s almost as though mythology is coming to life before my eyes.

Twilight sighs sadly. “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything of the sort. I’ll respect your decision.” Thankfully, she seems to have gotten the idea that I’m in no mood to be interrogated.

With her levitation magic, Twilight lifts the kettle and pours the still steaming tea into each of the three cups. The liquid is a greenish brown and doesn’t look very appetizing. Contrary to that visual assessment, it smells pleasantly of citrus.

Once she’s finished, Twilight and Spike take their respective cups, the former with her levitation and the latter with a claw. I notice them looking at me, so I reach for the third cup. It’s smaller than what I’m used to, but the handle is wide enough to encompass my whole hand. It seems as though this handle was made for hooves.

I take a tentative sip of the drink and find that it tastes similar to how it smells. It’s just sweet and fruity enough to be appealing. It also leaves an earthy aftertaste in my mouth once the citrus fades away. I smack my lips with surprise. I’ve never tasted a tea quite like this. What sort of plants did the manufacturers use to make this?

Once I’ve sampled the beverage, I set the cup down and stare at Twilight. “Go ahead and start asking. Best get this out of the way sooner rather than later,” I tell her. Despite how uncaring my words are, it’s like I flipped a switch. Twilight’s excitement returns with full force.

“Yes, of course! Give me one moment, I’ll be back in a flash!” Twilight’s horn lights up and then she winks out of existence with a magenta flash of light and a minor burst of ethereal wisps swirling in the air where she once sat.

I blink, at a loss. What did I just witness? One moment she was there, and then she was gone. Spike doesn’t seem perturbed at all by her sudden disappearance, either, so I suppose this is another magical ability she’s capable of?

A moment later, Twilight reappears back in her stool with a similar burst of light. Before the light fades, an assortment of notebooks, parchment, inkwells, and quills arrange themselves on the table. Twilight quickly lifts a quill, unscrews the top of an inkwell, and dips said quill inside, all with her dextrous levitation. 

This is too much. First immobilization, then levitation, and now teleportation? Everything she does defies every known law of physics that I’ve ever studied. What else is this one unicorn capable of? 

“First, I want you to tell me if any of these facts are wrong. This is a summary of the knowledge I have on humans,” Twilight begins, opening up a notebook on her left. Inside, as she flips through it, I see pages and pages of carefully written notes, though I can’t read any of it. “Humans are an upright sapient species equipped with dextrous extremities and opposable thumbs, allowing them to create small, yet infinitely complex technological constructs retaining a great deal of data,” Twilight begins, talking faster as she relates all of this information to me. “Judging from detailed studies of the human skeletal structure, it’s been determined that they are omnivores, and appear to be physically weaker than the average minotaur when compared side by side. These observations led us to conclude that humanity must possess some less evident means of evening the odds in their favor.”

Twilight just isn’t stopping. She flips through her notes rapidly, talking so fast that it’s difficult to understand everything she says. However, everything she’s describing seems to be spot on. She knows far more about humans than I do about ponies.

“That’s how we came to the conclusion that humans must have access to some manner of offensive magic in order to ward off more physically fit predators. We hypothesize that the magical core is located within either the skull or the bony center of the ribcage, as both areas possess sufficient bone density and proximity to the rest of the body to support such.” Now, Twilight dips into the subject of magic, and half of what she says means nothing to me. I’m not entirely sure what a magical core is supposed to be, but I do know that she’s wrong. “Therefore, I’d be very interested in…”

“Stop,” I say, holding up a hand as if to halt the flood of words coming towards me. Twilight pauses and blinks with a bemused expression. “You’re talking so fast that even if I wanted to tell you something, I wouldn’t be able to.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Twilight giggles sheepishly, adjusting her bangs with a hoof. “I just got so excited to share all of this with you, the first human in Equestria in three millennia!”

“Gee, I never would have guessed.” The sarcasm practically drips from my words, causing Twilight to look even more sheepish. Beside her, Spike is snickering behind a claw. “Also, you’re wrong.”

“I am?” Twilight’s eyes go wide, and then she frantically flips through her notebook, her quill at the ready. It’s rather surreal to watch, as she’s doing it all with her telekinetic abilities. “About which facet? Oh, I was sure I researched everything correctly…”

“Stop freaking out. It’s not just you that’s wrong. You’re all wrong. Humans don’t have magic,” I finally correct her, rubbing my forehead. I wish Zecora had warned me that Twilight would be so neurotic. It’s giving me a headache. “We never have.”

“What? But all evidence seems to support that theory! Multiple scientists have all come to this same conclusion!” Twilight protests. She zips from the table and returns in a flash with a stack of books that she pulled from the main room. The tea cups rattle as she plonks them all down on the table at once. “Here’s where I got my sources, you’ll see that…”

“Put those books away. I couldn’t care less about what your scientist ponies have said,” I interrupt her again, my irritation starting to show in my voice. “Why are you trying to argue with me anyway? I am a damned human; are you trying to suggest you know more about my kind than I do?”

Twilight’s ears flatten, chastened by my words. “Oh no, I’m sorry. It’s just that if you never had magic, then that would disprove a long held theory. Not to mention, hundreds of textbooks would have to be recalled. I can imagine the archaeology and science departments would have to completely alter their approach...” she explained hastily. 

“I get the picture,” I interject wryly. This has to be the wordiest person I’ve ever met, the fact that she’s a pony notwithstanding. I notice that she’s now scribbling in her notebook, the quill scratching audibly on the parchment. “You’re right, we were physically weaker than our predators. So we improvised with our intellect, using the environment to our advantage to craft weapons and armor that steadily rose in complexity as time went on. To put it simply, our society was built on science and technology, not magic.”

Twilight nods and scribbles furiously, writing down everything I say and then more. Once she’s done, she lifts up the quill. “Science… so you’re referring to electricity and machinery, correct?” she questions.

“This is your second topic,” I tell her calmly, sipping from the cup of tea some more.

Twilight bristles at that. “What? No it isn’t! This all part of one singular branching topic; the verification of my research!” she protests. 

“You wanted to know about our nonexistent magic and our technology. Those are two different topics,” I argue back, setting down the tea and transfixing her with a stare. 

Twilight stubbornly shakes her head. “No, those are two different questions, all pertaining to the topic of my research. You said four topics, not four questions,” she reasons.

“That is what you said,” Spike agrees with her, the little dragon having just finished his tea.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I groan. I can’t believe this damned pony just used the wording of our agreement against me. 

“Hey, it’s your fault for being vague,” Spike remarks. “If there’s a loophole, Twilight will find it.”

“Spike!” Twilight chastises the dragon with a scandalized expression. As much as this makes me angry, I can’t argue with it. I did specifically use the word “topics.” I mentally berate myself for slipping up like that. 

“Fine, whatever,” I give in with bad grace. “To answer your question, yes, I am referring to electricity and machinery. I’m surprised you know about all of that. I haven’t seen anything electrical since I arrived.”

“Of course! Most of our technology is based off of yours, who came before us. We’ve discovered some of your technology deep in human ruins. Unfortunately, what we find is usually too deteriorated to be of much use, but we have managed to reverse engineer some of it and integrate it into our existing magical constructs,” Twilight explains excitedly. I nod, finding that to make sense. That would explain why Ponyville looks very similar to a human settlement. “We have managed to recreate electricity, but it’s a costly avenue of research that requires a great deal of natural resources and infrastructure. Because of that, only the richer ponies can afford to use it. After all, we have magic as a power source, and it’s infinitely more cost-effective than electricity, as we produce it within our own bodies.”

“I see. That explains why none of your appliances have any cords.” My gaze travels over to the appliances in question. Judging from what she’s telling me, those run on magic. I suppose that explains the glowing orb set into each of them. This raises a lot more questions, however, such as how magical energy is stored and what materials are necessary to store and use magic. I’m also curious if there’s magical circuitry that works similar to electric circuitry. “Now, do you have any further questions about our technology that relate to your research? I don’t want to be here all night, so make them quick.”

“Yes! I’d like ask you more about human technology as well as your development over time; for example, we know you possessed computing technology, but our discoveries hint at…”

“Twilight!” I interrupt. She closes her mouth, looking a bit put out. “What did I just say?”

“That you didn’t want to be here all night,” Twilight repeats, the mare blushing with embarrassment. “Okay, I’ll move onto my second topic. I’m… actually a little nervous about asking this.”

“What?” I ask with suspicion. At first I think she’s going to ask me about human mating habits or something equally disturbing, but then after looking at her face, I notice that she’s starting to sweat a little, a hint of fear entering her eyes.

“I know you’re omnivorous, but… what sorts of… um… food do you eat?” Twilight timidly asks.

“Not ponies, if that’s what you’re asking,” I tell her dryly, picking up the meaning of her question. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why her mood suddenly changed. Sure enough, her sigh of relief is clearly visible. “Let me guess, you’re all strictly herbivores?”  

When Twilight nods, it’s my turn to sigh. I like my greens as much as the average person, but I also greatly enjoyed meat such as hamburger and the like. If I’m suddenly living in a world of vegetarians, I’ll have no choice but to adapt, because I know nothing about hunting. Plus, I’m pretty sure hunting wouldn’t be viewed well here. I’ll have to make sure I can get a decent source of iron and protein. 

“Look, it’s really not important. I’ve eaten meat before, but if it isn’t readily available, I’ll adapt as best I can to your diet,” I tell her impatiently. 

“That’s a relief. The other omnivorous species we know of aren’t that friendly,” Twilight responded, wiping her brow with a hoof. It’s weird to see all these human mannerisms coming from a pony. “Now then, how many times do you eat a day? Are there social aspects to eating together? How about...”

I mentally groan, realizing exactly what I’ve gotten myself into. Twilight’s thirst for knowledge is insatiable. She continues to ask me more and more branching questions, to which I respond with short, clipped answers. Eventually, I have to push her to move onto the next topic.

She asks me next about our educational system, as she remembered that I called myself a student. It’s a harmless topic, so I proceed to tell her about the different levels of education, starting from primary school all the way up to college and graduate school. Twilight fervently writes down everything I tell her, filling up several pages worth of notes. 

I also learn a bit about pony education. They have colleges like we do, though they’re mostly free except for the room and board, and are generally only available in the larger cities. Other than that, they have varying levels of schooling depending on the town. Once they come of age, the ponies choose whether or not to start work or go to a university. All in all, it seems like a simpler educational system than ours, though it sounds just as hard. 

“You seem awfully willing to share details about your civilization to me,” I can’t help but point out after we finished talking about education. I never asked for her to give me all of this information on pony society.

Twilight beams. “Certainly! You don’t seem to understand; if you’re the first human we’ve ever met, that makes what we’re doing right now similar to a cultural exchange! We’re sharing information with one another about each other’s respective species!”

“It would only be considered a cultural exchange if there were other humans that would learn from this,” I remind her coldly, causing her smile to drop from her face. “In case you’d forgotten, it’s just me. Once I’m gone, humans are just going to go back to being extinct.”

Once more, Twilight’s enthusiasm is snuffed out, and she lowers her head apologetically, her ears drooping. “I know you said you didn’t ask for it, but I’m sorry nonetheless. Everything about your kind is so fascinating and wondrous,” Twilight says to me, giving me a sympathetic look that only serves to anger me. Before I can snap at her, however, she continues. “That actually leads me to my fourth topic, one I’ve been saving for last. If you’re the only human left, how are you here now?”

“I was wondering when you were going to ask that,” I remark, settling down now that the subject has been changed. “Good, this ties into what I was going to ask you, so I’ll take care of both at the same time.”

I finish my tea in a few quick gulps, and then I set the cup down on the table. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, doing my best to dispel the fury I feel rising just from thinking about the root cause of this whole situation. 

Twilight watches me expectantly, no doubt wondering why I’m taking so long to answer her. When I open my eyes, she winces, taken aback by the sudden intensity in my gaze. 

“You consider yourself to be well-informed?” I begin, surprising myself with how level my voice is. Twilight confirms that with a nod. “I want you to tell me everything you know about someone called King Sombra, including where I can find him.”

“King Sombra? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone like that.” Twilight’s answer causes my spirits to plummet and my frustration to rise. Zecora led me to believe that Twilight would have the answers to all of my questions, considering she’s the student of the “Solar Princess.”

Twilight look to Spike curiously, only for the dragon to shake his head and hold up his claws in a shrug. She glances back to me. “Who is that? Is he a pony, or is he a human like you?”

“I was hoping you would be able to tell me that,” I respond, an edge creeping into my voice out of frustration. “He wore the shape of a human, yet he was anything but.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asks curiously, writing more lines in her notebook. 

“Firstly, his coloring was off. Humans range from a very dark brown to a pale tan, but Sombra’s skin was ash gray,” I describe to her, knowing full well that most of that wouldn’t make sense to her. Twilight lit up at the mention of human skin color, such that she flipped a few pages and scribbled that fact down. 

“Could it have been a genetic mutation?” Twilight intelligently suggests. 

“It would have been possible, if unlikely. However, the kicker is that he used magic; as I explained earlier, humans can’t use magic,” I reveal to her. “That’s why I’m here. He used some sort of spell to send me through time to this era. Therefore, it follows that he is from this era as well.”

“He sent you through time!?” Twilight gasps in shock, her voice rising shrilly. I give a terse nod. “Of course, you’re from the past! That would explain why nopony has ever seen you before, and how you appeared to come from nowhere. But how is that possible?”

“Time travel? Twilight, didn’t you do something like that in the past?” Spike rejoins, looking interested and somewhat smug for some reason. “You know, when you were convinced you had to prevent some disaster from occurring?”

Twilight flushed with embarrassment. “Spike! Mr. Rogers doesn’t need to hear about that,” she scolds him hastily, causing Spike to snicker beneath a claw. 

“I think I do. You make it sound like you went to the past yourself,” I lean forward, feeling a faint trace of hope emerge from the emptiness inside of me. If Sombra used a spell to bring me here, it follows that there may be a spell that could do the opposite. “I will sit here for as long as you need me and answer every question you have without rest or food, as long as you get me that spell. I want to go home.”

Twilight looks taken aback by the fervor in my voice. I grow anxious when I see her expression turn somewhat shifty. She looks down at the table. “Look, Mr…”

“Stop calling me that. Just Seth is fine,” I interrupt her before she can continue. It just feels wrong when she addresses me like that.

“Look, Seth, do you remember how far back in the past you came from? Twilight questions me after correcting herself

“Over three thousand years, according to you,” I remind her. Twilight’s face falls.

“I have some bad news for you. While the spell in question certainly does allow for travel into the past, it’s not very efficient. Not only does the spell require an initial mana expenditure that increases exponentially proportional to the distance in time the user wishes to travel, it also requires a constant mana upkeep of a similar amount in order to remain at the destination,” Twilight explains to me.

“What exactly does that mean?” I question her impatiently. I understand most of what she’s saying, but I’m curious as to why she’s suddenly using the word “mana” instead of magic. Is there a difference between the two? Furthermore, a sense of dread is starting to form.

“Let me put it this way. The spell isn’t permanent. When I attempted to use it, I used nearly all of my mana just to send me back as far as a week, and even then, I couldn’t remain for more than a few moments before my mana was completely expended,” Twilight reveals.

“And Twilight is one of the strongest unicorns in all of Equestria!” Spike chimes in, only to be immediately hushed by a flustered Twilight. 

My dread quickly turns to despair. Is she trying to tell me that not even magic can return me to my time? “You can’t expect me to believe that. Perhaps you’re right and this particular variant of the spell is inefficient. Somehow, Sombra traveled three thousand years into the past and remained there for several more years. Then, he sent me into this time through another spell,” I tell her frantically. “If traveling that far back is impossible, explain that one to me!”

“I don’t see how that’s possible. The amount of mana necessary to perform such a long distance trip for that duration would be astronomical! It’s just not feasible, even if you had all of the magic in Equestria on your side!” Twilight returns, her voice unconsciously rising to match mine as well.

“It has to be possible! If he did it, I should be able to do so as well!” I shoot right back at her, standing up. When Twilight tries to open her mouth to respond, I cut her off. “Don’t you get it!? I want no part of a future where I’m the only one of my kind and I’m surrounded by ridiculous technicolored ponies! I want to go back!” 

“Please calm down, Seth!” Twilight tries to plead with me. “I understand you’re in a rough situation, but I just don’t think it’s possible to send you home!”

“You…!” I start to say, but then I fall silent. I feel anger, frustration, hopelessness, despair, and sorrow all mixing together into a maelstrom of raging emotion deep inside of me. Despite all of this, I can’t think of anything to say. Just like before, I was stupid and let myself get hopeful. Each time, when my hopes are crushed, it justs get worse and worse. Why haven’t I learned, even after all these years?

I struggle to keep calm, but I just can’t take these feelings anymore. All of my emotion seems to condense into a single fiery white hot point, to the point where I can physically feel it as a growing pressure in the center of my chest. I grab the nearest object, which happens to be my empty teacup, and hurl it with all of my might towards the other side of the room.

“Fuck!” I shout helplessly, venting all of my feelings out through that one curse. It feels good, but even that doesn’t quell the wave of emotional pain rushing through me. 

Twilight yelps and manages to catch the teacup with her telekinesis just before it hits the wall, saving the dish from being shattered against the wooden surface. Spike is cowering beneath the table, hanging onto one of the legs.

It takes every ounce of willpower that I have not to break something else. As I stand there and breathe heavily, the surge of emotions subsides, to be replaced with the empty, dull pain that’s been with me ever since the school. It stings much more than before, serving to show me that finding and killing Sombra is the only path left for me now. Only pain awaits me if I lose sight of that goal. 

“Hey…” Twilight tries to get my attention.  “I can’t send you home, but I can at least help you find out more about this King Sombra. If you don’t mind waiting in town a little while, I’m sure I’ll find something about him in my library.”

“Don’t bother,” I retort sullenly, taking her aback. “You’ve already fulfilled your obligation to me. I wanted one question answered, and you did that and more. You no longer have any reason to help me.”

“That’s not true. I do want to help you. I promise it won’t be any trouble at all,” Twilight protests. 

“I don’t believe you. Why would you do anything further for me, a stranger who’s not even the same species as you?” I remind her, crossing my arms. 

“I don’t see a stranger standing before me; I see someone who’s lost and alone in an unfamiliar world. Please, let me help,” Twilight persuades. As kind as her words sound, I know better. Nobody helps another without anything in return. In fact, it’s easy to tell what her angle is.

“All you want is to know more about humanity to further your own pursuits. No doubt you think helping me out is the only way to get that information out of me,” I conjecture to her, unmoved by her pleading expression. 

“What? No!” Twilight responds, looking offended. “You’re right in that I do want to learn from you, but that’s not why I want to help you! Hasn’t anyone in your time ever helped you just out of kindness?”

I make a derisive scoff. Now that’s something I’ve stopped believing in, ever since middle school. “Of course not. Why would they? I was just one insignificant speck in an ocean. Everybody would and should care about themselves,” I answer her without missing a beat.

Twilight lowers her head, a sorrowful expression forming on her face. “That’s… that’s a horrible way to think. Do all humans think like you do?” she asks, though she looks like she doesn’t want to hear the answer.

“How would I know? Probably. There were probably those that didn’t, but they were in for a rude awakening.” I’m quickly growing tired of this conversation. I didn’t come here to be questioned on the way I think.

“How can you believe that? I used to think something similar, about how I didn’t need friends, but then…” Twilight persists. Finally, I lose my patience.

“I don’t care about your story, or whether or not you approve. I certainly didn’t ask for you to stick your nose in my business,” I growl, causing her to shut her mouth and shrink back. If this is where the conversation is going, I’m done here. This whole trip was one gigantic waste of time.

I grab my rifle from where I left it and walk out of the kitchen without another world. Unfortunately, it isn’t quite that easy. 

“Wait, where are you going?” Twilight cries, leaping out of her seat. I try to ignore her, but she appears in front of me with a flash of magic, causing me to pause. I forgot she could teleport at will.

“It’s getting late, and there’s nothing more to be said here. Get out of the way,” I assert, stepping around her. This time, she doesn’t try to follow me.

“But… where are you going to go? You said you were alone here; do you have someplace to stay?” Twilight persists as I reach the door. I pause with my hand on the handle, recognizing that question for what it is. I grit my teeth; she’s backed me into a corner. If I tell her that I don’t have anywhere to go, she’s likely going to offer me a place here, which I’m certainly not going to accept. If I tell her the opposite, it would be a lie, and I hate lying. 

“I’ve got it covered,” I bluff. It’s not entirely true, but it’s the best I can give her without having to directly lie to her.

“Oh… okay,” Twilight replies haltingly. She doesn’t look as though she’s entirely convinced, but she doesn’t bother me further with it. “Where can I find you if I find information on King Sombra?” 

I look at her and quirk an eyebrow. “I already told you that you don’t need to do that,”  I remind her, exasperated. Twilight returns my gaze with a stubborn pout.

“I know you did, but I’m going to look anyway. If he’s really from this era, then it’s unacceptable that I don’t know anything about him. Somepony with the ability to travel that far back in time must have some sort of record of his existence,” Twilight asserts, looking at me with a hint of smugness in her expression. “I have all of the latest encyclopedias, biographies, and textbooks. You can’t complain about me taking some time for my own personal research. After all, what I do on my own time is my business, isn’t it?”

Twilight is now smiling. I give her a glare, knowing exactly what she’s trying to do. She seems to have a habit of using my words against me, such that I can’t argue back without seeming like a hypocrite.  However, if she’s going to play that card…

“If it’s your own personal business, knock yourself out. However, that also means you can’t hold it over my head,” I warn her. 

“Hold it over your head? Why would I do that?” Twilight appears genuinely confused by my warning. I honestly hope she isn’t being serious. She’d have to be desperately naive to not know the answer to that question.

“Nevermind.” I decide not to pursue that line of thought. In the end, if she chooses to do that research on her own time, it’s no business of mine. I open the door and step out into the rapidly darkening streets. 

“Wait! You never answered me. Where can I find you?” Twilight asks one more time, following me as far as the doorstep. 

“You won’t. I’ll return here tomorrow sometime. It’s not as though I have anything better to do,” I tell her. Without another word, I pick up my pace and leave the library behind, faintly hearing Twilight bid farewell to me. 

I shake my head. That couldn’t have gone much worse. Not only was Twilight difficult to deal with, but I essentially wasted my whole evening answering questions, only to learn minor details in return. To make matters worse, I still don’t know where to find Sombra.

My next immediate objective is to find someplace to sleep. The sun is already dipping beneath the horizon, suggesting that it’s getting close to eight or nine. In fact, my guess proves to be correct. Not only does my phone verify that, but there is also a rather noticeable clock tower jutting above the tops of the houses nearby. There’s two hands: one long and one short. If the format of the clock is similar to how it was in my time and the numbers are in the same places, then it is also telling me it’s about eight thirty.

I can’t just pick anywhere to sleep. The air is chilly and smells of winter, suggesting that it’s only going to get much colder. There’s a frigid breeze rolling through the town, chilling me even further. I need to find someplace in town that’s sheltered from the wind. It seems I’ll just have to accept being cold; I’m not about to beg one of these ponies for a room.

For now, it might be a good idea to familiarize myself with the area. I stride forward, retracing the route Flitter and I took previously. The streets are noticeably emptier now that the workday is assumedly over. I’m not certain if ponies work the same hours that humans do, but so far everything about them appears to work like human society, despite the fact that they’re all ponies and have magic.

It’s uncertain how long my stay in Ponyville will be, so it’s best to get situated. Unfortunately, this means I’ll need money in order to afford lodging. Seeing as the alternative is freezing to death as it gets closer to winter, it doesn’t seem as though I have any other choice than to look for a job.

I divert from the streets and head towards the large building in the square.  Due to the lack of ponies in the streets, now is the best time to explore. Walking beneath an archway between two buildings, I find myself in the square, standing at the foot of the cylindrical building that I assume is the town hall.

The buildings nearby are all arranged along the circumference of the square with their entrances pointing inwards. The river I crossed earlier borders a good fourth of the area, such that there’s two bridges nearby and a third one further down the far street that allow passage. 

The building next to me forms an archway with the adjacent building, and appears to be a bar of some sorts. I say that because the lights are on inside and I can see a counter and stools similar to what I’d see in a human bar, complete with a brown stallion bartender. I scowl and turn away. Bars have never been my favorite places.

There’s a circular fountain several paces away from me around which benches are situated. The sculpture in the center is of a normal pony rearing up with a happy smile on its carved face.

I shake my head and walk the circumference of the square, making sure to stay close to the buildings. Despite it being so late, the streets still aren’t entirely empty, so I don’t want to attract undue attention. Despite my caution, a pony mare spots me in the shadow of a building. Unable to make out what I am apart from my height, the mare screams and gallops away.

Continuing on my exploration, I leave the square by crossing the river to the south. From here, I can see the dim shape of a barn sitting atop a hill far in the distance, along with the silhouettes of trees. 

It’s getting too dark to see, so eventually I give up and start looking for a place to sleep. If worst comes to worst, I can hunker down beneath one of those bridges. It’ll be cold, but at least the wind won’t be able to reach me.

As I turn back to the north and skirt the edge of the square, I start to hear faint traces of music. I stop, suddenly curious. If that’s loud enough to be heard from here, that could only mean there’s live music somewhere. Interested in seeing what pony music is like, I pick up my pace and try to track down the source of the music.

The closer I get, the more of it I can make out. The music is unmistakably electronic due to the heart pumping bass and the fast paced synthetic drum beats. If I were to make an educated guess, I’d say it sounds vaguely reminiscent of the electro genre. When electronic music is performed live, it’s usually done by a DJ of some sorts. Before I go to sleep, I think I’ll take a quick look.

Following the music leads me to a building near the edge of town, where ponies are still congregating. Light shines from the windows, shifting through every color of the rainbow. The music is blaring from the open door. If I had to guess, I’d say this is a club of some sort. 

It probably isn’t a good idea to expose myself to more ponies than necessary, but my curiosity gets the better of me. I would always listen to my music back in my time, and I even dabbled in some piano here and there, so it’s safe to say that music is one of my personal interests. Even though this has absolutely nothing to do with finding Sombra, I decide it couldn’t hurt to at least take a look.

Just as I approach the door, two ponies emerge from within, the two of them laughing at some shared joke. From their voices, I can tell they’re both female. The first one is a unicorn, judging by the horn, and her coat colored a soft mint green. Her mane is simply styled, with her bangs resting atop her head and her tresses cascading down her neck and stopping just short of her shoulders. Both her mane and tail are a similar color to her coat, with the exception of a single white streak running through them. The mark on her flank appears to be of a lyre, interestingly enough. Is this pony also a musician?

The second pony has neither wings or a horn, and her coat is a beige color. Her mane appears to be more meticulously styled than her companion, each bang curled and placed neatly atop her head. Her mane and tail are colored a mixture of dark blue and magenta, where each color forms a uniform stripe separate from the other. The mark on her flank consists of three wrapped candies. Clearly these marks aren’t insignificant; every pony I’ve met has one, and they’re all different.

By chance, the two end up walking directly into my path. It’s too late for me to hide, so I slow my pace to a casual walk and keep moving. Unfortunately, that does little to temper their reactions.

The moment they spot me, the two of them react in completely different ways. The beige pony screams and backs up against the wall, her eyes wide. “Lyra, get away! It’s a monster!” she screams, being the second one today to make that assumption. 

The other mare, who I’m assuming is Lyra, doesn’t scream, panic, or even move upon seeing me. She just seems curious. When her companion screamed, she just looks confused. Lyra turns back to scrutinize my face, upon which is an irritated scowl. “What are you talking about, Bon Bon? It doesn’t look like a monster at all,” Lyra questions, much to my surprise. Ignoring Bon Bon’s panicked warnings, she approaches me tentatively. “I’ve never seen anything like you though.”

I sigh in annoyance. They’re both in my way of the door, so I can’t just push past them. “If it’ll stop your friend’s screeching, I’ll tell you that I’m human,” I inform the two of them. “Now kindly move; you’re in the way.”

“Human? Oh wow, I’ve heard of you. It’s amazing that you’re standing here right now,” Lyra responds, putting on a friendly smile. She apparently didn’t hear or is choosing to ignore the fact that I told her to move. She gives me an appraising look and licks her lips, making me instantly uncomfortable. “I have to say, I didn’t think humans would look so… unique.”

I’m just going to pretend I didn’t hear that. Just as I’m about to repeat myself, Bon Bon seems to get over her sudden case of fright and moves to stand by Lyra, looking annoyed by something.

“Humans? Wasn’t there a book series of some sort about them?” Bon Bon questions. When Lyra nodded, she turned her gaze to me. “Weren’t you all extinct?”

“That’s a stupid question.” Something about the way she said that rubs me the wrong way. I’m probably overreacting, but judging from her tone of voice, it seems like she’s unhappy that I currently exist. “If we were all extinct, I wouldn’t be here. Secondly, we just met. Shouldn’t you be introducing yourself, instead of immediately greeting me with, ‘shouldn’t you be dead?’”

There’s enough of an angry edge in my voice that Bon Bon steps back, her eyes growing wide. Lyra on the other hand, steps in front of Bon bon and giggles nervously. “Oh, I’m sorry about that. My name is Lyra Heartstrings, and I’ve been interested in history for most of my life, so the fact that you’re here is simply astounding,” she introduces, reaching out a hoof. 

“I’m Seth Rogers, and you wouldn’t be the first to show a scientific interest. Twilight practically tried to interrogate me, and frankly, I’m not in the mood,” I remark, ignoring her hoof. I just want to get this conversation over with. I’m starting to regret going out of my way to come here.

Lyra laughs at that, withdrawing her hoof when she realizes that I’m not going to shake it. “That seems so like her! I grew up with her, and research was all she wanted to do,” she reveals to me. “No, if anything, I want to know about…”

“Did you not hear me? I said I’m not in the mood. Plus, I didn’t come here to socialize,” I cut across her before this can turn into another questionnaire. Lyra looks suitably chastened, the mare uttering a soft apology. Bon Bon on the other hand is transfixing me with a glare. “I just wanted to take a look to see where that music was coming from.”

Lyra brightens up again. “Oh, you’re interested in Vinyl Scratch? She’s our town’s resident DJ!” she reveals to me, confirming my earlier suspicions. Vinyl is a rather strange name for a pony though. It’s probably a stage name, considering it relates to her job. “If you want to meet her, you better hurry, her set’s almost finished.”

“Not that it’ll matter. She does all the loading and set up on her own, so she takes a while to leave,” Bon Bon rejoins, notably talking more to Lyra than to me. “That’s when all the stallions try chatting her up, remember?”

“And they get nowhere,” Lyra agrees, chuckling. I could push past them right now, but Bon Bon’s words sound interesting. If that’s right, maybe this Vinyl wouldn’t mind some extra help. Perhaps coming here will be beneficial to me after all. “I get a real kick out of seeing them try though!”

“If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go and do that now,” I tell them emphatically, stopping them before they waste my time with an unnecessary tangent. “If you’ll just move out of my way.”

“Oh, whoops! Sorry,” Lyra apologizes sheepishly with a giggle. She presses her head against Bon Bon’s side, nudging her out of the way at last so I can walk past them. Lyra watches me go with poorly hidden interest. “Just look for the pony with the shades on; you can’t miss her. Good luck in there! You’ll probably need it.”

“Whatever.” I walk past them, leaving the two mares behind. However, just as I’m about to walk in through the door, I hear Lyra call out to me.

“Hey, Seth! Don’t be a stranger!” she calls. All I give is a scoff in return. Between Twilight, Zecora, and now Lyra, these creatures are being overly friendly. What they all fail to realize is that I’m not here to waste time playing friends with them. 

I’m just here to kill Sombra. Everything else is just a means to that end. 





With my mind thus made up, I slip through the front door into the club. The music is extremely loud, making it feel as though my whole body is resonating with the bass. It’s also very dark in the spacious room, making it difficult to make out the individual features of the crowd of ponies inside. The only light comes from the stage, which is the next thing that catches my attention.

In the far corner of the room is a raised portion of the floor, where the DJ is set up. From here, the first thing I notice is that her setup is once again surprisingly modern. She’s sitting behind an extensive set of turntables that are covered with switches and dials of all kinds. Like the appliances in Twilight’s kitchen, the turntables don’t seem to be plugged into anything. Unlike said appliances, however,  a series of thick black cables spider out from beneath the tables and connect to modern speaker systems and LED lights all over the club. I can only conjecture that the cables must channel magic, because Twilight was quite clear that electricity wasn’t cheap or widely used.

The DJ looks to be very into her music, her entire white-coated body moving in time to the pounding beat. Her horned head bobs constantly and rhythmically, her unkempt electric blue mane snapping back and forth. The most distinguishable part of her appearance, however, are the purple tinted sunglasses that obscure her eyes and cover the majority of her face.  

That seals it. As if the turntables weren’t already a dead giveaway, the shades fit in line with Lyra’s description: That’s Vinyl Scratch. Planting my back against a wall, I wait patiently for the song to end.

The music isn’t bad. Electronic music isn’t really something to which I go out of my way to listen, but the beat is solid and the energy in her performance is palpable. The other ponies think so as well, as a majority of them are out on the dance floor, moving their bodies to the tempo. It’s strange and somewhat amusing to see the pony version of dancing.

When the song comes to a smashing finish, Vinyl lets out an enthusiastic whoop while the crowd erupts with cheers. The LED lights turn white momentarily to allow for ease of vision so that ponies can find their way around.

Unfortunately, one of the lights passes over me in the process, allowing the pony next to me to get a good look at me. She gasps and backs away, running into the mare behind her. That, in turn, gets her attention, such that she’s the next one to see me. Just like that, ponies all around start to notice my presence.

The reaction isn’t mass panic, thankfully. The ponies closest to me give me a wide berth, and some of the ones I can see are whispering and pointing their hooves at me. It’s not that hard to spot me either, as I stand about twice as tall as the average pony.

Eventually the strange behavior of the crowd gets Vinyl’s attention. She sets down the record she just levitated back into a case and peers over the turntables. Once she spots me, her jaw drops and she gazes at me with an awestruck expression. Just as I’m starting to think that I should leave, Vinyl grins.

“Awright, change of plans everypony! As it turns out, I won’t be performing ‘Final Blast’ tonight,” Vinyl announces to the crowd in a rough alto voice, a mischievous expression on her face.  Her words manage to distract the crowd due to the cordless microphone in front of her. Her words elicit disappointed cries from them all, suggesting that “Final Blast” is a song that she usually plays by tradition. “Come on, don’t give me that! This is a special occasion; There’s a human in the house! Where do you think I pull inspiration from?”

I blink, taken aback by the calming effect that her words are having on the crowd. Just like that, the ponies are growing more accustomed to my presence, trusting Vinyl’s words. Is she really that influential? More interesting is the fact that she claims to have drawn inspiration from us. Has music from my era survived long enough to be seen by pony eyes?

“This is like, the best chance to hear what an actual human thinks about my work!” Vinyl’s horn lights up a soft magenta as she eagerly levitates a record out from the case beside her and sets it on the turntable. She adjusts the needle, sets it on the record, and then she looks directly at me. “I learned this from you guys, so do me a favor and rock out!”

The music blasts back through the speakers a split second later. Waves of reverberating bass surge through the room with an unrivaled intensity. The style is unmistakably dubstep, much to my utter shock. That is definitely a human style. I can’t help but find myself shaking my head wryly. I don’t mind this style of music; I’m just amazed that it’s lasted this long.

In the wake of this new music and Vinyl’s boundless enthusiasm, my presence goes forgotten and the ponies slowly relax and mingle with one another. It isn’t long before the dance floor is populated with ponies once more.

I return to leaning against the wall, bobbing my head appreciatively to the beat. If this is her last song, I don’t mind waiting through it. Staying up late is of no concern to me anymore. I have nothing for which to wake up early anymore.

As I listen, I close my eyes, losing myself in old memories. I’ve been to a scene like this once before, back in my own era. Standing here like this, I can’t help but be reminded of that time. The scent in the air is that of sweaty ponies, but the sights, sounds, and atmosphere are all causing me to reminisce.





It was dark in the streets, the sun having long since set. It was the end of a long day of difficult classes for the both of us, and we were both looking to blow off some steam. Unfortunately for me, it was Amaryllis’s turn to choose what we would do.

That was how we ended up standing just outside one of the area’s only nightclubs. We had to show our IDs just to get in the place.  “Amaryllis, why are we here again?” I complained as I followed my more confident friend into the half-drunken crowd. “Seriously, places like this make me extremely uncomfortable.”

“It would be easier to list the things that don’t make you uncomfortable,” Amaryllis returned with a smirk. “That’s why I brought you here. It’s my turn, and I’m going to broaden your horizons. Have you ever danced before?”

“Danced? What are you talking about? Of course I haven’t,” I retorted, quirking an eyebrow as we headed deeper into the club. Much like I expected, the club was filled with a large amount of people. Drinks were being poured, and more than a few were already drunk. There was a DJ there tonight, so the main lights were dim and the air shimmered with the rays of various LEDs. I then realized that she was leading me to the dance floor and my mind shut down. “Amaryllis, what the hell are you doing? I’m not going to dance. No way in hell.”

“What, are you too scared of being shown up on the dance floor?” Amaryllis teased me with a grin as we near the dance floor. “Do you care about what other people think so much?”

Just then, Amaryllis stepped out onto the dance floor and started to move her body to the beat, effectively joining the throng of other dancing people. I gape at her in dismay, wondering who this woman was and what she did with Amaryllis.

“What? No, but this is beneath you! Come on, let’s just go,” I try to plead with her, but that line alone gets her to glare at me.

“What the hell are you on about? Beneath me? Why?” Amaryllis’s voice cracks out at me like a whip, causing me to wince. “I’m just trying to have fun with my only friend doing something that I enjoy.  How is that beneath me?”

“Because every other college student goes out and parties like this! I thought you were different,” I snapped at her, starting to get a little angry. Amaryllis’s stare turned to ice after that.

“Get over yourself, Seth. We worked our asses off today, so we deserve a little time to blow off steam. Why are you bringing other people into this? Who cares what they do? Tonight’s about us,” Amaryllis expressed vehemently, approaching me. Her smirk returns. “Or, perhaps this is because you actually do care about what all these drunk people think. Is that it, princess?”

I groan at her usual nickname for me and shake my head, backed into a corner by her words. Before I can stop her, Amaryllis reaches out and grabs me by the wrist, dragging me unwillingly towards the dance floor. 

“Lighten up a bit, okay? Worry about the here and now… where there’s a pissed off bitch wanting you to dance with her,” Amaryllis quipped, gazing directly at me. Her words, her sudden proximity, and her intense gaze on my face caused my face to heat up rapidly. “Don’t worry, I won’t say a word when you inevitably suck.”

“That’s it. Keep talking trash, Amaryllis. Now I’m going to show you how to really dance,” I blurted out before I can stop myself. Amaryllis broke out into a grin and she laughed heartily, starting to dance once more. This time, I joined her, awkwardly moving to the rhythm.

Thankfully, Amaryllis was patient with me, and occasionally adjusted my position with her arms until I was able to move more fluidly. Eventually, I was able to tune out the other people and just have fun, focusing entirely on her. 

Of course, Amaryllis was quite attractive, so there was inevitably one or two drunken men who tried to get in on the dance, but she disposed of them quite quickly with well placed kicks to their groins. Amaryllis was brutal when she had to be, but I’m fine with that. Nobody else could get between us at that moment.





Even now, that memory is one of my fondest with her. Thinking about it makes me smile sadly, as I know that memories is all I have left of her. Sorry Vinyl, I won’t be dancing to your music. I don’t think I’ll be dancing ever again. Amaryllis was the only one I’d ever do something so silly with, and she’s gone now. She was such a strong woman…

I shake my head vigorously, ridding myself of those thoughts. I can’t let myself be bogged down in memories. I’ll have all the time in the world to reminisce once Sombra is dead.

It’s a relatively long song, but it eventually comes to an end, marking the end of Vinyl’s performance. The crowd’s reaction is most telling; they erupt into tumultuous cheers of adulation. As they applaud her, I remain where I am until ponies start to filter out of the bar. This time, some of the ponies tentatively offer friendly greetings to me, but I never return them.

Instead, I wait until the floor is clear enough, and then I make my way towards where Vinyl is starting to pack up. Just like Bon Bon said, I notice a stallion trying to talk to her, and there are several others nearby looking as though they want to do the same. It’s not hard to tell she’s bothered by their presence. 

The stallions see me coming. Perhaps it’s because I’m moving relatively fast and directly towards them, but they scatter when I get close. Vinyl notices me coming pretty quick, but the stallion talking to her is still clueless until I’m right up behind him.

I clear my throat, getting his attention. The stallion turns around and gulps, noticing how I’m towering over him with the rifle clenched in my hands. “I have business with her, so if you don’t mind, take your flirting elsewhere,” I growl at him. That’s all it takes for him to scatter like the rest. 

“Thanks for that, dude, I was getting ready to tell him to shove off,” Vinyl addresses me with an appreciative nod. She gets back to coiling up her cables with her telekinesis. “Pretty rad to see a real human. How did you like my tunes? Did I get your music right?”

“More than right, I’d say. More inspired than anything I’ve heard in the genre,” I tell her honestly. Granted my opinion doesn’t mean anything because I haven’t heard much dubstep, but I decide to leave that part out. I’m hoping to get a job helping this mare out, so I should attempt to be polite. “I should thank you for saving me the trouble of dealing with a panicking crowd. That would have been more than irritating.”

“Hah, I hear that. You gotta forgive them. We’ve all heard of your kind, but nopony really knows what you look like. If my mother wasn’t an archaeologist, I wouldn’t have known either,” she reveals to me conversationally. Well, that explains how she knows what I am. “Anyway, the name’s Vinyl Scratch.”

“So I heard. My name is Seth Rogers.” I return her introduction with one of my own while I determine how best to broach the subject of a job.

“It’s a pleasure, Seth. Do you care if I call you Seth?” Vinyl asks, speaking in a very casual and laid-back manner. I shake my head as an answer, thankful that she saved me the effort of telling her to do so myself. She grins and extends a hoof to me, like every other pony I’ve met so far. Unlike every other pony I’ve met, it’s in my best interests to accept. Just for that reason, I awkwardly reach out my hand.

“Yeah!” Vinyl emits, rearing up slightly. To my surprise, when she goes for my hand, her hoof dexterously curves around my palm, clasping it rather tightly. Before I can take a closer look, she lifts my hand and tightens her grip briefly before releasing me and standing back on all fours again. She gave a laugh. “My mom would be so jealous of me right now. Anyway, you said you had business with me. Do you care if I pack while I listen?”

“Not really,” I reply. Vinyl nods and gets back to packing up all of her equipment. I take a quick glance around the area, noting just how much work Vinyl has to do. Her cables stretch all over the place, her speakers and LED stands look as though they weigh a great deal, and that’s not even counting her turntables. The banners hanging from the ceiling also seem to be hers due to the fact she’s pulling them down with her telekinesis. “It seems like you’ve got a lot on your plate here.”

“You could say that. It’s no big deal though,” Vinyl returns with a good natured chuckle as she folds up a banner and sets it aside. For storage, Vinyl has a spacious black cart nearby made of plastic in which multiple labeled tubs are neatly stacked. A few of these tubs are sitting open on the stage. The banners that Vinyl is folding are placed into one of them, suggesting that she has different tubs to hold different items. “Takes me a bit though, so if I sit around too long, I’m here all night.”

“I can see how it would take you a while. Have you thought about taking on extra help?” I insinuate casually. Vinyl doesn’t seem to think anything of it though.

“Yeah, actually, but who would I take on? I’ve always run my show solo,” Vinyl responds with a shrug. “Besides, I’d want somepony who gets just as passionate as me about this line of work… and isn’t just in it for selfish reasons. How much do you want to bet that if I asked one of those stallions to help, they’d do it in a heartbeat?”

“I’d bet nothing. I’d go bankrupt in a second,” I remark with a disgusted scowl. It’s both reassuring and disappointing to hear that male ponies share the same habits as male humans. “I get what you mean though. So if you were to take on a helper, you’d want another musician who doesn’t want to flirt with you the whole time?”

“Pretty much hit the nail on the head!” Vinyl agrees as she hops off the stage. I follow her to one of the speaker constructs set up along the edges of the room. They’re strangely constructed; from what I can see, the woofers are larger and set on the ground, and have a hole in the top. The tweeters and drivers are smaller and rest atop a metal pole that’s anchored into the aforementioned hole. Her horn lights up and the speakers atop the pole rise from their position, albeit slowly. I notice immediately that Vinyl appears to be having trouble. She’s sweating and grunting with exertion, the speakers moving slowly and wobbling in their trajectory. “But… there’s nopony in town that’s a musician, a mare, and willing to help… gah!” 

I step in and catch the speaker in midair, taking some of the load off of Vinyl. I’m not sure how telekinesis works, but just from this one display, I determine that the heavier the target, the more strain it causes. However, being so quick to help isn’t the best decision on my part either, as the speaker is rather weighty. The strain on my body causes my side to light up with white hot pain, causing me to gasp and struggle to keep from dropping the speaker.

With both Vinyl and I working together, we manage to get the speaker up onto the stage and into the cart. Vinyl pants and wipes the sweat off of her brow with a hoof. “Thanks. It’s always harder to do the heavy lifting after a show. I use my mana to power everything for several hours, so I don’t have much left over,” she explains to me, confirming my hypothesis that everything she uses runs on magic. I am interested as to what the difference between magic and mana is though. I’ve heard both words from different ponies now.

Vinyl suddenly does a double take. “Wait, you just helped me, and you brought up all this talk about extra help,” she realizes aloud, looking at me directly. I can’t tell what she’s thinking due to those dark shades covering her eyes. “Are you trying to get me to hire you?”

“That’s about it, yeah. I just… arrived… in Equestria a few days ago, and I could use the money,” I admit with a shrug.

Vinyl takes a break from her packing to give me a once over. “Well, I can’t say I was expecting this tonight,” she responds with a laugh. “Even after all the requirements I listed, you think I’ll hire you? Also, why me specifically? I know Applejack is constantly looking for help on the farm.”

“Those are hardly requirements to worry about,” I state sardonically. As far as job requirements go, those are nothing special. “You said you wanted a musician; I’ve dabbled a bit in piano, as music is a passion of mine. I’m asking you because you’re the first musician I found. Secondly, and I can’t believe I have to explain this, but I’m hardly attracted to ponies.”

Vinyl wrinkles her nose a bit and laughs again. “Awright, fair enough. If you think you’re up to it, I can give you a shot. I have gigs about two or three times a week in the evenings, sometimes more if Pinkie Pie throws one of her spontaneous parties,” she describes to me. I nod, satisfied that I’ve managed to land a job. With luck, I’ll have enough money to afford temporary lodging soon.

I also can’t help but note that I’ve heard those words, “Pinkie Pie,” before, from Flitter. At the time, I assumed it was a dessert, but Vinyl is talking about them as though they’re a name. There’s seriously a pony out there called Pinkie Pie? That’s just ridiculous.

“So here’s the deal; if you help me with all of this, I’ll pay you a cut of the earnings. Say… twenty-five percent? Depending on where I travel, I make anywhere from thirty to over two hundred bits,” Vinyl reveals to me. “Sound good?”

I have to assume that “bits” are the Equestrian currency. I can’t tell if she’s giving me a good deal or not, as I don’t know how bits compare to US dollars in value. If it’s on a one to one basis (which I highly doubt it is) then that would mean I’d make between seven and fifty dollars per gig. That’s not great, but I don’t have any other options. Additionally, this is only temporary; I plan to quit once I find out where Sombra is hiding.

“That works for me. You make it sound like you travel to other towns,” I notice.

“Oh yeah, not often, but it does happen. Sometimes the ponies up in Canterlot get tired of playing nice and want to rock out. Once I got a gig from Trotsdale too… that was nice,” Vinyl relates to me. 

I stop paying attention halfway through her sentence because of the name of the first town she mentioned. Canterlot? Is… did she intentionally make a pun off of the human mythological city, Camelot? Or is that honestly what the city is called? Every second I remain in this strange era, I discover information that just raises more and more questions that I can’t get answered.

“Anyway, I guess I’m your boss now,” Vinyl expresses with a wry grin. “Don’t worry about tonight though, I got this. Tomorrow’s a Pinkie party though, so I’d like your help then. Where you holed up?”

That question catches me off guard. I didn’t tell Twilight that I didn’t have any place to stay, but I can’t exactly do the same with Vinyl. She’s my employer now, so she has to be able to find me for work. There’s nothing I can do except tell her the truth.

“I don’t have anywhere to stay, or any money. That’s why I’m here,” I tell her honestly, already bracing myself for her response.

“Wha-really?” Vinyl’s ears fold back and her jaw drops. “That’s… not cool at all. I can’t pay you enough to regularly afford a hotel right off the bat, so what are you going to do in the meantime?”

“Sleep outside. Not seeing any other options here,” I reply with a shrug.

“What? This close to winter? When the snows come, you’ll freeze to death!” Vinyl returns sharply, her voice sounding more and more upset. “Come on, you’ve got to have other options. You’re human, one of our great precursors. You could probably get a room in Canterlot Castle of all places if you really tried.”

“What, you want me to freeload off of some random pony just because because I’m human?” I retort, irritated by just the very suggestion of such a thing. “Not a chance. If I can’t pay my way, I’ll sleep outside.”

“I have a spare room I could offer you. It gets wicked cold during the winter, so freeloading or not, it’s better than freezing, right?” Vinyl then proceeds to give me the very offer that I wanted to avoid so much that I nearly lied to Twilight.

“I’m not budging on this. I won’t accept charity, no matter what the alternative is,” I state firmly.

Vinyl sighs heavily, and then stares back at me with a stubborn expression. “And I won’t let you just freeze to death out on the streets. There’s gotta be some kind of way that’ll work for you,” she argues vehemently. 

It’s now my turn to sigh, this time with annoyance. I honestly don’t see why she cares that much whether or not I have a place to stay. It’s not really her business, apart the fact that she needs to find me. “There really isn’t,” I tell her, equally as stubbornly.

“I can’t just accept that, dude. It’s just not right,” Vinyl asserts, the mare obstinately refusing to back down. “I’ll let you off tonight because there’s nothing I can do on such short notice, but I’mma think of something by tomorrow evening.”

“I still don’t see why it matters, but whatever. You do that,” I relent uncaringly, just happy to get her off my case for the time being. If it becomes too much of a problem by tomorrow, I’ll just quit and find an employer who won’t care about something so silly. “If you want to find me, I’ll probably be hiding out beneath a bridge near the town square.”

“Alright, it shouldn’t be too hard to find you then,” Vinyl responds, a frown on her face. “Can I at least lend you a blanket?”

“No,” is my immediate response, causing Vinyl to groan.

“Agh, you’re so stubborn!” Vinyl complains, stamping her hoof. “Thankfully, the weather is mild tonight, so you should be fine. Though my door’s open if you get too cold.”

“Noted,” I utter simply. Our business is settled and the conversation appears to be over, so I turn on one heel and make my way out of the club. Thankfully, Vinyl doesn’t call after me.

I shiver once I step outside, a chill breeze running over my skin. I rub my arms, goosebumps forming. This is not going to be a very pleasant night. To compound matters, my stomach is growling frequently; I haven’t had anything to eat since I left Zecora’s house, and it doesn’t look like finding food will be an option as long as I don’t have any money. At the very least, keeping hydrated won’t be an issue with the river nearby.

As I walk, I keep thinking about how hard Vinyl fought to keep me off the streets. There’s just no reason for her to do any of that. It would make sense to keep me in one piece if I was her contracted employee and she couldn’t do the job on her own, but that isn’t the case. It’s obviously not out of kindness, so the only reason I can see is that she’d use her lodging as leverage to get more out of me than I originally agreed to. Vinyl said her mother is an archaeologist, which means she would probably be extremely happy to get her hooves on me. I’d probably be worth a fortune. No doubt if Vinyl housed me, she’d find someway to get me to agree to that.

I clench my hands into fists, somewhat angry just at that thought. There’s no way I’ll let that happen. I’m not stupid enough to believe that any of these offers are genuine; that simply doesn’t happen with strangers - especially not in this situation.

It’s completely dark out now, and the streets are empty. Even the square is completely devoid of ponies. Because of that, I take a moment to sit on one of the benches and rest for a moment. All of this walking and exertion has my side aching. Checking the bandages reveals that there’s no blood still. I start to wonder if the wound has scabbed over already. That hardly seems possible; it’s only been a few days since I received it. What kind of herbs did Zecora use to make her treatment so effective?

There’s no lamps or anything to shed light on the streets. The only light comes from the windows of some of the nearby houses and from the moon above. Speaking of which, I’ve never been anywhere that didn’t have any light pollution of which to speak. I look up at the night sky… and my breath is taken away.

I’ve never seen anything like this. There are countless stars covering the entirety of the blackened sky, softly shedding their light on the land below. I can make out constellations that I’ve never been able to observe before, and even note the existence of a distant planet or two. The gorgeous moon hangs in the air as well brightly and unobscured by even a single a cloud.

I stare up at the wondrous night sky for a long time, until finally I start to grow drowsy. I even doze off momentarily, but it isn’t long before the breeze chills me awake. I wrench my eyes away from the sky and walk over to the nearest bridge. As I expected, there’s a small ledge beneath the bridge, just at the edge of the river. As long as I remain relatively still, I should be safe from the wind.

Grunting, I crawl beneath the bridge. First, I drink my fill from the river, and then I lay down on my back. It’s not very comfortable at all; I can feel rocks digging into my back, it’s somewhat stuffy down here, and the crickets are rather loud. Looking up from my position, all I can see is the stone underside of the bridge. This is going to be a miserable night. I let out a deep breath and close my eyes. Despite how cold and hungry I am, it doesn’t take me long to finally get to sleep.
> 5. Mind of a Troubled Human (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I’m already awake by the time the dawn arrives, the curtain of night ever so slowly fading to pink. Still sitting beneath the bridge, I hug my sides tightly, shivering violently in the cold. Despite the shelter afforded to me by the bridge, the temperature dropped dramatically during the night.

I can’t remember a time when I’ve slept as poorly as I did this night. Uncomfortable, cold, and hungry, sleep did not come easily to me at all. Even when I did manage to drift away, it would only be for a short time before I would awaken again, miserable from the poor weather conditions. 

There’s no way around it. Vinyl was right; I’m lucky that it isn’t winter yet, or I would have definitely frozen to death. Even now, it isn’t hard to tell that staying outside was not the best of ideas. My skin is covered in goosebumps, my whole body aches, and I can’t stop shivering. A quick glance at my phone tells me that it’s only about seven in the morning. By my previous college standards, this is way too early for me to wake up. However, with the way I’m feeling right now, it could be four in the morning for all I care. I need to move.

I grab my rifle and struggle to rise. My body protests against every slight motion as I force myself out from beneath the bridge. I stumble a bit in the process, nearly tumbling into the river. I curse beneath my breath once I recover. It’s hard to move properly, my body feels heavy and every movement I make feels sluggish and weak. 

Warmth is the first thing to come to my mind once I manage to get to my feet. I need to find someplace to warm up. I must be suffering from hypothermia; I’ve never been out in the cold for this long without heavy winter clothing. Somehow I have to find a way to make enough money today to find a motel or the pony equivalent to sleep in. If I can’t come up with anything, I may die, as it can only get colder.

Come to think of it, it’s odd that winter hasn’t already arrived. I disappeared from my era in February, which is considered to be late winter. I suppose I can’t expect that spell to have been so convenient as to drop me in the exact same month and day in this era. If it’s close to winter, but not quite there yet, I’d hazard a guess and say that it’s around late November. 

I hobble towards the square miserably, rubbing my chilled skin vigorously in an attempt to get the blood flowing. I need to find someplace warm, fast. If I can get back to Twilight, who owns a public library, it may be warm inside. If ponies have the technology to operate refrigerators, heating and air conditioning shouldn’t be too much of a stretch.

The town is quiet, but the streets are gradually filling with ponies. They emerge from their houses, showing differing degrees of fatigue from their no doubt restful night’s sleep. Some wear small saddlebags filled with various objects, some wear a sparse covering of clothing, and many carry nothing at all. The few pegasi I see take to the skies not long after emerging from their homes, riding the breeze like birds.   

My presence causes similar reactions to what I received the previous night, yet considering some of them have seen me before, the overall reaction is somewhat tempered. I’m walking slowly along the left end of the street with my arms hugging my sides, so I doubt I cut a very threatening figure. Despite this, my appearance turns several heads.

I’m also starting to pick out the differences between stallions and mares. The stallions tend to be larger, with thicker hooves, pronounced muscles, and more angular snouts. Comparatively, the mares are smaller, with slender hooves and rounded snouts. If I’m getting this right, that means there’s a disproportionately large number of mares in comparison to stallions. The fact that every pony I’ve interacted with so far has been a mare only serves to reinforce that theory.

I’m so focused on the path forward that I forget to look down. I suddenly feel a warm furry mass bump into my lower chest, followed by a surprised snuffle. “Oof!” the mare that ran into me yelps and steps back, giving me a clear look at her. “Seth? You’re still in town?”

I stare back at Flitter, the pegasus mare looking at me with surprise and worry. Her words take a while to process; all I can think about is how warm her fur felt against my frigid skin, like a living blanket. I shiver, shaking that thought from my mind. It’s hard to think when I’m this cold. 

“Despite my best efforts, yes,” I reply, stuttering somewhat due to the chattering of my teeth. The fingers clasped around the haft of my rifle are turning slightly blue due to the extremely cold metal.  

My sorry state doesn’t go unnoticed by Flitter. She lets out a soft gasp, her face filling with worry. “Are you alright? You’re shaking,” she observes, pressing a hoof against my arm. I quickly move so she’s no longer in contact with me, but it’s too late. Her worry turns to horror after feeling my arm. “Your skin is so cold! We should get you inside, fast!”

Flitter walks behind me and presses the top of her head against my rear, as if to push me towards the house she emerged from.  I immediately plant my feet and press a hand against her head, preventing her from pushing me any further.  She squeaks as I firmly push her away. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” I demand, causing Flitter to flinch, her ears flattening. “I’m not going into your house, if that’s what you’re trying to do.”

“But it’s not healthy for you to be that cold! You look like you’ve been outside all night! I could brew you up some hot tea and get you some blankets to warm you up,” Flitter attempts to reason with me. Her seemingly generous offer only causes me to get suspicious of her.

“No thank you. I’m heading someplace warm already, so I don’t need to rely on your good will,” I tell her plainly, doing my best to keep from sounding sarcastic.  I have nothing further to say, so I walk past her.

“Why won’t you let me help you?” Flitter keeps pace with me, much to my annoyance. 

“That’s not your business. I’ll thank you not to pry any further.” My patience is wearing thin, but I manage to reign in my temper. It likely wouldn’t be good for me if I am seen yelling at the same pony who previously introduced me to town.

“Seth, there’s a heavy storm coming tonight,” Flitter warns me anxiously, though her pace does slow enough for me to regain my lead. “If you stay outside again...”

I glance up at the sky, feeling somewhat worried. However, the sky is entirely devoid of any cloud formations, such that all that’s stretched out before me is a pinkish orange expanse of empty morning sky. 

“How can you tell?” I question her, pausing a moment. If there is a storm, I’ll die of the cold for sure. If she’s right… then finding a way to afford a place to stay tonight is even more urgent than before. “There’s not a single cloud in the sky.”

“Well, no, not yet,” Flitter responds. What she’s next completely wrecks any understanding that I had of this conversation. “We on the Ponyville Weather Team haven’t actually put it together yet. But our captain will make sure it’s ready on time.”

“What?” is my bewildered response. Just that simple answer raised a multitude of questions in my mind. By “it” is she referring to the actual storm? The way she said that implies that this “weather team” is going to physically make the storm. That’s ludicrous, so I can only assume she’s referring to a weather forecast. I didn’t realize ponies were capable of predicting the weather, but even that’s more of a sensible conclusion than my previous thought. “You’re talking about the weather forecast, right?”

“Huh? Yes, that’s right. I was saying a heavy downpour is scheduled for today, so it won’t be safe for you to stay outside again,” Flitter looks equally confused by my reaction, but she recovers quickly and attempts to explain again. She looks as though she wants to know why I was outside so late, but thankfully she chooses not to ask.  “I have to go to work soon, but I want to at least get you a coat.”

Flitter puts on a determined expression. “Yes, stay right there, Seth. I’ll be right back,” she declares. Before I can argue with her, she zips back inside of the building that I can only assume is her home. 

I gaze after her for a moment, and then I turn on my heel and continue on my way, quickening my pace somewhat in order to get out of sight before she returns. As much as a coat would likely save my life in the event I had to sleep outside again, I won’t accept it from her. If I’m going to survive, it’ll be on my own merit. I won’t be indebted to others. 

My thoughts drift ahead to the gig with Vinyl tonight. I’m not sure how much she gets paid at these “Pinkie Parties,” and that leaves my own income in question. Without a concrete number to work with, I won’t be able to tell if I can afford a room or not. Perhaps staking everything on that one gig wouldn’t be the best idea. I should try to find another source of employment. I can’t kill Sombra if I’m dead.

Vinyl mentioned that a pony named Applejack was looking for help on “the farm.” Judging from my own observation, the apple orchard and its surrounding fields is the only thing that fits the description of a farm, although I wasn’t able to see any structures over the trees. As I near the library, my stomach churns, devoid of any sustenance. It’s not just shelter I have to worry about. I don’t think I’ve ever been this hungry before. After I finish dealing with Twilight, I’ll pay the orchard a visit. Hopefully if I can work there, I’ll earn enough to buy a room and feed myself. 

At last, I reach the front of the library once more. I notice a sign hanging to the front of the door that wasn’t there yesterday, but I can’t read what it says. Perhaps a little more hastily than would be dignified, I wrench open the door and bolt inside. I let out a sigh of relief as the warm air rushes over my skin. I shut the door behind me, blocking out the cold air.

I blink in surprise. The front room of the library is no longer as organized as it was yesterday. Countless books have been pulled from the shelves and are scattered about the room. Perhaps scattered is a poor choice of word; the books are organized into neat stacks, but their placement appears to be random. The central table is covered in them as well. It’s as though half the library is now on the floor.

The stacks of books appear to be most concentrated in the back of the room closest to the stairs. As I step closer, I spot Twilight in the center of them, laying on her side with her head resting against one of the shelves in an undignified fashion. I’m about to call out to her, but then I realize that she’s fast asleep.

Her chest every so slightly expands and contracts in time with her soft and steady breathing. The fur on one corner of her mouth is slightly damp, and there’s a book lying open on her chest, clutched tightly in her forelegs. Every so often, one of her back hooves will twitch.

I quirk a brow in a mixture of confusion and amusement. She looks rather pathetic in this pose. I’ll also grudgingly admit that what I’m seeing is somewhat cute. I mean that in the way that a pet owner would after seeing their associated pet fall asleep after playing too much. Twilight owes that to the fact that she’s a furry expressive pony; I’d have never thought something like that about a human.

I set my rifle down on the table. While she’s asleep, I take a moment to stretch out my body and warm myself up through a series of exercises, though I make sure not to stretch my side overmuch. I can’t tell where the heat is coming from, but I’m thankful for the newfound comfort.

In the process, I notice that my bandages feel uncomfortably tight. I’m also feeling no real pain from anywhere other than my side. Curious, I walk into the kitchen and search around until I locate a trash can.The wounds on my shoulders were the least life threatening, so I take a risk and unravel the bandages encircling them.

The revealed injuries are surprisingly stable. Despite the fact that it’s only been a few days since I received them, the cuts on my shoulder are now only present in the form of hardened scabs. I trace my finger over one, noting its firmness. I have to hand it to Zecora; whatever she used, it kick started the healing process unlike anything I’ve ever seen. 

Once I dispose of the now useless bandages, I continue to unwrap the rest of my upper body, encouraged by the lack of bleeding. The gashes in my chest and arms are all scabbed over as well. Even my side appears to be stable, although it continues to pain me with even the slightest strain. 

Eager to be freed from them, I discard the rest of the bandages into the trash. It feels strange to be walking around in a public establishment without a shirt, but I don’t have any other options. Additionally, I haven’t noticed any other ponies wearing clothes at all. That’s... a rather strange cultural transition to be sure. I suppose I can’t reasonably expect them to have the same societal standards and traditions as us. I find myself envious of their warm fur. If I had that, sleeping outside wouldn’t be a problem.

I return to the front room and advance towards Twilight. The unicorn shows no signs of stirring, despite the fact that I make no attempts at stealth. I don’t have the time to waste waiting for her to wake up. I pick up a book from the table and unceremoniously drop it from shoulder height onto her flank.

Twilight jerks awake with a start, her forehooves flailing and knocking over some of the stacks of books nearby. “Waah! What’s going on? Where am I? Spiiike!” she exclaims wildly. 

Twilight squirms around, scattering several of the books, before she manages to sit up straight. Then, she notices me leaning against the table with my arms crossed impatiently. She opens her mouth as if to say something, but then she glances around at the mess she’d made, and with it came a look of panic.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Seth! Wait just a minute, I’ll have all this cleaned up in a second!” Twilight apologizes, and then she zips around the room, using her telekinesis to lift the fallen books and organize them back onto the shelves a few at a time. 

“You really don’t need to…” I start to say, but my eyes can hardly follow her as she zooms past me, a gust of displaced air blowing my hair back. Books fill the shelves in an orderly fashion as she works, soon leaving the floor free of clutter. “I’m not the kind of person who…”

Twilight rushes past me once more and then instantaneously returns with a brush and dustpan clutched in her magical grip. She immediately sets to work on the table and floor where she had been sleeping, clearing away any dust that may have fallen from the displaced books. 

“There’s really no point…” Eventually, it comes to my attention that Twilight isn’t listening to me at all. “Oh for the… would you slow down!?”

Twilight finally skids to a stop in front of me, though I’m not sure whether it’s because I raised my voice or because she’s already finished. Minus the stacks of books, everything looks the same as it did before.

“I’m finished! I’m sorry again about the mess, I didn’t realize I was going to be having company so early,” Twilight responds as if she’d never even heard my protests.

“Apparently you didn’t hear me when I said it didn’t matter. I could care less how messy the place is,” I return with a shrug, paying no mind to her apology. “Why were you sleeping on the floor like that anyway?”

“I… uh…” Twilight flushes with embarrassment, one hoof shuffling against the wooden floor nervously. 

“She stayed up until four in the morning researching that king you asked about,” a boyish voice answers for her. I glance up to see Spike sluggishly plodding down the stairs, looking as though he’d just awoken from a deep sleep.

“I didn’t even realize how late it was… or that I fell asleep. I’m so embarrassed,” Twilight dips her head, laughing nervously. She then looks to me for an answer, but when she just sees me staring her, she starts to look awkward. “A-Anyway, it’s good to see you again. Spike, could you start breakfast?”

“Yeah, I can do that. I’ll make some coffee too so I don’t pass out,” Spike answers, yawning widely. Just as he was about to enter the kitchen, he pauses and glances back. “Wait, breakfast? You remember I can only make biscuits, right?” 

“That’s fine with me. I’m not looking for something fancy,” Twilight affirms. With that, Spike nods and leaves the room, and it isn’t long before I hear the clattering of plates and cups. Twilight turns back to me. “Are biscuits alright for you?”

“Why are you asking me?” Her question fills me with a sinking suspicion; one that’s confirmed by her subsequent answer.

“So I can share some with you, of course. I would be a bad host if I were to eat my breakfast in front of you without offering any,” Twilight replies with a smile. 

“Eat your breakfast; I don’t care.  I don’t need food anyway.” I immediately turn her down, unwilling to give her even that much. Unfortunately, my treacherous stomach chooses that exact moment to betray me, emitting a mortifyingly loud gurgle. Twilight’s bemusement soon turns to amusement as I mentally direct every single curse word in my vocabulary towards my hunger, which had not been satisfied in a full day. I slowly sigh. “You did not just hear that.”

“I’m afraid I did!” Twilight giggles at my resulting groan. “Don’t be shy, come on and have one or two. They’re easy to make and easy to replace.”

Considering how hard Twilight tried to argue with me about my beliefs during my previous visit, attempting to argue with her would no doubt earn another irritating inquiry from her. However, I won’t just let this go, either. 

“I can’t say I’ve had biscuits for breakfast before. Usually I had toast, or eggs if I was at home,” I reply as I follow her into the kitchen, slyly letting slip something about my home life. As expected, Twilight’s ears perk, and she turns her head to gaze back at me with interest. I then realize what I said and hastily add, “Er… the fact that we eat eggs isn’t weird to a pony like you, is it?”

“Oh no, that’s something in common between us,” Twilight answers. I raise an eyebrow as she ducks around a corner for a moment and returns with the same notepad and quill with which she had been taking notes yesterday. “I suppose it stands to reason that eggs would have been part of the human diet as well, considering their propensity for… for meat.”

I can’t miss the cringe that crosses Twilight’s face as she forces that last word out. I make a mental note to keep my previous diet to myself from now on. Twilight seems able to handle that fact, but I doubt I can say the same for the common pony. 

Taking my seat at the table, I wait patiently for breakfast to be served. Spike is standing by the oven, peering through the glass to make sure the biscuits aren’t being burnt. It’s odd to watch, as it’s nearly identical to how a human would do it. The only difference is the gently glowing orb set into the top of the oven that powers the appliance.

“I can tell you about typical human breakfasts if you want,” I offer to her. If she takes my offer, then any debt I may incur from eating this meal will be erased. Twilight, who just sat down across from me, brightens up at that, but then she lowers her eyes to my chest.

“I’d love to hear that, but first I have to ask…” Twilight sounds a little anxious as she continues. “Are you alright? You’re covered in scrapes...and one of them looks like it was rather serious.”

“I’m fine. It would be best if you didn’t worry about me,” I advise her with a level voice. With any luck, I won’t be in her life for long. “More importantly, did you only realize I was hurt just now?”

“No, I noticed you were wearing bandages yesterday, but it didn’t seem like you were in pain, so I didn’t ask. I thought maybe it may have been a human custom,” Twilight explains with a sheepish expression. “But those look like they were bad. How did that happen?”

“Through a combination of pitfalls and horrible luck,” I summarize briefly for her. I don’t feel the need to share what I went through while I was trapped underground. “Stop worrying about it.  As you can see, I’m fine.”

“I’m sure they hurt when you move, though,” Twilight points out sympathetically. Her eyes widen, as if she’d just thought of something important. “I know! I have a healing spell I’ve been wanting to try. I can use it on you if you’d like.”

Although my immediate thought is to refuse her, the concept of a healing spell is intriguing. “A healing spell? If such a spell exists, does that mean ponies don’t need hospitals or medical centers?” I question, curious despite the fact that I know I shouldn’t be asking any more questions than necessary.

“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” Twilight admits with a frown. “Here, let me explain. The healing spell I’m talking about is the only one of its kind, and it’s near impossible for a normal unicorn to master… or even learn. It requires a significant mana expenditure as well as a working knowledge of the biological make-up of the circulovasucalar system. You wouldn’t want to close a wound and clog an artery in the process.”

As Twilight is explaining, I hear the oven chime behind her. Spike opens the appliance and retrieves the tray of biscuits, grabbing the metal with his bare claws. Despite how foolhardy it would be for me to do something like that, Spike doesn’t seem the least bit uncomfortable from the heat. I suppose it has to do with his rather… unique species.

“It’s a surprisingly limited spell as well, as it is only capable of healing physical injuries such as the ones you bear. Thus, standard healthcare relies upon clever use of telekinesis to perform tasks such as resetting broken bones and halting blood loss,” Twilight continues. Spike joins us at the table with the tray of tea and biscuits, which Twilight then distributes evenly to each of us. I hesitantly bite into one, finding it fluffy and pleasing to the taste.

“So, you say that normal unicorns can’t learn this spell easily. Who else has learned this spell, and what makes you different from other unicorns?” I question further, my suspicions heightened after hearing her explanation.

“She’s only the best in all of Equestria!” Spike brags, joining the conversation before Twilight can give a proper answer. I just ignore him, but Twilight flushes.

“Spike! I am not the best; there are plenty of unicorns with more knowledge and experience than myself,” Twilight corrects him swiftly, though the dragon doesn’t look convinced. She returns her attention to me, looking apologetic. “I have an affinity with magic, so my pool of mana is much larger than normal and it’s easier for me to learn complicated spells than the standard unicorn. As for the healing spell itself, I’m not that good at it. I only know of two that have mastered it: Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”

I’ve heard more than enough. “So let me get this straight: there’s a spell that can heal better than even the latest healthcare practices, and the only ones who know it are royalty. Not to mention, you clearly don’t advertise the fact that you can use it - there would be a line that spanned the whole town outside your door if that were the case - and you’re willing to use it on a total stranger, free of charge?”

“That’s right. Why, is something the matter?” Twilight tilts her head to one side in confusion.

“How stupid do you think I am? If such a spell is so rare and difficult to master, that makes unicorns who can use it extremely valuable. You could demand anything in return from any of your patients… and your patient in this case would be a human whose knowledge could very easily make you rich,” I point out, my voice completely devoid of amusement or patience.

Twilight sighs, disappointed. “I wish you wouldn’t keep saying that. You make it sound like I’m just trying to use you, and I’m not,” she astutely observes. “It’s just that I’ve been working on this spell, and I’d love to test it out. Besides, it’s just something I’d do for any of my friends.”

“Then find one of your friends to test it out on,” I tell her coldly. My words make it very clear to her that I don’t consider her a friend. As such, Twilight recoils, looking hurt. “I decline your offer. These scrapes aren’t nearly so bad that they require the use of a spell like that.” 

“I… suppose you’re right,” Twilight concedes, lowering her head dejectedly. I notice that Spike is glaring at me now; it’s likely he also picked up on the hidden meaning in my previous statement and is not happy about it. “I’m sorry, I was just excited to try out a new spell.”

I don’t respond, instead taking a moment to eat the remainder of my biscuits. The meal is good, but it hardly does much to assuage the hunger gnawing away at me. At least it’ll provide a boost I can use to get through the rest of today until I get paid by Vinyl and hopefully by a second prospective employer.

Spike quickly grows uncomfortable from the awkward silence between the three of us. “So… Seth, you were going to talk about human breakfasts, right?” he reminds me.

“Well, I should rephrase. I can tell you about my breakfast, which can’t really be used to summarize the entirety of human breakfasts,” I correct myself. 

“What do you mean by that?” This is enough to get Twilight looking curious and hopeful again, her notepad already lying open on the table in front of her. 

“What humans eat for breakfast depends on where they live as well as their culture. I only lived in one small province of a larger country, and traditions vary all over the place. I know little about the breakfasts of other provinces, and even less about those of other countries,” I explain to the fascinated librarian, who is already scribbling down notes, her quill scratching against the parchment. “Even then, they can vary among individual families. So if you want accurate info, all I can tell you about is what I ate.”

“That’s a start! You’ve already given me more than enough to write an entry on human culture!” Twilight proclaims encouraging. I nod with approval. That means I don’t have to tell her much more in order to fulfil my debt for this meal. “Anything you can tell me, no matter how simple, is worthwhile!”

“Alright. Then I can tell you that I personally don’t like going to too much effort to eat in the morning, due to my limited time and schedule. Because of that, I prefer simple foods that don’t require much preparation…” I begin.  Once the conversation begins, Spike settles down, seeming much more content to sit back, eat his biscuits, and listen now that Twilight and I aren’t arguing anymore.

Resigning myself to the necessity, I force myself to converse with her in a level tone. In the process, I find that many of what people in my area considered to be normal breakfast foods are unfamiliar to ponies. This doesn’t surprise me; I’d be more concerned if ponies knew what poptarts or bacon were. 

Twilight encourages me to share everything, despite the fact that my breakfast sometimes included meat. She is certainly uncomfortable with the idea, but it seems that accuracy is more important to her than comfort. Thus, I ended up sharing how bacon was considered a delicacy by those around my age.

“Eep… I’ll be sure not to tell Applejack about that. There are pigs that live on her farm, and she’s rather fond of them,” Twilight reacts, writing down my words. That name is familiar; Applejack is the pony I’m going to see after this. Keeping my previous diet quiet is already a priority, but now it goes double for whenever I meet this Applejack. 

Once I finish my explanation, Twilight nods, looking satisfied. “Let me make sure I’m understanding you properly: you had to wake up early and leave not long afterwards, so you grew a liking for foods that were quick and didn’t require preparation on your part. This habit even carried over to your days away from school.”

“That’s right. Food preparation is frustrating and time-consuming, so I stay at home and eat something simple. Unless…” I pause, almost letting slip about the few exceptions that arose. There were times when I’d go out to eat, but it would only ever be with Amaryllis or my family, and Twilight doesn’t need to hear about them. I readjust my statement to keep Twilight from getting suspicious. “Unless I had nothing simple. Then I’d have to make it myself, and resolve to immediately resupply during my next outing.”

“Oh? Were you good at cooking?” Twilight thankfully doesn’t catch on to the real reason for my sudden pause. 

“Not in the least. It stresses me out, and more often than not the instructions are vague so I’m expected to ‘feel out’ the process… and that never ends well,” I respond.

Twilight giggles. “I can imagine. So it’s clear you wouldn’t have a cutie mark in cooking.” 

“Cutie mark?” I echo before I can stop myself, confused at the familiar term. I then realize that I just said the word “cutie,” making me want to gag. As sensible as I’ve been trying to be, that word feels repulsive as it tumbles over my lips.

Twilight looks surprised for only a moment. “Oh, I suppose it stands to reason humans don’t have them, considering you were quite adamant that humans didn’t possess magic of any kind. I’ll be happy to explain!” she expresses genuinely. Twilight angles her flank towards me, showing off the mark there. It’s of a magenta six pointed star backed by a similar white star that’s been rotated, as well as surrounded by five smaller white stars. “Every young pony gains a cutie mark that signifies his or her special talent. This is my cutie mark! It signifies my special affinity with magic that I mentioned earlier.”

“So what, is it permanently dyed on your flank like that?” I question, bemused at such an outlandish difference in culture.

“Dye? No, no, if it was dye, it would eventually disappear as our fur grew and our coats were trimmed,” Twilight corrects me. “They appear by magical manifestation as a reflection of our unique internal mana composition!”

“Magic. Of course,” I answer her with a nod, though sarcasm practically drips from my tone. I was hoping to hear something that would make sense. Nevertheless, I can’t help but feel somewhat envious. I still don’t know what my “special talent” would be, though I suppose I’m grateful I don’t get a tattoo on my lower hip. “That must make things easier for you. Humans have to find that out on their own.”

“Really? That must be very difficult,” Twilight gasps, once more scribbling down my revelation in her notepad. Hopefully me giving her that information is of equal value to her explanation on cutie marks. “Getting a cutie mark is hard enough as it is.”

“Well, what do you know? Humans have something in common with dragons!” Spike chimes back in, looking at me with a grin. “We don’t get those either.”

“I should hope not. Your special talent is breathing fire,” I retort wryly. A silence falls between us as I finish the cup of tea that was provided along with the meal, and Twilight finishes writing down the rest of what she’s learned from our conversation. I wonder if it would be within my rights to demand royalties from her if and when she decides to publish this information. I’m not certain how pony copyright law works.

“Oh, I wanted to tell you what I found during my studies last night!” Twilight suddenly remembers, brightening up. I try not to show it, but my interest has been piqued as well.

“You can certainly talk about it. Whether or not I listen is up to me though,” I tell her with a shrug. Twilight puts on a stubborn pout. “Don’t look at me like that. You did this for yourself, remember?”

“I do remember, but every scholar’s greatest joy is to be able to share their knowledge with another, and you just happen to be right here in front of me.” Twilight returns deviously, a small smile forming on her lips. “How convenient for you, don’t you think?”

“Not exactly the word I’d use, but whatever, I guess,” I sigh, slouching somewhat. Sitting like this without anything to brace my back against is getting tiring. Twilight notices this and stands up from the table.

“Why don’t you head over to the front room and rest on a cushion? I just need a minute to clean the dishes and I’ll come join you,” Twilight offers. I stand as well, liking the idea of resting against that table.

“I can handle the dishes,” Spike interjects, surprising Twilight. “What? No seriously, I got this. You spent all night researching that king, so you just worry about that.”

“Aw, thanks Spike.” Twilight lowers herself down to nuzzle the little dragon’s nose. Spike flushes a bit and chuckles bashfully, and then he dashes off to the sink to take care of the remains of our meal. “Then, shall we relocate, Seth?”

I wordlessly accompany Twilight into the front room. After the warm meal and the tea, my body feels much better. I’m not shivering violently anymore, and the chattering of my teeth has ceased. My skin appears to have regained its color, though my hands still feel a little clammy. 

Twilight’s horn glows briefly. From one of the alcoves carved into the wall above the bookshelves, two cushions fly down to the floor, clutched firmly in her magenta aura. She nudges one of them towards me with a smile. 

Attempting to avoid aggravating my side, I gingerly kneel down and move the offered cushion close to the table in the center. Then, I sit down, resting my back against the lip of the table. It’s not optimal, but I would feel uncomfortable if I started making myself at home in a public establishment… that also seems to double as her house. I’m not entirely sure how to view this place.

Twilight orients her cushion to be about two feet across from me, and then she sits down on her haunches. She doesn’t waste any time in getting started. “First, I’ll preface my explanation by stating that I haven’t found anything concrete on King Sombra at all,” she admits right off of the bat. When she notices my incredulous and displeased expression, she frowns. “It wasn’t for lack of trying, I assure you. I closed the library yesterday and went through over half of my store of books, starting from those that were most likely to hold relevant information and moving on to more obscure texts when early results bore no fruit.”

Twilight shows me a series of books, lifting them up telekinetically from the shelves and setting them aside in a neat stack once she’s certain that I’ve seen them. I decide to keep quiet about the fact that she’d literally just cleaned the library an hour ago.... as well as the fact that I can’t read their language. 

“First, I read through Important Ponies of Ages Past, but I found nothing, surprisingly enough. Then I searched through Dynasties of the Old World, Before the Princesses, and then even A Succinct History of Equis,” Twilight relates, showing me books that I assume are the ones to which she’s referring. She continues on to list more books, such that I lose focus and tone her out… at least until she moves on to her own assumptions. “So far, I’m running on the idea that King Sombra is a pony. As you said, he used a spell of some sort, so he must be a unicorn. Dragons can also weave spells to an extent, though I’ve never heard of a dragon wearing attire like what you’ve described.”

“Let’s hope he’s not a dragon,” I comment drily. I would be very hardpressed to kill him if that was the case. 

“That being said, however, I cannot find a single mention of him. I find this odd, because if he is a pony, we should definitely have some information on him somewhere in the history books. In fact, I’m finding that there are specific areas of Equis that I can’t find any information on, and that’s not normal,” Twilight continues. She’s beginning to look fervent and excited; I guess she’s really enjoying the challenge. “Specifically, I can’t find anything about the Frozen North apart from the precinct of Yakyakistan.”

I’m just not going to comment on that name. “So how does that pertain to King Sombra?” I question to get her back on the right track.

“I’m thinking he may be tied to one of these ‘history whiteouts,’ if he truly is from our era as you claim,” Twilight hypothesizes. I let out an exhale of disbelief. If that’s true, and pony society is covering up his existence, then perhaps I’ve stumbled onto something far larger in scope than I ever expected. “Most likely seems to be the Frozen North, as I’ve at least seen cursory mentions of the other suspect areas.”

“That’s a start, I suppose,” I determine, allowing myself to feel a small manner of satisfaction. It doesn’t seem as though Twilight is willing to stop researching this or telling me her results, so I can use this information. If her further research turns up nothing, I’ll head to the north once I’ve saved up enough money to buy thicker clothes and rations. With luck, I’ll find out something more about Sombra from the ponies up north.

“Of course, this is all purely conjecture. If you give me some more time, I can search through the rest of my library and see what else I can find out. I may find something on the Frozen North that completely invalidates my previous statements,” Twilight proposes. “If not, I’ll send a letter to Princess Celestia asking permission to get into the royal archives. Oh, this is so exciting! This is why I enjoy research so much!”

After saying that, she clenches her teeth together and smiles such that she produces a strange noise, almost like someone had squeezed a dog toy, only somewhat less obnoxious. I’m going to assume that’s a strange pony way of showing great excitement or happiness.  

“You don’t need to ask me to give you more time. You’re doing this for your own sake, so you have all the time in the world,” I remind her stubbornly.

“My point is that you should come by again! I’d love to be able to share what else I find!” Twilight emphasizes, ignoring my pointed words. When I start to feel somewhat reluctant, she leans forward, her smile growing even wider. “Please, I insist!”

I can’t help but press myself against the table in an attempt to put some distance between us. I can’t understand why she’s so fired up about this. I get that she’s a scholar and likes learning, as that much was obvious upon meeting her. Despite this, no matter what she says, she’s still trying to help me, and I don’t understand why; we’ve already established that she can gain nothing from me in return. Is learning really so important to her that it’s better than any reward? I have no answer; I guess I just don’t understand this pony. 

“I’ll come by sometime tomorrow,” I answer uncomfortably. I get to my feet, as  it feels as though my time here is over. I make sure to grab my rifle in the process. “I have a lot to do today, so I don’t have time tonight.”

“Alright! I’ll mark it in my schedule then.” Twilight lifts a wide orderly sheaf of paper from the table behind me with her magic and proceeds to scribble something down on it. I can make out a grid on the paper, so it’s likely a calendar. “You found something to do in the town today?”

“More or less. What manner of business that is, however, is my own,” I point out to her clearly. I’m worried that Twilight will start getting too friendly if I keep visiting her like this, and I can’t have her holding me back in any way if I do leave Ponyville to go north.

Twilight nods understandingly. “I won’t pry if you’d rather me not,” she assures me as I make my way towards the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow then, okay?”

I nod wordlessly and step back outside into the chilly air. I inadvertently shiver, still remembering how frozen I was this morning. Thankfully it seems to be warmer now by several degrees, thanks to the sun’s rays shining down over the tops of the buildings. As I walk through the now much busier streets, the sun warms my skin to the point where I feel comfortable.

Although my presence in the town is still an oddity for the ponies who live here, it seems as though their interest in me is waning, as I only get curious stares this time around. Perhaps the word of my appearance is spreading. come to think of it, a seemingly popular musician announced the name of my kind to a large crowd at her performance. Therefore, it’s no surprise that ponies are learning what I am. I’m not sure how fast news of my presence will spread to other settlements, but either way I shouldn’t stay in this town any longer than is absolutely necessary.

Sticking to the sunlight, I make my way through the town. My next order of business is to find Applejack’s farm. Using what I remember from my overhead view by the forest as well as my own wanderings last night, I make my way to the northwestern part of town. The amount of ponies walking through the streets thins as I approach the apple orchard, suggesting that the farm is on the outskirts of town. I wince; this is going to be a rather lengthy walk.

As I step onto a small wooden bridge that crosses over a tributary of the main river, my rifle drags against the planks. I pause and glance down at the mangled weapon in bemusement. I’ve been carrying this around with me ever since I left the school in the hopes that I could use it as a bludgeoning weapon, but now I seem to be past that point. I honestly have no use for it now. 

I might as well discard it. I step to the edge of the bridge and lift the rifle over the edge. If I drop it into the stream here, it’ll eventually rust to nothing. Even if a pony finds it, it’s too far gone to ever be repaired or reverse engineered, especially if the ponies haven’t developed gunpowder yet.

When I try to loosen my grip, I find that I can’t. It would be so easy to release it and watch it fall into the stream, but… I can’t bring myself to do so. The thought of continuing further without my rifle makes me feel a rising sense of anxiety and panic, though I can’t seem to come to any logical reason as to why I feel that way. Instead, the only thing that comes to my mind is… I don’t want to let go. 

I withdraw the rifle back to my side, and the feelings subside. I’m utterly bewildered as to why I would feel that way so suddenly, but without a reasonable explanation, I set that aside. If it’s going to be such a big deal, I’d rather keep the rifle here with me. If only so I won’t be so defenseless in case something happens.

Once I’m across the bridge, the town gives way to a grassy plain stretching before me, complete with a dirt road upon which I tread. I can see the entrance to the farm in the far distance, but it seems like it’ll be a good ten minute walk. There’s no point in wasting time, so I get started, moving forward at a normal walking pace. Farmwork is very labor intensive, so should I get this second job, I’ll need all the stamina I can get. I just hope I can do it, what with all these injuries I still bear.

The closer I get to the farm, the more trees start to encroach along the edges of the path. It’s a rather enjoyable walk now that it’s warmer and nature is coming to life. All things considered, Ponyville is a pleasant enough town, if I ignore the fact that it’s inhabited solely by colorful ponies. The architecture is nice to look at, and the town blends seamlessly with the nature around it. Therefore, the area feels as though the town is living harmoniously with nature, rather than shoving it aside to make way for urbanization. Obviously I can’t generalize about humanity’s building habits, but I do know that nature came secondary to the expansion of the college that I once attended.

Some time later, as I near the farm, I become aware that I’m no longer alone. At first I start to feel a little uneasy, as though I’m being watched. However, I eventually hear the soft beating of wings in the air above and behind me. It’s likely that, assuming it's a pegasi that’s following me, he or she has some business with the farm. I don’t doubt that the place gets some traffic, given how important it must be to the town.

I step to the side to let the pony pass me by, pretending to lean down and check my shoes. Despite my previous assumption, the beating wings don’t pass overhead, but instead stay in place. My suspicions rising, I get back up and continue walking. Sure enough, the hidden pegasus follows.

I halt in place, coming to the only possible conclusion; this pegasus’s business must be with me. “That’s enough. If you have something to say to me, come down here and say it. I don’t have time for whatever it is you’re doing,” I address the hidden pegasus, my tone heavily laden with annoyance.

“Well, excuse me for not knowing how to approach a human!” an equally annoyed female voice returns, sarcasm present in her tone. Her voice is rough and scratchy, with the timbre of a youthful alto. 

I believe this is the first time I’ve heard a pony act as sarcastic as I can be. Curious, I turn to see the most brightly colored pegasus I’ve ever seen soaring down to the ground, her hooves kicking up the dirt as she skids to a halt.

At first I have to squint, as this pony is so colorful that it briefly hurts my eyes to look at her. The most normal aspect to her design is that her coat is a light shade of cerulean. Her mane, on the other hand, is an unkempt mess that flops untidily over her brow and around one side of her neck. It’s colored all six colors of the rainbow, each one somehow separated from the others to the point where each color forms its own distinct stripe. The red, orange, and yellow stripes rest on her brow, and the green, blue, and violet stripes are what wraps around her neck. Her tail is all six colors.

To top off her unusual appearance, her cutie mark is of a thunder cloud from which a tricolor lightning bolt protrudes. Twilight said each cutie mark is supposed to signify the special talent of each individual pony, but I can’t even fathom a guess as to what this one could mean.
“It’s good that you know what I am. Yet still, I can think of at least five other ways to approach someone than by following them,” I point out to her. The pony is obviously female, given from her voice and smaller frame… though one abnormality about her is that her muscles are very clearly defined. “As far as I can tell, we haven’t met. Why are you following me?”

“Two things. First of all, you’re a human. Just for that I wanted to see what you looked like,” the mare responds as though her words should be self-explanatory. 

“That doesn’t make sense. How did you know I am a human if you don’t know what we look like?” I question her, even though I’m sure I know the answer. She could have heard about me from Vinyl’s fans, Lyra, or Twilight. Nevertheless, I’d like to know for certain.

“Have you looked at yourself? How many other creatures walk around on two legs?” the mare points out with a grin. I frown; this pony is starting to rub me the wrong way. Instead of just answering me plainly, she’s treating me like I’m stupid. “Plus, I read the books. Though you look nothing like I expected. Your mane’s all boring, and you don’t look strong at all.”

A firm sense of dislike for her makes its home in my mind. Everything she’s saying comes across as condescending, and that’s one of the quickest ways to make me angry.

“No doubt anyone’s mane looks boring to you,” I grunt, gritting my teeth with animosity. “I trust your curiosity has been satisfied. What’s the second reason you sought me out?”

The mare approaches me, her grin fading away. “I heard about you from Flitter. She said you ditched her early in the morning before she left for work,” she accuses me. “What’s up with that?”

“I hardly think that’s your business,” I state, crossing my arms. The mare huffs in frustration. She looks like she’s about to insist, so I attempt to redirect the conversation. “Should you really be confronting total strangers off of hearsay? Who are you, anyway?”

“Me? The name’s Rainbow Dash: captain of the Ponyville Weather Team and the fastest flier in Equestria!” the mare seems very happy to introduce herself, her grin returning as she presses a hoof to her chest proudly.

I stare at her mutely for a few moment. Everything this pony says just causes me to dislike her further. In addition to her overall condescending tone, she’s revealed that she has an inflated ego… another trait that I dislike in a person.

“I see… the fastest,” I repeat disbelievingly. At the very least, I should introduce myself in turn. “I’m Seth Rogers.”

“That’s right, Seth, I’m the fastest! There’s not a single pony out there that can match me… unless you count the Wonderbolts, but they’re special,” Rainbow continues to brag, spreading her wings as if to show them off. When she notices my less than interested look, her grin widens. “What, you don’t believe me?”

“I honestly don’t care,” I tell her flatly, my patience at its end. Captain of the weather team or not, I see no benefit to continuing this conversation. She needs to know that I’m not someone she can just lead around by the nose. “Whether or not you’re the fastest really doesn’t matter to me.”

Rainbow looks as though I physically struck her. The grin falls from her face immediately and her eyes widen almost imperceptibly. People, or ponies in this case, who have overinflated egos are best deterred when their accomplishments are ignored. In this way, I hope to give her the idea that her boasts are both unwanted and a waste of my time.

Her head droops and her posture becomes noticeably less lively than before. It seems I was right, and I really hit her where it hurts. Any guilt that surfaces in me from seeing this is quickly quashed by my mental assertions that any distractions from my goal cannot be tolerated.

“You’re really kind of a jerk,” Rainbow returns, giving me a bitter stare. “No wonder you gave Flitter such a hard time.”

“If you must know, my interactions with her were, as far as I’m concerned, a means to exchange information. Any further actions on her part were both unwarranted and unnecessary,” I explain with a heavy sigh. “She really has no reason to complain.”

“What are you talking about? Of course she does! She wanted to help you, and you threw her attempts back in her face!” Rainbow snaps back disbelievingly, her eyes flashing as she leaps to the defense of the pony who I’m assuming is a friend of hers. “Not to mention you were rude about it!”

“I wasn’t rude; I was firm. I never asked for her help, and despite my earlier efforts to get her to stop trying, she insisted. A firm approach was the only thing that would work with her,” I correct Rainbow’s assumption. No doubt she’s leaping to conclusions. 

“Oh yeah? You call just ditching her without a word a ‘firm approach?’ She was just trying to be friendly!” Rainbow shoots back fervently. “Though clearly you don’t know the meaning of the word! I even tried to introduce myself and you wouldn’t even let me!”

My first reaction is to sigh once more. Unlike the other ponies I’ve met, this one doesn’t seem to be the kind that’ll back down with my usual approach. I don’t enjoy doing this, but I’m going to have to be entirely honest with her about where she stands with me. I look Rainbow directly in the eyes.

“I’ll be straight with you. So far, every pony I’ve met has been far too intrusive and prying in their attempts to ‘be friendly,’ and then they all get offended when I refuse. Frankly, I’m quite tired of it.  I have no intentions on making friends with any of you, and clearly that concept seems to be foreign with all of you,” My tone gets harder and sharper with every word I say to her. “I’m here to conduct research and gear up for a task, and once I’m finished, you’ll never see me again. All you’re doing now is wasting everyone’s time.”

Rainbow is rendered speechless for a few moments after I finish my statement, though it’s clear that won’t last very long. She grits her teeth roughly and narrows her eyes at me. 

“Graaagh! You are the rudest, nastiest, and meanest creature I think I’ve ever met!” Rainbow rages, her front forehooves squeezing at the air.  She spreads her wings and leaps into the air in a hover. “With an attitude like that, I don’t even want to be friends with you! In fact, I don’t think even Pinkie would want to be friends with you!”

Rainbow gets right up in my face, causing me to involuntarily take a step back. “You know what? I’m going to tell Flitter she’s better off without you, and then I’m going to tell Pinkie not to even bother! Hurry up and get out of Ponyville already, and then I hope you have fun being alone all the time!” After she finishes her tirade, Rainbow zips away in the other direction with a blinding speed, to the point where I can barely track her with my eyes. In fact, the only evidence that she was here to begin with is the fading rainbow trail left by her swift exit.

I stare after her for a few moments, feeling somewhat pensive. Come to think of it, she’s the only pony so far that has yelled back at me like that. In fact, that’s the first time somebody has yelled back at me in general in quite some time. I think the last person to do so was Amaryllis… though obviously there’s no comparison between the two.

After making sure that Rainbow’s outburst didn’t disturb anyone who might have been nearby, I continue on my way to the farm. That was a rather unwelcome distraction, but hopefully I’ve resolved both the Rainbow and the Flitter issues in the process. I don’t mind if Rainbow goes around telling everyone to hate me; I’ve already achieved that for which I came to Ponyville. All that’s left is to gather the materials for the trip, which with luck, will only take me between a few days to a week.

Once I near the farm, the trees on either side of me give way to a large open clearing, bordered by a white wooden fence. The entrance to the farm itself is a white archway wreathed in leaves and apples. However, the most noticeable feature is the sizeable barnhouse situated atop a small hill in the center of the clearing. The building is roughly rectangular and constructed entirely out of wood and plaster that has been painted a vibrant red and white. To better clarify the design, the main barn has two floors as well as a spire that supports an apple-themed weathervane. Lastly, there is a separate wing adjoined to the left side of the barn.

Casting my gaze around reveals that the farm expands across a great deal of land. It soon becomes apparent that while the apple trees behind the barn are greatly numerous, it is far from the only crop that’s being cultivated. To my left, stalks of corn sprout from the neatly tilled fields, and further back I notice rows of carrots planted on a hill, atop of which is a small two floored building that looks to be storage for the harvested crops.

On my right as I walk inside is a fenced in chicken coop. Twilight told me that ponies eat eggs like us, so it isn’t that strange to see it here. There’s also a line of smaller red shacks lining the fence on the far side of the clearing. I can’t quite make out their purpose, but I do notice bales of hay stacked up alongside them.

There are some ponies working the corn and carrot fields in the distance, but I don’t see any ponies in my general area just yet. Unwilling to stand and wait around to be noticed, I walk through the white archway and look around the area. The one I need to speak with is called Applejack, if I remember correctly.

As I get closer to the barn, I hear a loud hammering coming from the near the orchard fence. Drawn to the sound, I make my way around the side of the barn until I reach the rear, where I find the source. 

There’s a small, pale yellow pony standing by the fence, a hammer clenched tightly in its mouth. Unlike Twilight or Rainbow, she possesses no horn or wings. Beside it is a bucket filled with nails, with which the pony is using to repair some minor damage in the wooden construction. With its forehoof, the pony would somehow manage to lift and position a nail on the fence and then swing its head repeatedly until the nail is firmly embedded in the wood.

This pony, whom I assume is a mare judging from the pink bow fastened to the back of its ruby colored mane, is much smaller than the ponies I’ve seen so far. In addition, unlike every other pony I’ve seen, there is a distinct lack of a cutie mark on her flank. Twilight mentioned that all ponies receive them to signify their special talent. Does this mean this pony doesn’t have a special talent, or that she hasn’t found it yet?

Either way, the mare appears much younger than other ponies, which makes the word “filly” more applicable in this case. This means I’m looking at the pony equivalent of a child. I mentally resign myself to dealing with her; I’m not too fond of children in any regard.

The hammer slips in the filly’s mouth and she ends up hitting her own hoof instead, rather than the nail. “Yowch!” she squeaks in a youthful voice, dropping the nail and the hammer in the process. “Aw, where’d that darn nail go…?”

The filly happens to turn around and spot me just as I’m beginning my approach. She freezes instantly, her eyes turning wide. A sinking feeling comes over me, but before I can say anything to assuage the fear she’s likely feeling, the filly emits a screech of terror and leaps over the back fence, sprinting into the apple orchard without regard to the tools she left behind.

“Stupid,” I berate myself, planting my face in my hand. I should have given the filly some warning before approaching her. Of course these farmers would have no idea what I am. Considering they live all the way out here away from the main town, I doubt the news of my arrival in town would have reached them yet. Plus, I doubt any of them are educated enough to know what a human would look like.

I turn on one heel as I hear a door slam open behind me. No doubt summoned by the scream of the filly, a large stallion emerges from the back of the barn. This has to be the largest pony I’ve ever seen; he easily reaches up to my shoulders. Deep red fur covers his heavily muscled body, and a messy orange mane hangs from his neck. For a cutie mark, there’s a cross section of a McIntosh apple. Like the filly, he doesn’t have a horn or wings.

My first thought is to raise my hands disarmingly, to show this pony that I’m not a threat. With a pony this size and with muscles like that, a single kick from his back legs could easily crush my rib cage. To my surprise, the stallion’s look of alarm fades the moment he sees me.

“Thought you might have been a timberwolf,” he explains simply, his voice a deep bass. He closes the door behind him with a nudge of a hoof, and then he approaches me. I’ve never heard that word before, so I raise an eyebrow. The stallion seems to understand, and he indicates towards the right with his head. “Wooden wolves. They live in the Everfree.”

I swear I feel my chest twinge painfully from his explanation. Now I have a name for those wireframe wolves that nearly put an end to me. I follow the stallion’s head until I catch sight of the sprawling twisted trees in the far distance. That’s the forest I came from; I didn’t realize the farm was so close to it. Now I have a name for it as well: the Everfree Forest.

“I’ve run into them once… as you can likely see,” I respond, grateful that at least this pony seems to be sensible. The stallion notes my chest injuries and nods understandingly. “You’re probably still wondering what I am though.”

“Nope,” the stallion answers with a simple shake of his head. “I know what you are.”

“That’s refreshing, if unexpected,” I comment. I guess I stand corrected about my earlier statement. This farmer appears to be more educated than I originally gave him credit for. It gets quiet as the stallion just gazes at me wordlessly, so I change the topic. “That makes this easier. You work here?”

“Yup. Family owns the farm.” he answers tersely. The more he talks, the more apparent his rustic accent becomes. He politely extends a hoof to me. “ My name is Big MacIntosh.”

I glance at the hoof briefly, and then I accept the shake just as politely. If he’s part of the family that runs the place, it behooves me to be as polite as possible, just as I acted with Vinyl the previous night. I decide to cut to the chase. “I’m Seth Rogers. I’m new to Equestria, so I came here looking for a job.”

Big MacIntosh’s expression shifts almost imperceptibly. He looks at me different, and starts to look me over, as though sizing me up. He gives an unsure hum after a few moments.

“You sure you can handle it?” the stallion questions. He indicates my injuries with a hoof. “You’re injured.”

“They’re healing quickly, and don’t restrict my movement that much. I don’t believe they’ll be an insurmountable obstacle.” It’s difficult to tell what this stallion is thinking, so all I can do is attempt to ease any worries he might have.

Big MacIntosh ponders for a moment before nodding. “Okay. I think we can use you,” he decides. I have to stifle a sigh of relief upon hearing that. Perhaps I won’t be doomed to freeze tonight after all. However, as satisfying as that is to hear, I was led to believe this Applejack was in charge. I won’t complain if this pony has the authority to hire me as well, but I hope that doesn’t pose an issue if and when Applejack finds out.

“Wait here,” he directs me, and then he retreats back into the barn momentarily. When he returns, it’s with a wheelbarrow tied to a brown harness around his neck. Inside are various farm tools. Some of them I recognize, such as weed clippers and filled, covered water pails, while with others I am unfamiliar. Wordlessly, Big MacIntosh begins walking towards the corn fields.

I assume the rather quiet stallion intends for me to follow, so I keep pace with him. Eventually, he comes to a halt by the first corn field and upends the wheelbarrow with a quick flick of a hoof, emptying the tools on the dirt in a neat pile.

“Snow’s coming, and there’s a lot to be harvested,” Big MacIntosh explains as he ambles towards the cornfield. I realize that he likely wants help harvesting all of that corn. There does look to be too much for one pony to handle on his own in a reasonable amount of time. “Ever worked with corn before?”

“Can’t say that I have,” I admit honestly. One fact I omit is that I’ve never worked a full day’s worth of physical labor. I’m sure this job is going to be brutal, but I don’t have much of a choice.

“Watch me,” Big MacIntosh directs. As I watch, he nears an ear of corn and grasps it firmly in his mouth. He yanks downward, and angles his head so that the ear is twisted and wrenched free from the stalk. Then, he places the ear into the wheelbarrow. “You try.”

I set my rifle in the pile with the other tools. Then, I walk up beside him and replicate the same motions he used, only with my hands. It’s not to hard to separate the ears from the stalks; in fact, I think my hands make it easier for me than it is for him. Whether or not I’m right can’t be determined though, as the only acknowledgment Big MacIntosh gives is an approving nod. Together, the two of us start to work down the first line of corn, slowly filling the wheelbarrow as we go.

We’re only working for a few minutes before the yellow filly from before returns with a second, older mare in tow.  This new one, like the others, is just a normal pony with a vibrant orange coat and a hay colored mane and tail, both of which are tied at the ends with lengths of red twine. Her cutie mark is unsurprisingly apple themed, consisting of three red apples.

To top off her appearance, she wears a brown stetson hat on her head, the article tilted back somewhat to keep from obscuring her vision. Lastly, her face is freckled by spots of lighter fur. 

Her stance becomes aggressive as the two of them spot me, but when they get close enough to see what we’re doing, she and the filly both pause, unsure what to make of us.

“Apple Bloom, ain’t this the monster you mentioned?” the mare questions the filly, her voice a rich alto tinted with a very distinct accent, similar to the one Big MacIntosh possesses. 

“That’s it! It came from around the barn!” the filly squeaks in the high pitched tone of a young girl barely entering adolescence.

The mare looks unconvinced, her stance relaxing. “Don’t look so monstrous to me. Plus, it’s helping Big Mac,” she reasons to the younger filly. She then raises her voice. “Big Mac! You got a moment?”

Big MacIntosh glances over at me. “Take a break,” he tells me, even though we had barely even begun. Though I suppose this encounter was unavoidable. Together, he and I leave the wheelbarrow where it is and approach the two ponies. Upon our arrival, the filly, Apple Bloom, hides behind the older mare.

“This fellow came looking for a job,” is all Big MacIntosh gives in the way of explanation, and then he gives me a nod. In other words, he wants me to speak for myself. I suppose that’s fair.

“Did he now?” the mare seems both surprised and pleased by that. She glances up to me and makes an apologetic face. “Well now. Sorry about the rude welcome, by the way. Apple Bloom didn’t mean no harm; you just ain’t like anything we’ve seen before.”

“So I’m beginning to understand,” I respond. My words are wry, but my tone is even. Before I can say anything else, the mare snatches my hand from my side with her hoof and shakes it enthusiastically. Her grip is surprisingly tight and her strength is apparent, as after the first few moments of shaking my arm starts to ache.

“I’m Applejack, and my family runs the farm, though I reckon Big Mac already told you that,” she introduces herself happily. I nod, recognizing the name with some relief. It appears my earlier worries were groundless. “It’s a pleasure making your acquaintance, sir. Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres! Always nice to see a new face!”

“Thank you. My name is Seth Rogers,” I respond, somewhat uncomfortable from her sheer enthusiasm. I’m not used to receiving this kind of greeting from anyone, so I’m not entirely sure how to respond to her. “I’ve heard about you from the other ponies in town.”

“Only good things, I hope,” Applejack chuckles good-naturedly, releasing my hand at last and setting her hoof on the ground once more. She then gives the filly a little nudge. “This little one is my sis, Apple Bloom.”

“I’m not that little!” Apple Bloom protests, causing her sister to pat her on the head, much to her chagrin.

“Seems like you’ve already met Big Mac here. You got my thanks for helping out with the harvest,” Applejack remarks, dipping her head out of gratitude. She gives me a friendly smile. “You were looking for a job? What drove you here? No offense, but you don’t look all that fit.”

“None taken. A physical career wasn’t exactly my primary focus,” I accidentally let slip in an attempt to keep up my polite facade. I was so focused on reining myself in that I unwittingly left her a hook that will no doubt pique her curiosity. Sure enough, her head is tilting. “I’m here because I’m new in Equestria and I need a way to make money. I heard you were looking for help because of the upcoming winter.”

“You heard right. There’s so much to do this time of year, and we’re pressed for time. We can usually manage, but by then we’re plum tuckered out.” Applejack admits. “New to Equestria, huh? You come from down south?”

“It’s a bit of a long story.” I struggle to keep the annoyance out of my voice at her increasingly prying questions. “Suffice to say, I’m not here by choice.”

“Ooh, sorry to hear that,” Applejack responds with a troubled frown. She does her best to give me a reassuring expression. “I think we can help you out. Big Mac, you mind if I borrow Mr. Rogers from you?”

“Nope.” Big MacIntosh dips his head and returns to the cornfield alone, as if he had been expecting such an outcome.

“Good. Alright, first, Apple Bloom, could you get back to work on that fence?” Applejack directs her sister. “Then when you’re finished, go back and help Granny Smith back at the barn. There’re some chores around there that still need doing.”

“Alright, sis!” Apple Bloom acknowledges with a smile. Before leaving to do as she was told, she gives me an apologetic frown. “Sorry for screaming at you, Mr. Rogers.”

I give her a terse nod, but I don’t say anything else. However, It’s enough to make her smile briefly before running back to the fence. Now I’m left alone with Applejack. The mare motions towards the apple trees in the distance and then walks in that direction. I take a moment to grab my rifle from the pile of tools, and then I fall into step beside her.

“I have to say, it’s right convenient you showed up when you did, Mr. Rogers,” Applejack expresses happily as she leads me past the fence and into the orchard. “I was just mentioning to Granny how we were running out of time before the first snows.”

“You can just call me Seth,” I inform her, getting tired of being referred to so formally. It feels strange to be called that, after being referred to just by my first name for most of my life.

“Works for me. Seth’s easier to say anyhow,” Applejack comments with a smile. She weaves to our right through the trees until we come to one particular tree next to which is a wooden cart half filled with wooden baskets. Many of these baskets are filled to the brim with luscious red and green apples, while others are empty. Several of the empty baskets are arranged in an oddly specific manner around the tree. “You any good at apple bucking?”

“I… can’t say I’ve ever heard the term,” I confess, watching Applejack trot over towards the tree.

“That’s okay, I’ll show you. Stay back a moment,” Applejack directs me. I obediently stand over by the cart, resting my back against the stationary vehicle. Once she notes that I’m out of the way, Applejack turns her back to the tree and gives it a powerful kick with her back two legs. 

To my utter shock, the entire tree shakes from the impact with such force that each and every apple in the tree is dislodged, falling to the ground like rain. I can’t help but stare in awe. Such a feat would require a great deal of strength; strength that one wouldn’t think such a small pony could possess, but here it seems as though it doesn’t take much effort on Applejack’s part at all.

The apples fall into the placed baskets with precision, with only one or two apples falling on the ground. It’s almost as if Applejack knew where the apples would fall beforehand and used that knowledge to determine where the baskets should go. However, each tree is different, so this makes it seem as though she knows her trees to the point where she can determine where each apple will fall. Not only is Applejack deceptively strong, but she’s a lot smarter than I initially gave her credit for.

“That’s what apple bucking is. You think you can do that?” Applejack questions, walking up to me. She’s not even breathing harder after that unreal show of strength.

I immediately shake my head. “That’s just not possible. I’m nowhere near that strong. My legs would break if I tried,” I admit. Applejack nods, taking another look at my legs muscles.

“I thought so. Like I said earlier, you ain’t got much muscle,” Applejack observes. She smiles and presses a hoof to my leg in an attempt to reassure me. “No big deal. I still know a way you can help.”

“I can help you lift those baskets onto the cart,” I offer, indicating the filled apple baskets by the tree.

“That’s just what I was thinking,” Applejack agrees, nodding approvingly. “This’ll go faster if I have you doing the lifting and placing for me while I buck the trees. We’ll toughen you up in no time!”

“Sounds like fun.” As much as I’ve been trying to rein myself in, I can’t help but say something sarcastic. Thankfully, Applejack takes it in stride, giving a chuckle.

“Come on, let’s get started. We’ve got a lot of apple bucking to get done before the day’s done. Get ready to feel that burn, Seth!” Applejack asserts, rearing up and kicking her front hooves out of excitement.

I heave a sigh and move to pick up the first of the baskets. I can’t complain too much; I did ask for this. Either way, this is going to be the longest day I’ve ever had.
> 6. Working Class Hero (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The work is every bit as difficult and strenuous as expected. Initially, the job appeared to be simple and thoughtless, requiring nothing more than physical effort on my part, yet as time goes on, my muscles grow heavy and burn like fire with every exertion. A thin sheen of sweat soon coats my body, soaking into the denim of my jeans, covering my upper body, and rolling down my brow. It’s a good thing it’s only chilly and not freezing just yet, or I would certainly catch something. To add to the ever increasing discomfort, my side aches painfully as well. 

The task is very repetitive and dull. According to Applejack, the whole apple orchard needs to be harvested before the winter comes and the snow starts to fall. Considering the size of this orchard, there’s possibly hundreds of apple trees that still need to be harvested before then. I have to stifle my groans, knowing that this difficult monotonous job is going to be my whole afternoon.

Every hour or so, the wagon becomes filled to capacity, requiring Applejack and I to return to the central area where the barn is located in order to store the harvested apples. After Applejack leads me to a cellar located underneath the main barn, the two of us unload the baskets of apples and empty them into tightly packed barrels, which are then sealed. It’s colder down here than it is outside, likely for the same reason Twilight’s library remains warm in this weather. It’s somewhat interesting to see, as I’ve never been familiar with how apples were stored during the winter.

Moving on to Applejack herself, she’s not an overbearing taskmaster. Her diction is rather unspecific and rustic; for example, sometimes she’ll use general terms to describe certain objects. Despite this, it’s usually clear as to what she’s referring to, and doesn’t detract from her overall meaning. She’s very efficient and to the point, her words leaving little room for interpretation. She also does a great job at keeping me in working order, as she regularly stops by the living area to fill up provided canteens with water to bring with us. She’s not stupid; she knows that it’s vital we stay hydrated.

The only issue I have with Applejack is her attempts to make friendly conversation. She hasn’t asked anything too personal just yet, so it’s been simple for me to deflect her attempts with short, clipped answers or grunts, but if she’s like any of the other ponies, it’s only a matter of time. 

“Alright, Seth, let’s take a short break,” Applejack announces partly after we return from one of our unloading trips. Judging from the position of the sun in the sky, I estimate four hours have passed since we’ve started working. Even though it’s only been such a short time, I’m exhausted, and it takes every last ounce of willpower not to sigh in relief at the welcome respite. 

Applejack snickers as she watches me slide my back down against a tree. My breathing is clearly audible and doesn’t come to me easily, my chest heaving. “You ain’t done an honest day’s work in your whole life, have you?” she observes with an amused smile. Standing in stark contrast to my sorry state, Applejack’s breathing is steady and composed.  

“Is it that obvious?” I can’t help but say, sarcasm finding its way into my voice. Applejack just chuckles as she sits down on her haunches beside me. “If you’re worried about my ability to continue, don’t be. I’m not giving up.”

“That’s good to hear. I reckon you’ll get a lot stronger by the end of the harvest season,” Applejack reasons. “All this exercise can only do you good.”

I know she’s right, yet it doesn’t make me feel any better. It’s difficult to feel optimistic about what could happen in the future when there’s nothing but pain to come. I certainly hope this gets easier… though I should keep it realistic. I likely won’t be here long enough to reap any benefits from repeated workouts like this. As for how long that’ll be...

“Applejack,” I pant after taking a long draught from my canteen. Applejack glances over curiously. “It’s probably rude of me to ask, but how much are you willing to pay me for this?”

“That ain’t rude. It’s only natural you’d want to know. I doubt you’re here for the fun of it,” Applejack teases me gently, tilting her hat so that it shades her eyes from the sun. I do my best to keep from rolling my eyes. “I figured I’d give you a bit for every hour you work. It ain’t much, but y’all get breaks and dinner included in that. Provided that the breaks are short of course.”

“A bit every hour?” That sounds abysmally low, even for a minimum wage employee. Granted, I say that assuming the one to one basis, in which case I’d be making a dollar an hour. This time, however, I have to ask. “How much is a bit actually worth?”

“Right, I forgot you ain’t from Equestria,” Applejack recalls, nodding understandingly. “One bit’ll get you about ten or twelve apples, depending on size and season of course.”

“I see,” I respond, mulling over her answer. I haven’t bought any apples personally, nor did I pay much attention in passing when I went to shop for groceries during my era, so I’m not certain how well that translates into American currency. However, ten apples is enough food to get me through a majority of the day while hydrating me at the same time.

“Speaking of apples,” Applejack glances at one of the baskets that we just finished filling. With a quick flick of her hoof, she opens her mouth wide enough to chomp down on the apple whole, her strong jaws crushing it to pieces. The mare appears  extremely satisfied with the morsel, apple juice trickling down her chin. “Mm-mm! Delicious!”

“You sure you can eat your own merchandise like that?” I question her, raising an eyebrow at the sight.

Applejack wipes off her chin with a hoof and swallows. “It’s no big deal,” she dismisses. When she notices me looking less than satisfied by that answer, she continues. “With all these apples we harvest, we’re bound to get more than we can sell. So it’s fine if we eat an apple here and there.”

“So you’re saying your farm regularly produces surplus crop,” I reiterate to make sure I understand her correctly. Applejack nods in confirmation. “That makes sense, I suppose.”

With that in mind, I take one of the apples as well. If what she’s saying is true, then I’d technically be doing her a favor by reducing the surplus crop. At the very least, she made it clear that food was included in the pay. With that in mind, I bite into the apple greedily, finding the flavour rich and delicious.

“Good, aren’t they? Nothing beats a nice juicy apple fresh off the tree!” Applejack proclaims, beaming as I continue to devour the apple in an attempt to sate my burning hunger. Eventually, however, we do have to get back to work. “Anyhow, let’s get back to it. Those trees ain’t gonna buck themselves.”

I nod and rise to my feet, doing my best to choke back a pained groan from the lingering fatigue. I follow Applejack back to the cart, doing my best to finish the apple in my hand before returning to work.

“By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask: you’re new to Equestria, right? How are you liking the place?” Applejack asks me conversationally while we head to the next tree. I shake my head, unsurprised at the question. I knew she was going to ask me something like this sooner or later. I have nothing purely positive to say, but I can’t exactly tell her my true feelings. 

“Hard to say. I’ve never been anywhere outside of Ponyville,” I reply. The two of us pull up to the next tree, and our conversation continues throughout our work.

“That’s as good a place to start as any,” Applejack responds amicably. “Ponyville’s a nice place with some nice folks; it’s hard to come up with anything to complain about. Don’t you agree?”

“I… can’t say I share your opinion.” There was no way to get around that question without lying, so I have to tell the truth as best as I can without alienating her. I still need her for this job. 

“Why’s that?” Applejack isn’t looking at me due to our efforts placing the baskets, though I can hear the curiosity in her voice. 

“To be honest, every pony I’ve met has either been rather… eccentric.” That’s not exactly the right use of that word, but it’s the nicest way I can express how frustrating these ponies have been in their attempts to be friendly. “In one case, a pony was actually rather abrasive.”

“Abrasive? She didn’t happen to brag a lot, did she?” Applejack comments wryly.

“She did, now that you mention it. Why, do you know her?” I answer readily, glad for the change in topic to someone other than myself.

“That’s probably Rainbow Dash. She’s a little rough around the edges, but her heart’s in the right place. She’s a good friend of mine.” Applejack reveals with a knowing chuckle. I suppress the growing wave of unease that passes through me after hearing that. I wasn’t exactly kind to Rainbow. In the worst case, I’ll have to find a new job if she ends up telling Applejack about my harsh words. “I’m surprised you never mentioned Pinkie Pie. Haven’t you met her yet?”

“You know, I keep hearing that name. Every pony seems to talk about her fondly, yet I don’t believe I’ve ever seen her,” I respond, interested enough to ask. “Though usually the word ‘party’ is involved whenever her name comes up.”

“Sounds about right. That’s what she’s known for, apart from just being friendly to everypony in general,” Applejack confirms with a grin. “Though I’m surprised you never met her. She’s usually the first pony to know about newcomers.”

“Your guess is as good as mine. Perhaps she’s so busy getting ready for the party tonight that she has little time for somebody new?” I suggest, lifting a filled basket up onto the cart. I then have to rest for a second, my breath coming heavily once more.

“Trust me, she always makes time for a new friend. You should drop by her house and say hello! You can’t miss her; bright pink coat, frizzy mane, balloons for a cutie mark,” Applejack describes for me.  As I lift another basket up from the ground, I find that I recognize that description.

I can’t keep from scowling somewhat after the memory returns to me of the pink pony who had knocked me over yesterday. That’s the pony that everyone considers the friendliest in Ponyville? I’m not exactly impressed with what I experienced.

“I’ll...keep that in mind,” I concede, not wanting to continue that particular topic. Unfortunately, the conversation soon takes a turn for the worse when Applejack brings up the inevitable.

“Speaking of friends, what about you? You made any friends since coming to Ponyville?” Applejack questions me as we finish loading the back. I pause, sighing heavily. That’s as personal as it gets. Politeness has done me well so far, but I’m beginning to realize that it only makes other ponies think I’m open to these sorts of questions.

“Not really,” I admit to her. Together, the two of us move the cart to the next tree, making steady progress. “I haven’t exactly been looking for any, either.”

“That’s a downright shame. You seem like a decent enough sort,” Applejack responds with a frown. I release a breath of disbelief. Just as I thought, she’s mistaken my politeness for friendliness. There’s only one way to handle this now. “Tell you what, how about I introduce you to my friends after we’re finished?”

“No thank you. Firstly, I am busy with a second job tonight and don’t have time to kill. Secondly, I won’t be in town for that long. I’m gathering enough money for travel expenses, and then I’m leaving Ponyville,” I reveal to her as we position the baskets around the next tree.

“I suppose that makes sense. I don’t see no reason why you can’t have some fun while you’re here, though,” Applejack points out to me, the mare refusing to let me off easy. 

“If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not argue about it,” I return, making sure to keep my voice level and edgeless. It’s getting increasingly harder to remain diplomatic. I decide to finish the conversation in a way that would hammer my point home. “I appreciate your attempt, but you’re my boss and I’m your temporary employee. Perhaps we could leave it at that.”

That one sentence makes it very clear to Applejack exactly where the two of us stand. She pauses just before bucking the tree and gives me a lingering gaze, her lips forming a disappointed frown.

“Okay. If that’s what you want, I guess I can respect that,” Applejack finally concedes, and she returns to her work. With a swift grunt, she bucks the tree hard, dislodging any apples in its branches into the waiting baskets below.

I walk towards the first basket, feeling relieved. I suppose at the end of the day, Applejack isn’t the worst pony I’ve had to deal with in Ponyville. She’s been reasonable, level headed, and hasn’t tried to force her friendship on me as much as the others have. 

If it stays like this, my work here will be much easier to deal with from now on… until it’s time for me to leave Ponyville.





From then on, things are quiet between Applejack and I. The only conversation between us consists of her working with me to position the baskets correctly. It suits me just fine, and allows me to focus better on my work. 

The rest of the workday passes agonizingly slowly, pushing me to the very brink of my stamina and endurance. If it weren’t for the short breaks giving me time to rest, the occasional apple soothing my hunger, and the constant water supply keeping me hydrated, I’d have collapsed from exhaustion a long time ago. 

When the sun begins its descent towards the horizon and the sky begins to darken, Applejack at last allows us to call it a day. It’s difficult not to cry out in relief; currently it feels as though my body is made of lumps of heavy iron, with burning molten lead searing through my veins. Every slight movement causes me pain. 

“Let’s get the cart back to the barn,” Applejack directs me once we’ve finished unloading the current haul into the storage cellar. “You did good today, Seth. How are you holding up?”

“About… as well… as you’d expect…” I grunt miserably, much to Applejack’s amusement. I knew this was going to be hell, but it wasn’t as though I had a better choice. I didn’t have the time to leisurely search through the town for a better, easier job.

“We’ll get some muscle on you yet,” Applejack chuckles, tapping my aching leg briefly with a forehoof. “Er… provided you’re still in town of course. Any estimate on when you’re leaving? Hopefully not before the harvest ends, right?”

At that last question, Applejack turns her head to face me and puts on a hopeful wide smile. I assume she wants me to stay until then to make her workload easier. 

“I’m not entirely sure,” I answer honestly. I still have to determine the worth of an actual bit, calculate the total pay I earn per week, and then discover the cost of traveling further to the north. Once I know all of that, I’ll know how much money I’ll need to accomplish my goal. Once I have all I need, I’m leaving Ponyville, severing any ties I’ve made immediately without a second thought. “I can’t make any promises. At the very least, I’ll be around for a week or two.”

“That should be plenty of time. Won’t be long until the snows come, after all,” Applejack assures me. She pauses a moment to open up the main barn, and then the two of us pass into the structure. “Let’s just get the cart up against the wall, and that’ll be it.”

This is my first time seeing the inside of the barn, so I take a moment to glance around. There isn’t much to see, however. The barn is mostly empty, with a wide open expanse of hay stretching over the majority of the floor. On the other end of the room, there’s a ladder leading up to a small loft area, which is supported by multiple white pillars engraved with simple decorative designs.

The walls are lined with multiple layers of wooden shelves, each containing various farm tools and equipment, such as pitchforks, sickles, and shears. There are bales of hay stacked up in one corner, and on the other end of the room, there’s an aisle of hay that’s separated from the rest of the barn by a painted wooden partition.

Once the two of us  manage to maneuver the cart against the wall as she wanted, Applejack steps back with an approving nod. “Right, that takes care of that,” she affirms. With that, I rest my back against the wall, attempting to catch my breath. Applejack notes my exhaustion with amusement, but doesn’t comment on it. “Anyhow, come on inside while I get your pay.”

Even though I’m far from collected, the thought of payment spurs me into motion. I make sure to grab my rifle from where I left it in the cart and then fall in step beside Applejack, following her through a door in the far left corner of the barn.

I find myself stepping through a short hallway into a living area of rustic design, consisting of a rectangular room with oak wooden floors and soft beige walls, a circular orange rug covers the floor in the center of the room. On the walls hang multiple framed pictures of different sizes depicting a wide variety of different ponies. The windows are set into the far wall, decorated with teal drapes. Through them, I’m able to gaze out over the farm.

To my right after exiting the barn, I note a narrow staircase set into the back wall leading to a second floor. Additionally, there’s an opening in the wall on the right leading into a dining hall adjoined to a sizable kitchen. From that direction, I hear the sound of cabinets opening and closing. The apple-laden scent of cooking food drifts in from the kitchen causing my mouth to water. 

“Granny Smith, isn’t dinner ready yet? I’m hungry!” Apple Bloom calls into the kitchen, the yellow filly bounding down the stairs. Her coat and mane are slightly damp, suggesting that she’s recently washed. 

“It’ll be ready when it’s ready, little Bloom! Have some patience!” An elderly female voice screeches in from the kitchen in time with the clattering of dishes. “If you really want it sooner, come in and set the table!”

“Okay, I’m coming!” Apple Bloom declares, and then she zips past me to the kitchen, greeting me briefly as she goes. “Hi, Seth!” 

Applejack chuckles at the scene and moves towards the front door. She opens it briefly and pokes her head outside. “Big Mac! Put those ears of corn in the cellar and come on in for the night! It’s getting dark and dinner’s almost done!” she announced. Once the larger stallion had acknowledged her, she shut the door and walked over to the stairs. “I’m gonna grab your pay from upstairs. Be just a sec.”

I sigh and recline against the wall, wanting more than anything to find someplace comfortable to rest. I do my best to keep from thinking about the fact that I’m going to be repeating this misery the next morning.

The front door soon opened to reveal Big MacIntosh, the stallion’s fur matted with perspiration. It looks as though he’s been working as hard as we have. Upon spotting me, he gives a short nod. “How was your first day?” he asks simply, closing the door behind him.

“Exhausting, to say the least,” I answer. Big MacIntosh nods understandingly.

“Seems about right,” is all he says before he heads for the stairs. That was a rather short conversation, but that suits me just fine. As the big stallion climbs the stairs, I can feel the vibrations of his heavy hooves plodding on the wood through the wall.

I hear the sound of running water above a few moments later, suggesting that Big MacIntosh was next in line for a wash. Not long after that, Applejack returns from upstairs, carrying a small sack in her mouth. 

She drops the sack into my waiting hand, the currency inside jangling upon landing. “There you go! Six bits. You earned them,” Applejack announces with a pleased smile. “You going to be back tomorrow morning?”

“Most likely. How early do you want me?” I reply, dreading the answer.

“Probably around eight o’clock, if you can manage that,” Applejack supplies helpfully. 

“I can do that.” I nod, accepting that. Eight in the morning is pretty standard for a job. I’ll be working longer than I did today, assuming we stop at the same time, which means more money (and more pain) for me. That aside, now that I’ve accepted my pay, I have no further reason to remain. “Now then, if you’ll excuse me.”

“Hold up just a moment. Dinner’s just about done; you wanna come in and share a bite?” Applejack offers just as my hand is reaching for the door. “It’s included as part of your pay if you want it.”

I pause, thinking that over. She’s right that she promised food as well as money, but I’m not too keen on the idea of dinner with her family. I’ve always preferred to eat alone… but that’s hardly a justification for turning down her offer.

“No thank you. With how many apples you let me eat, I think you’ve more than made up for that obligation,” I reason. It’s a weak excuse at best… but I don’t want to eat with them. In the best case, I’d end up excluding myself and letting them pretend I wasn’t there, but in the worst case… they might start expecting my presence. I’m leaving Ponyville eventually. I’d prefer not to leave with strings attached.

“I suppose that’s true. You did eat quite a few. You must have been hungry,” Applejack admits with a snicker. She changes tack, giving me a friendly smile. “Then how about you come eat with us just because we have an empty seat?”

“No thank you,” I repeat simply without a second thought, and then I turn my back and move for the door. 

“Okay. See you tomorrow morning!” Applejack calls after me, not sounding perturbed in the least by my repeated refusals. Without anything left to stop me, I hoist open the door and step outside into the chilly air.

I shudder involuntarily once I leave the barn behind. It’s growing rapidly darker, and the temperature is quickly dropping. The ground around my feet is still dry, but the air smells of rain, supporting Flitter’s early prediction of a coming storm. I certainly hope six bits in addition to Vinyl’s payment is enough to afford lodging for a night. If not… I’m going to be hard-pressed to survive the coming night. 

I set myself back on the path that leads to town, resigning myself to the long walk back. In the meantime, perhaps I can learn something about this era’s currency. I tuck my rifle beneath my arm and open the sack, fishing around for one of the bits. I feel soft metal brushing against my fingers briefly before I withdraw a bit. 

There’s just enough light to make out the details of the small round coin. The color of the coin is golden, seeming rich enough in luster to compare to real gold. Attempting to scratch the metal proves fruitless, suggesting that if there is gold involved in the coin’s creation, it’s likely as part of an alloy of some sort. 

On one side of the coin is the engraved image of a fiery sun, with a strange inscription written in Equestrian just beneath it. On the other side is the image of a regal pony with a long flowing mane and a lengthy horn. Atop her head rests an ornate crown, complete with what looks to be a gemstone set into the front. Given the presence of the sun on the other side and the pony’s crown, I can only draw the conclusion that I’m looking at the Solar Princess.

Despite the fact that it’s pony currency, it’s always interesting to see the currency of another country. It’s ironic that I enjoy learning more about civilization through observation rather than through interaction with its citizens. Even that will pass, however. Once I leave to deal with Sombra, it won’t matter much about the civilization I leave behind.

My mood dampened by that somber thought, I continue on my path to the town. I can see lights in the distance, alerting me to Ponyville’s increasing proximity. Now that I can see the town, I turn my thoughts to my next order of business. I told Vinyl she could find me by the bridge in the town square, so once I reach the town proper, I make that my next destination.

With luck, after I help Vinyl set up her equipment, I’ll be able to use the rest of the party to relax and wind down, provided I can find a quiet corner somewhere. I don’t know much about the parties that Pinkie throws, but the last thing I want is a super loud and obnoxious party.

I make my way into the square, aiming for the bridge. The ponies are still reacting to my presence with bemusement and awe, though every time I walk through town, their reactions are less and less noticeable. Some of them even try to catch my eye in an attempt to talk, but I stubbornly refuse to glance their way or divert my path.

Once I reach the bridge, I sit down with a pained grunt on a nearby bench that faces the river. It takes all of my mental discipline not to pitifully sprawl out on the bench. This is the first time I’ve been able to get off my feet since I began work at Applejack’s farm. 

I sit there for several minutes until my breath returns to me. Before I know it, my phone is out in front of me. I realize what I’ve done and shake my head, lowering the device. I must have retrieved it out of habit; I always used to do something on my phone to kill time when waiting for something.

The phone is useless now, apart for what operates locally. According to the still ticking clock, it’s almost seven. I also notice that the battery has dropped much lower than before. My mood further declines. As I thought, not even airplane mode combined with the low power setting will keep my phone running forever. 

I move to turn off the phone entirely, but a moment of weakness causes me to pause and open up my picture folder instead. I didn’t take pictures that often, but I still had a significant amount, as I never deleted the ones I did take. My pictures dated all the way back to when I first started college,. The most recent one was several months back, when our college held a formal dance to commemorate the opening of the new and improved student hall.

Tapping on that image enlarges it to reveal Amaryllis and myself standing by the entrance to the aforementioned student hall, where throngs of students were already filtering inside. Amaryllis was wearing a stunning black dress that accentuated her form nicely, as well as the silver necklace garnished with an emerald green stone that I’d given her a year or so before that. That’s a whole different story, but it suffices to say that I never saw her without it after that.

Amaryllis was wearing the closest thing to a smile you’d ever see her wear. For the sake of the picture, her hand had been wrapped about my waist to bring me in closer, which had made me very visibly uncomfortable at the time. That was something you always saw the men doing to the women in these pictures, not the other way around. Yet, as per usual, Amaryllis had always shrugged it off and teased me, saying that it was because I was her “princess.” 

As for me, I was just wearing a run of the mill suit that you’d find at a store, though it was well maintained, as my mother had insisted on ironing it repeatedly until it was perfect. Despite how flustered I had been to be dragged there by Amaryllis, I was still happy to spend that time with her. In the end, that was all that mattered.

I shut my eyes tightly and press the hand that’s still clutching the phone against my forehead, the emptiness in my chest turning into pain after reliving those memories. This piece of technology is all I have left of her and my family. The thought of my phone dying and cutting me off from those memories forever is almost too much to bear.

It feels as though a piece of me dies as well as I power off the phone for good. This is the only way to save the battery for a long period of time… but in the end, I suppose it’s the same as losing it.

There’s no sign of Vinyl yet. It seems I’ll be waiting here for some time. I return the phone to my pocket and lay my head back on the bench, looking up at the darkening sky. The first thing I notice is the wave of dark clouds sweeping from the east, led by a towering thunderhead. Flitter was right on the money, I suppose. A storm like that will certainly be the death of me if I stay out in the opening.

I blink, noticing something odd about the thunderclouds. Small colored dots weave in and out of the cloud with a strange sense of purpose. I have no explanation for this… I’ve never seen anything like that in a thunderstorm. My confusion soon turns to complete shock as I realize what I’m looking at.

Each of the colored dots possesses two feathery wings, revealing them to be pegasi. I’m utterly confounded by that sight. Getting that close to a thundercloud could only result in electrocution and likely death. However, the pegasi don’t seem to be in any danger at all. In fact, the opposite is true. 

My jaw drops when I see the pegasi physically altering the structure of the thunderhead. It seems impossible, but the pegasi appear to be touching and molding the clouds themselves with their hooves and flight patterns. I even notice one pegasus actually pull a clump of cloud from elsewhere in the sky and apply it to the main anvil.

I get to my feet, trembling in the face of what I’m seeing. What they’re doing now violates everything I’ve ever been taught about meteorology. Everybody knew that as water was heated, it rose and eventually condensed to form rain. So what in the nine circles of hell am I looking at?

The pegasi clearly look to be in control of the storm system, to the point where it even seems as though they’re physically pushing the storm towards the town. My mind flashes back to my conversation with Flitter, where she mentioned that the weather team hadn’t “made the storm” yet. Was she… speaking literally? Does the weather team literally create the weather?

“Oh hey, Seth!” I hear a familiar voice address me in the midst of my speechlessness. Lyra, the mare I met outside of the club last night, walks around the bench and smiles at me. Though, of course, I can’t respond to her, as I’m too caught up in the fantastical sight in the skies above me. Lyra waves a hoof in front of me. “Hello? Are you there? Whatcha gawking at?”

“Tell me I’m not crazy,” is the first thing I can think of to say. When Lyra tilts her head in confusion, I point up to the thunderhead. “What the hell are those pegasi doing up there by the storm?”

Lyra follows my finger until she sees what I’m talking about, but it doesn’t make her look any less confused. “What do you mean? They’re putting the storm together for tonight,” she questions further, as though what I’m seeing is an everyday occurrence. She takes note of my expression. “Did you not know about this?”

“Know about what? That pegasi can apparently control the weather? How are you talking about that like it’s normal?” I demand, turning away from the impossible spectacle to face Lyra, who is beginning to look amused by my reaction.

“It is normal for us, though. Pegasi have always been in charge of the weather. It’s why we have a weather team. Without them, we’d never have rain,” Lyra answers with a shrug. She giggles at my slack jawed expression. “You should really see your face. Did humans not have a weather team?”

“We did, but we predicted the weather, we didn’t cause it!” I snap back. So many questions rush through my mind that my head starts to hurt. 

What happened to the weather that it needs pegasi to control it now? How do the pegasi determine where the weather should be, and how intense it should be? Does this also include differences in pressure and temperature? How widespread is this weather anomaly? Why is it necessary for a storm so large to be created if it’s under pony control? Does this mean there’s no longer severe weather such as hurricanes or tornadoes? 

“This is… but that’s… I have too many questions!” I groan, rubbing my now aching head. Lyra just bursts out laughing, entirely too amused at my distress. “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself!”

“You’re just getting so flustered over this!” Lyra chortles, not even bothering to stifle her laughter in the slightest. “If it’s that big of a deal, just don’t think about it.”

“Don’t think about…!?” I sputter incredulously, but then I stop, realizing that I’m losing my composure. I close my eyes and take several deep breaths. “So let me get this straight: pegasi regularly control the weather?”

“That’s right. I’m not sure how it all works, but pegasi can touch clouds as if they were solid. They’re just vapor to the rest of us,” Lyra answers, calming down as well. “How did humans handle the weather, if they didn’t control it?”

“We didn’t need to control it. Weather acted on its own; we either took countermeasures to avoid flooding or other damage… or in the case of severe weather, we got the hell out of its way,” I reply, seeing no reason to withhold that information. Lyra is answering my questions for me, so I should answer hers in turn.

“Oh, interesting. Weather works like that in the Everfree… and I heard it’s wild outside of Equestria too,” Lyra reveals to me, creating yet more questions to which I don’t have the answers. Weather works naturally outside of Equestria? So why are the laws of nature defunct in Equestria, as opposed to everywhere else? “By the way, did you ever get to talk with Vinyl Scratch last night?”

“What? Yes, I did,” I answer, surprised at the sudden change in topic. I’m still not over the fact that weather no longer works as I remember it. Yet nevertheless, I suppose I should answer. “I am waiting here to meet her.”

“Oh, are you now?” Lyra looks astonished by that. It doesn’t take long before a mischievous smile forms on her face. “Guess you got farther than those other stallions after all. Way to go!”

I stifle a gag at the insinuation that Lyra just made. I give her a cold stare through narrowed eyes. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t make jokes. I have neither the time nor the patience,” I berate her sternly. “If you must know, I’m working for her now. My intention was never to ‘chat her up’ like those base stallions to which you refer.”

“Wow, talk about a harsh shutdown,” Lyra doesn’t seem chastened at all, the mare snickering behind a hoof. “Calm down, I’m only teasing.”

I grunt and turn my gaze away from her. I’m beginning to dislike this mare. The fact that she thinks she can tease me is troublesome enough. “Surely you have something better to do than hang around here making jokes.” I try to make it clear to her that I’ve grown tired of her presence.

“I would say I don’t, but now that you mention it, I should probably go get ready for the party tonight,” Lyra replies ruefully, tapping her chin with a hoof. “Are you going to come?”

“It’s part of my job with Vinyl now, so I have little choice,” I admit reluctantly. 

“Cool! I guess I’ll see you then!” Lyra responds excitedly, completely disregarding the annoyance in my previous response. She turns around and starts to trot away, giving me a wave. “I hope you know how to dance!”

As Lyra’s retreating form turns into another street, I sit back down and shake my head in dismay. “Did you even hear a word I said?” I emit to no one, disbelief coloring my voice. I don’t know how I can make it any clearer to her that I don’t want to be her friend. Now she apparently wants to dance with me. This can’t possibly get any worse.

The wind picks up as the storm closes in, ruffling through my ragged hair and chilling my exposed skin. I shiver, already noticing the gradual drop in temperature as the evening dragged on.

The square eventually empties out, the merchant ponies packing up their wares and vacating the area. Some of them join up and leave together, talking and laughing amongst one another. More than once I hear the word “party” from their mouths. I suppose that just goes to prove how popular these parties are, considering half the town seems to enjoy them.

At last, I spot Vinyl arriving in the square from one of the other streets, already wearing the sunglasses that I’ve never seen her without. She looks uncertainly around the square for a few moments until she spots me standing up from the bench. She picks up the pace and trots towards me, a smile forming on her face.

“Hey, Seth! What’s up?” Vinyl greets me amiably, coming to a stop just in front of me. I give her a terse nod in response. She glances at my skin with a frown. “You look pretty rough, dude. It got pretty cold last night, I heard. You alright?”

“I’m fine, more or less. It was cold, but it was nothing I couldn’t recover from,” I answer, shifting uncomfortably under her gaze. “My current condition is likely from working on Applejack’s farm.”

“Oh, you’re working for her too now?” Vinyl questions curiously.

“I need all the money I can get. Whether or not I have down time doesn’t matter to me,” I explain with a shrug. “That’s not a problem, is it?”

“Nah, you’re cool. My gigs are in the evenings anyway, so this works out...though I don’t envy your workload,” Vinyl remarks with a wry smirk. “Hope you’re not too exhausted to do a little extra lifting.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll do what I’m being paid to do,” I sigh, resigning myself to the job ahead. “So where do you keep your equipment in between shows?”

“My house! Got a soundproofed room I can practice in whenever I got a free night,” Vinyl answers with a hoof pressed proudly against her chest. A gust of stronger wind sweeps through the square, cutting off whatever she was going to say next. Vinyl wrinkles her nose. “Alright, come on. We need to get my equipment over to Sugarcube Corner before that storm hits.”

“Good idea.” I join Vinyl as we walk back to the street from whence she arrived. “Do you have a tarp you can use to cover your equipment, just in case?”

“Yup, and I’ve used it before. But do you really want to push my tables through the streets in the pouring rain?” Vinyl points out with distaste.

“That’s fair. At least you thought ahead.” After that, we fall silent, our pace quickening as the biting wind blows harder. 

Vinyl leads me through various streets until we come to a clearing on a grassy hill where a house resides somewhat separated from the others. The lawn looks untidy and untended to, except for a single hedge shaped into a musical eighth note.The house itself is rather nondescript, possessing two stories, wood and plaster walls, and a wooden roof covered with thatch.

“Step inside real quick while I get the ramp,” Vinyl directs me, the door opening telekinetically. I do as I’m told, walking through the door into a delightfully warm interior. Vinyl walks in behind me, though she first props the door open with a large smooth stone. “This is my pad! I’d tell you to take a look around and make yourself at home, but I really want to beat this storm.”

“You and me both,” I mutter, wanting more than anything to stay and keep warm in here. I take a quick look around, noticing a huge rectangular plastic cart containing Vinyl’s turntables, speakers, and smaller sealed tubs. On both ends of the cart are slender metal bars. Once I’ve tucked the rifle beneath my arm, I walk around to the other end and clasp the bar tightly. “I found your equipment. You about ready to get moving?”

“Just about!” Vinyl calls back. As I watch, she produces a wooden ramp from beneath an end table set against the left wall. With her magic, she sents the ramp down just outside the front door, the oddly shaped bottom fitting perfectly against the steps. “Alright, wheel her out. Push from the back, and I’ll handle this end.”

I obediently plant my feet and exert my weight towards the cart. My side burns immediately, causing me to hiss sharply with pain. Thankfully, it isn’t long before I feel Vinyl pulling from the other end with her magic. Together, we navigate the cart out through the front door  and down the ramp.

Once the cart is solidly on level ground, Vinyl lifts up the ramp and sets inside the cart as well. Then, she steps back inside just long enough to produce the tarp we’d spoken of earlier and stretch it over the mouth of the cart. Once she ensures the door is shut tightly behind us, we start to push the cart down the street.

The two of us don’t do much talking at first. I don’t have much to say to her, and the wind is blowing so strongly that it’ll be difficult to hear one another before long. 

The wind, combined with my own attempts to spare my side any undue pain, makes it difficult to maintain a solid grip on my rifle. After the second time adjusting its position, I inadvertently draw Vinyl’s attention. A quiet curse leaves my lips after the third time the rifle slips. Before I can grab it, a magenta aura engulfs the rifle, halting its downward momentum. I let out a small cry when the rifle jerks out of my grip.

“Hey, give that back!” I demand, anxiety striking me like a hammer blow. Vinyl raises a brow when she notices my sudden change in demeanor. 

“Chill out, I’m not stealing it from you or anything,” Vinyl assures me. “You just looked like you were having a hard time keeping ahold of it. You care if I put it in the cart?”

The unreasonable urge to decline her offer and take the rifle back forcefully comes over me, proving difficult to suppress. I screw my eyes shut and take a deep breath, telling myself that Vinyl’s suggestion makes sense, and that the rifle will be right in front of me if I need it. I eventually give Vinyl a wordless nod.

Vinyl opens up the tarp, flinching at the effort necessary to keep it from blowing away. She swiftly inserts the rifle inside with the rest of her equipment and then closes the tarp back up. “There we go. You can grab it when we’re unloading,” Vinyl affirms, and then she resumes her telekinetic tugging on the front of the cart. “By the way, what is that thing? I’ve never seen you without it, so it must be important.”

“It… used to be a weapon, a long time ago. Now it’s just a piece of inert metal,” I hesitantly answer.

Vinyl looks intrigued by that. “For real? That’s one funky looking weapon. Bet my mom would love to get her hooves on that,” she declares. “What was it, a club?”

“Might as well have been, for all the good it did,” I say bitterly, glaring at the spot in the cart where the rifle lies. “Still, I won’t be getting rid of it.”

“I think I got an old guitar strap back at my house. Might make it easier on you if you’re gonna lug it around all the time. Want it?” Vinyl offers after a short awkward silence.

“No thank you. You know how I feel about charity,” I return, much to her surprise and annoyance.

“Charity? Oh come on, dude, this isn’t charity. I’m just being nice,” Vinyl contests, looking over her shoulder at me. “Don’t tell me you’re gonna be stubborn about this too.”

“It’s my right to be,” I shoot back. “I don’t intend to take anything from you or anyone, whether it’s a room, guitar strap, or even a blanket.”

“Why not? It’s literally nothing major. I was planning on throwing the thing away anyway,” Vinyl appears to be getting rather frustrated. 

“If I want one, I’ll buy one when I have the means.” I don’t give any ground, earning an annoyed huff from her.

“Why do you make it so hard to be nice to you?” Vinyl demands insistently.

“I’d really rather not get into that discussion right now,” I deny her obstinately. “What I don’t understand is why whether or not I accept your help is such a big deal to you.”

“Because it doesn’t make sense. I’ve never met anyone so adverse to simple kindness,” Vinyl expresses vehemently. I shrug, having no better answer for her. “You know, after everything I’ve heard, I’m wondering if everything is just give and take to you.”

That phrase gets my attention, a chill independent from the wind settling over me. I open my mouth to ask about what she’s heard, but I decide better of it. I meant everything I said to Rainbow Dash… but I’m beginning to regret allowing myself to be pushed to that point. Judging from her influence, it’s going to do nothing but come back to bite me.

When I don’t reply, Vinyl sighs. “Alright, we’ll do this your way,” she begins, earning my suspicion. “You’re working for me right now, so I’m your boss. As your boss, I’m telling you to take that strap,” she says resignedly. 

“What?” Finally I respond, incredulity present in my voice. I want to protest… but I can’t. If I reject her now, that’s as good as firing myself. While I don’t particularly care for her or this job, I can’t afford to go without payment for tonight.

“If you want an explanation, it’s so you’ll be able to keep carrying the thing around without having to balance it and your duties for me,” Vinyl continues. She gives me an apologetic look. “Sorry, but you clearly won’t accept kindness any other way.”

I’m silent for several moments, breathing deeply in order to suppress my rising ire. I have to respect her when she orders me like this, no matter how much I want to refuse.

“Fine,” I emit at last, deprived of any other choice. Instead of gloating about it, Vinyl just heaves a disappointed sigh and turns her gaze back forward. We don’t speak to one another for the remainder of the trip.

I’m not certain where we’re going, but I make sure to take in my surroundings as I go; This way I’ll be able to find my way to and from these places in the future. Unfortunately, rather than going through the square, Vinyl chooses to take a more direct route through the surrounding streets, making it more difficult for me to remember the route.

The streets are almost entirely devoid of any other ponies, save for a few scampering here and there as though they’re in a hurry. This is odd, as I remember there being more ponies about in the streets on the previous night. I begin to wonder if perhaps this party is more of an attraction than I was led to believe.

After turning a corner, a particularly bizarre building comes into view. It’s difficult to make out its details due to how dark it’s become, but the front lights illuminate just enough to reveal it’s features. It appears to be shaped like a typical gingerbread house, with a roof seemingly made of chocolate and lined with white icing. Two pillars striped like candy canes support a cherry topped overhang above the bright pink door, and a central tower-like structure rising from the center of the roof appears to be fashioned in the design of a cupcake or ice cream cone. To top this all off, a dimly lit sign depicting a heavily frosted cupcake hangs from a post protruding from the corner of the flamboyant building.

As I thought, the door is propped open, and ponies from the streets are funneling inside. When one of them catches sight of Vinyl, she squeals and calls out to the others. Not long after that, a familiar pink pony squeezes through the throng of ponies. Now I have a name for her: Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie produces a ramp similar to one we used at Vinyl’s house and sets it over the front steps, and then she zips over to us with an impossible speed. “Scratchie! You’re here just in time! It won’t be long before the Cakes get here, and it would be just terrible if we weren’t ready in time!” Pinkie addresses her, referring to her by a strange pet name.

“Don’t worry about a thing, Pinks. I’ll be set up in half the usual time today; I hired help,” Vinyl responds with a grin, taking a moment to reciprocate a hug from the hyperactive pony. Then, Pinkie’s eyes shift to me, widening with recognition. I brace myself mentally for the inevitable conversation. Vinyl hastily adds, “Careful, he can be… a little cranky.”

“Oh, I know!” Pinkie responds, much to both Vinyl and my surprise. Pinkie approaches me and smiles widely. “Hello again! Thanks for helping out Scratchie here; setting up her equipment is a lot of work!”

“It’s nothing I’m not equipped to handle,” I grunt simply. As Vinyl and I push the cart to the ramp, Pinkie bounces alongside us. ‘Bounces’ is an apt description, as she quite literally brings all four of her hooves together and propels herself a short distance in the air, only to do it again as soon as she touches the ground.

“Are you ready for me in there?” Vinyl interjects before Pinkie can continue talking to me, to my relief. 

“Yes, indeed-y! I threw the tables and chairs in the back, so the spot’s all yours! Roll on up!” Pinkie responds happily. Her voice is exceedingly high pitched; I don’t think I’ve ever heard somebody talk with a voice that high. “Better hurry, that big ol’ storm’s about to blow!”

“Good idea. Come on, Seth, let’s get inside before the sky opens up on us,” Vinyl agrees, the mare stepping up the ramp. With her help, I put my weight behind the cart and edge it steadily towards the door. Just as the cart rolls inside, an immense thunderclap shatters the silence and a thick curtain of rain sweeps through the streets. “Whew, that was close!”

I walk into the building, Pinkie bouncing along just behind me. The first thing I notice is the rich smell of candy and chocolate hanging in the air. It’s as though I’ve stepped into a candy store… and a quick look around confirms that assumption.

The main room is roughly shaped like a T, where the flat portion in which I’m standing consists of mostly open space. The point is separated from the rest by two counters, each of which possessing glass fronts and containing sugary confections of all kinds. An old fashioned cash register rests atop one of the counters.

Behind the counters is a short hallway with two exits: an archway on the left that leads into a kitchen, and a staircase on the right leading to the upper floors. As for the main portion of the room, most of it seems to have been cleared away to make room for the incredible crowd of ponies within. On the right side of the room are several small round tables where ponies are sitting, and the far wall is lined by covered shelves containing a variety of packaged candies and paraphernalia. 

In front of these shelves is a lengthy wooden table, atop of which are multiple platters of food. I can see everything from corn chips to punch to cookies and pastries. Just looking at it all makes my mouth water and my stomach growl.

On the left side of the room is a raised platform separated from the rest of the area by a small set of steps and a banister. The platform is completely devoid of ponies and Vinyl has her eyes fixed on the area, so that’s likely where we’re going to be setting up.

For the final touch, the area has been extravagantly decorated with brightly colored streamers, balloons, and a large banner stretched across the open expanse above the counters, upon which large indecipherable equestrian characters are written. To top it all off, a shimmering disco ball hangs from the ceiling, the mirrored surfaces shedding motes of white light on the floor.

Lastly, there are an excessive amount of ponies here. They’re sitting on their haunches chatting to one another, sitting at the tables and sharing snacks together, or even flying through the air in the case of pegasi. Some of them I recognize from my walks through the streets. Others I recognize directly: Twilight Sparkle is in the back of the room, using her telekinesis to touch up any decorations that may have become askew. Applejack, Big MacIntosh, and even Apple Bloom are spread out amongst the crowd, socializing at their leisure.

Unfortunately, this makes it likely that they’ll notice me and try to approach me. Even worse, if Rainbow Dash attends this party, the situation may grow sour very quickly; Applejack has stated that she is friends with her, and I suspect Vinyl associates with her as well.

“Alrighty, you know what to do! I’ve gotta get back to decorating this super duper incredible cake! You’re all gonna love it!” Pinkie exclaims happily, and then she bounces away from us, somehow still able to maneuver through the crowd in that fashion. I shake my head at her hyperactivity. How she has the energy to bounce like that repeatedly is beyond me.

“Let’s get started! The sooner we’re done, the sooner we can indulge and socialize,” Vinyl addresses me. I nod, and then we roll the cart up beside the makeshift stage. “Here’s good. Now, I’ll handle most of the set up like wiring and lights this time, but I need you to get all this equipment out of the cart. Then, I’ll have you watch me set up, so you can learn for later.”

Vinyl approaches the cart and points to the different items inside as she continues. “These tubs all gotta get stacked up on stage, except for the ones that say ‘LED.’ Those are my lights; we’re gonna set those up around the dance floor, so set them down in the corner by the counter.” She pauses for a moment, and then she turns her head towards the kitchen. “Speaking of which. Pinks! Can you clear the dance floor for me? I gotta set up!”

Pinkie’s head pokes out of the kitchen. “Oki Doki Loki!” she chirps. She bounces out into the main area. “Hey everypony! Scratchie’s gotta set up, so if you could please make some room?”

Her loud voice manages to rise above the chatter of the crowd of ponies in the center of the room and is heeded, though the ponies just mill about uselessly in confusion at first. Once Twilight steps in and starts to direct them into the hallway back by the kitchen, their movement is quicker and better organized. Before too long, Vinyl and I have plenty of space in which to work.

Vinyl, satisfied, goes back to pointing out where each individual piece of equipment goes. I follow along and memorize everything that she’s pointed out to the best of my ability, but I note that some of her equipment differs in appearance only by their labels. Once she finishes her explanation, I point that out to her.

“I can’t read your language, Vinyl,” I reveal to her sheepishly. Vinyl stares at me briefly, her mouth forming into an “o” shape. 

“Right, you’re new to Equestria. Alright, let me give you a quick crash course,” Vinyl decides. She points her hoof at one of the labels. “Okay, this one says LED. You’ll need to memorize what it looks like. As for these speakers, you can tell the brand and type by looking at these plaques. This one is from Pony Audio… you can tell by looking at that shape there. That means pony."

“Okay, easy enough. What’s this one?” I point to one of the larger speakers.

“That’s a Sennhoofer,” Vinyl answers. Her horn glows, and the speakers slowly starts to rise. “Let’s get these out first. They’re the biggest and attach directly to my tables.”

I nod, and grasp the other end. For the next half hour, the two of us work together to set up her ensemble. Her turn tables are set up directly in the center of the makeshift stage, with the Sennhoofer speakers on either side of them. The Pony Audio speakers are set up all around the room to allow the sound to reach the ponies from all directions. 

As for the LEDs, they consist of multicolored spotlights wired with small bulbs arranged in a variety of fancy designs. These spotlights are attached to a rack and suspended in the air on a thick metal stand. Vinyl has to help me set these up around the room, the spotlights angling towards the center of the room.

Once all of that’s done, Vinyl tasks me with threading the wires throughout the room, connecting the LEDs and the speakers to her turntables, which is assumedly also the conduit through which she channels her mana. While I’m busy with that, Vinyl adjusts her settings and periodically runs sound tests to make sure the speakers and effects are working correctly.

Once we’re finished, Vinyl approaches me with a smile. “Alright, we’re all done. That was much faster than it usually takes me. Thanks for the help,” she tells me. “I’ll be sure to pay you at the end of the night.”

“Okay. What should I do in the meantime?” I ask, dusting off my hands against my pants.

“Whatever you want! Hang out, socialize, and enjoy the party!” Vinyl says with a shrug. She eyes me closely. “You really seem like you could use the time to blow off steam.”

“...Right.” I turn my back and scoff under my breath. I confirmed that I have to stay until she’s finished, at least. I grab my rifle from the cart. “I’ll be back later then.”

Now that Vinyl’s finished setting up, the ponies in the hall trickle back out into the center of the room, leaving the back area empty. Noticing that, I make my way through the crowd in an attempt to claim that area for me own.

Before I can make it that far, Pinkie emerges from the kitchen balancing a gigantic three-tiered cake atop her nose. My eyes goggle at the seemingly impossible sight. I move out of her way, noticing with further incredulity how she’s still bouncing to the same height. The cake platter lands squarely on her nose after each bounce, never once threatening to fall to the floor.

“That… seems physically impossible,” I mutter to myself once she’s passed me by, and then I continue on my course until I reach the end of the hall near the stairs. There’s no chairs or benches, so I have little choice but to sit down on the floor with my back against the wall.

I have no time to rest. As soon as I try to relax, Pinkie bounces back around the corner. Instead of returning to the kitchen, Pinkie’s eyes fixate on me and she zips towards me swiftly. She comes to a stop with her muzzle practically touching my nose, causing me to yelp and topple over.

“Hi!” Pinkie greets me brightly, bouncing excitedly in place. I groan and get to my feet, glaring at the pony before me. “I know we got off on the wrong hoof, so I’d love to try again from the beginning this time!”

“If you must,” I grunt in annoyance. I don’t bother trying to follow her movements with my eyes, choosing instead to stare at the point just below where her incessant bouncing brings her to eye level.

“You’re new in town, and I always like to greet newcomers to Ponyville! I also think you’re new to the world, because nopony’s seen a human in a super duper long time!” Pinkie shoots off words a mile a minute, making me work hard to fully comprehend everything she’s saying. I raise a brow, noticing how she called me a human. She didn’t know what I was during our first meeting. Rainbow Dash must have spoken with her already… but if that’s the case, then why is she talking to me?  “So hi again! My name is Pinkie Pie, and I’m going to be your new bestest friend!”

With that, Pinkie starts to bounce in circles around me, making it even harder to maintain eye contact with her. I rub my forehead, a headache starting to form from a combination from her constant movement and her high-pitched voice. More importantly, I’m concerned about what she just said.

“I’m not interested,” I deny her flatly. I’ll shoot her down right at the start. If she’s considered the friendliest pony in Ponyville, then I want nothing to do with her. I have little time for such distractions. Shockingly, my cold words do nothing to dampen her spirits.

“I know, you don’t have to tell me. I heard all about it from Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie responds, confirming my earlier conclusion. “I heard how you don’t want friends because you’re leaving and how you’re supposedly a big meanie pants, but this all makes me want to make you smile even more!”

“I…” I stutter, unsure of how to respond to her complete refusal to acknowledge or respect any of what I said to Rainbow Dash. I shake my head, finding it difficult to make any sense of her words. “Why would that even matter to you? You know I’m leaving and not coming back, so why bother?”

Pinkie doesn’t stop bouncing, even as she lifts up a hoof to scratch at her chin. As she thinks, Twilight emerges from the main room, her head tilting with interest when she notices Pinkie and I talking.

“It’s all about the memories, silly! Do you regret making friends with the humans that live where you came from?” Pinkie asks innocently, looking me straight in the eye as she asks that. I open my mouth, but no words come out. I… can’t lie to myself. If I could do it all over… I’d still become friends with Amaryllis. For this pink pony to say something like that to me… like she understands… bitterness and anger rise up from within me. 

“You…” I force out through gritted teeth, my hands balling into fists. I then realize what I’m doing and bite back my scathing words, realizing where I am and the possible consequences of flying off the handle here could be. “You didn’t answer my question. Why do you care?”

“That’s easy! It’s because everypony knows how lonely and frightening it can be to arrive in a new place without any friends to help them!” Pinkie answers brightly, heedless of the effect her previous question had on me. “So I’m going to be the first to say welcome welcome-”

Pinkie actually starts to sing in a level, focused voice, but before she can continue with her song, Twilight cuts in between us, looking extremely nervous. “Hey… Pinkie...! Maybe you shouldn’t crowd Seth just yet… he’s a little… uh…” Twilight starts to say, but then she becomes conscious of my pointed stare, causing her to laugh nervously and sweat. “Pinkie, I could have sworn I saw somepony bringing in a dessert that I’ve never seen before.”

Pinkie stops bouncing and gasps melodramatically. “A new dessert!? I have to taste it!” The hyperactive mare zips back into the main room in search of this dessert-bearing pony that may or may not actually exist.

I let out the breath I’d been holding. I find Twilight to be much more tolerable company than Pinkie. How she’s friends with all of these ponies is beyond me.  I turn to Twilight. “Thanks for that. I’ve only met her twice, and I can already tell she’s a menace,” I say to her gratefully.

Twilight frowns at that. “She’s not that bad, once you’re used to her. She’s a dear friend of mine,” she reveals to me. I give her an incredulous stare, and then I sigh. “But don’t thank me yet. It’s impossible to get away from Pinkie if she really wants to talk to you.”

“If that’s true, she’ll learn pretty quickly that this ‘friendship’ that she’s trying to force on me is as unwelcome as it is unnecessary,” I growl. I gaze at Twilight, whose frown has deepened. “You’re the only one who knows why I’m here. You can understand why I’ve little patience for distractions.”

“Maybe so, but it doesn’t hurt to be friendly,” Twilight admonishes me lightly. I recognize that for what it is and scowl.

“I have my reasons. Do me a favor and please stop trying to impose your idea of how I should act upon me,” I request icily. Despite the level tone in which I delivered those words, Twilight winces at the sting in that request. 

“I’m sorry. I just don’t understand what’s going on in your head,” Twilight admits softly. A silence falls between us after that. Twilight shuffles her hooves nervously, looking as though she’s still wanting to say something.

“What’s this party for? I never asked.” I decide changing the subject is the best course of action.

“Oh, it’s for Mr. and Mrs. Cake, the owners of this store. They won an award for their outstanding culinary capabilities, and were in Canterlot for the past few days to showcase some of their best dishes,” Twilight answers, pleased to talk about something else as well. She brightens up and beckons for me to follow her. “Come here, I’ll show you what I mean.”

I hesitate briefly, but then decide I have little else to do anyway. As exhausted as I am, the sweet smell of the store is only making me hungrier. I follow the librarian out into the main room until she leads me over to the table at the far end of the room where the food is located.

“These are all made by Pinkie, but Mr. and Mrs. Cake taught her nearly everything she knows.” Twilight indicates the spread of confections with a sweep of her hoof. “Go ahead, try one!”

At first I’m unwilling, but then I notice other ponies taking from the table casually, even though the party hasn’t technically begun. I suppose taking one wouldn’t hurt. After all, this food is for the guests, and now that I’ve finished my work, I technically count as one as well. 

I tentatively reach out a hand and retrieve a cupcake with pink frosting from one of the platters. After tenderly unwrapping the base of the cupcake, I take a hesitant bite.

My eyes widen as an explosion of sugary berry flavor occurs inside of my mouth. The icing is thick, with the consistency of buttercream, and the base is moist and firm. I’ve only ever tasted cupcakes bought from the grocery store, and they were nothing compared to this. There really is a difference between homemade and store-bought pastries. 

“This is… really good,” I admit reluctantly after swallowing the first bite. 

Twilight beams at my glowing appraisal. “You should taste something the Cakes make themselves! You see why they won an award?” 

“I suppose I do. I can recognize talent when I see it,” I agree, taking another bite. If I have free reign of these treats while I’m at this party, perhaps it won’t be as miserable as I was expecting. “By the way, how long do these parties usually last?”

“There’s no specific timetable, if that’s what you’re asking. It usually lasts until the last pony leaves,” Twilight answers with a smile. “One good rule of hoof is that when attending a Pinkie Party, make sure your schedule for the next morning is clear!”

“And if your schedule isn’t clear?” I ask pointedly. Twilight blinks, and then she appears to understand what I’m asking.

“Then you should leave before it gets to be too late. Though in your case, I saw you working with Vinyl, so you’re here until she’s done I assume,” Twilight advises me. When I nod, she gives a sheepish grin. “I don’t envy you. Make sure to grab some coffee in the morning.”

“Yeah, that would be great if I…” just as I’m about to make a sarcastic comment, the front door to the building slams open. “Oh no…”

A thoroughly drenched Rainbow Dash zips in through the door, practically crashing into the wooden floor. She somehow manages to right herself so that she lands on all four hooves. Her mane flops over her eyes as she grins, reveling in the attention her noisy arrival gained her. 

“Whoo! Check out this masterpiece I got running outside!” she declares in that scratchy voice of hers, pointing outside into the torrential downpour with a hoof. The pride in her accomplishment is evident in her words. Her words lead me to recall her position as head of the weather team… the team of pegasi that apparently physically create the weather.

“Yeah, thanks for making us rush to get here before your little ‘masterpiece’ soaked us all!” Vinyl responds from the stage. Her words earn laughter from the surrounding ponies and a grin from Rainbow.

“Hey, it’s not my fault you’re so slow!” Rainbow shoots back with a laugh that Vinyl soon mirrors. 

“Good to see you too, Dash!” Vinyl sarcastically returns, to the amusement of all listening. My spirits drop at the show of friendship between the two.

Rainbow shakes her body like a dog, her mane flying in all directions as water droplets fly out in all directions. Pinkie bounds up to her with a towel, which Rainbow gratefully accepts.

“So glad you could make it, Dashie! With you here, that’s just about everypony!” Pinkie greets her with a wide smile. 

“Hey, Pinkie Pie. Sorry I’m late. I hope you didn’t start the party without me,” Rainbow expresses with a smirk. 

“Nope! You’re just in time! The Cakes could be here any minute!” Pinkie answers, and then the two of them make their way back into the crowd, talking to one another animatedly.

“We should probably start getting ready. No doubt Pinkie wants to surprise them,” Twilight advises me. She blinks, noticing the scowl on my face. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing you need to worry about,” I assure her. Twilight doesn’t look convinced, but I bite into my cupcake nonetheless.

Between my inability to leave the party, Pinkie, and now Rainbow Dash, all the pieces seem to have fallen in place for a catastrophe. Even worse, my very life depends on whether not I get paid at the end of the night.

This party cannot end soon enough.
> 7. The Longest Night (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I’ve lost count of how many ponies have made their way inside the building to partake in the party. It’s getting harder and harder to find a place to be in the midst of the preparations. As time drags on, everyone gets more frantic and enlivened.

It soon becomes clear that this is in fact a surprise party. While that in and of itself isn’t all that unusual, the surprise involves hiding in the complete darkness and actually yelling the word “surprise” at them. It’s similar to something one would expect from a birthday party for a small child. Yet, nobody seems perturbed or embarrassed by this, despite the fact that everyone here appears to be more or less in their adulthood.

Once the preparations are complete, Pinkie dashes towards the light switch and plunges the shop into darkness with a flick of her tail. “Alright, everypony! The Cakes will be here any second! Nopony make even the teensiest sound!” Pinkie directs, her voice rising above the thick crowd of ponies. The excitement is palpable in her trembling voice.

The chattering rapidly dies down, each pony making their way to a location hidden away from the doors and windows. After spotting Rainbow Dash entering the shop, I returned to the back hallway, so I don’t feel the need to hide any further than I already have. 

I have no interest in joining in the surprise myself, but I also won’t ruin the surprise by standing near the windows. It’s completely dark outside now, but every so often an errant flash of lightning will briefly shine through the windows, painting the floor with their bright white silhouette as well as illuminating anyone foolish enough to stand nearby.

The shop is now dead quiet, the silence broken only by the wind and rain howling and buffeting the walls of the building. I can also hear the odd giggle coming from one of the many mares in the room in anticipation of the coming surprise.

Thunder booms in the blackened skies above. The resulting lightning shone through the windows, casting the shadows of two ponies galloping outside, their hooves splashing in the rapidly forming puddles. They quickly make a beeline for the front door of the shop, eager to get out of the torrential rain. 

The two of them rush inside, slamming the door shut behind them. They’re breathing heavily as a result of their frantic dash through the streets.“Oh thank Celestia,” a mature and tempered female’s voice says breathlessly. “I wish I’d have paid attention to Ponyville’s weather schedule before deciding to come back today.”

“I’m just glad we’re home safe. The pegasi really outdid themselves this time,” a timid sounding tenor voice responds. The mare hums in agreement. “It’s too dark in here. Let me get the lights real quick, and then we should get ready for a…”

“Surprise!” The lights suddenly flicker on, revealing the large multitude of ponies in the room who had gathered for this very purpose. There are enough ponies to surround the two newcomers, who were now showing various degrees of shock.

The stallion is a lanky yellow coated normal pony lacking wings or a horn. His mane is a scruffy orange and runs up the back of his neck in a thin line before settling atop his sharply angled snout. A set of three frosted carrot cakes arranged in a triangle is depicted on his flank, no doubt representing his skill in baking. 

The other newcomer is a plump turquoise mare also without wings or a horn. Her mane is colored two shades of magenta and swirls up on her head almost like the frosting atop a pastry. Her cutie mark is similar to the stallion’s, except hers depicts three cupcakes instead of carrot cakes. I quickly make the connection between their appearances and the names I was given.

Mr. Cake sits down on his haunches, and Mrs. Cake takes a few steps back, the both of them taken off guard by the chorus of cheers from the horde of ponies in the room. Eventually, their eyes trace up to the banner at the back of the room. Whatever the banner says, it’s enough to cause smiles to form on the couple’s faces.

“Welcome back, Mr. and Mrs. Cake!” Pinkie zips through the crowd and runs over to the two of them. Once she reaches them, she hugs the two shellshocked ponies tightly around their necks, squealing happily. “We just got so super excited at your awesome cooking reward that we just had to throw you a party to celebrate it! Were you surprised? Were you?”

“Well, I’d say so. I didn’t expect you to go to all this effort in this weather,” Mrs. Cake admits, the older mare returning Pinkie’s hug. “You really didn’t have to…”

“Of course I did, silly! You don’t win awards every day, after all! If this isn’t party worthy, than nothing is!” Pinkie insists, the mare starting to bounce in place. 

“I guess we can afford to let off a little steam,” Mr. Cake decides, looking to his wife for confirmation. “Would be nice to stretch out my legs after being cooped up in that train for hours. What do you think, dear?”

“I do agree. It would be rude not to enjoy ourselves, given Pinkie went to so much effort all of us,” Mrs. Cake agrees. 

“Yes! You heard that everypony!” Pinkie squeals, her smile growing even wider. “Scratchie, that’s your cue!”

“Oh wow, even Vinyl Scratch is here?” Mrs. Cake remarks with awe.

“You got it, Pinks! Let’s hit it, everypony!” Vinyl slaps a record down on her turntables and flips a series of switches. A smooth electronic beat surges out from the speakers around the room, causing the air to thrumm with the pounding bass. The LED’s switch on as the main lights dim, covering the dance floor with swirling color.

The room erupts with cheers, and the party fully gets underway as the ponies start to dance, socialize, and approach the Cakes to offer their individual congratulations. As for me, I haven’t moved from the back hallway. Despite the fact that I’m sitting down with my arms resting on my knees, it’s impossible to relax. The beat of the song seems to course through my body in time with my very heartbeat. The silver lining to this is that the music isn’t deafeningly loud; I can still hear myself if I choose to talk.

I only get a few minutes of peace. Before I realize what’s happening, my vision is filled with a set of shining golden eyes. I yelp as a pair of mint green hooves latch onto my hands and tug me forward.

“Seth! I was looking for you!” Lyra greets me happily. I glare at her after regaining my balance. Her lack of care for my physical state caused the wounds on my arms and side to ache. “What are you doing all the way back here? Come out and dance with me!”

“You were serious about that?” I groan, recalling the last thing she said to me in the square. 

“Hay yeah I was! I’m in the mood to party, and you’re one of the only stallions here!” Lyra returns, grinning broadly. She then pauses, looking a little awkward. “Wait, you are a stallion, right?”

“Of course I am. You can’t tell?” I return, feeling just as awkward about the sudden confusion.  

“I mean, I guessed you were. Your voice sounds pretty stallion-ish, but you’re mane is all long and you’re awfully pretty for a stallion,” Lyra answers. I sputter at her explanation, completely taken off guard. Pretty? “Though the most confusing thing is that you’ve got teats like a mare.”

I immediately recall that I’m not wearing a shirt, and I haven’t been for quite some time. The realization then strikes me as my own minor knowledge of horses returns to me. “Right… stallions don’t have those,” I recall. Sure enough, Lyra nods. “Rest assured, I am male. To answer your other question, no, I’m not going to dance with you.”

“Aw, why not? You’re like the best looking stallion here,” Lyra whines. “I mean I can dance with Bon Bon, but I always do that.”

“I don’t dance,” I tell her simply. 

“Oh, don’t worry about that, there’s no right way to dance. You just move your body to the beat and have fun!” Lyra appears to misunderstand my meaning. She grabs my hand and attempts to drag me out of the hallway, but I steadfastly resist her. I rip my hand away from her hoof.

“You don’t get it. I didn’t mean that I don’t know how to dance. I meant that I don’t dance. Is that clear to you now?” I correct her coldly, retreating further back into the hallway.

“Aw, you don’t have to be shy. I guarantee you that there’ll always be somepony out there dancing worse than you. You should see Twilight dance. That’s a hoot! Come on, please?” Lyra tries again, putting on her most winning smile. I don’t reply, instead sitting back down against the wall. Lyra gets the picture, the mare pouting in defeat. “Oh fine. But I’m not giving up you hear? I’ll make you dance with me eventually!”

Lyra thankfully leaves me be now, the mare moving back into the main room. “I’ll go dance with Bon Bon,” she says. “Oi, Bon Bon! Bonnie! Where are you?”

I let out a sigh of relief once she’s gone. That mare is more trouble than she’s worth. Given the teasing, the compliments, and now the fervent attempts to dance with me, I’m beginning to think she’s flirting with me. I scowl darkly, finding that thought to be even more distasteful than Pinkie’s friendliness. I’m an entirely different species. Does Lyra have no shame? 

Putting that out of my mind, I go back to trying to relax while the party continues. Unfortunately, my stomach soon growls for food once more. I  sigh and get to my feet. I’ve only consumed apples and a single cupcake today. While the apples seemed filling at the time, that was mostly due to water saturation rather than actual substance. As long as the party is offering food, it would be smart of me to benefit from it. 

I wince, the music assaulting me from all sides as I step out into the main room. Looking around, the ponies are clearly having a good time. The dance floor is packed with dancing ponies, and the others in the far side of the room near the food are laughing and discussing various topics amongst one another. Additionally, there are ponies playing strange childish games, one of which I recognize as a variant of “pin the tail on the donkey,” only the donkey has been replaced with a pony instead.

No matter how I feel about it, Pinkie’s methods to throwing a good party appear to be solid. I can’t say it’s nearly as agonizing to be around as a college party either; those usually involved copious amounts of alcohol, obnoxious music, and non-stop drunken flirting.

Upon reaching the table, I take my time and partake of the sugary treats there, sampling each one. Just like the cupcake, they’re of impeccable quality. The chocolate cookies are soft with firm, moist centers; the brownies are firm and sweet, seeming to melt in my mouth with every bite. The cupcakes, as I discovered before, are just as good as ever.

“Seth!?” A familiar voice sounds from beside me, her voice laden with surprise. I finish the rest of the cookie in my hand and turn to see Flitter, the mare frozen upon seeing me. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m working for Vinyl, if you must know,” I answer her, reaching for a brownie this time. At this rate, I’ll have eaten my fill long before it’s time for me to leave. “You don’t look very happy to see me.”

“That’s not it… I’m just surprised, is all. I didn’t think I’d find you at one of Pinkie’s parties,” Flitter admits. I note how she isn’t looking me in the eye. She’s not being entirely truthful with me. It’s not hard to determine why that is the case.  “Um… I…”

“If you have something to say, just say it,” I grunt impatiently. Flitter freezes, and then she appears to steel herself, the mare looking up at me at last.

“Oh, okay. I...suppose I’m still a little angry at you for running away from me earlier today,” Flitter confesses to me. 

“That much was obvious. However, you don’t have any right to be,” I return sharply, causing her to flinch.

“What? Why not? I was just trying to help…” Flitter protests. I notice with some dismay that Twilight has found her way back to me, just in time for her to listen in on the conversation. 

“First of all, I believe I made it clear that I didn’t need nor desire your help. Yet you stubbornly refused to listen, and instead attempted to force your ‘kindness’ upon me,” I begin, keeping my tone level. “Then, you had the gall to go to your fellow weather ponies and complain about it, even sending your boss to harass me. If anything, I should be angry with you.”

“Hey, what’s going on here?” Twilight tries to get involved now that Flitter is starting to look rather distressed.

“But… I never complained about you! I was just worried, and when Rainbow Dash asked me what was wrong, I told her about how you stayed out in the c…” Flitter tries to correct me. 

Realizing what Flitter is about to say while Twilight is standing right there, I cut her off hastily. “Nevertheless, she came on your behalf to harass me. As you can imagine, I’m less than thrilled with the both of you.”

“Why? All we’ve done is try to befriend and help you!” Flitter snaps, her frustration finally getting the better of her. “It’s not our fault that you never let anyone be nice to you!”

“Hey! That’s enough… please, stop this!” Twilight finally forces herself between us, her face set with determination. Flitter sniffs, and to my surprise, she looks to be on the verge of tears. Twilight, noticing this, gives Flitter a gentle hug. “It’s okay, Flitter. Why don’t you go find your sister? Leave this to me.”

“Okay…” Flitter sniffs, and then she retreats from the table, leaving just Twilight with me. Unlike before, this time Twilight looks much less likely to back down. I huff, my headache returning. This party is turning out just as I expected.

“What was that all about? Didn’t you see you had that poor mare about to cry?” Twilight confronts me, orienting herself until she’s facing me directly. 

“That’s hardly my problem. It’s getting increasingly difficult to get you ponies to stop smothering me with your attempts to be friendly,” I reply, crossing my arms. 

“I don’t understand why you’re so opposed to the concept,” Twilight expresses with an exasperated shake of her head. “Whatever you think we’re trying to do to you, I assure you it isn’t like that. I think you should give us all a chance; we might surprise you.”

“I highly doubt it. Either way, I’m not planning on sticking around long enough to find out,” I respond dismissively. “Once I have enough money, I’m leaving Ponyville for good.”

Twilight pauses at that, realization striking her. “You’re planning to go after King Sombra?” she asks softly. When I nod, she sighs sadly. “I guess I can understand that, but it doesn’t make me happier.”

The two of us fall into silence after that, neither of us having anything left to say to the other. I shake my head, regretting that I came over to eat in the first place. At the very least, I’ll be full enough to sleep comfortably tonight, provided I can find someplace to sleep safely.

The momentary peace doesn’t last long. I notice the throng of ponies part as Rainbow Dash leaves the dance floor. The mare chuckles at some unheard joke as she flips her mane back. Even though I immediately try to leave, Rainbow inevitably spots me. Her grin immediately drops, to be replaced with scorn.  

“What the hay are you doing here!?” Rainbow demands as she storms towards me. She notices the wide-eyed Twilight standing beside me, causing her scowl to increase. “Let me guess, are you saying something completely rude and uncalled for to Twilight too?”

I press a hand to my head and take a deep breath. Now that she’s seen me, I think it’s safe to say that this party can’t get any worse. If I want to keep my job, I need to keep from yelling at her. 

“I’m just getting a bite to eat while I wait. Twilight’s presence here is coincidental,” I try to explain.

“I didn’t mean here at the table, smart guy. I meant why are you here at the party in the first place? Isn’t this just a ‘waste of everyone’s time’ to you?” Rainbow accuses me sharply. 

“That is what I said. I’ve no interest in the party. I’m here only for Vinyl,” I answer. Rainbow’s expression fills with disbelief. “I work for her, you see.”

“Yeah, right! You working for Vinyl? Everypony knows she does everything by herself,” Rainbow points out in her attempt to discredit me. “Even if she did hire someone, it sure as hay wouldn’t be a jerk like you!”

“Would you two please stop!?” Twilight has to step in for the third time tonight, her growing frustration easily visible on her face. “Seth, did you get off on the wrong hoof with Rainbow Dash, too? How do you end up arguing with everypony you see!?”

“Maybe because he’s an extremely nasty human who yells at everypony who tries to help him?” Rainbow inserts snidely, glaring at me. When she notices Twilight’s glance, she nods. “Yeah, I met him earlier. You should hear what he said to me!”

I sigh, feeling the weight of both of their gazes on me. “None of this would be happening if you ponies would simply leave well enough alone,” I state firmly. “If you hate me so much, just don’t associate with me.”

My words don’t have the desired effect. If anything, it just makes Rainbow even angrier. “You… this is… I can’t stand you! You keep talking like it’s all our fault, and that you’ve done nothing wrong! So you think that everything you’re saying to all of us, no matter how rude, mean, or heartless, is justified!?” Rainbow snarls. “Even if it means hurting my friends?”

“More or less,” I say matter of factly. I blink as Rainbow bristles and her gaze darkens. She draws closer to me, each hoof pressing purposefully against the floor. The air of hostility emanating from her is palpable enough to feel, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end. I retreat from her until I feel the edge of the table pressing against my lower back. “Wait… what are you…?”

“Hey… hey… that’s enough,” Twilight physically presses her hoof against Rainbow, pushing the mare thankfully away from me. She wraps that hoof around her friend’s neck. “Rainbow, let’s go.”

“But Twilight…!” Rainbow attempts to protest.

“Rainbow, let’s go,” Twilight repeats with an edge in her voice. Rainbow pauses, and then she nods. She shoots me one last glare as Twilight leads her away. It isn’t long before they’re lost from sight amongst the crowd.

I release the breath that I didn’t realize I was holding. Before Twilight intervened, Rainbow had a dangerous glint in her eye. I can’t help but wonder: was she really about to hit me?





“Where are we going?” Rainbow questions uncomfortably as she follows the unusually serious Twilight towards the back of the store. Only once the two of them were upstairs in the hallway did it become quiet enough to hear one another clearly. “Twilight?”

Twilight turns around, the usually friendly mare looking rather harried. “I brought you up here to get you away from Seth,” she explains at last. “You were starting to cause a scene.”

Rainbow flinches at that. “What are talking about? You heard what he was saying down there, right?  Don’t tell me you’re going to take his side!” she snaps, jabbing a hoof in the direction of the staircase. “He told me out on the farm that we were all intrusive and unwelcome whenever we tried to be nice, and that we were just wasting his time!”

“Of course I’m not taking his side! I agree with you,” Twilight assures her. “I could forgive the way he treated me; after all, he’s all on his own. But it’s not just me he’s treating like this… he’s cold, callous, and needlessly cruel to seemingly everypony he meets.”

“Then why did you stop me?” Rainbow demands, feeling a mixture of both relief and confusion at Twilight’s words. 

“It’s because the last thing the Cakes need on their first night back is you ruining their party because you picked a fight with him,” Twilight answers. Rainbow’s ears droop, the mare looking suitably chastised.

“I mean, I guess you’re right,” Rainbow admits. “But he can’t just treat ponies like that. These are my friends that he’s hurting, and I won’t let him get away with it!”

“Trust me, I know how you feel. Before you showed up, I witnessed him ripping into poor Flitter,” Twilight reveals. Rainbow’s face heated up as her righteous anger returned. “But I believe there has to be another way to deal with this. I think I know his side of the story, and it’s not fair to him if you were to harm him over this.”

“Not fair? What’s not fair is that he…” Rainbow tries to protest, but Twilight is one step ahead of her.

“I know that. I never said he isn’t at fault. How he acts isn’t fair to us either, when all we’re trying to do is help him,” Twilight continues, placating the brash mare. 

“So then, what are you going to do?” Rainbow asks curiously.

“I don’t know. I’ve never dealt with anything like this before,” Twilight confesses. “Listen: there are no humans in modern day Equestria because they’ve long since gone extinct. Seth revealed to me that he was sent forward in time against his will to our era. Do you know what that means?”

“Uh… not really,” Rainbow remarks cluelessly. “So he’s a time traveller, so what? You did the same thing once, remember?”

“No, Rainbow. First of all, I went backwards in time. Travelling into the future is infinitely more complex… but that’s beside the point.” Twilight stops herself before she can go on a tangent about the complexities of time travel. “My point is that he’s completely alone in a world he doesn’t understand, with no way home back to his friends and family.”

“Oh gosh…” The true meaning of Twilight’s argument finally dawns on Rainbow. “That really stinks… but still, that’s no excuse for the things he’s saying.”

Twilight nods at that. “Here’s what I’m thinking; just stay away from him for a day or so. Tomorrow evening, I’ll send a letter to Princess Celestia asking for advice. She’ll know what to do.”

Rainbow sighs. “Okay, I guess I can do that. But I’m gonna show him what for if he hurts another one of my friends.”

“I’ll try to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Twilight remarks wryly. “Okay, we can go back downstairs now if you want. I’m sorry if I killed the party mood.”

“Don’t worry, that won’t last long! I’ll fix the both of you up in a jiffy!” Pinkie appears from downstairs in the blink of an eye. Before Rainbow or Twilight could properly react to her presence, she wrapped her front hooves around their barrels and whisked them both down the stairs to the kitchen.

“What the…!?”

“Pinkie!?”

When Rainbow’s head finishes spinning, she finds herself beside Twilight in the kitchen with a warm fluffy cupcake shoved into her mouth. She quickly recognizes what was happening, causing her to give a muffled chuckle. She could always count on Pinkie to surprise them like this. She gulps down the cupcake quickly.

“Thanks, Pinkie,” Twilight  expresses after finishing her own treat. She giggles now that her heartbeat is returning to normal. “I guess you could hear us from down here.”

“Yup! But don’t worry about cranky ol’ Seth. He’s enjoying my party in his own way!” Pinkie asserts, much to their disbelief.

“How do you figure?” Rainbow questions, peering out into the hallway. Sure enough, she spotted Seth in the same location as before, the human reaching for a cookie from the rapidly emptying plate on the table. 

“Well, he’s eaten over half a plate of cookies, so I must have done something right!” Pinkie trills happily. 

“But that’s not… I mean…” Rainbow attempts to protest as Twilight chuckles. Eventually she sighs. “Okay, I’ll give you that one. Too bad his tooth is the only thing sweet about him.”

“It’s a work in progress!” Pinkie responds enigmatically. “Anyway, you should go back and enjoy the party! It’s almost time for me to start cutting the cake!” 

“Yes, I think I’ll go do that,” Twilight decides, smiling at the inscrutable Pinkie. She turns to eye her friend. “Coming, Rainbow?”

“You know it! I haven’t had nearly enough fun,” Rainbow agrees readily. The two of them leave Pinkie to her preparations and make their way back out into the main room. “Think I should get Vinyl to play something more heavy?”

“If you want. I’m fine with what’s currently playing, personally,” Twilight responds. She snickers at the disinterest on Rainbow’s face. “There’s nothing wrong with the slower music, Rainbow.”

After exchanging a spot of friendly banter with one another, Twilight and Rainbow split off to socialize some more. In Rainbow’s case, she looks around for other members of the weather team, hoping to discuss the storm that still rages outside.

Her path inevitably passes within sight of Seth again, but Rainbow is content to ignore him this time… or at least she was, until she spotted a familiar wall-eyed mare engaging in conversation with the human. 

Rainbow’s eyes widen in surprise and dismay.





“I think they all sound pretty,” the bubbly mare relates. She takes a brief moment to munch on one of the few remaining cookies. “I just think it’s amazing how we can produce music with the most unlikely of objects. Ponies are amazing, aren’t they?”

“That’s a rather broad view to have. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who likes all music she hears,” I comment. Every so often, I’ll take a sip of water from a plastic cup. I choose not to acknowledge the last part of her statement. “In a way I almost envy you.”

“Oh really? Why would that make you envy me?” she questions, tilting her head to one side.

“Because if I liked all music, I would be able to fully appreciate every musician I meet. Making music takes a lot of work, no matter the genre, so they deserve respect at least for that,” I respond calmly.

“Wow, I think so too!” The mare agrees happily. Her name, as she’d revealed to me, is Derpy Hooves. It’s a rather odd name to be sure, but I suppose it’s not the most unusual I’ve heard.

She’s a slender gray mare with a simple yellowish mane that drapes over the front of her head, showing little in the way of style. For a cutie mark, there’s a set of bubbles depicted on her flank. As for what that talent could possibly mean, I’m completely unsure. However, the most noticeable of her features is her eyes. To put it plainly, they’re all over the place. It’s difficult to determine where she’s looking at, making conversing with her rather awkward; I don’t know where to look.

That being said, talking with her is easy enough. Derpy hasn’t tried to ask me about myself apart from my name, nor has she confronted me about any of the arguments I’ve had so far. Instead, we are having a calm discussion on the different types of music. As a former musician myself, this makes for a tolerable way to pass the time. In return, I don’t ask her about her eyes. It’s an arrangement that’s currently working well for the both of us. 

“I know you said that you don’t prefer electronic music, so I’m wondering… what is your favorite genre?” Derpy inquires, the mare seeming eager to continue the conversation.

“A wide variety, actually. I don’t think I can classify my tastes into one singular genre,” I answer. I finish what’s left of the drink in my cup, and then set it aside. “It’s more along the lines of ‘If I like it...’”

Before I can finish my explanation, a streak of cerulean zips between the two of us, causing me to stumble back in surprise. I heave a deep sigh when I realize that Rainbow Dash has returned and is now standing in front of me, no doubt to heckle me further. I don’t miss the cold glare she sends my way.

Rainbow ignores me at first, turning to address Derpy instead. “Hey, Derpy! How’s the party treating you?” Rainbow rudely starts up a separate conversation in the middle of the one I had just been having.

“Hi, Rainbow Dash! I’m having a lot of fun! I was just talking with this nice human here about music!” Derpy returns the greeting excitedly, not seeming perturbed by the interruption whatsoever. She points a hoof towards me. “Have you met him? His name is Seth!”

“You… you were what?” Rainbow looks at Derpy with a dumbfounded expression. “Seth? Nice!?”

I decide to stay out of this conversation. I’d rather not interact with Rainbow if I have any other choice. “I think I’ll go peruse the rest of the food,” I excuse myself. I don’t get more than one step.

“You wait just a minute!” Rainbow snaps at me before I can move. My irritated huff is thankfully drowned out by the music. “Derpy, do you think you could do me a favor and check on Pinkie for me? I think she might be overworking herself again.”

“Okay! I’ll be right back then.” Derpy nods and walks away from the table, leaving me alone to deal with Rainbow. I brace myself for the inevitable argument.

When Rainbow returns her gaze to me, her original animosity is surprisingly lessened. “When were you going to tell me you knew how to be nice?” Rainbow comments wryly. My first reaction is to scoff. “No seriously, I came over here expecting to beat the hay out of you for picking on Derpy.”

“Why would I pick on her?” I ask, my tone betraying my incredulity at such a concept. 

“Well, you know, she’s all like…” Rainbow adopts a defensive expression, but words failed her. She sighed and tried again. “Derpy’s a sweet girl, but she has a hard time getting around sometimes.”

“Because of her eyes?” I supply her helpfully, having already put two and two together. Rainbow nods, confirming my suspicions. “Do ponies pick on her because of that?”

“Sometimes. She can be pretty clumsy,” Rainbow admits. I shake my head in disbelief. I can’t imagine picking on someone just because of a physical disability.

“The more things change, the more things stay the same,” I mutter to myself. Rainbow hears me and tilts her head in confusion. “Nevermind. Rest assured, I know full well how I come across, but I’m not a bully.” 

“You could have fooled me, the first time we met,” Rainbow grumbles. I just roll my eyes at that. She continues, narrowing her eyes at me.  “I thought you didn’t want any friends? So why is it that Derpy is the only one you’re nice to?”

“If you’re thinking it’s something personal, it’s not. Derpy, as opposed to nearly every other pony I’ve met, didn’t try to nose into my business, nor force her morals on me,” I explain with a shrug. “If all she wanted was idle conversation, that’s fine with me.”

“Then how come you were such a jerk to me when I was trying to introduce myself?” Rainbow demands. 

“First of all, you weren’t there to talk. You showed up to berate me about my issues with Flitter. Second of all, you weren’t introducing yourself. You were putting yourself up on a pedestal and talking down to me,” I assert coldly. 

Rainbow recoils with shock. “What? That’s not what I was doing at all!” she protests fervently. “I was just trying to be friendly before talking to you about Flitter!”

“That’s not how you came across to me,” I contend, crossing my arms. 

“It’s not like you gave me much of a chance to begin with,” Rainbow grumbles bitterly. She rubs her eyes and sighs. “Fine, whatever. Can we start over then?”

“What, you don’t want to kick me out of the party anymore?” I raise an eyebrow at her request. That seems rather sudden, coming from the pony who recently told me to get out of town. Nevertheless, it doesn’t matter in the end. I shake my head. “I don’t see the point, to be honest. As I’ve said, I’m leaving Ponyville. I have no need of friends here.”

“Oh come on! What’s wrong with making a few friends before you go?” Rainbow complains, the mare starting to pout. “Doesn’t acting like a jerk to every pony you meet cause more trouble than just being friendly?”

“As I’ve said, I wouldn’t need to ‘act like a jerk’ in the first place if ponies would quit meddling in my business,” I remind her, much to her frustration. “If you really want the truth, I don’t trust you. I don’t trust any of you.”

“Why not? You barely know anything about us!” Rainbow objects hotly. “Is it just because we’re ponies? What about other humans!?”

“Of course it’s not because you’re a pony. While that is still difficult for me to grasp, it’s nothing worth nursing prejudice over. I’m no bigot,” I protest, somewhat offended by that. “As for how I treated humans, that’s hardly your business, but I treated them much the same. Though their ulterior motives were more transparent.”

“You make no sense. One moment, you’re acting like a total jerk, and then another, you’re showing me you’re not as bad as I thought,” Rainbow groans, resting her face in her hoof. “I don’t have an ulterior motive.Why do you think we all have one?”

“That, I’m certainly not going to tell you. That’s as personal as it gets,” I deny her stubbornly. Ignoring her huff of annoyance, I reach for a cupcake on the table. “I’ve said more than I should, anyway. It’s probably best you go and mingle with your friends now, rather than wasting your time with me.”

Rainbow stamps her hoof down, snorting obstinately. “No, I don’t think so. I’m not going to let you get off that easy. I’ll show you I don’t have an ulterior motive!” the mare declares. My eyebrow raises once again. I don’t think it’s possible for her to do that in a way I’ll accept. “Come dance with me. Right now.”

“What? Where the hell did that come from?” I demand, scrutinizing her with confusion. Rainbow just grins in response. I shake my head vigorously. “First of all, I don’t know how you think that’s going to convince me. Second of all, I don’t dance.”

“Aw, don’t be like that. Come on, let’s go dance. What could I possibly get out of that, besides a little fun?” Rainbow counters, butting her head against my leg. “Unless you’re telling me you’ve never danced before.”

My hands start to tremble somewhat. For some reason, a feeling of deja vu settles over me. “Of course I have… a long time ago,” I reply with a halting voice.

“Then what? Is it because you’re too scared of being shown up on the dance floor?” Rainbow teases me, her grin growing wider. 

I nearly drop the cupcake in my hand. With the combination of her familiar words, the expression on her face, and the similar situation, I can’t help but see Amaryllis in this pony before me. The absurdity of such a thing makes me want to laugh, but at the same time… it’s unsettling.

“Put that cupcake down and come on! Don’t be worried about what all these other ponies think.” Rainbow grabs onto one of my hands with her front hooves and attempts to drag me out onto the dance floor. I resist of course, but she doesn’t give up. “Don’t worry, I promise not to pick on you when you end up being awful at it.”

The cupcake falls from my hand as I allow Rainbow to pull me forward in a daze. It’s getting hard to determine how I’m feeling at this moment. Twilight notices Rainbow and I moving to the dance floor, causing her to tilt her head, appearing nonplussed and blinking.

Dancing is absurd. There’s nothing fun about waving my arms around like a complete fool. It isn’t appealing to move my body in erratic ways while surrounded by loud and sweaty people, while the heat gets worse and worse. Why should I humiliate myself in front of scores of people? 

As we walk on to the dance floor, Lyra spots the two of us. “Hey, how’s that fair!?” she protests, emphasizing her frustration with her two front hooves. Applejack notices us as well. She removes her hat and holds it against her chest, her eyes widening.

I don’t dance. I’ve only ever danced with one person. I said I’d never dance with another person ever again. Amaryllis was the only one I’d ever consider dancing with, as she was my closest friend. So why am I here, right now, slowly moving my body to the beat while Rainbow looks on?

Vinyl’s jaw drops when she sees us, her shades nearly falling off. A smile spreads across her muzzle, and then she switches the record in the middle of a song. Surprisingly enough, the distorted tune of an electric guitar sounds from the speakers. The drums kick in, and the tempo picks up, resembling a style of music that I once enjoyed.

“See? This isn’t so bad!” Rainbow expresses to me happily as she shakes her barrel from side to side, her mane flying every which direction. I don’t have an answer, as deep in thought as I am. My body is moving on instinct and muscle memory now, remembering that time in the bar so long ago.

Pinkie screams with delight and joins the crowd on the dance floor, where she starts pulling off dance moves that seem as though they’d be unsuitable for pony anatomy. Despite this, they appear natural for her, and she shows no sign of pain. Her enthusiasm causes other ponies to join in, making this the most full the dance floor has been the whole night.

At some point, after three minutes of the rather long song had passed, I break out of my trance and realize what’s going on. Embarrassment and shame fills me in a heartbeat, causing me to flush deeply. Disgusted at myself, I stop dancing and retreat from the dance floor as quickly as I can manage.

“Hey, where are you going? We were just starting to have fun!” Rainbow follows me off the dance floor, looking upset. “Seth!”

“Stop. I shouldn’t have let you force me into that in the first place,” I snap, an edge finding its way into my tone. I push through the crowd and make a beeline for the back hallway, craving isolation more than anything else right now. 

“I didn’t ‘force you’ into anything! You looked like you were having fun too, so what gives?” Rainbow insists, pursuing me all the way back to the hallway. She flinches under the blistering glare that I give her.

“Just stop! For god’s sake, why can’t you just leave me alone?!” I demand, facing her directly. She looks taken aback by the sudden vehemence in my words. I can’t explain it, but I’m furious. Furious at her, and furious at myself. The fact that I thought, even for an instant, that she could ever be like Amaryllis; the fact that I allowed myself to be moved by emotion to the point where I broke my own promise to my lost friend; The combination of these two things has me shaking with rage and self-loathing. “I don’t need this! I don’t need fun, and I don’t need friends! I’m leaving Ponyville soon, and I won’t be coming back! How dare you get in my way?!”

Rainbow is left speechless for several seconds by my sudden tirade. She looks at me with bafflement. I realize that what I said would have made no sense to her. After catching my breath, I sink down into a sitting position with my back against the wall.

“What…?” Rainbow asks. 

I avert my gaze from her. A pressure grows in the center of my tightening chest, causing me to shift uncomfortably. “Just go back to your party. I need some time to myself,” I utter in a hollow voice. I don’t look at her again.

Several agonizing seconds pass, and then I hear Rainbow retreating, leaving me to my blissful solitude. I should feel relieved now that I’m alone, but instead, rage smoulders in my chest like burning coals. How could I have done something so stupid? Everyone on the dance floor saw me there with Rainbow. I pound my fist against the wall, but it doesn’t make me feel any better. 

The pressure in my chest gradually fades away as I force myself to calm down with deep breaths. This was foolish of me, but it won’t pose a problem. I just need to keep a level head from here on out, and I’ll be out of Ponyville before long.

Without any method of telling time, the party seems to drag on for a painfully long time. There’s nothing for me to do other than sit here, so it’s also dreadfully dull. I spend most of the time with my eyes closed, listening to the music and analyzing its characteristics in my head. 

“Oh! Well, hello there.” My solitude is eventually broken by a demure feminine voice. I glance up to see a snow-white unicorn mare walking into the hallway. Her mane is colored a rich shade of royal violet and appears to be painstakingly styled into fancy curls at the ends. It’s impossible to see her cutie mark due to the extravagant rose fabric draped over her back.

I do my best to keep a level expression. This would be the first pony I’ve ever seen wearing clothes to this degree. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say that she’s wearing a dress. Like a human dress, the bodice clings to her chest and possesses two sleeves that hug her front shoulders. However, the skirt doesn’t hug her belly, but is instead cut open at the waist line to make room for her back hooves to move. Now, as nice as I’m assuming such attire is for a pony, she appears exceedingly overdressed for a party like this.

The mare waits for a reaction to her greeting, but she soon realizes she isn’t going to get one when I return my gaze to the floor. “Erm… would you kindly move your legs so I may pass?” the mare requests uncertainly. I wordlessly do as she asks. She smiles and passes me by, heading for the back staircase. “Thank you, dear.”

She climbs the stairs and leaves me for a few minutes, but it isn’t long before she returns. This time, even though I move my legs as before, she doesn’t pass me. “Pardon my rudeness earlier, I was in a bit of a hurry,” the mare apologizes to me. I sigh quietly, realize that she seems intent on speaking with me. She dips in a slight curtsy. “I am Rarity, and I run the Carousel Boutique, on the hill by the square. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

I unwillingly get to my feet. I don’t know anything about this Rarity, so it would be unwise to be rude to her. I won’t make another mistake like Rainbow Dash. Just thinking about that mare stirs my rage from its slumber.

“You can call me Seth.” I return her introduction as tersely as possible. “Don’t let me keep you. I’m sure there’s more fun to be had out there with your friends.”

“Nonsense. Mingling is part of the appeal. I noticed you sitting here all by yourself and just couldn’t ignore you,” Rarity corrects me with a smile. Her eyes slowly travel down my body until she notices my clothing. Her nose wrinkles with distaste. “If you don’t mind me asking, just what is that you’re wearing? It’s… pardon my rudeness… but it looks simply horrid.”

“My jeans? Funny. You’re the first one to point that out,” I concede. “It’s not as if I have a choice, however. They’re the only pair of pants I have.”

Rarity appears to find that understandably off-putting. “Darling, they’re filthy! As loathe as I am to say it, it would be better to do without,” she suggests. That takes me by surprise at first, until I recall that ponies don’t seem to wear clothes that often.

“That’s not an option. Humans don’t have thick fur to keep warm like you do,” I point out. “I will buy new clothes as soon as I can afford it. Until then, this is all I have.”

“That simply won’t do. I insist that you stop by my boutique sometime later so that we can rectify this predicament,” Rarity urges me. “Perhaps tomorrow, unless you’re busy?”

“I repeat: I will buy new clothes as soon as I can afford them,” I say, somewhat annoyed. 

For some reason, Rarity shows a hint of concern. She composes herself so quickly, however, making me wonder if I’d seen it at all. She clicks her tongue. “A human, one of our great precursors, should be dressed elegantly! You won’t pay for a thing until I’ve made you at least one warm outfit,” she attempts to reassure me, but it has the opposite effect.

“I won’t say it again,” I state, my impatience starting to creep into my tone. Glancing at her dress, I believe I can reasonably guess that her clothing must be rather gaudy and expensive. “I may take you up on your offer later, but only when I can pay you for it.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t have to pay for…” Rarity doesn’t seem willing to let it go so easily. I cut her off with a frustrated huff.

“I heard what you said. It never fails to astound me how pushy you ponies can be,” I snap. Rarity recoils, lifting a hoof.

“P-Pushy!?” Rarity stammers, offended.

“I heard your offer, and I’ll keep it in mind. However, I said I’ll accept only when I have the money,” I repeat one last time. “Please do us both a favor and just accept that.” 

Rarity flushed, the mare looking upset. “Well, I was only trying to help,” she acknowledges irritably, lowering her hoof. “You didn’t have to be so rude about it”

“I wouldn’t have to be, if you ponies would accept what I say when I say it,” I counter her exasperatedly. “How does anyone make their own decisions in this blasted town?”

“Very well, I suppose I shall retract my kindness and leave you be,” Rarity’s words are short and clipped now, betraying her indignance. She finally passes me on her way back to the main room. “Good evening, Seth.”

I dread talking to anyone at all now. Nearly every single one of them attempts to be friendly, which then turns into an argument. As it stands, Derpy is the only one that was content just to talk to me. Even then, I believe it’s only a matter of time. 

Pinkie suddenly bounces out of the kitchen. She spots me immediately beams. “Hi Seth! I hope you didn’t eat too many cookies!” She grabs my hand before I can sit back down. “Come on out of your corner! It’s time for cake now!” 

“I wasn’t in a corner,” I correct her sharply, but she doesn’t pay any attention to that. Instead, she just keeps tugging me until I’m out in the main room again. By the time I manage to extricate myself from her grip, I’m surrounded by ponies. The crowd is thickening around the table upon which the gigantic cake is situated. As unenthusiastic as I am about the party overall, I’m looking forward to trying that cake.

Pinkie signals to Vinyl with her hoof, and the DJ lowers the volume of the music. “Everypony gather around!” Pinkie announces now that she can be heard. “I think you’ve all waited long enough! It’s time for the Cakes to have their cake!” 

Pinkie giggled at her own joke, and then she beckoned to Mr. and Mrs. Cake, the guests of honor for tonight. The crowd parted to allow the two happy ponies passage. “I went all out on this one!” Pinkie proclaims. She produces a cake knife and carefully slices down into the cake, cutting out a reasonable portion.

“It looks delicious, Pinkie. You’ve really outdone yourself,” Mrs. Cake evaluates appreciatively. She picks up a plate from the nearby table with her mouth and holds it out just long enough for Pinkie to put the first slice on it. Then, Mrs. Cake turns her neck and sets the plate on her back. “Thank you again for the party.”

“Yes, thank you!” Mr. Cake agrees, accepting his slice next. Once the two of them had received their cake the rest of the ponies surge forward to claim a slice as well. I notice the line forming and quickly insert myself into it before it grows too long.

As I’m waiting for my turn, the music returns to its original volume. Ponies are trickling back to find spaces to eat their cake, leaving the dance floor mostly empty for the moment. Even Vinyl steps away from her tables to partake in the baked confection as well. 

Standing in the line makes me realize how exposed I am. Thankfully, the ponies closest to me no longer seem worried about my presence. They hardly spare a glance in my direction. As much as I hate to admit it, some good did come out of that...blunder of mine. Though in the end, it may cause me more trouble to make that benefit seem miniscule, judging from the way Lyra is eyeing me from further back in the line.

When I get to the front of the line, Pinkie happily relinquishes a slice to me, the cake resting on a pink paper plate decorated with balloon imagery. Beside the cake on the table, I notice a pile of neatly stacked plastic forks resting atop a folded napkin. Surprised to see them, I step out of line and take one. I had thought they wouldn’t exist because they’re impractical for ponies, but it appears I am wrong.

I proceed to withdraw from the crowd and return to my place in the back hallway to eat my cake in peace. The slice that I received consists of three layers of both chocolate and vanilla. The icing is thick and pink, and tastes like strawberries. With Pinkie’s baking skills combined with the fact that strawberry is a favorite flavor of mine, eating the cake proves to be an enjoyable experience.

When I’m finished, my stomach is as full as can be—a welcome change to the ever present hunger that’s been my constant companion for the past two days. I stretch my legs out and relax, content to lie here for the remainder of the party.

As the hour grows ever later, the party eventually winds down. Ponies are beginning to tire from constantly dancing or playing silly games. It isn’t long before they start to trickle out of the building, giving their regards to those they meet along the way. I get to my feet, recognizing that it’s soon going to be time for me to do my job.

I make my way into the main room, my hands tucked into my pockets. I’m just in time to see Applejack and Rarity congratulating the Cakes once more before they too take their leave. I spot Rainbow on her way out as well, but I pointedly avoid looking at her. I can feel her gaze linger on me for a good several seconds until she finally leaves as well.

The music soon comes to an end, and then Vinyl hops off of the stage. She briefly makes eye contact with me long enough to beckon to me with her head. I note how exhausted she looks. Like before, powering her set up for as long as she has no doubt taken its toll on her.

“First things first: let’s get all these cables unplugged,” Vinyl directs me, pointing to each of the areas where the aforementioned cables are plugged in. “That’s the easy part. Then you can help me take the speakers down from those poles.”

“Got it. Just point me to whatever needs doing,” I acknowledge her, already moving to the first cluster of cables. 

The cables must be designed to prevent easy disconnection, as they require me to press down on a tiny lever to loosen them, and swiftly tug to unplug them. Once a set of cables has been unplugged from both ends, Vinyl or I will coil them up and tie them into knots to prevent them from tangling inside the cart. Then, we place them in one of the tubs Vinyl has staged at the end of the stage.

As I’m working I do my best to memorize the labels on everything. The Equestrian language consists of multiple strange glyphs, some of which appear more than once. Despite my efforts, it’ll likely take me several more gigs before I can memorize the meanings of these labels.

While Vinyl and I are working, Pinkie zips around the room like an angry hornet, taking down party decorations and gathering empty plates and discarded dishes. I don’t know how she has the energy for that, but I can’t deny that she’s cleaning the building efficiently. As for any other ponies, the building is soon nearly empty. Of the remaining ponies, I only recognize Twilight, who appears to be aiding in the cleanup efforts. The Cakes appear to have already left the room. Whether they went upstairs or to the kitchen is unknown to me. 

Lifting and moving the heavier equipment in Vinyl’s ensemble is an arduous task, which is only exacerbated by my injuries. It isn’t hard for Vinyl to notice that I’m favoring my left side, but when I make no signs of stopping work, she doesn’t react apart from giving me a worried look.

Once everything has been loaded into the cart, our task is complete. Vinyl dusts off her hooves and heaves a satisfied sigh. “That’s about everything! As soon as we get paid, we’re outta here,” Vinyl announces as she sits down.

A nod is my only response. I’m out of breath and my body is aching from all of the hard work, making it difficult for me to form words at all. While I’m waiting, I rest against the stage until my breath returns. Vinyl watches me with some amusement.

“You’re pretty out of shape, dude,” she comments. “If this was hard, how did you handle working with Applejack on the farm?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” I admit, earning a laugh from Vinyl. I clear my throat and force myself to breathe normally. 

“Still, you pushed through without a complaint. Respect,” Vinyl compliments me. “If you want to get in shape, that’s the way to do it.”

I want to mention that it’s because I don’t have any other choice, but then I decide better of it. Instead, I give another short nod as a response.

“Scratchie! I’ve got your bits!” Pinkie emerges from the back hallway with a sizeable sack of what I assume is our pay hanging from her mouth. Vinyl perks up at that, as do I. “Sorry for making you wait!”

“No prob,  Pinks. Thanks,” Vinyl accepted the payment, the bag levitating over to the floor in front of her. Once Pinkie saw that we had it, she bounced back across the room while nattering to herself about the cleaning she still had left to do. “Now then, let’s see about your share…”

Vinyl opens the bag and sifts through the golden coins with her telekinesis, counting under her breath. “Eighteen bits. Alright, that makes it easy,” she mutters to herself.

“Only eighteen? Didn’t you say you made between thirty and two hundred per gig?” I recall, feeling somewhat worried. Twenty five percent of that, rounded down, would put me up to ten bits total. 

“Pinkie Parties is a different matter. Because she has them so often, I give her a discount, because she usually asks for me,” Vinyl explains. Sure enough, she counts out four bits and passes them to me. “There you go. Thanks for the help, by the way.”

I accept the coins and place them in the sack with the rest of my money. I stand up and grab my rifle from where it leans against the stage. Before I can leave, however, Vinyl walks in front of me.

“Hold up. About yesterday,” Vinyl began, her expression turning serious. “Have you found a place to stay yet?”

“Not yet, no. I was about to ask you the cost of an average inn,” I answer her honestly.

“An inn? Well, we don’t really have one in the sense that you’re thinking,” Vinyl reveals, much to my dismay. “The closest we have is the bar, which has a few rooms upstairs that are given out at the owner’s discretion. The cheapest of those is about fifteen bits.”

“Fifteen?” I repeat, my voice rising. The bits in my hand suddenly seem as worthless as rocks in the face of such a number. 

“What, you don’t have enough?” Vinyl sounds alarmed as well for some reason. I shake my head solemnly. It seems I won’t be escaping another night outside. I’ll have to figure something out to avoid freezing to death. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Applejack probably wouldn’t pay you eleven bits for anything less than a dawn to dusk shift.”

“Her pay was one bit an hour, and I worked six hours today,” I clarify for her. Vinyl nods, likely finding that similar to what she expected.

“But that means you’ve got nowhere to go to get out of the weather tonight,” Vinyl reminds me. She rubs her chin with a hoof as she ponders. “Tell you what, I can front you five extra bits just for…”

“Absolutely not. I can’t believe you’ve even consider giving me half of your pay,” I cut across her immediately. 

“Just for tonight, I was about to say,” Vinyl finishes with some annoyance. “You can’t stay outside tonight, so just stop being stubborn and take it.”

“I don’t care what you call it. I won’t take charity from you. I earned four bits, so that is all I’ll accept,” I assert, crossing my arms. If I’m firm enough now, perhaps she’ll finally take the hint. “Plus, saying it’s ‘just for tonight’ is complete nonsense. Even with a one time bonus, I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the daily cost of a room in the bar.”

Vinyl sighs with frustration, knowing that my argument is correct. “Fine. Then come stay with me. I told you I have a spare room I’m more than willing to give you,” she repeats with determination.

“I believe I told you that no matter what the alternative was, I’m not accepting that offer,” I shoot back, an edge entering my voice. Unfortunately, unlike most ponies I interactive with, sounding angry does nothing to dissuade Vinyl.

“Agh for the love of…” Vinyl grabs me, giving me a bit of a shake. “Seth… you don’t seem to get it. It’s still raining out there. You will freeze to death. There’s no ifs, ands, or buts about it! Do I have to pull the boss card on you again?”

“If you ‘pull the boss card’ on me again, I quit,” I snap back, my tone turning icy and my eyes narrowing. Vinyl’s jaw drops, taken aback by my words. “I won’t be manipulated by you. In the end, it’s no business of yours what happens to me.”

“I don’t care what you say, Seth! I’m making it my business. What kind of awful pony would I have to be to let someone freeze to death when I can clearly do something about it?” Vinyl argues vehemently. I scoff with disbelief. Why is she still pushing this? I’ve made it abundantly clear that I won’t accept her help, so why is she trying so hard? “I mean, for Celestia’s sake, it’s just a place to stay! It’s not like I’m…”

Vinyl is interrupted by a gasp from nearby. We both turn to see Twilight, who appears to have been passing us on her way out of the building. I groan, realizing that she overheard us.

“Seth, you told me you had a place to stay!” Twilight accuses me, the mare walking up to the two of us. Vinyl shoots her a grateful glance before returning her gaze to me. 

“I never said I had a place to stay; I said I had it covered.” My patience is quickly nearing its limit. It’s going to be much harder to get out of this now that there’s two of them on my case. “That meant that you should mind your own business. I assumed you were smart enough to understand that.”

“But if you had nowhere to go, why didn’t you tell me? I would have given you my spare bed!”  Twilight demands. When I don’t answer, she lets out a frustrated cry. “I just don’t get it, Seth! I just want to help and understand you, but everywhere I turn, I hear stories from another pony you’ve rebuffed!

“Yeah, I agree. Seriously dude, we’re just trying to be nice to you. Why are you so against the idea of us helping you out?” Vinyl adds on. “It’s like you think we’ll use everything we give you to…”

The more they demand from me, the closer I get to losing my cool. Despite the rational part of my mind telling me that I can’t afford to get angry lest I lose my only source of livelihood, it’s getting increasingly harder to keep from doing so. Finally, I can’t stop myself anymore.

“That’s enough!” I shout, my voice now loud enough to be heard over the both of them. Both Twilight and Vinyl are taken aback by my raised voice and fall silence.  “I’m beyond tired of having to tell you ponies again and again that I don’t want your help nor your friendship! What happens to me is my business and my business alone!”

“But Seth…” Twilight tries to cut in, but I won’t let her.

“I don’t want to hear it! You have no reason to care about me as much as you keep claiming to! It would be so much easier if you just forgot about me, Twilight! You already know that I won’t be staying around you long enough to give you the information you need to write your book, so please stop trying!”

“But that’s not what I…” Twilight attempts once more, but to no avail. I turn my glare onto Vinyl next, causing her to flinch.

“And then there’s you! I told you just now that I’d quit in an instant. Why haven’t you fired me yet!? Haven’t either of you learned that you can’t get anything from me by acting nice!?” 

“What are you even talking about? You make it sound like everything we’re doing is to try and manipulate you!” Vinyl shoots back, her voice rising to meet mine. “Get over yourself!  I can’t even begin to tell you how paranoid that is! Seriously, all we’ve ever wanted from you is your friendship!”

“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you this whole time!” Twilight joins in once more, her nerve returning.

“For the love of… you ponies are the most frustrating creatures I think I’ve ever met!” I yell back at them, my throat beginning to hurt. “If not to manipulate me, why do you keep trying so hard to help me? Why do you keep going out of your way, when you could easily just leave me behind!? Why can’t you just pretend I don’t exist, like everyone else!?”

I finally stop shouting, having said everything currently in my mind. I keep glaring at the two of them as I breathe heavily. I press my hand against the center of my chest, where a sudden tightness has developed. I hardly even notice the fact that our argument has drawn the attention of nearly everyone else in the room.

“What happened to you, Seth?” Twilight asks softly, her eyes widening with understanding. “Why are you so convinced that our kindness isn’t genuine?”

“It doesn’t matter if it is or if it isn’t, in the end. I simply want no part of it. There’s no point in making friends when I’m simply going to be leaving town in a week or so. You understand that I’ll likely never return,” I remind her. Twilight nods, but this is the first time Vinyl has heard of that. “Either way, that… is as personal as it gets. Please, just give up on me.”

“Sorry, dude, but that’s not going to happen,” Vinyl says with a shrug. “You can yell and scream all you want, but I’m not so shallow that I’d give up on someone just because it wasn’t easy.”

“I just don’t get you at all,” I say with a heavy sigh. I don’t have enough energy to get angry with them again. “But nevertheless, I still won’t accept your charity.”

“Then… wait, hold on a sec,” Vinyl looked as though she were about to get irritated again, but then she suddenly stopped, her eyes widening. She groaned and let her face fall into her hoof. “Oh dear Celestia, I’m so dumb. I have an idea that’ll work for all of us.”

“Really? What is it?” I ask suspiciously. Twilight too looks interested in what she’s come up with.

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of this sooner. Come stay with me, and I’ll just charge you rent. That way, you’ll get a better deal than the bar, and I’ll be happy knowing you aren't dying of hypothermia.”

“I should have thought of that too,” Twilight admits, facehoofing as well. “This way, it won’t be charity.”

“That’s…” I open my mouth, but I can’t come up with anything wrong with that suggestion. I come to the sudden realization that all of this trouble could have been avoided if I’d have thought of that myself. I was so set against the idea of being friendly towards anyone that I completely missed the obvious solution. “Okay. I suppose I can settle for that.”

Vinyl and Twilight both release sighs of relief. “Thank the princesses,” Vinyl remarks. What Vinyl says next causes Twilight to choke back a laugh despite the situation. “You’re so stubborn you could make Rainbow Dash look like Fluttershy.”

“I don’t know who Fluttershy is,” I state irritably. “But that’s beside the point. How would this work? How many bits per day are you asking?”

“I don’t think I’m gonna charge you per day. That would strain your wallet way too much,” Vinyl decides. “I’m thinking I’d charge you per week. How many hours do you think you’ll be working on the farm every day?”

“Assuming I get up at dawn and stop around six in the evening, that’s about ten hours,” I answer uncertainly.

“I have about three gigs per week on average, so…” Vinyl trails off as she runs up some quick numbers in her head. “You’d make an average of ninety bits per week, assuming you work seven days a week. How does forty bits per week sound?”

“That leaves me fifty left over. That means I can leave Ponyville in two weeks,” I muse, liking the sound of this. I feel a little bit stupid that we didn’t just work this out in the first place instead of yelling at one another. “What all is included in the cost?”

“You get the room, access to my bathroom and everything in it, two meals a day—I’d say three, but you’ll be at the farm all day and Applejack’ll likely provide lunch—basically all the essentials,” Vinyl explains.

“This is actually a really good idea!” Twilight chimes in. I notice that there’s now a firm piece of parchment and a quill floating telekinetically in front of her, and she’s rapidly scribbling something down on it. “I’ll write up a temporary contract real quick, and you two can have it made official when you have a chance!”

“You have the authority to write temporary rent contracts?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.

“I mean I probably could if I asked,” Twilight reasoned sheepishly, dipping her head. “But I just wanted to feel helpful over here. It’ll be fine as long as you make it official with the mayor soon.”

“Hah, silly mare,” Vinyl chuckles a bit at Twilight’s explanation. “Either way, you good with all of this, Seth?”

“I should be asking you that. You sure you want to offer this to me… even after yelling at you like that?” I point out.

“What that? That’s not a big deal. You’d hardly be the first who’s thrown a tantrum over something silly,” Vinyl remarks. “You should have seen me when I was a filly.”

“I’m not sure how to feel about that,” I mutter bitterly. “But I have no further objections.”

“Awesome! Looks like you’re my roomie now!” Vinyl declares. She then catches herself with a bemused expression. “Wait… is that right? Housemate? Flatmate? Twilight, help me out here.”

“The word you’re looking for is ‘tenant,’” Twilight helpfully supplies as she finishes inscribing the temporary contract. She levitates the parchment over to us, along with a quill for us to use. “Now, all you two have to do is sign it!”

“Looks good!” Vinyl decrees after looking the contract over. I glance at it as well, but the writing is as incomprehensible as ever. The two lines at the bottom, however, prove to be easily recognizable. Vinyl grasps the quill with her magic and signs what I assume to be her name on the top line. She then passes the quill to me.

“What do you think, Seth?” Twilight asks next. She moves the contract over to me.

“I can’t read it, but I’m assuming that everything that’s on it is what we just discussed,” I reveal to Twilight. I grasp the quill and sign my name on the second line in neat cursive. Writing on the paper hanging in midair feels strange, as though it's pressed against a solid surface. “That being said, I sign this under the provision that I agree only to those terms. Nothing that you put in the fine print will apply to me.”

“There isn’t any fine print, dude. Relax,” Vinyl assures me, the mare poking my leg with her hoof. 

“That’s fair of course. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised you can’t read Equestrian,” Twilight replies. She brings the contract back to her. After looking it over, she rolls it up and seals it. She passes it to Vinyl, who places it in the cart with the rest of her equipment. “What language did you sign it in? Was that the human language?”

“One of them, yes,” I clarify for her. After putting my rifle in the cart as well, I glance over to Vinyl. “Anything else, or are we done here?”

“That’s it! We’ll be leaving now, Twilight,” Vinyl confirms. She beckons to me, and the two of us move to the cart. Vinyl stretches the tarp back over the cart, thus protecting it from the elements. “Let’s get this puppy moving, Seth.”

“Good night to the both of you! Seth, are you still coming to see me tomorrow?” Twilight questions while the two of us push the cart towards the door.

“That was the idea… you’re telling me you’re also okay with me, even after this argument?” I return with a raised eyebrow. Twilight appears genuinely confused by my question.

“Why wouldn’t I be? It would be shallow of me to write someone off simply because of one argument,” Twilight reasons. She notices my resulting bemusement. “Is that how you perceive us?”

I shake my head, even more confused than before. “Don’t get offended. It’s just something I see rather often.”

“Well, you won’t see that from me!” Twilight proclaims. She accompanies us outside into the wind and rain for a little while, and then gives us a wave. “I’m heading back to the library now. See you tomorrow, Seth!”

With that, Vinyl and I continue on our way to her home. I shiver involuntarily at the sudden drop in temperature. The worst of the storm seems to have already passed, but the wind and rain have yet to subside. As a result, the air feels ten degrees colder than usual due to windchill. As goosebumps form on my bare chest, I can’t help but admit; I definitely would have frozen to death out here.

The aftermath of the storm consists of scattered thatch, knocked over mailboxes or boxes, and streams of rainwater surging downhill through the streets. In other areas where the elevation is slightly lower, large puddles of excess water have formed. Vinyl makes a point to avoid running her cart through such puddles.

It seems like an eternity has passed when we finally reach Vinyl’s house. No sooner had she opened the door than I was pushing the cart inside as quickly as possible. Vinyl chuckles at my haste.

“You really should look into getting something to keep warm. You look like you’re freezing,” Vinyl suggests as she closes the door behind us. 

“Trust me, it’s on my list of things to do,” I grunt. The two of us maneuver the cart just inside the door to the right. “Whew, is that it?”

“That’s it!” Vinyl affirms. She then looks around the large sitting room in which we’re standing. The place is hardly tidy, and she seems to realize that; a supposition that’s supported by the faint blush on her face. “Sorry, my place is a wreck. I hope you don’t mind.”

“If you’d ever seen a college dorm before, you wouldn’t say that,” I quip while I look around. 

The sitting room is simple, consisting of a small couch and two armchairs positioned around a fireplace set in the far wall. Between them is a wooden coffee table, atop of which are several coasters and empty mugs. There are also multiple end tables with candles on top of them littered about the room.

The mess that she was referring to came from clothes being thrown on the floor or hung over the back of armchairs, the empty cups on the table, and various musical paraphernalia such as books, cables, and even an acoustic guitar.

To the left is a small kitchen, separated from the sitting room by a low partition. The kitchen is also a mess, with dirty dishes still in the sink and the counters scattered with crumbs. At the very back of the kitchen is a staircase crammed against the back wall that leads upstairs, to where I assume the bedrooms are.

“Well, this is my pad! Though I suppose it’s yours now too,” Vinyl announces awkwardly. I follow her when she walks into the sitting room. She removes her ever present shades from her eyes, giving me my first look at them. Surprisingly, her eyes are a dark shade of magenta, which appears red in the dim light. The color clashes with her electric blue mane, yet it doesn’t seem out of place. “I should probably clean a bit…”

“I wouldn’t worry about it. It doesn’t matter to me how you live,” I say with a shrug. “More importantly, where will I be sleeping?”

“Oh yeah!” Vinyl pointed towards the staircase. “If you head upstairs, the spare room is the last door on the right. My room is right across from that, and the bathroom is the door closest to the stairs. The last door is the laundry room. I know you can’t read the settings though, so I can teach you later.”

“Thank you.” I move over to the cart and fish through the equipment until I find my rifle. “Last question. When’s the next time you have a gig?” 

“Not tomorrow, but the next day. Tomorrow I’m not doing a thing!” Vinyl declares, the mare flopping on her couch. “Oh yeah, but I’ll be up to make breakfast for you.”

“Even though that’s at dawn?” I remark, cranking an eyebrow. The only response I get is a short groan. I shake my head with minor amusement. “Alright. Anyway, I’m going to wash up before bed. Wake me up when you’re making food.”

“Got it. Have a good night dude! By the way, the shower is right for hot, left for cold!” Vinyl calls up after me as I climb the stairs. I make a mental note of that and head directly for the bathroom.

This is the first real bathroom I’ve seen, not counting the outhouse I used while working out in the field with Applejack. I’m not sure what I expected, but it doesn’t look that much different than a human bathroom. Everything save for the tub is noticeably lower to account for pony size. It’s a disorienting effect; I feel like I’m taller than I should be.

I turn on the shower and gauge the temperature of the water with my hand. Once it feels as warm as I like it, I undress and step inside. The showerhead is low, so I get down on my knees. I let out a sigh of contentment as any chill remaining on me is washed away by the warmth. 

Glancing around the tub reveals a bar of soap on a small shelf, as well as bottles of what I assume is shampoo and conditioner. As tempting as it is to wash my hair free of the accumulated grease, I’m not entirely sure what formula those hair products use, so it could potentially damage my hair. I’m not about to risk that.

However, I do pick up the soap and test its consistency. I’m assuming it isn’t made out of animal fat, of course. It feels soft on the skin and easily forms a suprisingly thick lather. With luck, this won’t irritate my skin. Deciding to risk it, I start to clean myself.

It’s been a long day. To start it all off, I suffered from mild hypothermia. Then, I spoke with Twilight, worked for several grueling hours with Applejack, and then went to a painstakingly long party with Vinyl. All of that then culminated in my presence here, as a tenant in Vinyl’s house. To say that it’s been stressful goes without saying. Nevertheless, scrubbing the dirt and grime free of my skin serves wonders for my mental state.

Once I’m finished, I dry off with a fluffy white towel that’s somewhat too small for me, and then I hang it on the rack. I dress up only in my underwear, and then I carry my clothes back to my new room. I would get them washed, but as it stands, it’s very late at night, and I’ll be waking up at dawn. I don’t have time.

I step into my room, close the door, and proceed to look around. The room isn’t anything fancy. There’s a small bed pressed up against the far room with a dark wooden dresser beside it. Additionally, resting against the wall in front of the room’s sole window is a desk equipped with  quills, inkwells, and paper.

Setting my clothes down on the floor, I climb into the bed. Unsurprisingly, the bed is somewhat too small for me, so my legs dangle off the other end. I tend to sleep with my legs curled up anyway, so it’s thankfully not a problem. 

I breathe deeply, letting my head rest against the soft pillow. After spending a night outside, it’s so nice to have comfort and warmth, even if I had to be convinced to accept it. I am at last in a favorable situation. I have food, shelter, and a sustainable source of income. It won’t be long before I have enough money to leave Ponyville and head to the north. 

Sombra won’t be able to hide forever.
> 8. A Trip to the Schoolhouse (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A short time after dawn’s first light creeps over the horizon, Vinyl knocks at my door loudly, waking me from my slumber. I lurch up into a sitting position, remnants of last night’s unsettling dream still lingering in my mind. I can still see the fading image of my university juxtaposed with the decrepit and decaying remnant that it had become.

“I’m awake,” I respond to Vinyl tiredly as the knock comes once again. She doesn’t respond, but I do hear the sound of her hooves retreating in the hallway. I heave a sigh and attempt to rub the sleep out of my eyes. While sleeping in a bed is leagues more comfortable than shivering beneath the bridge, I don’t feel nearly as rested as I’d hoped.

I climb out of bed and slap my cheeks sharply, the pain serving to help wake me up further. A quick glance around the room reminds me of the events that took place at last night’s party. I let out a soft groan; I made a fool of myself by losing my temper not just once, but twice. I wish I’d have the sense to keep my cool, or at the very least, do a better job of avoiding the ponies at that party. I’ll never get out of this blasted town if I can’t even keep a level head.

The first thing I do is locate what’s left of my clothes. Although my jeans had been washed by Zecora, they’re wrinkled, stained with dirt, and smell faintly of sweat. That’s without counting the rips and tears accumulated from the punishment I’ve taken since arriving in this era. I grab them and quickly dress, deciding that I don’t need to bathe, as I’d done so the previous night. After taking a moment to tidy my hair as best I can, I pocket my wallet and phone, tie the bag of bits around my belt, and grab my rifle from the dresser. Once I’ve gathered everything, I make my way into the hallway.

I can already detect the odor of cooking food wafting up the stairwell. I can’t tell exactly what Vinyl is making, but the scent of frying eggs is at least evident. I assume it’ll become more clear once I descend the stairs into the kitchen.

Vinyl stands at the stove in the midst of the mess that is her kitchen. The stovetop as well as the countertops immediately surrounding her appear to have been recently cleaned, but everywhere else is just as cluttered as it had been the previous night. As for Vinyl herself...well, I think it’s safe to say she’s not a morning person in the slightest.

The mare is leaning on the counter, using her magic to telekinetically slide the pan beneath the eggs within as she slowly fries them. Her mane is a complete unbrushed mess, hanging limply on both sides of her neck, and her eyes are half-shut. When she notices my presence, she gives a faint grunt of acknowledgement.

“You’re a sight. How often do you get up this early?” I question her curiously after a quick glance in the pan.

“Never,” Vinyl groans, the mare looking as though she’ll fall asleep where she stands. She shoots a glare towards a coffee machine that chugged softly in the corner of the room. “Why is the coffee not done yet!?”

“You can go back to sleep if you want. I can cook,” I point out.  I choose to leave out the fact that I greatly dislike having to cook for myself.

“Nah, I already said I’d make breakfast,” Vinyl returns. A moment later, the coffee machine beeped. Briefly setting down the pan, Vinyl snatches the coffee pot out of the machine and pours some of it directly into her mouth, despite the fact that it is probably scalding. Her eyes widen, and she then downs a glass of ice water equally quickly. “Hhhuah! I’m awake! I’m awake!”

“You seriously plan to get up at dawn every day, seven days a week, just to make breakfast for me? I don’t intend to take days off,” I remind her with a hint of incredulity in my voice. Vinyl blanches.

“Yeeah, maybe not every morning,” Vinyl reconsiders with a wince, earning a brief snort from me. She pours herself a more conventional cup of coffee, and then offers the pot to me. “Want some coffee? You’ll probably need it.”

“No, I don’t drink caffeine.” I decline her offer with a shake of my head. She looks at me skeptically, noting how my eyelids are also drooping.

“Suit yourself,” Vinyl remarks with a shrug, setting the pot back on the counter. As much as a boost would be nice, I suspect that the cold will be a more effective pick up than any drug. Vinyl returns to the counter just in time to flip the eggs with a satisfying sizzle. Every so often, as she cooks, she gulps down her coffee. “It’s gonna be pretty cold out there. You gonna be alright?”

“I’ll be fine. Farm work will keep me active,” I return, my gaze falling to the table, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. Her question reminds me that my first priority needs to be warmer clothes. It’s cold enough here in Ponyville; I don’t even want to imagine how cold it’ll be in the north. I only know of one pony that for sure makes clothing, but I don’t believe she can make human clothing. Nor do I think she’d want to, given how our previous meeting ended.

“I guess. I don’t envy you though. Can I get you to take a scarf at least?” Vinyl asks as she finishes frying the eggs. She turns to see my reaction, only to be met with a very telling expression. Vinyl sighs and turns back to the pan. A couple of plates fly out of the cupboards with telekinesis, and before long, there are two plates of fried eggs and toast on the table. “That reminds me. I owe you a strap.”

I scowl at that, but I don’t stop her as she walks into the sitting room, where she starts rummaging through the mess. As she starts moving everything around and muttering to herself, I eat my breakfast, using the fork provided to me. The toast isn’t anything special, but the eggs are pretty good. If I had to guess, they came from the farm.

After a short moment of throwing myriad objects about, Vinyl lifts up what appears to be a black electric guitar, though there aren’t any inputs for the amplifier. She blinks at it, as though she hadn’t expected to find it.

“She’s probably gonna want this back,” Vinyl commented, setting the instrument aside. It only took her a moment longer to find the strap of which she’d spoken. She returned to the table, floating the trap over to me. “Aha! I knew it was hiding in here somewhere.”

“It only took you about five minutes,” I comment wryly as I finish up the last of my meal. I grab the strap when it reaches me. A quick glance reveals it to be a simple black guitar strap, with holes on either end where it would be fastened to a guitar. I’m not certain how I’d affix it to my rifle.

“I really need to clean this room,” Vinyl laments in response to my comment. She plops down on the seat across from me and starts to eat. “Take the strap to the boutique after you get off work. She’s probably got some Liquid Rock laying around.”

“‘Liquid Rock?’” I echo, perplexed.

“Yeah, it’s basically a really sweet glue that’s like rock when you magic it,” Vinyl explained. I raise an eyebrow. That sound suspiciously like super glue, but there must be more to it if there’s magic involved. “Two dabs of that, and you won’t have to lug your stick around with your hands anymore.”

“I see. I’ll get it taken care of,” I reply curtly. I can’t be carrying this around while I’m working, so I tie it around my waist like a belt. There’s nothing more for me to do here, so I pick up my rifle and head for the door. Then I remember something important. “When are we going to make this housing contract official?”

“That’s right, we still gotta do that,” Vinyl looked as though she’d just remembered about it. She groans, covering her snout with a hoof. “Aw, I hope there’re not a lot of hoops for us to jump through. You never know with the mayor.”

“That doesn’t bode well,” I grumble, already not looking forward to it. “I already had a bad feeling about meeting her.”

“What? Why? She’s not that bad,” Vinyl gives me a confused look. I think about explaining to her, but I decide against it. There’s no doubt that she’d argue with my reasoning.

“Nevermind. I don’t have time to talk about it anyway. I’m heading out,” I dismiss with a sigh. I turn back towards the door and leave the house without another word, shutting the door firmly behind me.

I immediately wince and shiver as the cold air impacts my bare chest. The thought of enduring this for the time it would take me to get some warm clothes is enough to make me want to walk back inside. While I walk, I ponder about the cost of such clothing. All I know about the worth of bits is that one bit will buy me about ten apples, and that fifteen bits will get me a room at the bar for a night. I suppose that’s one more thing to ask when I get to the boutique.

That name sounds familiar. I recall the overdressed pony at the party - Rarity, I think her name was - attempting to persuade me to visit her boutique for free clothing. I scowl somewhat, remembering how our first meeting had gone. While free clothing would be nice, an offer like that is too good to be true. This goes especially for someone like Rarity; judging by that dress she wore, she’s rather well off.

I cut through the side roads as often as possible, avoiding the square in my attempt to avoid ponies as much as possible. Thankfully, it’s very early, and very few are out and about. Due to this, I make my way to the farm unhindered.

It appears Applejack is already getting ready for the day’s work. I find her at the front of the barn, a cart set before her filled with all manner of foodstuffs. There are apples in barrels, freshly wrapped pies, and other pastries that I can’t quite make out. Beside her is Big MacIntosh, the larger stallion strapped into a second cart filled with empty apple baskets.

Also with the two of them is the young filly, Apple Bloom. Unlike the last time I saw her, she’s now wearing a pair of saddlebags hanging down either side of her flank, each packed with books and notebooks. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that she’s likely about to leave for school.

“Morning, Seth!” Applejack calls to me with a tip of her hat and a bright smile when she spots my approach. Apple Bloom also calls to me, and even Big MacIntosh gives me a terse greeting when I reach them. I choose not to respond to any of them with anything other than a wordless nod. “You ready to get to work?”

“As I’ll ever be. Will I be working with Big MacIntosh with the apple trees, like I did yesterday with you?” I respond politely, dreading the hard work that was soon to follow.

“Maybe later, but now, I actually got something different for you to do,” Applejack decides. She indicates her younger sister with a slight hoof motion. “Would you mind terribly taking Apple Bloom to school?”

I raise an eyebrow at the rather odd request, suppressing the sigh that threatens to emerge. The last thing I want to do is spend time with a kid; I find them more intolerable than adults at times.

“Wait what?” Even Apple Bloom seems surprised by this, her confused gaze switching between her sister and me.

“I suppose I can, but isn’t she old enough to get to school on her own?” I ask, doing my best to hide my annoyance.

“Yeah, I ain’t a baby! It ain’t that far from here to school!” Apple Bloom protests, the filly readily taking my side. Unfortunately it doesn’t make a difference in the end.

“I ain’t taking any chances. Other than Fluttershy, we’re the closest to the Everfree,” Applejack expresses. I glance over to the fringes of the Everfree far in the distance. It’s quite a distance from here...a fact that Apple Bloom knows well; she immediately protests that logic. “No buts, Apple Bloom. Besides, there’s another reason I’m sending him with you.”

“And that would be?” I prompt her expectantly, already accepting the unpleasant task to come.

“I got a few deliveries for miss Cheerilee, the schoolteacher. She was at the party last night. Have you met her yet?” Applejack reveals. I search my memory, and then shake my head. “She’s a nice enough sort. I think you’ll like her.”

A rather bitter retort comes to mind concerning my experiences with teachers, but I choose not to voice it. Looking at the bright side, I’m getting out of heavy labor for roughly an hour, counting the walk there and back. Choosing not to comment on her last statement, I nod.

“Okay. I can do that. Which of these packages am I bringing to her?” My acceptance of the task earns a satisfied smile from Applejack and a sigh from Apple Bloom. Applejack takes a few moments to fish out the food, using her mouth and forehoof to collect them all. “Do you often deliver to the school?”

“Every now and then. Sometimes Cheerilee likes to give out some of Granny’s cooking to all them foals for lunch. Usually I go deliver them myself, but…” Applejack looks rather pleased with herself. “Now I don’t have to. Thanks for doing this.”

“It’s my job,” I say simply, taking the packages from her, carefully avoiding wherever Applejack’s mouth touched. There’s quite a few of them. Between the rifle and the stack of pastries, my hands are thoroughly full. Despite this, it’s nothing I can’t handle. I glance down at Apple Bloom, briefly meeting her gaze. “Let’s go.”

“Have a good day at school!” Applejack calls after Apple Bloom and I as the two of us walk back towards the entrance of the school.

A silence falls between the two of us once we’re out of earshot of the two older ponies. Apart from our initial meeting, the two of us have never been alone together, and it’s about as awkward as one would expect. She switches between looking around at her surroundings, and looking shyly at me. Eventually, she works up the courage to talk to me.

“Um...Mr. Seth, I…” Apple Bloom begins.

“I don’t know the way to your school,” I cut across her, pretending as though I didn’t hear her. I’m worried about being alone with her, purely because I know that I can’t handle kids very well. These ponies appear to be like humans in the way that they think, speak, and act, so it stands to reason that I’ll have the same problems with them as I did with humans. “I’ll need you to direct me.”

“Oh, the schoolhouse? It ain’t hard to find, I can show you,” Apple Bloom responded readily, only surprised for a moment by my interruption. “Maybe I can show you around Ponyville too?”

“I’ll pass. You’ll be late for school if you do that.” Unfortunately, that’s little more than a guess;  I don’t know for sure when school begins for her. “Besides, your sister isn’t paying me to walk around town idly.”

“I guess so,” Apple Bloom concedes.

The silence falls between us again, persisting until we reach Ponyville proper. I suppress a groan at the sight of the town waking up for the day. Although I was able to avoid them on the way out, it seems I won’t be so lucky this time.

With Apple Bloom giving me small directions here and there, I follow the streets, doing my best to ignore the attention I’m garnering just by walking. To avoid losing my patience, I take in my surroundings as I walk, attempting to memorize their features in case I need to find my way to the schoolhouse later. All in all, it’s turning out to be a rather uneventful walk.

“Apple Bloom! Wait up!” A high-pitched voice squeaks after us. Without slowing my pace, I turn  my head to see a second filly about the same age as Apple Bloom cantering towards us. She’s a unicorn with a soft white coat and a head covered with pink and lavender curls. Like Apple Bloom, there’s no cutie mark on her flank. She inevitably notices me and skids to a stop beside Apple Bloom, kicking up dust in the process. “Whoa! Uh...hi! I saw you at the party!”

“Don’t mind me. Talk to your friend,” I say with a sigh, recognizing the filly for what she was. Due to her age and familiarity with Apple Bloom, I’d say that she’s one of her classmates. I set my rifle aside and take a moment to brush the dust off of my jeans. “Remember we’re on a time table.”

“Good morning, Sweetie Belle!” After giving me an appreciative look, Apple Bloom greets her friend with a loving nuzzle. “This is Mr. Seth! He’s taking me to school today instead of my sis.”

The two of them start to catch up with one another, and through their conversation I confirm my previous assumption about their relationship. It also quickly becomes clear that the unicorn, Sweetie Belle, isn’t quite by herself either; she’s walking with her older sister, with whom I’m already acquainted.

“Good morning. Seth, was it?” Rarity greets me, the older unicorn catching up to her sister at her own pace. Her words are clipped and her expression is completely neutral; it’s clear to me that she hasn’t forgotten our previous altercation.

“Rarity,” I respond with a slight nod, keeping my voice clear of any inflection. Unlike last night, Rarity isn’t wearing any clothing, but her mane is just as meticulously styled as before. I note that her cutie mark, which I’m only now getting to see, is a set of three bluish diamonds. The meaning of such a mark isn’t readily apparent to me at first glance. “Taking your sister to school?”

“That’s quite right,” Rarity answers. Her tone is polite, but I can’t deny the tension I feel between us. She seems every bit like the kind of woman who would take what I said then personally and hold it against me. Even though I know this, she carefully doesn’t let her face betray any positive or negative feelings. “Speaking of which, Sweetie Belle, we shouldn’t dally. You wouldn’t want to be late, would you?”

“No, miss Cheerilee would get mad at us. C’mon, Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle beckons to her friend with a small hoof, and the two of them continue their conversation from before as they continue walking down the street. I can hear my name come up in their conversation, but it’s nothing more than Sweetie Belle’s curiosity.

The two of them walking together ultimately means that I’m forced to walk beside Rarity, the silence making me wish I could leave Apple Bloom with them and make a hasty retreat. If I didn’t have deliveries to make to the school, Applejack likely wouldn’t have minded. I suppose letting Apple Bloom make the deliveries is an option, but its not a feasible one; there are too many of these for her to carry by herself.

“Pardon me for asking, but I can’t help but notice that you’re walking with Apple Bloom.” Rarity deigned to break the silence between us herself. It seems that Sweetie Belle isn’t the only one curious. Her eyes fall to the packages I’m carrying. “Are you by chance, working with Applejack?”

“That’s right. I’m making deliveries to the school. It was more convenient for her if I walked with Apple Bloom in the process,” I reply with just enough information to assuage her curiosity. When I look at Rarity, I see her eyeing me with a guarded expression.

“I imagine it’s hard work. Do you like it there?” Rarity continues conversationally. Despite my expectations, I can’t find a trace of bitterness in her tone.

“Depends on what you mean by ‘like.’ Are you asking if I enjoy working there?” There’s no getting out of this conversation, as we’re going the same direction. I’d rather avoid another argument, so I carefully watch my words.

“I don’t understand. Is there another meaning?” Rarity presses, one eyebrow rising almost imperceptibly.

“In my mind, there is. I’m doing what I have to. It’s necessary. There’s no enjoyment to be had in manual labor,” I explain shortly. I regret saying that almost immediately, noting how Apple Bloom slightly turns her head toward me. She’s still talking with Sweetie Belle, but I have to be doubly careful what I say. I don’t want her going to Applejack if I say something too negative.

“I couldn’t agree more. It’s strenuous and difficult, and you feel so filthy afterward,” Rarity surprisingly concurs with my statement, brushing her coat with a hoof as if to brush away nonexistent dirt. “What about Applejack herself? Do you like working with her?”

“Why do you ask?” I reply carefully, watching Rarity closely. Her expression betrays nothing of what she’s thinking.

“Just making conversation,” she answers with a small smile. I exhale with some frustration. It’s impossible to read her, and I’m getting impatient. “There’s still some ways yet to go.”

“That’s true, but considering the results of our last conversation, I’d think that I’d be the last person you’d want to talk to,” I retort, deciding to be direct. This back and forth between us has grown tiresome. Rarity’s expression finally changes into one of concern, her eyes widening slightly.

“Oh, you’re referring to the party? No no, I must apologize for my behavior that night.” Rarity’s words nearly cause me to drop the packages I’m carrying. She struck me as the prissy type who would be full of herself, but she’s apologizing? “I didn’t take into account your feelings at all; no doubt there’d be some cultural differences between us.”

“That’s not quite it, but...it’s close enough.” I don’t really know how to respond. In just a few short seconds, the image of her that I’d built up in my head no longer seemed to fit. I don't get it. I was rather rude to her last night; she’d have every right to hold that against me. “That’s...rather surprising.”

“What is?” Rarity prompts.

“It’s nothing. Just thinking aloud,” I hastily recover, shifting my grip to keep a hold of both my rifle and the packages. “To answer your question, Applejack’s not a bad taskmaster. At the very least, she respects my boundaries.”

“Glad to hear it. I couldn’t do what she does.” Rarity shudders a bit just thinking about it.

“I can barely do what she does,” I mutter under my breath. A chill breeze brushes against my skin, causing goosebumps to form on my chest and arms. “You said you work at the boutique?”

“Why, yes! The Carousel Boutique, to be specific,” Rarity lit up at the question, the mare seeming happy to talk about her workplace. “It’s less of ‘where I work’ and more ‘where I live.’”

“I’ll be dropping by after work, if you’re not doing anything else. I have something I’d like you to take care of.” I decide to give her some prior warning about my upcoming visit. Rarity looked rather pleased at that, her smile growing.

“But of course! I am in between major orders, so I’ll have the time. Are you coming for clothes? It’s getting colder, and without fur to keep warm, you’ll be miserable,” Rarity responds, her excitement visibly growing. “Ooh, I can already think of a few designs that would look simply marvelous on you! A lot of colors go with black, and although green is more difficult to work with, I’m confident that I can…”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” I cut her off sharply before she can get too enthusiastic. “I will need warmer clothes eventually, but I’m not there yet. I need something simpler and hopefully cheaper.”

“Oh, I see. I’m sorry for getting excited. I just think about all the designs I could try and get positively giddy,” Rarity looks a little annoyed at getting interrupted, but she doesn’t say anything further about it. She looks forward, slowing her pace. “Well, I do believe we’re here!”

I turn my gaze forward as well, where I get my first look at the schoolhouse. I blink. I’m not sure what I expected when I heard ‘schoolhouse,’ but I didn’t expect a design this archaic. The structure ahead appeared to be something right out of the 1960s; it was a simple pentagonal building with a single room and a belltower just above the door, a lone brass bell hanging at its top. The walls were a bright red and were decorated with a heart motif around the tops of its tall windows and lining the white fringes of the scaled roof. The front porch consisted of a small set of steps and two white pillars supporting an overhang.

Juxtaposed with the schoolhouse is a minimalistic fenced-in playground containing a slide, a set of swings, and an odd contraption consisting of a pair of rubber balls attached to two separate ropes. In this playground is an assortment of foals, both male and female, their colorful coats a stark contrast to surrounding field. I’m guessing they arrived here before us, and are waiting for school to start.

“How quaint,” I observe. It’s hard for me to imagine what going to school in a place like that would be like; human schools are much larger. I’m guessing I’ll soon see what the inside looks like as well, because I don’t see many adult ponies.

“Perhaps, but charmingly so,” Rarity agrees with a dip of her head. She leans down to nuzzle Sweetie Belle. “Have a good day at school, darling!”

“We will! Bye, Rarity!” Sweetie Belle promises. The smaller white filly trots towards the field, beckoning to Apple Bloom. “C’mon, let’s go find Scootaloo!”

“Just a sec.” Apple Bloom turned to face me. “Thanks for walking me to school, Mr. Seth.”

“Just Seth is fine. Don’t mention it; I’m just doing my job,” I respond coolly in an attempt to remain aloof. I look beside me, noticing that Rarity is starting to leave.

“Will you be walking back in this direction?” Rarity asked. I don’t miss the unspoken invitation to walk with her.

“I’m going inside, so if you’re leaving, go on ahead. I’ll see you later this evening,” I reply, turning away from her. Rarity nods, and it isn’t long before she’s out of sight. I sigh and follow Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle towards the schoolhouse. I suppose that didn’t go nearly as poorly as I’d expected it would. I can’t believe that she doesn’t hold anything against me for last night, however.

I suddenly hear another filly with a boyish voice calling out to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. From among the throng of foals emerges an orange pegasus with a scruffy purple mane. I squint a bit, finding the color combination somewhat difficult at which to look.

“Hey crusaders! I just had the best idea of what to…” the third filly refers to the other two somewhat strangely, but she immediately cuts off when she spots me. I mentally prepare myself even as her eyes widen. “Whoa, what is that!? Is that the human thing everyone’s talking about?”

“That’s Mr…” Apple Bloom begins.

“My name is Seth, and I don’t appreciate being talked about like I’m not here,” I snap somewhat irritably at the filly, causing her to jump. Unfortunately, the filly’s words were loud enough to get the attention of some of the other foals, who begin to stare at me without even bothering to hide their interest. I sigh and move past the fillies. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a delivery to make.”

“Wait up! I’m sorry, alright? It’s just we were all told there were no humans anymore!” the filly rushes to catch up with me, much to my annoyance. “So the fact you’re here is kinda cool!”

“So I’ve been told. Frankly, I don’t see it,” I retort with a hint of self-deprecation in my voice. She doesn’t seem like she’s going to leave me alone, so I decide to risk being a little cold. “Go play with your friends. They at least, appear to welcome your presence.”

“What? I just wanted to ask a few questions. You don’t need to be mean about it,” the filly protests hotly, her nose wrinkling up.

“I’d suggest you save your breath. If you think I’m mean, that’s okay. Making friends is hardly my priority,” I recommend to her. While my intention was to stave her off, my words have the opposite effect, only making the filly angry.

“Seriously? What kind of jerk…?” the filly begins, but fortunately Apple Bloom steps in, pulling her aside. “Apple Bloom, what…?”

“Scootaloo, We don’t need to be fighting. He’s working for my sis, so we shouldn’t hold him up,” Apple Bloom explains. I don’t hear the rest of their conversation, as I’ve already reached the the front steps of the schoolhouse, leaving them behind in the process.

I open the door and step inside, making sure to duck beneath the low door frame. The glossy wooden floor creaks beneath my feet with every step, causing me to question the age of the structure. As for the rest of the interior, it certainly looks like what I’d expect from a classroom in a building like this. There are several rows of desks accompanied by small stools, and at the front and center of the room is a podium, behind of which is a large chalkboard.

“Oh? Welcome, visitor!” a mature woman’s voice calls to me once I’ve stepped inside. I spot an adult fuschia-colored mare sitting on her haunches behind a wooden desk, atop of which are multiple folders and writing utensils organized neatly into rows. Her mane is two shades of pink, and rests atop her head in neatly tended curls. For a cutie mark, she has three blooming flowers, each one smiling brightly. Like Rarity’s, I’m assuming that the meaning is symbolic rather than literal. She hardly even blinks at my appearance. “I remember seeing you at the party; I was hoping to talk to you myself.”

“Is there anyone who hasn’t heard of me?” I grumble a bit to myself as I approach her. I gently lower the packages of food atop the desk and straighten back up, relieved of the rather bulky burden. “I’m guessing you’re Cheerilee?”

“That’s right! I’m the one and only teacher here!” Cheerilee stands up and walks around the desk to approach me, her hoof stretching out as a greeting. I accept her hoof after a moment’s hesitation; as long as I’m on the clock, I’d best keep my attitude professional. She shakes my hand gently and briefly before releasing it. “You must be Seth. I see you brought my packages from the farm.”

“That’s right. I’m working for Applejack right now. How do you know my name?” I ask curiously. It makes sense that news of my existence must have spread around the town, but I didn’t think even my name would be included in that.

“You being in this town is a big deal. I’m sure you’ve heard, but a lot of our architecture and technology is based on the lost human civilization. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that ponies would be talking about you,” Cheerilee explained, confirming my earlier supposition. This means I shouldn’t be so surprised that ponies will know who I am. “I’d love to talk with you more, but no doubt Applejack will want you back, and I do have to get class started. Thank you for delivering these to me!”

“Not at all. If you’ll excuse me,” I dip my head and retreat from the desk, my task complete.

“Before you go, I don’t suppose I could could convince you to speak for my class at some point as a special presentation?” Cheerilee calls after me. I pause, glancing back at her. “I’ll be going over what we know of human history in the future, and I think seeing a live human would really drive my lesson home.”

I consider the offer. As distasteful as I find both children and public speaking, her reasoning is sound, and I could possibly negotiate some bits out of it if I pressed hard enough. That being said, I’m uncertain where in her curriculum human history would fall. Considering I won’t be staying long in Ponyville, I’m not sure the opportunity would arise in time for it to be of use to me.

“I’ll think about it,” is the best I can give her. There’s no use thinking about it now. “If you have further details later on, I’ll listen when I’m not working.”

“That’s wonderful!” Despite my ambiguous answer, Cheerilee puts on a bright smile. She moves towards the door along with me, no doubt getting ready to gather all the students. “I’ll make sure to keep you posted. I’ll see you later, Seth.”

“No doubt.”

My job here done, I move past Cheerilee and head back towards the main road. In the process, I notice that my path will cross Apple Bloom and her two friends, who appear to be in the midst of an argument with two other students. I can’t help but overhear as I approach.

“You take that back!” Scootaloo snaps.

“Yeah, there ain’t nothing wrong with the farm!” Apple Bloom shoots back.

“Please, we all know that he chose you out of ignorance,” one of the two unfamiliar students returns with an irritating air of smugness about her. This one is a filly with a coat of a soft pink and a lavender mane stripped with white. On her head is an expensive looking tiara encrusted with clear gems, and on her flank is a cutie mark identical to the tiara.

“I agree, such work is demeaning, especially to someone like him!” the other student, which is also a filly, concurs. This one is colored a delicate silver, with her mane and tail being an even lighter shade of gray. Additionally, she’s wearing a set of bright blue glasses and a necklace made of pearls. She turns and her mouth slightly opens as she catches sight of me. “In fact, Diamond, why don’t you ask him?”

“Wait, no! He’s…!” Apple Bloom attempts to warn them. It suddenly dawns on me that their argument involved me in some form or fashion.

“What an excellent idea!” Diamond exclaims as she spots me as well. She steps out in front of me, clearly intending to speak with me. I’m forced to come to a halt to avoid tripping over her, an annoyed sigh escaping me. “Excuse me! Can I talk to you for a moment?”

“I’d rather you didn’t. I need to get back to work,” I protest, but this only serves to encourage the innocently smiling filly.

“That’s convenient! I was actually wanting to talk to you about that!” Diamond revealed. “I’m Diamond Tiara, and this is Silver Spoon. We’ve learned that you’re working on the farm of all places.”

“I am. What’s my work have to do with you? What do I have to do with you for that matter?” I grit out. These two rub me the wrong way, and I’ve barely spoken with them for more than a few moments. I can tell from their attitudes and their attire that they’re rather wealthy, and their tone suggests a healthy disdain for both these three fillies and the concept of farmwork.

“Don’t you think it’s such a waste for a human such as yourself to work there?” Diamond asks in a voice that reminds me of a salesman attempting to sell their product. “Why not work for my daddy and his company? Being a human and all, I bet he’d take you on immediately. You wouldn’t have to get all dirty, and we’d certainly pay you a lot more.”

“Yeah, and you wouldn’t have to hang around with those losers anymore,” Silver Spoon adds.

“But...Seth…” Apple Bloom pleads weakly.

“Don’t listen to them! They’re…” Scootaloo interjects.

“Quiet. I can make my own decisions,” I cut across them firmly. I realize that these two rich fillies are serious, judging from the way that they’re looking at me. I don’t doubt that Diamond Tiara is telling the truth; if I was willing to use my status as a human, I could likely land the job she’s talking about. The option of earning more money does appeal to me as well. Yet, there are two problems with her offer.

“Thanks, but I’m fine where I am.” My refusal causes Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon’s jaws to drop in surprise; they must have genuinely believed their offer to be the better one. “I gave my word to Applejack that I would be working until the harvest ended. I don’t make a habit of lying.”

Apple Bloom looks at me with wide eyes, surprise evident in her expression as well. A look of relief passes over her, and she gives me an appreciative smile. As for the two rich fillies…

“But...how could you turn us down? Why should a human be forced to do simple farmwork?! They can’t possibly afford to pay you as much as we can!” Diamond Tiara demands in shock. “Who cares about your word? Everything would be so much better for you if you worked for my daddy!”

“The answer is still no.” Despite my repeated refusals,  I feel a pit forming in my stomach. I believe wholeheartedly in my decision, but the opportunity she’s offering may well be a good one; I’d be able to leave much sooner. That being said...if her family is anything like Diamond, I absolutely will not work for them. Not even if they were to offer me all the bits in the world. “If you’ll excuse me.”

I turn and continue on my way out of the schoolyard. Yet, it doesn’t seem like Diamond is willing to let this go. The filly takes one look at the snickering Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, and her face contorts with rage.

“Don’t think I’ll forget this insult! When my daddy hears about this, you bet your tail he’ll make you regret it!” Diamond calls scathingly after me. Her word choice causes me to freeze in place. Her tone of voice and her threats...a sense of deja vu comes over me. A rush of anger overtakes me; I’ve met people like her before…

“Is that right?” I turn my head, gazing at her from the corner of one eye. My tone is low and dangerously soft. Diamond’s eyes widen at the sudden change in my demeanor, and she takes a step back when I storm back towards her. “Let me just tell you a little something, brat. I’m not half as stupid as you think I am. It’s obvious that all you want is to be able to say that the world’s only human is working for your dad’s company.”

“That’s…” Diamond stammers, but I don’t let her finish.

“While that would no doubt be beneficial for your company image, there’s no way in hell I’d work for people like you. You talk down to people, you don’t respect my word, and then you dare to threaten me?” I continue, coming to a stop just in front of her. I kneel down until I’m at eye level with her, the filly visibly quailing before my intense gaze. “Go ahead, tell your father. You’ll quickly find out that not everything will go your way simply because you cry.”

Without another word, I straighten back up and at last start on the return trip to the farm, all five of the fillies watching me as I go.

~

On the upper level of the Golden Oaks Library, Twilight sits before a small table, upon which a piece of parchment and a half-filled inkwell rests. The quill with which she intends to write floats noiselessly in the air just in front of her muzzle, where she aimlessly sucks on the tip. Littered on the floor around her are several stacks of books, some of them open. Where there aren’t books are multiple crumpled up wads of parchment, each one containing failed attempts to write what she had thought was going to be a simple letter.

“Are you still at it?” Spike emerges from the doorway leading to the lower level, carrying two cups filled to the brim with water. Twilight doesn’t answer, instead focusing on the slew of possible ways she can end this letter. She only notices Spike’s presence when he sets down one of the cups on the table beside her letter. “Twilight, you’ve been at this practically all day. You should take a break.”

“Oh, thanks,” Twilight turns to look at him with a sheepish smile, spitting out the quill. She places it neatly on the table and drinks from the cup, finding its contents to be pleasantly cold. She heaves a sigh, replacing the cup. “I can’t, Spike. I’m in the midst of what could be my hardest friendship lesson yet. Nothing in my notes even comes close to this kind of problem.”

“I know, that’s why you’ve been talking to the princess about it, right?” Spike restates. “You two still haven’t been able to figure it out?”

“The princess is giving me very good advice, but I don’t think it applies here. All of her advice assumes that he innately wants to make friends, when he’s stated repeatedly that he doesn’t. Seth is a human; for all I know, he could be emotionally wired differently from the rest of us,” Twilight explains to her assistant.

“Why don’t you tell her that?” Spike sensibly suggests.

“I am now. I don’t think there’s any other choice here. I want to respect Seth’s privacy, but I want to help him, and I can’t do that without help,” Twilight responds in a resigned voice. She dips the quill into the inkwell and returns it to the parchment, neatly transcribing the remainder of her letter to the princess. “I hope he won’t be too angry with me.”

“Well, he doesn’t need to find out,” Spike remarks uncomfortably. “You saw him at the party. I don’t want you to deal with that again.”

“Aw, thanks,” Twilight kisses the little dragon’s head briefly before returning to the letter. She at last finishes the last line. With a quick signature, she rolls up the parchment and seals it, and then she floats it over to Spike, who obediently engulfs it in a gout of magical flame. “I really hope I didn’t just make a big mistake.”





That very same letter, a few seconds later, materialized out of the air in front of a certain solar princess, who caught it in her magical grip instinctively. The large white mare with her multicolored, flowing mane, had been walking through the lavishly decorated hallways of her castle on her way to her next appointment.

She slowly unrolled the parchment, her face taking on a concerned expression. This would mark the fifth letter Twilight had sent her on this subject; she is a bright student, so her seeming inability to grasp her advice made little sense to the Diarch...unless Twilight was hiding something from her.

“Princess Celestia?” One of the guards that had been tasked to accompany her prompted her curiously, wondering why she is suddenly standing still. Celestia didn’t answer, the princess focusing on reading the letter in front of her.

Her suspicions are soon confirmed; there was indeed something that Twilight had kept from her. Her eyes widened with shock. She blinked several times, just in case she had misread Twilight’s letter. Yet, it had been no mistake. Twilight’s letter reveals more about her problematic friend, including his species: human.

“I have new orders for the two of you,” Celestia suddenly spoke, addressing the two guards that flanked her on either side. “Heed them well.”

“We are at your disposal, your Highness,” the guards chorused in unison.

“Firm Defense, run ahead to my former destination. Let the good duke know that I must unfortunately push back our meeting to a later date,” Celestia orders, and the named guard saluted and ran in the indicated direction. She turned to the other. “As for you, wake my sister and tell her to meet me in my chambers.”

“What should I tell her?” the guard asks, unable to hide his curiosity.

“Tell her… our precursors aren’t quite as extinct as we believed.” Celestia turned away from him, walking purposely in the opposite direction. Her expression was stern, her lips set into a firm line. Her next words were spoken in a whisper such that only she could hear. “This evening just got a lot more interesting.”
> 9. An Evening in Ponyville (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Without the presence of Rarity and the fillies beside me to distract me, it’s difficult not to recall the fact that I’m still an oddity to these ponies. It’s a small town and word travels fast, but I’ve only stayed here two nights. That’s not nearly enough time for everyone to get used to me. Conversely, it’s not nearly enough time for me to get used to them.

It feels like I’m walking through a realistic scaled down movie set;as though the world has shrunk by about twenty five percent. Between the smaller buildings and the ponies themselves, who on average barely come up to my chest, I feel very out of place. I chuckle dryly to myself; when it comes down to it, not much has changed between now and the past.

As I’m retracing my steps back to the farm, I soon become aware of a pony keeping pace with me on my left side. A sinking feeling forms in my gut when I recognize that particular shade of pink. I can only hope that she’s not intending to…

“Good morning, Seth!” Pinkie’s high pitched greeting cuts through the air, rendering my fervent internal praying an exercise in futility. I turn my head to gaze at her, but find that to be an annoyance as well. Unlike the other ponies in the streets, she’s not content to walk normally. Instead, she bounces along beside me as she usually does, such that keeping eye contact with her is extremely difficult.

“Pinkie,” is my brief yet succinct response. I don’t say anything further; I’d rather not encourage a conversation with her.

“I haven’t seen you since the party! What’s it like living with Scratchie? Do you know how jealous some of her admirers are right now?” I suppress a sigh as Pinkie starts to fire rapid fire questions at me. No doubt this is what she considers to be a normal conversation. More importantly, word travels fast. I’d only started living with Vinyl last night, and her fans already know? I realize a moment later that Pinkie is looking at me expectantly; those questions weren’t rhetorical, it seems.

“I couldn’t care less what her fans think. Besides, it’s only been one night,” I point out to her. “I was too exhausted to do anything other than go straight to sleep.”

“Well, my parties are energetic, so I can’t blame you, especially if you had fun dancing! Nice moves by the way!” Pinkie’s words remind me painfully of the party last night, along with Rainbow Dash and my moment of weakness. The same anger I felt that night rises from its slumber, burning in my subconscious like a hot flame. “I’m surprised it was Rainbow who got you out there! I thought you two were fighting!”

“We were. We are. I mean… can you please stop prying? I don’t want to talk about her,” I quickly get flustered at the way this conversation has gone. The more I think about my mistake, the guiltier and angrier I feel.

“Whoops! Sorry! I just got so curious because I know Lyra tried, but Rainbow was the one who...whoops, I’m doing it again, aren’t I?” Pinkie just giggles at herself, her mood not dampened by me in the slightest. I rub my forehead, a headache starting to form. I can’t fathom how anybody can handle this pony for more than a minute at a time. “Want a cookie?”

“Pardon?” I emit, so startled by the sudden change in topic that I momentarily forget my previous anger. I look over to see Pinkie produce a chocolate chip cookie like the ones she served at the party. I don’t know where she got it from; I was staring at her the whole time, but her hoof moved in the blink of an eye, and before I knew it, the cookie was balanced on the tip of her hoof… while she’s continuing to bounce on three hooves. “Ah, no thanks.”

“No?” Pinkie cocked her head at me. “Aww, I thought you liked these! You did eat over a half a plate, after all!”

“I…” I flush a bit, remembering that I had eaten quite a few that night. “Okay, I’ll admit they’re good. But I shouldn’t be spending money on idle pleasures.”

“Who said anything about money? This isn’t merchandise, silly!” Pinkie clicked her tongue as if she were chiding a small child. “It’s leftover from last night! They’re gonna go stale if no one eats them!”

“Then why don’t you eat it?” I ask with a raised eyebrow. Pinkie giggles at that, rubbing her slightly distended belly with a hoof. It’s rather impressive to see her doing that while continuing to bounce.

“I would, but I already ate twenty seven of them! So go on, take it! You’re doing me and the cookie a favor!” Pinkie insists, once again extending the cookie to me.

“I suppose I can’t argue with that logic,” I remark, hesitantly accepting the cookie from her. Just before taking a bite, something about her statement causes me to do a double take. “Wait, you ate how many?” 

“Somepony had to do it!” Pinkie didn’t seem to grasp the fact that such a feat should be impossible for any normal individual. I glanced down at the cookie that I held, which was about as large as my hand in diameter. I can’t even fathom eating twenty seven of these. Just then, we came up to a fork in the road, and we at last parted ways. “Gotta bounce! I’ll see you later, Seth!”

Pinkie waves at me as we part - a gesture I don’t bother to reciprocate. I look at the cookie again, wondering if it really was a good idea to accept this. I eventually shrug and take a bite. It’s still as good as last night, though it does feel much firmer; I can believe that she’d want to get rid of the leftovers before they went stale.

As I exit the town onto the dirt road that leads to the farm, I become aware of a bright streak of rainbow soaring through the air high above me. It weaves in and out of the various cumulus clouds dotting the sky and executes various aerial maneuvers at a breakneck pace that I have difficulties keeping up with.

There’s no doubt that I’m looking at Rainbow Dash. No other pony I’ve seen has a color scheme even close to hers. I admit to myself that what she’s doing looks impressive; it seems her boasts weren’t entirely without merit. That being said, I’ve no desire to meet with her; just looking at her stirs up unpleasant feelings, so I walk closer to the treeline.

The rest of my return trip unfolds uneventfully, and before long I’m standing with Big MacIntosh and Applejack in front of the barn. Next to the former is a bucket in which a pile of nails, a hammer, and few other assorted tools are gathered. The latter is once again strapped to the harvesting wagon.

“Hoo-ee! That storm really did a number on the farm! I’ve been picking up branches and debris all morning!!” Applejack commented, wiping her brow with a hoof. She turns to me next. “Speaking of which, you ever done any construction work, Seth?”

“Can’t say that I have,” I answer, already dreading the work day to come. I’ll be working significantly longer than yesterday; considering how beat I was then, it’ll be even worse for me now. “I assume something broke?”

“That’s right. The old tool shed was always a little rickety, but after that storm, poor thing just couldn’t take it. It’s still standing, but it’s in bad shape. Big Mac was thinking of knocking the old one down and building a new one,” Applejack explained. “I thought maybe you could help him out while I got back to the harvest.”

“I thought the reason I was here was to help with the harvest,” I ask, placing my hands in my pockets. I make sure to keep my tone from sounding combative; I don’t want her to think I’m opposed to learning something new.

“You are! Usual I’d have to help Big Mac out with building the thing, but since you’re here, I can get back to harvesting and you can do that for me!” Applejack happily explains. “That, and learning something new is never a bad thing!”


“I can’t argue with that,” I concede with a sigh. However, looking at the tools Big MacIntosh is bringing with him, there’s still something that concerns me. “How are we going to knock it down? I imagine that being a tool shed, it would be rather large.”

“Oh, I’m bringing in extra help. She’s always down to help when I got something that needs smashing,” Applejack answered, chuckling to herself as though she’d just told a joke. She then looks a little exasperated as she turns her eyes to the sky. When she next speaks, it’s in a much louder voice. “Though she’s got a slight problem with being on time!”

“Alright, alright, I hear you!” Just by the voice alone, I don’t even need to ask who the mysterious tardy pony could be. My luck takes a sudden turn for the worse and Rainbow Dash comes streaking down to the ground in a flash. However, as she’s landing, she overcompensates for her velocity and ends up tipping forward, skidding into the ground and showering Applejack with dirt. “Waaah!”

When Rainbow manages to get to her hooves, she grins apologetically at the dirt covered and very unamused looking Applejack. The farmer pony shakes the dirt from her mane and glares at the awkwardly chuckling Rainbow.

“Nice landing there, Dash,” Applejack deadpans.

“Hehe, sorry! Anyway, you said you needed something smashed, so I’m here to…” Rainbow starts to say, but then she cuts off when she notices me for the first time, our eyes meeting. Her grin freezes on her face, and then slowly fades away. The two of us immediately avert our gazes. “H-Hey, Seth…”

“...Rainbow.” I respond just as awkwardly, a million curses rushing through my head at this unforeseen complication in my day. I clench my hands into fists, my nails digging into my palms.

Applejack blinks, looking between the two of us with confusion. The sudden change in atmosphere is palpable even to her.

“Alright, hold up a sec,” she sighs, and then takes me aside, the two of us going around the other side of the barn. Once we’re safely out of earshot, she gives me a pointed look. “Just what in the hay is going on? I thought y’all two got along now?”

“No, we don’t,” I grit out, resting my back against the barn. I don’t miss the look of concern that cross Applejack’s face. If I don’t play my cards right here, my image will take a hit in her eyes. I can’t afford to lose this job just yet. I take a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down. “What happened at the party was a mistake.”

“You seemed like you were having fun, though,” Applejack insisted, looking even more perplexed than before. “Though I’ll admit it seemed a little odd for you…”

“I’d really rather not talk about it,” I assert firmly with a shake of my head. “If you’re worried that her being here will affect my ability to do my job, I assure you that it won’t.”

“That’s part of it, I suppose...I’m just confused more’n anything,” Applejack expresses with a helpless shrug. She looks like she wants to ask me more questions, but thankfully decides otherwise. “Alright, I guess I won’t pry. C’mon, let’s get back to the others.”

With that, the two of us walk back around the barn and rejoin Big MacIntosh and Rainbow Dash, the two of whom were waiting silently together for us.

“Shall we get moving?” I prompt Big MacIntosh, pointedly avoiding Rainbow’s eyes. The larger stallion nods and picks up the bucket with his mouth. With a simple head gesture, he turns in the direction of the toolshed and leads the way at a steady pace.

“Y’all work hard! I’m out to the apple orchard!” Applejack calls after us, and with that, we go our separate ways and prepare to get to work.

The toolshed looks about as I’d expected. It’s an old ramshackle structure that has certainly seen better days. The paint has long since faded and the shingles have been mostly stripped from the roof likely due to the storm from last night. One of the hinges on the door is broken, and the wood is rotting and splintered. I inwardly agree with Big MacIntosh; there’s no saving this place. Rebuilding it from the ground up is the only thing I can think to do as well.

“Er...alright! Guess I’ll start breaking stuff now!” Rainbow hesitantly breaks the silence that had fallen between the the three of us. She zips into the toolshed with an astonishing speed, and then I hear the sound of wood snapping, followed by a colossal crash. “...I meant to do that!”

While Rainbow proceeds with her demolition, I wait patiently beside Big MacIntosh. I notice the large stallion looking at me from out of the corner of my eye, so I turn slightly and meet his gaze. For a moment, I think he’s going to ask me about Rainbow like Applejack did, but his next sentence waives those concerns.

“Come and stage the wood nearby,” Big MacIntosh directs me simply, pointing me in the right direction with a slight jerk of his head. Relieved, I nod and move to do as I’m told. All the wood I assume we’re going to be building with is stacked up against a fence a few dozen meters away from the old toolshed. “I’ll be doing the building; you do the lifting.”

His orders are short, simple, and direct; I have a basic idea of what I’m going to be doing just from that. I lean down and lift up one of the slabs of wood with some difficulty; it’s just as heavy as I’d expected it to be. I grunt with exertion and wince as the slowly healing wound in my side reminds me of its presence.

As I’m lugging the first slab over to the shed, I take a look at the toolshed. Surprisingly enough, Rainbow is making quick work of it. The sounds of shattering wood and crashing beams echoes from within the shed for a few moments, and then the mare emerges,wheels around in midair, and deals the roof a swift, yet powerful kick with her hind leg. The roof fractures and crumbles instantly, the whole structure swaying precariously. I can’t help but shake my head as I turn away. Who needs a wrecking crew when a single mare is strong enough to shatter wood with just her hooves?

By the time I’ve finished staging the wood in by the shed, Rainbow’s brought it to the ground and is standing just outside, dusting off her coat with a pleased expression on her face. She notices my presence as I stand by the fresh wood and i check my hands for splinters. I pointedly ignore her gaze and instead look around for Big MacIntosh for more orders...only to find that he’s nowhere nearby. I realize that there’s nobody here except Rainbow and myself.

“So…” Rainbow attempts to break the silence between us. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. If I can just keep my cool, I should be able to get through this. When she next speaks, she does so with forced enthusiasm. “Did you see that cool flip I did when I brought the roof down?”

I look at her with incredulity. Out of everything she could have said, she decided to talk about herself? I suppose I should have expected as much, coming from the self proclaimed “fastest flier in Equestria.”

“I wasn’t paying attention,” I respond uncaringly, much to her dismay. Even as her face falls, I continue with a shrug. “I was focusing on doing my job.”

“Oh...okay,” Rainbow peters out, looking anywhere except at me. Her silence doesn’t last long. “What about when I was flying over town? I did some pretty cool stuff then! You saw that, right?”

I sigh with irritation. “Please stop trying to force a conversation.”

“Wha-hey!” Rainbow reacts indignantly to that. “Who said I was forcing anything!?”

“Rainbow, it became awkward the moment you got here,” I remind her. “If what you’re doing right now isn’t forced, I don’t know what is.”

“I’m just making conversation! You said you were okay with that!” Rainbow retorts, venting a frustrated huff through her nose.

“You’re not making conversation; you’re talking yourself up again, and I haven’t the patience,” I correct her, turning away from her, “Besides, I can’t understand why you’d bother; I made it very clear your efforts aren’t welcome.”

“Yeah, only because you've got it in your head that we’re some kind of bad ponies!” Rainbow snaps back, clearly unwilling to back down. I shoot her a glare; we’re going down the exact same path we did during the party, and I won’t let that happen again. “What have we ever done to you!?”

“I’m not having this conversation with you,” I tell her firmly. I don’t have a good answer for her, but it doesn’t really matter in the end. “You know I’m leaving Ponyville soon. It would be best if you pretended I didn’t exist.”

“How can I ignore you when you’re a jerk to everypony you meet?!” Rainbow demands. She’s getting angrier with me the more this conversation drags on. “If you want to leave so bad, why are you even still here!?”

“It’s not like I have a choice, dammit! You think I want to be here?! I’d never have come to Equestria if it was up to me!” I lose my last shred of patience and meet her furious gaze. When I realize how much I just revealed to her, I freeze, and then I force myself to calm down. Even Rainbow appears stunned by the sudden outburst. After a short silence, I exhale deeply. “Don’t worry, I’ll be gone soon enough. I already know I don’t belong here. ”

“What are you talking about? I never said anything like that! You’re the one who...” Rainbow began, but then our exchange came to an abrupt halt at the sound of Big MacIntosh clearing his throat to announce his presence. Rainbow shuts her mouth immediately, flushing with embarrassment. “Oh. Uh...hey, Big Mac.”

“That’s enough for the day, Rainbow. You were a big help,” Big MacIntosh says to her with a grateful smile. I notice that he’s brought a wheelbarrow filled with other tools necessary to complete the construction of the shed.

“Ah, you know me. Always willing to help out if you need me!” Rainbow proclaims, pressing a hoof to her chest. Just like that, she looked as though she’d never been arguing with me in the first place. With one last glance at me, she zips into the sky, waving down at the stallion. “Catch ya later!”

Rainbow is gone now, but I can’t feel relieved just yet. I’m not so dense as to miss the look Big MacIntosh is giving me.

“How much of that did you hear?” I ask nervously, already cursing my lack of self-control with every fiber of my being. I don't know what it is about that mare that gets me so angry.

“Enough,” is all the stallion says in response. I gulp at that, hoping I didn’t just screw myself out of a job. Surprisingly, the next thing he says has nothing to do with Rainbow. “Let’s get the rubble out of the way so we can start.”

“Okay,” I turn to do as I’m told. However, before I even pick up the first piece of debris, my curiosity gets the better of me. “You’re not going to ask?”
“Nope. Ain’t my business,” Big MacIntosh replies tersely, and then he gets to work without another word. I remain still for a few moments, gazing at the red stallion. He doesn’t say anything further, or even look at me. I scratch the side of my head, surprised, relieved, and a little grateful. Between Applejack and Big MacIntosh, I think I can say I lucked out with the management here. At the very least, they seem to be willing to respect my boundaries.

From there, work proceeds without further interruptions. It’s slow going given how much work goes into construction. With all the lifting and moving of wood, it doesn’t take very long for my muscles to start burning again. The temperature thankfully becomes more bearable as the day stretches on, and even becomes somewhat pleasant as my body heats up and sweats from exertion.

Once all the debris is out of the way, Big MacIntosh starts building the framework of the new shed. While he does most of the delicate work, he has me handling everything else, whether it be taking measurements, holding boards steady, or fetching him tools from the wheelbarrow. In the process, I pick up a little more of the Equestrian language; in this case, in order to properly take measurements, I have to learn the different numbers. Big MacIntosh is thankfully patient with me as far as that goes.

Eventually, I get a breather as Big MacIntosh gets to work on the more involved tasks of construction. He has the blueprints before him and he appears to understand them well enough, but it all looks like gibberish to me, so there’s not much I can do to help. I sit down on the grass nearby and wipe the sweat off my brow. I’m starting to get hungry, but unlike before, there’s no apples for me to snack on.

“Y’all working hard?” An elderly female voice calls out to the two of us from behind. I’ve heard that voice once before; yesterday, when I was collecting my pay from Applejack. I remember Apple Bloom referring to her as Granny Smith. I turn my head, and see that the name suits the pony who’s approaching us, a plate piled high with sandwiches and apples balanced on her back. “I bet y’all are hungry, so I brought lunch!”

Granny Smith looks similar to what I’d expect from an aging member of this species. Her face is heavily wrinkled, her mane is grey and frizzy, and her frame is spindly. Big MacIntosh puts down his tools and stands up, perking up at those words. Applejack did say that meals were a part of the job, so I move to join him.  Upon seeing me, Granny Smith blinks in surprise.

“So you must be that new worker Applejack’s been telling me about,” Granny Smith observes as she turns her body to give us easier access to the plate on her back. “Can’t say I’ve ever seen the like, and I’ve been around since before Ponyville even existed!”

“You wouldn’t have. Humans have been lost for around three thousand years,” Big MacIntosh beats me to the punch, revealing that he did know precisely what humans are. He also saved me the trouble of having to explain it myself. This revelation causes Granny Smith to look at me with surprise and awe.

“Really now? One of them humans that all them educated ponies keep talking about? On my farm?” Granny Smith takes a moment to look me up and down. “I have to say, you look mighty good for three thousand.”

“I’m twenty one, Mrs. Smith,” I correct her misunderstanding with a slight shake of my head. “As for why I’m here, that’s a long story. Suffice to say, I need money, just like anyone else.”

“Mhm, mhm. Makes sense. More importantly, what’s this ‘Mrs. Smith’ nonsense? Call me Granny like everypony else!” Granny Smith chides me. “Now, eat your lunch...Seth, was it? Don’t be shy, now!”

Big MacIntosh has already taken his share from the plate, so I follow suit and take one of the sandwiches and an apple from the plate. I peer inside the sandwich to see daisies arrayed neatly atop sliced cucumber. I grimace a little; supposedly humans can eat some flowers, with daisies being one of them. I can’t say I’ve ever tried, however.

“Thanks for the food, Granny,” I thank her regardless, choosing to keep my opinions on its contents to myself.

“Don’t mention it, Sonny! Eat up and work hard!” Granny Smith encourages me, smiling now that I used only her first name. She turns the other direction and plods away, humming an off-key tune cheerfully. “Now to find Applejack…”

I look around for a place to sit, but don’t really find one. Therefore, I sit down and join Big MacIntosh on the grass to eat. I take the first tentative bite of the sandwich and grimace; it’s rather bitter, and the texture leaves much to be desired. Despite this, I swallow without complaint. It’s better than working on an empty stomach.

“You seem to know a lot about humans,” I ask Big MacIntosh after a few minutes of eating in silence.

“Yup,” is the red stallion’s response. “I read the books once or twice.”

“This isn’t the first time I’ve heard about these books,” I recall. Flitter spoke of them once, and I believe Lyra’s friend, Bon Bon, also did so. “Are they any good?”

“Yup. Not very accurate, though,” Big MacIntosh confirms my suspicions about the books. “I’d lend you one, but you can’t read.”

“I don’t have the time to learn either,” I add, taking another bite. After a nod from the stallion, we lapse back into silence, having nothing else to say.

After we’re finished with lunch, we get right back to work.





“Howdy there, you two!” Just as the sky starts to redden, Applejack comes to find us, the applecart presumably already stored away. She notices the unpainted, yet otherwise finished toolshed, and then she looks to me. I’m lying with my back against a nearby fence, my body damp with sweat and my muscles burning like fire. She smiles warmly. “Working hard?”

“Doing the best I can,” I reply, my chest heaving and my side burning as I talk. The idea of traipsing around Ponyville after work as I’d intended now seems like torture to me. “It’s just a little...hard to breathe.”

“Ha! Can’t blame you. You’ve been keeping hydrated?” Applejack asks. After I nod, she mirrors the gesture with satisfaction. “I gotta say, Seth, I didn’t expect you’d last through today. Lots of folk just ain’t cut out for farm work, and I thought you mighta been one of them.”

“I’m just doing what needs to be done,” I assert, choosing my words carefully. I force myself to my feet, bracing myself on the fence. “Like I said; you don’t need to worry; I’ll do what I’m being paid to do.”

“That’s some determination you got,” Applejack comments. She beckons to the two of us with her head and turns back the other way. “Cmon, Granny says y’all can be done now. Dinner’s about done.”
I sigh with relief when I hear that my work day is finally over. I grab my rifle and fall in step beside Big MacIntosh as we make our way back to the barn.

“You gonna eat with us today, Seth?” Applejack asks while we walk, her gaze focused forward. I suppose I am a little hungry, but the idea of eating with her family isn’t any more appealing than it was yesterday..

“No thank you. I’d rather just have a few apples, if that’s okay. I have other errands to run before it gets dark,” I answer once again, hoping that she doesn’t take offense to that.

“Fair enough, I can spare a few. We’ve got a lot left to get rid of, and all,” Applejack responds amicably. Before we can talk further on the subject, however, we near the barn...where Apple Bloom and her two friends appear to have just returned from school. “Evening, Bloom! How was school today?”

“It was really great!” Apple Bloom is oddly enthusiastic for some reason, as are her friends. The three of them exchange knowing looks. “Ain’t that right, Scootaloo?”

“No kidding!” Scootaloo agrees, with Sweetie Belle nodding in agreement beside her.

“You’ll have to tell me about it later! Anyhow, Seth, wait here while I get your pay,” Applejack bids me, and then she steps inside with Big MacIntosh, leaving me with the three fillies.

“You should have seen her face!” Sweetie Belle finally breaks, unable to contain herself. Strangely enough, she seems to be directing that comment towards me. “And the things she said!”

“She was so mad!” Scootaloo agrees, starting to snicker as well. Her next sentence lets me know for sure that they’re talking to me. “I thought you were a jerk, but you really showed her who was boss!”

“You’re talking about Diamond Tiara,” I finally realize. With a sinking feeling, I realize that these fillies are looking at me with what is unmistakably positive emotion. It wasn’t my intention, but snapping at that rich filly who had been clearly antagonizing them appears to have put me on their good side. I suddenly regret getting involved...but it wasn’t as though I had a choice either.

“Yeah, she was saying all sorts of mean things about us, but you came and helped us! Thanks, Seth!” Apple Bloom affirmed, gazing up at me with a happy smile. “You’re really nice!”

“I did it because she dragged me into it, to be entirely honest,” I admit to them. I guess it doesn’t really matter if some fillies like me, but this is as far as I should let it go. “I wouldn’t thank me for that. Besides, you heard what I said to Scootaloo before.”

“Well, you were just in a hurry, right? We shouldn’t have been pestering you,” Sweetie Belle reasons. I raise an eyebrow; I’d thought I was more than cold enough, but getting rid of these fillies is proving to be harder than I expected. Though, I suppose it doesn’t really matter. They’re just fillies.

“Think what you want, I suppose. I’m glad you got something out of that argument, but don’t expect something like that all the time. I don’t have the time to make friends,” I explain to them as clearly as I can. All three of them tilt their heads at me, looking confused.

“You said that earlier…”

“Awww…”

“But why not…?”

All three of them pull the sad filly act on me at once, but thankfully Applejack comes to my rescue. She emerges from the house with the necks of two bags clenched in her mouth. One of them jangles with the sound of rattling bits, while the other is bulkier. She gestures to me, and I accept them from her.

“There you go. A full day’s pay and a sack of apples!” Applejack proclaims. “Thanks again for working so hard. See you bright and early the next morning?”

“I’ll be here,” I assure her. With nothing else to be said, I seize the opportunity to retreat from the three fillies before they can push the subject. Thankfully Applejack is there to keep them in check, so I manage to get on the path that leads back to town without issue.

Once I’m alone, I inhale deeply and then exhale audibly in an attempt to unwind. I have a short time to relax while I walk, but now is also a good time to mentally go through my list of things to do today. First, I need to visit the boutique so I can get Rarity to affix this guitar strap to my rifle. It’s a simple task, so it shouldn’t cost me too much. Second, I told Twilight that I’d visit her again sometime this evening. I shouldn’t rely on her help, but it may be worth seeing what she’s learned.

With that settled, I take a moment to take account of my current savings. With today’s earnings, I now possess a total of twenty four bits. That isn’t bad. At this rate, I’ll be able to make enough to pay my rent in four days. Therefore, I can spend this current money how I please. I allow myself a small smirk of satisfaction; at this rate, I’ll be on my way north by the end of the second week, if not sooner. I’ll keep my word to Applejack, but after that I’m leaving.

Once I return to town, it hits me that I don’t know where the boutique is. I should have thought to ask before now, but there’s no helping it. I then proceed to freak out the closest pony by asking her for directions. After she finishes whimpering, I learn that the boutique is southwest of the town hall. While it’s possible to reach it directly from the square, I learn there is a faster way, if I cut through a small park not far from here.

Liking the idea of a faster route, I adjust my path accordingly until I reach the river. Just as I locate the nearest bridge and move to cross, my ears catch the faintest trace of music. I pause despite myself, straining my hearing. I’m not imagining it; I can hear a soft and slow tune coming from across the river. If I had to guess, it’s coming from a stringed instrument like a harp, but the sound is just different enough to make me uncertain. The music is pleasant to my ears. Even though I know I have other things to do, I find myself following the music to its source.

In the middle of the small park is a small clearing, in which a stone fountain carved to resemble a rearing pony is situated. The clearing is framed by neatly trimmed hedges, and around the fountain are multiple benches, though the majority of them are vacant.

The music is coming from a lone mare standing at the base of the fountain. A golden lyre wrapped in a similarly colored telekinetic aura hangs in the air beside her, the strings seemingly plucking themselves to produce the melody I’m hearing. I recognize her as Lyra easily, despite how different she seems while she’s performing.

Lyra is sitting on her haunches, her eyes closed and her head gently swaying to the slow beat of the song. Despite how skillfully she’s playing or how hard she must be concentration, none of the strain shows on her completely serene expression. From one musician to another, it isn’t hard for me to feel the passion in her performance.

Her melody and skill is enrapturing. I know I need to be going to see Rarity, but I can’t bring myself to leave before the end of this song. As I move closer to find a bench to sit on, I note that I’m not the only one who feels this way. There are a handful of other ponies sitting on the ground or on the benches, each of them watching and listening to Lyra’s music intently.

Ignoring them, I sit down on the nearest bench beside a rose colored mare. At first, the other mare is startled and seems like she’s going to flee, but once she realizes that I’m there for the same reason she is, she relaxes. As for Lyra, she either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care that I’m here.

As the song goes on, I lean back on the bench and close my eyes, letting the sound wash away the world around me. Just this once, I allow myself to relax and lose myself in the melody. The song is soft and beautiful, yet at the same time, it feels mournful. It causes me to recall memories of good times past.

Before I can stop myself, thoughts and memories of those I’ve lost return to me in a flood. One particular memory comes to me first; it was a long time ago, when I was still but a child unaware of the world around me. I can remember clearly the light of the sun gleaming off of the rails of the towering roller coasters in the first amusement park I ever visited. I remember having to be coerced to try any of the rides by my brother, Adam. It was one of the last good memories I had before my life fell apart.

The melody shifts in key, and with the shift comes another memory. It was still during college, when I felt as though my life was steadily coming together. I still remember Amaryllis and I taking time away from school one year, on a weekend, to go and visit the beach. It was still early in our friendship, when I still held her at arm’s length, and she did likewise. Yet something changed that day. It’s difficult to this day to put it into words, but I felt as though I was walking with someone more than human.

She was angry, yet happy. Introverted, yet outgoing. Ruthless, yet kind. She was a walking mass of contradictions that defied all classification, a brightly shining star among a thick sea of black. Beside such brilliance, I could only feel awe. I felt content just walking by her side and sharing in that light.

I come to my senses with a start when the song comes to an end, and the ponies around me start to stomp on the ground with their hooves in what I assume to be the pony version of applause. I can’t bring myself to clap, however. The song was beautiful, but it makes me aware of the feeling of deep loss that has nestled itself deep inside of me.  The ones who helped me forge the few good memories I had are gone now, leaving me with nothing but emptiness.

That strange pressure once again forms in my sternum as a familiar burning rage makes itself known inside of me. I hold a hand to my chest and grit my teeth; it’s not as though this is anything new to me. I know full well whose fault this is. The image of his baleful shadowy eyes forms in my mind, and the pressure gets worse.

I finally exhale and open my eyes to see the other ponies conversing with Lyra as they left the park one by one. Without a word, I rise from the bench and continue on my way to the boutique as if nothing had happened. After a few moments, I hear the sound of hooves clopping on the path behind me.

“Hey, wait up,” Lyra calls to me from behind in a soft voice as she walks to catch up with me. I pause and turn just enough so that I can see her out of one eye. “Are you alright?”

“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?” I ask in a surprisingly calm voice.

“I saw you sitting and watching me, but you left with a scary look on your face,” Lyra explained as she came to a halt beside me. “Did you not like the song? Did I upset you?”

“No. The song was beautiful. You’re very skilled,” I compliment her honestly, such that she looks visibly surprised. I clench my right hand into a fist. “It just...reminded me of what I’m here to do.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?” Lyra cocks her head, clearly confused. I shake my head, realizing that I’ve already said too much.

“Don’t worry about it,” I say dismissively. Lyra doesn’t look satisfied with that, so I change the topic. “More importantly, I didn’t figure you to be the serene musician type.”

“I can be serene if I wanna be.” Lyra looks a little smug at that, the mare lifting a hoof to her chin. She then angles her flank at me to display her cutie mark. “My cutie mark is a lyre for a reason, silly.”

“I realize that, thank you,” I avert my gaze and cross my arms in annoyance. I should have known that would be a stupid thing to say; I did suspect her to be a musician before. “Pardon me if I don’t spend too much time staring at a pony’s flank.”

“Oh really? And why not?” Lyra’s smile widens, the smugness seeming to grow. She proceeds to walk around me in such a way that accentuates the movements of her flank. I look at her odd walk in confusion, but then a moment later, a sinking feeling comes over me. This cannot be happening. “Does it make you uncomfortable? Or...maybe you see something you like?”

“You can’t be serious,” I state flatly, no longer turning to watch her walk. I’d suspected it before when I was at the party, but this makes it as clear as day. Ever since I met her, Lyra has been flirting with me. I’ve been trying to ignore it up until now, hoping that I was misreading her, but this doesn’t leave much room for interpretation. I’m putting an end to this right now. I turn on my heel and stride away from Lyra with finality in my step.  “I’m through with this conversation… and I’m through with you.”

“Okay, I’m sorry, but you pretty much set me up for that one,” Lyra laughs at first, but her mirthful expression dies on her face when I don’t stop moving or even look back at her. “Wait, you’re not kidding, are you? Seth? Come on, I was only teasing! Seth, come back!”

I leave the distraught Lyra behind without a second glance and make my way to the boutique, which I easily recognize from both the descriptions I’ve heard as well as its distinctive appearance. It’s a large circular building decorated with various frills, statues, pillars, and colors mostly registering in the cooler end of the color spectrum. It’s a tall building, easily reaching two stories.

I’m behind the structure, so I make my way around the side, passing a tree and a line of laundry on the way to the front door. As per usual, the door is constructed with ponies in mind, such that my head nearly reaches the top of the door frame. Without further ado, I briskly knock on the door’s surface and wait patiently for a response.

“Comiiing!” I hear Rarity trill from within. A few moments later, the door opens to reveal the well groomed unicorn gazing directly at my chest. She quickly realizes that she isn’t looking at a pony, and her gaze travels up to my eyes. “Ah, Seth! Do come in; I was just finishing up for the day.”

I obediently follow her inside, immediately shuddering at the change of temperature inside the building. As Rarity closes the door behind me, I take a cursory look over the interior. On either side of the door are two wide circular windows shaded by yellow curtains. On the left wall, I note several protruding alcoves containing racks and racks of different sets of clothing. Each of these alcoves is shaded by thick rose curtains held open by lace colored a lighter pink.

Further up that wall are more alcoves, though these are shallower and consist  only of mirrors and vanities; I assume they’re makeshift fitting rooms. At the far end of the wall is a doorway through which I can see a set of stairs that spiral up and out of sight. On the right wall is a small circular stage surrounded by mirrors and framed by the curvature of the wall. Set in that same wall is a small door.

Lastly, around the room are multiple shelves, cupboards, and mannequins. However, the mannequins are in the shape of ponies, so I suppose the term ‘mannequin’ hardly applies.

“Welcome to the Carousel Boutique!” Rarity greets me formally, even dipping her head somewhat in what I think is supposed to be a curtsy. “Would you care for some tea before we get down to business?”

“No thank you. I’m hoping to be in and out of here. I have somewhere else to be not long after this,” I explain to her.

“But of course! I shall endeavour to make your visit swift then, if you wish it,” Rarity takes my refusal with good grace, answering me with flowery and proper speech. “I don’t suppose you’ve reconsidered my offer for new clothes?”

“I haven’t the money. I’m here for something far simpler,” I respond. As she watches curiously, I unwrap the guitar strap from my waist and hold it and my rifle out for her to see. “I’d like this strap fixed to my rifle, so I don’t have to hold onto it all the time.”

“Well. Simple is certainly correct.” Rarity seems taken aback, as well as a little disappointed by the request. She obligingly grasps both the strap and the rifle in a light blue telekinetic field and takes them from me. “No matter, I have recently restocked my stores of adhesive, so you’re in luck!”

A drawer opens on the other side of the room and a small bottle flies through the air to join the rifle and strap in Rarity’s magical aura. The bottle proceeds to unscrew itself to reveal a small brush coated with an odd fluid attached to the underside of the cap. Rarity checks the tip of the brush briefly, and then she brings the rifle towards her.

“What an odd contraption. Hm. It’s most certainly seen better days,” Rarity notes the sorry shape of the weapon with a cursory glance. She wrinkles her nose at the excess of rust, dust, and cobwebs still coating the metal. She turns it over multiple times, even looking down the barrel at one point. It’s a good thing the weapon has long since been defunct. “Where should the ends of the strap be attached? Pardon me, but I can’t make heads nor tails of this.”

“It would be scary if you could,” I remark dryly. I’m curious as to what weapons these ponies actually use; despite their seemingly early-industrial to modern tech, my rifle seems utterly unfamiliar to them. However, those are thoughts for another time. “Here, let me show you.”

I reach my hands over to the rifle and indicate two particular places on its surface. I’m almost completely unfamiliar with the makes and models of different guns, but I know just enough to direct Rarity to the proper places: on the side of the muzzle by the forward sights, and at the base of the stock.

Rarity dabs the specified places with the tip of the brush, leaving behind a small amount of the clear substance on the metal. Once she’s done so, she telekinetically presses the tips of the strap to either place, and then she releases both gun and strap into my waiting grip.

“Done!” Rarity announces, screwing the cap back on the bottle and returning it to its drawer. She watches as I grasp the rifle by the strap to test its durability. Sure enough, the strap is holding fast to the rifle, easily withstanding the pull of gravity.

“Not bad. I guess Vinyl wasn’t kidding about this Liquid Rock stuff,” I observe, lightly tugging on the strap. Pleased, I sling the rifle over my bare shoulders. It feels freeing to finally have both hands free when I’m moving from place to place. I reach into my bag of bits and withdraw a single coin. “Now, for your payment.”

“Payment?” Rarity echoes, looking nonplussed. She telekinetically catches the coin out of reflex after I toss it to her. When she realizes what she’s holding, her gaze turns noticeably incredulous. A moment later, and the bit lands back in my hands. “Darling, you can’t be serious. Helping you with your...whatever that is...was no trouble at all! I wouldn’t dream of charging you!”

“Payment given for services rendered. That’s how things work.” I stubbornly flick the coin back to her. Rarity catches it once more, but instead of giving it back, she sets it on a nearby countertop and gazes at me with an unforeseen stubbornness in her gaze. “Keep that. What you do with it after I’m gone doesn’t matter to me.”

“Seth, I’ve been keeping quiet out of respect for your boundaries, but I feel I must say something,” Rarity finally says, using my name and looking into my eyes. “This is the second time you’ve chosen expense over honest generosity. And, from what I’ve heard, I’m not the only one you’ve done this to.”

“So much for that apology,” I mutter under my breath. I could just turn around and leave; I’ve already gotten for what I came. However, if she’s heard something about me from others, she’s likely friends with Rainbow or Pinkie. I already know she’s friends with Applejack. “Let’s say you’re right. What’s your point?”

“I don’t understand why you’re deliberately choosing to make things harder for yourself. For example, when I offered you a new wardrobe, not only were you turning down free clothes, but also a means of keeping warm for when winter arrives,” Rarity explains. So far, everything she’s saying has been true, so I don’t say anything. “I noticed you shivering early this morning; you’re clearly in need of such clothing. Is it just because you believe I don’t have what it takes to make human clothing? Or perhaps it seems I only make clothing for mares?”

“It’s because I don’t trust you,” I cut her off flatly, choosing to be completely honest. Rarity’s mouth drops open slightly in surprise. I don’t miss the change in her expression; she’s offended. “So far, one after another, I’ve been accosted by you ponies with offers of kindness and generosity. I’d have to be stupid to believe that any of you mean it.”

“Whatever are you talking about? Surely you don’t believe that I’d use my generosity as a means to extract favors from you in the future?” Rarity hits the nail right on the head, somehow managing to understand exactly what it is I’m trying to tell her.

“That’s exactly what it is. I’m a complete stranger who happens to be a human, a precursor race to your kind. You could all have any number of reasons for wanting me on your good side,” I return, crossing my arms. “If you understand, then accept my payment so I can be on my way.”

“Hm…” Rarity muses for a moment; she appears to have taken my words very seriously. Eventually, her stubborn expression returns. “No, I don’t think I will. In fact, I’ll take it a step further.”

“You’ll do what?” I demand, but Rarity is already moving. She wastes no time in rifling through her drawers until she finds what she’s looking for; a tape measure. “Rarity, what the hell are you doing?”

“Proving a point,” Rarity replies enigmatically. “Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to make a few sets of clothing for you; a few for casual wear, a few for work, and one for the cold weather.”

“Did you not hear a word I’ve said? I will eventually want those clothes, yes, but not until I can pay for them. I won’t let you give them to me…” I start to protest.

“...for free? Yes, I did hear you. You’re concerned I have another motive for doing this,” Rarity finishes my sentence for me. Her next response takes me by surprise. “You would be right, of course.”

“You’re… just going to admit it?” Is all I can say. After that argument, I hadn’t expected her to turn around and render my argument justified. “Then what’s the point of arguing with me?”

“I haven’t finished explaining yet. I want you to hear me out first. If you still decide I’m untrustworthy, I won’t press the issue.” Rarity expresses. She and I stare at each other in silence for a few moments as I mull her words over in my head.  “How does that sound?”

“I’m listening…” I answer after a short pause. Though I’ve no intention of accepting her offer, I find myself curious exactly what kind of argument she plans to give me. I doubt it’ll be something I haven’t heard before.

“Excellent. How familiar are you with art, Seth?” Rarity asks. I blink at the sudden change of subject.

“Art?”

“That’s right. I’m not just referring to painting, but also music, literature, sculptures, and the like. I noticed you working with that DJ the other night, so I imagined you’d have some interest,” Rarity elaborates.

“You’d be right. I was a musician of sorts once upon a time,” I answer hesitantly. “Where are you going with this?”

“A musician! Wonderful; then you’d most certainly understand. Wouldn’t you say that the purpose of art is to be admired by others?” Rarity presents with a smile. I nod, finding that to be common sense. “What is a musician, without an audience? What is a writer, without readers? Furthermore, what is a fashionista, without anyone to wear her work? For you see, I am also an artist….and this is my art!”

Rarity opens the curtains around the circumference of the room, revealing multitudes of fancy dresses of various colors and designs hanging from racks. Even as I glance over them, I suddenly understand the point she’s trying to make.

“You’re trying to say that you making clothes for me would be the same as a musician performing for an audience,” I realize. Rarity beams, telling me without words that I’m right. I narrow my eyes skeptically. “A solid comparison, but you forget that musicians don’t present their work for free. The same goes for writers. Musicians hold concerts, and writers sell their books.”

“Why yes, of course, but would a musician charge another for listening to them practice? Would a writer sell their first draft?” Rarity shoots back cleverly.

“No...we’d show it to a few select others for feedback so we can improve,” I grudgingly admit. I can’t argue with that logic. “So what you’re saying is…”

“I want to try something new, Seth! I want to make clothing for one of your kind. Just like a painter would want to be the first to paint a new landscape, I want to be the first pony to make human clothing!” Rarity explains for me, looking particularly pleased with herself. “So you see, I do have what you’d call an ulterior motive, but that’s not always a bad thing. So what do you say? Will you kindly grant me that opportunity?”

I stare back at her, the wheels in my mind turning. Just out of principle, I want to refuse her, but the point she just made is a very good one. I’d never charge someone for listening to me while I practiced piano, but I’d certainly want someone to listen so I’d know where I can improve. Rarity is saying this situation is the same for her...and I really do need clothes to head up north with. It seems like she’s being honest with me about her motivations, but there’s still that niggling doubt.

“Alright. I’ll let you make me some clothes,” I finally relent, hoping that I won’t regret this later. I feel a sense of dread come over me, as though I’d just made a huge mistake. I rub my forehead, and then I glare at her, even as her smile grows wider. “But if this is your motive, I won’t accept you trying to pull something in the future.”

“Trust me, you needn’t worry. You’ve already made me plenty happy!” Rarity exults, looking as though she’s hardly able to contain just how excited she’s become. She happily trots over to the circular stage surrounded by mirrors. “If you’ll come with me? This’ll take just a moment.”

“What are you going to do?” I follow her hesitantly.

“I’ll need your measurements if I’m to make you clothing,” Rarity explained. She tapped the surface of the stage with her hoof. “Up here, if you please. I’ll also need you to remove your pants, so I can get better measurements.”

“Yeah, no. That’s not going to happen.” I deny immediately, every mental block in my mind going up at once. Rarity pauses, looking perplexed at my fervent denial. I flush in embarrassment a moment later when I remember that clothing is a commodity rather than a necessity for ponies. “I’m not like you; I can’t just go without clothes. Especially not in front of a girl.”

“Oh. I see…” Rarity responds with a light blush coloring her face, the mare understanding my underlying meaning easily. The tape measure swirls through the air towards me as I climb up on the stage. “Pardon my ignorance, then. I shall simply have to compensate. Remain still, if you please.”

I stand still on the stage as the tape measure slithers up and around my body, taking quick measurements of my inseam, waist, hips, arms, and other such lengths necessary for making properly fitting clothes. To compensate for the width of the pants I’m wearing, the tip of the tape measure slips inside just enough for her to take the width of both my pants and my underwear, causing me to fidget uncomfortably. I need clothes, so there’s nothing for me to do except suffer in silence.

At long last, after what seems like an endless amount of measurements, the tape slides back into the receptacle with a click. Rarity places the tape measurement aside and proceeds to write down a series of what look to be numbers, some of which I recognize from my work on the farm.

“That’s that! Thank you so much, darling. I’ll get to work on this right away!” Rarity’s excitement becomes more palpable with every word that comes out of her mouth. Already, she seems to be sketching different potential designs on the same parchment as before. “If you’ll come see me first thing in the morning, I’ll have several outfits ready for you to try!”

“That soon?” I comment as I hastily hop down from the stage. I’ve never seen how clothes are made, but I do know that after ordering some, it typically took about three to five days for them to come in.

“You don’t understand; it’s been so long since I’ve had something so new and so fresh to work with! It’s not like designing clothes for a pony; the colors in which a particular pony will look good are partly determined by their coat color. For example, a pony with a yellow coat simply would not look good wearing an ensemble with a violet motif,” Rarity explains eagerly. “But you’re different. You are a unique shade I don’t often see on ponies; this opens up a whole world of different color possibilities that I’ve never had the opportunity to experiment with! I’m positively giddy! I can’t wait another moment to get started!”

It’s not hard for me to see just how passionate she seems to be about her work. It’s not something I’m used to seeing. I have my own passions, of course, but I’ve never really felt comfortable sharing them as much as Rarity is. For a moment, I feel a hint of jealousy towards her. That she’s so passionate about her work she’s willing to lose sleep...it’s a luxury I won’t get the chance to experience for myself again.

“I’ll leave you to it, then. I have other places to be,” I say, putting those thoughts out of my mind. I turn around with my rifle slung over my back and head for the door. “I won’t be here in the morning; I still have to work. But I’ll be by later.”

“Glad to hear it! I’ll see you then!” Rarity calls after me as I open  up the door. “Thanks again for the opportunity! I greatly appreciate it!”

“Whatever,” is all I can think of to say before I close the door. The first thing I notice is that it’s gotten much darker than before. It’s close to winter, so it’s going to get darker sooner day by day, I imagine.

My thoughts return to Rarity. I hope that following with her logic won’t come back to bite me. The fact that she’s willing to make so many clothes for me including the winter clothes that I so desperately need will greatly accelerate my plans to leave Ponyville. However, I’ve learned that if something seems too good to be true, it usually is. I curse beneath my breath, an untenable anxiety making its home in my chest.

I force myself to take a deep breath. I still have to visit Twilight, and I can’t walk in there feeling like this. After my heartbeat returns to normal, I make my way back to the street, choosing the direct route now rather than walk back through the park. I’m starting to remember the paths I need to take to get from place to place, thanks to the many memorable landmarks the town posessess. Thus, it’s not hard for me to find the way back to Twilight’s library.

The lights are still on, so I assume she’s still home. Upon reaching the front door, I knock firmly to announce my presence. I hear her moving about inside for several seconds, but it isn’t for a full minute that the door opens. It only takes one look at Twilight’s face for me to realize that something is wrong.

Twilight meets my gaze for only a brief moment, and then she looks down at the ground. Her tail is tucked close between her hind legs, and her front hooves are shuffling ever so slightly on the ground.

“You said you wanted me to come back, so here I am.” She doesn’t seem like she’s going to say anything, so I start the conversation, my suspicions rising slowly. “What’s wrong with you?”

“I...” Twilight starts to say, then she cuts off, as if she doesn’t quite know how to explain what’s on her mind. She heaves a sigh, and then she dips her head and beckons me inside. “Come inside, and I’ll explain. I...have a confession to make.”

I follow Twilight inside, wondering what could have happened to cause such a drastic shift in her usual attitude. Once I’m inside, I notice Spike standing beside a nearby bookshelf, watching the two of us with worry evident in his eyes.

Between Spike’s expression and Twilight’s demeanor, I have a very bad feeling about this.
> 10. A History Lesson (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As always, the interior of the library is as immaculately clean as ever. I would be hard pressed to find even a single speck of dust lurking amongst the room’s many bookshelves. The lingering scent of toasted bread hangs lightly in the air, mixing with the scent of books to form a relaxing, homey aroma.

In contrast, Twilight Sparkle looks anything but relaxed. After she and I had retreated inside the library, she had ushered me to the central table, where cushions were already laid out for us. Beneath the horse head carving, in place of the stacks of books that are typically present, is a thick scroll of parchment bound by a red velvet ribbon topped with a golden horseshoe seal. Judging from the nearby inkwell with a quill still resting within it, Twilight had been recently writing something on that parchment.

“I...don’t suppose you want some tea first?” Twilight asks timidly. I recall the beverage that she’d made for me on my first visit here, and that it was a somewhat pleasant experience. That being said, after being greeted like this, the thought of waiting to hear her confession doesn’t sit well with me.

“I’d rather you get to the point. What did you do?” I return, perhaps more sharply than I’d intended. Twilight winces, her ears folding back. To inspire this kind of guilt in her, she must have done something particularly bad; something that she believes I’ll take issue with.

“Well...I...to be honest…” Twilight looks as though she’s trying to deliver the bad news in a softer way, but the words seem to be failing her. She sighs, and then she blurts it out all at once. “I told Princess Celestia everything!”

I blink, the meaning of her sudden confession taking a moment to register in my mind. When it hits me, my eyes widen, my hand falling to my side. I may not know much about Equestrian government, but I’ve learned enough by listening to other ponies that it closely resembles a theological diarchy, with the two ruling entities referred to as “princesses,” rather than queens.

Princess Celestia; Not only is she one of the two ruling entities of the entire country, she’s so deeply ingrained into Equestrian society that her name is often used in various verbal expressions, as well as on its own as an exclamation. She is often thematically accompanied by a sun motif, present on both Equestrian’s currency and in her seemingly religious title: the Solar Princess.

That means that one of the two most powerful ponies in the country knows of my existence. My eyes narrow at Twilight, earning a small whine from her. A small wave of anger courses through me, but it quickly subsides. I heave a sigh to relieve some of the built up stress her confession exacted upon me. I should be furious, but I remain calm despite the clear violation of my privacy.

“Be more specific. How much does she know?” I ask calmly.

“I told her that there was a human called Seth living in Ponyville with us, and that he had come from the past against his will. I also told her that you were searching for the one who sent you here,” Twilight explained. When she sees me frown, she immediately breaks down. “I’m so sorry! I know I shouldn’t have said anything without talking to you first, but I was afraid to approach you, and I just wanted to help…”

“Twilight.” I cut across her, but she continues to apologize and attempt to explain herself, bringing up several examples of arguments I’ve had in the past, her words coming faster and more shrill, until finally I had to raise my voice. “Shut up, Twilight! I’m not angry!”

Twilight cuts off mid sentence, gazing at me with surprise. “You’re not? But...I went behind your back to ask the princess for help! Why wouldn’t you be angry?”

“I told you; you were too worried,” Spike chided her with a shrug, the tiny dragon making his way over to the table to join us. “I guess Seth’s too nice to get upset over just that...right?”

Spike glances over at me after that last question, the dragon clearly looking for confirmation. I decide to ignore him despite his clear uncertainty and focus on Twilight instead.

“I should be. But it would be pointless to get angry with you. If there’s anything I’ve learned from being in this town for a few days, it’s that you ponies like to talk,” I reveal. A growing feeling of resignation is coming over me. Now that the country’s royalty knows about me, it’s only a matter of time before things get complicated for me. I wanted to be gone before that happened, but I underestimated how fast news could spread. “It was only a matter of time before the government learned about me, whether from you or from word of mouth. Honestly, it’s my own fault for thinking that you’d keep it from them; I did learn early on that you are Princess Celestia’s personal student.”

“I guess that does make sense, but I still feel bad,” Twilight concedes. “I really should have asked you before telling her about you.”

“You should have. But you didn’t, so here we are,” I reply rather coldly. “More importantly, what does this mean for me? Will they be sending soldiers to collect me? Or are they more subtle than that, and want me to come for a visit instead?”

“What? Why would they send the guard after you?” Twilight asks incredulously. “The princess finds your presence here interesting, and the existence of a time-snatching mage concerning, but she wouldn’t resort to something so drastic. Though, admittedly, she did ask if I could bring you to see her in Canterlot at some point.”

“I thought as much. I’ll be damned if they’ll let me leave once I arrive,” I comment, her words confirming my fears. Even in my time, if an ancient Sumerian were to walk around in broad daylight like I have, it wouldn’t be long before the government got involved.

“Seth! Who do you think the princess is? Do you think she’s some kind of tyrant!?” Twilight appears highly offended by my words. No doubt that as the princess’s personal student, she’s highly attached to her. I should have known that to begin with; if I don’t want to make this worse, I should try not to let my cynicism show.

“It wouldn’t surprise me. But I don’t want to argue about that. More importantly, did she know anything about Sombra?” I deftly switch the topic away from Celestia. “You did say that you would contact her to try and get into the Royal Archives.”

“She knows that you were brought here by a powerful mage, but I hadn’t given her his name just yet,” Twilight admits. She lifts up the scroll of parchment on the table with her magic, showing it to me. “In fact, I was about to send her another letter doing so as well as asking for permission to get into the archives like you said.”

“Why haven’t you, then?” I ask impatiently.

“Well...I felt bad about telling her all of this without asking you first, so I wanted to...uh...ask you first,” Twilight explains, setting the scroll back down on the table. “I’m sure that Princess Celestia will know who King Sombra is.”

“No doubt. But you might as well send it; I don’t know why you need to ask me anyway; this is for your own research project,” I remind her pointedly. “You’re just sharing the results with me. Isn’t that right?”

“Yes, the research project! Right, of course. Silly me,” Twilight stammers, looking anywhere but at me. My expression hardens, detecting the lie in her words easily. Of course she’s still trying to help me. I doubt she ever stopped. But at this point, I’ll hold her to that lie as long as I physically can. “Spike, send that letter for me, would you?”

“Already on it,” Spike returns with a slight smirk, the dragon lifting up the scroll.

“It’ll probably take a few days to get to her, depending on how far away...Canterlot...is from here. In the meantime, I’ll…” In the middle of my sentence, Spike summons forth a jet of green flame that incinerates the scroll so thoroughly that not even ashes are left behind. “What the hell? Weren’t you going to send that?”

“He did send it. Spike knows a simple spell that allows him to transport small objects directly to Princess Celestia through his flames,” Twilight reveals to me. She brightens up at my look of disbelief and confusion. “It works by the magical entanglement of two singular mana particles; any change in the condition of one particle is immediately reflected in the other. In the case of Spike’s flames and the parchment, it means that…”

“That’s all well and good, but I don’t need to hear the technical details,” I interrupt her with a wave of my hands. Twilight looks thoroughly put out, her mouth turning down into a disappointed pout. Her expression earns a snicker from Spike at her expense. “That being said, it seems like your magic operates on a set of rules of its own, in direct defiance to those of physics.”

“That’s correct!” Twilight brightens up in an instant, a bright smile crossing her face. Spike rolls his eyes and heads off to the kitchen, claiming that he was going to make tea. “You see, all magic is performed through manipulation of the base particles found naturally in nature; we refer to these particles as ‘mana.’ Unlike physical particles, mana can’t be said to have physical or chemical properties such as mass or volume. Instead…”

“How is that possible?” As much as I want to avoid a technical discussion, my academic curiosity is beginning to get aroused. “I only know of one particle that has no mass, and I’m not sure if it has volume. You’re saying mana works similar to light?”

“You’re familiar with photons? It’s true that neither photons nor mana have mass, but mana behaves so differently that we can hardly compare it to that of photons. I’m surprised you know that, however.” Twilight’s excitement is only growing, her passion for the topic evident by the gleam in her eyes and the gesticulation with her hooves. “But to clarify, there doesn’t seem to be a limit to how much mana can be present in a set area. However, the more mana that is present in a medium, the higher the chance that we’ll see a magical reaction. That’s why ponies have come up with a statistic we refer to as ‘affinity….’”

“Right right, too much, too fast,” I finally have to stop her; the number of questions rising from her explanation having grown exponentially to the point where I can’t focus on her words anymore.

“I’m sorry. I’ve been studying magic every since I was a little filly, and there’s always more to be learned!” Twilight apologizes sheepishly. “But if you’re interested in the subject, I can recommend several excellent reference texts for your perusal...but you can’t read. Right.”

“Right. But let’s get back on track. You said the princess wants me to come and visit her eventually. Can you be more specific? How long do I have, precisely?” I press, pushing my questions about magic out of my mind. The thought of meeting the highest authority in Equestria is weighing on me heavily. I curse myself for not thinking of this possibility beforehand. I only hope I’ll have enough time to get the clothes from Rarity and get out of town.

“How long? She didn’t give me a definite timeline. She does want to see you, but I assure you she won’t drag you out of town, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Twilight answers with an admonishing tone.

“I suppose we’ll see,” I respond, unconvinced. “Anyway, I’m assuming that because you had to contact the princess, you didn’t find anything further on Sombra in this library?”

“That’s right. It’s odd; over the years, there’ve been many powerful mages documented in our history books, but never once does King Sombra’s name appear. If he can use a time spell more powerful than even Starswirl was capable of, I can’t fathom that he’d never appear in our history, especially if he’s royalty. Assuming you’re certain that he is from our era,” Twilight reasons.

“As certain as I can be. Why else would I appear in this time as a result of his spell?,” I return with a shrug. “He didn’t strike me as the type to throw spells at random.”

“Was King Sombra his real name? Sometimes mages will operate under false names or pseudonyms,” Twilight queries. I freeze upon hearing that.

“I didn’t even think of that,” I admit, cursing my own stupidity. I only ever learned Sombra’s name from the computer in the school. “That’ll make my search much harder.”

“Not necessarily. I’m still convinced that if he exists in our era, he has something to do with the Frozen North. I’ve found mentions that remote villages up in that region have been subsisting on trade, but never was it made clear who they were trading with,” Twilight points out, lifting a series of books from the shelves with her magic. She presses a hoof to her chin, the mare clearly thinking hard. “If I’m right and there was a civilization there once, I don’t understand why it would be missing now from our records. I don’t think Discord’s influence stretched that far north, but I could be wrong. He was extremely unpredictable…”

“You say Discord like it’s some kind of name,” I observe, confused by her offhand comment. “Was there a pony called Discord in the past?”

Twilight winces. “Yes, but he was hardly a pony. He was more of an entity formed completely of magical entropy, or chaos. He reigned over all of Equestria about a thousand years ago, before our princesses appeared and made our government the way it is today.”

“I’m having a hard time picturing that. How can there be a creature made out of chaos?” I ask with a raised eyebrow. As ridiculous as this is sounding, it’s not as though I can dismiss her words offhand. I’ve learned that nothing about this world is the same as it used to be, though I haven’t been able to determine where and how everything changed so drastically.

“It’s difficult to explain. Discord typically appeared as an amalgamation of different creatures, and his fine control of mana was so far beyond anything we’ve ever been able to replicate; all he had to do was snap his fingers, and he could impose his will on the world,” Twilight answers. “He could twist and pervert the very nature of reality to suit him. During his reign, he turned our country upside down; both literally and figuratively. For example, one hill would be colored pink and black in a checkerboard pattern while our town hall rotated in midair, and another might be blue with white polkadots.”

“That sounds...wholly unbelievable, if I’m being honest,” I remark, a disbelieving sigh escaping me. “When you put it like that, he sounds like a god.”

“That...would be a rather apt description.  There didn’t seem to be anything he couldn’t do,” Twilight admits with a wry expression.

“You also talk about him as though you were there,” I note with suspicion.

“Oh, well, I wasn't even born during his initial reign, but he escaped from his prison almost a year ago, and we witnessed his power first hoof before we managed to seal him away again,” Twilight explains. She chuckles at the resulting look on my face. “That probably doesn’t help the credibility any. He’s currently sealed away in stone in Canterlot, if you want to go see him when we visit the princess.”

“Yeah, pardon me if I’m not too enthused by that prospect,” I emit sarcastically before I can help myself, earning a laugh from Twilight in response. However, this Discord is raising several more questions. If he had that kind of power...that could explain why nature isn’t quite working right. “Though now that you mention it, I’m curious; where did this Discord come from? Was he always ruling you?”

“We’re not quite sure where he came from. History has it recorded that one day, he appeared out of the blue, claiming that the world had grown too boring. It gets fuzzy after that, because it was likely difficult to record anything during his reign,” Twilight reveals.

Despite all the questions I’m asking her, she doesn’t seem annoyed by them in the slightest. I probably shouldn’t be asking so many questions without giving her something in return for all this information, but it’s hard to suppress my curiosity. The more I learn about Discord, the more my knowledge of reality is starting to fall apart. If he stated the world had “grown too boring,” did that mean he existed before ponykind? But that would mean…

“That’s okay, I didn’t need my worldview anyway,” I mutter under my breath. As disturbing as that implication is, it doesn’t really matter for me in the long run. “That’s interesting. But we keep getting sidetracked away from Sombra.”

“I’m sorry. I got caught up in sharing our history with you. Usually this is all common knowledge, so it’s rare that I can have a discussion about it like this,” Twilight confesses. “I’m actually rather enjoying myself.”

“That’s good for you, but more importantly, I’m interested in that lost civilization you mentioned,” I bring the topic back on track quickly; Twilight’s happy expression is starting to make me uncomfortable.

“I’m not even certain that there is one. It’s just one hypothesis that I have. Honestly I could be entirely on the wrong track, and King Sombra has nothing to do with the Frozen North at all. It was a tenuous connection to begin with,” Twilight expresses with a helpless shrug. “Regardless, I’m interested enough to write up a research paper on the topic. Maybe I can gather up the girls and travel up north to see for myself, and do a spot of field research!”

“That’s a terrible idea,” I cut down her enthusiasm without mercy. Twilight recoils at the sudden vehemence in my voice. “Let’s get one thing straight here. Let’s say that you’re right and Sombra is hiding out up there. He will kill you and your friends without a second thought.”

“W-What?” Twilight stammers, her eyes growing to the size of saucers. “K-Kill us? But...I thought he was just a time mage! What...what kind of pony is this King Sombra?”

“A ruthless monster and a mass murderer,” I snap, my fingers tightening around my rifle. I can’t even imagine how Amaryllis or my family must have felt, faced with that kind of fate. This burning rage that I still feel...nothing will quench it except Sombra’s death. “You see...I have to find him. It’s…”

...all I have left.

Twilight gazes at me with new understanding in her eyes, as well as a hint of that damned sympathy of which I’ve grown tired. So involved are we in this awkward and emotional moment that none of us notices Spike’s approach until he’s right in front of us.

“So, is now a bad time for tea? Cuz between us, this is a great batch,” Spike cuts in, placing the platter containing three cups in his claws on the table. Distracted, I gaze at the tea set before us. After a moment’s hesitation, I grasp the nearest teacup and sip from it, finding it to be the same flavor as before.

“Thanks, Spike. I completely forgot you went to make tea.” Twilight gratefully accepts her own teacup, lifting it telekinetically to her lips. “Okay, so perhaps field research wouldn’t be the best idea. If you don’t mind me asking, what do you plan to do if you find him?”

That’s easy. It should go without saying what I intend to do with him. I hope to make him experience the pain and despair he put me through, and ultimately, kill him. I’ve never thought about taking the life of another living being before; in fact, I’ve been staunchly opposed to it all my life. Yet despite that, the idea that Sombra could go on living after what he did to my family and friend is too much to bear.

I’m not stupid. I know that Sombra is capable of feats of great strength as well as spells strong enough to send me to the future. There’s a chance I won’t even be able to hurt him when I do find him. Yet I can’t bring myself to care. All I know is that either he will die, or I will. There is no other alternative.

“I have a few grievances to address,” I reply in a dangerously calm voice. Twilight and Spike glance at one another, and then back at me, unsure what to make of my answer. “Beyond that, it doesn’t concern you anymore.”

Twilight’s expression hardens. “I think it does. Because frankly it sounds like…” she begins, but before she can finish her sentence, Spike suddenly releases a fiery belch. Green flames emanate from his open mouth and swiftly coalesce into the shape of a scroll of  thick parchment. Like Twilight’s scroll earlier, it’s bound with a velvet ribbon and adorned with a seal. However, the seal is fashioned in the shape of a sun radiating rays of light. There’s no doubt whose seal that is.

“Mail’s here,” Spike remarks drily as the scroll drops onto the table. He then takes a long swig from his cup. “Being your messenger really parches my throat!”

“That was...alarmingly fast. I don’t think it’s even been an hour since you sent it,” I observe, feeling more than a little worried. It was to my understanding that governmental figures are extremely busy. “Even if you are her student, I expected a wait of at least a day or two.”

“There can be long delays between responses, but she’s been responding quickly to my letters about you,” Twilight reveals, grabbing the scroll with her magic and opening it up. My worries only deepen after hearing that. If that’s the case, the princess considers me a priority. “Should I read it aloud so you can hear it too?”

“Do it. I get the distinct feeling I’m not going to like what I hear,” I decide, leaning back against the table. I finish the rest of my tea and replace the cup on the platter, my heart rising into my throat.

“I think you should relax,” Twilight advises me, but her words might as well have fallen on deaf ears. There’s a very good chance that whatever this letter contains will determine my future. Twilight clears her throat, and then begins.

“Dear Twilight Sparkle; your revelation of King Sombra as the identity of the mysterious time mage is most alarming. He is indeed known to us, and his existence, as well as the fate of the city-state over which he ruled, has been a well-guarded secret for a thousand years. Due to this, it comes as a shock to both my sister and I that Seth’s arrival in our time is connected to King Sombra.

There will be no need for you to visit the Royal Canterlot Archives in this particular case. I apologize for the extremely short notice, but my sister and I will be arriving in Ponyville tomorrow at dawn to personally address this issue. Your loving mentor, Celestia.”

When Twilight finished reading the letter, her expression was neutral at first. Gradually, her eyes widened and she begins to look rather dumbfounded. “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are coming here tomorrow!?” Twilight frantically looks around the room with increasingly visible dissatisfaction.

“Twilight...I know what you’re thinking. Now I need you to slow down and…” Spike starts to try and calm her down, but to no avail. Twilight bolts from her seat. Spike rested his face in one claw. “Oh no…”

“I must clean EVERYTHING!” Twilight shrieks in panic, and then she begins dashing around the room in a blur of lavender fur and magical auras, replacing books, dusting shelves, and other such menial tasks that really look as though they don’t need to be done.

“Too late,” Spike deadpans. He picks up the letter and glances over it himself, and then he looks at me. “The princesses are coming to see you. I bet you’re excited; just wait until you meet them. They’re incredible.”

“Excited...is not the word I’d use,” I finally say in a shaking voice, breaking out of my stupor induced by the letter. Panic starts to set in as I rush through possible solutions to my current predicament. Tomorrow is too soon. I don’t have any clothes to handle the north, and I haven’t kept my word to Applejack yet. But if the princesses get here, there’s no guarantee I’ll ever see the light of day again, especially if I unwittingly led Twilight to one of Equestria’s national secrets.There’s nothing for it. I’ll have to run.

“You’ll be fine. Princess Celestia is really nice. I don’t know too much about Princess Luna, but Twilight seems to like her as well,” Spike attempts to reassure me, though I don’t pay him any attention until his eyes glance back to the letter. “Hey, there’s more on here.”

“More?” I ask, giving Spike my full attention while I attempt to calm my rapidly beating heart.

“Yeah. Hold on, I’ll read it for you,” Spike obligingly says, holding up the letter to his face. “PS. As it is likely that Seth will still be present when this letter arrives, I address this portion of the letter to him directly. Make sure you read it to him; it is unlikely he will be able to read Equestrian.

Greetings, Seth. I hope you’ll forgive me if I save the formal introductions until we meet, but there are a few things I’d like to make clear to you; this is not a disciplinary visit, nor do I intend to hinder you or your quest in any way. I ask only that you remain calm until such time we are able to meet.”

“See, I told you you’d be fine,” Spike says with a smirk after he finishes reading. “She knew you’d feel worried!”

“I don’t buy it. I stumble upon a national secret and the government just wants to drop by to say hello? How stupid do you think I am?” I express. Despite the princess’s reassurance, my worries are hardly lessened. Spike opens his mouth to protest, but I cut him off. “Where is Ponyville in relation to Canterlot?”

“Huh? Well, I don’t have a map in front of me, but we’re about in the middle of Equestria I think. Canterlot’s maybe an hour from here on train,” Spike replied, confused. “Why?”

I dont answer for a minute, and then I take several deep breaths, a sense of grudging acceptance coming over me. I have to think realistically here. I’m a college student with no experience on traveling long distances, or in survival. I’m certainly not knowledgeable on how to do so undetected. If I’m this deep in Equestria, the chances of me making it to the north without being caught are essentially zero. The princesses have the resources of an entire nation. In the end, running wouldn’t do me any good.

“No reason. I guess I’ve no choice but to meet these princesses,” I concede, standing up from the table. I think I’m done here. I came here hoping to find more information on Sombra, and instead ended up being served to the princesses on a silver platter. I can only hope they’re at least half as benevolent as Twilight and Spike seem to think they are. “Anyway, I think I’ve been here long enough. I need to start heading back.”

“Already? You just got here,” Spike remarks with a raised brow. I shrug. I may not have been here for long, but I’ve accomplished what I came to do and more. I notice Spike hesitant expression, as if he wants to say something more. Eventually he does. “Well, you should come by again. I don’t have many male friends, and Twilight would love to have another egg...uh...well-read friend.”

“Don’t get your hopes up,” is all I say in response, visibly disappointing the small dragon. With that, I turn and head for the door.

“Seth, wait!” Twilight skids to a halt in front of me just as I’m reaching for the handle. “I’m sorry again for going behind your back, and thank you for coming by to talk with me.”

“Whatever. What’s done is done,” I reply uncomfortably.

“One more thing. The princesses will be meeting us here at dawn tomorrow. Please don’t be late!” Twilight cautions me with a pleading expression.

“I won’t.” Without another word, I open the door and step back out in the street, leaving the librarian and her pet dragon behind.

A wall of cold air hits me the moment I step outside, causing me to immediately shiver and tuck my fingers beneath my arms. I wasn’t in the library for very long, but it seems as though the temperature had dropped significantly in that short time. I’ve nowhere else to be today, so I quicken my pace, hoping to get back to my new place of residence as quickly as possible.

Pangs of hunger shoot through my stomach, reminding me that I’ve had little to eat apart today apart from breakfast and a few apples. I hope Vinyl hasn’t eaten yet; meals are included in my rent, so I’d be a fool to miss one.

I’ve always had a reasonably sound sense of direction, so it doesn’t take me very long to cross-reference landmarks in my mind and work my way through the darkened streets towards Vinyl’s house.

There aren’t any street lamps or anything of that sort, so before long it’ll get too difficult to see. It’s late, but not so late that there aren’t ponies in the streets. I’ve been in Ponyville for a little over two days now, but it seems my presence is still new enough to warrant the cursory glances of the few passing ponies I encounter.

A cold breeze whips through the narrow streets, coursing over me like a frigid river. I wince and shrink even further into myself, but it does little to assuage the chill seeping through my skin. The way this particular street is arranged allows it to function as a natural wind tunnel, resulting in my current state.

Something flying in the breeze catches on the back of the head. The unknown object is so light that I hardly feel it, but it’s enough to get me to reach up with one hand and grasp it in an attempt to get it out of my hair. It’s soft and silken to the touch. When I bring it in front of me to get a closer look at it, I find a length of satin ribbon colored a pale pink fluttering gently in my palm. For some reason, it seems rather familiar, but I can’t quite place where I’ve seen it before.

I turn around and glance for the source of the flying ribbon, but I see nothing in the streets behind me except for the odd passing pony - none of whom seem to be looking for a lost ribbon.

I shrug and continue on my way, throwing the ribbon into the nearest trash can. To avoid another wind tunnel, I cut through an alleyway and into a street that’s blocked from the worst of the wind by the archway of one of the buildings. However, my detour takes me into a slightly busier street.

I hear the fluttering of wings above my head, and then a small group of pegasi land on the street ahead of me. I catch a glimpse of an all too familiar rainbow tail, so I promptly duck back into the alleyway and press my back against the wall. A feeling of foolishness crosses over me an instant later. Why should I hide from Rainbow like I’ve done something wrong? Granted, every encounter we’ve had has resulted in a fight, but she’s not on her own this time. She has no reason to pay any attention to me.

With that in mind, I force myself back onto the street and resume my walk, finding myself to be far behind them now. I recognize two of the three ponies with Rainbow: one of them is Flitter, and the other is the messy-maned mare that was with her when I first met her. I believe Flitter called her Cloud. The third I don’t recognize; a mare with a lavender blue coat and a golden yellow mane.

Cloud appears to be attempting to comfort Flitter about something, judging from the way she has a single leg wrapped around her shoulders and is talking to her in a soft voice. They’re walking slowly, so if I keep up my current pace, I’ll have to pass them.

Eventually, as I get closer, I notice that something seems off about Flitter apart from the fact that she seems upset. It hits me a moment later: she’s missing the pink bow that’s typically in her mane. I immediately make the connection to the ribbon I’d seen earlier. I recall that she’s a weather pony along with Rainbow; no doubt it must have come undone while she was up there in that heavy wind.

Honestly, it’s not my business that she lost her ribbon. I may have seen it, but I’m not by any means obligated to help her. Considering that she and Rainbow have caused me no end of trouble, I have even less reason to go out of my way to help her. In fact, I might even go so far as to say this is karma for siccing the attack dog that is Rainbow Dash on me.

I pause and shake my head, disgusted with myself. I may have my issues with her and her pushy attitude, but that’s no reason to wish ill on her. All it takes is one more look at Flitter’s distraught face to spur me into action. Heaving a sigh, I pivot on my heel and head back to the alleyway trash can. I can’t believe I’m doing this.

Luckily, finding the ribbon is easy enough. The trash must have been taken away before I tossed in the ribbon, because the can is empty except for the aforementioned accessory. I pick up the ribbon, and after determining that it’s clean, I return to the street and make my way to the group of pegasi.

The unfamiliar mare spots me first with a gasp. She leans her head towards her friends, never taking her eyes off of me. “Don’t look now, but I think the human is coming,” she whispers to them. All three of them turn to look, surprise etched on their faces.

“Seth’s here?” Rainbow reacts first, her gaze falling upon me. Her eyes narrow, and she protectively steps in front of her friends, blocking my path to Flitter. “Great. What in the hay do you want? Here to snap at somepony else for no reason?”

“I am so not in the mood for this,” I sigh, picking up on her guardedly hostile tone immediately. I decide to ignore her and turn to the one I actually have business with. “Flitter?”

“Oh! Um...yes?” Flitter jumps at being addressed. She nervously runs a hoof through her mane and hesitantly meets my gaze.

“Hey, you leave her alone! You’ve already done enough!” Rainbow doesn’t seem like she’s going to let me get a word in edgewise.

“Shut up, Rainbow. I’m not even talking to you. Why don’t you keep your nose out of my business for once?” I snap at her venomously, causing her to recoil briefly. She looks like she’s about to shoot right back, so I quickly turn back to Flitter and produce the ribbon from my pocket. Her eyes lock on to it and a happy gasp escapes her. “Here. I noticed you were missing this.”

“That’s my ribbon! You found it!” Flitter gratefully takes the ribbon from my hand with her mouth, and then she passes it to Cloud, who starts to tie it back into Flitter’s mane. She looks up at me with a bright smile, her former melancholy and nervousness swiftly melting away. “I can’t thank you enough! I thought I’d lost that forever when the heavy winds took it away!”

“You...wait what?” Rainbow’s mouth opens and closes repeatedly, my gesture taking her completely by surprise. She looks between Flitter and me. “Did you just...help her?”

“You nearly did. I found it by chance, and I figured it must be important, considering I’ve never seen you without it on,” I respond to Flitter, once again ignoring Rainbow completely. All it takes is one look at her sparkling eyes and I start to regret doing this for her. “Well, you have it back now. So if you’ll excuse me.”

I take a step back and pass by the surprised and perplexed mares, but I don’t get very far before a pair of furry legs wrap around my waist in a hug, halting my progress. I feel her cheek pressing against my back, causing me to shiver somewhat.

“Really, thank you. I don’t know what I would have done if I couldn’t get this back,” Flitter expresses softly. I rub my forehead, my regret over helping her only intensifying. “It was a birthday gift from my family.”

“What are you doing? Get off me,” I extricate myself from her grip uncomfortably. “I don’t need you reading any further into this. I only gave it back to you because I happened to find it. So if you’ll excuse me.”

Flitter looks like she wants to say something further, but in the end she just nods and moves back to her friends, the four of them watching me as I make my retreat. As I go, I unintentionally catch the front end of their next conversation.

“I thought you said he was a jerk,” Cloud emits, much to my dismay.

“He is! Just wait until you hear…” Rainbow begins, but then I become too far away to hear the rest.

The moment Vinyl’s house comes into view, I quicken my pace and bear the frigid air just long enough to throw open the door and rush inside. Once I’m inside, I sigh in relief. The combination of the warmer air temperature and my efforts to warm myself through friction helps to bring the color back into my chilled skin.

I’ve been out of the house all day, so I decide that a shower would be a good idea so I don’t dirty the bedsheets. As I head towards the kitchen, I notice Vinyl sprawled out on her back over the arm of the couch in the living room. Her hooves are splayed out every which way, her mouth is wide open, and her shades are barely hanging onto her face. She’s clearly asleep. That being said, that’s one of the most undignified sleeping positions I’ve ever seen. One corner of my mouth turns up ever so slightly in a somewhat amused smirk.

As I’m walking up the stairs to the bathroom, it occurs to me that I won’t have anything decent to wear when I meet the princesses in the morning. Rarity won’t have any outfits complete by dawn, though even if she did, I wouldn’t have time to visit her. Therefore, all I have are these jeans, and they’re in desperate need of a good cleaning.

When I walk by the laundry room, I note the complicated dials and Equestrian writing on the machinery, and thus determine that I’ll have to wake up Vinyl after my shower. I pause a moment, coming up with a better way to handle this.

Backtracking down the stairs, I make my way to the couch where Vinyl is sleeping and call out to her. Unfortunately, Vinyl is out like a light, and repeated calls fail to stir her. Rolling my eyes, I reach forward and place my palm upon her belly just long enough to shake her into wakefulness.

“Wha-huh? Whassat?” Vinyl lurches awake with a start, her shades falling off of her face in the process. She spots me and my retreating hand, realizing what had happened. She clapped her front hooves to her face and shuddered. Despite her efforts, I can still see her eyelids drooping. “Oh, hey Seth. I’m awake, I swear.”

“I thought you weren’t going to do anything today. What got you so exhausted?” I ask curiously. “You looked as though somebody had knocked you senseless.”

“Bro, I was up at dawn, and I couldn’t get back to sleep after that. I tried doing some mixing to pass the time, and… well… guess I got tired” Vinyl explains unashamedly. She sets her shades on a nearby end table, and then she stands up and stretches out her body, not caring that I’m standing right in front of her. I turn my gaze as she does so. “Any particular reason you woke me up? I’m sure it wasn’t just to give me a belly rub.”

“I have an important meeting tomorrow, so I’d like to get my clothes washed. I woke you because I don’t have a clue how to operate your washing machine,” I explain to her, choosing to ignore her last sentence.

“Cool.  I was meaning to teach you sooner or later anyway. Follow me and I’ll show you how to use it.” Vinyl nods understandingly, and gestures for me to follow her back towards the kitchen where the stairs are located. Before long, we’re standing in front of the laundry room, where the two machines that I assume are the washer and dryer are located. Just like all of the other seemingly modern-era technology that ponies possess, a crystalline orb is set into each of  the machines on the control panel. “Do you mind if I ask you an awkward question?”

“If you want. I may or may not answer, depending on what it is,” I return, crossing my arms. For her to preface her question by asking if I minded… suffice to say, I’m a little hesitant to hear it.

“I promise I don’t mean this in a weird way, but are you like a stallion or a minotaur?” Vinyl asks, looking somewhat wry. When she notices my visible lack of understanding, she revises. “Let me try this. Your clothes won’t be done for at least an hour, and as far as I know that’s your only set. Do you need something else to wear while you wait?”

“Oh. In that case, definitely. Thank you for not making me have to explain that,” I reply, catching her meaning. Vinyl snickers at that. “Do you have anything I can wear?”

“A towel, maybe. I don’t think my pants would fit you, and I don’t even have that many; I just don’t like to wear them. They’re so restricting,” Vinyl suggests, indicating a nearby linen closet. I know it’s due to a difference in culture, but her words immediately make me uncomfortable. Despite what she looks like, she still sounds like a woman. “If it helps, I gotta make food anyway, so I’ll stay downstairs while you wait.”

“That works,” I affirm after a moment’s thought. I return my gaze to the two machines. “So what do these characters mean? I’m familiar with washers and dryers, but I don’t know your language.”

“Don’t worry, I got you. So basically, you can ignore half of these settings,” Vinyl starts to explain, using her hoof to gesticulate her words. “I don’t even know what they do, and I’ve never needed them. See, you got your casual wash here. Set the dial at this line here; literally always leave load size at super, my water bill’s not bad; and use cold water unless you want to wreck your dye. The soap’s on the top shelf here.”

“Sounds basically how I used to handle it back at college,” I emit wryly, thankful for the familiarity. “I bet you don’t sort your laundry either.”

“Dude, I have like, seven shirts and a jacket. Why would I do that?” Vinyl retorts with an amused grin. She then turns to the dryer. “This one’s easy. Set the dial here and hit start. Boom.”

“What about fabric softener?” I query. Vinyl responds by briefly lifting up a box filled with thin dryer sheets and giving me a telling look. I suppose that covers everything I’d need to know. In essence it’s not all that different from the machines in my era. “Thanks. I think I can handle it from here.”

“No prob. I’ll go and get dinner started then. Grab a towel from the linen closet when you’re ready to come down.” With one last nod, Vinyl retreats back down the stairs and into the kitchen, leaving me to my own devices.

I follow her instructions and load my jeans, boxers, and socks into the washing machine along with a small amount of detergent, and then I start up the machine. Interestingly enough, the crystalline orb in the control panel glows with a soft light as the washer hums to life. I peer closer curiously at the orb. It’s hard to describe at what I’m looking; the glow is similar to the aura that appears whenever a unicorn uses magic, which would support my theory that some sort of magical circuitry is involved in the machine’s construction.

Still thinking about the orb, I place my rifle in my room and then start up the shower, where I begin to clean away the day’s accumulation of dirt and sweat. The warm water feels heavenly on my exhausted body; it’s anyone’s guess how I haven’t collapsed by now. I take this time to relax, letting the water wash away my anxiety about the day to come, even if only briefly.

When I’m finished, I dry myself off and move up to the mirror. I wince at what I see. My hair is continuing to accumulate grease, and the shower isn’t doing much to resolve that problem. It might be a good idea to do some experimentation with pony hair products before the grease becomes too noticeable. Not to mention, although I typically have a hard time growing facial hair, I’d like to have some sort of razor I can use.

I suddenly realize what I’m doing and scoff, turning away from the mirror. My appearance doesn’t really matter anymore. Sombra won’t care if my hair is greasy, so I shouldn’t either. The most I do is neaten my hair by borrowing Vinyl’s comb, which looks like it’s never been used.

Using the towel with which I’d dried off as makeshift clothing, I step out of the bathroom and move to the washing machine, which appears to have concluded its cycle. After loading it into the dryer, I make my way downstairs to see what Vinyl’s making for dinner. As I descend, I can hear her humming to herself. Interestingly enough, her pitch is excellent and her tone is pleasant on my ears. I wonder if she adds vocals to any of her performances.

Before I step into the kitchen, I make sure the towel is fastened securely around my waist. The moment I step inside, Vinyl turns to look at me with those magenta eyes of hers. “Welcome back. I’m just about done here,” she greets me with the same relaxed tone as ever.

I glance at the counter to see a salad bowl filled with a strange mashup of flowers, lettuce, and fruit. Next to it is an opened loaf of sliced bread, as well as a pile of what looks like hay. The purpose of it all becomes clear as Vinyl places a clump of the makeshift salad onto the bread along with some hay to form a sandwich.

“Humans can’t eat hay, Vinyl,” I remind her before she can do the same to mine. She grimaces at that.

“Well I don’t envy you there. Hay can taste darn good if you make it right,” Vinyl expresses. She obligingly prepares a sandwich for me while excluding the hay and presents it to me along with a glass of water. “What kind of soft drinks can you handle?”

“To be honest, I’ve no idea what kind of soft drinks ponies even have,”  I admit, accepting the food from her and moving to the table. I take note of the small can that Vinyl is carrying with her; I guess it’s not all that strange that ponies would have carbonated drinks. They were invented somewhere in the 19th century, after all. “I can’t afford to get sick if I can’t handle them, either.”

“That’s no fun,” Vinyl laments, looking at me oddly as she cracks open the can. Sure enough, I can hear the hiss of air escaping the opening. She sits down at the table across from me and munches on her sandwich. “So how was work with Applejack?”

“I can’t complain. I didn’t expect Rainbow to be there, though,” I reply, taking a bite of my own sandwich. The taste is odd and the texture leaves much to be desired, but it’s not altogether unpleasant. “I keep running into her and it’s beginning to get on my nerves.”

“Yeah, I heard you two don’t get along,” Vinyl replies with a knowing expression and a nod. “Mind if I ask why? She’s actually really chill, and I can’t think of a more loyal friend.”

“I can’t possibly imagine how you see that in her,” I respond with a hint of venom in my voice, causing Vinyl to wince. Noticing that, I take a deep breath. It’s obvious that she and Rainbow are friends, so it would be ill-advised for me to badmouth her. “I don’t want to get into it, but I just can’t stand people… or in this case ponies… like her, who think they’re all that.”

“I guess there is a bit of that, but… didn’t you dance with her at the Cake’s party?” Vinyl insists, touching upon the one topic that I would have given anything not to have to discuss. “Why would you do that if…”

“Can we please not talk about that?” I cut across her, causing Vinyl to recoil at the edge in my voice. “I don’t care for her. Let’s just leave it at that.”

“Alright, chill. Was just curious, is all,” Vinyl retracts with a perplexed expression and a shrug.  “More importantly, what’s your day look like tomorrow? Got time for another gig?”

“I…” I pause, finding that question to be harder to answer than I’d initially thought. “I don’t know know how to answer that question.”

“What do you mean? You don’t work after six, right?” Vinyl presses.

“Normally I’d say yes, but I actually have an engagement in the morning...and I’ve no idea what the consequences of such will be. There’s a chance I might not be here after that,” I reveal to her.

“I thought you said you weren’t leaving until the snows came?” Vinyl asks with a raised brow.

“Yes well. That was until the princesses decided my presence warranted their immediate attention. They’re coming to see me tomorrow at dawn,” I retort with annoyance. Vinyl responds by dropping her drink on the table, her eyes steadily widening.

“The princesses are coming here? To my house!?” Vinyl’s voice abruptly rises in pitch. She stands up and places her two front hooves on the table as she looks around the mess that is her house. “Oh no no no...everything’s a mess, and I have those cords that need to get rolled up, and there’s dust everywhere…”

“Relax. I’m meeting them at Twilight’s library tomorrow. You don’t have to do anything,” I interrupt her before she can get too frantic. I wonder if all the ponies react to hearing about a visit from the princesses by wanting to clean everything they own. “My point is that I don’t trust that they won’t take me away somewhere. Celestia said she wouldn’t, but I don’t trust that.”

“Sheesh, don’t freak me out like that.” Vinyl relaxes back into her chair, a heavy sigh escaping her. She doesn’t seem at all concerned about the point that I just made. “Now you’re the one who should relax. I’ve never met the princess up close, but I hear nothing but good things about her; especially since we have her personal student in town. If Princess Celestia said she’s not gonna foalnap you, then she’s not gonna. Honestly, I’m a little jealous you get to meet her personally.”

“Good that one of us thinks so. I don’t trust authority figures. They’ve too much power and not enough accountability,” I counter in a bitter voice. Vinyl tilts her head at that.

“Princess Celestia has done nothing but do right by us, dude. Equestria has been peaceful and happy since long before I was born because of her,” Vinyl argues back, the mare starting to sound irritated. “Give her a chance before you start implying she’s a tyrant.”

“Twilight said the same thing to me. At the very least, she’s done something different if she’s got her ponies defending her so easily,” I admit.

Despite my misgivings, that alone is enough to warrant thought; politicians in my time were a dime a dozen. They all had different ideals they wanted to pursue, different policies they wanted to implement, and different offices for which they wanted to run. However, they all had one thing in common: people had vastly differing opinions on them, ranging from the fanatically positive to the fanatically negative. Yet Princess Celestia is spoken well of by all the ponies that talk about her.

“I guess we’ll see,” I finally concede, deciding that further argument on the matter is pointless. “To answer your question, I’ll be available provided I’m not detained.”

“You’ll be fine. You gotta tell me what they’re like up close when I see you tomorrow evening,” Vinyl assures me, her tone returning to normal. With that, the two of us finish up our meals and start to get ready for bed. “You go on and head upstairs. I’ll handle the dishes.”

“Okay. Then I’m heading to bed,” I respond. After checking to make sure my towel is fastened properly, I rise from the table and climb the stairs to the second level. It sounds like the dryer is finished, so I unload my freshly cleaned clothes and take them to my room with me.

I shut the door behind me, set the clothes down on the desk, and move to sit down on the bed. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get much sleep, but it’s refreshing to finally be alone for the first time today.

This world is surreal. I’ve been able to mask my feelings and just force myself through the day, but I can’t get over how weird it is. I’m living in a town filled with oddly shaped talking ponies. I sometimes have a hard time believing that any of this is real. If it weren’t for the burning rage I feel inside of me to keep me focused on my task, I honestly don’t know where I’d be.

I lay back and stare at the ceiling and think about what might happen tomorrow. My thoughts clash together chaotically and jump from one possible scenario to the next. I try to tell myself that whatever happens tomorrow will happen, but it doesn’t much help. As the imagined scenarios get increasingly more negative, I heave a sigh.

“I’m never going to get to sleep.”
> 11. The Royal Sisters (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A long hallway stretches out before me, the walls covered with bulletin boards, posters, or science-themed decorative art. I plod ever forward towards the door at the far end, the blinding light of the sun piercing through the windows. I pass classroom after classroom, each room willed with faceless students listening to the murmured lectures of faceless professors.

My legs feel heavy; moving each one requires an excessive amount of effort. My thoughts are hazy, leaving me unable to think about anything other than reaching the other end of the hallway. It’s funny; I don’t remember the hall being this long.

The fluorescent lights on the ceiling start to flicker, periodically plunging the entire hall into a deep darkness. With every step I take, the hall rapidly deteriorates; the art grows faded and torn, bulletin boards fall off the walls, and the posters dissolve into nothing. The lights flicker faster and more irregularly; each time they go out, the air becomes filled with choking dust.

I can see the nebulous forms of people at the other end of the hallway. I squint as bright muzzle flashes erupt from their hands, the cracking of gunfire filling the air. I can hear the indistinct shouting of men and the bestial howls emanating from the throats of those long dead.

I have to keep going. I have to reach the other end of the hall. As I stumble past the splintering barricade, a few of the voices become distinct enough to hear..

“That spell was not meant for thee!”

“Shit, hang on. I’m coming!”

“No... not me too...”

“My sister and I will be arriving in Ponyville tomorrow at dawn…”

I shudder and clap my hands to my ears and press forward, until at long last I near the door on the far end of the hallway. Yet something is wrong. The closer I get to it, the more the light of the sun dims. When I at last reach the door, nothing awaits me outside except a solid wall of rock and earth.

As I watch, the door and what lay beyond warps and dissolves, eventually forming into rusted metal bars, through which I can see an ancient stone hallway beyond. I turn around to see a dimly lit jail cell made of drab gray stone. When I look back forward and grasp the bars, I see two nebulous figures in the shape of ponies, staring at me from beyond the bars with nothing but white pinpricks of light for eyes.

“The issue has been addressed.”





I open my eyes with a start, my heart beating rapidly. The sheets stick to my skin oddly, causing me to realize a moment later that I’m sweating. Groaning softly, I shift into a sitting position and rest my head in my hands.

I have to face it; I can’t sleep. I keep tossing and turning because I can never get comfortable, and if I’m lucky enough to get a few moments of sleep, I’m woken up an hour or so later by vivid and disturbing dreams. I don’t have to be a psychologist to understand what’s going through my head.

The past few days have taken their toll on me. It’s easy enough to focus on putting one foot in front of the other during the day, but I can’t escape the reality of my situation when I’m alone at night. It’s worse than normal, due to the impending visit of the two rulers of the entire country.

A quick glance at the clock on the wall reveals that it’s a little past six in the morning. Giving up on getting any more sleep, I get out of bed, grab my clothes, and head towards the shower. It’s not quite dawn yet, but there’s no harm in taking some extra time to get ready.

The shower helps to wake me up, but it does little to calm my nerves. Knowing who I’ll be meeting, I go to the extra effort and do my best to clean every inch of my body. I’m already at a disadvantage due to the lack of any decent clothes, but I need to do everything I can to make a good first impression. It’s no exaggeration to say that my life could drastically change based on the outcome of this meeting.

Once I’m dressed, I step out into the hall to see a very disheveled Vinyl, who looks as though she’d just crawled out of bed. Her eyes are barely open, so she nearly runs right into me. It takes her a few moments for her to recognize at what she’s looking.

“Oh, you’re already awake…” Vinyl murmurs, rubbing one eye with a hoof. “Why’d I get up again…?”

“I wasn’t really sleeping anyway,” I reply, shaking my head at her half-asleep self. “Go back to sleep. I’ll just make breakfast myself.”

“You sure? I can do the...make the…” Vinyl breaks off in order to release a wide yawn, which she doesn’t even bother to cover. “...the food thing.”

“You really aren’t a morning person,” I note with some amusement after listening to her try to string two words together. She only grunts in response. “Seriously, go back to sleep.”

“Don’t mind if I do…” With that, Vinyl turns around and slowly plods back to her room, her tail trailing listlessly across the floor. Once she’s out of sight, I return to my room just long enough to grab my rifle, and then I descend the stairs.
After eating a quick sandwich, I step outside into the chilly air. Due to it being dawn, there’s no ponies in the street, and I can make my way from place to place easily. Because I’ve been to Twilight’s library multiple times now, I’ve got a good idea of where it is, so it only takes me a few minutes to reach it.

The lights are on, so Twilight must already be awake. Without wasting even a single moment, I rush up to the front door and knock, my body shivering from the cold. It doesn’t take long for Twilight to open the door. It appears that she’s been awake for a while; her appearance looks very well tended to, her mane gleaming in the light from inside.

“Good morning, Seth! I knew I could count on you to be…” Twilight greets me, but I rush inside and past her into the warmth of the library before she can finish. Her head turns to follow me as I do so, her expression perplexed. “...early. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just cold,” I answer, rubbing my skin vigorously to warm myself up. Twilight nods understandingly, and then she shuts the door and moves to join me. “It has no business being this cold.”

“The snows are coming soon, so it makes sense. Have you thought about getting some warm clothes to compensate for your lack of fur?” Twilight suggests sensibly. “This isn’t the first time I’ve seen you come in here shivering.”

“I have. This mare named Rarity is making some for me. She wouldn’t let me pay her for them, either,” I mutter with some annoyance. Twilight’s eyes widen with surprise. “What?”

“Nothing, I’m just surprised. Rarity is very generous; knowing how you are, I never thought you’d indulge her,” Twilight replies with a smile… which falters somewhat when she sees the pointed stare I give her.

“Twilight, I’ve known you for two days. You don’t ‘know how I am.’ You don’t even have the slightest clue,” I point out for her firmly, causing her to flinch. “All Rarity did was present to me a logical argument that I could accept. That’s all.”

“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to offend you,” Twilight apologizes, taking me somewhat by surprise. “You’re right, I don’t know you anywhere near as well as I would like, but it’s not as though you’re making it easy for me, either.”

“Of course I’m not,” I respond. “I thought I made it clear that I’m not interested in friends. But you know that, remember? After all, I’m only here so you can share the results of your personal investigation.”

“I...that’s…” Twilight stammers, and then she wilts, her head lowering sadly. “Seth, I can’t do this. I’m tired of having to lie and jump through hoops just to be even a little friendly with you. Why are you like this? Why won’t you let anypony get close?”

I’ve noticed a trend ever since I arrived in Equestria. In my experience, people I snap at, for whatever reason, typically leap to the defense immediately. In some cases, that leads to name calling, the lowest form of argument. I’m told I’m guilty of this as well. But these ponies, although they can react defensively, it’s for a different reason. It’s hard to describe; most of the arguments I’ve been in have resulted in the ponies trying to figure out why I snapped. That’s the difference; they ask why. I don’t understand; if someone were to snap at me, I’d be irritated. I wouldn’t ask why. Neither has anyone that I’ve ever dealt with. That being said, what makes ponies so different?

I stare back at her, those thoughts making me unsure what to make of her. She just admitted her lie to me, albeit not specifically, but she’s not getting angry either - only depressed. I just don’t understand.

“That’s as personal as it gets,” I say with a sigh. “If you get it, please stop asking.”

“Seth, please! I just want to help you get better, but I can’t do anything if you won’t let me!” Twilight pleads, huffing somewhat with frustration.

“‘Get better?’ You say that as though I have a disease that needs to be cured,” I growl, her particular choice of words striking a nerve. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve heard someone say something similar to me. “You and everyone else seems to think that there’s something wrong with me for thinking the way that I do. If I were to walk around blindly trusting everyone I meet, how would that be any better?”

“That’s not what I’m saying! All I mean is that…” Twilight begins, but then she cuts off, her head turning towards the door. Before I can ask why she stopped, a strange feeling comes over me.

Music: FFXV - Cosmogeny

It’s subtle, but something about the atmosphere seems to have changed. A subtle pressure descends around me like a blanket, pressing down on my skin and causing my hairs to stand on end. The feeling is soft, but the air seems to hum. It feels almost like it did in the Everfree Forest and when Sombra was standing close to me, but it doesn’t feel anywhere near as oppressive.

“What the hell…?” I emit in a low whisper, my hand moving to my rifle. From my experience, a feeling like this never precedes anything good. “Twilight, do you feel that?”

“I do. It means the princesses are here,” Twilight reveals, a smile returning to her face. My eyes widen upon hearing that, and I gulp nervously. The princesses have this kind of presence!? “Come on, let’s go to meet them. We’ll continue this conversation later.”

“No, we won’t. But I suppose we shouldn’t keep them waiting. Lead the way,” I reply, gesturing for her to go ahead. Twilight gives me a look, but chooses not to argue further. She heads towards the door, opening with her magic and stepping through with me close behind her. “How will they be arriving?”

“Whenever the princesses visit, they typically arrive in their chariots. Take a look!” Twilight answers, pointing a hoof at the skyline opposite the front door of her library. I follow her hoof, and sure enough, something is approaching high above the town from the direction of the mountain in the distance. “Oh, I can’t wait!”

As it gets closer, I’m able to to make out at what precisely I’m looking. Two large chariots fly towards us, each one pulled by a team of armored pegasi about eight strong. The two chariots differ from one another in both style and colors, as do the ones pulling them. One chariot is little more than a golden platform with a raised violet tail board to prevent its occupant from flying out. The tail board is tipped by a similarly colored flag decorated with the Equestrian royal seal. To top it all off, the pegasi pulling the chariot are armored in gold and wearing plumed helmets that look almost romanesque in design.

The second, dark violet chariot appears vastly different than the other, consisting of a long and sleeker body design with a backwards curving tail board and metallic bat wings extending back from the side rails. The pegasi pulling the chariot, unlike the others, are dark coated and almost blend into the night sky. They wear armor similar in color to the chariot itself, with helmets plumed by a metal fin resembling a bat’s wing and a single blue eye emblazoned on their chest plates.

The chariots wheel around and dip lower, likely intending to use the road in front of the library as a landing strip. I watch as they descend, landing on the ground with barely a sound - a testament to the skill of the fliers. They continue to run, gradually slowing their pace as they do so. As they get closer, I can better see the occupants of the chariots… and they take my breath away.

I’ve seen plenty of ponies since I came to ponyville. I’ve seen various shapes, sizes, and colors from them, so one wouldn’t blame me for thinking I’ve seen them all. However, I would be very wrong. The two princesses are gigantic compared to the average pony, appearing to be closer in size to actual horses rather than ponies. However, that’s not all that’s unique about them.

The one in the golden chariot possesses a pure white coat, and unlike the typical pony, she possesses both a long sharp horn and a pair of sizable wings. I’ve seen normal ponies, pegasi, and unicorns, but never a combination of the three like this. According to mythology, that makes her an alicorn.

Her mane and tail are long and flowing, each colored four different shades: pale blue, magenta, pale green, and pale violet. As I watch, her mane undulates and flows as if it were flying in an unseen breeze. To top off her already regal appearance, she’s wearing a golden neckpiece and a similarly colored crown, each one set with a diamond-shaped violet gemstone. In addition, she’s wearing a golden shoe on each of her hooves; unlike the standard horseshoe, these flow up around her fetlocks in an ornate design as though they were designed for her specifically.

The second princess, who is also an alicorn, is significantly darker than the other, her coat a shade of midnight blue. I can best describe her mane and tail as being slices of pure night, complete with points of light resembling stars twinkling from within. Like the other princess, it too flows through the air in a non-existent breeze.

Given their appearances as well as the themes of their chariots, I can only guess that the white alicorn is Princess Celestia, and the blue alicorn is Princess Luna. Both of them have been watching me carefully ever since they caught sight of me.

Well, this is them. The two princesses that hold the power to decide my fate. Counting them as well as their guards, that makes eighteen in total. If they want to arrest me, I won’t be able to stop them - plain and simple. I try to gauge their expressions; I can’t tell what Celestia is thinking due to her guarded expression, but Luna is much easier to read; she’s staring at me with evident suspicion.

“Princess Celestia!” Unable to contain her excitement any longer, Twilight rushes past me with a happy cry, heading directly towards the white alicorn. A warm smile breaks through Celestia’s neutral expression as she steps down from the chariot and walks forward to meet with her student. “It’s so good to see you!”

“I agree, my dearest student. It has been too long since I have had an excuse to visit Ponyville,” Celestia responds in a mature, motherly voice. She cranes her head down to nuzzle Twilight with clear affection. She winks, a twinkle of good humor entering her voice. “It is nice to visit every once in a while without the shadow of a threat hanging over our heads.”

“That remains to be seen, sister,” Luna interjects, her voice sounding much sterner than Celestia. I don’t miss the glare she sends my way after saying that. Despite the cold, I can feel myself sweat beneath her gaze. With just that one line, Luna made it very clear that she views me as a possible threat. This is further cemented by her next order. “Guards, establish a perimeter around the library.”

“That will not be necessary, Luna. It is best we refrain from such hasty actions,” Celestia countermands her sister’s order immediately, much to Luna’s annoyance. The lunar guards wisely choose not to move in response to either order.

At long last, Celestia turns towards me. I tense up as her magenta eyes meet my own. She appears calm and her expression is neutral, but it’s difficult for me to bear the weight of her gaze. It feels almost as if she can see right through me to the deepest reaches of my soul. In the end, I can’t take it and avert my eyes.

I’m beginning to feel like a cornered animal. I can tell that just from the pressure in the air that I’m dealing with someone special. I can’t help but feel that even if I were to try to resist, she would overpower me in an instant. Between the princesses and the guards, I’m ultimately at their mercy, and I hate it.

“You must be the one I have heard so much about. Seth Rogers, was it?” Celestia finally speaks to me directly, the alicorn stepping delicately towards me. I have to resist the urge to step back, even as she comes right up to me. She stands just as tall as I do, her eyes directly level with mine. She dips her head politely. “I must say, it is quite the honor to meet one of our precursors. I am Princess Celestia, sovereign ruler of Equestria alongside my sister.”

“And we are Princess Luna,” Luna adds, joining Celestia in standing in front of me. She’s shorter than Celestia, but she’s still tall enough to stand nearly head to head with me. I also note that she referred to herself in the plural tense in true sovereign fashion. “Do not make any sudden moves, human.”

“What the hell do you expect me to do?” I can’t hold myself back anymore. A combination of the fear and unease that I’ve been feeling along with Luna’s confrontational attitude caused me to snap before I can stop myself. “It’s not like I’m stupid enough to attack you; you brought nearly a score of soldiers with you!”

“Seth!” Twilight hisses at me warningly, but it’s too late. Luna’s eyes narrow, clearly incensed by my words. However, Celestia doesn’t give things a chance to escalate.

“Peace, both of you. This is not meant to be a confrontational visit,” Celestia interjects, placing a hoof on her sister’s breastplate. “I know how you feel, sister, Seth is a visitor to our land. I for one, intend to treat him with all the courtesy befitting that of a guest.”

“At least one of you does,” I mutter, trembling somewhat at how close I’d come to pissing off one of the two princesses. Despite my nervousness, however, I have no doubt that they’ll walk all over me if I let them. “That sounds good and all, but why did you come here to see me personally? Forgive me if the sight of all these soldiers does little to assure me of your ‘peaceful intentions.’”

“Of course, I apologize if we have made you anxious in any way,” Celestia replies with an understanding nod. Her words are polite and reasonable and she appears to be more level-headed than her sister, but my worries aren’t lessened in the slightest. “Before we get to the purpose of this meeting, shall we relocate to someplace more comfortable? Twilight?”

“Of course, Princess! My library is always open to you. Let’s go inside where it’s warm,” Twilight offers, telekinetically opening the door to her library. She steps inside first and beckons to us with her head. That sounds like the best idea I’ve heard all morning.

“Guards; remain on standby until our return,” Luna orders as the three of us follow Twilight inside the library. Once we’re inside, Twilight shuts the door behind us and then leads us to a group of four cushions arranged in a circle in the middle of the room. We each pick one of the cushions and take a seat.

“Now then, shall we begin?” Celestia begins, returning her gaze to me. Much to my surprise, a smile forms on her face. “Welcome to Equestria, Seth. Do you mind if I call you Seth?”

“I prefer it,” I reply awkwardly, unsure how to respond to her friendly and informal welcome.

“Thank you. Now, I am sure you must have many questions. Feel free to ask us anything that you would like to know,” Celestia continues.

“Wait, what? You’re going to let me start? I thought you were coming here for something serious; not for me to play twenty questions with you,” I query, utterly perplexed.

“There are other issues that we must discuss, it is true. However, I am not blinded to your situation either. To my understanding, you are the first human to appear in Equestria for over three millennia, and it was not by choice or with prior knowledge. I can only imagine how disoriented and confused you must feel,” Celestia reveals, accurately describing my current situation. “I would be more than happy to help alleviate any of your concerns.”

“That’s…” I spent most of last night thinking about how this meeting could potentially turn out. I processed scores of different scenarios, but none of them were even close to what is occurring now. I don’t know how to respond to this. “...not what I expected from you at all.”

“And just what did you expect?” Luna enters the conversation at last, the princess gazing at me with an accusatory glint in her eyes.

“At best, to be arrested and carted off to your dungeons for your scientists and such to poke and prod at. At worst...well...I wasn’t sure if I could expect to walk out of here.” I decide to be honest and blunt to see how the two of them would react.

“Absolutely not,” Celestia rejects, appearing appalled. “I can only assume you draw these conclusions from experience with or hearsay on leadership in your own era. Putting that aside, you are a newcomer to Equestria, and as its sovereigns, we only wish to help you feel welcome. I did my best to express that in the letter I sent yesterday evening.”

“You did, but I didn’t believe you. I’m still not sure I do,” I admit, crossing my arms.

“How dare you insinuate that our sister would lie?!” Luna snaps, her voice rising to an unnatural level. I’m taken aback by how much power is behind her voice. Even Twilight ducks down and covers her ears.

“See what I mean? You talk a good game, but your sister looks ready to take my head off at any given moment.” As unsettling as that was, I do my best to ignore Luna and focus on Celestia.

“Please, you must forgive her. She does not entirely trust your species,” Celestia explains apologetically. She gives Luna a telling glance afterwards, resulting in the shorter princess huffing.

“How can we? We have studied your literature and archaeology; your species has shown nothing but a propensity for war, death, and other such atrocities! We trust you no more than we would trust Discord!” Luna points out defensively.

“I can’t blame you,” I reply with a sigh, my agreement taking both princesses by surprise. If they’ve read our literature, there’s no hiding our violent nature. “Humanity has been invading and killing each other since the dawn of time. I certainly wouldn’t trust another human.”

“You admit your untrustworthiness freely?” Luna asks, her brow wrinkling with suspicion.

“No, I’m merely acknowledging what you’ve studied. The fact is, you know nothing about me, and I know nothing about you. Honestly, if you didn’t show some level of suspicion, you would have to be desperately naive,” I counter her with a shrug. Celestia’s ears twitch, her smile fading away. “Therefore, I trust you about as much as you trust me.”

“It appears Twilight was right about your cynicism, Seth,” Celestia observes, rejoining the conversation.  “To one such as you, my approach may indeed seem naive. However, if there’s anything I’ve learned from my long years of life, it’s that one cannot judge another by their species, or even by the actions of their ancestors. Everyone deserves a chance, no matter who they are.”

“Long years of life? What are you talking about? You don’t look old in the slightest,” I retort. I don’t know how to judge a pony’s age by looking at them, but I can tell if a pony is old. I’ve seen Granny Smith, and that was a line I’d expect to hear from one of her age.

“Oh! Well, I appreciate that,” Celestia chuckles in response. “However, my sister and I are rather unique, compared to the average pony. We have been in power ever since Discord’s initial defeat over a millennia ago.”

It takes a moment for that number to sink in.

“What?” is all I can say at first. My eyes widen when I start to grasp the implications. I can hardly fathom the fact that I as a human could potentially live to a hundred years; the idea of someone living for over a thousand years is… I can’t even comprehend that. “You’re kidding. You’re telling me you’re immortal?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes. At the very least, the passing of time has had no effect on us ever since we reached maturity,” Celestia answers.

“You’ve been ruling Equestria for over a thousand years?” I ask incredulously. I receive a solemn nod from Celestia in response.

This is very hard to believe. Not only is Equestria a land of magical ponies, but it’s a land ruled by two immortal princesses. As ridiculous as that sounds, the pieces start to fall into place. If the princesses were alive this long, it would make sense how their names have been adopted into everyday expressions. It also explains how Celestia’s visage is present on the country’s currency, as well as the fact that they seem to be almost worshipped.

“That’s certainly...something.” That is an understatement. That admission threw me for a loop. This world gets stranger and stranger with every passing moment. “Alright, I’ll acknowledge your experience. But in the end this really changes nothing. Whether or not you’re willing to trust me, I don’t trust so easily, and neither does your sister, it seems.”

“That is quite alright; I appreciate your honesty,” Celestia acknowledges with a dip of her head. “All I ask for is the opportunity to earn your trust.”

I stare back at her, finding it difficult to get a read on her. Her words seem sincere, but there could be any number of reasons that she’d want me on her good side. She is royalty, after all, so this meeting could mean a lot for her. My gut instinct is to err on the side of caution and assume she has some other motive behind this supposed kindness, but there’s something about her and the way she conducts herself that leaves me guessing.

“Well then, if you want to help me so much; you said you’d answer any of my questions?” If she is telling the truth and she won’t hinder my quest, then there’s only one question that I need to ask. When Celestia nods, I continue. “Where can I find King Sombra?”

“So it is true,” Luna responds, her expression darkening. She and Celestia exchange glances. “He does have some knowledge about our old enemy.”

“Indeed. Perhaps it is best if we cut to the heart of the matter,” Celestia concurs. For the first time, I start to feel as though I’m finally back on track. Judging from Luna’s response alone, they possess the knowledge I’ve been seeking for days. “I will honor my word and answer your question, but first, would you mind telling us more about your experience with him? It is to my understanding that he is the reason you are here.”

“‘Old enemy?’ So this is the reason you’re here, then,” I observe.

“In part. It was the reason for the expedience,” Celestia admits. “Rest assured, I was intending to meet you regardless.”

“If you’re willing to tell me what I want to know, I guess I’m grateful for said expedience,” I reply. Sighing, I allow myself to recall what happened on that day three thousand years ago. “To answer your question, it happened back in my time. It was just a normal day until I met Sombra in the stairwell of the school I studied at. He seemed to be preparing some kind of spell, and by accident, I interrupted it and became its target. He seemed angry, but after deciding that I was apparently what he was looking for, he left. Not long after that, I passed out and woke up in this timeline with literally everything trying to kill me.”

“I actually have a theory about that spell,” Twilight enters the conversation for the first time, gaining our attention. “Time travel is an exceedingly difficult spell. Not only does it require an extremely delicate control of one’s own mana, but also a thorough understanding of theoretical and quantum physics. As far as we know, only one pony has ever succeeded in creating such a spell.”

“Starswirl the Bearded,” Celestia affirms, nodding in agreement. “Do you mean to imply that King Sombra somehow gained knowledge of his work?”

“That would be impossible. The only known copy of that spell is locked away in our royal archives,” Luna rejects with a shake of her head. “We tended to those wards ourselves.”

“The only known copy,” Celestia corrects her. “We cannot rule out the possibility.”

“I don’t know anything about King Sombra, but it would take generations to create a spell so refined from scratch,” Twilight conjectures. “It’s the only way I can think of. However, I don’t understand how he circumvented the mana expenditure and upkeep. He would need an exorbitant amount of mana just to travel that far back in time, much less remain.”

“Yet, I am inclined to agree with you. If I remember correctly, there is a noticeable disconnect between time spent in the past and time absent from the present,” Celestia recalls. Despite the fact that none of this is relevant to my ultimate question, I can’t help but listen with interest. “During its experimentation phase, it was first assumed that only a moment would pass in the present, no matter how long the user spent in the past. However, this is not the case. While it is true that less time passes in the present than is spent in the past, this gap widens the longer the user spends in the past. Sister, do you see where I am going with this?”

“I do. The evidence fits the theory,” Luna admits. She turns her gaze back to me. “I suppose I will believe your story. There was a time where King Sombra and several of his soldiers and generals inexplicably went missing for a full week before our final confrontation with him. If what you are saying is true, then his absence is because of his presence in your era.”

“Did you say ‘confrontation?’ Just who is this King Sombra?” Twilight asks the two princesses curiously. I lean forward, anxious to hear the answer as well. Celestia looks to Luna, and then back to us, a grim expression crossing her face.

“To explain fully, it would be best if I started from the very beginning,” Celestia decides. Her horn lights up with a golden aura, and a small pink crystal emerges from her mane. She sets it down on the floor in the middle of our circle. “Over a millenia ago, there once existed a kingdom in the Frozen North known as the Crystal Empire.”

“I knew it!” Twilight suddenly exclaims. When the princesses look at her, she quails and chuckles sheepishly. “I mean...um...please continue.”

Celestia’s horn lights up once again, a thin beam of golden light emerging from the tip and striking the crystal. The crystal lights up, and as I watch in awe, it emits rays of cyan light that form into a scaled holographic image of an enormous city consisting of various buildings built in a circular pattern around one gigantic central tower. The buildings and tower all seem to be constructed of some kind of crystalline material, adhering to the theme of the empire. Pony civilization or not, the city is a wonder to behold.

“The magic of the Crystal Empire was great indeed; not only did it stave away the frigid temperatures and vicious wintry storms of the north, but it also resulted in crystals growing from the ground as easily as crops. Even the resident ponies themselves adopted a crystalline appearance,” Celestia describes the empire with a wistful tone. Her tale seems completely fantastic and difficult to believe right off of the bat, but Twilight is eating it right up, scribbling down as much as she can into a notepad. “Not only that, but the magic of the Crystal Heart, the embodiment of the hope and love of the citizens, was strong enough to blanket all of Equestria with an aura of positivity, enriching the land and lifting spirits for miles around.”

The hologram zooms in into the city streets, giving me a level of detail and field of view that makes me feel as though I’m actually there, flying through the city. We fly beneath the base of the tower, where a glowing crystalline heart rotates slowly in a complicated crystal apparatus.

“Under the leadership of Princess Amore, the Crystal Empire enjoyed a long period of peace and prosperity, trading their home-grown crystals with other kingdoms for resources they did not possess. Their culture was rich and their history was long, allowing them to bring in a healthy flow of tourism from the surrounding kingdoms. Even Equestria itself was on good terms with the Crystal Empire; Princess Amore always was a good friend of ours.”

	“Unfortunately, this all came to an end when Sombra appeared,” Celestia continues sadly. The hologram pans up and away from the city, flying several miles through the frozen wasteland until it settled upon an icy clifftop. Atop the cliff stood a dark figure at the head of a colossal army. As the hologram flies us in closer, I recognize the figure immediately, despite how different he looks.

“That’s him. There’s no doubt about it,” I confirm. Sombra appears just as I remember him complete with his armor, flowing cape, and crown… albeit with one difference. In this hologram he appears as a unicorn with a vicious crimson horn sharpened to a lethal point. Just seeing him again causes a familiar rage to surface in me.

I recoil when I take a second look at the army behind him. Although there are some live ponies behind him, most of his army appear to be long dead members of various species. I see ponies with their skin rotting and sagging, others with their bones showing through, and some appearing completely skeletal. There are also what look like wild animals such as bears, tigers, and birds of prey. Nothing with that degree of decomposition could be alive, yet I see them clearly moving as if they were. There’s only one word to describe them: undead. Even Twilight gasps at their horrifying visages.

Additionally, two ponies stood on the clifftop a few feet behind Sombra. They consisted of a tannish orange pegasus with a dark mane, and a bespectacled dark-furred unicorn. From their stature, it was clear that they possessed some authority.

“There’s no clear records of Sombra’s origin; some claim him to be the progeny of an ancient race long since sealed away, while others believe him to be a former citizen of the empire. All we know is that one day, he appeared at the head of a massive army, possessing an enormous magical strength and ruthlessness to match. His lust for power and his desire for retribution against Princess Amore led him to invade the empire with everything he had.”

The hologram shifts yet again, panning back over to the Crystal Empire once more. However, the city looks vastly different than it first appeared. Unlike the glittering and graceful structures from before, in their place stood a city that was black and twisted. The crystal structures were now blackened and decorated with jagged spikes, and the tower itself appears as a spire of darkness, corrupted by Sombra’s foul magic.

“It was over in a single day. Sombra’s power was unreal, and not even Princess Amore could halt his advance. In the end, she and her army were defeated, and Sombra usurped her position and declared himself King of the Crystal Empire. Those that did not pledge themselves to his service were enslaved or killed, and the once proud empire became a shriveled husk of what it used to be, occupied only by evil,” Celestia finishes. The light from her horn dims, and the hologram dissipates. “That is King Sombra. That is the one you encountered.”

I sit there quietly for several moments, committing what I’d just heard to memory. It seems as though pursuing Sombra will be much more difficult than I initially expected. I knew he was strong, but he’ll be incredibly difficult to touch if he rules an empire of that size. Nevertheless, I know everything there is to know about him now, as well as where to find him. I’ve accomplished everything I’ve set out to do in Ponyville. My time here will soon come to an end.

“That’s...that’s horrible! Seth told me that he was a monster, but to kill and enslave all of those poor ponies...he belongs in Tartarus!” Twilight expresses fervently, her notepad laying forgotten in the wake of her newfound devastation. “Princess, why did you keep his existence a secret? If he’s still out there, he has to be stopped!”

“There is more to it than that. Before I answer, however, there is something I must ask Seth,” Celestia turns her attention to me, her expression grave and her gaze piercing. “What is it you intend to do if you find him?”

“I’m going to put him through every inch of the pain and suffering he inflicted upon me,” I answer with a growl, my hand tightening around my rifle. Twilight looks at me in horror, Luna looks at me with a guarded expression, while Celestia just releases a soft sigh. “Then I’m going to bring an end to his reign… permanently.”

“Seth! I know you said you had grievances, but don’t you think that’s taking it too far?” Twilight immediately protests. “I agree he has to be stopped, but…”

“Twilight, do you know what happened to the human race?” I interrupt her in a dangerously calm voice. Twilight blinks at the sudden change in topic. “Do any of you know?”

“Unfortunately we do not. Although there are plenty of theories as to why our precursors vanished, there was not much left in the way of records left behind,” Celestia replies with uncertainty.

“The most popular theory is overpopulation or exhaustion of resources,” Twilight adds, producing a separate notepad containing what’s most likely her notes on the subject. “This theory is supported by the several underground bunkers we’ve discovered in which a great deal of humans appear to have once taken residence.”

“Tis far more likely they simply self-destructed. Considering their history, this would not surprise me,” Luna snorts, shaking her head at Twilight’s theory. Honestly, if I didn’t know better, both of those theories I wouldn’t have trouble believing. In my era, I would hear of shortages of resources here and there, and there were always articles over how our population was growing too fast. Additionally, considering the political climate at the time, it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to consider self-destruction either.

“Seth, do you know something?” Celestia presses in a soft voice. Judging by the way she’s looking at me, I think she knows what I’m about to reveal.

“Sombra murdered every single damn one of them, down to the last man, woman, and child,” I answer simply. Twilight gasps, distraught, while Luna lifts a hoof to her mouth in shock. Only Celestia doesn’t appear surprised, the princess lowering her head with a look of deep sadness on her face. “There’s nobody left. It’s just me.”

“We are… sorry that you had to endure such tragedy,” Luna chokes out, despite her earlier distrust of me.

“I...I don’t know what to say,” Twilight says weakly, looking at me with liquid eyes. Understanding suddenly dawns in her eyes, and she looks at me in a new light. “I think I understand. Is that why you won’t let anypony close?”

“Are you serious?” I snap at her, suddenly irritated. “What does it matter? Nobody asked you to draw conclusions about the way I act, and I certainly don’t need your understanding.”

“That’s not what I...I’m just...I’m sorry,” Twilight murmurs after a short pause. She hangs her head, sniffling somewhat. She takes a moment to wipe her eyes with a hoof.

“Seth.” Celestia once again calls for my attention, the princess watching me solemnly with veiled worry in her eyes. “Is vengeance truly your goal?”

“It is,” I confirm, equally as seriously. “I will be leaving Ponyville and headed north as soon as I’ve gathered the supplies I need. You promised you would not hinder me, remember?”

“I did, and I intend to keep my word. However, there is something you must know first,” Celestia asserts. Rather than clarifying further, she turns to address Twilight and Luna. “I would like to speak with Seth privately. I hope you don’t mind. What comes next I believe he would not want others to witness.”

“What are you talking about?” I demand, a feeling of dread seeping into my body. Twilight and Luna both look at one another, perplexed, but in the end they both rise from their cushions and make their way towards the stairs in the back.

“Very well, we trust your judgment. We shall wait upstairs for you to finish your discourse,” Luna says obligingly. She gives me one last look, and then she ushers Twilight towards the stairs. “We trust you won’t mind if we answer Twilight’s questions?”

“Not at all. Thank you for understanding,” Celestia replies gratefully. She remains still until Luna and Twilight are both out of the room, and then she taps her horn briefly against the horse head statue on the table. For a brief moment, the ambient sound of the room is distorted. Noticing my confusion, she explains. “I have just cast a spell to dampen any sound waves that attempt to pass beyond a certain radius around this statue.”

“Why is that necessary?” I ask hesitantly. “What is it that you don’t want Luna or Twilight hearing?”

“Nothing, if I’m being entirely honest. The privacy is more for your sake rather than theirs,” Celestia answers enigmatically. “Seth, I would like you to listen very carefully to what I have to say.”

“Go ahead then,” I supply, the feeling of dread only intensifying.

“I will be blunt. I would like you to abandon your plans for vengeance,” Celestia tells me seriously.

“That’s not going to happen,” I respond instantly, a surge of anger coloring my tone. “I can’t believe you’d even say that. Didn’t you promise me that you wouldn’t hinder me?”

“I did promise, and I intend to honor that. Please, just hear me out,” Celestia responds. “I am sorry to say this, but your quest will not provide you with the satisfaction you seek. Only pain waits for you at the end of that road.”

“If you think that’s going to be enough to stop me, you’re wrong,” I return, my voice slowly starting to rise. “Unless you plan to arrest me, you may as well save your breath. There isn’t a damn thing that’ll keep me from going after him.”

“As I said, I do not intend to arrest you. I only wish to give you advice from the perspective of one who understands how you feel,” Celestia corrects me gently. Despite the reassuring tone in her voice, her words have the opposite effect on me.

“How dare you!? You think you know how I feel!?” I snap back with incredulity, sitting up straight and glaring back at her. “Last I checked, you aren’t the last of your race! Last I checked, your race wasn’t wiped out by a tyrannical madman! How could you possibly understand how I feel!?”

Celestia only gazes at me sadly, not even flinching in the wake of my vehement outburst. When I finish, she looks at me dead in the eye.

“Forgive me for my boldness, but I don’t believe this is about your race,” Celestia deduces softly. My counterargument freezes in my throat, my mouth opening wordlessly. I want to protest, but I can’t escape the piercing magenta of her eyes. She gives a small nod, knowing without me having to say anything that she’s right.

“How...how could you know that?” I ask in a hollow voice. “I never said...I...”

“I can learn a lot about someone, simply from a normal conversation. First, you agreed with Luna about the violent nature of your species without even trying to defend yourself. That was the greatest indicator. Your cynicism was my next clue; one’s outlook on life is influenced by their surroundings. You assumed I would arrest or harm you despite my assurances to the contrary, and then accused me of being naive for my kindness. Thus, I deduced that you distrust and think poorly of your race,” Celestia explains, every word causing my shock and disbelief to grow. “Why then, would someone like you be so intent on vengeance for those whom you disliked? I can only assume that someone you knew was harmed...someone very close to you.”

I remain silent, unable to dispute any of her claims. I don’t understand how she can summarize my feelings and my motivation so easily just from one simple conversation. I can’t help but feel vulnerable; everything I’ve tried to hide from these ponies has been laid bare before me.

“Seth. Believe me when I say that killing Sombra will not bring you solace. It will not bring you closure, nor will it bring back those whom you lost,” Celestia continues, never taking her eyes off of mine for an instant. “In the end, the only one hurt will be you.

Celestia falls silent then, giving me time to sort out the mess of thoughts in my head. It’s not as though I’ve never heard a lesson like this before. Everyone is familiar with Confucius’s words: Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves. Yet, I’ve never really paid much attention to it, as it has never really applied to me. It’s surreal to hear a similar saying from the pony princess before me.

She’s right, of course. It doesn’t matter if I kill Sombra; it won’t change the fact that my family and Amaryllis are dead. It won’t change anything for the mutilated corpse that was the niece I’ve never met. I’m not even certain I’ll be able to kill Sombra when I find him. There is every indication that my quest will end with my death. Should I succeed, all I’ll have for my troubles is a pair of bloodstained hands and the weight of a life upon my shoulders.

...I’m prepared to deal with that.

“You may be right. But you didn’t see the bodies of those who fell in the fight against Sombra. You didn’t see his undead ripping them to shreds, or reconstructing them into his own image. You didn’t see the animated corpse of one that I might have one day called ‘family,’” I finally answer, firmly set into the decision I’ve just made. “No matter the hardships I must face or the suffering I must endure; I will take him down, or I will die trying.”

“I understand. I see now that I can’t dissuade you.” Celestia replies after a long pause. She heaves a sad sigh, shaking her head. “I had hoped you would decide to give up on your own.”

“What are you talking about?” I say sharply, not liking the implications behind that statement. “What do you plan to do if I don’t give up?”

“It seems I must tell you the truth about King Sombra’s ultimate fate,” Celestia begins. The implications behind that cause my blood to run cold. That can’t mean what I think it means...

“No…” I emit, my hands clenching into fists. “Don’t tell me…”

“Luna and I eventually learned of his cruelty and led an invasion on the kingdom ourselves. Together, we crushed his army and confronted him at the top of the tower, where we ultimately defeated him. King Sombra is no more,” Celestia reveals solemnly, her words confirming my worst fears.

“No...no...no no no no no! This isn’t fair!” Unable to restrain myself, I rise from the cushion and lash out at the nearest solid object, which happens to be the horse head statue on the table. The statue hits the ground with a thud, even as I feel the skin splitting on my knuckles painfully. “Then what have I been doing all this time!? Was I just wasting my time!? Was it all just pointless!?”

“Seth…” Celestia tries to say, but I don’t let her.

“Shut up! I don’t want to hear your fucking platitudes!” I shout at her, my voice straining from the amount of force I put behind it. To her credit, Celestia doesn’t flinch. My rage grows and grows, all of it directed at Celestia. “Sombra was mine to kill! How dare you and your bitch of a sister take that from me!?”

Celestia remains completely silent, despite my insulting words. I know that what I’m saying is going too far, but I can’t take it back. I don’t want to take it back. The strange pressure resurfaces in the middle of my chest with a vengeance, feeling almost as if it were pulsating and pressing against my chest.

“Was it fun to watch the human struggle!? Were you both just sitting there, laughing at me!? Everyone loves and worships you, but you’re sadistic! Do you even know what I went through to get this far!?” My rage continues to build, my throat burning with exertion. As I continue to yell, I get closer and closer to the princess. “I nearly died! I nearly went the same way as the rest of my race! And now you tell me that I can’t even avenge my family!? That was...all I had left!”

When I reach Celestia, my arm winds back, my hand clenched into a fist. Just as I swing forward, I recognize what I’m about to do and halt myself before I can get any further. Blood drips to the floor from my fist where my nails dig into my palm. I remain still, panting heavily. Celestia clearly sees what I was about to do, but she doesn’t appear to be making any attempts to defend herself. All she does is look at me with that same mournful expression.

“What...What am I supposed to do now?” When I next speak, my voice sounds hoarse and defeated. Everything I’ve done up to this point has all been for this one singular goal; a goal I can no longer accomplish.

“If I were your family, I would want nothing more than for you to be alive and happy. You’re more than welcome to continue living in Ponyville; Take some time to think and heal, and try to make some friends,” Celestia suggests with a small smile. “Twilight can be overbearing, but she and her friends are genuinely good ponies. I believe that you could…”

“You’ve got to be joking,” I snap immediately, cutting her off. “You steal my revenge from me, and all you can say is ‘make some friends?’ Don’t make me laugh!”

“Give them a chance. I understand how you feel, but having friends may help to ease the pain of loss,” Celestia insists. Her horn lights up once again, lifting the horse head statue back into place atop the table. Next, she turns towards me, a stream of golden light dancing across my injured hand before I can stop her. As I watch, the wounds slowly close up and disappear, leaving my hand unmarked and healthy. “Like I said, take some time for yourself. I’m sure that as strong as you are, you’ll be able to push beyond it.”

I scoff at that, my earlier rage steadily fading away to be replaced by a feeling of emptiness and hopelessness. There are so many thoughts and emotions rushing through me, but all I can say is, “Whatever. Are we done here?”

“I believe we are. I am sorry to bear such news, Seth,” Celestia answers apologetically. She frowns when I don’t respond, or even look at her, my gaze falling listlessly to the floor. “If you are ready, I shall call the others in so we can wrap up this meeting.”

I don’t say a word as Celestia cancels the muffling spell and heads to let the others know of the end of our conversation. I press a hand to my chest, feeling as though there were a massive hole there whose presence I’d been covering up with my need for revenge. It pains me more than I can bear; all I want to do is curl up and cry.

My one goal, my reason to go on...is gone.
> 12. Loyalty (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia descends the stairs, Luna and Twilight following her closely behind. The latter two appear to be just finishing up their own conversation concerning the Crystal Empire. Twilight appears somber, likely having learned of Sombra’s fate herself.

“As you can see, that is why we have kept his existence, as well as that of the empire itself, a closely kept secret,” Luna continues as the three of them reach the ground level. “The climes are utterly inhospitable to pony life, and it is possible there are still remnants of the undead lurking about.”

“I understand. If it’s that dangerous, you wouldn’t want ponies poking about,” Twilight agrees with a small nod of her head. The three of them return to their cushions near me, their conversation dying down. Twilight glances at me, picking up on the change in my demeanor instantly. “Is everything alright?”

Celestia remains silent at first, but when it becomes clear that I’m not going to answer, she does so instead. “We are fine, Twilight. Seth is simply...taking the news about his quest rather hard,” she explains softly. “I assume my sister told you what happened?”

“She did. I feel bad for Seth, but there was really nothing else you could have done. Someone like him needed to be defeated,” Twilight replies, the mare looking at me with sympathy, which causes me to silently seethe. “Though this means we won’t get any answers; King Sombra must have had some reason for bringing him to our era…”

“It doesn’t matter,” I snap suddenly, causing Twilight to recoil. “He’s gone, and I’m still here. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

“I’m sorry…” Twilight attempts to express, but that only makes me angrier.

“You’re sorry!?” My eyes snap to hers, and she shrinks back, her ears folding back. If I thought that I’d known rage back when I was hunting Sombra, it was nothing compared to how I feel now. Yet, as quickly as it arrives, it ebbs, leaving me emptier than I ever thought I could feel. “I don’t need your sympathy or your help. I’ve wasted enough of everyone’s time.”

“That’s not true,” Twilight attempts to reassure me, but Luna cuts across her before our conversation can go any further.

“Are we finished, sister? We cannot stay in Ponyville for long; we tire, and the Day Court no doubt desires your presence,” Luna questions Celestia with a hint of impatience coloring her words. “We have yet to resolve the most important issue; what to do with the human.”

“I believe I have come to a decision regarding such,” Celestia answers, the princess sighing. She turns to Luna and gazes at her seriously. “I understand you believe humanity is a threat due to their colorful history. Yet I also believe that if Seth intended to hurt anypony, he had plenty of opportunities to do so before our arrival.”

“You cannot mean to leave him here, especially after he professed his intent to murder another living pony!” Luna insists, catching on to Celestia’s intentions. I remain silent during their exchange. ”Sister, we must take him back to Canterlot with us.”

“You would do the same as him if something were to happen to me,” Celestia returns with a firm stare. Luna flinches, but doesn’t reply, suggesting that there was some truth to her sister’s statement. “Luna, the last thing he needs is to be isolated in the castle, surrounded by ponies that will only seek to gawk at or study him. He needs the kindness and friendship that I know Twilight and her friends can offer him.”

I let out an incredulous scoff at that, but the conversation continues.

“What then, do you suggest we do?” Luna demands. Celestia doesn’t answer her directly, choosing instead to address Twilight.

“Twilight, it was you who brought him to my attention. Therefore, I would like to make him your responsibility,” Celestia decides. Twilight blinks, looking between Celestia and me with surprise. “Make sure he is adjusting to our era, and teach him what it means to live in Equestria. He will need all the help he can get.”

“You want me to look after him?” Twilight gasps. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m willing, but...Seth, are you alright with this? We haven’t really asked you for your opinion on this.”

“Do whatever you want. I don’t care,” is my simplistic sounding response. The three mares exchange glances, unsure what to make of that. “If we’re done here, I need to go to work.”

“We do not like this. We insist that you at least increase the presence of the guard in this town, in case the worst should occur,” Luna presses, turning to her sister.

“I suppose that is a reasonable compromise. We can discuss precisely which measures to take once we return to Canterlot,” Celestia finally acquiesces. She rises from her cushion and moves towards the door, as does Luna. “It is time we take our leave. As much as I would like to stay, duty calls.”

“Will I be able to see you again soon?” Twilight asks wistfully, the mare looking rather down. Celestia smiles and cranes her head down to nuzzle her student lovingly.

“I will do my best to find some time for us, my dearest Twilight,” Celestia promises, which cheers Twilight up slightly. Then, as Luna opens the door with her magic, Celestia turns to me one last time. “Words cannot express how deeply sorry I am for your loss, Seth. Regardless, it was good to meet you. Feel free to send me a letter if you ever need anything.”

Celestia remains still, waiting for a reply from me. When it becomes clear that I’m not going to give one, she frowns. She joins Luna and the two of them exit the library through the front door. Twilight follows them out, with me following her close behind.

The morning sun is already rising, bathing the town in a soft orange light. Despite the light, there’s no warmth to be felt in the wintry air. It won’t be long before the town will come alive with ponies starting their day.

Celestia and Luna climb into their respective chariots, and at their command, their guards work together to wheel the chariots around and break into a run. Twilight watches as the chariots take off into the sky, their departure just as much of a spectacle as their arrival. As they get further away, the heavy feeling in the air dissipates. As for me, I’ve no further reason to be here.

“Seth, are you going to work already? Have you eaten yet?” Twilight calls out to me when she notices me walking away. She rushes forward to catch up with me, and then she follows along behind me. “I know a place that serves really good pancakes, if you want to…”

“I’ve already eaten.” I turn her down without letting her finish, or even slowing down. 

“Oh…” Twilight slows down to a stop after hearing that, a sad frown forming on her face. She tries once more. “Will you be coming by again this evening to visit me? I’d be glad to have you.”

Without saying a word, I continue forward and turn the corner into the next street, leaving Twilight and her library behind.





Applejack meets me out in front of the barn not long after I arrive on the farm, a green striped scarf wrapped around her neck to help keep her warm. I’m a little later than usual; she’s already pulled out the cart and filled it with empty baskets. She tips her hat in greeting.

“Mornin’, Seth! Y’all ready for another day?” Applejack sounds as cheerful as ever, a smile brightening her rustic features. “I already took Apple Bloom to school, so I’m all set!" 

“Let’s go, then,” I reply simply. I fall in step beside her as she ducks beneath the bar and starts to pull the cart over to the apple orchard. As my worn shoes plod on the dirt, my thoughts take over once more, and I can’t help but gaze at Applejack with a hint of resentment. After a moment of silence, I decide to ask her. “Applejack, do you enjoy your work?”

“You mean here on the farm? Darn tootin!” Applejack answers enthusiastically as we walk. Asking that one question appears to have opened the floodgates, as Applejack proceeds to explain. “ It’s hard and long work, but I find it invigorating and refreshing. Not to mention, what we do is important to the whole town!”

“How so?” I press.

“Y’all are new in town, so you probably don’t know, but Sweet Apple Acres has been around ever since Ponyville was founded all them long years ago. We’re the reason the town is still around!” Applejack proclaimed proudly. She doesn’t seem to have any qualms about spilling her feelings to me. “When I work, I get to talk to all them ponies of Ponyville and get ‘em what they need. It makes me feel like this really is home, ya know? Y’ever have a feeling like that?”

“Not anymore,” I reply despondently. The resentment I feel towards her solidifies. It must be nice for her to live life doing what she enjoys, surrounded by her family and friends. It must be nice to feel like you have a home and a purpose. I bite my lip until blood flows, hopelessness and despair filling me up inside. When I notice Applejack looking at me with worry in her eyes, I shake my head. “Don’t worry about it. I’m just thinking.”

“You sure you’re alright?” Applejack asks with concern as we reach the first tree. I don’t reply at first, choosing to begin arranging the baskets as needed. “Seth…?”

“I’m fine. Where do you want this basket?” I question her, lifting another one from the cart. Applejack gazes at me for several seconds, and then she joins in, our work day beginning.





Time ticks by excruciatingly slowly. The minutes feel like hours, and the hours feel like days. Between the cold air chilling my skin and the effort necessary to bend down, push, and lift the filled baskets onto the carts, I find myself tiring swiftly. Each basket seems to weigh more than the last and each tree seems to be further away than the last.

As the sun starts to move past its zenith, I start to slow down. I know that Applejack has already noticed; I can see the worried glances she keeps giving me when she thinks I’m not looking. My body feels heavy. Each step seems to require a tremendous effort, and just lifting a single basket causes every muscle in my body to scream out with agony. I can feel my legs starting to wobble like month old jelly.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Applejack finally says as I shakingly lift another basket. They feel so heavy to my exhausted arms; I squeeze my eyes shut and grit my teeth just to bear the weight. I don’t understand why this is so hard.  “Put that down, and let’s take a rest.”

“I don’t...need...,” I grunt, straining to lift it up to the cart. The cart is nearly full, so I have to lift the basket even higher than normal. I don’t need to rest. I’ve made it through the past two days without resting much. Today should be no different. Even as I reason this to myself, I feel a sudden onset of dizziness, and then my legs give out. I fall to the ground hard, the full basket landing on its side and spilling the apples everywhere.

“Seth, are you alright!?” Applejack says with alarm, the mare setting her own basket down and rushing to my side. I’m already struggling to get up, but my limbs feel like rubber bands and won’t support my weight. “I knew it. I knew y’all were pushing yourself too hard. Hold on.”

Applejack produces one of the canteens of water that we typically carry with us and moves over to me with it. She hooks her two front hooves beneath me and attempts to gently flip me over on my back. Applejack possesses a tangible strength that I’m only just now experiencing for myself. I don’t have the energy to resist her.

When she offers me the canteen, I turn it away with my hand, attempting to rise at the same time. “I’ll be fine. I can keep working,” I pant heavily, despite the clear evidence to the contrary. “Just give me...a moment to...catch my breath.”

“Don’t be silly; I know what exhaustion looks like,” Applejack retorted, pressing me back down to the ground with a hoof. She sets the canteen down beside me, just within reach of my right hand. “You lay down there by the cart and drink some water; you’ll feel better.”

Despite my stubbornness, the thought of cool water proves too enticing to ignore. I lift the canteen to my lips with a trembling hand and gulp down my fill, nearly draining the container dry. As I do so, I’m overly conscious of Applejack gazing at me with concern in her eyes. I grit my teeth and set the canteen down hard.

“Why don’t you take the rest of the day off?” Applejack suddenly offers, causing me to look at her in surprise. “Rest up and take care of yourself for an evening.”

“I promised I’d see you through to the end of harvest,” I remind her in a dull voice, making no attempt to move. “I’ll be fine in a few minutes.”

“Seth, you’re new to this kind of work; said so yourself. You ain’t got the muscle for it,” Applejack reasons with me, her words blunt and to the point. “That comes with time; certainly not overnight.”

“Are you going to tell me I can’t work here anymore?” I ask in the same dull manner as before, unable to bring myself to argue back. I need this money in order to continue living in this town, but I don’t feel any of that desperation I once did when I was first faced with losing my job.

“What? No, I ain’t firing you. I’m just sayin’ that if we wanna make this work, we gotta put some thought into it,” Applejack answered, looking at me with an odd expression that I can’t quite place. “Why don’t we try mixin’ up your tasks throughout the day? Start small, work your way up to that muscle y’all need...but then again, you said you were skippin’ town soon, right?“

“I was. But now it seems like I’m stuck here for good,” I reply, much to Applejack’s surprise. Just saying that causes a rush of despair to flow through me. I’ve been telling these ponies over and over again to stop trying to be friendly, using my impending departure as an excuse. I don’t have that anymore. How will I be able to get them to back off now without making an enemy of the whole town? I can’t believe I’m thinking this, but humans were easy; all it took was one firm comment and they’d never bother me again. “Just do what you’re going to do. I’ll go along with whatever you come up with.”

“If you’re sure, I guess,” Applejack seems like she wants to ask me more, but thankfully chooses not to. She puts on what I think it supposed to be a reassuring smile. “Well, it ain’t all bad. There’s worse places to be stuck in Equestria.”

“If you say so,” is my uncaring response. Some semblance of strength is returning to me, so I brace myself on the cart and rise to my feet. My entire body is afflicted with a soreness that seems to sink into my very bones; I can’t fathom how I never noticed that it had become this bad before. “What do I do next?”

“You go home and get some rest. I meant what I said before,” Applejack repeats, giving me a stare. “Your legs look wobblier than a fresh can of zap apple jam.”

“But…”

“No buts, Seth. If you don’t go home and rest right now, I’mma truss you up in some rope and drag you,” Applejack insists with a tone that brooked no nonsense. I hesitate, still feeling the obligation to finish out the rest of the day. “Go on, git. I’ll bundle in today’s pay with tomorrow’s when I see ya tomorrow.”

It’s clear she’s not willing to budge on this, so I do as I’m told. Without a word, I turn and walk back towards the entrance to the farm, wincing in pain with every step.

~

Without having to work at Applejack’s for the rest of the day, I have several hours left before the gig with Vinyl and no clear plan on how to spend them. It doesn’t take me very long to determine that Vinyl’s house is the last place I want to be right now. All she would do is ask me questions that I’m not in any state to answer.

As I re-enter town, I recall that Rarity asked me to meet with her sometime today to see the clothes that she’s made for me. The chill on my skin serves as a strong argument towards handling that sooner rather later. Despite the logic present in that decision, I bypass the street that leads to her boutique entirely.

Without any destination in mind, I plod through the town, hardly ever taking my eyes off of the ground. I’m vaguely aware of the ponies around me, some of them turning their heads as I pass. I pointedly keep from looking at them. Just a glance at their unfamiliar, alien appearance is enough to make me remember just how out of place I am; a stranger in a world that no longer belongs to him.

Rainbow Dash and the weather team flies overhead, clearing away any leftover clouds in the sky as though such a fantastical task were routine. A group of mares pass by me, laughing and talking about their experiences at the town’s spa, while a pair of stallions near the side of the street watch them, commenting on their figure in hushed voices. Pinkie Pie bounces by through the street, greeting each and every pony she comes across by name, and even sparing one for me as she passes by. 

Unable to bear the atmosphere, I promptly turn off the street and make a beeline for the edge of town. I’ve felt like this many times before, but it’s never been to this extent. Being alone in a crowd is nothing new to me; before meeting Amaryllis, this is what my every day was like. Yet this time it feels so much worse; this time, I can’t just pick up the phone and call Amaryllis, nor can I drown myself in music, books, or games. I am completely alone.

Before I realize it, the sounds of the town gives way to the hypnotic flowing of the river, and the crunching of pavement beneath my feet gives away to the rustling of grass. Looking up, I find myself walking along the river’s edge outside of the town. Across the wide river rises the twisted and gnarled trees of the Everfree Forest. I wince and keep my eyes forward, memories of the undead and the wooden wolves filling my mind.

I don’t know for how long I walk. Sticking to the river’s edge, I come across a large copse of oak and hickory trees. I bypass it and keep walking, using a small strip of damp riverbank between the copse and the river. As I walk, the terrain starts to rise on a steady incline. The riverbank becomes a cliff, and then eventually a gorge. In the distance I can see a railroad trestle that crosses the ravine.

Panting with the exertion and wincing from the soreness of my overworked muscles, I finally come to a stop. My breath is taken away by the sheer size of the gorge stretching out before me. It appears to be scores of meters deep, with the rushing river far below looking like a ribbon of blue and white. The ravine itself snakes its way into the distance and out of sight. Looking back, I can hardly see Ponyville at all.

I know I’ll have to go back eventually for Vinyl’s gig. The idea doesn’t appeal to me, but I gave my word. Even that obligation, however, feels trite to me. The whole point of making it was to help gather money for my expedition north...the one there’s no point in making now.

I sit down on the very edge of the ravine, my legs dangling over the lip into midair. The air is cold, but there’s no wind. I am alone, but the world is far from silent. From the forest nearby I hear the singing of the birds and the rustling of animals in the undergrowth. I can hear the cries of birds of prey that soar through the gorge, and even the faint rushing of the river far down below. It’s calming, but it does nothing to sweep away the strong sense of solitude I feel.





Vinyl glances up from the couch as I enter her house. All of her equipment looks to be all packed up and ready to go in the cart by the door. “Dude, where have you been? You’re like half an hour late,” she addresses me with some concern evident in her voice.

“I just lost track of time,” I reply curtly, shuddering as I get used to the warm interior of her house. Vinyl seems less than satisfied with that explanation, but she comes to join me as I move to the cart. “You won’t be late for your gig, will you?”

“Not if we get moving. I give myself plenty of time to set up,” Vinyl answers while we work on getting the cart out the door. “How did you miss it when the bell tolled six? The clock tower is pretty loud.”

“I went for a walk,” I answer, just as curtly as before. Vinyl raises an eyebrow at that, but doesn’t press any further.

“Awright, let’s get to it. Just your typical gig tonight; no Pinkie. There’s this place on the outer edge of town…” As we push the cart, Vinyl gives me the details of her next gig. Most of them mean nothing to me; not even the thought of a musical performance is enough to stir my emotions from the pit in which they reside. 

The night passes much like I thought it would. Vinyl has me doing much the same as I did at Pinkie’s party; unfurling the cables, untangling them if necessary, and carrying that which is too heavy for her to feasibly carry by herself. 

Yet, the work is torturous for my exhausted body. Just a few minutes of work has my muscles burning, my limbs shaking, and my chest heaving. Vinyl of course notices, and like Applejack, offers to give me a rest. Unlike Applejack, I manage to convince her otherwise and finish the job I was given. Unfortunately, the result of my stubbornness has me lying in a deep sleep in the most secluded corner I can find for the entirety of Vinyl’s show. She has to come find and wake me up at the end so the two of us can start cleaning up.

“By the way, how did your meeting with the princesses go?” Vinyl asked as we were finishing up. I pause, but only briefly. It’s not surprising that she’d be curious about them.

“They were...interesting,” is my rather undescriptive response. I have to suppress the bitter scowl that threatens to show on my face upon remembering the meeting with the princesses. Noting the unsatisfied look oon Vinyl’s face, I decide to give her just enough to assuage her curiosity. “They wanted to make sure I was acclimating well, and to tell me that I was welcome here.”

“See? I said you’d have nothing to worry about,” Vinyl says with a grin, nudging me. That seems to have satisfied her so I fall silent again and focus on moving the cart.





“Morning, Seth! How are you feeling?” Applejack greets me the next morning out in front of the barn. I find it hard to answer at first; my body feels worse than ever. My muscles feel weak and heavy, and they relentlessly pulse with waves of pain. I wanted nothing more than to stay in bed and suffer in solitude, but I forced myself into motion regardless. “You don’t look so great. Do you need some more rest?”

“I’m not going to skip out on you twice,” I tell her stubbornly, even as I bite back a whimper of pain. The thought of going through the entire day like this almost makes me want to give up right now. “Just...tell me what you need me to do.”

“You got it, partner. But if you collapse again, I’m sending you home, you hear?” Applejack warns me. She goes on to detail my tasks for the day without waiting for my answer. “Now, like I said yesterday, I’m gonna start you small and work your way up, if we’re gonna build up your muscle. I can probably give you some chores to do around the farm for now; I bet Apple Bloom would like coming home to no chores! Come with me, I’ll show you what’s what.”

Wordlessly, I fall into step behind her, wincing as every step sends a bolt of pain up my legs. She leads me to her little sister, and my work day begins. Just like she promised, I’m given menial tasks such as washing and folding laundry, repainting various walls and constructs where they may have faded, and even the dishes from yesterday’s dinner. 

Even though I know these are chores a child could complete, I’m grateful for the chance to take a break from heavy lifting. The downside of handling chores inside where it’s warm is that Granny Smith is often inside as well, and if there’s anything she likes to do, it’s talk. Despite my lack of any meaningful responses, she seems more than happy to prattle on by herself as long as I’m there to listen.

Lunch comes as a welcome respite, but it also means that Applejack and Big MacIntosh join us in the kitchen. This turns out to be a blessing in disguise; once Applejack starts a conversation with Granny Smith, it means none of them are focusing on me.

At some point during the meal, the conversation turns to the topic of an event called the Grand Galloping Gala. I don’t pay that much attention until Apple Bloom mentions that her sister looked “beautiful in one of miss Rarity’s dresses!”

“Shucks, sis, it was too frilly for my tastes,” Applejack remarks, brushing her mane uncomfortably. She’s all too quick to change the subject. “Oh yeah, that reminds me. Seth, Rarity told me she’s been looking for you. She said something about giving you clothes?”

“Right,” I acknowledge simply. For some reason, Apple Bloom starts snickering, only to get hastily hushed by her sister. “I’ll go to her soon. Thanks for the reminder.”

“No problem, sugarcube,” Applejack replies, satisfied. That random nickname causes me to glance at her oddly, but I don’t ask about it, finding that to be too much effort. “Oh yeah, and I’m thinking about asking Rainbow Dash back over tomorrow. That alright with you?”

“I don’t see why you need to ask me for permission. You’re the boss.” As much as the idea of having to meet with Rainbow again causes my mood to sink even further, I can’t muster up the desire to argue about it. “I won’t make an issue out of it. Do you need her to demolish something else?”

“Nah, this time I got some stuff that only a pegasus can do. I just thought I’d let you know beforehoof,” Applejack answers. That seems rather vague to me, but it’s not really my business, so I let the conversation end there. 

Before long, we finish our lunch and return to work.





Clutching my pay from the day’s work, I leave Sweet Apple Acres behind and return to town, the sun already starting to set. This may be one of the first evenings where I’ve nothing pressing to do, and I don’t know how to spend it. Applejack reminded me of my arrangement with Rarity, but the idea of associating with any of these ponies when I don’t need to doesn’t appeal me. 

On my way back to Vinyl’s house, I have to pass through the town square, which is full of ponies milling about, packing up their market stalls for the day or walking home before the sun completely disappears. Yet it quickly becomes clear that passing through such a well traveled area is a poor idea on my part.

“Oh hey, Seth!”

I stop in my tracks as a familiar mint green unicorn calls to me from a bench over by the fountain. Lyra and her seemingly ever present friend, Bon Bon, are sitting together on the bench. I’m uncertain what the acceptable amount of personal space is for ponies, but they’re awfully close to one another. 

When Lyra sees me, she leaps down from the bench and waves to me with a bright smile. Bon Bon just gives me an askance look and a roll of her eyes, clearly unhappy to see me. Either way, I don’t want to deal with any of them. I haven’t forgotten Lyra’s disgusting interest, and I’m not about to encourage it with my presence.

Lyra’s smile drops immediately when I turn on the spot, heading back the way I came without sparing her a look or even an acknowledgment in return.

“Seth, please, I was just playing before!” Lyra calls after me, audibly upset. 

Despite her cries, I continue on my way. I’m beginning to understand that no matter what I do, these ponies will never leave me alone. I don’t know if it’s some form of herd mentality or just sheer nosiness, but I do know that it’s becoming extremely hard to keep my patience. I don’t understand why they can’t just pass me by, like to what I’m used.

Before I realize it, my feet are taking me on a familiar path out of town. The idea of solitude appeals to me greatly, so I consciously speed up my pace until I leave Ponyville behind and make my way back to the gorge I sat at before. 

I sigh with a dull satisfaction as I sit down at the edge of the gorge, in the same spot as before, and stare down at the rocky riverbed far below. Seeing the rapid white frothy water race past the sharp rocks below is mesmerizing and awe-inspiring.

It isn’t long before I find myself reflecting. I can still remember it so clearly; walking through the park with Amaryllis, enjoying our short time together and planning for my future. The life that I’d hated for so long was just starting to become more bearable with her around, and my relationship with my family was finally starting to mend…

I slam my fist onto the ground with rage fueled by helplessness. All of them are dead now. Celestia was right about one thing: so many people were murdered by Sombra, but that’s more or less just a number to me. But Amaryllis and my family…

A choking sob leaves my throat, my eyes stinging with forming liquid. The fact that they’re gone sits in the middle of my chest like a ten ton weight that I can’t dislodge. All I can think about is that I want to see them again. I would give or do anything to be able to see them again. Even if it were just Amaryllis...she’d know what to do. She’d know how to handle this completely hopeless situation.

There’s nowhere for my anger and despair to go anymore, so it all turns inward. I continue to impact the ground with my fist until my knuckles bleed, shouting wordlessly with raw emotion. I could take it as long as I had the goal of going after Sombra. At least then, I could hold someone responsible for this. At least then, I could seek vengeance upon him, to whatever end that may have brought. But this…

If I had just watched where I was going...if I’d just walked right past him and out that door, maybe this all would have never happened. Maybe I could have died with Amaryllis and my family. Even that would be better than this ridiculous magical pastel-colored pony hell. To hell with them…walking around with their families and their friends, happy and oblivious. How dare they think they could understand how this feels? Maybe if their entire village were to be wiped off the map...then...maybe then they could understand!

My train of thought is suddenly interrupted by the sudden return of that strange pressure in my chest. It’s much more intense than usual, to the point where it’s difficult to dismiss as my body’s physical representation of my emotion. I cough and choke, thumping a fist to my chest in a vain attempt to alleviate the pressure. It feels like something frigid and dark is coursing through my veins, and my eyes start to burn, my vision slightly distorting.

After several minutes of fighting that feeling, it dies down, leaving me a frightened and panting mess on top of the ridge. My mind races with confusion and terror, and I can’t help but gaze down at my chest. 

“What the hell was that!?”





“You’re back late,” Vinyl comments from her position on her couch as I walk in through the front door. She shifts in her seat to look at me when I don’t answer. “You look cold, dude. You thought about using some of your extra money to get some warm clothes?”

“I’ll get around to it,” I acknowledge her, moving towards the kitchen. It looks like Vinyl has already eaten, judging from the mess on the counter and the dishes in the sink. Additionally, there’s a plateful of salad wrapped in plastic sitting on the table. “Is this for me?”

“Yup! I figured you were busy, so I threw together something simple,” Vinyl replied lazily from the couch. I hear the sound of turning pages, suggesting that she’s passing the time by reading a book or a magazine. I’ll assume the latter; Vinyl doesn’t seem like the bookish sort. I unwrap the plastic and force the dry leaves down despite my lack of appetite “By the way, it looks like I’m gonna have another gig on Friday. So not tomorrow, but the next day.”

“Okay,” I acknowledge her simply. For the first time, I have a general idea what day it is. The days have been blending together, each seeming to take an age to pass, so it wasn’t hard for me to lose track of time. I find it odd that ponies use the same naming convention we do, considering it has its origin in both ancient Babylonian and Norse culture. I don’t think too hard about it, though. The mystery behind the pony’s evolution and adoption of human culture doesn’t interest me as much as it first did. I finish the rest of my meal and wash it down, and then I head for the stairs. “I’m going to bed.”

I vaguely hear Vinyl acknowledging me before I shut myself in my room. After setting my pay down with the rest of my meagre savings in the drawer of my desk, I sit down on my bed and press a hand to my chest, recalling the strange feeling I’d experienced out there on the cliff. 

It’s not as though that was the first time I’d felt such a pressure. It’s been happening more and more every since I arrived in this era, but I’d always thought it was just a result of my own fear and anger. It’s not unheard of for people to experience strange physical feelings in conjunction to their emotional state. Yet that seemed so intense and so frightening that that theory seems less plausible.

A thought suddenly occurs to me. Considering the location of the strange pressure, I can’t help but remember the video I’d seen in the school, where Sombra’s spell had entered the same place. That can’t be the reason, however. According to what I’ve seen as well as my presence in this time, that was a spell (specified in the singular by Sombra himself) designed to bring me to this era.

Perhaps the magic he used is having some kind of adverse effect on my body. Or perhaps it has something to do with the fact that this is an entirely different environment. I’m surprised I haven’t gotten sick by now; ponies could be carriers for any number of illnesses to which humans aren’t accustomed.

I undress myself and lay down on the bed. A sensible next step would be to see a pony doctor, but I doubt I would be able to afford the bills; I don’t know if ponies have health insurance, but I do know that I don’t have any. More importantly, I feel fine now. Perhaps I really am just overthinking this, and it really is a result of my current emotional state. I can’t say I’ve ever felt like this before; perhaps the physical sensations get more intense as well.

If I’m wrong and it truly is something magical, or worse, a disease, then whatever it is could potentially harm me, or even kill me. Surprisingly, I’m not as bothered by that realization as I know I should be. There’s no place for me in this pony society, nor any reason for me to keep going. 

Perhaps dying wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all.





“Morning, Seth! You’re a little late this morning,” Applejack greets me as I arrive on the farm the following morning. Despite her words, she doesn’t seem all that upset. Instead, she takes the opportunity to nudge me slightly. “What, did you oversleep? Careful you don’t turn out like little miss Dash over here.”

“Hey, it was one time!” Rainbow protests, the irritating mare looking at Applejack indignantly. She must have arrived sometime before I did. She quails under Applejack’s unamused stare. “...and the time before that. And the time I wasn’t able to clear the clouds before they rained on your crops after you watered them.”

“And for the past three cider seasons,” Applejack quipped, causing Rainbow to flush and duck her head. “And weren’t you five minutes late this morning?”

“It was five minutes! Besides, you’re not so perfect yourself! Didn’t you miss the train to Canterlot that one time?” Rainbow Dash shoots back. “I had to go back for you!”

“My alarm clock was broken!” Applejack retorted, the two of them getting closer together, seemingly taking one another’s comments seriously. I get a little uneasy just watching them. “Maybe y’all should think about hiring somepony to drag you out of bed, cuz your internal alarm clock is broken!”

“That’s it, you c’mere!” Rainbow Dash suddenly tackles Applejack, the two of them tumbling over the ground. At first I take a step back, alarmed by the sudden fight, but then I hear the two of them laughing despite their roughhousing. “I’ll break your internal clock!”

“No you won’t! Lie still, you scruffy little varmint!”

I glance over at Big MacIntosh, who has just walked up with a bucket of tools in his mouth. He sets them down, notices the two wrestling ponies, and rolls his eyes with exasperation, yet smiles despite that.

“Do they do this often?” I ask with a raised brow.

“Eeyup.” Big MacIntosh answers simply.





I can only assume that Applejack is spending her time overseeing Rainbow’s work, so I spend most of the day working with Big MacIntosh, whose quiet nature comes as a welcome relief. Only saying that which needs to be said, we steadily make our way through the fields, harvesting the simpler crops that don’t require as much physical effort to pick.

“Take a short break,” Big MacIntosh instructs me after the cart is filled up an hour or so later.When I give him a quizzical look, he indicates the cart. “Tugging back the cart is a one pony job. I’ll be right back.”

I don’t protest. Instead I find someplace in the sun to sit. The light does little to raise the temperature, but it’s better than sitting in the shade. I sigh, looking at all that’s left to be done on the farm. It’s getting harder and harder to justify to myself why I’m still doing this. I suppose there’s the pride I hold in my word, but even that seems like a burden too heavy to shoulder anymore.

A flutter of wings sounds from behind me, and my spirits sink even further. I don’t even have to look to know that it’s Rainbow standing behind me, though what she wants with me I have no idea. I ignore her, hoping against hope that her presence here is work related.

“Hey, uh...Seth?” No such luck. Her distinctive scratchy voice addresses me from behind. Even though I don’t give an answer, she continues regardless. “Thanks for helping out Flitter the other day. That ribbon means a lot to her; I think her sister gave it to her when they were fillies.”

“I just happened to find it,” I answer her quietly with an uncomfortable shrug. Out of everything I’d come to expect from her, this was the last thing I would have expected. “Don’t let me keep you from your work.”

“Work? Oh, I’m done. I was just helping her out for a little while,” Rainbow informs me, much to my annoyance. She stretches briefly and yawns. “Now I need another nap. But before that, do you want to join the girls and I at Vinyl’s gig tomorrow?”

“I’ll be there.” As surprised and irritated as I am that she’s trying to be friendly again despite the fact that I’ve made it very clear I don’t like her in the least, it’s one of Vinyl’s gigs, so I’ll be there whether I like it or not.

“C’mon, you don’t have to be like...wait, what? Really?” Rainbow does a double take, having clearly expected me to say something scathing. Normally I would, but I’m just not feeling up to another argument with her.

“I work for Vinyl,” I remind her simply. Understanding dawns on Rainbow, the mare making a small “o” with her mouth. Hearing the rumbling of the cart along the ground, I get up and turn around, preparing to get back to work. “Big MacIntosh is on his way back. If you’re done, then please leave me here to my work.”

“Right, yeah.” Rainbow leaps into the air, her wings extending and flapping just hard enough to keep her hovering in the air. She gives me a strange look. “Are you...feeling okay?”

I don’t answer her.





Once the workday is over, it doesn’t take me very long to decide my next destination. This time, I consciously cut through town and head directly for the outskirts, taking care to avoid the town square on the way.

After taking a roundabout route through the alleyways to avoid running into ponies that know me, I end up passing in front of an oddly designed house that stood alone atop a small hill across the river. The only reason I notice it at all is because its roof looks almost like the canopy of a tree, complete with thick ivy and leaves. If it weren’t for the plaster walls and wooden-frame windows, I wouldn’t have been able to tell it was a house at all. 

Additionally, it’s surrounded by wildlife; scores of birds perch on the window sills or the leaves of the roof, rabbits and squirrels dart across the grass moving from tree to tree, and once I think I even see a badger rounding the corner of the house. All in all, it’s not something unusual enough to briefly catch my eye.

Unfortunately, it’s spoiled by the presence of a familiar pony standing on the bridge over the river, who appears to conversing with a soft-spoken butter yellow pegasus mare with a long pink mane. The conversation lasts until the pegasus catches sight of me...and then with a squeak, she zips into the house at a frankly impressive speed. I swear I even see a small cloud of dust where she had once stood.

“So you’ll be free for lunch tomor...what in the...Fluttershy, come back!” Twilight, who was the other pony speaking with the now missing mare, called after her, looking exasperated. With a sigh, she turned to find out what had scared her, only to see me walking by. “Oh, Seth! Wait there a moment!”

I don’t wait for her despite her words, causing her to break into a canter in order to catch up with me. She looks up at me with worry when I don’t even react to her presence.

“Hey, I was looking for you last evening. I had hoped you would drop by again to come talk with me,” Twilight reveals to me. Her expression becomes perturbed when she still doesn’t get an answer. “How are you feeling? I can help if you need someone to talk to.”

My teeth grit together at her words, her very existence serving as a testament to everything that’s gone wrong with my world. That she’s trying to act understanding at all is causing my ire to rise. Unfortunately, she’s not as perceptive as she is nosy, so she doesn’t pick up on any of this.

“Okay, so...not talking,” Twilight finally seems to get it when I continue to walk regardless of her words. She stares at me stubbornly, her mouth set in a firm line. “I can’t pretend to understand what you’re going through right now, but I wanted to tell you that we’re all here to help you. There’s no strings or other motives or whatever you think might be behind my offer; just that none of us want to see you suffer. Together, we could…”

“Would you give it a rest?” I finally snap, unable to handle her sanctimonious spiel any longer. I come to a halt on the path, the two of us standing just outside of Ponyville. Twilight’s mouth closes in surprise from my vehement response. “I don’t know what you think you’re trying to accomplish, but I don’t want any part of it. So turn your furry little ass around and go back to your friend.”

“Seth, is it really so hard to understand that I just want to-” Twilight, now riled up herself, steps closer to me.

“-to help? You think a few flowery words are going to make this go away? You think you can just say ‘I’m sorry for your loss’ and I’ll just perk right back up again? You know absolutely nothing about me,” I cut across her, venom entering my voice.

“Maybe I would if you didn’t always shut us out every time we try to know you!” Twilight shoots back with frustration. “Look, I am very sorry about what you’ve gone through. Nobody should have to live with what you do. But I do know that you can’t get through it alone.”

“What, and you’re going to be the friend that waltzes on by and magically cheers me up? Don’t make me laugh,” I retort sardonically, crossing my arms and glaring at her. “I don’t care if the princess told you to or whatever; go back to the life you were living before me, and stop trying to meddle in my business!”

“So do you just plan to live through life like this? Day after day, all by yourself?” Twilight demands. “I know more than anyone just how unhealthy that is! I won’t let you do that to yourself!”

“You won’t ‘let me?’ You seem to think you have a choice in that,” I seethe. I hold a hand to my chest, already feeling the pressure returning. Something that I’d been holding back for the sake of my now nonexistent goal surges to the surface, and it gets out before I can restrain myself. “You need to understand something. I have never asked for nor desired the companionship of any of you ponies from the moment I got here. In fact, I want nothing to do with you. Your kind is the reason I’m here, the reason my family and friends are dead in the first place, and now here you all are, enjoying your pretty and idyllic little life as though none of that ever happened. It makes me sick!”

“Seth, you can’t…” Twilight takes a step back, her ears folding back and her body shuddering at the sheer amount of venom in my voice. “You can’t blame us for that. That’s...that’s not fair…”

I stare at her, realizing by the expression on her face that I said too much.. I take a deep breath, and let it out as a long sigh.

“Just go back to town; I’m done talking to you.” Tired of this argument, I turn on my heel and continue on my walk out of town, my pace quickening in order to widen the difference between us as quickly as possible. Twilight calls after me desperately, but I don’t look back.

Once again, I’m at the cliffside, my legs dangling over the edge into the open air. I sit there lifelessly, my heart still beating quickly. As I gaze down into the gorge, I start to wonder if I’d gone too far in that argument with Twilight. I meant every word that I said, but I told myself again and again not to let them know my true feelings. Otherwise at best, I might lose my job and the house in which I’m staying, and at worst, I’d make an enemy of the town and get kicked out.

One question comes to my mind; one niggling question that I can’t dislodge. Would it really be a bad thing if I didn’t go back to Ponyville? There’s nothing there to which I’m attached; no reason to stay and suffer their increasingly intrusive attempts to befriend me. So why should I go back?

Yet, there’s a roof under which to stay and a source of income to keep me fed. Despite logic and pragmatism telling me that there’s no choice but to suck it up and deal, the thought of going back to Ponyville proves to be unbearable. Seeing Twilight’s stubborn but sad face, seeing Applejack take pity on my weak body, and seeing Vinyl greet me every morning and evening with prepared meals...all of it is unwelcome. 

I can’t take this. I can’t take all these emotions. Amaryllis. I just want Amaryllis to be here. I need to her sit beside me and whip me into shape. I need Amaryllis here with me now to tell me what to do. There isn’t a part of me that I wouldn’t tear out and crush if it meant I could have her back.There’s nothing that I wouldn’t sacrifice. I don’t care what I would have to do. It’s just not fair that I’m here and she’s not. If anyone deserved to live through the end it would be her. Why did I get to live when she had to die?

A chunk of the cliff on the opposite side of the gorge suddenly breaks away, breaking me out of my increasingly desperate thoughts. I watch in silence as the chunks of earth and rock plummet hundreds of feet into the gorge and break apart upon the jagged rocks jutting up from the river at the bottom. The sight causes a thought to rise in my mind.

If I can’t have her back, nor can I get revenge, then what’s the point of living anymore?





The sun shines down over Ponyville on a bright and clear Friday noon, revealing the scores of colorful ponies milling about the streets. It is an average day for the rustic town, with salesponies advertising their wares in the town square or in their small cubby hole shops, and the aromas of freshly made foodstuffs of all kinds mixing in the air to form a pleasant atmosphere.

“Would you smell that? It’s the smell of soft bread pulled fresh from the oven. Isn’t it just heavenly?” Rarity, the mare dressed in a simple sundress and hat, makes her way through the streets of Ponyville, accompanied by Fluttershy and the ever boisterous Pinkie Pie, who bounces along with every step.

“It does smell wonderful,” Fluttershy admits in her soft musical voice, a small smile making its way across her comely face as she inhales the scent hanging in the hair. 

“Ooh! That smells like Honey Baker’s sourdough! You can make the best sandwiches with a single loaf of that! If we weren’t meeting the girls for lunch, I’d definitely be going to get some!” Pinkie reveals excitedly, earning chuckles from her two companions. The three of them turn the corner into the square, where a restaurant complete with a set of outside tables is set up immediately to their right. “Speaking of whom, there they are! Good morning, girls...and Spike!”

Sitting at one of the tables by the restaurant were the three other ponies that Pinkie had mentioned as well as Spike, who was sitting on the top of the table with a bowl of gems in front of him. Rainbow flashes them a grin as they approached, beckoning them over with a hoof, while Applejack tips her hat and pulls out a chair for each of them. Twilight hardly looks up at the greeting, the mare forlornly gazing down at the tabletop.

“‘And Spike’ is right. Better not forget me,” Spike remarks with a good natured grin, scooping up a handful of gems with a claw and chowing down on them.

“Spike, do slow down; you’re getting chunks of gemstone all over the table!” Rarity fusses, promptly lifting a napkin with her magic and cleaning up the mess, while Applejack looks on with a roll of her eyes. “Do mind your manners. There are ladies at the table.”

“Morning y’all...or is it afternoon now?” Applejack greets the three as they approached and sat down in their respective chairs. “Rarity, you didn’t need to get all dressed up for a simple lunch meeting.”

“Of course I did! A lady must always look her best when walking the streets, and even more so on special occasions such as a lunch between friends!” Rarity insists, flaunting her hat and flattening out nonexistent wrinkles in her sundress.

“Totally, I even wore my best,” Rainbow replies with sarcasm, as she was wearing precisely nothing, as per usual. She then turns to Pinkie to greet her as well. “Morning, Pinkie Pie!”

“Is that a frown I see!?” Instead of acknowledging Rainbow, Pinkie’s response is to gasp, and then immediately zip on top of the table directly in front of Twilight, somehow not knocking everything over. “Not on my watch! Twilight, can a kangaroo jump higher than a house?!”

“Uh…” Twilight looks up, her wide eyes blinking. It took her a few moments to come up with an answer for Pinkie’s completely random question. “Maybe? I don’t know anything about kangaroos…”

“Of course they can! Houses can’t jump at all, silly!” Pinkie immediately responds, earning snorts and giggles from the others. “Did you know that Winona used to chase ponies around on a scooter a lot?”

“What…?” is all Twilight can say before Pinkie’s randomness.

“Hold up, Winona did what now?” Applejack joins in, raising a brow.

“Yeah, it got so bad I had to take her scooter away!” Pinkie finishes, once again to the amusement of the other mares. Pinkie huffs when her jokes fail to bring a smile to Twilight’s face. “Come on, those were some of my best jokes!”

“I’m sorry, Pinkie. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the effort, but…I’ve just got a lot on my mind,” Twilight confesses.

“Whatever is the matter, darling?” Rarity asks with concern, using her magic to lower Pinkie down from the table. “Weren’t you the one who suggested we all have lunch together today?”

“I know I was, but…” Twilight begins, but she trails off with a sigh. 

“It’s Seth, isn’t it?” Rainbow emits with a flat brow, sounding completely unsurprised and unenthused. “He said something nasty to you, didn’t he?”

“Well…” Twilight looks to be searching frantically for something to say, but beneath the scrutinizing gazes of her friends, she relents. “Yes, it’s Seth. Let’s wait for our food, and then I’ll tell you over lunch.”

There is a chorus of assent from the others, and they get to ordering their food when the waiter comes by. When a spread of sandwiches of various types and drinks lay on the table before them, Twilight begins.

“I can’t say much, but...he’s...going through a tough time right now, and I don’t know how to help him,” Twilight begins. “It’s...starting to get to me.”

“Seriously. I haven’t seen her this frazzled since Discord,” Spike chimed in, patting one of Twilight’s hooves with his claw.

“What, is it still the whole ‘alone in a town of ponies’ thing?” Rainbow‘s ire starts to rise, her eyes narrowing. “I’m done letting him use that as an excuse. He keeps hurting my friends, and he needs to stop.”

“It’s not just that anymore, Rainbow,” Twilight attempts to explain. “I can’t tell you everything for the sake of his privacy, but you know how focused he seemed to be on getting out of town?”

“Yeah, he keeps using that as an excuse too,” Rainbow retorts.

“He did originally come to work saying he was only gonna stay for a week or two,” Applejack affirms, but then she recalled something else. “He told me on Tuesday he wasn’t leaving no more. Something seemed off about him then too. Like he wasn’t as focused or driven.”

“Not to mention he completely forgot to come visit me, despite saying that he would,” Rarity sniffs, looking offended. “Do you know how many outfits I’ve already made for him? As it stands, they’re just hanging on the racks, completely unappreciated!”

“Something did seem off about him,” Rainbow finally admits, much to the surprise of the others, who knew well of her solid dislike for him. “I talked to him yesterday and he sounded so...out of it. He didn’t even snap at me like he always does.”

“He’s getting worse,” Twilight summarizes sadly. “I just...I just don’t get him. I’m trying so hard, but he just doesn’t understand. It seems like the more I try to help, the more he starts to hate me.”

“Did something bad happen? Cuz he seemed fine until Tuesday,” Applejack asks pointedly. “Even weirder, he didn’t come to work today.”

“He didn’t?” Twilight looked up with horror. 

“Nope. I figured the poor guy needed some rest after all,” Applejack added. “Though now that we’re all talking about it...”

“Oh no...I let him go, but I didn’t think he’d…” Twilight whispered to herself, much to the confusion of the others. Suddenly, she turned to Rainbow and placed both of her hooves on one of hers. “Rainbow, I need to ask you a huge favor.”

“Huh? Okay...but what is it? You’re acting kinda weird,” Rainbow looks uncomfortable beneath Twilight’s fervent gaze, her hoof twitching in Twilight’s grip.

“Will you please go find Seth for me?” Twilight pleads. Rainbow immediately adopts an expression that betrays just how little she wants to do that. “Please, he’s not used to Equestria; what if he stumbles into someplace dangerous, like the Everfree?”

“Why me? Why not Applejack or Fluttershy?” Rainbow returns with reluctance. Fluttershy promptly sinks beneath the table, out of sight. Applejack just gives Rainbow an askance look.

“Because you’re the fastest flier, and you could get to him before anything else happens. It’s already been a day, and I’m worried,” Twilight insists. Rainbow looks like she wants to complain more, but then she looks around to see everyone else staring at her expectantly.

“Fine, I’ll go,” Rainbow finally relents with bad grace. She wolfs down the rest of her meal and puts down her share of the pay, and then she gets up from the table and takes to the air. “Even though I know he’s just gonna yell at me and tell me how much I shouldn’t have bothered.”

“Thank you so much, Rainbow. I know I’m asking a lot,” Twilight expresses appreciatively, the frazzled mare letting out a sigh of relief. “Last I saw him, he was heading southeast past Fluttershy’s house. I’ll check Vinyl Scratch’s house to see if he went home last night.”

“Yeah yeah,” Rainbow reaches down and tousles Twilight’s mane with a hoof affectionately. “But you owe me a cupcake, you hear me?”

“I’ll buy you three!” Twilight promises with a smile.

“And I’ll throw in two more free!” Pinkie adds.

“Now we’re talking!” With all the extra encouragement, Rainbow zips through the air at a breakneck speed, leaving nothing behind except for a rapidly fading multicolored trail.





I stare over the edge of the cliffside, unmoving. Ravenous hunger unlike that I’ve ever felt gnaws at my stomach, and my throat feels dry. My body is chilled and every slight breeze feels like a dagger against my skin. My hair is matted from grease and sweat, and the remains of dried tears cling to my cheeks. Yet I can’t bring myself to move to alleviate any of these conditions. The pain and discomfort almost feels refreshing - like a way for me to physically feel the emptiness inside. 

It’s been hours and hours since I sat down. Applejack and Vinyl Scratch are probably wondering where I am. I know that should make me feel bad, but instead, I recognize that I’m doing them a favor. Now they won’t have to think or stress about me, and they can go back to their ordinary, happy naive lives.

I keep thinking about my future. When I was in school, I believed I knew what I wanted in life. I just had to keep moving forward, keep making pragmatic decisions, and succeed. In the end, I would have ended up in a lucrative job. It may not have been the most glamorous future, it didn’t matter to me at the time. As long as I had my music, my family, and my best friend, perhaps I could have found some form of happiness. 

Perhaps I could have settled down with Amaryllis. She would have taken up a job that exercised her excellent math abilities and made just as much money as myself. Maybe we could have had a small house or an apartment together. I think I could have been happy, as long as she was there with me.

I scoff, tossing a rock over the edge of the cliff. These wishful thoughts… why should I be having them now? Besides, I shouldn’t be feeling that way about Amaryllis. She was tough, reliable, and beautiful; I shouldn’t disrespect her by feeling like this. I can’t call it love; such a word is a pretty disguise for the ugliness of lust. The last thing she needed was some idiot lusting after her. The thought that I could feel anything of the sort towards her only disgusts me; she deserved better than that. 

But now, to what do I have to look forward? Slaving away endless hours out in the elements, exhausting my body and crushing my spirit, only to earn a few meager bits with which to pay my rent? For what would I do all of that? I’m the first human to walk the earth in millenia, and it doesn’t mean a damned thing. For everything that I’ve been through and all that I’ve endured, humanity is just going to go back to being extinct again. Nobody will care that I existed, or that I’ve died. 

With that thought, I slowly, steadily, rise to my feet, never once taking my eyes away from the depths of the gorge. The longer I look, the more inviting the jagged rocks jutting out of the river appear to me. If that’s all it’s going to come down to… if all I’m doing is performing the same actions every day like a robot, then there’s no point. Why should I linger, when the end result will be the same regardless?

I take one step closer to the edge of the cliff, my breath catching in my throat. My footsteps dislodge bits of rock and gravel, which plummet into the chasm below. The more I think about this, the more it seems like a good idea. I can’t do this. I can’t subsist for the rest of my life alone. More than anything, I want Amaryllis back by my side, to give my life some meaning again.

But I have to face the facts. I am alone. I will be alone for the rest of my life. Maybe Celestia and the rest of the ponies are right, and some of them are genuine. Yet even if that were true, it’s too late. I don’t think I’m capable of trusting another living creature, especially not a pony whose species I’ve little experience with.

I gaze at the rocks far below that will undoubtedly mean my death. Despite what I’m about to do, I find myself to be strangely calm. There are no more tears. My emotions feel numb, and even the hunger and thirst I feel seem to fade away to nothing. 

I'm just tired… tired and ready for it to be over.

I’ve made my decision. Without delaying any longer, my foot moves forward, over the edge of the cliff into nothingness. The obvious result to such an action is a sudden loss of balance as my weight carries me right over the edge. I don’t bother to flail or catch myself, even as one foot scraps against the cliffside.

A breath leaves my lungs as gravity swiftly takes over. My stomach feels nauseous as it struggles to keep up with my rapidly accelerating body. I close my eyes, knowing that it won’t be long now.

Time seems to slow down, and I can’t help but reflect over my past life. I can only wonder what my life would have been like if I’d have been born somewhere else. Maybe then, I wouldn’t have turned out the way I did. Maybe then, I wouldn’t feel so angry and bitter all the time. Maybe then, I would have had the chance to live a normal life.

I remember my childhood, when I was a naive fool with no idea what the world held in store for me. I had no idea how cruel humanity could be, nor did I let myself think about why people were as mean as they were… until one day, a single girl walked into my life, and ripped away my naivety to reveal the truth. 

The sound of the rushing river draws ever closer, at a painfully slow pace. I allow myself one last smile, my thoughts filling with images of Amaryllis. Perhaps I’ll be granted one last kindness, and I’ll be able to see her again in whatever awaits for me beyond death. At long last, the sound of the rushing rapids overpowers my every thought, signalling my incoming demise.

A tremendous crack shatters the air like a thunderclap, and before I realize what’s happening, something furry and warm presses against my body, two limbs grasping me tightly around the middle and holding me close. I open my eyes, but all I can see are the blinding colors of the rainbow.

I feel my trajectory evening out through a gradual curve, veering me away from what was supposed to be my imminent death without breaking every bone in my body. I’m moving at an impossibly fast speed, such that it’s making my body ache and the sounds of the river distort. The only thing I can think about is that I haven’t died like I’d intended. What the hell is going on, and why haven’t I perished? Or is that what this is, and there is some sort of reaper?

Whatever it is that has me eventually slows down, and lays me to rest on my back atop what feels like a grassy field, the individual blades tickling my back and making me itch. I keep my eyes closed, liking the idea of the next life being some sort of meadow. Yet, I start to suspect that something is amiss due to the faint rushing of the rapids in the distance...and the feminine panting that I hear right next to me.

“Whew! That was seriously close, even for me!” 

My heart stops as I recognize that scratchy voice immediately. There’s only one creature I know that talks like that. A helpless rage surfaces within me, my hands tearing at the grass. This has to be some kind of sick joke. I’ve gone through so much, and these ponies won’t even let me die!?

My eyes shoot open and I force myself into a sitting position despite the pain; sure enough, Rainbow Dash is sitting on the grass not far from me, her mane damp with sweat and hanging in tangles over her face. She flashes me a breathless smile...which immediately drops when she notices the intense glare I’m directing at her.

“Whoa, relax, buddy. You’re safe now, alright? I caught you,” Rainbow attempts to assure me, but it only has the opposite effect.

“Safe?! Why!? Why can’t you ponies ever leave me alone!? Why can’t you just let me go!? What did I do to deserve this!?” I yell at her furiously, my voice rising to an almost primal shout immediately, taking her very much aback. I press a hand to my face, trying to keep myself from sobbing despite my fury. “I didn’t ask for this! I didn’t ask for you! Who the hell do you think you are!?”

Rainbow’s eyes are as wide as dinner plates after my tirade… but it doesn’t take her long to snap out of it. Her eyes flashing with anger, she gets to her hooves and glares right back at me.

“What do you mean , ‘who the hell do I think I am!?’” Rainbow retaliates, her voice rising as well as she echoes my own bad language back at me. “I saw you falling into the gorge, so I had to pull off a Sonic Rainboom just so I could reach you in time, in case you hadn’t noticed!  A simple ‘thank you’ would be nice!”

“Thank you!? You think I’m going to thank you for this!? You think I wanted you anywhere near me!? I left Ponyville, just like I said I would! You were done with me for good! Why did you come out after me!?” I shoot right back, clenching my fists so hard that my uncut nails start to draw blood from my palms. “Why couldn’t you just let it end!?”

“Uh, in case you didn’t hear me the first time, I came out to save you, which I did quite awesomely, I might add!” Rainbow waves a hoof in front of me as though what she’d said was the most obvious thing in the world. “Besides, what the hay were you even doing, walking off a cliff like that!? It’s like you were trying to...to…”

Rainbow suddenly trails off as the realization hits her all at once. I watch as the anger on her face fades away entirely, to be replaced by pure and unadulterated shock. She stares at me with wide eyes, her jaw still frozen in the middle of her sentence. She starts to tremble, the very thought of suicide no doubt entirely alien to her. The thought must never even occur to these happy ponies in their happy and idyllic world.

Suddenly, Rainbow closes the distance between us and her hoof slams into my face with so much force that my head snaps to the right, pain exploding from the point of impact and white stars erupting in my vision. I cry out and clutch a hand to my cheek, staring at Rainbow with disbelief. She really just hit me… but damn, she hits hard. 

“Why...why would you…?” Rainbow stammers, and to my shock, I can see tears glistening in her eyes. She glares at me tearfully, her body shaking with emotion. “You… you were, weren’t you? Answer me!”

“What are you getting so upset about?” I demand incredulously. “This is the way it should be. Once I’m gone, you can go back to living your life without having to think about me. Isn’t that what you want?”

“You… You idiot! How could you even think that that’s what I want!?” Rainbow shouts back at me, the volume of her shout rivaling that of mine only a few moments ago. “Why would I ever want you to...to die!? Wait, I have a better question. Why would you ever want to die!?”

“I’m not answering that. What I choose to do with my life is none of your business,” I manage to get out between gritted teeth. In the blink of an eye, Rainbow is in my face, the fervor in her eyes serving to astonish me even further. I can’t fathom why it is she would be so upset about this, when she’s hated me since the first time we met. “Wha…?”

“No, you know what? I don’t have to take that! You can’t pull something like this and expect me to pretend I didn’t see anything!” Rainbow asserts, jabbing a hoof into my chest with nearly enough force to knock me over. “You’re not going anywhere until you tell me why, buster!”

I scoff at that. “What do you think you’re going to do about it? If I didn’t tell you anything before, I’m certainly not going to tell you anything now.” I turn my back on her and start to walk away, with the intention of making my way back to the top of the gorge. I’m not entirely sure where I am now, but if I use Ponyville as a reference point, I should be able to find my way back. “I’m leaving. It’s best you go back to town and forget about-uuh!?”

I don’t get more than a few feet before Rainbow zips around me and shoves me backwards with both of her front hooves, knocking me off my feet and onto my rear. I attempt to rise, but before I get even halfway up, Rainbow’s hoof slams down on my sternum, forcing me back down and pinning me there.

“You’re not… going… anywhere. I’m making this my business,” Rainbow expresses with a low growl. I struggle in an attempt to get free, but to my surprise, I can’t budge her. When I take a closer look at her, I note the presence of powerful muscles rippling just beneath her skin. Comparing them to the other ponies I’ve seen, they’re exceptional. This can only mean I’m looking at a pony who takes very good care of her body. “You’re staying right there until you talk to me!”

“To hell with this!” Snapping, I reach up, and with as much strength as I can muster, I punch Rainbow right in her exposed belly. Rainbow’s eyes shoot wide and she coughs, the wind leaving her lungs and her grip faltering just enough for me to throw her aside and break into a run. I will not stay and be bullied by this goddamn pony!

Despite my attempts to put as much distance from her as possible, I quickly learn that I might as well have tried to run to the moon. As much as I hate to admit it, her bragging had some basis in truth. With her speed, I can’t get more than a few meters away before she’s already caught up to me.

“Get back here!” Rainbow yells, her hooves already reaching out for me. I dive down and scrape up a pile of dirt and grass, and throw it directly into her face. She pauses and frantically tries to clear her eyes. “Gah! You cheating little... !”

With her so indisposed, I double back and sprint past her, running down a hill and into a cleft in the rock that looks like it’ll take me deeper into the canyon. Like before, I don’t manage to get very far before Rainbow swoops down from above and cuts me off. Unable outrun her again, my hand drifts to my rifle. All I can think of is getting her away from me, despite the fact that I’d have to harm her to do so. I unsling my rifle from my back and swing it at her desperately.

“Whoa!” Rainbow veers around the strike easily and circles around me, and then she immediately propels herself back just enough to avoid my second swing. She glares at me and boldly intercepts my third swing, catching the muzzle of the rifle on the cannon bone of a forehoof and kicking my wrist hard enough to dislodge the weapon from my grip. “Put that down before you hurt someone!”

The rifle now skidding across the canyon floor near me, I have nothing else other than my fists. My right fist careens forward and collides with her chest...hitting solid muscle. I cry out in pain, nursing my aching hand. Rainbow takes the opportunity to bash her two front hooves into my chest, once again knocking me flat on my back, my head just barely avoiding the rock and landing on grass instead.

I don’t rise again, my chest heaving from the exertion. My body is already weak from hunger, thirst, and exhaustion; As much as I hate to admit it, I can’t keep this up. 

“So...are you done?” Rainbow asks simply, the mare sitting down on her haunches a few feet away. She takes a moment to wipe some of the debris off of her muzzle from earlier, making a disgusted face as it smeared into her fur. 

“Shut up,” I groan miserably, my body aching all over. Other than that, I can’t come up with anything else to say, even after my breath returns to me. I remain silent for several minutes, trying to think of another way out of this, but eventually I realize that there isn’t one. Rainbow isn’t going to let me leave until I give her a reason, and it’s become clear that she can enforce that. I curse the situation that I’ve somehow landed in. What I can’t understand is why Rainbow would have any reason to be this far away from town in the first place.

Rainbow waits for me to say something, her impatience clear to see. After the first few minutes, she starts to fidget in place; one hoof will start fiddling in the gravel, or a wing will start to flap idly. One time, she even starts humming under her breath. Clearly, she’s not used to staying in one place for this long. Yet for some reason, she’s putting in the effort for me.

“Why are you doing this?” I finally ask after roughly ten minutes pass. Rainbow glances at me with some relief, but that quickly turns to confusion.

“Huh? Doing what?” At first, it sounds like Rainbow is mocking me, but when I glance over at her, she looks genuinely confused by my question.

“This. Saving me. Forcing me to talk to you. Why do you even care whether I live or die?” I demand helplessly. 

“You’re kidding. You even need to ask why I care if someone dies?” Rainbow looks at me as though I had just told her the dumbest thing she’d ever heard.

“Of course I do! You’ve made it very clear how much you hate me. Now you’re suddenly turning around and saving my life, even though I didn’t want you to?” I snap back, irritated. “So what is it you hope to gain? Is it just because I’m human?”

“Okay, there’s so much wrong with what you just said,” Rainbow huffs stubbornly. “Look, I don’t care that you’re human. News flash, you’re not exactly the only species to walk around on two legs. And, I never said I hated you. You’re just an insufferable jerk who’s mad all the time and is like… allergic to fun.”

“Then why? Why can’t you have just let me die? It’s what I want…” Before I finish talking, a rock hits me in the side of the head, causing me to yelp.

“Stop talking like that! I’ll punch you again!” Rainbow suddenly yells at me in a shaking voice. “Saving someone is common sense! Besides, you’re not a bad guy…”

“Are you serious!? How can you even say that, when every single time we’ve met, we’ve argued? What about all the times I’ve ‘hurt your friends?’ Those were your words,” I snap back incredulously.

“Hey, I said you were a jerk! But I’m also saying that there’s a decent guy somewhere beneath all the… the jerk,” Rainbow retorts rather ineloquently. Before I can protest, she continues. “I was standing right there when you gave that ribbon back to Flitter. Her sister gave that to her when they were fillies; I’ve never seen her with it off. You should have seen the smile she wore for the rest of the day.”

“That doesn’t mean anything. I just happened to find it,” I point out.

“Now you’re lying,” Rainbow replies instantly, causing me to freeze. “I spoke to Clear Skies. She told me you saw Flitter, stopped, and went back for the ribbon. You knew exactly what you were doing. So don’t try to hide it from me!”

“Fine…” I admit grudgingly, disgusted at myself for allowing her to verbally drive me into a corner. “So what, you’re trying to save me because you feel like you owe me?” 

“No! Can you stop putting words in my mouth? I saved you because I wanted to save you!  Besides, I’d have done this way sooner if I knew your issues were this bad!!” Rainbow shoots back with annoyance, baffling me further. “Besides, this isn't about me, so stop dodging my question!”

“What question?” I ask in a vain attempt to buy myself a little more time.

“Why did you jump off of that cliff!?” Rainbow demands once again, moving even closer to me. “What was so bad, that you tried to… to… kill yourself?”

“You wouldn’t understand. You’ve never lost a thing in your life,” I reply bitterly after a few moments of silence. 

“Yeah? Try me. Neither of us are leaving until I get an answer,” Rainbow repeated her decision for the third time. Deprived of any other choice, I let a long, heavy sigh. I can’t believe I’m about to do this.

“Who would you say your closest friend is?” I ask. The oddity of my question gets Rainbow to raise an eyebrow. 

“Closest? Gosh, that’s a hard question...hm...maybe Fluttershy? Ah, but Applejack is pretty fun to mess around with. There’s Twilight….and..” Rainbow appears to really struggle with this question, making me somewhat envious of her wide circle of friends.

“Now imagine all of them were to disappear from your life, without any warning.” That statement gets Rainbow to blanch, looking horrified by the prospect. “Now imagine you knew whose fault that was. What would you do?”

“Could I get them back again?” Rainbow asks hopefully. When I answer in the negative, her head droops, the mare looking clearly distraught by the scenario I’d just presented her. “Then...I’d find the jerk who took them all away and make him pay!”

“Now what if you couldn’t even do that?” I press further, one hand clenching into a fist. Rainbow was silent, her jaw hanging slightly open.

“I… I… don’t… know,” Rainbow finally admits, the mare completely at a loss. At last, the meaning of my words finally dawns on her. “Wait, so that’s what got you like this?”

“More or less. I had a goal...but now I have nothing. So what would it matter if I died? I was never meant to exist in this era, anyway,” I answer softly. “Are you satisfied? If so, it’s best you leave, and forget about me.”

“Not happening, buddy,” Rainbow expresses with the same amount of fervor as before, much to my shock and dismay. “I still can’t agree with you.”

“Wha…?”

“So what if all of my friends were gone? That doesn’t mean they never existed in the first place!” Rainbow begins, her brow set with determination. “They would want me to keep living! Actually, if I were the one to disappear, I’d never forgive my friends if they gave up like you’re doing right now!”

“So what the hell do you expect me do!?” I demand, honestly wanting her to give me an answer.

“Not throw yourself off a cliff,” Rainbow replies matter-of-factly. “Seriously, whoever your friends were, this is not what they’d want!”

“And how would you know what they’d want?” I retort. “You know absolutely nothing about them!”

“I don’t need to! If they were friends of yours at all, you dying is the last thing they’d want!” Rainbow counters. “They’d want you to move on, make more friends, and be happy!”

“Again with the friends! How can you even suggest that? Am I supposed to just pretend my friend never existed?” I respond, frustrated.

“What? You can have more than one friend, genius! Making a new friend doesn't mean replacing the old one!” Rainbow informs me as if she were talking to an idiot, irritating me further.

“So what, you expect me to just get over it and make friends with the ponies!?” I growl, disgusted by the very thought. “You think I can trust any of you?”

“There it is again; you thinking we’re some kind of bad ponies! I don’t know why you keep saying that, but we’re not out to ruin your life!” Rainbow huffs. 

“You could have fooled me…”

“Actually, you know what? Give me a chance!” Rainbow suddenly tells me, her eyes betraying just how serious she is. I blink at the sudden request. It sounds an awful lot like she’s asking to be my friend. She notices the look on my face. “Yeah, you heard me. I don’t know what happened to you to make you hate us so much, but I’ll prove to you that I’m not like that!”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I, Rainbow Dash, am going to stick by your side from here on out. You hear me? I’ll show you just what kind of pony I am!” Rainbow presses her hoof to my arm, the mare staring at me right in the eyes. “From now on, you and I are friends!”

“What the hell?” I say with complete surprise. Out of everything that she could have said, that was the last thing I expected to hear. “You can’t just declare yourself my friend!”

“Too bad, cuz I just did,” Rainbow sticks her tongue out at me childishly. “I know you’re not all jerk, and a friend is just what you need to get through this.”

“Yeah? And what if I hurt you again, like I’ve been doing to all your friends?” I insist. This whole conversation has thrown me for a loop. I’ve never opened myself up like this to anyone except Amaryllis. I hate the way that I feel right now, but I keep telling myself that I had no other choice but to tell her. Rainbow gave me no other option.

“I’ll take that chance! Friends take chances on each other, even when we don’t know what’s gonna happen!” Rainbow continues, never hesitating even for a moment. My eyes widen, her words sounding oddly familiar. No… it can’t be. Not again. There’s no way the two of them could be that similar. “So how’s it fair if I’m the only one taking that chance? You’ll never know if you can trust me if you keep running away all the time!”

I honestly don’t have a response. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard that argument used against me. Only one person has said something like that to me… and she was my only friend.

“So you get it now? I’ve got your back. All you gotta do for me is… live. Just live, okay?” Rainbow’s voice breaks a little at her last request, the amount of emotion in her words clear even to someone like me. “That’s all.”

“That’s all?” I repeat, my emotions jumbled up in my mind. Rainbow nods solemnly. That has to be the hardest anyone has ever fought back against and for me, when they seemingly stand nothing to gain from it. I honestly don’t know what to think. Despite everything I feel and believe, part of me starts to think that maybe she isn’t lying to me. 

I don’t get it. We haven’t gotten along from the moment we met. Not one positive word has been shared between us, and even now I can still remember the animosity I felt towards her every time I remembered her face. I don’t understand why she cares so much whether I live or die. I don’t understand why she doesn’t just go back to the way her life was before she met me.

“That’s all,” Rainbow affirms. “So...can we get up and go back to town now? Or do I have to yell at you some more?”

“I think you’ve made your point,” I grunt, too mentally drained to continue this conversation any further. My rage is slowly dying down, leaving nothing behind save for a mess of convoluted emotions of which I can’t make much sense. The only thing of which I’m sure is that I don’t know what I want to do anymore; I need some time to think. “But I have one last question.”

“Sure! What is it?” Rainbow responds curiously.

“Why were you out here in the first place?” I query, at last getting to ask the question that’s been bothering me ever since she appeared. “I went this far away from town purely so that none of you could find me.”

“Oh that? Well, I was looking cuz Twilight asked me to,” Rainbow confesses. I turn my head to look at her incredulously. If the only reason she was out here was because she was asked to be… “Hey, stop looking at me like that! She may have told me to find you, but I meant everything I said!”

“Right,” I reply shortly, my curiosity sated. “It’s probably because she doesn’t want to look like an idiot in front of the princess.”

“You didn’t see her face when she asked me to go,” Rainbow points out stubbornly. “It wasn’t just her, either. Applejack’s missing a worker, Rarity apparently has been designing up a storm… like it or not, you’ve got ponies worrying about you.”

“I’ve been here too long,” I groan as the last of my plans falls apart. The first thing I told myself when I first arrived to Equestria was that I wouldn’t get attached or let any of these ponies get attached. As it turns out, even as cold as I am, I can’t even do that right. I yelp as Rainbow starts to impatiently prod my side with a forehoof. “Alright, fine, I’m getting up.”

I grunt and struggle to my feet, picking up my rifle from where it had fallen earlier. I glance back towards Ponyville. The thought of going back still doesn’t appeal to me, but now it doesn’t seem as hellish as it did before, for some reason. With a sigh, I start to walk, Rainbow keeping pace just beside me.

“You’re probably hungry, cuz you were out here all the time. Did you know I had to miss lunch?” Rainbow complained as we walked.“I didn’t get to eat breakfast this morning, so I’m starving!”

I roll my eyes; this is going to be a long walk back.
> 13. Seth's Renewal (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I don’t think going back is a good idea,” I voice with trepidation, coming to a stop just as Ponyville comes into sight. Rainbow, who has been flying just ahead of me this whole time, wheels around to face me.

“What? Why not? We’re almost there,” the mare presses a hoof to her rumbling stomach. “I’m hungry!”

“So you’ve said three times so far,” I return wryly. “The thing is, I left Ponyville without planning to return. I...told Twilight some nasty things. She was getting too pushy, and I took everything out on her.”

“That explains why she was so down in the dumps today.” Rainbow turns around to give me a glare. “You should apologize to her. She was seriously worried about you.”

“If she was before, she certainly isn’t now.” The thought of apologizing for what I said doesn't sit well with me; if I had said something I didn’t mean—sure—but those were my true feelings. “But you’re missing my point. I probably angered Twilight, I skipped out on farm work even though I gave my word to Applejack I’d help her with the harvest, and I didn’t even bother making my first payment to Vinyl yet.”

“Sooo…?” Rainbow seems clueless as to where I’m going with this. “What’s your point?”

“They likely don’t want me in town anymore.It would be better if I stayed far away.” Instead of understanding the sentiment, Rainbow just gives me a deadpan stare.

“We were just over this,” she reminds me. “Nopony is gonna hold this against you. If I held a grudge every time I argued with my friends, I wouldn’t have any friends left.”

“They’re not my friends,” I say plainly, much to Rainbow’s frustration. 

“Of course they are! I mean, we’re friends now so, by extension, they are too!” Rainbow points out stubbornly.

“First of all, only one of us seems to think we’re friends. Second of all, that’s not how that works,” I say, already feeling the beginnings of a migraine taking form.

“It is too how it works!”

“What are you, five years old?”

“If I’m five years old and I understand friendship, what’s that say about you?” Rainbow shoots back with a smirk. I do a double take, looking back at her with surprise. The point she’s making isn’t what shocks me. Rather, it’s the fact that she’s smack talking me. My head tilts to one side as Rainbow prods my cheek with a hoof. “Are you two years old, wittle guy?”

“Quit that,” I grunt, pushing her hoof away from my face. A hint of nostalgia comes back to me as I recall the times Amaryllis and I would talk smack to each other similarly. Granted, I’d typically end up on the losing end of those conversations, but they were fun nonetheless. So lost was I in my grief and need for revenge, I’d forgotten what that felt like. “Fine, I guess we should keep going.”

“Good! Sooner we’re back, the sooner I can eat!” The two of us start to get moving again. I gaze at her for several moments as we walk, as if trying to etch her features into my mind. Yet no matter how long I look, I can’t figure out what to think about her.





Ponyville looks the same as always. It’s still early in the afternoon, so activity is high. And despite the fact that it hasn’t changed, it feels different to be back. If there’s no way back then this is home now, whether I like it or not. I suppose I should bother learning my way around the place. 

The throng of ponies in the street assault my eyes with their various colors. I find my gaze lingering on some of them. These are ponies whom I’ll be living with from here on out, so learning their names might prove beneficial to me. 

I know what I should do, but finding the motivation to do any of it is turning out to be a challenge. The questions still linger on my mind—why should I bother? What’s the point? I suppose I still have much to think about. I just need to find the time to do so.

“Rainbow! You found him!” That’s Twilight’s voice; just hearing it causes me to wince. I close my eyes and take a few brief moments to mentally prepare myself, even as I hear the sound of hooves rapidly approaching. When I open my eyes, Twilight is standing right in front of me, looking very relieved, yet still very much concerned. There isn’t a trace of anger in her expression, despite what I said earlier. “Seth, I’m so glad to see you! Are you alright? I heard from Vinyl that you didn’t come home last night and I was so worried that something might have happened to you!”

Behind Twilight, I can see several more ponies catching up to her: Rarity, Applejack, Vinyl, Pinkie, and the one Twilight referred to as Fluttershy. I grimace; I hadn’t planned on dealing with them all at once. I don’t even know what to say to Twilight, for crying out loud.

“I’m fine for the most part. I just needed some time away from Ponyville,” I reply, disliking how close to lying I am. There’s no way in hell I’m telling any of these ponies about what really happened on the cliff. The only possible outcome from that would be in them becoming insufferable in their attempts to ‘fix me’. “You didn’t need to bother sending one of you after me...especially one that you know I don’t get along with.”

“Of course I did! Nobody had heard from you for nearly twelve hours!” Twilight returned, her tone making it clear what she thought of my words. 

“Seriously, dude, I was about to get the guard involved before Twilight found me,” Vinyl chimed in as she caught up with us. “If you’re gonna wander off, let somepony know first, okay?”

“As far as we knew, you went missing. Rainbow’s the fastest there is, so if she couldn’t find you, nopony could,” Applejack adds, the farmer putting on a smile as her eyes meet mine. I don’t get it. It was only twelve hours; it’s not as though I were gone for days. “By the way, why are y’all covered in dirt?”

“I would like to know the answer to that question myself. You both look absolutely atrocious!,” Rarity comments, turning up her nose at our current condition. My skin is scraped and smeared with dirt due to our altercation, and my jeans are torn in several places. “Don’t you roll your eyes at me, Rainbow Dash. Your muzzle is practically a different color!”

“I...uhh…” I’m finding it hard to come up with an answer, especially when pressured by the gaze of all these different ponies wanting answers. 

“I pushed him down a hill,” Everyone’s attention switches over to Rainbow brushing her mane sheepishly with a hoof. “What? He was being a jerk.”

“And your muzzle?” Rarity questions.

“I shoved her face into said hill,” I join in on the story Rainbow is conveniently weaving. The fact that she’s not telling them about what really happened is both surprising and relieving. I glance up at her gratefully—a glance that she catches and gives a discrete wink in return. “I just said we didn’t get along. I don’t know why you’re acting so surprised.”

“We’re cool now though,” Rainbow hastily assures them. The other ponies look at one another, and then back at her, not entirely convinced by that.

“It’s fine. More importantly, are we done here?” Now I get the odd looks; no doubt because I didn’t refute Rainbow’s words. I don’t know if I’d call us “cool,” but I’m not about to argue while surrounded by eight other ponies that would most certainly gang up on me. “This is starting to feel a whole lot like an interrogation, and I’m not really in the mood.”

“Ain’t nopony interrogating you, Seth,” Applejack stepped forward to stand in between Twilight and Rarity. “Now, I don’t know much about what’s going on with you, but s’far as I hear, you’re not here cuz you wanna be. If you need time off, you can have it.”

I avert my eyes, feeling distinctly uncomfortable by her understanding words. However, I don’t get a chance to respond before Rarity jumps in.

“Don’t forget about all the clothes I’ve made for you. I’ve been waiting on them for days. Why don’t you stop by the boutique first? I’ll even let you use my shower to clean up. You look positively dreadful, dear.”

I roll my eyes. “Thanks.”

She’s right, however. If I’m going to be staying here, I need clothes more than ever, maybe even that shower. The time I’ve spent here has not been kind to my hair; it’s stringy, greasy, and matted—nothing like the silky smooth feel and neatness that I once worked so hard to maintain. 

“I’ve also got some leftovers from last night’s dinner, if you wanna just stay home and relax,” Vinyl adds, giving me yet another option on what to do with the rest of my day. 

“Sounds like you have a lot on your plate!” Twilight chimes in next. Pinkie giggles beside her, causing her to check her wording. “Er, no pun intended. Oh, I could help you plan if you’d like! I find having a well organized schedule is a key factor in reducing day-to-day stress!”

“I’m thoroughly capable of managing my own time, thank you.” I decide to nip that in the bud right away; the thought of Twilight micromanaging my schedule is less than appealing to me. I glance at the two ponies that have legitimate claims on my time and sigh; neither option seems particularly exciting at the moment. “It would make more sense if I got some work done with Applejack today before visiting you, Rarity.”

“Works for me. No sense in gettin’ all dolled up and then comin’ to work,” Applejack replies with a nod.

“I suppose that’s true, but I must insist you come to see me the very instant you finish up at the farm! I guarantee you’ll be pleased with what I’ve designed!” Rarity insists with only a slight hint of disappointment present in her voice. 

“I intend to pass by, you don’t need to be so pushy,” I say with some irritation. “Applejack, can we please go?”

“You sure you’re up for it? Like I said, I don’t mind givin’ you time if you need it.” 

“Anything’s better than staying here,” I shove my hands into my pockets. “I need to get out of your way so you can all go back to doing whatever it is you were doing before I disrupted your day yet again.”

“Even though everyone seems convinced everything is fine, Twilight still looks like she’s wants to say something. The possibility of another argument with her is already causing a headache to form behind my eyes. 

“What the hay, I’ll go too. Applejack, do you have food at your place? I had to miss lunch, so I’m hungry!” Rainbow interjected before Twilight could get started, earning a huff from the latter. I never thought I’d say this, but thank God she’s here. This could have gotten so much worse had Twilight figured out what I tried to do.

“I always got plenty of food. I don’t mind letting y’all eat if ya need to,” Applejack says. “Anyhoo, we’re all good here?”

“I’m good. Catch ya at home, Seth,” Vinyl replies, breaking away from the group. “See you later. You too, Dash. You coming to my next gig, right?”

“Ha! As if I’d miss it.” Rainbow says, earning a grin from Vinyl. 

“I guess we’re done. I’m glad you’re okay, Seth,” Twilight finally relents, although she doesn't look all that satisfied. I notice Rainbow giving me a pointed look—she wanted me to apologize to Twilight. 

“Whatever,” is all I can bear to say to her before joining Applejack as we start to make our way to the farm. I hear Rainbow huff disapprovingly behind me, but I don’t pay her any attention. I may have been overly harsh on Twilight, but I wouldn’t feel right apologizing for it. I shouldn’t have to apologize for saying the truth, harsh though it may be.

“You sound beat,” Applejack comments, noticing how out of breath I sound. I can’t bring myself to answer immediately—I don’t recall the last time I felt well-rested or comfortable. “You sure you don’t need time to rest?”

I shake my head to clear the fuzziness away. “If I let myself relax for even a second, I’ll be out for days,” I say, earning some amusement from the two ponies. 

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Rainbow retorted as she performed a few lazy twirls in the air. “Sleeping for days is the best!”

“Don’t you go influencin’ Seth with your bad habits now, Rainbow Dash.”

“They’re not bad habits! I still get things done!” Rainbow shoots back. The two of them start to bicker good-naturedly with one another, until I eventually decide to just tune them out.

As the farm comes into view, I shake my head in disgust. Despite everything, nothing has changed. I’m still in the same situation I’ve been in since I learned of Sombra’s death. There’s no real future for me except to keep working on this damn farm day after day. Like a machine, but at least a machine doesn’t feel.

I glance at Rainbow, who is currently attempting to talk around Applejack’s hoof, for whatever reason. Rainbow said that I shouldn’t give up… that Amaryllis wouldn’t want me to give up. But what else am I supposed to do, then?

“Alright, let’s settle down now,” Applejack finally brings me back to reality as the three of us reach the farm. “I’ll whip us up some lunch real quick. Seth, if you wanna get started, there’s some laundry that needs foldin’ out in the yard. Or you could sit by and wait. Makes no difference to me.”

“I’ll get to work on the laundry,” I say. Applejack nods and points to where all the laundry is gathered for me—a clothesline out front containing towels and bedsheets.

“Alright, I’ll bring lunch out when it’s done. You comin’ with me, Dash?” Applejack askes.

“Nah, I’ll wait out here with Seth,” Rainbow responds. Applejack raises one eyebrow, and Rainbow starts to look rather uncomfortable under her gaze. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Just thought you two didn’t get along, is all,” Applejack slowly repeats my words back to us. 

“Yeah, but I said we were cool. Seth and I are buds now!” Rainbow quickly proclaims. If Applejack could look any more skeptical than she does right now, I would be frankly impressed. She then glances at me anxiously, as if worried about how I am reacting. Rainbow looks at me as well.

It would have been easier for her to keep that little titbit to herself. At least then she could get by without having to justify herself to her friends. Is she deliberately choosing to make things harder on herself?

“Well then, ‘bud’, if you’re feeling so chummy, how about helping me with the laundry?” The sarcasm is practically dripping from my tone. Applejack lets out a sigh of relief, before chuckling.

“Work? Yeah, right! This time, I’m here for moral support!” Rainbow declares. She then zips up to the skies, soaring all the way up to the cloud layer. As I watch incredulously, she tears away a pony-sized chunk of cloud and brings it all the way down to us, a few feet overhead. She then plops down on top of it as though it were no different than a piece of furniture, a smug expression on her face. “You can do it!”

I stare up at her with one eye twitching. “...I don’t even know what to say,” I express with exasperation as I turn away from her. I’m not even going to try to reason how she did what she did with the cloud. “I’m ever so glad to have such a dependable source of motivation watching over me.”

“You’re welcome!” Rainbow’s reply sounds so disgustingly smug I feel the strong desire to flip her right off of that cloud, if such a thing were even possible.

“Right. Well, y’all have fun now. I’ll be back in a few,” Applejack tells us, the farmer pony smiling warmly at the interaction between Rainbow and myself. 

She retreats back to the farmhouse, leaving me alone with Rainbow. A silence falls between us as I get to work, doing my best to ignore Rainbow’s presence behind me. Yet this only results in the return of my prior thoughts.

I have to admit one thing to myself. Rainbow was right; Amaryllis would find my current state totally unacceptable. She was always the one to cheer me up whenever I was down, typically by dealing me a merciless tongue-lashing of cold, hard logic that would help me recognize how stupid I was being. Even now, I can already hear her in my head, calling me ‘princess’ and asking me if I wanted a hankie to cry in. 

I smile bitterly at the thought. I’ve never thought about it before, but meeting her in that classroom that one day was probably the best thing to ever happen to me, despite the rocky start to our relationship. I shudder to think what might have come of me if I’d never met her. I might not even have made it this far in the first place..

What I don’t understand is that even though I know Amaryllis would knock me back into shape out of this funk I’m in, I honestly don’t know what she’d tell me to do. I’d spent my whole life following a plan that was laid out for me. Now that I don’t even have that any more, I’m at a loss.

“Rainbow?” I get her attention as I fold up another set of towels. It makes me disappointed in myself that I have to ask her for help, but she’s literally the only pony now that knows the extent of my feelings. “What keeps you going?”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Rainbow lifts her head from the cloud, looking confused by my sudden question.

“What gets you out of bed in the morning? What do you say when people ask you what’s next?” I elaborate. Understanding dawns on Rainbow’s face, and she presses the tip of a hoof to her muzzle as she ponders my questions.

“That’s easy! It’s-” Applejack frustratingly chose that moment to return from the farmhouse with a picnic basket hanging from her mouth. “Hold that thought.”

Once Applejack arrived, she spread out a blanket on the grass, and the three of us dig into a meal of cheese sandwiches and apple slices. Despite the simplicity, it tastes delicious, especially after a full twelve hours of running on empty. 

“I still got a bunch more apple trees to buck before the snows come in, but I got a few other chores that need doin’ around the farm,” Applejack addresses me as we eat. She passes me a piece of paper. “I wrote up a list. Once y’all are done with laundry, if you could hit each of these before the sun goes down, I’d appreciate it.”

“Applejack, I can’t read,” I deadpan.

“Oh yeah. Give it to Rainbow then. At least then she can say she did something.” I shrug and pass the paper to Rainbow, who glances over it once and then tucks it beneath her chest. “That reminds me; you’re sure you’re okay taking time off work, Rainbow?”

“Oh that?” Rainbow waves a hoof dismissively as she finishes up her meal.  “It’s fine. All I gotta do is clear up a few clouds by the end of the day. Even Cloud Chaser could do that.” 

“If you say so.” Applejack finishes up her meal as well and starts cleaning up the spread. “I’ll leave you to it, then. I’ll come get you if I need anything special. No more shoving each other down hills now, ya hear?”

“No promises,” Rainbow calls after her. She waits several minutes until she’s sure Applejack is completely out of sight before turning to me. “So to answer your question, I’m going to be a member of the Wonderbolts!”

“I have no idea what those are.” I say as I get back to working on the laundry, feeling pleasantly sated for the time being. 

“You don’t know who the-!?” Rainbow explodes before quickly calming down. “Right, new to Equestria. Listen up, then!” While she drones on and in about these ‘Wonderbolts’, the excitement in her words is palpable. “So, in summary, the Wonderbolts are only the coolest, fastest, and most skilled team of flying pegasi in all of Equestria! And they only accept the best into their ranks!”

“The ‘fastest,’ huh? I thought you said you were the fastest flier in Equestria,” I turn towards her, a smirk already on my lips. “Are you freely admitting that there are ponies out there better than you?”

“Hey, I am the fastest flier in Equestria! They...just don’t know that yet,” Rainbow scratches the back of her neck sheepishly with one hoof. She laughed nervously. “There’s more to being a Wonderbolt than just being fast. But I’m gonna keep practicing until they recognize my greatness!”

“So that’s your dream, huh?” I finish folding a set of bedsheets and place it neatly in the basket with the rest. I look over at her, feeling envious at her innate sense of purpose. “So everything you do, you do towards that goal.”

“Not everything. That’s my end game, but before that, there’s all my friends. It’s not cool if I had to do all this on my own, right?” Rainbow points out. “Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and even Twilight; I’ve got all these cool ponies around me.”

“Right...friends.” I grab the next sheet with a little more force than I’d intended, nearly causing it to fall on the grass. “That must be nice for you; to know what you want, have friends to support you no matter what. I don’t even have that anymore.”

“Why not? What did you want to do back when...before you came to Equestria?” Rainbow hops back into her cloud, crossing her front hooves and gazing down at me curiously. Her question causes me to pause, no quick answer coming to my mind. What exactly was my dream back then?

“I…I don’t know,” I honestly admit. It didn’t feel like it at the time, but is it possible even back then, I didn’t have much of a purpose? Didn’t I have some greater meaning to aim towards? I thought I did, but upon closer inspection, Amaryllis was involved in every single one of my goals. Once again, I realize just how much she meant to me. Without her, I’d honestly would have felt no different than I feel right now. I let out a sharp exhale to relieve some of the stress I’m feeling.

“You don’t know?” Rainbow looks utterly confused by that. “Wasn’t there anything you wanted in life?”

“I was in school, training to get a good job, but I don’t think I had any particular desire for the end of that road. All I knew is that that’s what I needed to do to survive in that world, because that’s what everyone else told me.” I find it increasingly harder to focus on what little laundry remained as I talked. My every thought is screaming at me not to confide any more in this ridiculous multi-colored pony, but now that I’ve gotten started, I need to finish. To find closure. It’s becoming clear that I can’t go any further without an answer. “I knew what I didn’t want; to be a minimum wage employee like the vast majority of those who never got an education. But that doesn’t really counts as a dream, like what you have.”

Rainbow didn’t seem to like that answer. “Who cares about work? There has to be something that you did that you really enjoyed for the sake of enjoying it. Like how I really like to fly and sleep.” 

I almost mention Amaryllis, but I catch myself. There’s no way in hell I would tell any of these ponies about something so deeply personal. Besides, I don’t think Amaryllis counts as a dream. As I start thinking about the sorts of things she and I did together, I recall something so obvious that I almost smack myself for not thinking about it sooner.

I always wore a set of headphones when I walked between classes so I could listen to my favorite classic rock tunes. Amaryllis eventually learned what type of music I enjoyed, and she started to take me to different bars to dance, and a few times, she even took me to live performances of bands I particularly loved. 

I’ve always loved music. Even after all that witch put me through when I was younger, my love for music never faded. I’ve dabbled in all sorts of instruments over the years such as guitar, piano, and cello; At my college dorm, I owned an electric keyboard and a simple acoustic guitar, and I’d play them from time to time, one day hoping to play them for Amaryllis.

“Music,” I answer simply, having come to that realization. “That was my hobby. It was never anything special though, just a part of the background.”

“Of course it was something special! Ah, this makes so much sense!” Rainbow slaps a hoof to her forehead. “The first time I see you talking to somepony without snapping at them, it was about music. And you’re working for Vinyl Scratch, who’d only ever let someone else who liked music as much as she did work with her. How did I not see this sooner?”

I shrug, not sure how to respond to that, despite the fact that she’s right. I don’t see how this is meant to help me.

“There you go! You could be a DJ like Vinyl, or a pop singer like that Sapphire Shores that Rarity sometimes talks about, or maybe even a member in the Canterlot Royal Orchestra! Or better yet, a rock star! That would be pretty sweet; I could totally see you rocking the metal look,” Rainbow just isn’t slowing down.

It’s strange how she’d show such enthusiasm about something that isn’t even about her. Yet, what she’s saying sounds appealing. The idea of standing on stage is a daunting one, but if I could be like those front men that drove the crowds wild and sold out stadiums as large as whole towns… a small shiver runs through me at the thought.

Yet my realism kicks in almost immediately. There’s no way someone like me, who struggles in even the smallest crowd, could ever do something like that. Additionally, I was once told that musicians no longer made much money on album sales due to the onset of the internet… which ponies don’t have... huh. So maybe a career in music wouldn’t be so impossible after all. It sounds infinitely more enjoyable than that desk job I would have had back in my time. But… can I really do it? Start over without Amaryllis?

“I don’t know…” At this point in time, the laundry and work left is basically forgotten. I sit down, different thoughts and visions of the future rolling around in my head. “It can’t really be that simple.”

“But it is! Put your sights on the goal, and don’t let up! That’s how I won the Young Flier’s Competition, difficulties aside.” Rainbow lets off a bit of an awkward chuckle. She then lights up, as though she has just come up with an excellent idea. “I just thought of something. Be right back!”

I watch curiously as Rainbow zips off of the cloud at speeds I can scarcely follow with my eyes. It’s one thing to see from a distance, but up close, her speed is unreal. She really is unfathomably fast.

No sooner had that thought entered my head than Rainbow was already back, holding an acoustic guitar. “Here, try this!” Rainbow presents the guitar to me, looking rather pleased with herself. Despite how fast she’d just gone from here to the farm and back, she doesn’t look like she’s even broken a sweat.

“Where did you even get this?” I take the guitar from her, treating it as though it were made of gold. It resembles the dreadnought base model, with six strings spanning the neck. It feels surreal to be holding one again.

“Oh, I borrowed it from Applejack. It was just hanging on the wall anyway—not like she uses it much,” Rainbow looks at me eagerly. “Go on, play it! Applejack won’t mind if you give it a whirl.”

I adjust my position until I’m kneeling, the guitar resting on my raised knee. My left hand runs up the neck, instinctively forming the chord shapes that I’ve memorized. With my right hand I form a makeshift pick by placing my thumb over my index finger, and using the latter to strum each individual string. 

“Hm…standard E tuning,” I observe before running through a quick scale, finding the sound it produces to be pleasant, almost nostalgic. I repeat this action a few times in different locations on the guitar. Once I finish with scales, I run through the chords I remember. Recalling a particular song that uses these chords, I run through the first verse, humming the tune under my breath. 

“You’re not bad! See, you could totally do it if you tried!” Rainbow stamps her hooves on the ground, looking pleased with what she heard. “So what do you say? Wanna shoot for being a rock star?”

I lay the guitar across my lap, making sure not to let it touch the ground. The chance to hold an instrument again, I can’t deny that it felt good. Even more so when I could hear those melodic chords again.

I think about what Rainbow is trying to tell me. Just like how she wants to be a Wonderbolt, she’s saying I should strive for something musical, to give me a reason to wake up in the morning. There’s some sense to that; instead of my money going towards traveling up north, I could save up to buy instruments and other musical equipment. Then, performing wouldn’t be out of the question. I start to feel a little excited at the thought.

“Okay.” I stand up, handing the guitar back to Rainbow. “There may be something to what you’re saying. I dunno about being a ‘rock star’, but I wouldn’t mind being able to play again.”

“Awesome! You should totally tell Vinyl, too! She’d totally support you on that. As would I. Cuz what’s the fun of having a goal without friends to support you on the way?” Rainbow accepts the guitar, giving it a few strums herself, somehow managing to make a chord despite having cumbersome hooves. Despite watching her do it, I can’t figure out how she can hold strings down with hooves. “So now, you can…”

“Are y’all still doin’ laundry?” Applejack suddenly passes by us, a cartful of apples rolling along behind her. When she notices the guitar, she stops and just stares at Rainbow. “Rainbow Dash, what are you doin’ with my guitar?”

“What, this?” Rainbow promptly shoves the guitar back into my hands with a sheepish grin plastered on her muzzle. “Nothing. I don’t see a guitar.”

“Don’t just give it back to me, idiot!” I immediately give the guitar back to her, not wanting to be implicated in Rainbow’s scheme. I was under the impression that Applejack wouldn’t mind, but her accusatory tone tells me otherwise. 

“Don’t call me an idiot, dummy!” Rainbow attempts to give the guitar back to me, only for Applejack to snatch it out of her hooves and place it on her back, eyeing the both of us suspiciously. Rainbow quails slightly under the look her friend is giving her. “Um...hi AJ.”

“Just what in tarnation is going on between you two? First y’all are sayin’ how much y’all can’t stand each other, then you’re dancin’ together, then y’all’re shoving each other down hills, and now you’re all friendly?” Applejack demands, her curiosity getting the better of her at last. “What gives, Rainbow? What exactly happened between you two?”

“Uh...sorry, I can’t say anything.” Rainbow, much to my surprise, refuses to tell her, despite being put on the spot like that. Applejack blinks; whatever answer she was expecting, I doubt she expected not to receive one. “Ask Seth if you want to know. I doubt he’d like it if I spilled the beans. You know how it is.”

“I guess I can understand that.” Applejack then turns her gaze to me expectantly. “Seth?”

“I choose not to answer,” I say as my lips flatten into a thin line.

“Figured as much,” Applejack sighs and gets the cart moving again. “I guess it ain’t my business. Rainbow, quit distractin’ Seth and let him work.”

“Sorry,” Rainbow leaps back up to her cloud, scratching the back of her neck again.

“By the way, next time you wanna use my guitar, just ask first. I don’t mind.” Applejack trips her hat, gives us a grin, and makes her way back to the farmhouse to store her apples, leaving me to finish up the laundry that I’d been slacking on. “I’ll see y’all in a few hours!”

“That was awkward.” I turn back to the laundry, finding myself relieved that Applejack wasn’t angry. “I blame you for that. You told me she’d be fine with it.”

“She was fine with it! She just… said to ask first next time,” Rainbow retorts stubbornly. “At least you got to play some! That’s what matters, right?”

“I guess.” I finish folding the last piece of laundry, and lift the basket, grunting under its weight. I curse and stumble a bit, my knees nearly giving out. I quickly set it back down; I shouldn’t overexert myself with my body in this state. I resolve to tell Applejack that I’m finished when I see her next. “By the way… I’m glad you didn’t tell any of them anything.”

“That’s just not something you tell other ponies,” Rainbow confesses, looking distinctly uncomfortable. She then puts on a reassuring smile. “Besides, I said I had your back, and I meant it!”

“Whatever.” I begin the walk back to the farmhouse, steeling myself for the hours of work to come. I think about her words, unsure how to deal with the respectable behavior she’s been showing me. It’s likely that she’s doing all of this in order to ease her own conscience; to be able to tell herself that she did something. 

There’s no doubt in my mind that she’ll eventually tire of the effort and revert back to the way she was before. That’s just how people, and by extension ponies, are.





The rest of the work day passes uneventfully, and before long Rainbow and I are waiting in the farmhouse for Applejack to return with my pay for the day. I have no doubt that the amount will be small, having skipped most of the day.

“So, you’re headed to Rarity’s after this?” Rainbow hops onto the nearby couch lazily. 

“I can’t avoid it any longer.” I glance at the couch longingly, but I’m not callous enough to lay my sweaty and dirt-caked body onto Applejack’s furniture. “Do you still intend to follow me around?”

“Nah, if I go with you, Rarity’ll try to put me in something too.” Rainbow makes such a disgusted face at that prospect that it earns some mild amusement from me. She’s as tomboyish as they come it seems, given her athleticism and her overall lack of concern for her appearance. “I dunno though...will you be alright without me?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I give her a sharp look at that question.

“You know, it’s just that…” Rainbow pauses before continuing, taking a moment to glance around to make sure there were no other ponies nearby. “I want to know you’re not gonna try to...to...when I’m not looking…”

“I get it.” I save her the trouble of having to complete that sentence that so clearly disturbs her. Her words essentially explain why she’s been hanging around me all day, even after I started work. A hint of bitterness falls over me, sensing that reversion I mentioned coming. “I bet that would make you feel better, huh?”

“Of course it would! Why do you sound so irritated?” Rainbow seems offended by the question, lifting her head to gaze at me oddly. 

Because the moment you know I won’t got back to the cliff, you’ll stop with the friendly act you’re trying to pull, I think bitterly to myself. Because you’re no different than anybody else. Because no matter what you say, you’re only doing this to ease your own conscience. Because it’s always about you, isn’t it?

“It doesn’t really matter,” I sigh, lacking the mental fortitude to argue with her further. Any further rebuttal by Rainbow Dash is cut short by Applejack’s return, a small bag of bits held in her mouth. She passes it to me, which I add to the bits in my pocket. With this, I’ve a total of sixty bits; more than enough to pay for my rent with Vinyl, and leave me with some leftover cash.

“Thanks for your work, as always. Wanna stay for dinner?” Applejack once again offers. Each day I work with her, she’s been giving me that same offer. 

“No thanks.” I give her the same answer as well, which as usual doesn’t perturb her. “I need to get to Rarity’s before she sends out a search party.”

“Probably a good idea. Will I see you tomorrow?” Applejack walks beside me as I head for the door. Rainbow leaps off of the couch to follow us as well.

“If you’re still alright having me around. Hopefully I’ll be in better shape tomorrow.” Before Applejack can give a decent answer, we walk right into the path of Apple Bloom and her two friends, on their way back from school. “Oh no…”

“Hey, it’s Seth!” Apple Bloom runs up to us with a smile, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo just behind her. Scootaloo doesn’t rush to me completely, the filly skidding to a halt the moment she sees Rainbow Dash. Sheer admiration shines bright in her eyes. “Wow, you’re a mess; you musta been working hard!”

“Maybe he has a cutie mark in construction? Digging maybe?” Sweetie suggests, chiming in after Apple Bloom before I could even get a chance to answer.

“It’s Rainbow Dash…” Scootaloo appears to be in her own little world, her words spoken in a reverent whisper that I can barely hear.

“That’s one way of putting it.” I remark to Apple Bloom, finding it easier to use work as the explanation for my ragged state.

“Hold on, you three know Seth?” Rainbow interjects, looking surprised by both that and the fact that we seem to be exchanging a regular greeting.

“Yeah. They seem to like me, for whatever reason.” I look towards Rainbow, glad to have a distraction. I just don’t know how to handle children, ponies or not.

“He’s really nice! He stood up for us a few days ago when we were getting picked on!” Sweetie Belle says.

“You should have heard what he said!” Apple Bloom adds.

“He was so cool!” Scootaloo finishes for them. 

“Really now? That I didn’t know,” Applejack looks at me with a surprised and grateful expression. “Thanks so much for stickin’ up for my sister. You’re a decent sort, Seth.”

“Oh, he stood up for you, huh?” Rainbow’s expression grows smug again, and she gives me a pointed look that makes me rub my forehead, wishing I was anywhere other than here. “What a nice thing to do…”

“Wipe that smirk off your face,” I pointedly tell her, earning a snicker from her. “But just to clarify to you three, I don’t have a ‘cutie mark’ at all.”

“What?!” The three of them chorused all at once as if that one statement had overturned their entire view on life. When I repeat myself, Sweetie Belle falls over in a faint, while Apple Bloom looks dumbfounded. 

“Girls, we should make him an honorary Cutie Mark Crusader! Sweetie Belle, could you make another cape?” 

“I could ask Rarity to borrow some more of her fabric. Scootaloo, are there any activities we haven’t tried yet that we could include him in?”

“I can think of a lot of things we could do with him! Do you think he’d be any good at riding a scooter?”

“Ooh, but what if we could take him to our favorite crusading spots!”

“We could show him our clubhouse!”

“Maybe we could get our cutie marks in helping humans?”

“Cutie Mark Crusaders Human Helpers, yay!” The three of them cheer loudly, clapping their hooves together. Their excitement is just growing more and more, while Applejack and Rainbow are snickering at my steadily growing look of horror.

“Well, I’m gonna leave you to it. Have fun with the girls, Seth!” Rainbow decides that now is the best time to make her exit, devious intentions plastered all over her stained muzzle.

“No, don’t you dare leave me alone here…” Despite my threatening, Rainbow zips away in a flash, cackling to herself as she abandons me to these terrifying fillies. “...with them. I hate you so much right now.”

“You should come play with us tonight, Seth! You can join us in finding all of our cutie marks! There’s all sorts of fun things we can try!” Apple Bloom addresses me directly at last. My brow shoots up into my hairline, shocked that they’d even ask me of all people. “Come on, what do you say? Want to be a crusader with us?”

I sigh heavily, aware of Applejack’s expectant gaze on the back of my neck. I don’t understand how to deal with children, especially those wanting me to ‘crusade’ with them, whatever that means.

“You would probably be better off finding someone else to play with. I’m hardly the most entertaining company,” I break it to them gently, knowing that if I’m even the slightest bit rude, Applejack will get onto me—this is her little sister to whom I’m speaking. “Besides, I think I can’t even get a cutie mark. Humans don’t have magic like ponies do.”

“You’ll never know if you don’t try!” Not even that is enough to dissuade the three fillies, Apple Bloom serving as their spokesman. “Come on, it’ll be fun!”

“Again...I’m not the playing type. You’ll find out you can’t stand me after a few minutes.”

“Please?” Apple Bloom retaliates by using the most vile, the most despicable, and the most effective form of persuasion known to mankind; she looks up at me with wide, liquid eyes, her lower lip ever so slightly poking out and trembling. I’ve never seen such an expression from anyone before; at least not one being directed at me. Coming from a small pony like her, the effect is tripled in intensity. What’s even worse, is that both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo do the same thing.

“That’s playing dirty…” I grumble, averting my gaze from the unbearably cute display. What am I supposed to do now? I’m just not interested in playing with a bunch of children. I also know that if I give in now, they’ll forever think I’m receptive to the idea and I’ll never have a moment’s peace. Either way, I refuse to deal with this. “Perhaps another time. I’m busy this evening.”

“Awww,” the three fillies look down with disappointment, before Apple Bloom hits me with the rebound. “Maybe tomorrow then?”

“We’ll see,” is the best that I can give them. More than anything, I really hope that something comes up tomorrow evening so I have an excuse to decline their offer. It’s too much to hope for that they would forget. I never thought that telling off Diamond Tiara would bring such unwelcome consequences. “Now, if you all will excuse me. I must get going now.”

Seizing the earliest opportunity I can get my hands on, I retreat from the four of them perhaps a little more hasty than would be proper. I don’t stop until I leave the farm behind, barely registering their assorted farewells. I have absolutely no idea how to handle children. I think as I sigh with relief.

For the first time since the cliff, I’m alone with my thoughts. I keep walking forward, trying to make sense of the emotions running through my mind. In the back of my mind I can still feel a sense of hopelessness towards my whole situation—the absence of Amaryllis hurts more than I can put into words. And my anger. My anger hasn’t been tempered yet. I wish more than anything that I could still make Sombra pay, and I resent the princesses for depriving me of that chance. 

But...I can feel something positive growing within me. I’ve learnt that I enjoy music as far more than a simple hobby, leaving me with a plethora of potential opportunities to explore. It’s odd that I have to do so in a world filled with sapient ponies, but I guess it’s not much different than humans, physical and magical differences aside.

I re-enter town, navigating the streets in an attempt to recall the way to Rarity’s Boutique. In the process, I end up taking a wrong turn and end up in unfamiliar territory. I’m forced to cut back through the park where I first encountered Lyra. It’s rather late by now, so there aren’t many ponies around. 

As I pass through the fountain clearing, I pass by a group of two ponies that are clinging rather tightly together. It isn’t until I draw closer that I realize that they’re kissing passionately, likely believing themselves to be by their lonesome. 

It doesn’t take me long to notice that they’re both mares. I do a double take, and then I keeping walking in veiled discomfort, not wanting to disturb them. I’m not oblivious to the concept of public displays of affection. If I went far enough out of my way back at college, I could find a couple or two hiding within the shadow of the parking garages or the classroom buildings. What shocks me is that the two of them are the same gender. I can’t say I’ve ever seen anything of the like, even in my era where various movements for and against such things were gaining traction. It’s one thing to hear about it...

Another pony walks through the fountain clearing behind me, the mare giving a slight chuckle upon seeing the two ponies, but otherwise doesn’t bat an eye. Judging from that alone, such relationships must be somewhat common and accepted by the average pony. I suppose it makes sense considering the disproportionate amount of mares to stallions in town, but nevertheless it’s a rather hefty pill to swallow.

As much as I don’t care for displays of affection or relationships, it’s probably best I learn that from observation. This way, should I encounter a same-sex relationship among the ponies I live among on a daily basis, I won’t accidentally offend them. I momentarily entertain the thought of asking Rarity, but that idea is quickly shot down. Such curiosity will pass. It’s none of my business, anyway.

A few minutes after that disconcerting revelation, I find my way to the Boutique. I barely knock on the door when Rarity opens it, a wide smile spreading across her muzzle.

“There you are! I was wondering if I would have to come visit you on the farm,” Rarity steps aside to allow me entrance, the mare ushering me inside with emphatic hoof gestures. “Do come in! I have a veritable sea of clothing for you to try on!”

“A 'sea’?” I repeat wryly, wondering just how much clothing that entailed. The first thing I notice are the three sets of mannequins lined up in front of a circular stage. They’re human shaped and are about as tall as me, leading me to reason she’d created them based off of my measurements. All of them were clad in the sort of clothing that I’d expect to see in a legitimate human fashion establishment. To say that I’m impressed would be an understatement. “Just how many outfits did you make?”

“Ten, I believe. Three sets of work clothes sturdy enough to handle the rigors of physical labor, three sets of casual clothing for everyday use, three sets of winter clothing, and one set of swimming trunks. The coats are interchangeable, of course.” Rarity used her magic to pull back the curtains covering one of the alcoves, revealing a rack filled with the remaining seven outfits. “Would you care to use my shower before we begin?”

“Part of me suspects that you wouldn’t let me anywhere near your clothes unless I agree,” I comment, knowing full well how disgusting I look.

“You would be correct. Up those stairs, if you please! You smell like a diamond dog, darling. I’ll bring to you one set of casual clothes for you to change into once you’re finished.” Rarity practically shoos me up the stairs as though I were a child. “Chop chop, now!”

“I’m going!” I speed up a bit to get ahead of her, a little irritated. I don’t believe I’ve been to the second level of her home before, so I don’t know which of these rooms is her bathroom. 

In the end, I simply try every door. One of the rooms looks to be a child’s room; most likely Sweetie Belle’s. Another looks extravagant, complete with a sizable four poster bed,  several shelves containing various rolls of fabric, and a desk upon which a sewing machine was situated. I have no doubt that I’m looking at Rarity’s room. 

I find the bathroom just before the second staircase that leads to the third level of the boutique. I’ve only ever seen Vinyl’s bathroom, so I’m not the least bit prepared for the luxury that awaits me within. Once I step inside, I let out a sharp exhale.

The bathroom has plenty of room to walk around it, complete with a double vanity at the base of a mirror that spans the whole wall, a bathtub deep enough to comfortably fit my whole body, and a shower twice the size of Vinyl’s that is completely enclosed by gorgeous mottled glass. It hardly needs to be said, but the whole room is immaculately clean and well cared for.

I strip out of my ragged clothes and set them and my rifle aside, then I step into the shower. To my surprise, there’s even a place to sit down inside, and the showerhead is large enough to cover my whole body. The overwhelming luxury I’m experiencing is start to make me giddy.

A few minutes in the shower is enough to wash away all the dirt, grime, and sweat that had accumulated on my body over the past few days. Unfortunately, there’s little I can do about my hair. Although I can scrub it to get some of the filth out of it, I’m much too anxious to try using any chemicals on it.

During my shower, I hear the door open. I feel the urge to cover myself, but I calm down, realizing that the mottled glass does an excellent job of obscuring me from the outside. 

“Do you mind if I take your old clothes from you?” Rarity’s voice sounds from inside. She doesn’t seem to care about the fact that I’m still in the shower, and very much naked. She can’t see me, but I’d think there’d be some kind of social rule about walking into a bathroom while someone is showering.

“What do you plan to do with them?” 

“Why, dispose of them, darling!  They’re in tatters—to wear garments in such poor shape would be a crime against fashion!” Rarity says as if it should have been obvious. “Surely you’re not that attached to them.”

“I’m not, but make sure to go through the pockets. There are a few things in there I’d rather not lose,” I direct her carefully. I hear the sound of her rifling through my jeans a moment later.

“I have found a folded piece of...is this…!?” Rarity sounds appalled for a moment, and I recall with a start that my wallet is made out of leather. I didn’t think about that. Now she’s probably going to- “Oh, my mistake. For a moment I thought this was Griffon-made leather. And, what is this? This is a rather odd device.”

“That’s my phone. It’s human technology that would take too long to explain. It’s useless now, anyway. Just set it aside.” I respond, trying to absorb the fact that she just referred to griffons as though they were a real creature. Ponies. Minotaurs. Dragons. And now griffons? There’s just no end to this nonsense.

“Very well. That seems to be everything. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to toss these into the nearest fire.” Rarity gives a malicious-sounding giggle and I hear the clopping of her hooves along the tiling recede. “I’ve left your new clothes on the vanity.”

“Thank you.” I hear the door close, so I shut off the shower and dry off with a fluffy purple towel that had been hanging on a rack built into the door. Once I’m dry, I move over to the vanity to get a closer look at myself. I note that some minor peach fuzz is forming on my face. I scowl with disgust. I’ve always had a hard time growing facial hair, so this is the most that I can get. That being said, I find it ugly, and I’ve never hesitated to shave it all away. Unfortunately, I don’t see any razors in here. I’ll have to ask Rarity.

I spend several minutes tending to my hair with less than satisfactory results. I haven’t used shampoo, so there’s plenty of grease and buildup in it, and I can’t even get a brush through without running into innumerable amounts of knots. I sigh heavily, feeling more than a little depressed at the state my once beautiful hair is now in. Eventually I determine that there’s little to be done, so I stop trying and resolve to get it cut later, despite how greatly unappealing the idea is to me.

Next, I turn my attention to the clothes Rarity left for me. First is a pair of skinny blue jeans much like my old ones, except the material they’re made out is surprisingly soft despite being made of denim. On top of them is a set of boxers colored black with a plaid green pattern. They’re incredibly soft, feeling almost as though they were made from satin.

I slip them on, finding them to be extremely comfortable, as though I were wearing a cloud. Yet there is a single flaw with them; there isn’t much room in the front, causing it to be somewhat tight around my crotch. I suppose I can’t blame her for that. Ponies are constructed differently than humans in that regard. 

The jeans come next, and I find them to fit my legs snugly and comfortably. Following that is a raglan patterned long-sleeved shirt, colored white with black sleeves. It’s been a while since I’ve worn a shirt, so the sensation causes me to shiver after slipping it on. Lastly, I slide on a sage green denim jacket complete with two pockets on either size.

Glancing in the mirror, I turn my body, finding everything to both fit me well and look good. For the first time since arriving in Equestria, I feel warm and comfortable. I’d almost feel like normal, if it weren’t for my hair. Rarity really went all out for this. For clothes of this quality, I feel like I should be paying her everything I have, especially if she made ten full sets.

I make sure to grab my wallet, phone, keys and rifle, and then I return to the first floor, where Rarity is waiting expectantly. She beams upon seeing me.

“There you are. Well? How do they feel? Do they fit right?” Rarity looks so excited to hear my answer that I fear she might burst. “Don’t be shy now.”

“Rarity… they’re excellent. I have no other words to describe them.” I decide that being honest is the best reward I can give her. Setting aside my thoughts about her personally, I can’t deny that she possesses real talent. “How did you manage to recreate my jeans to such intricate detail?”

“I’m so glad you like them! I was worried that you might not. Ponies don’t usually wear pants in this style, so it took me multiple attempts to get the details just right.” Rarity lets out a sigh of relief.

“You’re telling me you created these from memory?” I indicate the jeans.

“I can’t say I did so completely from memory; I did have some pony clothes made from denim that I could reference.” Rarity admits, though it doesn’t make her work seem any less incredible.

“That’s impressive. They’re everything I could have asked for. You’re certain I can’t pay you for this?” I’m already starting to fish out the bag containing my bits, but the moment I pull it out, Rarity shoves it right back in my pocket with her magic.

“Uh-uh-uh!  We made a deal, did we not?” Rarity puts on a smirk for a brief moment, but then her expression becomes somewhat sheepish. “I will admit I got the teensiest bit ahead of myself and pushed off my other orders. If you would like more clothing, I would need to ask for some compensation, as much as I would rather not charge you.”

“That’s only fair.” I agree. I’d very much rather not be indebted to this mare.

“Now, if you’ll do me a favor and try on the rest of these outfits so I can see how you look in them…” Rarity starts to suggest, but then she trails off, regarding me with dissatisfaction. “Hmm…but maybe...”

“What?” I ask, noticing with some confusion that she’s gazing intently at the mess that is my hair. I take a step back, feeling a little worried.

“I’ve decided! I’d like to do something with that mane of yours, if you wouldn’t mind indulging me,” Rarity proclaims. “It’s been bothering me every since you came downstairs.”

“Absolutely not. No one touches my hair except me,” I say instantly without even having to think about it. 

“Come now, darling, it’s your most defining feature! Yet it’s only been getting worse and worse each time I see you, and it’s simply a tragedy. It would be a crying shame to let it deteriorate!” Rarity insists. “With a little bit of work, I promise you I could make your wonderful mane shine!”

“Did you not hear me? I said no. It’s already in pretty poor shape, and I don’t trust you, nor anyone else, not to ruin it any further,” I snap. Her questions aside, I’m surprised she picked up on the fact that I value my hair so highly. 

“Ruin it!? Pffff,” Rarity scoffs as if physically disgusted by the very idea. She then run s a hoof delicately through her meticulously groomed mane. “You don’t think I keep my own mane styled so fabulously merely through luck, do you?”

“Pardon me if I don’t pay attention to pony aesthetics.” My sarcasm earns a huff from her. “Besides. It’s hardly the same thing. Pony hair products are designed for ponies, not for humans. What if using your shampoo irreparably damaged my hair?”

“I hardly think it could look any worse than it already does, to be entirely honest,” Rarity’s blunt words feel like a smack in the face, making me mourn the loss of my once proud hair even more. I self-consciously twirl my fingers in my hair, already feeling the grease building up on them. “Furthermore, I don’t believe there’s a real difference like you say. Your mane is made from keratin, is it not?”

Rarity levitates a stool in front of her and hops atop of it. “Let me see. hold still if you will.” She extends her hoof and starts feeling up my hair, grimacing at the grease that ends up on her hoof. That makes me uncomfortable, so I push her away after a few seconds. “My apologies. As I expected, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. It feels the same as any other mane, grease and filth aside.”

She actually brings up a fair point; one that I feel stupid for not thinking of earlier. By trying to protect my hair, it’s only grown progressively worse. In the end, keratin is still keratin. Yet the idea of trusting her with my hair is still not an appealing one. 

“I don’t like it. I’ve only ever let one person other than myself cut my hair, and that’s only because he was doing it since I was born,” I grumble, but any further arguing on my part would just make me look stubborn. “But I guess you’re right. It can’t really get any worse than it already is,” I begrudgingly concede. “How are you going to do it, and how much will it cost me?”

“Come along with me and I’ll show you!” Rarity’s face lit up. She practically bounced across the room to the door behind the stage and to the right, gesturing for me to follow her. “Don’t worry about payment this time. If you think about it, I’m simply being selfish because I don’t want you leaving grease stains on your brand new clothes.”

“That’s probably the only technicality from you that I’m willing to accept.” I follow her despite my mind screaming at me not to accept any more services from her. 

I pass through a doorway into a room that I can only describe as a hair salon, complete with vanities lining the walls and large hair dryers. Yet it’s clear that all of these tools are designed for ponies due to their shape. For example, the vanities lack the hole in the front where the neck should go, because ponies are constructed differently and can just lower their heads in directly. 

“Hm...one moment. I’m sure I can put together something to make this easier on the both of us.” Rarity starts by pulling over one of the chairs in the room towards one of the vanities, where she cranks it back until the top of the chair is level with the edge of the sink. “It’s not ideal, but I can work with this.”

“What exactly are you going to do?” I eye the whole setup warily, second thoughts circling through my mind. 

“I’m glad you asked! First things first: I intend to give your mane a thorough washing. There’s a great deal of grease and buildup, and it’s all tangled from neglect. I have just the shampoo that will help clear all of that away!” Rarity produces a bottle and shows it to me, a pony with a sparkling mane emblazoned on the label, along with a great deal of Equestrian scrawl that I can’t decipher. “Then, once everything is nice, clean, and smooth, I’ll work some conditioner in to give it back some shine! I promise you’ll be most satisfied with the result, if you just trust me for a little longer.”

Rarity pauses and looks at me with a tentative expression, as though she’s waiting for my permission. I recall that I once told her that I didn’t trust her before. That much hasn’t changed, and it seems like she’s picked up on that.

“Like you said, it can’t get any worse than it already is.” I shrug and avert my eyes, gazing at the mirror instead. I sit down in the chair, guessing that it’ll be the nearby vanity in which she washes my hair. “I guess do what you’re going to do.”

“Thank you; I appreciate you giving me the opportunity! Now lay your head back, if you would.” Rarity turns the faucet in the sink, the sound of running water filling my ears. I do as I’m directed, though I find it very difficult to relax. “Your mane is very long for a stallion; just think of the different styles I could implement! I could braid it in the back, or work it into a ponytail—pardon the pun.”

“I just want it straight and smooth, like it normally is. Don’t try anything else.” I cringe at the thought of having my hair anything other than my standard. I had enough people telling me I look like a girl without going out of my way to make it easier for them.

“Aww, but you could do so much more with it!” Rarity whines, the mare looking put out by my words. When I don’t respond, she heaves a sigh. “Alright, I suppose it is ultimately your decision. Lie still, if you please.”

I shudder as a jet of lukewarm water strikes the back of my head, soaking my matted hair and cascading down my scalp. After the initial shock, it begins to feel relaxing. The next sensation I feel is extremely odd; what I presume to be a hoof presses against my head as Rarity starts to work some of her shampoo deep down into the roots of my hair. Her hooves don’t feel nearly as tough as I expected; instead, her hooves feel firm, yet ultimately soft. 

The strangest thing is that I can feel portions of her hooves moving around as she massages my scalp. I almost ask her about it; horses in my time could never exhibit such finesse with their hooves. I wonder if this is the secret behind how ponies hold objects without having hands or magic.

“There we go...look at all that grease just wash away! And look at all that loose hair! This was a long time coming, darling.” Rarity sounds particularly pleased with herself as she works. I notice her eyes falling over my face, and she clicks her tongue lightly. “Do you mind if I make an observation?”

“As long as it doesn’t get too personal,” is my blunt response. Typically when someone asks for permission to say something, it has the potential to be something I don’t want to hear.

“I merely wanted to comment on your physical appearance. To tell the truth, you’re rather easy on the eyes,” Rarity says with a smile. I blink, wondering with a sinking feeling in my gut if I heard her correctly. “A lot of ponies appreciate the fair of face, including myself. No doubt you’ll turn quite a few heads once my work here is done.”

“Back up a bit. What!?” I have to stop her; her thoughts have gotten too absurd to entertain any longer. “I think I need to have my ears checked. Because it sounds a lot like you just called me attractive, and I know that can’t be right.”

“I’m merely stating my honest opinion. Why do you sound so put off?” Rarity questions as her hooves leave my head just long enough for the jet of water to run through my hair again.

“Because you’re ponies. You should not under any circumstance find someone of another species attractive, especially one so wildly different from you. That’s just twisted and unnatural.” I decide to lay out my feelings as clearly as possible, in order to avoid another situation like with Lyra. Unlike Lyra, I can’t just cut Rarity out of my life as easily. 

“Now, I think you’re reading much too far into this. As a fashionista, I work with beauty, and I’ve come to appreciate it where I can find it.” Rarity taps my head lightly, causing me to turn my head long enough for her to wash that side easier. It almost sounds like she’s scolding me. “As you may have heard, there are more than just ponies in this world; I’ve had the personal pleasure of meeting several of these species. Griffons, minotaurs, diamond dogs, even dragons, each is beautiful in their own way, unique to that species. Do you mean to tell me I can’t find a dragoness with sparkling violet scales beautiful?”

“I suppose not, if that’s all there is to it.” I wince as Rarity runs a comb through my wet hair, finding each and every knot in the strands and smoothing them out. 

“You’re the first I’ve seen of your species; the closest species I can equate you with is the minotaurs. In comparison, you are far the fairer one.” Rarity continues. “Based on your vehement reaction, you seem worried that my interest may lay beyond that of a simple compliment. Rest assured it does not.”

“Thank God. I’ve already had one pony show that kind of interest, and I’m not speaking to her anymore. I was beyond disgusted.” I’ve never felt more relieved to hear her explanation. I couldn’t afford another Lyra.

“Why is that? One would think you would be flattered,” Rarity appears legitimately confused by my reaction.

“Do I seriously have to explain this? I repeat: you’re ponies. You should be attracted to other ponies.” Disbelief colors my tone. “Aren’t there laws or something against this kind of thing?”

“Of course not! Perish the very thought; what kind of fiend would ever place a restriction on love!?” Rarity’s reaction is just as vehement as mine, shocking me. She starts to work conditioner into my hair as we continue our conversation. “Unless...this is yet another difference in culture between ponies and humans.”

“That’s one hell of a difference,” I mutter. “So you’re trying to tell me that any relationship is acceptable, regardless of species or sex?”

“Precisely! I am of the mind that love is beautiful, wherever one may find it,” Rarity answers. I scoff under my breath at her wording. I believe the word she’s looking for is lust—love is but a prettier way to refer to the same thing. Contrary to what she just said, there is absolutely nothing beautiful about lust… but I won’t get into that with her. “I’m glad I was able to tell you about this; when we’re finished here, I doubt that pony you mentioned will be the only one to show interest. Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to broaden your horizons?”

“Hell no. Never,” is my immediate response, earning a disapproving glance from her. “Just great. That’s exactly what I needed. Can we change the topic please?”

“Very well. I shall mind my own business, if that is what you desire. Do with my compliment as you may.” Rarity’s words are short and clipped, suggesting that she’s not very pleased with my reaction. I ignore her tone, feeling more than a little disconcerted by that conversation. 

I’ve learned that according to pony society, Lyra isn’t screwed in the head for flirting with me, a member of another species. As disturbing as that is to me, I reassure myself by reasoning that it’s unlikely I’ll have any further troubles. Lyra is the only individual in my entire life to show any kind of attraction towards me, so the odds of that happening again ever are slim to none.

Rarity turns off the water and dries my hair partly with a towel. Then she uses a hairdryer over the course of the next few minutes to gradually remove the remainder of the moisture, while running a comb gently through my hair to remove any remaining knots. When she’s finished, she sets the comb aside and winches the chair back up.

“Finished! Take a look! I think you’ll be very pleased,” Rarity announces, the pride evident in her voice. I sit up slowly, and before I even look at the mirror, I can already tell that my hair is back to normal, just from the way it settles on my neck. Rather than feeling like greasy string, it feels once again like smooth silk, as it should. Additionally, my scalp feels pleasantly cool and free of irritation.

I turn to look at the mirror to see a man I don’t feel disgusted to look at anymore. My hair is back to its former glory, my locks shimmering and resting around my neck neatly, the ends perfectly aligned. Seeing this in conjunction with my new clothes does wonders for my state of mind; I feel like myself again.

I’m very pleased. I reach into my bag and withdraw five bits, extending them out to Rarity. She glances at them in confusion.

“You don’t need to pay me, dear. I’d thought we’d discussed this,” Rarity reminds me, making no move to take the bits from me.

“We did. Consider this a tip for exceptional service.” Despite the fact that Rarity claims she’s getting as much out of this as I am, I feel that she’s going to an incredible amount of effort for me, and that makes me uneasy.

“Oh! Well, I do appreciate it, but isn’t five bits a little much for a tip?” Rarity points out.

“Isn’t giving me ten free outfits and a hair cleaning a little much for artistic enjoyment?” I counter instantly. “Despite your valid reasoning, fabric isn’t cheap, and neither are hair products. You’ve set yourself back significantly for my sake.”

“Well yes, but...it’s really nothing. I’m simply happy I could help.” Despite her misgivings, Rarity does take the five bits from me, setting them on the counter. “Thank you for the tip! Now, shall we return to the main room? I have nine more outfits for you to try!”

I nod, and together the two of us make our way back to the main room. I glance into the mirror again as I pass, running a hand through my hair and sighing with satisfaction. 

It’s been a very long and arduous day, and my life has the potential to be very different from here on out. I’m not sure if Rainbow is right and that pursuing a future in music will help me past the despair I still feel deep in my subconscious and give me a reason to keep going, but I do know that facing the future with a set of warm clothes and a well groomed hairstyle is a good first step in the right direction.

I only have to go through nine pairs of clothing before I can go home tonight.
> 14. The Long Road to Recovery (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I usually try to integrate colors that accentuate one’s coat, eyes, and mane” Rarity says as she passes me the soft white jacket belonging to the outfit that I’m currently wearing. I graciously accept it and slip my arm through the sleeves, enjoying the way the fluffy insulation feels against my skin. “Though I must say, it’s been an exciting challenge to tailor my color palette to work with black mane. Such a color is rare among Equestrian ponies, if not nonexistent.”

“So I’ve noticed. I’m still trying to wrap my head around your over-the-top color schemes.” I zip up the jacket and move my arms around to test how comfortable the material is, though at this point I doubt I’ll find much to complain about. After trying on nine of her outfits, it’s become clear that she’s exceptionally talented in the art of the needle. “This one’s good too. At this point I don’t even know why I’m still trying them on; it’s obvious you got my measurements down right.”

“Why, it’s so I can see them on you, of course! I must know if my color predictions are just right!” Rarity insists, floating the last of the outfits towards me. A light pair of black slacks with a similarly colored light jacket perfect for casual wear when I’m at the house for the day. Rarity has stated more than once this sitting that she isn’t a fan of darker clothing so to counterbalance it, the outfit is accented with various silvers, whites, and greens where she could get away with it. “Now, try this last one on. I do hate to rush you, but Sweetie Belle will be here soon and I need to prepare something to eat.”

“Alright.” My thoughts turn to the rest of the evening. I’m not quite sure what I should be doing now. I’ve always been busy up until the moment it grew dark outside, but now I have nothing on my plate. I scoff quietly to myself, lamenting how reliant on books and technology I was to entertain myself back in my era. Now that I can’t read the local language and technology is little more than a pipe dream, that leaves me with barely anything to do when I’m not working.

Just as I’m zipping the jacket on the last outfit, I hear a light knocking at the door. It’s so quiet that I almost thought I imagined it. Yet Rarity’s ears twitch, suggesting she heard it as well.

“I know that knock.” With a knowing smile, she walks over to the front door and opens it telekinetically. “Good evening, Fluttershy! What brings you by so late in the evening?”

The two of them talk together about a spa appointment that they had that needed to be moved, but I don’t pay much attention to it. Now fully dressed in Rarity’s last outfit, I believe I’m just about done here. I need to get all of these clothes home to Vinyl’s house, then figure out what to do with the rest of my evening.

However, the moment I walk out from around the changing screen, Fluttershy immediately trails off mid sentence, her eyes widening upon seeing me. I recall the way she ran away from me the previous evening, and the way she hid behind the others when I returned to town. It seems like her parents hit the nail on the head when it came to naming their child.

“Well, this is the last outfit. If you’re satisfied, do you mind if I take them all back with me now?” I choose to disregard Fluttershy’s presence. I’ve already interrupted their conversation and it’s clear my presence makes her uncomfortable, so I might as well leave.

“Not at all! Will you need help getting them home? There are ten of them, after all,” Rarity offers, the mare turning away from Fluttershy briefly. The instant no one is focusing at her, Fluttershy slowly creeps behind one of the curtains that hang over the alcoves.

“I’ll manage fine on my own.” That sounds like permission to me, so I retrieve the remainder of the outfits and carry them over my shoulder, my hand clasped tightly around the hooks of the hangers. “Thanks for the clothes, Rarity. I’ll probably see you later.”

“Just one moment, if you please. Have you met Fluttershy yet?” Rarity stops me before I can reach the door. 

“Not officially, but I know she’s friends with you all,”  I sigh, sensing a forced introduction in the works. I cannot fathom why Rarity would try to introduce us, considering Fluttershy is now almost entirely hidden behind the curtain.

“Now’s the perfect time for an introduction, then! Fluttershy is one of my dearest friends, so…” Rarity turns to look at where Fluttershy used to be, only to met by nothing. “Oh, Fluttershy...you must forgive her, Seth. She’s very shy around those she’s unfamiliar with.”

“I hadn’t noticed,” I dry respond. “But you needn’t bother. It’s obvious she doesn’t want to talk to me, and I don’t exactly blame her. So I’ll just leave you two in peace.”

“Seth, she doesn’t mean it like that.” Rarity attempts to persuade me, taking a step closer to me. “You must understand that you’re not the most...approachable of individuals. She’s just uncertain how you’ll react.”

“I’m sorry…” Fluttershy’s quiet voice comes from behind the curtain.

“I’m not offended.” I reassure them. Telling me I’m not approachable isn’t that surprising; such has been the image I’ve presented for years. “But I know her name, and she knows mine. I know she’s friends with you, so I’ll make an effort to be civil for your sake in the occasion we have a reason to interact. Satisfied?”

“Not...quite, but I suppose that’s the best I can expect from you,” Rarity reluctantly concedes, giving me a disapproving stare. “If I may give my opinion, you don’t always need a reason to interact with someone.”

“Noted,” I say, feeling a twinge of annoyance at her words. Part of me wants to point out how little I care for her patronizing, but I ultimately think better of it. Regardless of how I personally feel, she’s done me a great service by clothing me for the winter and taking care of my hair. The least I can do is keep my mouth shut for now. Grabbing my rifle from where I left it, I head for the front door. “I’ll be leaving now.”

“Of course. Do visit whenever you like. My door is always open.” Rarity watches me leave with a soft smile, despite the various disagreements we’d have over the course of my stay. I shake my head, finding it odd that she isn’t sick of being near me by now.

Stepping outside isn’t as hellish an experience as to what I’m used to, despite the rapidly chilling air. Rarity’s clothing does a remarkable job at keeping my body warm. With the rest of her clothes slung over my shoulder, I make my way back through the town towards Vinyl’s house.

On the way back, I end up taking a different path than usual in order to circumvent a small group of ponies that looked to be partaking in some sort of social event. In the process, I spot a small hole in the wall shop decorated with musical notes. That alone is enough to catch my attention, so I move forward to take a closer look. A quick glance in the window tells me that the shop is exactly what it looks like; a music store. I mentally mark its location, and then continue on my way. 





“Glad to see you back! Sorry about earlier tod...whoa.” Vinyl glances up from the couch to greet me once I walk through the front door, but she trails off when she gets a good look at me. “Seth, is that you?”

“Unless you know any other humans,” I tiredly reply. “What’s with the looks?”

“You look great, especially your mane! You’re even decked out in brand new threads!” Vinyl complimented me, the mare leaping over the back of the couch and walking up to me. She sniffed the air and nodded, a smirk crossing her face. “Also it helps that you don’t smell like a stallion’s locker room anymore.”

“Thanks a lot,” I sarcastically say as I make my way over to the stairs. Despite this being the first instance of smack talk she’s ever shown me, a response is quick on my lips due to several years of habit between Amaryllis and myself. “I see your living room still looks like a contamination zone.”

“Pfff...fair enough,” Vinyl admits with a grin, not offended in the least. “So what are you up to tonight?”

“I haven’t a clue. Let me get all these clothes upstairs, and then I’ll figure something out.” I take a moment to rush upstairs with my burden of clothes and make my way towards the closet, which has just enough room to fit all of my outfits inside.  Keeping my rifle with me as always, I walk back downstairs, completely bereft of anything else to do for the remainder of the evening. 

“So yeah, as I was saying…” Vinyl says from the only free space on the couch, before proceeding to lift up a pile of wires, records, and other assorted paraphernalia from around her, freeing up a space beside her. She pats the spot with a hoof, leaving an unspoken invitation hanging in the air. “Sorry how we all ganged up on you at once this afternoon. I know you said you felt interrogated.”

“It’s whatever.” I take the seat offered to me, though I make sure to leave plenty of space between the two of us. The moment I sit down, I realize just how exhausted both my mind and body have become. A yawn leaves my mouth, and the idea of an early bedtime seems greatly appealing. “I don’t know why you all act like you care so much. It would have been easier for you all to just shrug and let me be.”

“Dude, I thought something might have happened to you after you didn’t come back last night. I was literally on my way to the guard when Twilight found me.” Vinyl spoke as though her actions should have been self-explanatory. “Is it so weird that we’d be worried when you just up and left without a word?”

“Yes. Especially when I’ve been making and will continue to make your lives difficult.” My answer comes to me as easily as breathing. Vinyl flinches, and then an exasperated sigh leaves her. She looks like she’s going to argue, but pauses as she realizes something.

“‘Continue?’ Hold up, didn’t you say you were leaving Ponyville after a week or so? You know, back at Pinkie’s Party?” Vinyl recalls, leading me to remember that she hadn’t been around when I mentioned that I wasn’t leaving anymore. “You decide to stick around?”

“I don’t have much of a choice. There’s nowhere left for me to go,” I shrug helplessly. There’s no point in hiding it from her. Vinyl blinks, confused.

“What do you mean? You were pretty dead set on getting out of town.” Vinyl further prompts me when it became clear I wasn’t going to elaborate. She realized something and hastily lifted her hooves placatingly. “Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got no issue with you sticking around.”

“You probably figured it out, but I’m not in Equestria by choice. I was brought here...forcefully...through magic. That’s why there aren’t other humans around.” My confession causes Vinyl’s eyes to widen with surprise. I feel uncomfortable revealing as much as I am, but if she didn’t learn it from me, Twilight would probably tell her eventually; that pony has already shown that she can’t keep a secret to save her life. “I thought I had a way out...but I don’t anymore. So even if I did leave, where would I go?”

“Dang...that’s heavy stuff. Explains a bit too,” Vinyl lowers her hooves, the mare looking at me with shock. I avert my eyes, not wanting to see the look of sympathy that inevitably follows.  “If it helps, you can stay here as long as you want.”

At that offer, I look back at her, attempting to gauge whatever she might be thinking through her expression; something at which I’ve never been good. Yet, even as she shows me what I think is supposed to be a reassuring smile, I still can’t fathom why she’d want me around for that long.

“As long as our arrangement remains in place,” I finally say, feeling at a loss. More importantly, there’s another topic I haven’t tackled yet. “That reminds me; when am I paying you for this week?”

“Oh yeah, it has been a week, hasn’t it? You can pay me tomorrow, and we’ll make that the day,” Vinyl lazily responds, adjusting readily to the change in subject. “Speaking of which, can I take your tomorrow evening?”

“For what, another gig?” I ask.

“Nah, I don’t have another of those until Monday.” Vinyl waved a hoof dismissively. “No, I figured we should visit the mayor and get the paperwork out of the way. We’ve been putting that off too long.”

“Right...I suppose so. I should be free.” I wince at the thought of dealing with the all-consuming monster that is bureaucracy, but I assure myself that it can’t be worse than the sheer amount of hoops my old college used to make me jump through. As soon as that thought enters my head, another yawn escapes me, reminding me just how exhausted I am. “I think I’m going to retire early. It’s been...a very long day.”

“Alright. You relax here then. I should probably throw something together to eat.” Vinyl gets off of the couch with an overdramatic groan and heads towards the kitchen, signalling the end of our conversation.





After a short meal, I retire to my room and undress, making sure to take good care of my new clothes. Then, I lay down on the bed, letting out a long sigh at the comfort. I haven’t slept in well over twenty four hours, my eyelids feeling like they have lead weights strapped to them.

Ultimately, being alone in my room causes me to briefly reflect over the day’s events. Particularly, the scene at the cliff keeps replaying in my head. It’s unsettling how close to death I was, and even more so how much I wanted it. I was so ready to admit that living was too much for me to handle. More than that, though, Rainbow’s words both at the cliff and at the farm wouldn’t leave my head. I don’t think I’ll be able to forget them, ever.

I repeat them to myself mentally. I have nothing in this world; no friends, no family, no past, and no purpose. I have nothing to live for. Nothing. Yet Rainbow seems to think I should persist for the sake of those close to me who are no longer around...that I should live for myself.

I roll over, my thoughts keeping me awake despite my exhaustion. I honestly don’t know if I can do this. The path forward according to Rainbow sounds simple; follow my passion for music and re-establish myself here, but it isn’t easy. I don’t know if I can do it. A future on my own without Amaryllis seems to hold only loneliness and an empty existence, coasting through life one day at a time. 

Before I realize it, my cheeks are wet from tears, my eyes stinging. A surge of self-loathing comes over me at my own weakness. Half of me wishes I could just go back to the way I used to be before I met Amaryllis when I was perfectly content to be alone, and the other half recoils at the idea of having never met her. 

My thoughts grow more and more indistinct, until I finally drift off to sleep, Rainbow’s words still echoing in my mind.





A half-asleep Vinyl wakes me up the following morning, mumbling something about a time turner and an alarm clock. She manages to prepare breakfast—miraculously not tripping over her own hooves—allowing me to feed myself and get out the door in a reasonable amount of time.

I’m not much better off than her; I’m still exhausted. If I can get home from the mayor’s office at a reasonable hour, I hope to once again get to sleep early. Considering my track record, however, I don’t see that being likely. 

“Mornin’, Seth! I see you finally stopped by Rarity’s place.” Applejack greets me when I arrive at the farm, glancing over my warmer clothes with approval. I return her greeting with a firm nod...and then I notice with dread that Apple Bloom is here as well, showing no signs of getting ready to go to school. 

“Hi, Mr. Seth! I’ll be working with y’all today!” Apple Bloom greets me as well, looking more excited than she should be to work with me. I guess they have weekends off from school too. I mentally praise Vinyl for giving me an excuse to skip out on her and her friends this evening, assuming they accost me with requests to play with them again.

We don’t spend much time on greetings before we get to work. With a long ten hours of work ahead of me, I proceed to shut off my mind and focus entirely on the work put in front of me. It’s no longer as excruciating as it used to be, thanks to Rarity’s clothing, but exertion is still exertion.

Applejack ramps up the difficulty of my chores as well. Once again, she takes me back to heavy lifting, but she sprinkles in less strenuous tasks here and there to give me a break so I don’t tire myself out too quickly. Regardless of her consideration, my muscles burn constantly from the strain.





“S’up, Applejack.” Vinyl unexpectedly comes to meet us at the farmhouse just as the end of the work day rolls around, the evening sun reflecting off of her shades. “How’s it hanging over here?”

“I wasn’t expecting you, Miss Scratch.” Applejack politely responds, shocked by the presence of what is likely the closest thing to a celebrity the town has. “What can I do you for?”

“Well, you can call me Vinyl, for one.” Vinyl wrinkles her nose at the polite way she’d just been addressed. “Other than that, nothing. I’m just here to pick up Seth so we can go and visit the mayor. You good to go, Seth?”

“More or less… you didn’t need to come all the way out here,” I pant, my back resting against the wall, my pay for the day resting firmly in my jacket pocket. I notice a rather disappointed Apple Bloom standing in the door frame on the other side of the room. “On second thought, I’m glad you did. Let’s get out of here.”

“Cool. I figured might as well; I needed to stretch my legs anyway. Saves you the walk back, too.” Vinyl gestures towards the door with her head, and the two of us start to leave.

“Hold up a sec.” Applejack follows us outside, looking specifically at me. “You can have tomorrow off if you want it. Is that alright? I know y’all got this whole rent thing going on.”

“If it’s about yesterday, don’t worry about it. I’m fine.” Though it confuses me that she’d bring this up now, when she’s already seen me work yesterday and today.

“No, it ain’t about that. We here on the farm work pretty hard, so we try to take at least one day off to relax. For the most part, that ends up being Sunday, though we sometimes flip it around if something else comes up.” Applejack says. “Does that make sense?”

“Hmm.” I mull it over; the idea of a day off from all this strenuous farm activity does sound appealing to me. I quickly run through some mental math, calculating how the drop in income from missing a day out of the week would affect my rent situation. “I suppose so. Alright, I won’t come in tomorrow.”

“Glad to hear it. You take it easy, Seth.” Applejack tips her hat, and then she retreats back within the farmhouse, leaving me to walk back to town with Vinyl.

“Sweet, you get a day off! With all this manual labor you’re always doing, you really look like you need it,” Vinyl bumps up against my side with a grin. “You’re alright with the pay cut, though?”

“Yeah, I don’t particularly care. I’m not trying to get out of town anymore, and my living expenses are handled by our arrangement,” I explain with a shrug. Honestly I could cut my hours down even further, but then what would I do with myself? I was already struggling to think of ways to fill my schedule as is. “Which brings me to the question: how long is this meeting going to take?”

“Shouldn’t be too long. The mayor should have the contract drawn up already; we just have to sign it and we’re good to go,” Vinyl explains. That does sound reasonable, lessening my worries somewhat. “Just a little further. It’s right in the town hall.”

We make our way to the large circular building smack dab in the middle of the town square and walk through the front doors, the wooden floors creaking beneath my feet. Inside, Vinyl exchanges a few words with the receptionist pony, who directs us to the mayor’s office.

The inside of the town hall is more or less a rustic version of a standard office building. I’m not too familiar with the way town halls work, but from what little I can see I note an area for record keeping, general storage, and offices for the various town officials where they handle the day to day affairs. In short, there’s nothing interesting to look at.

“Come in!” A proper sounding female voice sounds out moments after Vinyl knocks on the door. The DJ opens the door to reveal a normal pony with a groomed beige coat and a grey mane sitting behind a desk. She wore a collar and a set of spectacles that balanced precariously atop her nose. Upon seeing us, she put on a smile and stood up from her desk. “Ah, Vinyl, I’ve been expecting you. And you…”

“I do apologize for not coming to greet you sooner. I admittedly had some trouble genuinely believing that there was in fact a bona fide human living in our town.” The mayor walked around her desk and moved up to me, offering her hoof. “My name is Mayor Mare, and it is my pleasure to officially welcome you to Ponyville!”

“You can just call me Seth.” I accept her hoof briefly, keeping my comments about her name to myself. “Thanks, I guess. I suppose I am living here now.”

“That’s right! It’s about time to make that official, don’t you think?” The mayor beamed and returned to her desk just long enough to produce the rent contract. “I’m glad you came to me before making your first rent payment. There’s quite a lot of legal legislation to follow when it comes to this sort of thing, and it would have been a massive headache to deal with had you already paid.”

“Legislation?” I ask curiously. “I’m just paying rent, aren’t I?”

“Yes, of course. But this can be classified under tax income, so it’s a problem if it were to go unreported. There’s all sorts of hooves that could be stepped on in that unfortunate event, and several departments that the documents would have to pass through before the problem was properly resolved,” Mayor Mare attempted to explain. I just blink; none of that makes any sense to me. I’ve never had to live on my own before, so learning how taxes and rent payments and such worked was never a priority. “But you don’t need to worry about all of that. Just sign along this line here, and you’ll be good to go!”

“Do I need to read the contract to you, Seth?” Vinyl asked, lifting up the contract telekinetically and bringing it up to her face. “It’s more or less the same as what you signed back at the party...except the wording is a lot more complicated.”

“So, a room, two meals a day, and access to utilities?” I repeat just to make sure I remembered the terms. When Vinyl confirms, I nod. “In that case you don’t need to read it. Let’s just sign it.”

“Fair enough.” Without wasting any more words, Vinyl brings up a quill to the parchment and scrawls her name in the typical Equestrian script and then passes it to me. I take the quill next, gripping the flimsy thing in my hand just long enough scribble down my own name. “Alright, and that’s that. That should be everything, right?”

“That’s right! That’s all you needed to do,” Mayor Mare then turned to me one last time. “Congratulations; with this document, you’re officially a citizen of Ponyville! Once again, welcome!”

“Right…” For better or worse, this is yet another way of confirming just how stuck here I really am.





“There, that wasn’t that bad, was it?” Vinyl ribs me once we’ve left the town hall, already tucking our copy of the contract into her bag. “In and out!”

“It was better than I expected, I’ll admit.” I take a glance up at the sky, noting that although it’s getting dark, there’s still some time left in the day. The question is: what should I do with it? “I expected a lot more paperwork.”

“It’s not like you’re buying the house or anything. You think you’ve seen paperwork…” Vinyl visibly shudders at the thought. I don’t bother to argue that. I’ve only ever rented a college dorm, and that had enough paperwork. I can’t even imagine how buying a house would compare to that. “Alright, so home it is?”

“That sounds good.” No sooner do those words leave my mouth than a better idea comes to me, now that I have some extra time to myself. “Actually, on second thought, you go on ahead. There’s someplace I want to visit.”

“Oh yeah? No problem. I’ll just head home and throw something together for food.” Vinyl seems curious, but to my relief, she doesn’t prod any further. She gives me a wave when I break off from her down a separate street. “Catch you tonight!”

It’s refreshing to have some time to myself out in the streets, especially now that I have someplace to go. It’s not hard to find my way, either. The town isn’t that large and I’ve have enough time to familiarize myself with its layout over the past week and make mental landmarks for reference points. As a consequence, I’ve started to recognize individual ponies that I pass by as well; another testament to the small community in which I now live. 

For example, there’s a group of three mares with various botany related cutie marks who tend to talk in obnoxiously loud voices and exaggerate their words and emotions. There’s also that chocolate brown stallion with the hourglass on his flank that I once bumped into outside the library. It’s hard to miss him or the cream colored mare with the rose cutie mark that often follows him around due to their tendency to gaze at me with barely hidden interest. 

“Hi, Mr. Seth!” Sometimes, I even pass by Derpy, the wall-eyed mare I met back at the party. We don’t often interact, but I typically return her greeting with a wordless wave just to be polite. Out of all the ponies I’ve interacted with, she’s the only one that I’ve never had an argument with, so she at least warrants some small niceties. 

The only encounter that I’d consider objectively unpleasant so far is with Bon Bon, that mare who is always with Lyra. She tends to glare at me when she thinks I’m not looking, no doubt bitter about the way I’ve been dealing with Lyra. I don’t pay her much attention, however; dirty looks aren’t anything new to me.

All in all, none of these encounters warrant much of a reaction from me, which suits me just fine. The only ponies I’d rather not run into are Lyra and…

“Oh hey! What’s up?” Rainbow Dash. The mare towards which I harbor many conflicting emotions suddenly zips down from the sky to fall in step beside me. Naturally, the first thing she notices is my appearance. “Whoa, look at that! You actually don’t look like Rarity’s next headache anymore!”

“I’m ever so glad I have your approval.” Good to know my sarcasm is still in full effect. “Though coming from a pony who doesn’t understand how color contrast works, I’d say it doesn’t mean much.”

“Pfff, you’re just jealous that you can’t look this good.” Rainbow flips a hoof through her multicolored mane, looking extremely proud of her appearance. She grins, seeming to respond well to my sarcasm despite how rude others might find it. “Guess going to Rarity’s worked out for you, huh?”

“More or less.” I’m getting close to my destination, and I’d rather Rainbow not be around when I get there. “So do you have any particular reason for talking to me?”

“Reason? Not really. Just saw you walking and thought I’d drop by to say hi!” Rainbow replied with a shrug. I roll my eyes, having figured as much. “So...uh...how are you adjusting?”

“That’s a difficult question. How one adjusts to the fact that they’re living in a world filled with multi-coloured talking ponies is beyond me. I’m still not over that.” Her suddenly awkward tone is enough to tell me that she’s asking about my state of mind. I’d rather avoid the serious topic, so of course I need to be facetious. My attempts earn a huff from her. “Seriously though, you shouldn’t bother to keep asking. You’ve already done enough, so your conscience should be clear.”

“Huh? What is that supposed to mean?” Rainbow seems both confused and defensive. I sigh, realizing I’ve said too much. “Why wouldn’t I ask? In case you forgot, we’re friends now.”

“So you keep saying.” Rainbow doesn’t seem to understand that friendship is a two way street, and I’m not feeling anything of the sort towards her. My feelings toward her can’t readily be explained, though resentment, annoyance, confusion, and exasperation are descriptions that primarily come to mind. I sigh; all I would achieve if I bring any of that up is another argument. “Actually, you know what? Forget I said anything.”

“Wait wha...you can’t just leave me hanging!” Rainbow expresses, frustrated with my obstinance. When I don’t respond, she groans. “You are just so stubborn!”

“Takes one to know one. You’re still here, so you’re just as stubborn as me, if not more so.”

“That’s not true! You’re at least twenty...no, thirty percent more stubborn than me!” Rainbow retorts, causing me to look at her oddly.

“Did you just… you can’t use percentages to refer to abstract concepts like stubbornness; that doesn’t make any sense!”

“Oh yeah? Well, you don’t make any sense!” Rainbow emphatically sticks her tongue out at me.

“Dear god, I’m talking to a child. What has my life come to?”

“At least I know how friendships work!” 

“Seriously, we’re back to that again?”

“Yes, we’re back to that again!”  

Our admittedly childish argument carried on for so long that I’ve reached my destination: the music store that I’d spotted yesterday. It’s hard for me to remember why I came, however, as Rainbow glares at me with her face set in a stubborn pout. Moments later, her expression dissolves into mirth as she suddenly starts to chuckle. 

“What’s so funny?” I ask, confused.

“Snrk...nothing. You’re kinda fun to mess with,” Rainbow remarks in good humor. I blink at her, flabbergasted. Nothing about our conversation was all that funny… actually, now that I think about it, I guess it was a little silly. I hadn’t intended on entertaining her though. “Oh hey, this is Noteworthy’s shop, isn’t it?”

“You know the place?” I allow the change in subject, grudgingly accepting that she is just going to be along for the ride this time.

“Yeah, I’ve heard about it. Never needed to go inside, though. My voice is my instrument!” Rainbow boasts proudly.

“You can sing?” That’s odd enough for me to take an interest. With a scratchy speaking voice like hers, I can’t imagine she’d be a good singer. Yet the thought of her having a musical talent is an interesting one.

“Hay yeah I do! I’ve got a great set of chords that any mare would be jealous of!” Rainbow proclaims. I give her a disbelieving look; with her constant boasting, you’d think she was good at everything. “Maybe you’ll hear me at some point, if you’re lucky.”

“I’m sure.” When I decide I want my eardrums to spontaneously combust. “Anyway, I’m going in here. Surely you have better things to do than follow me around.”

“Nope!” Rainbow replies cheerfully, much to my dismay. “I’m done with work for today, so I think I’ll keep you company a bit longer. Lucky you, right?”

“Yeah, lucky me.” I sigh again and finally go into the shop, a small bell ringing as the door opens to announce my entry. The moment I walk inside, I feel like I’ve stepped into a small piece of heaven. 

The first thing I notice is that the shop is small and holds a very limited stock. Yet from what I see, the stock it does have looks only marginally different than what I might see in my own era. There are electric keyboards, guitars both electric and acoustic, amplifiers, and other paraphernalia that wouldn’t be out of place in a human Guitar Center. The only differences are the design of the individual instruments, the brand names (which I of course can’t read), and that the equipment that would ordinarily be electric are equipped with crystalline orbs as opposed to power supplies.

“Ah, welcome to my shop, miss Dash!” A blue stallion makes his presence known from behind a small counter, where it looks as though he had been reclining in a bean bag. He leaps to his hooves and moves to greet us. He naturally pauses upon seeing me. “And...oh, you’re the human I’ve been hearing about, aren’t you?”

“That’s right. I’m looking to start up a hobby in music,” I explain to him without looking at him. Instead, I peruse his wares. My first instinct is to check the price tags, but I can’t read them, so I’ve no idea if what I’m looking at is in my price range. “Me being human isn’t a problem, is it?”

“Of course not! I’m sorry if I gave that impression. I’m Noteworthy, and I own this shop,” the stallion responds placatingly. “Please, browse at your leisure. If you need my recommendations on anything in particular, feel free to ask.”

“Thanks, but I think I know what I’m after.” I never did care to work with store officials, and now is no exception. That being said, I do need an interpreter. I glance over at Rainbow, meeting her gaze in the process. “Rainbow, as long as you’re here, make yourself useful and read these price tags to me.”

“Huh? Why can’t you read them yourself?” Rainbow asks, looking confused. Right, I never told her.

“I can’t read your language, and I’d like to know if I can afford anything here.” I deadpan. Rainbow blinks and then looks sheepish. From there, she and I make our way down the selection of keyboards and guitars. 

Unfortunately, it seems I was right to be concerned. Just like in my era, getting a decent guitar is extremely expensive, with bit prices ranging in the hundreds. The same goes for the pianos. That being said, not everything is outside my price range.

“Ah, a budding guitarist, are we?” Noteworthy asks amicably as I place my purchases atop the counter. While electric guitars are more my style, an acoustic is the closest I can get while still remaining affordable. In addition to the guitar, I’ve also bought a tuner and a set of guitar picks. “A solid choice! There’s always a desire for good guitar players in contemporary bands, if that’s what you’re aiming for.”

“We’ll see,” I say, deliberately choosing not to be very talkative. When it comes to shopping, I mostly just want to get what I need and get out so I can get back home. Once my purchases are rung up and I’ve passed over the requisite bits, I grab my new guitar along with its accessories and leave the store, barely registering Noteworthy’s response. 

“Heh, somebody looks excited,” Rainbow observes smugly, the mare now hovering in the air beside me. 

“Do I?” I ask with a hint of surprise; I don’t feel like I’ve been presenting myself any differently.

“You must be! It’s the first expression you’ve worn that hasn’t been annoyed or angry!” Rainbow points out, poking at my cheek with a hoof. She then snickers. “Whoops, it’s back to annoyed again.”

“Gee, I wonder why…” I retort, rubbing my cheek where she’d poked me. “It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with this insufferable mare following me around. That would be insane.”

“It’s not my fault you can’t appreciate awesome,” Rainbow flits around to my other side, somehow flying through the air upside down while looking insufferably smug. “So are you going to go home and rock out on your new guitar?”

“As much as I can with an acoustic. Are you going to follow me all the way home?”

“Thinking about it, if only to see how annoyed you’d get.” Rainbow’s words cause me to have an unwelcome case of deja vu. I shoot her a glare, but it only seems to amuse her. “Nah, I actually gotta scram and get some food. You gonna be at the gig on Monday?”

“It’s my job,” I reply simply, mentally resigning myself to dealing with Rainbow that entire night, if this evening was anything to go by. “Don’t let me be the one keeping you around.”

“It was fun! I’ll catch you on Monday, then!” Rainbow gives me a wave, and then she disappears from my vision in a flash of multicolor, her speed as unreal as always. I watch her go for a moment, and then I make my way back to Vinyl’s house.

I glance at my new guitar. Rainbow was right about one thing; I am feeling some semblance of excitement at having an instrument of my own once again. My fingers already itch to touch the strings, and the familiar shapes of chords begin to form in my mind.

When I reach Vinyl’s house, I intend to make use of the rest of my evening, as well as the following day, to capitalize on my new ability to make music. Then we’ll see if Rainbow’s talk has any merit.
> 15. A Return to Rock (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“There you go. One week’s worth of rent.” I pass the bulging bag of bits over to Vinyl, rendering my total number of bits back down to zero. Not for the first time, I find myself bitter, yet wholly grateful that I don’t have much of a need for bits at the moment, otherwise this moment would feel much more painful.

“Sweet! That takes care of that.” Vinyl accepts the bag and slides it in a cupboard beneath the coffee table. She immediately turns her gaze to the guitar case resting against the wall just behind me, hardly bothering to hide her interest. “So…I see you went and bought yourself a guitar. I guess all that talk about being a musician wasn’t just talk, then.”

“You doubted me?” I question with a raised brow. “If so, why did you hire me?”

“Relax, I’m only joking. I knew you were short on cash.” Vinyl briefly gives me a wry look. “Back when we first met, you said you play the piano. You play guitar too?”

“I tried a bunch of different instruments to pass the time growing up.” At Vinyl’s behest, the two of us move back to the couch with the guitar in tow. “Brass and woodwind instruments never really clicked with me, but I found an affinity for stringed instruments, like piano and guitar.”

“That’s pretty cool. I’m actually a little jealous; I can sing I guess, but I’m all about that electric sound, so instruments are a no go for me.” Vinyl motions over her shoulder, though I can’t tell what she’s trying to indicate. “You gonna try her out? I’ve got a soundproofed room in the back if you want to use it.”

“That depends, are you going to be watching?” I reply, not too crazy about the idea of having an audience before I’ve even had a chance to clear the rust out of my skills.

“What, you get stage jitters?” Vinyl takes the chance to tease me, a grin crossing her muzzle. I roll my eyes, earning a chuckle from her. “Nah, you can have the room to yourself if you want. I want to hear you eventually though.” 

“First I’m going to see how rusty I’ve become.” I reply. “Do you care if I use the room now?”

“Nah, go ahead. I figure you’d want to try her out the second you had a chance,” Vinyl accurately states. “Come on, I’ll show you where it is.”

I grab my guitar, and then Vinyl takes down the first floor hallway to a large room that has been thoroughly converted into a production level studio. The walls are covered with soundproofing material, and all of Vinyl’s equipment—consisting of her turntables, speakers, and lighting equipment—is all set up in the back ready to go.  

“Vinyl,” I say, a stray thought coming to me. “If I’m using your music room, what are you doing for the rest of the evening?”

“Hay if I know. Maybe read some magazines or chill to some tunes in my room. Probably both.” Vinyl shrugs. “Why, what’s up?”

“Nothing. Forget I asked.” It feels odd that she’s giving up this room so easily when I’m pretty sure she lives in here when I’m not around. “I’ll see you later then.”

“For sure.” With that, Vinyl leaves me to my own devices in the music room, closing the door behind her. 

This would mark the first time I’ve been in a fully soundproofed room. It’s an odd sensation; I can hear every little movement that I make, yet at the same time, it all seems quiet. I clear my throat, finding that even my voice sounds weird without the echo. In spite of the surreal experience, I find myself excited to hear how the guitar will sound in such an environment. It’s no secret that the best quality recordings were done in similar rooms to this.

I remove the guitar from its case, revealing one not unlike Applejack’s, except this one is brand new with a rich, glossy, wooden finish. Rolling over the chair from Vinyl’s tables, I sit down and rest the guitar on my lap. One by one, I go through each of the strings, using my new tuner to ensure each string is properly in key.

Clutching the pick loosely between my thumb and index fingers, I sigh. It feels like a lifetime has passed since last I’ve played. My fingers trace the patterns of familiar chords once again, and I start to play. 

At first I keep it simple, switching between the standard chords typically used in classic rock tunes just to see if I can remember finger placement. Ultimately, it’s very much like riding a bike; it doesn’t take long before the muscle memory kicks in.

A feeling of satisfaction comes over me as I run through the notes to a rock song I remember, my head lightly bobbing up and down to the beat. My fingers slip every now and then, but that’s only to be expected. The fact that I can do this much, along with the crystal clear sound coming from the guitar, is more than enough to sate me.





“You’re still going?” Vinyl whistles as she finds me the following morning still in the soundproofed room, guitar clutched firmly in my hands. “That’s some dedication. Did you even go to bed last night?”

“I didn’t stay up all night, if that’s what you’re asking.” I take my strumming hand away from the strings and turn to face her, a little peeved that I’ve been interrupted. “I went to bed not long after you did, and then woke up earlier than usual.”

“Waking up early when you don’t have to? Sounds rough,” Vinyl jokes. She motions back towards the door. “Anyway, there’s food on the counter. Come get it while it’s still hot, then we’ll talk.”

Wondering what she means by that, I follow behind her to the breakfast table, where a steaming plate of eggs and toast rested on either side of the table, along with a folded up newspaper. 

“So how’d the session go? Still rusty?” Vinyl asks as she sits down at the table, her horn already lifting up the newspaper and unfolding it on the table beside her.

“A little bit, but it’s all coming back quickly enough.” I sit down as well and reach for the plate, already starting to dig in. “Is it really that interesting to you?”

“Yeah, duh. I’m a musician,” Vinyl reminds me of the obvious, tapping a hoof to her muzzle. “Not to mention, it’s cool to see you doing something other than working and sleeping. I was wondering how you hadn’t gotten burnt out or bored out of your mind.”

“I...haven’t had the time nor presence of mind.” Vinyl’s words hit me harder than I expect. I really haven’t taken any time to relax at all since arriving in Equestria; it’s just been wake up, eat, work at Applejack’s, work with Vinyl, do other chores that need to be done, eat, and sleep. I notice Vinyl starting to look sympathetic. “Besides, how could I possibly be bored, considering every time I turn my back, another one of you ponies is sidling up to me, acting kind and getting offended?”

“Ouch. Harsh,” Vinyl remarks, turning the page of her newspaper. “Though that actually reminds me; since when did you and Dash start getting along?”

“Oh for god’s sake,” I immediately say, rubbing my forehead in annoyance at the thought of that insufferable mare. “I wouldn’t call it that. Somehow she went from hating me to never leaving me alone. I personally think it doesn’t make any sense.”

“I did hear that she’s been hanging around you. Not to mention you two apparently tussled. So did you like, fight out your differences? Because I could totally see that with her,” Vinyl pressed curiously. “Come oon, gimme the deets.”

“More or less. Though my opinion of her hasn’t much changed. She’s still the same childish egotist who doesn’t know when to quit. I don’t know what’s her angle, but whatever it is, it’s not happening.” I grow more and more uncomfortable as Vinyl insists. “What’s it matter to you anyway?”

“Hey, I’m just asking. She’s a friend and it’s a small town.” Vinyl shrugs, sipping her coffee. “I wouldn’t worry about her trying to get anything out of you. She’s more likely to prank you than anything else.”

“Prank me? Are you serious? Is she a actually a child?” I repeat disbelievingly.

“Nope, she’s as old as me!” Vinyl affirms with a grin. “So what, you’ve never pulled off a good prank before?”

“Why would I? It’s ridiculous, and no self-respecting individual would ever stoop to such a level just for the sake of a few cheap laughs.” I express, recalling the sort of nonsense people used to pull in high school. “Does she have nothing better to do?”

“Whoa, dude. I think you should chill for a moment,” Vinyl says while furrowing her eyebrows. “There’s nothing wrong with a little practical joke here and there.”

“There is when it’s at the expense of someone else.” I counter, not convinced. “How is finding humor in the misery of other people a good thing? If anything, it shows how awful a person you are.”

“Hold on, what? Are we even talking about the same thing?” Vinyl laid down the newspaper, looking confused. “Who’s humiliating who? What kind of pranks have you seen, dude?”

“Well…” Memories of my early public school life come to mind; where I first started to realize that the world wasn’t as kind as my family led me to believe. “Tripping someone with fishing wire, locking someone into the girl’s bathroom at school and then getting a teacher, sending messages to someone pretending to be someone else. Those were the most popular ones,” I say as I tick off each prank with my fingers.

“Uh…” Vinyl’s eyes widen as she listens to me, a firm look of disgust forming on her face. “Yeah, that’s not what a prank is. That’s just being a jerk. There’s a big difference between the two. Pranks are supposed to be fun for everypony involved, not hurtful.”

“Either way, it doesn’t seem like something a grown adult should be doing.” I relent with a hint of bad grace. I’m not willing to change my opinion, regardless of how surprisingly noble her words sound. 

“You know, sometimes it’s okay to let down your mane and have a little fun, even if it means acting a little like a foal.” Vinyl admonishes me. I don’t answer, focusing on eating the food in front of me. She sighs, but ultimately turns back to her newspaper rather than argue with me further. A long silence ensues between us as Vinyl scans the pages, and I finish up my meal. When Vinyl finally says something, it’s in reaction to something she reads in the paper. “Uh oh.”

“What?” I ask before I can stop myself. Vinyl turns around the paper to show me a rather indistinct picture of what appears to be the Everfree Forest...and there’s something large hidden within the trees. I can barely make it out, but there’s no doubt that it’s a predator of some sort due to the large pincers I can see. “What in the name of all that is holy is that!?”

“Another reason to stay away from the Everfree Forest. Apparently we needed one more.” Vinyl brings the newspaper back to keep reading. “Looks like the Scorpio is active again. Yeesh, that’s just as bad as an Ursa Major.”

“I’m confused. Those are constellations. What do those have anything to do with monsters in the Everfree?” 

“Oh, there are also monsters that go by the same names. Supposedly they share an affinity or whatever with those constellations,” Vinyl attempts to explain, though it only makes me more confused. “...This isn’t making any sense to you, is it?”

“Not one bit.  Stars are hundreds of light years away from us; how could any monster possess any kind of affinity with them?” I remind her.

Vinyl shrugs helplessly. “Magic?”

“You’ve got to give me something more than that.” This isn’t the first time the answer to my questions has been magic. I’m getting really tired of hearing that as an acceptable explanation. 

“I dunno, dude, I’m just a DJ. Twilight might tell you, though. She knows pretty much everything,” Vinyl remarks. “I just know the basics; they’re real tough, mean and I should stay far away from them. The Ursa Major I know at least doesn’t really leave its cave, but the Scorpio wakes up every so often and starts terrorizing the forest. I hear ponies have been going missing in that forest for centuries.”

“Well that’s just great. Not ominous at all.” I shudder at the thought that I could have run into such a monstrosity during my time in the forest. For better or worse, I was exceedingly lucky.

“No kidding. Do yourself a favor and stay away from the forest, yeah? At least until that thing goes back to sleep.”

“Trust me, there is no force on this planet that could get me to go back to that forest.” With that, I finish my meal and stand up from the table. “Thanks for the meal. I’m going to head to the shower then back to the music room.”

“Sounds good to me. Might join you in a bit.” Vinyl calls after me as I go. Hearing that only causes me to sigh. 

Sure enough, Vinyl pokes her head into the music room not long after I get back to practicing. I do my best to keep playing, but before long, she slips entirely inside the room and closes the door behind her. I stop playing and turn to face her.

“Can I help you?” I ask impatiently. 

“Aw, why’d you stop?” Vinyl expresses with clear disappointment. “You’re not bad at all! I even had a little tune running in my head with those chords.”

“I’m grateful for the room, but I prefer to practice without an audience.” I say with a shrug, lowering the guitar and placing it flat on my lap.

“Come on, don’t be like that. I just want to hear what kinds of songs you play. Country, rock, blues…? This mare is all kinds of curious!” Vinyl as she moves towards the corner of the room, close to where her turntables are. She puts on an awkward grin when she sees my unchanging expression. “Really, I’ll be good. Not a sound from me.” Her grin starts crumbling under my deadpan gaze. “Just a few minutes?”

I glare at her, annoyed at her persistence. Despite her reassurances, I don’t want her in the room while I play. But at the same time, it doesn’t seem smart for me to argue too much with her when it’s by her leave that I can even play in this room in the first place. I grit my teeth, resenting the fact that I took her offer; it feels like I unintentionally let her do me a favor. This resentment turns to resignation when I realize that if I hadn’t agreed to use this room, Vinyl would have heard my playing through the walls anyway. This alone causes me to calm down.

“A few minutes only. Then I’m going to ask you again to leave me to my practice.” I relent before turning my gaze back to my guitar, ignoring Vinyl’s happy confirmation. I move the pick to the strings...and realize I don’t know what to play. Before, I was just running through simple songs I knew to pick up the groove.

Out of the many guitar songs I remember, I’ve only mastered the solos of a scant few of them. Before I realize what I’m doing, I opt for the song that never failed to perk me up. It was a song that Amaryllis and I used to enjoy during those hours long trips in the car.

At first, it’s nothing more than a singular chord that I repeatedly play. I play that for a solid few seconds until I have the beat running in my head. Then, I start to run through the opening riffs of the song. Typically, these riffs were combined with the base chord, involving two separate guitarists. 

As the song turns into four separate chords to build up to the first verse, I realize that maybe starting off with one of the more difficult songs wasn’t the most sensible idea. It’s coming back to me easily enough, but it would have been much safer to start out with something simple. So why did I pick this one? What was I trying to prove?

Vinyl listens intently as the song goes on, her head bobbing up and down in rhythm to the beat. When I reach the solo and my muscle memory kicks in, the shades slide down her nose as her eyes widen in surprise and admiration. A grin slowly crosses her muzzle as she moves over to her turntables.

So intent am I on not screwing up the solo that I don’t notice what she’s doing. In fact, I’m several measures into the final chorus when I realize that the beat in my head isn’t just in my head anymore. I blink up in surprise; a distinct electronic drum beat courses through the room, courtesy of the speakers set up around Vinyl’s turntables.

My first thought is to yell at her, my playing faltering in the wake of my surprise. Yet, I realize that the beat she’s putting out fits with the song I’m playing rather well. I decide to wait until the end of the song before I confront her about it.

“What did we say about not making a sound?” I demand of her, lowering my hand from the strings once again. 

“Hey, I technically didn’t...it was my tables,” Vinyl has the presence of mind to look sheepish at my confrontation. I shake my head in disbelief. “Hay with that, though. You’re baller, dude! After hearing you do that solo, I had to join in. You needed a beat!”

“Vinyl, you should have given me some warning. I’ve never played with someone else before,” I tell her, my voice remaining calm. I’m not as angry as I feel I should be; despite her intruding on my practice in the first place, it didn’t feel bad to have a backing beat.

“Sorry, it was a spur of the moment thing. But really, you’ve always been solo? I can’t believe it, not with that skill.” Vinyl swiftly brings the topic back to me, her apology lasting no more than instant. 

“I’ve always found practicing on my own to be good enough,” I reply. Yet I know that’s not entirely true. My mood darkens as I remember the one person whom I eventually wanted to show my playing. “Are you satisfied now?”

“Yeah, but I gotta see that again. Want to play through that again with me all the way through? I think I’ve got an idea how to play along. There’s like five chords, right?” Vinyl’s excitement seems only to be ramping up. “Dear Celestia, imagine how that would sound if it were a bit heavier…”

“Vinyl, are you even listening to me?” She either doesn’t hear me or chooses to blatantly ignore me, her eyes lighting up as an idea comes to her. Yet, due to the conflict I’m feeling between wanting solitude and having a backing beat, my words come quieter than usual.

“Stay right there! I’ve got an idea!” Vinyl zips out of the studio for a moment, and seconds later I can hear her ruffling through the mess that is her living room. Eventually she returns with the very same black electric guitar that I’d seen her with the night I moved in. She passes it over to me, the guitar held firmly in her telekinesis. “Here, use this!”

“What? That’s your guitar; I’m not going to touch it,”I protest, as much as the beautiful instrument hanging before me appeals to me.

“Hah, it’s actually not. It belongs to my old roommate back at uni. A real rocker mare, that one,” Vinyl reveals with a chuckle. “I’ve been planning to go see her and give it back eventually, but she’s since moved on to a better magic guitar. She won’t mind if you use this.”

“Magic guitar. So I’m guessing it works with magic…” I deduce dryly. Sure enough, I spot a crystalline orb set in the base of the guitar, the interior swirling with magic. I set my acoustic down gently on the floor. I also set my rifle down, as I can’t wear a strap without it getting in the way. I then accept the guitar from Vinyl, feeling its satisfying weight with a hint of excitement welling up inside of me. I pluck one of the strings, but it sounds just the same as any other unplugged guitar. “How do you make it work?”

“Easy! Just flip that switch at the bottom there...and…” Vinyl instructs me. I easily find the switch she’s talking about and flip it. When I next pluck the string, the easily recognizable sound of a distorted electric guitar rings out, sounding like pure joy to my ears.There’s a sound long and dear to my heart. “There we go! How’s that for metal?”

“Oh man...” Is my simple response. Vinyl beams at my reaction. As much as I’d rather have her out of the room, the chance to play on an instrument like this overpowers all my reservations. I can’t wait any longer; I stand up from the stool and strum the first chord on the guitar, filling the room with the satisfying sound of distortion. Then, I run through a simple set of scales to familiarize myself with the guitar’s sound.

Without any further warning, I start to play the song again, playing the first chord repeatedly in a steady rhythm. Vinyl doesn’t waste any time in joining in, her electronic beat meshing surprisingly well with the guitar. This run through of the song quickly turns into experimentation as Vinyl and I occasionally trade off parts of the song to get a better idea of how best to work off each other.

“I’ll take the four chords, you take the rhythm—at least until the chorus hits,” Vinyl reasons during a pause in the song. “Then the solo’s all yours.”

I nod, and we once again start the song, and this time the song feels just like it should. With her taking the rhythm at the beginning, I can focus on leading in the song with various guitar riffs that lead up to the four chords. When we reach that point, we switch, and I return to the rhythm, and she takes control.

My stress and worries seem to fade away in the wake of the music filling my ears. With my eyes fixed on the fretboard and my focus entirely on hitting the notes, there’s no room to think about my nebulous state of mind. It’s just me, the beat, and the music. At one point, I even start to hum the vocal line, though it’s easily drowned out by our combined sound.

“Yeah, let’s turn it up!” Vinyl is equally excited, her telekinesis turning up both the volume on her tables and my guitar simultaneously. We grow so loud that it feels like I have front row seats at a rock concert, but that only seems to add to the experience. “Whooo!”

After the chorus, I shoot right into the solo, doing better than before now that I remember what notes to strum and when to bend each string. My bends could still use some work, but for the most part I’m able to run through it with a great deal of effort. I remember always feeling jealous of those guitarists who could make solos look so easy.

We hit the final chorus at near max volume. The original studio recording of the song ends in a fade out, so when it comes time to end the song, I try to just end after the last chorus, but in the vacuum, Vinyl surprises me with a drum solo, and when she finishes, it only feels right to strum the last chord once more.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Vinyl cheers, the mare leaping clear over her tables to come talk with me. I flip the switch to turn off the distortion on the guitar, and I hand it back to her with some reluctance. Vinyl catches the guitar with her magic, and bumps my leg with her hoof. “That was a rockin’ good time! I could see myself jamming with you live, if you got talent like that!”

“I suppose it wasn’t awful,” is my seemingly uncaring response, but if I’m honest with myself, that was probably the most fun I’ve had since coming to this era...and probably the most fun I’ve had playing music in my entire life. I feel like I’ve gone over the moon and back.

“That’s an understatement. What song was that anyway?” Vinyl questions curiously. She places the guitar gently on the ground beside mine. “I’ve never heard a style like that before.”

“It’s a human song. It’s essentially all about turning up the music to get away from the day’s work,” I reveal to her, feeling somewhat wistful. My thoughts turn to my phone, where the song in question is present, but I’m unable to play it for fear of wasting what little battery I have left.

“Hah, I can get behind that. Though I guess music is my day’s work…” Vinyl brushes at her chin, thinking for a brief moment before shrugging. “Eh, whatever. Still, it sounds killer. Would you do it live with me sometime?”

“That would be a bad idea. My reputation in town isn’t the best, in case you forgot,” I point out, recalling just how many ponies think poorly of me. Granted, that was intentional and entirely my own doing, but it is what it is. “I can’t imagine my presence doing you any favors.”

“Eh, you’re thinking too hard about it. Ponies come to my shows to party, not to ask questions about who or what I’m playing with,” Vinyl waves my concern away, much to my annoyance.

“Clearly you don’t understand how people work, then. People are judgmental and are drawing conclusions about performers and their performances from the moment they walk out on stage. They can look like they’re having fun, but could be entirely dissatisfied.”

“Now you’re really thinking too hard about it.” Vinyl eyes me with disapproval. “Besides, you’ve only been to a few of my gigs. You’re saying you know what ponies think even when you don’t join in or talk to them?”

“I…” I pause, realizing that Vinyl has effectively driven me into a corner. To prove my point, I’d have to talk about my own race, and I’d rather not do that, else I risk my mood plummeting from my own cynicism. “I guess it doesn’t matter. I’m not ready to perform live anyway. It’s too soon.”

“That’s fair.” Vinyl eyes me a little longer, looking as though she wants to continue that discussion. She thankfully chooses not to do so. “Think about it, alright? It’s not the first time I’ve taken a guest star for a few performances.”

I don’t answer.





After an hour or so more of practicing on my acoustic, I decide to take a break and get some fresh air. I leave the house and enter the streets, figuring that a walk around the perimeter of town may do me some good. Remembering what I’d heard about the Scorpio, I keep my wanderings to the north side of Ponyville,

During my walk, I notice that I can see a great deal more guards than normal. They’re mostly earth ponies, equipped with silver armor and spears, who are stationed at seemingly every street corner. It seems the princesses finally got around to stationing extra guards here to watch me. To confirm this, I walk by one of them and notice that his eyes snap to me the moment I walk within view and follow me until I leave his sight.

As annoying as that is, what with the Scorpio prowling around, the extra protection could come in handy. That’s assuming they bother to protect me too, which is a bit too generous of an assumption to make.

I cast my gaze around the different shops and cafes as I walk. Sometimes if the identifying signs are clear enough I can reason what the business specializes in, but often my inability to read Equestrian gets in the way. This handicap is beginning to irritate me; reading is often what I did when I needed a break from music or games back in my era, and now that hobby is suddenly unavailable away me. It’s clear to me that I need to relearn how to read if I’m going to keep the boredom at bay.

As I pass by the schoolhouse, the idea of asking Cheerilee for help in that regard comes to mind; no doubt she’s used to teaching language at an elementary level. Yet such lessons would cost money that I don’t have at the moment. Ultimately, I file that idea away for later.

Before reaching Vinyl’s house again, I double back the way I came to make my walk last a little longer. It’s cold out, but not so cold that it renders my clothing ineffective. I’m more than comfortable enough to continue walking. 

I arrive near Rarity’s Boutique after another fifteen minutes. Sadly, my walk hasn’t killed that much time at all. Perhaps I should catch up on lost sleep with a nap. Rather than walk near the boutique, I cut through the park nearby, thinking that it’ll be a quick and easy way back.

So far, though there are some ponies I’ve recognized, none of them required any sort of interaction on my part. Unfortunately, my good luck comes to an abrupt end when I reach the fountain clearing at the center of the park.

Lyra is sitting at the base of the fountain, her lyre hovering in the air just in front of her. She’s not alone either; just like the last time I interacted with her here, she has a small audience of ponies sitting on the benches near her

“Oh hey, Seth.” She spots me almost immediately, even as my spirits sink at the inevitable confrontation. She gives me a smile and a wave, almost as if she thinks that acting friendly will magically change the way I feel about her. “Can we talk for a moment?”

I turn to the other direction in stoic silence, having absolutely zero interest in hearing what she has to say. In my current state of mind, dealing with a pony with a ridiculous and disgusting interest in me is one of the last things I want. This time, however, avoiding her doesn’t seem like it’ll be so easy.

“Come on, it’ll only take a moment!” Lyra insists, the mare abandoning her audience in favor of following me. The clear tension in our interaction is enough to get the attention of the nearby ponies. “Please, I’m sorry about before!”

When I still don’t acknowledge her, Lyra’s expression turns from sorrow to desperation. Suddenly, my progress stops. I blink, finding myself completely unable to move. No matter how much I strain my muscles, my limbs won’t budge. The pressure in my chest makes itself known as well, as if reacting to the aura of golden magic that has engulfed me.

“What the…” Much like the last time I was frozen with magic, further struggling proves pointless. I start to panic, feeling like an animal trapped in a cage. My mind goes down a dark route; just how far is she willing to go in the name of pursuing me? “Lyra, let me go right now. Now, you hear me!?”

“I’m really sorry, but you just keep ignoring me. This is the only way I can make you listen!” Lyra weakly explains, her horn still glowing with magic. “Please, I just want to make things right!”

“Are we really going to do this here!?” I snap back at her, unable to turn my body to face her. I can hear the murmurs of the onlooking ponies, no doubt promising that word of this incident is going to spread all over town by tomorrow at the latest. “Take a look around, you moron; we’re hardly alone!”

“You’re right...I don’t want to do this in front of everypony. We’ll move elsewhere.” Lyra agrees, and then suddenly I’m moving through the air despite the fact that my body remains motionless. I’m aware that unicorns are capable of telekinesis, but I didn’t think they could move something as large as me. 

“How about putting me down first!?” I demand, thoroughly unsettled. With this knowledge comes the realization that any unicorn can do whatever they want with me, whenever they want, regardless of my intentions. My mind goes bleak at the realization how helpless I am in front of magic. “Lyra!”

Lyra eventually puts me down in a shaded spot between the wall of a building and a small group of trees. She releases me from her magic, and my immediate first instinct is to put as much distance between myself and her as I can. I know she’ll only catch me in her magic again, so instead I direct a withering glare towards her. 

“Lyra...give me one good reason why I shouldn’t call for the guard right now,” I tell her in a dangerously calm voice. With guards all over the streets, there’s no doubt that if I shout loud enough, I can get the attention of at least one of them. Lyra recoils at my tone of voice.

“C-Call the guard?” Lyra gulps at that, and then a look of incredulous disbelief crosses her face. “Seth, I’m only trying to apologize to you! I’m really sorry I had to bring you here with force, but you just wouldn’t give me a chance otherwise!” 

“I don’t know how to make it clearer that I want nothing to do with you. At this point, all you’re doing is wasting both my time and yours.” My rejection is as cold as it could possibly be. 

“Could you at least let me finish!” Lyra snaps, surprising me with how vehement she sounds. She sighs. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that teasing you like that would make you never want to talk to me again. Please, can we just forget it ever happened, and go back to the way we were before?”

“You weren’t teasing; you were flirting, and you had been since you met me,” I correct her harshly, causing her to flinch and look embarrassed. “I have no interest in you in that way, and you’d be better off finding some other person to lust after.”

“Couldn’t you have just said that then? You’re acting like flirting is some kind of unforgivable crime!” Lyra accuses me. She notices my look of disgust, and then points at me accusingly. “There it is again! Do you think I wanted to jump your bones right then and there, or something?”

“Are you telling me that’s not the case?” I find it difficult to believe that anyone implying that their butt is nice to look at has anything other than lust on their mind.

“Obviously not! What kind of mare do you think I am? I was teasing!” Lyra appears offended by my question. “Okay, so maybe I was being a little flirtatious, but what’s wrong with that? I just wanted to see if there was any interest on your end...you know, like how flirting is supposed to work?”

“I can’t fathom why you’d pick me of all people.” Her words make me feel somewhat foolish; I don’t actually know how flirting is supposed to work, considering all I know of it is through rumors and the media. But I’m not about to admit that. “But I’m not attracted to ponies in the least. Nor do I have any interest in romance.”

“Well, then that’s that, I guess. But really, I’m sorry. I never meant to make you uncomfortable,” Lyra repeats, dipping her head. I gaze at her for a long time, mulling her words over in my head. 

“Alright.” In the end, I just wanted her to stop. The idea of relations with a pony was and is still completely disgusting. But if she’s giving up, then I’ve no reason to keep being angry with her...apart from being forced into an alleyway. “As long as you remember that, I’ll overlook what happened the other day.”

“Thank goodness.” Lyra’s expression becomes radiant with happiness, and before I can stop her, she rears up on her hind legs and hugs me around the waist, her head resting on my stomach. “I’d thought I ruined our friendship just by being a little too forward.”

“Alright, get off,” I press down on top of her head, her sudden unwarranted affection making me uncomfortable. Not to mention, her words don’t sit well with me. Exactly how did we have a friendship in the first place, when all you did was force your company on me and tease me? 

“Sorry.” Lyra hops down and gazes up at me with a smile. There’s a short awkward moment where neither of us knows what to say. “So...are you going to be at Vinyl’s gig tomorrow night?”

“It’s my job.” My typical answer to questions about Vinyl’s gig comes to my lips. I realize with a sigh that if Lyra is going to tomorrow’s gig, this confrontation was inevitable. I guess it’s better I dealt with it now rather than then.

“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow then! Sorry again for dragging you out here.” With that, Lyra breaks away from me, leaving me once again in blissful solitude. 

“What a pain in the ass these ponies are,” I say to myself with a heavy sigh, and then I resume walking back to Vinyl’s house, slipping deep into thought. Humans never gave me this much trouble, and were perfectly content to leave me well enough alone after a single encounter. 

Then again, humans never saved my life either.
> 16. A Night Out (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Returning to Vinyl’s house, I nap for a few hours to catch up on lost sleep. At the desk in my room, I make my first attempt at composing. The paper is rougher than I remember and the pencils are an odd thickness, but it’s enough to suit my purposes. 

   I score the paper with as many horizontal lines as I can using a straightedge, grouping them in sets of six. Then, I spend the rest of the night transcribing as many chords and notes that I can remember from various songs, treating each group of six as the strings on a guitar. As exceptional I’d like to think my memory is, having a hard copy of the music on hand is just good practice.

   After dinner, I retire for the night, dreading the onset of Monday.





   I wake the following morning to see overcast skies hanging above the town. I make sure to dress warmly and grab my rifle as always before making my way towards the farm.

   Work is more or less the same as always, though I notice Applejack makes a point of avoiding the side of the farm closest to the Everfree, postponing any chores that threaten to take us there or handling them so fast that I can’t be of any help.

   When I ask her, she brings up the same story in yesterday’s newspaper.

   “Are you really that worried?” I ask, my voice straining as I help her move the apple baskets from the cart into the cellar. “You don’t think it’ll come out this far from the forest, do you?”

   “I ain’t taking no chances. Too many ponies go missing whenever that thing’s around,” Applejack states, glancing worriedly at the dark fringe of the forest.

   “If it’s a problem, why haven’t the guard done anything about it?” I’ve seen magic used as a part of everyday life, and once I've even been immobilized. Being unable to move a single muscle is a terrifying sensation. If ponies can do things like that so easily, I’m curious why they'd be afraid of anything. “Don’t they have magic they can use to stop it?”

   “Listen, sugarcube. I’ve seen one of them constellation monsters before; a big ol’ bear larger than a house that can knock over trees like matchsticks...and that was just an Ursa Minor! I don’t even wanna know how terrifying a Scorpio would be!” Applejack insists. “Ain’t nopony I’d want to send in there, magic or not.”

   I cringe, recalling the image in the papers. The pony world is a much more terrifying place than I thought if monsters like those are free to roam unchecked. A moment later, I shoot her a disgruntled look, realizing what she just called me.

Applejack either doesn’t notice my expression or doesn’t care. She dusts off her hooves and returns back to the cart. “Enough about that. We ain’t going near that forest until the guard gives the all clear, and that’s final. Now let’s get back to it. Much more to be done!”

“Don’t I know it.”





With ten more bits in tow, I attempt to make a quick exit from the farm, turning down Applejack’s dinner offer as always. Yet fate conspires against me as I end up running right into the three young fillies along the dirt path leading back to town, the three of them no doubt on their way back from school. As they call out cheerful greetings to me and rush to meet up with me, I raise my hand to my forehead and rub my furrowed brow. 

“Miss Cheerilee’s been asking about you!”  Apple Bloom says.

“Really now?” Meeting me must’ve left quite the impression, seeing how we’ve only spoken once. “What does she want?” 

“She really wants you to come in and help with her history lesson!” Sweetie Belle answers.

“I think that would be really cool!” Apple Bloom chimes in, causing me to sigh. 

“History is so boring though…” Scootaloo says disinterestedly. I give her an askance glance; I agree with that sentiment to an extent, but it’s not worth discussing. More importantly, this might be the fair trade I need to get those language lessons from Cheerilee.

“I think she’ll find human history to be a bit more...exciting...than she’s accustomed to.” Essays about the Crusades, the World Wars, and the Manhattan Project come to mind. Perhaps I could describe what I remember of the Sengoku period in a kid-friendly way. “I’m no public speaker, but it’s worth negotiating.”

“Worth what now?” Scootaloo asks confused.

“Negotiation, Scootaloo. Like trading?” Sweetie Belle explains.

“Well sorry, I don’t know all these fancy words!” Scootaloo’s indignantly says, as Sweetie Belle sticks her tongue out at her friend.

“Why not come with us to school? You could talk to miss Cheerilee then!” Apple Bloom brightens up as an idea strikes her. “What if you pick us up from school tomorrow? Then you play with us afterward!”

Not this again. I just can’t seem to win with these three. I don’t know how to tell them I’m not interested in playing with them. 

“I can promise at least one of those things.” Unfortunately, they take my dubious response as a confirmation, and the three of them cheer and immediately start to brainstorm what sorts of activities the four of us would do together. “Did you hear me? I’m not playing!”

“Scootering down the hills! Air trick cutie mark!”

“We should build boats and go sailing down the river! Humans are good at building things, right?”

“What if we build snow forts?”

“The snows aren’t even here yet, dummy!” While Scootaloo berates Sweetie Belle, I stealthily edge away from them, wanting nothing to do with this whole situation.

“You come up with a better idea!”

“What if we went racing?” I quicken my pace to a power walk, putting as much distance between myself and them as I possibly can.

“That’s the same as what you said bef… wait, where did Seth go?”





“You alright there, bro?” Vinyl raises an eyebrow when I come rushing in through the front door in undignified haste, slamming the door behind me and sliding against it. She lifts her head up from behind the couch to peer down the hallway. “What’s up? I’ve literally never seen you run ever.”

“Children!” I manage to get out in between my heavy panting. Vinyl blinks and attempts to rise, utterly perplexed at my answer.“They’re a menace!”

“Pffftt…” Vinyl’s confusion quickly dissolves into mirth, her hoof rushing to her mouth in an attempt to stifle her laughter. She eventually can’t hold it back any longer, the mare collapsing onto the couch and bursting out laughing. “Oh Celestia, I can’t…!”

“Would you stop that? It’s not funny!” I flush with embarrassment, realizing how stupid I must look. To Vinyl’s credit, she makes a genuine attempt to stop laughing...for a few seconds. “Vinyl!”

“I’m sorry! It’s just that you’re always so serious, and then this…” Vinyl pauses to take a breath, and she grins at me evilly. “So children are your weakness, huh?”

“No, they’re not! Quit looking at me like that and let’s just get moving already!” No matter how much I glare at her, she won’t stop snickering. I groan and resolve to ignore her; Once she’s set up at wherever it is we’re going, she’ll be out of my hair for the rest of the evening. “So where’s the gig supposed to be this time?”

“It’s at a bar down by the river, called the Kindred Kelpie. It’s nothing special; they just give a call when things get too quiet.” Vinyl hops off of the couch and indicates the cart tucked against the back corner of the living room, where all of her equipment is packed up. Together, the two of us push it through the hallway and onto the street. “Tamer than a Pinkie Party, that’s for sure.”

“Thank heavens for that,” I grunt. The place should hopefully be obscure enough that I’ll be left to my own devices…but then I recall that Rainbow will be there, so I suppose there’s no chance of that.

“Awright, let’s get there quick before the pegasi start moving the rainclouds.” With Vinyl’s direction, it doesn’t take us very long to reach the bar in question. After exchanging a few pleasantries with whom I assume is the bar owner, Vinyl shows me to the area where she intends to set up. “Let’s get started! Same deal as before; though imma let you get a little more involved this time around.”

I take a glance around the bar. It’s nothing different than I had expected; the bar itself is easy to find, with various bottles both on and behind the counter. Some ponies are already sitting at the bar, drinking frothy liquid from wooden mugs. I wrinkle my nose in disgust.

“There you are!” My vision is filled with every single color of the Rainbow as she zips in front of me from wherever she was hiding. I sigh, my hopes for a solitary evening thoroughly dashed, no pun intended. I suddenly remember that she’d told me she’d be here...as did Lyra. “I knew if I found Vinyl, you wouldn’t be far behind! You ready to jam?!”

“For lack of a better word…” I reply, resignation falling over me. I have a feeling that there’s no hope of escaping her company for the entirety of the night.

“Sup, Dash?” Vinyl greets Rainbow enthusiastically. She glances around at the ponies steadily trickling into the establishment. “Pretty awesome turnout we have tonight! You got anything to do with that?”

“You know it! I did the rounds…might have mentioned you’d be playing tonight,” Rainbow responds coyly.

“Awesome! You know how much I love an audience!” She and Rainbow clop their front hooves together in what I assume is a high five. “I’ll meet up with you later. Seth and I gotta set this all up.”

“You do that. Seth, come hang out with me and the girls in the back when you’re done!” Rainbow offers, jabbing a hoof back towards a table near the back of the establishment, where I spy Lyra, Bon Bon, Flitter, and Cloud all sitting together. Not counting Rainbow’s seat, there’s one empty chair left beside her.

“Whatever.” I dismissively say, turning away from her. My eyes search the bar for any place to hide, but there are no dark corners or hidden tables in sight. There are the restrooms, but they can only buy me a few minutes at most. Rainbow flashes me a grin and flies back to her seat, leaving Vinyl and me to prepare for the upcoming performance.

Unlike the past couple of gigs, Vinyl has me assist her in uncoiling and arranging the multitude of wires that connect her extensive array of equipment to her turntables. 

“You know why I roll out the rug last? Check out all these wires I’ve got all over the place. I gotta have all these ponies dancing till they drop, and this is all just one big tripping hazard waiting to happen otherwise,” Vinyl explains while using her magic to tidy up the wiring arrangement.

Next, Vinyl and I arrange her speakers in such a way that the sound spreads more evenly across the room. Some of the speakers have holes in the top, in which metal poles are fitted so either other speakers or arrays of LED lights can be supported and hung from the ceiling. 

“I get needing wires to get the lights and speakers running, but how do they get powered? Are you constantly channeling magic through them?” I question, eyeing Vinyl while she lifts up one of the light arrays.

“All night long!” Vinyl proudly answers. I frown; my knowledge of magic isn’t the best—or average for that matter—but I can only assume much like any physical activity; it gets tiring maintaining that after a while.

“Put that down, then. I’ll take care of it.” I step in front of her and attempt to take the light array from her, facing some resistance from her telekinetic grip. “You should be conserving your magic.”

“Whoa, is this sympathy I’m hearing?” Vinyl releases the array, allowing its weight to fall into my waiting arms. She nudges me with a grin. “You coming down with something, buddy?”

“Oh, shove it. I’m just being practical,” I grumble.

“Sure, sure,” Vinyl says as she nods her head. She lets me handle the lifting regardless, and instructs me how to fasten the arrays to the poles in the correct position and height.

Once we’re finished, Vinyl runs through her set up, checking each piece of equipment and wire for malfunctions. When she’s certain that everything is in place, we roll the rug over the floor.

“Alright, it’s showtime!” Vinyl declares, dusting off her hooves. I nod and wipe the sweat off my brow. Working for ten hours straight is tiring enough; adding a gig on top of that is exhausting. That said, I’m starting to get used to the constant exertion during the day and the resulting soreness in the morning. “Imma get started! Feel free to mingle with the crowd!”

Mingle, huh? I think as I watch her step on the stage. I glance over at the table where the others are. It’s obvious there’s no getting out of this, so I reluctantly make my way over and take a seat.

“There you are! About time you finished,” Rainbow greets me as I sit.

“Oh hey, Seth!” Lyra beams after seeing me. “I didn’t get to say yesterday, but I absolutely love what you’ve done with your mane.”

“Thanks, I guess.” The compliment on my hair is nice to hear, but I wish it had come from literally anyone else. 

“You do look really nice,” Flitter shyly agrees with Lyra, glancing at my new ensemble. 

“So Seth, right?” Cloud addresses me next, the mare running a hoof through her unruly mane. When I nod, she offers me a smile. “I’m Cloud Chaser, Flitter’s older sis. Thanks for helping her the other day.”

“As I said, I just happened to find it.” I become uncomfortably aware of Rainbow’s smirk from beside me. I wave a hand dismissively. “Don’t let me interrupt. I’m only here because Rainbow dragged me.” 

“Only because you’d sit in a corner if I let you!” Rainbow says. “Everyone can always use a few more friends, right?”

“Riiight…” A surge of irritation rushes to the surface, and I have to stop myself from snapping at her. What I could use is peace and quiet. “Pardon me if I’m not particularly grateful.”

“Aw, don’t be a stick in the mud,” Lyra teases me with a smile. “Why don’t you tell us a little about yourself, Seth? We don’t really know anything about you.”

“That’s because I haven’t been telling.” It’s downright insulting that she thinks I’d open up just because she asked. “I’m not interested in talking about myself, so try another topic.”

Rainbow and Flitter wince beside me. Lyra tries to laugh it off, but then Bon Bon speaks up.

“You know, these four keep telling me you’re not so bad, but I really don’t see it.” Bon Bon’s words are the most honest I’ve heard out of these ponies in days. Now, this I know how to handle. “I don’t know how you fooled them, but you’ve been nothing but a jerk to everypony you met.”

“You’re not wrong.” I accept her words readily enough, much to her surprise. “If there’s anything I’ve learned about you ponies, it’s that you don’t know how to leave others well enough alone. Given a choice in the matter, I wouldn’t be here. Sitting here and deflecting questions about things that aren’t your business really isn’t my idea of a good time.”

“Seth, can you stop?” Rainbow says forcefully. I shrug, having said my piece. 

“This is the guy you’ve been pining over for the past few days, Lyra!?” Bon Bon thrusts a hoof at me while staring at Lyra with an incredulous expression.

“Shhh, Bon Bon!” Lyra visibly colors as Rainbow, Flitter, and Cloud Chaser look between Lyra and me in shock. No doubt neither of them heard about the spat between Lyra and me, as I’d only ever told Rarity about it. “Please, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not! I just don’t understand how you all see anything other than a rude and selfish jerk who thinks having basic manners is some kind of insult!” Bon Bon snaps. I raise a brow; she’s getting rather fired up about this. She and Lyra are always together, so I guess it makes sense that she would have been on the receiving end of Lyra’s woes. “If you don’t want friends so bad, fine, but don’t take it out on L...the rest of us!”

“Bon Bon…” Lyra whines.

“Okay, seriously, can we not!?” Rainbow finally raises her voice loud enough to cut across the rest of us. “We came here to have fun, everypony, so quit yelling at each other!”

“Fine. I’m done wasting my time on him anyway,” Bon Bon grumbles, returning to her drink in sullen silence. I shrug and lean back in my chair, my arms crossed across my belly; I’m used to people like her, so I’m not upset. I pointedly ignore the disapproving stare Rainbow is giving me.

An awkward silence falls across the table. Cloud Chaser coughs and clops her hooves together lightly, while Flitter suddenly finds the handle of her mug to be the most interesting thing in the world. Thankfully, Vinyl comes to the rescue, her speakers screeching to life.

“Sup, Everypony! That's right, the one and only Vinyl Scratch is here to provide you with the best beats this side of Equestria!” Vinyl announces enthusiastically. The ponies in the building, including the ones sitting with me, cheer loudly back. “That's what I like to hear! Now with this song, I wanna see everypony lookin' alive!”

Vinyl slaps a record on her turntables, and the air shakes with the thrumming of the bass. Before long, I find myself bobbing my head ever so slightly to the beat, the rest of the world falling into the background.

“You good over there, Seth?” Rainbow nudges me below the table, her voice only barely audible above the music. I raise an eyebrow at her question. “Bon Bon did just go off on you.”

“I’m more tired than anything; I’d hoped to relax tonight. Instead, I have to play at socializing with ponies that I’d really rather not deal with at the moment. I can barely handle your presence, and I feel like I’ve just been thrown into the deep end,” I reply, choosing to be honest with her. Rainbow wrinkles her nose at that, but she doesn’t say anything. I suddenly realize something. “Hold on, it sounds like you just acknowledged me as the victim rather than the instigator.”

“Well...yeah. I already know you hate talking about yourself,” Rainbow points out. “You said so, and that should have been fine, right? I feel like Bon Bon may have been overreacting a little. Did you two get off on the wrong hoof or something?”

“The first thing she asked me is why I wasn’t dead. You tell me.” Come to think of it, that was also when I first met Lyra. I glance over at them, noting the way Bon Bon was looking at her.

“Ouch…” Rainbow winces. She drains the rest of what’s in her mug and slams it on the table. “Still, you could loosen up a bit too. Tell you what, I’ll buy you a drink and we can talk about something else. Sound good?”

“No thanks. I don’t need you buying me anything,” is my immediate response.

“I insist! It’s impossible to stay grumpy after a good cup of apple cider!” Rainbow presses on, pressing a hoof to my shoulder. I hear that and scoff in disgust. The implication was there from the moment Vinyl called this place a bar but hearing her say cider cements my assumption. Rainbow looks offended by my reaction. “Hey, what’s wrong with cider!?”

“I don’t drink, and I’m not going to start now,” I tell her firmly, expecting a look of disappointment back.

Instead, Rainbow Dash looks surprisingly puzzled, her head tilted to one side. “Huh? You don’t drink? Don’t all things have to drink? What gives?” 

“Quit messing with me. I’m talking about alcohol. I have something against poisoning myself into depravity.” I snap back at her, causing her ears to fold back from my tone. I couldn’t have been any clearer, but Rainbow is still staring at me with genuine confusion. Hold on now...she can’t possibly be this ignorant. “Do you...not know what alcohol is?” I ask, my words losing their bite.

“No...should I?” Rainbow admits honestly after dithering a little.

“You just said apple cider. Doesn’t that have chemicals in it that lower your inhibitions and make it harder to think?” With every word I say, she just looks more and more confused.

“What are you even talking about? Apple cider is just apples! Who in the hay would put something like that in my precious cider!?” Rainbow retorts, appalled by the very concept of someone contaminating her drink. I blink, taken aback. Ponies don’t have alcohol? They’ve been so similar to humans in their culture so far that such a thought didn’t even occur to me. A sense of relief flows through me; the idea of a drunk Rainbow is something I hope I never have to deal with.

“Humans did, and I never understood why,” I answer, my mood lifting slightly. “In that case, I will try a mug. How much are we talking?”

“It’s pretty cheap here; just two bits!” Rainbow says. She huffs as I pass her the required amount of money, but thankfully doesn’t try to give it back. “Agh, I said I’d pay for it, you stubborn human!”

“And I ignored you, you conniving pony.” I shoot back without missing a beat. For some reason, Rainbow pauses, giving me a rather mischievous expression.

“Look who’s talking, you pasty-faced giant.” I look to her with surprise to see her watching me with a grin. What’s she trying to pull here?

“I don’t want to hear it from a technicolor adrenaline junkie.”

“Yeah, well you’re a whiny jerkface!” The playfulness in her voice becomes more noticeable. 

“Better than being a deformed worm thing.” I find myself shooting insults back at her despite understanding how utterly juvenile this is.

“Says the weak-limbed wonder!”

“Shove it, you hoofed blabbermouth.”

“Smelly ape with the stupid hair!” 

“You did not just…” I glare at her. “That’s rich, coming from evolution’s acid trip.”

“Rich, coming from a cocky smush-faced mummy!”

“What are you two doing?” Lyra, who appears to be walking towards the dance floor with Bon Bon, asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Nothing!” Rainbow and I say simultaneously. I freeze, my heart pounding at the thought of being caught in such a compromising situation. I point my thumb over to Rainbow. “She started it.”

“Did not!” Rainbow shoots back instantly.

“Let’s just go already,” Bon Bon said, dragging Lyra away while the latter jabbed a hoof at us in the universal “I’m watching you” gesture. The moment they’re gone, Rainbow and I glare at one another.

“Snrk.” Her expression is so comical that a chuckle forces its way out of my throat before I can stop it. Rainbow starts to snicker as well, her mirth growing in intensity until she’s laughing out loud. I hide my amusement behind my hand. “Can we call a truce? I’d like to try some of that cider now.”

“Truce? Nah, it was obvious who had the better insults.” Rainbow sticks her tongue out and blows a raspberry, causing me to roll my eyes. She snickers again, but her amusement soon dissolves into a warm smile. “I’ll be back! Two ciders, coming right up!”

I watch her as she turns tail and zips towards the counter. I suddenly realize with some shock that this is the first time I’ve laughed since coming to Equestria. I sigh, shaking my head. It felt good in the moment, but I shouldn’t have let myself get sucked into something so juvenile.

   I pause. A distant memory of a forgotten beach, where Amaryllis and I occasionally went to spend time together where no one else would find us, bubbles to the surface. I recall the way we would engage in conversations just like that. Maybe I should just take it for what it is, and stop thinking so hard about it.

   “Here!” Rainbow returns in the blink of an eye, slamming a filled mug onto the table in front of me, flecks of foam splattering on the wood. I flinch somewhat from her sudden reappearance. “Go on, you’ll love it!”

   I lift the mug, finding the handle much smaller than what I’m used to. Rainbow watches me intently as I take a tentative sip, finding the beverage to possess an earthy apple taste with a light hint of carbonation present. It’s similar to regular apple juice, but not quite as sweet and with a much bolder aftertaste.

   “Not bad. I can’t see myself drinking it regularly, but it’s not as unpleasant as I expected.” 

   “Right!?” Rainbow has her own mug as well, and if the flecks of amber on her muzzle are anything to go by, she’s already sampled plenty of it. “If you think this is good, you should try some when Applejack’s family makes it! It’s like you’re drinking pure happiness.”

   Upon speaking those last two works, Rainbow’s voice shakes and her tongue lolls out of her mouth. I eye her awkwardly; that’s a funny—if not creepy—way of showing your appreciation for a drink.

   “I’ll take your word for it,” I say as I casually sip from the mug. Two of us sip our cider and listen to the music in a comfortable silence. Eventually, it’s just Rainbow and me at the table, as Flitter and Cloud Chaser hit the dance floor as well. “You know, you don’t need to stay here for my sake. All your friends are out there dancing, and I know you like to dance.”

“How do you know I’m not tired and just want to chill here?” Rainbow asks with a raised brow.

“You don’t strike me as the type to stand on the sidelines in the middle of a party.” I point out. “Besides, you’re clearly just sitting here because you feel obligated to keep me company.” 

“Huh?” Rainbow looks perplexed by my answer; a perplexion that’s quickly replaced by annoyance. “You’re putting words in my mouth again. How do you know I’m not here because I want to be?”

“Rainbow, we’ve been sitting quiet for the past 5 minutes. And if there’s anything I know about you, it’s that you’re not quiet. At all.” I remark as I empty my mug. 

“Hey, that’s mean!” My jab at her personality earns me an indignant stare. “I just have a lot to say!”

“Except when you’re sitting with me, apparently.”

“Because you get all bent out of shape if I just say whatever!” Rainbow retorts. “You should try relaxing sometime! Do you know how to relax?”

“Of course I do,” I stubbornly reply. “So are you going to leave or what?”

“No!” Rainbow stubbornly decides, crossing her hooves. She sees me glaring at her, so she decides to change tack. “Why don’t you tell me how that guitar’s working out for you?”

“That’s…” I recall that she was there when I bought it. “It’s a good instrument. The strings have seen better days, but it didn’t require much maintenance to get working. I’ll have to restring them soon, which means getting a set of tools to help me do that, such as a tuner, peg winder, some wire cutters…and judging by your face, you have no idea what goes into maintaining a guitar.”

“Hey, it’s not like Applejack ever plays the one she’s got,” Rainbow replies defensively. “Why don’t you tell me about it, then?”

I open my mouth to explain, before deciding against it. “It’ll bore the hell out of you.”

“You don’t know that,” Rainbow points out with a huff. She ponders for a few seconds, tapping her chin with a hoof. “Hey, if it bores me, I’ll turn it right around and bore you by talking about aerodynamics! Fair, right?”

“Talking about flying doesn’t bore me. I just don’t want to listen to you throwing your ego around,” I say, causing Rainbow to make an unamused face at me. Yet her reasoning makes enough sense for me to concede to her view. “But if you really want to know, guitar strings are basically thin wires. To work with them, you need wire cutters and pliers so you can reshape them to whatever you need at that moment. The strings themselves are tethered to the pins at the top of the neck and anchored down below the bridge. Once you have them anchored, you fasten them to the neck and tighten them to get what we call the string’s natural frequency...”

From there, it turns into a surprisingly refreshing conversation that didn’t involve any personal questions or arguments; it’s just a simple discussion of guitars. Although I can tell Rainbow doesn’t understand a lot of the technical aspects of it, she remains engaged in the conversation—sometimes relating my descriptions of guitar maintenance to the physical maintenance she performs on her own body. She frustratingly still manages to slip in a boast about her own skill, but it proves no more than a simple annoyance.

The conversation makes me somewhat wistful. The only times I can remember having talks like this when the other party actually seemed to show genuine interest in what I had to say, was with Amaryllis or my brother. 

When Rainbow excuses herself to the restroom during our conversation, it suddenly strikes me just how similar the mare seems to be to Amaryllis. She’s tomboyish, rough, and has an unhealthy interest in physical activities. She even shares the same flippant attitude, albeit with none of the cynicism. I just wish there was some way to know what she’s thinking; some way to know just what kind of person she is on the inside.

“Hey, Seth?” Yet, even as Rainbow is returning from her brief sojourn, it seems my conversation with her is at an end. A lavender hoof taps on my shoulder, gaining my attention. I turn my head to see a nervous Twilight. I don’t recall seeing her at the bar yet, so she must have recently arrived. “Can I talk to you for a few minutes?”

“Sure, pull up a seat! We’ve got plenty of room,” Rainbow answers cheerfully before I have a chance.

“I’d love to, but...I meant in private. If that’s alright with you both.” Twilight looks even more nervous, the mare unable to even meet my gaze. My spirits sink even further; considering my track record with Twilight as well as her general demeanor, there’s a high chance the following conversation will be more personal than I’d like. “Please?”

“Tch, whatever. Let’s just get it over with.” I finish my cider and get up from my seat. Getting away from her would be an exercise in futility; even if I refused, past experience suggests that if a unicorn really wants to talk, they have ways of forcing you to listen. “Lead the way.”

“Alright, I’ll be here. Don't take too long!” Rainbow says, the mare rising from the table and eyeing the dance floor with an eager glint in her eye.

“I’ll try not to,” Twilight assures her. She gives me a forced smile and beckons towards the door leading outside. Without a word, I follow her out into the street. I shiver and button up my coat to protect myself from the rapidly chilling air. Hopefully, I’m not out here for too long. “So...I’m sorry for pulling you out of there, but I haven’t had a chance to talk since Friday…”

“If all you wanted was to talk, you could have done that inside.” I have a bad feeling that I know precisely about what she wishes to talk. “If you have something to say, say it. Don’t waste my time beating around the bush.”

“Okay.” Twilight takes a breath and looks at me with renewed determination. “I wanted to talk about what you said on Thursday.”

My eyes harden at that. “Twilight, that wouldn’t be pleasant for either of us. How about we forget that you ever brought it up?”

“We can’t just pretend it never happened!” Twilight insists despite my tone. She opens her mouth as if to argue the point further, but then she sighs. This is the most defeated I’ve seen her. “Seth, I never wanted to get to this point with you.”

“What point?”

“The point where we will end up fighting every time we talk. The point where you look at me like my presence is an unwelcome disturbance.” Twilight looks back up at me. “I know you’ve been through a lot I can’t understand, but I want to be a friend to you. Hearing you blame all of us for where you are right now, it hurts.”

I stare back at her, no words coming to mind. Once again, a pony refuses to cut me off, in spite of how intentionally easy I’ve made it for her. I don’t believe I’ve ever said anything as brutal as I did to Twilight that day, yet here she is standing before me. I search my memories for similar encounters with humans but I come up empty. 

“I don’t know what you want me to say,” I admit after a long silence. “It is what it is. If it weren’t for ponies, I wouldn’t be here. Did you call me out here to hear me say that again?”

“I called you out here to tell you that you’re wrong. It isn’t our fault that you’re here.” Twilight furrows her brow and gazes back at me with determination. “It was King Sombra’s, and his alone. Words can’t express how sorry I am that this has happened to you, but I can’t watch you make yourself miserable and push everypony away for such a fallacious reason.”

“That’s…!” Fury fills me up from within, a hundred different rebuttals for that statement coming to mind. “I wouldn’t be here if you all had just stopped him in the first place! It’s just as much your fault as his! I’m here because your kind failed to do the job!”

“That’s not fair either! I have absolute faith that the princesses did everything they could. They’re not omniscient; they couldn’t have possibly known what he was planning to do to you.” Twilight leaped to the defense of the diarchy in an instant. “In the end, they made sure he got what was coming to him.”

“Not soon enough…” I grumble. 

“Seth. You can’t blame any of the ponies around here for Sombra’s actions.” Twilight repeated. “He existed generations ago, long before any of us were born. There is nothing any of us could have done. Please understand that.”

“It doesn’t really matter what I think of you anyway,” I say, unable to care about pushing this point further. “So what, you called me out here so you can clear your conscience?”

“No, I called you out here because I’m worried about you. I don’t want to see you alone and in pain, because you’ve been holding that inside all this time.” Twilight expresses, a hoof pressed against her chest. 

Another wave of bitterness passes through me. Twilight always jumps to conclusions without having all the information. “That’s hardly the only reason,” I scoff.

“It’s not? Then what is the other reason?” Twilight appears confused. Despite the question hanging in the air, I can’t bring myself to answer it. Those five years of my life hold too many painful memories...and I’m not about to share them. I regret bringing it up in the first place. “You won’t answer? I don’t understand. Why don’t you want friends? Don’t you want someone to whom you can relate? Someone with whom you can laugh and smile? Don’t you get lonely?”

“Stop. Just stop.” I tell her, pressing my hands against my face. There was one person I knew that could do any of that, and she was one in a million. “I don’t want to hear it. Why do you ponies try so hard? It’s so much easier just to ignore me and do your own thing, isn’t it? Go prance off with your ‘friends’ into the sunset, for all I care. Just leave me be.”

“Do you think friendship is easy?” Twilight pointed out with a hint of incredulity. “No friendship worth having is easy to forge, and it’ll never happen if I give up now.”

“You’re tenacious, I’ll give you that,” I remark in annoyance. I’m so used to people giving up after the second time they yell at me, and past that, trying to tear me down. “But you shouldn’t be so willing to run around throwing out the word 'friendship' like candy either. It’s insulting that you think you’re going to change who I am or the way I think just from a few kind words.”

“I don’t necessarily agree with that. The part about giving friendship out, I mean. If my friends hadn’t offered their hooves out to me in my moment of need, I don’t know where I’d be right now,” Twilight admits. “I’ll admit I know nothing about the life you’ve led up until this point, but it sounds like you need something more than token kindness...some way for us to prove that we’re not reaching out our hooves to you out of malice.”

“You make it sound so simple, but that’s the long and short of it. I still don’t see why you care.” I watch her reason through my words, unsure what to think about her. Yelling at them or pushing them away only seems to drive them harder. “Why the obsession with friendship anyway? You’d think as an avid reader, you’d find them to be an unwelcome distraction at best and a downright annoyance at worst.”

“It’s funny you say that.” Twilight gives a sheepish giggle. “I used to believe that, not too long ago. But ultimately, friends are nice to have, and I discovered it’s possible to have just as much fun with them as I do learning.”

“Provided they’re the genuine thing,” I grumble. I can’t deny the fun I had with Amaryllis, but I refuse to believe any of these ponies could do for me what she did. 

“Yes, but that’s something you discover by talking with and learning about them,” Twilight reasons. “It never occurred to me that someone could have such a differing view of friendship than we do. If you believe our efforts are nothing more than lip service, then everything we’ve done to try to help you likely just comes off as trite and pointless.”

“Finally. One of you has managed to get that through your thick skulls. It’s only what I’ve been saying since the moment I met you.” I suppose Rainbow also gets it, but she just plain doesn’t care. “Now that you do get it, please stop trying.”

“Nope,” Twilight remarks, causing me to groan. “You may not want to tell me why you’re so skeptical of the ponies you meet, but that’s okay. I’ll prove that our gestures of kindness harbor no ill intent.”

“I really don’t get you,” I helplessly express. If I were in her place, and someone like me moved into town, I wouldn’t even bother to ask their name, much less try to befriend them. “Clearly I can’t stop you; knock yourself out, I guess. I wouldn’t expect anything to come of it though other than wasted time.”

“Thank you! Just the chance to try is more than enough.” Twilight beams at my answer. “I didn’t mean to keep you so long. I’ll let you get back to your party. I have a lot to think about, and a lot to plan!”

“Please don’t make me regret this,” I say, wincing.

“Don’t worry, I won’t!” Twilight promises me as she starts to leave. She gives me one last smile and a wave. “You have a good night, Seth. Thank you for talking to me.”

“Whatever.” When she’s gone, I stare after her for several moments, and then I walk back inside the bar, mulling over her words in my head.





   When I get back inside, the music is winding down, and ponies are starting to leave for the night. I can only assume the gig is over, so I make my way to Vinyl and prepare to help her pack up her equipment.

   “You have a good night, Seth!” Flitter waves to me as she and Cloud Chaser make their way out of the bar. Lyra wishes me the same, as she and Bon Bon tag along behind. I don’t acknowledge them with much other than a nod. After talking with Twilight, I just want to be alone to think.

   When I reach the stage, I find Rainbow chatting with Vinyl as the latter is unplugging the cables from her turntables. “...too long. You wanna hang out some more tonight? Hope you’re not too tired!” Rainbow offers with a grin. 

“You know I’m still good to go! Maybe just...without using any more magic. Whew,” Vinyl wipes her brow with a hoof, mirroring Rainbow’s grin. They see me approach, and Vinyl waves wearily. “There you are. Was just about to send Rainbow out to go find you!”

“Yeah, she’s good at that.” I retort with a wry expression, the sardonicism practically dripping from my voice.

“Everything cool?” Vinyl tilts her head. I give her an odd stare in return. I don’t know why she’d ask; I don’t think I’m presenting myself any differently than normal. I don’t miss Rainbow’s concerned look either.

“Yeah? Why wouldn’t it be?” I return uncomfortably. “Let’s just get all this packed up so we can go home.”

“Works for me. Also, I gotta pay you for the work.” Vinyl produces five bits and hands them to me, increasing my total to thirteen. “Now let’s get packing. Oh yeah, do you care if Rainbow tags along?”

“It’s your house, not mine.” I shrug, not knowing why she bothered to ask me in the first place. If they want to hang out, it’s not my business. 

“Awesome! I’ll get some cider to bring back, and we’ll chillax together!” Rainbow gives me a nudge, and then she flies back to the bartender before the bar fully closes. I ignore her, having no intention to join their “chillaxing.”

“C’mere. This time, I’ll have you start with the cords…” Vinyl starts, and then the two of us get to work.




   
   “And...we’re in. Phew. Break out that cider, Dash, cuz when I hit that couch, I’m not getting back up.” Vinyl parks the cart with all her equipment into the nearest open spot, and then she proceeds to throw herself on the couch without much decorum and close her eyes. “Aaah...this is the high life.”

   “What about dinner?” I remind her, my stomach gurgling at the mention of food. Vinyl’s eyes open wide and she groans.

   “Aw, shoot, I forgot. Nyaaah, I don’t wanna get up!” Vinyl rolls off of the couch with a thump and lays there on the floor for several seconds before she gets back to her hooves. Rainbow promptly steals her spot and curls up there. “Dash, you sneaky little pigeon.”

   “Hah, you snooze, you lose!” Rainbow sticks her tongue out at her friend. She then does a double take. “Did you just call me a pigeon!?”

   “I might’ve. What are you gonna do about it? If you get up, you gotta give up your spot. Then who knows, maybe Seth will steal it.” Vinyl teases as she walks into the kitchen. 

“Agh, you’re right! Don’t you even think about stealing my spot!” Rainbow gives me an accusing stare, but it quickly turns into confusion when I don’t answer or even look at her. I’m gazing down at the floor, tuning out the world around me. “Seth? You in there somewhere?”

“What?” I demand irritably, causing her to flinch. It takes me a moment for me to process what the two of them have been talking about. “No, I couldn’t care less. I’m just waiting for dinner.”

“Did something happen while you were out there with Twilight?” Rainbow asks curiously.

“Nothing worth talking about.” I dismiss her question with a shake of my head. “Don’t mind me. You’re here to chill with Vinyl, anyway.”

“With both of you, actually.” Rainbow corrects me. I raise an eyebrow at that.

“Whatever.”





After a painfully long wait, the smell of vegetables and spices fills the air as Vinyl serves me a bowl of hot stew. It’s an interesting flavor; can’t say I’ve tasted anything similar. 

Rainbow and Vinyl are having fun, laughing and joking with one another over the course of the meal. Every now and then they attempt to include me into their conversation, but I either ignore their efforts or reply with simple nods or shrugs. One would think they’d give up trying after the first few times, but whatever floats their boat.

“How long are you staying?” I interrupt their conversation, my bowl resting empty on the table in front of me. 

“Who, me?” Rainbow asks, clueless. I give her an incredulous look.

“No, the mouse on your shoulder,” I sarcastically reply. Rainbow Dash falls off the table with a yelp, trying to get rid of the nonexistent mouse. I blink, as Vinyl proceeds to laugh her tail off. Did she really just take that seriously?

“Hey, there's no mouse!” Rainbow realizes at last, and she gets up and looks at me accusingly.

“Of course not! I was talking to you!” I shake my head, wondering if this pony is for real.

“Then why did you say you weren't?”

“I didn't realize I was talking to an imbecile.” Rainbow throws a balled up napkin at me, not appreciating the insult. “But the question still stands. How long are you staying?”

“Oh yeah! So I’m crashing here tonight. I don’t really feel like flying up to my house.” Rainbow answers. She glances at Vinyl. “That cool?”

“Always. If you don’t mind sleeping on my couch,” Vinyl returns, before looking back at me. “That’s not an issue, is it?” 

“It’s your house,” I repeat. I get up from the table, taking the chance to excuse myself. “I’m going to bed. You two have fun.”

“You sure you don’t want to stick around? You’re welcome to,” Vinyl offers. I just make for the stairs, acknowledging her offer with little more than a shake of my head. 

I ascend the stairs and tread back to my room, cutting off the outside world at long last. The silence falls over me like a comforting blanket as I’m finally granted the solitude I desire. After undressing myself, I climb into bed and stretch myself out, a deep exhale escaping me.

It has been one roller coaster of a day, and I’m both physically and mentally exhausted. In college, it wasn’t unusual for days to pass without anything eventful of which to speak, the hours blending together and passing like a flash. It was so easy to shut off my mind and go through the motions; move from one class to another, complete my assignments, and study for my tests.

That line of thought gives me pause as my conversations with Rainbow come back to me. Going through a routine with barely any changes...how utterly inhuman of me. It’s obvious that it would be easier to go from day to day without having to think. Now, every new day means a slew of new encounters that I clearly can’t just wave away or ignore. I wonder if I would’ve been happy living the rest of my life like that, not worrying about what comes next.

That line of thought reminds me of the most recent encounter with Twilight outside of the bar.

“Don’t you get lonely?” 

Her words run on loop in my head over and over. I turn over to the other side, staring at the plain plaster wall. My mind searches my past experiences to come up with counterpoints to her question, but I come up with scant few. Typically I was able to get through my downtime by reading or playing games, but after I met Amaryllis, I often thought ahead during my downtime to the next time I could see her. 

Damn you, Twilight. I hate to admit it, but there’s a ring of truth to her words. Now that Amaryllis is gone...I can’t look forward to sitting with her at our spot outside the science building. I can’t look forward to going on trips with her during our rare breaks from classes. I can’t even look forward to one day showing her the music that I practiced. Is it even worth practicing music without someone I care about to show the fruits of my efforts? I miss her more than I can put into words; if that’s the same thing as loneliness, Twilight is right. But I can’t just make new friends like Rainbow suggested, either. It’s just not worth taking that chance. 

I take a deep breath, feelings of frustration welling up from within. Why is it that everyone has to be so shallow or untrustworthy? Why can’t I just have Amaryllis back, the only one that I could trust with everything I had? 

Amaryllis always told me that I had to give people a chance to screw up first, but I can’t bring myself to heed her words. Ever since that time in grade school, I knew that road led nowhere. But without Amaryllis or any guarantee that those with whom I interact are genuine, how can I possibly stave away this pain I feel?

“Hey Seth, you still up?” Rainbow suddenly makes her way into my room, nosing the door open. I’m undressed, so I immediately cover myself up the rest of the way with the blankets.

“Haven’t you ever heard of knocking?” I demand irritably.

“The door was unlocked.” Rainbow shrugs nonchalantly. “Anyway, what’s up? You seemed a little off down there.”

“That’s what you barged in here to talk about? Forget it, it’s nothing. I’m sure you were having fun downstairs, so don’t let me stop you.” I sigh with annoyance, casting my gaze towards the ceiling. Despite my words, I see Rainbow Dash sitting down and closing the door. “Rainbow, that’s the exact opposite of what I just said.”

“Maybe.” Rainbow smirks at me. “Really though. Why do you always clam up right after you have any kind of fun?”

“Is there any chance you’ll go away and not press me for answers?”

“No.”

“You are the single most annoying individual I think I’ve ever met.” Not even Amaryllis was this nosy. She would never pry… only call me out whenever I was being an idiot. “You literally stand to gain nothing from interacting with me at all.”

“And how does being alone all the time gain you anything either?” Rainbow shoots back without missing a beat. “No harm in chilling every now and then, right?”

“You have no idea.” The amount of certainty in my voice causes Rainbow to recoil. She looks like she wants to ask, but I don’t feel like telling her about how all the times letting my guard down came back to bite me in the end. “Relax. I’ve just been thinking, and I needed some time to sort my thoughts.”

“Bit for them?” Rainbow requests. I look at her in confusion before I realize that she essentially used a pony version of that old British saying. As many questions as that raises, I guess it wouldn’t hurt too much to share my thoughts. I’ve already spoken to her about it once before. “You know, I’m just gonna crash here if you ignore me.”

“No, you’re not! There’s so much wrong with that I don’t even know where to start. Is that even proper for a pony to suggest?” I immediately push back on that idea, appalled. Rainbow starts to snicker at that for some reason. “What are you laughing at?”

“You sound so much like Rarity right now,” Rainbow points out. She straightens up and twirls a hoof in her mane, leaving a tiny loop in it. “Oh, pish posh, darling. A mare and a stallion sleeping together in the same room? What impropriety! How scandalous!” she says in an uncannily accurate imitation of Rarity.

I stare at her for a few seconds, and then just like before, a snort of amusement escapes me. I could definitely see Rarity saying something like that.

“Didn’t know you had a talent for impressions,” I say with the faintest traces of a smirk.

“Right, so you wanna share now?” Rainbow persists as she shakes her head to reset her mane back to its usual unruly appearance. “Did Twilight say something to you after all?”

“Yes, but that’s not entirely it. I’ve just been...reflecting.” I lay back on the bed, resigning myself to my fate. I’ve learned by that it’s impossible to get rid of Rainbow if she doesn’t want to go. “Like about the world I’ve left behind...and what would have come of me had I stayed.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Rainbow asks, tilting her head.

“It goes back to what we talked about at the farm. Except I was wondering if I would have made it once I was finished with school.” I start to explain. “Everyone talked about how we should figure out what we wanted, or about how we should have ambition. A dream to follow, so to speak.”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to do something with music?” Rainbow recalls.

“I may be aiming in that direction now, but only because you told me I should.” I remind her. “It’s the same as it was back then. I went to college because I was told there was no way to be competitive in the job market if I didn’t. I was pursuing a degree in computers because it’s what I was told made the most money. I didn’t derive any enjoyment from it, nor was I following some dream.”

“I don’t get it.” Rainbow just seems confused by my words. “So what are you worried about?”

“Just that I shouldn’t rely on people to figure out what I want to do,” I say with a shake of a head. It doesn’t surprise me that she doesn’t get it. I hardly get it myself. “How can I be sure this is the right path I’m on if you had to tell me to follow it?”

“Uh, in case you forgot, you came up with the music idea on your own.” Rainbow reminds me. I blink, and then I think back to that particular conversation. I brought it up then because it was something I enjoyed. “I didn’t tell you to like music. I just lent a hoof, as a friend would do!”

“Right…a friend...” I suppose it’s true she only pushed me in the right direction. I wish she would stop calling herself my friend, however. I stare at her confident face, wishing more than anything that I could read her mind. This could be another trap laced with honey, like the one I fell into so long ago.

“Do you still not believe me?” Rainbow asks indignantly.

“Of course I don’t. It takes more than a few words and sticking to me like glue to convince me.” I return instantly. “I think there’s something you’re not getting. Let me break it down for you; I don’t like other people. That includes ponies.”

“What? So you mean it’s not just us you don’t trust? It’s everyone?” Rainbow asks incredulously. When I nod, she starts to look exasperated. “How can someone not like anyone? What about that friend you mentioned?”

“An exception to the rule. Yet, the concept of a rule means that there are few exceptions, if any,” I tell her earnestly. Rainbow starts to get frustrated. “Look. I’ll admit you’ve done more than most. You saved my life, though the jury is still out on whether that was for better or worse. But from my experience, people are selfish and untrustworthy, myself included. Because I know this, it’s safer not to get involved… and the same goes for you.”

“That’s...really lame. So you’d rather hide rather than meet all these cool ponies that could be exceptions?” Rainbow challenges me.

“You wanted my thoughts, so I gave them. If sharing them just means I’m going to be insulted, I’m not going to bother anymore.” I tell her irritably.

“I...I guess that’s fair…” Rainbow backs down, despite her clear dissatisfaction with what she just heard. “So...how do I become an exception?”

“If I told you that, it wouldn’t be worth anything. I still don’t know why you’re putting in so much effort,” I say, shaking my head in disbelief. I choose not to mention that even I don’t know the answer to her question. “But enough about this. I’m tired, and I’m pretty sure Vinyl is waiting impatiently for you.”

“Yeah, probably,” Rainbow admits. She stands back up and moves towards the door. Just as I’m starting to think our conversation has ended, she looks back just as she steps into the hall. “You wanna hang out tomorrow?”

“I’m sure you’ll find me even if I said no,” I grunt, shifting on the bed so I’m staring back at the ceiling. I don’t hear her leave, causing me to sigh. “Fine. As long as I don’t get roped into anything silly.”

“Come on, you’ll be with me, so it’ll be awesome!” Rainbow boasts. At last, she shuts the door, leaving me in solitude. “Good night, Seth!”

With that, I’m left in a quiet room once again. In the end, that conversation didn’t solve anything apart from getting Rainbow off my back. Between her and Twilight, I’m quickly becoming driven into a corner. I have literally never met anyone who’s tried so hard to understand the way I think before.

As I drift off to sleep, one conclusion makes its home in my mind; at some point, I’ll either have to accept their presence around me, or I’ll have to let them know once and for all that they can’t squeeze water from a stone.
> 17. Pranking Parade (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So, I hear you’re starting to make a name for yourself as Vinyl Scratch’s helper,” Applejack states conversationally on our way back to the barn. “How’s that going for you?”

“Well enough, I suppose. It helps me get by,” I reply while helping pull the laden cart along behind us. “You’ve only just now heard? Haven’t you seen me working with her before?”

“Once, maybe. But that don’t automatically mean you’re her helper. Could have just been lending a helping hoof for all I know.” Applejack explains. “You planning on going with her when she travels? I hear she does shows all over Equestria.”

“That hasn’t come up yet, but I was aware of the possibility.” It strikes me that I never thought to talk that over with Applejack. “If that happens, would you be alright giving me those days off from work?”

“I don’t mind at all! Might do you a whole lot of good to see some more of Equestria. You ain’t from here if I remember right, so you might not have seen anything apart from Ponyville,” Applejack agrees readily, looking almost excited by the prospect. “Why, you should tell her to head down to Appleoosa sometime! Her music might not be their style, but I’ve got family down there, and they just love visitors!”

“Maybe we will. I’m not the boss,” I inwardly groan, noting the similarity between the town’s name and a specific breed of horse. She does bring up a good point, however. I probably should see more of Equestria at some point. No one’s heard of a musician that’s never left their hometown...provided I should even call Ponyville my hometown at this point. But, as I look around at the tired landscape that is the apple orchard, perhaps a change of scenery wouldn’t be such a bad thing. “Is Appaloosa far from here?”

“Naw, it’s just down south. Hop on a train and you’d be there in two shakes of a pony’s tail!” Applejack responds enthusiastically. “Say, sometimes I gotta head down there for delivery’s sake. You wanna tag along some time?”

“Can’t you just deliver your goods through a postal service? I’m assuming you have those.” We run the cart against the cellar entrance, and then once I’m free of the cart, I get the entrance open for her so we can start storing the apples for later use.

“Why, and miss out on a chance to meet up with my friends and family that live down there? Not a chance, sugarcube!” Applejack responds. I roll my eyes and accept the first crate of apples she hoists down from the cart. “Besides, it’s cheaper to just box ‘em up and take ‘em there myself.”

“That makes more sense,” I state. When I try to picture what Appaloosa would be like, all I can come up with is more apple orchards like the ones I’m working in now. I decide to answer her question, choosing to leave out my thoughts about meeting new ponies. “Well, if the time comes and you need a helper, I’ll go.”

“Glad to hear it! I should introduce you to my cousin Braeburn while we’re there.” Applejack decides. Together, the two of us ferry the rest of the baskets into the cellar, where we empty them of their contents and prepare for another run. “Phew. Alright, let’s get back out there. I heard from Rainbow that the snows are a coming fast. Just got an acre or so to go! How are you holding up?”

“My muscles burn like fire almost every moment of every day, if that tells you anything,” I remark without a trace of humor in my voice. “It’s hard to tell the difference between work and relaxation anymore.”

“Heh, sounds about right. Give it time, and that’ll pass. Then you’ll start seeing some real improvement!” Applejack seems only encouraged by those words. “Let me know when you think you can take on more strenuous work. There’s always something that needs doing on the farm, and always more I can teach you!”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I grimace at her words, the idea of physical labor proving as distasteful as ever to me. Yet, that very distaste serves as a painful reminder that all the time I spent in college learning computer software meant absolutely nothing. If I had known this was coming, I would have spent my life learning more practical skills, like the very ones Applejack is now teaching me.

Then again, if I’d known this was coming, I’d have done a lot of things differently.





“There you go, ten bits for a full day’s pay! Thanks again for all your hard work.” Applejack says, passing me another small bag of bits to add to the growing pile I have at home. 

“No need to thank me. It’s my job.” I say, accepting them gracefully while pointedly ignoring the splotch of rainbow coloring lying on the rug that’s disturbing the rustic atmosphere of the home.

“Are you done yet?” The aforementioned splotch asks impatiently.

“I mean it, though. We’ve had such a good yield this year. Why, with just the four of us Apples, we might never have gotten it all done before the snows. Ain’t that right, Big Mac?” Applejack turns to her brother, who had just walked into the room from the kitchen, from where the sounds of Granny Smith cooking emanate. 

“Eeyup.” Big MacIntosh replies as simply as ever, giving me a terse nod. He stays in the room long enough to grab a set of towels from the closet before returning to the kitchen. 

“Hey!” 

“Are you staying for dinner this time?” Applejack asks me just as she does every evening after work. She’s surprisingly also ignoring Rainbow, a small smirk and an askance glance showing that she knows precisely what she’s doing.

“No, thank you.” I turn her down, just as I do every evening after work. “I have other plans tonight, as evidenced by the…”

“Okay, seriously?! I’m right here, you two!” Rainbow finally gets impatient, the mare butting in between the two of us, her nose wrinkled in annoyance. Applejack pretends to see her for the first time.

“Oh, hey, Rainbow Dash! Glad you decided to stop in! Why didn't you say anything; let somepony know you’re here?” Applejack asks her smugly. A frustrated nicker escapes Rainbow’s lips. 

“Don’t act all innocent with me! I saw you looking!” Rainbow jabs a hoof in Applejack’s face. I have to admit, it’s entertaining to watch the two of them, if only from their expressions alone.

“Who, me?” Applejack asks in the fakest voice I’ve probably ever heard from her. Rainbow glares at her for several seconds, before the two of them break out into chuckles. “You should see your face.”

“Ha ha. Put her there, AJ!” Rainbow shortens Applejack’s name and stretches out a hoof to her friend. Applejack grins back at her and reaches out her own hoof. “I’m totally gonna get you back for that...right now!”

The moment Applejack’s hoof makes contact with Rainbow’s, Applejack visibly jumps and lets out a surprised yelp...earning a triumphant laugh from Rainbow. I almost laugh out loud; I did not expect a sound like that from Applejack. 

“What in tarnation…!? Rainbow Dash, is this another one of your pranks? Show me your hoof!” Applejack demands after she composes herself. I blink, trying to make sense of what happened. Rainbow snickers and reveals a silver metal disk the size of a quarter strapped to her hoof. Atop the disk was a singular button. Applejack sighs in disappointment. “Can’t believe I fell for the simplest trick in the book.”

“What is that?” I question before Rainbow can continue to gloat. I gathered that I’ve just witnessed one of Rainbow’s pranks that Vinyl warned me about, but I don’t understand what that disc is supposed to be.

“What this? It’s a buzzer! You’ve never seen one before?” Rainbow shows it to me. The realization then strikes me and I gaze at her with disbelief. I’ve heard that term before, but I didn’t even consider that ponies had something like that. “Give it a press!”

“No thanks; I know what it does. More importantly, this is what you consider a prank?” I demand incredulously. 

“Uh...yeah?” Rainbow seems thrown off by my confusion. She thinks about it for a second and then appears somewhat excited. “You trying to tell me you know better pranks than this?”

“I wouldn’t say ‘better,’” I grumble, recalling my own experiences with the horrible pranks my peers would come up with back in my era. “But I’m just surprised. This seems like something a child would think is funny.”

“Whoa now, Dash. Looks like Seth is calling you out,” Applejack remarks smugly. Just then, from the kitchen, I hear Granny Smith calling for Applejack. “Anyhoo, I’ll leave you to it. We’ve still got a seat still open for you if you change your mind.”

“Later, Applejack!” Rainbow waves after her friend. She turns back to me. “So what if it's a childish prank? You heard the sound she made, didn’t you? That’s funny!” 

“I guess it was a little funny. It just...wasn’t what I expected.” I briefly recall my conversation with Vinyl. “So these are the type of pranks you do?”

“What, this? Nah, this is just me when I’m too lazy to think up anything good! Come on, let’s get going and I’ll tell you more!” Rainbow beckons me out the door with a wave of her forehoof. “You didn’t change your mind about hanging out, did you?”

“I was going to ask you the same question. You’re still determined to do this?” I ask even though I’m fairly certain I know the answer. I follow her out the door, the two of us starting back along the path to town. “I know your friends by now. Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie, Vinyl, Flitter, etc. You have plenty of options besides me, and it doesn’t make sense that you’d neglect them to hang out with me of all people.”

“Oh for Celestia’s sake,” Rainbow presses a hoof to her face in exasperation. “You call me out for being like a foal and then you say something like that.”

“Attacking me rather than my argument isn’t going to help your case,” I say without looking at her.

“Yeah, I have friends other than you. How exactly am I neglecting them? I hung out with the weather girls last night, and then Vinyl. The day before I went racing with Applejack and then I did some practicing with Fluttershy around. The day before that I had dinner with Twilight and Rarity. Exactly where do you think I’m ‘neglecting’ my friends?” Rainbow’s words are succinct and forceful. I open my mouth to answer, but I don’t have any meaningful reply. This pony’s ability to verbally drive me into a corner is disconcerting and oddly reminiscent of a certain sharp-tongued friend I used to have. “Today, I asked to hang out with you, and you said yes! So let’s just hang out, and stop thinking so hard about everything.”

“Easier said than done.” I decide to concede the argument. In the end, her words are just words, despite how pretty they may sound. I’ll bide my time a while longer, and then when she’s sick of me, I’ll start focusing solely on music. At least I can trust my instruments to play notes for me without asking anything in return. “So what did you have in mind for today?”

“Hm…” Rainbow presses a hoof to her chin, thinking hard. She brightens up, a smirk crossing her face. “I have an idea! We were just talking about pranks; wanna go cause some chaos?”

“What? You want me to just go around pranking ponies?” I can’t believe what I’m hearing. After all the pranks I’ve seen, I can’t justify doing that kind of thing to someone else. I’m not that cruel. “No way. Seeing you prank someone else is one thing, but it’s not for me.”

“Awesome! You can just watch for now. I’ve got a few good ones cooked up - just you wait!” Rainbow grins evilly and rubs her two front hooves together. “Follow me!”

“Whatever. I can’t believe I’m even bothering with this.” I grumble, but I follow Rainbow nonetheless if only to see more of what she considers to be pranks. “Why do I get the feeling this is about to be incredibly stupid?”





“Hey, girls!” Rainbow Dash zips down from the skies to the streets, where the rest of the weather team was just finishing up from the days work. An air of curiosity settles over them at their boss’s sudden appearance. 

“Hi, Rainbow Dash. I didn’t expect to see you back already,” Cloud Chaser was the first to respond clearly amidst the chorus of greetings sent their way. 

“Did something come up?” Flitter questions as she moves to meet with Rainbow. “Don’t tell me the board sent us another last minute request for a storm…”

“Not this time. Relax, we just have a few more clouds to bust. See those?” Rainbow directs their gaze to the skies over in the general direction of the gorge. 

“What in the...where did those clouds come from?” Cloud demands with mild annoyance as she regards the scattered clumps of cumulus hanging in the sky. “I could have sworn we took all those out...were they hiding in the gorge?”

“I don’t think so...but this just means our job isn’t finished,” Flitter replies with a shrug, the mare already appearing resigned to the task. “Shall we take care of it?”

“Let’s do it. Just the two of us should be able to handle it. The rest of you all can go home…if that’s cool with you, Rainbow Dash.” Cloud Chaser conducts herself like a leader, the other ponies accepting her words without question. 

“That works! Get cracking, and then we can all finish for today.” Rainbow directed. The other weather ponies display varying degrees of relief and go their separate ways while Flitter and Cloud Chaser take to the skies. Rainbow watches them fly and she hides a snicker behind her hoof.

As for me, I’m resting on the roof of a nearby building, where Rainbow had deemed to be the best vantage point. I’m lying on my stomach, one cheek resting atop my fist. I don’t know what Rainbow has cooked up for the two weather ponies. All I know is that they were Rainbow’s target and that according to her, I’ll be laughing at the result. That remains to be seen.

“So, you have them doing extra work when they should be going home,” I observe in a less than amused tone when Rainbow lands on the roof beside me. “This isn’t a prank. This is just you being a terrible boss.”

“Oh please, it’s just a couple cumulus. It won’t take them more than a few minutes, even as slow as they are,” Rainbow assures me. “Besides, that’s not even the prank! Just watch, it’s gonna be great.”

“Whatever.” I fall back into silence and watch the two sisters tear their way through the collection of clouds Rainbow had prepared for them. 

After clearing away the majority of the clouds, Flitter and Cloud Chaser tackled the last set, each of them dissipating the vapor with swift and coordinated bucks. However, as Flitter bucked the last remaining cloud...it suddenly burst apart with a loud bang, shooting vapor and confetti in every direction.

“Yaaah!” Flitter squealed and covered her eyes.

“What the hay!?” Cloud practically leaps out of her skin and whips about, only to receive part of the confetti payload to her face.

“Yes!” Rainbow bursts into triumphant laughter at the resolution of her prank. With her laughter and the discovery of ruptured balloons falling from where the trapped cloud used to be, it didn’t take the two sisters long to realize what happened. 

“Rainbow!” Cloud Chaser accused, the mare attempting to brush confetti out of her mane. Flitter started to chuckle as she gazed at her frazzled sister. “Flitter, stop laughing. Don’t encourage her.”

“I can’t help it. Your mane looks like a party disaster,” Flitter notes between giggles. 

“So does yours, silly!” Cloud Chaser snaps back. In her attempts to clear out the confetti, she ends up with nothing but a helplessly tangled mane. Yet despite the annoyance, she and Flitter laugh. “Ugh, you got us good, Rainbow! Just wait until we get you back!”

“Looking forward to it!” Rainbow cheekily calls up to her two employees. “Now get on out of here and get yourselves a drink on me!”

“You got it, boss!” With that, the two sisters took off down towards the town, leaving Rainbow and me alone on the rooftop. 

“So how was that for a good prank?” Rainbow asks smugly, the mare plopping down beside me with an expectant expression. I glare at her, wanting to be stubborn.

“I suppose that was alright. Hiding a confetti-filled balloon in a cloud was pretty clever.” I ultimately admit, feeling some lingering amusement from the memory of the two sisters and their ruffled appearance after the balloons had popped. “That was harmless, as far as pranks go. That being said, I didn’t think they’d take it as well as they did.”

“It’s not the first time we’ve pranked each other,” Rainbow reveals with a grin. “But I didn’t make you laugh yet. So I need to pick my next target and step up my game!”

“You’re really set on doing this, aren’t you?” I raise a brow at her statement. I could be doing something more productive with my time, but I suppose there’s no rush. I also hate to admit it to myself, but I find that I’m curious to see what she’ll come up with next.

“Duh! This is already fun, and I haven’t even gotten started!” Rainbow responds eagerly. “Ooh, I should hit Rarity next! She is just hilarious when she’s flustered!”

“Okay, this I have to see.” The words escape me before I can stop them. Out of all the ponies I’ve met, I can’t see Rarity being caught off guard by something like this. The idea of her doing so proves to be a humorous one after all.

“That’s the spirit! Come on, I’ve got the perfect idea!” Rainbow zips off once again, leaving me to jog after her to catch up.





“Stitching, stitching~” Rarity hums a small tune to herself as she runs a length of fabric beneath the needle of her sewing machine. All she had left to do was patch up around the seams and her latest order would be complete. “Quite fine work so far, if I do say so myself. The customer will almost certainly be pleased!” 

Rarity turns off the sewing machine with her magic and drapes the fabric over a mannequin, giving her plenty of room to start decorating the dress. However, before she can get started, she hears a knock at the door.

“Now, who could that be?” Rarity walks to the front door and opens...to reveal nothing. Yet that small moment of distraction is enough to set the stage for the prank to come. 

“I’m going in!” Rainbow whispers to me. She cracks open one of the windows and slips inside carrying several scraps of paper in her mouth. She zips about inside Rarity’s home like a whirlwind, dancing from place to place to leave behind the scraps in noticeable places. She shoots out the window just as the confused Rarity closes the front door and turns around.

“Well, that was quite odd,” Rarity comments. She returns to the mannequin, already retrieving various decorative fabrics, gems, and other such objects to place on the dress. She pauses as she notices the small scrap of paper resting atop the mannequin’s head. The perplexed mare brought the scrap up to her face with her magic. “What is this? Is that a frog? My, that expression is absolutely ridiculous. And what does that say at the bottom? ‘You’ve been...frogged?’ What does that even mean?”

“‘Frogged?’” I ask, turning to the snickering Rainbow for clarification. “I’m with her, what does that even mean?”

“Sometimes the best pranks are the ones that make no sense. Confuse her, don’t abuse her!” Rainbow explains. She presses her face to the glass. “Look, I hid them all over her house!”

“Another one?” Rarity discovers a second frog picture lying mixed within a pile of fabric that she’d set aside for herself. She stares at it and then tosses it in the trash with the first one. “Yes, yes, I’ve been frogged. Whatever that means.”

“You’re kidding.” As Rarity opens up a chest to reveal a selection of gems, inside is another frog picture. One of her eyes twitches as she lifts it up. “How many of these am I going to find? Is this somepony’s idea of a joke!?” 

“Hmph!” Rarity shoves the picture into the trash once again and attempts to focus on her work. Eventually, just as I’m starting to lose interest, she spots a misshapen seam in her dress and produces a sewing kit from a nearby shelf. As she opens the kit, another frog picture tumbles out. “Where do these keep coming from!?”

Rarity practically turns red, a frustrated cry escaping her. I choke, almost losing my composure at the sight of such a prim and proper mare losing her temper over something as silly as frog pictures. A helpless laugh escapes me as Rarity suddenly blasts the frog picture with a bolt of magic.

“I will not stand here and be frogged, thank you very much!” Rarity expresses vehemently. She starts to tear the room apart, searching for any remaining frog pictures. “I’ll find you! And then I’ll teach you a lesson! Nopony ‘frogs’ me!”

“Did you hear that? Nopony frogs her!” Rainbow is struggling hard to keep her merriment at a low volume, to keep from being caught. I can’t blame her, either. “Now here’s the best part! Watch this!”

“If I find one more frog, I’m going to have an absolute conniption!” Rarity screeches in a thoroughly nettled tone, one I’ve never heard from her before. She then spots a white cat slinking through the room, with another frog picture tucked into the feline’s collar. “How did...but...that is...Opal, give me that!”

Once Rarity had chased down her cat and removed the frog picture from it, there came a knock at the door. Rarity tore the frog picture in half and spent the next few seconds making herself look presentable before opening the door.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash - what a surprise! Pardon me, this isn’t really the best time…” Rarity starts to say, but then she notices Rainbow’s reddened face. Understanding dawns on her face.

“Not the best time? You don’t say; I could hear you from outside! It sounded like you had a frog in your throat!” Rainbow joked, and then she broke out into peals of laughter at the annoyed look on her friend’s face.

“And so the culprit reveals herself. I might have known,” Rarity’s annoyance surprisingly fades away. “Well yes, it seems you’ve frogged me good, Rainbow Dash. Now, if you’re quite finished laughing, you can help me find the rest of your frog pictures.”

“Yeah, okay. Come on, Seth, you can help!” Unlike before, Rainbow doesn’t let me stay out of the situation. I sigh and move to join her, brushing off my clothes.

“Did you just say, ‘Seth?’ You can’t mean to tell me that he…” Rarity breaks off when she spots me rounding the corner. She blinks, dumbfounded. “Well, that’s quite unusual. Were you in on this as well, Seth?”

“No, I’m just along for the ride. Rainbow is insisting on showing me the kinds of pranks she likes to pull,” I explain. Rainbow beams and she nudges me with her side. “And yes, I’ll admit this one was pretty good.”

“Yes, yes…” Rarity waves a hoof dismissively. She ushers the two of us inside. “Now get to work, Rainbow! Tea, Seth?”

“Wait, you’re offering him tea!? Where’s my tea?” Rainbow demands just as she’s fished the first picture out from beneath the rug. 

“You can have your tea when you’ve finished cleaning up. As for Seth, he said he wasn’t involved in your prank, and I’m inclined to believe him. As long as I’ve known him, I’ve yet to hear Seth lie. In fact, he’s so brutally honest he could give Applejack a run for her bits,” Rarity explains smugly. I glance at her, feeling satisfied after hearing that. Being honest is one of my vices; so much so that I remain quiet if I can’t afford to be so. 

“No thanks on the tea. You shouldn’t feel obligated to accommodate us after being pranked. I imagine you must be upset,” I answer her.

“Upset? Oh, good heavens no!” Rarity’s reply surprises me. “This is hardly the first time Rainbow has played a practical joke on me. It’s all in good fun, and I usually get even in the end one way or another.”

“That’s...interesting.” That’s all I can think of to say. I don’t want to admit I’m wrong, but perhaps Vinyl was right after all, and Rainbow’s pranks are just harmless fun, even if they are a bit childish. After all, between Applejack, Flitter and Cloud Chaser, and now Rarity, none of them were upset by them. “In that case, you can get your revenge right now. I’m not helping at all. Put your back into it, Rainbow.”

“Quite. You heard him, Rainbow!” Rarity agrees, chuckling.

“Oh, you traitor!” Rainbow shoots back with a groan.

“I can’t be a traitor if I was never committed to the cause in the first place,” I retort with a shrug and a smirk. I turn back to Rarity with the intent to make another smart-aleck remark, but instead, I find that she’s gazing at me with a calm smile. “What?”

“Nothing, darling. I’m just happy to see you getting along better with Rainbow,” Rarity answers while the mare in question is on the other side of the room. “As far as friends go, she’s an excellent choice. She’ll never let you down.”

“That’s…” I didn’t expect her to get serious with me all of a sudden; her words snap me back to reality and have me re-evaluate the situation I’m currently in. 

I’m here with Rainbow only because the mare won’t leave me alone. She hasn’t ever since the cliff. She talks a good game, but it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve met someone with a silver tongue who’s had nothing but contempt for me. I don’t consider Rainbow a friend. Yet...she did save my life; nobody has done that for me before. 

Rarity frowns, the mare noticing the sudden myriad of emotions that cross over my face after her words. I notice her gaze and stifle my thoughts; nothing good would come of voicing them here.

“That remains to be seen,” is all I end up saying.





“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I whisper to Rainbow as the two of us approach Sugarcube Corner. Out of all the ponies she could be pranking, this one worries me due to her target’s unpredictability. “I’ve seen two pranks so far; that should be enough, right?”

“Are you kidding? I’m on a roll!” Rainbow won’t be dissuaded. The mare is carrying a bag filled with various noisemakers and silly traps to lay around. It’s the sort of stuff I wouldn’t be surprised to see in your average joke shop. “Just wait until I turn Sugarcube Corner into a minefield! Mr. and Mrs. Cake are out for a few hours, so it’ll be just Pinkie!”

“If the owners are out today, wouldn’t Pinkie be watching the shop? How do you intend to lure her away long enough to plant your traps?” I question her curiously. Rainbow scoffs confidently.

“Distracting Pinkie Pie? Come on, I’ve been doing it for years. Watch this!” Rainbow sets the bag of pranks down and then opens the front door. Behind the counter is Pinkie herself, the mare gazing at the Rainbow with the look of someone up to no good. Rainbow steps inside and starts to announce. “Pinkie Pie, you’ve gotta see this! There’s a...waaah!”

The second Rainbow sets hoof inside, something inside explodes to the right of the doorway with the sound of noise-makers and party blowouts. An eruption of confetti, streamers, and various party tools knocks Rainbow off her hooves and sends her reeling to the right and out of sight. Pinkie immediately falls over backward, breaking out into peals of laughter.

“Pinkie!” Rainbow yells, only making her laugh harder. I stifle a laugh, recognizing what just happened. It looks like the prankster just got pranked.

“You didn’t think I’d just let you walk in here with all those pranks without giving you a taste of your own medicine, would you?” Pinkie taunts, batting her eyes at the fallen Rainbow. She doesn’t even stop to look surprised when I walk into the shop as well. “Heya, Seth! How are you doing?”

I just give her a short nod. I glance to the right, once again fighting back laughter at the sight of Rainbow on the floor, the mare covered in confetti and somehow even wearing a party hat. I turn to the left to see the source of the explosion; a silvery cannon resting on a single axle sporting two wheels, each one decorated with a yellow flower.

“How did you even know I was coming to prank you?” Rainbow demands as she rises, the mare dusting herself off and throwing the party hat aside.

“Let’s see, Rainbow Dash coming to visit me, carrying a bag of jokes, snickering like she’s hiding something really funny, dragging the town’s grumpiest creature along with her...I think that forms the recipe for a really fun prank!” Pinkie reasons, nudging Rainbow Dash knowingly. “So how’s your pranking spree been going?”

“I’m standing right here!”  I retort, quirking a brow at her description of me. Rainbow glances at me and snickers. “Hey!”

“She’s right though. Though I’d say ‘grumpy’ is a bit of an understatement,” Rainbow remarks, earning an emphatic nod from Pinkie. I roll my eyes at the two of them. I didn’t realize I’d come here to be mocked. “But to answer your question, Pinkie, it’s been awesome! We hit Flitter and her sister first, then Rarity! You broke our streak, though!”

“Your streak. I have no part in this.” I correct her sharply, but I’m more or less ignored. A sigh escapes me, my annoyance level steadily rising. 

“Sorry! The chance was too good to pass up!” Pinkie trilled, looking pleased with herself. “Who were you going to hit next? Can I help? It’s been too long since we’ve gone pranking together!”

“I’m gonna get a headache,” I groan, less than enthused by the prospect of Pinkie joining in on this journey of nonsense. “Yes, do tell. Which poor unsuspecting pony are you hitting next?”

“Hm...let’s hit Twilight next!” Rainbow declares. I blink, surprised by that choice. Twilight was the last pony I’d expect Rainbow to pull a prank on. Plus, Twilight is smart, so I don’t see her falling for something simple. “She has the best reactions! Trust me, she’ll never see it coming!”

“Yes! I have so many ideas already running through my head!  What if we walk up to her door, tell her we brought flamingoes, but it’s really just flaming O’s!” Pinkie suggests. Before I can even process what she just said, she whips a tray filled with donuts out from nowhere to show us. In each of the donut holes, a thick stubby candle is inserted, their wicks burning fiercely. “And then we can have post-prank donuts!”

“No no no, that’s too simple! We gotta do something that’ll really get her. What if we rigged a bucket of water above her door frame, and when she comes to answer the door, she gets totally soaked!” Rainbow shoots right back excitedly, one of her hooves swooping down to meet the other. 

“Ooh ooh, I’ve got a good one! We should get into her kitchen and put little googly eyes all over all of her food!” Pinkie Pie produces a bag of said eyes once again from seemingly nowhere, the donuts disappearing from my field of view. “Then we can watch her get flustered while her pastries stare at her from the depths of her refrigerator, watching her...judging her!”

“That’s pretty good, but what if we planted fake snakes hidden between her books? Remember how she squealed when she saw one up close during her first Winter Wrap-Up?” Rainbow returned eagerly.

Their energy is only rising as the two of them toss prank ideas back and forth, each one more ridiculous than the last. Yet, as I listen to all of their prank ideas, I have to admit something to myself. They’re all harmless. None of them are cruel or one-sided and could result in some simple fun. Perhaps...the pranks I’m familiar with were just the result of particularly nasty individuals and bad luck. Perhaps pony pranks are simply different than human pranks. 

Whatever the reasoning may be, there’s nothing wrong with these pranks...and I admittedly want to see how Twilight reacts when confronted with one of them. That being said, however, they could use a bit more of a...personal touch.

“Why not threaten one of her books?” I suggest just as Rainbow is pitching the idea to cover the table in the library with cotton balls. Rainbow and Pinkie both stop mid-sentence and stare at me in shock. I realize just how bad that sounds and quickly clarify. “Not really. I’m not so cruel as to suggest we actually harm one of her books. Yet, just pretending we are should be enough to get her flustered. Then we could pull whatever we wanted.”

A slight pause follows as the two of them mull the idea over. I feel somewhat uncomfortable beneath their gaze, wondering if I shouldn’t have spoken up after all. Yet, then the two of them grin wickedly.

“YES!” Pinkie and Rainbow both exclaim at once, pointing their hooves at me as though I’d come up with a genius idea.

“We can workshop that! Twilight would freak if one of her books was in danger!” Rainbow says.

“Let’s do it! But somecreature’s gotta stop her from using her magic, or it’ll all be ruined!” Pinkie posits. “It’s time to plan! Bring it in, you two!”

They huddle close together, gesturing for me to join in as well. I hesitantly approach a few steps, just close enough to make out what they’re whispering, and then the three of us begin to plan our nefarious prank.

Several minutes later, Mrs. Cake gets home. The older mare steps inside just in time to see us grouped together, talking in a low voice. She blinks, perplexed. “What are you three doing?”

“Nothing!” The three of us chorus together instantly. We exchange glances, the plan fully formed in our mind.

“Let’s do it! I’ll talk to Vinyl!” Rainbow asserts. 

“I’ll bake the pies!” Pinkie trills. 

“I’ll go to visit the carpenter.” I express. The three of us nod and then head our separate ways. Pinkie bounces off to the kitchen, Rainbow zips out the window at a breakneck pace, and I walk out the front door like a normal person. 

This is ridiculous, childish, and isn’t productive in the least. I can’t believe I’m even doing this, but I’m already this far in. I might as well see it through. 

After all, it was my idea.





All is quiet in Vinyl’s living room as the sun’s last rays shine in through the window, the day finally coming to an end. The dying light illuminates the two ponies and I as we lie in wait for our unwitting target.

I’m standing with Pinkie Pie in a clear view of the front door, my hands in my pockets. Vinyl is here as well, the mare hunched down on the couch low enough that she couldn’t be seen from the other side.

Pinkie is holding the centerpiece of the entire prank clutched in her hooves: a book which according to her is called “a Succinct History of Equis,” one of the books Twilight showed me during one of my visits. Furthermore, a small inconspicuous rug is present in the entry hallway, placed in such a way that anyone coming from outside would have to walk over it to reach the living room.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” I finally say aloud what’s been running through my head non-stop ever since I agreed to do this. “This is ridiculous.”

“So you keep saying. But this is gonna be good, trust me. This is the best prank idea I’ve heard in months, dude.” Vinyl whispers from the couch. “Better yet; I’m glad you’re finally loosening up a bit, too.”

“Whatever,” I mutter, uncomfortable. I then turn my gaze towards Pinkie. “Pinkie, stop laughing; nothing has even happened yet.”

“I know! I just keep picturing what’s going to happen and I just can’t help but laugh!” Pinkie has also been giggling to herself on and off for the past hour, even since Rainbow left to fetch Twilight. “I can’t wait!”

“Do you remember the script?” I ask Pinkie in a low tone. 

“There was a script?” Pinkie blinks, cluelessly. I feel as though my heart stops after hearing that.

“You didn’t read the script?” I hiss at her in irritation. I recall how I had to dictate it to Vinyl just to get it down in a language the ponies could read. “Then what did I spend all that time writing it for!?”

“Whoopsies! I knew I was forgetting something!” Pinkie giggles and snorts, as though nothing were wrong. As I’m glaring at her, I hear the sound of a thunderclap from outside. “It’ll be fine, I’ll just improvise!”

“Quiet, you two! That’s the signal! That means they’re here!” Vinyl hisses. The two of us quiet down instantly, though I continue to glower at the oblivious Pinkie. “I’ll get the door. When I do… do your thing!”

“And you’re certain that Vinyl Scratch is the one with my book?” I hear Twilight faintly ask in the distance. “I don’t know, she doesn’t seem the type to take books without asking.”

“You think this is just about your book? This isn’t just a case of a single book going missing. This is the start of a much larger evil scheme concerning all books in Equestria!” Rainbow replies, their voices getting closer and closer. “You don’t understand, Twilight. We are smack dab in the middle of a book stealing conspiracy, and only you can stop it!”

“...Uh huh. Well, if you say so. I just want my book back so I can get back to reorganizing the library by topic and date published.” Twilight seems less than amused by Rainbow’s tall tale, but she’s nonetheless approaching the front door. 

“For the umpteenth time…” Rainbow remarks.

“Did you say something?” Twilight asks, hardly paying attention.

“Nope!” Rainbow retracts. “Alright, you get the door, and I’ll fly around the back and make sure they can’t make a run for it!”

“You do that...” Twilight emits. And then, the long-awaited knock on the door comes. “Hey, Vinyl, are you in right now? I’m missing a Succinct History of Equis and Rainbow seems to think you have it.”

“Alright, get ready you two.” Vinyl whispers. The mare leaps to her hooves and rushes over to the front door, carefully avoiding the rug in the hallway in the process. She opens the door to reveal a bemused Twilight...and then Pinkie and I get started.

“Rainbow’s betrayed us, just like I always knew she would. It’s only a matter of time until Twilight gets here, and then it’ll be all over,” I say loud enough that Twilight would be able to hear us. It’s the first line of the script I made and rehearsed… the one Pinkie didn’t read.

“Ah yes, Twilight Sparkle! The single mare in charge of one of the enemy strongholds!” Before I know it, Pinkie is wearing a set of cardboard armor painted silver, complete with a visored helmet through which her muzzle barely fits. I do my best not to gape at her, even as Twilight pokes her head out from around Vinyl upon hearing her name, her face filled with curiosity and suspicion. “She won’t be able to stop us. Nopony will be able to stop us! Stick with me, Sethie, and we’ll form a foal-ition strong enough to topple the regime that has dominated Equestria for centuries! The book-related regime!”

“What in Celestia’s name are you two doing?” Twilight demands in confusion...but then she spots the book in Pinkie’s hoof, her eyes widening. “Is that my book!?”

“Yes, I, Pinkamena Diane Pie, hereby declare war upon all books! Our armies of fire shall rake across their rugged surface until there is nothing left! In fact, you could call this a...hold on folks, here’s the best part...a crusade! As Celestia wills!” Pinkie proclaims while waving around a cardboard sword, at one point pausing to address seemingly no one before getting back to her ridiculous, yet hilarious improvised script. I can’t believe she pulled that out of nowhere. That’s leagues better than what I came up with. 

“Now, my companion in crime, let us strike the first blow together!” Pinkie presents the book to me with a dramatic flourish. “Bring the cleansing flames to this book, so that we may set out upon our perilous journey!”

“Agreed. This is the beginning of the end!” Caught up in Pinkie’s energy despite myself, I pull a box of matches from my pocket. The second Twilight spots that, she puts two and two together and emits a cross between an agonized whinny and a high pitched squeal, which is almost enough to make me lose my composure right then and there.

“What do you think you’re doing!?” Twilight shrieks. Her horn lights up, no doubt to grab the book from us with her telekinesis. However, Vinyl is quicker on the uptake. Vinyl’s magical aura appears around the book a split second before Twilight’s does, therefore preventing her from grabbing it from us. “Vinyl, what are you…?”

“Quick, she’s here! Burn it, my minion, burn it!” Pinkie squeals. I nod and light the match, a spark of flame springing into existence only millimeters away from the book’s spine. Pinkie lets out a maniacal, yet cheesy, evil laugh. “Mwahahahaha!”

“Stoooop!” Stripped of any other course of action, Twilight shoves past Vinyl and breaks into a desperate run, sheer panic plastered across her face. Yet, it is that very same speed that brings about her downfall. Twilight gallops across the rug in the hallway… which then slips out from underneath her without warning, courtesy of a large amount of oil spread on the floor beneath it. Twilight’s eyes bug out and she overbalances with a surprised cry. “Waaah!”

Vinyl seizes the moment. Acting quickly, she uses her magic to slide a fresh-baked pie right beneath Twilight, such that she falls face-first into it with a wet splat. There’s silence for a few moments, and then Twilight makes a muffled sound of confusion.

Then, the laughter begins. Pinkie, Vinyl, and Rainbow, who had slipped in through the back window, burst into uproarious laughter at the sight of the fallen Twilight. Pinkie tumbles over, holding her stomach as she laughs, while Rainbow can barely stay in the air. Even I join them in their merriment. Unlike before, this isn’t a stifled chuckle; this is a laugh right from the gut, the first I’ve had in a long time. It’s the result of our silly hare-brained scheme coming to fruition so perfectly.

“Rainbow! Is this another one of your pranks!?” Twilight picks her face out of the pie, her face covered with bits of pie crust and cherry filling. She notices just who all is laughing at her and gives us all a glare. “Wait, were you all in on this!? Even you, Seth!?”

“You know it!” Vinyl chokes out between laughs. She tries to calm down but dissolves into laughter once again after looking at Twilight’s face. “Oh...your face...stop looking at me...I'm gonna die!

“Fine… I guess you got me.” Twilight gives a little growl, and then she reaches a hoof up to her face in an attempt to wipe off some of the pie filling. Unfortunately for her, it's the sticky kind. “Oh, yuck! You couldn't have used something easier to clean up?!”

“Nope! Looks like somepony’s gonna need a shower! Look at you, all covered in my cherry pie!” Pinkie zips over to Twilight and gives her cheek a big lick, tasting some of the pie for herself. She nods as if pleased with the flavor, and then she looks back at us. “In fact, you could say that now, she’s my cherry pie!”

“Uuugh!” Twilight groans, but then she adopts a wry smile, admitting her defeat. “I have to say, this is the most involved prank you’ve ever done, Rainbow. You even got Seth in on it! Book conspiracy? A crusade? Where did you even get that from?”

“Well… not a clue! I just sorta made things up as we went,” Rainbow replies with a smirk. I proceed to throw the extinguished match at her. “Hey!”

“You didn’t read the script either!? You two are terrible!” I complain at her, earning an unashamed shrug from her. She then ducks her head to dodge the crumpled remains of the script I’d wasted my time devising. 

“I’m glad to see you getting along with my friends, Seth...even if it took playing a practical joke on me to get there,” Twilight comments, the smile on her face seeming almost bittersweet for some reason. She then notes the book still in my hand. “You...weren’t really going to burn my book, were you?”

“Yes, actually,” I reply bluntly, much to her shock and horror. I pull out another match. “In fact, I still might.”

“What!? No! Give me that!” Twilight snatches the book out of my grasp with her magic and brings it over to her protectively. Vinyl, Rainbow, Pinkie, and I watch her with bated breath as she runs a hoof over the cover of the book. She attempts to open it. “I can’t believe you would do something so horrible as burn a defenseless...a defense…a def…”

Twilight, in the process of her trying to open the book, found that she couldn’t… because it was in fact a sanded wood construct we’d had commissioned that had been decorated to look exactly like her copy of the book. 

“This isn’t a book.” Twilight expressed, bemused. The realization that she’d been fooled a second time caused her to let out a cry of anguish, which was enough to set us off into another bout of merriment. “Augh! You little pranksters got me again!”

“Yes! Double whammy!” Pinkie exults.

“Totally worth the effort!” Vinyl agrees.

“But then...where’s the actual book? The whole reason I came out here was to get it back,” Twilight asks.

“I hid it under your bed when you weren’t looking,” Rainbow supplies helpfully, the mare starting to wheeze from laughing so hard.

“Of course you did. May I use your kitchen sink, Vinyl? There appears to still be cherries on my face,” Twilight asks, thoroughly unamused. After receiving a nod from the still chortling Vinyl, she sighs and walks into the kitchen, where I soon hear running water pouring from the sink.

“I told you, right? The best reactions!” Rainbow reminds me once she’d caught her breath, a satisfied smirk crossing her face. “That was a totally great idea, Seth!”

“Alright, so maybe I did have a little bit of fun with that. Twilight’s face was...priceless, to say the least,” I force myself to admit to them. The pleased expressions on their faces as a result makes me groan and place my head into my hands. “But don’t expect me to go around pranking every pony I meet just because I might have a bit of a taste for it.”

“But every once in awhile, right?” Rainbow presses. I nod after a pause. I suppose there are worse things I could do with my free time, considering most of my prior hobbies aren’t available to me anymore. “Yes! Now we’re getting somewhere!”

“I’m just glad I got to be included in that. I’m with Dash; that was a great prank idea. Never thought you had it in you, Seth,” Vinyl adds. She sticks her hoof out. “Alright, everycreature; let’s bring it in for a prank well pulled!”

“Aw yeah!” Rainbow meets her hoof without hesitation.

“Right on!” Pinkie does the same, and then the three of them gaze at me expectantly, noticing that my hands are still securely in my pockets, as per usual.

 I stare at their gathered hooves uncertainly. I’m not sure if I should be so friendly with them. The last thing I want to do is make any of them think that doing something together with me is enough to gain some ground with me. Despite my misgivings, however, I do have to admit that my spirits are slightly better than normal after this evening. I suppose that at least for that, I might as well humor them. I reach my hand out and place it atop their hooves.

“Yeah!” The three of them raise their hooves and let out a triumphant cry. Twilight steps out of the kitchen at that precise moment with her face clear of cherry pie, where she notices my participation in their merriment. She pauses and puts on a small smile, colored with a hint of sadness.

“So, who’s up for some post-prank donuts? They’re freshly made!” The moment Pinkie has a hoof free, she whips out the same box of donuts she’d shown us back in the shop. I goggle at her; I never saw her bring those with her, nor did I see from where she’d pulled them. Just another mystery to add to the list dedicated to Pinkie Pie. Pinkie then proceeds to chomp on the first one in the box. “Om nom nom...delish!”

“Donuts sound good.” Vinyl comments.

“I’m in!” Rainbow says instantly.

“I guess I can stay a little longer,” Twilight decides, moving to join our little group. She lifts up one of the donuts with her magic and takes a bite out of it. Her face takes on an unamused look. “Of course, they’re cherry flavored.”

The sound of laughter fills the room once more as my chaos-filled day finally comes to a close.
> 18. Cursed (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I yawn loudly and stretch my back, remembering once more why I shouldn’t stay up late. Work today is particularly grueling, not helped by Rainbow waking me up at some ungodly hour this morning and shooting out the window, saying something about getting everything she needed for winter ready. Apparently, tomorrow will mark the first snowfall of the year. For the Applejack family and myself, that means kicking our efforts into overdrive to finish the last harvest before the temperature drops into the negative.

“Whoo-ee! That’s all the apples bucked and stored! Now we don’t need to bother with the apple trees part from basic maintenance for the rest of winter,” Applejack declares with a huff of exhaustion and pride after she bucks the last apple tree in the field. “Thanks for all the help, Seth. Because of you, we can finish our preparations before the snow instead of in it.”

“So what happens now? I imagine there’s not much use for farming help during the winter.” I ask worriedly. 

“You’d be wrong, sugarcube,” Applejack tells me. “There’s still plenty to keep us busy during the colder months. Peas, garlic, onions, and carrots; those are all year round, and I know Golden Harvest could always use an extra hoof with her carrots.”

“Huh.”

“Then there’s general farm maintenance we can do. Keeping the animals warm, cleaning out the gutters, making sure no debris gets covered up by snow and gets dangerous-”

“Alright, I get it. Looks like there’s no chance of me being without work,” I say with relief. Without my job here at the farm, I wouldn’t be able to afford living with Vinyl anymore. “Guess you’re stuck with me a while longer.”

“Heh, pleased to have you,” Applejack replies with a chuckle. “Now let’s get back to the barn so we can finish up for the day. You sticking around for dinner today?”

“No thanks. I have stuff to take care of,” I wave her off, like always.





With an extra bag of bits jingling from my belt, I make my way back to town towards the schoolhouse. I’m still tired, but the work helped shake off some of the drowsiness. Not being able to read Equestrian has been bugging me for a while, and having to painstakingly dictate an entire script to Vinyl was the last straw. If I’m going to live in Equestria, it’s time I learned the language. I’m sure Twilight would be more than glad to teach me, but I’m more than tight enough on bits as is, and I’m not taking charity as an answer.

As I pass along the path to the schoolhouse, I note the two guards posted on either side of the street. I do my best to ignore them as they inevitably turn their gazes to me and keep them on me until I’ve passed out of their line of sight.

Once I arrive at the schoolhouse, I peek through the window at the door and see that class is still in session. With that in mind, I lean against the side of the schoolhouse, out of view from the front doors and any windows. About half an hour later, the school bell rings and the door slams open to let out a tidal wave of cheering foals.

“Don’t forget to complete your assignment on the different species of Equestria, everypony!” Cheerilee calls out from the doorstep. She waits until at least a couple foals verbally acknowledge her before stepping back inside.

As I move to follow, I spot several fillies hanging out under a barren holly tree. Diamond Tiara and her friend, Silver Spoon walk purposefully towards Apple Bloom, self-assured smirks on their faces. 

“Apple Bloom, can I talk to you for a minute?” Diamond Tiara asks in a honeyed voice. I wince but ignore them. No doubt the conversation to follow won’t be pleasant for Apple Bloom, but now that I’m not involved, it really isn’t my problem. I ignore them and step into the schoolhouse, the clack of my shoes on the hardwood floor echoing through the empty room and alerting Cheerilee to my presence.

“Oh, good afternoon, Seth. I was hoping you’d drop by to see me again,” Cheerilee says brightly. She pushes aside the folder she’d just opened and gives me her full attention. “How are you doing on this fine Wednesday afternoon?”  

“It could be worse, I suppose,” I reply with a suppressed grimace. 

“Good, good. What brings you to my schoolhouse?” Cheerilee asks curiously. She suddenly lights up. “Did you decide to come speak to my class?”

“That depends on a few things,” I answer cryptically, causing her to look perplexed as she waits for me to continue. “How often does your class cover spelling and grammar? Reading comprehension works too.”

“Well, language arts is scheduled for Mondays. I try to keep up a curriculum where each school day focuses on a specific subject, so I have enough time to go thoroughly in-depth on each one,” Cheerilee explains as she pulls out a timetable for me to see. 

“Makes sense. Not like my school ever did anything like that,” I muse with a nod. “Would it be possible for me to sit in on Mondays, then? I can’t read or write Equestrian.”

“Of course! Although you should know that my students are well beyond an elementary level of reading and writing, so you may be out of your depth,” Cheerilee explains. I close my eyes for a few moments and sigh. “Regardless, I’m glad you’re interested in learning our language!”

“I don’t have much of a choice. My own language is illegible here, and I’m tired of relying on others to read things for me,” I say with a shrug. Cheerilee nods understandingly. “Is there any chance I could get some of your time after school hours?”

“Well, I do offer to tutor students after hours if they need it, but I would need to come up with a curriculum for you, and ultimately, helping you means I wouldn’t be able to help my students as much,” Cheerilee replies regretfully. This leaves me the perfect opportunity to play my hand.

“I can compensate you for your time. I don’t have the bits, but I can speak for your class instead. It might take some time to learn Equestrian as well, so I can put myself at your disposal to help with the tutoring load as well, if necessary,” I suggest. I hear an inner voice inside my head moan loudly about having to deal with rambunctious, good for nothing kids, but I squash it down before the rest of me can agree with it.

“Oh! That would certainly be a fair trade!” Cheerilee turns towards her desk and opens a drawer. She clicks her tongue and fishes through the assorted mess of papers, pencils, crystal orbs, and headphones within to pull out what I assume is her planner. She cracks it open and scans through it briefly. “What sort of education have you had? I’m afraid I’m unfamiliar with your culture’s educational policies.”

“I’ve had plenty. Five years elementary schooling, three years middle school, four years high school, and three years of university,” I say, listing off each education group with my fingers. her eyes widening as I do so. “That includes all the core topics, and I was just delving into advanced calculus and chemistry when...when I came to Equestria.”

“That’s quite extensive! You’ve had almost as much schooling as me!” Cheerilee marvels with a wide smile. I blink at that, but quickly reason that a middle school teacher wouldn’t need to go through many years of university to get a teaching license. “So you should be just fine then, provided you can handle foals.”

“It should be fine,” I assure her, even if I don’t quite believe it myself. “Do we have an agreement?”

“We do! I’ll need some time to put together a lesson plan for you, but I’ll have something ready for you by next week!” Cheerilee beams at the prospect. “I’ll also need to work you into my lesson plan for next week, so you can give my students insight on your culture. How does Tuesday sound? Those are our history days!”

“I’ll need to clear it up with Applejack, but I think I can manage that.” At last, I have a way to learn the Equestrian language. Maybe I can pick up reading again and see what fine messes Equestrian literature has to offer. “In any case, I’ll drop by again Monday afternoon to finalize things.”

“I’ll see you then! I look forward to working with you, Seth!” With an agreement in place, Cheerilee flashes me a smile and goes back to her papers. My business concluded, I straighten my clothes and walk back out of the schoolhouse towards Vinyl’s house, hoping to get some guitar practice down before dinner. Or sleep. Sleep is also good, I think to myself as I suppress another yawn.

The late noon sun shines upon the town, the overhead trees casting shadows that lengthen and plunge the schoolyard into a cool shade. The songs of the birds steadily fade as they retire for the day, the area growing still and serene. In the play area, a swing gently creaks back and forth, caught by a soft breeze that weaves between the barren tree branches and ruffles my hair.

There is no one in the yard except for Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon. As I walk past their little group, I pick up on their conversation.

“Huh? What about the tools you got me the other day?” Apple Bloom asks in confusion. They must be talking about a group project. 

“It was really hard to get them,” Diamond Tiara explains with a pout. “I had to ask daddy, and he had to ask his friends to get them shipped in. But don’t worry, I know the perfect way for you to pay me back.”

I stop in place several meters away from the small group of foals. The image of a young girl with short blonde hair and piercing blue eyes flashes through my mind.

“Seth, would you mind doing me a favor? I have a lot on my plate, and I could use your help.”

	I force myself to keep walking. What goes on between Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom is none of my concern.

“I ain’t doing that species assignment for you. Do it yourself, like everypony else!” Apple Bloom responds incredulously. 

“Yeah, nopony should be that lazy!” Scootaloo snaps back.

“It’s not even that hard of an assignment!” Sweetie Belle protests.

“Again, Janna? Your plate is always full, and I’m sick of having to manage it for you. Find someone else to do your work.”

	I bite down on my lip as old memories push forward like a flood. My chest tightens as I try to reign back my emotions. There’s no way this could be happening again. Not in the open where I can hear it. I just need to take a few deep breaths to ease the pressure rising in my chest. This isn’t my business regardless.

“I could do it myself, but me and Silver Spoon are busy on the weekend, and I don’t want to make daddy get somepony else to do it.” Diamond Tiara’s eyes gain a sinister gleam like she’s a hunter who’s cornered her prey. “Besides, you needed those tools, didn’t you? They’re not cheap, you know. Surely a simple favor isn’t too much to ask”

“Why would I need to ask someone else when I have you, dum dum. Always ready to help me out when I need it. You haven’t forgotten everything I’ve done for you, have you?”

“I suppose not, but...I’ve got my own homework to do too,” Apple Bloom says, faltering exactly like how I used to.

“I’m sure you can handle it. You’re a smart pony,” Diamond Tiara assures her. An annoyed expression crosses Tiara’s face when Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle start whispering to Apple Bloom. “Do you know what would happen if I went and told my daddy?  It won’t-”

“-be pleasant if you refuse.”

Diamond Tiara’s voice merges with the voice from my memories, and something inside of me snaps. The pressure in my chest exponentially grows as I turn on one heel and storm across the yard towards the group of fillies. My feet feel as if they’re moving on their own, dirt clouds stirring with every stomp. My eyes harden and my body chills as if someone is pumping ice through my veins. If looks could kill, I’d be wanted in all fifty-one states.

Diamond Tiara notices my swift approach behind the three crusaders in her direction. She first furrows her brow in confusion, then alarm when she sees the intense glare I’m emitting. The panic steadily builds when I don’t slow down in the slightest and the aura of rage and hostility I’m releasing gets stronger.

“Seth? W-What are you d-doing!?” Diamond Tiara stammers, her ears flattening and eyes widening. As I push through the three surprised fillies to reach her, she backpedals towards the stump of the tree, trying to put as much distance between herself and me as possible. “Stay away!”

Everything, from the setup, to the favors, to the ultimatum. It’s the exact same. I won’t let this happen again. Not to someone else.

“You… I won’t let you…!” I’m so angry I can hardly form a sentence. Tiara trembles beneath my gaze like a leaf in the wind as my vision flashes green. “You’re going to leave those girls alone right now!”

“H-Huh?” Diamond Tiara stammers. After a moment, she manages to recollect herself, gazing up at me with defiance despite her fear. “St-stay out of this, you ape! You better go away before I get my daaaaa!”

With a guttural cry of rage, I slam my fist into the trunk right beside her head, my fist clenched so tightly I can feel fingernails digging into my palm. The impact manages to shatter the bark, buckle the trunk, and knock Diamond’s tiara off her head. 

“Who the hell do you think you are!? You can’t just order ponies around like you own them!” I snarl into Diamond Tiara’s flushed, terrified face. The fist-sized hole in the tree trunk behind her wipes any semblance of bravery she possessed. “I don’t care whose daughter you are; you have no right! You think I’ll just stand here and watch while you make those fillies’ lives a living hell!?”

“Seth, please. Thanks, but we’re okay!” Apple Bloom calls, the filly bravely walking up behind me.

“Shhh, Apple Bloom! I don’t think we should get in the middle of this,” Sweetie Belle hisses quietly at her friend.

“Get away from my friend, you jerk!” Silver Spoon yells in a wavering voice, her hooves shaking like sticks about to buckle under pressure. My vision flashes green once again and stays that way. I snap my face towards where I heard Silver Spoon speak, causing her to scream and bolt the opposite direction.

I grunt and clap a hand to my head, squeezing my eyes shut as a sudden onslaught of cold pain shoots through my body. When I reopen my eyes, my vision is back to normal. I note Diamond Tiara trying to wriggle away.

“I’m not done with you.” She freezes once more, whimpering pathetically and trying to make herself as small as possible. “Do you think that because your family is so rich and powerful, that puts you above everyone else!? That you can wield your father’s influence like a weapon to get whatever you want!?”

I hear Apple Bloom calling out to me again, but I don’t pay her any regard.

“You may think you’re invincible now, but when your supposed ‘influence’ crumbles away from beneath you, you’ll have nothing. On your own, you are nothing,” I hiss, not letting up despite my struggle to keep whatever’s in my chest contained. “The world doesn’t owe you a thing, brat.”

“You...you can’t talk to me like this!” Diamond Tiara finally finds her voice, though it’s taking all she has to force the words out. “I’m gonna tell daddy, and then you won’t be talking so tough!” Diamond Tiara grabs her tiara from the ground and gallops away, leaving me, the three crusaders, and a very confused schoolteacher who has just poked her head out the door, her headphones hanging around her neck. I collapse into a seated position while Cheerilee makes her way towards us.

“What’s going on out here?” Cheerilee asks. On the opposite end of the field, one of the guards I walked past on my way to the schoolhouse approaches our group, his eyes fixed on me.

“A filly ran up to us saying her friend was in trouble. Is everything alright?” the guard asks. He glances over to where I’m resting, trying to catch my breath and calm down. “Is the human causing trouble?”

“No!” Apple Bloom laughs forcefully. “No, everything’s fine! Seth and I were just...uhh…”

“Having a discussion!” Scootaloo chimes in. “About...”

“The human book series! He really doesn’t like them, but we do,” Apple Bloom finishes. Sweetie Belle remains notably quiet, the filly watching from the side with visible discomfort. “Everything’s fine, officer!”

“That must have been some discussion. This poor tree took quite the beating,” Cheerilee peers around me look at the sorry state of the tree, strips of bark still falling to the ground. She looks at me with a raised brow. “What possessed you to do such a thing?”

“He uh….kept telling us he didn’t have any magic!” Scootaloo puts forward with a nervous chuckle.

“Yeah, but the books said he did, so we asked him to prove it,” Apple Bloom says.

“Turns out he’s right, but he’s also really strong!” Scootaloo looks at the tree sheepishly.

There’s an uncomfortable silence as Cheerilee and the guard alternate between looking at me and the three fillies that has me squirming in place. Finally, Cheerilee nods understandingly, but the guard’s eyes linger on the fist-sized hole that was hiding behind my back.

“Of course, that makes sense. I imagine the books aren’t very accurate after all. Strength over magic…sounds like us earth ponies!” Cheerilee observes. She gives me a disapproving look. “Now, just because there are a lot of inaccuracies doesn’t mean you should fight over it. We can like different things, regardless of their flaws.”

“Right! We’re sorry, Miss Cheerilee!” The three ponies chorus together, effectively. 

“That’s much better. Apologize to them as well, Seth.” Cheerilee orders me. I swallow my pride and give a mumbled apology, my breath finally steadying itself to a level where I can stand up. “There! Now all is well. Thank you for your help, officer.”

The guard narrows his eyes. He stares at me for several seconds. “I will be heading off, then. Keep out of trouble, human. We’re watching you,” he says, trotting back to his post.

“You all run along now. And try to get along!” Cheerilee says, turning back to the schoolhouse. The three fillies look to me.

“Are you alright? I ain’t never seen anypony so mad before,” Apple Bloom says softly. 

“That was pretty scary,” Sweetie Belle says with a gulp.

“...even if it was a little cool,” Scootaloo adds, only to get sharply nudged by Sweetie Belle. “Well, it was! Seeing Diamond Tiara get hers never gets old...except for maybe the almost hitting her part.”

“I mean, sure, she was being a little nasty, but that was going too far,” says Apple Bloom.

I can still feel a chill within me unrelated to the temperature. I can only describe it as drinking a bucket of ice-cold water and feeling it travel down to the pit of your stomach.

“Seth?” Apple Bloom repeats.

“Shut up for a moment,” I snap, causing her to wince. I hold up the fist I used to total a tree. It doesn’t even look bruised. My hand is completely and totally unharmed. 

That’s not normal.

“Look. I’m sorry you had to see any of that. But I don’t have time to explain,” I tell the crusaders in a shaky voice. “There’s someone I need to see right now.”

	“Where are you going?” The three fillies trail along behind me as I break into a brisk walk towards town. “Hey!”

With that, I leave the trio behind. My mind drifts back across the almost two weeks that I’ve been here. I’d almost forgotten about the strange pressure in my chest and its effect on me, in the wake of all the emotions I’d been feeling at the time.

One thing’s for sure, this isn’t a disease. No physical disease that I know of comes with symptoms like these, and even if I was starting to lose it, having a mental breakdown wouldn’t result in something as ludicrous as super strength. That leaves ‘magic’ as the only possibility—and I know just the pony to turn to for answers.





“Seth! Thank Celestia, I was hoping you’d come by again,” Twilight greets me at the door with a beaming smile not even seconds after I’ve knocked. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she’s been waiting by the door all day.

Her smile falters when she picks up upon my haggard state. “Are you alright? Did something happen?”

“I think there is something wrong with me. Can you help?”

“Yes, of course. Please come in.” Twilight ushers me inside and into her living room, closing the door with a snap. She brings out cushions for us to sit, where I attempt to calm myself down. She gazes at me with a concerned frown. “Do I need to send for a doctor? You look very pale.”

“I don’t think a doctor can help. This is magical. It has to be.”

Twilight blanches at my words and starts checking over my body, occasionally using magic to move one of my limbs. In order to get to my back, she has me move my rifle to the side. “It’s true that you don’t seem to be hurt in any way, but magical injuries can manifest in many ways.”

“Everything alright out here?” Spike walks out from the upstairs bedroom, a comic book clutched in his claws that drops to the ground when he takes a look at me. “I’ll get started on the tea. Ginger, or chamomile?”

“Ginger. And bring me a damp towel,” Twilight orders without looking at him.

“You got it,” Spike says, scampering down the stairs towards the kitchen.

“Magical afflictions can be incredibly dangerous, especially if humans really don’t have any magic as you said.” Twilight levitates several books down from their shelves. “We can start by ruling out some of the common ones, but I’ll need you to tell me everything you can.”

“I can pay you for the trouble.” I lift up my bag of bits, but Twilight pushes my arm down with her magic.

“Right now, your health is more important; we can discuss payment later.”

Bereft of any other choice, I explain to her what I’ve been feeling inside of me ever since I arrived in this era to the best I can remember. I describe the pressure in my chest, my observation that it only seems to surface whenever I’m angry or stressed, and the frigid cold I feel when it gets particularly bad.

As we talk, Spike returns to the room with a boiling kettle of yellowish tea, a jar of honey, and the wet towel that Twilight requested. The tea has a surprisingly sharp spice to it that I drown out with a generous dose of honey. It isn’t the most pleasant of beverages, but it does wonders to help calm me down. By the end of the first cup, I can barely feel any pressure in my chest.

“I can’t say I’ve ever heard of an affliction like this before.” Twilight dabs the towel against my forehead, wiping off any errant drops of sweat. “If you’re feeling well enough, could you come into my basement?” 

“Your basement?” I question flatly with a raised eyebrow.

“This isn’t something I can diagnose by just looking. I have some instruments set up down there to detect, measure, and identify mana. At the very least, it’ll confirm for you if what we’re dealing with is, in fact, magical,”  she explains with a nod. 

“That begs the question of why you have such instruments in the first place—this is supposed to be a library.” Now that I’m calming down and able to think, I’m having second thoughts about coming here. I’m not sure I can afford her help, but I need to get rid of this thing before it gets rid of me. Whatever deal I make here has to happen on my terms.

“This library is also my home. Research is a regular pastime for me, and how better to research the intricacies of magic than with the proper instruments.” Seeing her expectant gaze, I rise to my feet and wait for her. Once she sees I’m ready, Twilight leads me to a doorway tucked in the corner by the stairs and back wall. “Spike, I need everything on magical afflictions and curses that we have.”

“On it,” I hear Spike call out as Twilight opens the door. Beyond the doorway is a dimly lit stairwell leading underground. Twilight’s horn briefly lights up, and the stairwell is flooded with light from a series of crystalline orbs set into the walls at regular intervals like torches.

“C-Curses? You think this might be a curse?”

“We can’t rule it out. It’s best to be as thorough as possible when researching—cover all avenues if you will.” The stairwell continues further downward, ending with a chamber that appears to be situated away from the base of the tree, likely a precaution in the event of a collapse. “I’ve already formulated several possibilities based on what you’ve told me. To narrow it down, where exactly in Equestria did you originally emerge? I don’t think you’ve ever told me the where—only the how.”

“You’d be right. If it’s important, I woke up in the Everfree Forest.” Technically, it’s not a lie; the remnants of my university are certainly somewhere below the forest.

“The Everfree Forest?!” Twilight’s eyes widen as she stares at me with horror. That’s...I can’t even imagine what you must have gone through—-being a human without any magic. There are all sorts of horrible things if you wander off the beaten path.”

“No kidding. There was something out to get me from the moment I woke up to the moment I reached the town,” I retort.

“How did you make it out? Did you know there’s a dragon in the area?” Spike questions with a stack of books precariously held in front of him. I slowly turn to look at him without a word. 

“I mean an adult dragon,” he says with rolling eyes. 

“I ran as fast as I could in one direction. That’s all there is to it,” I reply with a shrug, even as my insides churn at the thought that I could have run into a full-grown dragon during my mad dash in the dark.

As we descend, the stone wall on my right side falls away to reveal a mostly unremarkable room. One wall is taken up by a long, wooden desk that Spike goes to dump the books onto, and a mounted bulletin board, upon which various slips of paper are pinned—some depict various ponies resembling scientists or magicians, some are sheets of unintelligible Equestrian writing, and others display various measurements of an unknown subject.

What does stand out is the multitude of odd instruments littering the opposite end of the room. All of them sport a metallic sheen with various buttons, lights, and screens covering the surfaces. Various wires trail around the room, connecting the devices from one to the other, which are all hooked up to a crystal power source in the back corner of the room.

“Could you take a seat for me?” Twilight indicates a chair situated in the middle of the room that looks eerily like one you’d find at a dentist’s office. I gingerly set my rifle aside and climb onto the chair, unsure of what to expect. Twilight uses her magic to gather several smaller instruments and cords. “I’ll start with my most likely hypothesis, and we will go from there. Assuming this is magically caused, there’s any number of things in the Everfree Forest that could have caused it.”

“What kind of place is the Everfree?”

“One of the most dangerous places in Equestria. Everything from powerful monsters to chaotic curses dwells inside. Some trees are capable of defending themselves from harm through perception filters, animation, or even something as drastic as transformation. The flora can cause ponies to experience side effects ranging from blocking the user’s magic to removing their depth perception. Others attack you directly through toxic gas or vines. Of course, none of this takes any of the local fauna into account, such as timberwolves, cockatrices, manticores...”

My jaw slowly goes slack as the list of dangers grows longer and more elaborate. “Stop!” I finally say as she’s describing the constellation monsters in intricate detail. “I get it, I shouldn’t be alive.”

“I’m sorry. But you are very lucky to get out with no sustained injuries,” Twilight apologizes sheepishly. “First order of business, I want to take your vitals. I’m not a doctor, but I know the basics. I don’t know what’s normal for humans, however; so you’ll have to help me.”

The thought of disrobing even a little in front of her makes me uneasy, but I know that this is standard procedure for something like this...and I didn’t even have a real shirt for the first week since I arrived in Ponyville. I remove my jacket and shirt, which Twilight places on the desk with her magic. “Do what you need to do. Though there’s still the matter of compensation to discuss later.”

“I really don’t want to take your money, Seth.” Twilight frowns and gives me the answer that I knew she would. “You came to me in need of help. Please let me give it to you.”

“You’re doing me a service, and I will not incur debt with you. I don’t know how I can make that any clearer to you,” I remind her with a hint of exasperation. Spike notes the changing atmosphere in the room and back to one corner of the room, anxiously glancing between us.

“But that doesn’t make any sense! I’d never hold you to any kind of debt; I don’t get why you’re so worried I will.”

I cross my arm and look at her exasperated. “Twilight, you know more about magic than most of the unicorn population, to the point where if other ponies knew you were doing it for free, you’d never have a moment’s rest. You’re the scholar  equivalent of a medical specialist, and if they offered their services for free to anyone who visited like you’re doing right now, they’d be out of a job.”

“I also told you before that I’d happily use my magical expertise to help any of my friends!” Twilight shoots right back.

“I’m not one of your friends.” The moment that statement leaves my lips, Twilight looks crushed, as if hearing my words physically hurt. “You declaring yourself my friend is not enough to change that fact.”

“I…” Twilight lets out a small whimper. “I don’t understand. Is there something wrong with me in particular, that you won’t let me help?”

“Excuse me? What are you talking about?”

“You seem to be such good friends with Rainbow Dash, Vinyl Scratch, and Pinkie Pie. Is it just me that you don’t like?”

“You’re making a looot of assumptions there.” I note her unconvinced face and uncross my arms with a sigh. “Look, even if you and I were friends, I’d still pay you. It’s a matter of principle and I adamantly refuse to take charity as an answer.” 

“It’s not charity! I’m just trying to do you a...favor,” Twilight halts mid protest, a spark of realization passing over her. Her body slumps. “Fine, I give up.”

“Pardon?”

“You win. It doesn’t matter how much I argue, it’s clear you won’t believe me. I’ve thought and agonized over how I might prove myself genuine, but I can’t do even the smallest thing if you won’t give me a chance.” Twilight throws up her hooves, defeated. 

I remain silent and wait for her to finish.

“But I guess it doesn’t matter. I’m still going to help you, but we’ll do it your way. So far, you seem to respond well to equal exchange, as long as the terms are agreed upon upfront and benefit both parties. Am I right?” Twilights words are short and clipped, her lips set in a firm line. When I give her a terse nod, she continues. “Then in exchange for my services, you’re going to let Pinkie Pie give you a welcome party.”

I stare at Twilight for a few seconds. “What.” 

Twilight’s lips curl into an amused smile at my monotone response. “A welcome party! She loves to hold them for anyone who comes to live in Ponyville, and so far you’re the exception. She’s held off until now because I asked her to take your feelings into account...even though it was like trying to stop a train with telekinesis.”

“But how does this benefit you in the slightest?” I retort. “I can see how that would benefit Pinkie Pie, but not you.”

Spike chooses this moment to interrupt. “You don’t know Pinkie Pie very well. You haven’t seen how she gets when she can’t throw a party like she wants to. She becomes…” Spike pauses a moment, brushing his chin with the tip of his claw. “Insufferable. Trust me when I say letting her have her way would be a relief on my, and mostly Twilight’s, part.”

I throw up my hands in annoyance. “I suppose, but this just sounds like a ridiculous excuse for a party. Who even throws welcome parties for people they haven’t met?”

“Who knows? You might enjoy it! But even if you don’t, such is the nature of payment, wouldn’t you agree?” Twilight says, her smile turning smug as she notes my hesitation. “What do you say? Do we have a deal?”

“A welcome party sounds like a terrible idea, but I suppose it does make for a good compromise. But I’m adding one extra condition.” I give Twilight a moment for her to process what I said. “Not one word of what happens here to the princesses. I’m not having a repeat of the other day where both of them come to see me.”

“That’s…” Twilight looks pained upon hearing that, but she relents with a sigh. “Alright, I promise I won’t tell the princesses—but if at any point I find your condition is life-threatening and I haven’t the knowledge or skill to handle it, I will. Because your life is more important than anything.”

“I suppose that’s the most I can expect from you. Fine, it’s a deal.” My response earns a sigh of relief from Twilight. “Do what you’re going to do. When is this party going to be?”

“As soon as Pinkie can put it together! Oh, I already can’t wait,” Twilight gives a giggle at my less than enthused expression, but then she lifts up one of the books that Spike brought her and gets serious. 

“Yes, it’s safe now. I’ll need you to write down my findings as I read them off,” At last, Twilight starts attaching the electrodes to my body using my guidance. “This device will detect the presence of any type of mana. Depending on the measurements, I will cross-reference them to determine its origin. I’m going to let it run while I take your vitals.”

“Okay,” I say. Twilight then produces what I easily identify as a stethoscope. She puts it on and places the end of it on my stomach and starts to listen. “Twilight, my heart is up here.”

“Right,” Twilight sheepishly adjusts the position of the scope to the correct location of my heart and starts to listen, quietly counting under her breath the number of beats. Her eyes widen in surprise. “Your heart beats very fast. I’m counting an average hundred and ten beats per minute. That’s way higher than the pony average of thirty-six to forty-two beats per minute in rest. Is that normal for you?”

“For humans, anywhere from sixty to a hundred is within the normal range. My heart rate has always been a little faster than average, though.” Twilight notes that down in her little notepad. I turn my gaze to the machine to which the electrodes are connected. “Not to be annoying, but does it always do that?”

Twilight gives the machine a cursory glance to see the display running wild. The machine beeps frantically as the amplitude of the waves displayed increases and decreases drastically at irregular intervals. Twilight drops the thermometer she’d just retrieved which Spike dives to catch before it breaks, her eyes going wide. 

“This is…” Twilight zips to the machine and starts tapping several buttons upon its dashboard. As a result, paper with the measurements displayed upon it feeds out from a slot in the side of the machine. “I’ve never seen mana readings like this!”

“You’re saying there's mana inside of me?!” The mare doesn’t answer, too busy scribbling frantically on her notepad. “Twilight, give me something before I have a panic attack!”

“I’m sorry—I’m just trying to take as many measurements as possible!” Twilight gathers the papers produced from the machine and stacks them neatly on the table before dashing back to the machine. The readings start to fluctuate further, reaching higher peaks as the pressure worsens in my chest. “Seth, you need to calm down! I think you’re making it worse!”

“I’m trying, dammit!” I force myself to take several meditative breaths. As a result, the readings start to calm, returning back to what they were before. “What does this mean?”

 “There’s definitely mana of some type inside of you. I’m not sure what to make of all this just yet, but the readings are highly volatile,” Twilight explains. She lifts up some of the papers and shows them to me. “Sometimes, it’s at a level that a foal unicorn could produce, while other times, it’s higher than anything I could cast.”

“Okay, but what does that mean?” I demand, taking great pains to keep my breathing even.

Twilight bites her lip. “I just don’t know. But I do know that you need to stay calm. It seems like it gets worse whenever you’re stressed.”

“You’re sure that humans don’t have magic, right?” Spike asks. The dragon has been listening to us this whole time, but understandably hadn’t had anything useful to contribute. 

“Absolutely sure. I could not be any surer,” I smack my head against the back of the chair. “Great. Because life wasn’t bad enough without me having to rein myself in even more than I already am.”

“Hold on, I’m not finished. I’m going to try and extract some of this mana so that I can study it,” Twilight decides. Spike winces as she produces another strange device from within one of her filing cabinets. I can’t make heads nor tails of it, but judging from the suction cup at the end of one of the cords, I can only assume it won’t be pleasant. “This should be enlightening on its own, too. Curses tend to have built-in defense mechanisms to prevent dismantlement.”

“So...what you’re saying is that I should be grabbing the book of counterspells and the book of defensive charms,” Spike says in a deadpan tone. Twilight glances sheepishly at him. “Alright, I’ll be right back. Bring some more tea while I’m at it.”

“This is safe, right?” I ask nervously, watching Twilight set up the machine and connect it to a stoppered glass beaker. “This won’t hurt?”

“If I’m correct and this is a curse, it’ll probably lash out at me—I’m the one trying to remove it. It should be safe for you, but I can’t promise it won’t hurt at all,” Twilight explains to me while inching closer.

“You said ‘should’. I don’t like ‘should’.” Her explanation only serves to make me more nervous. The way she’s talking about a curse makes it seem almost alive.

Twilight lifts up the suction end of the machine. “Magic isn’t an exact science, Seth. Anything could happen. All we can do is minimize the risk.” She hesitates before attaching the device to me. “If you want me to stop, I will. I won’t do anything you’re not comfortable with.”

“I’m comfortable with none of this. As if getting brought to your time wasn’t bad enough, I take literally one step outside and get cursed,” I grumble. Fantasy books always make magic out to be something wondrous, but in reality, it’s nature’s other way of saying how much it hates you and wants you dead. I note Twilight looking at me with concern. “Stop looking at me like that. Do what you’re going to do. It’s either do nothing and risk dying in some terrible way or hope you’ll figure something out without me dying in the process. At least this is quicker.”

“I hope I can figure something out too.” Twilight gazes at me for a few more seconds and then attaches the suction cup to my chest. With a crank of a lever, the cup seals itself to my skin, causing me to wince.

“I brought everything I could find!” Spike slams a stack of thick books down on the floor and then dusts off his claws. Spike stares at the pipe attached to my chest. “That doesn’t look comfortable.”

“It isn’t,” I assure him.

“On the plus side, you have a cup of tea to look forward to after you’re done.”

Twilight lifts up the books from the ground with her telekinesis and opens several of them at once, eyes darting between the various pages. She nods to herself, and then her horn glows brighter as she screws up her face in concentration. A series of magical effects occur one after the other as she starts to cast spells: arcane circles appear in the air around her, colored the same as her magic aura, before disappearing. For a brief moment, her body is outlined in magenta, before that too dissipates. Two constructs made of magenta-colored light appear in the air a few inches above her, one hovering on either side of her. They consist of multiple magical circles stacked atop one another such that the construct ultimately ends up with a spherical shape.

“There. Nightbreeze’s standard barrier spell, Owlstar’s magical defense system, and a mix of River Reed’s preemptive counter charms,” Twilight recites. She nods, looking satisfied. “I’m ready. How about you, Seth?”

“Just do it,” I say, eyeing the floating spheres of magical energy. 

“Okay. I’m flipping the switch. Brace yourself!” That’s all the warning I get. Twilight turns on the machine. 

The machine starts up with a whir and immediately I feel a powerful suction coming from it. It’s as if the machine is reaching past my layer of skin into my mind and pulling something out, and that something doesn’t like it at all. The machine which has been recording the mana readings goes haywire, the readings spiking dramatically and reaching the very top of the display. 

“Aaaaargh!” It feels like my entire body is rebelling against what’s happening. My sternum turns as cold as though of ice pressing out on the edges of my chest. 

“I’m sorry! Just hang in there!” Twilight anxiously calls out to me.

I close my eyes shut as the feeling intensified, and then I hear several things happen at once. I hear Twilight yelp, and then a loud crash, followed by the sound of objects clattering to the ground. I hear the tearing of rubber and the sound of frantic beeping. Then, the suction cup is torn off my body, the entire machine hitting the floor. With that, my body calms down, and the entity returns back from where it came from.

“Twilight! Are you okay!? What just happened!?” I hear Spike call out to her. 

“I’m fine...my barrier spell protected me.” Twilight picks herself off of the floor on the far end of the room, where her desk had been broken and the shelves had fallen from the wall, their contents scattered all over the floor. Yet clutched tightly in her hooves is the beaker to which the extraction machine had been connected. “Wow. I can’t believe it. I’ve never seen a curse lash out so destructively!”

I sit up straight to take in the sorry state of the room. The machine that had been connected to me is completely destroyed, the very pipes rent asunder and the suction cup in tatters. The electrodes attached to my skin are seared at the ends and now rest on the table or the floor. “Here’s to never experiencing that ever again. Do you get what you need?” Twilight gets to her hooves and approaches me, presenting the beaker to me with a proud expression.

“We did it! We’ve got some of the mana!” Twilight sounds ecstatic, despite the destruction our attempt had wreaked upon her lab. I glance at the beaker and promptly turn pale at what I see. 

I’ve seen a lot of unicorn magic up until this point. I’ve seen them lifting objects and manipulating them. I’ve seen short-range teleportation. I’ve seen it used in technology to amplify sound. I don’t have a clue how it all works, but it’s all had one thing in common: it’s always been some shade of pastel, typically corresponding with the unicorn’s eyes.

The pulsing orb of mana trapped within the beaker is as black as night, with a greenish glow emanating from its extremities. Just looking at it gives me an instinctive feeling of nausea and wrongness.

“What the hell is that doing inside of me?” I demand, my voice rising in pitch. 

“It’s definitely a curse of some kind. Only a curse would have reacted the way it did,” Twilight starts to explain. “The moment I engaged the machine, mana that looked like this started to rise from your body, and then it lashed out at me, breaking my countercharms like they were nothing. My barrier was fine, but that was impressive! We’re lucky we even got this little bit!” 

“Lucky, she says,” Spike remarks, handing me a cup of ginger tea. “Drink that. Calms the nerves.”

“Stop getting excited. This just makes me more anxious,” I point out to her, cold sweat lining my brow. I take a long draught from the cup. “Now what do we do about it?”

“Curses are notoriously hard to break. Sometimes impossible, once they’ve been triggered,” Twilight reasons. Spike gulps at that. “This one is strange, though. You say it aided you.”

“My hand didn’t break, even though it should have,” I repeat to her.

“If I had to guess, I’d say it’s another defense mechanism. Whatever the effects of this curse, it must need you in one piece, and therefore forms a symbiotic relationship with the host.,” Twilight carefully sets the beaker of dark mana down next to the intact measurement machine.

“That’s not ominous or anything,” Spike comments dryly.

 Twilight shoots him a brief glance before turning back to me. She takes a breath. “Okay. Here’s what I want you to do.”

“I’m listening.”

“I’m going to need some time to study this mana. If I can get it to trigger, I can see what the effects are, and then I’ll be able to narrow down the exact name of the curse,” Twilight explains. “I’ll need you to find a way to avoid triggering it on your own.”

“How!? I don’t even know what it does!” I remind her.

“By staying calm. Assuming anger and stress are what causes it to stir, the curse might take it are being in life-threatening danger and react accordingly,” Twilight answers. “In that case, you just have to avoid getting angry or stressed.”

“Now that’s the funniest thing you’ve ever said,” I retort without a hint of amusement in my voice. “‘Don’t get stressed.’ Twilight, I’ve been stressed from the second I arrived in Equestria.”

“I know it’ll be hard. But I just need a day or two to figure this out,” Twilight pleads. “Just...take some time to do something you enjoy. Or find some way to unwind. If it helps, I can talk to Applejack and get you some time off of work.”

“Don’t do that. I can’t afford to go without work,” I cut her off there, sighing heavily. “It’s fine. Working on the farm isn’t all that stressful. It’s quiet and repetitive, which is honestly something I need.”

“Alright. Just try to stay away from any known stressors,” Twilight advises me.

“So basically all of you ponies. Got it.”

“Hey!” Twilight gives me an angry pout at that, even as Spike snickers behind a claw. “Seriously. That’s the only advice I can give you for now.”

I get up off the table. I don’t feel like I’ve learned anything about what’s inside me except for the fact that it’s a curse of some kind, and it needs me alive. That’s probably more disconcerting than the thought that it might kill me.

“I’m going to do my best,” I say in dull acceptance. I glance at her, noting how she’s already starting to clean up the area and prepare several more odd instruments of a type I don’t recognize. “You’re not going to tell the princesses, are you?”

Twilight freezes. She returns my gaze, a frown on her muzzle. “I was, and still am, considering it. As I said, it seems to want you alive and unharmed for the time being. I’m concerned about how it lashed out at me, but that was only because I was trying to remove it. I think both you and the townsponies will be okay as long as you can keep yourself under control.”

“Why do I feel like I’m a child being told to be a good boy? I’m twenty-one, damn it,” I complain indignantly. 

Twilight giggles a little at that analogy. “It does sound a little like that, doesn’t it?” She takes a moment to straighten herself up. “Okay. I think that’s all I need from you to get started. I hope to have results within the next day or so.”

“I can only hope.” 





“Seth!” Twilight calls just as I walk out the front door of the library. I pause and glance back at her. “If it gets any worse, I want you to come right back to me. No exceptions! Understand?”

“I will,” I tell her with a two-fingered goodbye. Once she closes the door, I take a leisurely stroll toward Vinyl’s house.

“Don’t get stressed. You have got to be kidding me,” I repeat to myself grumpily as I stride through the darkening streets of Ponyville.
> 19. The Gamble (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You’re late!” Vinyl remarks, her hoof lazily rising above the edge of the couch and waving in my direction. “Were you pranking some other hapless victim? If so, I gotta hear all about it.”

“Not this time.” Despite my best efforts, I’m still stressed, and the curse seems to know it. I can feel it inside my chest like a beast clawing at its cage just beneath my sternum. Vinyl hears my tone of voice and lifts her head above the couch with a pout.

“Everything cool, bro?”

“Don’t worry about it,” I wave away her concerns impatiently. “Do you mind if I use your music room again?”

“Not at all. Go for it, dude. Want me to join you?” Vinyl offers.

“Not this time.” I make my way to the music room and promptly shut myself inside, leaving the perplexed mare behind along with the rest of the world. I take a deep breath, becoming very aware of every little sound of my body, including the steady pounding of my heart.

My hands reach for my acoustic guitar and I wrap the strap around my shoulder, its weight both familiar and comforting. With a single pluck of the strings, a note cuts through the air, and a hint of relief washes over me. It doesn’t matter how stressed I am; that sound never fails to pick me up.

Without wasting any time, I move my left hand to the frets to play a simple tune that I used to hear on the radio when I was much younger. Mental images of the associated tablature pass through my mind along with the gentle bobbing of my head.

Yes. This is exactly what I needed.

Several hours later, I wrap up my practice session, feeling much better than when I entered. I prop up my guitar and open the door to find a plate of salad sitting on the floor, the meal wrapped up with plastic wrap to keep its freshness. Looking around shows no sign of Vinyl anywhere.

“Heh. I forgot to eat, didn’t I?” I kneel down and pick up the plate, peeling back the plastic wrap. Without another word, I take the plate to the table and start to eat.





Stepping out the door the following morning, a blast of frigid cold slams into me and eats through my clothes in an instant. Spread out before me is a Ponyville blanketed in a thick layer of white, flakes of snow still falling from the sky. Ponies slowly filter out into the streets from the comfort of their homes, dressed in thick coats, scarves, and hats.

I duck back inside and shut the door, shuddering violently. 

Rarity was kind enough to include a set of thin insulation clothes similar to long johns for me to wear beneath my usual attire. Over the top of them, I wear a set of dark pants, a long-sleeved shirt, and a somewhat bulky jacket packed to the gills with insulating material. I wrap a scarf around my neck and fit on a thick beanie to cover my ears and head.

“I feel ridiculous,” I mutter to myself, shutting the front door behind me. Yet despite all that, I can’t help but feel giddy as snow crunches beneath my boot. Living far south, I almost never saw snow. I was lucky to even see a few flakes deep in January. I ponder as I walk about how the climate must have changed. I should still be in the same geographical place, considering I woke up in my school. It’s incredible what three thousand years can do.

I glance up at the sky with a wry expression to see said pegasi wheeling through the sky, managing the thick snow clouds even now. Right, pegasi control the weather and everything I know is wrong.

“What even is magic?” I grumble to myself as I walk through the snow on my way to the farm.





“You’re just in time! Grab a snowplow and let’s get working!” Applejack greets me as soon as I get through the front entrance, the mare wearing a scarf and a coat wrapped around her barrel. Big MacIntosh and Apple Bloom are there as well, the former already hooked up to one of the plows. I glance at the push plow that she has set up for me and the soreness of my muscles intensifies in anticipation. She snickers when she sees me. “You look colder than an ice cube in winter.”

“I wonder if it has something to do with this white stuff falling from the sky,” I say sarcastically as I move to the snowplow. I note the presence of smaller carts nearby containing large bags. “Why are we doing this while it’s still snowing? Won’t it just accumulate faster than we can plow it?”

“Oh, absolutely. But we gotta get these seeds planted somehow. I figure one of us’ll follow along behind and plant em before the snow gets too thick.” Applejack indicates the bags in the carts. “Gotta get them winter crops planted! I’m gonna be with Big Mac, and Apple Bloom’ll follow along with you.”

“Got it.” I walk behind the odd snow plow and wrap my gloved hands around the push bar, not relishing the amount of effort this is going to take. Apple Bloom follows along behind me, pulling one of the seed carts along. 

“Oh, and let me know if the plow’s too rough on you. I’ll come switch out and let you handle the seeds,” Applejack calls to me. Once I get moving, I’ve no doubt I’ll warm up very fast. “Right then. Let’s get going, Big Mac!”

“Eeyup.” With that, the two of them head in the opposite direction, leaving me to plow with Apple Bloom. Silence falls upon the two of us with little to break it apart from the grating of the snowplow and the crunching of my boots on the snow.

“Hey, Seth?” Apple Bloom asks a few minutes after we get started. “Are you doing alright? You looked mighty freaked out yesterday.”

“I hate spoiled brats like Diamond Tiara.” My hands whiten around the handle of the plow and my feet dig into the snow hard. “The world would be better off if she didn’t exist in it.”

“Whoa…” Apple Bloom is taken aback by the venom in my voice. “Don’t you think that’s a little harsh?”

“Harsh!?” I have to stop a moment and press my palm against my sternum, willing the curse to stay down. “Apple Bloom, she was enticing you with favors in order to bend you to her will, using your conscience against you, then using threats when that stopped working. There’s nothing too harsh to say against someone like that.”

“I guess so...but she’s still a pony too,” Apple Bloom still seems troubled despite my explanation. “But that’s not what I meant. After that you ran off  like something was wrong.”

“It’s being handled. Nothing that you need to worry about.” Even if I had considered telling someone else about the curse, my first choice certainly isn’t a child. I feel her eyes bore into me. “I’m fine, Apple Bloom. Let’s just get back to work. There’s a lot of it to do today.”

“Alright, if you say so.” I brush off Applobloom’s disappointment and get back to pushing, ignoring the ache in my arms. The more that I focus on work, the less stressed I become: only the job is worth thinking about right now. Everything else can come later.





“You’re a sight,” Applejack remarks at the end of the day with some amusement as I lean against the wall of the living room, feeling as though all of my limbs are made of lead and are on fire. “Why didn’t you come and ask me to take over?”

“I can’t avoid manual labor forever,” I say breathlessly, wondering how I’m ever going to be able to walk home. “Though if you ask me, the toughening up part could happen sooner rather than later.”

“Ain't gonna happen overnight, sugarcube!” Applejack says with a smirk. She passes over my usual pay, which I tie around my belt to eventually add to my steadily growing pile back at home. If I get any more of a pile, I might need to look into finding a bank. “There you go. As always, you’re welcome to stay for dinner if you like. You look like you could use a hot meal after all that hard work.”

“No thanks. I just want to get home and relax in a nice, hot shower.”

“Fair enough. You go and take it easy, Seth,” Applejack says with a wave, then heads over to the kitchen. “Door’s open if you change your mind.”

“Noted.” I rest against the wall for several more minutes, then pick up my rifle from where I left it and walk out into the snow. My legs wobble with every step as though they’re made of jelly. Every hundred meters or so, I stop and rest against a tree, making the trip back to town take so long the sun is starting to set by the time I get there.

Despite the fading light, ponies are out and about, enjoying the wintry weather. Flitter and her sister wave as they pass by me, cups of hot cocoa clenched in their teeth. I spot a crowd of foals stampeding by what looks to be a flower shop, giggling and throwing snowballs at one another or stopping to gaze at the toys displayed in the nearby toy store. I even see some adults building snow ponies along the side of the road next to a well.

Just looking at them makes me feel cold. I can’t wait to get back to Vinyl’s place so I can freshen up and bundle myself in as many blankets as I can find—preferably next to a fire. Yet just as I pass by a general store and a restaurant, a pony from the streets stops in front of me.

“A moment, if you don’t mind.” The stallion is lean in stature with a tan brown coat with a slicked back, well-styled mane colored a dark brown. He’s a classy looking sort with a confidence in the way he carries himself I haven’t seen much in other ponies. Despite the weather, he’s dressed in a business suit with a red tie marked with a dollar sign fastened to his white collar. For a cutie mark, I spot three money bags arranged in a triangular pattern. “My name is Filthy Rich, owner of Barnyard Bargains and primary financial sponsor of Ponyville. You are the human, Seth Rogers?”

“That’s me. I don’t suppose this can wait? I’m really exhausted from work,” I ask him with thinly veiled annoyance.

“I’m afraid it can’t,” he snaps. I recoil slightly from the edge that I hear in his voice.“Would you care to accompany me on a brief jaunt to someplace more private? I have a small matter to discuss.”

“I...don’t think so,” I say, swallowing hard. Barnyard Bargains was the place Tiara tried to talk me into working at, so I can assume this is her father answering the call of his precious little hellspawn. “Whatever you have to say, say it here.”

“I thought you might say that.” Filthy Rich indicates one of the guards that have been posted on nearly every street ever since the princesses last visited. “We can certainly talk about it here. Unfortunately, I’m not one to keep my voice down, so it’s inevitable that others will get drawn in. If you’re alright with everypony— including the town guards— hearing what we’re saying, then by all means, we can speak here. But I trust would be more convenient for us both if we handled this...off the record. Don’t you agree?”

As I open my mouth to refute him on principle, my nervous gaze catches the eyes of nearly every single guard fixated on me. If the guard gets involved, then even if I managed to talk myself out of it, there was no doubt the incident would be reported. I gulp, recalling how close Princess Luna had been to arresting me just for existing. 

Filthy Rich watches me with a satisfied smirk as I hastily weigh my options. This is the worst possible situation—the consequences for me losing my temper. I don’t know what he has in store, but no matter what, I can’t risk Luna’s involvement, or I can kiss everything I've built up to this point goodbye.

“...Fine. Lead the way,” I say weakly. 	

“Excellent. I knew you’d see things my way.” Filthy Rich flashes me a diplomatic smile and beckons for me to follow him into a series of dark alleys where the light doesn’t reach, and prying eyes cannot see. Filthy Rich turns to face me and lifts a hoof, gazing at it calmly. “So...I hear you’ve been making quite a name for yourself around town. One of our precursors, living among us. That said, I believe we both know why I’m here right now.”

“Hold on. Don’t do anything hasty,” I reply, holding my hands up hastily. If he’s anything like Applejack or Big MacIntosh, I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end if he tries to get physical. “It would be really bad if something were to happen to me.”

Filthy Rich pauses, his gaze turning away from his hoof to look at me curiously. “Oh? And why is that?” 

“The Princesses know I’m in town. That’s why all these guards are here. Twilight Sparkle is also supposed to be taking care of me. If I go missing…” I say, the words tumbling out of my mouth quickly as I rush to come up with anything I can use to get out of this.

Filthy Rich fixes me with a hard glare. “I’m not foolish. Considering who and what you are, there’s all sorts of eyes upon you. More importantly, what kind of pony do you take me for? I’m a businesspony, not a barbarian.” Filthy looks appalled by the prospect, causing me no end of relief. “That being said, since arriving in town, you’ve done nothing but ruffle feathers with your lack of restraint. I was hoping that you were beginning to get over it, but now you’ve done unto me a slight I cannot ignore. You threatened and demeaned that which I hold most dear, and it’s high time somepony reminds you there are consequences to your actions.”

“And what are you going to do?” I ask hesitantly, sweat forming along my brow.

“Nothing,” FIlthy Rich answers. I blink, wondering if I’d heard him right, “provided you do one simple thing for me. I want you to find my daughter and apologize to her. Tell her you take back your words, and that you were wrong to shout at her. ”

“You…!” The moment those words leave his mouth, a surge of anger rushes to the surface, making me feel foolish that I’d ever been frightened in the first place. Somehow this is worse than if I were to be attacked. “No!” 

“No?” Filthy Rich raises an eyebrow, his mouth curving into a frown. 

“Your daughter is a spoiled brat, and left alone, she’d have made the lives of those around her miserable. I won’t apologize for speaking the truth,” I snap at him. Filthy Rich doesn’t immediately respond, listening to me calmly. “No, I won’t do it. She needed to hear that.”

“It’s funny to hear you worrying about others, when you’ve been acting just as poorly,” Filthy Rich returns, his cutting words causing me to recoil. “But contrary to your belief, I am well aware of my daughter’s disposition. However, it is not your place to get involved.”

“So what, you expect me to just stand there and let her walk all over those ponies!?” I demand, recalling the blank faces of people who pretended not to see me as I would pass them in the hallway, and the whispers that followed when they thought I wasn’t paying attention; f I had just stood there, I would have been just like them. 

“No, I expect you to stay out of my family’s business. Little Diamond is a work in progress, and your attempts at helping are unwanted if you cannot conduct yourself like a proper adult,” Filthy Rich retorts firmly. He takes a moment to straighten his tie. “Therefore I repeat. Apologize to my daughter, and we can both move on from this.”

“And I repeat, no. You can take your apology and shove it. I meant what I said; why should I care about your family business!?” 

Filthy Rich stares at me, frustration mounting on his face. “In case you forgot, I hold all of the cards, and all of the power. What do you think would happen if I were to go to the guard with this? I could take you to the local court for assault. You’d be lucky to get off with just bankruptcy, if you ask me.”

“You...you can’t. If the Princesses find out…” My mind once again flashes to Luna’s distrustful face. 

FIlthy Rich’s expression grows smug, his position now solidified. “So I ask you one last time to swallow your pride and lose, Mr. Rogers. ”

I remain quiet, standing there limply, the pain from work still coursing through my muscles. I start to hyperventilate, much to Filthy Rich’s satisfaction. I glare at him, wanting nothing more than to wipe that self-assured smile off his face. Why should I have to take back what I said? This is all because that brat is wielding her father’s influence like a weapon to bend me to her will!

Wait a second. This is all too familiar.

“I don’t think so.” My words come out stronger than any of us had expected. I can feel the curse raging against my sternum, the feeling of ice already trickling through my veins. My hand slowly reaches up to my rifle, a light green spark flashing from my fingertips to the metal like current through a live wire. “Let me give you an ultimatum of my own.”

“And what would that be?” Filthy Rich’s eyes narrow, even as he glances at the rifle. “Some card you have that even I didn’t consider?”

“Do you know what this is?” I hold up the rifle, showing him the different angles of it, my heart pounding in my chest “This is what we humans call a rifle. It’s a weapon—the likes of which you ponies have never seen.”

“A-a weapon?” Filthy Rich stammers, his eyes widening as he looks at it.

“It uses a substance called gunpowder that explodes with even the slightest spark, propelling tiny pieces of metal through the air faster than you can see...at a rate of twenty rounds a second.” I don’t know if that number is even accurate. I don’t know anything about guns. “This one happens to be fully loaded. So you can keep threatening me, but I’m more than capable of threatening back.”

“That’s...horrifying—but I’ve heard of the sorts of terrible tools you humans have left behind, so I have to take your word for it. But...are you truly so monstrous a creature that you’d rather turn to violence rather than offer my daughter simple courtesy?” Filthy Rich takes a few steps back as I point the rifle towards him, holding up his hooves. I can only hope he buys my bluff. 

“Monstrous? Maybe, but I just want to be left alone. I’m not sorry about your daughter. She’s the worst kind of bully, plain and simple,” I tell him, wondering how he can hear me over the pounding of my heart. “Just let this go.”

“Let this go!?” Filthy Rich demands. He looks like he’s about to fly into a rage, but then a spark of realization appears in his eyes. “Ah, I see. You’re very bold, but this is nothing more than an elaborate bluff.”

I twist the muzzle, ignoring the screeching of the dying metal as I do so. “Do you really want to take that chance?”

“Yes, actually,” Filthy Rich’s smugness returns in full force. “Remember, even if I were the type to do so, I couldn’t possibly harm you directly, being one of our precursors with the eyes of the princesses on you. Could you imagine the consequences I’d suffer?”

“What’s your point?” I snarl.

“Say you choose to strike me down with your weapon. They’d find out you were the one responsible in no time at all. Then, there truly would be no place in Equestria for you. Either way you lose.” Filthy Rich shoots back. “No. Just as you say my daughter needed to hear your tirade, you need to be taught that you can’t just do what you please.”

“You…!” Rage, hotter than before, surges once more, the curse pressing up against my sternum and causing my ears to steam. His lips curl with triumph when he sees me lower my rifle with a scowl on my face.

“I won’t say this again, Mr. Rogers. Find my daughter, and apologize to her,” Filthy Rich makes direct eye contact with me. “You have three days. If I don’t hear anything from my daughter by then, expect to see me in court. Have a pleasant evening.” With that, Filthy Rich turns on his hooves and walks out of the alley. 

For the next five minutes, all is quiet in the alleyway. Then in a fit of anger, I let out a loud expletive and repeatedly kick the wall of the alley so hard snow tumbles from the rooftop. I can’t believe I stooped so low as to threaten someone; it’s like I couldn’t even control the words coming out of my mouth. I choke and thump my chest with a fist. “Nobody asked for your help!” I snap at my chest. “I’m fine! I’m not in danger, damn you!”

“Seth? Is that you?” I hear a familiar voice, much to my horror. I turn my head to see Lyra walking into the alley, all wrapped up in warm clothes. She is carrying a box of cupcakes and a mug of hot cocoa with her golden telekinesis. She notices me shivering and frowns. “Hey, is everything okay?

Lyra trots to my side. I turn away from her, cursing my luck even further. Of all the ponies to find, why did it have to be this one?

“Why are you out here in the cold? Did something happen?” Lyra demands without a trace of her usual teasing. 

“I’m doing fine. I just stopped here for a rest.” 

“A rest!? Seth, you’re shaking like a leaf!”  Lyra lifts the mug to my face. “Here, have some cocoa! I just got it, so it’s really hot.”

“I don’t need it.” I try to push it away, only to be immediately burned. “Ow!”

“I just said it was hot, you doof! Now seriously, drink up. You’re dressed the part, but didn’t anybody tell you that you need to keep moving when you’re out in weather like this?” Lyra once again tries to make me drink, but when I still don’t accept, she huffs. “Fine, then at least walk with me. Gotta get your body making more of that heat.”

“But…”

“No buts! Move, soldier!” Lyra tugs me out of the alley with her magic, grunting with exertion. I wasn’t expecting it, so I stumble and almost slip on the snow.“Up you get. Come on, Seth.”

“Really, I’m fine,” I complain as the two of us walk through the streets. Lyra doesn’t budge. “Lyra…”

“What happened? No one just rests in a freezing alley. It’s practically a wind tunnel in there.” Lyra sighs in annoyance when I don’t answer. “Hey! Equestria to Seth!”

“It’s not really your business,” I tell her. Even had I been willing to talk to her, I wouldn’t. Getting her involved with Filthy Rich doesn’t seem like a good idea, no matter what state of mind I’m in. 

“Ouch...that hurts a bit,” Lyra recoils, her gaze turning down at the street. “I guess you don’t have to tell me, but now I’m just going to worry about you.”

“Why would you bother?” I ask, raising an eyebrow at that.

“Because we’re friends, doofus. It’s not rocket science!” Lyra’s declaration hits me like a truck, but something about what she just said catches me off guard.

“You have rocket science?”

“What? I mean...yeah? What do you think fireworks are?” Judging from her furrowed brow, Lyra seems just as perplexed about our sudden change of topic as I am.

“You have fireworks?!” I ask just as dumbly as before.

“Of course we have fireworks,” Lyra says, her nose scrunching. “Pegasi can control the weather, but fireworks is where you draw the line?”

“I’m still not over that, by the way,” I retort with an upward glance, causing her to giggle. “I keep looking up at the sky and doing a double-take because there shouldn’t be pegasi up there.”

“I just can’t imagine how the weather would even get done without pegasi,” Lyra comments.

“How it always does! Temperature changes, wind currents, the water cycle—you know, meteorology!” I snap back, only to see a very clueless Lyra cocking her head to one side.

“What do meteors have to do with the weather?” 

“They don't, that's just the...oh who am I kidding anyway,” I give up. Lyra takes one look at my face and breaks out into laughter. “Stop laughing at me.”

“You just get so flustered! It’s really cute,” Lyra defends herself. I flinch with disgust at her insinuations.

“Excuse me? Did you forget the ‘no flirting with me’ part? I’m not interested,” I remind her.

“I know. I just did that because it annoys you,” Lyra replies sweetly with a close-lipped smile. I stare at her in disbelief.

“You are one of the most frustrating ponies I’ve ever met,” I finally say.. 

“Only one of? Who’s the most frustrating?” Lyra asks curiously even as she laughs at that response.

“Rainbow Dash,” I instantly say without a single shred of emotion. Lyra pauses and gives a wry shrug.

“You know what, you’re right. I can’t compete with that.” She comes to a halt, and I suddenly release that we’re back at Vinyl’s house. “Right, so here we are. You get inside, and get yourself something warm.” She lifts up a hoof and waggles it at me. “No human-sicles on my watch, you hear?”

“Whatever.” I turn and open the door, already feeling the warmth from inside wash over me like a blanket. 

“I’ll see you later!” Lyra calls after me. As she goes, I turn and stare back at her. I realize that the curse is now calm, and my heart is no longer beating as fast as before.

Without another word, I walk into the house and close the door behind me. 





“Morning, Seth!” Applejack meets me at the farm entrance as per usual, wearing nowhere near as much clothing as me. I stare at her layer of thick fur enviously. “ Cuz of all the snow, today’s gonna be a shorter workday. That work for you?”

“Works for me. I’ve already made enough to make my rent,” I shrug, recalling the forty or so bits I have accumulated at Vinyl’s home. “So what do you need me to do?”

“Just gotta get the barn ready for the winter season, and there are some chores that need doing around the house. It’s not what I usually have you do; I hope you’re alright with that,” Applejack beckons for me to follow her, and then the two of us trudge to the barn. We pass Big MacIntosh on the way, who greets us with a nod.

“You don’t need to ask me for permission,” I tell her not for the first time. “You’re the boss.”

“Sure, but I want to be a good boss,” Applejack remarks, giving me a good-natured wink over her shoulder. “But I appreciate the understanding. Should make for something nice and easy to let those muscles rest. I bet you’re still sore.”

“I don’t even remember what it’s like to not be sore,” I say, rubbing my forehead.

“You’ll get used to it. I bet you’re already starting to show some muscle. It’s been almost two weeks since you started here,” Applejack informs me. Out of curiosity, I poke at my biceps, and much to my surprise, I feel the muscle push my finger back. It’s probably nothing in comparison to a human who’s truly fit, but it’s a personal best for me. 

“Now if they could stop hurting, that would be great,” I retort. After a laugh from Applejack, she gets me started on the day’s chores.





True to her word, today’s workload is more relaxed than usual. The chores she gives to me prove to be mundane and mindless, from handling their laundry to chopping firewood. The latter of which, while tough, doesn’t require nearly as much bending or lifting. Both prove to be new experiences.

“Come on, put your back into it! You’ll never chop them logs with those weak swings!” Applejack calls from the roof, where she’s busy patching a hole. Every so often in between the banging of her hammer, I can hear her stifle a snicker at how poorly I’m doing.

“I’m trying, but I’ve never done this before!” I grunt in annoyance. My hands and forearms ache from containing the vibrations of the axe after each failed swing, and my fingers have stiffened into an unyielding grip on the handle. I heft the axe one more time and give it another swing, the blade hardly getting halfway through the log with a dull thunk. “Oh, for goodness’s sake!” 

“Let me help.” Big MacIntosh’s low voice sounds from behind me. I lower the axe and lean over, panting with the continued effort. I glance at him, noting how he’s staring at my body. “Hm. Pony technique won’t work. Try this.”

The larger pony allows me to set up a swing before he starts to physically adjust my posture, his hooves pressing against my arms and back. “When it hits, you wanna swing straight down. Let the axe do the work. And don’t hold your breath when you swing, breathe out.”

This time, the axe slams into the wood with a satisfying thwack and splits it cleanly in two. Big MacIntosh nods and claps me on the back before returning to his work. I place the logs into a basket and wipe the sweat from my brow. It’s just chopping a log of wood, but it’s nice to be able to learn life skills like this.

“Why did I ever take up coding?” I mutter to myself as I line up another log on the stump.

Doing pony laundry, on the other hand, is a rather enlightening experience, to say the least. I’d imagine that seeing what clothing Applejack’s family wears would help give me some insight into what clothes ponies wear in general, and for what reason. I suppose what I find is pretty telling; they don’t wear clothes much at all. I’ve never seen Big MacIntosh wear anything other than his girdle, and Applejack generally just wears her hat. I suppose if I did laundry for Rarity there’d be significantly more work to do.

I shovel a load of dry sheets and pillow cases out of the dryer and into a basket, and then fold them. After this, I have several loads of towels and rags to go through--results of all our cleaning and washing efforts. I suppose it could be worse. At least I don’t have to hang up shirts, I think to myself with a wry shake of my head.





Outside, I help Applejack and Big MacIntosh clear away the snow from the animal enclosures and pathways, each of us equipped with a large snow shovel. I dump the latest load of snow along the side of the path. Snow is heavier than I thought, I can’t help but think to myself.

PIFF!

‘Whaa!?” I suddenly hear Applejack yelp from close by. I look over to see her stumble backward, her face covered in snow and her hat knocked clear off her head. She snuffles in annoyance, glaring up from her fallen position. “Now who in tarnation just did that!?”

PAFF!

Before I can even ask the question, something powdery and cold slaps me in the face, a splash of white exploding across my field of vision. I tumble backwards into the snow, coughing and hacking. What just happened? Did I just get hit with something?

I hear the cackling of a familiar mare from high up in the sky, where she hovered with a hefty supply of snowballs tucked beneath one leg. I brush the snow off of my face, glaring up at the cloud with one eye cocked.

“Did you seriously just,” I start to say, before Applejack explodes in anger.

“RAINBOW DASH, YOU MULTI-COLORED MENACE! I’m gonna get you for that!” Applejack gets up and shakes her hoof at the mare in question. She ducks down and forms a snowball of her own. Then, she reels back and hurls the snowball directly at Rainbow, who easily swoops out of the way.

“You’re gonna have to try harder than that,” Rainbow taunts. She hurls several more down at us, one snowball knocking Applejack’s hat right off her head and a second splattering over my jacket. “That’s three for zero. Whatcha gonna do about it?”

“Now you’re asking for it! Take cover, Seth,” Applejack says, yanking me behind a fence in time to avoid the hail of snowballs raining down. She kneels down and prepares a set of snowballs of her own, picking one up and passing it to me. “It’s two on one; she doesn’t have a chance in the hay of beating us!” 

I stare at the snowball in my hand, my gloved fingers stinging from the cold. “We really should be working,” I grunt with a shake of my head. Applejack opens her mouth to say something, but pauses when I bring my arm back and throw the snowball where Rainbow is hovering as hard as I can. “But it’s Rainbow, and I refuse to give her another reason to gloat.”

“That’s the spirit! Let’s give her what for,” Applejack grins and the two of us work together to send a barrage of snowballs at the cyan splotch of feathers in the sky.

“Ha! Are you even trying?” Rainbow taunts us some more, the mare showing her incredible agility by evading all that came her way. While attempting a half roll, a snowball finally clips her left wing, causing her to spiral down onto the fluffy snow. Me and Applejack look at each other, both of us holding snowballs in the ready position. “Who threw that? Big Mac, was that you?”

“Nope,” Big MacIntosh says, appearing behind the barn with a set of saddlebags filled with snow. He shakes the loose snowflakes off of his hooves, a playful smirk on his face. 

“Alright, that’s it! You’re all getting snowballed!” Rainbow exclaims, throwing snowballs from the ground as fast as she can make them, forcing the three of us to duck behind cover. She then calls back over her shoulder. “Get ‘em, girls!”

“Yeah! I’m totally getting in on this!!” Scootaloo comes charging in with Apple Bloom the two of them galloping as fast as their little legs can carry them from the path leading to town. She picks up a ball of snow and manages to nail Applejack on the chest. Apple Bloom picks one up as well, staring at her brother with malicious intent. “I’ve got your back, Rainbow Dash!”

“Right on, squirt!” With that, the amount of snowballs whizzing through the air increases exponentially, making it perilous for me to even lift my head above the fence.

“How did I get dragged into this?” I complain even as I throw another snowball at Rainbow, who proves about as easy to hit as a buzzing fly. “Curse you, Rainbow! Quit zipping around like that, that’s cheating!”

“Not my fault you’re too slow!” I immediately hit the ground to avoid the two snowballs that come whizzing my way from her. “Come on, squirt, help me get that pasty-faced mummy!”

“He does look like a mummy,” Scootaloo giggles, then yelps when Applejack nails her with a well-placed snowball. “Eep! Hehe!”

After several minutes of intense battle, Granny Smith comes out from the barn, drawn by all the yelling. “Now just what in tarnation is going on out here? What’s all the fuss about?” she demands. Her question is immediately answered when a stray snowball hits her right in the face. “Pffhafhfhf...excuse me! This means war!”

Much to my shock, Granny Smith picks up a snowball and proceeds to hit Rainbow on the side of her barrel. I stare at her with an open mouth, as does Rainbow. “What’re you young ‘uns looking all surprised for? I was no slouch at buckball back in the day, I’ll have you know,” she remarks. She then proceeds to back up her words by accurately hitting both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. “Get ready to lose!”

I shake my head as the snowball fight intensifies. “What is happening right now?”





Some time later, all seven of us lay on the snow, panting and covered in the remains of the scores of snowballs that found their mark.

“Do you all...surrender?” Rainbow asks breathlessly from her position across the path. Beside her, the two fillies are busy making snow angels. 

“Not on your life, Rainbow Dash. Just...give me a minute...to catch my breath,” Applejack retorts stubbornly. “I hit you with at least twenty snowballs.”

“Well, I hit you with a solid thirty-six,” Rainbow shoots back.

“Did not! Learn to count, why don’t you?”

“I can count just fine, thank you very much!”

“We should probably get back to work,” I interrupt without getting up before their argument can devolve any further.

“Nah...I think we can call it quits for today,” Applejack decides.

“Wait, really?” I ask with a raised brow, angling my head to look at Applejack.

“I did say it was gonna be a short day. You handled everything on the list I gave you, right?” Applejack turns her head to look at me. When I nod, she smiles. “Then there you go. I’ll pay you as soon as I get up.”

I get to my feet, noticing the others doing the same. Snow cascades off of my chest, and I shiver as some slips beneath my collar and down my back. I look around to see Big MacIntosh helping Granny Smith up, and Apple Bloom and Scootaloo talking to Rainbow Dash. 

“Hey, Seth!” Rainbow waves me over with a grin. When I approach her, she snickers at the remains of her snowballs still present on my chest. She idly watches me as I pick up a clump of snow from the ground, but doesn’t move in time before I plaster it right on her scrunched muzzle. “Snrfflepfeh! What the hay!? That’s dirty!”

“So is a sneak attack from the sky,” I remind her with the slightest hint of a smirk on my face. Rainbow glares at me, a malicious smirk of her own forming on her face. The next thing i know, she’s flying in my face, splattering snow across me once more. “Gah! Come on, really?”

“Don’t dish out what you can’t take!” Rainbow flaps in the air with her front legs crossed, looking pleased with herself. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo snicker from where they’re sitting on the snow behind her. “My team definitely won. You really need to work on your throwing, Seth! It’s like you’ve never been in a snowball fight before!”

“That’s because I haven’t.” My flat response earns a gasp from the three ponies, each of them looking at me like I’m some sort of alien. “It never snowed more than an inch where I lived.”

“That means I got to be the first one to hit you with a snowball!” Rainbow says, pumping her hoof in the air. “Did you have fun or what?”

“I can barely feel my hands, my clothes are a mess, and I can feel snow trickling down my back. This is hardly pleasant,” I complain while pressing my hands against my back to get the material to soak up the snow before it makes me shiver any harder. 

“You’re clamming up again,” Rainbow observes, staring at me with narrowed accusatory eyes. “I saw you having fun! Don’t go focusing on the bad stuff, Mr. Negative.”

“Whatever,” I reply noncommittally, much to her annoyance. I glance down at the two children. “So why didn’t Sweetie Belle come with you?”

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom freeze and look at each other. “Um...she said she had other...chores to do back at Rarity’s,” Scootaloo answered while looking anywhere but at me.

“Yeah, it’s a shame she couldn’t be here. That was fun!” Apple Bloom quickly changes the subject. I stare at them, unconvinced...whatever, it isn’t my business. I look over my shoulder to see Applejack approaching with my pay. “Did you want to see her or something?”

“Not particularly. It’s just odd to see the three of you apart,” I say with a shrug. I have another question I want to ask them, but Rainbow is watching us curiously. It would be a hassle for me if I had to explain what happened at the schoolyard to her. I lean forward and lower my voice. “Did school go alright? Nothing...came back to you, did it?”

“Huh?” It takes Apple Bloom a moment to understand what I’m getting at. “Oh! Yeah, we’re fine. Thanks for asking.”

“Diamond Tiara didn’t come to school today though. Not that I care though. It’s just great to have her out of our manes for once,” Scootaloo informs me. “Thanks again, by the way. You were awesome!”

“Thanks.” I nod at that and then turn to Applejack, who drops the bag of bits in my hand. It feels lighter than usual, with only six bits jangling around inside the cloth bag. “Are we supposed to have snow again tomorrow, Applejack?”

“Nah, not as much as today,” Rainbow is actually the one that answers. “Just you wait until next weekend though! I’m gonna whip up a real doozy!”

“Of course you are. Guess I gotta make sure to salt the paths so they don’t freeze,” Applejack sighs, giving Rainbow an askance look. “You wanna stay for a meal?”

“No thanks. After that whole mess, I want to go home and get warm,” I turn her down again. Rainbow frowns beside me for some reason.

“Makes sense. You probably need the rest. Take it easy then, Seth. I’ll see you tomorrow?” Applejack responds with an understanding nod, the mare leaning against the fence.

“Yeah,” I say, turning on my heel and walking back down the path to town, the snow crunching beneath my boots.  I hear Rainbow bidding the others goodbye as well, and next thing I know, she’s flying along beside me. “What do you want?”

“To hang! I haven’t seen you since we pranked Twilight!” Rainbow replies as though that should have been obvious. “I was gonna ask you to run, but then you said you’re all tired and stuff.”

“To what?” At first, I don’t think I heard her correctly.

“Yeah! We hit the trails around Ponyville and just go for a run! In the winter, it’s the best, because you warm up in no time!” Rainbow lands and walks around to my side, keeping me company as I walk back to town. She notes my less than enthused face. “Come on, it’ll be fun!”

“For you, maybe. You’ll just leave me in the dust because you’re already stupid fast, and you have four legs,” I retort, not looking at her.

“Hah! Of course I would. I’m awesome!” Rainbow remarks, flipping her mane back with a self-assured grin. “But come on, I’ll tone it back for your sake. Maybe we’ll even toughen up those leg muscles of yours!”

“Why thank you for your consideration, personal trainer Dash. And would you quit that?” I snap, swiping at her hoof as she starts to poke my calves and thighs. “So basically you’d be rubbing your physical superiority in my face the entire time while I’m dying to keep up.”

“What? No, it’s just something I do every now and again, and I wanted to bring you along.” Rainbow seems honestly offended by that. “Stop twisting everything I say into something mean.”

I stare at her for a few seconds. I once again feel how sore my limbs are, and recall how running tends to help the lungs and heart. “In for a penny, in for a pound, I guess. Not this evening though. I’m beyond sore.”

“Tomorrow it is, then! I’ll get you toughened up in no time!” Rainbow flashes a grin and flexes one of her legs to show off her toned lean muscles. So, what happened with the fillies? Something else happen with them?”

“Just some trouble with Diamond Tiara. Again. Don’t worry about it,” I say simply with a waved hand. Rainbow cocks a brow at that.

“Again? You must really hate bullies,” Rainbow comments.

“You have no earthly idea.” My words come out so strong that Rainbow can’t help but flinch.





“You’re home early.” I run into Vinyl as she comes walking out of the music room with her shades on. “I just got done with practice. Everything alright at the farm?”

“It was until Rainbow showed up and made everything descend into snow-related chaos,” I remark, heading right for the couch. “I can still taste the snow.”

“Aw, dang, did she nail you with a good one?” Vinyl snickers. The mare sits down in front of the fireplace, watching me as I flop onto the couch. “That sounds like her alright. I wish I could have been there.”

“You look wiped,” Vinyl observes when I don’t say anything further, instead just laying on the couch. She turns to the fireplace, and then lights a fire with a single dip of her head, her horn lighting up briefly. I sigh in contentment as cozy warmth fills the room. Before long, I’m removing my jacket and shirt to lie there in my undershirt alone. As for Vinyl, she plops down in front of the fire and lies on her side like a cat. “Working at the farm starting to get to you?”

“It’s hard work, and I only get one day off. My muscles feel like lumps of pain at any given time,” I say, earning an amused chuckle from Vinyl. I struggle to keep my exhausted eyes open. If they close, I’m not going to get up again. 

“You probably don’t want to hear that I have a gig on Sunday then, do you?” Vinyl comments teasingly, lifting her head up to look back at me. I suppress the urge to groan.

“At least it’s a Sunday. I’ll rest that whole day beforehand,” I say, feeling relieved. Apart from Saturday, my weekend seems like it’ll be a restful one...except at some point I have to figure out what to do about Diamond Tiara.

“I’ve also got another one in the works. Supposedly a welcome party for one displaced human?” Vinyl’s teasing tone gets worse, a cheeky grin forming on her muzzle. She laughs heartily at the groan that finally escapes me. “You missed it. Just before you got here, Pinkie Pie zipped by looking like she just got told the moon was made of chocolate.”

“The moon’s made of chocolate?!” Both Vinyl and I jolt in place, startled by the faint screeching of Pinkie in the distance. I slowly turn my head towards the window.

“No, Pinkie!” Vinyl calls back.

“Awww…” Pinkie’s voice trailed off into silence again.

“How did she just do that?” I stare at the window, dumbfounded. “Where did that come from? How did she know to stand nearby as we talked about her? Vinyl, I have questions!”

“Sometimes it’s best not to ask,” Vinyl informs me with an equally confused shrug. “So about that welcome party…”

“I got talked into it, and I really don’t want to talk about it,” I grumble, much to her amusement. 

“Hah! Don’t worry, it’ll be a blast. Pinkie Parties always are,” Vinyl attempts to reassure me.

“If you say so. If you ask me, it can’t be over soon enough,” I retort. I stretch out my aching muscles and take a deep breath. “I’m not moving from here until dinner.”

“That’s perfectly fine with me, dude. Take it easy,” Vinyl says, and then the two of us fall into a companionable silence.
> 20. Insanity Descends (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Diamond Tiara sweeps clear the surface of her smooth sandalwood desk, scattering bits of silvery metal and gems to the floor with a clatter. She is careful to leave untouched the makings of her newest piece: a necklace made of sterling silver that is still missing the decorations for the pendant. Diamond Tiara glares at the gems on the floor. “None of them are the right color or even the right thickness! How do those numbskulls expect me to do this with such a paltry selection!?”

Diamond Tiara gets up from her desk and throws herself onto her large four-poster bed, her hooves splaying out across the pale blue fabric in a helpless display of rage. She blinks in the dim evening light that filters in through the window. “I spent all this time designing my perfect piece, and these cheap discolored gems is all I get!?”

She briefly recalls the argument she’d had earlier that day, when not only had her father explained how he’d been unable to give that blasted human the punishment he deserved, but her servants didn’t even want to give her what she needed to finish her project on her own.

“How dare they defy me? My father controls their livelihood! One word from me and I could ruin them!” The filly rolls over on the bed until she comes to a rest beside the small stuffed figure of Princess Celestia resting against her silken pillows. She glances over to the floor beside her nightstand, where all the tools she needs to set the gems into their proper places are gathered. She’d had to sneak them out of the workshop because the servants insisted they were too dangerous for her. 

She grabs her plush and holds it close as she pouts into its mane, various growls escaping her. “I’m going to finish this piece. By myself. No servants, no smiths, just me.” Saying it aloud makes her feel better, despite the frustration.  “I know exactly how I want it to look! I want a soft ruby, completely flawless, set right in the center, with garnets wrapped around the back. The other ponies at school will be so jealous when they see me with it!”

Diamond Tiara stares up at the canopy of her bed, noting how the light in the room is dimming rapidly. “How am I going to get the gems I need? My servants clearly can’t do it for me, or this’ll all be pointless.” She thinks hard about what her next step should be. The answer is obvious. “I’ll have to get them myself. But all the known crystal caves are too far away, and all the ones you can get around here are too riddled with flaws.”

Diamond Tiara freezes as one cave comes to mind. It was the best option, but the prospect of finding it terrifies her. She gulps, breaking out into a cold sweat. She starts to reconsider if it’s really worth it.

“Someone like you, who eats out of her father’s hoof and thinks the world owes her something, will never succeed on her own.”

Diamond Tiara’s rage comes back full force, her muzzle screwing up into a vicious scowl. She sets her plush aside and hops off the bed, her hooves sinking into the soft pink rug. 

“I’ll go first thing tomorrow morning!” Diamond Tiara declares, and then she throws open her drawers and closets. It’s time to pack.





Music: Two Steps From Hell - Photos In Darkness (Halloween)

The next morning, before the sun had peaked above the horizon, Diamond Tiara plods up a snowy path, clad in warm white clothing with a set of saddlebags hanging down her side. A cart rumbles along behind her, filled with various informational books and mining tools such as a helmet, rope, and a pickaxe. 

“I’ll slip right in, get what I need, and then be back before anypony even knows I’ve gone!” Diamond Tiara asserts with a confident smirk. She comes to a halt as the shadow of the trees falls over her. She gazes up at the twisted fringe of the Everfree Forest. The trees sway in the morning wind, causing errant snow to fall from their branches in a powdery white shower. In the darkness, the forest looks almost alive. She can’t help but recall the horror stories the adults have told her about the forest over the years. “I’ll...I’ll be fine. If that rhyming zebra can live in there, then I can handle a short trip inside.”

Diamond Tiara takes a moment to strap a flashlight to her shoulder and switch it on, a white circle illuminating the ground a few feet in front of her. Thus encouraged, she bravely takes the first step into the forest, the darkness falling over her like an oppressive blanket.

“I can’t wait to see the look on that smug human’s face when I come back with a beautiful piece of jewelry that I made entirely on my own!” Diamond gloats to herself. She makes sure to double-check where she walks, using the flashlight on her shoulder to keep herself oriented. Every so often she stops and pulls out the map she’d taken from her father’s study, upon which the location of the crystal cave is clearly marked. “As long as I stick to the path, I’ll be fine!” A bird caws loudly nearby, causing her to jump. 

“It’s okay, Diamond Tiara. It’s not that far to the cave. I just need to keep walking. Just. Keep. Walking,” she says after calming herself.

Every little rustle from the undergrowth causes her to look about worriedly, and even the slightest motion of a tree branch causes her no small amount of anxiety. Diamond Tiara does her best to push the many stories of the dangers within the Everfree that she’d heard from Cheerilee and her father out of her mind.

“I knew this would be easy!” Diamond Tiara proclaims as she spots the lights of Zecora’s hut in the distance. According to the map, it’s just a short walk from here to the cave entrance.

Before long, the cave entrance looms in front of her. It’s little more than a cleft in the vine-encrusted hillside and proves difficult to make out. Without the map, Diamond Tiara is sure that she would have walked right past it. With new determination, she lifts the pickaxe out of her cart with her mouth and trots into the cave.





POV: Seth

After a rather filling breakfast of cheese omelets, I make my way through the streets of Ponyville once more. As per usual, ponies filter out of their houses to get ready for the day, finding a fresh layer of snow upon the ground to trod upon.

I stretch out as I walk, feeling surprisingly good despite how sore I was yesterday. I have no illusions that it’ll last for very long, but it’s nice to have a break from the pain. For once, the guards lining the streets appear unusually active. One unicorn guard in particular bounds from place to place, delivering some sort of message to each other guard he meets that causes their eyes to widen as they whisper excitedly to one another. They snap their gaze to me as I pass before going right back to talking with one another. Up ahead, Flitter emerges from her home, her sister not far behind.

“Good morning, Seth,” she greets me amiably. I give her a noncommittal grunt as she and Cloud Chaser fall into step behind me. “Do you always get up this early in the morning?”

“Pretty much. You know I work at the farm, right?” I remind them. “What about you two?”

“It depends. There’s always the weather that needs preparing, no matter what time of day it is. Sometimes we have to work nights so the weather comes through at the right time,” Cloud Chaser explains, walking on my other side. “Not today though. Today we need to get these skies cleared up before the end of the day.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing the sun again. It’s been snowing for three days now!” Flitter expresses happily. Cloud Chaser nods in agreement, and the two throw out different ideas for what they should do after work. The three of us walk into the town square. It’s not typically busy this hour of the morning, but today Mayor Mare is out and about, giving orders to several other official-looking ponies dressed in business suits. Even the guards are moving to and fro, streaming into the square from various directions to form up in the square.

Flitter notices the activity and tilts her head to one side. “Hey, don’t the guards seem a little...excited?”

“Does this happen often?”I say, glad that I’m not just imagining things after all. I wring my hands together nervously. My mind jumps to the worst possible conclusion; what if Filthy Rich jumped the gun and told the guard everything? I’d be absolutely done for. 

“No, the guards barely do anything apart from patrol every now and again. There aren’t even this many in town, usually,” Cloud Chaser reveals. She looks like she’s about to say something else, but then she pauses. “Hold on, what are they doing?”

All of the guards rush to form a single file line along either side of the street, forming an aisle leading right to the town square from the train station. On the left side of the street were the unicorn guards dressed in fancy golden armor signifying their Canterlot origin. On the right side were the usual earth pony guards dressed in silver armor.

“Canterlot Royal Guard, at attention!” A decorated guard dressed in an engraved golden armor snaps out, and the unicorns present their spears and bark out their acknowledgment in unison. My heart starts to sink—this almost looks like some kind of royal welcome. If the princesses are here…

“Ponyville Police Force, at attention!” The earth pony guards do the same. The display of force causes the ponies in the street to clear the way, gathering in the square outside the line of guards to see what’s going on. 

“Over here!” Cloud Chaser ushers the two of us into the square next to Lyra and Bonbon, where we join a forming crowd of curious ponies who are peering through the line of steel to catch a glimpse of whoever warrants such ceremony from the guards. “I don’t know what’s going on, but this is cool.”

“Right? When’s the last time this happened?” Lyra whispers excitedly back.

“I hope nothing is wrong,” Bon Bon says, scuffling her hooves restlessly on the ground. 

Music: Fire Emblem Awakening OST - Champion

“Salute your commanding officer!” The same decorated guard as before snaps out. Being taller than the other ponies, I can see into the main street. Someone is approaching.

Walking down the street from the train station is a steel blue unicorn stallion clad in gleaming silver armor. While the standard guard armor is little more than a helmet and breastplate to protect the neck and vitals, this armor is more akin to 14th century knight plate mail. Silver chainmail poking between the metal plates protects the joints, and his entire chest and back are protected by a breastplate emblazoned with the insignia of golden eagle whose wings stretch upwards to form spiked pauldrons. Small golden wings jut out from the back of his hooves and the back of his open helmet. Strapped to his right side is a silver trident with engraved lightning bolt designs stretching along its handle, and to his left a slender knight’s shield. Accompanying the stallion is a full score of additional royal guards dressed in the golden armor of the Canterlot Royal Guard, though even among them only he stands out. 

“Who the hell is that?” I whisper to myself in awe. The other ponies whisper excitedly to one another as the stallion approaches the mayor, and from their words, I glean the name Stalwart Iron.

“Oh! isn’t Stalwart Iron a big name up in Canterlot?” Flitter whispers to her sister. Cloud Chaser shrugs. Bon Bon overhears us and turns her head back.

Bonbon turns towards us in shock at our cluelessness. “Of course he is! He’s the second-in-command in the Canterlot Royal Unicorn First Regiment, right underneath Captain Shining Armor!” she says, the mare trembling a  little. “What’s someone that important doing in a farming town like this!?”

“I don’t know. I hope nothing bad is about to happen,” Flitter clutches her hooves together anxiously.

I stare intently at Stalwart Iron. These ponies might be clueless, but considering the royal guards wouldn’t even be here if not for me, it’s not hard to guess I’m involved. The commander stops in front of the mayor and exchanges with her a few words. The mayor blinks, and then she scans the crowd. When she spots me, she points a hoof in my direction, and Stalwart Iron locks his gaze with mine before I can look away. I swallow loudly. As if things weren’t bad enough, now I have someone like this to possibly contend with.

After a brief moment,  Stalwart Iron nods tersely, and then he turns back to the mayor. I let out a sigh of relief...only to notice all the ponies around me looking at me with wide eyes and open mouths.

“Did he just...look at you!?” Lyra exclaims, clapping her hooves to her cheeks. “He did! Commander Stalwart Iron looked at you!”

“Wow, what an honor!” Cloud Chaser expresses. She blushes, a smirk forming on her face. “I wish he would look at me. You think he likes weather ponies?”

“I guess you would get that kind of attention, being human and all,” Bon Bon grumbles, looking away from me. “Not that you deserve it.”

“Excuse me?” I snap at her, bristling at her remark. 

“You heard me. It’s been one thing after another since you came to town. I can’t imagine why you stick around if all you do is make ponies miserable,” Bon Bon’s words become increasingly nasty.

“Probably because I don’t have a choice. Maybe think about someone other than yourself, you hag,” I shoot right back at her. I’m already anxious from someone like a commander arriving in town, I don’t need this right now. Doubly so because the rising tension is causing my curse to stir.

“You’re not one to talk! And what did you just call me?” Bon Bon takes a step closer, but then Lyra and Cloud Chaser get involved just in time, the former pressing a leg against her friend and the latter stepping in front of me.

“Take it easy you two. I know you don’t get along, but maybe we shouldn’t start a fight right in front of the commander,” Cloud Chaser advises us, pointing a hoof over to where the armored stallion and the mayor are still talking.

“I guess not...it’s not worth it anyway,” Bon Bon relents. She walks the other direction, beckoning for Lyra to follow her. “Let’s go. The crowd is leaving and I need to open my shop.”

“Okay, I’ll see you later, Seth!” Lyra waves to me, giving me a mouthed ‘sorry’ as she goes. 

“We should probably get to work as well, or Rainbow Dash will yell at us,” Cloud Chaser remarks. “Seth, you gonna be at the ciderhouse on Sunday for Vinyl’s performance?”

“Every time. I work for the mare,” I remind her with a shrug.

“Awesome. See you there!” 

“Have a good day at work, Seth!” With that, Flitter and Cloud Chaser take to the skies as the crowd disperses, leaving me on my own. I give one last anxious look at Stalwart Iron, then make my way to the farm.





“Huh? Some kind of fancy armored pony showed up?” Applejack takes off her hat and presses it against her chest, looking understandably shocked by the news. She and I make our way to the barn to get ready for the days work, my muscles already aching in anticipation. “That’s something you don’t hear every day. Them big folk from Canterlot don’t come down here all that often.”

I push open the door and step into the barn, the air displacement causing my hair to flutter. “Do you know anything about him? His name is Stalwart Iron and doesn't look like the other guards,” I ask her. I want to know just how much danger I’m in when this guy is around. 

“Sorry sugarcube. I don’t know much about them Canterlot folk,” Applejack gives a shrug. “I hope he’s here to do something about that rotten Scorpio. Big MacIntosh is tired of scaring away timberwolves, and I hear Fluttershy’s been staying over at Rainbow’s. The poor thing is mighty scared of living near the Everfree while that thing’s around.”

“I hope that’s the reason too,” I mutter, turning my gaze to the dark fringe of the Everfree Forest in the distance and shudder as I remember the black and white image of the scorpion-like monstrosity in Vinyl’s newspaper . “Right. You said today was going to be another short day?”

“That’s right. Then you get tomorrow off. Then we’re gonna have a lot of clean-up to do after the storm Rainbow’s whipping up, so get plenty of rest,” Applejack answers. She picks up a box of tools from a nearby shelf in her mouth and drops them in my hands. “Let’s get to it then!”





Rainbow meets me outside almost immediately after I step onto the path back to town, once my workday is over. “There you are! I hope you’re not that tired. I’m just itching for a run!”

“You certainly didn’t waste any time,” I comment with crossed arms. “I don’t suppose I can convince you to change your mind and let me rest?”

Rainbow sticks her tongue out at me, having no patience for my lack of enthusiasm.  She lands on the ground and goes through a series of stretches, focusing on her legs. “Don’t give me that! I decided you get to run with me and that’s that! So stretch out those legs, or you’re gonna get cramps!”

“I’m so glad I have your permission to exhaust myself with such an esteemed personage as yourself, oh glorious Rainbow Dash.” The sarcasm practically drips from my tone as I kneel down and start to stretch. I’ve taken enough mandatory physical education classes to know how to stretch out before a run, even if I hated taking them.

“See, now you’re getting it!” Rainbow stops her stretching just long enough to preen. She does a double-take after a few seconds. She screws up her nose and glares at me. “Wait, you were being sarcastic, weren’t you?”

“See? You can learn.” My blatant sarcasm earns me a snowball to the face from point-blank range. I splutter from the impact and glare right back at her. “You are such a brat! I’m going to get you for that!”

“You’ll have to catch me first! See ya!” Rainbow flashes me a grin and breaks into a sprint at a blinding pace, taking the long route along the perimeter of Ponyville. 

“Wait, we’re starting now!?” Caught off guard, I run along behind her, though she’s quickly leaving me in the dust. I shake my head, wondering why I expected anything less.

Thankfully, Rainbow does slow down and allow me to catch up. When I do manage to catch up with her, my lungs are burning from exertion. The freezing air is quickly drying out my throat, making me wish I had brought a water bottle to keep myself hydrated. “How far are we going?” I ask with difficulty, doing my best to keep breathing in a steady rhythm.

“I hope you’re not tired already! I’m thinking two laps around Ponyville!” Rainbow’s mane flutters against her neck as she runs, the mare not sounding out of breath in the slightest.

My eyes bug out. “Two laps!? Are you serious!? I thought we agreed this was a casual run!”

“This is a casual run! I could do five times this at three times the speed, easy!” Rainbow brags shamelessly as we start to round the corner of town where the train station is located. I stare at her with disbelief.

“What are you, Hercules turned pony!?” I demand.

 Rainbow, of course, has no idea who I’m talking about. “Who the what now?”

“Nevermind. You’re just ridiculous.” I roll my eyes and keep running. With the way my legs are burning, I doubt I’ll make it to two laps before collapsing of exhaustion. I fall into silence and focus on regulating my breathing to keep the oxygen flowing. 

The first lap comes to an end with the two of us passing the bridge leading to the town square. To my surprise, I’m not suffering as much as I thought I would. It hurt like hell for the first few minutes, but since then the pain has faded to the background and I’m actually starting to feel good.

As we reach the part of town that faces the Everfree Forest, Rainbow’s ears twitch and she glances back toward the square.

“Hey, do you hear that?” Rainbow asks. She slows down to a trot, her ears perked and listening. “It sounds like someone’s calling you.”

“You’re imagining it. Nobody would follow us all the way out here,” I start to refute her on principle, but then I hear it as well.

“Hey! Seth Rogers! Please wait!” I skid to a halt, snow showering across the ground in front of me. My body immediately protests at the sudden deceleration, causing my mouth to fill with the taste of iron. I turn to see Filthy Rich galloping out of town, his suit crumpled and his usually well-kept mane falling out of sorts. Rainbow’s mouth drops open at the sight of him. On principle, I reach for my rifle with gritted teeth in case I need to use it to bluff again. Filthy Rich spots what I’m doing and he raises his hooves hastily when he reaches me. “Please, stay your weapon. I’m not here for the same reason as before!”

“Then what in god’s name do you want!?” My voice is filled with so much venom that Rich flinches and Dash looks at me as though I’ve gone crazy.

“Seth, you know Filthy Rich!?” Rainbow exclaims, her eyes wide. Her shock is expounded when Filthy Rich practically prostrates himself before me.

“I desperately need your help! It’s a matter of utmost importance! My daughter, she’s gone missing!”

“What, Diamond Tiara? Did something happen to make you worried?” Rainbow asks.

“She left a note early this morning saying she was going to collect gems for her project, without taking any of her usual servants with her. When I went looking for clues on where she could have gone, I found that the map to the crystal cave in the Everfree Forest that was in my study was taken!” Filthy Rich’s face turns pale. “If she went into the forest...oh dear Celestia, I don’t even want to think about what could happen to her!”

Rainbow immediately spreads her wings, getting ready to take off. “That’s terrible! We need to do something!” 

“Hold on,” I finally speak up. I can already feel the curse rising within me along with a burning indignance. “Let me get this straight. Your daughter went into the Everfree Forest on her own, and instead of going to the guard, you came to me?”

“I already went to the guard before tracking you down, but they’re busy with the arrival of their commander and who knows how long they’ll take!?. Only you, with your rifle, can get to her fast enough while being able to fight off anything the forest sends at you. You said it’s a powerful weapon, didn’t you?” Filthy Rich gets closer and places a hoof on my chest, looking at me pleadingly. “You have to do something!”

“You’ve got it, Mr. Rich! If Seth’s got a cool weapon, we’ll go and save her. Let’s go, Seth!” Rainbow Dash leaps into the air and flaps her wings.

I slap away his hoof. “Are you kidding!?” My refusal is so vehement that both Filthy Rich and Rainbow are taken off guard. They stop and stare at me with surprise. “Absolutely not. First of all, you have a lot of nerve asking for my help with anything after you threatened both my reputation and my livelihood over something I still don’t regret in the slightest.”

“Please, you don’t understand! My daughter means everything to me!” Filthy Rich produces a hefty pouch of jangling bits and throws it at the ground before me. “Here, and I’ll rescind my earlier demand. Save her, and I’ll shower you with so many bits you’ll never work again!”

I kick the pouch away from me, loose coins jangling out. “I don’t want your money! You can leave it to the guard. Weapon or not, I’m not getting involved.” I move to walk away from him, but Rainbow’s hoof slams onto my shoulder and jerks me around so hard I almost trip.

“Okay, that’s enough. What the hay is wrong with you, Seth!?” Rainbow demands. She gestures emphatically at Filthy Rich as the stallion quickly becomes more distraught. “I don’t care even if you two don’t like each other or whatever, but there’s a filly in danger!”

“And it’s really not my problem.” I say with a shrug, causing Rainbow’s jaw to drop in sheer disbelief. “As it stands, I assume Diamond was well aware of the risks when she went in there. Why should I be held responsible?”

Rainbow gets closer to me, her face flush with rage. “Do you not get it!? Who cares why she did it or how you feel about them!? A filly could die, and you could do something about it! It’s the right thing to do!”

“No, I think I understand well enough.” I refuse to be intimidated by her. Even if my rifle could do what I told Filthy Rich it could, it doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t help Janna, so I won’t help him. “I’m a civilian, not a policeman or a soldier, and in case you forgot, there are creatures of nightmares prowling around in there. Weapon or not, there is not a force on this planet that could get me to go back.”

“What if the guards can’t get there in time!? What if you’re the only one that could save her!?”

“If you’re so insistent on saving her, go visit the guard and tell them to pick up the pace. Expecting heroics from me is both unfair and irresponsible. Normal people don’t run off to play hero.” I finish with finality. That’s the nicest way I could have possibly put what I’m feeling right now.

Rainbow opens and closes her mouth for a moment, and then her face contorts in anger. Her hoof shoots out in a flash of cyan. The next thing I know, I’m tumbling backward into the snow, my cheek exploding with pain. Filthy Rich gasps in shock, holding a hoof to his mouth. I stare up at her in shock, holding a hand to where she struck me.

“You know what? I was wrong about you after all. I don’t like Diamond Tiara, but I’m going to go and save her anyway because nopony deserves to die when I can do something about it! I didn’t even like you, but I saved you anyway! Do you know where you would be if I hadn’t? Not here talking to me, that’s for sure!” While she yells at me, Filthy Rich stands there, wincing as he watches her onslaught. “So fine! Stay here! And be the kind of monster that would let a filly die all because all you care about is yourself!”

Rainbow turns away from me in disgust and nudges Filthy Rich. “Don’t worry, Mr. Rich. I’ll save your daughter. I’ll find her before the guards even take a step out of Ponyville!”

“Thank you so much, Miss Dash. You really are a hero! I’ll head back to town and see if I can’t find more help!” Looking relieved, Filthy Rich gallops back towards town as Rainbow Dash zips towards the forest at her top speed. 

I watch them go, emotions boiling within my breast along with the curse that presses against my mind, threatening to break loose. “Goddamn it!” I slam my fist into a nearby pole, causing the metal to vibrate and ring shrilly while my knuckles bruise. “Who the hell do you think you are!? You wouldn’t expect a random stranger off the street to walk into a burning building when there are firefighters on the way, would you!? Stupid. Self-righteous. Pony! Graagh!” I hammer each word with another punch.

After some more punching, I eventually stop and hunch down, pressing both hands against my chest to keep the curse down, all of these feelings making it easier for it to act. Not that yelling any further at the sky is going to help—Dash can’t hear me anyway .Once I’ve managed to restrain the curse, I get up from the ground and sullenly walk back towards the town, my hands tucked into my pockets. 

“I never asked you to save me anyway.”





Dash POV:

“Come on come on, where is she?” Rainbow Dash flies as high above the Everfree Forest as she can manage, weaving through the unfamiliar winds as best she can. The moment she’d passed into the forest skies, the weather took on a mind of its own. Every weather pegasi knew that the Everfree Forest played by its own rules, and the clouded skies present high above the canopy prove no exception.“Stupid wind! If I could just fly a little higher!”

As she scans the forest, Rainbow realizes that it’s nearly impossible to get a clear view of anything below the canopy due to its thickness. Giving up on trying to spot her from high above, Rainbow swoops down closer to the canopy and cups her hooves around her mouth. “Diamond Tiara! Diamond! Are you down there?” She yelps as one of the trees lashes up at her with a vine, forcing her to barrel roll to the side. “Hey! Don’t you start getting grabby! I’m just flying here!”

Rainbow dips dangerously lower when she suddenly finds herself flying through an ambient arboreal enchantment that causes her eyes to droop and her vision to get woozy. She lifts a hoof and smacks herself across the face a few times. “I hate this forest!” Rainbow complains. She sighs in relief as she exits the enchantment’s area of effect. 

Rainbow continues to call out for her quarry, until she flies above a small clearing in the canopy. This particular clearing was one of the few landmarks in the untamed forest. Typically, the trees and underbrush had a well-known habit of clumping close together when nobody was watching, getting as close as they could to the path without encroaching upon it. This clearing was an exception, consisting of an open grassy field about half the size of the Ponyville town square, broken up only by the occasional free standing tree. 

All around the perimeter of the clearing, gnarled trees twisted and wound around one another, choked with shark ivy and vines covered in thorns tipped in a viscous amber fluid. In other areas, clumps of sweet-smelling white flowers concealed dangerous carnivorous plants just waiting for travelers to leave the beaten path. The only two “exits” to and from the clearing was the beaten path spanning its diameter. Framing each exit were two unusually thick trees, speckled with sharp branches and leaves smattered in purple. 

Trundling out from the far end of the clearing was a dirt-stained Diamond Tiara, who was attached to a small cart laden high with mining tools and glittering gems of every kind. Upon being called, Diamond gazed up at the canopy. “Is that...Rainbow Dash?”

“There you are,” Rainbow says with a soft smile. Just as she’s about to dive into the clearing, she spots a disturbance in the canopy not far away. The trees themselves shake from side to side as something large pushes its way through the wood. Some  are violently shoved aside, while others uproot themselves clear off the ground and move out of the way. Rainbow hovers in place and squints at the source of the disturbance.

“What in the hay is that?” Rainbow’s heart shoots up into her throat as the trees part just long enough for her to get a clear view of black segmented plates and a long prehensile tail tipped with a lethal stinger. This may be her first time seeing it with her own eyes, but every grown pony in Ponyville knows the appearance of the great monster that is swiftly advancing upon the small pink pony that just entered the clearing. Rainbow immediately flies down to the clearing at her top speed, desperately hoping that she can make it in time. “Diamond Tiara! Run!”

“Wait, what? Why?” Diamond Tiara turns out to see the form of a monster the likes of which she’s never seen. It stands a little over ten feet tall and resembles a scorpion almost thirty feet long, with a body made of segmented black plates that’s held up by eight triple-jointed legs like those of a spider. Above its curved mandibles are eight faceted eyes spread across the top of its head, giving it unparalleled vision in nearly all directions. Extending beneath its head are two limbs that each terminate in a wide serrated pincer easily capable of cleaving a grown pony in half. Diamond Tiara freezes with horror, her blood turning as cold as ice. A puddle forms on the ground beneath her as the monster’s tail lifts high in the air, giving her an excellent view of its deadly stinger. 

Music: Jormungand OST - 06 H.W. COMPLEX NO'3 |HD

The creature hisses and lunges, closing the distance between them in less than a second...and then Rainbow Dash zooms down from straight above and slams both of her front hooves into the creature’s head, shoving its mandibles down into the dirt. 

Before Rainbow can gloat, the monster’s right pincer comes racing up at her hovering body. Rainbow throws herself to the ground a split second before the pincer mercilessly clamps on the air where she’d been. Without missing a beat, the Scorpio’s tail shoots out like a bolt of black lightning, heading through the air in a deadly downward arc. Rainbow uses her hooves to propel herself forward closer to the Scorpio, avoiding the stinger entirely and kicking the monster directly in its mandibles. 

“Why are you still here!? Run, you moron!” As the Scorpio recoils, Rainbow flips backwards in midair and charges the monster head on. She punches it directly in the mandibles, and then again in the nearest eye. She unleashes a flurry of fast punches, forcing the monster back a step with every punch.

Diamond Tiara turns and bolts with a high-pitched scream, her saddlebags slipping off next to her discarded cart. “I want my daddy!”

“You run! I’ll hold this thing off!” Rainbow orders her. However, the moment Diamond Tiara tries to make a run for it, the Scorpio lifts a pincer and swings it through the air with a deep whoosh, slamming into Rainbow’s body and knocking her end over end backwards through the air until she collides into a tree with a thwack. 

The Scorpio’s tail slams down far to the left of Diamond Tiara and rakes across the ground towards her, gouging up the earth and underbrush in a straight line towards her. The filly gasps and flails her hooves, frantically skidding to a halt only inches away from being sliced apart by the bladed stinger. The monster advances towards her, a pincer zooming forward.

Having recovered from the crash, Rainbow rams into the side of the pincer, her momentum changing its trajectory just enough that it zips right past Diamond Tiara’s head, knocking her tiara to the ground. “Not happening!” Rainbow twists her body to deliver a spinning kick to the monster’s mouth. 

The Scorpio retreats several feet and scuttles around the clearing for a bit before leaping forward in the air, the earth buckling beneath its limbs. It twists its entire body and sends its tail whizzing through the entire clearing with tremendous force. Rainbow turns shoves Tiara into the ground.The tail whooshes over their heads harmlessly, but the stinger slices through tree after tree on the far end of the clearing, where the two of them had been running to. With the creaking and cracking of dying wood, the trees fall to the ground one after the other, blocking the only other exit out of the clearing.

The Scorpio lands upright with a thunderous impact after finishing its spinning attack, its legs tearing into the earth as it stabilizes itself. Yet only moments later, it jumps once more and brings both pincers down at the same time, their serrated edges promising death. Rainbow hears it coming and she rolls to the side, carrying the terrified filly with her. With only an instant before the Scorpio attacks again, Rainbow flings Diamond Tiara clear of its pincers and continues rolling beneath the monster’s body just before its mandibles clap down on her.

Rainbow deals it a harsh buck to its belly and then flies out from beneath it to avoid its counterattack. She grits her teeth and goes on the offensive once again. She swerves in a narrow arc and plants both her front hooves into its side. Without waiting to see if her attack dealt any lasting damage, she flies away long enough to reorient herself for another attack.

“Take this!” Rainbow curves around again and hits the Scorpio from the other side before retreating once again. Again and again, she flies out and back in, harrying the Scorpio like an angry hornet. She knows that if she lets up for even a second, Diamond Tiara will pay the price. “And this! And this! No big dumb monster messes with the Dash!”

Rainbow continues her assault relentlessly irregardless of whether her attacks are dealing any real damage, but then the Scorpio adapts. With a short hop, the monster orients itself to face Rainbow just as she’s flying in for another attack. Her eyes widen and she flaps her wings wildly in an attempt to change her trajectory, but it’s too late.

“Aaagh! My wing!” Rainbow yells in agony as the monster’s tail rakes past her right wing. She’s able to twist her body just enough to keep from losing her wing entirely and plummets to the ground. The Scorpio leaps forward once again, its mouth opening wide to catch her.

In a burst of adrenaline, Rainbow flips in midair and brings her dominant hoof down on its largest eyes, causing the Scorpio to screech loudly and scuttle backwards. Rainbow lands and doesn’t try to take to the air again, knowing the monster had successfully removed her greatest advantage.

Her eyes fixed on the swiftly recovering Scorpio, Rainbow runs around and stands in front of Diamond Tiara. The filly behind her is shaking like a leaf.

“Don’t worry, Diamond Tiara! I won’t let that thing lay a single pincer on you!” Rainbow declares and hunches down, scuffing the dirt with her hoof. She glares at the Scorpio, channeling all of her defiance and rage into that one single expression. There in a small clearing of the Everfree Forest, the Element of Loyalty stands alone against the undefeated hunter of the forest. With a determined yell, Rainbow Dash charges to meet the Scorpio once more.





POV: Seth

        	Vinyl looks up in surprise when I storm in through her front door, slamming it behind me. “Whoa, easy on the door, dude. Is everything cool?” She asks, climbing off the couch and walking around to look at me.

        	“It doesn’t matter.” My voice comes out like a whip, the snap in my tone causing her to recoil. Before Vinyl can say anything, I walk past her and climb up the stairs. When I reach my room, I slam the door shut and turn the deadbolt, locking it tightly.

        	Lying back on my bed, I let out a long sigh that evolves into a groan as I stare at the ceiling. I just can’t catch a break lately. What I need is to have some time to myself, where I can relax and unwind. Uncomfortable, I turn over in the bed. Despite being alone in this quiet room, my heart is pounding so hard I think it might burst and my breathing isn’t coming easily to me. Like this, I can’t even keep my eyes closed for a second, much less get to sleep. I curse and rise to a sitting position, placing my hand over my heart as if to still its beating. What is wrong with me? I finally have that alone time I’ve always wanted, so why can’t I relax?

        	Ten or so minutes later, Vinyl knocks on the door. “Hey, Seth? You in there?” she asks. I stare at the wall, my eyes unfocused and mind barely registering her voice, too focused on the feeling that something is wrong?

        	The latch on the inside of the door lights up magenta and clicks open. Vinyl noses her way into the room and gently closes the door behind her. Her concern deepens when I don’t bother to snap at her for forcing her way in.

        	“Dude, what’s going on? You look terrible.” She zones in on the bruise on my face and blinks. “Did somepony hit you? And…are you sweating?”

        	“Am I?” I press a finger to the side of my head, and sure enough, there’s a line of sweat forming there. I look at the moisture left behind on my finger and shake my head. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I feel sick.”

        	 Vinyl sits down on the floor in front of my bed, her eyes a foot away from mine. “Did something happen out there? I’ve never seen you like this,” She frowns when I sit there in silence. “Come on, I can’t help you work things out if you won’t talk to me.”

        	I lie back on the bed. “There’s nothing to work out. Rainbow Dash went into the Everfree Forest to save a lost filly instead of letting the guard handle it. And she hit me when I wouldn’t go with her,” I explain listlessly.

        	Instantly, Vinyl jumps to her hooves, her eyes as wide as saucers. “She went WHERE?! Seth, this is terrible! Dude, the Scorpio is on the hunt! We’ve got to tell the guard!”

        	“The guard already knows,” I tell her impassively, and Vinyl visibly relaxes back into a sitting position on the floor. “Besides, it doesn’t matter anymore anyway. If Rainbow wants to be stupid enough to take a risk like that, it’s none of my business.” Vinyl’s eyes narrow, anger at my words darkening her expression. “I…I know that. This has nothing to do with me. Rainbow can make her own decisions. If she doesn’t make it back it’s not my problem. It’s not my problem.”

        	Slowly, my composure deteriorates the more I talk. I curse my own shaking voice. I don’t understand why I’m so bent out of shape. The more I talk, the more anger fades from Vinyl’s expression.

Music: Owari no Seraph OST - 1hundredknight: M [終わりのセラフ]

After a brief moment of silence, Vinyl says what’s on her mind. “You’re worried about her, aren’t you?”

        	“That’s ridiculous,” I immediately deny. Vinyl raises a brow and frowns. “I mean it should be ridiculous. Worried about her? Why am I worried about that nosy, childish, egotistical brat who can’t even understand simple logic?”

        	“Probably because that nosy, childish, egotistical brat is your friend,” Vinyl answers without missing a beat.

“That’s…” I pinch my brow and let out an agonized sigh. “That can’t be right. How does that make any sense?”

Vinyl gives a small smile. “It makes a whole lot of sense if you think about it,” I don’t respond. “Tell you what, after I make us some tea and snacks, I’ll help you sort through it.”

“Do whatever you want,” I say as Vinyl dips her head and retreats from the room, closing the door behind her. I sit up on the edge of the bed and hunch over, looking at the floor while thinking deeply about Vinyl’s words.

This whole situation is ludicrous. Rainbow Dash is just some annoying technicolored pony that I can hardly look at without getting a headache. She’s the exact personality type that I despise: a jock with an ego who can’t mind her own business. She’s been following me around and causing me no end of grief ever since I met her.

         “I, Rainbow Dash, am going to stick by your side from here on out. You hear me? I’ll show you just what kind of pony I am! From now on, you and I are friends!”   	

        	I clasp my hands together on my lap tightly, my knuckles turning white. It’s getting harder to deny Vinyl’s words, the longer I think about them. I recall the events of the last few days:  Rainbow’s silly pranking parade, our ridiculous smack talk, my first snowball fight. It… it hasn’t been a terrible time. 

Furthermore, no matter what I try to tell myself, the single fact remains: Rainbow saved my life, and she’s kept her word.

        	“Friends take chances on each other, even when we don’t know what’s gonna happen! So how’s it fair if I’m the only one taking that chance? You’ll never know if you can trust me if you keep running away all the time!”

I can’t help but chuckle despite myself, massaging my temples. It’s funny. I tried to physically harm Rainbow once. I’ve snapped at her countless times. I’ve doubted her from the moment I met her. But she never let any of that push her away. She kept her word to me, so the least I can do is continue to keep my word to her. At least this time. I’ve already lost one friend, and the thought of going through it again is too much to bear.

        	I rise to my feet and grab my rifle from where I placed it beside my bed and leave the room. Vinyl hears me coming down the stairs and looks up from the steaming kettle in front of her. “You ready to talk?” She asks. She begins to look anxious as I move for the front door.

“I’m going after Rainbow,” I answer simply without stopping. Vinyl’s jaw drops, and she bolts from the kitchen to catch up to me.

“Wait, for real? Into the Everfree Forest?” She demands incredulously as the two of us reach the front door. “Seth, you can’t! You know what’s in there! If it finds you-”

“Then I’m dead. Simple as that,” I answer flatly, opening the door.

“And that doesn’t bother you!?” Vinyl demands, flustered.

 	“It doesn’t.” I look back at her. “Vinyl, there’s no point to any of this soul searching or whatever if Rainbow doesn’t make it back.”

“What about the guard?” She reminds me. “You might not need to do anything if they get there first.”

“I don’t trust that they will,” I say, unknowingly echoing what Filthy Rich said. “But who knows; if I’m lucky, maybe I’ll find her at the edge of the forest after a job well done.”

        	Vinyl transfixes me with a serious stare, looking for any sign of doubt. “I don’t like this. It’s too dangerous.” Vinyl admits with an unhappy huff before steeling herself. “Listen to me. The Everfree Forest is dangerous. If you need to go in, stick to the path, and no heroics. Get in, find her, and get right back out. And remember, stay on the path. I’m going to the guard to kick their commander’s tail if they haven’t started moving yet.”

        	“Sounds good to me!” Without another word, I turn and dash out the door. breaking into a run, all the soreness I’ve been feeling seeming to fade away in the face of my emotions. 

        	My feet plod against the streets of Ponyville, garnering attention from the ponies all around as I do so. Those who don’t move out of my way immediately are gently shoved to one side, earning yelps and indignant remarks from several of them. This is unusual for me, and they all know it.

        	As I draw closer to the edge of town, I spot a great deal of activity. The Ponyville Police Force and the Canterlot Royal Guard are forming up along the street leading out of the town, no doubt getting ready to rescue the filly. This could all be pointless and they might be able to reach Rainbow and her in time, but I’m not about to take that chance. My eyes are focused straight forward, where I can see the dark fringe of the Everfree Forest looming ahead of me.

Despite the sun shining down from above, nothing brightens the fringe of the forest before me. The trees are choked with thorny vines and unidentifiable plants, daring me to come closer. The wind blows, rustling through the canopy to carry me the faint howls of the wildlife within. There’s no sign of Rainbow or Diamond Tiara, no matter how hard I peer into the darkness. I don’t have a choice. I have to delve inside.

An involuntary shudder ripples through my body, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Goosebumps form on my skin. Flashbacks of that dark horrifying night come to me, where I was chased by magical wooden wolves and the long dead corpse of a family member I never knew. Nothing has changed. The forest terrifies me more than ever before.

I clap my hands to my cheeks to shake me out of my terror. It doesn’t matter what’s in that forest. It doesn’t matter what I’ve seen in there. With every second that I waste, Rainbow could be in terrible danger.

        	I take my first shaking step into the forest. Everything else aside, I know one thing for damn certain. I can’t lose another friend.





        	“Rainbow! Rainbow Dash!” I call out as I push through the dense foliage. I use my rifle to bat branches and thorns out of my way and use what little remains of my phone’s battery to light my way through the darkness. I look here and there, keeping both my eyes and ears open for any sign of her. “Answer me!”

        	The only answer I receive is an angry growl from the brush ahead. The same angry growl I heard when I first emerged from the ruins of my college. I instantly throw myself off the path and hit the ground, thanking my lucky stars that the underbrush is so thick.

        	Within seconds, a timberwolf plods onto the path, its glowing green eyes scanning every which way. While watching through the gaps between leaves, I spot more and more timberwolves emerging from the darkness, their emerald eyes glittering in the darkness like a swarm of green fireflies. 

I gulp and try not to gag at the smell of earthen decay and rotting leaves emanating from the wolves’s mouths. Thankfully, unlike real wolves their noses appear to be solely for show; as they aren’t even bothering to sniff their surroundings.

        	After a few minutes being unable to find me , the pack splits up. I have no doubt that if even one finds me, it’ll howl and alert the rest of the pack. Yet the tactic has one key weakness that even someone as inexperienced as me can exploit.

        	The singular timberwolf notices me as I leap from my hiding place, but it doesn’t even have time to howl. Using the technique Big MacIntosh taught me, I bring my rifle down right on top of its head like an axe to firewood. With the cracking of wood, the timberwolf’s head disintegrates and the creature’s body falls limply to the forest floor.

        	Without waiting, I turn on my heel and bolt. For all I know, the timberwolves have good hearing as well. Thankfully, it seems like my gambit paid off. By the time the wolves find their fallen compatriot, I’ll be long gone.

My boots plod against the underbrush, carrying me deeper and deeper into this dark leafy hell. Vines coil mysteriously atop the tree branches as if waiting for a chance to strike. Other times simply passing by a certain tree causes me to feel strange physical effects, such as fatigue or calm. Yet, now I know precisely why I’m here, and I won’t let anything hold me back.

        	I hear a colossal crash, the ground shaking beneath my feet. I slow to a stop, listening closely to try and discern the source. Coming from somewhere up ahead, not far off the beaten path, is a cacophonous hissing and thudding, followed by familiar grunts of exertion and the sound of something smacking against flesh. A tremendous screech rings out, shaking the air around me. I clap my hands to my ears, wincing in pain.

The moment the screech dies down, I bravely sprint towards the source. The odds of finding her in such a large and dangerous forest were abysmally low, but it seems that whatever force controls the laws of causality has smiled upon me today.

        	After a few minutes of chasing the sounds, I find myself up against a wall of fallen trees stacked several meters high that look to have been sliced off at the trunk. On the other side, I can hear a young female voice whimpering. Without hesitation, I strap my rifle to my back and leap up the trees, using protruding branches and hollows in the trunk as handholds.

        	Once I reach the top, I find myself gazing out over a large clearing. Just below me is a trembling Diamond Tiara huddled into the nest of fallen trees.

Music: Black Rock Shooter - Battle of BRS. 

        	I see Rainbow Dash, the mare hardly recognizable due to the sheer amount of dirt, leaves, and twigs stuck in her fur and mane. Attacking her is the one creature I’d hoped to never see past the newspaper Vinyl had shown me.

        	“Not…so fast!” Rainbow leaps from side to side to avoid the Scorpio’s onslaught of pincers, each limb swooping in one after the other and clamping shut only inches away from her body. Despite how strong I know she is, she appears little more than a foal compared to what she’s fighting. Rainbow wipes her chin free of a trickle of blood and leaps forward, ducking beneath one of the pincers as it barrels past her head like a speeding train. She skids across the ground and aims a kick to the Scorpio’s face, but the creature scuttles backwards and aims its second pincer.

        	I can’t watch any longer. I gather what little courage I have and leap off the top of the fallen trees. Along the way I grab onto an overhanging branch and use it to give me just enough momentum to reach my target. Screaming out my fear and defiance, I land right on top of the Scorpio’s pincer, just behind the serrated edges. My weight is enough to press the limb into the ground and halt its momentum, giving Rainbow just enough time to leap backwards.

        	“Seth!? Is that you!?” Rainbow utters with pure shock in her voice. Her eyes widen. “Seth, get down! It’s coming!”

        	I turn my head to see the Scorpio’s second pincer zooming towards me. I have just enough time to turn my torso to the left to evade the full brunt of the attack, but the blunt edge of its pincer scrapes against my chest, tearing the skin and flesh there. I cry out in pain and fall backwards onto the dirt, clutching my chest.

        	The Scorpio’s tail comes up, its bladed stinger heading directly for me. Before I have a chance to scream, Rainbow leaps into the air and deals a spinning kick to the tail just behind the stinger, slamming into the ground right beside me.

        	“Move!” I don’t need to be told twice. I get to my feet and sprint away, grabbing my rifle to use as a club. Along the way, the Scorpio’s left pincer shoots towards me. A string of curses not fit for innocent pony ears escapes me as I leap forwards, barely avoiding the attack.

        	 “Get down, it’s going to sweep!” Trusting her, I let myself fall to the ground. The Scorpio, using its eight legs to great effect, turns its entire body in a circle, sending its bladed tail across nearly the entirety of the clearing. I scream with fear as it passes right over my head, the displaced air blowing down against my neck. I roll over and try to rise, only for one of the Scorpio’s legs to slam down on the ground right where I’d been a moment prior. By reflex, I smack the leg with my rifle. Two things happen at once. The monster unbalances as its leg gives out, and the muzzle of my rifle crumples in on itself, the dying metal finally giving out.

        	“Yes! Get some of this!” Rainbow uses the opportunity to zip beneath the monster at top speed and buck it right in the belly, knocking it back several feet. This gives me enough time to roll out from beneath the Scorpio and run back to the far side of the clearing with Rainbow. Now that I’m this close to her, I notice just how beat up she is. She’s covered in all sorts of cuts and bruises, and blood is trickling from her mouth. “Seth, what in the name of Celestia are you doing out here? I thought no force on the planet would make you go into the forest?”

        	“No force except you apparently,” I snap at her, too busy watching the Scorpio as it rights itself to care about what’s coming out of my mouth.

        	“Do…do you mean that?” Rainbow asks me softly. I suddenly realize what I just said and flush, hating just how stupid I just sounded. “Wait, what’s it doing!?”

       	The Scorpio screeches, lifting itself up as if to gaze at the sky. It extends its pincers outwards. Then, a crimson aura bursts into existence around it. The mana licks up and down its form like fire till its entire body is suffused with a reddish light. Its body becomes translucent and points of light similar to stars appear all throughout its form. Some of the stars are much brighter than the rest: one each in its pincers, one inside its mouth, and a line of them stretching down along its body and up its tail. 

        	“It’s attacking!” Rainbow has just enough time to shout before reddish thorns erupt from the Scorpio’s body in all directions. I don’t react fast enough and a thorn slices into my right shoulder, my left arm, and my hip before I start to dodge. “Watch out!”

        	The Scorpio slams itself into the ground, causing a crimson shockwave to spread outwards, tearing up the dirt and scorching the earth as it travels. Rainbow grabs me before I can react and hurls me up into the air above the shockwave, and then she leaps over it herself. I land hard and roll once before getting to my feet, and Rainbow lands beside me. The Scorpio is on top of us before we can prepare. Its pincers spread outwards, hitting us both.

        	“Agh!” I’m knocked underneath a tree like a ragdoll, some of my ribs cracking on impact. I try to rise, but pain wracks my torso with the attempt. I reach up and grab a low hanging tree branch and use it to rise.

        	“The rifle! Use your rifle!” Rainbow calls over to me as she unsteadily gets to her hooves. “If that thing’s as awesome as Filthy Rich said it was, now’s the time!”

        	“It doesn’t work!” I finally admit.

        	“What!?” Rainbow exclaims. “What do you mean it doesn’t work!?”

        	“I was bluffing! It’s been a useless metal stick ever since I picked it up! It may have worked once, but—” I yelp and fling myself to the side as a cutting wave of magic slices through the tree behind. The Scorpio lunges, its massive crimson body slams into the ground and causes the earth to shake. Acting on reflex, I roll my body around to avoid its legs as it attempts to trample me underfoot.

        	“Leave him alone, you big bully!” Rainbow runs at its rear and unleashes a flurry of punches, aiming for the spot where its tail connects to the rest of its body. The Scorpio slightly tilts its body, then turns itself around in less than a second, its right pincer slams right into Rainbow’s barrel, knocking her flying in my direction. She hits a tree branch and bounces back to the ground, blood splattering from her mouth.

        	“No!” I heft what’s left of my rifle and lunge at the Scorpio before it can follow up. To my horror, the rifle collides with the monster’s left pincer and snaps in half. The Scorpio turns to face me slowly as I take several steps back in terror.

        	The Scorpio’s pincer closes around my torso, the barbs cutting into my skin just long enough for the monster to slam me right into a tree, my shoulder popping out of its socket with a tremendous pain worse even than when I’d had my side slashed.

        	I fall to the ground limply beside Rainbow, the two of us beaten so badly that we can’t even move any longer. At the impact, Rainbow opens her eyes to see me lying there. We lock eyes.

        	“You shouldn’t have come…now it’s just gonna be both of us that bite it…” Rainbow tells me with difficulty. I stare at her, wanting to say something, but no amount of words could possibly quantify what I’m feeling right now.

        	The Scorpio retreats to the far end of the clearing and lifts both of its pincers, the red glow of its body increasing in intensity. Mana starts to collect around the monster’s pincers, suggesting that it’s charging up the attack that’s going to finish us.

        	Time seems to slow down as I gaze at Rainbow’s battered form. A helpless rage fills me up from inside. Even after coming all this way and going through this much, we’re just going to die after all. But…I don’t want to die anymore. I don’t want her to die. I want us to go home and go back to screwing around like we did at the bar. I want to know what’s like to have a friend in this lonely world.

        	Rainbow smiles weakly at me. “But I’m happy you did. I don’t regret a single thing.”

        	My heart stops as I watch her accept the situation we’re in. I struggle to rise, but my body won’t obey me. I can’t let this happen. I can’t let her die. I refuse to lose anything else, after everything. It can’t end like this. It’s not fair. It’s not fair, dammit! 

        	The curse stirs within me as my thoughts grow more and more frantic. I turn and glare at the Scorpio, the source of all of this emotion, and the reason our lives are about to end. The curse rises to the surface and my body starts to feel that usual chill. 

I take a deep breath. I don’t know what this curse does. It can possibly kill me if I let it loose—but if there’s even the slightest chance that it can save Rainbow, then there’s no reason to hesitate.

        	My resistance falls at long last, and somewhere deep inside me a dam bursts. My body rapidly drops in temperature as the mana rushes through me in a flood of untamed power.





In Canterlot

Princess Celestia sits on her haunches atop her royal throne, a rehearsed patient expression upon her face as she listens to the concerns of the noble ponies spread out before her. Her presence is only a formality, as every day matters are typically decided by the councilponies that sit around her in the wings of the throne room. Despite knowing this, she never once allows her mind to drift.

        	“The steady decline of commerce between Griffonstone and Equestria has been a known issue for quite some time, Lord Du Gaskin,” says Elegant Style, an old councilpony with a pastel red coat and a curly two-toned mane of plum and beige, to the Duke of Manhattan standing at the forefront of the noble ponies. She gazes at him over her half-moon spectacles. “Viceroy Zythe simply does not seem as interested in our luxury consumer goods as his predecessors, so your business will likely continue to suffer. I am against forcing the issue, unless you’re implying that Manehattan cannot survive without their bits.”

        	The duke bristles at the implication. He lifts his nose and runs a hoof through his straight black mane as he composes his answer. “That’s absurd, Lady Style. I merely wish to continue to expand our economic influence, and before this new Viceroy seized power, their various tribes were more than willing to provide me with the bits I needed, in exchange for Equestrian consumer goods. I humbly request that we send—oh dear. Your Highness, is something the matter?”

        	Princess Celestia has gone rigid, the color leaving her face. Without answering, she turns her head in the direction of Ponyville. In the middle of the discussion between Elegant Style and Lord Du Gaskin, she felt the fabric of mana suddenly spike, reaching a height the likes of which she hasn’t sensed in over a thousand years.

        	Before Celestia can give an answer, the double doors leading into the throne room slam open without decorum to reveal Princess Luna sporting dishevelled bed hair and a grave expression. “Sister! The situation is dire! I hast sensed a presence most heinous that requires our present attention!”

        	“No need to explain, dear sister. I have felt it as well.” Celestia gives one apologetic look to the councilponies and nobleponies who had begun whispering among themselves before she steps down from her throne to meet Luna halfway. “I leave the good duke in your capable hooves, my councilponies.”

        	“With all due respect, your Highness, this is most irregular!” One of the councilponies gets to his hooves, looking less than pleased. All around him, the rest of the council and the petitioners murmur their agreement, unsettled by what they’ve heard. 

        	“I recognize that, but this is a matter of national security. I trust you will understand.” Celestia turns her head and locks eyes with the offending councilpony. As flustered as he's become, he can only last a moment beneath the weight of Celestia’s gaze. Celestia returns her attention to her sister. “Let us go, Luna.”

        	The two princesses quicken their pace and exit the throne room, magically closing the doors behind them. “How is this possible? The Elements of Harmony disposed of him!” Luna demands once they’re out of earshot of the council room. The two of them turn a corner and climb a set of stairs, heading to Luna’s bedchambers. “Ye cannot mean to tell me he had a plan for that particular outcome as well!?”

        	Upon reaching Luna’s chambers, the two of them walk out to the balcony. “I’m uncertain as to what this could mean as well. However, one thing is clear. It is indeed King Sombra’s magical energy coming from the Everfree Forest,” Celestia says with a shake of her head. “I have my suspicions, but in the event that the worst-case scenario has come to pass and he has returned, I cannot let this be.”

        	Celestia hunches down, spreads her wings, and takes to the sky. Golden light explodes from her body as she summons up her mana, accelerating her to a blinding speed. With a similar burst of midnight blue, Luna takes her place in the air beside her, catching up to her without much difficulty.

        	“We are coming with thee! If king sombra hath returned, it shall require both of us to bring him to heel!” Luna asserts

        	“Your presence can only give me strength, dear sister,” Celestia replies, her lips briefly curving into a warm smile before she once again becomes serious. “I only hope Commander Stalwart Iron will be able to hold him off long enough for us to arrive.”

        	“We share thy hope,” Luna says simply. Her brow furrows into a glare. “Thou shall not take Ponyville, Sombra! We are coming!”





In the forest

        	After charging up its attack, the Scorpio hurls all of the stored up mana in its pincers in the form of a large ball of crimson mana that flickers like fire as it soars across the clearing. Rainbow watches the ball steadily grow closer and the red light more intense. She struggles to rise, her whole body aching in protest. With only a moment to spare, she glares defiantly at the ball of incoming death.

Music: Dream Theater - Panic Attack + Lyrics

        	She blinks, and Seth appears in front of her in a burst of displaced air. He slowly lifts his uninjured arm and backhands the orb of mana, sharply redirecting it towards the treeline where it explodes with enough force  to completely vaporize anything hit. A terrible wind sweeps across the forest canopy, filling the air with the sound of complaining wood.

        	“Seth? H-How did you…?” Rainbow manages to get to her hooves, her legs shaking beneath her. She gazes at Seth’s back, noticing how the human’s body is no longer trembling. He seems almost eerily still. “Seth?”

        	Seth reaches up his good hand and moves it to his dislocated shoulder. With a sickening crack, he snaps it back into place. Upon hearing Rainbow call his name again, he turns his head ever so slightly. 

When she sees his eyes, Rainbow takes a step back. They’re no longer a calm green. Instead, his pupils are a deep menacing red, and his sclera a bright sickly green. From the corners of his eyes, purple wisps of corrupt mana trail away into the air, where they gradually fade away.

        	“Seth!” Rainbow calls out as the Scorpio closes the distance between them in an instant. The monster leaps into the air and brings a single pincer down with all the force it can muster. For a split instant, Seth dissolves into black smoke before reappearing a few inches to the left. The pincer slams into the ground where he’d just been standing, embedding itself into the ground.

        	Seth’s body suddenly erupts in an aura of darkness that swirls up along his form like fire. With a shadowy fist crackling with green lightning, Seth punches the Scorpio right in its mandibles. The Scorpio screeches with pain as it’s forced backwards several meters. Without a word, Seth zips across the field, his body briefly dissolving into a wisp of shadow before rematerializing just to the left of the Scorpio. Then, he similarly zips up into the air directly above it and brings his elbow down onto the middle of its back. A horrendous crack fills the air, and the Scorpio’s screeching grows louder as it scuttles along the ground wildly.

        	The Scorpio leaps into the air and uses its tail to latch onto a nearby tree. Using it as an anchor, it swings itself through the air and slams its back against the tree line. Rainbow blinks, and Seth is no longer on its back. Seth reappears directly in front of her just as the Scorpio rights itself. Its aura flares, and an entire volley of thorns surges forth at the two of them. Seth’s hand flashes through the air, deflecting each thorn with the flat of his hand.

        	“Seth? Is this…really happening?” Rainbow said disbelievingly. Seth summons up green lightning and sends a bolt from each palm towards the Scorpio, each one slamming into its pincers and burning its flesh. He follows it up by conjuring a wave of darkness with arcane motions of both of his hands and sending it hurtling across the clearing.

        	With a swipe of its glowing pincers, the Scorpio dispels the wave. It scuttles towards Seth and unleashes a flurry of attacks with both pincers. Hardly moving his feet, Seth either deftly evades or redirects each attack with his hands…and then he releases his own flurry of dark punches. Each time his fist collides with a pincer, the air around them distorts and crackles with green lightning.

        	Rainbow watches them fight, unable to close her mouth. The Seth she knows could never do this stuff. Not only has Seth never shown any magical ability, but up until five minutes ago he’s spent the fight flailing around, hitting whatever’s in reach. So what gives? Is this even Seth anymore?

        	With a roar, the Scorpio rams its body into Seth, sending him skidding across the dirt. It scuttles backwards, zigzagging across the clearing and keeping its eyes trained on Seth. Once it’s far enough away, it leaps up and skitters along the trunks of the trees as though they are a solid wall. As it does so, it releases another swarm of thorns. This time, Seth doesn’t bother to dodge or deflect, each thorn harmlessly bouncing off his steadily mounting magical aura.

        	With a boom, Seth zips up, flips his body midair, and brings his fist to bear down upon the Scorpio that blocks it with its pincer. The Scorpio’s aura intensifies till it overpowers Seth’s momentum and knocks him away, the human hitting the ground in an explosion of dirt and tree branches. Rainbow winces at the impact, but Seth easily gets to his feet, his blazing eyes fixed solely on the Scorpio.

        	The Scorpio propels itself from the trees and it uses its bulk as a weapon, aiming to crush Seth beneath it. He brings up both hands and catches the Scorpio’s flesh on either side of its mandibles, a quarter of his boots gouging into the earth. To keep its momentum, the Scorpio uses its legs to push forward, the two of them moving across the entirety of the clearing and into the opposite treeline. Trees fall as Seth slams into them, darkness erupting from his body upon  impact.

        	In one motion, the Scorpio grabs Seth with a pincer and hurls him back across the clearing. Like a gymnast, Seth reorients himself in midair and lands on his feet on the trunk of a tree. Just as he leaps onto the ground, the Scorpio’s tail comes up and hurtles through the air towards him, its blade promising instant death upon impact.  

        	Rainbow is about to call out to him, but then Seth phases to the left to evade the tail and wraps his arms around it in a vice grip. Seth lets out a distorted yell and his aura grows in size, the darkness accompanied by rings of green electricity rising up from around his feet. Rainbow’s eyes bug out as  he rips the tail out of the ground and lifts the Scorpio clear off the ground, spins it around the circumference of the clearing, and hurls against the trees directly opposite her and the Tiara.

        	The Scorpio tumbles end over end, trees snapping off at the trunk before the bulk of its body. Before it can come to a halt, Seth leaps high into the air. He clasps his hands together and streaks across the sky like a shooting star of darkness, bringing them down right on the Scorpio’s head. The Scorpio’s agonized screeching fills the air once more, a crater forming beneath it as the earth gives way.

        	The tail comes up once more and whips Seth right in the stomach, sending him hurtling back into the clearing, where he lands on his feet with a crash. The Scorpio’s aura explodes in intensity and it stares back at Seth with murderous intent gleaming in its eyes.

        	Seth lifts a hand. All at once, the broken pieces of the scattered rifle across the forest floor glow bright green and lift up off of the ground, suspended in the air by an emerald aura. As Rainbow watches, the pieces gravitate towards one another and reassemble like puzzle pieces. The dent in the front straightens itself out as though it had never been. The seam where the rifle had split in two disappears. Centuries of decay and rust shed away, leaving behind a gleaming black sheen.

        	The rifle hurtles into Seth’s waiting hand. The darkness traveling along his body surges into the rifle, turning it into a construct of black crystal. As the Scorpio approaches, Seth lifts the rifle to chest height and braces it against his shoulder, one crimson eye peering down a tube attached to the top.

        	A beam of pure darkness ringed by green electricity erupts from the front with a clap of thunder. Upon colliding with the Scorpio, the beam presses hard against the monster’s aura, slowing it down to a near stop.

        	Seth remains calm even as the Scorpio struggles against the beam. As if in response to the beast’s struggle, his aura once again intensifies, growing so high that it begins to pierce through the canopy, and the beam doubles in size. The Scorpio roars loudly as the beam implodes, a ball of darkness spreading outward and a pillar of green light shooting high into the canopy and beyond.

Rainbow looks between Seth and the cloud of darkness and debris, where the Scorpio had once been, her mouth open in awe. Seth slowly lowers his rifle.

        	“Seth…that...was...AWESOME!” Rainbow has no better words to describe the fight she just witnessed. She limps up to him, spitting out the blood that had pooled in her mouth. “When did you learn to do something like that!? I thought you didn’t have any magic!”

        	He turns to face her, and Rainbow quails beneath the dark intensity in his eyes. His face looks different—his skin flakes away bit by bit in streak-like patterns, revealing a hard black surface beneath. Rainbow isn’t sure she can even detect a hint of Seth in those eyes at all.

        	“Seth?” Rainbow asks hesitantly, concerned that his aura hasn’t faded in the slightest. It doesn’t even look like he recognizes her.

        	Seth lifts a hand that sparks with green lightning, pointing a black mana orb directly at Diamond Tiara, murderous intent evident in his merciless eyes. The filly screams at the sight and covers her head with her hooves. Rainbow immediately steps in front of the two ponies, who scream and cling to one another tighter than ever.

        	“Seth, stop, it’s over!" Rainbow tries to plead with him, but then the smoke and darkness clears from the other side of the clearing. The Scorpio rises from the ground, the monster burnt and blackened, but very much alive. “Are you kidding me?! How do you get up after a hit like that!?”

        	Without hesitation, Seth turns his hand over to the Scorpio and lets loose the bolt of lightning. The Scorpio leaps to the side to avoid it and brings up its tail, its aura streaming up to its tip to form a pulsing orb of mana so strong that Rainbow can feel it.

        	Seth smirks and powers up even further, seemingly having no limits to how much strength he can call upon. His aura doubles in size, his skin flakes away faster than ever, and his hair starts to undulate and float, as if submerged in water. Seth lowers his body and spreads out his hands, his fingers slowly tapering to points as she watches. 

Rainbow yelps and covers her head as bolts of green lightning strike down around Seth, the air around him thrumming with intense magical power. Just as he reaches a height Rainbow hadn’t thought possible, he explodes in a shower of blood, his aura dying away like a candle being snuffed out.

        	A strangled gurgle emerges from Seth’s throat, accompanied by a rush of blood. Rainbow rushes up to him to catch him as he falls to his knees. He turns pale and clutches at Rainbow, his eyes slowly returning to normal. Blood oozes out from countless pores in his skin and underneath his fingernails. “Rai…ain…buh...”

        	“No talking! I’ve got you, okay?” Rainbow snaps at him, her heart pounding out of her chest. Seth looks like he wants to answer, but before he can he closes his eyes and loses consciousness in her grip. She looks up at the Scorpio, whose attack is nearing completion. “Grrr…I’ve got to get…them all out of here…”

        	No time. The Scorpio unleashes a beam similar to the one Seth had used from the tip of its tail, the crimson light ripping across the ground directly towards her.

Music: Date a Live II - Hurricane 

        	A dark form leaps over the top of her and lands directly in front of her with the clatter of armored plates. A lone unicorn stallion dressed in gleaming silver and golden armor stood before her, unflinching even in the face of incoming destruction. Rainbow watches in awe as the stallion lifts up his shield and brings it to bear against the beam of crimson light.

        	The light slams into the shield at full force, the resulting blast of displaced air surging through the air towards Rainbow and dissipating harmlessly against a magical magenta barrier. To her shock, the next moment Twilight Sparkle teleports directly in front of them, her horn ablaze with magic.

        	“Are you two okay?” Twilight asks, her voice laden with anxiety. She takes one look at the heavily injured forms of the two of them and her eyes well up with tears. “I’m so so sorry we couldn’t get here sooner. There was a whole pack of timberwolves between us and you. Please forgive me!” Twilight explains. “Leave the rest to Commander Iron.”

The emblem of the golden eagle on the front of Stalwart Iron’s shield glows with power, and all of the incoming mana is sucked right into the shield. The stallion grunts as his body seems to swell somewhat. Once all of the mana has gone, the light fades. 

        	With a defiant shout, Stalwart Iron lifts his trident and sends back every last bit of mana that the Scorpio had sent at him in a ball of warm, silvery light. The Scorpio takes the hit directly and fills the clearing with its pained screeching.

“Canterlot Royal Guard!” Stalwart Iron calls out, his voice brimming with authority. In an instant, a score and a half of soldiers stream out of the treeline and form up behind the commander as the Scorpio forces away the assaulting mana with its aura.  “Brightspear, form a perimeter around the rear of the clearing!” Stalwart Iron sweeps his hoof across the area in question. Then, he gestures towards Diamond Tiara, Seth, and Rainbow. “Earth Dweller, secure the civilians and retreat! Lady Twilight Sparkle!” Stalwart Iron snaps out. Twilight looks up from Seth and Rainbow Dash, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Stabilize the injured and take cover behind the perimeter! Now!”

“Hey, I can still fight!” Rainbow protests weakly as Twilight turns back to the two of them. She lowers her horn, and a bubble of magenta light spills around Seth. As it stabilizes, the blood ceases to flow from Seth’s body, hanging in place as though frozen in time.

        	“O-Okay. What about you?” Twilight asks of the commander with a shaking voice as she completes the spell. 

The Scorpio reorients itself upon its new target. The monster’s exoskeleton has cracked in multiple places, exposing tender flesh beneath. It briefly wavers in place, an assortment of its legs bent at odd angles and providing unsteady footing. Its entire body is covered with a layer of burns, some of which have burnt a number of its eyes clean off. Despite its injuries, it lets out a roar and scuttles towards the commander..

        	 There isn’t a trace of doubt in Stalwart Iron’s words. “I have a mission to complete.” His horn lights up as he casts several spells upon himself, his body briefly glowing silver for a moment. Just before the Scorpio meets him, Stalwart Iron telekinetically brings up his shield just in time to fend off the monster's mana clad pincers. They crash upon his shield one after the other, a wispy cloud of silvery and crimson mana sparking from each impact. After each attack, the wisps of mana are sucked into the shield and through the commander’s body before reforming along the length of his trident.

Stalwart Iron swings his trident in a glittering vertical arc at the Scorpio’s right pincer. Upon impact, the collected mana bursts, knocking the limb up in the air. The commander seizes the opportunity to close the distance between them, gliding across the earth and knocking aside the Scorpio’s left pincer with his shield as he does so. 

As Stalwart Iron nears the creature’s mouth, the Scorpio releases a shockwave of crimson mana. The commander barely brings up his shield, but despite absorbing the mana he’s repulsed several feet back. Stalwart Iron’s horn lights up as he comes to a halt, and several orbs of silvery light the size of golf balls spread outwards from its tip. 

Before the Scorpio can prepare another attack, Stalwart Iron directs the swarm of orbs with a sweep of his dominant hoof. The orbs rotate around the Scorpio in the shape of a dome for two seconds before coalescing upon its body. As the orbs explode with a tumultuous roar, the commander twirls his trident around and unleashes the stored up mana in the form of a silver beam. 

The Scorpio writhes in agony among the onslaught of silvery light, but manages to cloak one pincer with its mana long enough to swipe the beam away through the canopy, incinerating any leaves and branches in its way. As the dust clears, the monster spots Stalwart Iron charging directly towards it. With a tilt of its body, its tail arcs up and over top, the bladed tip aimed directly at the commander.

His body slowed by his heavy armor, Stalwart Iron doesn’t bother to dodge. He twists his body just enough that the tail slides across his armor with an ear-rending screech, sparks scattering across the earth and silvery mana streaming into the air. The commander pushes his advantage, his trident lifting up into the air. The weapon comes to life, arcs of blue electricity running up and along its haft to the points. With a roar, Stalwart Iron pushes aside the Scorpio’s attacking pincers, leaps into the air, and brings the trident down upon the monster’s head. 

Twilight, Rainbow, and the surrounding ponies still in the clearing clap their hooves to their ears as an ear-splitting thunderclap echoes through the clearing. At the same time, a bolt of lightning falls down from the heavens and strikes the head of the trident. The Scorpio screeches out as electricity runs through the length of its body. Stalwart Iron takes a step forward and swings his trident once more, lightning once again striking the Scorpio. He attacks again and again mercilessly. With every strike, the Scorpio is driven back, electricity overpowering the creature’s every attempt to fight back.

Just as the Scorpio begins struggling to keep itself upright, Stalwart Iron brings his trident up by his head and pours his mana into the weapon, a ball of lightning forming around its prongs. Then, he turns his body and leaps towards the Scorpio. With a powerful uppercut, the monster is knocked clear up into the air and onto its back. 

“Return to your slumber, Scorpio!” Stalwart Iron lifts his trident in one hoof and brings it back. A lightning aura erupts from the weapon, completely obscuring it from view and giving it the appearance of an untamed lightning bolt resting in his hoof. With one last shout, the commander hurls the lightning lance directly into the Scorpio’s vulnerable belly.

The resulting explosion of electricity is so great the Scorpio’s screams are drowned out by the rumbling of disturbed air. Stalwart Iron brings up his shield and quickly casts a spell, a silvery barrier stretching out from the shield to protect Twilight, the wounded, and the other guards behind him from the electrical energy. When the explosion clears, the Scorpio has lost any trace of its magical aura, its body once again black. The Scorpio stares at them with what few undamaged eyes it has remaining for several seconds. Stalwart Iron lifts a hoof and the trident he’d thrown comes flying back to him with the ring of metal on metal. With one last hiss, the Scorpio retreats back into the forest, the foliage closing around its form like a protective barrier.

“Commander, the monster is getting away. Is that okay?” Twilight points out once she notices that Stalwart Iron isn’t moving to pursue. “Didn’t you say your mission was to deal with it?”

“And I have.” Iron turns to face Twilight just as the remainder of the guards present erupt into cheers of victory and praise. Stalwart Iron remains as stoic as ever as he slots the trident and his shield back onto his armor. “There are few creatures in the world as resilient as the Constellations. It would take a being far stronger than myself to exterminate one entirely. The Scorpio is no exception.”

“You make them sound similar to a force of nature,” Twilight observes with a frown. 

“An apt description. It is...very impressive that your friends managed to last as long as they did,” Stalwart Iron admits as he gazes down at the unconscious forms of both Seth and Rainbow. While they converse, Twilight’s horn remains alight as she does her best to touch up their injuries as best she can. “Rest assured. The Scorpio will not return in our lifetimes, given the injuries it has sustained. But enough about that; are your friends fit to move?”

“I...I think so. Seth has the worst of it by far. Even considering what he fought, I don’t know what could have happened to put him in this state…” Twilight pauses after she says that, moving a hoof to her chin thoughtfully. “You’re right. We need to get them to the hospital as soon as we can. All of my questions can come later.”

“A sound decision.” With a few orders, Stalwart Iron has an entourage of guards load Rainbow Dash and Seth onto stretchers and carry them into the thick of the woods back to town. “Let us go, Lady Twilight Sparkle. For what’s worth, you were right to come to me.”

“I just wanted everyone to come home safe.” Twilight sniffs and wipes her eyes, and then she falls into step beside the commander as the two of them follow the rest of the guards. “Oh, and Commander? You can just call me Twilight, if you’d like.”

“As you say, Twilight. You may also refer to me as Iron, if it pleases you,” The commander responds. His words are amiable, but his tone remains even and emotionless.

“It would. I hope we can be friends, Iron. Thank you so much for saving my friends.” With that, Twilight and Iron steadily made their way back to Ponyville.





Celestia remains still from her position just outside the forest clearing, her eyes closed with a grim expression. Beside her is a fuming Luna, who looks as though she’d wanted to be in the clearing herself.

“Celestia, thou canst still wish to leave the human unattended Ponyville after what we just saw!” She jerks a hoof over to the torn apart clearing. “Thou saw with thine own eyes what lies within him, same as us! It is no act of providence that the human brought here by Sombra is capable of his vile magic!”

Celestia agrees with a solemn nod. She opens her eyes and gazes at her sister. “You are correct, Luna. I firmly believe that we are dealing with another of Sombra’s endless contingency plans. What this means for Equestria now that he’s gone, however, remains to be seen.”

“Then thou agreest we ought to detain him and have him brought to Canterlot post-haste?” Luna questions forcefully with twitchy wings. Celestia doesn’t doubt that if she were to give the word, Luna would be upon Seth in an instant.

“I agree that something needs to be done. But not here, and not now,” Celestia responds, much to Luna’s shock and frustration. Celestia’s eyes harden as she already begins to formulate several plans in her mind. She turns away from the clearing and walks in the other direction, spreading her wings in preparation to take off. “Let us return to Canterlot for the time being, where we may discuss further. This situation requires a meticulous and deft touch.”
> 21. A Friend in Equestria (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cold like the deep freeze of the frigid arctic permeates throughout the deepest reaches of my body, as though every cell in my body has turned to ice. It’s dark, like the long nights of the polar winter, there’s not a single point of light with which to see. I can’t shake the feeling that something else is out there, watching with a predatory hunger that causes my hairs to stand on end.

Then, the darkness gives way, and through clouded vision, I become aware of a familiar rainbow-maned pegasus gazing down at me with eyes filled with worry, the dark leafy canopy of a forest hanging high above her. I try to speak, but my voice is cracked and muffled as if there’s something lodged in my throat. Her mouth moves, and then darkness overtakes me once again.

I wake with a start and reach an aching hand to my face, only to feel a breathing mask over my mouth and nose. I tear it off with a pained grunt, my windpipe aching with every breath.

“Wha?” Confusion strikes as I open my eyes to an unfamiliar white ceiling. Every part of me right down to my blood vessels feels weak and sore, and my head pounds with a migraine unlike any I’ve had before. Soon after I let out a pained cry, a pony with a soft white coat is by my side, her hoof pressing lightly on my chest.

“Hey hey...relax, you’re safe now. Please, lie still and rest,” the mare whispers in a calming voice. My weakened body relents and I fall back onto the bed. I hear another voice calling from somewhere behind her, but I can’t quite make out whose it is. “Welcome back, Mr. Seth Rogers. You’ve been out for quite some time. How do you feel?”

“Huh?” Lucidity returns to me all at once, and I look around the room, taking stock of my surroundings. I’m in a room filled with pony-sized beds, each kept private via adjustable curtains hanging from the ceiling. The walls are a calming shade of teal, and light filters in from windows on either side of the room. I’m resting in a bed with my legs propped up by pillows that rest atop a cart that’s been strapped to the foot of the bed. I suddenly recall the events in the forest and blanch. “I’m alive?”

“Yes, you are,” The mare answers with a relieved smile. “It was touch and go for a while, but with the help of some of the brightest minds in Equestria, we managed to help you pull through. I’m Nurse Redheart.”

I look at the mare and take in her features. She’s an earth pony like Applejack, and her mane is a light pink tied up into a bun behind her nursing cap. As she’s talking, Twilight Sparkle walks up from behind to join her, the unicorn watching us quietly and biting her lip with worry.

“Brightest minds in Equ…” I start to repeat, but then I shake my head, wincing. “Who cares about that right now? Where’s Rainbow?”

“It’s okay, Seth. She’s right here with you,” Twilight answers. Her horn lights up and the curtain obscuring me from the other patients peels back to reveal a heavily bandaged Rainbow Dash passed out and snoring peacefully. Twilight moves up to the bedside and rears up just enough to embrace me softly. “I’m so glad you’re both okay! I was so worried!”

“Yeah yeah, get off,” I try to push her off, but it isn’t until the nurse gives her a disapproving stare that Twilight backs off with a nervous laugh. I glance at the IV drip to my left. “How long was I out?”

“About a week, sir,” Redheart answers, shuffling her hooves on the floor.

“A full week!?” I echo, my eyes widening. “What all happened to me? I don’t remember anything past the Scorpio beating us within an inch of our lives.”

‘You don’t!?” Twilight exclaims with a gasp. She glances at Redheart.

“Don’t look at me. This must be magical in nature because he didn’t have any head trauma that would have affected his memory,” Redheart says. I look between the two of them, even more confused than before. “It would probably be best if I fetched the experts.”

“Right, the ‘brightest minds’ you mentioned. What’s that all about?” I ask. 

Redheart shuffles her hooves. “We don’t know much about human biology, and you were in bad shape. Without experienced help, then...”

“...I’d be dead.”

“Right,” Redheart confirms uncomfortably. “So we reached out to Canterlot for help. They’re in the offices, and they could explain everything that happened better than I could. I’ll be right back.”

The nurse gives me one last smile before leaving the room, leaving me alone with Twilight and the still snoozing Rainbow. Twilight meets my gaze for only a moment before she starts to look guilty.

“So, I need to confess—” 

“Who did you tell?” I instantly interrupt.

Twilight looks abashedly at the floor. “All of the doctors, nurses, and the experts. They had to know about the curse. You were very badly hurt. If knowing about the curse would increase the odds of your recovery even a little, I had to say something.”. 

 I sigh, rubbing my forehead, “at least it wasn’t the princesses,”

“But that’s just the thing!” Twilight’s guilt lasts for only a minute before it’s overtaken by sheer excitement, her face coming dangerously close to mine with a happy smile on her face. She puts her front hooves on the edge of the bed. “They said it was never a curse at all! Seth, you have magic!”

“...Pull the other one.”

“I’m being serious! They detected the presence of a magical core right there in the center of your rib cage!” Twilight explains, the mare bouncing in place. She indicates my sternum with the tip of her hoof at the exact place the curse always tried to break free.“I can’t believe this! I’m going to have to throw out that essay I was writing about humans and how they never had magic as was originally believed!”

I give her the most deadpan stare I can muster. “I wouldn’t go quite that far. I still think you’re full of it.” I raise a finger.. “What the heck is a magical core, and why do I have one?” I raise a second finger. “And if it were this easy for humans to gain magic, then we wouldn’t have needed all of our technology to compensate for our weakness. “Humans don’t have magic. End of story.” I then slap my hand down on my leg with finality, immediately regretting it as pain shoots up my leg. 

Twilight closes her mouth, pondering my firm denial for a few moments. “If you’re so certain, then could you be the first of your kind to use magic?” She produces a notepad and a feather quill from her saddlebags and starts scribbling notes in it. “Perhaps it has something to do with whatever spell took you through time? If what you’re saying is true, then I hypothesize that when a non-magical entity comes into contact with a spell, then perhaps it—”

“As fascinating as this is, I really don’t care right now,” I cut across her before she can get into her stride. “I still have no idea what’s going on. How did I get here? What happened to the Scorpio?”

“I’m sorry, I got carried away. You said you didn’t remember what happened.” Twilight’s excitement fades, and she places the notepad on the floor beside her. “The Scorpio is gone; Commander Stalwart Iron took care of it. According to him, we won’t see it again as long as we live. Though, Rainbow says you did a real number on the Scorpio before we got there.”

“Yeah, if you call whacking it with a broken stick and running for my life ‘doing a real number’ on it,” I put my face in my hands. “I still can’t believe I did something so stupid.”

Twilight blinked. Her horn lights up and my rifle lifts up from beside my bed. “You mean this stick? It doesn’t look broken to me.”

I raise my head. “Of course it is. I broke it on the Scorpio’s...” I trail off mid-sentence when I see the rifle floating before me. It’s not broken. It’s not even rusted or degraded. The rifle looks as pristine as if it had just come off of the production line. I grasp it gingerly. “How the hell…?”

“That’s the part you’re missing, Seth,” Twilight places a hoof on the bedside, looking at me with sparkling eyes. “You used your magic to fight the Scorpio, saving everyone’s lives. Without you, I don’t even want to think about what could have happened to Rainbow and Diamond Tiara. Thank you, Seth. Thank you so much. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”

Heat rushes to my cheeks. I look away uncomfortably. “Don’t thank me. I don’t even remember doing that.”

“It doesn’t matter. In the end, you—” 

“YEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS!” A screech of pure excitement rips through the hospital halls. I hear the clopping of hooves galloping across the hard floor only seconds before a unicorn zips into the room in a blur of pale yellow, skidding to a halt beside my bed and bowling over Twilight. “Whoops, sorry!”

The new arrival is an energetic unicorn mare with a pale yellow coat of fur who can’t seem to stop bouncing on the tips of her hooves.  Her mane is a soft lavender and is tied up in a bun to keep it out of her face. Resting on her nose is a pair of Eurostile glasses with thick lenses that cover her lavender eyes. For a cutie mark, she has the image of a double helix superimposed over a leaf. Upon meeting my eyes, the mare smiles so widely I think her cheeks might fall off. She reaches for my hand as if to shake it, but pauses when she notices the IV sticking out of that same arm.  

“Hi, Seth! Finally, I get to see you awake! Ooh, I have sooo many questions!” the mare proclaims. I reach up with my right hand and rub my forehead, her energy hardly helping my already present headache. “Whoops, forgot to introduce myself. I’m Dr. Jenny Forsythia, of the Canterlot Bureau of Biology. I specialize in human anatomy, so I have to say, this is such an honor!”

“Uh, okay. I would introduce myself, but I guess somebody already beat me to it,” Next to Jenny, Twilight gets to her hooves, giving the former an annoyed stare. “You said human biology? You can’t know much; it’s not like you’ve ever had a living specimen.”

“Until now! I cannot tell you how happy I am to work on a real live breathing human! I’ve been able to confirm so many of my theories! ” As Jenny gushes, Redheart returns with two more unicorns in tow, neither of whom I recognize. “Did you know that there’s a theory that humans were actually reptilian? Completely baseless if you ask me, but now I can rub it right in their smug little—”

“Dr. Forsythia, please give the patient some space, if you please,” one of the unfamiliar ponies, a stallion wearing a white lab coat, speaks up in a stern chastising tone. Jenny shuts her mouth instantly and backs away with a sheepish smile, knocking Twilight over again.

“Seriously!?” Twilight complains from the floor with such annoyance that I have to bite my tongue to keep from snickering. Jenny pauses and helps Twilight up, patting her head and brushing her shoulders off.

“Whoops, sorry!” Jenny apologizes in the exact same way and rejoins her fellow experts.

“Now then, I do believe some more explanations are in order,” the stallion begins. He appears to be in his later years, with a graying coat and a mane of scruffy white. His eyebrows are bushy and he has a neatly groomed mustache nestled just above his mouth. The image of a set of beakers surrounded by mystical flowing designs was emblazoned upon his flank. “My name is Dr. Flash Forward, of the Canterlot Bureau of Research and Development. I oversee all sub-bureaus relating to the advancement of ponykind. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Seth.”

“And I’m Violet Spice,” the third pony adds. Like her name, her coat is a pale shade of violet, and her mane is a soft orange color tied into a simplistic braid that hangs down her right side. Her cutie mark is a collection of runic designs written upon a scroll. “I run a therapy clinic in Canterlot for magically-stunted unicorns. I’m afraid I’m not quite as important as these two,” she chuckles as she indicates her two companions. 

“Right. So you all are the experts that Redheart mentioned,” I say, nodding to their respective introductions. I can’t help but feel nervous. Flash Forward being here, if he’s as big of a fish as he sounds, is rather surreal to me. It’s as if I were to get in a car crash back in my era and then suddenly the CTO of the United States showed up to visit me. 

“Wait, hold on just a damn minute. Nurse!” I snap at Redheart, mildly startling her. “Before we do anything else, I’m going to need an itemized receipt of all the services you’ve done for me. I want to work out a payment plan because there’s no way I can afford the full bill right now.”

Redheart looks utterly perplexed by my words. “The...the bill? What are you talking about?” 

“The bill for treating me? I was out for a week, so I must be pretty messed up. Plus, you obviously had to call in specialist care of the highest degree.” I’m probably in debt for the next ten years of my life if pony healthcare is anywhere near as expensive as ours. “So how much do I owe you?”

Redheart bristles, her eyes narrowing. “Owe us? For treating you? Why would I ever charge you for something like this!? It’s not as though you chose to get hurt! “No, I’d never take money from a patient. What if they couldn’t pay? That would mean I’d have to let them suffer, and that’s not what I went to medical school for!”

“Are you trying to tell me that I don’t have to pay a single bit for all of this?” Despite my doubts, Redheart nods. “I don’t believe you. All of your medicine and equipment has to be paid for somehow.”

“Allow me to answer this. Afterward, we can segue into our main discussion,” Flash Forward interjects, stepping forward to the foot of my bed. “Equestrian healthcare is generously subsidized from the Princess’s personal treasury. This handles all expenditures, such as the costs of equipment, maintenance costs, and the wages of the employees. As such, no creature need pay for treatment.”

“That’s...not at all what I expected. So Princess Celestia and Princess Luna managed what humans have been battling with for longer than I’ve been alive,” I muse to myself.

 As good as that sounds, I’m still filled with doubt. I still don’t even know how badly I was beaten up, and I get to be treated free of charge? There has to be some sort of catch, maybe taxes that need to be paid to help support the establishment. I make a mental note to ask Vinyl later. 

 “Alright. I’ll put that aside for now. So, what all was wrong with me?”

Flash Forward’s horn lights silver and a whiteboard rolls up behind him, accompanied by a set of colored markers and an eraser. “I’ve been instructed to give you as much information as I can regarding your situation.” 

“One more thing real quick,” I interrupt. Glancing at Rainbow, I reach out to prod her, but she’s too far away. After a moment’s consideration, I grab an empty milk carton from my bedside table and hurl it at Rainbow. It bonks her right on the nose, and she jerks up, looking around frantically. “Waah! Where’s the fire!” It takes her a moment to notice me awake and looking at her. She breaks out into a relieved smile. “Took you long enough. You doing alright?”

“Well enough. Unless you count how every single inch of my body is in pain,” I retort.

“Looks like you’re well enough to complain,” Rainbow teases, sticking out her tongue at me. I roll my eyes. She then notices everyone standing around her. “Oh, the eggheads are here.”

“Rainbow!” Twilight hisses.

“What?” 

“Be nice!” 

“Ahem.” Rainbow and Twilight quiet down as Flash Forward clears his throat impatiently. He lifts a black marker from the whiteboard and draws a rough outline of a human body. “ First, I’m going to start with your injuries, Seth. Are you ready?”

I get the feeling I’m not going to like what I hear, but I nod regardless. Flash Forward nods in return and begins marking up the outline he’d drawn. “I’ll start with the most minor: your body was covered with a multitude of bruises, abrasions, and lacerations, ranging from minor to severe. Additionally, you suffered multiple broken ribs and internal contusions.” My eyes bug out as Flash continues. “The worst of it was internal; your body was torn inside out by out of control mana of significant strength.”

Flash indicates Twilight with a hoof. “I will be blunt, Seth. Had young Miss Sparkle not performed a stasis spell on you, you would not have made it to this hospital.”

“I...that’s...” I look down at my body, understanding fully how lucky I am to still be alive. “How did this happen?”

Violet moves up to join Flash. “Are you familiar with the fact that all ponies possess an inherent level of mana within them?”

“I don’t know a damn thing about magic," I reply bluntly.

“So that’s my starting point. Good to know.” Violet picks up a blue marker and starts sketching various types of ponies on the board. 

I feel a soft impact on my lap. Looking down, I see a blank notepad and a quill there, courtesy of a grinning Twilight Sparkle. “What the heck are these for?”

“So you can take notes! This is a new subject for you, after all!” Twilight beams. Her smile drops when I promptly shove the notepad off my lap and she catches it with her magic. 

“I’m not taking notes. What do you think this is, a school lecture?” 

Twilight places the notepad back on my lap. “It might as well be. This is important, Seth. You need to be able to remember it!” 

 I immediately push the notepad back to the floor. “I don’t know about you, but I have this magical thing in my head that records stuff as I hear it. It’s called a brain.” 

Twilight grabs the notepad and shoves it into my hands. “Unless you have a photographic memory, which I doubt, you need to take notes to encourage committing your new knowledge to long-term memory!” 

This time I throw the notepad directly at her, causing her to yelp and dodge before catching it. “Try committing the word ‘no’ to your long-term memory!” 

“Ahem.” Flash Forward clears his throat once again, staring sternly at us. Instantly, Twilight and I halt our game of impromptu hot potato. “Proceed, Mrs. Spice.”

Violet hides the faintest of smiles at our antics. “Of course. Now, when I say that we 'possess’ magic, I mean that we constantly channel it through our bodies and emit it to our surroundings. As a result, we’re graced with various benefits, such as increased endurance, spellcraft, or the ability to fly and interact with the weather.”

“I’m going to pretend that makes sense,” I say, pinching the bridge of my nose. “The idea of ponies messing with the weather will never make sense to me, no matter how you explain it.”

“Continuing on, imagine that for each pony, there is a source for this mana. We call this the magical core.” Violet draws a circle in the center of one of her sketches. “Usually it’s a metaphysical organ, but in the case of unicorns, it’s connected to their horns, which allows them to draw upon their mana at will to influence the world around them. That’s what we call magic.”

“And you’re saying that I have one of these cores,” I move my hand to my sternum.  When Violet nods, I shake my head. “That’s impossible. I don’t know how much clearer I can be; humans don’t have magic.”

“Then you appear to be a special case,” Flash Forward interjects. “Our instruments detected what is unmistakably a magical core within you. Your lack of awareness of it is what caused your internal injuries.”

Violet draws a water faucet on the board, along with a set of pipes leading away from it. “Most ponies—with the exception of unicorns—are never consciously aware of their magical cores, nor of the mana flowing through them. However, sometimes young foals will sense their core and become scared of it to the point of actively suppressing it.”

She taps the board with her marker. “Picture a water fixture, with water pumping through the pipes to be used when needed. That’s how a typical pony functions with mana on a day-to-day basis.” Then, she blocks some of the pipes. “This is what happens when a pony tries to suppress their mana. The water doesn’t stop pumping just because you put a blockage in it. It’s going to keep piling up and up…”

I gulp as I realize what she’s trying to say. “Until the fixture breaks.”

“Exactly!” Violet looks pleased with my answer. “That’s why clinics like mine exist. We help young ponies come to terms with their mana, and nurse those damaged by mana backlash back to health.”

I raise an eyebrow. “So this happens often to other ponies?” 

“No, you are a special case. Your case of mana backlash was more severe than any case I’ve ever seen,” Violet answers. “Most ponies suffering from backlash require little more than basic magical countermeasures, or perhaps magical therapy to help their atrophied leylines.”

“If we take your assertion that humans don’t have magic to be true, then it makes sense why the backlash was so severe,” Flash Forward adds. “To borrow Mrs. Spice’s metaphor, you suffered such a terrible case because unlike ponies, you have no built-in pipes, or leylines as we call them.”

“And what happens if I don’t have these leylines?”

Flash Forward puts a hoof below his muzzle as he muses over my question. “If your magical core just suddenly appeared, that mana is going to keep coming, pipelines or not. But without a set path through which to flow, it will force its way out anyway it can. Most likely, you would briefly experience overwhelming magical strength before suffering immense internal damage.”

“That’s exactly what happened! Seth went like whack, pow, zam!” Rainbow punches the air several times to emphasize her retelling. She turns to me. “The Scorpio couldn’t do anything against you! I thought you were going to kick its sorry flank all by yourself, but then you...you just collapsed.”

“Okay, I think I get it now,” I gaze down at my chest, experiencing a newfound feeling of fear at the ticking time bomb within me. “But then I should be dead. How did you save me? And why don’t I remember any of this?”

“I can’t answer your second question,” Flash Forward admits, looking embarrassed. “Never before has a case of mana backlash caused acute short-term memory loss. With you being human, we’re treading into entirely new territory here. As for how we saved you...”

“Me! Me! I saved you!” Jenny zips right towards Seth, heedless of the fact that Twilight is directly in her path. 

Twilight promptly catches Jenny in a telekinetic field. “No.”

“Whoop. Sorry!” Her momentum halted, Jenny adjusts her mane and beams at Seth. “While they did all the thinking, I worked with Twilight Sparkle, Nurse Redheart, and the other doctors to save your life!”

“Again, how?” I insist.

Jenny gains a joyous glimmer in her eyes as if she was a young kid handed twenty bucks in front of a candy store. “First, Twilight had you in stasis so you didn’t bleed out instantly. From there, I performed a scan of your body with my magic so I could see what was going on inside you. Can I say, you were a real mess! I had to cross-reference what I was seeing with our accumulated research on human biology and stitch you back together with incredibly-invasive magical surgery!” I wince at how excited Jenny sounds while describing messing around with my innards. “It was a lot of work! Sometimes I had to use trial and error to find out how your blood was supposed to flow and which organ did what— ”

“Enough, enough! You’re stressing me out!” I wring my hands together and touch myself all over to make sure everything is in place. “Now I understand even less how I’m in one piece! Is that why I’m aching all over?!”

Flash Forward puts his hoofs forward in a placating manner. “You’re aching all over because you need to recover from the surgery.” He gestures his head towards Nurse Redheart. “Which leads us to our conclusion. Nurse, if you will?”

Redheart steps forward to address me. “You’re not quite ready to be discharged. However, we’ve done all we can for you here. We’re transferring you to a local therapy clinic, where you’ll be under Mrs. Spice’s care for a few days. Once she’s finished with you, you’ll be free to go.”

I’m not surprised that I can’t leave yet. I’d fall like a limp noodle reaching the room door. “What’s going to happen there?” 

“We need to help your mana escape your body in a healthy manner, or this will just happen again after enough time passes,” Violet explains. “Normally I could right a case of mana backlash quickly, but you don’t have any leylines. I’ll explain in more detail once you’ve been transferred.” I sigh. It feels as though every time I feel like I have an idea of where to go next in life, another wrench is thrown into the works. 

“We’ll be working with you until such time that your case is resolved,” Flash Forward says, indicating himself and Jenny, who looks as if she’s about to burst from excitement. “This is entirely unexplored territory. We’ll need all three of us to get you through this.”

“Okay, stop. This is starting to get ridiculous,” I demand to the confusion of the ponies in the room. “I’ve been putting up with it so I could understand what’s going on, but none of this makes sense.”

“What are you referring to? Were we lax in our explanation somewhere?” Flash Forward questions. He glances at Jenny, who shrugs.

“No, I mean the fact that you’re here,” I make a sweeping hand gesture to encompass all of the town. “As far as I understand, Ponyville is a small farming town with a low population, and within days of being called by the hospital, the heads of two different governmental science bureaus show up to treat me? And I don’t have to pay a single bit for it? This is way too good to be true.”

“Seth, please,” Twilight whines in disappointment.

“Don’t you ‘Seth, please’ me,” I retort. “You could just as easily have sent some lower—”

“No, we couldn’t have,” Flash Forward cuts me off firmly. He steps closer to me. “I suppose I understand your suspicion, but I assure you we are not out to exploit you.”

“Then why are you here?” He better not say it’s out of the goodness of his heart. I swear I’ll get up and leave, injuries be damned.

“Two reasons, actually,” Violet interjects. “First, this is quite literally my job. I went to school to learn how to help anycreature that suffers from mana complications. It’s similar for Jenny. She’s here because—”

“I couldn’t miss this, are you kidding me!?” Jenny squeals, earning an annoyed glance from Violet. “To work on a real live human. This is the chance of a lifetime! The highlight of my professional career! Send someone lower in the ranks, my hoof!”

“We would have had to restrain her to keep her from coming,” Flash Forward deadpans. “While not as strongly, I feel the same. My professional curiosity is simply too great for me to delegate this to another scientist.”

 I grumble. “Right, my species. Not sure how I feel that I’m getting special treatment just for existing. What’s the second reason?”

“The Royal Court requested expedience in the matter once word of the request made its way to their ears,” Flash Forward answers. “When that happens, it means I suspend all other projects.”

My blood runs cold at that. I should have known that if I did anything even remotely out of the ordinary, the princesses would find out about it. I suppose I should count my blessings that I’m still in Ponyville and not rotting in a dungeon somewhere.

“You see? Princess Celestia is looking out for you!” Twilight says as though that’s supposed to comfort me. She suddenly blinks, as though a thought had just come to her. She leans in and whispers. “By the way, I didn’t tell her about you as I promised…”

“But the scientists here definitely did,” I whisper back. “I still don’t like any of this, but if I want to live, I guess I don’t have much choice.”

“And you do want to live,” Rainbow says instantly before withering under my pointed stare. “I mean that’s obvious, right? Yeah. I mean who doesn’t? Heh…”

Flash Forward looks at us for a few moments before dipping his head. “Very well. Then I shall take my leave for the time being. I have much to prepare for.” 

“It’s the same for me. I need to transfer my equipment to the new facility. I’ll be back tomorrow morning,” Violet says. She gives me a sympathetic smile. “All things aside, it really is nice to meet you. I wish it could have been under better circumstances.”

Violet and Flash walk out of the room as well, leaving only Jenny, who makes no indication of leaving the room. Violet pokes her head back in and bites down on Jenny’s collar. “You’re coming too, Jenny.”

“Nooooo!” Jenny wails piteously as she’s dragged out of the room.  We all watch her go with various degrees of perplexion.

“...That mare is a little weird,” Rainbow observes aloud.

Twilight giggles. “She certainly is a character. At least now I don’t have to worry about being run over.”

“Yeah, it’s like she couldn’t see anyone in the room except for me,” I add with a groan “I’m really not going to enjoy this whole process. Though speaking of which, what happens now, nurse?”

Redheart moves about the room, swiftly replacing the whiteboard and markers back where they belonged and wiping the former clear. “Rainbow can leave at any time, but I insist you stay out of the air for at least another day.”

“Aw…” Rainbow complains. She leaps out of her bed and lands on the tiled floor with a click of her hooves, stretching out like a cat. “Finally. I can’t wait to get back out there.”

“As for you, Mr. Seth,  you will be staying here and getting some rest until they’re ready to move you. And, with your permission, I’ll be allowing your friends to come visit you both. They’ve been anxious for any news ever since we brought you in.”

I raise an eyebrow at that. “Friends?”  I ask, looking at Twilight and Rainbow. “So your friends, basically.”

“Yours too!” Twilight says with a pointed look.

“Yeah, okay,” is my less than convinced response. Twilight sighs in exasperation. “Can I at least have five minutes to myself before everyone comes streaming in?”

“Of course. It will take some time for them to arrive. I still need to tell them you’re awake,” Redheart replies. She motions her head towards my right. “There’s a bell on the stand next to you. Please ring it if you need anything at all.”

With that, the nurse leaves the room, leaving me alone with Twilight and Rainbow. Twilight looks at me expectantly for several seconds, but then she notices both Rainbow and I staring at her expectedly.

“W-What are you looking at me like that for?”

“I said ‘to myself’ Twilight. That means you too,” I tell her. Twilight flattens her ears. “Out you go. Shoo.”

“Don’t look like that, Twilight. I’ll make it up to you later,” Rainbow assures her. 

“Fine. I’ll be out in the waiting room,” Twilight relents with a pout, leaving me and Rainbow alone in the room.

Rainbow walks awkwardly to my bedside. “So…Thanks, I guess. For trying to save me.”

“Right.” The awkwardness in the air is so palpable I could reach out and grab a handful of it.

“Why did you, anyway? Go out in the forest?” Rainbow questions, her voice getting a little stronger. “You really sounded like you didn’t care if we lived or died, you know. I know you were lying about the rifle, but you were totally fine with letting Diamond Tiara get hurt. So why?”

I growl in response, “I still don’t give a damn about Diamond Tiara. She’s a monster in the making.”Rainbow recoils at the venom in my voice. “Look, I didn’t go out into that forest to save that brat. I went out there for you, to make sure you didn’t get yourself killed.”

“Yeah, but she’s still a pony! Just because you don’t like them doesn’t mean that you can—” Rainbow trails off mid-sentence, staring at me in shock.  “You uh...wanna run that by me again?”

I look away from her and scratch the back of my head, realizing what I just said. “I’d really rather not,” I groan, overly conscious of Rainbow’s eyes on me. A short, emotion-filled silence falls between the two of us.

“So...does that mean I wasn’t hearing things when you said the thing?” Rainbow stammers out. “You know, that I was the only force that could make you go back into the forest?”

“...You weren’t hearing things.” I internally curse at how dumb I sound. “I guess some of your friendship nonsense rubbed off on me.”

“My…” Rainbow recognizes the meaning behind my words, and a giant grin spreads across her face. She lets out an exultant whoop and leaps into the air. “Owowow, bad idea, bad idea,” she says with a pained cry as she roughly hits the floor.

“You moron. The nurse literally just said to stay out of the air,” I remark derisively. She shuffles upright and sticks her tongue out at me defiantly. “I see you’re still as immature as ever.”

“Eh, you know I’m awesome,” Rainbow boasts in response, leaning on the bed. “I’ve got so many new things to show you now! Once you’re all better, you should totally come hang with the girls and me on one of our camping trips! Oh yeah, you’ve gotta come see the Wonderbolts with me! I want you to see the totally awesome things that they can do! There’s also this epic book series I want to tell you about and…”

The list of things that Rainbow wants to share with me continues to grow as she babbles on and on. “Can you give it a rest!? Too much at once!”

Rainbow chuckles sheepishly. “Right, sorry. Seriously though, we gotta hang out some more. I’m psyched that you finally trust me!”

“I wouldn’t go quite that far.” The wind visibly drains out of Rainbow’s sails at that, her ears drooping. “You’re...different, I’ll give you that. But don’t expect me to suddenly change my entire way of thinking. I’m just... giving you a chance. At the friendship thing. God, that sounds stupid.”

Rainbow’s excitement returns in full force. “I’ll take it! It’s progress!” 

Redheart pokes her head back into the room.  “Excuse me. Your friends are here. Shall I let them in?”

I try to shrug, but the pain that runs through me at any slight motion reminds me why that would be a bad idea. “Now’s as good a time as any, I guess.” A sudden thought fills me with dread. “Wait, how many are we talking about?”

“I brought snacks, everycreature!” With a flash of vibrant pink,  Pinkie Pie zooms into the room carrying a tray of cupcakes, each decorated with rainbow frosting. She halts between the two of us and sets it on the stand on my left side. “It’s a new recipe! Come on, try it!”

“Pinkie, what is—” Rainbow cuts off when Pinkie forces open her mouth with a single hoof and shoves an entire cupcake inside. Pinkie slowly turns her innocent gaze to me.

“Mmf!?” Before I can understand what’s happening, she shoves a cupcake in my mouth.  An oddly sweet, yet spicy flavor floods my mouth. Combined with the vanilla base, it’s yet another masterpiece by the spastic baker before me.

“Pinkie, I think you should slow down and—” Fluttershy walks into the room next, cutting off when sees that she’s already too late to stop her. She quails. “Oh...oh dear.”

I try to swallow my mouthful. As I do so, Vinyl joins us in the room, accompanied by Twilight and Lyra A chorus of greetings from the various ponies fills the room. Fluttershy moves to the foot of Rainbow’s bed, Vinyl and Lyra move to the foot of mine, and Twilight stands between the two of us, shaking her head at Pinkie’s antics. 

“Dear lord, why are there so many of you here?” I glance at Rainbow. “This is your fault. Why do you have so many friends?”

“Duh, obviously because I’m awesome!” Rainbow points out, causing me to roll my eyes. “Where are Rarity and Applejack?”

Vinyl gives a shrug. “Busy with work I guess? They’ll probably visit later. And Seth, don’t make me throw something at you. We came to see you too, doofus,” she says, floating a plastic spoon in her telekinetic aura menacingly. 

“Right. Well, I’m alright, so you were worried for nothing,” I tell her. “Besides, if you wanted to talk to me about the rent, I don’t have anything for you except for the one week’s amount.”

“On second thought,” Vinyl glances at the spoon, and after a moment’s consideration throws it at me. I yelp as the tiny utensil bounces off of my head. “The rent is the last thing I’m thinking about! That can all come later, once you’re all better.” I don’t even get a chance to voice my disbelief before she throws a second utensil at me; a fork. “And that’s for ignoring what I said. Didn’t I say no heroics? I said, get in and get out! Not fight the Scorpio yourself!”

“What the hell was I supposed to do? Ask the big scary scorpion monster to please not eat Rainbow?” I counter defensively while rubbing my head. “Of course I had to do something.”

“Oh come on, I would have been fine,” Rainbow boasts. “I had the Scorpio right where I wanted it...mostly.”

Vinyl stifles a snicker as I glare at Rainbow. “You lying sack of feathers, don’t you even. We both would have been screwed if it weren’t for that Commander Iron guy.”

“I hear he was actually here in the first place to get rid of the Scorpio for us,” Lyra chimes in. “I still can’t believe you took on the Scorpio. I honestly thought Vinyl was pulling my leg when she told me!”

Lyra’s words cause a sinking feeling to form within my chest. “Uh...does the entire town know about this?” 

Redheart chimes in for this one. “The mayor put out a statement the day after Commander Stalwart Iron and Twilight Sparkle brought you to us.”

I sigh in annoyance. “That’s a yes, then. That’s lovely.”

“Why’s that a bad thing? Now the entire town is going to think you’re awesome!” Rainbow points out. 

“I think I preferred flying beneath the radar, so to speak.” All I went out there to do was make sure Rainbow came back. I don’t need hero-worship added on top of that because I’m hardly hero material. I certainly don’t want ponies feeling comfortable enough to try chatting me up, either. This lot is bad enough.

Suddenly, my vision is filled with pink. “Hey, Sethie!”. 

“Never call me Sethie again or I swear to—”

“Fluttershy has something she wants to say to you!” Pinkie steps aside to reveal a beyond mortified Fluttershy. “She’s been thinking about it, but everyone keeps talking over her!”

“Really?” I look at Fluttershy as the room goes into a polite silence. Faced with my attention, Fluttershy stammers incoherently and takes great interest in the far corner of the room. “Come on, spit it out.”

“I…” With a loud gulp, Fluttershy manages to elevate her voice past a whisper. “I just wanted to thank you. Rainbow Dash—we’ve been friends since we were fillies. If something happened to her, I…” Tears well up in the corners of her eyes. She squeezes her eyes shut and sniffs before wiping the tears with a hoof. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“I still don’t even remember doing anything all that helpful,” I protest weakly.

“I’m with Fluttershy on this one. Without Rainbow around it would be...I don’t even want to think about it,” Vinyl shudders. She notes my expression filling with further discomfort and smirks. “By the way, you should have heard him before he went out there. I’d have had to knock him out or something to keep him from going after Rainbow,” Vinyl reveals, much to my chagrin. 

“Could you not?” I hiss at her, but the damage is already done. I flush somewhat as Rainbow looks at me with surprise. 

“Seriously, I’m glad you pulled it off and made it out. You did good, Seth,” Vinyl finishes with a sincere smile.

“You’re a real hero!” 

“Sethie is a real goodie!” 

“Absolutely.” 

I look down at my lap, lost for words in the face of their combined sentiment. I didn’t go out there for them, but telling them that wouldn’t make much of a difference. It doesn’t help that I can see Rainbow beaming out of the corner of my eye, her smile the slightest bit smug.

“Alright, we’ve done enough, girls. Seth doesn’t know how to handle positive attention,” Vinyl interjects with a smirk.

“Excuse you,” I retort instantly.

Vinyl raises her brow, “What, are you going to tell me I’m wrong?” Her smirk widens into a daring grin. “Come on, just one ‘you’re welcome’ then.”

 I instantly grab the spoon from where it fell and hurl it back at her amidst a smattering of laughter. “Shut it, you!” The spoon plinking against her shades does nothing to discourage her shameless snickering.

 As the laughter dies down, Lyra rubs her two front hooves together, her lips curving into a malicious smile. “So….Pinkie calls you Sethie, does she?”

“Don’t you dare.”

“But it sounds so cute, though!” Not even the most blistering of death glares stops her from batting her eyes at me. “Aw, did I make wittle Sethie angwy? 

I plant my face in my hands and groan despairingly. “Are you all in some kind of giant conspiracy to piss me off!?” 

“No, we came to see if you were all right, remember?” Lyra reminds me. 

“Whatever. So what, are you all just going to stand around staring at me all day?”

“Tempted to, just to see how you’d react,” Lyra remarks with a snicker. “But I actually do need to be going. It is the middle of the workday.”

“Yeah, same. Most of my life I’ve worked without an assistant, so a few days is nothing,” Vinyl is the next to go. “Again, don’t worry about the rent. I’ll collect for last week when you get free, and this week is on the house. Can’t exactly charge you if you’re not living here.”

“I have so much to plan for! I’ll be back later with more snacks! Let’s go, Fluttershy!” Pinkie says, bouncing out of the room with a happy trill, with Fluttershy in tow..

“I need to get back to the library myself, but I’ll drop by when I can during the therapy process. I’m really curious to know how this goes,” Suddenly, she smiles so widely I half expect her cheeks to fall off.  “Afterwards, we can practice magic together!”

“Oh joy. That’s assuming I ever want to use magic again,” I mutter to myself as Twilight leaves. “I’m guessing you’re also leaving, Rainbow?”

“Yeah, I’m going to go for a run! I’ve been cooped up in this room for like, an entire week! I gotta work out all these kinks!” Rainbow jogs in place for a few seconds, wincing at her built-up cramps. “You take it easy in here. I’ll catch you later,” she says, zipping out of the room without wasting another moment, her joyous whoops soon fading into silence.





Several hours later, after the workday ends, Applejack and Rarity come to visit me as well. Their visit is thankfully less energetic than my last. They first apologize for waiting so long to visit; the former was in the midst of business negotiation, while the latter was rushing to keep up with her piling up orders. Not that it matters much to me—I hadn’t been expecting any visitors in the first place, but none of the other ponies have understood that yet. 

After they thank me for saving Rainbow, ignoring my protests that I don't even remember the incident, our conversation turns to my recovery. Applejack is understanding about my condition, giving me as many days off as I need.  Rarity, on the other hand, recognizes Violet Spice’s name as that of a mare she’d met in Canterlot before on a previous trip. According to her, Violet Spice was down-to-earth and easy to get along with. Supposedly, that means I’m in good hooves.

Once they’ve taken their leave, Nurse Redheart brings me a meal of sandwiches and flowers that I politely put to the side. After eating what I can, I attempt to sleep through the night with limited success. Each time I close my eyes, my dreams are filled with flashes of the Scorpio, the princesses, Sombra, and the crawling dead shuffling through the desolate school hallways.

The following morning, Violet Spice returns in a dark purple winter cloak, accompanied by Nurse Redheart who rolls a wheelchair into the room.

“Is it that time already?” I say as they approach, my voice laden with sleep. I shift in my bed as much as I can to look at them, the sheets clinging to my skin by a thin layer of sweat. Once I finish rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I spot the wheelchair. “Right. I was wondering how exactly you were going to move me.”

“Of course. Your bones might be healing nicely, but I’d rather you not place any undue stress on your body just yet,” Redheart explains.

“How are my bones healing nicely? It’s only been a week,” I question with a healthy dose of skepticism.

“That’s plenty of time. All we had to do was set them manually with the doctor’s magic and lock them in place with an immobility spell. A makeshift splint, if you will,” Redheart explains while she approaches my bed. She notices my dumbfounded expression. “Are you unused to magical treatment?”

I glance down at my ribs. Apart from the colorful bruises painted across my skin, I look fine. “I’m unused to magic in general. Can you really use magic to set bones?”

“Of course! I suppose we could let them heal naturally, but then it would take a lot longer.” I hiss as Redheart removes the IV needle in my arm. “Mrs. Spice, can I get your help here? I need to quickly move him.”

Violet nods. She wheels the chair up to the bedside first, then I feel the familiar telekinetic grip lift me up just enough for Redheart to get her hooves beneath me.

“One two three.” With the two of them working together, they lift me off of the bed and over to the chair. Redheart shoulders most of the weight, leaving Violet Spice to keep me immobilized. It’s an odd experience, but once Violet releases me into the wheelchair and my body settles, I find that it was necessary.

“Son of a—” I hiss in agony. Just that slight motion causes sparks of pain to shoot up my from toe to head. I bite my tongue hard, but I can’t keep a muffled cry of agony from escaping. “You weren’t kidding. It feels like I was torn up from the inside out.”

“And I shall ensure it never happens again, or I’ll quit my job and become a farmer,” Violet Spice vows fervently. 

“If that was supposed to reassure me, I don’t think it’s working,” I remark nervously. “Yesterday, you all basically admitted that you have no idea what you’re doing.”  

“It is the first time we’ve ever worked with a human, but I wouldn’t say we have no idea,” Violet returns, gently turning the wheelchair around. “With the three of us, I’m certain we’ll have you in tip-top shape in no time!”

That’s even less reassuring than before. “If you say so.”  

“Just try and hold still. It’s only a short walk to the other facility.”

Violet Spice begins the trip to the Ponyville therapy clinic, pushing me along with her magic. Nurse Redheart escorts us as far as the front door of the hospital before taking her leave, wishing us luck. 

The trip from the hospital to the clinic takes us only five minutes, leading me into a smaller square where, based on the signs, several other health-related businesses are located. It’s not very busy at the moment, due to it being late in the afternoon. I hardly see more than a pair of elderly ponies here and there.

The clinic itself stands slightly apart from the rest, both in location and in appearance. It’s covered with windows that provide excellent visibility into its interior and it’s surrounded by a carefully-crafted flower garden that fills the air with a soothing aroma. It’s an almost therapeutic experience, though I suppose that’s the point. When we reach the door, Violet opens it and takes us inside, shutting it behind her. Without much further ado, I’m taken to a secluded room and my treatment begins.





“It’s been three days?” I ask, sitting up on the operation table to look at the three unicorns who are in various states of disarray. Flash’s lab coat is wrinkled and dotted with stains, and his fur is matted down and sticking out in odd places, while Violet’s mane is a total disaster zone. Neither of them looks like they’ve slept for days. In stark contrast, Jenny looks no different than when I first met her, complete with her overly wide smile.

I’m dressed in a soft white hospital gown jury-rigged to fit my body. Lying around me on either my bed or the surrounding countertops are a variety of cables, tubes, needles, two cups of steaming coffee, and other measuring devices whose purpose I can’t deduce.

‘That’s right, three whole days! You were really good for the whole thing too, minus the screaming and threats,” Jenny responds with a bright smile, looking pleased with herself. 

Violet plants her face firmly into her hoof. “Jenny, we really need to work on your bedside manners.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Threats? Screaming?” 

“You didn’t take the pain very well,” Violet explains while trying to fix her rat’s nest of a mane. 

 	“No kidding. I barely even remember what you did to me.” I rub my neck gingerly, wincing. “That explains why it feels like there are shards of glass lodged in my throat.”

Flash grabs a cup of coffee with a rueful frown. “There’s only so much we could do. This was an entirely new procedure for us. Manipulating internal leylines is a dangerous and unexplored field. We couldn’t have predicted how rough it would be for you.

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Glad I could be your guinea pig. So, was it worth it?” 

“We believe so. Take a look at this.” Flash Forward magically taps a few buttons on the large machine beside him and then plants his hoof on a crystal orb on its base. Two light-green, three-dimensional featureless holograms appear in the air before us, each gently rotating and hovering a few inches above the floor.

The left hologram depicts a standard unicorn, with the pulsing blue glow of the magical core just beneath its horn. A lattice of razor-thin blue wires stretch from the core in all directions, all terminating on contact with the skin. On the right is an empty silhouette of my body.

“On the left, you’ll see a normal unicorn. We’ve managed to construct something similar within your own body, as such,” Flash rotates his hoof slightly, and a black pulsing core appears right in the center of the hologram’s chest with a similar lattice of leylines spidering outward. “Your mana is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, but the general principles on which it operates are thankfully the same.

“So you’re now releasing your mana in a safe and natural way! If you learn and practice, you could even learn to cast spells! Isn’t that exciting!?” Jenny’s excitement brings her really close to me. She’s just lifting her hooves as if to rear up when Violet lightly bonks her on the head with a clipboard. “Eep! Hey!”

Violet transfixes Jenny with a brief severe stare. “More importantly, Seth, how do you feel?” 

“Like I have a headache, except it’s all over,” I retort, still trying to process what Jenny had just told me. My injuries appear to have cleared up, apart from the odd scab and minor bruise here and there. I’ve got to hand it to pony healthcare; after the beating I took, I should have been in the hospital for well over a month. 

I exhale sharply, expecting the usual pressure on my sternum, only to feel...nothing. No pressure, no seeping cold, nothing. It’s almost enough to make me smile. Almost.  “Am I allowed to get up?”

Violet looks over to Flash, who nods after a brief pause. “In theory, yes. Give it a try if you’re ready, but be careful. You’ve been off your feet for over a week.” 

That’s all I needed to hear. I grasp the edge of the operation bed and swing my feet to the floor. I immediately hiss in pain as the shock travels up through my weakened body, but I manage to keep my feet. Once the pain subsides, I gingerly allow my weight to rest upon my wobbling legs. I take my first step and immediately stumble.

“Do not.” I shoot out a hand to halt Violet, whose horn was already lighting up to catch me. With a few more steps around the room, my gait stabilizes, despite the lingering pain. As I do so, I cast my gaze around the room, getting a good feel for my surroundings. I spot my rifle laying on the counter at the far end of the room, and immediately move to fetch it. The moment I feel its cold metal weight in my hands, a sense of comfort washes over me. I glance back at the three unicorns. “There. It seems I’m able to move comfortably. Does that mean we are about done here?”

“Just about. First, I’d like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to work with you,” Flash Forward expresses with a polite dip of his head.“We in Canterlot will learn much from this experience.”

My mouth sets into a hard line at his choice of words. “Ultimately, I didn’t have much of a choice,” I point out to him uncomfortably. “Either way, I guess I should thank you for putting me back together.”

“All in a day’s work. Or three in this case,” Flash Forward responds modestly, walking towards the door. “If you’ll come with me, I’ll take you to your personal effects. Then after you sign a few papers for formality’s sake, you’ll be free to go.”

I nod and slowly shuffle after him. Getting out of here sounds really good; it’s hard to believe I’ve been out of action for over a week.





When I next step into the streets of Ponyville, it’s on my own two feet. The moon, the harbinger of the encroaching night, pokes its head over the horizon. A frigid breeze sweeps through the area, shifting the layers of snow coating the streets With every breath, the frosty air fills my lungs, but it doesn’t sting or burn as much as before. Not even the snow crunching beneath my boots serves to chill me. A strange feeling of contentment falls over me as I look upon the snow-covered town streets before me.

The few ponies that I pass in the street perk up upon seeing me and flash me a smile. Some give me a wave, and some even greet me by name. At most I respond with a quiet nod. I think I preferred their curious stares and their hesitant approach to whatever this is.

Despite everything, I’m rather enjoying the walk. I near the house far sooner than I’d like. Just as I’m debating passing it and continuing my walk a little longer, I spot Vinyl coming out of it, shutting the door behind her. “Oh hey! I heard you were getting out today. Great to see you out and about, dude. Put er there!” Vinyl offers her hoof jovially.

I stare at the hoof. “No thanks. Body still hurts if I move too much.”

Vinyl withdraws her hoof in concern.“Really? How bad are we talking?” 

“I feel like I’ve been run through a meat grinder and reassembled on the other side, but it’s better than before,” I remark.  “Besides, you have one hell of a strong grip.”

Vinyl snorts. “Fair. I don't know what a meat grinder is, but it sounds pretty bad.”

“I’ll deal. I did bring it on myself,” I say with a nonchalant shrug. “So where are you off to this late at night?”

Vinyl shrugs. “I was gonna go and treat myself to some cake and ice-cream and regret it the next morning. Why don’t you come along? You haven’t eaten yet, and you could use the extra calories after a diet on hospital food.”

I’m about to protest, but my stomach loudly grumbles its agreement. “Fine. Let me go and get my bits from inside. I still need to pay you for a week’s rent, anyway.”

“Sounds good, I’ll wait here.” 

A few minutes later, I emerge from the house with my bag of bits and less stuffy winter clothing. I fish out the forty for my rent and pass it to Vinyl. With that taken care of, the two of us make our way back into the streets.





“I should have known,” I emit wryly as the two of us approach the glorified gingerbread house that is Sugarcube Corner. I shoot the sheepishly smiling Vinyl with a pointed stare. “I just got out of the hospital and you’re going to make me deal with that pink devil?”

“Hey,she’s not that bad. She’s probably got other customers too,” Vinyl points out. “Isn’t getting the best sweets in Ponyville worth a liiittle extra socializing?”

“That’s debatable. And my luck isn’t that good. Besides, the lights are off,” I say, pointing at the unlit establishment. “Let’s go somewhere where we can actually enjoy the food.”

“Closed? Nah, she’s not closed,” Vinyl hastily assures me. I raise a brow at that, causing her to bite her lip nervously. “No, really, hear me out. Pinkie’s got this odd baking technique she calls the...uh...the Train Tunnel! It’s where she turns all the lights out except for the kitchen, so the oven is the only light. Like an approaching train, right?”

“That makes literally no sense.”

“When does Pinkie Pie ever make sense?” Vinyl shoots back with a grin. “I’m telling you the place is open. If it isn’t, I’ll buy you dinner.”

“Fine. In for a penny, in for a pound.” I wrap my hand around the doorknob and find it to be unlocked. I open the door and step inside, Vinyl following closely behind.

“See? Nothing. They’re probably already—”

“SURPRISE!” I take a step back, my hand jerking towards my rifle, as light floods the bakery to reveal countless ponies waiting for my reaction, with Pinkie leading the charge. It’s almost as though the entire town came; I recognize Twilight Sparkle standing beside Pinkie Pie; Rainbow Dash and the weather team hovering in the air above them near the ceiling; Applejack and her family gathered near the raised portion of the room with a bunch of other earth ponies, including some of the police force; Fluttershy and Rarity standing near the front counter with Lyra, Derpy, Cheerilee, and the Mayor; and even some of the Canterlot Royal Guard, albeit without their armor. There are plenty of ponies here that I don’t recognize as well. 

The whole bakery is decorated with balloons, streamers, and banners, each labeled with Equestrian text that I can’t read. Behind Pinkie is a long dining table covered in cake, cookies, cupcakes, and fruit punch. On the raised portion of the floor over by Applejack’s family, I recognize a familiar set of turntables and speakers.

“Welcome to your very own ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ surprise party, Sethie!” Pinkie proclaims with a bright happy smile that stretches from ear to ear. She giggles and snorts. “I got you really good! You looked like you thought you were under attack or something silly! Though I guess you could say you are under attack with friendliness and cake!”

I relax the grip on my rifle and slowly turn to stare at Vinyl, who is trying and failing to stifle her laughter behind a hoof. “Train Tunnel!? Really!? That was the best you had!?” I demand, causing her to dissolve into laughter.

“Get off my back! I had to make it up on the spot because you’re so suspicious!” Vinyl chortles as she makes her way to the stage.

“I walked right into this,” I mutter to myself. “How did I not see this coming? I’ve literally participated in one of these before, in this exact same spot, in this exact same manner.  I even told Twilight she could let Pinkie do this. How did I just walk right on in here!?”

“Nocreature sees a Pinkie Surprise Party coming, silly!” Pinkie leaps atop the banister of the stairway, where the largest banner hangs, framed by yet more multicolored balloons. “See the big sign here? That says ‘Welcome to Ponyville, Sethie!’”

“Wait, does it really say Sethie?” 

“You better believe it does, Sethie!” Lyra chimes in, resulting in a chorus of laughter from the surrounding ponies.

A sudden urge for retaliatory action strikes me. “Twilight, pass me a cupcake.” She blinks, but floats a cupcake heaped with frosting over to me. “Actually, make that two.”

The moment the cupcakes float into my hands, I immediately hurl one smack into Lyra’s face with a perfect baseball pitch, the mare snuffling and recoiling from the sudden impact of sugary goodness. Without missing a beat, I hurl the next one directly at Pinkie Pie, who opens her mouth comically wide and eats the cupcake whole.

“That’s for calling me Sethie, you brats!” I yell at them, the room erupting in laughter. Lyra glares at me through the mess of frosting on her face, but smiles despite herself, licking some of the frosting off of her muzzle.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about! Let’s get this party started, everypony!” Pinkie Pie declares. An excited cheer rises from the ponies in the room with cries for music and dance.

Vinyl slams her hoof to her tables, upbeat electronic music blaring from her speakers. “Rock on, Ponyville!”  And like that, the party begins, with ponies making their way to the dance floor or to the food table. 

I make for the table as well, carefully picking my way through the crowd of ponies. Rainbow swoops down from above, munching on a cookie clutched in her hoof. “You should have seen your face! It’s like you’ve never had a surprise party before!”

“That’s because I haven’t,” I say matter-of-factly with a hint of bitterness. 

“That means we get to be your first! Right on!” Rainbow pumps her hoof in the air excitedly. I finally reach the table, eager to get my hands on some baked confections. “This was long overdue, anyway. Pinkie throws a party the day somepony new comes to live here. You should have seen Twilight trying to hold her back.”

I chomp down on one of the cupcakes, finding it to be as delicious as always. “I just hope they don’t expect me to do much other than standing around. The last thing I want to do is move around too much.”

“Still feeling a bit banged up?” Rainbow touches down beside me. She glances around shiftily, then munches down on a cupcake on the table without bothering to pick it up first. “What did they do to you in there?”

“I have no idea. All I know is that it hurt like hell,” I say with a shrug.

“So can you like, cast spells now? You did some really crazy stuff out there in the forest,” Rainbow says. I notice a flicker of discomfort cross her face.

“They told me it’s possible in theory. I have no earthly idea how, though. As I said, I don’t remember anything that happened in the forest after the two of us went down.”

“You really don’t remember anything?” Rainbow presses in an odd halting manner. 

“Not a thing. That’s why this is so hard to wrap my head around,” I reply. I look at her, noticing the change in her demeanor. “What? You’re acting weird.”

“Am not!” Rainbow hotly protests. “It’s just weird is all.”

“Do you know what else is weird?” Pinkie Pie appears next to the two of us as though she’d always been there. “There are so many ponies that have never met you! Let’s fix that, shall we? I bet they all want to be friends!”

 “Oh, I’m sure they do. I can think of a few reasons why,” I say less than amused. I fetch a cup of punch and sip from it. 

“Is it because you know how to make a killer souffle?” Pinkie guesses.

I stare at her blankly.

“No? Then is it because you’re really good with musical instruments?” Pinkie produces a tuba from seemingly nowhere; I widen my eyes and thrust out a hand in confusion.

“How in the...whatever. No, Pinkie, it’s-”

“Oh, I know! It’s because you’re secretly a really cool guy underneath all the grump!” Pinkie proclaims, the tuba disappearing as inexplicably as it appeared. Rainbow can’t help herself and snickers into her own cup of punch.

“Well, excuse you,” I retort. Pinkie just giggles and opens her mouth again. “Pinkie! Stop guessing! It’s obviously for their own benefit.” 

“Now hang on,” Rainbow starts. 

I hold out a hand in front of Dash. “You hush. That doesn't apply to you...I think.”

“You think?”

“Of course it’s for their own benefit. Who doesn’t want to have more friends?” Pinkie responds as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “More friends equals more happiness and more reasons to party!”

“Right. Forget I brought it up,” I remark wryly. I should have known Pinkie Pie of all ponies wouldn’t understand. “So I get the feeling you’re going to make me talk to some of these ponies.”

“You bet! You’re the stallion of the hour, after all. You wait right here!” Pinkie zips away in a flash. Before I have a moment to mentally prepare, she arrives a few seconds later, carrying a very confused Derpy Hooves with her. “I brought the first pony!”

“How did I get here?” Derpy asks cluelessly.

“I wish I knew,”  I remark, thankful that Pinkie brought me a pony I don’t have a problem with. 

What follows is a slew of interactions with ponies I’m familiar with and introductions to those I’m not. Flitter and Cloud Chaser are the next to visit me after Derpy, the two of them expressing their appreciation for saving their boss. After them are a trio of three ponies—Daisy, Lily, and Rose—each one with flower-related cutie marks, who spend a few minutes gushing over my “bravery and chivalry” before returning to the dance floor.

Cheerilee comes to me as well to express her relief at my wellbeing as well as to discuss scheduling. As it turns out, while I’d been in the hospital, she’d finished her curriculum for me and was ready to give lessons whenever I was ready. To start me off, she pointed out the banner hanging from the staircase and explained how to read it, slowly sounding out each of the symbols and telling me what they meant. 

Next, Applejack approaches me with Big MacIntosh and introduces me to a fellow farmer named Golden Harvest, a sunflower-yellow pony with an orange mane looking for able bodies during the harvest season if I’m interested.. The mayor approaches not long afterward, expressing her appreciation and her happiness for my service, and that I’d chosen Ponyville to settle in. I tactfully choose not to voice the fact that I’d never had a choice in the first place. Once she leaves, my worst nightmare approaches. 

“Hiya, Seth!” Lyra trots up to me with a bright smile. Sometime between now and the beginning of the party, she’d managed to clean her face and mane of cupcake frosting. She eyes me appreciatively before angling her head towards the dance floor. “I requested a song from Vinyl! It’s my favorite, so come and dance with me! Rainbow’s out there too.”

“I told you before that I don’t dance,” I remind her.

Lyra nods. “I remember! And I just think that’s just a terrible shame. I bet you’d have so much fun if you’d just relax.”

“Uh-huh. Sure.” I’d hoped my sarcastic response would get her to back off, but instead, it causes her to look mischievous. Nothing good ever happens when she gets a look like that.

“Or...maybe you’re just really shy.” Lyra leans in with lidded eyes and a smug smile. “Am I right? Is wittle Sethie just a shy little colt who doesn’t want his awful dancing seen by everypony? Hmmm?”

I grab another cupcake from the table and promptly shove it into Lyra’s face, except this time she’s ready for it. She opens her mouth wide and engulfs both the cupcake and my fingers inside. I immediately withdraw my hand in disgust, a mixture of crumbs, frosting, and pony slobber left behind on my fingers. “Agh, are you kidding me? That’s so gross.” 

“Not this time,” Lyra licks her lips and snickers at the look on my face. “Now, come on, let’s go dance.”

“Lyra, even if I was inclined to dance with you—which I’m not, just in case you care—I was in the hospital a few hours ago,” I explain to her while wiping my hand with the nearest napkin. 

Lyra’s smugness fades into concern. “Is everything alright? Didn’t they fix you up?”  

“More or less, I’ll be fine. But moving around too much is probably a bad idea. So go find Bon Bon or something and go dance,” I say, waving dismissively at the dance floor. “Where is she anyway? I thought it seemed too friendly in here.”

“Bonnie...didn’t want to come. Said she didn’t feel like welcoming you,” Lyra admitted uncomfortably. 

“That makes sense. Somehow she’s the only one among you that does,” I say with a shrug. It’s far easier for me to deal with someone who wears their dislike for me on their sleeve. 

Lyra gives me an odd look at that but thankfully doesn’t press the issue. “Either way, I’ll let you off the hook this time. But next time no mercy, you hear?”

“Alright, note to self: stay away from any parties.” 

“Mleh!” Lyra sticks her tongue at me and then retreats to the dance floor. “Rainbow! Get down here and dance with me! Seth wouldn’t do it.”

“I told you he wouldn’t! You owe me a cider!” Rainbow gloats from above before swooping down to join Lyra to accept her offer.  

  I sigh heavily, sipping on my punch. “This party is way too high energy for me.” Despite that, it’s nice to lean back and enjoy some music while eating all the junk food I want. 

“On that, we can agree,” a strong and level baritone voice sounds from beside me. I turn my head to see an unfamiliar steel blue unicorn stallion with a gleaming silver mane styled similarly to mine. His eyes are also a shade of silver, and a thin scar runs vertically through his right eye. He turns his head to look at me, his gaze possessing a surprising level of weight to it. “Mr. Seth Rogers, is it?”

“That’s right, but just Seth is fine. I can’t say I know who you are though.” I reply, finding it hard to meet his gaze, instead focusing on his cutie mark of a shield emblazoned with a golden eagle.

“This would mark our first official meeting. I am Stalwart Iron. You may know me as the Commander of the Canterlot Royal Unicorn First Regiment.” As the stallion introduces himself, my eyes widen. Should I be saluting, or showing some other sort of respect? I have no idea how one is supposed to interact with Equestrian military officials. 

“Oh, I d-didn’t recognize you without your armor,” I stammer. I don’t know anything about the commander, but I do know that he’s the reason the Scorpio isn’t a problem anymore. “I’m surprised you’re here. Is a Pinkie Party really your type of scene?”

“Not particularly,” Stalwart Iron admits with a minor grimace. “I mean no disrespect to Miss Pie’s efforts, but it’s far too...bright and colorful in here for my liking.”

“Hah, I’ll drink to that,” I say, tipping my cup in a toast. 

“Regardless, she insisted, and I didn’t feel the need to quarrel with her over it”, Iron says. “First, I’d like to thank you for holding off the Scorpio until I arrived. Without your intervention, I’m afraid there would have been civilian casualties.”

“Really, I had no idea what I was doing. Besides, none of us should have tangled with that thing in the first place.” I’m still uncomfortable with all of these ponies talking about my supposed intervention when I don’t remember doing anything useful at all. “It was your mission, wasn’t it?”

“Indeed it was. Yet I don’t see the need to admonish any of you for attempting to fight it. I have no doubt you have all learned from this experience,” Stalwart Iron agrees. “In truth, I have something else of a more personal nature to ask you..”

“Uh...okay? I’m hardly the best person to talk to if you’re looking to vent.” 

“Nothing so trite. I merely wish to tap into your knowledge of the human race, if you are willing.”  

Iron’s words gain my full attention. “Why do you think I’d know much about the human race?” 

“I’ve been briefed on your circumstances. I know you are displaced from your original era via powerful magic,” Stalwart Iron reveals. I’m shocked at first, but I reason that I don't have any right to be given his position. 

“Okay, but I’m not sure how much help, I’d be. I was just a student, not a scientist, engineer, or anything remotely helpful. I disappeared long before I could really be anything,” I reply, bitterness seeping into my tone.

“Is that so?” To his credit, Stalwart Iron did an excellent job of hiding his disappointment. “In that case, pay it no mind. You likely wouldn’t know. Forgive me for troubling you.”

 Now I’m just curious, but I have no right to demand any information from him. “It’s fine, I guess.”

Stalwart Iron dips his head politely. “ I am sure we will meet again soon, but now I must take my leave, lest Miss Pie once again attempt to coax me onto the dance floor.”

I snort with amusement at the thought. I give him a polite nod and watch him slink away towards the bakery’s back door and out of sight. For a few minutes, I’m able to enjoy my spot by the treats and gently bob my head to the music. 

“Hello again, sweet tooth! I brought some new guests to see you!” Pinkie Pie appears just as I’m biting into my third slice of cake. I inwardly groan and prepare to greet them, only to be met with the sight of Filthy Rich, Diamond Tiara, and her friend Silver Spoon.

I force down that bit of cake, my eyes hardening. “Pinkie...what are they doing here? Last I checked, this is a welcome party for me, and as long as they’re here, I don’t feel very welcome.”

“Aw, don’t be like that! They just wanted to-” Pinkie starts to say.

“It’s alright, Pinkie Pie. I can handle it from here,” Filthy Rich assures her. He gives her a warm reassuring smile. “We have our differences, but that’s why I’m here—to resolve them. Do you mind giving us some space?”

“Sounds good to me! Have a good ol’ talk and then we’ll get right back to partying!” Satisfied by the businesspony’s words, she beams at all of us and disappears into the throng of happily partying ponies.

An uncomfortable silence stretches over the next few minutes that I’m in no rush to break, staring balefully at the trio of ponies I had wished to never talk to again while leisurely chewing on forkfuls of cake.

Finally, Filthy Rich breaks the ice. “Mr. Rogers, I just need a moment of your time. After that, you needn’t associate with us ever again.” 

“...You have five minutes,”  I tell him flatly.

“That’s more than enough.” Filthy Rich takes a breath. “A lot of things were said between the two of us. I still don’t agree with the way you meddled in my family’s affairs, but...I rescind my earlier demands to you. You saved my daughter’s life, and for that I will be forever grateful.”

“You really should be thanking Rainbow. I didn’t go in that forest for you, I went in there for her. That your daughter is safe and sound is more her doing than mine,” I tell him bluntly. “I’m not interested in your debt. Unlike your daughter, I don’t use debts to control ponies as though I own them.”

“Hey! I—” Diamond Tiara protests, only to falter when I transfix her with a blistering glare. Filthy Rich glances at her expectantly, nudging her gently with a hoof. She groans in bad grace. “Fine, I’m sorry, okay!? I shouldn’t have tried to use Apple Bloom, and I shouldn’t have gone into the forest. I was just trying to do something for myself!”

“Too little, too late,” I growl. “Think about all the ponies you’ve no doubt used in the past, and then think about who you should be apologizing to.”

“Rest assured, my daughter will have plenty of time to think and reflect upon your words,” Filthy Rich promises me. “Regardless, whether you meant to save my daughter or not, in the end, that’s precisely what you did. Thus, if I am able to assist you in any way going forward, you have but to ask.”

I stare back at him, an earnest expression on his face to accompany his heartfelt words. It’s rather strange to see such a drastic change in attitude in someone that previously threatened to run me out of town. “That’s unnecessary, but I’ll keep it in mind. Now is there anything else? I’d rather get back to enjoying my cake,” I reply impatiently.

“Just one...uh...sir,” Silver Spoon speaks up next. “Thank you for saving my friend. I...expensive pearls and gems can be replaced, but...Diamond Tiara can’t be.” Diamond Tiara’s mouth opens slightly in surprise, and then she glances at the floor, blushing. 

 “Whatever, I guess,” I reply uncomfortably. “If that’s all—”   ”

“Of course. We’ll take our leave of you. Enjoy the party.” Filthy Rich dips his head respectfully and retreats, taking his daughter and her friend with him.

I let out a sigh of relief and return to my cake, which looks noticeably less appetizing than minutes ago. I take a small nibble, trying to lose myself in the warm sugary taste. I wonder how Amaryllis would handle being thrown in Equestria, and what she’d think of everything. I check to see what Pinkie is doing only to find her absolutely crushing on the dance floor next to the jumbled uncoordinated mess of an electrocuted grasshopper that is Twilight dancing. Amaryllis probably wouldn’t wait for Pinkie to throw her a party, because she’d beat her to it, I think to myself with a wistful smile. I raise a toast in Amaryllis’s name, hoping it will find her wherever she is. 

I can do this, Amaryllis. I’ll keep putting one foot in front of the other. I won’t give in, because I know you wouldn’t.
> 22. The Invitation: I (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Erratic Tune idly sips from his sugary fruit cocktail from behind the bar, bobbing his head to the rousing electric beat that fills the club. In front of him, the place is cram-packed with ponies dancing, socializing, and overall cutting loose after the humdrum of the day-to-day. Waiters and waitresses dash in a frenzy among the crowd to get the various customers their orders, while the bartenders mix the drinks as fast as the waiters can pick them up. Erratic Tune hums approvingly as one of his more seasoned employees swoops in to grab a drink tray from the bar and expertly maneuvers to the opposite side of the club, making a mental note to give everyone a small raise in appreciation.

At the far end of the bar, across a packed dance floor illuminated by LEDs, is tonight’s performers, a Magical Dance Music group that call themselves Pon-dulum. They aren’t bad, but Erratic finds himself wishing for a different type of music from time to time. To that end, he taps the rough draft of a flyer for a tentative musical festival with his quill, chewing softly on its end while he ponders what names to fill in for the attending bands.

One of the bartenders taps him on the shoulder, breaking him out of his thoughts. “Mr. Tune?” he says with a smirk, indicating the front door with a hoof. “Check it out. Looks like Lady Sunny Side is here.”

“Is she now?” Erratic turns to the front door, where the doors to his club open to admit another group of ponies. Among them is a mature snow-white unicorn with a scroll over a blazing sun cutie mark that always catches Erratic Tune’s eye. Her neatly groomed mane is a pastel pink and orange that cascades down one side of her face, meshing well with her soft purple eyes that seem to gaze right into the soul.

“All yours, boss. I’ll make sure the staff leaves you alone,” the bartender says with a knowing wink. 

“Good stallion!” Erratic bumps hooves with the bartender amiably and moves to the bar with a spring in his step just as Sunny Side approaches. He waves away the server that was moving to meet with her and takes his place, beaming at the mare. “Evening, Sunny Side. I have to say, you look as stunning as ever,” he greets her with a dip of his head.

Sunny Side lets out a demure chuckle. “Why, thank you, Erratic, you old flatterer.” Her confident, motherly voice fills him with that strange sense of calm she always seems to carry with her. She takes a seat at the bar, every movement efficient, yet elegant. “It seems like it has been a busy night for you.”

“It’s the Friday night crowds. You’re typically here earlier in the week, so I bet you’ve never seen them,” Erratic Tune explained with a wave of his hoof. “To what do we owe this special occasion? Nothing bad, I hope.”

“The events at the castle as of late have been particularly stressful, so I was hoping to get some of your famous fruit cocktails,” Sunny Side explains, her horn lighting up a golden yellow and levitating a few bits onto the bar. 

“I can most certainly oblige you there. If there’s anything I can do, it’s help ponies take a load off, especially lovely mares like yourself,” Erratic flashes her a wide winning smile, earning another pleased chuckle from her. He makes for the fruit juice taps, gently ushering the bartender out of the way. “The usual?”

“Yes please.” Sunny Side confirms. A minute later, Erratic Tune returns with her order and slides the glass right into her telekinetic grip. Sunny Side takes a sip and then sighs contentedly. “Excellent as always. So how has business been recently?”

“Oho, I’m glad you asked! You see...” From there, Erratic Tune and Sunny Side engage in small talk, with the former dominating most of the conversation while the latter listens politely, taking occasional sips from her cocktail. As the bartender had promised, none of the other staff came close to the two of them during this time, and the conversation slowly shifts towards the festival Erratic had been working on.

“I want to ‘wow’ my customers. I want them leaving this bar thinking ‘now that is a performance!’” Erratic Tune sweeps his hoof across the entirety of the bar, acting out his imaginary customer. “It will be unlike anything anyone has seen. I’ve already decided on Tera and the Blazing Medley, that upcoming alternative rock band Writers of the Rise, and even a jazz group that impressed me the other night, but I’m missing just one more. I could go with one of my various MDM contacts, but I want something new.”

“Something new, hmm?” Sunny Side rubs her chin briefly in thought. “Why not ask somepony less well-known?”

“I could, but they’re always a gamble. If I pick the wrong band, it reflects poorly on my business,” Erratic Tune expresses helplessly. 

“I believe it is worth taking a chance on somepony, even if you do not get the results you desire,” Sunny Side advises him sagely. “Fortunately, I think I have just the pony in mind if you care to listen.”

“Always. You always listen so attentively to me.” 

Sunny Side leans in with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “I happen to know of a young mare based in Ponyville who makes use of various foreign cultures to influence her music. She may fit your requirement for ‘something new.’”

Erratic Tune reached for his quill and a roll of parchment. “Well, color me interested. Give me the name.”





“So, are you going to wake up sometime today?” 

I’m suddenly awoken by Vinyl’s teasing words from outside my room. The floor shudders gently with the rumbling of the dryer out in the hall. A brief glance at the floor reveals that the clothes I’d lazily discarded last night have been picked up.

“Would you blame me if I didn’t?” I mutter, forcing myself to rise. I wince, my body feeling as sore as ever. Man, it would be nice if I had at least one day where I didn’t hurt like hell. 

“Not really, no. We were up waaay past midnight.” I hear the washer lid slam shut and rumble to life. “What did you think of your welcome party? We went all out for that one.”

I climb out of bed. A quick glance out the window confirms that Ponyville is once again draped in a layer of snow. “I suppose it wasn’t as terrible as I thought it was going to be.”

“Pfff, would it kill you to give a compliment?” Vinyl returns wryly, looking up from her laundry as I walk out into the hall. 

“Probably.” I deadpan, causing her to roll her eyes. “I’m meeting with Cheeriliee today. We were supposed to meet weeks ago, but then I landed in the hospital.”

“Yeah, that does tend to throw a wrench into things,” Vinyl comments dryly as she neatly folds one of my shirts. “Speaking of which, don’t you have magic now? You gonna try to learn how to use it, cast a few spells?”

“Probably not,” I answer, wincing at the thought.

Vinyl quirks a brow at me. “Why not? Just look at all the cool things you can do with it.”  

“Vinyl, last time I used it I basically exploded.” 

“Got me there, but that shouldn’t happen again. That’s what you went through all that therapy for,” she points out.

“They told me it was all experimental, uncharted territory. For all I know, I’ll explode into smaller chunks the next time. I’m not risking it.” My brother would kill me if he knew what I was passing up. “Besides, I’ve gotten this far without it. In the end, I don’t need it.”

“Dang. Well, if you’re sure. I guess it is your decision,” Vinyl replied with a shrug. “I know Twilight Sparkle would probably teach you in a heartbeat.”

“Yeah, that’s also what I’m afraid of,” I retort with a shudder. “Just thinking about sitting through a lecture with her sounds like an absolute nightmare.”

“Hah. Rainbow would agree with you,” Vinyl snickers. She lifts the stack of laundry she’d just finished folding onto a shelf above the washer and dryer. “Anyway, come on downstairs and I’ll throw together something for food. Then you can do what you’re going to do. I’m probably going to spend some time out with Noteworthy and Fiddly Twang. They’ve been wanting to hang out for a while.”

“Doesn’t matter to me.” After breakfast, I don a jacket and open the front door, only to nearly run right into a brown stallion pegasus that’s standing just outside, his back laden with saddlebacks filled to bursting with envelopes and scrolls. “...can I help you?”

The stallion looks taken aback by my appearance, but he manages to quickly shake it off. “Looking for one ‘Seth Rogers’? Got a high priority letter for him here.”

Now he has my full attention. “That’s me. What’s this letter?” Before I can puzzle out who the sender might be, my questions are answered when the stallion hoofs over an envelope adorned with a fancy golden seal in the shape of the sun. I take the letter with a shaking hand. “That’s...oh my gosh.”

“A letter from the princess, eh? Guess you’ve got some important friends. You take care now,” the stallion gives me a respectful nod and then takes to the skies to his next delivery.

“What’s up, dude?” Vinyl asks, approaching from behind. She spots the envelope in my hand and her jaw drops. “Is that what I think it is?!”

“Son of a-” I cut off and rub my forehead, feeling the beginnings of a stress headache forming. “This is the last thing I needed.”

“Calm down. It’s probably nothing bad. Come on, let’s go back to the table and I’ll read it for you,” Vinyl offers. 

Once we’re both seated at the dining table, I pass the envelope over to Vinyl, who opens it up and unfolds the letter inside. “Princess Celestia writes so fancy,” she says with a whistle.

“Just read the letter, please.”

Vinyl nods and clears her throat. 



‘Dear Seth Rogers—I hope this letter finds you well. It has been some time since we last spoke, and I wish it were under better circumstances. Word has reached me of the events in the Everfree Forest. I extend my heartfelt apologies for the injuries you sustained at the claws of the Scorpio. It was the responsibility of the guard detachment to deal with the Constellation; as such you should never have had to confront it yourself.

In regards to the above, I would like to extend an invitation; would you care to visit Canterlot for a weekend sometime? I would love a chance to speak with you again about your experiences in Equestria thus far, such as any possible progress towards making friends. In particular, I’m curious about the magic you possess and, if you wouldn’t mind, would appreciate a chance to see it for myself.

Such a visit would give you the opportunity to see the capital of our fair nation. If you're interested, I will handle any and all expenses involved.

Your loving friend, Princess Celestia.'



Vinyl’s eyes are as wide as dinner plates as she finishes reading the letter “Ohmigosh, Seth. You just got invited to Canterlot by Princess Celestia!” she squees in a high-pitched voice.

In contrast, my head rests securely in my hands in dismay. “I can’t believe this,” I groan, the forming headache lodging itself firmly in my skull. 

“This is great! Do you know how expensive it is to do anything in Canterlot!? And you get to see the Princesses! I’m soooo jealous, dude!” she says, practically bouncing in her chair with excitement. 

“You have no reason to be,” I tell her. “I’m turning her down.”

“What!?” Vinyl looks at me as though I’ve grown a second head. “How could you...but she...Canterlot...Princess Celestia!” She spreads out her hooves as if anything in that jumbled nonsense was supposed to make sense.

“Exactly. There’s no way this is for some cordial sightseeing visit.” I lean back in my chair and cross my arms. “This is Princess Celestia. One of two rulers that run the entire country. She must have countless responsibilities to attend to; every single moment of her time has to be spent carefully.”

“Okay, so what?”

“So she’s planning on inviting me, someone she’s only met once, for a weekend free at the capital? If the flag were any redder, it wouldn’t be visible to the naked eye. It’s like if the President of the United States asked me to spend a weekend at the White House when I’ve done nothing to earn it!” I stand up from the table and scratch my neck with both hands, exhaling deeply in an attempt to vent my stress. “There’s no way this isn’t about my race.”

“I have no idea what any of those things are, but this is probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” Vinyl scowls at me disapprovingly. “You’re seriously gonna stand here and accuse the Princess of trying to use you? Dude, she clearly just wants to check up on you and see what your magic’s all about.”

“Wrong. Sure I got hurt, and maybe I have magic. But ponies get hurt every day, and magic is as normal as breathing to you ponies. I shouldn’t be any different.” I shake my head firmly. “No, this isn’t some friendly visit. She wants something out of me, and I am not going to fall for it.”

“This is getting ridiculous.” Vinyl gets to her hooves, her nostrils flaring in anger. “Let’s say you’re right. So what? What do you expect her to do that’s so bad that you’re willing to spit in the face of the princess’s generosity?

“Generosity doesn’t exist. There is always an angle. Always. One hundred percent. And don’t you glare at me; you know I’m right,” I express sternly. 

“I’ll glare if I want, because generosity totally exists; you’re just being overly paranoid. Again.” 

“For good reason. I couldn’t care less about what the princess wants. She has plenty of other lackeys at her disposal to use. I am not one of them, nor am I her ‘loving friend’.” I retort mockingly. “If she wanted something from me, she should’ve come right out and said it. Maybe then I’d give it a thought before turning her down.”

Finally, Vinyl loses her composure. “Okay, enough of this. Stop dodging my question and actually tell me what you’re so worried about.” 

“Were you not listening? I don’t trust authority figures at all. The better question is why do ponies always leap to the princess’s defense with such blind faith, when in reality questioning authority is not only the smart thing to do, but necessary to stop oppression.” I shoot right back at her. “I can’t fathom why you don’t understand that.”

“That’s because Princess Celestia has done nothing but look out for us for over a thousand years.” Vinyl jabs a hoof at me emphatically. “She is the kindest pony anyone’s ever known and everypony knows that; even rulers of other countries respect her. What I don’t get is how you’ve even met her and you’re still trying to paint her as some kind of evil ruler!”

A surge of anger rushes through me at the reminder of my last meeting with the princess when she single-handedly stole my reason to live, but I force myself to suppress it. “Any ruler is skilled in the art of deception. It’s a necessary part of being a politician,” I say with a stiff shrug. “All she had to offer were words, and that’s not enough.”

“Dear Celestia, it’s like talking to a brick wall.” Vinyl plants her face into her hoof, growling out her frustration. “This habit you have of thinking the worst of ponies without even trying to know them is the worst thing about you.”

“Excuse me for trying to protect myself,” I respond, offended. “Either way, she was inviting me, so it’s my decision, and I choose to decline.”

Vinyl grits her teeth and exhales through her nose. “I think you’re being an idiot. If I were her, I’d be offended. And think about this: If you’re right and she’s as bad as you say, do you really want to offend her?”

“She’ll be fine. She’s taken worse from me before,” I say dismissively. “If this does come back to bite me, I’ll accept whatever consequences that come with that. It wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened.”

“You know, maybe that should tell you something about yourself,” Vinyl counters sharply. She walks past me in a huff on her way to the door. “I’m going out. I can’t handle any more of your nonsense right now.”

“Alright, see you,” I say with a dismissive shrug. Vinyl steps outside and slams the door behind her. I get up from the table and set the letter aside. It’s unlikely I’ll ever touch it again.

After waiting several minutes by the door, I take to the streets of Ponyville amidst a soft dusting of snow falling from the cloudy skies. I breathe in the frosty air and sigh in contentment, finding the cold weather a welcome sensation. 

I walk down the streets without any particular destination, still pondering the potential consequences of declining Celestia’s invitation. For a brief moment I consider bringing up the matter to Rainbow Dash, but I just as quickly decide against it. Every single pony I’ve met appears to worship the very ground the princesses walk upon; it’s likely I’d just end up in another argument.

While the school day wraps up, I decide to pass the time walking around Ponyville to get a feel for where everything is. It’s not right that I’ve been living here for a month and still don’t know most of what the town has to offer.

As I walk around, I notice several pegasi and unicorns working together to decorate the town with leafy wreaths and multicolored lights. I even spot Rarity amongst their number, directing a group of pegasi who struggle to place a thick cord of tinsel decorated with bells and candy canes along the rooftops of buildings.

My meandering path takes me to downtown Ponyville, where a variety of shops line either side of the streets. The identifying signs for each are nothing but scribbles to me, and cursory glances at various windows don’t shed much light on their wares. 

I find myself spending some time in the only store I recognize—the music store. Noteworthy doesn’t appear to be here; instead, an unfamiliar mare is running the store in his place. I barely respond to her friendly greeting, choosing instead to peruse the small selection of instruments lining the walls. 

Ultimately I’m unable to afford any of them, so all I do is stare longingly at the electric guitars. Though I suppose they’re called magical guitars, given that they’re powered via the crystal orb set into the frame. Approaching one of the guitars, I tenderly run my fingers along the crystal, feeling it gently pulsating beneath my touch. My fingers curl around the orb and tug on it, but I manage to stop before I accidentally remove it. 

I turn my body and tap on the orb within view of the shopkeeper. “Tell me where I may find more of these.” 

The mare looks up from the ledger, taken aback by my commanding tone. “T-The crystal cores? You can find them basically anywhere, especially at the general store. There’s also an art store that specializes in crystals that sells them on the side too.”

After receiving directions to the latter, I thank the shopkeeper tersely and make a beeline for the art store. A smattering of pegasi flies overhead as I reach the shop in question. There’s little to set the shop apart from the others aside from the sign, which is marked with the image of a cloud made from crystal.

The inside is little more than a rectangular room with a counter and cash register just inside to my right, where a unicorn mare with crystal earrings scribbles something down in her notebook with a quill, her glasses perched on the tip of her muzzle. Wooden shelves displaying a large variety of artistic crystalline sculptures and etchings stretch along both walls to my left and right, while similarly constructed partitions dot the center of the shop, filled with jewelry and other assorted knickknacks.

The mare spots me and promptly shoves her notebook out of view. She gazes curiously at me for several moments before greeting me with a bright smile. “Welcome to Frosty’s Crystal Emporium! Please, take a look at our art and let me know if you’re interested in anything!”

“These art of a stupendous quality. My compliments to the sculptor.” My eyes roam hungrily over the shelves as I make my way deeper into the store. Some sculptures are simple, depicting ponies in various poses such as a pegasus in flight or a unicorn casting a spell. Others are more complex, such as the contoured shape of what I assume to be a minotaur complete with chiseled muscles and sharp horns, or a large colored figure of Princess Celestia in full royal regalia. There are also slabs of crystal decorated with various engravings that appear to be within the slab itself.

I spend time taking in each individual piece of art and the glimmers of light refracting through the crystal. One hand grasps at my regretfully light bag of bits as I picture how each sculpture might look atop my desk. 

As I stand before the final partition, my eyes alight on the carefully arranged crystal cores displayed in colorful boxes. Unable to stop myself, I reach both hands into the box to get a closer look.

“Hello, Seth! What are you doing here?” Flitter’s surprised voice startles me back to reality, the pegasus walking inside with a paper bag tucked into her saddlebags.

“Uh…” I look down at my hands still buried in the box of crystals cores and quickly withdraw them in embarrassment. “Just looking around, really. Lost track of time.”

“Oh?” Flitter walks up to join me with curiosity brimming in her eyes. “Are you interested in art?” 

 My eyes turn to the sculptures once more, the light glinting tantalizingly off their faceted surfaces. “I didn’t think so, but something about these catches my eye. I don’t know what it is.”

“They are pretty, aren’t they?” Flitter beams. She moves over to the shelves and points to a milky blue crystal sculpture depicting two nondescript pegasi wheeling about a cumulus cloud. “I’ve had my eye on this one for a few months. It reminds me of my sister. I can’t afford it just yet, but I might try and get it for her in time for Hearth’s Warming Eve in a couple of weeks.”

“For what now?”

Flitter gasps and looks at me with realization sparking in her eyes. “Oh, of course, you wouldn’t know! You’re not from Equestria, right?” An excited smile crosses her face. “Eeeee, you’re going to experience your first Hearth’s Warming! It’ll be such a magical experience!”

“That’s all well and good, but what is it?” I demand impatiently. “Does it have anything to do with what all those ponies are doing outside with the lights and tinsel?”

“I’m sorry, I’m just so excited for you!” Flitter squeals happily. “Hearth’s Warming Eve is a holiday celebrating the founding of Equestria. We give gifts to our friends and family and have a giant party in the evening. There’s also the great pageant in Canterlot!” 

“Are you actually serious? That’s literally just Christmas.” 

“Chrissmiss?” Flitter tilts her head to one side curiously. “You have something similar where you come from?”

“Yeah. It’s to celebrate something different, but the traditions are suspiciously the same. We even use lights, tinsel, and wreaths,” Hundreds of questions spill into my head at this impossible coincidence. “What, do you also erect and decorate a tree?”

Flitter nods enthusiastically. “Yes! That’s my favorite part! The earth ponies work together to bring in a really big tree for the square, us pegasi decorate it, and the unicorns power it!”

“I...have so many questions.” I run a hand down my face, a groan escaping me. This is either a great practical joke from the universe thousands of years in the making, or ponies stole things from our ruins that should’ve died off ages ago. “Do you also sing carols?”

“Yup! Some of them have been around for hundreds of years!”

“Hang stockings on your fireplaces?”

“So we can fill them with smaller gifts!” 

“Watch related movies?”

“Every night with my sister until the day of!”

“Put out milk and cookies for Santa?”

“...For who?”

“Big guy in red who jumps down the chimney to deliver gifts,” I explain. “Jolly, fat, goes ‘ho, ho, ho’?”

Flitter looks completely and utterly lost. “I don’t think we have that one. We give our gifts to each other, nopony delivers them.”

“Thank goodness. This already barely makes sense but I would’ve lost it at pony St. Nick.” I note Flitter’s confused expression. “Don’t worry about it. It’s part of what started the holiday in our culture. What makes no sense is why you have an almost exact holiday.”

“Maybe somepony traveled to your country and spread our culture there?” Flitter guesses with a shrug. 

“Ponies can’t come to my country,” I state flatly. Well one pony did, but he was more interested in omnicide than spreading holiday cheer. “I guess it’s just something else I’ll have to chalk up to the list of things I can’t explain.”

“Try asking Twilight Sparkle! If anypony knows, it’s her!” Flitter suggests. 

“I don’t care enough to find out. I was just surprised, is all,” I say, shaking my head. “I’ll figure out what to do about the holiday when it gets here. In the meantime, I should get out of this store. I can’t afford anything in here anyway.”

“Want to walk together? I still have some shopping left to do,” Flitter offers, gazing at me hopefully. She quails somewhat when I meet her gaze. “I mean, unless you have something else to do. I don’t want to keep you.”

“...I’m compelled to ask why you’d want me to come with.”

“I just want some company is all. You can leave whenever you want,” Flitter answers, taken aback by my question.

“I feel like you have better options, but whatever. I don’t have anything else to do except visit the schoolhouse once school ends.”

Despite my less than enthused response, Flitter’s face lights up, making me wonder if it was worth saying yes after all. I can’t imagine she’ll enjoy herself around me. “Alright! Let me finish my purchase here and then we can go!” Flitter picks up a few of the smaller crystal cores from the partition near us, quickly pays for them, and then the two of us leave the store. 

As we leave, Flitter fishes out several dull crystal cores from her saddlebags and dumps them in a bin by the front door. When I question her, she explains that crystal cores need to be switched out when they run out of magic. The old depleted cores are either recharged by their unicorn friends or recycled and recharged by storekeepers and later resold for cheap. I can’t help but imagine what it would have been like if we humans had the innate ability to recharge our batteries—our bills would have gone way down.

“Over there is Flowers and Snacks, where the flower ponies work,” Flitter says, pointing to a shop where if a surface isn’t covered by bundles of flowers for sale, it’s covered by floral patterns instead. The three ponies I met at the party—Daisy, Lily, and Rose—are there as the owners, selling various Hearth’s Warming Eve-related bouquets. 

“Flowers...and Snacks?” I repeat, only for my implicit question to be immediately answered by a pony chomping down on the bouquet of flowers they just purchased. “Right...ponies eat flowers.”

“Humans don’t?” Flitter asks curiously.

“We can, but most flowers are bad for our health. Don’t ask about our diet, you won’t like the answer,” I caution her.

“That just makes me more curious, but I won’t press you,” Flitter remarks accommodatingly. I give her a wry stare. Twilight took it well when I talked about my species’ carnivorous side, but I doubt Flitter would.

As we walk down the road, Flitter points out each individual shop. “There’s the toy store over there! There’s Pick of the Patch, and that’s Hay’s Hardware!” Just as a tantalizing sweet smell drifts to my nostrils, Flitter points out what’s clearly a candy shop. “That’s Sweeter than Sugar, Bon Bon’s shop. Want to grab some candy while we’re here?”

“I’d rather not see Bon Bon right now,” I say with a grimace. “Or ever.”

“Oh...that’s right. I forgot you two don’t get along,” Flitter wilts for a moment, but perks back up upon seeing the next shop. “Nevermind then. Come over here, I actually need to go into this one.”

“Alright. I’ll wait outside then.” I spot a bench in front of the store and move to sit down. 

“I’ll be quick!” Flitter dips into the building. She emerges after a few minutes, another paper bag tucked into her saddlebags beside the first. “Thanks for waiting. This is Quills and Sofas, by the way!” Flitter reveals. She giggles as my brow slowly rises. “Yes, really! He only sells those two things!”

“I’m going to take a wild guess and say that unless you bought the world’s smallest sofa, you went in for quills,” I deadpan. Flitter giggles again and she reaches for her bag. “I swear, please do not pull out a tiny sofa.”

“I almost wish I had one; that would have been cute.” Flitter produces one of the quills she bought to show me. “I ran out of quills recently. Mine always break when I’m in the middle of—” Flutter breaks off, flushing and hiding her face behind her mane. “—W-When I’m in the middle of something.”

I raise a brow at her brief change in demeanor. “Don’t ponies have pencils?”

“W-We do, but they smudge easily and I don’t like the way they splinter in my mouth,” Flitter says with a grimace, sticking her tongue out in disgust. “I prefer soft quills for writing. The only downside is how often they break.”

“That’s why I never use them if I can help it.” I don’t know what a weather pony would need with so many writing utensils, but I choose not to ask her despite my curiosity. I glance to the sky, noting the position of the sun. “So is that all you need?”

“Mhm, I’m done. I need to get back home so Cloud Chaser and I can start decorating our house for Hearth’s Warming Eve!” Flitter says, bouncing in place excitedly. “You said you needed to visit the schoolhouse, right? I think school lets out soon.”

“That’s right. I’m supposed to meet with Cheerilee so I can finally learn how to read your language,” I remark. The thought of sitting back with a good book under a shady tree sounds lovely, but I’ve no doubt it’s going to be a long struggle before that vision becomes a reality.

Flitter nods understandingly. “Okay. Take care, and good luck with miss Cheerilee!” With one last wave, she spreads her wings and takes flight, grunting somewhat as she lifts the extra weight into the air with her. “I’ll make sure to get you something nice for Hearth’s Warming!”

“Yeah yeah,” I turn the other direction and walk away, before whirling back around as what she said sinks in. “Wait, what? No! Do not do that! Flitter! Do you hear me? Do not get me anything!”

I glare at her as she passes beyond my field of vision. I swear if she gets me any gifts I’m returning them. With that thought in mind, I turn back to downtown Ponyville and stomp along the usual path to the school.





As all the foals are leaving for the day, I make my way inside, to where Cheerilee is cleaning up for the day. Upon hearing my footfalls on the wooden floor, she glances over her shoulder.

“Good evening, Seth. I’m glad you came to see me today,” Cheerilee turns around and sets out a chair just in front of the desk. “Please, sit. Are you ready to start learning Equestrian?”

I relax into the offered seat, eager to give my body a chance to rest after being on my feet all afternoon. “I am, but first we need to work out the logistics of the rest of our arrangement.  I want to know what sort of schedule I’ll be looking at.” 

Cheerilee nods and sits down on her haunches just behind her desk. “Let’s start there then. What does your week look like?” she asks, producing a calendar from a thick folder brimming with sheaves of paper divided by tabs.

“I need at least four days to work on the farm in order to make my rent. Apart from that, Vinyl Scratch has me working for her some evenings, often without much warning. Can you work with that?”

“If you aren’t always available in the evening, scheduling tutoring sessions in advance like I originally suggested might be difficult. Maybe I could have you working under me during the day as a student-teacher instead?” Cheerilee offers. I blink, taken aback by her suggestion. “Is something wrong?”

“No, I just wasn’t expecting it. Remember that I’m educated, but I don’t have any experience educating,” I remind her, inwardly shuddering at the thought of spending entire days trapped in a room with foals, Diamond Tiara included.

“I understand that, but having an extra pair of hooves around would give me more time to cover the material,” Cheerilee reassures me. “I wouldn’t expect you to take over, but little things like helping the little ones out while they’re working or tidying up their messes can go a long way!”

A wave of relief rushes through me upon hearing that. As much as I dislike the idea of having all eyes on me during a classroom environment, at least it’s better than one-on-one tutoring sessions. If fate hates me enough to stick me in a room alone with Diamond Tiara, who knows what fresh hell might have occurred. “Alright, I think I can handle that. I’d have to work verbally though—until I can read and write.” 

“Of course! As an added bonus, once you’re fluent in our language you can help me grade their assignments. Though by that point, I’d likely pay you for the trouble,” Cheerilee offers with a placid smile. 

I nod, finding that agreeable. “It would be nice to take a break from farm work every now and then.”

“I can imagine! By the way, are you still okay with speaking to my class about your species? I wanted to be sure before I worked it into my curriculum,” Cheerilee questions. 

I freeze briefly and then let out a heavy sigh. “About that. I said I would, but there’s something you need to be aware of if you ever want me to talk about our history.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“Human history is not...pretty. I’ll spare the details, but we were constantly at each other’s throats, and the kinds of atrocities we were capable of...well, I doubt there’s many ponies that can handle hearing about it, much less foals.”

Visibly disturbed, Cheerilee gazes down at the desk, swallowing nervously. “O-Oh...I see. H-How violent are talking?”

“Pretend that your largest history book is nothing but gratuitous descriptions of various wars,” I tell her flatly as she blanches. “Now pretend that that book is just a fraction of our history.”

“That’s terrible. Did humans not know anything about peace and friendship?!” Cheerilee questions desperately. 

“Supposedly we did, but it was typically short-lived. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to be born in a relatively peaceful time, just over half a century after a war that was so bad that humanity as a whole realized they couldn’t have a conflict like that again,” I reveal to her, causing her to exhale in relief. “I’m sure I can find some equally interesting things about us, but history is more or less off the table.”

“I’m inclined to agree with you after hearing something like that,” Cheerilee shudders. “No wonder you sounded so uncomfortable when I first brought it up. I’m terribly sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize for my species. Most of them often leave much to be desired,” I assure her with a shrug. 

“I suppose we’re hardly perfect either; we ponies have had times of conflict before, but nothing on the scale you’ve described for a thousand years,” Cheerilee expresses. “We’re very lucky to have Princess Celestia. I can’t imagine what we’d be like without her.”

“So I keep hearing.” Here I find yet another pony swearing by Princess Celestia. “Rest assured, I won’t bring up any of our conflicts. If it makes you feel better, you can clear whatever I can talk about first.”

“It very much would.” Cheerilee manages to shake off her aversion, putting an awkward smile on her face. “In any case, I’m sorry again for bringing up an uncomfortable subject for you. Perhaps we should move on to scheduling. Are you open on Mondays and Thursdays?”

“I should be. I’ll have to clear it with Applejack, but that should be just enough for me to break even,” I say, resolving not to spend a single bit of what’s currently in my bag. I’ll need that buffer until I start earning money working with Cheerilee.

“Okay. I’ll write you in for then.” Cheerilee picks up a pencil with her mouth and scribbles something in Equestrian in her calendar. “If you ever need to deviate from the schedule, please let me know in advance.”

“Man, imagine if all employers were anywhere near this reasonable,” I comment, briefly recalling my time working a dead-end summer job in a department store. “So, when do we start our lessons?”

“Right now, if you’d like. I have no plans for this evening, and my lesson plan for you is right here!” Cheerilee taps the folder she’d retrieved earlier. “I’m willing to spend a few hours to get you started on your first assignment.”

“Assignment? You gave me homework, didn’t you?” I deadpan. 

Cheerilee’s eyes sparkle with mirth at my words. “Of course I did! What sort of teacher do you think I am?”

“Clearly not a merciful one.”

Cheerilee clicks her tongue chidingly. “Now Seth, how are you going to commit any of this to memory if you don’t practice some due diligence outside of the classroom?” She chuckles at my expense as my eyes roll. 

Cheerilee opens up the folder and lays out several sheets of paper. The first one she presents consists of several empty boxes on the left side, each accompanied by a row of repeated Equestrian symbols on the right. “First, let’s start with the basics: the Equestrian Primary Alphabet. I’m going to sound out each of these symbols to you, and I’d like you to write the human equivalent beside it so you can get used to associating them in your mind...”





With our first lesson complete, Cheerilee sends me home with a folder filled with various practice worksheets to complete, along with a thin picture book to assist me in associating Equestrian words to objects. 

By the time I get home, I’m so tired that I don’t want anything to do with letters. Vinyl doesn’t appear to be home, so I trudge upstairs, set the worksheets on my desk, and wash up for bed. The following morning, I wake up to find Princess Celestia’s letter tucked under my door.

“Smooth, Vinyl. Still not accepting it.” I grab the letter and lackadaisically toss it beside the study materials. Breakfast is a quiet affair. Vinyl looks like she’d been up late last night, so she spends the meal hunched over her coffee with bags under her eyes. After finding out that she has no gigs for the near future, I finish my meal and take a trip to Sweet Apple Acres to visit Applejack and let her know about the new arrangement. 

Applejack is initially surprised by my decision to split time between the farm and the school, but when she hears that it’s so I can learn to read, she becomes fully supportive, claiming that what I do is more or less paid volunteer work, so I should feel free to adjust my schedule as I see fit as long as I keep her up to speed. With that taken care of, I return back to Vinyl’s house and head to the music room, eager to brush up on my skills for the first time in nearly two weeks. Homework can wait until my hands are too raw to pluck the strings.

Monday morning is an interesting experience, given that I find myself walking to school behind a crowd of colts and fillies. I can’t help but notice their interest and apprehension when it becomes clear I’m walking to the schoolhouse with them. Diamond Tiara in particular stays well away in front of the pack, though her friend Silver Spoon does wave hesitantly when she catches my eye. As we reach the schoolhouse, I slow down and wait by the door while Cheerilee watches the students take their seats from her desk. As the students file in, she blows the steam off a cup of morning coffee and places it next to an empty paper plate littered with crumbs 

“Good morning, everypony!” Cheerilee greets her students brightly. She gets to her hooves, her gaze briefly passing over me at the door before focusing on the students. She dips beneath her desk and pulls out a platter of cookies. “I hope everypony had a lovely Sunday. As you know, Hearth’s Warming Eve is coming up in a little over a week, so Pinkie and I brought everypony cookies! Please, come line up and help yourself! Only one cookie per pony, please!”

The foals cheer as they leap out of their desks and stampede up to the back of the schoolhouse. While the students are busy getting their hooves on Pinkie’s latest masterpiece, Cheerilee approaches me by the door. “Thanks for coming. I assume Applejack was okay with you taking today off?”

“No, I came here without telling her, so she’s probably about to come knocking on your door with an army of angry farmers and cattle,” I retort sarcastically. Cheerilee quirks a brow with a lost expression. “I’m obviously kidding. Yes, she’s okay with it. You have me for the day.”

Cheerilee laughs. “You have an interesting sense of humor. Anyhow, today we’ll start with something simple...provided you’ve done your homework. If you haven’t, then that’s what you’ll be doing.”

“Don’t worry ‘mom’ I did my homework before goofing off,” I retort, producing a folder containing the finished worksheets from Saturday night. “I can’t believe you have two different writing systems. This isn’t going to be easy, is it?”

“Nothing worthwhile ever is!” Cheerilee beams, accepting the worksheets from me. “In the meantime, because you said you didn’t have any experience educating others, I want you to sit with the class today and watch. Today is Equestrian spelling and grammar, so maybe you’ll pick up on a few things while you do so. If you have questions I’ll answer during break time.”

“Makes sense. What are you going to do about the students though? I doubt they’ve had a human three times their size sitting in class with them before,” I remind her.

“Let me take care of that. For now, find a seat and we’ll get started!” Cheerilee directs. I nod and scan the room, taking note of where all the ponies are sitting. Once I spot Diamond Tiara, I choose a spot in the back corner as far away as possible next to a very confused amethyst-colored filly.

Cheerilee walks back to the table, where the students have thoroughly ransacked the plate of cookies, and clears her throat. “Everypony, I have a big announcement  regarding our human guest.” All at once,  the students look back and forth between her and me, speaking to one another in hushed tones. “From now on, Seth will be sitting in with us on Mondays and Thursdays. He’s in training to become a teacher assistant, so I hope you will all get along!”

“Wait really?” 

“No way!”

“This is a little scary….”

“Are you kidding me!?” 

“Awesome!”

The reactions I receive from the students are mixed, to say the least. Diamond Tiara in particular is aghast, while Sweetie Belle looks apprehensive and Apple Bloom and Scootaloo look like they just got told their holiday came early. I don’t miss the smug glance Apple Bloom gives to Diamond Tiara, who just growls in annoyance.

With that, Cheerilee begins her lesson, turning to the chalkboard. “Now then, last Monday we just started learning about gerunds, so I’d like to continue where we left off; teaching you all how to properly use them in your writing! First, I’m going to write a few sentences...”

The actual material of the lecture itself isn’t of much use to me; grammar was never my strong suit, and that was with a language that I understood. Instead, I do as I’m told and focus on Cheerilee herself and how she interacts with her students. The school day as a whole is structured similar to what I’d expect; the first half of the day consists of checking and going over the previous day’s homework, followed by a long lecture. Lunch and recess are combined together and occur around noon when the foals produce their packed lunches and eat them in the clearing outside or at their desk before frolicking at the accompanying playground behind the schoolhouse. The second half of the day is more hands-on, with Cheerilee passing out various worksheets and having the students work individually, while she walks around the room to assist them. 

For the most part, Cheerilee herself handles the students well. When she’s teaching, she speaks in a clear voice that keeps the attention on her, but when answering questions or correcting mistakes, her tone becomes noticeably more down-to-earth and kind. While the foals are rambunctious and often loud, when it becomes too much Cheerilee cracks down firmly, without taking any excuses or grief before easing up once the message is clear. I can only marvel at her ability to balance the carrot and the stick.

The whole affair isn’t as painful as I was expecting it to be. Watching students being genuinely eager to learn fills me with nostalgia for my days in grade school, learning was enjoyable and I still looked forward to coming to class. I’m not even as lost as Cheerilee and I expected I would be. While I can’t understand what’s being written on the chalkboard, I’m able to mostly follow along by listening to Cheerilee and filling in the blanks by context.

I depart for home after a short conversation with Cheerilee at the end of the day with a fresh set of sheets to work through, this time on basic consonants and vowels. I have several days to work on them, so I plan to take tonight to rest and play some more music.

I walk into the kitchen and pause in annoyance, noting the letter from Princess Celestia innocently sitting on the table. One of my eyes twitches at the sight. “Vinyl, I swear to god.”

“Yeah? What’s up, dude?” Vinyl walks in the front door just behind me, hearing my growing annoyance from outside. She notices me looking at the letter and snickers. “Oh, would you look at that? You have a letter. From the Princess, it looks like!”

“Vinyl, it’s the same letter.”

“Oh is it? What kind of idiot would leave a letter from the princess lying around for two days?” Vinyl trots up beside me and brushes her chin as if in serious contemplation, her words filled with such smug innocence that I’m tempted to turn around and smack her. “Seriously dude, she’s Princess Celestia. She deserves at least a response.”

“I’ll think about it, so quit shoving it in my face,” I pick up the letter and stash it with the rest of my homework. I glance back at her and notice another letter with a fancy seal clutched in her magical grip. “Looks like you’ve got mail of your own.”

“Yeah. No idea what it is though,  just grabbed it out of the mailbox,” Vinyl lifts it up to show me. “Any ideas what sorta fancy-schmancy pony would want with me?”

“Only one way to find out.”

“True that.” Vinyl nods and glances at the cover. “Huh.”

“What’s that reaction for?”

“I have no idea who this pony is.” Vinyl admits, nonplussed. Her eyes scour the front of the letter till she finds the return address. “From the owner of the Angel’s Share, Erratic Tune.”
> 23. The Invitation - II (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vinyl telekinetically unseals the envelope, fishing out a folded letter and a flier of some sort. Throwing the envelope aside, her eyes skim over the flier. 

“Oh this is really cool. This place is holding a music festival in Canterlot with a bunch of different artists.” Vinyl flips the flier over to show me. The art depicts Christmas—or I suppose Hearth’s Warming Eve—with a decorated tree taking up one half of the background and musical and fruity motifs the other half. Emblazoned top middle is the venue’s logo of an alicorn silhouette presiding over a cup of citrus. Various lines of Equestrian Scrawl fill in the rest. “Check it out, there’s my old roomie’s band: Tera Tremolo and the Blazing Medley,” she says, tapping one of the lines.

“Alright, that’s cool and all, but what do we care about any of this? You said before that Canterlot is really expensive to visit.” 

Vinyl’s excitement visibly dims, her ears flattening. “I did, yeah. I guess I can’t really go to this without draining my savings.” She sets the flier on the table and unfolds the letter. “Now let’s see why this Erratic Tune dude is sending me this anyway.”

As Vinyl reads the letter over, her eyes slowly widen and her ears rise back up. “Whoa, no way. Is this for real?”

“You're just going to leave me in suspense over here?” I ask, tapping my foot. 

“Dude, I think this is my big break!” Vinyl exults, her body trembling with excitement. “I’m invited to perform at the festival too! In Canterlot!” I lean back as Vinyl rears up and kicks her front hooves in the air with a loud whoop. 

“Didn’t you say you’ve performed in Canterlot before?” I recall, raising a brow at her unusual excitement. “Why does this one have you so hyped up?”

“Once, and I was barely an opening number. Seth, I’ve never been requested by name before!” Vinyl lowers her hooves, only to erratically bounce on them, her mane becoming messier and tousled. “I have to take part in this, it’ll be huge for my career!”

I frown, not particularly liking the idea of losing my secondary source of income. “So, you’re headed to Canterlot soon then?” 

“You better believe I am!” I cover my ears as Vinyl closes her eyes and lets out a high-pitched squeal of pure unadulterated excitement. “Pack your things, dude. I need a day, then we’re off to the big city!”

“Yeah, that makes sense. I just need to figure out what to do about rent now that you’re—” I pause mid-sentence and jerk my head up. “Wait hold on a second, I’m going with you?”

Vinyl snickers at my double-take. “Did you think you weren’t? You’re my assistant, and this is a multi-day affair! Obviously you’re coming.”

“I’m going to…wow, okay.” My hand moves to my forehead. “How would that work? How am I even supposed to pay for it?”

“You’re not.” Vinyl shoots her hoof up to forestall the impending protest. “And don’t you dare give me that face; I already know what you’re going to say.”

“Oh do you now?”

“Here’s how it’s gonna work. I’m paying for the train tickets, hotel, and food. You’re going to schlep all my stuff wherever I tell you to, and then we’re both going to get paid. Get it?” Vinyl taps her hoof on the table with each sentence. “Ever traveled for work before? They’re called business expenses.”

“My job experience pre-Equestria was a summer retail job,” I admit with a sigh. “Come to think of it, my brother’s company used to pay for his trips whenever he had to work in the field. You’re still going to turn a profit?”

“Hay yeah I am! Like, a huge profit!” Vinyl exclaims before she pauses. “Hold up, you have a brother?” 

“I…” I close my mouth with a snap. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Huh. No worries; I was just curious.” I avert my eyes from Vinyl’s gaze, scolding myself for letting the words get away from me. “Anyway, so you’re cool coming with now?”

I pinch the bridge of my nose; my attempts to stave off the coming stress headache proving unfruitful. “...Yeah, I guess there’s no reason not to.” 

“Alright! I seriously can’t wait! I’ve got to get ready!” Vinyl zips into the living room, and the sound of crashing and shifting furniture ensues. “I need to pack up my tables, think about my setlist, put together something to wear...oh, and Tera’s going to want her guitar back. So much to plan, aaaaah!” 

I shake my head and make for the stairs; I still have some homework I can do before bed. As I move upstairs, I sigh heavily. So in the end, I’m going to Canterlot anyway. At least this way it’s on my terms. I only hope that I’ll be able to avoid the Princesses.





The following morning, I wake at the usual time for work and get dressed warmly, only to walk downstairs and find Vinyl pacing impatiently in the living room with half a cup of steaming coffee hovering beside her. The living room is even more of a wreck than usual. There’s hardly any room for me to walk without stepping over stacks of discarded vinyl records, stray extension cords, and effect pedals. 

“Don’t even bother, dude.” Vinyl thrusts a hoof over to the nearest window. I follow her hoof to see nothing but a flurry of pure white outside. “With that storm outside, we’re pretty much stuck here.”

“It can’t be that bad,” I say offhandedly. I move over to the front door.

Vinyl jerks her head to me in alarm. “Don’t open the—!”

The moment I turn the handle, the door slams open, blown inward by the sheer force of the winds. A cloud of freezing white snow bursts into the hallway, blinding me and causing my face to sting. The wind cuts right through my clothes and to the bone in an instant.

Vinyl forces the door shut with her magic, staring at me with a flat-browed expression. “What did I just say? That’s a regular winter storm out there. Unless you want to suffer, you’re stuck here.”

“Point taken,” I dust myself off, a smattering of snow scattering to the floor with each motion. “I’ve never seen a storm like that before. I barely even saw snow where I came from.”

“That’s what it’s like further south, or so I hear. My gigs never take me down that far,” Vinyl reveals. My eye twitches at that. I lived further south, but apparently, my further south is their further north. I’ll never understand what happened to America’s geography. “I’ve already packed as much as I can for now, so get comfy and find something to do until this blows over.”

Defeated, I collapse onto the couch. “Ugh, what a pain. I have things I need to do today.”

“You and me both, pal. I should be running errands in town, but go figure,” Vinyl continues to pace, her irritation growing with every step. 

“This is Rainbow’s fault somehow,” I complain. “I still don’t understand why you even need to make storms and severe weather, if you control it all.”

“I’m not the pony to ask about that, though this could be from the Everfree Forest. We’ve got no control over what pops up from there,” Vinyl says with a shrug. 

“Great. I don’t have many options on what to do with my time anyway. I mean I guess I still have homework I could do, but…” I trail off and lean my head back against the couch, the two of us cutting a rather sad figure.

“Homework? Oh yeah, for your reading. Sounds totally boring.” Vinyl kicks her hind legs mindlessly. Finally, after several moments of agonizing silence, she beats her head against the couch. “Aagh, I can’t take it anymore!” 

She turns her head to me and lifts up a familiar black magical guitar. A hopeful expression crosses her face. “Wanna jam? I can’t just stand here and do nothing.”

“Wha…?” Several protests run through my mind at the sudden suggestion, but the sight of the magical guitar floating in her telekinetic grip proves too tantalizing to ignore. “Screw it, why not. It’s not like there’s anything else to do.”

“Now we’re talking!” Vinyl leaps to her hooves, energy returning to her lithe frame. She passes me the guitar and leads me to the music room in a streak of white and electric blue.

I follow her with the guitar, looping my arm through the strap. I never thought I’d agree to play with someone so willingly, but the first time was enjoyable enough, and this may be the last time I get to play a magical guitar for some time.

Vinyl shuts the door to the music room, locking out any and all unwelcome noise from the storm raging outside. She zips to her tables and taps several buttons and flips several switches, resulting in a record scratching sound that eventually gives way to a basic beat. “It’s time to rock, dude! Let’s get some practice in before the main event!”

“I won’t be in your main event, but I can’t argue with some good ol’ rock and roll,” I recall a particular song and regret not for the first time that I don’t also have a keyboard. Once again, my dreams outreach my current income. Though perhaps with this gig, things will change. “Any idea what I should play?”

“Not a single one! Just jam out to whatever you want, and I’ll add my own touches to it as we go!” Vinyl encourages me with a wide grin. With a shrug, I flip on the magical guitar and break out into the opening riff of a heavy metal song that was fairly popular back in my era. By no means am I able to play the solo well, but I can just switch to the rhythm when the time comes. “Okay, I have no idea what this is, but this is awesome! Let’s go!”

With that, the two of us embark upon a journey of rock remixing that if it weren’t for the soundproofing of this room, our neighbors would likely be able to hear despite the howling storm.





Applejack spots me trudging through hills of snow piled up along the road, dressed in three layers of clothing. “Howdy there Seth. You’re wrapped up mighty tight,” she says with a chuckle. 

“Well sorry I don’t have warm insulating fur like the rest of you ponies,” I retort, shivering as a gust of wind passes through the field.

Apple Bloom giggles as well. “You look like a mummy!”

“Now I’m questioning how you even know what a mummy is, but that’s beside the point. I’m guessing you’re here because school was canceled?”

Applejack stares over her coated fields. “Most Ponyville closed shop for the day... Wish there was some kind of warning. Felt like walking in the frozen north this mornin’,” she says in annoyance. “Look at this mess! It’s gonna take all evenin’ to git my fields clear!”

“I can help for a little while, but I actually have some—” Before I can finish my sentence, Rainbow Dash pops from underneath a snowdrift like an arctic mole. With a wild grin promising mischief, she winds her hoof and nails Applejack on the cheek with a snowball. 

With a snuffle, Applejack clears the snow out of her eyes and glares at the cackling instigator. “Rainbow Dash, you pesky eyesore, I ain’t got time for your nonsense!” 

“Then come and stop me, AJ! Unless you’re admitting defeat already!” Rainbow taunts, bouncing another snowball from one hoof to another. 

“Not on your life! C’mere!” Rainbow’s eyes widen as Applejack tackles her into the snowdrift, concealing them in a white cloud of kicked-up snow. 

I shake my head at the display. “For goodness’s sake. And here I was thinking my day would be nice and—” My world explodes with a cloud of white as a snowball bursts on the scarf covering my face. Slowly, my eyes fall down to Apple Bloom giggling before me. 

“Sneak attack! Three points for the Apple team!” Apple Bloom declares with a raised hoof before withering at my menacing look. “Oh...did I make you mad? I’m sorry, I was just trying to have some fun an I know you were part of the last snowball fight we had an please don’t be mad at me...I didn’t mean to—”

During her string of apologies, I wordlessly kneel down and roll up a clump of snow. Then I roll it again. And again. The resulting snowball grows larger and larger, becoming as large as Apple Bloom herself. Apple Bloom trails off as I lift the snowball above my head, her little hooves scrabbling on the ground as she struggles to make a run for it. “Wait, no! Eep!” 

My wrath mercilessly descends upon her in a ball of packed white destruction. The snowboulder smashes into her petite frame and bears her to the ground, crumbling into a hill of freshly-turned snow.

“Turnabout is fair play, you little sneak,” I say with a snicker while dusting off my hands. A hatless Applejack returns with Rainbow Dash in tow, the two of them out of breath and exchanging verbal jabs. “Welcome back. You two finished trying to paint each other white?”

“Yeah. I won, obviously. You can barely see orange under all that snow!” Rainbow boasts breathily, nudging Applejack.

“Well I don’t see none of those obnoxious colors of yours, Rainbow Dash!” Applejack shoots back. I decide not to mention that I can make out each of their coats quite well. “Hold on a mo, where’s little Apple Bloom?”

On cue, Apple Bloom pokes out of the snow with her bow undone and her mane falling in a mess down her face. She shudders and snuffles, spitting out snow. “That ain’t fair! I can’t make snowballs that big!”

“Try picking on someone your own size next time,” I caution her, earning laughs from Rainbow and Applejack. “Which reminds me. Care to explain that snowstorm? Why was it necessary to shut the whole town down?” I ask, turning to Rainbow.

“It wasn’t on purpose!” Rainbow protests. “It was supposed to be a flurry, but then some storm clouds came from the Everfree Forest and mixed with our clouds! After that, it was a total mess!”

“Why didn’t you just push them away?”

“You try messing with Everfree weather, genius. It’s like a totally different beast!” Rainbow defends. 

“So you’re sayin' all this,” Applejack says, spreading out her hooves at the half-buried farm, “is your fault?”

“No! I mean um...maybe? I’d say it’s more of a team fault,” Rainbow says, tripping over her words.

“Good enough for me. You’re helping Seth, Big Mac, and me clear the fields.”

Rainbow’s ears droop, and she glances at the snow-laden fields in dismay. “Wait what? Really? Do I have to? There’s like fifty acres of snow out there!”

“Quit your exaggeratin’ and grab a snowplow. These drifts ain’t gonna clear themselves.” Applejack nudges her back with a smug expression. “Coming, Seth?”

“I said I would. Besides, seeing Rainbow actually help us for once is worth the extra effort,” I reply, earning a piteous moan from Rainbow and a satisfied smirk from Applejack. “We need to talk after we’re done, though.”

Applejack tips her hat to me. “Sure thing, sugarcube. Let’s get to it, then!”

“I wanna go home,” Rainbow whines.





The workday lasts only four hours but is just as exhausting as if I’d worked the full ten. A pony snow plow is little more than a metal wedge attached to a wooden frame on wheels moved only by blood, sweat, and tears. Despite the cold weather, before long sweat builds up under my clothes, forcing me to shed some layers.

Watching Rainbow is equally exhausting. First, she soars high into the sky, and then when she has enough altitude, she flips about and heads for the snowplow. Her front hooves collide with the bar at top speed, pushing it forward at almost quadruple my speed. She grunts and her muscles strain, but with her added speed, she whizzes up and down the field, scattering snow every which way in the process. She manages to clear most of the field by herself, but with every cycle, her pace steadily slows down till she’s pushing the bar at a snail’s pace by day’s end so it falls to me to handle most of the paths leading to and from the various farms.

“I think that’s about enough for today,” Applejack decides upon viewing her farm from atop a hill. I rest on my knees beside her, while Rainbow lies on her back on the snow, her fur slick with sweat and dusted with snow.“Y’all look tuckered out. Hope I didn’t push y’all too hard.”

“You’re a slave driver, Applejack,” Rainbow moans. 

“Nopony asked you to plow that fast. Ain’t got nopony to blame but yourself,” Applejack teases, poking Rainbow on the chest. She swiftly withdraws her hoof with a snicker as Rainbow limply bats back. “Seth, you said you wanted to talk. What’s up?”

“Just give me a second to catch my breath. Whew.” I wipe the sweat from my forehead, wincing at the soreness in my limbs as I straighten up. “Vinyl Scratch’s been invited to Canterlot for a music festival, and I’ll be tagging along as her assistant.”

Rainbow lifts her head from her comatose position. “Wait seriously?” 

Applejack’s mouth opens in mild surprise. “Canterlot? Sounds like she’s movin’ up in the world. How long will y’all be gone?”

“I don’t actually know. She just said it would be a multi-day affair. I could be there for a week for all I know,” I answer with a shrug. 

“Fair ‘nuff. We’ll manage without you. Hearth’s Warming Eve is comin’ up anyhow, and then I’ll have Apple Bloom around during the break to help out.” Applejack pauses. “Seth, y’all ain’t from Equestria, right? You ever been outside Ponyville before?”

“Not unless you count the Everfree forest.” 

Applejack nods and adopts a reassuring smile. “Alright, so this should be eye-openin’ for ya. I think it’d do you a world o’ good to see more of Equestria. Canterlot’s a real fancy place, what with the castle and the nobleponies.”

“You sound like you’ve been there before,” I observe, noting Applejack’s general look of distaste. 

“Been there quite a few times. Ain’t for me, but y’all might like it.”

“It can be really stuffy,” Rainbow says, getting into a sitting position and shaking the snow off with a wiggle. “But Canterlot’s awesome! The Wonderbolts have a base there, and they sometimes put on airshows! I think there’s one coming up for Hearth’s Warming Eve, too! I’m really jealous you get to go.”

“Why don’t you go to Canterlot, then? Aren’t you captain of the Ponyville Weather Team? I bet you could afford it.” I ask. 

“Hay yeah I could! But I’m not really gonna go by myself, you know?” Rainbow answers as though it should have been obvious.

“What, you’re telling me the Rainbow Dash is too scared to go to the big city on her own?”

Rainbow bristles. “Yeah right! Canterlot doesn’t scare me! What’s so scary about a bunch of snooty ponies and a couple of guards?”

“A couple hundred guards, more like,” Applejack helpfully supplies. “Also, I think you’d find them royal guards plenty scary.”

“Put a sock in it, AJ!” Rainbow swipes at her friend, who ducks beneath her hoof smugly. “I don’t see the point in going on my own is all!” 

“Are you just tryin' to go with them? Is that what this is?” Applejack accuses. 

Rainbow freezes as my gaze shoots to her pointedly. “What? No! Who’d want to do that?” She dithers beneath Applejack’s unconvinced stare. “I mean...unless he’s offering. Then I’d think about it. Heheh...”

I rub my forehead. “If I was offering, would you be down for it?”

“Hm, maybe…” Rainbow leans in a bit, crossing her front hooves coyly. “But only if you’re serious.”

“Land’s sake, it’s a yes or no question!” Applejack says with a shake of her head. “Rainbow, do y’all wanna go or not?” She then turns to me. “Seth, you cool with her tagging along or what?”

“Sure, I’d go.” “If she wants.”

Applejack stares at the two of us with flat brows, her impatience turning into exasperation. “There y’all go. Go have a fun time hangin’ out in the city. Though I gotta say, I feel bad for Vinyl Scratch for having to put up with you two.”

“Hey!” “Excuse you.”

Applejack blinks, then stifles her laughter. “Y’all are totally in sync.”

“Are not!” “In her dreams, maybe.” 

Rainbow and I promptly glare at each other, and Rainbow fails to stifle a laugh. I roll my eyes but smirk nonetheless. The idea of a trip to Canterlot doesn’t seem as daunting anymore if Rainbow is coming along. “If you’re coming, we’re leaving tomorrow morning.”

“I’ll be there! This’ll be great! Now I can see the Hearth’s Warming Eve Air Show! Also, the Wonderbolts have a licensed gift shop that sells all sorts of merch. I go there every time I go to Canterlot. I totally need to show you all the cool things they sell! There’s this one action figure of Spitfire that when you crank her tail, she—”

“Right right, Wonderbolts are great and all that. Let’s just git back to the barn before Seth regrets invitin’ you.” Applejack bites down on Rainbow’s tail and drags her down the hill.

“Hey, let me go! Seth, help!” Rainbow struggles in Applejack’s grip, then pounces on her when it's clear I won’t do anything, her front hooves outstretched and a smile of pure malice plastered on her muzzle. Applejack lets go of Rainbow’s tail long enough to lift her front hooves and catch her head-on, the two colliding and roll down the hill in a mixture of rainbow and orange.

“I swear, these ponies have too much energy,” I say with rolling eyes and pick up Applejack’s fallen hat and follow them towards the barn.





I part ways from Rainbow and Applejack and make my way back into town, my moneybag a little heavier. Much to my dismay, I run into Pinkie Pie along the way, who pops her head out from one of the Pinkie-sized holes she had been leaving in snowdrifts throughout town. In between yammering about the best flavor of snow cone and what purple tastes like, she off-hand mentions where Cheerilee lives.

Deciding on a whim to make a quick detour, I surprise Cheerilee by knocking on her front door unannounced. Inside with a cup and biscuits in hand, I discuss my travel plans with her and promise to make up for the sudden change in schedule. She takes it well but gives me a thick folder filled with practice worksheets and sample sentences to do while I’m away. It’s more of the same, but Cheerilee insists that the more I do these simple tasks, the more I’ll commit to memory. 





“There you are! Come on, we still need to get packed. We’re leaving first thing the next morning,” Vinyl says, yanking me through the half-open front door with barely a chance to hang my clothes on a nearby rack. Drawers, cabinets, and end tables hang open, littered with more musical equipment than I even knew she had. “Did you handle all your business in town?” she asks, waving in the general direction of some cables left on the coffee table.

“I did. Also, apparently Rainbow is coming with us. She kinda invited herself along when I told her about it,” I reply, coiling the mess of cables and passing them to Vinyl who stashes them in a tub.

“Sweet, having her along should be a blast! Gotta say, I’m happy you two get along now,” Vinyl expresses. “Next are the Sennhoofers. Let’s lift those together.”

“Yeah well...I don’t get it, personally. By all rights, I should hate her.” I grunt in exertion, supplementing Vinyl’s magic in lifting the large speaker. 

“And then y’all fought it out and you’re cool. Wouldn’t be the first friendship started that way,” Vinyl finishes for me, the two of us working together to put the speaker onto Vinyl’s carts. As we move to lift the second speaker, Vinyl pokes her head above it with a grin.  “Just don’t try dating her. She’s got unreasonable standards.”

I shudder at the thought. “Gross. As if there was any danger of that.” 

“I’m totally gonna tell Rainbow you said she was gross,” Vinyl threatens as we carefully set the second speaker into the cart. 

“If you do, I’ll fill your bed with snow for the next week.”

“Do that, and I’ll fill your bed with thistles and creepy crawlies!”

“Eugh!” Vinyl’s laughter fills the air as we continue packing for the long trip tomorrow. In total, Vinyl’s gear takes up two full carts as opposed to the one for her usual gigs. As for me, I manage to find a ratty used suitcase in the back of Vinyl’s bedroom closet next to some rolled-up university posters. In it, I pack as many clothes as I can fit, as well as the homework folder Cheerilee gave me. With everything packed, Vinyl and I share a quick dinner of vegetable stew and discuss general plans for what we’ll do in Canterlot before retiring upstairs. After a long warm shower, I lay on my bed and try to relax. Part of me is interested to see more of the world I now find myself in, but the thought of being anywhere near the princesses fills me with anxiety. Various thoughts, doubts, and concerns race through my mind, even as my consciousness fades and sleep takes over. 





Sleep comes to an abrupt end the next morning from something blocking my nose and mouth. I jolt awake and lurch upright, inhaling sharply with a particularly colorful curse. I can’t see anything in the darkness, but the raucous laughter tells me everything I need to know.

“Rainbow, what the hell are you doing? And what in the world are you doing in my room!?” I demand, getting to my feet.

She flicks on the light switch, revealing her leaning against the door frame with a triumphant look. “You were sleeping so peacefully, so obviously I had to prank you. I just quietly, stealthily, pinched your nose.”

“Of all the juvenile—” I reach out with clawed hands flexing in choking motions. “What are you even doing here? What time is it?” 

“We’re about to leave, dummy!” Rainbow remarks. “Hurry up and get dressed so we can go. I can’t wait!”

“Get dressed?” Heat rises in my face when I realize that I’m standing in front of Rainbow in my underwear. I pick up the nearest pillow and hurl it at her. “Who just barges into someone’s room while they’re undressed?! Get out and give me some privacy!” 

“Ack! Hey! What’s the big deal? We don’t wear clothes anyway!” Rainbow protests, but retreats outside under the onslaught of pillows I send her way, closing the door. “Alright alright I’m going, sheesh! Why are you so touchy just because your legs are showing?”

“Because humans don’t walk around naked all the time like ponies do!” I snap back at her while pulling on some clothes. “I’m sorry for having some standard of decency!”

“Okay, Rarity,” Rainbow retorts with a teasing tone. “Don’t be such a prude. Feeling the wind running through your fur while you fly and run is the best.”

“I am not having this conversation.” Rainbow responds with a laugh. “Why are you so annoying?”

“Why are you so slow?” 

“Maybe because I just woke up, you dingbat!”

“I don’t know what that is, but you’re a noodle-head!”

“Wha, I swear I am going to go out there and kick your little tail!”

“Ha! I wouldn’t talk so tough; we both know how that would go!”

“Would you two quit flirting? It’s early in the morning and you’re loud,” Vinyl complains, her footfalls thudding loudly on the stairs as she comes to investigate. Both of us immediately stop exchanging barbs.

I hear overdramatic retching from the outside. “Ew, Vinyl!”.

“That is 100% not what we’re doing,” I agree, utterly disgusted.

“Whatever you say. Either way, wrap it up and come eat. I made eggs and fried potatoes,” Vinyl informs us. 

“Awesome! I’m so there!” I hear Rainbow galloping down the stairs at top speed. Not long after she leaves, I exit my room with my suitcase rolling behind me, dressed in the nicest clothes I own. I storm over to Vinyl, who is waiting by the stairs.

“Why did you let her in my room?” 

“I didn’t. I just said you were upstairs. Not my fault you left your door unlocked,” Vinyl remarks smugly.

“I expected you ponies to have an idea of basic privacy. I’m so sorry for overestimating you.” If my words were any more laden with sarcasm, they’d be dripping onto the floor. “Are we all ready to go?”

“Pretty much. Let’s just go eat before Rainbow eats it all,” Vinyl returns, motioning to the stairs with her head. I nod and follow her to the kitchen, to the sight of Rainbow ravenously tearing into a plate of eggs. 

“Yeesh, slow down there some, mare. You’re going to make yourself choke,” Vinyl taps Rainbow lightly on the back, chuckling at the latter’s enthusiasm. She heaps two more plates high with eggs and potatoes before passing one to me. “So, we’ll be traveling to Canterlot by train. I’ve already bought two tickets, so Rainbow I hope you bought your own.”

“Eh’re ih fuh afflefah.” Rainbow points towards a set of saddlebags lying on the living room floor with one wing. 

“I’m just going to hope that’s a ‘yes, Vinyl, I did,’” Vinyl remarks dryly. “Once we get there, we’ll be checking in at the closest and cheapest hotel, then we’ll be visiting Erratic Tune’s bar to see what’s what.”

Rainbow swallows her mouthful. “Why don’t we just stay at the castle? I bet if I asked nicely, Princess Celestia would let us stay in a suite.”

“I bet, but considering you know who’s coming with us—” Vinyl points at me. “There’s no way that’s going to happen.”

“I’m sitting right here, Vinyl.”

“What? Why wouldn’t Seth want to stay at the castle? They have garden tubs three times your size, and beds so soft they’re almost better than clouds, and that’s saying something!”

“I don’t tr—”

“He doesn’t trust the princesses. Go figure,” Vinyl answers for me, to my annoyance.

Understanding dawns in Rainbow’s eyes, and she groans, running her hooves down her face. “Of course he doesn’t. I bet he wouldn’t trust his own meal if it came with a side of creamed corn!” 

I toss a balled-up napkin at her. “Did I wake up just to be trash-talked all morning? Because I’ll just go back to sleep if I’m not wanted.” Rainbow blows a raspberry and bounces an ice cube off my nose. “Okay, you realize this means war.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Vinyl halts our prepared projectiles in place with magic. “Hurry up and eat your eggs so we can catch our train before it leaves.”

“Oh whoops.” Rainbow dives back into her meal, slurping down her food as fast as possible, bits of eggs clinging to her muzzle.

“I don’t know why you think Princess Celestia would give you a suite anyway. It’s not like you’re Twilight Sparkle, her personal student. You’re just some weather pony.” Vinyl and Rainbow both pause and look at me as though I’ve spouted a load of nonsense. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Vinyl facehoofs. “That’s right, you wouldn’t know. Rainbow Dash is the Element of Loyalty. She and the other Elements saved all of Equestria from Discord almost a year ago, long before you arrived.”

“Yeah, I’m kind of a big deal,” Rainbow brags, preening shamelessly in front of me. “I think most everypony knows who I am.”

“Discord? As in...the Discord?” I ask, my eyes widening in recognition. Vinyl and Rainbow both nod in confirmation. “As in the Discord who apparently turned Equestria literally upside down and ruined all the laws of nature?”

“That’s him!” Rainbow answers proudly.

“That’s a load of garbage. Twilight told me he escaped a year ago, but there’s no way you were involved. Discord is a reality-bending god, and you couldn’t even handle the Scorpio. Discord is a princess-level threat if I’ve ever heard one.”

Vinyl shakes her head. “She’s serious, dude. I woke up one morning on the ceiling, in a bed literally made of water, with little fish swimming around in it. The streets outside were made of polka-dotted carpet, and it was raining chocolate milk from the sky.” 

“That makes me believe you even less. Quit messing with me.”

“We’re not! It’s all true!” Rainbow insists. “We’re the Elements of Harmony. Saving Equestria is kinda what we do!”

“You see, you’re saying words, but none of them make sense,” I say, holding my head in one hand and rubbing my temples. “You expect me to believe you idiots are celebrities?”

“If you want, we can tell you everything on the way to Canterlot. It’s a long story that I’m surprised nopony has told you by now,” Vinyl offers. “We should be going. The train leaves in half an hour, and we’re still sitting here.”

“Uh, maybe not the whole story…” Rainbow interjects shiftily.

“Nah, he’s getting the whole story. Somepony’s gotta bring you back down to earth. You know, in case all that hot air you were just spewing takes you too high.”

“Vinyyyyyl.”

“Yeah, I think I want to hear this.” I shoot Rainbow a suspicious stare. I can’t believe I haven’t heard about this before.

“Alright, then the sooner we get there, the sooner I’ll spill. You ready, Rainbow?” Vinyl asks. 

“Fine, let’s go.” Rainbow sullenly says, looking up from her plate. Vinyl wrinkles her nose and shoves a set of napkins in front of her. “What are these for?”

“Your face.” Vinyl points out, much to Rainbow’s indignance. I can’t help but chuckle a little at the sight. 

Once Rainbow has cleaned herself up, the three of us take to the streets of Ponyville, pushing Vinyl’s equipment along with us.





“Commander!” A well-built earth pony stallion clad in silver armor barges into the office, snapping off a smart salute to the imposing unicorn sitting behind the desk at the rear of the room. “The target has taken the bait. He’s on the move, accompanied by the DJ and the Element of Loyalty.”

Stalwart Iron lifts his head from the report he was writing. “Loyalty? Unexpected, but not an obstacle. I’ll be sure to let the Princess know of this development,” Stalwart Iron declares, standing from his desk. His helmet lifts itself from the desk into his hooves. “Good work, Chief Flowers. Make sure that the train doesn’t leave until I give the signal. Do not tip off the target. Dismissed.”

“Understood, sir!” Chief Flowers snaps off another salute and bounds out the door.

Stalwart Iron swiftly grabs his trident from where it hangs on the wall and straps his shield to his side. Just before leaving, he lifts a midnight blue cloak inscribed with runes from the coat rack by the door and drapes it around his neck and back.

Entering the streets of Ponyville, he whispers a single word charged with magic, and the runes on his cloak gently glow. As a result, none of the early morning townsponies pay him more than a cursory glance as he makes his way to the station. Not one of them recognizes him as Stalwart Iron, Commander of the Canterlot Royal Unicorn First Regiment. 

The Ponyville Train Station is little more than a single rectangular building containing a couple of ticket booths and a waiting area out front. Stalwart Iron arrives just as the bright pink locomotive blares its horn. His sharp eyes quickly pick out Equestria’s only human working with the town’s DJ to push two carts on board the train, while the Element of Loyalty hovers above them, yawning and doing little else. 

Stalwart Iron cuts the line to the ticket booth and presents his military ID to the official behind the screen. The stallion behind the screen gazes blankly at the ID, and then back up at the commander. With the added impetus, The stallion breaks through the magic of the cloak.

“Comm-” the stallion begins to exclaim, only to be hastily hushed by Stalwart Iron. “Right. Here’s your ticket. No charge. Have a nice trip to Canterlot!” 

With the ticket in hoof, Stalwart Iron waits by the edge of the platform. As the human and his companions walk onto the train, Stalwart Iron produces a small crystal core from his cloak and taps it with his horn once, causing it to light up green briefly. A few moments later, the core blinks green twice.

The horn blares once more. With a hiss of steam and screeching of wheels, the train rumbles to life and trundles away from the station. Stalwart Iron breaks into a sprint and leaps clear off of the platform, skillfully landing on the caboose.

Once he was certain that nopony had seen him board, Stalwart Iron produces a scroll and quill from his cloak and scribbles down a quick message. Then, his horn lights up and the scroll disappears in a burst of light.





That same scroll reappears only moments later in the hooves of Princess Celestia, who sits upon her royal throne in the calm period preceding Day Court. Her lips are set into a firm line, her usual calm and serene demeanor nowhere to be found. Beside her is a fully awake Princess Luna, who becomes alert the moment the scroll appears.

“Is it time, dear sister?” Luna demands as Celestia unfurls the scroll and reads it over. 

“It is. The commander has informed me that Seth has boarded the train. He will arrive in approximately three hours,” Celestia answers gravely.

“I shall speak with Captains Shining Armor and Spitfire, and ensure all the civilians are evacuated from the operational areas.” Luna recants. “Then I shall take my position and ensure you are not interrupted.”

“Very good. Leave the council and the dignitaries to me.” Celestia steps down from the throne with grim determination. “For better or worse, the threat of King Sombra ends today.”
> 24. Atop Canterlot Mountain (rw)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The seat rumbles gently beneath me. Sitting across from me are Vinyl Scratch and Rainbow Dash, the latter tapping her two front hooves together and looking anywhere but at me. We’re mostly alone in the train car, except for a pair of chatting mares across and two rows down, and a cloaked stallion sitting in the back.

“Let me make sure I understand your ridiculous story.” I clasp my hands together. “To start with, Discord first attacked a thousand years ago, but the princesses sealed him into stone using the Elements of Harmony.”

Vinyl and Rainbow both nod.

“Then, he broke out a year ago, and Rainbow, Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack sealed him away again.”

Another set of nods.

“You’re telling me that the six of you are national heroes who took down a god, and yet you live in the middle of a rural village doing manual labor where nobody even treats you like celebrities.”

“It...wasn’t exactly our proudest moment.” Each word leaving Rainbow’s mouth seems to take tremendous effort. “Without Twilight, we would have been under Discord’s spell forever, and then who knows what would have happened.”

“I don’t think anyone saw it happen, either,” Vinyl reveals with a shrug. “Discord is supposedly pure chaos, so the town was a total mess. The town hall was floating upside-down, the ground flowed like water, and rivers flowed through the air. That’s not to mention what was happening inside everypony's houses. My turntables tried to tie me down with my own cables, like some kind of mad plant!”

“This isn’t making your story any easier to believe.” I point out with a sigh, leaning back and staring into the cabin ceiling. “When Twilight talked about Discord breaking out a year ago, she said she took care of it. Or more specifically ‘we’ took care of it. I assumed she was talking about the princesses. That would at least make more sense.”

“They would’ve! If Discord hadn’t gone after them first,” Rainbow protests immediately. “Though they can’t use the Elements of Harmony anymore. That’s what Twilight said, anyway.”

“Let’s talk about that for a moment. These ‘Elements of Harmony’ you keep talking about. You’re not being consistent in what they even are. One moment you’re talking about yourselves as if you are the Elements of Harmony. The next, you’re talking about them as though they’re a physical object.”

Rainbow  jumps on the chance to change the subject.“They’re these really cool gems that we wear around our necks, and when we all get together, we can blast away evil with a huge rainbow beam!” She thumps her chest proudly. “My Element is Loyalty, and it looks like my cutie mark, only red!”

I stare at her blankly for a moment before turning to Vinyl. “Vinyl, you explain this. Rainbow’s explanation sounded like I asked a ten-year-old to explain a bedtime story.”

“Hey! Everything I said was true!” Rainbow protests indignantly. 

Vinyl nods. “Sure, I can give it a go. I don’t really get it all myself, though. I’m not one of them. So, they’re six artifacts that represent the six...well...elements of harmony. Loyalty, Laughter, Kindness, Generosity, Honesty, and Magic. They pick a wielder who embodies that trait, and can only be used by them. Put them all together, and they can do...something. I don’t know exactly what it does to evil.”

I hold up a hand. “Hold on. So you’re trying to tell me that because some gem says so, Rainbow has to be loyal?”

“No, I’m the Element of Loyalty because I’m loyal!” Rainbow corrects me.

“I’m even more confused. Everything that you just said is an abstract, subjective concept. How exactly do these Elements determine their wielder by these?” 

“Obviously mine chose me because I’m loyal, duh.” Rainbow, of course, has no idea what I’m talking about, but Vinyl is brushing her chin with a hoof, thinking deeply.

“Yeah, but everybody’s loyal to something, like money or themselves.”

“I think in this case, it’s because she’s loyal to her friends,” Vinyl supplies, still appearing deep in thought. She slaps one of her hooves with another. “Yeah, I'm pretty sure it’s friendship that’s the key here.”

“That seems too convenient to me. The psyche is too convoluted for anything to be able to judge someone like that, magic or not,” I say skeptically, causing Vinyl to sigh.

“Ponies can be nice, Seth. What’s wrong with having a magical artifact to prove that?” Vinyl retorts, tapping the edge of her seat with a hoof in annoyance.

“You can’t prove that. Besides, you said the princesses can’t use them anymore, right? There’s obviously more to it than ‘being a nice pony.’ Unless you’re trying to tell me they don’t possess any of those traits you talked about earlier.” 

“Of course we’re not!”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Both Rainbow and Vinyl chastise me at once.

I slap my knee in satisfaction. “Exactly. You see why this makes no sense?”

“I see that you’re still as cynical as ever.” Vinyl remarks.

“And so what if we don’t know how the Elements work? I’m the Element of Loyalty. You trying to say I’m not loyal to my friends? To you?” Rainbow challenges me.

I close my mouth with a snap. “That…could be just a coincidence.”

“Uh-huh.” A smug smile crosses over Rainbow’s face, causing me to groan. 

The sound of the train’s whistle drowns me out, followed soon by the screeching of the wheels upon the rails. The train lurches and slows, before coming to an eventual stop at our destination.

Canterlot: a white metropolis that hangs from the side of the tallest mountain in Equestria and the seat of its government; I’ve seen it every day since coming to Ponyville, but I never thought I’d be here myself. Even the train station by itself is extravagant, consisting of a sprawling white and pale blue building dotted with windows through which I can see various luggage loading areas and doorways leading to other train lines.

“Finally! Come on you two, I can’t wait to get out there!” Vinyl leaps to her hooves, the excitement returning to her. “Seth, grab your stick and let’s get that cart out of here. Rainbow, can you go find a hotel? Preferably one that’s cheap!”

“You got it!” Rainbow slides open a window and leaps out of the train through it. The moment she’s clear of the window, she spreads her wings and zips off into the skies with a joyous whoop. “Canterlot, woohoo!” 

I grab my rifle from my seat and follow after Vinyl, feeling a hint of anticipation myself despite my misgivings. 

“So what’s the plan from here? Grab a hotel, go get ready for a performance?” I ask as the two of us retrieve the carts from the luggage area. “This is all new to me.”

“We’ve got until Friday night to get ready, but I should greet Mr. Tune tonight and see where I fit into the schedule. The festival lasts all weekend.” Vinyl and I push the carts out of the train and onto the platform together. She looks up and around, raising a brow. “Weird, I guess it’s not so busy today. Last time I was here the platform was jam-packed.”

“The fewer people there are the better.” We reach the exit to the train platform, where two unicorn guards are standing. Unlike the silver of the Ponyville guard, these guards wear the polished gold of the Royal Guard. Their eyes narrow as we pass through into the city proper, but they make no attempt to stop us.

Outside the station, the street is paved with a greenish-gray, well-maintained cobblestone. Towering ivory buildings flank us from both sides, each decorated with the same Hearth’s Warming decorations as Ponville and tipped with purple tops and golden spires that reach out to the sky like spears. In the distance, the giant mountain peak forms the backdrop of the city, its summits poking through the clouds from which glorious blue waterfalls cascade down into lakes and rivers that wind through the city. Canterlot castle juts out from the side of the mountain above the main city square, around which white and gold vessels suspended by gigantic airships fly through the air to and from landing pads constructed into the mountainside. 

“Yooooo, you still in there?” Vinyl waves a hoof in front of my face, her lips curled with amusement.

“This place is...wow.” The words escape me before I can stop them. No wonder it costs so much for ponies to live here. 

“Isn’t it? I never get to come here often enough,” Vinyl agrees with a smile. “Don't worry, we’ll have plenty of time to explore before the festival, so save it for later. We gotta drop this stuff off at the hotel and then go find the bar.”

“Right.” Together, the two of us resume our march through the city streets. Despite Vinyl’s words, I can’t keep from looking around. All around us ponies move to and from the different buildings. Some sit at fancy outdoor cafes, while others meet up in the street and converse in uptight-sounding voices. In contrast to Ponyville’s residents, every single pony here wears clothes, each ensemble seemingly more fancy than the last.

 “Huh. None of them are looking at me at all.”

“Since when are you the type that likes attention?” Vinyl questions with a snicker. 

“That’s not what I mean. When I first got to Ponyville, you lot couldn’t stop staring,” I point out, my voice colored with suspicion. 

“Well, I guess you have a point, but this is also Canterlot. Different species come here all the time,” Vinyl suggests. Her eyes flit up to the sky, her eyes lighting up. “Look up there! There's a few griffons right now!”

“Griffons? Seriously?” Unable to help my own curiosity, I look up in time to catch the feathered forms of three quadruped creatures with feline hindquarters and eagle-like heads and wings flying above. My jaw drops. “Holy crap, you aren’t kidding. I didn’t even know those were a thing.”

“Oh yeah, they are. Rainbow was friends with one for a while, but then they had a falling out,” Vinyl reveals. “You probably aren’t all that unusual out here. Don’t think too much of it.”

“How many different species live in Equestria, anyway?” 

“Let’s see. You’ve got your three types of ponies, and then there’s griffons. Those are rare, but you’ll usually find them with the pegasi.  Sometimes you see a passing minotaur, but that’s rarer than seeing a griffon. There’s also a zebra living in the Everfree Forest. Then there’s all the species that live outside of Equestria, like dragons and deer,” Vinyl fills me in as we turn a corner into a residential district, given the number of high-rise buildings and sprawling mansions.  “Mom sent pictures of cats and camels over in Saddle Arabia if you want to check those out. There’s probably even more I don’t know about.”
“Good god.” I rub my forehead. “That’s a lot to take in at once. Also...Saddle Arabia? Really?”

“What’s wrong with Saddle Arabia?”

“It just...sounds awfully similar to the name of a country back in my era.”

“Not surprising. Humans inspired a lot of modern cultures. Your ruins and such are everywhere if you look hard enough.” Vinyl explains. 

“That hardly makes me feel any better about it. How do you know so much about all this anyway?”

“Didn’t I tell you my mom is an archeologist? I pick up on this stuff whether I want to or not,” Vinyl reminds me, tapping her nose. “I’ve been to a few of her digs before, but it really isn’t my scene. Too much dust and scrap, and not enough music.”

“Heh, I hear that.” Before I can ask where we’re going, Rainbow dips out of the sky and executes a showy corkscrew turn before falling in step between us. “There you are. Find a place?”

Rainbow nods and thrusts her hoof to a wide street on our right. “There’s a bunch of ‘em over by the Sun Memorial! Cheapest one's still pretty pricey, though.”

“Obviously. I don’t know Canterlot, but I do know cities.” I look over to Vinyl. “You took this into account?”

“Things here cost a ton, but also pay a ton. Don’t worry, we’ll come out on top for sure.” Vinyl assures me with a grin. With that, the two of us follow Rainbow towards the hotel she’d chosen. As we walk, I spot a gigantic regal statue of Princess Celestia wrought from marble, gold, and crystal standing atop a plinth in an open plaza at the end of the street. Several other ponies are gathered around the memorial, along with a couple of griffons. The statue looks old but well maintained.

I raise an eyebrow at the sight. “That’s awfully vain of her.”

“That wasn’t commissioned by the princesses,” Vinyl interjects, seeing where I’m looking and giving an annoyed stare. “That was built along with the Moon Memorial on the other side of the city to celebrate the city’s founding.”

“They’re really cool! You should see this place when the sun is right above it!” Rainbow adds. She points to the crystal horn that glitters in the afternoon sun “See how her horn is all crystal? When the sun hits it just right, there’s rainbows everywhere!”

After a pause to admire the plaza, Rainbow breaks into a trot, pulling us to a relatively modest rectangular building with several spires built into its side. In front of a set of violet double doors, a well-dressed stallion perks up at our approach. His eyes briefly linger on me specifically before he moves to address the whole group. “Looking for a room?” The stallion asks in an accommodating tone.

“You guessed it. I need a room from now until Hearth’s Warming Eve,” Vinyl expresses. 

The stallion nods respectfully, gesturing towards the door. “Of course, ma’am. If you and your companions can follow me inside.” 

Vinyl nods and glances towards Rainbow and me. “I’ll go check us in. Seth, stay here and watch my stuff. Rainbow, can you go find the bar for me while I’m doing that? It’s called the Angel Share. If anypony can find it fast, it’s you.”

Rainbow’s chest swells with pride. “I’m on it! I’ll be back in a jiffy!” She takes to the sky at a blistering speed, the backblast blowing through my hair and clothes. Satisfied, Vinyl nods and follows the stallion inside, leaving me outside with the two carts. Bereft of anything else to do, I turn my gaze to the cityscape and take in its beauty once more. An odd sense of wanderlust urges me to explore the nooks and crannies of this glorified city of gold and marble. My comments on the residents aside, Canterlot is-. 

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” a stallion says from my left. I turn to see the same cloaked stallion from the train. Once again a feeling of familiarity falls over me, but I can’t quite piece together why.  “There’s no place quite like it, in my experience.”

“I can agree with that.” I never felt like this when visiting cities in my era. Every city was the same concrete and gray jungle. Here, every building is practically a work of art. “I can’t imagine what it’s like to live here.”

“It’s a blessing, but also a daily reminder of what we of the Royal Guard fight to protect. The world is full of those who wish to take what Equestria has built,” the stallion responds solemnly. 

My eyes widen with alarm. “You’re a royal guard!?” In response, the stallion sheds his cloak and shrinks it to a size small enough to fit into a tiny slot in his now-visible armor.

Recognition hits me all at once,  my legs going limp in the presence of the well-armored soldier that single-handedly took down the Scorpio. “C-Commander!? But...how? I didn’t recognize you at all!”

“Anti-recognition runes. They’re stitched into the fabric of the cloak,” Stalwart Iron explains. “It wouldn’t hold up to a military inspection, but it suffices to keep myself hidden among the general populace.”  

“Anti-r...that’s a thing? Exactly what kinds of things can you do with magic?” I ask, scared at the possibility magic could mess with my head without me knowing it.

“To my knowledge, with enough ingenuity and mana, there appears to be no limit. Stalwart Iron’s expression hardens. “I apologize for the abruptness, but I need you to come with me.”

A spike of cold adrenaline surges through me, my heartbeat rapidly increasing. “What? Why? Am I under arrest?”

Stalwart Iron shakes his head. “I’ve come with a summons from Princess Celestia. She wishes to see you at your earliest convenience, and I was directed to show you the way to the castle.”

“I…” I cut-off mid-sentence and take a moment to breathe deeply, overly conscious of Stalwart Iron’s hard gaze upon me. “Does ‘at your earliest convenience’ mean right this instant?”

Stalwart Iron confirms with a terse nod. “That’s how I would interpret it. The princess’s time is extremely valuable, as you can imagine.”

“...Do you know what she wants?” I ask hopefully.

“I wouldn’t be at liberty to say.”

“Of course you wouldn’t,” I mutter bitterly. “What about my job? The others will wonder where I am.”

Stalwart Iron gives me an odd stare. “A summons from the princess supersedes all other obligations. Your friends will be informed of your absence by royal post if need be.” 

I let out a long defeated exhale. I feel as though I’ve been manipulated into an inescapable trap of some sort. “There’s no saying ‘no’ here, is there?”

“To my understanding, such a thing would be unprecedented,” Stalwart Iron answers. He motions with his head towards the street. “Shall we? It’s best not to keep the princess waiting.”

“Lead the way, I guess,” I say, falling into step beside him. Thankfully, the commander doesn’t put me in handcuffs as he takes me past hundreds of brightly colored, well-dressed ponies, different buildings, and attractions of all kinds. We pass everything from nightclubs to clothing shops to corporate buildings. If I make it out of the meeting in one piece, I promise myself that I will come back to fully appreciate it.

As the castle looms closer, Iron directs me down a side street along the westernmost side of the city, bordering the edge of the mountain. A majestic waterfall rushes from the rivers in the upper city past the walkway and down the mountainside, becoming a river that flows through Ponyville.

Finally, we reach a set of golden gates, through which I can see a parade ground filled with guards in full armor running drills with spears and swords.

The guards standing at the gates snap to attention and give a sharp salute when they spot Stalwart Iron, then immediately move to open the gates, which swing open with an unsettling quiet.

“Where are we?” I ask nervously, as I follow the commander into the parade ground.

“These are the barracks of the Canterlot Royal Unicorn First Regiment, where I live when I’m not on duty. The guards have already been informed of the nature of your existence, so I believed it would be better for you to enter the castle via the barracks,” Stalwart Iron explains. He notices me eyeing the guards nervously. “Pay them no mind. They will not act against you in any way.”

“Are you sure I’m not being arrested?”

“If you were being arrested I would already have you in chains, Seth.” Stalwart Iron’s deadpan response causes me to shiver. “You have nothing to be concerned about.”

“I don’t believe you.” Despite my immediate rebuttal, Stalwart Iron says nothing more, leading me in silence to the wall dividing the barracks from the castle proper. Set into it is a small violet and gold door that another guard opens as we approach. A few steps later, a terribly familiar feeling washes over me and causes the hairs on my neck to stand up. A subtle pressure falls around me, the air humming with power as though I am moments away from a lightning strike that would split the very earth. Only one individual I know has this kind of presence.

After a short walk beneath a covered walkway flanked by well-kept flowerbeds, we pass through another set of doors into the castle proper. My eyes bug out at the sheer extravagance of this place. The floors are a soft checkered marble of white and black that gleams in the light from the magical lamps that line the walls, above which a lush red carpet stretches out in either direction, my feet sinking into it at least half an inch.

“This way. We’re almost there.” Stalwart Iron gestures with a hoof. Guards are posted at regular intervals along the hallway, each one a unicorn armed with spears or swords resting on the sides of their armor. Regular ponies pass us as well, some dressed in noble clothing, while others are dressed in what’s clearly the pony version of a maid outfit. Stalwart Iron leads me towards a door at the end of the hallway into a small room consisting of little more than a couple of comfortable chairs and sofas arranged around an empty floor. Between the various paintings and luxurious curtains decorating the room, Celestia herself stands in the center of the room.  Her aurora-colored mane flows in an unseen breeze, each strand shining with a faint, yet noticeable light. As always, she’s possessed of almost otherworldly grace, making me feel small and insignificant.

“Good morning, Seth. It is a pleasure to see you again,” Celestia greets me with a smile and a dip of her head “Thank you for bringing him to me, commander. You are dismissed.”

Stalwart Iron smartly salutes, closing the door behind him without a word, leaving me alone with the Solar Princess. I should say something, but I can’t force the words to come out. 

Celestia frowns. “Please, there’s no need to be so on edge. This was meant to be an informal meeting. I apologize if I’ve made you nervous or uncomfortable in any way.” 

“Y-You…,” I manage to force out. “Of course I’m nervous! You sent the damn commander to bring me to you! I still feel like I’ve been arrested and you’re about to put me on trial for something!”

Celestia looks appalled. “Goodness, no. I asked the commander to show you here out of convenience; the both of you were headed in the same direction. I admit I had hoped the two of you might find common ground, given that neither of you is originally from Equestria.”

“He has a face like carved stone! I half expected him to knock me out at any given moment!” I say, my voice growing stronger with each word

Celestia clicks her tongue and shakes her head with a rueful smile. “That Stalwart Iron. I did encourage him to try to talk to you. Please, do not take it personally.”

“Look, I couldn’t care less whether he talks to me or not, I just want to know why you brought me here! Normal people don’t get a summons from the leader of a nation!” 

“You may relax, Seth. I did not call you here for anything more than a casual meeting. You did receive my letter, did you not?” Celestia inquires. I open my mouth and then close it. I can’t exactly tell her that the letter is sitting somewhere in my closet collecting dust. “It has been nearly a month since our last meeting, and I was hoping to have a chance to discuss your experiences in Equestria, as one of its newest residents.”

I didn’t believe her intentions when I read the letter, and I don’t believe them now. “That’s it? How do you have time for this? You’re the Princess!”

“It seems you have the wrong impression.” Celestia maintains a calm expression at my raised brow. “I have many demands on my time to be sure, but the council is not so inadequate that they cannot function in my absence. On the occasion that I need to take some time for myself, I may do so without fear.”

“That sounds good and all, but I still don’t see why you’d waste said time on me of all people,” I say with arms crossed

Celestia nods understandingly. “You fear I may have some ulterior motive. Perhaps an attempt to ask something unreasonable of you?”

“That’s...hitting the nail right on the head,” I admit with arms still crossed, unsettled at how easily she sees through me.

“You may rest assured that what I told you in my letter was the truth. And only the truth. You are someone unique to this world, one that I have had the privilege of welcoming to Equestria. It only seems right that I ensure you are acclimating properly.”

I scowl at the insinuation. “You talk a good game, but I still don’t like it. I don’t like being held above everyone else because I’m human like it’s some hard-won accomplishment.”

“Let me correct you on one thing, Seth. I am not holding you above everycreature else because you are human. This is a personal choice that I am making. I extended a welcome to you during our first meeting, and I wish to see it through to the end,” Celestia chides me gently.

As sincere as her words sound, nothing she says can shake the feeling of uncertainty and dread settling deep within my breast. “Fine. I can’t stop you from doing whatever you want,” I say, resigned to the no doubt stressful conversation to come. “So, what exactly do you want me to tell you?” 

“I have a couple of questions, but first, I want to take you to one of my favorite spots in Canterlot,” Celestia says, walking past me.

“Huh? Why?” 

“It is something I believe everycreature in Equestria should see at least once, especially if they are bound to the earth like yourself,” Celestia answers with a smile. “Shall we go for a walk, Seth?”

“I’ll follow, I guess.” I don’t think I could say no even if I wanted to. 

Celestia beams and opens the door back out into the hallway, enveloping it with her soft golden aura. I follow her out of the door and back into the hallway. If the ponies had been curious before, it’s even more noticeable now. Each pony we pass dips their head reverently to the princess, who greets them cordially by name. She greets so many ponies as we pass through the maze of ivory halls that it strikes me as impressive anyone could memorize that many names.

“I hope you are not opposed to a small hike,” she says to me with a hint of playfulness in her voice, leading me out the back of the castle onto a mountain path. 

“A hike? Where exactly are we going?” I ask, eyeing the path with some small interest. 

“This is a walking trail that heads all the way to the top of the mountain. The guards often use it for endurance training, but it also serves as a relaxing escape from the city,” Celestia answers. “I do not get a chance to visit it very often, so I suppose I am using you as an excuse to do just that.”

“Oh good. I’m ever so glad to be of service.” I deadpan, earning a light giggle. The trail is rather thin, with the mountainside rising high on one side and thick pine trees on the other. Birds sing and chirp from the trees, accompanied by the rustling of wildlife in the undergrowth At one point, we cross over a river flowing from a massive thundering waterfall using a stone bridge. The air grows colder and thinner the higher we get, my ears popping painfully as the path continues to spiral upwards.

After about fifteen minutes of walking in silence, we reach a grassy clearing. The left side of the path gives way to a steep cliff that reveals Canterlot out before us in all its splendor. Further beyond, I can see Ponyville in the distance, laid out on the green of the land like a massive toy set. I distinctly make out Sweet Apple Acres, the Town Square, Golden Oaks Library, and even the Everfree Forest innocently sprawled out next to the whole thing.

“What do you think, Seth? Isn’t it lovely?” Celestia asks me softly as the two of us gaze out over the gorgeous expanse that is Equestria.

“Y-Yeah…” I say breathlessly. My breath catches in my throat when I notice Celestia moving close to me.

“Do you see those lush green trees up ahead? That is White Tail Woods, beyond which lies the Smokey Mountains, Vanhoover City, and the North Luna Ocean,” Celestia directs with a slender white hoof, slowly tracing up the horizon. “If you look further north, you shall see Cloudsdale, one of the largest cities in Equestria and ancestral home of the pegasi.”

When my eyes find Cloudsdale, I can’t help but exhale sharply in awe. What I thought was simply a large cloud formation reveals itself to be a city made entirely from clouds sculpted into vaguely greek architecture, with rainbows cascading from cloudborne rivers like waterfalls.  I’ve been to high places before in my own time, but never saw anything more than a landscape tainted by development. Never this. Never the untouched magic of nature.

My attention inevitably returns to the fact that I’m here alone with Princess Celestia, and I tone down my emotions to something more contained. “This is nice, I guess. But didn’t you have some questions to ask?”

“ I wanted to show you the beauty of Equestria in the process,” Celestia answers proudly. “But I value your time as well. Shall we talk and eat?”

“Eat?” I repeat in confusion, turning to see Celestia moving towards a plaid quilt stretched across the ground in the middle of the clearing, a straw basket placed in its center. “You brought me up here for a picnic? Seriously?”

“In a manner of speaking. It is common courtesy to provide refreshments to one’s guests, is it not?” Celestia responds as she rests on the quilt. “Please, join me. I want you to feel at ease when we converse.”

“I...don’t think that’s happening.” I’ve been trying to repress them, but too many red flags are popping up in my head. “I don’t trust this. I don’t trust you. Why are you going so far out of your way for me?”

“Seth…” Celestia begins.

I feel the beginnings of a panic attack coming on as I break into a cold sweat. “Stop. No no no no…” I start to pace, desperately fighting the urge to turn and run. “You’re the princess. Princesses don’t take time out of their day-to-day to have a picnic with me of all people. You have something in mind. You have to. Please come out and say it.”

“Seth, take a moment and breathe. I promise that I did not call you here to exploit you.” Celestia assures me with a sad frown, watching me with concern. “I know not who has wronged you thus, for you to be so suspicious of me, but I can assure you that I am not that individual.”

I freeze in place and stare at her sharply. “What are you talking about?” I demand.

“I told you once before. I can learn a lot about someone from a normal conversation. In this case, you are terribly frightened. Not of me, but what I might do to you in exchange for this kindness,” Celestia conjectures. 

`	At first, my mouth opens and closes like a fish, but then a surge of rage and indignance burns in my chest.. “Don’t talk like you know anything about me! You weren’t there! You don’t know!”

“I was not. But I do not believe I am wrong.” Celestia says without budging an inch. 

“SHUT UP!” I buckle beneath the weight of her soulful gaze. “The only people who know what happened other than me are dead! Because of you! Because you couldn’t stop him until after he ruined everything!!”

For a brief moment, regret flashes across Celestia’s face before she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “I do not know the full story, and I won’t pretend to. However, I do know that one does not become as closed off as yourself without due cause. What has been done to you in your past is unforgivable,” Celestia states calmly. “But I am not the one who hurt you personally. I want you to remember that.”

“So what if you’re not!?” I jab a finger at her, my voice as harsh as a whip. “You’re the princess of an entire nation with armies at your command! You can do whatever you want, whenever you want, and nobody will dare question it because they worship the ground you walk on! Who could say anything against you when your subjects lash out at anyone who tries!?”

In spite of my rage, I recognize I’ve said too much. Yet despite my harsh words, Celestia doesn’t react as I’d expect. Anyone I know would’ve given up on me after hearing something like that, but Celestia’s kind expression hasn’t dimmed in the slightest.

“I think I am beginning to understand. It is not me that you fear. It is the power I wield, and the possibility that I am hiding vile intentions behind a kind exterior,” Celestia accurately surmises. “This individual in your past must have been someone of significant influence, for you to project her qualities onto me.”

I want to lash out again, but I do my damnedest to reign myself in. “So what? There is nothing you can say to make me think otherwise.”

“You are right, of course. So, what do we do from here?” Celestia asks. Before I can answer, she continues. “There are two paths before you that you can take. You can believe what the voice inside of you is saying and distance yourself from me to prevent any chance of being used or exploited again. That is the safe option, but it is also the lonely option.”

“That’s…”

“Or you can stay, and put your preconceptions to the test. Deep down, I do not think you truly believe that everyone is the same. Perhaps most, but even you had someone with whom you were close, which proves that there indeed are individuals worth knowing. So I ask: how will you ever know if I am one of them without taking a chance?” 

“Because I…” I close my mouth. Her argument seems awfully familiar, having been used against me twice now. “I can’t.”

“Precisely.” Celestia nods with satisfaction. “I leave the choice up to you. You may have a seat, or you may leave. You have my word that I will not hinder you in any way if you choose the latter.”

A silence falls between us, broken only by the mountain breeze gently passing through. I wonder to myself if I can trust her to keep her word if I did choose to leave right now. Yet I can’t keep her words from resounding within my mind. Amaryllis said something similar. So did Rainbow. Neither of them have done me any wrong since doing so, but neither of them are princesses, either.

“You won’t hold any of this over my head?” I finally ask.

“I would never dream of it. Kindness is not a weapon to keep others in line. It is to be given freely as a gift.” Celestia responds, patting the space next to her.

I let out a disbelieving scoff and sit down on the quilt, causing her to smile warmly. “You certainly make it sound pretty, even if I don’t believe that for a second.”

“One day, I hope that you shall.” Celestia’s horn lights up, and the picnic basket opens to reveal an assortment of snacks and drinks. “But for now, let us eat. I have much I wish to ask you.”

“I’m sure you do.” As I watch Celestia lift sandwiches, platters of fruits and sliced cheese, jugs of water, and an entire double-layered chocolate cake from the otherwise mundane looking bottomless picnic basket and spread it out before us, I note the practiced ease with which she uses magic. There’s a sense of grace yet firmness in the way Celestia handles the food that I can’t say I’ve seen in other unicorns, like an ice skater going through the motions. It is as if magic is not a tool but part of who she is. 

“In case you have a sweet tooth,” Celestia says a little sheepishly, seeing me eye the cake with a raised brow. “Water as well, as I am unfamiliar with your taste in drinks.” Celestia unwraps one of the sandwiches and takes a small dainty bite, watching me expectantly.

I hesitantly unwrap one of the sandwiches and try it myself. The taste of sourdough overtakes my mouth, followed by lettuce, spinach, tomato, and goat cheese. It’s an odd combination, but it’s delicious.

“Do you like it?”

“You’re not going to fire whoever made this if I say no, are you?” I remark sardonically as I take another bite.

A smile plays about Celestia’s lips. “Of course not. Even I would find it quite difficult to fire myself.”

 I glance at her in surprise, taking another bite. “You made this?”

“Indeed I did. The royal cooks do fine work, but every now and then I like to try my hoof at it myself. I find baking to be particularly rewarding,” a mischievous twinkle enters the princess’s eye as she lifts a generous slice of cake, “given that I do not have to share the results with anypony else if I do not wish to.” The image of the Solar Princess gorging herself on chocolate cake that she admitted to hoarding is enough to get a chuckle out of me, despite my sour mood.

“I understand much has happened since our last meeting,” Celestia comments while taking another bite and pouring herself a cup of water from the jug. “How has life in Ponyville been for you?”

“Apart from the incident in the forest that you already know about, it won’t be that interesting for you. For the most part it’s been work.”

 Pleasant surprise colors Celestia’s expression. “Oh? You have found employment in Ponyville? I would like to hear more if you feel comfortable sharing.”

“Fine, but it’s really boring. I’m working on the farms almost every day as my main job.”

“Would that happen to be Sweet Apple Acres, by any chance?” Celestia inquires, her interest growing in contrast to my expectations. She smiles as I nod in confirmation. “I hope it has been a pleasant experience. I am quite familiar with the owners.”

“It’s not the worst job I’ve ever had, even if it is a bit of a workout. I don’t intend to work there forever though—Farm work wasn’t what I had in mind for the future.” I say, cringing at the thought. “I’m also working as an assistant with a local musician, which translates to more heavy lifting. At least the atmosphere is better.”

“Do you fancy yourself as a practitioner of the musical arts?” 

“I guess? I’m not exactly making a lot of money to do much 'practitioning',” I reply with a shrug before turning my attention to a particularly appetizing roasted vegetable sandwich.

“Nevertheless, that is a lovely dream to strive for. Having concrete goals would work wonders for your state of mind.” Celestia responds with a beaming smile. 

I sigh heavily. “You aren’t wrong. I had somebody tell me something similar back in Ponyville.” 

“Is that so? Is this individual somepony you would call a friend?” Celestia puts her plate down and crosses her two front hooves, waiting on my response. 

“I...guess?” I regret telling her that almost instantly, given how her smile grows even wider. “Stop that.”

“Hm? Stop what?” 

“Looking at me like that. With that smug ‘I told you so’ look.”

 Celestia’s brow wrinkles and her smile dims. “I promise you that any emotion I am feeling is nothing but happiness for your sake,” she says, choosing her words carefully. “Your circumstances would be taxing for anycreature, much more for somecreature of your age. I am greatly relieved to hear that you no longer have to face them alone.”

“Right…” I say uncomfortably.

“Though, I cannot help but be curious. Would you grace me with the name of your new friend?” Celestia asks.

“...Do I have to?”

“If you feel comfortable of course,” she says, picking up her plate and taking another bite of cake.

Her words sound comforting, but I don’t think I could get away with keeping it from her. I can only hope telling won’t make this more embarrassing than it already feels. “I’m friends with...I mean I’m giving a chance to…her name is...oh for goodness sake, it’s Rainbow Dash.” 

To her credit, Celestia only looks surprised for a moment before she recomposes herself. “That is wonderful. Rainbow Dash is a pony of exceptional character. You shall find a most excellent and loyal friend in her.”

“So I keep being told. She’s okay, I guess. Extremely stubborn though, with an ego the size of one of those airships over there,” I reply, pointing a half-eaten sandwich in the general direction of a collection of blimps listlessly hovering over Canterlot, “but she hasn’t done me any wrong.”

“Everypony has one or two flaws, but I believe that is part of their charm,” Celestia acknowledges with a knowing smile. “Out of curiosity, what made you decide to give her a chance?”

The words stick in my throat. There’s no way I can tell her the real reason I began giving her the time of day. The last thing I want is Celestia going nuts on me about my near death. I swallow hard and try again. “It was her almost dying in the forest. I couldn’t let that happen.”

Celestia pauses, probably expecting something much milder than near death. “You did the right thing, going out there to help her. Her loss would have been devastating, and Equestria as a whole is grateful for your actions.” Celestia’s smile slowly fades, causing my anxiety to return with a vengeance. “Regardless, I am glad you brought that up. I was also hoping to speak with you regarding that incident. More specifically, I wish to hear about your magic.”

“I read your letter, but I don’t know what you want me to say, though,” I say hesitantly, unsure what her change in demeanor means. “You read the reports. I assume those experts coming from Canterlot were also your doing, so you probably know more than me.” 

Celestia finishes the last of her meal and sets the remains back in the basket. “Perhaps, but I wish to hear from you. Given your prior testimony, I was under the impression that humans possessed no mana and could perform no magic.”

“Did Twilight tell you that?” I ask. Celestia nods. “It’s true. Humans never had magic. We had rumors and legends, but that’s all they were. Besides, there was no need for humans to discover magic if it did exist, given our technology. So me apparently having magic makes about as much sense to me as it does to you. I don’t even remember using it.”

Celestia hums in thought. “ Can you tell me how the events of that day unfolded from the beginning? There is something important I am trying to determine.”

I glance at her in surprise. “You know something about this magic?”

“I cannot be sure, but I have a strong theory. One of the reasons I called you out here was to confirm it for myself,” Celestia reveals. “If I am correct, I will tell you everything I know and answer your questions as much as I am able.”

“Alright, sure. But like I said, I can’t tell you anything you don’t already know.”

 Enticed by the prospect of learning more about what’s inside me, I start even before the events of that day, with the first time I felt the strange pressure inside my sternum. I cover Twilight’s investigations and how it lashed out at her. I go all the way through my encounter with the Scorpio and continue up until the point that I lost consciousness and woke up in the hospital. All I leave out are the details of my day-to-day and personal matters that she doesn’t need to know.

Celestia listens to my tale patiently and attentively, interrupting only to ask for clarification on certain points. At the end of the story, she scrutinizes me closely, her gaze sweeping through me a razor blade. Finally, she lets out a sigh of what seems to be relief.

“Thank you for being forthcoming. Your account of events matches up with what I have heard.” Celestia dips her head gratefully. “I am almost completely certain that I am correct, but I require one last thing that will prove my theory beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

“What’s that?”

“Can you show your magic to me?” Celestia asks, causing me to look at her in shock. “You need not show me any spells. All I require is a simple exertion of magical pressure.”

I blink, nonplussed. “I don't know what any of that even means. All your experts told me was how mana travels from my core to the outside world. What is magical pressure?”

“It is a blanket term that refers to the emanation of mana magical creatures naturally or forcefully release. How much mana one passively releases depends on many factors, but the most notable factors include the strength and depth of one’s core,” Celestia explains, her voice gaining a soft lecturing tone like a professor in class.

“Is that why the air feels so different whenever you’re around?” 

Celestia nods. “Precisely. My sister and I are of a different breed than other creatures, so our cores emit a great deal more mana than they do. I can suppress my pressure if I so choose, but not for very long.”

“If that’s passive…” I gulp at the thought. “What does it mean to exert one’s pressure?”

“It is the act of using your mana to interact with the outside world, either as a byproduct of a spell, or simply done by itself, forming what is called your magical aura.” Celestia’s horn glows and the half-empty jug of water on the quilt is engulfed by a golden glow before lifting several inches off of the ground. “What you are seeing is a glimpse of my magical aura.”

“How would I do any of that? I can’t even tell if I’m emitting mana right now,” I reply helplessly.

“Stand up,” Celestia orders me gently, doing the same herself. With her magic, she rolls up the quilt, replaces it in the basket, and sets it well out of the way. 

I rise to my feet, feeling my body shiver with anticipation. The thought of going to the hospital again terrifies me, but I can’t deny that doing actual magic has me a little giddy.

“Close your eyes and take a deep breath. Picture your core as a natural spring, and mana is the water bubbling up from the earth,” Celestia begins. I do as directed and follow along with her as best as I can, despite feeling foolish while doing so. “Think of your mana as rivers that flow through your body, nourishing and bringing life to all that it touches. Each pore of your body is the mouth of a river, emptying mana into the endless expanse of the gentle ocean around you.”

With both Celestia’s dictation and the diagram that Flash Forward showed me, I slowly formulate a vision within my mind. I think of a mountain spring as she told me, but instead of clean, clear waters, my mind almost involuntarily changes the contents of the spring to a vile black.

“All you need to do is guide the flow of the river out of your body manually, like a fleet of ships sailing towards the sea displaces the water before it,” Celestia continues, her voice sounding distant and far away.

I grunt uncomfortably. The black water flows with an arctic chill, freezing my body from the inside out. The water picks up speed, going faster and faster till the placid river transforms into a raging rapid that prickles the inside of the skin, crackling like live wires.

My eyes shoot wide as the spring erupts with a tremendous geyser, sending forth a flood of monumental proportions. In a panic, I release the mental image but I feel the flood surging outwards with the force of a tsunami, disregarding my every attempt to regain control. The frigid cold seeps through my entire body down to the extremities, making it harder and harder to think.

Then, the flood reaches the mouth of the river and violently spills out to the ocean.





Never once do Celestia’s eyes leave Seth as she guides him. She doesn’t miss a thing, from the way he grunts and shifts in discomfort, to his lips trembling with every breath. “Now, simply force the flow out into the ocean.” 

Trails of wispy violet mana emanate from the corners of Seth’s shut eyes. Darkness erupts from the ground and engulfs his body, cracking the earth beneath his feet.

“That will be enough. This tells me all I need to know,” Celestia tells Seth calmly, her eyes narrowing at the aura growing larger and more prominent. “If you do not know how to stop the flow, simply halt the flow of ships sailing from the spring to the sea.”

Music: Black Rock Shooter - Battle of BRS 

Seth made no response, arcs of green electricity running up and down his body or jumping to nearby terrain. His eyes slowly open to reveal deep red pupils in a sea of sickly green.

“Seth, are you hearing me?” Celestia asks, even as her spirits sink. Hearing her, his gaze snaps to her instantly, those eyes proving all too familiar to the Solar Princess. She frowns, concern coloring her expression. Recognition sparks in Seth’s eyes, and a low growl escapes his throat. “I told you, I have seen enou—!” 

Seth zips forward at Celestia at breakneck speed and slams his fist directly into her snout. A burst of shadow erupts from the point of impact, accompanied by a whip-cracking sound. Celestia gasps, spittle flying from her mouth as she’s sent tumbling end over end across the clearing. Her crown falls from her head, skittering across the grass before snagging on a rock near the edge of the cliff.

Celestia spreads her wings and rights herself. Her hooves skid across the grass and tear up the earth. She has no time to think before Seth is on her. The human zips through the air in a zig-zag fashion as he closes the distance. 

This time, Celestia is ready. She raises her left leg in time for his fist to collide with it above the fetlock. Seth dashes up and executes a series of punches, staying in one place long enough to strike once before zipping away to attack from a different angle. His speed increases steadily as he circles about her, each punch accompanied by a thunderous boom on impact.

No matter from whence Seth attacks, Celestia turns her body faster than one would think possible for a pony of her size, blocking each attack with her hooves as they come. Seth zips up into the air, twisting and turning his body to gather momentum. Darkness collects in both fists as he brings them downwards in an attempt to strike Celestia’s unguarded back.

With a flap of her wings, Celestia leaps backward. Seth’s attack crashes into the ground where she had once stood, showering the surrounding area in loose rock and singed blades of grass. Seth lifts his gaze in time to see Celestia’s rear hooves aimed at him in a vicious buck. He bolts out of the way with a backflip, then spreads out both hands. Shadow and electricity course from his sternum and down his arms, gathering in the palms of his hands.

“Stop this at once! I am not your enemy!” Celestia calls, turning to face him. A wave of darkness surges from Seth, the grass turning to dust in a circle spreading outward. Celestia exerts her aura at last, the air coming to life with golden-white mana that covers her body like a cloak of sunlight. The darkness washes against her aura like water on rock, doing little more than clouding her vision.

Suddenly, Seth hurtles through the air before slamming both of his feet into the left side of Celestia’s barrel like a battering ram. The force knocks her clear off of her hooves and off of the cliff entirely. 

Celestia spreads her wings and rights herself in midair, not even a bruise left where she’d been struck. She glances up to see Seth reaching for the rifle slung on his back. Darkness runs through the weapon and transforms it into a black crystalline structure. He grasps it by its stock and twirls it about in one hand before the weapon dissipates and reforms into two smaller guns pointed directly at her.

“Seth, you must fight this! Do not let the magic control you!” Celestia pleads to him. Seth opens fire without hesitation, the sound of gunfire filling the air. Celestia’s expression becomes pained, a helpless exclamation escaping her as sharpened bullets of the corrupting magic descend upon her like a swarm of hornets. 

With a flap of her wings, Celestia rises into the air, the bullets changing course and following her path. She lowers her horn and reciprocates Seth’s assault with a hail of radiant bolts, each three times the size of Seth’s bullets. The projectiles collide midair, erupting in a shower of light and dark. The air between them fills with explosions, raining sparks and wisps of mana onto the mountainside below. Switching tactics, Seth fires his weapons at odd angles, only a small portion of them pointed directly at Celestia at all. 

The bullets flying past Celestia ricochet, forming a deadly interlocking web around the princess. Each bullet splits into tiny pieces of crystalline shrapnel capable of perforating any ordinary pony beyond recognition. Seth dissolves his pistols and clenches a hand, causing the shrapnel cloud to collapse. Without checking the outcome of the last attack, he kneels down and plants a palm onto the ground.

Celestia’s aura ripples outwards like a solar flare, incinerating every single piece of shrapnel and leaving her with nary a scratch. In front of Seth, a crystalline cylinder juts from the ground pointing at Celestia.  The construct erupts like a geyser, propelling a crystalline orb the size of a softball. The orb strikes Celestia’s aura and detonates in a violent explosion. At the same time, the construct releases arcs of electricity that strike the core of the explosion, attracted to the detonating orb.

Capitalizing on the distraction, Seth dashes above Celestia and hammers his fist down on her back, only to find his attack striking her guard. Celestia’s expression remains calm and grim, unmoving despite his efforts. Seth’s glowing eyes narrow and he lets out a yell, a deeper voice brimming with malevolence overlapping his own. Celestia’s eyes widen with surprise as the force behind Seth’s attack spikes, dark power exploding at the point of contact and sending her hurtling down into the plateau. 

The moment she hits the ground, Seth spreads out his arms as he falls, causing the crystalline construct still on the plateau to liquefy and flow up to meet him. It forms into two long constructs unfamiliar to Celestia, with multiple barrels on each of them. 

Celestia leaps to her hooves as Seth unleashes an array of dark wisps from the now rotating barrels, each one following a curved trajectory before raining down upon the plateau and exploding upon impact. Clouds of dust kick up as a result of the explosion, hiding Celestia from view.

Celestia’s aura tears through the clouds, streaking towards Seth like a blazing comet, weaving in and out of the storm of bullets as though they were moving at no more than a snail’s pace. At the last second, Seth transforms his weapons into shorter, stubby constructs with two barrels each. Undeterred, Celestia sweeps aside his weapons with a single hoof before strafing to his side, twisting in midair, and bucking him hard in the chest. Seth slams into the plateau and coughs in agony, his ribs audibly cracking. He rolls to the side as Celestia comes with a follow-up attack, using a blast of darkness to propel himself unsteadily to his feet and put some distance between the two of them as he hacks and coughs. Celestia doesn’t pursue, instead turning to face him fully. Threads of green electricity trace over his torso like stitches, holding his cracked ribs in place.

Celestia’s worst fears are confirmed. Not only is Seth unable to control himself while under the influence of his own magic, but his aura grows stronger and more unstable every passing moment. She gazes at the horizon to Seth’s left and lets out a sigh of relief as she spots a subtle midnight-blue distortion in the air that encompasses the entirety of the mountain clearing. Her attention is brought back to Seth when his magical aura spikes in intensity, putting his output from minutes ago to shame. The skin on his face and the tips of his fingers flake away in jagged streaks, revealing a hardened black substance underneath. 

“Listen to me. You must remember who you are.” Celestia says to him in a firm authoritative voice. “You are Seth Rogers, a human brought to this world by unfortunate circumstances and friend to Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty. You are not King Sombra.”

Seth responds by strengthening himself even further, a crater forming beneath his feet as the darkness gouges into the earth. The air thrums and distorts with power, bolts of green lightning raining down from the heavens to strike both him and the earth around him. His hands and fingers seem to tear through their own skin, forming long spindly appendages that taper to sharp points. His hair rises and hangs in the air as though suspended in water, and the skin on his face cracks, the same black substance running across his cheek up to his brow. 

Celestia can feel his power dwarfing what he had shown her before by leaps and bounds, easily reaching into the realm of alicorns. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, her expression colored with sorrow. When she opens her eyes, her own aura swells, enveloping her in light so intense it resembles a golden flame.

Music: Nightwish - Storytime 

“I had hoped beyond hope that it would not come to this,” Celestia emits with grim finality. She moves towards Seth, her light scorching the earth with every step. “If you cannot control your magic on your own, then I am forced to do so for you. I will expel Sombra from your body with the might of the unyielding sun. Prepare yourself.”

Seth lifts a hand. Shadow travels down the length of his arm and streams into the air around him, forming six points of darkness that coalesce into long, slim constructs. With a single flick of a finger, the weapons fire focused lasers all at once, each beam centering directly on where Celestia is standing.

Despite his newfound power, nothing could prepare Seth for Celestia’s sudden charge. Surging beneath Seth’s lasers, Celestia attacks him head-on and delivers a spinning kick with her hind hooves. Seth lifts a hand to block but finds it completely ineffectual as the impact knocks him across the battered plateau and off the edge of the mountain. 

Seth rights himself in midair, his aura swirling about him and allowing him to hover. He has no time to collect himself before Celestia catches up and deals a devastating blow to the chest. As Seth tumbles backward through the air, he turns and directs his constructs to fire upon Celestia relentlessly, the six weapons chasing her and raining lasers down upon her to little effect.

The two streak through the air at a rapid pace, forming two trails of light and darkness behind them. Each time they meet, claw meets hoof in an explosion of tremendous proportions and a tumultuous thunderclap loud enough to be heard for miles. Green lightning and lasers rain from the sky around the darkened form of Seth, his body deteriorating with every passing second.

Seth hits the side of the mountain running, Celestia slamming her hooves into the earth behind him. He halts his body and drags the claws on his right hand through the mountainside, channeling his mana into the rock. Sheets of black crystal erupts from each gouge in the mountain, each one growing seemingly without limit and converging on Celestia 

Celestia tears through them as though they were fragile glass. Seth’s demonic eyes widen and he zips around her on the wall only moments before she obliterates the rocky mountainside where he had just been clinging with another devastating strike. His constructs circle around her and pelt her with lasers, even as Seth forms the two stubby constructs from before with three barrels each. 

Seth fires them one after the other at near point-blank range, each blast deflected off Celestia’s aura without even slowing her down. She turns to face him and bucks him off the wall down to the plateau, where his back slams into the rock to form another gaping crater.

As Celestia approaches at a blinding speed, Seth dissipates his weapons and sweeps his clawed hands through the earth. Sheets of dark crystal erupt from the cracks left behind and shoot up to meet Celestia. She shatters them easily once more, but the broken shards clump together to form chains that wrap about the unsuspecting princess’s outstretched hooves. Seth motions with his claws, causing the chains to yank the princess straight to the surface of the plateau.

Seizing the moment, Seth places himself far away from the pinned princess and uses his left claw to remotely split the six floating constructs into thirty-two similar constructs. The constructs form a tight sphere around the princess while his right claw molds a pool of darkness into the shape of three massive barrels attached to his right arm.

With a flick of his left hand, the constructs surrounding Celestia spread out and fire a blistering array of lasers, each laser meeting with her aura and exploding violently. Despite their prior failure to break past Celestia’s aura, Seth continues to fire again and again, channeling more and more mana in an attempt to break past her guard. He brings up his right arm, orienting the large construct onto his target. With a single pull of the trigger, a ballistic projectile fires from the first barrel, trailing black exhaust behind it. The construct rotates, moving the spent barrel away while bringing the second forth to fire a second missile, followed by a third from the final barrel.

The three projectiles crash into Celestia in a billowing explosion of shadow and deadly shrapnel. Not letting up, Seth dissolves the construct on his right arm and then raises both hands to release a two-pronged attack. With his right, Seth forces several elongating pillars of crystal to erupt from the plateau and the mountainside, each elongating and undulating like snakes while homing directly on Celestia’s position from above. With his left, Seth gestures upwards, and the barrel of a massive cannon forms from the ground beneath Celestia and releases a tremendous blast of shadow from below.

All of these attacks strike nearly at once and combine to form an incredible explosion so dark and dense it seems to suck the light in. Still feeling resistance underneath the onslaught, Seth opens his mouth, revealing teeth that even now were sharpening and elongating, and roars as he brings his hands together, intensifying the maelstrom of darkness around Celestia and causing it to take the form of a twisting dark tornado ringed with sickly green lightning.

Yet in the core of the tornado, a point of light appears. The light grows brighter, resistant to Seth’s every attempt to snuff it out, peeling away the darkness layer by layer until it bursts forth like a blazing ray of sunlight slicing through storm clouds. Seth zips forward at top speed, gathering as much power as possible to his right hand, which he brings down upon Celestia with everything he has, roaring his throat hoarse with exertion. 

Seth’s momentum halts as though he had run straight into a solid wall. His fist comes to a complete halt a full foot away from Celestia’s face, the impact seeming to shatter the air and rend the earth asunder beneath them. Her aura blows away the darkness completely, any trace of shadow in the area replaced entirely by brilliant, glorious light. For the citizens of Canterlot, it looked like there were two suns in the sky, one being considerably closer than the other

Standing before Seth is no longer Celestia, but the blazing corona of the sun itself. Her magical aura is like a solar flare, blossoming up from the ground in a full three-meter radius around her body, burning so hot the surrounding air is forced into a heated updraft. In contrast, Celestia’s purple eyes are cold, offering no mercy as she bears the monster’s attack. Light streams away from Celestia’s cold eyes in ribbons, not a shred of mercy to be found in those purple orbs.

Despite all his accumulated power and skill, Seth staggers backward, at a loss for what to do next. Before he can gather his wits, Celestia lowers her horn and fires a beam of intensely concentrated light. Seth reforms his rifle in an instant and retaliates by pulling the trigger over and over again, but it proves about as effective as spitting into a hurricane. Swallowing each blast of darkness, the beam of light strikes Seth directly in the chest, breaking through his aura, destroying his shirt, and scalding his skin mercilessly.

The light detonates, enveloping him in blinding light. Seth screams in agony but refuses to fall. Even as shreds of destroyed clothing fall to the ground, Seth remains standing, his body scorched and bleeding and his magic doing everything it can to keep him in one stitched piece. 

Seth’s eyes are as slits, staring at Celestia with pure bestial hatred. The skin on his face tears away further, revealing a seamless and smooth black surface that begins to fuse with his jaw. His muscles bulge and swell, the cracks in his skin extending down his neck and meeting with his blackened forearms. His legs and arms thicken, gradually increase in size, and burst through their skin entirely as even more power bubbles up from within him.

Before he has a chance to do anything, Celestia zooms past him in a bolt of light faster than he can see, striking him in the side with a blazing hoof. The single hit causes Seth’s body to jerk back violently, his ribs cracking faster than his magic can stitch him back together. He turns to face her, only for her to instantly make another pass, striking him once again before he can orient himself.

Celestia swoops around him, visible as nothing more than a white flash, assaulting him again and again with destructive punches and kicks while never allowing him a moment to counterattack, or even get his bearings. Each impact causes an explosion of golden light. 

Seth jerks about like a puppet on a string, unable to even fall limp under Celestia’s assault. His body’s transformation slowly ceases as mana is redirected to protect himself even as his defenses are battered away to nothing. 

Celestia slams into the ground in front of Seth, the nearby debris vaporizing to nothing. Seth backs away, weakly blasting her with his rifle to no avail. Recognizing how outmatched he is, Seth pivots on his heel and attempts to zip away. Yet Celestia grabs him by his arm and drags him back, lifting a brightly shining hoof to deal one final blow…

Seth turns back to look at her, and for the first time, Celestia notices in his eyes not the burning malevolence reminiscent of King Sombra, but the innocent terror of a young man faced with she who is akin to a magical force of nature. Celestia’s eyes widen at the sight. Instead of following through, she falters and instead claps both hooves onto Seth's shoulders and calls out to him.





I wonder what it must feel like to drown. To be suspended in the midst of a crushing flow of nature that wants nothing more than to swallow you up as your body screams for air. To see the surface far above you, so close yet still out of reach of your flailing limbs. To know that your life is at its end as the darkness of consciousness closes in around you, knowing that nothing but death awaits you. I wonder if it feels anything like this.

A dark fog shrouds my mind. I can’t see anything. I can’t hear anything. I can’t feel anything. I am sinking in an endless sea of freezing black, the surface so far away as to be nothing more than a forgotten dream.

A terrible presence lurks beneath me. Somewhere in the darkest shadowy depths.  I can’t determine what it is, but I feel its gaze fixed on me, its grip like an iron weight dragging me down.

With every passing moment, I sense myself sinking lifelessly deeper into the depths. I feel a primal existential terror that seeps into the very marrow of my being as the presence whispers in low tones for me to give up. To embrace the complete erasure of my very existence…an annulment of all that I am and all that I ever was. 

But then something else is there. Beyond the endless black, a single point of light shines at the surface, like the north star shining above the horizon in the dead of night. It calls to me like the insidious presence did, filling me with a powerful longing—a promise of escape from my inescapable fate. The darkness fights back, gripping my heart with its icy claws. I cry out for help, but nothing I say seems to reach the light.

I fight for the light with everything I have. Something hurts. The closer I get to the light, the more it hurts. It fills my mind with the redness of agony. If I falter the pain lessens, but my thoughts grow hazier and less defined. I’m filled with urgency, the fear of losing myself nipping at my heels. I don’t know if I’m accomplishing anything. I feel like a paper boat amidst a hurricane atop the ocean black, whipped there and about with terrible wind while sinking into the trough of mountain-sized waves.

But the boat hasn’t sunk yet, and neither has my will to survive. The more I struggle, the clearer things become and the more I remember. It hurts like nothing I’ve ever felt, but the fear of being consumed by the presence below keeps me goingThe light seems to sense me coming as it grows more welcoming and safe, like a mother reaching out for a child. 

With one last push, I press for the light with every fiber of my being, forcibly wrenching the dark sea down beneath my heel. With a silent roar, I break past the water’s surface and suddenly find myself thrust into the waking world.

The first thing I’m aware of is immense pain. My body burns like fire and my limbs feel as weak as a baby’s. The second thing I’m aware of is my legs buckling, but a strong grip on my shoulders stops me from falling. I blink my eyes, recognizing the slender face of Princess Celestia a few inches away from mine through foggy vision tinged with green. She’s saying something in a frantic voice, but I can’t make out what.

“Princ...?” I say before my throat fills with the taste of iron and I cough up blood.

Celestia inhales sharply and grips me tighter. It’s hard for me to understand her with the ringing in my ears. “...at me! I need…focus on me…everything that you have! Do not let…understand me!? You…stay in control!”

Whatever that darkness was inside me that was trying to consume me, I’ve held it back for now. The crushing wave of relief that falls over me is so intense I would cry if it didn’t hurt so bad.

“Seth…alright? …remember who you are?” Celestia asks, supporting my head with her hoof. My throat feels as though there are daggers in it, so all I can manage is a weak nod.

“Oh, thank goodness!” Celestia gently wraps her forehooves around my neck in a relieved hug, causing me to softly hiss in pain as my ribs throb painfully. 

I can’t seem to shake the faint film of green that’s tinting my vision, nor the black spots that come and go at the edges of my peripheral. I try to wipe my eyes, only to seize up as I catch sight of my destroyed hand and arm.

“Calm down,” Celestia says, the relief clearly audible in her voice. “You did it, Seth. You conquered your magic and returned to me. I am so proud of you.” Celestia lowers me to the ground gently with magic and presses a hoof gently on my arm. 

“Do not speak. You are terribly hurt. I know I am asking too much, but I need you to disperse your aura for me. Simply slow the flow. Can you do that for me?”

 I look up at her cluelessly at first, but then some of the fog hanging over my mind thins and I vaguely recall our conversation before I blacked out. Like before, I close my eyes and attempt to visualize the black river, ignoring the pain as best I can. After what feels like minutes or hours I find it,  now little more than a trickle that proves easy enough for me to block off. 

When I next open my eyes, my vision returns to normal and the shadow covering my body disperses. Relieved, I take a deep breath and instantly regret it, pain wracking my body over the simplest of breaths. 

“I am so sorry for the state that you are in.” Celestia closes her eyes and exhales deeply. “Worry not, I shall keep my promise. I will tell you everything from the beginning. But first, you must be healed; your injuries are very grave.”

Before I can finish formulating my thoughts, Celestia lowers her head to me, her horn lighting up with a gentle glow. Ribbons of golden light issue forth from the tip of her horn and gently wind around my body, stitching together any lacerations and soothing any burns they find. They even enter my body and realign the mess that is my bones, a warm tingling feeling preventing me from feeling any pain. As the healing progresses, I can feel myself growing more and more exhausted, my eyes feeling as heavy as lead.

Despite my every effort to remain awake, I can’t stop the wave of fatigue from overwhelming me, the waking world slowly fading away. Accompanying me to sleep is the soothing timbre of Celestia’s voice.

“Rest, Seth. I will take care of you. Tomorrow, all shall be revealed.”
> 25. The Ultimatum
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Hold on, I said what?!” I gasp, my eyes bugging out slightly. Celestia chuckles slightly at my reaction.

“Indeed. You were quite adamant on taking my throne,” she repeats. I heave a disbelieving sigh as the two of us descend the mountain path back towards  the castle.

Along the way, Celestia's been telling me more about what I'd been like before she managed to rouse me from my apparent insanity. I mean, I knew I hadn't been in control back when I fought the Scorpios, but to think that I'd been this far gone...it's just surreal. I guess this is what it feels like to drink yourself into a black out, only to wake up with no memory of the previous night's events.

Honestly, I'm a bit disturbed by the things she's telling me. I had knocked off her crown and then stated an intent to take over Equestria. You think that's bad, I even fucking threatened to kill Luna and Twilight in terrible ways just to make Celestia suffer. As if I need I another reason to fear this magic. The things I reportedly said...they're so unlike me. I'm an asshole who may complain about how things are done, yeah, but I'd never consider taking over. I have no interest in power, because it usually comes with tons of other work to keep the kingdom running...and I'm simply too lazy for something like that. As for the killing, I believe I've said before that I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I killed anyone. It's not my right to steal away the life from another. It doesn't matter if my race sucked, I'd never have killed anyone.

Yeah, I'm frightened. This magic...I resolve to keep it within me and never use it. It's too random of a variable. What if next time, I kill Rainbow? I think I would die.

“Goddamn,” I murmur, looking away from Celestia guiltily. “No, you and Luna have been ruling for a hell of a long time, and Equestria's still standing. I don't want to take over.”

“Seth, I don't blame you for the things you said while under the influence of your magic. I'll explain further once the both of us are clean,” Celestia assures me. I grunt in response. I wish she'd just tell me now. Sure, I'm missing a shirt because Celestia burned it the fuck to pieces...but that's no big deal. Maybe it is to Rarity. She'll probably flip a shit, since she worked really hard on this winter outfit.

Returning to the castle, we are immediately met by Luna, who looks as if she'd been waiting for us for a while. She watches me like a hawk, which I suppose I can understand. 

“Sister, we art ready for thine explanation,” Luna snaps, clearly unhappy by this whole situation. 

“Just a moment, Luna. As you can see, I am hardly fit for a serious discussion, as unkempt as I look,” Celestia says, but then she reconsiders, even as Luna opens her mouth to protest. “But, if you'd like to join me in the washroom, I can oblige you there.”

“That...is acceptable,” Luna concedes without further demur. A second later, what Celestia just said clicks in my mind.

“Hold on a minute, what?” I interrupt, looking at both Celestia and Luna. “You're going to shower together?”

“Of course. Is there a problem?” Celestia asks, looking perplexed.

“But...what the hell? Where I'm from, bathing with another adult is considered...wrong, to put it lightly,” I relate. Seriously, it would just be fucking weird if I ever showered with Adam. The same goes for sisters I assume, only then you have a bunch of dumb men making earthy jokes about them.

“I see. However, in Equestria, it is common for ponies to assist in cleaning one another,” Celestia reveals. Then she gives a small smile. “It is a sign of friendship and trust.”

“Fucking weird is what it is,” I mutter. Celestia nods, understanding our cultural differences, while Luna shoots me a dark glare. Wow, if she hadn't liked me before, she fucking hates me now. “Whatever. So where do I go to get clean?”

Celestia pauses, and then she turns to address one of the unicorn guards standing near the entryway. “Swift, would you mind escorting our guest to one of the empty rooms?”

The guard in question salutes smartly and immediately responds, “Yes, your Highness!” Swift leaves her post and snaps her gaze to me. Great, so I have to follow one of these bastards.

“When you are finished, speak to any guard and ask for the sitting room. I will meet you there,” Celestia finishes, and then she and Luna enter the castle and disappear from view, leaving me with Swift.

“Come with me,” Swift commands, stiffly turning her back on me and cantering into the castle as well. Huh, not even something as simple as a greeting. Bitch.

I do as I'm told, because I want to get clean as badly as Celestia does. We really wrecked that mountaintop. I almost wish I could have seen the fight myself, though I know that Celestia wiped the floor with me. Good to know she has the power to back up her position. I guess this country is pretty safe.

“So, is Swift your first name, or what?” I say somewhat awkwardly. I want to know a bit more about the military composition, so it makes sense to ask a guard personally. I might get better information than from that bitch, Elegant.

“You will refer to me as Sergeant Lance,” is Swift's abrupt response. My eyes widen slightly, and then I scoff. Great, so I got landed with another bitch. Actually, you know what? You're just a lowly guard. I'm not going to take this.

“I'll call you whatever I damn well please, bitch,” I retaliate viciously, not appreciating her attitude at all. Swift visibly bristles in anger at my words, but to her credit, she doesn't react. “Seriously, it's been nothing but assholes ever since I got here. I'm getting tired of it!”

“You are lucky you are under the Princesses' protection,” Swift hisses back at me, seemingly ignoring most of my last statement. Of course, that's women for you. Pick one thing they don't agree with in what you say, and ignore everything else. “Some ponies don't appreciate the attention you're getting.”

“Oh, so that's what this is about. Well, get over it. I'm not going to suddenly stop being human,” I return bitterly. 

“It's not about your species. It's simply wrong that you can completely disregard any form of courtesy in the presence of royalty, and yet still go unpunished,” Swift corrects me. Oh, so she's being all stuck up about my lack of decorum. 

“Well, excuse me for not giving a shit about pony royalty,” I retort. Swift suddenly halts in the middle of the hallway. I pause, wondering if she's about to hit me. 

Thankfully, all she does is open a door on the wall near us. I can see a bed inside, so I walk into the room. “This is one of the guest rooms. I recommend you step inside and think before the next time you speak to a Royal Guard as you just did,”  Swift says sternly, and then she shuts the door behind me.

“Bitch,” I say again, even though I know she can't hear me. Seriously, every last asshole. Elegant Style was first, and now Swift Lance. Ugh. Get the fuck over yourselves already.

I turn around to view the room, and my breath is taken away. Hot damn this is luxurious. It's a good thing I'm only using this to bathe. There's no fucking way I'd accept a room like this.

Let me just describe this bullshit. The room is rectangular, with a circular raised portion in the far left corner accessible by small steps. Upon this platform is an elaborate four poster bed, with white and gold sheets and a translucent white set of curtains.

Situated in the forward right section of the room, there's a glass table surrounded by black...wait a moment, is that leather? That can't be right. I go and press down on one of the three black chairs to test my hypothesis. Hm, it looks like leather, but feels differently. Almost like cotton, or silk. Except it's a bit stiffer. Oh, so it's artificial leather. I've seen a few of those in my time. They're usually made of polyester, if I remember correctly. I was about to say, it's fucked up for ponies to use the skin of other ponies as luxury items. Anyhow, that aside, upon the glass table is a vase of flowers.

Three windows are on the opposite wall, gazing out unto the city of Canterlot below. As it's still the middle of the day, I can see all the different high class ponies moving from place to place. On the right side of the room is another door, which probably leads to the bathroom, since there's no other doors.

My hand clasps around the cool crystal doorknob and turn it, revealing a ridiculously luxurious bathroom. It makes Rarity's bathroom look like a fucking outhouse. Directly in front of me is the tub, which takes up one entire corner of the room. Yeah, it's massive. There's even six little knobs on the rim, for adjusting all kinds of settings.

Multiple vanities and cabinets line the left side of the room, with large pristine mirrors reflecting my dirtied ragged appearance. Celestia wasn't kidding, I look like total shit. My shirt and jacket got completely incinerated by Celestia being fucking OP as shit, and there's dirt and bits of grass and rock smeared all over my chest and pants. That's not even counting my poor hair. I'm the most bitter about that. It's hanging in tangles around my shoulders.

You know what, fuck the description. I won't be happy until my hair is back to normal. 





So I actually spend an entire hour in that bathroom. Between bathing and grooming myself, I tend to take a long time, especially if my hair is fucked up by more than just the typical wind and shit. And it was super fucked up, to the point where the combs that are here got stuck and wouldn't move. So many tangles...ugh.

Finally, I step out of the bathroom, my hair once again silky smooth and shining. Surprisingly enough, there's a set of clothes lying folded on the glass table, while my clothes that I'd thrown all over the floor in the main room are gone. 

I lift up the shirt, noticing that it's definitely made for a human. It's a royal blue color, with golden trims along the edges and stripes down the long sleeves. The cuffs are rolled up slightly, and the collar is folded neatly. Along with the shirt, there's also a set of black boxers and slim pants colored that same royal blue.

Suspicious, I slip on the boxers and pants. My suspicions are confirmed when the clothes fit perfectly. There's only one pony that I've let anywhere near me with a measuring tape. This is Rarity's work. How and why is her work up here in Canterlot? Why did she make more clothes for me without asking or giving them to me?

Well, I guess it's not that big of a deal. I already let her make some clothes for me. Who cares if she made one more set? The only thing I want to know is why they're here in the first place.

After getting dressed in the new outfit (in which I feel like a classy mother fucker), I leave my room behind, making sure to grab my rifle in the process.

Speaking of which, I take a close look at it. According to Celestia, it had undergone a metamorphosis or something into crystal. I don't see that, though. It looks as normal now as it has ever, despite it looking as good as new. I wonder if that was another aspect of this magic that I'm never going to use ever.

Whatever. I sling my rifle over my shoulder again and leave the room, making sure to grab my wallet and phone as well. I'm glad I had the foresight to take them out of my pockets before getting in the tub. They're both useless, but there's no way I'm getting rid of them.

So Celestia is in the sitting room, wherever that is. I suppose it would be too much to ask for there to be signs directing me there. No? Ugh, that means I have to talk to a random guard that will probably hate me.

Because I like being difficult, I stop a random passing maid (yes, a maid. It's even wearing the fucking outfit.) and ask her for directions. Turns out this fucking castle is more complicated than it needs to be. She gave me like, fourteen turns to take.

As I walk, it's easy to determine that I'm not very well liked here. The guards appear to be indifferent to me, but I assume that's because they're well trained. No, it's the staff and other nobles that are walking the halls that give me snooty looks as I pass by. They're so similar to humans I can't even stand it. I bet the relationship rumors will start any time now. Because somebody in power obviously can't talk to someone of the opposite gender without fucking them in private. Sound fucked up? Welcome to the human race.

Without bothering to knock, I push open the door to the sitting room and walk inside, my feet sinking into a plush red carpet. There's several seats lining the walls, but they're all empty. The only ponies in the room are Celestia and Luna.

“Ah, you're looking well, Seth,” Celestia greets me graciously. I give her a once over as well, noticing how she's once again looking pristine and regal. Luna remains silent, for some reason not looking at me.

“Yeah, sure. You going to tell me what I want to know now?” I reply impatiently.

“Of course, I did promise. However, I was hoping you and Luna would talk first. I understand there is a bit of animosity between you,” Celestia responds, and I have to rub my forehead in exasperation. One thing after another! God, just fucking tell me. 

“Why? She hates me. I have nothing to say to her,” I snap. Luna winces at that, while Celestia smiles sadly.

“We...I...don't hate thee, Seth,” Luna corrects me, dropping the plural for the first time ever. What in the fuck does that mean? “I do not trust thy kind, for reasons discussed previously.”

“Yeah, you're smart to distrust us. And as long as there's distrust, there will always be 'animosity,' as Celestia puts it,” I tell her flatly. “There's really nothing to say.”

“What were we supposed to think, when we sensed both thy magic and our sister's?” Luna continues, ignoring me. She also slipped back into plurals. I guess that couldn't last forever. “We apologize for doubting thee. Twas unknown to us that our sister hath requested to see thy magic.”

“Whatever...you done now? I honestly don't care. I'm still pissed at her about that myself,” I say impatiently, glancing at Celestia meaningfully.

Luna huffs in frustration. “Must you brush off even the most sincere of apologies?” Hah, holy fuck, is she pouting? That's hilarious.

“Yup. If I expect to be wronged, then no apology is necessary,” I confirm. Luna looks at me oddly at that, while Celestia nods, as if she'd expected such a response.

“Thou hast a dark way of looking at things,” Luna comments.

“That's funny, coming from the Princess of the Night,” I retort.

“Thou appears to be lacking in any kind of respect,” Luna returns, though she doesn't seem all that angry about it.

“Just noticed that now, did you?” I remark. There's a slight pause in the conversation there, as Celestia smiles at our interaction, and Luna looks at me as if she's trying to figure me out. “Now then, talk's over. Celestia?”

“Indeed, I suppose it is time. Luna, you should return to bed, I believe,” Celestia responds, looking at her sister. Luna glances up at a clock on the wall and sighs.

“Thou art correct. We should not have been awake this early,” Luna laments, moving towards the door. Huh. I suppose it makes sense she sleeps during the day, being the princess of the night after all.

“Sleep well, sister,” Celestia calls after her sister, and then the door shuts, leaving the two of us in the room together. She looks back at me, but I'm already talking.

“Okay. You. Magic. Spill,” I demand in a rather eloquent manner. Celestia chuckles somewhat, and then she turns serious.

“Very well. I shall start with my conclusion, before continuing with my personal recommendations,” Celestia declares. “I have determined that you are using dark magic, of a similar variety to the magic used by King Sombra himself.”

And there goes my jaw. I had already figured out that it was dark magic of some kind, considering how crazy it makes me, but Sombra used the same kind of magic? That's sickening. I don't want to use any magic that he also used. “Why...how did you come to this conclusion?” I want to hear the reasoning before I event attempt to accept this.

“As you know, my sister and I fought with Sombra at the Crystal Empire. It was there that we came into contact with the full force of his magical strength,” Celestia began. “Once you fight against somepony, you will never forget the feeling of their magical composition. Because of that, when I sensed your magic from the forest, I was alarmed, as it felt very similar to Sombra's magic.”

“If you suspected that then, why didn't you fetch me then?” I press. I'm shocked as all hell at this revelation. How and why is this magic so similar to that bastard's?

“I initially intended to gather the Elements of Harmony and confront the source of this magic, but I chose not to, upon receiving the incident reports,” Celestia admits. “I had not expected the source of magic to be you.”

“Don't be soft. If you thought I was anything close to Sombra, you should have killed me without mercy,” I berate her, disbelief on my face. “What if I had been Sombra, using that transformation spell again?”

“Please Seth, it is easy for an experienced practitioner of magic to detect when one is using a transformation spell,” Celestia admonishes me. “That aside, I was unwilling to harm you. It would be tragic, if you had been killed before you could understand what a wonderful world you're now living in.”

“Spare me,” I groan, rubbing my forehead. “You have all this power, but you're too nice.”

“Do not patronize me, Seth. I have learned when to be lenient, and when to use force,” Celestia scolds me, causing me to flinch. I keep forgetting she has thousands of years more experience than me. “Despite what you may think, kindness works far more than force. If I had harmed you, wouldn't I have just been conforming to the human principles that you've come to expect?”

I stare at her incredulously. “You have really got to stop being so damn good at that,” I mutter, causing her to giggle. “I swear, is it that if you're old enough, you can fucking read minds?”

“In a manner of speaking. But, continuing on the subject of your magic, I was unsure if it was really dark magic, as the magical ambiance of the Everfree Forest has been known to scramble magical composition in the past,” Celestia continues. “Therefore I sent a letter to Twilight Sparkle, asking her for the results of her examinations.”

“You knew she would attempt to study me?” I ask, marveling at Celestia's foresight. Again, I see how she's in charge. She's a fucking genius, and has the power the back it up. Nopony can beat her. 

Celestia laughs. “I know my student, Seth. There is no way she wouldn't attempt to study an obscure magic such as that. However, her results served to reinforce my suspicions. The composition of your magic, while extremely unstable from a lack of control, was definitely dark magic. It just remained to be seen if it was similar to Sombra's.”

“Okay, so then why didn't you come and get me then?”

“I was actually planning to make another trip down to Ponyville, when I heard that you were already in Canterlot,” Celestia informs me. “So I sent for you. While I did wish to speak with you about your experiences in Equestria, I then had a second objective: to see your magic myself.”

“So you provoked me into letting it loose,” I conclude, and then I receive a nod from her. “I don't like that you didn't tell me, but I can see why you didn't. So what did you deduce from seeing it?”

“It is definitely similar to Sombra's. From the magical aura itself to the color change of your eyes, I almost believed I was facing a human version of Sombra himself,” Celestia affirms. 

“Shit. Well then...why didn't you kill me then, if I was so dangerous?” I demand, still somewhat in shock about all this. “You certainly had the strength.”

“Because I am not going to render judgment upon you simply for being unable to control an ancient magic,” Celestia explains. “After all, a lack of control can be adjusted, over time.”

“I see. But I don't plan on learning to control this magic. I plan on never using it again,” I finally tell her resolutely. Celestia pauses, and then looks at me sternly.

“Seth, you must learn to control this magic. It is not something you can ignore,” she warns me. What the hell? It sounds like she's telling me I don't have a choice. Fuck you, I always have a choice.

“Like I hell I can't. Besides, I don't have to do what you say. It's my choice, and I choose to ignore it!”

Celestia slams a hoof down. “Then you choose to let Rainbow Dash and Apple Bloom die.”

I freeze, and then I glare at her intensely. That sounded suspiciously like a threat. “You'd better explain yourself. Right now.” I demand.

“You may not remember, but I told you before that I've seen many ponies succumb to the insanity that this magic brings. You think you are the first one to deny this magic after it has taken residence within your body?” Celestia points out.

“What?”

“If you let it be, the insanity will grow within you, and it will get loose, no matter how hard you try to hold it back. Every time you lose yourself, it will become harder and harder to stop, until it takes your over completely,” Celestia continues, and I'm struck speechless. Is this like...holy shit, what is this power, a fucking Inner Hollow? “Then, you will either die from the strain, or your body will adapt to it, and you will become a shell of your former self, sustained only by misery and destruction.”

“That's...”

“However, even if you live on, you will still be connected to those you care about. The magic views these bonds as a weakness. Therefore, those that succumb to this magic seek out those they love, and murder them.”

“Oh son of a...”

“Would you be content to let this happen to you? Are you okay with knowing that one day it will be your hand that snuffs out the lives of the ponies you care about?” Celestia has been stepping closer and closer this whole time, her eyes never leaving mine.

“Goddammit, fine!” I finally yell, unable to take the mental images that shes inducing. The moment she mentioned that I'd kill Rainbow, all I can see is her broken body through the dark aura of my own magic, and I shudder in horror. “You're a pain in the ass, you know that?”

“I'm only looking out for you and your well-being,” Celestia assures me, reaching her neck forward and nuzzling my cheek. Dammit, when did she get close enough for that? “I've seen many, many friends die. I wish to save you from that pain.”

“I can't fucking understand you. You're not like any human I've ever met. You're...dammit, I can't even,” I express in frustration. Celestia beams at that.

“Coming from you, I'll take that as an compliment. Thank you, Seth,” she reasons, and I scowl. So I basically just agreed to learn how to use this magic.

“Whatever. So how do you intend to help me with this? I doubt you're willing to stay in Ponyville for a long period of time, and there's no way I'm staying in Canterlot for a similar amount of time,” I question.

“Of course, I understand that you wouldn't want to be separated from your friends,” Celestia says understandingly. What? That's not what I...ugh, sure, we'll go with that. It has nothing to do with the fact that I fucking hate ponies here. Cadance and Celestia are the only two tolerable ponies I've met since getting here. Well, I could count that Fancy Pants guy, but I don't trust his motives at all.

“So...what's your solution?”

“Hm...I believe that Twilight Sparkle, being the Element of Magic, would be the most suited to helping you learn the basics of magical control,” Celestia mentions.

“Oh hell,” I groan, already picturing an ecstatic Twilight bouncing around the clearing while I try to use magic.

“But for the more complex applications, such as developing personal techniques, I can assign a member of the Canterlot Royal Unicorn Second Regiment to assist you,” Celestia suggests.

“Second Regiment? Okay, I know that the first one does security and defense. The fuck does the second one do?” I inquire, actually curious.

“Oh, the Second Regiment is more magic-oriented. I put them in charge in creating and identifying large scale magical maneuvers, such as healing, barriers, and other protective spells. They also collaborate on finding ways to neutralize the magical weapons of other countries,” Celestia explains. Hang on a moment, so they're basically the white mages. “Though when the occasion calls for it, they are very useful in battle.”

Nevermind, they are red mages. So I'm getting one of those fuckers to help me out? Great, if the attitude of the ponies I've met in Canterlot so far is anything to go by, it'll probably be some bitch who has it out for me. But, it's either that or eventually kill Rainbow and Apple Bloom. You two are lucky you're worth it.

“Okay then. This is gonna be a drag, but as you put it, I don't have a choice. When do I start?” I say in a resigned manner. It's like I'm going through school all over again, what with learning to read and now learning how to use this fucking magic.

“We can actually start now, if you'd like. I know a certain stallion that would really enjoy having a student, if only for a short time,” Celestia offers. I raise an eyebrow. Stallions? They exist? Heh.

“Eh, might as well. As long as it doesn't take all night. I do want to hang with Rainbow some before tomorrow,” I say, shrugging.

“Of course. He is a very busy stallion as well, but I'm sure he'll help you out for an hour or so before his next assignment,” Celestia assures me with a smile. “If you'll come with me, I'll take you to him.”

“Okay, whatever. Lead the way,” I tell her. With a satisfied nod, Celestia leads me out of the sitting room and down more hallways that look exactly the same. I don't know how she finds her way around this place. That aside though, I'm hoping this guy I'm going to talk to is actually somewhat sane. I need another male to talk to, instead of having to deal with all this female energy. I'm starting to feel somewhat outnumbered, especially since every fucking pony I talk to is a mare. Ugh.

Honestly, I lose track of how many twists and turns we take, until finally Celestia stops in front of a seemingly random guard, except that his armor is violet as well as gold, and there's a shield emblem with a pink star pinned to his chest. His plume is also a different color, being a darker blue with a streak of cyan running through it, rather than just plain blue.

“Captain, may I have a moment of your time?” Celestia addresses the guard, who snaps to attention immediately. Captain, huh? That's a pretty high rank.

“Of course, your Highness!” the guard responds promptly. Celestia smiles, and then gestures for him to follow her. The three of us continue down the hallway. I glance at the guard, but he won't look at me. He keeps his eyes trained directly ahead. I guess he's pretty well disciplined.

“At ease, Captain. I wanted to speak with you about something rather important,” Celestia begins. The guard remains silent, though his posture does relax somewhat. And he's not speaking unless he's asked a question. Yep, this guy's a hardcore soldier. “Would you mind taking some time before your evening patrol to train a magical initiate?”

“Certainly, Princess. However, that does leave my post empty,” the captain replied graciously, referring to the empty spot where he'd been standing a few minutes ago.

“You may reassign whomever you see fit,” Celestia tells him, and he nods in response.

“If you don't mind me asking, whom will I be instructing? I wasn't aware there were any further graduates this semester,” the captain inquires. Nevermind, there's a question. It's still stiff and polite as hell though.

“Oh, I've already brought the initiate in question with us.” Celestia finally brings the focus of the conversation back to me, and I resist the urge to rub my forehead. The captain finally looks at me, his bright cyan eyes blinking at me. And then his gaze looks me up and down, before finally turning to Celestia.

“I...understand, Princess. I shall begin immediately, if that is your desire,” the captain responds after a few seconds. I detect the small pause in his confirmation. Great...seems like he has some reservations about working with me as well. At least he didn't complain about it. Even so, this is going to suck.

“It is. I'll leave the details to you,” Celestia affirms. The captain salutes, earning a smile from her. “Now then, I have put off Day Court long enough. I'll leave you to it. I expect a full report from you when you're finished.”

“As you command,” the captain replied. Then, with a nod to the both of us, Celestia splits away from us, down a separate hallway. Lovely. The captain looks at me, his expression unchanging. “Come with me.”

I shrug and do as I'm told. This guy's pretty high up, so I figure he expects compliance. I mean, I already agreed to this. There's no point in contesting his orders.

The captain seems to lead me out of the castle, but a quick look around the outside area changes that assumption. The afternoon sun blazes down on me as we walk through a small courtyard, in which several other guards, some in armor and some not, are practicing. 

The area is mostly grassy, with the bulk of the castle behidn us and a smaller, two story building just across the field. There's two small dirt areas on the far right and far left, in each of which are two armored unicorn guards, practicing their fighting styles with wooden swords and shields. It's interesting how they're using magic to carrying their weapons.

Forgive me if I'm going on a tangent, but I find their fighting styles interesting. They're doing very little actual movement of their limbs, apart from dodging and weaving. Their shields and swords, however, move like whirlwinds. They circle around one another, avoiding slashes and stabs by moving their heads or blocking with their shields, neither one of them giving any ground. I'd stay and watch more, but the captain is still moving.

There are archers in this area as well, firing their bows with magic into straw targets set up in a makeshift archery range. All the combat training aside, there's also some guards just hanging out in groups without armor, talking and laughing with one another.

As we pass them, they glance over at us, giving me a curious glance and then greeting their captain with polite waves and calls. The captain acknowledges them all with simple nods. I suppose he's technically still on duty, so he can't be overly casual.

The two of us enter the building, which I now understand is a guard barracks. Unfortunately, I don't get to see much of the interior, because I'm led down a staircase just inside the door down into a wide open room underground.

This looks like another training room, with constructions similar to those outside, built along the walls. So you get stuff like pony mannequins, archery ranges, and weapon racks. But there's also a lot of empty space.

Finally, the captain comes to a halt. He proceeds to take off his helmet, revealing a navy blue mane with streaks of cyan running through it. The way his mane settles around his neck reminds me of somepony, but I can't quite recall who. Agh, it's going to bug me now.

He turns his head to face me, and then he smiles, showing the first fucking emotion since I've seen him. “Hey, sorry about ignoring you back there. Gotta keep up appearances while on duty,” he tells me amiably. 

“Doesn't bother me. I know how military types are supposed to act,” I reply, a bit relieved that he's not actually a robot. Maybe he won't actually hate me as well.

“That's good to hear,” he says, nodding, and then he extends a gauntleted hoof to me. “My name is Shining Armor, Captain of the Canterlot Royal Unicorn First Regiment.”

Well now, he's a great deal more important than I thought. I had assumed he'd be around the level of captain rank in human terms, which is about halfway up the ladder. I guess not, if he controls the force of ponies in charge of security and defense. Though I swear to god, if I find out later that there's thirteen regiments, I'm calling him Yamamoto forever.

I take the hoof that is offered to me and shake it. “Seth Rogers. That's one hell of a title you got there,” I comment, earning a laugh from Shining Armor.

“Heh, it is quite a mouthful, huh? Anyway, it's a pleasure to meet you. I heard a human was in town, but it's a bit surreal to see you for myself,” Shining Armor admits with a sheepish grin, withdrawing his hoof. I resist the temptation to roll my eyes. Yes, I know I'm the equivalent of the Romans to you ponies. I'm getting quite tired of hearing it.

“Yeah, I get that a lot. So, you're teaching me how to magic, right?” I say, cutting right to the point.

“For about an hour or two, yes. I must admit, I'm rather interested to see what kind of magic you can use. I doubt the books were very accurate,” Shining Armor responds, sitting down on his haunches. 

“That's because they weren't,” I snort derisively. “I haven't read them myself, but I heard that they over hyped our 'magical potential.' You know, the one we don't usually have.”

“Ah, so you're the first of your kind to use magic?” Seems like Shining Armor is pretty sharp. It took me several attempts to make Twilight believe that.

“That's right. And it's not really even unique magic,” I confirm. It would be awesome if I had magic no other pony had ever attempted. Of course, it would also be nice if my magic wasn't trying to kill me. “Which makes me wonder how strong you are, if Celestia believes you can handle this. If I lose control again, I might attack you.”

“I have the utmost faith in Princess Celestia. If she believes I am fit for this task, then I am willing to to trust in her,” Shining Armor tells me proudly. “In addition, she appears to trust you, so I will also trust you.”

I stare at him in disbelief at that statement. How can anybody have that kind of faith in their government? You're willing to trust a complete unknown simply because they do? “I wish I could have that kind of faith,” I mutter.

“Pardon?” Shining Armor asks.

“It's nothing. Shall we get started then?” I say, ready to start taming this magic. Shining Armor looks at me oddly, but then decides to respect my silence and nods.

“Indeed. Now then, during training, keep in mind that I will not be going easy on you,” Shining Armor warns me. I blink. What does that mean? Does that mean he plans to fight me? “I will treat you as if you were one of my soldiers. Therefore, know that everything I say to you during this session is meant to drive you, and not in any way a personal attack against you.”

Did...did he just give me a fucking disclaimer? Oh dear, Celestia handed me off to what equates to a magical drill sergeant. Fuck me, right?

	 

	
> 26. Insanity Conquered
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Now then. Ordinarily, if this were a typical training session, I'd start us off with some basic magical endurance exercises,” Shining Armor dictates, walking back and forth in front of me in an official manner. “After all, it is best to determine exactly how much magical power we have to work with.”

“Apparently a fucking lot,” I remark, remembering how easily I'd taken care of that Scorpios that one day. Shining Armor doesn't appear to care, however, as he stares at me until I realize that he doesn't want to be interrupted. Right...drill sergeant. At least he isn't yelling at me.

“Unfortunately, we don't have the time to wait for your energy to recharge after such exercises, nor am I available to instruct you after this particular lesson,” Shining Armor informs me. “However, at the very least, I would like to instruct you in their procedures, so that you may do them on your own time.”

“Okay, what do you want me to do?” Seems straightforward enough.

“Pay attention. We are not performing these exercises. First and foremost, exhibit your magic, and show me how well you can control it,” Shining Armor commands. I even think he scolded me a bit in there. Goddamn, this is going to be a pain.

Okay, so how did I release my magic with Celestia? I understand she pissed me off, but that kind of release had me trying to murder her. There has to be some other way I can release it. Twilight mentioned something about my magical core. That's in my chest, and I can still feel the magic pulsing gently behind my sternum. It's a weird feeling, like there's a very thick bubble there that keeps changing in size. I don't usually notice unless I'm focusing on it, like now, or if I angry enough to where it wants to come out.

“We're wasting time, Rogers!” Shining Armor warns me. Great, and now I'm being rushed. Also, did he just fucking call me by my last name only? Nobody does that. I don't think I've ever been called like that.

I tap my sternum in that area in a futile attempt to burst that bubble. There has to be a way to do this without getting angry. According to Celestia it depends on anger to bring forth that insanity, and I don't want that. I might kill this guy, since I doubt he's anywhere close to Celestia's level.

“You're not going to have this kind of time during a battle,” Shining Armor points out. I grit my teeth in frustration. Shut the fuck up, I know that. I got lucky back then, that's all. Dammit, this is my magic. It should do what I want. It wants to control me? Sucks to be it, I'm too obstinate to let that happen.

I take a deep breath, closing my eyes, and then I push mentally with all my might against my magical core. Almost immediately, I hear and feel the roar of magical power rushing through my core and disrupting the air around me. The ground cracks beneath my feet as magical power swirls around me. Opening my eyes, I am greeted by a strange fucked up field of vision. Like, everything I see is fucking green. Lime green, with purple tinges on the edge. I can also see my arteries.

“Wow, this is fucked up,” I comment. This is actually the first time I've seen this while being in control of my mental facilities. “Everything is green.”

Shining Armor doesn't let me look at myself for very long. “That's too much! Are you trying to drain yourself before you even get started!?” he bellows at me over the roar of my magic. I look up at him, my eyes narrowing, and a twisted grin forming on my face.

“Is that what you truly think? Or are you just trembling in...argh...dammit,” I say, clutching my face. It's really hard to stay in control. I can feel the insanity there, and if I stop focusing for even an instant, it comes forth. Thankfully, it has a tell. The closer it gets, the more pain I feel. If I suppress it, the pain goes away. “Ignore that...it's difficult to control. How do I use less magic?”

“Control the flow passing through your magical core. Think of the core as a funnel; it's up to you to control the size of that funnel!” Shining Armor advises me, ignoring my burst of insanity obligingly.

Hm, that actually seems like a good mental image. I understand that controlling magic is mostly mental, if the old books I used to read are accurate (which they weren't at the time, but it gives me a decent basis to go off of). Mental images should work in some form or fashion.

I picture one of those adjustable funnels getting slimmer and slimmer, and I feel it coming into effect on my magic. I continue picturing this until the hole at the end of the funnel is small indeed. When I open my eyes again, the magical aura around me is much fainter than before, appearing as a kind of smoky wind circling around me, instead of a roaring black inferno.

“Much better. Now then, your magic feels stable to me, so I'm going to assume that this is your base. The term 'base' refers to the lowest amount of magical power one can emit with shutting the flow entirely,” Shining Armor explains. “In the future, I'd like you to practice staying in at base for as long as you can, preferably on a daily basis. Once you can stay in this form without spending too much magical power, take it up a notch. These are the basic endurance exercises that every unicorn goes through.”

So basically hold my Super Saiya...I mean magic for as long as I can. Funny little joke there. Yeah, my brother and I watched the shit out of that show. Anyhow, moving on.

“Next, I'd like to see how well you can regulate the flow of your magic during basic combat maneuvers,” Shining Armor dictates. His horn lights up with a gentle magenta, and two logs float over to us from a small pile in one corner. Seemingly spending no effort, Shining arranges the logs so that they are standing on end, one on top of the other. Now it's a construct that's about as tall as I am. “Break the upper log, but do not damage the lower one.”

Okay, this reminds me a lot of Blue Exorcist. Only there's logs instead of candles. Whatever. This should be simple enough. I remember having overwhelming power back when I fought the Scorpios, so breaking a log should be easy.

Striding up to the logs, I pivot my right shoulder back, and them slam my fist into the upper log, fully expecting the log to shatter. Instead, pain shoots through my fist and I recoil. “Fuck! What the hell?” I curse, glaring at the unharmed log, and then at my hand, which the darkness is currently swirling around. Where'd all that ridiculous power go?

“I said regulate your power, not completely suppress it! How are you supposed to break through a dam with but a trickle?!” Shining Armor snaps at me. I scoff.

“What are you talking about? I'm in my base form or whatever! How am I supposed to stay in base form and still harness enough power to do anything?” I demand, annoyed.

“Think, Rogers! I told you to go to your base for one reason. Tell me what that is?” Shining Armor returns, unperturbed by my reaction. For some reason, he's not harping on me for a lack of respect. Hopefully it stays that way. A typical drill sergeant would tell you to “watch your tone” or some shit.

“Because I'd drain myself dry before actually doing any real damage,” I state dully. I feel like I'm being schooled like a damn freshman. You gotta love being made to feel like an idiot.

“That's right. But how are you to inflict any damage by only releasing a miniscule amount of magic?” Shining Armor points out. He has a point. There must be some trick to doing this.

“All right, let's try this again,” I grunt. It would do wonders for my ego if I could rediscover that crushing power I'd shown before.

I rush back at the logs, releasing my full magic power once more, darkness erupting from the ground around my feet with a roar. The magic wreathes my body in a malevolent light, and this time, as I draw my fist back, I'm sure I'll obliterate that fucking log.

My fist rams into the log again...and this time it only cracks. An incredulous and frustrated huff escapes my lips. “Are you kidding me right now? I ripped a scorpion thing limb from limb, and now I can't even break a damn log?”

“Better, but you're not focusing your magic! What's the point of concentrating your magic on your whole body if all you're going to use is your fist?” Shining Armor critiques me, and I recognize the sense in his words. Despite that sense, I growl in frustration. I kicked ass before...it's bullshit that I can't do so now.

“Okay, genius. How do I focus my magic?” I retort, powering back down to my base. I'm getting annoyed with the way he's treating me. I mean, he said he was going to be like this, but that doesn't mean it's not pissing me off. It seems like every time I make progress, he's yelling at me about something else.

“Concentrate. Feel the magic within you. By definition, magic is an extension of your own spiritual being. You are your own magic. Calm yourself and reach within your being; the magic will respond naturally to your will,” Shining Armor coaches me. He demonstrates by lifting a hoof, which begins to glow magenta.

Well, that tells me a grand amount of nothing. He basically just told me, “Nah bro, it's fine. You just have to want to.” Of course I fucking want to do this. If I'm going to learn magic, I want to be awesome. Why can't I get some bullshit Deus Ex Machina powers or something?

After standing there with my eyes shut and straining like a dumb fuck, I come to a conclusion. Mental pictures are what have gotten me this far. Maybe I'll use another one to help me through this.

My eyes narrow, and my power blasts out of me again, only this time, a large amount of it is concentrated around my right fist. With a grunt of exertion, I hit the log again, and this time, an explosion of darkness and green electricity ensues at the point of impact. “Yeah, take it, you dumb log!” I cry exultantly as pieces of the log scatter across the floor, charred black from the magic.

Shining Armor glances at my handiwork, unimpressed. Just as I'm about to yell at him, I notice him staring pointedly at something in front of me. I turn, and then I almost faceplant on the ground like an overreacting anime character.

I broke the lower log as well, which I was specifically told not to break. Fuck this...





The next two hours feel like eternity. Shining Armor doesn't give me even a moment to rest. He's a harsh taskmaster, that's for sure. I get one word compliments when I do well (which isn't often) and harsh berating when I fuck up.

That aside, I do discover a few things. It turns out I don't know how to do all the techniques I'd used before while the magic controlled me, like the fast movement and rifle attacks. So basically I'm nowhere near the level I had been when I'd fought Celestia. 

I don't get a chance to try and learn them back during this training session either, as Shining Armor is intent on seeing me learn how to fully control my magic. He has me do several exercises like the one with the logs, where I have to destroy one thing, but not another. Other times he orders me to concentrate my magic in strange places, like my foot or my chest.

“Magic is defensive as well as offensive, all at the same time. Wherever you concentrate your magic, you'll find that you'll take less damage in that area,” Shining Armor explains, after I question his methods. Well, I guess that explains how Celestia's laser didn't blast right through me.





By the end of the two hours, I'm completely drained of magic, having used every bit of it in my attempts to learn how to use it. I'm currently resting on all fours on the ground after a particularly bad fuck up, sweat pouring down my brow.

“All right, we'll stop here. You're coming along nicely, Seth,” Shining Armor says after a moment of regarding me. I notice he's calling my by my first name again. His tone is also more amiable. I guess he switched off his drill sergeant mode. “We'll make a unicorn out of you yet...er...so to speak.”

“Hah...goddamn, I'm tired as hell,” I gasp, pressing a hand to my chest. My heart is racing, as if I'd just come off of a treadmill. Shining chuckles, and then he offers me a hoof to help me rise. I take it gratefully and climb to my feet. “So how long does it usually take for all of my magic to come back?

“It really depends on how much magical power you have. You actually have a great deal of power at your disposal, as well as a deep level of potential you haven't touched upon yet,” Shining Armor analyzes, giving me an approving look. “In your case, I'd say you can use your magic again in a few hours.”

“Oh. Well I shouldn't need it anyway,” I reply, nonplussed. So he says I can be really strong. I wonder what it would be like if I'd had this power back in my time. I think I'd be unstoppable, if I could use magic to buff myself defensively. 

“Right. Now then, I have a patrol to run, so it's time I escort you out of here,” Shining Armor tells me regretfully. I figured as much. Being one of the top members of the military must keep you busy, after all. 

“All right, lead the way.” He and I depart the guard barracks the same way we came in. Walking back through the courtyard, I glance up at the sky, noting that the sun is past its zenith. So if I had to guess, I'd say it's around two or three in the afternoon.

Shining Armor leads me to the doorway leading back into the castle interior before stopping. “It seems I must take my leave of you. I'm looking forward to seeing how you develop,” the captain expresses with a friendly smile. “Make sure you do those endurance exercises I told you about.”

“Yeah, okay. Have fun doing your patrol or whatever,” I tell him. With a nod, Shining Armor goes back towards the barracks, leaving me alone. Huh. I guess he's not all that bad. Bit of a prick while training me, but he gave me a disclaimer for that. I think I like the military, if I just get treated like another soldier and they don't attempt to be my friends.

As I walk back into the castle, I realize I have nothing left on my agenda. Finally. Now where the fuck is Rainbow? I would like to spend the rest of today with her, if possible. I walk into castle, intent on finding the way out.

I take about five turns before I realize I'm completely lost again. Goddammit, fuck this castle's design. How long do ponies have to work here before they figure out where everything is?

“Seth?” Upon hearing my name, I turn my head to see Cadance trotting towards me, smiling. Great...here comes miss carbon copy of Twilight. 

“Didn't you have some diplomatic meeting or something to be at?” I groan. God forbid I get out of the fucking castle without meeting anypony I know.

“I do, yes, but the negotiations don't occur until later this afternoon,” Cadance answers. She comes to a halt just in front of me. I notice with a slight wince that the fact that she's even near me is causing the other ponies walking through the halls to notice me. They're all giving me strange looks as they pass us. “Anyway, I was actually hoping to run into you before you left the castle.”

“Why? What do you want?” I say tiredly, not really in the mood for conversation. I'm still wiped from the training. 

“Do you enjoy listening to music?” Cadance inquires, somewhat randomly in my opinion. Where the hell did that come from?

“Hell yes I do,” I reply truthfully. Good musicians were the only humans apart from my friends and family that I actually respected, as their creativity and skill spoke to me on an emotional level. Hell, I used to play the piano as well. I fucking love music. That's why I always wore headphones with me wherever I went. You have no idea how sorely I'm missing my usual soundtrack. “Why?”

“Good! You see, the Royal Canterlot Orchestra is performing late tonight at the Grand Theater, and I was wondering if you'd like to go see them with me,” Cadance offers. I blink once. Then twice. Did the fucking Princess of Love just ask me out? What the...that's fucking sudden. Not to mention unwelcome. I open my mouth to tell her exactly what I think of her offer, and then I stop. Perhaps I should make sure that's actually what she's after.

“Why would you ask me? You hardly know me,” I demand, hoping that I'm just misinterpreting this. Rejecting a princess could go very wrong, very fast.

“Well, I was going to go with my coltfriend, but he's busy with the guard tonight, so I have an extra ticket,” Cadance explains, levitating two silver tickets in the air just in front of me. Wait, coltfriend? Is that...oh thank god, she's not asking me out. That would have been bad. I mean, I assume coltfriend is the pony equivalent of boyfriend.

Even so, I'm not going. Royal Canterlot Orchestra? It sounds like it would be a blast to go see them, since I love a good orchestral piece as well, but it also sounds super expensive. I'm not letting her give me a free pass in. I don't care what her reasons are.

“That still doesn't answer my question,” I point out. I literally just met you today. Why hand me a ticket worth who knows how much? There's no way I'm her second choice after her boyfriend. “There must be a million other ponies you know better to invite. Why me?”

“You're right that I don't know you very well. That's part of the reason I'm asking you. After all, you're only in Canterlot for a few days, right?” Cadance answers candidly. She glances around, and upon noticing that we're standing in the middle of the hallway, she beckons to me with a hoof. Where the hell are we going? 

“So on a whim, you ask a random stranger that just happens to be a human,” I reiterate as we walk down the hallway. “I don't buy it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you sure that this invitation has nothing to do with the fact that I'm human? Or that it might be beneficial to you to have a human in your debt?” I accuse her. Cadance looks appalled at the suggestion.

“What? Of course not!” she protests, looking flustered. I can tell that's bullshit, so I narrow my eyes at her. “I mean...I'll be honest. You're human, yes, and that's fascinating. As a history nut, I want to know more about you, but can you really blame me? Ponies have only heard of you in stories or legends. Is it so wrong to be curious about the species upon which most of our culture is based?”

“We're really going to do this right now?” I say, rubbing my forehead. I'm really not in the mood for a fucking sermon. Cadance doesn't back down, though. “Dammit, what a pain in the ass. Look, I'm not talking about my kind, and there's nothing you can say to change my mind. So you can take your ticket and...”

“Wait, do you think I invited you out only because you're human?” Cadance interrupts me before I can finish my rude statement. I nod at that. Cadance sighs. “That's not what I meant. I respect that you don't want to talk about humans, so I won't pry. However, you shouldn't judge me for being curious.”

“Get to the point.”

“There's more to somebody than just their species. I want to get to know you as an individual, as you seemed like you have a lot to say back in the garden,” Cadance continues. As she keeps talking, I'm looking at her suspiciously. The things she's saying sound good, but I'm not entirely sure if she means them. Cadance looks at me and smiles. “I should be allowed to make a friendly gesture without being judged for it.”

“You certainly talk a good game, I'll give you that,” I admit. I'm beginning to understand why she handles matters of diplomacy, especially if she can speak logic to strangers like she is to me. “But tickets to a fucking royal orchestra seem like they'd be expensive. I don't have the money to pay you back, and I certainly don't want to be in your debt.”

“Oh, I didn't pay for these,” Cadance reveals. I blink and look at her oddly. You're going to tell me that tickets are free too? That's bullshit and you can't convince me otherwise. Cadance giggles at the look on my face. “I won them in a raffle at the restaurant where I ate lunch today.”

Apparently it's not bullshit. Welp, I feel like an idiot. But wait, something else doesn't make sense. “At a restaurant? Doesn't the castle have private kitchens? Why the hell would you eat elsewhere?”

“Yes, we do have kitchens, but sometimes I want something simpler. Our chefs have a tendency to make every dish a gourmet meal,” Cadance admits with a grin. “I frequent a small sandwich place in the outer edges of Canterlot, and this time I got lucky. Free tickets, can you imagine?”

“Huh. Well, if they're free...” Why do I get the feeling I'm going to regret this? “I guess I'll go. When is it?”

Cadance makes a little “squee” sound (I swear, if I keep hearing that fucking sound, I'm going to start using it as a verb) and passes one of the tickets to me with her magic “Yes! You'll enjoy this, I promise. The orchestra is amazing. All the details are printed on the ticket itself.”

I look down at the ticket. It's made of a slick silver material that I can't identify, and on it is inscribed a bunch of small letters. Which reminds me. I look up at her with a deadpan expression on my face. “Cadance,” I start. “I can't read.”

“Oh! My apologies, I didn't mean to assume,” Cadance gasps sheepishly. She looks down at her own ticket and starts reading the details off to me. “Admit one, VIP seating. The concert starts at eight pm tonight at the Canterlot Grand Theater.”

“Thank you. Well then, I guess I'll show up. I hope they're as good as you're making them out to be,” I remark, annoyed that once again I had to be read to. The second I get back to Ponyville, I'm setting up appointments with Cheerilee.

“They're better. I just know you'll love them,” Cadance responds gleefully. Just as that conversation comes to an end, I notice we're just passing by the front entrance to the castle. This'll be a good opportunity to get back to the city. I want to find Rainbow. It's odd, but I feel like it's too quiet when she's not around.

“Yeah, let's hope so. Anyway, I'm leaving now. I've still got some time to kill before this concert,” I express. Cadance stops walking as well, turning to look at me.

“All right. I should be getting ready for the meeting, myself,” Cadance replies. With a nod, she turns back the other direction and starts walking away. “Meet me here tonight then?”

“Sure, whatever. Make sure the guards know to let me in.” I reply, and then the two of us part ways. She heads down a hallway that leads deeper into the castle, and I walk through the castle gates and back out onto the drawbridge.

Once I pass through the front gates, I'm back in the city proper. The next thing I want to do is find Rainbow. I have no idea where she is, though.

Turns out I don't have to look at all. I'm only walking for a few seconds before a rainbow flash descends from the sky and lands on the ground just in front of me. That makes things easier. “Sup, Rainbow?” I remark, but then I notice that she looks rather worried. Like, really worried. To the point of being slightly angry.

“Seth! There you are. What in the hay were you doing up there?!” Rainbow demands frantically, stepping closer to me.

“Uh...talking to the princess? I told you about that, remember?” I remind her, crossing my arms. Tell me she's not going to be like Twilight and get all pissed because I took longer than expected.

“I know that! I'm talking about that spectacle all the way up the mountain! The entire city could see that!” Rainbow snaps. She seems to be calming down slightly now that she's seen me.

“Really? And what makes you think that was me?” I ask, just for the sake of curiosity. Rainbow does a little growl at that, but to me it just seems overly cute.

“I'm not stupid, Seth. I was there in the forest. I know what your magic looks like!” she tells me accusingly. 

“Yeah, you got me. What's the big deal though? As you can see, I'm fine,” I say, shrugging. Rainbow's expression grows angry, and for a moment, I think she's about to hit me. Thankfully she doesn't.

“What's the big deal?!” Rainbow yells, but then she forces herself to calm down, letting out a sigh. “I thought you were in trouble....but I couldn't get to you. The pegasus guards wouldn't let me get close.”

While she says that last sentence, she lowers her head, looking a little forlorn. Hold up, she tried to fly to me during that whole fight? She'd have gotten herself killed, especially since I was insane at the time. But......I'd be lying if I said I didn't appreciate the thought. Just like Luna rushed to her sister's assistance, Rainbow was trying to rush to mine...just like...agh, I shouldn't over think this. She was probably just...actually, I don't see a single reason why she would rush headlong into certain death for my sake. Rainbow...I don't know if you're genuine or not, but thank you. 

Of course, I'm an ass. So instead of saying something grateful, I decide to tease her. “What, were you worried? How sweet.”

Rainbow shoves me backwards, but not overly hard. I can't help but laugh. “N...not a chance! I just wanted to make sure you weren't making a fool out of yourself in front of the royalty,” she protests, but I can tell she's lying, and it's funny as hell. “But seriously, what the hay happened? Were you fighting somepony?”

“Yeah, actually, and it's one hell of a story,” I confirm. For a few seconds, I debate on whether or not to tell her. Eh, fuck it. She's supposed to be my friend, after all. I tend to be slightly less lazy in the presence of friends. “Want to hear it?”

“Heck yeah I do!” is her expected response.





So, standing there a few meters away from the gate, I tell Rainbow the full story. Though I skip over most of the bullshit parts, like dealing with Elegant and the guard. 

Rainbow's eyes become wider than fucking dinner plates when I give her the rundown of the fight between Celestia and I. I leave out most of the details, because I'm not comfortable telling her anything about Janna, because she'll probably do that thing again where she'll force me to tell her about it. I do tell her about the things I supposedly said while insane, like how I wanted to take Celestia's throne. Rainbow pays rapt attention to me the whole time I'm talking.

“That's crazy...I mean, you did act rather nuts when you were fighting the Scorpios, but I didn't think you'd say such crazy things,” Rainbow gasps after I finish describing the fight. 

“You're telling me. I'm too lazy to run a country,” I remark. That causes her to roll her eyes.

“You're sure you got that magic under control?” Rainbow asks me, giving me an uncertain look.  What, is she going to abandon me if I say no?

“Pretty sure. I can turn it on and off at will now, and still remain in control of my mental facilities,” I assure her. Rainbow heaves a relieved sigh.

“That's good. I remember it hurting you a lot when I saw you use it,” she expresses, and then she smiles at last. Wait, that's what she's worried about?

“Really? That's all you're going to say? You'd think you'd be a bit more freaked out by the fact that I attacked your princess.”

“You said yourself, you weren't in control. Besides, a little dark magic isn't going to take down Celestia. It's no surprise you lost so badly,” Rainbow explains reasonably. 

“I suppose. Anyway, Celestia is sending a trainer or something back with us to Ponyville. Some pony from the 2nd Unicorn Regiment or whatever the fuck they call it,” I respond. Rainbow's being very chill about all of this. You'd think she'd either get super pissed or afraid that I attacked her princess. Or you know, worried about the fact that I could possibly kill her without warning if I lose control.

“Oh sweet! That sounds awesome!” Rainbow reacts. Seconds later, a grin crosses her face. “Wait, you said that you were fighting with Celestia in midair. Does that mean you can fly?”

“I mean, I think so. Since regaining control, I can't remember how to do any of my techniques. Maybe I'll eventually be able to,” I say pensively. I can't help but get a little excited, thinking of how it would feel to just soar in the sky. Humans have been dreaming of flight since our conception. That's why we have airplanes and such. 

“Yeah! You need to remember, and then you can come flying with me!” Rainbow exclaims happily, her body perking up. 

“Yeah, okay. Learning how is the difficult part,” I remind her. This doesn't dampen her enthusiasm, however. By that, I mean she promptly takes to the air and executes a few random twirls in the air while whooping. “Why are you so excited, anyway? Don't you have other pegasus friends you can fly with? Like Fluttershy, for example.”

“Fluttershy? Are you kidding me? She's one of my best friends and all, but she can't really keep up with me,” Rainbow brags, swooping back down and hovering just next to me. “Neither can most pegasi, for that matter. I am the fastest flier in Equestria!”

And she's bragging again. I hate it when she does that. Part of me is hoping that if I do learn to fly, I can get faster than her just so I can knock her ego down a few notches.

“Right, you said that already. Except for the Wingbolts, or whatever they're called,” I grunt. I'm fairly certain I fucked up their name.

“It's the Wonderbolts, Seth. They're the coolest flying team to ever exist!” Oh god, why did I mention them...every time I do, it sets Rainbow off into fangirl mode. Suddenly, Rainbow gasps. “That reminds me! I need to show you the Wonderbolts Gift Shop!”

“Ugh, I suppose you won't be happy until I agree,” I groan, though it's halfhearted at best. She's been wanting to go there with me since the moment I invited her to the city. It's not like it'll cost me anything. “All right, I assume you know the way.”

“Yeah, now you're talking!” Rainbow exults, and then she takes off the other direction. It takes her about five seconds before she realizes that I can't keep up with her speed. She touches back down on the ground and falls back to my pace, looking sheepish. “Sheesh, you need to learn to fly already.”

“Oh, I'm sorry if I'm too slow for you,” I retort sarcastically. “I didn't think I'd be living in a land of magical ponies, so I didn't really exercise that much.”

“That settles it! When we get back to Ponyville, you're going with me on my daily runs,” Rainbow declares. 

“Can we not do that? Your runs are brutal,” I complain, remembering how I'd been winded in half a second the last time she and I went on a run.

“No they're not, you're just weak!” Rainbow teases, jabbing a hoof at me. She and I start walking through the Canterlot streets. She walks slightly in front of me so she can lead the way to this gift shop or whatever.

“Everyone is weak compared to you, miss Hercules,” I shoot back, realizing only a moment later that she probably has no idea who Hercules is.

“Miss what?” Yup, that's what I thought.

“Skip it. The point is, it's not really fair to use such an exemplary example as yourself as the standard for who's weak and who's strong,” I explain. Rainbow blinks, confused.

“Uh, I don't really get it, but you're calling me strong, right?”

“Oh for the...yes!” Despite my annoyed tone, I can't help but chuckle at this whole exchange. Rainbow joins in as well. And this is why I wanted to spend time with her. It's never boring.

After a pause, I decide to bite the bullet and ask. After all, I need to know something about these Wonderbolts if I'm going to a shop dedicated to them. Let's just hope I don't regret it. 

“So, I've been meaning to ask. You keep talking about these Wonderbolts, but what exactly are they?” I start. Rainbow's face lights up, and she opens her mouth. “And before you start, keep it succinct. I'm not looking for a Twilight lecture like you did last time.”

“Uh, you did not just compare me to Twilight,” Rainbow deadpans, her brow set in a flat expression.

“I did. What're you gonna do about it?” I tease her. Rainbow gives me a sideways look, and then points a hoof at me.

“Watch yourself. I'm going to prank the hay out of you when you're not expecting it,” she warns me. Oh yeah, I still need to get her back for waking me up by suffocation the morning we traveled to this city.

“Yeah, yeah, sure. So, Wonderbolts?”

“They're only the coolest team of fliers ever! It's a widely known fact that only the best of the best get into the Wonderbolts, because they're Equestria's best...” Rainbow begins, but I cut her off impatiently.

“Rainbow, I get it. They're the best fliers. But what are they? Stunt fliers?”

“Uh...not really. They're more than that. I heard they're mostly military, but I don't really know the details,” Rainbow admits. I look at her in disbelief.

“So you're a huge fan of them, but you don't really know a thing about them, do you?” I can't help but laugh at that contradiction. Rainbow immediately becomes indignant.

“You know what? Just because of that, I'm buying a Wonderbolts history book at the gift shop!” she shoots back.

“Knock yourself out.” I say uncaringly. Rainbow glares daggers at me for a few seconds before she loses her composure and chuckles.

I guess I'm going to this gift shop. Sounds like a total snore fest to me, but I don't really have anything else to do until tonight. I might as well humor her.

	

	
	
> 27. Shopping Spree
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“So, I may or may not be going to see the Royal Canterlot Orchestra tonight at eight,” I mention off hand to Rainbow as we continue on our way. I think we're starting to enter a more festive district of Canterlot, if that's even the right way to describe it. For example, when the path takes us close to the edge of the mountainside, I can see a set of bleachers built into the rock, overlooking a cloudy track. Yeah, a track made of clouds. Fucking magic blows my mind.

That aside, there's other sporting areas, like I even spot a tennis court, with several ponies knocking a ball around inside. How do they even hold the rackets...oh, with their mouth. Or magic. I see some of them using magic as well.

“Huh? Why are you going there?” Rainbow questions, raising an eyebrow. “You don't seem like the type that likes that kind of music.”

“Why, because you've only seen me listening to Vinyl's stuff?” I argue. Rainbow blinks, realizing her error. “I like music in general. I used to listen to it every chance I had, back in my time.”

“How? Did you have a band following you around? Or were you carrying a record player around with you?” Right, they don't have many forms of storing music electronically. I bet record players is all they have, so any music they hear has to come from an artist. I think I'll amaze her a bit. 

“Right, I haven't shown this to you yet,” I remark, slipping my hand into my pocket. Rainbow watches with curiosity as I fish out my phone, which I haven't actually looked at in forever. I pass it to her carefully. “Here.”

Our progress stops when Rainbow takes the phone with a hoof, since she can't exactly walk well with three legs. “Oh yeah, I think I remember seeing you with this thing. What is it?” she asks, turning it over between her hooves. Her hoof slides along a soft plastic edge, so she nearly drops it.

“Careful with that,” I warn her as she sheepishly gets a better grip on it. I'm not all that worried about it though. It's got an expensive otter-box on it. It's not breaking. How do you think it's stayed in one piece through all the shit I've been through? “It's probably the most advanced piece of human technology your kind has ever seen.”

“Wow, really? This is human technology? Do you know how much this would probably sell for?” Rainbow exclaims, peering closely at the phone. “You'd be set for life!”

“Don't I know it,” I chuckle dryly. Of course, there's no way in hell I'm selling the phone. I'm keeping it until I die. Whenever that is. “Do you know what's even better?”

Rainbow looks on in awe as I reach over her hoof and hold down the home button, such that the little Apple logo appears, along with the loading bar. “Whoa,” Rainbow murmurs, amazed.

“Yeah, it still works,” I remark. In my head, I have no idea why I'm doing this. I'd resolved never to turn my phone on in order to save the charge, but for some reason I have no qualms powering it up to show Rainbow. It looks like there's about 40% battery left. As long as I turn it off again right after this, it should last for a few months.

“And you're showing me? This...is awesome,” Rainbow whispers. Her head cranes back when the apple goes away, to be replaced by the lock screen. “Huh? What are all these markings?”

“Arabic numerals. It makes sense you can't read them, seeing as they haven't been used for three thousand years,” I answer. Again reaching over her shoulder, I tap in my four digit password. “It's a security screen. If you don't type in the right code, you can't access the phone.”

“Phone?”

“That's what it's called. It's a phone.”

“What does it do? What are all these little boxes?” Rainbow questions as the home screen pops up. 

“They're called applications. Each one has it's own unique function. Primarily, a phone is used to contact other people. Like a letter, only you're actually talking to them in real time, just like you and I are doing now,” I explain further, while still inwardly questioning why I'm even doing this. I don't like talking about my race, something I've said to everypony, like Twilight, Cadance, and Cheerilee. So why am I breaking that resolution for Rainbow? 

“Whoa, so like telepathy or something?”

“Close enough. But that's not all it does. Take a look at this.” As Rainbow looks on, I scroll over one page. I'm not the kind of guy to have all these dumb games or apps on his phone, like Angry Birds or Candy Crush, or other such useless shit. I can't express how much I hate games like that. So because of that, I only have a page and a half of apps. Most of them are utilitarian in nature, like navigation programs, alarm clock, compass, bus tracker, calculator, you get the picture. Literally the only things I have on there for fun is a fanfiction app and of course, my music app. That last one is what I click on. “This is what I wanted to show you. I have hundreds of songs on this particular application. Touch something.”

“How does something this small hold that many songs?” Rainbow asks, her eyes widening as she traces them down the small screen. She taps something at random with the tip of her hoof, since she can't read the artist names. “What the...another screen popped up. Why isn't it playing music?”

“Because all you did was tap a single artist. My music is organized into albums, which are then organized by artist. So if you want it to play, tap an album, and then tap a song,” I direct her. One thing I do have the presence of mind to do is turn down the volume of the phone by reaching over Rainbow's hooves and clicking the buttons a few times.

Of course, while doing that, I realize I'm entirely too fucking close to Rainbow. Like, to the point where I can feel her damn breathing. Without disturbing Rainbow, I stealthily back away a little. I wonder why she didn't push me away herself. Don't mares have any sense of personal space?

Rainbow taps an album and song at random, and then the song immediately starts to play. It's at a relatively low volume so that we won't draw too much attention from the other ponies in the streets around us, but it's loud enough that Rainbow and I can hear it.

I recognize the song almost immediately. It's also a really good one. It's one of my favorites from that particular album, because the singer tried a new style and it worked out extremely well. 

Once the electric guitar kicks in, Rainbow's eyes widen, and her jaw drops. “Ohmigosh, this is so awesome!” she declares, and then the singer starts up. “Hang on, how come I can...”

“Shut up. Song now, questions later,” I cut her off rather rudely. Rainbow looks miffed for a second, and then she shrugs, her attention returning to the song playing from the speakers. 

So, from an outside perspective, ponies would see a human and a pony, respectively sitting and standing such that their heads are at relatively the same height, both enjoying the sound of faint music coming from an unknown source.

When the song ended, I reach over and stop the music before it can go to the next song. I also take the phone back from Rainbow, which she reluctantly hands back. 

“That was awesome! Human music is the best! Can we listen to more?” she says pleadingly, excitement stamped on her face. I look at her with an unreadable expression.

You have no idea how long I've been waiting for somebody to ask me something like that. One thing that always bugged me about other people is that the amount of enthusiasm they show for music is ridiculously low. To the point where I'd shown one of my favorite tracks from an anime to a guy, and he just goes “meh.” He doesn't actually say that, but that's the feel I got from him. 

Or worse, when I saw someone listen to a particularly moving string song and not get touched by it. Like seriously? You must be one shallow fucking person if a song like that can't move you.

And then there's the people who do like music. You'd think I'd get along with them, but nope. They're all fucking lunatics. Like the guys in the music department at my school. They're always hanging around together, talking about stupid shit, like your typical over the top college drama that I wouldn't touch with a nine foot pole.

So how do you think I feel, when I'm facing a mostly normal individual (the fact that she's a pony doesn't matter), who's also my friend, who actually wants to hear more of my music?

Like I want to grab her, take her back home, grab a few two liter bottles of soda, and have a blast listening to that music at max volume. Unfortunately, life isn't that simple.

“No. This thing runs on battery power, and I don't want to waste more charge than I have to,” I tell her firmly, powering the phone off again. Rainbow watches me put the phone back in my pocket with a pained expression.

“But...why can't you just charge it back up again?” Rainbow protests.

“Because I can't. I don't feel like explaining the technicalities to you, because you won't understand and keep bugging me,” I snap. I'm already beginning to regret showing it to her. Rainbow opens her mouth to argue. “The answer is no, Rainbow!”

“You...ugh, fine,” Rainbow relents, disappointed. She also looks a little hurt, though I have idea why she would be. 

I stand back up, looking away from Rainbow wistfully. I want to show you my music. I really do. But I can't. If I do, my phone will die in the space of a few hours, and then everything I have of Amaryllis, my family, and the rest of my human life will be gone forever. Nothing is worth that.

“Let's get moving. You still want to show me this shop, don't you?” I remind her, hating the awkward silence that had fallen over us. Thankfully, Rainbow gets over it pretty fast, her face lighting up.

“That's right! Come on, we're almost there!”





This gift shop we're going to finally comes into view, nestled in the corner of a large shopping area. By that, I mean there's a bunch of buildings arranged in a square, a little like an outlet mall, only much larger. 

There's also ponies fucking everywhere, moving to an from the different buildings, many wearing overly gaudy saddlebags filled with their respective purchases. A lot of the things I see them carrying look expensive. Like this one mare that walks by carrying a dress folded over her back. That looks like it's made of silk. I think that's really expensive, since I'm not sure they've come up with artificial silk just yet. Well, maybe they have, since they figured out artificial leather already.

Now then, I haven't been to this part of town just yet, so what do you think happens when a famed historical being such as myself walks into a populated shopping square? That's right, pretty much everypony stops whatever they're doing and stares. Well, when I say stop, I mean some of them do, while the rest just crane their heads while continuing on their way.

“Rainbow,” I murmur to my friend, who's looking at me sympathetically. “Let's get inside that store before one of these ponies decides to talk to me.”

“Sounds like a good idea. I'd rather spare them the trouble of dealing with you,” Rainbow quips, nudging me. I scoff.

“Well, fuck you too. At least my hair isn't every color of the rainbow. I think you stand out more than I do,” I respond with equal snark, a little half grin forming on my face.

“Oh, are we doing this?” Rainbow demands in mock anger.

“Yeah, we're doing this. I'm talking shit about your mane. Problem?” At that, Rainbow proceeds to strike a dumb looking pose that I think was meant to show off her mane.

“Oh, I think you're just jealous. Who doesn't want a mane like this? It's awesome, way better than that drab black evil pony look you've got going on there,” Rainbow brags, running a hoof through her mane.

“Hey, what am I supposed to do about that? I happen to like black, and even if I didn't, I'm not dyeing it. That would just make it look cheap,” I return, though I'm chuckling slightly at the way she described my hair.  “Like yours. How much dye did that take?”

“This? Dye? I'm insulted! This is one hundred percent natural, I'll have you know!” Rainbow retorts, huffing indignantly.

“Bullshit,” I proclaim, and then before Rainbow can stop me, I step closer to her and start messing in her mane.

“Ah! What the hay are you doing?” Rainbow protests. I ignore her at first, moving portions of the mane aside so I can see the roots. And...much to my shock, there's no sign of dyeing. Usually to tell if hair is dyed, you check the roots, because they're usually a different color. 

And there's no color change. Her roots as uniform as anywhere else. Which means she really does have a fucking rainbow mane. “Well, I stand corrected. It really isn't dye. Evolution is fucked up,”  I admit, removing my hands from Rainbow's mane. She readjusts her mane indignantly.

“Well, yeah, that's what I just said. You're lucky I don't care all that much about how my mane looks. Rarity would have ground you to dust if you'd done that to her,” Rainbow warns me, which causes me to chuckle. I remember Rarity had that ridiculously primped mane that probably took hours to style. Yeah, if I messed with that, she'd murder me with her magic or something.

One thing I do notice as we approach the gift shop. The interaction between Rainbow and I seems to put the other ponies watching us at ease, as they stop staring as much and continue on their way.

“Seriously though, how and why the hell did evolution decide to give ponies brightly colored fur and manes in the first place? How would a rainbow mane be considered viable?” I question. Rainbow blinks.

“What?” At that, I give her an exasperated look.

“Did I stutter?”

“No, but I don't have a clue what you're talking about. Evolution?” Rainbow explains. Ugh...sometimes I forget that most of the ponies have no idea the kind of perspective I had before coming to this time.

“Nevermind, we can talk about that later. For now, we appear to have arrived,” I say, pointing at the building in front of us. If Rainbow hadn't pointed it out when we entered the square, I doubt I'd have figured it out. Though now that I see it, I feel like the Wonderbolts have a connection with the color blue. Like, practically everything on the building is blue. 

I may be exaggerating. The brickwork is as white as the rest of the city of course, but the awning and emphasis colors are blue. Also, on the awning and some of the walls, there's this logo of a winged lightning bolt.

“Yes! We're here!” Rainbow exclaims, and then she zooms inside without another word, leaving me out on the street.

“Dammit Rainbow...” I mutter as I follow her inside. A small bell on the door rings as I enter. And the first thing that catches my notice is all of the fucking blue. Blue posters, blue outfits, blue snow globes, blue everything! Even the clerk behind an old fashioned register is wearing this weird ass blue outfit emblazoned with lightning bolts, though it looks a little cheaply made, if you ask me.

The clerk gasps upon seeing Rainbow. “Hey, you're the one who won this year's Young Fliers Competition, aren't you? Miss Dash, was it?” he says excitedly.

Rainbow freezes at being recognized, and then upon comprehending the clerk's words, she starts preening at the attention. “That's right. You're pretty well informed,” Rainbow responds, her ego making itself clear in her voice. 

“Hang on, you won the what now?” I interrupt. The clerk looks at me, and then does a double take.

“A...a hu...a human!? In my shop!?” At first, I think he's going to give me trouble, but then his grin widens further. “Can this day get any better!?”

Rainbow laughs at the deadpan expression my face. I guess it was only a matter of time until someone went over the top like this about me. Well, he's about to find out that the last human is nothing like what he expected.

“Yes, yes, but never mind that. Rainbow did what?”

The clerk stares for a second, and then he shakes himself back to his senses. “Right. Miss Dash here executed a totally cool Sonic Rainboom for the Young Fliers Competition earlier this year, wowing the crowd and saving the Wonderbolts in the process. Can you imagine that? A Sonic Rainboom! The only pegasus I know of that's ever performed one!”

“Yes, well, please lay off a bit on the praise. I don't need her ego getting any larger,” I retort.

“Hey!” Rainbow responds, nudging me. I proceed to annoy her by messing in her mane again. “Ugh...stop that! Seth!”

“So I've heard of a sonic boom, but what the hell is a Sonic 'Rainboom?'” I say, changing the subject. A second later, a minor pain in the hand that's in Rainbow's mane causes me to withdraw it with a grunt. I look over to see her looking at me smugly. “Did you just fucking bite me?”

“Oh please, that was just a nip,” Rainbow says dismissively, and then her smug grin widens. “Maybe you should keep your hands out of a mare's mane.”

“Would you rather I scratch your ears?” I tease her. Rainbow cranes her head back and looks at me oddly, as if she's never heard of something like that. “What? It's something we'd do back to the ponies in my time.”

“Humans are weird,” Rainbow remarks. I shrug, as I already knew that. “Anyway, to answer your question, a Sonic Rainboom is when a really fast pegasus breaks the sound barrier and creates an awesome rainbow in the process!”

“That doesn't make sense. A sonic boom doesn't create rainbows. You would have to bend light as well as break the sound barrier in order to do something even remotely close to that, which means you would have to be traveling the speed of light. Which is impossible,” I contest, but all this does is make Rainbow look prouder.

“Well, I did it. I guess that just means I'm awesome,” Rainbow preens. I groan and look at the clerk.

“Did she really cause a rainbow by breaking the sound barrier?”

“Yes she did! I was there!” The clerk answers enthusiastically.

“How the fuck do you make rainbows by doing that?” I demand, lamenting the loss of my perfect world that at one point made sense. Rainbow opens her mouth to respond. “Don't you fucking say 'magic.'”

“...Magic?” Rainbow answers sheepishly. My brow goes flat, and I proceed to facepalm repeatedly.

“Goddammit, fucking magic.” I swear to god, I'm going to find that statue of Discord, and take to it with a fucking sledgehammer.

After a pause, the clerk coughs nervously. “Uhm, pardon my lack of professionalism. It's not often we get customers like you two in this shop. Anyhow,” he takes a moment to clear his throat. When he starts talking again, he sounds like a typical shop clerk. “Welcome to the Wonderbolts Gift Shop! Let me know if you see anything you like!”

“Right! Come on, Seth, I have so much to show you!” Rainbow says, grabbing at my hand with a hoof. I clasp her hoof without thinking about it. Seconds later, I realize it and release her. What the fuck, brain?  Where did that come from? Thankfully Rainbow doesn't mention it.

I soon forget about it as Rainbow launches into a rant about everything Wonderbolts. She points out the smallest things, from coffee mugs with the winged lightning bolt on it, to even cheap looking stitched costumes like the one the clerk is wearing. Apparently that's the official Wonderbolt uniform.

“Take a look at this!” Rainbow tells me, stopping just underneath a large poster of several ponies wearing the Wonderbolts outfit. I'm assuming they're the real deal. All of them are wearing goggles that hide their eyes from me, but their manes are enough to distinguish them. 

The mare in the lead has a wild mane like fire and yellow wings. The on her left looks male and has grayish blue wings and a dark blue mane, and the last mare has light blue colored wings and a multicolored mane with two shades of light blue in it.

Rainbow points a hoof at the Wonderbolt with the fiery mane. “That one is Spitfire! She's their leader. She's really cool! All serious and strict when flying, but really laid back and fun loving when off duty.” She then points at the stallion. “That's Soarin. He's really goofy, and loves to eat. That last one there is Fleetfoot, and she...”

“You're talking like you know them personally,” I point out, interrupting her in the process. Rainbow looks slightly put out, but that only lasts for a second.

“I do! The prize for winning the Young Fliers Competition is spending a day with the Wonderbolts. So I got to know them all better! It was so...so...AWESOME!” Rainbow squeals, that fangirl part of her coming to the surface. I have to facepalm. I'm humoring her, yes, but I never could understand why people would get so obsessed with celebrities. They were people like the rest of us, which meant they were flawed. Granted, I can respect their talent, like musicians, but I wouldn't post them all over my room. I'd never be like those dumb men and women that get so into their favorite celebrities, they literally want to fuck them. Glancing at Rainbow, I bet she'd be all over that Soarin guy if he were here now. Huh...for some reason that pisses me off. 

“I'm sure it was,” I finally say, in a rather dismissive manner. With that, Rainbow continues leading me on a tour of the gift shop. 

They have everything in here. Like, seriously. If there's an object, you can be damn sure there's a version of it in here colored blue with the Wonderbolt logo on it,  or even pictures of the Wonderbolts themselves. There are some really plush blankets with the same image on it as the poster on one of the shelves. There's even some really expensive stuff here, like electric lamps of the sort that you'd see on a college student's desk. The amount of bits they want for it are ridiculous, but then again, I probably don't even want to see the price of one of the houses here in Canterlot.

Call me twisted, but I'm half surprised there aren't any Wonderbolt sex toys here. It wouldn't be that odd, seeing as in my time, every mall had that one sketchy store that blatantly sold that kind of stuff.  Despite that, I'm glad I don't see any. I think that would be too much for me. I do not want to know about pony masturbation habits. Well, thanks brain, for making me shudder. You are really fucking up today.

Shooting me a mock glare, Rainbow picks up a Wonderbolts history book from a shelf near the back of the store. “I'll learn everything about them! Just you wait!” she vows, jabbing a hoof at me.

“Whatever,” I reply, and then we continue our tour.





Finally, after a good hour, Rainbow finally sees fit to leave the store...with several bags worth of   various Wonderbolts paraphernalia. Somehow I forgot how much it sucks to go shopping with a woman, even if she is mostly tomboyish...and a pony. 

“So now what?” I ask, once we've re entered the square. “I think all we had on the itinerary was this gift shop.”

“Hm, I dunno. What time did you say that concert thing was?” Rainbow replied.

“Eight.”

“Eh, we still got time. What do you feel like doing?”

“Why the hell are you asking me? I've never been to Canterlot; I don't know what kind of entertainment it offers,” I snap.

“Because you'd complain if I didn't,” Rainbow returns with a grin, taking my annoyed words in stride.

“Ugh, whatever. Just find some place to...” I trail off as something on one of the stores catches my attention.

I can't read Equestrian, but I don't need to in order to tell what kind of store I'm looking at. Besides the little Equestrian scrawl, there's the image of several black musical eighth notes. 

“Uh...you there, Seth?” Rainbow asks, poking my leg. 

“It's my turn to pick the store,” I declare, and then I immediately make a beeline for the music store. I'm interested to see how musical instruments have changed since my time.

Rainbow follows me, confused, as I lead her towards the store. As soon as she sees the name of the store, she makes a sound of understanding.

I open the door and walk inside, a bell chiming as I do so. The first thing I notice are the large grand pianos situated in the center of the room. Hell yes, that's what I'm talking about. I've only ever practiced on keyboards, not actual grand pianos. I hope the proprietor isn't a bitch and lets me play one.

Almost everything in here I recognize. There are many stringed instruments lining the walls, ranging from violins to guitars, though I notice almost all of the latter are acoustic. Those that aren't have prices with tons of characters. Probably in the millions.

“Wow,” I say, feeling like a kid in a candy store. Every time I go into stores like this, it always takes my breath away. Rainbow walks in behind me. When she sees the awed and happy expression on my face, she smiles as well.

“Greetings, and welcome to...” the stallion behind the counter begins, and then immediately cuts off when he sees me. To his credit however, he composes himself after a short pause and continues. “...Bass Clef's Musical Acquisitions. If there is anything you need, please feel free to ask.”

“Thank you,” I reply curtly, not really in the mood to talk to him. That was always the thing with music stores. Too many fucking people. Or ponies in this particular case. Thankfully though, I don't see very many ponies in here.

“That was a pretty quick recovery there,” Rainbow remarks quietly to me, stifling a snicker behind her hoof.

“Yeah, but this is starting to get on my nerves. I wish Celestia would just release a public statement or something about the fact that I exist. Get all the shock out of the way,” I grunt.

“That wouldn't really change anything. It's different hearing about a human, and seeing one,” Rainbow points out reasonably.

“Ugh, I suppose.”

From there, I proceed to ignore Rainbow and proceed along the edges of the room, peering at each and every instrument. Unfortunately, there's very little in here that I actually know how to play. Even worse, I can't actually buy anything. The amount of bits they want for even the smallest instrument is way more than I have. Oh well. They can't stop me looking.

As I'm looking at the violin section, the door rings again behind me, but I don't really pay attention. So what if there's another pony in here? 

“Oh! Hello, miss Octavia. It's a pleasure to see you,” the proprietor says, addressing the new arrival by name, curiously enough.

“Hey there, Bass. How are my repairs coming along?” Octavia replies in a casual manner. That tells me two things. One, that stallion is the owner. Two, she called him by his first name, when he didn't. I guess she's not one for formalities. Whatever. I'm done caring.

I tune them out as they discuss the repairs or whatever, instead moving along down the wall, looking at the different stringed instruments. Ooh, that's a viola. Sometimes I wish I learned to play one of those.

Goddamn, these double basses are massive. You know, I actually wanted to play one of those. The idea of playing fun rhythm parts appealed to me, especially when I could make sounds like the ones these things do. Too bad I couldn't afford one. I let my eyes linger on a double bass for a moment longer, and then I move onto the cellos.

“Interested in cellos, are we?” I turn, hiding a groan at being interrupted. The pony who had decided to talk to me is stone gray mare with even an even darker gray mane that looks to have been excessively groomed. Not surprisingly, she has a treble clef on her ass, colored lavender, like her eyes. The pony, who I assume is the Octavia who'd walked in a few seconds ago, is watching me curiously for a response.

“Not especially. I just like instruments in general,” I answer her honestly. I half expect her to become disinterested at that and leave, but instead she nods understandingly.

“Oh?” Octavia responds, prompting me to speak further. Ugh, what a pain. I can see Rainbow wincing behind me. She probably thinks I'm going to chew this pony out. You know, I'm thinking about it. 

“I enjoy music, that's all. It's not that strange for me to like the instruments that create it.” I hope she'll figure out that I don't want to talk. I didn't come here to talk, I came here to look. Goddamn overly social ponies.

“Of course not. It's just that everyone usually tends to choose a favorite instrument,” Octavia replies amiably. “Your view is an unusual one.”

“I could care less if that's the case,” I say with a shrug. “Though I suppose if I had to choose, I'd say the piano would be my instrument of choice. It's the only one I know how to play.”

“Hang on, you know how to play the piano?” Rainbow interjects. Right, she's here too. I ignore her though. All she wants is a confirmation, which she'll get if she listens. Octavia looks at me closely, and then at the piano.

“Intriguing. You're not a unicorn, so I can't help but wonder how you play, when the keys are that small,” Octavia comments, in such a way that it sounds like she's challenging my statement. Well, it's easy enough to show her.

“Take a good look at these,” I tell her, raising my hands and separating my fingers. Understanding dawns on Octavia's face hen she sees them, and then she smiles.

“Ah, now I understand. Pardon my disbelief, but I've never met a human before, so I wasn't sure,” Octavia admits. I roll my eyes. There it is. It always comes down to the fact that I'm human. Seriously, shut the fuck up about that.

“You and the rest of the ponies,” I reply bitterly. Octavia flinches at that, as does Rainbow. I step away from the stringed instruments, moving away from the two of them. Times like this make me wish I still my headphones. Even if they didn't work, they still worked wonders in letting people that I didn't want to fucking talk to them.

I think she got the picture. Instead of coming after me, Octavia is now talking with Rainbow about something. Whatever, I don't care. 

“Hey,” I say to Bass as I walk past his counter. He looks up at me attentively. I thrust my thumb towards one of the pianos. “Do you care if I try one of those out?”

“Not at all. Be careful though. There's...” Bass begins.

“Thanks, but you can skip the safety warnings. I know more about pianos than the entire pony race,” I snap, starting to move away from him. 

“That's a highly contestable statement,” Bass splutters indignantly. I stop once more and turn back to face him, my eyebrow raised.

“Is it? In case you hadn't noticed, my people invented the damn things. In fact, I can tell you it was a talented Italian harpsichord maker named Bartolomeo Cristofori,” I remind him. Bass blinks, nonplussed. Understanding dawns on his face a second later when he finally realizes what I am, but I'm already sitting down at one of the pianos, memories of hours spent in my parents' basement practicing returning to me.

Rainbow, who's still talking to Octavia, notices what I'm doing and nudges the other pony, pointing at me. I start to feel a little self conscious before I even start, because now I realize every single pony in the store (all four or five of them, including the three I've mentioned) is watching me.

I almost decide to say fuck it and not do this, but I stay, knowing that I'd regret it if I didn't do this at least once. I doubt I'll get another chance any time soon if I don't.

I guess I'll start with a little warmup. There was a slightly difficult, yet comparatively easy piece from one of my favorite video games that I would play before I started every practice, because it helped me loosen my fingers and get ready for harder stuff.

Muscle memory guides my hands to the correct position on the keyboard, and then I press the first note to test the sound quality....which is fucking amazing. Okay. I take a deep breath, and that I start playing my warmup piece.

Wow, I haven't done this in forever. I can't help but fuck up a few times, but each time my expression doesn't change, and I just start over. It doesn't take me very long to get back into it, as I've played it enough times that the notes have been ingrained into my head, and my fingers easily remember the right positions.

During my warmup, I can't help but notice Rainbow's jaw drop, while Octavia's expression is neutral.

After playing the last note, I immediately go into one of the only songs I remember. This one is harder, so I do make a few stutters along the way. After all, I haven't played in months. But I keep going. This song I'm playing used to melt my heart whenever I'd hear it, so I had dedicated a long time to learning it.

It's not very fast, but sometimes, a song doesn't have to be fast to be good. That stands in stark contrast to most of my music choices, but this song always was an exception. 

Halfway through the song, I get into it, and my hands know exactly where to go, even if I'm not looking. I close my eyes and continue playing, immersing into the spirit of the song. Goddamn, its been too long since I last played. Not to mention, I'll never get to hear this song in its original form ever again, thanks to Sombra. So if I want to keep the memory of it alive, this is the only way I can.

When I at last play the final chord, I open my eyes...and notice that there's twice as many ponies in here than there were a second ago. Now there's like, ten, and they're all looking at me. Well, fuck this, I'm done.

When I stand up, the ponies understand that I've finished, and then all of them start stomping their front hooves on the ground, including Rainbow and Octavia. What the fuck? Is that like, the pony version of applause?

Instead of acknowledging them in any way, I push through them and leave the store entirely. I don't know what had possessed me to play in public. I guess I'd been so excited to see a piano, I couldn't really stop myself. Goddamn it...I hate playing for people, even ponies. They all applaud and such, but they're really just judging me, comparing me to older and better players that I can't possibly live up to. 

“Hey, Seth, wait up!” Rainbow calls out to me, having dashed out of the store behind me. I don't say a word to her, letting her catch up to me as I move to make as much distance between me and that store as I can. “Why did you never say you could play like that?”

“What good would it have done? There's no piano in Ponyville, so it would just seem like a bunch of hot air,” I answer bitterly.

“I think Lyra has one,” Rainbow informs me. I look at her in surprise, but then the meaning of the name she uttered clicks.

“Right, and I'm not going near her if I can help it. So my point still stands.” Rainbow huffs at my stubbornness.

“You know, you should really chill out some. I guarantee you'll have more fun,” Rainbow advises me. Right, because it's that easy. If “just chilling out” was enough to enjoy dealing with a social  environment, I wouldn't be as fucked up as I am.

“Whatever.”  The conversation dies there, and we walk in silence for a bit longer, though I don't really know here I'm going.

“Hey, why don't we go meet Vinyl for dinner?” Rainbow suggests. “We should have enough time before that concert you mentioned.”

“Huh. That actually sounds like a good idea. I haven't had any food since the picnic. And we all know where those calories went,” I reply wryly. Rainbow laughs, as she knows I'm referring to my fight with Celestia....which I still find it hard to believe that I even had.

Whatever. Food now, thinking later.

	
> 28. For Love of Music
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Rainbow, do you even know where Vinyl is?” I say after a few minutes of walking in silence. Rainbow's been with me the whole time we've been out. Who knows what Vinyl's been doing in the meantime. She could be anywhere in the city.

“Nope! Not a clue,” Rainbow replies cheerfully, causing me to facepalm. 

“I figured as much. So how do you intend to find her?”

“Who knows? Don't you think it'll be a little fun to just wander?”

“Rainbow, I don't have that kind of time. I should be going back to the castle in about an hour,” I point out. I remember seeing a clock on the way out of the shopping district. It had been almost 6 then, so now I'm assuming it is 6 or 6:15. I've always been extremely punctual, so I want to be at the castle thirty minutes before the concert.

“Yeah, I know. You're going to some fancy concert or another.” Rainbow assures me that she hasn't forgotten. She looks a little annoyed as well, for whatever reason. “But I wanna drop all this stuff off at the hotel first. I dunno, maybe we'll run into her on the way.”

“That's pretty weak logic,” I complain, but I don't protest further. I doubt she wants to lug all those collectibles around with her while we look for Vinyl, so at least visiting the hotel first is the logical thing to do.

Hopefully she knows where the hotel is. This town doesn't make any sense whatsoever, so I wouldn't be able to find my way around on my own. Literally the only landmark I can make out from here is the castle itself, and that's not helpful at all.

She does. We turn the corner, and I immediately recognize the train station, as well as our hotel on the left side of the street. That's a relief. 

Stepping inside we are immediately approached by one of the hotel staff, who recognize us immediately. Or should I say, they recognize me immediately, since I know I stand out wherever we go. Sometimes it sucks being so tall compared to everypony else.

“Welcome back, honored guests. Would you like me to take your purchases up to your room?” the stallion addresses us with a formal bow. 

“Yeah, that would be cool,” Rainbow says to the stallion, passing him the bags she's been lugging around since leaving the gift shop. Rainbow looks at me and grins. “Isn't the service here great?”

“Of course it is. If you pay, they'll do anything to please you,” I reply scornfully. The grin drops from Rainbow's face. “What? It's a basic business strategy. If the customer is happy, they'll come back with more money later.”

“You know, sometimes it's nice to just let yourself be pampered without thinking too hard about it,” Rainbow points out to me.

“Right, because ignoring something that's true is going to make it disappear,” I retort. “They don't care about us at all. Just the money we bring.”

Rainbow huffs. “Come on, Seth, this is a vacation! Stop thinking about all that negative stuff and have some fun.”

“Really? You're just going to brush it away? Vacation or not, other ponies still think the same way.” Sometimes I think these ponies deliberately choose to remain naïve just they can enjoy themselves. Seems rather foolish to me.

“You're not wrong...you're just being a jerk,” Rainbow sighs, apparently giving up on the conversation. “Come on, let's go find Vinyl.”

“Whatever,” I grunt. Bitch doesn't realize that having fun doesn't mean ignoring the facts of the world. 

When we step outside, Rainbow turns to the right, back the way we came. “Let's see, Vinyl is always Vinyl, so we'll probably see her hitting up some clubs.”

“Good idea. What about that club she's going to be playing at tomorrow? Erratic Tune's?” I recall. “You think she'd be around there?”

“She's already spent some time there already, hasn't she? Why would she go back?” Rainbow asks.

“Hell, I don't know. It was just a suggestion. You can take it or not,” I snap, feeling irritated for some reason. Apparently Rainbow can tell as well, judging from the way she's looking me with concern.

“You feeling all right, dude? You're a bit snappier than usual.” Great, she did not just fucking ask that. The worst question anyone can ask me. Especially right now. Of course I'm not fucking all right. I haven't been all right since I got to this fucking world. My best friend is a fucking rainbow haired pony, and everything I used to do for fun is no longer possible....and I just figured out what my current issue is. 

“I'm just pissed off...no need to worry about me,” I say, brushing her off. I still don't trust her enough to tell her about my personal feelings.

“Really? You still won't tell me anything?” I rub my brow in annoyance at Rainbow's indignant outburst. Am I really going to have to fight with her right before going to a concert?

“Shut up, Rainbow. It's none of your damn business.”

“You know what? It is! I came along with you on this trip because I wanted have fun hanging out with you. I can't really do that if you keep acting like this!” Rainbow protests vehemently, and I groan.

“You're the one making a big deal out of this. Seriously, just drop it,” I tell her pointedly. I don't understand why she gets so pissed off that I won't tell her anything about how I'm feeling. Seriously. It's no one's business what another person is feeling. It always drives me up the wall when people act like they're entitled to hear about your feelings, and then get pissed off when you won't tell them shit.

“I'm just trying to help, Seth,” Rainbow says in a calmer voice. She looks at me sadly. “Do you not trust me? Is that it?”

What, are you trying to make me feel bad now? I'm not falling for that shit. But...she has been making strides towards proving herself, what with fighting side by side with me against that Scorpios and then trying to reach me earlier. She's earned a straight answer at the very least.

“Fine. I'll level with you here.” Rainbow lights up at that. We'll see how long that lasts. “I have no idea what to think about you right now. I've known you for a little over a week. I consider you my friend because you're not like the millions upon millions of humans that I've lived my whole life hating.  Aren't you satisfied with that?”

“Yeah, but...”

“Let me put it to you this way. I never even trusted Amaryllis until a month after I met her,” I rephrase, hoping that she'll finally get the picture.

“Who's Amaryllis?” Rainbow asked. Suddenly, I realize what I did, and I freeze, my blood seemingly running cold. 

“Fuck,” I mutter, realizing that I once again like a dumb fuck, spilled one of my closest secrets without even realizing it. Just by that one exclamation, Rainbow gets the idea, her eyes widening with horror.

“Oh buck, she was a human, wasn't she?” Rainbow asks softly. Well, she figured that out pretty quick. Goddammit, shit! Why can't I just keep my goddamn mouth shut!? I wasn't thinking about it, I just said it. But why the fuck did I feel like saying that would be a good idea? “Someone close to you?”

I slam my fist into the wall hard, but I don't feel any pain from it. Instead, the wall cracks slightly, and I realize with chagrin that I accidentally channeled a little magic into that. Rainbow flinches at my expression of anger.

Rainbow closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “Okay. Maybe I was overreacting a little bit. I can't even come close to imagining how you're probably feeling.” Her admittance causes me to look at her in surprise. “I won't ask you about Amaryllis, or bug you about talking. Just...know that you're not alone okay? If you need me, I'll be here.”

I stare at Rainbow for a long time, once again unable to tell if she's being sincere or not. But...she is backing off, and true or not, her words are oddly comforting. “Thank you,” I say to her tersely, as I honestly can't think of anything else to say to that.

A few more moments pass, and then Rainbow groans and facehoofs. “What is it about you that brings out the sap in me?” she complains. A slight case of deja vu strikes me, and I can't help but chuckle.

“Maybe you're just a sappy pony and you're not telling anyone,” I remark, and the resulting look of horror that crosses Rainbow's face is enough to make me laugh.





With that whole episode behind us, Rainbow and I continue on our way, and it isn't long before we arrive at Erratic's bar. At least, I assume it's Erratic's bar, because I can't fucking read the sign. 

But, something is odd about the place. By that, I mean the sound of an electric guitar is blasting out of the door, along with other instruments. But...wait a minute. That sound is too raw to be a recording, like what Vinyl does. Somepony is playing an actual electric guitar in there.

“Holy shit, I need to see this,” I state plainly, and then I run towards the door. 

“Me too,” Rainbow agrees, and then she follows me inside.

The inside of the bar has a layout similar to what you'd expect from a place like this. By that, I mean the place is laid out like a restaurant, with booths lining the walls and tables filling the spaces in between. The bar itself is against the back wall, where an unkempt brown stallion with a sandy yellow mane is serving drinks while bobbing his head to the music.

Speaking of the music, there's a stage in the back corner a few feet away from the bar, atop of which is a band consisting of three ponies. 

The first pony is a steel blue pegasus stallion with a brown and black mane, who's playing a fucking saxophone with insane skill. How the fuck do ponies play saxophones, where you need the dexterity of fingers to open and close the various valves? No, he's using the individual fucking feathers on his wings to perform that necessary task. Now I would tell you why that's bullshit, but it seems like every time I try to use logic on this world, it smacks me in the face with magic.

The second pony is a cream colored earth pony mare with a flowing brown mane, similar to my own hairstyle, except puffed out to look more feminine. She's also wearing a set of shades similar to Vinyl's. Her instrument of choice are the drums, and she's pounding those drums like crazy, adding rhythm to the song.

The last one catches my attention. This one is a dark gray unicorn mare with an extremely long black mane, with a red stripe running through it. She's the one playing the guitar, except it's not electric at all. It looks like a typical Fender stratocaster, except there's no input for the amp. It's acoustic, so how the hell is it making that electric sound?

I notice her horn lighting up like a beacon with red light. The next thing I notice is the air visibly distorting around the guitar. I'm guessing she's using her magic to distort the sound somehow. That's not all. The lights flashing around the packed dance floor  are not from LEDS, but from her magic. There's literally balls of light just floating in midair above her. So she's using magic to hold the guitar, distort the sound, and create lights all at once? That's pretty impressive.

“Now this is what I'm talking about!” I yell over the loud music. This is like being at a rock concert. Despite it being really early in the day for this kind of thing, the bar is packed. The more ponies that come in, the wider that pony at the bar smiles.

Rainbow nudges me. I look back at her to see her pointing at a particular table with a hoof. I follow her hoof to see Vinyl sitting at that table, sipping from a glass cup. So I was right after all.
Vinyl looks up and grins when she sees us approach. She slaps the seats next to her with her hoof, inviting us to join her.

“Why are you still here? Weren't you going to go wander the city?” Rainbow addresses her. At this distance, it's difficult to hear one another, but if we lean in close, it's manageable.

“Are you kidding me? Why should I go anywhere when I've got killer entertainment like this?” Vinyl asks, indicating the band with a hoof.

“Can't argue with that logic,” I add, sitting down next to Vinyl. Rainbow dithers a bit, and then decides to sit next to me. So once again, I'm sitting between Vinyl and Rainbow. “Who are these ponies, anyway?”

“I mentioned them earlier, bro. The Blazing Medley. Believe it or not, this is just their sound test,” Vinyl explains. Right, they're the ones Vinyl said were playing tonight, instead of us.

“Really? I think we can tell they have sound!” Rainbow exclaims, though she is smiling. She's probably enjoying it as much as I am. There's no vocals, but that stallion on the saxophone is really rocking it out up there. I don't think I've ever seen anyone get so into playing a saxophone since that one dumb YouTube video. Except in this case, the melody he's playing deserves that kind of movement.

“There's seems to be an awful lot of partying for just a sound test,” I observe, looking at the dance floor filled with gallivanting ponies. It's odd, I expected this to be a bit more formal, since that's what the atmosphere of Canterlot seems to be. Yet none of the dancing ponies here are wearing all that fancy clothing. I guess these are the less privileged residents?

“Right? Just wait until they start singing. I expect this place to get even busier,” Vinyl relates, sipping from her drink. “So how was your visit with the Princess?”

Oh right, she knew about that too. As I think of a way to answer, I see Rainbow sneakily steal Vinyl's drink and start drinking from it. A mischievous idea runs through my mind.

“I guess you could say it was an earth shattering revelation,” I answer. Vinyl raises an eyebrow, but Rainbow promptly chokes and splutters in a very undignified manner. “You could say our meeting was a magical one. In fact, I think the whole time I was practically insane.”

Rainbow doubles over, slamming the cup down on the table, unable to hide her laughter. “Oh gosh, stoppit Seth, I'm gonna die! Oh shoot, it's going up my nose.” She promptly covers her mouth and nose with a hoof.

Vinyl glances between us, completely and totally confused as Rainbow loses her shit next to me, and I just snicker at my incredibly bad puns. “Uh....am I missing something here?” Vinyl asks cluelessly.

“Not really. I'm just fucking with Rainbow,” I remark. At that, Vinyl blushes slightly and she looks between me and Rainbow, who jerks up and looks at me oddly. I have to facepalm immediately. “Ugh...it's a human phrase...it means I'm joking around. Sheesh.”

“Right, okay. I was about to say, that's a little quick,” Vinyl backtracks. A grin crosses her face. “I mean, I haven't even seen you two date yet.”

Rainbow attempts to brush off the earthy joke by laughing further, while I just casually sit back in my chair. “You know, jokes like that only work if they lie even remotely in the realm of possibility. Since yours doesn't, I don't give a fuck what you say.”

Vinyl winces at my statement. Rainbow's reaction is to look at me with an expression that I can't even come close to reading. 

Ignoring them, I glance back over at the stage as the music comes to an end with a multi layered chord that sounds freaking awesome. The saxophone playing pegasus wipes the sweat from beneath his  mane and steps up to the microphone.

“Seems like you lot couldn't wait to start partying,” the stallion remarks as the dancing ponies settle down. His remark earns laughter from the crowd around him. “I bet you'll be glad to know that was just our sound test!”

Cheering erupts from the bar patrons, including the ones back by us. Unfortunately, Vinyl and Rainbow decide to join in as well. Yeah yeah, playing the crowd is necessary when you're in the music business, but I've always hated being in the crowd when the playing occurs. You should have seen me during pep rallies back in school. They were mandatory, and I hated every second, since I couldn't give less of a shit about the sports teams they were promoting.

“Now then, we're gonna take a small break before the real rockin' starts! Prepare your ears, because it's going to be loud!” the pegasus continues. “This is Flint Note of the Blazing Medley, stepping off stage.”

Flint Note and the other band members disperse, going to do whatever it is band members do minutes before a performance. I could care less about them though. 

No, what does take me by surprise is when the unicorn guitarist walks through the crowd and makes a beeline for our table. Rainbow nudges Vinyl, and then indicates the pony approaching us. What the fuck does she want with us? I swear to god, if it's me....

“So Scratch, what did you think about that?” the mare proclaims in a very confident and self assured manner. Not to mention, she just called Vinyl by her last name.

“It was totally rad, girl! Take a seat!” Vinyl offers, slapping the seat next to her. 

“Eh, buck it, why not?” the unicorn says after a moment of dithering, and then joins us at the table. So, how do these two know each other? I guess I'll find out about that in a moment, considering the unicorn is now staring at me with a blank expression. Great, now it's time for this song and dance. “Scratch, what the hay is this furless...pink monkey thing?”

That...has to be the least polite and yet most accurate way anypony has ever reacted to me. Of course, I don't appreciate it at all. Before Vinyl can answer, I respond, “This coming from the overly small deformed horse with giant ass eyes. Seriously, have I ever mentioned how ridiculous you ponies look?”

The rocker pony's practically hit the table. “You...but...the buck?” she stutters, as Rainbow and Vinyl snicker behind their hooves.

“I'd ask if a cat had your tongue, but I don't even know if cats are still a thing. Are they still a thing?” I continue, looking at Rainbow when I asked that question. I don't know why, but I feel slightly at ease. Maybe it's because I'm used to being in bars where live performances are held. My father was a bit of a musical enthusiast, so he had a few performances every now and then.

“Yeah, they're a thing. Rarity has one. You were at her place, right? You didn't see Opal?” Rainbow informs me, as the unicorn sitting with is looks between us, probably wondering what the hell I am. 

“I'm assuming you don't mean the gemstone, so the answer is no,” I reply.

“Okay, cut. What in Luna's mane are you?” the unicorn finally gets tired of our shit and interrupts us.

“Depends on who you ask. To most, I'm an asshole.” I also feel like being a colossal smart ass, since I'm really tired of answering this fucking question.

“And to others, an insufferable smart aleck,” Rainbow quips, to which I shrug nonchalantly, since I just got through thinking that.

“Cut the crap! Seriously, what are you?” the unicorn presses. I groan and rub my forehead. 

“All right then, I'm going to introduce myself properly, since you clearly don't know how to,” I snap at her. She growls at me for that, but I continue anyway. “My name is Seth Rogers, and that's all you need to fucking know.”

“He's human,” Rainbow supplies the unicorn (un)helpfully.

“Dammit, Rainbow!” My outburst only causes my friend to laugh at my expense, even as the unicorn gazes at me with wide eyes.

“Well...huh. That's...not something you encounter everyday. So I'm Ember Dawn, guitarist for the Blazing Medley.” The unicorn finally gets her shit together and introduces herself, though I notice she doesn't offer a hoof. 

“Great, now that that's out of the way, can I get some fucking service? I'm hungry!” I complain. For some reason, Rainbow is looking at me with a strange smile on her face. “What are you looking at?”

“Nothing. Just happy to see you back to normal,” she replies in a friendly manner. I stare at her for a few seconds. Every time I think I've got her figured out, she pulls some shit to prove me wrong. But, my growling stomach distracts me from those thoughts.

Vinyl stops a passing pony dressed in official looking clothes, and finally we get some menus to look at. 

“Vinyl,” I say calmly, my right eye twitching. When she looks at me curiously, I shove the menu at her. “I can't fucking read!”

“You know, it just hit me, but you curse an awful lot, don't you?” Rainbow points out, interrupting us. I give her an incredulous look.

“Seriously? It just hit you? When literally 'fuck' is every other word out of my mouth?”

“I guess you got me there,” Rainbow admits sheepishly. “I've never really had an opportunity to ask though. So what's up with that?”

“Eh, there's no deep seated reason. My vocabulary sucks and I'm too lazy to change that.”

“Hah! Don't ever say that around Twilight. She'll tie you to a chair and pound a dictionary into your brain,” Rainbow jokes. Funny thing is, I can actually picture Twilight doing that. 

“Right, I won't. Anyway. Vinyl, the menu. Read me?” I demand. I really can't wait to learn this language so I can stop making ponies read things to me.

“Heh, all right. Starting from the top, you've got your classic hayburger with cheese....”





So, after like five minutes of listening to Vinyl rattle off a bunch of bullshit entrees that would taste good only to ponies, I end up ordering...take wild guess...another damn salad. I get the feeling I'm going to get really sick of eating salads every day of my life. There has to be some way I can get some variety.

So when that arrives along with a glass of water, I start munching on my food quickly, since I've essentially squandered away the rest of my time doing nothing productive. Ember eats with us as well, though I ignore her most of the time, since she only really talks to Vinyl.

I finish pretty fast, and then I stand up, since I should be heading to the castle right about now if I want to get there early like I usually want to. 

“You heading out?” Rainbow asks me, even though she probably already knows the answer. I nod anyway.

“How much does the meal cost?” I say, fishing out my bag of fourteen bits. Vinyl looks down on the menu.

“For what you ordered, it's like 4 bits. Not that much. I could cover it fo...”

“No. Here,” I cut her off without missing a beat, setting the four bits down on the table. That's a rather hefty price for such a small meal, but this is Canterlot, so I probably should have expected as much.

“You stubborn human,” Vinyl huffs, taking the money. “So where exactly are you going, anyway?”

“Oh, nothing really. Just going to see the Canterlot Royal Orchestra with the Princess of Love,” I reply as if it's no big deal at all.

“Okay, I didn't know that you were going with a princess!” Rainbow exclaims. Vinyl and Ember are also looking at me in shock.

“What is it with you? Do you just attract princesses?” Vinyl remarked, probably referring to how I got a visit from both Celestia and Luna a while back. You know, before I found out I had dark magic running through me for whatever reason.

“I certainly hope not. They weigh quite a lot, so I'd probably get crushed,” I remark. Rainbow practically stuffs a hoof in her mouth to keep from laughing.

“Sshh, Seth! It's a good thing they're not around to hear you say that,” Vinyl hisses at me, looking scandalized. “Some things you just don't say about a mare.”

“And some things I couldn't give a shit about. Now then, if you don't mind, I'm going to duck out.” With that, I turn away from the table and stride towards the exit, already wondering what the performance I'm going to is going to be like.

“See you back at the hotel tonight!” Rainbow calls. “We're in room 352! Don't forget!”

“Later bro!” Vinyl chimes in. All I spare for them is a quick one handed wave before I leave the bar.

Since it's like, ten past seven, it's gotten much darker than it was before I entered the bar. And, true to my expectations, the streets are still full of ponies. It is a city after all, so I'd expect there to be ponies out and about every hour of the day. I'm certainly glad I don't live here. I like it quiet after dark. Not to mention I'd get constantly nervous if I had to live in the presence of the princesses. As benevolent as Celestia claims to be, I get nervous around somepony with as much destructive power as she exhibited. She's like a damn Bleach character.

Right, so just retracing my steps to the palace. That's easy though, since I can see the palace no matter where I go in town. 

Huh, it's weird, but I'm actually in somewhat of a good mood. I was all angry earlier because I'm literally just living for my job, with nothing to really do in my spare time. It was almost too cruel to give me a taste of what it was like to have my old hobby back, only for me to realize that I can never do it again.

But now, I don't know why, but that's not that big of a deal. There's other things I can do for a hobby. I'll definitely pick up reading again once I learn this fucking language. Anyway, I should probably think about where I'm going before I get lost.

Because I've already been there once, it doesn't take me long before I'm standing before the golden gates once again. This time the guards only spare me a single glance before they recognize me and open the gate. Looks like Cadance made sure to let them know I was coming. Good, I won't have to bitch at her.

Cadance said to meet her just inside of the main castle gates, where I'd run into her after training with Shining Armor. I'm super early, so that means I'll be waiting awkwardly for her there for like, thirty minutes while she does up her mane or whatever the fuck mares do.

…Or not. Cadance is already there, waiting patiently by the wall. She hasn't noticed me yet, because her nose is in a fiction book that she's holding with magic. And...that looks like a human on the cover. So she's reading one of these human books that I keep hearing about. That's interesting.

That aside, it's not often somebody is more early to something than me. I usually got to my classes 30 to 40 minutes early every day back in college. 

I clear my throat to announce my presence. Cadance jumps in surprise, nearly dropping the book. “Oh, Seth! You're quite early,” she observes, quickly regaining her poise. 

“So are you,” I point out, to which Cadance coughs nervously. “Um...how long were you waiting here?”

“Well, the meeting got out earlier than I expected, so I came here to read...” Cadance answers, showing me the book....which I promptly take from her. “Oh. Hehe, I guess you're a bit of a reader?”

“I stopped for a while, since all that kept getting produced was shit like Twilight,” I reply, looking at the cover of the book. I realize a second later what I said. “I mean an actual book series called Twilight, not the unicorn.”

“Oh, of course,” Cadance sighs in relief. I'm actually curious to see what she would have done if I actually was insulting Twilight.

I look at the cover of book, which depicts two very poorly drawn humans fighting with magic in an ancient looking village. “Wrong, wrong, and wrong. Damn, this is worse than I thought,” I remark, noticing a ridiculous amount of errors in just the front cover. “This is supposed to be historical?”

“Historical fiction, I suppose. Why, what do you see wrong with it?” Cadance asks curiously. I walk closer to her and orient myself so I can show her the cover of the book.

“Well, first and foremost, humans don't use magic. Secondly, we wear fucking clothes. Don't even get me started with the anatomical errors here. Thirdly, why do the houses look like that, when I clearly see a computer in one of those windows?” I criticize, pointing to each aspect that I find a problem with. “I could go on. In fact, I think I will. What the fuck is up with those hair colors?”

Cadance giggles as I point out each and everything wrong with this book. “Well, I suppose it's just fiction then,” she reasons.

“Seriously, who the fuck wrote this shit? They need to check their damn facts,” I assert, handing her back her book. I'm only being so harsh on it because it's supposed to be historically accurate. After all, I like anime, and they're inaccurate as all hell about how humans are.

“Have humans never written inaccurate books about the species that came before them?” Cadance inquires.

“We've certainly fucked up talking about our history. Though as for the species that came before us...I suppose that would be the dinosaurs,” I muse.

“Dinosaurs?”

“Basically a bunch of giant ass lizards running around, eating each other.” Cadance looks justifiably horrified at that description. “Right. As for how inaccurate they are, that's anyone's guess. We certainly didn't have any of them telling us otherwise.”

“Sometimes I forget how brutal the world was before ponies came about,” Cadance laments with a shake of her head.

“Whatever,” I comment, though it's not in an irritated manner. Like I said, I'm feeling all right at the moment. I don't know how long that will last, but I'm going to milk it while it does. “Can we get going now? I'm interested to see this orchestra.”

“Oh, of course! Pardon me, I tend to lose track of time when talking about history,” Cadance says, somewhat embarrassed. “Follow me. I doubt you know where the Grand Theater is.”

“Good call.” Nothing else needed to be said, so Cadance and I departed the castle together. It's funny, how an ass like me can go from being a nobody in college to hanging out with royalty of a future species. Granted, said species are ponies but whatever. 

I just wish it hadn't come at the cost of my friend and family.





As we get closer to the theater, I notice that  we've joined a veritable stream of ponies that seem to have had the same idea. There's so many of them, I can't help but wonder what I'm in for. They seem to be really popular. All of them give Cadance and I a wide berth, probably because she's a princess. Some of them that see me in the darkness stare at me with shell shocked expressions.

“How often does this orchestra perform?” I ask my princess guide. She delights at the chance for more conversation, so she answers readily.

“Well it usually depends. They always play very difficult pieces, so it's not uncommon for six months to pass between performances,” Cadance explains. “Other times they take but a week for simple requests.”

“Who the fuck requests the Royal Orchestra?”

“You'd be surprised how much money some ponies will shell out to have some of them at their parties,” Cadance tells me wryly.

Our conversation cuts off when we reach the doors of the theater, where there's several official looking ponies checking tickets, as well as a quite a few Royal Unicorn Guards. I suppose that makes sense, since there's a princess here. I'm half surprised Cadance is even allowed out here without an escort.

“Have your ticket ready,” Cadance whispers to me as she reaches the doors. I roll my eyes and pull out my ticket.

The pony mare at the door recognizes Cadance immediately, gasping slightly and making a quick bow. “Your Highness, it is a pleasure to see you here!” she squeaks.

“No, the pleasure is mine. I can't wait to see what the orchestra has in store for us this time,” Cadance replies sweetly, handing the mare her ticket. The mare stamps the ticket and hands it back to the princess, who walks inside.

I'm next, and this time, the mare's eyes visibly widen. “Oh...um...welcome to the Grand Theater, um...sir. Your ticket?” she stammers.

“Points for professionalism,” I tell her with a grin, glad that she didn't demand what I am in the middle of a crowd. The mare blinks, but takes my ticket when I hand it to her. She glances over it, and then looks back up at me in confusion.

“Sir, this is a VIP ticket,” she tells me. 

“Yup. Princesses are weird in their favors,” I remark. That poor mare looks so shocked at that. She looks between me and Cadance, who's standing just inside, watching me and waiting. She does that multiple times before she finally stamps the ticket and lets me inside.

“I think I freaked her out,” I comment to Cadance.

“I think you did too,” Cadance chuckles, looking at the mare outside. 

“So these are VIP tickets, huh? And you won these in a raffle?” I say, finding it odd that one random pony would get to sit with the higher ups. Though who's considered higher up is beyond me.

“I know right?” Cadance squeals happily. “Usually it takes hundreds of bits to get a VIP seat, and I got them for free!”

“I hope that pony who did the raffle made more money on tickets than he spent buying these things,” I mention. Suddenly, that reminds me of something. How did I not think about this?  “By the way, how much were the raffle tickets?”

“Hm? Oh, only about 2 bits a ticket. Why?” Cadance asks, and then she recoils when I set two bits directly on her head. “What...?”

“I don't like being in debt,” I retort. Whew, dodged a bullet there. I can't believe I nearly forgot about that. Cadance bemusedly takes the bits off of her head with her magic, but she thankfully doesn't say anything else about it.

So the lobby of this thing is fancy as fuck. Like, it takes my breath away. I don't think I've ever been in a place like this in my life. The floors are smooth polished wood, and the walls and ceiling have all these arches and curves lined with elegant designs that I can't really describe. It doesn't help that I'm currently walking in a crowd, because even if I wanted to get a closer look, I can't get one.

While most of the other ponies are heading in through multiple sets of ornate double doors at the end of the hallway, some ponies that are dressed more extravagantly and held themselves in a noble fashion would held up the staircases to either side. I'm guessing that's where Cadance and I are...

“This way, Seth,” Cadance directs me, indicating the staircases. Yep, that's what I almost thought, since she interrupting my thinking process. God, can't you tell when I'm thinking? Heh.

I just start walking up the stairs when I suddenly hear two voices coming from behind me. They're whispering, but I can hear them. 

“What is this? When did the Orchestra start letting apes into the hall?” one of them says to the other. My fist clenches unconsciously.

“The nerve of that thing, coming into a place as high class as this.”

“How filthy!”

I'm literally just about to turn around and give them a piece of my mind when another, more familiar voice greets me.

“Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise?” A white, monocled unicorn stallion approaches me from between the two gossiping ponies, whom I recognize instantly. 

“Fancy Pants?” I greet him with a hint of surprise in my voice. I had thought he was busy with a party tonight. But no, there he is, smiling at me while the other two ponies look between him and me in shock.

“Good to see you, Seth. I had no idea you couldn't make my party because you had a prior engagement with Princess Cadance,” Fancy Pants returns my greeting enthusiastically, offering his hoof to shake. I take it, since I do like his manners. Then the two of us walk up the staircase together, soon catching up with Cadance, who had been watching our exchange with a curious expression on her face.

“Right, that reminds me. Weren't you supposed to be at said party? Why are you here?”

“Oh, we decided as a group that it would be a shame to miss the concert, so we adjourned early,” Fancy explains with a glance to the two ponies behind him. They shake out of their shock and nod frantically, which tells me their essentially just his groupies. Lovely. 

“And a top of the evening to you, your Highness,” Fancy greets Cadance with a bow when we reach the top of the stairs. “How are you doing on this fine winter night?”

“Fancy Pants, what a delight to see you here! I'm doing well, how about yourself?” Cadance responds graciously, and I soon lose interest as the two of them start exchanging pleasantries.

The three of us enter the VIP seating area, which is located rather high above the concert hall. Yeah, descriptions come later, because my attention is taken up by the ponies that are in here as well.

To be more precise, Princesses Celestia and Luna are here. Yeah, that's right. Both of them. Just my fucking luck. I consider hiding behind Cadance, since she's about as tall as I am, but the moment that thought forms in my head...

“Seth? This is a surprise,” Celestia says when she notices me walking through the door with Cadance and Fancy Pants. Luna gives me a terse nod in greeting, which I return.

“That makes two of us. I didn't realize that when Cadance handed me a VIP ticket, she really meant the VIP of VIPs,” I grunt, giving Cadance a meaningful look. She shrugs, as if she'd just expected me to know that.

“My, you certainly know ponies in the highest of places,” Fancy Pants comments, looking at me  with a new respect.

“Kind of comes with being a human, I suppose,” I say with a shrug. 

“Why don't you come sit with my sister and I?” Celestia offers, indicating the seat next to her. I'd decline, but this area is pretty small. No matter where I'd sit, Celestia would be able to see me. I give one last look at Cadance, hoping she can help me out, but she's already moving to join Celestia.

“Ugh...fine,” I relent. I pick my way through the occupied and unoccupied seats until I reach the one next to Celestia. Just like human theaters, the seats are folded back to save space when not in use. I take a seat next to Celestia, who fucking towers over me, since ponies keep most of their height when they sit, as opposed to humans. She beams down at me.

Then, all of the princesses and nobles and whatever start exchanging the usually pleasantries, though with Cadance and the two main princesses, it's a bit more affectionate.

Ignoring them, I finally take a look at the concert hall. Turns out ponies have some idea of how acoustics work, as they have all those panels and odd wall formations that are designed with sound in mind. I also see the tell tale signs of soundproofing.

The stage itself is massive, and there's tons of chairs on it, with stands and everything else that you'd expect to see at a performance like this, with a conductors podium and the like.  There's the typical array of lights hanging above the stage, and right now all of them are oriented on the stage.

As for the crowd...I can't even hazard a guess as to how many ponies are here. There are like, tons of ponies in the audience, as well as the other balconies.

Oh yeah, I can also see the stage with near perfect detail, even though this box is pretty far away. It's like I'm right up there next to it. This is the weirdest thing. I'm assuming the answer is magic, so I don't bother asking. Fucking magic. At least in this case, it's beneficial to me.

“So why are both you and Luna even here?” I ask Celestia on a whim.

“Why wouldn't we be? I enjoy a good orchestra as much as the next pony,” she answers reasonably. “There is another reason, however. I gave permission for the orchestra to perform a piece I wrote several centuries ago.”

“Which is also why we are here. I am interested to see what my sister came up with,” Luna adds, smiling.

“Hold on, you write music!?” I demand, turning to fully face her.

“Sometimes the mood strikes me, yes,” Celestia replies, amused at my surprise. Okay, she just rose a few ranks on the awesome scale. Writing music is something I've always wished I could do.

“This I've gotta hear,” is the last thing I say before turning back to face the front. I'm just in time too, because the orchestra is at last filing onto the stage, dressed in fancy dresses and tuxedos and carrying their instruments. I can see everything from strings to brass to woodwinds present in the group. That's not all though. Some ponies are wheeling in percussion instruments, like snare and timpani drums. Oh shit, this is going to be good, isn't it?

I actually recognize the last pony to walk on stage. It's that pony who talked to me about cellos back in the music store. I forget her name...I think it was Octavia. Yeah, that was it. So I spoke to a member of this orchestra and didn't even know it. Huh.

Octavia sets up her cello at the very front of the orchestra, just in front of the conductor, who turns out to be a dark gray pony with a styled white mane. Okay, so she's significantly more important than I thought.

The conductor climbs up onto his podium and turns on the microphone there, before turning around to address the audience. I don't really feel the need to write down his dialogue, since it was the typical crap you hear before every concert.

No, I only start paying attention when the first piece plays. It starts off with a soft repeating rhythm, accentuated by the percussion pounding in unison at regular intervals. Okay, this isn't bad. Feels like a marching tune.

A few measures later, Octavia starts to play, and there's actually a microphone next to her instrument. Wait, is she fucking soloing this part? Holy shit, she is. She plays the melody entirely on her own for the first few repetitions, before the rest of the orchestra joins in. Even then, that only lasts for a while before Octavia takes the melody again, only this time up an octave. Heh, Octavia plays an octave. Shut up. 

This is rousing. Octavia is brilliant out there. Her bow is like lightning with the way she's playing this incredible fast tune. She's not the only soloist as well. There's another pony playing what looks like a french horn, and she and Octavia keep trading off the melody.

The song ends with a clashing of percussion, and the applause starts. Which is a bunch of ponies pounding the ground with their hooves. For me, I actually clap the way a normal person does, which definitely earns me some glances. 

Each piece seems to be more spectacular than the last. I'm practically on the edge of my seat the whole time. Some of the songs they play bore me because they're way too slow and not much is happening, but there's not very many of them, and the songs they play next never fail to impress me.

Oh my god, I'm enjoying the hell out of this. Every piece always gets my head moving in time with the beat. 

Octavia...dear god, I feel like a dick for not treating her with respect. She's ridiculous in how much talent she has. Her expression never changes from that serene one of concentration, even in this one piece where her bow never stops moving once, as the solo lasted for the whole piece and was ridiculously fast. If that song isn't called “Octavia and Accompaniment” it totally should be.

Time seems to fly by as song after song is played. Finally, after one extremely riveting song that had my blood pumping, the orchestra takes a pause.

“This is it,” I hear Celestia whisper to me. Oh shit, I'm about to hear the song she wrote, aren't I? This should be good.

“Fillies and Gentlecolts, we bring you to the end of our program tonight with a most special performance,” the conductor announces as the applause for the last song fades away. “This next piece was written by our very own Princess Celestia!”

Gasps of shock could be heard in the crowd at this news. I can practically feel the anticipation from all the ponies around me...which I then figure out is because I can't wait to hear it myself.

“This song was written a few decades after the end of the War of Night and Day, and at long last, our Princess of the Sun has allowed us the pleasure of performing it for the first time since it's conception! We of the Royal Canterlot Orchestra bring you, Goddess of the Moon.” With that, the conductor turns back to the orchestra and lifts his wand.

Luna emits a light gasp and looks at her sister in shock and awe. Suddenly it hits me. I remember hearing about the War of Night and Day in that one class with Cheerilee. Oh shit, she was referring to the fight between Celestia and Luna. How did I not understand that?

Celestia smiles warmly at her sister in response. I lean in closer just as the song begins.

The strings fade in slowly, the sound growing in volume and depth over a long period of time as  more and more instruments join the growing sound. The initial melody, which is played by Octavia and a few others, is a slow, somber theme.

The rising and falling of the sound reminds me of waves of sorrow and loneliness. Each crescendo gets my blood flowing, and each decrescendo seems to cut right to my heart. I can just picture how Celestia must have felt after that long without her sister. It also gets me thinking of my own brother, wondering how he must have felt after years without me.

There's a pause in the music that the melody builds up to, and then suddenly the tone of the music changes. The cellos and contra-basses play a driving rhythm underneath a slightly faster melody, punctuated by crashes of snare drums.

It's like Celestia was trying to portray despair and the resolve to wait here. When a second melody hits, I can't help it. My eyes start to water. This is fucking amazing. I hear a sniff from the other side of Celestia as well, which I assume is Luna. I bet this is touching her a lot more than it is me.

The rousing beat disappears for a moment as Octavia takes the original melody back up, but it soon rises up again, and rises in intensity before playing the second melody again. This cycle continues for a while, possibly symbolizing how many years Celestia had to wait to see her sister again.

Finally, after a significant amount of build up, the sound stops completely for about a second, and then they slam right into the second melody one last time with such intensity that I can't hold back my emotion. This is such an amazing song. Luna thinks the same, as she is sobbing into Celestia's fur, the two of them hugging one another in a heartwarming manner. It's like this melody represents Celestia's resolve to wait for a millennia, til the day when she could see her sister again.

When the song finally ends, I notice that crying is a reaction shared by a great many of the audience. Even Cadance looks slightly teary eyed. Heh, at least it isn't just me. 

The applause is thunderous, and every single one of the ponies in the audience stand up from their seats to applaud. Fuck it, they deserve it. I get to my feet and applaud as well, wiping the tears from my eyes.

“Celestia, that was fucking amazing,” I admit after the applause dies down, and the conductor starts addressing the crowd with the closing statements.

“Thank you, Seth. It feels surreal to hear it performed by an orchestra,” Celestia responds, nuzzling her sister lovingly. 

“Why did you wait so long to perform it?” I ask, even though I'd grateful that I got to hear it for myself.

“It just didn't feel right, sharing it with anypony else while my sister was still gone,” Celestia admits sadly. “But, I decided that since the orchestra was performing so close to Hearth's Warming Eve, , it would be the perfect gift for my sister.”

“We...I love it, Tia,” Luna sobs, dropping the pluralities again and addressing Celestia with what seemed to be a pet name of some sort.

“The fuck is Hearth's Warming Eve?” I demand, and then I figure it out for myself a few seconds later. Are you kidding me? They have an equivalent to Christmas here? I mean, the first day of winter was when I figured out I have magic, and that's December 21st. So if Hearth's Warming Eve is on the same day as Christmas Eve, that would be...tomorrow. 

“It's a holiday celebrating the Founding of Equestria. In commemoration of the friendship between unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies, we give gifts to one another,” Celestia explains. So it is just like Christmas, only with a few slight differences. “We also mark the day with our traditional Hearth's Warming Pageant, which you are of course welcome to attend.”

“When is it? The day, I mean,” I say, even though I already know the Eve is tomorrow.

“Four days, I believe,” Celestia answers. Well, I stand corrected. I suppose it was a bit presumptuous of me to assume that it would be the same day as Christmas. The holidays were created for two different reasons, after all.

“Maybe I'll be there. Who knows? Depends on how much money it costs,” I remark. I'm actually considering it because I'm really happy that I got to be at this incredible concert, and because my expectations for events here are much higher now.

“You don't have to worry about it costing more than you can afford. I designed it such that even ponies with lower incomes can come see it. After all, friendship isn't something that should only be celebrated by the wealthy,” Celestia explains. Her sentiment is echoed by all of the ponies around her, including Luna, Cadance, and Fancy Pants.

“Indubitably so. Why, I not too long ago met one of the most delightful ponies from Ponyville,” Fancy Pants chimes in. “Her name was...Rarity, I believe.”

“Hold on, you know Rarity?” I interrupt. He nods in confirmation. Damn, is this a small country, or what? “I got these clothes from her.”

“Ah, I thought I recognized her work. If anypony could make clothing fit for a human, it would be her,” he replies with a smile.

“Mm, as delightful as this has been, I believe it is time for me to retire,” Celestia says, covering a yawn with her hoof. “Luna, can you take things from here?”

“Of course, dear sister. And...thanks again. Twas a most lovely gift,” Luna answers warmly. The two of them nuzzle one last time, and then Celestia proceeds to leave the box, with one last word of parting to me. The rest of the us leave the area not long after her.

A dumb smile is on my face as we leave. Goddamn, that was one of the best experiences I've had in Equestria so far.

	

	



	

	

	
 
	
> 29. Seth's Breakthrough
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A thought strikes me just before Cadance, Luna, Fancy Pants, and the other ponies I don't give a shit about leave the area entirely. “Say, I don't suppose there's anyway I could talk to Octavia, is there?” I ask, though I'm not entirely sure who I'm asking.

“I don't see why not. You might have to wait a bit, though, as the orchestra takes care of things backstage.” Cadance is the one who answers, though she looking at me curiously. “I'm surprised you know who she is.”

“Met her in the music store. Had no idea who she was until about an hour or so ago,” I reply, still marveling that I'd met somepony that could play like that. I probably should have given her a bit more respect. “Come to think of it, what time is it?”

“Tis about ten. The night hath just begun.” Luna is the one who answers that one, which I probably should have expected.

“So it's pretty late then. Guess I'll stick around for a bit, and then head back to my hotel,” I say, looking at the two princesses. In other words, both of you fuck off so I can go find Octavia. 

“Indeed. Regrettably, I must be on my way.” Fancy Pants is the first to answer, dipping his head politely.  “Seth, Princesses, I bid you good night.”

“Good night, Fancy,” Cadance responds to him as he walks away at a leisurely pace. Next to her, Luna spreads her wings.

“We must be off. Tis about time for us to hold Night Court,” Luna announces. “Twas a pleasure seeing you both.”

“I'm sure,” I reply cynically just as Luna takes off. There's so much force behind her liftoff, a wall of wind rushes over me, blowing my hair back.

That just leaves Cadance and I, standing just outside of the theater. Ponies stream out of the doors just behind us, all of them probably heading home as well. I assume the orchestra members come out of a exit further back. Finding it will be a challenge.

“Thanks for coming out with me tonight,” Cadance says to me softly. I grunt, not wanting to respond to that. After all, I had protested when she first asked me, and then I'd gone and enjoyed the hell out of it. “Oh, if you're hoping to catch Octavia before she leaves, circle around to the back of the theater. They come out from there.”

“Thank you,” I say curtly. I turn my back on her and head the way she described. And then my fucking conscience gets on to me, so I turn my head halfway to look back at her. “And Cadance...thanks for the ticket. It was fun.”

“I'm glad you enjoyed it,” Cadance replies with a warm smile. “You have a good night, Seth.” 

I watch as she takes to the air as well. Totally not fair how these fuckers can all fly. I can't wait until I learn how to do that. I don't remember much of the times when I was able to fly, and what little I do remember is shrouded by darkness and pain. With Celestia being OP as fuck and all. 

I get that she needed to see my magic to make sure it was actually dark magic, but I wish...well I guess it's really my fault for giving into the insanity. Actually no, I'm blaming Celestia. Because I can, that's why. Fuck logic.

Like Cadance told me, I walk along the edge of the theater. The theater itself is tucked again a row of buildings on either side, so eventually I have to cross through a dark alley to reach the back of the theater.

Like Cadance said, there's a set of doors back here that looks similar to the front of the theater, only a bit more practical rather than fancy. Probably because there's a lot of traffic that passes through here with heavy loads. Those instruments have to get in there somehow. 

Some ponies from the orchestra are already leaving. I can tell because they're wearing those tuxedos and dresses, and some of them are carrying their instruments with them. I don't see Octavia yet , so I'll wait here by the side of this building just next to the alley I just walked out of. After all, I'd probably draw attention from the entire fucking orchestra if I walk out there right now.

Oh hey, there goes their conductor. He looks particularly pleased, judging by the grin he's sporting and the way he's going around, congratulating the other ponies. I don't blame him. The performance was stunning; these ponies deserve the praise they're getting.

There she is. Octavia walks out of the theater next, carrying her cello with her in a small cart. The conductor pony sees her and immediately moves over to her. The two of them shake hooves, and the conductor says something to her that makes her smile.

Surveying the area, I decide that now's as good a time as any, since most of the orchestra has left the area. 

The two of them spot me the moment I leave the shadowy area surrounding the alley. The conductor actually backs away from me as I approach. Whatever. He can do whatever he wants. I'm not here to talk to him. All you did was wave a stick around while this mare here was being a badass.

Speaking of which, Octavia obviously recognizes me, since there aren't any other humans around. She looks both confused and intrigued to see me. “Oh? You're the one from the music store,” she says when I get to a reasonable distance for conversation. “The pianist, if I remember correctly.”

“Unless you see any other humans around,” I remark sarcastically. That actually gets a chuckle from her.

“I suppose you have a point. Nevertheless, I am surprised to see you here,” Octavia admits. Behind us, the conductor, as well as a few other ponies from the orchestra, are watching our conversation with wide and curious eyes. “Do you have some business with me?”

“Well...sort of. Um, sorry for being a bit of a prick back in the music store. I didn't realize you were so talented,” I tell her awkwardly.

“Thank you for the compliment, but does talent really warrant respect?” Octavia questions me, a slight twinkle in her eyes. What the...can't you just accept my apology? What is this bullshit?

“It does when you can play like that,” I reply. “I always hold some respect for talented musicians.”

“But my ability to produce music says nothing about how I am as an pony,” Octavia points out, much to my irritation. “Isn't that what one should respect?”

“Can't you just accept my fucking apology? Are you trying to make me hate you?” I snap at her. 

“Of course not. You must understand, I am well respected as a musician; it's a sentiment I'm not unfamiliar with,” Octavia explains. “But would you be satisfied if somepony respected you only for your ability to play music, and not as an individual?”

That's...surprisingly deep. It reminds me of how history used to treat musicians. They were invited into royal courts if they just shut up and played music. But the moment they opened their mouths, they were thrown out and ridiculed. She has a very good point.

“You have a point. So I probably seem like another of those ponies, don't I?” I respond ruefully. Somehow I fucked this up, even though all I wanted to do was tell her she played well. 

Octavia smiles reassuringly at me. “I wouldn't say so. I told you this because I believed you would understand, as a fellow musician,” she explains.

You know, I've spoken to this pony twice now, and already I can tell she has some kind of emotional depth. I mean, musicians generally tend to have more emotional depth than the typical person because of what they do, but Octavia just cemented that with those words. Okay, so maybe she's worth talking to.

“I suppose. But even so, I came to find you because I wanted you to know I appreciated your playing,” I reiterate. I sound cheesy as fuck when I say it like that, but she's beaming, so I assume she appreciates it.

“Your praise humbles me. You are also an excellent musician. I only wish I'd have had time to tell you back at the store,” Octavia expresses with a dip of her head. 

I scratch the back of my head, somewhat embarrassed. “Yeah, I wasn't staying in there...I probably shouldn't have gone in there to begin with.”

“Why ever not?”

“Because it's an expensive thing to like! I don't have the money to invest into being a musician all over again,” I snap. Yeah, the piano I had cost a shit ton of money to buy back in my time. And now the money I had before means nothing.

“So you left because you know it's not something you can indulge in frequently?” Octavia states, attempting to make sure she understood. Yup, that's hitting the nail right on the head. I give her a nod in response. It was cruel of me to tease myself with something I can't have. It's not surprising I felt like shit afterward.

“Hm...” Octavia muses. “There has to be some solution.”

“Maybe, maybe not. But I didn't come here to moan my situation, nor do I expect you to care,” I  grunt, crossing my arms. Octavia blinks as I turn my back on her and start to leave the area. “I came here to tell you I enjoyed your performance. That's all.”

“Wait!” Octavia catches up with me quickly, bringing her cart with her. I don't stop walking, but neither does she. “I think I understand.”

“You what?”

“About how you must feel. I...remember a time when I was unable to practice my music,” Octavia continues. I scoff derisively, but I stop and look back at her anyway. “It was miserable. Like I had all of these feelings bottled up that I couldn't express through music.”

“Really? Do all ponies just spill whatever they're feeling to random strangers?” I retort, even though I understand what she's saying. 

“Don't you feel the same way?” Octavia asks, seemingly ignoring my scathing words. Can we not have a soul searching conversation? I just wanted to compliment you, dammit. If I have to go through so much trouble to act even a little nice, I'm starting to wonder why I should even bother.

“What if I do? It shouldn't matter to you, anyway.” Please shut up. The next thing I know, you're going to be offering to help me, and then I'll have to shut you down.

“But it does! During that period in my life, I would have liked somepony to reach out to me with an answer,” Octavia protests. “So I want to be able to do that for you.”

“No. I'll come up with an answer myself,” I tell her flatly. 

“At our rehearsal hall, there's a small area that's open to the public, including practice rooms,” Octavia continues as if she hadn't heard me.

“Did you not hear...”

“There is a room with a piano in it. I could check and see if there's an open reservation for it,” Octavia offers. “How long are you going to be in the city?”

“About three days. But the answer is still no. I can't pay for reservations for a damn practice room,” I answer her.

“You won't have to. These practice rooms are public property,” Octavia informs me. Now that gets my attention. Free practice rooms? My college didn't even do that. “The reservations are necessary to ensure that all ponies have an equal chance to use them.”

“That's...huh. Free medical care, and free practice rooms at the capitol of Equestria?” I state with a hint of disbelief in my voice. Octavia smiles at me in a reassuring manner.“Why am I starting to believe that this is too good to be true?”

“Why would it be? The cost of the practice rooms were included in the cost of building the hall in the first place. They don't cost much to maintain, and as such there's no cost to use them,” Octavia explains to me. 

“I keep expecting this time to be as cutthroat as mine. Seriously, how many times am I going to be proven wrong?” I complain. If it had been my time, it wouldn't matter how cheap it was to have rooms like that. The administration would still charge money for it because they fucking could. Welcome to capitalism.

“As many times as you have expectations, I suppose,” Octavia responds cleverly, lifting her head and looking proud of herself.

“Right,” I acknowledge with a flat-browed expression. “Fuck it, why not. Go ahead and look for me.”

“Excellent!” Octavia adopts a pleased expression. ”Now then, I don't believe I caught your name.”

“Because I never gave it,” I return. Octavia waits patiently. I notice she hasn't been flinching much at my rude words anymore. “I'm Seth Rogers.”

“A pleasure, Seth Rogers.” Octavia extends her hoof with a warm smile on her face. “My name is Octavia Melody.”





I step into the hotel lobby at around midnight, my hands in my pockets. I don't know how I'm feeling right now. I suppose if anypony were to ask, the first thing that would come to mind would be “exhausted.”

But now I have a chance to play music again before I leave for Ponyville again. I'm not sure when it will be, but Octavia had assured me that she would do whatever it took to get me a reservation. 

Seriously, these fucking ponies keep confusing me. I'd only met her the once, and I was an ass to her. I don't understand why she's going to all this effort to make me happy. I mean, I had thought it would be an inconvenience for her to do this, but she kept assuring me that it would only take her a moment to check the books and write my name down.

Another thing bugs me about her. The way she acts and the way she talks are two different things. She's a celebrity, and she talks like a noble, but she acts like a typical girl. I'd expected her to be a bit more full of herself, since most celebrities are. It's like every time I make a negative assumption about this world, the world punches me in the face with evidence suggesting otherwise.

Royalty being corrupt? Nope. Ponies not caring if I got myself killed? Nope. Medical bills putting me into debt for eternity? Nope. Celebrities being full of themselves? Fucking nope. See where I'm coming from here?

Part of me is actually starting to wonder whether this time is actually better than my own. I'm still not sure, because every time I try to compare the two, I always think of my friend and family first, and that always gets me confused.

Well, I'm done thinking about this. I enter the stairwell of the hotel, resigning myself to climb several flights of stairs before I reach the third floor. That's one thing better about my time and this one. We have elevators...actually, nevermind. An elevator nearly killed me when I got to this time. Fuck elevators.

So I'll probably be seeing Octavia here at some point over these three days. With the ponies not having cellphones and all, I actually had to tell her where to find me. I told her to find me at this hotel in the early mornings and late nights, but I also mentioned the bar where Vinyl and I would be setting up, since we'll be there for a significant portion of this Canterlot trip.

Now then...this is floor three, I think. There's a plaque on the wall next to the door that looks like it's made of brass. Despite the fact that Rainbow said this place was “easily affordable,” it seems suspiciously nice to me, what with the brass plaques, red carpets, and good service. I mean, I could just chalk it up to being a Canterlot hotel, but still...

Whatever. I'm too tired to care at the moment. My bare feet, which are dirty as fuck thanks to the fact that I don't have any fucking shoes, sink into the plush carpets in the hallway. Now then, I need to find the room Rainbow told me about. She said room 352, so I should just check the plaques on the wall...which I can't fucking read. Son of a bitch, I keep forgetting that! I'll have to do this the hard way.

I peer closely at the wall plaques, trying to make out patterns between them. They all start with the same symbol that looks like a tripped out looking triangle. If I assume that stands for three, then that room over there on the same wall with two of those triangles is probably 303. Which makes the one before that 302.

Memorizing the 2 symbol, I walk down the hallway, watching the symbols on the different plaques. Once the symbol in the center has changed five times, I look for the 2 symbol. It's easy to find, thankfully.

I fish out the key Rainbow handed me earlier and attempt to unlock the door. To my relief, the door opens. "Bingo," I whisper in triumph. I push the door fully open to reveal a pitch black room...which means they're probably both asleep by now. I make sure to keep quiet as I step inside and shut the door. 

Sure enough, I can hear them snoring softly. What I can't see is anything else. Waiting a few seconds should fix that. Soon, I can see just barely enough to make out the basic features of the room. There are two beds, a fact that makes my right eye twitch. What the hell was Rainbow thinking, putting  us in a room with only two beds?! Did she expect me to sleep with one of them?

I am literally about to lose my temper. However...hang on, the snoring seems to be coming all from one place, and there's two separate sets of snores. Squinting, I make out Rainbow and Vinyl snuggling together in the bed to my left. 

My anger fades away slowly, to be replaced by a smirk. If only I could take a picture of this. Bet Rainbow would be scandalized to see how adorable she looks like this. Sucks that I don't have a camera anymore.

“Heh, thanks for the bed,” I say softly, even though they can't hear me. Since they're both asleep, I undress without a second thought. These clothes still feel new, so I make sure to fold them carefully. Except for the boxers. Those I'm wearing to bed.

I consider taking a shower but then decide against it. I'll take a shower in the morning. Though I have no clue what I'm doing in the morning before Vinyl's first performance.

I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. With that thought squared away, I hop into the bed that was meant just for me. It's been one hell of a long day. Between getting here, meeting (and consequently getting the shit beaten out of me by) Celestia, getting to play a piano again, and that concert, I feel like it's been longer than just one day. Kind of like in Dragon Ball, only less bullshit.
I turn over and cover myself with the blankets. I'm exhausted, so it isn't long before I fall asleep.





I'm actually allowed to wake up on my own for once. At first, as I open my eyes to see sunlight streaming in through the window, I think I overslept. That thought alone is enough to get me to sit up, chilly air impacting my shirtless torso as the covers slide down my front.

No, I guess it's still pretty early, because Vinyl and Rainbow are still fast asleep. I wonder why my internal clock decided to wake me up now. Glancing at the clock situated just above the door, I discover that it's about 8 in the morning....and that's why I woke up this early. My fucking body doesn't realize I don't have that class anymore.

Well, as long as they're asleep, I'll take this opportunity to shower and get dressed. They'll surely be awake by the time I get out.





Thirty minutes later, I'm out and dressed in that same outfit I got from the castle. I don't really have any other clothes with me, so this is all I've got. Eh, it smells fine, so whatever. It's not like they have laundry machines in this day and age. Or maybe they do, and they're just run by magic. Because the technological standards in this time are ridiculously complicated. We have computers, but not laundry machines. 

Turns out Rainbow and Vinyl are still asleep. Really? The running water and moving around didn't wake any of you up? Sheesh, they sleep like rocks.

That reminds me...Rainbow. Like pinching my nose while I slept, or biting my hand. A grin crosses my face as the perfect idea comes to mind. This oughta knock them for a loop.

I stalk over to the side of their bed and squat down, bending my knees. I hook my arms underneath the frame of the bed. It seems heavy, but I do remember how to channel my magic...ish. 

Aww, look at the two of them. They look so cute and precious, sleeping together like that. It would be a shame if...someone...were to flip over their bed.

“Rise and shine, motherfuckers!” I shout loudly, standing up and channeling a tiny bit of magic into my arms, which gives me the strength to flip the bed entirely over, hurling the two no longer sleeping ponies onto the floor.

“What the...” Rainbow gasps.

“Waaah!” Vinyl cries out. The two of them tumble end over end until they hit the wall in a jumble of tangled ponies

I double over, laughing my ass off at the sight of them extricating themselves from one another, now wide awake and not very happy with me.

“Seth, you jerk....is it so hard for you to wake a pony normally?” Rainbow demands, though she doesn't seem altogether that angry.

“Yup! How does revenge feel, you technicolor freak?” I gloat, replacing the bed back in its original position.

“Why am I involved in your prank war?” Vinyl moans, but neither of us pay her any attention.

“Oh, now you're asking for it, you blasted monkey!” Rainbow retorts, followed by an adorable growl. Then, to my shock, she bounds over the bed and tackles me around the middle, bearing me to the floor. “C'mere!”

The two of us go tumbling across the floor together, though I'm still laughing. We wrestle one another playfully, even though it's clear Rainbow has the edge over me physically. 

A few moments later, Rainbow has me pinned on the ground, grinning. “You have a long way to go before you can beat me in a wrestling match!” she brags. 

“Clearly,” I pant, though I'm still enjoying myself. Just then, a mischievous expression crosses Rainbow's face.

“Now then, let's see how you like your mane being messed with!” is all the warning I get before Rainbow's two front hooves plunge into my hair, messing up all the work I did to groom it after my shower.

“Oh, you bitch!” I complain, but I already have an idea on how to turn the tables. I reach up my head and lightly bite her just above her hoof. Rainbow withdraws her hoof, looking at me incredulously.

“Did you just bite me?” Rainbow demands. My grin grows wider.

“Oh please, that was just a nip. Maybe you should keep your hooves out of a man's hair,” I retort. Rainbow's eyes widen when she realizes I'd returned her words from yesterday right back at her. 

“Well played, Seth,” Rainbow admits, and I laugh. Meanwhile, Vinyl is sitting on her haunches on the other side of the room, looking amused.

“Okay, lovebirds. You want to get off each other, or should I go rent another room?” Vinyl jokes, which makes me realize that Rainbow and I are in a very awkward position. Ugh, how the fuck did I not even notice this? Eh, whatever. Vinyl's just being a troll, as always.

Rainbow immediately hops off of me, allowing me to get to my feet. “Fuck you, Vinyl,” I remark. 

“No thanks. That's what you've got Rainbow there for,” she returns, grinning wider. And she's still making those damn jokes. She's like my mother. And...this is an odd parallel to draw. I'm gonna stop right there.

“Would you stop it with that?!” Rainbow and I both snap at the same time, causing a creepy unison to occur. Vinyl promptly falls over laughing.

“Whoa, that was creepy,” Rainbow remarks. She's taking all these earthy jokes pretty well, even if they are getting a bit annoying.

“Okay. I'm done with this. If you don't mind, I'm going to take a moment to redo my hair, since it's all messed up thanks to a certain pony here,” I respond, tapping Rainbow on the side of the head, which in turn causes her to nip at me. “Down girl.”

Still chuckling, I walk into the bathroom again and grab the comb. That was pretty fun, even if Vinyl was being a damn troll with her sex jokes. Those are the worst. You'd think she'd have learned when I said that those jokes have to have a basis on which to be formed, one that doesn't exist. I wouldn't ever...okay, I'll stop thinking about this before I start visualizing it. Which would be the worst.

It only takes me a few minutes to fix my hair again and step back outside, where Vinyl and Rainbow are talking about something. They stop immediately they see me, which makes me slightly suspicious. What the hell were they talking about? “What?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.

“Nothing, bro. We were just talking about the plan for today,” Vinyl responds somewhat hastily.   Okay, now that's even more suspicious. “Right Rainbow?”

“Yeah, that was totally it,” Rainbow adds in an equally dubious manner. Eh, whatever. It's not really my business what they talk about, as long as it isn't about me. I give a shrug.

“Right, I think I should be involved in this conversation as well. What exactly is the itinerary for today?” I say, taking their excuse and rolling with it. 

“Hm, well the only deadline we've got for today and the next two days is that we have to be at the bar at 4 with my stuff to set it all up,” Vinyl informs us. Four huh, that's pretty early. Well, I guess it will take a while to set things up, as well as eat dinner, and all that. Speaking of dinner, if I keep paying my bits, I'll have to rely entirely on the pay for these three gigs to pay my rent the next time we're in Ponyville.

“That's perfect! The Wonderbolts Air Show ends around then, so we'll be right on time, right Seth?” Rainbow exclaims, looking at me hopefully. Hang on, what?

“Wait, I'm going to that?” I question.

“Duh! I have two tickets! I've only been talking about since you invited me on this trip!” Rainbow affirms. Vinyl looks at me with a worried expression.

“And...how much were these tickets?” I say calmly, even though I'm annoyed that she bought a ticket for me without asking me first.

“Nah, don't worry about that. I got it all covered,” Rainbow assures me. Vinyl's worried look becomes a grimace, and she looks down at the floor.

“I'm not going then."” Rainbow looks at me in shock as I tell her that, my arms crossed. “If you won't let me pay for myself, I'm not going.”

“Are you seriously...ugh, can't you just come?” Rainbow responds exasperatedly.

“No. I'm not letting you pay for me. End of story.”  I tell her flatly. It's still too early for me to trust her like that. There's still a chance she could start using favors to control me.

“Seth, I'm not paying for you. I'm paying for you to be there with me,” Rainbow asserts, getting up and looking at me. “Can't you just forget about favors and stuff just this once?”

“No, I'm not going to forget! What do you get out of me being there? Nothing, as far as I can tell. And nobody does something for nothing,” I shoot back.

“You idiot! Of course I get something from you being there!” Rainbow actually takes to the air so she can look me in the eyes.

“Yeah, the chance to use...”

“The chance to enjoy one of my favorite things with my friend!” Rainbow's shout cuts across me, and I'm rendered speechless. She sighs before continuing. “I'm not just giving you money. If you really want to make me say it...”

“Go ahead. I doubt there's anything you can say to change my mind.”

“I'm paying for happiness! My happiness! That's what I get out of this!” Rainbow yells in my face. My eyes widen at her declaration. “If you are at the show with me, it would make me happy! What would I do with debt?  You can't pay, and I have no need for favors from you.”

“How...how can I believe that? That's what J...what the rest keep telling me,” I stammer. I really want to believe that she's telling the truth, but...I won't let another Janna happen. She acted all nice and warm, but the moment I was in too deep, I was under her control. Admittedly...Janna never fought this hard to convince me...but...

“Faith, Seth! Sometimes you have to take things on faith,” Rainbow returns, never once looking away from my eyes.

“Faith? Faith is bullshit. That's like telling me to accept something without giving me proof. I need proof, Rainbow!”

“You're not going to get it! This isn't something you can prove!” Rainbow's heartfelt words spark several memories from me.

“Perhaps to one such as you, my view point may indeed seem naïve. But if there's one thing I've learned from my long years of life, it's that everyone deserves a chance, no matter who they are.” 

But...I can't...there's no way to be sure...

“There's always one or two individuals that are worth knowing, correct? How can you find out if I am one of them if you don't take a chance on me?” 

I reach up and hold my head in my hands, conflicted on what to do. 

“Dammit, Seth. You can't fucking prove I'm out to get you, so get over yourself. We're friends, right? How's it fair that I'm the only one taking a chance?”

Amaryllis...goddammit...why did I have to remember that now? Slowly, finally, I lower my hands. I don't know if this is going to backfire on me or not, but...

“All right,” I say softly. Rainbow blinks, as if she didn't believe what she'd just heard. “I'll go to the air show with you.”

“Really?” Rainbow asks uncertainly, yet with a hint of hope in her voice.

“Yeah. If it's that important to you, I can...get over myself and tag along.”

Rainbow looks at me, dumbfounded for a few seconds, and then a smile slowly forms on her face. “Yeah! WOOHOO!” she cheers exultantly, flipping backwards in midair again and again, until she accidentally slams into the wall on the opposite side of the room. “Oof!”

Vinyl, who had been sitting awkwardly in the back of the room throughout this entire argument, finally breaks into a grin. She proceeds to slip on her shades and nod, as if to say “Yup, I knew this was going to happen.”

Rainbow flies back onto the floor just in front of me, looking the happiest that I've seen her all trip. It's enough to make me feel less shitty about giving in. “Yeah, I can't wait! You're going to love it, I promise! The Wonderbolts are soooo awesome!”

“Can't say I've been to one of their shows before, but I know Rainbow's nuts about them,” Vinyl agrees. She walks over to me and places a hoof on my leg. “Thanks for this. I know it can't be easy.”

“Oh shut up, before I change my mind,” I growl at her, but I'm smiling despite that. Vinyl grins once more, and then she suddenly sprints into the bathroom.

“First one in the shower gets the soap first!” Vinyl yells happily. Rainbow ceases her celebration to stare at her in mock anger.

“Oh, I don't think so!” Rainbow zooms into the bathroom so fast I can swear I see an actual rainbow trail behind her. The door shuts afterward, and it isn't long before I can hear the shower turn on. Right, ponies bathe together. I forgot about that.





When Vinyl and Rainbow emerge, they look much cleaner, though their manes are as messy as ever. 

Heh, I can't believe this. Literally I'm hanging with two tomboys, and it's rather fun. Tomboys have always been awesome, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised I've been befriended by one. It's weird though. Rainbow is a lot like Amaryllis. The similarities are striking: that I don't give a fuck attitude, that love of metal, and the way she approaches problems. It's almost uncanny at times. Of course, the only thing that detracts from that image is that fucking rainbow mane.

“We're done. Your turn, Seth!” Vinyl announces, revealing the open bathroom door, from which steam is billowing. Heh, looks like they took a hot shower.

“Nah, I've already taken one. I did before I woke your lazy asses up,” I inform them. 

“Really? I wonder why it didn't wake me up?” Vinyl muses, stalking over to her bed and putting on her shades again.

“Because you sleep like a rock,” Rainbow teases.

“You didn't wake up either!” Vinyl's retort causes the two of them to laugh in a friendly manner. God, they're both idiots. 

“So where are we eating breakfast? Does the fee for the hotel include meals?” I ask, interrupting their stupidity.

“I don't think they do. At least, I didn't see any mention of meals on the receipt,” Rainbow answers. 

“I didn't see any dining areas on the way up last night,” Vinyl adds. “We might have to go out to eat again.”

“It's a good thing I'm getting paid for this, because all my spending money is going down the drain,” I lament, peering down at the bag at my side where all my bits are in. My the end of this trip, I'm going to be broke as all hell. “Got an idea of where to go?”

“I know a place. If I remember right, there's a pretty sweet breakfast place only a few blocks from here,” Vinyl recalls. She opens the door with her magic, obviously ready to go. “Let's get moving. We'll come back here and get my stuff at around four.”

“Sounds good. Let's hurry before I starve to death,” I remark.

“Don't be a drama queen,” Rainbow shoots back, nudging me with a grin.

“Fuck you.”

Heh, well. This has been an interesting start to the day. Here's hoping that my foolhardy gamble pays off, and that Rainbow really is worth trusting.
> 30. The Air Show
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	You know, I can'thelp but notice how fucking happy Rainbow looks as we leave the hotel. There's a noticeable spring in her step, in addition to a bright smile on her face that has yet to fade. Part of me wishes I'd never given in the way I did. This whole thing feels like a bad idea. If there's one thing I learned about sentient beings, it's that they're good at hiding their selfish or immoral desires from others until the exact moment they know nobody can say anything against it. Take anybody in power for example. They act all benevolent and kind until they're elected, and then they start fucking things up, because they know nobody can do anything about it.

So I have this nagging feeling that I should reconsider my decision and ditch these two somehow until much later, but on the other hand, some part of me doesn't want to hurt Rainbow. Just look at her and the way she's walking. She's excited as all hell. I don't think I could bring myself to ruin that for her. Though why she wants to go with me so badly is beyond me entirely.

“Here we are!” Vinyl declares, stopping in front of a building, upon which is scribbled more Equestrian, but I can tell it's a breakfast place, because there's the image of pancakes engraved on the identifying sign. “I've only been here once before, but I remember it being pretty sweet.”

“Awesome. Now let's stop talking about it and go inside,” I reply shortly, feeling my stomach cry out for food. “Food is good.”

“Heh, I hear that, bro. Let's see how long the wait will be,” Vinyl responds, and then the three of us walk into the restaurant. 

And I thought that one restaurant back in Ponyville was fancy. It really has nothing on this. The place is pretty large and mostly comprised of booths, where the size of the seats are larger than normal. That's probably because ponies have to sit on their haunches, so they need a little bit more room. The place also looks twice as large as it really is, because on one wall, there's a line of mirrors.

“Welcome. How many will I be seating today?” A dressed up stallion unicorn greets us when we walk up to the counter. To his credit, he doesn't freak out much upon seeing me. Instead, he just gives me a cursory glance for a few seconds before focusing on Vinyl, who is at the forefront of our little group.

“Three, please,” Vinyl replies. With an acknowledging hum, the stallion's horn lights up and he brings a clipboard over to himself. After scanning it, he smiles at us.

“You're in luck. We just had a table open up a few moments ago. If you'll come with me?” he informs us. Aw sweet, no waiting. That's good, because I'm hungry. I think I might have already mentioned that. Blah, I want food.

“Yeah, lead the way!” Rainbow says. The stallion nods and leads us through the restaurant. Once again, I attract the attention of practically all of the ponies whose tables we pass. The wooden partitions that give the ponies in the booths some privacy are rather high, so I can't really be seen unless I walk past them.

The stallion brings us to a booth somewhere in the vicinity of the far right corner. He places three menus down on the tabletop, as well as three coasters. “There you go, fillies and sir. There will be somepony here with you shortly. Have a nice day,” he informs us. I can't help but snort at how he addresses me. He has no idea what I am, so he used a respectful title that would work regardless of species. Again, points for professionalism.

Vinyl slides into the booth on one side, and Rainbow does the same on the other. Without really thinking about it, I slide in next to Rainbow.

With a deadpan expression, I slide the menu in front of me over to Vinyl. I don't think I even need to mention how annoying this is getting.

“Oh yeah,” Vinyl remarks. “I keep forgetting you can't read.”

“Yup, thanks for pointing it out. Now tell me what's good on that thing.”

“I'm totally getting the dandelion pancakes. I eat them all the time in Ponyville,” Rainbow declares after scanning the menu for a few seconds. She proceeds to lick her lips ravenously. “I can't wait to taste how awesome they are!”

“Right...fucking dandelions. What's on there that's edible for humans, Vinyl?” I grunt. I doubt they have any bacon. Goddammit, just thinking about that makes me crave bacon.

“Hm, you said you can't eat flowers or hay, so that rules out over half of this menu,” Vinyl muses aloud, her eyes tracing down the page. I roll my eyes at that. Fucking ponies and their plant food. “There's just normal wheat pancakes here with maple or fruit syrup...”

“Ooh, that sounds good. I haven't had pancakes since I had breakfast with Twilight, and then I couldn't focus on them because she was being a bitch.”

“There's also eggs and hash-browns, different kinds of omelet, Prench toast...oh, and then there's...”

“Hold on, stop,” I cut across Vinyl, causing her to look up from the menu and gaze at me in confusion. “Go back, what was that last thing you said?”

“What, Prench toast?” she repeats. My right eye starts to twitch.

“Are you sure it's not...'French' toast?”

“Nah, bro, it's definitely Prench.” I let my head fall to the surface of the table, groaning. Prench.  Really? 

“Does that mean there's a place called Prance?” I conjecture, hoping that I'm wrong with all of my heart. Vinyl's nod crushes that hope like a steamroller. I have to laugh at how stupid that is. “Fucking ponies and their horse puns!”

“You all right there?” Rainbow questions, though she's smiling.

“Fucking no...but eh, what the hell. I'll get some...snrk...'Prench' toast,” I reply, deciding not to care after all. I'm too hungry to attempt to analyze dumb pony puns.

A mare drops by a few minutes later, asking about drinks and shit. Since we've pretty much already decided what we want, we order our drinks as well as our food. Waitresses love customers that know what they want, so she left with a smile.

“So basically my day is just going to be eat, watch a bunch of flying ponies, and then set up musical shit?” I say after our drinks get here. I just went with water, because I don't really feel like other drinks hydrate you as much as water does.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Vinyl responds. “As for me, I'm thinking about heading to the Nature Preserve after breakfast. “

“Seth, they're not just any flying ponies. They're the Wonderbolts! Nopony can compare in terms of sheer flying skill!” Oh shit, I just got Rainbow started, didn't I? When am I going to learn to keep my mouth shut?

“So you've been saying. Still, I can't see how watching them will be all that interesting.”

“Of course not, you wouldn't know; you haven't seen them before. They're just so awesome!” Rainbow proceeds to make a really ridiculous looking expression where she holds her face with her two front hooves. Vinyl chuckles at her expression, while I just deadpan. I swear, she's way too cheerful at times.

“I'm sure. And what about the rest of this trip? What do we have planned for the next two days, before the performances?”

“Dude, I don't have a clue. I feel like we should just roll with whatever we think up. I don't have anything really planned until the third day,” Vinyl informs me.

“Why, what do you have planned on the third day?”

“The Hearth's Warming Pageant, of course! There's no way I'm missing that,” Vinyl exclaims as if it was obvious. Oh, yeah, that's right. The day after all of our performances, there's that pageant thing that Celestia wants me to go to. Well, technically she “invited” me to go, but that means she wants me there. “Oh wait, you don't know what that is, do you?”

“No, I do. Celestia explained it to me last night,” I tell her. “Don't expect any gifts from me though. I don't have any money.”

“Ah, don't sweat it. It's a bit presumptuous of us to expect anything from you this soon after hearing about it, anyway,” Vinyl assures me. Shit, that reminds me. They aren't going to try and get me any gifts, are they? I don't know how I feel about that.

“All right, good. Also, don't be getting me anything either. At least, not anything I can't pay you back for,” I warn them, deciding it was probably better to be safe than sorry. Judging by how they're flinching, I think it was a good idea.

“You know that...kills the point of Hearth's Warming, right?” Vinyl reminds me. I mean, she's technically right, but nobody apart from my family or Amaryllis generally gave me gifts on Christmas. These ponies are my friends, not family. 

…Wait just a fucking minute. Did I just think of Vinyl as a friend? Well, now that my mind's on, it, let's think about this. 

“Uh, Seth?” Vinyl asks, looking perplexed as I stare at her in an appraising manner.

“Shut up, I'm thinking,” I snap at her, and she does so, still confused. Hm, Vinyl hasn't exactly done wrong by me since I met her, and I've known her longer than I've known Rainbow. But, neither has she done anything out of the ordinary, like saving my life or trying to reach me when I was in danger. She's given me a place to stay and a source of income (though not as much as Applejack), with no strings attached.

Hm, I'm not willing to acknowledge her as a friend just yet. But...neither will I say it's impossible. I guess I'll put her on a sort of “friend probation,” as dumb as that sounds. I need just a little more time before I decide that she's friend material.

It's weird. I've only been in this world for maybe two weeks (I may be wrong, but I lost track of time), but already I have as almost many friends as I did in my time, if you count my parents, Adam, and Amaryllis.

“Seth?” Vinyl says again.

“I said, I'm thinking!” Vinyl ignores me and points a hoof at the table.

“Yes, well, think while eating.” That gets me to look at the table, where my food is now ready and waiting to be eaten. I wonder when that got here?”

“Oh. Sounds good to me.” I take a bite of the Prench toast (God, I can't get over how fucking dumb these horse puns are), and discover that it tastes very much like what I remember, to my delight. Excellent. “Oh dear lord, this is amazing.”

Rainbow digs into her pancakes with very little delicacy. Sheesh, I feel like if I were to look up “lady-like” in the dictionary, you'd see a picture of her face with a fucking red line through it. Not that I mind. I actually can't stand the female stereotype. 

“Anyway, back to what you were saying. So what's so important about this pageant anyway?” I broach the subject again. I take a drink right after I finish speaking.

Vinyl and Rainbow exchange looks, as if they know something I don't. “Trust me,” Vinyl answers with a knowing grin. “You want to be there. Even if you don't like it, I guarantee you'll get a kick out of it. You see, it's because Rai...”

Suddenly an ice cube hits Vinyl right on the tip of her snout, causing her to emit a very hilarious squeak and recoil indignantly. I cover my mouth and laugh when I see Rainbow attempting to look innocent. “What? My hoof slipped,” Rainbow asks as if nothing was wrong. Vinyl glares at Rainbow, and then suddenly all of the ice cubes levitate out of her cup and hover in midair. “I mean...um...wahh!”

Rainbow yelps as Vinyl magically directs all of those ice cubes back at Rainbow like a cloud of bullets. Unable to stop myself, I gasp for air and proceed to laugh harder.

“How are you doing over....here....well,” the waitresses comments as she returns to check on us. She gives us a very disapproving look when she sees Rainbow covered in ice cubes.

“She started it!” Rainbow and Vinyl both accuse at the same time, pointing hooves at one another. A mirthful smile is on my face as I facepalm at their dumb bullshit.

“I'll...just go get you some refills,” the waitress decides, and then she leaves us behind, probably thinking we're beyond saving.





When we're finished with our food, Vinyl, Rainbow, and I pay the fees for the meal and leave the restaurant behind. I now have four bits left. It's a good thing I'm getting paid tonight, else I wouldn't be able to eat for more than one meal for the rest of this trip.

“Ah, that was good. I am so full,” Rainbow proclaims, rubbing her filled stomach with a hoof. Then she looks over to me. “You ready to go, Seth? The air show is going to start soon.”

“Yeah, okay. I hope it's everything you say it is. Wouldn't want you to waste your money on something I won't like,” I say, though I can't help but tease her slightly.

“No, no, it's gonna be great, I promise!” Rainbow assures me, getting all excited again. “Oh Celestia, I can't wait! They perfected a new trick recently that I really really wanna see!”

“Oh, what, are they gonna do a little twirl? Holy, shit, the novelty!” I gasp in mock awe. My sarcasm earns me a double hooves shove from Rainbow that nearly knocks me over.  “Okay, I may have deserved that one.”

“Dear Celestia, you two crack me up,” Vinyl chuckles next to us. Then she splits off from the two of us, waving a hoof. “I'll see the two of you later. Remember, be at the bar at four, you hear me?”

“You got it! See ya Vinyl!” Rainbow responds, waving back.

“Later,” is my bored response. Soon, Vinyl disappears around a street corner, leaving Rainbow and I alone in the midst of the Canterlot morning crowds. Or just the Canterlot crowds. I haven't been here long enough to know how the typical traffic works. “Well, Rainbow, I assume you know the way?”

“Heck yeah! I've only been there like, a million times!” Rainbow brags, her excitement as high as ever. Apparently it's high enough to warrant hyperbole, which is a bit excessive, if you ask me. “Wait, we've actually already passed it at one point this trip.”

“Passed what, the arena for the air show? I mean, I assume it's in an arena.”

“Close enough. But yeah, it was that place we passed on the way to the shops. You know, with the track of clouds?”  

“Oh yeah...that place that doesn't make any sense because clouds don't stay in one place like that, but...” I recall, remembering the arena built into the side of the mountain we passed earlier. “It's probably magic, right?”

“Yup!” Rainbow supplies helpfully. I heave a sigh. You know, I bet if anybody else had been transported this world, they'd probably be ecstatic about the fact that's there all this magical shit. Not me. I'd kill to have a normal world that made sense. “Come on, we're almost there.”





I hear the arena before I see it. It sounds like this air show is pretty popular. I can hear the dull roar of excited chatter and conversation emanating from just around the corner.

Unlike yesterday, when the arena had been totally empty, there's a veritable crowd of ponies streaming in through the front entrance. This entrance consists of a small shaded archway in which there are several ticket booths, where ponies are lined up to buy their tickets.

There seems to be several turnstiles as well that block the way into the arena itself. In front of each of them are official looking ponies dressed in the typical Wonderbolt colors, though they don't look like they're part of the actual flying team. Those colors are probably just their way of standing out and showing spirit all at the same time.

“You said you bought your tickets in advance, right?” I say to Rainbow, raising my voice slightly to be heard over the crowd of ponies that we're approaching.

“You bet! There's no way I'm waiting in that line,” Rainbow answers proudly, pointing a hoof at the ever growing line for tickets. “They're probably gonna sell out soon.”

“Are they really all that popular?” I have to ask, despite the fact that I probably already know the answer. They are performing (if that's the right word) in Canterlot, after all. 

Rainbow's excitement is practically palpable at this point as she answers. “Totally! Just look at that crowd! They're the best fliers in Equestria, and everypony knows it!” Her words cause me to notice that we've just about reached the turnstiles, to the point where I can see the seats...and holy shit they are cram packed. There's hardly any open seating there as far as I can see. Sheesh, you'd think these ponies were here to see a football game.

“Right...” I reply, unable to think of anything else to say to that. With that, the two of us filter our way into the line of ponies heading for the turnstiles. 

“Take this,” Rainbow orders, passing me a small slip of rigid paper. I take it from her. I can't read what it says, but I'm sure it's the ticket to get in. Since I'm in front of her in the line, I'll be the first one to encounter the ticket-takers. 

The other ponies in the line display mixed reactions to me. Some edge away in disgust. Others watch me curiously. A few attempt to get my attention, but I ignore them, pretending that the sound of the crowd drowns them out...even though I can hear Rainbow perfectly fine. What can I say? I could really care less about these generic ponies.

“Your....um...ahem,” the ticket-taker who's supervising this particular line stops in the middle of his bored greeting upon seeing me. Her eyes widen as she looks me over.

“Just take my damn ticket and let me in,” I demand impatiently, shoving the ticket at her. She takes it from me, looking a little shell-shocked. Thankfully she doesn't try to stop me when I push through the turnstile.

Then I realize I'd gone through without knowing where our seat is. I don't know if you're assigned a seat like most major sports games, or if you can just choose your own. Oh well, I'll just wait for Rainbow.

“This way, Seth. Our seat's further down,” Rainbow directs me, moving past me in a manner that suggests she knows what she's doing. I follow her wordlessly down the rocky bleachers, until at last she takes me down a particular row, through the ponies that are already sitting there. Unlike my time, we don't have to squeeze past them, since most ponies sit on their haunches and don't take up most of the row, so we can move along behind them. I must say, it's better than shoving people's legs out of my way. Rainbow stops at two empty spots in the mass of spectator ponies. “Right here.”

I sit down gingerly on the carved rock steps...and realize that this air show is going to be a real bitch. Rainbow rests down on her haunches, showing no sign of discomfort. I'm so jealous. I'm uncomfortable as fuck. There's hardly enough room on this thing for me. I have to sit cross-legged as well, because if I try to stretch my legs, I'll hit the pony in front of me.

“Excuse me,” the mare behind me calls. I ignore her at first, until she touches my shoulder lightly with a hoof. I turn my head halfway to look at her...only to see her wearing a snooty and self entitled expression. “Do you mind? I can't see the track over you.”

“That's just too damn bad. There's no where for me to move and I'm sure as hell not bending over,” I scoff. Her appalled and angry expression is almost enough to make me laugh. Rainbow winces next to me as I turn back to face the front, not moving an inch. “Fucking bitch.”

“Yeah, I forgot how tall you were...shoot,” Rainbow says, her face landing into her hoof.

“Who cares? I came here to see this show with you, not worry about whether some generic bitch can see them,” I retort. Rainbow lifts a hoof in response. I watch it in confusion as she moves it closer to my face slowly. Then, she gently tweaks my nose.

“You're being a jerk again,” Rainbow chides me softly. Despite her chastising words, she's smiling.

“And you're scolding me again,” I say, my words just as obvious as hers had been. “You know, if somebody had told me several weeks ago that I was going to end up in the future being scolded by a fucking rainbow pony, I'd have fed him to a shark.”

“...to a shark?!” Rainbow repeats, laughing. “That's...an oddly specific thing to do to somep...someone.”

“Oh really?” I respond, feeling a little silly at the moment. “You think that's bad? Let me take it a step further. I'd throw the guy into a tank filled with shark-infested acid.”

Rainbow laughed harder at that image. “Seth, you silly human. Sharks can't survive in acid...it's acid! Nothing lives in acid!” 

“That's why I would genetically engineer sharks that could survive in an acidic environment, solely for the purpose of tossing a man into a tank filled with shark infested acid.”

Rainbow damn near falls over laughing at that, which causes me to grin. “You're so weird,” she comments.

“Don't I know it,” I reply, looking out over the track. While doing so, I notice that something seems to be happening out there.  A pegasus stallion has just flown out from somewhere, headed towards the middle of the track. There's a singular cloud there that he shoves higher up into the air, and then sits on. He appears to be holding something in his mouth. “What's that pony out there doing?”

“Hm? Oh, it's the announcer guy! It's starting!” Rainbow starts to practically hop in place out of  sheer anticipation. Oh good, this thing is finally starting.

The stallion out there clears his throat, which tells me he's holding a microphone. Though how it works when he's not a unicorn is beyond me. I doubt it's electric...or maybe it is, if he's rich enough. “Welcome, welcome, fillies and gentlecolts, to this month's Wonderbolts Air Show!" the stallion announces, and the crowd's noise level rises by a ton as the ponies all cheer, whistle, air horn, and whatever else ponies do in crowds like this. Rainbow also joins in, much to my annoyance. “As you may have heard, the Wonderbolts we all know and love have come up with a new trick for us today. I think it's safe to say we're all looking forward to seeing what that is!”

The cheering increases tenfold, hurting my ears. All it does is serve to make the announcer grin widely. “Well then, without further ado, I present to you...the Wonderbolts!” he declares, sweeping his hoof towards the left side of the arena.

A blue painted, wooden hatch is built into the side of the mountain there, emblazoned with the image of the Wonderbolts symbol. Upon the announcement, the hatch opened.

“I still don't get what the big deal is with these Wonderbolts. I mean, what's so...” I shout over the crowd to Rainbow, but before I can finish, five ponies shoot out of the hatch like rockets, even trailing gray smoke behind them. They're so fast I can barely make them out. They're like blue streaks of light, almost like jets.

“There! The one in the lead! That's Spitfire!” Rainbow points out, jabbing a hoof at the sky. I can't really see Spitfire all that well. Just as I focus on her, the Wonderbolts' formation starts rotating, leaving a really cool looking spiral structure made of smoke behind.

When the five of them reach the center of the track, they split up and begin flying in a strange irregular pattern. It occurs to me as the lines of gray smoke form into shapes that they're drawing something.

The image soon takes shape, and the five Wonderbolts zoom towards the crowd and form into a single line so that they're all facing us. Behind them in a smoke formation of the Wonderbolts symbol, which gets the crowd going like nothing else. I'll admit, the ringing ears aside, that's pretty cool.

“Awesome! They brought RapidFire and Surprise along!” Rainbow says, pointing at the two Wonderbolts that I didn't recognize. I can pick out Soarin, Spitfire, and Fleetfoot, thanks to that poster I saw at the store, but there were two there I hadn't seen before. One was a stallion with a reddish white mine, and the other was a mare with a frizzy yellow mane.

They didn't stay still for very long. The five of them took off in different directions just as the Wonderbolts symbol faded away into the air. And then the true show started.

How can I describe this? It's like I'm watching a marching band at a college football game or something, only oriented laterally and done with smoke instead of people with instruments. 

They make all sorts of shapes and pictures at speeds faster than I can see most of the time. They go from simple helixes to a picture of Celestia's crown at one point, with amazing detail. Get this though. While they're drawing these pictures, they do other tricks at the same time. Like this one time, I see Spitfire do a triple corkscrew backflip while drawing the gem of Celestia's crown. That's fucking impressive. I don't know any stunt fliers that could do that in my time. While she's doing that, I hear Rainbow next to me saying something along the lines of “So....AWESOME!”

I lean back against the rock, actually somewhat enjoying what I'm watching. While it's nowhere near as engaging as the concert was last night, it's still interesting to see. The amount of coordination they're showing in their tricks shows that not only do they have incredible individual skill, they also know exactly what their comrades are doing at the same time. If they're military like Rainbow said, I bet they're a force to be reckoned with.

Then, they move on from drawing pictures, and shoot straight up towards the cloud layer, which isn't that high up from here (you know, since we're on a fucking mountain). They bring down a clump of cloud and start circling it so fast, the cloud turns dark and starts emitting small bolts of lightning. Almost like static electricity (because if it was real lightning, spectators would be dying). Seems like they're doing weather tricks now.

A few of them bring another cloud down, and give it the same treatment. This time, rain starts to fall from both clouds, even though it's bright and sunny out here. The light from the sun reflects through the droplets of rain and forms a beautiful rainbow that bridges both of the clouds.

“Hey, I think they stole your mane,” I joke, nudging Rainbow. She notices the rainbow and groans in mock exasperation, nudging me back. I chuckle and continue watching the show.

The Wonderbolts return the clouds to the cloud layer after that. Then, they start flying in a single circle  perpendicular to the clouds. They fly faster and faster, until a disturbance forms in the clouds above them. I raise my eyebrow, wondering what they're doing. I look over at Rainbow, but she's also watching, riveted and yet slightly confused. I guess this is their new trick or whatever.

The circle of flying Wonderbolts slowly turns, until the circle is now parallel to the cloud layer. The clouds that were disturbed before now start to form into the shape of a funnel, causing my eyes to widen. “Holy shit, they're not going to...” I gasp, watching the funnel dip down and spin. “That's dangerous as hell!”

The forming tornado dips down further and further, and I start looking for a way out. However, instead of feeling suction like I was expecting, I feel winds blowing outward. My hair is caught by the wind and is sent flowing backwards. How is this possible? Tornadoes are destructive forces of nature that suck everything in around them due to the vacuum effect created by the rotating winds. How is air blowing outwards instead? 

It takes me a long while of watching before I finally relax. It doesn't look like any of the ponies around me are panicking, so I watch the forming tornado carefully, with a sense of awe. It's not often that somebody can look upon something normally so destructive at such a close range, without even a hint of danger.

Finally, the Wonderbolts stop circling the tornado and break off, performing various tricks as they spread out. Fireworks explode in the air around them in sparks of blue and gold, through which they fly without hesitation. Behind them, the tornado began to dissipate on its own. 

The Wonderbolts circle the stadium close to the crowd, possibly going for one last circle around before the end of the show. The crowd's cheers grow louder in the areas where the Wonderbolts are flying over at the time. When they reach our section, I can see them much closer, to the point where I can make out their facial expressions.

While the ones in the back seem to be concentrating, Spitfire looks calm and confident. She turns her head to face the audience, and to my shock, she seems to train her eyes directly at us. Is she looking at me? Why would she...no, she's looking at Rainbow. I take a look at Rainbow, but it looks like she's in shock.

Spitfire gives Rainbow a wink, and then she's on her way around the rest of the arena. That one wink, however, is enough to make Rainbow emit one of the loudest and most obnoxious fan-girl squeals I've heard from her...ever. I can't help but groan and bury my head in my hands.

The Wonderbolts, after they finish their circuit of the arena, fly back into the hatch in the side of the mountain, signifying that the air show was officially over. The applause (and by that I mean a bunch of ponies stamping the ground with their hooves) is so thunderous it feels like a fucking earthquake is shaking the arena beneath me. 

The announcer gets back up on his cloud with his microphone. “And there you have it folks! That trick with the funnel cloud was beyond anything I've ever seen from them! Give it up for the Wonderbolts!” His words only cause the applause to intensify.

I sigh, and I'm about to lean back when Rainbow's hoof grasps my hand and tugs me right out of my seat. “What the...Rainbow!” I demand as she drags me up the stairs. “The show just ended, we're gonna get swarmed!”

“That's why we gotta go now if we want to catch them!” Rainbow shoots back over her shoulder, not stopping for even a moment.

“Catch them? Catch who?”

“No time to talk! Step it up!” I groan, extricating my hand from Rainbow's hoof. I don't know who she thinks she's catching, but I doubt I'm going to be able to stop her. Yeah, there she goes. She promptly takes to the air, zooming out of the stadium faster than I can run.

I sprint out of the stadium after her, wondering what the hell's got her in such a hurry. I spot her rainbow tail disappearing around a corner of a rocky wall. Inwardly cursing her, I follow her around the corner.

I certainly didn't expect to see her standing totally still just on the other side of that corner. Unable to stop myself, I plow right into her, and the two of us hit the ground and roll over one another.

“Dammit Rainbow, give a guy some warning,” I complain, holding my shoulders, which ached from the impact. I'd rolled a few feet away from her, so that I'm lying flat on my back and staring up at the sky.

“Yeah, well, I didn't expect you to be running like your head was on fire either!” Rainbow protests, leaping to her hooves.

“You're the one who said hurry!” I shot back, getting up as well. “Speaking of which, what's the big deal anyway?”

Rainbow points to the building set into the rock wall, which is colored the typical Wonderbolts colors. However, the building isn't what's interesting. No, what's interesting are the Wonderbolts themselves emerging from the building.

“Oh, so they're who you wanted to catch,” I mutter. For some reason, I start to feel a little bitter. “Go on then. Go have fun with your heroes or whatever.”

“Don't have to tell me twice!” Rainbow exclaims, dashing past me and towards her idols. They don't seem to be all that surprised at Rainbow's sudden appearance, as they shift their formation some to give her room. 

I cross my arms, watching her interact with them. I can't hear what they're saying, but for some reason, my mood is dropping. I don't really know why.

“...I'm as hungry as a horse!” a goofy male voice sounds out as their formation gets closer, and the stallion with the blue mane, Soarin if I remember right, rubs his stomach with a hoof. I hear groans from the other Wonderbolts.

“You and your dumb puns,” Spitfire remarks with a roll of her amber eyes. She heaves a resigned sigh. “Let's go get you some pie then. Want to join us, Rainbow?”

“Oh would I ever!” is Rainbow's ecstatic reply. Huh, she's on a first name basis with them. She did say she spent a day with them, after all, so I shouldn't be that surprised. But my mood drops further when I see them walk past me, totally ignoring me. Great. I turn around and start to walk away, realizing I'd just been abandoned. However, Rainbow's voice stops me again. “But...I can't leave my friend behind.”

“Your friend?” Spitfire asks curiously, and then she turns around and sees me. “Dear Celestia, that's a human!”

Suddenly, I'm the center of attention for the entire Wonderbolts team. Rainbow approaches me first. “Don't worry, I wasn't gonna leave ya behind,” she reassures me with a smile. Oh so now you're paying some attention to me again. Go have fun with Soarin and Spitfire or whatever. “So, Wonderbolts, allow me to introduce my totally awesome friend here, Seth Rogers!”

“I can't believe you're friends with a human, Rainbow. That is awesome,” Spitfire agrees in a rather chill manner, and she extends a hoof to me. “S'up? I'm Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts.”

I feel a little bit better now. I'm still feeling a little bitter for some reason, but I bear it and take Spitfire's hoof. “Yeah, I'm Seth,” I respond awkwardly. I don't know how to respond to celebrities.

“Wow, a real human!” Surprise exclaims in a high pitched voice.

“You look different than the books suggest!” Rapidfire points out.

“What kind of food do humans eat?” Soarin adds his two cents next.

“Do humans really use awesome magic?” Fleetfoot asks next, speaking with a barely noticeable  lisp.

“That's enough!” I say firmly, raising my voice just loud enough to be heard over their questions. They go silent at my outburst. “If I wanted to be fawned over like some piece on display, I'd go to a museum.”

“Seth!” Rainbow hisses at me, looking both furious and scandalized. She looks at Spitfire next for a reaction.

“Sorry about that,” Spitfire says apologetically. “We've all read the books. We're huge fans of them, so they just got a little excited, that's all.”

The other Wonderbolts murmur apologies as well. “No harm done I guess. Nice job out there, by the way,” I decide to redirect the topic of the conversation, realizing that I've probably made things a bit more difficult for Rainbow.

“Thanks. Now that I think about it, I think I saw you in the crowd, next to Rainbow,” Spitfire recalls. 

“Yeah, that was me. I was dragged here, but ended up enjoying it,” I admit. My words earn a smile from Rainbow, who now looks more relaxed now that I'm not shouting at her idols anymore.

“Right, well, I'm glad you could see our new trick. Anyway, Rainbow, my offer still stands,” Spitfire declares, turning back to Rainbow. Rainbow hesitates, looking at me. “Seth is also invited, of course.”

“Wait what? You don't even know me!” I exclaim in shock, looking at Spitfire, who just grins.

“Any friend of Rainbow is a friend of mine. Come on, let's go get some food, before Soarin starts eating one of us,” she jokes, turning the other direction. With that, the Wonderbolts, plus Rainbow and I, start walking down the street. I'm shaking my head. It's ridiculous. She's a celebrity, and she's like, "Oh you know Rainbow? Come along then!" How naive can you get?

“Hey, I said I was hungry as a horse, not that I was hungry enough to eat one!” Soarin protests in good humor as the other Wonderbolts laugh at his expense.
While we're walking, Rainbow inserts herself between Spitfire and me, as opposed to the other side, where Soarin was. Huh, I guess I was wrong about her being all over him. I give a smile.

So much shit has happened since I got to Canterlot. Between meeting every princess and the concert, now I've met the top stunt fliers in Equestria. And I'm going to lunch with them all because Rainbow knows them. 

Go figure.

	

	

	

	
> 31. End of the Second Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“And then this dumb stallion proceeds to knock the entire table over, plates and all, screaming like a little filly,” Spitfire relates, much to the chagrin of a blushing Rapidfire. The other Wonderbolts laugh heartily at his expense, while I just shake my head.

“Really? All for a spider that wasn't even there?” Fleetfoot responds between snickers. Rapidfire proceeds to look more and more embarrassed, though he is grinning despite himself.

“No, it was there all right. Just not real,” Spitfire corrects her. A moment later, she reaches backward and catches a passing waiter. “Oi! Fill me up real quick, would you?”

The waiter bows when he notices who stopped him, and then he refills Spitfire's cup with more cider. “That's an awesome prank! I wonder who in Ponyville I could pull that on,” Rainbow muses, a wicked grin crossing her face.

“Certainly not me. Spiders don't scare me all that much,” I inform her. That gets Rapidfire's attention as well, his eyes widening in disbelief.

“What? How do they not scare you?” he asks curiously. Since I apparently have the spotlight right now, I might as well answer him.

“Because they're not really all that dangerous. Most of them aren't venomous, and the ones that are aren't a danger if you're not a dumb fuck,” I point out. Spitfire and Rainbow both nod in agreement with that, but Rapidfire just blanches.

“But they can always get you when you're not expecting them. They could crawl into your bed at night and spin webs while you're asleep and...” he protests, but I cut him off.

“Okay, let me stop you right there. Spiders aren't stupid either. They don't spin webs on unstable  objects, especially ones that move regularly, like living creatures. Secondly, if they do crawl into your bed, they're dead. All it takes is for you to roll over in your sleep, and they're squished,” I berate him, but at the same time it appears to be having a reassuring effect on him.

“I can't believe we're having a conversation about spiders, of all things,” Soarin remarks. He nudges Spitfire. “I blame you, captain. You're a bad influence on us all.”

“Coming from the stallion that practically drains all of our money on food expenses,” Spitfire retorts.

“Aw come on, you're exaggerating!” Soarin complains. His reaction is enough to get Spitfire chuckling. With that distraction, Surprise reaches forward and taps Rapidfire on the shoulder, and the two of them start discussing something. While Fleetfoot discusses different types of tricks with Rainbow, I take a drink from my own cup.

This is chaos. I feel a lot like I'm hanging out with a bunch of college students. It's definitely a newer experience for me. I've been with groups like this before back in my time, but I never really got involved in the conversations unless they were school related. Since, you know, I hated all of them and would never go anywhere with them unless it was school related.

Here, it's odd. They're celebrities, and yet they're going out of their way to make sure I'm included in the conversation. Not by asking me about my race, either. They apparently got the message when I snapped at them about it earlier.

Speaking of which, we went to a small restaurant together, where the Wonderbolts had their own reserved tables, where they wouldn't be disturbed. Something like that being offered to me normally set off all kinds of alarm bells in my head, but since Rainbow was so close to me, I decided not to mention anything. If anything happens, I'll blame her.

“What did you think about our tornado trick, Seth?” Spitfire inquires, which brings the attention back to me again.

“It was bullshit. I know how tornadoes work, and that one followed none of the rules,” I responded honestly. 

“Oh? Do tell,” Spitfire says, lifting one eyebrow. Next to me, Rainbow buries her face in both hooves, probably because she knows I'm about to analyze the shit out of this.

“Tornadoes form by wind shear, when two currents of wind blow at different speeds. An updraft catches it, and that's how a funnel cloud starts,” I explain, recalling what little school did teach us about them. For some reason life threatening occurrences like that were skipped over for more inane topics, like the Pythagorean theorem. Go figure. “Then the resulting vacuum causes immense suction. What you did was just fly in a fucking circle, and then air blew outwards. Explain that!”

“Well, we weren't going to create a suction tornado in the middle of a crowded arena, dude,” Spitfire assures me. “It's not that hard for fast enough pegasi to set up an outwardly blowing tornado.”

“But...that's not...you don't...I...” I stammer, so many different logical protests forming in my head at a speed that my brain can't keep up with. Rainbow snickers next to me, taking pleasure in my mind being fucked. “Fucking magic!”

“Equestria runs by magic. You should get used to seeing it everywhere,” Fleetfoot reminds me. Yes, yes, I know that. I rub my forehead in exasperation. Fuck you, Discord. Fuck you with a brick.

“Well, we do have alternate sources of energy,” Rapidfire inserts, turning away from his conversation with Surprise, much to her annoyance. “Like electricity.”

“For the last time, Rapidfire, we're not buying you electric headphones,” Spitfire chastises him wryly. “Our bank account can't possibly survive.”

“Wha...but I get so tired of having to make unicorns keep charging up mine with magic!” Rapidfire complains, producing a set of thick headphones. There's no cables for it, so basically it's battery powered. With magic. I hate magic.

“Money is money, dude. We don't make nearly enough to afford anything electric,” Spitfire qualifies with a rueful smile. 

“That actually reminds me,” I speak up next, directing my words at Spitfire. She turns away from Rapidfire and looks at me expectantly. “What exactly are the Wonderbolts, apart from stunt fliers?”

“That's a good question, I'm glad you asked,” Spitfire responds readily, her eyes lighting up. “You're right, we're more than just stunt fliers. We're actually military.”

“Really? So Rainbow was right about that much,” I reply, which earns me a nudge from Rainbow.

“You say that like you were expecting me to be wrong!” Rainbow accuses me. I just roll my eyes and motion for Spitfire to continue.

“We originally formed just after the War of Night and Day, as the E.U.P, or Earth Unicorn Pegasus Guard,” Spitfire related. Oh, that's interesting. I do like military history. Maybe I can take some time to learn a little more about history. Because if there's one thing I can say about Cheerilee's class, it's that she didn't say shit about military make up. “The first Wonderbolts, though they weren't called such, were chosen to commemorate the occasion.”

“The E.U.P., huh? So all the regiments and whatever used to be one solid unit?” Ask I ask, I notice Rainbow next to me, looking at me with a bemused expression. Maybe she's confused that I'm actually holding a conversation with a pony without snapping at it. Well, it's not like she's asking anything personal, so I don't see a reason why I would snap at her.

“That's right. Naturally the military's gone through a few changes and reorganizations since then. That was a long, long time ago,” Spitfire clarifies. “Now we have six divisions, two for each race.”

“Oh, I see. I've only heard of the two unicorn regiments, though. What kind of roles do the two pegasus regiments have?”

Spitfire blinks and gives me a curious look. “You seem awfully interested in all this. What's up with that?”

“I enjoy learning about military history, that's all. If you don't want to answer, then don't,” I answer irritably, causing her (and Rainbow next to me) to wince.

“Naw, I don't mind answering. It's just most of the time, my stallion fans only ask me about myself, and not about our history,” Spitfire reassures me with a wry grin. “I find it rather refreshing.”

“Trust me, you don't have to worry at all about that,” I retort, shuddering. Fucking celebrity groupies. I understand how she feels. “Anyway, answer the question.”

“All right. Well, my division is the Canterlot Royal Pegasus Corps. We're the air force; we strike first, and we strike 'em again,” Spitfire reveals, chuckling a bit at her own joke. “Of course, not really much call for military action around here anymore. Last time we had a war was a millennium ago.”

“Hang on, your division?”

“Yup. I should probably reintroduce myself,” Spitfire remarks. “I'm Spitfire, Captain of the Canterlot Royal Pegasus Corps.”

Well, shit, that makes her as important as Shining Armor. So she's not just a performer. I look at the other Wonderbolts. “Well then. I have a habit of meeting important ponies, it seems. So that makes you all soldiers as well?” I ask curiously.

“Yup!” Surprise affirms cheerily. The rest nod in confirmations as well. Well then, we're hanging out with soldiers.

“That's so cool! Have you smashed any bad guys?” Rainbow exclaims, joining the conversation.

“Hah, nothing worth talking about. The princesses do a good job keeping Equestria safe,” Spitfire answers, chuckling at Rainbow's enthusiasm. No shit, Celestia is overpowered. Mind-reading powerhouse that claims to raise the sun. Still not sure I believe that part.

“But captain, remember the time we drove off those monsters near Dodge Junction?” Soarin reminds her with a grin. “It was great, I think I crushed a dozen of those things.”

“I didn't forget. I just said it wasn't really worth talking about,” Spitfire corrects him. “Like Soarin said, most of our military missions now are dealing with monster threats, or training new recruits.”

“It's weird, that Equestria has gone so long without wars,” I comment, remembering all the wars humanity has had over its history. There's been way too many to count. “Don't you get tired of having nothing to do?”

“To put it bluntly, I'd rather have nothing to do than take part in a war. We're here to keep Equestria safe, but that job is seldom pleasant,” Spitfire tells me flatly. “I'm totally fine doing flips and corkscrews if it means everypony is safe.”

“That's...a surprisingly noble thing to say,” I say, surprised. I didn't expect her to spill her feelings to me just because I asked, that's for sure. 

“I'm just telling you how I feel, that's all. I'm damn proud to be the head of the Wonderbolts, and even prouder to be a member of Equestria's military,” Spitfire finishes. I don't really know what to say to that. Honestly I had no idea what to expect from Spitfire, but I guess she's all right. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt for now. Though I see why Rainbow idolizes her.

“Rainbow, what time is it?” I mention to my friend, just remembering that we have someplace to be soon. Rainbow blinks, and then she frantically looks around for a clock. I guess she forgot as well.

“Uh, half past three,” Rainbow reveals, heaving a relieved sigh. “Thank Celestia, I thought we were gonna be late.”

“We still might, if we don't get moving,” I warn her. She looks really bummed out by that, probably because she wants to stick around with the Wonderbolts some more. I won't like, I kinda do too, if only to learn a bit more about Equestria's military from one of their captains.

“Got someplace to be?” Spitfire inquires as I stand up from the table, setting the last of my bits down on the table to pay for the meal. I'm now as broke as I was when I got here. Seems like forever ago.

“Yeah, Rainbow and I originally came to Canterlot on business,” I explain. Then I quickly correct myself. “Well, to be accurate, I came to Canterlot on business. Rainbow is here just because.”

“I am not! You asked me!” Rainbow protests, but I ignore her.

“I'm here with a musician, being paid to set up her shit. You know how it goes,” I continue. Spitfire nods, making no indication that she's going to move at all.

“I gotcha. Well then, I guess I'll see you around, Seth. I must say, it was a pleasure talking to you,” Spitfire tells me. 

“Yeah, if all humans are like you, then humans are cool!” Soarin adds, earning a scoff from me in response. You have no fucking idea how “uncool” humans are.

“Also, I certainly hope to see more from you, Rainbow. You have potential; I saw that at the competition,” Spitfire adds. Rainbow proceeds to blush nine shades of red and nod vigorously, tripping over her words. Her awkwardness causes Spitfire to chuckle.

“All right, if we don't go now, I'll never get you out of here,” I grunt, poking Rainbow in the neck. She snaps out of her reverie, and then with a last wave to the Wonderbolts, we leave the restaurant.

Rainbow is silent for about five seconds before she promptly starts gallivanting around me in pure joy. “Ohmigoshohmigoshohmigooosh! Did you hear her?! She said I had potential!” And...she's also fangirling again. 

I get tired of watching her, so I grab the top of her head to keep her still. “Yes, I heard her too, I was there, in case you forgot. Don't let it go to your head; it's big enough as it is.”

Rainbow shakes off my hand and growls at me. “My head is not big! What are you talking about?”

“It's a figure of speech, you moron,” I inform her, rolling my eyes. “Basically don't get confident. Somepony like her isn't going to be really impressed unless you put a lot of effort into your flying.”

“I...I already knew that! I always put effort into my flying!” Rainbow asserts, though it seems like I've managed to quell her ego a bit. “That's why I'm the fastest pony in Equestria apart from them!”

….Or not. Goddamn this pony and her ego. Drives me nuts at times.





We reach the bar just as the time reaches four. I wish I could have been here earlier, but I doubt I could have dragged Rainbow out of that restaurant any sooner. Not with the way she was hanging on Spitfire's every word...holy shit. I completely forgot about that. Same sex relationships apparently aren't frowned upon in this society. What if Rainbow wasn't all over Soarin because she didn't swing that way? This is a disturbing and rather irritating line of thought. I'm going to not think about this.

“I was wondering if you two would be on time!” Vinyl calls to us from the stage, where she's already starting to set up the mat upon which all of her equipment will go. Hang on, the cart's already here. How did that happen? Did Vinyl bring the cart over from the hotel all on her own?

“Nah, I managed to drag Seth here before we were late,” Rainbow assures Vinyl. My eye starts to twitch.

“Excuse me, that was what I was doing to you, you lying fuck,” I correct her, shoving her playfully. She nudges me right back, a twinkle in her eyes telling me that she'd just been fucking with me.

“Okay, can you keep your hooves off of each other for one moment and help me set up my gig? It's...what I'm paying you for, after all,” Vinyl remarks, running a few cables underneath the mat.

“Dammit Vinyl!” I snap at her, which only makes her laugh. I'm getting real tired of her jokes about Rainbow and I. Platonic relationships exist, you fucking troll.

“Correction: it's what she's paying you for. I think I'll go take a little nap!” Rainbow declares with a mocking grin, and then she promptly finds a booth to recline in. “Have fun, working, Sethie!”

“...You did not just fucking call me Sethie,” I deadpan, already planning my revenge.

“Less, talking, more working, Sethie!” Rainbow teases me. Oh that is it. Shit is going to go down back at our hotel room. That bed flipping trick is going to be tame compared what I'm going to do to you.

Ignoring her laughter, I look over at Vinyl for direction...only to see her snickering as well. My glare causes her to quickly compose herself. “Er...ahem. Dude, can you grab all those boxes from the cart and stage them over here?” she requests.

“Don't ask me, tell me. I'm your employee,” I grunt, but I do as I'm told anyway. Seriously, fucking bosses asking you if you can do something when you know you can't say no. It just pisses me off.

You know how it goes. The stage in this area is different, but the essentials are the same. Run the cables under the mat, plug them in, get the tables set up, the speakers connected, etcetera. It's some hard work, especially all the heavy lifting with the LEDs and the speakers. I swear, if I don't have abs by the end of the month, I'll be pissed.

“Excellent, excellent!” the brown stallion with the sandy mane from before exclaims as he examines the set up. I'm assuming that's Erratic Tune, judging by the musical butt tattoo he's got. Though why a musician pony is running a bar is beyond me. “It's been so long since I've heard some decent electronic music!”

“Just you wait, bro. I've got some human music in store for ya too!” Vinyl informs him with a grin. Erratic's eyes widen, as does his smile.

“You got your human friend here to teach you some music? That's incredible!” Erratic asks, looking between me and Vinyl. I cross my arms. I didn't show her shit. The only pony I've shown my music is Rainbow, and that was only one song.

“Nah, my mother's an archaeologist. She pulled a few strings so I could have some of the few fragments of music her expedition did find,” Vinyl explains. That's interesting. So that's how she got hold of dubstep and the like. “It was pretty easy to extrapolate the style of their music onto our own.”

“Nevertheless, I am very interested to hear this human music,” Erratic asserts. Then he trots towards the back of the bar. “Now if you'll excuse me, I need to add human music to the advertisements. That'll draw in a crowd!”

“Guy's too fucking cheerful,” I mutter as I crawl underneath Vinyl's mixing tables, three multicolored cables clenched in my right hand. 

“Careful under there! Don't mess with any of the switches you see, or it'll mess up my whole gig!” Vinyl alerts me, trotting over to me. “Maybe it's too soon for me to let you do this part.”

“Calm your tits, mare! I've got this.” My response causes Vinyl to raise an eyebrow. “All I'm doing is plugging these cords into the properly colored slot.”

“You know, every time I think you can't get any more vulgar, you always find a way,” Vinyl observes dryly. “Seriously though, don't touch those switches.”

“I'm not going to touch them! Sheesh, this is an elementary job, it's not like I'm going to...” I start to complain, but then I accidentally hit my head on the underside of the tables. “Ow, son of a bitch!”

“An elementary job, was it? Get out of there,” Vinyl returns smugly, and drags me out from underneath the tables with her magic. Then, while I'm rubbing the forming lump on my head, Vinyl crawls underneath the tables as well. “Oh come on, you hit the reverb switch! That woulda really messed up my sound!”

I scratch the back of my head sheepishly, feeling really foolish for fucking up after spouting off like that. “Not my fucking fault it's so tight under there.”

“You talking about beneath my tables, or Rainbow's tail?” Vinyl jokes, from underneath the tables. My immediate response is to stomp on her hoof with my foot. “Ow! What was that for?”

“And you were just bitching at me about being vulgar! Oh god...now I'm visualizing it...fuck you, Vinyl. Just...just fuck you,” I groan, holding my head with one hand and pounding it with the other, trying to get that horrifying image out of my head. “I need to go find somewhere to hurl.”

“Oh come on, with a set up like that, I can't not seize the opportunity,” Vinyl says as she plugs in one of the cords. “I don't regret a thing.”

Oh you totally will. You're next on my shit list for tonight. Now I have to devise a plan to get revenge on her too.





After we finished setting up Vinyl's equipment, we rejoin Rainbow at the booth. Vinyl and I have to sit together, since Rainbow is sprawled across the other side, fast asleep. That didn't take her very long. She fell asleep regardless of the typical background noise a bar has.

About two seconds after I sit down, I stand back up and move over to Rainbow. Vinyl watches me curiously, wondering what it is I'm going to do. What I have planned is pretty tame, but all that shit will come later.

Leaning down, I pinch her ear and blow into it from a few inches away. Just like I expected, Rainbow immediately wakes up and makes a hilarious noise, flailing her hooves around. She clamps a hoof to the affected ear and looks at me with a disturbed expression. “What the hay was that, Seth!?” She demands.

“Something I'd do to annoy animals back in my time,” I explain with a chuckle. Her face is perfect right now. I wish I could take a picture. “Trust me, animals fucking hate that. Apparently you do as well.”

“That was only the weirdest sensation ever!” Rainbow protests, though she's starting to giggle now that she recognizes the fact that it was a prank. “Can't you ever just shake me and say 'hey Rainbow, please wake up?'”

“Nope. I think I've said that before.”

“Ugh. Let's just get some food while I plan my revenge,” Rainbow says with a wicked grin. Oh please, I bet your revenge will be pathetic compared to what I have in store for you.





After we eat, the party gets started. Unfortunately, I couldn't pay for the meal, so I resolved to pay Rainbow back the moment I get paid for tonight.

Basically, Vinyl does a quick sound test to make sure everything's working, and then she starts her first song, which is not dubstep, interestingly enough, but something electronic. I suppose that stuff is going to come later.

Also, I'm going to be here for hours. Hoo boy. That's the only thing about musical gigs that I can't stand. It's the endless waiting, especially if the song isn't one that I particularly like. This one is okay, but it's not going to get me on the dance floor.

Some of the other ponies in the bar think it's the best thing ever, considering we already have some ponies on the dance floor. Other ponies are coming in from the streets, having heard the music. I even see that one mare I fucked with the other day come in as well. I think her name was Ember? I forget. She wasn't that memorable apart from the guitar.

I would take a nap, but Rainbow is eyeing me in a rather suspicious manner, so I know that's a bad idea. She might try to prank me. So honestly I end up sitting at this damn booth sipping at a cup of water for a really long time.

Nothing really interesting happens until a little after eight. I'm still just sitting at the booth, watching the ponies dance like crazy to a more upbeat song that Vinyl's playing, when I happen to notice a particular pony walk in from the street.

“Holy shit,” I remark, my voice barely audible over the pounding bass. Rainbow stirs at my words, following my gaze until she sees what I'm looking at. Her reaction is similar to mine, minus the cursing. I guess she knows who that is as well.

Octavia has just walked into the bar, looking as groomed and classy as ever. She's looking around for someone or something, looking somewhat uncertain. She wrinkles her nose at the sound of the music coming from the tables.

What the fuck is she doing he...oh that's right, I told her to come here for the most likely chance of finding me. “I'll be right back. I think she's here to see me,” I explain, standing up from my seat and making a beeline for her.

“Wait what? You...and her....what?” Rainbow stammers in surprise, but I quickly leave her behind.

Octavia spots me when I get close enough to her, and she comes to meet me halfway, with a smile. “Ah, there you are. I was hoping I could catch you before you left for the night,” Octavia greets me with a dip of the head, which I return.

“I didn't expect to see you so soon. I take it you have some news for me?” I say, cutting right to the point.

“Indeed I do. Would you care to step outside for a moment?” Octavia replies, indicating the door with a small head motion. I nod, and the two of us leave the bar.

“Why, not a fan of Vinyl's music?” I tease her as we walk out into the darkened Canterlot streets.

Octavia wrinkles her nose again. “I can't say that I am. It lacks a certain...finesse, for lack of a better word.”

“I hear that. This kind of music is hit or miss for most individuals,” I relate, nodding my head. “Anyway, enough about that. What did you find out?”

Octavia responds by giving me a bright smile. “You're lucky. I managed to find an opening tomorrow at noon.”

I can't believe my ears. A piano room has an opening this early? Part of me wants to call bullshit on this. “I don't buy it. How often are these rooms usually booked?” I demand, crossing my arms.

“It depends on the time of year, I suppose. They're usually booked for months at a time before concerts, but after performances, there's a short period of time where the rooms are relatively unused,” Octavia explains. I suppose that makes sense, even if it is a little convenient. 

“I see. Did you already make the reservation, or do I have to go and do that myself?”

“Of course. If I hadn't, it likely wouldn't be available now. These reservations tend to disappear fast,” Octavia assures me.

“Okay, then how would I go about reaching this place? I know where the concert hall is, but not the rehearsal hall.”

“All right, if you're looking at the concert hall from the front,” Octavia begins, moving so that she's standing with her back to me. “If you follow the right path and cut through the alleys on the left of the street, it's only short walk until you see it. It's hard to miss.”

It's really comical, how she's attempting to act out the directions with her two front hooves. Thankfully, my memory is good enough that I can visualize what she's trying to tell me. “Um...Octavia? Perhaps you should leave the directions to the professionals,” I criticize with a raised eyebrow. Octavia abruptly lowers her hooves and gives me a stare.

“Oh, hush, you. I'm trying to help,” she huffs with an adorable pout, which just makes me chuckle. “Did you understand though?”

“I did, no thanks to...” I take a moment to wave my hands in the air in a mock imitation of what she had been doing. “...whatever you were doing.”

“Enough about the directions!” Octavia complains, making me laugh harder. “Anyhow, your reservation is for room fifteen. Unfortunately, I cannot stay, as business calls.”

“One last thing before you go. I...don't actually understand Equestrian writing. Think you can describe to me what the characters for 'fifteen' look like?” I admit. Octavia blinks, and then she shuffles around in her saddlebags for something.

“I can do better than that. One moment,” she tells me as she fishes out a notepad and a pencil. With the pencil in her mouth, she delicately writes something down on the first page, and then rips it out, again with her mouth. 

I hold out my hand, into which she deposits the sheet of paper. Clearly inscribed upon it are a few unfamiliar characters, which I'm going to assume are the characters that mean 15.

“Just match the characters you see there to the ones on the door of the practice room, and you'll be fine,” Octavia assures me as she replaces the notepad and pencil in her saddlebags. “Now then, if you'll excuse me, I have a few preparations to make before tomorrow.”

“Right, whatever. I'm just gonna stay here and be bored out of my mind,” I respond dryly. With a nod, Octavia turns the other direction and begins to walk away. Before she can fully leave the area, my conscience gets the better of me and I call after her. “Octavia!”

She turns her head to look at me curiously. I scratch the back of my head nervously. “Thanks,” I say awkwardly.

A warm smile crosses Octavia's face. “You're very welcome. Good night to you, Seth.” And with that, she was gone.





With the piece of paper folded up neatly in my back pocket, I return to the bar, where everything is still much the same as it was when I left it. Well, maybe the dance floor has gotten a little wilder. 

I consider joining in the dancing to let off some steam, but then decide better of it. I'm not really feeling it tonight.

“What was that all about? When did you become friends with Octavia of all ponies?” Rainbow questions me when I return to our table, where I see my water has been refilled. 

“She's not my friend. She just came to tell me there was a reservation available for me at the rehearsal hall,” I remark, grabbing the cup of water and gulping from it. Ah, that hydration though.

“Huh? But how did you even get her to talk to you? At the gala, she seemed really snooty and uptight,” Rainbow presses. I sit down across from her.

“I don't know what a 'gala' is, but she's pretty chill, really. Definitely not what I expected from a celebrity,” I confess. “With talent like her's, I expected her to be full of herself.”

“Oho, you want to see a celebrity that's full of herself, go watch one of Trixie's shows. That mare makes me so mad!” Rainbow seethes. Trixie? Who the fuck is...suddenly a bad joke has come to me.

“Silly Rainbow. Trixies are for kids!” I joke wryly. Wow, I've sunk to a new level of dumb references. Rainbow looks understandably clueless.

“...What?”

“Skip it. Who's Trixie?”

“She was a traveling magician that apparently made it big in the towns surrounding Canterlot. She was a real jerk though, always bragging and showing everypony up,” Rainbow relates, deciding to ignore my dumb joke.

“Hold on, what? What's the point of being a traveling magician if everyone knows that magic is real?” I demand. When Rainbow returns with a confused expression, I elaborate. “Back in my time, we had traveling magicians as well, but all they did was use cheap tricks and clever optical illusions to deceive people into thinking they had magic.”

“That's weird. Seth, why is your kind so weird?” Rainbow questions me. I give a shrug. “Well, to answer your question, magician ponies use their magic to entertain other ponies.”

“So, like show magic. Okay, seems weird, but I guess that's just a difference in culture,” I remark, and Rainbow nods in agreement.





For the rest of the night, Rainbow and I exchange small talk a few times, but more often than not I spend the time staring listlessly into space. 

That continues until finally Vinyl plays the last song around half past eleven, when most of the dancing ponies are filtering out for the night. After a short address to the bar patrons, Vinyl calls me up to the stage again to help her dismantle all this shit.

“Excellent!” Erratic approaches us as Vinyl and I are working together to take apart the LEDs and speaker systems. In his hoof is a large bag of bits that clinks enticingly with every step he takes. “I knew it was a good idea hiring you. I made a lot of money tonight. I believe now it is time for you to do the same. Two hundred bits, all for you.”

“Aw sweet! Thanks, Erratic!” Vinyl exclaims, grabbing hold of the bag with her magic and bringing it closer to herself. “Now then, let's fish out some for Seth here.”

“Don't you dare split it half and half. You did most of the work,” I warn her. Vinyl sticks her tongue out at me.

“Calm down, bro, I wasn't going to do that. I was thinking I should give you a third of the overall payment, like I always do. This time it's six hundred,” Vinyl muses. She takes a moment to run the math in her head. “So that's two hundred bits for you total. Since I have two hundred bits here...a third of that is...”

“About sixty six bits,” I calculate, having done math so much in college I can do simple calculations pretty easily. “Two hundred isn't divisible by three. You'll get a remainder of two. So give me sixty eight bits today, and sixty six each additional day.”

Vinyl stares at me. “That makes sense. Good thing I brought you along, my little calculator,” she jokes. She opens the bag with her magic, and then fishes out 68 bits. She halts again before handing me the bits. “Hm...since I know you'll complain if I don't, I'm going to go ahead and take your expenses out of this.”

“Yes, please do. That way I can keep whatever else I earn,” I tell her. Good, at least I get to watch her take the money out of my pay.

“Hm...so the hotel room was forty...split that by three and you get thirteen bits,” Vinyl begins, but already I see an error.

“Forty isn't divisible by three. There's a remainder of one. Take fourteen bits to make up for the extra,” I correct her. Vinyl stares at me again, and this time she sticks out her tongue.

“Nope. This is my gig, so the extra should be my responsibility,” Vinyl refutes.

“But...”

“I'm your boss, so nyah!” is Vinyl's immature response. I groan and facepalm, realizing that that logic is not something I can refute. Technically it doesn't matter who pays the extra...but I would have felt better if I'd done it. “Anyway, take out thirteen bits there. Then another five for the train ticket, and four will go to Rainbow for your meal today. You're left with forty six bits. Sound good?”

“Yeah,” I finally say, fishing out the empty bag that once held my own money. With a satisfied grin, Vinyl places the 46 bits into it with her magic. I almost drop the bag from the weight. Holy shit, I'm richer than I've ever been in Equestria. The most I've ever had was 23 bits. This is twice that amount. Fuck yeah, money. Too bad it's not enough to buy myself a house. 

“Sweet! Then let's get back to work so we can crash. I dunno about you, bro, but I'm exhausted,” Vinyl says, turning back to her tables. “You finish packing up the LEDs in the boxes. I'll unhook the cables. You know, an elementary job.”

“...I hate you so much,” I groan at her reminder of my fuck up. Her response is to laugh heartily at my expense.





By midnight, we've finished packing everything up into the cart. Rainbow joins us at that point, having taken another nap instead of helping us (Then again, I'd rather she didn't help us. More money for me). 

Unfortunately, Vinyl and I have to push the cart all the way back to the hotel, while Rainbow does little flips and twirls in the air, taunting us without words about how slow we are.

Once we reach the hotel, we leave the cart with the staff and we return to our room on the third floor. I'm so fucking exhausted after all of that heavy lifting and three flights of stairs, that I collapse immediately into my bed. 

I look over at Rainbow, and Vinyl, the latter of which is now taking off her shades. I already know what I'm going to do to them. It'll just have to wait until the morning, because that's the best time to pull off my evil prank without a hitch.

I strip down to my boxers underneath the blankets of the bed where I can't be seen, and then I toss my clothes out through a gap onto the floor. Then, at last, I get comfortable, letting out a sigh of contentment.

“I'm going to sleep. I'll see you two in the morning,” I tell them, shutting my eyes. I hear two different grunts of acknowledgment, because they're both tiredly climbing into their bed as well.

Sleep well, mares. Because in the morning, you're going to get a very rude awakening indeed. 
> 32. All That Matters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	 I regain consciousness the next morning long before I actually decide to get up. I open my eyes, feeling an odd sense of wrongness. Something's happened, and I'm not quite sure what it is.

Soft snores from the other side of the room tell me that Vinyl and Rainbow are still asleep. Okay. Well, in that case, I'll go and prepare that prank I have in mind for Rainbow. It's going to be so great.

For some reason, when I try to move, I can't. Like, I literally can't move my arms or legs. What the fuck? I can move my head just fine, so I bite the edge of the comforter and toss it aside with a jerk of my neck so I can figure out what's restricting me. Unfortunately, throwing a heavy comforter with just your teeth isn't that easy, so I have to do it a few times before I can finally see what happened.

I've been wrapped up in my sheets like a goddamn mummy. How did that...oh. I turn my head and glare at Rainbow. This was your idea of a prank? How lame. Come on, all I have to do is find the edge of the sheets and then roll around a bit.

It's almost too easy to find the edge. Once again craning my head forward, I bite down on the edge and give it a jerk...only to find that it won't move. It's stuck to the rest of the sheets. How the hell? I try again, giving as much effort as I can. It still won't budge, but the exertion allows me to see a strange translucent substance between the edge of the sheets and the rest. Is that glue?

Further inspection of the room leads me to notice the small bottle resting on the dresser next to my bed. It looks...very familiar. It dawns on me a few seconds later what happened. That's Liquid Rock. Fuck.

Goddammit, Rainbow. This was actually a good prank on your part. Now I can't fucking move, because Liquid Rock is practically unbreakable. I'd know, because it's what's keeping the strap attached to my rifle. But...Rarity told me that this stuff hardens only when it comes into contact with magic. Which means Vinyl was involved too. Wow, they really wanted to prank me, didn't they?

Sadly for them, they don't know who they're dealing with. I'm not just going to sit here and wait for them to get up. No, I'm getting out of this.

I start to struggle, my aim being to get at least one arm out of the sheets. I'm tied up really tightly, so it's extremely difficult to move. I can feel my arm slowly, painfully inching out. At this rate, it'll take me forever to get free. If only I were a little stronger...

Then it clicks. Bitch, I am stronger. I release the magic from my core, my vision turning green. I make sure to keep myself at the base level of emission so I don't wreck the place. At this point, if I focus my magic like Shining Armor taught me, I can probably rip the sheets to shreds, but I don't want to do that, since they're not mine. Instead, I focus my magic in my right arm and use the extra strength to tug my arm out of the sheets. That leaves enough slack for me to get my other arm out as well.

No longer needing the magic, I block it away once more, my vision returning to normal. While it's difficult to really control this magic quite the way I want to, at least Celestia managed to teach me how to stay in control, however the fuck she did it.

Anyway, with all that slack in the sheets, it's easy for me to get free. I get up from the bed, glaring at Rainbow and Vinyl. You've had your fun, and now it's my turn.

I move towards the bathroom, thinking hard. My original plan had only accounted for Rainbow, since she alone I can carry. I can't carry both her and Vinyl. I can still do my original plan, but no doubt whomever I choose to be the first victim will alert the other with her screams.

Or maybe if I use my magic again, I can carry the both of them...no, that's a terrible idea. I shouldn't have used it in the first place. It's a miracle Vinyl didn't wake up. She's a unicorn, so I think she'd be able to sense it if I used magic so close to her. Of course, I could also just not prank Vinyl, but she deserves it as well, especially with the dumb innuendos she keeps making. 

There's got to be something I can do to her at the same time as Rainbow. Oh well. I can think about that while I'm preparing Rainbow's prank. I walk into the bathroom and shut the door softly.

I remember seeing a bathtub in here yesterday morning tucked against the back wall, next to the shower. Yup, there it is, and it's a lot bigger than I remember. I guess I was just tired. 

The cold water knob is easy to pick out because of the blue coloring scheme. I twist it until it won't turn any more, so that frigid water pours out of the faucet. I also make sure to plug up the drain. With that, the bathtub starts to fill up. Which means I have time to think of something to do to Vinyl.

I've got it. The bathtub is almost full now, so I'm going to put my plan into action. Walking back into the room, I make sure Vinyl and Rainbow are still asleep. Good, they are. Which means I can do this.

I grab the bottle of Liquid Rock from the table and open the top of it. Next, I move over to Vinyl and position the bottle right over her horn. Following the grooves in her horn, I squeeze out the substance all over it, until I reach the tip. Capping the bottle again, I grin. The next time she tries to use magic, she'll be in for a shock. 

It occurs to me that the substance might be irreversible. That would be dumb, even for ponies. Even so, the thought causes my blood to run cold. I grab my rifle and take it into the bathroom, releasing a tiny current of magic through my body as I do so. I focus all of that magic into my finger, and then jab the tip at the spot where the strap touches the rifle.

To my great relief, the Liquid Rock there turns liquid again. I turn it back solid once more and place my rifle aside. So at the most, Vinyl will be annoyed, rather than crippled for life. God, that would have been really bad. Think before you act, Seth.

Now then, that aside, it's time to make Rainbow regret her dumb bullshit yesterday and this morning. She's sleeping peacefully, lying on her side with her back facing me. Excellent. 

I move beside her, and then gently pick her up, holding her in such a way that my left arm is supporting her rear, while my right is holding her back. Much to my amusement, Rainbow still doesn't wake up, and instead fucking cuddles up to me, her head resting on my chest. Aww, how adorable. A shame I'm going to fucking ruin it.

A wicked grin stretches across my face as I maneuver the sleeping pony across the room and into the bathroom, where the bathtub is now filled almost to the brim with freezing cold water. I stand just at the edge of the tub, holding the sleeping pony. Rainbow snuffles gently, her front hoof twitching.

Without a word, I hold Rainbow out in front of me, and then drop the unwitting pony directly into the water.

The resulting strained scream of utter shock causes me to practically die laughing. I'm splashed with water as Rainbow kicks and flails in the tub. “WHAT THE HAY!?” Rainbow screams viscerally, jerking her head around to try and figure out where she is. Her mane is soaking wet now and covering her eyes and face in such a way that she looks ridiculous. Soon, she spots me laughing hysterically, resting a hand on the door frame to keep myself upright. “SETH!”

“Morning, Dashie!” I greet her cheerfully once I managed to compose myself slightly. Rainbow's face makes me dissolve into merriment once more. She looks scandalized, so I don't think she gets called by that name very often. Which is good. Now you know how it feels when somepony calls me Sethie. 

Suddenly, Rainbow crashes into me, getting water all over my face, chest, and hair. “No, you c'mere! You little...you're so dead!” Rainbow yells at me, but I can tell she really isn't all that mad. She knocks me right off my feet and onto the plush mat on the floor of the bathroom. I struggle, trying to get out from underneath her. “No! Sit still! You're the next one going in that water!”

“I'mma go with no...” I say calmly, despite how hard I'm wrestling with her. I'm not getting anywhere, so I decide to test something out by tickling her stomach. 

“Ah! No! Stoppit!” Rainbow protests, laughing. Aha, it's working. She's ticklish. I feel her muscles tense slightly, and I seize the opportunity to roll over so I'm on top of her. Well, that much doesn't work, because she finds it easy to change that. So we end up rolling over and over until we hit the tub. “Get in the tub!”

“No fucking way!”

“I said, get in the tub!” Rainbow insists, her voice louder, and then she backs off a bit, allowing me to stand. That's what she wanted though. The moment I stand up, she rushes me again, and I nearly overbalance into the tub. I halt my fall by planting my feet on the ground.

“What in the hay is going...?” Vinyl demands tiredly as she walks into the bathroom. She freezes and stares with a dumbfounded expression, as all she's seeing is a thoroughly soaked Rainbow practically draped across me, trying to push me into the tub. Seconds later, a blush covers my face when I realize that I'm wearing only my boxers. Son of a bitch. 

Rainbow and I freeze and look at Vinyl. There's an awkward silence so thick, you could probably hear a pin drop. Then she slowly starts to grin. “Oh, don't mind me. I'm just gonna shut the door and let you two have your...” Vinyl starts to joke, backing out of the door. She suddenly cuts off when she tries to use magic to shut the door behind her. A look of extreme discomfort crosses her face. “What the...there's all this junk in my horn...is that...”

“No, it's fine, Vinyl. Just scrub it all out. You know, it would be an elementary job!” I taunt her. Vinyl's eyes spark with understanding, and she facehoofs.

“You put Liquid Rock in my horn,” she deadpans. Her expression causes me to start laughing again. “Ugh, I suppose I deserved that for wrapping you in a sheet.”

Suddenly, I receive a buck to the chest from Rainbow. Not expecting it, I tumble right into the tub filled with freezing cold water. “Agh! Fucking...goddammit!” I rage, shivering at the sudden change in temperature.

Rainbow points a hoof at me and laughs raucously, her revenge for my revenge complete. I groan and rub my forehead. Thankfully, though, this works for me somewhat. At least now the water is hiding my body from them. God, why didn't I get dressed first before dropping Rainbow in the tub?

“This is...this is a morning. Hah, I should have known things would be crazy if I put you two in a room together,” Vinyl remarks.

“What's that, Vinyl? I can't hear you over the sound of all that Liquid Rock in your horn!” I shoot right back at her with a grin. 

“Ugh, this is gonna be a pain to get out...” Vinyl groans and walks towards the vanity. She grunts as she uses magic again to turn on the faucet, while at the same time turning the Liquid Rock back to its aqueous state.

“That's great, clean it later. If you don't mind, could you both kindly get the fuck out so I can take my shower?” I ask them with mock politeness. Now that my adrenaline high is going away, I'm really starting to get cold, and there's no way I'm getting out as long as I'm wearing practically nothing.

“Yeah, I got my revenge. I'm good now,” Rainbow acquiesces and turns the other direction. “Hoo, that was fun. Meet you back in the room, Seth!”

Vinyl leaves the room as well, grumbling and rubbing her horn with a hoof. The sight of that makes me chuckle again.

Finally, when she shuts the door, I pull the plug on the bottom of the tub and climb out, dripping wet. Dammit, even my boxers are soaked through. That's my only set too. I take off my boxers as well and wring them out into the draining tub, squeezing as hard as possible to get as much water as I can out of them. I'll wear them even if they're damp, because I'm not wearing jeans without undergarments. That's like asking for a rash.

I hang them over the towel rack to dry (even though I know they're not going to dry in the ten minutes or so it'll take me to shower.), and then turn on the shower, adjusting the temperature so that it's  lukewarm. You know, this makes me wonder how the hell they even warm the water without electricity, but then again, the answer is probably magic.





Twenty minutes later, I've finished grooming myself, and I've put my damp boxers back on. Unfortunately, I realize that my clothes are still outside, next to my bed. That shouldn't be too much of a problem.

“Hey, pass me my clothes, would you?” I ask, peeking my head out of the door. Rainbow and Vinyl break off from whatever conversation they are having and look at me. 

“Why? Just come out and grab them yourself,” Rainbow suggests, pointing over to where my clothes are.

“Because I'm not dressed, you idiot!”

“Didn't seem to stop you when you were tussling with Rainbow,” Vinyl points out with a grin. I flush slightly, knowing that she's right. Not my fault I got caught up in the heat of the moment. “Come out and grab them. It's not that big of a deal.”

“No way. Pass them here,” I demand, reaching my hand out. Sighing, Rainbow passes the clothes to me. I immediately shut the door with a word so I can get dressed. 

“He's so weird. I mean, we're not wearing clothes,” Vinyl remarks, her voice muffled by the door.

“Because you're fucking ponies,” I retort from behind the door as I slip on my pants. These are literally the only set of clothes I have with me. Ponies don't have laundry machines, so if I want to wash clothes, I have to do it myself. And I don't have the slightest idea how to do it manually. 

A few minutes later, I emerge from the bathroom, fully dressed and ready for whatever. I join Rainbow and Vinyl in the middle of the room, where they're sitting on their haunches. “So what's the deal for today?"

“Huh? Oh, same old, really. Breakfast first, and then we mess around in the city until it's time for the show,” Vinyl explains. 

“Awesome! Hm, what else is there to do in Canterlot,” Rainbow muses. “Seth, what do you want to do after breakfast?”

“I already have plans. I'm going to the orchestra's rehearsal hall,” I reply nonchalantly. Vinyl proceeds to stare at me as if I've grown a second head.

“What? Why would you go there?” she asks in shock. “They're all just a bunch of stuffed up prudes who play bad music.”

Okay, what? Boring music? Hell fucking no, you do not talk shit about the music that ponies worked hard to create. “That has to be the dumbest fucking thing I've ever heard you say,” I grunt irritably. “Music is music. Each genre has its charms. As a musician, you should know that!”

Vinyl looked almost as if I'd slapped her. “But there's no life in orchestra music. It puts me right to sleep!” she protests.

“Then it's not your thing. That's fine, and that's a reason that I can respect. But don't you ever say a style of music is bad,” I growl. “Not when those ponies put so much time and effort into it.”

“Wow...I didn't know you felt so strongly about this stuff, bro,” Vinyl admits, looking thoroughly chastened. “I didn't mean to offend you.”

“Whatever,” I emit, and Vinyl winces. Yeah, she knows she fucked up. Honestly, I could have just ignored her, but she was being so goddamn ignorant I couldn't take it.

“Well, I hope you'll have fun,” Rainbow says, breaking the silence that had formed. “But putting all of that aside, how about food now?”

“That sounds good. I'm hungry now,” I agree.





After Vinyl and Rainbow shower, I grab my rifle, and we leave the hotel and return to the same restaurant that we'd gone to yesterday for breakfast. I now have the bits to pay for the meal, so I decide to give myself a little treat and order not only the Fr...Prench toast again, but also a vanilla milkshake. Because they apparently offer milkshakes in Equestria. Oh well. Not going to look a gift pony in the mouth. (Come on, you knew I had to make that pun at least one time in my journal). 

Anyway, that bumped up the cost from 4 bits to 6 bits, leaving me with 40 bits total. Still a crap ton of bits compared to what I'm used to having. And what's great is that's only going to get higher, as long as I don't do shit like splurge anymore.

Rainbow, Vinyl, and I make small talk while we eat. By that, I mean Rainbow and Vinyl talk, while I listen to them and occasionally input a smart ass comment to annoy them. So basically, nothing really worth writing about.

Finally, once we're done with our respective meals, it's about 11:15. I think I woke up a bit later than usual, and then the whole thing with the tub happened, so I guess we spent more time getting out of the hotel than we usually do. Good for me, though. 

“I'm heading out, now,” I say to the two of them after we pay for the meal. We've just left the restaurant, which means we're all about to split up until later.

“Sweet. I'm gonna go chill with the other ponies from the Blazing Medley. Later, bro,” Vinyl responds, breaking off from us, leaving me with Rainbow.

“You going to hang out with Octavia or something?” Rainbow asks curiously, her head craning up to look at me.

“What? Nah, I told you yesterday. She reserved me a room with a piano in it. I'm going to go play on it for a few hours, then meet the rest of you at the bar,” I remind her. Don't know why she cares what I'm doing, anyway.

“Heh, yeah, I guess I forgot,” Rainbow confesses, chuckling. She puts on what looks like a relieved smile. “See ya later today, Seth.”

“Sure,” I reply, feeling to lazy to respond in kind. A few moments later, I'm alone, both Rainbow and Vinyl having gone their separate ways.

Now then, I just have to make my way back to the concert hall. From there, if I follow Octavia's poorly executed instructions, I should be able to find the rehearsal hall without much trouble.





I make it to the rehearsal hall as easily as I expected. Since they serve similar functions, the rehearsal hall and concert hall look very similar in their exterior design. Fitting with the Canterlot motif, the walls are white and mostly rounded, but the entrances are mostly angular. No, I have no idea which areas are open to the public, but I figure somepony will tell me if I go the wrong way. I pick one of the entrances and walk right inside.

Octavia was right about the place being mostly empty. There's not a lot of ponies walking around inside. Not to say that the place is entirely empty, either. There's a few ponies walking here and there, all of them musicians. Some of them are even carrying instrument cases with them. Most of them are too busy to give me a second glance, but every so often one will stare at me curiously.

There's a counter nearby, made of wood and marble. Behind it is a very bored looking stallion who is sifting through a stack of what looks like paperwork. He looks important, so I approach him, clearing my throat to announce my presence.

“Can I help you?” the stallion addresses me, his eyes roaming up and down my body. It's almost as if he's never seen a hu...no, that joke is dumb. Suffice to say, he's looking at me with interest.

“Yeah. Can you point me to where the practice rooms are?” I request, resting my hands in my pockets. 

“Of course, sir. If you turn to your left and follow that hallway until it ends, you'll find them on both of the adjoining hallways.” the stallion directs me with a hoof. “You'll have to speak to the pony behind the counter though.”

“Got it. Thanks,” I tell him casually and continue on my way. Good thing he didn't ask any questions. I'm in no mood to answer them. Then again, I'm never really in the mood to answer questions. Go figure.

His directions are much better than Octavia's, so it isn't long before I find myself walking down the hallway he mentioned. I have no idea what any of these rooms are, because all of the identifying plaques are in fucking Equestrian. It's fine, just today, tomorrow, and apparently the next day before I can go back to Ponyville and learn how to read.

The hallway ends with a small rounded room, in which there is but a single counter with a mare behind it, and two doors that lead to what should be the practice rooms. 

“Greetings, sir. Do you have a reservation?” the mare addresses me while still looking at a clipboard on the counter. When she does look at me, she gives a start. She looks like she's about to ask me the obvious question, so I make sure to speak before she can.

“I do, actually. For noon. Should be under the name 'Seth Rogers'” I reply impatiently. Hurry up and do your bureaucratic bullshit so I can get to playing. Time is wasting.

The mare quickly composes herself and looks down at her clipboard, flipping through it until she finds what she's looking for. “Yes, your name is on here. You have room fifteen, down the hall on your right, until three thirty pm,” she informs me.

Without another word, I turn down the hallway she indicated, taking the folded sheet of paper that was still in my back pocket. Unfolding it, it's a simple matter to compare the characters there to the characters on the doors until I find the one I'm looking for.

Number 15. Okay, this is it. There's no windows on the heavy wooden door, which means once I'm inside, I don't have to worry about being interrupted. I can't help but get a little excited as I open the door.  Four hours entirely to myself with a...holy shit.

The room isn't anything special in terms of looks, but what grabs my attention is the fucking grand piano sitting smack dab in the center of the room. Oh my god, yes please. With my jaw open like a dumb fish, I walk over to it and lay a hand on the polished wood reverently, taking in this majestic instrument. 

The top board is open, revealing the gleaming inner works that look like they've been maintained extremely well. I can't help but feel a little giddy. Back in my time, one of my dreams was to one day play a grand piano like this, instead of just an electric keyboard or those tiny ones that chorus rooms often have. But they were so expensive, that I knew it would always be just a distant dream. But to have one right before me...completely free for me to use for four entire hours...this is a fucking dream come true.

The walls are clearly soundproofed as well, because I'm sure some of the other rooms are in use right now, and I didn't hear a sound from them on my way here. Which means I should be able to play to my heart's content.

I sit down on the polyester bench provided for me and start to do basic stretches to loosen my fingers and arms. I'm taking extra care of myself this time, because four straight hours of playing can really do a number on my arms if I don't stretch.

I press down on the center key to test the sound, and oh my god I think I just shivered from the epic. The sound is really clear, and the walls are designed in such a way that the sound is reflected back to me, so it has a rich, deep sound. That is fucking glorious.

Warmup time. I did this just two days ago, so it shouldn't be as hard this time around. I put my fingers to the keys, and start to play my typical warm up piece again. 

The arpeggios in the left hand are probably the hardest part of this song, so once I have those down, it becomes easy to play the rest of the song. Oh this is great. This relatively simple song that I've practically mastered over a long period of time sounds so much better on this piano and in this room. I can actually visualize the scene in which this song was played. 

The song isn't that long, so I finish it rather quickly without too many errors. Now then, let's see how many other songs I can remember to play in these next four hours. 

Just as I look up to get some inspiration, I notice that there's already something on the music stand for the piano. It's sheet music, though what song it is I can't tell, because I can't fucking read. To my delight though, the musical notation is still mostly what I remember. By that, I mean, there's the treble clef, the bass clef, the staff, the notes, etc. However, the marks for dynamics, style, and other such things are in Equestrian.

I can read most of it though. What if...you know what? I'm going to learn to play this song. It's been so long since I've tried to learn new music, so this should be a good experience. I don't know who left their music here, but I'm glad they did.

A quick look at the first page shows me that the left hand is almost entirely arpeggios and chords, while the right hand seems to be a simple melody. I sift through the rest of the song as well, noticing that I was right about the left hand. The right hand, however, goes through seemingly easy notes, but with complicated rhythms that seem like they would be difficult to play at the same time as these arpeggios. Not to mention the arpeggios change practically every measure, so that will take some work to get done as well.

Might as well get started. I'll learn the left hand first, and then add the right later. With a content smile, I start playing the song with only my left hand. Like I said, I can't read the marks for the stylistic changes, so I have to interpret it myself, and add things in.

Hoo, this is difficult. I'm going through so many arpeggios it's hard to keep track of them all. But the challenge is refreshing, so I don't give up until I've made a few run-throughs of the song with just the left hand.

I try adding the right hand as well, but soon find that trying to play those arpeggios that I just learned while learning the new parts and rhythms is just impossible, so I stop and try learning just the right hand. Rhythms are important for this part, so I turn on the clockwork metronome that's resting on top of the piano, provided helpfully for me by the staff.

Unfortunately, I can't read what time signature this is in, so I have to figure that out the hard way, and count how many notes there are in a measure. The arpeggios are six eight notes each and usually take up a whole measure. If I use that as my reference, I think I can guess that the piece is in ¾ time. There's no tempo either, so I can't tell how many notes per minute. Let's go with a moderately slow pace.

This is how I spend an hour of my time in the practice room. This song is beautiful, so my goal is to play it right at least once before I have to leave.

I'm so deep into my practice, that when the door to my practice room opens, I'm taken completely by surprise. I immediately stop playing and stand up, about to tear this bastard a new asshole for daring to interrupt what little time I have.

“I have a reservation, you son of a bitch! Get the hell out of...” I rage, but then I cut off when I see who it is. Octavia smiles at me, letting my insult flow right over her. “Octavia? What the hell are you doing here?”

“I came to see you, of course,” Octavia responds as if it were obvious. She then turns around and lugs a cart into the room, which is holding her cello case. “I thought you might want some company.”

“Hardly. I was enjoying this because I could have all this time entirely to myself,” I grumble, bitterness settling over me. Octavia clicks her tongue.

“Now, don't be like that, Seth,” she admonishes me, though it's a weak admonishment at best. Really? Stop being annoyed? Let me get right on that. “Have you looked at the song I left for you?”

“What? You left this song for me?” I demand, pointing at the sheet music on the stand. 

“That's right. It's one of my favorite songs,” Octavia clarifies, shutting the door behind her after she pulls the cart inside. “So, did you?”

“I did. I...may have been trying to learn it,” I admit, realizing that I'm not going to be getting rid of her so easily. Octavia's eyes light up, and she puts on a bright smile.

“Splendid! I was hoping you'd say that. That means my trip here will be well spent!” she exclaims, and then she reaches into the cart and pulls out an extendable music stand, which she sets up on the floor not too far from the piano.

“What are you talking about?” I am beyond confused, but I think that goes without saying. Octavia fishes out a glossy black folder made of laminated paper and sets in on the stand she just set up.

“This song isn't just for the piano. While it can be performed with just the piano, it is better expressed through a duet of both piano and cello,” Octavia explains. It clicks in my mind just as Octavia removes her cello from its case what she intends to do.

“You want to play with me?” I ask incredulously. Octavia nods. What the fuck. I've never played with someone else before, ever. It's always just been me. Hell, I've never even played in front of anyone until the music store, and I regretted it. “Why!?”

“Seth, I play in an orchestra. Playing with other individuals is part of my job,” Octavia reminds me, much to my chagrin. “Besides, I don't know any tolerable pianists I can play this song with.”

“You better keep looking. I'm not exactly the most amiable of individuals,” I remind her. I almost said people, but thankfully I mentally corrected myself before I said it.

“Oh please. You're not nearly as bad as these two buffoons that sit behind me in the orchestra, constantly challenging me for my chair,” Octavia says dismissively, setting up her cello and lifting the bow with her right hoof. “Now then, shall we begin?”

“Am I even getting a choice here?” I demand, rubbing my forehead. “I'm not sure I'm comfortable playing with somepony else here.”

“You always have a choice, Seth. You're free to tell me to leave, if you so choose,” Octavia corrects me. Wait really? I can just tell her to fuck off, and she will? “All I'm saying is that you should try it. Working together to make music is a fulfilling experience.”

“I doubt that. I've always found practicing on my own is fulfilling enough,” I say doubtfully. Octavia thinks for a moment, and then she makes a a small sound, as if she'd had an idea.

“Let's make a small wager then, shall we?” Octavia offers. I raise an eyebrow. “Let's rehearse together. If you don't enjoy it, I'll treat you to lunch tomorrow.”

Is she really making this into a fucking bet? Even so...free lunch. Not technically free, since I'd be doing this rehearsal thing for her, but that's only if I hate it. “What happens if I lose this bet?” I ask tentatively.

Octavia smiles. “If you enjoy the rehearsal, you enjoy the rehearsal. It's as simple as that. So really, either way, you win. What do you say?”

I ponder that for a moment. I'm still not sure I'm comfortable with all of this, but still, I get free lunch if I don't enjoy it. Might as well give it a shot. “Fine, I guess. What do you want me to do?”

“Do? Just start playing, and we'll see how far we get,” Octavia directs me. I nod, and then heave a sigh. Well, if I'm going to do this, I might as well get it over with.

I start playing the first measure. I don't get very far, however, before Octavia stops me. “You're playing too fast. Slow down and let the melody flow,” she directs me. Irritated, I try again. To my surprise, it does sound better at this speed. Is this what it's like to have an instructor? I taught myself how to play, so I have no clue.

Playing both hands on this song is hard, but this time I manage to do it, if a bit shakily. The whole time I'm playing, Octavia remains completely still. Her lack of movement lasts until measure seventeen, when there is written an odd pause in the melody. Like, for some reason, the left hand continues without the right hand. When I was playing it earlier, that always struck me as odd.

When I start playing the melody again, Octavia puts her bow to the cello and starts to play. The cello's deep sound blends very well into the sound of my piano, adding depth to the melody and making it sound so much better. Goddamn, this sounds beautiful as fuck.

I've just started to learn how to play this song, so I'm not perfect, making a few stutters along the way. Octavia is very patient though, recovering well to each mistake I make. Nothing I do trips her up. Even when my hands derp for seemingly no reason and I have to pause the music for a moment, Octavia stops as well and waits for me to continue before she picks up again, right where we left off.

After finishing the song once, we take a short break. That was far from perfect, but Octavia doesn't seem disappointed. “Now then, there are a few stylistic things I'd like to mention,” she says, setting her cello down carefully and approaching me with a pencil, which she puts into her mouth.

I watch as she marks a few things down on the sheet music. “That's a crescendo,” Octavia tells me, circling a certain set of characters on the page. To speak clearly, she had to take the pencil out of her mouth for a moment. “That's a decrescendo,” she continues, checking next to another part. 

“I see,” I acknowledge, but inwardly I'm glad I can see the dynamic changes. Now I don't have to worry about interpreting the high and low points of the piece.

“Shall we run through it again?” Octavia asks with a smile. I nod, and the two of us jump into another rendition.

The time seems to fly by as Octavia and I work on the piece together. After the first few playthroughs, I get over the fact that I'm not playing alone, and I put all of my effort into making this song the best it can be in the time I have left. 

Octavia is very helpful. Sometimes she'll stop us in the middle of a run-through to make a stylistic note, or even change what's already there to something that sounds better. She never gets on my back for messing up either, which I do a lot since it's a new piece for me. 

With each new run-through, my playing gets stronger and I make less mistakes. I also admit that I'm having a lot of fun with this. This is my first time playing with someone else, and I find that I actually like it. This is a beautiful piece. The sound of the piano goes very well with the deep tones of the cello, to the point where if we master this, I feel like it would move me just to play it.

Finally, when it's around 3:15 and we only have fifteen minutes left, Octavia looks at me with a satisfied expression. “I think we have time for one more run-through before it's time to leave.”

I grin back at her. “I think we do too. Let's do this.” I put my fingers to the keys, and we go at it with a passion, using everything we've learned over these few hours we've spent together.





We walk out of the practice room together after we finish that last run-through, which is one I feel particularly satisfied with. In fact, I have to admit, I enjoyed the hell out of that. It's weird to know that I'm not the only one who feels so strongly about music. When we were in that room together, nothing else mattered but the music we made. It was an incredible feeling.

“Okay, you win,” I admit to Octavia as we pass by the counter, where the mare promptly does a double take when she sees me with the popular cello player. “That was fun.”

“I'm glad you enjoyed it...” Octavia expresses. She then adopts a wry grin. “And so is my bank account. The lunch place I had in mind is rather expensive, you see.”

“I hear that. This is Canterlot, after all,” I say understandingly. Finally, we come to a stop near the counter of the stallion that had directed me earlier, though I'm confused as to why we're stopping. So I voice that to her.

“Unfortunately, we must part here. I still have rehearsal with the rest of the orchestra today,” Octavia admits sadly. “And I think I am busy until for the rest of your time here.”

“That sucks,” I reply, and I mean it. Too bad I can't do this with her again. Or ever, since I doubt I'll be coming back to Canterlot if I can help it. “Yeah, I'll be back in Ponyville soon.”

“Perhaps I should give you my mailing address? I wouldn't mind coming down for a visit to play some more, if that's all right with you,” Octavia offers, much to the shock of the stallion behind the counter.

“Sounds good to me, though it might be difficult finding a piano while we're there,” I inform her. The only piano I know of there is Lyra's, and like I said before, I don't want anything to do with her if I can help it.

“Don't worry about that. I know a few ponies down there that can help,” Octavia assures me, and then she writes down what I assume is her mailing address on a sheet of paper that she pulls from somewhere in her cart. The stallion behind the counter promptly stares slack-jawed at us. “Here.”

“Did...” the stallion stammers, looking at me with wide eyes. Octavia and I both look at him with raised eyebrows, just noticing that he exists. “Did you just exchange mailing addresses with Octavia?”

I can't help it. I have to laugh at the look on this guy's face. What, so he's a fan, and he's jealous? That's fucking priceless. I have to resist the urge to flap the address in his face to see if he'll try and kill me for it. Octavia, however, looks affronted. “What? I'm not that unapproachable, am I?”

“I dunno, your face when you play is pretty damn frightening,” I tease her, causing her to flush in embarrassment.

“No it isn't...are you being serious?” she asks in a scared tone.

“I might be,” I respond ambiguously, and then I turn the other direction. “Well, you and I both have places to be. So I'll see you later.”

“Of course. I look forward to receiving your letter,” Octavia says, and then, with a small two-fingered wave, I leave her and the rehearsal hall behind.

You know, apart from getting my shit wrecked by Celestia on top of the mountain, I think I can safely say that this Canterlot trip has turned out to be pretty fun. It's been a lot better than I expected, that's for sure.

And who knows what other stuff I can experience before it's time to head back?

	
	

	
> 33. Hearth's Warming Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	So I suppose there's no time for me to do any else except go to the bar and set things up. With a sigh, I put my hands in my pockets and make my way back. 

It's weird though. I don't really have any plans for the rest of this trip. After this gig, there's only one more day before we've finished what we came to do. And then we're apparently sticking around one more day so that Vinyl and Rainbow can go see the Hearth's Warming Pageant. 

That reminds me, Hearth's Warming is in two days. Celestia told me the ponies give gifts to each other like humans do on Christmas. Though the exact day is different, since Christmas has technically already passed. I wonder if I'll have to sit through Vinyl and Rainbow doing that shit.

And should I be going to this pageant as well? I mean, if I don't, I'll be completely alone for who knows how long, and I doubt I can get another reservation at the rehearsal hall. Celestia also said it would be available to those with lower incomes, so I can probably afford to get in, but do I really want to? 

It's supposed to celebrate the founding of Equestria, so maybe it'll be historically accurate and educational. That appeals to me somewhat, but every time I hear the word “pageant,” all I can think of are those dumb Christian things churches do on Christmas celebrating the birth of Jesus. I don't really believe in taking things on faith, so religious based holidays generally fall flat for me.

In other words, those types of pageants drive me nuts. The only god that's been proven (ish?) to exist is Discord, because I've actually seen him and his effect on the world. And I'm rambling. I'm still trying to figure out whether going to this pageant is a good idea or not. Vinyl said I'd get a kick out of it, but I don't think she knows me well enough to make that kind of judgment.

Oh well. I still have some time to think about that. In the meantime, since I'm lost in thought, my feet have led me someplace random. I'm in the shopping district. How the fuck did I get here?

Finally, I end up back at the bar, after backtracking through the festive district. (I don't know if they really call it that, but fuck them, this is my journal). 

Walking inside, I see that Vinyl's already got the cart here, and is just now starting to unload. She spots me the moment I walk inside. “Hey there! You're just in time. Come help me unload all this stuff,” she calls to me.

I pass Rainbow on the way to the stage area. “S'up, Seth? How was the rehearsing?” she asks curiously, hovering in midair in a relaxed pose. Too relaxed. I almost want to knock her down or something, because I'm an asshole.

“I was locked in a room for four hours. You tell me,” I grunt, uninterested in answering. I think I already mentioned how I hate questions like that.

“Oh wow, that sounds awful. Was it that bad?” Rainbow sympathizes with a grimace. I give her a deadpan expression right before I reach the stage.

“No, I loved it, idiot. Hello? I like music. Where the hell have you been?” I retort tapping her on the head with a finger. She nips at me playfully, causing me to withdraw my hand hastily with a chuckle.

“Okay, smart aleck. Celestia forbid you give me a straight answer,” Rainbow remarks wryly. 

“Of course not. Not when you ask me a dumb question like that. Sheesh, it's like asking someone if they slept well.” 

“Oh come on, that's a reasonable question! It means we care whether or not nightmares kept you up or something. It's basic kindness!” Rainbow protests.

“Nightmares? Please. Those are just like horror movies. And I fucking love horror movies,” I retort. Rainbow's fucking face at that comment makes me laugh. “Your face right now.”

“Hey! Less talking and more working! You want to get paid, right?” Vinyl interrupts. With a shrug, I leave Rainbow behind and hop up on the stage. Well, here goes.





The night passes without really much to talk about. Vinyl plays some more of her electronic stuff while I eat dinner with Rainbow, which costs me another 4 bits. That puts me at 36 bits. Still quite a bit. I'm not worried. Especially not with the payment I get at the end of the night.

Yeah, I get another 66 bits by the time tonight's show ends. So now I have a whopping 102 bits. I can't help but feel giddy at my new found fortune. Still nothing compared to what Vinyl's getting, but I could give less a shit what she's got. I already know everypony is richer than me. Since they all have houses and shit.

Then it's just a matter of packing up and getting back to the hotel again. I swear, all this exertion I've been doing over the past week is starting to take it's toll on me. Like, I don't really get winded just from taking a walk up a set of stairs anymore. It's an odd feeling, knowing I'm not as pathetic as I used to be. Not even counting my magic, of course.

Like yesterday, we go to sleep right after leaving the cart with the staff. Who knows what I'm going to do tomorrow.

Surprisingly enough, the next morning passes by mostly uneventfully. I say that because Vinyl and Rainbow woke up before me, so they were in the shower when I woke up. So there really wasn't any opportunity for me to prank them. Not that there's any call for that now at the moment anyway. They haven't done anything to me yet.

It's weird that I enjoy pranking them. I've never pranked anybody back in my time because it was stupid and childish, but ever since pranking Twilight with the fake book, I find I've acquired a taste for it. It is childish and stupid, but the one part I never realized way back then was how fucking funny it can be. Twilight's fucking face with the pie all over it still makes me laugh to myself on occasion. That's easily the best memory I have of her...considering I don't really like her all that much.

As before, we visit the same breakfast place. This time I order myself an omelet, because while Prench toast (I'll never get over how dumb that pun is) is good, I want to try other things as well. That drops me down to 98 bits.

Afterward, Vinyl, Rainbow, and I decide to wander the city together for once. We first visit the shopping district, and drift from shop to shop, visiting every one we see. Well, almost every one. By that I mean I tell the two mares that I'm not going anywhere near that extremely feminine looking store. Rainbow and Vinyl actually agree with me, reminding me once again why I enjoy hanging out with tomboys.

So that takes up a good few hours of our time. With the little time we have left, we head to the festive district and watch some of the ponies there playing sports, because Rainbow thinks it would be a good idea. I personally don't agree, but that's because I hate sports in general. Unless I'm playing them with a friend. Though...that was only ever with Amaryllis, and she was more important than the fact it was sports.

Then comes another gig, which is literally the same as the last two. That's why I'm skipping over most of this. There's literally nothing I can say about it that I haven't already. And since I'll likely be reading back through this eventually, I don't want to bore myself.

Taking into account meal expenses, I end up with 160 bits total. That's pretty a pretty hefty amount of bits. I don't know how much a house is in Ponyville, but I bet if I save up, I'll be able to afford one soon. Especially since Ponyville doesn't really look like a place for the wealthy.

Anyway, sleep time for me. Tomorrow is Hearth's Warming Day. I guess I'll figure out what I'm doing as I go along. That's generally how I've been living up until now anyway.





“Seth! Wake up, wake up! It's Hearth's Warming!" yells a familiar scratchy voice, sounding directly in front of my face. With a groan, I open my eyes tiredly, having been in the middle of a particularly entertaining dream involving dragons and zombies. I don't even know, I can't remember it anymore anyway.

So Rainbow is hovering practically right above me, looking as excited as all hell. Oh right, this is their Christmas, isn't it? No wonder she's excited. However...”Can you be excited somewhere out of my face?” I groan, pushing Rainbow's muzzle aside. That earns me a nip on the hand though. “Oh for the...would you stop that!? You're as bad as a fucking dog!”

“Less complaining, more waking up! Hearth's Warming Day is here! Get up!” Rainbow completely ignores me and starts trying to drag me out of the bed by grabbing my feet. Irritated, I kick at her.

“All right, fine! I'm getting up, just back the fuck off. Sheesh,” I complain, sitting up in bed and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I notice that Vinyl is nowhere to be seen. Huh, wonder where she went? Might as well ask. “Where's Vinyl?”

“She went to the post office, to grab our presents from Ponyville!” Rainbow's excitement is just not going down. She even does a loop in midair for no reason at all. “I can't wait to see what I get this year!”

“What do I care? I already told you lot not to get me anything, so...” I trail off when what Rainbow said actually sinks in. “Oh fuck.”

“What?”

“Twilight and the others don't know not to get me stuff,” I say with a sigh, rubbing my forehead. They're probably all going to get me something. Pinkie I know is going to get me something. Twilight, maybe. Rarity...maybe more clothes, which I still plan to confront her about. I already satisfied that deal with her, so she shouldn't be making any more for me. Applejack...I have no idea. “I hope their presents come with receipts.”

“Really? You're going to return whatever they get you?” Rainbow demands incredulously. “It's Hearth's Warming! It's a tradition to get gifts for poni...for individuals you care about.”

“Yeah, but they don't care about...”

“Say whatever you want, but I know there are ponies that care about you back in Ponyville. I know for a fact that Derpy sent you something,” Rainbow cuts across me. I raise an eyebrow at that. That's true, Derpy has been really over affectionate with me for some reason. “I'm not gonna let you return their gifts.”

“What, are you going to threaten me now?” I say irritably, laying back on the bed and staring at the ceiling. I hear Rainbow sigh in exasperation.

“No...but you'd really look like a jerk if you return their gifts. It's like you're spitting on their kindness,” Rainbow says somewhat calmer. She's also speaking in that tone that she usually does when she's being completely serious.

“When have I ever given a fuck what other ponies think?” I reply uncaringly, not giving one shit about other ponies' “kindness.” That earns an annoyed groan from Rainbow.

“You're so stubborn! Look, can't you make an exception? Just for Hearth's Warming Day?” Rainbow pleads. I remain silent. “Come on, don't humans have a holiday like this? Where it's all about showing your appreciation to family and friends?”

“Sort of. I don't really want to talk about it,” I tell her flatly. Even so, I can't help but remember the last Christmas I had, where my family and Amaryllis' family met up for dinner and gifts. That's...where I got my headphones. The headphones that are now sitting in the Everfree Forest, deep underground. You know, I have power now. Maybe I'll go back there sometime and get them back, even if they don't work anymore.

Oh right, Rainbow still wants an answer. “Whatever. I'll see what happens. If they get me anything too expensive, I'm fucking returning it,” I grunt. Rainbow heaves another sigh, only this time it's of relief.

“That's fair, I guess. Anyway, Vinyl will be here any...” she begins, and then as if on cue, Vinyl steps in through the door, lugging a cart filled high with gift-wrapped boxes of varying sizes into the room with her. “...second. Oh sweet Celestia, look at all those presents!”

“I know right? This year's haul has got me pretty psyched,” Vinyl agrees with a grin, shutting the door. She immediately starts fishing out some of the presents, glancing at them excitedly and then sorting them into piles. “Actually, saying 'haul' sounds a little greedy. More like, I'm super excited to see what my friends have gotten for me this year.”

“Yeah, I was about to say, miss miser,” Rainbow teases her, earning a laugh from Vinyl as she continues to pull presents out of the cart.

“Oh hey, this one's for you, Seth,” Vinyl informs me, causing me to sit back up and look at her curiously. A medium-sized rectangular box wrapped in mint green striped packaging hovers over to me courtesy of Vinyl's magic. I have a sneaking suspicion as to who it's from even before I check the tag.

A sinking feeling falls over me as I check the tag. Sure enough, it's addressed from one “Lyra Heartstrings” to her “favorite human.” And yes, it's actually written in English, though how she knows how to do that is beyond me. Fucking...I knew it. And bitch, I'm the only human you know. I hook my fingernails underneath one of the folds of paper in an attempt to start opening it.

“Hey! Don't open them yet! We have to take turns!” she chastises me. I set the present down obediently. Not like I really care. I don't want any of these presents in the first place, so waiting doesn't bother me.

Vinyl continues to dole out more presents from the cart. Rainbow has a veritable pile of them right now, as does Vinyl herself. And...wait, did I just get another one? And another? Holy fucking shit, stop it right now.

Much to my utter shock, I end up with a sizable pile of them myself. What the fuck...there's more than six here! Who the hell cares about me enough to give me something? I thought I was pretty much an asshole the whole time I was in Ponyville.

Finally, the cart is empty, and we all have large piles of presents to open, though Vinyl's and Rainbow's are much larger than mine, which makes sense. They've lived here all their lives.

“Sweet, that takes care of that. Look at all this stuff,” Vinyl remarks, clopping her two front hooves together excitedly. “Seth, why don't you open the first one?”

“Why me?”

“Yeah, go for it, Seth! I wanna see what you got!” Rainbow encourages me with a grin. 

“Fucking...fine,” I grunt. Before I open the first of my presents, I take a few moments to put on my shirt and pants underneath the blankets, so I can actually get out of bed. “Let's open Lyra's first; get that shit out of the way.”

I grab the mint green package again and easily rip the paper off of it to reveal a brown cardboard box. Being the asshole I am, the first thing I do is feign an excited gasp. “Holy shit, I got a box! Just what I always wanted!”

“Just hurry and open the box, you silly human,” Vinyl says to me, shaking her head and chuckling, while Rainbow promptly facehoofs.

The box is easy to open, so I lift the lid. Inside the box is a black folder that looks an awful lot like the one Octavia had that held her music. Hold on, did she really get me...holy shit. Inside the folder is a set of sheet music with a bunch of complicated notes and rhythms on it, as well as a card. 

Before I say anything, I open the card...and then realize I can't fucking read Equestrian! Goddammit. I look up, and I see Vinyl extending a hoof to me with a knowing smile on her face. With a grunt, I pass the card to her so she can read it to me.

Vinyl clears her throat and begins. “Dear Sethie...”

“Fuck you Lyra!” I immediately groan loudly, imagining the horrible things that I'm going to do to her when I see her again. Rainbow chuckles behind a hoof, while Vinyl looks at me impatiently.

“Like I was saying. Dear Sethie, while I know this gift is probably unwelcome to you, I remember seeing how much you enjoyed it when I played my lyre in the park, so I thought I'd transcribe the melody for you on paper, so you can play it too. I hope you're having a wonderful Hearth's Warming Day, and I can't wait to see you when you get back from Canterlot! Love, Lyra.” Vinyl finishes, and then both she and Rainbow look at me for my reaction.

She...somehow figured out the fact that I'm a musician somehow. This music is written on a double staff, so I'm assuming it's written for her lyre, but thankfully the score here can be played by a piano without any real need for arranging it. Looking at it, I can already hear how the first few notes would flow together in my head, and it certainly does sound familiar. And while I don't care for Lyra, that song she played was really good. And...she gave it to me.

“Thanks, I guess. Rather useless when I don't have a piano to play it with,” I say bitterly, placing the folder aside. “Somepony else take your turn.”

Vinyl and Rainbow exchange looks. They look either worried or confused. Or both. I can't tell, because I'm not a fucking mind reader like Celestia is. 

“All right, my turn!” Rainbow says, her excitement returning as she grabs the first present on her pile. It's colored a lavender color, and is around the same size as mine, only smaller and thicker. Rainbow peers at the tag. “Oh, it's from Twilight. Which means this is probably a book.”

Vinyl and I watch quietly as Rainbow tears open the paper with her teeth. The moment Rainbow is able to make out the title of the book, she lets out a loud whoop, ripping the rest of the paper off with one jerk of her head. “Yes! Twilight, you're the best!” Rainbow exclaims, hugging the book and doing a backwards flip in midair. When she lands, she shows the cover to us.

It depicts a mare with a brown coat, a gray mane (which makes me want to make a Skyrim reference so bad, but I don't because they wouldn't get it), and a pith helmet making her way through what looks to be a labyrinth with black walls. Looks like something out of a Tomb Raider game. I'm about to ask what the title of the book is when Vinyl speaks up. “Oh sweet, Daring Do and the Obsidian Labyrinth. That's the newest one, right?”

“Oh, so that's Daring Do,” I remark, remembering that dumb Marco Polo rip-off game that Apple Bloom and Sweetie had wanted me to play with them.

“Ohmigosh! I can't wait to read it!” Rainbow squeals, that fangirl side appearing once more. Ugh. Though I'm honestly curious to see what the hype is all about, especially since even the foals know who Daring Do is. 

“I might as well open Twilight's present for me then,” Vinyl reasons, grabbing her lavender colored package as well. Upon unwrapping her present, another book is revealed, much to nobody's surprise. Vinyl seems to be pleased by what she sees, though. “Oh! Totally awesome! It's a book on mixing techniques. Where the hay did she get this?”

“From a library? Dumb ass,” I retort, earning an exasperated stare from Vinyl. “You know, the one she lives in? Anyway, I guess it's my turn.”

I look through the pile out of curiosity, and sure enough, there's one from Twilight here as well. Since Vinyl and Rainbow already opened their gifts from Twilight, I might as well do the same. 

I pick up Twilight's package, noticing with some trepidation that it's the same shape as Vinyl's and Rainbow's, which means it's a book. Did she forget I can't read? 

Wait, hang on, there's a weird hard lump in this package. I rip open the packaging to see a book with a black cover, with a very inaccurate portrayal of a human on it's cover. Is this one of the human books? That's not all though. The lump turns out to be a strange bluish marble. “The fuck is this?” I ask in confusion, showing it to Vinyl. 

“Oh! I know what that is. Hang on,” Vinyl tells me. Her horn lights up, and then suddenly the marble in my hand starts to glow.

A second later, a fucking holographic image of Twilight herself appears in midair above the marble, which is apparently some kind of projector. That's kinda cool, I guess. Twilight clears her throat, and then starts to speak.

“Hey there, Seth! Happy Hearth's Warming Day! I know we've hit a bit of a rough patch in our relationship...” I give a scoff at that. That's an understatement. But I wouldn't know, since I'm still wallowing in self-pity. Bitch. “...but I still care about you, and as such I wanted you to have this, because I feel it will be an enlightening read for you. I heard about your reading lessons from Cheerilee, so I'm hoping you'll view this book as a goal that you can strive to meet. After all, having a clear goal can help increase productivity! In conclusion, I hope you have a wonderful holiday, and I can't wait to see you again.”

The message cuts out there, and I'm left with an inert marble. Because I'm strange and I like to save my messages, I pocket the marble and set the book aside. “Wonderful. A book I can't even read. But I bet I can 'view it as a goal!' Fucking Twilight,” I comment.

Another round of presents goes around, with Rainbow getting a flight uniform from Rarity which looks a bit too flashy to me, an opinion that Rainbow seems to share, judging by the look on her face. “Thanks Rarity,” Rainbow says wryly. “I'll be sure to wear it...eventually.”

“Oh no, this one's from my Pops," Vinyl notes with a tinge of dread in her voice, as she holds her next present.

“What's wrong with that?” I ask with a raised eyebrow. I notice that Rainbow is snickering behind her hoof. There must be some joke I'm missing.

“Last year, he got her a very inappropriate...” Rainbow begins, but Vinyl stuffs a wad of paper into her mouth with magic, a blush suffusing her face. Oh god, Vinyl's blushing? It must have been pretty bad, because I've never seen Vinyl blush.

“Suffice to say, he likes to party pretty hard. I'm not sure I should open this here,” Vinyl says hesitantly. Rainbow spits out the paper and looks at her.

“Nah, go on, do it! We're all friends here,” she assures Vinyl. That gets me to shoot her a glare. Speak for yourself. I haven't decided if I'm friends with Vinyl yet. Even so, I'm curious to see what Vinyl's father got her.

With that encouragement, Vinyl opens the wrapping paper, as well as the small box inside. There's an uncomfortable silence as Vinyl stares at the contents with an unreadable expression. Slowly, her right eye starts to twitch. “Pops...” she says in a dangerously calm voice.

“What, what is it? Show us!” Rainbow insists, attempting to inch closer. Much to my shock, disgust, and amusement, Vinyl slowly lifts a set of frilly electric blue lingerie out of the box. 

My eye starts to twitch as well, even as I start to laugh. Rainbow's eyes widen, and then seconds later she falls over laughing hysterically.

“Is he trying to tell his own daughter to get rutted!?” Vinyl screams incredulously, staring at the lingerie with a scandalized look. That does it. Suddenly I find it hard to breathe because I'm fucking laughing so much. Oh god, this is the funniest thing I've ever seen.

“Oh Celestia, your father is the greatest!” Rainbow chokes out between bouts of nonstop laughing. “That's just too funny!”

Vinyl proceeds to tuck the undergarments back in the box and toss it as far away from her as she can. “Thanks for nothing, pops!” she yells, and then she pouts, her eye still twitching.

When we manage to put ourselves back together, it circles around to my turn. Since I don't really care what the others get, I'll just say what I get.

The next present I open is from Derpy. Inside is...a fucking muffin. I don't know what I expected. Vinyl helps me read the accompanying message, which is “Happy Hearth's Warming Day! Thanks for being so nice. Have a muffin.”

What a joke. I'm not nice at all...you just happen to be the kind of pony that I don't have the heart to be mean to. Even so, this muffin is delicious.

Next is a pink package covered images of balloons and candy. Gee, I wonder who this could be from. Since I've already seen the phrase, “Happy Hearth's Warming Day” twice now, I recognize the characters for it, but I still need help to read the rest. “To my bestest friend. From Pinkie.” She's still crazy, I see. Feel free to consider me your friend, because that won't change a damn thing, miss annoying...okay, you're now less annoying. These cupcakes she gave me are fucking amazing.

“Seth, quit eating all the food. You won't have room for breakfast,” Rainbow admonishes, earning a disbelieving look from me.

“What are you, my mother? Fuck you, this is my breakfast,” I retort. Rainbow just facehoofs at that.

Oh my god, how many presents are left? I still see a purple one, a cyan colored one, a really small yellow one, and orange one. Sheesh, this is a lot more than I expected. Guess I'll open them in order.

The purple one is from Rarity. Of course it is. Who else would send me a gift wrapped in purple paper? And it's more clothes. Awesome, a new set of boxers, a set of soft pants and a matching shirt, and...are those fucking flip flops? How the hell does she know how to make those!? Holy hell, this is actually a nice gift. 

“Oh my god...fucking SHOES!” I exclaim, lifting the flip flops up so that the others can see them. They both look confused at that. “My poor feet, you have served me well. You can now have some sweet relief!”

“Are you...quite all right?” Vinyl asks me with a raised eyebrow.

“Shut the fuck up,” is my immediate response, which causes her to shrug and start opening her next gift.

The cyan box is from Flitter. That's odd, I didn't think she cared that much about me. I mean, all I ever did was be an ass to her. I half expected this one to be from Rainbow, even though I told her not to get me anything. 

Anyway, what's in it is...a blanket. Like, seriously. Now, it's a very soft and warm blanket, but why the hell would she give one to me? “For when you get cold,” is the attached tag, which I can read thanks to Vinyl. Thanks, I guess.

“Oh, this one's from Apple Bloom,” Vinyl says after I show her the tag of the tiny yellow present. 

“Huh. Okay, let's see what she got me,” I say, bemused. I unwrap the small object, noticing that it feels elastic. “What the...”

It's a fucking hair band. Not the ones that you push on, thankfully, but the ones that are like rubber bands, only made of different, stronger materials.

“Okay, what? Apple Bloom, what the hell were you thinking?” I demand, passing the card to Vinyl, who unfolds it curiously.

“Hi Seth!” Vinyl begins reading. “Here's a gift for you that I made. Actually we all made it, even Scootaloo. I have a lot to talk to you about and...Sweetie Belle says I'm too off topic, whatever that means. This is for your hair, when you're working!”

“Even Scootaloo? Wow, I wonder what they had to do to get her in on that,” Rainbow says with surprise. “Last I checked, she still didn't like you.”

“That's fine, because I still don't like her,” I remark, looking down at the hair band. Yeah, it's true that my hair does get rather stringy and disgusting after a long day at work, and it's even worse when it falls in front of my face while I'm sweating. This...might help, if I can get over the fact that only girls use these. While Rainbow and Vinyl watch, I reach back behind my head and attempt to try on the hair band. Only because it's Apple Bloom. I wouldn't do this for anypony else. It takes a few tries, but I manage to get it on, such that my hair is mostly pulled back away from my face and is hanging down my back in a ponytail. Heh, ponytail. 

“You look...different,” Rainbow comments, while I stare blankly ahead, trying to figure out whether or not I like the way this feels. It feels weird, but I can see how it would help while I'm working.

However, all it takes is one look in the mirror for me to immediately take it off and pocket it. God, I looked so fucking bad. The loose look just looks so much better on me. “Yeah, that was weird. Thanks Apple Bloom, but I think I'll only use it when working,” I agree.

Okay, next is this orange one. If the past trends are anything to go by, this is from Applejack. Though what she would have to give me is beyond me. Opening this one reveals...pastries? There's like, pastries of some kind in here...though if they're not apple flavored, I'll eat my new shoes.

I taste one of them and holy shit I've never had anything apple flavored ever taste this good. So yeah, I won't be needing breakfast. Rainbow facehoofs when she sees me eating all the pastries in less than a minute. “What? I like food,” I say in response.

Soon, all of our presents have been unwrapped, and all of the wrapping paper has been disposed  of by placing them in bags. So basically, we're now sitting in the middle of piles of stuff, like a typical Christmas. I didn't get really all that much, but that's exactly what I wanted. I can always pay Pinkie, Applejack, and Derpy back for the food, and Lyra...Lyra I just want stay away from. Twilight probably just gave me a book from the library. That I can't even read yet.

It's safe to say that this is the most disappointing Christmas ever, because I didn't get to spend it with my family. Technically it's not Christmas, but whatever.

“So what now?” I ask, since I don't think we have anything else on the schedule, until whenever that pageant is. Looking at Vinyl, she has her muzzle buried deep into that book on mixing styles. As for Rainbow...huh? For some reason, she looks rather...antsy, for lack of a better word. She keeps shifting her gaze between the clock and the door, and occasionally at me. “Rainbow, what's the matter with you?”

“Wha...huh? Nothing's the matter,” Rainbow says shakily, to the point where I can tell it's a lie. I cross my arms and give her a stare that lets her know how much I'm not buying it. “Um...I mean...it's just that she should have been here by now.”

“Wait what? You invited somepony else to this?” Even Vinyl looks confused by that. We both look at Rainbow expectantly. Rainbow starts to sweat under our gazes. I hope she hasn't done anything stupid. I don't know anypony else in Canterlot that both she and I would know, and I'll be mad if she's just invited some random bitch here.

“I...I can't say...” Rainbow answers uncomfortably. 

“What the hell is such a big deal?” I ask. I almost lash out at her for keeping secrets, but then I realized how hypocritical that would be. Rainbow looks down at the ground, avoiding my gaze. That's not good. Rainbow, what the fuck did you..

Suddenly, somepony knocks on the door. Rainbow immediately zooms over to it like a fucking rocket and opens it, an looking extremely relieved, yet at the same time anxious.

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” the mare out in the hall says in an elegant voice, just as she begins to walk inside. A snow white unicorn steps into the room, her styled pink mane cascading down one side of her face, and not the other. Her violet eyes blink as she looks around the room, taking in its appearance, as well as its occupants. “How has your Hearth's Warming Day been so far?”

I can't help but notice something familiar about her as her eyes meet mine for a moment. “Totally awesome! Even better now that you're here. I was getting a bit worried, to be honest,” Rainbow admits, bowing her head in reverence. Rainbow, giving that kind of respect to another pony? Suddenly I get suspicious.

“I apologize for being late. I'm afraid the council hindered me far more than I expected,” the mare says ruefully, and then she giggles. “So I gave them the slip.”

“Council? Are you a member of the council?” Vinyl questions, looking alarmed. She looks around at the messy state of the room, and then back at the mare sheepishly. I cross my arms. I think I know who this is, though what's she's doing here is beyond me. To confirm my suspicious, I lean a bit to the right and glance at her flank. Sure enough, there's a sun related butt tattoo.

“Hm? Oh, I suppose I don't need this disguise any longer. One moment,” the obviously fake mare responds. Her horn starts to glow a golden yellow, and then she starts to change. 

She grows several feet, to the point where she's slightly taller than I am, majestic white wings sprouting from her shoulders. Her horn practically doubles in size, and her mane turns from pink to four different cool colors, and starts to flow as if blowing in an unseen wind. Princess Celestia in all of her overpowered glory is standing in our shitty little hotel room. Well, I certainly did not see this coming.

“P...Princess Celestia!?” Apparently, neither did Vinyl, seeing as her jaw practically hits the fucking floor. So...Rainbow invited Celestia here for some reason or another. I do hope she starts explaining soon. 

“Greetings, Vinyl Scratch. It has been a while since I last saw you,” Celestia greets her gracefully, dipping her head respectfully. “I apologize for the lack of notice, but it was meant to be a surprise.”

Celestia then turns to look at me, smiling. I return her gaze with a pensive stare, my arms crossed. “Why are you even here?” is the first thing out of my mouth. Vinyl looks at me as if I've gone insane, as does Rainbow. I don't think either of them have seen me around Celestia.

“Happy Hearth's Warming, Seth,” she says to me kindly, ignoring my blatant disrespect like she always does. Because nothing phases Celestia ever. 

“Yes, but shouldn't you be at Day Court or whatever?” I say impatiently, remembering how I'd had to wait a few days ago, just before I had my shit wrecked. Celestia actually looks somewhat guilty.

“Actually, yes...I should be,” Celestia admits to my surprise. “I wanted to take the day off because of the holiday, but my council insisted that I wait.”

“But you're the law, right? Why can't you just tell them to fuck off?”

“I could have, I suppose, but they really do mean well. There's really nothing for me to scold them for,” Celestia explains. 

“Except for...you know...holding you hostage on a national holiday?” I point out, though at this point I'm not sure what I'm trying to argue. Maybe I'm just trying to find imperfections in the system.

Celestia laughs musically at my words. “Nopony is holding me hostage. The council simply feels that it would be good for the public to see me on such a historic day. And they will. Just not at Day Court.”

“Oh my god. The Royal Princess of the Sun is fucking playing hooky,” I say incredulously. This is both sad and funny as hell at the same time. “What about all the ponies who need their problems addressed?”

“It won't be a problem. My secretary is actually quite competent at handling matters of state. Day Court can handle itself without me for one day,” Celestia assures me. Not that I needed assuring. I just think it's hilarious that Celestia isn't as perfect as I thought, if she literally just said “fuck it” to Day Court. “I think it's about time to address the reason for my visit.”

“Yeah, why did you come here? Besides to nearly give Vinyl a heart attack?” I say dryly. Vinyl next to me is still breathing hard from the shock. It's obvious that she didn't expect Celestia to be here at all, but I bet it was worse because the princess called her by name.

“I came here for you, actually. Rainbow and I have something to give you,” Celestia answers me. I blink once. Then twice. Then I shoot Rainbow a glare.

“Rainbow, I said not to get me anything!” I yell at her accusingly. Rainbow flinches, but she doesn't look surprised, like she knew I would yell at her. “What the fuck did you get me that you had fucking Celestia show up?”

“I know you said not to do anything, but...” Rainbow begins. She trails off and heaves a sigh. She looks at Vinyl, and then Celestia, who gives her an encouraging nod. “I'm going to be honest...and probably a little bit sappy, but I guess there's no way around that.”

“I can't possibly understand the kind of stuff you've had to deal with since getting to Equestria. I know there was stuff you cherished back in your time that must have really hard leaving behind, but...and don't take this the wrong way...I'm really glad it was our time you ended up in,” Rainbow continues, her voice shaking slightly, as if all of this was hard for her to say. I watch her with an unreadable expression, waiting for her to finish. I'll save my judgments until after she finishes speaking. “Since you've been here, I've really had a blast. Not many of my friends can handle me at my worst, like you have. Heck, you gave as good as you got.”

“So what I'm trying to say is: thank you. Thank you for letting me be your friend,” Rainbow finishes, and then she blushes in embarrassment. 

“You're right, that was sappy as all hell,” I can't help but remark, and Rainbow promptly tosses a wad of wrapping paper at my head. “Though...I will say that nobody's said anything like that to me, except for...well there was one other. So I do appreciate it, but what does all of that have to do with getting me a gift when I asked you not to?”

“I wanted to pay you back somehow for letting me let loose the past few days. So I had Vinyl run an analysis on your phone last night, while you were asleep,” Rainbow admits, and my eyes widen.

“You what!?” I demand, growing angry. She went through my pockets and touched what is probably my single most precious possession?

“Rainbow gave me the results of the analysis, which I then gave to my top scientists,” Celestia rejoins before Rainbow can answer. She lowers her head, her horn lighting up golden. A strange object forms in midair. “This is what we came up with. This is for you, Seth.”

I'll try to describe it the best I can. At first I think it's a whip of some kind because of the thin cord tipped by a translucent lavender orb, but the cord is too small for that. I take the object curiously, still mad at Rainbow for going behind my back.

“So that's why you had me scan that odd thing,” Vinyl says in awe as she look at the object. I ignore her, however, inspecting the device.

Are you...is that a...no fucking way. At the end of the cord that isn't attached to the orb, there's a very familiar protrusion, about a centimeter wide. I take out my phone from my pocket slowly, almost as if I'm in a daze. I open the flap on my otterbox on the bottom of the phone, where I usually plug in the cord to charge it. Then, I plug in the cord, which fits perfectly.

Celestia's horn lights up again, and the orb at the base of the cord starts to glow. The next thing that happens defies all explanation.

The screen on my phone lights up, and I hear that cool chime sound just as the battery symbol appears with a lightning bolt through it. “But...it's...it's charging,” I say dumbly, unable to form a more articulate response. Celestia and Rainbow both smile at me warmly. Then there's Vinyl, who looks clueless. “My phone...is charging.”

“Do you like your gift?” Celestia asks me. I just hold the phone, petrified. Is this happening right now? Did they really find a way to keep my most cherished of memories from disappearing forever? I let out a disbelieving gasp, not sure if I should be happy about this. I mean, this is wonderful...but...

“You made a device that converts magical energy to electricity?” I ask in a small voice, looking at Celestia.

“That's right.”

“Do you know how much this probably costs!?” My voice starts to rise. This is amazing gift they've just given me...but the last time I was given something amazing, it was used to control me. This...looks to be the same exact thing. “I can't ever repay something like this! Electric devices costs millions of bits!”

“You already did repay it, Seth. I just got through explaining that,” Rainbow protests, but I'm not having any of that.

“Bullshit! Yeah blah blah friendship, but money is money. And I don't doubt that there are tons of ponies that would kill for something like this!” I'm almost shouting now.

“Seth. You are wrong about that,” Celestia informs me. I stop in the middle of getting ready to say something else and stare at her angrily. “This technology that I'm giving to you is worthless to anyone other than you.”

“How do you figure!?”

“This converter was designed with your device in mind. As such, the created electricity cannot be used for anything other than charging your device,” Celestia explains. “Nopony would buy that from you. It is a gift from Rainbow and me to you, not a means of controlling you.”

Shit, I forgot little miss mind reader was here too. But...she does make a very good point, now that I think about it. This cord won't fit into any other device, which means the only thing it'll charge is my phone. 

I want to believe that they're giving me a genuine gift. But that's hard for me to accept, after many long years of turning down stuff like this, because favors are a great way to get people in your debt.

“Take it, bro,” Vinyl suddenly speaks up, having been quiet the whole time. “I don't have a clue what that thing is, but for Rainbow to go to Celestia to fix it, it must be really important to you.”

“It is,” I say softly, looking at the phone's battery slowly fill up from the magic that Celestia has put into it. I power it on, and soon the home screen pops up, where all my recent emails, text messages, voice mails, and pictures are stored. There's several years worth of memories stored here, that Rainbow and Celestia just gave back to me. 

This...is either the best or worst thing that's ever happened to me since coming to Equestria. But I've given both Celestia and Rainbow chances already. I accepted Celestia's picnic dinner, yet she hasn't tried to get something out of me for it. I accepted Rainbow's ticket to the air show, and nothing's changed between us since then.

“I'm going to trust you,” I say suddenly. Rainbow blinks, not believing her ears. “I'm going to trust both of you.”

Rainbow's face slowly breaks out into a grin. Celestia's smile returns. However, I'm not finished talking. “If I see even the slightest hint of either of you using this against me...” I start to warn them, with a deadly serious tone.

“You won't. I promise. In fact, I'll take it a step further,” Rainbow interrupts, walking up to me. She then proceeds to do one of the weirdest things ever. She crosses her heart with her hoof, and then pokes herself gently in the eye while saying, “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

“What the hell was that?” I say with an utterly perplexed expression. That sounded a lot like a swear that human kids would say, only...not.

“It's a Pinkie Promise. Basically, it's one step higher than a normal promise. If you break it, Pinkie will come out and do something horrible to you. Trust me, it's terrifying,” Rainbow explains with a baleful laugh. “The way she explains it, breaking a promise like this is the quickest way to lose a friend's trust...”

Suddenly, Rainbow is interrupted by Pinkie's head and neck emerging from Celestia's mane, with a frankly terrifying expression on her face. “Forreeeeevvvveeerr!” she finishes Rainbow's sentence for her, and then she sinks back into Celestia's mane like nothing had happened.

There's a dead silence while Rainbow, Vinyl, Celestia, and I stare at the spot where Pinkie had just been with wide eyes. A few seconds pass, and then we all start talking at once.

“What.”

“Was that...” Vinyl starts.

“I don't...” Rainbow begins.

“The.”

“How...” Celestia questions with a dumbfounded expression on her face.

“Fuck!?” I finish, suddenly questioning the laws of physics. There's another silence as all all try to make sense as to what we just saw. “Okay. I think it would be best if we just pretend that didn't just happen.”

“Yeah,” Vinyl agrees.

“That mare never ceases to amaze,” Celestia comments, shaking her head in amusement. “Back on topic, I will also promise never to use this gift against you. I will prove that we are better you think.”

“I see...then for what it's worth, thank you,” I say gruffly, still trying to get over whatever the fuck I just saw. I set the phone and the cord into my pocket. “Now that all the gift giving is over with, what the hell do we do now?”

“Now? We attend the Hearth's Warming Day Pageant, of course,” Celestia answers me as if it were obvious. “It starts in an hour. Which reminds me. Rainbow, don't you have someplace you need to be?”

Vinyl and I look at Rainbow, who looks confused at first. “What?” she asks cluelessly, and then it hits her, her eyes widening. “Oh shoot!”

Rainbow frantically opens the window and zooms away like a rocket, leaving me wondering what the hell just happened. Vinyl seems to know, seeing as she's chuckling. “Um, what?” I say, watching Rainbow disappear into the distance. “The hell?”

“I believe it would be best for you to find out for yourself,” Celestia explains. So in other words, she's not telling me shit, as always. “Now then, I believe we should be going.”

“Oh yeah. Don't wanna miss getting the good seats,” Vinyl agrees. She looks over to me. “Come  on, Seth. Let's get moving.”

“Right, because apparently I'm going to this thing,” I grumble. I still feel like I'm in a daze from Celestia and Rainbow's gift. It feels like my heart is in my throat, like how you usually feel when you do something that you think might backfire on you. I feel like I should crush this gift to pieces to keep anything from happening, but now that I have a chance to keep my memories of my family and friend forever, I can't bear the thought of losing that.

In a resigned fashion, I slip on my new shoes, sling my rifle over my shoulder, and then follow Vinyl and Celestia out of the room. It seems like a lot of ponies are leaving their rooms for this thing as well, so chatter fills the hallway. 

Of course, their reactions are fucking priceless when they see Celestia walking down the hall as if nothing was out of the ordinary. “Good morning, my little ponies,” Celestia greets them as a shocked silence passes through the hall.

The hotel staff is similarly shocked when we enter the lobby. Celestia greets them in a similar manner as before, and then we leave the hotel behind.

There's a shit ton of ponies in the street this morning, compared to the other days. Some of them look too rustic to be from Canterlot. A quick glance at the train station shows me that a veritable swarm of ponies are emerging from it. Are they all coming to see the pageant?

“Seems like there's a good turnout this year,” Vinyl comments, craning her head behind her to look as well. “Wonder when our buddies from Ponyville are gonna get here.”

“Who all from Ponyville is coming here?” I ask with a sense of trepidation. Before any of them even say a word, I catch a glimpse of the dreaded mint green color departing from the train station. Just as Vinyl is opening her mount, I speed up. “Shit. Let's get moving. Quickly, before she...”

“Sethie!” Lyra squeals loud enough to be heard from the train station. Vinyl snickers at the look on my face.

“Oh for the love of all that's fuck, why is fate so goddamn cruel!” I lament as Lyra gallops across the street towards us, leaving her companion Bon Bon behind, looking none too happy.

When she reaches me, the first thing she does is fucking throw herself at me, wrapping her two front hooves around my chest before I can backpedal far enough away. “I missed you, Sethie!” Lyra coos, snuggling up to me, even as I try to get out of her hug.

“It's been four days, you overly attached mare! And quit calling me Sethie!” I complain, pushing on her head. “Get off me.”

“No. It's cold and you're warm,” Lyra says stubbornly, causing me to groan. Behind me, rather than helping me, Celestia and Vinyl seem to be very amused at my pain.

“Lyra, would you not go running off to...” Bon Bon finally catches up, panting. She cuts off the moment she sees me and Lyra, however, her exasperated look becoming a glare. “Hmph!”

“Oh look, it's Bon Bon. Have you been practicing your bitch lately? Because you're really at the top of your game today,” I criticize her with a grin. This proceeds to piss her off royally, to the point where she tugs Lyra away from me and starts to leave us behind. 

“You're just as intolerable as ever. Let's go, Lyra. We have better ponies to spend our time with,” Bon Bon declares. Lyra whines as she's dragged away, but she manages to wave a few times to me before they both get lost in the crowd.

“That was very unkind of you, Seth,” Celestia scolds me as we resume our walk to wherever this pageant is.

“Like I give a fuck. She's been a bitch ever since I met her,” I reply uncaringly, giving shrug. “Now let's hurry before we run into any other ponies from Ponyville.”





Celestia and Vinyl lead me all the way to the Grand Theater again, only this time we have to wait in line for tickets. And the line is massive. I even ask Celestia if she can use her status to get us past the line, but all she said was, “Now, Seth, I don't believe I have the right to cut all of these ponies in line, simply because of who I am.”

Which is fucking bullshit, but every time I argue with her, she just reads my mind and shuts me down with logic I can't refute. So I don't even bother.

As soon as we buy our tickets for 4 bits each (leaving me with 156), we walk into the lobby, giving the tickets to the takers as we do so. 

The moment we walk inside, I hear a very familiar and welcome voice sound out. “Mr. Seth!” sounds that young, twangy voice. Looking down, I see Apple Bloom pushing her way through the crowd and cantering towards me.

Smiling, I kneel down and catch her as she throws herself at me. Hah, it's been a while since I've seen her. With a happy giggle, Apple Bloom nuzzles my face, which I reciprocate. “Hey, Apple Bloom. I see you came to this whole thing too?”

“That's raht! Mah sister's gonna be here, so ah had to be. Sweetie Belle an' Scootaloo are here too!” Apple Bloom declares with a happy smile. I see. So everypony and their fucking mother is going to be here for this thing.

Behind me, Vinyl is looking at me with a dumbfounded expression. Right, she hasn't seen me with Apple Bloom before. Not that it's any of her business, anyway.

“Howdy, Princess Celestia!” Apple Bloom has noticed Celestia, it seems, and has greeted her in a very nonchalant manner. Fillies. 

Celestia smiles warmly, craning her head down to nuzzle Apple Bloom. “Hey there, little Apple Bloom. I've heard a lot about you from Seth. It's good to see you again.” As always, Celestia just takes whatever comes her way in stride. The only time I've ever seen her truly taken by surprise was when Pinkie randomly appeared, but then again even I don't fucking know what was up with that.

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, the four of us enter the audience, though Celestia splits off from us, saying that she was going to meet her sister up in the VIP box, which we don't have tickets for.

Vinyl and I take a seat somewhere roughly in the middle of the audience so we can get a good view of the stage. There's a thick red curtain covering most of it, which I don't remember being there the last time I was here. 

Apple Bloom chooses not to have a seat, and instead curls up in my lap like a cat. Sweetie Belle Scootaloo join us later, whispering greetings to us. Well, Sweetie Belle greets me, while Scootaloo greets her friends and Vinyl. When Sweetie sees what Apple Bloom is doing, she also hops up in my damn lap. Scootaloo sits the the chair next to Vinyl.

I look up at the curtain. Much to my amusement, a familiar wall-eyed mare sticks her head through the curtain and waves at the crowd, only to be pulled back inside a few seconds later. Huh, wonder what she's doing back stage.

Finally, the lights dim, and the chatter from the crowd dims down to almost nothing. I hear a quiet, “It's starting!” from Apple Bloom in my lap. Leaning back, I watch the curtain open to reveal the first scene of the pageant, which is of a blazing fire in a brick fireplace.

I actually recognize the first actor. Is that...Spike? What the hell is he wearing? “Once upon a time, before the peaceful rule of Celestia,” Spike begins in a cultured manner, dressed in a blue noble outfit, “And before ponies discovered our beautiful land of Equestria, ponies did not know harmony.”

Okay, so he's the narrator. I find  it odd that Spike of all creatures is in this. This is a Canterlot play, right? He's from Ponyville, and I was under the impression he isn't that important.

Moving on. Spike goes to introduce the three different races of ponies, saying that they were organized into tribes at that point. None of the actors or actresses are ones I recognize. Okay, if this is historically accurate, than I have a few questions for Celestia. I had thought she had always been in charge, since the humans reigned.

According to Spike, the ponies back then acted pretty much as all humans did. Like selfish fuckers. Though one thing confuses me. He says that the pegasi still controlled the weather, and the unicorns could still use magic. I thought all of that came around because of Discord, and he didn't come until Celestia was around. I am confused. The unicorns could raise and lower the sun and moon? That's bullshit. I don't even believe that Celestia and Luna can do that.

Whatever. I'll ask Celestia all of these questions later. For now, I'll just take in the tale for what it is.

Anyway, Spike goes on to describe a great blizzard that caused a famine, the set changing with every major scene, probably through magic. I half expected him to say that a war followed, but instead he says the three tribes tried to talk it out through a summit, where the leaders of all the tribes would meet. That's weird. Humans would have just blown the fuck out of each other.

“...the daughter of the Unicorn King, Platinum!” Spike announces, and to my surprise, friggin Rarity walks on stage, dressed in regal purple robes and a silver crown. She's acting in this too, as the unicorn leader? What the hell? 

Oh, and I thought that was shocking. Imagine my shock when Spike announces the next leader. “Ruler of the pegasi, Commander Hurricane!” he declares, and out comes motherfucking Rainbow Dash, dressed in black and gold armor, adorned with a lightning bolt motif and a plume. 

Okay, I have to laugh. Vinyl looks over at me with a knowing grin as I cover my mouth and chuckle. I had no idea Rainbow was going to be in this too. Holy shit she looks ridiculous. I cannot take that seriously at all. Then again, I'm watching a production performed by technicolor ponies. I don't think there was ever a danger of that.

“And lastly, the leader of the earth ponies, Chancellor Puddinghead,” Spike finishes. I'm sorry what? What kind of fucking name is that?

While Rarity and Rainbow had been accompanied by trumpets, this one was heralded by giant multicolored party buzzer thingies for whatever reason, and then the Queen of What the Fuck herself, Pinkie Pie, bounces out on stage, accompanied by confetti. She's dressed in a particularly ridiculous outfit, with a hat that literally looks like a jar of pudding.

Suddenly I realize why the actresses are all ponies I know. Celestia probably asked them to do this, because they're the Elements of Harmony. You know, that magical superweapon bullshit that destroys enemies through the power of friendship. Those dumb things. So I'm probably going to see the rest of them here as well.

So the whole point of the summit is to talk things out, but hilariously enough, the moment the three of them open their mouths, they start arguing. I can't help but facepalm. Is this supposed to be a historical play? Or a historical comedy? 

Basically all the tribes blame each other. Though...Pinkie's acting in this...is rather funny. Anyway, so nothing got done at this summit, and they all end up leaving. Then they proceed to show all of the leaders choosing to leave their initial land.

Interestingly enough, when they show Hurricane/Rainbow heading back to the pegasus land or whatever they're calling it, Fluttershy is there as well, dressed in armor that looks absolutely ridiculous on her. You'd think her acting would be good...but no, she's practically tripping all over the place.

Then they show what I assume is supposed to be the unicorn base, and there, Twilight is posing as Rarity's (I've already forgotten her character's name) assistant.  Her character name is Clover the Clever...for some dumb reason. I really hope that's not the guy's actual historical name. Because that's a dumb pun. 

Rarity's acting is impeccable. She plays the role of a stuck up princess very well. I'm actually rather impressed. Twilight...is literally just playing as herself under another name.

Pinkie is also playing herself under another name. They show the earth ponies next, and Applejack is there as well as her. Literally her first entrance into that scene is her falling out of a chimney. Which she proceeds to defend with the line and I quote, “Which means I can also think inside the chimney! Can you think inside of a chimney?”

Pinkie. What the fuck. Seriously, you don't make any kind of sense. I can't help but facepalm, chuckling slightly. This definitely feels like I'm watching a comedy. Applejack plays the perfect straight ..uh...mare in comparison to Pinkie's ridiculousness. Pinkie has some of the most ridiculous lines in this scene. “I am just about to be brilliant!” she proclaims, earning a shake of the head from me.

So I just heard Rainbow call Fluttershy by her character name. Private Pansy. That's funny as hell, considering her nature. I wonder if that was done on purpose. Poor Fluttershy. I'd be insulted if I were her.

Okay, that was funny. Rarity was acting like a drama queen, making me think that they've been walking for a while. Except then Twilight proceeds to tell her that they've only been moving for five minutes. I feel like every new scene is making me chuckle with their dumb bullshit. 

Oh my god! Rarity is riding Twilight like...like the pony she is! That's just...oh my god Twilight's face is perfect. If only I had a cam...wait a minute. I do. 

I take out my phone and open the camera app, taking a picture of that ridiculous scene after zooming in a little bit. I turn off the flash though, so I wouldn't disturb them.

I feel like Pinkie is making fun of herself. “How would we survive if I just suddenly shut up?” she says as if such an thing would mean the end of the world.

My reaction is equivalent to what Applejack actually says. “Heaven forbid that should happen.” Brilliant.

So then what happens next is all the ponies find their new land and proceed to claim it with stupidly ridiculous names, only to find out that they've all come to the same place. So they immediately start bitching at one another until the blizzard comes there as well for whatever reason.

Well, it's obviously not a random blizzard then. That idea is compounded when I see some cool special effects where there's these demonic looking white horses galloping above the storm clouds. Maybe they're what's causing it.

Spike returns then, and starts lamenting the loss of that paradise they found by making a bunch of horrible snow puns. Like, a lot of snow puns. So many that a very annoyed pony shot up from the audience and yelled, “We get it, move on!” Which makes me laugh.

The leaders and their overlooked sidekicks take shelter in a cave...and immediately start fighting over a rock. I'm not kidding. They're fighting over a fucking rock.

Whatever they're doing pisses off the white demon horses or whatever, to the point where the entire cave freezes up, and even encases Pinkie, Rarity, and Rainbow in ice. So that leaves the sidekicks.

Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy band together there and uncover the real threat: some demons called Windigos (reminds me of those monsters with no heads from Final Fantasy VIII. Or that monster from Supernatural. Or...well, you get the point) that apparently feed off of hate and disharmony. 

Some with some laughter and pink lasers, the evil Windigos are defeated, and the ice is dispelled from the land, freeing the leaders as well, who then realize the error of their ways and all start hugging it out.

Thus, banded together with harmony, the three tribes come together and call the land Equestria, just as the curtain falls and applause breaks out. I clap as well, because that wasn't all that bad. It was rather funny, to be honest. I'll ask Celestia about how that fits into the whole “Discord created magic” theory later.

The curtain opens a few moments later, with all of the actors and actresses that had been present in the performance standing in a line and holding hooves. They take a breath, and suddenly I get the feeling they're about to sing.

Yup. When they start singing, it's in the style of a carol, only it has nothing to do with Christmas, or Hearth's Warming, or whatever you'd typically find in a holiday carol. They're literally just singing about friendship.

The rest of the fucking audience joins in as well, to the point where it's all I can hear. This...is actually a rather nice song when I sit back, close my eyes, and listen to it. 

As the song ends and the crowd erupts into applause once more, I do as well, a content smile on my face. That wasn't bad.

That wasn't bad at all.

	

	

	
> 34. The Reunion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Hearth's Warming, huh?  I have to say, while it was far from being the best Christmas I've ever had, it certainly wasn't the worst. I still don't feel entirely sure that I'm not going to get fucked over for having this charger now, but I think the risk is worth being able to keep my memories. Plus, I'm not as helpless as I was back then. I will fucking annihilate anyone that tries to use me.

After the curtain falls for the last time, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle hop off of my lap and reconvene with Scootaloo, sticking close to Vinyl and I as the hundreds of ponies in the theater start to filter their way out.

“That was totally sweet,” Vinyl comments to me, waiting for the crowd to thin out slightly before trying to move. “Rainbow was brilliant. And did you see Pinkie? Hilarious!”

“It wasn't bad,” I confess, my hands in my pockets. “Not sure if the singing was necessary though.”

“This coming from the hardcore musician. You sure you're feeling all right?” Vinyl teases me, remembering my words from earlier.

“I didn't say it was bad. The theme of it was nice, but it didn't really seem relevant to Hearth's Warming at all,” I point out. 

“It didn't have to be. The moral of the story is that friendship will persevere in the face of hardship. The song just reflected that,” Vinyl explains.

“You have a point,” I admit. Just then, Vinyl sees an opportunity to get out of the aisle, so the five of us finally start to leave the theater. “Where to now?”

“Ah'm gonna meet ma sister!” Apple Bloom proclaims, even though I actually wasn't talking to her.

“Me too,” Sweetie Belle tacks on. Scootaloo remains silent, though for the first time, she makes eye contact with me. She looks nervous about something, though what she has to be nervous about it beyond me. 

“Stay with us, you three. I need to meet up with Rainbow anyway,” Vinyl warns them as we exit the theater and enter the lobby. “Then we're gonna grab our stuff, check out of the hotel, and head on back to Ponyville.”

“I see. I guess this trip is over then, huh?” I remark. I've only been in Canterlot for five days, but it feels like it's been longer. So much has happened between our arrival and now. From meeting Cadance, getting my shit wrecked by Celestia, eating with the Wonderbolts, playing music with Octavia, all the way to experiencing Hearth's Warming, I feel like I've lived more in the past week than I have in years. Though, that's unfair of me to say. I loved Amaryllis and my family, and I had some great times with them. Since I'm stuck here forever, I will miss them terribly.

“That's right. And we both came out of it richer than before. What's it like having money?” Vinyl responds with a grin.

“Like it'll disappear in half a second if I'm not careful,” I answer wryly. 156 bits seems like a lot now, but if I keep spending it on rent and food, I'll run out unless I constantly work with Applejack on the farm. 

Though that reminds me, I need to structure things for my future. I have a lot of things on my agenda, such as learning to read, learning how to control this magic, helping Cheerilee at the school, and working with Applejack. I feel I'll be very busy for the foreseeable future. I only hope I can find some time for myself.

“Sounds about right,” Vinyl remarks with a nod. She changes course just before we leave the Grand Theater building entirely, taking us down a side passage. “Now then, the door to the backstage should be around here somewhere.”

“Hey, look outside! It's snowing!” Sweetie Belle alerts us, pointing a tiny hoof at the windows as we pass by. I give the window a short glance, and sure enough, snowflakes are gently falling from the sky. Not that big of a deal though. It is winter after all. 

“Guess the weather team was busy,” Vinyl observes, looking somewhat sad. “I feel sorry for them; they didn't get to see the pageant.” 

“Maybe we could put on a pageant fer them?” Apple Bloom suggests. Sweetie Belle lights up at that idea.

“Yeah! Maybe we could get our cutie marks in performing pageants!” she agrees enthusiastically. 

“How about no? I'm sure they'd much rather be at home than watching an impromptu play put on by fillies,” I point out with a shake of my head. I don't see why these friggin butt tattoos are so important.

“Aww,” the two fillies chorus. I notice Scootaloo is rather quiet. Whatever, it's none of my business what her problem is.

“Here we go. They should be out any minute,” Vinyl informs us as we reach a door at the end of the hallway, very close to another exit from the theater. Some of the other actors and actresses are already leaving, but the ones I recognize aren't among them as of yet. “Ah, here they come.”

Sure enough, here comes all seven of them. Twilight and Rarity are in the lead, though for some reason, the latter is still wearing most of her costume. By most, I mean all of it except for the crown. And judging by the way she's parading herself along, she's really proud of it. Pinkie and Applejack are right behind them, both laughing at something Pinkie said. Rainbow and Fluttershy bring up the rear with Spike.

“Oh! Seth!” Twilight is the first one to notice me, and she looks pleasantly surprised to see me, though why that's the case is beyond me. I'm still not very happy with her. “I didn't know you were watching us.”

“Good to see you, Seth dear,” Rarity greets me next. She looks up and down my attire with approval. “I see you're wearing the clothes I made for you. How do you like them?”

Instead of responding logically to either of them, the first thing I do is come up with some more dumb puns. “Wow, Rarity. That performance of yours seemed like a really rough ride,” I joke, confusing her at first. Rainbow, however, gets what I mean almost immediately, and she promptly starts to snicker.

“Whatever are you talking about?” Rarity questions, raising an eyebrow.

“I mean, poor Twilight out there seemed miserable. Perhaps you should get off her back and stop riding her so hard all the time,” I continue, a dumb grin forming on my face. Suddenly the other ponies start to get it. Rainbow practically falls over, as she gets way too entertained by my dumb jokes. Applejack lets out a guffaw when she realizes what I'm talking about. Rarity puts on a face that clearly says, “really?” Twilight's response is to look at me as if trying to determine whether or not I'm being serious. Seconds later, she facehoofs.

“Ugh, that's what you chose to focus on?” Twilight complains. “What about my performance as Clover the Clever, personal student of Starswirl the Bearded himself? I personally believe that...”

“Twilight, shut the fuck up,” I interrupt her rudely, and this time I'm not joking. She figures that out from my tone as well. She blinks and gets quiet, possibly wondering why I'm being so vicious only to her. I think I've written this already, but I'm still not over her being such a bitch to me that one night. Self pity. Fuck you. “Now then, I'm not really here to see any of you.”

Practically all of the other ponies that I'd pretty much told they're not important to me give me shocked, offended, and saddened expressions, which I proceed to ignore, pushing through them until I reach Rainbow.

“You looked totally ridiculous out there, by the way,” is the first thing I say to her. Rainbow blinks, and then she looks over at her friends. Then she looks back at me with disapproval. “What?”

“Seth, that wasn't nice at all. I know you don't like them all that much, but they're still my friends too,” she scolds me.

“Oh, don't you get on to me. I was telling the truth. I didn't come here to see them, I came to see you,” I return honestly. Unfortunately, my conversation is no longer private, because it seems like all the ponies here have formed into a circle. Vinyl is talking to Twilight about something, and Applejack is watching me carefully, as is Fluttershy. 

“Seth, it's still Hearth's Warming, and most of them here got you gifts. Can you try and act a little grateful?” Rainbow insists. I look up at the other ponies around me. Rainbow is right, all the ponies here except for Fluttershy got me gifts, even though I didn't ask for/want them at all. Well, except for Rarity's gift. The shoes are amazing, especially now that my soles are no longer in danger of frostbite. And Applejack and Pinkie's made for a good meal. And...oh fuck it, Rainbow is right.

“Fine. Rarity.” At my words, the unicorn in question looks at me expectantly. “I dunno why you're still making clothes for me, but thank you for the shoes. Mine were falling to pieces.”

Rarity's mouth curves into a happy smile. “I did notice, dear. Plus, it can't have been pleasant walking around on the cold ground with only your bare skin. Races without hooves or talons tend to loose heat faster that way.”

“That's...more logical than I expected. So can you answer my question? Why are you still making clothes for me?”

“Why? Oh, I do believe it should be obvious. You think I would be satisfied after making only a few pairs? Making clothing for a human is the opportunity of a lifetime that even the most well-known of fashion designers would simply die for!” Rarity explains to me as if I was committing a sin just by not understanding her motivations. Then she looks at me gratefully. “At least you're willing to entertain me. For instance, I believe Applejack would look marvelous in a few choice outfits, but...”

“That ain't happenin'. No way, no how,” Applejack interrupts flatly, causing me to chuckle slightly.

“That's fine, I can't see Applejack in a dress anyway. Actually, now that I think about it, I couldn't see a goddamn pony in a dress a few weeks ago,” I retort. Next, I turn to Applejack and Pinkie. “Breakfast was good, by the way.”

“Hold up, ya ate them pastries for breakfast?” Applejack asks, nonplussed. “That was meant ta be dessert after tonaht's dinner!”

“Silly Applejack! Sugar is appropriate no matter the time of day!” Pinkie admonishes her friend with a bright smile while bouncing slightly in place. “Seth understands, right?”

“Damn right I do,” I agree. My sweet tooth is pretty massive, though I don't really get a chance to indulge it all that often. My agreement causes Pinkie to look back at Applejack smugly.

“Ah guess. Ah'm glad ya enjoyed 'em, at least,” Applejack says, putting the conversation back on track. Now then, who else gave me a present? Twilight did, but fuck her. Actually, I think I've addressed everypony who gave me something. Except for Apple Bloom, but I think I've cuddled her enough for one day.

With that, I mostly withdraw myself from the conversation. It seems like Vinyl and Rainbow are catching up with their friends, so there's not really much call for me to join in. Not like I want to, either. Pretty much, all eleven of us are chilling in this hallway, just near the door that leads backstage. I don't really care to listen in on their conversations, so I start to zone out.

“H...hey,” a small voice says near me. I ignore it at first, because the odds of somepony talking to me right now are pretty slim. “Hey...um...Seth?”

I sigh and look down to see who's pestering me now. To my surprise, it's Scootaloo. She's looking up at me nervously, as if she's afraid I might attack her at any second. Huh, so she finally decided to approach me. This is going to be annoying, I can already tell. 

“What do you want?” is my simple response. Scootaloo pauses and gulps before she tries to speak again.

“So...can we start over?” she asks at last after gathering her courage. I blink, wondering if I heard her right.

“Start what over?” I demand. Scootaloo sighs and takes a few moments to compose an explanation.

“Well...” she pauses and gestures between the two of us awkwardly. “Us. This. I mean...you and I...”

Wow, she's really bad at this. I'm already annoyed. I was perfectly okay with the fact that she hated me, so what's all this about anyway? Seriously, even though I've never really changed how I act, ponies keep changing their opinions about me, and I don't know why. It's not like I show them any redeeming features about myself. “Why? I thought you were totally okay with hating my guts,” I point out, deciding to give voice to a portion of my thoughts.

“I was! You've been a real bully since I met you,” Scootaloo explains. She gives me a frustrated expression. “I don't understand why all these ponies like you so much.”

“You and me both,” I interject dryly, crossing my arms. Out of my peripheral vision, I can see that Rainbow has broken off from her conversation with Fluttershy and is watching us carefully. So is Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle for that matter. It doesn't seem like Scootaloo has noticed them looking, though. “Though if you still hate me, then why are you trying to play nice?”

“Because...well, it's because my friends really like you, and they're not happy with the fact that I don't,” Scootaloo reveals. Okay, what? So she's being pressured into this? “I still don't like you, but there has to be something about you that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle like so much. Plus...you did save Rainbow's life.”

“What I'm trying to say is, can we just start over? For my friends' sakes, I want to give you another chance,” Scootaloo finishes, looking up at me hopefully. I return her gaze, though I don't say anything for a few moments. So if I'm understanding her right, she's depressed that a rift has formed between her and her friends because she doesn't like me. She's also confused because I'm an ass to everypony, yet I saved Rainbow's life and somehow have all these ponies liking me. So even though she still doesn't like me, she wants us to at least be civil for their sake.

That's...pretty selfless, really. I know I wouldn't try and make nice to somebody I hate just because a friend of mine happens to like them. Should I tell Scootaloo what she wants to hear? I mean, I don't care either way what she thinks of me. But on the other hand, she's never really done anything to me apart from dislike me. Eh, fuck it. Rainbow gave me a shot even though she hated me, and now she's my best friend in this ridiculous technicolor world.

“Fine, whatever,” I reply uncaringly. Scootaloo heaves a sigh of relief. Behind her, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle smile happily at one another, and Rainbow also appears relieved. “Chances are, you're still gonna hate me though.”

I don't think she heard that last bit. Instead, she went back and joined the other two fillies, who are now nuzzling her affectionately. Scootaloo looks so happy right now. It feels odd. I'm so used to pissing people off, yet since coming to this world, I seem to be making ponies happy, despite my best efforts.

“Right then. Seth, Rainbow?” Vinyl suddenly addresses us after finishing a conversation with Pinkie. Once she's certain she has our attention, she continues, “We should probably head back to the hotel. We gotta grab all of our stuff and then check out.”

“Right, I don't want to leave all my presents behind!” Rainbow declares. She looks at the rest of her friends. “So when are the rest of you heading back to Ponyville?”

“I wanted to see Princess Celestia first, but right afterward, we're heading back to the train station.” Twilight is the one who answers. “Are you coming back to Ponyville today as well?”

“Yup! I don't have any other reason to stay in Canterlot,” Vinyl affirms. Then an idea hits her. “Say, why don't we meet up at the train station in a bit and head back together?”

“That sounds like a might fine idea ta me,” Applejack agrees, looking around at the rest of her friends. Unfortunately, everypony seems to be in agreement on that idea. Which means I'll be stuck in a train compartment with all of these idiots.

“Definitely! I gotta tell you all the awesome stuff that went down here while you were still in Ponyville,” Rainbow informs them. And that means I'll be stuck in a train compartment with all of these idiots without anypony worth talking to. Great.

After a few more pleasantries are exchanged, the group disperses. Vinyl, Rainbow, and I start moving back towards the hotel, while the others go their separate ways to take care of whatever else they want to do while they're still here.

I also spot Celestia coming out of the theater as well. I consider going over there to try and figure out where the events shown in the pageant fit into the timeline, but it looks like Twilight's already there with her. Fuck it, I don't want to deal with Twilight right now. I can always send a letter to Celestia later, once I learn how to fucking write.

“So why did you say I looked ridiculous during the pageant?” Rainbow suddenly asks, looking at me accusingly. Oh good, I get to make fun of Rainbow. This will make me feel less annoyed.

“Because of that armor. Ponies wearing armor. It's just...you looked funny as hell,” I explain to her. “Not to mention it's you.”

“What's that supposed to mean? I look totally awesome in that armor!” Rainbow protests. Our dumb bullshit gets Vinyl's attention, so she starts watching us with a smirk. “I bet you're just jealous.”

“Of what!? The fact that you were wearing shitty armor and I wasn't?”

“Who wouldn't be? I mean, not everypony can look as awesome as I can,” Rainbow proceeds to boast, pressing her hoof to her chest. Great, and she's bragging again. I reach over and pinch the skin right between her ear and her head. “Ow! What the hay was that for?”

“You're bragging again. I'm just trying to deflate your head a bit,” I reply as if it should have been obvious. Instead of a response, I feel a sharp pain just behind me ear. I look at the now hovering Rainbow with an incredulous expression. “Really?”

“Turnabout's fair play, Seth!” Rainbow teases me, waggling her hoof in my face. My response is to blow into her face, which causes her to recoil and blink in confusion. “What the...you are so weird!”
“I dunno, I couldn't think of a better response. So there,” I remark. Behind us, Vinyl is snickering into her hoof.

“Would you two just kiss and get it over with already?” she teases us. Rainbow and I both freeze and turn around, fixing Vinyl with a death glare. Vinyl looks between the two of us with a smirk that quickly turns to panic and Rainbow and I descend upon her together, pinching the shit out of her. “Ah! Ow, stoppit! Come on, that's not playing fair!”





Our dumb bullshit aside, the three of us eventually (eventually being the key word) make our way back to the hotel and gather all of our stuff up, and then check out. So now, there's nothing left for us to do except return to the train station and head back to Ponyville. Finally. This trip has been fun as hell (Especially that concert, holy shit), but I'm ready to go back. It's much calmer in Ponyville, even if I can't go two feet without running into somepony I know. Like Lyra. Sheesh.

“I think we're the first one's here,” Vinyl observes when we near the train station. I look around as well, but there's no sign of the other Ponyville residents. I do see Lyra and Bon Bon though, but fortunately, they walk onto the train before they have a chance to notice us. I hope to god they don't have the same compartment as us. I'd never get away from Lyra's clingy bullshit then.

“Twilight, late? Surely this is a miracle,” Rainbow comments.

“Obviously she's not late, Rainbow. She's never late,” Vinyl corrects her. “The world would end if Twilight is ever late to anything. Chances are we're just early.”

I don't really feel the need to join that conversation, so I instead continue to observe the platform. The train isn't leaving for another ten or twenty minutes, according to our tickets, so as long as we're waiting anyway, I might as well do something.

I notice after a few minutes that something is wrong. I feel like I'm being watched. I mean, besides the typical “oh look, it's a human let's all stare at it” feeling. A few moments of searching later, I spot the source of the feeling.

There's a creamy white unicorn mare sitting on her haunches just on the edge of the platform, staring right at me with rose pink eyes. She holds herself like she believes she's somepony important. This image is accentuated by her short rose colored mane that barely hangs down past her neck. It only hangs down one side of her face, and the fringe of her mane is cut in such a way that it forms an even line. The last and most disturbing thing I notice about her is that her horn is filed to a lethal point. There's a single suitcase resting on the platform next to her.

“Uhm, so what's that mare's deal?” I say, interrupting Vinyl and Rainbow's dumb conversation about what would happen if Twilight was ever late.

“What mare?” Rainbow asks. As they both watch, I discretely indicate the unicorn who is still watching me. “Oh. Wow, she looks serious. Did you do something to make her mad?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Maybe she's checking you out, bro,” Vinyl ribs me with a nudge. 

“Not fucking likely,” I scoff. Besides, there's no way that's an “I want you” stare. Looks too serious to be something like that.

“Maybe you should go up and ask her?” Rainbow suggests.

“No fucking way. I think I'm just going to ignore her,” I say, feeling wary of that unicorn for some reason. “Let's just get on the train.”

“What about Pinks and the rest of them?” Vinyl reminds me.

“You already said they're not going to be late as long as Twilight's with them. They'll find us,” I assure her. Seriously, I just want to be inside the train and away from this bitch's stare.

“I dunno, I don't want to just ditch them,” Rainbow says uncertainly.

“You're not ditching them! We're just changing the meeting spot to inside the train, instead of outside on the platform where a crazy pink haired bitch is staring at me with either the intent to rape or brutally murder me,” I express to her frantically.

“Okay, you're overreacting,” Vinyl says, bopping me on the nose with her hoof. “Seriously, go ask her what's wrong.”

“No. I'm going on the train now. Follow me or don't,” I assert. I start to move towards the train, making sure to walk through the most crowded areas in an attempt to lose her gaze. I hear a sigh and a huff from behind me, and then the sound of Rainbow and Vinyl following me.

I notice I have to pass the mare to get onto the train. Oh well. It'll only be for a second before I'm actually on the train. Just as I get close to her, her head snaps to me and she at last addresses me. “Seth Rogers?” And she addressed me by name as well.

“Who the fuck are you?” I immediately demand, stepping aside so I'm not standing in the way of all the other ponies trying to get on the train.

I watch, perplexed, as the unicorn does a salute with her hoof. “My name is Pale Rose, Commander of the Royal Canterlot Unicorn Second Regiment. It is a pleasure to meet you,” she introduces herself in a very official manner. And her identity causes me to realize how stupid I was being. Vinyl was right, I was overreacting. Though if I remember correctly, Commander is beneath Captain in rank. So she's not like Spitfire or Shining Armor.

“Okay, Pale Rose, why were you staring at me like that?” I decide to go ahead and ask, because even if I was overreacting, that stare was still creepy as fuck.

“I was waiting for you to finish your conversations and approach me. I have much to speak with you about,” Pale Rose informs me. Behind me, Vinyl and Rainbow are approaching curiously. “By the way, I would prefer you call me Rose. As we will be spending a lot of time together, it would be pointless to stand on ceremony.”

“You certainly like to talk a lot, don't you?” I note wryly. For all her talk about not standing on ceremony, her words are as stiff as all hell. “Besides, what the hell are you even talking about?”

“I have been ordered by Princess Celestia to accompany you back to Ponyville, in order to...”

“Can you just fucking talk like a normal pony?” I interrupt her, fed up with all of her fancy talk. Rose stops in the middle of talking and gives me an annoyed glare.

“As you wish. The princess wants me to help you learn how to fully use your magic,” Rose rephrases, looking none to happy. 

“How hard was that?” I patronize her. She doesn't dignify that with an answer. “So, you're the one Celestia mentioned. You're not even a captain though. How does she expect you to stand up to me?”

“Do you believe that we will be fighting?” Rose asks me curiously. I raise an eyebrow at her.

“It's combat magic. There's no real way to get better except through practical use. Logs won't suffice forever,” I reason, remembering my training with Shining Armor. He had me punching logs like   a motherfucking Minecraft player.

“A fair point. But if you don't mind, I'd prefer we save the rest of this conversation for when Twilight Sparkle arrives. She will be an integral part of your training.” Rose's words cause me to rub my forehead in irritation.

“Fucking...really!? I thought the whole point of you coming along was so I wouldn't have to put up with Twilight trying to teach me!” I protest vehemently. Rose shakes her head, but otherwise doesn't comment. Instead, she looks up at Rainbow and Vinyl.

“My apologies for ignoring the both of you. It is a pleasure to meet you, miss Rainbow Dash,” Rose addresses Rainbow first, who preens at the attention.

“Yeah, check it out, Seth! Even the military knows who I am!” Rainbow once again decides to brag. “Oh...and yeah, nice to meet you too, Rose.”

“I'm afraid I'm not acquainted with you, miss...?” Rose turns to Vinyl next. Huh, makes sense she wouldn't know Vinyl. I'm the only human alive, and Rainbow is an Element of Harmony. And then there's Vinyl.

“Vinyl Scratch. I'm a DJ from Ponyville. Sorry I'm not as important as my bros here,” Vinyl replies dryly, but once again, Rose lets it flow over her head. Nothing seems to phase her, even my vulgarity.

“No need to apologize,” Rose begins, but then she cuts off when she spots something behind me. “Oh. It seems the others have arrived.”

Great. Sure enough, Twilight and the rest of them are behind us. They soon catch sight of us, and move to join us. “Hey y'all!” Applejack is the first to call to us. Apple Bloom is on her back, waving at me happily. Sweetie Belle is sitting on Rarity's back, and Spike and Scootaloo are bringing up the rear.

“I guess we're all here now,” Rarity observes, as the other ponies greet one another. “Shall we get going? I have many more ideas I would like to act upon.”

“An excellent idea. It would be best to get situated now, so we may begin,” Rose interjects. And , since nopony that just arrived has any idea who she is, they all look at her oddly.

“Pardon, but do ah know you?” Applejack is the first to call her out on that. Rose shakes her head.

“No, this is our first meeting, though I have heard a lot about you, Applejack,” she replies, serving to confuse the farm pony even more. “Allow me to introduce myself once more. I am Pale Rose, Commander of the Royal Canterlot Unicorn Second Regiment.”

“Oh! So you serve underneath Captain Blades?” Twilight appears to recognize her slightly now. Suddenly, Twilight's eyes widen. “Wait...that makes you the Blossom Wind!”

The what? Does that mean she's like, super important? She's not a captain, so what's the big deal about her?

“Indeed, but I did not come here to discuss myself. Shall we board the train? I would prefer to discuss my orders one we are all situated,” Rose affirms.

“That's a good idea. Come on, everyone!” Twilight urges us, even changing her pronoun to reflect that fact that I'm here as well. Thanks for that at least.

After passing our tickets to the conductor, all of us seat ourselves in a train compartment that's completely devoid of any other ponies except our group and me. That's good. That means I won't have to deal with Lyra or any other ponies that may recognize me. I'm already uncomfortable being in a group this size. The three fillies, along with Spike, are seated elsewhere in the compartment, where they start talking animatedly about something or another. I don't really care.

Before our conversation can even start, Pinkie happens. Like, I don't know why I was expecting for her not to happen. So she practically gets into Rose's face and starts bouncing in place. “Ohmigosh! It's been so long since the last time I threw a welcome party! Like, a whole week! It's a tragedy! But now you're coming back with us! Oh, I have just the greatest idea for a party...”

Rose's face is the most perfect WTF face I've ever seen right now. I feel like she's heard of Pinkie, but has never actually met her. “That will not be neces...” Rose begins.

“We'll get cherry blossoms to decorate the walls! That'll look so good with your mane...oh, I bet you like cherry flavor too! I can make the most fantastic cherry flavored cake you've ever tasted; I promise it will just melt in your mouth!”

“Look, I don't want...” Rose tries again.

“Of course it won't be just cake, silly! This is going to be so much fun! I'll invite the whole town, and we'll help you make lots of friends, and...”

“Pinkie!” I suddenly cut across her my hand rubbing my head in an attempt to stave off the growing headache brought on by her overly high pitched voice. Unlike Rose, my voice actually gets Pinkie to stop talking and look at me sheepishly. “Seriously, shut up. I've only seen you for a few fucking seconds and you're already spouting off.”

“Sorry! But I have to make Rose feel welcome, and what better way to help her feel welcome than by a Ponyville Welcome Party!?” Pinkie's excitement has not dampened in the slightest, despite my harsh words.

“That sounds like it would be a blast! Vinyl, your gigs are pretty sweet, but they're no Pinkie Party.” Rainbow proceeds to jump onto the Pinkie bandwagon, much to Rose's dismay.

“No offense taken. If there's a chance for a Pinkie Party, you bet your flank I'll be there.” Vinyl also agrees with Pinkie.

“I think it's a good idea as well. After all the rehearsing we had to do for the pageant, I'm ready to blow off some steam,” Twilight expresses.

“We gonna have a right proper hoe-down. Yeehaw!” I think Applejack agrees too. But I could be wrong. Snrk. 

“Is...is there no way out of this, Seth?” Rose asks pleadingly, turning to me to save her. I give her a deadpan stare in response.

“There's not. Trust me, I tried to get out of a welcome party myself. Then stuff happened, lots of yelling and slammed doors, and then crying, and...trust me, just accept, or the universe itself will ensure that you get a welcome party,” I admit to her. That's not exactly how it went down, but it's close enough.

“I see. I suppose I will just have to endure,” Rose laments, rubbing her forehead with a hoof. 

A few moments later, the doors to the train shut and the horn blows. At last, the train starts to move, and we're on our way back to Ponyville once more.

“Now then. Now is the best time to explain exactly why I'm traveling to Ponyville with you,” Rose says, getting serious. This grabs all of our attention, such that every set of eyes in the compartment is trained upon her. “Officially, I've been ordered by Princess Celestia in order to fully instruct Seth in the use of his magic.”

“Oh! So you've decided to study it after all?” Twilight is wearing a giant fucking smile at that, to the point where I have to resist the urge to facepalm. When I give her a nod, that smile grows even wider. “That's wonderful! Oh, I know you'll enjoy learning it just as much as I did.”

“In fact, miss Sparkle, you'll have the opportunity to see for yourself,” Rose informs her. Twilight blinks and looks at her curiously. “You and I will be working in tandem to help Seth fully realize his magical potential.”

If Twilight's smile gets any wider, I feel like it's going it come off of her face like in those overly ridiculous animes. “Really? Princess Celestia is trusting me with this task?” Twilight exclaims happily. She beams at me eagerly. “We're going to have so much fun studying together!”

“Kill me now,” I groan, but even that doesn't put a damper on Twilight's enthusiasm.

“The princess wants you to instruct Seth in basic magical theory and control,” Rose continues, addressing Twilight. Oh boy, I'm going to magic college. The more things change, the more things stay the same. “I will be in charge of helping him develop his individual techniques, as well as how to function during a battle.”

“You're taking this too seriously. This land is peaceful as all hell, so why would I need to be battle ready?” I say suspiciously. Rose is acting like she expects me to join her unit or something by the end of this.

“I take every assignment seriously, especially this one, as Princess Celestia gave it to me herself. I must prove myself worthy of her trust,” Rose proclaims proudly. “But, as you said before, you possess a combat magic. You cannot be said to truly control it unless you can use it to its fullest potential. Plus, if Equestria ever needs your power, we want you to know basic battle tactics.”

“Okay, no. You say that like you expect me to feel obligated to protect this country. I'm human, not Equestrian, so it's none of my business if you guys get fucked up or not,” I warn her. Seriously, this is sounding more and more like I'm being drafted, and I don't like it one bit. Even though I'm slightly lying. If Rainbow or Apple Bloom was put in direct danger, I would definitely step up to protect them. And also...if I knew some battle tactics, I would feel like a badass. Still, I won't be at Celestia's beck and call.

Rose stares at me for a long time. “Perhaps. But that is a topic for another time,” she replies wisely. Then she turns to Rainbow and Applejack. “You two are known for being the most physically fit of the Elements. I expect you to work Seth hard, as this particular form of magic responds better to one with better control over his body.”

“That settles it! Seth, you're coming with me on my morning runs! Five laps around Ponyville, full sprint!” Rainbow declares happily, pumping a hoof into the air. I am liking this idea less and less. What was supposed to be a leisurely rest in Ponyville is now turning into a massive ordeal.

“Ah always work 'im hard. He don't do much complainin', neither,” Applejack adds. Rose nods, satisfied. Bitch, I totally complain. Just not to you. Or to anypony. I...write my complaints super hard in my journal. So there.

“Lastly, miss Sparkle, I would like you to be in charge of scheduling all of this, as Seth no doubt has other things to do besides this,” Rose finishes. 

“Yeah, like learning to fucking read,” I remark, even as Twilight brightens up. She suddenly levitates a roll of paper and a quill from seemingly nowhere and looks at me with that same smile.

“I would love to do that. Seth, can you tell me everything you have planned for your return to Ponyville?” she addresses me, writing something down on the paper. I heave a sigh, resigning myself to a heavy structured schedule in the near future.

This magic is going to prove to be a real bitch to learn, isn't it?
	



	
> 35. Home Sweet Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“All right! I think that about covers everything!” Twilight announces, holding up the checklist that she's been working on for the past hour of travel. The once blank parchment is now filled from margin to margin with neatly organized characters and boxes that probably makes more sense to everypony here but me. Twilight then remembers that I can't read. “Shall I dictate your schedule to you?”

“Go ahead. It's not like I have a choice in the matter,” I say grumpily, resting my head on the back of the seat and staring up at the ceiling. An occasional bump will cause me to shift slightly, but other than that, I don't move at all.

Basically, I've been telling Twilight what I have on my agenda for when I return to Ponyville, while she's been attempting to draft me up a schedule. Honestly I'd planned to put one together myself, but every time I try to tell her this, she always looks at Rose, who then tells me that it would be the most efficient for Twilight to do it (albeit through considerably more flowery language. Heh. Flowery). 

I mean, Rose is right, because I've seen how organized Twilight can be. My issue is that I'm currently pissed at Twilight, as I have been for days, ever since that time outside the bar. Yeah, we pranked her, but that doesn't mean I just forgot. So I don't want her fucking help. But, as I said already, Twilight and Rose haven't really given me a choice in the matter. 

I still don't see why they're taking it so seriously. This country seems pretty peaceful. I've never even heard the word “war” more than a few times. So why the hell do I need to be battle ready? Just teach me how to keep from going insane, and I'll be fine.

Twilight looks distinctly uncomfortable with my listless and sulky words, but with an impatient look from Rose, she clears her throat and begins. “We should be home soon with plenty of time in the day, so I'll start with today's schedule.” 

“Great...I don't even get to rest...” I groan.

“Don't worry, I took that into account. You don't have to do anything overly stressful tonight,” Twilight responds, looking at me with what I assume she thinks is a reassuring smile. Which it isn't. I still kinda want to punch her in the face. “First, upon our arrival, you'll come with me to my library for an introduction to magical theory.”

“Sounds like a fucking blast,” I comment sarcastically. As with my last two comments, I'm ignored after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. Magical theory. Really? This will probably be like science 1101 all over again, only with magic instead, where none of the rules I remember matter anymore. At least there won't be any tests that can ruin your life if you fail.

“Then, starting tomorrow, we'll have an alternating schedule, so we can fit everything you need to do over the period of two days,” Twilight explains, tapping the checklist with the back of her quill. “Tomorrow morning at eight, you'll be running with Rainbow Dash for an hour.”

“Aw yeah! We're gonna have a blast!” Rainbow interjects excitedly, nudging me. Hooray, I get to exhaust myself like crazy every morning. At least it'll be with Rainbow, I suppose. Ugh.

“Next, you'll head to the schoolhouse and help miss Cheerilee with the students,” Twilight continues, her quill moving down the page with every event she announces. You know, even though I made that arrangement with Cheerilee on my own, the fact that Twilight is telling me to do it makes it seem like less of a good idea. But I still have to do it. As much as I want to spite her, I do need to learn to read. “Since you'll already be there, you can study with her after school ends.”

“After that, Rose will meet you on the outskirts of town, between Sweet Apple Acres and the Everfree Forest,” Twilight continues. That part interests me somewhat.

“What? Why so far away from town?” I ask curiously, sitting up again. This time, it's Rose that answers.

“Due to the fact that your abilities are as of yet, wholly untested and unrefined, it would be best to perform training in an area away from civilization. That way, there is no risk of damage to the town or its residents,” Rose informs me, speaking in overly flowery language once again. That mannerism of hers is starting to get on my nerves. She speaks like a damn English professor.

“You're gonna teach him how to fly, right?” Rainbow interrupts, staring at Rose with an eager expression. Oh right, she wants to fly with me at some point.

“If it is within his capabilities, then I shall. I endeavor to unlock every aspect of his potential,” Rose confirms, looking at me with interest. “Seth, do you believe you possess the capabilities of flight?”

“Hell if I know. I remember being in the air with Celestia at one point, but I can't remember how I did it,” I admit. I left out the fact that I fought her, since the only pony I've told that story is Rainbow, and I plan to keep it that way.

“That's very interesting. Perhaps it's an ability unique to humans?” Twilight hypothesizes. “After all, normal unicorns cannot use their magic to levitate themselves, since attempting to do so would create a magical amplification loop that would in turn...”

“Unicorns can't fly. I get the fucking point. Shut up,” I cut across her, not really in the mood for a lecture. Twilight shuts her mouth with a snap, and then she sighs through her nose, irritated.

“But Seth, you're going to need to know about magical amplification loops! They're extremely dangerous part of magic use that can severely harm you!” she complains with a huff. Oh. Well shit. 

“Whatever. They're not exactly important right now, are they?” I point out, even though she has a point. Whatever those loop things are, I'll learn about them later, especially if they pose a danger to me.

“Perhaps not,” Twilight admits, though she still looks dissatisfied. She brings the checklist back up again. “Shall we move on then? After your training with Rose, you'll have several hours to yourself.”

“Holy shit, really?” I ask, genuinely surprised. “I get time to myself?”

“Of course! Not everyone can work all day without any time to rest,” Twilight reassures me, her smile returning.

We suddenly hear the sound of Spike clearing his throat from across the train. Once we're all looking at him, he asks, “Um, Twilight? Can I get that in writing?”

I can't help but chuckle a bit at Twilight's face at that comment. “What are you talking about?” Twilight demands. “I always give you plenty of time to rest between chores.”

Spike facepalms. “I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about you. Remember that time you  stayed up all night because of a test you aced without even trying?” he clarifies, a grin on his face.

“But...that was...it...” Twilight stammers, but then she dips her head with a blush when she realizes that Spike is right. Following that is a chorus of snickers and giggles from me and the rest of her friends. “It was a very important test...”

“Even though you could have just not taken it and still gotten the top score in the class?” Spike presses, looking even more smug. Twilight dips her head down further.

“He's got you, Twilight. But seriously, I get the nights to myself?”” I let her know with a grin. Twilight nods, much to my delight. “Halle-fucking-lujah. For once, I get some me time.”

“The next day, you'll work on the farm with Applejack, starting at eight again. Afterward you'll come to my library for more studying. Then the rest of the evening is yours. How does all of this sound?” Twilight finally finishes, setting the checklist down.

“Work only every other day? How the hell am I going to pay for rent? The bits I have won't last forever, you know,” I point out. Vinyl sighs next to me.

“Aw, we're still on the whole rent thing? I was hoping you'd trust me enough to not do that anymore after this trip,” Vinyl complains. I look at her strangely.

“Why the hell would you think that?” I snap, causing her to wince. “I'm only living with you because you're taking my money in exchange. If you don't want to, that's fine. I'll just go sleep outside again.”

“That's not happening,” Rainbow is the one who responds, for some reason. She looks at me with a stern and determined expression. “You're not sleeping outside. You'll freeze to death, especially with the the storm I have to whip in a few days.”

“Then we have to find a way for me to make enough money to keep paying for rent,” I say flatly. There's a silence after that as the ponies around me attempt to find a solution.

“You can always live with me for free, since we're awesome pals and all,” Rainbow suggests, half jokingly. I turn my head very slowly to look at her.

“You live on a cloud.” I deadpan. Rainbow chuckles nervously and scuffs the floor a bit. “In the sky. How dumb would I look having to get carried up by you, only to fall to my death because I can't fucking walk on clouds!?”

“How about if I lower the rent to maybe four bits?” Vinyl suggests after she finishes laughing at Rainbow's expense. When I look back at her, she continues. “I mean, I don't really need your money. I make plenty enough to live on from gigs and commissions.

“Ah could always pay ya more,” Applejack tacks on as well. Of course, none of those suggestions interests me at all.

“No, no, and no. I won't accept a suddenly decreased rent, and I certainly won't accept more pay for the same amount of work,” I counter, further frustrating the ponies taking part in the argument.

“Um...” a quiet voice suddenly enters the conversation. We almost don't notice it at first, since Vinyl and Applejack start trying to convince me further, but once a timid yellow hoof presses against my leg, we stop. I look down to see Fluttershy of all ponies gazing at me from behind her mane. “I have a suggestion...if you want to hear it, I mean.”

“Oh boy, you're going to talk for once? This should be good,” I state. I mean, this pony has never had anything useful to say before, so I doubt that's suddenly going to change. Fluttershy gulps at my words, shrinking back slightly.

“Oh...I mean, it's probably not a good idea anyway,” Fluttershy retracts, much to my annoyance.

“Nah, Fluttershy, go ahead. It ain't like we're makin' any headway here anyway,” Applejack reassures her. Vinyl nods in agreement.

“Okay,” Fluttershy emits weakly. She takes a moment to compose herself before continuing. “I just thought that when you're on your way to training with miss Rose, you could pick up a few things for me. If you want to, that is.”

“What, like run errands and shit? Can you even afford to pay me for that?” I question her with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, I work with animals...I make some money through that,” Fluttershy murmurs. That didn't tell me anything. How does she make money with that?

“Now darling, you really must be more descriptive than that,” Rarity rejoins. “Seth likes to know all of the details before committing to something, if I'm not mistaken.”

“That's right,” I agree. At least Rarity knows what I'm looking for. 

“I'm sorry,” Fluttershy apologizes. Oh great, she's one of those. I get really sick of people that overly apologize.

“It's no trouble. I'll explain,” Rarity assures her, turning back to me. “Fluttershy is incredibly talented when it comes to dealing with animals, whether she's communicating with them, or taking care of them. Everypony in Ponyville knows that, so Fluttershy makes a living by helping others take care of their pets.”

“What, like selling food and vaccinating them and shit?” I press. Fluttershy doesn't really seem like she does anything, but I suppose she has a house for a reason.

“Yes,” Fluttershy answers timidly. “But sometimes, I need supplies from the town. I can pay you to bring them to me.”

“So more heavy lifting?” I deadpan, not amused. It's a solution, sure, but I can already tell I'm not going to like it. With all the physical stuff I'm being told to do, I'll be damned if I don't have a six pack by the end of the month. It's going to suck...but the idea of having a six pack rather appeals to me.

“Oh, you don't have to if you'd rather not,” Fluttershy retracts, looking down at the floor. I sigh in irritation. Stop being so fucking insecure and say what you mean.

“I don't care what you have me do. Just how much are you going to pay me?” That's the most important question.

“Um...how does five bits a trip sound?” Fluttershy supplies. Hm...so five bits one day, ten bits the next. Then rinse and repeat. So I'll go down by one bit the first day, and go up by four the next. That's three bits net gain per two days. It's not as fast as I was earning money before, but I do have a lot of bits right now. Who knows? Maybe I'll earn enough money to buy a house by the end of this.

“That's a three bit gain per day, give or take Vinyl's gigs,” I say, voicing my calculations aloud. All of the ponies sitting near me are looking at me expectantly. “That'll work. I'm okay with this schedule.”

“Excellent! Then I'll work your errands with Fluttershy into the schedule, right after your lessons with Cheerilee.” Twilight rejoins the conversation, scribbling down the new information on the checklist. “I think that takes care of everything!”

“Great, now all that's left for us to do is wait,” I say with a grunt, letting my posture slump onto the back of the seat again. “I'm going to take a nap. Wake me before I get back, and I'll murder you.”

Once I hear acknowledgment from the rest of them, I lean my head back and close my eyes.





I wake up when the train starts to slow down. The first thing I do is look out the window, where I can see the buildings of Ponyville. At last I'm back in this town, where the populace are slightly less irritating than Canterlot. But only slightly. But...I guess it is technically home for me now. Not like I can ever go back.

Around me are the other ponies. Twilight is reading a book (no surprise there), and so is Rainbow. Must be that new book she was given. Vinyl is also reading her new book. Applejack is looking at me with a warm smile, which is fucking weird, especially since she's more specifically looking at my lap.

That realization makes me aware of a weight on my lap that was not there before. I look down, and I almost have a heart attack. And not from shock. Apple Bloom is curled up on my lap, sleeping peacefully. I think I've said this before...but this filly needs to be weaponized. “What the hell are you doing there?” I whisper, rubbing my forehead.

“She hopped up on ya not longer after ya fell asleep,” Applejack reveals obligingly, as she'd heard me.

“Goddammit, Apple Bloom,” I murmur, but I'm not all that annoyed. 





After the train comes to a full stop, all of us go our separate ways. Applejack returns to her farm, after I drape the still sleeping Apple Bloom over her back. Fluttershy gives me a list of the things she needs delivered to her over the next week before she left for her home. Before Vinyl leaves, I pass all of the gifts I got to her, so she can take it back to her place for me. That way I can go straight to Twilight's without lugging a bunch of shit around. I'm still taking my rifle though.

“I'm headed off too. I'll catch you later, sometime when Twilight's not spouting words at you,” Rainbow informs me with a wave of her hoof, and then she too zooms away, leaving an indignant Twilight behind.

“I do not spout words,” she pouts while Rarity and Sweetie Belle also take their leave. Scootaloo leaves as well, which just leaves Twilight, Rose, Spike, and I. Now that it's just us, Twilight gazes at me expectantly. “Shall we go to the library?”

“Yes please! I'm hungry,” Spike answers before I can, patting his rumbling stomach with a claw. Twilight giggles at that.

“Whatever, let's hurry and get going. I'm rather looking forward to having tonight for myself,” I interrupt, placing my hands in my pockets.

Rose looks between the three of us. “In that case, I will take my leave of you. I have much to do before our training tomorrow,” she declares, her horn starting to glow pink. Without another word, she vanishes in a burst of pink light, leaving a smattering of cherry blossoms behind.

“Wow, that was trippy. The hell did she just do?” I comment, grasping one of the petals left behind by the magic. Twilight seems almost too happy to answer.

“Magical teleportation! It's an ability inherent to all unicorns or alicorns, though the cherry blossoms is her own personal touch,” Twilight explains, demonstrating by teleporting a few feet away. “I'd love to tell you all about it. But first, let's go to my library.”

“Teleporting unicorns. Sheesh. All right, whatever. Let's get moving,” I respond with a shake of my head.





I walk through the door to Twilight's library in a sullen silence. Twilight seems to have picked up on it as well, as she is wearing an uncomfortable expression. The silence between us is awkward, because none of us are willing to broach the subject that we both know is the issue.

“Spike, could you make us some tea, please?” Twilight requests of her assistant.

“You got it,” the dragon replies, leaving Twilight and I alone in the front room. After yet another silence, she clears her throat and pulls down a scroll from the ceiling, like those things that you use for projectors. Except there's nothing on it. It's just blank. Next she brings a bottle of ink and a can of quills over to the table next to her, which tells me she plans to use it as a makeshift whiteboard or something.

Still in silence, Twilight fishes out a large book from one of the shelves and opens it. She lifts up her quill and is about to write something, but then she sighs and puts everything down. “I can't do this," she confesses. I raise an eyebrow. “Seth, we need to talk.”

“No, we don't. Just do your job, and then we can both leave,” I retort. I really don't want to get into another friendship discussion with her, since that's what this is probably going to turn into.

“I...I don't like carrying on like this. We used to be so much closer than we are right now, and now you won't even talk to me unless you're forced to,” Twilight laments, looking at me with a pained expression.

“Are we really doing this?” I sigh, scratching my head in irritation. “All right. You want to know why I don't talk to you? It's because you're a total bitch.”

“W...what? But...all I've tried to do is be your friend!” Twilight protests, stepping closer to me. “Why would you call me...that?”

“Do I have to spell it out for you? Fine. Fine, if this is the way you want it, I'll tell you exactly why I hate your fucking guts.” Twilight winces at my word choice, but she waits silently for me to continue. “First off, you're a total control freak. Oh, but you have to be in charge of my schedule, don't you? Because I'm completely and totally incapable of managing my own time, apparently.”

“But...” Twilight begins, but I'm not even close to being finished.

“Second off, you seem to be completely incapable of understanding when somebody is different from you. Not everyone views learning as the greatest thing in life, something which you assumed about me when you sent me that useless book.” As I continue, I notice with a pang of guilt that Twilight is starting to tear up. “Oh, and don't even get me started about you and your magic. Someone's doing something you don't like? Oh I'll just use magic to yank them out from whatever they're doing and hold them completely still. I don't know about you, but I don't like being entirely at the mercy of somepony else.”

“But you shouldn't worry about any of this, because I'm just a worthless human that's wallowing in self-pity! What does it matter what I say!?” the last bits of my tirade are spoken in a yell. Twilight's ears fold back, and she covers her eyes with a hoof, sobbing quietly.

Spike walks back into the room in the middle of the strained silence that ensues after the end of my rant, carrying a plate of tea. He immediately picks up on the atmosphere. After placing the tea on the table between Twilight and I, he makes for the stairs. “There's your tea. I'll just...be upstairs if you need me,” Spike stammers, disappearing into the upstairs bedroom.

“I'm so sorry,” Twilight sobs after Spike is gone. She looks like shit, which means she must have taken my words to heart. I feel a little bad for making her this sad, but on the other hand, she deserves it for saying the things she did. 

I don't say anything in response, instead crossing my arms and waiting for her to get the fuck over herself.

Eventually, Twilight stops crying, sniffling and rising to her hooves again. She takes a few deep breaths before addressing me again. “I know...I know I'm not perfect, but every since I came to Ponyville, I've been trying to get better, and make friends,” she whispers, raising her eyes to meet mine. Damn, she looks pitiful. “But I've never messed up so bad as I have with you. Princess Celestia would be ashamed of me.”

“I tried so hard, but everything I said seemed to make it worse. I was just so frustrated...I've never seen somebody so opposed to making friends in my life,” Twilight continued as I watched her in silence. “And then Rainbow befriended you so easily...I'm starting to doubt that I'm capable of the task the princess gave me.”

“Stop,” I say with a sigh. She's going the total wrong direction than what I was hoping to see. “You have friends, and they like you. It's not fair for anypony to take their failures with me as a basis on which to judge their own capabilities. You think Rainbow had it easy? Don't make me laugh. I hated her so much when I first met her.”

“Really?” Twilight asks with wide eyes. “You two always seem so close.”

“Yes, really. I hated her a lot. I'd have kept on hating her too, if she hadn't stopped me from...well, let's just say she saved my life. She proved herself different from the others that I've known in my life. She hated me too, and yet she did it anyway,” I explain. Twilight listens attentively to my every word, like she's trying to learn from this too. “She didn't try to force it, either. There were no friendship speeches, or bullshit declarations. She let her actions speak for her, and that's why she's my friend.”

“Okay...I think I understand,” Twilight responds after mulling my words over in her head for a few seconds. “But...how do I make it up to you for all the things I've done to you?”

“Why do you care? I'm a total ass, so what does it matter to you if I hate you or not?” I demand, unsure of her motives.

“Because I said something horrible to you, and I feel terrible about it!” Twilight pleads , getting even closer to me, to the point where her muzzle is like, right in my face. “Please let me make it up to you somehow!”

“You don't have to do anything. Just get on with the teaching or whatever,” I tell her, since I know anybody, when given the chance, will back out of an obligation if they feel that they can. Like when somebody borrows money from you, they'll never give it back to you if you don't say anything about it. In other words, people don't have any fucking integrity.

To my surprise, Twilight shakes her head. “No, I have to do something. I won't feel better until things are normal between us again. Please tell me something I can do.” Well then. She's not giving up or backing out. How the hell do I deal with this? “I would even apologize publicly to you if that would help.”

“That won't be necessary,” I assure her. The last thing I want is that kind of publicity, especially for a personal issue. Then I'll have ponies all nosing into my business, and that would piss me off. Still, it's ridiculous that she's willing to go that far to mend our relationship. Even though we weren't friends beforehand, and it'll take a miracle for me to even consider her as a friend now. Still, I doubt she'll get off my case unless I tell her something.

Now what do I even tell her? It's not like there's anything she can do that I'll accept. I grab the teacup in front of me for the first time and take a sip from it, relishing that fruity taste that I haven't experienced in a while. As I'm drinking, I suddenly have an idea.

“For starters, you can quit holding me to your ridiculous standards. I just can't be all happy go lucky like all you ponies seem to be,” I begin, setting the cup back down. “Secondly, if you really want to be my friend that badly, stop trying to force it.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asks curiously.

“Like Pinkie tried to do. 'Oh, I'm your best friend now. Deal with it.' Pissed me the fuck off,” I attempt to explain. Judging by Twilight's raised eyebrows, she doesn't really understand. “Basically, quit acting like I'm obligated to share my inner secrets and stuff just because we've spoken a few times.”

“Oh...I have done that a few times, haven't I?” Twilight admits sheepishly, causing me to chuckle.

“And lastly, I want you to promise never to write anything about me or my race without my explicit permission,” I finish. Twilight looks a bit put out by that one, and for a second, I think she's about to protest.

“Okay. I promise,” she says instead. Huh. I didn't expect her to actually do that part. This pony doesn't make any kind of sense to me.

“Then we're cool. I won't forget what you said to me that night, but that's not important in the grand scheme of things. It's just another mean thing said to me in the course of my life,” I say with a shrug. That just makes Twilight look sad. “Anyway, now that this conversation is over with, can we start learning about magic now?”

And now Twilight is smiling brightly. She reaches forward with her two front hooves and...oh no, is she about to...hug me. Yup. Her two front hooves wrap around my chest in a warm hug, while I just stand there awkwardly. Literally the only pony I've ever been even halfway affectionate with is Derpy and Apple Bloom. And the former only because of how she is.

“Yeah...I'm not a huggy kind of guy,” I admit, which causes her to giggle and release me. At least she's smiling now.

“So I've seen. But I find them comforting. You should give it a try,” Twilight suggests. I raise an eyebrow at her.

“I'll make sure to do that. Maybe sometime around never,” I joke. Twilight shoves me playfully with a sigh, and then she finally moves over to the board again, lifting up the book and quill.

“All right! Then I guess we'll start with basic magical theory. If you're going to be using magical regularly, I want you to be able to understand how it works at the base level,” Twilight begins, and she scribbles something down on the scroll. “First, I'll explain the difference between magic and mana...”

“Cut,” I interrupt her. Twilight huffs and puts down the quill, annoyed that she's already been interrupted. “I can't read. So writing notes on the board is totally useless.”

“Oh...I forgot about that,” Twilight admits, looking sheepish. She regards the whole scroll thing she's got set up. “That makes all of this rather pointless, doesn't it?”

“Unless you can draw pictures,” I point out in a joking manner. However, Twilight appears to take me seriously, because her eyes light up, and she starts sketching something on the scroll.

“Excellent idea!” Twilight exclaims.

I immediately facepalm. Oh boy. I guess I'm going to be in this room for a while.





“So you absolutely cannot attempt to use more magic than you possess in your reservoir, or it will severely damage your magical core,” Twilight finishes, drawing an X through the picture she drew of a unicorn's horn.

Despite all my trepidation, this lesson has been somewhat interesting. It's pretty basic stuff, but that doesn't matter. Before this, I had considered magic to be some ridiculous bullshit thing that breaks physics. It kinda does, but not entirely. Magic has its own set of particles called mana that function almost entirely on quantum physics. I'm no physics major, so I can't say I truly know all about it. Thankfully, all Twilight did was give me a basic run through.

Also, something that I need to be careful about is not using too much magic. If I run out of magic in my reservoir and I try to keep using it, it will drain my life instead. I wonder if that's what happened when I was fighting the Scorpios? Or maybe I'm an idiot. Fuck it, I'm no magical expert.

I'll file that away in my brain. Don't want to end up killing myself. Not when I have friends that would probably care if I accidentally got myself killed. Like Rainbow. I feel like she'd hold my ghost here out of rage. If that's even a thing. Whatever.

“I think that will be good enough for tonight,” Twilight decides, setting down the quill. The scroll she'd been using is now covered in little diagrams and charts. I do appreciate that's she's tailored her teaching style to me. And it's somewhat important, so I never fall asleep like I did the last time she lectured me. “How are you doing? Do you understand all of this?”

“More or less. Likely I'll have to sleep on it before it actually sinks in,” I inform her, recalling my study habits from college. That's essentially what this is, after all. Only with fucking pony professors.

“That's fine. I'd assign you some homework and books to study, but as you said, you can't read,”  Twilight replies with a knowing smile. “So that's your homework. Learn to read!”

“Yes, ma'am,” I retort sarcastically, earning a giggle from Twilight. Homework and books to study. Fucking wonderful.

“You're a very good listener. I was honestly expecting you to fall asleep at some point,” Twilight continues. 

“It's because of the pretty little pictures you drew for me,” I return with a dumb grin. Twilight looks at me oddly, as if trying to determine whether or not I'm being serious. “No, seriously, I've had to deal with teachers far worse than you in my own education.”

“Oh?” Twilight gets that curious look in her eyes that I've seen many times before. “What kind of education system did you go through? How did they set up their curriculum? What kind of subjects did they...”

“No,” I cut across her before she can ask any more questions. Twilight huffs again and looks at me with a flat browed expression.

“Oh come on, please? I promised not to write about it!” Twilight insists, giving me friggin puppy dog eyes. Really? That only really works with Apple Bloom, and only because she's adorable as fuck. 

“Still no. I don't like talking about my race,” I repeat. Twilight's face falls, and she sighs in disappointment. 

“Okay. Maybe another time then,” Twilight says sadly. “Would you like to stay for dinner? I could have Spike cook us up something good.”

“Like what?” I ask curiously. I mean, I've eaten with Twilight before, and I can always pay her for the meal. Besides, it would just be her. No way I'm ever eating with Applejack and her entire family. I only like eating alone or with one or two others. Suddenly I think of something funny. Before Twilight can answer, I follow up with, “Like a cherry pie?”

Twilight's face is the best fucking thing ever, getting me laughing. “Really? You're going to bring that up now?” she complains, rubbing her face in memory of how hard she had to scrub to get all the filling off.

“I need a cool drink of water, because that was such a sweet surprise!” I reply, laughing even harder at my dumb reference that she clearly doesn't get, if her confused face is anything to go by. “Don't ask, I'm being stupid.”

“Okay...anyway, I can have Spike cook us some...” Twilight tries again, but I cut her off again..

“No, we should totally make a cherry pie.” My interruption causes Twilight to shut her mouth and growl slightly.

“You're always interrupting me,” she complains. When I stare at her, she raises an eyebrow. “Seriously? You really want a cherry pie?”

“Damn right I do. I haven't had any freakin pie since getting here. I'm craving it now,”  I say, leaning back in my chair. Twilight sighs and facehoofs.

“I don't have all the materials for a pie. So if you want to do this, you'll have to come with me into town and do some shopping,” she admits. I shrug. No big deal. I have no plans after this, and now that the idea is on the table, I really want some fucking pie.

“And we'll split the cost for the ingredients,” I add. Twilight looks at me surprised, and then a happy smile crosses her face. “Quit grinning at me like a fool and let's go. I'm hungry!”

“All right! Let's go then, Seth! We have a pie to prepare for!” Twilight exclaims happily. Huh, suddenly she's a lot more enthusiastic than before. Wonder what brought that on. “Spike! We're heading out!”

Spike pokes his head out from the upstairs bedroom upon hearing his name. “Wait, is it safe to come dow...oh come on, where are you going?” he calls after us, just as we shut the door behind us.





We actually have to stop by several places to get everything we need, including Sugarcube Corner for the materials needed to bake the pie shell and the filling, like flour, sugar, butter, cherries, and other such things. We run into Pinkie there, who is all too happy to help us out. Maybe a little too happy, but that can be said about everything she does.

The price isn't that bad for everything. Once we split it, it's even less. I still have plenty of bits to spare. Since I've accepted I'm not going to have a house for a while, I've started caring less about my money. As long as I'm not in the red, I mean.

Twilight and I step back into the library, carrying the groceries from our trip. I'm eager to get in that kitchen, a fact that is emphasized by the growling of my stomach.

“Wait, do I spy groceries?” Spike exclaims, bounding down the stairs, licking his lips in anticipation.

“Damn right! We're gonna make some kickass pie!” I announce, following Twilight into the kitchen.

“Yes, and we'll need your help, Spike,” Twilight adds. Spike's eyes go wide, and he sprints into the kitchen after us.

“Aww yeah, pie!” Spike responds, now as hyped up as I am for this. Twilight removes the recipe from a bag and pins it to a cupboard.

“Now, we're going to follow this recipe by the letter, so we can make the best pie that we...” she begins, talking all official, which lasts until a cherry hits her right on the tip of her nose. “What the...what are you two doing?”

Spike high fives me, as he had been the one to pass me the cherry. “Your face right now,” I tell her, chuckling. Twilight's response is to facehoof.

With that, the three of us launch into our pie making extravaganza, which had totally been my dumb idea. I don't care.

Pie.
> 36. Everyday Life
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I can't say I've ever really done anything like this before. I'm not sure how well it's going to go, either. But this was my idea, and I've already dropped some money on it, so I'm going to finish this. It shouldn't be that difficult.

Basically, Twilight, Spike, and I are standing in the kitchen of the library. The kitchen table is covered with all of the ingredients that we've gathered, separated into two groups. One's for the filling, and the other is for the crust. As neither Twilight, Spike, or I have ever made a pie, this is all new for us.

Since the dough is the hardest part, we start on that first. And it turns out a total disaster. Because Spike is a total klutz, he ends up dropping the flour right on to my back, covering my clothes and skin with the powdery substance.

“You...what the...fucking...goddammit, Spike!” I curse, turning around the moment I feel the flour hit me in an attempt to catch the bag. Thankfully, I'm quick enough to scoop it up into my arms, though the sudden stop sends flour out of the top of the bag and into my face. My eyes sting, so I shut them and blow out to keep any of it from getting in my airways. “Son of a bitch!”

“Sorry! I forgot how heavy it was,” Spike admits apologetically, wiping the flour off of his hands. I stare at him with a twitching right eye.

“It's a bag of flour. Of course it's going to be heavy! Idiot!” I berate him while putting the bag back on the table. I turn over to Twilight. “Give me the bowl. I'll get this thing started...what's so funny?”

Twilight is holding a hoof to her mouth, giggling helplessly. “You're all covered in flour...” she observes, pointing her other hoof at my face. Really...okay no. 

I scoop out a handful of flour from the bag and promptly throw it into Twilight's face, causing her to recoil. “What the...ah!” Twilight yelps, and then she begins to cough and squint as the cloud of flour obscures her vision. “Did you really just...”

“And now, so are you. Bet it doesn't feel great, does it?” I tell her with a grin. With bits of flour clinging to her face and mane, Twilight glares at me.

“Quit wasting all the flour!” she admonishes both Spike and I, puffing. I can't help but laugh a little at the white cloud that comes out of her mouth. “How much do we have left?”

“About half a bag left,” Spike observes. Twilight's jaw dropped. 

“Where'd all that flour go?” she demands.

“All over me!” I complain, ruffling the back of my shirt to get excess bits of flour out. “Fucking Spike, dropping the flour.”

“Do we still have enough?” Twilight asks worriedly, checking the recipe. “See if there's at least two hooffuls in there.”

“Stop worrying, Twilight! There's plenty!” Spike declares, lifting up a cup filled with flour...which I immediately take from him. “Hey!”

“Like I'm trusting you with the flour,” I retort, taking the cup and pouring it in the bowl. I repeat that motion one more time before turning back to Twilight. “What else goes in here?”

“Um...salt and butter, but the butter is added bit by bit,” Twilight says after a second of peering at the recipe. Oh sheesh, this is nuts. We've barely even started, and this is chaos. “You need a quarter hoofful of the salt.”

“How the fuck do I know what a quarter hoofful is?” I demand, putting the cup down in irritation.

Twilight huffs and grabs the bag of salt herself, along with a measuring cup. “See this cup? This one is equivalent to a quarter hoofful. It even says as much on the handle.”

“I can't read, Twilight,” I remind her, scratching an itch on my arm because of the flour all over it. Twilight forms a small “o” with her mouth, and then giggles sheepishly.

With the two of us working together, we manage to get the dough ready to go into the refrigerator. Yeah, refrigerators run on electricity, supposedly, so I have to ask Twilight about it.

“Oh my refrigerator? It works by forcing the heat from inside to the outside air using an energy transfer enchantment.” Twilight was only too happy to explain it to me. She shows me the purple orb on the side of the refrigerator. “I keep it powered by directly channeling my magic into this crystal.”

“Fucking magic,” I reiterate, to which Twilight nods with a wry expression. I open the refrigerator and place the bowl in which the dough is sitting inside. “How long does this thing have to stay in there?”

“According to the recipe, a few hours,” Twilight answers, causing me to groan.

“Really? What the hell am I going to do for that long without food?” I complain, my stomach growling again. Twilight bops me lightly on the nose with her hoof.

“You do realize we're essentially cooking dessert, right?” Twilight says with a smile. “And you can't have dessert without dinner. We can always whip something up in the meantime.”

“Like what?” Twilight responds by first opening the refrigerator again.

“Well, I have a decent amount of rice in here...some vegetables...eggs...” Twilight lists. While she's talking, I walk up behind her to take a look at her stock myself.

Wow, there's a lot of fruit and vegetables in here. We could always make a fruit salad with what's in here. In fact, that sounds good. I've had practically nothing but vegetables since I got here. “Twilight, what if we throw some of these fruits together and have that?”

“Ooh, that sounds good,” Twilight agrees. She opens up a cupboard above us and withdraws another bowl. “What kinds of fruit do you like?”

“No honeydew, cantaloupe, or bananas. Anything else is fair game,” I answer her, telling her the fruits that I hate the most. The first two I mentioned are just disgusting. Bananas aren't too bad, but they have no place in a fruit salad. “Especially strawberries and pineapple. The more of those you put in, the happier I'll be.”

“Oh? I'm more a fan of grapes and blueberries, myself,” Twilight relates, though she's already pulling out cases of fruit from the fridge. “But those are good too.”

“Ugh, this meal sounds...way too healthy,” Spike complains, getting dangerously close to the bag of sugar. “Why can't we have anything sweeter? Like gems?”

“Spike, if you stick a single claw into that sugar, I'll chop it off,” I warn him. Spike immediately takes the claw he was inching into the bag right out, attempting to look innocent. Suddenly, I turn around to face him. “Hold on, what did you just say?”

“Uh...I was asking why couldn't have something sweeter, like gems,” Spike repeats, confused. I turn to Twilight.

“He eats gems?” I ask incredously. Twilight nods absentmindedly as she starts placing fruit into the large bowl with her magic. “Seriously? The fuck. How does a dragon eat gems?”

“We just do. And they're deeelicious,” Spike responds with a lick of his lips, much to my frustration.

“You just...do. That makes about as much sense as magic does...and shut up, Twilight,” I deadpan, cutting off Twilight before she can protest about my quip on magic. “Oh, and if you have raspberries, toss those in too.”

“I think I have a few left in here,” Twilight replies. Seconds later, she lets out a little “aha!” and pulls out a case that's half full of raspberries.

I start to salivate as I watch her fill the bowl with all of these fruits. Finally, the bowl is nearly full with all of those delicious fruits. “Now, for the dressing. I have cream cheese, feta cheese, whipped cream, shredded cheddar, and a few others. What do you prefer, Seth?” Twilight asks, pulling out the aforementioned toppings.

“Hm, all of those sound good. I doubt you can really mix any of those, unless...” I muse. I have an idea a few seconds later. “Oh! Do you have honey?”

“Yes, but what would you need honey for?” Twilight asks curiously.

“Use the honey as dressing, and then mix the feta and shredded cheddar together, and place all of that on top.”

“Honey as dressing?”

“No, shut up, it's really good. Trust me, I did this once with apples and carrots, and it was amazing,” I press. Twilight looks unsure, but despite that, she does produce a bottle of honey from the pantry.

“Apples and carrots?” Twilight questions wryly.

“Don't you judge me. It was delicious.”

“I'll take your word for it.” With that, Twilight and I put together the dressing for our meal.

At last I have something to put in my stomach. Working with all this food while being hungry is never fun. 

Now that the salad is done, Twilight dishes out a serving to all of us, even though Spike grumbles the whole time. 

Twilight lifts the fork to her mouth with magic and takes the first bite, while I watch her expectantly. What? I want to know what she thinks of my dressing idea.

“This is...good!” Twilight compliments me after she swallows. “I have to say, I was a bit skeptical.”

“Told you. I suck at cooking, but I know what I like,” I say with a shrug. 

Now that all of the talking was out of the way, the three of us dig into our fruit. And goddamn, it is delicious. And nutritious. God knows I haven't had much vitamin C since getting here. I bet when I get sick for the first time, it'll be a bitch.

Anyway, food now, thinking later.





At last, just before the dough is ready to be taken out, we get started on making the filling. Most of the waiting part is over, so all it takes now is heating up the cherries, and mixing the resulting juice with more sugar and cornstarch. As I've never really cooked more than typical college meals, this is a fun experience.

While the filling cools, we spread out the dough in a pan, which is now perfect. The filling goes in next, and then finally the entire confection goes right into the oven, which Spike lights with a burst of flame.

After an hour of small talk and reading, the pie is at last done.





“Oh my god, would you look a this gloriousness,” I gasp, my mouth watering up a storm the moment I open the oven. Inside is a golden brown steaming pie of awesomeness, put together by our haphazard cooking skills.

“Step back,” Twilight orders, and the pie is surrounded by her magical aura. So that's why she doesn't have any oven mitts. She doesn't need any when she has magic. 

Using her magic, Twilight sets the pie down on the table, which she then cuts into several pieces. While she's doing that, Spike sets the table for us, setting out cups of water and small plates with forks. Lastly, Twilight sets the whipped cream down on the table.

“All right, this was your idea, Seth, so you get the first piece,” Twilight decides, placing a sizable piece of pie on a plate, and then smothering it with whipped cream. She slides it over to me, where I don't waste any time in stabbing it with my fork and shoveling a piece into my mouth.

“Ooohhh, my sweet baby Jesus, this is like, sex in my mouth,” I emit, relishing the warm cherry flavor exploding in my mouth. Twilight's eyebrow shoots up at my words.

“Is...that another human phrase?” she asks with an odd expression. I nod absentmindedly, still engrossed in eating this magnificent pie that we've spent practically the entire night making. “Your kind certainly has some...er...interesting phrases.”

“Oh please, you haven't even heard the worst yet,” I say with a shrug. Twilight sighs and shakes her head, and then serves herself a piece of pie as well.

“Wow, this turned out very well!” Twilight exclaims, and then she starts imitating me. And by that, I mean shoveling it down because it's too fucking awesome for words. “This was a good idea. Thank you for doing this with me. I had a lot of fun.”

Wait...what? I was essentially just using your facilities to get me something I craved...and she apparently had fun with it. Well, that wasn't my intention at all. There I go, making another pony happy without really trying. Is it really this easy to make ponies happy?

“Whatever. I just wanted some pie,” I reply uncomfortably. Twilight doesn't seem perturbed by my seemingly unemotional response, though. “Oh, and here.”

Twilight sighs in exasperation when I pass over a few more bits to pay for the salad. She knows she's not going to persuade me to keep my money, so she takes the bits reluctantly, placing them on the counter.

“Now this is more like it!” Spike proclaims, interrupting the two of us by loudly chomping into his slice of pie. Only with much less decorum, to the point where he's sending bits of it everywhere.

“Spike!” 

“Goddammit, Spike.”





“I'll see you later!” Twilight calls after me as I leave through the front door. There's a content smile on her face as she watches me go.

“Damn right you will. We've only eaten half of that pie,” I reply without turning around. “It had better still be there the next time I visit.”

“Don't worry, I'll keep Spike away from it,” Twilight jokes, tapping her assistant dragon on the top of his head, much to his chagrin.

“Hey!” Spike protests.

“I'm talking about you too. You totally seem like the kind of pony that eats pie when no one's looking,” I tease her. Twilight flushes.

“I do not! You're confusing me with Pinkie!”

“Oh dear, two Pinkies. How would I ever survive?” I return with a laugh. With that, I leave the giggling Twilight behind and walk into the darkening streets of Ponyville.

The other ponies that are still in the street spot me and watch me with some interest. Yes yes, the human is back. Go ahead and look until you get used to it again. Goddamn, sometimes I wish I could look like them so I wouldn't stand out so much. Actually, no. I think I like my current form the way it is.

When I get back to to my current place of residence and walk inside, I don't see Vinyl anywhere. Instead, I can hear loud music blaring from somewhere on the bottom floor. Which means Vinyl is practicing those new mixing techniques, probably. Oh well. All that means is that I don't have to bother talking with her before going upstairs.

The first thing I do upon getting upstairs is throw these clothes aside and step into the shower. I have to wash off all of this flour that Spike poured all over me. Twilight is probably doing the same right about now. 

I've worn those regal clothes for several days now. I'll probably start wearing the new outfit I got from Rarity this morning, and then I'll figure out how to do laundry without the machines afterward.

Once that's taken care of, I shut myself in my room and open up my journal. It's about time I wrote down the events of what happened in Canterlot. It was one hell of a trip. I'll get as much of this done as I can, and then I'll head to sleep.





I'm woken up by the sound of something slamming right into my window. It's not an easy awakening either. Adrenaline fucking shoots through my body, causing me to lurch up in bed and look around in alarm. 

From outside, I hear a muffled, “Oww....” spoken in that scratchy voice I've come to know so well. Now officially awake, I plant my face into my hands.

“Really?” I say after I open the window. Looking down, I see Rainbow lying on the ground, nursing her head. “How can you fail that bad?”

“Oh shut up. The window looked open from a distance!” Rainbow defends, getting to her feet. “I only noticed about three meters away that it wasn't.”

“Why the hell would I leave the window open? That's like asking for a dumb pegasus to nose her way inside,” I remark. Rainbow glares up at me, probably thinking that I meant her. I kinda did, especially with how she slammed into a closed window. I mean, come on, you have to be pretty dumb to fuck that up.

“I dunno. Maybe you wanted a breeze?” Rainbow attempts to defend herself, but even she realizes that her argument is a bit weak.

“In the middle of winter?” I deadpan.

“It could happen! Now enough about the window. Get down here, we've got work to do,” Rainbow deflects, beckoning to me with a hoof. 

Wait what? I duck back inside the window and check the clock, noticing that it's just turned 8'o'clock in the morning. Fuck, there goes my night. I stayed up too late writing in my damn journal. I peek back down at Rainbow. “All right, I'll be down in a bit. Gotta throw on some clothes.” I call. 

Okay, so what to wear? I look through the drawers in my room, where Rarity's outfits for me are stored. Hm, I could go with the new clothes I just got...or I could go with one of the sets of clothing I haven't worn yet. 

Quickly deciding, I throw on a set of jeans and the Rarity-themed shirt. By that, I mean the long sleeved white and purple one. That'll be enough to keep me warm in the wintry weather. 

With that, I soon join Rainbow out front, where she's already stretching herself out in preparation for exercise. I guess I should probably do that too, especially if I'm going to be running for a whole hour. God, this is going to suck.

“You ready for this?” Rainbow asks enthusiastically, stretching out her back like a cat. “I'm not gonna let you stop for this entire hour.”

“I gathered as much. No, I'm not ready. I'd much rather be at home asleep, or doing something else other than running in circles,” I say bluntly, stretching out my legs first. It feels damn good, but no doubt I'm going to be sore as hell by the time this is over.

“It's for your own good. Look at you, you're like a twig!” Rainbow teases me, feeling the width of my leg muscles with her two front hooves.

“Hooves off,” I tell her irritably., shaking her off. “Yeah, fuck this. I never planned on going into a job that required me to use muscles of any kind.”

“Really? What kind of job were you thinking about getting?” Rainbow inquires, looking up from her stretches curiously.

“Something in computers. Basically all it entailed was sitting around at a desk all day and making things work,” I relate without thinking. And there I go talking about my time again. Fucking...dammit Rainbow. Every time I talk to you, I feel like I'm talking to Amaryllis. And then things I'd rather not talk about end up spilling out without me realizing it.

“That's boring. I'm a weather pony, but I'd much rather be a stunt flier, like the Wonderbolts. I want to be part of them one day,” Rainbow reciprocates, practically having little stars in her eyes.

“Well, I doubt that'll be difficult for you. They already know who you are,” I remind her, recalling our time spent eating lunch with them. They were pretty okay, I guess, if a bit annoying. By that, I mean I kept getting that feeling like I didn't really belong, since they've known each other for who knows how long.

“You think so?” Rainbow seems really happy for some reason. I nod, finishing my stretches. “Awesome! I'll do it, and then I'll get you into all of our shows for free.”

“Jumping the gun a bit there,” I warn her, only for her to look confused.

“Jumping the what now?” Right, human phrase.

“Skip it. Basically, don't get ahead of yourself. One step at a time, and all that bullshit the trainers tell you.”

“Right. Anyway, let's get going,” Rainbow commands, and then she lifts up her hoof, where there's what looks like a stopwatch attached. “We'll start running when I start the timer, and stop when it beeps. Got it?”

I nod, and I get ready to run. Rainbow steps in front of me. “I'll set the course. Follow me, and don't stop until I say so,” she continues. “Ready?”

“Not quite,” I say, remembering something. Rainbow looks at me curiously, as I shut my eyes. “I don't have to use magic again until later this evening, so I think I'll do some magical endurance exercises as well.”

“Some what? Will that hinder your running at all?” Rainbow asks, concerned. I shrug.

“No way to know for sure. Stand back a second,” I warn her. She takes a few steps back, just as I unleash my magic. My vision turns green once more, tendrils of purple magic streaming from the corners of my eyes. At first, the darkness explodes from around me, but I quickly get it under control, until I'm in what Shining Armor called my base form. At this point, if it weren't for the faint dark smoke surrounding me, as well as the eyes, it's hard to tell from the outside that I'm even using magic.

“Wow, I forgot how awesome that looks. Actually, I don't think I've seen you use this magic up close since that time in the forest,” Rainbow expresses, peering into my eyes with admiration. “You're in control, right?”

“Yeah. I can feel the crazy lurking in my mind, but if I keep what's important close to me, it isn't really a problem,” I assure her. Suddenly I realized how I phrased that. Great, now she's going to ask.

“What's important? What does that mean?” Just as I thought, Rainbow is curious. I look at her silently. Well, if I'm honest, the whole reason I'm doing this is for you and Apple Bloom. What's important is you. And I won't let this magic use itself to harm you. Ever.

“Like I'm really going to tell you that.” My response gets Rainbow to huff and look at me with exasperation. “Anyway, running time?”

“Right. Running. Okay. Ready? One, two, and go!”

Rainbow hits the button on the stopwatch, and then she takes off running. I start off at a jog as well, only to realize that I'll have to run a bit faster if I want to keep up with her. 

So I'm not sprinting, but I'm not jogging either. And god, it already hurts. My poor muscles are burning with this trivial exertion, crying from so long without use. As I run, the darkness of my magic trails behind me slightly.

The best part is that Rainbow is nowhere near trying. I can tell just by looking at her leisured expression. The way she's smiling, this seems like a walk in the park for her. She can probably go much faster than this, if those muscles in her legs are anything to go by.

It seems like we're going to be running a few laps of Ponyville for the course of this hour. Whatever I guess. If I'm doing this, I'm going to do this.

A few minutes into the run, the pain in my legs dies away, and it actually starts to get rather enjoyable. As long as I force myself to keep a steady, deep breathing rhythm, I don't feel much pain at all. This is actually the longest I've ever run in my life, so I didn't really know there was a “zone,” so to speak, where it actually feels good to run.

Of course, if I push myself any farther than this, it starts to hurt again. Maintaining this pace is relatively easy though.

I do start to get tired as the run goes on as well. It's also getting rather hot, despite the fact that there's still snow on the ground. I can feel sweat beading on my brow and in my armpits. It's a disgusting feeling, but also somewhat satisfying to know that I'm getting a good workout from this.

My magical reserves slowly dwindle as well, because I don't let myself block the magic  for this entire period. If what Shining Armor said was true, doing this will slowly increase my magical reserves. Though what I need more magic for is beyond me. I took down one of the most lethal predators in the Everfree without really trying. Hell, it took the fucking Princess of the Sun to take me down. I'm probably one of the strongest things in the country, for whatever reason. That fact does wonders for my ego.

Though why I couldn't have discovered this magic in my time is beyond me. Or did magic not even exist then? Fuck, this timeline is confusing as hell. All I know is that Discord fucked shit up, but I don't know when he did. Sometimes I wish I could ask him myself.

Look at me, thinking while running. Doing this every other day might not be so bad after all.





I take it back. I take it the fuck back. Yeah, so I'm exhausted by the end of the run, but I don't feel much pain. That is, until Rainbow signals for me to stop.

“Wow, you did pretty good!” Rainbow praises me after she slows to a stop back where we started: at Vinyl's place. “I didn't expect that from you at all....and what are you doing?”

“Fuck...ow...son of a bitch...oh my god it tastes like blood,” I hack, kneeling down on the ground. All of the pain that I should have been feeling during the run seems to have all hit my at once. My thighs and ankles burn like fire, and I can taste phlegm in the back of my throat. It tastes all irony, like blood. “Owwwwww, it fucking hurts.”

“Oh come on, how does it hurt now? You were fine during the rest of the run,” Rainbow questions incredulously, watching my pitiful form on the ground with some amusement.

“Don't ask me, I don't fucking do this on a regular basis...” I snap, and then continue groaning. Oh god, I don't think anything has ever hurt so much. My leg muscles feel like they're dying. “It's like it all hit me at once when I stopped.”

“Come to think of it, that may have happened to me too early on,” Rainbow muses, causing me to look at her in disbelief. Thanks for warning me, you prick. “Oh well. Get up and walk. You'll feel better.”

“I can't feel my legs, dammit!” I complain. Rainbow laughs at my pain, but she does offer me a hoof to help me get up. Wincing, I take it and climb back to my feet. I wobble a bit, unused to this kind of physical exertion. I'm glad I did it though. The running part was rather enjoyable. Though the stopping part I can do without. 

I shut off my magic next. My reserves are a little over halfway empty, but it should all be replenished by the time I have to deal with Rose this evening. So the next thing I should do is probably get a shower.

“All right, I should probably get a shower and clean off all this sweat,” I tell Rainbow. “Don't want to walk into the school smelling like a dog.”

“I thought you didn't care what other ponies think of you?” Rainbow reminds me with a nudge. 

“I really don't. But this isn't about them. This is about what I think, and I know I look like shit right now. Besides, my hair is all greasy, and I hate that,” I clarify for her, my voice somewhat irritated. Rainbow nods, finally understanding.

“In that case, I'm gonna scram. I gotta get to work myself. Gotta set up a light dusting of snow before the storm in a few days,” Rainbow tells me. Suddenly a thought strikes me.

“Why do you need to do that?” I ask curiously. Rainbow stops just before taking off to look at me. “Like, why not just make it sunny all the time, and just keep the weather constant, provided you keep the land hydrated? Why make storms?”

“I dunno. You should ask the Board of Weather Control. They're the ones in charge,” Rainbow says with a shrug, before taking to the air. “See ya later!”

“That's not what I...ugh, whatever,” I grunt as she flies off, leaving me alone in the street. Well, now that she's gone, I should get ready to go to the school. Apparently now I'm going to be the equivalent of a student teacher. Oh well. At least I'll get to work with Apple Bloom if she needs it.

As I step inside Vinyl's house to smell the aroma of eggs, I realize I should probably eat as well.





After eating a quick meal with Vinyl and getting my shower, I get dressed in Rarity's more formal wear, leaving the sweat encrusted clothes I'd worn earlier. I'll wear those for workouts and training. I'll probably change into those later, before meeting with Rose and picking up supplies for Fluttershy. Because I'll probably be sweating then too.

Maybe I should learn how to do laundry tonight as well. God knows all of my clothes could use a wash. Also, I should probably tell Rarity that one of the clothing sets she made for me got incinerated. Yeah, I doubt she'll be happy to hear that, but it wasn't exactly my choice either. How was I supposed to know how fucking OP Celestia was?

Right then. After a farewell to Vinyl, I make my way out into the streets. School has probably already started. Which means I should get there soon if I want to make good on my promise to Cheerilee.

My legs still feel like lead as I approach the schoolhouse. I grab onto the mailbox for the school to catch my breath for a bit before continuing on.

As per usual, I don't bother to knock before throwing open the door and stepping inside. Also as per usual, the class is already in session, which I interrupt with my sudden entrance. 

All of the little foals look up from their desk at my arrival. Some are more happy to see me than others. By that, I mean Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon look slightly worried, while Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom are waving happily at me.

“Ah! Welcome, Seth. I'd heard you were back in town,” Cheerilee greets me, stepping out from behind her desk and approaching me. “How was your trip?”

“Better than I expected, really. But I didn't come here to talk about that. I'm your student teacher for today, remember?” I remind her. Cheerilee tilts her head to one side curiously. Moments later, she smiles brightly.

“Student teacher? Well, that's not what I would have called it, but I like that idea. And you're staying the whole day?” Cheerilee responds, her cheerfulness practically emanating from her in waves. When I nod, she turns to address her students. “Pardon the interruption, everypony, but I have an announcement to make regarding our human visitor.”

That gets the foals interested, seeing as how some of them lean forward in their seats, looking between me and their teacher with curiosity etched on their little faces.

“Seth here will be standing in with our class today, as my assistant teacher,” Cheerilee announces. The foals all start to chatter amongst themselves at that. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon exchange worry-filled glances, while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle cheer happily. “If you ever need help, feel free to ask either myself or him.”

After a quick nod to the class, I take the same seat in the back of the class, next to Dinky, who also seems happy to see me.

“Now then, class. Let's get back to learning how to properly use gerunds, shall we?” Cheerilee declares, turning back to the board, where a presentation is running. Oh boy, grammar. I think I'll pay attention in this one. Who knows? I may be able to extrapolate the meanings of some words if I look closely enough.

Like last time, math doesn't occur until after the grammar, science/magic, and  history portions of the curriculum. So there's not really much cause for me to do anything except rest. Which is fine, because I really need that rest. I don't sleep though. All of this is interesting. Well, most of it. The science/magic thing? I've learned the science bits a long time ago in like, elementary school. The magic bits I've just learned from Twilight yesterday. Even so, it's good to know that at least some rules of science still apply.

No, it's when math rolls around that I actually have to do something. Cheerilee decides that today would be a good time to pass out a worksheet on advanced multiplication. Like, with three digit numbers and stuff. Needless to say, it's time for me to start earning my keep.

“Remember, if you need help with any of these problems, feel free to ask Seth or myself,” Cheerilee reminds the students as they start to work on the sheet.

Well, she says that, but what ends up happening is that most of the students ask Cheerilee for help and not me. Probably because of how I look. Or maybe because of the fact that I beat up Diamond and Silver a while ago. I'm sure that rumor made the rounds. Who knows. Either way, if I want to earn my lessons, I have to do something.

I look over the room a few times, looking for somepony that needs help, but isn't asking for it. Sure enough, I notice one filly in particular that seems to be staring at the page, pencil clenched in her mouth and her brow wrinkled in concentration. Despite that, she hasn't written a thing on the page.

“You seem to be having trouble,” I observe, kneeling down next to Scootaloo. She puts down the pencil and looks at me, irritated.

“It's none of your business! I can handle this on my own just fine!” she protests vehemently. In other words, she still doesn't like me enough to let me help her. You know, at this point I would say fuck her and leave it be, but I want my lessons.

“Yeah...I would be inclined to believe that, if there was a single number written on your paper,” I point out, much to her chagrin and frustration.

“T...that doesn't matter! I'm figuring it out, you see? I certainly don't need any help from you!” Scootaloo doesn't seem to be backing down at all. And I'm just about at the end of my patience.

“Okay, no. Remember your whole 'let's start over' speech? It's kinda falling a bit flat here, especially since I'm offering to help you. Me. Offering to help. I don't do that often,” I tell her flatly, being brutally honest. It seems to be working. Scootaloo flinches and looks at me with an unreadable expression.

“I suppose...but can you even do this? I've never seen you do anything academic like...ever,” Scootaloo challenges me.

“Let's find out. Tell me what Cheerilee is trying to have you do,” I reply. Scootaloo looks down at the worksheet and points a hoof at the first problem.

“She says we're supposed to use our basic multiplication tables to figure out these larger numbers, but I can't do it for the life of me,” Scootaloo explains. “If you're so smart, can you explain it?”

“Oh my god, is she trying to teach you the standard multiplication method?” I ask incredulously, looking at the problem. I can't read the numbers, but it seems to be laid out the same way. “That method sucks. It's difficult and confusing. I can't even do it if you asked me to.”

“Then how? This is going to be on the test; Cheerilee said so!” Scootaloo laments. I tap her lightly on the muzzle.

“I got this. There's a better method. My professors hated me for using it, but it works so much better and is so much easier to learn than standard multiplication. Give me your pencil,” I order her. Scootaloo hoofs over the pencil to me obediently. “Now read out that number to me. I can't read Equestrian yet.”

“Oh, so you need me to teach you something?” Scootaloo asks smugly. I give her a deadpan stare. “Just kidding. It's three hundred eighty two times fourteen.”

“Right. This shouldn't be that hard then. First thing you do is draw a box, like so,” I begin, drawing a box just below the problem on her worksheet. “The first number is three digits, so draw three columns. The second number is two digits, so split the entire box into two rows.”

Scootaloo looks down at my drawing, which is now a box with the dimensions 3x2. “Okay, what next?”

“Then you draw little diagonals through the whole thing, like this,” I continue, drawing lines diagonally to the left, starting from the upper right corner of each box and bisecting each box on the way down. “Now, to finish setting it up, you write the individual numbers out. That first box on top will have the three, and so on. Go ahead and do that.”

“Okay...let's see...” Scootaloo takes back the pencil and writes down the numbers as I'd directed her. Thankfully, she picks up on how to do it pretty quickly, so I don't have to help with with that much. “Now what?”

“Now take the first box, on the upper left here. What numbers would you say this box corresponds to?”

“Um, the three and the one,” Scootaloo answers, confused. 

“That's right. And what's three multiplied by one?”

“Just three, right?”

“Yup. And therefore, write down a two digit version of three in this box here. So, zero three, with one digit on either side of that diagonal there,” I say, pointing at each individual spot. Still perplexed, Scootaloo does what I say. “Next, the next box corresponds to what numbers?”

“Eight and one. Which is just eight....oh, I see!” Scootaloo exclaims, writing down the two digit form of 8 in the box. “Which means this next one will just be two!”

“That's right. Now that the first row is done, move onto the second,” I direct her. I'm letting her do most of the work, so she can do it herself later. “Tell me what goes in that first box.”

“That's...a three and a four. So...twelve. So I write that in the same way? Like...one two?” Scootaloo asks as she picks up the pencil again. When I nod, she writes down the number. “Okay...so the next box will be thirty two, and the last one will be eight. That's all the numbers. So what happens now?”

“Now, the problem is no longer multiplication.” At that, Scootaloo gives me an odd look. “I'm not kidding. You've done all the multiplication necessary for this problem. See the diagonal channels formed by all those diagonal lines I drew?”

“Yeah.”

“Take all the numbers in each of them, add them up, and place the resulting number down at the bottom, outside the box. If the resulting number goes over ten, carry the tens place to the next diagonal, like you've been taught to do.”

Scootaloo still looks confused, but she does what I say, easily adding up the numbers in each of the columns, until she comes out with the result, which is 5,348. “Is...is this the answer?” Scootaloo asks, jabbing the result with a hoof.

“That's right. Easy, isn't it?” I reply with a smug expression. Seems like even I can be a decent teacher, when given a good enough incentive. 

“Wow, that was easy!” Scootaloo exclaims. “Thanks! Now I can do the rest of these...I think.”

“Well, call me back if you get stuck. It's what I'm here for,” I say with a shrug. With that, I stand back up to see that other students have seen my success with Scootaloo, and are now raising their little hooves, looking for help. Goddammit, I have to do that more than once, don't I? It's a good thing I'm getting something for this.





Finally, as class nears its end, Cheerilee collects all the worksheets. “I'll have these back to you by tomorrow, everypony and...” suddenly she cuts off when she sees what's on the top sheet. “Scootaloo, what is this?”

“What is what?” Scootaloo asks with trepidation. I cross my arms confidently. I know what's coming, so I can't help but feel a little smug.

“All these boxes and lines. That's not how I taught you to...what!?” Cheerilee sounds even more surprised as she looks through it.

“What is it, miss Cheerilee? We all know Scootaloo never does well on any of these sheets, so what's the deal?” Diamond Tiara speaks up irritably. Scootaloo responds by shooting the little bitch a glare. Huh. I don't know if Diamond meant that as an insult, or if she was just telling the truth. It better be the former, because I'll kick your ass again if its the former.

“Actually....all of these are right!” Cheerilee exclaims. Both Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo look at one another, both with shocked, wide-eyed expressions.

“Really?” Scootaloo asks hopefully, as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle look at their friend proudly.

“Yes! This is...amazing, Scootaloo! This is some high quality work indeed, even if I don't recognize the method. How did you do this?” Cheerilee praises her student. 

“Well...” Scootaloo says but then pauses. She sighs, and then looks at me. “It wasn't all me. I learned this method from Seth. I did the work, but he taught me the method.”

“What method would that be?” Cheerilee looks at me curiously.

“It's called Lattice Multiplication. It's essentially the same thing, but better suited to visual learners. I don't know about you, but that standard multiplication you're teaching them never worked for me,” I explain. Right now, I expect her to denounce it, since that's what all my college professors did. Lattice multiplication? It's obviously an asinine method meant for those with a lower intellect. The bastards.

“In that case, it's good that we'll be seeing more of you. If this method helped Scootaloo so much, I'm eager to see how it will help the rest of my class,” Cheerilee praises me. Hold on a minute, what? She's accepting it? Well...she's a better teacher than my dumb math teacher was. I guess Cheerilee agrees with me. If it works, why worry about how it's done? “Now then. You've all been working so hard today. I'm proud of you all. Class dismissed!”

There's a chorus of cheers from the students as they leap out of their desks and make for the door.

“Hey! You two!” I yell at Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, just before they leave. When they look back at me, I continue. “Don't wait for me. I'll be sticking around here for a few hours.”

They nod and leave as well, leaving me alone with Cheerilee. Well then, I guess it's time for my lessons.

Maybe after today I won't have ponies reading shit to me all the time.

	

	

	
> 37. The Blossom Wind
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm now alone with Cheerilee in the schoolhouse. All the students have left and gone home or whatever, so now there's nothing left to stand in my way of finally learning how to fucking read. Good. I'm tired of feeling helpless in that regard.

“Okay, I helped your students. So...you're going to teach me how to read,” I tell Cheerilee, who looks somewhat uncomfortable. You know, this is the first time it's ever just been her and me, without the presence of her students.

“Yes, of course. Shall we get started then?” Cheerilee quickly gets over whatever it is she's feeling, thankfully. “If you'll give me one moment, I'll gather the materials necessary.”

Cheerilee moves over to her desk and starts rummaging around underneath it. She'll be a bit, so I look around the room as well. All of the chairs here are to small for me, but there is a set of larger stools near the back of the room. I guess that'll do for now.

I grab one of the stools and drag it over to Cheerilee's desk, just as she emerges from underneath it with a thin book in her mouth. It's a thin book with lots of colorful pictures on it, so I'm guessing it's a book for foals Great...it'll be demeaning having to learn from one of those. But I guess that's how you learn. My foreign language professor back in college would do the same thing.

Cheerilee also pulls out a few more books from beneath her desk, some of which are pretty large. Finally, after placing another thin book on top of the pile that's accumulated, she sits down across from me. “I believe that's everything. I have a few books here that start with simple meanings, as well as dictionaries, almanacs, and even some plain chapter books. How do you like to learn?” Cheerilee inquires.

“Like, what kind of learning I do better with?” I reply. I like the way she's going about this though. Instead of assuming, she's asking my opinion first.

“That's right.”

“Hm, well I was always more of a visual learner,” I say, even though I know what's going to end up happening if I say this. Sure enough, Cheerilee is taking out one of the picture books. Fucking great. I guess I can't really complain though. This was my idea, after all. “I don't suppose there's an easy Equestrian to phonetic translation?”

“Mm, I'm afraid it isn't that simple. You see, our written language works in different ways. Some characters represent sounds, while others sound differently in combination with other characters. Others represent numbers, and change depending on how high they go,” Cheerilee explains. Oh lovely. So it's going to be more difficult than I thought. Except for the whole sounds thing. It's different from learning something like, say Japanese, in that I'm still learning English. It's just written differently. So once I figure out which characters mean what sounds, I can put two and two together. At least, that's what I'm assuming.

“I see. No sense in wasting time then. Let's do this,” I say, heaving a sigh in resignation. Oh well. I aced my foreign language class anyway, so this shouldn't be too hard. Cheerilee smiles, and she opens to the first page in the picture book that she'd picked out. Upon the page is depicted several small ponies running around a yellow ball. My spirits sink further.





Two hours pass faster than either of us realize. This is difficult, but not impossibly so. By the time we finish for the day, I'm already starting to read basic sentences. I can recognize a lot of basic words, like “apple” and “pony.” All of the words seem to use the same characters, but when some words don't sound intelligible, it means that there's a combination there that I have to keep an eye out for. Cheerilee hasn't started teaching me combinations yet, but the fact that I can recognize them is a start, at the very least.

“You're coming along very well, Seth,” Cheerilee compliments me. The two of us are standing near the door, as I'm just about to leave and go get changed for training. “I only wish all students showed the same drive to learn as you do.”

“I wouldn't really call it a drive to learn. It's just a drive to not be completely useless whenever I try and do anything,” I correct her. Cheerilee actually laughs at that.

“Couldn't that be considered the same thing? The purpose of learning is so that you are better prepared for what lies ahead. Don't you agree?” She asks me. 

“Yeah, well I know that,” I say irritably. “I know why it's necessary. But nowhere is it written that I have to like it.”

“Responsibility is not always pleasant,” Cheerilee agrees, seemingly taking everything I say in stride. Part of me wants to see how much she can take before she finally snaps at me. The other part remembers that she doesn't have to teach me anything.

“Now you sound like my mother,” I remark bitterly, earning another laugh from Cheerilee. “She was all about responsibility.”

“I'll take that as a compliment. After all, part of my job is compounding the lessons every foal learns from their parents. I want the schoolhouse to feel like another home for them,” Cheerilee expresses with an earnest expression. I turn and look at her in surprise. That's...not something you usually hear from teachers.

“I'd always assumed you were doing this because you were getting paid,” I tell her flat out. “All of the human teachers I've ever had to deal with never really cared about me.”

“That's just terrible!” Cheerilee exclaims, horrified. “If I could, I wouldn't even take money for doing this job. No, any teacher worthy of the title should care about the students they teach.”

“Yes, that's what optimists would have you believe,” I retort. “But if you don't teach for money, then why do you?”

“Why? Because I enjoy it. It's a real treat to work with these talented young foals. Every day I see them getting older and smarter, and it makes me happy to know that I had a part in it,” Cheerilee answers readily, happy to explain. “I love them all, and it's my life's goal to see them blossom into happy and productive members of society. That's what my cutie mark means.”

Cheerilee proceeds to angle her flank at me, so that I can see the image of three smiling flowers imprinted there. Would you look at that. Symbolic butt tattoos. What next? “What about you, Seth? What do you enjoy doing?”

“You mean, like what job I want to do?” I ask curiously, not sure if I'd even answer if that was the case. Cheerilee nods. Fucking, I'm not going to tell you...oh what the hell. It's just a simple detail anyway. Nothing worth getting all tight-lipped about. “Well, I wanted to go into the area of computers...”

“Oh? That might be difficult. There's not much market for computers, when we have magic,” Cheerilee reveals. I freeze.

“Actually, I'm lying,” I say suddenly, causing Cheerilee to look at me oddly. “I hate computers. I've always hated them. I was studying them because I could easily earn money by doing so.”

“Oh? That's not right. Having a successful job isn't really about the money,” Cheerilee advises me. And you know what? She's right. I know what I want to do. What I've always wanted to do, but couldn't, because I was told I would never make any money that way.

“I want to be a musician,” I admit. I've always had more fun playing or listening to music than I had coding. Fuck coding.

“That's a wonderful ambition, especially here in Ponyville. There's a lot of musicians here you can talk to,” Cheerilee praises me. 

“Really? Like who?”

“To start, you have Lyra Heartstrings. She's very talented with the lyre. There's also Applejack. She's been known to play a banjo and sing when the fancy takes her,” Cheerilee lists. Oh god, Applejack with a banjo. Can she get any more stereotypical? “Young Sweetie Belle is also an amazing singer, though I don't think she's realized it yet. Pinkie loves to sing as well. There's no shortage of good musicians, if you keep your eyes open.”

“Right...except most of the ones you just listed are crazy. Lyra? She's nuts,” I retort. “Pinkie? Dear god, keep her away from me.”

“Lyra does take some getting used to, I suppose. But you don't like Pinkie? She's a delightful mare, once you get to know her,” Cheerilee says, a little shocked.

“Delightful? She's just loud. Too much energy, and she won't...shut...up,” I complain. Cheerilee looks a little saddened by my words, but she nods anyway.

“You're in the minority with that opinion, but I suppose not everypony can like her,” she tells me in an understanding manner.

“Right...anyway. I'm leaving now. I have a lot more to do today,” I declare, tiring of this conversation. Cheerilee nods and opens the door for me.

“You and me both. It was a pleasure talking to you, Seth!” she responds. I wave my hand wordlessly, and then I leave the schoolhouse.

Okay, next thing on my list is to go home and get changed, and then gather all the stuff Fluttershy needs.





Okay, let's see. She needs...a lot of carrots apparently. Definitely some salad, a few more menial animal care things, and some groceries for herself.

Anyway, I'm standing in the square right now, where the market stalls are up and selling their wares loudly. I'm dressed back in my sweaty Rarity-themed clothes in preparation for training, because I can already tell it's going to be rough. It is training after all.

Carrots are easy. I can get those with a quick stop by Carrot Top's stall. The rest I can probably find by asking Carrot Top. She's the only one I've spoken to here more than once, so she's the only one I'm going to ask for directions. Now that I think about it, I should probably find out where Fluttershy even lives.

Right then. To Golden Harvest.





About half an hour later, I'm carrying bags filled with everything I need for Fluttershy. I also know where her place is. Apparently she lives close to the outskirts of town, near the Everfree. So basically, on the way to the clearing where Rose should be waiting for me.

Shit, all of this is pretty heavy. But there's no way in hell I'm taking two trips. Especially not since I paid for all this stuff myself. I sure hope Fluttershy is going to reimburse me for that. She better, or I might get angry.

After accosting another random pony on my way there, I find myself standing in front of Fluttershy's house. And while I know I've passed here once or twice before, I've never really looked at it. It's a beautiful house.

By that, I mean there's a small running stream that passes in front of it, which I can cross by way of a grassy bridge. The entire house itself looks like it was built in a tree, in that the roof is made of leaves, and several larger trees surround the house itself.

There's also animals fucking everywhere. There's countless birdhouses all over the place: in branches, nailed to trees, on the house itself, on the damn chimney...hell, there's even a hole carved into a tree where an owl is resting. Rabbits, squirrels, and other small creatures are all over the place, seemingly having no fear of the building nearby. As I approach, they scatter, running closer to the house, as if they believe it offers them safe haven. Though why they think that, I have no idea.

When I reach the front door, I give it a few good knocks and wait. It isn't long before the door opens to reveal the very timid pegasus to which I'm come to deliver all this shit. “Oh...hello...” Fluttershy says extremely softly, to the point where I can barely hear her. “Thank you...for getting all this for me, I mean. You can just leave it here and I'll...”

“Yeah no. Get out of the way,” I grunt, tired of standing here. Fluttershy yelps and skitters out of the way as I force my way into her house with the groceries. And it smells like a damn garden in here.

Fluttershy's house is actually pretty homely inside. There's a couch by a window, a few bookshelves built into the wall (some of which have titles that I can actually read). There's a staircase a few paces in front of me, but I don't see any sign of a kitchen. “Wait...you don't have to...” Fluttershy tries again.

“Where's your kitchen?” I demand, cutting her off. She shuts her mouth and points mutely at a doorway on the far end of the room. Okay good. I'm just ready to set all this shit down and get moving. I can't tire myself out too much before going to meet Rose.

Fluttershy follows me quietly as I move into her kitchen. There's also animals fucking everywhere inside her house as well. It's like, getting on my nerves how they all skitter underfoot. I'm lucky I don't trip over any of them.

There. Upon finding a table, I dump all of her groceries on top of it, and then turn around to face her. “Seriously. I'm not just going to dump all of this shit onto the ground in front of your house. That's ridiculous. That's how shit gets lost,” I admonish her. Fluttershy blushes gently and looks down at the floor.

“Oh. Sorry. I just didn't want to put you to any trouble,” she confesses apologetically. Great, and now the apologies start.

“Why the hell not? You're paying for my trouble, so it doesn't really matter,” I question her incredulously. That's like a professor telling you they don't want to burden you, and then giving you homework.

“I suppose,” Fluttershy responds quietly, shuffling her hooves on the floor in embarrassment. You know, as irritating as Fluttershy is, she...rather puts Apple Bloom to shame with her innate cuteness. And I did not just think that. These ponies are ruining me, I swear.

“So...” I say awkwardly, noticing how quiet it just got between us. “I take it you like animals.”

“Oh! Yes, I love them,” Fluttershy suddenly gets a lot more animated at that question. On the floor near her, a squirrel and a little white rabbit approaches her expectantly. Fluttershy gathers them up with her hooves and hugs them close to her chest. “They're my babies.”

I raise an eyebrow at that display. What's funny is that the white rabbit looks none too happy at being hugged, as its trying to wriggle away. “Right then. I can't stay for much longer. Can you reimburse me for the purchases?”

“Oh! Sorry, I almost forgot,” Fluttershy apologizes again. She puts down the animals and moves over to a dresser, from which she produces a small bag of bits. She hoofs it to me. “There's the money for the groceries.”

“Thank you. And my payment for the work?” I say impatiently. Fluttershy gulps and nods, producing the bits and passing them to me next. When I take them, I notice something odd. “There's seven bits here. You said you'd only pay me five.”

Fluttershy jumps and looks guilty, as if she was hoping I wouldn't notice. Bitch, I notice everything. “Yes, but you were really nice and carried them inside for me. I wanted to pay you extra,” she admits sheepishly.

“Yeah no,” I snap, placing the two extra bits down on the table. I slide them over to her. Fluttershy looks surprised by that. To my shock, she pushes the two bits back to me.

“Please take them. You didn't have to do anything more than just bring them to me,” Fluttershy insists shyly. I give her a deadpan expression.

“It wasn't that much work, sheesh! There's no way that's worth two bits extra,” I retort stubbornly, pushing them back to her. She's not that assertive, so she shouldn't give me any more tr...wait, why the fuck is she pushing them back!?

“Please...” Fluttershy says one last time, gazing at me from behind her mane. Fucking...for as shy as she acts, she's as stubborn as I am. I can feel my will to resist slipping, especially with that fucking diabetes-inducing voice she's got.

“Goddammit...fine. But I don't like being paid more than I earned,” I grunt irritably, taking the bits and putting them with the rest.

“You earned every bit,” Fluttershy assures me, a small smile forming. Fucking, I'm done. I turn around in silence and move towards to door. I've got to head to training now. “Oh, are you leaving now?”

“Yeah,” I reply simply.

“Are you sure you don't want to stay for some tea?” Fluttershy offers. I almost stop. Tea sounds tempting...but I don't have time.

“Sorry. I don't have the time,” I tell her honestly. She nods understandingly, though there's a hint of disappointment there. “I'll see you later.”

“Okay. I'll see you later tonight then,” Fluttershy calls after me. All right, now to...hold on, what? Why is she going to see me later tonight?

I guess she made a mistake. I have no plans to see her tonight. Making sure to step over all the scurrying animals, I leave Fluttershy's house and shut the door behind me. Okay, now it's time to go meet the pony that sounds like she swallowed a dictionary. 

Rose said she would meet me outside of town, in this general direction, so we don't harm the town. Whatever that means. She also said she would help me develop my individual techniques. I wonder if that means she'll help me remember how to do all the dashing, flying, and gun shooting. You know, all the stuff that I never learned how to do, yet did it anyway while the magic was in control.

It's not long before I'm out of Ponyville entirely, as Fluttershy lives very close to the edge.  Just as a I mount a large hill, I spot Rose standing a little ways out, closer to the forest. That's...pretty far away. Sheesh, I have a bad feeling about this.

It takes me a few minutes to traverse the empty plains all the way over to Rose, who looks up at my approach. “Ah, there you are. I believe it would be best if we began immediately,” she expresses, as stiffly as ever.

“Right...you still haven't explained what we're actually going to be doing. Or why it needs to be so far out here,” I point out, slowing to a stop just in front of her. 

“I have, but if you'd like, I can repeat myself,” Rose answers, seemingly slightly irritated. Really, is she going to be like this the whole time? Because that sounded condescending, and that doesn't sit well with me at all.

“Actually, you didn't. You said you'd help with my individual techniques, and that you didn't want to harm the town. Nowhere in there did you actually outline what we're going to be doing, or why you think the town might be harmed,” I correct her, crossing my arms. Fucking wonderful. We haven't even started, yet I'm already annoyed with her. Seems like the feeling is mutual, as well.

“If you wanted specifics, then your question should have reflected as such,” Rose admonishes me. Oh my god, everything she says just pisses me off more.

“You know, I don't even see why I have to work with you anyway,” I snap, my anger rising. Rose's eyes narrow.

“I am here to help you develop your individual...” she begins.

“I know what you said, dumb-ass! Contrary to what you seem to think, I'm not an idiot, so I'd appreciate it if you quit treating me like one!” I hate this bitch. Seriously, just because she's some big shot in the army, she thinks she can talk down to me. Spitfire and Shining Armor are higher than you and they're ten times more tolerable.

“Oh? Do forgive my mistake. It's difficult to tell, when most of what you say would sound better coming from a spoiled foal,” Rose growls at me. She did not just...okay, I'm fucking done.

“You know what, I'm fucking done. Fuck you, and fuck your training,” I curse, losing my temper. I turn around and start to storm away. Why did she even come back with us anyway, if all she's going to do is insult me.

“I will not permit you to skip out on the duty that Princess Celestia has assigned you,” Rose snaps, teleporting in front of me in a burst of cherry blossoms. I stop just before I would have run into her.

“Celestia didn't assign me anything. I'm not a pony, so neither you or some princess has any authority over me,” I tell her angrily. “I'm doing this because I want to. So you can stop treating me like one of your worthless subordinates.”

“Do not insult the brave mares and stallions that put their lives on the line for Equestria! They've worked hard to earn their place, while all you had to do was exist!” Rose shoots right back at me, bristling with fury.

“Oh please. You and your entire regiment or whatever are nothing. It's laughable how Celestia thinks ponies as weak as you can train me,” I counter. Rose looks like she's about to yell something back, but then she forces herself to relax by taking a few deep breaths.

“Very well. If that's the way you think,” Rose says softly, running a hoof through her mane. “Shall we forgo the initial diagnostic exercises, and have a match instead?”

“Oh, so you want me to fight you now?” I ask incredulously. As much as I'd relish the chance to beat some respect into this bitch, I can't help but feel a little wary. 

“What's the harm? Surely if I'm as weak as you say I am, then it shouldn't be much of a challenge for you at all,” Rose replies, her expression unreadable. I stare at her with a raised eyebrow. I feel like she's trying to taunt me into the fight now.

You know what? I'm too angry to care. I'm going to teach you a lesson you won't forget. “All right then,” I say softly, clenching my fists. “I'm going to show you just how strong I already am.”

Rose takes a few steps back, such that there's several meters between us. “I look forward to it,” Rose says with a devious smile. Hm, she must be planning something. “We shall begin whenever you feel ready.”

That smile of hers is pissing me off. I loosen my stance a bit, and lower my fists to both sides. I shut my eyes for a moment and take a deep breath. This'll make the third time that I've used this power in a fight. The difference this time is that I'm in control, and I don't have any of my techniques. I still have access to all of my power, however. If I keep in mind Shining Armor's training, I should be able to defend from her attacks and crush her defense, no matter what techniques she uses.

I take off my rifle, since I don't know how to use it anyway, and set it aside. Then, I tap into my power, and darkness explodes from around me, cracking the ground. I open my eyes and find my vision green once more. Rose's eyes widen slightly, as this is the first time she's seen my magic with her own eyes. That's right. I bet you're realizing that you picked a fight you can't win.

I can't do that dashing trick again, so the first thing I do is break into a run, charging at Rose with my fist at the ready. If I can get close enough, I'm going to hit her right in the face.

Rose watches calmly as I approach. She lowers her head to aim her horn at me. Oh shit, she's about to use her own magic. Okay, if I just...whew, that was close. I had just barely dodged a beam of pink magic that Rose had fired from her horn.

She sends more of those beams at me, which are relatively easy to dodge, but they're slowing my approach. Another thing I notice is that her horn doesn't stop glowing, even when she's not firing magic at me. That's odd...but whatever.

Just before I get close enough to strike her, a large pink rune forms on the ground beneath me. “What the fuck?” I say, confused. Rose's smile widens, and then multiple pink orbs the size of my head form all around me, enclosing me in a tight circle of them. The second after they form, they start to converge on me. “Oh shit.”

Thinking fast, I focus my magic on my hands and use them to propel my body up and over the orbs, just as they meet where I'd been standing. Once they meet, they explode with a bright pink light, sending waves of magic and cherry blossoms in all directions.

Fuck that was too close. I don't know when she had time to set that rune up, but that could have really hurt if it had hit me.

“Ah!” I yell, when a beam of magic shoots through the explosion and strikes my shoulder. That hurts like a bitch! There's now a hole in my shirt where I've been hit, and my skin is smoking slightly. I didn't use my magic to defend myself because I didn't know she would...oh shit, here come more beams.

While I'm dodging, I remove my shirt and toss it aside. “Fucking magic, quit ruining my shirts!” I complain. At least by removing my shirt now, I can keep Rarity from having a conniption when she sees what I keep doing to her clothes.

The explosion finally dissipates, allowing me to see Rose again. To my horror, she's prepared three more orbs, bigger than the last set. The moment her eyes find me, all three orbs shoot at me at once, the outer two circling around to hit me from either side.

I do my best to put some distance between me and those orbs, but they're tracking me. Which means there's only one way to get rid of them. Just before they hit me, I once again focus magic into my hands and propel myself away from the point of impact. The orbs try to correct their course, but they're too late, so they hit the ground and explode. 

I think I'm home free, but just before I hit the ground, I see another beam shooting at me. Shit, and I'm airborne, so I can't dodge it. With that figured out, I focus my magic in my chest, just as the beam hits me.

Thanks to my defense, it doesn't hurt nearly as much, but it does knock me on my ass from the momentum. I get up and stare at Rose in annoyance, and a little bit of respect. Shit, she's got me totally on the defensive. Unless I can get close enough, I'm never going to hit her.

She's probably got those runes set up all around her as well. Which means...hm. A plan starts to form in my head.

I start running at her again, which causes her to raise an eyebrow at what she deems is a rash action. Rose lowers her head and fires more of those beams at her, but what she doesn't know is that my magic is focused in my hands.

When the first beam nears me, I reach forward and slap it away entirely, the magic in my hands proving stronger than the magic in the beam. I do the same for the other beams heading my way, to the point where Rose's eyes widens in shock.

As I expected, a rune forms beneath me just before I get in range of her. But this time, I remember where each of the orbs are going to appear. As the orbs form and start to converge, I hurl myself through a tiny gap between two of them. It was a good idea, but the two orbs brush up against me and burn the front and back of my torso. They're mild burns because I defended, but it still hurts.

Rose sees me closing in on her, so she fires more of those beams at me, which I easily deflect. Finally, I've reached her, and I swiftly bring my fist forward in an attempt to hit her right on the head.

Suddenly she's not there anymore. Wait what the fuck? Where did she go? I wheel around rapidly, only to end up on the receiving end of a hard buck heading towards my face. 

With a grunt, I have just enough time to duck underneath it. I have a split second to act. I need to use it. I turn over and use my hands to propel my two feet into Rose's stomach. As my magic had been focused in my feet, it hits her hard, to the point where I can hear her coughing and wheezing as the wind leaves her body.

Rose teleports back onto the ground just in front of me., and I can swear I see respect in her eyes. I immediately swing a punch at her face. She moves her head to one side, avoiding it easily. I follow up that attack with more punches, but she's like water. She swerves around each of my attacks like smoke, before finally levering her right hoof into my chin and teleporting back a few feet.

Shit, I lost my advantage. Her physical attack didn't really hurt compared to her magical ones, so up close is the best place to engage her. Except now she's at range again.

I start to rush her again, because I think I've got her tricks mostly figured out. Rose seems like one of those fighters that tries hard to keep her opponents at range, where she can finish them off. She's stopped firing those beams since she knows they won't do shit to me, but since her horn is still glowing, I assume she's setting up more traps.

Oh hell, it's doing more than just glowing. An aura erupts from the ground around Rose's hooves, surrounding her in an ethereal pink flame. An orb of magic forms at the tip of her horn. Instead of throwing it at me, however, she slams it into the ground, and a massive rune forms, to where it encompasses the both of us.

Shit. I have no idea what this rune is going to do, but it can't be good. I have two choices. I can try to leave the rune as fast as I can, or I can attempt to hit her and hope that cancels out the effect.

I ultimately attempt to leave the rune, but I don't take more than a few strides before something starts pulling me back in. What the fuck?

Turning my head, I notice with shock that there's a large black orb floating in the middle of the rune, just a few feet in front of Rose. It's pulling everything nearby to it: dirt, rocks, bits of wood, and now me. At first I think it's sucking everything in, but a closer look shows me that all of the attracted objects are halted in place the moment they touch the orb.

Too bad though, I can resist this pull. Or so I think. The pull intensifies a few seconds later and yanks me right off my feet. “Shit!” I yell, flying back towards the orb. The moment my body hits the orb, a deep chill sinks into me, and suddenly I find myself completely unable to move.

Rose's horn lights up again, and then a massive hammer forms in the air above me. Not a real hammer, but instead a pink, transparent one that seems to be made from her magic. I realize with a start what Rose is going to do.

“Hyah!” Rose exerts, and then the hammer comes flying down. Without any other options, I cross my arms above my head and focus my magic just before impact.

When the hammer hits, the ground cracks beneath me from the impact. My arms bruise, but the magic there keeps them from being hurt too badly. Of course, all of that becomes moot when the hammer fucking explodes, surrounding me in scalding pink magic, along with a smattering of cherry blossoms.

I'm forced to divert my magic to my entire body, which as Shining Armor told me, isn't as effective. It's the only option I have though. The magic singes and burns my skin, but I can tell that it's nowhere near what Rose is capable of. She hasn't been trying to really hurt me this whole time.

When the magic clears, Rose seems visibly surprised to see me still standing. Once again she looks at me with respect. She starts to power up again, but this time I stop her by holding up my hand.

“All right. That's enough,” I tell her. I hate that I have to do this, but if this keeps going, one of us might actually hurt the other. “You've made your point.”

Rose says nothing at first. However, she does power down, her aura dissipating to nothing and the glow on her horn fading away. “You're pretty good,” is the first thing Rose says. That causes my ego to swell, but I'm still pissed at her for the things she said before we started fighting. Only now, I respect that she is a match for me. Maybe more than a match. “For someone who's only using brute force.”

“What's that supposed to mean?” I shoot back, hoping she wasn't about to start insulting me again.

“Exactly what I said. You're not using any refined techniques. You are simply manipulating the currents of raw magic through your body to increase your strength and defense,” Rose explains, sitting down on her haunches. “While viable against weaker opponents, against one with techniques of their own, it may be difficult to deal any real damage...though I'll admit, you're smarter than I gave you credit for. I didn't expect you to land a hit on me.”

“Nor did I expect your fancy techniques to keep me at bay so well. I barely got close, and when I did, it was like trying to catch smoke,” I complain, though what she's saying makes sense. When I was insane, I'd been so much stronger because I had all of those techniques. Without them, I'm only mediocre, I suppose. I got too confident.

“Thank you. That came from a great deal of training from Captain Blades,” Rose reveals with a slight chuckle. The two of us look at each other with the respect that could only be gained by fighting with one another. “Do you agree to submit to training now?”

“Only if you phrase that question without using the word 'submit,'” I retort, since I hate what that word means.

“Ugh. Would you like to train now, your highness?” Rose returns, sarcasm evident in her voice. Holy shit, you mean there's actually a personality underneath all those fancy words? “You're impossible.”

“And you're condescending as hell,” I say, though at this point, most of my anger has passed. Say what you will, but a fight like that tends to relieve a lot of stress. “But yes, let's get started. Thanks for knocking down my ego a bit...with a hammer.”

Rose laughed at my admittedly dumb joke, and then she motioned for me to sit down. “Now then, the first thing we'll start with is meditation...”
> 38. Carrying On
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	So I still don't like Rose that much, but if I get over myself, this training is actually somewhat enjoyable. I keep questioning why it's necessary for me to learn all of this combat stuff, but on the other hand, part of me wants to be able to use those techniques I'd shown before. It doesn't matter whether they'd be useful or not. I feel like it would be awesome just to be able to. At the very least, I'd like to know how to fly.

Basically, the first thing Rose starts me off with is meditation. And that is the hardest part for me. I'm always thinking so much, it's difficult to calm my mind the way I'm supposed to. 

“Sit still,” Rose commands me with a hint of amusement in her voice, just as I shift to scratch an itch on my shoulder.

“This isn't exactly something I do in my spare time,” I retort, annoyed. I've been sitting cross legged like this for a while now, yet there's always an errant thought that ruins any meditative state that I'm supposed to be entering. “This is hard...”

“Of course. If it was easy, it wouldn't be worth learning,” Rose says in an uppity manner. I suppose she has a point there. 

“How exactly does this help me develop individual techniques?” I ask again, frustrating Rose further.

“Specifically, meditation allows you to become intimately aware of the magic within yourself. By becoming accustomed to its composition, it becomes easier to bend it to your will,” Rose explains with forced patience. She probably still finds me annoying, but at least she's making an effort not to lash out at me because of it. “You won't learn your techniques by doing this alone, but it is still a necessary part of any unicorn's training. I assume this would also apply to yourself.”

“Okay...and I don't suppose you have any advice other than 'clear your mind' and 'get on my level?'” I respond, teasing her slightly.

“I have already given you all the advice I can. The rest is up to you,” Rose tells me, ignoring my snipe at her superior attitude.

“Of course it is,” I groan. Oh well. Talking any further will just make this last longer.

So needless to say, our conversation dies off there, and once more I attempt to get into this meditative state Rose described. She said that the only thing I should be able to feel is the flow of magic through my body.

It takes about a half hour of constant silence before I make any kind of progress. It's very subtle;  the only thing that tips me off is that the sounds of the world around me slightly fade. My eyelids become heavy and immobile, and I feel like I'm falling into a deep sleep, except my consciousness is still fully alert.

Holy shit, is that what my magic feels like? It's difficult to describe, because it's a mental sensation, but I'll do my best. It feels like there's a chaotic rushing river surging through my veins. I can't explain it, but it feels...dark. Like, evil. Almost foreign. As if I needed another reason to be afraid of this magic. It's almost as if another entity is flowing around inside of me, waiting for the slightest sign of weakness before taking over again.

I can't help but feel a little fear. I mean, I've always been scared of my magic, but to actually feel it like this is terrifying. I can at last feel what it's like to have an insane amount of power surging through your body, only barely under your control.

Rose is right. I can see how this would help me use my techniques. There's no way I can keep my mind calm enough to use them if my magic scares me this much. I think I'll start taking this a little seriously.





After emerging from my meditation, Rose gets me started on actually training this time. By that, I mean she has me unleash my power and get accustomed to controlling it quickly, like what would be necessary during a real battle.

There are several other exercises that she gives me to complete, all of which involve me using magic to complete various feats, such as jumping higher, or dodging quickly. Stuff like that. It seems rather basic right now, but that's probably because this is our first training session. Things will no doubt get more difficult the more we train.

All of this lasts until the sun dips below the horizon, and both Rose and I are hungry.





“All right. That's enough for now," Rose says, looking at me with a satisfied expression. “Well done. We've covered more than I expected today.”

“Hooray. I sat around for an hour, and then jumped around like a chicken with its head cut off,” I reply unenthusiastically. Rose looks down and sighs at my attitude, which she's been doing a lot of lately.

“Take some pride in your work,” she chastises me. I just give a shrug in a response. Whatever. It's not like any of this is really worth anything. As long as I don't go insane, that's enough for me.

“Whatever. So we're done now? I can go eat?” I ask hopefully. Using all of this magic and energy has me starving. I think some late night pancakes sounds good. 

“Yes, you may eat now,” Rose responds wryly. “Though I must admit, I am feeling a tad peckish, myself.”

Peckish. Who fucking says that anyway? This pony apparently does. Friggin upper class ponies. “Good. I'm gonna go then,” I say, and then abruptly turn around and start walking, suppressing my magic as I do so. Rose starts to follow me, much to my annoyance. “Why are you following me? Can't you just teleport to wherever you're going?”

“Not necessarily. I can only teleport to a place I can see. As I do not yet know what establishment I wish to visit, teleporting would be meaningless,” Rose explains. 

“That doesn't explain anything. So what if you're limited by sight? Can't you just chain teleport until you reach where you're going?”

“I just said I don't know where I'm going,” Rose points out.

“But you can at least teleport back to town, right?” I press. 

“You're just trying to get rid of me, aren't you?” Rose huffs.

“Oh gee, what would have given you that idea?” I respond in a mocking imitation of her own fancy style of speaking. Rose glares at me, which I find to be funny as hell.

What's ironic about all of this is that while we were arguing about teleporting and shit, we end up walking into town together. So the whole point becomes moot anyway.

When we approach the nearest eatery, Rose walks up to the door and tries it, only to find it locked. “That's odd. It's not past closing hours yet,” she observes. She notices a scrap of paper pinned to the door, which she proceeds to rip off with her magic and reads. “Closed? That's ridiculous.”

“Oh no, how dare they not be open for the great and illustrious Rose?” I mock her again. She turns with a frustrated huff to glare at me.

“Are you just going to mock me this whole time?” she demands.

“I'm thinking about it,” I respond impertinently. 

“Ugh.”

As we walk through the streets, I notice something strange. The entire place is surprisingly empty for this time of day. It's still the evening, after all. Of course, that only means one thing. It means Rose is in for a surprise.

But...there has to be some planning here. Pinkie had to know that we would be hungry after training. Which means...that this next restaurant that Rose and I are approaching now is also...

“How is this one closed as well? Surely there's at least one eatery open in town,” Rose demands, looking affronted. I see. So if I had to guess, all of the restaurants are closed in town so that Rose would only have one place to go.

“Rose, where are you staying?” I ask curiously, still trying to figure all of this out. Rose looks confused at the random question.

“I will be staying at Sugarcube Corner, as negotiated not long after our arrival in Ponyville,” Rose answers, perplexed. “Why do you ask?”

Oh, now that's just too easy. “Let's just head back there. We can get something to eat from there,” I suggest casually, fully aware of what's to happen if we go there. Rose ponders that for a few moments before sighing.

“Very well. It's not what I would have liked, but it'll do,” Rose says in disappointment. “Rest assured, the mayor will be hearing about the incompetence of their restaurants.”

“Yeah, yeah. The injustice and all that,” I reply uncaringly, having already changed my course for Sugarcube. This should be fun. It's been a while since the last Pinkie party I've been in. I could use the sweets. And the stress relief. But mostly the sweets. 

No doubt the entire town will be there too. They love these parties far more than they should. So I can expect to see Vinyl and Rainbow there. And...oh, well that's what Fluttershy must have meant by “I'll see you later tonight.” Thanks for tipping me off, I suppose.

Because everypony is chilling in Sugarcube, the trip there is uneventful. Soon, we're standing on the doorstep. The windows are closed and the lights are out, just as I expected. And because Rose is dense as fuck, the first thing she does is complain. “Is this some kind of joke? Why am I the first one to return home? Is there some wild gathering away from town that I wasn't informed about?” she exclaims irritably. She tries the door with her magic, and it easily opens. Of course, she continues to rant, even as she steps inside. “I'll see to it that Princess Celestia hears how I've been treate....”

“SURPRISE!” There is is. The lights flicker on to reveal practically every single fucking pony in town, with Pinkie standing in front, looking as pleased with herself as always.

“What in blazes!?” Rose cuts off in the middle of her rant as she jumps in shock, her eyes wide. Pinkie immediately dashes to just in front of her and starts bouncing in place.

“Hi Rosie! Were you surprised? You look surprised,” Pinkie exclaims. Rose watches her with a dumbfounded expression, speechless. “Welcome to Ponyville! As I promised, here's your party! Do you like it!?”

“Seth,” Rose begins, seemingly ignoring Pinkie to look at me. I'm just standing in the doorway with a smug expression and my arms crossed.

“What?” I reply.

“Is this the...”

“Yes.”

Rose slowly places her head in both of her hooves. “Oh, ponyfeathers.” 

“Are you ready to party, Rosie!?” Pinkie asks, overly excited as usual, even as I laugh into my hand because of that dumb pony expletive Rose used. That's totally unlike her.

Rose lets out a long sigh, before at last lifting her head and waggling a hoof. “Proceed, if you must,” she says in a resigned manner. 

“That sounds like a 'yes' to me!” Vinyl calls out from the raised area, which is now occupied by her equipment. Okay, I'm kinda pissed that I didn't get to help with that for money, but whatever. I'm hungry, and there's sweets everywhere. “Let's rock!”

Vinyl puts the needle to the tables, and the music starts, sounding somewhat different than before. I guess she's putting those new mixing techniques to good use. With that, all of the ponies in the room break apart and start mingling with one another. Several of them approach Rose to introduce themselves. Rose treats them all just as stiffly as she does everyone else. I wonder if that's a defense mechanism of sorts. Oh whatever.

I pass by Fluttershy on my way to the food. She retreats timidly from me, but she does give me a small wave. And just before I get to the food table, I run into Lyra with a giant fucking smile on her face that makes me want to bash my head open on that wall over there. Why. Why does this keep happening to me.





I walk into my room with a heavy sigh, covered in sweat. This has been one hell of a day, and I'm tired. 

That party lasted well past midnight. Poor Rose kept trying to get out of it the whole time, but every time she tried to walk upstairs, Pinkie or some other pony would intercept her and pull her back to the festivities. I could have helped. I didn't.

No, after meeting Lyra, I essentially got pulled to the dance floor, where I met up with Rainbow and we had some fun chilling out there. Thankfully Rainbow rescued me from Lyra, by inserting herself into my dance.

Anyway, I'm stuffed full of cake and other sweets. It's a good thing I eat so healthy most of the time, because I eat sweets quite a lot here. 

After tossing my clothes in all directions, I take a quick shower, and then collapse on the bed. Okay, what am I doing tomorrow? I'm spending some time on the farm, and then doing magic shit with Twilight. It'll be an exhausting day, but it shouldn't be particularly stressful. 

Well, this is my life now, I guess. I'm technically still just getting up, going to work, and coming home. I have Rainbow and Apple Bloom to spend time with if I get some time to myself, but what I really need is a project of some kind. 

I don't think I had a project or goal to go for back in my time though. I think all I cared about was hanging with Amaryllis, or my brother. Because the latter was awesome, the former I was in love with.

Wow, I'm thinking too much. Funny how being transported three thousand or so years into the future can change how you look at life. I'm going to sleep now. 





This time, I'm finally allowed to wake up on my own. According to the clock, it's just before eight. Good. I have enough time to eat and get dressed before heading out to Applejack's farm. Though what she's going to have me do in this snowy weather is beyond me.

Ugh. I still don't know how to do laundry. I'll take care of that after my lessons with Twilight. For now, I'll just wear my Rarity-themed clothes again. They're slimy, but basically all I'm doing is physical work, so I don't think it matters. 

Oh, speaking of work. I reach into the pockets of the clothes I wore in Canterlot and pull out the hairband that Apple Bloom got for me. I don't look very good wearing it, but at least it'll keep my sweaty hair out of my eyes when I'm working. 

Once I'm dressed and ready, I walk down stairs to see no sign of Vinyl. That makes sense, I guess. She's probably still asleep, because she was up later than I was last night. Unfortunately, that means she's not making me breakfast.

Whatever. I walk into the kitchen and throw open the refrigerator door. Let's see, there has to be something edible in here that I can make. Oh, sweet, there's three eggs in here. I remember how to make scrambled eggs, so I'll get started on some of those. Generally I only use two eggs, but since you can't really do a thing with one egg, I take all three.

I have to do a bit of rummaging about to find a bowl that will work. Once I do, I take it as well as a fork from one of the drawers. I take a quick moment to put on my hairband (so none of my hairs falls into the bowl) and wash my hands.

I crack the first egg on the side of the bowl and pour the yolk in. Okay, that was easy enough. Hopefully I don't fuck this up. I take the second egg and...oh, there goes a bit of the eggshell. Goddammit. “Well, I fucked that up,” I remark. At least my hands are clean. Grimacing a bit, I pick out the piece of shell and toss it into the sink with the rest of the eggshells.

Once all three egg yolks are in the bowl, it's a simple matter to beat them with the fork and then pour the resulting mixture into a pan on the stove, after greasing said pan with a stick of butter that I found in the refrigerator. Speaking of the stove, I actually don't know how to work it.

And it's not that hard to figure out. There's one of those orbs set into the front of each burner. Which means this thing uses magic to run. Now that would be a problem if I didn't have some myself. I tap the orb corresponding to the burner the pan is on, and channel some magic into it. Sure enough, the burner lights up and starts cooking my eggs. This is fucking surreal as hell. Touch to ignite. Imagine if my shitty ass burner in my college dorm worked like that. Instead, I had to turn the dial and hold it until the piece of shit lighter actually worked.

Excellent. I won't need to worry about that for a few seconds. I take a clean rag and scrub the bowl that I'd just used until it's clean, before I put it back where I found it. I doubt Vinyl would appreciate me leaving her a mess.

Just as I pick up the spatula to scramble the eggs, I hear Vinyl thudding her way downstairs. She soon joins me in the kitchen, but I can tell she's not really awake yet. Mostly because she looks like she's being held upright by a string, and her eyes are still mostly shut.

Vinyl yawns widely and obnoxiously, and then blinks a few times before she realizes what she's seeing. “Seth? Are you...cooking!?” she asks incredulously, approaching the stove and peering into the pan.

“Yeah. I took the last of your eggs, but I'll replace them,” I assure her. I'm not pleased that she woke up before I finished.

“I don't care about that, but...you? Cooking?” Vinyl repeats, astonished. She proceeds to pinch herself a few times, as if to check whether or not she's dreaming.

“What about it?” I ask in irritation as I flip over the egg mixture again and again, until it starts breaking apart.

“Nothing bad, it's just...weird to see you acting....domestic,” Vinyl remarks, poking my leg with a hoof. 

“Oh, fuck off,” I groan, wishing that I'd just waited for her to wake up and do it herself. This is what happens when I try to do something for myself. Ugh. “Seriously, I'm only doing it because I'm on a tight schedule, and I couldn't wait for you to wake your lazy ass up.”

“And...it's awesome. This means I don't have to make myself breakfast. There's enough in there for me, right?” Vinyl asks, peering into the pan. “Oh yeah, that's three eggs.”

Okay, apparently I'm sharing with Vinyl. I mean, I can't really say no. It's her food, after all. It just means I won't be eating as much before working. “You can have some if you want,” I say with a shrug.

“Awesome!” Vinyl exclaims. She pulls a plate out of a cupboard with her magic and then sits down at the table and proceeds to watch me expectantly. Ugh again. 

The eggs are ready, but I prefer them to be a bit browner before I actually turn off the heat. So in the meantime, I pull down a loaf of bread from the top of the refrigerator...only to realize that there's no toaster. Okay, I'll just have to improvise then.

I take a smaller pan from the cupboards and grease it with butter again, and then place two pieces of bread in it. Let's see if this works. I start up a separate burner, and place the pan on it. That'll take a few seconds.

Anyway, the eggs are done, so I turn off the heat. “Eggs are done. Come get however much you want,” I tell Vinyl, who doesn't waste any time in bringing her plate up to the stove. As she gathers some eggs, she looks at the bread.

“What are you doing?” she asks curiously as I flip over the bread in the pan.

“Improvising. Apparently ponies don't have toasters,” I answer, turning off the pan once the bread looks sufficiently toasted. 

“Uh...yeah we do,” Vinyl says with amusement in her voice. I turn and look at her as she reaches into a higher cupboard and pulls down whats unmistakeably a toaster, with one of those orbs set into the bottom. 

I look between the toaster, and the pan that I just used. “Oh, son of a bitch!” I complain, realizing that I'd just done all that extra work for nothing, and therefore created more clean up work for me to do. Vinyl's reaction is to laugh raucously at my misfortune. “Why couldn't you have left that out on the counter, with the rest of your kitchen utensils?”

“Because I don't really use it! Still though, I can't believe you toasted your bread with a frying pan! Oh dear Celestia!” Vinyl is entirely too tickled by my oversight.

“Shut up. It worked, didn't it? Now eat your damn eggs before I shove em down your throat,” I grunt in annoyance.

Still chuckling, Vinyl takes her seat back at the table, where I soon join her, with my own plate filled with eggs. The next thing I do is pull out my bag of bits. “So how much for a dozen of eggs?” I ask. Vinyl looks up at me, confused.

“Why do you need to know that?” she asks.

“Because I used your food. I want to pay you back for that,” I explain impatiently. “Just fucking tell me so I can eat.”

“Nah, don't worry about that, bro. It's just three eggs,” Vinyl says with a dismissive wave of her hoof, much to my irritation.

“Vinyl, I won't be a freeloader. I'm going to pay you back,” I snap at her. Vinyl stops, and then sets down her fork.

“No, you aren't. I won't take your money for something this simple,” Vinyl expresses. Holy shit, really? You're going to give me trouble now, all of a sudden?

“Seriously? Just tell me, it's not that big of a deal,” I demand. Vinyl shakes her head stubbornly.

“You're right, it's not that big of a deal. So keep your money,” she insists.

“I swear to god, if you don't tell me, I'm going to just give you ten bits and be done with it.”

“Why are you being so stubborn? It's just three eggs! That's literally not anything worth talking about,” Vinyl snaps, actually sounding irritated. As I open my mouth to give her a piece of my mind, she continues. “You're making me food. I was probably going to get up and cook these eggs myself. So you're doing me a service. If anything, I should be paying you.”

“That's totally bullshit. It's still your food. And I always pay for you to feed me,” I point out, though I admit to myself that she does have a point.

“Right. It's my food, that you cooked for me. Your payment and mine cancel out. So no money needs to be exchanged!” Vinyl declares. I look at her with an incredulous expression. 

“Your logic is ridiculous,” I say, but I do put my bits away. She does have a point, I suppose. Even so, I did just come downstairs and cook her food without asking. I still feel like I should pay her something. I take out a single bit and push it towards her, only for her to put it right back in my bag with magic.

“No. Bad Seth,” Vinyl chastises me like some kind of pet, causing me to raise an eyebrow. “Put your bits away.”

“I am, sheesh. Crazy mare,” I grunt. With that, the argument ends, and I start eating my eggs and toast at last.





After cleaning up all the dishes I left behind, I finally leave Vinyl's place, heading for Sweet Apple Acres for work. I'll get the bulk of my bits from this job, so I'm looking forward to it. Sort of. Actually, not really. If I wasn't getting paid, I wouldn't be doing this. Whatever.

As I walk, I pull out the hairband and put it on in preparation for the day ahead. It still feels and no doubt looks weird, but I'll sacrifice that for comfort. It's only temporary, after all.

When I approach Sweet Apple Acres, I notice a few things out of the ordinary. First, there's snow everywhere, but that's because it's winter. Secondly, Carrot Top is here for some reason, equipped with saddlebags filled with gardening tools. She's talking to Applejack about something that I can't make out.

Well, I can make it out now that I'm in earshot. “...might not get all of them planted by the time that storm hits,” Carrot Top is saying frantically, pointing a hoof at the horizon. Storm? I didn't think that was coming for a few...holy shit. 

Looking in the distance in the direction she pointed, I can see a massive storm bank coming from the direction of Canterlot. Shit, is that what Rainbow's been working on?

“Don'tchu worry 'bout a thing, Carrot Top,” Applejack assures her. “We got at least another day before that monster hits us, and we got extra hands on deck this tahme.”

“Hands? What are you...oh,” Carrot Top begins, but then she sees me walking towards her and gulps. Ah, seems like Applejack spotted me first. “Hello, Seth. I didn't know you worked here.”

“How did you not? I've worked here since the day I got to Equestria,” I remark. Carrot Top winces at my tone. “Well, maybe a day after I got to Equestria.”

“Yup! Seth's been helping me out fer a while now,” Applejack agrees. Suddenly she does a double take, looking at my hair. “Whoa now. You look...different.”

“Blame your sister. She got it for me. It makes me look like shit, but it is practical,” I explain with a shrug.

“Ah didn't say it was bad. Just different. Ah actually like it,” Applejack compliments me. I raise an eyebrow. How can she like this stupid...oh. It's probably because her mane and tail are also tied up like this in a manner of speaking.

“Right. Thanks, I guess. So what's Carrot Top doing here?” I ask, thrusting my thumb at the mare in question.

“She works here too, on occasion. Mostly during the winter season, when carrots are in demand,” Applejack explains. “That leads me ta what yer doin' today. That storm's comin' quick, so ah want ya ta help plant all them winter crops before it gets here.”

“Winter crops? That's a thing?” I ask with a raised eyebrow. I always wondered what farmers do during the winter. 

“That's right,” Carrot Top answers with a smile. “Carrots are actually year-round crops, but during this time of year, celery, leeks, potatoes, onions, and other such crops can grow.”

“Huh. I actually didn't know that,” I admit, scratching the back of my neck.

“Learn somethin' new everyday,” Applejack agrees. She adjusts her hat, and then gets down to business. “All raht, we've wasted enough time. Seth, ah want ya ta go with Carrot Top. She'll direct ya from there.”

“Got it,” I reply simply, looking at Carrot Top. “I guess I'm working with you.”

“Um...okay. Well, come with me. We have a lot of work to do,” Carrot Top responds. She beckons to me with a hoof, and then the two of us head towards one of the other fields. “First thing we have to do is prepare the fields for planting. Then, we'll plant the carrot seeds first, followed by the leeks and celery. That'll likely take us all day.”

“I figured as much. Whatever. Let's get started then.”





Yeah, it does take us all day, and it's also worse than the standard work day here. For starters, it's cold as fuck, and after I get working, it feels both hot and cold, and it's just unpleasant. Secondly, I have to do everything by hand. Basically what that means is Carrot Top points me to a fucking hand plow and pretty much told me to get to work.

Yeah...hand plows. Like, seriously. You know, those things that humans don't use anymore because we have giant fucking machines to do it for us. So this is annoying as hell that I have to do it the old fashioned way.

And by god, it's the most backbreaking work I've ever done in my life. It's essentially pushing a heavy object through a surface that doesn't want to move. So I have to give it my all just to get it to move. For hours. Motherfucking ow.

That takes me forever and a goddamn day to do. Thankfully Carrot Top isn't that hard of a taskmaster. As long as I'm trying my hardest, she lets me take short breaks every now and then to rehydrate myself. 

Once the plowing of the first field is done, Carrot Top and I work together to plant the seeds. First, she shows me how to plant them, since I've never planted a seed in my damn life. Then, we start from opposite sides of the first field and work our way towards one another.

That takes us another hour. But once that field is done, guess what I have to do next? Fucking plow another field. I swear to god, if this doesn't help bulk up muscles, I'll murder something.
And then we rinse and repeat. I don't feel like I need to explain any further that we just plowed and sowed, plowed and sowed for the entire fucking day.

No, if anything, I feel I should note that Carrot Top seems less afraid of me now, and is being much more friendly and talkative. Halfway through the day, she starts talking about her family and everyday life, much to my annoyance. However, I'm too busy plowing to tell her that I could really care less. You're not Rainbow; we're not friends.

“All right, you can rest now. We're finished for today,” Carrot Top finally tells me as we finish planting the leek field. Oh thank god. It takes all of my willpower not to fall flat on my back from exhaustion. “You've been a great help...and I'm sorry for being so frightened of you the first time we met.”

“What are you talking about?” I pant. Carrot Top flushes slightly before she answers.

“As a little filly, I grew up hearing about humans and their accomplishments. You were these mysterious, wondrous figures with terrifying powers,” she relates. Oh great, I'm getting another excerpt of her life story. At this rate, she should go be a history teacher. “When I saw you at my stall, I was shocked and scared. I had no idea what you were like; I only knew what you were capable of.”

“That's a good way to think about us. Some of us...or most of us...are fucking lunatics,” I say, nodding in agreement. “So what changed your mind?”

“This. Interacting and working with you. You're not that different from us after all,” Carrot Top answers with a smile. 

“I'm not sure if that's a compliment or an insult,” I grumble, unsure if I like being compared to ponies.

“A compliment of course. You're a decent and hardworking sort. Those traits will take you far in life,” Carrot Top assures me approvingly. Oh sheesh, spare me.

“Whatever,” is my simple response. I turn around and start to walk away. “If you're working here in two days, I'll see you later.”

“Okay! Have a good evening, Seth!” Carrot Top calls after me as I leave the field. Whatever. I just want to get paid and go relax. And by relax, I mean sit on a cushion while Twilight rants at me about magic and shit.

When I walk into the living area, I catch a whiff of a rich apple aroma. Oh. Seems like somepony is cooking.

Big Mac, who is resting on his haunches next to the stairs, gives me a terse nod when he sees me walk in.

“Where's Applejack?” I ask him. Rather than using his voice, Big Mac points a massive red hoof towards the kitchen. “Thanks.”

“Eeyup.”

Yeah, seems like the rest of the family is in the kitchen. Apple Bloom is setting the table in preparation for dinner, while Applejack and Granny Smith are finishing the meal. “Seth!” Apple Bloom exclaims upon seeing me. She hurries and finishes setting the table before coming to see me. She gasps, and then smiles happily when she sees my hair. “You're wearing my present!”

Applejack and Granny Smith look at me now as well. I roll my eyes. Guess I'm the center of attention now. “Yeah. It does help when I'm working,” I say. And suddenly there's a happy filly in my arms. Ugh...she's always acting overly affectionate. Like a cat that can talk. “Oh. Well hello there.”

“Now ain't that nine shades o' adorable?” Granny Smith comments, nudging Applejack, who nods in agreement. “You come ta eat dinner with us, sonny?”

Okay, it wasn't even Applejack that asked me this time. And now they're all looking at me hopefully, especially Apple Bloom. Goddammit, I am not doing this. Oh right, I have a legitimate excuse this time.

“Not this time. I made a lot of food with Twilight two days ago that we have yet to finish,” I tell them. Granny Smith nods in understanding. As for Apple Bloom, I get a little disappointed, “aww,” that makes me feel a little guilty.

“Hold up, you made food with Twilight?” Applejack asks disbelievingly. “Ah thought you n' her  don't get along?”

“We don't. But she's teaching me, and I was hungry. So we made food,” I explain. Seconds later I realize something strange. When I first met Applejack, I probably would have said something along the lines of “I don't have to explain myself to you.” But I just did explain myself to her. Ugh, this fucking world is making me soft.

“Ah okay. Well, then. Here's yer pay,” Applejack replies, fishing out a jangling bag of bits from a drawer. I look inside to see twelve bits. “There's more in there cuz I stuck ya with plowin' in the snow . That's a difficult job.”

“Hmph, I suppose,” I mutter, seeing the logic in that. That plowing was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

“Anyhow, you have fun with Twilight now,”  Applejack says to me in a friendly manner. Good. After fulfilling Apple Bloom's need for physical affection, I set her down. 

“I'll see you all in two days, I guess,” I tell them before leaving the kitchen, and then the building entirely. The first thing I do before going any further is take off this ridiculous hairband. I'm done working, and there's no way I want to deal with the shit Twilight will give me for wearing it.

That leaves me with only one thing left to do for today. Gotta go see Twilight, and then eat the rest of that delicious pie.





“Hey Seth! Come on in,” Twilight greets me happily, beckoning me inside with her hoof. I do so, noticing that the area is immaculately clean and set up for the lesson. God, she gets way too into this, I swear. “How was work? You look pretty tired.”

“Oh gee, I look tired? I guess that comes with pushing a goddamn plow for eight hours straight,” I retort irritably at Twilight's blatantly obvious comment. “Before we start, can we do food?”

“Oh, of course. We still have some of that fruit salad we made left. Not to mention the pie,” Twilight says with a twinkle in her eye. She seems to have ignored my snappy comment entirely. 

“Oh fuck the hell yes,” I say, my mouth already watering in anticipation of the meal to come.

Needless to say, we devour the hell out of that pie. Oh yeah, we had the fruit salad first, but who cares about that? Pie is more important. 

After food is over with, I take my place on one of the cushions on the floor and watch as Twilight pulls down the scroll. “How's your reading coming along?” Twilight asks as she opens one of the books on the table in front of her.

“It's coming. I haven't memorized all the symbols yet, but I can make a few basic words. You should probably keep drawing those pretty little pictures,” I answer wryly. Twilight giggles a little at my wording, and then she clears her throat.

“All right then. We'll start off today's lesson by discussing the composition of mana particles, and how they blend together to form magic at its base level,” Twilight begins. “Mana particles themselves are...”

I listen to her talk with a somewhat interested expression. I guess this is what I'll be dealing with for who knows how long. 

I have to say, ever since I got to Equestria, I've been living a much healthier lifestyle. Daily exercise, healthy meals, you name it. 

However, if given the chance, I would definitely want to go back home. This life isn't bad...but I want my old one back. I want my family. I want Amaryllis.

But thinking about that will only make me sad. I guess in the end, there's nothing I can do except carry on. That's what they would have wanted, I suppose.

	

	
> 39. The Calm Before the Storm
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	She should have been here by now. Which means I'll be kept waiting for who knows how long. She probably took a fucking nap or something and forgot, which would piss me off. Ugh, if you make an arrangement, fucking keep it, and be on time. I always am.

Anyway, I'm just ranting and I haven't explained what the hell is going on. So right now, I'm sitting on a barrel in a grassy glade, waiting for Rainbow to get her little ass over here so we can have our race.

Yeah, a race. It's been a month and a half since I got back to Ponyville from Canterlot, and I've been training or working non-stop for the whole time. It's been hell, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel  damn good about myself right now.

I lift my right arm, checking it over once again. I can't believe that this arm is mine. Because of all the heavy lifting I've been doing, my arms are slightly larger with noticeable muscles running through them. Well, the same could be said for the rest of my body as well. Can you believe I finally have a damn six pack? This is like, more than I could have imagined. 

Then there's my hair. Because I've never let anypony come near me with a pair of scissors, my hair has grown continuously. It used to be shoulder length. Now it's starting to fall down my back. It's a pain to take care of now that it's this much longer, but I love it.

A lot has happened over the last month and a half. Everything pretty much stuck to the schedule for a while, but as soon as I learned to read and write Equestrian, I had this gap in the middle of my day  to do absolutely nothing. Or I could have gone and worked extra hours at Sweet Apple Acres if I ended up having nothing to do. Which was most of the time.

One thing I did was read through the first of those human books I've been hearing so much about. They're shit. Complete and total shit. The pony who wrote them had no idea how human anatomy worked, and assumed we all ran around naked tossing fireballs at each other. The plot was kiddy and nonsensical, as it revolved around some guy with pointed limbs attempting to take away harmony from the world. In other words, a complete waste of paper, though a lot of ponies believe otherwise. Like Rainbow. She liked them at first, but after I explained how wrong they are, she now takes them with a grain of salt.

I also ended up writing to Octavia a few weeks ago, and after sending a few letters, she actually came down to Ponyville for a visit. She knew somepony named Noteworthy, who ended up being a blue stallion with a penchant for music. He actually had a piano and let us use it, provided we bought him lunch. So I had a practice session with Octavia, playing that one song we worked on last time, as well as a few others that she'd brought with her.

I've also earned quite a lot of money. I'm sitting at around 320 bits, which according to Applejack is almost enough for the down payment on a house in Ponyville. If I can gather 350 bits, I can finally move out of Vinyl's house...and then work like crazy to pay for the rest of the house over the  next few months. So in three days, give or take, I'll have enough money.

To sum all this up, I feel pretty good about things, relatively speaking. Literally, as well. Being this fit as compared to before, I generally feel better. Less random ass pains, and I certainly don't get tired as much as before. Did I mention I can run for the full hour with Rainbow Dash and only get slightly winded now? Damn, I've never been this fit in my life.
Okay, I've been reflecting long enough. Where the fuck is Rainbow? Ugh. I scan the skies slightly, but there's still no sign of her. Well then. I guess I'll be reading this book after all.

I take a large book out of the satchel hanging at my side. Yeah, Rarity made this for me after I'd spent one afternoon helping her fill an insanely large order from Canterlot. And no, I wasn't doing any sewing. Just menial tasks that would make her job easier. 

Anyway, this book is called Advanced Spells and Incantations, by that one kook Twilight keeps going on about. Starswirl the Bearded, I think it was. Even though most of the spells in this book are so complicated I can't even begin to fathom them, I still find it an interesting read. It's insane, the kind of things ponies have come up with. Some of this magic can do things science never could.

After a few minutes of poring through this book, I happen to hear Rainbow coming. I shut the book with a snap and place it in the satchel, as I won't be needing it any longer. Looking up, I spot Rainbow zooming towards me with a panicked expression on her face. Probably because she realized she was late and knew I'd be pissed. Which I am.

Rainbow hits the ground hard and skids slightly, showering the nearby fence with dirt. “Oh shoot, I'm so sorry. I lost track of time while practicing my tricks,” she apologizes, and then she smiles, happy to see me.

“I figured as much. At least you weren't fucking sleeping,” I grunt, nonetheless annoyed despite her apology. Rainbow winces, but doesn't say anything to defend herself because she knows she messed up. I probably won't stay mad at her for long. She's not perfect, but almost every time I can recall having fun in this world of technicolor ponies, she's been involved. “So when do we have to be at the glade for this picnic or whatever?”

“Not for at least an hour. Trust me, we got time,” Rainbow answers me with an assured grin. 

“That was never the issue. I just want make sure I get there on time. You know, that thing you can't do,” I remark, unable to resist the chance to poke a little fun at her.

“Oh come on, it could have happened to anypony!” Rainbow protests, and then she starts to pout. Which looks hilarious enough to make me chuckle. “Also, did you get new clothes? Like, without sleeves this time?”

“Damn right I did. I asked Rarity to give me something simple I could train in, and she came up with this,” I reply, somewhat pleased that she noticed. Yeah, I'm wearing something very simple. By that, I mean a black sleeveless shirt that clings tightly to the contours of my upper body, and a set of similarly colored casual slacks. “She wasn't happy making something with nothing but black fabric, but she understood when I explained why. Black absorbs more heat, and this is winter.”

“That makes sense. I like it though. Really shows off those muscles you've got now. Nice job, by the way,” Rainbow compliments me. I raise an eyebrow and look at her suspiciously. “What? It's a compliment.”

“Careful. Any further and you'll start to sound like Lyra,” I point out, which immediately gets Rainbow to flush in both irritation and embarrassment.

“I'm nothing like her! You take that back!” Rainbow snaps at me, mortified. Her reaction gets me to laugh. Basically, at one point, I'd told Rainbow about how Lyra always flirts with me to piss me off. Rainbow had been understandably horrified by that. 

“Whatever. Just saying,” I say with a shrug and a smug grin. Rainbow huffs, but she decides that's the best she's going to get out of me.

“Now, shall we do this? I've been dying to see how fast you can go,” Rainbow asks, bringing the subject back to the initial purpose for our little meet up here.

“Yeah, me too. I've never really had a reason to test my limits,” I agree, stretching my arms out. “This should be enlightening. So what's the start and end point?”

“We start here, of course,” Rainbow responds as if it should have been obvious. She laughs at the deadpan expression I give her, and the scans the horizon, looking for a good ending place. “Those hills right there. All the way on the other side of the town. See them?”

“Those are really far away,” I remark, spotting them. “I don't think I've actually been over there before.”

“Make sure you don't stop to sight-see, or I'll leave you in my dust!” Rainbow taunts me, whipping her mane back self-importantly. Ugh, she's bragging again.

“Like I'm really going to,” I retort. Just for once, I want to beat her and knock her ego down a few notches. “Just tell me when to start. And no cheating, or I'll kick your fucking ass.”

“I wouldn't cheat! Come on, that kind of accusation is uncalled for,” Rainbow responds, looking offended. I just shrug. I meant what I said; take it how you will. Suddenly, Rainbow gets a devious expression. “Say, why don't we make a bet out of this?”

“Depends on what the terms are. I'm not really one for being overly competitive,” I tell her. It's true. I'm only doing this as a way to test my own limits, as I'd said before.

“Okay, get this. If I win, you have to show me all that human music on your...fun-thingy,” Rainbow declares. I choke with laughter at the way she described my phone. That sounds really wrong.

“It's a phone, Rainbow,” I correct her. She waves a hoof dismissively, obviously not caring what it's called. “What happens if I win?”

“Um...if you win...I'll...do whatever you want for a day,” Rainbow suggests. I raise an eyebrow. It's a good thing she's my friend, because I'd could make that day a living hell for her with that kind of bet. Even so, I think I'll take this bet. If she wins, we'll have a blast listening to music. I already want to do that, but I've been putting it off because of work. If I win, I'll make her come with me for work and training tomorrow. Either way, I technically win.

“Sounds good to me. I guess start us off whenever you're ready,” I finally reply. Then, I hop off of the barrel I'm sitting on an easily tap into my magic, unleashing it with a primal roar. Unlike a month ago, I immediately enter base form without having to try. And my base form is much stronger than before, to the point where darkness is licking off of me like flame, yet it's still stable and doesn't really drain me.

Rainbow hunches down into a ready stance, her wings spreading and fluttering slightly. “Are you ready? On three. One...”

“Wait, on three, or three and then go?” I interrupt with a cheeky grin. 

“I said 'on three' didn't I? Try listening next time,” Rainbow returns with a huff. “Now then. On three. One...two...THREE!”

The moment she says that, the race begins. Rainbow propels herself into the air with her two back legs, her wings flapping furiously. I set my arms to my side and blast off into the air like a rocket, my magic leaving a dark trail behind me. Yeah, I became able to fly a while back, as one of the first things Rose helped me learn.

Almost immediately, we're neck and neck. I'm increasing my speed steadily in an attempt to overtake her, but she seems to be doing the same thing. Damn, she's really fast.

The wind blasts into my face, causing my hair to stream out behind me and my pants to flap like crazy. It feels exhilarating, as this is the fastest I've ever flown. Hell, I haven't really flown that much since learning how.

Rainbow's mane and tail are streaming out behind her as well. She turns her head and grins, her eyes narrowed. She looks determined to beat me. That's fine. I'm just trying to see how fast I can go. With a grunt, I kick it up a notch, pushing my magic output to a higher level in an attempt to bypass Rainbow. It's not working. She's easily keeping up with me. Hell, neither of us can get a lead on the other.

Suddenly, I start to feel a strange resistance in the air. Like something is trying to hold me from going any faster. A quick glance at Rainbow shows me that she's experiencing the same thing, but it doesn't seem to be bothering her. Instead, she's speeding up more.

I do the same, but the faster I get, the more I'm being resisted. It gets to the point where it feels like I'm trying to fly through molasses. Next to me, Rainbow looks even more determined.

Finally, I can't go any further. I seem to hit an impassable, elastic barrier that completely halts my momentum, and then reverses it, sending me spiraling backwards wondering what the fuck just happened.

Rainbow...HOLY FUCK! Rainbow just keeps going, and then I have to clamp my hands to my ears as a thunderous crack echoes throughout the air. Rainbow speeds up exponentially, and a set of concentric, circular rainbows emanate outwards from where Rainbow had left me behind.

That...was a Sonic Rainboom, wasn't it? And...that resistance I was feeling was the sound barrier, wasn't it? Which means she just fucking broke the sound barrier and left me behind. Shit, well...this magic makes me extremely fast, but not supersonically so. 

Well, I've lost. By a landslide. Still, it feels surreal, having come into contact with the sound barrier, even though I didn't break it. Humans aren't meant to do that without planes to protect them from the g-forces, yet I just did. Fucking magic, man.

I collect myself and start a leisurely flight over to the hill. I already know I've lost, so there's no hurry.

In fact, Rainbow actually flies back to meet up with me after reaching the end point. She has a giant fucking grin on her face, which causes me to sigh and mentally prepare for her bragging. 

“Hey Seth! Did you check out my awesome Sonic Rainboom? Nopony's ever seen it that close up before,” Rainbow exclaims, soaring up and and joining me in my flight.

“I still don't understand how that even works, but it was definitely trippy, that's for sure,” I admit. “So I guess you win.”

“Heck yeah I do. I saw you get knocked back, and I knew I'd won,” Rainbow proclaims proudly. She nudges me good-naturedly. “You have a while to go before you beat me.”

“Thanks for rubbing it in, you dick. Just be glad I can even go flying with you,” I snap back at her, not appreciating her bragging at all. 

“Sorry. But yeah, it's totally awesome! You should come flying with me more often. Not like a race, but more like our runs. Only in midair,” Rainbow replies casually.

“Sure, I guess. So when do you want to hear all my music?” I ask, changing the subject.

“How about tonight? I don't have anything to do,” Rainbow suggests. Then she brightens up with an idea. “Hey, we'll get take out on the way home tonight and rock out while we eat.”

“That actually sounds good,” I admit. I'm actually starting to look forward to it. It's been so long since I've listened to any of my music. There was never any real call for it over the past month because I'm always working, training, or doing something. I don't have headphones, and carrying the phone around with the speaker to my ear isn't really conducive to multitasking. “Anyway, we should probably get over to the glade now.”

“What? But it hasn't been an hour yet,” Rainbow complains.

“Because I should definitely trust your sense of time, miss twenty minutes late,” I shoot back at her. Hah, she really needs to stop setting me up for these jokes.

“It was one time! Come on!” Rainbow defends. “But I suppose you're right. Even if we're early, we can still do a little flying.”

“And, you know, we'll also be early. Which is almost always a good thing,” I tease her again. Rainbow huffs and shoves me...which sends me reeling because we're in midair and I haven't really learned how to keep a stable flight path. “Really?”

“Oops, sorry. I forgot you're new at this,” Rainbow apologizes...and then her eyes shoot wide open when I tackle her in retaliation. Since we're still flying, we end up tumbling around in midair. “Oh, you want to do this? Let's go...oh stoppit, tickling isn't fair!” 

“It totally is. Maybe this will teach you not to fuck with me,” I return. As we continue our dumb airborne shenanigans, the morning sun rises higher in the air, shedding its light over the peaceful town of Ponyville.





Rainbow and I touch down in the grassy glade together, both panting slightly after wrestling with one another. Despite all my physical progress, Rainbow is stronger than I am. Which makes sense, considering she's been exercising a lot longer than I have, and I'm not exactly the herculean example of fitness. I just have a lot more muscle mass now than before.

“Dude, you are definitely stronger than before. I could feel it,” Rainbow comments as we walk through the field together. 

“Yup. I suppose I have this world to thank for it. If I'd stayed back in my time, I'd never have exercised like this,” I confess to her.

“Least now you fit in a little more. Everypony in this town has at least some kind of muscle mass,” Rainbow continues. She has a point, since the farming industry is pretty important in this town.  “Unless you're Pinkie Pie.”

“Hah. How can you have muscle working around all that sugar?” I agree. How Pinkie stays as slender as she is is beyond me. Then again, I don't think obesity is a problem among ponies, as far as I've seen.

“Right? Though now that you mention it, I want some cupcakes now,” Rainbow expresses, rubbing her toned stomach with a hoof. “Especially that spicy kind Pinkie makes.”

I'm just about to ask about how a spicy cupcake can be good, when the voice of another pony interrupts us. “Why, hello, you two!” It's Rarity. She's resting on her haunches, using her magic to lay out a red and white checkered tablecloth on the grass. She's also wearing a wide brimmed sun hat, for whatever reason. Sure, it's particularly nice out for a winter day, but I don't think it warrants clothing like that. Or maybe she's just trying to look good. Whatever, I don't care. “You are here earlier than I expected. Especially you, Rainbow Dash.”

“Is everyone going to pick on me about that today!?” Rainbow, protests, planting her face in her hooves while I laugh at her expense. Thank you Rarity, for playing along with my joke, despite it being unintentional.

“We're here early because I dragged her here,” I add wryly. “We had nothing else to do after our race.”

“You raced Rainbow? Is that why I saw a Sonic Rainboom over the town?” Rarity asks curiously, adjusting her hat with magic. I mentally groan as Rainbow puffs herself up self importantly.

“Yes he did! And I beat him so hard! Nopony can keep up with me when I go supersonic!” Rainbow boasts, pressing a hoof against her chest.

“You say that as if there were ever any doubt,” I deadpan. “Congratulations, you beat a guy who's only been flying for half a month, as opposed to you, who's been flying your entire life.”

“He has a point there, Rainbow,” Rarity remarks. All of this serves to deflate Rainbow slightly. 

“But...you're selling yourself short! You were fast enough to keep up with me until that point,” Rainbow argues.

“Are...you trying to compliment me, so that you can brag more effectively?” I ask in disbelief. Rainbow pauses, and then dips her head. “Really?”

“Maybe a little...but I'm also being honest,” Rainbow admits. Then, to change the subject, she looks at Rarity. “So what's for lunch?”

“Hm, you'd have to ask Applejack. She's the one cooking for us all,” Rarity reveals. She peers down at the tablecloth with a scrutinizing expression, and then she proceeds to smooth out the wrinkles. That seems rather unnecessary. When we all get here, that's probably not going to stay pristine like that. “I'd imagine there would be apples involved, however.”

“Holy shit, a pony named Applejack is bringing apples? Say it isn't so!” I gasp melodramatically, sarcasm practically dripping from my voice. Rarity looks at me with a flat-browed expression, while Rainbow just snickers. “Shut up, Rarity, that was funny.”

“I didn't say anything, dear,” Rarity informs me, looking confused.

“You were thinking it.”

“So you told me to shut up because of an assumption you made?” Rarity questions with a raised eyebrow. “Seems rather irresponsible.”

“I could also care less. Now where's everypony else?” I ask, crossing my arms and looking around.

“Now, Seth, we're still earlier than the appointed time. No doubt it'll be a while before...” Rarity begins, but she cuts off when a piece of the grass just next to her pops open like a lid to reveal Pinkie's head, emerging from some kind of tunnel or another...from seemingly nowhere. 

“Hi!” Pinkie greets us all as we stare at her in varying shades of confusion, incredulity, and sheer what the fuckery. Pinkie pulls herself out of the tunnel and shakes her body, scattering bits of dirt over the tablecloth.

“Pinkie, darling, honestly!” Rarity complains, lifting the dirt off of the cloth with her magic and placing it elsewhere. “You really must be more careful.”

“I'm always careful! My right back leg got all achy, so I knew I had to emerge here, and only here, or something bad would happen!” Pinkie assures Rarity, none of her words making any kind of sense to me. Then she turns and looks at us. “Hi Rainbow! Hi Sethie!”

“Stop calling me that,” I say flatly, but I don't think she even hears me at this point. After greeting us, she puts the “lid” of grass and dirt and places it back over the hole, where it seals up as if tehre had never been a hole there. Seriously, everything she does is what the fuck.

“S'up Pinkie? Did you bring the desserts?” Rainbow returns her greeting, her tongue hanging expectantly out of her mouth. Hate to break it to you, Rainbow, but Pinkie just came out of a hole in the ground. There's no way she brought any...holy fuck did she just pull a basket out of her fucking mane?

“You betcha! I brought all kinds of sweets! Muffins, cookies, cakes, cupcakes, donuts, brownies, and...” Pinkie begins. As much as all of that sounds incredibly awesome, I have to interrupt her.

“Question! How the fuck did you fit all of that in that tiny little basket? Second question, you just crawled through a hole in the ground! Wouldn't there be dirt and/or hair all over it?” I demand. Pinkie's smile doesn't drop at all.

“Nope, everything's fine! More than fine, actually. Look at this!” Pinkie reaches a hoof into the basket and pulls out a fucking three layer chocolate cake in pristine condition and places it on the cloth. Like, seriously. Even after I take a closer look, there's no sign of dirt or hair on it. How the fuck...? “But wait, there's more!”

The three of us watch in wonder as Pinkie proceeds to pull out even more desserts from that tiny little basket as if nothing is wrong. What the fuck is this, Time Lord technology? You know what, fuck it. I don't care anymore. 

“Oh, that looks delicious,” says a soft, timid voice, just after Pinkie removes a vanilla cream pudding from the basket. Fluttershy flies down to join us. She's carrying a basket with her as well, though if the clanking I hear is anything to go by, it doesn't contain food.

“Fluttershy! How good of you to join us,” Rarity greets her first. Pinkie shifts around until she's next to me on the shorter end of the cloth so that Fluttershy can sit next to Rarity. Rainbow is on my left, sitting on the longer end opposite Rarity. “Did you bring the plates?”

“Um...yes,” Fluttershy answers, setting down the basket and opening it. “I also brought silverware and napkins. I wouldn't want us to make a mess.”

“And by 'us', you mean Pinkie, who almost showered Rarity in dirt,” I remark. Rarity sniffs, agreeing my words, while Pinkie just smiles widely and lets my insult roll right over her head without reacting.

Rarity and Fluttershy start to distribute the plates. By that, I mean Fluttershy takes the plates out of the basket, while Rarity grabs them with her magic and passes them out to the rest of us, as well as for those who aren't here yet.

They will be here soon, though. I can see Twilight and Applejack walking towards us in the distance. They're both carrying baskets. Applejack I know has the food, but what is Twilight bringing? Drinks? I sure hope so. She's the one who planned this thing, so she better have thought of that.

“Was that you, Rainbow? The Sonic Rainboom, I mean,” Fluttershy asks, practically answering her own question. God, that was a dumb question. You know anypony else who can pull one of those off?

So Rainbow seizes the opportunity to stroke her own ego, and Fluttershy just eats it all up, making the problem worse. Goddammit Fluttershy. 

Anyway, while that's going on, I reach over towards one of the cookies Pinkie brought...only for Rarity to smack me on the hand with a fork. “Ow! What the fuck, Rarity?” I say, withdrawing my now stinging hand.

“Ah ah ah, Seth. Don't be touching the desserts until after the meal,” Rarity scolds me with a knowing smile. 

“Seriously? What are you, my mom?” I demand, considering just taking the cookie anyway. 

“Well, somepony has to fill in the role, at least when it comes to teaching you manners,” Rarity responds, puffing herself up and looking uppity. “Come now, you need to keep up your healthy habits, if you want to keep those muscles you've been working on.”

“I suppose,” I grumble, but she has a point. Just as I'm backing off from the argument, Pinkie reaches forward, takes the cookie I'd been going for, and promptly crunches into it. “And how's that fair!?”

“Pinkie, you're setting a terrible example for Seth here,” Rarity turns to scold her next. Pinkie looks between us innocently.

“What? Oh. Oopsies!” Pinkie then proceeds to gulp down the rest of the cookie, licking her lips afterward. “Ooh, I love chocolate. I'll have to try putting marshmallows in them next time.”

“Howdy everypony!” Applejack and Twilight are here at last. Applejack set down the basket, from which is emanating a delicious aroma. “Ah brought the food!”

“Hey girls! I'm glad you could all make it,” Twilight greets us next. The two new arrivals proceed to get settled amongst us. Applejack sits next to Rainbow, while Twilight sits across from Pinkie. In her basket, I can see a steaming teapot, along with a cups and a jug of water. Ah, excellent. She did think this through after all. “I hope you're all as hungry as I am, because Applejack brought a lot of food.”

“Seth, ah'm surprised ya even showed up fer this,” Applejack remarks. I look at her oddly at that. “Ya don't really seem like the picnic type.”

“I'm only here because you sent Rainbow to ask me, and she said there'd be cake!” I retort, which gets a laugh out of everypony there.

“And there's lots of caaake!” Pinkie trills happily in a sing song voice.

“Awesome! Now then, I'm starving, pass out the food!” Rainbow responds eagerly. Applejack chuckles and takes off the cover of her basket, revealing sandwiches, salads, and even some apple turnovers in there. Rainbow immediately snatches one of the sandwiches, much to Rarity's annoyance.

“Rainbow, that wasn't very polite,” Rarity chides her, but then she sighs when Rainbow ignores her and takes a massive bite out of the sandwich. “Ugh, why do I even bother.”

I get myself a sandwich as well, even though it's nothing but lettuce, tomato, and cheese. There's time for more...especially those sweets. The only time I get to eat those are when Pinkie throws a party, or if I were to buy them. Since I'm cheap as fuck, I never buy them. I only buy what I absolutely need, after all.

With that, the talking ceases for a minute as we all start chowing down on the food. The silence doesn't break until Rarity finishes up her first sandwich. She wipes her mouth daintily with a handkerchief before sighing in satisfaction. “It's hard to believe it's still winter,” she expresses happily. “It's just gorgeous outside. Simply gorgeous!”

“Good to know my state's weather never gets any better,” I remark in response, even though I know that it's the pegasi that control the weather. I'm not sure about temperature, though. That seems more like it would be under the sun's control.  You know, that thing that Celestia claims to have control over. Which I still don't believe. 

Twilight is just about to chomp into an apple when she appears to realize something important. She puts down the apple and looks around. “Say, where's Spike? I could have sworn he was right behind me,” she asks curiously.

“Oh, I thought somebody was missing,” I comment.

“How could I have missed his absence? Oh dear me,” Rarity says, looking slightly worried. “Are you sure he left the house with you, Twilight?”

“Absolutely. He was right behind me when...oh, there he is,” Twilight cuts off in the middle of her retracing. She points a hoof towards town. I follow her hoof to see a very frantic looking Spike, who looks like he's carrying something in his claws. Oh, and he's also sprinting as fast as those tiny legs can carry him. “I wonder what's got him in such a hurry.”

“Ah reckon we'll find out in a minute,” Applejack notes wryly. 

Not even a minute later, Spike runs into the middle of our picnic (but thankfully not over the food, or I'd have punted him into next week), panting like crazy. “Twi...light! I...have...oh whatever, here,” Spike wheezes, handing Twilight a rolled up piece of parchment that's surprisingly emblazoned with the royal insignia. Which means it's from Celestia. Wonder what the mind-reader wants from her this time.

All of the ponies I'm sitting with scoot towards Twilight in an attempt to see the letter. Twilight lifts up the scroll with her magic and unrolls it,before immediately starting to read aloud to us, for whatever reason. “Dear Twilight. I'm sure you're as excited as I am about the upcoming wedding in Canterlot...” Twilight cuts off there, looking at the rest of us. “Wedding?”

Rainbow promptly loses interest, as do I. Weddings. Seriously? Why would any of us care about something like that? It's not like any of us are getting married. Heh, the day I get married is the day the world ends. I go back to eating my food, though I can't help but hear the rest of the letter.

“I will be presiding over the ceremony, but I would very much like for you and your friends to help with the preparations for this wondrous occasion,” Twilight continues. “Fluttershy, I would like you and your songbird choir to provide the music.”

“Oh! Goodness me, what an honor,” Fluttershy marvels, looking proud of herself. What? Songbird choir? Is that a thing she has? I've never heard of anything like that. Not to mention, you have a fucking Royal Canterlot Orchestra. Why not use that? I'd much rather hear Octavia be a badass than listen to a bunch of birds trying to tweet in harmony. The very idea sounds ludicrous.

“Pinkie Pie, I can think of nopony more qualified than you to host the reception,” Twilight says next, not looking away from the scroll.

Pinkie proceeds to do a cartwheel, narrowly missing the cake, before finally coming to a stop right in front of Spike's nose. “Hooray!” she exclaims. Okay, that part I'm okay with. That way we'll have a bunch of sweets for the reception. And her cake is delicious. 

Even so, this is rather odd. Why would Celestia want a bunch of random ponies like...oh. Duh. It's because they're the so-called Elements of Harmony. So yeah, I guess you can say they're important enough to warrant roles like this. I guess I keep forgetting that because they never act like it.

“Applejack, you'll be in charge of the catering for the reception,” Twilight continues.

“Why, color me surprised. Ah feel mighty important right now,” Applejack exclaims, but she looks happy at the chance to display her cooking at the wedding.

“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight says, looking at the mare in question next to me. Rainbow still doesn't look impressed. In fact, she yawns widely, showing her lack of interest to everyone here. “I would very much appreciate it if you could perform a Sonic Rainboom as the bride and groom complete their vows.”

“Yes!” Well, now Rainbow seems to be interested. Great, so now I'm alone in hating the very idea of this. What the fuck am I going to do if all of these ponies go to Canterlot? My only source of income will be Vinyl, and that's not everyday. Great, so much for fucking buying a house. Thanks a lot, Celestia. Bitch.

“Rarity, you will be responsible for designing the dresses for the bride and her bridesmaids,” Twilight proceeds to read the extremely long letter. Throughout the course of that sentence, Rarity's jaw drops lower and lower, until it practically hits the ground.

“Princess Celestia wants me to...” Rarity attempts to ask, but she trails off into a stream of incoherent babble. “Wedding dress...for a Canterlot wedding?”

Fluttershy does her best to catch Rarity as she wobbles precariously, but ultimately fails as the fashionista hits the ground in a melodramatic faint, smiling happily. Yup...they're all leaving. My mood plummets at that.

“And as for you, Twilight, you will be playing the most important role of all: making sure everything runs according to a smooth schedule. I hope to see you all soon. Yours, Princess Celestia,” Twilight finally finishes, though she looks far from satisfied. 

“Really?” I interrupt, crossing my arms. That gets the attention of the other ponies around me. “So...you're all just going to go to Canterlot.”

“It appears so,” Applejack answers helpfully. My eyes narrow.

“Good thing I was fucking invited. I guess I'll just stay home, twiddle my thumbs, and get paid for all the work I won't be doing!” I snap, my bad mood turning into anger. “Seriously! I was this close to buying a damn house, and now this happens.”

“Wait, Seth, there's more,” Twilight cuts in before I can fully lose my temper. She clears her throat again. “P.S: Tell Seth that if he's interested, he's more than welcome to come along. I'm confident you can find something for him to do.”

“There! Now you can come with us!” Rainbow proclaims, pulling me close to her with a hoof. She then whispers into my ear. “Now I won't have to suffer alone.”

“Oh really? And have you even thought about this? Where are we staying throughout all of this? Canterlot's not exactly the cheapest place to stay, you know. Either way, I'm getting screwed out of my money,” I correct her, pushing Rainbow away from me. “Fucking weddings. I hate weddings.”

“How could you hate...” Rarity asks, now sitting back up. Well, she started to ask, but Applejack cuts her off with a hoof and a shake of her head. Good. I don't want to answer that anyway. God, this is one giant inconvenience for me. Just wait until I see Celestia again.

“I still don't understand,” Twilight emits, putting the scroll down. “This is the first I've heard of this wedding. Who's getting married, and why are we needed for it?”

“There's a good question,” I grunt.

“Oh! Hold on a minute,” Spike suddenly exclaims. He then holds out another scroll to Twilight. “I probably should have given this one to you first.”

I have to facepalm at that. Twilight rolls her eyes, but she does take the scroll from him and unroll it. This time, everypony here walks around her to get a better view.

“Princess Celestia cordially invites you to attend the wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and...” Twilight abruptly cuts off with a gasp when she reads the next line. “...my brother!?”

Wait a minute, I recognize that name. Huh. So Princess Cadance is getting married. Well what do you fucking know?

	
> 40. Return to Canterlot
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	That's....okay, I guess this wedding is actually somewhat of a big deal. I remember whenever there was a royal wedding back in my time, everybody and their mother would be up in a clamor about it, whether that meant gossiping about it with their friends or watching it on TV. 

And Cadance? I met her for a little while, and she was...tolerable. I'll give her that. I remember her mentioning a “coltfriend,” but I didn't realize they were so close that they were getting married. Still though, I'm not happy about having to go. Getting a place to stay will take a huge chunk out of my  money. I mean, the option to stay here is there, but then I'll be losing money as well. So it's basically choose whatever I hate less. Would I rather be alone with no friends (since if it's a royal wedding, the entire town is probably going to go), or go with them and be bored. Fuck it, I guess I'll go.

Twilight, however, appears to be in shock. Yeah, I suppose that's how anybody would feel if they were told their sibling was getting married to a princess. Though I do find it interesting that she even has a brother, and that he was dating Cadance. Slowly though, I start to see the slightest hint of anger starting to show in her face.

“Congrats, Twilight! You must be so happy,” Applejack congratulates her, grabbing Twilight's limp hoof and shaking it. Twilight's eyes narrow, and she yanks her hoof away.

“Yeah, I'm SO happy to hear about this wedding from a slip of paper!” Twilight rages, tossing the scroll on the ground. The other ponies here look at her with shock, while I just watch with interest. I've only ever seen her mad once, and that was at me. So this is somewhat entertaining to see her angry at somebody other than me. “Why couldn't my brother tell me about this himself!? I mean really? Thanks, Shining Armor.”

Twilight then proceeds to impersonate her brother poorly. Then it hits me. “Hold on a second, what?” I interrupt her in the middle of her rant. The other ponies look at me now as if I've grown a second head. They probably think I'm nuts for getting in the middle of this. “Did you just say, 'Shining Armor?'”

“That's right. My brother's name is Shining Armor. Why, have you heard of him?” Twilight asks, surprised by my interruption.

“Your brother...is the Captain of the Royal Canterlot Unicorn First Regiment. The Shining Armor,” I repeat incredulously. I remember when I saw Shining Armor for the first time, the way his mane settled around his neck reminded me of somepony. Now it makes sense. His manestyle is similar to Twilight's. Oh son of a bitch, I tried to get out of training with Twilight, and got landed with her brother instead. The fucking irony. Still, Twilight keeps surprising me with how important she is. Personal student of Princess Celestia and she has a brother who's the Captain of the Guard and is about to become a fucking prince. Christ.

“Yes, that's correct,” Twilight says, still somewhat confused. Meanwhile, the jaws of the other ponies listening in hit the fucking ground.

“Wow...Equestria is a small fucking place. Did you know I trained with him during my trip to Canterlot a month and a half ago?” I reveal, much to Twilight's surprise. Even Rainbow looks surprised at me for that. I guess I never told her that much.

“Oh, so you already know my brother. Did he say anything about me at all?” Twilight asks hopefully.

“Nope, not a thing. Hence why I didn't know he was your brother,” I answer her. Her face falls, and then she gets angry again.

“He didn't? Is he not even thinking about me? Why would he make a decision like this, and not even tell me about it? Why did I have to find out from a stupid invitation!?” Wow, Twilight is more pissed than I've ever seen her. “Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Who is that, who even is that!?”

She...hold on a minute, Cadance was her foalsitter. How does she not remember her? Or maybe she doesn't recognize Cadance's formal name. Which would make sense, considering Cadance didn't seem to like it herself. You know...I could tell her...but this is rather entertaining. So I think I won't.

“Twilight, are you okay?” Fluttershy asks, trying to comfort her friend. Twilight looks like she's about to blow a gasket, but then she forces herself to calm down with a heavy sigh.

“Sorry...it's just that my brother and I always used to be so close,” Twilight laments. “He's my BBBFF!”

I'm sorry, what the fuck did I just hear?? What the fuck did she just call Shining Armor? Turns out none of the other ponies here have a clue what that means either, because they're also looking at Twilight with confusion.

“Big brother best friend forever,” Twilight explains, clearly not amused. While the other ponies give sounds of understanding, I give a snort.

“That's fucking dumb. How about you never say that again?” I ask rudely. Twilight turns her head and fucking growls at me.

“Can you not be...yourself right now? I'm definitely not in the mood,” Twilight snaps. Oh, just not be myself. Seems easy enough.

“I'll get right on that,” I retort. At that, Twilight gives off a frustrated huff. Rainbow sidles up to me.

“Can you give her some slack? She's really mad,” Rainbow whispers. I shrug. It's not my fucking problem if she wants to flip a lid over nothing. So what if her brother didn't tell her? It's really none of your business who your brother is fucking. What? That's literally all marriage is. I probably wouldn't have gone to Adam's wedding...unless he asked very nicely and there was cake.

“Before I came to Ponyville, Shining Armor was really the only pony I accepted,” Twilight continues, venting to her friends. Which doesn't include me, because I don't give a fuck. Suddenly, Twilight starts to hum a sad little tune. Wait really? Is this about to happen right...and she's singing.

Okay, do ponies really do this? I remember Pinkie breaking out into song randomly, but she's Pinkie. Lyra did it at one point, but she had her lyre to back her vocals. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle did this really cool improvised piece earlier, but I assumed that was just a talent of theirs.

Right...I'm just going to tune this out and pretend it isn't happening. I guess it might be a cultural thing. Whatever.

Anyway, so Shining Armor, that really hard ass captain that first trained me how to defend myself against basic attacks, and how to control the basic flow of my magic in general...is now marrying Cadance, that princess that took me to a concert, which was the best fucking thing ever. That's a bit of a revelation. 

It makes sense though. No doubt only a captain would have the status necessary to court a princess. Though I can see why they'd date. They both are pretty chill when not on duty...and fuck it, I hate having to care. Because I'm probably going to end up helping to prepare this wedding, I have to care about their relationship...which I hate doing. Fuck relationships, and fuck weddings ten times more.

“Twilight,” Applejack says after Twilight finishes...whatever the hell she was doing. Nopony else seems to be batting an eye at her impromptu performance. “As one o' yer good friends, I think yer brother sounds like a good guy.”

“He is...they don't let just anypony be Captain of the Royal Canterlot Unicorn First Regiment,” Twilight agrees sadly. “They're in charge of the defense and security of Canterlot itself. Their captain needs to be somepony we can all trust.”

“So...let me get this straight,” Rarity inserts, looking somewhat manic. “We're helping out with the wedding of not just a princess, but also the Captain of the Royal Canterlot Guard!?”

“I...guess we are,”  Twilight says with a heavy sigh. At that, Rarity proceeds to faint again, while the other three ponies start to whoop and laugh joyfully, as if this were an incredible opportunity. When I say three, I mean that Rainbow is still sitting next to me.

“Maybe this won't be so bad after all,” Rainbow remarks to me. “A Sonic Rainboom...at a royal wedding? This is going to be a great wedding!”

“That's not saying much,” I snap back at her, annoyed at this whole thing. Rainbow looks at me oddly. “I hate weddings. Not only am I being dragged to one because the alternative is staying here entirely alone, but there's also Twilight drama going on. This can't possibly get any worse.”

“Aw, come on, it won't be that bad. Come hang with me while I warm up for the wedding. Watching me do my tricks should take your mind off things,” Rainbow suggests in an attempt to cheer me up. Yeah...no.

“Thanks for the offer, but no. Chances are, you'll be flying around non-stop, with no time to hang with me,” I point out. Rainbow raises a hoof and opens her mouth to protest, but then she shuts it, realizing I'm right. “Plus, I have to find some way to make up for the bits I'm going to lose finding a place to stay.”

“No you don't. Since we're the Elements of Harmony and all that, every time we go to the castle on business, we get a royal suite!” Rainbow informs me excitedly.

“That's great, but I'm not an Element of Harmony,” I remind her.

“So? That doesn't mean you can't take advantage of it. Come stay with me in my room. We can listen to your music there too if we're lucky enough to get some free time,” Rainbow offers. That's...huh, I didn't even think about that. That's a pretty big favor...but in the whole month Rainbow and I have known one another, she's never tried to use her past favors as leverage against me. I guess I pretty much trust her at this point. At least for stuff like this. 

“I guess that's fair. Even so, there's probably something else I could be doing to help with the wedding preparations while you're warming up,” I reiterate. Rainbow sighs and nods in understanding. She seems a bit disappointed, for whatever reason. “By the way, when is this wedding? All I know is that we're going to it.”

“It's...huh, I actually don't know,” Rainbow realizes. She turns her head to the sulking Twilight.” Hey Twilight! When is this wedding supposed to be?”

“Tomorrow,” Twilight answers sullenly.

“Holy fuck, really? Then we need to get going right the fuck now,” I express, looking around at the other ponies. “Who the hell planned this thing? Are we seriously going to be able to get everything ready by tomorrow?”

“Ah agree, we should get going. Though you should calm down a bit, Seth,” Applejack responds.

“Calm down!? You don't throw together a goddamn wedding at the last minute like this! Enough celebrating! Get moving! Let's get our tickets and get the fuck to Canterlot!” I'm practically yelling at this point. I don't see why I care, though. Probably because if I'm going to find some way to get paid for this, I have to make sure it goes according to plan. Though that's technically Twilight's job.

With that, I make sure to grab a handful of sweets, and then we start packing up the picnic, as something for more important lies on the horizon. I better get paid a lot for helping out with this, or I'm going to be mad.

Since Twilight is too busy being a drama queen, I take command. “Applejack, you find someplace to put all the cloths and stuff until we get back. Pinkie, take the food back to your place and store it. Rainbow, go get in line for tickets, and yes, there will probably be a line for a fucking royal wedding,” I order. Everything I say comes out sounding pissed off, but that's fine with me.

“Sure, ah kin do that.”

“Okie dokie lokie!”

“I'll be back in a flash!” With that, the three ponies I addressed split off to do the tasks I gave them. 

“What are you going to do, Seth?” Rarity asks curiously. Well, I certainly can't go in just what I'm wearing now. Or I can, but it needs something to make it look more formal. And I know just the thing.

“I'm going go get that white coat you made for me. You know, the really epic looking one,” I tell her. Rarity gives a happy smile at that. I also feel a little excited. To wear that coat I mean. What's the big deal about this white coat? Oh trust me, you haven't fucking seen it. It's epic as hell. I actually paid Rarity for that one, despite her protests, because it is that fucking cool. “Now then, I'll meet you all at the train station. And make sure Twilight doesn't sit there and sulk for too long.”

Without waiting for a reply, I flare my magic and take to the air, as it will be the quickest way of getting to Vinyl's place without getting interrupted. 

You know, moving around like this makes me feel like a character from Dragon Ball. Then again, this flight ability is exactly the kind of thing they use. This is kinda awesome.

So because of how much faster this method of travel is compared to walking, I reach Vinyl's house in a manner of seconds. Without knocking, I walk inside to see Vinyl...also packing. “Hold up, where are you going?” I ask curiously. 

“Oh, hey Seth. You don't know?” Vinyl responds, looking up from preparations. She seems to be loading up all her musical equipment into that massive cart again. “There's going to be a royal wedding tomorrow, and I want to be there.”

“Seriously? So am I like, the last one to find out about this?” I demand furiously. Technically the eight of us found out at (by eight, I mean Twilight, her friends, and Spike) the same time, but they're less important.

“Shoot, I thought I'd mentioned it to you at one point. Sorry about that,” Vinyl apologizes with a sheepish expression. “Are you coming too?”

“Apparently I am. Celestia contacted Twilight and told her to bring me along to help with the preparations,” I explain, cutting out the minor details that don't matter. “What about you? Why are you bringing all your musical stuff?”

“Do you have to ask? It's for the after-parties, bro! Ponies from all over Equestria are gonna show up to see this, and the reception ain't gonna be the only party,” Vinyl expresses with an excited grin. “I'm gonna make a killing!”

“Right...well, then maybe I'll see you there. Since Celestia was a dumb fuck and decided to let us know NOW that we're supposed to set up the whole damn wedding, I have no time to waste talking to you,” I tell her, and then without waiting to hear her respond I dash up the stairs and into my room. Throwing open the closet, it's an easy matter to spot my coat and grab it, though I make sure to be gentle with it, because it really is a work of art. I don't know much about tailoring and what terms and what not, but I'll do my best to describe it. 

When I say coat, I don't mean it's one of those fluffy winter things you put on. No, when I say coat, I mean one of those really long ones. Rarity had it in her head that she wanted to make something truly fancy, and she more than outdid herself. 

I put on the coat, loving the feel of its weight settling on my shoulders. This coat is so long, the ends of it dangle just slightly above the ground. Yeah, its one of those. I'd also like to clarify that it's not  one of those coats where the designer got lazy and decided to just make a standard jacket...longer. The cloth splits at the back at the waistline, and the edges of the split are trimmed with stitched polyester that looks almost like leather, except grayish, to contrast with the coat's mostly white coloring.

As for my shoulders, there's a set of epaulettes, but non in the usual sense. For example, there's no dumb looking tassels or anything like that. Instead, the cloth is a different color on top of my shoulders, and hangs down the side of my shoulders loosely, stopping just above my elbows.

There's a set of silver buttons running down my chest that are solely for decorative purposes. No, there's a small black stretch of stiff cloth that I zip together on my chest, as well as two straps and buckles. This coat is long sleeved as well. And lastly, on the area where my wrists would go, there's a set of fancy gray bracers.

In other words, this coat is sick as fuck. I also told Rarity I'd never wear this thing to work, which she agreed with. She said it would be more appropriate to wear if I ever returned to Canterlot. Which I am. So I'm wearing this thing. God, I feel like a total badass.

Once I zip up the coat and fasten the straps, I'm ready to go. Hopefully the other ponies did what they were told, so that we can just hop on the train and go. We have a lot of shit to do, after all, and it doesn't seem like Twilight's in any mood to do the role she's been assigned. Which means unless one of the other ponies steps up to the plate, it'll be my job. Dammit, I'm no leader. Twilight better not make me have to be one. Though on the other hand, if she fucks off, I'll get paid that much more.

Vinyl does a double take when I walk down the stairs. “Dude...that outfit. Holy mother of Celestia,” she gasps, looking at the coat in awe. I can't help but preen a little. Yeah, I do look awesome. “Rarity really went over the top for that. Still...looks awesome!”

“Thanks. Since I'm going to wedding, I might as well look my best,” I reply, adjusting my hair so that none of it falls into the collar. 

“Wow. At this rate, you're going to make me look bad,” Vinyl comments appreciatively. Of course, that sets me up with the perfect opportunity to mess with her.

“Oh please, like you need my help to do that,” I tell her nonchalantly, moving for the door. Immediately, I'm hit in the head with a roll of paper towels.

“Oh, get the heck out of my house,” Vinyl retorts good naturedly, though she's picking up another roll. 

Chuckling, I open the door and take to the skies again. 





I land just outside the train station, where the train itself is idling and getting filled with ponies. It seems everypony is trying to go early as well...if you call the day before “early.” Seriously, just you wait until I can give you a piece of my mind, Celestia. This is some bad planning on your part.

The line is massive, but I can see Rainbow at the front of it now, exchanging her bits for tickets.  That's good. And there's Applejack and Pinkie approaching the station, though the latter is literally bouncing instead of walking. I approach the two of them expectantly.

“Good. If we leave soon, we might have a chance of pulling this off,” I address them without even greeting them first. Applejack and Pinkie glance at me, and then they both double take.

“Whoa there, that's a right fancy outfit yer wearin',” Applejack observes. She reaches up a hoof and touches it with a hoof. “This Rarity's work?”

“Yeah. The only thing I actually paid her for...and would you stop that?” I turn down and bat at hand at Pinkie, who is giggling and batting at the ends of my coat with her hoofs. 

“It's like you're wearing two really really big streamers on the back of your coat! It's a brilliant idea!” Pinkie exclaims, batting at them once again despite me attempting to fend her off. “Can Rarity make me one of these?”

“I most certainly cannot,” Rarity answers, walking up to our little group next, dressed in a fancy , yet practical dress of her own. Behind her, she's lugging a large cart filled with her luggage. “It's not that simple, darling.”

“Aw, why not? Sethie looks so fancy in that coat. Why can't I have one?” Pinkie asks, her excitement not dropping even a little.

“I swear to god, I will smack a bitch if you don't stop calling me Sethie!” I snap at her, even though it's been a month and a half, and she still has yet to acknowledge one of my attempts to get her to stop.

“Because, the design I used for this coat would fall flat if I were to extend it to ponies,” Rarity begins. Fluttershy joins us in the middle of Rarity's explanation, though she greets us so softly we hardly hear her. “You see those drapes on his shoulders? Our shoulders are not nearly as broad as his, so it would look simply awful, with all of that loose fabric hanging down.”

“We're wasting time. Where the fuck is Rainbow and  Twilight?” I say, cutting across Pinkie's no doubt inane response.

“Twilight? Oh, she's been here,” Applejack answers, indicating the unicorn in question sitting near the edge of the train platform, completely alone except for a helpless-looking Spike.

“Oh, she's still sulking. Great. Do I need to smack some sense into her so she doesn't leave me to do all the directing?” I ask, though my question isn't really directed at anyone other than myself.

`”Ah...don't think that would be a good idea,” Applejack says haltingly. “She's pretty scary when she's mad. Though ah don't think she's got anything ta be mad about.”

“I agree. Her brother is getting married! I assume he didn't tell her because he wanted it to be a surprise!” Rarity adds.

“I don't know...” Fluttershy trails off, but she was cut off by Rainbow landing in our midst, eight tickets clenched in her mouth. She then gives one to each of us...though let me tell you, it is odd taking something from a pony's mouth.

“Okay, where's Twilight and Spike?” Rainbow asks urgently. Applejack shows her as well. “Okay. Let's go. Once I give them their tickets, we can get on the train. Also...awesome outfit, Seth.”

“At least somepony around here understands how last minute all of this is,” I grumble, while Rarity beams at the praise to her work. Thankfully though, we stop our idle conversation and start moving towards the platform. When we near Twilight, Rainbow approaches the sulking mare tentatively, holding the tickets.

“Hey Twi. Are you ready to go? I have your tickets,” Rainbow addresses her carefully. Twilight looks up slowly after a few seconds. She smiles weakly at her friend and takes the tickets, passing one to Spike with her magic.

“Yes, I'm ready. Sorry,” Twilight replies shortly. She turns around to see the rest of us. She looks at my coat curiously, but doesn't really say anything about it. I have half a mind to kick her ass out of this self-induced snit she's put herself in, but we have no time for that.

“Okay, everybody has their tickets. Now let's get going,” I order, motioning everyone towards the crowd attempting to get into the train. “Why can't we get a compartment to ourselves like we did last time?”

“We actually can. Hello? Elements of Harmony?” Rainbow remarks, waving a hoof in my face. I push her hoof down with wry expression.

“Is that how we got one last time? Because I doubt Vinyl was important enough for one,” I say, putting two and two together. 

“No, actually. Vinyl paid for a reservation beforehoof,” Rainbow explains with a grin. “But we're on business for the princess this time, so we get our own.”

“I see. And it seems like you all know what you're doing as far as that goes,” I reply, noticing the others taking the lead. I tag along with them, walking onto the train behind them, handing my ticket to the conductor as I do so.

We all take our seats. I sit between Rarity and Rainbow, and Applejack, Spike, and Pinkie surround us. Twilight chooses to seclude herself, continuing to sulk over at the front of the compartment. She stays like this even as the train starts to move.

The ponies around me are chatting excitedly and animatedly, hardly even staying in their seats. Ugh. This is going to get really annoying.





“I can't wait! A Sonic Rainboom at a royal Wedding?” Rainbow says once we're far into the trip, repeating her words from earlier today. “Can you say, best wedding ever!?”

Pinkie takes a breath, and then proceeds to scream extremely loudly, “BEST WEDDING EVER!” This causes me to clap my hands to my ears, while the others just laugh. Goddammit, she can be really annoying.

Because my hands  are over my ears, I miss Spike's remark, but it gets the girls laughing again, so it was probably something dumb. I think it's safe now, so I lower my hands.
“How long is she going to sit over there?” I demand, changing the subject away from the wedding for a second. I indicate Twilight with a wave of my hand. “She's acting like a foal.”

“Now, I think that's a little harsh,” Rarity chides me. “It's all right for her to be a little shocked, and perhaps worried. After all, she's never met this Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.”

“Yeah, well, I don't care what her reasons are. She needs to snap out of it and do the job Celestia gave her, or I'm going to have to take over, and I really don't want to do that,” I retort. “And neither do you. I'm not fun to work under.”

“Ah don't doubt it,” Applejack responds wryly. “Now how 'bout I go over there an' try to cheer her up?”

“Good luck with that. It's difficult to get her out of her slumps,” Spike inserts. “And this...well, I wouldn't say she gets like this often.”

“I suppose it's worth a shot, regardless,” Rarity decides. “I say do it. Shall I go with you, Applejack?”

“Nah, don't want her ta feel outnumbered. Leave it ta me,” Applejack determines. She gets to her hooves and walks over to Twilight, while we watch carefully. I don't think this is going to go well for her. 

I can't really hear what they're saying over the sounds made by the train, but as I suspected, it isn't going well. Twilight is waving her hooves around animatedly, a furious expression on her face. Finally, Applejack appears to give up, and she walks back to us with her mouth set in a thin line.

“Ah couldn't get through to her. She seems mighty possessive of her brother. Claims he won't have time for her,” Applejack reveals. “Ah tried tellin' her otherwise, but she wouldn't listen.”

“Why, that's absurd. They're family, right? Why wouldn't he make time for her?” Rarity states her opinion, looking over at Twilight. 

“That's what ah said. But she seems all hung up on the issue that he didn't tell her about the wedding,” Applejack relates.

“Pathetic,” I rejoin, shaking my head. They other ponies all turn to me with worried expressions. “That's all it is? Getting upset that someone can't spend time with you is foalish and stupid. You can't change the way things are.”

“Seth, must you be so critical?” Rarity gets on to me yet again. It seems like she's always the one scolding me whenever I say something like this. “I don't excuse Twilight's behavior, but I understand it. It's natural to crave the attention of your family. Do you have siblings?”

“Rarity!” Rainbow hisses at her in warning, but it's too late. I shut my eyes, remembering Adam. I can't really relate. While I enjoyed spending time with him, it wasn't that big of a deal if he was busy. That's why I always let him choose the times we'd get together. 

“I'm not talking about my family. Ever,” I express to Rarity firmly. She blinks at the change in my tone. “To be honest, I don't care what she's feeling. All I care about is that she can do the job.”

“Okay, Seth. Stop,” Rainbow finally joins the conversation fully, looking at me. “You can't judge her because she misses her family. That's just wrong.”

“She should be happy she even has one,” I retort, and that in particular makes all of the ponies listening wince. 

“I...think I understand,” Rarity begins, picking her words carefully. Oh do you? This oughta be good. “You are angry because you think Twilight is taking her brother for granted.”

“Fuck your assumption, that's...actually not far off,” I say, halting off in the middle of my retort. “Have you been taking lessons from Celestia? Because you're reading my mind.”

“Oh dear, don't put me on Celestia's level. She's been alive far longer than myself. I'm just being  observant and empathetic,” Rarity explains, giggling slightly. Then she composes herself, looking serious. “I know the feeling isn't reciprocated, but I consider you amongst my friends. As such, I want to see you happy.”

I scoff, but I'd be lying if I said her words didn't mean something to me. I think I've said this before, but I'm so used to people not giving a shit what I'm feeling. In my time, nobody put forth the effort to know me. Sure, they'll talk to me. Or they'll ask if something's wrong. But when it becomes more than they've bargained for, they leave to find somebody simpler.

These ponies have faced the brunt of my anger and cynicism, at some point or another, and they keep trying to be my friend. It's baffling.

“Oh! We're here, we're here!” Pinkie screeches, sticking her head out the window. “Canterlot ahoy, captain!”

I look out the window as well, and notice something odd. Actually, not odd. As in, downright strange. There's a massive shimmering dome surrounding the entire city, colored pink. It's almost like a force field of some kind. There's also a massive military presence. I can see large groups of pegasi flying through the air around the castle, and legions of royal guards patrol the streets. Hell, there are even two guards standing on either side of the railroad just in front of the barrier...which we're about to hit.

The horns of the two guards light up, and the portion of the barrier closest to us starts to ripple like water. The train passes through it entirely.

“What the...” I start as the thin pink membrane of the barrier passes through the train and through me. My body starts to tingle unpleasantly at the contact. Rainbow and the others also appear slightly uncomfortable from the contact. “The hell was that?”

“I dunno, Canterlot didn't have this kind of security the last time we were here,” Rainbow answers, as confused as I am. “Did something happen?”

“Who knows. I guess we'll get a chance to find out,” I state as the train slowly comes to a stop at the typical station.

When the door opens, the first thing we all notice is the sheer amount of military presence here on the platform. There's guards everywhere, and I mean everywhere. There's practically an entire squad of the here, all armored and heavily armed with spears and swords. I think they're all from the Canterlot Royal Unicorn First Regiment, so they're all under Shining Armor's control.

“So many guards...seriously, what's the big deal?” Rainbow demands as the doors open. She walks out, followed by Rarity.

“I'm sure they're just taking precautions. These weddings can bring out the strangest of ponies, after all,” Rarity reasons. As if on cue, Pinkie walks out of the train and sneezes fucking confetti like it's no big deal. I'd say what the fuck, but I feel like I say that every time I see Pinkie doing anything. “Now, we should get moving. We all have a lot of work to do.”

“And Twilight, you should go congratulate your big brother,” Applejack says with an encouraging smile to the still sullen Twilight.

“Right....congratulate...” Twilight says in a dangerously soft voice. “And then I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!”

And off she goes, joining up with one of the guards, who proceeds to escort her away. Which leaves us entirely without our organizer. “Shit, really? Now how are we going to get to work without her directing us? Do all of you know where you're going?” I demand irritably. 

“Well, ah'd assume ah'd be goin' to the castle kitchens to get the food ready,” Applejack answers, putting a hoof to her chin. Okay, that makes sense. I look at Rarity.

“I'll be going to my suite to get started on designing the dresses. I not only have to create one for the princess, but also for her bridesmaids,” Rarity explains next. She's starting to look a little stressed. “Oh dear, it's going to be a difficult task.”

“I'm going to the great hall! I've got to put up all the decorations, and get the party games set up. Oh! Not to mention contact musicians and write up a guest list!” Pinkie exclaims, bouncing around me in circles like an annoying fly. “Busy busy busy!” 

“I guess I'm just gonna fly around and get myself warmed up,” Rainbow adds. That's true, she does have the easiest job out of all of us. What's probably going to happen is that she's going to take turns napping and flying.

“I'm meeting with the rest of my birds in the garden. We have so much rehearsing to do,” Fluttershy finishes. Right...I forget that they've all been here before.

“So...I'm the only one who hasn't a clue what to do,” I say flatly, looking between them all. They all exchange glances, and then nod in confirmation. “Then why am I even here? Is there something I can do to help any of you?”

“Hm...ah suppose ah could use some help in the kitchen...there'll be a lot of food ta cook,” Applejack suggests. “There's the apple fritters, the cake itself, the pies, you get the picture.”

“Hold up, I thought Pinkie was making the cake?” I ask curiously.

“Nope. Ah got tasked with caterin', so it's mah job,” Applejack clarifies. Oh great. I've tasted 
Applejack's cooking at the picnic, and it's decent, but I don't think she can compare to Pinkie, because she is a baking wizard.

“You could always come with me to help with the dresses, like you've done before. I'll pay you for your trouble, of course,” Rarity adds. “After all, I do have a lot of dresses to make.”

I wait for more suggestions, but it seems like that's all I'm going to get. Rainbow and Pinkie don't need my help, and there's no way I'm sitting in a garden for an entire day listening to a bunch of dumb birds try to sing. I still think the idea of a bird choir is just fucking stupid. Seriously. Royal Canterlot Orchestra. You have one! Fucking use it. Ugh, idiots. I feel sorry for Octavia not getting to play in this.

“If those are my only options, I'll come with you, Rarity,” I decide, causing the fashionista to beam. The last time I tried cooking, I was only following a recipe, and that doesn't make a good cook. “I'm not that great of a cook, so I feel I'd just slow you down, Applejack.”

“Aw shucks, ah know how hard of a worker ya are. You wouldn'ta slowed me down none,” Applejack assures me. “But this is fine too. Anyhow, we should get movin'. Like you said, we don't have much time.”

“Right. Let's get going then.” I agree, and together the seven of us leave the train platform, heading for the castle.

It seems calm now, but I bet I'm going to be stressed as hell by the time we get started. Fucking weddings, man.
> 41. Wedding Preparations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	So I have a lot of observations to make on our way to the castle. If I thought the amount of guards outside on the platform was a bit much, that's nothing compared to the amount of guards in the streets. There's so many of them, I'm starting to think that Rarity's suggestion that they were here to safeguard the wedding is bullshit. This is less like increased security, and more like preparations for a large scale battle. Something's going on that we're not being told. I can't help but feel a bit worried at that line of thought.

Every few seconds, the shadows of hundreds of flying pegasi fall over us. Yeah. Hundreds. This is ridiculous. Peering up to look at the sky, I feel slightly...trapped, for lack of a better word. Surrounded by hundreds of soldiers beneath a shimmering magical barrier. There's got to be somepony who'll tell me what the fuck is going on. Maybe I'll run into Celestia. If that happens, I'll ask her directly.

A flash of blue stands out from the sea of golden armor. Peering closer I can make out a group of several ponies wearing the colors of the Wonderbolts. “Hey, Rainbow. Check that out. It's Spitfire,” I announce, breaking the silence that had formed. 

Rainbow's response is immediate. “What? Where, where!?” she demands, spreading her wings. She looks like she's about to take to the air, so I place a hand on her back. “What the...what are you doing?”

“Making sure you don't take off. She's up there, guiding a squad of pegasi herself,” I reply, lowering myself to Rainbow's level and following Spitfire's squad with my finger. Rainbow follows my finger, until she catches sight of her idol with a happy gasp. “She's probably on duty, so you shouldn't bother her.”

“Yeah...but I'll definitely try and catch her after the wedding,” Rainbow expresses excitedly. “That'll be right after my Sonic Rainboom, too!”

“Right. I still don't see why she's out here. She told us that there wasn't much cause for her to actually do anything the last time we met,” I recall. 

“I don't care. Seeing her out here with the rest of the pegasi is so cool!” Of course, Rainbow is too busy fangirling for her to really look that deep into it. I guess I should have known that was coming when I told her about Spitfire.

“Ya know, maybe this whole shindig is why Miss Rose left so early,” Applejack reasons, joining our conversation.

“Huh, now that I think about it...you may be right,” I agree. Rose, my trainer from the Canterlot Royal Unicorn Second Regiment, had left about a week before this, rather abruptly too I might add. One day, without any former notice to myself or anypony else, Rose just didn't show up to training. Later, the train conductor informed me that she had returned to Canterlot. Not that I wasn't glad to be rid of her, but that seemed rather irresponsible of her...though I can understand if she received orders pertaining to the security of Equestria itself. Because I've already determined that this kind of security is too much for a wedding, even a royal one.

The guards standing outside the castle notice our approach and open the golden gates for us, recognizing each one of us. Just inside, there are several of the castle staff waiting for us. How do I know that they're castle staff? Because a very familiar bitch is with them. Fucking lovely.

“Welcome, Elements of Harmony. It is a pleasure to have you with us once more,” the reddish mare at the front of the small group of ponies greets us. And by us, I mean not me. No, she turns to look at me next, her eyes narrowing almost imperceptibly. “And a pleasure to see you again as well, human.”

Oho, yeah, she is not happy to see me. “Hello, Elegant Style,” I groan. I never actually told her my name, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that she's calling me something as impersonal as “human.”

“Thank you for the warm welcome, Miss Style,” Rarity responds before things can go downhill between Elegant and I. Which is wise, because she and I are glaring at one another, though she's hiding it better. “We do appreciate it.”

Elegant turns her gaze away from me and smiles at Rarity's tact. “Don't mention it. Now then, we've been tasked to direct you to your workplaces,” she reveals. “I assume you've been told where each of you will be working?”

“That's raht. Ah'm gonna be workin' in th' kitchens, ah think. That's where y'all cook yer food, raht?” Applejack answers, looking excited to get to work. Sheesh, everypony is way too excited for this.

“That's correct. In that case, if you'll go with Glossy here,” Elegant begins, indicating a dark gray mare dressed in a maid's outfit. “She'll take you to them.”

“Well, that's mighty kind of ya. Lead the way, Miss Glossy.” Applejack replies, tipping her hat in greeting to the maid, who smiles shyly. I don't think that maid is very used to dealing with important ponies, especially since she'd been cowering (so to speak) in the back of the group of staff. Just as they start moving, Applejack turns her head back to focus on us. “So what, we'll meet up fer dinner in the courtyard after our work is done?”

“Sounds like a marvelous idea. Good luck, Applejack,” Rarity says, as the other ponies emit sounds of agreement as well.

“Ooh! Me next! Pick me!” Pinkie exclaims, sticking a hoof in the air like an overexcited grade-school student. For once, Elegant and I appear to agree on something, as the both of us stare at Pinkie with deadpan expressions, though Elegant is better at hiding it than I am. Mostly because I don't try to hide it.

“Yes, Miss Pinkamena, I was informed that you...” Elegant begins, only to get cut off.

“You can call me Pinkie!” Pinkie interrupts, her grin as fucking massive as ever. Elegant looks unamused by her interruption. She clears her throat and tries again.

“Miss Pinkamena, you...”

“Please call me Pinkie!” Elegant looks like she's going to pop a blood vessel in her forehead when she's interrupted yet again.

“Ahem...I was told you would be planning the reception, which is to be held in the great hall,” Elegant continues, choosing to omit Pinkie's name entirely rather than give in. Hah, she's as stubborn as I am. Elegant then turns to another one of the ponies with her, a shy looking white stallion, with a light blue mane.  “Mr. Palette, would you please escort...her...to the great hall?”

“Y...yes, ma'am,” the stallion answers timidly. The poor thing is terrified of Elegant, I can just tell. I'm getting a kick out of seeing her so frustrated though. It's nice to see Pinkie pissing someone off other than me for once, since everypony in Ponyville seems to love her, for whatever dumb reason.

“I already know the way, but you can come with me anyway. We'll become the best of friends!” Pinkie assures her guide as she bounces along with him, while his head bobs up and down comically to keep her in his vision. 

“Uh...sure,” the stallion replies, unsure.

“Now then, shall we continue?” Elegant says, adjusting her mane. Okay, I've lost interest in listening to her. While she addresses a very timid Fluttershy, I look around the castle absentmindedly, taking notice of the guards all over the place. 

One thing I do notice is that I can see Celestia herself standing up at the top of the highest tower of the castle, looking through a telescope. I can barely see her from here, but it doesn't seem like she's stargazing...especially since it's barely noon. No, she's on the lookout for something, but I have no idea what that something could be.

“Hey!” Rainbow suddenly says, nudging me. I look away from Celestia to see my friend watching me, her wings spread in preparation for take off. 

“What?”

“I'm headed out. You'll be back for dinner, right?” Rainbow asks.

“If you're there, then definitely,” I say without thinking. Fuck, that was really sappy. Rainbow knows it too, laughing at my words, but she does seem to appreciate it. “Quit laughing and get out of my face already.”

“There we go. I was wondering what got you so nice all of a sudden,” Rainbow jokes, prodding me with a hoof. I proceed to bat away her hoof with my hand...to which she responds by smacking my hand with her other hoof. There's a slight pause, and then we start smacking at each other's assorted appendages rapidly until the two of us dissolve in chuckles, as Elegant looks on in obvious disapproval.

“Time's a wasting, Miss Dash,” Elegant informs her with a bitter tone, which causes me to look at her with a glare.

“Hey. We already know that, so fuck you,” I snap back at her, which causes Rarity and the remaining member's of Elegant's staff to look at me in shock and a little bit of admiration. Huh, I guess I'm not the only one that despises her.

“Ahem. It seems you're as unrefined and impolite as ever,” Elegant responds after a short pause. “But if you understand, then get moving.”

“Fine...sheesh,” Rainbow complains, and then she takes to the air, leaving me alone with Rarity, because I think Fluttershy already left when I wasn't paying attention. The one pegasus that's with Elegant goes with Rainbow, but to my amusement, he can't keep up with her whatsoever. Good. Not sure how I feel about him going with Rainbow anyway. Part of me wishes I'd gone with her. Sucks my practical side has to be more prominent at times.

“I don't recall being told what your task is exactly,” Elegant says to me. Every time she talks to me, it's like she's speaking through gritted teeth. “Could you enlighten me?”

“Allow me. I brought Seth along as my personal assistant. I find his presence helps my work become more efficient,” Rarity answers for me with a devious smile, her expression daring Elegant to say anything in opposition to her claim.

“Oh, I...see.” Elegant does her best not to show her shock that somepony actually had something nice to say about me. Still, it's about time somepony threw her off guard. “Well then. I suppose the both of you should come with me. I'll take you to your suite, Miss Rarity.”

“Do call me Rarity, dear. And that won't be necessary. I know the way to the suite,” Rarity replies. Thank god, maybe now Elegant will fuck off. I've had more than enough of her for one day. Or lifetime. Can she just disappear? That would be nice. 

Elegant shakes her head. “Be that as it may, I must accompany you nonetheless. My apologies, but I was specifically ordered by Princess Celestia not to let any of you walk the castle by yourselves,” she informs us apologetically. At that, Rarity and I both look at one another, probably both thinking the same thing. Wait what?

“I see. Lead on then, I suppose,” Rarity says haltingly, deciding to go the diplomatic route rather than the confrontational one...which is the route I was just about to take. Nevertheless, now is as good a time as any to find out what the hell is going on. Elegant doesn't like me, but she's never not answered my questions.

I wait until we're inside the castle before saying anything. “Elegant,” I say. Rarity looks at me, her eyes giving me a silent warning not to start anything here in the middle of all these guards. It's fine though, I'm just asking a question.

“What is it, human?” Elegant responds without turning around. Okay, that has to stop.

“First off, my name is Seth,” I finally tell her, tired of being called “human” all the damn time. “Secondly, what's going on? Why is Canterlot inside this magical bubble or whatever?”

“You are curious about the increased security then?” Elegant asks. When I don't reply, she takes that as an agreement and continues. “While the royal wedding is a part of it, there's also something much more significant in effect.”

“Oh? And what would that be?” Rarity inquires. Elegant is silent at first, possibly thinking on whether or not telling us is a good idea.

“There was an attempt on Princess Celestia's life a few days ago, in the middle of the street,” Elegant reveals, her tone deadly serious. My jaw nearly hits the fucking ground. Rarity's surprise shows through a horrified gasp. “In broad daylight, a seemingly normal earth pony walked up to the Princess and attempted to harm her with a poisoned knife.” 

“Dear me!” Rarity exclaims, pressing a hoof to her chest.

“Who in the hell would be that fucking stupid?” I demand, as equally shocked as Rarity. “Let me guess, Celestia burnt that fucker to a pile of ash.”

“Not quite. The Princess, fortunately, was on alert, and as such managed to disarm and subdue her attacker,” Elegant continues, once again trying to tell me to refer to Celestia with the proper respect. Bitch. I'll call her whatever I want.

“What happened to him? Did she ever find out why he tried to kill her?” Rarity presses. Elegant nods sagely. 

“The would-be assassin was detained and imprisoned by the Royal Guard, and further investigation revealed that the earth pony was under some kind of magical control,” Elegant reveals. “The composition of the magic responsible was unlike any that we've ever seen.”

“Mind control? What kind of creatures can even do that? Sounds like something out of a horror film. Did you ever find out what did it?” I question, feeling like my earlier worry was justified, especially if there's assassins about. I don't really think anything can hurt Celestia, but that doesn't mean the real culprit wouldn't harm her subjects to get to her.

“No, but we did discover that the real perpetrator intended for the assassination attempt to fail, as there was a hidden bundle of magical information bound in the foreign control spell, which was discovered by Commander Pale Rose in her attempts to dissolve the spell,” Elegant proceeds.

“Ah, so that would explain why Rose left Ponyville so abruptly,” Rarity reasons, to which I nod my head in agreement. I can understand her rushing back to Canterlot after a fucking assassination attempt. “What was in this 'bundle' as you put it?”

“A demand for surrender from an unknown enemy,” Elegant answers. “I don't have access to the crystal in which the message was stored, but I can tell you that whoever it was that sent the message threatened that if Canterlot wasn't surrendered to her, she would continue to enslave and kill ponies.”

“Shit. Well, that explains the fucking army you've got out there. And the force field,” I state dumbly. Holy fuck, I'm at Canterlot during what amounts to a fucking siege. This is...wow. I may actually be in real danger here. No wonder we're being escorted everywhere. Still, according to the pony history that I've gathered so far, this is the most volatile thing to happen since the War of Night and Day. I'm literally standing here as history is being made.

“That's...rather frightening. Why hold the wedding, during a situation like this?” Rarity questions worriedly.

“You see, the citizenry are worried, and for good reason. This unknown assailant has threatened even the lives of uninvolved bystanders. The royal wedding is a way to show them that life can continue as normal, despite these dire circumstances,” Elegant explains. Once again, I'm surprised. I can't believe that Celestia went and told her subjects everything that's happened. In my time, an assassination attempt would have been covered up in a flash, and the citizenry lied to. 

“Hard to believe life is proceeding as normal if the entire fucking military is out and about,” I remark. Still, it makes sense how the culprit would threaten Celestia's subjects. Because I've felt Celestia's power, and nothing can stop her. Then again, in the end, any attempt to bring her down will end in failure, because even if you manage to kill all of her subjects, you'll just be left with a very very pissed off Celestia who has the power of a fucking god.

“The military's presence helps the citizenry feel safe, as wherever one may go, there are always a large amount of guards to keep you from harm,” Elegant pronounces proudly. Right...I'm pretty sure I'd be more upset if there was a bunch of military guys at my college...but I guess that's a cultural thing, really. Because humans are crazy.

“That's...quite a tale. But I trust in Princess Celestia,” Rarity says after a moment to think. “If she believes the wedding is important, than I shall do my utmost to see it succeed.”

Elegant smiles at that response. “You seem like an agreeable enough pony. It does my heart good to see one such as you in charge of an Element of Harmony,” she praises Rarity, who proceeds to blush. And then there's me, who in her eyes is like some insect that's following her, I have no doubt.

Finally, we stop in front of a fancy door, on either side of which are two royal guards, armed with spears and magic. Elegant opens the door with her magic to reveal what I assume is Rarity's suite. “Here we are. You will have the room entirely to yourselves, but the windows and doors will be watched at all times, for your safety,” she informs us.

“How the fuck do you watch a window?” I demand incredulously. Elegant gives me an annoyed glance, and then she indicates several hovering pegasi just outside the window. “Oh. That's how. Duh.”

“Thank you for the security. I've never felt safer,” Rarity addresses Elegant, and the two unicorn mares shake hooves, smiling at one another.

“It is my pleasure, Rarity. Now, I shall leave you to your work,” Elegant says graciously. Just before she leaves the room, she looks back once more. “Also, you should be prepared to greet Princess Mi Amore Cadenza at some point during the day. She will be periodically checking on your progress.”

“Thanks for the notice. I'll be sure that she is nothing but pleased,” Rarity finishes, and at last, Elegant leaves the room, leaving Rarity and I alone. “Now then, shall we begin? We have so much to do.”

“Sure, let's do it. Thank god that fucking bitch is gone,” I reply, glaring at Elegant's retreating form down the hallway. 

“Now Seth, she is only doing her job,” Rarity admonishes me. Again. God, she keeps acting like my mother. It's getting annoying. “But I did notice some animosity between you two. Have you met before?”

“Yes, on my last trip to Canterlot. She was as prissy and bitchy as she was just now, looking at me like I'm not worth the ground I tread on, and pushing her ideals of respect onto me, as if I should follow them,” I tell her. “What she doesn't understand is that I'm not obligated to respect any of you ponies. What respect I give you, you have to earn.”

“I suppose that makes sense, even if I don't agree with the way you're going about it,” Rarity admits. “Though I must ask, do you respect Princess Celestia?”

“Damn right I do. She's earned her position as a ruler in my eyes. She's so perceptive she might as well read minds, she's done nothing but help me since I've met her, and she's so powerful I don't think anything can stop her,” I answer firmly. I still don't know Celestia's motives for helping me so much, but until I see the catch, she can have the benefit of the doubt.

“Why Seth, that's the nicest thing I think I've ever heard you say,” Rarity gasps, though she looks happy despite her surprise.

“Don't get used it, Miss Prissy,” I shoot right back at her, which in turn causes her to sigh in lament and lower her face into her hooves. “Now then, tell me what to do.”

“Of course. First, I'd like you to take out and sort all of my sewing materials: first by type, and then by color,” Rarity directs, indicating the luggage that she's been tugging along with her this whole time. 

“Right...and which of these numerous suitcases did you actually put your sewing materials?” I ask, regarding her luggage with some trepidation. She brought a lot of stuff with her. Heh, she's basically Erza. 

“The black one, dear,” Rarity replies without looking. She's standing in front of a wooden table, whose surface is slightly angled up in the back. With her magic, Rarity spreads out a sheet of paper on the table, and then removes a pencil from one of the bags in front of me. 

“Which black one?” I ask, unamused, as there are several black bags.

“All of them,” Rarity supplies helpfully. Great. With a sigh, I carefully extricate each of the black suitcases and set then in a row on the ground. “Hm...should I start with the bridesmaids' dresses, or the bride herself?”

“I'd suggest bridesmaids. That way you don't go too over the top with them, and then you can make the bride's dress even better,” I suggest, unzipping the suitcases in front of me to reveal all of Rarity's sewing supplies. And dear god, there's a lot of them. Fabrics upon fabrics of varying designs, spools upon spools of every possible color, and then even a sewing machine that once again is powered by magic and not electricity. There's also actually sewing needles in here as well, probably for the finer details that sewing machines can't handle.

“Ooh, that's a good idea. Thank you,” Rarity exclaims, and she immediately puts pencil to paper, so that I can hear the sound of the graphite scratching the surface. “Let's see, if I'm going to do this...each bridesmaid must have a similar style of dress, but a different theme, preferably one that suits the wearer itself. Unfortunately, I don't know who the bridesmaids are going to be, so it would be best to design them with colors that would suit a wide variety of coat colors...”

“Why don't you find out who they are?” I interrupt her musings with my suggestion while I continuously empty out and sort the contents of the black suitcases.

“Pardon?” Rarity seems not to have heard me at all.

“If you don't know who the bridesmaids are, why don't you go find out?” I repeat. A moment later, I accidentally prick my finger on one of Rarity's needs, which causes me to curse rather colorfully. 

“Seth! Honestly, you must really endeavor to censor yourself, especially when the princess gets here,” Rarity warns me.

“Oh please, Cadance has taken everything I've thrown at her just fine. I don't need to censor shit,” I remark uncaringly. I make sure to take out the needle carefully this time, though I'm planning terrible things to do to Rarity for putting loose needles in here. Seriously, how irresponsible can you get?

“You've met the princess? What was that you just called her?” Rarity asks, even as she makes a few sketches on the sheet in front of her.

“Cadance. She hates going by her full title. I met her during my last trip to Canterlot, in the garden,” I relate. “She's pretty chill for a princess.”

“You surprise me, Seth. Despite your consistently uncouth attitude, you continue to befriend ponies in the highest of places,” Rarity comments.

“I wouldn't say that Cadance is my friend.  If anything, she helped to distract me during all the time I had to myself,” I correct her, even though I am somewhat grateful to Cadance for letting me go to that concert. Still, one simple favor doesn't make a friend. Not to me. “Not to mention, she's way too much like Twilight.”

“Twilight's a remarkable pony. If this princess is like her, then I am sure I will like her,” Rarity affirms. Right...remarkable. That's not the word I'd have used for her. “How would you say they are similar?”

“In that they're stubborn as hell, and when they get started talking about something they really enjoy, they just won't shut up,” I inform her. Rarity looks like she's about to protest, but then hilariously enough, she actually nods.

“I suppose that's a fair point. Though the difference between you and me is that I find that to be an endearing trait, rather than an off-putting one,” Rarity replies.

“Right...anyway, back to my original question. Why don't you go find out who the bridesmaids are, so you can tailor the dresses to their specific colors?” I ask again.

“That's a splendid idea, but...I shouldn't leave my work station. Not when I have yet to even come up with a basic framework for a single dress,” Rarity admits. Then she brightens up. “Say, you're here to assist me, aren't you? Why don't you go find out who the bridesmaids are for me, and then come back?”

“Ugh, I suppose I could. I'll go as soon as I finish sorting all this shit like you told me to,” I say, annoyed. Oh well, at least I'll get a chance to observe the situation in the castle for myself. Maybe I'll get lucky and run into Celestia. I'd like to hear her thoughts on this situation. She can probably explain it a lot better than Elegant Style can.

A few minutes later, the black suitcases are now entirely empty, and all of her materials are sorted into neatly organized piles that she can access whenever she wants. “Okay, I'll be right back,” I say, standing up. 

“Do be careful. You know the situation,” Rarity warns me as I walk out the door. Oh please, there's guards everywhere. I think I'll be fine.

“Excuse me, sir,” one of the guards next to the door says suddenly. I pause and turn around, wondering what a random guard could possibly want from me. “You are the human, Seth Rogers?”

“That's right. What's it to you?” I reply in a confrontational manner. The guard does not flinch, but instead glances at the other, who nods.

“You are classified as a VIP for the royal wedding, along with the Elements of Harmony. Therefore, if you wish to move from place to place, you are required to have an escort with you at all times, for your own protection,” the guard explains, his voice clear and sharp.

“Huh...that's bullshit. I don't need an escort,” I retort irritably. Can you not waste my time, weakling? “Don't you know that I once went head to head with what you guys call 'the Blossom Wind?'”

The guard's eyes widen slightly, but that's the only reaction he shows. “Be that as it may, sir, I have my orders. One of us must go with you at all times.”

“Ugh, whatever. Do what you're told, I guess. Just don't bother me,” I say, giving up. It's not really worth it to argue with a peon. Because in the end, they're just going to follow the orders of their superiors. 

Without another word, I turn on my heel and march down the hallway. One of the guards next to Rarity's door breaks off to follow me. I don't know where I'm going though. I'm looking for a staff member that can give me some names, so I guess I'll just accost the first official looking pony I find.

However, when I reach the first intersection in the halls, I run into one of the most official ponies there can be. By that, I mean the fucking groom himself, Shining Armor, dressed in full heavy armor befitting a regiment captain. He spots me out of the corner of his eye and stops, turning to face me with a smile. “Well now, this is a surprise. I didn't realize you would be here, Seth,” Shining Armor addresses me, turning away from his initial path to meet me halfway. “How have you been?”

“Clearly not as well as you, considering you're getting married,” I point out, earning a chuckle from him. “I wasn't even aware you had a...what's the pony term...marefriend?” 

“Heh, yeah, I've been dating Cadance for well over a year now,” Shining Armor reveals, a dumb  smile on his face. I've seen smiles like that before. It's the kind of smile guys wear whenever they talk about their girlfriends. It always used to piss me off to no end. It still does. I don't believe that love is anything more than the desire for sex brought on by natural instincts, so whenever I'd see a smile like that, it always seemed fake. “I almost didn't propose at first. She's a princess, and my family has no ties to nobility.”

“You were already dating her...if you managed to leap across social boundaries already, then what's the point of worrying about them for the proposal?” I remind him. Shining Armor blinks, as if he'd never really thought about that. 

“I guess it doesn't really make sense. It might have just been nerves. It wasn't an easy decision, let me tell you,”  Shining Armor admits. He looks like he's about to say something more, but then a pained expression crosses his face, and then he winces, lifting a hoof to massage his temple.

“Migraine?” I ask curiously.  Shining Armor shakes his head.

“Not in the sense you're thinking. It's stress pains brought on by extended magical use,”  Shining Armor explains. “I'm currently holding up a double barrier around the entirety of Canterlot. I have plenty of magic left, but it's taking a toll on me. Thankfully, my bride-to-be has been helping to stave off the pain.”

“Hold on, what? You're the one holding up that massive barrier?” I ask in shock. Canterlot is massive. I can't even imagine how much magic and concentration that must take.  Shining Armor nods in confirmation. What? How the hell can he do that and talk to me at the same time? “Christ, I thought that was coming from some kind of magical artifact or something.”

“No. As captain of the Canterlot Royal Unicorn First Regiment, the burden of keeping this city and its ponies safe falls squarely on my shoulders. I will hold this barrier up and our unknown assailant out for as long as I can,”  Shining Armor declares, determination showing in his face.

“Huh. Well, good luck with that, I suppose,” I reply, not really knowing anything else to say to something like that. “Do you know who sent the assassin?”

“Unfortunately not. After the spell on the assassin was broken, he couldn't tell us anything,” Shining Armor admits. “But, if I had to take a guess, I'd say the perpetrator is not from Equestria. We've never seen control spells before.”

“I see,” I reply, once again being reminded that I am part of a major historical event. Hopefully a war doesn't break out from this. Still though, it's weird to know that the safety of Canterlot's borders is in this one pony's hooves. Which means...that if the enemy is already in the city, he's one giant target. “Keep yourself safe. The enemy will likely be going after you.”

“I understand. Thank you for your support. Now then, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to overseeing the guard, and getting ready for my wedding,”  Shining Armor responds, looking genuinely appreciative of my words.

“One last thing. Do you know who the bridesmaids are for the ceremony?” I ask before he has a chance to turn away.

“I believe I do. Let's see, I believe the three of them are from Ponyville. There's Twinkleshine, Minuette, and Lyra...”  Shining Armor begins.

“...Heartstrings. Son of a bitch,” I groan, completing his sentence for him. Oh great, so Lyra is going to be a part of this? Which means it's only a matter of time until I run into her. Well, this just got worse. What more can possibly happen while I'm here? Oh here, Seth, let me just lock you in a room with Pinkie Pie for a few hours. Seriously, I think I'd die. “Thank you.”

“You don't like her I assume?”  Shining Armor asks with some amusement at my annoyed response.

“It's not that. It's that she likes me.  A little too much, if you catch my meaning,” I inform him.  Shining Armor winces at that, understanding.

“Ooh. Well, I'm sorry to hear that. Anyhow, I really must be going. I have a lot to do,” he replies, turning back around. “I'll see you later, Seth. It was good seeing you again.”

“Sure, I guess,” I reply awkwardly. At that, Shining Armor leaves me behind. Well, meeting him was unexpected, but at least I got the answers I needed without having to get lost in the castle somewhere. They're all from Ponyville, and Ponyville's not that big of a town, so Rarity should know these ponies. I know she knows Lyra, at the very least. 

I turn back around and head back the way I came. It hasn't been very long, but at least now I can give Rarity something to go on.

When I reach the room again, the guard escorting me gives me a salute and returns to his post by the door. Whatever, at least I'm back in the room now. “Rarity! I found out who the bridesmaids are,” I announce immediately upon entering the room.

“Oh? Excellent, do tell. I just finished outlining a basic dress design for them,” Rarity responds, turning her body to reveal her work. Drawn on the paper is a rough sketch of a dress consisting of a long piece of cloth to cover the rump and a thick ribbon that wraps around the pony's neck to hold it all together, which is decorated by a large flower. In addition, there's a pearl wreath for the head. “What do you think?”

“Looks good. Though I'm not really the one to ask about whether or not pony clothing looks good,” I remark. “Also, the bridesmaids are all from Ponyville.”

“Then I probably know them. What are their names?” Rarity asks curiously.

“Twinkleshine, Minuette, and Lyra Heartstrings,” I answer, glad that I'm safe in this room where Lyra will definitely not be. 

“Interesting choices. I wonder what inspired them?” Rarity comments. I agree with that. Who the fuck would pick Lyra for a bridesmaid? She's nowhere close to the image I have of a typical bridesmaid. Which isn't really that thorough, but shut up. “But at least now I have something to go on. Would you get the ponyquins down from the cart? It's time to get started.”

Oh sheesh. Well, it's time to get to work, I suppose.





Several hours pass as we get to work. I'm flying all over the place the whole time, making sure Rarity has everything she needs to keep working without having to stop for any reason. One time I even get her a glass of fucking water. I would complain, but I am getting paid for this.

Finally though, Rarity puts the last stitch in the last dress, which is the bride's dress itself. It's a roughly similar design to the bridesmaids' dresses, but differing in the details. The back is pure white, accented by golden swirls. Instead of a ribbon, there's a royal purple and golden metal band holding the dress to the ponyquin, adorned with a cyan crystal in the shape of a heart, like Cadance's butt tattoo. On top of the ponyquin's head, there's a flowery wreath, to which is attached a translucent white veil, similar to what I'd expect from a wedding gown.

“Excellent! I'm rather proud of it,” Rarity declares, putting down the needle and thread with a satisfied sigh. “Now, what do you think of this, Seth?”

Before I can answer, a very angry looking Twilight storms into the room. I can practically see the veins twitching on her head. “I can't believe this!” Twilight rages without even greeting us first. When she reaches us, she starts to pace back and forth. “I'm so angry, I can't even see straight!”

“Twilight, dear, whatever is the matter?” Rarity asks, concerned. I think I'll just stay out of this one, myself. It's obvious Twilight is just going to go on another childish tantrum.

“It's Cadance! Did you know she used to be my foalsitter?” Twilight exclaims, confirming my suspicions. 

“Really? Then wouldn't it be a good thing that your brother is marrying somepony you know?” Rarity inquires.

“It would have been, but something's wrong. She doesn't even remember me! The mare that once told me she was the luckiest foalsitter in the world now doesn't even remember my name!” Twilight laments. Okay, that doesn't sound right. When I met Cadance, she recognized Twilight's name the second I mentioned it. She even called Twilight a “remarkable filly.” So why does she all of a sudden not remember Twilight? That is, if I assume Twilight is telling the truth. She might just be jealous.

“That doesn't seem right,” Rarity murmurs. “Are you sure it's the same mare that foalsat you?”

“Absolutely. She looks exactly as I remember her. Plus, my brother told me as much. But you should have seen how she acted! I don't know when or how she changed, but she did,” Twilight expresses. She then proceeds to do an imitation of what I assume is supposed to be Cadance. “'Please, call me Princess Mi Amore Cadenza...”

“Did I hear somepony say my name?” sounds a voice from the door that is unmistakeably Cadance, but it is spoken in an irritated tone that I've never heard Cadance use before.

Something isn't right here.

	

	


> 42. On My Shoulders
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Princess Cadance walks slowly and regally into Rarity's suite, flanked not only by several royal guards, but also by the three bridesmaids whose identities I'd only uncovered a few moments ago. When Lyra spots me, she waves happily at me, but I ignore her for now, instead gazing at Cadance, wondering what the hell is going on.

I remember Cadance being calm and happy, putting on a smile at like, every other word. I've never seen her like this. Just looking at her face, I can tell she's pissed off at something. She's also carrying herself differently than I remember. She holds herself like she knows she's somepony important, which stands in stark contrast to the pony who told me in the garden that she was no good at formalities. 

“Princess!” Rarity exclaims, immediately rushing over to Cadance and giving her a deep respectful bow. Cadance once again defies my memories of her and looks down at Rarity with thinly veiled disdain, as if the pony in front of her is nothing more than an insect. “I must say, it is a tremendous honor to be a part of such a momentous occasion.”

“Uh-huh,” Cadance emits, unconvinced. This is getting weirder and weirder by the moment. She sounds less like the Cadance I remember, and more like me. That's not right, because only I'm like me. “I assume you have my dress ready?”

“But of course! I assure you that you will be most pleased with my work,” Rarity responds, working as hard as she can to give Cadance the utmost respect. Which doesn't seem to be impressing the princess, despite the fact that I know she never really cared that I didn't give her much respect. Rarity leads Cadance over to the ponyquin containing the bride's dress. “And here we are! What do you  think, your Highness? 

Cadance scrutinizes the dress in front of her with a critical eye. Almost immediately, her frown deepens, which means she probably doesn't like what she sees. “It's...not terrible, but I was looking for something with a longer trim and a bit less frill,” Cadance criticizes. Rarity looks like somepony just slapped her, but to her credit, she composes herself quickly.

“I...see. Don't worry, princess, I will fix it immediately. Only the best for the bride-to-be, after all,” Rarity assures her with a nervous giggle, whipping out a notebook and writing down the criticism she just heard. Cadance doesn't respond, instead looking less pleased with every passing moment. “What do you think of the dresses I made for the bridesmaids?”

Rarity indicates with a hoof the bridesmaids' dresses, in front of which I'm standing with my arms crossed, watching Cadance closely with narrowed eyes. Twilight is doing the same, I notice. 

Cadance turns, but because she doesn't bother to look before turning, she runs right into me, her muzzle impacting with my chest. “Oh! What is this thing standing in my way?” Cadance rages, but then she steps back and gets a closer look at me. Her eyes widen slightly, but nowhere in her lavender eyes do I see any sign of recognition. “What...exactly is this, Rarity? Is it...alive?”

“Yes, I'm alive, and I talk. What the fuck, Cadance?” I demand, and she looks further surprised by my intelligence. What the fuck is going on? She can't be so dumb that she'd forget me after only a month and a half. Twilight may be on to something, because Cadance is not acting like Cadance.

Twilight and Rarity both look scandalized at the overly informal and rude way I just talked to the princess. Even the bridesmaids are staring at me in shock, wondering if I've gone insane. Cadance looks affronted, which is also an expression I've never seen her wear. “I don't know what you are, but is that any way to speak to a princess of Equestria? My name is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and I'd like you to address me as such!” she snaps at me, her eyes narrowing. Okay no, I'm not going to deal with this shit any longer.

“How about no? You specifically told me to call you Cadance the last time we spoke. I don't know what's up your ass, but I'd like you to stop it right the hell now,” I shoot back, glaring into Cadance's eyes. Seriously, why is she suddenly such a bitch? “Besides, you know what I am. I'm human, I told you as much over a month ago.”

“You...!” Cadance looks like she's about to blow her top, but then she calms down and forces a smile at me. “Oh, of course. My apologies. With all the wedding preparations, I guess it must have slipped my mind.”

With that, Cadance walks past me so that she can look at the bridesmaids' dresses, that criticizing look returning to her face. I watch her the whole time, unable to believe what she just said to me. I run over my past conversations with her in my head.

“I'd rather not ask your species, as I consider that rude of one to ask another, especially if we've just met.”

“I'd rather that not be an issue. Just call me Cadance, please.”

“This is exciting! It's amazing that you're alive, even after thousands of years! Did you know that most of our technology and culture is based on what we've discovered of humans?”

“I guess it must have slipped my mind.”

My eyes narrow at her. Bullshit. Cadance was as excited to find out I'm a human as Twilight was. She would never have forgotten. Cadance just contradicted everything she said to me in our first conversation together.

Which means one of two things. Either the unknown enemy from outside has somehow managed to control her, or that isn't Cadance at all. I don't know if illusion spells are a thing, but I suppose anything is possible with magic.

As Cadance proceeds to belittle Rarity's work, I consider my next course of action carefully. Now that I've determined this, I need to act upon it. But I need to be careful, because she's got those two guards with her, as well as the bridesmaids. Still though, Twilight seems to be too dense to figure this out on her own, so it falls to me to take care of it. Though how Shining Armor hasn't noticed this change yet is beyond me.

“I think these dresses need to be a different color,” Cadance finishes, glaring at Rarity.

“But, they look really nice!” Lyra speaks up, indicating the mint green themed dress that was no doubt designed for her. Twinkleshine and Minuette both agree as well, gazing at the dresses with radiant admiration.

Cadance turns her head with such a frightening expression on her face that all three of the bridesmaids are cowed. “You heard me, Miss Rarity. Make them a different color,” Cadance orders, and then she stalks back towards the door, indicating for the bridesmaids and guards to follow her.

When the princess left the room, Twilight steps back towards the center of the room, glaring out after her. “Wow. Maybe we should call her Princess Demanding,” Twilight snarls. “It's not like we're trying to make tomorrow the best day of your life or anything. A bit of appreciation couldn't hurt.”

“It's no big deal, darling. It's her right to pick and choose. After all, like you said, tomorrow is supposed to be the best day of her life,” Rarity justifies with a shrug. “It just means I'll have to do a little extra work. Not a problem.”

“But, that's not...” Twilight begins, but she cuts off when she sees me storm past her, heading for the exit. “Seth? Where are you going?”

“Out. Stay with Rarity, or do whatever you want. I don't care,” I snap back at her. Twilight recoils at the viciousness in my tone, but I don't care. My suspicion has been raised, and I won't stop until I get some answers. 

“But, Seth, I still need your...” Rarity begins.

“What I'm doing is more important than some fucking dresses,” I interrupt her. Without waiting to see her reaction to my overly rude words, I leave the room. The guard next to the door starts to follow me again but I turn around and transfix him with a deadly glare, magic suffusing my eyes. “Try to follow me, and I'll crush you.”

The guard blanches at my blatant threat. He looks at his companion, who nods in my direction, probably telling him to follow me anyway. But it's too late. By the time he looks back at me, I'm already gone.

Let's see, Cadance can't have gone far. I jog down the hall in a hurry, pushing my way through the staff and the patrolling guards, keeping my eyes peeled for any sign of pink. When I reach an intersection, I look in all directions, until at last I spot her heading down the hall to my right. I cut down the hall after her.

I make sure to keep some distance between her. If I want to confront her, I'll have to wait until she's relatively alone. If there's only those two guards she's got with her, I can handle them, but not in the middle of the hall. I'd get swarmed by so many guards it wouldn't even be funny. So I hang back and follow her.

After a few minutes of that, she turns her head and spots me out of the corner of her eye. However, she doesn't exhibit any reaction, instead choosing to continue down the path. She looks like she's heading for the great hall...wait, she just turned down a small corridor.

When I turn down the hall after her, I notice that it's mostly empty, save for a few staff members. Excellent. Now if I can just get Cadance and her guards in a room on their own, I can finally get some answers.

Luckily enough, Cadance turns into a dressing room, labeled as such by a golden plaque on the door. God, it's times like this that I'm glad I can read now. When I stop outside the door, I notice the room is fairly large, but also empty of anypony except for Cadance and her group. I'm not foolish though. I know this is a trap. Cadance knows full well that I'm following her. The fact that she led me to an empty room means she's either willing to talk, or she's planning to ambush me. Well then, I guess I'll spring the trap. I've gained a lot of power over the past month and a half. If anything, I'm confident in my ability to blow a hole in the wall and escape if things go south. Hopefully that doesn't happen though.

I have to act before the guards even know I'm here. My eyes narrow, and then I release my magic, entering base form immediately. Remembering my training, I open my mental awareness to the air around me, to the point where I can feel currents of magic flowing in the air around me like a calm hurricane. I grab hold of a current that heads in the direction I want, and then I zoom along at it at a speed so fast, that normal eyes won't be able to track it.

The first guard gets no warning before I suddenly appear in front of Cadance, to his immediate right. I clench my left hand into a fist, hold my forearm parallel to my chest, and then use my right hand to lever my elbow right into the side of the guard's head. I put a significant amount of power into that attack, such that he's knocked out immediately and sent tumbling across the room. 

“What the...” the other guard cries out, lifting his spear with his magic. Before he can bring it to bear, I pivot on my right heel and slam an open palm into the remaining guard's temple, rendering him into the same state as the first.

Throughout this entire exchange, Cadance watches me coolly, not blinking an eye at my sudden appearance nor my show of force. The bridesmaids, however, are terrified and confused, especially Lyra. “Seth? What...what did you...why...?” Lyra stammers, looking at the knocked out guards in horror.

“You three. Get out of here. Right now,” I command them, my magic flaring around me to the point where the carpet burns at my feet. Twinkleshine and Minuette don't need to be told twice. They sprint out of the room like bats out of hell, while Lyra steps back, but doesn't leave. “Lyra, I swear to god, if you're still here by the time I count to three, I'll do to you what I did to those guards!”

Lyra's eyes widen, tears starting to form. Finally, she heaves a sob and sprints out of the room as well. I feel somewhat bad for terrifying her like that, but the further she is away from Cadance, the safer she is. Essentially it's for her own good.

“That was quite a show, human,” Cadance remarks, prodding the motionless form of one of the guards. “But you do realize that by attacking my guards, I can classify you as my enemy, and therefore an enemy of Equestria?”

She's technically right. Celestia would no doubt have sensed me using my magic. While she knows it's me and she claims she trusts me, she'll definitely come to investigate. I don't have much time. I need to beat down Cadance and have answers to present to Celestia by the time she arrives.

“Yeah, you can drop the act. I know you're not Cadance,” I accuse her , powering down in the hopes that it'll take Celestia longer to find us.

Cadance has the gall to look offended by that. “What ever do you mean by that ridiculous accusation? As you can see, I am Cadance, through and through,” she questions me coyly, turning her flank to angle her butt tattoo at me.

“Don't play fucking innocent. I spent enough time with the real Cadance to know that she wrote several papers on my kind,” I snap at her. “And yet you had no idea what I was. Nopony, especially not  a fucking diplomat, has a memory that bad.”

“You seem quite sure of yourself. Is there no way I can convince you of my identity?” Cadance continues to act coy, despite knowing full well that she's been caught red...hoofed. The human phrase wouldn't work here, so don't fucking judge me. 

“Absolutely not. So you can either tell me who you are right now, or I'll crush you here and we'll find out from your corpse,” I growl. Wow, I'm actually surprising myself a little with the things I'm saying. Is this how I am when faced with somepony that wants to do me harm?

“Oho, such a violent threat. I like you, human. You're a being after my own cold heart,” Cadance remarks with a grin, seemingly dropping the Cadance act entirely. She leans forward and sniffs at me curiously. “And...you don't belong here, do you?”

“What the fuck does that mean?” I demand, losing my patience fast. Cadance laughs heartily, and then she steps closer to me, bringing her head up to my ear in a seductive manner. Which makes me uncomfortable extremely fast.

“Tell you what. Shall I make you a deal, human?” Cadance whispers into my ear before proceeding to rub her body against my side, her tail flicking occasionally. I follow her with my eyes, just as she turns her head back to look at me, biting her lip in what she assumes to be a sexy manner. Oh god, and I thought Lyra was bad. What the hell? 

“You'd better start talking,” I tell her flatly. I don't know what it is she thinks she can get out of me, but I need to get some solid evidence fast, before Celestia gets here. Especially since I can now sense Celestia's massive power moving down from the top of the tallest tower. Oh yeah, she's noticed.

“I would like you to keep quiet about your suspicions concerning me,” Cadance requests, to which I scoff. Right, because I can totally do that after knocking out two guards. “In return, I'll tell you everything later tonight, as well as give you a...special...reward, in my private chambers.”

Okay, the blatant flirting is pissing me off. It's like she's treating me like any other male. Bitch, I'm not going to give in to feminine wiles from a fucking pony. That's not how sex drives work, you imbecile.

“Right...in case you hadn't noticed, I knocked out two guards with my magic, and Celestia's on her way. If I don't take you down here, I'm going to get screwed,” I point out. “Besides, I doubt you can offer me anything that would make me take that offer.”

“How can you be so sure?” Cadance purrs, rubbing against my other side and nuzzling my shoulder. “I won't spoil it now, but I can offer you things beyond your wildest dreams.”

“Uh-huh. Right. Let's assume I say yes. How the hell am I going to get out of not capturing you? Celestia will crucify me if she thinks I hurt Cadance,” I ask, hating myself for even considering her offer. If I'm right, I'm dealing with our assailant, the one who tried to kill Celestia. If not her, then one of her underlings at least. If I accept her offer, I can go up to her room, learn her entire plan, and then crush her. “And don't even think about telling me to lie to Celestia. It won't work. She can read me like a fucking book.”

“Easy, you won't have to. I'll take care of it. I'll meet her halfway and present her with an explanation, while you return to fair Rarity,” the fake Cadance explains. “I'll even take into consideration the witness accounts from the bridesmaids, as well as the memories of the guards you knocked out.”

“That doesn't seem like it will...” I start, but the imposter cuts me off.

“Trust me, human. After all, I've been lying to Celestia for days,” she assures me with an evil smile, and I swear I hear something like a  hiss coming from her throat. A shiver runs down my spine. What the fuck has taken Cadance's place? “Now then, you should run along, before Celestia sees you. I'll make sure she doesn't bother you. Remember, find me in my chambers tonight, at eight. ”

With that, the fake Cadance walks out of the room, giving me one last wink before she disappears from my field of vision.

What the fuck. I heave a sigh and leave the room quickly, taking a different path from the fake Cadance. I can't believe I just got persuaded not to turn her in. I mean, it makes sense for me to learn her full plan before turning her in, but...it's a huge risk. Plus, I am damn sure she was trying to seduce me in there. Like, more than Lyra ever thought about doing...I'm actually considering going easy on Lyra in the future. Though I'd have a bit of explaining to do to Lyra. I probably really scared her back there.

What does this assailant have to gain from letting me in on her plan? Maybe she thinks that because I'm different from the ponies, I'd be more open to helping her with...whatever it is she's trying to do? Or maybe she just wants an informant from within the pony ranks...hell, I don't fucking know. All I know is that after I visit her in her chambers tonight and find out what the hell is going on, I'm going to bust her ass straight from here to the moon.

Still thinking about what just happened, I walk back into Rarity's suite, where she's still hard at work remaking the parts of the dress that the fake didn't like. Okay, if I'm going to do this, I can't tell a single one of these ponies what I'm doing, or the first thing they'll do is go straight to Celestia, if they'd even believe me. After all, they don't seem to be listening to Twilight, either.

Twilight. She's the one pony that would believe me, despite the fact that she's too dense to realize that Cadance is an imposter. Still...I'd better leave her out of this. Luckily, these ponies should be easier to lie to if necessary than Celestia. Hopefully lying won't be necessary, however. Omission is all I have to do.

“Where's Twilight?” I ask abruptly, startling Rarity into nearly stitching her own hoof. There's no sign of Twilight anywhere, which can't be a good sign.

“Oh! Seth, I didn't hear you come in. Twilight went to the great hall to check on Pinkie's preparations,” Rarity answers, and then she turns fully around to scrutinize me with a concerned expression. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?” I ask, playing it cool, even though I know I'd left this room being a total ass. 

“You were strangely agitated when you left earlier,” Rarity reminds me, walking closer to me. “What was the matter?”

“Something about Cadance seemed off,” I explain, using as little detail as possible. Though it seems I'll have to lie, at least for now. Everypony will be thanking me by the time this is over. “I guess the stress of the wedding was getting to her. I talked to her for a bit, and she seemed fine.”

“Ah, I understand. You were worried about us. At least you understand how the princess feels now,” Rarity replies, curving her lips into a smile. “Poor Twilight seems to think it's something more devious. I believe she's simply being paranoid.”

“Seriously. I mean, with all this security here, what the hell does she expect to happen? Because  even if something is lucky enough to get past that barrier, there's so many guards it makes sabotaging this fucking impossible,” I express, even though I know that that fake Cadance has managed to get in regardless of all this security. I hope she explains how she did it when I go to see her later tonight. Then maybe I can barter that information to the guard somehow after I turn her in. Hell, I don't know. The only thing that is certain is that I'm going to bust that imposter's ass.

“Indeed. Anyway, would you be so kind as to help me finish the rest of these dresses? It is almost time to meet the others for dinner,” Rarity queries, reaching out a hoof. “I need another spool of lavender thread.”

“Got it,” I reply, resigning myself to working for just a little bit longer.





“Finished!” Rarity declares, stepping back from her work and gazing upon it with pride. Of course, the bride's dress looks the same as it did before, albeit with the changes the fake Cadance asked for. “I just know the princess will love this.”

“I'm sure she will,” I reply without really caring. I'm starting to get restless, because I know what's coming, yet I still have to wait to go do it. The longer I wait, the more uneasy I feel. Now, all of that aside, I realize I'm pretty hungry. “I'm guessing it's time for dinner?”

“That's right! Shall we go and see how the rest have fared in their preparations?” Rarity asks, but it's not really a question, because she's already moving for the door.

“Sure, whatever,” I say tersely. My conversation with fake Cadance has really made it so I don't really feel like talking. Not until I know she's taken care of and the old Cadance is back. Speaking of which, where is the old Cadance? Holy shit, she's not dead, is she? I mean, that's a real possibility, because if you're going to assume somebody's identity, you should kill the original first. Fuck...remember when I said history was in the making here? A princess may be dead, so you're damn right history is being made. According to what I've learned, nothing like that has happened...ever.

I follow Rarity absentmindedly, lost in my thoughts. I hate to admit it, but I'm also shaking slightly, without meaning to. I've never been in a situation like this, where a single decision from me can change the fate of an entire country. That's literally what's going on right now. Fuck, this is a lot of pressure.

Rarity leads me down to the castle courtyard, which is a massive open area decorated with grass and stone constructs. There's a table set up in one corner of the area, which seems to already be set up for us, probably by the castle staff. By set up, I mean there's eight glasses of water arranged in a circle on the table. Oh good, I could use some water.

“Seth!” It looks like Rainbow is already there. Of course she is, she wasn't doing much of anything...or was she? Her mane looks stringy and the slightest bit damp, for whatever reason. Don't tell me took a swim somewhere while the rest of us have been working our asses off. “You should have seen the tricks I pulled off today. Can you believe I pulled off a double corkscrew back flip?”

“Nice,” I reply uncaringly, which puts a damper on her enthusiasm slightly. Rainbow's smile fades and she looks at me concernedly. I move past her, unzipping and unbuckling my coat. I'm going to be eating, so I don't want to be wearing it. Thankfully, there's a hook on the wall near the table, which allows me to hang the coat there. Now wearing just my sleeveless black shirt, I take a seat at the table, grabbing the nearest glass and gulping down its contents greedily. Whew, I didn't even realize how thirsty I am.

“Hello, Rainbow. You look like you've been working hard,” Rarity observes, thankfully saving me from Rainbow's incoming questions.

“You have no idea. I don't think I touched the ground for hours!” Rainbow exclaims, snapping back into bragging mode. “It was a lot of work, but I feel all warmed up and ready, like I could execute a double Sonic Rainboom!”

“That's not even physically possible," I interrupt, looking over at Rainbow incredulously, earning their attention. “The whole theory behind a Sonic Rainboom is that you're breaking the sound barrier. Once you've broken the sound barrier, it's broken. You can't break it again.”

“Uh, what are you talking about? What sound barrier?” Rainbow asks dumbly, which causes me to facepalm.

“Seriously? You've been doing Sonic Rainbooms here and there, yet you don't even know the theory behind it?”

“Well, I know I go faster than sound,” Rainbow supplies.

“Oh...my god,” I groan. Rarity giggles at the both of us, and finally the two of them join me at the table, sitting on either side of me. “The sound barrier is the point when an object, which in this case is you, goes from transonic to supersonic speeds. More literally, it's the increase in air pressure you feel  as you get closer and closer to the speed of sound. Don't tell you haven't felt it.”

“Oh, that's what that was? I always thought those were the rainbows forming,” Rainbow gasps in wonder.

“Christ, you ponies!” My outburst gets the both of them laughing again. As Rainbow laughs, I can't help but notice a pungent smell emanating from her. Oh god, that's really strong. What is that, is that her sweat? It...well, if I admit it to myself, it actually doesn't smell as bad as horses do in my time. I can definitely smell the horse, but the ever present smell of shit isn't there, instead replaced by...something that I can't really describe. “Rainbow, how hard were you working? You smell.”

“Wha...I do not!” Rainbow protests, looking offended. 

Even Rarity looks at me in exasperation. “Seth, there are some things you just don't say to a...” Rarity suddenly cuts off mid-scolding, taking a whiff of the air. “Actually, he's right. Rainbow...”

“I do not smell! If anything, Seth, you're the one who smells, since you're a...” Rainbow brings, but then she cuts off, smelling herself. She wrinkles her nose, and then she's silent for a good few seconds. Hilariously enough, an embarrassed blush suffuses her cheeks when she realizes that we're both right. “Oh...well...it seems I do.”

Just the way she said that gets me laughing, pounding the table with my fist. Even Rarity is chuckling at Rainbow's expense. Every time I think I'm going to stop laughing, I look at Rainbow's blushing face and I start up again, to the point where it gets hard to breathe.

“Sheesh, it's not that funny,” Rainbow mutters, scuffing the ground with her hoof. So this is the scene that Fluttershy and Pinkie enter. 

The former looks confused at what's going on, while Pinkie zooms over to me and starts laughing obnoxiously as well. A few moments later, Pinkie snorts and asks, “So what are we laughing about?”

“It's Rainbow. She appears to have...” Rarity begins, but then an ice cube nails her right in the nose, courtesy of the red-cheeked Rainbow. “Why, I never! Rainbow Dash, I don't care how you view yourself, but you are still a lady, and ladies do not throw ice cubes!”

Oh god, if I still had access to my social media, I'd make that a favorite quote in an instant. Ladies don't throw ice cubes. That's just funny, and oh my god I can't fucking breathe. You ponies, stop being so entertaining.

“Um...I'm sorry to interrupt, but what's so funny?” Fluttershy inserts, smiling at our merriment. Rainbow glares at us all, daring any one of us to answer her. 

“It's Rainbow. She worked too hard, and now she smells,” I reveal quickly, and then immediately cross my arms to defend against the veritable storm of ice cubes that Rainbow sends my way.

“Oh, are we tossing ice cubes!?” Pinkie squeals, taking out a glass full of ice from her mane somehow. 

“No we're not! Put those away. Rainbow, stop throwing...” Rarity retorts, but then another ice cube soars at her, which she catches with her magic. “Throw one more ice cube at me. I dare you.”

“Now, Rainbow worked really hard to make sure the princess has the best wedding possible. I don't think we should make fun of her for it,” Fluttershy admonishes us all gently. I consider tossing an ice cube at her, but decide not to.

“Maybe we shouldn't, but that doesn't stop it being funny,” I remark. Suddenly, an extreme chill falls down my back, causing me to shudder violently. I shake my shirt, and an ice cube falls out. I glare at Rainbow, her laughing face making it all too obvious who the culprit is. The moment I move, Rainbow bolts from the table, still laughing. “Oh no you fucking don't.”

I get up from my chair and chase after Rainbow, grabbing an ice cube as I do so. Behind me, Rarity groans and lets her face hit the tabletop, while Pinkie somehow got a pair of frilly pom-poms, and is wearing a shirt with Rainbow's face on it.

Rainbow takes to the air, flapping her wings furiously. I flare my magic and go airborne as well,  determined to pay her back for that little prank. “You're not gonna catch me!” Rainbow calls back. Of course, because she isn't looking ahead of her, she promptly hits the wall on the other side of the courtyard. “Oof!”

I grab the back of her neck and hold her against the wall, a devilish smirk on my face. “Hold on, can you say that one more time? I didn't hear you. Who's not going to catch whom?” I taunt. Rainbow responds by turning her head and spitting out a half melted piece of ice onto my face. “What the...okay, that's it.”

I grab the ice cube I took with me and drag it slowly down Rainbow's back, causing her to shudder and yell. “Yeah, how do you like it?”

“What in tarnation is going up there?” I hear Applejack's voice asking from down below. Chuckling, I release Rainbow, noticing with annoyance that my palm is now greasy with her sweat.

“I don't even know,” is Rarity's hilarious response.

“Thanks, Rainbow,” I say, panting slightly at that sudden exertion. Rainbow turns around and gives me a baleful stare. “No, seriously. I needed to laugh.”

“Oh. Well, glad I could help then,” Rainbow says, perplexed. “Anyway, let's go back down. I think Applejack brought the food.”

“Oh good, I'm hungry.”





“...a couple hundred dozens of apple fritters, and then finished up the cake. Ah'd say it's goin' great!” Applejack finishes, listing off all the food products that she'd been cooking over the past several hours, while the rest of us eat the food she brought. “Ah think ah'm just about ready.”

“I finished the dresses, with Seth's help of course. There was a slight hiccup with the princess, but all in all, I think I did a pretty good job,” Rarity rejoins, looking at me appreciatively. Then she regards Fluttershy. “How about you, Fluttershy?”

Before Fluttershy can answer, Twilight enters the courtyard with Spike, though she doesn't happy at all. The first thing she does when she reaches us is slam both hooves on top of the table, nearly knocking over our dishes. “Now, I know what you're all thinking: that Cadance is the worst bride-to-be ever!” Twilight rages. I blink, wondering if she's gone crazy. That wasn't even on my mind at all. Apparently it wasn't on the minds of any of the others either, as they're looking at Twilight as if she's gone crazy. 

“Twilight, what ever are you talking about? Cadance is an absolute gem!” Rarity questions, looking somewhat determined. It seems she's planning on stamping out Twilight's paranoia here and now. Even though her paranoia is absolutely justified.

“What? But she demanded so much from you, after you worked so hard!” Twilight demands, but I personally think that's a particularly weak defense.

“But of course! Why shouldn't she have the best on her wedding day?” Rarity returns. Twilight looks like she wants to protest further, but she gives up, and instead turns to Applejack.

“Applejack, did you know she lied to you about liking your food? She threw your gift in the trash on the way out!” Twilight continues, only this time she's talking about something I wasn't there for.

Applejack looks taken aback, but quickly gets over it. “Well, not everypony can like what ah make. She was probably jus' tryin' not ta hurt ma feelins,” she says with a shrug.

Twilight gets even more frustrated, and starts addressing each and every one of her friends, looking for support. But no matter what she does, they give her a perfectly reasonable answer that she can't refute without looking possessive of her brother. Finally, she turns to me. “Seth, you were there in Rarity's room. You noticed something was wrong, right? You said as much!”

That gets everypony's attention. They all look at me, waiting for my answer. Shit. After an awkward pause, I raise my hands. “Hey, it's not my problem. I'm only here because I'm being paid to be,” I say, choosing not to support or deny her. Twilight's response is to snarl in frustration, rubbing her temples with her hooves.

“Twilight, you must understand. Tomorrow is her wedding! I'm sure anything negative you've seen can be attributed to stress. It's one of the biggest moments of her life, after all,” Rarity explains, resting a hoof on Twilight's shoulder.

“It is not stress! She's an awful pony, who doesn't even deserve to talk to Shining Armor, let alone marry him!” Twilight's rage is getting stronger and stronger. Then finally, Applejack says what the rest of them are thinking.

“Don't ya think yer bein' a mite possessive of yer brother?” Applejack asks with a raised eyebrow. Twilight's jaw tightens. Oh shit, she's about to go off the deep end, isn't she? When she speaks again, it starts off calm.

“I am not being possessive of my brother, nor am I taking it out on Cadance. The lot of you are just so caught up in your wedding preparations to even notice that there shouldn't even be a wedding!” Twilight's voice rises to a shout over the course of that statement, and then she once again slams both hooves down on the table, only this time with much more force, to the point where all of our dishes go flying. 

Twilight storms away after that, leaving Spike with us. The rest of the ponies look at one another, unsure what to say after a tirade like that.

“This is just getting worse and worse,” Rarity observes after a long silence. The other ponies nod and make varying sounds of agreement.

Rarity is right. Things are just going to get worse until I confront the fake Cadance in her room tonight. 

The outcome of the wedding rests solely on my shoulders.
> 43. Enter Chrysalis
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I stand alone in the hall, just outside of Cadance's private bedchambers. I'm dressed in my coat again and I'm ready for anything, or so I hope. I have no idea what I'm getting into at all. There's no telling how dangerous this thing is, but I now that all I have to do is flare my magic, and Celestia will come running, and then the imposter will be beyond fucked.

Still, it's difficult knowing that the fate of this country depends on this single meeting. Like the fake Cadance told me, I haven't told a soul. To get here, I  asked a few guards where I could find her this late at night, and they directed me here. 

There's guards on either side of Cadance's door, but it doesn't seem like they even see me. In fact, when I peer closely, their pupils are smaller than they should be, and are glowing slightly green. The glow is so slight, I wouldn't be able to see it unless I was staring right at their eyes from a close distance. 

That settles it though. I'm dealing with the one who sent the assassin to kill Celestia. I'd bet my life that the pony with the knife had shown these same characteristics. This is a control spell; the guards don't even turn to look at me as I approach. I notice when I glance at them that they're the two guards I knocked out.

As for Rainbow and the others, they've basically gone to sleep early, since the dress rehearsal for the wedding (because apparently they need to do that) is at six in the morning. As for me, I don't think I'll be getting any sleep tonight. It's about midnight right now, and who knows what's going to happen once I walk into that room.

I raise my fist to the door, and then I hesitate. It feels like my heart is in my throat. I'm not usually one to get this nervous, but...there's a chance that I might not walk out of this room. Unlike how I was over a month ago, I'm not so eager for death.

Finally, I take a deep breath, and then knock on the door thrice. Almost immediately, I get a response. “Come in!” says Cadance's authoritative voice. The door handles glow slightly, and then something clicks in the door itself. Probably the locks holding it shut. All right, here goes.

I clutch the handle and turn it, my hand slipping on it slightly because of sweat. The door opens without a sound, revealing the interior of the room. I didn't know what I expected to see, but it appears to be a normal room, with a lavish four-poster bed on the opposite side of the room, a large plush carpet, a vanity and closet for changing clothes, and a door that likely leads to a bathroom. The large windows are completely covered up by heavy maroon drapes, such that the only source of light in the room is the fancy chandelier hanging from the ceiling. As such, it's really dim in the room.

Cadance, or whoever replaced her (I'll just call her Cadance until I find out otherwise), is standing with her back to me, looking at her reflection in the vanity mirror. “Welcome, human. I was almost afraid you weren't going to come,” she purrs, running a hoof through her mane. She turns her head to look at me, a predatory smile crossing her face. “I trust you've held up your end of the deal?”

“Against my better judgment, yes,” I reply. My every instinct is telling me to get away from here as fast as I can, but I force myself to remain still. I have a chance to bust the entire plot right here if I play my cards right. “Now you need to do the same.”

“Oh, of course. Shall we begin by introducing ourselves properly?” Cadance responds in a sultry voice, approaching me slowly. The door shuts behind me and locks, trapping me in the room with her. I jump slightly, adrenaline shooting into my body. Holy fuck, this was a terrible idea. Why did I come here instead of tell Celestia? That would have been the smart thing to do. Now I'm the fly trapped in the spider's web. What if that control spell works on humans? Fuck, I didn't even think about that. “Tell me, human. What is your name?”

“Seth Rogers,” I answer, crossing my arms and attempting to look confident. “What about you?”

“Well, I'm afraid simply telling you my name would be meaningless. If we are to have a successful partnership, it would be best to dispense with the secrets, don't you agree?” Cadance replies coyly. Her horn lights up a sickly green, which is another sign that this Cadance is not what she seems. Cadance's magic is a light blue. Her eyes start to glow that same shade of green, and...fuck...how do I describe this...it's like her skin is shifting. 

I watch in shock as Cadance's skin starts to peel away, starting from her back hooves, climbing up her rear and tail, and sweeping over the rest of her. What's left behind in place of Cadance's usual pink coat is a black, chitinous material that's pockmarked with holes. Her once multicolored tail turns to a sickly teal color.

This change continues to her wings, which shimmer and dissipate to reveal translucent insect-like wings with pointed tips. Upon being freed, they flap several times, buzzing slightly. Next, Cadance's face shimmers away, revealing a black, pony-like face with a more angled muzzle and rows upon rows of sharp teeth, with particularly long canines. Her mane turns that same shade of teal, cascading down her head and shoulders. Lastly, her horn becomes longer and more jagged. At least, her twisted, sick transformation is over.

“What the shit?” I gasp, having never seen anything like that before in my life. I'm honestly a bit disturbed by that, to the point where I can feel bile rising in my throat. Her skin just...it just fell off, almost like she was molting. What the fuck!?

“Ah, that's much better,” the thing says, her voice deeper than before, and also possessing a strange distorted quality, almost as if two voices are speaking out of synch. “I've spent too much time cooped up in that useless princess body. I was beginning to feel cramped.”

The creature emits a satisfied giggle, and then she starts to stretch like a cat, her joints cracking. With every crack, she emits a moan of pleasure. Okay, this is getting more and more fucked up. “Okay, seriously, who and what the fuck are you?” I demand.

“Just a moment,” the thing replies, and takes a few more seconds to stretch before she looks at me with her vivid green eyes. “Now, allow me to introduce myself. I am Queen Chrysalis, sovereign of the changeling race. It is a pleasure, Seth Rogers.”

My knees feel weak. Cadance just broke apart and became a monster right in front of me. I almost fall backwards, and I would have if Chrysalis hadn't used her magic to slide a chair beneath me. “Holy fuck...I've never seen anything like that,” I emit, unable to come up with the words to say anything else.

Chrysalis chuckles knowingly. “I understand. It's not often that a non-changeling lays eyes upon me. But...” Chrysalis then steps closer, lowering her head to look at me in the eyes. I freeze. She's so close, I can smell her breath...which for some odd reason, smells like...what the fuck? That smells like the perfume Amaryllis always wears. How the hell...what... “It's also not often that a human has ever been seen in the realm of the living. In fact, I was under the impression that your kind was extinct.”

“That's because we are...and...why the hell do you smell like...one of us?” I demand, my breathing rate increasing. This...thing, this changeling...is really freaking me the fuck out.

“Oh, my apologies. It comes with being a changeling. We feed off of love, so our biology adapted to make gathering our food easier,” Chrysalis explains, backing off slightly with a giggle. Wait, the fuck? She feeds off of love? But...love doesn't fucking exist. That's just lust, romanticized by dumb human literature.

“So you feed off of lust. How does that even work, and how does that make you smell like a human?”

“You ask so many questions! Though I suppose that's to be expected. This meeting is a first for the both of us,” Chrysalis remarks. “I promised, however, so I shall deliver. We do not feed off of lust. While some changelings believe in engaging in such activities with their targets, it is not necessary for our nutrition. Let me say it again, so that you understand. We feed off of love, not lust.”

“But they're the same thing. Love is just lust, covered up with lies and bullshit romanticism,” I point out to her. “And you still haven't answered my question about your smell.”

“Oho, how delightfully dark. But, in the end, false,” Chrysalis corrects me. “Before I prove it to you, I will answer your question, as it appears to be important to you. Our smell is a biological weapon provided to us. We emit different scents to different creatures, depending on what they love most. For example, if I were to approach that buffoon Shining Armor, I would smell like Cadance. It's why he was so willing to overlook my...less than exemplary acting performance.”

So that's why she smells like Amaryllis's perfume. That's fucked up, but I suppose it makes some twisted kind of sense. Still, her words about love bother me. “How the fuck can you prove that love exists?” I question. “That's impossible. Because the more people try to prove it exists, the more I can show them how it's just their body conditioning them for intercourse.”

Chrysalis doesn't answer at first, instead opening the door behind me. “Come inside, Steel Shield,” she calls softly, and then one of the guards outside the door walks inside as if he's in a trance. Chrysalis shuts the door behind him, locking it once more. The guard, who is a stallion, stands stock still in front of us, waiting for further orders.

Chrysalis gazes at him like a predator would its prey. A white orb forms at the top of her jagged horn, which she then hurls at Steel. When it hits him, his entire body flashes white for a moment, before returning to normal. “A simple truth spell,” Chrysalis explains for my benefit, before turning back to Steel. “Tell me, Steel. Do you love your wife?”

“Of course I do. She's my whole world,” Steel answers, a defiant look on his face. I notice that the green film over his eyes is gone, which means he's back to normal, only influenced by the truth spell. Though I question why he's not running and screaming from Chrysalis. 

“How delightful. Tell me, if you were alone in this room with your wife, would you have sex with her?” Chrysalis asks, looking at me meaningfully. Ugh, why the fuck do we want to know his mating habits?

“If she was willing, yes. There's nopony more beautiful than she is,” Steel replies, his brow contorted. It looks like she's trying to resist the truth spell, but I guess it isn't working. 

“Excellent. Now what if I removed her ability to have sex, so that you two could never make love again?” Chrysalis asks further, getting closer to the poor guard. “Would you still stay with her?”

“You're damn right I would. She's more to me than just a piece of flesh. She's my wife, and I'll always stay by her side,” Steel asserts. Chrysalis emits a shuddering moan, and she licks her lips with a forked tongue. Her horn starts to glow, and Steel convulses in pain as particles of green light stream from his body. Those particles flow into Chrysalis's mouth and are eaten.

Finally, Chrysalis withdraws from him, and the flow stops, as does his convulsions. The green film returns to his eyes, and she ushers the guard away, opening the door to let him out, before shutting it again. “Ah, this is why I keep him around. Such a healthy relationship tastes absolutely exquisite,” Chrysalis explains, while I look at her in horror. 

“What the fuck did I just see?” I demand, glaring at her. “You sounded like you got off on...whatever the hell it is you just did.”

Chrysalis laughs at my words. “Oh, I fed off of his love, as it is very strong. You just don't find love like that out in the wastelands,” she expresses. “But do you see? Love is more than lust. Some couples go their entire lives without giving in to lust, and yet their love is still as strong.”

“Okay, so let's assume I believe that. So why are you trying to marry Shining Armor? Or, the better question is, why the fuck were you stupid enough to rile up Celestia?” I ask next, attempting to ignore that horrible sight of Chrysalis sucking away Steel's...love.

“It's all tactics, you see. By sending an assassin after Celestia, with a message embedded in the spell, she is guaranteed to step up security, so that she can protect her oh so beloved subjects,” Chrysalis spits out the word “subjects” as if it were poison. “It was a simple matter to slip in before the barrier was erected. Now, Celestia is going forward with this ridiculous wedding, thinking she's completely safe in her little bubble. Her lack of foresight will be her downfall.”

“Okay, let me just stop you right there. You're not going to beat Celestia,” I say. I might as well hit the nail on the head right here, and make this bug thing understand what she's fucking with. “Celestia is a fucking god. You think you can beat her because you've never seen her power. She'll incinerate your entire race if you make a move against her.”

“Trust me, I am well aware of her power. After all, the sun and moon move at her command,” Chrysalis assures me. Okay, so apparently everything in this world thinks Celestia moves the sun. I still don't believe that, and I never will. “But that's why she is the ultimate prize. She loves her subjects dearly. By bringing her down, the changelings will never go hungry again!”

“So how do you intend to take her down by marrying one of the regiment captains?” I say. I'm just about to end this conversation and flare my magic. Once Chrysalis reveals the rest of her plan, I'll bring Celestia here, and end this farce. Monstrosities like her and her race (since there's apparently more of them. God) deserve to be eradicated.

“That's simple. With Shining Armor under my command, so is the entire defense force of Canterlot. You'll see. Come the wedding, I'll force him to drop the barrier, and let my forces in,” Chrysalis reveals. Forces...holy fuck, she brought an army with her? Shit. Well, even so, when I call Celestia here, she'll crush Chrysalis and cut the head off of the snake, so to speak. “Then, I'll take care of Celestia, and Equestria itself will fall under my command. The changelings will reign over the land!”

Chrysalis starts to laugh, a lot like a typical villain. Well, I suppose that's enough. Time to end this. I stand up, glaring at her. “Well, seems like you've got everything figured out, little tactician,” I remark. Chrysalis stops laughing and narrows her eyes at me. “But now that you've told me your entire plan, what's stopping me from letting Celestia now exactly where I am, while you're in this form?”

“By rights, that question would cost you your life,” Chrysalis snaps at me with a voice as hard as iron. I flinch, breaking out into a cold sweat as her eyes glow with green magic, and a pressure falls over me, almost like how I feel whenever Celestia is around. Dear god, how strong is she? “But, on account of what you are, I'd like to offer you a proposition instead.”

“What the hell makes you think I'd accept anything from you?” I demand, clenching my hands into fists, just in case I need to fight.

“You're a human, one of our predecessors. I'm loathe to kill you if I have any other choice. Therefore, I'm willing to give you almost anything in return for your cooperation,” Chrysalis explains. “For example, what holds you to the ponies? Have they done anything to inspire your loyalty? Why not abandon them and stand by my side, as my king and consort?”

“What!?” I respond with a gasp that exhibits both shock and disgust. Chrysalis turns around, so that her back is to me. She turns her head back to me, giving me a sultry expression.

“What do you say? It's not a bad offer, don't you think? As my king, you would live in luxury for the rest of your life, an army of changelings at your beck and call,” Chrysalis offers, as I stare in shock. “Of course, that's not all. You'd have no responsibilities, nor any shortage of money. And lastly, as my consort, your loyalty would go very well...rewarded.”

The hidden meaning behind her words wasn't lost on me. The very idea was repulsive to me, causing bile to rise violently in my throat. I quickly turn my gaze, trying my hardest to keep from throwing up right then and there. Despite my efforts, it's impossible to keep Chrysalis from noticing how disgusted I am.

“Oh, changeling not good enough for you? I can work with that,” Chrysalis titters, not offended in the least. Suddenly, her body shimmers, and she becomes Cadance again. “How about it? There's nothing I can't become. I can be anything, all for the purpose of fulfilling your every desire.”

As I watch, she cycles through several different ponies, settling on Rarity at one point. Each time, the pony whose appearance she assumes wears a seductive expression the likes of which I've never seen them wear. I'd neverFinally, she stops on Rainbow. “You're particularly fond of this one, are you not? Would you like her to be yours?” Chrysalis whispers. Suddenly, her voice changes to sound exactly like Rainbow. “Yeah, Seth! Why don't you do whatever you want to me tonight? I promise I'll be a good girl...”

“GODDAMMIT NO!” I suddenly shout, losing my temper. “For the last time, I am human! I do not want to fuck you, or any pony! That's not how fucking sex drives work!”

“You'd be surprised. I once met a stallion who wanted to get naughty with a diamond dog female,” Chrysalis relates with a wry expression. “Though my offer of letting you become king still stands.”

“Sorry, but no. I have no interest in being king of anything, much less a kingdom of fucking insect things,” I retort. Chrysalis sighs, running a hoof through her mane.

“That's unfortunate. Thankfully, I do have one card left to play, if you'll hold off on summoning Celestia for just a moment longer,” Chrysalis reveals. “Sadly, I wanted to keep the last human all to myself. But if living as a king in your own perverted fantasy doesn't appeal to you, then I'll play my trump card.”

“What trump card? What the hell are you going on about now?” I demand impatiently. I don't know why I'm still listening. I should really just power up and then laugh maniacally as Celestia annihilates her for scarring me for life. Oh god, those images are going to be in my nightmares. Ugh.

“I suppose I'll say it bluntly. I know you're not from this time,” Chrysalis informs me. I freeze, my blood running cold. “Humans are extinct; they have been for three thousand years. Yet here you stand.”

“How the fuck can you know that?” I whisper, my body starting to shake. “How the fuck do you know that!?”

“It's simple. Some spells are so powerful, they leave an impact on the fabric of magic itself. In your case, the spell I'm referring to was cast on you directly,” Chrysalis explains. “I can sense the remnants of a powerful stasis spell that was cast upon you. And if I remember that your race is extinct, what other conclusion should I draw?”

“I...suppose you have a point. But how does this supposed to make me stay quiet?” I snap at her. Chrysalis responds first by giggling.

“Because what if I told you...that I can send you home to your own time?” Chrysalis whispers. I start to retort, but then it dies in my throat when the full meaning of what she just said sinks in. 

Chrysalis watches me carefully as I stand there in a shocked silence, unable to even begin to come up with a response to that. I...can go home? Back to my own time? I can see Am...no, this can't be right. Twilight and Celestia told me that the time travel spell isn't stable enough for permanent travel to the past. Hell, Twilight said it was impossible to travel back further than a week.

“That's...that's bullshit. I should kill you, for daring to invoke that spark of hope in me,” I growl viciously. Chrysalis doesn't look fazed at all though.

“I'm not lying to you, Seth. I can really do it,” Chrysalis persuades, but I'm not having any of that.

“Stop. Starswirl the Bearded's time travel spell is too unstable for permanent travel. I have testimonies from both Twilight and Celestia attesting to that,” I tell her flatly. At that, Chrysalis puts on a coy expression.

“And you think that that's all there is? You think that if it isn't in Celestia's archives, it doesn't exist?” Chrysalis challenges, looking smug. “Starswirl the Bearded was a genius, but he refrained from finishing the time travel spell for fear of what it could do. But others...a long time ago, stole his work and completed it into a fully stable time travel spell.”

“And you're telling me you have this spell,” I ask, almost daring to hope. If she can send me home...holy fuck, I'll be able to see Amaryllis again. And the first thing I would do is tell her how I feel about her.

“That's right. We changelings live underground. Over the years, we've come across many hidden secrets,” Chrysalis answers with a wolfish grin. “But, if you are still unconvinced, allow me to demonstrate.”

Chrysalis's horn glows green, only this time, the way the magic feels in the air is completely different. It feels...older, veritably ancient...and incredibly powerful. Chrysalis starts to chant in an unknown language. Arcane writings and markings form in the air around her, circling her body in a cylinder.

A large sickly green rune forms on the ground beneath my feet. Inscribed within its bound are several Equestrian numbers that continuously change at a lightning fast pace. As if that wasn't enough, at least a score of glowing green clock faces fade into existence around me, arranged into multiple concentric circles. They all start to tick and chime at once, forming a cacophony of sounds so discordant that it makes me cover my ears.

The sound continues to bleed through, however. Chrysalis finishes the chant with a word of power so thunderous, it causes her mane to fly up in the air. Light emanates from the rune at my feet, completely enveloping me and obscuring my vision entirely.





A strange sensation of falling encompasses me, even as that blinding light fades away. I start to feel wind rushing against my body, and feeling it comes a second later. What the hell is going on?

I open my eyes, and immediately find out that it feels like I'm falling, because I am falling. All I can see is the ground far below me, but it's getting closer far too fast. “HOLY SHIIIIT!” I shout, suddenly fearing for my life. Of course, then I remember that I can fly. In that case, I'll fall just a little bit longer, so I can take it my surroundings in comfort. I say comfort, because I'm falling at or close to terminal velocity. 

Okay, and my surroundings are fucked up. Looking up, I see the mountain on which Canterlot would usually be resting on, except there's no sign of the city at all. And if I thought that was weird, that's nothing compared to what the ground is like.

Everything is fucked up beyond all form and recognition. Like, the ground is hilly and ever changing, with bits of it even floating up into the air like a fucking lava lamp. It's also colored a million different colors and decorated in a million different ways. The trees are different colors and aren't even right side up, and rivers continuously change color while at the same time flowing up into the air. What the fuck, did Chrysalis send me on one hell of an acid trip? This...is chaos.

The second I think that, I suddenly become aware of a presence nearby. I turn my head, and my eyes promptly widen in recognition. That statue that was in the Canterlot gardens? The one where there's a dragon that looks like it was made by an artist high on LSD? Yeah, Discord is falling right beside me in all of his fucked up glory...except he's wearing a fucking skydiving suit, complete with a helmet and goggles.

“Ohoho, isn't this just the happiest day of my life!” Discord exclaims jubilantly, spreading his eagle and lion arms. “Where have you been for the past two thousand years, besides not causing chaos like you always do?”

“I'm sorry, what?” I reply, unable to think of anything intelligent to say. I'm suddenly in the presence of an actual god, though how this is happening is beyond me. I thought he was sealed up in the garden? Did he get free? Where is Canterlot, and why is the land all fucked up like this?

“Oh, one moment,” Discord says, looking down at the ground. Then he looks back at me. “Say, what's your favorite dessert?”

“Dessert? What the fuck does that have to do with anything?” I demand. Discord waggles a talon at me, and then he pulls a bar of soap from fucking nowhere and shoves it in my mouth before I can react.

“Now now, you should really watch your language. It's just not polite,” he teases me. I gag on the taste of the disgusting soap, and then I spit it out, glaring at him. Where the hell did that soap come from? “Do me a favor and answer the question, would you?”

“Uh...I don't know, let's go with cake,” I decide, completely confused as to what the hell is going on.

Discord forms a toothy grin, and then he snaps his eagle talons, and then before I know what's happening, I land softly...in a massive strawberry cake with butter cream icing. “What in the...how did...what!?” I stammer, getting up. I'm all covered in icing...even my coat. “My coat, goddammit!”

Discord proceeds to twirl through the air, laughing uproariously at my facial expression. “Oh dear, you should see your face!” With that, Discord taps my face with a paw, and then to my utter shock, shows me a mask of my icing covered face. I reach up to touch my face, only to find that there's nothing there. I'm sad to say that I scream like a girl at that. Thankfully, with another snap of Discord's fingers, my face returns and the cake and icing disappear from the ground and my body, such that my clothes are pristine again. “That one never gets old. Can you believe I did that to this one pony, and he literally started crying? Crying, without a face. Imagine that!” 

I glare at Discord, attempting to recover from that incredibly jarring experience. I can't believe this is the thing that screwed up my entire world. “Now then, where did you come from, little human?” Discord asks. “I haven't seen any of you in so long. I got so bored, I wrecked nature!”

“Uh...I came from up there,” I say dumbly, pointing at the sky. I'm so out of sorts by everything that's happening, I can't really get the presence of mind to make intelligent conversation. Discord, however, seems to find my attempt at wit hilarious.

“Oh, and he's witty! Just wonderful! I suppose you're a bit jumbled and whatnot,” Discord exults with a wave of his hand. He peers in closer to me, shedding the skydiving outfit and instead donning a weird Sherlock Holmes looking outfit, and then he proceeds to stare at me through a magnifying glass. “What have we here? Time travel? From the past and the future at the same time? This day simply could not get any better!”

“What are you talking about? How can you know that?” I demand. Discord's clothing disappears again as he curls around me.

“Because this is my world. Did you know that humans are my favorite race? I was ever so bored when you lot died out,” Discord reveals. I look at him in shock. Hold on a minute, this fucker was around even during my time? What the...that can't be possible. “Watching your kind was so entertaining, I watched you for years! So chaotic! You were always pillaging and burning...”

As he speaks, Discord changes some part of his body or produces some object to enunciate his words. “...drowning and accusing, oh I could go on, but unfortunately that time travel spell you're using is temporary,” he informs me. “So tell me who you are, human?”

Suddenly, it clicks. Holy shit...Chrysalis did it. She sent me back in time. Discord was around over a thousand years ago according to pony history...which means...Chrysalis really can send me home! Oh my god, this is the best news I've heard in my entire life...except she probably wants something in exchange for sending me back. Whatever it is, I doubt I'm going to like it.

“I'm Seth. Seth Rogers...” I say slowly, feeling a spark of hope in my chest for the first time...ever. If I do what Chrysalis wants, I can go see Amaryllis and my family again.

“A pleasure, Seth Rogers, I'm Discord, but I assume you already know that, Mr. Time Traveler,”  he rambles, tapping me on the nose. Out of instinct, I reach up and touch my nose, making sure it's still there. “Why don't you do something chaotically human, for old time's sake? Entertain me, before your time runs out.”

“Like what?” I ask breathlessly.

“How should I know? Do what you humans always do. Destroy something, control something, light something on fire, make love to random animals because you're too lazy to find a woman that accepts you...funny joke there. Gotta love the Greeks. Delightfully chaotic.” Everything Discord says just serves to further confuse me.

“Hold up...how can you know what the Greeks are? That's way before the time of ponies and magic,” I demand, ignoring his request for the time being.

“Oh come now, I'm the god of chaos. I'm as immortal as they come,” Discord proclaims, holding a claw to his chest. He worms through the air like some kind of twisted snake. “Of course the Greeks came before magic, because I hadn't invented it yet. Why did humans need magic, when they already came up with the most ingenious of contraptions? Did you know the Eastern Roman Empire invented a fire that would never stop burning? Delightful.”

He's telling the truth. Greek fire was a major thing in the wars between the Byzantines and the Arabs. For him to know that...he must have been around then. Holy shit, if only I could go back and tell the dumb churches about this. By the way, I know a god that really exists, and his name is Discord. 

“Now, now, distractions aside, do something chaotically human for me. Chop chop now, time is running out,” Discord urges me, conjuring a fucking couch and resting on it.

I don't know what the hell he wants me to do. Something chaotic. What, does he want me to run around screaming like a madman? “Okay, Discord. I don't know what the hell you expect from me. Honestly, I didn't even know I was going to be seeing you at all until a grand total of a minute ago. I just got here. Seriously, what the fuck do you expect me to do!?” I snap at him. Now that the shock is fading away, I'm starting to get annoyed. This is the fucker who wrecked my world. I have half a mind to hit him with the strongest magic blast I can muster...if I thought it would do anything. 

Rather than returning my ire, Discord seems to view my outburst as the most hilarious thing ever. “Wonderful! Some good ol' human anger. So much better than boring old Celly's self righteous fervor,” he praises me, clapping his...appendages. Then, his head suddenly changes into motherfucking Celestia's head, which is wearing a ridiculous expression. When Discord speaks again, it's in a comical imitation of Celestia's voice. “Discord! Thy reign over this land hath ended! Thou shalt face the power of the unbridled sun...”

Discord cuts off, his face returning to normal, as he laughs uproariously. “They're so intense! So many thee's, and thou's, and how dare thee...oh dear,” he continues, wiping a tear of merriment from his eye. “But nothing compared to the humans. I once showed myself to a human in the late information age. He threatened to, and I quote, bash my head in with a rake. Hilarious!”

What the hell...this guy just goes on and on. But despite what Celestia and Twilight told me, he seems harmless. Maybe it's just because I'm a human and he likes us, but he just seems like a silly old man to me. Well...a silly old man with world bending powers.

“Oh, poo. It seems like our time is up,” Discord grunts with a pout. Wait what is he...oh shit, the rune is back, forming just underneath my feet. I guess I'm going back now...back to Chrysalis. “Such a shame, I was having so much fun. Do tell your spell caster thanks for me. I'll make sure to seek you out in the future. Ta-ta, now!”

Yeah...how about don't seek me out? Oh wait, you can't because you're sealed in stone. Sucks to be you. Well, good riddance, Discord. 





The light from the spell dissipates, to reveal the darkened interior of Cadance's private bedchambers once more. I stagger slightly when the spell releases, but thankfully a chair pulls up to me once again, courtesy of an smug looking Chrysalis.

“I sent you back over a thousand years ago,” Chrysalis reveals, even though I'd figured out that much on my own. For some reason, her mane is streaked with sweat, as is her body. She's panting heavily, as if casting that spell had taken a huge toll on her. “I hope you enjoyed your trip to the past.”

“About that. Do you know what happened over a thousand years ago?” I begin in a slightly higher pitched voice. “I landed in a pile of fucking cake, courtesy of a thoroughly insane Discord!”

“Discord? Interesting. It sounds like your time in the past was a fulfilling one,”  Chrysalis remarks. She steps closer, the smell of Amaryllis even stronger now. “But, you believe me now, don't you? I can send you home, to your friends and family.”

“Yeah, I believe you. But...what's the catch? I know there has to be one,” I ask, crossing my arms.

“The catch? Why, all I ask for is your cooperation,”  Chrysalis replies. Wait...cooperation? Does that mean I'd have to go against Celestia? Jesus fuck, I'd have to have a death wish. But...if I don't, then I can't go home. “Actually, you don't even have to do that. Just promise me that whatever happens, you'll stay out of it.”

“Wait...that's it? Just stay out of your way and let you do your thing?” I ask incredulously, unable to believe my ears. It's that easy? I don't have to do anything?  Chrysalis nods with a smirk. Wait a minute...what kind of things am I staying out of? “What exactly do you plan to do, anyway, besides take down Celestia?”

“Oh, I have a lot in store for this city. Once the barrier is down, I'll crush the Canterlot guard beneath my armies, and enslave its populace for our feeding pleasure,”  Chrysalis answers with a wicked grin. “Though I'll make doubly sure to exterminate the Elements of Harmony. I know their power, and I won't fall prey to it.”

My blood runs cold at her words. Kill the Elements of Harmony? That means...Applejack, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy and...Rainbow. “Fuck...” I emit, holding my head in my hands. This is the most difficult decision that's ever been presented to me.  Chrysalis is giving me the power to choose who lives and who dies...I'm not sure I can wield that kind of power.

“Take your time. I'm sure this isn't an easy decision,”  Chrysalis assures me. She sits down on her haunches and waits patiently, watching me with a pensive expression.

Fuck...okay. I have two choices here. The first is to stay out of it like she wants me to. Then I can go home, which is what I want more than anything. I can see Amaryllis and my family again...at the cost of Rainbow's life. On the other hand, I can stop her here, saving Rainbow, but forgoing my only chance to see Amaryllis again. In the end, it all comes down to who I want to save.

I have to choose between saving Amaryllis and my family, or Rainbow and the others.
> 44. This Day is Going to be Perfect
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Shit, how long has it been? An hour? Two hours? What time is it? Hell, I don't fucking know. I can't think. My heart is pounding in my chest. Part of me just wants to curl up and a ball and forget that any of this is happening.

I'm sitting on a chair in Cadance's private bedchambers, staring at the wall with an empty expression. Chrysalis is standing at the vanity, peering at the mirror. She's back in the likeness of Cadance, getting ready for tomorrow's dress rehearsal. She's giving me time to think over her offer, so she hasn't spoken to me the whole time I've been sitting here.

It's getting slightly harder to breathe. How can I make this kind of decision? Nobody should have this kind of power. No matter what I choose, I lose. Fucking...this isn't fair. Chrysalis, I wish you'd  disappear. I wish you'd never have showed up and presented me with this awful choice. I think I was much better off thinking that I could never go home again. Fuck you, Chrysalis.

I want to go home. I really do. I said I'd give up anything to be able to go home. Hell, if Chrysalis hadn't said she would kill the Elements of Harmony, I'd have taken her offer in a second. Dammit. Dammit. 

I start to tear up, slightly. This is an impossible decision. It makes me want to just lie down and cry. I'm not happy with either choice, so all I can do is sit here and curse my rotten luck. I know I'm running out of time. I've been here for so long; the dress rehearsal is bound to start soon.

“Your time is running out, Seth,” Chrysalis finally says, looking over at me with a neutral expression. “It is past four in the morning. You have a little over an hour.”

“Thank you,” I reply in a dead sounding voice. So this is it. I have to come up with a course of action and stick with it. I have to choose who to save.

The time passes excruciatingly slowly, but at the same time, much too quickly. Before I know it,  the sun starts to peek over the horizon. Which means my time is up. “It is time,” Chrysalis announces, stalking over to me. “Make your decision.”

I stand up from the chair, feeling my emotions bubbling up inside of me. I can't handle this. The only thing I want to do right now is scream, as I juggle my two options in my head.

Finally, I let out a sob that shakes my whole body, holding up my head with one hand. “I'm sorry, Rainbow...” I choke, hating myself for this choice. “I can't...I want to go home.”

Chrysalis hears my words and allows a gleeful grin to grace her features. “Excellent! You made the right choice,” she praises, resting her hoof briefly on my shoulder. I make no response to her words. I...I know it's cliché...but I honestly feel like something inside of me just died. Rainbow's done so much for me...and now I'm going to let her die so I can go home. 

“Come with me. It is time to go to the dress rehearsal. If you are not there, questions will be asked,” Chrysalis orders, unlocking and opening the door. I follow her out into the hallway lethargically, filled with self-loathing for what I've just done. I guess in the end, I really am a terrible person at heart. I'm sorry Rainbow, but you just can't change what humans are. “Rest assured, I will send you home once Canterlot is within my grasp.”

The two guards next to Cadance's door accompany us as we enter the main hallway. The guards lining the hall that were put on night shift salute to us as we pass. The halls are filled with the waking staff, as well as another set of guards to relieve the first. Everypony makes room for Chrysalis and I, even as they glance curiously at us, no doubt wondering why the human is walking with the bride-to-be. Let them wonder. They'll all be dead or enslaved soon, anyway. 

We soon reach the hall where the wedding is going to take place. Judging by the voices I hear inside, most of the others are already here. Oh god, I'm not going to be able to look them in the eye at all. Fuck, I also hear Celestia's voice inside. That alone gets me to straighten up and at least attempt to look like I normally do. If she reads me, this whole thing is over, and I won't get to go home. Before we walk inside, Chrysalis turns to look at me. She nods once, and then she pushes the doors open with her magic.

“They'll be here soon enough...” Celestia is saying to Shining Armor and the five other ponies there with her. That would be Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Fluttershy. There's no sign of Twilight, for whatever reason, but Spike is here, sitting on the stairs. Not that it matters to me, anyway. “Ah! There they are. Good morning, Seth, niece.”

“Pardon our lateness. I was discussing a few things over with my new friend,” Chrysalis responds, , indicating me with a hoof. She's also adopted Cadance's voice once more. Celestia is totally fooled as well, as she nods. Of course, at Chrysalis's words, Rainbow looks at me oddly, with a hint of anger in her expression. “Shall we get started?”

“If you are ready, then absolutely,” Celestia responds. She looks down at the others. “Shining Armor, girls, are you ready to begin?”

“Not quite,” Rainbow snaps. She walks over to me, lifting her head and glaring at me. “Where the hay did you go last night? I was waiting for you!”

“Like it's any of your fucking business where I go,” I lash out at her viciously. Rainbow reels back as if she's been struck. Even the other four ponies, who know how close I am to Rainbow, look shocked. 

“But, you said that we'd...” Rainbow starts, but I cut her off, determined to end this conversation here and now, before I have a chance to change my mind.

“No, you said that. Don't feel like I'm obligated to spend any time with you, just because you thought it would be a good idea,” I shoot back. Rainbow takes a few steps back, looking hurt. “Now how about you shut the fuck up and do your damn job, like we're being paid to do? Sound good? Good.”

Rainbow falls back in with her friends. Applejack rests a hoof on Rainbow's back, attempting to comfort the pegasus as she watches me, her feelings hurt. Shit, well, I got her to back off, but now all of the ponies that know me are watching me, appalled at my treatment of my friend. Even Celestia is eyeing me. I play it off by crossing my arms and looking at Chrysalis.

“Well. I suppose it would be best if we began,” Celestia says, breaking the silence. She wants to talk to me about that. I can tell by the way she's looking at me. “First, the ceremony will start with you standing right here, Shining Armor, in front of me.”

“Like this?” Shining Armor asks, moving to the position Celestia is pointing at.

“That's right. The best mare, will stand next to you,” Celestia continues, pointing at another spot, next to Shining Armor. “When Twilight arrives, I will explain that to her. Moving along, the orchestra will begin to play the traditional wedding piece.”

“Orchestra? Wasn't Fluttershy's bird choir or whatever providing the music?” I ask curiously. At that, Fluttershy looks down guiltily.

“That was the original plan, but my niece decided that I gave them far too little notice for them to properly perform the piece,” Celestia admits sheepishly. Next to me Chrysalis lifts her nose in an uppity fashion.

“I'm sorry, I tried so hard,” Fluttershy murmurs. This prompts Celestia to kneel down and nuzzle her lovingly.

“Don't be sorry. It was my fault. I know you did everything you could,” Celestia assures her. Her efforts earn a small smile out of Fluttershy.

“I'd always dreamed of having the Royal Canterlot Orchestra play at my wedding. A bird choir simply wouldn't have had the same effect,” Chrysalis proclaims. As spoiled as that sounds, it's her wedding day, and because of that the other ponies are nodding.

“Once the intro starts to play, I would like the five of you...” Celestia starts again, addressing Rainbow and the others. “...to walk up the center aisle in a straight, horizontal line. Go ahead and get in position, as if the wedding was taking place right now.”

Rainbow and the others pass me, not even sparing a glance at me. It seems like I pissed off the rest of them by being so vicious to Rainbow. Whatever. It won't matter in another four hours, anyway.

“Hold up, I thought the bridesmaids were supposed to come in before the bride herself?” I interrupt again.

“That is correct. These five were chosen by Cadance to be her new bridesmaids,” Celestia answers me, nodding at Chrysalis.

“New bridesmaids? What happened to Lyra and the rest of them?” I demand, looking at Chrysalis in particular. If Chrysalis had picked these five, that means she must have done something to the other three.

“Why, I replaced them, because I discovered their true reasons for being my bridesmaids. All they wanted was to be close to royalty,” Chrysalis scoffs, waving a hoof in disdain. “Inexcusable. Therefore, the three of them were...sent home.”

That pause in her answer causes me to shudder slightly. Minuette, Twinkleshine, and Lyra...are likely dead. I shut my eyes and take a deep breath. That's another pony dead because of me. But it's all for the sake of going home to Amaryllis and my family. I'll never be in this world again. It doesn't matter how many ponies die.

Celestia once again starts to direct the dress rehearsal. “As you're walking, make sure not to step out of line. Don't hurry, there's no rush. After that, Cadance will enter from the back. If you'll take your position, my lovely niece?”

Chrysalis nods, and walks back towards the entrance to the hall. Since I doubt I'll have a role in the wedding itself, I step aside and stand in the area where I assume the audience is going to be.

Once Chrysalis is behind the doors, Celestia opens them with her magic. “Walk forward to the altar, Cadance. Like I said to the girls, there's no hurry. Take your time to enjoy the occasion.” Celestia orders, her smile returning. 

I guess I'll keep my mouth shut for the rest of this thing. I would have been better off not asking about the bridesmaids. Anyway, Chrysalis reaches the spot near Shining Armor, just in front of Celestia. She crosses horns lovingly with Shining Armor. Because apparently that's a thing unicorn couples do. “I'll say a few words, and then we'll start with the vows,” Celestia proceeds. “I assume you've both memorized them?”

“Absolutely,” Shining Armor declares proudly, and Chrysalis nods.”What happens next?”

“Then, Shining Armor, you will receive the ring from the best mare,” Celestia instructs, looking at the spot where the best mare should be. 

“Hey, so has anypony seen Twilight this morning?” Shining Armor asks worriedly, probably figuring that his sister has been gone too long. She has, but it's not my problem anymore. None of this is my problem. I'm along for the ride, until I can go home.

Before anypony can answer, the doors to the hall open with a bang, revealing a very pissed off Twilight. “I'm here!” she snaps, stomping up to the altar. “But I'm not standing next to her! And neither should you, Shining Armor!”

As Shining Armor and the other ponies react in shock, I look over at Chrysalis to see if she's taken off guard. If Twilight has figured something out, her plan might go up in smoke right now. However, Chrysalis catches my eye, and gives me a small wink. Which tells me she knew this was coming, and has planned to take care of it. Well. I guess I'll just stand back and watch.

Shining Armor immediately turns to Chrysalis. “I'm so sorry. I don't know what she's thinking,” he says, dipping his head. Chrysalis pretends to look unsure...oh, I see what she's going to do. 

Even Twilight's own friends don't like what she's doing. Fluttershy and Applejack approach her together, trying to get her to lay off. But Twilight just pushes past Fluttershy and uses her magic to move Applejack aside, while at the same time ignoring both of their words. “I have something to say! And all of you are going to listen to me!” Twilight declares, looking more determined than I've ever seen her. She immediately points at Chrysalis. “She's not who you think she is. She's evil!”

Oh shit. Has Twilight figured it out? Because it certainly seems like it. Chrysalis, however, puts on a shocked and appalled expression. As I thought, she's going to play the damsel. And since everypony here believes that she's Cadance, it will more than likely work. Yeah, see, now Shining Armor has stepped in front of Chrysalis protectively, as the other ponies talk amongst themselves in shocked undertones.

Twilight proceeds to list several reasons to back up her claim...most of which are true. Chrysalis has been pretty rude to most of them, she probably has killed her bridesmaids...and the last one (which is something about using a spell on Shining Armor) I'm not sure about. While Twilight is doing this, she's getting closer to Chrysalis, who acts terrified and backs up until she can't anymore. Finally, Chrysalis bursts into tears...very convincing ones, I might add. Probably has something to do with the fact that she's a changeling. I don't know.

“Why are you doing this to me!?” Chrysalis sobs, covering her eyes. She runs down the stairs and out the doors, chased by Twilight until she's out of sight. Well then. So this is happening right now.

When Twilight turns back around, Shining Armor is beyond pissed. “You want to know what that spell was that Cadance cast on me?” he demands. Oh dear, he's going to go on a rant. “Having to keep up a double barrier for this long causes magical exertion pains in the form of headaches. Cadance was healing me!”

I don't feel like writing down the rest. Suffice to say, it all ends up with Shining Armor leaving behind a very crushed Twilight, whose status as best mare, and even her invitation to the wedding, has just been rescinded. Fuck...what makes this all worse is that Twilight is absolutely right about everything.

“I believe it is best to put an end to this rehearsal now,” Celestia decides. She looks down at Twilight, anger and disappointment present in her face. “Let's go, everypony. Twilight has a lot to think about.”

None of Twilight's friends stay with her. Celestia, Spike, and the rest of them leave her behind, leaving the hall one by one. Rainbow glances back at me, but I avert my gaze, not looking up again until I'm certain that only Twilight is left in the room.

Twilight tearfully looks up at me, as I'm the only one left in the room. “Seth...do you...?” she begins.

“Don't look at me. I already said, I don't care,” I retort, putting my hands in my coat pockets. I guess it's time for me to go find Chrysalis and maybe get some sleep before the actual wedding happens. I didn't sleep at all last night.

My words cause Twilight to slump over and start crying. I do my best to ignore her, and the pangs of guilt filling my heart. I walk down the stairs, and I'm just about to leave, when I hear the sound of magic behind me. 

Chrysalis is back, without her guards or any of the others. Her horn lights up an emerald green, and the doors to the hall shut and lock tightly. Oh shit...Twilight is dead, isn't she? And I have to be here to watch this?

“I'm so sorry, Cadance,” Twilight sobs as her soon-to-be killer approaches, her expression blank. Chrysalis kneels down with a compassionate smile, lifting Twilight's chin with a hoof. Her smile suddenly turns malicious. 

“Goodbye, Twilight,” Chrysalis says to her in a sweet voice, and then her horn lights up a brilliant green once more, only this time, I can feel the malevolence. Twilight's eyes widen in shock as emerald flames spark into existence around her, quickly surrounding her and preventing her escape.

Twilight screams as the flames arc over her and meet, forming a dome that slowly sinks into the ground and disappears, leaving nothing behind except for a pile of ash.

Chrysalis runs a hoof through her mane, as if her act of murder was no big deal. “Well then. Shall we get going, Seth?” she asks, satisfaction evident in her voice. My eyes have been staring at the spot where Twilight used to be, in shock. That's...the first time I've seen something die in front of me. Oh my god, she just killed Twilight. That mare I shared tea with, exchanged debates over history and magical theory, and baked a pie with just died right in front of me...and I did nothing to stop her.

“You...just killed her,” I utter, my voice wavering. I take a few steps back. I turn my head to look at Chrysalis in horror. “Right in front of me...burnt her to ash...”

“Killed her? Of course not. I wouldn't want to kill her just yet,” Chrysalis replies with a malicious giggle. Oh...she's still alive. I let out a shuddering sigh. I don't know why I feel relieved though. She's just going to die later, at the wedding. “I want her to be there when I steal her brother from her, at my moment of triumph when I take down Celestia and become ruler of Equestria! Therefore, I only transported her to the crystal mines below the castle.”

“I...see...and you think she'll get out?” I inquire, slowly calming down. 

“Of course she will. She's a brilliant little filly, as she saw through my ruse so easily. Getting out of that mine will be foal's play for her,” Chrysalis assures me, as confident as ever. “But, we have time before that. If everything goes as planned, she will be here in time for the wedding.”

“She'll bust you then, you know that, right?” I point out. As always Chrysalis is not fazed. Nothing seems to move her, even when her plans seem to be going awry. That can only mean that she's a genius tactician. If it came to a battle between her forces and the Canterlot Royal Guard, I'm not sure who would win.

“Of course she will. But I plan to reveal myself during the wedding nonetheless, so it won't matter in the end,” Chrysalis replies. Suddenly, she starts to grin, as if an idea had just come to her. “Seth, how would you like to be the best man for my wedding?”

“What!?” I utter, taken off guard by her seemingly random question. Chrysalis doesn't appear to be joking, as she looks like she's waiting for my reply. “Are you sure that would be a good idea? I have almost no connection to you and Shining Armor in reality except for circumstantial ties. If I were to suddenly become your best man, that would raise a few eyebrows.”

“Of course it would. But without Twilight, someone needs to fill in the role. Since you're the closest thing in this castle that resembles an ally, I would prefer it to be you,”  Chrysalis expresses, lifting her hoof and running it down my cheek. I shy away from her touch, shuddering slightly. I can't help but remember what she looks like when she's not in disguise. Fucking nightmare material. “Don't worry about raising suspicious. It's too close to the wedding for anything to go wrong.”

“That seems irresponsible...but whatever. You've gotten this far, so I assume you know what you're doing,” I say, giving in with a sigh. “I'll do it. It won't matter in the end, anyway. I'll be going home, so I don't give a fuck what the ponies think. You just better not fail.”

“Me? Fail? Perish the thought. Rest assured, Canterlot is already mine. These foals just don't know it yet,” Chrysalis responds, pressing a hoof to her chest confidently. Then, she walks towards the exit of the hall, opening the doors again. “Now then, best man, shall we get moving?”

“Don't call me that,” I complain, but I do follow her. I'm just hoping that everything goes well for Chrysalis. Amaryllis is waiting for me, three thousand years ago.

We're only walking together for a few minutes before Chrysalis has another question for me. “Now, we have some time before the wedding. Would you like to return to the Elements? I'm sure they've been looking for you,” she asks.

“Return to...oh fuck no. I'm...done with them,” I answer, hesitating slightly. I still feel like the worst kind of person for abandoning my friend to her fate. “I...can't go back to them. They're all just dead ponies walking. I'm going to stay with you until the wedding.”

“A wonderful idea. Put some distance between you and them now, before their demise?” Chrysalis approves with a malicious cackle. Another pang of guilt shoots through me at her words. She's right...and I have no other choice but to keep going. 

Just after we turn the corner, we stop in place, because Celestia herself is standing in the hallway, waiting for us. I freeze, looking over at Chrysalis. Thankfully, she doesn't look alarmed. Okay, let's see what she wants then.

“I'm sorry about all of that, Cadance,” Celestia says, dipping her head and nuzzling what she thinks is her niece.  Chrysalis returns the display of affection, even though I know she probably hates every second of it. “I didn't anticipate Twilight giving such strong opposition to your union with her brother.”

“It's no trouble. I was taken aback, but...I think I can understand how she feels,”  Chrysalis relates. I stand back and let them talk. Let's see what bullshit Chrysalis will spew now. “She wants to keep her brother close, and therefore her mind found ways to misconstrue me as being...'evil,' as she put it.”

“An astute observation. Exactly what I was thinking,” Celestia praises her. Goddamn, Chrysalis is good at what she does. Fooling Celestia? To me, that seems fucking impossible. Celestia turns her head to me next. “Seth, are you feeling all right? You seemed upset in the dress rehearsal.”

Shit. “Yeah. I just hate weddings in general,” I admit. If I'm going to stay this course, I'll need to tell the truth as much as I can, to avoid tipping off Celestia. Whew, easier said than done. Here goes. As Celestia opens her mouth, I interrupt her. “And don't pull some mind boggling bullshit to explain to me why I hate weddings.”

Celestia actually giggles at that. “I wasn't going to, but I can if you'd like,” she jokes, wearing a smug expression.

“Yeah, how about no?”

“I won't then. I was actually going to comment on the amount of time you're spending with Cadance,” Celestia explains. Uh-oh. Okay, I just have to play it cool. If I panic, it's over. “I didn't think the two of you were friends.”

“We weren't at first, unfortunately. Seth didn't trust me,” Chrysalis inputs. I see, she's going to do the lying for me. That makes this easier. “But we spent some time together over the course of the wedding preparations. I'd like to say that I know him a little better now.”

“She's annoying, but not too much so,” I add, playing off of  Chrysalis's words. “That, and since she's having to work on most of the wedding herself, I feel like she needed some support.”

“Oh? A marvelous sentiment. It makes me happy to see you showing my niece the support she needs during a most stressful time,” Celestia replies, beaming at my answer. Huh, this is actually working. I don't know if I feel relieved or worried that Celestia isn't as infallible as she first appeared. “You're making progress, Seth.”

“Whatever,” I say, shrugging. Celestia turns back to Chrysalis, who looks pleased at what I've said. Okay, hopefully the rest will be easy going. As in, go the fuck away, Celestia. I'm not happy knowing that if Chrysalis slips up, we're both dead.

“Cadance, I wanted to let you know that I will be taking over the duties of best mare in Twilight's absence. I understand it's too close to the wedding to find another,” Celestia assures her. 

“Thank you, but there's no need. You see, I've already picked another, though 'mare' would be inappropriate in this case,” Chrysalis responds, shaking her head. To Celestia's surprise, Chrysalis turns and indicates me with a hoof.

“Really? Seth is your best...man, I suppose the correct word would be?” Celestia questions, clearly not believing it. “Seth, I thought you said you hated weddings?”

“I do. I really do. But do you remember when Cadance got me the ticket to that concert we went to?” I ask, coming up with a clever lie on the spot. I only hope she doesn't read me like she's good at doing. Holy shit, I'm lying to the princess of the fucking sun. “Basically, the best mare fucking off this close to the wedding is a bit of a dick move, so I'm going to pay Cadance back by stepping in.”

“I see,” Celestia responds, seemingly buying the ruse. “In that case, during the wedding, you will accompany Shining Armor to the altar, with the bride's ring. After the vows, Shining Armor will take it from you.”

“Got it. Anything else I should know?” I remark, hating this idea with every fiber of my being. If it weren't for the fact that I'll be going home after this, I would be running very far away right about now.

“Nothing as important as what I just told you. There are a few other duties that need to be carried out during the reception and afterward, but those I can tell you about after the wedding is over,” Celestia explains. Oh, so a few duties that I won't have to give a fuck about, because there's not going to be a reception.

“I hate to interrupt, but can we hurry? I'd like to spend a little more time with my best man before I have to start getting ready,” Chrysalis inserts, batting her eyes at Celestia. Uh...what does that mean, Chrysalis?

“Of course. I have a few more preparations to make myself,” Celestia replies amiably, and then she bows her head slightly before turning and walking away. “I'll see you all at the wedding.”

I wait to let out the breath I'm holding until Celestia turns the corner and leaves our sight entirely. “Whew...goddamn, that could have ended badly.”

“You really must have more faith in me, Seth. I've had her fooled for a long time. I won't mess up now, so close to the culmination of my plan,” Chrysalis admonishes me, confidence oozing from her voice. “Though you did better than I expected. What concert were you talking about?”

“I met Cadance a long time before you took her place. She took me to a concert performed by the Royal Canterlot Orchestra. Which was the best damn thing ever,” I relate to her. Chrysalis puts on a thoughtful expression.

“Hm...I suppose I'll make sure to spare them, then. I don't mind a bit of music myself,” Chrysalis decides, causing me to look at her in awe. Did...did I just save Octavia's life by saying that? I think I did. While I feel slightly better than that, it doesn't help ease the cold claw of dread that's clasping my heart, caused by the knowledge that Rainbow is going to die because of me. “Now then, shall we return to my chambers?”

“What are we going to do there?” I ask suspiciously, even as I follow her through the halls. I hope she isn't going to try seducing me again. That was literally the most scarring thing that has happened to me since getting here.

“I have to get ready in an hour, of course. Do you know how much time it takes to get a wedding dress on?” Chrysalis complains. “That's not even counting the ridiculous manestyle that the incompetent hair dressers here have recommended.”

“I suppose. You're like me in that regard, I suppose,” I remark, running a hand through my hair. “Just let it run loose. It doesn't need a fucking style.”

“Agreed. You know, it pains me that you won't stay with the changelings. I feel I could learn a lot from you,” Chrysalis laments, looking at me with one eye.

“Nope,” is my only response. She sighs and keeps walking.





We walk through the doors to her room, which promptly shut and lock behind us. Chrysalis sheds her disguise and moans, clearly hating every second that she's not in her true form. “At last, an hour or two of rest. I am ready to reveal myself in this form to the world,” Chrysalis expressions, stretching out like a cat. 

“I'm guessing you don't like being disguised?” I ask, to keep there from being a silence. I don't want the time to think. I feel like that would break me.

“Not particularly. It's fun at first, having a form other than your own. But as a changeling as large as myself, transforming into a smaller being, such as a pony or a timberwolf, it tends to get a little cramped,” Chrysalis explains. She grins, showing off all of her pointed teeth. “But I wouldn't give it up for anything. There's nothing more satisfying than walking amongst your worst enemy, knowing that their lives are entirely in your hooves.”

I shudder a bit at her words. Every time I talk to her, she continuously reminds me just who I'm dealing with. Over the time I've interacted with her, I've learned that Chrysalis is a sadistic psychopath with a little too much intelligence. It's lucky that I'm human. I think that's the only reason Chrysalis was willing to let me in on this plan.

“Right...so you can also turn into other animals besides ponies?” I inquire, remembering how she mentioned a diamond dog and now a timberwolf.

“Absolutely. There is nothing a skilled changeling can't become,” Chrysalis answers, delighting in a chance to talk about her own species. “If I wanted, I could become a dreaded Ursa Major, or even a dragon.”

“Shit! Well, if your army can all become dragons, the guard won't stand a fucking chance!” I emit in shock.

“I did not say my army could. You see, becoming larger and stronger animals has a catch to it. Simply by transforming into another being, you do not gain its power or experience,” Chrysalis explains. Suddenly, she transforms, becoming Celestia, even speaking with her voice. “For example, by becoming Celestia, I do not gain her overwhelming power, her immortality, or her perceptiveness.”

“Yeah, can you not take her form? My body feels like it should be having a heart attack right now,” I implore her, shaking slightly. Chrysalis giggles and takes her true form once more. “But this is somewhat interesting. So your abilities are mostly illusion?”

“Not quite. Some of the stronger changelings, my Infiltrators, are capable of becoming stronger beings. It takes time and training to adapt to a large body, but even then there are limitations. A changeling turned dragon will never be as strong as the real thing,” Chrysalis answers. She puts on a mischievous grin, and suddenly transforms again, only this time...oh my god, it's like I'm staring into a mirror.

“What the fuck?” I demand, gazing at another version of me, wearing the exactly same clothing and everything. “How did...what?”

“Surprised?” Chrysalis says in my voice, which is just creepy as hell. “Once I see something, I can imitate it. Even you.”

“Can you not? That's just...that's some doppelganger bullshit. Christ,” I tell her. Chrysalis sheds the disguise obligingly. “So gender isn't a limitation for you?”

“Not at all. All of life is mine to imitate,” Chrysalis proclaims. Okay, add a god complex onto the list of problems that she has. “Now then, I believe we've talked enough. I would like to sleep for a while until it's time to get ready.”

“I agree with that. I'll sleep on the floor,” I say with a nod, glancing down at the plush carpet. It doesn't look like it'll be too uncomfortable.

“There's no need for that. Why don't you come sleep on the bed with me?” Chrysalis offers, hopping on the bed and winking at me.

“No no, and no. I told you, I'm only attracted to humans...and no, that doesn't mean you can make a cross-gender version of me!” I snap at her. Chrysalis laughs merrily at that reaction.

“A shame. I would have liked to bed the last human to ever exist. It's not exactly an opportunity that I'll get again,” Chrysalis laments. She tilts her head at me. “Are you sure you won't reconsider? Not even once, if only for my sake?”

“Absolutely fucking not. Now I'm going to sleep,” I assert, laying down on the floor after hanging up my coat. Fucking...I knew she'd try to fuck me again. Good thing I'm so strong willed. Besides, I'd rather she not know that I'd have no idea what to do, even if in some parallel universe, I did take her offer. I've only had one relationship, and that one ended so badly I don't even want to think about it.

Chrysalis murmurs something in response, but I'm already falling asleep. Which is good...very good. I haven't had any sleep in the past 24 hours, so this should feel awesome. 

With that thought in mind, I slowly fade out of consciousness.





I'm woken up far too soon by the sound of singing. Specifically, Cadance's singing. And by Cadance, I mean Chrysalis. 

Surprisingly, I don't feel dead on my feet. That nap helped me a little. Even though my body wants me to go right back to sleep, I can still move and think. Good, I want to be fully aware for this wedding.

I stand up, listening to Chrysalis sing. She's not bad, even though she's using Cadance's voice. What is she even singing about, anyway? 

Oh. It's literally just her putting her cackling into the form of a song. I thought that was a pony thing, but I guess it applies to changelings too. Or maybe just her. Hell, I don't care, I'm going home soon.

Chrysalis alternates between singing a small verse, and then humming the next as she runs a brush through her mane. Her dress is already half on, which means the wedding must be soon, and she let me sleep in a bit longer. I suppose I should be grateful for that.

I grab my coat from the wall where I hung it up and put it on, fastening the straps and zipping it up. Man, I love this thing...but the pony who made it for me is going to die very soon...because of a choice that I've made.

This is it. Chrysalis is just about fully dressed, which means it's just about time for the wedding to start.

Amaryllis...I'm going against everything that's right just to go back and be with you and my family. I'll keep this coat forever, as a memory of the life I once had here.

The life that I didn't want, but ultimately ended up enjoying. I'm just sorry it has to end this way. Goodbye, Apple Bloom. Goodbye, Vinyl. Goodbye, Rarity. 

Goodbye, Rainbow Dash.


	
> 45. The Final Decision
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I stand beside Shining Armor in the hallway, just outside the doors to the wedding hall. Clutched in my right hand is the small black box that contains the bride's ring. The wedding has just begun. The guests have all arrived and are already in the hall, and I can hear the orchestra playing inside. I wonder if that really fast paced cello player in there is Octavia. It probably is.

Looking over at Shining Armor, I notice the slightest hints of green beginning to infringe upon his corneas. Which means Chrysalis's control is finally taking him over. I'm guessing she's been trying to do that for days, but he's been so strong, he's been resisting it. While that's impressive, it seems like his time is up. I wonder how conscious he still is? I'm going to find out.

“Are you ready?” I whisper to him, because if I speak too loud, the guests in the hall will hear me.  Shining Armor doesn't seem to hear me at first. Instead, he seems to be staring straight ahead, his eyes unfocused. “Hey!”

“What? Oh,” Shining Armor finally responds, looking at me in a confused manner. “Sorry...I feel a little woozy. What did you say?”

“I asked if you were ready,” I repeat. Yeah, he's losing it. It takes a while for my words to even register in his mind.

“Yeah...I am,” he emits unsteadily. He reaches over and places a hoof on my shoulder. “I wanted to thank you for stepping in to fill the role of best man...I wouldn't have been able to come up with another in such short notice.”

Apparently he's conscious enough to think a little bit, if he's thanking me. “This isn't right though. This role should be saved for the one pony who means a lot to you,” I complain, even though I know it's too late. “You're really okay with me being here?”

“Of course. Maybe after this, we can get together someplace when I'm off duty. We'll get a bite to eat and learn more about one another. What do you say?” Shining Armor requests, seemingly getting more lucid the more I talk to him. Shit, I need to end this conversation. I don't want to fuck up Chrsyalis's plan.

“Sure, I guess,” I reply, even though I have no intention of doing any such thing. But it wouldn't hurt to agree to get him to shut up. It's not like I'll have to follow through with my agreement. He'll be dead after this, no doubt.

Suddenly, the doors open, which means it's time for Shining Armor and I to walk down the aisle and join Celestia at the altar. With a smile, Shining Armor steps out into the aisle, with me just behind and to the left of him.

I look around in my peripheral vision. There are four corded off sections reserved for the guests, and all of them are chock full of different ponies. Some of them I recognize, like Fancy Pants and his cronies in the front row, Pale Rose and a few other guards on the edges of the room, and even some other ponies from around Canterlot that I've seen. Octavia and a small portion of the Canterlot Royal Orchestra are standing on the raised portion at the back of the room, to the far right of the altar.

I can't believe I'm doing this. Every single pony that I've ever had anything approaching to a normal conversation with is going to be in this room when the guillotine blade comes down. I'm going to have to watch them all die...and yet for the sake of seeing my loved ones again, I'm going to go through with it. Even so...I wish I'd never had to make this choice. I wish I'd never come to Equestria in the first place.

Shining Armor approaches the altar, taking his place in front of Celestia. I stand behind him with the ring box, holding it up so the crowd can see it. I notice a lot of them are looking at me curiously, obviously having never seen a human before. 

“Welcome, Shining Armor,” Celestia greets him, lowering her head to nuzzle him. “You're going to be a part of my family after this.”

“I am honored to hear you say that,” Shining Armor responds in a slightly hollow sounding voice. The control is getting worse, I see. It won't be very long now. With every second, my heart seems to beat faster. Thankfully, Celestia doesn't notice anything amiss.

Next, Rainbow, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy enter the hall, walking in a line as they were instructed to. Except they're all wearing dresses, even Rainbow. While that fact would have made me laugh before, all I can think about is how she will be wearing that dress to the grave. And that just makes me hate myself more for this.

The crowd of ponies breaks out into a round of applause, obviously knowing the identities of the new bridesmaids. They are the Elements of Harmony, so I see how they would be recognized at least a little bit. 

The five ponies line up opposite us. Rainbow attempts to catch my eye, but I don't take it, looking firmly at the entrance to the wedding hall, where the bringer of death herself will soon be arriving.

Finally, a slow driving theme starts to play from the orchestra, announcing the arrival of what everypony thinks is Princess Cadance. I'm guessing that's their wedding march. Much to my horror, guess who prances in first, showering flower petals on the carpet in front of Chrysalis? Fucking Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. Seriously? Oh my god, no. I have to watch them die, too. Three little fillies, with their entire lives ahead of them. And they're going to die in this room, along with everypony else.

I try my absolute hardest not to lose my composure. I can't take this. I don't want to watch this. Why do I have to go through so much just to go home? Will I even be sane by the time I get back? Why  do those three have to be here? I thought they were safe at home, away from all this chaos.

When the three fillies reach us, the split off to either side, but not before Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle give me small waves, which just makes me feel worse. Chrysalis approaches the altar, oozing equal amounts of confidence and malice from every step. The clock is ticking...and doomsday is approaching.

“Mares and gentlecolts,” Celestia announces at last once Chrysalis takes her position opposite the listless Shining Armor. The crowd goes silent at her words, waiting with baited breath for the vows. “We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor.”

Cheers erupt from the onlookers, but that slowly dies down as Celestia continues. I can't pay attention through, because I know what's coming, and I can't bear to listen to some fake wedding vows. However, I do vaguely hear them exchange vows. At last, Celestia looks at me slightly, indicating it's about time for me to hand over the ring. “Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, it is my great pleasure to pronounce you...”

Suddenly, the door to the hall shoots open with a loud bang, interrupting Celestia and disturbing the proceedings. A very beleaguered looking Twilight stomps in, streams of magenta magic swirling around her form. Her mane is messy and filthy, and her coat looks sweaty and covered in dirt. As Chrysalis had predicted, it seems she found her way out of the mines, and just in time, it seems. Just in time to die, that is. 

“I won't let you take my brother!” Twilight yells, walking down the aisle. I've never seen her this intense. I can sense a lot of magic emanating from her. It seems like she's really willing to fight in order to save her brother.

Of course, since everypony believes Chrysalis is who she says she is, they all look dismayed, annoyed, and angry. Applejack and Rainbow look at one another, while Rarity facehoofs. Celestia looks down at her student, furious at the intrusion.

“Twilight Sparkle!” Celestia booms, her voice echoing through the entire chamber. Twilight quails slightly, but stays strong. “I was willing to forgive you for your first transgression, but it seems you are bent on ruining my niece's special day!”

“No, Celestia, she's trying to save it!” Anther voice sounds out, and to my shock, I recognize it. That's Cadance's voice, which means...Chrysalis didn't kill the real thing after all. That seems irresponsible. Even though I'm somewhat glad to see that she's all right, it would have been smarter for Chrysalis to kill her.

The real Cadance storms in behind Twilight, looking just as filthy as one would expect from a pony who's spent several days in a crystal mine. Her appearance elicits a shocked reaction from everypony in the room, as there are now two Cadances here. Chrysalis looks coolly down upon her double, seemingly not worried at all, even as Celestia looks between the two of them, completely confused.

“Wonderful, you two! I was hoping you'd make it in time for my special day,” Chrysalis greets them, further confusing the ponies around them. Twilight and Cadance glare at her viciously. “Though I must say, how did you make it past my thralls?”

“I am the Element of Magic! A few mind-controlled unicorns without the ability or knowledge to control their magic can't stop me,” Twilight snaps back, flaring her magic angrily. Celestia starts to adopt a look of horror as the reality of the situation starts to dawn on her.

“But of course. They were only meant to delay you, after all. It's too late for you now," Chrysalis expresses with a shrug.

“Hold on a minute. How can there be two o' you?” Applejack interrupts, pointing between what she believes are two Cadances.

“That's because she's a changeling! She takes the form of ponies that you love, and gains sustenance by feeding from the love you feel for them!” Cadance explains, approaching Chrysalis. Twilight follows her close behind. “Isn't that right, monster?”

Chrysalis's response is to break out into laughter, her horn glowing green. This is it. This is the beginning of the end. Green flames surround her body as she calls upon her magic. Unlike before, I can sense a crushing power behind those flames, the likes of which I've only ever felt from Celestia. It's nowhere close to Celestia's power, of course, but it definitely has that same crushing feeling to it. She's probably stronger than I am.

The flames suddenly explode upwards into a burning pillar of rotating emerald light. Inside of the pillar, everypony would be able to see clearly Chrysalis's transformation. Only this time, it's much more brutal. Her fake wings snap and break off to reveal her insectoid wings, and her skin literally melts off to reveal the black chitin beneath.

When the flames recede, Chrysalis stands just in front of a shocked Celestia in her true form. She bares her teeth at the horrified crowd, taking in their fear to fuel her own sick glee. “Oh, how right you are, princess. I've been waiting for so long to show myself to Equestria!” she says with a sickening grin.

Celestia's eyes narrow, and she stomps her foot down, magic starting to swirl up from the ground. I hope Chrysalis has a plan, or Celestia is going to crush her here and now. “I assume you are our would-be assassin. Who are you, changeling? What did you hope to gain by infiltrating this wedding?” Celestia demands, her eyes starting to glow a golden yellow.

“Why hello, Princess Celestia. I've been waiting so long to meet you,” Chrysalis greets her as if meeting an old friend. “I am Chrysalis, Queen of all Changelings. I am here to secure a food source for my kind for all eternity, by taking your country for myself.”

Her words spark shock and fear from the onlookers, some of which attempt to bolt from the room...but they don't get very far, as the doors are enveloped with Chrysalis's magic, and then they shut  and lock, preventing escape. As I thought. If Chrysalis overcomes Celestia somehow, this place will become a killing zone.

“Equestria has so much love, compared to the wasteland where the Crystal Empire used to be. Oh, and don't even get me started on the griffons and minotaurs. It's always about battle up there, and controlling your women, rather than loving them,” Chrysalis explains with disgust evident in her voice. Huh, so she knows about the Crystal Empire as well. “Now imagine if I let my changelings in here, to devour all of that love. How powerful do you think we could become?”

“It won't happen! Shining Armor's spell will keep all of them out!” Cadance points out, but this only makes Chrysalis laugh, because she's already taken care of that.

“Oh really? Then why hasn't he done anything to stop me?” Chrysalis remarks, looking back at Shining Armor, who is now fully under her grasp. His eyes are covered in that thin green film, and there are even unhealthy looking bags underneath his eyes. “Oh, maybe it's because he's entirely under my control.” 

“What!?” Cadance exclaims, and she attempts to rush over to Shining Armor. She doesn't even get close. Emerald magic power erupts from Chrysalis's form just before the queen slams a hoof into Cadance's side, magical flame arcing from her hoof as she does so. Cadance yelps as a black mark is left on her side, and she's sent tumbling over the floor and into the wall, which cracks under the impac.

“Cadance!” Twilight yells in horror. She glares at Chrysalis. “I'll...I'll stop you.”

“Will you? Oh no, Twilight. Do you even know the situation you're in?” Chrysalis responds coyly. “My armies are just outside the barrier, which will drop at my command. It will be a simple matter to take Canterlot, and then all of Equestria will fall beneath our hooves.”

There's an explosion, and then light fills the room, emanating from the sheer power displayed by Celestia. The princess is powering up, looking angrier than I've ever seen her. The very ground is starting to shake from her enormous power. In terms of sensing magic, it's like an ocean is coursing over me. “I don't think so, Chrysalis. By foolishly revealing yourself in my presence, you will be subjected to the overwhelming power of the sun,” Celestia states grimly, growing ever stronger and more radiant with each passing moment. Dear god, she's so strong. How the hell is Chrysalis going to deal with this?

Chrysalis turns and gives her full attention to Celestia, but she doesn't power up for some reason. “Celestia. It is your power that I feared the most. It's how you've managed to retain control over this country for as long as you have, correct?” she reveals, looking serious now. Celestia remains silent,  instead stepping closer, her light streaming into the air. Chrysalis suddenly grins. “You didn't think I came in here without a plan, did you?”

The ground shakes intensely, but this time it isn't from Celestia. A strange web of white light appears from the ground and envelopes the whole room, passing over each and every pony as it flies up to the top of the room. It even passes through me, but I don't feel anything.

As it passes each unicorn, a bit of the web stays behind on each individual horn, soaking into it. The unicorns wince and cry out at this. Twilight falls over in pain, her magic dissipating as she holds her hooves to her horn. Cadance and Rarity are also similarly affected.

Celestia's eyes widen in horror as the web passes over her, enveloping her horn and....fucking canceling out her magic! Celestia falls to her knees, the light dissipating from around her. Did...Chrysalis just fucking outwit Celestia? What even was that web? Does it cancel magic somehow?”

“What...did you do!?” Celestia demands, panting heavily. She looks really weak now without her magic.

Chrysalis looks at the results of her planning and laughs again. “Oh Celestia, surely you know. This device was crafted by one of your own students, after all,” she informs her.

“Starswirl the Bearded's nullification device!” Twilight gasps, looking up at Chrysalis in horror. 

“Oh yes. Such a wonderful device, able to cancel out the strongest of magics with ease,” Chrysalis affirms, speaking with the confidence of one that knows she's won. It's true. If Celestia can't use her magic, it's over. “While it normally affects only a small area, it was a simple matter to construct a much larger version in the caves beneath this castle. Now, no unicorns can use their magic in this room. That includes you, Celestia.”

“I can't...no!” Celestia exclaims in horror, helpless before the mastermind of her ultimate destruction. Suddenly, something seems to dawn on her. She turns to look over at me, next. Her eyes widen in understanding as she notices that I'm not doing a thing to help her. “Seth...so you knew about this.”

Her words cause the ponies that know me to look at me in shock, especially Rainbow. It hurts to see Rainbow looking at me like that. When I say nothing, they gasp. Rainbow doesn't look like she believes it at first.

“What? No he didn't. Seth's my friend! Just you watch, he's going to put a hole through her any second,” Rainbow proclaims in my defense. I place a hand on my face in order to hide my pained expression. “Like he would ever join with this...thing!”

“Oh, but he did, dear Rainbow Dash,” Chrysalis announces, walking to my side. She rests a hoof on my shoulder. “Why should he stay with you ponies, when all you've tried to do is assimilate him into your society without giving even one thought to what he's left behind?”

They're talking about me now. I look down at the floor, only hoping for this to end soon. “Chrysalis, quit dragging it out. Hurry up and end this,” I tell her flatly. My words cement it for any listeners. Rainbow looks more betrayed than I've ever seen  her. She's the Element of Loyalty, if I remember right. It's a good thing I'm leaving. She'll probably never forgive me for this.

“All I did was offer him an ear and a helpful hoof. It's a shame that even those that professed to be his friends couldn't even do that!” Chrysalis berates them, seemingly ignoring me.

“But...Seth, tell me this isn't true!” Rainbow rages at me, taking to the air. I don't respond, returning my gaze to the floor. “Seth! We're friends, right? What the hay is going on? Did you really join up with this...thing?”

When there's still no reply from me, Rainbow gets closer, looking desperate. “Say something! This is a dream. You're one of my best friends! You wouldn't...you wouldn't do this to me!” she cries out. “Please, tell me she's lying.”

Without a word, I turn my back on her. Rainbow gasps, and looks absolutely heartbroken. I can understand how she feels. My own heart feels like it's breaking as well. I had so much fun with her...but as life has a way of showing me, nothing good will ever last.

“You see? You all are to blame for his betrayal,” Chrysalis continues, walking around me. “Best friend. What a joke! As if you really know him. All you saw was a troubled young man who 'needed your support.' He didn't need support, he needed solutions...which I could give him.”

Rainbow turns her head and glares at Chrysalis. “This is your fault! Why did you even have to come along!?” she shouts at her and then Rainbow flies at her with her hoof outstretched. Oh no, she's going to attack Chrysalis.

Rainbow doesn't even get close. Chrysalis smirks and lowers her head, instantly firing a large beam of emerald light that envelops Rainbow, carrying her to the ground. Rainbow grunts and struggles, but when the smoke clears, I see that she's being held to the ground by some kind of green slime.

“Rainbow!” Applejack cries out in alarm. She turns and charges at Chrysalis next, followed by the rest of the Elements. Chrysalis's smirk widens. She nimbly sidesteps a buck from Applejack, and then blasts Fluttershy (who is trying to free Rainbow) with the same emerald beam, so that she too joins Rainbow in being glued to the ground by slime.

“Take this!” Rarity declares, attempting to buck Chrysalis in the side. She actually lands a hit...but Chrysalis doesn't even move an inch.

“Adorable,” Chrysalis remarks before shooting Rarity with another slime beam. I don't understand why she isn't killing them. The queen once again avoids another attack from Applejack, only this time she retaliates by slamming an emerald flame covered hoof into Applejack's side. I hear a sickening crack, and my former boss hurtles down the stairs and hits the floor hard near Rainbow, moaning in pain. Fuck, I think some of her ribs may be broken. Another slime beam later, and she's trapped there.

That just leaves Pinkie and Twilight. Pinkie looks angry, which is an expression I've never seen out of her. Frankly, if it were me seeing that expression, I'd be terrified. But Chrysalis appears to be unstoppable.

Pinkie proceeds to whip out a fucking cannon from seemingly nowhere and fire it directly at Chrysalis, only for the projectile (which is a concentrated ball of confetti and streamers...I don't even fucking know) to hit a translucent green barrier....which then transforms into a massive green wall that slams right into Pinkie. Pinkie yelps and is soon enveloped by the wall, which hardens into slime and holds her to the floor with her companions.

Twilight is left standing alone, but without any magic, she's quickly subdued as well along with Spike, who had left the crowd in an attempt to help her, leaving only Chrysalis.

“Now, I shall start by eliminating you all, one by one, while your friends watch,” Chrysalis declares, ignoring the screaming from the crowd. “Shall I start with Kindness? Or Loyalty? Or perhaps...”

To my shock, Celestia interrupts her with a hoof to the chest, which impacts Chrysalis with a loud crash. Chrysalis is actually knocked back several feet by the impact, and this time, I see the queen actually look surprised. “How...but you have no magic?” Chrysalis demands. Celestia responds by pushing her advantage, raining down blows with her hooves onto the queen's guard. “I see. Even without your magic, you are still very physically strong. I commend you for your tenacity.”

“Seth! Do something! If our friendship ever meant anything to you, stop her!” Rainbow pleads to me from the slimy cocoon that she's encased in. Beside me, Celestia is putting up a decent fight, but she's visibly losing, as Chrysalis has an insurmountable advantage in her powerful magic.

“I'll...stop you,” Celestia pants, her hoof soaring towards Chrysalis. There's a mighty crash as Celestia's hoof hits a small, round, translucent barrier, which then explodes outward to completely encompass her. This is it. Chrysalis wins. The green orb surrounding Celestia solidifies, trapping the once unstoppable princess in slime.

“No, I don't think you will,” Chrysalis replies smugly, even though she knows Celestia can't hear her.

“Seth, please!” Rainbow tries again. I do my best to ignore her, but it's getting harder and harder. I want to cry. It's almost impossible to keep from losing my composure.

Oh no. The three little fillies are running up next, in an attempt to save their assorted siblings. Apple Bloom rushes to Applejack, Sweetie Belle rushes to Rarity, and Scootaloo...doesn't even get there in time. Chrysalis sees them coming, and with a sadistic grin, fires more of those slime beams. Scootaloo is the first one hit.

“No!” Rainbow screams, struggling with all of her might to get out of the slime she's encased in.

“Apple Bloom, ya need ta take Sweetie Belle and run. This ain't safe for you,” Applejack attempts to persuade her sister as the tiny filly wrenches bits of slime away.

“Ah ain't leavin' ya, sis! Seth, come help me!” Apple Bloom responds, acting as if nothing had changed between she and I. She looks up in confusion when I don't respond, only to find Chrysalis's hoof slamming into her face. I wince and shut my eyes as I hear Apple Bloom squeak once before falling silent and rolling across the floor. I want nothing more than to run to her side, but I know that I can't.

Sweetie Belle is left completely alone by Rarity, staring into the eyes of a Chrysalis, who seems to be enjoying hurting them way too much.

“Leave her alone! Why don't you fight somepony who can actually fight back, you coward!?” Rainbow shouts at Chrysalis, seemingly giving up her attempts to coax me into the fight.

“Coward? That word holds no real meaning to me,” Chrysalis responds, turning away from Sweetie Belle. She approaches Rainbow slowly, a cruel grin forming on her face. “There is no shame in  using your wit to attain victory. As for these fillies, why shouldn't I enjoy myself? None of you are leaving this room alive.”

“You...are the absolute worst. If I was free right now, I'd beat you down in an instant!” Rainbow  snaps, and then she spits on Chrysalis's face. There's a dead silence as her saliva drips down Chrysalis's face.

“Very well,” Chrysalis hisses viciously, emerald magic erupting from the ground and surrounding her. “If you wish to die so quickly, far be it for me to deny your wish!”

Rainbow stares defiantly up at the queen as she raises her flaming hoof in preparation for the final blow. I look down, knowing that this is it. Rainbow is facing her last moments. When this ends, I can go home. 

“Perish!” Chrysalis roars, and her hoof swings down. Time seems to slow down for me, even as my heart speeds up. Why do I care? I'm going home to see Amaryllis. I don't need Rainbow. Sure, we had some fun, but in the end, that doesn't really matter. 

I shut my eyes, not wanting to see her death. However, I can still feel Chrysalis's magic that's about to strike down my best pony friend ever. No...she's not my friend anymore. None of these ponies are my friends. I'll be seeing Amaryllis and my family again, so I don't need you anymore.

"So...my name's Rainbow Dash. I'm the fastest pegasus in Equestria!" 

Oh no. I don't want to remember this. I'm going to be leaving you behind. You're going to die. These memories don't matter.

"Why, too scared of being shown up on the dance floor by yours truly?" 

Fucking...I don't care. This isn't important.

“It sounds to me like you're waiting for somepony to prove you wrong.” 

“Just live. Live, and find happiness.” 

“Buck privacy, especially if you're hurting like this when no one can see you.” 

I can't stop remembering. Every time I've ever had fun with her, or felt something I've never felt before, those memories rush through my mind like a flood.

“I thought you were in trouble....but I couldn't get to you.”

“Just...know that you're not alone okay? If you need me, I'll be here.” 

I've had more fun in the past two months than I've had in my entire life. I can safely say it's all because of her. 

“I'm paying for happiness! My happiness! That's what I get out of this!” 

We've laughed together, cried together, and played together, like a real friendship that I've always wanted.

“Thank you for letting me be your friend.” 

“GODDAMMIT!” I roar, and then I immediately power up to full strength, darkness and electricity exploding from around me like a hurricane. The magic canceling device doesn't seem to affect me, as the magic easily flows through my magic core at my will.

Just before Chrysalis's hoof comes down, I appear directly in front of her at a speed nopony here can follow, and I bring my arms up just in time to block her attack. There's so much force behind her hoof, the ground shatters beneath me, and pain wracks my arms, but I don't waver. My glowing green and purple eyes glare directly into Chrysalis's, which visibly widen in shock.

Rainbow stares up at us in surprise as well, her mouth wide open. She's shaking, as she knows how close to death she just was.

“I see,” Chrysalis says simply, taking a few steps back from me. She doesn't power down. “So you've made a decision, then.”

“I have,” I reply tersely. Now that it's come to this, there's no hesitation in my mind. If I want to keep what I've gained since coming here, I'll have to crush Chrysalis here, like I should have the first time I met her.

“Do you realize what you're giving up, by choosing to oppose me?” Chrysalis asks softly. The tone of her voice sounds dangerous. When my only response is a continued glare, she sighs in disappointment. “I had hoped to avoid this. You realize I'll have to kill you now?”

“I do,” I respond. I know what I've just given up. Dear god, do I know. I can't help but squeeze out tears at the opportunity that I just gave up. Amaryllis...I'm sorry. I couldn't do it. I couldn't throw away what little humanity I have just to see you again.

I spread my arms out to either side of me, and then power up, because I know base form just won't be good enough to fight her. “But if you think it will be that easy, you have another thing coming.”

There's a silence as Chrysalis and I stare at one another, and then it begins. Grasping a current, I  zoom towards her at an incredible speed. Unlike before, Chrysalis appears to be able to follow me with her eyes. She reaches up a hoof to block, but she underestimates me.

I flow around her guard and my fist barrels into her chin, snapping her head back. Chrysalis gasps, saliva flying from her mouth. Judging from the look on her face, it doesn't seem like she expected to be hit at all.

Following up my initial strike, I bring my right leg up and slam it into her side, darkness arcing behind it. Chrysalis grunts and unbalances, tumbling to the floor.

When I go to continue my assault, Chrysalis rights herself and blocks several of my punches. Every time I feel my fist collide with her hooves, my knuckles start to hurt. She doesn't budge under my assault, which tells me something.

I've made a huge mistake. Chrysalis powers up with a yell and starts to spin, razor sharp blades of green magic swirling around her like a tornado of death. I'm able to leap backwards in time, but she continues her attack by forming whips of green light that coil around my ankles and yank me off of the ground.

In the places where the whips are touching my ankles, it burns like fire, no doubt leaving behind nasty burns. When she lets me go, I fly backwards and slam into the wall painfully, my back colliding with the hard stone. 

It doesn't take me long to recover. I use my feet to propel myself off of the wall and back into the fight, my fists outstretched. Chrysalis steps back, dodging or blocking the flurry of punches that I send her way. I grit my teeth, hoping to keep her on the defensive for as long as possible, until I can find a way to break through her defense. She's strong. Stronger than I am. I can just tell by the way she hardly moves or cries out when I hit her.

Chrysalis halts my onslaught by headbutting me hard with her chitinous head. While I'm dizzy, it's easy for her to lower her horn and blast me with an emerald beam that sends me hurtling backwards.

I hit the ground beside Rainbow, slime creeping up my body. It's getting harder to move, which means she used that slime ability on me. But while that ability may restrict a pony, it can't stop me. With a grunt, I wrench my arms outward, shattering the slime with an explosion of dark magic.

I dash towards Chrysalis again using a current, but as she raises her hoof to block, I change things up a bit. I dash to the right, then diagonally upwards and to the left such that I'm directly over her. Lastly, I use one last current to send me hurtling downwards. Chrysalis yells out when I slam both fists onto her back, sending her to the ground in an eruption of darkness.

A stream of emerald fire surges out from the cloud of darkness and catches me right in the chest, burning me painfully and almost knocking me right off of my feet. “You can't defeat me, Seth,” Chrysalis declares, emerging from the darkness, seemingly unhurt by anything I'm tossing at her. “It's not too late. Give up this foolish resistance and join me. I'm willing to forgive you. I'm sure you still wish to go home.”

“Go home? For what!?” I spit me, taking this moment to take a breather and consolidate my magic for another assault. My words take Chrysalis off guard. “What would I get from that? A few short moments with my friend and family before we're all wiped out anyway? Do you even know what happens to us?”

“I...am unsure. Do you know something that I don't?” Chrysalis asks, though she looks loathe to admit her ignorance.

“We're annihilated by fucking undead over the course of eighty years. Even if I'm lucky and last all eighty years, which I won't, the most I'll get is the ability to die in that fucking school, and become undead myself,” I lay out for her. I'm revealing stuff that I haven't really told any ponies, and as such the ponies stuck in slime are listening as well. “I don't know why I joined up with you. If I go back in time, I get to see my family torn apart. If I stay here, then I can keep the friends that I've made safe with my own two hands. Now come, Chrysalis! This isn't over!”

“Then further talk is pointless,” Chrysalis realizes, her eyes narrowing. “You'll die with the rest of your beloved friends!”

“Not if I tear your ugly ass head from your body first!” I roar, and then the two of us take to the air, fist and hoof colliding in midair in a massive explosion of darkness and green flame. The windows of the hall shatter outwards from the force in a cacophony of sound.

Almost as if I've opened a flood gate, the different pegasi in the crowd immediately take off and soar outside to what they believe is escape, just as the double barrier erected by Shining Armor comes crumbling down. I can see a black cloud of specks approaching in the distance...which must be Chrysalis's changeling army. 

I need to find a way to get all of these ponies out of here, especially Rainbow. She may not forgive me for the choices I've made, but I'm going to save her nonetheless. I know just the way to do that as well.

As Chrysalis and I exchange blows in the air, I take a lot more damage than she does, hooves plowing into my face and body, her magic scorching my skin. She's too strong for me, and I can't protect everypony here while fighting both her and her approaching changeling army.

I hit her with a concussive blast from my hand, knocking her to the ground. This will be a difficult plan to pull off, and I can only save a few ponies here. Chrysalis only plans to murder the Elements, so I need to get them out of here, first and foremost.

I land on the ground near Rainbow. She looks at me with an unreadable expression, but ignore her for now, reaching for my rifle. I lean down and draw a circle on the ground with my free hand, such that a glowing black rune is left behind.

Chrysalis lands in front of me and swings both hooves down at my head. I grab a current and dash to the other side of the room, drawing a circle there as well just before she follows me and knocks me right into the wall, which cracks upon impact.

Almost...just a few more. Chrysalis lowers her head and fires a beam of emerald flame from her horn, but thankfully I manage to move away from the wall before it's completely obliterated by the attack. I dash away, and Chrysalis follows. With another escape route presents, even more ponies run out through the hole in the wall, including Rose and Octavia, both of them giving me concerned looks before leaving. Good. If they can get far enough away, Rose will be able to use her magic again, and she's very capable.

In the spot where I land, I have just enough time to draw another circle on the ground before I'm forced to block Chrysalis's next attack with my rifle. I inject my rifle with magic until it transforms into a black crystalline version of itself, with green lines running down the side. This is an ability Rose helped me to uncover several weeks ago, one that makes the rifle much stronger.

I spin around and whack Chrysalis in the side of the head with my rifle, knocking her head slightly askew. She fights back by unleashing a magical shockwave that knocks me hurtling backwards, and right towards the spot I want to be. When I slow down, I draw another circle there.

Chrysalis continues her assault, and I rush to meet her, as she's standing near the last spot that I need to visit. I block her heavy attacks with my rifle and dodge what I can, but it's extremely difficult, and I end up taking a lot of damage. 

I see her hoof coming towards me, and I see an opportunity. I brace my stomach just as she hits me head on, completely winding me. Chrysalis blinks in surprise as all of a sudden, the tip of my rifle is jammed into her chest. 

“Bitch,” I remark, and then pull the trigger, unleashing a massive beam of darkness that carries her back just long enough for me to draw the last circle.

The resulting explosion from my rifle attack completely destroys the altar, but Chrysalis walks out of it, her mane singed. She looks furious. “This has gone on for too long,” Chrysalis determines. She lowers her head one last time, and this time a flaming ball of green magic forms, growing ever larger every second. Pressure fills the room, telling me that she's about to fire an extremely powerful spell that will more than likely wipe us all out. “Know despair!”

With that, Chrysalis's spell fires, forming a beam larger than my rifle blast, surging towards us with the promise of destruction evident in its treacherous green light.

I smile grimly, remembering the book of spells I read not long after learning how to. This was a spell I'd attempted to learn, as it seemed like an easy one to learn, and fairly practical. I'm glad that I did, because it's going to save all of our lives.

“Starswirl the Bearded's Mass Teleportation Rune, Mark VI!” I declare, and the five circles that I drew glow brightly and connect to one another, forming a glowing white pentagon set in a similarly colored circle, along which lines of an ancient language scrolled continuously. Contained in the center of the rune is Rainbow, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Spike, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom. Celestia is too far away for me to reach, but this will have to do. Just before the beam of fire hits us, I clap my palms together. “Activate!”

The rune glows brightly, engulfing the eleven of us in a blinding light. I can feel myself slipping  away into the dimension where those who teleport visit very briefly, just as the beam hits the ground and explodes.	I did it. I saved them, but I still have to answer for the loss of Canterlot that I helped facilitate.

And for the betrayal of my best friend.
> 46. The Ghosts of the Past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	At last, when the light stops bleeding in through my eyelids, I open my eyes and look around. The contrast in the level of light forces me to take a minute to let my eyes adjust to the darkness. Fortunately, I can hear the sounds of coughing and shifting from the others that I've brought with me. Which means we've all survived the teleportation.

I think we're in a cave somewhere, since it's so dark, and I'm surrounded by rocky walls. There's a glimmer of light coming in from one branching off tunnel, but apart from that, it's almost completely dark. 

Every so often the ground will shake, and I'll hear distant explosions. The rune can't actually take us that far, so I'll assume we're near Canterlot still. Which means what I'm hearing are likely the sounds of battle. That massive changeling army will have reached the city by now.

I look down at the others, who are looking around, disoriented. Well, the ones that aren't completely covered in slime, that is. The only ones that are free to move their heads are Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow. Apple Bloom is also free, but she's unconscious. The only one that's free entirely is Sweetie Belle.

The young filly grunts softly, and her horn lights up. The magic is unstable, however, and starts to fizzle and spark, and it gives off nowhere near enough light to fill the room. “Relax, Sweetie. I'll take  care of that,” Rarity assures her sister, and then her horn lights up, forming an light blue orb of light that floats up to the roof of the cave and hangs there.

That's when they all notice that I'm still there. Sweetie moves closer to her sister, even as the others look at me with a mix of expressions. Rainbow is looking at me once again with an expression I can't read. Twilight looks furious, and Rarity and Applejack look at me with a mix of anger and confusion. 

Ignoring them, the first thing I do is kneel down next to Rainbow, channeling magic into my hands. She watches in a dead silence as I hook my fingers into the membrane of slime around her neck. With my magic, it's easy to break off bits of the hardened slime. “I'll have you out of here in a moment,” I assure her. I don't get a reply though, but I didn't really expect one. I know she's pissed at me. I betrayed her, and that's not going to go away. I'll be lucky if I can return to Ponyville at all after this.

Once I tear off enough slime to the point where the rest of it is loosely held together, Rainbow breaks the rest on her own with her sizable muscles, and then shakes her body to throw off any shards of slime that are left on her. We make eye contact for the first time since the dress rehearsal, and I notice with shock that the ares under her eyes are slightly damp, as if she's been crying. Oh fuck...I'm totally screwed. How do I even go about answering for this? 

“Rainbow...I...” I begin awkwardly, but I don't get very far before Rainbow's eyes narrow and her face contorts with rage. My head snaps back painfully as her hoof rams into my nose. And I mean hard. I grunt and pull back, nursing my aching nose with my hand. Rainbow pushes past me roughly and heads for the exit to the cave, disappearing from view. I watch her go, noting with annoyance that my nose is starting to bleed. “Yeah...I may have deserved that one.”

“You think?” Twilight snaps. I turn my head just in time to see her breaking out of the slime with a small exertion of her magic. “I can't believe you knew about her this whole time, and didn't tell anypony!”

“I agree. I noticed you were acting strangely ever since you saw her, but I didn't say anything,” Rarity points out, looking at me disapprovingly. “I didn't realize it was because you knew what she was.”

“If you had helped me...if you had just let me know...we could have stopped her!” Twilight expresses, walking up to me angrily. “I knew she wasn't Cadance the moment I met her, but nopony would believe me! Why couldn't you have supported me? What did she offer you that we couldn't?”

Twilight lowers her head, crying softly. “Now, because of you, Princess Celestia, Cadance, and my brother are at the mercy of that...thing,” she sniffs, wiping her eyes. She turns to look at the rest of her friends, still trapped in slime. “Help me free the rest of my friends, and then I want to hear you explain yourself.”

“Fine,” I emit, wiping a thin trail of blood from my nose. I feel like total shit. I know I wanted to go home, but Twilight is right about everything. But...she's not the one I want to explain myself to first.

I walk over to orb of green slime that encompasses Pinkie, empowering my fist with magic. I punch the slime hard to get my fist deep in there, so I can rip away a great deal of slime. Twilight is over near Fluttershy and Applejack, using her own magic to free them.

“Honestly, ah ain't got no idea what ta think o' you now,” Applejack admits, stepping out of the slime and looking at me. “Ya sided with this Chrysalis thing, and that ain't good, but ya also saved us when we needed it. Whose side are ya on, exactly?”

“I mean, you must have had a good reason,” Fluttershy reasons, as Twilight frees her as well. And she's being too nice to me, even after I almost got her killed.

“To answer your question, I'm on your side. I've made my choice, and my place is here,” I reply tersely, peeling some slime away from Pinkie's face. The moment I've freed her face, Pinkie's eyes open instantly and she shatters the rest of the slime, scaring the hell out of me. “Holy shit!”

Pinkie dashes to the middle of the cave, raising her hooves and punching at the air. “Where is that big meanie pants, Crystal List? I'm gonna find her and show her who's boss: Pinkie Diane Pie! Hyah!” she declares. I can't help but facepalm. Even in the midst of all this despair, she can still manage to be a silly airhead. “Oh...we're not at the wedding anymore. Hey, so where are we?”

“Pinkie, we're in a cave somewhere, courtesy of Seth here,” Twilight explains, pointing a hoof at me without actually looking at me. Pinkie turns her head and then zooms to me, pointing a hoof in my face.

“You! We're in this situation because of you, buster!” Pinkie accuses me, being actually angry with me for about the first time in ever. Then she puts on a bright smile. “But now we're safe, also because of you. So thank you!”

“But...what?” I stammer. Once again, this fucking pony proceeds to confuse the hell out of me. “You're welcome, I guess?”

“One thing is certain,” Rarity interrupts the two of us. “I will not even consider forgiving you, until you speak to Rainbow.”

“That's right. Rainbow considered you her best friend, you know,” Twilight adds, looking at me. “I think she was closer to you than the rest of us.”

“Seriously? Her best friend? I know she was my friend, but why in the hell would she choose a total ass like me as a best friend?” I question. This is news to me. I always thought Rainbow was closer to Fluttershy or Pinkie. Or even Vinyl. She was my best friend, but I didn't think the feeling was mutual.

“You should ask her that. All ah noticed is that she always seemed happier around ya,” Applejack points out. “Go out and talk to her. Ah'll take care o' mah sister.”

“You still need my help here, don't you?” I ask, but honestly I'm just procrastinating on this meeting.  It's going to be difficult for me to face her, after this.

“No excuses, Seth. We can handle things here,” Twilight scolds me, freeing Fluttershy with a burst of magic.

“Yes, go. She needs you,” Fluttershy urges me gently. “You can explain your reasons to us when you get back.”

I take a deep breath, and then let it out slowly, as they all watch me expectantly. “So I don't really have any other choice, do I?” I ask wryly.

“Why would you even ask that? If you still consider her a friend, you should want to go talk to her!” Twilight demands. “I'm still not sure you're even on our side anymore.”

“Relax. I just don't know anything about this. I'm used to pissing everybody off, not cheering them up,” I admit, scratching the back of my head.

“You always did a good job cheering Apple Bloom up,” Sweetie Belle speaks up timidly, joining the conversation. Rarity hisses at her in warning, but she walks up to me anyway. “She always said you were a good guy, but that you had trouble showing it.”

“I have no idea where she got that idea,” I relate, but Sweetie Belle continues, resting a tiny hoof on my shin.

“Go for it. I don't know what's really going on, but I know that you're still a good guy. You're always protecting us...though not always in the best ways.” Sweetie Belle assures me. “Just go make sure Rainbow knows that. Easy as pie!”

“Sweetie, that metaphor doesn't really work, considering the last time you tried to make a pie, you lit it on fire,” Rarity points out wryly, earning a blush from her sister. “But I agree. If you continue to dawdle around here, Seth, Twilight and I will force you outside with magic. Right Twilight?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Twilight says in a determined voice, lowering her horn. “And don't try and pull anything. I'll be watching you out there.”

“Right, whatever. I'm going, don't get your non-existent panties in a wad,” I retort, turning around and heading for the cave entrance. 

“Rarity, what are panties?” Sweetie asks her sister, hilariously enough. I hear Rarity groan behind me.

“Ugh, that human can be so uncouth at times,” she expresses, and then I can no longer hear them.

When I emerge from the cave entrance, I notice several things. First, this cave is on the side of the mountain that houses Canterlot, at around the same elevation. Secondly, I'm now standing on a ledge right next to the railroad that leads to the city. 

And most alarmingly, the city itself. We're relatively far from it, but even from here I can see that the city is burning. Columns of smoke rise from the streets of Canterlot, and I can hear the sounds of battle from here.

The changeling armies are descending on the city like a swarm of locusts, firing green beams of magic down at the guards that I assume are fighting back. Explosions of multicolored magic dot the air like deadly fireworks, the larger ones causing tremors to run through the mountain. I wonder who's still alive and fighting. I wonder how many of them I could have saved by speaking up sooner. Every single one of those deaths are on my head.

Rainbow is sitting on her haunches at the edge of the cliff, staring up at the sky with a blank expression on her face. I stand back from her at first, awkwardly wringing my hands together and trying to figure out how in the hell I'm supposed to approach her.

“So...” I begin, being awkward as fuck. But at least I get her attention. She turns her head slightly until she spots me, and then she goes back to looking at the sky. “I might have made a mistake.”

Rainbow doesn't respond, instead shifting slightly and continuing to look at the sky. Fuck, this is going to be hard. “Look, I'm sorry,” I blurt out, unable to think of a more eloquent way to put it. “I didn't tell anypony about Chrysalis, and that made everything go to hell.”

“I don't know why,” Rainbow finally says, shaking her head. She pounds the ground with her hoof. “I just don't know why, Seth!”

Rainbow sniffs and wipes her eyes, and then she turns around at last, glaring at me with reddened eyes. “I tried so hard to be your friend. I never left your side, I always tried to cheer you up when you were sad, and then you just toss it all back in my face!? After everything we've been through together!?”

“I know...I fucked up,” I admit, looking down. Come to think of it, this is probably the first time that I've legitimately felt sorry for something I've done. I've hurt other people or ponies' feelings before, and while I've felt bad, I've always realized why it had to be done. This time...there's really no excuse. I did what I did for my own selfish purposes that in the end equated to me chasing a dream. I caused the deaths of all these ponies for nothing.

“That's not good enough! You were my best friend, Seth! I felt closer to you than anypony else, and I've known them for months!” Rainbow shoots back. “You were the only one who I could say anything to, and you wouldn't care. Did you know that you were the only friend I had that would go to a Wonderbolts show with me? I trusted and appreciated you, and then you do this? Were you really going to let me die!?”

“No, dammit! That's why I stopped Chrysalis! I couldn't watch you die, I just fucking couldn't!” I shout, having come to a decision. I'm going to lay everything out on the table right now, even some things that I've left hidden for way too long. “You want to know why I didn't tell anypony about her? You want to know why I was going to leave all of you behind!?”

“Yes! Tell me what was so important, you were willing to watch me and all of Canterlot burn!” Rainbow snaps. “Whatever it was, was it worth this? Was it worth sacrificing our friendship?”

“You know what, it almost was!” My words take Rainbow aback, causing her to look at me with a hurt expression. “Don't look at me like that. Come here.”

Rainbow hesitates, but then she notices me reaching into my pocket. “What are you doing?” she asks.

“Come here, goddammit, before I change my mind. I wasn't going to tell anypony about this for as long as I lived, but it seems we're not going to get past this unless you understand me!” I return viciously. Rainbow hesitates for another second, and then she slowly moves over to me. Her eyes widen in surprise as I take my phone out of my pocket and power it on. It's on 40% battery, so I tap the orb on the converter with a magic empowered finger to charge it up.

I beckon for Rainbow to get closer, which she does, peering over my shoulder at the screen of the phone. I input my password, until the phone opens up. The next thing I do is navigate to my photo album, and open up a particular picture, which shows me with my mother, Elaine, and my father, Don. “Do you know what this is?” I ask her.

“Are...these more humans?” Rainbow responds, her eyes taking in the features of the picture curiously. “I think I see you in there, but who are these other two? That one right there looks like you a little bit.”

“That's my mother and father,” I say simply. Rainbow's eyes open wide in shock, and she looks at me, realizing that I'm trusting her with more than I ever have before. She knows I don't want to talk about my family, and has stayed away from the topic whenever she's been with me, because she respected my silence. I think it's safe to say I have her attention now. “This was taken at my graduation from high school. My mother canceled all of her plans to come and be there for me, and my father traveled all the way back from another fucking continent to come see me. He's in the military, you see, so he's always traveling.”

“Wow...you must have really loved them,” Rainbow whispers, the anger no longer present in her voice.  “What's high school?”

“That's not important,” I say, scrolling to the next picture. This next one showed me and my brother at a yearly anime convention, where the both of us are standing next to one of the Japanese voice actors for Soul Eater that had attended as well. My stupid brother is wearing a dumb smile, enjoying the convention far more than he should. He's cosplaying as Soul, even wearing the dumb headband and everything. “That's my brother, Adam. I'd been making fun of him that entire weekend because of the dumb outfit he wore, but it was still one of the best memories I have with him.”

“So you do have siblings. He looks like a funny guy,” Rainbow notes, peering closer at the small image. “But what does this have to do with you joining with Chrysalis?”

“Shut up, and I'll tell you,” I say flatly, and then I scroll to the next image. This one is much more important to me. It shows Amaryllis and I standing together on the beach, dressed in our swimsuits, our arms around one another for the purposes of the picture. 

I scroll to the next, which shows the both of us at a table on the cruise ship for that same trip, eating together. Except, she's shoved a cap of ketchup onto my nose in this picture because I was making fun of her spilling water over herself.

The last picture I show Rainbow is the one of Amaryllis and I at a college formal dance, where the two of us had gone together as friends because it would have looked bad for both of us to go alone, especially since it was for a career fair and we were hoping to get noticed. She's wearing this gorgeous black dress that really complements her crimson hair.

“Who is that girl you're always with? It...is a girl, right?” Rainbow asks, looking somewhat foolish for having to ask that latter question.

“Yes, it's a girl,” I answer wryly. “This...is Amaryllis.”

“Ama...oh. Oooh...” Rainbow cuts off in the middle of her response, understanding dawning on her face. “She's your close friend, the one you said you didn't trust until a month after meeting her.”

“It was more than that,” I reply. I can't believe I'm going to tell her this, but there's literally no other way to make Rainbow understand why I was willing to let them all die. “I loved that girl more than life itself, but I never mentioned it to her. I was happy just being with her, though I was too thick to notice my feelings for what they were, until after she was dead.”

Rainbow looks anguished at my words. She must be trying to empathize with the pain I felt when she died. She can't understand, though. She's never lost anypony close to her. I've lost everyone that was close to me.

“Do you understand now? I miss them. I miss them so bad I tried to kill myself because life felt empty without them, the one group of people that I knew were not like the rest of my useless race,” I express, locking the phone again and putting it back in my pocket. I put some distance between Rainbow and I, so I can look at her in the eyes. I sit down on a rock near the entrance to the cave.“I would have given anything to have them back. So what do you think I did when Chrysalis came along and offered me the chance to do just that?”

“She...she promised you that? How? You came from three thousand years ago, right?” Rainbow demands, though it looks like she's starting to understand how I feel.

“She has a time spell, a very powerful one. She said that if I kept quiet about her plan, I could go back home,” I explain.

“And you believed her? Twilight says that kind of spell is impossible!” Rainbow snaps.

“Of course I did! She proved it! Did you know I had a short conversation with Discord, one thousand years ago, as a result of her demonstrating that spell for me?” I shoot back, shutting her up. “Hell yes I agreed. Simply not telling anypony was all I had to do to get my family back.”

“But...” Rainbow starts, but I cut her off.

“And you know what? I gave that up. I gave up everything I've ever known and loved, just so that I could save your life,” I tell her vehemently, pointing a finger at her. “I just could not stand there and watch you die. Besides...they've been dead for years. Even if I went back, I'd just have to watch them die again.”

“You gave up your human life...for me? Even the one you loved?” Rainbow asks softly after a long pause. I nod tersely, having exhausted my will to tell her anything else. “That's...wow. I'm still angry at you for causing...this, but I've never had anypony feel that strongly about me. You really did that for me?”

“I'm not saying it again,” I reply difficultly, but that doesn't seem to matter. A small blush appears on Rainbow's cheeks. “You're my best friend, Rainbow. I couldn't let you and all your friends die for a bunch of ghosts.”

Rainbow sniffs, and then she walks up to me slowly, somewhat unsteadily. I watch her carefully, wondering what she's going to do. When she gets close to me, she rears up on her hind legs...and then wraps her forelegs around my neck in a hug. Holy shit, Rainbow is hugging me. That fierce tomboy pony that's never shown any tendency for physical affection ever, is now hugging me for the first time.

Fuck it, it's Rainbow Dash. I'd never do this for any other pony. I reach my own arms forward awkwardly and wrap around her back, pulling her closer to me. Together, we share a warm hug, out there on the rock outside the cave, taking comfort in the bond that exists between us. “Thank you,” Rainbow whispers into my ear. “I won't forgive you until all of this is fixed, but I appreciate the sacrifice you made.”

“I'm sorry for betraying you,” I whisper back. “Even if I have to crush the entire changeling army myself, I'll make it up to you.”

A few moments later, Rainbow and I break apart and stand up, both of us averting our gazes and feeling extremely awkward. Rainbow coughs lightly, adjusting her mane. “So, shall we go back in the cave?” she asks.

“Yeah. The others still think I'm the worst kind of person,” I reveal, causing Rainbow to chuckle slightly.

Together, we walk back into the cave to see that a makeshift clinic has been made. By that, I mean that Applejack and Apple Bloom are resting on smooth slabs of stone, a cloth wrapped tightly around the former's ribs to keep them from moving. Apple Bloom has a bandage around her snout, which is more than likely broken after getting it smashed by Chrysalis.

“You'll have to keep from moving too much, Apple Bloom. I've done my best to heal it, but I'm not the best,” Twilight advises the young filly, who nods, only to wince and hold her snout gingerly. Twilight turns to Applejack next, with a sorrowful expression. “I'm sorry, but I am only good at closing surface wounds. I don't know anything about setting broken bones.”

“You ain't got nothin' ta be sorry for. Yer doin' the best ya can,” Applejack assures her friend with a smile. “You got mah thanks just fer helpin' mah sister.”

“Gah, slime is icky,” Spike complains, as he had been freed from the slime at some point while I was outside. “I still have bits of it under my scales. This is the worst.”

“Hold still then. I'll try and remove as much as I can,” Rarity orders him. Spike freezes and immediately stands completely still, his eyes following Rarity as her horn lights up. “Hm, yes, I can feel bits of that horrid substance still in there.”

I notice that Pinkie is the one with all the medical supplies. I don't know here she found all those bandages and shit, but thanks to her, recovery seems to be coming along.

“Rainbow!” Scootaloo exclaims, as she's now free from the slime as well. She runs over to us, but then stops when she spots me. “Why is he still here? He's the one who caused all of this, isn't he?"

That gets everypony's attention. They all turn away from what they're doing to look at the two of us. They all look somewhat surprised that I walked in with Rainbow, and that we're not trying to kill each other. “He also saved our lives, squirt,” Rainbow points out, though she does kneel down and pat Scootaloo on the head. “I don't agree with his decision...but I understand it.”

“So ah'm guessin' you two came to some kinda understandin'? Applejack inquires curiously. “Ah half expected ya to have beaten some sense inta him, Rainbow.”

“I still want to...he's an idiot,” Rainbow replies, shooting me an annoyed stare, but the accusing rage isn't there anymore. “But I know why he did what he did. And why he decided to save me.”

“Perhaps you can enlighten us? I'm still furious at him myself,” Twilight demands. “It would have been so easy to tell one of us, and then Princess Celestia would have defeated her.”

“Uh, Seth? How much can I tell them? Or would you rather do it?” Rainbow asks me tentatively.

“They'll probably listen to you better. And tell them whatever you think they need to hear. I'm never talking about them with anypony other than you, though,” I tell her. Rainbow nods, and then turns back to Twilight.

“Twilight, how would you feel if you had to choose who lived an who died? What if you had to choose between saving me, or saving your family?” Rainbow begins. That one question causes Twilight to blanch and look at me.

“I...I couldn't make that kind of decision. That's a horrible thing to ask!” Twilight exclaims in horror. “What does that have to do with anything though?”

“That's what I had to choose between,” I say, joining the conversation. Contrary to what I said, I feel like it would be a cop-out to let Rainbow explain my own reasons for me. All of them are watching me now. Every single pony and dragon in this room has their eyes fixed upon me. “Chrysalis offered me the chance to go back to my time.”

“That...makes a surprising amount of  sense,” Rarity admits. “I remember Chrysalis saying something of the sort during her fight with you. You told her that your race was going to become...undead.”

“That's right...Seth told Princess Celestia and I that much,” Twilight recalls, remembering the whole hologram Celestia showed us. “You believed that Chrysalis could send you home?”

“I do. She showed me. I got to experience a few moments of life as it was during the reign of Discord,” I reveal, much to everypony's surprise. “You tell me how I can make a choice like that.”

“You chose us over yer family?” Apple Bloom questions, joining the conversation. “Why would ya do that? Ah'd give up anythin' fer mah family.”

“Dammit, I chose Equestria because my family is dead! They have been for three thousand years. Going back would serve no purpose except to make me feel worse,” I snap at her, even though she essentially proves my point. “I hate that my indecision caused this invasion. But I am glad I saved all of you.”

“So what's the plan, Twilight? Are we going to go save the princess?” Spike asks, rejoining the conversation.

“That's a good point. We can set aside our judgments for Seth until after Canterlot is safe,” Twilight agrees. “We need to find the Elements of Harmony, and stop Queen Chrysalis...but I need to know something first.”

Twilight turns to me, regarding me with an intense stare. “I haven't forgiven you for causing this, but I need to know that you're on our side. We need your power more than ever right now,” she affirms. “Are you with us, or not?”

“I'm with Rainbow. And since she's with you, I am too,” I assert, making Rainbow smile somewhat. “But we'll need a plan. We can't rush in there head on. Did you see how many changelings she brought with her?”

“I did. It looks like a real mess out there,” Twilight admits. “Honestly, I don't know how we can do this. The Elements of Harmony are in the castle vault, and there's just so many changelings between here and there...”

“I say we beat 'em up. Seth and I will show them what for!” Rainbow announces, punching the air enthusiastically.

“I say fuck the Elements of Harmony,” I suggest, much to their surprise. “I know they're some super weapon or whatever, but if we can free Celestia, we win.”

“That's a fair point as well. Either with the Elements or with Celestia's power, victory is assured,” Rarity agrees. “But there's still the problem of numbers. There's just too many changelings. We'll get surrounded if we're not careful.”

“Now, this is a problem. If we just had a little more power...” Applejack grunts in annoyance. There's a silence as all of us try to think about what to do. Rarity is right. There's just not enough of us to fight an army like that, and even if we did make some progress, all it would take is for Chrysalis to show up, and we'd all get fucked again.

“Power! Ooh, like a princess?” Pinkie suggests, bouncing up and down, having way too much energy for a situation this hopeless.

“That would be great, if there were any princesses that weren't...” I begin, and then suddenly a pressure falls over the cave. At first, I think that Chrysalis has found us somehow, but it feels different. It still feels dark, but yet, somehow benevolent. Not to mention it's slightly weaker than Chrysalis, but still stronger than me. Who the hell has this kind of power? Wait...there's still a princess that wasn't at the wedding. “Holy shit, it's Luna.”

“Princess Luna is here?” Twilight asks hopefully, and then she feels the magical pressure in the air as well. “You're right! We may have a shot after all! Let's go and meet her!”

Everypony that can move heads for the entrance to the cave, walking into the sunlight. The ledge isn't that large, so some of the ponies stay back in the cave entrance. 

Looking up, I can see dark speck approaching in the distance. As it gets closer, I can see Princess Luna's dark chariot being pulled by six dark ponies with bat wings. Luna herself is in the back of the chariot, and holy fuck, I think she's in full battle armor. 

The chariot touches down in our little clearing, with barely any room to spare. Luna first looks at Canterlot with a concerned expression, and then she gets down from the chariot. “Twilight Sparkle. It is good to see thee,” Luna greets Twilight, who is standing at the front of our group. “What hast befallen Canterlot? Where is mine sister?”

“It's probably best if you came into the cave. There's...a lot to talk about,” Twilight confesses. “We have injured inside as well.”

“Injured...very well. Lead us inside,” Luna commands. She turns to hear guards as the rest of us filter back into the cave. “Accompany us.”

Soon, we are all in the main cavern. I'm standing with Rainbow in the back by Apple Bloom and Applejack. Twilight and Rarity are next to Rainbow, and Fluttershy and Pinkie are next to me. The Lunar Guards form up along the front wall of the cave, as Luna makes her way into the chamber. Now that she's this close, I can see that she's wearing a tight fitting armored suit made of interlocking ridged plates, colored as black as night. Her mane is actually pulled back by several black rings, probably to keep it out of her face if she's going into battle. Hell, she looks like she outfitted herself for war. Come to think of it, where the hell has she been this whole time, and how did she know where to find us?

“Where is thine injured?” Luna demands, looking around. Without receiving an answer, she spots Applejack and Apple Bloom. “Ah. Dearest Applejack, how hast thou been injured?”

“Mah ribs, Princess. Ah think a few o' them are broken,” Applejack answers, looking sheepish. Luna nods, and then looks at Apple Bloom.

“And thy sister?”

“My nose. That mean bug pony hit me,” Apple Bloom complains. Luna looks confused, but decides not to ask. Instead, her horn lights up, and a dark blue aura surrounds both Applejack and Apple Bloom, healing their respective wounds over the period of a few seconds. “Oh! I feel much better now. Thanks, Princess!”

“Think nothing of it,” Luna replies, smiling at the little filly. Then, she looks at Twilight Sparkle, seemingly seeing her as the pony she trusts the most to give an accurate description of events. “Now, tell me why I sensed mine sister powering up from an entire country away, Twilight Sparkle.”

“A country away? Where the hell were you, and what were you doing?” I demand, joining the conversation. As annoyed as I am, it's a stroke of fortune that she wasn't at the wedding, else her magic would have been canceled and she would have been screwed as well. With Luna here, we might actually stand a chance.

“Seth. We see that thou hast refrained from learning any proper etiquette,” Luna responds wryly. Right..she doesn't know of my fuck up yet. Well...she'll probably try to kill me when she does find out. “We were on a diplomatic visit to Griffonia, investigating rumors of activity in the wastelands that once contained the Crystal Empire. But we left, as mine sister's safety is more important than diplomacy.”

“I'll be honest with you, Princess. The situation is bad. Because of an error in judgment on Seth's part, Canterlot is in danger of being lost,” Twilight explains. “Princess Celestia is captured, and the city is under attack by strange creatures called...changelings.”

Luna shoots me a sharp stare that quickly turns into a glare. Shit. Thankfully, it doesn't last for long until she turns back to Twilight. “We knew it was bad. Celestia never powers up to that extent save for the gravest of circumstances. We are interested, however, in how Seth hath caused this conflict.”

“With all due respect, princess,” Rainbow interrupts before things can go south. “We can point hooves after all things are said and done. We should focus on saving Canterlot, right?”

Luna stares at Rainbow and I for a long moment, before she nods. “Very well. Seth, we shall discuss thy responsibility later. For now, give us as much information as thou can about this unprovoked invasion.”

“The culprit's name is Chrysalis. She outwitted Celestia with a magic canceling device, and then captured her,” I start.

“We see. And where didst this 'Chrysalis' come from?” Luna questions, her hooves grinding into the ground with fury.

“She infiltrated the wedding by imprisoning Cadance, and then disguising herself as her,” Twilight relates. “She used some kind of mind control spell to get my brother to drop the barrier he erected after the assassination attempt. That's how all the changelings got in.”

“Assassination!?” Luna rages, this obviously being the first she's heard of this. “We should have come back sooner. Art there any casualties?”

“Hard to tell,” Twilight says, looking forlorn. “Seth managed to save us all and transport us here, but the fighting is going on even as we speak. We were trying to come up with a plan to take back the city...but there's just not enough of us to get past all those changelings.”

Luna is quiet at first, and then she looks at her guards, who all nod. She turns back to us with a determined expression. “Very well. Then we hath made a decision. We shalt take command of the reclamation effort.”

“How? Even with you here, there's simply not enough of us,” I point out, deciding to throw aside my earlier optimism and face facts. “Chrysalis is stronger than all of us, and we might get overwhelmed before we even get to her. There's only twenty of us here, and four of us can't fight at all.”

“Rest assured, Seth Rogers. I hath confidence in mine ability to retake Canterlot. Thou shalt discover why I was once called...” Luna expresses. A determined grin slowly crosses her face. “...Luna, Princess of War.”
> 47. Princess of War
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Luna puts her hoof down, and then she becomes all business. “Tell us everything thou knows about the situation at hoof,” she commands, addressing all of us. “Every detail thou can remember, even those thou considers to be unimportant. In this situation, intelligence is of the utmost importance.”

Holy shit, I'm in a military strategy meeting, for the first time in my life. Well, the closest thing you can get to one in a world of ponies. I do feel reassured though, knowing that we have a princess here that's well versed in battle strategy. 

“Um...we're fighting changelings. They can take the form of those you love, replicating them to perfect detail,” Twilight begins. “Though Chrysalis is the only one I've seen do this.”

“It would be safe to assume that all of them possess the same ability,” Luna decides, her expression becoming grim. “Which leads us to question thy identities. We must be certain that none of thee are changelings in disguise.”

All of us look at one another. I don't think any of us here are changelings, considering how I've had my eyes of them ever since coming back. Unless some switching went along behind the scenes that  I wasn't aware of. Still, I understand her caution. “But Princess, don't you trust us?” Applejack asks, confused.

“Trust is not a factor here. We are simply being prudent,” Luna says firmly. “Do not worry. A simple test is all that it will take to reassure us of thine identity. Is it safe to assume that changelings cannot replicate memories?”

“Definitely. Chrysalis, when she was pretending to be Cadance, had no knowledge of me whatsoever, even though we'd met in the garden a month ago,” I answer for her. “It's how I knew who she was.”

“Very good. Thank thee for proving thy identity, Seth Rogers,” Luna says to me with a nod. Huh. That was easy enough. “Twilight Sparkle, what did we show thee in thy library, when Celestia and I visited thee over a month ago?”

“Oh, you were showing me heavenly bodies, like the other galaxies. It was fascinating,” Twilight responds eagerly.

“Excellent. Rainbow Dash, what costume did you wear during this year's Nightmare Night?” Luna says, continuing on. I already know Rainbow isn't a changeling, but I guess this is for Luna's peace of mind. I'd probably do the same thing if I was her.

“The Shadow Bolt costume. I went around scaring ponies with lightning. It was the greatest thing ever,” Rainbow answers, grinning slightly at the memory. Luna nods, satisfied by that answer.

In this manner, Luna continues down the line, asking each and every one of the ponies a question that a changeling couldn't answer, until all of their identities are proven. “We art satisfied,” Luna announces after she moves away from Sweetie Belle, the last pony she'd questioned. “Now, continue giving us thy knowledge of the incident in Canterlot.”

In this manner, we told Luna as much as possible, starting from Chrysalis's abilities, to a thorough retelling of the events leading up to the wedding. We told Luna of Chrysalis's control ability, and how she used it to manipulate Shining Armor into dropping the barrier. I also went into detail about everything Chrysalis told me about her race, such as her ability to smell different to everyone she meets.

“Apart from what we just told you, we don't know much,” Rarity admits, looking frustrated. “There just wasn't enough time to get a proper understanding of the situation.”

“We know Princess Celestia is captured, but we don't know where she's being kept,” Twilight adds. “We can't use the Elements of Harmony, either, because Chrysalis knows about them.”

“Therefore they art likely to be heavily guarded,” Luna completes, looking troubled. “That means we art forced to deal with Chrysalis with military force.”

“But we don't have the forces. All we've got is us, and only sixteen of us can fight. Fifteen, if you take out Fluttershy,” I protest. Fluttershy stirs when I say her name, looking up at me. “What? You don't seem like you're cut out for battle.”

“Do not worry, Seth Rogers. We believe it is possible, but we need more information,” Luna assures me. “Fortunately, we possess the means to gather this information.”

“How? Do you have spies,  or something?” Rainbow asks. Luna shakes her head.

“Not spies, Rainbow Dash. Our sister is much more trusting than we art, so we took it upon ourselves to set up magical surveillance devices in various locations around the city,” Luna reveals to us. “We should still be able to access them. One moment.”

Luna closes her eyes, her horn flaring a dark blue. Her entire body starts to glow that same color, as she casts some spell that I assume helps her tap into those surveillance devices she mentioned. We watch her with baited breath for a full minute, before the spell dies down and Luna opens her eyes once more.

Without another word, Luna's horn flashes again, and a hologram of Canterlot appears in the center of the room before us, projecting from the tip of her horn. “We hath made our analysis. Here is what we know.”

The hologram of Canterlot zooms in, much like the one Celestia used to show us the Crystal Empire. It zooms in further and further, until the wedding hall where shit had hit the fan is displayed. There is a green dot pulsating in the center of the room. “A strong source of magical power emanates from this room,” Luna starts, pointing a hoof at the green dot. “If thy description is to be believed, this is where Chrysalis is. She appears to be constructing something, possibly some kind of base of operations.”

“Hm, so she hasn't moved since our escape,” I observe. “That works for us. If she stays there, we should be able to move with impunity.”

The hologram zooms out and travels down deep into the mountain, until we reach a set of crystalline caves, where railroad tracks and mine carts tells me that I'm looking at the mines Chrysalis mentioned. The view travels through the mines until it settles in a large cavern, where there are a bunch of strange black creatures surrounding a similarly colored pillar, which is emitting white strands of glowing magic from the upper portion. I assume those black creatures are changelings. Unlike chrysalis, they're like the size of a typical pony, only covered in spiny chitin, with beady eyes and fanged teeth. All of them appear to have wings and horns, which means they're all capable of magic and flight.

“This device is emitting a small magic canceling field. We believe that it is one of three pylons that is powering the field keeping the magic in that room sealed,” Luna describes. The hologram soars through the caves at an extreme speed, revealing two more of these pylons, each of them equally guarded. Next, our view zooms out to show a cross section of the caves, where the pylons are shown with blinking white dots. They're arranged in a triangular pattern, with the wedding hall directly in the center. “We believe that Chrysalis hath remained in her current position because she knows she is vulnerable outside of her magic cancellation field.”

“That makes sense. So we need to do something about that field, right?” Twilight determines, looking at Luna for approval. The princess nods, and then the hologram changes again.

This time, we're shown a blinking yellow dot, located far far underground. “I do not need my surveillance devices to find mine sister,” Luna expresses. God, she keeps changing pronouns randomly. She needs to pick one and stick with it. “She is located underground, in an large cavern. She is likely heavily guarded, and any attempt to rescue her will no doubt attract Chrysalis's attention. If we wish to free her, we will need to distract Chrysalis.”

“Which means fighting her,” I determine, thinking hard about all the information being presented to us. “But none of us can fight her on our own, and I'm the only one that can operate in that cancellation field.”

“Indeed. Lastly, we hath determined the location of the majority of our armed forces,” Luna continues, changing the holograms again. “Captain Shining Armor is no doubt still incapacitated, so control of his regiment falls to his Commander, Stalwart Iron. We require his services, if we wish to use the First Regiment in battle.”

“What about the Second Regiment? I know Rose is still out there,” I query. “I managed to free her from the hall before I teleported us all out.”

“We have located Commander Rose. She, along with Captains Spitfire and Blades, have banded together with the remnants of the First and Second Regiments, and are holed up here, in the Shopping District,” Luna states, adjusting the hologram until it shows the area in question, where each individual pony is marked by a blinking dot. There aren't that many of them at all. 

“Spitfire is still out there? Oh yeah, the Pegasus Corps isn't going down any time soon!” Rainbow exclaims exultantly. “The Wonderbolts are gonna kick some changeling tail!”

“They are taking casualties, Rainbow Dash. They require a rescue, if we hope to use them,” Luna corrects her. Rainbow looks crushed by the idea that her idols might be defeated. “Finally, the majority of our forces have been imprisoned in the Canterlot dungeons.”

The hologram proceeds to show us the location of the dungeons, in which there are a great deal of white and black dots. I assume the white ones are ponies, and the black ones are changelings. “So basically, if we want to get anywhere, we need to help out the guard,” I restate, thinking hard about the best course of action. “So far, the outstanding objective is to free Celestia. If we can do that, the battle is ours. But the problem is doing that.”

“We may be able to come up with a plan,” Luna asserts, casting her gaze across the occupants of the room. “Who amongst thee wouldst thou say are the strongest?”

“Magically or physically?” Twilight inquires, even as Rainbow starts to flex her muscles. 

“Either. We need to know our assets before devising a strategy,” is Luna's response. “Quickly now.”

“Well, physically, I'd say either Applejack or Rainbow,” Twilight answers, indicating the both of them with her hooves. Rainbow and Applejack look at one another, and then back at Twilight. “Rainbow is more maneuverable, but Applejack is sturdier.”

“That sounds about right,” I respond, looking between the two of them. Interestingly enough, I'd usually expect Rainbow to protest at being compared to somepony else, but she seems to be staying quiet. I guess she knows how serious this is.

“Magically, it falls to Seth and I,” Twilight continues. “Though I...haven't really fought all that much. Seth has more experience than I in that regard.”

“Trust me, we know,” Luna remarks wryly, giving me a knowing glance. I scratch the back of my head. Luna was there when I clashed with her sister, so she knows that I've been in a few fights. “Then...Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Spike, and Fluttershy. What are thy strengths?”

“I may not be as strong as Twilight or Seth, but I do possess a moderate degree of skill in magic,” Rarity expresses, lifting a hoof and gazing at it in annoyance. “Ugh, this cave is wreaking havoc on my hooves.”

“Heavy weaponry!” Pinkie exclaims, and then whips out her cannon, again from nowhere. She also pulls out a set of balloons. “Oh, and balloons too. Hee!”

“Pinkie has that sense of hers, though I'm not sure how reliable it is,” Twilight remarks, facehoofing at her friend's antics. Luna nods, looking at Spike next.

“Uh...strengths? I mean, I've never fought before,” Spike admits, wringing his claws together.  “My fire's not that strong yet.”

“But he also can send and receive messages, provided the correct magical link is arranged,” Twilight points out, to which Luna appears interested. That is a good point, now that I think about it. I'm the only one with a cell phone, and it doesn't work. Communication is essential in a battle, especially one like this.

Finally, all eyes fall upon Fluttershy, who shrinks behind her mane. “Oh...I'm not strong at all...I don't want to fight,” she says timidly, shaking slightly. “Chrysalis was so scary...I'm not sure I could face more of them.”

“We see. Now then, we believe we hath gained enough information,” Luna decides. With a blink of her eyes, the hologram reverts, once again showing the entirety of Canterlot. “This will not be an easy strategy. If it is to succeed, we will need each one of thee to give thy utmost effort. Art thou with us?”

“I am, Princess Luna. I want to save Princess Celestia, Cadance, and my brother. I'll fight if I need to!” Twilight is the first to respond. She scuffs the ground with a hoof, a determined expression on her face.

“If it means savin' Equestria, count me in. This is mah home too,” Applejack asserts, cracking her neck and stretching her limbs.

“I've got a score to settle with that Chrysalis jerk. You won't be leaving me behind,” Rainbow joins, her eyes narrowing.

“I made a promise,” I declare, cracking my knuckles. If Rainbow's fighting, then I'm going to be there with her. “I'm going to crush the entire changeling army by myself, if I have to.”

“Just because I'm a lady doesn't mean I can't step up if necessary,” Rarity declares, throwing in with the rest of us.

“Oh! Me too! I wanna say something cool!” Pinkie exclaims, bouncing in place. She attempts to put on a serious face, except all it succeeds in doing is looking ridiculous. “I'll save you, princess! How was that?”

“I'll...try my best,” Fluttershy whispers, her voice barely audible.

“If you need me, I'll be here,” Spike adds. With that, every single one of us has stated our desires and motivations. I guess this is it. 

This is the first time I've ever been in a battle of this scale before. It's always been a one on one fights before, but a battle like this? I can't help but be nervous. All it will take is one fuck up, and all of us are dead. I just hope Luna knows what she's doing.

“Excellent. Thy loyalty to thy country gives us solace,” Luna praises us. Right, to this country. No, my loyalty is to Rainbow. That's all. Then, she gets serious. “Here's what we have come up with. Our primary objective, as Seth hath stated, is to free mine sister. That is the victory condition. But there is a line of obstacles to be dealt with. We shalt describe the plan from the ground up.”

We watch carefully as the hologram zooms down to show the Canterlot dungeons again, only this time, a small tunnel is revealed that leads away from the dungeons, through what looks like a sewer system. “One team shalt enter the dungeons through the sewers, with the objective of freeing Commander Iron, and as many guards as possible. It is imperative that this team keep a low profile until the majority of the guards are freed.”

“Good idea. With the First Regiment backing us, we'll have a much easier time keeping the changelings at bay,” I say approvingly. The other ponies are nodding as well, seeing the sense in this plan.

“Another team will form a diversionary force and strike at the Canterlot gates. This team will consist of two of the strongest members here, in order to convince our enemy that this team is the greatest threat,” Luna continues, showing the Canterlot gates in the hologram. “However, this team will be facing the most danger.”

“But it's also necessary, otherwise the dungeon team will get overwhelmed,” I say, even as the other ponies blanch. This seems like it'll be a very dangerous and risky plan, but I can see how it could work, as well.

“Correct. Last, a third, smaller team will accompany the diversionary force, and will split off to rendezvous with Captains Spitfire and Blades, to inform them of our plan,” Luna continues, showing the sector of the city where the most combat is taking place as we speak. “We will need their strength as well, if we are to succeed.”

“Seems like an awesome plan! Who goes where? I assume you want me with the diversionary force, because I'm one of the strongest,” Rainbow asks, somehow managing to stroke her own ego even in a situation like this. 

Luna ignores Rainbow at first, instead splitting the hologram into three, showing the areas that the three teams will be going to. She highlights the gates first. “We shalt lead the attack on the gates ourselves, accompanied by my personal guards, as well as Twilight Sparkle and Applejack.”

Okay, so the diversionary team is Luna, Twilight, and Applejack. That seems like a good choice. Applejack has some crazy leg power, and Twilight is the Element of Magic. Plus, with Luna and her guards, I think they have a good chance. Still, I'm surprised I wasn't sent with them as well. What does Luna have in store for me?

“Accompanying us will be the rendezvous team. Spike is essential for this team, as his messages will help bring this whole plan together,” Luna expresses, staring at Spike. “Dost thou understand, Spike? Thou art integral to the success of the plan as a whole.”

“Wow, r...really? I'm important?” Spike exclaims, blushing slightly. “Did you hear that, Twilight?”

“I did. But that means I have to change the spell binding of your messages, so that they go to Princess Luna instead of Princess Celestia,” Twilight responds, beaming at her assistant. “Not to mention teach her the spell needed to send replies back.”

“Not just us. We would also like them to go to Seth Rogers, for reasons we shalt explain momentarily,” Luna decrees. I raise an eyebrow at that one. It seems like she has an important plan for me after all. “Spike, thou shalt be escorted by Pinkie Pie and Rarity.”

“Yes!” Spike says a little too loudly, but quickly covers it up with a cough when he realizes what he said. What's up with that? “I mean...all right. I understand.” 

“Pinkie Pie, Rarity, thy job is essential to our success. Thou must deliver Spike to the Captains, and then join the defense against the changelings,” Luna affirms, giving the two mares with an intense stare. “Can we count on thee?”

“Yessiree! I'll keep Spike safer than I keep my baking tools!” Pinkie exclaims. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Pinkie doesn't really seem like she's cut out for combat. Sure, she's got that cannon (wherever the hell she keeps it), but can she last in a battle like this?

“Absolutely. I shan't let you down, Princess,” Rarity says firmly. Hold on, if all of the rest of them are with the diversionary and rendezvous teams, that leaves Rainbow, Fluttershy, and I to infiltrate the dungeons. Great, I have to lug around Fluttershy?

“Fluttershy, thy task shalt be to remain here,” Luna declares, answering my mental question for me. “Somepony must stay behind to take care of the fillies, and thou seems to be the best fit for this role.”

“Me? You mean, I don't have to fight?” Fluttershy asks, sounding hopeful. Luna shakes her head firmly, and Fluttershy smiles. “Thank you. I'll keep these little sweeties safe for you.”

“Hey! There's only one little Sweetie!” Scootaloo pipes up from the back of the room, where the three of them had been watching and listening, quietly. I resist the urge to facepalm.

“I'm not little! I'm taller than Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle protests.

“You are not!” Apple Bloom retorts...and I promptly lose my battle, planting my head in my hands. Goddamn fillies. Even at the eve of a battle as intense as this one is likely going to be, they still find a way to be as innocent as ever.

Luna has the most perfect “what the fuck” expression that I've ever seen. A few seconds later, she coughs, and then gets back on track. “Seth, we art placing thee in charge of the dungeon infiltration team. Thou shalt go with Rainbow Dash to find Commander Iron. Dost thou understand?”

“I do,” I reply simply. I look down at Rainbow, who catches my eye and grins. It looks like the two of us are going to be going into hell together. I suppose I'd have it no other way, really. At least then I can keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't get her stupid ass killed.

“Aw yeah. We're gonna stomp those changelings into the ground!” Rainbow declares, nudging me. Her excitement level is rising. I'm jealous. I wish I could be as hyped about this as she is. I just want to make up for the mistake I made.

“This is the first phase of the plan. Seth, Spike, once thou completes thy objectives, send a message to us, and we shalt begin phase two of the plan,” Luna continues. “Seth, in thine case, thou must send a message to Spike, who will then direct it to us.”

“What's phase two?” Twilight asks, looking uncomfortable. I hope she isn't losing her nerve.

“We begin our counter assault. With our forces on either side of the main changeling force, we can crush them beneath our hooves from all directions,” Luna explains. “However, we that have gathered here shalt be splitting into multiple teams, while our army combats the changelings.”

“The first and most important role is lowering the magic cancellation field on the wedding hall by destroying each of the three pylons in the mines,” Luna details, showing the locations of the entrances to the mines on the hologram. “This is imperative, and as such I will be assigning all of you to this task, save for Seth.”

“Why not me?” I ask curiously. “I could destroy the fuck out of those pylons.”

“That is certainly true, but we need thee here. Thou must rendezvous with me after thy success with the dungeons,” Luna points out. Suddenly, a sinking feeling comes over me. I feel like I know what she's going to ask. “Once the cancellation field falls, thou shalt assist me in distracting Chrysalis.”

“Fuck. That's going to suck. She's really strong,” I lament, though I knew somehow that I'd be facing Chrysalis again. I clench my fist. This time, I'll have Luna's help. This time, I'm going to kill her.

“What? But I wanted to take her down!” Rainbow protests, looking furious. “Let me go too. I want to help you beat her!”

“No. Thy job will first be going to disable this pylon...” Luna begins, showing Rainbow the pylon in question. “...along with Twilight Sparkle and Captain Spitfire.”

“Uh...I'm...okay with this,” Rainbow expresses, much to my exasperation and amusement.

“Then, thou shalt be heading straight down to where mine sister is imprisoned. If everything goes as planned, Chrysalis will be too busy with us to notice thy machinations,” Luna orders. “Once she is freed, victory is ours.”

“What about the other two pylons?” Applejack queries, looking at the hologram closely. “We gotta take 'em all down, raht?”

“That is correct. The second pylon, located here, will be destroyed by thee, Rarity, and Commander Rose,” Luna continues. “We leave the last pylon to Pinkie and Captain Blades.”

“Yippee! Let's do it!” Pinkie exclaims. However, there is something I can't help but notice.

“Luna, why are you only sending two ponies to take down the last pylon?” I inquire, looking at the hologram intently. Sheesh, there's so much to remember in this plan. There's also so much that could go wrong. If Luna overestimates our power, we could end up in some deep shit. I don't know that I'd want to go into battle depending on somepony like Pinkie.

“Captain Blades and his squad is more than capable of taking down a pylon on their own,” Luna answers confidently. “We art sending Pinkie with him as extra insurance, so to speak.” 

“All right, I think that accounts for everything!” Twilight determines, looking around at all of us. “Unless you have anything more to add, Princess?”

“No, that is the plan in its entirety. Have thou committed it to memory?” Luna responds. Well, I kinda have it memorized, but there's a lot to remember. I might as well be sure, especially since fucking up is a matter of life and death.

“Go over it one more time for me,” I tell her. Luna nods, and then she launches off into explanation once more.





It's almost time. After running through the plan a few more times, we've started preparations. By that, I mean Twilight has taught both Luna and I the spell necessary to transfer and receive messages to or from Spike. It's an easy spell to learn, so it doesn't take more than a few minutes to learn. Even so, like Luna said, it's entirely necessary for everything to work.

Also, I finally found out how Luna found us in the first place. Apparently the cave that we're in is the entrance to the tunnel that leads to the sewers. That's very convenient. Almost too convenient. I didn't actually choose a destination for the teleportation spell, beyond the vague idea of “let's get the fuck out of here right the hell now,” so I guess the fact that ended up here must have been pure luck.

So, for my own sake, I'm going to go over the plan in my head, before we get this thing started. Basically, what I have to do is go with Rainbow into the dungeons and find the Commander of the First Regiment. Supposedly with his help, we can rally the troops in the dungeon and hit the changeling forces from the flank, while Rose's squad and Luna's squad trikes from all sides. It's a solid plan, but I'm hoping we can get some pegasi, otherwise the flanking maneuver will be pointless, because they'll just fly over us.

Once we free the troops in the dungeon, Rainbow and I will split up (not sure how I feel about letting her go into battle without me), and then I'll be fighting my way to Luna, while the others shut down that field. Lastly, Luna and I will take on Chrysalis to keep her from killing Rainbow and Twilight while they attempt to free Celestia.

“Is everypony ready?” Luna demands, standing at the entrance to the caves, the sunlight reflecting off of her black battle armor.

All of the ponies I'm standing with look at one another, perhaps taking solace in one another's presence before walking into what's sure to be hell. 

Fuck, I still can't believe I'm going to be at the forefront of what's probably the first battle in Equestria for a thousand years. Hell, I can't believe I'm going to be in a battle. I'm nervous as fuck, to the point where I'm slightly shaking. It's an odd feeling, knowing that I'm going to be going into battle, not knowing if I'm going to come back. Some of these ponies I'm standing with might not come back from this. There's a very real chance that some of us here will die.

I feel something warm press against my side. I look down to see Rainbow pressing her side against me, looking up at me with a reassuring smile. She must have seen me shaking. If I remember right, what she's doing is a typical sign of support amongst horses. I guess that applies to ponies as well. Hell, at least I know Rainbow will be by my side for most of this.

“I'm...I'm ready,” Twilight stammers. It looks like we're all nervous. I can't blame them. They're fucking ponies. They're all librarians, farmers, bakers, clothing designers, and other jobs that have no need to fight. I respect them for not breaking down, even though I know they must be terrified.

“Let's do this!” Rainbow declares, scuffing the ground in her eagerness for battle. Slowly, the other ponies nod their heads and murmur their assent.

“Very well. Diversionary and rendezvous teams, come with us. Fluttershy, remain here,” Luna commands. Her guards stiffen and clench their weapons, readying themselves for battle as well. “Infiltration team, depart when ready. Keep in contact.”

“Understood,” I respond. My personal feelings don't matter in this situation. If I need to, I'll follow Luna, for now.

I follow the rest of them outside onto the cliff's edge, to see them off. I look towards Canterlot, watching the magical explosions erupt in the air, serving as an indicator for the battle that's still occurring there.

Luna climbs onto the chariot, as does Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, and Spike. The six guards take their place as the head of the chariot, as they're going to fly Luna into battle. “Depart, loyal guards!” Luna orders, and the guards take to the air, lifting the chariot off of the ground. 

Luna powers up, starry darkness erupting from her body and licking up her sides like flame. Her eyes burn a bright white. “Onward! For Canterlot!” she declares, and the chariot speeds towards the city.

“All right, let's get moving!” Rainbow tells me. I nod, and the two of us run back into the cave. We have to find that passage and get to the dungeons.

Fluttershy is sitting on her haunches near the three fillies. She looks up as we pass her, and she gives us an encouraging smile. “Good luck, you two. Make sure to come back to me,” she tells us kindly.

“Kick some tail, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo calls after us.

“Teach that bug thing how to behave!” Sweetie Belle cheers.

“Be careful, Seth. Do your best, and don't get hurt!” Apple Bloom calls to me. I smile a bit at her encouragement. That's right. I'm also fighting for her, so that she doesn't end up becoming nothing more than a source of food for a crazed changeling queen.

There's a smaller tunnel in the back of the cave that I never really paid attention to before this strategy meeting, which Luna said leads to the sewers. I'm inclined to believe her. The air smells pretty bad down here, which tells me we're going in the right direction.

We're running at this point, but I'm not winded at all. Neither is Rainbow. After a month and a half of running over a mile every day, a simple run through a tunnel is nothing to us.

The tunnel weaves and winds, until I can hear the sound of a waterfall in the distance. I guess the means we're getting close. Sure enough, the tunnel soon opens up into a large circular chamber that's clearly not natural. The walls are covered with tiling, for instance.

The room itself looks like a water treatment plant, if I had to guess. And no, there's no real technology going on here. Basically the entire chamber consists of a giant pit in the ground, into which multiple waterfalls are pouring. The pit is filled with water that's swirling around in a whirlpool, but that's not even the best part. There's a trail of magic streaming through the whirlpool in a spiral, picking up all kinds of disgusting debris and waste from the water and feeding it into separate pipes, where I'm sure all of that is disposed of. Basically, it's cool as fuck.

There's a circular walkway around the pit, with steel railings protecting us from falling over the edge. There's also a stone overhang above the walkway, from which the waterfalls are coming from. That way we're not getting splashed at all as we run.

“This way,” I tell Rainbow, remembering Luna's instructions. We enter one of the passages that leads away from the chamber, the door opening automatically. We run up a set of stairs that takes us to the real passage, where there's a steady stream of flowing sewage that feeds into the chamber we just left. It also stinks to high heaven.

“Gross,” Rainbow comments, wrinkling her nose.

“Nopony said this was going to be pleasant,” I say with a shrug, even though I agree with her wholeheartedly. “It'll probably get worse when we start fighting. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to leave any survivors.”

“They're like insects, right? So all we gotta do is stamp 'em out,” Rainbow agrees. Hah, so she agrees with me. I can't really picture her doing any killing, but as long as she fights as hard as I do, I'm okay with whatever she does.

We pass through many more similar treatment chambers like the first on our way to the dungeons. These ponies may not be anywhere close in technology to modern humans, but they do have a pretty sophisticated plumbing system. Whatever science can't do for them, magic does instead.

“Hey, Seth?” Rainbow asks as we continue into a flow control chamber, where both clean water and sewage water are directed to their respective destinations.

“What?” I ask, looking around for the next door. Spotting it, I direct Rainbow into it with a hand gesture. “Through there.”

Rainbow looks somewhat nervous as she asks this next question. “Once this is all over, would...I mean...do you think you could tell me more about your family?”

“Why does it matter? They're gone now,” I reply bitterly, wondering why she's bringing this up now, of all times. “I told you as much as I'm comfortable telling you, really.”

“They seem like interesting...uh...people. Is that what you call them? People?” Rainbow starts, cutting off to check her word choice with me. When I nod, she continues. “They seem like they're really important to you, so I'm curious.”

“Like I said, they're dead. It doesn't really matter who they were or what they did,” I return, my mood dropping. “Nothing matters once you die.”

“I think it does matter. I don't think they'd want you to forget them, right?” Rainbow argues as we pass through another treatment chamber. We're getting close to where Luna said the dungeons would be. “I mean, as long as you remember them, they're still alive, in a manner of speaking, right?”

“Of course I'm not going to forget them. I doubt I ever will,” I retort irritably. “What I can't understand is why I should share them with you, any more than I already have.”

“Because I wanna hear about the people that were important to you,” Rainbow says candidly. I raise an eyebrow. I mean, I suppose it wouldn't really be a big deal if I told her a few more things, but I don't see why she's so interested. And, it is Rainbow. I wouldn't reveal these things to anypony else, really. “Hey, I have an idea.”

“This should be good,” I mutter, though I am listening.

“Tell you what, if the both of us get out of this in one piece, we should do that get together we've been planning for over a month,” Rainbow suggests. “It'll be like, an after party of sorts, to celebrate our victory.”

“That sounds like fun,” I reply truthfully. I have been wanting to show her my music.

“Doesn't it? Yeah, we'll get Pinkie to make us some cupcakes and soft drinks, chill in your room, listen to your music, and you can tell me about your family.” Rainbow slips that last part in cleverly just as I'm nodding my head in agreement. Why you little...ugh, clever girl.

“I see what you did there, you little sneak,” I growl at her, through I'm not really all that angry. Rainbow chuckles and looks at me hopefully. “Ugh, fine. You realize I wouldn't do this with anybody else, right?”

“Only because I'm completely and totally awesome,” Rainbow returns, laughing. 

Before I can come up with a clever retort, I hear a guttural hiss and a chitter, along with the sound of something like buzzing wings. I immediately cover up Rainbow's mouth with a hand and come to a stop. I put a finger on my lip to indicate silence, and then just as we reach the end of the corridor, I peer around the corner.

We're here. I can see the entrance to the dungeons, but it looks to be guarded by two changelings. Rainbow and I look at one another look at one another, and then nod.

The changelings at the entrance don't even get a chance to scream before Rainbow and I are there. My darkness covered fist smashes right through a changeling's face, just as Rainbow's hoof barrels into other changeling's side, knocking it clear off its hooves and into the wall, where it falls unconscious.

The ground shakes around us, and I can hear the sounds of battle even through the rock. This is it. The Battle for Canterlot has begun.
> 48. Mustering of the Troops
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The two changelings on the ground appear to have been just the sentries, because I don't see any more, though I can definitely hear them inside. I look down at the changeling I just killed. Well, this has the be the largest thing I've ever killed. And it's beyond dead, since its face is caved in from the force of that one punch. Shit, I've done nothing but fight things that are stronger than me, so I forgot the kind of effect I have on things like this. However, we had the element of surprise. I don't know what kind of abilities they have, other than transforming.

I look at the changeling Rainbow hit. It's alive, but thoroughly unconscious. “Nice hit,” I compliment her, causing her to grin. “Now let's get inside.”

Rainbow and I steal our way into the passageway. Soon, the beige stone tiles that make up the sewer walls and floors turns into pristine white stone hallways. Almost immediately we run into a problem. And by problem, I mean a changeling guard by almost every fucking cell door. 

The cells themselves are just small rectangular boxes with a barred door that shimmers with white webbing, which no doubt cancels the magic of any unicorn prisoners that may or may not be imprisoned inside. Thankfully, it's easy to see through the bars, but unfortunately, I have no clue what Commander Iron even looks like. And letting out every guard we see would quickly cause chaos, and I'm no leader, nor do I have the military pull to act like one. No, we need to find Iron first, and then free the guards.

I reach out my arm, stopping Rainbow from moving any farther. The path splits into a T-shaped intersection here, with hallways on either side filled with cells, each one changeling guarding every five cells or so. Basically, in this one hallway, there's three changelings.

I tap Rainbow on her back to get her attention. Talking would just give us away. While she's looking at me curiously, I point at her first, and then at the farthest changeling from us. She's faster than I am, so if she can take out that one at the end, the other two will be easy pickings for me.

Rainbow nods her head to show her understanding. I lift up my hand and raise three fingers. I slowly count down to zero, and then Rainbow takes off, zooming through the two nearest guards and ramming her head directly into her target changeling, knocking it into the wall at the far end of the corridor. 

The two changelings turn to look at her, and then while they're distracted, I appear behind them. Using my magic to augment my strength, I grab the both of them by their necks to keep them from making any noise. I slam their heads together, knocking the both of them out. Huh, they're not dead. Oh well, finishing them off will take too much time. 

Rainbow flies back to me silently, after she takes a look down the individual hallways branching away from the end of the one we're in. “Four changelings on the left, and two on the right,” Rainbow whispers as quietly as possible.  “The left path leads to solitary confinement, or so the sign said.”

“Good. Now, I'm going to let the guards in this cell free,” I reply, indicating the nearest cell. “I'm hoping they'll direct us to Commander Iron.”

“Shouldn't we just set 'em all free?” Rainbow asks.

“Not yet. They'd make too much noise, and tip off every damn changeling down here,” I respond, stating my prior thoughts to her. Rainbow nods, understanding that much at least. “If they send for reinforcements, we're fucked.”

“Where do you think they keep the keys for these?” Rainbow inquires, poking the cell door I'd pointed out a few seconds later.

“I don't need a key. Remember those cancellation fields only effect ponies,” I remind her. Rainbow's eyes widen in shock as I smash my darkness covered fist into the lock, breaking the bolt. Unfortunately, it makes a bit of noise. A sharp hiss sounds from around  “Shit. Take cover. I didn't think that through.”

Two changelings turn the corner, hissing at one another and turning their heads every which way, looking for the source of the disturbance. I wonder why the guards in the cell I just opened aren't coming out...or even making a sound. I swear to god, if I just punched open an empty cell, I'm going to be pissed.

The changelings get closer to our hiding spot...which is essentially back at the entrance to the dungeon. I look at Rainbow, who nods at me. They're almost here. There's only two of them, and if we get the jump on them, we're unstoppable.

The moment they peek their ugly little heads around the corner, Rainbow and I grab them simultaneously. Rainbow pounds the thing's head until it passes out, while I just crush the creature's windpipe and let it hit the ground, wheezing quietly until I stomp on its head to finish it off. I notice with some disgust that they bleed a dark green.

I hope to god these things aren't sentient. They just seem like monsters to me, and those I can kill without feeling like shit. Like Rainbow said, no one cares if they have to kill an insect or two, but even I would feel bad if I killed something that could think and act for itself.

“Looks like the coast is clear,” Rainbow observes. “Let's see what's in that cell you bashed open...when you could have just found the key.”

“There was no time...though granted, I could have been a little quieter,” I admit sheepishly. Rainbow chuckles a little just as we peer into the dark cell.

“Well, that explains why none of them are reacting to us,” I remark, spotting five or six guards completely encased in slime except for their eyes and nose. “Stay out here and keep watch. I'll free them.”

The guards' eyes follow me as I approach. I kneel down in front of the first one and pry away the slime with magic infused hands. “Thank you, human. I'm Lieutenant Bronze Horn, of the CRU First Regiment. Is it safe to assume that since you're here, we're making a counterattack?” the guard asks urgently once his mouth is free.

“That's right. I'm here with Rainbow Dash, under the command of Princess Luna,” I respond, cracking the rest of the slime off of him. Bronze stands up, hope filling his eyes.

“Princess Luna is here? We're saved!” he exclaims, causing me to slap a hand to his mouth.

“Shut up! You want to bring every changeling in the dungeon to us?” I snap at him, keeping my voice low. Bronze shakes his head, so I remove my hand. 

“Changelings? Is that what those things are?” he whispers, though he still looks happy that their other princess is here.

“Look, I don't have time to explain. We have a plan,” I assure him. I don't feel like explaining what's going on to every single guard I rescue. “Where's Commander Iron being kept?”

“The Commander? He's likely in solitary confinement. He took down a lot of those things before they got him,” Bronze answers smartly. Just as I turn to go, he stops me. “One moment. Can you tell us our role in the plan, as quickly as possible?”

“Seth, why don't you have him let the other guards out?” Rainbow suggests. “That way, all we have to do is free this Iron guy, and we'll have our army.”

“I don't think he even can. The doors are all locked, and protected by cancellation fields. Only I can open them without the key,” I reply. It's a good idea...if we had the key.

“I know where the key is, sir,” Bronze rejoins. I look at him in surprise. If he knows where we can find the key, that would save us a lot of time and trouble. “There's a...changeling...that's larger than the rest. It's the one that's been sealing us all up in slime, and locking the doors.”

“Where can I find it?” I demand. On a random note, I like that he's calling me sir. I guess it saves the time necessary to ask my name.

“I think it's in the evidence room. That's also where all of our weapons are stored,” Bronze informs me. “Come to think of it, you'll have to take that room, if you want us to help you in battle.”

“That's a good point. Give me directions,” I order him, my voice urgent. A tremor runs through the building, shaking dust loose from the ceiling. Things are really escalating up there, I guess. I hope Luna and the others are doing all right.

“Head to the end of this hallway, and take a right. It turns into a set of intersections after that, but if you alternate which turns you take, you'll get to the entrance of the dungeon. The evidence room is in the hall to the left of the entrance,” Bronze directs me. “You'd best hurry. I'll free my comrades in this cell.”

“Thanks. Let's go, Rainbow,” I say curtly, doing my best to memorize the directions. I think I know the way to the entrance, thanks to the schematics Luna showed us back in the cave, but my memory isn't the best for things I've just learned.

“We'll hold position until you return,” Bronze informs me, digging his horn into the slime covering another guard's body.

We reach the end of the hall. Like Rainbow said, solitary confinement is on the left, with four changelings guarding it. We have to go right, but we'd still be in the line of sight of both hallways. Which means if we want to proceed, we'll have to either take care of or sneak by all six guards.

“Any ideas?” Rainbow whispers, peeking around the corner. I don't answer at first, instead grabbing my rifle. Rainbow watches as I release my magic, keeping its output as low as possible to keep from being detected. I'm not sure how well the changelings here can detect magic, but I'm not taking any chances.

“I have one, yes,” I finally reply. I channel my magic into my rifle, causing to completely shift from the usual modern look to black crystal. However, that's not all that changes about it. I've learned a few things on how to manipulate this gun, even though changing the physical shape of something should be impossible. Another thing I've learned is not to question how magic works.

My rifle's muzzle elongates, even as the stock moves forward and the handle thickens. A long, thing barrel tipped with a silencer forms from the muzzle. A few seconds later, my assault rifle has turned into a hunting rifle, meant for long range kills. It's not a sniper rifle, but it might as well be one. It's perfect for stealth kills.

“Be ready to take out that second one in the right hallway. I can only shoot one of them before the other will notice,” I warn her. Rainbow nods, and hunches down, looking a bit like a cat getting ready to pounce. It would look funny as hell in any other situation.

I peek the tip of the rifle around the corner, aiming through the sights at the farthest changeling. A quick pull of the trigger later, and a hole is blown right through my target's head by a thin black beam, in a shower of green blood. Thanks to the silencer, no sound is heard. 

The other changeling hisses in confusion, looking around for the source. It spots Rainbow seconds before she reaches it. Rainbow brings her hoof forward in an attempt to take it out quickly, but the changeling ducks and fires a beam of green magic at her in retaliation. Thankfully, Rainbow dodges, and then she knocks it out with a double-hoofed smash on its head. Whew, that was too close.

We're not out of the woods yet. The four changelings in the other hallway have heard the commotion, and are heading our way. 

There's a lip in the doorway leading to this hallway, so Rainbow and I take cover behind it, waiting for the changelings to unwittingly walk right into an ambush. When the first two walk past us, Rainbow and I attack them all at once.

Rainbow knocks her changeling into the ceiling with an uppercut. At the same time, I ram my fist into my changeling's stomach, grab its hoof, and then use it as a bludgeon to hit the changeling behind it.

The last changeling turns and runs, hissing loudly. I curse and grab a current in midair, zooming towards it as fast as I can. Just before the changeling reaches the solitary confinement area, I grab the back of its head and plant its face into the floor.

“That didn't go as pl...shit,” I start, only to cut off when I see another changeling poke its head into the hallway, having come from solitary confinement to investigate the hissing. I blast it with my transformed rifle, catching it in the throat. “Fuck it. Let's run before any more show up.”

“I hear that!” Rainbow agrees, and the two of us sprint over the still forms of the changelings we dispatched towards the evidence room, wherever that is.

We follow the direction Bronze gave us, though we soon run into more changelings. I transform my rifle into a small compact pistol, which allows for small, concentrated strikes meant to increase penetrating power. With it, I manage to take out three changelings in a row, which makes me wonder why I hadn't used it sooner.

“That thing is awesome,” Rainbow remarks as we pass through the hall. “Though I don't suppose you could take it easy on them? I want to hit some too.”

“Maybe you should be faster then,” I taunt her as we turn through the maze of intersections that Bronze warned us about.

“Don't tempt me. You wanna start something? I'll go supersonic right here in this dungeon,” Rainbow retorts with a  grin.

“Okay, Super Sonic. We've got changelings ahead. Though you should probably stay back. Wouldn't want the delicate lady to get hurt,” I tease her, making a dumb reference in my mind. Rainbow's reaction is fucking great though. A vein twitches in her forehead.

“That's it. Now I'll show you!” Rainbow returns, and then she streaks forward in a flash of rainbow light. I can't help but choke with laughter. She just compounded on my reference without even realizing it. That's just fucking great.

Rainbow rams the first one with both of her front hooves, and then immediately propels herself to the next by using the first as a springboard. She does this twice more, taking out all of the changelings in the hall. “How about that!?” Rainbow brags, striking a dumb pose...only to yelp and duck a second later, barely dodging a stream of green magic from a changeling that had heard her boasting.

“Rainbow!” I cry out, but it seems like she has it. Rainbow disappears around the corner for a few seconds, and then hilariously enough, an unconscious changeling flies out of the corridor and hits the ground.

“What? I'm fine,” Rainbow says nonchalantly, hovering just above the fallen changeling. “I think we're almost there, though.”

“All right. No more horsing around,” I tell her. A few seconds later, when Rainbow looks at me with a raised eyebrow, I realize what I said. “Goddammit...”

“Did you really just make that pun?” Rainbow questions, amused.

“Not intentionally,” I groan, facepalming. “Anyway, enough of this. You said you saw the evidence room, right?”

“Not yet. I do see the way out though. It's through here,” Rainbow replies, beckoning me with a hoof. 

Following her, I soon spot the door that exits out on the street. Just by peering through the small window on it, I see a huge amount of changelings, either walking or heading towards the gates that I can just barely see in the distance. 

Holy shit, it looks intense out there. I can see Luna out there fighting. Well, I really only see her massive midnight blue aura, as well as changelings falling left and right around her. There's a lavender aura with her as well, though it's nowhere near as large as Luna's. I guess the diversion team is giving it their best. We have to hurry.

Just after I turn down towards the hallway where the evidence room should be, a wrapped up scroll appears in a burst of flame in front of me. “Rainbow. Just got a message from Spike,” I alert her. Rainbow nods and flies over to me as I unroll it.

	“Just met up with Captain Blades. We're holding position until the signal is given. Captain says to hurry.

-Spike”

“Yeah! Spike's all right. That means the rendezvous team made it!” Rainbow declares. I gaze down at the scroll with a troubled expression.

“They're telling us to hurry. Which means they're likely facing a lot of resistance,” I say, dampening her enthusiasm somewhat. “We need to go. The sooner we get that key, the sooner we can join the fight ourselves, and make sure we don't lose any more ponies than we need to.”

“Got it. This way,” Rainbow says, and we continue down the hallway, passing the exit and moving towards the evidence room. We now know where it is, because there's a sign on the wall that directs to it. Thank god I can read now. “Though I have to say, it's nice seeing you care about other ponies' lives.”

“Rainbow. This is my fault. All of this, I mean. Everypony that dies in this city will have died because of my decision,” I tell her seriously, feeling a little empty as I do so. “You're damn right I want to save as many as I can.”

“Sorry...I didn't think about that,” Rainbow says pologetically. Before I can respond, we reach the evidence room, which is guarded by two changelings. What a joke.

Rainbow and I take them out with hoof and rifle, and then kick in the door to the evidence room. Bronze was right. There's a ton of weapons and armor in here, including everything from swords to helmets. But that's not the first thing that we notice.

There's a single changeling standing in the room, staring down at a map on a table set up against the far side of the room. A set of keys lies on the table next to it, which I assume is what we're here for. At first, I think this is going to be easy, but then I notice how much larger it is compared to a typical changeling. It's not the size of Chrysalis, but it does rise up to my chest, as far as I can tell.

The changeling turns its head, fixating a single pupil-less eye on us. It gives a low hiss before orienting itself to face us entirely. “Servants of the Sun Princess, I assume,” the changeling hisses, its voice sounding guttural and gravelly. Holy fuck, this one can talk. The changeling then lifts up the keys with its magic. “Looking for these?”

“Hand 'em over, buster, or we'll knock your lights out, like we've done to all your guards!” Rainbow yells at it...well, I should probably call it a him, since its clearly sentient. The changeling gives a low chuckle that comes out dripping with malice.

“Little pony, I am not your average changeling,” he informs Rainbow with a fanged smile. “I am an Infiltrator, trained by the queen herself for command.”

I blink, and then suddenly Rainbow hits the wall. The Infiltrator had rammed her out of the air at a crazy speed that even I have trouble following. 

Rainbow recovers quickly and strikes back, only for her hooves to be blocked. Okay, enough of this. Just as the Infiltrator is starting to smirk, I appear next to him and spin around, using the generated momentum to slam my rifle into his side.

The Infiltrator hisses in pain is sent hurtling into the wall, where it dislodges several pieces of armor that proceed to fall off of the rack and litter the floor with a cacophonous racket. Shit, we need to finish this up quickly. I'm sure other changelings heard that.

To my shock, the Infiltrator gets up and transforms, turning into...me!? Yes, another Seth is standing across the room, looking pissed off as all hell. “The fuck...why the...” I start, but then the Infiltrator's fist slams into my stomach, coated with green magic. I cough, completely winded by the surprise attack. Goddamn, that fucking hurt. “Okay, no.”

I throw my rifle aside and headbutt the Infiltrator. As he's recoiling, I plant both of my hands into his chest and blast him back with an explosion of dark magic. “Do you know what your queen said to me?” I say casually, shooting a glance to Rainbow, who catches it and realizes that I'm about to do something. The Infiltrator doesn't respond, instead hissing angrily and getting up on his feet. “Your transformations will never be as strong as the original! Let's go, Rainbow!”

The changeling has no time to react before Rainbow and I strike at him together in a flurry of fists and hooves. Without any means of defending himself, the Infiltrator takes hit after hit after hit, slowly backing up and attempting to right himself after each successive hit. His transformation reverts after a few seconds of our onslaught, which is good, because beating myself up just feels weird.

When we have him up against a wall ,Rainbow and I hit him with one last attack. The Infiltrator's head slams into the stone wall, and I hear a crack just before he falls to the ground, unconscious, with a trail of green blood oozing from a wound in his head.

“Is he...dead?” Rainbow asks nervously, peering at its still form. I look down as well. It's easy to make out his steady breathing.

“No, he isn't. But neither is he getting up to fight again. Come on. Let's grab those keys and find  Commander Iron,” I reply. Rainbow nods, and she picks up the keys in her mouth as I pick up my rifle from the ground. “Nice job, by the way.”

“You too. We got him good!” Rainbow exclaims, her enthusiasm returning. She accidentally drops the keys by saying this, but she manages to catch them again in her hooves.

We glance back out the door, and sure enough, there's more changelings. There's about five of them here. They were probably attracted by all the noise we made while fighting. Still, there's only five of them.

Rainbow and I glance at one another. We're just about to lunge into the enemy when we're interrupted by Bronze Horn and the other guards that were in the cell I knocked open emerging from around the corner and hitting the changelings from behind, firing beams of magic from their horns. With their help, it's an easy matter to wipe them all out.

“Bronze, I thought you were going to hold your position?” I ask once the last changeling falls. Bronze salutes quickly before responding.

“We heard the sounds of combat, and thought that you might need our help,” Bronze justifies. He looks at Rainbow, and smiles widely when he sees the key ring that she's holding. “Excellent, you have the keys.”

“Give them to him,” I tell Rainbow. She nods and passes the keys to Bronze. He takes them and inspects them closely.

“They're all the same key,” Bronze observes. That strikes me as odd. Why the hell would you have so many keys on the same ring? Unless they're copies for different jailors. “I'm assuming they're all cell keys then.”

“How many are there?” Rainbow asks, flying to Bronze to get a closer look.

“There's about eight of them,” Bronze reveals. “That's perfect. I'll give a key to each of us, and then we'll split up and free as many of as as we can.”

“That's a good idea. In the meantime, Rainbow and I will find Commander Iron in solitary,” I respond. Bronze nods and then splits the key ring, taking a key and passing one to each of us. I pocket the one I'm given, so I don't lose it when I'm fighting. 

“Affirmative. Arm yourselves and split up, soldiers. Free the guard and for the love of Celestia, do not get yourselves caught!” Bronze commands them. I wonder if he outranks the guards he's with.

“Yes sir!” they chorus. The six of them, including Bronze, enter the evidence room. Soon, they emerge again, fully armored and equipped with swords. With one last salute, the five guards head in different directions. I guess that answers my own question, seeing how they followed his orders without question.

“Be careful, sir. I'll meet you back here,” Bronze says to me before heading down one of the hallways as well. Already I can hear the sound of the guards tangling with the changelings. Well, I wish them the best of luck. We've already started freeing the army, so once Iron is free, we'll be taking the fight to Chrysalis. Or at least...I will, with Luna. Goddamn, I am not looking forward to that at all.

Rainbow and I return to the hallway that leads to solitary confinement. I can tell we're in a totally different type of prison now, considering the cells are much smaller and the doors are made of solid steel, rather than just bars. There's no windows either, so there's no way to tell who's in each cell. That's a pain in the ass. If there's any real criminals down here, we might accidentally set one free because we have no idea which cell Iron is in.

“I think the commander might be in that cell,” Rainbow informs me, indicating a particular cell that's guarded by three changelings. “I mean, why would they guard an empty cell?”

“Or they could be dumb fucks. That works too. Thank you, idiots, for telling us exactly where to do,” I state flatly, earning a chuckle from Rainbow. “Let's hit them hard and fast.”

“Got it,” Rainbow emits. I take out my rifle and transform it into the long ranged version once more. After a quick moment of aiming down the sights, I nail one of the changelings through the head with a bolt of dark magic. As the other one looks down at its fallen companion in confusion, I take that one out too. The last one falls to Rainbow, her head ramming into its own. Rainbow's head is apparently harder, considering it knocks him out, and doesn't even seem to phase hers.

Rainbow sticks her key in the lock and turns it. The clanking sounds in the door are rather extensive, which tells me that the security on these doors are ridiculous. What the fuck...even a white rune appears on the door, along with several smaller blue ones. Christ, the amount of protection on these doors. I wonder how many ponies are actually imprisoned in these?

The door opens to reveal a very small room that's completely empty of anything except a toilet, a water fountain, and a bed. That, and the hanging green cocoon of slime hanging from the ceiling. There's a unicorn suspended with in it, who I can only assume is our objective. “That's him. Rainbow, get him down, would you?”

Rainbow obligingly hits the strand holding the cocoon to the ceiling so that it snaps, sending the pony plummeting to the ground. “There you go,” Rainbow announces.

“I meant lower him down, not drop him,” I remark drily, already beginning to peel away layers of slime. I'm so fucking sick of slime at this point. It's just disgusting. Who knows what's in this shit?

“You do it next time then,” Rainbow returns, joining me in tearing away the slime.

Once we get his face and both hooves clear, Rainbow and I pull him out together. He appears to still be unconscious...which we can't have. I smack his face a few times until he groans, his eyelids opening to reveal dark blue eyes. “Commander Iron?” I ask, hoping that we freed the right pony.

Holy shit, this guy looks like a badass. As the unicorn lifts himself to his hooves, I can get a better look at him. He's a rather large pony, with a steel blue coat and a groomed mane that falls to his shoulders, kinda like how mine used to be. His mane is gray, except it shines in the light to the point where it literally looks like actual silver. Lastly, a scar runs through his right eye, a testament to a past conflict of an unknown nature.

“That's right. Who are you, and what are your intentions?” Iron replies, his voice deep. He glances at Rainbow, and then back to me. “Why do you have an Element of Harmony with you?”

“I'm Seth Rogers, a human. There's no time to explain. Basically, we're here with Luna, and we're making a counterattack against the changelings,” I say, cutting right to the chase. Iron stands completely still, listening to me with the discipline of a soldier. “We need you to take command of the First Regiment while Shining Armor is incapacitated.”

“I see. I assume you've freed my troops, so that I may command them?” Iron replies, taking everything I've said in stride. I find it rather odd that he believed me so quickly. Perhaps its because I have an Element of Harmony with me that seems like she's here of her own will. Yeah, that's probably it.

“This one stallion, Bronze, is freeing your troops now,” Rainbow answers. She grins. “In fact, I have no doubt they're crushing the remainder of the changelings in this dungeon as we speak.”

“Bronze? That's good to hear,” Iron replies, though his expression remains unchanged. He's wearing this small frown on his face. It makes him look like he's pissed off about something. “Where is your rendezvous point? Assuming you have one, of course.”

“We do. We're meeting with Bronze back at the evidence room,” I answer him, not liking the wording of his last sentence. It almost sounds like he expects us to be less capable than the rest of his men.

“Very well. Then there is no time to waste,” Iron determines, stepping out of the cell and looking around. “Have you been ordered to serve with me?”

“For now, we'll follow your orders,” I say, although I hate the idea of following a pony I don't know that well. “But we'll be following Luna's plan. I can tell you the basics while we're moving.”

“Please do,” Iron responds simply, moving quickly back down the hallway in the direction of the evidence room. Huh, I guess he's not a talkative one. That's fine with me, I suppose.

“Luna wants you to the lead the troops in this dungeon in a flanking attack on the changelings. She's attacking Canterlot from the front, while Spitfire and Blades are on the other side,” I explain as quickly as I can.

“A pincer attack. Excellent idea,” Iron says approvingly. “I was unaware that Princess Luna possessed any notion of battle tactics.”

“Neither did I. Go figure,” I respond. “Then you'll be holding off their forces for the remainder of the battle.”

“A battle of attrition? I trust Princess Luna, but do you know why such a thing is necessary?” Iron questions just as we reach the evidence room. And holy fuck, there's a lot of guards here. There's unicorns and pegasi crowding the halls, entering and emerging from the evidence room to get weapons and armor, if they hadn't already been wearing theirs when they were slimed. One of them spots Iron, and then a rousing cheer spreads through the guard. Considering how they're making all this noise, I assume they've dealt with the rest of the changelings down here without alerting any of the ones topside.

“Yeah. You're holding them off until Celestia can be freed. Then we win,” I answer, standing just in front of the exit. Iron hesitates, and then nods in affirmation. “Go get your gear. We'll be right here.”

Iron nods once more, and then he disappears into the evidence room, the guard making room for him to pass. “He's pretty cool. Kinda stiff though,” Rainbow remarks.

“I agree, but I guess that doesn't really matter. As long as he can get the job done, I don't care if he's an asshole,” I express. 

“Well, so far everything's going good,” Rainbow reminds me. I sigh and look at her in annoyance.

“Rainbow, shut the fuck up before you tempt fate,” I warn her. Rainbow scoffs at that, but Iron returns before we can say anything. Holy fuck, does he look awesome though.

Iron is wearing a set of gleaming silver armor, standing in stark contrast to the golden armor of the guard. Nor is it even the same design. His joints are heavily armored and his chest and back is covered with a legitimate breastplate decorated with the symbol of a golden eagle. Spiky overlapping plates cover his shoulders, and his hooves are fully sheathed in metal, the joints decorated with small eagle wings. Lastly, his helmet is covered in that same eagle motif, with wings jutting back from the side of the helmet. There's even an imposing visor attached to it, which is up right now.

For a weapon, he has a gleaming silver trident (yes, a fucking trident, who the hell even uses one of those in battle?) that he's holding with his magic, along with a similarly colored shield with the golden eagle on it. In conclusion, why the hell is his armor so different compared to the other guards' attire?

Iron raises a hoof, and all of the guards in the hallway quiet down immediately. “Here is the situation,” the commander begins. Oh..he's going to rally them. I suppose that's neccessary for morale, but I would have skipped it myself. We just don't have time. Oh shit, I know something I can do while I'm waiting. I pull out a scroll from my pocket and start writing. “Princess Luna has returned and is staging a counterattack on the changeling forces. In the absence of Shining Armor, I have been put in charge of all of you for the duration of this mission.”

The guards cheer, morale soaring at the mention of Princess Luna. Iron quiets them down before continuing. “Our mission is to hit the changelings from the flank, forming one side of a large pincer attack between us, the princess, and Captains Blades and Spitfire.”

Iron starts to pace in front of the entrance. “I don't need to tell you what's at stake here. I may not be from Equestria, but this is my home now, and I plan to defend it. Who here feels the same?”

The guards cheer once more, raising their weapons in preparation for the battle to come. I do hope he'd hurry it up. This waiting is killing me.

I soon finish the letter, which basically will let Luna know that we're about to head out there and finish phase one of the plan. With a snap of my fingers, the scroll dissolves in black flames, on its way to Spike for redirection.

“It's time to march, ponies! With me!” Iron commands, opening the door that leads into the street. He walks out into the street, followed by Rainbow and I.

Holy shit, it is fucking hell out here. There are the bodies of changelings everywhere, along with civilians trapped in slime and guards that didn't quite make it. The streets are cracked, and there's a steady stream of dust and debris falling from the sky. Looking up, I see a veritable cloud of changelings converging on the diversionary team, where Luna and Twilight appear to be going strong still. Still, there's thousands of changelings heading towards them. They'll get overwhelmed if we don't hurry.

The guards stream out of the dungeon behind us, forming into ranks that soon stretches all the way up the street behind us. Christ, I didn't realize there would be this many soldiers in the dungeons. It's heartening, to know that I'll be going into battle with all of them behind me.

“Rainbow, you realize that the moment we meet up in the center with the other two teams, you have to head to the first pylon with Twilight and Spitfire?” I remind her, a bit of unease in my heart. I don't want her going off somewhere without me to watch over her, but I don't really have much of a choice.

“Yeah, I didn't forget. Spitfire and I are gonna annihilate any changeling in our way!” Rainbow boasts, looking way too happy to be paired with her idol.

Once all of the guards are formed up behind us, Iron lifts his trident, and then angles it at the enemy with a roar, which is probably the signal to charge. Oh fuck, it is.

The guards behind me all start moving at once, the sound of their hooves blending together sounding like thunder. The pegasi in the army behind us rise from the ranks with their weapons, preparing to meet the changelings in the air. Rainbow and I are swept along with them, though we try to stay as close as possible.

My trepidation quickly turns to fear when I see the massive amount of changelings that we're heading for. I'm not going to back out though.

I have a promise to keep.
> 49. Battle for Canterlot
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Holy fuck, this is nuts. I can't stop running, because if I do, I'll get run over by the mass of ponies behind me. I wonder if this is what it's like to be part of an army. Adrenaline rushes through my veins like a river, and it only gets worse the closer we get to the changeling forces.

I don't think they've noticed us yet. They're pretty focused on Luna and the others up there. They're still pretty far from us, but that doesn't mean we can't strike first.

As we get closer, the unicorns behind me lower their heads and fire beams of differently colored magic, so that it seems like a deadly light show is taking place behind me. The changelings heading toward the diversionary team are suddenly taken by surprise when a barrage of magic collides with their lines. Changelings fall from the sky like raindrops, but there's just so many of them it doesn't really matter.

Just as we approach the area where Luna is fighting, a swarm of changelings surge out of an alley without warning. Fuck, they anticipated us and brought reinforcements. This is going to be harder than we thought. “Ambush! Brace yourselves!” Iron shouts. I tense up, since I'm on the front lines, and therefore there's a fucking wall of changelings approaching me. This is it. Oh god, there's no time to think.

I'd like to say that I shouted some battle cry or something. No. It was more along the lines of, “JESUS FUUUUCK!” And then the changelings reach us, colliding with our lines like a torrent of water.

I place my rifle on my back and lash out at the first changeling I see, knocking it to the ground with a single punch. But almost immediately afterward, a beam of green magic impacts me in the chest, stinging me sharply. What the...fuck that changeling! I blow the offending enemy to pieces with a blast of concentrated magic, but even then I don't get a breather. I have to duck underneath three or four changelings that dive-bomb me all at the same time.

This isn't like the dungeon. I don't get a breather in between every fight. This is nonstop. Every time I take down an enemy, there's five more to take its place. They're around and above me, using a ground and air assault to surround us on three sides.

Rainbow, along with our pegasus allies, rush the flying changelings, picking their targets and tangling with them roughly, intent on keeping them from harrying the troops fighting on the ground, like me.

The guards behind me swarm forward, filling any gaps made by the guards that fall. The guards that hit the ground, injured, are pulled back by other guards to be treated, and are quickly replaced. The discipline showed by these guards is ridiculous; not even losses can slow them down.

Commander Iron is unstoppable. He's up there at the very forefront of our army, standing in the thick of the changeling forces. Changeling magic zooms through the air towards him, but it all just impacts his shield. And the craziest thing is, every time magic strikes that shield, the golden eagle flashes and the offending magic appears to be absorbed into it. The absorbed magic then streams into his trident, which explodes with the stolen magic every time Iron strikes an enemy with it.

Iron slashes and stabs into the enemy, his trident whirling around in a tornado of silver steel. He's ridiculous. Even as strong as I am, I feel like I'm falling behind him. This spurs me on to fight harder. I power up and fight my way through a group of changelings, striking them with my fists or my feet, remembering what Rose trained me.

“Nailed one!” Rainbow declares, and a changeling hits the ground next to me, unconscious. I dispatch the enemies threatening me and glance up at her. Rainbow grins down at me, but that only lasts a second before she spins around and promptly decks another changeling that threatens her. Okay, so she's doing all right. I need to focus on myself.

Turning my attention back to the changelings in front of me, I blink with shock when I realize that the changeling forces opposing us are so thick, I can barely see through them. It's like...what was that one anime...whatever, I can't remember it. All I know is that it feels like there's a wall of enemies between us an our destination. And that doesn't bode well for the plan.

Suddenly, I'm knocked forward by two hooves ramming into my back, my spine aching from the impact. “What the fuck?” I demand, turning around. There's a changeling behind me, hissing furiously at me. I easily kill it with a roundhouse kick, but where did it come from?

As I'm looking, I notice some of the guards in our army flashing green and revealing themselves to be changelings. My eyes widen, and multiple curses leave my mouth when I realize what's going on. “Watch your six! They're amongst us!” I roar, raising my voice loud enough to be heard over the sounds of battle.

The guard nearest to me turns and swings his hoof at me, which I dodge out of reflex. He transforms, revealing his true form as our enemy. He has time to hiss once before I fire my pistol in his face. Shit, this is really bad.

From there, it becomes chaos. Our ranks fall apart as more changelings show themselves in our midst, and now it turns into less of a group fight and more of an deadly individual conflict, where even the guards in the back of our army are forced to fight three or four changelings at once.

Okay, if we don't do something, we're gonna get screwed. I could just power up and use my rifle in its original form, but that would drain a lot of power, and I need every drop if I'm going to fight Chrysalis.

Commander Iron strikes the ground with the butt of his trident, and a dome of silver magic erupts from the ground for a short distance. It's the weirdest thing: every changeling that's hit by it is practically disintegrated, while when it passes over me, it fucking makes me feel fresh and ready to fight again. 

He's not done. Swords made of his magic form around him and shoot in every direction, impaling many changelings within our ranks, freeing the guards to group together and support one another again.

“Focus! Rally to me and watch each other's backs!” Iron calls to us. Okay, this is a guy I can respect. He seems capable, and his techniques are more useful than mine. Hell, he's like a tank, with support abilities and everything, except with that enchanted trident and shield combo, he has the damage to hold his own on the front lines.

Thus encouraged, I take out my rifle, deciding to use another technique that I haven't really had cause to try out yet. The rifle disintegrates in my hand like water, streaming into both hands and reconstituting itself into a set of dual submachine guns with thick ammunition drums, all made of black crystal. I orient the muzzles on the veritable wall of changelings in front of me and pull the trigger.

Holy fuck, I forgot how bad the kick on these things were, especially since I'm trying to dual wield them. The barrels emit scores of projectiles a second all traveling the speed of sound, so they cut through the changelings like ninepins before a strike. It feels so exhilarating to see them drop, that I can't help but whoop.

I stop firing after a few seconds though, because I realize it drains more power than I can really afford. I transform my rifle in a bulky heavy machine gun, but I use it as a club to batter changelings aside. It's rather effective, especially if I augment my strength with a light stream of magic.

It's working. Between Iron's support and precision spells, my weapon versatility, and Rainbow's quick surgical strikes, we start making progress through the streets. It's very slow progress, but with every step we take, we get closer to Luna.

“Seth, are you versed in combination spells?” Iron asks, the two of us having migrated closer together as the two of us push the changeling lines back.

“I remember learning about them, but...” I say, and then cut off to duck beneath a beam of magic. I return the attack with a blast of magic from my fist, taking out the offending changeling. Before I can finish my sentence to Iron, I have to deal with several more changelings threatening both me or the soldiers behind me. “...no clue how to actually do them.”

“Consider this field training then,” Iron asserts, ramming his trident through a changeling and causing it to explode, taking out two more changelings behind it. “Give me your hand, and channel magic to me. You'll know what to do after that.”

“I'm not sure that would be a good idea,” I say cautiously. I'm not out of breath yet, but I keep taking hits from changeling magic, hooves, or teeth. I'm getting cut, burned and bruised, because I can't watch everything. It's a good thing I'm so magically adept, because I can keep most of the damage to a minimum. Other guards aren't as lucky. We're getting a lot of wounded, and I'm not sure if any have died yet, nor am I willing to check. “My magic isn't exactly something other ponies can handle.”

“It isn't a permanent transfer. Whatever properties your magic may possess, it will not linger in my reservoir,” Iron assures me, extending a hoof to me. “Quickly now. We are losing valuable time and ponies.”

“I hope you know what you're doing,” I say after a moment's hesitation, and take his offered hoof. A weird feeling encompasses my hand, as foreign magic streams into my body, combining with the dark magic already there. I give some of my magic to him as well, and thankfully Iron's eyes remain the same color.

Iron's right. I do know what to do. I lift up my hands, and two orbs of magic appear there. One is black and sparks with electricity, while the other is a shining silver.

Iron lifts his trident, showing me that at the tip of the weapon, an orb consisting of a roiling mixture of both of our magics has formed. With a roar, he brings the weapon to the ground into a group of changelings, and the orb detonates, sending a plume of black and silver light into the air and scattering the burned bodies of changelings in all directions.

I follow his example, doing what comes naturally to me. I hurl the black orb into a cluster of changelings, followed by the silver orb. Like Iron told me, the moment I toss the silver orb, I no longer feel his magic in my body. The explosion that ensues is similar to the one Iron just caused, and holy shit, it makes me feel powerful.

Iron and I rush into the gap left behind by the changelings we just wrecked. We're immediately confronted with more changelings, which makes me huff in exasperation. Goddamn, how many changelings did Chrysalis even bring? When I see a gap in the changelings, I peer through and see more of them streaming from windows and doors of the castle, flying down to join the fight. Christ, I'm not sure how much longer we can keep this up.

“Heads up!” Rainbow announces, giving me just enough time to duck under a beam of magic. She's flying above me, knocking changelings out of the sky left and right. She doesn't look like she's taken too much damage, except for some minor burns on her coat and mane.

I wonder if this is how all battles are. I feel like I'm flailing at the tide. I'm crushing so many of them, but there's always more. I look over at Iron, but he doesn't seem to be tiring in the least. Then again, I can't tell because I can't see his face through that silver visor he's wearing.

We're still making progress, though. And suddenly, things finally change.  We run into a much larger group of changelings that are focusing on another force. Hold on, another force? It's true, I can see more members of the guard on the other side of the changeling swarm we're fighting, and that's not all.

“Take it!” A determined male voice cries, and I look up just in time to see several changelings fall from the sky, courtesy of a few powerful punches executed by a grayish blue stallion with a dark blue mane. Hang on...he looks familiar. “Yeah! Whoa!”

After his exclamation, he's hit on the wing by a beam of magic, and he spins around a few times, cursing and holding his wing. He retaliates by ramming the changeling who shot him with his head “Ow! That hurt!”

Suddenly, a huge group of changelings are scattered every which way by a bright yellow pegasus with a fiery mane. I recognize that mane. “Watch yourself, Soarin. I'm not buying you any more food if you end up in the hospital, you know,” Spitfire teases her teammate. She then dashes through the changeling army like wildfire. She's like deadly whirlwind of swinging hooves. She's untouchable; she just uses all those fancy tricks I remember seeing at the airshow to keep from being hit.

“It's the Wonderbolts!” Rainbow exclaims in sheer joy, and she fucking annihilates any changeling between her and Spitfire. Her yell proceeds to rally the guards behind me to fight harder, because they know we're meeting up with the other forces. Which means that the enemy are about to get fucked from all sides.

“Hey there, Rainbow! Come to join the fun?” Spitfire greets her fan, and then the two of them fly back to back, whacking any changeling that gets too close. Rainbow looks happier than ever. Spitfire then looks down. “Iron! We're here with the Pegasus Corps and the Second Regiment.”

“Affirmative. We'll crush them between us,” Iron replies in a determined tone. Together, he and I continue the fight, as the Wonderbolts crush the aerial resistance beneath their hooves. I can see all of the Wonderbolts I recognize, though its harder to name them at first because the only time I've seen them was in those blue suits of theirs. I guess this invasion came while they were ohanging? Or maybe they lost them somehow. Hell, I don't know or care. Anyway, I see Fleetfoot, Rapidfire, Surprise, Soarin, and of course, Spitfire, who is very strong.

Two more ponies stand out to me during the fight, because they're wrecking everything in their path. The first is Rose, and holy shit, I can see why they call her the Blossom Wind. There's literally a whirlwind surrounding her, carrying cherry blossoms with it. Any changeling that tries to attack her from the air is blown off course and destroyed by a pegasus or one of the Wonderbolts, and any changeling on the ground is completely helpless before her materialized weapons and spells.

The other one I haven't seen before, but from the way he's just plowing through the enemies with a storm of levitating daggers, I'm assuming its Captain Blades. I don't have enough time to really take in his features now. If I stop focusing for more than a second, I get hit again, and it pisses me off.

I can see Rarity, with Spike on her back, and Pinkie on the other end as well, though they're not in the thick of things. They're behind Rose, Blades, and a few other guards. In the former's case, she's firing beams of magic at the changelings. She's not that magically strong, as every time she hits something, it mostly staggers them, unless she hits them in the head. 

Pinkie...I don't even fucking know. She has what looks like a Gatling gun, except its colored every fucking color combination possible and it's firing out streamers at such a high speed it's knocking changelings everywhere. Where the fuck did she get one of those, and why is it working?

I ram my shoulder into a changeling, knocking it back and into a group of its friends. Following up that assault, I shift my rifle into its original form and fire a beam of darkness into the recoiling changelings, wiping them all out.  Behind them...I see even more of them coming. Holy fuck, how do I deal with them all, I mean there's...OH MY GOD.

All of the changelings heading towards me are annihilated by two soaring comets of light, both of them spinning around one another. One of the comets is midnight blue, and the other is magenta. They come to a stop in the center of the field, emitting a shockwave from the point where they hit the ground, tossing changelings in all direction, their pained hissing grating on my ears.

Luna and Twilight are revealed, their auras clearing away the dust like pollen before a storm. Changelings near them immediately concentrate their fire on the both of them. Twilight summons a barrier spell, though I can tell it's difficult for to keep a spell like that maintained. As for Luna, she just stands there and tanks it, the beams dissolving on contact with her aura. 

With a yell, Luna stomps the ground with her hooves, her aura surging up even higher. The resulting explosion of magic tears up the ground around her, along with any changelings near her. “Come! The Sovereign of the Night will render judgment upon thee!” Luna shouts in an extremely loud voice that I swear all of Canterlot can hear.

“Rally to the Princess! Form up around us and move on to the next phase of the plan!” Twilight yells as loud as she can, zapping a changeling near her at the same time.

Finally, we crush the last of the changelings between us and the other teams. But that still leaves the hundreds of changelings flying through the air from the castle, coming from an unknown source. Fortunately, we have some time to breathe as the changeling forces regroup back at the castle and prepare to assault us anew.

“You heard her, Rainbow,” I call up to my friend, who lands next to me along with Spitfire, panting slightly. “Time for you to meet up with Twilight and get going.”

“Yeah, I know,” Rainbow replies, taking a moment to catch her breath. Spitfire nods at me in acknowledgment.

“Didn't think we'd be meeting like this, Seth,” Spitfire remarks casually, the two of us following Rainbow's example. We have a little bit of time before the next wave of changelings hit us. But this time, we can fight them with a unified front. “How have you been?”

“I've been better. Also, don't I recall you saying there wasn't much cause for a military?” I respond to her in a teasing manner. Spitfire facehoofs, groaning slightly.

“I should have kept my confounded mouth shut. I must have jinxed it or something,” she complains. She looks up, watching the changelings alertly. “They're coming. Can you handle yourself?”

“Why are you even asking? I've made it this far on the front lines, haven't I?” I pant, bending over and resting my hands on my knees. “Hurry and take down your pylon. Spike told you the plan, right?”

“Yeah, I know what I have to do. You ready to go, Rainbow?” Spitfire says, even as Twilight approaches the two of them. She's a mess: her mane is soaked with sweat, whether from exertion or fear, I don't know. She's also somewhat injured, because I can see a few burns and bruises. She'll be fine though, because I'm hurt worse than her. That's what I get for being such a large target.

“You bet! We're gonna knock that pylon down, and save Princess Celestia!” Rainbow exclaims, somehow managing to keep up that enthusiasm despite the hell that they're no doubt about to fly into. “Wheres Twilight?”

“Right here. Let's go, we don't have much time,” Twilight responds after catching her breath. She takes a glance at me, and then smiles. “How are you holding up, Seth?”

“You just said you didn't have much time. Quit worrying about me and go,” I snap at her, irritated. The longer you take, the longer I have to wait and fight these changelings. Twilight frowns, but she does realize how important time is right now, so she turns away.

“All right. We're headed below. Twilight, Rainbow, follow me. I'll take point,” Spitfire commands the both of them, and she takes off, keeping low to the ground so Twilight can follow.

Rainbow's about to leave. A strange feeling strikes me. It just doesn't feel right to let her go just yet. Before Rainbow can fully take off, I reach out on a whim and grab her back hoof. “What the...” Rainbow reacts, but when she sees that it's me, she looks confused. “Something the matter?”

“Sort of...” I begin. Fuck, how do I even say what I'm feeling right now? Actually, you know what, it's too much trouble. “Oh, forget it.”

“No, tell me,” Rainbow presses. Spitfire turns to look at us, wondering what's taking so long. Should I...oh hell. She might die down there, so it's worth sounding a little cheesy.

“Just...come back. You hear me?” I say after a short pause. Rainbow's eyes widen slightly, because something like this is entirely unlike me, and she knows it. Still, this is a life or death situation. In case one of us doesn't make it, I'd rather she know. “You're the reason I'm still alive...and the reason I'm gonna keep living. Don't you fucking die.”

Rainbow stares at me for a second that seems like it takes forever. She colors slightly, her mouth slightly open. She must realize how meaningful that is, coming from me. I don't think I've ever said something like that to anyone. Not even Amaryllis.

Rainbow floats down closer to me, to the point where her muzzle is practically in my face. She slowly and solemnly nods. “I'll come back. I promise you that I will. Just make sure you're still here when I do, got it?” she says, speaking softer than she usually does. When she sees me nod, she waves once to me and zooms off to Spitfire. “I'm off. Good luck!”

I watch her go, but only for a moment. That next wave of changelings is bearing down on us hard. I think we have less than five minutes before they get here.

“Seth Rogers, report to us!” Luna's authoritative voice sounds out, bringing me back to reality. Right, it's time to do this. I turn around and walk through the soldiers of the First and Second Regiments, along with the hovering members of the Pegasus Corps. I pass Soarin and Fleetfoot, who are treating an injured Rapidfire, while Surprise looks on, concerned. Everywhere I look, I see wounded and dying from both sides. It makes me feel somber. Battles always seemed epic in the animes, but being part of one...it's not as fun as it seems. This is hell.

I pass the members of the other two pylon teams. Applejack, Rarity, and Rose are walking together, heading towards another pylon. All of them give me an acknowledging glance, except for Rose.

“It's good to see you fighting for the country you live in, Seth,” Rose addresses me without stopping. I fall in step beside her, since I'm going to pass by Luna if I walk with her. 

“I'm not fighting for Equestria. I have my own reasons, that I'm not exactly inclined to share,” I tell her flatly. I don't care what anyone says. I said nothing to Rainbow, and I will never admit otherwise. Rose looks troubled, but then she sighs and chuckles somewhat.

“It seems you still have your spirit. Keep your reasons close to your heart, and remember the lessons I taught you. I won't forgive you if you end up on the casualty list,” Rose advises me, being surprisingly sentimental for once. I guess situations like these bring out a side of individuals that isn't usually shown.

“Yeah...try not to die before taking down the pylon, please? That would be an inconvenience,” I retort, causing Rose to groan.

“I'm not going to...oh, confound it. Good luck, Seth,” Rose says, and then she along with Applejack and Rarity, leave the main force, heading for the second pylon.

Pinkie and the pony who I assume is Captain Blades leave as well, just as I reach Luna's side. Luna, along with Commander Iron, are standing at the head of what's left of our army. When I reach her, Luna checks me over. “Art thou injured?” she demands, obviously knowing nothing about human physiology. 

“Nothing worth healing. Just a few scrapes and burns; nothing serious,” I reply, watching the changelings coming. “So what next? Do we hold out here until the field is down?”

“Nay. We shall lead an assault through our enemy and to the castle, where we shalt make our stand,” Luna corrects me, looking grim. “Once the field falls, our final task begins. We hope thou hath been conserving thine power. Thou shalt need it.”

“I have. I say the same to you. I don't want to go in there without backup,” I return. Luna turns and gives me a withering stare. “What?”

“We think thou hast been hiding something from us,” Luna accuses me, rather accurately. My blood runs cold. Does she know what I did? I mean, she'll find out eventually, but right now would be a really bad time. “Rainbow Dash is not here. Tell me, how didst thou cause this invasion?”

“Like Twilight said, I fucked up. But now's not the best time. I'll tell you once we win. Then you can deal with me along with your sister,” I say firmly. Luna looks unsure, but she seems to accept that answer.

“We've got incoming,” Iron interrupts us, lowering his visor once more and hefting his trident. “Some of them look different than the others.”

“Shit, really?” I respond in alarm. Looking at the changelings that are just about to reach us, I notice several of them that are larger than the others. Which means... “Watch out, they have Infiltrators! They pack some serious damage!”

“Noted. All soldiers, prioritize damage on the larger changelings, and make sure to watch your back at all times!” Iron says, addressing the other soldiers. “Here they come. Unicorns, begin the barrage! This is for Canterlot, Celestia, and for Equestria!”

The soldiers roar out their approval of Iron's words, and then scores of magical beams fire up from our army, striking the changeling lines and downing several of them. It doesn't look like there's any changelings approaching us from the ground just yet, so I should probably take to the air.

Luna summons her power, shrouding her body in an aura of starry darkness. Since I'm right next to her, I feel the full magical pressure she's exerting, and damn, it is strong. It's not crushing like Celestia's, but still more than me.

I flare my magic once more, reaching base form quickly and lifting my rifle, changing it to the long ranged form. Just as I aim my rifle and fire, Luna fires a beam of magic as well. My shot passes right through a changeling's body, while Luna's explodes on contact with another. “Let us fly, Seth!” Luna orders. Yeah, that's a good idea. Together, we leave the ground, Luna with her wings and me with my magic. Behind us is the Pegasus Corps, with the Wonderbolts at their head.

I guess I'm leading the charge again. Once again yelling a random expletive, I hit the changeling lines, my fist slamming into a changeling's snout. I make the decision to dissolve my rifle for now, because a situation like this is only good for close quarters combat.

I'm quickly surrounded by changelings, but thankfully the Wonderbolts come to my rescue, striking at the changelings threatening me from behind with their hooves. I end up flying back to back with Fleetfoot as our armies collide, changelings rushing at us with magic and hoof. 

I duck under a changeling's hoof and retaliate with an uppercut, causing it to choke. While it's recoiling, I turn and take out a changeling coming at me from the right with a quick jab, and then grab it by the leg and use it as a projectile, nailing two changelings rushing at me.

Behind me, Fleetfoot shows her fighting skill by deterring the attacking changelings with her hooves, taking down any that get too close.  “Move!” Fleetfoot hisses, and the two of us break apart just as a large stream of changeling zooms through the area where we'd just been standing. 

The one that had nearly hit me is an Infiltrator, much to my horror. It grins, and my horror increases as it quickly transforms into a fucking dragon, covered in red scales. It's smaller than a typical dragon, but still larger than me. 

I have a split second to react, so I raise my arms to block just as it streaks in and hits me with the palm of a massive claw, sending me flying down and through the roof of a Canterlot house.

“Fuck!” I curse loudly. Pain shoots through my shoulder. When I look, my eyes widen in shock when I see a piece of debris sticking out of me. It's not that big, nor is the injury that deep, but it's enough to hurt like a bitch and piss me off.

The dragon slams into the hole it just made, roaring viscerally down at me. Reacting on instinct, I lift my arms again. The dragon opens its jaws and breathes a gout of green magic that resembles flames down at me, incinerating the furniture in the room and disintegrating the floor that I'm standing on. However, I remain airborne as the floor dissolves beneath me and the magic courses over me.

When the stream dissipates, I realize that my arms are only slightly burned from the attack. It stings, but not enough to impair my fighting ability. Once again, I'm surprised by my own strength. That last Infiltrator I fought hurt, but in the end it wasn't altogether that much of a match for me. If I remember that, I can take down this dragon wannabe.

The dragon snaps forward with its jaws, attempting to bite my head off. It certainly doesn't expect me to catch both of its jaws with my hands, holding it open and stretching it painfully. “Get out of my way,” I tell it, and then I lean back and kick the dragon right out of the hole in the ceiling, putting my magic behind my attack.

Before the dragon can react, I appear in the sky next to it thanks to a current in the air. A quick flare of my magic brings me back to full strength, and then I fucking whale on it. One fist swings into his lower jaw, sending it upwards. Another fist hits its side, cracking its ribs. Lastly, I clasp both fists together and crash them down on top of its head, cracking its skull. The Infiltrator returns to its original shape and hurtles down to the ground, dead.

Around me, other Infiltrators have taken combat forms as well, such as massive eagle like birds with crooked beaks, giant spiders, or even bears. Our soldiers are handling them well, grouping together and taking each one on with superior numbers.

Unless you're Luna. The princess takes on one of the large birds herself, shooting right through its body (and I mean through, like into its body) and out the other side, leaving it behind to perish in a midnight blue explosion.

Rapidfire and Surprise team together and break the wings of another of the large birds, to the point where its transformation fails, and they can dispatch it easily. I grin. We can still do this.

The castle gates loom in our path, the once proud golden gates now lying on the ground, having been hit by stray magical shots and even a fallen Infiltrator. The changelings crowd around the gates, hoping to keep the rest of us out.

One thing I notice from out here while I'm fighting is that I can physically see the magic cancellation field on the wedding hall from here. It appears as an undulating web of white lines of magic, covering its entire surface from top to bottom. At least we'll know when it goes down.

After taking down another Infiltrator that had been dumb enough to take my form (they seem to like doing that. Sheesh), I scan the area for my next target. Suddenly, I notice a disturbance in the street a little ways away from the main battle zone.

My jaw drops as cracks spider across the surface of the street, and then the entire fucking thing caves in to reveal a portion of the crystal mines. Now that I think about it, that's where one of the pylons is supposed to be. That must mean one of them is down. Sure enough, the field around the wedding hall starts to flicker, but it still stands strong.

As I'm thinking hard, I'm forced to contend with several changelings and an Infiltrator that once again takes my form. “Oh for fuck's sake, stop doing that! I'm just going to beat your ass every time!” I snap at it, and easily maneuver around its attacks so that I can retaliate with a right hook that explodes with my dark magic. But because I'm not careful, a beam of green magic strikes me in the same shoulder that got cut. Fucking...I turn around and kill the offending changeling, and then use its body to bludgeon the others into unconsciousness.

Whose team just succeeded? Are they still alive? They might have gotten trapped under that cave in, which would kill anypony, even a strong one.

In the distance, the weirdest fucking sight fills my vision. My right eye twitches as I spot Pinkie  and Blades floating up from the chasm in the streets, tied to a bunch of fucking party balloons. “HIP HIP HOORAY!” I can hear Pinkie exclaim happily even from here. Captain Blades just looks 100% done with her shit.

“One pylon's down!” I announce to Luna as we get closer to the castle. I assume Pinkie and Blades will join us, so I can put them out of my mind for now. Luna turns and acknowledges me with a quick word after she eradicates the changelings nearest to her.

I get back into the thick of it, soaring through a gap in the changeling forces. I whip out my rifle and start wreaking havoc with a set of dual crystalline pistols, firing blasts of concentrated magic at each changeling I see. 

Something gives, and the changelings start falling back under our onslaught. Nothing can stop Luna and I. We're tearing our way through the skies like a wave of destruction, while Commander Iron is leading the charge on the ground, his immunity to magic and enchanted trident serving him to great effect.

Luna and I burst through the enemy lines and hit the ground just in front of the wedding hall, where the field still flickers strongly. Iron soon joins us, as does the rest of our army. “What are your orders, Princess?” Iron asks grimly, leaning on his trident. He looks like he's starting to get a little tired. In fact, many of the other soldiers look similar. Which means we have to finish this quickly, or they'll overwhelm us with numbers. But the field isn't down yet. Come on, you ponies, quit being useless and follow the plan!

“We hold here, Commander. This is where we make our stand,” Luna declares, flapping her wings in preparation for more combat. “When the field falls, we shalt accompany Seth to distract the changeling queen. Thy job is to continue to hold this area and make sure no changelings follow us inside.”

“Understood,” Iron acknowledges. He looks up alertly when there's a cry from one of the soldiers on the front lines.

“We've got incoming! They're coming from the mines!” the soldier yells. Sure enough, there's another swarm of changelings,  Just as large before, surging out of the hole in the streets after Pinkie and Blades. A thought strikes me. Has Chrysalis been down there long before this actual invasion, cultivating troops? If they're like insects, they're likely quick to mature. Which means...shit, she's planned for this more than we have. I only hope that once we free Celestia, she can take care of all of this.

“Hi everypony! Sorry, I may have brought company!” Pinkie exclaims, loosing balloons from her and Blades until they land in front of our force. “They didn't like that we broke their tower, so I tried offering them cake, but did you know changelings don't like cake? How can you not like...”

“Goddammit, Pinkie! Shut up and fall in!” I shout, cutting her off. Pinkie giggles and bounces into the army, joining Luna, Iron, and I. Blades also approaches, so I get a good look at him for the first time.

He's a grizzled, older unicorn stallion, his brown coat rippling with muscles. His mane is short, cropped, and black. He has facial hair as well (which is still dumb on a pony) in the form of a shaggy goatee. I also see why they call him Blades. He's wearing golden armor that terminates in jagged edges to damage melee attackers, and all over his body are clasped scores of sheathes, in which ornate daggers are placed.

“Good to see you again, Captain,” Iron greets him with a respectful nod. Blades grins in a jolly manner, clapping a hoof on Iron's shoulder plate in a brotherly manner, only for him to withdraw his hoof with a wince. Because those shoulder plates are sharp.

“Now you just call me Blades. I'm tellin' ya, we're brothers in battle. No need for that fancy talk,” Blades admonishes him lightly in an unrefined accent, though his grin remains. “Bet you're enjoyin' all this fightin,' since you're from that other place. What was it?”

“Bleak Island,” Iron reminds him with an annoyed expression. “But there's no time for reminiscing. They're coming.”

“Right. Well, let's get to it then,” Blades remarks, turning to face the oncoming horde. He spots me as he does so. “And you. Seth, right? I want to talk to you after all this is over.”

“Whatever. Let's focus on getting through this first,” I remind him, clenching my fists and flaring my magic again.

“We must hold here, loyal subjects!” Luna announces to the army. All of the soldiers seem to straighten up at her words, overcoming their fatigue. It seems the military really respects their royalty. “Stand thy ground and show thine enemy how we've kept Equestria save for over a thousand years!”

The changelings reach us seconds after that, and I launch into battle anew, letting out a wordless cry.

I'll bring an end to this conflict with my own two fists.
> 50. Ultimate Chrysalis
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The changelings hit us like the tide, breaking over our lines like a massive wave. I realize quickly that with the numbers they're sending at us, who are all concentrated in this one small area just in front of the stairs leading to the wedding hall, I'd get quickly fucked up if I charged right in.

“Behind me!” Iron commands, standing behind his shield so that it covers almost all of him. All of the magic sent at him is either absorbed or directed off either side of the shield, leaving him unscathed. “Keep them away from my flank!”

Almost unconsciously, I take position beside him as he ordered. I don't know how to explain it, but it makes me feel reassured that we have somepony like him around. Blades stands on Iron's other side, a floating cloud of daggers surrounding him , spinning and stabbing viciously at the changelings without him even needing to move. The daggers explode with magic every time they land a hit, no matter how glancing.

The three of us form an unstoppable team. Iron shields all of us from magical damage, forcing any changelings that target us to attack us up close, which is where we excel. Leaving my rifle unused for now to save power, I react to any attackers with my fists and feet.

Luna easily handles herself on the right side of our army, her immense magical strength swirling around her like a whirlwind. Her eyes glow with pure white light, the manifestation of her magical overflow. Because of who she is, tons of changelings target her, seemingly holding no regard for their own lives nor the lives of their fellow changelings. It doesn't matter how many Luna annihilates. Morale doesn't seem to exist for these changelings, because even as Luna sends a fucking score of changelings hurtling away from her at a ridiculous speed, more descend upon her.

On the left side of our army, Pinkie is working together with the other guards. And by that, I mean they defend her from air assaults and melee attacks, while leaving a channel open for her to fire that dumb streamer cannon, or whatever it is she's using. I don't know if she's taking this seriously at all, especially since she's both giggling and apologizing to the changelings she hits. “Oops! Sorry, didn't mean to hit your head. Oh! That glass window looked expensive. Can you try to avoid the buildings please?” She keeps talking to the changelings as if expecting them to answer. Which is dumb, because I don't even think they're sentient, except for the Infiltrators.

The barrier suddenly flickers behind us, and a tremor runs through the ground I'm standing on at the same damn time. The barrier starts to fluctuate rapidly, as well as lower in brightness. With a grin, I realize what's happened. I slam my fist down on top of a changeling's head, knocking it into the ground, which cracks under the force. “Pylon two is down!” I announce, and the I notice an Infiltrator coming towards us in the guise of a roaring bear. “Incoming!”

“Not if I can help it!” Blades declares. With a grunt, he sends his daggers forward and forms them into a wall, the points facing towards the bear. The bear sees them and foolishly stampedes right into them. “And...that's game!”

The daggers explode with Blades' magic, rupturing the bear's body from the inside. The infiltrator reverts to its original form, thoroughly dead.

Despite our triumphs, it's clear that we won't be able to do this forever. Even with Iron's defense, the changelings always find a way to use their numbers to get around our defenses, hitting us with magic when we least expect it.  My back and arms are starting to sting. I have no doubt there's burns on my back. There's already holes in my coat, which is really the least of my worries, but it means that I'm taking damage.

And where there's not a powerhouse like the four of us, we're taking casualties. The infiltrators, when not intercepted fast enough, wreak havoc in the forms of dragons, bears, birds, or other forms. The Wonderbolts are doing the best that they can to take down the changelings flying in from the mines, but there's only so many of them, and they can't be everywhere.

Suddenly, a powerful gale force wind passes through the square, coming from the alleyways in between the buildings on the left side. I hold up my arms in an attempt to brace myself, only to find that I don't need to. It doesn't seem to affect any of us. The changelings, however, are being thrown off course, if not completely hurled into the ground or buildings.

Just as I'm questioning what the fuck is going on, a cherry blossom floats past my vision, which tells me all I need to know. The second pylon team is here, which means...

A veritable swarm of cherry blossoms accompanies Commander Rose as she enters the battle, zooming out of an alley way. Her horn lights up, and a black orb appears in the middle of the changeling swarm. I recognize that move. That's the one she used to hold me in place so she could....and there's the hammer.

Rose's hammer knocks changelings flying, giving us enough time to reorient ourselves and reorganize our lines. Rarity and Applejack rush out of the alley behind Rose, each of them looking tired and ragged. Hell, even Rarity's styled mane is hanging loose. To make things worse, her snow white body is spotted with burns, meaning she's taken a lot of damage. She looks completely exhausted. 

“Someone get that mare off the battlefield!” I yell, indicating Rarity. She can't fight like that...hell, she wasn't even that strong to begin with. 

Thankfully, a guard meets her halfway, says a few calming words to her, and takes her to the back of the lines where the injured are being treated and defended.

As for Applejack, she looks as strong as ever, despite sporting several nasty looking bruises herself. She leaps into battle alongside Rose, her kicks dealing serious damage to any changeling unlucky enough to get hit by them.

We should be able to last a little bit longer, now that we have another magic powerhouse here. Yeah, I even start to notice a lower amount of changelings rushing me from the left side. Whew, that'll make things easier on...goddammit, if I get hit with one more stream of changeling magic, I'm going to fucking lose it. I whip out my rifle, transform it into a pistol, and let loose, spraying magical bullets into the midst of the enemy.

Just as I'm starting to worry about how Rainbow is doing, another tremor wracks the area, nearly knocking me off balance. The magical cancellation field stutters violently a few times, and then it completely dies, leaving the wedding hall free. Good, they did it. Which means that it's my turn. 

“Iron, I'm leaving. Can you hold this area without me?” I warn him, blasting one more changeling and turning the other direction.

“I'll do what I must. Make sure that you do the same,” Iron responds sternly, standing as stalwart as his name before the oncoming changelings. 

“We'll hold 'em for as long as we can,” Blades assures me, using several of his daggers to guard the spot I just vacated. “You git goin'. Good luck fighting that monster. Chances are yer gonna need it.”

“Don't I know it,” I murmur, and then I rush towards the wedding hall, soon joining up with Luna. “The field's down. You should be able to use your magic now.”

“Indeed. Hast thou steeled thyself?” Luna asks me grimly as we approach the tall staircase. “We felt her power. She is likely stronger than the both of us.”

“Fucking...dammit. I was rather hoping we could just stamp her out here,” I curse. More than that, I was hoping Luna and I could kill her before Celestia gets back. You know...so I can present Chrysalis's body to her on a silver platter and say like, hey, I killed her. Please don't incinerate me with your fucking solar flare powers. “Any chance that could still happen?”

“Do not depend on it. The idea is to distract her for as long as possible,” Luna chastises me. “It is best not to take unnecessary risks.”

“Risks or not, if we see a chance to kill her, shouldn't we take it?” I argue. “She's completely crazy. Sadistic, even.”

“Seth Rogers,” Luna says, looking at me sternly. “We...I want to defeat her as much as thou dost. She has harmed mine sister, but I will not kill her. I...have learned a long time ago that all revenge will do is cause pain. If not for myself...then for others.”

“Sheesh, you sound like your sister,” I say stubbornly, though I do feel chastised by her words. Chrysalis isn't like those other changelings. She's fully sentient, capable of thought and emotion. While I hate her more than anything else alive, I don't think I'd feel right killing her. Not to mention Luna seems to be speaking from experience. 

Suddenly, I remember that conversation with Celestia. Luna, at one point, fought against her sister, and all of ponykind, in something these ponies call the War of Night and Day. If she's as torn up about it as Celestia still is...well fuck. She'd know more about revenge than I ever would.

“You're right. Let's do this then. We'll go in there, and give Chrysalis a fight she won't soon forget,” I state firmly, cracking my knuckles. Luna smiles slightly, but that expression doesn't last.

With a resounding crash, the doors to the wedding hall explode outwards, and a horde of changelings at least threescore strong scuttling from the entrance like the insects they resemble. And what's worse is that every single one of them are Infiltrators. “What the fuck...they aren't supposed to be there!” I gasp, readying myself for combat. “Shit, Luna!”

“We must deal with them quickly. If we do not confront Chrysalis soon, she will take notice of our efforts to free Celestia,” Luna asserts, looking somewhat worried. Which means Rainbow would most likely die. She's strong, but there's no way she can fight Chrysalis.

“I'm not going to let that happen,” I growl. I exchange a glance with Luna, who nods to show that she's ready. “Let's go!”

Luna and I power up at the same time, our auras surging up into the air and intertwining in a mixture of black and blue. Before the first Infiltrator even reaches the the foot of the staircase, we're amongst them. The two of us charge right into their lines, our auras surrounding us and making us seem like raging comets. 

I shoulder rush my way into the Infiltrators, sending a great deal of them flying away by my momentum plus the magic surrounding me. It seems easy to duck underneath a hoof sent at me by one changeling, slam my fist into his underside, and then use his winded body as a shield to block several streams of magic sent my way by his allies.

Spinning around, I use the burnt body of the changeling I'm holding as a missile, hurling it up the stairs and into several more of them. This trips them up long enough for me to approach. A lightning fast array of punches knocks three of them out, alarming a fourth into transforming into a green dragon. It snaps its jaws at me...only for me to surprise it by jamming my hand right into its throat. When it tries to gouge me with its teeth, it finds that it can't, as I'm pouring magic into my arm as a defense. Seconds later, I fill its body with dark magic, courtesy of the pistol clenched in my hand.

An Infiltrator beside me turns into another of me once more, its fists glowing with green magic. I can sense it next to me, so I slam the back of my fist into its face hard without even looking. There's such force behind the attack that it goes hurtling down the stairs and gouges out a trench in the ground. It's difficult to explain, but it feels like there's an extra well of magical power located in my reservoir that I don't remember feeling before.

Next to me, Luna is wrecking as much as I am, if not more. She's not even stopping to hit them, plowing through them like a glowing blue stream-roller. Everything her aura touches just disappears, hurtling through the air like ninepins. I can hear her battle cry, a sentiment that I can't help but echo myself.

The enemy ranks just melt before us like snow before the spring sunlight, until at last we're standing at the top of the stairs, staring into the hallway that leads to the wedding hall. However, we are presented with one last obstacle.

There are two changelings standing side by side, glaring at us with glowing green eyes. They are even bigger than Infiltrators. I don't get to take in their details for very long before they both transform...into something I thought I'd never see again.

The changeling in front of Luna grows so large, it casts a shadow across the both of us. It has taken the form of a massive violet bear, except I can see right through it. Strange points of light shine on its body almost like stars, and there's an actual image of a star planted on the top of its head. If I had to guess...that's one of those monsters that takes power from the constellations. It must be an Ursa Major, then.

The one in front of me takes the form of something far more terrifying. Once again, I'm face to face with the Scorpios, the strange cross between a spider and a scorpion that I had trashed in the forest a long time ago. 

Luna and I stand stalwart, neither of us wavering an inch as the monsters roar at us. We both hunch down at the same time, and then we're gone. 

I appear on the other side of the Scorpios, having used a current to travel right through it. Luna has done something similar, appearing on the other side of the Ursa. 

Seconds later, the two monsters explode violently behind us. I don't care how big they get, or what form they take. They're no match for us. Especially not a damn Scorpios. If the first thing couldn't beat me, what makes you think a pitiful imitation would be able to do?

Without a word, the two of us travel down the hallway. One thing I notice is how the scenery is changing. As we run down the hallway, black tendrils of an unknown substance cling to the walls, squelching in a disgusting manner. This same substance seems to cover the entirety of the hallway ahead, the stretch of blackness occasionally being interrupted by glowing green orbs that are stuck to the walls like slime.

It's like...Chrysalis is turning this place into something else. Maybe it's what she's used to back at her...what's the word...base? Hive? I don't fucking know.

It's deadly quiet. The only sound comes from my and Luna's breathing, as well as the ground squelching under our feet.

Just as we're about the enter the wedding hall, the black substance starts to curve toward the ceiling, forming an archaic looking arch. Almost as if we're standing in a hallway built in some kind of insectoid architecture.

I hesitate slightly before walking into the hall, unease sinking into my heart. Goddamn, I was a college student not two months ago. Why do I have to deal with something like this? Even now, after living in this fucked up world for this long, it still seems unreal, as if I'm living a dream. Even more so, when I remember that I'm in a battle with the fate of the country resting on its outcome.

Luna stops beside me, looking down at me with concern. I shake my head, forestalling her unformed questions. I'll be all right. Even though I know I may be walking into my death, I'm not that afraid. I was comfortable with the idea of my own death a while ago. But...there's something more than just my life hanging in the balance here. And I'm not talking about the country. I couldn't give a shit about this country. No, it's about the friend I've made here, and how much of my shit she's put up with. If I don't fight here, she's dead. And if there's anything that this whole mess has taught me, it's that I'd give up anything to make sure that doesn't happen.

I take a breath, and then the two of us walk into the hall. The entire place has been completely converted, forming a new hall made of an almost alien architecture, with spiraling chitinous pillars pockmarked with holes and those green orbs, an arched ceiling, and large dangling structures completely covered with glowing green lights. The windows that were once here are now completely covered except for a few holes, which are the only source of natural light in the whole room. Everything else is bathed in an eerie green glow from those orbs.

At the very top of the room, where the wedding ceremony had been taking place not too long ago, there's a sickly green construct shaped vaguely similar to a mushroom. Strands of green slime dangle from the edges of the cap down to its stem, where they form a glowing green ring around it.

On top of the strange construct is Chrysalis. She's resting on her side, watching us approach with an unreadable expression on her face. Her slitted eyes alight first on Luna, before traveling to me, where they linger for a long while.

“Do you like it?” Chrysalis finally asks in a demure voice, running one of her holed hooves along the edge of the weird mushroom thing she's lying on. When neither of us answer, she continues. “This is going to be my new hive. I thought you'd be pleased. It's the first time any living creature has laid eyes upon changeling architecture.”

“Thou art delusional, knave,” Luna answers, her eyes narrowing. “This is Canterlot, a place of culture and peace, not a place where thou can spread thy filth!”

Chrysalis turns her gaze upon Luna once more, looking amused. “Ah, Luna. The other princess. I suppose it would be called filth by the likes of you. What right do you have to call this beauty...” she responds, lifting her hoof to indicate the changes she's made to the room. “...filth? Aren't you being somewhat...biased? You can't understand us, so we are monsters to you.”

“Do not attempt to turn this into a battle of philosophy, creature,” Luna snarls, lifting her wings in preparation to attack. “I will not bandy words with the likes of thee!”

“Oh, but surely you can spare some time to speak with me. After all, this battle will soon be over,” Chrysalis returns with a small smile. I don't like the way she says that. It's like she's implying that we're going to lose. Though honestly, I say keep her talking. That counts as distracting her as well. “I am going to kill you, but I like to understand my victims before I feed. To know how they are, to know how they feel as I'm sucking the love from them, until they're left with nothing.”

“That's just fucking sick!” I snap, entering the conversation. “How can you live with yourself? After getting to know somepony that well, don't you feel something when you kill them?”

“Ah, now the human speaks. I was wondering if you forgot how,” Chrysalis teases me. I grit my teeth. Everything she says just grates on my nerves. “Of course I feel something. Satisfaction at the execution of a long hunt. Contentment at the sating of my ever present hunger. Theses are feelings that come with being a predator. Surely you understand, seeing as you're one yourself.”

“That's just fucking low. Sure, I'm a human. Sure, I eat other animals. In fact, I hate the necessity of it, but that's the way things are. I don't take enjoyment from it!” I shoot back. “And hell, if they could talk back, I'd never eat another again!”

“Mm, that's where we differ, I suppose,” Chrysalis says with a click of her forked tongue. “Why hate what is necessary? Just as you did, we have to feed the way we do. Why shouldn't we enjoy it? There's no point in being miserable over something you can't change.”

“This is pointless!” Luna interrupts, slamming the ground angrily. “Dost thou wish to keep thy throne, monster? We hope thou art prepared to defend thyself!”

“Aww, I was hoping to talk to my human guest a little longer,” Chrysalis complains with a mock whine, that soon dissolves into a chuckle. She shakes her head, looking somewhat sad. “Seth, I really wish you'd come with me. You are from the race that has paved the way for the technology that we hold now. Your kind possesses beauty like no other, and the wonders you've all come up with!”

“Shut up, Chrysalis,” I demand. Luna is looking at me oddly. I think she might be figuring it out. Goddammit, not now. Not at the eve of what's probably going to be the most dangerous fight of my life.

Chrysalis sighs. “Such a shame. To think that the last human will fall at my hooves, when we could have been so great. Think of it! The sheer power and status the two of us would hold! The Queen of the apex predators of our time, side by side with her King, the last of the ancients. It would truly be a sight to behold.” 

“I said, shut up. It's never going to happen,” I say flatly. “You just want to use me for what I am. It's the same shit. Someone is always out to use me for whatever reason. You're no different. So cut that shit out, and get down here.”

Chrysalis remains silent, watching me with disappointment evident in her eyes. Without a word,  she rights herself, her four insectoid wings springing open with a muted flap. She descends gracefully to the floor, the mushroom construct behind her collapsing in on itself and sinking into the floor. “Very well. You leave me no choice,” she finally says, determination stamped on her face. “Despite what you may think, this is something I have to do. I won't let you get in my way. Come.”

This is it. This is the fight that this whole battle has been building up to, and the one I've been dreading ever since I felt her power in this very hall, back when I saved Rainbow and the others.

“Let's go, Seth Rogers,” Luna says softly, hunching down and scuffing the ground with her hoof.

“Right,” I reply grimly. Then, Luna and I both tap into our magic at the same time, exploding with magical power. This time, neither of us hold back. Thin pinpricks of light, like stars, appear in Luna's aura, while mine sparks with green electricity.

Chrysalis puts her hoof down, and her emerald green flames surround her, soaring much higher than both of ours together. The tip of her aura scrapes against the ceiling, causing the black material there to hiss and bubble.

“Luna,” I say softly, unstrapping my coat and removing it. I toss it aside, revealing the black sleeveless shirt that I've been wearing ever since we left for Canterlot. I can feel Chrysalis power rushing over us, exerting a powerful pressure over the room. It doesn't seem like she's holding back much either, as she's stronger than she was back when I fought her last. “She's strong.”

“I know,” Luna responds. With that...the battle begins. The two of us shoot towards her at the same time, our feet and hooves leaving the ground as we take to the air.

Chrysalis hunches down and points her horn at us, firing bolts of green flame at us. There's hundreds of them, heading towards us like a volley of arrows. If I don't watch them carefully, I'm going to get hit. And these aren't slime beams; Chrysalis is fighting to kill this time.

I touch the ground, as I can't dodge as effectively in the air...something that Luna discovers when a bolt hits her in the chest. She emits a grunt, her momentum slowing, but it doesn't look like she's that hurt from it.

The bolts hurtle towards me relentlessly. I dip and weave through them better even I expected, not even getting hit by a single one. I get closer and closer, causing Chrysalis to target me and me alone. 

To her shock, I reach her, my fist swinging wildly at her, coated in darkness. Chrysalis dodges by moving her neck to once side, and then retaliates with a swift hook from one of her hooves. Acting on instinct, I duck underneath it and react with a fierce uppercut that actually lands, ramming into her chin and forcing her head up. Chrysalis gasps in pain, her mane flying backwards. 

My left fist swings from the right, catching her on the side of the neck, causing her to recoil. That's where my lead ends, because Chrysalis uses the momentum I've given her to twist on her front hooves and buck me hard in the chest.

There's so much more force behind her attack than mine, to the point where I'm propelled backwards. I even see the room rotate around me as I twist in midair. Somehow, I manage to land on my feet, next to a recovered Luna. “Quickly, before she recovers!” Luna demands. She gives me a quick gesture with hooves, to which I nod.

The both of us take to the air, splitting in two different directions to make it harder for Chrysalis to target both of us at the same time.

“You fight in vain!” Chrysalis hisses, her horn lighting up. Two emerald spikes form in the air just in front of us, and stab downwards at us. They are positioned in such a way that when Luna and I dodge, we're forced to fly closer together. With a gin, Chrysalis fires a thick beam of magic towards the both of us.

Thinking fast, I fly under Luna, so that we can split up once more and continue our double assault. Before Chrysalis can launch another spike assault, Luna and I reach her at the same time, fist and hoof ramming into either side of her. We keep flying past her, soaring up into the air behind her, hoping to catch her off guard with a simultaneous attack.

Luna and I turn around and fire beams of magic of our own at Chrysalis. Luna uses her horn, and I use my rifle in its standard form. Chrysalis appears to sense them coming, because she turns around and somehow manages to negate both attacks in a maelstrom of green flame with a wave of her horn. But you don't stand and gawk if your attack fails.

Chrysalis grunts as both Luna and I appear in front of her, flying towards her at top speed. I unleash a flurry of punches and kicks, while Luna strikes hard with her two front hooves over and over, pushing Chrysalis back with our momentum.

But neither of us can land a hit on her. Somehow,  Chrysalis's two front hooves are moving so fast, she's blocking or dodging everything we throw at her. More than once, my fist collides with her hooves, or completely misses her. We have her on the defensive, though. If we keep this up, we'll have her up against a wall soon.

Just as Chrysalis's two back hooves reach the wall at the other end of the room, I attempt to push my luck and hit her with a left hook. To my shock, she leans her head back and then bares her teeth in a chilling hiss, right before biting down on my left arm.

“Fuck! Oh my god!” I yell, pain like you wouldn't believe emanating from that one spot on my arm. I focus my magic there to defend even as I attempt to withdraw my arm from her grip. But my efforts are in vain. Turning around, Chrysalis uses her grip on my to hurl me clear across the room and into a wall, releasing my arm in the process.

Shit, holy fuck. I hit the wall hard and bounce back. This is tough. Looking at my arm, I spot a nasty welt there where she bit me. Her two front teeth had cut the skin, leaving small bloody holes there, but the rest only cut the upper layers, because I'd been quick to defend myself with magic.

Luna exchanges blows with Chrysalis, her midnight blue aura clashing with Chrysalis's green flames with destructive consequences. The walls and floor around them crack and rupture. They appear evenly matched, but I know better. Chrysalis doesn't look alarmed at all, while Luna is gritting her teeth and fighting as hard as she can. Well, as long as she's underestimating us, we might be able to pull something off.

I form my pistol and fire several shots towards Chrysalis, hoping to hit her while she's occupied with Luna. Instead, Chrysalis manages to push away Luna with her two front hooves, and then block all of my bullets with a flaming green barrier, similar to the one she used on Pinkie...which means...shit.

I immediately toss myself out of the way, just in time to avoid the barrier surging at me. The barrier hits the wall and turns to slime, dripping down the wall disgustingly. That was too close. She could have killed me at her leisure if that had hit me. 

Chrysalis contends with Luna again as the princess leaps into the air and then suddenly dashes at the changeling queen with an incredible speed. Chrysalis manages to block, but the force behind the attack shatters the ground beneath her, forming a crater. Luna repeats this same action over and over, zooming at Chrysalis from multiple directions. It doesn't seem to work. Each one is blocked or dodged, until finally Chrysalis gets fed up and hits Luna directly in the snout with a hoof, sending Luna skidding backwards.

It's my turn. I form a heavy machine gun and spit hundreds of rounds of magic per second at Chrysalis, hoping to break that defense of hers. I'm expecting her to use that barrier again, but instead Chrysalis rushes through the storm of bullets, weaving through them expertly before finally ramming headlong into my stomach.

I cough, my eyes widening in shock. Saliva flies from my mouth at the impact. Her head and body is right in my chest, knocking the air right out of my lungs and making me feel sick. She hits so hard...it's like fighting Celestia again. Chrysalis's horn slices my side painfully, cutting through the skin and forming a shallow cut.

Her hoof slams me into the ground, and its only thanks to magic that I don't lose any teeth when  my face hits the floor. The black substance or whatever cushions it somewhat...but it's akin to how a knee guards would protect you from a speeding car. Which is to say...not much at all.

Luna saves me from further injury by rushing into Chrysalis's side, managing to take her off guard, lifting the queen clear off the ground and hurling her back the other direction. Luna shoots a beam of darkness after Chrysalis, which impacts her and causes a huge explosion that breaks part of the wall away, revealing the darkening streets below. Shit, I can't believe it's only just now late evening. It feels like its been much longer.

Chrysalis emerges from the wake of the magical explosion, hissing angrily. Parts of her mane are singed, but other than that, she looks mostly unharmed. Fuck, can nothing hurt this bitch? I refuse to believe that. Nobody is invincible.

Chrysalis yells wordless, rearing up in the air and kicking her two front hooves. Green light starts to shine from beneath Luna and me, and then we're both screaming in pain as emerald flames erupt from the ground and engulf us, scorching our bodies.

When the pain finally stops, I hit the ground, panting. Shit...even with my magical defenses, it felt like it didn't do much of anything. I'm covered in burns, on top of the ones I received during the battle.

Luna moves over to me, watching Chrysalis carefully. She extends a hoof to me. Thinking she's trying to help me up, I take it...only to feel her magic rushing into me. It hits me a second later, so I stream my magic to her as well.

My right arm erupts with midnight blue flames, while my left sparks with green electricity. With Luna's power in my body, I feel unstoppable.

Luna's aura turns black, but keeps the points of light, such that it looks less like the night sky, and more like the blackness of space. 

I'm suddenly in Chrysalis's face, much to her surprise. I moved faster than I remember, which is probably because of Luna's magic. I barely dodge her initial strikes, and then I retaliate by knocking her up into the air with both palms.

I appear behind her in midair and snap her head to one side with a powerful palm strike, and then knock her right down to the ground again. Okay, I can feel Luna's power slipping, so I should use it now. 

Luna's power erupts from my right arm in the form of a rushing blue wave that engulfs Chrysalis. Without waiting to see the results, I follow up with the power in my right arm, a bolt of green lightning striking the ground with the sound of thunder.

Chrysalis rises, only looking angrier. She orients her horn on me, but then she notices Luna just a few feet away from her, her horn glowing with green electricity and black magic. “What are you...” she begins, but then a massive beam, tipped with a glowing crescent moon of white light, surges from Luna's horn.

Chrysalis forms that barrier, taking the beam head on. Even with the barrier, the force pushes her back, her hooves gouging into the ground. Her eyes widen as the barrier shatters under the force of the beam, and then she screams in pain when she's hit.

The resulting explosion tears right through the ceiling, as well as breaks pillars and hanging structures, tossing the debris all over the place

“And that is why combination attacks are awesome,” I declare, panting heavily. I wipe the sweat from my brow and watch the cloud carefully, just in case Chrysalis launches a counterattack. Still, with a combination attack like that, she should be totally done for.

Or not. The dust and smoke dissipates to reveal a very pissed off Chrysalis. She adjusts her messed up mane with a hoof, and lets the weird saddle looking thing she always wears fall to the ground, as its been burnt beyond recognition. “You both are much stronger than I expected,” Chrysalis admits, looking between the both of us. “I was under the impression the both of you were nothing close to Celestia.”

“So you thought you could just brush us aside?” I demand, irritated. “Guess what that got you. A fucking moon beam to the face.”

“I may not be mine sister, but I possess more than enough power to stop thee,” Luna adds, flaring her aura higher, her eyes now glowing white. “Surrender now, and I may show thee some manner of mercy.”

Chrysalis looks incredulous for a moment, and then she bursts out into hysterical laughter. “Surrender? Me? To a pony? The notion is simply preposterous,” she says after she calms down. “Do you know who I am?”

“Yeah...you told me earlier,” I remind her. Luna just looks at me, because she only knows what we've told her.

“Allow me to tell you again. I am Chrysalis, and I have been queen of the changelings for over a thousand years,” Chrysalis declares, her mirthful expression disappearing, to be replaced by narrowed eyes and bared teeth. She lifts her hooves into the air, and then slams them down. “It's time for me to show you why!”

Upon contact, Chrysalis hooves shatter the ground, and tendrils of green magic snake up from around her hooves. Her already sizable aura suddenly erupts upwards in a pillar of green magic, spinning around her like a tornado. It surges through the ceiling, breaking even more of it, as it continues on its way into the sky. The ground starts to shake under her power, even as my eyes widen and my jaw slackens. 

Holy fuck, I'm going to die here. We could hardly even touch her, even with a combination attack, and now she's powered herself up even farther? Why the hell was she even hiding this kind of power in the first place? This isn't fair! I can't fight something like this. It's like fighting Celestia all over again, except this time, I'm going to fucking die! Distract her? We'll be hard pressed even to live at this point.

“I'll make you regret not siding with me, Seth Rogers!” Chrysalis growls, spitting out my name like it's poison. “No one, not even a human, snubs me, the queen of all changelings!”

“Luna! Give me your hoof, right the fuck now!” I demand. Another combination attack is really the only hope that we have. Luna seems to agree, as she turns and gives her hoof. I reach out, my fingers stretching to grasp it.

“I don't think so,” Chrysalis snarls, and then just before I can grab Luna's hoof, she appears between us. Like, literally seems to appear out of thin air. She spins around, blades of green flame following her hooves as she rams a hoof into my cheek.

I hit the wall so fast, I don't even realize I'm moving until my back explodes with the pain from the impact. I don't even stop there. I go right through the wall, hurtling out into the night air, where our army is still fighting hard against the changelings. 

Inside, not even a second after I was knocked away, Chrysalis spins and knocks Luna backwards with a double buck to her chest. This is the first time I've seem Luna knocked completely off of her hooves and tumble across the ground like a fucking ragdoll. “I can't beat Celestia, but I can most definitely defeat the both of you!” Chrysalis snaps, and then she opens her mouth and screeches in what I think is supposed to be a battle cry. “Come back! I'm not through with you yet!”

I return to the hall, hefting my rifle and splitting it into those two light machine guns. I immediately start running away from her, squeezing the trigger and firing a veritable torrent of magical bullets at her. Chrysalis easily catches up with me, running along side me even as I fire. The bullets don't seem to have any effect, even the ones that hit her. It looks like they're striking her side, but she's not exhibiting any signs of being hit.

“You made the wrong choice!” Chrysalis snaps, and then she plows me right over with a hoof to my chin. My back skids across the ground, my shirt tearing at the back, leaving it hanging on by nothing more than tatters. This is hopeless. I can't do anything to her, and here she is, just wrecking me like I'm nothing. My eyes widen when I see her right above me, her two front hooves slamming into my chest. “What can these ponies offer you that I can't? I could have been anything you wanted!”

“F...Fuck...” I cough, and then I blast her in the chest with my pistol. I don't know if it did anything or not, but it certainly had the force to knock her away. She's really hung up on the fact that I didn't join with her. Is it pride? Did she really want to possess me that badly? Is me being human that big of a deal to her...or is it... “No one's ever turned you down before, have they?”

“I have individuals all over the world, willing to serve me, because they know what I can do!” Chrysalis yells, forming several orbs of green magic and tossing them at me. Luna is behind her, back on her hooves and ready to get back into the fight. “Never have I been turned down for a blasted pony, always running around in their idyllic country, never realizing that there are others out there, suffering!”

What? Is this what Chrysalis meant, when she said that this whole thing is something she had to do? I weave through her orbs and rush up to her, resolving to fight for as long as I can. As hopeless at this is, I won't die lying down. I duck under her assault and kick her lower hooves, hoping to knock her off balance. It staggers her, but that's about it.

“Thou thinks that this land is idyllic?” Luna demands, joining the fight. Together, we exchange blows with Chrysalis.  Nothing seems to hurt her, even when we hit her, and she's dealing these crushing blows to us whenever she gets the chance. “Thou thinks that this world has seen no conflict?”

I manage to get around Chrysalis's back hooves and to her side, where I unleash a flurry of punches, pouring magic into each one in the hopes that at least one will deal some real damage. She rears up on her hind legs, and then she spins around rapidly, blades of green magic forming in the air around her and colliding with the both of us.

My shirt is completely sliced through, as welts from the attack form on my chest. Tatters of fabric fall down my burnt chest, which is heaving with every breath. I've never felt pain like this in my entire life, nor do I have any way out of it. I can't leave, and I can't win. My every sense is telling me to flee for my life, but my heart is telling me to stay here, even if I have to die.

“Equestria is peaceful because we made it that way,” Luna groans, getting to her hooves once more. She looks to be out of breath as well, which isn't surprising. The two of us have been going all out since the beginning, but Chrysalis still manages to be above us somehow. “We hoped to create a world where all could live in peace!”

“Peace? What a joke! The world is filled with suffering!” Chrysalis scoffs, and she grabs Luna's head with a hoof and forces it into the ground. She lets go, turns around, and nails with me a searing beam of magic as I attempt to take her when she's not looking. “The changelings have never known peace, or happiness. I am always hungry...there's never enough love...just useless lust, which is as empty as an abyss!”

I get to my feet, nursing the burn on my chest. The words Chrysalis is saying...it sounds a lot like something I would say. Strangely enough, I agree with what she's saying. The ponies always have been naïve. Maybe, if I'd never come to this world, I would have become like her, where I would get so numb to everything, killing another would have seemed like nothing. That's a frightening thought. 

“I'm here to take what I want!” Chrysalis snarls, defending against both Luna and I as we rush back into battle. This time I fight from a distance, using my rifle in its long ranged form to pick off shots at her. This one actually seems to do something when it strikes her flank, steam rising from the point of impact. Chrysalis fends off Luna with a skilled magical assault, before turning to glare at me. “No changeling shall go hungry again! I shall shatter this false utopian image and show you ponies what the world is really like!”

Chrysalis lands on the ground in front of me, creating a crater under her massive power. I think I understand what she's feeling...but that doesn't mean I'll let her get away with this.

“Fuck you and your changelings,” I growl, somehow managing to weave around her first attack.  If I watch her closely, I think I can dodge. She has great power, but her speed should be manageable, if I concentrate. In this manner, I duck under her follow attack, and then move my head out of the way of her slashing horn. “Maybe you think your cause is righteous or whatever, but I don't give a fuck. All I know is that you're threatening something I care about...and that's what I'm fighting you for.”

“Don't you care about your loved ones? The ones you could have gotten back, if only you'd stayed by my side!?” Chrysalis demands, finally managing to get past my defense by sending pillars of green flame spiraling towards me from where her hooves touch the ground. I leap back and avoid most of them, but I can feel them singeing me even as they pass by me.

“Of course I do! But they're dead. They're always going to be dead. And I'm certainly not going to bring them back through the sacrifice my friend!” I grunt, retaliating with a darkness cloaked kick to her side. This time, I try to recreate the same feeling I get when I use my long ranged rifle, only in my leg. To my delight, my attack lands and knocks Chrysalis off her feet, towards Luna. “That's not what they would have wanted.”

“Sentimental nonsense!” Chrysalis screeches, but she's forced to focus on Luna, who seems to be using new techniques. For example, her horn glows white, and an arc of white light streaks out, curving around Chrysalis to form the shape of a crescent moon behind her. While this is happening, Chrysalis's hooves slam into a silvery barrier that's formed in front of Luna. With a cry, Luna brings the  arc of white lack backwards, catching Chrysalis from behind and forcing her into Luna's barrier, which the princess uses as an explosive weapon.

I whip out my long ranged rifle and fire multiple shots at the point of the explosion, hoping to deal as much damage as I can before she recovers.

Chrysalis suddenly appears in the air high above us, her front hooves raised high into the air, where a green ball of flame starts to form, even as her horn glows brightly. “If I cannot make you understand, then I shall make you perish! Face the ultimate power!”

A ring of emerald explosions erupts, catching both Luna and I in the splash effect, burning the hell out of me even though I'm holding up my arms to guard. Smaller balls of flame stream from the massive one that Chrysalis is forming. Even though Luna and I dodge them as best we can, they effectively forestall any attempt to stop Chrysalis from charging up that attack of hers. Well, except for me.

While I'm running and dodging the small balls of flame that smash into the ground behind me with every step I take, I use my long ranged rifle to fire up at her. I manage to score a few hits, which causes Chrysalis to wince on each impact. So hyper concentrated magic like this one can actually damage her, even if not by much.

“On your knees!” Chrysalis shouts, and then she throws the massive ball of flame to the ground, not aiming for either one of us...except she doesn't need to.

The entire fucking wedding hall is fucking obliterated from the resulting blast, walls disintegrating and the ceiling crumbling. Green flame surges over my entire body, scalding and burning me to the point where I'm screaming myself hoarse. My eyes are screwed shut in an attempt to keep them from getting burned blind, but that's about all I can do. I use as much magic as is even possible to use at once to reduce the damage as much as I can, but it still feels like my skin is dying. I can hear Luna's cries of agony as well.

When the flame finally dissipates, I fall to my hands and knees. My skin is blackened and bruised. Hah...I've never been hurt like this before. It stings, but not as much as you'd think. So the end is near, I suppose. Another attack like that, and I'm finished. Oh god, I can't even feel my arms.

Luna is similarly effected, as she's hunched over, her body burnt and damaged as much as mine is. Heh, we can't win. “I guess...we tried as much as we could then...” I say with a weak chuckle, falling to the ground. I don't think I can fight anymore...or even stand. “She's just too strong.”

“No...can't...give up,” Luna groans, somehow keeping herself from falling. Chrysalis lands on the ground, looking up at the night sky with a smirk. She notices the fight between the First and Second Regiments and her changelings, and her smirk widens.

“You see, it was a foolish decision to turn against me. Nothing can stand against the queen of the changelings, save for Celestia, whom I've already dealt with,” Chrysalis gloats, walking slowly over to Luna first. “Shall I take care of you first, Luna?”

Much to my shock, Luna gets to her hooves and flares her magic, using some technique that draws Chrysalis the rest of the way to her. The added momentum, combined with a powerful two hoofed buck, seems to really hurt Chrysalis. I can practically see the air rush out of Chrysalis lungs, just before she's send flying backwards. “Seth Rogers! This is...not over yet. Stand up!” Luna orders me, even though I can see her legs shaking with the effort needed to support her own weight. “I do not know thy situation, nor will I question it for now. But there's something thou art fighting for, correct?”

“Yeah, there is...” I utter weakly. I try to move, but pain wracks my body when I even try. I fought as hard as I could, Rainbow. I'm sorry, but I'm going to be able to be there...

“Then stand up and fight for it! Thy friend is waiting for thee, just as my sister is waiting for me! Let us spare them the pain of loss, and bring to them instead the elation of victory!” Luna commands me. Something in her voice sparks a fresh wave of energy through me. She's right. Just as I felt pain from the loss of Amaryllis, Rainbow would feel the same pain if I were to fall here. And I almost died because of it. There's no way in hell I'll let her feel that way.

I rise to my feet slowly, unsteadily. It hurts like a bitch, but I push through the pain, my body protesting with every simple movement. A sharp pain in my chest lets me know I've broken at least one rib. “You're right, Luna. I...think I can still fight,” I say. Fuck, it even hurts to talk.

“Oh? Standing up again?” Chrysalis asks, amusement forming on her face. “That was impressive, Luna. But we both know that you can't fight anymore. Just give up, and I promise I'll end you swiftly.”

In contrary to her words, Luna and I both utilize our dwindling magic reserves to all dash at Chrysalis at once. The queen weaves around our attacks, knocking Luna away with her hoof like it's no trouble at all. But because she's overconfident now, she realizes too late that I have a triple barreled shotgun made of black crystal planted right up against her chest. “Boom, bitch,” I say, and then as her eyes widen, I pull the trigger.

Chrysalis cries out, reeling back from the explosion, blood trickling slightly from the wound. “You...curse you!” she growls, powering up once more. “Don't you realize how hopeless this is for you? Just give up and die!”

“We can do this, Luna,” I realize, looking at the dripping green fluid from the wound on Chrysalis's chest. “We can hurt her. One last push, for better or worse. Are you with me?”

“Yes, Seth,” Luna says, emitting my last name for the first time since she's met me. “You've more than proven yourself in this battle. Whatever thy role in causing this attack was, I shalt make sure mine sister knows that.”

“Thank you. Now then, let's do this!” I yell, using the last vestiges of my magical power to power up one last time. Every time I've ever powered up to full strength, I've always felt this mental barrier in my reservoir, keeping me from getting any stronger. Every time I train, that barrier pushes back ever so slightly, but this time, I can't afford to wait. I push against that barrier with all of my might, pulling out every drop of magical power.

“What do you beaten fools think you can do? I have won, and you're all just corpses waiting to die!” Chrysalis demands, her horn lighting up. She sweeps her head from one side of the area to another, and a massive curtain of green flames forms and shoots towards us.

I leap into the air, orienting myself until I'm horizontal. Behind me, I feel Luna's front two hooves rest upon the soles of my feet. With all of her might, Luna sends me hurtling forward into Chrysalis's magic. I yell out a wordless cry as I pass through the curtain of flame, which burns at my body, but I don't pay it any attention. My scream soon turns into one name. “CHRYSALIS!”

Chrysalis's grin turns into a dumbfounded surprise right before my fist barrels into her jaw with such force, that she's sent tumbling across the ground. I follow her with my flight, landing on the floor in front of her just as she's standing up again. I dodge her follow up attack and strike back, catching her in the neck. Somehow, I'm dodging everything she sends at me.

She headbutts me, but I quickly recover and swing a punch at her. Except this time, I concentrate the magic in my fists like I do when I fire that long range rifle. To my surprise, the magic cloaking my fist shoots forward in a fist-like projection. Even though Chrysalis manages to pull her head back and avoid my actual fist, the projection catches her in the face.

“Take it!” I yell, punching again and again, projections streaming from my fists like rockets, and there's nothing Chrysalis can do to defend against it. She's staggered again and again by each new punch, and I don't intend to let up any time soon. As my barrage of punches continues, I let out a cry that slowly rises in volume.  

Finally, while Chrysalis is still off guard, I reach forward and grab her by the horn and then use it to throw her completely the other direction towards Luna.

Luna summons the rest of her remaining power and fires a massive beam of starry darkness from her horn, aimed right at Chrysalis's approaching form. The queen manages to skid to a stop and lift a barrier just in time to block it, but she's being pushed back...

...towards me. I drop my rifle and put both hands together, forming a crackling ball of darkness and green electricity. Imbuing that ball with all of my remaining energy, it rapidly expands in size. Once it's ready, I let all of it loose.

The ball forms into a beam the width of a fucking redwood tree, with rings of green electricity surrounding it. Chrysalis sees it even as she holds Luna's beam back, and for the first time, I see genuine fear in her eyes. She forms another barrier to block my beam, but in doing so, her first barrier loses power. “No! I am the queen! I can't lose!” Chrysalis cries out, and then both barriers shatter, so that Luna's and my beam converge together right on her form.

The resulting explosion dwarfs anything I've ever seen in my life, my darkness and Luna's starry magic shooting into the air like a rocket and intertwining in a maelstrom of black and blue. The magics twist around one another, forming a roiling vortex at the base of the explosion that tears up any remaining structure that may have been in the area around us.

“Shit...now I really can't fight anymore,” I say with a chuckle, falling to my knees. I'm completely drained of magic now, and looks like Luna is too. She looks at me with a smile, and then she nods, as if acknowledging my effort. Wow, this is weird. Luna, the one who's never trusted me, is now giving me a look like that. I guess actions really do mean more than words to her.
“Thou art magnificent, Seth...we shalt...” Luna begins, but then the sound of heavy breathing catches our attention.

The explosion dissipates to reveal a heavily damaged Chrysalis, her mane in tatters and her body burnt. Her legs are shaking, but she's still standing, her horn lighting up. Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me. She's still alive after that? But I gave that everything I had! Is she really invincible?

“You...” Chrysalis growls lowly, taking a shaky step towards us. “The both of you. You've injured me. I'm going to make you pay...I'm going to tear off your skin while you're still alive! I'll find your friends and...”

Just as she's powering up for another assault, the ground starts to shake. Not from her power either. Literally, the whole place is shaking, even the battle field where our soldiers are still fighting. Is this an actual earthquake? Because I don't see any source of...wait...

Chrysalis cuts off, noticing cracks spidering across the ground near her. “What is going on?” she questions, and then the ground fucking shatters in that area, and a pillar of golden light surges up into the air. 

Hold on a minute...that magic...the way it seems to be crushing me...I know who that is. I look over at Luna as the pillar of light expands, a weak smile forming. This is it...we've won. 

Celestia's blazing form slowly emerges from the hole in the ground, her body surrounded by an immense golden aura, similar to what she used against me on the mountain top that one day...and then she takes it a step further.

Chrysalis's eyes widen in fear, and she takes a few steps back. “No...no...impossible...you're supposed to be sealed up...” she stammers as Celestia walks towards her, her magic growing even larger and larger, swelling out from her body. Fuck, it feels like an ocean is streaming out of her body. The pillar of magic surges so far up into the air, it reaches way past the cloud layer.

Behind Celestia, I see Rainbow and Spitfire carrying Twilight up onto the ground as well. They all look at Celestia, and then they all share a high five, smiles forming on their faces.

“Chrysalis. You have harmed my subjects,” Celestia thunders, her magic getting even fucking stronger, to the point where Chrysalis falls on her knees, unable to stand under the sheer force that's being emanated from the god-like being before her. The magic gets so thick and strong, it covers the entire city in light, as if the day has come early. It also shrouds Celestia's form, such that all we can see is her shadowy silhouette in the pillar of magic, where her eyes are two points of white light. “Ponies have suffered and died because of you. Don't think you're getting out of this unscathed.”

Chrysalis can't even form a coherent sentence. Confronted with her worst enemy, her plans falling apart before her eyes, she's at her most vulnerable. She knew she couldn't fight Celestia to begin with, and now that she's been weakened significantly by Luna and I, the chances are her victory are slim to none. Celestia is showing her full power for the first time, making that display she'd shown me on the mountaintop look like a candle in comparison. It's more terrifying than anything I've ever seen...yet it is also comforting, knowing that all of that terrifying power is on our side.

Chrysalis's eyes water, and then tears start to roll down her cheeks when confronted with the inevitable truth. It's over. “I...” Chrysalis emits, falling to the ground. At last, she lowers her head. “I surrender. Do with me what you will.”

Ha...ha...those words...we won. I can hardly believe it. After all of that pain I just went through, we won.

We fucking won.
> 51. The Aftermath
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Just after Chrysalis admits defeat, the changelings assaulting our forces break off their attack, hanging there in midair listlessly. As the bewildered guards watch, the changelings fly away, out of the city. Which means total victory is ours. The guards realize this a few seconds later, and a rousing cheer sounds in the streets of Canterlot, everypony exulting in a hard earned victory.

Celestia powers down at those words, looking down at Chrysalis with righteous anger. Her horn lights up golden, and then a small sphere of light appears around the defeated queen, imprisoning her there. “I will hear your full story.” Celestia tells her. It's not a question. No, that one statement was presented in such a way that you know your only other option is death. She turns to me next, and to my horror, her expression doesn't change. “The same goes for you, Seth Rogers. I am disappointed in you.”

Unlike Chrysalis, she doesn't place a barrier around me. Even so, she doesn't need to. Just by saying that, it makes me feel like total shit. She has no idea why I did what I did. Everything is probably still has fresh to her now as it was back in the hall. All she knows is that I suddenly betrayed her...so why no barrier for me?

Oh...probably because I'm with Luna and she's not trying to kill me. Right, I forget she's extremely smart.

“Seth!” Rainbow calls to me, running over happily to me, even as Celestia approaches her sister, the two of them hugging warmly. Rainbow's happiness turns to horror when she sees just how badly hurt I am. “Oh my gosh, are you all right? You look horrible!”

I fall onto my back, unable to muster the energy to do anything else. I'm happy, knowing that the battle is over, and Rainbow is still alive. “No, I'm not all right. I felt like I just went through hell itself...” I groan. Now that the battle is over and the adrenaline is leaving my system, I can feel how raw and damaged my body truly is, and it is the worst feeling I've ever had. Everything is stinging, aching, or just down right burning with pain. I'm in agony.

Rainbow kneels down next to me, her magenta eyes filled with worry. “All right...just don't talk. You're going to be fine, okay?” she whispers to me. “You're not allowed to be anything else. Darn it, I should have gotten here sooner!”

“Ah, don't be melodramatic. I'm not going to die, especially with Celestia being that close,” I say, waving away her concern. Looking over, I can see Celestia bathing her sister in healing light. That's good. Maybe she wouldn't mind giving some of those heals to me...eh, probably not. She's pissed at me right now, and for good reason.

“I'm...I'm not being melodramatic!” Rainbow protests, crossing her two front hooves and pouting. “I just didn't think...you'd go through so much pain to make all of this right.”

“Talking like that, you make me sound like I'm some kind of hero. That's bullshit. All I did was fix my mistake,” I clarify. “I made a promise to you, didn't I? I had to keep it...somehow.”

“You've more than done that,” Rainbow assures me with a smile. “Now quit talking. Celestia's on her way. She'll help you feel better.”

Fuck. I glance over, and sure enough, Celestia and Luna are walking towards me. Celestia stares down at me. I can see her anger at my betrayal in her eyes.

“Sister, please heal him. He fought as hard as I did against Chrysalis,” Luna says to Celestia, indicating me with her hoof. She's all healed now, so she looks as good as new, though her armor is in melted tatters.

“Do not worry, I have every intention of doing so,” Celestia assures her, and then she dips her head towards me, golden light emanating from her horn. The light engulfs me, and all of my pain is swept away like sand in the breeze. I can't help but sigh in relief as my strength returns to me.

Of course, my magical reservoir is completely empty. I spent it all on that last attack against Chrysalis, which coincidentally (and thankfully) gave us just enough time for Celestia to save our asses.

There's an awkward silence as I rise to my feet, fully healed. Twilight and Spitfire are walking over to us as well, so that we form a circle. Except no matter who joins us, I can't help but be aware of Celestia's gaze burning into me.

“I do not have time to deal with you now,” Celestia finally says to me. “There is a great deal that must be considered before I decide on your punishment.”

The way she says “punishment,” makes me cringe. It's too soon after seeing her exhibit that immense power for me to say anything in protest. I mean, I'm not actually subject to her laws, but pointing that out will probably just earn me a solar flare to the face. “Okay,” is all I can think of to say, rubbing the back of my head awkwardly.

“Therefore you are to accompany me until such time that I can fully address the issue of your treachery,” Celestia decides. Huh...shit. So I'm going to be walking beside her awkwardly the whole time. Her next words are addressed to all of us. “Come with me, all of you. We have much work to do.”

The cheers of the guard intensify as Celestia appears at the top of the stairs, which is all that's left of the wedding hall. The rest of us stand on either side of Celestia as she stares down at her subjects. Behind her, the barrier containing Chrysalis follows her, as Celestia wisely decides not to let the queen out of her sight. I can see Chrysalis test the barrier with a magic covered hoof, but it easily repulses her halfhearted escape attempt.

Down at the bottom of the stairs, I can see all of the familiar faces staring up at us, appearing relaxed for the first time since this whole affair began. Iron stands with his trident lowered, his visor raised so he can look up at us. Blades's hoof is draped over Iron's shoulder, as he grins up at Celestia, much to Iron's annoyance. Rose is standing with Applejack, the former helping the latter stand. I can also see Pinkie and the other Wonderbolts, the former bouncing around while the latter takes this time to catch their breath.

“Loyal subjects, your fight is over,” Celestia announces, her regal voice projecting to each and every soldier in the square. Morale soars at her words, to the point where I can see some of the soldiers exchanging high fives or nuzzles. Even the injured ponies, like Rarity, are smiling widely. “I would like to thank each and every one of your for your service. If it weren't for your bravery, Equestria would be in dire straits now, so take pride in yourselves.”

“In recognition for your loyalty, I intend to hold an honors ceremony in the future to properly commemorate you all.  But that is a matter for another time,” Celestia says, and then she casts her gaze around Canterlot, which has been left a mess from the assault. “For now, our next priority goes towards locating survivors and treating the wounded.”

At this, Celestia starts walking down the stairs. I feel like we should follow her. First though, I look around for my coat...only to see it lying on the ground, burnt to charred tatters. Fuck, I really liked that thing. Rarity's going to have a fit.

I trail along behind Celestia. Apparently I did the right thing, because Luna, Twilight, Rainbow, and Spitfire are following as well. Behind us floats the defeated Chrysalis, who is likely being guided by Celestia's magic.

“Who among you feels that they are able to continue?” Celestia asks, casting her gaze over the soldiers at the bottom.

“Here I stand, Princess,” Iron is the first to speak up.

“Count me in,” Blades adds. Rose and the individual members of the Wonderbolts chime in not long after that. Applejack opens her mouth to join, but Rose transfixes her with a stern stare. Applejack sighs and sits down, realizing that she's too exhausted to really be of much use.

“Don't forget about me,” Spitfire says from behind me. “I'm still rarin' to go.”

“Very well. Commander Iron, take a detachment of guards that are still battle ready and search the streets for survivors,” Celestia commands. Immediately, Iron salutes and turns the other direction, starting his task without another word. “Captain Blades, take Commander Rose and search the crystal mines, with the same objective. While all survivors are precious, keep an eye out for Captain Shining Armor and Princess Cadance. They have yet to be found.”

That's a fair point. I didn't see Shining Armor in the wedding hall, even though he'd been there when I teleported Rainbow and the others to safety. Cadance wasn't there either. Hell, I don't know where she is. She could be anywhere, if she's even alive.

“Captain Spitfire, take the Wonderbolts and any members of the Pegasus Corps that can still operate and search the city from the skies,” Celestia commands, turning her head to look at us. “Free any civilians or soldiers you find, and help coordinate the search effort.”

“Yes, your Highness!” Spitfire calls out with a salute, and then she takes to the air without further ado. She flies over the guards and snaps out orders to the pegasi scattered among them, carrying out her orders faithfully.

Celestia reaches the bottom of the stairs, so that she is amongst the soldiers. “I will first deal with the matter of the changeling queen,” she continues, and then she reveals the captive Chrysalis to the guards. The guards show their anger at the source of their trouble in the form of glares, and even some jeers. Chrysalis takes all of this in stride, simply scoffing and curling up in the orb she's being held in. “As well as her...accomplices. Then I will return and tend to the wounded myself.”

“Those who have not been given a specific assignment, you are to either to join the wounded, if you feel unwell, or fan out and and join Commander Iron in sweeping the city for survivors. Dismissed!” Celestia finishes, and the soldiers around us burst into activity, moving to carry out their orders. Next, Celestia turns around to view Twilight, Rainbow, Luna, and I. “I am proud of you, Twilight. And you two, Rainbow Dash. You have conducted yourself far better than I could have predicted in this trying situation.”

“Thank you, Princess. But you should really be thanking Luna. We wouldn't be here right now if it weren't for her plan,” Twilight admits, while Rainbow just preens at the praise, her ego no doubt swelling from getting a compliment from Celestia.

“Of course. I am very grateful for my sister for organizing my rescue, but I cannot dismiss your efforts,” Celestia assures her with a smile. That smile fades, however, when she looks at me next. “Seth, come with me. Rainbow, if you could join the Pegasus Corps, I would be most grateful.”

“Um...actually, I'm coming with you,” Rainbow says flatly, causing me to stare at her like she's gone crazy. Are you ignoring an order from Celestia? Are you nuts? Even Celestia blinks, taken by surprise by Rainbow's refusal. “You're going to talk to Seth, right? I want to be there for him. You can't keep me away.”

Celestia looks between Rainbow and I, probably wondering why the hell the Element of Loyalty is defending me, who betrayed all of them. Most of all, she's directly defying Celestia to do so. She opens her mouth to respond, but is interrupted.

“I would like to accompany thee, as well,” Luna asserts, standing next to Rainbow. “I feel I am beginning to understand what hath occurred during my absence.”

“I'm coming too...if that's okay,” Twilight adds as well. Now that takes me by surprise. I understand Rainbow and Luna (even though Luna is a stretch), but Twilight?  She was the one who yelled at me the most, apart from Rainbow, back in the cave. So why the hell does she want to come with us too?

Celestia does her best to hide her surprise, but I can tell she didn't expect all of them to want to come along with her as she decides what to do with me. “I...see,” Celestia emits, confused. “Then you'd best all come with me. We're headed to the dungeon. Chrysalis must first be dealt with.”

Celestia weaves her way through the square, taking care not to impede the progress of any of the guards on their way to carry out her orders. As we follow her, I catch Rainbow's eyes, and immediately mouth to her “What the fuck are you doing?” Rainbow's response is to rub up against my side, like all equines do to show support to those they're close to. I swear, this is dumb, even for her. You've seen what Celestia can do. Do you really want to piss her off? I'd rather it just be me that faces her wrath down in the dungeons.

We follow Celestia back through the streets that I'd fought through not too long ago. Calling it a mess would be putting it lightly. Some of our casualties are lying there, motionless, or are being carried away by other guards. Some of the civilians that have already been freed are here as well, being comforted by their rescuers. The streets are pockmarked with craters, cracks, and burns, as a result from all of the magic that was expended here. 

There aren't that many guards that died, but every time I see one, it fucking hurts, because it is my fault, for not stopping Chrysalis, or at least telling somepony about her. Honestly I'm starting to believe that this reassuring thing that Rainbow is trying to do by keeping her side in constant contact with me is working, because if she weren't here to remind me that this fight was worth something, I would fucking lose it.

I wish I'd chosen Rainbow from the get go. Then right now, I would be celebrating, rather than following Celestia into whatever she decides is my fate. In her eyes, I'm probably as bad as Chrysalis.

We turn into the dungeon, and we soon end up in the hallway where we'd freed Commander Iron. So, basically solitary confinement, which is where I assume the most dangerous individuals are kept. 

Celestia raises a hoof and runs it down the length of one of the cell doors. I hear the unlocking mechanism clanking, and the magical runes appear as well, until the door swings open to reveal an empty cell.

Chrysalis glares at us as Celestia places her in the cell, until at last the door swings shut, locking that monstrosity away for good. However, one thing bothers me. 

“Celestia, I didn't see a cancellation field on that door. What's stopping her from blasting her way out of there?” I ask worriedly. If Chrysalis got free, there's no telling how much damage she could do if she kept to the shadows.

“A cancellation field would not work on her. That is why I placed her in solitary confinement. The material in these walls are made of steel alloyed with a special material that cancels out all magic,” Celestia explains. 

“That doesn't explain those runes,” I point out.

“The outside of the door, as well as the locking mechanism, is constructed of a different material. Rather than steel, it is constructed of the hardest metal known to us, which has the property of enhancing magic,” Celestia continues, thankfully answering my questions despite how pissed off she is at me. “When interlaced with separate locking spells that respond only to myself or my sister, these cells become impenetrable. Chrysalis will not be going anywhere.”

I sigh in relief. I will be able to sleep easy knowing that Chrysalis is locked up forever. However, this brings up an interesting point. If Chrysalis came out of nowhere and had the power to completely trash everything except for Celestia, what else is out there with that kind of power? That's a chilling thought.

“Good! She doesn't deserve to be free, after how she came in here and messed everything up,” Rainbow states, glaring at the closed and locked cell door. 

Celestia nods in agreement, and then she orders two passing guards to guard Chrysalis's cell. “Watch over her until I return to question her,” she commands them. The two guards salute, and then stand on either side of Chrysalis's prison. Then, she continues walking deeper into solitary confinement, where I've never been before. “Follow me.”

We descend a few staircases, until I stop seeing solitary cells and reach a dead end, where there are four unsecured doors. Celestia opens one of them with her magic, and ushers us all inside.

The room that I'm standing in is very plain, consisting only of a simple table and a few chairs, one of which has restraints attached to it. Fuck, this is an interrogation room, isn't it? Well, I knew this was coming. I might as well go along with it.

I sit down in one of the chairs and fold my arms up on the table. I realize this is the first time I've sat down since my discussion with Rainbow earlier today. Damn, it feels good. It would be better if I wasn't about to answer for the single greatest fuck up I've ever made in my life. 

Rainbow and Twilight stand on either side of me, and Luna stands next to her sister. Celestia shuts the door, and then a sheet of metal slams down in front of it, likely made of that same material that cancels magic. Huh. She's taking no chances with me. Not that it matters. I used up all my magic in the fight with Chrysalis.

“Now, let us begin,” Celestia says. She lets her angry expression drop, to be replaced by one of disappointment and sorrow. “Now, I want you to know that I'm not mad at you.”

“What?” I repeat, dumbly. She's kidding, right?

“I am very disappointed. I believed that I was coming to understand you a bit better over time, and that one day you would consider me a friend,” Celestia expresses, looking at me sadly. “But I don't believe my early judgments of you were wrong. I want you to help me to understand what Chrysalis offered you that was worth throwing away everything you've accomplished here.”

“All right,” I respond, as there's not really much more to say to that. Though...Celestia has always terrified me, what with her overwhelming power and her ability to read me like a book. I don't think I could consider her a friend.

“Now, here's what I have surmised. You saw Chrysalis's impersonation of Cadance for what it was not long after meeting her, and you decided not to reveal her existence to me,” Celestia theorizes, quite accurately. “In hindsight, I believe you discovered her existence during the wedding preparations, when I felt your magic from the dressing room. But she must have told you something in order to keep you from telling me. Assuming my inferences are correct, tell me what she told you that was worth betraying my trust in you.”

God, the way she's looking at me. Even though she's just stating the facts, her gaze seems to cut right through me. I shouldn't really care that I let her down...but why the hell did she trust me in the first place? Still, I'll go along with this without causing too much trouble. At least not until she decides what she's going to do to me.

“Yeah, that's pretty much what happened. I confronted Chrysalis in the dressing room, but I had to knock out her guards to do it,” I explain, telling her the full truth. At least I can explain to Rainbow more my thought process by doing this. “I was going to force her to show her true self, because I knew you sensed me. But Chrysalis showed a strange interest in me...or should I say, my race.”

“We noticed that, as well, during the fight,” Luna agrees, slipping back into pluralisms again. “It seemed like she wanted to possess thee.”

“She did, so she offered me a deal. In exchange for staying silent, she'd tell me everything, including what she was and what she had planned,” I continue, while Celestia watches me carefully for signs of falsehood. “I figured that if I went along with it, I could find out her whole plan, and then alert you to her presence.”

“A risky decision,” Celestia criticizes me. “You knew that she possessed a control spell, yet you walked into her trap without a second thought?”

“Yeah...I didn't really think about that much until I was already there,” I confess, scratching the back of my head.

“I see. An error in judgment on your part. However, if this was your plan, why did you not carry it out?” Celestia demands. Thankfully though, she doesn't seem to be angry, and instead looks thoughtful. “Did she offer you something?”

“Yeah, a chance to...” Rainbow speaks up, but I cut her off with a stare that I hope communicates to her that I want to handle this myself. Either way, Rainbow stops talking, and looks apologetic.

“She offered power to thee, did she not?” Luna questions. “We recall her telling thee that thou could hath become her King. Was that thy motivation?”

“Fuck no. Why would I want to be king of a bunch of shape-changing insects? Besides, Chrysalis was interested in me far more than she should have been. That includes...physically. Ugh,” I express. Just that very memory makes me want to throw up. Beside me, Rainbow and Twilight look as appalled as I do, while the princesses just take it in without any change in their expressions. “No, I went along with her plan because she offered me a chance to...go home.”

“That's impossible. Starswirl's spell isn't that advanced. The only other pony who could pull off such a feat was Sombra,” Celestia asserts. “You truly believed that even if she did have this spell, she would actually follow through with this promise?”

“Honestly, I wasn't thinking about that. She proved to me that her time control spell worked by sending me far back in time, back before you two were princesses,” I reveal to them. This takes Luna and Celestia by surprise.

“Sombra wasn't the only one with knowledge of the time travel spell?” Luna exclaims, looking at her sister in shock. “Sister, if we can attain knowledge of this spell from Chrysalis...”

Celestia nods thoughtfully, but she seems more focused on me. “I see. I believe I understand. You chose to side with Chrysalis, as she gave you hope to see your loved ones again.”

“Pretty much,” I confirm, though now that she mentions it, Chrysalis probably would have double crossed me at some point so she could keep me for herself. She seemed very intent on possessing me.

“I understand, but nevertheless, you committed treason, Seth. I can't just let you off,” Celestia admits, looking regretful.

Rainbow apparently can't keep herself quiet. “What!? But he more than made up for that! Do you understand what he gave up to save my life?” she defends, walking up to Celestia. 

“I agree, sister. It would be unfair to give Seth the same punishment as any traitor,” Luna surprisingly speaks up in my defense, making good on the things she said while in the battle against Chrysalis.

“I told Seth I would forgive him if he helped make things right,” Twilight is the next to join in. “He did more than that. We won because he held Chrysalis at bay long enough for us to free you.”

Celestia looks between the three that have defended me with interest. “It appears I do not know the full story. I do not recall anything after being captured,” she admits. “If you wouldn't mind, can you fill me in on the events that occurred in the time between my capture and my release?”





Celestia remains there, completely silent, as she takes in the tale that she's just been told. I started telling what I remember, but mostly, unless I was the only one in the scene, it was Rainbow, Luna, or Twilight telling it for me.

We started from retelling how I saved as many ponies as I can, to the battle plan, to the fight with Chrysalis, making sure we give as much detail to Celestia as possible.

“It seems that if I were to banish Seth as a traitor, I would face a great deal of opposition, not only from the military, but also from within my own family,” Celestia remarks, glancing at Luna. “It's surprising. The last time I remember the two of you interacting, you did not get along.”

“Hell, I've always respected Luna,” I reveal. That gets both Celestia and Luna to look at me, neither of them expecting something like that from me. “Ever since I met her, the first thing she does is distrust me. Which is damn smart, especially when talking to a human, the most unpredictable motherfuckers this world has ever come up with.”

“Well, you don't seem that bad,” Twilight remarks. I give her a deadpan stare.

“We were so bad, Discord would just sit back and watch us,” I remind her. Twilight forms a small “o” with her mouth, looking sheepish.

“He has a point there,” Rainbow points out, chuckling somewhat. Yeah, during the last few minutes, I told all of them about my interaction with Discord in the past. Everypony in this room has dealt with Discord before, and they all agreed that the things he said seemed very much like him.

“Right, but let's get back on track. What are you going to do with me?” I say, my nerves getting the better of me. I'm just going to feel more and more nervous the more she puts it off, so I want to get it all over with.

“The punishment for a traitor is usually banishment, either out of Equestria or to Tartarus, depending on the severity of the crime,” Celestia informs me. I raise an eyebrow. What the fuck is Tartarus? Isn't that the name the Greeks used for the prison of the Titans? Celestia lifts a hoof to forestall the objections of the ponies around me, even as they open their mouths. “But this is a difficult case. I cannot let you go without some form of punishment, as the populace may demand it when I release the full report to the public.”

“Well? Out with it then,” I urge her impatiently. Celestia takes a deep breath before continuing.

“I believe I have come to a decision. You will be allowed to live as normal, provided you follow a few select conditions,” Celestia begins. “The first is that you are to be formally instated as a permanent citizen of Equestria.”

“That's...huh. I mean, I doubt I'm going anywhere now, but why should I have to do that?” I demand. I don't know how I feel about that. On one hand, it's not like I can go home. Chrysalis will likely die before giving up the knowledge of that spell, and I don't have the capability or motivation to move elsewhere.  But on the other, it would mean I'm essentially giving up my human life for good.

“As you have stated multiple times, you are not a pony, and therefore not subject to our laws,” Celestia reminds me. Oh, son of a bitch, I see what she's trying to do. “This is a defense I have allowed you to keep, trusting you to do the right thing. But now...”

“You want to control me. Really? After that whole speech you gave me earlier?” I snap at her, unable to believe my ears. I mean, technically I should take my punishment, because this invasion was my fault, but it's unbelievable she's going to use this as an excuse to control me.

Celestia shakes her head. “No, Seth. That is not what I intend. Officially, you will be listed as one of my subjects, but in essence, nothing will change. You are not required to do as I say, nor will I attempt to impose anything upon you.”

“Then what the fuck is it for?” I ask suspiciously. I have to follow her laws now, so how the hell does that mean I don't have to do what she says? She is the law.

“It is mainly so that my subjects will feel safe about your presence. Those that do not know of you will hear of your existence, as well as your situation. Those that hear about your role in this assault will feel safe, knowing that you are subject to our laws,” Celestia explains.

“Hold up, so you're just going to tell everypony that I'm a human from the past?” I demand, not liking that either. “I'm not sure I like you just giving out my private details to the whole country.”

“Of course, I'm willing to work with you. The finished statement will be passed to you for approval, if that will appease you,” Celestia offers. Huh...so the country will know about me, but only the things I allow them to. I guess that's better than nothing, and technically I'm not supposed to like this. It is a punishment, after all. It's a miracle she's willing to work with me this much. If I hadn't fought so hard with Luna against Chrysalis, I think I would be banished by now.

“Okay. I suppose that's better than getting no input,” I relent with a sigh. “You said you had other conditions. What are they?”

“The next condition is that you lend your aid to the reconstruction effort. Much of the Canterlot Noble District is in ruins, and will need to be rebuilt,” Celestia continues obligingly. Oh hell, that's going to be a lot of work, especially since Chrysalis fucking blew up the wedding hall. And some of the streets caved in. And other building damage...like the roof I flew through. Goddamn, that's going to take a while. But if I use magic, it shouldn't be too bad.

“Fair enough. Next?”

A smile plays around Celestia's lips, giving me a very bad feeling about the next condition. “Finally, when you return to Ponyville, I'd like you to begin studying the magic of friendship,” she finishes, her smile turning into a smirk.

“Oh goddammit!” I curse, hitting the table with my forehead. I fucking knew she was going to pull some shit like this. I just knew it. Next to me, Twilight is giggling. “Fucking...are you serious? I even have to send you those dumb letters that you make Twilight write?”

“They're not dumb!” Twilight protests, swatting at me with a hoof.

“No, Seth. I know you would just find a way to make them sarcastic and bitter,” Celestia points out, earning a rueful grin from me. I totally would. Hey, Celestia, I learned absolutely fucking nothing, because this pony was a prick! “Instead, I expect you to make a decent effort.”

“Isn't that what you asked me to do already?” I remind her, remembering the friendship speeches she gave me over a month ago.

“Yes, but now you have to do it,” Celestia adds, giggling slightly. I groan and let my head fall back onto the table. “Oh come now, Seth. If you enjoyed it, it wouldn't be a punishment.”

“I suppose...ugh, fucking magic of friendship. Rainbow, can I go jump off a cliff again?” I grumble, hating life. Of course, my off color joke causes Rainbow to whack me on the head with her hoof. “Ow...was that necessary?”

“Absolutely. Come on, if that hurt, how did you handle Chrysalis?” Rainbow teases me. I glare at her.

“I didn't handle her. We got totally fucked, in case you didn't notice,” I remind her. Rainbow freezes, and then she shrugs and nods. “Anyway, so are we done here?”

“You are, I suppose. I must go and deal with Chrysalis,” Celestia tells me. Her horn glows momentarily, and the metal sheet blocking the exit lifts up and the door opens. “Let us go. We have much to do.”

“Yeah, no kidding. Reconstructing this mess will take fucking forever,” I grunt. I'm probably going to be in Canterlot for over a week at this rate.

“I'll be sticking around, as well,” Rainbow decides, just as all of us leave the interrogation room on our way out of the dungeon. 

“Me too. Who knows how many ponies will be left without homes because of this conflict?” Twilight agrees. “I'll help in any way I can.”

“I appreciate your willingness to help. Just know that you can leave at any time. Seth is the only one required to help,” Celestia reminds then, earning another groan from me.

Just as we're passing through solitary, all of us stop dead in our tracks at what we see before us. The cell where Chrysalis should have been held captive is hanging wide open, and one of the guards is dead, while the other stands there listlessly, his eyes staring blankly forward.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me!” I yell out, looking around for any sign of the changeling queen. “She fucking escaped? Impenetrable my ass!”

“What is this treachery!?” Luna demands, looking as alarmed as me. “Sister, those enchantments should have been impossible to break!”

“This is...” Celestia seems truly shocked. She must have really believed that the cell would hold her. Goddammit, I knew it was too good to be fucking true. Now that monster is out and about again to wreak her havoc. “Come. We must question that guard.”

I follow Celestia to the open cell, noticing that the dead guard has been fucking incinerated. I can sense a light hint of magic coming from his body. Yeah, that's Chrysalis's magic. How in the hell...what the fuck was this other guard doing?

“Soldier! What is the meaning of this!?” Luna demands, approaching the guard furiously. “Thou were tasked to defend the most dangerous of war criminals!”

“One of us should have stayed here,” Celestia laments, looking down at the dead guard with sorrow. “But I wanted to give us privacy, and that cost this poor pony his life.”

“This is horrible! We need to find her, before she causes any more trouble!” Twilight exclaims. “There's nothing stopping her invading a second time, if she's given enough time!”

Finally, the guard shows some kind of life, holding up a key to the cell as a twisted grin forms on his face. All of us stare at him in shock. This fucker let Chrysalis out? Why in the hell would he...

“Despite all of your power, Celestia, you are too easy to fool,” the guard taunts us in Chrysalis's  voice, his eyes lighting up green. His skin fades away, revealing a changeling drone, of the smallest variety. “You didn't really think I was going to let you hold me?”

“Chrysalis! What do you hope to accomplish by fleeing from me?” Celestia demands, stepping closer to the changeling. “You will not be able to outwit me in the same manner as before.”

“Perhaps not. But I wasn't going to rot away in your pony prison, listening to your self righteous drivel for the rest of my days,” Chrysalis asserts, somehow using the changeling drone as a conduit of sorts. “Because we both know you're too soft to execute me.”

“Fuck! That means our whole fight with her was pointless!” I growl, slamming my fist into the wall. I glare at the changeling. “What the hell do you plan on doing now? We'll annihilate you if you ever come back, you know that, right?”

“Please, Seth. Don't try to act tough, hiding behind Celestia as you are now,” Chrysalis sneers, and I look down, because she's right. Without Celestia, Luna and I would be dead right now. She's just too strong. “Though, I will tell you one thing. I have no intentions of returning to Canterlot for now. You have shown me that I must search elsewhere for a food source. You win this round, Celestia. But when the swarm and I are back to full strength, I will return to crush you and your little human slave.”

“I will stop you if you ever threaten my subjects again, fiend,” Celestia declares, staring intensely into the eyes of the changeling drone. “It would be for the best if you returned to your hive and remained there.”

“Hmph. Well, I've said my piece. I do believe I'm done here,” Chrysalis determines. “However, Seth, if you ever change your mind, come find me. I'll give you a life beyond your wildest dreams.”

With that, the glow disappears from the drone's eyes, and it hits the ground, dead. Chrysalis must have been maintaining its life with her magic, or whatever. I don't know. All I know is that she had a link to it somehow.

Now that Chrysalis is gone, the five of us exchange concerned glances. We may have won this time around, but who knows what the future holds?

Chrysalis is still out there.

> 52. Searching for Friends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am so goddamn pissed right now. I feel like breaking something. I just feel so damn powerless  it's frustrating. After all that effort we put into defeating her, Chrysalis gets away the moment we take our eyes off of her. All because we assumed all of her changelings took part in the attack.

“We must track her down! The populace will be in an uproar if the one responsible for this mess gets away!” Luna growls. She looks like she's about to start blowing the place up, hoping to find Chrysalis that way. She obviously doesn't do that. Instead, she settles for incinerating the dead changeling with her magic, as a way to take out her frustration.

Celestia is kneeling down next to the dead guard, her eyes gazing upon his body with unconcealed sorrow. “I'm sorry,” Celestia whispers to him, even though he can't hear her anymore. “This is my fault. I only hope that wherever you are, you can forgive me.”

A pall of silence and despair hangs over us as each of us think about the possible consequences of this occurrence. To me, Chrysalis seems like the kind of creature that would hold a terrible grudge. She's definitely going to strike back at some point.

“Sister! We must send out search parties at once!” Luna urges, breaking the silence. “I won't let her escape!”

“Don't bother. She's gone,” I interrupt, crossing my arms. Luna glares at me. She probably hoped I'd side with her, since I'd been with her for the final battle. “Think about it. She can look like anyone or anything. She has the advantage right now and she knows it. She can dance circles around us, and lead us right into a trap.”

“Seth is right,” Celestia says somberly, lifting the body of the guard with her magic. “I don't like it, but Chrysalis has outwitted us once more. It's clear she saw the possibility of capture, and installed her spies within the guard as a countermeasure.”

“I cannot accept this,” Luna growls, stomping the ground with a hoof. I also notice she's dropping the pluralisms again. I think I'm starting to see a pattern in why she does that. “I will not sit around idly while that thing plots to enslave our subjects! Sister, give me control of the Stealth Corps.”

Hold on, the what now? I don't remember hearing about a Stealth Corps...and now that I think about it, maybe that's the point. Celestia is staring at her sister with a pensive expression. And while this whole exchange is going on, Rainbow and Twilight are standing there awkwardly, unable to really contribute to this discussion.

“Luna, if I give you command over them, what will you do with them?” Celestia asks at last. “You are angry, and I understand that. But I cannot permit you to put the lives of other ponies in danger because of that.”

Luna looks livid for a few seconds, before she forces herself to calm down with a few deep breaths. “Dost thou intend to do nothing, then?” she questions in a dangerously soft voice.

“Of course not. I agree with you wholeheartedly that something needs to be done. I merely wish to go about this in a sensible and methodical way,” Celestia assures her. You know...this whole exchange shows me that a diarchy can be way more effective than I thought. If it had just been Luna in charge, chances are she would be charging off looking for Chrysalis right now. Damn, this country really couldn't be in better hands...er...hooves. “In fact, I wish to have a course of action ready before I address the public with a full report, if only to assuage their fears. But first, we need to organize the search effort.”

“I...see. Then I shalt trust thy judgment.” Luna relents with a sigh, having calmed down enough to recognize the truth in her sister's words.

“I will give this poor soldier an honorable burial myself,” Celestia expresses, gazing at the dead soldier she's carrying with magic. “In the meantime, Twilight, would you do something for me?”

“Oh, of course!” Twilight responds, no doubt eager to get away from a situation like this. I'm with her. The battle may have ended, but it doesn't feel like it's over. “What do you need, Princess?”

“I would like you to go to the Science Tower, and give Dr. Forward a message for me,” Celestia commands. Dr. Forward. That's a fucking name. What even. “Tell him to begin work on developing a way to detect changelings while they are transformed.” 

“Oh, smart. That way Chrysalis can't keep tabs on us,” I comment. That's some pretty good foresight on her part. Celestia nods, agreeing with my statement.

“I'll do that right away. I'll be back!” Twilight exclaims, and then she gallops back the way we came...only to poke her head back around the corner sheepishly a few seconds later. “Um...how do I get out of here?”

I can't help but facepalm. Though since Celestia isn't a total dick like I am, she gives Twilight the directions she asked for after a simple chuckle. With a nod, Twilight is gone, moving as fast as she can to carry out the directive given to her.

Celestia beckons us with a hoof, and we head back the way we came as well. I guess I'm just waiting for orders at this point. I'm practically a construction worker for her, but I don't really mind. As much as I hate work, I've never really had the chance to skip out like I used to do back in my time, so it's not as harrowing as it used to be. Not to mention if I'm working hard, it'll keep my mind off of the deaths I've caused. I think Celestia should have punished me harder.  Damn her forgiving nature.

“Seth, this is what I'd like you to do for now,” Celestia says to me as we pass into the streets, where the guards and rushing to and fro, some carrying injured civilians or guards, and others working to remove debris from a wrecked building to get at the victims inside. It's both a heartwarming and tragic sight, if such a thing is even possible.	“Report to Commander Iron, and tell him I sent you to work under him in the search for survivors.”

“Okay, I guess,” I respond listlessly. I can already tell that actually being there and helping with survivors is going to be a lot worse than just watching from afar. I'll have to handle the consequences of my actions up close. God, I remember just two days ago, I thought that having to go to a wedding was the worst of my troubles. I don't think I've ever been so wrong in my life. Fuck, now that the city is saved, I can't stop thinking about it.

All my life I've told myself that I didn't care about whether or not people lived or died. But now that I'm directly responsible for those deaths, it hurts me, and I don't know why. They're just ponies. I shouldn't care...but I can't help it. How many families have lost loved ones from this conflict? 

My inner conflict seems to have shown or something, because once again Rainbow is pressing up against my side. And this is the dumbest part. I'm taking comfort from a fucking multicolored pony. As much as I care about her, looking at it from an outside perspective makes it look a little absurd. And fuck, it really sucks having to care about somepony. 

“Rainbow, I'd like you to...” Celestia continues, turning her gaze away from an assembly line of workers to look at Rainbow. She cuts off when she sees Rainbow and I walking so close together. Rainbow, upon meeting Celestia's gaze, looks somewhat embarrassed. She fidgets a bit, like she wants to move, but she remains where she is. Celestia's eyes soften for some reason, smiling despite the situation. “...stay with Seth, and work with the Commander as well. No doubt Iron will need all the help he can get.”

“Hold on a minute, what? You said back at the...now non-existent wedding hall that you wanted her to fly with the Pegasus Corps,” I question, wondering what the hell this is all about. Celestia isn't usually one to contradict her own decisions, so what the fuck? “What changed?”

“Oh, nothing major,” Celestia responds with a coy expression. “Captain Spitfire can handle the situation in the air without her. Instead, we could use her strength to help clear debris.”

“I'm cool with that,” Rainbow agrees, a bit too quickly in my opinion. Celestia, what in the hell are you trying to pull? I mean...I'd much rather Rainbow be with me, but...oh fuck it, I don't care anymore. 

“Very good. Now that everything has been settled, it's time to get moving,” Celestia says with satisfaction. “I know you all are tired, but if you can give it your best until dawn, I'll send somepony to relieve you so you can eat and get some sleep.”

“Shit, I am tired,” I admit, realizing for the first time that I haven't slept since I left Ponyville. What with the whole situation with Chrysalis and the non-stop battling, sleep really took a backseat in my mind. How the fuck am I still standing?

“Don't worry about me. I can go for hours!” Rainbow boasts...only to yawn a second later, which earns a chuckle from me and a blush from her.

“We shalt take our leave,” Luna declares, her wings splaying out with a flap. “Fluttershy must be told of our victory.”

Shit, I completely forgot about Fluttershy. That bitch really had it easy, sitting in that cave and looking after those fillies. Whatever. Anyway, Luna takes to the air after some parting words from Celestia.

“I must lay this soldier to rest,” Celestia reminds us, splitting off from us. “You can find me tending to the wounded if you need me.”

Now Rainbow and I are walking together down the street, an awkward silence between us. It's not because of anything Rainbow did though. I'm mostly just staring at the destruction wrought by the battle...which just gets me all torn up inside again. This could have all been avoided if I'd just told Celestia about Chrysalis. Instead, Canterlot is in ruins.

I remember watching a lot of animes with situations similar to mine. Though how the hell do those characters get over it? A simple pick-me-up by a friend doesn't erase something like this. 

“Hey, so...” Rainbow finally says, looking up at me. “Are you okay? You don't look so good. You're all pale.”

“Am I? I'm not fucking surprised. Please, tell me how I can be okay in the middle of something like this?” I snap at her, a hint of sarcasm in my voice. “Do you know what's worse? All the dead that I keep seeing would be alive right now, if I hadn't been a dumb fuck.”

Rainbow winces, but she does try to look somewhat sympathetic. Though I don't think it's an expression she wears that often. Then, she looks determined, and she she stops walking. “Come here,” she tells me, walking in front of me and over to an alleyway between two houses.

“Uh, what are you doing? Celestia said we should be getting to Iron,” I demand, irritated.

“He can wait. Come here!” Rainbow insists. Ugh, what the hell is her deal? I'd like to get to work now, so I can stop thinking so much, but now she's holding me back for whatever dumb reason. Well, she's pretty stubborn, so I guess I should just see what she wants. Though why it has to be done in an alley is beyond me.

“Fine,” I grunt, joining her in the alley. I lean up against a wall, the stone feeling cold against my bare back. Right, I need to get a shirt some time soon, since mine was fucking sliced to pieces, and then incinerated for good measure. “The hell do you want? And why do we need to be in an alley?” 

“Because I don't want other ponies listening in on a private conversation,.” Rainbow answers. “But I wanted to tell you that you shouldn't blame yourself.”

“What!? Are you an idiot? Who else is to blame? If I had just fucking told Celestia in the first place, Chrysalis would be dust right now, and there wouldn't have been a battle,” I shoot back, slamming my fist into the wall in anger. “No, I was a dumb fuck, and that cost ponies their lives.”

“You can't know what would have happened if you'd made another decision,” Rainbow corrects me. “It's easy to say after the fact that you should have done something differently. But it's impossible to know how things would have turned out even if you did.”

“Oh? Since you seem to know so much, tell me all about how Chrysalis could have defeated Celestia in a fair fight,” I remark sarcastically.

“I'm not talking about that. Chrysalis is evil, but she's really smart. She's managed to outwit Celestia not once, but twice now. If you'd tried to alert Celestia, what would stop Chrysalis from killing you quickly and then blaming your death on the hidden assassin threat?” Rainbow suggests, which gets me to pause. Now that I know Chrysalis's strength, it would make sense that if I'd raised my power, she'd have simply killed me. But that's a weak defense, coming entirely from supposition. “That's not the point though. What I'm trying to say is...it's over now. You can't change what's already happened.”

“I know that! But...you all have been treating me way too nicely for this. You're acting like nothing happened at all, and all Celestia did was fucking give me the equivalent of community service...for causing a goddamn changeling invasion!” I retort, crossing my arms. “That doesn't make any sense.”

“Seth, you're talking like you wanted to get banished,” Rainbow observes, looking worried. She  squints at me suspiciously. “Did you want to get banished?”

“Of course not! Where would I go?” I snap. Like seriously, if I got banished, I probably would have found a more creative way to kill myself. “But that's not the point. Banishing me would have made sense. Instead, she's letting me stay.”

“I'm glad she is! I wouldn't want you to go,” Rainbow admits, and then her ears flatten slightly wen she realizes what she just said. I raise an eyebrow at her.

“Really? That makes me a bit curious. What would you have done if Celestia did decide to banish me?” I ask, honestly interested in hearing the answer.

“I wouldn't have let her banish you,” Rainbow asserts, which earns a shake of the head from me.

“Right, like you could really stop her. Seriously though, answer the question,” I return. I've pretty much come to accept that going against Celestia is near impossible. Rainbow is strong, but I can't see her going that far for me. She's not that stupid.

“Well...um...if you were to leave...” Rainbow seems to be thinking hard about the question. She wrinkles her brow, deep in thought. A minute passes, as it seems to be a difficult question for her to answer. Well, whatever she says, it better be honest. Finally, she lifts her head and looks me in the eye. “...I think I'd go with you.”

“What!?” I gasp, looking at her incredulously. Out of everything I was expecting, I did not expect an answer as stupid as that one. “Don't be stupid. You have friends here that you've been living with just fine before I showed up. Not to mention I'm sure you have a family. Coming with me would mean giving all of that up, and no friend is worth that.”

“You think so? Then why did you do that very same thing for me?” Rainbow shoots back, and I'm left speechless. She's right, I really did give up everything I just detailed for her. “Reciprocation is a  thing, you know. If you could do that for me, I would do it for you...though to be fair, I could always visit home.”

“Reciprocation, huh. Sounds like something Amaryllis would say,” I muse aloud, recalling my life back in my time. I realize a moment later what I'd just said, but it doesn't give me the heart attack it did before, because I've already told Rainbow about her, and what she meant to me. “Anyway, the whole point I was trying to get across is...why the hell am I being treated so leniently? Hell, in my time, if I'd done something like this, I'd likely get executed.”

“Executed!? Here's a better question; why would they treat you so harshly for a situation like this?” Rainbow exclaims, horrified. Suddenly, it's starting to make sense. Judging by that reaction, executions don't really happen all that often. Which probably means the methods of punishment between the human world and the pony world are culturally different. “You could have had your family back. To...be honest, I don't think I could have done any differently than you. I'd do anything for my friends, but...family...”

“Bullshit. You're the Element of Loyalty or whatever. I feel you'd have busted Chrysalis in an instant,” I say flatly.

“Maybe,” Rainbow admits, ducking her head. “But still, it was a really difficult decision you had to make. Either way, you lost something...and I can't even imagine how that must have felt.”

“Yeah...it sucked,” I remark. I lost practically whole night's worth of sleep because of that. And I might lose some more. Who knows.

Rainbow looks slightly shy as she says this next bit. “I'm just glad that in the end, you chose us...chose me,” she whispers, looking at me with a strange expression. What the hell is that look supposed to mean? “All of these ponies that you see walking around are alive because of you, Seth. I'm alive...because of you. That's why Celestia didn't banish you. That's why I'm grateful even despite what you did.”

Shit. Technically if I hadn't had a change of heart when I did, the Elements would be dead now. And without the Elements, there would be no plan, and the city would still be in the hooves of Chrysalis. So...Rainbow is right. Ponies are dead because of me, but ponies are alive because of me as well....and...shit, why the hell do I have to deal with so many complicated emotions!? Sometimes I'd rather just be back in college, focusing entirely on my schoolwork and saying fuck you to almost all of my emotions. Fucking ponies. This is what you do to me.

“I guess you have a point,” I admit grudgingly. Rainbow smiles at me, happy to see that she's gotten through to me. “Whatever. Can we get going now? I'd like to not be here when Celestia comes looking.”

“Yeah, sure, let's go!” Rainbow says, seeming much happier than before. We move back towards the street, but Rainbow slows down just before we leave. Ugh, what the hell is her problem now? “Hey...so, before we go back out there...I wanted to ask. Did you mean what you said before? About me...being your reason to live?”

Fuck...I did say something like that, didn't I? Goddammit, I thought we were all going to die back there. Way to go, Seth, just blurt out whatever's on your fucking mind just because things got a bit dicey. Well...more than a bit. Still, this is an embarrassing thing to admit to.

“I'm not saying it again, and if you tell anypony I said that, I will deny it with every fiber of my being,” I express vehemently, though my words pretty much tell Rainbow exactly what I'm feeling. Rainbow grins and emits a fucking squee (and this is the first goddamn time I've heard her do that), and  then blushes slightly. “And stop blushing! I was just telling the truth!”

“I...I'm not blushing! Shut up...stupid Seth,” Rainbow emits, covering her face with her hooves in a frankly adorable manner. I can't help but grin at that. “Let's go. Iron's waiting for us, remember?”

With that, Rainbow and I are back on our way down the wrecked street to find Iron. It sucks to see all this devastation, but it isn't crippling me like it was before. Now, the only thing I'm angry about is that the one responsible was never brought to justice. Damn you, Chrysalis. I hope Celestia finds out where you are and obliterates your entire fucking hive.

After speaking to a guard for directions, we finally find Iron standing by the ruins of a broken down building...which I realize with a start is the hotel Rainbow, Vinyl, and I had once stayed in. Fuck, it's a real mess now. The roof's caved in and the walls are shattered, to the point where I can see into some of the rooms from down here on the streets. Most of them are covered in slime, which means the changelings probably targeted here, knowing that they'd find a great deal of victims here.

Iron is barking commands at his troops, who have formed an assembly line to help remove the debris from the entrance. Some pegasi are helping out as well, flying up to the upper rooms, where they attempt to remove the slime from the upper rooms. It doesn't seem to be going well for them, however. Iron spots us as we approach, and he walks to meet us.

“Hail, Seth. Do you have some business with me?” Iron says officially. Come to think of it, I've never seen this guy show any emotion. Whatever. I actually prefer that. It'll make dealing with him much easier for the both of us.

“Yeah. Rainbow and I were sent to assist you by Celestia,” I reply simply. Iron nods and remains silent, probably thinking about what to do with us. “So just give me something to do, and I'll do it.”

“Very well. I believe I can put you to use. If I recall correctly, you both are capable of flight?” Iron questions us. Rainbow gives him a frankly hilarious look while flaring her wings. Yeah, she's a pegasi, so it's obvious. I assume his question was mostly directed at me. I nod wordlessly to give him his answer. “Good. In that case, I'd like you both to fly to the upper levels and assist the Pegasus Corps in breaking through the slime barrier. It appears to be resisting their efforts.”

“Makes sense. If it were easy to break through that slime, evolution wouldn't have given it to the changelings to begin with,” I reason. I tap into my magic once again, such that my vision turns green again. “Let's go, Rainbow.”

“You got it! I'll smash through that barrier in no time!” Rainbow boasts, and then the two of us take to the air.

“Once you succeed, search the interior for survivors,” Iron commands us, just before we pass out of earshot.

“Um, there's more than one barrier. Which one do we break?” Rainbow observes, staring at the building.

She has a point. There aren't that many rooms visible from out here, and the ones that I can see are covered in slime. The pegasi here, led by Fleetfoot of the Wonderbolts, are doing their best to break through the slime, but to no avail.

Without answering Rainbow, I fly closer to see exactly what they're doing that isn't working. Hm,a s far as I can see, the pegasi are just ramming into the slime with their hooves, hopping to shatter it. Now, if the slime was a rigid structure, that might actually work, but the slime is actually bending beneath their efforts, distributing the force of impact along several thick strands located inside the rooms. Huh. Say what you will about the changelings, but they're too goddamn smart. 

“Let's just pick one,” I decide, flying closer to the hotel, so that the other pegasi can see me. Rainbow follows close behind. When I get close to the Wonderbolt, I call out, “Fleetfoot! I'm here to help.”

“Ah, Seth! Good, maybe you can do better than we can,” Fleetfoot responds readily, beckoning us closer. “That slime resists our every effort. I rammed it at top speed, and even then I just rebounded off.”

“Oh? Then I guess we'd better try harder. I'll hit that slime with a Sonic Rainboom! Let's see how it can stand up to that!” Rainbow declares, flexing her muscles.

“How about you don't do that? As far as I can tell, these barriers are impervious to physical efforts from the outside,” I explain, lifting a darkness covered fist. “If I'm right, only magic can break through it, because it's magical in nature.”

“Huh. That explains why it's so high up. If you're right, then the changelings must have known the unicorns wouldn't be able to hit something so far up,” Fleetfoot conjectures. “Pick a barrier and give it your best shot. If it works, we'll head in through there.”

Well, I guess it's up to me. I consider using my long ranged rifle, but decide against it. If I give it too much force, I might harm any ponies that might be trapped inside, especially if they're also trapped in slime.

Without another word, I soar over to one of the barriers. As I get closer, I can see through the slime to the room beyond...and the first thing I notice are the ponies trapped in slime on the other side. Fuck, there's a family in there. There's a stallion, a mare, and a little filly, all trapped together in a large blob of slime. It's a good thing I didn't use my rifle then.

With a grunt, I slam my fist into the barrier. As I expected, the magic tears into the slime like a knife through warm butter, but only where the darkness touches it. The force behind my attack does absolutely nothing to the barrier.  Fair enough. For my next attempt, I raise both hands, cover them in magic, and hook my fingers into the barrier and form a hole in it by stretching outwards. From there, it's easy to peel away the rest of the slime. 

“That did it! All right ponies, let's get in there!” Fleetfoot orders the other pegasi (all five of them. Sheesh) once she notices my success. I do the smart thing and back off the moment I get the hole open, so that Fleetfoot and the other pegasi can surge inside. “Dear Celestia. All right pegasi, help me free these poor ponies.”

“Seems like you've got things handled here. I'm going further in,” I tell Fleetfoot, even as she's prying apart the slime holding the civilian family with her hooves.

“Understood. Thanks for the help. Stay close, in case we need you again,” Fleetfoot responds. Well, now that that's out of the way, I gesture for Rainbow to follow me and we leave that room, stepping through the broken remains of the door and into the hallway.

“Christ,” I emit, noticing all of the ponies trapped in slime in the hallways. The whole place looks like something out a nightmare. Like, there's slimed ponies hanging from the ceiling, and strands of slime stretching from wall to wall like some kind of twisted green spiderweb. “I guess we'd better start freeing them, huh?”

“Yeah...this is horrible,” Rainbow agrees, immediately moving over to one of the ponies hanging from the ceiling and cutting it down with a sweep of her hoof. “I'll get this one free. You work on one of the others.

“Right...I just hope I don't have to comfort them. I'm not doing that,” I grunt, tearing a pony down from the ceiling as well. “Actually, come to think of it, we should just take these cocoons to Fleetfoot, and have her take care of them. That way we don't have a bunch of panicked civilians running around.”

“While that sounds like a good idea, it seems like you just don't want to deal with them,” Rainbow accuses me disapprovingly.

“So what? If the logic is sound, who cares what my reason are?” I point out with a slight smirk. Rainbow sighs as I pick up the slimed pony and move back towards the room where Fleetfoot is. Judging by the anguished cries I hear from within, she's already made progress in freeing some of the civilians. Upon walking through the door, I'm greeted with the sight of Fleetfoot comforting the freed family. The stallion is holding the mare and filly close, despite his own traumatized expression. “Fleetfoot. I've brought another.”

Fleetfoot looks over and starts at the sight of me holding the slimed up pony. “What the...why didn't you free her?” she demands.

“Because then we'd have a bunch of traumatized ponies running around like chickens with their heads cut off,” I state flatly. Fleetfoot winces at my metaphor, but she's nodding, so I guess she understands my point. “Basically, I'm going to bring all of the ponies I find to you. Though you should probably wait to free them unless they're pegasi.”

“Why would their race matter?” Fleetfoot inquires. Fucking...ugh, you'd think a soldier like her would have thought of this before hand. Sheesh.

“Because pegasi can fly down. In case you hadn't noticed, this room is about five stories high, and the only other way out is clogged by debris. If you want to deal with a bunch of crazed ponies trying to get out, be my guest,” I retort. Fleetfoot frowns at my seeming lack of concern for the civilians, but she does seem to get the point.

“That does make sense. All right. Gather all of the ponies you can find,” Fleetfoot admits with a sigh, indicating a spot for me to place the slimed pony down. I do so, hating the feel of the hardened slime rubbing against my skin. Damn, I really need a shirt. “Cumulus, fly down and tell Iron that he needs to hurry his tail up. There's more ponies than I bargained for up here, and we can only fly down so many at a time.”

“Yes, ma'am!” Cumulus returns with a salute, and then she jumps out the window, spreading her wings.

“You know,” Rainbow says, turning to me with a wry expression as we leave the room again. “You have a knack for coming up with logical excuses when you don't want to do something.”

“Well excuse me, Rainbow, for not wanting to deal with crazy crying ponies,” I retort, searching the hallway for more ponies to grab. “That's the last thing I want.”

“You can't blame them for being scared,” Rainbow chastises me.

“I'm not blaming them for being scared. I'm blaming them for being annoying,” I shoot back. “Yeah, it sucks to be in a situation like this, but I'm just not the kind of guy that can comfort them.”

“Eh, I suppose. Anyway, we should probably split up to cover more ground,” Rainbow suggests. She then rears up and slams both of her front hooves into one of the doors, breaking through the flimsy barrier of slime that had been covering it. “I'll check this room. You check the next.”

“Sure, whatever,” I say with a shrug, and then I too break into one of the blocked hotel rooms. I'll skip describing this next bit, since literally all we do is grab every pony we see and carry them to the other pegasi. Though in one rather humorous case, I had decided to roll one of the cocoons there, which had gotten Fleetfoot particularly mad. Though I thought it was funny. They're unconscious, so what do they care?

Finally, I step into one of the rooms on the far end of the hallway, near the collapsed staircase to the fourth floor. Holy shit, this place is a mess. The bed seems to have been over turned, though it was done purposefully, because there's black marks all over the back of it, suggesting that it was used for cover. Interesting...so the pony in this room tried to put up a fight. This room is fucking covered in slime, so I suppose the changelings had been kept at bay a while.

I look around for any sign of the slimed pony. However, the first thing I notice is a large cart, filled with...are those mixing tables? Hold on a minute...shit.

Sure enough, I recognize everything in this cart. This is Vinyl's stuff. Which means she was in the city when the changelings attacked. Fuck! She better be around here somewhere. Please let her be okay. This whole fight had nothing to do with her. Shit, how did I forget she was here?

I look around behind the bed, and much to my relief, Vinyl is there, trapped in a slimy cocoon much like the other residents I've found. She's been completely encapsulated, so she has no way of knowing that I'm even here. She looks terrified. I would have been too, really.

Next to her is the form of a fallen changeling. Which means she'd managed to take one out before she was taken out herself.  Still, I'd better get her free. But before I do that...

“Rainbow!” I yell, sticking my head out into the hallway. “I found Vinyl! I'm at the end of the hall!”

Almost immediately, I can hear Rainbow galloping down the hall, having heard my cry and rightfully deciding that Vinyl is more important than random strangers. “Are you serious? Vinyl's in this hotel?” Rainbow demands, appearing in the doorway, having given it her all to get here quickly. “Where?”

“Behind this bed. She managed to kill a changeling before she got slimed,” I tell her, beckoning to her. “I'm setting her free. I thought you might want to be here when I did.”

“You thought right. Wow, how many was she fighting? This place is coated in slime,” Rainbow says in awe as she joins me by the slimed Vinyl. Rainbow peers at her face and blanches. “Hurry and set her free. I don't like seeing her like this.”

“I'm working on it,” I respond tersely, my hands already digging into the slime. “Fucking changelings, running around, tossing their slime everywhere...”

Rainbow watches with bated breath as I tear globs of slime away from Vinyl's body, until finally I peel a sheet away from Vinyl's face. Unlike some of the others, Vinyl doesn't wake up immediately, her eyes closing instead. “Huh. Guess I gotta get the rest of this off of her as well. Lend me a ha...er, hoof,” I reason. Rainbow nods and starts tugging at the slime on the other end of Vinyl.

Soon, we've got her free, to the point where the slime no longer holds her upright. Vinyl collapses limply on me. I cup my arms around her back out of reflex, so that I'm holding her up now. “Whoa there. Try and watch where you fall, you dick,” I grunt, even though I know I'm speaking to somepony who's unconscious. I let her down gently, so that she's lying on her side. “Now what? I expected her to be awake when we freed her.”

“I guess we wait for her to...wait,” Rainbow begins, only to stop when we hear Vinyl breathe in sharply, her eyes opening wide. Vinyl lurches head up, her horn lighting up brightly with magic. I don't think she knows where she is...and that's compounded when she starts firing beams of magic in all directions.

“Stay back! I swear I'll hurt you!” Vinyl shrieks, looking around widely. I was just going to wait for her to settle down, but once one of her beams hits me in the chest, singeing my skin, I decide to put a stop to it myself.

“Okay, no. Fucking sit still!” I grunt, reaching forward and grabbing Vinyl's shoulders so that I can stare into her eyes. Vinyl stares at me for a good five seconds before she realizes who she's looking at.

“...Seth? What are you...what's going on?” Vinyl asks, the panic slowly starting to fade from her  eyes. “Where am I? Where are those monsters?”

“It's over, Vinyl. There are no more monsters,” Rainbow assures her friend, stepping forward so that she can be seen as well. “You can relax.”

“No more? Oh good...I need to relax...” Vinyl utters...just before she fucking passes out again, slumping forward so that her head is over my shoulder.

“And she's gone,” I say with a sigh. Seriously, though, that was nuts. It's like she didn't even recognize us at first.

But at least she's okay.
> 53. Three Friends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Once again, I'm keeping Vinyl from falling over by holding her up. Sheesh, why even wake up if all you're going to do is fire a few lasers and then pass out again? Fucking annoying. “So she's down for the count. So...I didn't really think this through. What the hell do we do with her now?” I ask Rainbow, who is peering through the room, looking for any sign of other survivors. Though why there would be other ponies in Vinyl's room, I have no idea.

“I could try flying her down. I mean, she can't be that heavy,” Rainbow suggests, walking over to me. I give her a flat-browed stare. 

“You're kidding, right? She's a goddamn pony. You're a goddamn pony. You're all heavy as fuck,” I retort. It's a good thing I have magic now...or what's left of it after that Chrysalis fight. I'd recharged some of it during the talk with Celestia and all that, but nowhere near full strength. Heh, I remember that one time I tried to carry three ponies at once. That was dumb.

Suddenly, Rainbow shoves me with her two front hooves, knocking both me and Vinyl to the floor. My face smacks into the ground, and while that would normally hurt, the hardened slime on the ground cushions the impact so that it doesn't hurt at all...though the slime feels disgusting. Vinyl sprawls limply on top of me, so that I have to shove her aside when I try to get up. “What the fuck?” I demand.

“I am not heavy!” Rainbow complains, crossing her two front hooves somehow and pouting. Really? I thought she was a tomboy. She's really going to get offended over a weight comment? Well, then I'm going to have fun with this. “You take that back!”

“Hello, I've tried to carry you before. Notice I passed the fuck out,” I remind her, though I intentionally leave out the fact that I was also carrying Diamond Tiara and her father. Rainbow was unconscious then, so she shouldn't remember that.

“That's not...that's just because you're weak!” Rainbow shoots back, stepping forward with the intentions to shove me again.

I quickly reach over and pick up Vinyl, holding her by the shoulders so that she's hanging limply between Rainbow and I. “Stay back, creature! I will hit you with my newly acquired weapon!” I  threaten her, a grin starting to form on my face.

“Uh, Seth, that's Vinyl,” Rainbow corrects me, perplexed, though she does hold off on her assault.

I pretend to be surprised by that, looking between Rainbow and Vinyl, who sleeps blissfully unaware that I may or may not be using her as a meat shield. “Huh. So it is. Oh well,” I comment, and then hold her up all the more vigorously. 

Rainbow stares at me with a dumbfounded expression, and then her composure slips, a snicker escaping from her. My grin grows wider, and then Rainbow finally falls over, laughing at the dumb situation that's developed between us. I put Vinyl down, chuckling myself. Ah, and this is why I keep her around. It doesn't matter how tense the situation gets. Rainbow is always here for me to do dumb bullshit with. Shit like this is why I fought so hard to save her.

“Okay, dumb bullshit aside, I don't think we should try flying her down,” I say, leaning against the wall. Rainbow composes herself and returns to her hooves, listening. “I'm telling you, the first thing she'll ask after she comes to her senses is 'where's my stuff?'”

“I guess that makes sense. But we can't carry her stuff down. So, what, do we just wait for her to wake up?” Rainbow inquires.

“No, that would be a bad idea. Going by my previous logic, I probably shouldn't have woken her at all, but...” I start to explain, but then I catch myself. Was I really about to say “because it's Vinyl?” I look down at the sleeping Vinyl, a multitude of thoughts running through my head. Why would I care if it was Vinyl or not? She's not like Rainbow, and I certainly don't consider her a friend...well...I remember thinking about it a while back, and it's been a month and a half since then, and now this mess happened. Fuck it, I'll talk to her about that after she wakes up. “...it was Vinyl, so I didn't think about that. We should probably give her to Fleetfoot, and keep on searching for other ponies that need help.”

“Right. At least until Commander Iron breaks through the debris on the bottom floor,” Rainbow agrees, though she's giving me a thoughtful stare, for some reason.  “Are you going to carry her, or is she 'too heavy' for you?”

“I'm going to carry her, idiot,” I tell her, grabbing Vinyl once more and this time hoisting her up on my back so that her front hooves are dangling down over my shoulders, and her head is resting on my right shoulder. “Huh. She's not as heavy as I expected.”

“See?” Rainbow shoots at me with a triumphant smirk. Hah, she's still hung up on the whole weight issue. At least now I know of another way to fuck with her. I will call it...the weight button. Don't push...the weight button. Heh.

“Whatever. Let's get her back to Fleetfoot,” I declare, carrying Vinyl out the door, with Rainbow following me close behind. I can't move very fast with her unless I use magic, but I have shit for magic left, really. I should save my remaining stores in case I need to use them to free more slimed ponies. Which I likely will, considering all the rooms we haven't checked yet. “She can come back for her stuff after she wakes up.”

We're about halfway down the hall when we reach another slimed pony. “I'll get this one,” Rainbow tells me, and she reaches down and tears the tendrils holding the pony to the ground. She then wraps her hooves around it and takes to the air so that she can still move while carrying it.

Just after we get moving again with out newest haul of ponies, Vinyl twitches on my back. I ignore it, figuring that she's probably just dreaming or something. “Um...why am I on your back?” Okay, nevermind. She's awake now, and she looks confused as fuck. She's also much more lucid than before, considering she's not firing lasers.

“Rainbow! Vinyl's up,” I alert my friend just before setting the pony on my back down on the floor. Vinyl almost falls over at first, her legs shaking beneath her. She looks between the both of us, looking normal at first, but then it seems like her memories are coming back to her. Her eyes go wide and wild, and she starts trembling slightly. “So are you good now? You're not gonna fire another laser in my face?”

“Yeah, are you all right?” Rainbow adds, the both of us looking at Vinyl with concern. Vinyl attempts to calm herself down with a few deep breaths, but it doesn't seem like it's working for her.

“Y...Yeah. I'm cool,” Vinyl stammers, making a few unsteady steps towards me. I'm not convinced. By the look on her face, I think it's safe to say that her encounter with the changelings has traumatized her in some form or fashion. Great, and I have next to no clue on how to deal with that. I didn't do very well in psychology, because I didn't care about the subject matter.

Vinyl takes a few more steps, and then her legs give out. Acting on reflex, I kneel down and catch her before she can hit the floor. “You sure about that?” I remark wryly, holding her upright. She's trembling more noticeably now, but that's the only warning I get before Vinyl sniffs and then moves forward into my arms, collapsing across my chest in what I think is supposed to be a hug. “What the fuck...?”

“I'm lying. I'm not cool. Oh Celestia, I thought I was going to die,” Vinyl sobs, burying her face into my chest. Ugh...what even...why is she seeking comfort from me? Why not Rainbow? Or was it simply because I was closer? Either way, this is so out of character for her. I guess a near death situation does that to you. “I thought I was dead. When that beam hit me and I blacked out, I thought I was never going to see my friends or family again!”

I look over at Rainbow helplessly, wondering what the hell to say or do when I have a crying mare in my hands, traumatized from a near death experience. She's not like Rainbow, who's faced situations similar to this before. She's just a musician who has no idea what battle is like, and she got caught in the middle. I understand how she must be feeling, but I certainly have no idea what to do about it. And look, the only help Rainbow gives me is to wordlessly indicate Vinyl with a simple motion of her head. Thanks...because this is totally a situation I know how to deal with.

“I don't even know what's going on...why me? Why attack me? I'm just a DJ,” Vinyl continues as I sit there awkwardly , my arms hanging limply to either side. Well, at least she gave me a question I can answer.

“It's not just you. The changelings attacked everypony. Take a good look around. This whole place is trashed,” I point out. Vinyl lifts her head, taking in her surroundings for the first time. She observes the broken doors, the scattered debris, and the ever present slime that covers practically every surface. “Canterlot got attacked. It's a bit of a long story.”

Vinyl appears to be calming down now...comparatively speaking. Instead of being hysterical, she's starting to look more shocked and confused. “But why? Who'd want to attack Canterlot? What are changelings?”

“Like I said, it's a long story. There's no more changelings, though. We've already won. Now it's a matter of cleaning up,” I continue.

“Can't you just take a minute to tell me?” Vinyl says, finally getting off of my chest. She's still shaking, but not quite as badly as before.

“Not at the moment. There's more ponies to find and save. I'll tell you the full story later. Like, when I wake up tomorrow morning,” I tell her. “Well, more like tomorrow evening, because I don't think I'm going to wake up on time. No way in fucking hell.”

“Yeah, I agree with Seth. It's one heck of a story, that's for sure,” Rainbow rejoins, brushing up against Vinyl's side to reassure her. “But I'm glad you're okay.”

“Yeah...I'm glad I am too. I've...never seen anything more frightening in my life,” Vinyl admits with a heavy sigh. “I was just sitting on my bed, reading a mixing book, when I heard the most frightful hissing sound, coming from...everywhere.”

Rainbow keeps her side pressed against Vinyl as she relates her experiences. I don't see why this is necessary. I've already gathered why you're freaked out. I don't really need you to tell me. That hissing though? That was probably the changeling armies coming through the barrier. This hotel is awfully close to the train station, after all, which is where one of the edges of the barrier was.

“Everything started exploding and crashing, and then my door broke open...and the monsters came in,” Vinyl continues, her voice shaking. “I just started blasting them...I didn't stop to think or ask questions.”

“Good choice. I don't think they're sentient enough to answer questions,” I remark, crossing my arms.

“All they did was hiss at me. They didn't care how many I hit, or how many I...killed,” Vinyl chokes. And she's broken up about killing an insect. Wow. Killing a changeling is like stamping on an ant. They're a pestilence, not feeling creatures. “They just kept coming, spewing that slime everywhere.”

“Don't worry, it's over now. Princess Celestia took care of them,” Rainbow assures her friend with an affectionate nuzzle. Good thing too, because I can't say stuff like that. “We're all safe now. You're safe.”

“Oh thank Celestia,” Vinyl murmurs. She looks around the hallway one more time. “So what happens now? Is my stuff okay?”

“There it is. I knew that question would happen,” I say, giving a meaningful glance to Rainbow. “Your stuff's fine. A bit slimy, but so's the rest of the city. Also, I'm afraid you're stuck up here until the guards down below clear the debris. Unless you'd rather we fly you down.”

“Oh no, I'm not leaving my stuff,” Vinyl expresses. No surprises there. That's why I told Rainbow that we should leave her up here in the first place. “Also, where were you taking me?”

“To one of the Wonderbolts. She was going to take care of you until you woke up,” I tell her. Vinyl nods, and sighs once more.

“Sheesh. A lot must have happened since I've been out. I really want to hear about it,” Vinyl reminds me.

“I know. And I said later. Technically Rainbow and I should be gathering more of the survivors right now, rather than talking to you,” I respond impatiently.

“Right, that makes sense. Sorry for taking up your time,” Vinyl agrees, dipping her head somberly. Rainbow sighs and gives me an exasperated expression. What? What is that look for? I'm just telling the truth.

“Nah, don't worry about it, Vinyl. We're your friends; we're here for you to talk to,” Rainbow declares, smiling at her friend. Right...speak for yourself, Rainbow. I haven't decided on that much yet. Still, Vinyl appears somewhat cheered up by her words. And Rainbow is much better I am at this. Well, that sucks, because I'm not going to lie solely for the sake of cheering somepony up.

“Thanks. I guess I'll wait in my room, then, until you get things sorted out,” Vinyl decides, turning back the other direction. “Just like, let me know when I can leave.”

“You got it. If you need us, come find us!” Rainbow calls after Vinyl as she returns to her room. Okay, now that that's out of the way, we can... “Seth, can't you be a little more sensitive?”

“Ugh, so you're going to scold me now? About being sensitive. You. Being sensitive. I thought you hated being sappy,” I groan.

“Being sensitive is not the same as being sappy. And you know what, she's obviously shaken by this. And her well-being and friendship is worth being a little sappy for. Just like yours is,” Rainbow corrects me. A little smirk appears on her face a second later. “There. Your first lesson in friendship. Now you have something to put in your first letter to Celestia.”

“God...dammit, you fucking pony,” I grumble, grinding my face into my hand. My reaction gets Rainbow snickering at my expense. “I'm not writing friendship reports. I'm not Twilight, I don't feel the need to be in constant contact with what equates to a pony goddess.”

“You still have to learn though!” Rainbow responds in a sing-song manner, earning another groan from me. “Your face. You'd think learning about friendship was a fate worse than death.”

“It's just so stupid...'learn about friendship, Seth, it'll be fun!' Seriously, like you can really teach friendship like it's a class,” I complain. “Besides, 99.99 percent of friendships are fake as all hell. What we've got, that's the 0.01 percent.”

“As always, your standards are too high,” Rainbow criticizes me. “It's more like the other way around. I have so many good friends, though they're not perfect. I think you just got unlucky at some point.”

“Okay, fuck you. You have no idea what you're talking about.” I snap, my complaining tone turning into one as hard as iron. The sudden change in tone gets Rainbow to look at me in surprise and guilt. “Don't you dare act like you know what I've had to deal with.”

Rainbow's ears flatten, and she dips her head apologetically. “Sorry, I didn't mean that quite the way it sounded,” she says guiltily. “I was just trying to tell you that most ponies aren't as bad as you believe.”

“Uh-huh. So far, you're the only one I've found that's worth forming a real friendship with. By that, I mean more than I have with Apple Bloom,” I point out. Yeah, that probably sounds weird, but in my eyes the friendship I have with Apple Bloom isn't like the one I have with Rainbow. My friendship with Rainbow is much stronger and closer, more like what I had with Amaryllis, while my relationship with Apple Bloom is more similar to the one I had with my brother. If that makes any kind of sense.

“But...argh!” Rainbow grunts with a comically frustrated expression on her face. “You're complimenting me...but you're still being annoying! How can one guy be so frustrating?”

“Because I practice in front of the mirror every morning,” I reply sarcastically, because I have no other response for a question like that. “Now, if you're done, we should probably get back to work.”

“I guess I'm done...for now. This isn't over, you hear me?” Rainbow warns me, waggling a hoof in my face.

“Whatever.”





Yeah, we spend a lot of time just in this one building. It takes several hours for Rainbow and I to check every room and floor for trapped ponies, and that's including the time it takes to clear any blockages on the staircases.

About an hour after we clear the top floor, Iron manages to break through the debris blocking the entrance on the ground floor. Because of that, Fleetfoot tasks Rainbow and I to help with flying down the cocoons of slime to Iron's group, where the commander orders his guards to start freeing them and calming them down.

Just as the sun starts to rise, Rainbow and I meet up with Vinyl out on the street in front of the hotel entrance. Behind her is the cart carrying all of her stuff, which she'd gotten down the stairs with the help of her magic, I'm assuming. 

“Hey! How are you feeling, Vinyl?” Rainbow greets her as she approaches with the cart. I remain silent, choosing to take this moment to catch my breath and wipe the sweat from my face. All this heavy lifting is starting to exhaust me, especially since I haven't had any sleep in a long time.

“Better, I think, now that I've had some time to calm down,” Vinyl confesses, coming to a stop just near us. “Still...I don't think I'll be able to forget this any time soon.”

“I hear that,” I grunt with a hint of dry amusement in my voice. “I'm not going to forget this whole mess ever. Christ, it has been a wild two days.”

“That's an understatement,” Rainbow remarks, and then the three of us take a moment to chuckle amongst ourselves. “But...in the end, I'm glad the three of us made it out okay.”

Even though I nod, her words can't help but make me think about the ponies that are still unaccounted for. Shining Armor and Cadance are missing, likely dead. I doubt Chrysalis needed them after she hijacked the wedding. I still don't know what happened to Octavia either. And...then there's Lyra. She and her two friends are most likely dead as well. That one hurts, because while she was annoying as fuck, never did I want to kill her for it. And that's essentially what I did.

“I'm telling you, once we get back to Ponyville, we need to go for some cider, just the three of us,” Vinyl suggests, looking between the two of us with a happy smile. 

“Not gonna lie, that sounds really good right now,” I admit, causing Vinyl's smile to widen. “Hell, I'll pay for the drinks.”

“What? Is this kindness coming from you?” Vinyl teases me. I roll my eyes. I should have fucking known. “What's the deal?”

“Shut up. I'm buying, because this...all happened in part because I was a dumb fuck,” I admit. Vinyl blinks, her grin disappearing. “But like I said, I'll explain all of that later, after I get some sleep.”

“Don't worry about it, too much, Vinyl,” Rainbow assures the now confused DJ. “He's right, but if anything, Seth and I are even better friends because of it.”

“Careful, Rainbow. You're starting to sound a little sappy,” I remark, gazing at her from the corner of my eyes. Rainbow flushes slightly and shoves me in response, to the point where I stagger a bit. Even so, I chuckle, finding that reaction funny.

“Oh. Well, if you say so, I won't worry,” Vinyl says finally, still looking a bit perplexed. “Though it must be one heck of a story, the way you two are talking about it.”

“It really is,” Rainbow says with a grin. Just then, we're interrupted by Iron approaching us, looking as taciturn as ever. There are two guards behind him as well, both of which look fresher than the rest of the exhausted guards around us. “Oh. S'up, Commander?”

Iron chooses to ignore Rainbow's rather informal greeting, instead staring at me. “The two of you are relieved. Go get some rest.” he orders us as soon as he makes sure that we're all listening. He then looks at Vinyl next. “Civilian, do you need medical attention?”

“Thanks, but I'm fine.  Also, my name's Vinyl,” Vinyl responds with a wry expression. “You know, so you don't have to call me 'civilian.'”

Iron blinks, taken by surprise at how he was just addressed. He coughs slightly. “I see. Lastly, Seth, you will be given more orders when you awaken.”

“Whatever, I guess,” is my response.	 I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. In the meantime, I can go get some sleep...though where I'm going to do that is beyond me. Unless I can get them to let me stay in the barracks, since I'm technically working with them. On second thought, no. I don't relish the thought of having a million sweaty guards surrounding me at any given moment.

Before I can ask about that, Iron's already leaving. The two guards that had been with him stay, moving past us and going to wherever they were ordered. I don't know. All I know is that Rainbow and I are off duty for today. 

Rainbow open her mouth in a rather obnoxious yawn. “Well then. Shall we go back to my suite?” she suggests. Oh right, she does have one of those. Provided it's still intact, though. If it was anywhere close to the wedding hall, it's fucking gone.

“Whoa, I didn't think you were at that stage of your friendship. I mean, inviting him into your private suite...” Vinyl beings, and a vein immediately starts to twitch on my forehead. Rainbow has a similar look. We both turn around slowly and transfix Vinyl with glares that promises immediate pain. Vinyl has a stupid grin on her face, and the moment we take a step towards her, she immediately turns the other direction and fucking books it. “I'm out!”

“Get back here!” Rainbow and I both say simultaneously, and immediately chase after her.





So after a few minutes of running around like idiots (and proceeding to mess up Vinyl's mane), Vinyl and I end up accompanying Rainbow back to her suite, which as it turns out, is still in one piece. I guess Rainbow's lucky her suite is in one of the towers near the back end of the castle, where the least amount of combat occurred...if any even occurred at all. It's not far from Rarity's suite, now that I think about it. I suppose it makes sense that all of their suites are relatively close together.

“Do you two mind if I crash here too? Or should I get my own?” Vinyl asks, her mane all over the place from our combined	revenge. “You know, so you two can have some...”

“Vinyl, I swear to god. I will twist your goddamn mane into a knot if you make another joke,” I interrupt her, glaring at her once more. Vinyl wisely cuts off, but not before snickering into a hoof.

“Yeah, Come on in. There's room for all three of us in here,” Rainbow says, chuckling as well. She ushers us in with her hoof, and then points further into the dark room. “Just look at the bed. It's massive!”

Walking into the room, I notice that it's pretty much the same as Rarity's was. By that, I mean it's a roughly circular room with an adjoining restroom. The first thing I do is kick off my flip flops, which are surprisingly still in one piece even after the battle I'd just been in. Which then leads me to realize that I just fought in a battle wearing flip flops. And I didn't lose them. Screw beating Chrysalis, this right here is fucking miraculous.

Rainbow is right, the bed is gigantic. Like, slightly larger than a king size, if I had to make a guess. Though why a tiny ass pony needs a bed that massive is beyond me. It seems a little vain, if you ask me. Luckily though, this carpet feels great. It feels like silk, which means it feels like heaven as my feet sink into it.

“Dear Celestia, you are right. I am jumping on that, and nothing is going to stop me,” Vinyl declares, but Rainbow bites her on the tail to keep her from doing such...which just looks funny to me. I don't think I've ever seen a pony do that. Is that how non-unicorns restrain other ponies? That's funny as hell. “Aw, come on, Rainbow!”

“Not until you get clean, you're not,” Rainbow corrects her, letting go of her tail. She immediately starts spitting in disgust. “Ugh, I can taste the slime! That's just gross!”

“Oh yeah...that,” Vinyl says with a shudder, her excitement dimming slightly. “You're right. I should go get a shower.”

“Wait up, I'll come too,” Rainbow replies, and then the two of them walk towards the bathroom.   Just after they walk inside, Rainbow pokes her head back out. “Hey Seth, want to join us?”

I stare at her, unable to believe the words that just came out of her mouth. “Fuck no! Why the hell would you even think I would accept an offer like that? Are you downright cra...” I suddenly cut off when I remember a certain key detail. I can't help but facepalm. “Right, ponies bathe together. I keep forgetting that.”

“Yeah, you didn't know that?” Rainbow remarks, her offended look turning into one of amusement now that she understands my initial reaction.

“Whatever. So does that extend to friends of the opposite gender as well? Because that strikes me as odd,” I inquire. Seriously, if a human male showered with two female friends...I don't think I need to explain how awkward that would be.

“Seth, we don't wear clothes. Taking a shower with a friend is like going for a swim, except you get clean,” Rainbow points out. A moment later, I hear the shower start up in the other room. “Whether you're male or female doesn't make a difference.”

“A fair point, I guess...but my answer is absolutely fucking not. We're anatomically different from ponies, and that's all I'm going to say about that,” I respond, somewhat awkwardly. This is a conversation I never thought I would be having. I'm basically explaining to a clueless pony that I don't shower with other people, especially women. That's just wrong on so many levels. “Though this is the first time you've asked. What's up with that?”

“Aw, that's all you're gonna tell me? Totally lame,” Rainbow responds. “But yeah, I asked because I trust you. Now more than ever.”

“Okay, that's twice now. Are you just getting sappier when I'm not looking?” I point out. Rainbow gives off a hilarious huff, and then she ducks inside for a split second before returning, hurling a loofah at my face, and then shutting the door.

Heh, pissing her off with that never gets old. Well, anyway, I'm tired as fuck. I can take a shower in the morning. I need to tend to my hair, especially since it probably looks like shit. Getting burned with magic tends to do that. I groan when I realize that if I ever want it to look as good as it did before the battle, I'm probably gonna have to get it cut. Well, more like trimmed, so I can keep the length and just get rid of all of the singed ends and make it look uniform. Which means I'll have to trust  a pony barber...and there goes more of my money. Looks like I will not be getting a house when I get back to Ponyville...in a month. In the meantime, I get to do unpaid labor that may or may not be completely deserved.

Making the decision without even thinking about it, I grab a pillow from the bed settle down on the floor just beside it, sighing in comfort as I feel the plush carpet against my skin. God, I'm so tired. Usually I take time to think before sleep, but because of the fact that I've not slept since that one nap I had in Chrysalis's room combined with the exhaustion from the battle and the work afterward, and I promptly go out like a fucking light.





Surprisingly, I wake up on my own much later, feeling much more rested than before. Honestly I expected to be woken up by a bunch of guards barging into the room, giving me my job for the day.

I sit up, wondering what time it is. For some reason, a blanket falls off of me. Huh, I don't remember going to sleep with a blanket, so how did that get there?

Whatever. I stand up and look out the window. The sun seems to be past its high point in the sky, so I'm guessing it's sometime in the afternoon.

Looking around, I see that as per usual, Rainbow and Vinyl are sleeping together in that massive bed, though there's a ton of empty space left in there, because they're so comparatively small.

I guess it's my turn. I'm filthy as all hell, from the combination of slime and debris from the battle. Now that I've slept, I feel even more greasy, so I'm going to get a shower before I do anything else.





A short time later, I'm standing in front of the mirror, dressed in nothing but my pants and boxers, because that's literally all I have, and even they're torn up from the battle. 

I'm staring at my reflection, dissatisfied with what I see. As I had suspected, my hair doesn't look so great. Despite my careful tending in the shower a few minutes ago, it still looks ragged because of all the hairs that were damaged before. While the texture is still as silky as I like it, it just doesn't look good.

I can hear Rainbow and Vinyl talking in the other room, telling me they're awake now. I guess it's time for me to make good on my promise and tell Vinyl about the shit that happened since the invasion.  Which means telling her about my dumb mistake. And she'll likely judge me super hard for that.

“...telling you, I saw Princess Celestia at full power, and it was AWESOME!” Rainbow is saying to Vinyl as I open the door. Vinyl is sitting there with her mouth open in awe. “It's like she brought the sun down to the ground!”

“That's just nuts. I had no idea she was so strong,” Vinyl admits, looking shocked. “So she's the one who destroyed all the monsters?”

“Yes and no,” I interrupt, joining them and sitting down next to them, forming a circle. “I guess it's time to tell you everything.”

“Yeah, please do. Even though I...fought with some of those things myself, all of this sounds so unreal,” Vinyl tells me. It suddenly hits me that Vinyl hasn't been wearing her shades since we freed her from the slime. I wonder if they broke or something. 

“Want me to start?” Rainbow offers, shifting her position so that she's pressing her side up against me again.

“No, it's really my tale to tell. Though correct me if I mess something up,” I tell her. Rainbow nods, and then I look back at Vinyl, who is watching me expectantly. “Okay, so basically the whole thing started when I came to Canterlot with Rainbow and the others. You remember that barrier, right? That was because...”





Vinyl sits through my tale patiently at first, only occasionally asking questions. Her eyes get wide when I tell her about the circumstances that the city is under, like how Celestia was attacked in the middle of the street.

It's only later, when I dip into the subject regarding Chrysalis, that Vinyl goes dead quiet, watching me with an unreadable expression. I don't tell her everything, of course. She doesn't need to know about Chrysalis's attempt to seduce me, or the specifics about my family. No, I make it clear exactly what kind of deal Chrysalis presented to me, and what decisions I made.

“Then, Luna and I confronted Chrysalis at the wedding hall, got our asses handed to us on a silver fucking platter, and then somehow managed to live long enough for Celestia to get there and scare Chrysalis into giving up,” I finish, and then I lean back with a sigh. I'm not used to talking so much in one sitting, so my throat hurts slightly. Still, at least Vinyl knows everything now. Though I bet she's not happy with me about it. “Now we're just cleaning up. Celestia is making me stay and help rebuild the city.”

“That's...wow,” Vinyl finally says, stuttering a bit. “How...that had to really suck, how Chrysalis tempted you.”

“What? That's all you're going to say? You're not going to yell at me?” I demand, surprised and incredulous.

Vinyl sighs and shakes her head. “No, Seth. I'm just glad you chose to save us, in the end. That...was a decision no one should have to make. It's just not right,” she expresses. She changes position so that she's on my other side. “I think that if I'd been given a choice like that, I'd have just shut down.”

“Okay. No. Stop...stop being so understanding. Why can't you at least yell at me like Rainbow did?” I snap at her. Vinyl blinks, confused. “I nearly got all of you killed. Somepony has to hate me for this. I shouldn't be allowed to keep all of my friends after something like this.”

“What are you talking about? It feels like you're trying to punish yourself for this, even though your choice was something that...” Vinyl tries to reason, but suddenly, in the middle of her sentence, she cuts off, a dumbfounded look forming on her face. “Hold up. Did...you just call me a friend?”

I freeze. Fuck, I did, didn't I? Once again, my fucking mouth contradicts what my mind is telling me isn't true. What should I tell her? I mean, I've been considering it for over a month now, and we've had some fun times, but am I really ready to call her a friend?

You know what, I've made a decision. She hasn't fucked me over for the entire time I've known her. She's been a decent boss, and she's almost always around when Rainbow and I hang out in Ponyville. I also felt worried about her when I saw her in the slime, and usually I don't give a fuck what happens to other people (or ponies, in this case).

“Yes. I did. And I'm not saying it again,” I finally say after a pregnant pause. Vinyl forms a grin a second later, and then she nudges me good-naturedly.

“Yes! Now I'm better at doing whatever it is Rainbow does,” Vinyl jokes, which gets Rainbow to look at her oddly.

“Hey!” Rainbow protests, which only gets Vinyl to laugh. Still...there's no way this new friendship is anywhere near what Rainbow and I have.

“I wouldn't go quite that far. Rainbow and I have gone through hell together, and yet she's still putting up with me. Somehow,” I correct her. Vinyl's smile remains, but she nods understandingly.

“It's only because I'm awesome,” Rainbow provides helpfully. I stare at her with a wry expression. “What? Only telling the truth, buddy!”

Both Vinyl and Rainbow start chuckling at that, while I sit back and sigh. There's something about this world, I swear. I haven't been here very long, but I now have more friends than I've ever had.

I can't help but remember Amaryllis and my family. I close my eyes. Just you wait, guys. I'll show you that I can live on, even in this crazy world I've ended up in. 

That's a promise.
> 54. Military Matters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	So since my spur of the moment declaration towards Vinyl (which I'm still unsure of whether or not it was the right decision), all we've been doing is sitting around, talking about stupid shit. I mean, I assume that the guards are going to contact us...somehow. Assuming that they even know we're here. I don't remember us telling any of the guards where we were going to sleep.

Whatever. I don't really care. They'll find us if they have at least a semi-decent intelligence system. And if they don't, I'll just make the excuse that I was told to wait for more orders. With that in mind, I lean back, listening to Rainbow and Vinyl talk about the former's adventures in the mines on her way to free Celestia.

“Spitfire and I were unstoppable! Poor Twilight is in the back, totally unable to keep up with our speed. And then wham, smack!” Rainbow relates, over-embellishing her own feats with over-dramatic hoof motions. Vinyl seems to be eating it all up though. Seriously, these ponies that listen to her are doing nothing but stroking her ego. “That one changeling flew back so far, it was like a bowling ball! I guess you could say I got a...”

Rainbow is interrupted by an strong knock on the door. “Huh? I wonder who that could be,” Rainbow wonders. She sighs and moves over to the door, opening it to reveal Commander Rose, still clad in her battle armor. Oh. So there's the guard. Except they sent one of the higher ups to come get us. “Oh. Hey Rose. What's up?”

“I've come to retrieve Seth,” Rose responds officially, without so much as a proper greeting. She casts her gaze around the room until she sees me. Her expression changes ever so slightly upon seeing me. If I hadn't been looking back at her, I'd never have noticed. Her lips curve downwards into a slight frown, and her eyes narrow. But it's so slight, neither Rainbow nor Vinyl seems to notice. “Come with me.”

“Guess we'd better get going,” I reply with a shrug. I stand up and join Rainbow by the door. I guess whatever problem Rose has with me, I'm going to find out about it soon.

“But what about...” Rainbow starts, shooting a concerned glance back at Vinyl.

“Eh, don't worry about me. If they need ya, they need ya,” Vinyl assures her with a shrug. “I'll just stay here and get some more rest.”

“You sure?” Rainbow presses. Vinyl nods and shoots Rainbow a reassuring smile. “All right. Well, lead the way, Rose.”

Without a word, Rose turns around and leaves the room, expecting us to follow her. And I've forgotten how much of a bitch she can be. I guess she can't stay all emotional forever, like how she was in the battle. This isn't going to be fun. But then again, I knew that when Celestia assigned me to stay here for however long it takes to get all this shit put back together.

We're walking through the hallways in silence for a good five minutes before I get fed up. “Okay, so what's the deal? What does Celestia want us doing now?” I demand, crossing my arms. 

“The princess has temporarily assigned you to the command of the First Regiment for the duration of your stay in Canterlot,” Rose corrects me. “She is not always responsible for directing you.”

“Was correcting me necessary? Just tell me what I need to do,” I snap, already getting irritated. I wish she could have just stayed tolerable. I mean, over the month and a half I spent with her, we had at least an amicable working relationship. Now, it seems like she's regressed back to what it was when we first met.

“I suggest you curb your tongue. Remember why you are here,” Rose warns me. I'm about to shoot back a retort, but then my eyes widen. Wait, what the hell does she mean by that? “But to answer your question, Captain Blades has requested your assistance in the mines.”

We walk outside of the castle and down the steps, as Rose continues our briefing. “During a previous incursion, the Second Regiment discovered a construction of foreign design deep in the mines. We believe it may be of changeling origin.”

“Makes sense. I doubt all of these changelings came from outside. You just can't hide a force like that, even if they're all transformed,” I muse. For some reason, a funny mental image of the changeling army traveling as a massive flock of geese strikes me, and I quirk a smile. “Why do you need me?”

“There is a possibility that the changeling queen may be using it as a hiding place, while she regains her strength,” Rose reveals, and my heart promptly rises into my throat. Fucking fuck. 

“Shit, really? Then you don't need me, you need Celestia. She's the only one that can beat down a monster like that,” I point out, shaking slightly at the thought of having to see Chrysalis again. I calm down slightly when I think about it a bit harder. “I doubt she's there, though. She's not stupid enough to hide so close to Canterlot, especially after realizing how screwed she is if she stays here.”

“The possibility remains, however. And as you said, the princess has indeed joined us in the mines, though she cannot enter the hive herself, lest another trap be sprung,” Rose explains.

“That makes sense. If she gets canceled again, we're all fucked,” I think aloud. Still, I feel much better about this knowing that I have that overpowered fucker backing us up. “So let me get this straight. To minimize the risk of further losses, you're gathering the strongest fighters in the city?”

“That is correct. Captain Spitfire and Commanders Iron and Fleetfoot will also be accompanying us,” Rose continues as we near the first major hole in the streets that leads into the mines. Much to my surprise, I see that the ponies have constructed a wooden scaffolding so that members of  every race can get down into the mines safely. Sheesh, it's only been one night. How the hell did they build that so fast? Ugh, why am I asking? The answer is probably magic. “There is one last matter that I wish to discuss.”

“And what is that?” I ask, resisting the urge to groan. I can't believe I'm going into a changeling hive. Still, I guess the presence of a hive proves that Chrysalis has been building up this attack force for a long time.

Rose turns her head slightly, one eye fixating on me. “A full incident report was released to the military a several hours ago, courtesy of Princess Celestia. That includes your...transgression,” she informs me grimly. Oh. Now I understand why she's being so cold and stiff. A sinking feeling falls upon me.

“Now wait just a minute!” Rainbow protests, rushing to my defense. “If you read the incident reports, then you know what he had to choose between!”

“That is correct,” Rose affirms, but her tone doesn't get any softer. “I disapprove of your decisions. Had it been me in your place, I would have chosen my country immediately.”

“Oh, what the fuck,” I snap. So she's just going to be super condescending the whole time. Bitch, you were never my friend, so why the hell should you care that I betrayed you? “You're telling me you wouldn't hesitate. You're telling me that your family means that little to you. Am I understanding this right?”

“You assume correctly,” Rose replies, causing both Rainbow's and my jaw to drop. Are you kidding me? I'm an asshole, but I'm an asshole that cares about his family. Is it possible that I've found somepony worse than me? “I left my family behind years ago. My country is more important to me than the fickle bonds of family.”

“What? How can you leave your family behind!?” Rainbow demands, looking beyond shocked at Rose's perceived callousness. “Don't they love and care for you?”

“Perhaps they did. It doesn't matter now. A short time after I left for military training, the correspondence between my family and I slowly ceased, and I never felt the need to resume it,” Rose reveals. “As a result, I am much more effective as a soldier. I have nothing the enemy can use against me, so I will never fall prey to a trap like the one you did.”

“Bullshit, you fucking ice queen. I guarantee that even you would freeze up if Chrysalis had your family in her clutches,” I challenge her, unable to believe what I'm hearing. Sure, I can understand not talking to your family when you're busy with education. I mean, I only saw my family once every few weeks. But to completely abandon them? “How dare you judge me based on a situation that you've never faced?”

“I reserve the right to judge as I please. As a warrior, your personal needs should come secondary to the needs of your country, else you have no basis on which to call yourself such,” Rose responds coldly.

“That's it. Fuck you, I'm not fighting for this country!” I snarl, finally losing my temper with this bitch. “How many times do I have to tell you!? This is not my country. In fact, I hate it! I hate Equestria! I hate the fact that I'm here more than anything! I couldn't give less of a shit what happens to it! Hell, that deal Chrysalis gave me was the best thing I've heard since getting here! I could have left this goddamn world!”

“Then why didn't you?” Rose hisses, her expression showing every ounce of her fury. “You have made it clear to me that this isn't your home!”

“Because I found that there's something here worth fighting for. And it's standing right next to me,” I growl, so angry that I forget to filter the words coming out of my mouth. Rainbow freezes and looks up at me with a look of awe and appreciation. Rose looks between Rainbow and I. “But I doubt you'd understand that, you cold motherfucker.”

“So you believe that one pony is enough to...” Rose questions, seemingly unperturbed by my insults.

“Enough!” an authoritative voice cracks like a whip, interrupting Rose, and a familiar armored pony approaches. Rose cuts off immediately as she spots Commander Iron approaching. Even I'm taken off guard slightly. I've never really seen him angry, but that change in tone is chilling. Hell, he's extremely angry, if that narrowed brow and bared teeth is anything to go by. “Commander Rose, what is the meaning of this? You are a soldier, not a foal!”

“What are you talking about?” Rose returns, looking offended. Oh right, they're the same rank. He has no real authority over her. So I don't know what he intends to do by yelling at her. “Shouldn't you mind your own business, Iron?”

Much to my shock, Iron crashes his head right into Rose's, shutting her right up and causing her to recoil, nursing her muzzle. What the fuck...did he just attack her? “If your argument poses a threat to the success of the operation, it is my business,” Iron hisses, taking advantage of Rose's silence. “I overheard you. For all your talk concerning keeping personal feelings out of military matters, you are doing a very poor job of it. If there's anything that I despise, it's hypocrites.”

Rose opens her mouth to protest, but she backs down without a word, looking away from Iron. I don't know if it's because she's intimidated by Iron, or because she recognizes the truth in his words. Hell, maybe it's both. I'd be intimidated by him in this situation if I were her, especially since he's still fully clad in that silver armor of his. “Very well,” Rose emits, relenting with bad grace. She walks away from us, holding her head high. “But I won't forget this. Seth, I am beyond disappointed with you..”

With that, she moves into the mines without us. “Like I give a fuck what you think, bitch!” I yell after her, but before I can say anything further, Iron slams the butt of his trident into the ground, regaining my attention.

“Do not instigate, Seth,” Iron scolds me. Shit, he's focused on me now, and he doesn't look any less pissed. “According to Princess Celestia's report, you are technically under my command. While I do not regard you as beneath me, the fact remains that I will not tolerate disagreements, especially when we're working towards a common goal.”

“Right, whatever. She was being a bitch in the first place,” I respond, averting my eyes. Shit, after a show of force like that, I can't help but feel a bit intimidated by his dominating personality. “Though what do you care? You're probably pissed at me too, right? You read the reports, so you know what I did.”

Iron falls silent, and to my surprise, his expression softens, so that he's now looking at me with tranquil eyes, and expression I've never seen from him before. That looks surprisingly like emotion. “No, I am not mad at you,” Iron says, walking closer to Rainbow and I. Okay...this I wasn't expecting. I expected him to be the most angry, out of the other officers. “As you may or may not know, I am not from Equestria.”

“I do remember hearing you say that back in the dungeons,” I recall, calming down now that he doesn't look like he's going to rip my head off. Or bash it in, considering what he did to Rose. “But what does that have to do with anything?”

“I am from a island country far off the coast of Vanhoover, called Bleak Island. It was so named because of the frequent storms that plague its shores,” Iron reveals, looking towards the horizon. Though I still don't see how this matters. He looks back at me solemnly. “I was one of many soldiers that lost their families in the civil war, decades ago.”

Shit, so he probably knows exactly how I feel. But this also tells me that while Equestria is peaceful, not every place is. 

“I believe how I understand what you felt, when the changeling queen approached you,” Iron continues, as I listen silently. This is the last thing I would have expected from him. “In the end, it's no use worrying over events that have already occurred. I respect the decision that you made, and recognize that it was difficult.”

“And you're still willing to trust me, even after my late decision cost some of your soldiers their lives?” I ask, looking at him in confusion. It's weird, knowing this guy has emotions.

“My soldiers knew what they were risking when they went into battle,” Iron tells me sternly. He walks forward and rests a hoof on me, another gesture that doesn't really seem like him. “Each and every pony in this battle had a choice whether to run, or stand and fight. And even those who fell believed that what they were fighting for was worth dying for. Therefore it is selfish of you to garner the responsibility of every death to yourself.” 

“But that's not...” I protest, because he's using some very awkward logic.

“We are all equally guilty. I guarantee that you are not the only one feeling down about those that we've lost,” Iron presses. “But it's over now. Take solace in the presence of those you did manage to save. It is something I have had to learn myself.”

“Yeah, see? That's what I told you!” Rainbow reminds me with a nudge. Yes, Iron's words do ring similarly to how Rainbow's did, except his is from experience. A really bad one, if his mention of a civil war is anything to go by. “Listen to this guy.”

“Shit. Well, you'd probably know a lot better than I would. How many battles have you been in?” I ask, giving some ground. Maybe it's because I've heard the same message from two very different ponies, but I'm starting to feel less shitty about all of this.

“Too many. It's why I left Bleak Island. There's nothing left for me there.” Iron grunts. At last he removes his hoof from me and moves towards the scaffolding. “Now, we should get moving. The longer we wait, the lower the chances of finding the Captain and Princess alive.”

“All right. Let's go then,” I say, letting the matter rest for now. The three of us descend the staircase build into the scaffolding. I notice that this scaffolding runs along the entire edge of the street, and there's ponies all over the place. 

On the other end of the hole, there are stone-working ponies, laying the framework for the street repairs. There's also some ponies building support structures that I assume will eventually hold up the stonework. And yeah, I can see how it's getting build so fast. Those unicorns and their telekinesis totally render any of our lifting technology back in my time totally obsolete. They don't need elevators, they can just fly the beams up. 

“So, Iron,” I remark as we reach the bottom of the stairs. Iron turns his head slightly, letting me know I've got his attention. “I have to say, I'm a bit shocked. That you have emotions, I mean.”

Iron gives a small groan. “You aren't the first to tell me that,” he admits, making me grin a bit in amusement. “My personal feelings aren't something I give out lightly. I don't understand how the ponies in Equestria stand putting their hearts on full display.”

“Now that is something I definitely understand,” I remark. Huh. Who knew that I'd start identifying with this guy? That's exactly how I feel most of the time. It always confuses me whenever a pony randomly spills their inner feelings for no real reason.

“Ugh, you two. It's not a bad thing to show some emotion,” Rainbow remarks, taking me by surprise.

“This coming from the athletic pony with a hatred of anything sappy,” I quip, much to Rainbows chagrin. “You know, come to think about it, you're always being sappy whenever you talk to me. What's up with that?”

“Because you're always so down all the time. You don't respond to anything but sappiness!” Rainbow points out. 

“I do too...er...not...I mean goddammit!” I say, my tongue tying itself in a knot from her verbal trap. Rainbow chuckles and pumps a hoof in victory.

“Besides, it's not like I'd do it for anyone else,” Rainbow says next, and then her eyes widen when she realizes what she just said. She facehoofs hard. “Ugh, I'm doing it again.”

“Somepony's a sappy pony,” I tease her, earning a glare from her. “Aw, is the sappy pony mad? Poor sappy pony.”

“Stop saying that! I am not!” Rainbow shouts at me hilariously. Next to us, Iron just shakes his head slightly. Hah, he's never had to deal with our dumb bullshit before. Sucks to be him.

“Sappy pony!” 

“Stoppit!” And then, much to Iron's annoyance, Rainbow and I start smacking and batting at one another, until the both of us break out into laughter. “Oh Seth. You're always so much fun.”

“Awesome. Maybe I should patent and sell myself,” I joke, and then I stop when Rainbow looks at my oddly. “Wait, that came out wrong.”

Rainbow chuckles, but before she can reply, Iron stops us. “All right, that's enough. We're in the mines. It's time for the two of you to be on your guard,” he warns us. I look around, and since I've been focused on our discussion (and the resulting bullshit) I hadn't really noticed my surroundings.

Shit, when they said this was a crystal mine, they meant it. These caverns look to stretch on forever, and the walls are lined with more crystals that I can count, reflecting the light from above in a beautiful display of natural wonder. 

Right now, I'm walking upon an old broken down mine-cart track, my feet crunching on the gravel. 

“So, what exactly are we hoping to find down here?” I ask Iron, looking around carefully. I notice pockets of slime clinging to the walls, showing signs of being forced. I assume the guards have already saved some of the ponies that were trapped in here. “Rose said you found some kind of hive.”

“Yes, but I'm unsure if 'hive' is the proper term,” Iron admits. “I've never seen anything like it. It's not just a maze of tunnels. It's structured and consists of planned architecture, as if it was intended to be a base of operations.”

“Right. Rose seemed to think that Chrysalis might be hiding down here,” I recall. “Though I think that's bullshit, myself.”

“It can't be ruled out. But we can inform you of the plan in a moment. We've arrived,” Iron announces, and then we walk into a large camp of sorts, situated on the edge of a cliff leading into a dark abyss, with the only way leading forward being one simple rocky path that leads to a sizable crack in the wall on the other end. That crack is covered in the same black substance that had been in the wedding hall, before Chrysalis blew it the fuck up. That's not all. I can see an eerie green glow emanating from within. Looks like a portal to changeling hell if you ask me.

The camp itself consists of several pitched tents arranged in a circle, with boxes and barrels lined up against the wall. Some of those containers are open, and I can see food, water, and supplies in them, which means they plan to be down here for a while. Makes sense, seeing as how this place looks massive.

Iron leads us through the camp, where we pass many guards, who seem to either be standing watch, ferrying supplies, or carrying more slimed ponies to the camp, where they're being freed and treated by a punch of nurse ponies. Sheesh, the changelings really wreaked havoc on the populace. I wonder how many made it to safety before the changelings got to them?

We're taken to the main tent, where I can see Blades, Rose, Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and Celestia herself crowded around a table. On the table are spread scrolls where what looks like maps of the tunnels are roughly sketched. Yeah, I bet they have to draw maps, because if they knew about these mines, Chrysalis wouldn't have been able to hide out here in the first place.

“Commander, we've been waiting for you. Come inside,” Celestia orders Iron once she catches sight of us. “You two as well.”

Rainbow, Iron, and I join the circle of important ponies around the table. Rose noticeably avoids looking at me or Iron, keeping her gaze focused on Celestia. Blades acknowledges our arrival with friendly nods, including mine. “Okay, so why exactly am I needed for this?” is the first thing I ask, because it's been bothering me. “If you have Celestia, you don't need anyone else.”

“We cannot afford to be careless, Seth,” Celestia informs me. “We don't know what we'll find in that hive, and it's foolish to walk in there blind, confident in my own strength.”

“I guess that's fair, but...I feel like we have enough powerhouses here,” I say, looking around at all of the powerful ponies. 

Celestia nods, and then looks back down at the map. “I will start at the beginning, with my hypothesis. I believe that Captain Shining Armor and my niece are hidden down here,” she declares. She must have been waiting to tell the others that until we all were here, because they're looking amongst one another. “It's possible that the changeling queen intended to use them as hostages, in the event of her defeat. This may still be the case.”

“Then we have to act fast, and coordinate our efforts,” Iron inserts, placing a hoof on the table. Several of the other officers nod their heads in agreement. 

“We have no way of knowing what's inside. We'd be galloping in blind,” Rose expresses, looking between Celestia and Iron.

“This ain't good. To do this, we'd have to cover a lotta ground to avoid tippin' off any changelings inside,” Blades inputs, thinking hard. I can't help but look between them all, in awe. They're all incredible. As much as I hate Rose, she does her job well. They're all versed in battle tactics,  a lot more than I am. I just do what makes sense.

“That's right. If even one changeling spots us, they'll use their hostages against us, if they are in there,” Spitfire warns us. “Princess, do you have any ideas?”

“I do. In the end, I believe it will be impossible to sneak through their base of operations undetected,” Celestia admits. “We do not know everything about changelings, and as such we do not want to underestimate them.”

“Well, we know Chrysalis can control them!” Rainbow speaks up, even though she's technically not part of the discussion. I feel like she's here just because I am. “Remember when she talked to us through that one changeling, Princess?”

“I do. This could mean that the changelings operate through a group consciousness, of sorts,” Celestia determines, nodding her head at Rainbow's words. “If this is true, they have the edge on us in communications, and possibly cunning, if Chrysalis is controlling them.”

“That doesn't make sense,” Iron states, and attention returns to him. “Seth, you were fighting with their queen alongside Princess Luna, correct?”

“Yeah. It sucked, to say the least,” I say, understating the hell out of that fight. “What's your point?”

“She was focusing on your fight, and yet the changelings were still able to function. It wouldn't make sense for the queen to control each of them at the same time,” Iron reasons. “Furthermore, some of the changelings have been witnessed speaking to one another.”

“Okay, this is pointless,” I interrupt. “We can't possibly hope to understand the changelings with just our experiences fighting them. Every time I see them, they surprise me.”

“Seth is right. We simply do not have enough information on them to proceed in a manner that guarantees success,” Celestia agrees grimly. The other officers look amongst themselves uneasily, not liking that their fearless leader didn't have a plan for them. “The most we can do is find a way to minimize risk. But I believe I have an idea on how to do just that.”

“Let's hear it, then,” Blades prompts her.

“I am sending all of you into the hive together, as a team,” Celestia informs us. I look at the others, and then back at Celestia. That seems a bit unnecessary. I mean, I'm damn sure Chrysalis isn't in there, and even if she is, I doubt all of us together could do anything to her. If she's there, we're fucked. If not, we'll crush them all. And if we're all inside, Chrysalis could strike us elsewhere while we're distracted. “You will split into three groups of two, with a Captain in each group.”

“Princess, there aren't three captains,” Spitfire brings to her attention. Celestia nods, and then she looks at Iron.

“For all intents and purposes, Commander Iron is in command of the First Regiment. I am now finalizing it with a temporary promotion to Acting Captain, until such time that Shining Armor is rescued,” Celestia explains. Iron salutes in response, saying nothing.

“What about me, Princess?” Rainbow inquires, pointing at herself with a hoof. That's right. The only one called here was me. “Can I help somehow?”

“Of course, Rainbow. Your assistance is appreciated,” Celestia replies graciously. “I would like you to continue carrying out the order I gave you last. Do you remember it?”

“Uh...your last order...?” Rainbow trails off looking a confused. It hits her a second later. “Oh! You mean go with Seth. Okay. Got it.”

“What are the match-ups?” Fleetfoot questions. “Will I be going with Spitfire?”

“No. I plan to distribute you, such that each team will have a variety of abilities,” Celestia explains. “Fleetfoot, I'd like you to accompany Iron.”

“A well balanced team,” Iron comments approvingly. He glances at Fleetfoot, who meets his gaze. “Commander, I will trust you to keep any threats away from my flank.”

“The second team will consist of Rose and Spitfire, and lastly the final team will be comprised of Blades and Seth,” Celestia finishes. Blades gives me a reassuring grin, which leads me to wonder exactly what he thinks about my betrayal. He doesn't seem to show any anger. In fact, the only pony that's reacted negatively to me has been Rose. Even fucking Iron took off his mask and spilled his thoughts to me. Maybe the others are just hiding it better. “Once you all enter the hive, split up and branch out. Alert me if you find anything.”

“How do we do that?” Rose questions. I mean, it's not like we all have a magic dragon to send messages through. In response, Celestia lifts a brown cloth bag onto the table, in which I can see multiple clear orbs of crystal, each about the size of a golf ball.

“Magic storage crystals,” Blades observes. 

“That's right. For the purposes of this mission, I have configured these crystals to respond to a signal given to any one of the others. A magical entanglement, to put it simply,” Celestia explains. Okay, Twilight touched upon magical entanglement at one point during my lessons with her, but never really got into the details. Thankfully I know what that means. It's a way of connecting two objects through a magical leyline, so that whatever happens to one of them will be reflected somehow in the other. “In this case, there are three signals: a red, black, and green signal. The red will alert your comrades and me of hostiles present in the caverns. The green will let us know if Cadance or Shining Armor has been found. Lastly, the black will serve as a signal for retreat, in case Chrysalis is indeed hiding within.”

“An interesting plan, but it has its flaws,” Iron muses aloud. When Celestia looks at him for clarification, he shakes his head. “It's not something we can fix. There's really no other way of coordinating our efforts in a practical manner.”

Yeah, I can see what the flaws are myself. Even if we see our orbs light up, there's no way of knowing where the signal originated from, or how bad the situation is. Literally, the black one is the only one that gives you a clear direction: to get the fuck out of dodge.

“How do we activate the different signals?” Blades inquires, lifting one of the orbs with his magic. 

“The crystals respond to a variation in magical frequency. To put it simply, the color will change to green when touched with magic, and will proceed from red to black depending on how much magic you use,” Celestia explains. “You should take this time to familiarize yourself with the levels of magic necessary for each color.”

“Good idea. Everyone grab a crystal,” Spitfire tells us, grasping one of the orbs and handing it to Rose. I reach out and take one myself, as does Iron and Blades. 

There's a moment as all of us start testing the crystals to see how they react to our magic. When I bring the crystal back to me, Rainbow pokes at it a few times with her hoof. I absentmindedly push her hoof away and then touch the crystal with a magic infused finger.

The crystal immediately turns green, as do the rest of the crystals in the room. I take my finger off quickly, so that the others can try as well.

One thing I notice after using magic is that I'm fully replenished, thanks to that long sleep I had. Also, my reservoir of magic feels deeper, as if there's more there to draw upon. Huh, I guess pushing myself to the limit during the battle with Chrysalis caused me to get a little bit stronger. 

We take a few more minutes to test our the crystals. Once the rest of us are done, we put the crystals somewhere that we can store them. For the other unicorns, it's in their armor. For me, it's in my pocket.

“Is everyone ready?” Celestia questions, once we're all looking at her. No, Celestia. Clearly we're attempting to enter a state of meditation by looking at your face.

“Yup! Though, if I might add, I'm hopin' all this preparation will be unnecessary,” Blades expresses, to which several of the others nod in agreement. 

“Yeah, after the thrashing we gave them, I bet they've all flown off in fright,” Fleetfoot adds hopefully. “I mean, it'd would be stupid to leave behind troops in your enemy's camp, right?”

“I hope no fighting will be necessary either,” Celestia agrees with a sigh. “Now then, it's time to begin. I shall accompany you to the hive entrance.”

“All right, let's go!” Iron says, and he leaves the tent first. With that, I follow him out as well, with Rainbow flanking me on the left and the other officers behind me. You know, this feels weird. That they're all treating me like I'm as important as the rest of them. Which I'm really not. I feel like the only reason I'm here is because I'm strong. I shouldn't have any say with the military higher ups, but I guess this is how things turned out. The only one here who has problems with being full of herself is Rose, as far as I can see right now.

I should stop. Every time I start thinking about how things were before, what I'm dealing with now seems unreal, like I'm dreaming. Everything I deal with right now is so drastically different than what I expected to ever be doing with my life. I went from a dumb college student to a magical world where I fight bug things and befriend rainbow ponies. Yes, that sounds fucking stupid no matter how you say it.

We walk through the camp. Because of all the important ponies with us, the ponies we pass stop what they're doing and take a moment to salute or bow. That makes sense, especially because Celestia just passed the rest of us and is now leading us.

As I walk onto the narrow path that leads to the hive, I can't help but look off the edge. It looks like it goes pretty far down, with ledges cut into the wall, where I can see the wreckage of old mining equipment and structures. There are railroad trestles connecting the ledges, and the tracks sometimes go deeper into the mines through tunnels that trail back into the darkness. Sheesh, it looks like something out of Lord of the Rings, only with less mythril and more crystal.

The group I'm in gets quiet as we approach the hive. Once we're close enough to see inside, I can see that the inside is structured, with the same arched roof design I saw in the wedding hall. The green glow that I saw from the camp is coming from small pockets of green slime embedded in the walls and floor.

“Whenever you're ready, my dear ponies,” Celestia says, coming to a stop in front of the entrance. She peers in the crevice worriedly, as if afraid that there are changelings lying in wait in the darkness.

“I'll go first. We'll split up at the first fork,” Iron declares. He lifts his trident with his magic and strides into the crevice, with Fleetfoot right behind him.

“Sounds like a good idea ta me,” Blades comments. With his own magic, he lifts two daggers out of the crazy amount of sheaths lining his armor. After giving them a quick twirl, he motions to me. Right, I'm with him.

I follow him wordlessly into the changeling hive, with Rainbow following. The darkness envelops me like a blanket, and a chill settles down my spine.

I swear, once I get out of here, I'm burning this hive to the ground. With shark infested acid.

	





	
> 55. Search and Rescue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It's completely quiet in the hive, the silence broken by nothing other than the sound of hooves squelching into the black substance on the ground. Everything is bathed in that eerie green glow, to the point where it seems like I'm using my magic, even though I'm not. You know, since everything seems to go green when I do that. At some point, I need to look in a mirror to see why that is.	

Yeah...the path soon splits into five different paths. That's more than we have teams, since there's only three teams. Our group stops, but since the path is too narrow for us to group up, we're basically just standing in a line.

“It's time to split up. Pick a tunnel, and keep your crystals close at hoof,” Iron commands. You know, it's weird how he's always calling all the shots. Spitfire and Blades are here, and they outrank him. I wonder why they don't mind if he gives them orders? Maybe I'll ask Blades myself once we go into our own tunnel. 

“Good luck, Commander,” Spitfire calls after Iron and Fleetfoot as the two of them disappear into the gloom of the first tunnel, on the far left. The line moves forward, and then Spitfire and Rose move into the next tunnel.

That just leaves the last team, consisting of Blades, Rainbow, and I. Blades is standing in front of me, so I guess it's his choice on what tunnel we choose.

“Three choices...awright, we're goin' down this one,” Blades determines, seemingly at random. With a sigh, I follow him into the tunnel. It seems much quieter with the others gone. The silence is almost oppressing. I honestly can't take it, so I decide to break the silence.

“So Blades, why are you okay with Iron giving you guys orders all the time?” I ask. Even though I'm talking, I make sure to keep listening in case there's any changelings nearby.

“Huh? Oh that boy ain't givin' me orders,” Blades responds with a bit of a chuckle. And he just called Iron a boy. Maybe I just can't tell ages in ponies. Come to think of it, I don't even know how old Rainbow is.

“Uh, it sounded like he was giving orders to me. I didn't hear a please or thank you in there,” I point out dryly. 

“Look, boy, I ain't so hung up on pride that I won't listen to a good idea when I hear one,” Blades explains. And now he's calling me a boy. How old is this guy? “What would I say anyway? 'Iron, remember who're yer dealin' with. I outrank you, I give the orders. Split up!' What would that accomplish?”

“Absolutely nothing. You're just saying the same thing while stroking your own ego,” I answer confidently. Blades nods with a grin.

“Exactly. So he ain't givin' orders. He's jus' bein' sensible. Authority ain't about getting' all stuck  up if somepony says somethin' sensible other than you,” Blades explains. “Besides, Iron's young. If he has a good idea, I'm gonna encourage it.”

“I see. Also, you keep commenting on our youth. How old are you anyway?” I inquire, stepping over a furrow in the ground that I almost trip over in the dim green light.. Though what he's said makes sense. Except you don't see humans in my time being like that. I've heard from Adam once that one of his coworkers got fired because he was too good; the manager got jealous and got rid of him, perceiving him as a threat. You know, instead of giving the guy a damn promotion.

“You can't tell? I've been livin' fer over sixty-two years now, and there ain't a lot I haven't seen,” Blades reveals as we turn a sharp corner. I quirk an eyebrow at that. Sixty-two? He's that old, and he's fighting on the front lines? Actually, come to think of it, horses don't have lifespans that long. If I remember right, they're lucky to live up to 30, yet this guy says he's 62. “I've been servin' Equestria for most of my life; What about you, son? How old are you?”

“You know, that's the first time anypony's asked me that question,” I say, realizing that particular fact with a start. We keep our voices low as the path narrows, and I'm forced to sidle sideways to get through a slim gap. So far it doesn't seem like we're running into any changelings. I'm guessing they all up and left. Or at least, I hope that's the case. “I'm twenty two.”

“Ah, yer still a pup, then,” Blades says with a  knowing chuckle. Rolling my eyes at his choice of words, I turn to Rainbow.

“Okay, now that we're discussing ages—Rainbow, how old are you?” I ask her curiously, wondering why the hell I'd never asked her before now. I feel like it should be something I should know. 

“You can't tell?” Rainbow responds, looking somewhat shifty.

“Of course not. You're fucking ponies. How do you expect me to tell the difference in age between you and any other goddamn pony?” I remark. Really, Rainbow? “Don't tell me you have an age button, too.”

“A what?” Rainbow just looks confused. I realized then that I'd been thinking aloud.

“Skip it. Just answer the question.”

“I'm twenty. I'm been living in Ponyville for over half a year now,” Rainbow answers at last. Ah, so she's two years younger than me. Though I still don't understand how the hell these ponies live to be so old. At twenty years old, a horse in my time would be close to the end of its life. Except now we have Blades, who is over 60 and is still looking as strong as ever.

“So young...” Blades repeats, glancing over his shoulder to look at me. “I guess that explains why you have so much trouble comin' to a decision then, hm?”

“What are you talking about?” I say sharply. Is he finally bringing up the subject of my issues with Chrysalis? Now, in the middle of this important mission? Though, I guess now's as good a time as any, considering we're just making small talk anyway.

“I'm talkin' about the changeling queen. She gave ya a mighty good offer, I hear.” Blades's words don't seem angry despite the fact that I could have gotten him killed as a result of my late decision.

“What, are you going to judge me for that now too?” I grunt irritably, the three of us navigating down a steep slope in the tunnel.

“Life's too short to judge, boy,” Blades says with a  sigh. Just as I'm about to reply, I stumble over a ridge in the path that I hadn't seen. Blades reaches out a hoof to help steady me, which I take gratefully. I'd rather not have another face full of slime. “By all rights, I woulda expected you to take her offer. Yer not from this time, right?”

“Yeah. I assume Celestia included that bit of information in the incident report,” I affirm. I'm annoyed. I wish Celestia hadn't given out reports to the military without warning me first. I would have been more prepared for Rose to be more of a bitch than usual.

“Yup. That being said, I'm shocked you didn't take her offer. You really have no obligation to help us, since this ain't yer time.” Blades reminds me. 

“Yeah...I don't,” I repeat. I've said that to myself and to other ponies many times since arriving here. I really don't have any obligation to help these ponies. I mean, it shouldn't have been my problem at all whether or not some ponies died in the future. And in the end, there really was no right decision back then. I just went with the one that would allow me to live with myself.

“Well, I won't ask you why you chose your decision. That ain't my business,” Blades continues, giving me a grin. That's right, it really isn't. “Honestly though, couldn't you have made it faster?”

“Pardon?” I emit, not sure I heard him right. Blades chuckles at my response.

“Your decision. Couldn't you have made it faster? I mean, that's the only thing I can criticize,” Blades says, his smile dropping. He looks serious now, which means he's not completely accepting of what I did. “Listen, boy. Life's full of hardships and temptations. I doubt you need me to tell you that. When you encounter hardship, endure it. When you're tempted, make a decision quickly and stick with it. The time you spend being indecisive can end up hurting you or the others around you.”

I'm quiet, mulling his words over in my head. It's doesn't seem like he's judging me at all, really. It's more like he's criticizing how I made my decision, rather than the decision itself.

“Hey, this sounds like good material for another friendship letter!” Rainbow pipes up, ruining my inner contemplation and causing me to facepalm.

“Goddammit Rainbow, I'm not writing fucking friendship letters!” I snap at her exasperatedly. Rainbow finds this the most hilarious thing, as she promptly starts laughing her ass off. I shake my head with a sigh. Fucking Rainbow and her...

“Hold up...I'm getting' something,” Blades says, stopping. A split second after he says that, the crystal in my hand lights up a ruby red color. “We got trouble.”

“Red. That means one of the teams ran into changelings, right?” Rainbow asks, her muscles tensing up. Blades nods, and we proceed forward slower and more careful than before. “I wonder how many we're talking about.”

“Even one's a problem. Because in all likelihood, that means that changeling queen still views this as a place worth protecting,” Blades warns her. 

I curse quietly as we continue forward. Just up ahead, the path widens up once more into a four way split. Once we reach it, I notice that there seems to be no order to the way the tunnels are arranged. Like, on of the tunnels cuts back across and below where we came from, another is directly to the right, and another is just next to that one, heading upwards.

“We can't split up. So what now?” I observe, looking through each of the tunnels for a sign of anything other than blackness. 

“I'm thinkin' we should pick one and keep movin'. Yer right, we should stick together,” Blades answers as I peer into the tunnel that heads downwards. I squint, trying to make out what lies beyond the thick curtain of darkness.

I take a step closer. I feel a pinprick in my mind, a faint tinge of foreign magic emanating from somewhere deep within the darkness ahead of me. I blink once, and just as I figure out what I'm feeling, a green surge of changeling magic shoots out of the tunnel and rams into my bare chest, knocking me clear off of my feet. “Son of a bitch!” I curse, feeling the affected skin peeling from the magical power.

“Seth! Where is it, I'll crush it!” Rainbow growls, scuffing the ground with her hoof. Blades turns as well, hearing the sound of hissing. Several changelings swarm out of the lower tunnel, firing streams of magic from their twisted horns. Rainbow immediately leaps into action, taking to the air and  slamming a hoof into the first changeling she reaches, knocking it unconscious. She dodges the hooves of another changeling and then sends it into the ground with a double hoofed strike. “Yeah! Drop down!”

I'm not that hurt, but my chest is stinging. I should have reacted faster. As it is, I'd barely had enough time to bring up some manner of magical defense before getting struck. Fucking...why did the changelings have to be in the tunnel I was looking at?

I leap to my feet, summoning my magic. My rifle becomes a pistol, which I then use to take potshots at the changelings, as I don't want to get anywhere near that whirlwind of steel that's Captain Blades. By that, I mean the guy's got at least a dozen daggers hanging in the air around him, spinning around his body like a tornado.

The next changeling to come out of the tunnel transforms into Rainbow, and the next turns into Blades. I lower my pistol in confusion as suddenly every changeling turns into either Rainbow or Blades, so I can't tell which one is the real one.

Well...except for the fake Blades. They keep trying to use their magic, which is green no matter what form they take. I take aim at one of the Blades that is glowing green and open fire. The bolt of magic shoots right through the changeling, causing it to revert and fall over, bleeding profusely from the point of impact.

“Take that, me! I mean...you!” Rainbow cries, cracking a copy of herself atop the head with a hoof.  The next one she targets backs away from her. “Hey! I'm not going to let me get away! Wait...augh, this is confusing!”

Despite the numbers of changelings that assault us, it isn't long before no more of them emerge from the tunnel. Rainbow touches the ground and flips back her mane, grinning. Blades lowers his daggers and sheathes them with a satisfied grunt. “That takes care of that. But, thankfully, they've told us exactly where to go,” Blades determines.

“What, so because they came from there, that's likely where they're keeping whatever it is they want to protect?” I reason, looking to the captain for confirmation.

“Exactly. I'll go first, then. Follow me, you two. There will likely be more,” Blades confirms. Leaving two daggers unsheathed and floating in front of him, he walks into the tunnel from where the changelings attacked.

“Are you all right?” Rainbow asks, poking my leg to get my attention. I look at her in confusion, and then remember the newly gained injury on my chest.

“Yeah, it's not that bad. These drones are weak as fuck,” I say uncaringly, looking down at my peeling chest. It feels like a sunburn. Fucking changelings, attacking me before I could get my guard up. Well, I guess it's my fault for not keeping my magic activated, and for staring like an idiot after sensing their magic to begin with. I reach over and poke Rainbow in the side. “And quit poking me.”

“I was just trying to let you know it's you I'm talking to,” Rainbow explains, but then she grins and pokes me again. “Though if it annoys you...”

“Not the time, you two,” Blades calls back to us gruffly. Rainbow lowers her hoof with a pout, and the three of us continue on our way in silence. 

A few minutes later, as we descend deeper into the depths of the hive, the tunnel opens out into a much larger chamber. And by much larger, I mean fucking massive.

It looks a lot like the wedding hall, in that it's constructed almost like a cathedral in how it's mostly rectangular with an arched ceiling, though there are several black stalactites hanging from the ceiling. And...well I say rectangular, but the walls are curved and covered with roundish white objects. In fact, those white things are all over the place; covering the ground, the walls, and the ceiling.

“What are those things?” Rainbow asks, her voice echoing throughout the large chamber. She walks near the whole, lowering her muzzle and sniffing at one of the white objects. I walk up next to her, peering at the thing myself. 

Against my better judgment, I place my hand against the white object. It's warm, and I can feel something pulsing inside of it. Strange green veins run across the surface of the object. Heh, I know what this is. It seems like I was right. “I think they're eggs,” I reason. Rainbow blanches and recoils, and even Blades looks around at all of the eggs in alarm. “This is probably where Chrysalis hid while building up her army for this assault. After all the changelings came from both inside the city and outside.”

“I think you might be right. And if that's the case, there's enough for another assault in here,” Blades observes.

“That's not good. So what do we do?” Rainbow asks, poking one of the eggs herself. Blades sighs and orients his daggers so that they're facing one of the eggs.

“I don't think we have much of a choice. We should wipe 'em out before they can hatch,” Blades decides. He then looks at me, just as I'm concentrating magic in my fist. “But be careful when you break them, Seth. You don't want to bring the whole place down.”

“It's not like I was going to use full power,” I return with a scoff. Blades nods, and then he prepares to destroy the first egg. I follow suit, aiming my pistol at one of the eggs. Just as I'm about to pull the trigger, I sense changeling magic once more.

I leap back just in time, as a thin beam of magic crashes into the ground where I'd just been standing. Blades and Rainbow also have to quickly dodge, as two more beams were aimed at them as well.

A mushroom like construction like the one I'd seen in the wedding hall emerges from the ground on the far end of the chamber. For one panicking second, I think that Chrysalis is back and we're all about to die. I heave a sigh of relief when I see that it is not Chrysalis, and is instead one of the larger changelings, like the one that had become a Scorpios during the battle. Good. This one I know I can trash easily.

“I won't let you touch a single egg,” the changeling hisses. Okay, so this one is sentient, like the Infiltrators. The changeling leaps from the mushroom and lands on the ground, baring its teeth. “My name is Mantis, consort to the queen and defender of our larvae. I'll fight you to the death to protect them!”

“Consort to the queen?” I repeat, bemused. I mean, yeah, these eggs had to come from somewhere, but if this was Chrysalis's consort, was she really meaning to drop him if I had agreed to her offer to be king? “Well then, Mantis, did you know Chrysalis planned to replace you?”

“Of course I did, pale being,” Mantis admits, looking somewhat sad. “But she is my queen. If she one day decides that another can satisfy her needs better than I can, then it would be my pleasure to step back. Now then. Step away from these eggs, or I'll have to kill you.”

“You realize what yer up against, right?” Blades responds, unsheathing every dagger he possesses so that they're floating in the air around him like a cloud of deadly steel. “You can't win.”

“Maybe not. But if it comes to it, I'll die before I let you touch them,” Mantis says, his horn lighting up. “Lay one hoof on those eggs, and I'll make you regret it.”  

“Oh really?” I say, smirking slightly. Mantis's eyes widen when I point my pistol at one of the eggs. “Do you think you can stop me before I blow this thing apart?”

Suddenly, a massive claw slams into my chest, knocking me clear across the room until my back hits the wall painfully. Mantis stands in the center of the room as an emerald dragon, his wings spreading out to either side. Mantis opens his jaws and roars, announcing his challenge to the three of us.

I land on my feet, and materialize the pistol back in my hand, as I'd dropped it when I was hit. Well, Mantis is faster than I expected. It's probably because I haven't powered up all the way to what I was when I took down the other changeling at this level.

While I'm recovering, Mantis launches himself at Blades, swinging his muscle bound arms at the captain in an attempt to slice through his body. Unfortunately, Mantis is dealing with a captain that more than likely outmatches him. Each time Mantis's claws get close, Blades manipulates the swarm of daggers around him to form a makeshift shield that fends off any potential damage. Each impact forces Blades back, however.

Rainbow slams both hooves into Mantis's neck, attempting to deal some damage. Mantis recoils, and then snakes his head around and breathes a stream of emerald magic towards the pegasus. “Whoa! Too close,” Rainbow emits, zooming around the attack. “This guy is tough!”

“Not really,” I remark, changing my pistol to the long ranged rifle. I take aim at Mantis and fire a shot right through his wing and into the wall on the other side, breaking one of the eggs there. Mantis roars in pain and anguish, which is amplified once he sees the broken egg on the other side. “I'll just shred him to bits and then smash these eggs.”

Mantis transforms into a large serpent of some kind and shoots his body directly towards me, intent on getting revenge for the broken egg. His jaws open in a hiss, but just as he's trying to close them around me, I drop my rifle and hold his jaws open with magic infused hands. “Bitch, I helped beat down your queen. You can't do shit to me.” I remark, and then I spin around once and use the generated momentum to toss Mantis clear across the room. “Give up. We're just going to kill you if you keep fighting.”

Mantis reverts to his original form, panting hard. He reaches up with a perforated hoof and rubs his chin, which likely still smarts from where I hit it. He grits his teeth and looks between the three of us, no doubt realizing that he can't beat all three of us. Or even one of us. “That...doesn't matter. I won't let you touch these eggs,” he asserts, once again taking up a stance. 

“Look, what the hell did you expect to happen to them? Your kind lost the battle, and they're right beneath Canterlot. You should just cut your losses and run,” I point out to him. Suddenly, a thought strikes me. If he's still down here, it must be under Chrysalis's orders. And she's know fool. “Face it, Mantis. Chrysalis left you to die.”

“She didn't, actually,” Mantis grunts. Okay, so unless he knows something I don't, he's just in denial. “We had a plan to get all of these eggs out of here. You three just showed up sooner than I expected.”

“What plan would that be?” Blades asks curiously, stepping closer to Mantis.

“What does it matter? Let's just beat him down and smash all these eggs,” I say callously. “They're just insects. It's not like they can think for themselves.”

“I wouldn't do that if I were you,” Mantis warns me as I lift my pistol once more. “Your princess no doubt wants her niece back, right?”

“Do you know where Cadance is?” I demand, stopping my finger just short of pulling the trigger.

“Yes, I do. They're here, actually, beneath this chamber,” Mantis reveals, tapping the ground with a hoof. “The queen told me that if our plan was threatened, I was to kill both Cadance and the captain, Shining Armor.”

“What?! That's downright dirty,” Blades snaps, looking furious. “Do you plan to hold them hostage?”

“It seems I have to. Let me just make things clear: if you break even one more of these eggs, or make any attempt to harm me, I'll collapse this chamber and bury those two in rubble,” Mantis says calmly. “So what will it be?”

“He's bluffing! He's all the way up here, and Princess Cadance and Shining Armor are beneath us! He's too weak to collapse the floor!” Rainbow accuses. I curse and lower my pistol. While I don't particularly care for either of those two, I'll get screwed for sure by Celestia if I let either of them die. But on the other hand, if all of these eggs get away, Chrysalis will have the makings of another army.

“And if we let you escape with these eggs? What will happen to the hostages then?” Blades questions calmly.

“All my queen told me is to kill them if my plan is threatened. Therefore, any further action is at my discretion,” Mantis explains. Great. Well, this is a lovely situation. “Here is my offer: if you let me leave with all of these eggs, I'll return Cadance and Shining Armor to you. If not, then you condemn them to death.”

“Blades, we can't let him go. If we do, Chrysalis gets another army, and she seems like the type to hold grudges,” I warn the captain, since I guess it's ultimately his decision. Blades nods, to show that he understands.

“That's right! Though...she said she wouldn't be coming back to Canterlot for a while,” Rainbow reasons. “But even if she does, Celestia will defeat her!”

“That doesn't mean Chrysalis can't make our lives miserable. Besides, she's extremely smart, if I had access to an army of shape changers, it would be easy to slip agents into every town, replacing the citizens,” I explain to her. “In a nutshell, Chrysalis is a brilliant tactician. If she plays her cards right, there's nothing stopping her from screwing us over a second time.”

“Thank you, Seth, Rainbow. Yer input is valued, but I've made a decision,” Blades declares. He walks forward so that he's only a few paces away from Mantis. “I'm not the kind of pony that would kill all of these young if I had any other choice. I'm going to trust you, changeling. Will you take all of these eggs away from Canterlot?”

Mantis smiles, and it's not a devious one. He seems relieved, almost, as if he's happy he doesn't have to kill the hostages after all. “Thank you. Because of your lenient judgment, everyone gets to live today,” the changeling expresses. “Yes, I promise we will be gone as soon as the preparations for the teleportation spell are complete.”

“Good. And what about Cadance and Shining Armor?” Blades presses. Mantis turns and indicates one of the tunnels branching away from this room.

“Take that tunnel, on the far end of this chamber. Follow it, and it will take you to where the queen is keeping the hostages,” Mantis directs us. 

“This is a bad idea, I'm telling you,” I grumble, crossing my arms. I swear, if this turns into a war with the changelings (if it hasn't already), I'll be annoyed, because I'll be smack dab in the center of it. And since Rainbow will more than likely get involved because of her status as an Element of Harmony, I'll be stuck having to fight, if only to keep her from getting killed. Fighting is hard, and I'm lazy.

“Very well. Seth, would you and Rainbow grab them? I need to stay here, in case one of the other teams comes here and has the same idea we did,” Blades requests. Ah, I guess that makes sense. One of us should stay behind, and it can't be me, since no doubt if Rose showed up, she wouldn't listen to me at all. And Rainbow isn't strong enough to stop the others if they decide to break the eggs anyway. Blades is the most reasonable choice. I sigh, and then nod. “Excellent. Signal green if you find them, and red if you don't.”

“Good idea. Well, I guess we should get going then,” I say, looking at Rainbow. Once she nods, I turn on my heel and stalk past Mantis, who watches me pass with a neutral expression. I don't think he likes me. Whatever. He's odd for a changeling, though. I guess I really do know nothing about this race apart from what Chrysalis has showed me.

Rainbow and I leave the chamber through the tunnel indicated to us, descending into the grim darkness. The tunnel spirals downwards, with several other tunnels branching off. Mantis said to just keep following this one, so I ignore the offshoot tunnels.

“I thought changelings were insects. How come some of them are reasonable?” Rainbow asks me, sounding a little worried for some reason.

“Hell if I know. I know as much about them as you do. I don't trust that Mantis guy, and I certainly don't trust Chrysalis. If she gets these changelings, who knows what she'll do with them,” I reply. I feel uneasy about this whole situation. I wish there had been a way to save Cadance and Shining Armor as well as smash all of those eggs.

“That wasn't what I was asking. You know all of those changelings we fought, right? They were mindless, right?” Rainbow continues, her voice sounding almost pleading. “Could they really think for themselves?”

I think I see what she's worried about. I don't think she killed any of them herself, but I know I certainly did, as well as the other soldiers that had been fighting with us. Still, she's never been in a fight, and meeting Mantis basically told her that she'd been harming creatures that could think for themselves. “I know the bigger ones can. I don't think the typical drones can,” I say honestly. “Though it doesn't really matter. This is a battle, and there's always going to be casualties. Come on, Rainbow. You helped me get over my own guilt. Don't start developing some of your own.”

“I...I'm not! It's just...I think I agree with not breaking the eggs, now that I think about it. If some of them will eventually hatch and think for themselves, it would be horrible to take away their chance to live,” Rainbow admits. Right...that is a very emotional way of thinking about it. Unfortunately, war isn't emotional. Any commander worth their salt would know that if there was a way deprive the enemy of valuable troops, it was worth doing. Blades knew that, but I suppose he decided it wasn't worth losing one of the princesses over.

“Well, there's no point in thinking about it now. The decision's already been made,” I remind her with a sigh. “Even if we end up regretting it later.”

“I guess,” Rainbow says uncertainly. We walk in silence for a little bit longer, continuing to descend into the depths of the hive. Not for the first time, I wonder how long Chrysalis had been down here, hiding from Celestia.

Just as Mantis had told us, the tunnel opens out into a decently sized chamber, about a third the size of the hatching chamber. It's constructed in a similar manner, except without any eggs. Instead, there's slimed ponies all over the place. Likely ponies that were too smart or stumbled upon Chrysalis by mistake. Most notably, I spot Cadance and Shining armor trapped in slime at the very back of the room, hanging from the ceiling.

“There they are! Let's get them down,” Rainbow exclaims, taking off and flying over to the trapped ponies. Before following her, I lift out the signal crystal and tap it with a little bit of magic concentrated in my finger. The crystal lights up green, letting everypony in the search group as well as Celestia herself know that we've achieved our goal.

But sheesh, I'm not telling these two a thing until after they've recovered. Or they find out from the military report. Because I think one or the both of them will try to rip my heart out.

Heaving another sigh, I fly up to the ceiling as well, hovering opposite Rainbow and in front of Shining Armor's slimed form. Without another word, Rainbow and I break through the thick strand of slime holding them to the ceiling with hoof and fist. We realize simultaneously that we hadn't really thought this through.

“Uh-oh. Oh... dear Celestia!” Rainbow grunts as she barely manages to keep Cadance from falling to the ground by holding on with all four hooves. I would laugh at how ridiculous it looks to see how fast her little wings are flapping to keep herself airborne, if I wasn't fumbling with Shining Armor.

With some difficulty, we lower the two to the ground. “I guess we better get them free. They're not civilians, so they won't freak out...much,” I reason hopefully. Shining Armor is military, so I don't think he'll cause too much of a fuss once he gets free. Not sure about Cadance though.

“And by 'we,' you mean 'you', right? You need magic to get those cocoons open.” Rainbow points out.

“Ugh, fine. Stay there, I'll have them out in a moment,” I say, concentrating magic in my hands and plunging my fingers into the slime surrounding Shining Armor. “Make sure they don't freak out after they wake up.”

After doing this more than once, it's easy to peel the slime away from the pony inside. Shining Armor immediately opens his eyes after getting freed, and for the first time since the wedding, the green film is absent from his eyes. Which means he's in his right mind. “Good, you're awake. That'll make things easier. Now stay still as I free your significant other,” I tell him.

I turn my back on Shining Armor as the captain rises to his hooves, groaning and rubbing his eyes. “Ugh, I feel like I've been napping for days. What's...what's going on?” Shining Armor asks, and then his eyes focus, and he notices who he's staring at.

Just as I'm turning to fix Cadance, a growl sounds from Shining Armor's throat, causing me to look at him in worry. He's giving me a vicious glare, anger evident in everything from his expression to his stance. Wait, what the hell is his problem?

Before I can think things out, Shining Armor lowers his horn and a magenta convex barrier forms in front of him, and then surges forward, catching me in the middle. Air rushes out of my lings as the barrier's momentum carries me across the room and into the wall, where it presses me there painfully with so much force that I can't help but cry out.

“Shining Armor, stop!” Rainbow exclaims, but she's ignored as the captain steps forward.

“You...I remember now,” Shining Armor snarls, scuffing the ground. Shit, does this mean he remembered everything while he was controlled? “I was under that witch's control, and you were working with her!”

It's getting harder to breathe. That barrier is pressing against me so hard that it's restricting me from getting enough air. In turn, that means I can't say anything against him either.

“You played me like a fool, but now I see what you truly are: an enemy of the state, and my own personal enemy,” Shining Armor growls, stepping close to me. “I'll crush you here, for daring to raise a hand against my family.”

Rainbow stands there helplessly, watching this whole scene with an agonized expression. She looks between me and the Shining Armor. She clearly wants to help me, but she also knows that she'll be in deep trouble if she does anything to Shining Armor. “That's it!” Rainbow shouts, and then she takes Shining Armor by surprise with a hard punch to the side of his muzzle, which causes him to yelp in shock and lose concentration on his spell.

I hit the ground and breathe in sharply, sucking in as much life-giving air as possible. Shit, I almost passed out there. Damn, I'd hoped Shining Armor wouldn't have remembered anything, but I guess he had been conscious that whole time, even while under Chrysalis's control. This is going to make things very complicated.

“Back off!” Shining Armor says, knocking Rainbow aside with his magic. “I have no quarrel with you. But by collaborating with Queen Chrysalis, Seth has shown where his loyalties truly lie.”

Shining Armor once again hurls another barrier at me, but this time I'm ready for it. Powering up, I catch the barrier with both hands. There's so much force behind it that I find it difficult to hold it back, but he's nowhere near as strong as Chrysalis, so after concentrating my magic, I deflect the barrier completely, diverting it into the opposite wall.

“Calm down, captain. You don't know the full story yet,” I tell him, but he seems too angry to care. Well, if he keeps trying to kill me, I'll have to fight back, and things will get messy very quickly.

“I know what I saw, Seth. You can't explain your way out of this,” Shining Armor states, unperturbed that I'd deflected his magic.

“Maybe he can't, but it's not your place to render judgment upon criminals, captain.” To my surprise, Blades, along with Iron and Fleetfoot, walk into the room. Blades is glowing with magic, showing Shining Armor that he's very willing to fight if the situation calls for it. “Don't you remember? All criminals are to be brought before Princess Celestia or Princess Luna for judgment. Certainly not by an ignorant captain with a grudge. Stand down, Shining Armor.”

Shining Armor looks at Blades, and then back at me. With a growl of frustration, he powers down. “Very well. But I'll be damned if I let him near my bride-to-be,” he declares, and then he reaches down and lifts the cocoon holding Cadance into the air with his magic. Finally, he storms back out of the tunnel, where Iron soon follows along with him, no doubt to help him out of the tunnels.

“Well, fuck. So that just happened,” I say, rubbing my forehead. I should have known that at least one pony would try to kill me for my decision with Chrysalis. If all Shining Armor remembers before being slimed was me confirming my partnership with Chrysalis, then yeah, I can understand why he'd want to kill me.

Still, this is going to be a pain in the ass to deal with.
> 56. Coming to Terms
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Mantis, surprisingly enough, was true to his word. Once we return to the large chamber above where all the eggs used to be, there's no sign of the changeling at all, and all of the eggs are missing. Them teleportation spells are way too convenient, if you ask me. Though I guess it goes both ways, since a similar spell saved my ass as well as the other Elements back in the wedding hall.

In the main chamber, everypony in the search party is there. I guess while I was with Rainbow, they'd all congregated there, having seen the green signal. As maze-like as this hive is, it's probably not that difficult if they all managed to get here so quickly.

“Are you all right, captain?” Rose addresses Shining Armor, who has joined them as well. Now that he's not currently trying to kill me, Shining Armor is looking around, entirely clueless as to what went down after he was slimed.

“I'll be better once Cadance is free,” Shining Armor states flatly. Rose nods in response. “Where exactly is this place? And what happened to the enemy?”

“It's kind of a long story,” Spitfire says wryly. That's an understatement. So much has happened while Shining Armor wasn't around. “We should get back to Princess Celestia. She can give you a copy of the incident reports.”

“I can tell you that this is a changeling hive,” Iron explains, walking up to his captain and saluting him. Right, the fact that Iron served under Shining Armor armor had completely slipped my mind before now. “It's good to have you back, captain.”

“Thanks, commander. I'm guessing that you were promoted to Acting-Captain in my absence?” Shining Armor responds, returning the salute.

“Yes sir. However, now that you've returned, I, as well as the First Regiment, are at your command once more,” Iron declares. Shining Armor nods in satisfaction. For some reason, I'm disappointed. While I know Shining Armor is more than capable (since, you know, he held up a double fucking barrier while preparing for a wedding), I think I'd prefer Iron as the captain, because I know he won't let his emotions get the better of him. 

“Good. I agree with Spitfire then. Let's get back to the surface. The sooner I find a safe place to free Cadance, the better,” Shining Armor commands, but he doesn't move. Probably because he doesn't know the way out, like the rest of us do. Well, I think I know the way out. Who knows, this place is a maze.

“I hear that. I'm telling ya, I'm way too old to go delving through slimy insect hives,” Blades complains with a dry chuckle. He's the first to move back the way we came. “Let's go. Princess Celestia is waiting for us at the camp.”

Seems like everypony is leaving now. I put my hands in my pockets and walk behind them in silence. Some of the ponies in front of me are joking and laughing, like Blades and Spitfire, but that's probably because they've completed the mission without a hitch. Shining Armor is uncharacteristically quiet, however. He's probably not over being slimed yet. That, and I'm sure he's anxious to get Cadance out of that slime as well.

“I'm ready to get out of these mines. I want to feel that wind under my feathers again,” Rainbow  expresses, stretching out her wings impatiently. I give her a disbelieving look.

“You know, you didn't even have to come down here in the first place. I was the only one called,” I point out to her as we enter the tunnels again, walking on a steady incline that would eventually take us back to camp. “Were you that worried about me?”

“Y...Yeah right! I was only following Princess Celestia's orders!” Rainbow protests, making a point not to meet my gaze. 

“Uh-huh,” I reply, clearly telling her that her shit isn't fooling me.

“What, are you doubting me?” Rainbow shoots back, equally as convincing as her last words.

“Nope,” I say with a smirk, earning a glare from the target of my teasing. And while this is going on, I can faintly hear Shining Armor and Iron talking about something at the head of the group, but I can't make it out because Blades and Spitfire are cracking jokes to one another.

I guess this mission went a lot better than I expected it to. There are so many ways it could have gone wrong. If Chrysalis had been in there, chances are I'd have died before I could even press the crystal. I think Chrysalis is more than mad enough to kill me on sight now, despite her promise to give me a life 'beyond my wildest dreams.' Which probably just equates to 'all the mind-blowing sex you want.' Disgusting. The day I take that offer is the day the world ends. I'd sooner fuck a pony than a fucked up insect pony thing, and that's saying something.

Well, while my mind had been in disturbing places, Iron has led us out of the hive and onto the pathway leading back to the camp. Finally. I'm so done with this shit. Though I'm sure I'll be put to work somewhere else the moment we're done with this. No rest for the wicked, after all.

The guards nearest to the edge of camp raise a clamor upon sighting us, no doubt catching Celestia's attention.

As Shining Armor steps into camp, the guards that spot him cheer loudly, raising their weapons and showing just how happy they are to see their captain return. I'm guessing most of these guards are from the First Regiment, seeing how they're calling out things like, “Captain!”, and “The captain's back!”

The search party, including me, congregate at the entrance to the camp, taking solace in the fact that we're not in constant danger anymore. Still, I wonder what Celestia is going to do about the fact that there's a changeling hive underneath Canterlot.

Celestia pokes her head out of the tent on the far end of the camp. A relieved smile crosses her face when she spots us, especially when she spots Shining Armor and the slimed form of Cadance. She leaves the tent and approaches us happily.

As I'm waiting for Celestia to get here and tell me what to do next, I'm looking around the camp, noticing that there's more ponies here than before. Several of them are civilians, which tells me that the guards here have been working hard on freeing as many ponies as possible.

I suddenly cross gazes with a certain mint-green pony that's been staring at me ever since I got out of the hive, and I freeze. Is that...?

Lyra is sitting on her haunches near the edge of camp, gazing at me with a forlorn, yet somewhat hopeful expression on her usually cheerful face. I turn all the way to look at her. Holy shit, it's Lyra. I thought she was dead! I mean, Lyra usually annoys the fuck out of me, but every time I thought about how my silence got her killed, it would hurt, even though I didn't want to admit it. 

Therefore, now that I'm seeing her alive in front of me, I can't help but feel a burden lift off of my shoulders. Heh, she's alive. Holy shit, I didn't get her killed. A relieved smile crosses my face involuntarily.

Lyra's eyes widen upon seeing that, and she reciprocates with a weak smile of her own. Fuck, she thinks I just smiled at her. Well, whatever. At this point I'm just happy she's not dead. As annoying as she is, I'd rather her be alive and annoying, rather than dead and absent. It's funny how nearly losing somepony you know makes you think twice about how you view them.

“I'm glad to see you all return unharmed,” Celestia addresses us, having finally reached us. Now that she's here, I turn away from Lyra and focus on the princess, since she likely has more orders for us. Celestia leans down and nuzzles Shining Armor affectionately, much to his surprise. “Especially you, my future nephew-in-law. That is, if you're still interested after this disaster of a first attempt.”

“Don't be silly, Princess. Of course I'm still interested,” Shining Armor assures her, returning the nuzzle. “I fully intend to go forward with the wedding, once this mess is cleaned up.”

“That's good to hear. As I said before, I would be delighted to count you amongst my family,” Celestia says, withdrawing her head. Then she pans her gaze across the rest of us. “You all seem unharmed. I trust you did not run into too much trouble in the hive?”

“Nuthin' we couldn't handle. But there is somethin' worth mentionin'.” Blades is the one to respond to that, which makes sense, because he and I had to deal with Chrysalis' bitch. What? That's totally what Mantis was. “Seth an' I ran into one o' them sentient changelings down at the bottom. We had to let him go, as well as the hundreds of eggs there, in exchange for Shining Armor and Cadance's lives.”

Celestia's smile drops, to be replaced by a grim expression. “I see. Perhaps it would be best for us to return to the command tent and discuss this in greater detail,” she determines. Yeah, Celestia's not an idiot. She knows just how much of a threat those eggs can be.

“A good idea,” Shining Armor agrees. “Plus, I'd like to free Cadance, and get a copy of the incident reports.”

“Of course. You probably are anxious to hear about what happened to the city during the time you were incapacitated,” Celestia agrees. She beckons to us all with a hoof. The group starts to move towards the command tent. Well, except for me.

“Celestia, I'm gonna catch up in a bit,” I announce. Celestia stops and looks back at me, confused. “There's something I have to take care of first.”

Celestia scans my face for a moments, probably trying to discern my intentions. Finally, she sighs. “All right. I will rely on Captain Blades to give me his account in your stead,” she says with a nod. With that, the officers return to the command tent, leaving just Rainbow and I.

“What's this thing you have to take care of?” Rainbow asks, confused. “Something happen when I wasn't looking?”

“Sort of. Would you mind going with them?” I say cryptically. I really don't want Rainbow here when I do this. I'm about to have a conversation she has no place in.

“What? But...Celestia ordered me to stay with you,” Rainbow responds, tilting her head to one side. “It can't be that bad, right?”

“Would you just...!?” I start to snap, but then I stop myself and take a deep breath. Rainbow winces and waits for me to continue. “Don't fight me on this. Just go to the meeting, and tell me what they say. I'll be there in a few minutes.”

“...Fine, I guess. Don't take too long, or I'll come drag you back to us,” Rainbow relents after a long pause. She backs away, eyeing me suspiciously, and then finally she enters the tent with the rest of them, leaving me alone in the camp. Well, as alone as you can get in a camp filled with guards.

Ugh, my conscience is really a pain in the ass at times. Once I'm certain that I'm on my own, I turn around and stride towards Lyra. I should probably get this out of the way now, rather than wait. I'm both curious as to how she's going to feel about all of this, as well as what the hell happened to her after I scared her away when I first confronted Chrysalis in the dressing room.

The moment Lyra sees that I'm walking towards her, she gets up and streaks over to me in a flash of mint green. I recoil as her two front hooves wrap around my body in a hug, her head resting on my waist. Um...that's certainly not the reaction I was expecting. “Uh...why the fuck are you hugging me?” I ask cluelessly, looking down. I notice with a start that tears are squeezing out from underneath Lyra's closed eyelids, trickling down her face. “And why are you crying?”

“I'm so glad you're all right, Seth,” Lyra whispers, her voice shaking. “I heard from the guards that you went into the hive. I was worried that something might happen, before I had a chance to thank you.”

“Thank me? For what!?” I demand, completely confused. The hell is this mare even talking about? 

“I understand now what you were trying to do, back in the dressing room. You were trying to save us, weren't you?” Lyra reveals. “You knew what she was, before any of us did.”

“What are you talking about? Can you make some sense?” I snap. “As far as I can see, I nearly got you killed. In fact, I thought I had gotten you killed. That doesn't exactly warrant thanks.”

Lyra releases me at last, smiling at me tearfully. “Yeah...I'm sorry. I sound like I'm rambling, don't I?” she says softly. “Can you come sit with me for a moment?”

“Eh, might as well. I came over here to talk to you, after all,” I express, much to Lyra's happiness. She leads me back over to where I first saw her, and then the two of us sit down together. She rests on her haunches, and I sit back, holding my upper body up with my hands. We sit there in silence together for almost a minute before Lyra pulls herself together long enough to start telling me what her deal is.

“When you attacked those guards in the dressing room, I was so scared and confused. I've never seen you like that; I didn't even know you had magic!” Lyra begins, sniffing slightly. Well, looks like I'm getting a story. I guess it's better than having Shining Armor glare daggers at me in the command tent. “It was...so sudden. When you threatened me...I didn't know what to think. I didn't have time. I just ran.”

“Good. That's what I wanted you to do,” I remark, but Lyra ignores me, continuing her story.

“But now, I understand what you were trying to do. Cadance approached us while we were alone some time after that and...oh Celestia,” Lyra cuts off a moment to cover her face with her hooves. I wait there awkwardly, because as I've said before, I don't have a clue on how to help ponies out with trauma. “She changed...and her skin just fell off! She was a monster, Seth.”

“Trust me...I know. So what happened after that? I thought she'd killed you,” I press. Lyra trembles slightly, and then she lets out a sob, the memories no doubt being painful to her. Before continuing, she leans into me, pressing her side up against me and slipping her head under my arm so that I'm involuntarily hugging her. “Ugh, you ponies are so touchy-feely.”

I'm complaining, but I don't try and push Lyra away. I mean, physical contact has always been something I disdain (since most of the time it's fake or annoying as fuck), but it's my fault she's feeling like this. She didn't deserve for any of this to happen to her. If leaning on me brings her some measure of comfort, far be it from me to deny her that.

“She...I don't know what she did. She just glared at me, and I couldn't control my body. It's like I was a stranger looking through another pony's eyes,” Lyra continues, her voice wavering. Huh? Why would Chrysalis want to control Lyra? This doesn't make any sense. It would have been far easier to just kill her, as terrible as I am for even thinking that. “And the sounds, those awful sounds! It was like hundreds of hydra were hissing in my mind. It drowned out my screams and made it impossible to think.”

Lyra's getting worse as she tells her tale. Shit, she's traumatized as fuck. It's like as she's telling this to me, she's reliving the memories in her head. I think there's some psychological term for that, but I can't remember it.

It sounds to me like Chrysalis's control spell is not actually a spell at all, but a way of connecting the victim to a hive mind of sorts. Then Chrysalis could control them the same way she controls her drones. God, this is some Harbinger shit. I swear, if I hear somepony say “assuming direct control,” I'm fucking booking it.

“I could hear her voice in my head. That monster. It was like she was thinking for me, suppressing my own thoughts and making me do things I'd never do,” Lyra recalls, pressing her head against my chest. Hurry up and get off of me, this is getting uncomfortable. Fucking ponies, trying to be my clothes. “She sent me down here and made me try to...try to...”

Lyra cuts off there, unable to continue. She squeezes her eyes shut and hugs me tightly, sobbing quietly. This is getting more and more awkward for me. As much as my conscience is telling me to let her take comfort in my presence, every other part of me wants me to throw her off and find someplace where I can breathe in peace.

A full minute passes before Lyra is composed enough to continue. “She made me try to...hurt Twilight. All I could hear in my head was that monster's voice telling me to kill her.” It clicks in my head, and I remember what Chrysalis said to Twilight right before shit hit the fan.

“I must say, how did you get past my thralls?” 

Thralls. Was Chrysalis talking about Lyra and the other initial bridesmaids? That makes more sense now. Chrysalis must have used Lyra and the others to stave off Twilight long enough for the wedding to get underway, when it was already too late to stop her.

“I've never used my magic like that before. I can still remember how it felt,” Lyra admits, sniffling. “I'm just glad Twilight stopped me. I don't think I'd be able to live with myself if I harmed her.”

“Please, you couldn't touch her. She's the Element of Magic. I don't think any other unicorn would be able to hold a candle to her if she actually trained,” I retort.

“That isn't the point. I tried to hurt her, Seth. I couldn't do anything except watch,” Lyra laments, squeezing me harder. “It was the worst experience of my life.”

“Okay, that part I can agree with. I can safely say that this was the most difficult period of my life that I've ever had to deal with,” I respond honestly after a pause. Losing my family once was the worst feeling, but knowing that you had the chance to bring them back and didn't was even worse. Lyra nods, which feels weird because she's doing it against my chest. “Uh...Lyra...”

“Can you...just let me lean on you for a little while longer?” Lyra asks softly. Ugh...goddammit, when you phrase it like that...it makes it almost impossible to turn you down. Suddenly I remember that this pony still might have a crush on me. This is just going to make it worse, isn't it? Fucking...damn my conscience straight to hell. I remain still and quiet, leaning my head back and looking up at the ceiling. I don't understand how this is comforting to her.

After a few minutes, Lyra releases me at last and stands back up, looking at me with a tearful smile. “Thank you. Despite what the guards said about you, you're still the Seth I know,” she relates to me. Wait, what the guards said? Does that mean she heard about my fuck up? 

“Hold on a minute. What did the guards say about me?” As much as I don't want to ask this question, I have to know. 

“They said that...the monster offered you your family back,” Lyra answers haltingly. I groan and rub my forehead. I've never told Lyra anything about my family. I'm getting somewhat pissed that all of these random ponies now know about something so personal to me. And it's only going to get worse, once Celestia makes me sign citizenship papers or whatever I need to do to become a citizen of Equestria. “I'm glad you chose to save us all, but why didn't you accept?”

“I'm not answering that question. That's too personal,” I snap. I don't plan on sharing why I did what I did with everypony that asks, that's for sure. 

“Okay, I understand. I shouldn't have asked,” Lyra says apologetically. After a pause, she reaches up with her head and nuzzles my cheek...again, without my consent. Damn touchy-feely ponies. “Thank you for being such a good friend.”

“Right...whatever. All I did was sit here. It's not like I can offer you solutions,” I respond uncomfortably. The last thing Lyra said reminds me that I never told her that I don't consider her a friend. Ever since that scene on the bridge over a month ago, she's gone on thinking we're friends, which didn't go away no matter how much I tried to avoid her after that. Besides, I've never spent any time with Lyra, so I don't know enough about her to make a judgment.

“That's enough for me,” Lyra assures me. She's looking much better now. I guess pouring all of that out to someone helped, if only a little. I find it odd that I helped at all, when all I did was sit here and do nothing while she talked. Is that really all it takes to help? Seems too easy to me.

“Rogers!” That call abruptly interrupts us, and I look up in confusion. Who the fuck just called me Rogers? No one does that except...shit, it's Shining Armor. The captain is walking towards Lyra and I, staring at me with a neutral expression. I'm guessing he read over the incident reports. 

“What?” I reply simply, standing back up. I wonder if he's going to try and kill me again. He doesn't look as blatantly furious as he was the first time we woke up, but I don't think that's much to go on.

“Princess Celestia has informed you that you have been temporarily placed under the command of the First Division for the duration of your service,” Shining Armor tells me. I place my hands in my pockets and wait for him to continue, since I already knew that. “While you were under Commander Iron's command in my absence, you now report to me. Is that understood?”

Fuck, that's right. Shining Armor is the captain of the First Division. Just lovely. I'm working under a pony that would very much like to see me asphyxiated on the floor right now. “Sure, whatever,” I respond. Shining Armor's eyes narrow at my seemingly lackadaisical remark. “What? I hope you don't expect me to act like military. Because I'm not.”

“That's fine,” Shining Armor grits out. Yeah, he's still pissed. He's trying hard not to let it show, but I can tell. You're good, but you're no Iron. Shining Armor takes a breath. “This is what I wanted to tell you. I want you to meet me at the First Regiment Barracks tonight. There is something I wish to discuss with you.”

“And it's something you can't just talk to me about here?” I ask in annoyance. He's likely going to try chewing me out again.

“No, it is not. First Regiment Barracks. Remember that, and don't be late,” Shining Armor responds, and then he turns away from me, returning to the command tent. Well, so that's a thing that just happened.

I notice that the other officers are emerging from the command tent, which means the debriefing or whatever it is they were doing in there must be over. I spot Rainbow by the edge of the tent. She meets my gaze with a concerned expression. How long has she been out there?

“Seth?” Lyra speaks up, getting my attention again. She's turned the other direction as well. “I'm going to join the rest of the civilians. Thanks again!”

“All right, see ya,” I say with a halfhearted wave. Once Lyra is out of my view, I stalk over to Rainbow, passing Blades and Rose on the way, the former of which greets me with a wordless nod. When I reach Rainbow, I stand next to her, turning my back to the tent. “S'up?”

“What was that all about?” Rainbow asks, pointing a hoof back over to where I'd just been standing.

“What, that? Oh, Shining Armor wants me to meet him someplace. The guy's still pissed,” I respond uncaringly. Honestly I'm hoping to just go there, deal with his shit, and then go to sleep so I can fix my sleep schedule.

“No, I know that, Celestia told him to talk to you about it,” Rainbow corrects me. “No, I'm talking about Lyra. What was that?”

“That's what you're confused about? It was nothing, really,” I reply, raising an eyebrow. What does it matter to her?

“It didn't look like nothing,” Rainbow protests.

“What are you even talking about?”

“She nuzzled you!”

“And?”

“What's up with that?” Rainbow finishes, gesturing at me with her two front hooves. “I thought she annoyed you and stuff.”

“You know, if you want a nuzzle too, you can just ask,” I tease her. I saw the chance to fuck with her, and I'm taking it. “I mean, since you seem so jealous.”

“W...What!? Why would I be jealous of Lyra?” Rainbow retaliates, crossing her hooves. “I don't want a nuzzle. Don't be stupid.”

“Are you sure? You sound like you really want a nuzzle,” I press, poking her side. Hilariously enough, Rainbow nips at me, causing me to withdraw my finger.

“I'm not nuzzling you!” Rainbow insists, turning her gaze away from me. Heh, this is too funny. You make this too easy, Rainbow. 

“Perfectly good nuzzle you're turning down here,” I warn her once more with a dumb grin on my face. I can't help but chuckle when she shoves me in frustration. “No, seriously, though, Lyra was a bit traumatized because Chrysalis controlled her the same way she did Shining Armor.”

“Really?” Rainbow turns back to look at me, her eyes widening. When I nod, she blanches. “That can't have been pleasant. Shining Armor said it was like having your head shoved in a den of snakes.”

“That's kinda what Lyra said. But I figured that since it's partially my fault that happened, I might as well hear her out,” I finish. Rainbow nods in understanding...and then grins a few seconds later.

“You're getting nicer, Seth,” she teases me, poking my side with a hoof. I smack her hoof away with a grunt.

“Oh, fuck you. Go jump off of that cliff over there, you blasted mare,” I tell her with a huff, but that just gets Rainbow laughing.

“You remember I can fly, right?” she reminds me.

“Not the point!” Despite all the shit that's going on right now, the both of us take a moment and just laugh. “Ah, well, I should probably get moving. Celestia's dismissed us all, right?”

“Yeah. Nothing really happened in the meeting. I mean, Blades talked about the deal and all, but other than that it was mostly just for Shining Armor and Cadance,” Rainbow explains. Speaking of Cadance, she walks out of the tent next, and dear god, she's a mess. And when I say walk, I mean lean on Shining Armor with a haggard expression on her face. As the two of them pass us, Cadance gives me a look that I can't read before she passes out of sight. Huh, right, still have to deal with her as well. “Which reminds me, you're going to go talk to him, right?”

“Shining Armor? Yep, seems like that's the case,” I respond with a groan. “Let's hope he doesn't try to kill me again.”

“Yeah, that's not happening. Celestia was extremely firm that Shining Armor never lay a hoof on you again,” Rainbow tells me, much to my surprise. Once again, Celestia, saving me the trouble of having to deal with a potentially homicidal warrior.

“Right. And I'm guessing you got away with punching him in the face?” I ask her with a wry expression. Rainbow quickly turns embarrassed, looking down at the ground.

“He was hurting you. I just stopped him, that's all,” Rainbow defends herself. “Anyway, enough about him. Celestia said we're done for today, so let's get going already.”

“Yeah, sure. I'll tag along as long until we pass the barracks. Then I have to go deal with bullshit I'd rather not,” I agree, and then the two of us join the stream of guards and civilians heading back to the surface.





The ponies working on repairing the street have made some serious progress. If this continues, they'll have the place patched up in less than a week. Which means reconstruction for this whole time will take less than I thought. I'm estimating around a month of work, give or take a week or so.

That aside, once Rainbow and I reach the castle, the time for me to split off from her comes all too soon. Once I recognize the hallway that exits out into the clearing that houses the barracks, I slow down and turn away. “I'm headed out, Rainbow. I'll see you tonight, I guess,” I inform her, just before turning down a different hallway from her.

“Okay. See you then!” Rainbow calls after me, and then I'm on my own. IT doesn't take me long to exit the hallway into the training area.

Yeah, this place is a mess. The grass is all torn up, burnt, and downright missing in some areas, training dummies are knocked over, and debris litters the ground. No doubt after the changelings showed up, the guards in the barracks here were forced right into battle. Judging by the bits of slime I can see as well, some of them ended up getting slimed, though they've since been freed. Suffice to say, I think this barracks became a battleground after I took the Elements and ran for it.

Some of the castle staff is out here in the clearing, cleaning up the mess. They mostly ignore me as I pass. With a sigh of resignation, I walk into the barracks. A series of signs on the walls (which I can read now, unlike the last time I was here) guides me to the Captain's office, which is up a set of stairs and down at the end of the hallway.

The door to the office is open, and I can hear Shining Armor's growls from here, and the sound of Cadance trying to calm him down with her soothing tones. When I reach the office, I walk inside without announcing myself.

“There you are,” Shining Armor growls, as unhappy to see me as ever. Cadance looks at me as well, a slight frown on her face.“Now, I'm going to be very busy with the reconstruction effort, so I'm going to make this quick.”

“Good. You're probably just going to yell at me anyway, so go ahead,” I say, my hands in my pockets once more.

“Are you really going to act like you don't care?” Shining Armor demands angrily, taking offense to my tone.  He thrusts his hoof towards the window, where you can see one of the largest holes in the streets, as well as the broken buildings from the battle. “Don't you understand what you've done? All of this is your fault!”

“Of course I care, idiot. But you're not telling me anything I don't already know,” I retort, annoyed with this already. 

“By all rights, I'd have you banished, but that's not up to me,” Shining Armor tells me, huffing in frustration. “I can't believe you played us all like fools, only to turn around and stab us in the back when we weren't looking.”

Shining Armor storms up to me and stares at me in the eyes, telling me that he means everything he's saying. “Best man at my wedding? What a joke! You just stood there and let that witch nearly bring Canterlot to its knees single-hoofed, while simultaneously wrecking what was supposed to be the best day of  my life!”

“In case you hadn't noticed, I saved your sister's life and then proceeded to beat her down,” I point out, though that doesn't seem to calm Shining Armor down at all. I notice that Cadance is pointedly staying out of this argument, though she's looking more and more troubled the more Shining Armor yells.

“None of which would be necessary if you had just gone to the Princess in the first place! Don't you realize that your indecision cost several good ponies their lives, and nearly cost us the whole city?” Shining Armor responds viciously.

“I know that, goddammit! You think it was easy for me? I bet you're just like Rose, thinking that my supposed country should come before my family!” I finally retaliate, getting tired of his shit. “I didn't betray you, because I hold no loyalty to you in the first place!”

“I considered you a friend, Seth! Control or not, I was going to let you stand in for Twilight at my wedding, because you were a friend to my bride-to-be. But you were going to let us die, all because you believed that Chrysalis was going to send you back!” Shining Armor returns.

“She was going to send me back. I know she can do it, because she showed me!” I shoot right back.

“That's not the point! She's a born deceiver. The point is you were willing to let all of us, including your friends, die for a promise that may or may not have been a trap,” Shining Armor corrects me, and that gets me to shut up. He's right about that. Chrysalis is one hell of a liar, as she was able to lie to Celestia and fool her. She might have been lying to me as well just to get me out of the picture until she could focus on me entirely. “And that tells me just what kind of man you are.”

“What are you...?” I start to say, but Shining Armor cuts me off.

“No. I'm done. I don't want you around normal ponies, my sister, and certainly not my wedding,” Shining Armor snaps, and then he pushes past me, leaving the room. “And you can forget about that meal I promised you!”

Shining Armor slams the door behind him, and I wince. I mean...he's not wrong about most of what he said. I don't think I'm going to be able to come to terms with my choice then for a long time.

“Don't worry, Seth. I'll talk to him later,” Cadance assures me, finally saying something to me for the first time since coming out of the slime. I blink, not sure if I heard what I think I just heard. “I read the incident report as well. I was hoping that I could talk to Shining Armor before this, but...”

“Cadance, you should be just as angry as he is,” I tell her flatly, not taking any of her bullshit. “If anyone should be pissed at me, it's you. This was your night.”

“Seth, I was already captured before you even arrived in Canterlot,” Cadance informs me with a pained expression. “No matter what choice you made, my wedding was already ruined.”

“Maybe, but still. Shining Armor isn't wrong. I fucked up big time,” I say with a shrug. Cadance steps closer to me.

“Shining Armor is a very earnest pony, and I adore that about him, but sometimes it's hard for him to show empathy,” Cadance explains. “I understand what you had to go through, and I'm proud of you for making the choice you did.”

“Are you kidding me? You're not mad at all?” I demand incredulously. She's the one I expected to be the angriest at me, and she's being the most understanding? What?

“What you faced was beyond anything anyone should have to deal with. I understand that there was no right choice in that situation, from your point of view,” Cadance explains. “If anything, I feel grateful that you chose to save us. According to the incident report, Canterlot would not have survived if it weren't for you.”

“Yeah...” I trail off, not really sure what to say. Cadance is being way too forgiving to me, but everything she's saying makes sense. There's a silence between us as I try and think of a way to respond to that. In the mean time, Cadance takes two cups out of a drawer and fills them up with a golden drink from a small keg on the desk. 

“I'm curious though. All the report said that you chose to save us, but not why you made that choice. If you don't mind me asking, what was it about us that made us worth saving, to you?” Cadance asks, and then she passes one of the cups to me and takes a sip from her own.

I drink from the cup and discover that it's apple cider. It's not fresh, but it's good, so I'll take it. “You're probably not going to like the answer. I shouldn't even tell you, but since it was your wedding that got fucked up, I feel I owe you something, and I hate owing anything to others,” I confess to her. “It was Rainbow Dash. If Chrysalis hadn't threatened to kill her, I would have chosen my family in a heartbeat.”

Cadance's eyes widen. “I see. I think I understand. You couldn't stand to see her die,” she reasons. Then she gives me a strange look that I can't read. “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

“Sure. What is it?” I say, drinking again from my cup.

“Do you like Rainbow?” Cadance asks. I raise an eyebrow, finding that a rather odd question. I mean, shouldn't it be obvious?”

“Damn right I do. I wouldn't have bothered saving her if I didn't like her,” I reply. Cadance shakes her head, confusing me.

“That's not what I meant. Let me rephrase that. Are you in love with Rainbow?” Cadance repeats. As I'm in the middle of drinking when she says that, I promptly spit cider all over the floor, choking slightly.

“What!?” I finally say after forcefully expelling the drop or two that had gone down the wrong pipe. I apparently didn't mishear her, because Cadance doesn't try to amend her question, instead waiting for me to answer. “Of...Of course not. What a dumb question. She's my best friend, and a pony too. No. Definitely not.”

“Oh. I was curious, because most individuals wouldn't give up their family and race for someone who was just a friend to them,” Cadance explains. Wha...I mean...she's right...but Rainbow...she...is she...? No, she's a pony. A pony that saved my life, but still a pony. She's my best friend. That would be weird. Why am I thinking about this? Fuck you, Cadance. “I'm sorry for my assumption.”

“No, it's fine. Just caught me a bit off guard,” I comment wryly, wiping my chin. Cadance giggles at the mess I made, and proceeds to clean it up herself with magic. “So I've been meaning to ask. What's going to happen with the wedding now that this happened?”

“The wedding? Well, it's still happening, of course. I love Shining Armor dearly,” Cadance answers with a happy smile. “Of course, it's going to wait until after we're done rebuilding.”

“I see. In a month or so then,” I respond. “Well, I hope you enjoy it. I'm not going to be there, apparently.”

“Why ever not? I told you, I'm going to speak with Shining Armor. I'd love for you to be there. After all, it's partly because of you that we can still have this wedding,” Cadance returns with a reassuring smile. 

“I suppose,” I grunt, not sure how I feel about that. Before I can say anythign else, a yawn overtakes me, earning a giggle from Cadance.

“Go on. You should get some sleep. You look exhausted,” Cadance says understandingly. “We can talk about this more later, if you're still feeling down about it.”

“All right. In that case, I'm going to go and do just that. I am tired as fuck,” I say gratefully turning my back. Opening the door, I step out into the hallway, already anticipating the feeling of a warm bed eagerly. “Good night, I guess.”

“Good night, Seth. And don't worry about Shining Armor. He'll come around,” Cadance calls after me, waving at me until I can't see her anymore.

Well, that went both worse and better than I expected. Still, my emotions are going in circles now, thanks to that good cop bad cop bullshit they just pulled on me. What? That's essentially what that was.

Whatever. I'll ignore these dumb emotions that have no business existing and just focus on the month of work that I'm going to be doing.

Because that's a thing.

	
> 57. Love is in Bloom
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I guess it had to happen sometime. And by that, I mean I wasn't able to wake up on my own for once. Instead, I'm woken up by the sound of whispering voices nearby. Christ, what time is it? If it's before 8, I'm going to kick Vinyl and Rainbow's respective asses.

“Oh shoot, Ah think we woke 'im,” I hear one of them whisper as I sit up. It takes me a few seconds to recognize who I'm hearing, because my mind is still foggy from just waking up. That sounds an awful like Applejack...though what the hell she's doing in this room is beyond me.

I open my eyes, and sure enough, I see Applejack sitting on the floor in front of the bed, gazing at me apologetically. That's not all. They're all here. Like, Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Spike are sitting in a circle, in addition to Rainbow and Vinyl, who I already knew were going to be here. What the hell are they all doing here?”

“He's awake, he's awake!” Before I have a chance to say anything, Pinkie zooms across the floor like some kind of pony ninja, stopping directly in front of my face. I blink once, but that's all I have time for before Pinkie levers open my jaw with a hoof and stuffs something sweet-tasting in my mouth. “Try this!”

Still sleepy and very much confused, I bite down tentatively at the object weding my mouth open. It's soft and I can feel something creamy on it, so I assume it's a cupcake. Of course it is. It's Pinkie. Why would it be anything else? Still, it tastes good. It's like a strawberry vanilla flavor...which happen to be two of my favorite flavors. Shit, this is delicious.

Pinkie is bouncing in front of me excitedly, eagerly waiting my opinion of her cooking. Since I assume she made it. “What the fuck, Pinkie? Wouldn't a simple 'good morning' have been better than trying to suffocate me with a cupcake?” I demand once I manage to swallow the baked confection.

“This coming from the guy who dropped me into a tub of cold water!” Rainbow retorts before Pinkie can answer, earning laughs from her friends and a mock glare from me. “You've got no room to talk!”

“She's got a point, you know, Mr. Bed Flipper,” Vinyl points out. I groan and get to my feet, my pants still on because I'm sleeping on the floor every night.

“Okay, is it Everypony Hate on Seth Day and no one told me?” I grunt in annoyance. Seriously, so much activity just after waking up. 

“No, it's Everypony Bake for Seth Day! And by 'everypony', I mean meeee!” Pinkie exclaims with and over the top grin.  “Well, what do you think? Did you like it?”

“It wasn't bad. How did you figure out what flavors I like? I don't remember telling anypony,” I respond haltingly, not wanting to tell her it was actually extremely good. Because it would go straight to her head.

“Lucky guess. But now I know your favorite flavors!” Pinkie answers, bouncing around me in a circle. I try to follow her with my eyes, but I stop when she passes behind me. This fucking pony, I swear to god. “Ohmigosh, I just had the best idea ever! I should totally throw a 'Seth Saved Canterlot' party, with strawberry and vanilla everywhere!”

“That sounds delightful. I happen to enjoy strawberry myself,” Rarity comments, and as she lifts a sandwich to her mouth, I just now I notice that they're eating breakfast on a lavender tablecloth.

“Can we not do that? In case you hadn't noticed, there's still reconstruction to be done. Not to mention it was Celestia who saved the city,” I remind Pinkie before her excitement level gets too high to handle.

“That's not true. If you hadn't saved us back at the wedding, we would have lost,” Twilight interrupts, looking at me sternly. 

“That's true. Though I believe credit belongs collectively to all of us,” Rarity suggests. And now she has everyone's attention.

“What does that mean, Rarity?” Spike inquires. The little dragon is munching on gems from a bowl, while sitting in between Rarity and Twilight. Huh, he did say he ate gems, though I've never seen it for myself. That just seems wrong. Any one of those gems could have earned me a ton of money in my time. Now they're food. 

“I just think that everyone had their own role to play, and that each role was equally important,” Rarity explains. “Seth is the reason we were able to make the effort to retake Canterlot, but it took all of us to do it.”

“Oh, I know! Let's make it a 'We Saved Canterlot' party, and I'll get everyone's favorite flavors and make one giant cake!” Pinkie inputs.

“Ooh, a giant cake? Sounds delish,” Vinyl comments. I sigh and run a hand through my hair...and promptly notice that it's greasy from overnight build-up. Ugh, gross. I'll wrap this up quickly and then take a shower.

“Still, I don't think we should have a party until we're done rebuilding,” I remind them all once again. Secretly though, I'd love a fucking Pinkie Party right now. It doesn't matter how much that pony annoys me; her parties can relieve stress like nothing else. There are few problems that dancing and sweets can't solve.

“Right. Gotta work before we can play,” Applejack concurs, nodding in approval. “But ah'm on board with this party idea.”

“Me too. Though I also agree with Seth. Why don't we wait until we all get back to Ponyville?” Twilight suggests. “That way we can celebrate our victory as well as our safe return home.”

The other ponies make various sounds of approval at that idea. Well then, it looks like I'll have something to look forward to once all this reconstruction is over.

“All right, that being decided, I'm going to go take a shower. My mane is all greasy,” I tell them, and then immediately notice that they're all looking at me strangely. Then it hits me. I exhale slowly and rest my face in my hands, rubbing at my eyes. “I just said 'mane,' didn't I?”

“You totally did!” Rainbow responds, falling over with laughter. My resulting groan of exasperation gets the other girls giggling and laughing. 

“Fucking ponies and your linguistics, taking over my mind, and...” I grumble, trailing off into unintelligible growl and curses as I storm into the bathroom and shut the door behind me.





I emerge from the bathroom a little over half an hour later, my hair as groomed as much as possible, what with all the damaged ends I have. I really need to find a pair of scissors somewhere and fix it myself. I'm also slightly hungry, so that food that the ponies in the room are still eating starts to look really enticing.

“So where'd all this food come from anyway?” I ask, inserting myself into the circle between Rainbow and Vinyl, who shift to give me room.

“It's a complementary meal, darling! The castle staff is providing us with food, as long as we keep trying our hardest to rebuild the city,” Rarity explains. Huh, that seems like a fair deal to me. Free food for hard work without pay. I can accept that. Rarity offers me a bowl of salad. “Would you like some?”

“Damn right I do. I'm starving,” I say, taking the bowl from her and tossing some of the leaves in my mouth. Oh good, I can taste spinach in here. I can get iron from that, since I'm pretty much a vegetarian now. Sometimes I get the craving for a juicy cheeseburger every now and then, but it's no big deal.

“Oh!” Twilight suddenly exclaims, and then she produces a sheaf of papers from somewhere behind her. I quirk an eyebrow as she sends them over to me, along with a inkwell and quill. “I knew there was something I was forgetting. Take these, Seth.”

“What the fuck is this? Paperwork?” I say, perplexed. I set aside my bowl and take the paper and quill from Twilight, glancing at the heading on the first page. It reads “Equestrian Citizenship Application – Form 1A.” Shit, Celestia told me this was coming. Oh god, it looks complicated as all hell. “Oh. Seems important.”

“Yes, sorry. Princess Celestia wanted me to give those to you,” Twilight replies. “You don't have to do them now, but the princess wants them done as soon as possible.”

“Christ, she essentially gave me homework,” I say with an ironic chuckle. “The more things change, the more they stay the same. Well, I'll do these after I eat.”

“Are those the citizenship papers?” Rainbow inquires, peeking over my shoulder. I push her muzzle out of the way gently. That takes her by surprise, so she emits a frankly adorable snuffle. “Hey, what was that for?”

“You were being too nosy. Yes, they're my citizenship papers,” I remark with looking at her. Instead of responding, Rainbow pushes a hoof into my nose gently, so that my head turns aside involuntarily. “Really?”

“Yeah, really. Problem?” Rainbow answers with a cheeky grin. Did...did she just fucking troll me? Now I've seen everything. Ponies that know how to troll. 

“Citizenship papers? Does that mean you're going to be an honorary Equestrian!?” Rarity exclaims, appearing a bit too excited.

“It doesn't really change much. All it's for is so that other ponies know I have to follow Celestia's laws,” I say with a shrug.

“It doesn't change much!? Now, dear, citizenship isn't something to be pushed aside like it doesn't matter,” Rarity corrects me, lifting her nose. “This means that Princess Celestia recognizes you as one of her subjects. It's less of an application, and more of an agreement.”

“An agreement? What are you going on about?” I say, not sure that I enjoy being called one of Celestia's subjects. That makes it sound like I have to be subservient to her. And there's no way I'm going to be submitting to a goddamn pony princess, as powerful as she may be.

“Exactly what I said. By becoming a citizen of Equestria, you are agreeing to follow our laws. By accepting you as a citizen, Princess Celestia is agreeing to love and protect you, just as she loves and protects all of her subjects,” Rarity elaborates. As her words sink in, I notice Twilight and some of the others nodding in agreement. “Does that make sense?”

“It's a citizenship application. You just made it sound like an adoption program,” I state flatly. That gets Rainbow and Vinyl to snicker behind their hooves.

“I suppose it is similar, in a way. Princess Celestia has all adopted us, so-to-speak,” Rarity replies, unperturbed by my off-color joke. I shrug. There's not really much I can say to that. I've already agreed to do this. Rarity was just being prissy as always. There's a short silence after that as we munch on our respective breakfasts.

“So what's the deal with the rest of you?” I ask, as this has been bothering me ever since seeing them in the room. “I'm the only one required to stay here and rebuild. What are the rest of you doing?”

The ponies look amongst themselves. Applejack is the first one to speak. “Ah wanna help as much as ah can, but my farm needs me as well. Ah'm thinkin' about headin' home soon, and visitin' every weekend to come help.”

“I'm staying, of course. I brought all of my materials with me, so I can fill out my orders here,” Rarity announces, looking rather pleased with herself. “Though of course, I will use most of my time to help rebuild. I have to make up for my rather poor performance in the fight, after all.”

“You weren't poor, you were amazing, Rarity!” Spike protests suddenly, having been content to sit there and munch on gems until just now. “It was really crazy out there, and you helped keep me safe!” 

Rarity looks down at Spike with surprise, which quickly turns into a happy smile. “Aww, you're so sweet, Spike. Thank you,” she responds, and then leans down to plant a kiss on the top of his head. Hilariously enough, Spike proceeds to fall over backwards in shock. Twilight also finds this funny, for some reason.

“Twilight? What about you?” I say, pushing the conversation forward. I'd like to have a general idea as to who I'll be seeing on a daily basis.

“Me? I'm going to help rebuild. I can't go home, not when there are ponies here without homes,” Twilight expresses fervently. I raise an eyebrow. That's a surprisingly noble thing to say. Whether she means it or not still remains to be seen. “I mean, I don't have anything to worry about at home.”

“I'm totally staying,” Rainbow states simply, not saying anything else. Huh, is it just me, or is she a little closer to me than before? I think it's just me. I tend not to pay attention much to how ponies position themselves during social gatherings.

“That's it?” I comment. Rainbow nods, a satisfied smile on her face.

“It's because you want to be with Seth, isn't it?” Vinyl remarks like it's a matter of fact. Rainbow's eyes widen imperceptibly as the other ponies look to her for confirmation, some of which are wearing curious expressions.

“W..what? No it isn't! I'm staying because of...” Rainbow fumbles a moment to try and find the words to properly protest. Eventually, as Applejack and Vinyl snicker at her expense, she points at Twilight. “What Twilight said. Yeah.”

Rainbow yelps in shock as I promptly reach over and pull her over to me roughly in a hug. Holding her to my chest with an arm, I grin evilly and start messing with her mane. “Well, aren't you just the most tsundere little fucker? Come and give your best buddy Seth a hug!” I say in the most phony, troll-like voice that I can muster.

Rainbow understandably starts struggling like crazy. “Agh! Let me go! What are you even...I'm going to beat the hay out of you!” she cries out. Vinyl bursts out laughing at our display, while the others that aren't used to our bullshit stare in shock for a few moments before finding it extremely funny as well.

“I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how adorable you look right now,” I say, knowing exactly how she'll react to being called adorable. True enough, she starts struggling harder, and before I realize it, she manages to slip her head up and clamp down her teeth on my bare shoulder. “Ow! Fucking...let go!” 

“'u firth!” Rainbow grits out over the thin fold of skin that she's biting. At this point, the ponies that have never seen us act like this before (like Twilight, for example), are now laughing to the point where they're practically crying.

“Oh Celestia...I can't breathe...!” Twilight emits. I can't help but chuckle myself, despite Rainbow's teeth biting down on my shoulder.

I loosen my grip on Rainbow so that she has room to get out. “If you don't let go, I'll resort to drastic measures,” I warn her, wiggling my fingers threateningly. Rainbow lets go and extricates herself from my grip, glaring at me. “What? That was funny, and you know it.”

Rainbow tries to stay mad, but ultimately fails, and starts laughing as well. She gives me one last shove before she takes a drink from the cup in front of her.

“Priceless. Absolutely priceless,” Vinyl comments, wiping a tear from her eye. “This is why I hang out with you two.”

There's a silence as the rest of them take a moment to compose themselves. Well, that was fun, but now that that's over with, I should probably figure out what the rest of them are doing. “Fluttershy, what are you going to do?” I ask. 

Fluttershy jumps a bit from being suddenly addressed. “Um...well, I should go home. My animals need me, and I don't think I'd be much help here,” she confesses. “I'll be back for the wedding though.”

“We all will. We still gotta prepare for it all over again,” Applejack points out. That's true. All that effort got put into making the wedding and the reception, and then we promptly blew it straight to hell. Funny how demonic bug ponies tend to do that.

“I'm staying! You'll all be working so hard all the time, and somepony's got to make you smile!” Pinkie adds. Okay, so four of the Elements are staying, and the rest are going home.

“I might as well stay myself. All my stuff is here,” Vinyl says. That's all of us then, unless you count Spike. But I think he's probably going to stay with Twilight. He always does, after all.

“All right. I'm guessing we have at least of month of work to get this place looking back to normal,” I estimate. That's taking magic into account. It would take at least half a year for humans to do the same amount of work. Mostly because construction crews tend to take fucking weeks off when building stuff. Because god forbid they do their fucking jobs. 

“Sounds about right!” Twilight agrees. With that particular conversation finished, we get back to our meals.





It isn't long before we all finish up our meals. After that, it's just a matter of us cleaning up the mess before it's time to get back out there. For them at least.

“I'm gonna stay here for a while and get all this shit done,” I tell the rest of them, waving the citizenship papers at them. “I'll come join you all outside when I'm done.”

“All right. See you soon then,” Twilight responds, opening the door with her magic. “Let's go girls. He needs to work.”

“Don't take too long!” Rainbow calls back to me as she leaves the room with the rest of the girls.

“See you at the wedding...if you want, that is,” Fluttershy says to me, and then the door shuts behind them, leaving me alone in the room. Well, I guess it's time to take a look at these papers.

I sit down at the desk tucked in the corner of the room and set both the inkwell and the quill on it, next to the paperwork. Man, I'm sure glad I had practice using a quill back when I was learning Equestrian with Cheerilee, or this would be a hell of a lot more difficult.

Once I'm comfortably seated, I look at the page and see what I'm expected to do. Hm, there's some typical shit here, like name, age, gender, and all that jazz. There's also previous and current town of residence and address, as well. It's a good thing I remember Vinyl's address.

This is easy enough. Basically it's just busywork that will officially recognize me as an Equestrian citizen. However, just as I'm about to sign the application, I pause. This is a stupid reason to balk now, but I can't help but feel that if I sign this...I'll have nothing left of my human life. I won't even be a citizen of the United States anymore.

Fuck it. There's no reason to hesitate. I'm never going to be able to go home, no matter how much I want to. This is my life now. Despite that reasoning, I can't help but feel a little empty as I sign my name down on the line.

There's still more paperwork, but it's no longer citizenship papers. Now it looks more like an official article, or...hey, this is talking about me. This must be the statement Celestia is planning to release to the general public about me. And there's a smaller scrap of paper attached to the article. 

“Proofread at your leisure. -Princess Celestia,” it read. Well, good to know. Let's see...oh, there's already something I'm going to cut out. And there's another. 

Welp, this is going to take me a while.





Finally, once I finish crossing out the last piece I want removed, I bundle up all of the papers and snap my fingers, so that they dissolve into darkness, on their way to Spike. I only know the spell to give letters to Spike, but I figure that once he sees the note I put on it all, he'll send them to Celestia. I mean, he as reliable during the battle, so there's no point in doubting him now.

I lean back in my chair and sigh. That's it then, I guess. I'm a citizen of Equestria, which will be announced to the populace rather soon, I believe.

I stand up and leave the room. I have a lot of work to do, after all. Time to go find Shining Armor.





As I expected, there's a hell of a lot to do in the city. Between the collapsed streets, demolished houses, and decimated wedding halls, there's enough to keep everyone busy for quite a long time. I don't feel like I need to describe all of it. Shining Armor worked me extremely hard, and more often than not I was out there on the scaffoldings, rebuilding the houses or streets with a supervisor behind me making sure I didn't fuck anything up.

Sometimes Rainbow is with me, other times I'm working with Applejack on one of the weekends she visits us. I've only worked with Twilight once, but that's because she's mostly dealing with “records,” whatever that means.

About a week after the battle, Celestia releases the statement she had planned about me, and the news spreads like wildfire, either through word of mouth, letters, or the newspapers in which the article is printed. The article explained what I am, where I come from, and why I'm here now, though it never gets too personal, because I scratched all of that out. It also explains my role in the battle of Canterlot, though it paints me in a positive light, saying that while I was “tempted by Queen Chrysalis, I ultimately chose to fight for Equestria.” It could be worse, I suppose.

Another week later, Octavia comes to find me, having been freed from slime from a building buried in rubble that only recently got excavated. It's good to see that she's all right, I guess. We end up going somewhere to eat so we can catch up, since I haven't seen her since that time in the wedding hall. It also gives me a chance to explain to her what she saw. Fortunately, she doesn't try to kill me. She's disappointed, but I guess that's to be expected.

Soon after that, Celestia announces that the Royal Wedding will be taking place at the end of the month, once all of the repairs are done. Which surprisingly gets the civilians happy. I guess it's because this means that the danger is over, and announcing the wedding means things are returning to normal.

Speaking of which, I will be attending the wedding. Cadance did talk to Shining Armor, and while he's not happy with me at all, his anger has simmered down to the point where he doesn't want to put me behind bars every time he sees me. At least, I hope that's the case. Either way, I'll be going to the wedding.

Finally, by the end of the month, the repairs are completed. It's been an exhausting month with almost every day being spent working in the city, but it's finally over. Now there's nothing to worry about until the wedding. Which as of right now is in a few days. 

The next day, Fluttershy and Applejack arrive from Ponyville to help with the wedding. Which means it's almost time. I'm going to this damn wedding. I fought to make sure this goddamn wedding could happen. I want to make sure it goes well.





Celestia, along with Luna, stand on the raised platform at the end of the newly refurbished wedding hall, just in front of a white wooden arch adorned with greenery and bells, to signify the joyous occasion that's about to take place. Shining Armor is next to them on my right, along with Twilight, who because she was right in the first place, is the best mare (that is such a dumb pun) once more. 

Next to Celestia and Luna on my left, standing in a line, are the bridesmaids. Despite Lyra and the others' return, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Pinkie are still the bridesmaids for this wedding. Which makes sense, considering how they tried their hardest along with me to make sure these two could get married.

As for me, I'm standing in the audience near the front, with Lyra on my left and Vinyl on my right. I'm wearing clothes now other than my pants, because Rarity insisted that I look nice for this occasion. And guess what, she made another coat for me. She was distraught that the first one was damaged so badly, but she still had its design, so she recreated it for me...which I then paid her for. She protested, but I insisted, so we ended up haggling a good price. It's a nice fucking coat. Damn right I'm paying her for it.

At last, the doors open, and Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo come trotting in, leaving flower petals behind for Cadance to walk through, as she's right behind them. Fluttershy's bird choir (yes, Cadance really wanted that to happen, so there it is. I still think it's stupid) starts to sing what I assume is their wedding theme.

When Cadance reaches the platform, she stands opposite Shining Armor, who smiles at her. Yeah, be happy. I almost died so you could do this. Twilight says something to Shining Armor, who replies with something that gets her to blush.

“Mares and gentlecolts, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of the real Princess Cadance and Shining Armor,” Celestia begins, and then she continues on to say a bunch of sappy bullshit that I feel like is said at all weddings. You know, the typical “love will surpass all boundaries” and other trite nonsense.

Finally, the vows are exchanged, and the rings are given out...which go over their horns. What the hell? How can they...you know what at this point, I don't care. Fucking ponies and their traditions and...ugh. 

Shining Armor and Cadance walk out to the back of the platform and out the door there, standing atop a balcony that overlooks a courtyard where a massive amount of cheering ponies are gathered. The cheering only doubles in intensity when they see the royal duo waving at them from above.

At that, the wedding ceremony is officially over, so I step out of the slowly dispersing crowd and make my way up to the platform as well. Celestia smiles as I climb up there, shifting to make room for me. “Welcome Seth. I was just about to say a few words,” she greets me upon my approach. “I have some to say to you as well.”

“Oh? This should be good,” I remark, coming to a stop next to Rainbow...who looks so weird in that dress she's wearing. And her mane is styled, like...this is the first time it hasn't been messy. She looks almost like another pony. Except not, because no other pony has a rainbow colored mane. Go figure.

“Twilight, I cannot express just how proud I am of you and your friends for making this moment possible,” Celestia begins, causing Twilight to blush and beam happily at the praise. “In the end, learning to trust your instincts is a lesson that we all must learn. This event has served to tell me that despite how long I have lived, even I have much to learn.”

“Seth, I wanted to thank you as well,” Celestia turns to me next. Now that the spotlight is on me, I shift uncomfortably, scratching the back of my neck. “You came through for us when we needed you, and that means a lot. However, in the future, I want you to listen to your heart. Often, it will give you the answers you seek, when all else seems unclear.”

“Oh my god, that's so corny,” I groan. Listen to your heart. How cliché can you get? I mean...is saving Rainbow technically following my heart? Celestia just giggles at my response without taking offense.

I hazard a glance outside, and notice with some disgust that Shining Armor and Cadance are now kissing. I guess that's tradition, but that doesn't make it any less excruciating to see.

“Rainbow, that's your cue,” Celestia says, and Rainbow blinks, suddenly remembering why she was called to the wedding in the first place.

“Oh shoot. Let's do this!” Rainbow exclaims, and then she dashes to the balcony and takes to the air, accelerating as fast as she can until she hits the sound barrier. It soon shatters, the sound of thunder echoing through the courtyard as a result. You know, as well as the rainbow rings of magical bullshit that for some reason accompany a sonic boom. Because magic.

I sigh and look up at the sky as the rainbow spreads. I find the color somewhat soothing. It's hard to describe how I'm feeling right now, but...it's like that rainbow is the culmination of everything I fought for; a visual representation of our victory. 

And sheesh, would you listen to me. I'm sounding cheesy as fuck right now. Oh, you damn ponies. What have you done to me?

Still...it's a good feeling.





The sun dips below the horizon, casting shadows over the Canterlot Royal Gardens. I, as well as hundreds of other ponies, are gathered there together, standing in a ring around the center. Standing there in the center is Shining Armor and Cadance.

Set up around us, in between the masses of ponies that have gathered, are several lights and tables. On the tables are many types of extravagant food and drink. For example. I can see a massive salad in the center of one table, and several bowls of fruit on another, set up around an ice sculpture of a heart. On another table I can see the massive cake that Applejack had created, with tiny figures of Cadance and Shining Armor decorating its top.

For drinks, there's bowls of punch, soft drink fountains, and other such things. Heh, the kitchens really spared no expense for this. But then again, they shouldn't have. If there's anything Canterlot needs right now, it's a celebration.

Just as Shining Armor and Cadance hug warmly, there's a flash of pink as a certain hyperactive pony streaks past them. Pinkie screeches to a halt just behind a set of speakers and mixing tables, which in turn are connected to an array of flashing LED lights that outline a sizable dance floor. Standing next to Pinkie is Vinyl, wearing her shades and ready to party. Thanks to Pinkie, Vinyl had been one of the musicians chosen for the party, along with Octavia and a string octet. 

“Let's get this party started!” Pinkie announces excitedly, and a cheer rises from the crowd. “Hit it, Vinyl!”

“Don't have to tell me twice!” Vinyl yells enthusiastically, and then she places a hoof to the mixing tables. As rousing beat starts to play from the speakers, Pinkie tosses a microphone at Twilight, who catches it with her magic. With a wide smile, Twilight starts to sing, and the party truly begins.

“Hah, that's pretty good,” I remark to Rainbow, who's standing next to me. Around us, the different ponies are starting to dance, as the manifestation of all of the positive energy filling the garden. I give the statue of Discord an ironic glance. I bet if he could hear this right now, he'd be having a conniption. Well, it sucks to be him, because I'm going to enjoy this.

“Yeah! This party's already awesome, and the night's just getting started!” Rainbow exclaims, already starting to move her body slightly to reflect the beat. “So what do you want to do first?”

“Well, since everypony seems to be breaking in down right about now, I think I should...” I begin, but then I notice Celestia entering the dance floor, without her crown. Is she about to...holy fuck she is. I can't help but laugh out loud at seeing this regal pony princess joining in with the dancing ponies. “Are you seeing that?”

“Yeah, I've never seen the princess dance before! This is great!” Rainbow says with a raucous laugh. “And...is that Princess Luna?”

It's true. Luna's there with her, and oh my god, she's dancing harder than Celestia is. This is just great. I've never seen them act like this...but I've also never seen them in an informal setting like this. Anyhow, seeing even them dance has got me wanting to stretch out my limbs a bit myself.

“I'm getting out there. You can join me if you want,” I tell Rainbow, straightening up and starting to move towards the dance floor. For some reason, Rainbow is grinning at me.

“Did you just ask me to dance?” she asks with a roguish grin. I stop and give her an askance glance.

“No, I didn't,” I deny pointedly, already hating myself for choosing the wrong words. Rainbow's grin only grows wider.

“You totally did!”

“I did not!”

“So you don't want me to join you?”

“Ugh, stay here and rot for all I care.”

“You're not getting rid of me that easily!” Rainbow asserts, and then the two of us join the mass of dancing ponies, both of us chuckling at our dumb bullshit. “Can you even dance? You're so stiff, I bet you'll fall right over.”

“And that sounds suspiciously like a challenge. You're going down, Rainbow,” I shoot right back. This is stupid. Dance competition. Oh well. After all the shit that's happened over this past month, I think I deserve a moment to fuck around.

“Ah'm getting in on this!” Applejack joins us then, having discarded her bridesmaid outfit in favor of just her hat at some point. Oh god, is this going to get worse? Oh boy, it totally is, I can see more ponies coming.

“Did somepony say, dance competition?” Lyra exclaims, joining the circle along with her bitchy friend Bon Bon, who had apparently come up to Canterlot for the Wedding as well. As Lyra starts doing these ridiculous dance moves, Bon Bon just looks 100% done with her shit.

“Not without meee!” Pinkie zooms to join us next, promptly throwing herself to the ground. And then she starts breakdancing. A pony. Breakdancing. Sheesh, I haven't seen her do this in a while. I think it's safe to say that she wins the bullshit dance competition that we'd just come up with.

“I feel the need to join you. A competition seems like fun.” Much to my shock, as well as that of everypony dancing around me, Celestia inserts herself into our dumb dancing circle, her mane all messed up from all the dancing she's already done. She smiles deviously at all of the other ponies. “I've had over a millennium of dancing experience. I don't think you can beat me.”

“Okay, fuck you, challenge accepted,” I say, not even caring what the hell I'm saying at this point. The atmosphere of this party is starting to get to me, I generally get a bit hyper when that happens. Though usually it's only Amaryllis or Adam that sees me doing this. “One thousand years, and you still suck. Let's do this, Celestia!”

Rainbow starts to laugh, joining us once more. Thus encouraged, the dumb dance competition continues with a vengeance. “We shalt not fall to our sister in a competition of dance! Let us show thee how it is done!” Luna even joins our dumb bullshit.

It's not just us having a blast at this party. While Twilight is singing, Vinyl is head banging like crazy, cranking out the beat with one hoof, while the other is raised high in the air.

The other members of the military are here as well. A shy looking Fluttershy is speaking softly to Commander Rose over by the punch bowl, though surprisingly the both of them are smiling. Iron is standing by the ice sculpture, shaking his head firmly at a grinning Blades, who seems intent on dragging the taciturn commander to the dance floor. As for Spitfire and Fleetfoot...

“Rainbow, tell me that's not the best you can do,” Spitfire teases my friend, who promptly freezes upon recognizing the presence of her ultimate idol. “Show me some style!”

“Oh, it's on!” Rainbow declares, facing Spitfire with a competitive gleam in her eye. Christ, this is just getting dumber and dumber.

We end up unanimously declaring Pinkie the winner of the dance competition due to this one fucking dance move that seemingly defies all logic. But, I guess that's Pinkie Pie for you. Anyway, it's what comes after that's really interesting.

On the request of Cadance, Vinyl plays a slow, steady beat, while Octavia and her octet play a slow, uplifting theme. It's then that the ponies start pairing off to start slow dancing...and then I find out what pony slow dancing looks like. They just intertwine one of their front hooves and move with their remaining three, trusting the other to not let them fall. It looks really weird for ponies to slow dance, but whatever. It's less weird than a breakdancing pony, and I've already seen that. Still, I'm gonna stay out of this one.

As ponies are starting to dance, I notice a sky blue mare with ridiculously large shades walking around, taking pictures of each of the respective pairs. She snaps of a picture of Celestia and Luna together, which in turn tells me that this dance is not romantic unless you make it. I guess that's good. Anyway, other pairs are Lyra and Bon Bon, Fluttershy and Rose (though how that happened is beyond me), Sweetie Belle and Spike, Rarity and Fancy Pants (huh, didn't know he was here), the obvious couple, and several others. One particularly hilarious “pairing” is Pinkie and a massive slice of the cake, though instead of dancing, she's chowing down on it like it's going to disappear any second. 

Soarin approaches Rainbow and I, looking somewhat sheepish. He taps on Rainbow's shoulder gently to get her attention. “Hey there, Rainbow,” the Wonderbolt greets her nervously. Rainbow turns around and her eyes widen when she realizes who is talking to her. Soarin lifts a hoof to her. “Care to join me for a dance?”

Well, there goes Rainbow. I mean, she idolizes the Wonderbolts. No doubt she's going to leap at this chance. 

Rainbow looks like she's thinking hard. Eventually she shakes her head. “Thanks for the offer, but I'm going to have to say no,” she tells Soarin, much to his and my shock. She turned him down!?

“What? But...why not?” Soarin asks, confused. Rainbow looks over at me with an expectant look. I'm confused for a few moments, until it hits me what she's trying to insinuate.

“I already have a partner. Shall we go, Seth?” Rainbow offers, lifting a hoof to me. I blink once.  Then twice. I'm sorry what? Did she just turn down a Wonderbolt in favor of me?

“Uh, what? I'm sorry, but I don't do slow dances,” I say uncertainly. Rainbow doesn't seem discouraged, instead reaching up and grabbing my hand with the hoof that she was offering to me. “Wait, what are you...?”

“No excuses! We're going to dance and that's final,” Rainbow declares, and then she starts fucking dragging me back towards the dance floor. I'm too shocked to put up much of a fight.

“That's not how you ask someone to dance, Rainbow!” I snap at her, though all it gets is a laugh from her.

“Who said I was asking?” Rainbow returns. A vein twitches in my forehead, and then I sigh with a slight chuckle. Wow, I just got told that I'm going to be dancing, whether I like it or not. Heh. It sounds like something Amaryllis would do. Except it's not Amaryllis. It's Rainbow Dash, the one goddamn pony that I've gone through hell with, and came back out alive. I guess I'll indulge her this once.

“Might as well, I guess. Try not to step on my feet now,” I tease her. Rainbow sticks out her tongue at me in response. She lifts herself up and lifts a hoof forward towards me. Remembering how the other ponies are dancing, I grasp her front hoof with one hand, and wrap my other around the back of her neck in some strange equivalent of the slow dancing I've seen. Whatever. I'll just roll with it.

As we start dancing, that dumb photographer pony pops up out of nowhere and snaps a picture of the two of us without asking. “Magnificent!” she declares, and then is gone just as quickly as she appeared. 

As we dance, Rainbow and I look up, where the moon is shining brightly, and the stars fill the sky. As we watch, a few of the Wonderbolts streak across the sky. Seconds later, fireworks fill the air with sound and color, resulting in cheers and sounds of awe from the partying ponies.

Holding Rainbow's hooves in my hands, I look back at her, only to see that she chose to look at me as well. Rainbow gives me grin, one that I can't help but mirror. 

I guess that in the end, I'm satisfied with the choice I made. I'm not happy about it, but I think that given some time...everything will turn out all right after all.
> 58. Homeward Bound
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Holy shit, it's still not over. Even hours after the reception ended, there are parties still going on in the streets, or in clubs, bars, and other public establishments where there's enough room for a party. The same goes even for me.

I'm lying on Rainbow's bed, wedged in between Rainbow and Vinyl. It's not just us. Twilight and the others are in the room as well, along with a few select stragglers like Lyra and Octavia. We can still hear the music in the streets, despite the fact that it's like...past 4 in the morning. Hah, I haven't stayed up this long in months.

“Why are we still awake?” I groan with a weak laugh, leaning my head back. I've eaten so much tonight, I feel like I won't need to eat for the next few days, at the very least. I couldn't help myself. There were so many sweets there, I couldn't help but gorge myself on everything I could find. Sometimes I both hate and love my sweet tooth. This is one of those times.

“I can't sleep, bro. I'm way too hyper to sleep,” Vinyl remarks, and then yawns in direct contradiction to what she just said. “Ignore that. My body is more tired than my mind is.”

“I am the dancing champion! This makes...I can't even count that high!” Pinkie squeals, randomly cartwheeling across the room. 

“That's cuz nopony can pull off what you did out there, Pinkie Pie,” Applejack retorts just before biting into another apple. Ugh, I don't know how she can stand eating after the cake was given out. That thing was massive. I think I had like, three pieces. It wasn't as good as Pinkie's cakes, but it's still much better than any store-bought shit I could get my hands on back in my time. “Seriously, ah don't think ponies are meant to bend that way. How did ya even do that?”

“Any good Pinkie never reveals her secrets!” Pinkie trills. Where the fuck is all of her energy coming from? She should be as tired as the rest of us. Honestly, at this point, we're all slowing down. I guess they don't want to go to sleep because that means the party is over.

“Idiot, that's not how the saying goes,” I say, lifting my head again. My eyelids are drooping, but I don't want to sleep either. Tonight was a blast. Pinkie really outdid herself this time around. You know, since it was her in charge of setting that thing up.

“I think I broke Tavi,” Lyra comments, drawing my attention. To my amusement, Octavia couldn't stay awake as long as the rest of us. As a result, she's lying on the floor in an undignified position, completely asleep. Lyra lifts one of Octavia's hooves with her own for a second, and then she releases it. Octavia's hoof falls back down limply. “See, look.”

“Did you just call her 'Tavi?'” Rainbow asks incredulously. Somehow she's still awake as well. “You do know who that is, right?”

“Doesn't matter who it is. Nopony is safe from my nicknames! Just ask Seth. He knows all about it. Right Sethie?” Lyra responds, winking at me. 

“You're lucky I'm so tired, or I'd get up and kick your sorry ass,” I growl at her, jabbing a finger at her in the most threatening manner that I can muster while being this exhausted. “Seriously, that is the dumbest nickname. Gah.”

“Girls, we lost Twilight,” Spike alerts us, indicating a passed out Twilight with a claw. Hah, we're dropping like dominoes now. Rarity gives the snoring Twilight a glance.

“We probably should get some sleep. We've stayed up quite long enough,” Rarity advises the rest of us. She pokes the skin under her eye tenderly. “Oh, I hope this doesn't have an impact on my complexion.”

“It won't, drama queen,” Applejack assures her with a wry expression. She too is starting to nod off as well. I can see her adjusting her position on the floor until she's comfortable. 

“Even so, I should go to the spa when I get back to Ponyville,” Rarity determines, yawning daintily. “Fluttershy, Seth; why don't you come too?”

I look over at Fluttershy when she doesn't answer, and it turns out she's lost the battle with her exhaustion as well. She's curled up in the corner next to Twilight, snoring quietly. “She can't hear you right now. And why don't you ask me that in the morning? My tired brain seems to think you asked me to go to the damn spa, and I know that can't be right,” I respond.

“Why, that is the case. You said yourself that your hair needs some work. Nopony can make it look as good as Aloe and Lotus can,” Rarity reasons.

“Yeah well...fuck it, I'm too tired to argue. Ask me again in the morning and I'll properly answer you then,” I say, and then a yawn overtakes me as well. “God, I'm so tired.”

As my eyelids slowly close against my will, it hits me that I should probably get out of Rainbow's bed, but I just don't have the energy or will to move at this point. 

“Good night, everypony,” Applejack murmurs, and that's the last thing I hear before passing out myself.





The next day, I feel like all of Canterlot took a day off. I say that because nothing wakes me up the next morning. No, I'm so tired, I don't wake up until I physically can't keep my eyes closed anymore. I mean, I have nothing to do now that the repairs are all finished, so there's no point in getting up early.

When I do fully regain consciousness, I become aware of a both a great deal of snoring, and a heavy weight on both my legs and my left arm. Okay, why am I being held down and...oh shit. 

Upon opening my eyes, the first thing I notice is a sleeping Vinyl draped across my legs in a most undignified position, snoring in an unladylike manner. Wait, why the hell am I sleeping in the bed, and not on the floor? And if Vinyl is right that, that puts Rainbow...next to me, clinging to my arm.

Right, this is what happens when you get so tired you can't even move. God, I'm so glad nopony is awake. This is really awkward. I feel a bit disgusted at myself for this. Was it so hard just to get up and move to the floor? Sheesh.

I painstakingly extricate my arm from Rainbow's grasp, as well as remove my feet from under Vinyl. The two of them are sound asleep, so they barely stir upon being disturbed.

Standing up, I notice with chagrin that all of the ponies that had been in the room last night are still here, sprawled across the floor like someone had just emptied a can of ponies in the room. Of course, that image gets me to chuckle a bit. 

As I move to the shower, I reflect over the activities of last night. That was one of the craziest parties I've ever been to, not counting the dumb college parties I've seen. I feel incredibly embarrassed though, upon remembering the stupid shit I did last night. A dancing competition with Celestia. And even slow dancing...oh god, why did I do that?

The lukewarm water of the shower helps to calm me down and fully wake me up. I guess this is the last I'll be seeing of Canterlot for a while. I mean, after spending a month here, fighting in it, and nearly dying in it, I'm done with this place. I want to go back to Ponyville now. 

In a week, provided I do enough work hours, I'll have enough money to put an initial payment down on a house. Then I'll have a place to hide if I want alone time...since I haven't had any substantial alone time since getting to Equestria. Rainbow's great and all, but I need some me time. Preferably spent in the bed, reading a book. Maybe I'll give that Daring Do series that Rainbow swears by a shot. It can't be worse than that human trash I looked at. A thought strikes me then. I wonder if, now that the statement of my existence has gone out to all of Equestria, the author of that series will try to contact me. I really hope he does. I'll tear him a new one.

When I'm done, I get dressed back in my usual clothes. Well, by usual, I mean those black pants I've been wearing since I got here, but at least now they're repaired. I also have a new sleeveless, mostly because I wanted one, and my last one got shredded to pieces...and then incinerated. I don't know, between that shirt and my previous coat, I think Chrysalis had a problem with my wardrobe. Lastly, I put on the new coat Rarity made me. It's exactly the same as the last one, but that's fine with me.

Returning to the main room, I notice that everypony is still asleep. A quick glance at the clock tells me that it's already past noon. Well, I think they've slept enough. 

I stalk over to Rainbow, stepping over a sleeping Pinkie in the process. When I reach her, I slowly reach my hand down and gently tug on her ear. I snicker a bit when Rainbow moans quietly and reaches up one of her front hooves to rub the affected spot. I swear, it's like messing with a sleeping cat.

I tug on the other ear, and this time Rainbow just twitches. God, this is great. I'm half tempted to throw her into the tub again, but I don't feel like she's done anything to warrant that kind of prank.

Just as I'm about to tug on her ear again, I vaguely sense something on the right side of my face. I turn my head, and my vision is immediately assaulted with the sight of two cyan eyes looming massively right next to me, accompanied by an overwhelming sense of pink. “What are we doing?” Pinkie whispers, and I immediately recoil back a few steps, almost tripping over Lyra in the process. I have to actually try not to yelp in shock.

“Jesus Christ on a stick!” I hiss, muffling myself with a hand. Pinkie is just standing there with a giant smile on her face, looking as innocent as possible even though I think she knows full well what I was trying to do. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

“Nope, I'm trying to get an answer! You look like you were about to play a prank on Rainbow, and I really really like pranks, so I was wondering if I could...” Pinkie responds, spouting off as always.  Her voice is getting louder, so I reach forward and hastily cover her mouth to stifle the sound. “Mmfph?”

“Yes, I'm trying to play a prank. Shut up, or you're going to wake everypony up!” I warn her in annoyance. Pinkie was fast asleep when I stepped over her. How did she wake up so quickly, and so quietly? Pinkie giggles behind my hand, and then I feel something warm and wet slide across my fingers, causing me to withdraw my hand hastily in disgust. “Ugh, did you just fucking lick me?”

“Ooh,  pranks! I love pranks. What were you planning? Can I help?” Pinkie whispers, seemingly ignoring my question while returning her tongue to her mouth. Ugh, I just got licked by a goddamn pony. I wipe my hand off on my pants. Lesson learned: don't try to shut up Pinkie with your hand.

“I'm just gonna tug on her ears til she wakes up. You can help by just shutting up,” I retort, reaching for Rainbow again. 

“Oh, I've got an idea!” Pinkie once again practically ignores me, and then she pulls a stretch of fabric out of her mane. Wait, does she just keep fabric in her mane? Pinkie giggles quietly, and then she wraps the fabric gently around Rainbow's eyes, tying a knot behind her head. Huh, she's blindfolding Rainbow. Which means...oho, I see what she's trying to do. That's actually rather brilliant. Pinkie turns back to me. “Now do it.”

Hm, I should do something that will wake Rainbow up abruptly. Well, this is a pretty lame way to wake her up, but the aftermath should be priceless, if Pinkie's idea works. I reach out my hands towards Rainbow's stomach, stretching out my fingers. Once my fingertips make contact...I grin and start tickling her viciously.

The response is instant. Rainbow wakes up with a gasp and flails her hooves. “What the...oh Celestia...stop that! I...” she exclaims. She kicks out at me so that I step back, and then she takes to the air. “Somepony turn on the li...oof!”

Pinkie and I snicker as Rainbow flies straight into the wall with a loud thump. Rainbow backs away from the wall.

“Ow! Who put a wall there? What time is it? Where's the light switch?” Rainbow cries out, which just gets Pinkie and I to laugh harder. Rainbow starts flying around, trying to find the light switch. Of course, she runs into every wall she finds. “Ow! What the...stoppit! Yowch!”

“What the hay is going on?” Vinyl moans, stirring from her position on the bed. She opens her magenta eyes, blinking a few times before she recognizes what she's seeing. “Rainbow, what are you even doing?”

“I can't find the light switch!” Rainbow laments, running into the desk. The room is plenty bright enough, so Vinyl gives Rainbow a disbelieving stare...until she sees the blindfold. She blinks a few times, and then she glances at Pinkie and I, understanding dawning on her face. She soon joins us in our merriment.

The hilarity continues until Rainbow accidentally rams into Twilight, who squeaks and wakes up instantly. Twilight glares at Rainbow, holding a hoof to the affected spot. “Okay, enough clowning around,” Twilight growls. Wow, she's super annoyed at being woken up like that. Her horn lights up, and Rainbow stops moving. “How did you manage to...Seth did it. Of course.”

“Wait, Seth did what?” Rainbow demands, and when Twilight removes the blindfold, she understands. Rainbow quickly turns her head and glares at Pinkie and I, who are still finding this whole situation hilarious. “Oh I should have known. Waking up normally with this guy in the room is practically impossible.”

“Only because you sleep like a rock,” I point out, but then Rainbow lunges at me and the two of us go tumbling over the floor, both of us chuckling and wrestling. And Rainbow is still stronger than I am. I could use magic, but that's cheating.

“Oof!” Lyra grunts as Rainbow and I unintentionally roll over her. She lifts her head and sighs. “Can you two cavort elsewhere? I'm trying to sleep.”

“Waah! We overslept!” Twilight exclaims after she looks at the clock. “Everypony wake up! It's past noon already!”

Her voice gets the others to stir, and then the day really gets started.





“I should take my leave. It was a fun party, though it was not my intention to spend the night,” Octavia says sheepishly once she and the rest of the ponies in the room are awake and attentive. Much to her shock, Vinyl drapes a hoof over her shoulder in an overly friendly manner.

“Naw, it's totally fine, Tavi. Good to know some of you upper class ponies aren't so bad after all,” Vinyl compliments her with a grin. Octavia nods appreciatively, and then she does a double take.

“What did you just call me?” she asks in confusion. Lyra takes this moment to approach as well.

“Oh, didn't you get the memo? Your new name is Tavi. Better get used to it,” Lyra teases her. Octavia flushes, looking even more confused.

“Please don't call me that. It's too...unrefined,” Octavia requests, much to our amusement. “I'm actually very fond of my given name.”

“You should lighten up a bit, Tavi,” Rainbow joins in on this bullshit next, wearing a cheeky grin.

“Yeah, no point in being so uptight, Tavi,” I say next. Octavia shakes her head vigorously in denial of her new nickname.

“I'm not being uptight! I'm just...” Octavia tries to protest, but as Applejack approaches next with a mischievous expression as well, she heaves a sigh. “...just not in public, please.”

Even that minor victory is enough to get us chuckling. Still blushing slightly, Octavia opens the door and bids us goodbye. And then there were nine.

“I should go now too. I've got to meet Bon Bon before we head back to Ponyville,” Lyra expresses. Then, before I can stop her, she lunges at me and captures my lower chest in a hug.

“Ugh, would you stop that? You ponies and your hugs, I swear to god,” I complain, pushing down on Lyra's head to try to remove her. “Get down.”

“No, don't lie. You love it,” Lyra retorts in a fake high pitched cutesy voice that causes me to pause. Lyra is finally removed from me when Rainbow shows up and pulls her away, thankfully. “What the...”

“Lyra, quit hanging on Seth,” Rainbow orders her, looking annoyed. Lyra pouts, but she does what she's told, heading for the door.

“You've totally got to come visit when you get back to Ponyville. We should play that song I sent you last Hearth's Warming together,” Lyra tells me with a smile, just before she too leaves the room. Now there's eight of us. Right. Lyra's still as clingy and annoying as ever, but I might just take her up on that. It would be wrong of me to ignore her entirely after I almost got her killed.

“Right, so what's the plan anyway? Are we done in Canterlot? Please tell me we're done in Canterlot,” I ask, addressing no one in particular. 

“Yes, we're done in Canterlot. It's been a long time, and I'm eager to go home,” Twilight responds, giggling a bit at my words.

“Ah think we kin go once we get our flanks out o' here,” Applejack comments. I lift my head and shut my eyes, sighing as if this was the best news I've ever heard. Which, as of right now, it might as well be. I'm so sick of Canterlot.

“Of course, I need to gather up all of my luggage,” Rarity reminds us. “It would probably be best if we split up and meet at the train station.”

“Yeah, I'm gonna need some help getting my stuff down to he station as well. Lend me a hand, Seth?” Vinyl requests, indicating the massive cart that holds her music equipment in the corner of the room. Ugh, I'm going to have to wheel that through the castle, aren't I?

“I suppose I have to,” I grunt. It's too early in the morning for this shit...except it's not morning, it's early afternoon. Whatever. Shut up. “Rainbow, are you going to help?”

“Why should I? It's not my job, right?” Rainbow responds with a smirk. I glare up at her as Vinyl and I approach the cart.

“I hate you so much sometimes,” I complain. This just gets Rainbow to laugh at my misfortune. Well, there's nothing for it I guess. Let's get this piece of shit down to the station.





Everypony splits up from there, having their own things to take care of before meeting back up at the station. Twilight wants to have a few words with Celestia I think, though I didn't really care to hear the details. I know Rarity is gathering up her own luggage, because she has a lot. I think Applejack and Fluttershy came without much in the way of luggage, because they were only going to be here for one day. So the two of them accompany us down to the station, discussing the farm. By discussing, I mean that Applejack is going on about it and Fluttershy is politely listening and occasionally agreeing.

I don't know where Pinkie went. I think she bounced past us after Twilight at some point. Which is good, because if I have to deal with her chattering along behind me, I might go insane. At this point, I tolerate her because everypony else seems to like her. Except I can only take her in small doses.

When we leave the castle, I look around, noticing that the guard seems to have returned to normal...except with one notable difference. At the castle gates, there's a white archway that everypony walking in and out of the area has to pass through through. There's two ponies on either side of it that are wearing white coats, so it must have some significance.

When I reach the archway, the ponies nod to us and motion for us to pass through. When I do, I feel a tingle pass over my body, as if something of a magical nature had just scanned me. “What the hell was that?” I demand once I'm on the other side. Vinyl, Rainbow, and the other ponies that are with me also look a bit uncomfortable from passing through the arc. Rainbow didn't even pass through the arch, yet she still seemed to have felt something just by passing over it.

“My apologies, sir. To explain, this archway was invented recently by us, the Canterlot Science Department, in order to increase security following the changeling assault,” one of the ponies explains to me. I notice he's treating me with a lot more respect than I'm used to seeing. I wonder what that's all about? And he's a scientist, too. 

“What does it do?” Applejack questions. Well, I was about to ask that anyway, so I listen closely to the guard's response.

“It is a magical artifact that generates an invisible detection field that scans your basic biology,” the scientist explains, and then it starts to dawn on me what this thing is for. “It can tell whether or not you are indeed a pony, or a changeling in disguise. Of course, we had to make special adjustments so that you wouldn't set off the alarm, sir.”

“That's a damn good invention then. That'll keep you from getting taken by surprise again, so Chrysalis's only option will be a frontal assault...which will fail,” I surmise, nodding. I'm glad Celestia had the presence of mind to order this thing's creation. I remember her telling Twilight to do this. “Two questions: How were there 'special adjustments' made, when I've never let my biology be scanned before? Next, what's stopping the changelings from just flying over it?”

Rainbow appears antsy behind me, probably annoyed at having to listen to a scientific discussion. I ignore her though, because I think this is important. The more I know, the more prepared I'll be for any future changeling threats. I'm sure there will be in my lifetime, because Chrysalis has a grudge against me now, I think. As long as she's out there, the possibility will always be there.

“You're correct about your biology, sir. Twilight Sparkle informed the head of our department that is was unlikely we would be able to perform a close examination on you,” the scientist admits. Hah, Twilight's right. She's the only one I've let come near me with any equipment, and that was because I have a magic inside of me that may or may not have been killing me. “Therefore, with her help, we took samples of your magical signature left in the air from the battle, and tuned the archways to detect that instead.”

Okay, so the arches won't raise an alarm if they detect a normal pony, or my magic. That makes sense, because I doubt there's a way to replicate my magic. “And my second question?” I press.

The scientist gives a grin here. “The archway is a trap, sir. It's meant to trick any changelings into thinking that it is possible to bypass the arches. However, the field the archways emanate covers a wide area above and below what you see here,” he declares proudly. “They're set up all over Canterlot. Nowhere is safe for an enemy of Equestria.”

“I see. Smart. But, that gives me one last question. All of that magic has to come from somewhere. I mean, Shining Armor held up a barrier, but that all came from his personal reserves. Where are these archways getting their magic?” I inquire. At this point, Rainbow is hovering on her back in midair, almost like she's backstroking.

“The discovery of the crystal mines beneath Canterlot provided the city with a significant amount of magic, stored in the individual crystal ores. We hypothesize that these mines have been accumulating magic for centuries,” the scientist reveals. Huh. Well, I like that he's being so forthcoming with me. “There's enough stored magic down there to supply these archways for as long as we need them.”

“Okay? Are we done? No more questions?” Rainbow complains, lazily doing flips in the air. “I heard enough the moment he said, 'it finds changelings.'”

“Yes, I'm done. God, Rainbow, you might need to know this shit sometime,” I retort with a wry expression. Just before we leave, I turn back to look at the scientist again. “Thanks for telling me all that stuff.”

“It was my pleasure, sir. It's not every day I have a chance to converse with one of our predecessors,” the scientist expresses exuberantly. Oh...so he was being respectful because I'm a human. Well, that pisses me off a bit. “If you don't mind, would you be willing to visit us at the Science Tower sometime? We'd love to know more about you.”

“What, so you can use me for your own scientific gain? Sorry, I'm not interested,” I snap back at him, much to the scientist's disappointment. “Let's go, Rainbow.”

“That was a mite rude,” Applejack chides me once we've left the scientist and his archway behind.

“Who cares? I hate ponies like that. I don't exist solely to help you ponies advance. I'm not their fucking tool,” I growl, clenching my fists. Goddamn scientists. 

“Ah git that, but couldn't ya have told him no a bit nicer than that?” Applejack advises me. “It ain't never done anypony no good to burn any bridges.”

“You forget who you're talking to. I could really care less what other ponies think about me,” I remind her, much to her frustration. I then notice Rainbow hovering awfully close to me. “What?”

“Do you care what I think?” Rainbow asks with a coy smile. 

“What, are you fishing for compliments?” I return with a raised eyebrow. “I didn't think you needed them. Isn't your ego already large enough as it is?”

That much gets Applejack to snicker, while Rainbow just huffs, as if she'd expected me to actually answer that question.

“All that aside though, it's good to know we won't be taken by surprise like that again,” Vinyl comments.

“Okay, I can agree to that,” Rainbow remarks. I know she didn't mean anything by that, but just the way she says it causes a pang of guilt to shoot through me. She isn't holding it against me anymore, but I don't think I'll forget that damned wedding for as long as I live.





Our group meets up with Twilight and the others at the train station. The three little fillies are there as well, accompanied by Spike. Together we purchase our tickets and enter our compartment. While we don't have the private compartment now as we're no longer on business, the one we're in is still devoid of most strangers, because there are rather a lot of us, and we're sitting in a group.

The train's whistle soon sounds, and the machine roars to life, the wooden floor rumbling under my feet. At last, I'm going back home.

“Homeward bound!” Pinkie exults, throwing her front hooves around a flat-browed Applejack in happiness. “Are you excited? Because I'm excited. I have a 'We Saved Canterlot' party to plan! There's cakes to bake, balloons to inflate, ponies to invite, and...”

“Ah think we git the picture, sugarcube,” Applejack interrupts with a wry expression. Pinkie's spirits aren't dampened, as she proceeds to squeal in excitement. “Though ah'm still a bit tired from last night's party. Ah don't usually stay up that late.”

“I don't think any of us have stayed up that late in a long time,” Twilight agrees. Spike proceeds to poke her in the side.

“You're so lying. How many times have I seen you up at three in the morning, studying?” the little dragon accuses her, which to the amusement of the rest of us, earns a blush from Twilight. “That's what I thought.”

“Still though, I think we should wait a bit before having another party,” Rarity suggests. That in particular gets Pinkie's attention. She streaks over to Rarity until their muzzles are practically touching. “Pinkie, you're a bit too close.”

“Why wait? I know I can get the party ready by tomorrow, just you watch!” Pinkie questions. Rarity sighs and shakes her head.

“Hm, how to put this,” Rarity begins. I happen to agree with Rarity on this one, so I decide to put in my opinion.

“We just had a party, and it was a big one. I'm not attending a party so soon. The rest of you can do whatever you want,” I state flatly. 

“So the day after next then?” Pinkie asks. I shake my head. “In two days then?”

“Still too soon.”

“Three days?”

“Pinkie...”

“Two and a half?”

“You just went down,” I point out, confused.

“I'm a haggler!” Pinkie explains with a wide smile.

“What the...I don't even with you,” I grumble, rubbing my forehead. “No, Pinkie. I need at least a week. That way I'll actually want to party, especially after I...hm.”

“After you what?” Pinkie asks eagerly, getting closer to me.

“Twilight, what am I doing as far as my schedule is concerned?” I say, rubbing  my chin in contemplation. When I confirm that I have Twilight's attention, I continue. “I mean, Rose didn't come back with us...thank god for that...so she's obviously not going to be training me anymore.”

“That's a good question. There's still a lot I can teach you about magical theory, if you'd like,” Twilight suggests hopefully. That's right, Twilight and I had finished the basics before this whole wedding thing happened.

“Yeah, how about no?” I state without hesitation, much to Twilight's disappointment. “I've had enough of studying. At least in this time, I don't need education to make a decent living.”

“That's raht! All ya need is a set o' muscles and a good work ethic, and yer set,” Applejack inserts in approval. Of course, she'd agree with that.

“But...” Twilight starts to protest, but then she sighs, lowering her head forlornly. Wait, why does she seem so sad about that? “Never mind then.”

“What's the big deal? Me learning magical theory shouldn't mean that much to you,” I demand, getting annoyed. Twilight shakes her head.

“It's not that. It's just...” Twilight pauses a moment before continuing. “You remember how we used to have discussions back when we first met?”

“By discussions, you mean you telling me things while I constantly questioned your sanity?” I quip. I wonder if I'm starting to annoy her now. Sure enough, Twilight lets out an annoyed huff. 

“Yes, that. I feel like that through our studies together, we were slowly getting to that point again,” Twilight admits. I raise an eyebrow. I didn't think those dumb conversations were that important  to her. “If you aren't coming around to study with me anymore, I don't think you'll ever come by again.”

“And what's the problem with that?” I ask her in confusion. I mean, it's not like I do much other than annoy her to all hell while I'm there. “Wouldn't you rather have me out of your mane?”

“No! I didn't want to come out and say it, but...” Twilight begins uncertainly. I think it's safe to say that we're the center of attention right now. Thanks for turning a simple question into a argument. Twilight's gaze then overlaps mine, her violet eyes staring to mine. Okay, something's wrong. “I've gotten used to having you around every other day. I know you don't feel the same, but I still view you as a friend. I'd be sad if you never visited me.”

“You're not the only one who feels that way, darling,” Rarity says to Twilight, shooting me a meaningful glance. 

“So, what, you're going to throw a hissy fit because you don't get to spout theory at me anymore?” I demand, disregarding her talk of friendship. I may have put aside her fuck ups with me and...

Hold on a minute. She fucked up with me by saying something nasty to me, along with a few other things. But...I also fucked up with her, by nearly getting her and everypony she knew and loved dead. You know what, it's not fair for me to be hung up on something she did when I've got something like that hanging over my head.

As Twilight opens her mouth to answer, I raise a hand to forestall her protests. “Wait, I take that back,” I say with a sigh. Twilight shuts her mouth and blinks, surprised. “Tell you what. I may have been a bit of a reader back in my time. Will you be happy if I deign to spend some of my free time at your library, reading?”

Twilight seems stunned, even as Rarity starts to smile next to her. Twilight's expression quickly turns to a happy one. “I would love that! I have so many books you can read. What kind of genres do you like? I have history, theory, fantasy...” 

“Twilight!” I cut her off before she can go on another rant. Twilight stops and looks slightly sheepish. “A simple yes or no would have been fine.”

“Then yes, you can drop by at any time. My library is always open to you,” Twilight repeats, smiling. That's good. She's not being annoying anymore, and now I can get back into reading. It'll be a bit jarring to only read novels about ponies doing ridiculous stuff, but it's better than lounging around doing nothing in my spare time. “Other than that, I think your schedule is mostly up to you now. I know you said you don't like me micromanaging.”

“You're still going to come running with me, right?” Rainbow rejoins, nudging me. Hm, now that's a difficult question. I would only run on the days I wasn't working at Applejack's, but now I'm probably going to be working there every day again.

“I dunno. Maybe. Still, I'd rather not exhaust myself with you before...I exhaust myself at Applejack's,” I reply, voicing my thoughts. For some reason, that gets Vinyl to start snickering. 

“Aw, come on. You'll never get stronger unless you push yourself!” Rainbow insists, poking at my leg muscles. “Look at these. They're good, but not up to my level.”

“Of course not! You're a pony, you naturally have more muscle mass than me! Not to mention you've been spending your entire life exercising,” I snap back at her in irritation. 

“Ah can see Ponyville from here!” Apple Bloom announces, her two front hooves resting against a window.  For some reason, that serves as a reason for all conversation to break off and for all of the ponies t press their faces against the windows.

“I feel like it's been ages since we've been home,” Rarity comments. That I agree with. It's only been a month, but I feel like I haven't seen Ponyville in years. 

As the train slides into the station, I lean back and sigh. I don't know about the rest of them, but if I never go back to Canterlot again, I will be a happy man. 

All things considered though, it's good to be back home.

	
> 59. The Apple Family
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I step off of the train and onto the platform of Ponyville Station. I can tell the difference in the air immediately. It seems freer and less dense, and smells faintly of apples, though suppose I shouldn't be surprised. It is a rural town, after all.

The compartment I just came from empties, with the multitude of ponies I traveled with emerging and looking at their beloved hometown. We gather in a large group in the clearing just outside the train station.

“It's time to git back to it, ponyfolks,” Applejack says with a tip of her hat. A weird feeling comes over me just then, as the other ponies start looking at one another. I cast my gaze around to each of their faces. It's difficult to explain, but it's like I known these ponies for a lot longer than I have. Maybe it's because I've fought alongside most of them.

“I suppose it is. There's still much to be done here, after all,” Rarity agrees, smiling radiantly. Her expression spreads to the others as well. I guess it's really starting to sink in that they're finally home. I know that's what I'm feeling. It's as if a relaxed air of contentment has fallen over me. I mean, technically we saved Ponyville as well, because I doubt Chrysalis would have stopped with just Canterlot.

“Well, everypony, it was fun spending time with you all,” Fluttershy tells us, already starting to head her own way. “I'm going to head back to my cottage.”

“Take care, Fluttershy!” Twilight calls after her. With that, Fluttershy leaves the area, accompanied by a chorus of goodbyes. 

“It's time to go home, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity says next, addressing her little sister. Then she lifts her head and looks at me. “One last thing before I go. Seth, did you ever consider my offer?”

“What offer?” I ask. I search my mind, but I don't remember Rarity asking or offering me anything recently.

“Did you forget? I asked you last night if you wanted to accompany Fluttershy and I to the spa sometime, so you could get your mane attended to,” Rarity explains, looking affronted that I'd forgotten.

“Yeah, I don't remember you saying anything of the sort,” I admit, earning a sigh of exasperation from her. “I might have been half asleep at that point. Still though, I don't trust anypony to do my hair right.”

“You should at least give them a chance, dear,” Rarity advises me. “Aloe and Lotus function on a satisfaction-guaranteed policy. If you don't like what they do, you can always withhold payment.”

“Not to mention, it's a spa. As far as I remember, they don't even offer hair treatments. That's a barber's job,” I point out, not bothering to refute her previous logic because it's actually pretty sound. I have refused to pay barbers before for fucking up my hair.

“Clearly we have different ideas of what a spa is,” Rarity states. I groan and rub my forehead. Can you stop coming up with reasons on why I should go? I really don't want to. “You can indeed get your mane cut if you go there, as it's an establishment dedicated to taking care of the body. The soul as well, if you want to get romantic.”

“I still don't want to go. It just seems...girly, to me,” I admit, averting my gaze. At that, the ponies listening, as they're all girls except for Spike, chuckle a bit, to my chagrin. Rarity in particular scoffs and facehoofs.

“Such a stallion, you are. Taking care of your body isn't a sentiment that stallions should shy away from,” Rarity admonishes me. I mean, technically she's right, but...this just feels weird to me. Rarity then takes out a notepad. "If that's your reasoning, I'm putting this on your schedule. How does tomorrow afternoon sound, after work?” 

“Wait, seriously? You're going to just sign me up, whether I like it or not?” I demand, my irritation starting to rise.

“Well, you're being silly. Are you just going to let your mane deteriorate?” Rarity questions me. “I mean, if that's your decision, I understand, but it would be such a shame to let such beauty decline.”

“Are you really complimenting my hair so I'll agree to go with you?” I ask incredulously, absentmindedly running my hand through my hair. Since I haven't cut it since getting to Equestria, it's now hanging past my waist. It's fucking ridiculous. My mother always told me I had the hair growth of a girl. I bet Amaryllis would be laughing her ass off right now if she could see me with hair longer than hers.

“I might be. Is it working?” Rarity returns coyly. 

“Fucking...fine. I'm telling you though, if they fuck it up...” I warn her. I don't feel the need to finish my sentence though, and instead just let the potential threat hang in the air.

“Then I'll take responsibility. All right, I shall come by to pick you up from work tomorrow afternoon then,” Rarity declares, looking pleased with herself. “Now that that's taken care of, I'm going to head back to my boutique. Let's go, Sweetie Belle.”

With another smattering of goodbyes, Rarity and Sweetie Belle depart, heading back to their home. Now, it's just Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow, Pinkie, Apple Bloom, Spike, and Scootaloo here. Most of them have been talking amongst themselves during my conversation with Rarity.

“Back to Sugarcube Corner I go! Much to do!” Pinkie is the next to depart, zooming off like a fucking rocket, somehow managing to move extremely fast while bouncing along. Scootaloo heads off on her own next, though I have no idea where she's going. Nor do I particularly care.

“Seth, what are you going to do? We still have to do that get-together we've got planned,” Rainbow reminds me as she leaps into the air and starts to hover. “When can we do that?”

“Hm, I'm not sure. But you're right, we do need to do that,” I respond. I've been looking forward to chilling with her sometime, with just the two of us, where we can snack on sweets and rock out to some real music.

“Pardon me fer interruptin', but there's still some time left in the day. Ya wanna come and git a few hours o' work in?” Applejack inserts, addressing me.

“Yes I would. A few hours of work means a few hours of pay. I've got to make up for the money I spent getting this coat remade,” I respond immediately. Applejack nods and starts turning the other way, while Rainbow appears disappointed. No doubt she wanted to do that hang out rather soon. “Rainbow, we need to plan that out. Like you said, we need snacks and drinks, so we have to give Pinkie prior notice.”

“Pinkie? She could whip something like that up in less than an hour, I bet,” Rainbow counters, pouting.

“Bullshit. Baking takes longer than that,” I return. “Seriously though, it's not going to be tonight. Meet me after I'm done with work, and we'll nail down a time.”

“All right, fine. I have to check with the weather team, anyway, since I've been gone for a long time. Gotta make sure they haven't messed anything up,” Rainbow agrees, though I can tell she's annoyed. Then, she turns in midair and streaks towards the sky. “Later!”

“You comin,' Seth?” Applejack asks. Apple Bloom is watching me from atop her sister's back, being as adorable as ever. “We got a lot to do.”

“Yeah, I just have to head back to Vinyl's real quick and put on some work clothes, I'm not working while wearing this thing,” I respond, pinching at the fabric hanging off of my shoulders. Yeah, no way I'm working in a coat this nice.

“Got it. Ah'll see ya at the farm then. Don't take too long,” Applejack acknowledges, and then she and Apple Bloom leave the group. There's now three of us here. Four, if you count Spike.

“Twilight, I'll probably end up visiting you later tonight, after I'm done with Applejack and Rainbow,” I say, once the two of them are gone. “I'm interested to see what kind of literature you ponies have come up with.”

“Oh, you're in for a treat then. There's a lot of good books that I can recommend,” Twilight replies with a happy smile. “I'll be expecting you then. I'll have some tea ready when you arrive. What time do you think you'll get there?”

“I'm not giving you a time. Because then you'll just flip a shit if I'm even the slightest bit early or late,” I tell her. That in particular gets Spike laughing, because he knows it's true. 

“But...then how will I know when to get the tea ready? Or when I should stop studying and wait for you?” Twilight asks, distressed. “I've planned out the entirety of my night, so it's important that I know when to fit you in.”

“You've planned...okay, that's just sad. I'm certainly not giving you a time now. I guess you'll just have to adapt,” I remark with a cocky grin. Twilight looks like a filly that just got told that she couldn't have any dessert. Spike just finds this whole thing incredibly amusing. “I guess I'll see you later. Ready to go, Vinyl?”

“Seth, wait!” Twilight calls after me as I help Vinyl push her cart away. We quickly leave her behind though, and she doesn't follow us. Hah, it's funny how I can find what annoys these ponies so easily. With Rainbow, it's being called sappy. With Twilight, it's anything that fucks with that schedule of hers. I haven't found something for Applejack though. Nothing really phases her, it seems.

“You enjoy tormenting her, don't you?” Vinyl accuses me as we travel down the street. 

“Only because she makes it so easy,” I admit with a grin. Vinyl nods and chuckles, probably seeing it the same as I do. 

One thing I notice is that several of the ponies in the street that we pass are looking at us. Or more specifically, me. Really? I thought we were over that already. Then I notice that the ones that are looking at me are smiling. Okay, this is weird.

“Hey there.” Oh fuck, one of them actually came up and talked to us. I recognize the pony as one that I've generally seen around town a few times, but never actually spoke to. “Seth Rogers, right? I just wanted to thank you.”

With that, the pony ducks her head and retreats before I can respond, such that I'm left staring after her in utter confusion. “The fuck? What was that all about?” I ask Vinyl.

“Not a clue, dude. You think maybe they heard the news from Canterlot?” Vinyl suggests. Seconds later, one of the ponies we pass waves at me, and another cheers. 

“That makes sense. I mean, they're way too happy to see me. Usually they turn their heads the moment they spot me,” I remark. I guess if they read the news report on my existence, they probably think I'm some kind of hero. Fucking idiots.

“Only because you snap at them way too quickly,” Vinyl chides me with a nudge. “Maybe if you loosened up a bit and treated them with a bit more tolerance, they'd like you more.”

“No thanks. I couldn't care less about most of them. Especially since they can be extremely annoying or stupid. Or both,” I retort. Vinyl heaves an exasperated sigh.

“That's what I'm talking about, right there,” she tells me, but my only response is an uncaring shrug. Choosing to deal with the flaws of another doesn't make them any less flawed. So I figure, what's the point?

Finally, we reach Vinyl's house, which doubles as the place where I've been living for a long time. It's really small compared to the Canterlot suite that I've been living in with Rainbow for a while, but that's fine with me. I hate Canterlot with a passion, because every time I go there, somepony always wrecks my shit, intentionally or not. First it was Celestia, and then it was Chrysalis.

It only takes us a few seconds before Vinyl and I get the cart back inside the house and up against the wall where it usually sits. I let go of the cart and sigh, glad for the exertion to be over. I mean, I could have used magic, but I'd rather not if I can help it.

“I'm going to get changed,” I state simply, moving away from the wall and climbing the stairs. Vinyl calls something up after me, but I don't really pay attention. Whatever. It probably wasn't all that important anyway.

The first thing I do when I reach my room is unstrap my coat and hang it on the rack next to my desk. Then I remove my black pants and sleeveless shirt, until I'm left with just my boxers. Next, I dress in a set of comfortable, but warm work clothes. It's still cold outside, thanks to it being winter, so I can't go out wearing too little. Though this amount should be good enough. Chances are I'll be working hard, so the exertion should keep me warm enough. Lastly, I slip on Apple Bloom's hair band, because I totally fucking need it with all of the hair I have now. As ridiculous as it makes me feel to admit it, I'm actually hoping that the spa can handle my hair properly. I miss my shoulder length hair.

With a quick word of farewell to Vinyl, I leave the house, on my way to Sweet Apple Acres.





Applejack meets me at the entrance to the farm, having already rounded up her family in preparation for another evening of work. Big Mac, who I haven't seen in a while, tips his head politely to me in greeting.

“Good, yer here. Let's git started then,” Applejack greets me once I get within earshot of her. She beckons me inside with a hoof. Wordlessly, I follow her, joining the Apple family or whatever the fuck I'm supposed to call them.

“Ah'm really glad you're here, Mr. Seth!” Apple Bloom addresses me, brushing up against my leg in what I assume is supposed to be an affectionate greeting. It's funny, but I feel restless. Almost as my mind is still on guard, unconvinced that life is really going back to normal. Pah, I say normal, but there's still multicolored ponies all around me. “We need to go play again soon. It's been like, forever!”

“It really has, hasn't it? So much shit has happened,” I reply. I guess Apple Bloom wants me to play with her and her friends again. You know, since I haven't really spent any time with her since the wedding began. “I'll have to find time to fit you in. Between Rarity's imposed spa visit, work, and my hang-out with Rainbow, I don't think I'll be free for at least a few more days.”

That gets a disappointed sigh from Apple Bloom. “Ah understand,” she emits. And goddammit she's doing that thing where she's being adorable again. Stop it, there's nothing I can do about it.

“By the way, what am I actually doing this time around? Didn't we already plant the crops?” I ask, wondering what kind of crap I'm going to be exhausting myself with this time.

“We did, but there ain't never a shortage o' work to do aroun' here,” Applejack assures me. Oh good, because I was totally worrying about that. “Nah, instead ah'm fixin' ta give you some repair work.”

“Repair work? What got damaged?”

“Without Rainbow, the weather team lacks in experience, so the last storm they sent at us was a bit rougher than intended,” Applejack explains. She lifts a hoof and points at the roof of the barn. “A few o' the shingles took some damage. The gutters are also jammed. If ya think you can handle it, ah'd like you to take care o' that.”

“Got it,” I respond, though my mind is screaming on the inside. Gutters? Are you fucking kidding me? That has to be one of the filthiest jobs imaginable, what with all the shit storms can toss in there. I bet I can expect to see leaves, insect nests, probably rotten fruit, and oh my god this is going to be one of the worst jobs ever. I think I preferred hand plowing, because at least that much was comparatively clean.

“Big Mac, can ya get Seth a ladder? He's got to get up to the roof somehow,” Applejack requests of her brother. Just as the red stallion is about to do just that, I take to the air with a short jump, magic rippling around me. “Oh. Nevermind. Ah fergot you can do that.”

“Just tell me where to find the materials I need to fix up this roof...and how to do that, and I'll get right on it,” I tell her confidently, lowering myself to the ground again and powering down. “Also, I'll need buckets to dispose of the gutter waste.”

“Raht. You'll find that right in the barn. Come with me,” Applejack orders me. She turns to her siblings. “Big Mac, would you mind checkin' the coop for damages?”

“Nnope,” Big Mac responds simply, and then he breaks off from the rest of us. Next, Applejack addresses her sister.

“Apple Bloom, Granny Smith needs some help 'round the house. Could you go do that?” Applejack requests.

“You got it, sis!” And now Apple Bloom is gone too, leaving me with just Applejack.

“Also, what do I do with the buckets once they're filled? Actually, that brings up a better question: What the hell do ponies do with their trash?” I ask curiously. I mean, these ponies basically weird in a strange mesh of the medieval and information era, so honestly I have no idea.

“Ah ain't the pony to talk to about that. You'd be better off talkin' to Twilight,” Applejack confesses, much to my annoyance. “But ah can tell ya that ah plan on usin' everythin' you bring down from the roof as fertilizer.”

After receiving that answer, we've reached the shelves inside the barn. Applejack brings down several empty buckets, as well as a few that are filled with replacement shingles. Huh. Pretty convenient for her to just have those lying around. I guess if you're living in a rural place like this, you need to be prepared...for the weather that the ponies themselves control. Fuck it, I don't care. It's not going to make sense, but I'm going to do it because it'll get me some money.

After pulling out a bunch of other materials that I'm going to need, Applejack gives me a run down of how I'm actually supposed to do this. My spirits sink as her explanation drags. This looks like it's going to be a difficult job, and I'm not looking forward to it at all.

“Ah don't expect ya to get everything done today. Just do as much as ya can, and I'll put ya back to work tomorrow,” Applejack assures me. Okay good. Because this is a lot of stuff to do for just a few hours of work, like she told me earlier. “Go ahead and git to it. I'll call ya when we wrap up fer the night.”

“Okay,” I grunt simply, picking up the buckets of shingles. As well as the tools needed to properly secure them. It takes me a few agonizing steps to get outside, but then once I am, I release my magic and the weight of the things I'm carrying lessens to the point where I can take off from the ground and fly up to the roof.





So I've decided I hate shingles with every fiber of my being. These fucking things just don't want to move, and I can't use magic to make them move because I could potentially damage the roof more if I did that. So here I am with a hammer, trying to pry up the old damaged shingles so that I can actually replace them. 

Of course, I can't just remove all the damaged ones first, and then replace them all at once. I have to do it one at a time, so that there's never a hole in the room for more than a few minutes. So as you can imagine, it's very painstakingly long work. So yeah, I don't even get to gutters before Applejack calls me down for the night.

I fly to the ground with my supplies just next to her. I notice that there's a newspaper rolled up in the saddlebags that she's wearing. A quick glance at the date tells me that it's today's paper. “What's with the newspaper?” I ask her as we start walking to the living area.

“Huh? Oh, Derpy came and dropped it off a few minutes ago. Ah was thinkin' of looking over it with ma family come dinnertime, as always.” Applejack explains. Huh. Well, that seems like a waste of time and energy. I remember I never really used to pay much attention to the news back in my time, because it would always just piss me off. “Speakin' of dinner, would you like to join us tonaht?”

“Wha...oh, we're back to this again,” I complain. I had forgotten over the past month of not working with her that she would do this all the time. I'm not kidding. Even over the month and a half that I was training, Applejack would ask me to join her family for dinner every time I worked with her. Every time. Every goddamn time. “Are we doing this again? Are you just going to keep asking me that same damn question?”

“Of course. No reason for me ta stop,” Applejack responds as if she didn't think it was that big of a deal.

“What about the fact that I've said 'no' every time you offer? Didn't it ever cross your mind that my answer isn't going to suddenly change?” I demand, setting down the supplies and facing her. Applejack senses that I've finally had enough, so she stops as well and gives me her full attention.

“Ah don't let it bother me. Ah figured you weren't comfortable dinin' with mah family the first time ah asked. So ah wanted ta keep askin', so you knew that the offer would always be there for you,” Applejack explains to me seriously. “It ain't just me that wants ya there, by the way. We've gotten used ta seeing you aroun' the farm almost everyday, it's like yer one of us.”

“That's...what? Since when have you suddenly wanted to be my friend? I thought we were just fine being boss and employee,” I protest. I remember when I told that to her the first time, and she accepted so readily. Ever since then, she's always given me my space, but she's always been offering...

“Ah've never stopped, Seth. Yer just too stubborn to see it,” Applejack points out, tapping my chest lightly with a hoof. “When you told me to back off, ah respected yer decision, and never pushed too hard. But like it or not, you've left an impression on this family.”

“And somehow said impression has turned out to be positive. Which brings me to ask the  question that's been bugging me forever. All I'm doing is being a total ass most of the time, and yet ponies keep somehow deciding that I'm better than they expected. How does that happen?” I  ask fervently, desperately hoping that Applejack can give me the kind of answer I'm looking for. Being mean should make ponies run away, not try to get closer. Humans would have run away by now. Why the hell don't you ponies act like the humans I remember?

“Maybe cuz yer not as bad as ya think,” Applejack responds as if it were obvious. She follows up with a reassuring smile. “We're not so shallow that we can't look past the surface to see how ya are on the inside.”

I'm left speechless by that for at least a minute. What the fuck. This pony that I've taken for a simple farm pony has fucking thrown me for a loop in less than five minutes. “You're fucking nuts,” I finally say, unable to think of anything more intelligent to say. 

“Maybe ah am. But ah'm gonna ask you one more time,” Applejack says, taking my insult in stride. “Would you like to come eat dinner with us? Ah know Apple Bloom in particular wants you there.”

“...Can I pay you for it?”

“Nope,” is Applejack's immediate (and somewhat smug) response. Ugh...and there goes my easy way out. I mean...I guess at this point I don't really know why I keep turning down Applejack. I mean, I guess it's both out of habit, and of the fact that I thought she was content with our relationship being as distant as it was. I don't know whether I should be pissed that she never really thought that way, or flattered that she's been trying extremely hard for months to let me know that her table always had a spot for me if I wanted it.

“Fine, I'll join you for tonight. But only because you won't shut up about it,” I relent, feeling a bit disappointed in myself for giving in. But the smile that I get in response to my positive response isn't one of gloating or of scheming. It's just...happy. That's all. Just a happy smile.

“Right, right. We'd be glad to have ya. Come on in, and we'll get ya settled,” Applejack says, ushering me inside the living area.

It's much warmer inside the house, thankfully. Now that I'm inside, I can see steam wafting from the kitchen. The sound of pots and pans clanging together emanates from further in, as well as the indistinct griping of Granny Smith and the giggling of Apple Bloom. I guess they're still in the middle of cooking. More likely they're finishing up otherwise I'd still be on the roof.

“Apple Bloom! Help yer brother set the table!” Applejack calls authoritatively into the kitchen. After hearing a response from her sister, Applejack leads me into the dining room, where sure enough, Big Mac is laying out plates and glasses from a stack that he's balancing on his back. That's a little bit impressive. “Big Mac, what are you doin'? Take the plates one at a time, or yer gonna drop them.”

“Ah'm here! How can ah help?” Apple Bloom proclaims, rushing into the room. She nearly causes a disaster, as she's heading straight for Big Mac, but Applejack thankfully blocks her with a hoof. Apple Bloom spots me a second later. “Mr. Seth! What are you...oh! Are ya here fer dinner!?”

Apple Bloom looks so fucking hopeful after she asks that question, it makes me a little glad that I accepted Applejack's offer. That's not a face that I'd relish saying no to. Seriously, how does Applejack do it? “I am, actually,” I tell her, and then suddenly, there's an extremely happy filly bouncing in circles around me almost like Pinkie would, spouting several variants of hoorays. “Heh, all right, all right, calm down.”

“How can ah calm down? This is the first time you've ever stayed for dinner! This is huge!” Apple Bloom explains to me while waggling her hoof at me like a mother scolding a child. “I'm so happy raht now!”

“Apple Bloom, the table?” Applejack reminds her sister with a knowing grin. Apple Bloom shuts her mouth and makes a beeline for her brother, remembering the task that she'd been given. “Hey Granny?”

“What? Ah'm busy in here!” Granny Smith screeches from the kitchen, and then seconds later I hear a clatter as something hits the ground. “Dangnabbit!” 

“Sorry Granny. Just wanted ta let ya know to set aside an extra portion of today's meal. Seth's joinin' us this evenin',” Applejack informs her, chuckling a little at her grandmother's antics.

“Really now? Now ah want ya to tell me just how you got that young stallion to agree to that! He seemed like the difficult sort,” Granny Smith returns, sounding genuinely surprised.

“Still here, thank you,” I alert the elderly mare, annoyed that she's talking about me as if I'm not here. In response, Granny Smith's wizened face peeks around the edge of the kitchen door, scanning the room until she spots me.

“Oh. So ya are. Good to see ya, sonny! Take a seat, and ah'll get yer food to ya raht quick!” Granny Smith responds as if nothing was wrong, and then she returns to the kitchen. “Still want to know how ya did it, Applejack!”

“It was Seth's decision, Granny. Not mine,” Applejack replies, giving me an apologetic glance. With a shrug, I do as I'm told and take a seat, the extra chair provided by Big Mac after he'd finished setting the table with the help of his little sister.

Applejack takes a seat next to me, removing her saddlebags and retrieving the newspaper with her mouth, setting it out on the table. The moment she unrolls it in the empty spot between our plates, she blinks. “Huh. Seems like tonaht's news is a doozy,” she comments. 

That gets me curious enough to peek over at it myself. I can't make out the words from here, but I can read the title of the article on the front page. “A Robbery in White Tail Woods,” it reads. Oh boy, so it's exactly like I expected. Fucking thieves can't keep their hands off of other people's shit, no matter what species they are.

At last, Granny Smith emerges from the kitchen with a small cart, on top of which are dishes of every kind. I see apple pie on there (oh boy, what a shocker, apple pie for the Apple family), but also an assortment of casseroles, salads, sandwiches, and cups of water. “Ah made plenty! Don't be shy, everyone dig in!” Granny Smith announces, and then she proceeds to fill her plate with the food of her choice. As Apple Bloom moves towards the cart, Granny watches her closely. “Hooves off the apple pie until you finish your salad, young filly.”

“I know, Granny, I won't touch it,” Apple Bloom assures her, though I don't miss the look of disappointment that crosses her face for a split second. Heh, children will be children, I guess.

I fill my plate with the food that's edible to me, and then I reach for the apple pie as well...only for Granny Smith to rap my knuckles with a skillet. “Now, didn't ah just say not to touch the apple pie? That goes fer you too, sir!” Granny scolds me, as I nurse my aching hand in surprise. “Shame on you.”

“Really? I'm an adult, so shouldn't I be the one who gets to make my own decisions?” I demand, though I do withdraw my hand, because that skillet hurts.

“Not in mah house! Us older folk gotta set an example for the young 'uns. Now you eat yer salad, young stallion!” Granny protests hotly. She continues to glare at me until I add an extra helping of salad on my plate, and then she smiles in satisfaction. Wow, I don't think I've ever been scolded for something so trivial since I was a kid. Especially since my diet was entirely my choice during college.

“What are you snickering about?” I ask Apple Bloom, who's trying hard not to choke on a mouthful of salad because she's laughing. 

“You got in trouble,” Apple Bloom teases me after she manages to swallow her food. I scowl and poke her in the side of the head, which only seems to amuse her further. “Too bad.”

The rest of us start digging in to our food with gusto. There's silence for a bit, but then Applejack takes a drink of water before spreading out the newspaper. “So, get this. The news today is a bit different from the norm,” she comments.

“Oh? Let's hear it then. If ah have to hear about the new dress line in Manehattan again, ah'm gonna flip!” Granny Smith urges. I agree with Granny. Who the fuck cares about some new line of fashion? If I wanted to hear about that, I'd ask Rarity.

“Allraht, here we go. The title is 'a Robbery in White Tail Woods.' It says here that a shop on the edge of the woods up near Van Hoover got robbed, and nopony knows who did it!” Applejack relates, and while I'm not all that surprised, Granny Smith, Apple Bloom, and Big Mac all display various degrees of shock.

“What is this world comin' to? Why, there's already been an all out attack on Canterlot, and now  ponies are takin' things that don't belong to them?” Granny Smith laments, throwing her hooves up in the air. “What next?”

“That ain't good. Granny, you always said not to take things that aren't mine,” Apple Bloom says, stating her opinion next.

“Eeyup,” is Big Mac's typical response. Okay, so from the way they're all reacting, the concept of thievery seems to be very new to them. How is that possible? People or ponies will always crave things that don't belong to them. It's just our nature. Or is this world trying to tell me ponies are intrinsically different?

“Eh, thievery isn't the worst that could happen,” I say flippantly, causing them all to look at me in shock. “What? That kind of stuff happens all the time where I'm from.”

“That's raht, you're from a long time ago. Ah remember you sayin' somethin' like that,” Granny Smith recalls. “That's jus' wrong though. That shopkeeper no doubt worked hard to get his stock. It ain't fair!”

“Applejack, what exactly got taken?” I ask curiously. Because the dinner tradition here seems to be talking about the news, I might as well join in. Plus, if this is a new robbery, it might be connected to Chrysalis. Come on, a robbery for the first time in a long time only a month after Chrysalis gets free? There could be a connection there.

Applejack peers at the newspaper once more. “Well, the shopkeeper said that the thief was only after one thing; a tiny amulet said to increase yer magic,” she paraphrases. Huh, I could use one of those. But shit, if Chrysalis gets a hold of that, she could be a problem. “The theft was actually reported by...Trixie?”

“What? Ain't she that pony that said she could beat an Ursa Major?” Apple Bloom replies. Huh, that name sounds a little familiar. I think Rainbow mentioned something about her to me before. I don't think I paid much attention though. “She was a fake, right?”

“Definitely. But she says she was looking for something to make herself stronger, when she found the shopkeeper out cold behind the counter,” Applejack continues, reading the quote from the paper. “That's rough. Ah hope they catch the thief. That amulet sounds dangerous.”

I could mention that I suspect it might be Chrysalis, but there's still the chance I could be wrong, so decide to keep that to myself. No point in getting everyone panicked over nothing. Chrysalis is likely still recovering from her loss at Canterlot. No way she'd make a move so soon. At least, I hope that's the case. The thought that I might have to fight her again terrifies me. I can't even count how many times over the past month I've woken up, sweating, with her voice haunting my waking thoughts.

“Ah'm sure Princess Celestia will take care of it. She always does, after all,” Granny Smith decides. “Any other news? There must be something less dismal in there.”

“Yeah, down here, it talks about how the royal wedding was a success. See that now? Ah did that!” Applejack boasts, pointing her hoof at the article. Heh, I figured they wouldn't want to talk about the theft for long. I guess in the end, if it wasn't Chrysalis, it's probably not all that important.

As Applejack starts talking about more news articles, I go back to eating my food, pushing those troubling thoughts out of my head. I don't ever want to think about Chrysalis again if I can help it.

Still though. If not Chrysalis, then who the hell would want to increase their power?
> 60. Learning to Accept
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Ah can't eat anymore. Ah'm stuffed,” Apple Bloom groans, patting her full stomach with a hoof. In front of her is the remains of her slice of apple pie that we'd finally been able to eat, because Granny Smith is a pie Nazi or something. I don't even know. Next to her, Granny Smith is nodding in satisfaction, having finished her food a while ago. Applejack is still finishing up hers, while I just placed the last piece of my pie in my mouth.

“Seth, how did you like Granny's cookin'?” Applejack asks curiously. Granny perks up at that and looks at me expectantly as well. I look down at my mostly empty plate.

“It wasn't bad. It would have been better though, if there weren't so many daisies in my salad!” I  remark in annoyance, lifting one of the daisies that I'd had to pick out from my plate. “Seriously, who the hell puts daisies in a salad?”

“Nopony told me ya couldn't eat daisies. Figured that woulda been somethin' Applejack shoulda said to me,” Granny responds apologetically, and then she gives Applejack an accusing stare.

“Sorry, ah fergot,” Applejack admits with a sheepish grin. That gets Apple Bloom laughing, and then Granny's stern expression melts away to one of good humor as well. “Yer diet's a bit different from ours. Ah'll remember that.”

“You'd think you'd have remembered after months of knowing me. Did it never occur to you to wonder why I didn't put flowers in my sandwiches?” I point out. This earns more chuckles from her family, while Applejack herself just laughs nervously and rubs the back of her neck.

Looking around at her family, I admit to myself that eating dinner with them wasn't a fate worse than death after all. I probably won't make a habit of it, but at least I did it once, so maybe she'll stop asking me now. However, I should probably go. No doubt Rainbow is already waiting for me.

“I need to get going now. Still have a few things left to do before the end of the day,” I announce, getting to my feet. Applejack gets up as well at that.

“Gotcha. Wait a sec, I jus gotta go upstairs and grab yer pay,” Applejack says, and she too leaves the room, much to Granny Smith's annoyance.

“Hey! Don't you be goin' anywhere without cleanin' up yer dishes!” Granny Smith hollers up the stairs after Applejack. “Don't worry, Seth, we'll clean yers up for ya. Yer our guest, and it'd be rude to do otherwise.”

“Ah'll be raht down! Just gimme a sec,” Applejack calls back down. Granny huffs and forces herself to her hooves, shaking slightly. “And don't you try an' do it yerself, Granny!”

Granny sits back down with a guilty expression on her face. Yeah, she is pretty old. I wonder how old she is compared to Captain Blades. Too bad I can't just ask that.

Applejack soon returns with a bag of jangling bits in her mouth, which she passes to me. It's nowhere near as heavy as it usually is, but I didn't work a full day, either. So I'm fine with just this. In just a week, I'll have enough money for an initial payment on a house. “Ah'm back now. Come on, you two. Let's git these plates cleaned up,” Applejack says to her siblings.

“I'm leaving now,” I announce, heading for the door. Just as I open it, Apple Bloom rushes over to me.

“When are ya gonna come back and play?” she asks, once again looking more adorable than she needs to. I don't know if she does that intentionally or not.

“Who knows. Depends on how my schedule turns out. I'll drop by sometime I'm free and in the mood,” I tell her honestly. Doesn't matter how old somepony is, chances are I'm going to tell it like it is.

“Okay! Ah'll be waiting!” Apple Bloom replies happily, and then she nuzzles my leg briefly before cantering back into the dining room, where she starts helping her family clean things up. “Thanks fer comin' to dinner!”

“Whatever,” I respond, and then I leave the building, shutting the door behind me. It's gotten pretty dark outside, the sun just now disappearing beneath the horizon entirely. Okay, so I told Rainbow  to meet me after work. She should have been here by now. 

I keep walking. Fuck it, if she's not here, we'll plan our hang-out some other time. There's no hurry. I literally have no pressing concerns for the rest of my life. It's an odd feeling, knowing there's no obligations resting upon you that can screw your life if you don't succeed. Like college. Fuck that up, you're left with nothing except the chance for a shitty homeless life. At least, that's what my parents kept telling me.

Except now, there's no obligation. I have a decent paying job, and I'm about to buy a house. I mean, working on the farm for the rest of my life will suck, but it's not like I don't have outlets. I have plenty of time to read, ponies to play music with, and the occasional party. It's oddly freeing. Fuck you college, I didn't need a scrap of your knowledge after all. Funny how life works sometimes.

Just after I pass through the archway of the farm itself, I come to a stop, as I'm seeing something rather random, yet hilarious at the same time.

Rainbow is lying on the grass, rolling around on her back and wiggling rather awkwardly. Um...what the fuck is she doing? In fact, “Rainbow, what the fuck are you doing?” I ask, wondering if I've come across something that is about to scar me.

Rainbow immediately starts scrambling around, until she gets to her hooves. She gives an awkward cough. “There's an itch on my back. I was trying to scratch it,” Rainbow admits, blushing slightly at being caught doing something so stupid looking. I blink a few times, and then proceed to burst out laughing. “Hey! It's not funny! It's in a spot I can't reach! What else am I supposed to do?”

“It's totally funny! Oh my god, you were rolling around like a fucking ball,” I snort, barely able to talk. Just the sight of her rolling around like that plus the embarrassed way she's looking at me is enough to keep me laughing for a good while. “So ridiculous looking! Hehehe, you had an itch. Christ!”

“Are you done? It's not that funny.” Rainbow starts to pout, reaching her head around in an attempt to scratch the offending itch, but judging by how she's straining, she still can't reach it. “Agh! It's still there, and it's driving me nuts! Seth! Stop laughing!”

“I can't help it! The great Rainbow Dash, brought down by an itch!” It's getting to the point where I'm laughing so hard, it's getting difficult to breathe. “Oh god, quit looking so indignant, or I'm going to die.”

“Can you stop that and help me? I seriously can't reach it,” Rainbow demands, turning her back to me. I'm now bracing myself against a tree with a hand, breathing heavily and trying not to burst out laughing again. Even still, that image of her rolling around gets me chuckling again. 

“What are you talking about? Why don't you just roll around again? That might fix it,” I tease her, earning a glare from her.

“Because I'm not doing that in front of you, it looks stupid! I thought I was alone,” Rainbow snaps. “Would you stop being annoying and scratch it so I can have some peace?”

“You seriously want me to scratch your back for you?” I state in disbelief. This is just too funny.  Rainbow asking for help for something so simple and so stupid.

“Only because I can't reach it, and you showed up when I wasn't expecting you!” Rainbow retorts, blushing more. “Stop being difficult already and do it.”

“This is so sad,” I comment, but I do approach her. I'm going to make fun of her for this for a while. Rainbow shivers for some reason when I put my hand on her back, near her neck. I have no idea where the hell the spot that she's talking about is, so I just start scratching, figuring she'll tell me once I find it.

“No, you're too high up. Go further back,” Rainbow instructs me, stammering slightly. My god, I almost lose it from how hilarious this is once more. I do as I'm told, following her instructions until I finally find the source of her discomfort: a thin sliver of wood lodged in her fur that's been tickling her skin for who knows how long. Wonder how that got there. I remove it easily and scratch the spot left behind. “Dear Celestia, sweet relief. That's been bugging me for a while now. Was that so difficult?”

Rainbow jerks away now, putting some distance between us. “It's not going to stop being funny,” I comment, causing her to scowl. Rainbow then takes to the air, heading away a short distance. “Where are you going?”

“Flying! Come on, we've still got stuff to plan!” Rainbow urges me. Well, the only thing I'm carrying with me is my pay, and that'll stay in my pockets, so I guess I don't mind going for a quick flight. I follow her lead and release my magic, propelling myself into the air until I've hovering just next to her. “All right, let's go.”

Together, we fly up into the skies surrounding Ponyville. I think this is my first time flying at dusk, and I think I like it. With all of the lights from the windows and streetlamps shining up at me, it almost looks like a set of toys. It's very serene, especially since there's no sound up here except the faint sounds of the crickets from below, and the rushing of the wind.

“So why don't we do this?” I ask once we've stopped ascending, somewhere just above the cloud layer. It's very beautiful up here.

“What?” Rainbow asks, confused by my unexplained statement. I sweep a hand to indicate the thin layer of clouds beneath us.

“Instead of running every morning, why don't we go flying instead? It's not very physically demanding for me, so I won't be exhausted when I go to Applejack's for work,” I suggest. Then it clicks, and Rainbow's eyes light up in excitement. “Plus I'll get some magical training in as well.”

“That's a great idea! Yeah, we're gonna do daily flights! This is awesome!” Rainbow expresses, doing a flip in the air. Feeling a bit hyper myself, I try to copy her gesture, only to quit halfway through and hold my head. “What are you doing, Seth?”

“I was trying to do a flip...and somehow gave myself a headache,” I groan, rubbing my aching head. “Ow, how do you even do that?”

“The headaches? Ah, those go away after a while, once your body  is used to it. If you wanna do tricks, you're gonna have to practice them,” Rainbow points out, snickering at my failure.

“I'm not going to practice tricks. That's your thing. Plus, I'd look pretty fucking stupid trying to do flips,” I tell her flatly. “I was just being stupid, that's all. Anyway, we should probably talk about our plans now.”

“I'm good to do it whenever,” Rainbow responds unhelpfully. Thanks, that tells me absolutely nothing of what I want to know.

“That doesn't help me. We need to set a time, so we can give Pinkie plenty of notice. We also need to find a place to do it. Plus I need to do a little spell research,” I explain. 

“Uhm...that's a lot of details...are you sure we need to go to that much trouble just to hang out?” Rainbow questions me, scratching her head. 

“Christ, you're no help. Fine, then I'm just going to start listing out when I'm free,” I grumble. “Let's see, I'm busy every day from morning to late afternoon, thanks to Applejack. As for evenings, I think the only thing I have to worry about is tomorrow's trip to the spa, and then whenever it is Pinkie decides to have her party.”

“Let's do it in two days then, after your work,” Rainbow suggests. Hm, that could work, but I also owe Vinyl and Rainbow a drink. Though I suppose I can always do that afterward. “We can just do it at Vinyl's place, right?”

“Yeah, two days sounds good. And no, I don't want to do it at Vinyl's place. I'd rather not have her sticking her nose in it and trying to get involved,” I express irritably. Rainbow looks confused at that.

“But didn't you already accept Vinyl as a friend? Why wouldn't you want her joining in?” she questions. That's a difficult question, and sad to say, I spit out what I'm thinking before considering whether or not it's the right way to say it.

“Yes, but she's not you,” I express, only to realize a second later what the hell I just said. There's  a silence, as Rainbow's cheeks turn a light shade of red. I plant my face in my hand. “I mean...we initially planned it to be just us. If you want me talking about anything more personal than my damn hair, it's gotta be just you there with me.”

“R...Right, I knew that's what you meant. Um...” Rainbow trails off as she thinks. “We could always go to my place.”

“Rainbow, you live on a fucking cloud. I can't stand on clouds,” I point out, and then go right back to thinking. Hm, is there any other place in town where we can blast music and not be interrupted?

“You can fly! So it could work,” Rainbow protests. “Come on, my place it totally awesome. You won't find craftsmanship like it anywhere else other than Cloudsdale.”

“So what if I can fly? It takes concentration. If I want to lay back and relax, I don't want to keep exerting my magic the whole time,” I snap back at her. “Besides, what if I run out of magic? I'll fall and die unless you catch me.”

“Oh...well...ask Twilight! I know there must be a spell somewhere that'll let you walk on clouds like we pegasi do,” Rainbow insists. 

“That seems like a long shot, but I guess it's worth looking into. Especially since I'm planning on visiting her anyway,” I say honestly, shrugging slightly. “I have to see if there's a way to amplify sound, because you ponies don't a have a speaker system that'll work with my phone, and I don't want to huddle over my phone speaker the whole night.”

“Yeah, definitely do that. Because if you find a way to make your...phone...louder, I can move my house someplace where we can make it as loud as we want without annoying the townsponies,” Rainbow tells me. I give her an askance look.

“You can move your house.” I state in a disbelieving manner. I suddenly have an image of Rainbow's face on a semi-truck, with a slogan like, “Trust the Rainbow Company, we'll help you move...literally!”

“Well, yeah. It's made of clouds, so it's pretty easy to maneuver. Especially for an expert weather pony like myself,” Rainbow brags. I rub my forehead, my headache returning. This...fucking magic, I swear. Rainbow has a house of clouds that can be wherever she wants it to be. 

“Right then! Chalk that up on the list of impossible bullshit than can only be explained by the word 'magic,'” I state with false cheerfulness. “But let's put that aside for now, at least until I ask Twilight about actually being able to stand in it.”

“You got it. Anything else?”

“Let's see, we're doing it the day after next, possibly at your place. So you need to go find Pinkie sometime tonight or tomorrow and tell her to whip up some snacks and drinks for us,” I reply, listing off everything we've planned so far. “In the mean time, I'm going to fly down to Twilight's and get that information I need. Knowing new spells never hurts.”

“Wait, you're leaving now?” Rainbow asks, just as I orient my body away from her. When she sees me leaving, she huffs. “Lame. I wanted to fly some more.”

“So fly some more. Do whatever it is you usually do when I'm not around,” I retort, unsure why me leaving counts as being lame. I put on a dumb grin. “Don't tell me you've gotten so used to me being around over the past month that you can't live without me.”

“D...Don't be stupid! Where would you even get that from? I was stuck with you because of Princess Celestia's orders, remember?” Rainbow shoots back at me, crossing her front hooves petulantly. She then breaks off, soaring away from me. “I'm leaving now...jerk.”

Her last insult gets me chuckling. She's just so easy to mess with. Accuse her of anything that could be construed as sappy, and she gets so pissed off. And yet she's really sappy when she wants to be. Shaking my head, I zoom through the sky, angling my body down.

Soon, I pass into the cloud layer, the condensing liquid streaking across my body and cooling my down to the point where I start shivering. Wow, yeah flying while wet. Not a good idea. Why did I think flying into a cloud was a smart thing to do?

At least now I can say I flew into a cloud...not that it matters in a world filled with pegasi that have done the same thing. Well, any human would kill to do what I'm doing right now. Actually, you know what? Twilight can wait for a bit.





I land in the middle of the clearing in front of Twilight's library and power down with a sigh. That was fun. I'm a bit drained of magic, but that's just because I powered myself up pretty far to do some pretty intense flying. 

After knocking on the door a few times, Twilight answers the door, her right eye twitching. “Oh, hello, Seth. It would have been great to know you were going to show up around now,” she complains, but she does beckon for me to walk inside. “Instead, I had to constantly keep an eye on the outside to make sure I didn't miss you.”

“Still finding it extremely hard to care,” I reply lackadaisically, much to Twilight's frustration. I walk past her and into the main room, peering at the books lining the shelves. “So, what do you even have as far as fiction goes?”

Twilight streaks over to the shelves until shes standing next to me, her previous annoyance going ignored in the face of something far more interesting to her. “Oh, you don't need to look on the shelves. I've already picked out several books that I think you might like,” she assures me, guiding me away from the shelves with a hoof and instead directing my attention to the table in the center of the room, where there are small, organized stacks of books, each stack being labeled with what I assume is their distinguishing feature. Like, one stack is labeled “Mystery,” while another is labeled “Adventure.”

“Huh. So you already picked some out. Let's see if there's anything here that'll interest me. I doubt it, considering you're ponies, and I doubt you can come up with the type of intense stories that I'd actually like,” I explain. 

“Well, what types of things do you look for in stories?” Twilight asks curiously, sitting down on her haunches. Hm, that's a difficult question. It would be far easier to answer what I don't want to see in a story.

“No tragedy. Fuck tragedy. Seriously, anyone that thinks tragedy is a decent form of entertainment should go straight to hell,” I immediately state, having thought of the promising stories that I've read that were ruined by shitty endings.

“That's a rather strong reaction. I find tragedy to be interesting, but mostly because after reading one, I feel grateful for the life that I have. At least, that's the best way I can describe it,” Twilight responds, perplexed. 

“What is wrong with you? There's nothing good about tragedy. It's just some jackass writer putting all this time into making characters just to ruin their lives, wreck their emotions, and then kill them at the end. It's just sadistic,” I rant, as this is a subject I've very passionate about. “I don't read to feel like shit.”

“There's nothing wrong with me, we just have differing opinions. That's all,” Twilight corrects me, looking offended. “Though, I understand what your opinion. Tragedy isn't for everyone. Anyway, what do you like in fiction?”

“I don't like things that are too normal...though I guess that doesn't really apply in this situation, since you ponies all have magic, unicorns, and all that shit. So...I guess I'll just say that I hate slice of life,” I continue. Twilight nods, and then she takes several books out of the stacks with her magic. No doubt they're slice of life stories. Can't stand those. If I wanted slice of life, I'd just go outside and do what I've been doing. “Mystery...I used to read a ton of mystery books when I was young, but most of them don't do it for me anymore. Adventure is mostly a yes, but only if well thought out.”

As I list more genres that I do or don't like, Twilight either adds or subtracts books from the stacks on the table, somehow managing to keep them as organized as they were when she started. Finally, I'm left with a decent sized stack of books. There's about twelve of them, all of decent sizes. 

“That's not that many,” I comment, peering at the title of the first book. “Sephylon, the Clock-Maker. Interesting name. I fail to see how that's not a slice of life book though.”

“Trust me, the Clock-Maker is an incredible book. It's the first in the series, so if you like the first book, there'll be plenty more for you to read,” Twilight assures me. “That's why there's fewer than you expected. Some of the books in here are just the first of their respective series. Besides, if you finish with all of these, you can always branch out to other books.”

“I see. I guess I'll start with that one then. Let's hope it doesn't suck,” I decide, grabbing the book delicately and glancing at the cover art. There's the image of an older pony with deep lines in his face and a silvery-white beard standing stalwart atop a ridge, with the image of a dark, imposing clocktower looming behind him. Several other, sinister looking ponies are depicted around him. Okay, the art looks good. I'm interested in seeing what this book is all about.

“Excellent! I'll keep these books labeled for you, so you can find them easily if you need them,” Twilight informs me, and then she proceeds to do just that, until every book except the one I'm holding is back where they came from. Then she appears to realize something. “Oh! I should get you a cushion.  I forgot humans don't sit like we do. I'm sorry.”

“That'd be nice,” I say absentmindedly, opening the front cover of the book and peering inside. These books will take me a while to read I think, mostly because my reading speed took a hit since I learned Equestrian. It'll take me a while before reading it becomes second-nature. Right now I still have to think about what each character means.

Just as I've started reading, Twilight returns with a few cushions for me to sit on. Without really saying much to her, I sit on the cushions, arrange myself upon them until I'm comfortable, and then I look back to the book.

Okay, so far this book is starting with a pretty solid foundation of detail and world building. I'm getting pretty immersed in this, because the writer really goes out of her (I'm assuming it's a she, because 90% of all the ponies seem to be fucking female) way to bring the world she imagined to life. Pretty soon, Ponyville fades from existence around me, until I'm in the steam-punk city of Trenton, where the streets are filled with the sound of grinding gears.

Twilight interrupts me not long after I get started, bringing me tea. It's only because she brought that epic fruity tea that I don't curse her out for interrupting me. Though, just as I'm about to get back to reading, I suddenly realize that I forgot to ask her something important.

“Twilight,” I call, getting her attention just as she's leaving. I try to think of a way to phrase this without hitting her excitement button. That's taking too long, so fuck it. As much as it annoys me, Twilight's the only one that can help me. “So I wanted to ask you if there's a spell out there that'll do what I want.”

“Of course! What are you trying to do?” As I expected, Twilight immediately sets the plates aside and returns to me, giving me her full attention.

“Well, two things. I'll start with the easiest. Is there a way to amplify sound through magic?” I ask curiously. Judging from the way Twilight's eyes lit up, I think I'm going to get a good answer.

“Absolutely. There's several ways to amplify sound, though most of them are done through a simple wave intensity spell,” Twilight responds. “Come here, I'll show you.”

I place one of the bookmarks Twilight helpfully provides for me into the spot where I left off. Sephylon can wait. Placing the book on the cushion, I join Twilight at the table, where she's already produced a book from the shelf and is flipping through it. She makes a sound of triumph when she finds the page she's looking for.

“Here we go. It doesn't require an incantation at all, but you have to know how to manipulate the mana particles in such a way that you form a wave identical to the one you're trying to amplify,” Twilight explains, pointing her hoof at the passage in the book. Wait, what she's talking sounds a lot like.

“Constructive interference. If two waves of the same frequency intersect at the same point, they build upon one another to create the equivalent of a larger wave with a higher amplitude,” I state, remembering my education. Wow, I can't believe I remembered all of that shit. I blame my dumb teacher from high school. He was nothing if not memorable.

“Exactly!” Twilight exclaims, looking at me in surprise. “That's exactly what you're going for when casting this spell. I'm surprised; I didn't think you knew about stuff like that.”

“Hello, humans invented the damn theory first,” I remind her. Twilight realizes I'm right, and her ears flatten slightly, a sheepish smile crossing her face. “I only remember that because it's one of the few facts I remember from school. Anyway, go on.”

“Right. Sound waves are the easiest to manipulate with this spell, because they're everywhere, and they're a very simple wave to understand,” Twilight continues, excitement evident in her voice. “Once you've learned how to form a sound wave, it takes a bit of trial and error to replicate the waves, because it's difficult to measure their amplitude and frequency without equipment.”

“Hold on, are you telling me that if I wanted to amplify something with different frequencies, like in a song, I'd have to memorize each individual wave's frequency and replicate them, all at the same time?” I demand. When Twilight nods, I groan. I'm getting a bit overwhelmed by the prospect of the task I'm trying to undertake. It shouldn't be this much trouble just to make a song louder. “That can't be right. Isn't there a way I can just amplify the whole song, without having to go through all that trouble?”

“Yes, but that requires knowledge of enchantment, and that's not something I can teach you in the course of one night,” Twilight admits. Son of a bitch. I straighten up and fall back against the wall, disappointed and angry. When she sees my reaction, Twilight smiles. “Don't worry, I didn't say I wouldn't help. I think I can create the kind of enchantment you're looking for. You're just looking to amplify a song, right?”

“Hold up. No. I asked you for help because I wanted to know if the spell existed. I'm certainly not going to let you go that far out of your way to help me,” I interrupt her, warning bells going off in my mind. That's way too much of a favor for her to do for free, especially if enchanting is as difficult as she makes it out to be. 

“Wha...oh, not this again,” Twilight groans, facehoofing. “Can't I just help you without you making it into a big deal? It's just an enchantment.”

“What do you mean, 'just an enchantment?' You just said you couldn't teach it to me in one night. That means it's difficult, right?”

“True, your average unicorn can't do it, but every established spellcaster knows how to create an enchantment, and sound amplification is one of the easiest ones. Why, I can name three other ponies in Ponyville that can do it,” Twilight returns stubbornly.

“And let me guess, those three other ponies wouldn't do it for free,” I state flatly. When Twilight looks down, I know I'm right. “Therein lies the problem. I'm not accepting favors.”

“You accept them from Rainbow all the time!” Twilight protests. For some reason, that pisses me off, and my eyes narrow.

“And how is that any of your fucking business? What does it matter to you how Rainbow and I interact? This isn't about her, it's about you and me, and I don't trust you enough not to use a favor like this against me!” I respond viciously, until Twilight's ears flatten once more.

“That's...I'm going to be honest, Seth. That's a little...paranoid,” Twilight tells me, looking extremely sad. I scoff at that. So what? Paranoid means you're safe, and that's better than the alternative. “But...I'm sad to hear that you don't trust me. I thought that after all we went through together at Canterlot, we were a little closer than before.”

“That...ugh, why did you bring that up? Fuck,” I stammer, unable to come up with anything worthwhile that wouldn't make me sound like a complete waste of a human being. Twilight has a point. She did do a lot for me while we were fighting, and after the fact. Between working with Spitfire and Rainbow to save my life by releasing Celestia and speaking out on my behalf against my banishment, she's really done a lot for me, even though I've never really done anything for her. I can't understand her. She's gotten nothing out of the things she's done for me. So why would she bother?

“Okay,” I say finally, breaking the awkward silence that had formed. “I don't feel comfortable letting you put all that effort into making an enchantment without me doing anything in return. Tell me what you want in return.”

“I don't need anything, Seth. It's a very simple enchantment. It won't take me more than an hour,” Twilight expresses, placing her hoof on my leg in an attempt to reassure me.

“Just...give me something I can do. I can't explain, but...just do it. Please,” I tell her, avoiding her eyes. I'm shaking slightly, which is unlike me. I don't know why, but just having this conversation, when somepony challenges my beliefs like this, I can't help but remember why I adopted them in the first place. And that...is enough to unsettle me.

Twilight seems to notice something different as well. Her eyes soften. “Okay. I can give you something to do,” she assures me, and I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding. “Keep me company for the rest of tonight.”

“What?” I ask, confused. How is that a favor? Especially since I was planning on doing that in the first place.

Twilight's smile reappears. “Stay the night tonight. I have a spare bed that you can use. It's been a while since I've had somepony to study with as late as I usually do,” she elaborates. “That's something you wouldn't usually do, and I would enjoy it. How about that?”

“I...suppose that's fair,” I say, calming down. God, I don't know why I let that get to me as much as it did. “Yeah, I'll stay here tonight.”

“Excellent! That way I can show you a little about enchantment, if you'd like. Or you could tell me what you think of Sephylon! Oh! I had a book around here somewhere with things to do during a late night study session...” Twilight's excitement level is rising again, and now she's zipping around the room looking for said book. 

After a few seconds of watching her run around, I suddenly remember that the sound thing wasn't the only thing I had to ask. “Twilight, I have another question about magic, before we do any of that,” I remind her. Twilight comes to a sudden stop, nearly toppling over from her own momentum. “How can I walk on clouds?”

“Pardon?” Twilight asks, not quite understanding. “Walk on clouds? But you can fly, right?”

“Yes, but...oh fuck it. So Rainbow and I want to know if it's possible for me to stand in her house without having to exert my magic. You know, without falling to my death,” I explain, figuring there's no way to make her understand without being honest.

“Yes, there is, actually!” Twilight exclaims, and she brings out yet another book. “For the Young Fliers Competition, when Rainbow pulled off a Sonic Rainboom for all of Cloudsdale, we used a spell that made clouds solid only when in contact with our bodies. Would you like to learn it?”

“Yes, because the last thing I want is to suddenly fall to my death,” I reply wryly. Twilight chuckles a bit before passing the book to me, open to the page that has a description of the necessary spell. “Hm...might take some practice. Let's see if I can master this in two days.”

“You should. I was able to cast it in less than an hour, when I first tried. It shouldn't take you much longer,” Twilight assures me.

“All right. I'll work on it immediately then,” I say, turning around with the book in my hands. Twilight nods, and she lifts up the book with the sound amplification spell in it, no doubt about to get to work on that herself.

“Good luck! I'm going to sit right across from you and see if I can get this enchantment ready for you,” Twilight declares. Just as she said, she sits down on her haunches a few meters away from me, the book in front of her and a few crystal orbs hanging in midair next to her. Right, I see those all over the place. They're in everything that should be powered by electricity, but isn't, like the toasters or ovens.

“Right, you do that then,” I remark, and then I sip from the teacup that I'd left on the floor from before hand. Unfortunately, it's now cold. Fuck. Well, at least it still tastes good. Now then, let's take a look at this spell.

Huh, from what I see here, it consists of forming a barrier of constantly oscillating mana particles that would react with a high concentration of water, like clouds. I'm okay at controlling individual mana particles, so this shouldn't be too hard for me to learn.

With that, both Twilight and I delve headlong into our individual projects, and silence fills the library.

I hope to get this done quickly, because I want to go back to reading the Clock-Maker before the end of tonight.

Still though. It's not the worst way to spend a night.
> 61. The Unwilling Patron
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	As I'd expected, I ended up finishing work on the spell about an hour before midnight, and then proceeded to immerse myself into the Clock-Maker while Twilight continued work on the enchantment. And that's how I spent the rest of the night, until I get too tired to keep reading.

With Twilight's help, I retire to the extra bed that she has, which is actually a pull-out couch located in her room, on the lower section. I end up laying awake a while, my mind still trying to adjust tot he fact that I'm no longer in the world of the book. Man, it's been such a long time since I've read a good book. I can't wait to see what happens next.

So that's what occupies my thoughts until I fall asleep for that night. Let's just hope tomorrow won't be as grueling as today was. Oh who am I kidding? Of course it will.





I wake up the next morning to hear the sound of Twilight moving around downstairs. Judging by the smell wafting up from down there, she's cooking breakfast. I wonder what that is. Because whatever it is, it smells good. And sweet. Which wakes my sweet tooth up, much to my annoyance. Because now I have to have some of it. 

Sitting up, the first thing that happens is that I get tangled in my own hair. “What the...are you kidding?” I curse to myself, running a hand through my locks, finding multiple knots in the process. What a pain in the ass. I stand up and do my best to organize my hair, since I'm certainly not taking a shower before work. That would be a waste of water. “So glad I'm getting this cut today.”

The most I can do is force it into a ponytail (goddammit, that hairstyle has a whole new meaning now. Christ) and wrap it there with the hairband Apple Bloom gave me. I only have to deal with this ridiculous amount of hair for about five or six hours.

“Good morning, Seth,” Twilight greets me as I stomp down the stairs, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. She giggles a bit when she sees the state my hair is in. “Your mane is a mess.”

“You try taking care of hair this long,” I retort. I'm half tempted to just run the ponytail down my shirt to hide it from view. I soon join her in the kitchen, peering into the oven. I see weird little lumps of dough, but I can't see any details because of the obscuring haze of the oven screen. “What are you making?”

“Cinnamon bread. Pinkie taught me how to make it,” Twilight replies. Cinnamon bread? Are those like cinnamon rolls? Because if so, I want some. “Why, did you want some? I have plenty.”

“But Twilight, I was going to eat the ones you didn't!” Spike protests. Oh, Spike is here. I didn't even notice him there, standing next to the counter like that. He stares at me accusingly, probably thinking I'm here to steal his bread. Which I am, if they're like cinnamon rolls.

“No need to be greedy, Spike. There's enough for all of us,” Twilight admonishes him, tapping him lightly on the head with an oven mitt.

“If they're sweet, then yes. Here,” I respond. After I finish speaking, I flip a bit in her direction, which she catches with her magic out of reflex. Her face falls when she sees what it is. I push past her and rifle through a particular cabinet. I remember where she keeps her cups from the time we made pie together. Then, once I have a suitable cup, I fill it up with water from the keg in the back corner. I know that because she's always getting water for her tea there. Then, I recline against the back wall,, sipping from my cup as Twilight continues to monitor our breakfast.

“I don't have very long. I have work soon,” I mention after I glance at the clock. My body has always been used to getting up around now, so the only surprise here is that Twilight got up at this time, when I'm sure she stayed up longer than I did.

“Don't worry, it'll be done soon. Then all I have to do is spread the frosting on it, and it'll be ready to eat,” Twilight assures me, producing the container of the aforementioned frosting from the cabinet above the stove. Sure enough, an orb set into the front of the oven emits a chime and turns green. This must mean that the food is done, because Twilight opens up the oven and removes the tray of what definitely looks like cinnamon rolls from within.

“Oh boy, those look delicious!” Spike comments, salivating slightly. He hovers a bit too close to the tray, so that Twilight has to shoo him away with a kitchen towel. “Hurry up, Twilight! I'm hungry.”

“Just a moment, Spike! You're so impatient this morning,” Twilight chides him with a slight edge of annoyance in her voice.

“Because you don't often make stuff like this!” Spike returns, once again inching closer as Twilight starts to spread the frosting over the bread. “Is it because Seth is here?”

“Yes, it's because I have a guest. It's only polite,” Twilight points out, glancing at me. She looks disappointed when she discovers that I'm not paying attention, as my nose is currently buried in the Clock-Maker. I'd carried it down from the bedroom, because I like keeping busy while waiting. I used to read fanfiction off my phone, but that doesn't work anymore, because internet doesn't exist anymore. I'd say it was a fate worse than death, but I've already encountered one of those, and came out on top. Funny how surviving a battle for your life tends to give you perspective on things you used to think essential.

“Here, Seth,” Twilight says, interrupting my reading by hovering a plate of bread in front of my face. I shut the book and set it aside, my attention now taken up by that incredible smell the food is giving off. I take the plate and lift one of the rolls, immediately taking a bite into it. Twilight wrinkles her nose somewhat when I don't thank her, but she quickly accepts that and starts doling out portions for herself and Spike, the latter of which is bouncing excitedly. “You're going to the spa with Rarity and Fluttershy this evening, right?”

“Yeah. So? What's your point?” I reply, raising an eyebrow. What does that matter to her? Or is she just trying to make conversation? I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I tend to hate obvious conversation-starter questions.

“No point, really. I was just trying to start some conversation. How do you feel about going?” Twilight responds, confirming my suspicions. She bites into her roll a second later.

“Like it's ridiculous that spas even have barbers in the first place. They're meant to refresh your body, not your hair,” I express. I still can't believe I'm even going. I'd never have set foot near a spa back in my time. Only girls did that kind of thing. 

“Oh, but Lotus is very good at what she does. She'll take good care of your mane, I promise,” Twilight assures me. She runs a hoof through her own mane. “She's taken care of mine once or twice.”

“Yet it still manages to look like shit,” I tease her, only to immediately get a spoon thrown at my face. “Kidding, I wouldn't know either way.”

“Rude,” Twilight grumbles, pouting hilariously. “I spend at least half an hour making sure it looks at least somewhat decent.”

“Right...you're lucky. You have no idea how long it takes to get this waterfall of hair looking good,” I point out, dangling my useless amount of hair in front of her. Twilight giggles and nods. “That's why I'm hoping Lotus won't fuck up the haircut. I want to cut at least half of all this off.”

“Not a fan of a long mane?” Twilight asks curiously.

“Not this long. This is like, over the top as far as length goes. Right now, I could probably strangle somepony with it. Any longer and I run the risk of strangling myself during my sleep or something,” I complain. “I want it back to what it used to be. Maybe a little longer, but that's it.”

“I guess I can understand. I don't like my mane being any longer than it is right now as well,” Twilight remarks. 

After that, the conversation dies down a bit as we focus solely on our food. Of course, when I notice the clock again, I notice it's getting dangerously close to the time I'm usually at work. So I quickly eat the rest of my rolls and finish my drink. “Okay, I've got to go,” I say simply, setting the dishes aside. “Time for work.”

“Okay. I know you're busy tonight, but are you free tomorrow night?” Twilight asks hopefully. Her spirits fall when I shake my head.

“No, I'm hanging out with Rainbow then. I'll try to drop the next day maybe. No promises,” I explain. When I notice Twilight's disappointment, I sigh. “Idiot. It's not like I'm going anywhere for the rest of my life.”

“When you say it like that, it seems rather sad,” Twilight comments. She blanches when I give her a deadpan stare.

“No really. Please tell me more about how sad it is that I'm stuck in here in a world that isn't mine,” I remark sarcastically. I notice Twilight now looks ashamed of her comment. “Oh, grow a skin. I'm fucking with you, that's all.”

With that, I bid Twilight goodbye and leave the library. The streets are just now waking up, ponies leaving their houses and making their way to work.

Right. First things first. Let's see if that spell I learned actually works. I lift my hand to about chest height, concentrating the necessary magic in my thumb and middle finger. Then, like striking a match, I release the magic with a snap.

Okay, it feels like it's working, in that there's a barely noticeable tingle of magic surrounding my body. I spent a long time last night trying to perfect this, but because there wasn't any means of testing it, this is when I can find out it it's working or not.

I take to the air with a burst of magic, surprising the ponies around that may not have seen that yet. Okay, it's a relatively clear day, but there are still a few cumulus clouds floating around. Picking one, I soar to it, a feeling of trepidation building up in my chest. It's a good thing I can fly, otherwise this would have had the potential to kill me.

Once I'm above the cloud, I carefully lower myself onto it, until my feet come into contact with the cloud's surface. I fully expect my feet to go through it and get soaked, despite the fact that the spell is supposed to prevent that. However, my feet feel like they've hit the surface of a memory foam mattress, in that the surface of the cloud deforms slightly to accommodate my feet, before halting my progress into it entirely.

Uncertainly, I allow myself to power down, so that I'm no longer flying. Sure enough, the cloud is supporting my weight. This is the weirdest feeling. Still not fully believing it, I take a few tentative steps, and yet I still don't fall. 

“Hah, I'm fucking walking on a cloud,” I comment aloud to myself. This is so surreal. Anyway, the magic is supposed to cover my whole body, so I should be able to sit. So, hoping that I don't fall like an idiot, I try sitting down. “Oh my god, this is comfortable as hell.”

Sure enough, the cloud continues to support me. And that's not all. When I said it felt like memory foam, I meant it. The surface of the cloud bends and flows around the contours of my rear, making it one of the most comfortable seats I've ever sat in. If you can call a cloud a seat.

Getting bolder, I lay back on the cloud and stare up at the sky. Christ, I might just bring a blanket and sleep up here from now own. The mattress in my room at Vinyl's feels like a slab of rock compared to this. So I think it's safe to say that this spell works. The description in the book said it would last for four hours, so when I'm at Rainbow's tomorrow, I'm going to set the alarm on my phone for three, so I can recast it. 

Just as I'm about to fall asleep, I remember that I'm supposed to be going to work. Fuck, this cloud is so comfortable though. I see why Rainbow's always lazing around on them. So yeah, I definitely have to do this again. Probably one of the best spells I could have learned.

Reluctantly, I take off from the cloud and angle myself towards Sweet Apple Acres. I've gotten a taste for this whole flying thing. I might starting using this to go anywhere. Not like I'll lose muscle mass. After all, I'm always putting strain on my legs whenever I work.

I spot Applejack waiting for me patiently at the front of the barn. Strangely enough, she's watching the streets. You'd think she'd remember that I can fly. 

Sure enough, I take her by surprise when I suddenly land in front of her. “S'up? I greet her nonchalantly, as she realizes who's talking to her.

“Oh, ya flew here. Seems like yer startin' to do that more often recently,” Applejack comments. I shrug.

“Why wouldn't I? It's not like I could fly back in my time. Might as well enjoy it now that I can,” I respond.

“True that,” Applejack admits, tipping her hat. “Anyhow, let's git to it. That roof ain't gonna fix itself.”

“Don't I know it,” I groan.





So once again, I end up spending my entire workday up there on that goddamn roof, fixing shingles. Thankfully I'm left alone for most of it, so I end up putting my phone next to me and quietly playing some music while I work. That makes things go much easier, because I can get lost in the music even while I work. And everyone knows that if you resign yourself to work and let yourself zone out slightly, time seems to move much faster.

That being said, when Applejack finally comes to get me, I just finish repairing the last shingle on the roof. Which means tomorrow will be all about the gutters. Ugh, if I didn't have that hangout with Rainbow to look forward to, I would scream. I am not relishing putting my hands into all that junk. It's going to be bad, because I can see all the shit in there from here.

I join Applejack on the ground after she calls, bringing the mostly empty bucket of shingles with me. “Done?” I ask, even though I already know the answer.

“Yup. Good work up there. Ah expected the roof ta take ya another day or so,” Applejack admits, looking impressed. “Yer a mighty hard worker. Though that leads me to wonder what you plan on doin' with yerself.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask, confused. Applejack nods to herself, as if she'd expected the response I just gave her.

“Ah figured as much. Let me ask ya a question then, and ah want ya to be honest with not just me, but yerself as well,” Applejack begins, looking serious. What the hell? With that kind of set up, I feel like she's about to pop off a soul searching question. 

“Okay...” I say awkwardly, crossing my arms. She better not ask me anything too personal, or I'll have to tell her to go fuck herself.

“While ah enjoy havin' ya around, will you really be satisfied with workin' on mah farm for the rest o' yer life?” Applejack finally asks. I'm taken aback by that question. Yeah, I figured I would be working here for the rest of my life, but...now that she mentions it, it really isn't something I enjoy. 

“It's not like I have any other options at the moment,” I answer, irritated. “This money I get from this job is what's keeping me from living out on the streets with nothing to eat.”

“Ah know that, and ah ain't gonna ruin that for ya. It's just that this don't seem like your kind o' thing,” Applejack explains. “Ain't there somethin' in life that really gets you goin'? Like, take mah farm for instance. Ah love this place, and ah love workin' here.”

“You don't have to like your job to do it well,” I point out, not sure what she's even trying to get at. Applejack sighs.

“Ah ain't too good at this. Let me try again. Don't ya want to do somethin' with yer life other than workin' on my farm? Like, how Rarity works with dresses, and Twilight's a librarian,” Applejack tries again. I think I'm starting to understand what she's trying to say.

“Well, you ponies don't have many computers...and the ones you have probably don't run with java or C#, so those skills are useless. Plus I hate coding anyway,” I muse aloud. Applejack blinks, not understanding a word of what I just said. “But musicians don't make money unless you make it big. And I'm no professional. So no, there's really not much to aspire to.”

“Yer a musician?” Applejack asks, surprised. Right, I haven't really told her much about my love of music. Mostly because until yesterday, we've been pretty distant with one another. After I nod, Applejack smiles. “You should come play with me if ya like. Ah think ah'm pretty good with a banjo.”

“Yeah, I remember hearing that. Maybe once I have enough money to buy myself a decent piano, I'll take you up on that,” I say, nodding. “You see, that's the thing. Whether or not I'm satisfied with this job, I don't have a choice. I don't have the money to do anything else. Right now, if I ever want to move out of Vinyl's house, I have to save up...for like half a year.”

“Makes sense. Ah guess ah was just curious about yer long term plans,” Applejack clarifies with a nod of the head. A moment later, she produces my pay from her saddlebags and passes it to me. I accept it eagerly and add it to the sack of bits that I usually carry with me. “Ah'm guessin' yer too busy fer dinner tonaht. Yer goin' with Rarity, aren't you?

“Yeah. She said she'd meet me here with Fluttershy. She actually should have been here by now,” I reply, looking out at the path that leads back to town. I don't see her yet, but I figure she'll be here soon.

“She's probably looking to be 'fashionably late,'” Applejack jokes, and then the two of us snicker at Rarity's expense.

Sure enough, Rarity soon appears, walking up the path with Fluttershy. She appears to be taking her sweet time, much as Applejack and I had predicted. When she spots me, she waves a hoof delicately in greeting. 

“Raht, let's go meet her,” Applejack says to me, and then the two of us walk together outside of the farm, where Rarity and Fluttershy are waiting for us. “Howdy, Rarity, Fluttershy!”

“Good evening, dearest Applejack,” Rarity responds gracefully, dipping her head. She regards me next. “And a good evening to you as well, Seth. Are you ready to go?”

“I have been for the past ten minutes, thanks,” I retort, earning a sigh from Rarity. I angle myself so she can see how ragged my hair looks. “The sooner I get rid of this problem, the better.”

“Oh my, it certainly looks like a problem,” Fluttershy observes. It takes me half a second to realize it was Fluttershy and not Rarity that just said that. You know, sometimes I forget she knows how to talk.

“You three have fun then. Ah gotta go meet mah family for dinner,” Applejack says, and then she turns the other way, heading back to the barn.

“Do tell them I said hello, won't you?” Rarity calls after Applejack. The retreating mare calls back an affirmative response. Rarity looks satisfied at that, and then she turns to me. “Shall we go, Seth?”

“Sure. I'm tired of standing around anyway,” I respond. With that, the three of us start walking back to town. I could get there much quicker by flying, but unfortunately, I'm not doing this on my own. I probably wouldn't have done it on my own anyway. Then I remember I'm still filthy from working hard all day. “Shouldn't I take a shower first?”

“Don't worry about that. The spa will take care of everything,” Rarity assures me as we enter Ponyville proper once more. “Shall I tell you what services they offer?”

“I don't think that's necessary. I'm just going to get my hair taken care of,” I tell her flatly. However, it doesn't seem like Rarity is going to let you go.

“Oh, but that would be a waste! Look at you; you need the treatment almost as much as I do. Look at your face! You've been staying up too late. There's stress lines all over it!” Rarity protests. 

“Wait, really? “ I ask, reaching a hand up to my face. It doesn't feel any different, so I'm not sure if Rarity is making that up or not. “You're kidding, right?”

“Seth, we just came from a battle the likes of which we've never seen. It's going to show on our bodies, and it would be a disservice to ourselves if we did not take care of them,” Rarity persuades, running a hoof through her styled mane. “Don't you agree, Fluttershy?”

“Oh...yes, I do,” Fluttershy squeaks, having not expected to be talked to so suddenly.

“You know, you have a way of making the simplest of things seem like a big deal,” I point out, putting my hands in my pockets. “And then somehow making it sound like a good idea. How do you do that?”

“I'll take that as a compliment,” Rarity beams, somehow using my comment to stroke her own ego. “It's a gift of mine.”

“Right, a gift. Still though, let's say I agreed. What would I have to deal with?” I ask, not sure why I'm even considering this. Maybe it's because I'm paranoid that are actually lines on my face. Still though, Rarity seems all too eager to explain.

“Well, the first thing they would do for you, most likely, is take care of your hair, before giving you the option to refresh yourself in the baths they offer. There, you can get yourself clean and your mane looking as fabulous as you'd like,” Rarity begins. Okay, I like what I'm hearing, but I'd rather she call my hair anything other than fabulous. That just sounds way too girly for my liking. “Unfortunately, I'm not sure it would be easy for you to receive the massage treatments they offer, considering your biology is wholly different from ours.”

“That's fine with me. There's no way in hell I'd let them touch me anyway,” I remark uncomfortably. I don't like the idea of a goddamn pony running their hooves all over me anyway. “What else?”

“Also, to help smooth out your face, Aloe and Lotus have a very unique herbal remedy that I often use when I go,” Rarity continues. Okay, that's a definite no from me. Literally if my hair wasn't getting cut, I seriously would just leave at this point. It's driving me nuts how girly this is getting. “Lastly, there are various saunas, steam rooms, and therapeutic baths available. Trust me, if you stay with me, I'll have you looking rejuvenated by the end of this visit.”

“Uh-huh. Still not sure I like doing this at all. Can't I just get my hair cut and go?” I complain. Of course, Rarity isn't pleased by that question at all.

“Certainly not! You want to get the best service for your bits, I'm sure. A simple mane cut isn't worth fourteen bits,” Rarity scolds me, looking horrified. Oh shit, that's right. This is fourteen bits, isn't it? Ugh, this is going to set me back at least a day in my endeavors to get my own house. I mean, I already said I'd go, so I can't exactly back out now. “At the very least, you should accompany us into the sauna and therapeutic baths. You'll enjoy it, I promise.”

“Oh yes, I do enjoy the baths,” Fluttershy comments.

“Right...except what the hell am I going to wear in the baths? I can't exactly go in there wearing  a full work outfit,” I point out. Rarity opens her mouth to say something, but then she forms a small “o,” with her lips. 

“I suppose we can stop by Vinyl's place to get your swimming attire. It is on the way, after all,” Rarity decides, and then the three of us alter our course accordingly, curving through the residential streets rather than traveling straight through the town square.

It doesn't take us very long to reach Vinyl's place. “I'll be right out. Wait here,” I tell them, because I'd rather not waste time listening to Rarity talking to Vinyl. Because if anything, Rarity likes to talk. Almost as much as Twilight. Not nearly as much as Pinkie though.

Once I hear Rarity acknowledge me, I step into Vinyl's house without so much as a knock. As I expected, Vinyl is resting on the couch. It doesn't seem like tonight is one of her gig days, so that means today she's not doing a thing.

“Oh, Seth, you're home. Missed you last night,” Vinyl comments, leaning her head back to look at me, such that she's looking at me upside down. 

“I stayed at Twilight's that night,” I respond, turning towards the stairs without stopping. Vinyl raises an eyebrow at that.

“Was she talking at you about magic again? She tends to do that,” Vinyl asks curiously, her head following me in a rather comical manner as I pass by her. “Where are you going in such a hurry anyway?”

“I'm being dragged along by Rarity to get my hair cut. I'd rather get it over with, so I'll deal with you when I get back,” I explain to her as quickly as I can before storming up the stairs. It doesn't take me very long to locate my swimming trunks.

Soon, I'm back outside with Rarity, ready to go. “Excellent! Shall we go then?” Rarity offers. I respond with a terse nod, and then the three of us are once again on our way. To this goddamn spa thing that I honestly wish I'd never agreed to. Why the hell isn't there just a standalone haircut place?





Ugh, and now we're here. The building is located on the far end of the Ponyville town square, but I don't really get much time to look at it before Rarity is rushing me inside, her excitement practically palpable at this point. 

“Welcome, miss Rarity, miss Fluttershy,” two ponies greet us practically in unison alost immediately after entering. Right, these two are pretty regular customers, if the ponies that run the place know them by name. “Here for your regular treatment?”

“Of course, but with one alteration,” Rarity replies to the two ponies. She indicates me with a hoof. “I've brought a friend along. He's actually never been to a spa before.”

That gets the two ponies to gasp and look at me. This is probably a really dumb way to refer to them, but these two ponies are practically palette swaps of one another. By that, I mean they're identical. One of them has light blue fur and a pink mane, while the other...is the opposite. Their manes are held back by white hairbands, no doubt to keep them out of the way while they work. 

Upon seeing me, the two ponies appear shocked, before smiling so widely that I almost think their damn mouths are about to pop off of their faces. “You're Seth Rogers, aren't you?” one of them asks me in shock and awe.

“The human that came from the past and fought with the princesses to save Equestria, right?” the other adds, looking way too excited. Right...they probably read the article that explained all about me. So everypony that read it knows that I came from the past. 

Rarity looks at me smugly, as I stand there and try to think of a way to respond to these two. “Yeah, that's me. Though it seems like you know a lot more about me than I know about you,” I point out, somewhat irritably. The squealing and giggling I get in response from them makes me want to turn around and leave, but I feel like Rarity predicted that feeling, because she's standing behind me, between me and the exit.

“Oh, I do apologize. It's a great honor to have you here, Mr. Rogers,” the pink one responds, trotting forward happily and guiding me further into the building, much to my discomfort. “My name is Aloe! I own the spa along with my sister here, Lotus. We'll be taking care of you today.”

“This is so exciting! No other spa can claim they've had a human customer!” Lotus, the blue furred pony, exults. That line in particular pisses me off a bit. I'm not just some marketing ploy for you, bitch.

“Were you looking for any kind of treatment in particular?” Aloe asks as we near a set of reclining chairs in the central area of the building. While waiting for an answer, Aloe looks at her sister and indicates Rarity and Fluttershy with a head motion. I see. So they're splitting up to handle us. Lotus pouts for some reason, but quickly puts on a smile and greets Rarity.

“Go ahead, Seth. We'll meet you again once you're done with your specialized treatments,” Rarity encourages me with a wave of her hoof as she's led away by Lotus. Right, so I'm on my own with this goddamn spa pony that thinks of me as nothing more than a means to make her spa look better. Fucking lovely.

“Yes, I want most of this hair cut off,” I express to Aloe, showing her my length of hair. Before she can say anything though, I transfix her with a glare. “And I'm going to say right now that if you screw it up somehow, I'm not paying a single bit.”

Aloe flinches at the edge in my voice, but she recovers quickly, nodding to show her understanding. “Of course, Mr. Rogers. We operate on a satisfaction-guaranteed policy. We won't accept any payment if you're not completely happy with the treatment we give you,” she assures me. She runs a hoof through my hair without asking, but I bear it because I figure she knows what she's doing. Hearing her confirm that policy Rarity told me about has relaxed me somewhat, knowing that I won't have to pay if they fuck up. “Hm, you have a very long and thick mane. This'll take some work. How much of its length were you planning to keep?”

“A little over shoulder-length is fine. Probably just below my shoulder,” I explain, hoping that she knows what I'm talking about. Aloe doesn't look too confused, seeing as she's nodding. 

“I understand. Right this way, please,” Aloe requests, and then she leads me into a room near the back of the building, next to the stairs. Inside is something similar to what I saw in Rarity's boutique. Basically, one of those chair set ups with the bowl to wash your hair in. “Take a seat for me, please? The first thing I need to do is wash your hair to make it easier to cut. You seem like you've been hard at work today.”

“That's a nice way of saying, 'your hair is filthy as shit,'” I comment, though I do get on the chair like she requested. Aloe lifts the back of my head slightly with a hoof so she can get at all the hair trapped underneath my back. She lowers it all into the bowl, and turns on the faucet there to start wetting down my hair. “By the way, I hate having conversations while getting my hair cut. So hold off on the questions that I know you want to ask until later.”

“Oh. You read my mind then,” Aloe responds as she angles the faucet to get all of my hair wet. She giggles despite her disappointment. “You're not the first customer to request silence, though I am a bit disappointed. You became quite renowned here in Ponyville after that article came from Canterlot.”

“So I figured. Anyway, enough chatter. I'm going to take a nap. I expect to see perfection by the time I wake up,” I tell her, even though I know there's no way I'm going to be able to sleep in this uncomfortable chair while there's a pony messing with my most prized physical feature.

“Of course, sir. I won't let you leave with anything but perfection,” Aloe assures me. With a grunt, I close my eyes and let her work.

Aloe starts by washing my hair thoroughly, which takes a while because I have a lot more hair than I should. I've felt hooves on my scalp before, but it never stops feeling weird, because their hooves feel nothing like what I expect they should. That evolution though.

Then, when she starts getting the scissors and razors, I start getting a little nervous. Now, I'm not going to pretend I know how barbers do things. All I can feel is the tickling and somewhat irritating feeling of a razor dragging along my neck and the sides of my face, as well as the pinching feeling of scissors slicing through my extremely long strands of hair.

It occurs to me halfway through that I have no idea how earth ponies like Aloe can hold scissors. I assume it has something to do with the way their hooves are constructed, but there's no way of knowing for sure without asking. And I'm not going to ask.

It takes a pretty long time for the hair cut to get done. However, when it's done at last, my head feels several pounds lighter. “Finished!” Aloe trills in a singsong voice. “Lift your head for me real quick.”

I do as I'm told, and then shiver when Aloe runs a wet towel across the back of my neck. That's probably to get rid of all of the loose fragments of hair that would be there. That's a good idea, because those fragments tend to itch like crazy if they're left there.

“All done! Stand up and look in the mirror. I want to hear what you think!” Aloe tells me. I obediently stand up, and the first thing I notice is that my hair is fucking all over the place. Probably because she cut at least a foot of hair. Still, it looks like you could knit a life sized pony out of what's just been cut off.

I walk over to the mirror, somewhat dreading what I'm going to see. I feel like she might have fu...my thought is immediately interrupted when I see my reflection.

This doesn't look too bad. I lift a hand and run it through my hair, liking how it feels. It's now a lot like what it used to be when I first got to Equestria, only a little bit longer. Okay, I'm satisfied with this. Good to know that I can rely on Aloe to do a good job with my hair in the future.

“Okay, this is good. I didn't expect any ponies to know how to handle my hair,” I admit to Aloe, who promptly squees out her happiness. Yes, I used squee as a verb. That seems to be a thing that ponies do, so I'm calling it a squee, rather than a noise that sounds like squee.

“I'm so glad you like it. Now then, if you'd like, we have complimentary baths that you can take, if you'd like to wash away your fatigues from the day,” Aloe expresses cheerfully, looking proud of herself. I give her an askance look.

“Translated: You smell like shit, go take a bath,” I state dryly causing Aloe to look somewhat embarrassed. “Well? Tell me where these baths are. I don't have all night.”

“My apologies. Come this way; I'll show you right to them,” Aloe says with a slight bow of her head, and then she leads me out of the room. 

As we're walking, I notice Rarity and Fluttershy talking to Lotus with smiles on their faces, as they're resting on reclining chairs with some weird substance on their faces. I swear, girls do some weird shit in the pursuit of looking good.

Anyway, Aloe leads me up a set of stairs to the second floor, and then to a room close to the end of the hall. “Here you go, sir. Feel free to take as long as you like. Just ring the bell if you need anything,” she says brightly, opening the door and gesturing for me to enter. With a nod, I do so, and I'm immediately taken aback by how luxurious this bathroom is. Of course, it's no Canterlot, but it's still really nice. I shut the door behind me and approach the shower, already starting to strip.

I'm going to enjoy this.

	
> 62. The Impossible Change
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	When I step out of the shower in the spa building, I can honestly say that I've never felt more clean in my life. It's something in the cleaning products that are offered, as well as the presence of this hard pumice soap that really felt like it scraped off several layers of filth that had accumulated without me knowing it. Also, my back doesn't itch, because the shower helped clean away any remaining hair fragments that could have made my life miserable.

What's even better is that the spa ponies must have cleaned my clothes at some point, because they're folded up and smelling fresh on the side of the bathtub. Donning them, they feel soft and comfortable, which is a welcome change from how stiff they usually are. I mean, considering I generally wear a set of clothes for two days or more, depending on circumstances, they usually end up a little bit stiff.

Of course, before I leave the room, I strip back out of my clothes for a moment, because I realize that I should probably be wearing my swim trunks. After all, Rarity is probably going to insist that I join her in some more of the spa's services. At this point, I'm feeling good enough that it doesn't seem as excruciating as it used to. I'm back to looking and feeling as good as before, so I don't mind relaxing a bit. 

I descend the stairs, figuring that I should probably find Rarity and the others. I have to say, this spa is definitely worth the money, considering how far the spa ponies go out of their way to make you satisfied. And...oh, well there's Rarity and Fluttershy.

Rarity is resting on her back, holding a lively discussion with Lotus, who appears to be...shining Rarity's hooves with a cloth, ointment, and what looks like a nail file. Fluttershy is lying contentedly on her stomach, her hooves splayed out lazily as Aloe massages her back. Her wings twitch absentmindedly whenever Aloe's hooves press close to those joints. They both look like they're enjoying themselves thoroughly. Girls...I swear to god, sometimes I think they have life too easy. Look at them. They're doing absolutely nothing productive, and yet somehow managing to have fun with it.

“Oh, hello. You're looking nice, Seth,” Fluttershy comments upon being the first one to see me walking down the stairs, wearing my clothes over my swim trunks. Because I'm feeling confident in my appearance now, I close my eyes, and do a jokingly egotistically hair flip, pretending that I'm some kind of big shot. Fluttershy's response is to giggle, a sentiment echoed by Rarity.

“You've returned! Feel free to take a seat. Were the upstairs facilities to your liking?” Aloe greets me while still attending to Fluttershy's back. I soon join the group of ponies, taking Aloe's offer and sitting in one of the chairs. Of course, it's not a typical chair. More like a beach chair, except made with polyester or something. So it's comfortable as fuck.

“They were. Though I'd like to know how you managed to clean my clothes so fast. I don't think I was in there for more than ten minutes,” I question, leaning my head back and closing my eyes.

Aloe giggles in response. “I'm good at what I do, sir. That's all. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, though,” she explains simply. “Are there any other services you'd be interested in? A massage, perhaps?”

“Right...I don't think you know enough about human anatomy to do one of those,” I point out, much to Aloe's chagrin. I'm right and she knows it. I'm confused as to why she asked anyway, despite that fact.

“You're right, of course, but I'm not the kind to withhold services just because of what you are,” Aloe explains. I raise an eyebrow. But...if you tried and failed, I could be left hurting worse than before. “In fact, I would actually be willing to pay you if you let one of us experiment, to try and find the best way to treat human customers to the best of our ability.”

“Even though I'm the only human you're ever going to treat is going to be me,” I tell them with an amused expression on my face. “So essentially, you just offered to pay me, so that I would pay you in the future.”

Aloe blinks, and then her expression turns somewhat sheepish. “Well, in a way you're right, but I'm also curious to see how the human body works on the inside. So more accurately, I'd be paying for the privilege of finding out,” she explains. “So would you be interested?”

I give her a stare, rolling that idea around in my head. It would be nice to have some extra bits lying around, and depending on how much they'd pay me, it might cancel out the cost of coming here to begin with. But...on the other hand, I have work tomorrow and that hangout with Rainbow. So if they fuck up, I'll be in pain for that whole period, likely. 

“Not this time,” I tell Aloe, much to her disappointment. “Maybe sometime when I'm not busy, so I can take the day to lay down when you inevitably fuck up.”

“I wouldn't say it's inevitable,” Aloe protests with a pout. “But I understand. Just keep it in mind for the future.”

“Will do. Anyway, Rarity!” I call over after our conversations wrapped up. Rarity looks away from her conversation with Lotus for a moment to acknowledge me. “So what are we doing next?”

“I was thinking of visiting the sauna next, as it does wonders for your skin. Care to join us?” Rarity asks. Ugh, that sounds painful. A sauna is just a room you sweat in, isn't it? And it's supposed to be a dry heat too, and those are the worst. I'm more of a guy that likes being cold, because you can usually get warmer pretty easily.

“I don't know. I'm never really been one for extremely hot environments,” I explain, and then a second later, it hits me that I was actually pretty polite there, even though I don't really have to be. What's up with that? Nope, better fix that. “If you want to sweat yourselves to death, be my guest.”

Rarity lets out a huff. “Seth, it's actually really good for you. You may not like it hot, but your body certainly does. Why don't you give it a chance? You may enjoy what it does for you,” she persuades. Lotus then finishes whatever it is she's doing to Rarity's hooves. “Oh, a delightful job as always, miss Lotus. My hooves look positively brilliant!”

“You know what, fine. But only because I don't relish the idea of sitting here with nothing to do until you get your little asses back out here,” I say reluctantly. Rarity smiles triumphantly, and then she stands up with the help of a beaming Lotus. Fluttershy rises as well, stretching out her body and moaning in pleasure upon feeling the results of Aloe's treatment. “How often do you girls do this anyway?”

“Once a week. It's something Rarity and I do to unwind,” Fluttershy responds after complimenting Aloe softly.  Rarity nods and hugs Fluttershy tenderly, getting a nuzzle in response. Huh. It's weird, seeing ponies be so affectionate in public. Mostly because all the affection I'd see in public back at my college would be so fake it would be obvious. Like the men that hug the girls and it's obvious that they're just trying to get into their pants. Or the girls that hug each other even though I can tell they hate one another. I'm sensing none of that with these two. I guess it's just another thing to add to the list of things that aren't like I remember.

“I see. Anyway, time's wasting. If we're doing this, let's go already,” I say impatiently. With that, Aloe beckons to the three of us, leading us to the back of the room, where there several sets of rooms labeled depending on their function. So obviously enough, we're led to a room labeled “sauna.” You know, I've never been in one of these. I've heard about them, and they've never seemed appealing. Mostly because men weren't expected to like them. Though if I'm to take Rarity as an example of how gender roles are viewed, the feminine views are prominent, and it's fine if stallions adhere to them. 

“There you go. Please enjoy yourselves to your heart's content!” Aloe tells us happily, opening the door and gesturing for us to enter. “We'll shut off the heat once you're done, or once the safety time limit has expired.”

“Thank you so much, darling,” Rarity thanks her, and then the three of us enter the room and take our seats in the benches provided for us. Rarity looks at me curiously. “Seth, you shouldn't keep all of those clothes on. It's going to get too hot to wear them.”

“I know, I know,” I complain, already removing my shirt. It's a good thing I'm wearing my swim trunks under all of this. I can't help but notice Fluttershy flush upon seeing me. Right, she's the only one in this room that hasn't seen me shirtless. So she's probably being just like Twilight and wondering why the hell I have nipples. Rarity's used to it, so she isn't phased at all. Whatever, Fluttershy can deal with it. 

When I remove my pants, I take one of the offered towels and cover my lap with it, because as I mentioned back when I first got these things, they're pretty tight, because Rarity doesn't know that I'm a bit more protrusive than stallions usually are.

One thing I notice as I sit here is that the ceiling, walls, and floor are spotted with those crystal orbs that supposedly store magical enchantments. Moments later, I notice them slowly turning red, and the heat in the room gradually rises. Rarity sighs in contentment at the heated air. I admit, at this point, it doesn't feel bad. I bet it's going to get worse though. Why did I agree to this?

“You know, I can't help but notice how different you look,” Rarity comments, getting my attention. I notice she's looking at my chest. “Compared to how you looked when I first took your measurements, you are a lot more muscular.”

“Yup. That comes with working on the farm every day. Constant heavy lifting and exertion does this to you,” I comment. Rarity nods in understanding.

“It looks much better. To be honest, your belly was a lot more pronounced back then,” Rarity says with a hint of distaste. I raise an eyebrow.

“Are you saying I was fat back then?” I ask her with a hint of amusement in my voice. Rarity doesn't pick up on that amusement though, thinking I'm actually offended.

“You weren't fat, in the sense that you're thinking, but there was definitely more fat there than muscle. Did you work out much before you came from your time?” Rarity explains hastily, giggling nervously. If I was actually offended, that wouldn't have made it any better.

“Nope. Not unless you count walking from place to place. I didn't have any motivation to work out. I mean, I had nobody to impress,” I reply, leaning back. Beads of sweat are already starting to form on my skin, but it isn't as painful as I had been expecting.

“You didn't? There weren't any cute human mares you had your eyes on?” Rarity asks with a mischievous glint in her eyes. Seriously? Did she really just ask me that question? Doesn't she know by now what I think about romance? Wait, that was just Twilight.

“Pft, don't make me laugh. There was only one 'mare,' as you put it, that I even associated with, and she didn't give much of a shit about her appearance either,” I state, not giving any details than I needed to. I'm not telling Rarity a thing about Amaryllis. And...actually I'm lying. Amaryllis was a hell of a lot more muscular than me, because she was a bit of a fighter. I'm not kidding. In her spare time, she liked to listen to music and hone her body, by practicing boxing techniques.

“Seth...if...if you don't mind me asking, that is...what kind of animals did you see back in your time?” Fluttershy asks timidly, her mane clinging to her face because of the sweat forming on her face. Of course. Figured she'd ask about that. Considering how her entire house is like, a natural habitat rather than an actual house.

“I don't like talking about my time,” I tell her flatly, causing her to blanch and retreat behind her mane. Just as Rarity is opening her mouth (probably to scold me), I continue. “But I can tell you that there's not much difference. Minus shit like the hydra Lyra mentioned, Ursa Majors, Scorpios's, timberwolves, and other such monsters that are more magic than animal.”

“So...no dragons?” Fluttershy asks, looking frightened. I shake my head firmly, and she looks relieved. “Oh...that's good. I think I like the sound of your time.”

“You don't. You really don't,” I assure her with a scornful laugh. “Or should I tell you about how most humans could care less about nature or the animals?”

Just as Fluttershy gasps in horror, the door to the room we're in opens, and Aloe walks in carrying a tray, upon which are three large glasses of water. “Here you go! Remember to drink it all up and stay hydrated!” Aloe advises us, setting the tray down next to me. She retreats from the room after that.

Oh, that's good. Because I'm sweating like crazy. It's not as uncomfortable as you'd think, but it's certainly dangerous to let yourself sweat out all of your body's reserves. It's a good thing Aloe remembered that. I take a glass of water and drink from it, and Rarity levitates a glass to both herself and Fluttershy.

“Here's another question for you, Seth...” Rarity starts, and I can't help but sigh. I can't escape from the small talk in such a small space.





After about twenty minutes, the heat in the sauna shuts off, and the door is opened by a smiling Aloe. Oh good, it was starting to get difficult to take. I pick up my clothes and walk outside, and the first thing I notice is that my skin looks a bit rosy, no doubt from the heat.

“You all look wonderful. How about a nice herbal bath to cool yourselves down?” Aloe suggests, indicating the large container of water that takes up the majority of the room. In the water are floating several petals and strippings of unknown plants.

“That sounds lovely,” Fluttershy comments, and she wastes no time in lowering herself into the water with a contented sigh. “Oh, it's nice and cool. Coming, Rarity?”

“Of course! Oh, you're right. It's simply divine!” Rarity comments, joining Fluttershy in the bath. With a shrug, I join them next. The water is rather cool, but not freezing. And something about the water is very relaxing to me. Not to mention it smells like a damn garden, thanks to all the plants floating around in it.

I have to agree with them. This feels fucking amazing. Come to think of it, this whole excursion has been pretty relaxing. Although it's felt fucking girly the whole time. I bet that if Amaryllis or Rainbow could see this, they'd be laughing their asses off.

“We're leaving after this, right? It's getting pretty late, and I want to go to bed early,” I ask after a few minutes of soaking in silence. I've got their attention now, so I continue. “I need as much sleep as possible, because I'm probably not going to get much sleep tomorrow.”

“I was indeed planning to leave after this, but what do you mean that you're getting much sleep tomorrow?” Rarity asks curiously. 

“That's not really your business,” I point out. Rarity huffs, but respects my privacy. “But good. Anyhow, I should probably pay for this sooner rather than later. Aloe!”

“Yes, sir?” Aloe is here in a flash, looking very eager to hear what I have to say. Huh, she's pretty quick. I'll give her that.

“My bits are with my clothes. It's fourteen bits right?” I ask her. Once she confirms that for me, I continue. “Go ahead and take them. I'm leaving right after this.”

“Okay. I'll take out the money right here, so you can see that I'm taking the right amount,” Aloe assures me as she grabs the bag with my money in it. Huh, well that's nice of her. I was going to ask for that anyway, so it's good she saved me the trouble.

Once I've seen her take the money, I go back to soaking in silence, as Rarity and Fluttershy engage in small talk.





“Thank you for the service, you two. It was a pleasure, as always,” Rarity says kindly, addressing the two spa ponies. Aloe and Lotus beam at the praise. I remain silent though. It's their job, right? I shouldn't have to go out of my way to thank them.

“It was no trouble, miss Rarity. We look forward to seeing you next week,” Aloe responds with a bow of her head. She looks at me next. “Can we expect you to accompany them as well?”

“Probably not. This isn't something I can afford weekly,” I say with a shrug. Aloe looks disappointed at that.

“Aww, well, we look forward to seeing you again sometime. Don't forget my offer!” Aloe reminds me. I nod, and then the three of us leave the spa building at last into the darkening streets of Ponyville.

“How do you feel, Seth?” Rarity asks once we've taken a few steps. I assume she's asking about how the spa worked for me. Might as well be honest, even though I hate to admit that she was somewhat right.

“I feel good. I feel about ten pounds lighter with all that hair gone,” I joke, earning a giggle from Rarity and Fluttershy. “I'm serious though about not being to afford this that often. I want to get a house to myself sometime.”

“I understand. At least you joined us this once, and enjoyed it,” Rarity responds. “I do need to find a way to facilitate regular contact with you, though. Like with Twilight, I doubt you'll come visit unless you have a reason to.”

“Yep, pretty much. Are you going to make a big deal out of this like Twilight did?” I ask, mentally hoping that she'll say no. Of course not, though.

“Now dear, Twilight was only making it a 'big deal,' as you put it, because she considers you to be a friend, as I do. And nopony likes when their friend ignores them,” Rarity explains. My right eye twitches.

“Except I don't consider either of you friends. You remember that fact, right?” I remind them. Rarity looks a little sad at that, but she doesn't look surprised.

“Yes, I do remember that. But that doesn't matter to us. We'll give you our friendship regardless of whether or not you return it,” Rarity assures me. I can't help but scoff at that.

“That doesn't make any sense. You don't make any sense,” I retort, crossing my arms. Rarity grins and is about to respond, but before that happens...she's interrupted by a flash of pink as a very familiar and irritating pony arrives, looking as excited as ever, if not slight more so. “Oh no...”

“There you are! I've been looking all over for you! Can you believe I checked Vinyl's house, Twilight house,  Applejack's house, Rarity's...” Pinkie immediately starts to chatter in that ridiculously high pitched voice of hers, and I can already feel the makings of a headache forming. 

“Pinkie, I get it, you were looking for me. Now tell me what the fuck you want before I flip a lid,” I tell her flatly.

“Oh! That sounds like fun! I can do that too!” Pinkie says, and then she proceeds to pull a trash bin from nowhere. Then with a happy giggle, she flips off the lid with her two front hooves. Did she really just...I mean...what the fuck? Pinkie produces another trash bin from somewhere and places it in front of me. “Now you try!”

“God. Dammit. Pinkie,” I groan, placing my face in my hands. I don't even know where she got those bins from. I'm not sure I want to know. “I'm not flipping a literal lid. Can you just...tell me why you're here and not...doing whatever it is you do?”

“Oh yeah, that's right. Silly of me to forget!” Pinkie replies, sweeping away the trash bins somewhere. I even look around, but there's no sign of them, or of the lid Pinkie flipped. Where the hell....how the fuck did she...oh my god, this pony. “I came to tell you that I have everything you need for your date with Rainbow tomorrow night! Soft drinks, cupcakes, cookies; you name it, I've made it!”

“Thank you and...” I start, but then seconds later, as Rarity and Fluttershy look at me in shock, I realize what Pinkie just said. I narrow my eyes. “It's not a date, Pinkie.”

“Of course it is! You're meeting her in her house at night to have some quality alone time. Sounds like a date to meee!” Pinkie trills, bouncing around me in circles. Rarity's expression turns to a smug one, while Fluttershy starts to blush.

“That does seem like a date. I'm happy for you, Seth,” Rarity adds next, which only gets me angrier, to the point where I'm clenching my hands so hard, their starting to turn white. “I've seen it for a while now. You two would be really cute together.”

I stop for a moment, and then I involuntarily have an image of Rainbow and I, hanging out together, but it easily could seem like a date. I immediately shut that away, and then snap. “It's not a goddamn date!” I shout, taking all three of them by surprise. “How fucking stupid can you all be? What part of 'I'm not interested in romance' don't you fuckers get!?”

“Seth...” Fluttershy trails off, unsure of what to say.

“That's a shame. I've seen how that mare looks at you,” Rarity says sadly. I look at her in shock. What the hell is she talking about? Rainbow...and I...I can't...no. Fucking no. Not in a million years. No.   

“No! No! It's not happening! And you're an idiot! Rainbow doesn't...she can't...” As angry as I am, I can't seem to find the words to really put Rarity in her place. “You're wrong. Delusional even. You're insulting Rainbow.”

“How am I insulting Rainbow?” Rarity asks, confused.

“Rainbow doesn't need to like somebody. She's not that weak. And to think you think she likes me. You're insane!” I snap at her. I haven't been this angry in a long time. Why is this so distressing to me? “Actually, that's not even the point. Platonic relationships exist! Why can't you two pound that through your thick skulls?” 

“I know that, Seth, but you need to calm down. We didn't mean to upset you. I was just happy for a moment, because I thought that you had finally found somepony to make you happy,” Rarity expresses to me, sorrow present on her face. “But liking someone doesn't make you weak.”

“I'm not arguing this with you. Actually, you know what? I'm done,” I snarl, and then I storm away from the three of them. Then, before any of them can protest, I flare my magic and blast into the skies. I can't help but hear the last snippets of their conversation, however.

“...Was it something I said?” Pinkie asks obliviously, and then Fluttershy and Rarity practically fall over at her stupidity.





I fly back to Vinyl's place, but I don't go inside through the front door. I don't feel like dealing with ponies right now. So I fly in through my bedroom window, grab a blanket, and then I soar back outside, heading back up to the skies, until I'm above the cloud layer once again.

I snap my fingers, casting the cloud spell on myself. After that, it's a simple matter to pick a cloud and lay back on it. I stare up at the stars and the moon, hoping to lose myself in their radiance. Unfortunately, something worse than dealing with ponies happens to me. I start to think.

Why did I get so angry back there? It was just a simple misunderstanding, something I could correct with just a few firm words. So why did I lose my temper with them, and not with Cadance when she asked me if I was in love with Rainbow?

Rainbow is my best friend. I meant it when I said that she was the only reason I'm alive right now. Without her by my side, I wouldn't have a reason to live anymore. She's my anchor, so to speak. Maybe I was lashing out in self defense? Because if...oh god, I really don't want to consider this...if Rarity was right about Rainbow liking me, then our friendship could sour very quickly. If that happened, I would probably try to die again.

You know what? No. Rarity's delusional. Rainbow and I are best friends, nothing more. So what if for one split second, I could see it happening? That's wrong. It's not happening. Pinkie, Rarity, and Cadance are all wrong, and they can all go straight to hell. 

I forcibly push these thoughts away through breathing exercises, as well as utilizing the same mental discipline I'd learned through meditation. Once I'm calm, I drape the blanket over me and shut my eyes. Before I fall asleep, I have the presence of mind to apply a stronger version of the cloud spell, so I don't fall to my death in my sleep. After that, it's easy to succumb to sleep.





In the morning, I wake up feeling refreshed. It's the same time as always, which means I should be going to work right about now. I'd had a pretty pleasant dream, so I'm in a decent mood. Maybe it's because of that and a result of the meditation from last night, but the argument with Rarity and Pinkie doesn't even cross my mind.

After returning my blanket to my bedroom, I blast off towards Sweet Apple Acres, ready to begin work for the day.





After landing at the farm and meeting Applejack, I finally get to work on clearing the gutters, and goddamn, it is the filthiest job I've ever had to do in my entire life. There's just so much shit clogged in these things, and I don't even get to use any gloves. Ponies have hooves, so they don't use gloves. So I have to scoop all of this shit out of the gutters and into the buckets with my bare hands. I'm ashamed to say that gag to the point of nearly vomiting several times during the course of this job. Often, I end up cursing Applejack under my breath for making me do this job. I curse myself for taking this job in the first place, and more than anything, I curse the goddamn sun for not moving faster. I wonder if by cursing the sun, I'm cursing Celestia? Damn princess, move your ass across the sky faster!  Even though it's not actually her ass.

If I didn't have my music from my phone, I think I'd lose it. Even so, I can't sing along to any of the songs because I'm gagging so much from all of the shit stuck in the gutters. I wonder if this is how those fast-food workers feel when they have to clean away the hamburger and french fry grease. Makes me glad I've never worked at one of those.

Finally, after several agonizing hours, Applejack calls to me from below. I take her by surprise when I grasp a current with my magic and immediately appear next to her, not even bothering to fly. “Whoa there. You seem awfully eager to git down from there today,” Applejack comments. She wrinkles her nose at the smell coming from my hands. 

“You don't say? Maybe it's because I just had to do one of the filthiest jobs in my life!” I complain, looking down at my filthy hands. “Is there a hose somewhere? I need to wash all this off.”

“O' course. Come this way,” Applejack replies, gesturing for me to follow her. She takes me to the storage barn, where there's a well and a water pump. “Stick yer hands underneath the pump here, and ah'll start crankin' it.”

She doesn't have to tell me twice. No sooner are the words out of her mouth than my hands are poised beneath the crank, ready to be washed. With a chuckle, Applejack starts cranking the pump as hard as she can, causing a jet of water to propel from the spout and coat my hands, blasting away the filth and leaving my hands pristine once more.

“Oh, thank god. Now I can go get my phone from the roof. Be right back.” I say to her. Without waiting for a response, I soar into the air and back to the roof, where I grab my phone. I return to Applejack's side a few moments later. “There we go. Thank god. Did I mention I hate that job?”

“Ah think ya did once or twice. Could be wrong though,” Applejack jokes dryly. The two of us chuckle a bit at that, and then we're walking into the living area so I can get my pay. “Sorry 'bout makin' ya do that. But someone's got to do it.”

“I know that....but that doesn't mean I have to like it,” I complain further. Part of me can still feel that shit all over my hands, and I shudder involuntarily. 

“Yer remindin' me a bit o' Rarity here. She never did like ta get her hooves dirty,” Applejack teases me, causing me to give her a withering stare. “What? Tell me ah'm wrong.”

“You're wrong. I'm not like Rarity. It's totally normal for me not to want to be covered in rotting fruit and whatever the hell else was in there,” I complain again, which only gets Applejack to snicker at my expense. “And stop snickering!”

“Ah can't help it. It's jus' funny,” Applejack chortles. “Ah'll make sure ta pair ya with Rarity the next festival. Once Dash and ah pull the both o' ya into the mud, the squealing will be heard fer miles around!”

“Ugh, shut up, you. If there is a festival like that, I'll wreck you, just you wait,” I growl at her, but Applejack doesn't seem any less amused. 

“Ya know ya can't use magic, raht?” Applejack points out. I freeze. Well, there goes my trump card.

“...Shit,” is all I can say, and that gets Applejack to let out a guffaw. “You earth ponies and your ridiculous strength. Not my fault evolution decided to fuck humans over.”

“Yer not makin' much sense,” Applejack says to me. Right, ponies like her probably have no idea what evolution is. However, we've reached the living room at this point. “Raht, I'll be back. Just gotta grab yer pay.”

I recline against the wall, just as Apple Bloom canters out of the dining room and over to me. “Hi, Mr. Seth!” she address me, and then she does the most adorable thing. By that, I mean she gets up on her hind legs and wiggles her front hooves at me, all while gazing up at me with huge liquid eyes.

“Ugh, you dumb filly,” I groan, but I lean down and pick her up, just as she wants. Apple Bloom lets out a happy giggle as I lift her up to my shoulders. She clambers her front hooves around my neck, and I can't help but chuckle a bit as well. This filly is just too cute for her own good. “What's going on with you, anyway?”

“Nothing more 'n the usual, ah guess. Except Cheerilee gave us a school project to do,” Apple Bloom explains, though she doesn't sound too happy about that last bit. “Ah ain't too good at this science stuff. Think you could help me again, like you did before?”

“If I have time. Like I told you, I'm going to be busy for a while,” I answer, much to her disappointment. “I'll try, but I can't promise anything.”

“Ah understand. Ah hope ya can though,” Apple Bloom expresses, nuzzling my ear. This is the scene Applejack returns to, once she has my money. She pauses and smiles warmly upon seeing me and Apple Bloom together.  “Hi sis!”

Much to Apple Bloom's disappointment, I put her down and approach Applejack, who passes me the bag of bits obligingly. “There ya go. Yer pay for today. Are ya busy tonight?” Applejack asks.

“Yup. All night, actually, and probably some of the morning. Gonna be hanging with Rainbow,” I tell her. Applejack nods in understanding. “I'm going to go now.”

“All raht. You have a good naht now, Seth. Ah'll see ya in the morning. Unless ya want me ta give you the day off, since ya said you'd be up all naht,” Applejack offers. That's a very tempting offer, but I'm already behind in the bits that I want...and...fuck it.

“I'd appreciate that. That way I won't have anything to worry about,” I say, surprised by the offer. Applejack's never really given me days off, but...then again, I've never really asked. “Thanks, Applejack.”

“Don't mention it. You have fun with Rainbow. She's been talkin' 'bout this lil get together o' yours for a long time. She's really excited 'bout it,” Applejack reveals to me. I try my hardest, but I can't help but remember a little of my argument with Rarity and Pinkie last night. I screw my eyes shut for a moment, pushing those thoughts away. I won't let that shit get in the way of having the night with Rainbow we've been planning for forever.

“I am too. Anyhow, I'm really leaving now. Thanks again for giving me the day off tomorrow,” I tell Applejack one last time, and then I leave the barn behind, walking into the darkening streets. All right, I just have to find Rainbow. Though honestly, I doubt she'll be hard to find. When she says she wants to meet me after work, she's usually right outside the farm. Heh, maybe I'll find her trying to scratch an itch again. I chuckle to myself just remembering that. I've never seen Rainbow look so ridiculous before.

“There you are!” Sure enough, Rainbow soars down from the sky, landing next to me enthusiastically. Her landing was so intense, it sends dust and bits of rock flying outwards. “I swear, you couldn't have gotten here fast enough. I'm so psyched for this!”

“I can tell. I agree, it's gonna be nice to kick back and do absolutely nothing productive,” I agree, looking down at her. I can't help but look at her in a different light. Despite all of my efforts to forget what Rarity said, I'm on the lookout for it now. I mentally slap myself. No. This night, I'm just going to have fun with her, and deal with all of that shit later, when I kick Rarity's ass from here to the moon. “So are the sweets already at your place?”

“Not yet. We have to go grab them from Pinkie,” Rainbow tells me, which is what I'd secretly been dreading. I really don't want to go see Pinkie. I feel like she'll say something stupid if Rainbow and I are together...and then I'll probably curbstomp her or something. Rainbow notices that I'm lost in thought. She tilts her head to one side. “What's up?

“Nothing important. Let's go ahead and grab all the stuff from Pinkie so we can focus on not focusing,” I say, throwing a little joke in there. Rainbow chuckles, accepting that answer, and then the two of us take off and soar back towards Ponyville.

Fuck Rarity. This is going to be a blast, and you're not going to ruin it for me.
> 63. The Cracks in the Shell
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The wind blows through my hair as Rainbow and I zoom through the clouds, the two of us relishing in one another's company despite our current lack of conversation. It's gonna be great, knowing that I can fly together with her like this every morning from now on. 

We land in the Ponyville square not far from Sugarcube Corner, which is our current destination. I certainly hope Rainbow and I will be able to carry all of this stuff back to her house. It occurs to me that I've never seen Rainbow's house.  Maybe I've never looked high enough or whatever.

“I'm diggin' the new mane cut, Seth,” Rainbow compliments me with a grin, as we approach Surgarcube Corner. I return her grin, running a hand through my freshly cut hair. “It looks like what it did back when I first met you. Now, put some colors in it, and it might even come close to being as awesome as my mane!”

“Oh goddammit, must you turn every single compliment into a way to stroke your own ego at the same time?” I groan, though I'm not particularly angry. Rainbow's always going to brag. I don't like it, but it's just something about her that I've come to accept over the past few months that I've known her.

“You know it! I just can't help being so cool, you know?” Rainbow returns, shamelessly continuing to boast. She flips the end of her mane with a hoof. “I mean, check this out. Nopony in Equestria has a mane like mine. It's one of a kind, baby!”

“The only thing that's one of a kind here is your confidence. Can I just say that you're the only girl I know that isn't ridiculously insecure?” I comment as the thought strikes me. Rainbow's grin fades slightly at that, and she looks at me in confusion.

“What are you talking about? What exactly do you mean by 'insecure'?” Rainbow asks, looking as if she seriously doesn't know. Are you kidding me? You're friends with Fluttershy, and she's like the textbook fucking definition of insecure.

“Exactly what I said. Too many damn girls are always weak and constantly questioning themselves. It gets so bad that it becomes a hassle just to deal with them, because you have to watch what you say just to have a normal conversation with them,” I relate to Rainbow, shaking my head at my own memories of some of those types of girls I've run into. 

“I can see how that would get pretty annoying. I know I'm always bugging Fluttershy to be a little more assertive,” Rainbow agrees. Aha, thank you. She does know that Fluttershy is exactly the type I'm talking about.

“Do you know what's even worse? The ones that constantly remind you of the fact that they're insecure to try and get you to feel protective of them,” I continue, as this is a subject that gets on my nerves entirely. “And it's extremely obvious! I had a girl once say, 'Oh, I'm just not good at anything,' and suddenly she's got all of her friends telling her how pretty she is, or how good she is at this, that, and the other. Makes me sick.”

“You're talking an awful lot. This a thing you dealt with in your time?” Rainbow observes, though she does seem interested in what I'm saying.

“Yeah, too much. To the point where I got sick of it. If you can't stand up on your own, I'm probably just going to hate you,” I conclude. I look at Rainbow, who seems a little shocked at that statement. “Thank you for not being like that.”

“You're welcome, but I actually disagree with the last thing you said. About not being able to stand up on your own,” Rainbow informs me. I raise an eyebrow. Really? You're going to fight me on this? Amaryllis agreed with me on that point, back in my time. “We'll talk about that later though. We're here now.”

Sure enough, we've reached Sugarcube Corner, which I've been dreading. Whatever, I'll just let Rainbow do all the talking, and then we'll get going. I won't give Pinkie enough time to fuck with me. Rainbow pushes the door open, the little bell ringing to let the proprietors know we're here.

And by proprietors, I mean Pinkie, who is the sole pony standing behind the counter. “Welcome, Rainbow and Seth! I've been waiting for you. I have all of your snacks and drinks ready to go!” Pinkie greets us enthusiastically, fucking vaulting over the counter to come meet us. She runs behind us and uses her her head and hooves to guide us towards the counter. “They're in those boxes on the counter. One for each of you!”

“I can walk on my own,” I snap at Pinkie, still mad at her for yesterday. I distance myself from her and approach the counter, noticing the two medium sized boxes resting there. The both of them are shut and sealed tightly with tape.

“Oh wow, these boxes are huge! What's in them, Pinks?” Rainbow asks, tapping one of the boxes with her hoof.

“Cakes, and cookies, and cupcakes, and fudge, and brownies, and...” Pinkie promptly starts spouting off multiple kinds of sweets. While her voice is still annoying as fuck, my mouth starts salivating with each new confection she mentions. “...oh, and you can't forget the drinks! I put in lemonade, punch, and bubbly cherry!”

“...Bubbly cherry? Do I even want to know?” I ask wryly, turning to Rainbow. 

“Trust me, it's really good. It's like cherry, except it bubbles in your mouth. It's the strangest feeling, but it grows on you,” Rainbow explains to me. Huh, that sounds an awful lot like soda. I should have figured ponies would have an equivalent. I consider asking where it came from, but I doubt Rainbow would know. “Thanks, Pinkie. We're gonna take these and go.”

Rainbow grasps a set of cords that's attached to the first box, which I assume is there to make it easy to carry while in flight. I do the same to the other box, finding it to be much lighter than I expected. It's still heavy, because there's probably jugs of liquid in there. Still though, with all of these sweets Pinkie's provided for us, this is looking to be one hell of an awesome night.

Just as we're about to leave, Pinkie streaks up to me, depositing something wrapped in napkins on top of the box. “There you go! Have fun, you two!” Pinkie says to us, and then she returns to her position behind the counter, no doubt getting ready to close up the shop.

Curiously, I pick up the object and unwrap it, discovering it to be a cookie. On the cookie is written a message in pink frosting. “Hi! This is from Pinkie Pie, and I wanted to say I'm sorry for making you mad by calling your night with Rainbow a date and that you should...oh shoot, I'm running out of spa...,” it read. Despite the fact that this isn't enough to make me any less angry about that argument, it makes me chuckle nonetheless. 

“Apology accepted. Mind your own damn business next time,” I call back to Pinkie, and then I throw the cookie into my mouth, chomping down on it with relish. It's baked by Pinkie, so of course it's delicious.

“Oki doki loki!” Pinkie responds cheerily, and then Rainbow and I leave the shop. Rainbow looks curiously at the remains of the cookie I just ate.

“What was that all about?” Rainbow queries. “Pinkie do something to make you mad? Apart from the usual, I mean.”

“It's just something stupid she said without thinking last night, after I met her in the streets,” I answer, though I make sure to keep the details from her. That's a conversation I'm certainly not telling Rainbow. 

“Right. Well, enough about that. Let's get going! I've already moved the house someplace secluded,” Rainbow exclaims. With a little hop, she takes to the air so she can test the weight of the box she has to carry. Judging by her confident smile, it's light enough for her. “Oh, I've got this.”

I shake my head wryly, but I follow her into the air with a burst of magic, carrying the box with me in one hand. The two of us ascend into the skies, our spirits rising with our altitude. 

“Hold that for a minute,” Rainbow requests, but then she proceeds to hand me her box without waiting for a reply. I take in, bemused, wondering why I have to carry all of the food. Seconds later, I would facepalm, if I had a hand free to do it with. Rainbow is now executing flips and dives, showing off her aerial prowess. “Yeah, check this out! Whoo!” 

“Okay, show off. That's great and all, but where the hell are we going anyway?” I ask, looking down at Ponyville, far below me. 

“North! I moved the house pretty far. It's over where the river meets White Tail Woods!” Rainbow answers as she executes a skilled corkscrew. White Tail...that's pretty far away. I guess Rainbow was serious when she said she didn't want us to bother the ponies of Ponyville. Still, this'll be great, because it means I can blast my music as loud as I want.

It actually doesn't take us as long as I thought. As soon as we pass over the hills just north of Ponyville, the woods come into view, as does the flowing waters of the river. Unlike the Everfree south of Ponyville, White Tail Woods looks healthy and green, as a forest actually should. 

Above the trees is a large cloud formation. As we get closer I can make it out. “What the fuck...that's your house!?” I demand, looking at its features in equal measures of shock and wonder. Rainbow does what looks like a fucking midair backstroke, looking entirely too pleased with herself.

“Like it? It's totally awesome, isn't it? Don't be shy, tell me how awesome it is!” Rainbow responds, her ego shining through now more than ever. Though at this point, I think she deserves a little bit of it. I mean, look at this place.

The best way to describe it, in the simplest terms, is as an elaborate tower sitting atop a base of clouds. Except that wouldn't be doing it justice. There's about three layers of it, which I assume means it has three stories. Each layer, for lack of a better term, is surrounded by fancy cloud pillars, or trippy cloud formations. Finally, the tower is topped off by a rounded roof.

Of course, that's just the basic structure. Probably the most eye-catching feature of the whole damn thing is the giant rainbow that starts from the roof and curves downward, running parallel to the tower before finally hitting a cloud structure near the base...where it then flows down a channel as...liquid rainbow? What the fuck?

“Is that...liquid rainbow?” I ask incredulously, watching the liquid flow down the channel and pour down into a pool further down.

“It totally is! It means I can have as much rainbow as I want, whenever I want. Also it just looks cool,” Rainbow replies, looking way too pleased with herself.

“Okay, I have to find out for myself,” I state flatly, and then I fly over to the path at the base of the cloud, that leads up to the tower itself. I snap my fingers, casting the cloud spell on me and the boxes, and then I lower the boxes onto the path, freeing myself of that particular burden. The next thing I do is land on the clouds, which deform slightly under my weight, and then stomp over to the pool of liquid rainbow. 

I plunge my hand into the pool, but quickly find the liquid to be hot for whatever reason, so I quickly jerk my hand back out with a yelp. “Ow, what the fuck?” I cry out in pain. Bits of rainbow are on my hand, and it looks fucking weird. Behind me, Rainbow is laughing her ass off.

“Don't stick your hand into the rainbow, you idiot!” Rainbow teases me, landing next to me. She looks entirely too amused by this situation, so I turn around and smear the rainbow on my hand across her side. “Hey, what the...!?”

“Think you could have warned me first? Blasted pony,” I grumble, though I'm grinning as she tries to reach the smear of rainbow on her side.

“Annoying human!”

“No, we're not doing that!” I say in a ridiculous voice, which gets Rainbow to laugh.

“What, are you chicken?” Rainbow shoots back.

“I said no!” I say again, and then the two of us break out into mutual laughter. Ah, this is what I came here for. Dumb bullshit, music, and sweets. “Let's just go inside. I'm eager to see what the inside is like.”

“It's just as awesome as the outside. Trust me, I made it,” Rainbow assures me. I chuckle, and the two of us pick the boxes back up and move towards the door.

“So, did this cost you any money? How exactly did you make this? Did you just find some clouds and throw them together?” I inquire, looking up at the tower as we near the door. 

“It didn't cost money, but it was a lot of work. Like, a lot,” Rainbow says, emphasizing her words with funny hoof motions. “I had to get these clouds from somewhere. Honestly I lived in a cloud hut for a while until I pinched enough cloud material from the storms we whipped up to make it look better. This is the product of months of work!”

“It definitely looks like it. Sheesh,” I comment. I have to admit, the idea of living in a cloud tower reminds me a lot of...huh, I wonder if Rayquaza is living at the top of this thing. Get it? Because it's a sky tow...shut up. 

Rainbow opens the door and leads me inside, to a small entrance area, where there's a few chairs and an end table or two. Mostly everything is in shades of white to black, and multiples in between. I have to say, magic is really cool sometimes, especially if Rainbow can use it to affect clouds enough to make colors like these. 

“This is just the entrance area. It's where I entertain official guests. Sometimes I get visitors from Cloudsdale or the Board of Weather Control, since I'm the head of the weather team here,” Rainbow begins, indicating the room with a sweep of a hoof.

“Oh, am I getting a tour?” I ask in annoyance. When Rainbow looks at me oddly, I explain. “Time's a wasting. Let's go ahead and get settled. We can do the tour later.”

“Aw, but my house is awesome!” Rainbow protests, but she does see the sense in what I'm saying, because she opens the door to short hallway that leads to a set of stairs. “Come on, I'll take you to the most awesome room in this place.”

“Aw, I have to lug these boxes up a set of stairs?” I complain, because I'm again carrying both boxes, because Rainbow can't carry them while she's on the ground...or cloud, in this case.

“Two sets. Now quit complaining and put your back into it,” Rainbow teases me, which makes me want to hit her with one of these boxes. That's fine, I'll get revenge once we've reached the spot we're going to chill.

Rainbow leads me up a set of ornate cloud stairs to the second floor, but I don't get very long to look at it before she takes me up yet another set of stairs to the top floor, where there's only one room.

“Rainbow, did you just take me to your room?” I ask incredulously. Because sure enough, on the far side of the room, there's a bed made of clouds, where there's the image of Rainbow's butt tattoo emblazoned on the comforter. Next to the bed is a nightstand, with a picture of what looks like Rainbow's family...huh, she's never actually talked about them. Moving on, there's two couches on either side of the room, with a carpet in between them. Lastly, ornate cloud pillars are set in the wall at regular intervals.

“Yeah, it's cleaner than my living room. Not to mention larger, since it doesn't have a clunky staircase in one corner,” Rainbow reasons, averting her gaze. I shrug.

“I couldn't care less if your living room is messy or not,” I express. I mean, it's not like I care either way. It just doesn't make any sense to me. “But I'm also not carrying these boxes down those stairs again. So this is good for now.”

Rainbow appears relieved as I set the boxes down and throw myself onto one of the couches, sighing. This is the first time all day that I've been able to sit down. “You open up the snacks. I'll get some music going on,” I tell her. Rainbow nods and eagerly rips open the first box.

“Oh wow, there's so much food in here!” Rainbow declares, pulling out an entire cookie cake. “How did she even fit all of this in there?”

“Cookie cake? Oh fuck the hell yes,” I comment, practically drooling. I haven't had cookie cake  in forever, which is sad because it tends to be ridiculously delicious. “Cut me a slice of that!”

“Starting with cookie cake, are we? Sounds good to me!” Rainbow agrees, and she sets the cake on the floor and produces a knife from the box to cut it with. 

While I'm waiting, I pull out my phone from my pocket, powering it on for the first time in a while, since I've never really had cause to use it. As it's booting up, I remove a crystal orb from my pocket as well. I set it near my phone, and sure enough, the start-up sound the phone usually emits is magnified enough to where Rainbow can hear it, loud and clear.

“What the hay was that?” Rainbow asks, jumping slightly in surprise. She notices my phone, and then understanding crosses her face. “Oh, it's your phone. I did say it right, right?”

“Yes, it's a phone. I'm looking for a song to start us off with. We probably shouldn't start with something heavy,” I muse, opening up my music library. Maybe I should start us off with some soft orchestral music? Or would that put Rainbow straight to sleep?

“Nah, dude, play something like you did that one time in Canterlot. Whatever that was, it was rockin'!” Rainbow argues. Heh, fair enough I guess. But even so, I don't want to start with that particular band right off the bat. They're usually super heavy, and are great once your blood is flowing.

“I think you'll like this then,” I say, deciding on a female metal band that I'd grown to like. Eh, I might as well tell Rainbow, considering she already knows who she is. “Amaryllis showed me this band. They're pretty good.”

Rainbow nods, but then her eyes shoot wide when the song starts, because unlike the one song I showed her, it doesn't have any build up. It goes right into the main guitar riff after the female vocalist kicks things off. “Wow, this already sounds awesome. That girl's voice is so cool!” Rainbow comments as she finally finishes cutting pieces of cookie cake for the both of us. I grin. I figured Rainbow would like this. This style seems like it would be right up her alley. “You know, I never got to ask before, but how come I can understand them?”

“You're actually right. It is rather odd that both humans and ponies speak the same language,” I respond. I never actually thought about this, but it's been over three thousand years since humans were around. So why do ponies speak English? “But it's not like I have an answer. Now give me some of that damn cookie cake before my mouth drowns itself.”

“How can your mouth drown itself?” Rainbow retorts, laughing, but she does give me the cake I requested.

“Fuck you, that's how,” is my genius response. Rainbow huffs, but chuckles soon after that. I bite into my cake and immediately go to sugar heaven. I fucking love cookie cake.





That's how things go for a while. We don't really talk much at first, because we're busy gorging ourselves on sweets and listening to some kickass music. Still though, this is something I've wanted to do for my entire life. It's nice, having someone sit with you, listening to your music and appreciating it as much as you do. Sometimes more than me, because at one point, while listening to a particularly upbeat tune, Rainbow gets up and dances, dragging me into it at as well. And you know what? Since it's just the two of us, I don't feel any qualms about acting as stupid as I want.

I also get to try the drinks Pinkie prepared for us. The lemonade and punch are pretty much what you'd expect. The Bubbly Cherry, however, tastes a lot like cherry coke, except not really. Basically, it's got the cherry flavor and the carbonation, but that's about it. There's no coke flavor. So it's essentially just cherry soda, if that's even a thing. It's not bad. I like it a lot.

Finally, after eating a rather large brownie, I lay back, groaning in contentment. “You know these were supposed to be snacks...but I ate them like they were a meal,” I mention to her. Rainbow is in a similar situation, as she's lying on the couch next to me, her stomach bloated from eating so much.

“Yeah...why did we do that? Snacks, what a joke. They're only snacks if we have some measure of self control,” Rainbow laments, rubbing her stomach. “Eh, who cares. Pinkie probably knew we'd pig out on these things.”

“I hear that. I regret nothing. This just means I won't be moving from this spot for a while,” I declare. “It's good thing I have such a hard job. I'll be working all of this off later.”

“Yeah, heh,” Rainbow says lethargically. There's a short contented silence between us, broken only by the sound of the music playing from my phone. Rainbow eventually turns her head to me, looking a bit uncertain. “So...tell me about your brother.”

“What? Where did that come from?” I ask, taken by surprise by the sudden personal question. “And why the hell does it matter?”

“Well, you said you'd talk a bit about your family, when we were talking about this in the sewers of Canterlot,” Rainbow reminds me. I remember that conversation, much to my chagrin. Rainbow sneakily got me to agree to talk about my family with her then, on the condition that we both made it out of the attack alive. At the time it hadn't been that big of a deal, but now, I'm a bit reluctant. “Besides, I can't help but be curious about the humans that were important to you. I figured I'd ask about your brother, because he looked pretty funny.”

“A pain in the ass is more like it, but I cared about him,”  I admit, resigning myself. Rainbow is probably the only one I'd ever be comfortable talking to about all of this. I might as well tell the story. “He's not that bright, either. He used to be all about sports, and that always pissed me off. I never really spoke to him, because I hated all the attention he got for being a sports player. We didn't have anything in common either.”

“A sports guy, huh? I respect that, though it seems you don't. What changed your mind?” Rainbow asks curiously. She seems like she's really into listening about this, so I might as well tell her the full story.

“It's complicated. Sit back and listen, because I'm not going to repeat myself,” I warn Rainbow, and then I start the story. “It was back in early high school, when my brother was still in college...”





I sat in my room at my parent's house, completely alone. It was usually like this on weekends. My brother always had soccer games on Saturdays, and my mother and father would always go and see them. They used to drag me along too, but eventually they stopped taking me, because I never showed any interest, and eventually I fought with them about it. They've never bothered to ask me since, and I was fine with that.

My room was somewhat large, because it had enough room to fit a small couch, a big screen TV...





“Uh, what's a TV?” Rainbow interrupts not long after I got started, causing me to stop and give her a stare. “Sorry, I'm curious.”

“It's like a projector, except the image comes from the inside,” I explain. Rainbow's eyes widen at that, but before she can ask anything further, I continue to tell my story.





 ...and a queen sized bed. I don't mind saying that I was a bit spoiled, because my father was very well paid from his job in the military, and my mother also had a pretty well-paying job. It was...difficult for me to be open with them all that much, but I'll give them credit; they wanted me to be happy.

I eventually grew bored of playing a fighting game on my computer, so I hooked up my computer to the TV, so the computer display would show up on the TV.





“Wait, hold up a second. What? I'm confused,” Rainbow interrupts once more. I huff in annoyance.

“It doesn't matter, dammit. All it does is make the image on the computer show up on the TV,” I explain grudgingly. “Now will you shut up and let me tell my story?”

“Sorry,” Rainbow says sheepishly.





Then I started watching Soul Eater. That's the name of an anime series, which is basically just like a set of pictures shown one after the other so fast that it looks like the pictures are moving. 

By the time my family returned home at around six in the evening, I was deep into a combat scene that was intense, because it seemed hopeless for the heroes. I didn't bother going out to greet my family, because all they'd want to talk about would be the dumb game they went to. They sound happy out there though, so Adam must have won the game.

A few moments later, there was a knock at my door. “Yo, Seth, you in there?” Adam called uncertainly. I glanced at the door for a split second, but soon returned to my anime. It was obviously nothing important. My brother was just a dumb jock, after all. Who the fuck cared what he had to say? If I ignored him, I was sure he'd leave me alone. Though he's slow, so it might take him a bit. “Oi!”

To my shock and anger, Adam actually opened my door despite the fact that I didn't give him an answer. He looked pretty sweaty, his hair (which was similar to mine, except blond, like my mother's), hanging in strands down his face, and there were sweat stains on his shirt. 

“What the fuck, Adam? When my door is shut, you stay the hell out!” I immediately shouted at him, angry that my anime was interrupted, as well as the fact that he wasn't respecting my privacy. Adam raises both hands as if to show that he didn't mean any harm.

“Sorry, I just wanted to make sure you were in here,” Adam replied, acting apologetic. I grunt and turn away from him, hoping that he would just leave now that he knows I don't want to talk to him. Of course, that wasn't the case. “What are you doing, anyway? You rarely leave your room these days.”

“Clearly that should tell you something, then. Why don't you get the fuck out already and celebrate your sports victory with mother and father? They clearly desire your presence more than I do,” I snapped scathingly at him. Adam winced, but even that doesn't get him to go away. Instead, he walked around the corner so that he could see what I'm watching. I groaned and glared at him. “Why are you still here!?”

“Whoa, what is that?” Adam exclaims, ignoring my rude question and instead staring at the image of the two girls on the screen, who were fighting hard against one another. Great, now my brother was just going to make fun of my “nerdy” pursuits. He's a jock, that's how they act. “Holy crap, that looks epic.”

“Yes, well, I don't get up in your face about your sports, so don't talk shit about...wait what did you just say?” I had to do a double take, because it sounded an awful lot like my brother said something positive.

“I said this looks epic! Who is that badass-looking girl with the scythe?” Adam asked excitedly, getting closer to the screen. I blinked, sitting there in utter shock, because my brother, the dumb jock that only ever talks about sports, was showing interest in my anime.

“That's...that's Maka Albarn, the main character,” I revealed numbly, not sure how to take this. Adam turns around and looks at me in excitement.

“This is a series? Dude, play it, play it!” Adam exclaimed, and then he plopped down on the couch beside me without asking. Because he was larger than me, I was disturbed a bit by him sitting down.

“Are you serious?” I asked him incredulously, no nastiness present in my voice for the first time in a long time. Adam nodded excitedly, crossing his arms impatiently. Huh, well, I mean, I might as well. He would probably just leave in disgust the moment he hears it's in another language.

I reached over to my computer and pressed the play button, and the fight between Maka and her  opponent played out. Adam sat with me, riveted on the action as the scythe-wielding meister and the girl with the screaming sword battled, though one side had a very distinct advantage.

“God, that's terrifying. I don't blame her for losing; I don't think I'd be able to do a thing if I was facing a sword that screamed at me,” Adam commented when the fight ended in Maka's defeat. “This is really good, but I don't really know what's going on. I got nothing to do tonight. Are you far in? Would you mind starting the series over so I can watch it with you?”

“What? Really?” I demanded. My brother was really taking me by surprise that day. It's like sports didn't even matter to him at that point, as all of his attention was focused on my anime. 

“Yeah, that looked so cool and scary. You don't see that kind of stuff in live action films,” Adam replied earnestly. Huh...that was probably one of the exact same reasons I had for not watching that many live action films. Maybe...he was more similar to me than I thought. “Come on, it'll be great.”

“Sure, I guess,” I ended up telling him, my bitterness towards him fading in light of his new-found interest in anime. So I went back and restarted the series from the first episode, because I wasn't really that far in. Adam was totally riveted by it. He responded in all of the right ways, laughing at the comic relief character's bullshit, sympathizing with Maka, and identifying with Soul, Maka's weapon, for whatever reason.

“Hey, Adam, feel like coming out and talking to us about the game?” We're unfortunately interrupted by my parents, Elaine and Gerome, who poked their heads in. So imagine their surprise when they saw Adam and I sitting together. “Adam?”

“Later, mom. I'm hanging with my brother right now,” Adam told them absentmindedly, and then he proceeds to laugh his ass off at an interacting between Maka and Soul. Elaine and Gerome look at one another and smile, before they retreated from the room, shutting the door.





“And that's how I bonded with my brother,” I finish, and then I take a breath. I don't think I've ever told that story in such detail to anyone other than Amaryllis. It actually feels good to be able to tell that to someone else.

Rainbow, ever since I told her to shut up, had been listening intently for the course of the whole story. Usually she gets bored with long detailed stories, but surprisingly I haven't seen her shift any. For some reason she finds my story important enough to warrant her interest.

“You know, now I want to watch this Soul Eater thing,” Rainbow states as her first reaction to the story. “I mean, come on, a screaming sword? That just sounds awesome!”

“It was awesome. That character in particular happened to be one of my favorites, just because of how she fought, and how she became the way she was,” I admit to her. “It was the first anime I ever watched with my brother.”

“Your brother sounds awesome. I like how he threw aside the things he liked just to share something you liked with you,” Rainbow observes, and then against her better judgment, she bites into a brownie...and then regrets it a second later. “Agh, why did I do that?”

“Idiot,” I remark, though I've done that myself in the past. One does not simply resist eating a brownie, even when you're stuffed.

“Pinkie made us too many sweets. Anyway, what else did you do with your brother?” Rainbow presses. She's acting really interested in this for some reason. Well, I already told her that much, so I might as well finish.

“Anime was what we bonded over, so that's what we did whenever we would hang out. We went through all of the major titles together, and whenever a convention would happen, we'd go to it,” I  relate.

“Convention?” Rainbow prompts.

“Yeah, when a bunch of anime fans would get together to see some of the anime producers, buy anime merchandise, and other activities. I didn't care for all the people there, but it was fun meeting some of the voice actors, as well as hanging out with Adam...though he got way too into it,” I explain for her. I recall some of Adam's dumber costumes, and I shake my head. “He would dress up as his favorite characters whenever we went to one of these. Remember that picture I showed you of him? He was dressed up as Soul.”

“Oh yeah! Did he look like Soul?” Rainbow recalls with a grin.

“Nope,” I respond simply, and then Rainbow and I both chuckle to ourselves. “He was an idiot, but he was my brother, and I had some good times with him.”

“Yeah, I don't have a brother myself, but yours seems like a totally chill guy to hang with,” Rainbow remarks. “All I got is my dad, really, and we don't keep in contact that much, apart from the odd letter here 'n there.”

“Yeah? And did your dad have a ridiculous mane like you do?” I joke.

“Yes, and it's not ridiculous, it's awesome and unique. No other pony has a mane like this. You're just jealous because yours has no color,” Rainbow shoots back, shoving me with a grin on her face. I shove her back, getting slapped by her hooves a few times, though all it does is make me chuckle.

“I'm perfectly fine with my black hair, thank you,” I point out. “In fact, you should try it sometime. Dye your hair black and then revel in how much more badass you'll look.”

“That's not happening. Why don't you dye your mane like mine, and experience what it's like being almost as awesome as me?” Rainbow counters, and then the two of us laugh at how stupid we sound. I can't picture her with a black mane anyway. “Actually, this would be an awesome idea for next years Nightmare Night.”

“Next year's what?”

“Nightmare Night! It's a holiday dedicated to scary things, like Nightmare Moon. We all dress up in costumes and collect candy from the other ponies,” Rainbow explains. Huh, that sounds extremely similar to a holiday I know. In fact, fucking identical.

“So, it's basically Halloween?” I ask. I notice Rainbow's confused expression, because she has no idea what that is. “It's the same damn thing. We dress up like dumb horror characters and get candy. I don't usually partake though. The only exception is last year, when I dressed up like a dumb movie villain with Amaryllis.”

“Yeah, it's like that. You should totally dye your hair like mine, and I'll dye mine like yours, just for that day. We'll still dress up in horror costumes, though,” Rainbow suggests. Hah, that seems like it would be a laugh. I'll keep it in mind. Suddenly, Rainbow looks a little shifty. “Uh...yeah, so that reminds me. This Amaryllis girl. Can I hear about her as well?”

“I...don't know. What exactly do you want to know?” I ask uncomfortably. I've told Rainbow before, but I loved Amaryllis. It would be a bit painful for me to talk about her overmuch. My question gets Rainbow to turn her head to one side, averting her gaze for a second, almost as if she's...shy. And that's not like her.

“You...loved her, right? I just want to know a little bit more about her. What was she like?” Rainbow inquires tentatively, knowing that she's treading in dangerous waters with me. I hesitate at first. I've told her that Amaryllis existed and that I loved her, but I never really told her anything beyond that. I sigh deeply, calming myself down so that I can answer her seriously.

“You realize I haven't told anypony about this?” I say simply, staring at her in the eyes. I'm serious. If it wasn't for Rainbow Dash, I'd have taken this secret to the grave with me in this world of ponies. It it wasn't Rainbow Dash asking me this question, I'd have kicked the offending pony's ass. This is a very personal thing to me.

“Yeah, I know. But...I want to know. She meant a lot to you, so...I can't help but be curious,” Rainbow returns, recognizing the change in atmosphere and changing her tone respectively.

“...I'm taking a risk, telling you,” I warn her. I can't believe I'm going to tell her about this girl. There's just something about Rainbow that makes me feel like it's okay to trust her.  Rainbow gulps in response to my words, but she nods regardless. “All right. It's a bit of a long story, because we weren't friends at first. It started back in early college, two years after bonding with my brother. I was a...”





...second year student, still relatively new to campus, but I'd been there long enough to know my way around, as well as the people in my grade. I hated all of them, of course. Ever since my first year, I'd been building up a reputation amongst my peers. I was Seth Rogers, the man who hated everyone.

I turned away everyone who tried to get to know me harshly, and even when I was placed in a team, I usually did all the work assigned to me on my own, and I never let the other members get their hands on my contact information, unless it was my school related email. 

The reputation suited me, because after a while, people stopped trying to get close. They left me alone to do my own thing, which I was grateful for. I didn't have to worry about anybody or anything other than my brother and my schoolwork, along with my own musical practices. And I was just fine, traveling on that path.

Things changed, however, when I transferred one of my classes over, and joined a core class needed for advancement.





I walked into the classroom, my headphones clamped onto my ears and drowning out the sound of the populace around me with music, giving me blissful peace. I recognized some of the students in the class, having had them in previous classes. Those that recognized me, upon seeing me, winced, scowled, or just refused to meet my gaze. They didn't like me, and I didn't like them. It was fine with me.

There were only four seats open. Two of them were easily accessed, but I had to loop around to the other side of the room to sit there, so I ignored them. A third was in the middle of the upper row, but I didn't feel like pushing through them people between me and that seat. So the only one I was left with was one next to this strange girl that I didn't recognize, who was sitting against the wall.

She had long crimson hair that fell to her waist, and baby-blue eyes that possessed an expression so cold, I could have sworn her irises were chips of ice. I didn't like the look of her, but I didn't feel like going anywhere else, so I sat next to her. I fail to notice the looks of horror from the other students until I've already sat down. The response is immediate.

“Really?” the girl snaps, looking away from the book she's reading to stare at me in disbelief. I look back at her in surprise, because no one usually talks to me anymore. “Out of all the places to sit in the classroom, you pick the one right next to me? Fuck off.”

“Okay, bitch, so that's the first thing out of your mouth?” I shoot right back. Since the professor isn't actually here yet, the other students are watching us curiously. “How about your turn your head back to your shitty book, and ignore me. Surely it can't be that hard.”

The girl seems surprised that I actually said something back to her, as if she expected me to be scared off by her initial greeting. Of course, that surprise doesn't last very long. “Perhaps not. But getting and moving away from me can't be that hard either, yet it seems to be too much for your tiny brain. So how about fucking off now so I don't have to look at you?” she shoots right back. You know, nobody's ever been this vicious back to me before. 

“No, I'm going to stay here to spite you. So deal with it, you ass,” I retort stubbornly, remaining in the seat, unmoving. The girl growls in exasperation.

“Ugh, I liked being alone. But clearly that's not something your feeble mind can comprehend,” she mutters, returning to her book just as the professor walks into the room. Next to me, I notice with some interest that some of the other students are passing money to one another. Were...they betting on the outcome of our conversation? Who was this girl?

After class, the girl and I part ways, equally hating one another. I end up stopping a random student in the hallway and asking about her, to find out why people were making bets back in class.

According to him, there was one other individual that people tended to avoid apart from me, for fear of her vicious tongue. Her name was Amaryllis Meryl, known for being an complete and total ice queen.





“Hold on a minute, that was Amaryllis? She sounds like a total jerk! How did you end up falling in love with someone like her?” Rainbow demands, a look of disbelief stamped on her face. I chuckle knowingly. Our friendship was extremely unlikely, but that made it all the sweeter.

“Like I said, it's a long story. Our friendship didn't come easily,” I remark. Rainbow scowls, but she does sit there and listen to me as I continue the story.





I couldn't help but laugh. It was ironic, knowing that the two most unapproachable individuals in my year had sat together. It didn't make me hate her any less, but it was enough to let me know a little bit about her.

That class was a daily one, so I saw her every day. She always sat in the same spot, and I would always sit next to her, because no one else dared to. Every time I'd sit next to her, we'd exchange a few snipes, but would eventually settle into a sullen silence. Eventually we stopped bothering to insult one another, just sitting next to one another in silence.

Since it was still early in the year, the professor assigned us a group presentation, and chose our group members for us. I ended up, much to my irritation, with Amaryllis, along with two other people. Hilariously enough, those two people promptly dropped the class, so it was just us two in the group. As much as we hated one another, we had to exchange our school emails.





I was sitting on a couch at my dorm, everything I needed to work on the presentation on the desk in front of me. Our emails had been very short and snippy, because we both knew we had to work together in order to get a good grade, but we didn't like one another at all. She was supposed to meet me here so that we could knock this out of the way first, and then never speak to one another again.

There was a sharp knock at my door, so I got up and answered it to reveal the ice queen herself. Amaryllis scowled and stepped inside, tossing her bag into one of my chairs callously. I shut the door behind her, and then return to the couch. There's an awkward silence, neither of us meeting the other's gaze. We both hate one another, so we don't know how to approach one another without causing an argument.

“Look, I don't want to work with you,” Amaryllis finally said, glaring at me. In the previous silence, she'd removed the materials she needs for the presentation as well. “You're a total prick who doesn't know how to give a girl her space.”

“And you're a bitch with a pole of ice so far up your ass the first thing you do upon meeting someone is tell them to fuck off,” I snap back at her. “I'm about as happy to do this as you are. But we don't have a choice.”

“I know, and it makes me so mad. Who the fuck likes group work anyway? I can do this shit on my own,” Amaryllis complains with a helpless groan. “What's the topic anyway?”

“Um, hold on a minute,” I say, looking through the papers given to us by the professor. It takes me a moment to find our group.

“Hurry up, I don't have all day,” Amaryllis grunts. I shoot her an incredulous stare.

“Calm your tits, bitch. We'll get it done when we get it done,” I snap right back at her. We glare at one another for a second longer until I turn my gaze back to the page. I soon groan when I see our topic. “The topic is how to properly give and receive favors. What even.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? I hate this Communication class. Who the fuck cares how to properly give a favor?” Amaryllis complains. Now that is something I can agree with her on.

“Favors are pointless. No one ever just hands one out,” I state.

“Oh, they seem all nice at first, and it's all too easy to say yes,” Amaryllis adds.

“It's always fake, though. It's never an even trade, unless you make it an even trade,” I tack on.

“It's just a way for people to put you in their debt,” Amaryllis agrees.

“So they can get things out of you later.” That last bit is said by both Amaryllis and I at the same time. We both stop talking immediately and look at one another in shock. We fall silent, both of us staring at one another, trying to make sense of what just happened. 

“...You too?” Amaryllis finally asks after a long and pregnant silence.

“Yeah,” I reply solemnly, looking at the ground.





“Wow, you two were exactly the same,” Rainbow comments, unable to decide whether she should facehoof or shake her head. So she somehow manages to do both. Then she points a hoof at me accusingly. “You're still like that!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. But that's how Amaryllis and I stopped hating each other. It turned into something more like...actually, I can't even explain how we viewed each other at that point,” I reply, chuckling at Rainbow's comment.





It was easy for us to finish the project after that. The two of us were much less argumentative about the whole thing, but that didn't stop us from sniping at each other whenever one of us did something the other didn't like.

We ended up describing on how to make everything an even trade in our presentation, and while the professor thought it was a dark presentation, we got a good grade on it because we supported our main points with sufficient evidence.

Class with one another after that was much less painful for either one of us. Now, it was easier for us to greet one another without pissing each other off so much. We'd sometimes hold conversations with one another about little things, like I'd ask her what book she was reading, or she'd ask what that button on my bag was from. Of course, we'd always seize every opportunity we could to make snappy insults or clever sarcastic quips at one another, but as time went on, it became less malicious and more joking.

Finally, a little over a month after meeting her, somebody called us out on how friendly we were being with another. It forced us to look at our relationship, and...we admitted both to each other and to ourselves that we had become friends somehow.

A running joke circulated amongst the students in our year after that. When they learned that the ice queen Amaryllis and the reclusive Seth Rogers had become friends, the joke was that the world would end in the wake of our combined cynicism.

Soon, during a school break, she and I went on a trip together, to a beach several hours away. It was then that we truly started to enjoy one another's company.





“Hey, Seth. I found an area back here where the lifeguards can't see us,” Amaryllis called to me. The two of us were treading water several meters away from the rocky shore. Amaryllis was wearing a black bikini, and I was wearing a similarly colored set of swim trunks. 

The ocean was relatively peaceful today, in that the waves were rough, but the rip currents were very easy to detect and avoid. In fact, Amaryllis and I had actually used a rip to get out this far in the first place. 

Before going out this far, Amaryllis and I had screwed around in the waves for a bit, letting loose around each other for the first time. But when it was nearly time for the beach to close, we weren't ready.

“Really? Where is it?” I questioned, looking around. Amaryllis points over to a portion of the beach where a rock formation jutted out into the ocean. We were far enough out that it would be easy to swim around it.

“Yeah, there's a bit of open sand just around that rock. If you want, we can stay there past closing time,” Amaryllis offered. I looked a bit pensive, since past closing time, it's technically considered trespassing.

“You know if we get caught, we could get screwed with fines, right?” I reminded her, though I do swim over to her. Amaryllis scoffs.

“Fuck their rules. This world needs to learn that if I want to do something, I'm going to do it,” she snaps derisively. Then she grins mischievously and looks at me. “Or is breaking the rules beneath you? I always knew you were a fucking goody-two-shoes.”

“You are such an asshole,” I reply, having no other response to that. Though honestly, I doubt we'll get struck with fines on the first offense. I guess being a bit daring never hurt anyone.

“At least I'm not a pussy like you!” Amaryllis shoots right back, backstroking past the rock formation. That part gets a vein to twitch in my forehead.

“Bitch, I will drown you!” I retort, and then I swim after her rapidly, her musical laughter ringing in my ears.

~

“There's not really much to tell after that. We stayed on that beach until past midnight, just keeping each other company. It was probably the first time I was able to relax with someone who wasn't my brother,” I say, finishing up my tale. Rainbow had been listening the whole time in silence, except for the few occasions where she would laugh at the interactions between Amaryllis and I.

“Wow...that's...it sounded like you two had a pretty strong friendship,” Rainbow responds at last, her expression filled with sorrow for some reason. She looks up at me, meeting my gaze. “That's what you gave up? To save my life, I mean?”

“Yeah...” I reply, my expression soon mirroring Rainbow's. On one hand, it feels good to talk about this with someone else for the first time, but...on the other, it pains me to remember it. Because those good memories are all I have left of Amaryllis, along with a few old pictures on my phone.

“...Can I see those pictures of her again?” Rainbow requests. I shrug and grab my phone, the music still playing. I've already shown her once. There's no real reason not to show her again. 

Because Rainbow can't interact with my phone with her hooves, I have to do it for her. So I navigate to my pictures folder, until the pictures of Amaryllis and I pop up again. I scroll through them for Rainbow, who peers closely at the screen so she can see Amaryllis. 

“Is that all of them?” Rainbow asks, once we finish scrolling through all of the ones I have of Amaryllis. 

“Yeah. My device can only hold so many pictures. It has a storage limit,” I explain to Rainbow.

“That's dumb. If that's the only way you can store images, why can't you have as many as you want?” Rainbow demands, looking legitimately angry.

“It's a technical thing that I don't have the knowledge to explain to you. I had a lot more, but they were lost,” I admit. Rainbow droops, looking disappointed.

“Darn. If only there was a way to get them back,” Rainbow laments. Still don't know why she's so interested, though.

Suddenly, it hits me. They're not lost. I can easily go and get my stuff now, because I doubt there's anything in the Everfree that can hurt me anymore. I can't go to my old dorm though, because that's buried underground. I can't dig that far on my own...on my own. That gives me an idea.

“Actually, there is.” My words get Rainbow to perk up and look at me hopefully. “Goddamn, why didn't I think to do this before?”

“What? What are you talking about?” Rainbow asks, thoroughly confused. I look around, searching for something to write on. Of course, there's nothing but clouds around.

“I never told you where I appeared in this world when I was transported, did I?” I remark, standing up. I've kept this to myself for too long. There's nothing for me there apart from old memories, sadness, and the dust of my dead race, but it's something I should have done a long time ago.

“You didn't...I always assumed you just...came out of the Everfree somewhere. I mean, nopony ever exclaimed where you came from. All I knew is that you came from the past,” Rainbow confesses, looking sheepish that she'd never thought to ask something so obvious.

“I did come out of the Everfree...after crawling my way out of a buried human structure that's been abandoned for three millennia,” I reveal to her. Rainbow's eyes practically go as wide as dinner plates.

“A human structure!? Seth, do you know how much money that's worth?” Rainbow practically screeches in shock. Come to think of it...I don't need to wait to buy a house if I use this. Goddamn, I'm been working for so long on that farm to save up for a house, and I never even thought to use my old school building. I'm such an idiot. “Sell that knowledge, dude. You'll make enough bits to buy practically anything you want! Is there electrical stuff down there?”

“Yup. None of it is probably working, but I bet the bare minimum may still be intact,” I answer, getting a little excited now. Rainbow's right. Electrical objects cost millions of bits, and I have the location to a treasure trove of them. I could be set for life if I sell the location of that building. 

“Dear Celestia, Seth. You've been holding back a gold mine of information,” Rainbow tells me emphatically. “Any historian would pay great money to get their hooves on that building.”

“I know, and I plan to use that, now that I've thought it up. Except I'm not going to sell that knowledge to some run of the mill historian,” I decide, a plan forming in my head. This is probably the most feasible get rich plan in the history of the human race.

“What? Why not? Did you have somepony else in mind?” Rainbow asks, perplexed. I nod, and then I grin at Rainbow.

“I'm going to sell it to the princesses of Equestria.”
> 64. Meeting's Conclusion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“You have anything to write on? I figure that the sooner I send this out, the better,” I ask Rainbow fervently. My mind is set on this now, so I know I have to do it. I'm going to send a letter to Princess Luna, and see how rich I can get from selling the location of this building. I'm such an idiot for not thinking of this before.

“What, are you doing this right now? We're still hanging out, though!” Rainbow protests as I get up and start looking around the room, suddenly not so keen on the idea.

“Chill out, it's only going to take me a few seconds to write something down and send it off to them,” I assure her, but that doesn't stop her from pouting. “Besides, it's not even midnight yet. The night is still young, and I don't have work tomorrow.”

“You have tomorrow off?” Rainbow exclaims. When I nod, she thrusts a hoof in the air. “Yes! We're totally gonna stay up all night!”

“Right. So that means get me a damn sheet of paper and something to write with, so I'll have Luna's reply in the morning,” I suggest. With a sigh, Rainbow forces herself up off of the couch.

“Hold on, I'll get something for you. Ugh, I'm too lazy for this,” Rainbow complains, lamenting her full stomach. “Shame on you for making me move.”

“You could just tell me, but apparently you don't want me rifling through your shit,” I comment. While Rainbow rummages through one of her drawers, I pour myself a cup of lemonade and sip at it, since we still have plenty of food and drink left. Pinkie really outdid herself, though I think she made the kind of portion she's used to eating, because she's like a black hole at meals. “Got something to hide from me?”

“What? No, of course not. What would I be hiding from you?” Rainbow responds, taking her head out of the drawer for a moment to peer back at me accusingly.

“I don't know, you tell me,” I answer with a shrug and a grin. It's so easy to mess with her, even if I don't even have anything to make fun of her about. Rainbow huffs and sticks her head back in the drawer, until finally she emerges with a notepad and quill.

“Here. Now hurry up, so we can rock out to more of that music. What's playing right now is too sappy for me,” Rainbow comments. I shake my head wryly, not surprised. My phone is on shuffle, so it's not that surprising that something would come up that she wouldn't like. Yeah, this type of music is hit and miss for most people.

“Fine, I'll put on some older music,” I tell her as I take the writing materials from her. After setting the inkwell aside to make sure it doesn't spill, I tap my phone a few times until another song starts to play. “I like this one. I generally don't like most of what this guy puts out because it's about bullshit romance, but every so often he'll have something that's worth hearing.”

“What's this one about?” Rainbow muses, but I don't answer, figuring that she'll find out when she hears the lyrics. It's a pretty inspiring song, especially to me. Unfortunately, Rainbow doesn't get the initial lyrics. “What? That...I don't get it.”

“Just shut up and listen to the lyrics. It explains itself,” I tell her in exasperation, and then I dip the quill into the inkwell. Did I mention I feel like I'm living in early modern England when I use one of these things? Or did they have fountain pens be then? Whatever. Anyway, how should I word this...?

“Oh, I get it now!” Rainbow exclaims, causing me to facepalm, as my concentration's been broken again. “I like this! Good message, and it's pretty rockin'!”

Dammit Rainbow. Let's try this one more time. It's been a while since I've had to write Equestrian, so I hope I don't fuck it up, because I don't think they have white-out yet.

“Dear Princess Luna,

Yeah, I'm writing you a letter. No, nothing is on fire or exploding. Figured I'd clarify since that's usually the case whenever we interact. In all seriousness though, this letter is meant for both you and Celestia.

I remember telling you two that when I ran into Sombra, I did so at my school, and that's when he transported me to this time. I failed to mention that when that happened, I appeared exactly in the same spot as before: in my school.

Therefore, I'll cut straight to the point. That building is still intact and hidden, and I know where it is. As ponykind seems to regard human ruins as an extremely valuable find, I figured I'd offer you two the chance to get first claims on it. 

If you're interested in this offer, reply whenever you have time. I'm willing to negotiate a fair price for this information.

From your resident asshole, Seth Rogers.”

“Perfect,” I say, chuckling to myself at the closing of the letter. Rainbow watches curiously as I roll up the paper. With a snap of my fingers, the paper dissolves and is on its way to Luna. “That takes care of that.”

“What did you tell her?” Rainbow asks, looking a bit annoyed that she didn't get to read the letter herself.

“Nothing you don't already know. All I said is that I know where the building is, and I'm open to negotiations. If they're as valuable as you say they are, they should jump at the chance to explore them,” I remark.

“I don't think the princesses will go themselves, but they'll definitely send some of their best ponies to look into it,” Rainbow informs me. I shrug.

“I don't care if they're going or not. All I care about is that they take my offer. That way I'll be able to go back there with help,” I reason.

“You're going to go with them?” Rainbow asks in surprise, but she realizes how stupid that question was a second later. “So you can find your old memories?”

“Yeah. There's a lot down there. The size of the place down there probably rivals Ponyville in size,” I reveal. Rainbow's eyes widen as she tries to imagine it. “It wasn't just the one building. That was my college. If even half of it is still intact, somewhere underground, then it'll likely be the largest human ruins you ponies have ever uncovered.”

“...Can I go too?” Rainbow requests all of a sudden. She doesn't look like she's kidding, though again, I don't know why she cares so much about the things that are only important to me.

“Idiot,” I finally respond, pressing on the side of her head lightly. “Like I'm going to go without you. Who knows how long I'd be down there.”

“Yes! I really want to see what a human building is like. Ever since we became friends, I've been really curious,” Rainbow exults, pumping her two front hooves excitedly. “Be warned though, I probably won't be the only one that'll want to go.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask with a sinking feeling in my stomach. I didn't mean for this to sound like some group field trip. All I'm doing is using the princesses' resources to uncover some old memories. It's not accurate to say that I'm excited about it, either. It's just something that needs to be done. I should have done it a long time ago, to be honest.

“Once Twilight hears about this, there'll be no stopping her,” Rainbow explains. I stare at her, hoping I'd misheard...and then I slowly lower my head into my hand. She's totally right. Come hell or high water, Twilight's going to come with us. I think I'd have to tie her to that dumb horse head idol she's got in her house to keep her away. “Not to mention everypony who loves the books will want to go...though I doubt many will be brave enough once they find out it's in the Everfree.”

“Okay. So the only other ponies that are going are you and Twilight,” I reason, because I don't feel like anyone in town would risk going into the Everfree for this. “There will probably be a bunch of civilian scientists and archaeologists going, and guards to keep them safe, no doubt. Some workers as well. Shit, this is going to be a huge endeavor.”

“Looks like it! On the bright side though, you get your memories back, and you probably won't have to work as hard anymore, what with all the money you'll be getting,” Rainbow reasons. That's true. I probably won't stop working even if I do make a decent amount of money, because I want to keep my body in shape now that I've got one work keeping. Plus I'd need something to keep myself busy.

“That's true. Anyway, enough about this,” I say, tiring of the subject. I didn't exactly come here to talk about business with Rainbow, after all. “There seems to be a little space in my stomach. It's time to fix that.”

“Hah, I hear that! I feel like I can eat a bit more myself!” Rainbow proclaims. She reaches into the box and pulls out a cupcake. She eyes it carefully. “Hm...should I?”

I pull out a cupcake myself, noting that it's strawberry and vanilla. I suppose I shouldn't be that surprised. I did end up telling Pinkie what my favorite flavors, so it stands to reason she'd make some.

Together, as the song changes to an old rock tune, Rainbow and I relax and eat more sweets against our better judgment. Midnight nears, but I'm not going anywhere. No work tomorrow, so who the fuck cares how long I stay up?

And then more dumb bullshit happens.





“Cloud three.”

“Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me. How are you that lucky?” I demand, sighing in frustration at the infernal game in front of me. Turns out Rainbow has some board games lying around..,and by that, I mean a twisted version of battleship, except for pegasi.

“What did I hit?” Rainbow exclaims, fighting the urge to peer over at my board. I rub my forehead first before responding.

“My goddamn seagull,” I complain, an seconds later Rainbow starts to laugh incredulously at the coincidence.

“Really? This is the third game now, and I always hit your seagull first. How are you so unlucky that the hardest piece to hit is the first one you lose?” Rainbow questions in between her bouts of merriment. Gah, this game is frustrating as hell. Coincidentally, it's just as frustrating as battleship is.

“I don't fucking know, just take your next move already,” I tell her, resting back against the couch with my board on my lap. Rainbow takes a moment to think, rubbing at her chin with a hoof.

“Cloud four?”

“Oh. My. God,” I state, removing the piece from the board. Rainbow cheers and pumps a hoof in the air, celebrating her victory over what is supposed to be the most elusive piece in the game. “Actually, no. Let me tell how you bullshit this is. You had a seventy-five percent chance of missing. A three out of four probability! By all rights, you should have missed!”

“But I didn't,” Rainbow reminds me unhelpfully. I give her a glare, though I'm not all that angry at her. It's my damned luck.

“I noticed. How do I suck so bad...” I lament as Rainbow proceeds to continue laughing at my misfortune.





“Seth, there's no double jump,” Rainbow points out with mirth in her magenta eyes. I look back at her with disbelief, my fingers still clasping the little red chip tightly.

“Why is there no double jump? This is basically just checkers, right? If there's a line open, you should be able to take both of them!” I demand, my heart pounding. If I'm wrong, then my whole strategy is wrecked.

“Never played that, but in Apples and Carrots, you can't double jump,” Rainbow informs me smugly. Apples&Carrots. It's basically a cheap knockoff of checkers, except with little red and orange chips, rhombuses instead of squares, and the objective of reaching the other side of the board to win. Rainbow's been trashing me for the past game, but I'd been steadily maneuvering my apples, so to speak, into a position where I could double jump right into the middle of Rainbow's undefended center.

“Seriously? Gimme the damn rulebook,” I demand, snatching the little packet from the box, while Rainbow sits there with her hooves crossed, looking entirely too pleased with herself. Sure enough, I soon come across a line that tells me exactly what I didn't want to see. “Are you kidding? But...my whole strategy is wrecked because of that!”

“That's just too bad. Looks like your field is exhausted, dude,” Rainbow teases me, jumping the last apple she needs to get to the other side of my field. Once again, I reach up to my head and rub my forehead. Can I even beat her at anything?





“I'm placing a path here,” I state, placing down the thin little piece of wood that's supposed to indicate said structure on the board. “That lets me get access to everything in this area, right?”

“Yup! Of course, you have to roll the number on the little chip there,” Rainbow explains. That gets my right eye to twitch in annoyance.

“What? Why do you need to rely on a dice roll to get resources? Wouldn't these ponies just go out there and harvest them?” I inquire, looking at the game rules for clarification. “That's not realistic at all!”

“It's just part of the game. You don't have to use logic on everything, dude. You'll drive yourself nuts!” Rainbow says with amusement, rolling the dice. And of course, she gets exactly what she needs to build the structure that'll get her closer to victory. “Yes! I love my luck!”

“Oh durr, the dice rolled wrong. Sorry guys, we're gonna not work on the apple farm this year,” I say in an overly stupid voice, making fun of the creators of this game. Then I sigh, once again out of luck. “Dammit, without any apple trees, I can't build any towns!”

“Looks like you're gonna lose again!” Rainbow taunts me, once again reveling in her own impending victory. “All hail the mighty Dash!”

Jesus Christ, I can't fucking win.





“Chess? Are you kidding me?” I repeat breathlessly, taken completely by surprise that one of the most iconic board games from my time is still around. Rainbow is holding out a chess box, looking extremely pleased with herself that she found something I'd know.

“Yeah! I was saving this one for last, because I heard it was a human game. Am I right?” Rainbow explains, giving me the box. I take it delicately, and then I jokingly hug the box to myself, making Rainbow laugh. “What are you doing?”

“No, shut up, you don't even understand. This shit's ancient,” I point out, wiping away a nonexistent tear. “Seriously, it's good to know that even thousands of years after humans, this game is still around. It's like a bad penny. It keeps turning up.”

“A bad what?”

“Human currency. Skip it,” I sigh, forgetting that Rainbow wouldn't understand human colloquialisms. Rainbow shrugs, and then the two of us set the game up. “I'm assuming you know how to play?”

“Of course I do! There's nopony better at me at this game!” Rainbow brags, which gets the usual response out of me. You know, a facepalm, because she brags too much. Or...hilariously enough, Rainbow looks a little shifty. “...Except for Twilight. And Rarity. I also played Princess Celestia once after we dealt with Discord and got totally destroyed.”

“Of course Celestia beat you. I'd be shocked if she didn't, since she's been alive a lot longer than you,” I remark. Rainbow grumbles a bit, but she knows I'm right.

The two of us set of the game board as usual, though I find it rather humorous that all of the different pieces have been pony..poni...ponified. That's it. That's the word I'm using. The pieces are all ponified. Like, the rooks are friggin earth ponies, and the knights are pegasi. Also, according to the way Rainbow is setting up the board, the king is Celestia, and the queen is Luna. Except I doubt that's what they call the pieces now.

“Why the hell are there Celestia and Luna pieces?” I question, picking up the mini Celestia and peering at it. “Do the princesses even know about this?”

“Why are you asking me? I didn't make it,” Rainbow points out to me, taking the Celestia piece from me and putting it back on the board. “And yes, they know. I know Princess Celestia finds it pretty funny.”

“I bet Luna gets a kick out of being the most powerful piece on the board,” I remark. “Whatever. Let's just play. I haven't played in a while. Let's see if I've still got the skills.”

“Oh please, you can't take me,” Rainbow boasts. I narrow my eyes slyly at her, a knowing smile on my face. It sucks to be her, but I'm rather good at this game. I used to play it with my brother or Amaryllis every so often.

Sure enough, as we get started, Rainbow is ridiculously easy to read. I can't help but chuckle as Rainbow gets more and more frustrated as I back her pieces into a corner, as I'd easily taken her queen early on. It was so easy! All I did was catch her in a simple skewer maneuver that she didn't notice, choosing to save her knight...and then I wrecked her queen the next move.

“How are you so good at this?” Rainbow demands as she watches one of her bishops (in this case a unicorn) get taken out by a fork maneuver between it and her king. Obviously she had to save her king. “It's like, I know you're going to take my pieces. But I can't do anything about it!”

“That's how I play. You see me coming, but you can't do a damn thing to stop me,” I agree with a devilish grin. I am so going to get revenge for all of the games she's beaten me at tonight. Rainbow grumbles as she loses her other knight. “Come on, Rainbow, at least make this a fight for me.”

“I would do better if I could actually do anything!” Rainbow complains, moving her pawn to try and block my bishop from threatening her king...and then she immediately loses her last rook. “Oh, come on!”

“What's the matter? Seems like little Dashie is getting a bit salty,” I taunt her, resting back so she can take her next move. I reach up my hand to guard my face from the pawn she tosses at me in reward for my words. “Calm down. It'll be over in three turns anyway.”

“What? No it won't! I'll find a way to come back from this, just you wait!” Rainbow promises me as she moves her other bishop.. Yeah, that's not happening. I've already figured out how you play, so I know exactly what moves you'll make in response to my advance.

“One,” I declare, moving one of my pieces. Rainbow starts to sweat slightly under the pressure, and then she responds exactly how I expected. “And...two.”

“Stop that! I've totally...” Rainbow starts to protest, but then it's my turn again. One quick move...and...

“Checkmate,” I state confidently, and then I sit back, letting Rainbow look over the board for herself. “Sorry, you picked the one game I'm good at.”

“Apparently so...ugh, I hate losing,” Rainbow huffs. So I've noticed. God, she's so salty about this. She's been winning all night, so no doubt it sucks to have her winning streak broken. “Chess is stupid.”

“This was your idea,” I remind her, only to get another pawn thrown at me. Even as salty as she's being, I'm finding this totally hilarious. “Oh come on, quit throwing pawns at me. Or I'll have to retaliate.”

Just as Rainbow starts to look over at me, curious at my random threat, I use my magic to appear right next to her before she can react....and then promptly start tickling her. “What the...oh Celestia Seth stop!” Rainbow cries out, laughing helplessly despite how mad she is about losing. She falls over and rolls around, trying to escape my merciless fingers. “Seth...please!”

“Of course I'm not going to stop. This is too much fun!” I reply with a stupid grin on my face. Eventually, Rainbow manages to grab a pillow from the couch and whack me with it. Because it's made out of clouds, it loses its cohesion and showers my face with water droplets. This distracts me long enough for Rainbow to hurl herself at me clear over the chessboard and bear me to the ground. “Oh hell.”

As I'm lying on my back, looking up at the pony perched on my waist, I'm filled with dread when I see Rainbow waggle her two front hooves with an evil glint in her eyes. “Wait a minute, ponies can't...” I begin, but then Rainbow plants her hooves on my chest and runs them up and down rapidly. I can feel portions of her hooves moving around...which is just enough to tickle. A lot. “Oh shit, yes they can! Oh god!”

“Revenge is sweet!” Rainbow growls humorously, and then the two of us roll across the floor, each of us attempting to dislodge the other from their tickling attempts.

A few minutes later, the two of us are lying on our backs next to one another, panting from the exertion of tussling with one another. Never did I think I'd have this much fun with a damn pony, but I guess Rainbow's the exception. Heh, she always has been.

“What time is it anyway?” I ask tiredly, staring up at the ceiling. It's been dark outside for a while now. I haven't been watching the clock ever since I sent that letter to Luna.

“A quarter past three,” Rainbow sighs, releasing a long yawn. Shit, we've been up for a long time. Except at this point, I'm starting to feel it. We really shouldn't be awake right now, but we've been eating so much sugar it's been keeping us awake. Except now I'm starting to crash.

“I'm tired. Where do you want me to sleep?” I ask weakly, reaching over and grabbing my cup of lemonade. I take a drink of it, and while I can taste the sugar, it's not really doing anything for me right now. You just can't pick yourself up during a crash.

“Just take the couch, I'm too tired to care where you sleep,” Rainbow remarks, somehow lifting herself up. She walks slowly over to her bed and then throws herself upon it. “Ah, sweet comfort.”

“Sounds good to me. Everything here is made of clouds, so I could sleep on the floor if I needed to,” I acknowledge, hopping onto the couch. A contented sigh escapes my lips as the surface of the cloudy couch deforms to my body structure. The next thing I do is cast another iteration of the cloud spell, because the previous one is starting to fade. Don't want to fall to my death from the sky tower here. 

After getting settled, I take my phone and turn off the music, so that silence fills the room for once more. There's a blanket on the back of the couch, so I take it and drape it over myself. Right then. Now I'm truly ready for sleep. Except there's one thing that's bothering me. “Rainbow, why am I sleeping in your room? You built this place, so don't you have any guest rooms?” I demand, lifting myself up a bit. There's no response from the other side of the room. Instead, all I hear is a soft snore. “Really...how convenient that she'd fall asleep right now. Whatever, I guess.”

I lay back down and stare at the ceiling for a few minutes before my body's exhaustion gets the better of me, and I fall into oblivion.





When I wake up, it's because it's too bright in the room for me to stay awake. I've never been here in the daytime before, so I guess I never realized it before. The whole place is fucking white, so the light is reflected all over the place. That includes inside this building.

Oh god, we stayed up way too late last night. I force myself to rise...and then I raise an eyebrow when a roll of parchment falls off of my chest to the floor. What was that doing there?

Then I notice the parchment is bound together by the royal seal. Which means the princesses have answered, probably sometime when I was asleep. Now then, let's see how much they're willing to offer me. I tear off the seal and callously toss it aside, and then unroll the letter. Sure enough, this looks like Celestia's handwriting...er...hoofwriting. Mouthwriting? Magicwriting? Whatever.

“Dear Seth,

I must say, I didn't expect to be hearing from you so soon. Nevertheless, it is a welcome surprise. 

Your mention of a large human ruin is of great interest to us, as our technology and culture trace their roots back to your race. It pleases me that you're willing to offer us this information to us. 

I understand that you wish to make this an even trade. However, there is much to be discussed concerning this offer, as it is a much more complex matter than you may think. Therefore I'm willing to offer you transport to Canterlot for a short time, so that we may converse further on the matter.

As my sister is currently asleep, enclosed is a spell formula that will allow you to send your letters directly to me.

You're nicer than you think,
Celestia.”

My lips are set in a thin line as I finish reading the letter. Celestia...you fucking troll. She couldn't just...she...ugh, goddammit. 

Still though, she's interested in the offer. Which means I'm going to get some money. Hopefully if Rainbow's to be believed, I can get myself a house. But...she wants me to go to that cursed city again. “Dammit, I don't want to go to Canterlot,” I mutter, reaching for the notepad on which I'd written my letter in the first place. “Every time I go, something always tries to wreck my shit.”

The spell written on the sheet of parchment enclosed within the primary message isn't that complicated to figure out, as it's very similar to the one I use to send letters to Luna. I just have to attune the spell to Celestia's magical signature instead...and she helpfully provided me with a crystal orb with a small amount of her magic in it. She certainly thought this through.

It doesn't take me very long to write a reply back to her, accepting her offer of transport. As much as I fucking hate Canterlot now, I shouldn't be there for long. I'm just going there, negotiating with Celestia, and coming back. There's nothing there that can possibly keep me.

After sending the letter to Celestia, I stand up and stretch, moaning slightly at the feeling of my typical sleep cramps disappearing. Okay, so I have today off. What the hell am I going to do with myself until Celestia answers?

Rainbow is still sleeping, albeit in a very undignified fashion. She's lying flat on her back, her wings spread out to either side. Her head is thrown back over the pillow and her mouth is wide open, emitting the most unladylike of snores. I can't help but chuckle at the spectacle. That's one difference I can draw between her and Amaryllis. At least Amaryllis managed to have some degree of grace. Rainbow is...she's just...Rainbow.

I approach the sleeping Rainbow with malicious intent. I wonder how I can make her morning life miserable this time? I could just poke her repeatedly again...actually that gives me an idea. 

Leaning over Rainbow, I slowly press two fingers against her snout. I have to physically try not to laugh when she snuffles a bit and twitches, but doesn't actually wake up. I repeat the motion and get similar results.

Taking it a step further, I dangle a cookie right over her nose. She clearly smells it, because her muzzle is starting to twitch. I practically choke with laughter when Rainbow snaps her mouth shut, to which I respond by lifting the cookie out of reach. She opens her mouth a second later, so I repeat this motion a few times, until finally...

“Give me that darn cookie!” Rainbow demands, suddenly waking up and lurching up in bed. The first thing she notices is that I'm sitting on the bed next to her, holding a cookie and laughing a bit too hard. “What the...what are you doing on my bed?”

“Messing with your mind. Oh sheesh, you are too funny when you're sleeping,” I choke out, trying to catch my breath. Rainbow looks confused at first, and then she sees the cookie in my hand.

Suddenly Rainbow tackles me off of the bed, her two front hooves wrapped around my chest. “So you're the one who...give me that cookie!” Rainbow demands once we hit the floor. She proceeds to sit on my chest and pin my arms down with her front hooves. She tries to crane her head over to grab the cookie, but it's just out of her reach. “Give it!”

“You want this cookie?” I ask her tantalizingly, because we're at an impasse and she knows it. Unless she releases my arms, she can't reach the cookie. “What's the matter? Just reach over here and take it.”

Rainbow narrows her eyes in determination and lunges at the cookie, releasing my arms in the process. I snicker and toss the cookie in an arc over my head, catching it with my other hand. Rainbow scrambles to chase it, but this gives me enough leverage to get out from underneath her. Now there's an opening.

Rainbow yelps as I tackle her this time, taking her to the ground. I pin her two front hooves down, sitting on her chest this time. “Doesn't feel so good, does it?” I tease her. Glaring at me, she opens her mouth to say something, but then I shove the cookie in her mouth, promptly shutting her up. She makes a muffled sound of confusion, but she starts to eat it.

I get up off of her and sigh, chuckling to myself. This is one way to start off the morning. I glance at Rainbow, who's getting up as well, swallowing the cookie. “I should have known,” Rainbow laments, wiping the crumbs from her muzzle. “Why did I think sleeping in the same room with you would be a good idea? I can never wake up on my own.”

“I don't know, why did you? You made this place yourself, right? I'm sure you have guest rooms,” I point out. Rainbow seems speechless for a moment, and then for some reason, she flushes slightly. My right eyebrow immediately shoots right up.

“Cut me some slack. By the time we started thinking about sleep, it was way past midnight,” Rainbow finally reasons. “I was too tired to think.”

Huh. That's about the only reason I can actually accept. I let out the breath I didn't know I'd been holding. Fucking Rarity, making me suspicious over nothing. That's a mistake I've made more than once myself, like the time I let myself fall asleep in a bed with both Vinyl and Rainbow in it.

“Fair enough. Anyway, I should probably tell you that Celestia is coming to get me soon,” I tell her, changing the subject. 

“Wait, what? Celestia is coming here?” Rainbow asks, shocked. “When did this happen? Did she already respond to you?”

“Yeah, I got it when I woke up this morning. I don't know if she's coming herself, but she's definitely sending something to come get me,” I explain. “I really don't want to go back to Canterlot, but I shouldn't be there that long.”

“Oh. I guess they would want to talk to you face to face. Want me to come with you?” Rainbow offers. 

“Thanks, but that isn't necessary. I'll only be there for a short time,” I tell her with a shake of my head. Rainbow nods, disappointed. “Besides, don't you have work with the weather team to do? You've only taken...what, how many days off now?”

“Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot,” Rainbow admits ruefully. “I probably should check in and make sure Cloud Chaser hasn't messed anything up. I left her in charge when I left.”

“What happens when you mess up a weather pattern?” I ask curiously, though I'm afraid to hear the answer. Rainbow's wince tells me that I'm right to feel that way.

“Very bad things. If you mess up making a storm, it could become a lot larger than you wanted. And a really big storm can really mess up Ponyville,” Rainbow explains. Sheesh. So what, making a storm is like making a meal, I guess. You can prepare it, but you can't control the end result.

“Right then. Yeah, definitely do that,” I comment, though I doubt she needs to emphasize that any more. Cloud Chaser...if I remember right, she was that slut that hit on me the moment she saw me. I can't see her being that competent at anything.

Just as Rainbow is about to continue the conversation, another scroll appears in a burst of golden light just above my head. I reflexively grab it, and then realize a moment later that's it's probably Celestia's reply. “Is that from Celestia?” Rainbow predictably asks a few moments later.

“Oh no, I'm sure it's from somepony else. I mean, it's not like I was talking about exchanging letters with her a few minutes ago or anything,” I retort sarcastically, which is my typical response to stupid questions. Rainbow huffs, but watches silently as I unroll the letter. It's a short one, so I can sum it up pretty quickly. “Well, she's sending a chariot to get me from here. Though now that I think about it, I don't know why that's necessary, when I can probably get there in a few minutes by flying at near supersonic speeds.”

“I could get there faster than that,” Rainbow brags, grinning. “I can get there in less than a minute by flying AT supersonic speed!”

“Yes, I remembered that, idiot. That's why I said near supersonic, since I know you're the only pony that can go beyond that,” I remark in annoyance. Why must she stroke her ego at every passing opportunity? “Oh well. Flying in a chariot should be fun. Heh, that's funny. Before learning how to fly, you'd never get me on one of those things.”

“You can't get me on one of those things anyway,” Rainbow agrees. “I've got wings, and I'd much rather use them than sit in one of those cramped things.”

There's a short silence as the conversation ends, but it isn't long before something breaks it. And by that, I mean Rainbow's stomach growling. “Guess that cookie had you wanting more, huh?” I remark with a raised eyebrow.

“Shut up about the darn cookie,” Rainbow grumps, but she's smiling despite herself. She then pretends to look distressed. “Oh no, we haven't had breakfast yet! But that requires a lot of work. If only there was a way I could skip out of making something...”

I watch with amusement as Rainbow's eyes slowly track down to the boxes of sweets that we still haven't finished. Almost as if we'd planned it, we both reach our assorted appendages into the boxes nearest to us and grab the first confection we find.

“I'm going to have to work all of this off when I get back to work,” I remark, a sentiment echoed by Rainbow, but neither of us particularly care at this moment.

Sweets for breakfast. I mean, why the fuck not?
> 65. Negotiations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Once again, Rainbow and I do the dumb thing and eat too many sweets, when we really should be having a healthy and nutritious breakfast. I'll probably go right back to being healthy right after this, so I don't think it's worth complaining about one night of having nothing but dessert. Heh. Remember those old food pyramids that used to say “eat sparingly” next to dessert? Neither do I.

We know we won't be able to see the chariot that's supposed to be coming to pick me up fro inside the house, so Rainbow and I actually eat breakfast out on the path just outside the front door. I don't tell her, but I also think that giant rainbow that pours off of her house like a mystical waterfall is pretty cool. It's pretty nice looking at it while eating a bunch of overly sweet confections.

“So this was totally awesome,” Rainbow remarked, probably referring to the hang-out in general. “Especially because we did it here. Fluttershy's the only other pony that comes up here, and that isn't often.”

“Why, is she scared of heights?” I snort insensitively. 

“No, but she might as well be. She's a pretty weak flier, so it's not easy to get her off the ground,” Rainbow explained. She finishes the brownie that's in her hoof, and then she flops down on her stomach, sighing in comfort. “So nopony really sees my house all that much.”

“So it's like, what's the point of going to all that effort, if nopony's going to see it?” I complete for her without really thinking about it. There's a silence. I give a start and look over to notice that Rainbow is looking at me in surprise.

“Yeah, that's exactly what I'm feeling. How did you know that?” Rainbow demands. Huh...well, I didn't expect to be so on the mark. I was just saying what I was thinking.

“I have a mini Celestia on my shoulder,” I respond sarcastically. Rainbow blinks, and then hilariously enough, she tries to check. I push her muzzle away. “Don't actually check, I was being sarcastic, you idiot. And don't nip at me!”

“Then keep your hands away from my face,” Rainbow retorts, maturely blowing a raspberry at me. “No, seriously though, how did you know?”

“Because I know the feeling. Or I did. You know I play the piano, right?” I remind her. When Rainbow nods, I continue. “That shit's hard. And I hated everybody too much to bother playing for them. So what was the point?”

“Yeah, that's exactly what I felt! Minus the hating everypony part,” Rainbow agrees with a grin. She tilted her head curiously. “What made you decide to keep playing?”

“I stopped caring,” I answer simply. That really was how it happened. I think at one point I heard a really good song and it made me want to play for myself. “Simple as that.”

“Wow, and here I was expecting something deep. Shows what I know,” Rainbow remarks wryly. I shrug. Sorry if that's not deep enough for you. “Wait, didn't you ever play for Amaryllis?”

“No, I didn't,” I respond with an edge in my voice. Rainbow winces, realizing that she must have said something wrong. “She died before I could.”

“Shoot, sorry. Should have kept my stupid mouth shut,” Rainbow berates herself, facehoofing at her lack of tact. I sigh and rest my head on my fist. I regret not being able to play for Amaryllis, or tell her how I felt about her. Knowing that I never will be able to sits in my chest like a heavy weight, like a dull ache that won't go away. Dammit Rainbow. Rainbow notices the mood change, so she shifts closer to me so that she's pressing up against my side again. “Still though, this was a lot a fun. We should totally do again sometime.”

“That's a given. I'm staying in Ponyville for the rest of my life, probably, so damn right we're gonna be hanging,” I told her as if it should have been obvious. I look down at what she's doing. She's up against my side again, only this time it's more obvious because we're both sitting down. I feel like calling her out on it, but it's not really that big of a deal. Just equine instinct, I suppose. It would be like asking why mothers took care of their children.

“Aw yeah!” Rainbow exults, thrusting a hoof in the air. Right after she does that, something in the distance catches my eye. A small dot appears from the midst of a cloud bank in the distance, slowly growing larger as it approached us. Rainbow appears to have noticed as well. “You see that?”

“Yeah, looks like my ride is here,” I declare. With a grunt, I get to my feet. They're coming just in time, because any later and I'd have to use another cloud spell. With that declaration the two of us approach the edge of the cloud together. 

The chariot heading for us looks like the one Celestia used to come visit me the first time, if a bit less extravagant. It's being pulled by four royal guards, none of which I recognize. Of course, the only guards I know are the upper level ones, and they are probably much too busy with their own shit to escort some human, even if said human fought alongside them at one point.

Rainbow and I watch as the the chariot soars past us and lands on the path with a clattering of wheels against brick. Um...cloud-brick. Fucking magic. 

Once the chariot orients itself to face back the way it came, one of the pegasus guards approaches us and bows. “Greetings, Mr. Rogers and Ms. Dash. I am Crescent Spear,” he says to us in an overly stiff and official manner. Great. If they're all like this, I'm going to be totally bored for the time I'm in this thing. “We've come to offer you transport, Mr. Rogers.”

“Gee, I couldn't tell by the giant fucking chariot you brought with you,” is literally the first words out of my mouth to the guy. Next to me, Rainbow rests her face in her hooves, this time at my complete lack of tact. Crescent appears taken off guard by my totally informal address. I don't think he's ever had to deal with me before. Lucky him.

“Um...right. Sorry. I'm just...” the poor stallion stammers. Hah, and this guy's a guard? Seems way to easy to fuck with him for that to be the case. Crescent dips his head and returns to the other guards, hitching himself back in in preparation for the flight home. “We're...ready to go when you are.”

“Seth...” Rainbow turns to me with a scolding expression. Of course, I'm too busy snickering to myself to care. 

“Shut up, it's fine,” I cut across her. The chariot's already here, so I'm wasting time the longer I stand here. “Anyway, I'm going to leave now. I'll be back soon.”

“Fine. I guess I should go find Cloud Chaser and take my spot back,” Rainbow determines, opening her wings. “See ya when ya get back!” 

“Right. You do that. Do try not to blow away the town before I get home.” Now that the farewells are out of the way, I hop off of the cloud and into the chariot, the small structure shaking under my sudden weight. Not that I'm worried. If this thing can handle Celestia's weight, it can definitely handle mine. “Get moving already. Time's wasting.”

After one last wave from Rainbow, the guards start running, pulling the chariot behind them. It's  nothing really special until we reach the end of the cloud, when the pegasi leap into the air. The chariot lurches up into the air as well, causing that feeling of falling to form in my stomach for a few seconds. Did I mention I hate that feeling?

It's a good thing this chariot has a high back. The momentum from our flight forward constantly pushes me against the back of my seat...and it's far from comfortable. Seriously, I wish I could just fly there. Canterlot isn't that far away.

Seriously though, I should probably be back by later today, hopefully with a shitload of bits.





There's not really much to talk about until after we reach Canterlot. I must say, it's rather cool to approach the city from this angle, as opposed to approaching by train. We end up bypassing the main city entirely in favor of the castle itself. There's a small runway, for lack of a better word, next to one of the tower's main spires. The pegasi carrying this chariot angle themselves for that.

It's not long before we touch down there. It's a rather rough landing from my perspective, because unless you have a lot more runway than this, you're not landing a chariot smoothly. It's enough to irritate me though, especially because I could have just flown here.

There's several other guards on the runway waiting for us. Some of them look like they're just guarding the entrance, while two of them look like they've been waiting for us specifically. I don't see Celestia or Luna...so I guess they're keeping me waiting. No clue what time it is, but it seems like early afternoon, so maybe Celestia is still in Day Court or whatever. I wonder if the council ever implemented countermeasures for the last time she got away from them? Probably not, because they know exactly who they'd be fucking with.

“Welcome, Mr. Rogers,” one of the guards calls to me from the ground. It's a mare speaking, and her voice is somewhat familiar. Though I can't exactly place it. For some reason, her voice pisses me off, as if we'd had an argument in the past. Was there any female guards I argued with? Wait...hold on a minute. 

“Swift?” I ask in surprise, as I haven't seen her for months. In fact, seeing as she's here, that means she didn't fall in the battle against the changelings. She's a bitch, as far as I remember, but better that she's a live bitch. 

Swift Lance looked somewhat surprised, though I can't see all of her face because of the helmet she's wearing. I guess she didn't expect me to remember her. “I'm surprised you remember who I am,” Swift responds. Well, that answers that question. She trots to meet me as I jump down from the chariot, not looking as pissed off as I thought she would be. We didn't exactly part on the nicest of terms.

“I'm not generally a forgetful guy. I would ask how you remember me, but I believe that's obvious, considering,” I joke, then I mentally berate myself. Swift's a bitch, there's no way she's going to laugh from tha...a chuckle emits from the mare, causing me to drop my grinning face and replace it with a totally dumbfounded one. “Did you just laugh?”

Swift blinks at my question, perplexed. “It was funny. Why does that come as a shock to you?” she asks defensively. Why is she acting so different than what she did the first time we met? She'd been so stuck up, asking me to call her by her title and nothing else. Might as well be direct.

“Because you were a total bitch the last time we met,” I remind her. Understanding dawns in her face, resulting in a facehoof from her, along with what sounds like a rueful sigh. Behind her, the other guard that had been standing with her snickers behind a hoof, for whatever reason. I feel like I'm missing something.

“Yes well...I'm not talking about that out here in front of these other guards,” Swift reminds me. A moment later, she smacked herself with a hoof in a comical manner, before returning her expression to a professional one. “I've been instructed to lead you to a waiting room while Princess Celestia handles the remaining hour of Day Court.”

“I figured it would be Day Court. Dunno how she puts up with all that bullshit,” I complain, still totally confused by Swift's apparent about face in her attitude towards me. Hopefully I can get her to explain that shit once we get to a place where it's just us two.

“It's not...Day Court is very important. The citizenry needs to know that their needs are being heard!” Swift responds self righteously. Nope, it's still there. She's hiding it better, but she's still super uptight about things that don't really concern her. I wonder if I should mention Celestia without her title and see if she has an aneurism. Before I can do so, Swift beckons to me with a hoof, and then she leads me off of the runway and down a set of stairs, until we're in one of the castle hallways.

“Right, whatever. Should I tell you about the time she played hooky?” I quip in return. Swift's head turns to look at me so fast I wonder how she didn't give herself whiplash.

“She did what!?” Swift exclaims, and my response is to laugh. Her face right now. I bet the idea that Celestia does her own thing sometimes is unreal to her. “You're lying!”

“I'm totally not. Hearth's Warming Day, she totally ditched Day Court to come hang with me. Problem?” I assure her. Swift's jaw falls open, which just gets me to laugh harder. As soon as I compose myself, I figure it's about time to ask. We're mostly alone, after all.“Anyway, we're on our own. Mind telling me what changed between now and back then?”

Swift looks embarrassed, coughing nervously as she starts to reply. “Well, I'd just gotten promoted, so I was a bit full of myself.” Huh, I hadn't expected her to admit to something like that. “Though I still don't like how you don't respect the princesses.”

“That's where you're wrong. I may not have respected them then, but now...that's different. I still don't bother with titles, because titles are stupid, but I respect their power and the decisions they make,”  I correct her. I'm not sure why I'm bothering to explain this. I guess it's just something to bridge the gap between now and when I see Celestia. “Though I'm interested why you stopped being full of yourself.”

“Well...the royal wedding happened,” Swift admits. Well...shit. That would do it. I have no idea where she was during the whole thing. She might have been slimed. Or maybe I'd been fighting with her the whole time and didn't even know it. “Being a sergeant wasn't worth anything. I was just another soldier fighting for my life.”

“That would do it. Man, fuck that entire situation,” I agree. That was just one giant mess for everyone involved, myself especially. Swift nods her head wryly. “Where were you in all of that?”

“I got slimed pretty early on,” Swift admits ruefully. Yeah, that must have sucked. “Captain Blades  found me soon after the battle started, so then I joined him and the rest of the Second Regiment in a resistance movement.”

“Ah, so you were with the other group. I was with Iron and the First Regiment...though half of them were changelings in disguise,” I related. You know, I like this new Swift better. She's much less of a little bitch.

“That happened to us too. They'd infiltrated our ranks at some point and revealed themselves in tandem with a massive exterior assault. If two of the Elements of Harmony hadn't shown up, we'd likely have fallen there,” Swift reveals. Two Elements...oh. Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Except only one of those can really fight, and it's not the unicorn. Go figure. Don't mind Pinkie, she'll just pull out a fucking streamer cannon from nowhere. Suddenly, Swift looks at me oddly. “You know, you're a lot more mellow than I remember.”

“What the...I am not mellow,” I retort, hating the way that word sounds.  “I'm just not inclined to be an ass right now. Unless you do something to piss me off.”

“I'll keep that in mind,” Swift responds wryly, just as we reach a familiar room. Hey, it's the room just outside the garden, where I met Cadance for the first time. It had been Elegant that led me here last time. “Here we are. I have to leave you here though, as my post awaits. It's good to know that you're not as much of a waste of space as I thought you were.”

“Hey, fuck you too, Swift,” I shoot back, though I'm about as serious as she was. Which is to say, not at all. Swift gives a laugh at my response, and then she leaves the room. So I'm now alone in this sitting room for who knows how long. Celestia could be in Day Court for a while. Maybe I should go back into the garden again.

In the end, I remain in the sitting room, reading through some of my old texts on my phone, for nostalgia's sake It makes me feel like shit, while at the same time I can't help but smile. Of course, since I've never deleted any of my texts ever, that's more than enough to keep myself busy for an hour.

I can feel Celestia coming before I see her, as always. She doesn't bother to hide her ambient magical aura, after all. Soon enough, she opens the door opposite me with her magic and walks through it. She looks as regal as ever, if a bit more than normal because she just came from Day Court.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Seth,” Celestia greets me. Once she reaches me, she reaches her head forward and nuzzles my cheek, to both my surprise and annoyance. Her next words are spoken in my ear because of her positioning. “It's good to see you.”

“Ugh, do you have to do that?” I complain once she retreats. Celestia giggles at the way I'm rubbing my cheek awkwardly.

“Why, does it make you uncomfortable?” Celestia teases me with a giggle. Wow, and this is how we're going to start off the meeting.

“Goddammit, Celestia,” I groan, rubbing my forehead. Celestia finds this even more amusing, as she's giggling at my expense. “Did you call me here so that you could troll me?”

Celestia composes herself quickly at that question, her smile being replaced by a pensive, serious expression. “No, I was just having a bit of fun before we got down to business. I called you here to discuss your offer,” she reminds me. All right, now it's time to get this discussion underway. I'm gonna try to get as much out of her for this information as possible. “Should you decide to give me this information, it would be quite the undertaking for our science and archaeological departments. Therefore it's too complicated to discuss through quill and paper.”

“Right, that makes sense. Especially since if you send a team there, I'm going too,” I state plainly. I want to make that clear to her early on. “The whole reason I'm even giving you this information is so that I can go back there with help.”

Celestia gazes at me passively for a moment, as if she's trying to gauge my motives. Then, her eyes soften. Wait, what the hell is that look for? “Is it because you want to come to terms with old memories?” Celestia asks. And...fucking Celestia does it again. I sent her one letter and spoke with her for less than five minutes, and she's already figured out why I'm going back.

“You really need to stop doing that. Being over a thousand years old shouldn't give you mind hacking powers,” I grumble. This time Celestia doesn't laugh, being as serious as before. “How did you figure it out this time?”

“It was just a guess. You told us before that you were a student, and according to your letter, part of your school is still intact,” Celestia explains, laying out the facts that she used to make her guess.	“Now you are telling me that you planned to go back, with or without my help.”

“It's crazy how you remember the smallest details like that and use them to read minds,” I comment. One of these days I have to see how she handles Day Court. With all the snooty nobles around, I feel like I'd get a kick out of it. “Anyway, back on topic.”

“Indeed. The first thing that must be addressed is the price that you have in mind. Once that's out of the way, we can focus on logistics,” Celestia reasons. Yes, I suppose she's right. She can't even begin to start laying down groundwork without actually knowing where she'd be sending her ponies. “Which leads me to ask: exactly what are you looking to gain from this exchange?”

“Bits. I'm poor as hell, and I'm tired of paying for things, knowing that if I do, it sets me that much further away from getting my own house,” I respond flatly. It's true. Just paying my rent slows me down considerably, and that's not counting meals or the things Rainbow wants me to do with her.

“I see,” Celestia muses, her expression unchanging. Because of that, I can't read how she feels about that. “Because you didn't state an amount, can I assume you're willing to negotiate?”

“I said as much in the letter, idiot,” I remind her. “But also, I didn't state an amount because I don't know how much this is worth to you.”

“I'm going to be straight with you,” Celestia says seriously. “This is essentially a business transaction, all things considered. As any discoveries there could effect the development of ponykind,I have to act in an official manner, despite any affection I may hold for you.”

“Right...and how does that change anything?” I ask curiously. I know this won't be your average conversation, because I doubt Celestia's just going to shower me with bits just because I ask. Besides, what affection is she talking about anyway? She should still be pretty pissed at me because of the whole betraying her to Chrysalis thing.

“In the end, I have to ensure that the information you give us makes us a profit. As it stands, there are significant costs to offset. Some of these costs include buying equipment, hiring workers, and acquiring specialists. This is all in addition to the cost of gaining the information from you,” Celestia explains to me. All of this makes sense, of course. Sending out an expedition isn't free, and no one is going to pay for something that's not going to turn a profit. “Therefore I can't just give you an arbitrary sum of bits. Can you tell me more about the site? It would help in determining how much the site is worth.”

“Makes sense. I can tell you that it's massive. Most of it is buried, but I've memorized the location of every building in my head,” I reveal to her. Let's see, what else do I remember from that place? There was a working console, but I wrecked it. Rather regretting that now. “There's a lot of electrical infrastructure still around. Lots of old computers and a mostly intact building lay out. Not sure how intact the other places are.”

“Hm...if there's a lot of electricity-based structures, I may be able to give you a decent amount of bits,” Celestia decides, much to my delight. “As you can imagine, electricity is highly valued amongst our society. It allows all ponies to have the same luxuries as those that can use magic.”

“I figured as much. So how many bits are you thinking?” I ask, crossing my arms. This is it. If she gives me a price I'm good with, we can get down to business.

“Hm...let's say I gave you an indeterminate amount of bits,” Celestia inquires after thinking for a moment. “What would you do with them?”

“Easy. First, buy a house in Ponyville and get situated, spend some for myself, and then save the rest. I don't think I'd stop working, though I may knock down the amount of hours I do work,” I answer decisively, because these are the goals I've had for a long time. But making money by working on a farm is slow and hard work.

“I see. Not a bad plan,” Celestia compliments me with a nod of her head. I shrug as a response. “Here is my offer for you: What if I bought you a house in Ponyville, furnished it for you, and then gave you a sum of thirty thousand bits?”

“What? Thirty thousand only?” I demand, shocked. That's still way more than I have right now, but...I was under the impression that electronics were worth a lot of money. “You're kidding, right? Rainbow told me I could get millions from selling this information. Electronics are valuable, aren't they?”

“Rainbow was likely exaggerating. Electric technology is indeed valuable, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it would be worth millions,” Celestia corrects me. 

Well, that's a bit of a disappointment. Goddammit Rainbow, you got my hopes up, thinking I'd be able to afford anything forever. Why was I so stupid? Still, she's essentially buying me a house and filling it for me, so that's something. Then I can use the sum to buy into my hobbies...and suddenly I'm feeling a lot better about things. Finally, I'm buying a goddamn piano, and all of the music. So let's try and haggle this.

“Still though, I think thirty thousand is too low. I'm the only one that knows where this place is, and the only one that can help you fully explore it,” I remind her. Celestia frowns, so she knows I'm right about that much. “Make it eighty thousand.”

“Now Seth, are you trying to haggle with me?” Celestia asks with some amusement. Actually, the way she's looking at me, it's like one would look at a child trying to give an ultimatum. Or like I did at Rainbow when she told me she could beat me at chess.

“I...might be,” I reply hesitantly, starting to think I'm a bit out of my depth. Of course she's had haggling experience. Probably a lot more than me, considering haggling wasn't really a thing back in my time.

“I suppose I can be a little generous, considering there must have been a reason you didn't come forward with this before,” Celestia relents, once again guessing rightly. Goddammit, you mind reading horse.

Yeah, I didn't go back because I was terrified of the place, and even now that I have magic, I feel a sense of dread about going back. That's where my niece died, after all. Or...it's where I had to kill her. Honestly, I'd much rather leave that place buried. But like Celestia said, I need to go back. There's too many memories buried there for me to just forget about it.

“How does fifty thousand bits sound to you? I'm not willing to go any higher than that, because that's about the amount that I pay specialists during expeditions like this one,” Celestia suggests. Eh, I guess that's fair. Especially since the only skill I have that would help in this excursion is my memory.

“So let me get this straight. I get a house, furniture, and fifty thousand bits,” I say, restating what I remember her saying last time. Celestia nods, her smile returning. “That should be good enough for what I need. All right, is there like a contract or something we need to sign? I want to know that you're bound to give me this payment.”

“Seth, I would never dream of trying to cheat you,” Celestia states firmly. With a flash of light from her horn, sheets of paper and writing utensils emerge from drawers in the room's sole table. “As a show of good faith, I will send a request to the mayor of Ponyville right now. Feel free to read over my shoulder, if you must.”

“Don't mind if I do,” I retort. After all, this is a lot she's giving me for this, and so I want to know that I have it before I tell her anything. So with that in mind, I stalk over to her and orient myself so that I'm staring down at the parchment as she's writing on it. The first thing I notice is the name of the pony writing to. Mayor Mare. I have to physically try not to snicker. Let me just mention something here. Technically that title is pronounced May-yor. But usually it comes out sounding like...you guessed it...mare. So Celestia is writing to somepony with a name like Mare Mare. That's it, I'm calling her Double Mare forever.

“Dear Mayor Mare,

How are things in Ponyville? It's simply been too long since the last time I officially visited. Perhaps we should remedy that sometime in the near future?

Now, on to the subject of this letter. Can I assume that there are still homes available for purchase in the Residential District? I ask because I am interested in purchasing an average-sized house at full price for Equestria's resident human, Seth Rogers.

To be more specific, I'd like you to keep several homes of the specified size available until I can arrive in Ponyville myself to seal the payment. I look forward to seeing you soon.

Your loving ruler,
Princess Celestia.”

Celestia finishes writing and turns her head so that she can look at me. It's not a smug face, but one that seems to be looking for approval.

“Oh, so I get to choose where the house is?” I ask curiously, liking that idea. If possible, I'm hoping to get one either on the outskirts of town, or near Vinyl's place. If I get one near Vinyl's place, I can see her whenever, and I can potentially be near Rainbow as well because she can move her entire house. Celestia nods, smiling. “Huh. Guess that's all right. Also, why the hell are you going yourself?”

“This is an important transaction with my own funds, Seth. I would be remiss if I let some other pony handle it for me,” Celestia explains. Before she continues, her horn lights up, and the letter dissipates into the air, on its way to Double Mare. Then, she starts to look a bit guilty. “Also, it has been too long since the last time I've visited for more than a few moments. I must admit, I've been craving some of Pinkie Pie's cakes.”

“You and your goddamn cake,” I groan, rubbing my forehead. Still though, it's nice to know she's willing to go that far to make sure this thing goes through. “Still, shouldn't there be some paperwork for us to fill out? I mean, you're using government funds to get all of this for me.”

“Unfortunately, yes, there will be some form of paperwork. As you said, the usage of government funding requires some form of records, according to my own law,” Celestia answers. Good, at least there's that. I'd feel better knowing that there's some kind of binding contract between the two of us.

“I'm guessing ponies have tried to embezzle funds from you before?” I ask, putting two and two together when she mentioned it was by her own law.

“Not for a long, long time, but it has happened,” Celestia admits, looking sheepish. “While I'm proud of how low the crime rate has become in recent decades, it was not always so. Therefore these laws still need to exist.”

“Damn right they do,” I remark. They're laws. Without them it's anarchy. Duh. “So what now? Should I be telling you where to find this place now?”

“If you'd like. You can tell me now, or you can wait until I can draft up a contract for this expedition. After all, you and I won't be the only ones who have to sign it,” Celestia answers with a twinkle in her eye.

“Wait, there's other ponies that need to sign this besides you?” I demand, confused. “I thought this deal was just between the two of us.”

“This one is, but the contract I intend to design will be the one for the entire project as a whole. If the site is as large as you make it out to be, then this will be a significant undertaking,” Celestia explains. “I will have the project leads I decide upon to sign this contract as well. For example, I plan to bring a portion of the science department, along with a great deal of archaeologists. I'm even considering bringing in a few freelance archaeologists that I've worked with in the past.”

“Right, that'll probably take a while. And you probably won't know what to bring and who to hire until I tell you where this place is,” I say, resigned to the fact that I'm going to be telling her before signing anything. At the very least I know she's about to buy my house for me. “Hold on a minute, I'm signing the contract with the other project leads? Does that mean I'm a project lead too?

“If you'd like to think about it that way, then yes, I believe you are,” Celestia remarks, amused at my reaction. “You are integral to the success of the project, as it stands. Even after you give us the location, you are the only one who knows the layout of the site. It'll save us a great deal of bits if we don't have to dig based on intuition.”

“So, an advisory position. You do realize that I'm going there for my own reasons, right? I'm likely going to direct you to places that suit me,” I remind her sternly. As much profit as she stands to gain from this, it's only because I'm willing to let her come with me.

“I understand. I also have faith that your efforts will not lead us astray,” Celestia acknowledges with a smile. Huh. So she knows I'm essentially using her resources to get what I want, and she's going along with it. Is it just because I made it an even trade?

“You know, sometimes you're too trusting, and other times you scare the shit out of me,” I can't help but admit, looking at Celestia with an incredulous expression. Celestia blinks, and then her musical laughter fills the room.

“You are possibly the only one apart from my sister that speaks to me the way you do,” Celestia  reveals, attempting to stifle her laughter behind a hoof. When she's composed herself, she gives me a heartfelt smile. “I appreciate it.”

“You're welcome for being an asshole, I guess,” I reply. Seriously, every time I talk to Celestia, she finds some way to surprise me. She really is like nobody I've ever met. “Now then, should I tell you now where to find the place?”

“Whatever you want to do, Seth,” Celestia responds amiably. Well, I can talk about the specifics later. I mean, even if I tell her, she'll probably still need me to lead her to it.

“Might as well, then. So when I managed to get out of the school, I found myself in the Everfree Forest. At night,” I reveal to her. Celestia's eyes widen in shock. “What?”

“The Everfree? You are lucky to be alive,” Celestia asserts. I remember how I almost died several times while I was down there. The spike from the stairs tried to kill me, my undead niece tried to kill me, and then a fucking timberwolf tried to kill me.

“No kidding. You should seen me when I got out. I was practically torn to pieces,” I respond with a rueful grin. I reach a hand up to rub my shoulders, where my niece had clawed me several months ago.

“I'm gad you managed to make it out all right, though,” Celestia says with a nod. She then looks pensive as a thought occurs to her. “The Everfree Forest...this will take some planning. This means I'll need a greater guard detail than I'd anticipated. Hm...”

“Well, I've told you where to find it. Once we're all ready, I can lead you right to it,” I say with finality. “So, I can go home now while you set everything up, right?”

“Not quite. I'd like you to be involved in the planning of this expedition, as you know more about what we're going to find down there than we do,” Celestia corrects me gently. I stare at her for a moment, and then I slowly facepalm.

This is going to be a lot more complicated than I expected.

	

	 
> 66. To Plan an Expedition
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Do you remember where exactly in the Everfree this structure is?” Celestia asks as she leads me through the hallways. We're on the way to a meeting room, where she plans to get a preliminary planning session done. Not long after we left the sitting room, Celestia had spoken to a few guards and ordered them to fetch some ponies whose names I didn't recognize.

She's certainly not wasting any time with this. Maybe I'm assuming to much, considering she's way older than I am, but I think she's excited. Come to think of it, I don't really know anything about her apart from the fact that she's smart, trusting, and can read your mind no matter how hard you try to hide from it.

“I told you I can lead you right to it, given enough time. If you're asking for fucking coordinates, I can't give them to you,” I respond, following her with my hands in my pockets. Seriously, it was dark at the time. It will take me a little time to find it, because it was dark at the time, and the only landmark I have is Zecora's hut. Speaking of Zecora, I haven't seen her since my old welcome party, and we really didn't discuss much. 

“Nothing so specific. I trust that you know where it is. It's just that I want to know how deep in the forest it is, for one,” Celestia assures me. “It's the difference between striking into the forest from Ponyville, or airlifting in equipment and staff directly from airships.”

“Whoa whoa whoa, whoa,” I interrupt, looking at Celestia in total disbelief. She didn't say what I think she just did, did she? Celestia turns her head, looking me in confusion. “You have airships!?”

“Yes, in fact. They're a relatively recent addition to modern transportation,” Celestia answers, finding my surprise amusing. “They're run by a combination of magic and simple thermodynamics. They're very useful for transporting large amounts of cargo that a train just can't handle.”

“Holy shit. How come I've never seen one?” I demand, finding the idea of airships totally unreal. I mean, humans technically had some, but they were either planes or blimp-type things. I'm interested to see what a pony airship looks like.

“I'll admit they're a little uncommon. You usually only see them during projects such as this one, or when returning from long range trading excursions,” Celestia explains. Wow, I'm really hyped to see one of these now. 

“I see. Well, to answer your previous question, I'm not sure how deep in it is, but is in the same general area as Zecora's hut, if you know who that is,” I say, returning back to the topic at hand. 

“Zecora? Yes, I do know her. She's one of the only zebras living in Equestria,” Celestia says with surprise. “It was me that gave her permission to live here, after all.”

“Right, what was I thinking? You know everything, after all,” I remark, which gets Celestia to giggle. “So what do you have in mind?”

“I think I have a few ideas. I'll explain them to you once we reach the meeting room,” Celestia replies. And I'm being kept waiting. “It'll be much easier to explain it to you along with the others.”

“Right, I remember you asking for other ponies,” I remark, not particularly liking the idea of having to discuss ideas with ponies that aren't Celestia. “Who else is coming?”

Of course, by the time I ask that question, we've already reached our destination. I know that because Celestia opens a door and ushers me inside. This is probably the meeting room. 

There's a oval table in the center surrounded by eight chairs, one of which is no doubt for Celestia, seeing as it's a lot larger and fancier than the others. Sure enough, Celestia sits down in that chair and indicates that I take the seat next to her. 

“I'll make introductions once everypony arrives,” Celestia finally says once she makes herself comfortable. “It'll be easier to put names to faces that way.”

“Ugh, stop making so much sense,” I grumble. It's really annoying how it's impossible to refute almost anything Celestia says. 

After that, we sit in silence for a while, as the other ponies she summoned take their fucking time to get here. Thankfully, I'm not kept waiting for very long before the first pony enters the room. Surprisingly, he's familiar to me. It's that pony that talked to me about that one archway that could detect changelings. 

His cerulean eyes spark with recognition when he sees me as well. He looks a little different now that he's dressed for official business. Might as well describe him this time. He's a unicorn with a light grey coat that looks recently combed. He has a slightly messy white mane that's cut short so that no stray hairs will fall in front of his face. In addition, his mane is pushed up by a set of goggles resting on the top of his head.

Before he addresses me, he bows his head briefly in respect to Celestia. “Greetings, Princess,” he says to her politely. Celestia nods and smiles, before gesturing for him to join us. As he does so, he looks at me. “Good to see you again, sir. I'm afraid I didn't get the honor of your name the last time we spoke.”

“That's because I didn't give it to you. Though I don't know why you're asking. The whole country knows about me now, right?” I point out to him. Seriously, he should already know my name.

“Pardon me. I just felt it would be more polite to exchange names personally upon our first meeting,” he explains. I notice he doesn't wince like he did the first time I snapped at him. He then gives me a polite bow of the head, but it's not as deep as the one he gave to Celestia. “My name is Dr. Flash Forward, and I'm the head of the Canterlot Science Department.”

“So you're the one who designed those archways then,” I reasoned. I guess it makes sense now why he was so willing to talk about how the archways worked to me. It's like an artist being asked to explain what inspired his work. More often than not, they're more than happy to do so.

After Flash acknowledges that assumption with a nod, Celestia politely clears her throat. “Thank you for coming, Flash. Care to join us?” she asks, though I doubt it's a request. She indicates the other seat next to her. Flash bows his head once more, and then he does what he's asked, so that now he's sitting across from me.

It isn't long before another pony enters the room. Unfortunately I don't have enough time to take in what he looks like before others follow him inside. It's like they all decided to come at once. Most of them, upon entering, greet only Celestia before sitting down at the table. A mare with reading glasses ends up sitting on my other side. Ugh, and she smells overly flowery too.

Finally, every seat at the table has been filled by official looking ponies. The last pony to enter the room shuts the door behind her, and once she takes her seat, the room is silent until Celestia decides that now's a good time to explain the reason why they're all here.

“Thank you all for coming at such short notice. I'm sure you must have been very busy,” Celestia begins, as every set of eyes in the room centers on her. Surprisingly I haven't gotten that many stares from the rest of them. Either they're not that surprised by me, or they're just hiding it well. “Let's start with introductions then, shall we?”

Celestia indicates me with a hoof. Wait, is she going to make me introduce myself? Can I not? I think all of them already know who I am. “This is Seth Rogers, Equestria's resident human,” Celestia announces, introducing me to the rest of them. Well, now I'm the center of attention, and I don't like it very much. In response to Celestia's introduction, the other ponies in the room incline their heads politely and murmur short statements of greeting. “He's already met Dr. Forward, but would the rest of you care to introduce yourselves?”

The unicorn mare next to me is the first one to respond to Celestia's request. She turns to look at me from over her glasses, her lips curving into a friendly smile. “Hello, Seth. Do you mind if I call you Seth?” she asks.

“I prefer it, actually,” I respond shortly, not sure how to react to this mare that I've just met. Though I suppose I've had worse introductions, especially if you count my initial one with Rainbow.

“Okay, Seth. I'm White Opal, the head of the Canterlot Archaeological Department,” the mare introduces herself. The funny thing is, even though her name is White Opal, there's nothing white about her. Her coat is a light sea-green, and her mane is a dark green, styled so that curling locks cascade down on side of her face, and around her neck on the other side. “It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

After a quick nod from me, the different ponies proceed to introduce themselves, though because most of them do so in a similar manner to Opal, I don't feel like describing them. However, I do feel the need to remember their names, as each one of these ponies seem like they're going to be important in this project.

So, going down the table from where Opal is sitting, we have a rugged-looking earth pony named Steel Rivet, who is both a blacksmith and the head of construction. In fact, I think that back when I was helping to repair Canterlot after the wedding, I've seen him around a few times.

Next, we've got another earth pony called Rough Hammer, who is apparently the branch representative of a major mining company situated in Manehattan (another fucking horse pun, go figure). 

Then...well fuck, I didn't even see him there. It's Shining Armor, sitting at the other end of the table. When it's time for him to announce himself, he stares at me. “I believe we're already acquainted,” Shining Armor greets me tersely. Shit, how the hell did I not notice him in the first place? I guess he's hear to represent the First Regiment. I mean, it makes sense because we have all these department heads all over the place, but I'd rather it have been Blades or Spitfire. At least they don't harbor a grudge against me. I can tell by the way he's looking at me that he hasn't forgotten.

Moving on, the last pony is a strange pegasus with a light blue coat, who is wearing a black overcoat and a set of goggles on his head. His name is Gilded Skies, and according to his own proclamation, he's the one who designs and owns most of Equestria's airships. I'm guessing Celestia plans to use airships no matter what. I hope so, because I really want to see one.

“Excellent. Now, I suppose you're all curious as to the purpose of this impromptu meeting,” Celestia finally continues once the tedious introductions are out of the way. “Seth has kindly alerted us to the presence of a rather extensive human ruin located in the Everfree Forest.”

Her revelation generates mixed emotions from the other ponies. Flash and Opal look like they've just been told Christmas is coming early, while Gilded Skies raises an eyebrow and the two earth ponies emit grunts of surprise. Shining Armor looks as unmovable as ever.

“Really? Human ruins in the Everfree? And we're the first to know about it?” Opal exclaims happily. She doesn't let any of us respond so quickly though, as she shoots question after question at us. “How large are these ruins? What can we expect to find within?”

“Exciting. Truly exciting!” Flash agrees, rubbing his two front hooves together. Sheesh, these two are like children with a new toy. 

“Seth, do you recall the size of the ruins? You would know more about them than I do,” Celestia asks, and once again attention is on me. Opal is looking at me with a face filled with childlike excitement and curiosity, it makes me want to groan. 

“Almost four hundred acres in its entirety,” I reveal to them. Of course, I'm not entirely sure if that's the correct number, but that's why I generalized it. Even so, that's massive, and the other ponies know it. The moment that figure leaves my mouth, the shock is evident, even in Celestia's face. 

Opal proceeds to squee loudly and clop her front hooves together before I can continue, bouncing in her seat. Her antics earn an irritated glance from Steel Rivet next to her. “Four hundred acres!? That's larger than any site we've ever uncovered!”she exults.

“Which leads me to question if this information is accurate,” Hammer interjects, looking at me sternly. “Opal, you should know that a site of this size existing that we don't know about is highly unlikely.”

“Not to mention the place would've fallen apart by now,” Steel Rivet adds. Their words cause the others to look at me for clarification. 

“You could jump to conclusions, or you could let me finish,” I snap, irritated by their doubts. “That's how large the place was when it was pristine. I never said that it's going to be in perfect condition, nor that all of it is going to be accessible. All I know is that the building I saw was intact.”

“So you expect us to put time and effort into this based on conjecture?” Hammer questions with a raised eyebrow. Okay, now this guy is starting to piss me off.

“You heard what he said, Hammer. One building is intact, and that's more than enough for me,” Flash points out. The scientist glances to me. “Could you clarify what we can expect to find in this building?”

“I can. Most of the infrastructure is intact. You'll also find old computers, electrical devices, and  likely human remains,” I explain. Most of that I mentioned to Celestia, except for the fact that there were human remains there. Celestia is giving me a questioning look, but I ignore it for now.

“Human remains? Is this a tomb that you've brought to our attention?” Opal asks curiously. I look at her, wondering if I should tell her why there would be human remains there. Eh, I'll gloss over it, but they need to know.

“Not exactly. It's a school building, but it got buried underground after a battle. I don't know the specifics,” I explain. Opal and Flash exchange glances with one another, and then they look back at me.

“I see why I was called here now,” Hammer rejoins, understanding dawning in his face. “If the whole place is underground, you want my company to help excavate it.”

“Now then, I assume you all have an understanding of why I've asked you here?”” Celestia draws attention back to herself just with that simple sentence. Come to think of it, it's odd that she just let us talk amongst ourselves rather than just tell them what to do. She receives nods from the other ponies. “Good. I feel that the presence of these ruins is too valuable a find to pass up. Therefore I'm authorizing a full archaeological expedition.”

“Oh good, I've been waiting for another human ruin! This will be so exciting!” Opal is the first to respond. Celestia smiles at her reaction.

“I'm glad you're so enthusiastic, Miss Opal, because I'd like to offer you the position of project leader,” Celestia declares. Opal's eyes widen, and then she almost falls backwards out of her chair from sheer excitement. Steel Rivet facehoofs next to her, to my amusement.

“I accept this position with honor! Oh, I can just see it now!” Opal squeals. I give her a skeptical look. This is the pony that Celestia is assigning the project? She seems more like a kid than anything else.

“Hold on, she's project leader? I thought you would be, because you're coming with us, right?” I demand. Nothing would make me feel safer down there than if Celestia was with us, especially if there's more of those...things...down there. I should probably mention that at some point as well.

“Unfortunately, I cannot. My position requires my presence in Canterlot almost constantly,” Celestia admits, much to my annoyance. I guess I'll have to rely on my own power, as well as that of whatever guards come with us. “However, I will occasionally visit, as I'm sure this project will last a while.”

I sit back, my question answered. Celestia then turns back to Opal. “Miss Opal, your job will be to organize the expedition as a whole,” she explains. That's quite a task she just got given. If Opal is daunted by the prospect, she doesn't show it. Her eyes are just glimmering with happiness. “Seth will be your advisor, and will be present when you enter the ruins themselves. I want you to work closely with him to ensure task efficiency.”

“That's right, because I know where all of the buildings will be buried, as well as their layouts,” I add.

“Seems like you'll be workin' with all of us, Seth,” Hammer rejoins, leaning over the table to see past the other ponies. “Excavating isn't cheap. If you know the most direct paths to other sites, you can save us a lot of time and effort.”

“Which leads me to my question,” Steel Rivet adds before I can respond to Hammer. “How many of these ruins can be reached from the surface?”

“Just the one I came out of. It was the highest point on campus, so the rest is even further down,” I answer. “You can get inside through the roof access, which even now can be reached from the surface.”

“That's unfortunate. I'd hoped we could begin outside the Everfree,” Steel Rivet sighs in resignation. “That forest isn't a place I relish entering.”

“You won't have to worry about anything,” Shining Armor speaks up, having been silent this whole time. Nothing really warranted any input from him, so he'd just been listening. Upon hearing him, the other ponies glance at him. “I see why my presence is necessary. You want me to send some of my troops to safeguard the civilians.”

“That's right. The Everfree Forest is a dangerous place, and requires a small contingent of guards to protect your base camp,” Celestia expresses seriously. “I don't want to hear about any ponies getting hurt over the course of this project.”

“You'll need more than that,” I interrupt before Shining Armor can respond. Celestia looks at me, raising an eyebrow. Yeah, I should probably tell them something about this now, rather than later. “The last time I was there, I ran into a monster in the ruins. Assuming there's any more, we might need some guards to come with us into the ruins as well.”

“Monster? Specifically, what kind of monster?” Flash inquires, looking interested. “There are quite a lot of predatory creatures in the forest, after all.”

“I don't think it's your commonplace predator. It's difficult to explain,” I say, giving Celestia a meaningful look. She tilts her head to one side, trying to read my nonverbal expression no doubt. “It was like a pony, except with claws. It didn't seem to feel pain, either. Like I said, I'm not sure if there's any more of them, but it's worth mentioning.”

“Thank you for warning us. Shining Armor, I'll leave it up to you on how many guards to send,” Celestia  affirms. Shining  Armor nods and goes back to listening, having spoken his part. “I'd also like to bring it to your attention that we will be needing a way to transport supplies and equipment from here to the site.”

“Which is why you brought me here, I assume,” Gilded Skies says, speaking for the first time since this gathering began. “Just let me remind you that my airships are the best in Equestria. They don't come cheap.”

“I remember. After all, this is hardly the first time we've done business,” Celestia replies. Then, the princess stands up, sweeping her gaze across the table, looking at each one of us. “Now, I believe I've explained to you all what I expect of you. Miss Opal, the rest is up to you.”

“Wait, you're leaving? There's still so much to figure out!” I demand, looking at Celestia incredulously.

“I'm not in charge of the project, Seth. I'm here to assign a budget and choose the ponies most suited to the job,” Celestia reminds me, smiling. “Trust Miss Opal. She knows what she's doing.”

Next to me, Opal proceeds to clap her hooves to her cheeks and squee again, pleased at the praise Celestia just gave her. You know, looking at this mare with whom I'll be working, it doesn't seem like she's the kind of pony that can organize such a high cost project. And according to Steel Rivet's expression, he doesn't think so either.

Celestia moves towards the door, opening it with her magic. “I have a few preparations to make before I withdraw the funds needed for this expedition. Miss Opal, I'll provide you with a budget as soon as I can. Plan for the usual amount in the meantime,” she orders. Then, she looks at me. “I'll be visiting Ponyville before this evening to finalize payment on your house and furnishings. I'll send somepony to fetch you when I do.”

“Sure, I guess,” I remark, though I'm glad I'll be able to go back to Ponyville before tonight. What makes things better is that when I do, I'm getting a house. I bet Vinyl will be happy to see me move out of her spare room at last.

With that, Celestia leaves the room and I'm left with these six other ponies that I'm completely unfamiliar with. Except Shining Armor, but having him around is worse than being alone with ponies I don't know.

Almost immediately, Opal gets serious, levitating a notepad and quill to her with her magic. “All right then, you heard the princess. I'm the project leader, so I'm going to make sure that our efforts benefit both our culture and our treasury,” she declares, scribbling something down on the notepad.

“That's a sentiment I can agree with,” Flash remarks, and then he too retrieves a notepad from his lab coat. I guess they all plan to take notes on this. “I think my job is pretty clear cut in this case. I'm to bring some of my fellow scientists and equipment to analyze what human technology we can uncover, right?”

“That's correct, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. First things first, we need to specify a location for the base camp on the surface,” Opal asserts, looking at Steel Rivet. “Steel, we will likely be needing your services in this regard.”

“I figured you would. This place is in the middle of the Everfree Forest. Unless you feel like camping in the ruins, some of those trees need to come down,” Steel Rivet agrees. He seems to be putting aside his distaste for Opal now that she seems to be all about business. “But that causes a problem in and of itself. Some of those trees can defend themselves.”

“Hold on, what? How can a tree defend itself? It's a tree,” I ask, raising an eyebrow. Steel Rivet looks at me in surprise, as if he legitimately thinks I should know what he's talking about.

“The Everfree Forest is possibly one of the most dangerous places in Equestria. Even the princesses don't know everything about what foul creatures lurk in there,” Shining Armor answers me. Huh, he's actually talking to me. Good to know he can talk business without bringing his own personal feelings into it. “Some of the trees have magical properties and should be approached with care.”

“Good thing I'm here, then. I happen to know a variety of magical countermeasures,” Flash responds, writing more notes. “I'll bring my partner; he's very good at countering natural defense enchantments.”

“Do so, then,” Opal orders. She then turns back to Steel Rivet. “Yes, we will need to clear an area around the entry point that Seth mentioned. Likely the opening will have to be enlarged, as well.”

“It will. There's no way you're getting heavy equipment down there without doing as much,” I tell her, remembering the tiny ass roof access that I'd had to escape through. “The problem is doing that  without wrecking the roof's integrity. Because if the roof caves in, there goes the camp.”

“That's what I'm here for. I have ponies in my jurisdiction that understand human architecture, and I'm good at setting up supports for unstable structures. You didn't think Hammer here would be able to tunnel without support, did you?” Steel Rivet reminds me. Hammer grunts in agreement. I guess they have a point. Tunnels are known to collapse under their own weight at times, so support is necessary. Guess I forgot about that much.

“Which brings me to my initial point,” Opal re-enters, peering at the two earth ponies. “Steel, we're going to need equipment. That means wood, tools, canvas, and ponies to provide physical labor. It's possible that we can use the trees you fell to form a defensive wall, to make defending the camp easier.”

“That's a good idea, especially if you sharpen the protruding branches. A barricade will make it much easier on my guards,” Shining Armor agrees. “But we also need to think about how to bring this equipment to the site.”

“That's a good point. Seth, how deep in the Everfree is the entry point?” Opal questions me. And then there's me, sitting here and answering questions, pretending that I'm as smart as the rest of them. Seriously, I just want to go back to the school. I didn't think it would be this complicated to figure out. “Would it be feasible to ferry supplies to Ponyville by train, and then enter the forest from there?”

“Probably not. The entry point isn't on the path, and it's pretty far in if I remember right,” I answer, straining my mind to remember the events of that night. Though I couldn't really take it in much because I was running like an idiot from a pack of timberwolves, Scooby Doo style.

“I see. In that case, Gilded Skies, we're going to be relying on you,” Opal decides, glancing at the mostly quiet pegasus. 

“If you want my airships, I expect four hundred bits a day. And that's just for one,” Gilded Skies   replies, meeting Opal's gaze with his own. I whistle quietly to myself at that figure. That's quite a number. Though I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Just renting a boat can cost hundreds of dollars in my time. If you tried to rent a blimp, I bet that would number in the thousands. 

“That much? Can't you lower it a little, because this is royal business?” Opal cajoles, doing her best to look adorable. Gilded Skies raises an eyebrow, and then he scoffs.

“So? Money is money, and airships aren't cheap to maintain. Princess Celestia understands that, and pays my usual rate,” Gilded Skies asserts irritably. “I repeat. Four hundred bits per day, per airship. Or you're going to have to find another way of getting your equipment there safely.”

“Just do it, Opal. There's no point in arguing when he has all the cards,” I snap at her. Opal looks at me, but she soon sighs, realizing I'm right.

“At least one of us has a basic understanding of the situation,” Gilded Skies comments, giving an approving nod to me, while his lip curls up slightly in contempt. I wasn't looking for compliments. I'm just telling it like it is. “It's a good thing you have him working with you, Opal.”

The underlying insult to the project leader doesn't go unnoticed. The other ponies wince slightly and look to Opal to see how she will react. She stares back at Gilded Skies with a neutral expression. “Very well, I accept your price,” Opal says after a tense silence. “We'll be needing two airships then. We need one to carry the equipment and other cargo, and another to carry the expeditionary force.”

“Now, that's something I can understand,” Gilded Skies says with a grin. He gets to his hooves and steps away from the table. “Looks like my job here is done. Once you've got a date decided on, come find me, and I'll draft up a contract.”

“Leaving already?” Opal asks in surprise. “We've got so much more to discuss, though! Don't you want to be present for that?”

“Why would I be? Honestly if Princess Celestia hadn't asked for me directly, I wouldn't have come to this,” Gilded Skies shoots back. “As far as I can tell, all you need me for are the airships. I don't have any obligation to stick around.”

“I guess you don't. All right, I suppose I'll see you when it's time to make our arrangements?” Opal admits with a sigh. Not only was she insulted by this guy, but he also shut her down with logic and is clearly disrespecting her wishes by leaving in the middle of a discussion. 

“Indeed you will. I'll probably be tagging along on your little expedition. After all, I'm interested to see what the fuss is all about with these hairless monkeys,” Gilded Skies remarks, and then with a mocking bow, he retreats from the room. A silence falls across the five remaining ponies and I, until I finally say the first thing that comes to my mind.

“That guy is a bit of an asshole,” I quip. Opal and Flash look at me in shock, both of them probably being well versed in human culture enough to know what that means. There's another silence, and then Opal loses her composure and chokes with laughter. 

Flash slowly facehoofs at my remark, while Steel Rivet shoots Opal an annoyed glance as the mare giggles and snorts like a filly. “You called him a...oh dear Celestia!” she tries to get out, but dissolves back into helpless laughter. I grin a bit and shake my head. I certainly didn't intend my comment to bring her so much amusement, but that's fine if she likes that kind of humor.

“Right, now if we can compose ourselves,” Hammer interrupts, looking annoyed at Opal's undignified display. His words get Opal to force down her laughs and retain some measure of professionalism. “There's still a lot of details to be ironed out. If my ponies and I are going to be tunneling, we're going to need some equipment of our own. Lights, for one. Without them we'll be digging around in the dark.”

“You have a fair point. I'll have to direct some bits to your company so you can supply yourself,” Opal admits, writing something in her notepad. She's probably been taking notes in that thing so she doesn't forget any vital details. “The same goes for you, Steel. You will likely receive a significant portion of the budget, as you are the one who needs the most equipment. Your role is vital, after all.”

“What about ponies? How many scientists should I bring, for instance?” Flash rejoins after Steel Rivet acknowledges Opal with a nod.

“I'll leave that up to your discretion. You know the individual members of your departments better than I do,” Opal answers, which seems to satisfy Flash well enough, as he smiles and writes something down in his notepad.

“Speaking of which, Rogers.” Shining Armor enters the conversation once more, staring at me with a stern expression. “How strong was this monster you faced?”

“We're back to the monster again?” I ask, having thought that subject was done with. Shining Armor doesn't respond, as he's still waiting for an answer. “Well, it was really tough. It downright tore me to pieces. It didn't feel pain and wouldn't die from seemingly lethal blows. I had to bash its head in completely before it would fall,"

"I see; so you're saying it's incredibly resilient...or is it undead?" Shining Armor questioned. His bringing up undead causes a murmur of trepidation to pass over the group. 

"Maybe? Hell if I know what an undead looks like...but it was down there for thousands of years, so may be right about that," I respond, shrugging.

"This just got a lot more complicated. Undead are troublesome beings. What types of weapons did it have?" Shining Armor continued.

"Claws and teeth, both of which I've seen go through hardwood and metal like nothing," I answer.  the captain pauses, taking several moments to ponder the situation now that he had all the details.

“I'm not letting civilians go into the forest where there's even a small possibility of running into something like that,” Shining Armor states firmly, pressing a hoof on the table. “Not without being adequately protected. I'm sending Commander Iron with you.”

“Oh? I've heard of his power, and it's very reassuring to know he'll be protecting us,” Opal responds, smiling. 

“Iron's coming with us? Isn't he the second in command for the First Regiment? Are you sure you can spare him for a simple archaeological dig?” I point out. I mean, I wouldn't object to Iron coming along, but that's not all we have to think about. “What if Chrysalis comes back? Don't you need him here?”

My mention of Chrysalis causes Shining Armor's expression to look a little strained, as if he were trying to hold back anger. That probably wasn't a good idea on my part. “If she returns, then Princess Celestia and I will be more than capable of handling the situation ourselves,” Shining Armor tells me, an edge in his voice. “Rest assured that Canterlot will be in good hooves, even with Commander Iron's absence.”

“Not that I'm complaining. That guy's probably stronger than I am, what with those weapons of his,” I remark, sitting back and crossing my arms. Shining Armor is still angry at me for Chrysalis, but I'm not going to let him intimidate me. Bitch, I fought someone far stronger than you. You'll have to do better than that if you want to be scarier than Chrysalis.

“Hm...how about we wrap things up here? We all have much work to do, now that you understand what we're dealing with,” Opal interrupts, closing her notepad. Oh thank god, is this meeting finally ending? I'm so done with this. I was done with this after giving Celestia the location. Hopefully now I can go home, because there's not much I can do now until the expedition starts.

“Sounds good to me. I have to gather my equipment and pick out my best scientists,” Flash agreed, standing up from the table. The other ponies do the same as well, though Shining Armor quickly leaves the room after a quick farewell to Opal, not even giving me a glance on his way out.

“I'll contact you as soon as I can give you an estimate on costs,” Steel Rivet says, standing up alongside Rough Hammer, who echoes his sentiments. “Let us know when you have a budget for us.”

With that, Opal and I are soon the only ones in the room. Honestly I have nothing to do until Celestia sends for me, so I'm in no rush to leave.

“Well then. There's so much to be done. I must say, thank you so much for letting us know about these ruins,” Opal says to me once we're alone. “The chance to visit ruins that stretch for miles is the opportunity of a lifetime!”

“I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it so I can go back. I have things I need to do,” I snap back at her. Opal flinches at the edge in my voice.

“I see. Well, nevertheless, I am grateful to be able to study this place. And if I can help you in the process, all the better, I say,” Opal responds with a smile. I raise an eyebrow at that. She doesn't even know me, so what does she care if she helps me or not?

I don't get very much time to dwell on  it before Opal suddenly squeals happily and tugs on my arm. “Let's go! I want to show you something!” she exclaims, and then I'm forced to follow her out of the room.

Ugh, what have I gotten myself into this time?
> 67. Remnants of the Past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Opal only manages to drag me for maybe five seconds before I throw off her hoof irritably. “I can walk on my own, thank you very much,” I snap at her after she looks back to see what's wrong. “I don't know why you ponies think it's okay to arbitrarily touch me.”

“Oops. Sorry, I guess I got a little carried away,” Opal apologizes, giggling slightly despite the fact that I just snapped at her. Her enthusiasm isn't dampened at all, though. She gestures to me with a hoof. “Come on then! I want to show you my collection!”

“Collection of what?” I grumble, following her with a sigh. I just met these ponies, and that was only for business. I don't see why this pony would go out of her way to try and be friendly right after we just met. Not to mention I don't really care to see whatever collection of junk that she may have.

“I'm an archaeologist! As such, I collect minor artifacts that aren't deemed useful by the Science and my departments,” Opal reveals, her excitement rising. Hold up, she's collecting artifacts? Does that mean that she has a bunch of human shit just lying around? “I thought you might want to look at what I have. Maybe you'll recognize some of them.”

So I'm probably right. While I'd really be heading back to Ponyville right about now, I'm curious to see what kinds of things she's managed to find. I'm not expecting anything major, though, if these things she's got aren't considered important enough for a proper museum. That reminds me. I should check around and see if there's a human museum at some point.  Not now though. I just want Celestia to get done so I can go home.

“Whatever. I doubt you have anything other than piles of scrap, anyway,” I reply, because if she had anything more intact, I bet she wouldn't be able to keep it.

“Eh, but they're human piles of scrap,” Opal jokes, nudging me playfully. I raise an eyebrow at how overly friendly she's being. “That makes them so much more mysterious. Now come on, we're almost there.”

Opal leads me to a door situated in a rounded corner of two hallways set at a right angle. I'm guessing this is one of the towers. Sure enough, the door is labeled, telling me that we're walking into the Archaeology Tower. So what, does every major corporation that's funded by the royalty have its own tower? Because I know the Science Department has one.

The tower is pretty big, but I don't get much time to take it all in, because Opal is leading me up a set of spiral stairs. “Not much longer. My quarters are in the top of the tower, because I'm the head of the department and all,” Opal explains. Suddenly I'm suspicious. She's taking me to her room? As in, her personal room?

“Why are you taking me to your room?” I demand, all kinds of potential answers to my own question running through my head.

“To see my collection, of course,” Opal answers as if it should have been obvious. Right...she keeps her collection in her room. What I'm thinking right now is that this could get awkward pretty fast, especially considering she's a fanatic for human relics. If that extends to me, I might have to smack her down like I did to Lyra.

“I got that, but why your room? Don't you have a museum for this?” I press. Suddenly a thought strikes me. It's paranoid, but sometimes paranoia can save lives. I glance at her eyes as she comes up with a response. Thankfully, her eyes look normal, without a trace of green in them. Whew. I mean, the chances of that happening were pretty slim, but at least now I feel better about this.

“Not here, silly. This is a restricted area for anyone other than members of our department. You're with me though, so it's fine,” Opal explains. “I could take you to the museum in Canterlot, but as the project lead for this expedition, I'm going to be very busy. This is easier, and...I'm also being a little selfish.”

“Selfish?”

“Yes.” Opal giggles as if she'd just done something naughty. “The museum would likely pay you to look at their artifacts, but...I got you first.”

“What the hell does that mean?” I ask, raising an eyebrow. This pony is getting a little bit creepy now. 

“I have all these artifacts that are too ruined or too small to be studied that I've been collecting. I thought you might know what some of them are,” Opal elaborates. Okay, now that makes a little more sense. I don't know why she couldn't just say that. She wants me to do something for her. In essence, she wants a favor out of me.

“Okay, and why should I do that? What's in it for me?” I reply, crossing my arms. Opal looks at me in surprise, and then she sighs when she sees that I'm serious. She slows to a stop on one of the foyers of the staircase.

“I wasn't meaning for it to be a business transaction. I just thought I'd share my fascination with you,” Opal expresses sadly. Ugh, and now she's trying to guilt me into doing it. Seriously?

“Don't fucking guilt me. You just said that the whole reason you brought me here was so I could identify some artifacts for you,” I point out to her, not putting up with her bullshit.

“I wasn't trying to guilt you, and I brought you here because I wanted to share my collection with someone who could appreciate it more than the average archaeologist,” Opal responds, looking at me straight in the eyes.

“And the fact that you could use my knowledge had nothing to with it?” I repeat, unconvinced.

“You are so stubborn!” Opal complains, pouting. “I'm just being friendly, that's all. You're reading way too deeply into this.”

“Whatever. Let's just get this over with so I can go find Celestia,” I grumble, having lost patience with her. Just being friendly. Right...acting friendly the moment you meet someone. I'm not telling her a damn thing unless she makes it an even trade.

Opal is silent, but she does start climbing the stairs again. She's walking a bit more stiffly than usual, which tells me I must have hurt her feelings. Eh, she'll get over it. To her credit though, I am interested to see what she has.

The staircase continues further upwards, passing an open area where other ponies are working on the way. We pass by it too quickly for me to get a good look at it, but I'm guessing that's where they analyze whatever they find. I wonder what they do when there's no artifacts to study.

Finally, the staircase terminates at a foyer at the top, where the door to her bedroom is located. She opens it with her magic and ushers me inside with a smile, her enthusiasm returning slightly now that I'm here.

“This is a room? Looks more like a museum in and of itself,” I comment upon walking inside. There's multitudes of shelves and glass cases lining the room, displaying items that I can't make out from here. The one artifact that stands out is an old worn statue of a bearded human holding a book. It's a piece of shit, as far as its condition is concerned. It's missing an arm and a leg, and that's not even counting the wear and tear of age pockmarking its surface. Looks like something you'd see in a town square or something.

“Doesn't it? I've been collecting artifacts my whole career,” Opal agrees excitedly, my earlier remarks going forgotten in the presence of her prized artifacts. She canters over to the statue I looked at. “Have you seen this one before? I'm dying to know if he has a name.”

“Not a clue, sorry. I was a student, not an art enthusiast,” I say with a shrug. Opal looks a little disappointed.

“Aw, okay,” she sighs with disappointed, and then she comically pats the statue as if it were disappointed too. “Sorry, buddy, looks like I'm still going to be calling you Mr. Book.”

Mr...Book. I don't even with this chick. I wonder if she names all of her artifacts. Or is this statue just special?

“Feel free to look around! I'd love to see what you think about the other things I have,” Opal insists, gesturing to the whole room. I wordlessly do so, approaching the first table that has items on it.

As I'd expected, there's a lot of scrap here. On this one table, I can see pieces of old circuit boards, or old figurines whose features have long since weathered away. And, huh, this piece looks like a flash drive. Or, what's left of one. That eroded protrusion definitely looks like a USB output to me.

On the shelves up above that table, there's old mugs and cups that look like they're made of plastic or some kind of ceramic. There's other kitchen related items up there as well, such as tarnished silverware or small plates.

“Oh, where are my manners? I'll make you some tea while you're looking,” Opal suddenly says, moving to the kitchen portion of the room. Yes, this room has a kitchen. It's a pretty large room. I guess it comes with being the head of the department. 

I shrug and continue looking. Unfortunately not much here is recognizable or particularly interesting to me. There's some old wires, pipes, pulleys, and other such junk that could be considered artifacts by these ponies.

Then I spot a rectangular box looking piece on one of the upper shelves. Hold on a minute is that what I think it is? I reach up and grab the object, bringing it to my face. Much to my amusement, it's exactly what I thought it was. 

Sitting in my hand is a beaten and worn cell phone. Except it's not just any cell phone. It's a Nokia. It's a goddamn Nokia. I promptly burst into laughter, setting the phone down on the nearest table. I just can't help myself. This would be something that would last over 3000 years. Go fucking figure.

“Is something funny?” Opal asks curiously, returning with a platter carrying two steaming cups of tea. With her magic, she sets the platter between us and allows me to take one of the cups from her.

“Just the fact that this piece of shit is still in one piece after three thousand years,” I tell her breathlessly after I compose myself. Goddamn Nokia. Shitty phone, but certainly made to last. When she tilts her head in confusion, I show her the old phone.

“Oh, it was indeed interesting how this particular artifact managed to remain in such good condition, despite the passage of time,” Opal observes, though she still looks confused. “I don't see how that's funny, however.”

“You wouldn't. It's only funny to a human like me,” I respond, still chuckling a bit at the irony. With that out of the way, I sip at my tea and move down the room, looking at what else she has on display. Sadly though, nothing else there has quite the impact as that shitty old phone did. Not a lot is in good shape here. They really are just pieces of junk that aren't worthy enough for proper study or display.

Finally, once I finish looking over everything, Opal and I take a seat on her plush couch so that we can finish our tea. I eye her curiously. “So why are you messing around up here with me when you have an expedition to plan?” I ask, that particular thought having just occurred to me. Opal cringes at that.

“Trust me, I know exactly how much work is ahead of me. But because you and I are going to be working together, I thought I'd get to know you a little first,” Opal explains with a friendly smile. Ugh, those words. “Get to know you.” I have heard those words so many times, they've lost whatever meaning they might have had.

“That's not really necessary. Literally all I'm going to do is tell you where to start digging, and maybe tell you what things are once we start uncovering things,” I point out. “Nowhere in this deal does it mention that we have to be friends.”

“What the...aw, why not?” Opal pleads, poking out her lower lip. You know, for an adult mare who's the head of the Archaeological Department, she acts way too much like a foal.  “You're mean. Why are you so mean when we've only just met?”

“I'm not getting into this with you,” I groan, not in the mood for more friendship bullshit. I have all the friends I need, really, and I'm certainly not going to accept her two seconds after meeting her. It's like they think I'm obligated to be kind just because they act as such.

“Well, I hope you change your mind. We have a long partnership ahead of us, so I hope we can at least be civil,” Opal expresses, drinking from her tea. That much I can agree with. I'm going to be stuck in the forest with this mare, so provided she doesn't get too pushy, it shouldn't be a problem. It could be worse. I mean, I could be working with Pinkie. I think I would go insane within the space of a day. “What do you think of my collection?”

“It was pretty much what I expected. You said that all the valuable or intact stuff is taken for study, so that leaves you with scrap...though I'm curious as to how you got to keep that statue,” I reply truthfully, pointing at the statue of the bearded man.

“Oh, Mr. Book? We unearthed him in the ruins beneath Trotsdale. He was studied quite a bit, but unfortunately there's not much of use on him. There's no labels, markings, or anything that would have helped us learn more about him,” Opal relates, calling the statue by that utterly stupid nickname again. I'm half tempted to figure out what it is just so she'll stop calling it that. It's just so stupid. “But I liked him, because he looked so educated and calm. So I managed to persuade the project lead to part with it. I call him Mr. Book.”

“Would you stop calling him that?” I finally snap, getting annoyed.

“Why? It's cute!” Opal objects, wrinkling her snout indignantly.

“It's stupid!” I correct her, rubbing my forehead.

“It's stupid cute,” Opal corrects me right back, pursing her lips stubbornly. “Unless you have a better name for him, I'm calling him Mr. Book.”

“That's so dumb,” I groan, a headache forming just from this one conversation alone. Opal seems to find my annoyance amusing, considering she's giggling into a hoof. I finish my tea and set the cup aside, now bored with this interaction. “So are we done here? I'm sure you have a lot of work to do.”

“I suppose we are. It doesn't look like I'm going to make any headway here after all,” Opal agrees, sighing with disappointment. Damn right you're not. As far as I can see, you're annoying and childish with an over the top fascination with humans. Talk about a combination for disaster. “Hold on, let me clean up the dishes and I'll take you back down.”

I look around as she gets up and takes my empty cup from me. Sure enough, there's a window on one side of the room that's fairly accessible. Feeling a little daring, I get up and approach it as Opal turns on the faucet in the kitchen and starts washing the dishes.

Unfastening the latch, I throw the window open, letting in some of the cold air. We're extremely high up, but that's fine with me. 

“Seth? What are you doing?” Opal asks in alarm as she feels the cold air on her coat. She turns to look just as I throw myself out the window. “Aaah!”

“Later, motherfucker,” I remark, flaring my magic and flying away from the tower just as Opal sticks her head out the window. The look on her face is fucking great. I just jumped out of the fucking window of one of the highest places in the castle. I have always wanted to do something like this ever since I learned how to fly.

Of course, now that I'm out here, I have no idea what to do now. Celestia said she would send somepony to get me when she was ready. Technically I could have just waited with Opal until that happened, but she was getting annoying. Not to mention I got to freak her out by throwing myself out a  window.

I fly down towards the gardens, because that's where I usually meet Celestia. Plus it's a nice place to kick back and relax. Though to be honest, it would be better if I'd thought to bring the Clock-Maker with me. But I left that with Twilight because I plan to read that at her place. Whatever. Worst comes to worst, I can take a short nap.

The garden is easy to spot from above. I end up landing in the clearing where the Discord statue is, the grass flattening under my feet. I'm sure glad these shoes Rarity got me forever ago can be fastened, otherwise they'd have fallen off a long time ago.

“S'up, Discord,” I say to the distorted statue of the ridiculous looking god offhandedly. Not that I really care how he's doing. I wonder if he can hear me in there?

While waiting for Celestia or whoever it is she's sending for me, I rest my back against the statue of Discord and pull out my phone. I've still got a lot of texts I could look at. Though I really need to find some other portable means of entertainment. I should go and grab my old satchel back in Ponyville. You know, the old one that I haven't used since before the wedding happened.

I'm only there for maybe half an hour before somepony comes to get me. I half expect it to be Elegant Style, but surprisingly it's not. Instead, I get some generic guard that I've never met. Come to think of it, I haven't seen Elegant since before the wedding. I wonder if she made it out all right? Whatever, that's not important. 





The guard leads me back to the same sitting room in which I met Celestia earlier today, where she's thankfully already waiting for me. The guard doesn't leave either, instead bowing his head to Celestia and moving to stand with several other guards situated near the other exit.

“Finally. I cannot even tell you how done I am with this city,” I express to Celestia before she can even greet me. “Did you know that I just got dragged up to the Archaeology Tower by that Opal bitch?”

“To show you her collection I assume,” Celestia replies, taking my abrupt greeting in stride. When I nod affirmatively, she nods knowingly. “I knew that was a possibility. There's not many ponies that take such enthusiasm in their work. I find it refreshing.”

“Good for you. It bugs the hell out of me because I feel like she wants to dissect me in a lab somewhere,” I retort, crossing my arms.

“Now, even she has lines she doesn't cross,” Celestia jokes, which gets me to snort with amusement. “But perhaps we should proceed with more important subjects. I know you've been worried about your payment.”

“Yes I have. Hence why I've only given you the general area to this place, and not actually where it is,” I point out. I know I saw her send a letter, but until I see the house and the rest of the payment, I'm not going to tell her shit.

“That's fair. I wanted to tell you that since I left the meeting room, I've been calculating a budget for this expedition, as well as gathering the money I need to follow through on my promise,” Celestia discloses. Her horn lights up and a large chest emerges from underneath one of the tables. I'd noticed it there when I walked in, but I didn't think it was significant until now. Celestia moves it towards me, the lid opening. “Take a look.”

A quick glance inside tells me that the chest is filled to the brim with bits, glimmering in the light. Wow, is this the 50,000 I've been promised? Wait...upon taking a closer look, I can make out small 100s engraved upon them. Well, shit, these are 100 value bits. 

Basically, there's more than one kind of bit, which I figured out pretty quickly. I mean, it wouldn't make sense for somepony like Filthy Rich to run around carrying house sized bags of bits whenever he has to make a business transaction. So you've got 50 value bit coins, 100 value bits, and 1000 value bits, though I've only ever seen the previous two. I've heard there's even bars for massive sums, but I don't know the details.

“There's more than fifty thousand here,” I point out to her, because I'm estimating that's more around 100,000. “Why are you bringing so much money with you?”

“You're right, I have a bit more than necessary. I still need to finalize payment on your house, as well as purchase appropriate furnishings and renovations for your house,” Celestia answers, closing the chest and setting it down. “That's why I'm coming along with you to Ponyville.”

“Oh good, I can watch ponies freak out because their princess is walking around,” I comment. After all, even the ponies in the lower part of Canterlot stare at her in awe whenever she passes, so the reactions of the ponies in Ponyville should be pretty funny to watch. “Though seriously, I'm ready to go. I told Rainbow I'd be back before the end of the day, and it's already afternoon.”

“Of course. Shall we get going then?” Celestia offers, lifting up the chest once more and fastening it shut. Finally, I thought she'd never ask. Once Celestia sees my nod, she steps towards the group of guards, who immediately part and follow us once we're both through the door behind them. I guess they're our escort. Celestia turns her head back to look at me as we walk. “So how was the meeting?”

“Informative, if a  bit irritating. Not everypony in there were altogether that fond of one another,” I reply truthfully, remembering Gilded Skies and his blatant insult to Opal. Though I can understand finding her annoying, he was insulting her capabilities, and as far as I can tell, she knows what she's doing. “Or of me, in the case of Shining Armor.”

“I know that there's some animosity in the group. Gilded Skies is a jaded individual. He wasn't always this successful, so money is a great deal more important to him than to the average pony,” Celestia divulges. So what, because he was poor once, that means I should excuse him being an asshole? Fucking no. “He's very good at what he does, however. Provided he conducts himself in a professional manner, I won't begrudge him his quirks.”

“Right. Let me guess, you read his mind to figure out those things about him,” I guess. Celestia doesn't answer with anything more than a giggle, which lets me know I'm right. Fucking mind reading horse.

At last, we return to that miniature runway that I first arrived in, and Celestia's personal chariot is there waiting for us...which means I'm going to have to ride in it.

“Celestia, why do you use these chariots?” I ask now that I've got the opportunity. Once Celestia gives me a curious look, I continue. “Seriously, you have wings. Why don't you just fly on your own? If you have that much power, you should be able to get from place to place much faster.”

“That is a very good question. Several reasons, I suppose,” Celestia begins, nodding her head understandingly. She hops up onto the chariot and takes her seat, and then gestures for me to join her. Once I'm settled beside her, she continues. “Primarily it's for personal reasons. For example, one reason is that I enjoy viewing Equestria from above, without having to exert myself. It's also nice to just sit back and relax, with the wind running through my mane.”

“And because you want the guards to feel useful, because you certainly don't need protection,” I add, just as she's opening her mouth to continue. Speaking of which, the pegasus guards have attached themselves to the chariot. They break into a run, and it isn't long before we're in the air.

“Perhaps in part,” Celestia admits. “Sometimes it is necessary to keep up appearances. For instance, I would like like a bad host if I didn't send a chariot for you.”

“Fuckin' public relations,” I grumble, though I can see the sense in what she's saying. It wouldn't do for the princess to be portrayed in a negative light, even if she could just force everypony into obedience with her overwhelming might. Except she doesn't do that because she's Celestia.

“Although necessary, they can indeed be a hassle,” Celestia agrees with a wry smile. We fall into silence for a few minutes as the chariot carries us away from Canterlot and through the skies. Though it isn't long until she feels the need to talk again. “It's been too long since I've visited Ponyville. Perhaps I'll spend some time with Twilight, and even visit Pinkie's bakery, if there's time.”

“Suddenly I'm picturing you gorging yourself on Pinkie's cupcakes,” I comment, the image getting me to chuckle. Celestia looks shifty at that comment.

“I don't know what you're talking about,” she quips with a knowing smile. The two of us share a chuckle at that. “In all honestly, that mare is really quite skilled at her work. I don't think I've ever tasted better cake.”

“I don't think I've tasted better sweets in general. I was used to the store-bought stuff that's been processed and frozen,” I agree. Celestia wrinkles up her snout, clearly finding as much distaste in that concept as I do.

Ponyville soon comes into view, barely visible through the clouds. The pegasus guards controlling the chariot angle themselves downwards, guiding us through a gap in the cloud layer and taking us lower. It looks like we're going to land right in the main square...and for some reason, there are some ponies already gathered there, as if they're waiting for us.

“Oh, it seems they've prepared a welcome for me,” Celestia observes, looking rather unenthusiastic about the prospect. 

“Did you think they wouldn't? You're the royal princess of the sun, and you gave them prior notice. Of course they're going to want to make a good impression,” I point out to her. Or it could also be because they know she has the power to wipe them off the map if she wants to.

“Hm...” Celestia muses, a mischievous expression crossing her face. Uh oh, I don't think I've seen that look on her face much before. 

“Okay, what are you planning? That's a face that promises misery for somepony,” I press curiously. Celestia pretends to look offended.

“Now Seth, I don't plan to inflict misery on anypony,” she assures me. But then a childish smile crosses her face. “Buuut...I feel the need to surprise them a bit. What if I disguised myself and slipped around the back?”

“Oh my god, are you seriously planning to play a prank on your own subjects?” I ask incredulously, grinning despite how stupid this situation is. Celestia giggles and nods. I chuckle to myself. “As funny as that would be, can you not? I feel like if you did that, they'd be too busy having heart attacks to help me get my house in a timely manner. I did have other things I wanted to do today.”

“Aww, no fun, Seth,” Celestia whines, earning a shake of the head from me. I guess even millennia old mares can act like fillies sometimes too. Go figure. “Very well, I shall save the pranking for another visit. Now then, it seems like the Mayor is already here...as is Twilight.”

“Again, why wouldn't she be? As far as I can tell, that mare is to you like Rainbow is to the Wonderbolts,” I remark, peering over the side. Sure enough, Twilight is there in the group of ponies that are waiting for us. I don't know which one's the mayor, though.

“I suppose you're right,” Celestia agrees, smiling. Our conversation ends as the chariot touches down, coasting to a stop just in front of the town hall.

The moment the chariot is still, I hop out of the thing, my feet plodding against the dirt of Ponyville. I don't think I need to repeat how much I prefer this place to Canterlot.

“Seth?” Twilight asks, approaching me in confusion. “I didn't know you'd be with Celestia. I thought you were with Rainbow?”

“I was. It's a long and unnecessarily complicated story,” I reply, turning my head back just in time to see Celestia descending from the chariot as well, in a much more elegant manner than what I did. “Though I doubt you're here to see me. Go glomp your princess.”

“Go what my princess?” Twilight asks indignantly, clearly not understanding what I'd just said. She probably assumes I said something vulgar...though considering how often I curse, that's not altogether an unreasonable assumption. 

“Glomp. Human phrase. Means practically breaking a neck through a hug,” I explain with a flat-browed expression. Twilight sighs. While it's not as bad as she was expecting, I bet it still annoyed her.

“I'm certainly not going to 'glomp' Princess Celestia,” Twilight grumbles, moving past me and approaching the princess in question, who is talking to a tan colored pony with a greyish mane, who is wearing just a collar to signify her importance. I'm guessing that's the mayor, though I can't hear what they're talking about. So I accompany Twilight over to them.

“...honor that you're here. I've done as you've asked and left several homes open for you and Seth to look at,” Mayor Mare finishes just as Twilight and I reach them. She soon spots me...and it occurs to me that I've never spoken to the damn mayor of the town I've been living in. Is that coincidence? Or is it just because I tend to avoid town events where she's probably involved? 

With a nod from Celestia, Mayor Mare approaches me with a smile. “I assume you're Seth. I've seen you around town and at a few parties,” she greets me, extending a hoof to me. “I apologize for never formally introducing myself. I'm Mayor Mare.”

“That's fine, I doubt I'd have given you much for conversation anyway,” I reply wryly, because at the time I first arrived, I was hating Equestria a lot more than I am now. I still hate Equestria, but at least the few friends I have now make it semi-bearable. While I'm talking to Double Mare here, Twilight is greeting Celestia with a friendly nuzzle. “Now then, I'm interested in seeing what kinds of houses are available.”

“Of course...I was just about to show the princess what I have to offer,” Mayor Mare responds amicably. She gestures to me, and then the two of us join Twilight and Celestia. Twilight seems like she's talking about something she's learned recently,  which surprisingly seems to interest Celestia. Though I guess it's not that surprising. I know next to nothing about Celestia except that she reads minds, likes trolling ponies, and eats too much cake.

When Celestia notices us coming, she stalls Twilight's rant with a hoof. “I'd love to hear more, my dear student, but I'm afraid I came here on business,” Celestia says ruefully, much to Twilight's disappointment. “However, I've made plans to stay in Ponyville tonight. Perhaps we can spend time at your library later?”

“Oh, I would love that!” Twilight exclaims, looking like she's on cloud nine. Though the fact that Celestia is staying overnight is rather curious to me. She's just here to buy me a house and shit, give me my money, and leave, right?

“Excellent. I shall see you later this evening, then,” Celestia replies, and then finally she turns to  Double Mare and me. “Shall we get started? I assume there will be some touring to do, after all.”

“Damn right there is. If there's more than one house to look at, I want to pick the one that suits me,” I agree, inwardly happy that I get to basically shop for houses without actually having to worry about the price.

“Understandable. If you would  both come inside, I can show you the costs and locations of each house,” Mayor Mare suggests. Celestia and I let her lead us into the town hall, or that giant structure that I've never really given a second glance.

Inside, I can tell it's basically just another office building. If all of the town's affairs are handled here, then there's probably an area for record keeping, storage, offices for town officials, and other such things that you'd expect to see in a town hall.

In other words, there's nothing interesting at all to look at until we reach Mayor Mare's office. The mayor opens the door for us, allowing us to enter before her. There's two other ponies in here as well, one of which I recognize, though I'd very much wish I didn't. 

Filthy Rich, as well as one other pony I don't know, is sitting in chairs  around a small square table. They look up upon our entry, and then they both bow their heads in respect to Celestia. Filthy Rich smiles at me. “A pleasure to see you again, Seth,” he greets me. My first response is to scowl. Yeah, I still don't like you.

“Why the hell are you even here?” I demand as Celestia and Mayor Mare take their seats at the desk as well, and the latter starts shuffling through some papers on the desk, arranging them in an orderly fashion.

“I asked Mr. Rich to be here, as Princess Celestia mentioned in her second letter that the house would require furnishings as well,” Mayor Mare answers for him. 

“My shop, Barnyard Bargains, possesses the best selection of furniture and other accessories that will make your house truly a delight to live in,” Filthy Rich adds, looking proud of himself. Great...like I want this guy anywhere near my house.

“Right...can't say that I've ever been there. But I'll take your word for it,” I reply. I guess it could be worse. It could be his little bratty daughter. I turn to the other pony next. “And who are you supposed to be?”

“Ahem. I am Brick Road, a real estate agent for the properties here in Ponyville. It will be me that you will be buying your house from,” the mahogany colored earth pony reveals. He then looks at Celestia expectantly.

“I thought I should gather everypony necessary to complete this transaction,” Mayor Mare explained, glancing to Celestia worriedly. “I hope you don't mind.”

“No, this will makes things easier. Now, I believe you should direct all inquires to Seth, as my purpose here is to provide the funds,” Celestia responds, indicating me with a hoof.  Mayor Mare nods, and then passes me a stack of papers.

“Very well. Let's get started then. If you'll take a look at these for me?” she suggests. Peering down at the papers, I can make out a map of Ponyville, as well as several floor plan layouts, each of which are labeled and color coded carefully.

Oh good. I've always liked floor plans.
> 68. Moving In
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“This one is a small single layered house located right in the square, near the market vendors,” Mayor Mare reveals, pointing a hoof at the floor plan of the house in question. “You may like it. It's simple, with just one bed and a bathroom, and a kitchen combined with a living area. It even has a fireplace to help you through the rest of this winter.”

I peer at the floor plan to see if it suits me or not. I mean, I've lived in college dorms, so my standards aren't that high. I had a living area combined with a kitchen back in my most recent dorm as well, so that's no issue for me. However, I do spot something that gives me pause.

“Hold on, you reach the bathroom from the living room?” I ask, pointing at the doorway to the bathroom. Of course, that's rhetorical, so I continue before any of them can answer me. “That sucks. If I have to get up in the middle of the night, I don't want to stumble around in the dark through the living room just to find the damn bathroom.”

“A reasonable point. Mr. Road, may I ask what inspired that particular room arrangement?” Mayor Mare asks the mahogany pony. 

“It was originally built for a pony who planned to use it for parties, and as such wanted the bathroom within a short distance of the living room,” Brick Road explains. A party pony? Does that mean he built it for Pinkie? Or are there others that are as nuts as she is? “Unfortunately he did not stay in the house for long.”

“Even so, I doubt I'll be having any parties at my house,” I decide, pushing that floor plan away from me and looking at the next. “What about this one?”

“I think you'll like this one. It's an average sized two story house that you'll find by the Carousel  Boutique,” Mayor Mayor continues, proceeding onto the next choice. Two stories? Hm, already I'm a bit turned off. I have no real use for that much space. We'll see though. “There's three bedrooms, three bathrooms, an office, separate kitchen, and three separate living areas.”

“Yeah, that's what I thought. I might have to turn this one down too. I'm just one guy, and I don't have that many possessions. I don't really have much use for that much space,” I admit. Really, all I need is something about the size of my last dorm. A place to sleep, bathe, and...maybe a little extra room for the piano I want to buy.

“Perhaps it would be best if you told us what you're looking for,” Mayor Mare decides, setting aside the two story. I give her a look, wondering if she's getting exasperated. “Oh, pardon me. I didn't mean to sound impatient. It's just that there's a fair amount of possibilities here, and it would be more efficient if we knew what you want beforehoof.”

“Oh. Well then yeah, that makes sense,” I say, nonplussed. So she's willing to work with me. That makes things easier then. I suppose I should have expected she'd be sensible. 

You know, this world is nothing if not consistent. So far, everypony that I've met that's been in charge of something or another has been more or less competent. This includes anything from Applejack on her farm, to Celestia and Luna with Equestria as a whole, and now Opal and Mayor Mare, with their respective areas. Well, except Opal was a bit annoying...though her voice was somewhat familiar for whatever reason. Maybe I should chill a bit and give them the benefit of the doubt...and wow, I did just consider that. I blame Rainbow for this.

“Okay, so here's what I want. I'm used to living small, so I don't mind it if it's one level. Two stories are fine, but if they're too large, I don't want it,” I begin. As I speak, Mayor Mare and Brick Road pick through the floor plans and remove the ones that fall outside the realm of what I want. “I want a master bedroom with a bathroom either in it or extremely close to it, all the essentials and what not, and then finally an extra room...a bedroom or whatever...that can hold a piano and other musical essentials.”

“You play the piano, Seth?” Celestia asks curiously, speaking up for the first time since we began. Right. While I've sat through a concert with her (and subsequently loved it. I still get tears thinking about that last song she played), I never really told her about my own musical inclinations.

“Hell yes. I did a little playing with Octavia a bit after the concert...though I think the stallion at the front desk wanted to kill me once she gave me her mailing address,” I disclose. Part of me wanted to keep that hidden...but eh, it's Celestia, and I'm back in Ponyville.

“With Octavia? Interesting. You'll have to tell me more sometime.” Celestia looks genuinely surprised at that revelation. “However, now's not the time. Pardon my interruption.”

“It's no trouble, princess,” Mayor Mare assures her with a smile. Of course it isn't. She's far above you in rank, so if she wants to talk, most ponies will just shut up. “In fact, it gave us enough time to filter out the houses here. I've got three choices left for you.”

“What are they?” I ask, looking curiously as Mayor Mare spreads out the three remaining floor plans on the table.

“Here, take a look at them. I think you'll have better success by looking over and deciding on them for yourself, rather than listening to me ramble,” Mayor Mare suggests with a twinkle of good humor in her eye, She pushes the three sheets towards me.

Let's see. So this first one I'm looking at is another two story, but it's much smaller than the last one I looked at. It's located near Vinyl's place...which would be cool, but location doesn't really matter now, because I can fly from place to place without expending any real effort. Well, but they can't. And if I ever want Vinyl to visit me, I should be close. This one's a maybe.

The second one is a single level house in the middle of the residential area with no real landmarks near it. It has two bedrooms, with a very dorm-like set up. By that, I mean the two rooms are facing one another on opposite ends of a hallway, with a single bathroom in the middle of that hallway. There's a small living area with a kitchen and such there just before the bedrooms. All in all, it's pretty nice, but I'm not sure it's what I'm looking for. That living area is so small, the piano I want would take up most of the room and not leave much space for hanging out. I need at least enough room to have the piano as well as a couch or something large enough for Vinyl, Rainbow, and I to chill if they ever come over. Which they will if I have anything to say about it. Fucking party at my house.

The third one was closer to Sweet Apple Acres, but it is also very small. It had three bedrooms and two bathrooms, but only a tiny kitchen area and hardly any living area. The master bedroom is massive and could fit a piano, but I'm not sure I want my future piano in my room. Well, this one is certainly a no. 

“I think I've made my decision,” I finally say, and then I point at the two story. “I want this one. It looks like what I'm looking for.”

Brick Road and Mayor Mare glance at the one I chose. Then, the mayor nods at Brick Road, who proceeds to lift up a heavy looking suitcase from the floor behind the table and slap it down in front of us. When he opens it, I can see several organized folders filled with clipped papers arranged neatly inside. It doesn't take him very long to sift through them before he's found what he's looking for.

“Number 324, two story,” Brick Road muses, flipping through the folder he's retrieved. Finally, he makes a satisfied sound, and then he passes me a thin stack of papers. My heart sinks as I realize I'm looking at a home application and contract. So...basically paperwork.  “There you go. Just fill this out and we'll negotiate a payment.”

“Leave the negotiations to me,” Celestia gently corrects Brick Road, just before I get onto him. I've heard some horror stories in my time about how sometimes the sellers that own the houses can screw their buyers into debt, so the moment he said “negotiation,” I was about to get suspicious. But...Celestia's a hell of a lot smarter than I am, so I think I can rest easy in this case.

“Very well,” Brick Road says with an incline of his head. He does a good job of keeping his expression neutral. Anyway, I still have to fill out this sheet.

Using the quill and inkwell provided to me by Mayor Mare, I get started. It feels like I'm filling out another citizenship application, except this one is a little bit less involved. It helps that Celestia is here as well, because if there's something I don't know how to do, all I have to do is ask her and she'll help me out.

While I'm doing all of this, Celestia is talking with Mayor Mare and Brick Road, negotiating a price for the house as a whole. I don't pay much attention, but it seems to me like Brick Road is dealing with more than he bargained for when it came to Celestia's haggling. By the time, they shook hooves on a payment, he looks slightly flustered.

It doesn't take me very long before I'm finished with my portion as well. It's paperwork, and paperwork always asks for the same shit every time. In this case most of the promises I have to make in this contract are moot points. This is because we're doing the unusual and paying for the entire house with a single payment, rather than an initial payment followed by recurring installments.

At last, I sign my name down at the bottom of the contract, which officially declares me as the owner of the house in question. Well, it's official now. I no longer have to live with Vinyl. Though I have to get it furnished first before I can live in it, of course. Who knows how long that'll take?

“Here is your payment, Mr. Road. I believe you'll find the amount satisfactory,” Celestia remarks, filling a small bag with a large amount of 100 value bits and passing it to Brick Road.

“Indeed. One moment,” Brick responds as he takes the bag. I note he doesn't count the amount of bits. I bet that's because it would be extremely rude to count them in front of Princess fucking Celestia. It would be like you were doubting her honesty. Anyway, he reaches into the suitcase again and produces a massive ring of keys from a pocket on the top half. He picks through them a moment before removing one of them and passing it to me. “There's your house key, sir.”

“Awesome,” I comment, grabbing the key and peering at it. Heh. Looks a lot like my old room key...which I coincidentally still have. I never got rid of it, even after I was transported to Equestria and had no need for it anymore. Just like my wallet that still has my student ID, credit cards, and a little bit of paper money left in it.

“Now, I believe I am finished here. If you'll excuse me?” Brick Road declares, looking to Celestia for confirmation. Once she gives him a nod, Brick dips his head and leaves the room, so that now it's just Celestia, Filthy Rich, and Mayor Mare left in the room with me.

“I believe that, because you now own property here, this officially makes you a resident of Ponyville!” Mayor Mare declares, smiling in a friendly manner at me. Sure, I guess. I mean, I've been living here for over a month now...but I guess all I was doing was living with Vinyl, which is only a little better than squatting. You know, because it wasn't an official arrangement.

“I guess it does,” I comment. “So what's next? The place still needs to be furnished, right?”

“That it does. I look forward to working with you,” Filthy Rich chimes in, as Celestia nods. “Shall we go to my shop? Or would you rather inspect your house first?”

“Let's go to your shop. I have the floor plan, and it comes with dimensions, so I have a basic idea of what I want to go where,” I answer decisively.  Filthy Rich nods, finding that reasonable.

Celestia stands up, and then she fills another bag with a large amount of bits. She passes it to me, and I take it, bemused. “Here. This should be enough to pay for any furnishings you might want,” Celestia explains, closing the chest of bits she brought. “I will not be joining you until later, as I have a few arrangements to make here in Ponyville concerning the expedition before nightfall.”

“What about my fifty thousand?” I ask after peering into the bag. There's nowhere near 50,000 bits in there, which means I haven't been fully paid.

“I will deliver the rest of your payment directly to your house tonight, once you've completed furnishing your house,” Celestia assures me. Well, I guess that works. Though my house won't technically be fully furnished until I find a way to give it a piano, but I guess that's besides the point. 

Pianos aren't considered typical furnishing, so that much is on me. Lyra has a piano, so maybe I'll ask her where I can get a good one. Because if I can afford it, I want a grand piano. I doubt I'll be able to afford one of the bigger ones, but still, any piano will do at this point. And I just realized that that's where my 50000 is going to go. I guess I won't be retiring on this money. Though...to be honest, I wasn't going to stop working anyway.

“Fair enough. All right, go do whatever it is you're going to do,” I tell her. Celestia nods, and then she turns to Mayor Mare.

“Miss Mare, would you mind accompanying me? Some of what I need to do requires your assistance,” Celestia requests of the mayor, who looks all to happy to oblige. Since the mayor is leaving, Filthy Rich and I get up and leave her office along with them so that Mayor Mare can lock the door behind us.

“If you'll excuse us,” Mayor Mare says to me apologetically. “I leave you in the capable hooves of Mr. Rich, here. Oh, and do tell me how you like the house.”

“Sure, I guess,” I reply, and then the two of them leave, so that I'm now alone with Filthy Rich, who I still harbor a bit of a grudge for. Sure, that was a long time ago and he hasn't done anything to fuck with me since, I tend not to forget being threatened with a total beat down. Or the fact that Rainbow nearly died because of him...though half of that was my fault because I didn't go with her...

“Seth?  Filthy Rich repeats, snapping me out of my thoughts. I glance at him to see that he's looking at me with a concerned expression on his face. “Are you quite all right?”

I almost want to say it's none of his damn business, but I decide not to because I'm going to be working with the guy. “Yes, I'm fine,” I answer, crossing my arms. “We've got to go visit your shop now, right?”

“Yes indeed! It would be an honor to show you Barnyard Bargains, the culmination of many years of hard work,” Filthy Rich agrees, looking proud. “Follow me, if you please. I'll take you right to it.”

Without another word, I fall in step behind Filthy Rich as he leads me out of the town hall and through the streets. We don't speak much, because I'm spending some time looking at the floor plan to determine what kinds of things I want in each room.

A few minutes later, we're standing in front of a rather large building with a giant sign on it labeling it as our destination. I also snort derisively as I see a picture of Filthy Rich's face on the sign as well. Somepony clearly felt the need to show the town who owned the place.

“If you'll step inside, we can get started. Why don't you head on in ahead of me and take a look around, while I gather up some of the staff?” Filthy Rich suggests, gesturing for me to enter. “After all, you're likely going to purchase quite a lot of furniture, and we've got to get it all to your new home somehow.”

“Makes sense. I'll be inside then,” I respond simply before doing as he suggested. Just after stepping through the double doors, I see just how fucking large this place is on the inside. 

There's a lot to look at in this place. From everything from as small as end tables to as large as refrigerators, Barnyard Bargains has it all. Except it's not just for furniture. Yeah, there's a little of everything in here. I think I can see why this place is so successful.

Now then, I need a lot of stuff. I'll start scoping out now and picking out what I'm going to want  so that I can have Filthy Rich set them aside once he gets back. I guess I should begin with stuff for the bedrooms. The floor plan has three bedrooms listed, but I'm going to turn one of them into an office room or something. The second one will be for Rainbow or Vinyl if they ever stay over.

Yeah, it's safe to say I'm going to be here for a while.





When Filthy Rich returns, he does so with several other ponies. They're mostly earth ponies, with a few unicorns mixed in as well. Hm, this'll go quicker than I expected then, if we have magic to work with.

By the time he'd arrived, I'd already picked out several pieces that I wanted. While I continued to look for more, Filthy Rich put his ponies to work on carrying what I've chosen already outside and into several waiting carts that he'd prepared. As for Filthy Rich himself, he followed me around and gave me gentle recommendations on what to get, as he too had a copy of the floor plan. 

After a while, I'm forced to admit to myself that working with him isn't that excruciating as I'd expected. Ever since meeting him for the first time after I'd practically strangled his daughter, I've hated him, considering him a waste of space. I'm still suspicious of him, but he genuinely seems to like me, judging by how he's going out of his way to make sure I'm getting the best quality goods he has to offer. That and he keeps trying to make conversation.

“As I recall you wanted  to put a piano in your sitting room. Therefore you'll probably want a smaller couch for the sitting room,” Filthy Rich reasons, indicating several suitable couches for me. “This brand is particularly nice. Take a seat on it and test it out.”

I do as I'm suggested, laying back on the couch to see if it's comfortable enough for me. The bottom cushion sinks beneath my rear, holding my weight well. In contrast, the back cushion is firm and supportive. “This is really nice,” I comment, bouncing a few times to test its stability. Filthy Rich beams at my compliment.

That's typically how I end up picking most of my furnishings. Right after I decide that I want something, some of Filthy Rich's workers arrive and take it away. I notice that the workers tend to be different every time.

“Oh, it's because I ordered them to take everything you decided on directly to your house. Mr. Brick gave me a spare key, so we're storing everything in the dining room,” Filthy Rich explains to me after I ask. I raise an eyebrow at that.

“Not sure how I feel about you having a spare key,” I state flatly. “Secondly, why are you transporting your products to my house before I've even paid you for them?”

“Don't worry, I'll give you the spare key once we're finished furnishing your house,” Filthy Rich assures me, dipping his head. “To answer your question, it is because I know you have the funds, as I was there when you received them.”

“I see. Well, at least things will go quicker than I expected,” I say with a sigh. At least I'll have a spare key as well. I'm not one to lose things, but it would make me feel better to have a spare.

“Indeed. Now then, allow me to draw your attention to this refrigerator...”





There's a lot of stuff to go through, but finally, in the late afternoon, I've finally picked out the last of the things I'll need to make my house livable. After paying Filthy Rich, I end up hitching a ride with the last cart that's taking the pieces of the master bed to my house.

I look up at the sky, watching some of the weather pegasi weave in and out of a cumulus cloud, bulking it up for what's likely going to be a light shower later on. I can see Rainbow there as well, which gets me tempted to fly up there and mess with her, but she's probably busy. Better not interrupt her while she's working.

In front of me are the several ponies that are pulling the cart. They're unicorns, so they're pulling the thing with magic. Because it's not a physical endeavor, I'm resting on the cart as they're pulling it instead of helping them. Besides, it's likely going to be hard work unpacking and assembling all the furniture I've just bought. Practically all of the money Celestia gave me to pay for this is gone.

“S'up Seth. How are you...whoa, what's all this?” sounds a voice from the road. I open my eyes and turn to see Vinyl trotting along next to the cart, wearing her shades and looking at the contents of the cart curiously.

“Hey, Vinyl. That's going to be my new bed,” I answer. I scoot aside and slap the seat next to me. “If you're not doing anything, get your little ass up here and hang for a bit.”

“Don't mind if I do!” Vinyl replies with a happy grin. She leaps up to the cart, but because it's still moving, she falls short and almost falls. Just as her mouth is opening with panic I reach forward and grab her by her two front hooves, pulling her up to the seat. “Whoa...that was close. Thanks, bro.”

“That was a fail if I've ever seen one,” I quip. I ruffle her mane, earning sounds of complaint from her. “You klutz.”

“Excuse me for not being able to fly like you or Rainbow. You try jumping onto a moving cart,” Vinyl retorts, trying to fix her mane. “Ugh, my mane is messy enough without your help. Anyway, so why do you need a new bed? Is the one in your room not good enough?”

“Right, you don't know,” I recall, shaking my head. “Then again, I didn't know until earlier today. So...I may or may not be moving out of your place tonight.”

Vinyl blinks behind her shades, my words taking a moment to sink in. “What? Really? Did you find yourself some other place to stay?” Vinyl asks in surprise. For some reason, she's starting to look somewhat crestfallen.

“Yeah, it's a bit of a long story. To put it in a nutshell, when I came from the past I stayed in the same location...which may have been my old college,” I begin. Vinyl's my friend, so I don't feel the need to keep anything from her. I mean, it's just my school. Nothing personal. “Turns out even now, said college is still intact. So I sold the location to Princess Celestia for a house.”

“You sold the...wow, yeah, I can see how that would work. Human ruins are a big deal,” Vinyl agrees with surprise, though her tone seems somewhat listless. “So you've got yourself a house now, I guess.”

“Okay, what is your deal?” I demand, not liking the sudden shift in her attitude. My blunt question takes Vinyl by surprise.

“Deal? What deal? I don't have a deal,” Vinyl responds shiftily. I groan and rub my forehead. Something about me getting a house doesn't sit well with Vinyl, and the last thing I want to do is deal with it for a long period of time, so I'm going to tear the problem out by the roots.

“Oh, quit being such a woman...mare....thing,” I shoot back at her, not believing her bullshit for even a second. “The moment I mentioned I was moving out, you looked like someone just stole your cupcake. So what the hell is your deal?”

Vinyl looks taken aback. She remains silent for a few minutes before she sighs and gives me a wry expression. “Did you get more perceptive when I wasn't looking?” Vinyl asks humorously.

“No, I just started caring more about what you feel,” I retort, and then I realize a second later how sappy that sounded. Goddammit Rainbow, I blame you for this. Still, I meant what I said. I do care about the friends I have, even if I'm not that great at showing it. 

“Uh...want to run that by me one more time?” Vinyl asks hesitantly, probably wondering if she'd heard me right.

“No. So tell me why me moving out is such a big deal to you,” I press. There's no way I'm repeating that again. “What, did you want to keep getting money from me?”

“What!? Not at all, dude, that's just wrong. I'm honestly a little offended that you'd even suggest that!” Vinyl responded hotly, a hurt expression on her face. “I don't need your money. I'd even offered to let you stay for free back when I first met you. Why would you even think that I let you stay because you pay me?”

“Right...sorry. That was a bit out of line,” I admit, retracting my words. The fact that I apologized causes Vinyl to back down, looking surprised. That's what I get for opening my mouth without thinking. Just like I always do, I'd leapt to conclusions right away, thinking the worst of my friend. I'm usually right to think the worst of those I meet, but Vinyl and Rainbow are different. “But if not for the money, why does it matter if I move out?”

“You've lived with me for a while now. You're practically my roomie,” Vinyl begins, looking happy to explain. “It's going to get a little lonely around the place without you around.”

“So...you're saying that if I moved out, you'd miss me?” I say, wanting to make sure I understood. 

“I wouldn't have put it quite like that because it makes me sound lame, but yes,” Vinyl responds after a pause, looking sheepish. Huh. I didn't even think about how Vinyl would feel if I moved out.  I honestly didn't think she'd care. “It'd just be weird not having you around the house.”

“Even though I'm rarely home...but I see your point,” I remark. There's a bump in the road, which draws my attention and makes me notice where we are. It looks like we just passed Vinyl's place, so I know we're close. “This'll make you feel better though. I'm living pretty close to you.”

“Really? Where?” Vinyl asks curiously. Just then, the cart comes to a stop in front of what I assume is my house. Considering the door is wide open and there are ponies walking in and out while transporting furniture from the other carts inside, what else could it be? “Oh, wow, you're taking this old house? Nopony's lived in this house since the last owner passed away.”

“Yup, this is where I'm living. See? Just down the street from yours,” I assure her while looking at my new house. It looks pretty nice, though not all that different in design from the other Ponyville houses. By that, I mean the walls are the same wood and plaster structure and the roof is mostly thatched. The house has three windows on both the lower and upper floors, facing the street. In addition, there's a small porch topped by a triangular roof housing the door. “Feel free to visit whenever. Except when I'm sleeping. Wake me when I'm sleeping and I'll tie your mane to your horn.”

“I'll keep that in mind,” Vinyl responds wryly, bringing a hoof to her horn protectively. “Nice place though.”

“It will be once I get the place furnished,” I say, hopping down from the cart. The unicorns that were pulling the cart are now lifting the pieces of the master bed from the back. “I'd offer for you to come in too, but the place is still empty.”

“Nah, it's cool. I think I'll help you move in as well,” Vinyl decides, joining me on the ground in front of the house.

“Seriously? You know moving in is hard work, right? Aren't you off today?” I ask curiously, wondering why the hell this lazy mare would want to help me move in.

“Eh, I was just wandering around anyway. Besides, I want to see what you bought,” Vinyl answers with a shrug. I'm about to argue further when one of the moving ponies approaches me.

“Mr. Rogers? Now that you're here, we need you to tell us where you want each piece of furniture to go,” the pony reveals, beckoning to me. I wordlessly follow him, as does Vinyl.

“Yo, mind if I lend a hoof?” Vinyl asks the pony as he leads into the entrance area of the house. This area is mostly just a small room where the stairs are, directly ahead of us. On the right is the way into the kitchen and dining area, while on the left is the hallway that leads to the two bedrooms. Of course, we head towards the dining area where most of everything is stored. 

“I don't see why not. We'll welcome any help we can get,” the pony responds with a smile. “Don't expect to get paid though. We all work for Mr. Rich.”

“Fine with me. I'm just here to help Seth,” Vinyl confirms. Then she looks at me mischievously. “Also it confuses him, so all the better.”

“What the...you don't make any sense,” I groan in response as the pony leading us chuckles.

“That's the point!” Vinyl says with a grin, and then we enter the dining room, where there's a massive grouping of boxes and bits of furniture. “Hoo boy. We've got our work cut out for us.”

I nod, looking at the daunting pile of furniture we have to deal with. Yeah, that's an understatement.





Suffice to say, we worked for several hours. Since I doubt you want to hear about how all these ponies, Vinyl, and I toiled for several hours while I yelled at them to put things in the right places, I'll just describe the finished product.

So...the dining room where we initially started is now complete. It's got a decently sized dining table with four chairs. I really only need three chairs, but I added a fourth because you don't just have three chairs at a table. It's just not done. 

Above the dining table is a small chandelier made up of more of those crystal orbs. These orbs light up whenever they come into contact with magic, so it's easy for me to turn them on and off. Moving on, if you turn the corner on the right just after entering the dining room, you'll find the kitchen. It's now been outfitted with a refrigerator, stove, and all of the necessities you'd find in a kitchen.

As for the bedrooms, only one has been outfitted to be an actual bedroom. By that, I mean it has a bed, a desk, a dresser, and a fully outfitted bathroom.

“This is for you and Rainbow, if you two ever stay the night,” I explain to Vinyl as we stand in the bedroom, both of us tired from all the work we've had to do. It's now just past dusk, as this had taken us a while. “Which you're both more than welcome to do.”

“Yeah, late night parties! Sounds like a blast,” Vinyl comments, hopping onto the bed to test how comfortable it is. “Oh, this is nice.”

The other, smaller, bedroom has basically been made into an office. I mean, the master bedroom is big enough for that, but I want a separate room for my office. Plus it has the added benefit of its own bathroom and a proximity to the kitchen should I ever want snacks while I'm working on whatever might require the use of an office. Who knows, I might be important at some point.

Moving upstairs, there's literally only three rooms. Well, two, if you count the fact that the bathroom is attached to the master bedroom. One is my large bedroom, and the other is my massive sitting room where there's a few couches and chairs arranged around a rug. One the other side of the room, there's a significantly large gap of empty space that I deliberately left for my future piano.

And that's just about everything worth mentioning. I have a house now...at last, I have a place to call mine. It's a bit ironic though: Back when I first got to Equestria, I had always wanted a place of my own to hide in and never come out...but that desire has faded. I have friends that I want to hang with, a job that equates to a daily workout routine, and other hobbies, like reading, that I can do.

Now that their work is done, the ponies that helped me set up the place leave after their supervisor hands me the spare key. At last, I'm left alone in my new house with Vinyl.

“This place is totally sweet. A little bigger than mine,” Vinyl commented. The two of us were standing in the entrance hall, at the foot of the stairs. “Wish I knew where to find some human ruins. I'd get me a bigger house too.”

“Right. I'm just annoyed at myself for not selling that information earlier,” I say, sighing. Though, like I said: if I had done it earlier, I would have never left my house, and then I would never have met Rainbow or Vinyl, and then I'd be dead. “Anyway, so I still owe you a drink.”

“Wait what?” Vinyl asks dumbly. Really? Did she forget? It was her idea too. However, at that moment, it hits her. “Dude, that was a month ago...but I wouldn't mind a free drink!”

“Yeah, I remembered, and it's only now that I have time to do that with you two. I'm free tonight, so if we can find Rainbow, I'll buy some cider and we'll chill here,” I suggest. Vinyl's face lights up at that idea.

“That sounds awesome! It'll be the perfect way to break in your new house,” she declares, bouncing slightly in place. “We'll get some music going, and have a good time! It'll just the three of us!”

“Exactly. Shouldn't be that hard to find Rainbow either. I'll just go outside and fly around a bit. She'll come to me,” I joke, earning a chuckle and a nod from Vinyl. 

“Sounds about right. Go get her then! I'll go get the cider. You can pay me back when we're all back here,” Vinyl decides. Yeah, that makes more sense. That way when we all get back we can get started without having to wait.

“You got it. I'll be right back,” I reply, and then I walk out the door, chuckling. This is great. Last night I spent with just Rainbow, and then the next night we're finally going to have that drink we talked about. 

I plan on having fun while I can, because I'll be working nonstop when I go on that expedition.
> 69. A Friendly Gathering
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A cool night breeze blows through the darkened streets of Ponyville, ruffling my hair and chilling me. Ugh, I keep forgetting it's still winter for another month or so.

Vinyl accompanies me outside for a few seconds, on her way to grab the cider for our little hangout. Concentrating, I flare my magic and blast off into the air, leaving Vinyl behind.

Now, I haven't a clue where Rainbow is. Last time I saw her, she was working on...that cumulus cloud over there. Except now it's bigger and darker, which means it's about to rain I suppose. I think it would be rather relaxing to sit back and drink cider while listening to the rain outside.

Actually, now that I'm looking at it, I can still make out pegasi flying around it. That must mean they're still working on it. I figure I'll find Rainbow there, so I soar over to the cloud and look around.

Sure enough, there's Rainbow hovering just above the cloud, snapping out orders to several other pegasi. I recognize some of the other pegasi as well. I can see Flitter and her sister Cloud Chaser, for instance. “Cloud Chaser, what are you even doing? Keep weaving that fast and we're going to get lightning!” Rainbow scolds the light blue mare, her two front hooves crossed. “The Board will not be happy if there's lightning when it hasn't been scheduled.”

“I know, sorry,” Cloud Chaser replies, annoyed. She does slow down though. I honestly have no idea what these ponies are doing. They're creating the weather supposedly, but as I don't know what that entails, all I see are a bunch of ponies flying around a cloud.

“Am I interrupting something?” I ask after flying up to Rainbow. I'm bored of waiting around, so I figure I'll just talk to her directly. Rainbow jumps slightly, startled at my sudden appearance.

“Whoa, where did you come from? I thought you were still in Canterlot,” Rainbow replies, turning to face me. She smiles when she sees me, and then she gives me a friendly punch on the shoulder. “Anyway, I'm nearly finished up here. What's up?”

“So there's a lot to talk about. But most importantly, you free after this? Vinyl and I are meeting up at my new house for cider and I'd rather you be there too,” I answer.

“Aw sweet, cider! Sounds awesome. Just let me finish up here and I'll...wait, did you just say new house!?” Rainbow exclaims with shock. I nod smugly, chuckling a bit at her double take. “When did you get a house!?”

“Today. Celestia got me a house in exchange for those ruins I mentioned,” I explain. Understanding dawns on her face, and then she grins at me excitedly.

“That's awesome. Yeah, I'm totally down for some cider. I want to see your new place. Just hold on a sec,” Rainbow decides. She turns back to the weather ponies. “Would you lot hurry it up? I got places to be now!”

“You just said to go slower!” Cloud Chaser complains, speeding up again...which then results in the cloud sparking slightly with electricity. “Yipe!”

“Cloud Chaser! I said hurry up, not mess it up!” Rainbow scolds her once more, and then she soars down to the cloud, working the cloud until the sparks of lightning disappear. “This is how you start a rainstorm!”

As I watch, Rainbow weaves around the cloud a few times, and then she lands on top of the cloud and slams her hooves on it a few times until the cloud starts to weep with rain.

“There! No fuss, no muss. Just a simple rainstorm,” Rainbow declares, looking proud of herself. Next to her, Cloud Chaser is giving her a flat browed expression. “Right, girls, you can take off for tonight. This rainstorm should run its course just fine without us.”

The other weather ponies make varying sounds of acknowledgment before flying off in various  directions. Finally, it seems like Rainbow's free. “Done?” I ask, just to make sure.

“Yup! Let's get going. Now that you mentioned it, I'm really craving some cider,” Rainbow affirms, licking her lips. “Race you there?”

“How would that work? You don't even know where I live,” I point out with an amused smirk. Rainbow pauses, and then she facehoofs, knowing that I'm right. “Just follow me. I'll lose to you in a race later.”

It takes me less than a minute to pinpoint my house from the air and land on the street in front of it. Rainbow lands a moment later and takes a moment to look at my house. “Eh, mine's still better,” she eventually comments, earning an incredulous expression from me.

“Of course it is. It's made out of fucking clouds and has rainbows everywhere, yourself included,” I retort as I'm unlocking the front door. Rainbow appears to take that as a compliment, considering how she's preening. Way to go, Seth. She doesn't need any help stroking her own ego.

“Hey, wait up!” Oh, and Vinyl's here now, cantering up to us with a barrel and a few cups hovering in the air next to her. I assume that's the cider, considering all the faint sloshing I hear from within. Vinyl reaches us, panting slightly. “S'up, Rainbow? Wait 'til you see Seth's place. It's totally rad.”

“Hey Vinyl. I'll take a look around once Seth opens the door,” Rainbow responds, poking me in the back. “Hurry up.”

“I'm going, sheesh,” I complain, and then I finally push the door open and walk inside. “Let's go to the sitting room upstairs. We'll have all the room we need up there.”

“Aw, let me look around first!” Rainbow protests, sticking her head into one of the bedrooms. “Is this your bedroom? Why is it so small?”

“I'm headed upstairs. This barrel is heavy,” Vinyl grunts, pushing past me so that she can clamber up the stairs. She knows her way around the place because she helped me set it up, so I'll let her be. As for Rainbow...

“Would you stop sniffing around in there?” I say exasperatedly, noticing Rainbow sticking her head in the closet of the bedroom. To my annoyance, she ignores me and slips inside the closet entirely.

“There's nothing in here,” Rainbow remarks from inside the closet. Just as she's about to leave, I slam the closet door shut, trapping her in there. “What the...hey!”

I can be a dick and block the door with one of the dressers, but that would be a bit too much, even for me. Instead I just back off and let her figure out where the doorknob is in the dark.

“What was that for?” Rainbow demands, managing to open the door and come out. Welp, not going to make the obvious joke there. I'd like to think I'm above the level of those kinds of juvenile jokes.

“You're being annoying. We came here to drink cider, not sniff around closets,” I respond, poking her on the snout. She goes cross-eyed staring at my finger, hilariously enough.

“I wasn't 'sniffing around.' I just wanted to see what you have lying around,” Rainbow defends, though she does follow me out of the room when I leave. “You don't have much.”

“I literally bought all of my furniture today. I don't have many possessions apart from my clothes, effects, and rifle,” I remind her.

“Now that you mention it, where did your rifle go? It's weird not seeing you wear it all the time like you used to,” Rainbow asks curiously. Without a word, I reach out my left hand and pump it, forcing the rifle to materialize. “Whoa...”

“Yeah, early on in my training with Rose, when I figure out I could manipulate my rifle with my magic, I found out I could summon it and dismiss it pretty easily,” I explain to her, pumping my hand again to make the rifle disappear again. “It's much more convenient than carrying it around everywhere.”

“Where does it go when you're not using it?” Rainbow questions, sniffing my hand where the rifle used to be. I promptly bat her on the head lightly to make her stop. “Hey!”

“Quit sniffing me. It makes you look like a dog,” I remark, earning a growl from her. “Seriously though, hell if I know. The more you question magic, the less it makes sense.”

“Would you two quit smooching and get up here? I mean, come on, the real bedroom isn't even down there!” Vinyl calls from upstairs. Rainbow and I look at one another, and then back at the stairs. 

“She's so dead,” I mutter, a sentiment that Rainbow agrees with. Together, we charge up the stairs, searching for the offending unicorn that made yet another joke that makes me want to murder her.

Vinyl is sitting on the couch, the barrel of cider on the coffee table in front of her. She looks up when she hears us enter the room. Her eyes widen when she realizes that we're not stopping, the both us on a beeline for her. “Uh-oh,” she echoes, and then she proceeds to bolt from her seat.

She's at a disadvantage though, which she realizes when she looks up and notices both Rainbow and I flying over her. The both of us bear Vinyl to the ground, making her yelp with distress. “Oh Celestia why!?” Vinyl cries out as our weight pins her to the ground.

“Sweet justice, aw yeah!” Rainbow declares, and then she and I exchange high fives. “What kind of punishment should we give her?”

“Aw come on, it was a joke!” Vinyl complains, wriggling in vain beneath us. Wordlessly, I reach a hand down and touch Vinyl, looking to see if she's ticklish. To my delight, she squirms uncomfortably, which confirms it. “Stop that. What are you even doing?”

Rainbow and I don't even need to look at one another. Vinyl screeches with alarm as both Rainbow and I descend upon her, tickling the fuck out of her. “Payback's a bitch, isn't it?” I quip as we proceed to make Vinyl's life a living hell for the next few seconds.

A few minutes later, the three of us are resting against the wall, panting and chuckling in equal amounts. Vinyl's mane is now all disheveled from our bullshit and her shades are lying on the floor several feet away from her, but she looks like she thoroughly enjoyed herself. “That's so not fair. Two against one?” Vinyl remarks, retrieving her shades with her magic and replacing them on her face.

“All's fair in war,” I return, leaving out the other half of that saying in case Vinyl makes another joke. 

This was fun, but on the other hand, Vinyl's jokes leave me a little more unsettled than before, thanks to that conversation I had with Pinkie and Rarity. I look at Rainbow, hoping that I'd be able to glean something from her.

Rainbow is just chuckling and resting her head against the wall. When she notices me looking, she smiles in a friendly manner. I look away, inwardly scowling. I'm being stupid. Pinkie and Rarity are full of shit, so I shouldn't let that ruin this night I have to spend with Rainbow and Vinyl.

“Okay, I don't know about you, but I'm thirsty. Are we done? Can I get some cider now?” Vinyl asks jokingly. “You're not going to try and tickle me to death again are you?”

“I'm thinking about it,” I remark, causing Vinyl to bolt over to the couch and hold a pillow between the two of us. “I'm kidding, you dolt.”

A few moments, the three of us are sitting on the couch in a line, not even bothering with the other seats for now. I'm sitting in between Vinyl and Rainbow, holding an empty cup. Vinyl opens the spigot on the barrel and fills up her cup, before bringing it back to her with a satisfied sigh.

“Oh, before we get started, how much is all this cider worth?” I ask Vinyl, taking out my bag of bits. 

“It was about twenty bits. There's enough cider in this thing for twelve cups,” Vinyl reveals, slapping the barrel. “It's a good deal, especially because a cup of cider is usually two bits.”

Without another word, I fish out that amount from my bag and pass it to her. She accepts without protest and puts them away. “Here.”

“Hey, Seth, want to put on some more music?” Rainbow asks next. I pause for a moment, noticing how Vinyl perks up at that.

“I don't see why not,” I finally say, wondering why the hell I hesitated in the first place. I know Rainbow likes my music, and Vinyl's a goddamn musician. Of course she'll enjoy some music. 

Vinyl watches with avid curiosity as I take out my phone along with the orb that amplifies sound. Let's see, Vinyl's tastes are usually electronic, but she's a fan of rock as well. I think I can work with that. Let's go with some older stuff. I'm thinking old 1980s. Hah, calling the 80s old has never been more accurate than it is right now. Anyhow, I click on that and let the song play.

“This is human music?” Vinyl asks curiously, her snout wrinkling a bit. She knows a little herself, but probably none from this genre, and I doubt she's heard human vocals. The song immediately starts out strong with a rousing drum line that seems to strike Vinyl's fancy, considering she's bobbing her head. “I like it. Didn't think you were a fan of female vocalists.”

“Darn right he is. You should have heard that one song he played. That mare sounded so metal!” Rainbow comments for me before I can answer. I assume by mare, she's talking about Lzzy. Of course, I could correct her, but I'm too lazy right now. And suddenly I'm picturing a ponified Lzzy. God, that would be so funny.

“That's awesome. We mares have got some chords!” Vinyl brags, nudging me. “You should hear me. I don't do it that often though.”

“More like never,” Rainbow remarks, to which Vinyl shrugs and nods.

“Anyway, now that that's out of the way, we can just kick back and relax,” Vinyl says, doing just that while taking a sip from her cup. Damn these unicorns and their telekinesis. Just like teleportation, that's not something I can do. No, instead I actually have to get up and fill my cup, like Rainbow does. “Now that we're all settled, why don't you tell me about these human ruins you mentioned? You said you came to our time in them?”

“Yeah. Some kooky guy in armor showed up one normal school day, whacked me with some spell, and then here I am,” I reveal. For some reason, that gets both Rainbow and Vinyl to look at me with shock. “What?”

“You never told me that much!” Rainbow accuses me, pointing a hoof at me. “I always assumed you found like...a portal or something. Somebody sent you here?”

“Oh, I thought I mentioned that. No, it was definitely somepony from this time. I don't know what he wanted, but I apparently messed up whatever he was doing,” I explain. I do make sure to leave Sombra's name out of it though. Celestia said his whole existence was a national secret. He's dead now anyway, so it doesn't matter what his name was. “So now I'm here. Something happened while I was transported, so now my whole school is underground.”

“I mean...that guy must have been a real jerk,” Rainbow replies, looking unsure. “I wonder what he wanted anyway?”

“I really don't know...but I also don't want to talk about him,” I state firmly. It's not that I wouldn't share it with them. It's just that I don't want to dwell on the guy that murdered my entire race and then proceeded to die before I could go after him. Rainbow and Vinyl seem to understand that, thankfully. “I should probably tell you, Vinyl, that I'm not going to be around for a while once Celestia sends an expedition down there.”

“Neither am I,” Rainbow chimes in. Right, I almost forgot that she was coming with me. I'm grateful, but personally I think she'll go stir crazy within the first month.

“Hold up, are you two going with them?” Vinyl asks in shock, lowering the cup of cider from her mouth. When we nod, she sighs. “Why? Isn't that a job better left to the experts?”

“Firstly, I'm the closest damn thing to an expert on humans that we've got,” I remind her wryly, even though I know that's not what she means. “That's not it, though. I'm going down there for my own reasons.”

Vinyl appears to understand exactly what I mean without me having to elaborate. When she asks her next question, she looks completely serious. “Mind if I tag along too?”

“What?” I utter, wondering if I'd heard right. “You're kidding, right? It's in the middle of the Everfree. It's not safe. The only reason I'm letting Rainbow come along is because she was right next to me in Battle of Canterlot, so I know she can take care of herself.”

“You're bringing civilians anyway, right? Those kinds of expeditions come with scientists, archaeologists, and those kinds of ponies. What'll one more hurt?” Vinyl insists.

“Why do you even want to go? You don't seem the kind that would enjoy digging around in old dusty ruins,” I question, abandoning that earlier logic because Vinyl had me there.

“Probably for the same reason Rainbow does. Going back to these ruins means something to you, right?” Vinyl guesses, looking over at Rainbow, who nods in agreement. “I wanna be there to support you.”

“If by 'support,' you mean standing around ankle deep in dust, then sure,” I retort, making Vinyl frown. “Whatever. It's your decision. Do what you want.”

There's an awkward silence after that, broken only by the sound of my music. Rainbow is looking at me disapprovingly for some reason. She probably thinks that I don't want Vinyl there. That's not the case though. I wouldn't mind her being there, but I feel she'll just be miserable from being down there for who knows how long. 

“So who are you going to be working with? As the only human alive I think they'd want to give you a position,” Vinyl asks curiously after clearing her throat. Finally. That silence was getting to me.

“I'm working with this crazy mare,” I respond, remembering Opal and that goddamn statue whose name I'm not even going to think of because of how stupid it is. “She acts like a damn foal half of the time and hoards human stuff in her room like a dragon hoards gold.”

For some reason, that description gets Vinyl to look at me with interest and a little suspicion, except it doesn't look like it's directed at me.

“Are you kidding me? Was her name White Opal?” Vinyl asks curiously, a strange tone in her voice. I raise an eyebrow at that. What are the chances of that? What's Vinyl's connection to Opal?

“Yeah, that was it. Why, do you know her?” I reply, sipping from my cider. Vinyl nods vigorously.

“That's my mom, bro! Head of the CAD,” Vinyl exclaims, looking at me with wonder. I look back at her in shock, as does Rainbow. Suddenly everything makes sense. Vinyl mentioned at one point during a gig in Canterlot that her mother was an archaeologist...and now I see why Opal's voice sounded so familiar to me. Holy shit. And...I was a dick to her. Fuck, I'm a total idiot. “Wow, I didn't think this expedition was so important they'd send her!”

“That explains so much,” I groan, resting my face in my free hand. I do find it funny how she looks nothing like Vinyl at all. Before I continue, I set my cup aside. “Your mother is nuts. Have you seen her collection?”

“More than I'd like,” Vinyl admits, chuckling a little bit. Okay, and now I feel the need to ask, as much as I'm probably going to regret it.

“Do you...know about the...the...” I try to ask, hesitating even to say that dumb fucking name. Vinyl seems to understand, because she puts on a disturbed expression.

“...Mr. Book?” Vinyl supplies for me, her face falling into her hooves with an exasperated sigh telling me just how much she knows. “Yes...yes I do.”

“Goddammit Mr. Book,” I groan, following suit. The two of us then start to chuckle, which eventually turns into full blown laughter at her mother's expense.

Rainbow looks at the two of us, looking utterly confused. “Okay, I get that this Opal pony is your mom, but I feel like I'm missing something here. Who's Mr. Book?” she demands, wanting in on the joke no doubt.

“The dumbest fucking thing,” I manage to get out before I go back to laughing. Vinyl claps me on the back with a hoof.

“At least now I can share the misery of Mr. Book with someone else,” she declares. “I mean, it's amazing that it's in such good condition after so long, but I could tolerate it much more if Mom hadn't given it such a stupid name.”

Just as I'm recovering from my bout of laughter, a golden glow appears above my head. That's all the warning I get before a large, extremely heavy bag filled with bits appears in midair above me...and falls right onto my crotch.

“FUUUCK!” I scream in an overly high pitched voice, lurching forward in my seat. White hot pain erupts from the point of impact. Oh Jesus Christ, this makes Chrysalis's final attack feel like an ant bite in comparison. As I'm standing, the bag falls to the ground, and I lean over, holding my poor aching crotch with both hands. “Oooow, son of a bitch!”

Rainbow and Vinyl look bemused for a few seconds as I'm writhing in pain before they put two and two together. And then they proceed to start laughing uproariously at my expense. Rainbow actually falls out of her seat because she's laughing so hard.

“Thanks...for your....support...” I grit out, falling to my knees, hands jammed between my legs. “Fucking...I hate you...so much...Celestia.”

At this point, Vinyl and Rainbow are laughing so hard they're practically crying. So great is their mirth, neither of them seem capable of staying upright.

Finally, the pain becomes more manageable and I can return to my couch, my crotch throbbing painfully. A vein twitches in my forehead when I see that Vinyl and Rainbow are still finding this way more funny than they should. “Okay, I'm fine now, more or less. Stop laughing!”

“Dear Celestia...your face!” Vinyl cries out, holding her chest and wheezing. “I can't breathe...!

“I've never heard your voice...go THAT high before!” Rainbow chimes in, wiping tears from her eyes. “The more I remember it, the funnier it gets!”

“Oh, shut up. It's not my fault Celestia decided to send my payment through magic mail rather than bringing it to me herself,” I grunt, glaring at the offending bag of money with all of my hate. “A little warning would have been nice. You know, a little letter saying, 'hey, Seth, stand up and move someplace open so this ten ton bag of bits doesn't smash your balls!'”

My words just sends the two mares into another bout of merriment at my expense. With a groan, I untie the top of the bag to see my payment in full, consisting mostly of 100 bit coins. Excellent. Piano money.

“Wow, what's all that money for?” Vinyl inquires after she's composed herself enough to form a coherent sentence. “Is that for the ruins? I thought you got this place because of that.”

“I got more than that. The ruins I woke up in are massive, worth far more than this little house and this amount of bits,” I explain, setting the bag aside. “I thought Celestia was going to give it to me personally. That didn't happen.”

“Yeah, I saw that,” Vinyl says dryly. She then adopts a mischievous expression. “Do you want Rain...ulp!”

I stare at Vinyl, who has just stuffed a hoof into her own mouth to keep from continuing her own sentence. I wonder if she went insane sometime in the past five minutes. “Um...what was that?” I ask suspiciously.

“Nah. Just figured that joke was too bad, even for me,” Vinyl explains, removing her hoof. “Also I realized I'm too close to you to make a quick getaway.”

“Not to mention I'm right here. You were about to make another joke about me, weren't you?” Rainbow accuses, shoving Vinyl playfully. “You really need to cut that out.”

“As long as it annoys you, not gonna happen,” Vinyl quips, much to both Rainbow and my exasperation. “Anyway, I'm getting more cider.”

“Me too,” I agree, refilling my cup and returning to my seat.

With that, the three of us return to relaxing, listening to my music and making small talk, avoiding the subject of the human expedition for now. That's fine with me, as I'd much rather talk about something not as personal as that is to me. Besides, they're the closest thing to my brother's definition of “bros” that I'm ever going to get, now that Amaryllis is gone. I don't even care that they're mares, because they act enough like males for me to classify them as such. It's rather great, because the female stereotype drives me crazy.

We keep going until close to midnight, when the cider at last runs out and we're left with an empty barrel. “Why's the cider gone? I want more,” Rainbow whines, shoving her cup against the spigot in vain. “Can we get more?”

“You kidding me? I'm not going out there. It's still raining,” Vinyl remarks, looking out the window. “Nah, we'll get some more another time. I'm hoping this isn't the last time we chill over cider.”

“Of course it's not,” I tell her as if it should have been obvious. Really, haven't you two figured out that you're literally the only things keeping me sane? Especially Rainbow. She's basically the reason I'm as strong as I am right now. “But I need to go to sleep. I had today off, but I've got to go back to work tomorrow morning.”

“Yeah, me too actually. I gotta clean up what's left of these clouds after the storm's over,” Rainbow admits. “Mind if we crash here, Seth? I don't wanna fly through the rain to get home.”

“That's why I have a guest bedroom,” I remind her. “You and Vinyl can sleep in there. It's got its own bathroom and all the essentials, so you should be fine.”

“Awesome. Let's all get some sleep,” Vinyl says to me, standing up and moving over to the hallway with Rainbow. I grab the bag of bits and tag along with them for a bit until I reach my room, where I part with them and enter my own bedroom. Their room is downstairs, while mine is just across the hall. “Wake me up when you're about to leave!”

After bidding them good night, I enter my room and set the bag down in my closet. I'm not particularly worried about anypony getting in here to steal it. According to the way Granny Smith reacted to that theft in White Tail Woods, it isn't that common. I also have the strength to beat any thief into the ground.

After stripping down, I throw myself onto my king size bed and sigh with contentment. Yes, I got a king sized bed. I mean, why shouldn't I? It was Celestia paying for it after all, and I like having space to move around in my bed. I also run into the issue where the blankets are too damn small for me, and my feet stick out the other end. I hate that feeling with a passion.

It isn't long before I drift to sleep, weary from the day's events.





My phone's alarm wakes me up bright and early, just as I'd expected. It's really nice being able to use it for at least this much again. This baby has always been my alarm clock, communication device,, camera, and music device all at once. Suffice to say, I'm pretty attached to it.

I grab a set of clean clothes from my dresser and take them with me into my master bathroom. I leave them  hanging over the edge of the bathtub before I move to my shower.

As usual, it takes me about an hour to get cleaned, dressed, and ready for work. Even though I'm likely going to just get filthy with sweat again because it's farm work.

Vinyl said I should wake them before leaving, so I head down the stairs and to the room they're sleeping in, wondering if I should prank them again like I usually do. Eh, it's a work day. I don't really have time to prank them.

I settle for knocking on the door loudly. “Wake the fuck up! I'm leaving!” I call into the room. I'm only waiting for a few minutes before Vinyl opens the door, rubbing her eyes with a hoof. Rainbow is behind her, looking equally tired. “Come on, out of my house. If I'm not here, no one is.”

“It's too early for this,” Vinyl groans, though she does follow me, lifting her shades back onto her face with magic.

“I should probably get going myself,” Rainbow murmurs. She looks up at the sky, which is overcast with gray clouds. “Yeah, those need to go. Ugh, I hate it when the rainstorms unravel like that. No one likes stratus clouds.”

“Eh, unless the temperature is at the point where it's unbearable, I don't mind what the weather is,” I state, reaching for the front door. 

Before I can open it, there's a knock from outside, which takes me by surprise. Who the fuck is at my door at this hour of the morning? I open it to find out, and to our collective surprise, Celestia is standing there, looking as radiant as ever.

“Gah!” Vinyl emits, once again startled at the sudden appearance of the princess. “I mean...hello, princess.”

“Celestia. Isn't it a bit early for you to be making house calls?” I comment, stepping outside. I motion for Rainbow and Vinyl to follow me. Once everypony is outside of my house, I lock the door.

“Good morning, you three,” Celestia greets us cordially, dipping her head slightly in respect. “I must say, I didn't expect to see you with guests so soon, Seth.”

“Well yeah, like I'm really going to sit around alone at home when these two are free,” I snap back at her. My rude comment makes her smile with happiness for some reason. “But I doubt you came here to ask about my company.”

“That's right, I didn't,” Celestia confirms. At that point, Rainbow takes her leave. With a quick farewell to the three of us, she takes to the air, no doubt going to find her team. Vinyl leaves as well, realizing that this must be a business discussion. “I wanted to ask you to come with me into the Everfree Forest.”

“You what!?” I demand, wondering if I'd gone crazy and was hearing things. “Why are we going into that forest hell?”

“To better prepare for the expedition, of course,” Celestia explains. When I still don't look satisfied, she continues. “To clarify, I'd like you to show me exactly where the entrance to these ruins are.”

“How will that help you?” 

“Because the Everfree is so dangerous, we'll be airlifting in our ponies by airship. As such, I'd like to have exact coordinates to which I can direct our pilots,” Celestia continues. “To that end, I've brought along several pegasus scouts with me to Ponyville; the ones who pulled our chariot, if you recall.”

“I think I get what you're trying to say. So they'll mark down the coordinates once we find the place?” I ask, her plan starting to make sense. That's actually really smart of her. It's a good thing she and I are so strong...not that I'm on the same level as her of course.

“That's right. If you'll lead me to the ruins, I'll send up a burst of magic, and then we'll have our coordinates,” Celestia finishes, satisfied that I understand her request.

“I suppose that's fair. Not sure I relish going back into the Everfree so soon...but then again I doubt anything in there can take us,” I admit. Celestia giggles slightly. Yeah, she knows she's overpowered. “But can it wait? I have to go to work.”

“I believe Applejack will understand if you're slightly late,” Celestia assures me, somehow knowing who it is I work with. Of course she does. Why wouldn't she? “Especially if I return with you to the farm.”

“Fine, whatever. You're probably in a rush anyway,” I say, resigning myself to traipsing through that damn forest for however long it takes for me to find my old school. “Day Court calling you back to  Canterlot?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Celestia admits, grimacing somewhat. “I plan to leave for Canterlot as soon as I get the coordinates I need.”

“Let's get going then. The longer we wait, the later the both of us will be,” I reason. Actually I just want to get in and out of that forest as soon as I can. I think I can guarantee without a doubt that something will try to murder us at least once while we're in there.

With one last nod, I fall in step beside Celestia, and the two of us take to the air a moment later,  heading for the outskirts of town.





It isn't long before we're standing before the Everfree Forest. It's gotten a bit brighter out, so the inside looks much less intimidating. Even though I know nothing in there can hurt me, I can't help but feel a slight chill running down my spine after we take our first steps into the forest.

Celestia angles her head to look at me, perhaps noticing my uneasiness. “If I recall correctly, you said you played with Octavia?” she asks. I raise an eyebrow. I remember mentioning that to her, yes, but why does she feel like she needs to bring that up now, when we're in the goddamn Everfree? “I can't help but be curious.”

“Yeah, that was back when I was in Canterlot a few months back. You know, after you wrecked my shit,” I remark dryly, getting Celestia to look a little sheepish. “I met with Octavia after the concert. You left before I did that, so it's no wonder you didn't know.”

“I see. She's quite the remarkable mare, isn't she?” Celestia responds, smiling. No doubt she's spoken with Octavia herself a few times, considering the role Octavia played in performing Celestia's piece.

“That she is. She was really annoying at first. I tried to tell her I respected her, but she actually had the nerve to ask me if I really respected her, or just her ability to play music,” I retell. I remember at the time I'd been really frustrated with her. As I recall the events, the fact that I'm in the Everfree starts to trouble me less and less, until I feel like I'm just on a walk. “She ended up booking a practice room for me, where she then proceeded to show up and play one of her favorite songs with me.”

“That sounds like her. She's very unique for a pony of her station,” Celestia agrees. By that, I think she means that Octavia isn't a total bitch. “I wish I'd have known of your musical interest beforehoof. I would have introduced her to you sooner.”

“Well, I have her mailing address now. I can play with her whenever I want,” I say with a shrug. I think back then, I'd have been too...too what? Have I changed that much since Canterlot? Wow...it's surreal when I look back at my past actions and then for the first time in my life, I wish I could have done something differently. “As soon as I get a piano, of course.”

“I'll forward you the mailing addresses of several reputable sellers,” Celestia promises. Just as I'm opening my mouth to protest, she cuts across me gently. “And before you say anything, that isn't a favor. That money you spend on the piano goes back into my treasury eventually.”

“...Fucking mind reading horse,” is all I can say, because she nailed my thoughts exactly. She really needs to stop doing that. My remark gets Celestia laughing, while I just shake my head and groan.

Finally, we near the end of the path. There, I can see the first place I ever visited in Equestria: Zecora's hut. Man, it's been a while since I've seen this place. “I'll have to greet Zecora once we're finished here,” Celestia comments, glancing at the hut. “It's simply been too long.”

“It should be in a radius around here,” I say, returning to the topic at hand. I try to recall my desperate run through the forest that night. “I remember...the first thing that I saw of this hut was the window, glowing at me in the dark.”

There's two windows: one on either side of the door. Which means I could have come from either direction. But...I remember that when I saw the window, I had to skirt around the trunk of the tree to the left...which means it was the right window. I orient myself so that I'm facing the window on the right. Sure enough, I get a feeling of deja vu. 

“This is it,” I alert Celestia. I turn around and walk off of the path, doing my best to go in a straight line. Unfortunately, any underbrush that may have been disturbed back then has long since regrown, so I have to push on and hope I get lucky.

Celestia follows me closely, casting her gaze around. It looks like she has her guard up. Good idea. Even we can get hurt if we're taken by surprise before we can bring up our magical defenses.

“Looks like there's a clearing up ahead,” I observe after several minutes, noting a gap in the trees. I walk into the small clearing...only to stop when I see what's standing there in front of me. “What the fuck is that?”

There's a large monster similar in shape to a lion in the clearing, standing over the bloody carcass of what I'm assuming used to be an animal. I don't think the carcass was a pony, because it's too large of a body to have been a pony. A long and thin scorpion tail waves in the air above the lion's back. It looks up upon my intrusion, and it growls menacingly, its hackles rising.

“Manticore,” Celestia identifies as she too steps out into the clearing. “It's a deadly predator of the Everfree. It paralyzes its victims with a powerful toxin, and then moves in for the kill.”

The manticore starts to circle around us, looking for an opening no doubt. I'm about to summon my rifle when Celestia steps in front of me. 

Celestia meets the gaze of the creature, her eyes narrowing. My own eyes widen and I step back, my mouth silently forming the words “oh shit,” as I feel Celestia's magic filling the air. Her body starts to glow, ribbons of light streaming off of her body.

The manticore pauses...and then nopes the fuck out of here, dashing away from us and leaping into the underbrush once again. Celestia powers down, smiling with satisfaction. “There. No predator will trouble us if it is clear they are not in control,” she comments. “I am glad I did not have to ki...what is so funny?”

Oh yes, this is funny as hell. I'm leaning down on my knees, laughing my ass off at the sight I just witnessed. “Oh my god...that manticore totally wanted to eat us,” I chuckle. “Then all you had to do was show a little bit of magic and he was like, 'NOPE NOPE FUCKING NOPE!'”

Celestia purses her lips, trying to look severe, but she fails and ends up giggling anyway. “That's certainly one way of putting it,” she comments.

Once I compose myself, the two of us continue on, stepping over the manticore's abandoned meal. It smells disgusting, but I guess that's to be expected.

I happen to look down...and then I notice that the body's leg is hanging down a hole...the very same hole we're looking for. I know that because I can see the building's upper floor from here. I quickly power up, and then use a small amount of magic to kick the body into the trees and away from the hole.

“Celestia. I found it,” I say simply. My previous humor became like dust in the wind the moment I saw this place. I don't know how I feel right now. Part of me wants to jump down there right now, while the rest of me wants to run away and never come back. I start to question whether this was a good idea.

Celestia joins me by the hole, peering into it herself. She actually looks shocked at what she sees. “I'm amazed. You weren't kidding when you said it was mostly intact,” she marvels. Unfortunately for her, she's too large to fit into the hole. The hole is barely large enough for me, after all. “This will need to be excavated. As such, this clearing needs to be widened significantly.”

“Right. I'll leave the details up to you and your crew. I don't have much experience with this kind of shit,” I respond. Celestia nods understandingly.

She straightens back up, and then her horn sparks with golden light. A beam of her magic shoots up into the air, soaring high above the canopy and causing a small explosion. No doubt anypony flying around there can see that for miles.

“I believe that concludes our business here,” Celestia declares, much to my relief. I back away from the hole. The memories from that place give me the chills, even now. I wonder if Maka's bones are still down there. 

I hope they are. I want to give them a proper human burial.
> 70. Visible Changes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Celestia and I take to the air, flying through the canopy and above the forest entirely. There's no point in walking back through the forest now that we've done what we came for.

Once we're in the skies, we're met by the pegasus guards that were flying above the forest the whole time. One of them is carrying a notepad, while another is carrying a map. “We have the coordinates, Princess,” the one carrying the notepad declares as they approach. Together, all of us fly back towards Ponyville. He passes the notepad over to Celestia, who grasps it with her magic.

“Good job, Lieutenant. I'll send this to miss Opal. She'll be needing these during her negotiations with Mr. Skies,” Celestia reasons. Her horn flashes, and the notepad disappears in a burst of golden light, no doubt on its way to Canterlot. “There. Now that that's taken care of, shall I escort you to Sweet Apple Acres?”

“Sure, I'm already late,” I confirm. Though I doubt Applejack will hold it against me if fucking Celestia shows up with me. Sometimes, having a somewhat positive relationship with the princesses pays. Not that I'd use that for my benefit without doing something for them first. Anyway, the two of us, accompanied by the guards, continue on our way.

“Twilight has expressed interest in accompanying you on the expedition, Seth,” Celestia reveals to me as we descend towards Ponyville. I roll my eyes, heaving a sigh.

“I figured as much. Honestly there's no way she wouldn't be,” I remark. At least she isn't like Vinyl. I know she can take care of herself, what with her crazy magic. I think she might actually be stronger than I am, in terms of pure magical power. “Ancient human history? The chance to learn a bunch of random shit that won't mean a thing in everyday life? Of course she's coming.”

“To her, Seth, learning has always been Twilight's passion. Whether or not she can actively use her knowledge does not matter, as simply retaining it is enough to satisfy her,” Celestia explains in a patronizing tone. “It's not fair for you to judge that aspect of her just because you personally cannot identify with it.”

“Whatever. I'm just not looking forward to an ecstatic Twilight bouncing all over the place down there while I'm trying to work,” I respond, a bit annoyed by the sudden lecture. “Come on, you know I'm right.”

“I agree that Twilight finds great excitement in her work. However, I know she is capable of handling herself professionally. I promise that working with her will not be as excruciating as you believe,” Celestia assures me. I just grunt in response.

I know Twilight can work professionally. I studied magic with her for a month and a half, after all. I'm not even that angry that she's coming along. It just that I tend not to like it when people or ponies get overexcited about things. I guess I communicated that to Celestia poorly, so that she thought I was insulting her student.

“I assume Rainbow Dash will be going with you as well,” Celestia conjectures, looking at me for confirmation.

“What? How did you kn...oh, who am I kidding. You know everything,” I say with a sigh, rubbing my forehead. “Yes, Rainbow is coming. There's no way I'm going down there without her.”

“Really? I'm intrigued to hear such strong sentiment coming from you,” Celestia comments with interest. She tilts her head to one side, a happy smile crossing her face. “You really like her, don't you?”

I shoot Celestia an alarmed expression, my pulse speeding up slightly. Did she really just...oh no. Don't you fucking dare. Don't you touch this subject. I don't need another Pinkie and Rarity. Especially not from you. “What the fuck are you talking about?” I ask in a dangerously calm voice.

“It seems to me that this expedition is very personal to you, and you want Rainbow there with you despite that,” Celestia explains, seeming a bit perplexed by my odd reaction to her question. “Pardon me for assuming, but you seem the kind to hold personal matters very close to your heart.”

“What's your point?” I ask in the same voice as before. I swear to god, if she makes the assumption I think she's going to make...I'm going to lose it.

“It makes me happy to know that you've made such a good friend,” Celestia concludes, just as we land on the ground in front of Sweet Apple Acres. As she says that...I calm down, letting out the breath I didn't know I'd been holding. Thank god. I don't want to get into that argument with Celestia. I feel like I would lose that argument, just like I lose every argument with her, and that terrifies me.

“Seth, that you? Yer a bit later than usual. Everythin' all ra...” Applejack thankfully arrives to end our conversation, looking at me curiously. Applejack comes to a halt the moment she spots Celestia with me, dumbfounded. “...oh. Howdy Princess Celestia.”

“Hello, Applejack. My apologies for keeping Seth from you,” Celestia greets Applejack with a dip of the head.

“Ain't no problem, princess. Ya probably had a good reason,” Applejack replies graciously, dipping her head as well. She then looks at me with a twinkle of good humor. “Ah guess ah kin let ya off easy this time.”

“Good to know. Anyway, put me to work. Celestia, go do princess things or whatever,” I say, impatient to get started with my work day. I'm looking forward to get some reading in after work today. I want to finish the Clock-Maker.

“Not just yet,” Celestia insists, much to my annoyance. “I wanted to tell you that a date has been set for the expedition to begin.”

“What? So soon?” I ask, surprised. Behind us, Applejack looks confused, as this is the first time she's heard of the expedition. “I expected preparations to take a lot longer. Like...months of planning.”

“Months? No, Seth. The ponies I assigned to this project are very enthusiastic and eager to begin, and as such preparations are coming along swiftly,” Celestia explains with a hint of amusement. “The expedition will begin in a week. When it's time to set out, I'll send a chariot to come get you.”

“No, fuck the chariot. I'll just fly there,” I groan, remembering how annoying it was to ride in those chariots. Celestia doesn't seem very eager to oblige me, based on her expression. “If anypony asks, just say I'm a stubborn ass who hates chariots.”

“I would consider that, if it were just you that needed transport,” Celestia reminds me. “If you recall, Twilight also needs transport, and she does not have the ability to fly.”

“Then send a chariot for her. Rainbow and I will fly,” I argue. In my mind, even if Rainbow I just decided to take a leisurely flight, we'd still get there faster than a damn chariot. Celestia stares at me for a few moments, and then she shakes her head with a chuckle.

“You are most stubborn. Do as you like, then,” Celestia relents, making me grin. Hah, I beat her in an argument for once. Well...it's not really an argument. I'm just being stubborn and she's being lenient. But eh, I'll take what I can get.  “Farewell. I'm afraid I must return to Canterlot.”

I shrug and turn away from her. She has to deal with the bullshit the nobles send at her, of course. After one last goodbye from Applejack, Celestia takes to the air again, heading back towards where her chariot is located.

“Are ya goin' somewhere in a week?” Applejack inquires as she leads me back towards the farm.

“Yeah. There's a huge archaeological expedition heading down to some human ruins in the Everfree Forest,” I explain, leaving out most of the details. She's not coming, so she doesn't need to know everything about it. Applejack looks shocked by my revelation. “They want me coming along to help out.”

“Land sakes, human ruins in the Everfree?” Applejack exclaims, taking off her hat. I nod in confirmation. “Well ah'll be! Must be pretty valuable if Princess Celestia's willin' ta risk the Everfree for it.”

“Yep, that's why I was given a house in exchange for my help,” I affirm. For some reason, Applejack doesn't seem that surprised by that fact. 

“Ah heard ya got a house. Congratulations on becomin' a true resident o' Ponyville,” Applejack declares, putting her hat back on. Right...like I wasn't before. “Anyhow, ah got somethin' different fer ya ta do this time 'round.”

“Like what?” I ask hesitantly, hoping it's nothing as bad as the gutters were. I still want to throw up just thinking about that.

“Cuz you were with the princess an' all, ah started doin' the job ah was gonna give you, an' now ah'm committed,” Applejack answers ruefully. “Can ah get ya to deliver some baked goods into town for me? Big Mac's busy in the field with Carrot Top, otherwise ah'd ask him.”

“You are my boss, you know. You can just tell me to go,” I remind her. “You don't have to explain yourself.”

“Ah know that, but ah ain't one to dish out orders,” Applejack admits with a sheepish grin, scratching the back of her neck with a hoof. “So will ya do it?”

“Again, it's not like I can refuse. Just tell me who I'm delivering to,” I  tell her impatiently.

“Allraht, fair enough. Ah got a list of ponies ah need ya to deliver to back at the barn,” Applejack concedes, clicking her a tongue a bit at my stubbornness. She beckons to me, so I follow her back towards the barn. “Shouldn't take ya more than an hour or so.”

When we reach the barn, Applejack stands slightly apart, suggesting she's not going to come in with me. “Ah'm gonna git back to it. You kin find the list in the cart. It's already loaded up for ya,” she informs me just before heading off towards the fields. “Come find me when yer done. Ah'll have ya help me out some more.”

“Got it.” Without another word, I walk into the barn and soon return, pulling the cart forward. It's pretty easy to push, thanks to my increased physique. It's full to the brim with packaged goods meant for various targets, some of which I've delivered to before. Looking at the list, I discover that the closest place to here is in the Ponyville Square. 

As I'm walking down the path back to town, I idly entertain the thought of just taking to the air and hoping nothing falls out of the cart. I chuckle a bit to myself at that image, but ultimately dismiss it. Maybe on the way back, after it's empty. Imagine the look on Applejack's face if I fly in with the cart Santa Claus style. Nah, that's stupid. The cart would break.

Anyway, I soon find myself in the square, where the other townsponies are wandering around, busy with the events of everyday life. Now, there should be a restaurant around here that wants some of Applejack's goods. There it is; it's a small building tucked in between a few of the market stalls, with tables set up just outside of it allowing ponies to eat out. Surprisingly, there's actually ponies sitting there, despite how chilly it is. Sometimes that fur of theirs makes me jealous.

While I'm approaching the restaurant, I quickly notice two familiar ponies sitting at one of the tables. They're surrounded by other ponies also eating in that area, but I can't miss Rainbow's distinguishable mane anywhere. 

Rainbow is sitting with Rarity, for some reason. I'm about to call out to them when I notice that something seems off about what they're doing. Rainbow is looking forlornly down at the table's surface, a half full milkshake sitting abandoned next to her. She's also blushing noticeably for some reason, which an expression I rarely ever see on her. 

What's even stranger is that Rarity seems to be comforting her, as the fashionista's two front hooves are resting on one of Rainbow's. What the hell...? Rainbow's this tough mare that doesn't let anything bother her. So what the fuck could possibly be bothering her? And why the hell did she go to Rarity, and not me? I can't help but feel slightly bitter as I approach them with the cart. 

As I'm bending over and gathering the packages I need for this delivery, I happen to make out snatches of their conversation. “Darling, this isn't a problem that's going to go away if you ignore it,” Rarity says fervently to Rainbow, more seriously than I've heard her in a while. “You simply must do something about it.”

“Like what? There's no way I can deal with this without screwing it up,” Rainbow snaps back, sounding stricken. Okay, now I'm starting to get a little worried. What kind of problem is so bad that it would make Rainbow sound like that? “Tell me what to do, Rarity!”

“Mm, I'm afraid I cannot solve this for you, either. You must come to a solution on your own,” Rarity admits ruefully, causing Rainbow to groan in frustration, pounding the table with a hoof. Rarity looks like she's about to say something further, but then she spots me, on my way to the entrance with the packages. I'm not an eavesdropper, so I'm not going to just sit back and listen. Rarity's eyes widen slightly, and then she removes her hooves from Rainbow.

“This is stupid,” Rainbow grumbles. She goes to sip from her milkshake, and that's when she sees me as well. She nearly falls out of her chair. “Seth? What are you doing here?”

“Doing my job,” I retort, still feeling a little bitter. If Rainbow has a problem, she should have come to me. She's a tough mare, so if she sounds like that, then the problem must have been present for a while then, to push her to this point. So why haven't I heard about it? “What about you? What are you doing with Rarity?”

“Oh, don't mind us, dear. We're just getting a bite to eat on this fine morning,” Rarity answers for Rainbow, adjusting her mane slightly. Next to her, Rainbow nods vigorously and proceeds to slurp noisily from her milkshake. “It is a pleasure to see you, Seth. Though I shan't keep you; you look busy, after all.”

My eyes narrow. They're clearly trying to hide it from me now, and I don't like it. What the fuck, Rainbow? I thought I was your best friend? What kind of problem could you possibly have that you can't tell me? I stare at Rainbow, and for some reason she can't look at me. 

“I am busy. Talk to you two later then, I suppose,” I finally say, turning away from them and walking into the restaurant. I feel myself starting to get angry...but then I stop myself. I'm probably just being stupid. I'm definitely not the best guy to go to for advice, because I've never given any before. I believe in emotional self-sufficiency...even if that hasn't exactly gone very well since getting to Equestria.

Yeah, I'm being stupid...and a little hypocritical. Just like I told her that I wasn't obligated to tell her my personal feelings...I guess she's not necessarily obligated to tell me hers, either. I guess I'm glad I caught myself before I said something bitter. Rainbow clearly doesn't need that.

After I emerge from the restaurant after having made the delivery, I notice that Rainbow and Rarity are talking normally now. Thank god, Rainbow doesn't look so distressed now. It looks like they're finished with their meal, as well.

“Hey, Rainbow,” I address her as I leave. This time Rainbow looks much more composed when she looks at me. “I've still got a few more deliveries to make. Want to keep me company until I have to go back?”

Rainbow grins and starts to stand, but then she turns to look at Rarity guiltily. “Do go with him, Rainbow. I'll handle the bill,” Rarity insists, indicating me with a tilt of her head. “Don't worry, it's a cheap meal.”

“Thanks Rarity,” Rainbow replies gratefully, and then she looks up at me, her grin returning. “Yeah, I'll go with you. Hope you're not asking because you want help with the cart, though.”

“Oh, shut up,” I retort, and then I beckon to her as I move back to the cart. With a bit of positioning, I'm ready to continue my deliveries. The two of us make small talk for a few minutes while I push the cart to my next destination.

“So...” I begin awkwardly after one of my deliveries. I verify that I've got Rainbow's attention before I try to continue. I'm not good at this shit, so I just know this isn't going to work. “Are you...all right?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Rainbow asks, confused at the sudden change of tone in our conversation. “Of course I'm all right. Why wouldn't I be?”

“Fuck, I don't know,” I groan, realizing that this was a bad idea after all. I don't know what I was thinking. I can't handle this delicate emotional shit. It's part of why I can't handle women that are insecure. But...this is Rainbow, and she's not usually like that. I want to at least do something, even if she doesn't want to tell me. “I saw you sitting with Rarity from a distance. It looked like something was wrong.”

Rainbow blanches, meaning that I've guessed right. Her blush returns, and she looks down at the ground. “You saw that, huh?” Rainbow sighs, not really asking a question. “D...Did you hear any of it?”

“Not really. All I know is that you looked pretty upset,” I say truthfully. Did she just fucking stammer? “Hence why I asked. Is there something going on?”

Rainbow looks like she's struggling to come up with an answer. However, a realization must have hit her, because her head jerks up and she looks at me oddly. “Hold on a minute. Are you worried about me?” Rainbow inquires, a small grin forming. I stare at her in disbelief for a few seconds, heat rising in my face.

“Fuck no. Who would be worried about you? Idiot,” I retort, stammering slightly. My cheeks feel hot, much to my utter shock. What the fuck...am I blushing? There's no way. It must be because of how cold it is. I don't fucking blush. Blushing is for girls.

“Are you sure? You sound pretty worried,” Rainbow teases me further after snickering at my response. “Who knew that Seth Rogers could be so sensitive?”

“Oh, just fuck right off,” I grumble, which gets Rainbow to burst out laughing. Well, glad to see her laughing, even if it is at my expense. Better than seeing her looking like the world's going to end. “I don't know why I asked. You clearly don't need help.”

“Sorry, I'm just having a bit of fun with you,” Rainbow retracts, looking a little sheepish. That expression soon gives way to a warm smile. “Thanks though. What I was talking about with Rarity...let's just say it's a...deeply personal matter.”

“Okay,” I acknowledge her, once again wondering why Rainbow couldn't have told me about it.

“I wouldn't have told her anything in the first place if she hadn't figured it out on her own,” Rainbow continues. Okay, that mollifies me somewhat. Rarity is one of the more perceptive ponies out of the ones I know. She's no Celestia, but she's successfully read me once or twice, annoying as that is. 

“Hah, try hanging out with Celestia for an hour or so. She'll know everything about you whether you like it or not,” I quip, getting Rainbow to laugh again.

“Anyway, don't worry about it. It's not that big of a deal,” Rainbow assures me. I raise an eyebrow, unconvinced. “Look, I'm fine. No problem can keep the mighty Dash down for long!”

“Well, your ego's certainly fine,” I groan, resting my face into my palm. “Well, whatever. If you don't want to tell me, then it's your problem.”

“Sorry,” Rainbow apologizes ruefully. 

“Don't apologize. God knows I've done the same thing to you...that makes how many times now?” I remark, earning a nod and a laugh from Rainbow.

“You're right about that. You still haven't told me why you're so stubborn about letting others do you favors!” Rainbow responds, jabbing a hoof at me. I give a start and look at her. I thought she forgot about that, because I've never given her much trouble with it ever since I took that ticket to the air show.

“I'll tell you that the day you tell me what your problem is,” I joke, knowing that she would never accept that. Rainbow made her problem to sound like something extremely personal, so there's no way she's going to tell me.

“What the...oh, that's just not fair!” Rainbow protests with a sigh, making me snicker. “Eh, I'll think about it.”

“No you won't,” I correct her. Just then, I reach another one of my delivery locations, so I halt our conversation there for a moment until I return a few minutes later. “Anyway, I also needed to tell you that the expedition starts in a week.”

“In a week!? That's a lot earlier than I thought!” Rainbow exclaims, exhibiting a similar reaction to my own. 

“My thoughts exactly. Seems like Opal isn't wasting any time in getting this thing going,” I express. “We'll probably be there for months, so you better plan ahead.”

“Agh, this is so last minute. I can't let Cloud Chaser take over for that long!” Rainbow complains, rubbing her face with her hoof. “This means I gotta send a message up to Cloudsdale and get somepony to take my place, at least until I get back.”

“How long's that going to take?”

“Who knows? The mail tends to be slow,” Rainbow huffs, sounding irritated. Just as I'm starting to get worried that she'll be kept here for some reason, she smiles. “Don't worry, I'm going no matter what. In the worst case, I'll just have to fly up to Cloudsdale and find a replacement myself.”

“I'm not fucking worried. You're coming even if I have to drag you,” I assert. I'm also telling the truth. Now that I've got my mind set on it, I really want her there. Vinyl can come too, I suppose, but I really haven't told her anything about myself. No, Rainbow's the only one that will understand what I'm feeling down there.

“You won't have to drag me. If it comes down to it, buck the Board. I'll just go with you and let them figure it out,” Rainbow promises me. Heh, that's just like her. “Speaking of which, I'd better go send that letter now.”

“Yeah, you do that. I'm about done with my deliveries anyway,” I advise her. Looking back at my cart, I've only got one more delivery to make before I have to get back to Applejack. “I'll see you later, I guess. Better get packed early.”

“Psh, I don't need anything except myself. Anyway, later!” Rainbow replies confidently and then she takes to the air. With one last wave, she zooms off in what seems like a random direction. She's probably going to go back to her house.

Oh well. Now that she's gone, I better finish up here.





When I return to Sweet Apple Acres, I notice that there's no sign of Applejack, or of any other pony. Huh, I guess she trusts me to know what to do by now. Finally. 

I return the cart to the barn, finishing that part of my job. Now, Applejack looked like she was working at the orchard. Though what she's doing there is beyond me. Unless...huh, it's been a while since I've seen apples on the trees. I forgot that those are year round crops. Oh yay, that means more apple harvesting. Or as Applejack calls it...applebucking. 

That brings an amusing thought to my head as I approach the orchard. Now that I've got this magic, I wonder if I can hit the tree with a similar force to that of Applejack's bucks. Imagine that. I'd just run around, punching trees to get apples. Hah, it's like Minecraft. 

I spot Applejack by one of the trees with a selection of weird tools lying on the ground beside her. Raising an eyebrow, I approach her and get her attention with a quick call. “There ya are. How'd yer deliveries go?” Applejack greets me, though she doesn't look at me. She's peering at the trunk of the tree closely and suspiciously.

“They were deliveries. Not much room for error there,” I say uncaringly. Okay, now it's bothering me. “Precisely what are you doing?”

“Ah think there're some pests tryin' ta eat ma trees,” Applejack growls, poking at the tree with one of the tools. “These critters are tryin' ta eat ma apples, and ah won't have it! Ugh, quit hidin' from me!”

I can't help but chuckle. This is probably the first time I've seen her so frustrated about something. “All right. Well, give me something to do and I'll leave you to your critter catching,” I remark. Part of me wants to whip out my phone and take a picture of how closely she's looking at this tree. Frustrated Applejack. 

“Right, sorry. In that case, here's what ah want ya to do,” Applejack begins, while I try to get myself back in the proper mindset for a hard day's work.





Today's work isn't as physically demanding as it usually is. This time around, all Applejack has me doing is taking care of the trees. According to her, the apples will be coming in soon, and she wants to maximize yield by keeping the trees in good condition.

Hilariously enough, not long after I get started, Applejack makes one of the funniest sounds I've ever heard her make. I'm attending to one of the trees near her when all of a sudden, Applejack cries out. “Yaha! Got you, ya pesky varmint! Tryin' ta eat my trees...ah ain't gonna fergive ya fer that!” I then see her reeling back, tossing a weird worm thing on the ground and stamping on it repeatedly. Once she's finished, she sighs and wipes her hooves off on the grass. Then, she notices me looking. “What?”

I blink once, and then I burst out laughing, much to Applejack's confusion. No, I should have gotten a video of that. Applejack snaps and becomes the destroyer of all worms. Without answering Applejack's increasingly confused questions, I turn my attentions back to the tree I'm currently working on.





“Ah think that's good enough fer today,” Applejack decides as the sun gets closer to the horizon. It's about the same time as usual. I can tell what time it is whenever I want now that my phone will never run out of charge. “Anyhow, ah've been meanin' to ask ya somethin'.”

“What?” I reply tiredly, resting my back against the tree I just tended to. Who knew that taking care of trees would be such hard work? Maybe I should have paid more attention back in biology when I was in school.

“Princess Celestia bought you a house an' all that, so you ain't payin' rent no more, right?” Applejack poses, looking to me for clarification. I nod in response. “Do ya want me to lay off on ya a bit?”

“Lay off on me? What does that mean?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.

“Ah've been workin' ya so hard cuz ah know more than half of what ah pay ya goes to Vinyl,” Applejack explains. Suddenly, what she's asking starts to make sense. That's odd, I was planning to talk to her about this same subject. “Now that you don't gotta pay rent, would you rather I knock down yer hours?”

“I was actually about to ask you the same thing. I've got quite a surplus of bits now, thanks to Celestia, so I'm not in a rush to make money anymore,” I reveal. “I'd really rather not work ten hours a day anymore. Even with the frequent breaks you give me, it's hell.”

“It's certainly toughened ya up a bit. These weren't there before,” Applejack remarks, pressing a hoof against my stomach, where there's a hardened set of abdominal muscles. They barely give under her hoof – a testament to countless hours of hard work. I stand there uncomfortably until she removes her hoof. “Ah understand though. Ah've been tryin' to take care of ya, cuz ah know you don't got the passive endurance we earth ponies do. Tell ya what: how bout ah knock yer hours down to four to seven, depending on what time of year it is?”

“Let me guess, four hours during the slow periods, and seven during harvest?” I surmise. It's funny. Basically I'll actually be working hours similar to what a guy like me would work back in my time. 

“That's right. Yer pretty sharp,” Applejack compliments. She beckons to me with a hoof, and then the two of us walk back towards the barn so I can get paid. “That sound good to ya?”

“Yeah. That'll give me some time to read and focus on other pursuits. Like music,” I mention. I've spoken to Applejack about music at one point. She plays a banjo, as stereotypical as that is. I've never seen her play it though.

“Gonna buy yerself one o' them fancy pianos?” Applejack asks amiably as we reach the barn.

“Yeah, one of the big ones. It's going to kill most of my money, but I don't care,” I remark. I doubt the piano will take up all of my surplus bits after all. Even 10,000 bits is enough to keep me going for a long time.

“Ah get that. Some things in life are worth more than money,” Applejack agrees. The two of us enter the barn, and it isn't long before Applejack produces my payment for me. “There ya go. Try not ta spend it all in one place.”

“Which I most likely will. Piano,” I joke, earning a chuckle from Applejack. I take the sack of bits and tie it to a loop in my jeans. “Anyway, I think I'm going to head home for a bit, and then head to Twilight's place for some reading.”

“Sounds good. I'll see ya tomorrow then at noon, for a four hour shift?” Applejack suggests, tipping her hat. 

“Yup. Later, Applejack,” is my short response. I leave the barn behind. I'm just about to take to the air, but then I realize I should probably go through the square first and pick up some food. I have a little in my refrigerator at home, but I'm eventually going to need more.

So with that in mind, I walk down the path to Ponyville proper. It's only once I'm in the streets that a realization hits me. Applejack didn't ask me to stay for dinner. What's up with that? She always does....something's not right.

A feeling of uneasiness settles over me when I notice that there's practically no other ponies in the street. The stores are closed and the lights are out, which is odd, because usually everything stays open for a little while longer.

“Oh no,” I say aloud to myself, coming to an understanding. “The only time this shit happens is when there's a Pinkie party. And I'm not getting surprised.”

I immediately take to the air. I know the party has to be for me, because Vinyl would have asked me to help her set up for it, and then I'd have been part of the surprise myself. What the hell did I do for a party this time? Is this the party Pinkie planned for our victory of Canterlot?

Hah! This time I see it coming. Nothing is going to surprise me this time. If I avoid the places Pinkie has access to, she can't surprise me. So no stopping by Sugarcube Corner, or Twilight's library. I'm just going to go straight home, because it's locked and there's no way for Pinkie to get inside.

“I've outsmarted you, you pink devil,” I snicker to myself, and then I land just in front of my house. It's nice and quiet around here, which gets me to smirk triumphantly. 

I insert the key into the lock and turn it. After I'm inside my dark house, I shut the door and turn around...only for the lights to flicker on to reveal Pinkie and the rest of the fucking town, crammed in the entrance hall and stretching into the dining room.

“SURPRISE!” 

“SON OF A...!” I gasp, so surprised that I almost fall backwards. I stare incredulously at them all. Literally everypony in town that I know is here, from Rainbow and Vinyl all the way to Mayor Mare and Filthy Rich. Even Applejack somehow got here before me. I glare at Pinkie accusingly. “How in the hell did you fuckers get in my HOUSE!?”

“I may have left one of the windows unlocked when we left this morning,” Vinyl admits with a grin. “Pinkie wanted to give you a house warming party in your own house, so I figured it wouldn't be that much of a problem.”

“You conniving little...ugh, well played,” I have to admit. Even though they know I'm not stupid and would immediately suspect a party the moment I noticed the absence of any other pony in the town, they managed to get in my house and surprise me anyway. “Well? What are we waiting for? Let's get this party started!”

“You heard him everypony! Let's dance!” Pinkie announces, eliciting a cheer from the surrounding ponies. “Hit it, Vinyl!”

Welp, here we go again.





Like a typical Pinkie party, this one is likely to go on well past midnight. I don't even care that much, because I don't have to work for Applejack until noon, and that's only for four hours.

It isn't even all that different from her other parties, but again, I don't really care. Despite how much Pinkie annoys me if I hang around her too long, she really knows how to make a good party.

In addition, this party somehow has everything I like. By that, I mean all of the cupcakes are strawberry and vanilla, as is the cake itself. There are also other dinner foods here that I've mentioned I like at one point or another in the past. Pinkie did her homework when setting this one up, it seems.

The actual party itself takes place in my sitting room, because it's easily the largest room in my house. All of the couches and chairs had been moved against the wall to create a dance floor. Ironically enough, Vinyl has her tables set up where I'm eventually going to be putting together my piano. Twilight even casts a spell on the floor to help distribute the weight of so many dancing ponies.

Speaking of dancing, I also do a lot of that. I was going to just chill and eat cupcakes a lot, but then Lyra approaches me...only to get knocked over by Rainbow. “Hey, we're dancing now. Let's go!” Rainbow declares, and then she promptly grabs my hands with both hooves and pulls me right out of my seat. 

“Waaah! Slow down, you crazy mare!” I yell, but I'm grinning. We leave Lyra behind, who starts to poke out her lower lip when she sees Rainbow running off with me. Sorry Lyra. Like I was really going to dance with anypony else. Of course, I don't feel as bad when Lyra is soon approached by a blushing Bon Bon.

“Why should I slow down when the tempo is just speeding up?” Rainbow teases me. She's right, the song just got faster. I laugh, acknowledging the point. Together, the two of us dance the night away, never once dancing with another partner.

One thing I've noticed has changed about Rainbow. Every time she looks at me, she smiles. That's not that odd, considering we're best friends and we're at a party. But it's a different kind of smile. I don't know how to describe it. There's just something strange about it that I don't understand. All I know is that every time I see it, I can't help but mirror it.

Rarity passes us at one point, drinking delicately from a glass of punch. It's during a slower song, so Rainbow and I are dancing slower, like we did at the wedding. The other ponies are dancing similarly as well. Rarity looks at us, her eyes widening slightly. Her gaze travels between the two of us, and then a slight smirk appears on her face. I hardly notice her though. No, I'm just having a blast here with my best friend.

I'm going to blow off some steam now that I can. Next week, it's going to be hard work.

	

	
> 71. The Expedition Begins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The morning sun shines brightly as I rest my back against one of the posts of the town hall, steadily reading from the Daring Do book in my hand. My other hand is tucked into my pocket to keep it warm. It's a particularly cold day, so I'll take any kind of warmth that I can get.

Sitting on the ground next to me is Rainbow...though she's nowhere near as patient as I am. She's doing that thing where she'll move around constantly in an attempt to keep herself entertained. Every so often she'll let out an annoyed sigh and glance jealously at the book in my hand.

“You'd think they'd have been here by now,” Vinyl comments, checking the clock tower in the distance. She's also here, though like Rainbow, she hasn't brought anything apart from herself. Well, and her shades, but those are given when she's out in public. 

“They aren't late yet,” Twilight insists from her position next to Rainbow, also checking the clock. Unlike the three of us, she's packed for the long run; she's wearing a set of saddlebags filled with books and other materials. “Princess Celestia told me to expect a chariot before noon. We will simply have to be patient.”

“'We'll just have to be patient.' That's pretty rich, coming from the mare who woke us up hours before we needed to be here,” I grunt. I'm not kidding. Twilight literally showed up in the early morning, banging on my door until I woke up. I barely had any time to get ready before she was dragging me to the square. “We've been waiting for two hours now.”

“Silly Sethie! We got here early so we can have some fun before we go!” Pinkie admonishes me lightly, bouncing through and around us seemingly without any kind of pattern. She sets down a box that she pulls from somewhere and produces a cookie from within. “I brought cookies! Early morning cookies, anyone?”

I slowly turn to Twilight and thrust my thumb at Pinkie with a deadpan expression, even as Rainbow and Vinyl move to grab some cookies. “Can somepony tell me why the fuck she's coming again?” I ask with resigned confusion. Even though I'm annoyed by her presence...I can't help but get a cookie as well. 

“Somepony needs to come along and make sure you're all smiling!” Pinkie explains instead of Twilight, literally throwing an entire cookie into her mouth. “It's like we're going on a field trip!”

“A field trip? Do you even know what we're going to do?” I insist, lowering the book and staring at her incredulously. 

“Nope!” Pinkie responds cheerfully. Her response causes all of us to blink and look at her with dumbfounded expressions. Of course, she's oblivious as ever, considering she's now digging her snout through the box of cookies. “Now, I know I packed some white chocolate in here...”

“Whatever,” I mutter, and then I look back at my book. I don't get very long to read until I'm interrupted again. This time I'm happy to be interrupted though.

“There's our ride!” Vinyl alerts the rest of us, pointing her hoof in the air.  Sure enough, a rapidly approaching dot dips beneath the cloud layer and descends towards us.

“Finally!” Rainbow exults. She finishes off a cookie that she is eating and then stretches her wings. Basically, she and I are going to fly, while the rest of them ride in the chariot. When I'd pitched that suggestion to her earlier in the week, she'd agreed wholeheartedly. Riding in chariots is something neither of us like. It's very...confining. 

The other townsponies in the square quickly clear away, giving the chariot ample room to land. One thing I notice about the chariot is that this one is different from the other one I rode in. This one is wooden rather than golden, and the seats are actually enclosed by walls and a roof like an old fashioned carriage, complete with doors on each side. Well, that'll make things more comfortable for those of us that brought luggage. By that I mean Twilight.

“I'm so excited! This is going to be so much fun!” Twilight squeals as she climbs into the chariot. Vinyl and Pinkie also get inside. At a nod from me, Vinyl shuts the door and bolts it. I don't think the guards know that we plan to fly, because they're looking at Rainbow and I curiously.

“Don't worry about us. We're flying with you,” I tell them. With a flare of my magic, I leap into the air. The guards looks amongst themselves in confusion. After a second, they collectively shrug and start to run. I look next to me, where Rainbow is already hovering. “Well, Rainbow? Should we stick with them? Or shall we leave them in the dust?”

“Let's do both,” Rainbow suggests. I raise an eyebrow. How can we do both at the same time? “Let me show you some of the tricks I've been working on. I'll spin loops right around this thing.”

“Okay. I guess I'll follow your lead then,” I say with a shrug. With that, Rainbow and I fly forward, keeping pace with the chariot just as it takes off. It isn't long before the three of us are flying in formation towards Canterlot in the distance. By three, I mean Rainbow, the chariot, and I.

It's been a very agonizing week up until this point. I kept getting that feeling you get right before a long trip or vacation. It doesn't make sense, but before something like this, you get restless, and things that used to entertain you don't have the same effect. The whole time, I had very little patience. I just wanted to get this trip started.

But, there was nothing I could do about it at the time, so I ended up relying heavily on Twilight to give me books to read. That way I could lose myself in the fantasy and not think about how long it was going to be before the trip actually started.  

I've actually finished the Clock-Maker, for instance. That is an incredible book. I was so tense while reading that scene in that clock tower at the end, holy shit. I can't believe Sephylon didn't decide to make himself immortal...or at least younger. But that's probably just nonsense to you.

Then, at Rainbow's insistence, I actually started reading the Daring Do books. I swear, they couldn't be any more Indiana Jones. Daring even has a hat that she never loses, no matter how ridiculous things get. The only thing Daring is missing is a whip and a short little kid driving her around. The books aren't bad. The plot is a bit kiddy, but they're well written, with plenty of imagery and symbolism that I can make out. I can see why Rainbow likes them.

Speaking of Rainbow, there was hardly a moment where she wasn't with me. She was constantly spending her breaks from work either reading on a cloud where I'm working, or chilling in my house if I had a particularly short shift that day. It's not that I mind, but she's spending an awful lot of time in my house, and not her own.

Lastly, I finally put in an order for a piano. It cost me all but eight thousand bits of my payment, but I now have a grand piano in the sitting room of my house. I haven't gotten around to playing it yet, because by the time it got here, it was already late on the night before today. Once I get back from this expedition though, I'm going to play the shit out of that piano.

I'm snapped out of my recollections by a gust of wind in my face. Rainbow is flying around the chariot in a vertical circle, looking like she's having a little too much fun. Heh. Maybe I should stop thinking so much and enjoy the sights. It's not like I've flown to Canterlot like this before.

Pinkie has her fucking face pressed up against the window of the chariot. Her mouth is moving rapidly, but I can't hear anything apart from a few muffled squeaks, thanks to the wood of the chariot and the rushing of the wind. Thank god for that.

As we get closer to Canterlot, I notice something that wasn't there before. And that would be the  two massive airships parked in the air near the castle, tethered to the runway. Those are what I'm going to be riding on?

They literally look like ships...in the air. They're not blimps, nor are they zeppelins or hot air balloons. They look like something that I would see sailing on the ocean, what with the hinged golden rudder, curved hull, and the prow complete with a figurehead. The only difference from a sailing ship is that there's no masts. Instead, there are small steel posts to which a massive balloon in the shape of a violet whale is tethered. For direction, it has two golden fins similar in design to the rudder on each side of the ship, to direct airflow. I can't help but whistle appreciatively. That looks fucking cool.

“Okay, we're almost there now,” Rainbow alerts me once I can make out the runway where the chariots usually land. “Now we can leave them in the dust. Let's do this. You and me, the ultimate rematch of the century!”

“You know, I think you're just hyping this up a lot so you can brag more effectively when you win,” I point out to her. As long as she can break the sound barrier and I can't, there's no way I can beat her there. I think she knows that too.

“Aw, where's your competitive spirit? Give it a shot! Who knows, maybe you'll do better than last time?” Rainbow encourages me with a grin and a nudge.

“Competitive spirit? You say that as if I ever had one to begin with. As far as I see it, the more competitive you are, the more pissed off you get when you lose,” I retort scornfully. “So honestly, I find it too stressful to get competitive.”

“Aw, it's just in good fun. Don't think about it as a race then. Just look at it as a way to see how fast you can go,” Rainbow suggests. Taking a glance at her, I notice how hopeful she looks. Ugh, she really wants to race me. I don't see why, when it's clear who among the two of us is the fastest.

“Ugh, fine. But don't you dare brag when you win,” I grumble. Rainbow pumps a hoof in the air triumphantly, and then she lines herself up next to me. All the while, the pegasus guards flying the chariot are looking at us curiously.

With only a glance between the two of us counting as a signal, Rainbow and I shoot off like a rocket, leaving the bewildered guards behind. 

It's a much shorter distance to fly, compared to how far we went during our last race. Therefore, by the time we near the runway, it's clear that Rainbow hasn't built up enough speed to break the sound barrier. However, Rainbow has the edge on me still, more than before. She must have been pushing herself particularly hard during the past month or so, because unlike our last race, I can't keep up with her.

So obviously, she's the first one to get to the runway. I get there a second or two behind her and power down, my feet landing on the edge of the runway gently.

Speaking of which, the runway is currently swamped in ponies moving large boxes, logs of wood, and other materials onto one of airships by way of gangplanks. It really looks like preparations for our ultimate departure are coming along nicely. I think I recognize some of these ponies as well. For example, I see Steel Rivet standing by a pile of lumber that's being loaded onto an airship, overseeing the loading process. 

“You're a bit faster than you were last time,” Rainbow remarks after I join her on the runway. I grunt in annoyance. Though I do appreciate she's not bragging about how much faster she's gotten. I'm just amazed that she even can get faster. She was ridiculous back then, and she can still improve? Yeah, as fast and as skilled as she is, there's no way she won't end up in the Wonderbolts at some point if she applies herself. Not that I'm going to tell her any of this. It'll go straight to her head. 

“I've gotten a bit stronger with my magic. So I guess speed comes naturally with that?” I guess, because I have no clue how combat magic works. Rainbow shrugs, obviously not having a clue herself.

“Looks like it's pretty busy around here,” Rainbow observes, referring to the crowd of ponies milling around, getting the airships ready for departure. Several scientist ponies walk past us, dressed in their lab coats and carrying labeled boxes and strange technical apparatuses with them. “I'm really excited. I can't wait to see what your old school looks like.”

“I just want to go back to my old dorm. Even though...eighty years passed before the human race died, so my dorm was probably cleaned out,” I reveal to her, a forlorn expression crossing my face. This isn't something I've told her, so Rainbow immediately turns to face me, listening attentively. I initially thought that going back to my dorm was a good idea, but...no doubt after I left, they'd have given it to some other student. “I don't care though. I want to go back there. I lived there for quite some  time. I...need some closure.”

I suddenly feel Rainbow's fur brushing up against my side not long after I admit that. I look down at her to find her gazing at me sympathetically. Ugh, don't look at me like that. Sympathy isn't something I need. Sympathy can't fix your problems...though I'm glad she's coming. I don't know why, but I don't think I'd be able to go back there without her. Heh, Zecora was right. I guess I couldn't make it through on my own after all.

“I get that. I'm curious to see how you lived though. Was it a big room?” Rainbow asks, trying to change the subject to something easier to talk about. Though she doesn't move from my side. Before I can answer, I spot a familiar mare approaching us through the crowd.

“Why, it seems the guest of honor has arrived!” Opal proclaims as she comes to a halt just in front of us. She looks at me and smiles brightly. I'm about to say something scathing to her, but then I mentally smack myself. Just looking at her, I can see the similarities between her and Vinyl. Her facial structure is similar, which becomes especially evident when she smiles. Though I don't know why Vinyl is white when Opal isn't. I guess her crazy father must be the white one. Or maybe colors aren't inherited. I don't fucking know. “Good morning, Seth! Who's your friend?”

“The one and only Rainbow Dash, at your service!” Rainbow introduces herself with an egotistical bow. I stifle a groan, but Opal seems to find it funny, as she chuckles. Then it strikes her a second later.

“Rainbow Dash? The Element of Loyalty?” Opal asks incredulously. Oh boy, and now Rainbow is preening herself even further now that her status was recognized as well. “Dear me. I had no idea that one of the Elements was coming with us. It's an honor to have you here.”

“Please stop. Her head is getting so big at this point we could use it to carry the airship,” I practically beg her. In response, Opal starts giggling in an undignified manner as Rainbow proceeds to shove me playfully. “That aside, I should probably warn you that two other Elements are coming: Twilight and Pinkie...for some reason.”

“I should have known Miss Twilight would be coming. I've never met anypony whose drive to learn is as intense as hers,” Opal admits. “Where are they? We're going to be leaving as soon as we get these airships loaded up.”

I don't even have to say anything, because the chariot that Rainbow and I had left behind arrives, landing roughly on the runway besides us. Thankfully the other ponies that would have been in its way have the sense to move aside. The moment the chariot comes to a stop, the door slams open and Pinkie streaks out like a rocket.

“Hooray, Canterlot! Ooh, are those airships? Do we get to ride on one? I've always wanted to ride on one. Do you think it would be like using my flying machine?” Pinkie starts to speak at a mile a minute, though I have no idea who she's talking to.

Twilight and Vinyl get out next, though the moment the latter does, it gets Opal's attention, and she looks truly surprised. “Vinyl, is that you?” Opal asks with disbelief. She immediately leaves me behind and goes to speak with her daughter.

“S'up, mom?” Vinyl responds with a grin, meeting her mother halfway. Much to her annoyance, Opal proceeds to lift off Vinyl's shades with her magic, revealing her unique magenta eyes. “Hey, give those back!”

“In a second. I just want to see those adorable eyes of yours. You know I hate it when you hide them,” Opal chides her, lowering her head to Vinyl. “Now c'mere and give your mother a nuzzle.”

“Aw, come on, mom!” Vinyl complains, though she does nuzzle her mother affectionately. I can't help but snort with laughter as Vinyl is embarrassed by her overly affectionate mother. Finally, Opal draws back and gives Vinyl back her shades.

“What are you doing here? You always said you didn't like coming with me on my digs,” Opal asks curiously. Then, she and Vinyl start walking over to Rainbow and I.

“Yeah, well, I don't. I'm here for a different reason,” Vinyl remarks. Just then, she and Opal reach Rainbow and I. Twilight seems to be on her way here as well. Vinyl glances at Rainbow and I wryly. “Did you two really have to leave us in the dust like that?”

“Of course we did. I really wanted to show Seth how much faster I got!” Rainbow shoots back with a grin. I give her a look, which makes her sheepishly add, “He also got a little faster as well.”

“Yeah, well, good luck catching up to Rainbow, bro. It's just not going to happen.” Vinyl sarcastically jokes, punching me lightly. Opal looks horrified at that, and just as she's turning to scold Vinyl for supposedly antagonizing me, I laugh and reach my hand forward, about to mess with Vinyl's mane. Of course, I almost get my hand bitten. “Oh no, keep your hands away from my mane or I swear I'll wake you up in the morning by blasting my speakers right next to your bed.”

“You didn't even bring your speakers, genius,” I remind her, causing Vinyl to freeze. “And don't you remember? We're going to a dig site. I doubt we're going to have actual beds.”

“Eh, you have a point. Fine, it will be the next time I hang out at your place,” Vinyl counters. That comment causes Opal to do a double take and look between Vinyl and I in shock. Vinyl notices her mother looking so surprised and raises an eyebrow. “What?”

“You two are friends?” Opal asks in amazement. Oh yeah, I was a total ass to her the last time I saw her. The fact that I'm friends with her daughter must be pretty shocking to her.

“Yeah, totally. Seth and I have been buddies for over a month now,” Vinyl explains. Opal's jaw drops, and then she looks to me. When I nod in confirmation, her jaw falls further. “Why's that so surprising?”

“Because I was a total dick to her the last time we spoke,” I say ruefully. I guess I better get this over with now rather than later. I turn and address Opal. “By the way, I'm sorry about that. I had no idea you were related to Vinyl at the time.”

Opal continues to look dumbfounded for a few moments before she manages to compose herself. She smiled warmly. “Don't worry about it. I didn't know you were friends with my daughter, either. Shall we start over then?” Opal offers, extending her hoof to me. 

I might as well. I mean, even though I was only friends with Amaryllis, I was on good terms with her family as well. “Sure,” I say simply, and then I grasp her hoof with my hand and shake it lightly. Opal beams at me, happy that we're on better terms than before.

Any further conversation is interrupted when a stallion earth pony approaches Opal, caryring a clipboard. “Miss Opal, the lighting equipment has arrived. Mr. Rivet wants to know if he should load them in now, or wait until the miners get here,” the stallion reports, bowing his head slightly in respect. Right, I forgot that Opal is the project lead. No doubt she's going to be incredibly busy.

“Tell him to wait. No doubt the miners will have equipment of their own that will need to be organized,” Opal orders the stallion, who nods and canters back to Steel Rivet. Opal looks apologetically at the rest of us. “I'd love to stay and chat, but I need to get back to organizing.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Twilight inquires hopefully. Opal pauses, and then she looks back at the loading efforts for reference.

“Perhaps. However, I'd like to let you know that none of you are on the payroll for this expedition, so your help is purely volunteer work,” Opal warns us. When Twilight doesn't look any less discouraged, Opal continues. “Very well then. Miss Twilight, would you mind helping out Dr. Forward? He just arrived and could use some help loading his equipment onto the cargo ship.”

“Not a problem!” Twilight says, and then she trots off to join the white coated ponies. Opal looks at the rest of us curiously. I cross my arms. I mean, I could help them load, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm being paid to help them in the ruins.

“As for the rest of you, unless you want to help as well, then it would probably be best if you went ahead and found yourself someplace to be on the other airship,” Opal explains, indicating the respective airship with a hoof. “It won't be long before we set off.”

“Sounds good to me. I don't feel like sitting around down here,” I agree. I look back at Rainbow and Vinyl. “Are you two coming?”

“Definitely. I want to see what this airship is like,” Vinyl answers.

“I'm sticking with you,” Rainbow adds. Suddenly, Rainbow looks perplexed. She looks back at the crowd of working ponies with a worried expression. “Where did Pinkie ever go?”

It's not hard to spot her. Pinkie seems to be tormenting this poor working stallion that's trying to carry a particularly heavy looking box onto the cargo ship. As she passes by us, I can make out her conversation...which is just as senseless as I expected. “...and that's when I said, 'no, silly, your tail isn't grass, it's just green!' You should have seen her face...” Pinkie rambles to the worker, who looks like he'd rather be anywhere else. Sometimes I wonder what the hell goes through that mare's mind.

“...Right. Moving on,” I deadpan. Vinyl and Rainbow seems to find this whole situation rather funny, as they're chuckling as they follow me towards the airship.

I take my first steps on to the gangplank leading up to the airship. The wooden structure bends slightly under my weight, but holds firmly. That's probably to help distribute the weight of all the cargo that this thing is meant to help transport. Still, if I couldn't fly, this would make me uneasy. Thankfully the gangplank is rather wide.

The three of us step onto the airship together, moving away from the gangplank so the other ponies can come and go as they need to. The first thing I do is look around, noting just how similar it is to an 18th century sailing ship, what with the mostly wooden structure and the ship's wheel up at the stern.

Standing near the wheel of the ship is Gilded Skies, dressed in that same black overcoat that he'd been wearing at the meeting. He's resting on the wall of the cabin at the back of the ship, looking rather impatient as ponies walk in and out of the cabin.

“Okay, we're here. What now? All mom said was to 'find someplace to be,'” Vinyl questions, looking around at all the various ponies on the top deck.

“I think that's literally what we do. It isn't that far from here to the Everfree, so we could just stand here for the maybe thirty minutes it'll take us to get there?” I estimate. I'm pretty impatient to get going as well. With that in mind, I slump down and sit against the rim of the airship. Perplexed, Rainbow and Vinyl sit down on either side of me.

Together, the three of us make small talk while everypony gets the ships loaded and ready to go. Rough Hammer and the miners arrive soon, loading their equipment onto the cargo ship and then boarding the ship I'm on. A large group of guards boards the ship soon after, led by Commander Iron himself. He spots us out of the corner of his eye and gives us a terse nod before getting back to directing his troops.

Finally, after half an hour of just sitting here and doing absolutely nothing, it seems like thing are starting to get moving. Opal steps onto the deck of our airship followed by Twilight, Pinkie, and Flash. Opal waves a hoof towards one of the miners on the ship, who joins her obediently. Together, the two of them start retracting the gangplank.

“All right, that's enough sitting around! If you're flying on my ship, you're part of my crew!” Gilded Skies declares, speaking loud enough that his voice can be heard over the sound of the scores of ponies talking on the deck. “Opal, good thinking. Get that gangplank up on deck. Somepony loosen those ropes tying us down!”

Gilded Skies walks across the deck, snapping out orders to anypony unlucky enough to be near him. His voice and gait are so authoritative that the ponies he speaks to can't help but follow his commands. “Make it snappy now! I want us moving in less than five minutes!” Gilded Skies finishes. His light blue wings fan out and he takes to the air, soaring up to a wooden box just below the massive balloon holding us up. He fiddles around with something up there, and then I hear a roar, an orange glow suffusing that area. There's no opening in the balloon, so I doubt he's heating the air to get it moving. I guess that whatever that is, it's a way to get this ship moving.

A shudder runs through the ship, and then I feel the deck rumbling beneath my feet as whatever machinery that keeps this thing running starts up beneath the deck. Gilded Skies lands on the deck near us, looking satisfied. His eyes alight upon me briefly for a moment, but that's all. He doesn't approach me, choosing instead to return to the ship's wheel.

The ship shudders once more, and then, at long last, we start to move. “This is it everypony. Just sit tight and we'll be at the forest in no time!” Gilded Skies calls, turning the wheel so that the ship travels away from the runway. 

“Troops, stay on your guard. From here on out, we are protecting each and every one of these civilians,” I hear Iron command his guards as he passes by us.

“Oh gosh, I'm so excited. It feels like I'm in a Daring Do book!” Rainbow exclaims. Hah, she's practically bouncing in place like Pinkie.

“I know, right? Remember that one scene where Daring Do has to travel by airship because she hurt her wing?” Twilight agrees, trotting up to us. At that, Rainbow's eyes light up and she turns to Twilight. The two of them start to fangirl together about that one particular scene in the book. I read that part too, but I'm certainly not the kind of guy to freak out over something I've watched or read. That...was more something that Adam tended to do.

“I think I'm going to head up to the prow. You coming, Seth?” Vinyl decides, standing back up and gazing back at me.

“Yeah, sure. Why not?” I grunt, getting to my feet. As I do so, I hazard a glance behind us, peering over the rim of the airship. I can see the other airship flying a safe distance behind us as well, albeit significantly lower in altitude because of how much cargo it's carrying.

Following Vinyl to the front of the ship, we pass multitudes of other ponies from all sorts of groups. I even catch snippets of their conversations.

“We've got the first job and likely the hardest. We've got to get those trees cut down first so a camp can be made,” Steel Rivet says to a group of earth ponies as we pass by.

“You heard the description of the monster that Seth faced. I want you to be prepared to see more,” Iron instructs several other guards. I also notice with some curiosity that Swift Lance is here as well, listening intently to her commander.

Similar conversations are heard all the way until we reach the front of the ship. It seems like everypony is taking this very seriously. It's a bit surreal to know that I'm a part of something this huge. Even more so because I know that in the end, they're doing it all for me, whether they know it or not. 

“This is so cool,” Vinyl remarks, peering over the edge of the ship. Below us are the plains between Canterlot and Ponyville, with a large river coursing through it. In fact, I think that's the same river that passes through Ponyville and heads west. This won't be a long trip after all. “I don't go flying that much, so it's so fascinating every time I do.”

“I can fly whenever I want,” I retort. Without a care for how dangerous this would be for someone that couldn't fly, I hop up onto the prow of the airship and walk all the way to the edge. Call me crazy, but I've always wanted to stand on the prow of a ship like this. Though...I always pictured that I'd be gazing out over the sea and not the clouds. I guess I'll take what I can get.

“Yeah, if I didn't know that you can fly, I'd be freaking out right about now,” Vinyl remarks nervously, eyeing my position at the prow. I shrug and sit down on the prow, letting my legs dangle down into the open air.

Vinyl and I remain there in silence for a while, unable to think of anything else to say. Unfortunately, that doesn't last very long, because a certain pink pony takes it upon herself to interrupt us.

“Guess what guess whaaat!” Pinkie squeals, joining me on the prow despite the fact that she's an earth pony and can't fly. I gaze at her out of the corner of my eye, annoyed. I'm about to make a witty retort, but she continues, despite the fact that no one's made a guess. “That nice Opal pony said I can help! Guess who's going to be cooking for you all!”

“You serious!?” Vinyl exclaims. After Pinkie confirms with a nod, Vinyl grins. “That's totally rad. Nopony can beat your baking skills.”

“You do know that we can't eat cupcakes and cookies every day, right?” I point out. In the end, I think I'm okay with Pinkie making the food. Like I said, she's a baking wizard. 

“Of course not, silly! Those are desserts! You eat them as tasty additions, not as a substitute for the meal itself,” Pinkie agrees. Part of me wants to point out the few times I've seen her eat sweets randomly before dinner, but the last thing I should do is try to win an argument with Pinkie. No doubt she'd respond with something stupid and then try to feed me a cupcake.

“Did I hear you right? You're going to be cooking for us?” Finally, Rainbow chooses to come join us, though Twilight isn't with her. “That's just awesome! You've totally got to make some of those spicy cupcakes for me. Those are delicious!”

“Aren't they? They're a bit tricky to make, but I'll do it for you, Dashie!” Pinkie replies happily. I see Rainbow roll her eyes slightly at being called by that name, but she doesn't say anything about it. Probably because she's going to be getting sweets.

“Where's Twilight? Weren't you nerding out with her about those Daring Do books?” I ask curiously.

“I wasn't 'nerding out.'” Rainbow huffs, her right eye twitching at my wording. “But yeah, that Dr. Forward guy showed up and started talking in words I could barely understand. Twilight picked right up on it and started ignoring me, so here I am.”

“Seems about right. I feel like those two will be working together quite a bit,” I conjecture. “They're both overly intellectual ponies, after all.”

“Yeah, I guess. Still annoying that the moment  he showed up, off she goes,” Rainbow grumbles. She looks up when I land on the deck next to her...and that's all the warning she gets before I lean down and snatch her up, wrapping an arm around her neck and pulling her close. “Aaah! What the hay are you doing?!”

“Does this little pony want some attention? I think she does. I think she does!” I croon to her in the fakest voice I can muster, messing with Rainbow's mane as she struggles to get free. This little display gets Vinyl and Pinkie laughing uproariously, especially when Rainbow starts flailing her hooves around.

“What the...get off! Seth! I'm going to...stoppit!” Rainbow complains, and then she slams a hoof finto my stomach, winding me. With a gasp of pain, I fall backwards, landing flat on my back. Of course, Rainbow comes with me, because even with that, I didn't let go. Soon, I'm holding her on top of me with my arm.“Waaah!” 

“Oh come on, you two. We're in the middle of the open. Can you save your affections for when nopony is looking?” Vinyl complains, her trademark grin returning to her face. Rainbow and I immediately stop struggling with one another and glare at her evilly. We're about to get up and wreck her when Pinkie gives Vinyl a little shove, sending her sprawling right into us. “Uh-oh...”

Rainbow and I detach from one antoher and lunge at Vinyl, such that the three of us are practically rolling across the surface of the deck. We  eventually slam into the side of the deck and collapse into a pile of ponies and me, the one human. “Maybe that will teach you to...Pinkie, what are you doing?” I ask in horror as Pinkie approaches with a devilish expression.

“Pony pile!” Pinkie cries gleefully, promptly throwing herself on top of the three of us, bearing us all the deck once more. Oh god, why did I think that starting this would be a good idea? Even so, I'm laughing.

All the while, the airships draw closer to the Everfree Forest, the place where my past has rested in silence, undisturbed for over three millennia.

> 72. Setting Up Camp
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The five unicorns stood around the hole in the forest floor, their faces tense with exertion. Their horns sparked intensely with white light, forming a budding magical field between them as a combination of their efforts. 

Flash Forward was one of them, and it was he whose horn was shining the brightest. His eyes snapped open. “Concentrate, everypony! Blend your energies together! There is no room for error!” Flash commanded, urging his fellow scientists to produce even brighter lights. 

The scientists grunted with exertion, and then a stream of light arced  between each of their horns, forming a glowing circle of magical power. Flash let out a loud grunt and slams his two front hooves into the ground, a shockwave emanating from the point of impact. Thus released, the circle of power spread outwards with a sound like thunder, surging through the clearing and passing through everything in its path.

I have to cover my eyes as the arc approaches Rainbow and I. It passes through me and causes my body to tingle. To my surprise, it also disrupts my own magical aura that I've yet to put down. My aura sputters and disappears, the flow of magic through my body stilling momentarily before returning to normal.

“Waah!” Rainbow yelps as she crashed to the ground, the magic causing her body to become lighter dissipating and forcing her to obey the laws of physics for once. “What the...couldn't they have warned me about this?”

“They did, you idiot. They said it would disrupt any and all magical enchantments in the immediate area. That includes you,” I retort, chuckling a bit at how she's sprawled in the dirt like that. Rainbow doesn't answer, instead grumbling and muttering under her breath as she rises to her hooves, brushing the dirt from her coat.

The circle of light travels for a little longer, coursing through trees and causing any latent magical enchantments that they may have held to briefly dissipate. The circle then peters out, such that the light level returns to normal.

According to the way Flash explained it, the spell they're using affects different types of magic in different ways. It cannot negate magic at all; instead, it just suppresses it for a short time. Upon hearing that, I remember asking Flash why that wasn't used during the battle of Canterlot.

He responded that the spell was indiscriminate, and would have affected all magic, and required time to set up, which made it useless in combat. The second reason, and the most damning, was that it can't suppress biological magic, otherwise known as the magic present in our bodies. It temporarily disrupts it, which is why Rainbow fell from the sky and my aura disappeared, but it only lasts for a second. 

In other words, the purpose of the spell is to counteract enchantments for a short time without disturbing them. As Flash said, some trees are capable of defending themselves, so this was the only way to take an axe to them without getting fucked up.

“That's it! You only have thirty minutes until the forest reasserts itself!” Flash announces, addressing the multitudes of ponies surrounding the trees that were just disrupted. Maybe it's just me, but the trees...they seem like they're a lot...stiffer. “This takes a lot of magic, so get as much done as you can before we have to cast it again!

“You heard the pony! Bring those trees down!” Steel Rivet demands. He's standing next to one of the trees himself, with an axe embedded in the ground next to him. He clamps down on the handle with his teeth, pulls the axe out of the ground, and then swings it powerfully into the tree. The force of his swing is enough to cut deeply into the bark.

As if on cue, the area is filled with the sound of chopping and grunts of exertion as all of the lumberjack ponies start hacking at the trees surrounding the hole into my college.

By the edge of the area, Commander Iron is standing there, directing his guards. The guards have formed a perimeter around us, just outside the range of the anti-magic spell. So far they've already discouraged or dispatched several of the forest's wildlife. Even now, I can see a timberwolf emerging from the brush along with several others. Iron and the guards nearest to him easily take them out with quick thrusts of spears and tridents. Suffice to say, as long as they're there, nothing is getting in to hurt the civilians.

“Hey.” I'm interrupted from my observations by Rough Hammer. That's unexpected. This guy hasn't really talked to me since the first time we met. Once he sees that he has my attention, Rough Hammer beckons towards the airships floating just above the canopy of the forest with his head. “You're good with magic, aren't you? We could use your help getting the supplies down here.”

“Can't you just use the gangplanks and get your guys to unload for you?” I ask curiously. I was allowed to sit out before, so why am I needed now?

“And just where are we supposed to find enough room to do that?” Rough Hammer criticizes me with a frown. I look at the clearing that still in the process of being widened and realize that he's right. Rough Hammer flexes his muscles and grins. “No, we've got to do this the old fashioned way: with magic, pulleys, and lots of rope.”

“All right, count me in, I guess,” I agree reluctantly. It's not like I'll be much helping standing around while the others get the camp set up. I look back at Rainbow, who is the only pony that's been hanging with me as of right now. Vinyl is with her mother, Twilight was one of the four unicorns with Flash Forward, and Pinkie...is being Pinkie. “You coming?”

“Nah, that seems like too much work. I think I'll grab a cloud and take a little nap until it's time to go in the ruins,” Rainbow remarks with a devious grin. I groan and turn away, knowing that there's no reasoning with Rainbow when she gets lazy.

“I don't think so. You've got some nerve being lazy when you're nothing but a freeloader,” Rough Hammer growls, stomping over to her. Rainbow's ears perks up and she turns around, transfixing the miner pony with a glare.

“What the hay did you just call me?” Rainbow demands, shoving a hoof in Rough Hammer's face. The miner's grin returns. “Spit it out, buster!”

“You heard me. You're a freeloader, here on the good graces of our project advisor. Must be nice, getting to relax while the rest of us work our flanks off,” Rough Hammer challenges her. 

A vein twitches in Rainbow's forehead...and then another. “You listen here, and you listen good. I'm no freeloader. I'm going to show you just how lucky you are that you brought me, Rainbow Dash, along! Now where're these supplies!?”  Rainbow takes to the air, zooming past me and heading straight for the cargo airship.

Rough Hammer follows her with his gaze, his grin widening. I watch Rainbow go as well for a bit, before turning to look at Rough Hammer in shock. “Did you just...!?” I exclaim. Rainbow's lazy streak is almost impossible to deal with when it shows up. “Damn, I've got to remember that one. How did you know to do that?”

“All in a day's work. Now let's get started, Seth,” Rough Hammer remarks, and then he trots past me and heads for the ladder that connects the airship to the ground.

“Smug bastard,” I mutter, following him.





The set up on the airship is much like I expected. Gilded Skies, along with a few others, set up a complicated pulley system that could transport cargo from the deck down to the forest floor. 

How it works is that either Rough Hammer or other strong ponies lift the heaviest cargo, from boxes to massive supplies of lumber, and fit it into a harness. This harness is connected to the pulley system, so the next step was to lever the cargo over the edge and lower it to the forest floor.

That's where Rainbow and I come in. The two of us are to partially carry the cargo as it's lowered so that its weight won't adversely affect the ship. Some of what gets sent down is heavy as fuck, so I can understand that. It would suck having to explain a capsized airship to Celestia.

Sometimes the cargo that's getting sent down is light enough so that Rainbow and I aren't needed, but it's too heavy to be carried. In that case, Rough Hammer and Gilded Skies handle that on their own, while Rainbow and I carry the lightest cargo down from the deck to the forest floor ourselves.

While all of this is going on, trees are falling in the Everfree. Each time a tree falls, it is carried over to where the guards are, and it is then stripped of bark and its branches sharpened. Finally, it is added to the other fallen trees that have already been set up, forming the makings of a defensive wall for the camp and giving the guards less ground to watch.

The stumps of the fallen trees are removed through the help of the science department, who use magic along with some strange chemical to soften the wood and loosen the roots. That way, they can be dug out with ease. Of course, that requires the construction ponies to level the area afterward.

I'm probably making it sound like a simple process. Oh no, everything I'm describing takes place over the course of several days. There's a lot of cargo to take down, and even then bits of it are being constantly rearranged or relocated, so Rainbow and I are kept busy. 

For sleeping arrangements, most of us make do with what accommodations are present in the two airships. There's rather a lot of us, so it got pretty crammed, where four or five ponies ended up in the same room. So, as you can imagine, I end up with Rainbow, Vinyl, Pinkie, and Twilight. Which also gets me to realize that I have no stallions that I come into contact with on a daily basis. Sometimes I wonder how I haven't grown a vagina yet, so to speak. I guess it helps that Rainbow and Vinyl act mostly like stallions. Anyway, moving on from that of thought.

Over time, the clearing starts to widen. The trees are moved and the stumps are relocated, leaving an empty dirt field. Even that has to be worked, the construction ponies repeatedly leveling the area to make the land flat enough to set up camp on.





I set down the box beneath the cargo tent, panting heavily. Thanks to the heavy rain that came out of nowhere, we had to move the most delicate cargo beneath a hastily erected tent. The scientists were insistent that their equipment doesn't get wet.

“Again with the rain! I keep being told rain is scheduled, so why the hell does it have to be whenever we're doing something important?” I complain, rivulets of rainwater trailing down my face. Twilight is the only one with me at the moment, because Rainbow and Vinyl are working in another area , and Pinkie is making dinner for everyone.

“Unfortunately, this is the Everfree Forest. Because of all the latent magic in the air, it's difficult to control any weather in this area,” Twilight explains, handing me a towel with her magic. I accept it gratefully, using it to dry off my face and neck. “In fact, it's so hazardous, the board actually forbade any interaction with the weather above the forest.”

“So...basically it acts like the weather did in my time,” I state with a deadpan expression. Wow, the irony is so thick here. In the place where magic is the craziest, the weather is the most normal. Somebody tell me how the fuck that makes any sense. “Whatever. At least I don't have any more boxes to carry for now.”

“Me neither. I'm staying under here, where it's dry,” Twilight decides, gazing wryly out into the pouring rain. She then looks at me curiously. “Though I'd much rather be working with Dr. Forward. What about you? Where's Rainbow?”

“She went to go help move the lumber out of the rain. It shouldn't be long before she gets here,” I explain. After all, Rainbow's been with me for most of this expedition so far. Twilight nods, and then the two of us fall silent, having nothing really to do except gaze out into the rain. 

My eyes gaze across the now muddy clearing with a grimace. Working in this area is really going to be a pain in the ass now, especially because we don't get much sunlight down here. That mud is going to take forever to dry.

The hole in the ground that leads to my school catches my eye. It's surrounded by a small barricade to prevent ponies from falling into it, but it does nothing to prevent the rain from falling through. That reminds me...my stuff is still in there. Because I have nothing to do anyway, I think I'll go and get it, despite the fact that I'll get soaked in the process. It'll be better than just sitting here, anyway.

Just as that thought enters my head, Twilight points a hoof towards the curtain of rain cascading over the edge of the tent. “Look, you were right! Here she comes now!” she exclaims. Sure enough, I can see a flash of rainbow as the mare in question zooms through the air on a beeline for our location.

Rainbow bursts out of the rain and into the tent area, landing haphazardly and skidding across the dirt. She looks pretty soaked through, her mane clinging to her sodden coat. “Whew! It's a proper rainstorm out there,” she remarked, peering through her mane at Twilight and I. She hunches down and tenses up her body...causing dread to sink through me as I realize what she's going to do.

“Rainbow, I swear to god, don't you...” I start to say, but then Rainbow proceeds to shake herself vigorously like a dog, spraying everything around her with a shower of droplets. “Oh you little...!”

“Rainbow! Can't you see there's some delicate equipment under here?” Twilight scolds the now somewhat drier Rainbow. I look back at the equipment, and I can already tell that everything is fine. It's all in boxes, so a little sprinkling won't hurt anything. “What if you'd ruined something?”

“Chill, Twilight. They're all in boxes anyway,” Rainbow states, looking bored. Hah, she basically said the same thing I was just thinking. Ignoring Twilight, she looks around until she spots me...or more specifically, the towel on my shoulder. “Hey, Seth, I'mma borrow this.”

“Wait, what are you...?” I begin, but I fall silent as Rainbow rears up on her hind legs and presses her two front hooves on my chest just long enough to grip the towel in her mouth and drag it off of me. “You know, I was using that!”

“Not anymore you aren't. The Dash has claimed your towel...unless you want to share, that is,” Rainbow jokes, lifting up one end of the towel that's now draped over her shoulders.

“I'm not sharing a fucking towel with you,” I state flatly, getting Rainbow to laugh uproariously. Next to me, Twilight is looking between the two of us, looking as if she's trying to suppress laughter. “And come on, you got my shirt all muddy! Blasted pegasus.”

“You know you love me,” Rainbow teases, snickering into her hoof. She then pulls at my shirt, which drips with water because of how soaked it is. “Besides, your shirt is as wet as a sponge right now anyway.”

“Yeah, thanks to that rain out there,” I remark, pushing her hoof away from my shirt. Now, it's just the three of us beneath this tent, watching the rain fall. 

“What are the others doing, Rainbow?” Twilight asks curiously, moving to stand between Rainbow and I. “Is there other work we can do despite the rain?”

“Not really. Everypony is doing what we are: waiting for the rain to let up so we can get back to work,” Rainbow answers with a shrug. She looks down at the ground with a distasteful expression. “I would lay down, but the ground is much less comfortable than a cloud.”

As Twilight replies to that, I sigh and stretch a bit. Now that I've greeted Rainbow, I'm going to go and get my bag from the ruins. My laptop is dead, but everything else I'd rather have back.

“Where are you going?” Rainbow asks as I move to leave the tent, interrupting Twilight in the process. 

“Out. There's something I need to fetch real quick,” I say ambiguously. I feel like if I mentioned that I was going to the ruins, Twilight would insist on coming too. Then I'd be stuck there for a while as she tried to study the place. No, I just want to go in and out. The real digging comes once we finish setting up camp.

Rainbow throws the towel over her shoulder, right onto Twilight's face, and then she trots up to my side with a stubborn expression on her face. “I'm coming too. You don't mind, right?” she declares in such a way that suggests that she's not really asking.

Twilight grumbles and lifts the towel off of her face. She folds it neatly with her magic and drapes it over her back. “You two! You just dried off, and now you're going back out there? You're going to catch a cold!” Twilight fusses.

“Oh, quit being such a fussbudget,” Rainbow chides her friend before I can tell Twilight to fuck off. “Life's no fun if you don't do something stupid for the sake of it one in a while. Shall we go, Seth?”

“I can agree with that. Let's leave little miss fussbudget behind,” I concur, repeating Rainbow's lame but still funny insult to Twilight. Together, the two of us step out into the rain, leaving behind a flustered Twilight.

“Hey! I am not a...a fussbudget! I'm just...” she tries to complain, but the sound of the rain soon drowns her out until it's just Rainbow and I again.

“So where are we going, anyway?” Rainbow asks curiously as we plod through the mud. I splutter lightly as the rain pelts me relentlessly and streams down my face. I don't answer her, instead letting our path speak for me. Sure enough, Rainbow soon figures it out when she sees that I'm heading straight for the hole in the ground. “We're going to your school?”

“Yeah. Careful, it's a bit of a drop,” I warn her just as I'm hopping over the barricade. I lower myself into the hole and climb down the ladder...or at least I try to. The moment I put my foot on the first rung, it snaps, and I hurtle down to the floor and land right on my ass before I can compose myself enough to fly. “Ow! Fucking piece of shit ladder!”

“Why didn't you just fly down?” Rainbow calls down after me smugly. A few seconds later, I see her soaring down the hole and landing on the floor next to me. Without waiting for an answer, she immediately starts craning her head around, looking at the old ruined hallway. “Whoa...it's like I'm in another world.”

I get to my feet and look around as well. The last time I was here, I had been devoid of all happiness and hope, as I'd just learned that my entire race was dead and I'd just finished killing my niece. The niece I didn't even know I had until just then. Which reminds me.

As Rainbow is roaming around the area with fascination, I step out of the stairwell and peer into the hallway towards where the security room was. I don't know why I looked. I knew she was going to be there. It takes me all I have not to lose my composure.

Maka, or what's left of her, is lying on the far end the hallway right where I left her, though her corpse has decomposed considerably since then. If it wasn't raining, I would take her back up to the surface and give her the closest thing to a service as I can get. I know I said I'd bury her...but what she's become is an abomination. If anything, I think she needs to be cremated. Yeah, it would make me feel much better if she were burned, rather than just thrown in the ground.

Just as Rainbow is starting to head towards the hallway herself, I turn the other direction and walk past her. “Are you coming? It's a bit deeper in the structure than this,” I tell her impatiently, thankfully blocking her path to the hallway. I'm not sure I'm ready for her to see that. I don't think  even Rainbow is ready to see that. It is a gruesome sight after all.

“Yeah, I'm right behind you,” Rainbow assures me, following me to the stairs. “Wow, I can't believe I'm standing in a human building. What's with the pipes everywhere? And why is the floor red?”

“Why are you asking me? I didn't design the place. Maybe they liked red. I don't fucking know,” I retort. Just as I'm about to reach the first step, I suddenly remember the first time I tried using the stairs in this place. “Uh, you might want to hover for this. I'm not sure how stable these stairs are.”

“I think the floors should have been blue, like me. That would have made this place so much cooler,” Rainbow remarks, though she does do what I suggest and hover just above the stairs. I shake my head and start walking down the stairs, each one creaking beneath my weight.

We reach the floor beneath this one without mishap, but as I'm stepping on the stairs that leads to the very spot I woke up at several months ago, one of the steps gives away beneath my weight, having rusted through. I recoil, but I don't fall because I had been prepared for something like this to happen. That doesn't make it any less annoying.

“Shitty architects. The damn Romans made better stairs than you, and this was supposed to be modern architecture,” I curse, watching the shards of rusted metal plummet down to the set of stairs below. “And that's why I had to fly, Rainbow.”

“I'd have flown anyway. I hate stairs,” Rainbow says with a nonchalant shrug. “But this might be bad for the ponies that aren't pegasi.”

“Yeah. I'm thinking they'll have to build a scaffolding in the elevator shaft in order to get from floor to floor,” I reason. 

“A what in the what now?” Rainbow asks, naturally having no idea what an elevator shaft is. I ignore her, however, because we've finally reached the foyer where my stuff is. Sure enough, my bag is still lying there along with my headphones, right where I'd left them several months ago.

“Please tell me...” I mutter to myself, rushing to my bag and leaning down. Rainbow watches me in confusion as I grab my headphones and plug them into my phone. A few simple taps on the screen later, and a song starts to play faintly over the headphones. “Yes! They still work! My life is complete.”

“Huh? What are those? Headphones?” Rainbow asks curiously, examining the unique headphones in my hands. These babies are Japanese imported and cost nearly a hundred dollars. I'm so glad that I can have them back and that they still work. “They don't look like any headphones I've ever seen.”

“That's because they're human. Look at them though,” I reply, showing them to her. “This shit was expensive. Most headphones that humans use are either those ear buds that are excruciating to wear or huge cans that make you look ridiculous.”

“These don't look like anything that you just described,” Rainbow observes, causing me to nod. 

“That's right. I had these imported from anther country because they have good sound and they look good,” I explain. “They're the only headphones I know that are easy to store and wear, and yet still manage to look stylish.”

“Stylish? Careful, Seth, you're starting to sound a little like Rarity,” Rainbow comments, nudging me with a grin. I scoff and shove her right back.

“Oh, fuck you. I'm allowed to care a little about my appearance. That doesn't make me Rarity,” I mutter, rolling up the cords to the headphones and placing them in my bag's front pocket. If I'm carrying this thing out of the ruins, it's going to get wet. My bag is waterproof, but my headphones aren't. “Anyway, I'm ready to get out of here for now. This is all I came for.”

“What's in the bag?” Rainbow inquires, poking her head into one of the pockets. Part of me wants to zip up the pocket and see her squirm, but this place isn't safe enough to mess around in. So instead, I poke at her neck until she withdraws her head and glares at me. “Stop that!”

“Stop sticking your nose in places that don't belong to you,” I return with a smirk. “To answer your question, nothing too important or useful. Just things that are mine that I wanted back.”

“Oh. Okay. So we're going back to the surface?” Rainbow asks, disappointed. “I wanted to explore some more. This place looks really cool on the inside. I feel like I'm Daring Do, delving into a dangerous ruin in search of valuable artifacts!”

“Okay, Daring Do. What should we do next, O great and clever adventurer?” I reply sarcastically, halfway imitating that one support character in the second Indiana Jones movie. “Shall we go search for the sacred eyes of the statue or what the fuck ever?”

“Yes! Together you and I will uncover the rarest of treasures! Come, my assistant. We have much ground to cover!” Rainbow hilariously falls into the role of Daring Do, saluting me officially. I snort with laughter, finding her imitation about as ridiculous as mine.

“Okay, but if I have to defend you from snakes, I'm drawing the line,” I joke, remembering the scene in the first book where Daring had been beset by said reptiles. “No, seriously, though, let's get back to the surface.”

“Do we have to? It's raining like crazy out there, and it's warm and dry down here,” Rainbow complains. “If we went outside, the only place dry would either be under a tent or in the airship.”

“Yes, we have to. I'm not staying in here any longer than I have to. I'm certainly not spending the night down here. I'm telling you, this place is a death trap. To sleep in a place like this is suicide,” I tell her firmly. There's no certainty that Maka was the only Oppressed down here.

Without even waiting for Rainbow's response, I gently power up my magic, so as not to damage the area around me. Then, I fly up and out of the hole, into the rain. Rainbow is quick to follow me, though she looks annoyed. “Ugh, at least wait for me!” Rainbow complains. She splutters slightly and glares up at the sky. “Sheesh, you think the rain would have let up by now.”

Now that I have my bag back, Rainbow and I return to the tent where Twilight is taking refuge as well. She greets the two of us with a flat browed expression, still annoyed that we completely went out into the rain and ignored her. 

“Ugh, you two,” Twilight groans, noting how soaked we both are from the rain. Next to me, Rainbow hunches down once more, and I brace myself. Sure enough, the pegasus starts to shake the water off of herself, sending water droplets everywhere...or she would have, if Twilight hadn't hastily erected a magical shield in front of Rainbow to catch all of the water before it could hit anything important. “No. Bad Rainbow.”

Twilight hands us both towels after that. I take mine and wrap it closely around myself, because that rain is cold. It's still winter, so I'm surprised it isn't sleet. Though I guess it's not cold enough for any freezing to happen.

After we get settled there, the three of us plop down together, having literally nothing else to do. Rainbow promptly throws herself over one of the boxes and goes right to sleep, leaving Twilight and I. I don't feel like talking to Twilight though, so I unsnap the clasps on my bag and peer inside. I don't remember exactly what is in here other than my laptop.

“Did Rarity make that for you?” Twilight asks curiously, looking at the bag. It suddenly strikes me that the bag is made out of leather. Right...I'll just keep that fact to myself so I don't get lynched or something.

“No, it's mine,” I tell her simply, sifting through the bag. Sure enough, I feel my hands brush across the smooth white plating of my laptop. There's no way the thing still works, but it's nice to have it back. Maybe one day I'll pay to have an adapter made for it. At the very least, I'll have access to all the files on my computer. Come to think of it, I think I have Soul Eater on my hard drive.

There's also other assorted papers inside. Heh, there's the study guide for my math class that I'd thought was really important at the time, but now it's just a bunch of useless formulas that won't do anyone any good anymore. Oh, here's the notebook where I did my note-taking assignments for my world history class.

“Is...is that English?” Twilight exclaims, getting my attention. I notice that she's staring at the cover of the notebook that I'm holding in one hand, and I swear I can actually see her eyes sparkling with excitement. Oh god, what have I done? “Wow!  Did you get that from the ruins? I can't believe it's in such good condition!”

In her excitement, Twilight snatches the notebook from me with her magic, opening it up and flipping through it. “This is amazing! There's so much English I don't recognize in here, I think we could add to the official lexicon!”

I stare at her, my hand still in the position it was when it was holding the notebook. She just...took that from me without asking and is now rifling through my shit, squealing like a fangirl.

“Give me that back,” I snap, snatching the notebook right out of her telekinetic hold. “Sheesh, you're like a filly in a candy store. Yes, I got this out of the ruins. No, you can't use it.”

“What? But why not? It's in perfect condition! This is a major find!” Twilight protests, looking confused and disappointed.

“Because it's not just some relic I found in the ruins. It's mine. I never handed in my phone for study, and I'm not about to give away my own possessions that I just retrieved,” I explain irritably, replacing the notebook back in the bag where Twilight can't get to it. “You'll just have to study what you find in the ruins. Anything in this bag is off limits.”

“Ugh, you can be so stubborn at times,” Twilight huffs. She releases a sigh, giving the bag one last longing look. “Okay, I'll respect that. Can I ask you a quick question, though?”

“What?”

“Is it in good condition because it traveled with you, when Sombra transported you to our time?” Twilight asks hesitantly. I pause a moment, but then I remember she was there when all of that was explained. 

“Yeah, but I left it in the ruins at the time because I was busy wondering why the fuck the building around me aged three thousand years and I didn't,” I reply bitterly. Twilight winces, but then she nods. I think she knew she was stepping into dangerous territory when she asked that question.

“Oh. Well, I'm glad you have your things back, at least,” Twilight replies softly. I grunt in response, and then a silence falls over the two of us. 

I'm not mad at her. She's just being Twilight after all. No, instead I'm just looking through my old school things. They're all useless to me now, but I can't help but get nostalgic regardless. See this study guide? I remember when filling that out was the most pressing thing on my mind. I also remember the times when a test that was coming up next week would monopolize all my time.

We sit like this for a long time, until the rain starts to let up. I look up from my bag when the sound of the falling rain starts to fade away. Oh, I guess it's finally stopping. Now it's just sprinkling, and ponies are starting to poke their heads out of tents and other forms of shelter.

“Looks like it's time to get to work again,” Twilight observes, getting back on her hooves. “I need to help the scientists get their tent pitched so we can be ready to examine any artifacts the archaeology team turns up.”

I nod, and then I wordlessly turn to Rainbow, who is lying on her back on a box and snoring softly. Without any warning, I gather up some of the rainwater falling from the top of the tent and splash it onto Rainbow's face. “Wake the fuck up, you technicolor freak,” I tell her.

Rainbow splutters and coughs, falling off of the box and landing on the ground.. Her eyes open...and then she immediately glares at me. At this point, she doesn't even need to ask to know that it was me that woke her up. “Really? What the hay was that for?” Rainbow demands, wiping water out of her mane with her hoof. “I was having a good nap there.”

“The rain is letting up. It's time to get back to work. See?” I inform her, indicating the clearing outside the tent. The sound of overlapping voices can be heard now that the area is filling with ponies again. 

“Aww, okay. I guess we should head back to Steel and see what else we can do,” Rainbow says in a resigned manner. The three of us, including Twilight, walk out from under the tent and join the throng of ponies. However, I soon split off from the two of them, having something else in mind. “Hey, where are you going?”

“I need to speak to Iron real quick,” I answer her. Rainbow moves to join me, but I wave her off. “No, don't come with me. I need to speak with him alone.”

“What? Why?” Rainbow insists, looking both confused and worried at the same time.

“I'll tell you later. Just go on ahead of me for now. I'll join you in a bit,” I tell her firmly. Twilight seems to understand, because she's resting a hoof on Rainbow's side, giving her a telling look. Rainbow huffs, but she does as I say, following Twilight back towards where the project leads are working.

This idea popped into my head not long after seeing Maka's corpse again. I want to get her out of that hole so I can burn her body, but I'd have to carry her, and that's certainly not something I want to do on my own. So I need a unicorn to help me get her out of there.

I thought about asking Twilight for help of course, but she's not hardened, so I doubt she could handle seeing something as twisted as Maka right now. No, for something like this, Iron's the only one I think I can ask. He's a battle hardened soldier, so this shouldn't be an issue for him. Plus, I know him a lot better than some random unicorn guard.

In the end, all I know is that one way or another, I'm sending Maka off properly. 
	

	
> 73. Farewell, Maka
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Near the edge of camp, massive fallen trees have been lined up to form makeshift walls, keeping out the majority of the wildlife. In addition, the guard is no longer stretched as thin as before, as now they only have small gaps between the trees to guard.

My destination is the entrance facing away from Ponyville. According to one of the scientists I'd stopped on the way to the walls, that's where the monsters of the forest have been trying to get in the most, and therefore that's where I'd find Iron. 

The camp finally seems to be taking shape as well. Several tents with differing functions have been in a circular fashion around perimeter of camp, leaving a large central area, as well as an adjoining area where the entrance to the ruins is located.

One such tent is a sizable dining tent, where wooden tables and cooking equipment have been set up. The food supplies are also stored inside, within portable coolers or boxes to keep cool and dry. I must say, it's very convenient for their “electronics” to be able to function without an outlet. Anyway, it's inside that tent that we all meet up for meals three times a day. It's also where Pinkie spends the most of her time, as the camp's appointed cook.

Also, I pass several tents that are just being set up against the walls of the camp. To my knowledge, those are where we're going to be sleeping in the future. One of our airships will have to go back and forth for supplies eventually, and there's just not enough room on one airship for the entire expeditionary force. I'm not sure how much I'll like sleeping around a large group of ponies, but we don't have much space to work with.

Several guards are standing near one of the gaps between the fallen trees. This is one of the last few remaining gaps, due to the other gaps being filled in slowly by more trees to further strengthen the camp. So far, it's looking like this is intended to be the only exit from the ground.

Commander Iron is one of the guards there, standing as stalwart as his name in the center of them all. He held his trident and shield in front of him with a small amount of magic, ready to defend the camp whenever necessary. It seems like he's already had to do some fighting, because I can see the remains of timberwolves scattered in the underbrush. There's none of the big predators, but I'm not worried even if one does show up. Having fought alongside the guy, I know he can take care of himself.

“Iron!” I call to him simply as I approach. I get not only his attention, but the attention of some of the other guards as well. It's probably because I omitted his title.

“ Seth,” Iron returns my greeting just as simply, turning his head ever so slightly to look at me. As I get close to him, he lifts up his visor to get a better look at me. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Yeah. I'd like to talk to you in private for a moment,” I tell him seriously, coming to a halt just in front of him. Iron's expression turns slightly curious, but he doesn't move. 

“I'm afraid that if it isn't urgent, it'll have to wait. I can't leave my post,” Iron responds firmly with a shake of his head. He indicates the fallen timberwolves with his hoof. “We've already come under attack several times now, and we suspect that larger predators may soon take notice.”

“Please, there's nothing in this forest more dangerous than the Scorpios, and I killed the fucker,”  I retort. Besides, some of the guards I see here are ones that I've also fought with, in the streets of Canterlot back during the changeling invasion. I think they can handle whatever comes out of that forest. When Iron still looks unconvinced, I sigh and look at him beseechingly. “It's urgent to me. I need a favor, and in exchange I'll take your shift sometime and let you rest.”

Iron stares at me for a while, mulling my words over. Finally, the guard next to him angles her head to look at Iron in such a way that I can see who she is. “It's all right, Commander. I've been practicing like you showed me, so if any manticores or the like show up, I think we can handle them,” Swift Lance assures him, giving me a wink. Huh, I did not expect her to help me out...or even be here in the first place. “You can go with him if you need to.”

“...Very well. I should not be gone for very long,” Iron promises his guards, much to my relief. He's right, I only need him to get Maka out of that hole, and then he can go back to standing around and whacking wooden dogs with a glorified pitchfork. “Lead the way, Seth.”

“Thank you,” I tell him tersely, and then I stride back into camp after making sure that the taciturn commander is still following me. There's a lot of ponies working in the area right now, so I lead Iron to an area behind one of the tents so that we'll have the best chance of remaining undisturbed.

“So what's this about?” Iron asks patiently, watching me curiously. “It's not like you to ask others for favors.”

“Yeah, I'd rather you hadn't pointed that out...but whatever. You're right,” I grunt. There's literally no way I can get him to do this without telling him something about my family...but I suppose that can't be helped. “But that can come later. So, has Shining Armor told you about the monster that I encountered down here before?”

“Yes, he did. He said that it was particularly dangerous because it couldn't feel pain,” Iron related. Suddenly, he looked alarmed. “Have you discovered more of them?”

“Nothing that bad. What I didn't tell Shining Armor is what those monsters are...or rather, what they used to be,” I admit with difficulty. I find it hard to meet his gaze, and for a few seconds, I don't speak, unsure if I should even tell this to him. Why don't I just ask Twilight? Who cares if she freaks out? Wait...everypony that was in the wedding hall knows that my race is undead. I guess telling him can't hurt. “They used to be my race.”

“What?” Iron actually looks taken off guard by my revelation, his dark eyes wide with surprise. “How can this be? I was briefed on the nature of the monster before the mission began, and as described by my captain, it is in the rough shape of a pony. Your kind is clearly bipedal.”

“I know. That's what makes it so sickening,” I reply, my expression turning pained. “They didn't come like that. They were...twisted...”

Understanding dawns in Iron's face. He scuffs the ground with hoof, and then he looks at me seriously. “I see,” Iron says simply. “I don't want to sound insensitive, but you've yet to tell me what exactly you need my help for.”

“I need somepony to help me get the monster's body out of the ruins,” I tell him flatly. I try to read his reaction, but the only change in his expression is just a slight rise of an eyebrow. “I can't do it on my own.”

“You need a unicorn's magic, because the hole is too small to get both you and the body out at the same time,” Iron correctly deduces. When he sees me nod, he sighs. “May I ask why the monster's body is so important to you?”

“The...monster...was someone I knew,” I admit grudgingly. I had hoped I wouldn't need to explain that to him, but I guess I should have known better. “She used to be family.”

Iron's expression turns pained, and then it softens. He lifts a hoof and rests it on me in an attempt to comfort me. “All right. I will help you,” he promises me. I emit a sigh of relief, inwardly cursing myself. I wish I could have just done this myself, but instead I have to feel like a total weakling and spill my feelings to him. “How do humans usually send off their dead?”

“There have been tons of rituals over the ages, but most commonly we either bury or cremate them, depending on the beliefs of the family in question,” I explain to him, once again surprised by how sharp he is. I've barely told him anything, yet he keeps guessing my intent. “In this case, I want to cremate her. She...doesn't look human anymore.”

“I understand,” Iron affirms. He turns away from me and walks into one of the tents that covers the sleeping areas. Curious, I follow after him, lifting the flap of the tent and entering as well. It looks like this is where the off duty guards are spending their time, because I can see several of them out of their armor, playing cards or having conversations.

Upon the commander's entrance, all conversation ceases without him needing to say anything. Iron looks down at the two nearest guards. “You two. I need you to ready a funeral pyre in the open area near the ruins entrance. Quickly now,” Iron orders them. The two guards look confused and alarmed by the order, but they do as they're told. They leap to their hooves and leave the tent, with us right behind them.

“Why did you do that? I was planning on taking her body someplace secluded and dealing with it myself,” I demand. All I want is his help getting Maka out of the ruins. I don't need something as complicated to set up as a pyre.

“It's partially out of respect for your help in defending Equestria, unwilling or not. You are a fine warrior,” Iron explains, inclining his head to me. Defending...oh, he must be talking about how he and I fought together in the battle against the changelings. Why should that affect how he treats my niece? “Was this family member a warrior as well?”

“You could say that...though I think she was forced into the role due to circumstance,” I reply reluctantly, remembering Maka's last stand with a heavy feeling in my heart. Iron actually laughs at that.

“Aren't we all?” Iron responds, causing me to raise an eyebrow. I guess there's a lot more to his civil war story than he told me. Though it's fair for him not to tell me. Anyway, he continues as we branch away from the two guards walking with us and approach the hole in the ground. “Your customs are very similar to that of Bleak Island's. Therefore, I'm going to give your kin the traditional Bleak Island warrior send off.”

“Okay, now I think you're doing a little too much for me, especially considering you've never met my niece before,” I finally say, my uncertainty becoming too much to bear. “Is this all just because we fought together?”

Iron and I come to a halt by the entrance to the ruins. He gives me his full attention, gazing at me in my eyes. Damn, I don't know if I've mentioned, but the commander has a piercing gaze. “You must not understand. To me, that's more than enough to respect someone,” Iron divulges. “Much can be learned about the character of another after fighting alongside them in battle. I could feel the determination and spirit in your heart as you fought with me that night. I saw you going out of your way to protect our soldiers, even taking hits that you would have easily avoided otherwise.”

“That's because the whole battle was my...” I try to interrupt, but Iron continues on, drowning out my protests with his firm voice.

“Whatever your reasons, your actions were commendable. That is why I respect you, and that is  why I'm going to extend your family that same respect,” Iron decides, his brow set in a determined gaze. It seems to me like he's not going to let me stop him from doing this. Ugh...but this means I have to come up with some way to pay him back for this. I said I'd take his shift, but that was before he decided to give my niece a respectful service.

“I still don't think you need to bother, but whatever. I doubt telling you not to is going to do much of anything,” I grumble, turning away from him.

“Indeed. Now, lead me to her,” Iron orders. I nod and step over the barrier surrounding the hole. The ladder is busted, so I fly down, landing on the ancient red floors with a quiet click.

Looking up, I suddenly remember that most unicorns can't fly. Just as I'm questioning how Iron is going to get down, he falls through the hole and lands solidly on all four hooves with a crash, the floor cracking slightly under the impact. Or he could do that. “Careful! These ruins are unstable, especially stairwells like these,” I warn Iron as he steps out of the cloud of dust that he'd just created.

“So it seems,” Iron observes upon seeing the cracks that his descent had caused. Afterward, he too can't keep himself from looking around the ancient human structure with interest. “Nevertheless, I am impressed that this structure is as well preserved as it is. To my understanding, most ruins we've uncovered have been more or less unrecognizable.”

“It probably has something to do with how dry and firm our soil is, and the fact that this place has been covered in it, practically airtight,” I hypothesize, though I doubt I'm right. I'm no expert at aging and that kind of thing. Honestly, my classes in my computer science major ended up being completely useless in the end. I should have studied something more practical. “Now, come this way. She's on this floor.”

I lead Iron past the broken door and into the hallway, which was as dark and dismal as ever. “There's something else I should mention. She's...well...the body isn't pleasant to look at. That's why I asked you, and not somepony more familiar to me like Vinyl or Twilight,” I explain, walking towards the camera security room.

“So I understood. You told me she was twisted, so I'm expecting the worst,” Iron responded readily, not seeming discouraged in the least. 

Finally, I stand before my fallen niece, and even I can't keep myself from wanting to vomit. Maka is barely recognizable. Her once vibrant hair is now dull and lifeless, falling out of her twisted skull. Her skin has dried up and is sunken in, having decomposed over the months in which she's been here. Her lips are ripped and raised in a feral snarl that will never fade, and her eyes are long since misted over. Oh Maka...this just isn't fair.

Iron catches sight of Maka as well, and even he has to pause. He glances between me and the corpse, no doubt trying to envision Maka as she used to be by comparing her to me. Eventually he sighs. “Twisted indeed. You were right to come to me. I doubt anypony here would be able to handle such a grotesque sight,” Iron finally states. 

“Right. Now let's get her out of here,” I agree. Iron nods, and then he lowers his head, his horn lighting up with dark blue magic. An aura surrounds Maka's body, though for some reason it looks unstable, flickering in and out of existence. Iron narrows his eyes and concentrates harder, and Maka's body starts to float, though very slowly and sluggishly. When I hear Iron grunt in exertion, I realize something must be wrong. “What's going on? Are you having trouble?”

“Something...is resisting my hold. It's difficult to keep a grasp on it,” Iron grits out, trying hard to keep Maka in the air. “I don't understand...this has never happened before.”

“It's resisting your magic?” I question with shock. Maka is dead, and  it's still managing to cause some resistance? How much resistance would a live Oppressed exhibit? Just the thought of a magical resistant monster like that makes me shiver. 

“It's not going to stop me...but it's worth noticing,” Iron grunts. He slowly starts to move back towards the stairwell, carrying Maka with him. “If there are more of these monsters, then this ruin may be more dangerous than even you expected.”

“Yeah, but I didn't fucking expect them to be resistant to magic! I didn't have magic then, so I had no chance to test it,” I shoot back, feeling more worried than I care to admit. I have all of this power now, but if the Oppressed can resist it, even I might have trouble with them now.

“I am not blaming you. I simply mean that we must be extra vigilant, making sure nopony goes without a guard escort,” Iron assures me, taking another painstaking step. “It's good that we discovered this now.”

“Yeah...I would hate to be the unicorn that tries blasting one without knowing about it,” I remark. Suddenly, I realize that if I do run into another Oppressed, I might end up being helpless in the worst case scenario. My magic is my main form of offense, augmenting my physical attacks and serving as a ranged weapon through my rifle. I'd have no way to fight one. “Iron, I don't suppose you brought along any extra weapons?”

“I did indeed, in case any of our weapons were to become damaged,” Iron answers. He looks back at me with understanding a moment later. “I see...you've come to the conclusion that if you cannot harm them magically, you would engage them with a blade. Good thinking.”

“Thanks, I guess,” I respond awkwardly. I have no idea how to use medieval weaponry like  swords and the like, but it would be better than going unarmed.

When we reached the stairwell, Iron and I come to a halt, Maka's body floating haphazardly behind us. “You go up first. Be prepared to pull her up once she passes out of my telekinetic range,” Iron directs me. Ugh, great, I have to touch her. I guess that can't be helped though.

“Got it.” I leap into the air and flare my magic enough to propel me out of the hole. 

When I land, I notice that the two guards Iron spoke to are in the middle of setting up a pile of kindling around a flat wooden platform. That must be the pyre. It's large enough that other ponies are starting to take notice, gazing at it momentarily on their way to whatever task they're in the middle of. More importantly, Opal seems to be there as well, staring at the pyre with alarm.

I'll deal with her in a moment. Iron is already lifting Maka's body up the shaft, having to exert his magic even harder as Maka neared the edge of this range. Just as Maka's twisted hooves rise above the ground, I reach down and grasp them, taking care to avoid the still sharp claws. Sure enough, her skin is as slimy and disgusting as I'd expected. What's even worse is that after Iron releases her from his grasp, I have to carry her entire weight...and she isn't stable enough to handle that.

With a sickening crack, one of her hooves tears right off of her body. I have to reach down and grasp Maka in someplace else to prevent her from falling. “Oh god,” I choke. I start lifting Maka up, but it's a slow process; she's heavy, and I don't want to break her even more than I already have.

“Yo, you look like you need some help,” I hear somepony say. That sounds like Vinyl, the unicorn approaching me from behind. Oh no, she's not going to be able to handle this. “What's the matter, is a little heavy lifting too much for...what the hay is that?!”

Vinyl's mouth falls open in shock and horror when she sees what I'm trying to lift out of the hole. When the smell of it reaches her, she chokes, just as I'd expected, and then she rushes over to someplace secluded to throw up. Idiot...that's what you get for sticking your nose into my business.

Finally, I manage to drag Maka out of the hole and set her down on the ground. Ugh, my hands are covered in slime. I need to go to the stream and wash this shit off.

Down in the hole, Iron manages to climb up the ladder up until the point where it is broken, and then he leaps upwards, allowing me to grab him next and help him up. “Thank you,” Iron pants, clearly somewhat tired from having to carry a magic resistant object. “Let's get cleaned off, and then we'll start the service.”

“I hear that,” I grunt, trying not to look at my hands.





After a quick trip to the stream, Iron and I return and start moving Maka again, though the commander has the bright idea to toss a small tarp over her to conceal her from innocent eyes. Though there's no preventing Opal from approaching us when she sees us coming.

“Commander! These guards are telling me you ordered them to set this up!” Opal exclaims worriedly. “What's happened? Has somepony been...hurt?”

“No. He's doing a favor for me,” I answer her before Iron can say anything. When Opal looks at me, I continue. “There's a family member of mine that died here. I'm just sending her off.”

Opal's expression turns from worry to pain, and then to sympathy. “Oh...then I apologize. I'm terribly sorry for your loss,” she tells me softly. Right...you have no idea how much I've lost since getting to Equestria. “Come here.”

“Wait what? Please tell me you're not going to...” I try to say as Opal approaches me, but then she rears up and throws her hooves around me in a warm embrace. “...hug me. You touchy-feely ponies.”

“Let's keep moving. I can't hold her forever,” Iron reminds me patiently. I waggle my hands to tell him without words how trapped I am. It isn't until Opal releases me that I can move again. For some reason, she decides to follow us as we near the pyre.

Vinyl rejoins me near the pyre now that she's finished throwing up her lunch. She looks at the tarp weakly, and then back at me. “Seriously...what the hay is that? It was...the most disgusting thing I've ever seen!” Vinyl demands, falling in step between her mother and I.

“Someone I never got to know,” I reply somberly. It takes a while for that to click with Vinyl, but when it does, she too looks pained by the revelation. She keeps pace with us for a few moments, and then she slinks off for some reason when she thinks I'm not looking. That's fine, she doesn't need to be here for this.

Iron places Maka gently on the pyre, finally releasing her from his magic. I almost didn't notice it, but he releases a soft sigh of relief.  Damn, the Oppressed would have been a threat even to the ponies, just because of that magical resistance, if that's really what it is.

“Seth, would you tell me her name?” Iron queries, looking at me once he's put some distance between himself and the pyre.

“Maka Rogers,” is my simple response. Right now, Iron and I are standing together, watching the two guards finish preparing her final resting place. 

Iron nods and removes his helmet, letting his silver mane free to dangle down to his shoulders. He sets it beside him on the ground, along with his trident and shield. “Very well. Then we can begin,” he affirms.

The two guards lift up branches from the ground and ignite them with their magic, illuminating the area with an orange glow. As they're getting ready to light the pyre, I hear the sounds of other ponies approaching. 

Opal stands beside Iron, giving me a reassuring smile in response to my questioning glance. I don't know why she feels the need to be here. Vinyl returns as well, along with Rainbow, Twilight, and Pinkie. 

“What the hell are all of you doing here?” I demand when they approach me. Rainbow takes her place at my side and doesn't answer, because she knows my question isn't directed at her. 

“I heard from Vinyl that...you've suffered a loss,” Twilight reveals, her ears flattening slightly. She approaches me and rubs her side up against me in typical pony fashion...though she's never done that to me before. It's always just been Rainbow...who is eyeing Twilight rather strangely. “I want to be here for you.”

“Me too! I'm not going to let you be so sad on your own!” Pinkie agrees, joining the growing group of ponies around me. I think that makes six of us, not counting the two guards approaching the pyre.

“Vinyl, what the hell? At what point did you start thinking it was okay to go around telling ponies about my personal feelings?” I snap, turning my annoyance onto the unicorn in question, because I know Twilight and Pinkie are too stubborn to leave now that they're here.

“Sorry bro. I just didn't want you to have to go through this on your own. I know I wouldn't want to,” Vinyl reasons with a shrug, though she doesn't look like she's sorry at all. “I especially had to go find Rainbow.”

“Yeah! Though I'm awfully curious now myself,” Rainbow expresses, hovering closely by me and watching me for a reaction. “Is this what you had to talk to the commander about?”

“Yes, and I was going to tell you later. I wanted to do this on my own...but it doesn't seem like any of you are going to leave, huh?” I responds.

“Not a chance!” Rainbow asserts with a stubborn shake of her head.

“Can't keep me away. We're friends, dude,” Vinyl adds with a reassuring grin.

“Even if I'm not your friend, you're still mine. And I don't let my friends grieve alone,” Twilight inserts with a determined expression.

“That's what friends do! We're happy together, and we're sad together,” Pinkie tacks on brightly.

“Any friend of my daughter is an immediate friend of mine, no questions asked.” Even Opal adds her two bits to the conversation.

“I don't think I'll ever be able to understand you ponies,” I finally admit after a short pause. All of them are willing to stand here with me to mourn the death of someone they don't even know, all because they know I cared. “Nobody would have cared enough to do this for me back in my time...apart from giving me useless platitudes so they don't have to feel guilty.”

“Pardon my interruption, but I'm ready to begin the Bleak Island rites for the departed,” Iron interjects, drawing our attention back to him and the pyre. His words silence us all, until the only sound that can be heard in the clearing is the residual background noise from the camp. The two guards stand on either side of the wooden construct, holding their torches high.

“Ponies, I must remind you that life is a gift: precious and fleeting. Every last one is a treasure to be cherished, and when it comes time to leave, it is an unspeakable tragedy,” Iron begins, speaking in a clear and official voice. Around me, the ponies bow their heads, listening intently. I do the same, allowing Iron to respect my fallen niece. “The crowd has gathered for you tonight; you with your blood stained coat, lying in the soft white embrace of your own virtue. With this flame, your fellow soldiers rise up to commemorate your sacrifice.”

The two guards take a step forward and lower the torches to the bottom of the pyre. There's a short pause, and then the kindling starts to burn. Golden orange flames spread across the wood, licking up the sides of the pyre until it eventually forms a cracking blaze. I watch in a somber silence as the flames engulf Maka's fallen form with a hiss, slowly eating away at her decomposing flesh.

“My fellow warriors, gazing down upon us from the stars, I call upon you now to gracefully accept the brave warrior Maka Rogers into the halls of the beyond,” Iron continues, not even flinching despite the growing heat of the flames. Next to me, Rainbow gazes at me in surprise upon recognizing my last name. She immediately puts two and two together, as do the other ponies here that have heard my last name. “Fallen one, rest easy, and know that one day we will see you again.”

Iron at last falls silent, his speech concluded. I...am satisfied. I could not have asked for a better way to send off the niece that I never got to know. It's funny that I'm remembering this now, but in the video, Maka looked a lot like my brother...but she had my eyes. I wonder if she had been as big of a nerd as her father.

There's a long silence after that, none of us saying a word. We simply stare at the flames in silence as the sun dips below the horizon and the sky darkens. Slowly and surely, Maka's body melts away, revealing her twisted bones.

I know this is so I can say goodbye to a niece that I've never known, but it feels like so much more than that. I can't help but see the faces of all of those that I've left behind in the flames of the pyre. Amaryllis, with her fiery personality...Adam, that jock that who was a bigger nerd than I was in the end...my mother and father...

Despite my mental resistance, eventually I choke softly, my eyes tearing up. Goddammit, I'm so pathetic...I have never met her. I wouldn't even have known about her if I hadn't seen that video back in the school. So why am I crying about this? Fuck, I must look so weak right now. I hate looking weak...especially in front of others.

“Seth?” Rainbow asks softly, moving close enough to me such that her voice could be heard over the inferno. Oh no, don't you dare mention how I look right now. “Can you tell me about her?”

“Why?” I ask bitterly, wiping a tear from my eye before it can fall.

“You never mentioned a Maka to me when we were talking about your family. What was she like?” Rainbow insists. 

“I wish I knew,” I respond weakly. Rainbow looks confused, so I know I have to explain as much as I can. “I never got to know her. When I came to this time, I left behind my family and friend. But...life went on without me.”

“In that time, Adam must have found someone that he wanted to share his life with. He got married and had a daughter, Maka,” I continue. Rainbow's eyes widen, and then she nods sadly. She now realizes that the one we're watching burn right now had been my niece. “She then grew up and was forced to become a soldier as Sombra wiped out my kind. I think she was the last human to die...but death wasn't enough. Sombra had to make her into one of his undead slaves, and then just left her there in that school to wander for three thousand years. I had to put an end to her myself.”

“Wow...I don't even know what to say...if I even can say anything,” Rainbow emits after a stunned silence. She lands on the ground next to me and rubs up against my side as well, which at this point feels a lot more reassuring when she does it as opposed to Twilight, for whatever reason.

“There's really nothing you can say. I had to kill my own niece, Rainbow,” I tell her firmly, but then I regret wording that so harshly when I see her wince. “Sorry. Thank you, but no one should have to do that.”

“Yeah...” Rainbow trails off, turning her head back to the flames. There's nothing left of Maka now except for her bones, which even now are burning black. I'm not one to believe in religions or afterlives, but I hope that wherever she is, she's at peace.

I stand there until there's nothing left of her, and then I wordlessly turn away from the dwindling flames.

Farewell, Maka.





Dinner is a somber ordeal, at least for me. Nopony else knows or cares what I just had to feel, apart from the few that were with me. Therefore, I'm sitting here with my friends, eating what little of the rations that are edible to humans, while everypony else talks and laughs amongst themselves. Why should they care? It's not like they ever knew Maka. Despite knowing that, I can't help but feel a little bitter.

Iron excuses himself first from the table, claiming that he has to return to duty and give some of the other guards a chance to eat. After he's gone, Opal stands up next. “I'm afraid I need to retire as well. We plan to start enlarging the ruins entrance tomorrow morning,” she reveals. “Seth, I'll need you to come find me after you wake up.”

I nod wordlessly, stuffing the last of the salad in my mouth. It's getting pretty late, and I'm a little tired myself. Plus, there's nothing I want to do right now apart from sleep.

Opal leaves, taking Vinyl with her. She has her own tent, being the project lead and all, so that's where she and Vinyl are going to be sleeping from now on. Apparently the sleeping quarters are mostly finished as well, so that's where Twilight and Pinkie are going to go. I could probably go there as well, but I really don't feel like sleeping surrounded by a bunch of random ponies.

“I'm going back up to the airship,” I tell Rainbow, standing up from the table. I still have a room there, and I might even have some real privacy if I go there.

“Wait for me! I'm coming too!” Rainbow calls, and she follows me persistently when I stride out through the tent flap. Whatever. She can come if she wants.  “You know they have room for us in the main tent, right?”

“Like I give a fuck. The last thing I want to do is be surrounded by a bunch of snoring ponies,” I  retort scathingly, causing Rainbow to flinch. Yeah, I'm not in a good mood. She still follows me, however, as I take to the air and fly up towards the moored airship. 

There's not very many ponies on the deck of the airship. The only one who's still up and about is Gilded Skies, and he doesn't even look at me as I pass by him and walk into the ship and down into the lower decks.

My room is on one of the lower decks, near the engine. I don't mind it that much. My parent's house back in my time had a heating system that would mess up every so often, so I had to sleep with the hum of  a portable heater in the background. Basically, a little hum doesn't bother me. Though I'm curious as to how an engine in this time works.  

I sit down on my cot with my back against the wall, completely silent. I'm tired, and I can feel my body telling me to sleep, but I can't bring myself to. 

On the other side of the room, Rainbow climbs into her cot as well, but it doesn't look like she can get comfortable either. She keeps squirming around, emitting little sighs of frustration.

I sigh, unable to sleep. It's like all of those feelings I've had bottled up inside ever since losing everyone I cared about are rushing to the surface. Dammit, I refuse to let myself cry. Girls cry. Men are supposed to be strong and never cry, no matter what happens. Even knowing that, my eyes are still watering. 

“Hey, are you all right?” Rainbow asks quietly. I don't even need to look to know that she's gotten out of her cot and is standing rather close to me. She's looking a bit uncomfortable for some reason.

“Yeah, I'm fine,” I reply in a dead sounding voice. I don't even look at her, my eyes trained on the wall across from me. There's a silence, and then Rainbow softly huffs.

I'm suddenly surprised when Rainbow climbs up on the cot next to me. There's plenty of room, because I'm only sitting on the back half. She gets right in my line of sight, gazing at me with her soulful magenta eyes. 

“C'mon, Seth. Don't make me force it out of you again,” Rainbow scolds me gently. Heh, she's being stubborn again. Can't you go to sleep? I'm about as weak as I've ever been. “You keep doing this. Quit keeping it all in and talk to me.”

I want to turn away, but I can't tear my gaze away from those eyes. It's like she's drawing me in. As I look at her, I can't help but remember all the times she's stood beside me and listened to my stupid bullshit, even since the beginning. She's never cared for my privacy. It doesn't matter how I felt. If something was wrong, she'd make me tell her, and then pull some bullshit to make me feel better. 

Heh...I guess I couldn't have gotten luckier with her. She's everything I ever wanted in a friend. I can't compare her to Amaryllis, but...nevertheless, I don't know what I would do without her. But...I've lost everyone I cared about. If that happened to her...I...

Throwing reason to the wind, I do the first thing that comes to my mind. Rainbow yelps as I throw my arms around her neck, hugging her closely to me. I rest my head in her fur, a few strands of her mane in my face. 

“Seth...what are you...” Rainbow stammers, her face coloring. She doesn't push me away though. She cuts off when she hears me choking. Goddammit, I'm weak after all. I've lost so much since getting here...and now the feelings I've been holding for months are coming out, whether I want them to or not.

“You're...not allowed to go anywhere,” I tell her weakly, squeezing her tighter. “You hear me? I'm not losing you too.”

Rainbow looks stunned for a few moments, and then her expression softens, and I feel her hooves embracing me as well. “You idiot...how could I leave someone as awesome as you behind?” she remarks to me warmly, resting her head over my shoulder.

The two of us remained like that for a long time. Rainbow continues to hold me as I shamelessly cry into her fur, my body shaking. Eventually, sleep finally overtakes me, and without paying any attention to where I am or the situation I'm in, my eyes close and I know no more.
> 74. Entering the Ruins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once again, my body wakes me up in the morning at the usual time, courtesy of that internal alarm clock established from waking up at the same time practically every day. I don't know whether that's a curse or a blessing.

It takes me a while for my eyes to fully open, as I feel extremely comfortable and I don't really want to wake up. Despite that,I feel exceptionally refreshed this morning, probably because I had one of the best sleeps I've had in a while last night, for whatever reason. Though I don't know why I would have; it's not like I spent yesterday working all that hard because of the...hold on a minute, something is wrong.

My blanket feels a lot more snug around my body than it should be, and it feels remarkably...furry. I realize exactly what situation I'm in a few seconds later when I discover that the “blanket” is breathing. My eyes widen in shock and horror when I realize exactly what situation I'm in.

Rainbow must have never left my cot last night. I say that because she is coiled around me, her two front hooves still wrapped around my chest. Her head is resting over my shoulder, her cheek pressed against mine. Every time she exhales, I can feel her chest moving, the air tickling my ear gently. 

As my shocked eyes gaze out at nothing, I can feel my cheeks heating up rapidly...which tells me I'm blushing like a fucking girl again. Though this time I think that can be excused, considering I apparently fell asleep like this with Rainbow last night. Gah, we're so close I can smell her. Not that she smells bad, though. Just...ugh, this is awkward.

How could I let myself fall apart like that, last night? I was doing just fine on my own...but...I have to admit that I feel better than I have in a while. It's almost as if a weight's been lifted from my chest, as cliché as that sounds. Even despite that, I can't help but feel embarrassed as hell. Did I really say something so cheesy and sentimental?

Okay, I can think about that later. I need to get up before Rainbow wakes up, otherwise things will get ten times more awkward than they are right now, and that's the last thing I need. 

My arms are still wrapped around Rainbow, as they had been last night as well. Extricating myself from her grasp will be difficult. With a quiet grunt, I retract my arms, which had been tucked beneath her front two legs. Just as I try to get out from under her hooves, I happen to glance at her face...only to see that her eyes are open. I freeze, realizing that this is now the worst case scenario.

“Hey,” Rainbow whispers, drawing her head back to look at me. She looks a little sheepish, but at the same time, she looks really happy, for whatever reason. “What is it with you? I just can't wake up normally while you're around.”

As she says that, she puts on a cheeky grin, which is accompanied by a blush. Anyway, now that she's awake, I quickly extricate myself from her embrace and get off of the bed, leaving her there. Rainbow's head follows me as I move, her smile becoming tempered with disappointment.

“Sorry. I shouldn't have fallen apart on you last night,” I say awkwardly, trying not to look at her. Instead I occupy myself by searching for a separate set of clothes to wear for today. I'm going to be working pretty hard today, so I should probably use my work clothes.

“What? Why are you apologizing?” Rainbow demands, shifting on the cot until she's upright and sitting on her haunches. “You've gone through a lot and lost so much...I'm not going to blame you for grieving.”

“I'm not talking about that. I mean how I...fuck it, I'll just be blunt,” I correct her with a sigh. After grabbing a set of clothes, I turn back to face her. “I was talking about how I invaded your personal space without asking. You know, that thing I hate when ponies do it. It was hypocritical of me.”

“I didn't mind,” Rainbow reveals, her blush reappearing. I raise an eyebrow at that. Rainbow's not that much of an affectionate pony, so I thought she would have been more annoyed at me. In response to my incredulous look, Rainbow continues. “I'm not so cruel that I'd turn you away when you're hurting. If hugging me makes you feel better, go for it. Just...not in public. I gotta keep it cool out there.”

“Hugging doesn't make me feel better. Or...it shouldn't. It actually makes me rather uncomfortable,” I admit to her. Now it's Rainbow's turn to raise an eyebrow.

“Really? Then why did you hug me last night?” she asks curiously, tilting her head to one side. Ugh, this is why I wanted to leave before she woke up. This conversation is just getting more and more awkward, now that she's asking me questions to which even I don't really know the answers.

“Fuck if I know. I wasn't thinking,” I reply, throwing up my hands in frustration. “I just wanted to say I'm sorry for doing that without asking.”

“Ugh, quit that! I already told you I don't mind,” Rainbow huffs. She steps down from the cot and approaches me. “I'd have hit you if I had a problem with it.”

“Hah! And that's another thing about you that I find awesome,” I tell her. When Rainbow looks at me curiously, I explain. “A lot of human girls, if they had a problem with someone, would usually give them the silent treatment...or worse, make them feel like shit through guilt. Then there's you. You just hit the fucker and boom! Problem solved.”

“Right? It's just easier,” Rainbow agrees, chuckling at my explanation. We fall silent then, seemingly having nothing else to say on this subject. “So...what's the plan today?”

“I'm to go see Opal in her tent this morning. It seems like we're going to start opening up the ruins soon,” I answer. I wonder how long it will take to enlarge the ruin entrance enough to get equipment inside. Likely it'll take several weeks to find a way to get from floor to floor safely, now that I think about it.

“Finally, right? We've been waiting around up here, doing busy work,” Rainbow complains, hopping off of the bed. She then proceeds to stretch herself out like a cat, groaning with pleasure. “I'm ready to do some real exploring! You think they'll let me go off on my own?”

“Likely not. It's dangerous inside the ruins,” I warn her. I don't think we'll run into any more of the Oppressed, considering it has been over three thousand years since they existed. I'm surprised that Maka lasted that long, to be honest. Besides, they're not the only danger inside of those ruins. I would know, considering how I was nearly impaled by a spike and I almost fell to my death in an elevator shaft. Twice. “Hell, I won't let you go off on your own.”

“That just means you'll have to come with me,” Rainbow remarks slyly, leaning in closer to me and looking as smug as ever.

“We'll see. But for now I have to give the miners a path to follow,” I grunt. Rainbow looks utterly bored by the prospect, but she can get over herself. There are plenty of buildings that I'd like the miners to unearth. The dorms are first on my list. Even if my dorm has been cleared out, I still want to see it.

After shooing Rainbow out of the room, I get changed into something more comfortable. It's cold outside, so I don a light jacket as well, though I suspect it'll be warmer underground.

Once I'm finished, I rejoin Rainbow on the deck and the two of leap off of the prow of the airship like badasses and fly our way to the ground, where the camp is already busy with activity. The entrance to the ruins has been surrounded by ponies with shovels and pickaxes, and one of the piles of lumber has been relocated to that area. There's even tables set up for carpentry, and I can see some ponies already trimming down some of the lumber.

“I guess they've already started opening the ruins,” I observe, half speaking to Rainbow and half speaking to myself. Sure enough, the hole in the ground is much wider and deeper than it was before. There are large piles of dirt in the area due to all the digging efforts. I start to wonder why they're just leaving dirt in the middle of the clearing, but then I see several ponies loading the excess dirt into carts and rolling it away to make more room. 

I don't know why, but I half expected to have to coach these ponies through everything. It's good to see that the ponies know what they're doing.

As I approach the tent where Opal and Vinyl sleep, I notice that Rainbow is still following me. “You going to follow me in here? I doubt you'll be able to to help with anything,” I ask her pointedly. 

“What else should I do? I'm not part of any of the work groups here,” Rainbow asks defensively. “Besides, I've done too much work already. I think I'll just relax for today.”

“'For today?' Please, if I let you slack off for even one day, you won't stop,” I tease her, much to her chagrin. “If you want to explore faster, maybe you should help with the digging.”

“Ugh, I don't want to dig,” Rainbow complains, eyeing the dig site with distaste.

“For somepony with so much muscle, you're the laziest pony I know,” I comment. Rather than insulted, Rainbow preens herself at the backhanded compliment I just gave her. “Seriously, though, wait out here for me.”

“Do I have to?”

“Would you just...wait the fuck outside, you stubborn pony. You came to to explore, didn't you? Where would be the fun in that if you knew everything you were going to see?” I reason with her. I mean, I don't mind if she joins me in there, but I feel like she'd just sit there and look clueless the whole time. I'd really rather not be distracted by a bored Rainbow while I'm trying to concentrate.

“Fine...just hurry it up. There's ruins to explore!” Rainbow urges me. She stubbornly plants her ass right outside the tent and watches me impatiently. Really? This pony annoys the hell out of me sometimes.

Whatever. Anyway, I push aside the tent flap and make my way inside. It's a rather complex tent, with interior flaps of fabric dividing the tent into three separate rooms. Two of them I assume are for sleeping areas, while the third is the largest and is the one that I'm standing in right now.

Four sets of eyes look up at me from the table in the center of the room. Sure enough, those are the four project leads: Opal, Steel Rivet, Flash, and Rough Hammer. You know, I'm getting really tired of calling them by both names at once. That's it. They're Rivet and Hammer from now on.

“Good morning, Seth. We've been waiting for you,” Opal greets me with a smile. She gestures to me with a hoof, indicating that I should join them at the table. “We've already started enlarging the opening to prepare for our entry.”

“So I've noticed. How early did you all get up? You've made more progress than I expected,” I reply, moving to stand between Rivet and Hammer. On the table is what looks like a rough sketch of the surrounding area, with one marked area representing the ruins entrance, and several branching lines that look like removal paths for the dirt.

“An hour and a half ago,” Hammer answers, looking proud of himself. “My ponies are very skilled, and together with Steel Rivet's construction ponies, we are making solid progress.”

“The only issue I'm seeing is the metal framework around the entry. It's rusted, but still strong. Without a great deal of force, it's not moving,” Rivet reveals, tapping the ruins entrance on the map. Hm, he must be talking about the hatch framework. 

“Can we dig around it?” Opal asks.

“Yes, but then it would take more time and it would still be an obstacle if we want to get equipment down there,” Hammer reasons. 

“Okay, if all you need is a strong force, I can do that,” I suggest, lifting and clenching my fist so that they can see it. If I can break through a stone wall just by defending my back, I think I can handle getting rid of a simple metal frame.

I have done a few tests during my time with having this magic. I remember that when I first got it, I was told I beat the shit out of one of the deadliest predators in the Everfree with mostly my bare hands. I thought that my magic gave me super strength or something. Technically, it doesn't. It cushions and protects my body from exterior forces. Sometimes, that protective force is greater than the force of the object pushing against it. Hence the appearance of having super strength. And yes, Twilight was the one who came up with that theory.

“Ah yes, your magic, correct?” Flash chimes in, looking excited. After I nod, he grins and rubs his two front hooves together like a madman cackling with glee. “Excellent! I've been hoping to see it in action, ever since I heard about you from the Battle of Canterlot. Simply seeing you use it to fly isn't enough to satisfy my curiosity.”

“Observe if you want, but I'm not a damn test subject,” I remind him coldly. I hated it back when Twilight looked at me that way, but at least is was somepony I was familiar with. I barely know this guy.

“Of course not. I apologize if I implied anything of the sort,” Flash retracts, giving me an assuring smile.

“Let's move on. Now that we're planning to enter the ruins, we should know a little more about what's inside,” Opal rejoins, sliding the incomplete map towards me. She levitates a quill and inkwell over to me, obviously intending for me to use them on the large amount of white space left on the map. “Do you think you can sketch what you remember of the interior?”

“I can. I should be able to show you the interior of the Math and Computer wing. That's the one we're currently camped above,” I say. Dipping the quill into the inkwell, I start drawing a very rough sketch of the building's outline. “However, this building is adjoined to another that's dedicated to science. Unfortunately, I don't know much about that one's layout because it's a fucking maze.”

“This is a math and science building!?” Flash looks like someone told him it was his birthday. “I just cannot believe our luck. I can't wait to see what we can recover!”

“Myself included,” Opal agrees, smiling at Flash's excitement. She and the other project leads watch me closely as I start drawing a basic floor plan, sketching in doors and classrooms, hallways and stairwells.

“All of the floors of the MC wing – that's Math and Computer by the way – share this same design up until the bottom floor, where the front entrance is. I assume we'll be starting to tunnel there,” I explain. Heh, I feel really important right now, knowing that they're all depending on me for this information. “But the problem is getting down there. The stairs aren't stable. I nearly died the first time I tried using them.”

“So what do you propose we do?” Rivet questions. It's a good thing I thought of this earlier, otherwise I'd be yelling at him for wanting me to handle it. “I assume you have some ideas?”

“I do, actually. I was thinking about this earlier. You see this blank square I drew here?” I answer, tapping the spot in question. “That's an elevator. It's human technology that allows humans to quickly move from floor to floor without the use of stairs, by way of a metal box that uses pulleys and an electric motor to work.”

“Fascinating! Does it still work?” Flash demands, hardly able to contain himself.

“Of course not! It's been three thousand years. The thing was barely holding on when I saw it the first time, and then it fell apart. All of the elevator cars are now permanently in the basement levels, leaving just an empty shaft,” I tell him flatly, much to his great disappointment.

“Of course! We can set up a scaffolding to get us from level to level!” Rivet exclaims, slapping the table with a hoof. Seconds later, he seems to realize something. “But I'd have to be careful in how it's constructed, because we'll need to get heavy loads down there.”

“In the meantime, we can search the upper floor for artifacts, right?” Flash asks Opal hopefully, like a child begging his mother for candy. I almost want to facepalm.

“That's right. In fact, I think it's time we finished up here,” Opal decides. After making sure that we've all had a chance to look at the map, she rolls it up and places it in her saddlebags. “Seth, I'd like you to go with Rough Hammer and help with enlarging the entrance, as you're the only one that can move that frame for now. Steel Rivet, you get to work on designing and implementing that scaffold. Flash, you're free to do as you wish once the entrance has been completed.”

All of us make varying sounds of acknowledgment and agreement, and then our meeting ends with the five of us leaving the tent and departing, each of us heading to our respective jobs.





As suggested, I head straight to the dig site to see how far they've gotten. Once again I'm taken by surprise how much more efficient ponies are at jobs like this. With the combination of magic as well as an efficient rotation system – where the ponies that get tired switch out for fresh ones – they're much further along than they were before. Part of the roof of the school building is now visible, though parts of it have been demolished to enlarge make the entrance larger.

The hatch that I need to get rid of is there, attached only to one side of the roof. As I reach it, I power up and almost punch the thing, but then I realize that if I did that, it would likely fall to the floor below and break that as well. So instead, I dive into the ruins and break the hatch from below, such that the weight of the frame falls onto me. Because I'm more than capable of bearing that weight on my own, no further damage to the building is sustained.

With that out of the way, the combined mining and construction crews are able to work on the entrance anew. By the time the sun passes the zenith, the entrance has been completed, and Rivet's team are already starting to transport slabs of lumber down into the ruins. Of course, this is all after one of the scientists casts a spell to reinforce the structural integrity of the floor. I think that's the same spell Twilight used to keep my upper floor from collapsing. It's a useful spell, but it has its limits. Maybe I should try learning it sometime.

Recently, a tent had been constructed over the ruins entrance to keep out the elements in the case of a future storm. Along with that, a ramp was also implemented so that heavy objects could be taken down into the ruins without much trouble.  





Now that the entrance is completed, the project leads are about to step inside the ruins for the first time. All four of them, along with Rainbow, Vinyl, and Twilight, are standing with me just in front of the entrance.  Opal, Flash, and Twilight look so fucking happy about this it makes me want to groan every time I see their overly enthusiastic grins. Rainbow and Vinyl are just standing with me, and Hammer and Rivet are near the workers, directing them even now.

“All right, enough waiting around. Let's do this!” Rainbow declares, even though she's not even part of the project. 

“I agree. The sooner we get inside, the sooner I can take a look at more of mankind's past glory!” Opal concurs. Without waiting for the rest of us, she moves into the tent and enters the ruins. Making sounds of agreement, Twilight and Flash follow her, soon disappearing from view.

“Let's go too. All this talking about the ruins has made me want to look around too,” Vinyl determines.

“Yeah! C'mon, Seth, lead the way!” Rainbow urges me. 

“Fine, fine, I'm going,” I grunt in a resigned fashion. Together, the three of us enter the ruins, walking down the ramp into the old stairwell.

The air isn't as musty as I remember, probably because of the increased airflow through this area. The other thing I notice is that the stairwells have been blocked off by barricades. Good to see that they're taking my advice and keeping away from the stairs. That spell I mentioned before can't be used on the stairs very effectively, as it only affects flat surfaces, and thus could only effect one surface on the entire staircase.

“Oh wow! Look at this, Flash!” Opal exclaims. I look over to see that she's standing over the skeleton of the soldier that I took my rifle from. Rather than being disgusted, she clearly looks fascinated. I guess that stems from her nature as an archaeologist. She's probably seen a lot of old remains. “This skeleton is in remarkably good condition!”

“Ugh, mom. Obsessing over dusty old bones again,” Vinyl comments, facehoofing. She looks around the hallway. “I'm more interested in just exploring. It feels like I've stepped into the past down here.”

“Right? It's like another world,” Rainbow agrees, repeating her sentiments from the last time she was in here with me. She moves up to one of the doorways and peers inside. “Huh? Is this like...a mini concert hall?”

“What? Let me see,” Vinyl too sticks her head inside of the door. “Can't be. These walls aren't set up for acoustics. Look, they're all flat. That'll butcher the sound.”

“That's a classroom, you idiots,” I correct them both, joining them in the old class room. As they watch, I move over to one of the broken down tables, where the professor would usually stand. “Look, you see how the floor is raised into separate levels? That's so the students sitting at the tables can all look down and see the teacher clearly.”

“That where the students sit? This is a big room. How many students are in a class?” Vinyl questions as she climbs on top of one of the raised areas, peering under one of the more intact tables. “Hey, there're old wires under here.”

“Depends on the class. For classes like foreign language, you get maybe twenty to thirty students. For math and computer science, you get classes of up to ninety. That's why this classroom is so big, and why they needed to change up the layout so that all of them could see the teacher,” I explain to her. For some reason, I remember how I once told Twilight that I'd never tell anypony anything about my race. That was back when I first got to Equestria. Now I'm freely telling that information to my friends. Heh...this world really has affected me.

“Up to ninety!? That's a lot...” Rainbow exclaims in awe. I shrug. It was a number that I was used to. Plus no one really noticed me in classes that large.

“Hey, what is this thing?” Vinyl calls to me from one of the upper levels of the classroom. She's standing over a smashed piece of machinery that I recognize instantly. Just as she's prodding it, I smack her hoof away.

“Don't touch it, idiot. No doubt Flash will want to look at this,” I snap. It's not dangerous, but she might damage it. “It's an old projector. Like those things you ponies use to watch movies, except a hell of a lot more advanced.”

“Oh that's awesome! Do you think we'll have something like this eventually?” Rainbow chimes in, joining Vinyl and I by the wrecked projector. My response is a shrug. I could care less if ponies figure out how to use this or not. I'm just here for my own reasons.

“What's something like this doing in a classroom?” Vinyl inquires next.

“It's just a learning aid. The teachers use them to show slide shows and videos to supplement the lessons,” I answer. Now I'm moving around the room, noticing how things have changed. Curiously enough, I notice old collapsed cots and musty bedrolls tucked beneath tables or tucked against the walls. If I remember right, Maka and her unit used this building for their last stand. I guess it shouldn't be that surprising that they used these rooms as makeshift barracks.

Vinyl looks like she's about to ask something else when she's interrupted by Twilight poking her head inside of the room. “Seth, can you come here for a second? There's something I'd like you to identify for me,” she asks me with an excited expression. I sigh, but I do follow her. This is part of my agreement after all.





That's essentially how the next week goes. I spend most of it in the ruins, looking through old classrooms and identifying old human relics. This is rather ironic. I used to joke with Amaryllis that it might be funny to see the reactions of those who eventually dug up the remains of our civilization, but never did I think I'd actually be there, observing. It's not as funny as I'd hoped it would be, back then.

Most of our exploration is limited to the first floor until the scaffolding is completed. However, just this top floor is pretty large. It had two parts to it: the classroom hallway, and the offices. Opal and the others spend half a week just in the classrooms, gathering artifacts such as old projectors, computer monitors, and other such technological devices that are still somewhat intact.

The offices are a big waste of nothing, to be honest. The place looks like it was ransacked, with old torn papers all over the place, the desks falling apart, and any technology that might have been there was ripped to shreds. I guess the Oppressed must have come through here. Because of that, there's a lot of skeletal remains in the offices.

“What are these?” Opal asks me while we're searching through the ruins of what I think was the office of the head of the computer science department. It's a large office, so it too had been converted into a makeshift barracks.

I look down at the objects levitating in front of me thanks to Opal's magic. Wow...she really doesn't know what this is. I give her a deadpan stare. “These are shoes. They're old and damaged, but I think they used to be running shoes.”

“You should give those to Rarity. She might even make you a set,” Rainbow suggests. I shrug. I have no need for running shoes. I can fly, after all. Actually...

“I just might. Maybe it'll be better than walking around outside with scarves wrapped around my feet because I'm wearing flip flops in the middle of fucking winter!” I complain, my voice getting steadily louder in a comical display of annoyance. Rainbow and Opal both laugh at that, and the latter sets the shoes aside and continues with the exploration.

Nothing of note really happens until Rainbow gives out one of the funniest sounds of surprise I've ever heard her utter. “What the hell was that?” I ask, snickering as I look over at her. Rainbow is standing next to one of the old cots, and she seems to be flipping through something, a blush suffusing her face. “Rainbow, what the hell are you looking at?”

“I don't know...I think I found a book on human anatomy. It's...a bit weird,” Rainbow answers. I raise an eyebrow and storm over to her until I can make out a magazine in her forehooves. My eyes widen, and I too start to blush when I see what it is she found.

“Give me that!” I snap, immediately snatching the magazine from her and incinerating it with my magic seconds later. “Why the hell...where the fuck did you even find that!?”

Rainbow runs a hoof through her mane in embarrassment, and then she points to an old leather bag next to the cot closest to us. A quick look inside tells me it belonged to one of the soldiers that used to live here. 

“Oh my god...these blasted soldiers...” I groan, trying hard not to have an aneurism because of the sheer stupidity of this situation. I guess I can't blame the soldiers, considering they were likely the last bastion of mankind and had very few females...but Christ this is embarrassing.

There's an awkward silence between us for a moment...until Rainbow gives me a knowing grin. “So...that's why you never want us to see you na...” she begins.

“Shut up. Shut your goddamn mouth right now!” I cut across her quickly, wanting to avoid this topic more than anything. Still, just that one command from me causes Rainbow to lose her composure and promptly crack up like crazy, rolling around on the floor. Every time I think she's about to calm down, she looks at me again and loses her shit all over again. “Stop laughing! It's not that funny!”

Vinyl pokes her head in through the door upon hearing the racket. “Is something going on in here?” 

“Absolutely nothing!” I snap, further amusing Rainbow. Confused, Vinyl eyes us suspiciously before backing out of the room to where Opal is.

“Okay...okay...I think I'm done...” Rainbow chokes out after a few minutes of laughing, getting to her feet and wiping away the tears that had formed in her eyes. “I can't believe you burnt it to a crisp!”

“I'm not talking about this. What else was in the bag?” I say, changing the subject. Rainbow chuckles again before reaching into the bag once more. 

“There's a bunch of old papers, some weird metal box things, a can of some weird liquid, and...hey, is this that magic thing you keep using?” Rainbow lists off to me. Upon hearing that last item, I walk over to her  and look in the bag as well.

The can she'd mentioned was in fact a can of Monster energy drink, though the logo looks different than I remember. It's probably deadly toxic now...as if it weren't toxic before. But the magical thing she mentioned is in fact a handgun of an unknown make. The metal boxes are magazines for said gun.

“Yeah, it is. Stands to reason there'd still be more guns in the building. Let's see if it works,” I decide, taking the gun and twirling it around my finger once, just for fun. I try to cock it, but the slide is jammed. Essentially that makes the gun useless. “Nope. Figures. Not even my rifle worked when I found it.”

“Mr. Seth, sir!” A random earth pony enters the room next, saluting to me. I raise an eyebrow at being called in such a formal fashion. “Mr. Rivet wanted me to let you know that the scaffolding is just about complete, and the next few floors are open for exploration.”

“Yes! Let's do some more exploring!” Rainbow exults. After I dismiss the messenger with a nod of my head, the two of us leave the room and join Opal, Vinyl, and Twilight on their way back to the elevator shaft.

Sure enough, there's a wooden scaffolding descending down the shaft in the form of a spiral ramp, which flat partitions by every floor to make transporting equipment easier. On the underside of the ramps, I can make out very complex architectural designs, such as patterns made from the triangle shape that is the strongest of all architectural shapes. Clever...very clever. In fact, I can tell how sturdy the scaffolding is just by stepping on it. It doesn't shake or even creak.

This ramp opens the way all the way down to the ground floor. It won't be long before we start tunneling to find the other buildings.





Now that more than one floor is open for exploration, Opal brings all of the achaeologists down with her, and Flash brings all of the scientists. They all spread out and start looking through the different floors, finding artifacts and bringing them up to the surface for later study. According to Opal, she plans to find as many artifacts as possible, and then spend time studying them when waiting for the tunneling to complete.

I take this time to visit some my old classroom as well. The one I stop by is my old coding class on the second floor. Vinyl and Rainbow accompany me, as they'd immediately volunteered the moment I told them what I'm doing.

I press my hand down on the table, feeling it wobble unsteadily beneath my touch. “I sat here, so long ago,” I say, more to myself than to Rainbow or Vinyl. Walking around the table, I begin to feel a sense of nostalgia as I look back up at the wrecked board. “Next to me was a girl and her stupid boyfriend, who would always rant about sports to her....and nothing else. I remember it used to piss me off.”

Rainbow and Vinyl remain silent, deciding to let me reminisce without interfering. Mentally thanking them, I continue to recall the kinds of things that happened in this class.

“There was also a darker skinned human next to me that would not stop talking. It doesn't matter if you were talking to him or not. If he heard a question, he would answer it, even if it were rhetorical,” I recall, chucking a bit at how angry I used to get at the guy. I guess he's dead now, anyway. “It made me want to shove a sock down his throat.”

I look around at the ancient room one last time, and then I wordlessly exit into the hallway, closely followed by my friends. I return to the scaffolding and head down to the ground floor, which is different from the others in that this is where the MC building adjoins with the Science Building. In addition to that, there's a staircase that leads down to the outside. It's just as I remember it. One of the doors is caved in and a cascade of earth had surged in through the hole left behind. Some of the miners are already down here, getting rid of the dirt and getting ready to start a tunnel.

I look around the lower level, seeing the old study room and its plush leather chairs that are now rather ratty looking. I used to sit there and finish my schoolwork before class. It feels surreal, to be down here on this level again. Only this time, I'm here with my friends and practically an army of other ponies. I'm going to rediscover my past and come to terms with my old memories. That way I'll be able to leave it all behind for good, and finally I can have some closure.

I can hardly wait.
> 75. Lost Memories
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Seth? Come with me, if you please,” Hammer calls out to me, approaching from the other side of the study room. It seems like he and Flash had been looking at the shattered glass wall that had once separated this study room from the study area in the science building. Yeah, there were two study rooms right next to one another. The science one is a lot larger, because of the amount of assorted science majors that came here.

“What, do you need something?” I reply, looking away from the study area behind him. Hammer nods and gestures for me to follow him.

“We're about to start tunneling, and I'd like to know where to direct our digging efforts,” Hammer explains, leading me down the stairs to what used to be the front doors to this entire building. 

Sure enough, while I've been working with some of the other archaeologists, the miners have excavated  a sizable area beyond the doors, forming a rotunda of sorts. The walls have been shored up with lumber and the excess dirt has been moved elsewhere for processing. It also seems like some of the ponies have brought bedrolls down in there, along with desks and carts filled with mining equipment.

Hammer takes me to the desk, where another copy of the map I'd helped them create is resting, along with writing utensils and ink. Once he comes to a stop, he presses a hoof to the map, showing me a small circle there. I can only assume that's where we are right now. “You tell me you know where the different buildings are. Can you show us the fastest way to reach the closest buildings?” Hammer inquires, passing the quill and ink to me.

“Sure, but don't expect a to-scale road map. I didn't exactly wander around with a fucking meter stick,” I respond tersely.

“Do the best you can. Even the slightest amount will save us bits,” Hammer assures me. With a shrug, I take the quill and start sketching some lines, wracking my brain to remember exactly where my dorm is. Yeah, I'm leading them to my dorm first. That's one of the major reasons I came here.

“Fair enough. Well then, I'm going to give you basic directions and landmarks. I'm going to hope that whatever the fuck buried this place underground helped preserve said landmarks. Otherwise this is going to be a lot harder,” I remark. I draw a short line from the small circle and then end it with a small rectangle. “This right here is the first landmark. It's a brick sign that displays the name of the building on it. It's right at the edge of the street, so if you tunnel left from there...”

I draw another line, this time a little longer. At the end of this line, I sketch in a set of badly drawn trees. “There used to be a small copse of trees here...which essentially means that there's trees beneath a forest. Go figure,” I recall dryly. “Anyway, they should still be there. If they were buried, they should be petrified by now. If you take another left from there and follow it maybe a half a mile, you'll reach a large residential complex.”

“I see. And you think there will be artifacts worth salvaging there? That's our pay, you know,” Hammer remarks with a half grin. 

“Should be. The housing office had a lot of computers. There may even be old documents. My college loved their fucking paperwork, even when they had computers on which to keep records,” I answer. Honestly, I don't know how intact the place is, but I want to see nonetheless. If I can reach the housing office, my dorm is literally just a flight of stairs down from there.

“Very well, I think that gives us enough to get started,” Hammer decides, moving away from the map. I follow him, because I essentially have nothing else to do. “Stay close, if you can. You're the only one that can tell us if we're on the right track.”

“Sure. I've pretty much looked around most of the lower levels. I might even help out if I get bored enough,” I say with a shrug. Hammer grins appreciatively, and then he moves away from me, heading towards his miners.

“That's enough lounging around everypony! It's time to get digging!” Hammer announces to the  miners. At his call, the miners get to work, following Hammer's direction. The rotunda is soon filled with the sound of shovels and pickaxes thudding into the dirt, along with the grunts of exertion from the ponies wielding them.

Now that my attention isn't being demanded by Hammer, I take a look around the rotunda. While I assume this room is now going to be used as the miner's staging point for the tunneling efforts, it's far from empty.

Several human fixtures are present, standing exactly as they had over three thousand years ago...albeit damaged due to the passage of time. A rusty iron railing is in the center of the rotunda, serving to divide the crowd of human traffic that no longer existed. Two bike racks are on either side of the area as well, though one of them has fallen to pieces. I remember back when I had my bike on campus. I used to hook it up to those very racks. The last thing of note in the rotunda is the lone concrete pillar that held up the overhang over the building entrance, to keep the elements away from the doors.

I can't even put into words how weird it is to be standing in a place so familiar...but underground. It's like walking outside of your house one day to find an earthen roof literally less than a foot above your head. Or it's like Maine if you replace the earth with snow.

The tunneling continues for several hours, making progress inch by inch. It's even slower due to the need for wooden supports every few meters, in order to keep the tunnels from caving in. Therefore, Rivet and his construction ponies are down here almost constantly, though a few select members of his group patrol the building every so often and make sure everything is structurally sound.

The first thing to be uncovered is the brick sign that I mentioned. One of the miners announces its presence by letting out a cry once his shovel hits something significantly more solid than the surrounding dirt.

I approach the old sign from behind, remembering how many times I'd walk past this thing on my way to and from classes in this building. It's remarkably well preserved, much like the rest of the building. Even the silvery lettering has been preserved, though its long since tarnished to black. This makes me wonder how this place ended up underground anyway. Three thousand years is hardly enough time for enough sediment to accumulate to cover the whole campus. Now that I'm thinking about it, it probably has something to do with that detonator Maka used in the video. Though I fail to see how it could do something like this. A bomb would have destroyed the building; instead, it just looks like the whole place stayed the same...only dirt came from nowhere to bury everything.

After discovering the sign, the miners do as I suggest and dig a little further before going left for the first time. To my surprise, they uncover bits of asphalt from the road that used to be here.

“See this?” I say to Rainbow, who had joined me upon finding the sign. I show her a piece of ancient asphalt. Rainbow takes it with a hoof and peers at it curiously, obviously having no idea what the hell she's looking at.

“It's a rock,” Rainbow states in a bemused voice before I can start explaining.

“Yes, but it's an important rock,” I correct her with an exasperated huff. I direct her gaze to the dusting of asphalt fragments that the miners have just revealed. Even some of them take a quick moment to look at the irregular material, having never seen the like before. “More specifically, just like you ponies make your roads out of cobblestone or whatever, this is what we made our roads out of.”

“Why is it so weird though? How is it all black and stuff?” Rainbow asks in confusion, bringing the chunk closer to her face. I notice that some of the other miners are listening in, even as they continue to dig.

“Don't ask me, I'm no chemist. It's some mixture of rock and oil that makes it black and tough; tough enough to handle the weight of our transportation,” I attempt to explain, though I'm sure that's not all of the details. Because I chose a major in something useless that I didn't even get to complete, most of what humans knew is lost. I notice Rainbow open her mouth and cut her off. “And don't ask me what our transportation was. There's no way that I can describe it that wouldn't make it sound stupid.”

“What about airships? Did you have any of those?” one of the miners pipes up, turning away from his digging for a quick moment. It seems like some of them are pretty curious as well. “Hot air balloons?”

“We did have airships, but not in the sense that you know. Hot air balloons we did have, but they were outdated and unreliable compared to what we had then,” I tell him. He still seems curious, but I've already told more than what's necessary. After I turn away from him, the miner goes back to work.

As far as I see it, I don't want to talk about my race to anypony except Rainbow...and maybe Vinyl. Maybe. I'm content to let the ponies figure us humans out on their own. I'll do what I promised I'd do: identify what I can and lead the ponies to the different buildings.

“Heh, I remember this damn road,” I remark to Rainbow, chuckling despite what I'm feeling. “There would be a crazy bus driver – a bus is like a carriage, but faster – who would tear down this road like his ass was on fire...only to stop so hard his brakes would squeal. It was totally unsafe and annoying as fuck, but he never hit anyone, so he never got fired.”

“I don't even know what half of that means. Is that like when a cart goes out of control?” Rainbow admits sheepishly. I nod halfheartedly. I don't care whether she understands or not. I just wanted her to listen.

The digging continues, but at my direction, we follow the road. It's amazing that the road is still as well preserved as it is. It actually doesn't make much sense. Nothing about this place makes any sense. There's no way it should have ended up underground, especially considering it was in an mountainous area with no danger of being flooded. Floods or rain is how all that sediment accumulates,  if I remember right.

At one point when I come down to check on them, I get so impatient that I actually grab a shovel and join in with the work. We're so close...so agonizingly close I can almost see it. We just have to reach the end of this road and then head up the hill for a little while until we reach my dorm. So close...





I position the nail against the wood with my thumb and index finger, making sure its in the very spot one of Rivet's construction ponies outlined. In my other hand, I hold the hammer. I'm determined not to hit my thumb again like I did last time I tried working on one of these.

The pony holding up the strut for me looks down at my dexterity with jealousy. “I wish I could do that. Looks so much easier than wielding the hammer with my mouth,” he comments. I don't respond, because I'll hurt myself if I get distracted.

I swing my wrist back, and then I start repeatedly nailing the strut to the rest of the support structure. When the nail is finally stable, this particular structure is complete. The tunnel has to be held up somehow. 

I let the hammer fall to the ground and I sigh, wiping my forehead. The air is always thicker and hotter down here, despite the many ventilation shafts and air currents that the scientists and miners have set up to give us fresh air. So whenever I work, I sweat much faster. So do the rest of the ponies, as the tunnel constantly smells of dirt and pony sweat.

It's been a few days since the miners and I found the road. It's taken longer than I thought it would because at one point we uncovered a large deposit of granite in our way and had to dig around it. Rainbow barely sticks around, because working with these miners is hard work, and she is certainly not one for this kind of thing. She tried of course, but when it became clear that I focused more on the job than on her, she departed. I'll make it up to her later.

I rest my back against the wall and take a swig of water from a bottle provided to me by Pinkie on my way back down from today's lunch...though I have no idea where the hell she got it. It was ridiculous: no sooner had I opened my mouth and mentioned I was thirsty than Pinkie was bouncing up to me with a bottle of water. That mare. I have no words. 

That's the situation I'm in when I hear the sound of a pick ringing against something that isn't dirt. I only know that because the sound is so different from the usual ambiance that I've been used to hearing while I'm working. I glance up in curiosity even as I hear the cry of surprise from the miner in question.

“I think I've got something!” the miner declares, gesturing for his fellow miners to join him. I join the group of miners that go to take a look, though I'm pretty sure I know what he's found. Sure enough, the miners are gathered around a dull looking material that's just been uncovered. “It's like wood, but...it's too hard to be wood.”

“That's because it isn't wood anymore. That's petrified wood,” I correct him, moving to stand by his side. I've never actually seen petrified wood in my life, so I run my hand across the fossil to feel its texture. I shudder slightly, the texture of the material feeling weird against my fingertips. I'm telling you, nature is fucking weird.

“That means we're in the place you told us about,” Hammer states. The mining lead pushes his way through the other ponies to glance at the petrified wood for himself. “Hm. Been a while since I've seen some of this. Might take some home as a souvenir. That aside, remember what I told you? The moment we find petrified wood, turn left and keep digging!”

“Yes sir!” the miners chorus, and the digging begins once more, this time heading slightly up an incline. In fact, they don't have any choice except to tunnel slightly uphill because the old concrete that used to make up the sidewalk here blocks their picks from digging straight without significantly more effort. Hammer was about to order them to push through it, but at my urging, they continue uphill. It'll be easier for all of us if we follow the way my school originally had it set up.

It shouldn't be too much longer.





“You wouldn't believe the things that Dr. Forward and I have discovered! It's only been a few weeks, and we've already discovered an extraordinary amount of intact electrical artifacts!” Twilight gushes. Her mane is a bit scruffy, as if she'd stayed up later than she should have last night. Hovering in midair next to her is a daisy sandwich, with one bite already taken out of it. “And to think that the infrastructure is still so intact even after all these years! Did you know the humans heat their water through a system of pipelines, rather than with magic? The layout has to be...”

I don't know who she thinks she's talking to. Pinkie is nodding as if she understands everything Twilight is talking about, though I'll eat my flip flops if she actually does understand. Rainbow is pointedly ignoring her, munching on a hayburger with no delicacy whatsoever, while Vinyl is trying to look like she's paying attention, though I can tell she's clueless.

I lean back in my chair, taking a break from the salad in front of me. I hate spinach, really, but I have no choice but to eat it if I want to keep my body supplied with iron. Sometimes it really sucks not having access to any meat. 

The dining tent is filled with countless ponies here on their lunch break. Lunch is taken in shifts because of how many of us are here, so there's never a time when the dig site is idle. That way we can relax even while work is still being done. As big as this project is, it's nice to know that I only have to do as much as I want.	

It's been a month since the expedition first started, and we've made decent progress. I think this site will be active for quite some time, considering we haven't even found another building just yet. Nor are the scientists and archaeologists anywhere near finished cataloging and studying everything they've found in the initial building. Even I know there's more to be found down there. Some of the ponies have been talking about exploring the basement levels as well, though I have no clue what's down there. Probably just maintenance tunnels.

“Hey!” Rainbow interrupts Twilight, right in the middle of a lecture about the fascinating nuances of human hydrotechnics that she and Flash had come up with recently. Twilight shuts her mouth with a clack and glares at Rainbow...who is looking pointedly at her sandwich. “You gonna eat that? Or you just gonna keep talking about egghead stuff?”

“Yes, I'm going to eat my lunch...” Twilight answers, pouting. She takes another bite out of her sandwich, looking rather disgruntled at Rainbow's dismissal of her discoveries. “It's not 'egghead stuff.' It's just what we've discovered. Aren't you the slightest bit curious about how human technology works?”

“Not really. I got all I needed to know when you said it works without magic,” Rainbow returns nonchalantly, frustrating the bookish unicorn even further. “Pass the ketchup, would you?”

Twilight passes over the bottle and then looks to me for support, but all I give her is a shrug and return to my meal. One thing I've accepted is that Rainbow will never understand anything that high in technical knowledge. Nor does she give a fuck, which is both appealing and funny as hell. Twilight heaves a sigh. “I'll write to Rarity about it then. At least she listens to me.”

“Quit complaining and eat your sandwich, or Rainbow is going to eat it out from under you,” I warn her, just as Rainbow is sneaking her hoof over to the sandwich in question. What results is a comical scene where Twilight jerks the sandwich away and swats at Rainbow's wandering hoof with her own.

It doesn't take me long to finish my meal. It's just a salad after all. I drink some water from the glass in front of me, and then I refill my water bottle with what's left. I'll be down in the mines in no time, whether I'm looking through the old building, identifying old artifacts, or helping dig. I think the miners are close to...

“Mr. Seth?” I don't even get to finish that thought before one of the miners enters the lunch tent, asking for me. Some of the ponies near him break off from their various discussions to look between him and me curiously.

“What?” is my usual apathetic response. It's probably just a summons to go look at some piece of shit artifact that has no business being in one piece.

“We've uncovered the entrance to rather important looking building. The boss thought he should let you know, in case you wanted to help us explore,” the miner informs me. I immediately stand up. They've broken through at last. Today is the day I reach my old dorm. 

“I'll be right down,” I say, waving the miner away. With one last respectful nod, the pony retreats from the tent. Rainbow and the others are watching me curiously...though Twilight seems to be filled with excitement from the announcement. I turn my back on all of them and start walking away, towards the exit. “Rainbow, let's go. Vinyl, you can come if you want.”

Rainbow and Vinyl look at one another, and then they both get up at once. Twilight starts to get up as well, but Vinyl stops her, giving her a strange expression that I can't read. Twilight appears uncertain for a few seconds, but she slowly sits down and lets the two of them follow me out. Good, I don't want Twilight here for this.

“Vinyl, I don't think you've been down in the tunnels since we began,” I recall as we descend into the ruins, following the scaffolding down to the lower levels.

“Yeah, blame my mother. She's being pretty overbearing. She likes having me around when she's working,” Vinyl justifies dryly with a hint of distaste. I think mentioned at one point that she didn't like sniffing around old ruins like this.

“I don't know how you handle it. I'd hate it if my mother suddenly started acting clingy,” I remark at her expense. “But that's not the point. You should see the progress we've made. It's pretty extensive.”

“Sounds like you're proud of your work,” Rainbow comments, brushing up against my side. I give her an odd look. I'm not sad or anything, so why is she doing that? Behind her, Vinyl is snickering and shaking her head, for whatever reason. Goddamn confusing ponies.

“Well yeah, considering how much work it was. You wouldn't know, since you didn't a do a damn thing,” I denigrate her. The three of us walk through the rotunda and into the main tunnels. Several fresh ventilation shafts have been dug recently, so the miners can breathe. There hasn't been much issue with gases either, despite how deep we are in the earth. I wonder if that has something to do with how this place ended up underground anyway.

“Why would I? That's what we have miners for,” Rainbow returns lazily. Now it's my turn to shake my head. “Plus, there were naps to be taken.”

“There's always naps to be taken in your mind,” I state flatly, and then we fall silent. Vinyl's head cranes around to look at all the human relics we pass on our way through the tunnels, such as the sign that identifies the building, the crumbling asphalt of the ancient road, and the trunks of the few petrified trees that we've uncovered.

Finally, we rejoin the rest of the miners and archaeologists at the end of the tunnel. Sure enough, they've uncovered the entrance to an old decrepit building. It looks like it used to be white, but has long since faded to gray.

Rough Hammer sees me coming and moves aside to give me room. “There you are. Sorry about taking you away from lunch like that, but I thought you might want to be here,” he greets me. In front of him, several miners are chipping away rock and dirt away from the double doors. “You said this was a residential area, right?”

“Yeah. This is the office for the whole place. It is literally surrounded by other living areas several stories tall,” I reveal to them all. This piece of news gets the other ponies whispering animatedly amongst themselves, the air tense with anticipation. “If you want to explore the place or dig further, be my guest. There's no shortage of buildings around here.”

Hammer nods, and then he approaches his miners. “I'm splitting us up. The living areas are within a short distance of this one, so therefore we don't all need to be here. I'll take the majority of you all and we'll dig to another area,” he determines, and then he turns to me. “Seth, I understand that you wish to explore this area, but could you take a moment to show me the next building you believe is worth excavating?”

“Wait here,” I tell Rainbow and Vinyl, somewhat annoyed at the disruption. Even though I should have expected that. 

I wanted to bring them here so that I wouldn't have to look at my empty dorm alone...and I just realized how fucking lame that sounds. As I walk with Hammer to someplace where I can work on the map, I remember how I was back in my time. I never really felt emotions like this. I could handle anything life sent at me by just wrinkling my brow and working hard. If life sent me a problem, I'd just work through it.

So now I'm faced with just another of these problems...and it's not even a real problem...just me going to look at an empty dorm that isn't even mine anymore. So why is it that all of a sudden, I can't do it on my own? And it's not just that...I don't want to do it alone. I hate to admit it to myself, but I'm not going into that dorm without Rainbow.

…...I'm never telling her that. Ever.





“All right. That took fucking forever, but I'm back now,” I declare, announcing my presence to Rainbow and Vinyl. The both of them look rather bored, leaning by the double doors to the office that haven't been opened yet like that. They look up in delight upon seeing me come to join them. “You ready to go inside?”

“Only if you are, bro. You know the place better than we do,” Vinyl says with a grin. 

“Yeah! I'm really curious to see how you lived,” Rainbow agrees. I nod, and then without another word, I push on one of the doors with vigor...only for the rusted hinges to snap and the door to fall right on the floor with a cacophonous bang. There's a comical silence as I stare down at the door, my hand still hanging in midair where I'd pressed it to the now fallen portal. “Good job, Seth. That door never saw what hit it.”

“Oh, fuck you. Just....goddammit, Rainbow,” I growl, but when Rainbow bursts out laughing, I can't help but chuckle as well. “Come on. We're going to have to do a bit of work to get to my dorm.”

I grab a shovel on the way in, and then I lead the two mares into what used to be the leasing office for the dorms as a whole. It was a quaint place that had been horribly understaffed, but it worked.  Even now I recognize it; it's much the same as it used to be, except it looks much older, and the scent of must and decay hung in the air.

There are two offices on either side of me where the officials would meet with students to help them with their paperwork. I remember that there used to be a rug on the empty floor space in front of us, but I assume that these shreds of fabric the three of us are walking over is what's left of it.

I lead the mares through the old hallways and down a set of stairs. As we walk, I see them peering into the different rooms with interest, but they follow me faithfully. 

We pass through the old recreation room, where the other students would come to play pool or dick around with their stupid friends. I never came here myself, because sometimes the resident assistants would hang out here, and the last thing I wanted to do was piss them off.

Finally, I throw open a side door that opens onto the path right next to my dorm. Instead of seeing the path, I see a solid wall of dirt and soil, just as I'd expected. “It's not more than a few feet. It shouldn't take me more than an hour at the most,” I tell the both of them, lifting the shovel. Without wasting any more time, I stick the shovel into the dirt and start digging.

“What, did you think we were going to sit here and do nothing?” Vinyl asks indignantly the moment I turn my back. A shovelful of dirt hits the floor, and I look back at her to see two shovels floating in midair with her magical aura surrounding them. “We're going to help, of course.”

“Yeah, what kind of friends do you think we are?” Rainbow tacks on with a grin, taking one of the shovels for herself. There's nothing I can do but watch in shock as the two of them attack the dirt wall along with me. With their help, the dirt practically melts away, a tunnel forming before us. My estimate is blown out of the water, and we actually make it all the way to my old front door in less than half the time I expected.

Yes, my old front door. Even now, after more than three thousand years, the number “207” still clings to the wall. Though I can hardly tell that it used to be made of brass. 

“Well...I'm home,” I say wistfully, even though I know the place is no longer mine. The handle doesn't turn, as it had rusted a long time ago. Out of force of habit, I almost fish out my wallet and take out the door key.

Rainbow brushes up against my side, noticing my hesitation. Vinyl does the same on my other side, and once again my inner voice scoffs at the fact that I need these two ponies to comfort me. But despite that, I can't help but feel grateful that they're here.

Knowing that they're here to support me, I gather up the will to ram the door open with my shoulder. The fragile frame shatters under the impact, fragments of wood raining down on the decrepit carpet.

“Come on in and make yourselves at home. I don't think my roommate is around, so be as loud as you want,” I tell Rainbow and Vinyl, irony dripping from my tone. Together, we step over the threshold and into my old dorm.

The front room of all of the dorms in this complex are essentially the same. We're given a small sofa and a chair, made of rough thread that isn't all that comfortable against your bare skin. We also get a large, low table made of wood and a TV stand. Right now, the couch and chair have degraded to almost nothing and the table and stand have fallen apart. The stand actually had a TV on it, because I can see it shattered on the ground. There's also the remains of what I think used to be a printer.

“Nice place. Seems a bit outdated if you ask me,” Rainbow jokes as she walks around the front room. She pokes her head into the kitchen, carefully avoiding the sharp edges of the broken tiling.

“Oh, ha ha.” I walk past her and Vinyl and move towards the back of the dorm itself. The living room and kitchen actually take up the majority of the dorm, so back here all that's left are the two rooms. The door of the one on my right has fallen in, but the other, my room, looks like it's still locked. My eyes widen in shock when I see what's pinned on the door, right where I left it.

“What's this say?” Vinyl asks curiously, standing behind me and looking up at the tarnished brass nameplate on the door. Of course she doesn't know what it means. It's English.

I reach up and trace the engraved letters in the nameplate, wondering how in the hell this was possible. “Seth Rogers...my name,” I say breathlessly. But...that can't be.

“Awesome! So I get to see your room, huh? Move aside, Vinyl, the Dash is coming through,” Rainbow exclaimed, pushing past Vinyl to stand next to me. “Well? What are you waiting for? Open it up!”

“You don't get it. This dorm should have been cleared out ages ago. How can it still be mine?” I express in disbelief. I stand there limply, a little hesitant to open to door. By all rights, it should be empty, but now I'm not so sure. And that just doesn't make any sense.

“Maybe they held it for you,” Vinyl suggests. I turn around to face her, confusion making me me look a little flustered.

“It's a college! They don't 'hold' anything for you. If you don't keep paying rent, they're going to kick you out and give the dorm to someone who can!” I snap, gesturing emphatically with my hands. “I may have disappeared and woke up in this world, but time still passed. Eighty years! That's too long for the dorm to still be mine!”

“Does it really matter? If it's still yours, that's a good thing, right?” Rainbow responds after a surprised pause.

“It just doesn't make any sense,” I admit, rubbing my forehead. I can't think of any possible reason why my room would still be the same after the eighty years that humanity held out. “Whatever, let's just get inside and see what's left.”

The door is still locked, though one simple blow from my fist breaks the flimsy lock...and the hinges in the process. The door might fall on something fragile, so I hold onto to the doorknob...only for that to break right off in my hand. So in the end, the door falls onto the floor and falls into pieces.

“You and doors just aren't friends, it seems,” Rainbow comments. This time I ignore her joke, because I'm looking at my old room. 

Yes, it's mine. Down to the last detail, everything in here is mine, even to the faded posters nailed to the walls, the clothes hanging from the open closet, and even to the color of the faded bedsheets.

I don't say a word. I can't bring myself to, in the wake of all that I'm seeing. I have so many memories of living in this place coming back to me. This room had been my sanctuary; it was my place to be alone and forget about the rest of the world. Muscle memory almost has me throwing myself on the bed like nothing had changed, but common sense tells me that even if I did that, the flimsy thing would just shatter.

Vinyl and Rainbow look pointedly at one another, and then they follow me into the room, staying rather quiet. I wonder if they're doing that on purpose.

“I remember hitting that fucking alarm clock every morning,” I say, and it's only after Rainbow and Vinyl turn to look at me that I realize I'd said that aloud. I indicate the old machine where it lay on top of my dresser. “I'd put it there, far away from my bed, because I knew that if I didn't, I'd just turn it off and go right back to sleep.”

I move over to my desk, where I would usually go to do my school work. It was as bare as I remember. I'm one to overly decorate or strew loose items all over the place, so all that's there is a few tattered notebooks and rotted pencils, old figurines bought from anime conventions, and yellowed pictures that I'd kept to remind me of the few things I treasured. It was those that caught my eyes.

I pick up the picture frame closest to me, the old picture still recognizable even after all these years. It was a picture of Amaryllis and I, standing together on her birthday. She wasn't one for parties, so I surprised her by working with her parents and showing up by myself when she least expected it. She'd complained, but I could tell that she'd appreciated it.

Rainbow and Vinyl are still silent, letting me search through my old things at my own pace. However, when Rainbow spots the picture I'm holding, she presses herself against me once more, and doesn't leave my side for the rest of the time that I'm in the room.

The more I look through my room, the more I feel melancholic and nostalgic. This had been my life...but it isn't my life anymore. I don't live here anymore. 

I'm glad I came here. It feels good to look over it and finally get a chance to say goodbye to the place that used to be my home.

“This...heh, it's ridiculous. It's just my room,” I say to myself. It's weird that I'd get all torn up about something so simple. I mean, it's not like I was ever attached to this place. 

“How long did you live here?” Vinyl asks, peering under the broken desk at the degraded laundry basket that I always shoved under there when I wasn't using it. She pokes at it, and the plastic snaps and clatters on the floor.

“About three or four years,” I answer her. Vinyl looks back up at me, nodding in newfound understanding.

“It was your home. It's not so wrong for you to miss it...the way it used to be, I mean,” Vinyl explains. “Sometimes you take things for granted...until they're gone.”

“Yeah...I suppose,” I admit. I pick up one of the figurines on the table. Somehow it doesn't break in my hand, being surprisingly firm for its age. It's the one of Crona that Adam got for me one year, on my birthday. The features are weathered and the colors faded, but I don't mind. I think I'll take this back with me.

“What's this?” Rainbow questions, drawing our attention. She's looking at something on my dresser. I step over to her to see her holding an old sheet of paper in a plastic sheath. It looks like there's some writing on it, but I can't make it out from here. “I can't read this. Seth, what does it say?”

Taking the paper from her, I give it a glance. The words are faded, but some of them I can still make out. It looks like an official notice from the housing office...which means it's probably worthless. However, something makes me read it anyway.

My hands start to tremble while I hold the notice, my eyes widening slightly at what I'm reading. Dated several months after I disappeared, it's addressed to the resident of this room, which is me. It 's written to the resident that a payment schedule had been established for my rent, to be paid every three months...for the next fifty years.

“Fifty years!?” I repeat incredulously. Vinyl and Rainbow looked confused by my seemingly random exclamation, but I ignore them, my mind racing. That's a lot of money...just one month's rent is about seven hundred dollars. Multiply that by twelve and again by fifty...the final count is staggering. Who the hell would have paid off my room for that long, and why?

Reading further, the letter tells me that the money will be taken from a particular account, which is identified by a long string of numbers...which I actually recognize, having had to use them myself before. That's...my mother's account number. Did she go crazy? Why the fuck would she pay off a room for fifty goddamn years that I wouldn't even be staying in? 

Unless...what if she was holding it for me? What if...she was holding out hope that one day I'd return...and she wanted to give me a place to come back to? Maybe this was her way of showing that she'd never stopped believing that I'd come back...even over those long years. She kept my room open for me, even as Adam grew up and got married, had a kid, and everything.

I set the letter down, my breath catching in my throat and coming out as a strangled sob. My friends, who'd been watching me curiously as I read, now look at me with alarm. I can't look at them. Instead, I rest my face in my hands, to hide the tears that are squeezing out of my eyes despite my best efforts.

“God...dammit, mom,” I cry, my body starting to shake. I kneel down on the ground, feeling utterly disgusted with myself. How could I have acted so spoiled and bratty to my mom...when she cared about me this much? Why couldn't I have returned her relentless, unconditional love, rather than wallowing around in self pity because some bitch made my life hell for a few years? Twilight was right...I'm pathetic.

Vinyl lifts a hoof and rests it on my shoulder in a comforting manner, as does Rainbow on my other side. They don't say anything, but they don't have to. They have no clue what the hell I just read...but they don't care. 

Vinyl, Rainbow, Adam, Amaryllis, my mother, and my father...all these individuals that have cared for me over the years...I really don't deserve them.

“Thanks...mom.”

	

	

	
> 76. The Promise
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	After several minutes of sitting there like that, crying like a fucking weakling, I pull myself together and get to my feet. I tuck the letter beneath my arm. There's no way I'm going to let this rot down here. It's old and may not last very long, but I'm taking it home with me nevertheless.

“What did it say, Seth?” Rainbow asks tentatively after she sees me composing myself. Heh, I guess even though she wants to be supportive, she can't help being curious. 

“It's too soon. You'll have to ask me later,” I reply haltingly, my voice still wavering a bit. I'm telling her the truth. I'm not just being stubborn. The feelings are too fresh; I think I'll fall apart again if I try to explain it to her.

It's funny. I don't think I ever cried much over my whole life, but upon coming to Equestria, I keep falling apart for various reasons. It sneaked up on me, but...I don't think I'm the same as I was when I first got to this world. These fucking ponies have affected me, whether I like it or not. It remains to be seen if that's a good thing or not.

Rainbow looks disappointed that I won't tell her now, but she knows better than to push me. Vinyl adjusts her shades and moves for the door, guiding Rainbow out. “Let's go. I think Seth needs some time to look over his old stuff without us breathing down his neck,” she suggests. Huh. Thanks, Vinyl. I do think I need some time to sit in here and probably say farewell to my old life. “We'll be in the front room when you're ready to head back up.”

I don't respond as they leave the room. Yeah, at the risk of repeating myself. I really don't deserve those two, especially Rainbow. 

I stand in front of my desk, running my hand across the splintering wood where I used to sit down and do my homework. An odd feeling comes across me. I feel like there's something on the tip of my tongue that I'm dying to say, but my mind represses it, because I've held it close to my chest for so long. Understanding dawns in me once I realize that this feeling seems familiar. I haven't felt like I needed to tell this to someone for a long time.

Staring back out my door, I see Rainbow resting on her haunches, scratching an evasive itch behind her ear with her face screwed up in frustration. I hold back a chuckle, shaking my head. I can't believe I actually want to tell this ridiculous, amazing mare about...her. About the worst thing to ever happen to me, and the one event that no doubt shaped my life even after it ended. I want to share it with her, so that she can understand me a little better. I haven't felt this way since just before I told Amaryllis about the very same subject.

I want to tell Rainbow about Janna.





“All right, I'm ready to leave.” Rainbow and Vinyl look up at my announcement, looking at me expectantly. 

“You're packed surprisingly light. I expected you to take more back with you,” Vinyl observes, noting how I'm only carrying a few things from my room with me. In fact, I'm only carrying that letter under my arm, that picture of Amaryllis and I, and a few of the figurines that are in better shape.

“Yeah well, I don't care about most of the shit in there. It's either school supplies or useless electronics that I can't do a thing with anymore,” I retort, walking past them. Impatient, I turn back to them with a huff and angle my head towards the door. “Let's get going already. I'm eager to be elsewhere.”

“Where are we going?” Rainbow inquires as we walk out of my dorm and back into the main housing office. That's a good question actually.

“Not a clue. Visiting my dorm was my sole purpose for coming on this trip. I don't know what to do now,” I admit.

“Does that mean we can go home now?” Rainbow asks hopefully, causing me to give her a disbelieving glance. “What? This is cool and all, but we've been here a little over a month.”

“Yeah, and there's not much call for music around here. I'm like a fish out of water,” Vinyl agrees.

“Seriously? Coming along was your idea, and now you're complaining?” I snap back, not even trying to conceal the bitterness I'm feeling from their sentiments. For all their talk about supporting me, the moment an opportunity to go home shows itself, they jump on it.

“Hey! I'm not complaining. I'm just wondering, that's all. I'll stay here as long as you need me,” Rainbow asserts, affronted. “I just want to know what we're doing next.”

“I think I'll stick around a bit longer and make sure I've earned my pay,” I reply, the answer coming to me rather quickly. I'm not getting paid for my work here, per se, but I did get paid quite a bit just for the location of this place. I won't feel like I've really earned it until the expedition here is considered a success...or at least a profitable venture.  Whether or not that means staying to the end remains to be seen.

“As long as I can explore more cool ruins, that's fine with me,” Rainbow decides. I sigh with relief. The last thing I want to worry about is whether or not Rainbow is enjoying herself. Not that I should worry about it. Coming with me was her idea...though I may have wanted her to come just a bit.

“I think I'll head back up to my mom,” Vinyl informs me once the three of us have passed through the tunnel and re-entered the science building. She fixes me with a serious stare. “Let me know if there's anything else I can tag along for.”

“I'm guessing you don't mean if I feel like taking you on a library trip,” I comment, even though I know full well what she's talking about. Still, it was worth saying it just to see the exasperated look on Vinyl's face. I cut her off as she's starting to protest. “Right, I know what you meant. I'll think about it.”

“I guess that's the closest thing I'm going to get to a yes out of you,” Vinyl says with a sigh, and then she nods her head and splits off from us down one of the hallways. No doubt Opal is hiding in one of these rooms here, so to speak. “I'll see you two tonight.”

That leaves Rainbow and I alone...or as alone as we can be with the myriad of scientists, archaeologists, and other ponies milling around down here. “We gonna go exploring some more?” Rainbow asks curiously. Just then, her stomach lets out the most obnoxious growling sound. Unashamed, Rainbow looks at me accusingly as if it's my fault. “If we do, let's eat first. I didn't get to finish my sandwich.”

I can't help but facepalm. Most girls I know would at least act embarrassed. Not Rainbow. This mare is like a guy in all but appearance. It's part of what makes her so great.





Later that day, Rainbow and I are exploring the old science classrooms near the back of the whole complex, on the first floor. Yes, I'm actually exploring, because I've never actually had to go back here, even during my time. After taking basic chemistry classes, I never had to take a science class again.

Here, it's almost a maze of different classrooms and labs. It's so confusing that I have the presence of mind to mark the walls so we can find our way back if we need to.

“It smells funny back here,” Rainbow comments, wrinkling her nose with distaste. 

“Oh, don't complain. You wanted to see what was back here,” I point out to her, much to her chagrin. “And to answer the question you haven't asked yet, it smells like this because this is where all the labs were. Here, the students experimented with dangerous chemicals.”

“They did that back here?!” Rainbow exclaims, peering in one of the shattered windows into lab. “Isn't that dangerous?”

“Oh yeah. And accidents do happen. This is why I hate chemistry, biology, and other assorted science '-ologies,'” I say. I even remember when I spilled a bit of acid on myself during basic chemistry. That wasn't fun. “In short, I didn't become a science major because everything back here had the potential to kill you...or at least fuck you up.”

“Good thing I didn't become a scientist, then,” Rainbow states with a shudder.  I suddenly have the mental image of Rainbow wearing a white coat and glasses with her mane tied back in a bun. That image is so funny I snort with laughter.

There's a silence after that, as we're making our way through the hallways. I doubt we're going to find much back here, mostly because I think that if there were any dangerous chemicals here, they would have been cleared out by the military.

“Gosh, I don't know what any of this stuff is,” Rainbow says with wonder as she peeks into one of the labs. I recognize most of what's in there because I've had to take a lab class before, but my mind really isn't on the exploration right now. I'm trying to figure out a way to breach the subject. Fuck it, I've never been one to beat around the bush. There just is no right way to go about talking about this.

“Hey, do you remember what we talked about before, back in Ponyville?” I ask her, disregarding her last statement. The sudden change in subject causes Rainbow to step back from the door and look at me in confusion. Right, that was a little vague.

“What?” is her understandably perplexed response.

“It was when you were hanging with me while I did my deliveries, about a week before we came here.” I hope she remembers. It was a long time ago, but I still remember it pretty clearly, because that was the first time I ever saw Rainbow looking so distressed. And she wouldn't even tell me what the problem was.

“Uh...gonna have to be a bit more specific,” Rainbow admits, rubbing her head sheepishly with her hoof. I huff with frustration. Is she really going to make me say it flat out?

“You had a problem, but you wouldn't discuss it with me,” I tell her bluntly. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. I don't have to talk to Rainbow about this...even though I'm starting to really want to.

Rainbow's expression freezes on her face, understanding dawning in her eyes. She looks as if I'd caught her in the middle of doing something she wasn't supposed to. She looks down, not meeting my gaze. Yeah...if she's acting unsure of herself, something's wrong. I should have gone about this in a different way.

“Y...Yeah...I remember,” Rainbow stammers. Noticing that stammer just makes my curiosity even stronger. This was a month ago, so I don't see how she'd still be having whatever that problem was.

“I promised to tell you why I hate accepting favors...if you told me what your problem was,” I recall, hoping to refresh her memory. Rainbow's head jerks up at that.

“You were serious!? I thought you were just joking,” Rainbow demands incredulously, all thoughts of the interesting lab behind her forgotten in the wake of this conversation.

“I was at the time...but now I'm telling you that I mean that. And I...” I respond, but I halt in the middle of my sentence. For some reason, I can feel my heart beating faster and small jolts of adrenaline shooting through my body. I shouldn't be so nervous about this. Rainbow watches me with her magenta eyes...waiting patiently for me to continue.“I...actually want to tell you now.”

“Really?” Rainbow asks excitedly, but then she quickly forces herself to calm down. I guess she's happy I'm finally going to tell her.“I mean...are you sure? What brought this on?”

“I'm not explaining it,” I say flatly. I'm not saying how I truly feel about it because I don't think I'd be able to take myself seriously if I tell her the true reason why I want to tell her this. Rainbow nods, as if she'd expected a response like that. “I just want to. But before I do, I want you to tell me what your issue was back then.”

Rainbow's excitement visibly dims at the condition I just gave her. “...Oh,” is her quiet...almost timid acknowledgment. “I'm...I'm not sure I...”

“What? What's the problem? That was a month ago, so it shouldn't still be bothering you, right?” I demand impatiently. Seriously, what the fuck happened back then that has her making an about face in her personality every time I bring it up?

Anger flares in Rainbow's eyes, making me wonder if I'd said something I shouldn't. “Idiot! Of course it...!” she starts to yell, but she forces herself to stop and take a deep breath. When she next speaks, it's in a much more collected manner. “It...hasn't been resolved yet.”

I raise an eyebrow at her outburst. To my surprise, Rainbow seems unable to meet my gaze. A blush colors her cheeks. Seeing that...a horrible memory strikes me. 

“I've seen how that mare looks at you.”

Rarity wasn't right...was she? Just by thinking that, a terrible fear clutches at my mind. I'm wrong. I have to be. Rainbow's not so weak that she'd need someone else in her life in that manner. She's a strong, independent mare. She wouldn't...would she? My breath starts to quicken at this train of thought.

“I...I see,” I force out, sounding a lot more pathetic that I would have liked. I won't accept this. I won't acknowledge this. Rarity's a fucking idiot that just wants to play matchmaker. Rainbow probably has another deep-seated problem. Maybe it's an issue with family, because she doesn't talk about them often.

I start to calm down as I continue to run through different possibilities in my head. Yeah, how stupid can I be, to think that Rainbow would...I mean, I'm a total asshole. Not a soul has liked me like that in my life, and that's always been fine with me. The idea of anyone liking someone as mean as me is just laughable.

“Okay,” Rainbow says with an air of finality, breaking the long, awkward silence that had formed between us after that. That one word gets me looking at her with anticipation. Is she actually going to tell me? “I'll tell you. I probably should have a long time ago. But...not now.”

“What? Then when?” I demand with exasperation, disappointed that I don't get to hear it now.

“Don't worry, I said I'm going to tell you, and I will. I just...need some time,” Rainbow explains. Huh...her expression tells me she's about as conflicted as I am about this, but I'm not sure why. Her eyes narrow and then she gives me an intense stare. “But you better tell me your problem too, got it?”

“It's a promise,” I tell her firmly. Out of impulse, I extend my hand to her. I realize a second later how fucking stupid it is to shake on a promise with a goddamn pony.

Just as I'm withdrawing my hand, Rainbow slaps the palm of my hand with a hoof. My fingers instinctively close around it, and despite my misgivings, we shake on it. I guess I'm committed now. I have to tell her about Janna. I may be an asshole, but I always keep my word.

“All right!” Rainbow exclaims, a small grin returning to her face. I can't help but mirror. She indicates the lab with a simple motion of her head. “Now tell me what these things are. Like, what's that hanging thing in the back of the room?”

I can't believe how close I've gotten to this ridiculously colored pony.  In fact, I can't believe how much has changed since I got here. I can't believe how much I've changed. Since I got here, I've gone through stupid parties, magical experiences, and even life or death situations, and that's taken a toll on me.

I shake my head, dismissing these troubling thoughts. Following Rainbow into the lab, I transfix the back of her head with an annoyed glare. It's your damn fault, you strange technicolor creature.





The expedition continues, day by day. For most of the time, I have complete freedom to do as I please, but often my help is needed to identify an artifact or to get back on track to finding the next site.

While he does come down to the ruins every now and then, Flash spends most of his time up on the surface now, studying the many artifacts that we've uncovered. There's a lot of technology down here in varying states of degradation, so he has his work cut out for him if he wants to make any advances for ponykind.

Opal is practically in the ruins all the damn time, dragging Vinyl along with her more often than not. As an archaeologist, it seems she likes to work in the field rather than in the tents on the surface. It isn't long after my dorm was uncovered that she made her way to the housing office with a few other archaeologists, intent on cataloging how the human race handled mass living conditions.

The next building to get uncovered is the library...which practically made every intellectual pony on the expedition go out of their minds with excitement.

“Hah, I remember this place. I don't think I ever came here to actually check out a book, though,” I state wryly, gazing up at the uncovered sign that used to label the building before us as the Rainier College Library. The letters are either tarnished, broken, or downright missing now.

“Think they've got any decent adventure novels?” Rainbow asks excitedly from her place by my side. That question gets me to break out into derisive laughter. “What?”

“A college, offer entertainment to students for free? How about fucking no?” I remark in a derogatory tone. Rainbow still seems confused , so I elaborate. “No. This is a school library. It was intended for research purposes only.”

“Oh. How boring,” Rainbow replies, disappointed. I can agree with her there. Of course, not everypony here agrees with us.

“Boring? No, this is the greatest opportunity I've ever had in my life!” Twilight squeals happily, zooming from the tunnel behind us to stand in front of the library doors next to Opal and Vinyl. I can't help but facepalm. Of course Twilight is going to go out of her fucking mind. She lives in a library, for god's sake. She looks at Opal, practically dancing on the tips of her hooves.“I can't wait! Oh, I hope there are some books still intact!”

“I know, right? Think of how much we can learn!” Opal joins in, equally excited about the possibility of discovering knowledge in its purest form. 

“You do realize that the odds of finding any of these books fully intact is pretty slim?” I point out to them, their over-excitement once against getting on my nerves. That seems to dampen their spirits a bit, judging how their smiles fade slightly. “It's been three thousand years. Don't get your hopes up.”

“Don't be so pessimistic. We're certain to find something, even if damaged,” Twilight scolds me. Opal gives a nod of agreement. Whatever. I give an uncaring shrug. They can be unrealistic if they want.

“Ugh, eggheads. Why are we here again?” Rainbow jokingly asks, earning a snicker from me. Joking or not, Rainbow seems to have utterly lost interest in the library now that I told her it's all research based. I can't say that I blame her either. I can't stand reference novels unless there's a practical aspect to them. Like any of the books of spells that Twilight has access to.

Twilight rolls her eyes at the two of us, and then the moment the miners pry the doors off of their hinges, she and Opal are the first to enter. Just because I'm curious to see how well the place has held together, I make my way inside behind the other scholarly ponies that went ahead of me.

“Wait for me!” Rainbow calls, filtering in behind me. Despite her utter disinterest, it seems like she plans on keeping me company regardless. She can knock herself out. She's going to be bored because there's literally nothing here that would interest her.

As for Rainbow herself, she still hasn't made any signs of wanting to continuing our earlier conversation that we had in the labs. It's been over a week. I wonder how much time she needs for whatever her problem is? Every time I bring it up, she just tells me she's not ready yet. Sheesh. 

Anyway, the library itself is massive, because there's a lot of textbooks, encyclopedias, and other such reference books spread out on several floors. I even think there's a history museum on one of the floors. Though why the library added one of those is beyond me, unless they were just trying to fleece students some more. I wouldn't put it past the administration to do that.

The first floor is split into two parts: the lobby, and the work and reference area. The lobby cuts right through the entire first floor, with several weathered chairs lining the walls and doors on either side. There's also plenty of rusted electrical outlets, because I remember the lobby was a place to meet up or get work done

The work and reference area was the place that would always be crammed right before finals. It had soundproof study areas, tons of computers, scanners, printers, and of course shelf after shelf of reference materials. I have to admit, it was a convenient set up, even if I never really used it.

Of course, the place is a mess. The glass divider that had once separated the lobby from the work area shattered a long time ago, the shards still resting on the ground. And...hold on a minute, that looks like...

“What...what happened here?” Twilight stammers, her eyes riveted on the sight before her. While I too feel goosebumps running up my skin, I'm not terribly surprised to see it. After all, no matter how tough I may be, I can never get used to seeing human remains.

There are skeletons lying all over the place, some of them in better shape than others. I can count five of them in the lobby alone, their weapons torn to shreds of metal and their bones rent or completely torn apart.“Look at all these skeletons! What in Equestria...?” Even Opal is shocked. 

I kneel down, noting all of the bullet casings on the floor. I pick one up, feeling the rusty metal bend and come apart in my fingers. I have a pretty good idea what happened here. In fact, I'm damn certain. This must have been an outpost for the military as well. By deduction, this must be the site of an ancient battle between my race and the Oppressed. I don't see any fallen Oppressed, though.

Come to think of it, I never saw the bodies of any Oppressed back in the science building either, and that had been the site of the final battle of humanity. I only ever saw a live one. Maybe their bodies disappear? Wait, no, that can't be right, because I recovered Maka's body. This is puzzling.

“Seth, do you have any insight?” Opal asks me next, turning away from the site of the battle. There's no telling how many more bodies are around here. I mean, this lobby certainly isn't the most defensible of locations, so there must be an outpost further inside.

“I don't know what you want me to say. There was a battle between my kind and the monsters I mentioned before. That's really all there is to tell,” I respond in annoyance. Seriously, you're the archaeologist. You figure it out. 

“Hm...I suppose that's something to go on,” Opal muses. Then, after thinking for a moment, she seems to come to a decision. “All right everypony. Let's spread out and see what we can find. Make sure not to move the remains.”

“I don't think there's any chance of that,” Twilight responds, attempting to smile...except it comes out as more of a grimace than anything else. She gingerly steps over one of the skeletons and walks into the work area, shuddering and trying not to look at it.

I also take a walk through the bottom floor, about as uninterested as Rainbow is. I never had much of a stake in this place, unlike the science building. I barely ever came here. Oh look, it's that study room I once sat in during a group project where the other members were terrified of me. It's as crumbled and ruined as the rest of the place. What are the odds?

While I'm searching through some of the old shelves for anything useable, I hear a commotion from the front entrance. I set down the book I'm holding and listen, hearing frantic voices from Opal and a pony I don't recognize.

“Looks like something's going on,” I mention to Rainbow, who is lying on the ground, eyeing one of the broken computers curiously. Rainbow quickly gets up and follows me as I leave the room.

In the lobby, there's one of the construction ponies talking to Opal. Almost immediately I notice the bloodstained bandage on his head. It seems to be covering a nasty looking gash. I start to get alarmed. The only dangers down here would have to be cave-ins, or more of the Oppressed. Neither of those bodes well for us.

“...out cold, but he should be fine. But it might take some time for the upper floors to be accessible again by those of us that aren't pegasi,” the construction pony finishes explaining to a concerned Opal. Once they see me coming, they make room for me.

“What's going on?” I demand. Judging by what he just said, I don't think there's any Oppressed. That much is a relief.

“There was an accident involving the scaffolding. Boreal here can explain it better.” Opal explains, and then defers to the construction pony to explain again.

“There shouldn't have been an accident; that's just the thing,” Boreal expresses vehemently. “I helped build the scaffolding myself. There was no room for structural flaws.”

“Apparently there was. If it broke, then there's obviously something wrong,” I point out, much to Boreal's frustration.

“There wasn't something wrong. Steel Rivet came up with the plans himself, and he's the one who helped construct many of Canterlot's foundations!” Boreal snaps at me. He winces in pain a second later, clutching a hoof to his head. “I studied architecture myself, and since I helped build the scaffolding, I know it was structurally sound!”

“Whatever. Start over. What actually happened?” I cut across him calmly. In the end, if all that's happened is that the scaffolding is damaged, I should be able to get up just fine, because I can fly.

Boreal takes a deep breath, calming himself. “Recently, ponies heading to the bottom floor reported feeling some uneasiness on the lowest level of the scaffolding.”

“That's just above the basement levels,” I recall. I've never been down into the basement of the science building, so I haven't a clue what's down there. “But what's the big deal?”

“Right, my boss and the rest of us didn't take the complaints seriously. But when some of the miners started refusing to go down there, Steel Rivet sent me and my co-worker, Copper Nail, to go down there and show them that their fears were unfounded,” Boreal continues.

“Then what happened?” Rainbow asks.

“One of the miners led us to the bottom level and told us that he and some of the others had started hearing things, like whispers and other superstitious nonsense coming from the bottom of the shaft. When we went to check it out...” Boreal paused and closed his eyes for a moment. “Nothing. At least at first. But...Nail started to hear it...and then the scaffolding broke.”

“Just like that?” I ask in disbelief. I don't know about all this whispering nonsense, but a broken scaffolding I can definitely understand. The Oppressed don't whisper, so I think they are just being superstitious.

“Just like that. Nail fell and hit his head, and the both of us almost tumbled into the shaft. If it hadn't been for one of the unicorns nearby, we would have,” Boreal finishes. “Nail is still unconscious and being tended to down here, but the rest of us that's can't fly are trapped until the scaffolding is fixed.”

“I see. Well, that is troubling, but it shouldn't pose too much of a problem,” Opal states. She pats her saddlebag with her muzzle. “I've been an archaeologist for a long time, so I always carry plenty of supplies down with me in case of cave-ins.”

“How long will it take?” I ask, even though it doesn't much matter to me.

“First, we have to find somepony willing to fix it. The problem seems to be that a few of the screws are loose...even though I tightened those darn things myself...beneath the walkway. That makes it hard for anypony other than a pegasi to reach it,” Boreal explains. “But...with all of the talk going around, it might take a while to find a pegasus skilled in construction that won't be too frightened to fix it.”

“Really? Just because of a few rumors? That's pretty fucking pathetic,” I snort derisively. “It will literally just take a few seconds to tighten a few screws, and then problem solved.”

“And the walkway itself needs to be repaired, and new boards installed. It'll take some doing. But the main issue is that these rumors you mentioned were confirmed by this accident,” Boreal sighs, seeming as exasperated as I'm feeling.

“Oh for the love of...if your coworkers are going to be pussies, I'll handle it,” I decide on a whim. At the very least, it'll give me something to do apart from wander aimlessly around this stupid library.

“Really? Do you have any experience in construction?” Boreal asks hopefully, albeit a little incredulous.

“A little. Do you forget that I helped rebuild after the Royal Wedding?” I remind him. I don't remember seeing him during that time, but it should be common knowledge that I helped out. Sure enough, his eyes widen and he nods.

“Fair enough, but it might be difficult to reach, even for you. A pegasus needs to do it, because to repair the structural integrity, you would need to get under the walkway,” Boreal informs me. “I might be able to find some rope...”

“I can fly, idiot. Where the fuck have you been?” I state impatiently. Boreal pauses, and then he dips his head, realizing how foolish he's being. “Just lead me to the thing and I'll fix it up for you, since your co-workers are too busy wetting their legs because of some silly rumors.”

“Thanks you, Seth. I know this kind of thing isn't your responsibility,” Opal says to me gratefully.

“I'm not doing it to be nice. I just can't stand incompetence,” I reply with a shrug. Next to me, Rainbow is watching me curiously. “Rainbow, you stay here. It won't take me very long.”

“Are you kidding? Stay here in this library?” Rainbow protests, stretching her wings. “Nah, if you're going to do construction work, I'll just go up and chill with Pinkie.”

“Whatever. As long as you're not breathing over my shoulder when I try to work,” I tease her, earning a frankly adorable growl from her.

“All right, that settles things. I'll see you when you're finished, Seth,” Opal expresses. With a nod to Boreal, she returns to the work area of the library.

“Thanks for this. Come on, I'll take you to it and walk you through the construction process,” Boreal says with an appreciative nod, and then the two of us leave the library, with Rainbow tagging along with us for a while.

Come to think of it, I have noticed a change in the demeanor of the miners recently. It's been slight, but they all seem a bit jumpier than they should be. Seriously, I would be worried if there were Oppressed. Some whispering? Who the fuck cares? It sounds more like an excuse not to work to me. I guess I'll find out for myself what the real problem is.

“This is it,” Boreal announces once we reach the elevator shaft. The scaffolding should start right here and spiral upwards to the surface, but...well fuck, it is pretty broken.

The walkway has completely tilted downwards towards the blackness of the shaft below, and some of the boards are broken or hanging loose. Gosh, Boreal and Nail are lucky as hell that there was a unicorn there to save them, otherwise they'd be dead now.

Turning on my magic is almost second nature to me now. With a little bit of effort, I'm in my base form, my dark aura licking around me like flame. A short hop takes me right into the shaft, where I hover and look at the broken scaffolding. “All right, tell me what to do.”

“Here. Take this and find the loose screws beneath the walkway,” Boreal directs me, passing a wrench to me. “Once they're tightened, we can start repairing the walkway itself.”

“Easy enough,” I remark, flying beneath the scaffolding to search for the problem. I also take a look down towards the bottom of the shaft, just out of curiosity's sake. Sheesh, how far down does this thing go? I can't even see the elevator car that almost killed several months ago, much less the bottom. Stupid miners. It's really easy to make up superstition about a pit like this.

Turning my attention back to the scaffolding, I look around for the screws that caused this problem to begin with. How hard it is to tighten in screws all the way? If Boreal or Nail had died, it would have been their own damn fault. Hold on a minute...what? Upon finding one of the screws...immediately I start to feel that something's wrong after all. 

There's nothing wrong with the screws. They're tight as hell and won't budge easily...meaning there was never a problem with the supports in the first place. And the boards themselves? They're brand new. I watched them get made up on the surface with my own eyes. There's no way they would break like this. So what the fuck is going on?

The atmosphere seems to change around me, growing colder. Goosebumps form on my skin and I can't help but shudder. I look back down at the darkness of the shaft again...and this time it feels like there's something down there, looking back up at me. 

What the fuck? I'm no scared miner, and I'm certainly not one for superstition. So what's this feeling I'm getting?

And that's when the whispers start, filtering up as if through water...faint and indistinct. Okay, now I'm starting to get scared. Maybe the miners were right to be afraid of this place after all. 

“Is something the matter? You're awfully quiet,” Boreal asks in concern, peering out into the shaft. What he sees is me, the blood absent from my face, staring down at the shaft in terror. This...whatever this is is scarier than Chrysalis ever was. At least she was tangible.

“I don't...” I stammer...but I'm interrupted. A terrible sound reverberates from the bottom of the shaft, sounding almost like someone beat upon a large bass drum...exactly once. And then I physically feel a wave of cold air coming from the bottom of the shaft...and it's charged with magic.

“What the...!” I yell out as the magically charged air seems to disrupt my magical aura. In fact, my aura completely disappears, and then there's nothing holding me up. I let out a cry, gravity taking its hold on me.

“Seth!” Boreal shouts in alarm, reaching a hoof down in a futile attempt to reach me. I try to flare my magic as I plummet into the total darkness of the elevator shaft, but it won't respond to me at all, hiding away in my core as if I didn't have any magic at all.

I can't help but scream, because I have no idea how far down this thing goes, and I have no way to break my fall. Darkness envelops me like a blanket, and the whispers steadily get louder to the point where they almost deafen me, but I still can't understand what they're saying.

Finally, I collide with something hard and metal. A grunt escapes me as pain erupts in my back, even as whatever it was I landed on gives out beneath me and sends me further down, until I finally land on a flat surface.

Thankfully, my magic responds to me once I reach that point, so the impact doesn't break any bones, but it certainly hurts like a bitch. “Fuuck...” I groan, completely unable to see anything. “What...where the hell am I now?”

I no longer hear the whispers. No, instead it's so quiet that I can hear the silence ringing in my ears. Sitting up, I start feeling around, trying to find out where the hell I am. I can feel a carpeted floor and metal walls...as well as what feels like a handrail halfway up the wall. If I had to make a guess, I'd say I'm in an elevator car at the bottom.

“Fuck this, I'm getting out of here,” I grunt, powering up my magic again. It was weird how I couldn't use my magic up there, but it seems like I can use it normally now, so I'll just fly back up.

Immediately after I think that, a light blue glow fills the elevator, coming from above. I look up in surprise, only to see that the hatch that I'd fallen through on my way down now seems to be covered by a glowing web of magical power.

“What?” I emit in surprise. I press my hand against the web...only to find that it won't let my hand through. This must be a barrier of some sort. But who erected it, and why? Is whoever it is trying to keep me down here? “Fuck you, I'm not being held back. You're about to find out how strong I really am.”

With a yell of exertion, I slam a darkness covered fist into the barrier with as much force as I can muster. Instead of breaking, the barrier bends beneath the force and then fucking sends it right back at me. I cry out in agony as that very same force sends me careening into the floor and right fucking through it. If I hadn't shot out my hand to hold on to the bottom of the car, I'd have fallen right onto the spikes right below...which likely would have killed me.

Once I climb back into the car, I look back up at the barrier. One quick look out from beneath the car lets me know that the barrier is covering the entire elevator shaft.

Am...am I trapped down here?

	

	
	

	
> 77. Underground Complex
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Sure enough, there's no way back up the elevator shaft. I don't bother hitting the barrier again, because the last time I did that, I got knocked through the bottom of the elevator like it was made of paper.  I've learned my lesson as far as that goes.

“I need to get back up somehow. This clearly isn't the way,” I think aloud. I find that doing that helps me calm down. Frankly, I'm freaked the fuck out because of how I got down here. Something down here canceled out my magic and is now holding me here. It's not the Oppressed, either, so I'm dealing with an unknown enemy.

There's only one way forward, and that's out into the basement level. There has to be another way back up around here somewhere. There are parts of the science building that I've never been to before, so with luck, there will be more elevator shafts, or perhaps a set of stairs.

The elevator doors are still open from when I forced them open several months ago, and I can see a little of the hallways of the basement just outside, through the omnipresent darkness. With a little effort, I hoist myself over the lip and into the hallway.

The moment I leave the elevator, the doors slam shut on their own with an earsplitting screech of metal on metal, scaring the fuck out of me to the point where all of the hairs shoot up on my body. “Jesus fuck!” I cry out in shock, whirling around to glare at the offending doors. However, I can't see them anymore. 

The doors are now covering the light of the barrier, so the entire hallway is plunged into total darkness. I can't see a thing, not even my hand in front of my face. The idea to try and use my magic for light strikes me, so I open my palm and create a small ball of darkness...only to realize how stupid that is. My magic IS darkness, so how the fuck is it supposed to dispel darkness? I let the magic dissipate, feeling foolish. That's certainly not my best idea.

My breathing quickens. The darkness around me is so thick, it feels like it's crushing me. I considering looking around for a way to make a torch or something, but then I realize how stupid I'm being. I fish my phone out of my pocket and open up the flashlight application. A quick flick of a button later, and a bright circle of light illuminates the floor in front of me. Thank god this app doesn't use the internet. As long as I have magic, I can keep this light going.

The first thing I notice about this hallway is that it seems to be in much better condition than the  floors above. By that, I mean the place just looks abandoned, and not decrepit and falling apart. Which means either this place was built recently...or someone has been maintaining it.

“Damn, I wish I could just blow my way out of here,” I grunt, looking up at the ceiling. With my power, it would be simple to blow a hole through the ceiling and get out of here...but with the instability of the upper floors, I'd bring the whole place down and kill most of the ponies working. No, I have to do this the hard way.

With that in mind, I start to walk. I don't know anything about the basement levels, so I'm mostly walking blindly through the area, hoping to find something that looks like a way up.

Fuck, I wish it wasn't so quiet. There's nothing at all, apart from the sound of my foot falls and my own breathing. There's got to be another elevator shaft around here, or at least some stairs.

The light from my phone soon illuminates set of doors in the wall, with slightly tarnished bronze plaques labeling each one. Out of curiosity, I shine the light onto the nearest door, which is labeled as “executive offices.”

Offices? Down here? That can't be right. The offices for the science building are on the top floor. Hell, that's even where the head of the science department keeps his office. So what “executives” would be working down here? That's it, I'm curious enough to look for myself.

I turn the handle with a shaking hand and push the door open. The hinges creak loudly from the effort, making me wince and look around to make sure I'm completely alone. After all, someone is keeping me down here. It wouldn't be paranoid of me to think that I might be observed.

These certainly look like offices. It actually looks like a workplace divided into cubicles. As I walk through the offices, I notice that each cubicle has a filing cabinet and a computer. Some of the desks are in differing states of disrepair, but mostly everything seems to be in rather good condition, considering how old this place should be. As I draw closer to the back of the offices, I notice something shocking in one of the cubicles. Hold on...is that...a standby light on that computer? 

Everything else forgotten, I set my phone down on the desk and sit down in the chair, which surprisingly holds under my weight. It's an old chair, but a well maintained one. This isn't right.

Sure enough, the power button on the computer console is gently pulsing orange, which means that it's on, but on standby. “This is impossible,” I whisper, pulling out the keyboard tray. This console should be three thousand years old. Inspecting the console closer, I notice that the design isn't one I recognize. There's no symbol telling me what brand it is, or what OS it's running. Usually windows computers have the logo engraved into the hardware somewhere. The same goes for Mac, Linux, and other such computers. It's almost as if this one was built from the ground up...and relatively recently too.

The monitor turns on when I tap a key, causing me to wince and squint at the sudden change in light level. “What the hell is this?” I ask myself, as the display screen that appears doesn't resemble anything from any operating system I've ever seen. “Oh...son of a bitch.”

A log on screen appears, and it's asking for both a username and a password. I'm no hacker, so it doesn't look like I'll be finding out anything from this console after all. It's certainly not going to take my school ID and password. Still, it's odd that this computer even exists, and works at the same time. Maybe some humans survived in here past their defeat...but that wouldn't explain how this computer is getting power.

I peer under the desk and follow the computer's power cable all the way to an outlet in the floor. Well shit, that doesn't tell me a good goddamn thing. I'm just as in the dark as I was when I landed here.

I've wasted enough time here already. I'll look through the rest of these offices and then continue with my primary objective: getting the fuck out of here.

Leaving the miraculously still operating computer behind, I make my way through the maze of cubicles all the way to the back of the room, where there's a larger office set in it's own room, separated from the rest by a mottled glass wall and a wooden door.

“Dr. Vanta Pallor,” I state, reading off of the plaque on the door. Yeah, I certainly don't know who the hell that is. He's no Rainier executive that I've ever heard of. Maybe he's a member of the military? I'm curious now, so I might as well check it out.

A quick check tells me that the door is locked. I step back and give it an incredulous look. “Seriously?” I ask the door as if it could hear me...and then I kick the fucking door down with a light application of magic. The door is so old that it shatters like matchsticks, allowing me entry.

It looks like a typical office to me. I don't feel like I need to repeat myself that it looks to be in much better condition than it should be, given this place's age. There are some manila folders on the desk. Maybe one of them will tell me more about what's been going on down here.

I open one of them and fish out what looks like a printed out email from one employee to another...but it doesn't look like they're talking about school related topics. In fact, without any context, I have no clue what I'm reading.

“From: Frozen Soul
To: Dr. Vanta Pallor

Here are the results of yesterday's experiment, as requested. All but Subjects Three and Four aren't responding well to the modifications. The mutations have proven to be detrimental to the motor capabilities of each subject, to the point where their overall effectiveness as units has decreased. I request permission to terminate the process for the failed subjects. Enclosed is the data for each individual trial...”

“What the fuck? Experiment? Subjects?” I say aloud, setting the folder down. After the first part of the letter, I can't really understand because all there is are a bunch of a charts and data tables that I can't decipher without more context. “Mutations? And who the fuck is Frozen Soul?”

I don't like the feeling that I'm getting from this letter. Whoever these people were, they were smart enough to build their own computers and felt that they needed to keep their work secret enough to use codenames. Though...Frozen Soul sounds a lot like a pony name...though that's probably just because I've lived among ponies for several months and they all have names like that.

I leave the offices entirely, feeling a little foolish for wasting that much time looking for answers, only to find more questions instead.

More exploring takes me to a set of stairs...but they only go downwards. I curse as I peer down the stairwell. The path has been pretty much linear ever since the elevator shaft, and even looking through the other rooms didn't uncover any new paths. So this is seriously the only way forward?

“Fuckin' hell,” I grunt, and then I walk down the stairs. If this is the only way forward, I have no choice but to see where it goes.

It's only a short flight of stairs, consisting of only twenty steps. There's no option to go further down, so I'm hoping there will be a way back up further on in.

“Okay, what the hell?” I demand, looking at the short hallway stretched out before me. If I thought that the floor above me was in suspiciously good condition, this one is even better. That settles it. Someone has to be down here still, despite the fact that the place seems to be abandoned. This place should be falling apart.

There's a door on the left wall not too far from me that's hanging wide open, but I'm not close enough for my light to reveal what's inside. There's another door at the far end of the hallway that's shut. I guess I'll look into the one that's open first.

Just as I near the door on the left, it slams shut seemingly of its own accord with a loud bang, once again causing me to jump and yelp in shock, adrenaline shooting through my body. At the same time, the door at the end of the hall swings open on its own.

“Okay...that's not right,” I stammer, once again feeling like there's something else down here besides me. These doors are opening and closing on their own, and I don't even see a magical aura like what a unicorn would exhibit. 

Part of me wants to kick down this fucking door that just slammed in my face, but I decide against it. I'm not here to explore, I'm here to get out. Once I'm out, I'll figure out what to do next from there. With that in mind, I ignore the now locked door and pass through the door at the end...which also proceeds to shut behind me. “Fucking stop that!” I snap at it, and then I realize that I'm shouting at a door.

Okay, let's see. Where am I now? Judging by the pipelines and concrete walls, I'm assuming that I'm in or near the foundations of the building. These pipelines must be for carrying the water to and from the reservoirs. The pipelines have long since rusted, however, and now seem to be covered with mold, if the musty smell in the air is anything to go by. Just fucking lovely. And to top it all off, the atmosphere is completed by all of the spiderwebs everywhere.

Part of me is starting to think that this is pointless, and the chances of me finding another elevator or stairwell that doesn't just go further down are slim to none. Whatever canceled out my magic and brought me down here really wants to keep me here, though I'm not sure who did it or why.

The silence is broken by the sound of water dripping from an unseen source, echoing eerily throughout the concrete hallways. The air is dense and seems to press down around me, making it slightly hard to breathe. I think it might just be my nerves though. I'm strong, and I know that nothing can hurt me very easily...but an enemy that I can't see is terrifying nonetheless.

I near an four way intersection. The sight of that makes me groan, because I know that if I want to find what I'm looking for, I'll have to check down each one. All of these passages look the same, so I could very easily get lost if I'm not careful. I mark the hall I came from by punching it lightly with my magic, leaving a crack behind. Then, I pick one of the corridors and take it.

I wonder what the other ponies must be thinking right now. Rainbow must be freaking the fuck out right about now. I wonder if the barrier keeps the other ponies out as well, because if I know Rainbow, she'll be beating her head against the barrier right about now. With luck, Flash can find a way to unravel the barrier and send help for me. Until then, I'll just keep looking around for a way out. Maybe in the process I can find out what the hell happened down here.

Just then, as I near the end of this particular hallway, I hear the whispering starting up again. Immediately the hairs on the back of my neck start to rise, and my heart starts to beat faster. Not this shit again. There's a door at the end of this hall. If I can reach it, I'll barricade myself in there and face whatever the hell is making these whispering noises. If only I could tell what they're saying!

The whispers grow louder as I approach the door. As I reach for the handle, I feel a current of air passing over my back, as if something was moving behind me at an extremely fast pace. Reacting on instinct, I power up and whirl around, immediately forming a crystalline pistol and firing several shots down the hallway in an attempt to hit whatever it is that's in here with me.

The bolts of magic tear chips of ancient concrete out of the wall on the other end, but that's about all it does. There's no sign of anything moving behind me at all, even though I know I felt something. “Y...You've got to be kidding me...” I stammer, letting the pistol dissipate. Something in here is fucking with me. If only I could see what it is! I know something is here...and not knowing what it is is scaring me.

The whispers die away once I manage to get inside the room at the end of the hall. This time I don't wait for the door to shut on its own; I fucking do it myself, even bolting it with the old fashioned lock on the other side. Now I feel a little reassured, but not by much.

And that feeling of reassurance dies when I turn around and discover that I'm in a very small room, filled with more pipes as well as a relatively well constructed manual generator set up against the far wall. It looks like one of those ones that you can crank up by hand a few times to get it running. Once again the question of how the hell something like this can still be in such good condition strikes me, but just like before, I have no answers apart from the idea that someone is maintaining this place.

I don't know if turning on the generator would do anything for me, but it's worth a shot. Maybe it will put some light into this place. Who knows? It certainly doesn't hurt to try starting it up.

“Here goes.” I kneel down in front of the generator and grasp the crank. A few quick jerks of my wrist later, and the generator hums to life. Dim light floods the room, coming from two small lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling. “Fucking thing should be a mess after all these years. Still, I wonder what else this thing powers?”

Almost immediately after the generator turns on, the lock on the door clicks and unbolts, causing me to jerk up and once again form a pistol. That's bullshit; I locked this shit from the inside...and yet the deadbolt just fucking slides open right before my eyes. 

“Fuck you!” I yell, and then I squeeze the trigger, firing several shots right through the door without waiting for it to open. I hear the sound of my magic colliding with rock, but nothing else. With a shaking hand, I push open the door...only to find several steaming holes in the wall from my magic and nothing else. A bolt of fear runs through me, but it is soon replaced by anger. “Quit toying with me, goddammit!”

After saying that, I swear I hear a faint sinister laugh echoing throughout the corridors. My eyes widen. It's so faint that it could just be my imagination...but I doubt it. Something here knows I'm at its mercy, and it's enjoying that.

This is a dead end, so staying here would be pointless, as much as I hate to admit it. I gingerly step out of the room, leaving the perforated door behind. Thanks to the generator, other small flickering light bulbs are illuminating the the hallways. I keep using my phone's flashlight, however, because the amount of light it gives off is way more substantial than these light bulbs. 

Okay, this path didn't turn up anything substantial, so I turn down one of the other passages that I haven't taken yet. Once I take a few steps in that direction, I start to hear things again. This time, it isn't just whispers. I think I'm hearing an indistinct woman's voice echoing from somewhere deeper down the hallway. She seems to be shouting something frantically, but I can't make out what she's saying. The sound of a crying baby can be heard as well, muffling whatever the woman might be saying.

“I have to be going crazy,” I admit to myself. There's a huge difference between believing in magic, and believing in ghosts. I never did believe in the supernatural, but I don't see any other explanation for what's happening in this place. There's definitely a sentient entity around here capable of using magic, because that's how I got down here. But as for the rest...I have no explanation.

As much as I don't want to, I progress down the hallway towards where I think the voices are coming from. They gradually grow louder, until finally I reach the end of the hallway. They seem to be coming from this door here, so I shove it open, revealing a thin, rickety set of stairs leading fucking downwards.

“Dammit, I don't want to go down!” I curse. Despite my misgivings, however, I descend the staircase. Oddly enough, the voices seem to die down the closer I get to the bottom, until finally I can't hear them at all anymore. However...I think I would have preferred the voices to the contents of this room. “What...in the hell is something like THIS doing down here!?”

I'm looking at a dungeon. I'm not even kidding. There are several barred jail cells dug into the walls in such a way that it suggests that they were installed much later than the building itself. Still, why are they even here? This is a school building, and everything needed to keep the place running is upstairs! You don't need executive offices, a backup generator, and certainly not a fucking dungeon in the basement.

Though, if I think about it, the condition of everything down here suggest hat all of this was built later than the rest of the building. It would make sense if it came around sometime after when the Oppressed showed up.

A single light bulb hangs from the ceiling at the end of the aisle between cells, providing a faint illumination, but most of the cells remain dark. I don't see signs of other lights, so I'm guessing that that one light is all the prisoners got.

I have to know. I reach for one of the cell doors and push, but it doesn't budge. A quick inspection lets me know that it's a sliding door, so I try again with this in mind, easily breaking the old lock and forcing my way inside.

Sure enough, there's human remains in here. A lot of them, actually. And...oh god, this is horrible. There's three skeletons in here. Two of them are huddled together over the third, as if trying to protect it. The two both have differing pelvis sizes, so I'm assuming they were a couple. The third...is the skeleton of an infant. At the risk of repeating myself...what the fuck. Something happened down here after the Oppressed showed up, and it's not looking good.

“Damn, I wish there were at least some kind of written record of all of this,” I curse, stepping out of the cell with a look of pity at the skeletons. I don't know what happened, but it's obvious that this was a couple trying to protect their child...even though it cost them their lives. That much I can respect.

When I step back into the aisle...I can faintly hear the voices again. It's the sound of the woman again, only now she's crying out with despair. Her cries are accompanied by a percussive sound, almost like someone getting beaten. At this point, as unsettled as all these voices are making me, I have to admit that in the absence of any type of record, they're the best way I have of finding out what the hell this place is.

The light bulb starts to flicker, briefly plunging the place into darkness every time it shuts off. After it shuts off for more than a few seconds, I look back up towards the end of the aisle. The light turns back on then, and what it reveals gets me to drop my phone out of shock.

There's a woman standing there, right beneath the swinging light bulb. The shadows cast by the light obscure most of her face, but I can tell she's staring right at me. Her hair is ragged and greasy, her skin is grayish and deathlike, and she's wearing a tattered hospital gown stained with blackened blood.

My first reaction is to form my pistol and aim it right at her...but the light goes out once more, obscuring the entire room in impenetrable blackness. “T...That shit's not...not right,” I stammer, fumbling around on the floor for my phone with one hand while keeping the pistol aimed in that direction with the other. When I signed up for this expedition, encountering fucking specters wasn't in the description! I expected monsters from the Everfree, and maybe an Oppressed...but this shit? I can't take it. I can't fight what I can't touch.

The light bulb turns back on...and the woman is gone, as if she was never there to begin with. Okay, I can't deny it now. There's something supernatural going on down here. I don't know what these ghosts want with me, but...hang on, did she leave something behind?

After picking up my phone from where I dropped it (thank god for otterboxes), I approach the spot where she'd just been standing. On the floor where her feet had been, there's a small credit card shaped object lying there. I pick it up and inspect it, and what I see is shocking.

It's an ID card. More specifically, it's the ID card of one Dr. Vanta Pallor...and it turns out he's not human at all. No, the face of a dark furred unicorn stallion stares up at me from the card, a confident smirk on his muzzle. There's no feeling or emotion in his yellow eyes at all. As for clothing, he's wearing a set of  armor consisting of overlapping plates, similar to what I saw Sombra wearing. Lastly, there's a staff slung over his shoulder.

“A pony? Vanta is a pony?” I state aloud to myself, as if doing so would make this any more plausible. This doesn't make any sense. This place is ancient, and ponies didn't exist way back when this place was likely built. The only pony around in this time had been Sombra, and he didn't even stay for very long. So who the hell is this Vanta?

I might need this ID card. I pocket it and glance through some of the other cells, finding more human skeletons..and even a pony skeleton, much to my shock. That's two ponies now. Or is that Vanta himself? Because there's no way he's still alive if he was as old as this place. The only immortal ponies are Celestia and Luna. Too bad Celestia isn't here right now. She'd know what to do.

There's another path behind where the ghost (that's what I'm assuming it was, because there's no sign of her now) was standing. I feel like I'm close to discovering what happened here. As long as I'm stuck down here, I'm determined to find out what the hell this Vanta asshole did to my race.

The passage leads to a high security door made of metal – looks like stainless steel, seeing as how there's no rust on it. I could be wrong though, I'm no chemist. There's no handle on the door, only a place to...swipe a key card. That ghost...she delivered this card to me. Was she...trying to help me?

Sure enough, Vanta's ID card opens the door, the slab of metal sliding upwards into the door frame like something out of a Star Trek episode. That's another thing. If Vanta was a pony, it doesn't make sense that he'd know how to operate computers or construct doors like this. 

After stepping into the room, I immediately choke and cover my mouth, trying not to throw up. This room...looks like a slaughterhouse. 

The one feature of the room that stands out more than any other is the metal table in the center that's completely covered in blackened blood and horribly mutated human bones. I say mutated, because one skeleton is twisted into an awkward shape, and its arm bones are much larger than they should be.

The next thing I notice is that there's a computer running in the back of the room...and something is operating it. I step back in shock upon seeing the upright unicorn skeleton standing at the computer, tapping at the keyboard with a fragmented hoof. “What in the hell?” I ask, and then immediately regret it, because the undead pony seems to be aware enough to hear me. Its head turns slightly to regard me with a sightless eye...and then it turns to face me entirely.

“Excellent...” the thing hisses in a gravelly voice, its horn lighting up with a sickly violet light. It steps towards me, various knives, scalpels, and other surgical tools rising off of the tables and counters nearby to float in the air above it. “I've been without a test subject for so long...”

The creature steps towards me, and before I can react, all of those pointy instruments fly towards me at an incredible speed...only to bounce entirely off of my magical aura that I just flared up. A twisted grin forms on my face, a submachine gun forming in my right hand. This place's one mistake is presenting me with something physical.

“What...? Lord Sombra's...” the undead pony exclaims when it looks into my green and purple eyes. Before he can say anything else, I whip up the gun and squeeze the trigger, firing a stream of magical destruction into its bones.

“Finally...something I can kill! Die, motherfucker!” I scream, clutching my submachine gun with both hands until the monster falls onto the ground in a motionless pile of perforated bones. I can't help but let out a laugh. 

Seconds later, as I stare at the creature's bones, I suddenly regret acting so hastily. I shouldn't have killed it. If it was that much weaker than me, I should have questioned it. After all, it wasn't a ghost, but something physical that I can handle just fine. Now I lost my chance to find out what the fuck...hold on a minute. That thing mentioned Sombra. And it even called him “Lord Sombra.”

Suddenly everything makes sense. The hauntings, the undead, the ponies...it all makes sense. According to what little I know about Sombra, he dealt heavily with necromancy, leading an undead army against the Crystal Empire over a millennium ago, and even turning my race into twisted versions of their former selves. 

I look down at the undead pony I just re-killed. If he called Sombra “Lord,” then it must have served Sombra...which means that Vanta must have also served Sombra.

I guess that also explains who's been maintaining this place. In order to use everything at its max capacity, this pony must have been keeping the place in a good condition. Who knows how long that thing was down here? Undead don't have a lifespan, after all.

Okay, I'm feeling a little better, now that I know what I'm dealing with. The ghosts are still an enigma, but now I have a little more to go on. An idea strikes me, and I look at the computer that the undead pony had been using. It's still on, waiting for more input. 

“Good, it's still logged in. Time to figure out what the hell happened down here,” I say, pulling up a chair and sitting at the computer. I have a feeling I'm not going to like what I find, but it's just something I have to know. I look at the screen, confused at the spreadsheets before me. “What are these? Graphs?”

In these spreadsheets are what appears to be raw data that I can't make out. It's split up into different rows, each one labeled in Equestrian. That much catches me by surprise. How the fuck did these ponies figure out how to program Equestrian into a computer? I glance down at the console, and sure enough, it's a custom constructed one. That leaves me with one conclusion.

These ponies must have had enough time to study human technology and learn how to use it themselves. Which means they must have been left in the past by Sombra. That's...actually a smart investment. If I was Sombra, and I was in a world that I didn't have enough time to study, I'd leave my minions behind too if they were undead and unable to die. That way by the time I came to retrieve them, they'd know a lot about the world I left behind.

“Hah, fuck you Sombra. I'm ruining your plans even after your death,” I remark, feeling a bit of twisted satisfaction. I turn my attention back to the graphs in an attempt to find out what the hell this undead fucker was trying to do.

“Growth rate, total growth, chemical composition, response time?” I say, reading off the different row labels. None of this makes any sense to me, so I minimize the window to try and see what else I can find on this machine.

The first thing I notice is the name listed at the bottom right, near the notification center. Frozen Soul, the name of the user logged in right now. I glance back at the pile of bones. So that was Frozen Soul. I knew that sounded like a pony name. I should really learn to trust my own instincts.

There's a folder on the desktop labeled “Subject Logs.” I double click it, and a window pops up with a listing of different files. Some of them are video files, while others are text files. There's quite a lot of them. It might take me some time to get through them. Whatever. I guess I'm just waiting for help anyway.

I click on the first file, which happens to be a video file named “Introduction.” I guess that's as good a place to start as any.

The machine whirs to life, and the video starts to play, showing this very room, with a light blue furred pony staring at the screen. He's wearing similar armor to what Vanta was in the picture I saw, and he also has a staff. He looks rather pleased with himself.

“The invasion went well. With this, the last bastion of this inferior race is exterminated,” the pony proclaims. The sound of screams can be heard in the background, likely coming from the dungeon. “However, their leader was a brilliant tactician. All of us are trapped underground now. Who would have known that she managed to rig the mountain to explode? There's no getting out for us now without a significant amount of work.”

“But the purpose of this video isn't to be an accounting of past events. My name is Frozen Soul, and I've been tasked by Dr. Pallor to study the human prisoners we've taken. They're pathetic things, but they seem remarkably sturdy. It might take me some time to study them, but I have all the time in the world. Dr. Pallor assures me his magic will keep me alive far past my time. I'd expect nothing less from Lord Sombra's top general.”

The video ends there, leaving me with a myriad of feelings shooting through my mind. I feel anger, understanding, and a little bit of pride. This bastard Frozen Soul was one of the assholes who led the Oppressed against my race. Now, I don't regret turning his bones into a pile of ash.

I've also finally learned how the entire campus fell underground. That detonator I saw Maka use in the video I watched several months ago was connected to explosives up in Rainier Mountain, beneath which the college is situated. There must have been a lot of explosives, because I don't remember the Everfree being very mountainous. Once that shit blew up, no doubt it caused a colossal landslide. And that's why this place is buried.

Maka, you brilliant motherfucker. You knew you couldn't defeat them, so you took them all with you...or at least you tried to. Any normal enemy would have died of starvation down here without supplies, or of old age if they did have supplies. Adam, you really sired a genius. I couldn't be more proud of her right now.

But...on a darker note, I understand why there's cells down here. Those bastards took prisoners...and then experimented on them. I don't know what their goals were yet, but judging by the skeleton on the table behind me, it wasn't anything benign. I feel sorry for whoever that was...dying by mutation or whatever must have been painful.

Vanta Pallor. He's a hell of a lot more important than I expected. He's Sombra's top general...and apparently he has some knowledge of necromancy as well, according to this video. He kept Frozen Soul alive for this long...which means he could also still be alive. If Vanta is still around...then I'm still in danger. 

I'm not reckless. If Vanta was Sombra's top general, then he's likely to be strong. I want to kill him if he's still around, but my initial objective hasn't changed. I need to get out of here, and then I'll let Celestia know about all of this. Then, if Vanta is still around, Celestia will nuke the crap out of him.

Just as I'm about to open the first text file, I hear a sound from the hallway outside, and I recognize it instantly. My blood freezes, hoping with all of my heart that I misheard. My heart plummets when the sound echoes throughout the room once more, much closer than before.

Click-sccraaape.
> 78. Mental Conflict
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Oh no, that fucking sound. I immediately get up from the chair and look around, hoping to find a place to hide. The last time I fought one of these, I beat it, but I got hurt pretty badly in the process. I can't afford to get hurt down here, because I have no clue when I can get medical attention.

It's also resistant to magic. I'm not sure how much, but seeing Iron struggle to lift one's body confirms at least some significant resistance. I might not be able to hurt it at all with my magic. Unfortunately, I'm not seeing anywhere to hide in here other than under a table, and that's as exposed as you can get.

I only hear one of them out there, but it's heading straight for this room. I don't have much time to think. I don't think I have any choice except to fight it. Dammit, I wish I'd gone to get a physical weapon from Iron before coming down here. I put it off because I was lulled into a false sense of security by the absence of any kind of danger in the ruins. Man, I am so regretting that now.

Click-sccraaape.

Fuck! I don't have much time. I start to sweat, realizing that I'm cornered in this room with no weapon other than a surgeon's knife...or a club. That's an idea. Summoning my magic, I form the long ranged rifle in my hand. I'll try shooting the fucker once it gets in here, but if that doesn't work, I'll use this as a club. 

The Oppressed lumbers into the room, looking as horrific and as twisted as I remember. Its jaw is hanging open, chomping at the air and slobbering on the ground. Its uneven eyes alight upon me, kneeling on the ground with my rifle leveled at it.

Now that it's got me in its sights, the monster lets out a strangled roar and charges me faster than I'd expected. Panicking, I pull the trigger on my rifle and fire several piercing bolts of magic. The Oppressed takes it head on. The bolts thankfully pierce through its skin...but not very far. This same weapon used on a changeling would shoot right through them, but the Oppressed barely notices the damage, even though bits of its flesh have been torn away.

“Shit!” I yell as the monster reaches me. The Oppressed lunges at me, its claws outstretched and ready to rend my flesh asunder. With a grunt, I hurl myself out of the way of its lunge so that the monster lands right next to me, on the spot where I'd been just a second ago.

I take my rifle and strike the Oppressed across the face, breaking its nose with a sickening crack. Okay, so physical force can still hurt them like anything else. When I swing my rifle for a second hit, the monster stops it with a clawed hoof and retaliates by slashing viciously at my shoulder.

I catch the monster's hoof right beneath its claws with my free hand, powering up and using my magic to help hold it back. I may not be able to harm the monster with magic, but I can certainly use it to bolster my own power. Sheesh, this is one tough motherfucker.

Now that we're in a standstill, I bring up my knee into its chest with magical power streaming through it, forcing the Oppressed to recoil. I quickly follow that up with a forceful kick into its face, splitting the skin and knocking the monster clear across the room. Resistant to magic or not, brute force is enough to handle these things.

The Oppressed still isn't done. It gets to its hooves and charges me once more, trailing blood behind from its wounds. With this kind of tenacity, I can see how humanity fell to them, if they were charged in great numbers.

I form my pistol and fire repeatedly, aiming for its head. Ultimately it's a futile gesture, because the Oppressed just tanks every hit, the magical bullets slamming into its skin and dissipating uselessly. Just like before, it lunges at me, seemingly unable to change its battle tactics. That is its downfall.

The moment it comes into range, I reach up and grab one of its hooves just beneath the claws. “Take...this!” I grunt. I pivot on one heel and hurl the Oppressed away from me right into the table, breaking the old structure with a cacophony of clattering metal.

One of the shards of metal from the table catches my eye. It has a very jagged edge. I immediately pick it up and charge the Oppressed while its struggling to get up. With one last shout, I bring the spike of metal down on the monster, ramming it right through its slack jaws and into its brain. 

The Oppressed struggles weakly for a few seconds, and then it finally falls limp. I step back with a sigh of relief and rest my back against the wall, wiping the sweat from my brow. Goddamn...that took more time than I expected. At least I came out on top.

“Wonder who this poor bastard was,” I say, feeling a little melancholy even though I know there's nothing left of the person that this Oppressed used to be.

Just as I finish catching my breath...my blood turns to ice as I hear that click scraping again. “You've got be kidding. There's more?” I whisper to myself. My sense of dread only increases when I hear multiple sets of scraping claws on the floor outside. There's more than one. “Fuck...I might get seriously hurt.”

It took me a long time just to take care of one Oppressed. I'm not sure if I can handle more than one at a time, especially if their claws bypass magical protection as well. It's like I have no magic at all. I have strength, but that won't mean shit if one of them gets around my guard.

They sound further away than the first one was, so I think I might be able to get out of this room. As much as I'd like to stay and watch the rest of Frozen Soul's videos, I don't have enough time to watch them before the Oppressed find me.

I need to prepare myself. I grab another one of the table legs that I broke and then I burn Frozen's bones to ashes out of spite before leaving the lab and heading back to the dungeon cells.

From the sound of it, the Oppressed are in the main hallways, so the dungeon is clear for now. Not for long though. I hear one of the Oppressed scrabbling down the stairs, so I immediately throw myself inside one of the cells and shut the door. I extinguish the light on my phone and then shoot the light bulb with a silenced pistol, plunging the room into darkness. I don't know how the Oppressed find their victims, but I'll at least be able to obscure their eyesight.

It's dark for me too, but I can at least hear the Oppressed entering the dungeon, its claws scraping across the concrete. Of course, with all the noise its making, I know exactly where it is.

I do my best to breathe quietly, pressing myself against the back wall of the cell. I can fight it if it finds me, but doing so would alert every other Oppressed, and I'd be screwed. So I either have to sneak past it, or kill it without making any sound. The former is the most likely, because I'm no trained assassin or whatever.

I bite back a curse as I hear another Oppressed shamble into the room, joining the first. Why the fuck are they here now, as opposed to before when I was completely in the open? If they don't leave, I'll be here a while.

This seems a little too convenient. Somehow  Frozen Soul must have called for them, because they all seem to be congregating around this dungeon. I must be right, because more Oppressed are filtering in, leaving me trapped with no way out. I'm running on borrowed time here. I don't know how smart these things are, but all it takes is for one to peek in here, and I'm dead.

A loud clang causes me to jump as one of the Oppressed slams itself against one of the cells near mine, its claws screeching excruciatingly down the bars. I can't help but cover my ears. Shit, it's like fingernails on a chalkboard...only worse.

An Oppressed emits a sickening growl from somewhere extremely close to me. Shit, they must be just outside. There has to be some way I can get out of this without getting caught. Fuck Sombra for making these shits mostly immune to magic. Only my most penetrating magic ability was able to really hurt them, and even then it wasn't that much.

Just as the Oppressed are starting to nose around in the cells, I feel a draft on the back of my neck. What the fuck...where is there a draft coming from? I stand up slowly and as quietly as I can, and then press my hands against the ceiling in the hopes of finding the source. My fingers run across a dull jagged surface, similar to what you'd find on a...vent. Oh thank god, there's an air vent in here, and it feels like a big one. It's in a cell, so it's bolted shut, but it's better than what I had a second ago.

To open it, I have to get these screws off...but I don't have any tools. That means there's only one way to open it, and it won't be quiet. The Oppressed are getting closer, so if I'm going to do this, I need to do it now.

My mind is made up. I power up my magic and slam my fist as hard as I can into the vent cover, releasing a burst of concussive force at the same time. The cover is so old and brittle that it shatters to pieces, showering me with shards of metal.

The Oppressed immediately hear the sound and break out into an uproar, throwing themselves against the bars of my cell, raking their claws across it and searching for a way inside. The ancient bars are rent asunder by their sharp talons just as I'm flying up into the ventilation shaft. “Later, you fucks!” I cry behind me defiantly. I scramble down the tight shaft until I feel I'm safe from them. I let out a relieved breath. That was too close. If that vent hadn't been there, I'd be dead.

I look forward at the duct ahead of me. Because the power is running, I can feel air moving through the shafts, brushing up against my bangs. The air is stale and musty; just inhaling it makes me feel slightly queasy. That combined with the very tight quarters in here, and I feel rather uncomfortable.

“This always looks easier in the games,” I complain, starting to move again. I don't know where this is going to take me, but if I'm lucky it'll be away from the Oppressed. It's very hard to move in here, because I don't have much room to move my limbs. Therefore, instead of crawling along quickly like they make it seem in the games, I'm mostly inching along.

I hear the screeches of the Oppressed behind me. I shudder once again as I remember how close to death I was. Still, there's more Oppressed than I expected...and they had all congregated on me. Killing Frozen must have tipped off whatever it is that's in charge. I'm going to assume that I'm dealing with Vanta, thanks to Frozen's mention of his mastery over necromancy.

I don't think Frozen is the one who brought me down here anyway, because he wasn't that strong at all. I wrecked him with just a simple barrage of magic bullets. No, my jailor, for lack of a better word, is still in here, and I'm going to hazard a guess that it might be Vanta, or perhaps another one of the other ponies that may or may not be here. If Vanta is a necromancer, it would be ludicrous for him to save only one of his scientists.

Frustration grates on me as I continue through the shaft, looking for another vent that I can exit through. I really wanted to see what else Frozen had on his computer. First and foremost, I want to know why experimenting on humans and inducing mutative bullshit like I saw on that skeleton was necessary.

After I slide down the next part of the shaft, I soon near another opening to the shaft. I peer through the slits in the vent cover. There's a wide room beneath me that looks like it has been re-purposed into a makeshift barracks...and there's actually ponies in there. Well, except they're dead. Just like Frozen, each and every one of those ponies are dead and decomposed to skeletons, moving through magical power. They're all standing there aimlessly, not making a sound.

I smirk and punch the vent cover off, figuring that as long as they're not Oppressed, I can handle them without much trouble. “All right, I'm about to put you all back in the ground where you belong!” I declare confidently, landing on the floor and powering up.

The skeletons don't move. They don't even turn to look at me, instead staring straight forward from their sightless eyes. They're almost like statues, but without the stand to hold them up. If they hadn't been standing up, I'd have ignored them entirely.

“Oookay, then,” I say, feeling a little awkward that I'd just announced myself to a room full of undead ponies that apparently couldn't hear it. I approach one of the skeletons to see if it'll react to me now. It doesn't, so I'm essentially just staring at a statue.

Okay, I think I've established that these things won't move. They must be reserve troops or something, because they don't seem to be sentient like Frozen was. I keep an eye on them, even as I move to the doorway and leave the barracks.

I turn on my phone's flashlight again to help illuminate the hallway that I'm in now. I think I'm actually down deeper than before, thanks to that one drop in the vents. It also seesm that the further I go down, the newer the surroundings seem to be. The very architecture of the walls down here are different. It's completely different from the science building's usual appearance, which leads me to believe that maybe the halls down here were excavated and constructed by these ponies. Ponies that helped exterminate my race.

The hallway descends even further, much to my annoyance. Fucking hell. At this point, the only way I'm going to get out of here is if I find and confront the source of that barrier keeping me down here. That'll be difficult though, if there's more Oppressed hanging around. I ditched them for now, but who knows when I'm going to find more.

As I continue down the hallway, I start to hear things again. This time...I hear screams. I can hear both male, female, and children screaming faintly. These aren't just screams of terror. No, these are the screams of one undergoing immense pain. I would know because I once emitted one of those screams myself, back when I was fighting Chrysalis. A great many souls must have undergone torment here. What I still don't know is why it was necessary.

With those horrific sounds ringing in my ears, I come to a sophisticated looking metal doorway. Just as I'm reaching for the handle, the lock clicks open and swings outwards on its own, allowing me entry. I pause, still finding that unsettling. Whatever entity is responsible for that, it seems like they want me to look in this room.

“What the shit....?” I whisper in shock as I walk into what can only be described as a laboratory. The floor itself changes composition from concrete to a metal fencing reinforced with steel. Beneath the fencing I can see an underground river flowing past, gurgling gently.

As for the room itself, the walls are lined with computers that seem to be working, displaying numbers even now. If common sense didn't dictate otherwise, I'd think that this place was still running.

That's not the most important feature of the room. What really stands out are the eight cylindrical tanks filled with a viscous liquid, positioned with four on each wall. And there's a fucking Oppressed in each one.

I walk up to one of the tanks with a sick fascination, gazing up at the Oppressed inside and noticing how different it looks from the other Oppressed. This one's arms are massive, mutated just like the way that one skeleton was, back in Frozen's lab. The skin on its arms appears to have been bulked up and hardened, to the point where it looks like a single punch from one of those could really hurt.

The other Oppressed in the other tanks appear to be modified in similar fashions to the one I'm looking at, except in differing areas. I suddenly have a horrible inkling as to what the scientists were researching, and why humans were kept hostage here. It's like they were trying to make a much stronger Oppressed, and these are their preliminary results. 

I cast my gaze around the room, alighting on one of the computer consoles that stands out from the others, in that it's larger and located in an area by itself. Maybe if I'll lucky I'll find some more video records. The chances are slim, but it's better than walking around cluelessly.

The impact of my feet on the fencing causes the floor to rattle unnervingly, but thankfully it remains stable. Nevertheless, I feel better once I sit down at the computer and start it up. I curse when a screen pops up asking for a fucking username and password. However, I notice an area on the console itself where it looks like a card can be swiped. Well, it's certainly a good thing I have Vanta's ID card. 

Swiping the card gets a reaction from the computer, and it lets me into the system. From there, I navigate into the documents folder, hoping I can find something else in here.

From what it looks like, this is a security console for the entire underground complex, because there's a tons of video files here dated from now all the way back to 2014, which is when I disappeared. And that's a lot of videos. Jesus, how much memory does this shit even have?

That's not all that's there. There's an application for the currently operating cameras...which might help me get a feel for the layout of this place. Maybe I can find a way out in the process. Yes, I think I'll start with that before I look at the video files. That way if I get interrupted by the Oppressed again, I'll know enough to hopefully get out, or at least hide.

A thought strikes me, so I navigate a few menus until I find something that controls the heavy door that I got in through. A few clicks later, and the metal door slides shut with a deep thrum. There. That should buy me some time. The only other door in this room is also shut, so I'm satisfied.

I open up the camera program to see a list of cameras, sorted by camera identification number and location. Opening up the first one gives me a completely black screen. “Well, that's fucking helpful,” I mutter...and then I see a button for active infrared. Shit, the ponies that were here figured out so much human technology. If somepony like Frozen had ever gotten out of here, he could pose a serious threat just because of that.

Clicking on the infrared setting shows me a monochrome image of the hallway near the elevator shaft that I first fell through. The camera pans slowly back and forth, but it doesn't really show me anything I haven't already seen.

I move to the next camera...and then proceed to and fall backwards out of the chair. “Jesus!” I scream, taken completely by surprise. The image displayed was of that same woman I saw in the dungeons, her face pockmarked by injection marks pressed right up against the screen.

When I gather enough courage to look back at the screen, she's gone, and instead I'm seeing a monochrome image of the dungeons, where a few of the Oppressed still linger, shambling around like the zombies that they practically are. I try to calm myself down. Seeing an apparition like that...I don't think I'll ever get used to that.

“Hang on, where the fuck are the rest of the Oppressed?” I demand, noticing that there's only three or so Oppressed still in the dungeons. I know I heard many more than that. I start looking through the cameras on the floors I've already been. If I have access to all of this, I'll find out exactly where they are going.

The next camera I check reveals a mob of Oppressed surging through the halls like a river, just like how they were in the video with Maka. I don't know where they are heading, but I think it's prudent to assume they're after me. Well, there's a few options here that I can use to slow them down.

A few button taps later, and I manage to shut several metal doors in their path, just like the one in this laboratory. Heh, I'll have to thank that ghost girl, as wrong as that sounds. With this ID card, I literally have technological control of this place.

The Oppressed throw themselves against the first door. Because there's so many of them, their mass of bodies dents the metal...so that only bought me some time. Better make the most of it.

I make my way down the list of cameras, looking for some kind of way out. Instead, I just seem to be finding cameras lower and lower into the complex. There's a lot of laboratories and living areas around here, and I find several more dungeons that likely once held human prisoners. That fact gets me to dig my fingernails into the desk. I may hate most of my race...but not even I would submit them to the kind of torture that I suspect happened here. 

Finally, the last camera reveals to me a massive dark room. A single click reveals it to me in monochrome, and I cringe at what I see. The room is so large, it even makes the royal wedding hall look small. It has several walkways set up on the edges of the room, where more rooms are located. But that's not what catches my attention. No, I notice the piles upon piles of bones on the floor, covering the entire room. What the hell? How many people died to create that many bones?

There's also what looks like an altar near the back of the room, where a strange, archaic circular frame seems to be generating a magical field. Inside the field is...a body. It's a remarkably well preserved body of a pony, hanging suspended in the field. I zoom in as much as I can. The pony has clearly been dead a long time, but its skin hasn't decomposed. Instead it looks very similar to what a mummy would look like in our time...dehydrated and somehow still with its skin intact.

Shuddering, I look away to observe the rest of the room. To my shock and delight, there's an elevator at the back of the room, behind the altar. I can clearly see two buttons there, so one of them must go up. With any luck, I can find my way back up to the main science building from there. That large room must be at the bottom of the complex, so I need to get down there as fast as I can.

But before that, I navigate to the video file to see if I can't find something else out. The first video file is labeled something strange.

5/24/2015 Imported Video File: Rainier Mountain Lodge: Final Orders

That date is more than a year after I went to Equestria. Not only that, but it's a video file imported from someplace that isn't even here. I'm interested to see what happened there and why is the video was kept, so I click on it and let it play.

The scene that forms is in what I recognize as the visitors lodge for those that wanted to visit the Rainier Mountain Nature Preserve. I've only been there a few times, but I still know it when I see it. And the two individuals there right now take me by surprise...that's...that's...

“What's our next course of action, my king?” the dark furred pony asks in an official manner, lowering his head in respect to the imposing pony that towered over him. 

King Sombra stood not far from the pony who just spoke, dressed in his armor and royal cape, but in his pony form. His glowing green eyes are just like mine when I use my magic, even down to the purple trail of magic emanating from the corners of his eyes. He doesn't answer at first, looking instead down at the lifeless bodies of the nature preserve staff, each one burnt to a crisp by dark magic.

“I hath completed mine primary objective,” Sombra rumbles in that same deep, imposing voice that I remember hearing myself once before. “Vanta, mine general. I leave to thee a most important task. Can I trust thee to carry out mine will?

“As always, your will is my guiding force,” Vanta declares, once again bowing his head. “You have but to ask, and it shall be done.”

Vanta's response appears to please Sombra greatly, because the dark pony smiles, revealing his pointed teeth, which looks odd, yet terrifying on pony. “Excellent. Thou art the most skilled necromancer I hath trained, and thus I am leaving thee here in this era.”

Vanta looks visibly surprised by that revelation. “My lord? You wish to leave me behind? I was under the impression that you would need me to combat Celestia and Luna's forces.”

Sombra shakes his dark head, his shadowy mane flowing around him. “No, t'would be foolish to reveal all of mine cards to mine enemy,” he replies. He then adopts a grim expression, his eyes narrowing. “There is a chance that I will be defeated in the coming confrontation with Equestria. In that case, I need thee here, cultivating an army and preparing for mine return.”	

“I...I see,” Vanta stammers, looking forlorn. That look is soon replaced by one of crazed fury. “Damnable princesses! They have no right to take what is yours! I hope you tear the flesh from their bones and turn them into your thralls! Make them dance for your pleasure!”

Sombra emits a booming laugh, enjoying the bloodlust of his servant. “Fear not, mine general. They cannot eradicate me, no matter how they flail. If I am defeated, t'will only be a matter of time until I return and do exactly that. That is why I came to this era.”

“Indeed. I will carry out your orders, though I wish I could fight with you,” Vanta expresses with a solemn nod. 

“Excellent. Do not despair. I hath recognized thine interest in this pathetic race. That is why thou speaketh as they do, is it not?” Sombra states. Vanta's eyes widen, and then he nods, a grin spreading across his face. “Wipe them out. Bend them to thy will and study them as thou willeth. I will be waiting for thee in the far future. Do not fail me.”

“Never, my lord!” Vanta declares with a firm salute. Sombra turns to leave, but just before he leaves the room, he turns his head back to Vanta.

“If thou shouldst encounter mine primary objective...do as thou likest with it...but keep it alive,” Sombra states firmly with narrowed eyes.

The video ends with that, and I sit there, frozen with understanding, horror, and rage. Seeing Sombra again stirred up old feelings of anger and hatred, making me want to find wherever it is he's buried and nuke his corpse straight to hell.

It's certainly a shock to see Sombra again, even in video format. I had put him away in the back corners of my mind, because Celestia said he was dead, put away by her own hooves. Sombra's words here seemed to indicate that he knew he was going to lose against her....but what he said about being able to return no matter what happened troubles me.

“He's nuts. I don't care how skilled you are at necromancy. If Celestia burnt you to ash, there's no way you're coming back,” I growl. Even though I say that, there's a little voice in the back of my head telling me how nice it would be if he would come back...so I could crush him myself.

Continuing on, Sombra left for the future only a year after I disappeared. I wonder if that's when he created the Oppressed and sent them to destroy us. But here, it seems like he left the genocide in the command of this Vanta...and their conversation implies that Vanta would be able to live long enough to see Sombra in the future. That means I might be right when I assumed that he could still be alive down here, in some form or fashion. If he is...I'm going to kill him. I may not be able to kill Sombra, but I can kill him.

I click on the next video, my damned curiosity making me want to see more. This time, it's a video depicting Vanta, Frozen, and a few other scientist ponies standing in front of a set of dungeon cells like the ones I've already seen, but not the one where I found Frozen.

And in the cells...are humans. My eyes are riveted on the screen. I know that humans died here...but to see actual living humans with my own eyes, even  if they're on a screen...it's both shocking and angering. Likely they're all strangers. Just look at them! There's women, children, and frail old men, locked inside like cattle.'

I already know this is going to suck. I know my race. When it all comes down to it, it's every man, woman, and child for himself. No one gives a shit what happens to the others.

“The last one we took didn't do so well. The mutations rendered his limbs effectively immobile. Useless as a shock trooper for our lord Sombra's army,” Frozen responds, regarding the humans with disdain. “General...I mean...Dr. Pallor, are you sure these humans are worth the effort?”

“Are you kidding? Look at them! Just their technological achievements alone are enough to make everything worth it!” Vanta exclaims in an almost maniacal manner. “But...it's true that making shock troopers more effective than the thralls we've already created will be difficult. What if I gave you more test subjects? Perhaps...that older human male in the corner?”

I can't help but flinch, knowing that I'm not going to see anything positive. But...much to my surprise, the humans stand up for him. In particular, one of the younger men gets right in front of the scientist sent to retrieve the old man...and proceeds to beat the shit out of him for almost a minute before Vanta steps in with powerful magic.

“Such impertinence. What exactly did that little display accomplish?” Vanta commented, looking uncaringly down at the fallen scientist, whose face and chest are covered with bruises and cuts. The younger man, suspended in Vanta's magic, glares defiantly up at the general, saying nothing. “You realize the whole purpose for your continued existence is to serve me? What does it matter the order you in which you perish?”

The man sneers and then spits right in Vanta's face. The general stares calmly back at the man...and then his face contorts with rage. The younger man is slammed against the wall harshly through Vanta's magic. “Chain him there, and make him watch as the other prisoners eat. He is not to be fed for the rest of his life,” Vanta orders one of the guards that's with him in a cold voice. “Frozen, he will be your next subject. Make the preparations.”

After that, the man is chained halfway up the wall, while food is distributed to the other humans. Vanta wipes his face and then leaves with the rest of the scientists, no doubt so that Frozen has some time to set up whatever hellish experiment they've designed.

I expect the video to end, but it actually continues on for a few more minutes after the scientists are gone. To my utter shock, the humans don't touch their food at all until they're certain that there's no one around, and then they start taking parts of their meal and hand feeding it to the prisoner on the wall. 

They're...what? He's going to die in a while, so why would you go out of your way to feed him? You're giving up your own sustenance for that. That's not what humans do...they only care for themselves! That man has no use to them...so what the hell? They're deliberately choosing to suffer so that one man can have a little comfort before he has to go through hell. It's a logically ridiculous thing to do, but...surprisingly noble.

I don't understand. I take a moment to mull after the video ends. All my life I thought I knew how humans would react in most situations. Everyone was out for themselves, doing things for others only when it suited their own self interest. But what I just saw contradicts that hypothesis entirely.

Tons of thoughts rush through my head. I even get up from the computer and start to pace. Come to think of it, how did I come to the that conclusion? Was my view of humanity also poisoned by that bitch, and everyone else in that area? 

It's stupid, now that I think about it. It was a shitty situation, but once I was out of it, I should have been happy. I shouldn't have allowed it to make me so unbelievably bitter towards everyone else, especially if there's people like the ones in the video, deep down beneath what shows on the surface.

I slam my fist into the wall, denting it due to the accidental outflow of magic that I put into it. This isn't the first time I've felt like this, since coming to Equestria. What if I was right that ponies were like humans? What if humans were capable of showing the same kindness that these ponies have shown to me?

That's one hell of a painful thought, especially considering how much of an ass I've been over the years. Of course, if I hadn't been an ass, I'd never have met Amaryllis. 

“Goddammit!” I curse aloud, hating this mental conflict I'm feeling. There's nothing more painful than nursing a belief in your heart for years and years, and then suddenly being faced with the prospect that maybe...just maybe...you were wrong. What if I was wrong?

Just as I'm thinking that, the air fills with the sounds of sinister whispering, and then a chill wind sweeps across the room, filling me with dread. I think I can even feel magic filling the air...dark evil magic.

Shit. Whatever it is that brought me down here and then proceeded to torment me has finally tracked me down. I power up, in case I'm actually faced with something tangible. “Come on, you son of a bitch. Show me what you've got,” I growl, looking around.

As if on cue, something slams into the reinforced metal door where I came in, denting it and almost tearing it right off of the hinges. A feral roar fills the room, filling my heart with dread.

What the fuck has been sent after me now?

	

	
	
> 79. Seth's Realization
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The door crumples inward just from that one impact. I stand in a battle ready stance, my rifle already in its long ranged form, because I know that's the form that will do the most damage. 

Still, I'm frightened. The laboratory of any scientist is regarded to be the single most important place to them, as it holds the results of almost all of their experiments. For that reason, the place is usually heavily fortified, whether through architecture or through more physical means in the case of a wartime scientist. In this case, the doors are made of steel and are thick as hell...and yet whatever is out there made it crumple inwards, just like that.

I can hear it getting ready for another charge, its footfalls making the entire floor shake like an earthquake is going on. Chancing a quick look behind me, I look for other exits to the room. There's only one, and it too is shut with a steel door. That makes me panic.

I quickly rush to the console, frantically exit out of the camera program, and then navigate to the same control panel that I used to shut the door across from me. I manage to open the opposite door to give me an escape route just as the thing on the other side of the door lets out another roar and charges.

What looks like a living wall of flesh barrels through the door and knocks it clear across the room and into one of the tanks, shattering the glass and splashing the liquid all over the place. I gape up at the monster, taken completely aback by its sheer bulk and appearance. It's so large, it couldn't even fit through the door entirely, and therefore broke right through the frame as well.

“Oh my god...” I stammer, looking up at it. In the short time I have to observe it, I discover that it's an Oppressed, but unlike any other I've seen to this point. It's as if every single part of it is mutated similar to the Oppressed in the tanks and the skeleton I saw back in Frozen's lab. Its arms are massive and bulge with frightening muscles, its chest has been mutated to a gigantic size, and it has four legs. It almost resembles a centaur...if it wasn't so freakishly massive, deformed, and contorted to a grotesque degree. Even its face is small and pressed into its chest with barely any neck to speak up, its gnashing teeth dripping with saliva.

I immediately angle my rifle at it as its beady eyes focus on me. It surges across the room to me like a battering ram, giving me barely any room to aim. I fire shot after shot into it, but even these penetrating shots that harmed even Chrysalis don't wound him at all. Damn its resistance to magic!

Letting my rifle dissipate, I frantically hurl myself to the floor away from its charge, painfully skidding across the fenced floor and rolling over several times. The Oppressed's fists slam into the floor right where I was a second ago . The impact is so great that it causes an entire segment of the fencing to shatter and fall into the river below. Bloodstained tables and carts filled with surgical instruments tumble into the gap with a cacophonous clattering, hurting my ears.

The Oppressed swings an open palm towards me just as I'm getting to my feet. Heh, you idiot. I may not be able to hurt you with magic, but I can still defend myself with it. I cross my arms in a guard and fill them with magic, anticipating its attack.

To my shock, the force behind the Oppressed's attack is so great that it overpowers me and sends me hurtling backwards. I cry out as I feel my back break through a metal table before finally colliding with the wall on the other side of the room, cracking it from the force. Jesus, that thing even managed to overpower my magic...is this the kind of monster that Vanta and Frozen were really trying to create!?

I don't even have time to collect myself before the Oppressed charges at me once more. I propel myself away from the wall with my feet just before the monster's tree trunk of an arm crashes into the wall and completely breaks right through it, disregarding the fact that its reinforced with metal.

My hands impact with the floor, and I flip back to my feet using them for leverage. On the floor nearby is the shard of metal that I brought from Frozen's lab. I should still be able to hurt it with physical force, so I grab it and turn to face the monster just as it rushes me again.

“Take this...you monster!” I roar, and then I rush to meet it, powering myself and using as much force as I can muster to ram the metal shard right into the mass of bulbous flesh that makes up its chest. That, combined with the Oppressed's own momentum, causes the shard to sink right through it...but the monster doesn't care. My entire body is lifted right off of the ground and into the wall headfirst with a single backhand from the Oppressed.

I groan and extricate myself from the crater in the wall. If it weren't for my magic, I'd be dead just from that. As it stands, my head aches, but I'm otherwise fine apart from a few bleeding scrapes and bruises. It'll take a lot more than physical impact to seriously hurt me. Even so...it's becoming clear to me that this thing is overwhelming me. It's physically stronger than me and able to take anything I throw at it.

As I watch, the Oppressed rips the shard out of its body and crushes it in its palm. It doesn't even bleed from the hole I punched through it. It's just there, gaping and unsettling. The monster releases another roar and single-mindedly rushes towards me.

“Right...fuck this,” I decide, and use magic to distance myself from the creature before it can reach me. This thankfully positions me on the other side of the room where I opened an escape route for myself. I don't wait around for the monster to get ready for another charge. Instead, I bolt from the room.

For some reason, the door slams shut behind me, even though I'm nowhere near the console. Whatever, who cares how it happened, because it'll help buy me some time...or not. The Oppressed charges through the door like it's not even there, literally backhanding the door away from it. The solid sheet of metal careens away from the doorway and clatters into the wall, cleaving right through it.

“Fuck fuck fuck!” I curse, totally freaked out by this juggernaut of a monster that's chasing me relentlessly. I run as fast I can down the hallways, not even giving any thought as to where I'm going. I keep my eyes open for ways to escape from the Oppressed behind me that's steadily gaining on me no matter how fast I run. If this keeps up, I might have to fly, but not only would that waste magical energy, I also can't turn on a dime, so it might actually slow me down.

I come to a staircase that heads predictably down, but that's fine with me. I vault right over the edge and let myself fall to the lower level without actually touching any of the steps, thinking that that would buy me at least a few seconds. I'm wrong about that too. The moment the monster steps on the stairs, the structure collapses and the Oppressed lands on the floor right next to me. I yelp as its hand clenches around my chest, and then I personally get to feel what it's like to be tossed right through a closed door, taking it off its hinges.

My momentum carries me through the door and across the ground in a painful tumble. I cough violently from the cloud of dust thrown up by the impact. Shit, I'm not sure how long I can keep this up. Every time I think I have an edge, it thwarts me and punishes me each time with pain. 

Now, I'm in a hallway like the one several floors above, in that the walls have pipes running along them, only this time with valves and hot steam emitting from seams and loose rivets. I immediately pick myself up, holding my ribs, and keep running, just as the Oppressed forces itself through the doorway that's too small for it and continues to gallop after me, intent on dishing out a horrible death to me.

When I detect a path branching away from the main one up ahead, an idea strikes me. Without hesitation, I kick the pipe on the right side of the wall viciously with a magic cloaked foot, breaking it easily. Thus released, a cloud of scalding steam erupts from the severed pipe and obscures the passage behind me from view. Without waiting to see whether or not it actually hinders it, I turn down the offshoot passage and keep running.

Just as I'd planned, the Oppressed charges right past the passage I'm in, as it never saw me turn down here with all the steam in its way. I'm not sure how long the monster will be fooled, but I'm going to put as much distance between it and me now while I have some breathing room.

There's a room at the end of this hall. I throw open the door and shut it behind me, intent on passing through the room. Unfortunately, I walk right into another one of those areas that looks like a barracks...and this time the pony skeletons that are here aren't so docile.

“Ugh...why now!?” I yell as I'm suddenly assaulted by a hissing pony skeleton. I duck to the side and shatter its ribcage with a swift kick, sending it the floor in a pile of bones. However, it wasn't alone. I'm suddenly facing an entire room's worth of undead soldiers, each one equipped with a lethal sword or spear. I know they can't take me, but if I take too much time or make too much of a ruckus, that big motherfucker will find me, and I'll be screwed.

“Get out of my way!” I yell desperately, forming my rifle in its standard form and firing a dark blast of pure energy down the length of the room, destroying several skeletons unlucky enough to be in its path. “I don't have time to deal with you!”

Two skeletons lunge at me from either side as I try to leave the room and keep running, grabbing my shoulders with their teeth and hindering me. Their teeth don't pierce my skin, but just the simple act of holding me back makes me angry and desperate, to the point where I emit an explosive burst of magic from my entire body, destroying them. That was a waste, but I don't care. I need to get away from that gigantic Oppressed. I don't want to die down here. How the hell did they even make that thing!?

I pick up one of the fallen swords and leave the rest of the skeletons behind, knowing that I can outrun them pretty easily. New weapon in hand, I leave the barracks and follow a set of hallways that I think leads away from the monster. No matter how far I go, however, I can still feel the floor shaking under its lumbering foot falls. It's getting closer somehow, and I don't know how much longer I have until...

The wall behind me on my right explodes outwards and the gigantic Oppressed careens into the hall, slamming into the other wall and sending debris in all directions through his momentum. It quickly spots me and roars loud enough to hurt my ears, and the chase begins once more.

“Fuck you and your magic resistance!” I shout back at it, even though it can't understand me. Seriously, if it weren't for that, I'd kill it easily. Not to mention its seeming invincibility even to physical damage, considering that shard didn't even phase it. But...that was a small shard. Perhaps if I had something larger...like this sword. 

I turn around and leap to the side of the monster, letting it run past me. It tries to swipe at me, but I duck beneath its flailing limb. As it does so, I hold the sword in a reverse grip and slice at its legs, hoping to cripple it. Once I'm behind it, I seize the opportunity to jump on its back and bury the blade deep into where I think its spine is.

To my shock, the Oppressed's arm bends completely backwards – a motion that would break any normal human's arm – and grabs me right off of his back. I cry out in agony as it squeezes me tightly. Just as I think it's going to try and crush me, it slams me right into the ground with enough force to crack it. Pain spreads through my back, but I was able to lessen the damage with magic.

The Oppressed brings a swollen fist down in an attempt to crush me, but I roll out of the way and fire a burst of magic at its eyes. It doesn't hurt it, but it does distract it long enough for me to scramble to my feet and use a burst of magic to propel myself a short ways ahead of him.

“Fuck, I can't fucking fight it!” I curse. My profanities always get repetitive and less eloquent in situations like this. There's literally nothing I can do to this monster to hurt it. It's still chasing me, even with the cuts I made in its legs! Every time I fight back, I just get hurt. I can't outrun it, either. What the hell do I do!?

I hear a crashing sound behind me, and I chance a look over my shoulder just in time to yelp and duck beneath a fucking door thrown at me by the Oppressed. It's thrown with such force that it shatters like matchsticks when it impacts the wall near me. There's a corner nearby, so I dash around it.

There's a wide open hallway stretched out before me, giving me plenty of room to run. Good, maybe this will give me time to think of someway to beat this thing. I can't run around forever, because eventually I'll get tired and then I'll be beaten to death by a living wall of meat.

A whooshing sounds from behind me, sounding an awful lot like...a sword being swung. I immediately throw myself to the wall just in time to see the sword that I'd stabbed the Oppressed with hurtling past me. Shit, that was close. I get right back to running, picking up the sword when it falls to the ground. Who knows, I might get a chance to use this.

There's a door at the end of the hall. I throw it open and shut it behind me before continuing on into what looks like a cafeteria of sorts. No doubt this room became obsolete once all the ponies died of old age or whatever. 

I cut through the center of the room, jumping on top of one of the tables and leaping from one to the next to avoid getting hindered by them. Of course, when the Oppressed barrels through the door and enters the room, it doesn't bother doing the same. It just fucking knocks everything that gets it its way reeling away from it. This thing is literally destroying everything between itself and me.

When I reach the other side, I decide to try and slow it down again. Using my magic, I channel enough strength to pick up one of the cafeteria tables and hurl it at the Oppressed. The monster waves a hand to try and fend it off, but the legs of the table, which are of the kind where the legs connect at the bottom, loop around its arm in the process. Therefore, when it tries to follow me out of the cafeteria, the table gets caught in the door.

That buys me several seconds, allowing me to put some distance between us. Unfortunately it doesn't last for very long, because the monster eventually gets fed up and then rams its entire bulk into the doorway until it disintegrates before its wrath.

There's another wide hallway before me, lined with doors on one one side and pipes on the other. I don't have time to cut through one of the other rooms, and there's always the possibility of the door I choose being a dead end. I glance at the pipes, but they're not emitting steam like the others, so that possibility is out. Shit, once again there's nothing I can do except keep running.

The monster behind me is relentless. Like the other Oppressed, it won't get tired, feel pain, or give up until I'm dead. Now that I think about it, if I don't find a way to kill it, eventually some other pony is going to come into contact with it, and they're going to die.

I look ahead of me and notice a fork in the hallway ahead. Shit, there's no way of knowing if either one is a dead end. If I hit a dead end, it'll end up my grave, so I better get lucky. I choose quickly and turn the corner, glancing behind me to see how far behind the monster is...

...so I don't have any warning before I run right into something in front of me that hadn't been there a moment ago. “What the fuck!?” I yell out, feeling something soft and furry against me. It yelps and cries out in shock as well, but I'm too panicked to really register that. Instead, I leap back and form my standard rifle, leveling it at the new arrival. “I swear to god, I'll tear you to shreds if you try to get in my way!”

“Wha...Seth? Calm down, it's me!” I blink in confusion, and then my mind finally registers what I'm looking at. Rainbow stares back at me from where I'd knocked her to the ground, a mixture fear, happiness, and confusion on her face. 

“What the...what are you doing down here? Actually, never mind,” I say quickly and frantically. I reach forward and hug her closely for a split second, causing her to yelp in surprise by the sudden uncharacteristic affection. I quickly release her and help her up. “We don't have time. Come on, we need to run!”

“What? Why? I found you...let's...” Rainbow tries to say, but then the Oppressed careens around the corner, every step shaking the floor beneath us. Rainbow's eyes widen in horror and disgust.

“That's why! Now hurry the fuck up!” I shout at her. Rainbow nods, and then the two of us sprint down the hallway. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you.”

“I...I noticed. You don't usually hug on sight,” Rainbow remarks, even as we do our best to get away from the creature behind us. “What the hay is that thing? Why haven't you beaten it yet?”

“What do you mean, 'why haven't I beaten it yet?' I can't beat it, that's why I'm running!” I snap at her, fear making my every word sound bitter and hateful. “It used to be a human like me. I have no idea how it became that, and I don't really want to.”

“Yeah, neither do I. Why can't you beat it? You're really strong, right? Just blow it away with your magic!” Rainbow tells me obliviously. Ugh, she hasn't fought this thing, so she's ignorant.

“It's immune to magic!” I shoot back.

“So beat it up! Smack it a good one!” 

“I can't, goddammit! I've tried everything!”

“What? How can you not beat it up?”

“Because it's fucking invincible, that's why!” The two of us turn another corner and descend some stairs, finding ourselves in another hallway. Rainbow starts to fly next to me, going rather fast. She can turn much faster than me, so I guess that works for her. She can probably easily outrun this monster, but I can tell she's holding herself back so she doesn't get too far ahead of me.

As I run, I notice an open doorway on the right that leads out into darkness, looking very welcome to me. “Is that an elevator shaft?” I demand as we draw nearer to it.

“Leave it! It doesn't go anywhere!” Rainbow responds, yelling over the sound of the monster rampaging through the hallway behind us.

“What? How do you know?”

“I came from this direction; I checked it!”

“Goddammit! Can't I catch a break?” I complain. Apparently not. After passing the elevator shaft, the hallway abruptly ends in a dead end. “Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me.”

“Through here!” Rainbow directs me, throwing open a door on the left end of the hallway. I don't bother questioning her, as there's no other way to run. The two of us duck inside the room and shut the door, even though it won't hold the Oppressed for long.

We're in another set of offices, complete with cubicles and computers. We manage to get all the way to the other side of the room before the Oppressed punches the door off its hinges behind us. In the next room, there's a room filled with steaming pipes, with a door that opens out into the hallway, directly across from the elevator shaft. Upon seeing that, Rainbow brightens up, and she leans over to me.

“I have an idea!” Rainbow exclaims, and then she quickly relays her plan to me in the few moments that we have before the monster gets here. I look at her in shock, as its a very gutsy plan and there's a very good chance that it fail and the both of us could end up dead. Unlike me, Rainbow can't defend herself with magic, so that monster could tear her to pieces in the space of a few seconds. 

“I guess it's better than waiting to die. You better be ready when I come in through that door!” I tell her, and then I run back into the office before the Oppressed can reach us.

The monster is barreling through the desks and demolishing the computers in an effort to reach us. That being said, the moment the Oppressed spots me running back at it, it roars and heads straight for me. 

“Hey! I'd insult you to gain your attention, but I don't think you'd understand me!” I yell at the monster. Plus, it already seems to be charging at me. “At this point, you are literally too stupid to insult...oh shit.”

I have to throw myself to the ground as the Oppressed hurls a desk at me. The ramshackle wooden construction shatters against the wall behind me, barely missing me. Almost instantly after that, the Oppressed is right in front of me, flailing its ham fists around with reckless abandon.

I weave around its fists, finding it actually really easy to anticipate its moves now that I'm focused and I see a chance for victory. I leap on one of its fists and use it as leverage to plant both of my feet into its gnashing face, breaking some of its teeth. It doesn't really affect the monster, but it does  make it recoil long enough for me to land on the ground a good distance away from it. I turn and break a hole right through the wall, effectively making another exit into the hallway for myself.

The Oppressed chases me back into the hallway, but I determinedly evade its frenzied strikes and lead it over to the elevator shaft...and then I duck right back into the room where Rainbow is and shut the door.

The wall buckles in and shatters, the Oppressed charging its way inside...only to be faced with Rainbow and I, side by side, holding a long, thick length of pipe that had a jagged edge. The two of us let out a battle cry, and then we ram the monster head on. The Oppressed's momentum combined with our charge forces the pipe deep inside of it, even reversing the monster's momentum and pushing it back.

The monster feels itself being repulsed and reaches out with its hands to clamp down around the edge of the doorway, halting its backwards progress. Rainbow and I both yell at the same time, our voices steadily rising in volume and pitch as we put everything we have into this final assault. Magical power explodes from around me, reinforcing my strength.

The doorway crumbles, and the Oppressed loses its grip. Now that we have the advantage, we press it, pushing the monster all the way back...and right into the elevator shaft. Rainbow and I release the pipe and let go as the Oppressed tumbles down into the depths with a panicked roar. Then...a sickening crunch can be heard from the shaft.

“Did we do it?” Rainbow pants, exhausted from the effort of pushing something with that much girth such a far distance. Wordlessly, I peer into the shaft, and then a grin crosses my face when I see the fate of the overgrown Oppressed.

The monster is still alive...but is clearly in its death throes. The Oppressed is impaled on a massive spike at the bottom of the shaft, the point clearly protruding out from its torso. Finally, it falls limp, finally defeated for good. I let out a sigh of relief, and then laugh triumphantly. “Take that, you son of a bitch! What good is your invincibility now?”

“We did it. Hah, I knew my idea would work. I'm a genius!” Rainbow brags, so proud of herself that she's doing a backstroke in midair. You know what, she can brag. That thing was invincible. I think it could have even given Chrysalis a run for her money, with that total immunity to magic it had. At least the smaller Oppressed were hurt a little by my piercing magic.

I turn around and once again give Rainbow a hug, earning an adorable squeak from her. “Fucking...thank god you showed up. I'd be screwed if it weren't for you,” I say to her. I release her, and then sink down to the ground, my back up against one of the few intact walls around here.

“...You're awfully huggy recently,” Rainbow comments, though she doesn't seem to be all that annoyed by it. “Did you hit your head when you fell down the shaft?”

“Oh, fuck you. I just survived a fight with a goddamn zombie Broly, so get off my back,” I grumble, even as Rainbow laughs. 

“Hold on, a zombie what now?” Rainbow asks, quirking an eyebrow. Right, reference. She won't get it.

“Skip it. How about you tell me how you got down here? I've been wandering for who knows how long, fighting the undead remnants of my race. This is pretty far down, how did you get here?” I question.

“It wasn't easy. The whole place freaked out when you fell, since you're like, the one who started this whole thing in the first place,” Rainbow began. “Commander Iron and Flash tried everything they could to get past that barrier, but the thing just wouldn't break.”

“Of course. It redirects force upon impact. You're not breaking that with brute force,” I state, remembering how it knocked me right through the floor of the elevator.

“Right. Rivet and Hammer suggested digging around it, which we thought actually worked, because we uncovered a whole different level of the building. Iron and I were going to go through it, but once I was through...the barrier came up again,” Rainbow finishes. “I've been wandering around, looking for you, ever since.”

“That settles it. If the barrier adapts to us, then it's not just some convenient trap. Something down here is controlling that barrier, and keeping us down here,” I grunt, pounding my fist into my knee in frustration. I growl, clenching my fists. 

“Seth, are you all right?” Rainbow asks with concern. She sees my anger and immediately figures that something else must be troubling me.

“No, I'm not fucking all right. This place was a stronghold for Sombra's army, and his head general may still be alive down here through some kind of necromancy,” I tell her bluntly, taking her aback. “Oh, and you think that's bad? Some time after humanity died, these fuckers took captives, and turned them into monsters, like the one we just killed. Do you even know how many humans died in the process of making that thing!?”

Rainbow flinches beneath my ire, having not really expected such an outcry of emotion from me. She looks like she wants to say something, but I'm too far into this to stop now.

“Oh, and do you know what's even better? It turns out I may have been wrong about my race. Isn't that great? What good is it now to find out that my race wasn't complete trash, now that it's too late to do anything about it!?” I cry, my voice rising into a shout. “Perfectly good people...good people, Rainbow! I don't say that often. Perfectly good people died here in the worst possible ways, and none of them deserved that. Why!? Why do the best people end up like this? Why is the goddamn world so fucking cruel?”

I'm actually crying now, as I'm so angry, frustrated, and sad, both at myself, Sombra, Vanta, and my own rotten luck. I just can't help it. Rainbow slinks over to me and sits by my side, once again giving me comfort with her close presence. “Yeah...this is pretty personal for you, huh?” she says softly, nuzzling my shoulder gently.

“Now it is. Now it fucking is. Did you know that I once didn't care whether or not other people lived or died? And then I find out there's people like that out there...other than just my family...and I treated them all like shit. How the fuck do you think I feel!?” I punch the ground, hating that I have to feel like this. Hating myself. I rest my face in my palm, not wanting to show Rainbow how torn up I likely look now. “Just...goddammit. I'm such a fucking fool.”

“Ugh, come here,” Rainbow tells me. I look at her between my fingers to see her opening up her two front hooves for me. I raise an eyebrow, wondering if this is for real? Rainbow sees my questioning gaze and blushes. “What? This is like, the only way to make you feel better. Come here and quit making me feel foalish.”

I hesitate, looking at her blushing face and remembering our conversation in the labs area. Oh fuck, it, there I go, over-thinking things again. I lean into her offered embrace, once again finding comfort in it even though it's ridiculous that I do. Physical contact never really did anything for me before...but...for some reason, with Rainbow, I don't mind it.

“Just...what am I even supposed to do now? They're dead. They're all dead, and I can never find out for real if they were capable of being as kind as that,” I lament, holding Rainbow close.

“Make it up to them,” Rainbow suggests. Incredulous, I shift in her grip so that I can see her face and give her a look. 

“What?”

“I said, make it up to them. You might not be able to talk to them yourself, but you can definitely use the lessons you've learned...and live your life for them. You're the last human. Make it count for something,” Rainbow urges me, her words seeming to sink into my chest and infiltrate my heart. That...actually makes sense. “And if that general guy is still alive...let's go give him a righteous beat down, shall we?”

“Yeah...thanks,” I reply after a silence. The idea of beating Vanta into the ground for what he did to my race makes me feel much better. It's hard to explain, but it feels...good, for lack of a better word, to care. It feels good to care about my race again, even though it makes me feel pain that I ignored them for so long. I won't say it aloud because it'll sound cheesy and cliché as fuck, but I'm the last human, and I'll be the instrument of their vengeance. I look at Rainbow, who's still clinging to me. “Okay, I think I'm good now.”

“All right,” Rainbow responds, letting me go. She's still blushing, but I ignore that for now. Suddenly, a mischievous grin appears on her face. “Who knew you could be such a giant teddy bear?”

“Really? Really. Fucking...just go straight to hell,” I snap back, chuckling ruefully despite myself. I feel much better being trapped down here, if it's with Rainbow. Now that I'm composed I get to my feet. “All right, we should get moving. That barrier's not going anywhere until we take out its source. I was heading for a large room at the bottom of the complex, where there's another elevator shaft. I think we should head there, for now. There was something strange that I saw down there I want to check out, anyway.”

“Sounds like a plan. Do you know the way there?” Rainbow inquires. I freeze, and then shake my head ruefully.

“Unfortunately not. I know it's at the very bottom, so I think we'll get there if we just keep going down,” I conjecture. Out of curiosity, I peer into the elevator shaft to see where it actually goes. Like Rainbow said, it doesn't go all the way back up. It only goes up one floor, which is still in the underground complex. It just goes down by two levels. The elevator car is at the floor above, suspended by the pulley mechanism, because the cable is hanging down the side of it. “We might be able to get down through here.”

“Is...that monster actually dead?” Rainbow asks worriedly, peering over the edge at the gigantic Oppressed impaled on the spike. Hm, that's a good question. If that thing flails around, one of us could get seriously hurt.

I form a pistol and fire a few shots at the thing. I figure that if it's still alive, it would at least twitch. Nothing. The Oppressed doesn't stir at all. “I think it is. As invincible as it was, not even it can handle a spike right through the middle like that,” I say. Suddenly, I have an idea.  With my pistol, I aim up at the pulleys holding the elevator up and shoot them until they break...and the elevator car goes  plummeting down, right onto the Oppressed's body. Rainbow and I wince as a dull wet thud echoes throughout the hallway. “If it wasn't dead before, it certainly is now.”

“You just dropped an elevator on it,” Rainbow deadpans. I just give a shrug in response. 

“It's better than being taken by surprise. Now come on, we can get two floors down now. That'll get us closer to the bottom,” I tell her. Rainbow nods, and then the two of us enter the elevator shaft and hover down to the top of the car. A quick jab with my fist breaks through the hatch on top of the car, which allows us to hop in and crawl through the gap to the floor two levels down.

The first thing I notice is the sound of falling water.  I'm standing on more fenced floors, suspended over darkness. Looking around the corner, I see quite the beautiful sight. The fencing comes to an end with a railing, and beyond that I can see a small cavern stretching out before us. The underground river from where the lab cascades down a tall waterfall into the river far below, where it then flows out of sight beneath a crevice in the rock.

Wow, Vanta must have really learned a lot from us humans. There's a waterwheel running beneath the floor, catching the water and turning endlessly. It looks like its connected to a hydroelectric power generator. Huh, well that explains how this place still has power. I doubt that river's stopped in the past few centuries. Especially if its been maintained.

I'm about to comment on the sophisticated nature of this place when Rainbow tilts her head, as if hearing something strange. “Hey, do you hear that?” Rainbow asks. I'm about to make a smart comment when I too, start to hear what she is. Whispering. Somehow, even as quiet as it is, it's loud enough to hear over the sound of the waterfall. Shit. The last time I heard this, the fucking juggernaut attacked us.

This can't be good.
> 80. Enter Vanta
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Shit, it's happening again. Rainbow, stay close. I have no idea what's going to happen this time,” I warn her, lifting the sword that I stole from the barracks. It's nowhere near as sharp as it should be, but against the Oppressed, it's the best weapon I have. 

“What is this? I've heard it several times since getting down here, and something spooky always happens right afterward,” Rainbow asks anxiously, taking my advice and drawing nearer to me.

“I think it's coming from whatever is keeping us down here. I heard it right before something canceled out my magic, back in the shaft. That's how I fell.” I explain as best and as quickly as I can. I don't know much longer we have before something happens. The whispering seems to grow closer, and an evil magic fills the area. This time I can feel it, so the culprit must be about to launch another offensive. I just hope it's not another massive Oppressed like the one we just took out. I'm not sure if we'd be able to beat it this time.

A breath of chilled air flows through the room, coming from the crevice in the cavern down below. Feeling it flow over my skin causes rigid goosebumps to form. My next reaction is to shiver so my body can adjust to the change in temperature.

“Sweet Celestia, that's co...” Rainbow starts to complain while shivering as well, but she's interrupted by the sound of crashing metal. In the center of the fenced area, there's a menagerie of mechanical equipment that's likely connected to the hydroelectric generator down there. There's several instruments whose purpose I can't guess, and each one of them seems to be activating at once. The metal flaps that cover the control panels of each device come loose and slam open on their own, flapping back and forth as if they were caught in gale force winds.

The entire structure that's hanging over the cavern starts to shudder and shake. Pressure gauges on the instruments start to rise into the red range, electricity sparking from the control panels and their main structures. I look around wildly until I find the other exit from this room, all the way on the other side. That's really far. If we want to get there, we'll have to move fast. “Fuck it, let's get out of here. I'm not waiting around to find out what's going to happen,” I yell over the awful din created by the malfunctioning machines.

“Right with you!” is Rainbow's panicked response. Together, the two of us start to sprint towards the other exit. The moment we start running, there's a loud snapping sound, and then the entire fencing tilts downwards towards the cavern. “Whoa!”

“Jesus fucking Christ!” I curse, unbalanced by the sudden shift in the incline of the floor. It shifts again, tilting further downwards and almost knocking me right off my feet. Rainbow takes to the air, and just as I'm about to do the same, a magically charged wave of air passes over the both of us...causing Rainbow to fall right out of the air and my magical aura to sputter out. That's the same goddamn wave that put me down here in the first place. I'm getting really tired of shit like that. “Shit, that crafty son of a bitch canceled our magic! Run, Rainbow!”

“What? How can it do that?!” Rainbow exclaims in shock and disbelief, but she does run after me, quickly getting ahead of me with her superior speed. Everything seems to be going to hell. The platform tilts further and further, causing machines, tools, and other things that aren't secured to the floor sliding down. 

Several seconds pass, with both of us running as fast as we can with as much energy as we can muster, streaking across the rapidly inclining fencing while dodging falling debris the entire way.

A particularly large machine seems like its going to hit me, and I almost try to knock it away...and then I realize I can't use magic. Thus I end up lunging past it desperately, the back edge of it scraping my back and tearing at my shirt.

Just as we're about to reach the other edge, the walkway breaks away from the door entirely and sinks downwards. Rainbow makes a desperate leap for the door and just barely manages to scramble on to the ledge. She turns around and quickly reaches a hoof out for me. “Seth, grab on!” she cries for me.

I reach the edge and jump for it as well and my fingertips brush just up against her hoof...but my efforts are in vain. When I jumped, the platform had fallen too far to give me enough leverage to reach her without my magic. Rainbow's eyes widen in horror as she watches me fall down into the cavern with the platform. "Seeeeeeeeth!" Rainbow screams after me with desperation. She tries to fly again, but her magic hasn't recovered to that point yet.

I cry out in pain, feeling myself splash belly first into the river just ahead of the platform, dropping my sword in the process. The stream isn't that deep, so I ignore the pain in the chest and right myself, standing on the river's bottom. I cough and spit out water, as the impact had caused some of it to go up my mouth and nose.

The fencing is shattering and disintegrating behind me upon its impact with the river's bottom, sending lethal debris flying all over the place. There's practically a tidal wave of metal and machinery cascading down towards me, promising a painful death to anyone unlucky enough to get in its path. Without my magic, there's no place for me to go. I'm trapped between the wall of the cavern and certain death.

Hold on a minute, this river is going somewhere. I quickly dive for the crevice in the wall where the rest of the river is going. It's low to the water's surface, so I have to dive beneath the water. From there, the current takes me through the gap and beyond. Behind me, I can hear Rainbow yelling out for me. I don't want to leave her there, but it's either that or die. 

I feel my magic returning as I shoot down the stream. “Finally!” I exclaim, leaping out of the water and powering up so I can hover in the air. There's a tunnel down here just high enough for me to hover out of the water. Just as I'm flying back towards the crevice, the wave of debris collides with the wall with so much force that the tunnel shakes, dust and rock falling from the ceiling. I hear the sound of shifting earth, an then the rock just above the crevice falls loose, sealing the way back with a cascade of earth and stone.

It takes a full minute for the earth and debris to settle. There's so much dust in the air I have to cover my eyes until it clears enough for me to see. The river has been effectively choked by the cave-in  and debris, so that only a trickle is passing through. I hover there in shock for a few moments, realizing that I'd just lived through what amounts of a cave-in. That whispering fucker caused a cave-in, and separated me from Rainbow.

“Shit, I'm cut off...and I lost my sword. Fucking lovely,” I grunt, lowering myself down to the now mostly dry ground. The pile of debris blocking my way back to Rainbow is massive, so if I wanted to bust my way back in, I'd have to use quite a bit of force...and that would just cause another cave-in. No, if I want to meet back up with Rainbow, I'll have to find another way out. Perhaps these caverns will lead somewhere.

Or...I don't have to go into the caverns at all. For some reason, there's an entrance back into the complex here, jutting out of the rock wall like an open artery. For some reason, Sombra's ponies built into these caverns. I guess this is supposed to be an escape route of sorts if things went sour. 

There's no door, but a metallic shutter instead, and there's a light at the bottom of the shutter that's lit up red. Perfect. Well, I think I can get back in through here. Then, I'll find a roundabout path to Rainbow. This is only one floor down; it shouldn't be that hard to find a way up....even though I've been trying to find a way up for who knows how long now.

Inspecting the shutter reveals no means of opening it, like a handle or the like. That means this thing is electronic. The red light must mean its locked. You know, the logic every video game teaches you. There's got to be some other way of opening this thing, like a place where I can use this ID card or...hold on a minute, what the fuck am I doing?

A single punch accompanied by magical power shatters through the metal shutters easily enough. Seriously, I feel rather foolish right now. Go without magic for a few seconds and suddenly I forget that I have it at all. I step over the hole and into the complex once more, noting how the place is well lit. I guess that makes sense, what with the hydroelectric generator that...used to be there. I guess that means all this light is running on borrowed time until the reserve power is depleted. Hydroelectric power, if I remember correctly, doesn't have that much of a reserve power, so it won't be long before I'll be reduced to using my phone again.

I turn a corner to find myself in a long descending hallway. The whispers are gone, so the only sound to accompany is that of my feet tapping against the metallic floor, and the sound of my own breathing. This hallway is pretty long, and it looks like there's a T shaped intersection at the end.

Just as I'm deliberating on which direction I should go in, the light at the very end of the hallway flickers and shuts off. Just as I'm beginning to question whether or not the reserves could already be running out, the rest of the lights follow suit, one by one, filling the hall with darkness that grows ever closer to me with each one that goes out.

“Oh...hell the fuck no...” I stutter, taking several shaky steps back. This just seeing the lights go out like that, even though I know they're probably just on a circuit, sends chills down my spine. I can't go back, so there's nothing I can do except stand there shaking as the darkness engulfs me. “Oh my god...if I ever see the light of day again...I think I'm going to cry.”

Fortunately, it looks like there's a back up generator or something, because two dashed lines of red lights embedded on either side of the floor illuminate the hallway with a dim light. It's so dim that it  hurts my eyes, making me blink several times to get used to the light level.

Once my vision clears, my blood turns to ice. Down at the intersection, that same woman in the hospital gown that I've been seeing over and over again walks from the right side of the intersection to the other side, limping and holding her chest as if she is in pain, until she disappears from view.

“Goddamn,” I hiss between clenched teeth, shivering slightly. I don't know why, but I thought that I wouldn't have to deal with her, now that the Oppressed are my main problem. I guess I was wrong. “Well, guess what direction I'm not going in?”

I reach the end of the hall and turn right...but there is no right. I blink incredulously and look again. There's just no fucking right turn here anymore. It's just a solid, completely unmarked wall. That can't be right. I could have sworn this was a T-intersection. How is it suddenly a left turn?

I let out a prolific stream of profanities and force myself to look down the hallway where the ghost went. Thankfully, there's no sign of her, so I gather up the nerve to turn down that hallway and follow it for as far as I can.

Fuck, I wish Rainbow was here. It's not fair that I got to meet up with her for a few glorious moments before those motherfucking whispers fucked us over, and now I have no idea where she is. Damn, now I'm worrying about her.

At the end of the hallway, there's a sealed metal door that opens the moment I get close to it. Inside looks like disturbingly similar to a hospital ward, and I think I can hear...is that moaning? It sounds like someone's in serious pain. I summon my rifle, because I know that there's no one around here alive other than Rainbow, so I can't take any chances. 

When I walk into the room, I notice the beds lining the walls, and I search them for the source of the moans. Sure enough...one of them is filled...and I almost throw up from what I see.

There's a human body chained to the bed, its limbs partially mutated. Its left arm is so swollen that the shackle is digging into it. Whoever that used to be has been dead a long time, because its skin is that typical dehydrated sickly brown that's indicative of a preserved body. There's even long hair left on its skull, telling me that it used to be female. Oh god...I can't believe this. Goddammit, Vanta! Goddammit, Sombra!

I leap backwards in utter shock when the body on the bed lurches upwards, struggling against its bonds. It moans loudly, and then its head turns at an unnatural angle to look at me. Its moan turns to a ferocious snarl, and it struggles ever the harder against its restraints, filling the room with the sound of jangling chains.

I...I think I understand now what that woman was trying to get me to do. Judging by the similar hair and the tattered hospital gown the undead thing is still wearing...I think it's safe to assume that they're one and the same. 

“I understand now,” I whisper aloud, transforming my rifle into a pistol. I approach the bed, confident that the chains can hold the creature down. “No doubt there's no way you can rest in peace while your spirit is being held captive. I can't believe Vanta's scientists forgot about you down here.”

The remains of the woman's body attempts to lunge at me, but the chains hold it back. When I reach it, I place the palm of my hand on its chest and push it down gently, but forcefully. “Shhh, calm down. It's over,” I say, even though I know the thing is beyond hearing me. But I know the woman's spirit is still here. I slowly and tenderly place the barrel of my pistol at the creature's head, even as its jaws gnash and try to reach me.

Looking down, I notice a name tag pinned to the hospital gown, written in Equestrian. It's easy enough to sound out. “Good night, Holly,” I whisper softly to it, and the I pull the trigger, firing a blast of magic right through its skull and through the bed beneath it. The body gives a single gurgle, and then falls still, put out of its misery at last.

With that, the oppressive atmosphere in the room seems to lift. I look around, but there's no sign of the woman..er...Holly. I guess putting her body down freed her spirit, so she's off to wherever the hell spirits go. I'm glad I could do at least that much for her. I stand there, feeling intense sorrow for what I just had to do, and what that poor girl had to suffer through. How long has she been trapped here, looking for any way to release herself from the agony of being enslaved like that?

Seriously though, I can't believe this. Experimenting on humans is bad enough, but to just leave one, unable to die, tied to a bed for who knows how long? That's fucking horrible. If I find Vanta, I'm going to murder him for everything he's done.

I take a quick look around the room to see if there's anything useful, like another exit. Once I determine that there isn't, I leave back the way I came. To my bemusement, the corner I turned to get here is back to being a T-intersection. I don't know if that was an illusion, or what. I guess Holly really wanted me to find her body. Not that I blame her. However, I need to find Rainbow and make sure she's okay.

Passing through the newly opened route brings me into a spiraling pathway with high edges that  descends all the way to a dirt floor. That's the only way forward, so I start to walk down and around. I catch the pungent scent of blood and rotting flesh, the further down I descend. I grunt, holding my nose. That's really strong. A lot of people must have died down here and left to rot for a smell like this to be lingering around. Oh god, I think I'm going to be sick.

Along the descending path, there are offshoots that lead to small living areas, complete with ratty bedrolls and restrooms. These living areas don't look maintained at all, likely because after the scientists and soldiers died and were reborn as undead, all of this became unnecessary.

Also on those offshoots are paths that lead to an open room...and I think I know where this is. I'm almost out, but I'm not leaving without Rainbow. I'm hoping that at the bottom of this thing is another way that will lead back to where we split up. Then the two of us will try to leave. 

As I step onto the dirt floor, I realize that simply leaving won't be that simple. Just trying to leave will likely draw out whatever it is that's trying to keep us here, and we'll have to deal with it. I take a breath, looking over myself. I'm a little battered from the ordeal with that giant Oppressed, but I think I'm ready enough to fight if it comes down to it.

Down here at the bottom, there's only one way forward, and it leads out into the same open room that I'd spotted before. As I walk, something on the ground starts to crunch beneath my feet. I don't even need to look to know that I'm walking on bones.

Yes, this is the room that I saw over the cameras. The wide, expansive chamber stretches on for quite some distance, seeming a lot larger in person than it did over the cameras. I'm at the very bottom of the complex, and the elevator shaft is directly cross from me, on the other side.

The bones are piled up against the walls and scattered across the floor, making me think that this place was likely a disposal chamber for failed test subjects. Considering that some of these bones are way larger than they should be, I think I may be right in that assumption.

And then there's that strange altar on the other side of the room, in front of the elevator that I need to reach. The one I saw over the cameras. It's so much stranger to see it in person, because there's literally a mummified pony body hanging suspended in midair, slowly rotating within the magical field. It's quite a distance away from me, about the length of a football field. Yeah, I did mention that this room was massive. But what the hell is that thing's purpose? Why keep it preserved like that? It's not like Sombra's ponies were experimenting on other ponies, were they?

I put that aside, instead turning my head to the right. There's another entrance to this room over there, though by how large it is, I'm assuming it's the main entrance. That must lead back to where I parted ways with Rainbow. If I head that way, I should be able to find her again.

The moment I take a step towards that archway, that confounded whispering starts up again. I freeze in place and summon my rifle, ready for anything. I knew I'd run into this here, but I thought I'd at least have until I tried to leave. I guess not.

Nothing happens at first, confusing me. The whispers are ambient, rather than threatening. I try to follow them to their source. I should have known. If I'm reading this correctly, the whispers seem to be coming from the suspended body.

Before I can make any other moves, a voice echoes throughout the room, disembodied, cold, and hollow-sounding. “That's quite enough wandering around for you, human,” it spoke in a condescending tone. Hold on a minute...that voice. I think I've heard it somewhere before. My suspicions are confirmed when the voice speaks again. “You're quite persistent, pushing further even when met with the harshest opposition...I should applaud you.”

I don't drop my guard, looking around for the source of the voice. It seems to be coming from everywhere at once. When I don't see anything, I instead choose to answer it. I'll probably find out more that way. “I should have figured you'd still be around. If what I've learned here has taught me anything, it's that you fuckers don't even let death get in your way,” I snap back, feeling slightly foolish about talking so seriously to midair. “Isn't that right, General Vanta?”

“Oho...you even know who I am. You're quite the nosy one, aren't you? Did I ever give you permission to snoop through my private files?” Vanta comments from wherever it is he's hiding. “No, you looked through them as if you were entitled. How very human of you.”

“Oh, you shut the fuck up right now. Like you have any right to talk about the human race!” I shout up at the ceiling. “Why don't you come down here and show yourself, so I can put a few rounds in that undead head of yours?”

“Don't be so impatient. You have time, don't you? Settle down and converse with me. After all, there's so much we have to discuss, Seth Rogers,” Vanta scolds me with a little chuckle, a cold wind sweeping through the room and chilling my skin.

“How the fuck do you know my name?” I demand, taken aback. I never even told Sombra my name when I met him, so it doesn't seem possible that this lackey of his would know it.

“Why wouldn't I, when your delightful niece told me so much about you?” Vanta responded smugly. That one sentence causes me to gasp, and then growl, clenching my fists hard. “Did you know she kept a diary? What a delightful girl she was. She wanted so much to meet you again. I enjoyed taking her apart and making her mine. Did you enjoy your reunion, when you first arrived in this time?”

A surge of emotions rushes through me at his words. I want nothing more than to rip him into shreds for laying a hoof on my family, but I'm also saddened. I never knew that Maka wanted to meet me. I knew that she knew about me, likely from Adam, but...how much did my brother actually tell her? Wait a minute...something Vanta said seemed strange.

“Wait a minute, meet me again? I never met her. I met Sombra before she was ever born,” I ask in confusion. 

“King Sombra. I won't have an inferior being such as you refer to him in such a disrespectful manner!” Vanta hisses angrily, earning a derisive scoff from me. I'll call him whatever the fuck I want.

“Would you prefer I call him that bastard Sombra? See, it suits him,” I respond, hoping to antagonize him a bit. “Now answer my question. Why did you say Maka wanted to met me...again?”

“You never met her? Perhaps I read that entry wrong,” Vanta muses, confusing me further. He gives off another chuckle. “Perhaps I should brush up on my English. Waiting down here for THREE THOUSAND YEARS tends to grate on the memory!”

That last statement is spoken in a maniacal fashion. If Vanta wasn't insane before, I guess he is now. That means he's more dangerous than ever. I need to be careful. I wish he would show himself, so I can confront him directly.

“Now then, I'll have you know you're very important to me, Seth,” Vanta continues in a completely normal voice, in stark contrast to his crazy shouting a moment ago. “You see, when I noticed you scrambling around so close to the edge of my influence, I recognized you. I was ordered to keep you alive...because King Sombra really wants to get his hooves on you, though he wouldn't tell me the reason. That's why I brought you down here. So, if you surrender yourself now, I promise I won't conduct any...permanent experiments.”

“Me? Surrender? Are you kidding? You expect me to just lie down and give up, after seeing what you did to my race!?” I demand incredulously, my voice rising. Edge of influence? Brought me down here? That confirms it. This is the one that's been fucking with me the whole time. I guess that mention of an edge of influence is why he didn't try to fuck with me earlier. Something must be keeping him down here in this complex, such that he couldn't affect me until I got close enough. My question to Vanta gets him to laugh in a crazy, high-pitched tone.

“Oh please, don't you of all people start trying to act noble. As if you ever cared about your kind,” Vanta derides me. My retort dies in my throat. How could he know that? Maka couldn't have stated as such in her diary, because she never met me. I never told Sombra, and...what the fuck? “You look confused. Should I explain it to you?”

“Start talking,” I command, narrowing my eyes.  

“Very well, I'll tell you what I know, what little there is. I was King Sombra's top general, but never was I his right hoof pony,” Vanta admits, a little frustration in his voice. “When he brought me along to this era, we were told that his primary objective was to find individuals with high negative energy. The more the human hated himself and others...the better suited for his goals. That being said, the very fact that you were chosen tells me all I need to know about you. You're just as scum as the humans you said you hated. How delightfully hypocritical, for you now to act like you're upset that your race is gone.”

I freeze, my hear beating in my chest. I've been telling myself things like that in my head ever since viewing that video, and I was starting to think I was wrong...but to hear somepony like Vanta saying it back to me? It hurts. It fucking hurts so much. My posture slumps, and my shoulders start to shake.

Then, I remember something I heard Sombra say back when I met him. “Hold on a minute, I wasn't chosen! When I interrupted him and took whatever spell he was making, he said it wasn't meant for me!” I protest weakly, hoping to prove Vanta wrong.

“What is that? A pathetic attempt to make yourself out to be better than you are? Hah!” Vanta exclaims, amused. He read right through what I'm trying to do, even though what I said was the truth. “I'll tell you. You're right, you weren't his original target. That much he said to me. There was a girl, much worse than you, that was his target. Even though you interrupted him...King Sombra decided you would work just as well.”

“A girl...worse than me? But...I don't know of anyone like that except...oh fuck.” I stop right in the middle of my reply as the realization strikes me. There's only one girl that fits that description. 

Sombra had been after Amaryllis the whole time. By stopping him in the stairwell, I'd effectively saved her...and doomed her at the same time. What would have happened, if it had been her transported here instead of me? Would she have made any friends? Would she have stopped Chrysalis as I did, or would she have come back to me? I don't know whether to be happy or sad that I'd stopped her from coming to Equestria. 

“It seems you've realized it, haven't you?” Vanta taunts me from his hiding place. “Now, I've told you all I know about King Sombra's intentions. It's time for you to surrender. Come, and keep me company until my lord returns. I'm sure I can come up with something fun for us to do while we wait.”

“I guess it sucks to be you then. I'm not surrendering, and Sombra is long dead,” I retort, crossing my arms. I'm hurt by how right Vanta was about how I was...or am...but that doesn't mean I'm going to lie down and let him fuck me up with whatever twisted experiments he has in mind.

“What? Don't lie to me. King Sombra was fully aware that his own defeat was likely. It's ludicrous to believe that somepony as intelligent and powerful as himself would go into the final battle without a plan,” Vanta snaps at me, seeming legitimately angry by the suggestion that his lord might be dead. I smirk, because now it's me that's holding something over his head.

“I'm not lying. Celestia herself told me that she and Luna turned his body to dust and crushed his empire between the two of them. Looks like you're living in the past, buddy. Heh, both literally and figuratively,” I reveal to him, chuckling darkly at my own off-color joke.

“I told you not to LIE TO ME!” Vanta's voice heightens to a screech, and the room starts to shake, magical power filling the room. “They could not have killed him...his power was so great, nopony could contend with him! How dare you slander him by insinuating that he could possibly perish to the likes of those self-righteous sluts!?”

“Then where is he now? Why hasn't Sombra already returned? It's been a long time since he fell. Over a thousand years, in fact. Yet despite that, there's a distinct lack of Sombra in the world,” I demand, enjoying his distress probably a little more than I should. “I think you've been waiting too long.”

“No...no! I refuse to accept this! My king is invincible! He always had a back-up plan!” Vanta shrieks, and a wave of magic sweeps across the room. I tense up, wondering if I'm about to lose my magic again, because it's clear that he must have been the one canceling my magic out as well, thanks to his own admittance. Thankfully, as the magic passes over me, nothing happens to me. Instead...bones start to rattle and shake on the ground, forming mini-waterfalls of bones down each of the piles. “If you're going to keep lying to me...I'm going to make you tell me what really happened!”

I feel something brush against my leg. Looking down, I see that hundreds of bones are streaming past me, surging around my leg like a river of death. I see leg bones, arm bones, pelvises, human skulls, pony skulls, and now there's so many I can't make out individual bones. 

All of the bones converge in the center of the room, connecting to one another with a cacophonous clacking sound. A hill of bones forms, and then, to my shock, a structure starts to form, made entirely out of bones.

Two large pillars form first, bones scuttling up the sides like some kind of twisted insect, connecting to the top of them to make them even larger. Eventually, the two pillars connect at the center, so that they now resemble...a pair of legs. Oh fuck. 

I tense up, getting into a combat stance with my rifle clenched in both hands, in its standard form. “You wanted me to show myself...I'm going to give you a physical form you won't be able to forget!” Vanta shouts in a deranged fashion, a torso starting to form from the interconnecting bones. “All I have to do is keep you alive...he never said I couldn't tear the limbs from your body! I'll force the truth from you...even if I have to do it myself!”

Two arms form next, and then finally the head forms. When his makeshift body is completed, it towers over me, standing around twelve meters tall. It looks like he tried to make a human body, but instead of hands or toes, it has hoof shaped constructs, each tipped with wicked sharp talons constructed from bone. For the head...it's not even a human skull. It's a giant, twisted pony skull with sharpened teeth completely unlike the herbivorous teeth that ponies usually have.

I take a few steps back from it, trembling a little from beneath its eyeless gaze. Then, the whispering intensifies, and then wisps of a glowing, translucent blue substance stream into the room from all over the place. Behind a pillar, from the upper floors, from behind me, from the individual rooms, and even from the mummified body in the magical field, the wisps converge upon the skull of the bone construct. They seep inside of its eyes, mouth, and cracks in the skull...and then the entire construct shudders, as if coming alive. Its eye sockets suddenly fill with two ominous orbs of glowing crimson light, and both of them turn to glare down at me. 

“Prepare yourself, Seth Rogers...I'm going to show you the necromantic magic that destroyed your kind's defenses, once and for all!” The construct's mouth opens and closes with each syllable, Vanta's voice emanating from within. The skeleton leans down and takes a combat stance, its talons scratching against one another with a painful screech. 

Multiple curses run through my mind as I power myself up. This time, I'm by myself. I don't have Rose, Iron, Blades, Celestia, or Luna to help me. I have to do this on my own.

I have to defeat him, and avenge the many humans that suffered and died down here at his hooves.

	
> 81. Ultimate Vanta
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“That magic...” Vanta hisses, remaining still while eyeing me with his burning orbs.. I'm watching him closely for signs of movement. If he catches me off guard, it won't end well for me. I don't want to make the first move this time. Every time I've been in a serious fight, I've always had backup. “I thought it was odd, feeling a magic so like my king's...but to see it for myself...that magic isn't yours!”

“Sombra's not the only pony to use dark magic, dumb ass,” I snap, using this moment to power myself up further. I don't think base form will be enough to fight him. If he was Sombra's top general, then he's bound to be strong. I can't afford to take him lightly.

“No, he was just the first to make it his own,” Vanta responds. Whenever he talks, his voice echoes from within that skull in an eerie fashion. He brings up his claws and scratches them together. “First...I'm going to teach you to refer to King Sombra by his title!”

Suddenly, Vanta is moving. For someone as large as he is, you'd think he'd be slow. One moment he's standing still and talking, the next he's charging towards me at such a speed that I can hardly keep up with it.

Pain explodes in my chest as I try to react. I'm lifted entirely off of my feet by the blow I'd just received by Vanta's foot. The momentum generated by the impact forces my body to wrap around his foot in mid kick. Saliva flies from my mouth as I hack, completely winded.

That one kick sends me right across the room and through the railing of the balcony up the wall on the other side – that's 60 fucking yards. Not only do I go right through the balcony, but also through the glass wall behind it and into one of the living areas. Before I realize it, I'm lying on the floor, coughing weakly. Fuck...just one hit, and feels like I got hit by a truck. I barely even had enough time to raise my magic. I can only thank my luck that he wants to keep me alive. If he had used his talons...I'd have been impaled.

“Get out of there!” Vanta's voice bellows, and then just as I'm getting to my feet, his hoof barrels through the balcony, splitting apart in the center to form a structure similar to a human hand. The fingers close around me before I can get properly prepared, yanking me back out into the open.

I scream in agony as his fingers clench down on me. I struggle and power up in an attempt to get free. I can feel his fingers slipping, invigorating me. “You can't hold me!” I shout as Vanta brings me up to his face. What I don't expect is for Vanta to hurl me right to the ground before I can get free.

That's enough getting thrown around. I manage to orient myself in midair such that I land on both feet. The bones shatter and the ground craters beneath me upon my landing. In the split second I have before Vanta attacks again, I lift up my rifle in its standard form, pulling the trigger.

“Have a taste of this magic you love so much!” I roar. The beam of darkness fired from the barrel of the rifle surges through the air and thankfully hits Vanta right in his massive bony torso...and then it shoots right through him to explode on the other side of the room. “Hah! Get fucked, you undead bastard!”

Vanta doesn't seem fazed at all by the gaping hole in its torso. To my shock, bones fly up from the ground and quickly repair the damage in a speedy fashion. “Flail around if you must. I cannot die, no matter how much you damage me. This is necromancy!” the general declares. He plants his right foot into the ground and leaps into the air. He forms his other hoof into a hand as well and then clenches both of them together.

My eyes widen when I realize what he's about to do. I quickly take to the air just as Vanta's double fisted attack slams into the ground. That was too close. He's so fast...and just as I'm thinking that, Vanta pivots on his right foot and knocks me flying with a vicious haymaker that disorients me and causes pain all over my body. His fists are the size of my body...and just one hit is enough to make me dizzy.

I need to get off the defensive. Once I collect myself, my vision focuses to see Vanta sprinting across the room towards me once again. “I don't even need my techniques to defeat you,” Vanta growls,   bringing a hammer fist down towards me. 

Shit. I fly away from his fist as fast as I can, but he's faster. I dodge, but his fist passes so close to me with such speed and power, the air pressure forces me away. Vanta's next action is to turn once more and unleash a flurry of hooks and jabs at me, stepping forward with every attack. Because of that, even as I put all of my concentration into dodging, I have to fly backwards at the same time.

Behind me is the wall, and its drawing ever closer. It's taking everything I have just to dodge these attacks, so if I get pinned, I'm screwed. An idea comes to me, so as I duck under a vicious jab, I fire my rifle behind me into the wall. The impact scatters a cloud of dirt and dust into the air, obscuring my form for a brief moment.

“What...?” Vanta growls in annoyance, ceasing his attack due to the fact that he can no longer see me. He roars and thrusts a flattened palm forward in attempt to hit me anyway.

In the brief time that I've bought, I descend to the ground and form two drummed submachine guns. Before he has a chance to discover that I'm not up there, I sprint along his side, opening fire on his side. I let out a yell that steadily grows in volume as I unload a veritable storm of magical bullets into him.

It seems to be doing something, at least. The bones on his body snap and break beneath the onslaught, crumbling to bits and forming a widening gap in his side. Vanta's massive skull turns to regard me, not even trying to dodge the attacks. He bends over and sweeps a giant fist across the floor, sending a tidal wave of bones and dirt into the air.

“Shit!” I cry out. Now I'm the one that can't see anything. I try to ward the dust away from my eyes with my arm, and then I jump immediately to the air, knowing that his fist is still heading right for me.

As I leave the dust cloud, I'm immediately met with a hammer fist that wracks my body with pain. Goddammit, he anticipated what I was going to do and adjusted...fuck, it hurts. It's light dealing with Chrysalis, except he's hitting my whole body at once. He's not as physically strong as Chrysalis, but I'm at a disadvantage in that I can't effectively defend my whole body with magic at the same time.

“You don't seem very talkative...maybe a healthy does of pain will help!” Vanta rumbles, spinning around ridiculously fast and punching me right into the ground. “Where is my master? Where is King Sombra!?”

I pick my face up off the ground, spitting out dirt and blood. I think my lip is busted...and one of my teeth feels loose. Okay...he's hitting me pretty hard, but I can dodge him if I'm smart. I've already done some damage to him and...oh son of a bitch. That gap I opened in his side is filling up with bones from the ground, stitching it back together until it's whole once more.

I'm getting my shit wrecked without even doing any real damage. This can't be right. There has to be some way I can damage him permanently.

“Talk!” Vanta commands in a thunderous voice, and I lunge out of the way just as his foot pounds into the ground right where I'd been a second ago. I have to dodge around several times as he repeats this same attack. Each time his foot hits the ground, he yells at me once more.“Talk, talk TALK!”

“He's dead, I told you that! When are you going to get that into your thick head!?” I shout back at him. When his foot comes down next, I form a triple barreled shotgun and unload into it. Each blast tears chunks of his foot away, but I'm not able to demolish it entirely before it gets too close, so I dash away.

“I told you not to lie to me!” Vanta stubbornly returns. When his foot hits the ground, the skeletal construct unbalances due to all of the holes I blew into his foot making it misshapen. I think fast, seeing an opportunity that I can't waste.

I leap into the air and zoom towards his head, magical energy exploding from around me as I accelerate to as close to my top speed as I can get before reaching him. “Hyah!” I roar and bring my right fist up into a ruthless uppercut. I feel a sense of triumph as my fist collides with his chin, shattering the bone there and snapping his head back. When Vanta tries to steady himself, his perforated foot slips and the entire construct falls backwards.

Just from hitting him, my fist hurts though. That can't be right, because I used magic to cushion myself. The only way I could feel pain from that is if...he was using magic to defend himself too. And he's not even using any of his techniques. Vanta is holding back, and still kicking my ass. This is my only chance then. If I can deal some lasting damage here while he's down, I might be able to end this.

I form a heavy machine gun made of crystal that I have to hold with both hands. With it, I release a shower of crystalline bullets that rain down on Vanta's fallen form with so much force that the cut right through his torso and impact with the ground, throwing up dust into the air. The kick from the gun pushes it back into my chest with a satisfying rumble. 

After expending quite a bit of power in that assault, I lay off and look down at the cloud of dust, hoping to see the damage I did. To my shock, Vanta is already getting up, bones from the ground already repairing the damage. I let the rifle fall slack in my hands. Is there any way to permanently hurt this fucker?

My gaze falls on the mummified pony hanging above the altar, suspended in a magical field. There must be a reason it's being protected. Nothing I do seems to hurt his skeleton, so I decide it's worth a shot. Reforming my rifle into its standard form, I aim it at the body and fire a pillar of electrified darkness straight towards it. 

Vanta's reaction is most telling. With a shout, he moves faster than even before, to the point where all I see of him is an ivory blur before he's standing right in front of the magic. He growls and lifts an open palm, taking the beam head on. To my shock, Vanta's skeletal body glows with a faint cyan light, and then his hand clenches down around the beam, snuffing it out like a flame. Did...did he just now use some of his magical power for more than basic defense? And he took my rifle shot so easily...never mind that, I found his weakness. That body is important to him somehow.

“You naughty thing...targeting my true body,” Vanta taunts me. He stands up to his full height, seeming relaxed now that he stopped my attack...and that he's standing between me and the body. “You're pretty sharp. You realized that you can't harm this body, so you attacked mine...”

“You seemed pretty frantic to protect it. I'm guessing its important to you, then?” I point out, buying time so that I can recollect my energy in preparation for another assault. If I keep him on the defensive, I should be able to find an opening to shoot that body. I don't know what will happen if I destroy it, but anything that unsettles Vanta is good news for me.

“Oh, very important. Trust me, if you aim your hand at my body again...I won't go easy on you,” Vanta warns me, his voice deepening. That confirms it. He has been holding back against me. He hunches back down into a combat stance. “Now, I'll have you tell me where my master is!”

“You idiot! How many times do I have to tell you? Celestia and Luna turned him to dust! I was physically there with several other ponies when she revealed that to us!” I snap at him, avoiding Vanta's charge by weaving around his body and blasting his back with my long ranged rifle. Those attacks pierce right through him, but the regeneration makes it pointless. “You need to quit hanging on to your master's orders and realize that you're on your own! The only one that can answer for your actions here is you!”

Vanta pauses, remaining silent. I think he might actually be considering that I might be right. “You must be wrong. King Sombra always had a back up plan. Nothing could keep him down. Not even when the Crystal Empire's Royal Family betrayed him and cast him out,” Vanta tells me firmly, but I can tell he's in denial.

“He's gone. He has been for over a thousand years. Quit clinging to him like a breastfeeding baby and realize that no one is coming for you!” I yell at him. Vanta falls silent one more time, this time longer than before. He makes no action, offensive or otherwise. I consider shooting at the body again, but he's already shown that he's capable of defending it if necessary. I hate to admit it, but he's faster than I am. 

Suddenly, Vanta's skeletal body starts to glow with cyan magic once more, only this time with such strength that the whole room starts to shake, dust and bits of rock falling from the ceiling. I can feel it...he's almost as strong as Chrysalis is at her height...and certainly stronger than Luna. I've gotten a little stronger, but I'm nowhere near Chrysalis's level. This...goddammit, I'm in serious trouble. Chrysalis is still a great deal stronger than he is, but...I don't have anypony to help me.

“If what you say is true...” Vanta says softly, his voice deep and menacing. He whips around ridiculously fast, and then what feels like a speeding train hits me right in my stomach before I even know what's happening. “I have no reason to keep you alive! It's time for you to die, pathetic human!”

I try to recover from such a powerful hit, but I don't even get to reach the other side of the room before Vanta catches up with me. His fingers clamp onto my head and neck and hurl me back across the room so hard that my neck strains and cracks. It's so painful that I can't help screaming in utter agony.

It doesn't end there. Vanta appears above me and executes a skilled somersault, hitting me with both fists together such that I shoot straight down into the ground., creating a large crater at the point of impact.

I groan and cry out pitifully, my entire body awash with horrible pain. I weakly try to rise from the ground, summoning my magical power. I hear him moving, so I force through the pain and flip around, forming my rifle at the last second and shooting upwards at Vanta's descending fist.

The skeletal fist flows through the beam of magic, splitting it in half and taking no damage from it whatsoever. Vanta's attack reaches my rifle and shatters it into hundreds of crystal shards before ramming into my chest, pounding me right back into the ground once again. I look up at my empty hands, jaw dropped at the sight of the few crystal shards left there. What...what happens now? I've never had my rifle broken before. I didn't think it could be broken.

“Imagine the things I can do to you once you're dead!” Vanta exclaims gleefully, hammering me right back into the ground with another vicious punch. I cry out in anguish, and then I cough out blood weakly onto the dirt. How am I supposed to beat an enemy this strong? I just wish that somepony, anypony were here to help me out of this. “I'll tear off your skin and hang it up as a curtain! I'll drain your magic and add it to my own! I'll make your bones dance for me! Doesn't that sound fun?”

I hold up my hands to block just as Vanta's fist comes back down. I manage to catch his blow with both hands, but the pain and vibration from the impact rushes down my arms, making me grunt. His fist is...so heavy...I don't think I can hold it back.

Vanta withdraws his fist and starts to lift up his foot. Oh god, a hit like that with all of his weight and power beneath it...I might actually die. That thought causes me to summon up my magic and dash away from the ground, my entire body aching with every movement I make. I need to make a counteroffensive. 

I try to summon up my rifle...only to find that I can't. Fuck, that's right, he broke it. I don't know if that means its gone for good or if it needs to recharge or something, but I do know that I can't use it now. That means I'll have to fight with my fists. I can still use magical blasts without my gun, but they're not as focused.

“Come back! I still have yet to tear off your limbs!” Vanta starts to chase me, catching up with me quickly. I take him by surprise by reversing my momentum and running between his legs, blasting each one with orbs of dark magic as I pass. Hopefully that should slow him down. 

I take to the air and zoom straight towards the mummified body, figuring that it's my only chance of coming out of this alive. I don't know what will happen if I destroy it, but it's the only option open to me. His skeleton body just fucking regenerates any damage I inflict on it.

I form another orb of magic in my right hand, charging up as much power as I can into it. I don't have much power left because of how much I've had to use defending against Vanta's relentless and powerful attacks, so now I can actually feel that mental barrier that's always there when I try to draw out more magic than I have. I have to use this magic carefully. I pivot back my arm and hurl the orb straight towards the body...only for Vanta to dash right around and in front of me with that ridiculous speed of his again. 

Vanta holds out his hand to block once more, but just as the orb hits the bone, I detonate it remotely such that the explosion of dark magic blocks his vision of me for a few seconds. Once again I dash through his legs and straight towards the suspended body.

Just as I'm raising my hand to strike at it, Vanta's hand closes on my body from behind. “No! I was so close! I was so fucking close!” I cry out, reaching out a hand for the body desperately. This isn't fair! Why does Vanta have to be so strong? Why am I so goddamn weak?

“Not so fast, you wretched creature!” Vanta growls, and then he tosses me far away from his body. He reaches me a second afterward with hardly any effort, and then he releases a flurry of punishment upon me. His fists hammer into me again and again, filling my body with such intense pain that I can't stop screaming, nor can I find any way to counterattack. At this point, I can't tell if he's even hitting me or not. The agony is so great it's practically constant.

Finally, Vanta hits me with a flat palm strike, sending me right across the room, towards the main entrance. I hit the ground long before I reach the entrance, tumbling end over end, my limbs bending painfully, until finally I slide to a halt just a few yards away from the entrance, such that I'm facing away from it.

I open my eyes, the lids feeling heavy. My vision blurs as I see Vanta walk slowly towards me, each footfall shaking the ground. I try to see what he's going to do next, but my vision won't focus. Even lifting my hand is a tremendous effort. With as much power as I can muster, I fire a blast of energy towards Vanta, but all it does is splash across his torso like water, not even damaging him. 

Shit...I'm really going to die down here, just another human to fall prey to Vanta's sadism. I slam the ground weakly with my fist, frustrated and furious at myself. I can't move anymore; my muscles just won't obey me no matter how hard I tell them to move. Dammit. Just...dammit. I had so much I wanted to do. Rainbow...

“S...Seth?” a scratchy voice sounds from the main entrance behind me. My breath catches in my throat as I recognize that familiar voice. A sense of dread overtakes me, but I can't even muster up the strength to yell at her, or even move. No...why is she here? Why did she come here now? I hear her hooves plodding on the dirt softly as she approaches me tentatively, no doubt wondering why I'm not moving. Rainbow gasps when she sees the condition I'm in; my shirt is ripped to shreds, my back almost black with bruises and bleeding from cuts and scrapes I received during the fight. “Seth! What...what happened?!”

I open my mouth in an attempt to respond, but just doing that releases a spattering of blood from within. Trying to talk strains my body, wracking me with pain, so that all that comes out is a barely audible croak. It's getting harder to focus, blackness creeping in from the edges of my vision.

“What the hay is that!?” Rainbow demands of me once she spots Vanta, who halts the moment he catches sight of her next to me. She looks back down at me. “Seth, why won't you answer me?”

She anxious looks down at me and flips me over with her nose and hooves so that I'm staring up at the ceiling. I flop there limply, devoid of strength. My eyes are half open, because it's seemingly taking an incredulous effort just to keep them that way. My eyelids get heavier, unconsciousness drawing closer. I try to stop it, but it doesn't do me any good. 

I know I should be panicking, because I'm sure that I fall unconscious now, I won't wake up again. But...I can't help but feel a sense of dull despair. Even with everything I've done so far, I'm going to die, and Sombra and Vanta's extermination of my race will be complete. That thought fills me with helpless anguish. I just wish I had the strength to move...to resist him...

“Seth...? Seth!?” Rainbow sees how I'm not moving or saying anything in response to her, and she starts to panic. She shakes me vigorously, hoping to elicit a reaction out of me. “No, don't you do this to me. You're not allowed to...I can't...I can't lose you...”

Rainbow chokes, and then to my surprise, a tear splashes onto my skin. Is...is Rainbow crying? I've never seen Rainbow cry...ever. It just doesn't happen. This mare is so strong and independent that she takes whatever the world throws at her with a grin and a boast...and now she's crying...for me. “Wake up, you idiot! Don't just lie there! This isn't funny!” Rainbow's cries are getting more and more desperate...but it's getting harder for me to hear them. I feel a dull twinge of sorrow, knowing what I'm doing to her. “Imbecile! Jerk! Wake up and let's get out of here!”

Vanta seems content to stand there and watch Rainbow's increasing distress. The sick fuck is likely finding it enjoyable.

Rainbow starts to sob uncontrollably once I still don't answer her, her strong exterior shattering to pieces. She continues to shake me, even smacking me across the face with a hoof to try and rouse me. Eventually, she scoops me up into her hooves and holds me close, pressing her head against my chest. “Don't go, Seth. Please....there are so many ponies that need you,” Rainbow whispers to me. She pauses, and I think I can even feel her heart pounding in her chest. “I...need you.”

Something stirs in me at those words, bringing me back from the brink of passing out. I start to wonder if I'd heard right, or if being this close to death has muddled my senses.

“Now, isn't that touching? Allow me to interrupt,” Vanta finally interjects with a chuckle, getting tired of standing there . Rainbow's head snaps up and she glares at the giant skeletal construct with more hatred than I've ever seen her express in her eyes. “I was hoping you'd show up before long, pony. I wanted you to be here when I snuffed the life from your friend's body.”

“So, you did this?!” Rainbow demands angrily. She sets me down gently and moves to stand between Vanta and I, hunching down as if she is getting ready to fight. No...don't you fight him. You'll just die too. You need to get out of here before he crushes you too. 

“I most certainly did. Does that make you angry?” Vanta taunts calmly with a sinister edge to his voice. Rainbow scuffs at the ground with a hoof. 

“I don't know who you are, but I'll be darned if I let you take another step closer to him!” Rainbow yells up at the general bravely. “He's mine, do you hear me? I won't let you take him from me!”

The way she's talking...it sounds almost as if she...

Vanta pauses, and then he starts to laugh hysterically. “He's yours? Are you trying to tell me that you're in love with this pathetic excuse for a human? You, when you're a pony?” Vanta questions incredulously. Of course not. That's such a dumb question. There's no way Rainbow would ever...

“Yes, I am!” Rainbow shoots right back at him without hesitation. My eyes shoot open in shock, awareness returning to my body like a hot tidal wave flowing through my veins. She just...Rainbow just...she...

Vanta is silent, and then he growls. “Well, then I'll do you a favor and get rid of the both of you together. I'll let you stay together even as corpses! Isn't that generous of me!?” Vanta starts to run towards Rainbow and I, shaking the ground with every step. Rainbow doesn't budge, gritting her teeth and scuffing the ground again. She's...I can't...

“Thanks for the offer, but I'm going to have to say no...I already have a partner. Shall we go, Seth?”

Then...this means...all those times when she was so close to me and she didn't seem to notice...or when she would always press up against my side even when I didn't need the comfort...

“I've seen how that mare looks at you.”

Rarity...was right? The whole time, Rarity was right? I was just denying it to myself, even though all of the signs were there; it was all child's play for somepony like Rarity to pick up.

“There's no way I can deal with this without screwing it up. Tell me what to do, Rarity!”

That time...she wouldn't tell me not because she didn't want to...but because she was afraid to. She must have been worried that I wouldn't take it well...

“It...hasn't been resolved yet.”

This whole time...how could I not have seen it? If Rainbow cares this much about me...then I can't desert her. I can't die here after hearing something like that...I won't die!

I force  myself to turn over so that I can see Rainbow...and then I see Vanta charging for her. I try to summon my magic, but there's so little of it left that I can't make anything more than a spark. Instead...all I can do is reach a hand out for her as Vanta finally reaches her.

“Wouldn't it be terrible if you had to see your dear Seth die in front of you!?” Vanta roars bringing his fist up in preparation for an assault.

“You'll have to kill me first!” Rainbow expresses vehemently.

Time appears to slow down for me. Vanta finally brings his fist hurtling down and around in a sweeping hammer fist. Rainbow sees it coming and raises a hoof to block, but I can see the power surging around Vanta's fist. There's no way Rainbow will be able to block it.

“Noooo!” I scream in utter anguish just as Vanta's fist slams right into Rainbow's side with a dull whump, picking her right up off the ground with the sheer force behind the attack. Rainbow yelps once and hurtles through the air, tumbling across the ground. I hear one of her wings bend and snap beneath her during the vicious tumble, until finally she skids to a stop just short of the wall. She doesn't rise.

I breathe heavily in shock and horror, refusing to believe what I just saw. Rainbow is going to get up and...my denial shatters when I see her lying there, covered in dirt and bleeding from her side where Vanta's punch had ruptured the skin.

“Done already?” Vanta snorts in disappointment. He lifts up the hand that he'd used to hit Rainbow with, and then talons sprout from them, dim light gleaming along its lethal edge. He starts to approach her fallen form, intent on finishing her off. “Then it's time to end this.”

If...if I lose Rainbow...then...I'll have nothing. I'll have nothing to live for. I can't lost Rainbow. Not when she just revealed how deep her feelings for me truly ran. I have so much to discuss with her...so many more fun times to have with her. I can't even imagine living in this world without her right by my side, where she belongs...and I'll be DAMNED if I let this son of a bitch take her from me!

I stumble to my feet and summon my magic, and this time it responds with a vengeance. My mental barrier shatters in the wake of a fresh wave of magical power coming from deep within me, causing my body to erupt with an incredible surge of darkness and electricity. I shout with all of my might, drawing as much power as I can. 

Vanta catches notice of this, sensing me powering up. He turns his head and stares at the pillar of darkness rising from my body. “What!? This is...you can still move!?” Vanta exclaims with unfiltered shock.

I can feel a strange feeling in my mind, one that I haven't felt in so long. It's the insanity, threatening to take me over once again. Even as more and more power surges from my body, I fight against its influence with all of my might. I pant heavily, my body alight with strange shifting sensations. A line of white hot pain shoots through my right eye, causing me to grunt in pain and clap a hand to the affected spot.

I won't let this magic control me...this is my magic, and I'm going to use it to destroy Vanta on my own terms! Stay the fuck out of it, you useless insanity! I'm better than you! 

My determination causes a sort of breakthrough to occur. The insanity seems to concede and retreat back into my subconscious, but my magic itself seems to increase by several times, exploding outwards from my like a storm of unending darkness. Green bolts of lightning strike the ground around me. Something happens, and there's no other way to describe it, other than I feel something about my body change.

The magic calms down, and I stand stalwart, the pain from my earlier beating seemingly locked behind a mental barrier. Now, one can't even tell that I'm in base form, as there's no magic emanating from my body.

Vanta's reaction is most telling. “What...what did you do? What is that form!?” the general demands angrily, turning to face me entirely.

Form? Ah, yes, I suppose that would be the most accurate way to describe what I am now. I look at my hand, seeing that my fingers have somehow elongated and lost definition, each one fading to a black color and tapering to a point. My hair is streaming up in the air behind me as if suspended in water, such that it flowed and undulated in an ethereal manner. Lastly, a jagged black streak of an unknown material has taken over the right side of my face, looking almost like a twisted scar, except that I could feel raw magic thrumming through its length.

Indeed, I have changed. I'm not sure how, and I'm not sure why, but none of that matters to me now. My gaze moves over to the fallen Rainbow, who is lying motionless on the ground near the right wall. She's hurt, but with my sharpened vision, I can see her chest moving up and down weakly, telling me that she's still alive. My gaze then moves to Vanta, who is watching me with unbridled shock.

“That's enough,” I state calmly, confusing Vanta. “If you aim your claw at Rainbow again...you'll regret it.”

Vanta is silent for several seconds, and then he lets out a sharp laugh. “Hah! Suddenly you're talking rather confidently. Very well, I'll put you out of the picture first. Would that please you?” he responds, glowing cyan magic forming around the construct. “I'll use your body to make the ultimate soldier, and your magic will become mine!”

“No. No more humans will die here in this place,” I tell him, still in that same calm voice. 

“I don't think you have a choice in the matter!” Vanta scoffs. With that, he breaks into a run, using his top speed to zoom towards me, his fist outstretched. My eyes follow his every movement: from the placement of his feet, the movement of his torso, and the speed of his stride. I see it all now, when before it was impossible.

Vanta's fist hurtles through the air at the speed of a rushing train, heading straight for me. I stand there calmly, watching it approach. Just before it lands, I turn on my left foot and deliver a swift kick to his fist. The force behind my attack is so great, the fist blows apart as if hit by a bomb, electricity arcing away from the point of impact. Unlike before, when my attacks would only gouge out a small amount of bone, this time the fist is just gone, shattered to pieces.

Vanta's shock is audible, but he's disciplined enough not to gawk at it. The moment his fist is rendered unusable, he retreats the stump and attacks me with the other in order to buy time for his broken fist to regenerate.

I leap into action, taking to the air and moving just lightly to the left of his attack. I reach out and right hand, sheathed in green electricity and jam it into his wrist. A bolt of piercing lightning shoots from my clawed hand, shooting right through the bony wrist to the other side. Even with that, I don't stop my momentum.

Releasing a shout, I fly up the length of Vanta's arm, dragging through my hand and tearing out a solid line of bone, the lightning traveling up his arm and slicing the entire thing in half lengthwise. When I reach his shoulder, I withdraw my hand and form a large magnum pistol in the rough shape of a desert eagle, and then blast right through the joint with several overwhelming shots that explode upon impact. Even though my rifle broke, I seem to be able to summon it in alternate forms just fine.

Vanta's other arm falls completely off, leaving his construct nothing but a torso with two legs. The first fist that I destroyed appears to be regenerating fast, but I'm not concerned. His magical power that had given me so much trouble, isn't impeding me at all. However, I know why that is. He's using a construct, and as such his magical energy isn't anywhere near as effective as it would be if it came directly from his core. Despite that, it was more than enough to deal with me, the way I was before.

“Where did you get all of this power? I demand to know!” Vanta shouts at me. As bones stream to his left arm in an attempt to repair the whole thing, I give the general the most honest answer I can: a nonchalant shrug. “What the...power doesn't just come from nowhere!”

I feel the magical currents in the air, wrapping around my body. I grab one of them and streak past Vanta's torso in a flash of light, my very body destroying a chunk of his as I pass by. Even as Vanta recoils from the hit, I flip back around and orient on his other side, dashing past it and dealing the same amount of damage. 

Vanta just can't keep up with me. Again and again and again, I speed past him faster than he can handle tearing out chunks of his body in his torso, legs, the regenerating arms, and his skull. It's like I'm a hornet harassing an angry bear...except the hornet is winning.

“It's time for you to die now!” I yell, using a magical current to dash right beneath his chin and back flip in midair such that my two feet are levered into his chin. The impact is enough the shatter his jaw bone and knock the entire construct off its feet. I dash directly above it as Vanta lands on his back, and then form two standard rifles, each one equipped with grenade launcher attachments. “With every second you continue to exist, thousands of human souls cry out in pain! They call for vengeance, Vanta!” 

Vanta lets out a cry as I unload crystalline projectiles the size of tennis balls from my rifles right into his face and torso. Each one explodes upon colliding with his body, demolishing it like a condemned building. I fire so many of them that the entire skeletal construct is engulfed in a dark electrical explosion so vast, a mushroom cloud of dust and smoke forms.

I land on the ground with a soft tap, the rifles dissipating now that I no longer need them. I can see that I've turned Vanta's skeletal body into dust through the smoke. I know he's not gone for good, however.

“S..Seth?” I turn my head in surprise to see that Rainbow is conscious, but she's holding her side and holding her broken wing close to her body. She's looking at me with a little fear. I understand why. Having never seen this form before, the first thing she's going to think of is how I told her how I could go insane. “Is that...really you?”

“Don't worry, Rainbow,” I assure her, giving her a smile. The relief on her face is palpable just from those three words, to the point where she lets out a percussive sigh. “I'm in control.”

“You idiot...how dare you worry me like that! I actually thought you were going to die!” Rainbow shrieks at me, blushing deeply. She's likely figured out that I heard everything that she said earlier.

“I did too. I'm sorry. Yell at me all you want later, but it's not over yet,” I warn her, just as the whispering starts up again. That's Vanta's necromantic magic. The bones on the ground aren't stirring, but nevertheless, Vanta has something else up his sleeve.

“It's not!?” Rainbow exclaims in shock and horror. Then she shakes her head vigorously, as if ridding herself of doubt. When she next looks at me, she's grinning. “Then go and kick his tail straight from here to the moon.”

“I will. Do try not to die in the meantime, won't you? I'd be a just a bit crestfallen if that happened,” I respond sardonically, much to her irritation. 

“Just go and beat him up already so we can go home,” Rainbow huffs, pouting. I nod, and then I walk back towards the center of the room towards where I'm feeling Vanta's magic coming from.

“Are you proud of yourself? Proud that you managed to destroy my construct?” Vanta's disembodied voice demands, echoing throughout the room. I remain silent, waiting for him to continue.   “Look around you. Look at all of the bones I have at my disposal. I can make as many of those as I need to in order to defeat you. It doesn't matter how much power you have!”

“Go ahead. I'll just turn everything you make into dust until there's nothing left,” I challenge him, my eyes narrowing. As long as I have this new power, I'm going to use it to avenge the souls of those that died here.

Vanta is silent for several minutes, and then I feel the ground start to shake. “Very well. Then allow me to let you in on a secret,” Vanta begins, his evil magic filling the air around me. “Do you know why I couldn't bring you down here the moment you got here?”

“I remember you mentioning a range of influence earlier,” I reply, somewhat interested in what he's going to say.

“That's right, but it's more that that. I'm anchored to my body, my true body. There is only so far that I can extend my spirit, and you and the rest of your expedition were outside of that range, except for that one spot in the shaft,” Vanta explains. I glance towards his true body...and then notice something immediately wrong with it. “I cannot leave this complex, for as long as that limitation remains. Thus, I've spent most of my undeath finding a way around this limitation...and I've found it.”

“I'm assuming that it has something to do with your magical core. You're a unicorn, Vanta. Where's your horn?” I hypothesize, indicating his true body. It's true. On the mummified head, where the horn should be, is a neat circular hole, as if the horn had been extracted intentionally.

“Once again, you surprise me with your shrewdness,” Vanta remarks. The shaking of the room intensifies, and then Vanta's magic that's present in the air becomes visible as swirls of cyan light. The swirls start to accumulate in one spot on the ground several yards away from me, forming a raging cyan vortex. “Yes, it has everything to do with my core. Allow me to show you my ultimate creation...the one that I've been designing ever since I was left behind here in the past...”

Dark clouds formed of magic start to coalesce both high in the air above the vortex, and on the ground. Bolts of cyan lightning strike the ground in a hellish storm of evil magic. I can feel the magic in the air intensifying. This...this is Vanta's true might. Whatever happens next, he's not going to hold back on me at all...and that's fine. I'm going to crush him at his best.

“Day after day, victim after victim, I've been piecing this together. Rebels, criminals, and enemies...all of them became part of this, the culmination of both my scientific knowledge and my necromantic expertise,” Vanta continues, his voice rising as the magical display before me grows. “Behold Seth Rogers, the form in which I was finally going to leave this place and walk alongside my master once more!”

With that, the earth cracks and shatters in the center of the swirling vortex. Something is coming. A dark form starts to emerge slowly from the damaged earth. It's smaller and more compact than the monstrous skeletal construct before...but all the more terrifying because of it.

The more it rises, the more I can make it out. It's a skeletal figure, standing seven feet tall. It's entire body, except for its skull, is wrapped in a thin layer of flesh such that it resembles a human body. However, it's easy to tell that the skin came from multiple sources, as I can see stitches holding the individual pieces together. All of it has long since rotted to a sickly gray color.

The lich, for the term skeleton doesn't even begin to do this monstrosity justice, is clad in a tight fitting leather breastplate strapped tightly to its ribs with multiple straps and buckles. In addition, a tattered crimson cloak is draped over its back, fluttering in the displacement of air caused by the magic surrounding it. Its arms are covered by thin crimson sleeves that culminate in brown leather bracers. 

Beneath the breastplate is a jagged golden belt, to which crimson cloth in similar condition to the cloak cascades down his legs, which are lightly armored in leather pants with iron buckles on the knees and on top of the feet.

Its head is fully skeletal, completely untouched by any kind of skin. On top of its skull is a spiked crown made from leather and...to my shock...unicorn horns. There are nine horns forming the spikes, with the largest one in the back being his own. To finish off this twisted creature, its wearing a necklace made from a thick black cord...and it's ornamented with more unicorn horns.

Vanta's spirit streams into the lich, and its eye sockets light up with burning crimson orbs. Once Vanta has taken it over, the body comes alive and his magical power erupts from it in a vast pillar of cyan light that streaks all the way up to the ceiling. I can feel the magic in the air pressing down on me. The general, in this form, is just as strong as Chrysalis was at the height of her power, if not more so. Despite this, I don't budge at all.

Vanta holds out his hand, and a wicked black scythe with jagged edges bursts out of a pile of bones on the left wall of the room and zooms to his grip. Vanta brings the scythe down to his side, and just that one action sends a shockwave through the ground so powerful, it tears up the area for several yards and sends dirt and rock into the air. Finally, Vanta's jaws open and an otherworldly screech bursts forth from his maw.

“Are you impressed? I've been pouring the magic power of everyone and anything I find into this body for years and years, and now that King Sombra is gone, I am the strongest being in existence,” Vanta exults, lifting a bony hand and gazing at it almost lovingly. He glares at me next, bringing his scythe to bear. “Prepare yourself, Seth. With this form, I'll end this in a seco...wha!?”

Right in the middle of Vanta's speech, I zoom forward with the aid of a magical current and I clamp my clawed hand right on his face. I push forward off of my left foot and slam Vanta's new body right into the ground and drag him for several meters, gouging out a rift in the ground. Once I near the far side of the room, I lift him back up and hurl him face-first towards the wall, and then charge after him with my right hand clenched into a fist.

Vanta rights himself by releasing a burst of magic, and thus when I reach him, he lifts an arm to block my attack. When my fist slams against his arm, a shockwave of cyan and electrical power emanates from the impact. His free hand brings his scythe down towards me, forcing me to dodge, but that gives me just enough room to disengage my other arm and uppercut him in the jaw, knocking him backwards.

“Filthy ape!” Vanta growls, and then he charges at me. I rush to meet him, and together the two of us engage in a vicious melee of lightning fast punches and slashes too fast for anyone not on our level to see. 

Each of us grunt and yell with every attack, fists colliding against guards and his scythe coming close to cutting me several times. I bring up my knee into his gut to make him recoil, and then I fly backwards and form my magnum pistol. I quickly aim down the sights and fire shot after shot, aiming for his head first, and then each of his limbs.

Vanta shows off his skill with the scythe by twirling it around expertly and deflecting each and every shot with the flat of the blade. The moment he sees an opening, he fires a blast of cyan magic from his free hand. 

I reach up and knock the blast away with a swipe of my hand, but then Vanta is right in my face, slashing viciously at me with the scythe. I sidestep the vertical strike, and then I proceed to flow around his follow up attacks while flying backwards. Vanta chases me, twirling the scythe around and lashing out at me with the spiked hilt. It gets very close to me several times, but now that my focus is entirely on the fight, I can handle it.

“You're good...but not good enough!” Vanta declares, and then a glowing claw of magic attached to a chain shoots out of his free hand and clamps down around my middle, constricting my arms. He turns and hurls me straight down to the ground, detonating the claw as he does so, obscuring my form with a cyan explosion. Vanta laughs maniacally, and certainly doesn't expect it when I appear right behind him and slam my fist right in the small of his back. 

“Tell me again how I'm not good enough,” I growl in his ear as he grunts in shock, and then I open my fist and fire a bolt of bright green lightning with such force it carries him away from me and into the ground., forming a crater beneath him.

Vanta manages to land on his feet, a steaming hole burnt through his cloak. He hisses and slashes with the scythe, forming an arc of cyan energy that surges through the air towards me, cutting a line straight through the ground briefly before flying up at me. He repeats this motion several more times, filling the air with arcs of magic.

They move really fast, so even though I manage to dodge most of them, one of them grazes my side and burns my skin painfully. I make a small “tch,” of annoyance. The next thing I do is fly an arc around Vanta so fast I leave a trail of darkness behind me, and then summon both standard rifles with the grenade launcher attachments.

“You're not going to hit me with those things again,” Vanta hisses as I open fire at him with the crystalline explosives. He leaps off of his feet to dodge the first one, and then flips again and again to avoid several others. When I fire again while anticipating his movement, he rights himself and uses his scythe to slice through several of them.

While he's distracted, I zoom towards him and execute a vicious right hook...but he grabs it with his free hand. His skull face grins eternally at me, and he retaliates by bringing his scythe down. Unluckily for him, I'd expected as much, so he's surprised when I catch the haft of it in my free hand. In the split second I have before Vanta comes up with a response, I lurch my head forward and slam it into his.

“Gah, damn you!” Vanta grunts, recoiling. He doesn't get any time to rest, because I'm in his face once more, executing a skilled onslaught of kicks. Vanta's body shakes as my attacks batter his chest and legs, until finally I bring my foot back and kick him straight into the air.

Before Vanta can right himself, I speed into the air and jam my fist into his stomach. With a grunt, I form my magnum in a reverse grip and fire several shots straight through him before hurling him clear across the room and into one of the living areas halfway up the wall.

I take a moment to catch my breath, my shoulders heaving. Even with this new-found power, Vanta is strong and resilient. We're practically evenly matched here. However, he's getting frustrated, and I've been able to exploit the openings he's showing.

“You...how are you fighting evenly with me? I'm in my ultimate form, the one I spend millennia creating!” Vanta demands, emerging from the hole in the wall and hovering a good distance away from me. He flares out his cloak, showing me that he's still ready for battle. “What's driving you?”

“The same thing that's driven me the whole time, Vanta. Vengeance!” I shout, forming an orb of darkness in my right hand and dashing towards him. Vanta raises his guard and meets me head on, the blade of his scythe colliding with the orb of magic in my hand. The impact emits a shockwave so powerful that the balconies near us are destroyed, metal shrapnel falling to the ground below. “I'm going to make you pay for the hell you put my people through...for every single one you murdered. And lastly...for daring to raise a hand to Rainbow.”

“Don't act so self-righteous!” Vanta shrieks with fury, hammering the shaft of his scythe into my face and then hooking the blade around my middle and hurling me to the ground. “You were chosen by King Sombra! You're the scum of the human race! You don't respond to the kindness or the depravity of mankind, you stood there and took it! You're not the kind of person that can take vengeance for a race you don't even care for!”

The dust cloud on the ground clears to reveal me standing upright, glaring at Vanta. Blood is dripping from the shallow gash in my back where Vanta's scythe cut me. “Then I'll change,” I declare, more serious than I've ever been in my life. Vanta looks at me in shock and incredulity. “You're right, I've wronged my kind. I complained about the ways of the world, yet never worked to change them. I was as bad as the rest of them. But now...I'm going to take on the burden of that sin. I'm the last human, and I'm going to live on for their sake.”

“But you?” I say, spitting out a bit of blood. I let my power explode out from around me, even greater than before. “I'm going to put you in the ground, where you belong.”

“Foolishness!” Vanta shrieks, and then he holds out his free hand. A vortex of magic forms there, and then a massive pentagram of burning cyan magic traces itself in the air behind him. I watch what he's doing carefully, because what he's doing now looks extremely dangerous. I can feel an incredible amount of magic coming from that glyph. “I'm going to end this, with your death and the extinction of the human race!”

Vanta clenches his free hand, the vortex there flowing out and coalescing into glowing orbs  that fly out to the five points of the pentagram. With a grunt, Vanta forms a series of complex motions with both hands, letting the scythe float in midair next to him. “Face...my necromantic destruction!” Vanta roars, and then he spreads out his arms. The glyph glows intensively, and a massive skull made of black and cyan flame shoots right out of the center of the pentagram at the head of a thick beam of power. 

I grunt and reach out my hand, catching the skull right on its teeth, halting the beam in place. It's so heavy that I'm pushed back constantly, my feet gouging into the ground. I groan with the exertion of holding back so much power. My hand feels like it's burning to nothing, but I endure it. 

I lift my remaining hand, which begins to shine with an emerald light. Behind me, both standard rifles form, floating in the air. Then the magnum appears, followed by the long ranged rifle, the triple barreled shotgun, the two drummed machine guns, and the heavy machine gun. In addition, a heavy rocket launcher forms, along with a grenade launcher and flamethrower. All of these weapons form into a circle behind me.

“Take this! All of my weapons and all of my power! I'll turn you to dust!” I roar, clenching my raised hand into a fist. Every single weapon fires at once, aiming right at the burning skull that I'm holding back. They fire again and again, each projectile joining as one and slamming right against the skull, pushing it away from my hand. Thus freed of that burden, I use as much power as I can into repulsing Vanta's attack.

“What...this is...impossible! How can you push back my necromantic destruction...my ultimate technique!? I won't stand for this!” Vanta also pumps as much magic as he can into overcoming my resistance.

In the end, neither of the attacks can handle the extended contact. With a flash of light so bright I have to cover my eyes, the two attacks intermingle and then explode violently, knocking me right off my feet with gale force winds. Vanta faces a similar dilemma, neither of us having accounted for such pure destructive force.

Everything surrounding the blast is totally destroyed; the bones are disintegrated, the ground is demolished and cratered, and balconies fall from the walls in a rain of shrapnel. Even Rainbow has taken refuge in the main entrance, covering her head and yelping at the total destruction inflicted on this wide room.

Vanta casts his gaze around the area, looking for me through the dissipating smoke and power. Seizing the moment, I appear behind him and knock him down to the ground with a double fist strike. “Gah!” Vanta cries out. He hits the ground on his feet and skids for several meters before coming to a halt a few yards away from his true body. “I'm not going to lose to you! I'm King Sombra's top general! It's impossible for me to lose!”

Vanta sees me streaking through the air at my top speed, heading straight for him. He hefts his scythe and sends several arcs of magic at me once more, but this time I just deflect them away with the flat of my palm. He's weakening. If I'm going to beat him before I run out of power, now's the time.

I land on the ground in front of him and drive my fist into his stomach again, right in the spot where I'd blasted a hole through him earlier. Vanta recoils, but quickly recovers and slashes at me with the scythe...only for me to grab it by the haft again. This time, I sheathe my left hand with green electricity and, to Vanta's utter shock, cleave right through his hand that's holding the scythe.

“It's over, Vanta! Time for you to answer for your crimes!” I roar. With Vanta's scythe in my hand, I put as much power as I can into it, converting the scythe into one of black crystal. Then, I slice right through his body diagonally. Vanta grunts in shock, but I don't stop there. I twirl the scythe around and slice into Vanta again and again, dividing his body into smaller and smaller pieces.

Finally, I reach my free hand under my scythe wielding arm and engulf the remnants of Vanta's body in a blast of darkness, turning his ultimate creation to dust.

The magical field around Vanta's true body sputters and dissipates, such that the mummified corpse drops to the ground. Without a word, I aim my palm at it.

“No...noooo! Stop!” Vanta cries out desperately, but it's too late. With all of my remaining power, I incinerate his true body once and for all, until there's nothing left of it but dust. “Noooooooo!”

I can't help it. I have to bend over, resting my hands on my knees. I pant heavily, completely drained of magical power. My body returns to normal, my hair flopping onto my back and my fingers retracting and regaining their original form. The crack on my cheek recedes as well, until I'm finally looking back the way I used to. It's over...finally.

A glow suddenly illuminates the area around me, and I jerk up in alarm, wondering if destroying his true body hadn't eliminated him for good after all.

Vanta's spirit stands in midair close by. No longer is it a skeleton, or a lich, but now it's just Vanta, looking the way he did in the videos I saw. He looks at me initially with rage, but then it turns melancholic, and he releases a sigh. His form starts to trickle away into nothing, beginning from his legs.

“And so...it's done,” Vanta says softly, looking down at his disappearing form. “All of my long years of life, and this is how it ends: at the hands of the last remaining member of the race that I helped destroy. What poetic justice!”

I remain quiet, letting Vanta say his last words. As twisted as he is, he deserves at least that much. “I think...I think I've lived too long. Three thousand years...such a long time,” he continues, his legs now completely gone. “Heh, I don't even remember life the way it was before I met my King.”

Vanta transfixes me with his gaze, looking serious. “Seth. You haven't won. I'll give you one last warning. Don't think you're safe. There's more to Sombra's plans than even you're aware of. Even if he's gone, they're still a threat,” he tells me, much to my confusion. At long last, Vanta's head starts to disappear. When he says his last chilling words, they echo and dissipate into the air. “You're not alone...”

I stare in silence at the place where Vanta used to be. It's done. I've defeated him, and now the souls of all the humans he's killed can rest in peace. His last words are unsettling and cryptic, so I don't even bother to understand them. 

“You're right, I'm not alone,” I answer, even though I know he can't hear me. I turn around and walk towards the main entrance, where I can see Rainbow limping as fast as she can over to me. “I have friends.”

“Seth! You're all right!” Rainbow exclaims triumphantly. When she reaches me, she looks around. “Is it over? Is it...gone?”

“Yeah it's...oh god,” I try to say, but then the pain catches up to me and my legs buckle beneath me, causing me to collapse and drop the scythe in the process. Even with all that power that I got, I'm still beaten half to death. 

“Seth!” Rainbow cries out in shock, and then she scoops me up in her front hooves before I can fall, holding my head just above the ground. She blushes when she realizes that we're awfully close.

“Don't worry, I'm fine. I just feel like a goddamn train ran over me...twice,” I comment, chuckling a little...which I then proceed to regret. “Ow, it hurts to laugh.”

There's a silence between us after that. Rainbow coughs awkwardly. She knows what she said, and she knows I heard it. I don't think she has any idea how I'm going to react. Honestly, I don't know how to react either to the confession that my best friend has been in love with me for who knows how long. 

“How long? I ask simply, wanting to find out for myself. Rainbow knows exactly what I'm asking about, because she blushes even further and averts her gaze.

“S...Since the royal wedding,” Rainbow admits, hiding her face behind her mane almost like I'd expect Fluttershy to do. Hah, that's adorable. 

"Huh...that's...quite a while ago. And...this is what your problem was? The one you were talking about with Rarity?" I continue. An odd feeling is forming in my stomach. I've heard the term "butterflies in your stomach" before, but I've never really had it apply to me. That's the only real way to describe how I'm feeling right now.

"Yeah...I was going to tell you...eventually," Rainbow defends guiltily. "I just...didn't know how. I've never really felt like this before. Agh, it's embarrassing to talk about! Quit looking at me!"

I can't help but give a chuckle, once again gasping in pain, such that Rainbow holds me closer. "Why did you say it now? Why did that bastard get to find out before I did?" I demand.

"I thought you were going to die, you jerk! Why did you make me worry so much!?" Rainbow shoots right back, anger flashing in her eyes. "I don't know. I was looking for you for the past hour, and when I saw you lying there like that...I just...I panicked. I had to stop him..."

"Now you're the idiot. If I couldn't touch him, you certainly wouldn't be able to," I remark, causing Rainbow to huff. "I can't believe you really...you..."

"Hey, I didn't plan to tell you like this either! You just had to go and get yourself all beaten up..." Rainbow snaps back. Then another silence falls between us, neither of us wanting to talk about what happens now. This is exactly what I'd feared, really. I don't want things to get awkward between us now. Finally, Rainbow breaks the silence. "You're not mad, are you?”

“Mad? Why would I be mad?” I ask her in surprise. It's definitely a shock like no other to find out something like this, but anger isn't the first thing to come to mind. Just...confusion and wonder.

“Because you're always saying how you're not interested in ponies or dating or anything like that,” Rainbow responds, talking at about a mile a minute, tripping over her words. She's still not looking at me, but her cheeks are on fire. She even looks like she's shaking. I understand. I doubt this was how she expected her secret to come out. “Even Rarity said that you kept getting angry every time she brought it up, so I thought that if I ever told you you'd be angry and you'd hate me and...”

“Stop that,” I snap at her, cutting her off mid sentence. I reach up weakly with a hand and gently grasp her cheek, forcing her to look back at me. “Stop being so unsure of yourself and look me in the eye. It's not like you to trip over your words like this. What are you, Fluttershy?”

“Hey! That's not very nice, Fluttershy is a nice...oh,” Rainbow stops in the middle of her protest when she sees me smiling at her. She realizes I'm joking, and she smiles back. There's a small silence as she tries to figure out what to say next. She gulps and asks, “You want me to be confident then, huh? Take what I want?”

“Just be yourself. I hate seeing you act all uncertain,” I tell her firmly. Rainbow nods, and then finally our gazes meet, and unlike every other time I've looked her in the eyes, there's something electric about it. Those two magenta pools of light seem to draw me in, brushing aside my misgivings like they don't even exist.

Rainbow consciously starts to lean in towards me, her eyes starting to close. A shot of adrenaline runs through my body when I realize what's happening. Is she about to...is this really...I've never...I can't...I don't know how to deal with this. My cheeks heat up like a stove. I can't...now I'm blushing and...oh god, this is really happening, isn't it? How do I...Rainbow...

My train of thought continues to become more fragmented the closer she draws to me. My heart pounds in my chest, a million different thoughts and feelings running through my head. Finally, they all merge together into nothingness, and instinct takes over. I close my eyes as well and let Rainbow's hoof guide my head to her. Don't think, Seth. Just fuck your stupid thoughts for once and do something impulsive, and to hell with the consequences.

Finally, at long last, our lips meet in a kiss.



	

	

	

	
> 82. Definition of Love
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Her lips press against mine, completely overwhelming my body with so many sensations that I can't even describe. I can feel her body pressing against me, her muscles tensing and her chest heaving, even as her breath fills my lungs. 

I have no idea what I'm doing. I've never kissed a girl like this before, but it doesn't seem like Rainbow cares. Her hoof is wrapped around the back of my head, holding me close. I can feel her sighing in relief and pure happiness, seemingly stemming from just this simple act.

My cheeks are filled with a heat so intense, unlike any that I've ever felt before. My body feels tense, yet more alive than ever. My heart pumps with an intensity so great that I feel it beating against the underside of my chest. 

I've seen people kiss before, both humans and ponies. Every time I remember thinking to myself how fake it looked; that there couldn't be any possible way that the feelings there were real. Yet now, as Rainbow snuggles up to me, her mane falling onto my face as she ferociously claims my lips for her own, that preconception of mine is just blown away. 

This mare really cares about me. I can tell just by the way she's holding onto to me, as if she never wants to let me go. How hard must this have been for her, to hold this kind of emotion back for fear of my reaction?

Suddenly, my thoughts return with a vengeance, no matter how much I want to ignore them. If Rainbow  harbors this kind of love for me, how much further does she want to go? She mentioned dating, but I don't know what that entails. Can I really give this mare what she wants? She said she was in love with me, but I don't even know what that means.

I start to get scared, and now my mind rebels, especially as the truth of what's really happening dawns on me.  I'm letting a goddamn pony kiss me, and I'm not sure I know how to return the feelings she's giving me, if I even can. 

My heart fills with pain, and I clamp my hands down on Rainbow's shoulders, pushing her away. Rainbow grunts in surprise and confusion, wanting to get back to me, but I won't let her. I can still taste her on my lips.

“I....I can't,” I stammer, a sharp pain seeming to shoot through my heart. It gets even worse when Rainbow puts on a pained expression. It almost makes me regret what I'm doing, but I can't just rush on blindly into something like this without thinking. “I can't do this.”

“What? Why not?” Rainbow asks in an almost pitiful whine. 

“I just fucking can't. You're a pony, for god's sake, and I'm a human. What kind of future would you have if you were with me?” I shoot back. Rainbow's eyes flash.

“I don't care about any of that! It's never mattered to me what race you are! Are you telling me it's mattered to you!?” Rainbow shouts furiously. 

“No! That's not it at all!” I backpedal, realizing that I'd just sounded extremely bigoted against her kind through that one sentence. “I don't know how to care for you in the way that you want, Rainbow! And I refuse to let you blunder into some kind of half baked relationship with me when I don't even know if I can love you!”

“You were the one who told me to go for this in the first place, just a few minutes ago! Why are you only telling me this now?” Rainbow demands desperately, a heartbroken expression start to form on her face. Just seeing her look like that hurts like you wouldn't imagine, and I almost just give in and let her do whatever she wants to me, but...that would still hurt her in the long run. “Is it that you don't feel the same? Is that it?”

“No, it's just...I don't know, Rainbow. You have to understand, I've hated the idea of relationships for my entire life.  This is way too much, too soon for me. You're different than other ponies, and that's why this is so goddamn hard!” I hate this. I knew this was going to happen. This is why I ignored the signs for so long. Please understand, Rainbow.

“I don't believe this. This is just dumb,” Rainbow grumbles. “I wish I hadn't said anything. I knew you wouldn't react well. Why did I think that this would ever work?”

“Stop that! What would have not telling me have done? That would have just made it harder on the both of us,” I snap, hating this situation and hating myself for feeling like this. If Rainbow had felt this way about anyone else, I'd have supported her...or I'm lying, because the thought of that pisses me off. Now I don't even know what the fuck I'm thinking.

“I guess,” Rainbow replies in a lackluster voice. Goddammit, I just need more time to think about this. This is a life changing decision that's just been tossed onto me without any warning. I can't just make a satisfying decision right now. I just wish she'd understand that. Hold on, why don't I just tell her that?

I heave a sigh and regard her seriously. “Look, I'm not saying it's not a possibility...”

“Are you sure about that? I distinctly remembering you saying just that, back in Canterlot a few months ago,” Rainbow grunts. What the...what is she...oh shit.

“You know, jokes like that only work if they lie even remotely in the realm of possibility. Since yours doesn't, I don't give a fuck what you say.” 

This is probably the first time I've been hurt so much by something that I've said in the past. Rainbow said she didn't fall in love with me until the Royal Wedding, but if she remembered me saying something like that...no wonder she was so scared to tell me. That's entirely my fault.

“Don't do that. A lot has happened between then and now,” I respond after a pause. I can't believe I'm actually admitting that I'm considering it. If someone had told me that I would ever consider entering a relationship with a goddamn technicolor pony, I'd have laughed until I cried. “Let me say again. I'm not saying it's not a possibility. I just need time. Time to think. Okay? Can I get at least that much?”

“Do whatever you want, I guess,” Rainbow responds, equally as lackluster as before...and that fucking hurts. I almost want to cry right now, because this right here...this tense feeling I'm feeling between us. This is EXACTLY what I wanted to avoid. What am I going to do if our friendship is ruined because of this? I don't think I'd be able to live with myself.

“Thank you,” I tell her. With a grunt of pain, I push myself off of the ground and get to my feet. I can barely stand with how beaten up my body is. Just the act of standing up is extremely difficult. “Let's get out of here. There should be an elevator shaft in the back. I saw it from the cameras back in the lab. There shouldn't be a barrier now that Vanta's dead.”

“Okay. I can't fly, though. Are you sure we can get up?” Rainbow replies, lifting her only good wing. Okay, at least she's willing to work with me. I can tell that she's mad at me, though. As soon as I can get some time to myself, I have a lot to think about.

“I'll figure something out. Hopefully the thing still has power. Everything else down here has been maintained,” I promise her. “Then, the next thing we need to do is tell Celestia about this place. There's still Oppressed down here and...”

Just as I'm explaining, I feel the ground rumble beneath my feet. Rainbow feels it as well, and she looks around in shock. Adrenaline shoots through my body, my mind shooting to the worst case scenario. Is Vanta back? No, I don't hear any whispering. Then this means...oh fuck.

“I think my fight with Vanta destabilized this place!” I yell out as dust and rock start to trickle down from the ceiling. “We need to go. Now!”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Rainbow agrees, looking nervously up at the ceiling. With as much speed as I can muster, I make for the elevator shaft behind the altar where Vanta's true body used to be.

It's difficult going, but once we reach the shaft, I jam on the button to see if it works. I curse when nothing happens. “Dammit, it doesn't work!” I shout as the room shakes further. Chunks of rock start to fall from the ceiling, crashing into the ground and breaking to pieces. I curse and try to pry open the door. It budges slightly, but it gets too painful to do it on my own.

The door opens further, and I look down to see Rainbow, despite her pain, helping me out. With the two of us, we manage to get the door open long enough to slip inside the elevator car. The hatch is already open, much to our luck, so the two of us help one another through the hole. I look for the ladder , and once I spot it, I point it out to Rainbow. “Over there! There's our way out!”

I start up the ladder first...but my entire body screams in protest, and I can't even get past the first rung. “Agh...it hurts too much...” I huff, glaring at the ladder, and then at the elevator for not working. How the hell am I going to get out of here with Rainbow before the place comes down.

“I'll try flying up!” Rainbow declares, but I stop her by placing a hand on her back just as she's about to do so.

“Not with that wing you're not. You'll just make it worse. There has to be some way to...” I snap at her, but just as I'm trying to come up with a suggestion, I hear a metallic screeching and pounding from far above us. When I look up, I half expect to see something metal and deadly falling towards us, but instead...

“Come here, we're leaving!” My vision is filled by a light blue pegasus landing just in front of me, wearing his black overcoat as always. Am I hallucinating, or is that Gilded Skies? 

Accompanying the airship captain are three more pegasi, two of whom are attending to Rainbow. Before I realize it, Gilded Skies hooks his two front hooves beneath on of my arms, while the last remaining pegasi does the same on my other side.

“Ow, fuck!” I cry out as the two of them lift me up into the air. Rainbow is being carried by the other two, though she's complaining. I don't know how, but the other ponies must have found a way down and come through. “Gilded, what are you doing here?”

“Saving your flank, what does it look like I'm doing here? Be grateful.” Gilded Skies snaps back as if it should have been obvious. With him and the other pony lifting me, it's not long before they take me through the door at the top of the shaft and into what looks like part of the science building. In front of the elevator doors is the remains of a wall, which tells me that this elevator wasn't meant to be found.

Through the wall, there's several other ponies waiting for us, the most notable of which being Commander Iron. The moment the soldier sees me in Gilded Skies's hooves, his eyes narrow and he ignites his horn, surrounding me in his magical aura. “I have Seth! Gilded Skies, take care of Miss Dash. The rest of you, pull out! This place is coming down!” Iron orders the other ponies. 

With me in tow, Iron takes off at a gallop, putting as much distance between us and the elevator as possible. Trapped his magical aura, all I can do is hang there motionless in midair, zooming along behind him. I wonder how he and the others knew where to find us. That elevator had clearly been hidden.

Gilded Skies and the others follow behind us at a similar rate. I can see the foundations of the building rumbling, and it doesn't take very long for the first crack in the floor to appear. With a loud roaring, whole segments of the floor start crumbling away in a cascade of plaster and earth, cascading down into the destabilized room where I'd fought Vanta.

Even though there's certain death waiting for us if we were to slow down, I've experienced for myself how capable Iron is. This wouldn't be the first time I've entrusted my life to him, so I finally allow myself to fall into unconsciousness, the accumulation of injuries on my body finally catching up to me.





When I wake up, the first thing I notice is that I don't hurt anymore. Something is caressing my body in a light warmth that soothes me with every simple touch. I've felt this before, and because of that, I immediately know what's happening. I'm being healed. That kind of magic is pretty advanced, and I only know of three ponies that have done it. A simple analysis of the magic I'm feeling tells me exactly who's helping me. But what the hell is she doing here so soon?

I open my eyes, and sure enough, I see a gentle golden aura all over my body, cleansing my body of its wounds. The caster herself, her horn glowing, is sitting just beside the bed, smiling down at me in a motherly fashion. “You're a little earlier than I expected,” I remark, making her smile wider.

“I do my best to hold to a standard of punctuality,” Princess Celestia remarks. “But don't mind me. Your friends are here, worried sick about you.”

“My friends? As in plural?” I turn my head, and sure enough, there's a ton of ponies standing around me, each one looking both worried and relieved at the same time. What they hell are they all doing here? Actually, where am I, anyway? There's no beds like this at the camp.

“You all right, dude? You looked like you got hit with a train,” Vinyl comments from where she's standing on my left. I can't help but chuckle at that.

“Twice,” I correct her, causing her to laugh as well. 

“Oh thank goodness, you're awake. You were such a mess,” Opal responds next. She's standing with Vinyl as well. 

“What happened down there, Seth? Commander Iron told me you'd fallen, but that's all I knew until the whole camp started shaking!” Twilight exclaims anxiously. She's next to Celestia on my right, along with...

“This calls for an I-survived-the-creepy-school cupcake!” Pinkie proclaims, producing a ridiculous looking confection with the icing on top arranged in such a way that it looks like the Everfree Camp. My eyes bug out as she reaches for my mouth, but she's thankfully stopped by being hit lightly on the head with a newspaper, courtesy of...Rarity?

“Not just yet, Pinkie, darling. Give him some time to fully adjust. He's had a very trying time,” Rarity scolds the hyperactive pony, who doesn't look in the least bit ashamed. “How are you feeling, Seth?”

“What Vinyl said pretty much sums it up. But the better question is, what are all of you doing here?” I ask, looking around at all of the ponies that shouldn't be out here. Not only is Vinyl, Opal, Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity here, but also Applejack, and Lyra. Rainbow is also here, but she's near the back of the room, looking recently healed herself. She only looked once to see that I was okay, but now she's not looking at me at all.

“Why wouldn't we be here? You're our friend!” Lyra reminds me, pushing her way past Vinyl so she can nuzzle my shoulder. “You keep getting yourself hurt. It's not very responsible.”

“No, what I meant is why you're here and not at...” I begin, but then it hits me when I see Nurse Redheart step into the room with a clipboard. “Am I in Ponyville?”

“That's correct. The medical facilities at the base camp weren't sufficient to handle your injuries, so you were moved to Ponyville until I could get here,” Celestia informs me with a smile. The glow from her horn dies down, and so does the magic surrounding me. Knowing what that means, I test out my limbs, feeling as good as new. And the magic inside of me...I can feel a depth to it that wasn't present before. Whatever that form was that I used in the ruins, it unlocked a hell of a lot more magic than I had before. I'm actually a little scared of it.

“We heard you were hurt, so here we are,” Applejack tacks on, giving me a smile. “Apple Bloom wanted ta come, but ah had her go ta school instead.”

“I see. What about the expedition? Shouldn't you be there at least, Opal?” I have so many questions to ask, because the last thing I remember is passing out while running from a fallen building.

“The expedition will be continuing of course, but in the wake of current events, excavations and study are on hold,” Opal reveals to me. “Whatever happened down in the basement levels where you fell, it had all of us terrified.”

“What do you mean?” I inquire curiously.

“Are you kidding? We were just sifting through the library when the entire place started to shake. We thought the whole place was coming down!” Vinyl relates. “One moment, it was fine, and then the next, it felt like somepony was hitting a giant bass drum over and over down there. What happened?”

“I find myself curious as well. I, along with my sister, set out for the Everfree the moment we felt not just one, but two individuals with levels of magical power equal to Chrysalis,” Celestia tells me. Huh, I didn't know she could sense us this far. Or maybe I shouldn't be surprised, because Luna mentioned that she sensed Celestia powering up from a whole country away. But really? I was as strong as Chrysalis then? Wow. “I could tell that one of them was you because of the large outflow of negative energy that I felt, but I'm not certain as to who the other might be.”

“It's a bit of a story. And it's really one that I should tell both you and your sister...and maybe Twilight...in private somewhere,” I inform her, much to the disappointment of the ponies I didn't name. Celestia quirks an eyebrow, hoping for more information. “It has to deal with Sombra. It's not good news.”

Celestia's curious expression freezes on her face, and then it slowly turns grim. She nods solemnly. “Very well. I understand. Then we'll save it for such a time. You sure you don't mind Twilight joining us? Whatever happened down there, it seems to be personal to you.”

I don't even question how Celestia knows that, because I should really just accept her mind reading perceptiveness by now. I glance over at Twilight, who is tactfully remaining silent, though I can tell she's so curious she can barely contain it.

“She might as well. She knows as much about Sombra as the rest of us do. As for how personal it is...well...that's not that big of a deal,” I say with difficulty, my promise to Vanta ringing in my mind. If I'm going to do as I said...then I shouldn't worry so much about Twilight screwing me over. My heart pounds, even as my mind screams at me that telling her anything more than she needs to know is a mistake, but this time, for the first time, I willfully ignore it.

My words cause Twilight to look at me in shock. Similar reactions are exhibited by the other ponies that weren't down there in the basement with me. “You really don't mind? Are you sure?” Twilight asks in surprise.  

“No, I thought I'd say that just to fuck with you,” I respond sarcastically. Twilight ducks her head, but she's smiling with happiness that I'm actually willing to let her sit in on the conversation. “Yes, you can stay. Rainbow's coming as well. That's a given. She was down there with me, so I'm not saying a word unless she's there too.”

Rainbow looks up at that, but not for very long before she looks back at the ground again. Vinyl looks at Rainbow in surprise, noticing how differently she's acting. Then, Vinyl shoots me a sharp look. What the hell is that about? 

“That's fine of course. I wouldn't dream of keeping her out,” Celestia assures me. She rises to her hooves. “Now then, I'll let you take some time to yourself. I need to return to the camp for a while and handle affairs there. Quite a lot of damage occurred during the cave-in, and Luna is already there.”

“All right. Thanks for that. I really need it,” I tell her gratefully. Celestia gives me one last smile, and then she heads for the door, passing Nurse Redheart along the way. Opal leaves ahead of her, giving me a reassuring smile before she leaves.

“I'll return tomorrow morning. Take today to rest and talk with your friends. Afterwards, depending on what you tell me, we may have our work cut out for us,” Celestia says in parting. Just before she leaves, she stops by Rainbow, and shocks her by craning her head down to nuzzle her. While I watch, Celestia whispers something in Rainbow's ear, and then she leaves the room. Rainbow follows her a second later, murmuring something about checking on the weather team. Okay, what the hell was that about? Don't tell me Celestia read this situation too...

“Okay, Mr. Seth, you are free to leave whenever you like,” Redheart announces once Celestia is gone. Just before she leaves as well, she gives me a wry smile. “I mean no offense, but I'd rather not see you in here like that again.”

“Trust me, I know,” I say with a chuckle. Redheart giggles as well, and then she too leaves. “Now then, I'll give the rest of you the short version. Basically there was a whole segment of the school down there where a really evil pony was living. He and I beat the shit out of each other, and that's why it felt like there was an earthquake going on.”

“I...I think you might actually be stronger than I am, if that was your magic that I sensed down there,” Twilight admits, looking both shocked and awed.

“Stronger than you, Twilight? But yer the Element o' Magic! How's that possible?” Applejack questions incredulously. 

“Being the Element of Magic doesn't make me the strongest of all magic users, Applejack,” Twilight replies with that look on her face that suggests she's about to enter a lecture. I shake my head, biting back the smart comment and letting her do her thing.

“Really, are you all right?” Rarity asks me, stepping delicately past Applejack and Twilight. “I'm sure there's more to the story than you're willing to tell. Whatever happened down there must have been tough.”

“Yeah, I'm fine...mostly. I...have a lot to think about, to put it lightly,” I reply. Rarity blinks, and then looks at me oddly. I guess it's because I didn't say something sarcastic to her like I usually do.

“You seem...different somehow,” Rarity observes. I give a chuckle at that.

“Am I? Well, I guess that's a start. Now, thanks for your concern, but I really need that time to myself,” I return. I don't want to tell her what the real issue is, especially not in front of all these ponies. Between finding out that humanity is capable of true kindness, and then fucking up with Rainbow...one day of rest hardly seems like enough.

“Yeah, I need to get going myself. Now that I'm back in Ponyville, I need to get some gigs lined up. Unless you plan on going back, Seth,” Vinyl tacks on, looking at me curiously.

“If I have any say in the matter, I'm not going back to that school. But I may not have a choice,” I answer. What's likely is that Celestia and I are going to crush the remaining Oppressed down there. A lot of humans died there, and I only saw a fraction of them as Oppressed. Magic resistance or not, Celestia's going to turn them to dust. There's a difference between magic, and the power she wields.

“I hope you don't have to go back either. But I'll go with you if you do,” Vinyl responds. With that, she heads out the door. “I'll see you later.”

“I'm headed out too. Thank you for coming to see me,” I say to Twilight, Applejack, Lyra, Pinkie, and Rarity. That gets the rest of them to look at me with a little surprise. I realize that I just thanked them for coming here...when I've only ever just expressed annoyance whenever they've seen me in the hospital in the past. Yeah, well, seeing what I did down in the ruins has given me a bit of perspective on my own life.

“You're very welcome. Let me know if you need anything.” Rarity is the first to respond, tipping her head cordially, a bright smile on her face. With that, she too leaves the room.

“I'll be leaving too. By the way, I heard you got a piano,” Lyra says to me on her way out. I raise an eyebrow at that. “We should totally play something together. Especially if you practice that piece I gave you on Hearth's warming.”

“I've yet to practice it thanks to current events, but I'll get to it,” I promise her, earning a beam from her. I'm not lying either. I've been meaning to look at that piece, because it was beautiful when I hear her play it...even though she decided to flirt with me right after I pointed that out. 

“I'll see you two later,” I tell Twilight, Applejack, and Pinkie. I'm ready to be elsewhere. Once I see them acknowledge me, I leave the hospital room, and then the hospital itself.

The first thing I notice is that it looks like it's early morning. I have no way of knowing how long I was unconscious, because I don't know what time of day it was when Rainbow and I were rescued from the shaft. 

Now that I think about it, we were really lucky Gilded Skies and Iron were there to save us. I was beaten half to death and couldn't climb, and Rainbow couldn't fly. We'd have been screwed in the cave-in. I'd like to know how they knew where to find us, especially if the elevator was hidden. But I guess that can wait.

I take to the air, flying through the waking streets of Ponyville. The fresh town air feels refreshing to me after a month in the forest. I wish I could enjoy the fact that I'm back in town after defeating a powerful enemy, but...my spirits are dampened by the events in the ruins. That's why I'm going home.

I manage to reach home without running into anypony I know, thankfully. I unlock the door and step inside, shutting it behind me. Once I'm safe in my room, I sit down on the edge of my bed and lean forward, resting my head in my hands.

First things first...I've made quite a bit of magical progress thanks to what happened in the ruins. Also, there's this.

I reach out a hand and summon Vanta's scythe, completely converted to the black crystal that seems to accompany all of my weapons. The haft lands in my palm and I clutch it tightly, feeling the balance. Part of me hates that I still have this, but on the other, I did use it to kill Vanta himself. I should probably learn how to wield it if I'm going to keep it. I don't think any ponies use scythes, so I guess the most I can do is practice with it so that I won't be flailing around randomly the next time I try to use it. 

Not to mention...the edge looks lethal. With the way the blade is constructed, it looks like it's made to maximize the pain of the enemies it cuts. I say that because of the serrated edges and barbs on both the edge and the flat of the blade. If possible...I don't want to use this on a living creature. However, if I run into more Oppressed, it's fair game.

And then...my mind turns to the worst thing possible. Rainbow. 





I sit there on my bed for hours, in the same position, thinking hard on what to do about Rainbow. I can't let this wait. One way or the other, I have to make a decision. If I put it off, then the both of us will suffer. I've hurt Rainbow enough. I don't need to make it worse by making her wait.

I care for that mare. I really do. I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for her. I would die if she couldn't be in my life anymore. But can I really give her the kind of love she's looking for? I don't know how to love. Even with Amaryllis...I never really knew if it was love, or just lust. Love is fine, but lust is just plain horrible and disrespectful.

Letting out a growl, I slam my fist on to the bed again, as I have been every few minutes. I have so many conflicting feelings. More than once I envy the way I used to be, when I couldn't give less of a shit about people or ponies. Life was much easier that way, even if it wasn't nearly as fun. I wouldn't have to feel like shit because of somepony I hurt.

Listen to me. Me, Seth Rogers, admitting that I care about someone other than myself. I know that if this had happened back in my school, the other students would be laughing until they cried. But I'm just distracting myself. I don't know what to do. Either way, I lose something.

If I tell Rainbow that I'm not interested, I'm not sure our friendship will be the same after that. After being in love with me for that long, telling her no now would likely break her heart...and I'm not sure I can do that. I don't want to hurt her, and that's what makes this so hard.

If I tell her I am...she would be happy, but I'm not sure if that would be truthful. Then that could lead to tons of other problems further down the line that could be much much worse than just telling her I'm not interested. I guess the real question is...am I in...

Suddenly, there's a knock at my front door. I glance at the window, noticing that the sun is setting. Who the fuck is interrupting me now, when I clearly said that I want time to myself? I ignore it at first, but then the knocking comes again, twice as intense as before. 

I groan and get to my feet. If this isn't urgent, I'm going to kick this pony's ass straight from here to the moon. The way I'm feeling right now, even the most basic of interactions might try my patience. 

Walking down the stairs, I open the door, figuring that it'll just send whoever this is away and get back to thinking. I want to be able to give Rainbow a definitive answer after I speak to Celestia tomorrow, so I need as much time as possible.

“There we go. Thought you weren't going to answer.” To my surprise, Vinyl is the one here to see me. And she doesn't look that happy. That's odd, Vinyl rarely gets angry with me unless I stay something overly nasty to her.

“Oh. Hey. I don't suppose this can wait, can it?” I ask her hopefully. Vinyl's frown deepens, so I'm guessing that's not going to work.

“No, it really can't. I really need to talk to you. Like, right now,” she responds sharply. “As in...get out of my way so I can come in.”

“Sheesh, if you're gonna be that pushy about it, then fine,” I concede with a resigned annoyance and move aside. Vinyl makes her way inside and shuts the door behind her. She walks upstairs towards the living area, taking off her shades with magic in the process. I guess I'll let her say her piece and get back to thinking as quickly as possible. Even though I am a little bit curious as to what's got her so mad. 

In the living area, Vinyl hops up on the couch and sets her shades on the tab. Once I've sat down across from her, she sighs and looks at me seriously.

“Okay, it's about time you tell me what the hell your deal is,” I say, cutting right to the heart of the issue right now. I'm in no mood to waste time by bandying small talk. 

“No wasting time, huh? All right then. I guess I'll cut right to the chase,” Vinyl states. Hurry up and tell me already. I really don't want to deal with another issue other than the one I already have. “Did Rainbow tell you?”

“Did Rainbow tell me wha...” I start question, but then her true meaning hits me right in the middle of my sentence. “Oh. Ooohhhh.”

“That answers that question. Looks like you know exactly what I'm talking about,” Vinyl nodded in understanding, confirming that her suspicions were right. Shit, she came here to talk to me about the same issue that I'm dealing with.

“Yeah...I do. Am I like, the only one who didn't know?” I demand, a bit annoyed that even Vinyl knew before I did. 

“Pretty much. Anypony who knows her that have seen her with you know how she feels about you. It's as plain as day,” Vinyl reveals to me with a bit of a wry expression. As plain as day. I must be pretty fucking stupid then. I didn't notice until Rarity said something, and even then I denied it until Rainbow actually said so herself. “But what the hay did you say to her? She didn't even speak to you in the hospital room, and that's not normal, knowing how tight you two are.”

“I...I'm not sure I should be telling you that,” I say uncomfortably. I don't even know my own thought process. How the hell can I explain it to Vinyl?

“I'm your friend, right? Look, the both of you have shut yourselves up in your houses for the entire day. Whatever you're doing to handle this, it's clearly not working,” Vinyl shoots back, clearly not putting up with any stubbornness on my part. “Help me understand here. From my point of view, my two best friends are acting like they hate one another, and I'm not going to just sit at home tuning my tables.”

“I don't know what you want me to say. While I was fighting one of the most vicious motherfuckers I've ever dealt with, Rainbow let slip her feelings...” I reveal to Vinyl, who nods and gestures for me to continue. “Then, after I won...she uh..well...oh god I shouldn't be talking to you about this. It's very recent to me. Besides, you've been making jokes for the past few months.”

“I'm not going to joke about this, Seth. This is important to me, and I'm not going to make fun of the things you say. Especially not now. I need to know what you said to Rainbow,” Vinyl assures me vehemently. She's right. Come to think of it, I've never really seen her this serious about something.

“I told her I wasn't sure if I could give her what she wanted,” I admit, deciding to omit the kiss entirely. That's not her business. “Not to mention, she's a pony. Do you know how wrong it would be considered back in my time for something like this to happen?”

Vinyl gazes at me incredulously for a few seconds, and then she facehoofs with both hooves, groaning. “Oh, dear Celestia, you are such an idiot,” Vinyl scolds me, rubbing her face as if she has a headache.

“Pardon?” I ask, wondering if I heard right. Did she just call me an idiot?

“You heard me. You are just so stupid. You're telling me you told her no because you cared about what some long gone guys might think!?” Vinyl demands angrily. Holy shit, now she's really mad. “They're gone, so it doesn't matter what they think!”

“That's not the point! I've grown up my entire life having those ideas drummed into my head!” I snap back at her. 

“You're Seth! You don't care what other guys think! Why are you letting their views on romance get in your way? Having a relationship with a pony isn't going to kill you, you know!” Vinyl points out to me, getting up from the couch and walking right up to me. “It seems more to me like you're afraid!”

“Afraid of what, exactly!?” Now it's my turn to get to my feet so that I tower over her. Being yelled at like this always raises my ire, so now I'm yelling back. “Come on, tell me!”

“Of commitment! Of love! Instead of admitting that to yourself, you're just making excuses!” Vinyl says boldly...and her words cut right through me. I have to sit down at that...a cold sinking feeling burdening my heart. Is she right? Am I really just afraid to be in a relationship with Rainbow? “So why don't you tell me the real reason you told Rainbow no?”

I sit there in silence, piecing the words together in my mind. If we're already this far into the conversation...perhaps I should trust Vinyl. Maybe she can help me make some sense of what I'm feeling. It's not like I was making any progress on my own.

“I'm not sure I love her, Vinyl. I don't even know if I can love. I don't know what it feels like,” I confess haltingly. “What if I'd told her yes, and then it turned out that I didn't really love her? That would be a cruel thing to do to her.”

“That's much better,” Vinyl responds. She doesn't look like she approves; instead she displays a calm acceptance on her face. “This we can work with.”

“There's more than that too. There was another girl I cared for, back in my time.” I can't believe I'm about to tell her this. But, if I do tell her...then maybe she'll understand. Vinyl's eyes widen upon hearing that. “Except I didn't even know if I really loved her then, either. I didn't know if what I was feeling was truly love, or just lust. I didn't believe there was a difference.”

“Of course there's a difference. There's a huge difference,” Vinyl corrects me, looking stern. “This girl you mentioned. When you were around her, did you ever think about her like you wanted to have sex with her?”

“What? Hell no. I never thought about Amaryllis like that. I mean, she was beautiful yes, but I wouldn't just...that's just disrespectful. She was a living, thinking individual, not some kind of sex object!” I deny indignantly, angry that Vinyl would even ask a question like that. 

That answer seems to please Vinyl, to the point where she smiles in relief. “Another question then. What did you think when you were around her?”

“That's...a difficult question,” I tell her truthfully, because my thoughts were usually a jumble. Not to mention, I'm still feeling a little hesitant about sharing some of my most personal secrets with Vinyl. But she seems to have some kind of point to make...so I extend a little more trust to her. “Most of the time, whenever I was with her, I would be having so much fun, all I could think about was how I wish it would never end. That I could stay with her all the time and keep her smiling, even if it didn't really benefit me.”

“And that, my clueless friend,” Vinyl states, beaming at my response. Then she slaps the table with her hoof. “...is love.” 

“What? That's it? That's really all it is?” I ask incredulously. There's no fucking way it's that simple. 

“That's really it! It's not some impossible to understand thing like you make it out to be,” Vinyl assures me. I look down at my hands in disbelief.

“But what about sex? Every time I hear about love, sex is always a goddamn factor. And that always makes me sick,” I demand, wanting to hear Vinyl's explanation for this.

Vinyl heaves a sigh. “Well, on that, it depends on the couple. But here's my opinion. True relationships don't need it to stay happy. But sex has the possibility to make a true relationship even better than it already it is,” she explains. Okay, I think I get what she's trying to say, but that doesn't explain why all I ever heard about in my time was sex and not love. “In other words, you don't need to have sex with somepony to love them.”

“I see...” I reply faintly. This conversation suddenly reminds me of that conversation I had with Chrysalis, way back during the Royal Wedding. A guard, under the influence of a truth spell, swore that even if he couldn't have sex with his wife, he wouldn't ever leave her. 

“Now, here's my final question,” Vinyl presses on. “I want you to remember how you felt with this last girl you loved. Now think hard, and then ask yourself: do you love Rainbow?”

That question takes me by surprise. But, thanks to Vinyl's help, I can think about this much more clearly. Do my feelings towards Rainbow feel like my feelings towards Amaryllis?

I know one thing for sure. I can't picture myself living in this world without Rainbow now. I don't want to. I've told myself hundreds of times that she's essentially my reason for living. And I don't ever want her to go away. I want her to stay right by my side, with that stupid grin, her ridiculous mane, and that incredibly high ego. 

With all of this in mind, thanks to what Vinyl said...it's so much easier to come to a decision. Like Vinyl said, who the fuck cares that she's a pony? Everyone that would judge me for it is dead, and I guess it's really what's on the inside that matters.

“I...I think I do,” I admit. Vinyl grins widely, and she claps me on the shoulder, pleased. “But...one more thing. I loved Amaryllis a lot. If I suddenly got together with Rainbow now, wouldn't I be betraying her?”

“Honestly, I can't speak for this girl. But...if she cared about you as much as you cared about her, then I think she would want you to be happy,” Vinyl assures me. Would she? I find it hard to picture Amaryllis with feelings like that...but I guess in the end it doesn't matter. I love you, Amaryllis, but I can't hang onto you forever.

“All right,” I say, and then I get to my feet. “In that case, I have someplace to be.”

“Darn right you do. You go up there and you talk to Rainbow,” Vinyl agrees enthusiastically. She starts pushing me towards the stairs with her head. “Then you come down here and buy me some cider, because you're so clueless I had to walk you through this.”

“All right, quit pushing, I'm going. Thanks, Vinyl,” I say sincerely.

“Don't mention it. That's what friends are for. Now stop talking to me and go!” Vinyl calls after me as I dash for the door, figuring that Vinyl will show herself out.

Goddamn, I really made a huge fucking mistake, didn't I?
> 83. Love Grows
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I throw open the door and immediately take to the skies, mentally berating myself for being as thick as I have been for the past month or so. But at the same time, I can't help but feel a little...happy. It's difficult to explain, but it feels like I've finally been relieved of some great burden that's been holding me down for years.

If Vinyl is right, then that whole time I was friends with Amaryllis, I wasn't secretly lusting for her like all of the other worthless men that have set their sights on her over the years. I wasn't just going to be one of the others that she ditched and left behind once she discovered their intentions. Knowing that I was really in love with her really makes me feel a lot better, even if its slightly tempered by the wish that I could have told her at least once before I was transported here.

And even after I discovered her fate, despite my fervent vow that I would never feel like that towards anyone else again, I've gone and fallen in love again...with a goddamn pony. The very idea of something so absurd makes me laugh aloud. This stupid fucking pony that I've been hanging out with practically every day since the moment she saved me has made me soft...though I guess that's not really a bad thing, provided I don't lose my wits.

Honestly, every since I met her, I've spent less time staying awake at night cursing the life I've had, or spending each and every day bitter about the shit I've had to deal with. I won't let myself forget the lessons I've learned over the years of course...but when I'm with Rainbow, I feel like none of them matter.

Orienting myself in midair above the town hall, I look around for Rainbow's house. It's mobile, so finding it may be a challenge if she's moved it again. I can't see it anywhere close to town. Maybe I should have asked Vinyl where her house is currently before heading out. I guess I was so eager to set things right that I overlooked that detail. Heh, that's just like me.

The low lying stratus clouds just above me split like the ocean before a speeding boat as I soar towards the last place I saw Rainbow's house. Maybe if I'm lucky, it'll still be near Whitetail Woods where I told her about my brother and Amaryllis.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like that's the case. When I near the area where it should have been, it's just completely empty, causing me to come to a halt and hover in midair.

“Okay, where the fuck did you go?” I muse aloud, turning back to town. She can't have gone far. I  mean, it's rather hard to hide a house like that. Or maybe I went the wrong direction entirely.

Once I reach town, I notice that there are some weather ponies cleaning up the stratus clouds from the sky, so that the night will be clear and open. Maybe some of them will know where Rainbow is.

Much to my luck, I run into some familiar faces that I haven't spoken to in a while, like Flitter and Cloud Chaser. Flitter, hilariously enough, practically jumps right out of her fur as I streak to a stop just in front of her, my magic slightly disrupting the clouds around us. 

“S...Seth? You scared me,” Flitter gasps, holding a hoof to her chest. Once she composes herself, she gives me a small smile. “It's been a while. How are you doing?”

“Hard to say. Sadly, I don't have the time for talk right now. Tell me, do you know where Rainbow's house is right now?” I ask, getting right to the point. I'll apologize if I'm coming off as rude later.

“Rainbow's house? She's always moving it around, so I'm not sure. Let me think...” Flitter muses, rubbing at her chin with her hoof. Behind her, Cloud Chaser, who's been listening in, starts snickering for some reason. “I think I may have seen her moving it somewhere near the cliffs on the edge of town near the Everfree Forest. Why, is something going on?”

“Nothing important. I just need to speak to her and she'd being reclusive. Thanks Flits,” I tell her quickly, and then I immediately zoom off, leaving the poor mare mouthing my random nickname for her incredulously.

“Go get her, lover colt!” Cloud Chaser calls after me with a teasing grin.

“Fuck you, Cloud Chaser!” I yell back at her, once again reminded of how oblivious I must have been, if everypony I meet seems to know exactly how Rainbow felt. Cloud Chaser's reaction is to barrel over backwards, laughing her ass off.

Flitter said over the cliffs near the Everfree. That's the complete opposite direction from where I've been looking. No wonder.

Sure enough, I can see Rainbow's extravagant house hovering high above the cliffs, beneath which the river flows by steadily. Hang on, I recognize this place. This is where I tried to die, several months ago, after finding out that Sombra is dead and that this life is all I have to look forward to. In addition, it's also where Rainbow saved me, where she dedicated herself to proving me wrong about life. And she did, truth be told. Man, did she ever prove me wrong. It's weird, admitting that to myself. It's also oddly fitting, that I should speak to her about this here, where it all began.

I cast the cloud walking spell with a snap of my fingers just before I land on the walkway leading up to her door. I look up at the house, trepidation filling me inside. Well, here I am. Now that I'm here, it's suddenly an effort just to take a single step towards her door. Part of me wants to just fly away and hide in a closet somewhere, where I don't have to deal with shit like this.

“Come on, Seth. It's not like I'm coming here to fight with her,” I say, taking a moment to reassure myself. “God, this is pathetic. What, is my leg going to cramp up now?”

I chuckle at my own dumb reference, and then steadily approach her door, my pulse beating faster as I do so. If all goes well, this should be a happy meeting. There's no sense in getting all nervous about it. Of course, even though I say that, I'm nervous as fuck.

When I reach the door, I force myself to knock on it firmly. Now I know I'm locked into this course of action.

I stand there for several seconds, hearing nothing but silence from the other side of the door. I start to wonder if she's not actually here, despite what Vinyl said about her being shut up in her house. I'm not going anywhere though. If she's not here, I'll wait until she does come back.

All of that becomes unnecessary when the door opens a crack, a full minute later. Rainbow peers out at me through the small gap. Once she sees me, her eyes widen and she opens the door fully. Oh wow, she looks pretty bad. Her eyes are ever so slightly reddened, to the point where I almost didn't notice. Her cheeks look a little puffy as well. All of this makes me feel pretty shitty for letting it go this far in the first place.

“Seth?” Rainbow asks in disbelief, an air of tense hopefulness about her. That quickly changes, her eyes narrowing and her posture slumping. Her next words are spoken in that same lackluster fashion that I came here to fix. “What do you want?”

“Not to have a private conversation on your doorstep. Want to let me in?” I remark, trying to make myself appear confident. I don't think it worked though, because Rainbow doesn't appear amused.

“I don't think there's anything more to say. You made it pretty clear to me where you stood,” Rainbow tells me forlornly. I huff in irritation when she still doesn't move.

“Can we not do this here? Let me in so I can talk to you while not freezing to death,” I demand, starting to shiver as a chill wind sweeps across me. Rainbow hesitates, but I'm not having any of that. “You can either let me in, or I'm going to camp out here on your doorstep.”

“Fine. Come in. But I still don't think there's anything to talk about,” she relents, stepping aside. I rush inside gratefully and close the door behind me, shutting out the chilly air.

Because I know my way around her house, I navigate through the lower level until I find the nearest couch, which I then plop myself down upon. Sighing, Rainbow climbs up on it as well, sitting on the opposite end from me. Now, we're facing one another.

At first, nothing is said, leaving an awkward silence between us. Should I be blunt, or should I ease into it? How do I go about apologizing for the shit I made Rainbow feel, and then say that I love her too? God, this is so stupid.

“Well?” Rainbow finally addresses me expectantly, shifting around on the couch like she always does when she's impatient.

“Fuck it, I'll just say what comes to mind,” I say aloud, confusing Rainbow. No point in agonizing over the things I say when I'm already here. “First off, I want to say that I'm sorry.”

“Sorry? For what?” Rainbow prompts, perplexed. “You don't usually apologize.”

“Unless I fuck up majorly. Which I've done before, and I just did again,” I correct her, remembering the royal wedding with a little pain. “Oh god, this is going to be sappy as fuck. Look, I care about you. A lot. So I want you to know that when you confessed to me down in those ruins, I was happy...and terrified.”

“Terrified of what? There's nothing scary about me...liking you a lot more than I probably should,” Rainbow demands, blushing a little at her own words.

“That's not it. I was terrified that you'd die. Terrified that you'd disappear before I could get to sort out my own feelings. I think that's why my power responded the way it did. I was so goddamn scared I'd lose you that I almost lost myself,” I confess, a chill running through my body after saying all these things. I start feeling a little hot in this shirt, even though I know it's not that warm in here. “But even with that, I pushed you away. And that's what I'm sorry for.”

“You're...sorry for pushing me away? What does that mean?” Rainbow questions, looking at me with interest and veiled hope.

“It means I'm a dumb fuck. I was telling the truth that I didn't know what love felt like, or if I could truly make you as happy as you deserved,” I continue, throwing aside all of my mental barriers for the first time in my life so that I could finally tell someone how I truly feel. “But...I had time to think.”

“And...?” Rainbow seems to be getting even more hopeful with everything I say. There's no way I can turn down those puppy dog eyes she's giving me. And that's fine, because I don't want to. Rainbow squeaks when I suddenly reach over to her and grasp her just beneath her front legs, lifting her right up off the couch and over to me. “Yaah! What are you doing? Put me down!”

I open my arms and let her fall into them, deciding that the only way of letting her know of my decision is to show her. Rainbow scrambles around a little on my chest, scraping my skin with her hooves. She tenses up when she feels my arms wrap around her back, but she slowly starts to relax when she realizes what I'm doing. She snuggles up against me and drapes her hooves over my shoulders. “Seth...?” Rainbow whispers into my ear.

I can't help but chuckle drily at this situation. “I can't fucking believe this. I'm in love with a goddamn technicolor pony,” I say, both to myself and to her at the same time. Rainbow gives a little gasp, and then she squeezes me tightly with her hooves. “If my family could see me now, they'd be laughing until they cried.”

“Stupid Seth,” Rainbow returns, a tone of happiness entering her voice. “You're making a bad habit of breaking my heart...and then telling me exactly what I need to hear. How do you do that?”

“It's a gift, I suppose,” I reply with a hint of humor. One of my hands starts to stroke the fur on her back gently, because it just seems right to do. “The better question is, how the fuck did you get me to fall in love with you? I hated everything so much...I hated you, back when I first met you.”

“I'm just that awesome,” Rainbow brags, but this time, instead of annoying me, it's actually a little endearing. Seeing her in my arms like this, feeling her heart beating against my chest, it's surreal. I never thought I'd be with my best friend like this. “Now c'mere! It's time we do this right.”

Rainbow releases me, squirming around in my grip until she's curled up in my lap almost like a cat, her side facing upwards and her cutie mark on full display. She cranes her head up to look at me with a half-lidded gaze, her lips curling into a coy smile. Hold on, is she about to...oh god, is this happening again? Am I ready for this?

Rainbow starts to lift her head to mine, her eyes closing in the process. Yeah...this is happening. But...you know what? As weird as this is, nopony in this time is going to judge me for it. Anyone that would is gone, leaving only me...and this amazing pony that wants to kiss me.

Thus decided, I meet her halfway, our lips meeting at last in a display of mutual feelings. Heat floods my body from the contact, blowing away any other thoughts or sensations in a wave of passion. Unlike the first time we kissed, this one feels so much better, almost electric. Unlike the first time, this feels like how a kiss is supposed to feel.

I breathe in through my nose and reach a hand around behind her head, my fingers intertwining with her mane and holding her close to me. Rainbow shudders in delight, giving a soft sigh. The contact feels odd, because our lip shape is so different, but it doesn't seem like that matters to either of us.

Rainbow is the first to break off the contact, both of our faces flushed and hot. When she opens her eyes, she smiles at me with such joy that I don't regret doing this for an instant. 

Suddenly, Rainbow pushes down on my chest with her front hooves, knocking me over so that I'm lying on my back. She climbs on top of me and sits on my chest. “One more time,” she whispers, and then once again her head snakes down and claims my lips for her own.

Fucking hell...I don't know what's worse: the fact that I'm kissing a pony, or the fact that I'm actually enjoying it.

When Rainbow and I finally part once more, we right ourselves, sitting side by side. Despite how incredible that experience was, there's still more to talk about.

“Wow...it's so much better when you're into it,” Rainbow admits, flushing and chuckling. I nod breathlessly, agreeing whole-heartedly with her. Just this one moment defines how much this world has shaped me. I've gone from hating everyone and everything, to kissing this goddamn pony and loving every second.

“Rainbow? I need to ask a question,” I tell her, still tasting her on my lips. It's a weird feeling, but not an unwelcome one. Rainbow nods, looking at me expectantly. “Why me? There must have been so many other stallions out there better and easier than me to fall in love with. Take Soarin, for example. That guy even asked you to dance, and you turned him down for me. Why?”

Rainbow thinks about that for a second before turning back to me. “Why? Well, I'll start by saying that I wanted a stallion that could fly with me. And all of the pegasi stallions in town are either too boring, too dumb, or just utterly uninteresting, at least in a romantic sense,” she begins, as I listen attentively. “As for Soarin? Maybe at one point I might have liked him...because he's a Wonderbolt and all, but it felt nothing like this. It was probably just a celebrity crush, and that's all.”

“As for why I like you, I've told you a few of the reasons already. You're just, you're Seth,” Rainbow attempts to explain, comically gesturing with her hooves.

I comically check myself. “Holy shit, say it isn't so. I had no idea I was Seth! I need to go somewhere and have an existential crisis...” I tease her, only for her to buffet me in the face with her wings. “Hah!”

“Oh, keep quiet, you jerk,” Rainbow returns, hiding a smile. “No, I mean, there's nopony out there like you. You're a total jerk at times, but you're also as witty and mischievous as I am. You're willing to do things with me that nopony else will. Like when you went to the airshow with me.”

Rainbow looks a little somber then, telling me she's about to talk about something more serious. “You've also given up a lot for me. You could have gone home to your family and Amaryllis, but you didn't. You stayed behind and gave all of that up for me. That's not something I can just forget,” she tells me fervently. “You fought Chrysalis even though she almost killed you...all for me. I already liked you a lot before those things...that just made me fall for you...and dear Celestia I'm being sappier than maple syrup!” Rainbow complains the moment after she finishes speaking. I choke with laughter, haven't expected her to say something like that after such a heartfelt speech.

“I think that's a given in this situation. How do you talk about this shit without sounding sappy?” I reassure her. Rainbow opens her mouth, and then shuts it while nodding ruefully. A wave of happiness strikes me now that I see Rainbow acting like her usual self. “But...I guess I understand. You really don't care that I'm a human?”

“Not at all!” Rainbow declares,  rubbing up against me. There's a small silence as the two of us enjoy one another's company, this time with a sense of contentment unrivaled by anything I've ever felt falling over me. Is this what it's like to care for someone, and know that they're caring for you right back?

“So...” I say awkwardly. I'm entering new territory here. I have no fucking clue we're supposed to do. “What happens now? Are you like...what's the word you ponies use...my 'marefriend?'”

Rainbow puts on a grin at my question. “Don't be stupid. Of course not,” she teases me. I blink and look back at her, confused. Was that the wrong phrase? Did I say something stupid? Rainbow then reaches up and nuzzles my cheek affectionately. “You're my coltfriend. You hear me? You're mine.”

“Oh goddammit, you're one of those,” I complain in mock resignation, and then the two of us chuckle. I guess I don't mind being hers, so to speak. “Though seriously, what happens now? I don't know how this works.”

“I hate to break it to you, but I don't really know either,” Rainbow says with an uncaring shrug. My jaw drops. Seriously? “Really, I don't think much should change. I mean, you're still my best friend. Only now, I can kiss you.”

“Well then. I guess that makes things easier to handle,” I say, looking a little awkward. Are relationships really that simple? Or is Rainbow just unique in that she doesn't expect anything other than what we already have? Because I've seen some girls act ridiculously clingy, or expect their partners to go out of their way to please them. But...if all Rainbow wants is to keep doing what we've been doing, only with occasional added affection, that makes things much easier to understand. 

Suddenly, a thought strikes me, and it fills me with such horror that I freeze noticeably. “What?” Rainbow asks, noticing my change in posture.

“We can't let Pinkie know. Oh god,” I state with horror. Rainbow blinks and stares at me for a few seconds, and then she bursts out laughing, falling onto her back. “I'm being serious! If she finds out...can you imagine the size of the party she would throw? It would never end!”

“You had me freaking out there for a moment, and it's just about Pinkie?” Rainbow exclaims, slapping the couch with a of in an attempt to contain her laughter. “It's probably best to get it over with. There's no stopping Pinkie when she senses the opportunity for a party, and she's been craving one ever since we got back. Besides, Rarity will figure it out in less than a second after seeing me.”

“Right, because Rarity reads minds. Ugh, but still. Pinkie's going to go nuts with party preparations. I just know she's going to find a way to surprise us even though we know it's coming,” I express, rubbing my forehead. I know I'm just being difficult for the sake of it though. It's going to be embarrassing as fuck once this gets around, so I think it would actually be a better idea to have a party so that everypony figures it out all at once.

Rainbow suddenly looks at me oddly, as if she'd just remembered something important. “Speaking of Rarity...I've told you my problem now. It's time for you to tell me yours now, right? At least, that's what you promised to do,” she reminds me. I freeze, that promise coming back to me.

“Shit, I completely forgot about that, what with falling in a hole and fighting everything from zombie Broly to something right out of a Drakan game,” I emit with bitter humor.

“Sooo...” Rainbow prompts, looking rather pleased with herself.  Wait, she wants me to do this now? I...don't think I'm prepared to relive that time of my life just yet. But, I did promise, and I'm not one to go back on my word.

“You mean...Janna. You want me to talk about her, don't you?” I ask, my voice in a low growl, memories of that time already starting to flood to the surface. Just thinking about it makes me shake and clench my hands into fists. Rainbow notices the sudden change in my demeanor, and the smile drops from her face.“Let's not do that tonight. I'd rather just enjoy this time with you without the thought about that bitch bringing me down.”

“Okay, I guess we can put it off. When will you be ready?” Rainbow relents after seeing how agitated I am just thinking about the past. 

“How about after we finish dealing with Celestia tomorrow? After that, if I can help it, I'm coming right back to Ponyville. Then I'll tell you everything,” I suggest. I try to calm down. Once I tell Rainbow, I won't have to think about Janna ever again. I shared it with Amaryllis, and that was difficult. I'm hoping it'll be easier with Rainbow, especially since we're...together, I suppose. 

Just thinking that makes this whole situation seem surreal. I can't believe I'm in a real relationship for the first time in my life, and it's with a pony. With luck, After Celestia and I deal with the issue of the Oppressed down in the ruins, the threats will at last be over, and I can find out exactly what a relationship means.

“Got it. I'm holding you to that, you know,” Rainbow warns me, waggling a hoof in my face.

“Yeah, yeah.” With that, we fall back into a comfortable silence, until I look out the window to see that the sun's already gone down. “Christ, how is the day already over? It felt like it was dragging on forever earlier today.”

“I know, right? Why is it that time decides to be as fast as me right now?” Rainbow agrees, while at the same time managing to stroke her own ego. Goddammit, Rainbow. “I guess if we're going to see Celestia tomorrow, I should get to bed. You can take the couch in my room again if you want.”

“Don't mind if I do. It's cold out there, and the wind chill from flying gets pretty bad,” I say gratefully. Once Rainbow hops off of the couch, satisfied with the situation, I follow her up the stairs to her room, the sight of which I've only seen once before.

“It's not that bad. You just don't have any fur,” Rainbow teases me, earning a groan from me. “Hang in there though. Winter Wrap Up will be soon, and then it'll be warmer from then on.”

“Winter what the fuck?” I question, finding that phrase to be rather odd. The way she said it makes it seem almost like an event rather than a turn of nature. Oh, you've got to be kidding me...

“Winter Wrap Up. It's when all the ponies in each town clear up the wintry weather and get spring ready,” Rainbow explains as if it's the most commonplace thing. “We weather ponies clear away the snow clouds, and then the other ponies do things like slice up the ice on the rivers, wake up the animals, and...”

“Stop!” I interrupt her in the middle of her senence. Rainbow cuts off and looks at me curiously. I then heave a long and drawn out sigh of exasperation. “Winter Wrap-Up means that ponies literally wrap up winter, doesn't it?”

“Pretty much!” Rainbow replies cheerfully, and then she heads towards the bathroom as I groan once more. Somehow I keep forgetting that this world is beyond fucked up, thanks to Discord. “I'm going to take a shower!

“All right.” I hop onto the couch and stretch out on my back, the cloudy surface of the furniture making me feel extremely comfortable and relaxed. I forgot how amazing these clouds are to lie on. Though I bet it sucks to fall through them. I make sure to cast an extra strong cloud walking spell over me to keep me from falling to my death in my sleep.

The water starts to run in the other room, filling the room with a soft ambience. Rainbow ruins it by abruptly poking her head out of the bathroom and gazing at me mischievously. “I don't suppose you'll join me this time?” she asks. I immediately give her a sharp look, not taking her bullshit for an instant.

“You know EXACTLY why I'm not going to do that!” I yell at her, causing Rainbow to nearly fall over laughing. She retreats back inside of the bathroom. Yeah that's not something that's happening. I don't think she was serious at all.

I should probably shower myself...but I can do that in the morning before meeting Celestia and Twilight. For now, the sound of the water in the shower is lulling me to sleep. It's been a long day, after all. It started off horribly and I didn't get a chance to relax until just a few minutes ago, but I think I can say that it ended well.





The next morning comes a lot sooner than I would have liked. As usual, I'm the first to wake. I've been waking up very early every morning for the past month due to the expedition, so my infernal biological clock wakes me up at the exact same time. I think it will take a while for it to get back to normal. 

Well, as early as it is, I think I'll go and get my shower now. Maybe that'll give Rainbow some time to wake up. 

When I step into Rainbow's bathroom, I realize I've never used her shower before. It looks...weird. It's made of clouds. There's a tub, toilet, sink, and shower head made entirely of clouds. So if I turn on this nozzle here...technically it's raining in the bathtub. Fucking magic.

A quick shower later makes me feel refreshed and ready to take on the day. Glancing at my reflection in Rainbow's mirror, I look at my hair critically. Hm, I could use a haircut. A month of working has it growing down past my shoulders again.  I guess I should pay the spa a visit, because they know how to do my hair.

Rainbow is still asleep when I'm finished, despite all the noise I'd been making. Not for long. I approach her, and as I walk past, I casually shove her and her blankets off of the bed. “Yaah!” Rainbow yells, hitting the ground with a thump. “Aw, come on, I thought we were done with this!”

“Bitch, we're never done with that. It's the most entertaining part of the morning,” I joke, resting my back against the wall. “You sleep like a rock. How can you ignore all that noise I make when I get ready?”

“I'm just a deep sleeper!” Rainbow protests, climbing to her hooves. “Why are we up so early? Can't Celestia wait for like, five more minutes?”

“No, she can't. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can come back,” I tell her firmly...and then I ruffle her mane, which was already messy from sleep. “Now go get ready. I'll be here.”





When Rainbow returns from getting ready, we head down the stairs and start to leave. However, just as I'm opening the door, Rainbow surprises me by leaping up and hovering at eye level for a  second before she plants a gentle kiss on my lips before I can react.

“Uh...” I trail off, taken by surprise. Much to my chagrin and Rainbow's amusement, a light blush colors my cheeks, making me look away from her and cover my face with my hair. Rainbow snickers at my reaction.

“Hah! You're turning all red! How adorable!” Rainbow teases me, poking my chest with a hoof.

“Fuck you,” I respond, amusing her further. Once Rainbow finishes laughing, she looks at me seriously.

“Okay, one thing before we go out. In my house or yours, that kind of thing is fine,” Rainbow explains to me. “But out in public, not so much. I gotta...”

“...keep it cool out there,” I complete her sentence for her, getting Rainbow to nod. “Right, I got it. I actually prefer that as well. I was never a fan of public affection. It always seemed like bragging to me. 'Hey, look at what I have and you don't!'”

“Well, pardon me if I want to brag about my awesome new coltfriend,” Rainbow retorts. She then puffs herself up and speaks in a hilariously cocky voice. “Oh hi, Cloud Chaser, did you know my coltfriend beat up Chrysalis in the royal wedding? What did yours do?”

“Hah! I don't know what's worse: that statement, or the fact that I could see you saying something like that?” I return, causing Rainbow to swat at me playfully. “Besides, that's not even true. It's more like Chrysalis beat the everliving shit out of us until Celestia showed up.”

“You could beat her now, though, right? What with the cool cracked face thing you do?” Rainbow inquires. I pause, remembering Celestia's words that appraised my strength. She said I had the power to rival Chrysalis.

“Honestly, I'm not sure. Even though Celestia said I was as strong as her, Chrysalis is a tactical genius. She outwitted even Celestia; outwitting me might well be an easier hurdle for her to mount,” I surmise, much to Rainbow's disappointment. “Anyway, let's get going. Celestia is waiting.”

As we walk out onto the walkway and take to the skies, Rainbow turns to me. “Do you even know where Celestia is?” she asks pointedly. I'm about to respond when I realize that I have no clue.

“...Shit. I really wish I'd learned to sense magic like she and Luna do. Let's go to Twilight's instead. She should know.” I confess, altering my course for Twilight's library. Yeah, I can feel magic when it's right up close, but I can't sense “disturbances in the fabric of magic” like Celestia can.

“If she's even awake!”

“Of course she's awake, it's Twilight! The day she oversleeps is the day that hell freezes over,” I shout back at her over the wind.

As we draw close to the library, my suspicions are confirmed when I see the lights of the library on. The door opens, and Twilight steps outside, wearing saddlebags filled with notepads and textbooks. Though why she's bringing them along is beyond me.

“Spike, look after the library while I'm gone, okay? I shouldn't be gone too long,” Twilight calls back inside the library. I hear Spike's sleepy response just before Twilight shuts the door behind her. When she turns around, she almost falls over out of surprise when both Rainbow and I land right in front of her. “Yipe! You two! Could you give a mare some warning?”

“Nope,” I respond petulantly. Twilight sighs in exasperation, but then she sighs and addresses the both of us. “Anyway, good morning, Seth, Rainbow. Are you ready to go meet Princess Celestia?”

“That's why we came here. Seth forgot to get the location of the meeting,” Rainbow replies, nudging me and snickering.

“Hey, I didn't hear you asking for it either!” I shoot right back. Twilight sighs again and shakes her head.

“I did. I met her just before she left for the excavation site. She said she'd likely still be there,” Twilight reveals to us. Shit, that means I have to go back to the ruins, doesn't it? Hopefully I won't be there long. “So let's hurry. I don't want to keep her waiting.”

“Shit, you can't fly. Does that mean we have to go on foot?” I complain, looking between Twilight and Rainbow. The latter doesn't look too enthused by that prospect either.

“Yes, we do. You'll just have to walk like me,” Twilight answers, making the both of us groan. It's funny. I've gotten so used to flying everywhere, that the prospect of having to walk like a normal human is a hassle. Nothing for it I guess. The three of us walk through the morning streets of Ponyville, the sound of the morning birds filling the air. Twilight glances at Rainbow curiously. “By the way, Rainbow, you look happy this morning. Did something happen?”

Rainbow blinks, and then she and I look at each other. Rainbow starts to snicker, and I just let my face fall into my hands. “You know, I should have expected this,” I remark. Twilight looks at our reactions and raises an eyebrow, perplexed. “Out of all the ponies that knew, Twilight would be the one who didn't!”

“I think she may be more oblivious than you!” Rainbow chortles, nudging me. I prod her right back, glad that we can go back to our stupid bullshit after that fiasco in the ruins. “We love you, Egghead.”

“I am not an egghead,” Twilight mutters, puffing her cheeks out in frustration. With that, the three of us continue down the streets, making our way towards the Everfree Forest.

Celestia is waiting.
> 84. Return to the Ruins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The camp for the expedition hasn't changed much since the last time we were here. Looking around, I notice that the central area is crowded with the miners and construction ponies milling around. I guess that excavations have been put on hold as of right now, considering the cave-in caused by my battle with Vanta. Sure enough, the ramp leading into the ruins is roped off and guarded by two soldiers.

“Celestia is probably in Opal's tent,” I deduce, figuring that we'd be meeting her in the most important place in the camp. With that in mind, the three of us change course and head directly to it. Some of the ponies we pass shoot us concerned or curious looks. Huh. Those are more than just cursory glances. I wonder if they know my role in the current situation?

I brush aside the tent flap and step inside, closely followed by Rainbow and Twilight. As I'd expected, Celestia is standing on the far side of the tent, accompanied by Luna and Opal. Upon hearing us enter, Celestia turns away from her sister and meets us halfway. 

“Good morning, you three. I'm glad you've arrived so early in the day. We have much to discuss,” Celestia greets us, making eye contact with all of us at least once. Just as she's starting to turn away, Celestia pauses, noticing something strange. She turns a curious eye on Rainbow and me, observing how close Rainbow is standing to me, as well as how much happier she looks in comparison to yesterday. Celestia raises an eyebrow, a ghost of a smile forming on her face.

“Shit,” I say aloud with dread, realizing what just happened. I can't believe I overlooked this possibility yesterday. Rainbow and Twilight look at me curiously upon hearing me suddenly curse. “Rainbow, we forgot about Celestia.”

“Wait what? You mean...?” Rainbow replies in surprise, catching on to my meaning almost immediately. Rainbow looks at Celestia, meeting the princess's gaze. I swear Celestia's smile starts to look a little smug. “Oh, darn it, we did, didn't we?”

Celestia giggles a little, and then her smile becomes one of genuine happiness. “May I assume that your little problem has been resolved, Rainbow Dash?” she inquires. I should be shocked that she somehow already knew about it, but after knowing her for this long...I mostly just feel like an idiot for not expecting her to know about it.

“What are you three talking about? What problem?” Twilight questions, totally lost. And, as one might expect, we completely ignore her.

“Yeah...I suppose it has,” Rainbow replies awkwardly, dipping her head. Celestia nods and then beams at me. I can't hold her gaze, so I too avert my eyes awkwardly.

I flinch when I feel Celestia nuzzling my cheek affectionately. “Thank you, Seth, for giving her a chance. You've grown so much since coming to Equestria...I'm proud of you,” she whispers in my ear,  her tone brimming with elation and approval. 

“Glad I have your approval,” I mutter as she withdraws from me. I stand there, feeling twice as awkward as before after hearing something like that. Right...you're proud of me. That certainly wasn't my intention. I was just doing what felt right to me. Even now I'm not sure being in this relationship will work out. I'm going into this blind, which I absolutely hate doing. I hate not knowing all the details, and therefore not being able to plan for the future. It goes without saying that if I didn't feel so strongly about Rainbow...I'd never have considered anything like this.

“Now then, I believe it's time to focus on the matter at hand. Would you two come join us?” Celestia finally says, beckoning to Luna and Opal with a slight motion of her head. As they approach us, Luna's eyes alight on me.

“Well met, Seth. It doth not surprise me that thou art involved with this situation,” Luna remarks with a bit of a wry smile. Yeah, things do tend to blow up around me, don't they? Between the royal wedding and now, I just can't seem to catch a break. I'll be glad when all of this is over and I can go back to living my life. 

“Luna,” I reply to her tersely. 

“Seth, could you tell us what happened down in the ruins? I'm afraid that the most Luna and I have been able to discover on our own is that you became trapped in the lower levels due to some sinister magic,” Celestia begins, broaching the subject carefully. Luna, Opal, and Twilight watch me expectantly, waiting for my answer.

“Right, I'll start by giving it to you in a nutshell,” I begin. Next to me, Rainbow sits down, figuring that she's not going to needed until I finish telling the story. “There was a lot of working tech down there. It wasn't human exactly, but it was of a very similar design, as if it had been reverse-engineered.”

“Working human technology? I can't believe it! Is there any of it left!?” Opal exclaims in the most excited voice I've ever heard her use. “Imagine the scientific benefits we could make just from one piece of tech!”

“Miss Opal, let Seth continue. We can discuss the possible benefits after a course of action has been decided upon,” Celestia chides Opal gently. Opal nods and murmurs and apology, letting me continue.

“From what I was able to discover from records left behind, Sombra didn't return to the future immediately after finding me,” I continue after glaring at Opal for interrupting me. Celestia nods, remembering as much from our last discussion on this topic. “He spent a year in the human world, though I'm not sure what he was doing. What I do know is that he didn't come to my time alone.”

“He left behind several of his scientists and soldiers, and they were the ones who wiped out my race,” I relate. Opal gives out a small gasp of shock. Right, she never knew the fate of the human race. Everything she learned from us, she had to find out from artifacts. “They were led by this asshole named Vanta. Ever heard of him?”

“General Vanta? I have,” Celestia replies grimly, looking at her sister meaningfully. “Luna and I had several encounters with him during our conflict with the Crystal Empire. He was a powerful necromancer and a cunning tactician.”

“We did notice his fortuitous disappearance alongside his master. Unlike his master, however, the general did not return,” Luna adds, returning her sister's glance. “If he had been left in the past...then that would explain his absence.”

“Right. It also explained how my kind fell to the Oppressed; that's the term we gave to the monsters Sombra created from our bodies,” I explain to them. Celestia and Luna wince at the reminder of Sombra's twisted deeds. “With a commander, a force like the Oppressed would have been unstoppable.”

“But that's not even the best part. Humanity's last stand was in these ruins,” I reveal, once again shocking Opal. “And after the battle was over, humanity's commander caused an explosion on the mountaintop, demolishing it and burying the entire campus, trapping Vanta and the others inside.”

I take a breath. “I'll cut to the chase. Vanta was still alive down there...well, sort of.” The reaction to those words are immediate. Twilight looks horrified, while Celestia looks stern. Luna just looks like she wants to head down there herself and knock some heads together.  “He wasn't exactly alive any more. Using his necromancy, he'd kept himself and his soldiers in a constant state of undeath for years, making more of those monsters and performing twisted experiments on the humans trapped in there with him.”

“Dost the general persist?” Luna questions me intensely, a little of her magic seeping out of her body. “We have improved greatly since our last meeting. He will not be able to withstand our might.”

“No, he's dead for good. I blew the fucker to ash, and that's why you felt my power all the way from Canterlot,” I tell her, heaving a sigh. At that, I see Celestia let out a sigh of relief, though she does appear a little curious. Luna looks suspicious, but now she's eyeing me suspiciously.

“General Vanta was a powerful opponent to us, back then,” Celestia reveals to me seriously. At first I gape, unable to believe that anypony could give Celestia trouble. But then I remember that that was over a millennium ago, and their power must have been a great deal lower than it is now.  “If you are telling me that the other source of magic that we sensed was the general, then he must have improved immensely. Where did you gain the power to defeat him?”

“Honestly, I haven't a clue,” I admit, shrugging. Celestia blinks, having not expected such a response. Luna snorts in disbelief, finding that unlikely. “Honestly, it seems rather convenient, now that I think back on it. I'd never been able to power up past a certain point in the past, but then...it was just like the barrier wasn't there anymore.”

“Seth, you didn't...give in, did you?” Celestia asks me grimly. Twilight looks at me questioningly, likely confused by that cryptic sentence. I know exactly what Celestia is talking about, though. She's wondering if I went insane, like that day on the mountaintop. “While it may have given you a burst of power, it's a risk you can't afford to take.”

“I didn't give in. I felt it, but I didn't fall prey to it,” I recall, remembering when the insanity had tried to take over. “I was in full control of myself when it happened. But what I don't get is how it happened.”

“I know that it was totally cool. That Vanta guy didn't stand much of a chance after that,” Rainbow chimes in.

“Sister...” Luna warns, looking slightly anxious. “We still don't fully understand dark magic. T'is possible it may have evolved somehow.”

Celestia returns her gaze to me after taking a moment to think about what I'd just told her. “Dark magic responds to negative emotion, such as anger, fear, sadness, or despair. Even if the emotions are felt for another, the magic will still respond. I will not pry as to what caused your magic to surge, but I must warn you,” she tells me ominously. “Don't assume that you can just use this new power freely. Dark magic always comes with a price.”

“Trust me, I don't plan to use my magic for fighting ever again, if I can help it,” I assure her. Besides, I doubt there's anything out there apart from Chrysalis that warrants that kind of power. Celestia's words are chilling, making me envision that form I achieved with a little bit of fear. Maybe it's because I've used it to protect the ones I've cared about, but I keep forgetting that the magic I wield is evil. I wish I knew where the fuck it came from. “But there you have it. I put that fucker down for good. The only thing I'm still worried about is that there's a lot more Oppressed down there.”

“There's more monsters in the ruins!?” Opal cries out, rejoining the conversation now that the topic is on something more relevant to her interests. “If that's true, I need to pull everypony out as fast as possible! Commander Iron tells me they're extremely dangerous!”

“They need to be dealt with. That much is certain,” Celestia decides. “But I don't see any reason to cancel the expedition. I'll take care of these Oppressed before they become a problem. I won't let them threaten the safety of my subjects.”

“Wait, hold the fucking phone. You're going down there?!” I exclaim, wondering if I heard right. Celestia nods seriously. I can't help but feel reassured at that. Hah, motherfucking Celestia is here. Resistant to magic or not, she'll completely wreck them. She already showed me once during the royal wedding that she doesn't need magic to be strong. Speaking of which, I should tell her that. “In that case, let me warn you. They're resistant to magic.”

“Troubling...” Celestia muses. Once again I'm reminded of how well off the ponies are for having her for a ruler. She's actually taking that warning seriously, even though she has every right to be confident in her own power. “Very well. I shall err on the side of caution. Seth, will you accompany me into the ruins?”

“What, so the both of us can wipe the rest of them out?” I inquire, feeling conflicted. I really don't want to go back down there...but on the other hand, Celestia will be with me, and she and I will wreck everything. Just knowing that she'll be coming down there with me makes me feel a hell of a lot better about this.

“That's right. You know the layout of the lower levels better than I, and it will be safer to travel in a pair,” Celestia agrees.

“In a pair? Sister, we wish to join thee on this excursion,” Luna insists, incredulous at the thought of being left behind. “We hath trained vigorously, ever since the incident with Chrysalis. We believe we can hold our own.”

“I have no doubt about that, my dear sister. However, the captain will be arriving soon with her report. I'd like you to be here to meet with her,” Celestia explains gently. Luna huffs in annoyance and looks like she wants to argue, but she lets out a sigh and nods instead. “Seth and I will be more than capable of handling this on our own.”

“Very well. But if we sense any fluctuation in either of thy magical energies, we will not hesitate to follow thee,” Luna asserts, giving both Celestia and me a firm stare.

“Hey, what about me? You're not going down into those ruins without me!” Rainbow demands, leaping to her hooves. “You're gonna kick some Oppressed flank, right? I want in!”

“You're not going to leave me behind, are you? I don't want to stay up here after hearing something like that!” Twilight adds, standing next to Rainbow.

“Rainbow can hold her own. Especially since she doesn't need to use magic,” I admit, causing Rainbow to preen. God, why did I say that? I can practically hear the air filling up her head. “But Twilight? If you're not on my level, you certainly won't be able to touch those monsters. I could barely even pierce the skin with my magic.”

“But...!” Twilight starts to protest.

“Seth is right, dear Twilight. Your magic is strong, but against this opponent, physical strength is needed,” Celestia says, cutting across her student. Twilight closes her mouth and looks down sadly. Celestia smiles, and nuzzles her reassuringly. “Don't worry. We won't take long at all.”

“Let's get going then! Time's wasting, and I certainly want to do more today than crawl around in the ruins again,” Rainbow urges us. 

“Actually, Rainbow, would you mind staying up here with the rest?” Celestia asks, surprising me. Why leave Rainbow behind?

“What? Why would I stay behind, when you two are going right into trouble? I can handle myself!” Rainbow protests vehemently, taking that about as well as I'd expect.

“Of course you can. I didn't mean to imply that you couldn't. I merely have a few things I wish to discuss with him while we're down there that I'm sure he'd rather be private,” Celestia responds tactfully. However, I don't see what she'd want to talk about that would be unsuitable for Rainbow's ears. “Of course, if Seth chooses to tell you our conversations afterward, that's up to him.”

“Ugh, fine. But I don't like this. The last time I let him go down there on his own, he nearly got himself killed,” Rainbow grumbles, eyeing me accusingly. I have no doubt that if it had been anypony other than Celestia that had ordered her to stay behind, she would have downright ignored them.

“Trust me, I'll be fine. With Celestia, I doubt that even another super Oppressed could stop us,” I assure her, but Rainbow doesn't look any less disgruntled. “Now, are we going or not?”

“We are. I want deal with this as quickly as possible,” Celestia agrees, and with that, she passes by Rainbow and Twilight. “Miss Opal, could you explain the situation to the workers? I'm sure they must be worried.”

“Of course. They'll feel much better knowing that you're taking care of everything personally,” Opal responds, dipping her head respectfully. Satisfied, Celestia leads the way out of the tent, with me just behind her.

“I'm going to have to make this up to Rainbow. She hates being left behind,” I remark, accompanying Celestia through the camp. If the miners hadn't been looking at me before, they certainly are now, considering fucking Celestia is with me. Many of them incline their heads or bow low with respect, murmuring words of thanks or of wonder. I'm curious how many of them see her on a regular basis, if they feel the need to treat her with this much respect. Or maybe I'm just an asshole. Heh.

“I don't think that will be much of a problem. I believe that making up with her will be quite the enjoyable experience,” Celestia responds with a teasing smile. I'm about to respond when the possible hidden meaning in her words hits me, and I choke.

“W-what!? No, I don't have a clue what you're talking about...” I stammer. I didn't expect a statement like that from Celestia of all ponies. “I just meant that...”

“Whatever has you so flustered, Seth? I simply meant that you'd have to spend more time with her,” Celestia responds smoothly, her smile turning coy. “What did you think I was referring to?”

I pause, and then I release a groan when I realize that she got me. “You...you fucking troll,” I grumble. Celestia laughs delicately in response.

Celestia and I reach the ramp leading to the ruins, and then she opens the way with her magic, moving the rope aside and setting it on the ground. “To be honest, I'm quite curious about these ruins myself. Miss Opal has told me in her reports that these ruins are remarkably intact for their age,” she reveals to me as we enter the ruins.

“I'm not sure how intact they are now. I think the chemistry labs are pretty much shot,” I reply. Right before I passed out with Iron, I remember coming out in that area...which meant that they were right above the wide room where I fought with Vanta.

“I was told something similar.” Celestia looks around the first hallway, taking in the sight of the ruined hallways and the crumbling staircases. “I believe you know the way from here. Shall we go?”

“Yeah, there's no Oppressed up here. According to Vanta himself, he couldn't come up this far because he was anchored to his true body. It wasn't until I got too close that he struck out at me,” I explain. I step ahead of Celestia and gesture for her to follow me. We're not taking the stairs; instead, I lead Celestia towards the scaffolding in the elevator shaft. “It was right down at the bottom of this scaffolding.”

“I see. That does fit the general description of advanced necromancy,” Celestia agrees, though she looks troubled. “I'm curious, however. Do you believe that these Oppressed were tied to the general's existence?”

“You mean, did they die when he did? I haven't a clue. I wasn't waiting around to find out,” I reply, though the idea does make sense. Frozen said that Vanta's magic was keeping him alive. If I hadn't killed him myself, maybe Vanta's death would have done the same. “Though that would be nice.”

“It would indeed. However, I do have an ulterior motive for bringing you down here as well,” Celestia informs me. I nod, having expected as much. “I want to see this new power of yours in action, and determine for myself whether or not it poses a threat to you or anypony.” 

“Shit. Well, I'm not sure if I can call upon it again. I haven't tried since it happened the first time,” I admit. “Was that the discussion you wanted to keep hidden from Rainbow?”

“Not entirely. I also wanted to ask you about your decision in regards to Rainbow herself,” Celestia adds. I pause, and then sigh. I don't know why I expected her to drop the issue after addressing it the first time in the tent. We're still on the scaffolding, so I don't think an Oppressed will randomly show up to interrupt this conversation. “I'm happy you chose to give her a chance, as I said before, but I wanted to make sure you know what you're getting into.”

“Of course I don't. I haven't a clue,” I snap, resigning myself to having this conversation with her. “I don't know how this shit works. I don't know what's expected of me. How do relationships work in Equestria anyway?”

“Hm,” Celestia emits, looking pensive. “Perhaps I should ask how she broached the subject to you. I hate to say it, but I sympathized with her, because I believed you would react harshly to her feelings.”

“Hah. You wouldn't be wrong. I almost did,” I confess, giving a harsh chuckle at my own expense. “There's something about seeing her getting knocked about like a ragdoll that made me re-evaluate our relationship.”

“I see,” Celestia replies. Her tone is such that I can't tell if she approves or not. She nods her head, thinking to herself.

“Look, I don't know what you want me to say. Vinyl helped me realize that I love her, so I gave it a chance, even though I don't really believe in relationships,” I tell her flatly, hating the awkward feeling I'm getting from this conversation. Sometimes the best way to power through awkwardness is to be as blunt and straightforward as possible. “Rainbow and I decided we'd figure things out as we go along.”

“I'm glad. It's good to hear you say it,” Celestia responds with a happy smile. Just then, the two of us reach the bottom of the scaffolding, which is still damaged from when Vanta fucked with it. I summon my magic and leap into the shaft, followed closely by Celestia. “There's one more thing I want to discuss with you before I let the matter rest.”

“What's that?”

“Pardon me for saying this, but I want you to understand just what it is you're getting into,” Celestia prefaces. Okay, if she's saying something like that...what the hell is she going to ask me? “I can't speak for Rainbow's feelings on the matter, but can you accept that relationships generally have some degree of intimacy?”

“That's...certainly blunt,” I choke, taken by surprise. Is Celestia really talking to me about this? Am I really about to talk about sex with a princess that's been around for millennia? God, this is fucking awkward. The two of us soon find ourselves in the initial hallway in which I'd found myself after falling down the shaft for the first time. However, Celestia seems more focused on me at the moment. That means there's no getting out of this conversation. “You're talking about sex, right?”

To her credit, Celestia shows no signs of being embarrassed by the subject matter. Come to think of it, living for as long as she has must have made her relatively comfortable talking about things like this. “That's correct. I apologize if I'm making you uncomfortable, but I'm trying to spare you future pain,” Celestia assures me. Despite the fact that she's holding such a personal conversation with me, I can tell she's still fully on alert. “According to what I've learned, ponies were not sentient during your time, and as such having a relationship with one was considered wrong. I'd understand if you still held some reservations.” 

“I don't even want to know how you know that. I don't think I've said a word to anypony other than...” I start to say, and then the memory of an early conversation strikes me...one where I'd said many words which I'm practically contradicting as we speak. But...considering who I spoke to, everything makes sense. “Fucking Twilight.”

Celestia confirms my suspicions with a nod. Shit. I'd told Twilight at the time about Lyra's obsession with me, and then proceeded to tell her that her whole race were just a bunch of animals to me. While that was true then...I wouldn't feel right saying it now. Anyway...I'd better answer Celestia.

“Yeah...well, the idea really doesn't sit well with me. I've been trying not to think about it,” I admit to her. “In fact, I think the only reason I decided to give this a shot is because Vinyl told me I didn't need to fuck her to have a decent relationship.”

“That's certainly true,” Celestia agrees, looking at me with respect. “The fact that you're content just to love her speaks well of your character...but I just wanted to make sure you're prepared for the possibility that Rainbow may become interested.”

“Honestly, I'm still going to fucking panic if she brings it up. Whether or not I'm warned about it first isn't going to change that,” I confess. It hits me that I'm doing an awful lot of confiding in Celestia, but I can't really back out at this point. I don't feel the need to either, which surprises me. Maybe it's because Celestia has so much experience in worldly matters like this, I know she can give me good advice. 

“I understand. In that case, I suppose I've done the best I can, for the moment,” Celestia decides, looking satisfied. “Just don't be afraid to come to me for advice if you need it.”

“Thanks, I guess. Whatever. I just hope I won't need it,” I grunt, glad that this conversation seems to be over. Already it's given me a lot of troubling thoughts that I really didn't need.

“Now, let us return to the task at hoof,” Celestia directs me. Hah, you don't have to tell me twice. Now I understand why she didn't want Rainbow down here with us. “Hm, it seems newer down here than up above.”

“Right? There's some large offices through the doors there, so I think Sombra left a lot of ponies behind other than just Vanta,” I respond, pointing at the executive offices, where'd I'd found a working computer. “I don't think there's any Oppressed on this level, though. I found them mostly...”

I don't even get to finish my statement before I'm proven wrong. Almost immediately after we start to approach the offices, the door shatters outwards, and two Oppressed charge out of it, turning right towards us. They don't seem to have any coordination or direction, instead exhibiting nothing more than raw killing intent.

“I stand corrected!” I yell, releasing my magic and summoning Vanta's scythe in my right hand. Shit, what the hell were they doing in the offices, and why didn't I see any of them when I passed through here?

Next to me, I feel an overwhelming amount of magic pouring from Celestia's frame. The darkness in the hallway peels away like a curtain as her magic becomes visible as an aura of light around her body. Her eyes narrow, following the path of the first Oppressed as it approaches her, its jaws hanging open and salivating, and its claws stretched out to strike her.

Just as it's about to reach her, Celestia plants her front hoof into its chest. It happens so fast...I can see the creature's chest rupture and crumple inwards just from the strength of that one simple attack. It hurtles all the way back to the far side of the hall, causing an impact so great that the Oppressed goes right through the wall. Yeah, I think it's safe to say that it's fucking dead.

The other Oppressed reaches me, ignoring the fate of its companion. It leaps...and is easily cleft in two by a quick slash of my scythe. This thing is a bit unwieldy, but against Oppressed, it should do just fine.

“That appears to be all of them, for now,” Celestia observes, powering back down. I glance at her wordlessly. No matter how many times I see it...Celestia's power is so great it frightens me. There's really no comparison between her and Luna...though that's probably because Luna was stuck on the moon for a good thousand years and couldn't train like her sister.

“I don't know why they were in the offices in the first place. I'm going to check it out,” I decide. Considering how they're still active, I think it's safe to say that the Oppressed are not tied to Vanta. But without a commander...I bet they're just rampaging around.

The offices are a mess. Before I can look them over, however, I hear the sounds of more Oppressed. One of them immediately barrels through the desk to my right, opening its jaws in a roar. I turn in place and hook the creature's body with the blade of the scythe, so that it's own momentum causes it to slice itself in half.

Celestia joins me in the room a few seconds later, easily dispatching another Oppressed that ambushes her in a manner similar to what happened to me. “This room is infested. Stay close, and we will weather their assault,” she warns me calmly. She's right. I can hear the Oppressed closing in, their clawed hooves clicking and scraping along the floor.

It's laughably easy how quickly we take care of them. With a melee weapon backed by the force given to me by magic, I can handle them a lot easier than before, when all I had was a table leg and my guns. As for Celestia...well, I don't think I even need to say how she's doing. She's a fucking force of nature. 

Celestia noticeably doesn't use any blasts of magic from her horn, resorting to only brutal physical attacks that break the Oppressed like twigs. She flows around their attacks like water and strikes back hard in their vital areas, which is usually enough to put them down permanently. With the combination of our efforts, the room is cleared, so that I can finally see what happened to the place.

The room is a mess now, the desks shattered and the computers broken. It seems like the Oppressed have been rampaging all over the place now that there's nopony to command them. Even Vanta's office has been broken into, the glass door lying on the ground in pieces.

“These Oppressed are indeed a threat,” Celestia observes, stepping further into the room. She's eyeing the bodies closely, a mixture of pity and disgust on her face. “Unforgivable, Sombra. This was a majestic race, one that didn't deserve the fate you gave them.”

“Yeah...if he were still around, I'd have a few choice words for him,” I mutter. “Still, looks like the offices are trashed. But this isn't where the Oppressed are gathered, I don't think. Then again, I'm not sure how many of them are down here in the first place.”

“There must be a way we can draw them all to us, rather than hunting them down one by one,” Celestia surmises sensibly. Right, if we try to handle them one by one, we'll be down here for a long time. “Seth, is there a central location?”

“Well, I don't know about about that, but I do know of the main lab,” I suggest. Then I remember exactly what happened to me in that lab, as well as what's in it. “Actually, we need to go there anyway. I'm not sure if the Oppressed in there are alive or not.”

“That sounds like a good place to start,” Celestia agrees, heading to the other exit back into the hallway. She glances over the wreckage of the room. “A shame. Dr. Forward would have really enjoyed the chance to study these machines in working order.”

“Don't worry, there's tons of tech down here for you ponies. It's not like I need it,” I remark...and then I pause. “Unless I can get my hands on a power supply. I found my old laptop, but it died a long time ago.”

I do my best to retrace my steps through the complex, but I run into a dead end once I reach the dungeon. “Shit. I actually...don't know my way to the main lab,” I admit, coming to a halt just outside of Frozen's lab. 

“You don't? This looks like a laboratory to me,” Celestia observes, peering inside Frozen's lab. When her eyes alight upon the mangled skeleton on the table, she gasps. “This is monstrous. How can anypony do this to another living, thinking individual?”

“Yeah...I made sure to turn the bastard who did this to dust. He's right there, actually,” I tell her somberly, indicating the pile of bones and dust where I'd killed Frozen. “But this isn't the main lab. This one belonged to some fucker named Frozen Soul. Know him?”

“That name isn't familiar to me. He must have been one of King Sombra's scientists,” Celestia answers, even as she glares at the pile of dust. “All of this serves to remind me that I did well in deciding to go to war against him in the first place. I cannot abide anypony that is capable of such depravity.”

“That reminds me, before we keep going, what made you decide to go to war against Sombra in the first place? I saw a conversation between Vanta and Sombra, and from what I could tell, you attacked him first,” I address her curiously. When Celestia looks at me oddly, I retract. “I mean, I support your decision. Wholeheartedly. I'm just curious.”

“Ah. Very well, I shall give you the short version,” Celestia says, understanding. “Usually, the affairs of another country is none of our concern. Even when we heard that the Crystal Empire had fallen, we did not act. It wasn't until several refugees of the Crystal Empire reached us that we discovered the depths of his depravity.”

“We could not abide the thought of any living creature in slavery, whether in our country or another. We contacted Sombra through diplomacy and demanded that he release his slaves, but it was ultimately futile,” Celestia continues.

“I don't know why you bothered,” I retort. Some individuals you shouldn't reason with, and should just put down. Slavers and tyrants are among that number.

“We had to make the effort, Seth. Even though it failed, we were able to go into battle knowing that there was no other way,” Celestia admonishes me. Whatever. It still seems like a waste of time to me. “But there you have it. We struck at Sombra's forces to free those suffering beneath his oppression. Unprovoked or not, it was the right thing to do.”

“I suppose so. One last question before we go. What exactly happened to the Crystal Empire? I've never heard anypony talk about it other than you and Luna, and it doesn't seem like a crystal city that large would go abandoned for long,” I ask, mentally slapping myself for not asking this question before.

Celestia's expression turns pained, and she looks down out of sorrow. “That...is the worst part about our battle with Sombra. In the end, it was ultimately pointless,” she admits.

“How do you figure? You won, didn't you?”

“Yes, but in his darkest hour, Sombra cursed the Crystal Empire, causing the entire city and its inhabitants to become tied to his life force. As such, when he was defeated...all was lost,” Celestia reveals sadly, and my jaw drops. The fucker took the entire Crystal Empire with him? That's...that's just  terrible. How many ponies would have died? A thousand? Two thousand? And...that would mean that Celestia lost in the end, despite her defeat of Sombra. What a fucking sore loser. “There is nothing left of the Crystal Empire now but a wasteland.”

“Well...shit,” is my incredibly eloquent response. I don't think it's possible to hate Sombra more than I do right now. The fucker couldn't just die. “That really sucks.”

“Yes, Seth. It really does.”



	

	
> 85. Ancient Origins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Um...I don't think you can fit in here,” I remark, looking up at the vent that I'd bolted through to avoid getting torn to shreds by the Oppressed. I couldn't see it last time because it was so dark, but now, I notice just how small it is. I'll have to find another way to get both Celestia and I to the main laboratory.

“I beg your pardon?” Celestia responds, and I swear she sounds indignant. She joins me in the prison cell. “I'm sure it's not too small. I should be able to...oh, I see what you mean.”

“Yeah, they weren't designed for people or ponies to go through. But I'm sure you already know what a ventilation shaft is,” I mention, snorting a little at her response. That's just funny. Is it a universal rule that all women have weight buttons? Rainbow has one, and she's the farthest thing from feminine that I can imagine. Now it looks like Celestia has one. I wonder if I should see if Twilight has one? That would be funny. “My point is, I cut through here to escape my pursuers. Wandering around on the other end is how I found the lab.”

“Hm. Let's try to find an easier way to our destination,” Celestia reasons, turning away from me.  "Do you remember how far the the ducts run, and in which direction?” 

I take a moment to think, stepping back out into the dungeon. Using my finger, I trace the path as I remember it in the air. It went straight back towards the hallway, and then towards the right, back along the way I came. It also descended a floor at least once, until finally I dropped out into a barracks, filled with those creepy unmoving skeletons.

“Okay, I'm confused. I know I went down somewhere, but I don't remember seeing another staircase apart from the one we used to get down here,” I emit in frustration, dropping my hand back to my side. 

“That gives us only one choice, as tedious as it may be. We need to search each of the rooms on this level. There may be a path that we missed, or perhaps the entrance is hidden,” Celestia suggests. Ugh, what a pain in the ass.

Silence fills the hallways as we exit the dungeon. I don't have any reason to go back in there. After finishing that conversation with Celestia, I'd gone immediately to Frozen's computer and woke it up, navigating back to his secure files and looking through them. Unfortunately, what was on there is nothing that I want to see. There's mostly just data files that mean nothing to me, or video files where he states the procedures and results of his heinous experiments. Celestia agreed with me wholeheartedly that what Frozen did here under Vanta's supervision was horrid.

Making our way back into the hallway, Celestia and I painstakingly search through each and every hallway and room until we're finally forced to go back the way we came. “Hold on a minute,” I say with a start, noticing the closed door just next to the staircase that leads upwards. This was the door that slammed in my face the last time I was down here, thanks to either Vanta or Holly.

Pushing open the door reveals a small storage room, with rusted metal shelves linging the walls. Some of the shelves have boxes on them, while others have collapsed and were never repaired. The most important feature of the room is the spiral staircase made of the same metal fencing as the laboratory and the hydroelectric chamber. 

“There we go. Now we're on the right track,” I declare, pointing out the staircase to Celestia. Together, the two of us descend downwards into a hallway suspended over the underground river. Here, I start to see evidence of the cave in. The water level appears to be substantially higher than I remember it, due to debris partially clogging the river's path ahead. The hallway itself is tilted downwards, creaking ominously with every step we take.

“I believe it would be safer to fly,” Celestia observes, unfurling her wings. With a short hop, she  starts to hover just above the floor.

“Yeah, agreed. I don't want this thing to collapse beneath me too,” I mutter, following suit with my own magic. “But we're getting close. The lab should be around here somewhere. It also had a floor like this.”

“This type of structure seems rather flimsy. I question why your kind built something like this,” Celestia comments, as we hover towards the door on the other end of the hallway.

“We didn't. All of this-” I take a moment to indicate the whole hallway with a wave of my hand. “-wasn't built by humans. There's no reason why there'd be a fucking mad scientist's lab in the basement levels of my school, when we have plenty of chemistry labs upstairs. No, I think Vanta and his minions built this place with whatever they managed to glean from human technology.”

“Interesting. It is quite fortuitous that you dealt with Vanta yourself. Dealing with an opponent with knowledge of such technology would be a tremendous threat,” Celestia asserts with a troubled expression. Heh. Not like anything could be a threat to Celestia anyway. I doubt even a tank would harm her.

“Yeah, well...” I reply, not really having much a response. Instead, I reach the door at the end of the hallway and open it up. Behind it is the hallway just near the main lab. I think I remember passing this door at some point the last time I was here, but I think it had been closed and locked at the time. “We're here. It's just through this...”

In the middle of my statement, I hear the sound of claws screeching along the metal fencing, coming from both ahead and behind us. “We have company,” Celestia notes grimly as she releases her magic, wreathing her body in liquid light. “Watch my flank. It would be troublesome if I became surrounded.”

“You mean you'd have to blow the place up. I got it,” I return wryly, turning my back to her. Seriously, with her power, she'd just flare her aura and murder them all. Of course, that would take the building with them. I guess that's what she means by “troublesome.”

Coming from back the way we came, a stream of Oppressed surge from the doors on the far side of the hallway, flowing down the hallway like some kind of twisted river. “Holy shit, there's a ton of them!” I exclaim, summoning the scythe. A quick look behind me shows me that Celestia is dealing with a similar amount. “Celestia, I might get overwhelmed!”

“Understood. I'll try to clear the way. Hold them off for as long as you can,” Celestia returns, just before the horde crashes against us all at once.

Grunting, I heft the scythe and ward off several Oppressed with the shaft and then I cut one to ribbons with the blade before it can recover. They're quickly on top of me seconds later, biting down on my limbs and leaping for my face. I grunt in pain as their jaws clamp down on me. I manage to keep their teeth from piercing my skin, but the sheer pressure exerted by their jaws is enough to hurt like a bitch. It makes me wonder if their jaws could pierce metal, if even I can feel the pressure.

I shout and hurl the Oppressed hanging onto my arm into the one leaping at my face. The former still doesn't let go of my arm, chewing down painfully. “Fucking...” I growl, slicing its head off with my scythe awkwardly. Even with that minor victory, the Oppressed press down on me from all sides. I flare my aura to try and push them away, but it does absolutely nothing to them, due to their confounded resistance to magic. All I can do is flail at them with my scythe, cutting and slicing any Oppressed it comes into contact with, but I barely have any room to swing.

“Dammit! Celestia!” I call, feeling more Oppressed latch on to me. They can't pierce me, but I'm using a large amount of magic just trying to defend. Celestia turns her head to see me, and then her eyes narrow.

“Brace yourself! Get ready to leap clear!” Celestia calls back. Golden light envelops her and fills the room with its splendor. With a whinny, she rears up and kicks her front legs up in the air for a short moment, and then she brings them down onto the fencing with a thunderous crash. The resulting explosion of light is so great, the entire hallway fucking explodes, the fencing shattering and even partially melting.

I mouth a curse word and immediately dash towards the ceiling with a current, passing through it just before the whole hallway collapses into the river, taking the Oppressed with it. Speaking of which...

“Get the fuck off!” I growl, slamming the Oppressed on my arm into the cavern wall repeatedly until it lets go and falls into the river. I then force another Oppressed clamped on me right onto a metal shard formed from the wreckage of the hallway, impaling it. “God! Fucking Oppressed...”

Below me, Celestia emerges from the wreckage, unharmed, just as I shake off another Oppressed. As it passes her, Celestia obliterates it with a vicious kick, its body rupturing and bursting. Christ, she hits hard. “Seth, are you all right?”

“Yeah. I'm not hurt, but I can't fight back if my arms are pinned,” I pant. I'm partially lying. Those Oppressed bite hard, so every spot that I've been bitten aches with a dull pain. “Yeah, my race stood no chance. Not if they grouped up like that. It was like trying to fight the tide.”

“Indeed,” Celestia agrees. Right, like you needed help. I look down at the door in the side of the cavern wall, on the side nearest the lab. There are dead Oppressed littering the entrance, in various states of dismemberment from Celestia's overwhelming strength. I shake my head, not for the first time wishing that I had power like that. “Let's get inside. For the Oppressed to attack us in such force, they must feel threatened.”

I follow Celestia into the main hall near where the lab is, raising an eyebrow. “They're dead. Can they even feel threatened? I doubt anything is driving them now,” I question, my feet touching the floor. In front of us is the main lab, the door lying crumpled on the floor from where that giant Oppressed beat it down.

“That can't be true. The dead cannot roam on their own. The life given to them must come from somewhere. Necromancy has to be fueled by something living,” Celestia points out ominously. 

“'Something living?' Does that mean something else is alive down here?” I exclaim disbelievingly. Vanta was controlling the Oppressed. He had to be. Every time they showed up, I heard the whispering of his magic. “No, there's nothing left here. Come here, I'll show you.”

Celestia, perplexed, follows me to the computer console in the main lab. While we walk, she looks around at the Oppressed suspended in the tanks around us. When I reach the console, I sit down on the chair and log back into it with Vanta's ID card. The first thing I do is pull up the camera control and start flipping through the different views. “If there was anything else alive here, I would have seen it on these cameras.”

“Is this some kind of device that allows remote viewing? A surveillance crystal, perhaps?” Celestia asks curiously, viewing the computer screen with great interest. “And this machine itself...what a marvel of technology.”

“Close enough. But the point is that there's nothing here in this complex that I haven't seen,” I reiterate...though I pointedly leave out the fact that I hadn't seen Holly on the cameras. While I did see the hospital like room that she was in, her body was off screen.

“There must be something. Is there another laboratory, deeper in?” Celestia insists, nosing my hand away from the mouse, causing me to scoff and look at her indignantly. Hilariously enough, she starts controlling the mouse with her magic, scrolling through the camera views herself. “What happened in this room?”

Displayed on the screen is the waterfall room viewed from the cavern wall high above the crevice that I'd escaped through. The remains of the platform as well as the hydroelectric generator that had been there is now piled up down in the river, which is now a lake that's gradually rising now that it's only exit has been clogged. I guess this place will all be underwater eventually if that shit keeps rising.

“That's where Vanta managed to separate me from Rainbow. He destroyed an entire fucking room in an attempt to kill us,” I retell, remembering with a shudder how distressed Rainbow had sounded when she thought I was lost. “It was some kind of power generating chamber, using the water to create mechanical energy. It's like what you do in lumber mills, only on a larger scale.”

“I see...interesting. Human technology, even if constructed by ponies, never ceases to be a wonder,” Celestia marvels. She lifts a hoof and points at the screen. “What about there? That tunnel back there seems to be lit well enough. If the generator is destroyed, where is that power coming from?”

“What tunnel? I don't remember seeing a...” I start to say, but then I see the tunnel in question on the camera screen. It's dug into the wall high above the river, on the opposite side from the camera. Okay, that wasn't there before, when Rainbow and I were there. If I remember right, there was a large machine there instead...that must have been covering up the tunnel entrance. “Shit, I didn't even notice that last time. I was too busy running for my life. But you're right...it shouldn't be getting power now that the generator is down.”

“The better question is, why is this room still getting power, if the generator was destroyed?” Celestia points out. That gets me to pause, and I realize that she's right. How am I still using this computer? This fucker probably needs a shit ton of power, since it was made by somepony who only just knew how computers worked. So where the hell is all this power coming from? “I believe that tunnel may hold the answer. Additionally, if we discover the source of power, we may discover the source of the necromantic magic sustaining the Oppressed.”

“It's a start. Goddamn, where were you when I was trapped down here?” I admit with an impressed sigh. I keep getting reminded why Celestia rules this country. Not only is she powerful as fuck, but also intelligent, bested only by Chrysalis as far as I know.

“Dealing with Day Court. Believe it or not, sensing your battle gave me quite the perfect excuse to leave it to my secretary,” Celestia giggles, looking like a filly that just got away with stealing a candy bar. 

“Oh, give me a break,” I grumble, getting up from the chair. A quick jab to the monitor button turns off the screen, and then I'm ready to go. “Actually, before we go, I'd like to...get rid of these test subjects.”

“Test subjects?” Celestia questions. Then it dawns on her, and she looks up at the tanks carrying the inert Oppressed. “You mean these?”

“Yes.  I don't know if they're alive or not, but...the spirits of these humans that these Oppressed used to be won't be able to rest until they're free from undeath,” I tell her, my tone gaining a melancholic flavor. I hold out my hand and summon my scythe once more, knowing that it's the only way that I can kill them. “That much I experienced myself.”

Celestia regards me for a long time, probably reading right through me like she always does. Thankfully, she doesn't say anything else about it, choosing to nod simply instead. “Okay. Let's do it. Be careful. If they're still alive, they might attempt to fight back,” Celestia warns me. Yeah well, I knew that already. But if you're here, I really have nothing to worry about.

Grasping a current in the air, I dash upwards and appear right in front of one of the tanks. With a grunt, I use both hands to bring the scythe straight through the tank, cutting into the hanging Oppressed and slicing it in two easily, as only its back legs had been mutated. Breaking the tank sent shards of glass raining down to the floor, accompanied by a cascade of a strange viscous liquid that smells vaguely of antiseptic. The Oppressed roars suddenly as its released from the liquid, but it doesn't last long before I cut it into pieces with a flourish of whirling black crystal.

The moment the Oppressed falls to the ground, dead, the atmosphere in the room seems to change. Something like a chill breeze sweeps through the room, and I swear I hear a faint sigh, though it could have just been the breeze. The breeze that came from a room with no exit to the outside.

On the other side of the room, Celestia blasts each tank with incredibly powerful magic, melting the glass and causing the liquid to steam and bubble. The Oppressed inside withstand her magic with significant damage thanks to their innate resistance...but not the subsequent kicks that render their bodies to dust.

Neither of us say a word as we methodically execute each Oppressed without much difficulty, putting a stop to the last of Vanta's twisted experiments once and for all.  I let myself sink to the floor, which is now coated with shards of glass and a slick layer of preservative fluid, along with the body parts that resulted from the carnage.

The room is completely dead silent after we're finished, broken only by the sound of the river flowing beneath us. I'm about to say something when the lights in the room start to flicker and die. Wait, what the hell? 

“Seth?” Celestia alerts me, sounding uncharacteristically unsettled. Hearing that tone in her voice is so unusual, it makes me turn around in an instant...only to see exactly what it is that's making her sound like that.

Standing grouped together at the far side of the room from us are several humans, gazing at us with reddened, sunken eyes. There are men and women, both young and old, and all of them are in similar states. Their skin is gray and sagging, pockmarked with injection marks. Their hair is tangled and greasy, and all of them are dressed in the same hospital robes like the one Holly had been wearing.

“I...” is my only response. Goosebumps are forming on my skin, because I know there's no humans left, telling me that these must be... “Celestia...”

Suddenly, I notice something about them. There's eight of them...one for each of the tanks that Celestia and I destroyed. As soon as I realize that, their bodies start to dissipate, dissolving into particles of golden light that stream into the air and fade away.

“Right...so it's like I said before,” I say to Celestia calmly, letting myself relax now that I know they're not a threat. Celestia looks at me, confused. “Killing these Oppressed was a good idea. I knew there couldn't have only been one spirit trapped here.”

“You mean...yes, I see. I must say...I've never seen anything quite like that,” Celestia admits once the apparitions have all faded away. “Your fellow humans...I can't imagine what they went through.”

“Neither can I. But there's no point dwelling on it now. We've done what we could for them,” I respond, letting my scythe dissipate. “Let's keep moving. The sooner we find out what the hell is keeping this place and the Oppressed powered, the sooner we can leave.”

“You're right, of course. You must forgive me; I don't have much experience with the supernatural,” Celestia confesses. Well, I'll be damned. There is something out there that can scare her.

“This coming from the pony princess who finds controlling magic as easy as breathing,” I retort. I turn around and head the other direction, towards the exit of the lab. “Come on.”

Now I know the way, so it's easy going from here down to the lower levels. There's a comical moment where I have to help Celestia get through the gap in the elevator shaft that's barely large enough for her. I have to choke back all of my fat jokes, because I don't want to get smitten into the next century. 

Passing through the elevator leads us to the cavern that Vanta had destroyed. As I can see, there's only a few feet of fencing left before the hall opens out into the cavern, which is steadily filling up with water. “Here we are. Let's find that tunnel,” I declare, hopping off of the walkway and hovering in midair.

Celsetia joins me and we navigate ourselves to the uncovered tunnel through the air. The moment we touch down in the tunnel, a strange noise becomes audible to us. “What is that?” I question. It's like a faint rhythmic thumping, echoing through the tunnel in consecutive beats of two. “Am I the only one hearing that?”

“No, I hear it as well. I'm not sure what it is, but I have a bad feeling,” Celestia says, frowning. She takes the lead, stepping carefully across the rocky floor. “I sense a sinister magic from up ahead.”

The hallway curves downward, deeper and deeper into the rock. The thumping grows louder and more defined with every step we take. It starts to sound suspiciously like...a heartbeat. That thought chills me, making me wonder what in the hell could produce a heartbeat like this in the first place, if that's even what this is.

The two of us turn a corner, and then we see something strange. The tunnel up ahead seems to be coated in some kind of beige fleshy substance. When I step onto the substance, it depresses beneath my feet with a grotesque squelch. That alone makes me a little naseuous, but when I see the veins shooting through the substance, bile rises in my throat and I almost throw up. 

“Jesus...Celestia, are you seeing this? What the hell...it's like we're walking into something alive down here,” I gasp, hesitantly moving forward. 

“I am. This is most unsettling,” Celestia agrees with me, walking right by my side. “It appears we've found the source, as I'd expected.”

“Do you know what the fuck this is?”

“I'm not certain. It appears to be necromantic in nature, yet more advanced than anything I've seen,” Celestia deduces. The heartbeat, if that's what it is, is much louder than before, to the point where it's difficult to hear what Celestia is saying. “Whatever this is, it must be destroyed.”

“Yeah, no kidding. It makes me sick just...” I start to say, but then the two of us step into a larger room...and we see exactly what it is we're dealing with. “Dear god...what in all that's holy is that?”

The room itself is completely covered in that same flesh like substance in the hallway, only now there's sagging pods of darker colored flesh on the walls. There's a large metal archway in the center of the room, with tendrils of flesh snaking up the metal. Suspended by several thick red cords of translucent flesh in the center of the archway is a massive heart like structure. Every second, it would pulsate and shift, beating like an actual heart. Each beat sends a dark fluid shooting through the cords and into the archway.

“This must be the source. Let us destroy this abomination together, Seth,” Celestia orders me. Narrowing her eyes, the princess powers herself up, her crushing magical ambiance washing over me. She's taking this very seriously, as she's raising her magic to levels more akin to what she used to fight me on the mountaintop. 

The moment she starts powering up, the giant heart reacts. With a particularly loud thump, it releases a pulse of dark magic throughout the room. When it reaches me, it knocks me clear off of my feet and into the wall painfully. Celestia skids back a few inches, but is otherwise unfazed.

As I'm rising, I hear the sound of claws scraping along rock outside in the tunnel, telling me that the heart likely called for help, and now the Oppressed that it presumably controls are coming. “Celestia, they're coming!” I alert her, getting to my feet and powering up.

“No matter. All we have to do is destroy the heart, and they will fall!” Celestia assures me. I nod and aim my hand at the heart as well. As I'm powering up, I push myself to the limit, causing green lightning to spark from my body. I push out as much magic as I can until I reach that mental barrier in my mind. It feels much more malleable than before, so I press upon it...which causes a streak of pain to shoot through the right side of my face. Right, I can feel it there. But, I don't need to go that far, so I back off and use just this amount of power.

Celestia lowers her head and fires a searing beam of light from her horn, targeting the heart directly. At the same time, my rifle forms in my hand in its standard form, and I pull the trigger, blasting the heart with a destructive beam of darkness.

The combination of our magics blows a hole right through the heart, showering the floor around it with black ichor and ribbons of flesh. However, we don't stop there. Celestia and I blast each and everything else in the room that looks important, such as either side of the metal archway, the fleshy pods on the wall, and the root like structures connecting the heart to the ceiling. Soon, there's nothing left of the heart except for blackened strings of flesh and a puddle of ichor on the floor.

Behind us, the horde of Oppressed charge into the room...and then abruptly pause just before reaching us. Celestia and I turn to face them, preparing to fight them if necessary, but it's ultimately unnecessary, as they're standing completely still, not even making any sound.

“I think that did it,” I express with a sigh, pushing on one of the Oppressed tentatively. The creature falls over like a ragdoll. “Yeah, seems like whatever the fuck that heart was, it was controlling them.”

Suddenly, the Oppressed start to move once more, shocking me. “Wait, it's not over! There's something else in the ruins...I can sense necromancy!” Celestia exclaims with alarm. I curse and heft my scythe, but to my shock, the Oppressed turn and run back down the tunnel where they came from.

“Where the fuck are they going?!” I demand, and then I chase the creatures down the hallway as well, with Celestia right behind me. “Why are they running!?”

“Something intelligent has begun sustaining them...and it knows we are not to be trifled with,” Celestia hypothesizes. Great, just as we destroyed their source, something else decided to take them over. Seriously? What else is down here with necromancy? Did Vanta not die after all? “Wait...this magic...”

Just as we reach the end of the tunnel, we see that the Oppressed have been throwing themselves into the water...that's currently draining into a newly opened tunnel. The tunnel that I'd used to escape the collapsing room before is open once more, a jagged hole blown right through the debris. The Oppressed are charging through it and into the caverns beyond...but that's not what concerns me. There's something else in the tunnel.

A shadowy cloud of darkness hangs suspended in midair, just above the rushing water and the torrent of Oppressed passing through the tunnel. Just by looking at it, I can feel an outflow of raw emotion coming from it. It hates me...more than anyone else has ever hated me before. My breath catches in my throat, caught completely unprepared. What in the hell could hate me so much that I can feel it in the very magic surrounding it? 

The moment we see it, it streaks down the tunnel and disappears, along with all the Oppressed with it. Snapping back to reality, I leap off the floor and zoom through the air after them.

“Seth, stop!” Celestia orders me, causing me to pause in midair and look back at her. “Do not follow it.”

“What are you talking about? Whatever that was, it's controlling the Oppressed, and we came down here to destroy them!” I shout back at her. I'm shaking slightly. I never cared if people hated me before, but to feel it like that? It's unsettling.

“They're gone. Those caverns likely go deep inside of the earth. It's far more likely that instead of finding it, or any of the Oppressed, we would end up lost and vulnerable,” Celestia explains grimly, flying over to me. “Let it keep its Oppressed for now. We shall have to find another way of tracking them down.”

“But who knows where those Oppressed will show up next? If they get away, what's stopping them from surfacing somewhere else and attacking?” I demand.

“I promise you, if they surface anywhere in Equestria, I will know about it,” Celestia assures me, flying close enough so that we're face to face. “The moment the entity seized control of those monsters, I sensed it. Even now, I can feel it fleeing as quickly as possible.”

“Then why don't we chase it!?”

“Seth! It is gone. Even if we were to chase it, we do not know those tunnels as well as it does,” Celestia tells me firmly. “Do you believe that the entity showed itself carelessly? I will not walk into another trap, and neither will you.”

“You...think it's a trap?” I ask, calming down a little now that I hear the sense in Celestia's words. Celestia nods solemnly, earning a heavy sigh from me. That makes sense. If Celestia gets trapped again like what happened with Chrysalis, we're both fucked. “So what now?”

“We've done what we came to do. From what I was able to deduce, that heart was some sort of conversion device,” Celestia responds. When I look confused, she continues. “Do you remember what happened when we burst those pods on the walls? There were Oppressed inside. I believe that the heart was not only used to sustain the Oppressed, but also to create them.”

“You think that's the type of thing Sombra used to make the Oppressed?” I gasp. I never did question how Sombra made the Oppressed. I always just assumed that he used some necromancy or another. Then again...if he was the only one that knew how to make them, how did Vanta make Oppressed after he left?  If this heart thing created them...then that makes a little more sense.

“It's possible. I am merely using circumstantial evidence to make assumptions,” Celestia tells me. “Nevertheless, the entity will no longer be able to use this location as a base of operations. Let us return to the surface. I must share all that we've learned with my sister.”

“All right,” I agree. With one last glare directed at the hole where the Oppressed had left, Celestia and I leave the way we came, because the elevator shaft down where Vanta was is now buried. “Do you know what the hell that thing was?”

“I'm not certain as to its identity. However, I could tell that it was using dark magic, like yours,” Celestia reveals. That gets me to look at her in shock.

“I thought I was the only one who used this kind of magic other than Sombra...does that mean...?” I say with dread entering my voice.

“No. King Sombra is gone, Seth. While this entity felt very similar to you and Sombra, it was not him,” Celestia assures me, such that I release a sigh. I can't tell if her telling me that is relieving or disappointing. “Nevertheless, this is troubling, that somepony else may have overcome the limits of dark magic. I will have to look into it.”

“I want to know everything you find out. If it's using dark magic and can control the Oppressed, it has some connection to Sombra,” I respond. “Maybe he was another of Sombra's generals.”

“Perhaps...but I don't recall any general learning dark magic. It's not an easy magic to learn, as it requires converting your magic core to darkness, such that it produces only dark mana,” Celestia explains. “But speculation is pointless. We simply don't have enough information at present.”

“I suppose. And here I was, thinking I'd be able to relax in peace after this was over. I guess fucking not,” I grumble. Will I ever get to live a peaceful life? I fucking miss the days when I'd have nothing else to do except work with Applejack and chill with Rainbow. Now, with Chrysalis out there, and now this dark magic using fucker...just...goddammit.

“No, Seth, you will be able to relax. Dealing with this is not your prerogative, after all,” Celestia says, surprisingly. I shoot her a questioning look. “I appreciate the help you've given me, but ultimately, protecting Equestria is my responsibility. After we discuss things with my sister, you may go back to Ponyville, if you so desire it.”

“Really? Even though it's my goddamn fault there's even Oppressed in the first place?” I retort, stopping in place and turning to face her. As much as I love the idea of living peacefully back in Ponyville, I can't accept this.

Celestia stops as well and gazes at me seriously. “Seth. None of this is your fault. While you are heavily involved in the situation at present, you are ultimately collateral damage in King Sombra's main plan,” she informs me firmly. “There was no way you could have stopped Sombra from going back to your time, or sending you here to us.”

“But...”

“In the end, Sombra and his allies are my responsibility. That is why I said you can return home to Ponyville: because you can trust me to deal with the Oppressed, and free you of your burden,” Celestia finishes. I clamp my mouth shut, my protest dying in my throat. Celestia suddenly smiles. “Besides, I believe you have a relationship to explore. Far be it from me to take you away from that.”

“What the...oh, goddammit, Celestia!” My response causes Celestia to giggle and look at me fondly. “Fine. Yeah, I don't really want to stick around. If you can crush them for me, I'd be grateful. I'm tired of having to fight all the time. I really do just want to go home and chill with Rainbow.”

“Of course. Let's make our report to my sister, and then we'll handle the rest from there,” Celestia promises. With that, the two of us start moving once more, ascending the floors back to the surface.

You know, I probably shouldn't have forgotten that Celestia has kept this country safe for over a millennium, without my help. So what if the threat now is a little more dangerous than before? It's still less dangerous than Chrysalis, so Celestia can handle it easily, especially if Luna's helping her.

Yeah, I think I'm done fighting. I'm going back to Rainbow, and I'm not leaving again.


> 86. Winding Down
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

By the time Celestia and I climb back up the ramp and into the main camp, the sun has already reached its zenith, beaming rays of light down on the camp. Not much has changed in the camp since the last time I was up here, considering the worker ponies are still chilling up here without a clue on what to do.

Opal is in the middle of the camp, sitting down on a log with some of the other workers, warming herself with the campfire that's been set up there. She immediately gets to her hooves when she sees Celestia and I approaching.

“Princess! Are you alright?” Opal exclaims, running to meet us. Her words cause the other workers within earshot to stop whatever they're doing and crane their heads to get a glimpse of one of their rulers. “We felt some tremors while you were down there...we were afraid it was going to happen again.”

“Thank you, miss Opal. You honor me with your concern,” Celestia answers graciously, coming to a halt in front of the project lead. “Do not worry; Seth and I are largely unharmed, for the most part.”

“Oh, that's a relief to hear. What about the monsters? Did you clear them out?” Opal questions nervously.

“Yes, the problem is dealt with. The ruins are safe now,” Celestia responds, much to Opal's delight. “You may inform the others that they may return to work.”

“Excellent! Thank you so much, Princess,” Opal expresses gratefully. With a dip of her head, she retreats to the campfire. “Everypony, let's get to work!”

With that one announcement, the camp bursts into activity, the workers gathering their tools and  getting ready to continue the expedition at long last. Celestia smiles fondly at the sight. “I wish them luck. Any discoveries that they can make will no doubt benefit us greatly.”

“Right. No doubt they have enough shit to sift through to last them a while,” I remark, speaking up for the first time since getting back to the surface. “Let's get to Luna. I can't even express in words how much I want to be home right now.”

“I understand,” Celestia replies with a chuckle. I sigh and follow her through the camp towards the main tent.

Rainbow and Twilight are the next ponies to meet us. The both of them are both standing beneath a canopy near the entrance of the main tent. The moment they see us, they both canter towards us, looking both curious and anxious.

“Did you two end up fighting? I could tell from all the way up here!” Rainbow demands, screeching to a halt just in front of me. Twilight says something similar, only she stops just in front of Celestia. “You better not have gotten hurt.”

“What's that supposed to mean? Don't tell me you were worried,” I tease her. My cheekiness earns me a shove from her two front hooves, causing me to reel back and chuckle. “No seriously, why were you even worried? Celestia is with me, and anything that picks a fight with her is just plain stupid. She wrecks everything.”

“Yeah, I guess...jerk,” Rainbow grumbles, though she does walk around me so that she can stand at my side. At my mention of Celestia, she nods and grins. “Remembering seeing her in the wedding hall, practically bringing the sun down to us?”

“There's no way I'm forgetting that. She shows up ready to kick some ass, and Chrysalis is just lying there, all like, 'fuck, fuck!'” I joke, causing Rainbow to laugh, and Celestia to glance over at me with a wry smile. “Anyway, we did run into some monsters down there, but Celestia steamrolled them like she does everything, so it wasn't a problem.”

“She did what to them?” Rainbow questions. Right, they don't have steamrollers yet.

“Ran them over,” I correct. Rainbow nods, understanding. “If you want to hear the full version, come with us to see Luna. We've got some shit to tell her.”

“That is a good idea. Come, dear Twilight. You will hear all about our discoveries down in the ruins shortly,” Celestia agrees, cutting off the stream of questions coming out of Twilight's mouth. “Let us hurry. I believe the captain may already be here?”

“Captain? What captain? Shining Armor? Blades? Who?” I ask curiously, passing through the flap of canvas into the tent. Confusingly enough, none of those ponies are in the tent. Instead, the only ones here are Luna and another pony mare that I don't recognize.

I quirk an eyebrow at the pony I don't know. She's a pegasus with a dark blue coat and a similarly colored mane. Light blue eyes gaze out from beneath a hardened brow, watching the four of us as we enter. Yeah, if this is the captain Celestia mentioned, I don't have a clue who she is. 

“Sister, thou hast returned.” Luna walks over to meet us the moment we enter, looking serious. “We were very close to coming down there ourselves.”

“Trust me, Celestia did not need any help,” I remark, much to Luna's annoyance. Behind us, Twilight and Rainbow enter the tent and sit down, likely recognizing that this is a likely going to be a military meeting. “The Oppressed never knew what hit them.”

“Nevertheless, 'twas worrying. We sensed a most curious magic down there, apart from thine,” Luna returns. Hm, she's no doubt talking about that unknown entity we ran into down there. “Sister, can thou shed some light on the subject?”

“Of course. But before that, Seth,” Celestia responds, turning to look at me. She indicates the dark blue mare standing near us. “I would like to introduce you to Moonlit Gale, captain of the Stealth Corps.”

Captain Gale lowers her head politely and extends a front hoof to me. I hesitantly reach forward and accept her hoofshake. So, this is the head of the Stealth Corps that I heard about a long time ago from Luna, just after Chrysalis escaped. Where the hell was she during the Royal Wedding? 

“Captain Gale? Okay, now that's a pretty cool name,” I admit, withdrawing my hand. Gale's response is to give a polite laugh as she sets her hoof back on the ground. “So what are you doing here?”

“I'm here on orders of both princesses, to give my report,” Gale answers formally. Huh, the way she's talking all formal reminds me an awful lot of Rose. I sure hope Gale isn't a bitch like Rose is, otherwise this meeting will be rather unpleasant. 

“Quite so. I would like to hear your findings once we are finished discussing the ruins,” Celestia rejoins. She meets Luna's gaze. “Speaking of which, this is what Seth and I discovered...”

Luna is understandably appalled by what we have to tell her. As if knowing that undead monsters resistant to magic exist wasn't bad enough, now she knows that there's a lot more out there unaccounted for. The clincher is the revelation that there's something out there with magic like mine. That gets a shocked reaction from everypony except Gale.

“Is it King Sombra?” Luna demands anxiously, grinding her hoof into the ground furiously. “Did he somehow manage to return?”

“No. It was not Sombra. The entity was using dark magic, but its composition is slightly different than his. It is a very similar feeling to what I sense from Seth...but not quite,” Celestia responds. Luna releases a sigh of relief, once again making me wonder how terrifying Sombra must have been to make Celestia and Luna so afraid of him, even now.	“We must assume it is another of Sombra's allies. It must be, as it knows necromancy in addition to its normal magic. It was able to command the Oppressed in the absence of the heart.”

“Troubling...'tis very troubling,” Luna muses. “We suppose thou art correct. King Sombra's magic was much stronger than what we sensed.”

“Pardon the interruption, but I believe this ties into my report,” Gale rejoins, gaining our undivided attention. “The intelligence I have uncovered in the northern wastelands may correlate with the subject of this entity.”

“Wait what?” I demand, fully interested in what this captain has to say now. It may not be my responsibility to fight now, but that entity hated me. Not Celestia...but me. I'm more than a little curious as to what could hate me so much I could feel it.

“That is an interesting conjecture. In that case, would you mind repeating your report to us?” Celestia requests. Gale nods, and then she leads the three of us over to the table near the back of the tent. Rainbow and Twilight follow close behind, both of them as curious as we are. 

Gale unrolls a map of Equestria on the table and weighs it down with some of the books nearby.  She puts her hoof on the map and indicates the region of the map beyond the northern border of Equestria. “As per your orders, we've been investigating the northern wastelands for any signs of suspicious activity.”

“Why the hell were you up north? Shouldn't you have been trying to find out where Chrysalis went?” I interject abruptly. Gale closes her mouth and sighs, clearly annoyed at being interrupted.

“During mine mission to Griffonstone, 'twas a viceroy that informed us of the happenings in the north. 'Twas our decision to divert agents to that location,” Luna answers for her, indicating Celestia as well. “Now, save thy questions until the captain finishes her report. Now, continue, captain.”

“Of course. We discovered several small villages scattered throughout the wastes, inhabited by hardier ponies that aren't very welcoming to newcomers,” Gale begins again, while I sit there huffing due to Luna's chastisement. “From them, we learned that there have been small bands of undead roaming the wastes, though they've never come near any of the villages.”

“As you know, all undead require a necromancer or some source of life energy to function. We believe there is a necromancer hiding within the cave systems in the Crystal Mountains, but any attempts to infiltrate the caverns were deemed too dangerous, as they appear to be infested with undead,” Gale continues. I have tons of questions and comments, but I keep quiet, waiting for Gale to finish her report. “However, eyewitness reports from miners or travelers describe a strange shadowy cloud in the mountains, usually sighted in the cavern entrances or traveling outwards to unknown destinations. Recently, there has been a lack of any sightings...”

“Which is because it was down in the ruins with us,” Celestia realizes aloud, looking at me. Gale nods in confirmation. That's....huh. That doesn't explain its connection to me. “It must have been drawn to the outburst of magical power caused by your battle with Vanta. I don't see any other possible explanation for its sudden presence in Equestria.”

“That's the conclusion we arrived to as well. Unfortunately, we have not been able to discern its identity. But we have assumed it possesses some knowledge of necromancy; this has now been proven by your own report, Princess Celestia,” Gale explains.

“When did these sightings first begin?” Luna inquires.

“According to what we've found, sightings of the cloud began upon the foundation of each village. In other words, it's been present in the mountains for hundreds of years, perhaps more,” Gale reveals. Well, now I have no clue what the cloud could be. If it's not Sombra, and it's immortal, then why does it hate me so much? “However, the sightings of undead are recent; we estimate that the first sighting was approximately several months ago.”

“I see,” Celestia replies. She sighs deeply, either in disappointment or resignation. When she looks up again, her face is grim. “Luna, I believe we should expect the worst. Whoever controls these undead seems to be building an army.”

“Mine thoughts exactly. We should recall Commander Iron and prepare for the worst,” Luna agrees. Celestia shakes her head.

“Not just yet. I agree we should prepare our forces just in case, but I believe we should observe just a little while longer. Consolidating an attack force may do nothing more than provoke this unknown entity,” Celestia advises Luna. “But I will certainly increase the guard at each of our cities. We will not be taken by surprise.”

Meanwhile, I'm just standing here, turning my head between the three of them to take in everything that's being said. I'm guessing I'm allowed to be here because of my connections to the entity in the first place, but I'm not really a part of the discussion. Like Twilight and Rainbow, this isn't my responsibility.

“There is one last matter of concern, princesses,” Gale speaks up. Oh shit, what could possibly be more concerning than a possible undead army? Once Gale has their attention, she continues. “We believe we may have discovered the location of the changeling hive.”

That gets all of us to express varying degrees of shock. Even Twilight and Rainbow show a reaction, as they too had been right on the front lines with the rest of the army during the changeling invasion. Now we possibly know where Chrysalis is hiding?

“I see. What brings you to that conclusion?” Celestia questions.

“Some of the agents I assigned to search for changeling activity reported back sightings of changeling drones in the area around the Badlands, south of Dodge Junction,” Gale responds. “We don't have an exact location, but the presence of changeling patrols hints at a larger presence. We believe it warrants further investigation.”

“No. Pull out your agents and station them at Dodge Junction,” Celestia orders. Gale blinks, confused, but she nods. “Close the area off to the public and keep an eye on anything that goes in and out of that area. We believe Queen Chrysalis has something akin to a hive mind with her subjects, and thus if even one drone spots you, she'll put her whole hive on full alert.”

“Hey, if you go to deal with Chrysalis,” I rejoin, walking back up to the table and getting their attention. I stare at Celestia. “I want to be there. She's made this personal for me.”

Celestia gazes serenely, her eyes softening. “I understand. If we take any offensive action against the changelings, I will alert you. We will certainly not turn down your help,” she promises me. Luna also nods appreciatively, a hint of camaraderie appearing in her expression. Yeah, I still remember fighting alongside her, and it seems like she does too. “However, I believe we shall observe a while longer. Attacking Queen Chrysalis on her home ground would be a foalish move.”

“Sister, if they choose to attack us both at once, we would be forced to fight a war on two fronts,” Luna warns, jabbing the map in both locations. Celestia shakes her head.

“Let's not jump to conclusions. As of right now, the only one with a grudge against Equestria is Queen Chrysalis. The gathering of undead is a matter of some concern, but until they make a move, I won't act against them,” Celestia declares. Luna looks ready to protest, but Celestia keeps talking. “However, I cannot ignore them either. Captain!”

“Yes, your highness?” Gale responds immediately, saluting.

“Let the Earth Pony Regiments know that they're to double the guard in every city. Make sure Captain Spitfire knows to do the same with the cloud cities, as well,” Celestia commands. “Next, tell Captain Blades that I want a messenger unicorn in each city, village, and town. I will not be caught off guard. You are dismissed.”

“Understood,” Gale affirms, and then she canters past the rest of us and leaves the tent, taking to the air and flying out of sight.

There's a short silence after that, which I feel the need to break. “Goddamn, a possible two front war? Is this like...the craziest time in Equestrian history, or what?” I remark with a heavy sigh. Even though I'm not required to fight with them, just hearing them talk about it stresses me out.

“Perhaps,” Celestia replies. Is it just me, or does she look a little forlorn? Luna notices it as well and moves to comfort her sister with an affectionate nuzzle. “Thank you, Luna.”

“Something the matter, sister?” Luna asks.

“I am disappointed, if that is what you mean. We have tried so hard to keep this country happy and safe from external threats, and now it seems like it is all going to fall apart. I cannot help but feel saddened,” Celestia admits to all of us. “I just wonder if there was something else we could have done to prevent all of this.”

I blink, staring in disbelief at Celestia. Is this really happening right now? I've always viewed Celestia as this country's pillar, unshakeable and stalwart. And now...it seems to me that she can feel uncertain just as much as I can. I don't know why, but this makes her feel a little less intimidating to me. I guess she really is a mare just like the rest of them. A very old and experienced mare, but a mare nonetheless.

“No, Princess! You are wonderful!” Twilight suddenly speaks up, joining the three of us by the table. She gazes up at Celestia with bright eyes. “Every time we've needed you, you've been there for us. Please don't think any less of yourself for this. We all know you're doing the best you can. I know you won't steer us wrong.”

Celestia pauses, looking down at Twilight with a hint of surprise in her face. She then chuckles sheepishly and leans down, embracing her student warmly. “Thank you, Twilight. As my subject...no, as my personal student and friend, it means a lot to hear you say that,” Celestia expresses, earning a happy smile from Twilight.

“Yeah, well, it's not like any of us can do what you do,” I feel the need to say. Now Celestia definitely looks surprised. Why is she so...oh, I guess it's because I've never really given her moral support before. If you can call it that. I'm just telling the truth. “Seriously. This country would be fucked without you and Luna.”

“Definitely! Equestria's not going down with you around!” Rainbow joins the conversation as well, adding her support to ours. “Though if ever need a few flanks kicked, you know where to find me.”

“Thank you, all of you. I appreciate the support you are giving me,” Celestia answers, now back to looking as confident as ever. “I will make sure not to disappoint any of you.”

Not long after that, when she finishes with a few last minor points, Celestia dismisses Rainbow, Twilight, and I. “You are free to go, you three. What you do next is up to you,” Celestia tells us, just before we leave the tent.

“Dear god, I am so ready to go home. The first thing I'm doing when I get back is grabbing a book and relaxing on my couch. Whew,” I say, stretching out my arms.

“I need to go home as well. I've left Spike alone too long,” Twilight admits, looking a little anxious. “Rarity told me she'd check on him every so often and make sure he was okay, but I still worry.”

“That's because you're a fussbudget,” I retort, remembering the name Rainbow and I gave her that irritated her so much. As expected, Twilight huffs and gives me a pouting face, even as Rainbow snickers into her hooves next to me.

“Anyway, as long as the expedition is underway, I'm definitely coming back every time I get a chance. I felt like Dr. Forward and I were close to a breakthrough on electrical efficiency! And stop yawning, Rainbow!” Twilight exclaims. Sure enough, Rainbow is in the middle of an obnoxious yawn, letting Twilight know just how uninterested she is.

“What can I say? Sounds like boring egghead stuff,” Rainbow says uncaringly, much to Twilight's frustration. “But yeah, I gotta get back too. The Board's gonna kill me if I take any more time off.”

“Heh, yeah, work's a thing too. But you know what? Farm work is a cakewalk compared to what I've had to do recently,” I recall, shrugging. “But, it just hit me. There's no meeting or anything waiting for us back in Ponyville. You know what that means?”

“What?” Twilight asks tentatively, seeming rather unsure on whether she wants to hear the answer or not. I exchange a glance with Rainbow, who seems to know exactly what I'm thinking. 

“Bye!” Both Rainbow and I take off from the ground and soar into the air, leaving a surprised and annoyed Twilight behind. It isn't long before Rainbow and I clear the canopy and put the camp behind us, once and for all. Yeah, I'm not going back to the school. I think I've had enough closure. A little more closure that I would have liked, in fact.

“Hah! Did you see her face?” Rainbow chortles, looking back towards the forest below. “Silly Twilight. Like we were really going to walk back through the forest with her.”

“Yeah, seriously. Especially since there's guards all over the path back to Ponyville. And even if there weren't, she's strong enough to handle anything the forest throws at her,” I return, chuckling as well. 

I release a happy sigh. Despite all the shit I had to listen to in the tent, I feel relaxed, because there's nothing on my plate in the near future. I don't have to do a damn thing except for what I want to do. I think I'm going to try out my new piano.

“Yeah, Ponyville! Home sweet home, baby!” Rainbow exults, and she then accelerates, quickly building up her speed. 

Just for shits, I try to keep up with her. It goes much better than our supposed rematch back at the airships. This time, I only lag behind by a few feet, and the distance remains constant. Part of me wonders if I can actually surpass her if I do that transforming thing, but I'm not about to open myself up to potential insanity just to satisfy my curiosity. Besides, I don't feel the need to surpass her anyway. Going fast is her thing. No point in taking that away from her because of bullshit magic.

We reach Ponyville in a matter of minutes. Rainbow streaks right into the town square and skids to a stop, looking excited. “Yeah, and the Dash is back in town!” Rainbow proclaims, making me roll my eyes. The other ponies in the square, after getting over their surprise at her sudden appearance, wave and call out greetings to her. They do the same for me once I land right next to her.

“Did you have to make an entrance?” I ask wryly. Rainbow gives me a look that clearly says, “Duh.” I shake my head, but despite that, I'm smiling. Damn, I never thought I'd be so happy to see this stupid town.

“Could you two be any louder coming in?” Oh hey, it's Vinyl. The DJ appears to be shopping at Carrot Top's stall, a bag stuffed full of supplies hanging in the air next to her. “S'up? I didn't know you two left town.”

“Yeah, we had to go back to see Celestia. Remember, she said she had to see me this morning back in the hospital room,' I respond, walking over to meet her. Rainbow follows me, hovering in the air at my eye level. 

“Yeah, but I thought she'd visit you at home or something,” Vinyl justifies, though she does grin at our approach. Her face slowly turns serious. She lowers her shades and stares over them to regard us. “So are you two good now?”

“Wha? Oh...yeah, we're cool,” Rainbow responds, taken aback by Vinyl's sudden invasive question. “More than cool, actually. You helped, right?”

“Only because Sethie here was being a bonehead,” Vinyl returns. And she just called me Sethie. I'm literally about to yell at her for that when I realize that considering the subject, I should let it go. “You owe me a cider, by the way.”

“All right, that's fair,” I admit, causing Rainbow to laugh. Vinyl huffs and approaches us, jabbing a hoof at Rainbow.

“No, you know what? You're just as bad, Rainbow,” Vinyl points out, much to Rainbow's confusion. “You have no idea how frustrating it was, watching you two, day by day. It's like, hello, a blind filly with a headache could tell you both were totally into each other.”

“No, it was...it...uh...wasn't that bad, was it?” Rainbow can't even form a protest, because she knows Vinyl is right. 

“It was, dear Celestia. It was painful, watching you both putting on the tsundere act. I just wanted to walk right up to you and...” Vinyl says, and then she rears up on her hind legs. Before either of us can react, she uses her two front hooves to bang Rainbow's and my heads together, causing the both of us to yelp in pain and surprise. “...knock some sense into you. Sheesh. But at least you're cool now, right?”

“Yes, we already said so,” I snap, rubbing my head. Vinyl nods, satisfied, and settles back down on all fours again. “If you're free, I'll buy you that cider you wanted.”

“Wait, did I hear that right?” Carrot Top interrupts, peering over the stall towards us. I realize too late that we are standing way too close to the stall to have a conversation like this. “Rainbow, are you and Seth together?”

“Uhhh....” Rainbow has no reply, probably because the phrase “oh shit,”  is running through both of our heads. Or the equivalent in Rainbow's case. As Carrot Top walks out from around the stall, a blush suffuses Rainbow's face. The same goes for me, because this was not how I expected word getting out.

“Ohmigosh, you are! Aaaah!” Carrot Top squeals, streaking over to us excitedly, a bright smile crossing her face. She comes to a stop just in front of us, grasping my hands and one of Rainbow's hooves with her own. “I'm so happy for you two! “

“Thanks, I guess,” I reply awkwardly. I really wish word could have gotten out on my own terms...but at least it wasn't Pinkie who found out first.

“Aww, you're all blushing! You two are adorable!” Carrot Top exclaims, letting go of our assorted appendages and resting back on all fours. Of course, her commenting on our appearance only makes it worse. “I just knew you'd be together eventually...oh, which reminds me.”

To our bemusement, Carrot Top looks beyond us and dashes past us, heading for another mare in the crowd...whom I recognize. “Hey! Bon Bon!” Carrot Top calls out, getting the mare's attention. Bon Bon, who appears to be on her way home from work, pauses. “You won't believe it! It happened! You better pay up!”

“Oh, are you kidding me? Him!?” Bon Bon seems less than pleased by that announcement. Then, after shooting Rainbow and I a disbelieving glance, she passes some money over to Carrot Top. It suddenly dawns on me what's going on.

“Were you fuckers making bets!?” I demand loudly. Next to me, Vinyl promptly loses her shit and starts laughing her ass off to the point where she finds it difficult to breathe. Next to me, Rainbow looks indignant at the prospect of being bet on. “Seriously!? It was that bad?”

“You're...darn right it was....oh, you should see your faces right now...!” Vinyl manages to choke out in between her bouts of merriment.

“This is not how I planned this...oh dear Celestia,” Rainbow groans, facehoofing. Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. I can't believe they were fucking making bets about this. Around us, other ponies are starting to get curious, and it doesn't seem like Bon Bon or Carrot Top has any qualms about sharing the news. Shit, it's going to be all around town by the end of the day. “At this rate, it's only a matter of time until...”

“THEY'RE WHAT!?” Oh, sweet Jesus Christ on a motherfucking motorcycle no. I know that high pitched voice anywhere. Next to me, Rainbow's wearing the most deadpan expression I think I've ever seen her wear. It isn't long before a pink blur streaks from practically halfway across the town straight to us. I can't help but groan and rub my forehead as Pinkie shows up in front of us and starts hopping around us in rapid circles. She starts talking at an incredibly fast speed to the point where I can barely understand it. All I can make out is her last sentence. “We need need NEED to have a party right now!”

“Pinkie! Slow down!” Rainbow yells at her, rubbing her forehead in a very similar matter to what I'm doing. Pinkie's response is to continue bouncing around us...except in slow motion. I don't even with this pony.

“Hee! Sorry. I'm just sooo excited to hear about this! I mean, aren't you excited? Because I'm sure the rest of the town is because you're finally together. Did you know that Bon Bon  was making bets that you would never get together?” Pinkie replies extremely quickly. “No, we need to have a party, tonight at my place! I'll invite the whole town, and I'll bake you a cake just for this occasion, with all of your favorite flavors! Vinyl, would you DJ for it?”

“Hold up, there's a party happening tonight? Like, right now? How the fuck can you plan a party that quickly?” I demand, but Pinkie's on a roll and doesn't seem to be slowing down. I should just give up, because I knew this was going to happen. I thought I'd have a bit more time though...I blame Vinyl for this.

“Hay yes, I'm going to DJ. Seth showed me a song one night that works extremely well for this occasion. I want to remix the hay out of it,” Vinyl responds, giving me a mischievous stare. She shakes hooves with Pinkie. “Good thing I'm not doing anything tonight.”

“I'm not either! If there's a party going on, I'm definitely in!” Carrot Top announces as she passes by us with Bon Bon, heading back to her stall. “I can't wait! The first human in Equestria for over three thousand years gets hitched to our Rainbow Dash! This is totally party material!”

“Isn't it? I'd love to stay and chat, but I have a party to plan!” Pinkie agrees excitedly. She then gives both Rainbow and I the most serious stare. “You two must be at my place by tonight. Don't be late! Toodles!”

Pinkie zooms away as fast as she arrived, giggling and talking to herself loudly about what kind of decorations and entertainment she should use. Rainbow and I watch her go, and then we slowly look at one another. “There's no way she's going to be able to set up a party with such short notice,” I state flatly. 

“Oho, don't you underestimate the Pinkie. If anypony can do it, she can,” Vinyl remarks.

“It's not a matter of underestimating, it's a matter of simple facts! You can't set up a party without first writing up a guest list, sending invitations, and then finding out whether or not enough ponies are free and willing to come!” I shoot back, even though I feel like my protests don't really matter. Pinkie just defies logic in every way.

“You forget that it's Pinkie. Whenever she makes a party, half the town just drops whatever plans they have that night to go to it,” Rainbow reminds me, her tone resigned. “I know it's a bit sooner than we expected, but we're not getting out of it. If we don't show, Pinkie will hunt us down.”

“Yeah, I figured as much. Welp, so much for resting tonight. I guess we're partying instead,” I grunt, giving in. Though mostly I'm just being stubborn. Pinkie's parties are always fun and a great way to blow off stress...which I have a lot of right now thanks to that semi-war council we had not long ago.

“Yup! It should be fun though. Provided Pinkie doesn't try to make us do anything too crazy,” Rainbow remarks. “Anyway, because apparently I have someplace to be tonight, I need to get going. I gotta check in with the Board and see what's up.”

“Me too. I need to grab my tables and get set up. Seth, you mind if I use that one song you showed me?” Vinyl says next, glancing at me questioningly. Next to me, Rainbow gives us a wave and takes off, heading for wherever that board she mentioned is.

“What song?”

“The one where the singer wakes up in a house fire,” Vinyl clarifies. I give her a deadpan stare. I love that song, but why is that one particular line the one she chose to fixate on?

“He doesn't literally wake up in a house fire. That's a metaphor, dumb ass,” I remind her. Vinyl shrugs. “Yeah, sure. You'll need my phone if you want to do it, though. I assume you plan on pulling some magic bullshit to get my song playing over your speakers?”

“Yup! Though you'll have to let me use it while the song is playing. That cool?” Vinyl asks, knowing how attached I am to my phone.

“Only because it's you who's asking. Though if you damage it I'll shove your horn up your ass,” I warn her. Vinyl doesn't bat an eye at my threat, no doubt used to me by now. 

“Thanks! I'll come grab it for you just before I start playing. Anyway, I'm off. I'll see you tonight!” Vinyl calls, and then she too heads the other direction, leaving me alone in the town square with a bunch of ponies looking at me curiously and gossiping amongst themselves. 

I turn and take to the air, heading back to my house. If I'm going to be up for god knows how long at a Pinkie Party celebrating my new relationship of all things, I'm going to take a nap first.





I'm almost late for the party, because I ended up being so tired I almost passed out for the whole night. If it weren't for the alarm I set (even though I hit snooze several times) I would have missed the party entirely.

Sure enough, Ponyville is practically a ghost town when I leave my house again. I shake my head, feeling embarrassed and a little incredulous that the entire town is going to a party to celebrate my relationship with Rainbow. This is ridiculous.

I don't think it's a surprise party this time. I say that because Sugarcube Corner is lit up like a Christmas tree, Vinyl's LEDs already lighting the place up. Several stragglers from town are filtering into the store, some of which I recognize. 

I land right beside Bon Bon, who looks up at my approach. She narrows her eyes as if she's trying to be mad, but then she sighs. “You cost me a lot of bits, you know,” she informs me as the two of us approach the store. “I didn't think Rainbow would ever look at a jerk like you.”

“Yeah, well, honestly, I still can't believe this happening. I can't believe you bet on me,” I express, taking her insult in stride. I deserve it, to be honest. I have been quite a prick ever since getting here. It's hard, but I'm trying to change that.

“I'm regretting it. Did you like...get nicer when I wasn't looking?” Bon Bon admits, looking surprised that I didn't respond hatefully to her like I usually do. “Usually your first response to seeing me is a bunch of human profanities.”

“I dunno. Maybe. A lot has happened in the past...” I try to say, but then Pinkie streaks out of the front door and drags me inside before I even know what's happening, leaving a laughing Bon Bon behind.

“He's here, he's here! Let's get this party started!” Pinkie declares to the crowd gathered inside, consisting of, as I expected, most of the townsponies. Just one cursory look reveals all of the Elements, including a harried looking Twilight who looks like she rushed here, an energetic Applejack, a beaming Rarity, a smiling Fluttershy, and a very embarrassed Rainbow, who is currently being assaulted by well-wishers and questions. There's also other ponies that I've interacted with in the past, such as Lyra, Flitter, Cloud Chaser, Derpy, and Apple Bloom. There's a ton more that I don't have time to mention, because now Vinyl is in my face. As we agreed, I pass her my phone with one last word of warning, and then Vinyl retreats to her tables. “First things first! Let's kick things off with a dance! Hit it Vinyl!”

Vinyl finishes adjusting her tables, and then the song we discussed starts blasting on the speakers, filling the room with its quick and rocking beat. “Aw yeah, let's give it up for the most oblivious, frustrating couple to ever exist! Kick it!” Vinyl exults, rearing up on her hind legs and kicking at the air enthusiastically.

I don't even get a chance to catch my breath before Lyra and Cloud Chaser shove me towards Rainbow, who is also shoved towards me by Applejack and Flitter. We end up standing very close together, both of us feeling a lot more awkward than we should. 

“I...uh...guess we have to dance,” I say awkwardly. Rainbow looks awkward for a second longer...and then a confident grin crosses her face.

“No, I have to dance. You just have to keep up!” Rainbow challenges me, already starting to move her body to the beat. 

“Okay, now you're asking for it. You don't even know how to dance, you silly pony,” I return, mirroring her expression on my own. Now that she's acting as confident and ridiculous as she always does, my awkwardness slowly fades away, the party atmosphere taking over.

Together, the both of us start dancing, much to the excitement of the crowd around us. More ponies join us on the dance floor, until I no longer feel as exposed as before.

Just looking at Rainbow now, watching me with that competitive gleam in her eyes, the ruins and the battle with Vanta seem like they happened a long time ago. Nevertheless, I don't regret what happened down there in the least. Because of that...I've learned something about life that I never knew before. 

And it feels good.
> 87. Start of Something New
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	My phone's alarm wakes me by blaring music in my ears. Ugh, is it really going off now? I thought I had at least another few hours before I really had to get up.

Checking the phone clock tells me it's already eleven...which means I really did sleep in extremely late....and I don't feel so good. Why did I eat so much cake?  I should have stopped after the mild stomachache I got after eating the fifth piece, but no, I got all caught up the moment and ate even more. I guess I brought this on myself.

Hopping out of bed, I smack myself awake and make my way to the shower, deciding that I certainly need one after the fiasco of last night. I still smell pony all over me thanks to the crowded dance floor. 

Turning on the water, I reflect on last night's party. This time the party had been particularly wild, second only to the royal reception party in overall craziness. There were so many dancing mares there it made me realize that I literally have no stallions to which I talk to on a regular basis. But whatever.

Considering the party had been all about Rainbow and I, several ponies (namely, Cloud Chaser and Carrot Top) kept trying to get the two of us to kiss at least once. As one could imagine, both Rainbow and I staunchly refused, much to their disappointment. Of course, it didn't stop them from trying. This ended up with the two of them trying to orchestrate slow dances to try and “create the mood,” so to speak. 

That worked once, and that was it. Rainbow and I usually used the slower songs as an excuse to leave the dance floor and gorge ourselves on party food. However, one time we gave in, because it was playing the same song that we slow danced to back at the royal reception. Come to think of it...I think I had already fallen for Rainbow at that point, and just didn't know it yet.

Anyway, Cloud Chaser and Carrot Top ultimately ended up disappointed, because Rainbow and I never kissed. There was no way I was going to kiss her in a crowded party environment. In fact, I'm still awkward about kissing her in the first place. Kissing a pony...sheesh, it's almost comical how I've gotten to this point.

Once I'm finished with my shower, I walk into the sitting room just across the hall, figuring I'd spend the first couple hours before work relaxing. Applejack said last night that she wants me to come in later today, which is fine. Maybe I'll get a fire going up here and try out my piano.

I certainly don't expect my sitting room to already be occupied. Rainbow is resting on the couch, reading a book. Upon hearing the door open, she cranes her head backwards so that she's staring at me upside down over the top of the couch. “Morning! You slept in late,” Rainbow comments, orienting her body so that she can look at me normally.

“Yeah, well, that's what happens when you stay up until...what are you doing?” I cut off my own response when I see Rainbow's gaze drop from my eyes. Her eyes follow my body downwards, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

“You uh...seem to be forgetting something,” Rainbow informs me with a grin, jabbing her hoof at me. Nonplussed, I look down...and then realize that I'm not dressed in anything other than a set of flimsy boxers.  My face turns red in less than a second, and I immediately withdraw from the sitting room. I quickly run into my bedroom, shutting the door as I go, with Rainbow's laughter trailing behind me. When I return, I'm fully dressed in a decent set of work clothes, looking anywhere but at Rainbow. “You never forget your clothes. I almost never get to see those muscles.”

“Well, excuse me, I thought you went home last night. I thought I had the house to myself,” I snap back, still feeling mortified. I know I technically shouldn't feel like this, considering she is my girlfriend...but I'm not even going to go there. Yeesh. “Besides, why would you want to see my muscles anyway?”

“Because I helped develop them, dummy. Applejack and I toughened you up pretty good, if I say so myself,” Rainbow responds without missing a beat, hopping off of the couch and poking at my abs. “I'm pretty proud of myself for making you almost as awesome as me.”

“You forgot to bolster my ego. It's still only about a tenth as massive as yours,” I retort with a half grin. Rainbow swats at me, but I dodge it easily, chuckling. I get serious after that, remembering the promise that I made Rainbow. “Anyway, are you sticking around? I believe I owe you an explanation.”

“Wha? An explanation for what?” Rainbow questions, blinking in bewilderment. Really? Just as I'm about to lay into her for forgetting, it hits her. “Oh yeah! You still gotta tell me why you don't accept favors. You're home for good now, right?”

“Yeah. Unless something with Chrysalis comes up, I'm not going anywhere. Thank god too, I'm done with battle,” I reply. A familiar feeling washes over me after saying that.  It makes my skin feel cold, and my body tremble. Every time I face the prospect of reliving the past, it unsettles me. I think there's some kind of psychological term for that...but I don't remember what it's called. “So do you want to do this now?”

“Agh, I really want to, but I've got to go to work soon. I don't want you to rush the story, so do you want to do it tonight?” Rainbow suggests, looking frustrated. That clams me down slightly, causing me to sigh in relief. Okay, so I can have a little more time to think this over. “Darn Board won't let me have any more off time for a while.”

“Yeah, I think I need more time to sort it all out in my head, anyway. Tonight will work. When do you get off?” I ask.

“Probably around the same time you do. You're working with AJ today, right?” Rainbow estimates. When I confirm with a nod, Rainbow grins. “Yeah, then we'll do it then. And then the day after...”

Rainbow pauses, blushing a little. That gets me to raise an eyebrow. “What?” I press.

“Uh...I was thinking we could...you know...” Rainbow attempts to force out, but it's not working. She finally releases a groan and gives me a glare. “Isn't it the stallion that usually has to do this?”

“Do what?”

“Uh...set up a...you know...a date,” Rainbow manages to say, blushing further. I pause, and look down at the ground, feeling a little embarrassed myself now that she brought it up. Couples go on dates. Right, I should have remembered that. Except there's one slight problem with that.

“I guess, except I have no idea what the hell you do at a date,” I admit ruefully. God, that's a really fucking embarrassing thing to admit. Rainbow's face falls at that.

“You don't? Then what do we do? I dunno what you do at a date either!” Rainbow exclaims in frustration, throwing her hooves up in the air. “They don't exactly have a handy rulebook for this kind of thing.”

“Well, I know the stereotype, but that's just because it's in fiction a lot,” I offer, earning a hopeful look from Rainbow. “It's...well, according to what I've read, you usually go to dinner...and there are candles involved.”

“What? Is that really what a date is?” Rainbow inquires, looking disappointed. “That sounds really lame...but I guess if that's it, we have to do it.”

“Yeah. Fuck it, tomorrow night it is then. We'll figure something out,” I respond, agreeing with her. Candlelit dinners sound fucking lame, but I guess if that's a date that couples do, we should try it. Why did I never ask Amaryllis what she did at her dates? Even though her relationships usually ended with her inflicting bodily harm on her dates (which always satisfied me for some reason. I guess I was really jealous), it would have been better than going in blind. Oh right, because if I asked her, she'd have laughed until she peed herself.

“All right, it's a date!” Rainbow says with a grin. Then, a strange expression crosses her face. “Whoa, I just had the weirdest feeling. I feel like I've said that to you before.”

“That's because you did, like forever ago,” I remind her. It had been right before visiting Canterlot for the first time, when I'd asked her to go with me. Only then...I'd told her that it most certainly wasn't. “Except this time I'll say...yeah, it's a date.”

Rainbow's smile returns, and she she hops off of her hooves and flies up to me. Before I realize what's happening, she wraps her front hooves around my neck and leans in for a kiss, pressing her lips against mine. I feel the heat rushing into my cheeks, causing them to burn with a pleasant feeling as I kiss her back. I don't think I'll ever get used to this.

When she draws back, Rainbow looks at my face and snickers at what she sees. “That's just great. You're blushing like a mare right now!” she teases me. My immediate reaction is to shove her away from me.

“Oh, go fuck yourself with a brick. Stupid Rainbow,” I retort, pressing one of my hands to my cheek as if that would make my blush go away. My fingers feel cold against the skin, much to my embarrassment.

“Don't sweat it. It makes you look adorable,” Rainbow teases me further, reaching up and pinching my other cheek, much to my annoyance. When I swipe at her, she backs away and chuckles. “All right, I'm done. You are so much fun to tease.”

“Fucking hell,” I grumble. Rainbow looks so smug right now; it makes me want to wipe that smirk off her face and make her feel just as embarrassed as I am right now. “You know what? Come here.”

Doing something spontaneous, I grab Rainbow and drag her through the air toward me. Then, I surprise Rainbow by planting my lips on hers, earning a muffled squeak from her. She struggles a bit at first, but then she relaxes, releasing a satisfied sigh and practically melting in my arms.

“Yeah. Not so smug now, huh?” I remark after breaking off the kiss. Rainbow's smug grin is gone, to be replaced by a small smile. Now she's the one blushing, making me feel triumphant. 

“Heh...wow. That's the first time you've kissed me, as opposed to the other way around,” Rainbow notes, panting slightly. “You should do that more often.”

“Maybe. I was just trying to make you shut up,” I say awkwardly, realizing that kissing her was probably a bad way of getting revenge. She seems to have enjoyed that way too much for it to have been an effective deterrent to teasing me. I guess I should have just tickled her. 

“Well, you might have to try a little harder next time,” Rainbow responds coyly, gazing at me through half-lidded eyes.  Seeing her look at me like that sends a thrill through my body, though I don't really understand why. “Anyway, I'd love to stay and chill some more, but I really got to go to work. I'll catch you tonight, okay?”

“Yeah, sure. I think I'm going to try out this piano of mine,” I say, waving at Rainbow as she heads for the stairs. “Just meet me at the farm when you're done.”

“Got it! See ya!” Rainbow calls back up the stairs, and then I hear the front door open and close, leaving me alone in my house again. Good, now I have some time to myself that doesn't involve running for my life from crazy undead pony wannabes. First things first, I'd like to get warm.

Soon, I've got a fire going in the fireplace in the sitting room, filling the room with flickering orange light and the sound of crackling wood. With how cold it is outside, the warmth comes as an extreme relief. 

“Okay, let's try you out,” I say, moving to the piano and sitting at the bench there. The polyester seat cover sinks slightly beneath my weight, conforming to my shape. Heh, this is really nice.

I lift the cover of the grand piano and unfold the stand, such that the sound won't be muted. Next, I perform my usual set of stretches to warm up my hands and prevent me from getting cramps there later. Playing for a long period of time tends to be hell on the hands and arms, but stretching before and after helps alleviate that pain.

Pressing the key that corresponds to middle C causes a clear and dulcet tone to play. I shudder in delight. Holy hell, that's an incredible sound. I can't believe I have one of these just for myself.

With that, I start to play my warm up piece once more, which comes easily to my mind. I might have to write to Octavia again. I haven't spoken to her much since the royal wedding, but now I'm remembering the past two times we've played together. I think I'd like having somepony to play with again. 

After playing for a little bit longer, I decide to act on that idea, before I forget it. Leaving the piano, I fetch myself a scroll and some ink and get settled on the couch. Once I'm relaxed, I start writing up a letter to Octavia. There's nothing much of substance on there, mostly just me asking when she has time to come down here. Who knows when her next concert is?

I finish writing up the letter with my typical smart ass closing, and then I roll up the parchment and fasten it with some twine. Unfortunately, since I'm not sending this letter to Twilight or the princesses, I have to use the normal method for sending letters.

When I walk back into my house, the letter has been stashed in the mailbox and the flag was risen. Now I guess I'll just have to wait for her to get it. I don't really know how post works around here, but last time it took Octavia about a week to respond. 

Just as I'm sitting down at the piano again, there's a knock at my door. I curse under my breath and get back to my feet. What the fuck does this bitch want? Rainbow's at work, and I don't go to work myself for at least another hour.

I open the door to reveal a smiling Lyra, her lyre hanging in the air next to her head, swathed in a mint green glow. “Hey! I was hoping to catch you before you went to work today,” Lyra greets me, dipping her head and walking inside as if I'd invited her. 

“Oh, just push your way inside, why don't you?” I grumble rather than greet her in return. What can I say? She's wasting the time that I wanted to use for my piano.

“Well, since you insist...” Lyra trills teasingly, bounding up the stairs to the upper hallway. “Oh! What a lovely piano!”

“What the.,..would you come back here?” I demand, following her into the sitting room, where she's marveling over my piano. Yeah, I guess she hasn't seen it yet. Nor can I blame her for liking it. It's a work of art in and of itself. “What are you even doing here?”

“I wanted to see you! I don't really have a reason,” Lyra remarks, and then she throws herself onto the couch, sprawling her limbs in every which direction. “Mmm...comfy.”

“Well, I'm glad you find my furniture to your liking, your royal highness,” I comment sarcastically, sitting down in an armchair across from her. Lyra giggles and wiggles around on the couch. She sets her lyre down on the table and faces me.

It's then I notice that something seems off about her. At first, I don't realize what it is, but after a short silence falls between us, I realize that her smile doesn't seem to reach her eyes. That's odd...usually Lyra is always hyper and happy. So what the hell?

“Sooo...” Lyra begins, her tone and body language becoming increasingly uncomfortable. “I guess you're off the market now, huh?”

“Off the...oh, is that what this is about?” I question, groaning a little once the true meaning of her words strikes me. Lyra nods hesitantly, and I sigh. I fucking knew that being so understanding to her back at the royal wedding was going to bite me in the ass at some point. I guess that point is now. “Yeah, I guess I am. I don't really know what you want me to say about it.”

“Whoa, don't worry. I'm not here to cause trouble. You and Rainbow are adorable together, don't get me wrong,” Lyra hastily assures me, raising her front hooves in a placating manner.

“Then what?” I demand impatiently. Lyra's first response is to sigh.

“It's just...you told me a long time ago that you just weren't attracted to ponies,” Lyra recalls, looking at me with a pensive expression. Shit, I do remember telling her that. That was a while ago. Like, only a few days after getting to Equestria. And now I think I understand what her issue is. Shit. “You turned me down cold. So...I want to know: what changed?”

I think I get it. Yeah...I bet she's feeling pretty slighted now, and I don't blame her. I essentially told her to fuck off the first time she flirted with me, and then later told her that I flat out wasn't interested. Then I later proceed to get together with Rainbow several months later.

I sit up straight in the chair, figuring that I should probably be serious for this. “I did...and I'm not. I may be with Rainbow, but I'm still not at all into the idea of fucking a tiny horse,” I tell her bluntly, deciding not to sugarcoat things in the slightest. Lyra flinches at my straightforward approach. “I look at her, and I see a pony. That's just not going to change.”

“Okay, and I get that, but I meant you came off like you weren't interested in romance at all!” Lyra clarifies. “It's just a little confusing, hearing you say something like that, and now I just came from a party celebrating your relationship.”

“I still fail to see your problem with this. Is this really about me getting together with Rainbow?” I ask. That's half true. I think I know what her problem is, but I'd like to hear her say it.

“Sort of. It's just that I...I don't know. I was hoping that maybe if I gave you enough time, I could...” Lyra tries to say, though now she's blushing and averting her eyes. “I mean, we could...”

“I get it,” I interrupt, the magnitude of her problem dawning on me. Yep. I guess she did still have a crush on me for a while. Saving and then comforting her at the royal wedding no doubt made it much worse. “But why didn't you say anything earlier? I'm pretty sure half the town saw that Rainbow was interested in me. Not sure how I didn't, but there it is.”

“I wanted to...I almost did say something a little while after we got back from Canterlot, but you left on that expedition before I could,” Lyra admits. Yeah, I guess we did leave for the expedition not long after getting back. I think it was a week or two. Of course, at the time, I didn't expect to end up in a fight for my life there. “And when you came back, it was already too late. I just don't understand.”

“What don't you understand?” I inquire, frustrated. When Lyra turns her gaze back to me, she looks pretty terrible, as if the events of yesterday hit her pretty hard.

“What's wrong with me? Was I not what you were looking for?” Lyra asks sadly. I do my best not to groan, but I do rub my forehead. You know, I probably should have put a stop to this before leaving for the expedition. In the week I had before leaving, Lyra did show up an awful lot to see me. But, knowing me, I decided to be an ass and ignore the problem. And now she feels worse for it. Go me. 

“Okay, stop that shit right now,” I tell her firmly, making her blink in surprise. “Say what you want about me, but I can't stand it when people or ponies start thinking less of themselves because of a decision I've made. It's not fair.”

“But...there had to be some reason you fell in love with Rainbow, and not me!” Lyra insists. 

“Yeah, and it's not your goddamn fault! That mare has done more for me than my entire race combined!” I snap back at her. “Look, Lyra. I realize that it looks pretty bad for me to seemingly hook up with some random mare after turning you down, but it has nothing to do with you.”

I get up from the table and move next to Lyra, my next words coming to me easily. So much shit has happened since dealing with Lyra in the past, and while I thought in the past that I was being to harsh to her, this is the first time I'm actually regretting it. 

“Look, you have to understand that I'm with Rainbow now, not because you weren't good enough for me, but because I just don't feel the same way towards you that I do towards her,” I explain. She dips her head, looking like she's accepting my words. I guess she really just needed to hear me say it. I can't help but feel a little bad though. “Besides, it's not like you're out of options.”

“Wait, what?” Lyra asks, her head jerking back up in surprise. I raise an eyebrow, wondering if she really doesn't know what I mean.

“You're kidding me, right? I'm saying that if you want romance, you can get it pretty easily,” I reiterate. When Lyra still looks confused, I sigh. “Bon Bon. You know she's totally into you, right?”

“Wha...really!? Bon Bon?” is Lyra's surprised  response. I can't help it. I have to groan and rest my face in my hands. I wonder if this is how it felt for the other townsponies when they looked at Rainbow and I. “But...she's into stallions!”

“Bullshit she is. I noticed it forever ago, and it hasn't exactly changed,” I return confidently. Yeah, there's no way I'm wrong. I know the way Bon Bon blushed when I brought it up the first time. “You'd have to be blind not to notice it.”

“But she's my best friend. I don't think I could....” Lyra replies hesitantly. I can't help but chuckle at the irony in her words. “What? What's so funny?”

“Nothing. You're just reminding me a bit of myself right now,” I tell her, remembering how I'd thought basically the same thing when it came to Rainbow. “I think that's how it's supposed to be. A romance, I mean. Well, I'm not really one to talk, though.”

“I don't know...” Lyra muses uncertainly.

“Look, I'm just saying, that's all. But the point that I'm trying to make here is that there's nothing wrong with you. It's a miracle I even got with Rainbow in the first place, because I hate romance...or I did,” I reveal to her, bringing the conversation back on track.”I'm still figuring things out.”

“Okay. I guess I really just needed to hear you say it,” Lyra says, confirming my earlier thoughts. “It just seemed weird how you turned me down so harshly, and then got right together with Rainbow like it wasn't a big deal.”

“Right. Except a lot of shit happened that you weren't present for. It certainly was a hell of a big deal. Do you know how many times I had to almost die before realizing how I felt?!” My last question is posed in a comically high pitch, making Lyra snort and giggle. I then lean into closer to her. “But between you and me...there's a lot I've learned since coming back from the expedition. I'm...I'm going to try starting over.”

“What do you mean?” Lyra asks, her eyes wide with curiosity. I sigh, rubbing my forehead again. This is hard. I don't know why I thought changing was going to be so easy. But I still want to do it, because like I promised Rainbow, I'm going to live for all of the humans that didn't get to. As it stands, I think making up with the ponies I've been an ass to for no real reason is a pretty good start.

“I haven't exactly treated you well since getting to Equestria, and I'm sorry about that. It's never really been your fault,” I explain, barely realizing that I just apologized to her for the first time ever. Lyra definitely notices, because her eyes widen noticeably.

“Did...did you just apologize to me?” Lyra asks, looking as if she's in shock. “When have you ever apologized to me? That's just not a thing you do!”

“Yeah, well, don't get used to it,” I remark wryly, noticing not for the first time how just the act of me apologizing tends to shock ponies.

“What exactly happened on the expedition? You're like...I don't know how to describe it...different,” Lyra questions seriously, leaning her muzzle in close. Too close. She snuffles as I push her face gently away from me. “Hey!”

“I guess I am,” I admit, recognizing the truth in her words. Then again, why wouldn't I be different? There's no way anybody would be able to go through what I did down there and not come out different. “But let me just say, you don't want to know what happened down there. You just don't. It was bad...like, worse than anything the changelings could do.”

“What? Really? Worse than...the changelings? You're right, I guess I don't want to know. Yikes.” Lyra squeaks out, remembering her own traumatic time with Chrysalis. When I nod, she shudders.“But, I appreciate the apology. I think I like this new you.”

“Oh trust me, I'm still an ass,” I retort, poking her muzzle in an attempt to irritate her. Lyra snuffles again and nips at my finger, much to my amusement. “Just not a complete ass.”

“Hehe, that's good. You'd be boring if you didn't have at least a little snark left in you,” Lyra teases, rubbing her head up against my hand like a cat. Of course, being the ass that I am, I pinch her ear. “Yowch! What did you do that for?”

“Duh, I'm an ass, remember?” I remind her, earning a mock groan from her. Then, without any warning, Lyra lunges at me, bowling me over the back of the couch and onto the floor. “Wait, what the fuck!?”

“Let's see how you like it”! Lyra cries out in glee, and then she fucking nips at my ear, pinching it between her teeth. Chuckling, I shove her off and roll over, tickling her belly. “Agh! That's even worse! Stoppit! Yee!!”

I eventually let her stand up, after a vicious tickling session. “God, you're like a little sister I can torment,” I remark. Lyra giggles, and then she looks at me in surprise.

“You really did change. You'd never have said something like that to me before,” Lyra observes. “I kinda like it though.”

“Well good. It means I'm doing something right,” I reply, standing up myself and moving over to the piano. “Now then, I have to go to work soon, and I'd like to have some time to practice before hand.”

“Oh? Playing the piano? I wanna see! I've never seen you play!” Lyra exclaims, completely ignoring the rather obvious dismissal in my tone. She trots by my side, a big fucking grin on her face.

“Ugh, I don't play with audiences though,” I complain, even though I'm already sitting down at the piano. Lyra's face falls for a moment...but then it brightens up a second later, and she zooms towards the couch. She soon returns with her lyre, gazing at me hopefully.

“So I won't be an audience then. Have you looked at the piece I gave you for Hearth's Warming? We could play it together!” Lyra expresses. Her horn lights up, and the strings on the lyre appear to strum themselves, playing a lovely sounding arpeggio. Right...with how ridiculous she usually acts, I forget that she's capable of producing music that beautiful. 

“I've looked at it once or twice, but I haven't gotten around to practicing it yet,” I admit. Lyra doesn't seem perturbed by that though.

“That means I can help you! I know the song by heart, so I'd love to teach you! The rhythms are pretty difficult if you're trying to learn them for the first time,” Lyra exults. She then starts flipping through the pages of sheet music I've put on the stand, causing me to look at her in irritation. “Ooh, this one looks fancy!”

“Would you quit rifling through my shit? Hooves off,” I complain, grabbing her hooves and extricating her from my music. Of course, that doesn't stop her from escaping with the cover sheet of the song I played with Octavia. “Give that back!”

“Hehe, it's mine now. Who gave you this? Did Tavi give you this?” Lyra asks, giggling and clutching her paper conquest in her magic.

“Yes, she did. Now would you put it back? My sheet music is all unsorted now,” I grumble. Lyra doesn't listen to me, instead poring over the music stubbornly. “Fine, I'll play with you. You're so annoying sometimes.”

“I prefer the terms: willful and incredible cute,” Lyra corrects me with a smirk, but she lifts her lyre, playing the first few notes of the song. “All right, let's get started.”

“Okay. Just let me get the music,” I say in a resigned fashion. This shouldn't be too bad. I've played with Octavia before, and she was always patient.





The song turns out to be a lot harder than I expected. Unlike the song Octavia had me learn, there's no arpeggios. Instead, both hands are moving and playing melodies of their own, and the rhythms are killer. 

Lyra...is not as good a teacher as Octavia. I say that because every time I mess up, she'll pull a face and stare over my shoulder to find out what I did wrong. Or worse, she'll giggle and press the keys on the piano herself.

“Excuse me, I know how to sightread,” I tell her at one point, indignant that she's touching my piano. I don't even care that it's only just her magic. “I just don't have any of this in muscle memory yet. And the rhythms are pretty difficult.”

“Of course they are. It wouldn't be such a satisfying song to play if it wasn't a little difficult,” Lyra responds gleefully, playing the part that's giving me trouble on her lyre...and consequently making it look easy. “Listen to those chords. It's beautiful!”

Well, I agree, but at this point, Lyra's enthusiasm outweighs her ability and willingness to teach. She's like me, where she plays solely for fun. I don't think she's even tried to teach a song to somepony before. 

However, the experience isn't all bad. When I actually manage to get the first part done, playing with her is actually rather nice. Neither of us have to talk, instead speaking through our music, our parts interleaving with one another to form a fuller and richer sound.

It's easier going from there, because the song reuses the same rhythms over and other to create e beautiful tapestry of sound that soothes me just by listening to it. I'm not perfect by any means, but by the time I have to get ready for work, Lyra and I manage to get through the song at least once.

“Needs work,” Lyra notes, wrinkling her nose once we finish. “But it's starting to sound good! You're a fast learner, Sethie!”

“Quit fucking calling me that,” I grunt, causing her to giggle. I sigh and get up from my chair. I'm already dressed in work clothes because of that mishap with Rainbow, so all I need to do is grab my hairband and get going. “But yeah, it's a gorgeous piece.”

“Isn't it? I feel in love with it the moment I heard it. I had to have the music,” Lyra agrees gleefully, lowing her harp. When she sees me moving around, she follows me. “Where are you going?”

“Were you not listening? I have to go to work at the farm today for a few hours,” I remind her in annoyance. I did tell her before we started playing that I had someplace to be, but I guess she was in her own little world. Like always. Before leaving, I make sure to extinguish the fire. 

“Not fair. I finally got you to sit down and spend time with me for the first time in...well, forever, and you're already leaving?” Lyra complains, following me down the stairs with a pout on her face.

“Chill out, I'm not a quitter. I'm going to perfect this song with you...provided you don't annoy me to death before I can,” I assure her with an uncaring wave of my hand. She's right that I haven't spent any real time with her, but it's not like I'm going anywhere.

“Okay good, because it was starting to sound really good. Plus, I'll get to spend some more time with my darling Sethie!” Lyra teases me, poking me in the back just before I reach my front door.

“Okay, no. Sethie was bad enough. The fuck is this darling Sethie bullshit?” I demand, crossing my arms. “You're not still trying to flirt with me, are you?”

“No, of course not. I'm just being silly. You made it pretty clear to me what the score is,” Lyra assures me, her smile falling from her face. “Though now I'm starting to wonder whether or not Bon Bon actually does like me, as you said.”

“Yeah, knock yourself out on that one,” I tell her, accompanying her out the door. “Anyway, I'm off. I guess I'll see you later.”

“Sounds good! I'll drop by when you're least expecting it again!” Lyra promises me with a cheeky smile. I scoff, and with that, I take off from the ground.

Now, let's see what Applejack has for me.

	




> 88. Revealing the Past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I meet Applejack at the front of the farm, landing on the ground just beside her. She looks up from her work repairing the fence and smiles. I guess she's used to my sudden airborne arrivals. “Howdy there, Seth! How are ya doin' on this fine afternoon?” Applejack greets me after setting down the hammer in her mouth.

“I'm cold, goddammit,” is my immediate response. I'm bundled up in winter clothing, but that doesn't stop me from shivering like crazy. My lips in particular are affected from the windchill, as they're now chapped and stinging. “Why is it so cold this morning?”

“Heh, that's cuz Winter Wrap-Up's comin' up in a few days. The weather always gits colder just before,” Applejack explains. After picking up the hammer and putting it in her saddlebags, Applejack beckons for me to follow her. “Ah'm told tomorrow's gonna be clear, but there's likely gonna be snows the day after.”

“Great. Anyway, what are you having me do today? I don't suppose I can clean your house? You know, inside where it's warm?” I ask hopefully, even though I know the chances of that are pretty slim. I've never done any work inside of Applejack's house. Usually she has Apple Bloom or Big Mac handle that.

“What, you tryin' ta tell me ya can't handle a little cold weather?” Applejack remarks with a teasing grin. She guffaws when she sees me scowl. “Must be tough, not havin' a winter coat like we ponies do.”

“Yeah, tell me about it. I'm so jealous right now, it's not even funny. Hhrgh!” That last exclamation is me shivering violently as a gust of frigid wind passes over my face.

“Well, ah guess it's a good thing yer only here for a short shift today,” Applejack reminds me. There's no mercy in those eyes of hers. It looks like I'll be working outside after all. Fucking hell. “Ah need to get the rest o' these fields harvested before Winter Wrap-Up, so our snow plows don't hurt nothin'.”

Oh lovely, that means digging around in the frozen soil. And I still don't have any damn gloves. This is going to be fun. “Do you have like, a scarf or something I can wrap around my hands then? Not having hooves comes with its own problems,” I request. Applejack muses for a moment, but then an idea strikes me before I can say anything. “Wait, what about those oven mitts I used forever ago? Do you still have those?”

“Ah suppose ah could let you use 'em. They need cleanin' anyway, and if it'll keep yer hands warm, ah'm all for it,” Applejack decides, much to my relief. She redirects her course and leads me towards the house. “C'mon in and warm yerself for a moment while ah git 'em for ya.”

I step inside the house gratefully. It's definitely warmer in here, thanks to the fire I can hear cracking in a fireplace in one of the rooms around here. I don't know where, because I've never seen all of Applejack's house.

Applejack isn't gone for very long, as she soon returns with the oven mitts I asked for clenched in her mouth. She deposits them in my hand, and I then slip them on, giving my chilled hands some much needed relief. I'm not sure why, but having my hands and head covered is enough to make me feel warmer.

“Carrot Top should already be out there,” Applejack informs me after I thank her. “That way yer not pullin' up all them crops all by yerself.”

“Okay good. You'll come and get me when it's time to head back in right?” I ask, stepping back towards the door. I sigh in resignation when I see her nod. “Good. Because at that point I think I might be a Sethsicle.”

“Don't you worry 'bout a thing.” Applejack assures me, a teasing grin crossing her muzzle. “If that happens, ah'll just come git Rainbow ta thaw ya out.”

“Oh, fuck you. What the hell is that supposed to mean anyway?” I demand with a groan.

“Tahme ta get ta work, sugarcube!” Applejack says smugly pushing me out the door without answering my question.

“Agh, there's that nickname again!”





As for the job itself, it is exactly as miserable as I'd expect. The air isn't cold enough for snow, but the wind chill practically cuts right through my clothes, making it so that I'm shivering constantly. Staying in constant motion helps keep me from becoming the aforementioned Sethsicle, but it doesn't stop me from suffering the whole way through it.

And then there's Carrot Top, snug in her winter fur and a scarf, chatting to me like nothing is wrong. It makes me so jealous. As for what she talks about...make a wild guess.

“So how'd you two get together? Was there a confession all at once? Or was it something you figured out on your own? You know some ponies wanted to lock you two in a room and see if that worked?” Carrot Top starts talking excitedly the moment we take a break to hydrate ourselves in the barn. My immediate reaction is to groan and rub my forehead.

“Okay, look. Do you know what relationships are?” I demand, and edge in my voice. Carrot Top flinches when I turn my gaze onto her. “They're private. I certainly don't have to tell you everything about my personal life simply because you ask, just so you can go around gossiping about it to your friends. I hate that kind of shit.”

“O...Oh.” Carrot Top's expression falls, obviously hurt. Seriously, it's been grating on my nerves since I found out they were making bets about it in the first place. This kind of shit happened in my college too. It's one thing to sit on the sideline and scoff at all of the bullshit relationship gossip I hear from the other students. It's quite another to be a part of it yourself. “I'm sorry. I didn't know it upset you.”

I give a sigh, realizing that I snapped at her a bit harshly. “It's not your fault. I just hate it when my life becomes the topic of everypony's conversation. It's not really their business. Who cares whether or not I'm with Rainbow or not?”

“I do! I've sorta been...mentally shipping you two in my head ever since I saw you together in the square that one day, after you got back from the disaster of the royal wedding,” Carrot Top reveals with a guilty smile. I blink, wondering if I heard that right. I've heard of shipping anime characters, but shipping real people? I know I've never cared about who's dating who. Although I guess I'm not really the best example. “Seeing you two together, finally, I couldn't help but squee. You were dancing circles around each other for weeks! It was so adorable!”

“Right, you're doing it again,” I tell her in annoyance. 

“Oops! Sorry, I can't help it. I'm a romantic at heart.” Carrot Top apologizes sheepishly. “But I didn't think it would bother you so much just to talk about it.”

“It's not that just talking about it bugs me. It's when somepony gets it into their head that they're entitled to hear about my personal life,” I rephrase. “That much has never changed about me. Unless you're my friend, I'm keeping to myself.”

“Am I your friend?” Carrot Top asks me hesitantly. And suddenly, I find myself faced with a dilemma. My immediate thought is to tell her no, but then I remember that I can't keep acting the same as I always have. Not after the promise I made to myself, to Vanta, and to Rainbow. If I shut her down like I usually do, I wouldn't have changed at all, and Vanta will have been right.

“It's not impossible. I hardly know you, though,” I respond. Carrot Top looks at me in surprise. While I've never been downright mean to her, no doubt she knows how difficult I can be. 

“That can be fixed! We'll have to get together sometime,” Carrot Top suggests. That little cynical voice in my head tells me that she just pretending to show interest so she can hear more about the relationship between Rainbow and I, but I force myself to ignore it. I doubt that cynicism is ever going to go away. It's too deeply ingrained in me. But if I'm going to change, I have to stop letting it rule my every decision.

“Not for the next day or so, though. I'm busy with Rainbow tonight and tomorrow, and I'm not sure about the day after,” I tell her. Carrot Top nods, a knowing smile forming on her face at my words.

“I understand. Anyway, we should get back to work. With Winter Wrap-Up coming in a few days, we need to get this field clear,” she responds, moving back towards the door. Before she steps outside, she turns and looks back at me. “Make sure you take her someplace nice!”

“Yeah, whatever. Let's go already,” I grumble and roll my eyes, even as Carrot Top giggles at my reaction. 





Applejack looks up with a perplexed expression when I dash in through the front door of the living area, shuddering and wheezing in the cold air. Big Mac is right behind me, as he'd been sent to come get me once I was done. I shut the door and turn around to face her, panting. I notice her staring at me in confusion. “What? It's freaking cold!” I complain. “I hate being cold!”

“Come on in and git warm then. Granny's got a fire goin',” Applejack offers, chuckling. I nod gratefully and follow Applejack into the living room, Big Mac close behind me. “Wait here, ah'm gonna grab some tea.”

Apple Bloom is curled up on the couch in front of the fire, looking a little chilled herself. I sit down next to her, nodding at the greeting she gives me. The moment I'm settled, Apple Bloom gets up and hops onto my lap, getting comfortable there before I can say anything to stop her. “Oh, well hi there,” I remark, earning a giggle from her.

“You got any plans? Dinner's jus' about done, an' yer welcome to join us,” Applejack offers, returning from the kitchen while pushing a cart ahead of her. On top of it are several cups of steaming tea.

“Not today. I'm meeting up with Rainbow here right after this,” I explain, warming my hands in front of the fire to stave away the biting cold that seems to have sunk right into my bones. Sheesh, and it's only going to get colder. With that in mind, I grab one of the tea cups and sip from it, sighing in satisfaction from the feeling of it warming my throat.

“Oh yeah, that reminds me,” Applejack says after my refusal to her invitation. “Ah sure hope ya got room in yer wardrobe.”

“Why do you say that?” I ask with a sinking feeling.

“Cuz Rarity's designing up a storm for ya. She got it into her head that ya need ta look nice for yer marefriend,” Applejack warns me with a grin. Once her meaning sinks into my head, I groan in exasperation. “Ain't no stoppin' her when she gits like this.”

“I have a nice coat already, which I paid an arm and a leg for. I don't need to look nice for Rainbow; she could care less what I look like!” I complain, even though I know I'm just preaching to the choir. Applejack is right. When Rarity gets it in her head that I need clothing, there's no stopping her.

“Ah know, ah tried sayin' that, but it did no good,” Applejack agrees, shaking her head. “Ah know Rainbow. She couldn't give two flips 'bout what ya look like.”

“Ugh, goddammit Rarity. It's not even that important. We already had the party, so can everypony just forget about it?” I grumble. Something about Applejack's expression makes me feel dread. “What?”

“I don't think that's gonna happen, sugarcube,” Applejack admits, her grin turning mischievous. She produces a newspaper from beneath the cart and passes it to me. I can already feel a sinking feeling in my stomach in anticipation of what I'm going to see. “Take a gander at this.”

I nearly drop the newspaper out of disbelief. Smack-dab in the middle of the front page is a large color picture of Rainbow and I slow dancing together at the party, with Pinkie and the hundreds of other ponies there in the background. 

First Human in Equestria and Rainbow Dash: the Fated Couple

“Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me,” I deadpan, causing Applejack and Apple Bloom to burst into a fit of laughter. I throw the newspaper on the ground. “Why am I on the front fucking page? And what's this 'fated couple' bullshit!? Who wrote this!?”

“Yer th' first human in over three millennia. It's only natural there'd be a bit of interest,” Big Mac addresses me with a shrug. I shake my head in exasperation...and then I slowly turn to face the red stallion, realizing that it had been him that just said that. 

“That's the longest thing I've ever heard you say,” I remark in awe, because I've never gotten more out of him than a...

“Eeyup,” Big Mac responds, and then he falls silent again, drinking from his tea.

“Think about it this way, Seth. What would happen if someone from yer race's past showed up outta nowhere and got together with one o' yer community's most well-known figures?” Applejack asks.

“...It would be on the news for sure,” I admit, recognizing the truth in her words. This is a small community too, and I guess Rainbow is technically a celebrity considering her status as the Element of Loyalty. I guess I can't be too surprised a small town like this is taking an interest. Still, I don't like having my personal life plastered all over the front page of a newspaper. “What a pain in the ass.”

“Anyhoo, that aside, there's somethin' ah wanted ta tell ya mahself while it's still early on,” Applejack changes the subject, her tone sounding much more serious. “Rainbow's a dear friend o' mine. Ah've known her fer years. She's more delicate than she lets on, so...ah guess what ah'm tryin' ta say is...you take care o' her, Seth. Ya hear?”

I realize that Applejack just spoke to me from the heart there, so I make sure to look her in the eyes. “Yeah. You got it,” I promise her. Applejack nods sagely, acknowledging my promise.“Though I think it would be more accurate to say that she's taking care of me. I'd still be hating everything if it weren't for her.”

“Well, it takes one 'bout as thickheaded as you to get through to ya,” Applejack jokes, and then she leans forward and nuzzles me appreciatively. “Thanks again. Ah feel like you two will be good fer each other.”

“Right...forgive me if I still feel a little awkward that I'm having this conversation,” I respond uncomfortably. Applejack nods understandingly. 

Once I finish my tea, Applejack gives me my pay for the day, and I start getting ready to go. I can smell something delicious coming from the kitchen, no doubt courtesy of Granny Smith. I can hear her griping and the sounds of pots clanging from here.

“Alright, I've got to get ready to go. When do you want me coming in tomorrow?” I ask Applejack, bundling up in my clothes again in preparation for the trip outside. 

“Harvest's about done, so ah don't need ya for much before Winter Wrap-Up. Why don't ya take tomorrow off?” Applejack responds. 

“Sounds good to me,” I say, and then I open the door and step outside. With one last wave behind me, I leave the Apple family behind.

Okay, so Rainbow said she'd meet me here at the entrance to the farm. Hopefully she'll get here soon before I freeze to death.

By the time I reach the archway over the path back to town, I realize that I have mixed feelings about this meeting. While I'm happy at getting to see Rainbow again, dread is slowly filling me when I remember what I promised to talk to her about. I've only really told one other person about this, and that was Amaryllis. It wasn't easy that time either, but at least she understood.

“S'up?” Rainbow swoops down beside me, a happy grin on her face. “You should have seen me up there today. That trick I've been trying to perfect? Nailed it!”

“You'll have to show me some other time,” I respond, my voice sounding somewhat dead. Rainbow picks up on that immediately, her smile disappearing. She instead looks concerned.

“You all right there? Something happen at Applejack's?” Rainbow questions, pressing up against my side. Her increased proximity helps me feel a little better, but not by much.

“No, not really,” I answer truthfully. “It's more about...what we're going to talk about back at my place.”

“Oh yeah. You want to wait a bit more? It doesn't have to be today,” Rainbow suggests in an accommodating fashion, even though I know it's just for my benefit. I know she's curious as all hell to hear the story for herself.

“No, I've put it off long enough. I want to tell you,” I insist, heaving a sigh. “It's just not an easy subject to discuss.”

“Okay. Maybe some hot cider will help? I could go and grab some on the way home,” Rainbow offers. Huh, you know, that actually sounds good. And...I could actually use a hot meal as well, considering how cold it is out here. 

“I'll go with you. Let's grab some quick food we can eat at my place as well,” I agree. Rainbow nods and flares her wings, taking to the air. With a burst of my own magic, I'm right behind her, and we leave the farm behind.

So it turns out that Ponyville actually has what equates to fast food, in the form of a small little restaurant not far from the square. There's not much there that I can eat, so instead I end up ordering a bunch of materials that I'll throw into a makeshift sandwich once I have a chance to sit down. 

We also stop by the club and pick up some warm cider, much like what Vinyl did the last time the three of us hung out. Rainbow is no unicorn, so I get stuck with carrying the barrel myself. Hearing the cider sloshing around inside as we fly makes me wonder how good the drink tastes when it's in season.

“Finally! Someplace warm!” I say gratefully once I step inside my house. I close the door immediately after Rainbow gets inside, shutting out the frigid wind. “Winter's almost over, right?”

“Yeah, actually. Day after tomorrow is Winter Wrap-Up. After that it'll be clear skies and warm weather,” Rainbow assures me. Oh good. As scientifically impossible as this Winter Wrap-Up sounds, I'm all for it if I'll be able to walk outside without a jacket after the fact. “Let's get upstairs! This hayburger smells good!”

“Hayburgers. That is so dumb on so many different levels,” I mutter. Rainbow bounds up the stairs and streaks out of sight. I sigh and follow her, shifting the balance of the cider barrel to distribute the weight on a different arm.

The first thing I do before I get started on my food is get a fire started beneath the mantle. I then sit down next to Rainbow and pour myself a glass of cider. The moment I sit down, Rainbow smirks and clambers onto me, curling up on my lap and shifting around in an attempt to get comfortable. 

“Really?” I ask with a raised eyebrow. I'm used to Apple Bloom doing this, but Rainbow? Besides, she's a bit larger than a filly.

“What? You're mine, I can do what I want,” Rainbow returns with a defensive look as if she's entitled to her position on my lap. “Now sit back so I can get comfortable.”

“Are we really going to eat like this?” I ask, feeling amused despite the situation. Rainbow finally gets settled, and instead of answering, she takes a bite out of her hayburger, glancing at me meaningfully. I sigh and shake my head, taking a sip of my cider. It pleasantly warms my throat, washing away the lingering cold I feel from the weather outside.

I suddenly grin mischievously. To torment Rainbow, I lower a hand and start stroking her side, starting from her shoulders and slowly making my way down to just before her cutie mark, before starting back over at the top. I half expect her to snap at me, but instead she just makes a contented hum in her throat and continues eating. I raise an eyebrow.

“Really? This doesn't bother you?” I remark in surprise. Rainbow looks at me as if I were crazy. “What's that look for? You'd have bitten my hand off if I'd have done this earlier.”

“Well, yeah, if anyone else was doing this, they would end up missing a hoof,” Rainbow agrees. As odd as that is to hear, I can't help but feel a little satisfied, knowing that I'm the only one that can treat her like this. “But you're mine. It's only right that you treat me like royalty.”

“Oh, goddammit,” I groan, the egotism in her voice causing me to shake my head. Rainbow looks so pleased with herself that I can't help but chuckle. We fall into a comfortable silence after that, the two of us eating our food and relaxing in one another's company. 

I also take some time to brood, trying to put together the memories in my head into a cohesive story. Each memory dredges up old feelings that I'd rather have never felt again...actually, that's wrong. The past has been rooted into my mind for years, and it doesn't matter how long it's been. I still feel the pain, but it's worse when I look at the cause of it all.

“Alright, I think I'm ready,” I say at last once I finish my sandwich, my voice filled with reluctance and hesitation. Rainbow, upon hearing that, shoves the rest of her burger into her mouth indelicately, and once more shifts position on my lap so that she can look up at me without straining her neck. “Shit, okay. I think I have a general idea of how I'm going to start this.”

Rainbow watches me silently and (mostly) patiently, swishing her tail and waiting for me to continue.

“It wasn't just one event, you know. It lasted for five years,” I reveal, making Rainbow's eyes widen in horror. “Five years of hell. There was no way I was walking out of that the same.”

“What exactly happened?” Rainbow prompts. I give a sigh, and then resign myself to telling this story one more time. If I have my way, it'll also be the last time I tell it. Even so, I can't stop myself from shaking a little. Rainbow sees me shaking, so she reaches up and grasps one of my trembling hands in an attempt to calm me. It works a little. Enough to get started.

“Okay. Anyway, I was young at the time it first started. I think I was twelve years old,” I recall, grimacing at the memory of being so young and stupid. “I don't know how your education system works here in Equestria, but for me, I was in middle school.”

“Middle school?” Rainbow repeats questioningly. Yeah, that's what I thought. Still, I didn't come here to explain our education system to her.

“It's not important. Suffice to say I was young, and of the age when children were still trying to figure out who they were and what they wanted,” I tell her. It was true. Around then I found out I had an interest in music, so I joined band to learn how to play a piano. “Because of that, the kids were vicious, especially in our area. They would fight each other, hurt each other, and bully those who wouldn't fight back. If you were quiet, weak, smart, or just different in general, you were a target.”

“That's just horrible. Why didn't anyone do something?” Rainbow demands, looking horrified at the reality of what middle school was like.

“Oh, they tried. The school would punish any infractions it could see. But...if it couldn't be proven, they'd do nothing. And the kids were clever, so they'd rarely ever get caught,” I reveal. Rainbow grit her teeth, likely hating that this kind of thing was even possible. “Or worse, if the bullies had connections, like a parent in the staff, they'd usually get off scot-free.”

“Anyway, I was no exception. As fair skinned as I am, with hair like this, I was definitely singled out,” I relate, much to Rainbow's horror. “It was always the same. Kids would tell me or others I looked like a girl, or that I was into men, for example. Looking the way I did, that was easy for other people to believe.”

“Into men...but you're not! I'm proof of that!” Rainbow protests. I give a shrug.

“Yeah, but at the time, it didn't matter what I said. If I denied it, it would just make the accusations seem more credible. If I just stayed quiet, that was considered admitting it,” I explain. “There was no escape. My brother was too busy being a sports freak to notice my sudden drop in mood, so I just had to suffer through it.”

“Ugh, that just makes me sick. It's a good thing I wasn't there. I'd have beat the hay out of all of them!” Rainbow declares, shaking a hoof in the air. Right, I don't doubt it. She almost beat me up when she thought I was being mean to Derpy way back when, at my first Pinkie party. “Did something change then, or was that it?”

“I wish that had been it. No, there was more...”





The hallways of the school were filled with students, moving to and from their respective classes, their binders and books clutched in their hands. The air was filled with the sound of lockers opening and closing, and the ever present loud hum of conversation. Every so often, a more well-known member of the student body would pass through, and the crowds would break to let them through. They knew to do that, otherwise the popular ones would just shove their way through. They were popular because they had power, connections, or status.

As for me, I was kneeling in front of a lower end locker, quiet and alone. Just like now, my hair was shoulder length, though I'd allowed my bangs to grow longer so I could cover my face when I wanted to. Which was all the time, to be completely honest.

I fished through my locker, and once I gathered all the materials I needed for my next class, I stood up and shut the door. The moment I turned around and moved towards the center of the hallway, someone ran right into me, forcing that side of me completely backwards and causing me to drop all of my class materials, scattering them on the floor.

Judging by the laughter coming from the culprit as well as the other kids around, I knew the collision had been entirely on purpose. Now, even as I stand there, seething, my papers and books are being kicked around or shredded by some of the other students.

“Oops, my bad. I didn't see you there, miss,” said the one who ran into me. I knew him, because he was always pulling shit like this. His name was Trevor, and he was a member of the football team –  the quarterback, no less. His father was a wealthy businessman, so he could get anything he wanted and get away with anything he wanted. He was also one of the ones that insisted on only referring to me with female pronouns.

“I'm not a girl, you jerk!” I snapped at him, leaning down and picking up my binder. “Why do you keep saying that?”

“Because you look about as pretty as one,” Trevor joked, earning laughter from his friends that surrounded him. I flinch, hurt. By calling me something like that, he was essentially saying that I'd only ever be able to attract other guys. Before I could stop him, he picked up the textbook I needed for the next class, eyeing it with a sinister look. “Seriously, I think you're using the wrong bathrooms.”

“No I'm not! Now would you give that back? I'm going to be late for class!” I demanded, even as I ran a hand through my hair subconsciously. Once again, I considered just cutting it all off just so the teasing would stop.

“Sure, just go get it,” Trevor responded with a shrug, and then he hurled the book all the way across the hall, into the girl's bathroom, nearly missing a girl's head on her way out. Even though he hadn't been targeting her, Trevor found her terrified look hilarious as she quickly moved away. 

I look at the book in horror. He threw it so far in, knowing that I'd be too embarrassed to go in and get it myself. Not just that, but the school punished kids harshly for going into the wrong gendered bathrooms. If that happened, life for me here would only get worse.

“What's the matter? After all, you're just going into your own bathroom,” Trevor jokes. When I still didn't make a move, he snarls and shoves me violently backwards into my own locker such that I drop my binder again. “Don't just stand there, go get your book! Or do we need to help you?”

At those words, Trevor's friends stepped forward, reaching out for me threateningly. I was looking between them in terror, knowing the punishment of fighting in the school, but I also didn't want to be humiliated by what they had in store for me. 

“All right, that's enough,” a feminine voice said authoritatively, just as Trevor's friends grab on to my arms. Just that one statement was spoken with such confidence that Trevor and his friends paused and turned to see who was brave enough to confront them.

A lone girl had just walked out of the bathroom, dressed in simple clothes that I could tell were made of expensive materials. Clutched in the crook of her arm was my book. Her youthful and rounded face was framed by pale blonde hair, and two bright blue eyes shined from just beneath her bangs. Her lips were curved into a smile that radiated confidence and self-assurance, qualities that I rarely ever saw in this school. I didn't recognize her, even though she looked to be around my age. However, it certainly seems like Trevor recognizes her.

“Wha...I didn't know you were showing up today,” Trevor gasped, gazing at the girl in awe. She nods, her expression unchanging. “Anyway, this really isn't anything you should trouble yourself with. Think you could leave us alone?”

“I don't think so. Let him go now, before things get unpleasant for all of you,” she responds. My mouth dropped open. That was clearly a threat, and she didn't look strong enough to fight five boys from sports teams. 

However, to my shock, Trevor and his friends let me go after a long pause, without even protesting a little apart from the odd grumble here and there. Trevor shoots me a glare. “You're beyond lucky, Seth,” is all he says before leaving and taking his friends with him. 

At this point, I'm already late for class, but my attention is fixated on the girl with a newfound admiration. She didn't have to, but she stood up to those guys all for me, and they backed off just like that. I couldn't help but be curious about her.

“Hey,” the girl called to me softly, approaching me confidently and holding out the textbook. “Here. What's your name?”

“I'm...I'm Seth,” I replied hesitantly, taking the book back from her. Never before had a girl as pretty as this one spoken to me with...interest, for lack of a better word. It's always just askance glances and hushed giggles and insults, no doubt also thinking that I looked too girly.

“Nice to meet you, Seth. My name is Janna Dell,” Janna responded politely, extending her hand to me. I take it wordlessly, gazing at her in wonder. “This is my first day in public school. Do you think you could show me around, in return for helping you out?”

“Sure, but...class has started. I'll get in trouble if I'm any later,” I told her forlornly, not eagerly anticipating the lecture I was likely going to get if I'm even this late. Giving her a tour of the school would take practically the whole class period.

Janna laughed musically. “Oh, don't you worry about that. I'll take care of the teachers for you,” she assured me, causing me to blink in confusion. Take care of the teachers? How was that even possible? “Come on, please? Just a little tour? I did help you out with that jock, you know.”

“Yeah, okay I guess,” I relented, feeling guilty at the thought of letting her go without repaying her for her help. With that, Janna beamed and reached down, grabbing my hand and pulling me down the hallway. “Whoa! Slow down! We get punished if we go too fast!”

“Now, you're not going to go very far if you're always so worried about getting punished,” Janna admonishes me lightly with a mischievous smile. Before I could even finish processing that, she's already asking me another question. “So what's 'homeroom'  mean?

“You don't know what homeroom is?” I repeated incredulously. Janna shook her head.

“No, I was home-schooled before this. My daddy taught me everything I know so far,” she revealed, looking at me with an innocent smile. “So what's homeroom?”

“It's the room you go to first every morning. That's all it really is,” I explained to her. I wondered what it would be like being home-schooled. Would it be easier or harder than this horrible place?

“Oh. Then why give it a special name?” Janna giggled, though I could tell she wasn't really looking for an answer. She spied a hallway shooting off from this one, that connected this hallway to the upper grade hallways. Without warning, she changed direction. “Hey, let's go this way!” 

“That goes to the seventh grade hallways! We can't go down there!” I told her, but Janna didn't listen, continuing to pull me down the hallway by my hand. “Janna!”

As I'd feared, we soon ran into a teacher coming out of his office, on one of his off periods. Janna didn't even try to hide, walking past him with me. However, that doesn't last long. “Hey!” the teacher called us authoritatively. “Where do you two think you're going? Class started over ten minutes ago!”

“I'm just doing a little exploring,” Janna said without a care, turning back to face the teacher. “Class can wait until I take a quick tour of the school, right?”

The teacher blinked, dumbfounded by how carefree and blunt Janna was being. His eyes hardened and he approached us. “There are maps on the walls at regular intervals if you need help finding your way around. Simply cutting class is not an option. I'll have to write you up for this. What are your names?”

I glared at Janna, figuring that she just got me in trouble. Janna didn't look perturbed at all. She narrowed her eyes, while at the same time smiling sweetly at the teacher. “My name is Janna Dell. I think you might have heard of me, or at least my family,” Janna responded.

That name definitely seemed to mean something to the teacher, because his eyes widened and he flinched. “Miss Dell? I wasn't...um...aware that you would be attending this school...” he stammered. I couldn't believe it. Not only was the football quarterback listening to her, but now a teacher?

“I am! As of today, I'll be going here!” Janna proclaimed cheerfully. Then her expression turned smooth, a dangerous glint in her eyes. “Now then...Mr. Devon, is it? It would certainly be a shame if such an upstanding teacher as you were to get a bad review on your file. It might make it harder to keep a job in that situation...”

“All right! I'm sorry. Just, make sure you're in class next period, okay?” Mr. Devon cried, holding up his hands in surrender. My jaw dropped again, because this time she forced a teacher to back down, once again with something that sounded suspiciously like a threat. Just who was it that I was hanging with?

“Lovely! I'll make sure to tell the higher ups what a good teacher you are!” Janna squealed happily, her expression turning to normal once more. Mr. Devon sighed and retreated back into his office, shutting the door, leaving the two of us alone. Janna looked back at me with a pleased smile. “See? I told you the teachers would be no problem.”

“Janna, you just threatened a teacher, and got away with it. How can you do that?” I demanded, both awed and nervous at the same time.

“Oh, you must not pay much attention to politics, then,” Janna realized, nodding in understanding.

“I really don't. Why?” I said, raising an eyebrow.

“I'm quite literally the most important girl in the state. Let me re-introduce myself.” Janna revealed, making my eyes widen. Is her ego that large? Or... “My name is Janna Dell. I'm the governor's daughter.”
> 89. Leaving the Past Behind
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Governor's daughter? What does that mean? Why does that make her important?” Rainbow asks curiously the moment I pause to take a breath. As for me, this is getting easier to talk about as I go on. Of course, I haven't even reached the worst part yet.

“Right, Equestria likely doesn't have governors. It's difficult to explain, because you live in a diarchy, but Governor Dell was essentially in charge of the state,” I respond, sighing. 

“What, like a princess?”

“Yeah, I guess that's the closest you've got to a governor. In my state, this guy was at the top, calling the shots,” I explain. “If he wanted to, he could have very easily gotten Mr. Devon fired. The governor was well respected, because the state was prospering due to the policies he implemented.”

“And she just ran around abusing her father's power like that?” Rainbow demands, looking disgusted at the prospect. I nod sagely. That was essentially the gist of it. “That's pretty nasty. You ditched her, right?”

“No, I didn't. At the time, I actually admired her. She was confident, powerful, and didn't take any shit from anyone,” I admit. Rainbow falls silent, listening closely. “I think I was jealous. Nobody took a guy like me seriously, but her...nobody wanted to cross her.”





That very same day, I ended up going back to class with Janna, which according to her schedule, we had together. I was nervous that we would be punished, so I suggested sneaking in, but Janna ignored me. Instead, without any care in the world, Janna opened the door to the classroom and walked inside, right in the middle of a lesson.

“Pardon me a moment, ma'am,” Janna said, interrupting the teacher. Janna stepped directly in front of the whiteboard, garnering all attention to her. While such attention would have petrified me, Janna seemed to thrive on it. The teacher was dumbfounded that someone could show so little respect for her lesson, but by the time she tried to address Janna, she was already talking.

“Hello, everyone! My name is Janna Dell, and I'll be learning with you all, starting today,” Janna announced to the other students, who had been watching her in a mixture of confusion and shock. The moment her name was revealed,some of the students recognized it and realized just who she was. Even the teacher recognized it.

The teacher heaved a sigh, and then put on a smile so fake even I could see it. “It's good to meet you, miss Janna. Welcome to my class,” she addressed her. Janna smiled back at her, and I could tell that she knew exactly how the teacher felt, and she just didn't care. “Would you mind taking a seat? I'd like to continue my lesson.”

“Of course! Sorry for the intrusion,” Janna responded, making her way into the aisle. Some of the students, knowing how important she was, whispered greetings to her as she passed, all of which she returned. She took a seat in one of the back rows and made herself comfortable.

“Care to explain why you're late, Seth?” the teacher snapped at me as I passed her on my way to my desk. I froze, feeling her stern glare on the back of my neck. She may not have been willing to punish Janna, but I had no such protection. “You do know I grade attendance very harshly, correct?”

“I'm sorry, ma'am. He was with me, showing me around the school. I'm sure you can forgive him just this once, okay?” Janna spoke up once more. Her voice caused lines of frustration to appear on the teacher's face, but she managed to put on a smile once more, as strained as it was.

“I suppose so. Take your seat, Seth,” the teacher sighs, motioning me away in annoyance. I sigh in relief, once again feeling grateful for Janna's help. The governor's daughter, helping me out not just once, but twice? I couldn't help but feel giddy.

Unfortunately, another problem presented itself. There was another student in my usual seat, which often happened if you were a little late to class. I raised an eyebrow at him, but he never moved, even though he sees me looking. Next to him, Janna notices the problem and purses her lips.

“Would you mind moving? I'd like Seth to sit with me,” Janna asked politely, taking the student sitting next to her in surprise. Unfortunately, it seemed like he was one of the students who didn't know who she was.

“Why should I? I got here first. It's not my fault he was late,” the student protested, much to the horror of the boy sitting in front of him. “Besides, who died and made you queen, anyway?”

Janna narrowed her eyes, though her smile never left her face. Before she can say anything else, the boy in front of the difficult student grabbed his arm and yanked him out of my seat. “Idiot! She'll screw you over!” the boy whispered harshly.

Now that my seat was open, I sat down next to her, glancing at her curiously.





“Hold on a minute, I have a question,” Rainbow interrupts, looking annoyed. I huff and stare down at her, irritated at being interrupted. “So she just walked right into the school and everyone immediately knew who she was? How did the students know to get out of her way?”

“That's a good question, I guess. At the time, I had no clue,” I confess. “To be honest, I didn't really care. All I know is that she was helping me, and I felt invincible with her on my side. I didn't look too closely at first.”

“At first?”

“Yeah, much later I found out that while she was still being home-schooled, Janna got into an argument with a teen much older than her while on a shopping trip with her father. As a result, that teen ended up expelled from school, and his parents both fired from their jobs,” I relate. Rainbow's jaw drops open in shock and anger.

“What?! Just because of a little argument, Janna got her dad to ruin not only that guy's life, but also his family's?” Rainbow exclaims angrily. I nod in confirmation. I never did find out what the argument had been about. Nor did I know any real details. It was just a rumor, but it was enough. “That's despicable. Who could do that?”

“Janna could. But anyway, word got around. The students that knew of her were terrified, and those that didn't figured it out pretty quick at how she had the entire school wrapped around her little finger. One little complaint to her father could ruin the lives of anyone there, and everyone knew it,” I reveal, shaking my head. Rainbow gives a little growl, obviously hating everything she was hearing about her. “Back on topic...”





Life was good for me after that. Janna and I became fast friends, because she seemed to show genuine interest in the things that I liked, even though they were considered strange by the rest of the student body. 

She went out of her way to see me every day, and because of that, no one ever bothered me again. Even Trevor, as nasty as he could be, would back the hell away from me the moment he saw me. Janna made it pretty clear that messing with me meant messing with her. I had never felt more powerful than I had at that moment. I actually got pretty full of myself, because I started believing that if I wanted it, I could ask Janna to mess up those that bothered me. And to an extent, she would. If I had a problem, Janna would approach the offending student, and all it would take is one look and a short word from her, and that student would never bother me again.

But then, that same year, the favors started. Oh, they were small at first. Like carrying her bag for her, or helping her with something she didn't understand. So I didn't really pay any attention to them.

As the months passed, they started getting more noticeable. The favors would get a bit more involved and would take a lot more of my time. For example, she asked me to pay for her lunch a few times, because she forgot her money that day. Over time, it started to become an annoyance.

I refused her sometimes, but Janna would always get her way in the end. If I told her I didn't want to do something, she'd remind me of something that she'd done for me in the past. Every time, I'd feel guilty for letting her do something for me without paying her back, and I'd give in. Then, Janna would then always smile and thank me for my consideration.

One day near the end of seventh grade, Janna asked me to come over to her house and help her with a technology class, which happened to be a skill of mine, even back then. It was a unprecedented gesture from her; she'd never shown any interest in spending time with me after school. Suffice to say, I was pretty excited.

After school, I sent a message to my parents and let them know where I'd be. After that, Janna and I were picked up by her personal chauffeur and driven to her house. It went without saying; her house was extravagant, with a driveway that cut right down the middle of a massive garden, complete with an exquisitely carved fountain in the center.

“Wow, talk about rich! How much did this all cost?” I asked, my nose pressed up against the window of the car as we approach the garage. Janna giggled at my admiration, as she always did. 

“Nothing more than my family earned, of course. I'm glad you like it,” Janna answered proudly. When the car came to a stop, she stepped out and smiled sweetly at the driver before beckoning for me to follow her out. “Just wait until you see the inside. Come on!” 

Walking inside of Janna's house felt like stepping into another world, one that I didn't belong in. She led me to the living room, the largest room in the house. The polished hardwood floors shone with the light from the chandeliers hanging from the tall ceiling, immaculately clean and well maintained. Each piece of furniture was ornate and engraved, and the couches and chairs were made with the highest quality of leather. 

And if all of that wasn't enough, there was a large flat wall facing the couch, in which a massive TV was embedded. On a wooden stand beneath it was set up several recording devices, gaming consoles, and video players, the wires neatly tied together and organized to prevent tangling. On the coffee table just in front of the couch was an assortment of remotes that likely corresponded to those devices.

“This is just awesome,” I trailed off, tracing the engravings on one of the end tables with my fingers. I wished that I lived in a place like this. My house is okay, but nowhere near this level of extravagance. Looking around, I also notice a few people moving around, though they don't pay much attention to us. “Janna, who are these people?”

“Oh, they work for us. Butlers, servants, call them what you will,” Janna answers. I was shocked. She was so rich she even had servants. Janna then turns to one of them as he passes by. “Excuse me, would you let my daddy know I'm home?”

The butler gives a wordless bow and changes his course, disappearing into a side hallway. Janna's words made me realize that I was not just at Janna's house, but I was also at Governor Dell's house. In short, I felt like I was in way over my head. I never imagined that I'd ever meet the governor himself.

“Come on, take a seat. Daddy will be here soon, and once he's greeted us, I can show you what I'd like help with,” Janna explained as she settled down on the couch. She patted the spot next to her. I joined her tentatively...and when I sat down, I sighed in pleasure as the material conformed to my body and supported my weight. This was a nice couch; it was way more comfortable than the one at my house. “By the way, did you like the game I bought you?”

“Oh yeah, I did. Thanks! I would have had to wait until Christmas to get it otherwise,” I responded to her. Not too long ago, Janna had shown up at school with a game that I'd wanted, and she given it to me as a gift. I'd been so overjoyed I almost hugged her. That was a sixty dollar game, and I got it for free. 

Of course, just before that she'd had me finish the last couple problems of her math homework. They were easy, but it had still been a waste of time for me. I had actually planned to confront Janna about all of the stuff she kept asking me to do, but getting that game had me decide that it was worth helping her out every so often.

“I'm glad,” Janna replied in satisfaction. Not long after that, I heard the sound of somebody descending a set of stairs. Just as I turned to look, a tall and stocky man emerged from the hallway. He looked to be in his mid forties, with short graying hair and stress lines engraved into his face. He was dressed in extremely formal attire, making him look as if he was planning to go to an event of some sorts. Upon seeing him, Janna got up from the couch and moved towards him.“Daddy!”

“Welcome home, Janna. How was school?” Governor Dell greeted her cordially, embracing his daughter warmly. Holy crap, I was actually looking at the governor of the state.

“Oh, about the same as always. I'm making lots of friends, and I'm acing all of my classes!” Janna answered dutifully, stepping back from the man. Was it just me...or was Janna speaking to her father in the same tone that she speaks to everyone else? “Speaking of which, let me introduce you to Seth. He's the one I told you about.”

Before I could mentally prepare myself, the governor looked my way, flashing me a friendly smile. I stood up awkwardly and gulped, unsure how to act around a man of his standing. “A pleasure to meet you, Seth,” the governor said to me while extending a hand. I couldn't keep from trembling slightly even as I accepted his handshake.

“You too, sir,” I returned with a bit of a stammer.

“Mm, there's no need to stand on ceremony. It won't do for me to scare off my daughter's friends by acting official,” the governor says with a chuckle, withdrawing his hand. “Call me Frank. I must say, you're the first friend my Janna has ever brought over.”

I didn't know what to say to that, so I just did my best to smile and not look like I was freaked out at meeting such an important figure. “I have to thank you for helping my daughter with this. You see, it would be bad for me if I went to the event without my daughter. After all, she's going to go into politics herself at some point,” Frank continued. Janna nodded at that, looking proud to be following in her father's footsteps. However, I noticed something strange about what he said.

“Wait, what eve...” I'd tried to say, but the governor was already talking again.

“Janna, why don't you go and get Seth set up, and then get dressed for the event and meet me down here?” Frank asked his daughter, even as I was wondering what in the hell he was talking about. Event? How could they be going to an event, if I was supposed to be helping her with technology class?

“Of course, daddy. I'll be right back down,” Janna answered obediently. She headed towards the hallway, indicating for me to follow her with a gesture. I followed her as well, a sneaking suspicion  forming in my mind. 

Janna leads me up a set of stairs and down another set of hallways until we reach a large room the size as the master bedroom in my house. Judging by the light colors and the trifold vanity covered with care products, I assumed that this was Janna's room. Atop a mahogany desk was an advanced desktop computer, complete with a light up keyboard and mouse. Piled around the desk were several piles of materials, such as plates of metal, glue, construction paper, hammers and nails, and a lot of other things that I couldn't make out. 

“Janna, what's this event your father is talking about?” I asked her curiously now that it was just the two of us. Janna doesn't answer at first. Instead, she moves over to the vanity and looks in the mirror.

“The event? Oh, it's a political meeting with several other prominent members of the legislature. My Daddy is looking to fill a certain role, so he called together the candidates under the guise of a formal party, so that he can find out which one is worth the appointment,” Janna explains, frowning at the way she looked in the mirror. I blinked, not really understanding fully. I hadn't taken an intensive government course, so I didn't know the extent of the governor's duties. Still, it seemed important. “It's also the first time I'm allowed to come with. I'm going to be presented to the politicians!”

“Okay what? But how can you go to this event or whatever? I'm supposed to be helping you with technology, right?” I questioned, now even more confused than ever.

“Oh, you will be. Do you remember the technology project that's due tomorrow?” Janna reminded me. Suddenly, it clicked in my mind exactly what it was I was being asked to do. And I didn't like it at all. “While I'm gone, can you do it for me as a special favor? If I don't have what you need here, the butlers will get anything that's missing.”

“Are you kidding me? This is what you called me here to do?” I demanded, incredulous and angry. Do an entire project for her? I knew the one she's talking about, and it was a lot of work.

The project was about the interior of the computer. Each student was expected to put together a model of the CPU as well as the surrounding systems using homemade materials, and then label each part with its proper name. As if that wasn't enough, we had also been told to write a paper on the evolution of computers from the early 20th century to now. I didn't mind helping her with something she didn't understand, but to just do all of that for her? No way. 

“That's right! You see, I need to go to this event for the sake of my future in politics. You understand that I just can't be bothered with such menial work, right?” Janna responded as if it should have been obvious. While I usually got annoyed by her favors, this time I was actually angry. “Now, I need to take a shower. Think you could go ahead and get started?”

“No way. Do you know how much work it would be to get the project done in one night? It was assigned a week ago, and I'm not even finished with mine!” I snapped. Janna, who had been walking towards the bathroom, stopped. She turned her head and eyed me with that same look she gives me every time I refused to help her in the past. “I can't finish yours and mine in the space of one night!”

“Seth, please don't be difficult. You're smart and diligent, so something like this should be easy for you,” Janna told me. I opened my mouth to protest, but Janna cut me off. “Tell you what. Do you remember the game I got you? Consider this repayment for that.”

My mouth opens and closes in rage, even as she turns away from me once more. The fact that she was deciding to use the gift she gave me as leverage against me really made me angry. Come to think of it, this wasn't the first time she'd done as such, but the favors had always been minor, not something like this.

“You know what? No. Absolutely not,” I told her firmly, deciding that in the end, it wasn't worth it this time. This time, Janna turns back around in surprise, because I'd never refused her after she pulled the guilt card. “Take the game back if you want. I'm not doing your work for you. If you want to go to an event rather than do your project, that's on you. I'm not going to stay up all night because of your lack of planning.”

Janna looked truly shocked, even as I turned around and started walking for the door. I got here by car, but I knew the way to the nearest gas station, where I could call my parents to come grab me. I couldn't believe that Janna would pull something like this on me.

Behind me, Janna sighs, as if in resignation. At first I thought it was because she was giving in and deciding to do it herself, but then she started talking again. “You know, Seth, walking out that door  would be a very bad idea,” Janna said softly. It was just loud enough for me to hear it. 

I froze. That tone. I knew that tone. It was the tone she used whenever somebody was dumb enough to refuse her twice. I've heard it used before, but never on me. Was she really...she wouldn't. We were friends, right?

I turned around slowly, hoping to see a joking smile or something, but that's not what I got. Janna looked deadly serious, her eyes narrowed. “Think about it. You're in a very good place right now. You're at a very good school, and you have clear connections with a very prestigious family. Not many kids can say that,” she warned me coldly. My blood goes cold as she speaks her next words. “If you want to give that up, that's okay, but...I can't promise that your family situation will stay as stable as it is.”

“You...” I stammered. Janna...just threatened me. Not only did she threaten me, but she also threatened my entire family. I've seen her do things like this before, and I never really had a problem with it because I believed that whoever she turned her ire upon deserved it. But...to me? “Me too? Even me?”

Janna's expression doesn't change. “Think about it. What's worth more to you? A night's worth of sleep, or your livelihood?” she advised me. That made it hit home. Janna was really threatening my family because of some stupid project. 

Was...I just some tool to her this whole time? She always seemed interested in our conversations, but what if she was just faking those too, in order to find out what I liked? That way she could better manipulate me. It hurt to think that my best friend never thought of me as a friend after all.

I sighed in defeat, my shoulders slumping and my face falling. There was no real choice in my mind. I wasn't really that close to my brother, but I did love my parents, and there was no way I could ruin their lives by crossing Janna now. As much as I hated it, I had to do as I was told.

“Okay, you win. I'll do your project for you,” I relented. As if flipping a switch, Janna's smile returned as if it had never left.

“Good! I'm glad you see things my way. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take my shower now,” Janna said, and then she walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. I heard the sound of running water not long after that.





“Hold on just a minute!” Rainbow interrupts once more, this time looking furious. “Are you serious right now?”

“What do you mean?” I ask, wondering why she's stopping me now. Right now, I just want to get through the story. It's starting to take its toll on me now. That one moment was one of the worst things to ever happen to me. I can't remember it without getting all torn up, like I am right now. I won't cry, though. I didn't cry for Amaryllis, and I won't cry for Rainbow. 

“She brought you all the way to her house all so she could make you do her work for her!?” Rainbow demands furiously. I nod wordlessly. “And then she threatened your family over that? It's just a school project! Who does she think she is?”

“The governor's daughter, that's who. It didn't matter to her what the subject was. If she didn't get her way on something, no punishment was too harsh for her,” I explain to her. Rainbow gritted her teeth, hating Janna more with every word I say. “It didn't matter who you were. She had power over everyone.”

“That can't be right! No one has that kind of power. Governor or not, wasn't there someone beneath him that would be mad if he started ruining people's lives for petty things?” Rainbow questions me. “Like Princess Celestia's council. How can he get away with that?”

“Oh yeah, there's governor impeachment laws. But no one would impeach him. Not only was he friends with most of the people under him, Governor Dell was the man to almost single-handed raised my state out of debt though ingenious policies and budgeting. A lot of people owed their livelihoods to him,” I tell her, getting a little frustrated.

“So? Princess Celestia is even more loved than this guy, and even she wouldn't get away with it if she started abusing her power. Not that she would, but still!” Rainbow returns vehemently.

“Look, you think that I wouldn't have looked for a way out myself? You fucking think I just stood there and took it!?” I shout, making Rainbow flinch at the sudden rise in volume. “She threatened my family, Rainbow! My goddamn family! And she could easily carry out her threats if she wanted to!”

“Do you understand how that felt? I had to live with that hanging over my head for three years, knowing that if I pissed off this girl, our lives were screwed!” I continue angrily, to the point where Rainbow's ears flatten. “It wasn't because I was stupid or missed some easy to see escape route, it was because I was completely at her mercy!”

“But why? Why you, out of all the other students she could have ensnared?” Rainbow finally says, looking chastened after my outburst. She snuggles up closer to me, resting her head on my chest. Her show of affection helps calm me down, as well as make me feel guilty. I shouldn't have snapped out at Rainbow like that. It's not her fault I went through what I did.

“I asked her that myself. There's more to the story,” I say in a quieter voice.





In the end, I did stay up all night that night and not only complete her project, but mine as well. By the time I finished, it was already time for school the next day. My parents would have killed me if the governor himself didn't give them a call and explain the situation. 

My mood took a huge hit the next day. Now that I knew just what kind of a situation I was in, there was nothing I could do except follow Janna around listlessly and do whatever she wanted me to. 	After about a week of feeling like that, people started to notice that I no longer looked as happy as I used to. People like Trevor started to move in, thinking that I no longer had Janna's interest, but that didn't last very long. For the all the good it did, Janna did keep the bullies away.

There were students, like the friends I had before Janna, that tried to help me, or at least figure out what the problem was. Thinking that they would really help me, I always told them what kind of situation I was in. However, the moment they found out that helping me meant going against Janna, they always distanced themselves from me. It wasn't worth the risk.

The same went for any adults that I told. Those that knew her well or had been threatened themselves, like Mr. Devon, wanted nothing to do with her. Those that didn't know her well never believed me, because a “sweet girl” like Janna would never threaten someone like that, and that I should feel “ashamed of myself for coming up with such lies.”

Of course I didn't tell my parents. Why would I have done that? In the worst case, they would think I was making it up. In the best case, they would believe me, and they'd try to protect me...which would just end up in us getting ruined anyway, because the state courts wouldn't believe that someone as respected Governor Dell would ever act against someone out of malice.

So, I dealt with it. I pushed away my family and my other friends, because I was alone in this. This is around when I started to curse. I'd never really cursed before that, but now, I didn't feel any reason why I shouldn't. I was always angry, depressed, or in despair at the situation that I was in, so why the fuck shouldn't I curse? Who cares if society considered it wrong? This whole situation was wrong.

I thought that moving from middle school to high school would change things, but to no avail. Janna went to the same high school I was in, and was even in several of my classes, making me believe that she had planned that. That's when I confronted her once more. 

“Why me, Janna?” I asked her as we walked together on our way to our next class. Janna looked over at me curiously, because recently I'd stopped talking to her or anyone unless I was addressed first. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“What do you mean? I'm not doing anything to you. All you have to do is help me out every once in a while, and I'll take care of you,” Janna asked, looking hurt as if I'd insulted her. “Honestly, you should be grateful for everything I've done for you.”

“No, I mean, why pick me out of all of the students back then to leash to you like a fucking dog?” I demanded, not taking her shit for a moment. Right, her little favors that she did for me were just leverage, and were never worth feeling like a slave to this bitch. “Don't even tell me you didn't plan this shit.”

“Oh, no special reason really,” Janna replied with a shrug. My eyes widened, and then I gritted my teeth with rage, my hands curling into fists. She looked like she didn't even care what she was doing to me, and now she was saying it was just for kicks? “To be honest, I did some research before going to school, to see who the honor students were. After all, I don't need to know most of what they teach us for my career, so having one or two of them helping me out would be a real load off. Imagine my surprise when I helped you out, and found out you were one of them?”

“You...so you really have just been using me this entire goddamn time,” I growled, wanting more than anything to choke her and end this nightmare.

“Yup! And I'm going to keep using you, because you haven't let me down yet,” Janna said in a carefree tone. A disbelieving scoff left my lips, followed by the familiar feeling of despair filling me up. “After all, if you do, your family pays for it. Having power is such a wonderful thing, don't you think?”





“I want to hit something,” Rainbow snarls, growling such that I can feel her chest vibrating through my own. “What a jerk. She's about as bad as that Vanta guy in the way she abuses her power!”

“No kidding...but there you have it. That's why she chose me. I happened to be an honors student, and when she found that out, she made sure I was leashed to her. All because she felt like school was too much trouble for someone of her stature,” I reply, shaking my head. “Because of her, I didn't have friends or free time. Instead, I had double the coursework in the same amount of time, so I was always working.”

“But, you obviously ditched her somehow. Tell me how that happened,” Rainbow requests. Heh,  she probably wants to hear something happy. Well, there is no happy ending to this.





The people at that high school knew damn well what was going on between Janna and I. Those who didn't know the situation between Janna and I soon did, because a lot of the students who went to middle school with us also went to our high school. As such, word spread. 

Yet, even though everyone knew what was going on, no one did a damn thing. They fucking stood there on the sidelines and watched, choosing to let me suffer rather than get involved. Hell, I'm sure they all were just grateful it wasn't them in my shoes. I hated them for it. I hated everyone for it. Nothing changed, until one day halfway through my tenth year of school, or my sophomore year as we called it. 

I was sitting in a Health and Fitness class, in the middle of a lesson. Janna sat next to me as she always did, though at the moment she was messaging someone on her phone rather than paying attention. The teacher knew that she was doing it, but even though it was against school rules, he let her do it, because all of the adults had no backbone and let her walk all over them. It really pissed me off.

The night before, I had a fight with my family. My parents finally confronted me one night, because they'd noticed my mood getting worse than before. Not only was I constantly quiet and in my room most of the time, my responses to any questions they gave, when they weren't dismissive, were becoming increasingly cynical, if not downright dark.

It had gotten nasty. My parents were worried about how much I'd changed over the years, even though they'd tried repeatedly to get through to me. They were also offended about how I'd never talk to them, and basically pushed them aside like they didn't matter. I had responded very viciously.

Essentially, I told my parents to fuck off, though not in those words. I had told them that I was making good grades in school and I had a plan for my future, including a choice of major and a college I wanted to go to. Because of that, I told them that they should be proud and that it shouldn't matter to them how I act or feel. In the end, I'd slammed my bedroom door on them, locked it, and told them not to waste my time with such pointless conversations in the future. To say that they were hurt would be an understatement.

Because of that, I was angrier than usual that day in class. Add to that an assignment that needed to be done by the end of next class, and you had a recipe for disaster.

The teacher of our health class always left the room during the last fifteen minutes of class, giving us what he called a “study hall,” even though I knew full well he was going outside to poison his body with nicotine. 

As I was working on the assignment due next class, Janna turned her head to look at me, pulling out the very same assignment that I was doing...except the sheet was blank everywhere except for her name. I didn't have to look to know what she was going to ask.

“Seth, would you mind doing me a favor?” Janna asked innocently. Some of the other students that heard her, turned their heads curiously.

“No. I'm sick of your goddamn favors,” I growled without even looking at her. I just wanted her to shut up and not do this to me now. I was not in the mood to deal with her bullshit. 

My harsh language got some of the observing students to react with varying degrees of shock, because they'd never heard of me or anyone daring to speak to Janna like that. Even Janna was surprised, but that quickly faded into annoyance.

“Please, Seth, must I remind you of the things I did for you the night before?” Janna told em firmly, referring to when she'd provided me with expensive materials needed for my programming class the night before yesterday. It wasn't something I could have gotten out of either. I needed the program for class, and then all of a sudden I received an key code for that same program from Janna's email.

“I don't care,” I returned gruffly. Janna's smile dropped, and her eyes narrowed, as they always did when someone tried to keep her from getting her way.

“You know as well as I do that it won't be pleasant for you if you refuse,” Janna said in a dangerously calm voice. There it was. Around us, students winced, as they knew the ultimatum had been issued and I would have to give in, or face the consequences.

I was quiet, my heart beating furiously in my chest. Being threatened once more caused my blood pressure to rise, and my anger to surge. Before I knew it, I stood up, my chair scraping across the ground and getting everyone's attention. 

Then, without any warning, I turned on one foot and punched Janna right in the face. Janna cried out in pain and shock, and fell to the floor, blood streaming from her nose. A collective gasp passed through the room, and everything went dead silent, such that all I could hear was the pounding of the blood in my head. 

As I walked across the floor towards Janna, thoughts raced in my head. I wasn't thinking straight. I didn't care about her ultimatums, her favors, or her threats. I didn't care that doing this essentially sealed my family's fate, and my own. All I could think about was how I wanted this bitch to pay, once and for all.

“How dare you...eep!” Janna tried to say, but cut off when my right hand clamps around her neck and lifts her clear off the ground. She wasn't a heavy girl by any means, but the adrenaline shooting through my body added to my strength.

I rammed her into the wall on the other side, glaring right into her frightened blue eyes. “You...I'm done with you! I've had it up to here with this shit! You think you can just order me and anyone you else around like you own them? Own me? I don't fucking think so!” I shouted at her. “I don't give a shit if you're some governor's daughter or not, you don't have the right! Don't you understand that you've made my life a living hell!?”

“I've....always...” Janna tried to choke out, but I smacked her across the face to shut her up.

“No, you shut up! You don't get to talk. Some politician you are! All you do is run around, getting your kicks out of ruining peoples lives! I've had it!” I roar viciously. 

Suddenly, I was seized from behind by two sets of strong arms, pulling me away from Janna such that she dropped to the floor, a hand clenched to her face to stem the pouring blood from her nose. My shouting had caused the teacher to hear me from outside, and had brought another staff member to restrain me. Even though I struggled, they were both fitness teachers, and were well built as a result. I couldn't get free.

“You...how dare you lay a hand on me...I'll make sure your entire family pays for it!” Janna hisses in fury as the teachers drag me from the room.

“Go ahead! I don't give a fuck anymore!” was the last thing I said to her before I couldn't see her anymore.

As you can imagine, I was taken straight to the office, and both my parents as well as the governor himself were called. Not only that, but the police had been called as well, on the insistence of Janna. I was in the office of the head of school discipline, handcuffed to a chair, until the governor arrived.

However, things turned out differently than even I expected. I fully expected to have charges laid against me, and for my family to get screwed by Janna's vengeance. I certainly didn't expect the governor himself to walk into the room and dismiss everyone else, including the cops.

“Seth. I thought I noticed something different about you recently,” Frank said with a heavy sigh, even as he sat down in a chair across from me. He was angry, I could tell. There's no way he wouldn't be, because I broke his daughter's nose, and then nearly asphyxiated her. “Now, I want you to tell me your side of what happened. There's no police, no school staff, and no Janna around, so I want the truth. You've been friends with my daughter for years, so I want you to tell me exactly why you felt the need to lay a hand on my daughter.”

So I did. I told him everything.





“And? Then what happened? Did he believe you?” Rainbow demanded anxiously, squirming a little in my grasp. Somewhere during my rendition of this tale, I'd started holding her close to me, embracing her tightly. She doesn't seem to mind, though.

“He did, shockingly enough,” I admit, shaking my head.

“Really?” Rainbow asks disbelieving, blinking. “Over his own daughter?”

“It turns out he never had any idea of the hold his daughter had over the school systems. Nor did he ever abuse his power to ruin anyone's life,” I reveal, much to Rainbow's shock. “That rumor I told you about? What really happened was that the teen's parents had been employed by the state, and had been embezzling funds from the state treasury. It had been Governor Dell who discovered the discrepancy in funding, and traced it back to the source. It had been well within his rights to fire the two of them.”

“Then how did Janna turn that to her advantage?” Rainbow questions, confused.

“Janna did have a fight with that teen. That part was true. Because the governor believed that the teen didn't deserve to be ruined for something his parents did, he kept the incident out of the press. However, because the family was well known, word spread,” I explain. “Janna had always been spoiled and manipulative. When she found her father was going to move her to public school, she took advantage of the rumor through her connections; this making her fight with the teen public. The rumor soon shifted, and Janna was believed to be the one who made the family's displacement happen.”

“That conniving little...I'm so glad you gave her a good beating. I would have done the exact same in your position,” Rainbow growls. “So what did the governor do?”

“After hearing my story, he went and asked around, and several students spoke up, confirming my words. So I was released without any punishment other than a few days of suspension,” I answer her. “But in the end, my family moved us out of state. Once they found out what had really been going on, they'd been horrified. They didn't want me anywhere near Janna, or a place where I'd suffered so much.”

“They should have been horrified! I bet they were grateful too. I mean, you suffered through all of that to protect them, right?” Rainbow asserts.

“Sure they were. That's the only reason our relationship ever got anywhere close to normal again, after that last fight,” I divulge to her. “And after that, I bonded with Adam and met Amaryllis. The rest you know.”

“That's...wow...” Rainbow whispers, pulling her head back and looking at me soulfully.

“Yup. That's it. You're now the only one in this world that knows my life story. That's why I don't trust favors,” I reply softly. Without another word, I hold Rainbow even closer to me, such that my head is over her shoulder. “Thanks for listening. And thank you for not making me regret trusting you. Thank you for being you.”

Rainbow's head rests on my shoulder as well, even as she hugs me back. I don't think she knows what to say at this point. As for me...

“I love you, you stupid technicolor pony,” I whisper, not even caring how absolutely sappy saying something like that is. It just felt right to say, so I said it. Rainbow gives a little squee and squeezes me tighter.

“I love you too...you jerk.”
> 90. About Face
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“I can't believe I just fucking said that,” I mutter with a bit of a half chuckle. Rainbow and I are still curled up together on the couch, the early moonlight streaming in through the window. Telling my story took quite a while, so it got pretty late when we weren't paying attention.

“Me neither...” Rainbow agrees, wrinkling her snout. “I blame you for this. I never really cared much for this kind of stuff...and then you pop out of nowhere and suddenly I'm head over hooves like a schoolfilly.”

“Yeah well, I can't help the fact that you have a thing for men with baggage. Your standards are pretty low, huh?” I retort sardonically. Rainbow's immediate response is to push on my face roughly with her two front hooves, because she's too close to me to shove properly.

“You jerk,” Rainbow grumbles, causing me to chuckle at her expense.

“Heh. No, seriously though...the words 'I love you' haven't passed my lips for years. Even to my family, really,” I tell Rainbow seriously. “You're pretty special, to get me to say that to you.”

Rainbow flushes, even as she preens at the praise. Right now, I'm lying on my back, looking up at her. She adjusts herself such that she's lying on her belly on top of my chest, her head just above mine. “You know, you should show me how special I am,” Rainbow insinuates, looking down at me with that same half-lidded expression that she showed me this morning.

“What are you talking about? How do I even do that? Can't you just take the...” I question, feeling a little irritated. Rainbow cuts me off with an annoyed sigh.

“Oh, just shut up and kiss me, you dummy,” Rainbow complains. With that, she brings her head down to mine, ours lips meeting before I can even finish processing her words. The sudden contact causes my mind to go blank, any retort dying away with the sensation of her soft lips on mine, her fur prickling gently on my upper lip. This one lasts a bit longer than the others, to the point where we actually have to break apart to breathe. 

“Oh. Okay. So that's what you meant,” I pant, still tasting her on my lips. God, that's a weird thing to describe. Rainbow snickers at that. “I guess there has been enough whining for tonight.”

“I wouldn't call it whining, but you cuddling me this long makes me want to kiss you,” Rainbow explains with a grin of a mare that regretted absolutely nothing. She presses a hoof on my chest. “You know, you really are just a giant teddy bear.”

“Fuck you, I am not,” I return, huffing in annoyance. Rainbow's response is to chuckle at my expense, causing me to roll my eyes. “Dammit, Rainbow.”

After a short silence, the grin falls from Rainbow's face, and she gets serious again. “Hey, so...I'm glad you told me all about Janna...but you know she's not around to hurt you anymore, right?” Rainbow asks hesitantly.

“Yeah, I know that. Why?” I question.

“It's just that...nopony here is going to do anything like that to you,” Rainbow assures me. “I can guarantee you that none of my friends will, and you already know that I certainly won't. So, do you think you could try cutting my friends some slack?”

As always, when anyone challenges that part of me, I feel a rush of anger. It's just a force of habit at this point. But unlike before, it's tempered by both Rainbow's sincerity and the promise I made to myself down in the ruins of my college. I feel like I should be mad, but I'm not. Instead, I just heave a sigh.

“I know...and I'm trying to. It's just...I've lived like this for almost ten years now. It's not easy,” I admit reluctantly. “Every time I try, I always feel like I've made a huge mistake afterward.”

“I can promise you that none of my friends will hold favors over your head like Janna did,” Rainbow asserts confidently. “I'm that sure of them. They're always helping me out, after all.”

“Well, all I can do is promise to try,” I relent, though I hadn't really been telling her I wouldn't in the first place. 

“Good enough,” Rainbow replies with a satisfied shrug. After that, there's a content silence between us. I start to realize just how tired I am, both physically from work today and mentally from telling that story again. 

“So...you want to get up sometime soon?” I ask Rainbow, poking her furry chest. Rainbow flinches and nips at my finger, causing me to withdraw it and chuckle.

“Why would I do that?” Rainbow demands as if I'd just requested something unreasonable from her.

“Because it's late and I'd like to go to bed,” I tell her, squirming slightly.  The couch is comfortable, but it's not my bed.

“Nah, I don't think so. I want to stay here,” Rainbow says stubbornly with a shake of her head. I sigh and hook my hands beneath her front legs, lifting her right up off of my chest. “Waah! Put me down!”

Still holding her, I stand up from the couch and release her in midair. Rainbow has to frantically extend her wings to keep herself from dropping to the floor. Rainbow grumbles and gives me a stare as as she hovers just above the table.

“What? Don't give me that face. I'm tired now,” I say, moving past her and heading to the fire so I can extinguish it. That only takes me about a minute, and then there's nothing standing between me and my bed. I step past Rainbow, releasing a tired yawn. “Anyway, I figure you can show yourself out. I'll see you tomorrow I guess.”

Without waiting for a reply, I make my way into my room and shut the door. As cold as it is outside, I have plenty of blankets, so I strip off my clothes entirely except for my boxers. Then, I climb into bed and set my phone and wallet on the nightstand. I have tomorrow off, so I think I'll leave the alarm off for tonight. Finally, I close my eyes and allow myself to drift off to sleep.

I don't get more than a minute to myself before I feel something pressing down on the bed on the side opposite from me. I open my eyes and turn over hastily, only to see a dark shape moving onto my bed. “Chill out, it's me,” says a scratchy voice. Wait what the fuck?

“Rainbow? I thought you'd have gone home by now,” I say in surprise, hugging the blankets tighter to myself because I'm not wearing much of anything. What the hell is she even doing?

“Meh, I'm too lazy to fly all the way back tonight. Besides, it's too cold out tonight,” Rainbow says with a nonchalant shrug. “So I'm crashing here tonight.”

“Uh, the guest bedroom is downstairs,” I remind her, though I get suspicious the moment I see Rainbow hoofing at the blankets. “Rainbow...”

“What, so my coltfriend is telling me to sleep in a guest bedroom? Get real, I'm sleeping here,” Rainbow asserts. She manages to find a gap in the blankets, and then she slips inside of them, such that I can feel her fur brushing against my back.

“Rainbow, no,” I tell her firmly, a million different thoughts running through my head as to what her intentions could be. 

“Why not? What's the big deal?” Rainbow insists, already getting herself comfortable up against my side.

“I'm  barely wearing anything, Rainbow,” I inform her. Rainbow is now so far into the blankets that all I can see on the pillow is her head, which looks rather indignant at the moment. If the situation was different, I would be losing my shit on the expression on her face.

“So what? Nothing I haven't seen before. Sheesh, you're such a prude at times,” Rainbow complains, sticking her tongue out at me impudently. I open my mouth to protest one more time, but Rainbow once again beats me to it. “Seriously? Come on, I'm just sleeping here, that's all. Relax.”

I stare at her for a few more seconds, and then I sigh. Rainbow is so stubborn at times. I mean, technically couples are supposed to do this kind of thing...but usually there are other connotations. None of which I'm anywhere near close to being ready for. “Fine, whatever. Sleep and that's it, got it?” I tell her firmly.

“That's what I said, you stubborn human,” Rainbow remarks. I sigh and turn until I'm on my back, facing the ceiling. I have no idea how I'm going to get any sleep now, with Rainbow right fucking there.

Just as I'm starting to relax, I feel Rainbow's hoof poke my bare side, followed by chuckling. “Rainbow! That's not funny,” I chide her, annoyance present in my voice.

“It's a little funny,” Rainbow disagrees with a snicker. I groan, wondering how in the hell I'm going to survive tonight.

“Shut up and go to sleep!”





I actually sleep comfortably that night, despite my misgivings about having a goddamn pony in the bed with me. 

When I wake up, I feel refreshed and ready to take on another day, as cliché as that sounds. However, I don't feel the need to get up just yet. After all, I have nowhere to be today until later, because Applejack kindly gave me the day off.

I shift slightly in the bed, and that's when I notice Rainbow's positioning. I'm lying flat on my back as I usually do when I sleep, but Rainbow is lying on her side, nestled between my side and my arm. Her head is resting on my shoulder, such that I can feel her breathing gently on my skin. I can't help but smile at the sight. I don't care how tough you act when you're awake; you're just so fucking adorable when you're asleep.

A glance at my phone lets me know it's almost eight in the morning. Of course it is. My goddamn body won't let me sleep in even if I wanted to. I feel awake though, so I guess it isn't a problem. Now then, what should I do today until it's time for Rainbow and I to head out on our date?

As I think of different possibilities for my day, I idly run my hand through her mane. Her head shifts in my hand, causing me to look down at her. Rainbow mutters something indistinctly as her eyes open slowly. 

“Seth?” Rainbow murmurs tiredly, her mouth opening wide in a yawn. Her eyes roll up to look at my hand in her mane. “What are you doing?”

“Sorry. You looked so cute lying there like that, I couldn't resist,” I tease her, withdrawing my hand, even as Rainbow huffs at me.

“I am not cute,” Rainbow grumbles, somehow managing to look even more adorable in the act of denying it. Then, despite herself, she looks at my hand, and then back at me with the most hilarious pitiful expression on. “Why'd you stop?”

“Oh my god, I am dating a cat,” I joke, reaching my hand back over to her and stroking her mane again. Rainbow sighs in contentment and shuts her eyes again, enjoying the treatment. “Speaking of which, when do you get off work today?”

Rainbow's eyes shoot open, and she suddenly dashes out of bed. “Oh shoot, I completely forgot about work! Ah!” she exclaims, panicking. “I have to go to work early to get ready for the snow tonight!”

I sit up in bed, finding the sight of her running around in a panic to be rather funny. “Wait, I thought the snow came tomorrow?” I ask, remembering what Applejack said.

“No, Winter Wrap-Up is tomorrow. Today's mostly clear until late tonight,” Rainbow informs me. Huh, so I guess I get to see what this whole Winter Wrap-Up thing is all about. “I've got to get the clouds ready, and then Cloud Chaser will take over my shift at like, seven. Then I'll come see you, okay?”

“Sounds good. I dunno what I'll do. Maybe I'll go get some reading done at Twilight's,” I remark. I actually like that idea. I haven't seen Twilight in a social setting for a while, and I certainly haven't seen Spike in forever. 

“Okay. Well, I'll find you. Anyway, gotta go, or I'll get chewed out by the other pegasi,” Rainbow says, and then she opens the window and takes to the air, leaving me alone in my room.

I look after her for a few seconds, and then sigh, shaking my head. This fucking mare. I don't know if I'm the only guy that does this, but every time I'm by myself, I keep thinking that this whole relationship with her is a delusion, and that I'll wake up or something and we'll be back to being friends. Anyway, I guess I'd better get ready for the day.

Almost an hour later, I'm fully showered and dressed. I think I will go to Twilight's library. I wouldn't mind having some time to sit back and spend a few hours reading. With that in mind, I grab my phone and leave the house.

I think I'll take my time getting there. I'm in no hurry really, so I start to walk there. I haven't just walked through Ponyville in a long time; I've always just flown everywhere.

The ponies I pass in the streets all greet me in a friendly fashion, waving or calling to me. Each time, I awkwardly attempt to return their greetings due to my inner promise to act nicer, but I'm not sure how well it worked out. Some of them actually look surprised when I return their greetings, because I usually ignore them. I know there's been this one mare with a blue coat and a blueish white mane that's always waved to me, whether I returned it or not. The look on her face when I finally return it made me smile a little. I don't know how I never noticed it before, but sometimes the simplest things make other ponies happy. I wonder if the same held true for humans? Too bad I'll never get a chance to find out.

Also, as I walk, I feel a sense of contentment, the likes of which I've never felt before. It's difficult to describe...it's a bit like the feeling you get when you walk outside on a warm sunny day and you can't help but sigh in comfort. That's a little how I feel. By way of comparison, it's the exact opposite of how I felt during those five years with Janna. Then, I constantly felt a deep-seated sense of despair. Now, I feel happy for no reason at all. I wonder if it's because of Rainbow? And...dear fuck, that's the dumbest thing I've ever said. I'm Seth, not some helpless romantic.

Once I reach the library, I knock on the door to announce my presence. A few seconds later Spike opens the door, a tiny claw rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. It takes him a few seconds to recognize me. “Oh, hi Seth. What are you doing here?” Spike asks tiredly. I guess he just woke up. It is still pretty early after all.

“Nothing important. I'm off work today, so I thought I'd drop by to do some reading,” I explain, resting against the door frame. 

“Twilight will like that. Come on in,” Spike remarks, stepping aside to allow me entrance. “I can't wait to see the look on her face when she realizes she has company that she didn't schedule for.”

“She'll freak out, I'm sure,” I reply dryly, earning a snicker from Spike. I step inside and shut the door behind me, keeping the cold from coming in. Looking around the main room, I don't see any sign of her. “Where is she, anyway?”

“Upstairs. She just finished breakfast, and now she's got a fire going. It's actually pretty cozy,” Spike informs me, leading me to the stairs. Oh, that sounds good. Reading a book by firelight near the end of winter sounds relaxing as fuck.

“I don't doubt it. Hey! Bookish unicorn!” I call up the stairs, even as the two of us ascend them. Judging by the clatter I hear from upstairs, I know she heard me. Spike chuckles behind me at the sound. Wearing a grin, I push open the door to the upper floor. I don't see Twilight. In fact, the only thing I see is a large pile of disorganized books on the floor. “Twilight? Where are you?”

The pile of books shifts on the floor, and then Twilight's head pops out from the top of the pile, a book resting open on her head. She lifts it off her head with magic and then gives an irritated snuffle. “Seth, you surprised me. I dropped all the books I was carrying,” Twilight complains, extricating herself from the books. “Now I have to reorganize everything all over again!”

“Oh gee. I'm sorry for absolutely nothing,” I joke. “Good morning to you too, by the way.”

Twilight tries to stay mad at me, but at hearing such a nice greeting from me, she adopts a smile and moves over to me. “Good morning Seth. I'm surprised to see you here so early,” she addresses me, nuzzling my side affectionately. I return her greeting by ruffling her mane in a friendly fashion, taking her by surprise yet again.  

“Yeah, well, I'm off today, so I have nothing to do. I felt like coming to read,” I explain, withdrawing my hand. With a chuckle, I see that her mane is all messed up now. 

“Why is it always my mane?” Twilight complains. When my words process in her mind, however, a smile lights up her face, and with it all previous thoughts of her mane are forgotten. “Oh! Of course, you're always welcome to come and read with me. What kind of book were you looking to read?”

“I finished the Zemyrean Conspiracy before the expedition. You think I could get the next book in the series?” I request. That book was the sequel to the Clock-Maker, and it was just as good. I don't know why, but conspiracy novels with a hint of the unnatural in them always click with me, so it was a delightful read. 

“Oh, yes. Just let me find it for you,” Twilight says. She organizes the pile of books on the floor into several stacks, and then places them on a table so that she can sort them out later. Then, she starts fishing through the shelves, looking for the book I wanted. “The next one is called the Wheels of Time. I think you'll really enjoy it. There's a new main character, but Sephylon comes back, and he's really cool in it!”

“Really? I thought he retired. Poor guy,” I remark. You'd think after saving the world from a doomsday clock would warrant the guy some peace and quiet. I guess not.

“He did, but...oh, I don't want to spoil anything.” Despite her excitement, Twilight manages to stop herself before she gives anything away. With her magic, she passes me the book I requested, which I take and glance at the cover. It depicts an otherworldly environment where several ponies are standing atop a platform, with clouds and rotating gears hovering in the air above them. “How long are you planning to stay?”

“Until Rainbow gets off work. Is there a problem with that?” I ask, searching around for someplace to sit. Twilight provides one for me, producing a cushion from a cupboard with her magic.

“No, of course not. I love it when I have someone to keep me company while I study,” Twilight reassures me. “It's just that Rarity will be visiting me later today to check out a book or two. Is that alright?”

“Sure. I've been meaning to see her anyway and make sure she doesn't go overboard. Do you know how much clothing she's been making for me?” I respond curiously. I can't help but dread it a little, because I know Rarity can get when she's excited about something.

“I think she mentioned something of that sort, but she never said how many. Why, do you think she'll make a lot?” Twilight returns.

“You should know better than I. All I know is that Applejack said she was making me outfits because she wanted me to look nice for...for Rainbow,” I explain, stammering a bit. Promise or not, I still hesitate before sharing things like that with other ponies. Old habits die hard, I suppose.

“Oh yeah, that reminds me. Since when have you and Rainbow been together? I always thought you were just friends,” Twilight asks as I sit down on the cushion. Ah, there it is. I know that everypony I know is going to ask me about eventually. Most of them asked me at the party, but I didn't really say much because Rainbow held my attention. “If you don't mind me asking, that is.”

“I don't. And it's a very recent thing. Like, the night before the party recent,” I reveal to her, causing Twilight to blink in surprise. “Though apparently, according to Vinyl, Rarity, and a few others, the two of us were enamored with each other since the royal wedding.”

“That long? How come I didn't notice?” Twilight gasps. Okay, does she really not know the answer to that question?

“Because you're about as oblivious as I am, book pony,” I tease her, causing her to blush in embarrassment. Heh, she knows I'm right. “Though on a more serious note, you're alright with it, right?”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asks, looking confused.

“I mean, you've known her for a lot longer than I have. You're not worried I might hurt her?” I clarify. According to the things I've heard, the only thing worse than an ex-girlfriend are her friends. 

“I've known you for a while too. You were difficult, abrasive, and close-mouthed, but even I noticed the changes when you met Rainbow,” Twilight responds seriously. I can't help but nod in agreement. Whether I like it or not, I owe my new outlook on life almost entirely to Rainbow. “No, I'm happy for the both of you.”

“That's good. Did I mention how I hate having to care at times? Life is harder this way,” I complain half-seriously, leaning back and opening up the book.

“I think, after all I've learned since coming to Ponyville, that it's worth it,” Twilight expresses, even though I'd been mostly joking.

“Jury's out on that one, but so far I'm liking it. I feel better than I have in a while,” I say, reading the foreword. I notice Twilight look at me oddly, so I glance back up at her. “What?”

“Rarity was right...you do seem different. You're being much more open with me than you usually are,” Twilight observes. I adopt a knowing smile. She's not the first to mention that. It's weird that I'm making so many ponies happy just by changing my outlook a little. “I like it.”

“Glad to hear it. Now, it's been fun, but shut up now so I can read,” I tell her, turning my gaze back down the book. Twilight chuckles and shakes her head, no doubt used to my blunt way of speaking by now.

“I'll be right here if you need me,” Twilight informs me, and then she settles down right in front of the crackling fire burning in the mantle. She cracks a book open with her magic and falls silent.

With that, the two of us cease conversation and lose ourselves into our respective books. Spike brings us tea a few minutes later, before he plops down next to me with a comic book. 

I sift through the book, content in my surroundings. I'm comfortably seated on a cushion, warmed by the fire, and I have delicious tea here in case I get thirsty. Not to mention I'm lost in the steampunk world of the book I'm reading. This why I love reading.

This is how several hours of my day pass by. I hardly move at all, except to use the restroom. Twilight and I exchange a few snippets of conversation as the day passes, and sometimes Spike stops me to show me a cool scene in his comic book. Other than that it's mostly quiet and serene. 

“I'm going to start making lunch. Do you want something?” Twilight asks me a little before noon. I don't reply at first, lost entirely in the scene unfolding in the book before me. 

“Uh, hello, Equestria to Seth,” Spike jokes, poking my side with a claw. I yelp and glare at him, but he redirects my attention to Twilight. She repeats the question for me.

“Sure, I'd love some food. What do you plan on making?” I ask curiously.

“Probably just some cucumber sandwiches with some crumbly cheese,” Twilight replies, looking happy to hear my response. I raise an eyebrow.

“Crumbly cheese?” I inquire.

“It's a type of goat's cheese that's salted and aged. It's used sometimes in salads,” Twilight describes. Hold on a minute, that sounds awfully familiar...

“Oh my god, you mean feta cheese? Holy shit,” I gasp, setting the book down after marking my place. “That is my favorite kind of cheese ever. I need some of this.”

“By all means. Come on, we'll go to the kitchen,” Twilight offers with a bright smile. “You too, Spike.”

“Coming! Just got to finish this scene,” Spike responds as the two of us start heading downstairs.

“Humans have an equivalent?” Twilight addresses me, referring to the cheese.

“Yes, and I used to have it on my salads all the time. It's the greatest thing,” I gush, remembering my Greek salads with fondness. My mouth is already watering in anticipation. It'll be like having a Greek salad sandwich...though without the dressing. Unless... “Hey, do you ponies use olive oil?”

“Yes, we use it for cooking mostly, or herbal remedies. Why do you ask?” Twilight returns. I follow her into the kitchen, feeling excited.

“That means I could make a fucking Greek salad sandwich. Mind if I give it a shot?” I request. 

“I don't see why not. In fact, I'm a bit curious now as well,” Twilight responds. With her magic, she withdraws multiple ingredients from the refrigerator and the drawers, including the lettuce, feta cheese, and even a bottle of olive oil. I think I see some spices in there as well, so I will have everything I need to make Greek dressing. “Care to show me what a Greek salad is like?”

“Don't worry, you don't even have to ask,” I promise her, already reaching for the bread. Let's see, there's onions here, lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes. I can work with this.

Twilight watches in interest as I start putting the sandwich together. I start by covering the base of the sandwich in a layer of cucumber, followed by a layer of tomato. Next, I place the lettuce and onions over top, before adding a healthy layer of feta cheese. Lastly, I dribble some olive oil over the top of the mixture, along with some salt and one of the spices that Twilight brought out for me. I'm not sure if it's oregano, but it tastes similar, so I'm gonna give it a shot.

“And there you have it,” I declare, allowing Twilight to inspect the finished product. “It's pretty simple, but the addition of the olive oil and feta cheese makes it pretty fucking delicious.”

“It does look pretty good,” Twilight admits, sniffing at it. She looks up at me with liquid eyes after that. “Could you make me one too?”

“Eh, why not. I'm in a good mood anyway,” I say with a shrug of my shoulders. I get to have the closest thing to a Greek salad for the first time in months. I don't mind making another. Besides, after doing it one more time, Twilight should know how to do it as well, so she can make one for Spike if she wants.

Spike joins us downstairs just as Twilight is trying to make one herself. As I thought, she picked up on how to do it herself rather easily, so the third one goes to Spike.

Just as we're moving to the table to start eating, there's a knock at the door. I ignore it, figuring that either Twilight or Spike will take care of it.

“Oh, that must be Rarity. I'll get it!” Spike announces quickly before Twilight can make a move, setting his sandwich down and dashing towards the door. Next to me, Twilight sighs and shakes her head, exasperated for some reason. I shrug and bite into my sandwich, finding it to taste just as heavenly as I expected. Fuck yes, I really needed this. 

In the front room, I hear the door open, and then I hear Rarity speaking to Spike in faint dulcet tones, such that I can't make out what they're saying. Not that it matters. It's probably just some pleasantries. Nonetheless, it isn't long before Rarity enters the kitchen, with Spike right behind her. “Good afternoon, darling,” Rarity greets Twilight, dipping her head pleasantly. “And to you too, Seth. I didn't expect to see you here.”

“I wanted to get some reading done,” I say with a shrug. Rarity nods understandingly.

“Good to see you, Rarity. Want to join us for lunch? Seth taught me how to make a delicious sandwich that he calls a 'Greek salad sandwich,'” Twilight responds excitedly, using her magic to pull out a chair for Rarity.

“Oh, I'd love to! I just finished work on my newest creation, so I have some time to spare,” Rarity replies, delicately sitting in the chair offered to her. She glances at the sandwich I'm eating curiously. “Pardon me, you called it a Greek salad sandwich?”

“Yup! And it's the best thing ever. Now that I know I can make it, I'm buying the ingredients for my house now,” I reply, and then I immediately go back to my sandwich, avoiding her gaze. I can talk to Rarity after I finish eating. 

With that, the four of us engage in basic conversation, but nothing really worth mentioning. Twilight makes Rarity another sandwich, so she too can taste the gloriousness that is a Greek salad. Rarity's eyes practically light up when she bites into it. “This is marvelous!” Rarity exclaims after she swallows. She dabs her mouth daintily with a napkin to clean up any excess dressing. “I may have to learn how to make this myself.”

“I can teach you!” Twilight pipes up, earning a smile from Rarity. “He does it in several distinct steps, as follows...”

Hah. Trust Twilight to turn something as simple as making a sandwich into a procedural set of steps. Well, whatever. I'm just happy I'm having a decent meal. Now the only thing that would make this better was if I could get my hands on a cheeseburger. Even though I can get all the iron I need from spinach, that doesn't mean I can just forget the tender taste of a well done cheeseburger. Too bad that's never going to happen.

“Rarity, mind if I speak to you for a second?” I ask her once the both of us have finished eating. Rarity notices the change of tone in my voice and gazes at me tentatively. 

“Of course. Just give me one moment,” Rarity replies. She takes a moment to finish the rest of her tea, and then she stands up. I do as well, and then the two of us leave the kitchen, leaving behind a perplexed looking Twilight and Spike. I take her into the front room and then turn to face her, turning over the words in my head. “What's the matter, dear? I noticed you acting a little antsy ever since I arrived.”

“I just wanted to set a few things straight between us,” I answer her seriously. I hate that I have to do this, but I guess that's par for the course. The downside of suddenly starting to care about how I treat others leaves me with a lot to answer for. 

“I see. Well, I'll listen, of course. We haven't spoken in over a month, so I was starting to get worried,” Rarity responds, getting serious with me as well. “In fact, we haven't spoken since after you and I visited the spa.”

“Yeah, that's what I wanted to talk to you about,” I admit, sighing. I should have known that Rarity would pick right up on what I wanted the moment I started. The only one I know that's more perceptive than her is Celestia, and that's not really a fair comparison. “I wanted to apologize to you, actually.”

Rarity's eyebrows rise in surprise, which is the usual response to me apologizing to anypony, it seems. “Whatever for?” she asks curiously.

“For shouting at you, for one. I feel pretty stupid for flipping a lid at you over a misunderstanding...only for you to end up being right in the end,” I confess. I can't help but chuckle a little. I yelled at her so hard, though I think at the time I had been mostly yelling at myself, because I didn't want to insult Rainbow by feeling something as disrespectful as lust towards her. Of course, I know now that it isn't lust.

“Oh, think nothing of it. I should actually apologize myself, for confronting you with such information before you were ready for it,” Rarity returns, surprising me with an apology of her own. “I was just so excited at the time, because I thought you were finding true happiness with her. Plus, Rainbow always did seem a little lonely.”

“Hold on, what?” I say, blinking. That much I didn't know. Rainbow, lonely? What? “Didn't she have you all?”

“I meant as far as companionship goes.  We always tried to be there for her when she needed us, of course, but she needed somepony that could indulge her in her interests,” Rarity explains. “Ever since you arrived in Equestria, you've done wonders for one another. You seemed as if you were truly having fun, and Rainbow seemed happier than I've ever seen her. Therefore, when Pinkie insinuated that you two might be dating, I was overjoyed, and I spoke without thinking.”

“Please, quit apologizing. You were making an assumption, but it wasn't anything worth shouting at you about,” I tell her firmly. “Especially since you were right. Rainbow and I did like one another, but I don't think either of us realized it.”

“Rainbow did, not long after that. She actually went to me, because she thought you would hate her for it,” Rarity reveals. I nod, having figured that much out on my own from what Rainbow said to me. “I understand from what you said to me that interspecies relationships was looked down on in your time period, so I understand why you snapped at me. Though I am glad you're apologizing to me for it. I appreciate the gesture.”

“Yeah, and vocally as well. Hypothetically, if I were to go back to my time now with Rainbow, I'd be ostracized in an instant, and called some pretty nasty names,” I remark, recalling the shit that I've seen on the internet. I hold up my hand, ticking off on my fingers as I state some of them. “Let's see, there's furfag, pony fucker, zoophile...I could go on.”

Rarity winces at the names that I stated. “I'd rather you didn't. None of those names seem particularly flattering, to put it lightly,” she states matter of factly. I give a bitter chuckle in response. She couldn't be more right. Those were just the first three that popped in my mind. I've seen people like that called worse. “Perhaps I'm biased towards the culture I live in, but I can't understand why your kind would be so vicious.”

“Mostly because there was only one sentient species in my time, and that was us,” I remark. Rarity pauses, and then she sighs, recognizing the sense in that, despite her misgivings. “Anyway, I didn't really want to talk about that kind of thing. I just wanted to make sure we could still be friends after I yelled at you so harshly.”

“Don't be silly, Seth, of course we can still be...” Rarity starts to say, and then she stops mid-sentence, her jaw dropping slowly. “Did you just refer to me as a friend?”

“I figured that I should take my head out of my ass at some point and recognize that if it weren't for you, Rainbow, Twilight, and Applejack, I'd never have made it in this world,” I admit, placing my hands in my pockets. I realize that saying this to her means taking a chance, and it's basically backing off on my claims that she wasn't my friend that I've been making forever, but honestly, I think I was just being difficult.  “So yes, I did.”

Rarity looks dumbfounded for a few seconds. Then, a smile slowly crosses her face. “I'm delighted to hear you say that...though I can't help but wonder what happened to you during the expedition. It's almost as if you've taken an about face on many of your views,” she replies.

“It's one hell of a long story; one that I'm not going to get into right now,” I tell her with a shake of my head. Yeah, I don't want to relive what happened down there right now. Rarity nods understandingly. “Anyway, I think I've said what I wanted to say. Should we go back to Twilight now?”

“Of course! Shall we?” Rarity responds, and then the two of us start moving towards the kitchen. “You know, I'm really happy that you consider me a friend. Do you know what this means?”

“What?” I ask with trepidation.

“I need to make more outfits!” Rarity squeals. My head immediately falls into my palm.

“Goddammit, what have I done?”



	
> 91. A Moment of Calm
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 “You should see the suit I made for you! It's at the boutique right now, ready to be worn!” Rarity expresses as the two of us sit back down at the table. Just listening to her talking about all of the shit she'd made for me is making me glance at her with an exasperated expression. When Twilight sees the two of us walking back in together, she starts to giggle at the look on my face. “Oh, you should come by and try them on, especially since you still haven't had your first date yet. It's very important to show your passion for her through the clothing you wear...”

Rarity just isn't slowing down. Telling her she was my friend seems to have made her go into overdrive mode or something; even as we sit down to keep Twilight and Spike company until they finish lunch, she's sketching new outfit designs on a napkin. I let my forehead fall onto the table with an annoyed groan, causing even more amusement for Twilight and Spike, who know me well enough to know that I couldn't care less about what I wear.

“I was thinking that for your...dates, I should make...you a different set of....of suits to match the...what precisely are you doing?” Rarity finally stops to look at me, tired of getting interrupted by the sound of me beating my head against the table.

“Trying to give myself a concussion,” I grunt, my head resting on the table. Rarity releases a frustrated sigh, and then I feel my head lifting back up into a normal position, thanks to her magic.

“Don't be silly, it's not going to be that bad. I just can't have you going to a date...a first date no less...without looking the part! It would be akin to a crime!” Rarity insists. I look pleadingly at Twilight.

“Save me...” I plead, but at this point, Twilight is covering her mouth with both hooves, trying to stifle her giggling at my expense. Well great, she's no help at all.

Finally, Spike comes to my rescue by walking back into the kitchen with two books held atop his head. “Are these the books you asked for, miss Rarity?” he asks, holding up the books to her. At long last, Rarity stops talking about pointless outfits and looks down at the little dragon.

“Oh yes, that's exactly what I need. Thank you, dear.” Rarity praises him, and then she cranes her head down to nuzzle him. Upon the contact, Spike goes ramrod straight and falls backwards like a statue. I'm starting to think he has some kind of fixation with Rarity, considering he never does that when Twilight nuzzles him. Rarity doesn't notice, instead glancing at the covers of the books. “All right, thank you for the meal, Twilight, but I really must be going now. I have an order to fill, and I spent my morning finishing up a suit for Seth.”

“You mean you made another one?” I ask, a sinking feeling in my gut. Rarity nods proudly.

“I can't make just one. What if you didn't like it?” Rarity reasons, moving towards the door. As she talks, Twilight and Spike accompany us to the main room to see her off. “A good clothing designer makes more than one style for a customer with uncertain tastes. You should see the dresses I've made for Rainbow.”

“Okay, you're dumber than I thought if you think you're going to get Rainbow into a dress,” I remark, causing Rarity to pause. I've only seen Rainbow in a dress ONCE, and that was because it was the royal wedding and it was expected.

“...I can try,” Rarity asserts despite the fact that I'm right and she knows it. Though honestly I wouldn't mind seeing Rainbow wear that dress again. It didn't look bad on her, even if it didn't really suit her style.

“Tell you what. If you get Rainbow to wear a dress, I'll wear your damn suit,” I promise Rarity, because I'm 100% sure that Rainbow would die before putting on a dress again. Though I don't think Rarity plans to give up, because now she's wearing a giant fucking smile that beams with confidence.

“It's a deal! I'll go and get the suits then! I'll be back!” Rarity agrees enthusiastically. As she streaks out the door with her books, I start to wonder if making that bet was a bad idea. I really don't want to wear a suit to this damn date...though I wonder if it'll be worth it if I can make fun of Rainbow wearing a dress.

“Right, now that that's over, can we get back to doing what we were doing before?” I say, turning around to look at Twilight. She still looks way too amused, so I cross my arms. “I'm glad I could entertain you.”

“Hehe, I just can't picture you in a suit at all,” Twilight remarks. “The closest you've ever been was that coat you wore to the royal wedding, and you haven't worn that since.”

“That's because it was a nice fucking coat, and I really don't have any reason to wear it,” I state, though part of me wishes I could wear that coat again. Wearing it made me feel like a badass, even though at the time I was anything but a badass. Fucking Chrysalis.

“You realize you're going to lose that bet, right?” Spike informs me, joining our conversation. I raise an eyebrow at him.

“No I'm not. I'm certain Rainbow will never put on a dress if she can help it,” I retort, but Spike isn't convinced at all.

“You clearly haven't seen how persuasive Rarity can be when she wants something,” Spike points out. Actually, I have, but I trust that Rainbow will be able to resist. Her and dresses just don't mix. “I'm just saying, you should be ready to wear that suit.”

“I'm not going to wear the goddamn suit,” I tell him flatly. Spike shrugs, still looking sure that I'm going to lose that bet. “Whatever. Twilight, I'm going back upstairs to read.”

“Sounds good to me. I should get back to studying myself,” Twilight agrees, and then the three of us return to the upper level. It's much warmer in here than downstairs, because the fire is still going strong.

The three of us returned to our respective positions before lunch began,such that Spike and I are sitting together on cushions near the edge of the room, while Twilight rests on her belly closer to the fire, a book open in front of her.

The room falls into silence as we delve into our respective books. In this manner several hours pass, broken only by our needs for refreshment or relief. While I am enjoying this book, I can't help but glance at the clock every so often. Rainbow doesn't get off until late I think, and I don't plan on leaving here until she's done.

Later that afternoon, Derpy shows up with mail for Twilight. Of course, the moment she sees me, Derpy throws herself onto me in what I think is supposed to be a hug, but it ends up knocking me over, much to Twilight and Spike's amusement.

Anyway, overly affectionate gray ponies aside, apparently I have some mail too, which Derpy gives to me before she leaves. It's from Octavia, which surprises me because I thought it would be longer before I heard from her.

Unfortunately, she wouldn't be able to make it tomorrow because of Canterlot's Winter Wrap-Up, but she could the day after, if everything went well. Huh, that's earlier than I expected. Not that I'm complaining. This just means I'll get to play a bit with her and possibly Lyra after tomorrow's events. I have no idea what this Winter Wrap-Up thing is supposed to entail, other than the fact that we're actually going to be wrapping up winter, whatever the fuck that means.

Rarity arrives a little while after that as well, though she only stays long enough to drop off the suits before she's off again, saying something about Rainbow and dresses. Well, she can knock herself out with that one.

I look down at the suits Rarity brought. There's three of them, each one tailored to me and me only. I cross my arms and eye them appraisingly. You know, I hate on Rarity a lot, but she really is good at what she does. They're not tuxedos...well, two of them aren't...but they certainly look formal enough to take to Canterlot if I wanted to.

They're mostly black to match my hair, but there's also green accents on them, with a different pattern for each suit. Honestly, it wouldn't be a bad thing to wear the suit...though I still want to see if Rarity can make Rainbow wear a dress. That's worth any trouble, really. It would be fun to see how much I could antagonize her at the sight. Though, to be fair, she did look rather nice at the royal wedding. And this is how you know you've been in Equestria too long: you start noticing what does and doesn't look nice on a pony.

“So I've been meaning to ask, since everypony and their mother won't shut up about it,” I start, looking up from my book. My voice breaks the silence that had been persisting for hours now. Twilight lifts her head and looks over to me curiously. “What the hell is this Winter Wrap-Up thing anyway?”

“Oh, Winter Wrap-Up?” Twilight responds, eager to explain another part of her culture to me. “It's an annual event that all ponies do at the end of winter. It's where we all work together to clear the wintry environment and make way for spring!”

“Something tells me this is going to give me a headache. So what exactly does that entail?” I ask even though I'm sure it's going to be something absolutely ridiculous.

“There's quite a lot of difficult tasks. I'm actually the organizer for the whole event...” Twilight begins.

“That's not surprising,” I interject with a grin, much to Twilight's annoyance. Twilight's a control freak at times, so of course she's in charge of everything.

“...because it's what I'm good at, as opposed to heavy lifting or something similar,” Twilight continues, ignoring my interruption. “Some of the things we have to do is wake up the animals, retrieve the birds that went south, and...”

“Oh my god, I was hoping it wouldn't be that bad,” I groan, interrupting her again. Twilight huffs and gives me a pouting expression. “So everything that nature should be doing, you do for it?”

“But nature doesn't do that. If we don't wake up the animals, how will they know when spring is here?” Twilight asks curiously.

I rub my forehead, still unable to believe what I'm hearing. Goddamn Discord, running through my world and wrecking nature to the point where the seasons can't even fucking change unless ponies make them. How does that even work? The whole reason that we have seasons in the first place is because the world is tilted on its axis. If the seasons won't change on their own, does that mean the planet is no longer tilted? What kind of effect would that even have on the environment? So many scientific thoughts run through my head until finally I give up.

“Fucking magic!” I complain, causing Twilight to laugh. I wish that I could gather a group of pigeons, take them to Canterlot, and then have them shit all over Discord's statue. That would be ample revenge, I think. “Wow, I haven't said that in a while. This time deserves it! Needing to get rid of winter yourself...that's just stupid.”

“Maybe to you, but that's how it has always been done in Equestria. Without us, the spring would never come,” Twilight insists. Just...just fuck it. I don't even care anymore. At this point, I might as well just accept it. Celestia moves the sun, Luna moves the moon, and seasons are artificial. Christ.

“So what the hell am I going to do tomorrow when all of you ponies are wrapping up winter, so to speak?” I ask, not looking forward to spending a whole day alone while everypony is working.

“You're going to be helping, of course. I have you listed on the Plant team, though I'll likely have you moving between tasks because of your wide variety of skills,” Twilight explains. Well, on one hand, I won't have to spend the whole day doing absolutely nothing. Instead, I'll be working my ass off doing who knows what. Oh yeah, I'll be clearing out a season. What's next on my bucket list? “Do you want me to give you your schedule now, or in the morning?”

“Do it in the morning. I don't want Winter Wrap-Up on my mind when I'm at my date tonight,” I tell her with a shake of my head. I'm no stranger to hard work. I suppose it shouldn't be that bad.

“All right. Though I think I should still teach you the song,” Twilight says with a nod. I pause and give her an incredulous look.

“The...the song?” I repeat hesitantly.

“Of course! Winter Wrap-Up is basically a holiday! What better way is there to herald the coming of spring other than a song?” Twilight confirms. I don't say anything at first, staring despairingly at Twilight, hoping that she'll tell me that she's joking or something. Unfortunately, the smile she's wearing doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

“You've got to be kidding me,” I express. I've heard the songs they sing on a regular basis, and while they aren't horrible, they just sound way too childish for me to join in. “I'm not singing a goddamn song.”

“Oh come on, get into the spirit! Winter's over, and it's going to be beautiful spring for the next few months. Surely that's worth singing about,” Twilight urges me, her smile never leaving her face. She starts to fish through the shelves nearest to her. “The sheet music should be around here somewhere...”

“I was right. I have a headache now,” I complain, rubbing my forehead out of exasperation. Hold on while I join a group of ponies doing shit that nature normally does while singing about it! Not for the first time, I feel like I'm in a goddamn cartoon.

“Here, I found it. Take a look! It's a very cheerful song,” Twilight says, passing me a sheaf of organized papers. I take them reluctantly, even though I have absolutely no intention of singing a fucking song. “I'm looking forward to singing it!”

I glance over the music, my sight-reading prowess allowing me to get a basic idea of how the song sounds. It's about as childish as I expected. “I'm not singing this. And I don't think Rainbow will either. She doesn't seem like the singing type,” I remark.

“Actually, she does. She has an important solo in the song, because she's the leader of the weather team. She's actually very proud of it,” Twilight informs me, much to my shock. I give her a deadpan stare. Seriously? Even Rainbow? This can't possibly get any worse.

“Twilight, I can't sing,” I reveal to her, stripped of any other defense. It's true. I'm good at piano and sight-reading, but I can't sing to save my life. Especially when I had my brother, who was worlds better than me at it, I never saw the point in developing my singing voice.

“Don't worry about it! Everyone is encouraged to sing, regardless of talent,” Twilight assures me. I sigh and grumble under my breath. I don't care what she says. I'm not singing no matter what she says. “Don't look so annoyed. I promise it'll be fun.”

“Right, whatever. I'm going to go back to reading now, and try to forget that I'm participating in a fucking winter musical tomorrow,” I reply in annoyance, looking back down at my book. I hear Twilight giggle on the other side of the room, earning a shake of the head from me.

After that, the two of us return to doing our own thing. We sit in the room, reading in silence until the sun starts sinking towards the horizon.

The sun soon disappears entirely a lot sooner than expected, so I look out the window. The sun seems to have been obscured behind a looming cloud formation that's moving slowly to cover the town. That must be the snowstorm that I've been hearing about. Since it's already heading our way, I wonder if that means Rainbow's done for today.

Sure enough, it isn't long before there's a knock on the front door that we can hear all the way up here. I look up and close the book, remembering my page number. “That must be Rainbow right now,” I say, getting up and heading for the stairs.

“That's strange. Usually she comes in through the window. I wonder what's happened to make her use the door, for once,” Twilight remarks, setting her book aside as well. You know, she has a point. I chuckle and head down the stairs, with Twilight accompanying me close behind.

Opening the door reveals a furiously blushing Rainbow who looks everywhere except at Twilight and I. To my utter surprise, she is wearing a green dress that went well with her mane. Not just that, but she's also groomed, to the point where her mane is actually tidy, cascading down one side of her face and secured by a length of golden twine at the end. Lastly, to top it all off, there's a wreath of golden leaves around one ear to accent her appearance.

“Qu...Quit looking at me,” Rainbow says awkwardly, looking at the ground. I almost want to laugh at how out of character this is for her, but on the other hand, she doesn't look too bad. I almost don't even care that I lost the bet I made with Rarity.

“Told you so,” Spike comments casually, walking from the kitchen with a fresh pot of tea. I ignore him and continue to take in Rainbow's appearance. What the hell did she do all this dressing up for? Me? That doesn't make sense, because usually I don't care what she looks like.

“Huh. Never thought I'd see it,” I comment, stepping aside to allow Rainbow to come in. I have to hold up my end of the bet after all. I put on a grin.“You look adorable.”

“Shut up,” Rainbow responds, stammering a bit. She steps inside, standing She scuffs the ground and shakes her head, still looking at the ground.

“You look really nice, Rainbow,” Twilight compliments her, nuzzling her friend. Rainbow flinches, but nods in acknowledgment to the compliment. “That's a lovely dress. Did Rarity make that for you?”

“She wouldn't take no for an answer!” Rainbow complains loudly. That plus her piteous expression causes me to lose my composure and laugh. “Hey! Stop laughing! I don't see you wearing anything nice!”

“Not yet, anyway,” I reply, still chuckling despite her protests. I turn around, heading back upstairs where I left the suits. “I was waiting to see if you actually did dress up. I bet Rarity that you wouldn't.”

“Well, sorry that I made you lose,” Rainbow grumbles, picking at the dress, clearly unused to wearing one. “Where are you going?”

“Getting changed. Rarity made me something as well, though I wasn't going to wear it unless I lost the bet. I'll be right back,” I tell her. “Twilight, stay out for a moment.”

I shut the door behind me, chuckling again. I can't believe Rainbow actually put on a dress just for me. That reminds me a little of Amaryllis. She'd never wear a damn dress, but she did when we went to prom together as friends.

The suits are still where I left them. Well, I guess Rarity did win the bet. I guess I have to get dressed in one of them then. They all look mostly the same, only with slight stylistic differences between them. Now that I've seen Rainbow, I notice that the accents of the suit are the same color as her dress's trim. Rarity planned this. “You...conniving little bitch,” I remark, though I'm not that mad. I hate suits, but I suppose I could wear one for one night. It can't be worse than what Rainbow is feeling right now.

Suits are so much trouble. You can't just throw on a set of pants and a shirt. No, you have to put on the pants first, then an undershirt. Over top of that goes yet another shirt, and to top it all off, the jacket. I'm rather glad it's cold outside, because I feel like I would melt if I wore this on a warm day.

Lastly, I quickly wrap the tie around my neck and construct it, having learned how to do it a long time ago from my father, just before prom night. That's the last of the suit, so I take a look in the nearest mirror. What I see makes me want to laugh.

Wow, I'm actually wearing this stupid suit. It just doesn't suit me, no pun intended. What with my long hair (that looks like it needs to be cut soon) and the dumb smirk on my face, I look woefully out of place in this thing. Honestly this whole date idea is stupid. The idea of a candlelit dinner sounds ridiculous and boring, and I honestly wouldn't be doing it at all if I had a choice. But, according to what I know, that's how you have a date. I'm willing to give it a shot only because it's Rainbow.

When I return to the lower level, I see Twilight talking with Rainbow, though I can't make out what they're saying until I reach the lower steps.

“...is stupid. I didn't want to wear this thing. He's not even attracted to ponies anyway, so it's pointless,” Rainbow grumbles. She doesn't appear to notice me coming down the stairs.

“So? I think it's the thought that counts. I think he'll appreciate that you went through all that effort just for him,” Twilight attempts to reassure her. Part of me wants to ask if she read that in a book somewhere, because there's no way little miss oblivious here has any idea how relationships work.

“Twilight, you're so right. Friggin look at that face. Look up a picture of the word 'adorable,' and you'll see a picture of Rainbow wearing a dress,” I joke, announcing my presence to the both of them. Twilight giggles at my words, though Rainbow's response is more telling.

“Stop calling me adorable! If anything, I look smoking hot in...” Rainbow starts to yell, but she cuts off when she sees the outfit I'm wearing. “What are you wearing?”

“What does it look like? Obviously it's a suit. I look ridiculous, right?” I retort, spreading my arms so she can see all of it. Rainbow looks up and down my body, quiet for a few seconds.

“That's...not quite the word I'd use,” Rainbow comments, licking her lips. I raise an eyebrow at that, and then shrug. I still think this whole thing is dumb, but if she likes it, then it's whatever, I guess. “Now are we gonna go? I don't like just standing around in this thing.”

“Sounds good to me,” I reply, joining her near the exit of the library. I wince and rotate my arms a bit. The suit is a little stiff because it's the first time I've worn it, so it restricts my movement somewhat. “So we're going someplace fancy, right?”

“Well yeah, that's what you said we should do, right?” Rainbow answers, still looking a little uncertain. When I nod, she continues. “I know a place. It's not Canterlot fancy, but it's the fanciest we can get in Ponyville.”

“Good enough. Now let's go. Are we walking or flying?” I say, opening the door. A gust of chilly air surges in through the open door, causing the three of us to shiver involuntarily. Outside, flakes of snow are already starting to fall, courtesy of the blanket of clouds that hangs over the town.

“I wanna fly, but I'm wearing a dress. It would go everywhere,” Rainbow complains, pulling at the hem of her dress.

“Rainbow, stop that! You're going to stretch the material!” Twilight admonishes, pulling Rainbow's hoof away from the dress with her magic.

“Then we're walking. Come on, already,” I decide, stepping out into the cold. Thankfully the suit helps keep me warm. I guess it's good for something at least. Rainbow follows me outside, leaving Twilight safe and warm in her library.

“Have fun, you two! I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning!” Twilight calls after us. I wave absentmindedly behind me, and then my attention is reserved solely for Rainbow.

“I guess I'm following you. You know the way,” I tell her, walking closely by her. Rainbow nods and steps ahead of me, picking up her pace. “Why are you going so fast?”

Rainbow mumbles something, but over the wind, I can't hear it. When I ask her to repeat herself, she huffs. “It's embarrassing, wearing this thing in public!” she snaps, referring to the dress.

“Rainbow, it's late in the evening and it's snowing. Everypony is going to be focusing on getting home and warm rather than looking at the pony in the dress,” I point out to her, an amused grin on my face despite her discomfort. I'm really getting a kick out of the fact that Rainbow turns into the textbook fucking definition of embarrassment just because she's wearing a dress. I hate suits, but it's not that big of a deal if I'm seen wearing one. “Besides, forget about the dress. This night is about us, right?”

“Yeah, I guess it is,” Rainbow admits. She looks up at me, managing to put on a smile. “You know, you really do look good in a suit.”

“Thanks, I guess? It seems a bit excessive to me, but hey, so does this whole date thing,” I remark. Rainbow frowns a bit at that, so I correct myself hastily. “I mean the whole candlelit dinner thing, not the hanging with you part. That part I'm cool with.”

Rainbow nods understandingly. “Me neither, but we have to at least give it a shot,” she agrees. As she says that, we approach a fancy looking restaurant that stands out from the other buildings around it, due to its Canterlot-esque architecture. I'm going to assume that Rainbow is taking me there for dinner. “Here it is. I heard it has good food, but it'll be expensive.”

“Never mind about the money. I can take care of that,” I promise her. Rainbow looks at me in surprise. “What? It's a date. According to what I know, the man has to pay for the meal.”

“That seems...a little unfair,” Rainbow remarks. I shrug. She's preaching to the choir on that one. That's just how it worked in my time, from what I've learned. Then again, all I know is the stereotype.

“Are you really going to complain about a free meal? Especially at a place like this?” I challenge her with a disbelieving stare. Rainbow pauses, rubbing her chin with a hoof. Then, she gives a shrug, conceding the point.

“Good point,” Rainbow admits. The two of reach the front door of the place not long after that. A rush of warm air greets us as I open the door, which feels really good considering we just came in out of the falling snow. It's good we got in when we did, because it looks like the snow is starting to come down harder.

“Welcome! If you'll give me just a moment, I'll have a table set up for you,” the unicorn stallion at the front of the restaurant greets us. He looks up from his work and a spark of recognition enters his eyes. “Oh, if it isn't Seth and Rainbow Dash! May I assume that you're here on a date?”

“What? How do you know that!?” Rainbow demands, taken by surprise that this guy knows exactly what we're here to do.

“Rainbow, there's no way he wouldn't. The fact that we're together is in the fucking newspaper,” I remind her with a resigned sigh. Rainbow's response is most telling.

“It is!?”

“Ugh, you've got to be kidding me,” I groan, rubbing my forehead. The stallion at the front counter looks between us with a smile. “Sorry, yes, we'd like a table. Don't mind us.”

“As you wish. Right this way, if you please,” he responds with a polite bow. He takes two menus from behind the counter and starts down the hallway. Rainbow and I exchange glances, and then we follow him, passing by several booths and other ponies in the processes. There aren't too many here at this time of night, but there's a few, some of whom I recognize.

To my surprise, I actually pass Lyra and Bon Bon, sitting together in a booth near the end of the hall. “Sethie!” Lyra cries out to me as I pass. I pause and sigh, giving her a death stare at the use of that cursed nickname again. “Thanks for the...what are you wearing?”

“A suit. The fuck does it look like?” I retort. I look over at Bon Bon, only to notice that she's pointedly looking at the table, blushing a little. Holy shit, did Lyra actually take my advice and take Bon Bon out? Well, then I should get out of their way. “Anyway, I'm here with Rainbow. I'll talk to you two later.”

After bidding farewell to those two, I speed up my pace to rejoin Rainbow and the other stallion. I meet them at a large room with several unoccupied tables, each with a brass candelabra on top of it.

“And here you are,” the stallion offers, setting down the menus on a small table in the center of the room, far away from any other ponies. He then takes out a match and strikes it with his magic. With it, he lights the candles, filling the room with a flickering light. “Somepony will be right with you.”

Rainbow and I take our seats on either side of each other. We both look at the candles and at the menu, neither of us looking impressed with what we see. “This is it?” Rainbow asks in a disappointed manner, glancing over the food choices. “Everything looks way too fancy for me. What the heck is a gourmet multi-flower special? Some descriptions would be nice.”

“Yeah, I agree. What the fuck is any of this stuff?” I demand. Some of the combinations are hard to read, but most of the menu I can make out. “It's like they over-complicated the names of their food to make things look fancier.”

“I'm not impressed,” Rainbow states. She sets the menu down and looks at the candle. “Are you sure this is what a date is? Because so far, this just seems lame.”

“No, I'm not sure. I said I just know the stereotype. What do you want me to do?” I ask her. At this point, I mostly agree with her, but I don't know what else to do.

“I don't know, maybe we could...” Rainbow begins, but then she's distracted by a passing waiter. The stallion is carrying a platter with some of the restaurant's food on it, which the both of us look at the get an idea of what there is to eat here. What we see is not to our liking. The portions look way too small, and it doesn't look like I can even digest most of it.

Rainbow and I look at one another after he passes, mutual understanding passing between the two of us just by making eye contact. “This is stupid,” Rainbow declares, getting up from her seat.

“Yeah, no kidding,” I agree, following suit. Without even needing to coordinate ourselves, we immediately head back the way we came, making sure to blow out the candles on our way out. Candlelit dinner. What the hell were we thinking?

“Excuse me, where are you...” the stallion at the front desk asks in bemusement as the two of us leave the restaurant. We never get to hear the rest of what he says because we're already outside.

“Who cares about the stereotype? If we're having a date, we're going to make it my kind of date! Come on, Seth!” Rainbow declares vehemently, and then she takes to the sky, her dress flapping in the breeze behind her. I grin. This is much more like it. I power up and zip through the air after her.

The look on the face of the pony working at the take out joint is just fucking priceless as Rainbow and I drop out of the sky right in front of the to go station. The whole time he's just watching us in bemusement as we order something cheap and delicious, and then dash right back into the sky with our food.

The snow is falling heavily, but Rainbow seems to keep flying higher. “Where are we going?” I yell over the sound of the wind. Some of the snow gets in my mouth, chilling my tongue.

“Up!” Rainbow calls back simply. Well, that tells me a fat lot of nothing. Still, we're going pretty high right now, such that Ponyville is starting to look like a toyset.

Finally, Rainbow and I break through the cloud layer. I look around in awe. It's almost as if we've gone into another world. Stretched out before me is a layer of clouds that stretches on for as far as I can see, and above me is a sea of stars in the blackness of the night sky.

Rainbow settles down on the clouds, resting on her back and setting her food down next to her. She beckons to me to join her, so I apply a cloud walking spell to myself and hunker down right next to her.

“Closer, you idiot,” Rainbow demands with a light blush, tugging at the ends of my suit with a hoof. I chuckle and scoot closer to her such that she can cuddle up against my side. “This is more like it, right?”

“Yeah, this is pretty nice,” I confess. It's completely peaceful up here, with no sound to interrupt the tranquility apart from the sound of our breathing. From here, it's easy for the two of us to stare up at the stars, content to remain silent, eat, and enjoy one another's company.

“So much for the date, huh?” I remark, setting my finished meal aside and wrapping an arm around my favorite pony in the world.

“Not really. I think you're full of it when you say a fancy dinner is the only way to have a date,” Rainbow guesses, her head resting on my chest. “I mean, when you think about it, you're just supposed to have fun with each other, right?”

“I suppose you're right,” I admit with a sheepish grin. “I should have listened to you in the first place. Candlelit dinners. What was I fucking thinking? Stereotypes are bullshit.”

“They really are. Still, I'm glad it turned out this way instead,” Rainbow sighs. I nod in agreement.

It's a little cold up here, but Rainbow is surprisingly warm, so with her and my suit, I'm actually quite cozy. If I'm not careful, I might actually end up dozing off up here. Just in case I do, I apply a stronger version of the cloud walking spell to keep myself from falling to my death.

Rainbow and I settle into a comfortable silence after that, cuddling with one another and staring at the stars, content to simply be in one another's presence.

This fucking pony. I swear to god, she has changed my life in so many ways. For that, I will always be grateful to her.

	


> 92. Winter Wrap-Up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It's a beautiful night, and even though the both of us would have loved to just lie there on top of the clouds and fall asleep here, we both know we'd oversleep and miss the first half of Winter Wrap-Up or something. Or worse, the pegasi would clear out the clouds beneath us.

Whatever the reasoning, we end up descending from the cloud layer as the time on my phone passes midnight. After depositing the trash from our meal in a bin, we soar towards my house, fatigue from the day starting to wear on us.

On the way there, I notice Rainbow's house floating above town. However, Rainbow shows no signs of flying to it. Instead, she stays right by my side all the way until we reach my house. 

“So, how's that for a date? I bet you understand how lucky you are now, huh?” Rainbow proclaims, swaggering through the front door with a prideful expression on her face. 

“Yeah, sure,” I scoff, rolling my eyes at her boasting. God forbid she just say that she had fun and leave it at that. Nope, here comes the ego stroking.

“Not just anyone can say that they've gone out with me, Ponyville's most awesome pony!” Rainbow doesn't seem to be slowing down. She's hovering in midair now, looking extremely pleased with herself. “Can you imagine how...”

“Would you shut up with the bragging already?” I tell her, my brow raised with slight annoyance. Rainbow cranes her head forward to stare at me.

“Make me,” she challenges, adopting a sly grin. I blink and huff, knowing that I wouldn't be able to make her unless I used magic, which I'm certainly not going to do. Huh...Rainbow is looking at me expectantly. What the hell does she want me to...oh. 

“Fine then, you frustrating creature,” I grunt, and then without any further warning, I reach out and grasp Rainbow's face with both hands. Rainbow hardly resists when I pull her towards me. Instead, she closes her eyes and meets me halfway in what I intended to be a kiss.

Rainbow's front hooves scrabble on my chest until she has a proper grip. She holds herself to me by wrapping her front legs around my neck and letting her lower legs dangle down my chest. She kisses me back so passionately I almost fall over backwards.

When we break apart, Rainbow's face is flushed and she's breathing a bit heavily. As for me, I can tell by the heat in my face that I look similar.“Whew...and that, mares and gentlecolts, is how you end a date,” she comments with a smirk. “Now, let's get some sleep, shall we? We've got work to do in the morning.”

“Sounds good,” I reply, and then I turn and walk up the stairs, figuring that Rainbow knows her way around my house well enough. “Well, you know where the guest bedroom is and...why are you following me upstairs?”

“Because I'm sleeping in your bed, obviously,” Rainbow responds as if nothing is wrong. I'm quiet for a second, and then I sigh. I don't know what I expected. If I let her do it once, she's going to assume she's entitled to it in the future. “It was too far to my house, anyway.”

“Bullshit,” I accuse her as the two of us step into my room. Once we're inside, Rainbow starts to undress without a care for my presence in the room. She sheds her dress, passing her wings beneath the shoulder straps and dislodging the wreath from her mane. With a shake of her head, the twine tying her mane together is unraveled, causing her mane to quickly go back to what it used to be: untidy as fuck. “Did you think I didn't see your house on the way back? It would have been faster to go there.”

“Oh, would you quit complaining? You're stuck with me tonight and you're going to deal with it,” Rainbow asserts. I gaze back at her uncomfortably as she shakes her rump to knock off the rest of the dress. You know, she's generally always naked anyway, but for some reason watching her undress makes me feel weird. 

“Are you going to make this a regular thing?” I demand, even though I'm already resigning myself to let her stay. Honestly, I'm complaining for show at this point. I don't mind her sleeping with me. It feels like sleeping with a cat, only it's a pony and I love her. It's just the connotations of the act that make me uncomfortable. This better not become a rumor.

“Do you want to make this a regular thing?” Rainbow returns with a coy smile, looking at me from over her shoulder. I pause and look at her, realizing what she's doing to me right now.

“You know...if this had been anypony else, I'd be seriously disgusted with the fact that I'm being flirted with,” I point out with a dry chuckle. Rainbow's smile widens, no doubt pleased by the idea that she is the only one I'd accept this kind of shit from. “Hell, or even if you'd done it in the past I'd have freaked out.”

“That just means I'm awesome and I have good timing. You can't get better than that!” Rainbow retorts. I rub my forehead and groan, realizing that I'd basically set her up for that one. 

Rainbow shoves the pieces of her dress in a corner somewhere. It's a good thing Rarity isn't here. She'd have a conniption. “Aren't you going to get undressed?” Rainbow asks, indicating the suit I'm wearing. Oh yeah, I should probably take this off. Still, that's an awkward way of putting it.

“This is so wrong,” I comment, shedding the suit jacket easily and hanging it up. It doesn't take me long to remove the rest of it. The worst part is undoing the tie and all of the buttons of the dress shirt. I don't know why everything can't just have a zipper. Everything would be super easy, and there'd be no lost buttons.

Finally, once I'm stripped down to just my pants, Rainbow and I get in the bed together. Once I'm under the blankets, I remove my pants and toss them aside discretely, so that Rainbow cannot see me. She wrinkles her nose when she sees what I'm doing. “You're such a prude,” she tell me, poking my bare shoulder with the tip of her hoof.

“Yeah, well, fuck you, little miss always naked,” I return with a snort, lying on my back and staring at the ceiling. 

“I apologize for nothing. This is how normal ponies walk around. Sorry that your weird human customs tell you otherwise,” Rainbow teases me. 

“I'm not going to play this game with you,” I sigh, closing my eyes. She knows exactly why I' don't walk around like they do. “Now go the hell to sleep.”

“Aren't you going to kiss me good night?” Rainbow asks in the most innocent voice she can muster. Of course, I see right through it.

“What are you, three years old?” I demand with a scoff. “A good night kiss. Get real. That's way too sappy for you.”

“Of course it is. I just wanted to see if you'd do it,” Rainbow reveals with a chuckle. I groan, realizing that she was toying with me again. 

“Besides, if I wanted a kiss...” Rainbow continues, trailing off oddly. In the darkness, all I hear is a shifting of the covers before I feel Rainbow's lips pressing gently against mine. She pulls back a second later. “...I'd just take one.”

“Well...good to know,” I sigh, taken off guard by the sudden kiss. I don't care how many times she kisses me, or vice versa. I'm never going to get used to it. “Anyway, good night...you ridiculous fucking pony.”

“Good night to you too, jerk,” Rainbow replies with a snicker.





A particularly loud knock on my front door is what awakens me all too soon the next morning. I blink myself awake, wondering who in the hell would be bothering me so early. It feels really early. I can tell because my eyelids feel heavy and my entire body feels sluggish, which generally only happens if I haven't gotten enough sleep.

A quick glance at my phone causes me to groan and rub my forehead. It's only six in the morning. This is way earlier than I usually get up, so whoever is at my door better have a really good reason for...oh yeah, today is supposed to be Winter Wrap Up. Fucking...ugh, I forgot about that.

“Come on, you sleepy mare. Get up,” I say to Rainbow, who is currently sleeping with her front legs wrapped around my arm. Hah. And she calls me a teddy bear. 

Rainbow stirs, moaning gently. I sigh and start curling my fingers in her mane. She needs to wake up soon, because I can hear whoever is at my door knocking even more insistently.

“Hey! Wake the fuck up!” I tell her loudly. Rainbow still doesn't budge, so I shove her off the bed. Rainbow wakes up immediately upon hitting the floor.

“Gah! I thought we were done with that!” Rainbow complains, scrambling around on the floor until she gets back to her feet. She releases a yawn, not even bothering to cover her mouth. “What time is it? I feel like I'm up too early.”

“That's because we are. It's like, six in the morning,” I respond. Rainbow grumps, but quickly gets over it. I'm guessing she too remembers exactly what we're supposed to do today. “Now, would you mind seeing who's at the door? I'm not exactly dressed.”

“Do I have to?” Rainbow complains, her eyelids drooping. “I just want to go back to sleep. Cloud Chaser can handle Winter Wrap-Up.”

“Oh, quit being lazy and do it already. If I have to do this thing too, then you're definitely going, miss head of the weather team,” I remind her. Rainbow groans and leaves the room reluctantly, heading to answer whoever is continuously knocking at my door.

In the meantime, I steal a glance out the window. What I see surprises me. There's snow everywhere, blanketing the whole town in a layer of soft white. It probably never stopped snowing last night, so it built up over time. While beautiful, I know that's just going to create more work for the town to do, and by extension, me.

Not just that, but there's ponies fucking everywhere out there. The town is coming alive a lot earlier than usual, each pony preparing for Winter Wrap-Up. They all seem to be heading for the town square, so I'm guessing that's where everything gets started.

Rainbow soon returns, looking as if she's shaken herself awake. “It's Twilight. She's here to tell us to meet up with everypony else in the town square in thirty minutes,” she informs me. Yup, that's what I thought. Twilight wants to make sure I show up, I suppose. 

“Got it. In that case, I'm going to go ahead and get washed up,” I say with a sigh, getting up off the bed and moving towards the bathroom. Rainbow follows me at first.

“Can I join you?” Rainbow asks, a grin on her face. 

“Absolutely not. You know that,” I tell her, not really perturbed at her attempt to annoy me. 

“But we have only thirty minutes to get ready! You take really long showers, have I ever told you that?” Rainbow points out. I shrug. “Like, Rarity length showers. Last time I showered with her, I fell asleep because of how long she took.”

“I can shorten them if I need to. I just generally like to relax while inside,” I defend, shrugging. “I'll be out in maybe ten minutes. I'm not going to waste time grooming myself too much when it's all going to get messed up while I work anyway.”

“Spoilsport,” Rainbow remarks as I walk into the bathroom and shut the door behind me. “Hurry up! I still have to wash up too!”

Like Rainbow said, I don't have time to take a long relaxing shower like I usually do, so I rush through my cleaning routine. That means I don't really get time to think either. I wish I could just skip this whole Winter Wrap-Up thing, but I also want to be there as well, if only to see how ridiculous it is. I'm assuming it'll be hard work though, so that's the downside.

Once Rainbow and I are both cleaned and ready, we leave the house and head for the town square. I'm dressed in some warm clothes as well as a jacket to keep out the cold. It's a good thing I did, because it's frigid out here. 

The snow crunches beneath my boots, fresh and undisturbed. It isn't until we near the town square that I start seeing hoofprints everywhere. Not just that, but a large amount of ponies are moving through the streets, congregating in the middle of the square around the town hall. 

“Okay, I'm headed to the front. I'm the head of the weather team, after all,” Rainbow boasts, proudly puffing out her chest to display the blue vest she's wearing. “I'll catch you later once this is all over.”

“Alright, seeya,” I say as she zooms off towards the town hall, where I can see Applejack standing on the front steps. Twilight is there as well, with another light purple unicorn standing just behind her, looking rather pleased with herself.

Noticing Pinkie just arriving with Bon Bon, I move to join them, figuring that it would be better to hang with ponies I know rather than stand awkwardly in the middle of the crowd. I still think Bon Bon's a bitch, but at least I know I can talk to her if I wanted.

“Morning Sethie! Are you ready for Winter Wrap-Up?” Pinkie greets me brightly, presenting me with a random cookie that she pulled out of her mane. “Have a cookie!”

“Sure, I'm definitely ready to have no idea what I'm doing,” I remark, accepting the cookie. Just out of habit, I check it over for hairs or anything, but as always, it's clean and fresh. Pinkie makes no kind of sense, ever. Eh, it's better than having no breakfast. I take a bite out of it.

“Oh, don't worry! It'll be fun! And then tomorrow I can throw a Seth's first Winter Wrap-Up party!” Pinkie assures me, bouncing up and down with excitement at the idea of throwing another party.

“Gonna have to take a raincheck on that one. Octavia is coming over tomorrow, so I'll be busy with her until she has to leave,” I tell Pinkie. Pinkie looks disappointed for about half a second. That's it.

“Oh goodie! That means Tavi can come to the party too!” Pinkie declares confidently. “This is happening now. No, you don't need to thank me, silly. You can only have one first Winter Wrap-Up!”

“Right...whatever. I feel like we had a party a few days ago,” I comment, looking away from Pinkie. Why did I even try arguing with Pinkie about a party? It's just going to happen whether I want it to or not.

“You aren't used to her parties yet?” Bon Bon finally speaks up, looking away from the stage. I guess we're still waiting on somepony to get here. “You should know by now that Pinkie doesn't care when the last party was.”

“I suppose you're right,” I admit, putting on a wry grin despite my annoyance. That's when I notice that Bon Bon is looking at me with a bit of an awkward look on her face and...is that a blush? What the hell? “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I wanted to talk to you actually,” Bon Bon says, shuffling her hooves in the snow. She beckoned to me with her head. I think she wants me to move closer, which I do. “So...you remember seeing me at the restaurant yesterday?”

“I do. What about it?” I reply hesitantly, wondering what she's going to say. I don't know if that actually was a date they were on, so I shouldn't assume. 

“I was there because...because Lyra asked me out,” Bon Bon reveals, her blush intensifying. Aha, I knew I was right. Still, why is she telling me this? Doesn't she still hate me. “She said it was because you encouraged her.”

“That's right,” I confirm, a small smile crossing my face. It's funny. This whole situation with Lyra, Rainbow, and I could have turned into a real mess, but now it looks like everything is going to turn out well for everyone involved. “I told her that if she wanted companionship, she should look right next to her.”

“Yes, and I wanted to thank you,” Bon Bon tells me, her gratefulness showing in her eyes. “But I don't understand why you'd do something so nice for me. Don't you hate me?”

“Yeah well, I've hated a lot of ponies for practically no reason for a while now. Like I was trying to tell you before, a lot has happened since the last time you and I spoke. More than I can cover in a simple conversation,” I explain, my arms crossed. Just as I'm about to continue, I notice Mayor Mare walking out of the town hall. “Anyhow, it looks like things are getting started. Talk to me later if you're still interested.”

“Okay,” Bon Bon returns, shooting me one last grateful smile. Wow. I guess I have to reevaluate my opinion of her. She's always been a bitch to me...but to be fair, I wasn't exactly acting like a model citizen in return. And then she turned around and thanked me? Who knows, maybe I should visit her shop sometime, wherever it is. Hanging with her and Lyra might actually be fun now.

“Thank you everypony, for getting here so early,” Mayor Mare addresses the crowd, which I'm pretty sure consists of the entire town. “This year I expect we'll do even better than before, thanks to our very own Twilight Sparkle!”

As the crowd of ponies cheer, I can't help but feel I'm missing a bit of context here. Twilight is wearing her own vest, unlike that of any of the other ponies. Of course, I don't have one either. I figure I'll just be doing what Twilight tells me.

“Now, team leaders, if you'll get your assignments and schedule from Twilight, we can get started! Let's work together to welcome spring, everypony!” Mayor Mare finishes, and the crowd of ponies release another rousing cheer.

The area explodes into activity as the ponies split and head towards their respective teams, as sorted by their differently colored vests. Pinkie for some reason is on the weather team, if the blue vest is anything to go by. I see that Bon Bon is on the...the uh...the hell is the green team even? I have no idea what I'm doing.

“Alright, you ponies know the drill! Sunshower, Cloud Kicker, I want you and your teams up with me getting rid of these clouds. Derpy, put that muffin down and get ready to head south! SOUTH, you hear me!? Oh, and Pinkie...” I hear Rainbow ordering her team. I chuckle and shake my head  when I see Derpy shoving the aforementioned muffin in her mouth and nodding. Pinkie bounces away from me after giving me a departing wave.

“Keep close, everypony! Big Mac an' I completed harvestin', so it's time to get them seeds sowed for this year. We got a lot of work to do!” Applejack calls to her team. Among her team I can see Cheerilee, Carrot Top, and Noteworthy, but I don't know the others by name. Bon Bon also moves to join them. “Spike, are you comin'?”

“Right behind you!” Spike responds, following Applejack closely behind.

“Come on, we have to make sure we're ready to receive the animals from the south! Rarity, we need nests ready on the double! Fluttershy...” the light purple pony commands. With that, I watch all three groups depart, leaving practically no one in the square except for a few earth ponies that are cleaning up the snow in the streets.

“Twilight, what do you want me doing?” I ask curiously, moving up to where she's standing at the town hall with a clipboard floating in front of her, grasped in her magic. “I'm not part of any of these teams.”

Twilight lowers the clipboard to look at me. “Of course, I have some tasks for you, though I believe you'll be working mostly with Applejack and the Plant team, because you're already familiar with how they work,” she explains. When I nod, a strange expression crosses her face, similar to nostalgia. “You know, it's funny. Last year, I was in your position.”

“Right. Except in your case, I expect you were running around like a chicken with its head cut off, failing at everything,” I joke, earning a flinch and a sheepish smile from Twilight. “Anyway, what are you going to have me do?”

“First, I'd like you to head to Rarity and help her get a good head start on the nest-weaving. She'll tell you what to do from there. Once she releases you, I'll have you working with Applejack for most of the day,” Twilight tells me, looking down at her clipboard. Suddenly, she sets the clipboard aside and rummages through a box behind her with her magic. “Oh, I almost forgot! You're on the Plant team officially, so I had this made for you.”

Twilight lifts a green vest like the ones some of the other ponies were wearing out of the box and passes it to me, beaming with excitement. I raise an eyebrow at it, finding it incredibly tacky. “Do I have to wear it?” I complain, grabbing it from her reluctantly and holding it between two fingers.

“Yes, you have to wear it. It's part of the tradition!” Twilight scolds me, stomping the ground lightly with her hoof. “Now hurry, we're on a tight schedule, and there's so much to be done. Put that on and go find Rarity.”

“Fucking hell...” I grunt, and then I slip on the vest whilst grumbling beneath my breath. I guess it's not too bad, but still, did it have to be bright fucking green? I feel like a lime. You know, I'm only doing this because it looks like it's expected of you to help if you live in town. “Alright, I'm going.”

I power up my magic, and just after I take off, I hear Twilight shouting at me. “Seth! Get down here!” she cries. I groan and do so, wondering what her problem is this time. “I forgot to mention, but you can't use magic at all while you're doing this.”

“What? Why not?”

“It's a Ponyville tradition. This town has always wrapped up winter without using magic, so using magic is frowned upon. Even I was yelled at when I tried it last year,” Twilight reveals, much to my annoyance. 

“Fucking great,” I groan, and then I start to jog towards where I saw Rarity go. No magic. That's just ridiculous, especially because this world fucking runs on magic. Why deliberately make something harder on yourself? Who cares if it's tradition? Ugh.





And thus begins what I believe is going to be a very long and difficult day. Now, Rarity went with the others towards where Fluttershy's house is, so that's where I find most of them. As I near the area where I saw Rarity and the other members of the team with the tan vests are working, I spot them doing the things that Twilight mentioned just yesterday. 

Fluttershy and a few others are poking their noses into animal lairs and waking them through various means, while others are preparing food for some reason. Rarity and a few other unicorns are weaving nests just as Twilight said they would be, though they seem to be short on materials. I guess that's where I come in.

“Rarity! I'm here to help,” I call out, getting her attention just as she finishes up the first nest. Rarity looks up from her work and beams at my appearance. She pulls out a chair for me and pats it with a hoof, indicating that she wants me to sit next to her.

“Delightful to see you, Seth. You're just in time! We were just about to start the song,” Rarity reveals to me. My brow goes flat at her words. That's right, I forgot about the stupid fucking song. “Would you like to join us in singing?”

“Hell no,” I tell her flatly, much to the surprise of some of the other ponies around us that don't know me so well. I sit down next to her, because I'm going to be working with her. “I'm here to help you with work, that's all. I'm certainly not going to sing.”

“Oh, but you simply must! It's a darling little song, and I'm under the impression you possess a fair bit of musical aptitude,” Rarity reasons with a little smile. “Oh, can you pass me those branches over there?”

“That I can do,” I reply, doing as she asked and passing over a pile of thin, flexible branches over to Rarity. “Aptitude or not, I don't like to sing.”

“That's a shame. Suit yourself then, I suppose,” Rarity expresses with a  disappointed frown. However her happy expression returns as she gets to work again. “Okay, so this is what I want you to do. Help me by gathering materials for these nests. These are the things that you need to get for me...”

After hearing Rarity's list of materials, I nod and get to work. Because I can't use magic, it takes me a bit longer than it usually would. I've forgotten how much slower walking is compared to flying. And wow, listen to me. Oh my god, walking! You know that human thing that all humans do? God, it's such a pain. Heh.

Not long after I get started, the ponies start singing the song, except it's a later part in the rather long piece. That's not surprising, as they're singing about what they're doing at the moment, rather than about the tasks that aren't their job. 

I hate it already. I can just tell that it's going to get caught in my head. How do I know that? It's because I can't keep myself from humming the chorus every time it comes up. It's as childish as I surmised before, but it's catchy, and I groan, knowing that it's going to drive me nuts by the end of the day.

Rarity has her own portion of the song, and when she starts to sing, I realize that I've never actually heard her sing. It's always been Pinkie or Twilight, generally. I have to say, I'm a little impressed. She has a gorgeous voice, and she knows how to use it. She enunciates her words clearly and distinctly, and projects fairly well, such that I can hear it even as I'm gathering other materials. On the longer notes, her voice seems to swell, accompanied by just the right amount of vibrato. Damn, this mare is really talented. I'm a little jealous.

I'm a music nerd at heart. Even though I can't sing for shit, I know choral techniques and terms. Vocals are a vital part of music, after all. Therefore, even though I would rather die than sing this song, I guess it isn't horribly written.

As the song continues into a verse, Lyra passes by me on a task of her own. I guess she's part of...whatever this team is. I'm going to say it's the animal team, considering that practically everything we're doing has to do with animals. Anyway, Lyra comes to a halt when she spots me.

“Hey! I didn't know you were going to be helping us out,” Lyra comments, pausing in her singing to talk to me. She sets down the tools she's carrying next to the rest of them by the tables. I nod tersely, carrying some materials of my own. Lyra's eyes suddenly light up. “Oh! The chorus is coming up. You should sing with me!”

“Absolutely fucking not in a million years,” I retort, focusing on not dropping the branches I'm holding. 

“Aw, please? It'll be fun! Sing with me, Sethie!” Lyra doesn't seem to be giving up. You know, you'd think she wouldn't use that goddamn nickname with me when she's trying to get me to do something.

“Hold on, let me tell you a story about a thing called hell fucking no!” I snap at her, reaching the table where Rarity is singing with the other unicorns there in preparation for the upcoming chorus. Lyra's face falls, but then she shrugs.

“Aw, you're no fun. Anyway, I gotta get moving,” Lyra responds, probably figuring that she has too much to do to stand around arguing with me. As she walks away, she goes right back to singing as the chorus begins. “Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-uuup~”





By the time the sun passes its zenith, Twilight comes to find me, sending me on my way to where the Plant team is situated. And by that, I mean Sweet Apple Acres. I can't help but chuckle at the irony as I plod through the snow to Applejack's farm. Annual event nothing, I'm still just going to work on the fucking farm.

On my way, I come across a small frozen lake, where a few members of the weather team are gathered. Wait hold on, are they really just...what the fuck? From here, I can see a bunch of ponies skating around on the ice, slicing the frozen surface into smaller pieces. This includes Pinkie Pie, who looks like she's having way too much fun with it. In fact, she's having so much fun I can hear it from here. “Weeeee!!” 

Right, well, they can have fun skating or whatever it is that they're supposed to be doing. Pinkie is ridiculous, but she doesn't shirk her work, so I'm guessing that what they're doing is a ridiculous pony method of making ice melt or something.

Above me, I can see the pegasi wheeling overhead, steadily clearing away the clouds and allowing the sun to shine down on the snow below. Feel the sun's rays on my body makes me aware of the fact that the sun is actually warm, unlike how it usually is during the winter. Whatever we're doing, spring is definitely coming. Fucking magic.

A cacophony of bird calls passes over my head, causing me to look up. Derpy is up there with two other pegasi, leading a massive flock of birds behind them. If I didn't know what was going on, I'd have probably freaked out and proclaimed it was the end of the world or something. Heh.

“There ya are, sugarcube,” Applejack greets me when she sees me approaching the field where the other ponies are working. Oh joy, ever since I went to dinner with her family, she's been using that nickname again, even though I don't care for it. “Just in time. We're gittin' ready ta plow the next field, an' we could use yer help.”

It looks like one or two fields is already getting done, but some of the others have yet for the snow to be removed. As such, there are snowplows out there ready to be used. The ponies in the field are singing as well, but it's a different portion of the song than what Rarity and the others are singing. It seems like it's a verse right now, so Applejack is taking a moment to speak to me.

“Okay. Tell me what you need me to do,” I reply, not looking forward to doing farm work without magic. At the very least, I'll be giving my abs a workout. 

“See if you kin help Bon Bon an' Big Mac with clearin' that field over there. We're just 'bout finished sowing these fields and we need the next field ready when we do,” Applejack requests, indicating the field in question with a hoof. Over there, I can see Bon Bon struggling to push one of the plows, while Big Mac is handling one all on his own. Overall, it looks like it's going slowly.

I should probably help out with that other plow, otherwise Bon Bon will keep moving at a snails pace. Why the hell did she think she was strong enough to handle one by herself?

I make my way to her, passing a raucously singing Berry Punch on the way. Bon Bon looks over with surprise and curiosity when I duck under the bar and join her in the strangely constructed plow. It's pretty tight quarters in there, but it's not suffocatingly so. 

“Seth? What are you doing here?” Bon Bon asks. Her eyes trace down to the green vest I'm wearing, and she connects the dots. “You're part of our team?”

“Yup. I saw you failing over here and thought I'd lend a hand,” I reply, placing my hands on the bar. “Come on, let's try this with the both of us.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Bon Bon grunts as she pushes on the bar again. When I add my strength to hers, the wheels of the plow finally start moving, pushing through the snow on the field. “There we go. Now we're moving.”

We work in silence for a while. When the next chorus of the song begins, I soon notice that Bon Bon isn't singing. “Why aren't you singing?” I ask curiously as we reach the end of the field and turn the plow around for another pass.

“I'm too out of breath to sing,” Bon Bon answers, her chest heaving from the exertion of pushing one of these. “I drew the short stick this time around, so I have to push the plows instead of Carrot Top or Noteworthy. What about you?”

“Like I'm really going to sing a song about something that shouldn't even physically be possible,” I retort. I notice as we pass Big Mac that he's singing surprisingly well in a deep bass tone. Suddenly, I have an urge to fly up into the clouds and hear what Rainbow's singing voice sounds like. Too bad I'm not allowed to use magic. “Seasons changed on their own back in my time.”

“Sounds really convenient. I'm jealous,” Bon Bon pants, taking a moment to wipe away the sweat forming on her brow. “Whew. This is hard work.”

“No kidding.” The two of us continue on our toils, saving our breath in order to work faster. As we do this, I end up hearing Applejack's voice as well, though unlike Rarity she gets to sing by herself with the other ponies acting as accompaniment. She's not bad, but she's literally singing in an accent. That's kinda funny.

“You know, you're a lot easier to deal with now,” Bon Bon says. She scrambles a bit to keep her balance after stepping on a slippery piece of slush. Thankfully I'm there to grab her front hoof and keep her upright. “I don't think I've even heard you curse once.”

“Well, that can't be right. Better fucking change that,” is my immediate response. Bon Bon sighs with exasperation.

“I...you...I don't know what I expected,” she remarks, shaking her head. “Anyway, I feel like I need to treat you to some cider at some point, for helping me with Lyra.”

“Don't worry about it. I wasn't really thinking about favors when I was talking to Lyra,” I say, dismissing her offer with a wave of my hand. “I was just trying to let her down without crushing her.”

“That just makes me want to buy you that cider more,” Bon Bon informs me with a smile. I sigh, but I don't protest that much. Technically I did set her up with Lyra, and I certainly wouldn't mind free cider. “Still, I'm curious. I remember that you used to look mad whenever you and Lyra would meet. When did you start caring about her feelings?”

“Once I realized that the whole reason I didn't like her was because she was a little flirtatious, during the time I hated you ponies,” I respond, trying to answer her question without getting as personal as my promise to Vanta down in the ruins. “Now I'm in a relationship with Rainbow, so I realized continuing to hate her would be pretty dumb. Plus, I've been...trying to care about how others view me, and how I treat them.”

“That's...wow. I think...I'm honestly starting to respect you,” Bon Bon admits, much to my surprise. “If you mean what you're saying, then...that means that you had the gumption to try and change yourself. That's not easy; not just anypony can do that.”

“Yeah...you're damn right about it not being easy. I still have these urges to clam up or yell at somepony every time I do something that's a little outside my comfort zone. Old habits, I guess,” I confess, realizing that I'm self disclosing to Bon Bon, a pony that I've hated for a really long time. But now I'm realizing that it was probably my fault we got off to such a bad start. “But...I figure it's worth it. It would be a shame if I lived my whole life here, completing ignoring the fact that there's good ponies here worth knowing.”

“If I had some cider with me right now, I would drink to that. Those are words to live by, Seth,” Bon Bon tells me with a bright smile. Just looking at her makes me feel a little embarrassed that I just spilled all of that out without really thinking about it, especially to a pony that I used to hate. “Anyway,  we've just about finished this half of the field. We'll be meeting up with Big Mac anytime n...”

“Eeyup,” Big Mac responds, his plow just reaching ours. Looking around, I see that the field is completely clear of snow now. Now all that's left is for the snow to be removed elsewhere and left to melt. Wow, talking with Bon Bon made that go by pretty quick.“This field's done.”

“That's right. That means it's time to get planting!” Carrot Top announces, approaching us with bags of seeds. “Can you three move the snow to the waste pile and then meet me back here?”

“Sounds fair. Let's go, Seth,” Bon Bon replies, nodding to Carrot Top. I shrug and help her navigate the plow over to the large piles of snow on the edges of the field. Whew, this will be a lot of work.





“Mares and gentlecolts, I would like to congratulate you all on a job well done!” Mayor Mare announces from her position just in front of the town hall. I'm standing in the middle of the crowd with Rainbow, Twilight, and Fluttershy at the moment.  At the mayor's announcement, the crowd erupts with cheers, though I remain silent. I'm just fucking exhausted. “We've successfully wrapped up winter even faster than last year, marking a new Ponyville record!”

I worked my ass off for this stupid winter thing, and I did it all day as well. The sun is setting now even as we speak, causing the shadows cast by the town hall to engulf us all. Right now, all I can think about is finding some food and getting some sleep.

“I wish the best for all of you in this coming spring. And now, I bid you all good night. Good work today, everypony!” Mayor Mare finishes, and then she retreats inside the town hall just as another exultant cheer rushes through the crowd.

“Nice work today, Seth,” Twilight says appreciatively as she passes by on her way home. “I hope you enjoyed your first Winter Wrap-Up in Equestria.”

“Enjoyed. Sure. That's the word. Christ, where is my bed? I'm tired!” I reply, much to the amusement of the ponies surrounding me.

“You're still weak! I feel just fine!” Rainbow brags, popping out of the crowd and sidling up next to me. I give her a glare, because I can see the sweat stains on her vest and the way she's breathing slightly heavier. “Still though. Nice going. Too bad you didn't get to hear my awesome solo.”

“Seth, ah won't need ya for work tomorrow,” Applejack informs me as she heads in the direction of her farm along with Big Mac. “Ya did good today.”

“Oh good, I can sleep in,” I emit, stretching out my arms in an attempt to alleviate some of the soreness I'm already starting to feel.

“Me too! The weather is supposed to be clear tomorrow, so I got nothing to worry about,” Rainbow expresses.

Around us, the different ponies all head their separate ways, every one of them eager to get home and relax in the wake of a hard day's work. I end up acknowledging the greetings of a few more ponies like Lyra and Bon Bon before I'm finally able to head home.

“Are you coming with me?” I ask Rainbow, even though I already know the answer due to how she's flying alongside me.

“Of course. What would I do without my favorite teddy bear?” Rainbow teases, nudging me playfully. I quirk an eyebrow at her.

“I don't know what's worse: the fact that you still sleep with a teddy bear, or the fact that said teddy bear is me,” I remark, earning a laugh from Rainbow. “Let's go home then. I'm dead tired.”

“I hear that! Right behind you!” 

With that, I take to the air alongside Rainbow, on my way home to enjoy some well earned relaxation. It's a damned good thing I won't have to do something like this again until next year. 

Now, there's a bed that's calling my name. I don't want to keep it waiting.
> 93. The Last Gathering
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“What are you doing up so early?” Rainbow asks, walking into the kitchen where I'm currently working to make breakfast. She sniffs the air curiously. “And...are you cooking?”

“Yes I am. Why do you sound so surprised?” I remark, cracking another egg into the bowl...only for the shell to go everywhere. I let out a particularly loud curse and resign myself to picking up the pieces.

“Because it means you have to be patient and organized...none of which you are,” Rainbow ribs me as she sidles up to the counter. She peers over the counter top into the bowl. “Oh cool, eggs!”

“This coming from the mare who looks like a hurricane swept through her living room,” I retort, remembering how the last time I showed up, she didn't even bother to clean beforehand. “You have no room to talk.”

“Still, what's the occasion?” Rainbow insists, shrugging at my frankly correct summation of her house.

“Do I need an occasion to make myself breakfast?” I snap at her, batting away her nose as she gets too close to where I'm working. Rainbow yelps and huffs, glaring at me with a wrinkled nose. “Yeah, it's breakfast for one unless you quit annoying me about cooking.”

“Fine, sheesh. You're so touchy,” Rainbow complains. She sits down at the table, but that doesn't last very long. Rainbow's more impatient than I am, so it isn't long before she gets up and starts pacing. “How long is this going to take?”

“It's been five minutes,” I tell her flatly, wishing she would go back upstairs and go to sleep so I could cook in peace. “Besides, I'm taking my time on purpose. I'm having company soon.”

“You are? Who's coming?” Rainbow inquires, surprised.

“Octavia. She's coming over to practice with me,” I tell her. Part of me wonders if Rainbow's going to stick around and watch us. I don't think so, considering how impatient she can get...but then again, she did want to hear me play more at some point. I don't think she has work today either. “She said she'd be here the morning after Winter Wrap-Up.”

“Oh, so that's why you're making so many eggs. You think she's gonna be here for breakfast?” Rainbow questions, looking at me oddly. When I nod, she approaches me and taps my back, looking annoyed. “Hey, why don't you make breakfast for me?”

“I am making breakfast for you,” I point out. “Unless you don't want any.”

“No, I mean, when there's not some fancy mare like Octavia coming over,” Rainbow reiterates. She crosses her front hooves and puts on a pout.

“Oh. Well, in that case, it's because you're you,” I explain, confusing Rainbow further.

“...what?”

“You're the mare I'm practically living with. Why would I feel the need to cook to impress you?” I clarify. Rainbow mulls over that for a moment.

“It wouldn't be to impress me...I just feel like it would be nice to wake up and have breakfast, thanks to my caring and dutiful coltfriend,” Rainbow returns, looking at me with a coy smirk.

“'Caring and dutiful?' Remind me what world you live in?” I joke, sticking the fork into the egg yolks and starting to beat them. “Anyway, I'm just saying. Octavia comes to Ponyville what, like never? So this is literally her second time traveling here, as far as I know. I don't want her to show up and be hungry.”

Rainbow nods, understanding what I mean, but she's still pouting for some reason. I sigh and pause in my cooking efforts, taking a moment to look at her. “Fucking...fine, I'll make you breakfast sometimes. Happy?” I relent. Rainbow lights up at that.

“Definitely. See? Was that so hard?” Rainbow responds. I groan and turn back to the bowl, wondering why the hell I even bother with this mare. Oh right, it's because I'm in love with her. This love shit is inconvenient as all hell sometimes.





Octavia arrives not long after the eggs start lightly browning in the pan. Rainbow goes to let her in, and soon the two of them enter the kitchen as well. Octavia, looking as groomed and ladylike as always, smiles warmly when she sees me cooking. “Good morning, Seth. It's a pleasure to see you again,” she greets me. The first thing she does is set her cello case down such that it leans on a chair.

“S'up, Tavi? I trust Rainbow didn't offend you too much,” I respond as I dump the eggs into a clean bowl. Octavia wrinkles her nose at the nickname. Heh, I bet she wishes I forgot.

“Hey!” Rainbow protests, causing Octavia to giggle despite herself.

“Of course not, she was delightful,” Octavia assures me.

“See? She says I'm delightful,” Rainbow repeats, jabbing my hip with a hoof and looking at me triumphantly.

“Poke me one more time and you're not getting any breakfast,” I warn her. Rainbow immediately retracts her hoof, edging away from me and whistling innocently. I chuckle at her bullshit and start seasoning the eggs.

“Pardon me if this sounds forward of me, but I wasn't aware you two were living together,” Octavia rejoins as she takes a seat at the table. Rainbow and I look at one another, both of us realizing that we've slept together the past three days. In the totally clean, cuddly kind of way. God, and that's cheesy enough.

“We are and we aren't. Rainbow is just too lazy to go back to her own house,” I reply.

“It helps that his sitting room is pretty nice,” Rainbow chimes in. Ignoring her, I start setting the table for the meal.

“She won't leave though, so I guess I'm stuck with her. Dunno what's so appealing about this place anyway,” I continue.

“It's because his bed is really comfy,” Rainbow adds helpfully. The response to her words is most telling. My heart jumps in my throat, and I turn around and transfix her with a stare. Did she really just say that? 

“Oh...oh my,” Octavia stammers, her face turning a light shade of red as the possible implications of what Rainbow just said hit her. “I'm sorry...I don't...I didn't realize...I mean...” 

Rainbow snorts and covers her mouth with her hooves, trying to stifle a laugh. It doesn't work. “Baaahahahahaha! You should see your face! Dear Celestia!” Rainbow cackles, pointing a hoof at Octavia and nearly falling over. “Priceless!”

“Rainbow, that was not necessary,” I admonish her, though honestly I find it pretty funny how quickly Rainbow could break Octavia's composure. I wave a hand in front of the shell-shocked Octavia. “Yes, Rainbow and I are together. No, we haven't done anything. Rainbow is just trying to mess with you.”

“I...um...I see,” Octavia replies hesitatingly. She shudders, trying to regain her composure. Rainbow is still wriggling on the ground laughing. “Well, then I'm happy for the both of you.”

“Rainbow, the fuck? That shit is not okay. We don't want ponies spreading rumors,” I chide Rainbow, gently kicking her. “Get up, it's not that funny.”

“Yes it is. And who cares about rumors? It's a relationship; they're going to happen,” Rainbow reminds me. I sigh, rubbing my forehead. I hadn't thought about that, though I probably should have. Vinyl was making jokes long before we ever got together, and those were bad enough. I hate to see what she's going to come up with now.

“Whatever. Food's done; let's eat now,” I say, ending that particular conversation before I feel any more awkward than I am right now.

“Yes, yes, let's,” Octavia seems just as eager as I do to change the subject.





“Thank you for the meal; it was quite scrumptious,” Octavia compliments me. Currently the two of us are lifting her cello case up the stairs together, while Rainbow just trails behind us and does absolutely nothing to help us.

“I'm just trying to make sure you don't think I'm a terrible host,” I tell her frankly, grunting with exertion. I have to bend my knees up at the top of the staircase to keep from unbalancing and dropping the case. With Octavia's help, we're finally able to get the cello into the sitting room, where my piano is.

“That's kind of you,” Octavia replies, and then the two of us set down the cello on the couch. She exhales with relief, and then she takes a look around my sitting room, her eyes eventually settling on my piano. “You have a gorgeous piano. That's one of the more expensive brands, I believe. You certainly went for quality.”

“Don't I know it. Damn near took all my money to get it,” I respond. Octavia nods, as if she'd expected as much. I sit down at the piano and sift through the sheet music I've collected. “So what songs are we going to play today? Got any new ones for me?”

“I do, actually. I brought over some from our concert repertoire that I thought you might like,” Octavia reveals. She opens up her cello case and shows me her black music folder, which looks thicker than the last time I saw it.

“Mind if I watch you two?” Rainbow asks from her position on a chair on the other side of the room. I'm about to answer, but Octavia beats me to it.

“I don't mind if Seth doesn't, but you must be absolutely quiet. It's imperative for a musician to have as close to absolute silence as possible in order to achieve the best practice results,” Octavia warns her. Rainbow flinches and looks to me to see my reaction. I shrug, mostly agreeing with what Octavia said.

“Got it. I won't make a sound,” Rainbow promises. I look at Octavia with a wry expression on my face.

“Let's see how long this lasts,” I remark under my breath, such that only Octavia can hear it. “Anyway, let's get started. Let's try one of the new ones.”

“A wonderful idea. This piece that I chose is one you might recognize. I played in it the one time you saw me in concert,” Octavia begins, lifting out the sheet music and passing it to me. “It's not written for piano, but I wrote an arrangement of it that should work.”

“Trust me, I know how that is. I used to print out piano arrangements for everything back in my time,” I remark. Damn though, making my own arrangements was impossible because I couldn't make them sound like the original. Then derp, Octavia shows up with one she made just for me. She makes me jealous sometimes.

With that, the two of us become lost in our musical pursuits. It isn't long before my house is filled with the sound of piano and cello, blending together in a glorious harmony.





Time seems to fly as the two of us work together on perfecting a duet piece. Before long, it's already noon, and the piece we're working on is finally starting sound decent, now that I'm only fucking up every few measures rather than every other note. 

To my surprise, Rainbow has actually stayed here in the sitting room with us the whole time, listening to us work. Granted, halfway through she went and found a comic book somewhere to read, but she still stuck around while managing to keep quiet. I'm a little impressed. Heh.

“Very good. Now, let's run through that one more time. Watch out for those grace notes. It's not a descending trio like you think, but instead a minor third jump,” Octavia advises me, pointing out the location to me on the sheet music. I grimace, noticing the tiny little notes above the main note. Fucking grace notes. “On three then. A one, a two, a...”

Octavia suddenly pauses. Just as I'm about to ask what the matter is, I hear the faint sound of somepony knocking on my door. “I wasn't aware you were expecting more visitors,” Octavia states curiously.

“That's because I wasn't. Come on, let's go see who it is. Generally if they're stubborn enough to come to my door, they aren't going to leave,” I return, heaving a sigh. Octavia nods and sets her cello aside gently, and then she follows me as I move towards the stairs. I also take this moment to stretch out my fingers, as they're a little sore from dancing all over the place. “Let's see, who is going to be this time? Twilight again?”

Rainbow joins us as well, setting her book aside. Therefore, when I reach the front door, there's three of us. I can hear the sound of ponies talking outside, which tells me I have more than one visitor. What the hell?

 I open the door to reveal three ponies, standing there and chatting amongst themselves...at least until they see me standing in front of them. It's Lyra, Bon Bon, and Vinyl. “S'up, Seth? You free at the moment?” Vinyl greets me with a friendly grin.

Lyra is carrying her lyre in her magic, and she's leaning her head against Bon Bon, who is blushing lightly at the contact. In addition, there's a barrel of cider strapped to Bon Bon's back, reminding me that I hadn't yet told her that I was going to be busy for most of today. Shit. Uh...how do I deal with this? I promised my time to Octavia today.

“Not exactly. I have company over today,” I admit to them, much to their collective disappointment. Behind me, Octavia makes her presence known, emerging from behind me and dipping her head politely. Bon Bon's jaw promptly drops, as she's never seen me with her before nor did she know we were friends.

“Oh, okay. Yo, Tavi, you don't mind if we drop in and share some cider with our resident human, do you?” Vinyl addresses the musician, putting two and two together. Behind Vinyl, Bon Bon incredulously mouths Octavia's nickname, while Lyra just puts on the most innocent grin in an attempt to look adorable.

“I apologize, but we were in the middle of practicing together,” Octavia responds, frowning a little. Yeah, she's annoyed, I can tell. I am a little too, though mostly at myself for not telling them I had plans today.

“Oh yeah? Sounds sweet. Two out of the three of us are musicians, in case you forgot,” Vinyl returns, stepping inside without waiting to be invited. I step out of her way and sigh, rubbing my forehead out of irritation. 

“Ooh, you're practicing? Can I join? I brought my lyre and my music, so I'm prepared!” Lyra exclaims, prancing inside right after Vinyl. Bon Bon remains outside, having enough tact to notice the expressions on Octavia's and my face.

“Fucking hell. Octavia, I'm sorry,” I apologize to the celloist, realizing that our plans were turning into a train wreck. “I should have told them that you'd be here.”

Octavia returns my gaze, and then she smiles warmly. “Don't worry about it. Sometimes plans change, and it's not worth getting upset over,” she assures me sensibly. “I haven't really interacted with your friends much, so I don't mind taking a break from practice for a while and socializing.”

“You're sure it's okay? They did just barge their way in here even though I just said we were busy,” I try again. Octavia blinks, looking at me with a bit of surprise. That makes me realize that I'm being a lot more accommodating to her than I usually am. No wonder she's surprised.

“Yes, of course it is. Come on, let's go back upstairs. Your friends were kind enough to bring drinks, so it wouldn't do to turn them away,” Octavia affirms, giving the hesitating Bon Bon a reassuring smile.

“I'm sorry, I meant to come on my own, but then I ran into Lyra and Vinyl, who decided to come too,” Bon Bon explains apologetically, stepping inside once Octavia and I move aside to give her some room. Her back hoof catches on the threshold and she stumbles, causing the barrel of cider on her back to slide off. It's strapped to her, but it would have taken her right to the ground if I hadn't moved forward to catch it. “Whoa. Thanks.”

“I see you came through on your promise of cider,” I remark, unbuckling the barrel from her back. Bon Bon steps out of the straps gratefully and stretches out her back. 

“I did say I would,” Bon Bon reminds me. I give a shrug. I didn't really expect her to, considering our past hatred for one another, but right now that feels like it's a thing of the past. I'm about to reply when I hear something crash upstairs. “We should probably go upstairs before Lyra breaks something.”

“I swear to god, if she's put even a SINGLE hoof on my piano, I'll rip it off!” I growl, and then the three of us move upstairs to where Vinyl and Lyra went.

I come upon a very strange scene when I enter the sitting room. Rainbow and Vinyl are wrestling with each other on the floor for some reason, while Lyra is rolling around on the couch laughing uproariously.

“What the hell are you two doing?” I demand, confronting them with my arms crossed. At my presence, Vinyl and Rainbow promptly extricate from one another and look at me with innocent expressions, as if they hadn't just been rolling all over the place. 

“She started it!” Rainbow and Vinyl both claim, pointing hooves at one another. Lyra's laughter only intensifies, while I rub my forehead and wonder how fast my simple practice session got derailed so quickly.

“Jesus...you ponies barge into my house and start making a mess? You're terrible guests,” I scold the both of them. Vinyl and Rainbow both look at the ground guiltily. “Now pick up what you knocked over and at least try to be respectable. Octavia is here, if you remember.”

“Eh, it's fine. She's dealt with us before,” Vinyl says, waving away my concerns. However, she does use her magic to right the vase that had been on the table. It's a good thing it hadn't been made of glass or porcelain. “Seth, bring over the cider and let's crack 'er open!”

“Why did you all choose to show up now?” I complain, obligingly setting down the barrel of cider on the table such that the spigot is pointing downwards. 

“Why not? Bon Bon was already on her way here, and she's providing cider!” Vinyl explains. “Now who brought the cups?”

“I did,” Bon Bon speaks up, approaching the table with the cups. “Seth gets the first cup. I brought it for him, after all.”

With that, the six of us sit on the couches and chairs around the table. Rainbow and I are sitting together on the main couch, next to Lyra and Bon Bon. Vinyl and Octavia are sitting in chairs on either side of us. Because Vinyl and Lyra have the magic, they fill and distribute the cups of cider to each of us. As promised, I get the first cup, though I don't care much either way. While I'm annoyed that our practice was interrupted, I don't mind having an impromptu hang out like this.

“Look, sorry about showing up outta the blue,” Vinyl says once we've all got our drinks. “But I figured we could chill before Pinkie gets her party started.”

“That's still happening?” I express, raising an eyebrow. Suddenly, everypony except Octavia in the room looks at me as if I'd said something totally stupid.

“Seth, when has Pinkie EVER not gone through with a party once she's got it into her head?” Rainbow asks me pointedly. I open my mouth to respond, but then I think about it, my mouth slowly closing. Lyra and Vinyl snicker behind their hooves at my silence.

“...alright, that's fair,” I admit, earning laughter from everypony in the room. “When is the party, anyway?”

“Well, since you told her about miss Octavia showing up, Pinkie said she'd hold the party later tonight,” Bon Bon reminds me. “I'm thinking around six or seven.” 

“Please...Bon Bon, was it?” Octavia addresses her all of a sudden, causing her to freeze. I guess she's not used to being spoken to by somepony who's considered a musical celebrity in Canterlot. Bon Bon nods nervously. “Just call me Octavia. It's difficult to form a rapport while being held back by formalities.”

“Thanks, mi..err, Octavia,” Bon Bon responds gratefully, giving her a faint smile, which Octavia returns.

“Nah, call her Tavi. It's an adorable little nickname and it makes her blush,” Lyra butts in, ruining the moment and causing Octavia to respond exactly as Lyra described.

“Must you insist with that?” Octavia addresses Lyra with a piteous expression on her face. Lyra nods with a cheeky smile.

“She totally does, Tavi. It sounds less uptight than Octavia,” Vinyl chimes in, much to Octavia's annoyance.

“Definitely,” I join in as well, until finally Octavia's head droops in defeat. “Aw, don't worry about it. It means you're accepted.”

“She's what now?” Vinyl asks out of shock, looking at me oddly. Octavia stares at her, looking a little hurt. I raise an eyebrow myself. Why does she have a problem with that? “No, don't get me wrong, Tavi's cool, but I never thought I'd hear you say something like that.”

“Neither did I, actually,” Bon Bon remarks, shrugging and giving me an apologetic glance. Octavia calms down once she sees that she isn't being rejected. “Then again, Seth's a lot nicer now. It's a nice change.”

“Still here, thank you,” I remark, earning another laugh from the surrounding ponies. “For the record, I blame Rainbow for everything.”

“Of course you do. Blame me all you want. I view it as the single greatest accomplishment in my life,” Rainbow brags, and then she quickly corrects herself. “You know, apart from saving Equestria once or twice. Thrice, if you count the changeling invasion, but that was mostly Seth.”

“It IS an accomplishment. I had to order him to take a simple strap for that metal stick he used to carry around,” Vinyl recalls to the amusement of the other ponies. Okay, really? That was forever ago. “You should have seen his face. I thought he was going to hit me.”

“Remember when I had to hold him in place with magic to get him to talk to me?” Lyra revealed as well. Another round of knowing laughs fills the room, and even Rainbow nods next to me.

“Okay, what is this, everypony make fun of Seth day?” I interrupt, crossing my arms. I mean, granted, I was thickheaded and even more of an asshole then than I am now, but that doesn't mean I like having my past mistakes being dredged up.

“It's only because we care about you, bro. Should I tell you about the time Rainbow wore a dress that literally looked like it was made out of solid metal?” Vinyl responds with a grin pointed at the mare next to me. Rainbow gives a start and blushes a bit, glaring at Vinyl.

“You be quiet over there or I'm gonna steal your shades or something!” Rainbow threatens, though the damage is already done. I look down at her with an incredulous expression. She notices me looking, and her blush intensifies. “Don't ask. Please, just don't ask.”

“Hooves off my babies, mare,” Vinyl warns, tapping her shades with a hoof. Rainbow's response is to stick her tongue out immaturely.

While all of that is going on, Octavia leans over to me. “Your friends are very strange,” she comments, speaking low enough so that only I can hear her. 

“Don't I know it,” I snort in response. 

For the next few hours, the six of us make conversation and drink cider, just enjoying one another's company. Lyra sometimes entertains us with a song on her lyre, which Octavia and I particularly enjoy. From the way Octavia looked at her after the first time she played a song, I think she has a whole new respect for her.

“You two were practicing before we showed up, right?” Lyra asks once the sound of clopping hooves following one of her performances fades away. “You and Tavi, I mean.”

“That's correct. We were working on perfecting a concerto piece that I had arranged into a duet,” Octavia answers for me, her eyes lighting up now that she can talk about her musical pursuits. “It's a lovely song, and to Seth's credit, he sight-reads music very quickly.”

“Sight what now?” Vinyl questions, looking clueless. Ah yes, she's a musician, but mostly just a DJ who experiments with music, rather than producing it. So no wonder she doesn't know what sight-reading means.

“It means I can look at the notes on the paper and hear what they sound like in my head, without having to play them,” I explain as best I can. Sight-reading is one of those things that I learned early in life, so it's difficult to explain in terms that somepony unfamiliar with it can understand. “Suffice to say, it's a skill necessary for anyone who plays an instrument.”

“That's right. It's pretty hard though, even for me,” Lyra agrees, lifting up her lyre. “I'm good at transcribing things by ear though.”

“That's how you gave me that sheet music for Hearth's Warming, right?” I ask, interested. I've never been good at writing music, or transcribing it, or anything like that. All I've ever been able to do is play it.

“Yup! I'm pretty proud of it too, because it turned out perfectly!” Lyra proclaimed, beaming. Her lyre floated in front of her, and then she used her magic to play the first few notes of the song. 

“Wait, I know that song,” Octavia reveals, causing both Lyra and I to look at her in surprise. Octavia puts on a pleased smile. “That's a beautiful song. It's also not easy, so I'm impressed that you can play it.”

“Do you know how to play it?” Lyra questions, her eyes lighting up. Octavia nods in confirmation. “Oh! You should play it with Seth and I then! We've been working on it ourselves!”

“That sounds like a good idea. I wouldn't mind seeing the three of you play,” Bon Bon tacks on, smiling at Octavia. “Come to think of it, I didn't even know Seth played anything until seeing his piano.”

“Do it. I mean, I was watching long before they all got here,” Rainbow encourages us. Octavia and I exchange glances. Eventually, I shrug, and get up from the couch.

“Might as well. Let me finish my cider,” I say, taking the cup with me. At this point, the barrel of cider is practically empty, so this should be my last cup. I quickly gulp it down and set the cup on an end table, because there's no way it's going anywhere near my piano. “Now where the hell did I put that sheet music?”

“May I stand behind you? I'm afraid I don't have the sheet music for this, so I need to look at yours,” Octavia requests, picking up her cello and bow. 

“Go ahead. Though are the notes for a cello even the same as a piano? I remember that there's a thing called concert pitch. I'm not sure if it applies here or not,” I respond, indicating the sheet music. I'm mostly asking because some instruments are tuned to certain notes and can't be changed, like a b flat trumpet

“In some cases, yes, and in others, no. Cellos have an advantage in that regard because I can tune it to whatever note I wish,” Octavia explains. “Because I knew we would be playing together, I tuned my cello to a concert C. Play a C on your piano for me.”

Perplexed, I press the note she asked for on the piano, causing a loud and clear note to fill the room. Octavia rears up on her hind legs and clutches the neck of the cello with one hoof, using the other to bring the bow to the strings. A tone sounds from her cello, matching the pitch from the piano and blending with the note to form a richer sound. 

Feeling left out, Lyra plays the corresponding note on her lyre, adding its warm tone to the sound in the air. On the other side of the room, Rainbow, Vinyl, and Bon Bon sat on the couch, watching us with interest. I use the term loosely when it comes to Vinyl, because I know this isn't her style of music.

“Shall we begin? I hope you don't mind if I lead, Lyra,” Octavia asks. Ah, she wants to control the practice. I don't mind. She's got way more experience than I do, after all.

“Not at all. Take us away, Tavi!” Lyra replies. Octavia sighs at the nickname, but quickly turns back to her cello.

“On three then. A one, a two, and three...” Octavia counts us off, and then the three of us begin the song all at once. The song sounds so much fuller, for lack of a better word, than before with the addition of Octavia's cello to our sound.

Bon Bon's jaw drops in astonishment as the three of us put our hearts into our music. Rainbow watches in silent respect, and Vinyl is just resting her head on the back of the couch, not as interested as the rest of them.

Octavia and I form the basis for the melody of the song, which Lyra is playing. Lyra is standing with her eyes closed, her head bobbing forward gently in time with the beat. Her music plucks the strings with gusto, the notes seeming to flow out of her lyre with feeling.

I too put my all into playing the song. I had difficulty the last time I played, but this time I know a little of what to expect, so it's easier to recover from small mistakes and keep playing. I'm caught up in the flow of the song, so I don't want to disrupt it and bring this beauty to an end.

The song jumps up an octave for one iteration of the melody, which I view as the climax of the piece. Bon Bon looks like she's really enjoying our performance, because she's standing up now, watching us play with a content smile on her face. When the song finally finishes, Bon Bon enthusiastically starts stamping on the floor with her hooves. Rainbow does the same, although a bit more subdued. As for Vinyl...

“Is that fucker asleep?” I demand, getting up from the piano. As if on cue, I hear a snore from the couch. I can't help but choke with laughter as I see Vinyl sleeping in the most undignified fashion. Her head is lying back on the couch and her mouth is wide open. “That's it. Nopony sleeps through my performances.”

“I've got to see this,” Rainbow declares, hopping off of the couch and giving me room to reach the sleeping Vinyl. “Please tell me you're going to do something horrible to her.”

“Not really. I know this kind of music isn't her thing, but still,” I remark. That, and I doubt she's asleep enough for me to do anything extensive.

“It's honestly fine, it wouldn't be the first time somepony has slept through one of our concerts,” Octavia tries to assure me, but I'm not having any of it. She clearly doesn't know how we are.

“No, shut up, this is what I'm doing,” I tell her, and then without any further warning, I pounce upon Vinyl , tickling her exposed belly mercilessly. Vinyl jerks away with a start and immediately lets out a surprised cry.

“What!? Oh Celestia stop! I can't take it!” Vinyl exclaims, falling off of the couch and onto the floor. I follow her down, never letting up my assault. Behind me, Bon Bon, Lyra, and Rainbow are all laughing at the spectacle before them, while Octavia looks on with a perplexed smile. “Seth! Have mercy!”

“Absolutely not. I go through the trouble of performing a piece that was rather hard to learn, mind you, and you fucking fell asleep through it? You're going to suffer!” I promise her with a wicked grin on my face, tickling her until she starts wiggling and rolling around, trying to escape my wrath.

Eventually, Vinyl and I end up resting on the floor next to the couch, both of us panting. “You're evil. One hundred percent pure evil,” Vinyl expresses, picking up her shades off the ground with her magic. “You know I can't handle classical stuff. Puts me right to sleep.”

“It was funny though. It's been forever since I've tormented you rather than Rainbow,” I remark, causing Rainbow to shudder at the thought of the last time I tickled her to near death. “Hoo. What time is it, anyway?”

“Almost six thirty. We've been hanging out a good while,” Lyra answers after a quick look at the  clock. “Oh shoot, Pinkie said she was going to be starting the party soon.”

“Well, we'd know if we missed it,” Bon Bon assures her. “Pinkie would be here dragging us there.”

“We should go check and see if it's getting started yet. I dunno about you, but a party sounds pretty great right now,” Rainbow suggests, hopping off of the couch.

I look over at Octavia, because now it seems like we'll be leaving, and I don't want to ignore her. “What do you think, Octavia?” I prompt her. Octavia rubs her chin for a moment, thinking.

“There's no harm in it, I suppose. I think I'll go to this party for an hour or so, but I do have to be home sometime tonight. I have rehearsal in the morning,” Octavia replies. I sigh in relief. “You don't mind if I leave my cello here?”

“I was going to suggest that, actually. Just leave it in here. I'll lock up before we head out, so it'll be safe,” I assure her. Octavia nods, satisfied. 

“Now that that's settled, let's go party!” Vinyl butts back in, leading the way back down the stairs. Bon Bon quickly follows her. “Come on, you slowpokes! You know as well as I do what happens if you're late to a Pinkie Party!”

“I don't actually, but considering how she is normally, I would rather not find out,” I reply, following Vinyl down the stairs. “Let's go, Dashie.”

“Did you just call me Dashie?” Rainbow returns indignantly as Lyra snickers behind her.

“I did. Whatcha gonna do about it?” I tease her as I reach the bottom of the stairs and make for the door. Vinyl and Bon Bon are already outside and waiting for us impatiently.

“Aw, you two are so cute,” Lyra comments  in a funny voice, much to our annoyance.

“Shut up, Lyra!” Rainbow and I both snap back at her. Meanwhile, Octavia is walking down the stairs, shaking her head and no doubt wondering what the hell she signed up for when she came over to my house in the first place.

“Now kiss!” Lyra continues with a giant fucking smile on her face. I turn around and immediately make for her, to the point where she actually takes a step back. She yelps as I lean down and hook an arm beneath her belly and lift her clear off of the ground, hoisting her over my shoulder. “Waaah! Seth! Put me down! Aaah! Bon Bon help!”

Rainbow promptly loses her shit behind me as I walk out the door with Lyra over my shoulder, the mare yelping and giggling at the situation. Vinyl spots us and proceeds to laugh her ass off as well. Bon Bon has the most perfect “what the fuck” face on when I walk outside with her marefriend. 

“Is this yours?” I ask Bon Bon in a completely calm voice while indicating Lyra's squirming form with my head. Bon Bon stares up at Lyra, and then despite herself, she snorts with laughter.

“You're ridiculous. Put her down before somepony sees you,” Bon Bon tells me, trying to stifle her chuckles with a hoof. 

I put Lyra down without delicacy, such that she falls over in an attempt to get up. When she rights herself, Lyra glares at me with the most hilarious pout on her muzzle. “What? You started this. I just...” I start to say, but I pause. At first I don't even realize why I stopped talking...but then I start to feel that something isn't right.

A chill breeze passes through the street, rustling through the trees and blowing through my hair and clothes. With it comes a feeling of unease that seems to sink slowly into my body, down to my very bones. I don't know how to explain it, but something about the atmosphere just seems wrong, or out of place. Every hair on my neck stands on end, and goosebumps form on my skin. To my surprise, I swear I can feel the tiniest hint of magic in the wind, but it's so faint that I start to doubt that I'm feeling it at all.

Lyra notices the sudden change in my expression, and she starts to look worried. “Seth? Are you okay?” she asks. I don't reply, instead looking at the sky, trying to find the source of the magic I feel, if there even is one. However, the breeze soon passes, as well as the feeling of wrongness in the air. One question lingers in my mind.

“What the hell was that?”
> 94. The End of Peace
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 	I stand there, frozen in confusion and unease for the next few seconds; such that I don't even notice the other ponies looking at me in worry until I feel Rainbow brushing up against me. “Seth? What are you talking about? What was what?” Rainbow questions anxiously, her muscles tensed and restless. I don’t respond at first.

I don't let myself relax until the sound of crickets chirping take back over the night, and no sign of any impending threat shows itself “I don't know. I just...I felt something. I don't know what it was,” I admit, letting out a confused sigh. Rainbow blinks, letting herself relax as well. You know, it speaks for her trust in me if she's ready to kick some ass the moment I notice something wrong.

“I'm sure you're just imagining it,” Lyra assures me. Bon Bon nods in agreement next to her. “We're in the middle of Ponyville. Nothing is going to happen here of all places.”

I disagree with that, considering there is a certain changeling queen with a grudge against me, but there's no point in bringing that up now. After all, there's no way I felt Chrysalis. I've felt her magic, and that wasn't it. I still don't know how to sense magic from far away like Celestia and Luna do, so I can only feel it when it comes into contact with me.

Maybe I was just imagining it. This is a magical world, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised if an errant breeze passes through containing a little bit of magic. The seasons did just change. Yeah, that makes sense. I let out a small sigh of relief. “Yeah, you're right,” I reply, shaking my head. “Whatever. Anyway, let's get to that party.”
'
“You don't have to tell me twice!” Vinyl exclaims, running past us. “I can already hear it! Looks like it's a big one this time!”

What, as opposed to the parties that Pinkie usually throws? Oh gee, I can't wait to see this. Octavia trails behind, staying with me as we approach the town square, where I can see party decorations already set up. Hell, this is happening in the square? I guess this one is a big deal. Pinkie can't have just set this up for me.

“Can I expect a similar experience to the reception at the royal wedding?” Octavia asks me hesitantly, as she looks up at the banners stretched between houses. Emblazoned on the banners are basic spring related words, as well as slogans celebrating the passage of another Winter Wrap-Up.

“Maybe, but not to the same degree. I think at the reception, we were all still freaked from the invasion, so we were letting off all that steam,” I reply. “This time, we're probably just going to settle down and have a good time.”

“That makes sense. Back then was a very trying time for all of us,” Octavia responds sagely. She winces as the sound of party music fills the air. “Honestly, this music.”

“Just ignore it. Half the time, I don't even know what I'm listening to. It has a beat, and that's good enough for me,” I advise her with a chuckle. Occasionally there's a good song, but I doubt what I consider good is the same as what Octavia considers good. She's unlikely to be a fan of rock.

“Seth, Hurry your flank up! They're playing a good song and I need my dance partner!” Rainbow calls from up ahead. Her voice is muffled, however, by the sound of the amalgamation of ponies in the square. Holy hell, it's like every single pony in the town is there.

“I'm coming, hold on,” I complain and plunge right into the crowd. I don't know why I keep saying this, but Pinkie really went all out for this one. The square is filled with tables covered with enticing springtime foods, in addition to the ever present sweets. “Scratch that, food comes first. I am hungry as hell. I skipped lunch because of you ponies.”

“Bon Bon and I are going to go dance! I'll see you all later!” Lyra announces, leaning her head against her new marefriend. Bon Bon looks at her in surprise.

“Wait, we are?” she asks, but then Lyra grabs hold of her hoof and drags her to the dance floor situated just in front of the town hall. “Waaah! Slow down you crazy mare!”

“Think I'm gonna hit the dance floor myself. It's not often that I'm not making the music, so I'm gonna milk the opportunity!” Vinyl asserts, eyeing the flashing multicolored lights dancing across the open floor. “You bring Rainbow and join me once you're finished eating.”

“Sure, sounds good. Now go dance or something while I chow down,” I dismiss her with a wave of my hand. Vinyl chuckles and disappears into the throng of dancing ponies herself, leaving me with just Rainbow and Octavia. “Are you two coming with me?”

“Nah, I think I'm gonna go see what's up with Fluttershy and them. I feel like I should spend a little time with them. I keep coming back to you!” Rainbow responds, giving me a playful shove with her side. Yeah, that seems fair. She has been spending an awful lot of time with me recently. I'll let her go then. Maybe I'll try socializing a bit...as unlike me as that is. I might just end up sticking to the ponies I know. “You better come dance with me when you're done. Later!”

“You have fun then,” I call after her. Finally, it's just Octavia and I. The mare looks rather uncomfortable at the party atmosphere, though she does seem to be making an effort to enjoy herself. When we reach the buffet table, for lack of a better word, she peers over the different food choices. “What, is that not the gourmet food you eat on a regular basis?”

“Not quite, but I think I can...” Octavia replies normally, much to my amusement. Then she pauses and gives me an accusing stare. “Wait, you're making fun of me, aren't you?”

“I might be,” I remark with a grin. Octavia huffs, but I don't see her expression because I'm already picking out my first plate of food. “Would you look at all of this? Plants as far as the eye can see. I've never seen a spread so unbelievably healthy in my life.”

“Are you used to otherwise?” Octavia questions as she delicately picks up a plate herself. I shrug, because it usually depended on the location. She smirks and indicates the other table with her head. “If you'd rather have something worse, head over to the next table. I think I might be getting cavities just looking at it all.”

“Oh, quit being such a Rarity. There's nothing wrong with having a few sweets,” I retort. Unluckily for me, Rarity happened to be passing by the moment I said that. As such, I promptly receive a light tap on the back of my head by a plate. “Wait what the...oh hi, Rares.”

“I heard that, dear,” Rarity admonishes me with a smirk, returning the plate to the air in front of her. “By the way, did you just call me 'Rares?'”

“I did. It's less syllables than Rarity,” I respond. Rarity shakes her head, annoyed.

“I must protest. I adore my given name. It's elegant and refined, and thus suiting for a lady such as I,” Rarity beseeches me. Next to me, Octavia shakes her head with a knowing smile, because she too had gone through a similar conversation to this with me before.

“That's great. Still calling you Rares, though,” I tell her uncaringly, much to her frustration. I snicker at the despairing groan Rarity gives upon hearing that. “It's so easy to mess with you ponies.”

With that, the three of us split up and gather our own respective plates of food and return to the merriment in our own way. It's a Pinkie Party, and while the setup or the reason for its existence may be different, they're usually executed in the same manner. The only thing that varies is the intensity. Tonight the energy is higher than usual, because Winter Wrap-Up is a major holiday, as far as I've gathered.

I also hear from some of the other party goers that this is nothing compared to the celebration that occurs during something called the Summer Sun Celebration. Apparently for that, Celestia herself visits Ponyville and literally raises the sun while everypony watches. Huh. I hope I'm around for that. I've heard over and over that she raises the sun, but I've never seen her do it.

I make sure to drop by some of the other ponies, I know, like Applejack and Apple Bloom, who I haven't just stopped to talk to in a long time. So you can imagine how super affectionate she was.

“Whoa, whoa! Hello to you too, Apple Bloom!” I say with surprise as I suddenly find myself with a happy filly in my arms. Funny how that keeps happening. Applejack watches from her position in front of me, smiling fondly at the sight of her little sister nuzzling up against my chest. “I think she misses me.”

“Ah think she does too,” Applejack agrees. The three of us then proceed to hold a decent conversation, though Apple Bloom never does leave my arms until I decide it's time for me to move on.

Eventually I end up joining Rainbow and Fluttershy for a dance...though what Fluttershy calls a dance is really just her shyly shuffling her hooves because she's too petrified by the idea of everypony looking at her...even though nopony is except for Rainbow and I.

“Come on, Fluttershy! What do you even call that?” Rainbow urges her. Fluttershy mumbles something so quiet that we can't hear it over the crowd. Eventually Rainbow gets impatient and grabs Fluttershy's front hooves, causing the quiet mare to squeak in surprise and rear up on her hind legs. “Come on, dance with me! Even Seth is dancing better than you are right now, and he's terrible!”

“Fucking thanks, Rainbow,” I snap back at her with a wry grin. Eh, I never held any illusions that I was a good dancer. I've got rhythm and it's fun. That's all that matters. “I didn't hear you complaining at the royal wedding.”

“That's just because I was happy to be alive, thank you very much,” Rainbow returns, jabbing my leg with her hoof. I chuckle and watch in amusement as Rainbow tries to get Fluttershy dancing better.

Eventually, I find my way over to Twilight and Spike. Twilight is standing against the sweets table and nodding her head in time with the music as she works her way through a slice of cake. Spike, for some reason, has a lampshade on his head and is closer to the dance floor, moving his tiny body to the beat.

“Hey, Seth. Having fun?” Twilight greets me after she swallows her current mouthful. I nod and recline against the table next to her, choosing to chomp into a cupcake in lieu of a verbal response. “I'm glad you showed up. Pinkie was planning to do something drastic if you stayed home.”

“So I figured. But I came because Rainbow and the others were going. Also, why wouldn't I go?” I say once my mouth is empty. Twilight nods understandingly, watching the dance floor with a smile on her face. “By the way, what the hell is up with Spike?”

“I really don't know. He just does strange things at times,” Twilight admits, referring to the lampshade on Spike's head. “But he looks like he's having fun, so I'll let him be.”

“Right...fun.” I mean sure, if you find prancing around with a lampshade on your head fun. But hey, it's entertaining to watch at least.

After that, Twilight and I settled into a comfortable silence as the two of us eat and watch the festivities unfold before us. I chuckle upon seeing Fluttershy squealing and holding onto one of Rainbow's hooves for dear life as the latter tries to teach her to dance properly.

Spike stops dancing all of a sudden, clutching his stomach. I raise an eyebrow at the sight, wondering if he'd eaten too much cake or something. That image is shattered when Spike quickly takes off the lampshade just in time to spit out a scroll of parchment in a burst of emerald flames.

The flash of light gets Twilight's attention, and she stands up straight, her eyes wide and curious. She and I both notice with interest that the scroll is fastened by Celestia's royal seal. “Letter for you, Twilight!” Spike announces casually, approaching us with the claw holding the scroll outstretched. Right, I know he does this kind of thing all the time, but it's still weird to see it.

“Thanks, Spike. But I wonder what it says? Princess Celestia doesn't usually send me messages this late at night,” Twilight muses, bringing the scroll over to her with magic. I shrug and look back to the party. It's not my business what letters Celestia wants to send her student.

There's another silence as Twilight opens up the scroll and starts to read. I nonchalantly reach around her shoulder for a particularly delectable looking cupcake, which I start chomping into. It's only when I hear Twilight gasp that I realize that something is wrong. “Twilight? What is it? What does it say?” Spike asks, looking over at her. I watch her closely as well, curious. Twilight's eyes are wide and she looks panicked. I start to feel a little worried myself just looking at her.

“Seth, it involves you too. Here!” Twilight reveals, shoving the scroll into my hands with her magic. “Read over that. I need to go get the others!”

“Others?” Both Spike and I question, but she's already galloping away, heading first for Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Spike and I look at each other and shrug. Still, Twilight looked worried as hell.

“Well, what does it say?” Spike asks impatiently. Remembering the scroll in my hands, I unroll it and take a look at the message myself. Sure enough, that's Celestia's hoofwriting. Er...hornwriting. Mouthwriting. Whatever. 

“My dear student, Twilight Sparkle

I apologize for contacting you so late during what I am sure is Ponyville's annual Winter Wrap-Up celebration, but I'm afraid I must request the services of you and your friends. I am not sure how much time we have, so I am sending a chariot to Ponyville immediately with a contingent of pegasus guards to expedite your speedy departure to Canterlot. You can expect it to land next to your library within the hour.

I need you to gather your friends and be ready to meet the chariot as swiftly as possible. I am afraid the Elements of Harmony may be necessary in the near future. In addition, tell Seth that he absolutely must accompany you. This concerns him a great deal, and it would be a disservice for me not to include him in this endeavor.

I apologize for not being able to tell you more, but this is a matter of national security.

Your loving mentor and friend,
Princess Celestia.”

“Holy shit, the Elements of Harmony? Now?” I exclaim in shock, my hands starting to tremble. Whatever Celestia is talking about is so important that this country's magical superweapon may be necessary?

“The Elements? Is something going on?” Spike asks anxiously, his eyes wide at the mention of the superweapon. “Seth?”

“I don't know. Celestia doesn't say anything except that Twilight needs to bring her friends to the library, where a chariot will soon arrive to pick us all up,” I say, rolling up the scroll again. I squeeze my eyes shut and clench one hand into a fist. “And she said that I have to be there as well. Please god, don't let this be another battle. Not now!”

“Okay, calm down. You're one of the strongest magic users Equestria's got, right? Whatever it is that has Princess Celestia so worried, you'll be able to handle it, okay?” Spike assures me, resting a claw on my knee, the highest part of me he can reach. “But not if you're freaking out.”

“I just..I thought I was done with this shit. At least for a few months or so....” I lament, and then I slam my fist into the table out of frustration. “But now? I'm supposed to be relaxing and enjoying life with my friends!”

Before Spike can say anything further, Twilight returns, only this time she has Rainbow, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity in tow, each of them looking about as confused and worried as I feel. “Seth, did you read the letter?” Twilight demands as she reaches the table.

“I did. I'm not happy about it, but I'm ready to come with you. Whatever Celestia wants, it concerns me,” I reply darkly, giving her the message back.

“Twilight, darling, what's going on? We're in the middle of a party,” Rarity beseeches Twilight, looking loathe to leave the party so soon. And then there's Pinkie.

“It's just unheard of for the party planner to leave the party before it's over! I don't suppose this can wait just a teensie bit longer?” Pinkie attempts to persuade, but Twilight shakes her head.

“No, we have to get going. Princess Celestia said it's a matter of national security!” Twilight informs them all. I guess she didn't tell them much when she was rounding them up. Her revelation serves to shut down any further protests from them. “Hurry. We don't have time to waste. The chariot will be here within the hour!”

Twilight moves around the table and starts to gallop down the street towards the library, the rest of us keeping up as best we can. “Is it Chrysalis? Because if it is, I'm really going to beat the hay out of her this time!” Rainbow declares, punching her hoof at midair as she flies alongside me.

“I certainly hope not!” Rarity asserts, shuddering. “Those changelings were monstrous and revolting!”

“Oh, I hope it's nothing dangerous,” Fluttershy fusses. “Will my animals be okay while I'm gone?”

“Whatever it is, it can't be good, if it's got the princess callin' us to Canterlot this late,” Applejack reasons, much to Fluttershy's dismay. “Plus, she wants Seth too? He's a magical powerhouse, so it don't make sense to bring him unless she needs that power.”

“It has to be Chrysalis. Celestia told me that the business in the north wasn't my responsibility,” I return, even though I know that none of them apart from Rainbow and Twilight know about the undead massing in the north. I punch my palm with a fist. “This time, I'm fucking ready for her. I'm not as weak as I was then.”

“Aw yeah! And this time, I'm going to fight her with you!” Rainbow asserts. I shoot her a stare. Yeah no, I saw what happened last time you tried to fight someone with comparable strength to Chrysalis. You nearly died.

However, before I can protest, we reach the library, the eight of us huddling around the front door. Twilight looks up at the sky, keeping an eye out for the chariot. It doesn't take her long to spot it. “There! It's already coming!” Twilight reveals, pointing a hoof in the sky. We all follow to where she's pointing, and sure enough, I can see the golden dot approaching through the sky, visible only through the light from the party reflecting off of its smooth metal surface. “Spike, you should stay here. What's coming is probably going to be dangerous, if she needs the Elements of Harmony.”

“Are you kidding? There's no way I'm staying behind. You remember my role in the changeling invasion? Without me, the plan would have never worked!” Spike protests hotly, looking offended that she'd even suggest he stay behind.

“He's right, Twilight. In the worst case scenario, that message transferring ability is invaluable,” I remind her. Twilight looks like she wants to argue, but she closes her mouth, recognizing the truth in my words. “Trust me. With you and me here, he'll be perfectly safe.”

“I suppose. I just don't want to see him get hurt. He can't exactly fight,” Twilight admits, blushing a little.

“Yeah, well, Rarity's not the best fighter either, and look how important she was in the changeling invasion!” I shoot right back at her. I don't know why I'm arguing so much for Spike, but honestly, we need that skill of his. I hate that we're talking like we're going right back into hell, even though we don't actually know what Celestia is talking about.

“Let's just calm down, all of us. There's no sense in jumping to conclusions before we even know all the details,” Rarity sensibly interjects. She still looks worried, but I'm glad that she can at least keep a cool head.

“Rarity is raht. We shouldn't panic before we know what's goin' on,” Applejack agrees. She angles her head to look up at the sky. “The chariot's almost here. We'll be in Canterlot in no time, and then we kin ask the princess all the questions we want.”

“Yes...yes...sorry. I'm just really worried,” Twilight admits, forcing herself to take a few deep breaths. “Princess Celestia sounded so serious in her letter.”

“Like Applejack said, we'll ask her when we get there,” I reply, just as the chariot is finally touching down. I don't recognize any of the guards pulling or accompanying the chariot, however.

“Climb aboard, Elements of Harmony. We've been instructed to carry you to Canterlot posthaste,” the guard at the front of the formation states in an official manner. I'm the first to step into the chariot. Even though I know it would be much faster to fly there myself, not all of us can fly, and Celestia likely intends to give the details to all of us at once.

Rainbow, Twilight, and the others clamber into the chariot as well, strapping themselves in and clustering together in the tight space. Rainbow ends up squished between Twilight and I in a comical fashion. In any other situation, I would be making fun of her. Right now, all I can think about is what waits for us in Canterlot.

Once the guards make sure we're all inside and situated, they take off at a gallop, and soon I feel my stomach fall as we suddenly rise in altitude. The warm night winds rush over us, drowning out anything else we try to say. That's probably a good thing. We're all confused and anxious, and if we keep talking without answers, we'll just start snapping at each other.

It isn't long before Canterlot comes into view. The twinkling lights from the city look beautiful from above, but its hard to appreciate them with everything that's going on. As always, the chariot bypasses the city itself, heading directly for the castle. A quick glance over the side lets me know we're heading for the same landing strip as before.

The difference this time is that when the chariot's wheels bump across the runway's surface, I see both Celestia and Luna standing just outside of the entrance back into the castle, waiting for us. Both of them are wearing expressions telling me that this certainly isn't a social visit. The other thing I notice is that there's an airship parked just above us. I couldn't see it before due to the dim light. I guess that makes the pony standing in front of the gangplank Gilded Skies. Yup, I can see the coat and everything.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight calls out, jumping out of the chariot the moment it comes to a stop. Despite her grave expression, Celestia manages to put on a smile and give Twilight a warm welcome, dipping her head to nuzzle her student and friend. “Is everything all right? What's the trouble? Why do we need the Elements? Why...”

“Give her a chance to get a word in edgewise, Twilight,” I cut her off, hopping out of the chariot as well. Behind me, Spike and the other ponies also get out of the vehicle and look around at the airship and all of the guards.

“Thank you, Seth. I am glad you came.” Celestia greets me next with a respectful dip of her head. “All of you, come with me. There's no time to waste.”

With Twilight and I at the front of the group, we all follow Celestia and Luna into the castle, where they lead us through the hallways to a part of the castle that I've never seen before. Soon, we enter a long hallway with stained glass windows and a plush red carpet covering the floors. On each of the windows are...hold on, are those pictures of Twilight and her friends? IS THAT A PICTURE OF ME!?

I'm not kidding. A few of the windows depict Twilight and her friends facing off against a dark blue and black alicorn, while others show them facing off against a fucked up looking creature that can only be Discord. A third set of windows shows them facing a horde of changelings, while a small version of Luna and I are fighting against what looks to be Chrysalis herself. Is this some kind of historical hallway? I'm not sure how I feel about being engraved in this country's history like that.

“I am sure those of you attuned to magic noticed the wave of magical energy that passed over the entirety of Equestria just recently,” Celestia states seriously, turning her head to look back at us as we near the end of the hallway.

“I did...but I thought I was imagining it,” I reveal with surprise. So I wasn't crazy when I felt something wrong in the air, just before we left for the party.

“Me too. I was worried, but nothing seemed to be happening, so I forgot about it,” Twilight admits, looking over at me. I suddenly realize how stupid I was for not asking Twilight about it. If anypony would have felt it, it would have been her. “So there was something to it after all?”

“Magic like that does not come from nowhere. Usually a surge of magic like that results from the dispelling or failure of a curse,” Celestia explains. I raise an eyebrow, wondering where she's going with this.

“We had our suspicions, and thus we sent the Stealth Corps to investigate,” Luna continues, just as the ten of us come to stop just outside of a crystalline door with a strangely constructed keyhole in the center of it. “The cause was plain to see.”

“The Crystal Empire has appeared once more, in the wastelands of the north,” Celestia reveals. A bolt of hot adrenaline rushes through my body at the revelation, even as a mixture of cold dread and anger seep into my heart and mind. Twilight's jaw drops, as she is the only one here besides me that knows the full story of the Crystal Empire.

The other ponies look confused and exchange glances, not knowing much one way or the other. Rainbow knows a little, but not much. Nevertheless, she can tell just by looking at me how this makes me feel.

“How is that possible!? You told me that the whole place was tied to Sombra's life force, and such it was destroyed when he perished!” I demand angrily. I see now why Celestia insisted that I come too. This most definitely concerns me. “How can it be back?”

“Tis not quite certain as of yet. However, the city hath reappeared, and seems to be in the condition it was before King Sombra's conquest,” Luna admits, revealing that she and Celestia know about as much as we do on the matter. I clench my fists. Did Celestia screw up in killing Sombra somehow? It's tied to his life force. The only way it could come back is if he did...but that's impossible. He's dead. You can't just come back to life. “Here, see for thyself.”

Luna's horn flashes, and from its tip streams a projection of the Crystal Empire, easily recognizable by the massive crystal tower in the center of the city.

“This is a live image taken directly from our outpost established by Princess Cadance and Captain Shining Armor, who had already been in the area to monitor the growing undead menace,” Celestia explains grimly.

“My brother is there?” Twilight asks excitedly, despite the situation. Celestia nods.

“There is no telling what the return of the Crystal Empire may mean. As such, we are not taking any chances,” Celestia assures us. “At best, King Sombra's curse may be wearing off. It would not be the first time such a thing has occurred.”

“Sister, dost thou truly think such a powerful curse could simply wear off?” Luna questions skeptically. I find myself agreeing with Luna. Sombra tied that shit to his life force. Hes supposed to be dead, so the Crystal Empire should have stayed gone.

“I do not. It is wishful thinking at best, I suppose,” Celestia admits, causing me to sigh. This is turning into a huge mess. “However, the worst case scenario is that King Sombra has found a way to return, and therefore brought the Crystal Empire back with him.”

“Okay, that's impossible. You told me you killed him!” I burst out, unable to restrain myself. Celestia looks at me with an odd expression...and suddenly I start to fear that perhaps Sombra isn't so dead after all.

“I never said I killed him, Seth. To tell you the truth, King Sombra's power was worlds above our own abilities,” Celestia admits, shaking her head. Luna nods sagely, while Twilight and the other ponies here look utterly shocked that there could possibly be something in this world more powerful than Celestia and Luna. As for me...I'm starting to get angry fast. “Therefore, Luna and I were forced to use the Elements of Harmony to deal with him.”

“With them, we dissolved his body into nothing and sealed what little of his essence was left into the northern glaciers,” Luna finishes. Finally, I lose my ability to hold back my temper.

“So what, you're telling me that he's been alive this whole fucking time!? Are you saying you lied to me, back in the library!?” I snap at them, my voice steadily rising.

“I never lied to you, Seth,” Celestia assures me firmly, orienting herself so that she's looking at me and me alone. “I told you the absolute truth, back when we first met. We defeated Sombra and sealed him away. Going after him would have been pointless, as there was nothing for you to fight. Even if you did manage to free him through some improbable means, he would have destroyed you in an instant.”

“And you didn't think to tell me that, instead of the bare fucking minimum!?” I shoot back, hardly satisfied. So what if he's sealed away? If he's alive, I want to kill him. I'm a lot stronger than I was then, stronger than Chrysalis.

“Would you have listened to me, Seth?” Celestia returns calmly. I open my mouth to answer, but then I pause, remembering exactly how I felt at the time. “I understood how you felt. It would not matter what I told you. You would have gone after him, even if it killed you.”

“I'm sorry, but are you sure it's King Sombra that we're dealing with?” Twilight interrupts just as I'm about to argue further.

“The possibility cannot be ruled out. However, I feel it is unlikely, as I have not sensed him,” Celestia answers seriously. “King Sombra's power is immense. Even if he were weakened from being sealed away, I would still be able to feel him.”

“No offense, Princess, but we keep talkin' about what maht be or what ifs,” Applejack interjects, joining Twilight and I at the front. “So far, all ah've understood is that some ancient empire is back, but we don't really know why.”

“That's correct,” Celestia confirms, looking at Applejack with curiosity.

“Before we start jumpin' to conclusions, why don't we go find out?” Applejack suggests sensibly. I sigh and attempt to calm myself down. As angry as I am about the revelation that Sombra might still be alive (sealed away or whatever), Applejack is making sense. There's something to be said about keeping a level head, I suppose.

“Of course, Applejack. That is exactly what I intend for us to do,” Celestia responds, smiling at the farm pony. She turns around and faces the large door, her horn lighting up. She inserts her long horn into the keyhole just long enough for it to sense her magic, and then she steps back. The door slides into the ground, revealing a gilded chest that emanates with visible magic power. “But before I explain what measures I have taken, I would like you all to equip your respective Elements of Harmony.”

Luna's horn lights up, and then the box opens to reveal five golden necklaces as well as an engraved crown, each piece characterized by a different colored gem. I'm assuming that those are the Elements of Harmony that I've heard so much about.

With her magic, Luna distributes the Elements to the six ponies. Applejack receives the necklace with the topaz apple, the necklace fitting around her neck and fastening itself there as if it were made for her. The necklace with the amethyst diamond goes to Rarity, while another with a morganite butterfly fastens to Fluttershy's neck. An aquamarine balloon finds its way to Pinkie's neck, while a ruby lightning bolt goes to Rainbow. Lastly, the crown, fixed with a rubellite star, rests atop Twilight's head.

“Now, come with me. We are leaving immediately for the Crystal Empire,” Celestia commands, shutting the vault once more. She passes by the nine of us and moves through the hallway back the way we came. “A significant number of our military forces are already there.”

“Aren't you worried about Chrysalis attacking if we leave behind a weakened Canterlot?” I question her, walking behind her with my hands in my pockets. A mixture of emotions are running through my mind due to what I've learned here, but at the same time I want to make sure Celestia knows what she's doing.

“Queen Chrysalis has no doubt felt the outflux of magic herself, and is likely attempting to discern it's source as well,” Celestia tells me. I scoff, finding that a rather dumb assumption to make. “However, in the event that she chooses to invade, I have temporarily distributed members of the Earth Pony Regiments here to reinforce the missing troops. In addition, I have established a mass teleportation glyph here in Canterlot. Should I be contacted in the case of an invasion, I will return immediately and deal with her myself.”

“Mass tele...you mean like the spell I used in the first changeling invasion?” I ask, taking back my earlier judgment. If you can control where that shit takes you, that's useful as hell.

“Yes. However, your casting of the spell was premature. Usually, two glyphs must be established in order to choose the destination of the spell,” Celestia informs me. Yeah, well, I wasn't really thinking about a destination. The only thing I had on my mind was getting the fuck away from Chrysalis before she wrecked our shit. “Do not worry, Seth. I know full well the dangers of stretching my forces too thin. But the Crystal Empire is too great of a potential threat to simply send a task force.”

With that, the group falls into silence as Celestia leads us back up to the runway. I'm assuming we're taking that airship moored up there to the Crystal Empire. It's slower than chariots, but no doubt Celestia is bringing more than just us over there.

When we reach the runway, Celestia leads us up the gangplank, past Gilded Skies, who follows us as soon as we're on board. “Now, it will likely be early morning by the time we arrive at the Crystal Empire,” she informs us. “I suggest you all get some rest.”

“That sounds like a good idea. Who knows what awaits us up north?” Twilight agrees, heading for the door that lead below decks. “Princess, where do we sleep?”

“Pick any of the empty rooms below decks. I'll send somepony to wake you when we arrive,” Celestia answers. With that, she turns away from us, instead moving to speak with Gilded Skies. “Mr Skies, prepare to cast off.”

Gilded Skies nods and heads for the balloon holding up the ship, no doubt getting ready to get this thing moving. That leaves the eight of us alone as we head into the lower decks of the ship, looking for someplace to sleep. There are a lot of rooms occupied by soldiers, but soon we start to find some empty ones. As we find them, the others start to split off, getting their own rooms.

“Hey, are you alright?” Rainbow addresses me once it's just the two of us, nudging my leg with her side. She looks up at me, looking a little worried. “I dunno all the details, but you were pretty mad back there.”

“Gee, I dunno, maybe it's because I just figured out that the fucker who killed my race is still alive,” I snap back, causing her to flinch, her ears flattening. “I don't care if he's sealed away. Now that I actually give a fuck about my race, I want to kill him.”

“But if he's sealed away, that pretty much means he's gone forever, right?” Rainbow questions. “You heard the princess. He doesn't have a body anymore. The Elements got rid of him.”

“Then why is the Crystal Empire back?” I demand. Rainbow of course doesn't have an answer to that, because none of us do. “Fucking hell. I don't know, Rainbow. None of this makes any sense. If it was tied to his life force, then why did it disappear in the first place if he was alive the whole time? But of course you don't know that.”

“Just stop thinking about it. It could just be the curse wearing off; you never know,” Rainbow advises me with a shrug. I scoff, finding that unlikely.

Once we find out own room, we step inside and shut the door. Then, Rainbow leaps up and hovers right in front of my face, looking serious. “Chill out. We're gonna be fine. I'm telling you, we're gonna laugh about this over a cup of cider later,” she attempts to reassure me. I sigh and look away from her, sitting down on the single bed. I'm not convinced..

Rainbow huffs and gets back in my field of vision, pressing herself to my chest. “Hey. Look at me,” Rainbow orders me, pressing against my cheek with a hoof so that I have to look at her. She's looking at me with a small reassuring smile. “I love you. Okay? So cheer up and let's get some sleep.”

I blink at her, not expecting the random declaration of love. I don't know why, but that makes me feel a little better. God, this is sad. “I don't know why that makes me feel better,” I admit, shifting aside and laying down such that Rainbow has room to curl up beside me. Rainbow snickers, bringing her face close to mine. The two of us share a loving kiss.

“Because being sappy is the only way to get through to you,” Rainbow complains, grinning. I scoff at that, even though I think she's partially right. Every time she's convinced me of something, she's always had to be sappy. “Good night, Seth.”

“Good night, Rainbow.”

	

	

> 95. The Crystal Empire
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 	My sleep that night is restless, because I'm constantly plagued by dreams of things I'd rather have forgotten. Once or twice, I find myself jerking awake in the middle of the night, sweating. I can never remember what I was dreaming about only a few seconds before, but that bastard Sombra is always fresh on my mind. If it weren't for Rainbow curled up against me and breathing softly into my neck, I'd have never gotten back to sleep again.

I'm finally awoken for good when I feel the airship stop moving. Go figure, but it's actually the lack of the hum of the engine or whatever keeps this thing in the air that wakes me up. I groan, my eyelids still feeling heavy from lack of sleep. I wonder what time it is?

A quick glance at my clock tells me it's seven in the morning. I guess the Crystal Empire is further away from Canterlot than I thought. I've only seen a few maps of Equestria during my time here, but I've never been able to memorize where everything is in relation to one another. I've never actually gone anywhere other than Ponyville or Canterlot.

“Rainbow...wake up. I think we're here,” I groan, nudging my marefriend with my elbow. God, it's so weird to refer to her like that. Rainbow moans softly in her sleep and rolls over, much to my frustration. “Ugh, you're so annoying.”

Her turning over reveals to me that she never took off her Element of Harmony last night. Now that I've got a closer look at it, I peer closer at the ruby lightning bolt with curious eyes. It's a gorgeous gemstone, for sure. However, when I brush it with my finger, I feel a spark of magical energy. Holy shit. Just touching this thing lets me feel exactly how much power it holds. If just one of these things holds this much power, I can certainly see how all of them together could take out something as powerful as Discord, a literal god.

Rainbow still hasn't stirred. I huff and extricate myself from her grasp, such that she's left clutching at air as I get up from the bed. Without hesitating, I pick her up roughly off of the bed and sling her over my shoulder, figuring that she'll wake up eventually. “Stupid sleepy Rainbow,” I grunt as I head for the door.

To my surprise, opening the door to my room reveals a guard who looks like he was just raising his hoof to knock. “You're already awake, sir?” the unicorn emits, surprised. To his credit, he doesn't bat an eye at the mare draped over my shoulder. I give him a terse nod. I'm still tired, but he doesn't need to know that. I'll be fully awake soon. “Good. The princesses sent me to retrieve you. We've arrived in the Crystal Empire.”

After I acknowledge his announcement, the guard departs with a dip of his head, likely going to awaken the others as well. Now that I'm alone, I shift Rainbow in my arms and then slowly press her nose into the wall.

“Ow, what the hay!?” Rainbow complains, waking up with a start to find herself against the wall. “Where am I? Seth, what did you do?”

“I love how at this point if anything is wrong when you wake up, you blame me,” I respond without answering her question. I sling the squirming Rainbow back over my shoulder and start walking down the hallway. “You should be awake now. We're here.”

“Would you put me down?” Rainbow protests, attempting to worm out of my grip. “I'm awake, now let go!”

“Why should I? You haven't given me a good morning kiss yet,” I tease her, remembering our conversation from the other night. Rainbow picks right up on it, because she stops squirming and smirks at me.

“What are you, three years old?” Rainbow returns, bopping my nose with her free hoof. “You don't seem the type for good morning kisses.”

“That's because I'm not. I just wanted to see if you'd do it,” I reveal with a knowing chuckle. Rainbow laughs as well, because this conversation is seriously happening again.

“Besides, if I wanted a kiss...” I trail off with a smirk of my own. Rainbow knows what's coming, so she leans in and meets me halfway in a brief kiss. “...I'd just take one.”

“Someone's all confident this morning,” Rainbow remarks once I pull away. I notice she's blushing with some amusement. I guess she's not used to me kissing her first. That's fine, because I'm not used to it either. “Are you feeling better?”

“Honestly, no,” I reply, getting serious again. I let her go as we reach the stairs and start to ascend to the upper deck. “But I figured Applejack had the right idea. There's no point worrying about what might be, especially when we don't know all the details.”

“Exactly! Applejack knows how to keep a level head, that's for sure,” Rainbow agrees enthusiastically, climbing the stairs beside me. She reaches the door that leads out onto the deck before I do and pushes it open. “Now come on. I hear about this Crystal Empire all the time, so let's go see what it's really like.”

The first thing I notice is that it's fucking cold...way worse than the weather ever was during the winter. Snow falls thickly all across the area, littering the deck with spots of white that are constantly being stirred up by the many soldiers marching every which way. The upper deck of the airship is alive with activity, soldiers moving quickly to carry out Gilded Skies's orders.

“I wonder how far north we are?” I muse, ignoring the soldiers around us. The first thing Rainbow and I do is head for the side of the airship, until the two of us can see over the edge...and down to the Crystal Empire below. “Holy shit.”

“Wow...it looks even cooler than it did in the hologram...” Rainbow trails off, looking down at the Crystal Empire spread out before us. I agree. It looked kinda cool in the hologram, but seeing it in person like this, I'm honestly in awe.

There are no clouds within the vicinity of the city for some odd reason, and crystal streets are lined with lush grass and colorful flowers. The sun reflects off of the crystalline buildings, giving the whole place a mystical air about it. However, the most eye catching feature is the incredibly tall and extravagant crystal tower smack dab in the middle of the city.

There's also a strange phenomenon that occurs on the very edge of the city. While the city itself is beautiful and filled with colorful plants, the grass seems to just stop, giving way to the frozen wasteland beyond. It's as if the whole city had been inserted right into the middle of this wasteland.

In addition to the city itself, I notice several other airships floating down around the outskirts of the city, indicating that troops had been sent out before us. Actually, a lot of soldiers are here, because I can see large military camps scattered around the city. Each camp consists of several white tents arranged in a rectangular pattern, along with a larger white tent in the center. In total, I estimate there's several hundred tents or so scattered around the city. Celestia is certainly taking this seriously. Not only did she gather the Elements of Harmony, but she also sent a small army here.

Speaking of the army, I can see some of them. They look to be either remaining on standby in their camps, or patrolling the streets for signs of danger. In addition, there are flocks of pegasi soaring over the city, each one led by a pegasus wearing the distinctive uniform of the Wonderbolts.

“Ohmigosh, Captain Spitfire is here! Look, can you see her?” Rainbow squeals, noticing the Wonderbolt captain around the same time I do. I shake my head, remembering Rainbow's obsession with Spitfire. I guess with the whole relationship thing, I forgot about that. I place a hand on Rainbow's back. “What the...don't worry, I'm not going to fly away. She's busy, I know.”

“Good. But seriously though, look at all of them. You'd think we were expecting a war,” I remark, my eyes following a column of marching unicorns.

“We must be ready for anything, Seth.” I turn around to see Celestia and Luna striding out from below decks...and their appearance takes me off guard.

Luna is wearing the same armor that she'd worn during the royal wedding, the interlocking plates clanking slightly with every step. Her mane is pulled back and fastened by several black rings to keep it out of her face. As for Celestia...holy shit, I've never seen her in battle armor before. As if she wasn't intimidating before, she's doubly so now. I think I'd shit myself if I saw her coming at me at full power wearing that armor.

Firstly, Celestia is wearing a suit made of crimson cloth that hugs her body closely. Over top of this, she wore thick gold armor made of overlapping plates over each of her vital areas: such as her chest, underside, hooves, and wing joints, while still giving her room to move. To cover her backside, several interlocking strips of golden metal stream over her rump almost like a dress, except it serves a far more important purpose. To finish off the whole outfit, she wore a golden headpiece that protected her ears and the back of her neck, but left her horn and face unimpeded. Goddamn. She looks every inch the ruler of Equestria.

“Holy shit, Celestia,” I remark, suddenly wishing I had some armor like that for myself. Unfortunately, I'm the only one of my kind in Equestria. There's no way they'll have armor that'll fit me. “Are you sure we're not going into battle?”

“This is simply a necessary precaution. If you recall, the last time my sister and I were here, it was during a war between the Crystal Empire and Equestria,” Celestia reminds me. Her eyes narrow as she gazes down at the city below. “I will not be caught off guard this time, like I was during the royal wedding.”

I start to relax a little. As odd as it is for this city to return after a millennium, we still have Celestia, and she's fucking unstoppable in battle. So what if Sombra was stronger than her before? That was a thousand years ago. Even if Sombra somehow made it out of his seal, Celestia and I will fuck him up good.

“Wear this,” Luna commands me all of a sudden. I look over at her just in time to feel a thick sheet wrap around my body, courtesy of her magic. “Thou dost not possess a fur coat, as we ponies do. This should assist in keeping thee warm.”

“Thank you,” I reply gratefully, drawing the brown sheet closer to my body. Luna also passes me a pin, which I use to fasten the makeshift cloak together at my neck.

The door to the lower decks opens again, and this time Twilight and Applejack emerge from within. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie come out next, followed by Spike. When they reach us, there's a short moment where we exchange typical morning pleasantries.

“That's some armor. Wow, totally cool!” Spike marvels, gazing up at Celestia with admiration in his eyes. Celestia gives a small smile in response to his enthusiasm. To me, she seems a little sad to be wearing it.

“Lookit the size o' that tower! Whoo-ie!” Applejack exclaims from her position next to Rainbow and I. She's looking down at the city in awe. Rarity soon joins us, and her response is a bit more vocal.

“Oh my goodness! The Crystal Empire is simply marvelous! Look at all of that gorgeous crystal!” Rarity gushes, her eyes practically sparkling. “Look at how the buildings reflect the light...if only I could get my hooves on a sample. Imagine if I devised a Crystal Empire-themed dress line. The sales would skyrocket!”

“Right. Because making dresses is what we came to do,” I remind her with a sarcastic edge in my voice. Rarity winces.

“It never hurts to look toward the future, darling,” Rarity returns with a confident smile. I shake my head. It's only because she has no idea what we're walking into that she can act so carefree.

Next to me, Pinkie zooms over to the edge and sticks her head over, looking down at the city below. “Wow! Sparklerific!” she squeals, bouncing in place. Oh come on, please tell me one of them is going to take this seriously.

“What are we going to do once we get down there, Princess? I don't see any sign of King Sombra,” Twilight addresses Celestia, glancing down at the city herself.

“You are correct .According to the troops I've stationed below, the city has been peaceful,” Celestia reveals. “However, the city was not the only thing that returned. The crystal ponies have returned as well, unharmed.”

“There are crystal ponies!?” Rarity exclaims, tugging on her mane out of sheer delight. However, the looks she's given from many of us visibly deflate her, to the point where she gives a nervous chuckle. “Uh...I'm sorry. Do continue, please.”

“Crystal ponies? You mean Sombra's soldiers? Or the ones he enslaved?” I ask, remembering everything Celestia has ever told me about the Crystal Empire.

“The latter. This is made clear by the fact that they all refuse to leave their homes,” Celestia answers. “None of my soldiers have been able to get anything out of them. That leads us to our first order of business.”

“Give us somethin' ta do, princess, an' we'll do it!” Applejack affirms, moving to stand by Twilight and Fluttershy. Celestia smiles gratefully at her.

“We must gather information before we can make any sort of definitive action,” Celestia tells us. “Therefore, I am going to split the eight of you into groups, and then you shall each take a different sector of the city and question the crystal ponies. It is my hope that they will have some inkling of how the city returned.”

“Sounds good to me. Who am I going with?” I respond, knowing for sure that I'm likely going to be put in a group with Rainbow, because Celestia knows me well enough by now.

“Twilight, I want you to go with Fluttershy and take the northeastern quadrant of the city,” Celestia begins, pointing with a hoof at the area she mentioned. Twilight and Fluttershy exchange glances, and then nod their understanding. “Next, Rainbow Dash, go with Rarity and take the southeastern quadrant.”

Rainbow and I look at Celestia in surprise. Wait, I'm not going with Rainbow? Why the hell not? I'm sure she has some reason for these choices, but I'm not sure what it is. Celestia notices my stare, but says nothing about it.

“Pinkie Pie, take Spike and handle the northwestern quadrant. Lastly, Seth, take Applejack with you and search the remaining quadrant,” Celestia finishes. I look at Applejack, meeting her gaze. Huh. I mean, I don't mind going with Applejack. “I chose these teams in order to maximize mobility.”

Huh, actually that makes sense. Two groups have a pegasus, and a third has me, and I can fly too. Hold on a second... “How the fuck does Pinkie maximize mobility? She can't fly,” I point out.

“Of course I can! Just give me one second!” Pinkie corrects me. She bounces over to the door that leads below deck, and as the rest of us watch incredulously, she sticks her head and front hooves inside and starts pulling on something hidden inside. “C'mere, you...oh, you silly, you're stuck on the door jamb.”

To everyone's shock and bemusement, Pinkie proceeds to pull out the weirdest fucking contraption that looks like it's made out of candy canes. There's a seat for somepony to sit on, complete with pedals akin to that of a bicycle's just beneath the seat. There's also another tiny seat behind it that's just the right size for Spike. To top all of this off, there's a propeller up top that looks like it's connected to the pedals.

“See? I can move around with this!” Pinkie proclaims, indicating her machine with both front hooves. My brow slowly flattens, and suddenly I have the urge to beat my head against the edge of the airship.

“What the hell is that!? There's no way in hell that thing should be able to fly! And even if by some measure of bullshit that it does, there's absolutely no way it could hold up the weight of not just a pony, but also a dragon!” I rant, making Rainbow facehoof next to me. I nearly fall over from the sheer stupidity when Pinkie's response is to hop into the machine and start hovering around the deck with it, her little hooves pedaling furiously. “How does that...I don't even...no, you know what? I'm done. I'm just...I'm fucking done.”

“Seth, some things in life you just have to accept...and Pinkie is one of them,” Twilight assures me with a knowing smile. “It'll cause you much less of a headache if you do.”

“Whatever. Can we just get going now before watching her gives me an aneurism?” I express, rubbing my forehead furiously to alleviate the oncoming headache.

“Princess, what are you going to be doing?” Twilight asks curiously as she moves closer to Fluttershy.

“We shall be meeting with the military and consolidate any new information,” Celestia responds, referring to Luna with her head. “So far, there has been no sign of any possible threat, but we must remain vigilant. Let's go, everyone. Your priority is to discover the cause of the city's appearance; every little detail helps.”

“Sounds good to me. Come here, Applejack,” I say, being the first to take action. Applejack gives a panicked yelp as I reach down and scoop her up off of her hooves and hoist her over my shoulder, much like what I did with Lyra last night.

“Seth, what in tarnation are ya doin'!?” Applejack exclaims, struggling. She's a lot stronger than she looks, so I actually have to try to keep her in place.

“What, you didn't think you were just going to jump over the edge, were you? Now stop fucking struggling so I can carry you!” I snap at her. Applejack abruptly stops squirming, understanding the sense in that. However, she does hold her hat to her head with a hoof.

Next to us, Fluttershy tenderly picks up Twilight, though she's clearly struggling. Rainbow easily lifts Rarity off of the ground, even though the latter protests at the indignity of it. Pinkie sets Spike onto her dumb little flying machine, and then she takes off; easily flying over the edge of the airship and descending to the city. That stupid fucking machine. There's no way it should work.

“Hold on,” I warn Applejack, and then I jump right off the edge of the airship. Immediately the cold air starts to whip against my face, chilling me to the point where I start shivering. The Crystal Empire grows ever closer. Celestia gave Applejack and I the southwestern portion of the city, so when the ground starts to grow dangerously close, I flare my magic and zoom towards a random street in the aforementioned region.

Applejack leaps off of my shoulder and frantically embraces the ground. “Couldn't ya have taken the fall a little...uh...slower?” Applejack asks me, gulping. I don't answer, instead looking around at our surroundings.

“So this is the Crystal Empire, huh?” I ask aloud. The buildings are all polygonal; even the circular ones consist of many flat edges with sharp corners. The edges of the buildings are sharp and angled, as if cut like a gemstone.

“Yup...it's mighty pretty, ah'll give it that,” Applejack responds, even though my question was mostly rhetorical. “It's also a mite eerie. Where is everypony?”

I stride up to one of the buildings and press my hand against the side. The surface is cool and hard, and shines with the luster of a gemstone. I flick it curiously, finding the hardness and texture to be very similar to that of a crystal. So everything here is literally made of crystal, even the streets that I'm walking on. The only differences between buildings are the colors of the crystals used to make them, as well as the different designs.

“That's a good point,” I return, stepping back from the building and looking around. There's no sign of anypony in the streets. However, upon casting my gaze across the upper level of one of the houses, I catch sight of a strange bluish mare gazing at me from an upstairs window. The moment our eyes meet, she retreats inside frantically and slams the window shut. Applejack jumps in surprise from the sudden noise echoing through the silent empty streets. “They're inside. Celestia did say that the crystal ponies refused to leave their houses.”

“All of 'em? So that's why ah feel like ah'm bein' watched,” Applejack remarks, shuddering a bit. I nod, feeling it myself in the way the hairs on the back of my neck are prickling.

The two of us cast our gaze around the street that we're in, searching for any signs of life. Sure enough, now that we're looking for them, there's signs of ponies watching us all over the place. Windows are cracked open, doors are left hanging slightly ajar, and one time I even think I spot a pony moving through the tiny alleys between houses. Frightened eyes watch us with every step. At this point, the fear in the air is practically palpable.

“Hey there, would you mind answerin' a few...” Applejack calls to one of the ponies watching us from a doorway, only for the door to slam shut. The sounds of rapidly retreating hoofsteps could be heard from inside. Applejack's brow flattens. “...questions. Gosh, what do ya think happened here to make 'em all so scared?”

“Honestly, I don't know much more than you do. All I know is that Sombra was an evil son of a bitch who ruled this place and enslaved his subjects,” I admit. Applejack nods, having put that much together from what she heard of our conversation with Celestia. “Exactly what that entails, however, I'm not exactly sure.”

“Ah'm not sure ah want to know,” Applejack says with a shudder. You know, neither do I. Celestia said that Sombra inflicted such horrors on his ponies, that she felt morally obligated to invade the Crystal Empire to put an end to him. That's pretty huge, especially when you consider the political ramifications of such an invasion. “Still, we gotta get 'em to talk to us. How're we gonna do that if they keep runnin'?”

“I'm not sure. We have to do something to let them know we're not a threat, I guess,” I surmise. Though at this point I'm considering just kicking down a door and finding answers that way. But I know I can't do that. I'll just end up freaking them out even more. “Any ideas?”

“Well, ah got one. Ah dunno if it'll work, though,” Applejack replies. As I watch curious, she approaches the door to a house that looks like it's made of pure garnet. With her hoof, she reaches up and knocks on the door firmly. The sound of hoof tapping on crystal echoes through the streets, which are absent of any other sound.

“Really? You knocked on the door? Like it's really going to be that simple,” I criticize her, watching the house with my arms crossed.

Applejack shrugs, taking my disapproval in stride. “Ah figured the straightforward approach was worth a shot,” she explains. We wait for several seconds, hoping that the denizens of the home would answer. I turn away with a scoff, having expected as much.

“Of course. God forbid these ponies open the damn...” I start to complain, but then Applejack quickly hushes me, just as the front door to the house gently clicks open. Really? There's no way that just worked. It was as easy as knocking on the door?

The door opens just a crack to reveal a trembling filly who looked to be no older than Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle. Her mane was the same color as her house, but it hangs limply down one side of her face, as if it had lost its luster. The same went for her drab cream colored coat. The scared filly looked up at the two of us with frightened liquid eyes. Applejack gives me a stare, as if warning me to stay out of this one.

“Howdy there, little fella.” Applejack greets the pitiful looking filly in a soft voice, leaning down so that she didn't tower over her so much. “What's yer name?”

The filly gulps, looking between us. Upon hearing Applejack's voice, she retreats further inside, as if hoping the door would protect her from harm. “Are...” when the filly finally spoke, her voice cracked from neglect and disuse. “Are you going to h-hurt me?”

“What? O' course not.,” Applejack answers her, looking appalled by the very suggestion. She reached down painstakingly slowly with her hoof, giving the filly a reassuring smile. The filly eyes the approaching hoof with terror, but Applejack's smile seems to reassure her. When Applejack's hoof comes into contact with the side of the filly's head in a comforting rub, she closes her eyes and leans into the contact. Well, I'll be damned. Applejack, holy shit. “We're here ta help you...ah promise.”

“You promise?” the filly responds once Applejack retreats her hoof. Applejack nods firmly, never once letting that smile leave her face. The filly watches Applejack for a little while longer, before she finally speaks again. “I'm...my name is...I think it's...Am...Amber.”

“It's mighty nice to meetcha, Amber. Mah name's Applejack, and this big guy here is Seth,” Applejack introduces us as I watch. Amber's eyes look over to me and widen when she sees how tall I am compared to her. “Don't worry 'bout him none. He looks scary but he's really nice once ya get to know 'im.”

I really want to fucking retort to that. Like, you don't even understand how much I'm biting my tongue. But, as much as I hate to admit it, Applejack is doing way better at this than I could ever hope to, so I'll let her say what she wants. I'd probably just traumatize the poor thing far more than she already is.

“Amber, wouldja mind if Seth and ah came in an' spoke to your parents?” Applejack asks, getting to the point of why we're here in the first place.

“I...I don't have any parents. King S..Sombra made them go away,” Amber reveals. Applejack gives a gasp, understanding Amber's plight in an instant. “My sis is raising me, but it's hard.”

That one statement seems to affect Applejack a great deal, because her eyes widen slightly and her mouth falls slightly open. “Raised...by your sister?” Applejack repeats, her voice barely above a whisper. Amber nods in confirmation. “Can we come in an' speak to her? It's really important.”

“...Okay,” Amber replies uncertainly after a long pause. Finally, she steps back, allowing Applejack to open the door outwards.

I follow Applejack and Amber inside wordlessly, looking around as I do so. A narrow hallway stretches out from the doorway, a crystal end table tucked against one wall. The hall opens out into a small living area devoid of any kind of luxuries, apart from a ragged carpet on the floor and a few rickety chairs.

“The overseers didn't come today,” Amber says softly as we walk into the living area. I blink. Overseers? I glance at Applejack, but she looks just as confused as I do. “They always come, every morning....they hurt me. They hurt Sis more.”

Applejack stays quiet, her expression turning pained. I start to get a terrible inkling of why the crystal ponies so frightened of us. They were all enslaved. Even this little filly in front of me looks like she's been through hell. I don't care who the fuck you are, you do not put a filly through something like that. Especially not one this young.

“No one's gonna hurt ya, Amber,” Applejack attempts to reassure her, despite the fact that we know so little of what this poor thing went through. “There's no overseers. Not anymore.”

Amber looks up at Applejack hopefully, but that hope dies as soon as it appears, making me cringe. “You shouldn't lie. They always come. Ever since I can remember, they've come,” the filly reveals, her little body trembling. She covers her eyes with her hooves. “I don't wanna go back in the cave...please don't make me...”

“Then why didn't they come this mornin'?” Applejack presses. Just as Amber looks like she's going to respond, there's a gasp from the hallway on the other side of the room.

“Get away from her!” a mare's voice cries desperately. Applejack and I both look at the hallway to see a unicorn mare with a lifeless white coat and a limp pinkish mane that looks like it hasn't been tended to in a long, long time. The mare cowers when our gazes fall upon her, the sudden bravery dying , to be replaced with pure despair. “I...I mean...please...don't hurt my sister...she's all I have...”

“This is getting annoying,” I mutter, rubbing my forehead. I understand that we probably look like more captors to them, but this is really slowing us down. Next to me, Applejack gives me a light nudge...which I translate as “shut the hell up and let me handle this.”

“This is yer little sister? She's a cute	little thing, and well mannered too,” Applejack compliments, choosing not to respond to the mare's pleas directly. Amber looks down at the floor, shuffling a hoof. Judging by the way she's turning a little pink, I don't think she's gotten very many compliments. The mare in the hallway looks confused, though her wild-eyed expression of fear doesn't leave her face.

Applejack approaches the mare slowly, but surely. The mare steps away from her in fright, but she eventually hits the back wall, so that all she can do is watch as Applejack nears her. When Applejack lifts her hooves, the mare squeaks and shuts her eyes, expecting the worst.

She certainly didn't expect Applejack to embrace her gently, her hooves wrapping around the poor mare's neck. Applejack's cheek brushes up against the mare's in a comforting nuzzle. The mare freezes, her body still trembling. Eventually she realizes she's not being attacked, and she finally, slowly relaxes her muscles.

“You should be proud. Take it from me, it ain't easy raisin' a sister yerself,” Applejack whispers to her. Take it from...Applejack is referring to her and Apple Bloom, isn't she? I did notice that there weren't any parents around the farm, but I never asked. “Don't worry, yer safe now. Nopony's gonna hurt you again, ya hear me? I promise.”

The mare suddenly lets out a choking sob, and then she finally returns Applejack's hug, squeezing the farm pony tightly with such intensity that I'm a little surprised. “Whoa there,” Applejack comments, but she doesn't try to remove her.

Applejack's words calm the mare down, so it isn't long before the four of us are seated on the shitty chairs in the living room, an awkward silence between us. Well, awkward for me. Applejack seems to have this whole thing under control. To be honest, I'm more than a little impressed.

“I'm sorry for shouting at you,” the mare apologizes, looking as if she's trying desperately to hold back hope. “But they always hurt us...I couldn't bear to see it happen again.”

“Ah don't blame ya. Ah can't imagine what ya'll went through, but it sounds awful,” Applejack returns graciously. The mare nods sadly, looking at the ground. “Mah name's Applejack. What's yers?”

“I'm...my name is Rubella,” the mare reveals. Huh, another gem inspired name. I wonder if that's going to be a trend. “But that's not what the soldiers call me...”

“Ah don't think ah want to know what they call ya,” Applejack wisely surmises. She even shudders at the thought. Honestly, I don't want to know either. I've heard what soldiers do to slaves, and it's never pretty.

“Sis, why does she talk so funny?” Amber asks Rubella blatantly, without regard to Applejack's presence within earshot right next to her. I have to stifle a laugh at that. Kids will be kids, whatever species they are.

Rubella's eyes widen and she hushes her sister harshly, causing the little filly to flinch. “Amber!” she hisses. Applejack gives a little chuckle, though she looks caught off guard as well. I wonder when the last time somepony called her out on her accent was?

“It's fine, no need ta scold her. It's just part o' growin' up where ah'm from,” Applejack explains, smiling reassuringly at Amber to let her know that no harm was done.

“If...if you don't mind me asking, if you're not soldiers, then who are you? I've never seen anypony like you...and...that thing next to you...I...” Rubella asks, her head moving from Applejack to me, her expression wavering visibly upon looking at me. I get a little angry upon hearing her refer to me as a thing, but with common sense as well as a reassuring hoof from Applejack on my leg, I keep quiet. Of course they don't know what I am.

“Miss Applejack says he's really nice, though,” Amber pipes up.
“Ah'm just a simple farm pony from down south, and Seth here is mah friend,” Applejack responds, tipping her hat cordially. Rubella looks even more confused to hear that we're just two ordinary people (or pony in Applejack's case). No doubt she's used to nothing but more soldiers. “If it ain't too much trouble, could ya tell me the last thing y'all remember?”

“O...Oh...I guess,” Rubella replies uncertainly. She closes her eyes for a moment, as if trying to remember. “It was...I think it was late at night. All I remember was being in this room with my sister, eating what little the soldiers would let us have.”

“Then there was this noise...all this noise. Ponies kept yelling and shouting outside. I didn't know what was happening,” Amber adds, squeezing her eyes shut.

“There was a bright light, colored all the colors of the rainbow...and then...nothing,” Rubella finishes, opening her eyes once more. “I feel like I've been sleeping for a long time.”

“That's cuz you have,” Applejack reveals, much to their shock. Applejack looks to me, as if asking for confirmation. Yeah, I think if we're going to get anything out of them, we should tell them the full story. I give her a nod. “Seth and ah are gonna tell ya something that's gonna sound crazy, but ya'll gotta trust us, okay?”

“Okay,” Rubella responds uncertainly.

“Seth, you know more about the tale than ah do. Why don't you start?” Applejack asks. I guess that's fair. I did hear it directly from Celestia, after all. Rubella and Amber look at me in surprise, which is compounded when I start talking.

“Yeah, it's a hell of a long story. Sit back, because this is gonna take a while...”

	

> 96. Impending Threat
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rubella and Amber remain silent for the duration of our tale, despite how crazy it sounds. I lived some of it, and it's still a little nuts to consider. We're basically looking at the remnants of an ancient civilization and their inhabitants...except they don't know they're as ancient as they are.

“Has it really been a thousand years?” Rubella asks in shock and awe. When we nod, she lets out a disbelieving sigh. “I can't believe it. It's over? King Sombra is...gone?”

“As far as we know, yes. That's partially why we're here,” I reply, not wanting to lie to her. For all we know, Sombra could still be around. “We were hoping you could tell us why you're all back now, after all this time.”

Rubella starts to cry again, embracing her little sister with a joy only a liberated slave could exhibit. I give her a few moments to compose herself, because I think I'd be pretty happy myself in her position. Then again, I don't know what the soldiers did to her family, and I really don't want to.

When she looks at me again, she's smiling. “I never thought Equestria would be the one to save us. We always dreamed, but...we had lost all hope,” Rubella relates, sniffing and rubbing an eye with a hoof. To my surprise, something about her appearance changes. It's so subtle that I first think I'm imagining it, but a second look reveals a slight twinkle in her coat and mane, causing them to look less drab and tangled than before. What the hell is that about? “I'm so grateful...I only wish I could give you more information.”

“Just tell us what ya can, then,” Applejack reassures her. Rubella nods.

“It isn't much. I'm sorry, but I was just another slave...nopony important enough to overhear anything useful,” Rubella admits. I sigh, realizing that we've hardly learned anything from this whole process. Welp, Applejack, we have our work cut out for us. “All I remember is working myself to exhaustion just yester...I mean...a thousand years ago, and then the sounds of the battle. Everything else after that is just blank.”

“So you have no idea why you're free now?” I ask one more time, in hope that she's been holding something back. I end up disappointed when Rubella shakes her head.

“No, I'm sorry, but I don't have any information for you. All I can offer is my eternal gratitude and friendship for coming to us and treating us kindly,” Rubella answers sadly.

“Don't worry about a thing. Ah was glad to meet y'all,” Applejack assures them, even as I sit back and let out a sigh. I should have figured that this wouldn't be too easy after all. “Y'all should thank Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They're the ones that took care o' King Sombra back then.”

“They...they're here?” Rubella asks in surprise. “Even though it's been a thousand years?”

“Can we go see them? Please, sis?” Amber pleads, tugging on her sister's hoof in an adorable fashion.

“Yeah, they're immortal. No idea how they did that, nor do I particularly care,” I reveal with a shrug. I have no interest in figuring out how they became immortal. That's the last thing I want, to be honest. “But you'll likely find them with our military. I'm not sure where, though.”

“A bit o' sun might do y'all a world a good, though,” Applejack advises them as she stands up from her chair. “Why don't y'all step outside? We'll come with you.”

“Go...outside? Without...I mean, I know they're gone, but...” Rubella stammers, though she does stand up unsteadily as well. “If we went outside without being called...we were...punished.”

“Ain't nopony's gonna punish you. C'mon, it's really nice outside,” Applejack urges them, pushing Rubella gently on the flank with her head. Rubella protests weakly, but steps towards the door, her little sister tagging along close behind her. “Let's go, Seth.”

“I'm going, sheesh,” I reply. As I follow Applejack, I watch Rubella closely. I may have seemed rather callous during this meeting, but seriously I wish I could do more for them. I thought I went through some shit...but that's nothing compared to what these two have gone through. 

Rubella nears the door, beads of sweat starting to form on her forehead. Trembling, she presses her hoof to the handle, but doesn't turn it. She hesitates there, gulping nervously. It's only when Applejack rest a hoof on her back to reassure her that she gains the courage to turn the knob and open the door.

She squints as the sunlight falls on her face, unused to the light. As her eyes adjust, Rubella takes her first steps outside in a thousand years. Her eyes light up with radiant joy as she takes in the sights of her home, free from Sombra's corrupted influence. “It's....it's beautiful! The colors are back! It's just like it was before!” she exclaims.

Suddenly, her body undergoes a sudden change, taking both Applejack and I by surprise. Life returns to her mane and coat, which then appear to style and groom themselves. That twinkle that I saw within her coat before intensifies until it encompasses her whole body, covering her with a sheen not unlike that of a crystal, except it's constantly moving, giving her a mystical appearance.

“What the...” I emit, giving Applejack a glance. Applejack's only response is to shrug, as she's looking at the transformed Rubella in awe. She looks like she's made out of walking crystal, even though I know that's just an illusion. Maybe this is why they're called crystal ponies.

Amber undergoes a similar transformation, such that she and her sister are standing side by side, sparkling with crystalline magic. The little filly squeaks with happiness and embraces her sister, who reciprocates tearfully.

I can't help but smile, watching them. I only hope that whatever brought the Crystal Empire back is benign, or their lives will go right back to being hell. After seeing something like this, I know that I never want to see them like they were before ever again.

Hearing Rubella and Amber's jubilation causes some of the other ponies to peer out at them. Some of them actually step outside despite their fear of Sombra's soldiers, wondering how one of their own can be so happy. Before I know it, the street is filled with ponies. Some of they eye Applejack and I anxiously, but mostly their attention is focused on Rubella and her sister.

“Well, would ya look at that?” Applejack marvels, taking off her hat and holding it against her chest. “All it took was one nudge in the raht direction.”

“Yeah, seriously. How did you know to do what you did in there?” I ask, turning to Applejack. “I'd never have been able to get anything out of them.”

“It's nuthin special. Everypony responds to a little bit o' basic pony kindness,” Applejack explains, replacing her hat on her head. “These folks jus' needed a bit more than most.”

“Goddamn,” is all I can say. As if I didn't respect Applejack enough already. Now she's managed to get the crystal ponies out of their homes. In fact, the level of conversation is rising as the news spreads from pony to pony. Some of them even undergo the same transformation as Rubella, confirming my suspicions that it's a crystal pony related ability.

“Let's git movin'. We still gotta question some o' these other ponies,” Applejack says to me, deciding to let Rubella and her sister enjoy their newfound freedom.  Right. Letting Applejack take the lead, we continue our search for information.





Unfortunately, our search doesn't turn up anywhere near as much as we would like. We get similar stories from the ponies we question. They were all present for the battle, and the last thing they remember is a sudden quake and a flash of rainbow light, then nothing. The only differences between the tales are the positions of the ponies in question. Most of them are in their homes due to it being after curfew. Occasionally we come across one that was outside during the attack and actually saw Celestia and  Luna nuking Sombra all to hell with the Elements of Harmony. However, his memory went blank right after that as well.

“It seems like everyone was hit by one massive stasis spell,” I muse once we reach the end of the street. Applejack listens intently, a look of concentration on her face as she too tries to think up an explanation for everypony's collective loss of memory. “A stasis spell so large it took the city and everything nearby with it...almost like...holy shit.”

“What is it?” Applejack questions, raising an eyebrow at my sudden expletive.

“That definitely confirms the curse was Sombra's doing. But it wasn't tied to his life force, as Celestia believed,” I explain. Now Applejack just looks confused. “Sombra sent me to this time as well, using a very similar spell. I remember meeting him, and then calling my friend just seconds before I lost consciousness...and then I woke up three thousand years later.”

“Ya think it's the same spell?” Applejack inquires. I shrug, thinking it's as good an explanation as ever. Still, the experiences of these ponies sound the same as mine, and the spell had the same effect, so I think it's a reasonable conclusion to draw. “So that means there might be no threat at all?”

“God, I hope so. It would be really nice if this was just the stasis spell wearing off,” I express. I lean against the side of a house, sighing at the small relief on my muscles. “But that doesn't explain the wave of magic I felt. Hm...”

“Ah think we should get back to Princess Celestia an' see what the others found,” Applejack suggests. Yeah, that seems like a good idea. We haven't found much more than random houses here, so I think this is a residential district. That, and all of the ponies have practically the same information to give to us.

“That's a good idea. Come here,” I agree, moving towards Applejack. She sees me coming and backs away, eyeing my arms suspiciously. “What the...oh stop it. It's faster if I carry you.”

“Ah know, but ya didn't exactly handle me comfortably,” Applejack returns accusingly. As I watch, perplexed, she circles around me and hops up on my back, causing me to slightly buckle under the increased wait. She wraps her hooves around my shoulders and locks her legs around my waist. “Alraht, let's go. Hurry up, this is embarrassing.”

“This brings a whole new meaning to giving somepony a ponyback ride,” I remark, chuckling a little. I leap into the air, which is only a little bit harder due to Applejack's weight. I bet she has a weight button, so I don't mention it.

However, after the first few minutes of flying, Applejack notices how long it's taking to get anywhere. “Why are ya movin' so slow?” she inquires.

“Because I'm trying to hold back. You know what my power looks like, right? What do you think those ponies are gonna think if they see me flying around with dark magic, the same kind of shit Sombra used?” I snap back at her. Applejack falls silent, seeing the sense in that. “I'm trying not to freak them out any more than they already are.”

“Why, that's mighty kind o' you, sugarcube,” Applejack comments with surprise. She then adopts a mischievous grin.“It's nice ta see ya carin' 'bout somepony other than Rainbow.”

“Oh, shove it, I care about ponies other than her,” I grunt, embarrassed. “There's...oh, you're making fun of me. Bitch.”

Applejack's laughter sounds out through the air as the two of us fly across the sky. 





From midair, I quickly spot Celestia and Luna standing beneath the base of the tower, inside the massive dome formed by the three “legs” of the building. The two of them seem to have set up an outpost. There are crude fortifications, such as wooden walls, erected in the crystal streets between the legs of the tower.

It also looks like some of the other ponies are already there. I can spot Pinkie and Spike already there, along with Rarity and Rainbow. I angle my descent and head straight there. As I land, I notice the  apparatus that held the Crystal Heart that I'd seen in the hologram. However, curiously enough, the heart is missing. Whatever. Like I care where some gemstone went.

Luna steps aside to make room for me just as my feet land on the street with a click. Applejack hastily jumps off of my back, adjusting her hat as if she hadn't just been clinging onto me for dear life. I'm about to say something, but it looks like Celestia is still busy.

“Understood. Perform sweeps at regular intervals and make sure to keep yourselves hidden,” Celestia orders Captain Gale, who is standing here as well along with a few other pegasi with white coats. I'm assuming the other ponies are in the Stealth Corps with Gale. “We do not want to provoke it. It has enough undead to pose a serious threat if it were to attack now.”

“Yes, your Highness!” Gale and the other pegasi chorus. They turn away and take off simultaneously, heading for the outskirts of the city in formation. Once they're gone, Celestia turns her full attention to us.

“Welcome back, Seth and Applejack” Celestia greets us, dipping her head. She casts her gaze across the six of us, pursing  her lips. “That just leaves Twilight and Fluttershy.”

“We trust thy search was fruitful?” Luna asks, directing her question to all of us. 

“Definitely! I mean, you put me in charge after all,” Rainbow brags, causing Rarity and I to roll our eyes. Rainbow then gives Rarity a pointed stare. “It would have been even better if somepony hadn't been rifling through their wardrobes!”

“That was just once! I couldn't help myself,” Rarity confesses, looking rather guilty. However, her expression is soon replaced with a serious one. “That aside...I just feel terrible. The experiences these poor ponies must have gone through...I can't even imagine.”

“I know the feeling all too well,” Celestia agrees solemnly. “Those ponies that escaped to Equestria were in terrible shape. I have never seen such atrocities done to another living thing. It had to stop.”

In the middle of Celestia's statement, Twilight and Fluttershy arrive. I can't help but notice that Fluttershy looks like shit. By that, I mean that her eyes are reddened and her cheeks are puffy, as if she'd just been crying. When she gets closer, she sniffs, and another tear rolls down her cheek. Twilight is next to her in an attempt to comfort her, despite looking a little stunned herself.

“Fluttershy, darling,  what's the matter?” Rarity exclaims, noticing Fluttershy's state just after I do. Her exclamation causes the other ponies to look over at Fluttershy as well. When Rarity approaches her, Fluttershy heaves a sob and hugs her tightly.

“These....these poor ponies....I can't...” Fluttershy stammers, squeezing her eyes shut. Rarity's eyes soften, and she strokes Fluttershy's mane to comfort her. The rest of us exchange glances, knowing what she's dealing with. The implications from our search weren't pretty. It seems like Fluttershy, being as sensitive as she is, is taking it particularly hard. “It's just horrible!”

“Princess, I...” Twilight says next, looking at Celestia uncertainly. Celestia gives her student her full attention, approaching her with a solemn expression on her face. “I didn't realize it was this bad...we weren't prepared.”

“I don't think any of us were,” Spike adds sagely from his position next to Pinkie. Looking around, I can see Rarity, Rainbow, and the others nodding in agreement. I remain silent, as I had been subjected to the acts of Sombra and his servants before. As callous as it makes me sound, this is just par for the course. Sombra is capable of much worse.

“I'm not a belligerent pony by any means, but...” Rarity continues as she holds onto Fluttershy. “Princesses, I can't help but be glad you dealt with that mongrel Sombra.”

“He was a real meanie! And I don't mean the normal type of meanie!” Pinkie agrees with narrowed eyes, sounding uncharacteristically serious for once. “I mean the worst kind.”

“I understand. I apologize completely for having to expose you to the horrors of Sombra's reign, but I felt I had no other choice.” Celestia responds to our sentiments, looking truly sorrowful. She strides towards Fluttershy, lowering herself down. With her hoof, she lifts up Fluttershy's head such that their gazes meet. Celestia closes her eyes and nuzzles Fluttershy affectionately, surprising her. “Dear Fluttershy, don't be ashamed to cry. To feel such empathy for these ponies...you are truly kind.”

“I am happy despite the grim reminders of the past,” Celestia declares once she steps back from the noticeably calmer Fluttershy. “In the past, when Luna and I went to war with King Sombra, his defeat resulted in the disappearance of the Crystal Empire. At the time, we were distraught, as we believed our war had destroyed the very thing we set out to save. But now...”

“It was not for nothing. Our struggles saved the Crystal Empire and its inhabitants,” Luna rejoins, smiling slightly. “We cannot help but be happy.”

“That's raht! They've gone through a lot, but we kin help them now,” Applejack agrees with more fervor in her voice than I expected. “We gotta figure out how it came back, after all. Seth has an idea as far as that goes.”

“Does he? In that case, let's return to the task at hoof,” Celestia states, returning to Luna's side. “Because you spoke up first, would you present your findings, Applejack and Seth?”

In turn, each group reveals the results of their own investigations, starting with Applejack and I. I give my theory on the curse being the same as the spell that brought me here as well, in addition to the small snippets of information gathered from the crystal ponies.

The other teams reveal similar information. “Nopony remembers anything after you two used the Elements,” Spike explains with a hint of frustration in his voice. 

“It's like some kind of collective amnesia,” Twilight reasons. Her brow is wrinkled in concentration as she puts together conclusions in her mind. “None of them have any idea that a spell was even cast on them.”

“That's what we found too,” Rainbow chimes in, visibly showing her frustration by kicking at the ground. “All they know is Sombra went down, and then they woke up now. We also got some details on their previous life...and I think I could have gone without hearing them.”

“Troubling. It does not look like we have much to go on,” Celestia muses with a frown. “I'm not how much time we have. That necromancer won't ignore our presence forever.”

“Um...there is one more thing. I'm not sure if it's important, though,” Spike speaks up, gaining our attention. “One of the crystal ponies – once we got him out of his house that is – said that he felt something was missing. He couldn't tell me what, though.”

“Something is missing...” Celestia repeats, mulling the statement over in her head. Next to her, Luna slams her hoof down in frustration.

“Curses! We simply do not know enough about the Crystal Empire to determine what couldst be missing!” Luna expresses.

Suddenly, I remember something. I look past Celestia and Luna to the strange apparatus in the dead center of the clearing beneath the tower, where that strange heart was. It's not there anymore. It didn't seem important before, but now? 

“What is it, Seth?” Celestia asks me alertly, noticing that my attention is focused elsewhere.

“In that hologram you first showed me...the one of the Crystal Empire before Sombra took over...” I muse. I'm not sure if this is anything, but it's worth a shot. I turn and point directly at the apparatus. “I remember a spinning crystal heart that used to be right there.”

My words get the princesses and the others to glance at the apparatus curiously. Celestia seems to know what I'm talking about. “You are right. I did notice its absence before, but I did not believe it to be of any significance. However...perhaps there's more to that gemstone than I previously believed,” Celestia reveals. She spreads her wings and propels herself towards the apparatus, no doubt going to get a closer look.

Our group follows her, hooves clopping along the crystal pavement. When I near the apparatus, I leap up and fly to it as well. Celestia stops me from going any further by moving in front of me. “What is it?” I ask curiously.

“Don't get too close. This is a powerful magical device. Do you see these grooves?” Celestia informs me, directing my gaze to a set of barely visible grooves in the crystal. They emanate from the pedestal at the top of the apparatus, trace all the way down its side, and even spread across the entirety of the clearing beneath the tower. “These are usually used to direct the flow of magic from a particular object. From what I have seen here, these grooves channel the magic native to the land into this apparatus here, collecting it all into one point.”

“Fascinating,” Twilight murmurs from her position on the ground. She too is closely observing the base of the apparatus, following the grooves with her eyes. “What do they use it for?”

“I am not certain, but if I were to make a guess, I would say that the heart amplified the magical  power in order to enrich the land. It would explain how such beautiful plant life grew in the wastelands of the north,” Celestia hypothesizes. 

“You know, I was wondering that myself. We're in the middle of the fucking north. Why is there grass?” I question, rubbing my chin. 

“We should try and find the Crystal Heart. I want to help these ponies restore their kingdom,” Twilight suggests as she steps back to give Celestia and I room to land next to her. “If you're right, without the heart this place will freeze over.”

“Certainly. I intend to help this city get back on its hooves, so to speak. In fact, it may well be within our best interests to take the Crystal Empire as a protectorate under Equestria,” Celestia decides. Once again, it hits me that I'm practically watching history being written. Heh, I'm more important in Equestria than I ever was at home. “What do you think, Luna?”

“T'would require us to divert troops until such time that they can adequately protect themselves,” Luna reminds her sister. She continues before anypony can protest. “But they art without leadership, and the crystal trade wouldst profit us greatly.”

“Indeed. At the very least, we can care and provide for them,” Celestia finishes. She looks around at all of us, looking for our opinions. 

“That sounds good to me,” I respond with a shrug. I'm not one for politics, but I figure that anything that helps Celestia get more influence is worth the effort. If anything, she and Luna have proven that they are sensible and benevolent rulers. You know, since one of them fucking took the time to deal with my bullshit back during my early days in Equestria.

“Oh yes. I'll do anything to help these poor ponies,” Fluttershy agrees eagerly. The others express their agreement as well.

“Excellent. However, I cannot just ignore the city's sudden reappearance,” Celestia states seriously. “It may be a stasis spell similar to the one used to transport Seth to our time, but if so, then why did Sombra choose this time for it to dissipate? Just as Seth arrived in this time as he planned, there must have been some reason for the city to return now.”

“But what if it is just the stasis spell wearing off?” Twilight asks, looking troubled by Celestia's words. 

To be fair, I'm feeling a little unsettled by that as well. I haven't really thought about it because Sombra is gone forever, but I never did find out why he sent me to this time. Vanta said Sombra was looking for negative individuals, but I killed him before I could find out why. I'm starting to regret that I didn't grill him for information first.

“Whether it is or is not, I will leave nothing to chance,” Celestia determines sternly. “I will keep our troops stationed here until such time that I am sure there is no malignant intent behind this city's appearance.”

“Princess!” A new voice interrupts our discussion, coming from the other side of the clearing. All of us turn to see Shining Armor and Cadance emerging from a door in the base of one of the tower's legs. Upon seeing her brother, Twilight gasps, letting a bright smile cross her face.

“Brother!” Twilight calls out before Shining Armor can continue addressing Celestia. She runs up to meet him, as Celestia chuckles beside me.

“Twily!” Shining Armor returns her greeting just as enthusiastically, meeting her halfway and giving her a loving nuzzle. He shoots Celestia an apologetic glance, but the princess doesn't seem to mind that much, considering how she's smiling fondly at the display. “Good to see you, sis.”

“You too, Shining Armor,” Twilight responds, pulling back. The next thing does is move over to Cadance. “Cadance!”

The two of them then proceed to do that strange as hell dance that they always do when they see each other...which as always makes me cringe and wonder what the hell those two are smoking.

Finally, Shining Armor approaches Celestia and I. He gives me a light stare, enough to acknowledge my presence, and then he focuses on Celestia. “Princess, we've secured the tower. There's no sign of any hostiles, but we've disabled several traps,” Shining Armor reports. “In addition, we've discovered a library adjoining the throne room, but it's heavily guarded by enchantments. We're working on cracking it now.”

“Good job, Captain,” Celestia responds officially. Next to Shining Armor, Twilight's eyes grow as wide as dinner plates, and then she smiles widely and practically starts bouncing in place out of excitement.

“A LIBRARY!?” Twilight exclaims, her voice rising in pitch to practically a squeak. “Princess, may I help in working through the enchantments? There might be something in there about the Crystal Heart!”

“Of course. In fact, why don't you take Spike and do just that?” Celestia replies with a knowing smile. 

Spike gives Celestia a look that clearly says, “really?” right before Twilight picks him up with her magic and dashes to the door with excitement. “Oh, thank you, princess! Let's go, Spike!” Twilight declares, and then she gallops into the tower. Seconds later, she pokes her head back out sheepishly. “Um...which way is the library?”

“I'll go with you,” Cadance promises her. She first looks at Celestia. “Is that alright?”

“Go on. I know you're just as excited to see what's inside as Twilight is,” Celestia remarks, indicating the door with her head. Cadance grins and gallops off to go join Twilight as well. “Is there anything more to your report, Captain?”

“Just that we're giving it another look. The tower seems to have too few rooms in comparison to the size of this tower. We believe there may be hidden passages,” Shining Armor reveals. I wouldn't be surprised myself if that were the case.

“I see. In that case, I want you to keep me posted on your findings. Dismissed, Captain,” Celestia responds. Shining Armor nods and departs without saying a word to any of the rest of us. I guess he's busy. Not like he wants to talk to me anyway. I'm lucky I even got a look out of him. “Now then, I suppose you are all wondering what to do.”

“Yeah. Right now it looks like we're just waiting around,” Rainbow comments.

“We're just waiting on standby until something happens, right?” I determine. By that, I mean we're just waiting around until Twilight finds out something in the library. “Besides, if there's nothing wrong, there's no reason for us to be here.”

“That is true. At the very least, I would like you all to stay for at least a week. If by then no threat rears its head, I will assume that the Crystal Empire is safe, and I will send you all home,” Celestia compromises.

“That's reasonable, I suppose,” Rarity decides, nodding her head. “Where should we stay in the meantime? I'm afraid we weren't given much time to pack before leaving Ponyville.”

“Hm. I believe there is some room in the Crystal Tower, if you would like,” Celestia offers. “I have appropriated most of the rooms for my soldiers, but there should be enough room for you all to have your own rooms.”

“Okay good. But before that, can we eat? I'm starving and didn't have breakfast!” Rainbow complains, her stomach letting out an obnoxious growl. You know, she has a point. I'm feeling a little hungry now myself. I don't think I've eaten since the party last night.

“Ah agree. After today, ah feel like ah could eat fer days!” Applejack expresses. Celestia chuckles when she sees that all of us are essentially in agreement.

“Fair enough. In that case, feel free to go to any of the military camps and ask for a meal. They will prepare one for you if you tell them I sent you,” Celestia informs us. “Thank you again for all of your help.”

“It was no trouble, princess,” Rarity assures her. She and Pinkie are the first to start strolling away, heading to where the nearest camp is. Fluttershy and Applejack follow her close behind, leaving Rainbow and I alone with Celestia. 

We're not alone for long. Just as I'm about to leave with Rainbow, Captain Gale returns by herself, landing on the crystal street and moving to meet Celestia. “Princess! I have an urgent report,” Gale calls out. Rainbow and I halt, turning around curiously to see what the Stealth Corps has to say.

“Proceed, Captain,” Celestia answers promptly, moving to meet Gale without wasting any time. “What have you found?”

“When we returned to do a sweep as you commanded, we discovered a surprising lack of activity in the Crystal Mountains,” Gale reveals. Uh oh. This doesn't sound good. “We believe the necromancer is on the move. The caverns in the mountains are completely devoid of undead. I even sent in scouts to confirm this.”

“You told me those cave systems were filled with undead,” Celestia states, looking alarmed.

“Hordes of them. I believe you can understand my haste to deliver you this message,” Glare confirms, her eyes narrowed. “It might be prudent to prepare for battle.”

“Hold on,” I interrupt, because the necromancer they're talking about is likely the one I saw in the ruins of my college. Celestia and Gale look at me in surprise, not expecting me to butt in. “Celestia, can you still sense the necromancer?”

Celestia pauses, and then she closes her eyes. It only takes her a second before she opens them again. “I can. Its exact location is uncertain, but I can feel it...” Celestia suddenly freezes mid sentence. “It's gone. I cannot sense it anymore.”

“What? How is that possible?” I gasp, suddenly starting to get worried. If she can't sense it, then we have no idea where it's going or if it's going to attack.

“I do not know. I have never been unable to sense a being with power such as that,” Celestia responds anxiously, looking uncertain for the first time since I've met her. Her eyes suddenly narrow, and when she next speaks, it's in a voice as hard as steel. “I will prepare for the worst. Captain, I want you to spread this message to the other captains and commanders. Double the patrols on the perimeter, and increase security on the interior. If the caverns are empty, then I believe they are using the underground.”

“Understood. Anything else?” Gale responds with a nod of affirmation.

“Tell Gilded Skies to relocate all of his airships to the Crystal Tower, and then make sure each camp has an escape route to the Crystal Tower. We will escape from there if the worst case scenario occurs, and we cannot defeat them,” Celestia continues. I blink, and then my eyes widen. She's laying out a retreat plan just in case? What the hell is she scared of? Or is she just being thorough? My thoughts are cut off when Celestia turns her head to me. “You sensed animosity from this necromancer towards you in particular, did you not?”

“That's right. I could practically feel it,” I stammer, not used to seeing this side of Celestia.

“Stay on your guard. Should we fall under attack, I will be depending on you to protect the civilians, including Rainbow Dash and her friends,” Celestia warns me. I gulp nervously.

“You don't have to tell me to do that,” I promise, flashing my gaze briefly to Rainbow. 

“That is all. The both of you are dismissed. I have other preparations to make,” Celestia orders. Gale nods and takes to the sky to spread Celestia's orders. I step back as well, noticing Celestia move to speak with her sister. “Luna, can you rally your personal guard? The two of us may have to go into battle once more.”

“Of course, dear sister...” Luna says, and then the two of them move out of earshot.

Rainbow and I are left alone for the first time since this morning. Rainbow immediately moves over to me, looking worried. Of course, she heard all of that as well. “Are we gonna get attacked?” Rainbow asks. I sigh and shrug.

“I don't fucking know. I have no idea what's going on anymore. Just as I thought this was just a simple spell wearing off, now it turns out that fucking necromancer is moving,” I tell her, frustrated and anxious. “And now Celestia can't even tell where it is.”

“Maybe it's not going to attack us. Maybe it's headed somewhere else?” Rainbow suggests hopefully. I scoff, unsure if I should trust that kind of thing to luck. “Maybe...ugh, I'm too hungry to think about this. Can we eat first, and then worry about dead things?”

“Yeah, I'll agree to that. The last thing I want to do is go into battle against undead on an empty stomach,” I respond with a dark chuckle. “Let's go. The others are far ahead of us.”

“Are we going to tell them? About the undead, I mean,” Rainbow inquires as the two of us leave the clearing beneath the tower and follow the path the others took. 

“Maybe not everything. I don't want to freak them out. But we should definitely warn them. That way they'll be ready to move if necessary,” I decide. Rainbow nods in agreement.

With that, the two of us move down the streets towards the nearest military camp. I can see other members of the Stealth Corps flying through the air, spreading the message of the possible impending attack.

Hell, I should have fucking known that this wouldn't be that simple.
> 97. The Last Breath
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 	“I'm so sick of this shit,” I grumble as I walk with Rainbow on our way to one of the camps. My mood has dropped like a rock since hearing Gale's report. I'm pissed off. I knew that there was a chance that I would be going into battle, but I was just starting to feel like everything was okay, and now that fucking necromancer can't mind his own goddamn business.

“Sick of what?” Rainbow questions, moving to press herself up against me. I can't help but smile a little when feel her brushing against my side. She always does this. I don't even think she realizes she does it, but I appreciate it nonetheless.

“This. Battle. I'm a goddamn college student, or I was,” I reply, once again finding myself missing the college experience. I bet if Rainbow were back at college with me, she and Amaryllis would butt heads constantly because of how similar they are. You know, after Amaryllis finished having an aneurysm because there was a technicolor talking pony in front of her. “I never intended to be a soldier back then, and it's certainly not fun now. I'm not built for this!”

“What are you talking about? You have muscles!” Rainbow points out, jabbing my abs with her hoof. She then proceeds to add with a blush. “Pretty nice ones too.”

“Not by choice. But that isn't the point. Why can't this necromancer shove his undead army up his ass and leave us alone?” I rage, hardly noticing the compliment Rainbow paid me. “Ugh.”

“Aw, it isn't that bad. We can save the Crystal Empire and beat up a few bad guys before heading home,” Rainbow disagrees, shadow boxing the air with her two front hooves. “It doesn't get much better than that. Plus, the princesses are here.”

“I'll give you that last one. Hopefully Celestia will wreck whoever it is, and then we can go home,” I mutter. “We never even told Vinyl or Octavia that we were leaving.”

“Oh shoot, that's right. I completely forgot about them,” Rainbow admits sheepishly. “We'll get Twilight to send a letter. But before that...food! I'm starving!”

“So you've said,” I remark. With that, Rainbow and I fall into a comfortable silence.

As we near one of the camps, I notice that she keeps moving her head to look up at me. Every time I try to catch her eye, she noticeably blushes and looks down at the street, confusing me. Uh...the hell?

“You know, in case you hadn't noticed, we're together now,” I say with a raised eyebrow. Rainbow looks back at me in surprise, not expecting the random statement. “Why do you keep doing that?”

“Doing what?” Rainbow asks, looking rather shifty.

“Blushing,” I answer bluntly. Rainbow's blush returns as if on cue. She growls at me in response.

“I..I'm not blushing. What are you talking about?” Rainbow demands, even though she totally is. Okay, I'm confused further now, and it's getting annoying. Rainbow squeaks in surprise when I suddenly stop and turn to her. I reach forward and start pinching her faintly blushing cheeks.

“What do you call this then!? I can fucking see it plain as day!” I demand, even as Rainbow starts to batter my chest and face with her front hooves. “Ow, stop hitting me!”

“'Emme go!” Rainbow protests, until finally I just get sick of her shit and pull her towards me so that she's pressed against my chest with her head over my shoulder. She struggles, but I hold her there with both arms. “Uh....what are you doing?”

“Honestly? No clue. But you're not hitting me now, right?” I retort, resting with my back against the wall of one of the houses. Rainbow rears her head back to look at me, such that I can see that she's still blushing a little. “Aw, you're still blushing.”

“No I'm not,” Rainbow once again denies, even though I can see it getting worse. “Quit teasing me!”

“But it's so much fun, though. Why would I...mmf!” I start to tease her further, but then Rainbow scowls and brings her face to mine and starts to furiously kiss me, shutting me up rather quickly. Taken by surprise, blood flows into my face, heating up my cheeks until I'm sure that I'm the one blushing now.

Hardly able to keep my balance, my back slides down the crystal wall until I'm sitting on the grass, with Rainbow on top of me, her lips silencing any complaint that I might have had. That's fine though. Like this, the only thing I can think of is that I should tease her more often, if it gets her to kiss me as intensely as this.

When the both of us run out of breath, Rainbow pulls head her head back ever so slightly, a triumphant smirk on her face. “Just...be...quiet,” Rainbow orders me softly. I nod breathlessly; I don't mind letting her win in this situation. I can't fucking think, because my mind just got blown.

“Um...excuse me...are you all...” I freeze when I hear another voice, which reminds me that we're practically in the middle of the street. Sure enough, Fluttershy emerges from the path that leads to the camp, likely sent to see what's taking us so long. She comes to a complete stop when she sees Rainbow on top of me. A blush suffuses her soft yellow face in less than a second, and she backpedals away so fast it would be almost funny if I wasn't feeling so embarrassed. “O...Oh...my...I'll just...um...eep!”

“Fluttershy...oh shoot,” Rainbow emits, watching the mare disappear around the corner. “Now look what you made me do.”

“I didn't make you do anything. You're the one that decided to kiss me in the middle of the street,” I point out, laughing despite the situation. The look on Fluttershy' face when she noped out of here...snrk. And Rainbow is still on top of me, looking like a school filly frightened of getting told on. “Seriously though, what had you all flustered?”

“Um...nothing really. It was just Rarity being stupid,” Rainbow admits, hopping off of my chest and letting me return to my feet. “She kept saying these things...they were a bit embarrassing.”

“Embarrassing to you? They must have been pretty bad then,” I remark, earning a shove from her. Honestly, I don't think I want to know what Rarity said. To make Rainbow blush like that...well, let's just say that the proper ones are usually the most repressed, if you catch my drift.

Whatever. Can we just go eat now before Fluttershy tells them everything?” Rainbow urges me, flying ahead. I have to break into a jog just to keep up with her. Sheesh, this mare cares too much about appearances. Besides, I don't think Fluttershy is one to spread rumors.

The two of us enter the camp and pass through an aisle between tents until we reach the center clearing, where it looks like a meal is already being made. Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, and a still blushing Fluttershy are seated around a campfire with plates set out before them. In addition to them, Captain Blades and Commander Rose are there as well. Rose is seated next to Fluttershy, while Blades looks like he's giving Applejack a hard time.

Upon our arrival, they all look up. In particular, a smirk crosses Rarity's face, causing dread to seep through me. Oh no... “Oh, you didn't need to hurry on our account, darling,” Rarity remarks, noticing that we arrived in a rush. “I'm sure there's more important things on your mind, after all.”

“Yup! Ah'm sure there's plenty o' rooms available, if you're hurtin' fer privacy,” Applejack teases, releasing a guffaw at her own joke a few seconds later.

“Goddammit, Fluttershy!” I curse, giving the shy pegasus an accusing stare. Fluttershy eeps and hides behind her mane, covering her face with her wings.

“I'm sorry...” she emits softly, leaning into a reticent Rose. Yeah, I doubt she's really sorry.

“Were you two doing the naughty?” Pinkie accuses us with a bright grin on her face. Oh god, the way she said that makes me want to crawl in a hole somewhere and die. “In the middle of the street? You're so brave!”

“N-No! Not even close! Be quiet, Pinkie!” Rainbow snaps, her face as red as a strawberry. Of course, this only causes Pinkie to giggle and snort. Throughout all of this, Blades is roaring with laughter, clutching his chest with a hoof.

“How's that fer a welcome? Who knew you had a sweetheart of yer own, Seth?” Blades emits, much to my annoyance. He wipes a tear from his eye and composes himself, taking another portion of stew from the pot over the fire. “Ah, to be young again.”

“Yeah, all of you shut the fuck up,” I retort, sitting next to Fluttershy. Rainbow sits next to me, thoroughly embarrassed. While seeing her like this is funny as hell, I'm caught in the crossfire as well, thanks to a certain pegasus over here. In fact... “Fluttershy...”

“Y...Yes? How can I...eep!” Fluttershy suddenly squeaks when I poke her in the side, pushing her on her side.

“Rainbow! Revenge time, are you in?” I call as Fluttershy struggles to rise. Rainbow notices my hands shaped like claws hovering just above Fluttershy's belly, and she understands what I'm going to do immediately. Rainbow adopts an evil grin and joins me in tickling the absolute shit out of Fluttershy. “Maybe this'll teach you to keep your nose out of our business!”

“Eep! Oh...oh my...aah, I'm sorry! Help me!” Fluttershy giggles helplessly beneath our combined assault. All the while, the other ponies seated around the fire chuckle as well.

A few minutes later, the lot of us are seated around the fire, chatting amongst ourselves and eating the stew that apparently Rose made for us. Rose is mostly quiet this whole time, oddly enough, because she usually has a lot to say.

However, I unfortunately have to put this calm time to an end. “Blades,” I say, getting the captain's attention. “Did you get the message from the Stealth Corps yet?”

Blades's smile drops, and he nods seriously. “I did. That necromancer has dropped off the intel grid, as well as the rest of his undead,” he reveals. The other ponies, hearing that, immediately drop their conversations and pay close attention. “It looks like we may be seein' some action after all.”

“Let's hope not. There are far too many civilians to protect if we're attacked now,” Rose responds, speaking up for the first time since I've been here. “There's no way to evacuate them, either. There's nothing for miles except for snowy wasteland. They won't last out there.”

“Ah don't mind knockin' a few undead heads if they get too close,” Applejack promises, scuffing the ground and flexing her impressive leg muscles. “Though ah ain't seen an undead before.”

“They're very difficult to fight,” Blades reveals, closing his eyes. “They're terrifying, and won't stay down after ya knock 'em good. Ya gotta practically tear 'em apart to keep 'em outta the fight.”

“I...I d-don't think I want to see an un-undead,” Fluttershy squeaks, her teeth chattering. Of course, Fluttershy would probably wet her legs if she ever saw an Oppressed up close. And I recall that the necromancer has a lot of those at its command.

“Come now, there's still a chance that we aren't their target,” Rarity attempts to reassure us, even though I know that's not fucking likely. That necromancer wants me dead. I don't know why that is, but I could feel that killing intent when I saw it in the ruins. Judging from the look Blades gives me, I think he and I are in agreement as far as that goes. The only thing left to be determined now is where and when it'll attack.

“Perhaps. But it is best to be prepared, nevertheless,” Rose reminds Rarity. “To us, you are still civilians. If we are attacked, it would be best if you all withdraw.”

“What? And let the undead run all over the Crystal Empire?” Applejack retorts, offended that Rose would even suggest that. “Ah don't think so. Ah was there at the changeling invasion. Ah kin handle mahself!”

“Me too! What am I gonna do with my streamer cannon if I have to run away?” Pinkie adds, whipping out said cannon from fucking nowhere. My eyes bug out upon spotting this. The surprised question forms on my tongue, but I decide not to ask. It's not like I ever got an answer the past few times I questioned Pinkie on her bullshit. Blades quirks an eyebrow, but he doesn't say anything either. Considering I saw him floating in midair tied to a bunch of balloons back in the changeling invasion, I think he knows how she is.

Rarity and Fluttershy look at one another, both of them probably realizing that they're not exactly cut out for combat. They wisely remain silent, waiting to see how Rose would respond to Pinkie and Applejack.

“Heh, I didn't ferget,” Blades remarks, giving Rose a meaningful look. “It's their choice. If they want to fight with us, that's their prerogative.”

“But...!” Rose starts to protest, but Blades doesn't let her continue.

“Of course, I'm not gonna let 'em go into battle like they did in Canterlot,” Blades assures Rose, and then he fixes both Applejack and Pinkie with a stern stare. “If y'all really want to fight, I'll take ya to the armory tent after yer done eatin' and get y'all set up with some armor.”

“Oh, you mean I get to look like one of you!?” Pinkie exclaims with glee. Blades nods, causing Pinkie to let out a squeal. “Yippee! Pinkie Pie is best soldier!”

“Aw yeah, I should get kitted up in some awesome armor too! I'll be like commander Hurricane again!” Rainbow declares, shadow-boxing the air next to me. Yeah, armor is a good idea for those who can't use magic to protect themselves like me.

“That's probably a good idea. Ah can't dodge all the time,” Applejack admits. “Dunno how I feel puttin' on somethin' that maht slow me down, though.”

“You'll get used to it,” Blades assures her. With that, the group falls silent as we all contemplate the hard times that may lie ahead. However, Rarity soon causes another discussion to spring up, only this time it's about something more trivial...such as her intended dress line and how she intends to make one for all of the mares here. Including Rose, who looks none too thrilled about the idea.

Finally, we all start to finish up our meals. Fluttershy and Rarity excuse themselves first, deigning to return to the Crystal Tower and find someplace to stay. That just leaves the four of us. However, I don't really feel like sitting around watching them get dressed in armor.

“I'm headed back to the tower as well,” I say as Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie start to follow Blades. When Rainbow looks back at me, I give her a slight smile. “I'll pick us out a room and I'll find you when you come back, okay?”

Rainbow nods and I think that's the end of it...but then I notice the grins on Applejack's and Pinkie's faces. Oh no. “Ah sure hope them crystal beds are big enough fer the both o' ya,” Applejack comments, nudging Rainbow playfully. Rainbow's responds is to blush, hilariously enough.

“I hope the crystal walls are soundproof! Otherwise we're gonna have a bad time tonight!” Pinkie teases as well, causing Rainbow to turn beet red at the implications her friends are making.

“That's it! Smacking you both!” Rainbow yells, and then she flies around and bonks Pinkie's and Applejack's heads together, while Blades roars with laughter in front of them. I shake my head, feeling a slight blush myself as I watch them go. Why do I hang with these fucking ponies again?”

Oh yeah, because I'd be dead if it weren't for all of them.





I finally reach the outpost at the base of the Crystal Tower. The guards let me through readily enough, as they know well who I am by this point.

Luna appears to be in command down here, as she is standing in the center along with Commander Iron and a few other guards, giving them orders. Upon spotting me, she gives me a terse nod, then returns to her business. There's no sign of Celestia down here, so I guess she's inside the tower.

I pass through the same door Twilight and Cadance took earlier, entering the Crystal Tower for the first time. The first thing I come across is a spiral staircase made from glimmering slabs of crystal. I have to climb it to reach the main area of the tower, so I sigh and run up them at a jog until I reach a doorway that opens out into a much larger room made with several different styles and colors of crystals. Guards are moving to and from the different hallways, busy with their appointed tasks.

“Christ, whoever invented this place must have had a serious fetish for crystals,” I remark to myself, standing in the doorway and looking around. However, doing such attracted the attention of one of the ponies that was nearby.

“That's certainly an odd way of putting it, but you wouldn't be wrong.” I turn to see Princess Cadance approaching me. Thankfully, she's by herself, with Shining Armor nowhere to be seen. “I haven't seen you in a while, Seth.”

“You as well. I haven't had much cause to go to Canterlot recently,” I admit, nodding to her. That's the most respect for her rank that she'll get out of me. “What are you doing here? I understand why Shining Armor would be, but you?”

“Oh, I have a distant relation to the royal family of the Crystal Empire, before King Sombra took over,” Cadance reveals, much to my surprise. Huh, really distant relation, considering that was a thousand years ago. Her fucked up family tree aside, I guess that explains why she's here.

“I see, so if Celestia does take this place as a protectorate, you'll be in charge then?” I ask, putting two and two together.

“Aunt Celestia already told you about that?” Cadance emitted, surprised. I give a nod of confirmation. Say what you will about royalty, but Celestia is very forthcoming to me and the other ponies. You know, at some point I should ask where I stand in regards to this country. I know Twilight is Celestia's personal student, and the others are her friends and thus the Elements of Harmony. Honestly I'm just some guy that popped up in the middle of nowhere who happened to know about a national secret.

“Yeah. I thought it was a pretty reasonable solution to all of this. It's not like these ponies can govern themselves,” I answer. I see Cadance nod in understanding. “By the way, did you hear about the undead?”

“I did...however, unlike my wedding day, we will not be taken off guard,” Cadance responds seriously. Her eyes narrow, and to my surprise, I feel some magical pressure emanating from her body, the likes of which I've only ever felt from Luna and Celestia. “I am not incapacitated, as I was then. If this necromancer attacks, it will be facing three alicorns more than capable of dealing with it.”

“Shit, I didn't peg you for a fighter,” I gasp. Cadance seems to realize what she's doing, so she calms down, smiling sheepishly. Her pressure fades away, such that I can breathe easily again. With that kind of power, I'd put her at around Luna's level, if not a bit higher. As to where she is in comparison to my own power, I can't be certain without seeing for myself. Not that I want to, if I have a choice.

“Sorry. I'm generally not, because I'd much rather spread love to the ponies we govern, but I can be if I need to be,” Cadance reveals. Huh, I suppose I shouldn't be that surprised. I just remember her being completely useless during the changeling invasion, but...I guess that was because she was kept in the caves practically starved for who knows how long. Suddenly, in the middle of my thoughts, Cadance's expression suddenly changes, a bright smile with a hint of smugness in it crossing her face. “Speaking of spreading love, I heard you and Rainbow Dash are an item now!”

Cadance nudges me gently, that grin on her face causing me to let out a sigh that eventually turns into a groan. “Eehh? Am I right? Come on, don't be shy now...” Cadance presses, while giggling at my expense.

“Fucking hell...yes, you were right, and I was in love with Rainbow. Are you happy!?” I snap, burying my face in my hands and wishing I could hide in a closet somewhere away from Cadance's resulting squee of absolute joy.

“Oooh!! This is just perfect! I knew it!” Cadance exults gleefully, practically dancing around me in circles in a fashion not unlike that of Pinkie. “I should have trusted my instincts. I'm never wrong when it comes to love!”

“Yes, yes, can we get past this already?” I groan, starting to get a headache from Cadance's squealing.

“No this is great! I'm so happy for you two. I hope before long we'll be holding another Canterlot wedding!” Cadance exclaims. Her words cause me to freeze, because I hadn't even considered that far into my future. “I'll get Pinkie to plan to reception, but this time I'm setting up the...”

“Fuck, how about we focus on getting through the present first?” I interrupt her, getting tired and rather uncomfortable from dealing with her shit. Cadance somehow manages to calm herself down, though that massive smile doesn't leave her face.

“Yes, of course, you're right,” Cadance admits sheepishly. “In that regard, I was actually on my way to see my aunt. She's meeting with Twilight right now concerning her findings on the Crystal Heart. Would you like to accompany me?”

“Sure. I'm a bit interested into how that's going as well,” I say, and then the two of us start walking through the crystalline room, our feet and hooves clicking on the floor. As we walk, I suddenly notice Cadance's cutie mark, which is coincidentally of a Crystal Heart. The exact same one I saw in the hologram. How did I not notice that before? “I guess you really are a descendant of the royal family. You have the goddamn Crystal Heart on your ass.”

“That's right. I thought it was meant to indicate my skill at spreading love, but it seems it was a dual purpose cutie mark all along,” Cadance relates, eyeing her flank. “It's funny. It's as if fate knew that I would be drawn to this place.”

“Fucking magic,” I grunt, gradually getting used to the fact that nothing in this fucking world makes sense.

Finally, as Cadance and I turn a corner into a hallway, we spot Shining Armor, Twilight, Spike and Celestia standing together at the end of the hall, where a set of double doors were opened inwards. As we draw closer, I can see shelves upon shelves of crystalline books filling the room beyond. This must be the library that Shining Armor mentioned.

Celestia greets the both of us with a nod. She shifts aside to give us some room, but she doesn't say anything as of yet, as she's listening intently to Twilight's words.

“There was nothing in the normal library area. Everything related to the history of the Crystal Empire was locked in a private area in the back of the library. But here, it's all in this book!” Twilight is saying. A book titled “History of the Crystal Empire, vol 4” hangs in midair just in front of her, glowing with the telltale aura of Twilight's magic. “Not only does the Crystal Heart enrich the land, but it protects the entire city with a powerful invisible barrier!”

“That's convenient as hell,” I remark. No wonder the thing is missing. Sombra likely had to execute some sneaky plan in order to take over the city in the first place, so he probably found some way to get rid of it for good.

“If we can find that, we would be safe from the necromancer's assault,” Shining Armor deduces, looking to Celestia for confirmation. Yeah, if we can find it. Who knows where Sombra hid it? “Did you find out where it is?”

“No, but King Sombra would have hid it, right?” Twilight suggests, echoing my thoughts exactly. “It has to be in the tower somewhere. He would have wanted to keep it close.”

“Excellent thinking, dear Twilight,” Celestia compliments her, causing Twilight to beam proudly. “Shining Armor, your orders have not changed. I want you down here preparing for combat and readying the escape route.”

“Yes, your Highness!” Shining Armor responds with a brisk salute. Celestia then returns her gaze to Twilight as the captain departs.

“Twilight, I would like you to act upon your assumptions. You have full reign of the tower, and any resources contained within. If you can find the Crystal Heart, any possible battle will be prevented,” Celestia orders her student. Twilight puffs herself up, looking extremely proud to be given such an important task by her mentor.

Twilight, after acknowledging Celestia's orders, rushes past me. “Hi Seth, I can't talk, important task, gotta go!” Twilight emits frantically, galloping across the crystal floors along with Spike to begin her mission. My head moves to watch her streak by, blinking in bemusement. Damn, that mare can move fast when she needs to. I hope she finds the Crystal Heart. That way the necromancer will get fucking nuked if it tries attacking us.

“Hello there, Seth and Cadance. I apologize I could not greet you when you first arrived,” Celestia says graciously, turning to us next. Heh, I don't even know why I'm here now that Twilight's gone.

“It's no trouble. I know you're extremely busy helping defend the city,” Cadance replies with a respectful nod of her head. Celestia smiles at her understanding. “Do you think the Crystal Heart will really repulse the undead?”

“I will not rule it out, if Twilight believes it to be so,” Celestia answers, showing me just how much faith she has in her student. “However, I will not depend on it. I will stand by my original plan, is it is generally best to prepare for the worst case scenario.”

“Agreed. Though I hope she finds it, because I don't want to go into battle any time soon,” I remark. Celestia nods, understanding my sentiments. Suddenly a thought strikes me. For curiosity's sake, I have to ask. “Any sign of Chrysalis?”

“Fortunately not. According to our agents in Dodge Junction, there's no sign of offensive activity,” Celestia reveals, causing me to sigh in relief. “However, it seems she is biding her time, building up her forces for a future assault. We will be forced to contend with her before long.”

“Figures. This time I'm ready for her, though,” I state firmly. I should have known Chrysalis wouldn't stay peaceful for long. Still, at least we have some time before she attacks. “Anyway, I just came here to see what's up. I'm planning on resting in the meantime.”

“That is a good idea. You should be able to find some rooms on the upper level. Ask any of the guards, and they will be able to point you to an empty room,” Celestia responds. “I'll call for you if anything changes. Cadance, could you stay a little while longer?”

“Of course. I'll see you later then, Seth. Congratulations again on your relationship!” Cadance calls after me as I retreat from the hallway, heading for the nearest staircase.

“Yeah yeah,” I retort, and then I leave the both of them behind. All right, now that I'm on my own, I think I'm going to find a place to lay down, since I've been on my feet practically this whole day. The sun is starting to set, so I feel the need to get settled for today. Hopefully I'll at least have the time for a good night's rest for that necromancer decides to stir up some shit.

I find the closest staircase and ascend to the next level, where Celestia said the rooms would be. Sure enough, I see several hallways pockmarked with doors stretched out before me. Several of them are open, and guards are moving to and from the different rooms. I even think I spot a Wonderbolt or two moving around.

In fact, I quickly run into Soarin, who is only too happy to show me to the nearest empty room, all the while talking my ear off about how psyched he was to be working so closely with the rest of the military.

At long last, I find a room and slip into it, bidding Soarin goodbye and shutting the door behind me. I take a look around at the room, noting with a raised eyebrow that practically everything in the extravagant room is made of crystal. Sheesh, at least they're consistent.

Thankfully, only the bed frame is made from crystal, while the mattress is made out of what I think is silk, but only Rarity would really be able to tell what it actually is. Whatever. At least it's soft. I collapse onto it and let out a relaxed sigh, feeling my body sink into the mattress. I think this room was meant for a noble of some sort, due to its lavish nature and luxurious features. I even think I see a fucking crystal bathtub set into the floor in the other adjoined room.

Despite the fact that I know we could be attacked at any moment, I close my eyes, intending to take a short nap. I soon drift off for some much needed sleep...

...but it doesn't last very long. I don't think I'm even asleep for more than an hour or two before a bunch of ponies come clambering into my room, making as much noise as they fucking can.

“Heehee! Look at me! I'm shiny all the time!” Pinkie's high pitched voice is what I wake up to. I groan and rub my eyes, resolving to beat the shit out of that blasted pink pony as soon as I get up.

“Ah ain't used to this get-up. It's lighter than ah expected, but ah feel a little slower,” Applejack chimes in next. Suddenly I remember why they'd taken so long to get here. I shoot up in my bed and turn to look at them.

Holy shit, it's just like I expected. Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie are walking into my room, all three of them decked out in suits of armor.

Applejack has a simple golden plate covering her chest and spreading over her back, as well as golden shoes attached to each of her hooves. Just for stylistic effect, the twine tying her mane and tail at the ends have been replaced with golden clamps. As for the one in her mane, it's positioned a little further up to give her a wilder look. Of course, and she's still wearing her hat. She notices my stare and colors a bit, not used to being seen like this.

In fact, they're all wearing similar armor. Pinkie and Rainbow are both wearing armor colored golden, consisting of the chest and back plates, along with the shoes. I notice that in each of their cases, the chest plate is designed in such a fashion that there's even room for their respective Element of Harmony to be displayed. How the hell did they have the time to set that up?

“What do you think, Seth? I look totally awesome, don't I?” Rainbow proclaims, strutting in front of me in order to show off her armored body. “Come on, don't be shy, I know I look good.”

“Then why did you even ask?” I retort, reaching out and yanking on the breastplate to bring Rainbow over to me. Rainbow yelps and overbalances due to her being unused to the weight of armor. With a grunt, Rainbow falls onto my lap and causes me to fall backwards with a chuckle. “C'mere and quit strutting.”

“Do we need to leave?” Applejack asks with a smirk, eyeing how Rainbow is sprawled over me once more. Rainbow immediately starts scrabbling her hooves, attempting to get off of my lap. In the process she manages to squish a rather sensitive part of me.

“Yowch! Fucking take it easy, Rainbow,” I retort, holding her still, despite her struggling. Applejack chuckles at the reaction she caused.

“Yeah, that's not what you do in his lap!” Pinkie trills, causing all of us to give her incredulous stares, blushes forming on our faces. Pinkie notices the expressions and looks confused. “You're supposed to cuddle! What, did you think I was going to say something else?”

“I hate you so much at times, Pinkie,” I groan, unable to believe that I just got trolled by this fucking pony, whether she was doing it intentionally or not.

“That's good! That means there are times when you like me too! Progress!” Pinkie responds, completely unfazed by my comment. I groan. I don't even with this pony. I think I've said that before, too. Repeatedly.

Now that the four of us are here, we settle down together and enjoy one another's presence as the sun dips lower towards the horizon. I intend to enjoy this peace as much as I can, because there's no telling when it will be shattered.





When dusk arrives, I look out the window to see the lampposts in the street light up with a white glow, illuminating the streets. I'm assuming that's magic rather than electricity, because there's no way the Crystal Empire has electricity.

“I think I need some air,” I announce, opening the window. Surprising the others, I promptly jump out the window, flaring my magic as I do so.

“Where are you going? Everything cool?” Rainbow asks worriedly, surprised by my sudden departure. I peek back in through the window, crossing my arms on the sill.

“Nah, I'm fine. I just feel like taking a short flight. It gets pretty stuffy in this room. You can come if you want,” I offer. Rainbow's face lights up and she moves to come too, but then she looks back at Pinkie and Applejack with a conflicted expression.

“You two go an' have fun. Ah bet the Crystal Empire is lovely at night,” Applejack encourages us with a warm smile.

“It'll be super romantic! Quick, go, get out of here!” Pinkie adds next, practically shoving Rainbow out the window. Rainbow yelps and plummets several feet until she gets used to the weight of the armor on her body. She flaps up next to me, glaring at Pinkie. Pinkie proceeds to close the window and lock it, grinning innocently. She then proceeds to mouth, “Get going already!”

“You know,” I begin after a short pause, turning to Rainbow. “I don't know how I feel about the fact that your friends are shipping the fuck out of us.”

“Oh, don't worry. Once it's safe again, you and I are going to unleash the prank of all pranks on all four of them,” Rainbow states with the evillest of grins. I chuckle, finding that idea rather enticing. It'll be fun trying to think of different ways to prank all of them at once. “Anyway, let's go flying. We haven't done this in a while.”

“Probably because shit can't stop happening around us. I blame you,” I say with a chuckle, and then the two of us soar through the air, circling the Crystal Tower once before continuing deeper into the city.

We don't say much after that. It's nice, just coasting along through the air with my marefriend just beside me. It's still weird to call her that, but whatever. I'm past caring at this point.

Finally, we coast to a stop on the street just in front of the Crystal Tower, both of us panting lightly from the exertion. Halfway through the flight the two of us had decided to pick up the pace, circling the city several times before getting tired.

As Rainbow and I stare in silence up at the starry night sky, I feel like nothing could make this moment more perfect than it already is.

It's only when I hear Twilight let out a bloodcurdling scream from the top of the Crystal Tower that I realize that something has gone horribly, horribly, wrong.


> 98. Hail to the King
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Twilight? Twilight!” Rainbow cries out in shock as the scream echoes throughout the city. The two of us turn around and look up at the tower, hoping to see what was going on up there. However, there's no sign of Twilight, and eventually the scream peters out to nothing but silence. “Seth, we have to go! Twilight's in trouble!”

“Shit shit shit,” I curse, getting ready to take off. However, just as I'm summoning up my magic, a low rumbling fills the air. The very ground beneath me starts to shake violently, almost knocking me clear off of my feet as it grows in intensity. Something is happening, and judging from the feeling of cold dread sitting deep in the pit of my stomach, it's nothing good. “Let's go!”

Rainbow shoots up towards the tower, but then she yelps and flies back down, as if something physically knocked her away. As the question forms on my lips, gale force winds sweep through the streets, causing me to gasp at the sudden chill. I have to cover my face, because the wind is so strong that I'm having to struggle just to stay upright. “What the hay is going on!?” Rainbow yells over the wind.

“Hell if I fucking know!” I shout back. The earthquake suddenly gets much worse, and I physically have to hold on to the nearest object, which happens to be one of the lampposts. Taking off is out of the question right now, because if I do, I'll be blown straight out of the city by this fucking wind. Dammit, what's even happening? Is it the necromancer?

From the edges of the horizon, black clouds roll in faster than what should be physically possible. Their interiors are sparking with a lightning, causing booming thunderclaps to sound throughout the city. It isn't long before any trace of the starry sky that Rainbow and I had been looking at not too long ago is completely lost.

From the clouds, lightning bolts shoot forth and strike various locations all over the city. I would compare it to normal thunderstorm, except the lightning bolts are green, and are striking far too fast to be normal. Why are the lightning bolts green? That reminds me entirely too much of my magic...oh shit, it's the necromancer, isn't it? What kind of power does it have, that it can cause something like this!? 

Suddenly, an immense, crushing magical power seems to fill the air. My eyes widen as I feel its magnitude. It's so great, it rises above Chrysalis's and my level, yet falls short of Celestia. However, something feels different about this magic, in comparison to the necromancer's that I felt back in the ruins. It seems...wilder, primal even, and purer than the necromancers. This must be something else...but who else has this kind of power?

Pillars of pure shadow erupt from the ground along the outer edges of the city, arcing overhead and collecting on the far end of the city. The resulting cloud of darkness that forms grows so massive that it soon towers over the buildings around it. Rainbow and I look at it in shock, which soon turns to horror. Two great eyes open from within the dark cloud, with crimson pupils and glowing green corneas. Streams of purple magic trail away from the corners of its eyes. I know the second that I see them that whatever that is, it's using my magic. That's how I look when I power up.

“Rainbow...it's coming!” I call out to the struggling pegasus, right as the shadowy cloud surges across the town, heading directly for us. Actually, no, from the way its eyes are focused directly on me...it's headed for me. Oh shit, it's headed for me!

As the cloud passes over the buildings, it seems to corrupt them, causing their bright colors to dim and sicken, and black crystals to sprout from the roofs and walls. I can hear the cries of utter despair and hopelessness rising from the crystal ponies that see it pass. They sound more distraught than anypony I've ever heard, as if the true source of their torment had come back to assert it hold over them again. The second that thought rolls through my head, my eyes widen with the terrifying realization of just what it is I'm dealing with.

The winds and the earthquake die down as the cloud nears us. The thunderclouds in the air remain, however, occasionally releasing a lightning bolt onto the city below. Silence falls across the clearing, and yet it feels more frightening and oppressing than the chaos of a few moments before. 

At the far end of the street, the dark cloud comes to a halt, and it starts to shrink, the eyes disappearing. Tendrils of darkness start to converge upon a single point, until finally, the dark shape of a pony is revealed...his identity makes me freeze in place, a maelstrom of feelings shooting through my mind faster than I can analyze them.

“Y-You...how!?” I stammer in fright, taking a step back from the monster standing across the street from me.

King Sombra strides slowly and purposefully across the crystalline street, his dark eyes fixated on me and only on me. His eyes return from their green and purple appearance to their normal red eyed look, indicating his release of the magic he wields. He looks just as I remember him, clad in a metal breastplate with a red cape accented by white fur fluttering behind him as he walks. Metal plates cover his cannon bones and protect his hooves. Lastly, his crown is placed atop his head, holding back his wild shadowy mane.

Sombra doesn't answer my question, instead continuing to approach me. His expression is a stoic, emotionless one, his lips set in a slight frown. As he walks towards me, I notice that his body doesn't seem to be all there. His outline constantly shifts and blurs, as if his physical form is still incredibly weak. However, the closer he gets to me, the more stable his body seems to get. 

“Seth, who is that? Is it the necromancer?” Rainbow demands, breaking the oppressive silence. She glares at the approaching Sombra, flexing her muscles. She yelps when I push her back and step in front of her. I can't let her fight him. At his level, he could crush her like a fly.

“It's worse,” I state, my voice unsteady. I don't know why, but even though his power is close to mine and therefore manageable, I'm practically overcome by fear. Maybe it's because this is the one who's single-handedly caused the end of my race and ruined my life from the beginning. Or maybe it's because of how it took this world's most powerful weapon to deal with him in the first place. Or maybe it's because this situation is a hell of a lot worse than any of us expected. “It's him. It's King Sombra.”

Rainbow gasps, taken aback. This is her first time actually seeing Sombra, so she didn't recognize him at first. However, after realizing who it is that she's looking at, she tries to force her way past me, but I don't let her. “Let me by, Seth! I'm gonna beat him within an inch of his life for what he's done to you!” Rainbow pleads.

“Fuck no! You stay the hell away from him! He'll kill you as if you were nothing more than a helpless mouse!” I shout back at her. Rainbow flinches at the vehemence in my voice, but she starts to form another protest. However, our argument is cut short as Sombra finally addresses me.

“Seth Rogers...” King Sombra emits in that frighteningly deep voice that I've heard only twice before. Shit, he remembers my name perfectly. I can't believe it. Sombra, the one I'd given up looking for months ago, is now standing before me. “It hath been a great many years since our last meeting. Hast thou enjoyed thy brief stay in Equestria?”

“You...you son of a bitch...you're the one who started everything...you took me away from my family, my friend...!” I can barely put words together due to the mixed emotions flowing through me. I'm gritting my teeth with sheer anger, even as my knees shake with fear. Adrenaline pumps through my body, filling me with an uncomfortable chill and the urge to fight or flee takes hold. “How are you here? You were sealed away!”

King Sombra's form wavers again, once again confusing me. Is he not all here? Is his body not fully stabilized? If there's a weakness that I can exploit, I'm going to kill him right here and now, and to hell with the consequences.

“Of course. T'was an entirely reasonable strategy, in order to deal with one whose power rests above thine own,” Sombra replies, dipping his head as he compliments Celestia and Luna's tactic. “Yet no seal is unbreakable. T'was only a matter of time.”

Sombra must have expected that he would have been sealed. He must have set up some kind of countermeasure. But none of that matters now. He's here now, and he intends to take back his kingdom. I don't know if I can take him, but if I can keep him talking until Celestia arrives, then we will destroy him once and for all.

“Tell me...why? Why the fuck was it necessary to kill us? Why did you kill my race!?” I shout at him furiously, taking a step forward. Sombra, instead of replying immediately, takes a closer look at me, and then he raises an eyebrow, actually looking slightly surprised.

“Thou dost seem to be less negative than initially observed,” Sombra notes with interest. That confirms what Vanta said before, that Sombra was looking for people like me that hated everything. If that's the case, then why doesn't he look more disappointed by the fact that I'm not as bad now as I was then?  “Very well, I shalt answer thy question. It...”

“King Sombra!” a thunderous voice cracks through the air like a whip, and I can feel another power enter the area. Turning my head, I almost whoop with joy when I see Celestia and Luna flying down from the tower, both of them looking as serious as they had been when facing Chrysalis, if not more so.

Sombra, to my shock, shows no sign of any distress, nor does he even acknowledge their arrival, even when they land on either side of me. Instead, he continues speaking as if nothing was wrong. “It was noted within ancient history that mankind mysteriously vanished long before our conception. T'would be a shame to let such a species go to waste...thus I harvested them for my own purposes,” Sombra answers. As my breath catches in my throat and my anger rises, I clench my fists and try very hard not to lose my temper and attack him. Finally, Sombra addresses Celestia and Luna, who are glaring at him intensely, their magical levels starting to rise. “Ah, princesses. It seems ye still intend to keep mine own kingdom from me.”

“This is not your kingdom, Sombra,” Celestia snaps at him firmly. She spreads her wings, and tendrils of pure light filter up from around her hooves. Her mane flutters in the breeze caused by the welling up of her magical energy. I look at Sombra to see his reaction at being faced with the ultimate magical being in this world, but he does not seem fazed. Instead, he looks amused. “I will not let you toy with the lives of these ponies. Not while I still breathe.”

“Thou art weakened from being sealed. Even we can tell thou dost not possess the same power as thou didst in the past,” Luna accuses, midnight blue magical energy erupting from the ground. “Thou hast made a mistake, showing thyself before us.”

“Art thou going to use the Elements of Harmony on me again?” Sombra asks calmly. “Thou shalt find that impossible, as I hath targeted the Element of Magic.”

“Twilight...if you harmed her...there will be no place on this earth that will be safe for you, monster,” Celestia growls, and then her magic explodes from the ground around her, filling the clearing with light. 

Sombra ignores her display of power, instead turning to me. “Now, Seth Rogers, I believe thou hast something that belongs to me,” he states enigmatically.

“What? Something of yours? What are you talking about?” I demand, completely confused. Sombra shakes his head, as if lamenting my inability to comprehend his meaning.

“Thou hast not figured it out for thyself? Perhaps mine earlier assessment of thee was wrong,” Sombra derides me with a frown. “Perhaps thy companion would have made a better choice. Her name was...Amaryllis, was it not?”

“You...don't you...” I stammer, hardly able to hold back the flood of magic contained within my body. Hearing him say Amaryllis's name in front of me...from the mouth of the one that caused her death...it makes me angrier than I can ever remember being. I at last lose my battle, and I unleash everything I have. “Don't you speak her name!”

I release as much magic as I can, causing darkness and green electricity to erupt outwards from my body, wreathing around me like a whirlwind. Sombra's mane blows back from the display of magic, though he doesn't flinch, watching me with interest. 

The output of magic pouring from my core starts to slow down as I feel the mental barrier in my mind. Like before, I press against it, and a spike of pain shoots through my right eye. I open my mouth and release a yell, and then I break through the barrier, causing my magic to intensify even further, shattering the crystal street around my feet and forcing the princesses as well as Rainbow to back away from me.

My fingers elongate and taper to points, and my hair flows upwards into the air, flowing away from me as if through water. As the skin around my right eye starts to crumble and fall away, I feel a fresh rush of insanity coming upon me, threatening to take me over once more. However, all I can think of right now is how much I want to wipe King Sombra off the face of the planet. I don't resist when the insanity comes for me, and my mind shifts entirely.

“Seth, no!” Celestia cries out as she feels the sudden shift in my magical pressure. My magic suddenly triples, quadruples in size and power, filling me with so much strength it would make Chrysalis look like a child next to me. The skin on my face completely crumbles away to reveal a black mask with veins of pulsing emerald magic running through it. There's nothing left of my eyes apart from two slits in the mask, glowing pure green.

I let out a wordless scream that sounds almost animalistic, and then I charge right at Sombra before he can react. Gathering as much power as I can into my fist, I slam it right into his muzzle, holding nothing back.

From the point of impact, a beam of pure destructive shadow the size of a redwood tree shoots forth, completely engulfing Sombra and past him, tearing up the crystal streets in its path. So intense is the beam, it travels even further, plowing through the houses and streets beyond. Ever since Sombra appeared, the crystal ponies have been fleeing to safer areas of the city, and as such none of them were caught in the beam's path.

Rainbow, Celestia, and Luna watch with baited breath as the cloud of dust and debris raised by my attack starts to dissipate. Behind them, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy emerge from the tower, and are taken aback by the sight before them.

Suddenly, a chilling laugh sounds from within the dust cloud. I haven't moved my fist, and suddenly I realize that I can feel the vibrations of Sombra's laugh through my knuckles. As the dust clears, Sombra is revealed with my fist still planted against his face, though it hasn't moved him even a centimeter. My fanged mouth opens in complete shock, even as Sombra's laughter grows louder and more gleeful. 

“How...? Even with all of this power...I...” I stammer, withdrawing my fist and taken a step away from the shadowy king.

“Magnificent! Truly magnificent. I withdraw mine earlier sentiments. Thou hast accepted the gift I gave thee, and evolved it further than I ever thought possible! I am thoroughly impressed, Seth Rogers!” Sombra exclaims, showing the first real expression since he arrived in the form of a wolfish grin. When he sees me standing there unable to act, his eyes narrow. “Thou appears to be confused. Surely thou did not expect to damage me with mine own magic?”

A collective gasp of surprise and confusion sounds from all of the different ponies around me, including Celestia and Luna. I look at Sombra, his words causing me to freeze and stare at him in horror. What does he mean, his magic? This is my magic! I'm in control, and I'm going to use it to tear him apart! Who gives a shit what he means!?

I approach him once more, reaching my fist back for another punch. However, before I can, Sombra knocks me right into the street with a single hit, hurting me as if my magical protection didn't exist. How can this be happening? I've never been stronger than I am right now, and he's hardly stronger than that insect Chrysalis! 

“That's quite enough. Thou hast enjoyed the gift I hath given thee for long enough,” Sombra states with an iron hard tone, a frown forming on his face. His horn lights up with a dark aura, and suddenly I feel my body shifting. “T'is at last time that I retract that kindness. Come to me, essence of darkness!”

I don't feel anything at first, but then I start to rise into the air. I can vaguely hear Rainbow and some of the others calling my name, but I can hardly form the words to respond. Suddenly, magic starts to stream out of my body at an incredible rate, leaving me through my eyes, nose, and mouth in the form of ribbons of darkness. I start to scream in pain as the magic is forcefully extracted directly from my core and transmitted through the air to Sombra himself, whose form started to become more and more stable as he absorbed more and more magic from me.

My mind becomes clearer, the insanity leaving me as my body reverts to normal, as it no longer has any magic from which the insanity originates. At long last, the pain stops, and Sombra tosses me aside callously, my core completely lifeless and devoid of any kind of magic. In front of me, my rifle and scythe are lying on the street, back in their original forms, completely useless now. “What...what did you do....? Sombra! What...!?” I demand, but I'm forced to stop as I cough up blood. Dammit, I let the insanity in, didn't I? But...I can't feel any magic. What the hell...where did my magic go!? I'm helpless without my magic! 

All eyes rest upon the pony in the middle of the street, his eyes closed. He lets out a long sigh, almost as if he is waking up from a long dreamless sleep. 

King Sombra opens his eyes, and this time, the pressure in the air from his magic is completely gone. I've never not been able to feel somepony's pressure before. With Luna, Chrysalis, Cadance, and even Celestia, I've always been able to feel their magic, but now, Sombra's body isn't releasing a single mana particle, and I don't understand why. The only way he could be emitting no magic is if he had no magic to begin with...or if his magic was so impossibly high that it was way out of my comprehensions.

“Princess!” A unicorn guard calls, emerging from the outpost. Sombra turns his head ever so slightly, noticing the guard. The moment the unicorn guard spots the king, he hefts his lance with his magic and charges this direction. “Stand back, I'll deal with the necromancer!”

“Stay back! Don't come any closer!” Celestia shouts at the charging guard frantically. However, the guard continues to rush for Sombra. “RUN AWAY, YOU FOAL!”

Despite Celestia's best efforts, the soldier reaches Sombra and rams his lance right into the king's side...only for the reinforced metal to crumple in from the tip upon impact until the weapon is nothing more than a flat piece of metal. The guard gapes at his now useless weapon.

Sombra smirks and closes his eyes once more, reaching up with a hoof and batting the soldier aside. Just that one hit emits a shockwave that shoots through the air with the sound like a cannon shot. The guard is sent hurtling away from the king at the speed of a bullet, gouging into the crystal street and tumbling end over end until he slides to a halt at the base of the Crystal Tower, motionless.

“Thou shalt all bear witness to my power...” Sombra says softly. With a harsh whinny, the king rears up, and then slams both hooves onto the street, releasing his full power all at once. “I am King Sombra, ruler of the Crystal Empire!” 

The eruption of magical force from that action is so great, it could be compared to that of a bomb. A pillar of dark magic forms around the point of impact, shooting into the air and reaching up into the cloud barrier, evaporating them on contact. 

I scream and fly backwards, unable to hold onto the ground with the sheer amount of power emanating from Sombra's body. Even Celestia and Luna are knocked off balance, tumbling backwards helplessly.

“I've got you!” Rainbow cries out, catching me from behind, even as she herself tries to keep from hurtling away. Even she loses that battle, the both of us tumbling across the street and into a building. 

A mushroom cloud of debris forms around Sombra's eruption of power. Eventually, the beam dissipates, and Sombra is standing before us in his base form, in which darkness is licking up and down his body like an ethereal flame. His eyes are blazing with green and purple magic, and his horn is sparking with black electricity.

“Shit...we're all screwed...” I utter, my voice coming out as a whimper. I can't feel Sombra's power. That means he's above all of us, even Celestia. Even as I try to power up, nothing happens. I can't even feel my core anymore. It's as if everything about me that was magical has completely disappeared, leaving me an ordinary, helpless human. I wrap my arms around Rainbow, holding her close to me even though I know I can't protect her without my magic. Dammit...this wasn't how it was supposed to go...

Then, the princesses are there. Luna and Celestia stride towards Sombra, fully powered up and more serious than ever before. “Sombra, we will stop you. We are not the same as we were a thousand years ago,” Celestia declares, her form obscured by her immense magical power.

Sombra faces the both of them confidently, unafraid by their blatant show of force. “Not this time, princesses. Thy mistake mas meddling in affairs not thine own,” he growls, his anger at his previous incapacitation showing in full. “Thou shalt pay in blood for every year I spent in that glacier...thine own blood, and the blood of thy subjects.”

Sombra stamps the ground with a hoof, and suddenly the ground starts to shake again, only this time it feels different, as if something is moving just beneath the earth's surface. “Arise, children of darkness!” Sombra roars, and then the first skeletal claw erupts from the grass along the side of the street.

It happens all at once. Hundreds upon hundreds of undead starts to claw their way out of the ground all around us. There are not only undead ponies, but also other species that I can't recognize. To my horror, even Oppressed burst out of the dirt and clamber onto the streets, filling the air with their grotesque roars. Judging from the roars I hear in the air, they're popping up all over the city.

“It's an army...his army!” Rainbow gasps. I can feel her shaking in my grip, having never before seen as many undead as this all in one place before. “There's so many...how can we fight them all?”

“You won't. I want all of you to make for the escape ships. Luna and I will hold off Sombra long enough for you to escape,” Celestia orders us, her eyes passing over me as well. She then lowers her head and blasts an undead minotaur into oblivion with her magic.

“But what about you, princess? We can't just leave you here!” Rarity protests. She then yelps and dodges backward as an undead pony lashes out at her with its claws. She blasts it to pieces with a bolt of magic to its head. Then, an Oppressed charges her. She attempts to do the same, but the magic flows over its skin like water, leaving it unharmed. Applejack intervenes and sends the Oppressed flying away in a jumble of broken limbs with a powerful buck from her rear legs.

“This isn't up for discussion! Find Twilight, get on an airship, and get back to Equestria!” Celestia roars at us, sounding angrier and more worried than I've ever heard her. Rarity and the others pause, battling against their conflicting urges to protect the princesses and to follow their orders.

The sounds of battle fill the air as the Royal Unicorn Regiments in the city react to the presence of undead in the streets. Everything is degenerating into an all out conflict. Everything's gone to hell in such a short time, and it's all my goddamn fault. Maka's last words play in my head, their meaning at last clear to me.

“Sombra has already returned to the future, but his goal is clear. You MUST not let him find Subject Alpha...my uncle. If he does...then..." 

Why didn't I listen? Everything makes sense now...such as where my magic came from in the first place. It wasn't like Sombra's, it was Sombra's, and now he has it all back. All that time I spent getting stronger, and all it did was benefit him. Goddammit!

When Sombra takes a step towards Rarity and the others, the princesses act, and a battle of epic proportions begins. “Not another step!” Luna roars, and she rears up in the air, flaring her midnight magic. I notice that she feels much stronger than she was at the royal wedding, putting her above Cadance and closer to Chrysalis's level. In the sky above her, several glowing points of white light form, connecting to one another with white lines until I recognize it a familiar constellation. “Have a taste of our new spell! Constellation Magic: Grand Scorpios!” 

Luna brings down her hooves, and then streams of destructive magic shoot down from the constellation like a magic Gatling gun, raining down upon Sombra and kicking up clouds of dust. To finish it all off, Luna lowers her head and shoots a beam of magic right where Sombra is standing.

There's a sound like a gunshot, and the beam of magic is deflected off into the sky. The cloud of dust is blown away to reveal a mostly unharmed Sombra, his hoof raised in the air. His cape and armor looks burned from the destructive magic that he'd just taken head on, but his skin is practically unmarked. 

Celestia and Luna both charge him at once, their magical auras surrounding them and making them look like comets streaking through the air. Sombra runs to meet then, his head lowered and his eyes narrowed. When they meet, a shockwave shoots through the air, causing the crystal beneath their feet to practically evaporate and form a deep crater.

With a grunt, Sombra turns in place and bucks Luna right through a building, the crystal shattering like glass before her. Then, he and Celestia exchange blows so powerful, each hit generates a shockwave that presses me back against the building I'm lying against, to the point where I can hardly move. I don't have any magic to resist it, so I'm as helpless as a fucking baby.

Celestia turns and bucks Sombra back several feet, and then her magic flares, stronger than I ever remember seeing from her. She plants her hooves on the ground, and lines of white flame erupt from the ground, forming a five pointed star with Sombra directly in the center. My eyes widen when I see that she's using one of her techniques for the first time since I've met her.

“Blazing Corona!” Celestia yells out, and then white flames shoot upwards from the star, completely obscuring Sombra's form with a blazing inferno.

It doesn't last long. Sombra clears away the flame with a burst of magic, revealing that the only damage he'd taken from that spell was just a few burns on his face and legs. His cape was now incinerated, and his armor was charred. “It seems ye were not lying,” Sombra comments, eyeing the crater around him with respect. “Thou hast indeed increased in strength greatly since our last encounter.”

Luna steps out of the building, ready to return to the fight. She stands by her sister, panting slightly. There's a large bruise on her chest where Sombra hit her, and bits of crystal and debris litter her coat. 

“Hold a moment,” Sombra says to the sisters as they approach him to attack once more. They pause, surprised by his request for a ceasefire. “Before we continue, wouldst thou like me to return the Element of Magic to thee?”

“Give her back, Sombra. If you've hurt her...I will destroy you. I have been holding back, due to the amount of my subjects still remaining in the city,” Celestia warns the king angrily. Sombra gives a slight chuckle at that.

“What a coincidence. I am doing the same, so as not to damage my city overmuch,” he reveals, much to my horror and the princesses shock. He has enough power to fucking blow away one of Celestia's techniques, and he has more!? “Do not fear. I will relinquish her to thee. I hath no further need of her.”

Sombra turns his gaze to me next, causing me to flinch and recoil. If he attacks me, I'm fucked. It's like facing a god, with how little power I have now. “Seth Rogers...I wouldst give thee one last gift, from me to thee,” he states enigmatically. Then, he lifts his head and faces towards the Crystal Tower. “Hawke, attend to me.”

What? What is that name? It doesn't seem like the princesses know either, because they're searching the area too for any sign of this pony that Sombra is calling for. Nothing seems to be happening either, at least at first. 

A soft wind starts to blow through the streets, which are now completely silent save for the sounds of battle in the distance. If I didn't know better, I'd say that I can actually see the wind. I  recoil when I discover that I actually can. The wind contains traces of a strange black smoke that is flowing towards us rapidly. When I see traces of green electricity sparking through the smoke, I realize that I'm about to come face to face with the necromancer I saw in the ruins.

The smoke starts to slowly coalesce into a tall form next to Sombra, except it's much to tall to be a pony. What the hell species is this...my thoughts slowly trail off into total shock when the form starts to gain definition. At long last, Vanta's last words come back to me, at last making sense.

“You're not alone...” 

The tall, muscled form of another human coalesces in the air next to Sombra. I get to my feet, staring in shock upon seeing another of my race in the flesh, completely alive for the first time in months, after I was certain that they were all dead. Something isn't right, however.

The man, once his form is fully stabilized, is holding a beaten and broken Twilight by the neck in one hand. She coughs weakly, showing that she's alive, but she's been hurt badly. Celestia gasps in horror to see her student in such a shape, and then she glares angrily at the both of them.

“You...human...how?” Is all I can say as I approach the man, taking in his features as I do so. The man looks to be a Russian male in his late twenties to early thirties. When he hears my voice, the man lifts his head and stares at me with sunken blue eyes. I start to feel that same feeling of hatred that I felt down in the ruins, which is soon cemented when the man's face twists into one of disturbed hate, his teeth bared. 

“I'm here, my lord,” the man who I assume must be Hawke replies in an accented voice, confirming that he is indeed Russian. However, unlike most of his nationality, his hair is pure white and cut relatively short. Lastly, he is wearing a long black military coat, suited for one used to extremely cold temperatures. 

Hawke glances once at the princesses, and then tosses Twilight at them callously. I notice with a start that Twilight is holding tightly onto a frightened Spike, who is still mostly unharmed. I realize that Twilight, when she realized she couldn't win, must have done everything she could to protect Spike. I look up at Hawke, anger breaking through my despair.

“Didst thou carry out my orders?” Sombra asks Hawke simply, hardly looking at him. Right now, Celestia is cradling her student, looking pained that she couldn't protect her.

“Of course. It's good to see you back,” Hawke responds tersely. With a gloved hand, he reaches into his pocket and retrieves two items. One of them is the crown holding the Element of Magic, while the other is a strange diamond shaped amulet with the design of an alicorn with spread wings. With a light toss, Hawke passes them to Sombra, who takes them out of the air with his magic. “Is it time to take the Crystal empire at last?”

“Indeed, my most faithful general,” Sombra answers, pinning the amulet to his chest plate. As for the Element of Magic, it becomes shrouded in his magic until it eventually disappears, spirited away to who knows where. “I understand it must have been hard, following mine orders. Thy patience shalt be rewarded.”

“My lord,” Hawke inserts. He slowly lifts his hand, pointing a gloved finger directly at me. “The extermination of the human race is not yet complete. May I kill him?”

My eyes widen in shock when I hear his words. Hawke knows about the extermination, and serves Sombra regardless? What kind of man is he?!

Sombra turns to look at me one last time. He only looks at me for a moment before he returns to regarding the princesses. “Do as thou pleases. I hath no further use for him,” he says. Hawke grunts in acknowledgment and approaches me, his eyes lighting up with the signature green and purple light. “Now then, princesses. Ye hast waited long enough. Shall we continue?”

Celestia sets down Twilight over with Rarity and the others. “Take care of her, you all. Take her, and flee. You must not turn back even if I fall here,” she orders them. Even as they all start to protest at once, Celestia cuts them off. “I will consider it high treason if you are still here within the next five minutes! Now go!”

All I can think about is the man approaching me, his fists glowing with darkness. Out of habit, I reach into my magical core, only to find nothing there. I take a step away from Hawke. I can't fight back...I don't have any magic!

We're all completely fucked.
> 99. While I Still Stand.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 	The situation in the Crystal Empire is only getting worse. The sounds of battle in the streets are heating up as King Sombra's undead army clash with Equestria's forces. Battle cries and the sounds of hacking and slashing fill the air.

In the air high above the city, Sombra is facing off against Celestia and Luna in a battle so destructive and fast paced that I can't keep up with what's going on at all. All I can see are flashes of light and massive explosions, which are accompanied with sounds akin to thunder.

I cower against the wall, as if trying to sink through it. Hawke strides ever closer to me, taking his sweet time. The closer he gets, the more his expression twists with hatred. I've never had someone look at me like this, as if the one sole vexation on his existence is right in front of him. Just like in the ruins, I can practically feel his hatred.

“Don't come any closer!” Rainbow snaps at Hawke, hovering just beside me. Rainbow is the only one of the Elements that stuck around, despite Celestia's orders. The others took Twilight and Spike, then split and ran, which I'm not sure if I should be relieved or pissed off about. At the very least, the undead are leaving Rainbow and I alone.

“You were the one in the ruins, weren't you?” I have to ask, even though I'm sure I already know the answer. “The one who controlled the Oppressed?”

Hawke's eyes narrow, as if bringing that up was a personal affront to him. “You killed Vanta,” he accuses me, coming to a halt just in front of me. That doesn't answer my question, but the way he said that makes it sound as if he's holding a grudge against me for it.

“Of course I did! Do you know what he did to our kind?” I demand. Despite my helplessness, I take a step forward and jab a finger at Hawke. “The better question is: why didn't you kill him? Why do you even work for this bastard? He condemned our entire race to undeath!”

Hawke's teeth visibly grind together, and that's all the warning I have before he thrusts a magically charged fist directly for my face. I yelp and quickly jump out of the way, though I'm much slower now that I don't have any magic.

His fist instead rams into the building that I'd been pressed against. The entire wall shatters into pieces from the impact, littering the interior as well as the terrified crystal pony inside with bits of crystal. The mare promptly rushes out of the hole and sprints away down the street. Interestingly enough, the undead don't bother her.

“Hey! Take this!” Rainbow yells out with fury, flying right around Hawke and ramming both hooves into the back of his head. Hawke stumbles forward, not expecting an attack from that angle. Rainbow pushes her luck, beating on the man with everything she's got. “You stay away from Seth!”

Hawke irritably shrugs her off, and then his whole body dissipates into black smoke. He reforms directly in front of me as I'm struggling to rise. I nearly fall back over from his sudden presence. “I don't care,” Hawke growls, staring down at me with his demonic green eyes. I'm confused by that response for a moment until I realize that he is talking about my question. Before I can process that, he knocks me clear into another house with the back of his gloved hand. “It's not over yet. Not until you die.”

My body slides across a carpet and into a couch, breaking a table and a set of chairs along the way. I cough and hoist myself to my feet. My cheek is stinging extremely painfully from that one hit, and my neck aches from the strain. Shit, he might actually break my neck with another hit like that.

“What are you talking about? I'm human! I'm just like you! Why serve the one who fucking murdered us all!?” I yell at him angrily, climbing out of the building to where Hawke is waiting. My eyes bug out when a beam of shadow streaks from Hawke's outstretched finger, aiming directly for the ground where I'm standing. “Shit!”

I break into a sprint, barely dodging the first beam. Upon impact, the beam explodes violently, kicking up debris and forming a crater beneath it. Hawke's not finished. He continues to fire beams at me, until finally one hits me in the ribs, knocking me clear off my feet.

“Aaggh....this is....” I groan, holding a hand to my burnt skin where I was hit. Without magic to defend myself, the skin is charred and peeling away in the place where I was hit. Judging from the pain I get every time I take in a breath, I think some of my ribs are broken.

As Hawke moves his finger to orient on me once more, Rainbow swoops in from the sky and rams right into his arm, knocking it off course and causing him to miss. The beam shoots over my head and blows a hole in what I think used to be a tavern of sorts. “I said, stop it!” Rainbow demands, and then she plants her hoof into Hawke's cheek. “You're like Seth, right? You should be happy he's alive!”

Hawke finally turns his attention to Rainbow, finally tired of being interfered with. “This doesn't concern you,” he states in an dangerously soft voice. He pushes Rainbow aside with enough force to send her reeling backwards through the air. “Leave, and I won't kill you.”

Hawke attempts to move towards me again, but Rainbow soon returns, unleashing a furious array of punches with her hooves all over the man's face and chest. “Like hay it doesn't!” Rainbow retorts. “I'll never leave Seth behind!”

Without another word, Hawke arms pummels into Rainbow's body, knocking her clear across the street and into the wall of one of the taller buildings. My mouth drops open in horror as Rainbow slumps down to the ground, out cold.

“That's it!” I snap, and then I dash past Hawke and slide across the crystal street until I reach the spot where Vanta's scythe is still lying on the ground. I pick it up and charge at Hawke, grasping the weapon in both hands. Even without my magic, I've still got some physical strength, and I put all of it into a heavy swing aimed for Hawke's midsection.

The scythe blade passes through Hawke's body as he dissipates into black smoke again, reforming instantly a few feet to the right. I continue the assault, slashing again and again at Hawke in an attempt to deal some damage, but each time he dissipates and reforms away from the blade, his expression stone cold and unchanging.

Finally, Hawke catches the edge of the weapon with his hand, his magic making it so that the blade doesn't pierce him. No matter how hard I push down on him, he doesn't budge. “I owe everything to the king,” Hawke reveals. His free fist then barrels into my stomach with no warning. The pain is so great that I release a gasp, saliva and flecks of blood flying from my mouth. “My life, my power, and my revenge.”

“Revenge...revenge for what?” I cough weakly, slumping over on Hawke's fist. The man tosses me aside roughly, such that I roll across the street, shards of debris digging into my skin painfully. “What...did we...do to you?”

Hawke remains still for a moment, discarding the scythe and letting it fall back to the street. Just looking at his eyes and seeing that he has my magic lets me know that Sombra must have given it to him, just like he gave it to me. That green spell, back in the staircase several thousand years ago...it wasn't just some stasis spell. Somehow Sombra must have given me some of his magic at the same time...and then used it to power himself up after being weakened from the seal. Why didn't I see this coming?

Hawke suddenly appears in front of me in a split second, giving me barely any time to react. I act fast and swing a punch directly at his face. Hawke doesn't try to dodge, but it turns out he doesn't need to. I cry out in agony as my knuckle bones break, because it feels like I just punched a brick wall. When I try to withdraw my arm, Hawke grabs it, and then my screams grow exponentially in volume when he twists my arm until the bones shatter.

Fuck...it hurts...it hurts so fucking bad. My ribs, knuckles, and arm...Hawke is relentless. Nothing I can do hurts him...he's every bit as strong as I was just before fighting Vanta, though he shows no signs of being insane. I hope to god that he can't transform like I could.

Suddenly, I can't breathe. Hawke's fingers are clasped firmly around my throat. I reach up with my one good arm in an attempt to pry his fingers away, but his fingers are like steel. My feet kick at the ground as Hawke lifts me up into the air so that I'm raised above his head.

“Your sin is turning your eyes away from the injustices of the world,” Hawke snarls, but it's hard to focus on his words; I'm running out of air. My vision seems to flash red as another burst of hellish pain wracks my body from another punch in the chest. Tears of agony start to leak from my eyes as he punches me again and again, more ribs cracking with every hit. I even think he's damaged one of my organs, because blood is seeping up my throat.

Finally, Hawke releases my throat and plants me face down into the ground, splitting the skin on my nose and busting my lip. I feel my nose break when his foot stamps down on the back of my head and grinds down on me. I cough out blood weakly onto the crystal street, unable to move at all due to the sheer agony I'm feeling.

“You and the rest of our kind could care less about the troubles plaguing the world, as long as your needs are met,” Hawke criticizes me, not a hint of mercy in his cold, dead eyes. “You probably believed your life was miserable, never truly understanding how lucky you were. Just like the other humans, I will bring your life to an end, and my vengeance will be complete.”

Hawke...isn't just serving Sombra despite the extermination...it seems like from what he's saying that he was actually a part of it! He aided in the extermination himself?

“But now...it'll all be over soon,” Hawke assures me, and then he kicks me over viciously, until I'm lying on my side. Then, he looks up into the air to where Sombra is still fighting the princesses.

To my shock, Luna slams into the streets nearby with a tremendous crash, her body covered with burns and bruises from her battle with Sombra. She's a wreck, looking even worse than the time she and I fought Chrysalis. Luna attempts to rise through sheer force of will, to the point where I can see every muscle in her body straining. At last, she falls unconscious, lying on her side in the middle of a crater.

In the sky, Celestia and Sombra are still fighting, but it's clear Sombra is winning. My weak eyes watch them with disbelief. I can't believe that there's something out there than can overpower Celestia to this degree. Celestia is fighting Sombra with everything she has, but it looks to me like she's tiring fast. Sombra only looks slightly injured, despite all of the incredibly powerful techniques Celestia is employing.

Their battle soon takes them to the ground, alongside where Luna has fallen. Celestia looks between her sister and me, alarm and despair forming on her face. “Luna! Seth!” Celestia cries out, breathing hard. Sombra lands across from her, his face set in a frown. He's not even out of breath, which is unbelievable, considering Celestia's sheer power.

“I am almost finished here,” Sombra states casually, angling his head slightly to look at Hawke. “I will require thy services in securing the remainder of the city. Finish thy...”

Suddenly, Sombra is cut off by a colossal beam of golden white magic slamming into his whole body. Celestia stands nearby, her legs shaking from fatigue and her horn faintly glowing. “Not...while I still...stand...” she swears, stepping closer to Sombra.

Sombra growls and flares his crushing aura, blowing away Celestia's magic around him. “As thou wishes,” he growls, his body sparking with electricity. Despair is slowly starting to settle in my mind, Sombra is above all of us. There's no point in fighting somepony that strong, especially when I don't have any magic. “Hawke, finish thy business and attend to me. I shalt bring this farce to an end.”

Heh, it's a little funny. I've gone through so much shit since getting to Equestria. Between discovering my magic, the royal wedding, and even falling in love, I feel like I've lived many more lives here than I ever did back in my time. However, it turns out I was never intended to live here...I was just a tool for Sombra to regain his power. I can't do anything now. I can't protect Rainbow, nor even protect myself.

“As you command,” Hawke responds. I look up at him just in time to see his hand become sheathed in electricity. In fact, it looks almost like a blade is extending from his fist, made entirely of magic. As he lifts his fist, I close my eyes. I can't move, so there's nothing I can do except just accept it. “Goodbye, Seth Rogers.”

Hawke's fist sails down through the air at a painfully slow speed. The sounds of battle fade around me, such that all I can hear or feel is the whistling of my death hurtling the air. Seconds pass, and I never feel his attack land. Confused, I open my eyes despite the pain to see why Hawke hasn't killed me.

It's only then that I notice the humming magenta barrier hovering just above me. Hawke's fist is resting securely on it, preventing him from attacking me any further. Both Hawke and I look around for the source...and then a single, serene cherry blossom drifts across my vision. My eyes widen. That's...

“Back away from him, monster!” Hold on a minute, that isn't Rose's voice. My eyes then register the two ponies standing just behind me, both of their bodies alight with their magical auras.

Cadance and Shining Armor are standing together behind me, the latter's horn glowing with magenta light, revealing it to be him who saved me from death. Cadance's mane is flowing upwards from her own incredible magic, making this the first time I've ever seen her use it. What the hell are they doing here?

“Top of the evening to ya, princess,” Captain Blades's cheerful voice sounds out just to my right, where Celestia is still standing, albeit shakily. He's standing directly in front of her, forming a barrier between her and a curious Sombra. A veritable storm of daggers surrounds his armored body, each one glowing with his own unique magic. Celestia looks beyond surprised at his presence, likely because she told them to retreat if the worst case scenario occurred. “Sorry about this, but I'm disobeyin' yer orders. Court martial me later, okay?”

It's not just him. There's three more figures standing with Blades. The first one I notice is Commander Rose, her appearance wreathed in cherry blossoms as it always is during battle. She remains silent, glancing between her captain and Sombra.

“I stand ready to defend you, princesses.” Commander Iron stands beside Rose, clad in his unique armor with the eagle motif, his shield and trident hovering just in front of him. His eyes are narrowed to slits and are focused directly on Sombra.

“Don't blame us, princess,” Captain Spitfire remarks, flashing the shocked Celestia a cheeky grin. But...where did they all come from? This is practically every captain and commander here in the city! How did they know where we were? “Blame your little Element friends that are far braver than we give them credit for.”

“Yeehaw! Bring it on, y'all nasty varmints!” To my shock, Applejack gallops into the clearing, ramming a hoof through the jaw of an Oppressed that attempts to prevent her. Behind her are Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie, each one moving to engage the undead in the clearing that look to menace the officers.

“You poor foals...didn't I tell you...that I'd...” Celestia grunts, struggling just to stay upright.

A second after she starts talking, she's cut off by an explosion and the sound of party buzzers as Pinkie unloads a lethal payload from her streamer cannon into a mass of undead. “Yeah, we heard you. Let's hold the high treason party later, okay?” Pinkie responds cheekily.

“You can't...you can't hold us for treason if you're not...not alive,” Fluttershy adds, despite looking as if she'd rather be anywhere else. When an undead threatens Applejack's flank, she fucking floors it with her hoof, while wearing a glare that I've never seen her wear. “That's for Twilight, you monster!”

“A lady cannot simply turn tail and run when her friends are in danger,” Rarity declares, I notice with surprise that she has the unconscious Rainbow grasped with her magic. I can't help but let out a sigh of relief, despite the situation. At the very least, she'll get away.

“You can't...Sombra is too strong...he'll...” Celestia tries to warn the four officers in front of her, but they don't seem to pay her much attention.

“Yeah, we know. We could feel it from the airships,” Blades reassures her, looking grim. With that, the captain turned to Sombra, who had been watching them with veiled annoyance the whole time. “Sorry to keep ya waitin' big guy. Ya know, I'd ask for yer autograph if ya weren't such a total creep.”

Sombra regards the officers for a few moments, and then he turns to Hawke. “New orders, Hawke. Kill the alicorn and the captain. Do not hold...” he starts to say, but then suddenly his head snaps back from Spitfire ramming both front hooves into his jaw. With an annoyed grunt, Sombra swings a hoof wreathed in powerful magic at her, only for her to fly a circle around him and attack him from the rear. “Kill them!”

“Understood,” Hawke declares, and then he approaches Cadance and Shining Armor...but they don't let him get the first move. The both of them are suddenly directly in Hawke's face, unleashing a flurry of vicious punches front their front hooves, empowered by their magic.

Hawke grunts and retreats backwards under the onslaught, but I can see him blocking everything that heads his way. I notice that he keeps trying to phase into smoke like he did with me, but Cadance and Shining Armor are moving too fast for him to do so.

Suddenly, I feel a pony nosing at my fallen form. I look weakly to see Fluttershy crouching down beside me, looking horrified at my current state. “I'll help you, Seth. Hang in there,” she whispers to me, her hooves wriggling beneath me to get a decent grip. “This is for everything you've done for us.”

When Cadance lowers her head to blast Hawke with her magic, he finally phases away and reforms behind Shining Armor, attempting to counter attack with a double fisted blow. However, his attack is halted by another barrier, which buys Shining Armor enough time to deal Hawke a powerful buck in the chest. “You owe me for this, honey!” the captain calls to Cadance, who giggles despite the situation.

“Trust me, I'll definitely repay you!” Cadance responds, and then she hurls several orbs of pink magic towards the recovering Hawke.

“Ngh...so this is an alicorn,” Hawke observes, deflecting her attacks with his palms. “You're strong.”

“Why, thank you. I'm still going to buck you into next season, though,” Cadance replies sweetly, causing her husband to chuckle next to her. Hawke's response is to scoff. “You know, I have the worst luck. I meet the first human in three thousand years, and he won't tell me anything. Now I meet you, and you're our enemy.”

“I have no quarrel with you,” Hawke reveals, shifting into a combat stance. He starts to power up to a level further than what he's already shown. “Yet, I am the enemy of all who make themselves King Sombra's enemy.”

The magic streaming up from around Hawke's body suddenly grows in intensity and strength, tearing the ground apart around his feet. To my shock, his hair suddenly starts to flow upwards, and a strange black substance appears on his face, shooting through his right eye. His skin starts to crumble away around his eye, giving that side of his face a demonic cracked appearance. Oh shit, he can transform just like I could.

“Cadance,” Shining Armor warns his wife simply, understanding exactly what's going on. 

“I know,” she responds, and then the two of them power themselves up as much as they can, even though I know Hawke should be far above them now.

Fluttershy finally manages to lift me off of the ground, and she flies me over to where the other three Elements are fighting their way through the undead. Near them, Blades, Iron, Spitfire, and Rose are all attacking Sombra at once, but it doesn't look like they've dealt any true damage to him.

Sombra stomps the ground, blowing away the stinging swarm of Blades's daggers with a shockwave of darkness. Then, he rears up and catches Roses's massive pink hammer on his cannon bone as it swings down on him from above. With a grunt, Sombra knocks it away, and then he retaliates by materializing several shards of sharp crystal above him and sending them at Rose. She manages to dodge most of them, but one of them catches her in the side, leaving a nasty gash behind. She winces, but returns to the assault.

“Do not make light of me!” Sombra roars, leaping up in the air and turning around just in time to block a flurry of lightning fast punches from Spitfire. However, in the act of doing so, he leaves himself open to Blades and Rose, who are clasping hooves for some reason. It suddenly strikes me when I see the magic flowing between the two of them.

All of Blades's daggers surround Sombra, each one glowing with a pink light and emitting cherry blossoms, courtesy of Rose's magic within him. Above the king, a cloud of daggers made of pink magic form as well. “Spitfire! Move!” Blades warns, and then without waiting a moment longer, he and Rose release their combination attack, raining daggers down upon Sombra in a hail of deadly magical steel.

Spitfire swerves away just in time to avoid the explosion that ensues. She grins at the sight and moves to aid Cadance and Shining Armor, who are fighting hard against the transformed Hawke. The demonic looking human is pushing them hard with his new strength, but the power of Cadance and the ingenuity of Shining Armor's barriers are managing to keep him at bay for the time being, despite the gap in power between them.

“I have him! Can we please please pleeaaase go now?” Fluttershy pleads when she reaches the other ponies. Rarity is still holding on to Rainbow, Applejack is escorting the wounded Celestia, and Pinkie is moving Luna along a cart that she had promptly pulled from nowhere, even as she keeps the undead away from her with a fucking streamer Gatling gun.

“Captain!” Applejack calls to Blades tellingly. Blades shows that he understands what she's trying to say with a terse nod. “Yes, Fluttershy. Let's git to the airships. Mr. Skies is waitin'.”

Suddenly, Sombra emerges from the explosion, looking nothing if not irritated. He swerves his body to face Rose and Blades, his horn sparking with powerful magic. With a feral roar, the king lowers his head and fires forth a beam of destructive magic that promises to wipe out anyone and everything before it...including us.

Then, Iron is there. He throws himself right in front of the beam and takes cover behind his shield. The beam hits him head on, pushing the commander back several feet, his hooves gouging into the crystal street. The shield is glowing brightly, absorbing the magic to the best of its ability. Despite this, Iron looks to be struggling. His brow is wrinkled, and he's putting everything he can just to stay upright.

A crack appears in the shield as Iron holds steadfast against the beam, protecting me and everyone behind him. Iron grunts as he absorbs more and more magic, his body bulking up with the sheer amount that's running through him.

“Iron, stop! You can't possibly hold that much energy!” Blades orders him, but Iron doesn't move. “It's gonna kill you!”

“If...I don't do it...then who will!?” Iron demands, blood leaking from his nose. He skids back several more feet behind the beam. Finally, as the beam finally starts to dissipate, the shield shatters into pieces, unable to absorb any more power. The amount of magic that hits Iron has been reduced so much that it only knocks him off of his hooves.

Sombra looks honestly surprised when he sees that his beam hadn't damaged any of us. His gaze travels down to the pieces of the shield, his expression turning to one of interest. “That artifact...what manner of magic be this?” Sombra questions. However, he pauses when he sees Iron rising to his hooves once more.

Iron pants heavily, his body filled with so much magical energy that it makes him look like he's on steroids. “Raaaagh!” Iron yells, and then he thrusts his trident forward. Sombra's eyes shoot wide open with shock as every bit of magic that he had fired only moments before shoots right back at him, in the form of Iron's own silvery magic. Iron's body returns to normal as all of the foreign magic inside of him is released.

“What...!?” Sombra cries out just before the blast hits him head on, causing a massive explosion to ensue. The street is utterly obliterated from the impact, shards of crystal flying in every direction. Over with Cadance and Shining Armor, Hawke actually turns to look at the explosion with shock and worry. Of course, his distraction then earns him a barrier in the face, courtesy of Shining Armor.

“Now, while we still can! Let's git the hay out o' dodge!” Blades orders, quickly retreating towards the Crystal Tower, where airships are already starting to leave, filled completely with retreating Equestrian soldiers.

Shining Armor seizes the opportunity to wrap a barrier around Hawke, restraining him in place. Cadance adds to the confusion by blasting Hawke head on, injuring him and kicking up a cloud of dust. Then, the two of them look at one another and retreat all at once, with Spitfire flying right behind them.

As Fluttershy carries me underneath the Crystal Tower, I spot the last airship waiting for us, its gangplank extended and waiting for us to board. Of course, because it's the last airship, that means there's no more soldiers in the city. Therefore, the undead are swarming the gangplank, attempting to climb aboard.

“Horseapples! I better get danger pay for this!” Gilded Skies curses as he sits right on the street in front of the gangplank, clutching a lethal looking crossbow in his front two hooves. He fires a bolt right into an oncoming Oppressed. The initial shot does nothing, but the head of the bolt explodes inside of the creature's head, blasting it apart. He quickly reloads, but the undead are getting closer. As we approach, he gestures us on board with a hasty jerk of his head. “Get on board already! I didn't sign up for a blasted undead invasion!”

“Just a little further, okay? Hold on...” Fluttershy whispers in my ear as she takes me up onto the airship. I want to respond, but my throat is sore and my body feels like it's on fire. “It's going to be okay, I promise.”

From the sides of the airship, more Equestrian soldiers are raining bolts of magic and arrows down on the undead below, keeping them away from the gangplank as the rest of us climb aboard. The ballista set up on the airship are firing constantly as well, pounding the undead with bolts the size of trees.

“All right, we've got the princesses! Get this hunk of wood moving!” Blades orders, the captain helping an injured Iron walk.

“You don't have to tell me twice!” Gilded Skies yells back, clambering up onto the deck and severing the line connecting the gangplank to the ship, not even bothering to retract it. He immediately passes his crossbow to Blades and then flies up to the balloon. He quickly lights up the burner and then flies to the wheel. He gives it a swift spin, which starts to turn the airship slowly away from the tower. “You better make sure I get a darn medal for this!”

“I'll make ya a life sized statue of yerself made out of gold if you shut up and get us the hay out o' here!” Blades snaps back, firing the crossbow over the edge of the airship, expertly nailing a shambling undead pony and blowing it apart. “Heh, I like this thing.”

The airship steadily rises into the air, leaving the undead on the ground and flying after the other airships. However, I can see the explosion caused by Iron's counterattack slowly fading away, revealing a slightly injured and very angry Sombra. Next to him is Hawke, who looks furious that I'm getting away.

“Watch out, that monster is going to fire again!” Rose calls out in warning as Sombra lowers his head. Blades's eyes widen at that, and I notice that he actually looks panicked.

“Darn! I'm not sure if we can handle another attack like that! Iron, you got another one of those shields?” Blades jokes, despite the severity of the situation. He looks over at the panting Iron, the shards of his former shield in front of him, which the commander had insisted on saving. “Eh, I thought not.”

“I'm running out of magical power, but I'll do my best to hold it off!” Shining Armor declares, galloping to the edge of the airship closest to Sombra. Sombra lets out a shout that I can hear even from here, and then another massive beam of destruction shoots from the streets up towards us. Shining Armor sees it coming, and he gapes in awe. “So much power! I don't think I can...”

Shining Armor prepares to lift the barrier. However, as the beam reaches the ship, it collides against a golden white barrier, which strains under the impact. Everypony looks to see Princess Celestia struggling to stand at the edge, her horn lighting up as she pours as much power as she can into protecting the ship and in turn, the ponies on it. “Not...while I still...stand...” Celestia states again, grunting as she struggles as hard as she can. The barrier starts to falter, however, and the beam is still strong. “No....”

“Princess!” Rarity exclaims, and then she's standing at Celestia's side, her hoof on the princess's shoulder. Rarity's horn glows, and I see her magic channeling into the Celestia, helping her keep the barrier strong. Blades and Iron approach as well, pumping as much power as possible into their ruler. Shining Armor, Rose, and Cadance do the same, filling Celestia with so much power that her barrier doubles in size and brilliance. Other unicorn guards contribute their own meager reserves as well, everypony intent on doing their part to aid her.

Finally, Sombra's attack dissipates, and Celestia lets the barrier crumble, the poor mare panting hard. With a grunt, she releases the rest of her accumulated power into one last attack, sending an arc of what looks like pure sunlight down towards Sombra, just as our airship speeds out and leaves their range.

“Thank you...all of you...I'm so...proud...” Celestia manages to get out before her legs finally give out and she collapses to the deck. She soon falls unconscious, and a silence falls across the deck.

“Hah...hah....I can't believe we're alive,” Blades admits with a disbelieving grin. Some of the other soldiers start to smile and congratulate one another, but it's mostly in subdued whispers. Even if we managed to escape without too many losses, the battle was lost. King Sombra defeated us, and the Crystal Empire is his again to do with as he pleases. “I thought we were dead a hundred times over.”

“Me too...do you see what that jerk did to me?” Spitfire responds next, holding out one of her front hooves. Judging by the awkward angle it's at, it's probably broken. Blades chuckles, shaking his head. Then, he gets serious and approaches the guards.

“All right, those of you with magic left, stay on board and keep watch for undead. I dunno if they've got any that can fly, but I'm not about to tempt fate,” Blades orders. He then turns to Rarity and the others. “Alright, Elements. You get Seth, the princesses, and your friends down to the medical bay. We don't have the princesses to heal ya, but our medics can at least get ya patched up.”

“Oh, is it over? Oh...dear,” Rarity responds almost deliriously, and then she slumps over on her side in a faint. Blades's eye twitches at the sight.

“That includes her too,” Blades adds. I feel Fluttershy nod, and then she takes me below deck. My eyes are barely open, but I can tell because it's much darker in here than out there.

“Don't worry. We'll take care of you,” Fluttershy promises as she walks down the halls with me. “Rainbow's okay too. We've got her.”	

Fluttershy continues to try and comfort me with soft spoken words all the way until we reach the medical bay. Once we're inside, I can feel her lying me down on the bed and tucking me in in such a way that the blankets don't cover up any of my wounds. I hear her walk away for a few moments, before returning with a bucket filled with water. I can tell because I hear it sloshing around.

I suddenly feel a warm and damp rag press against the burn on my side. I shift and release a pained groan, but Fluttershy nuzzles my cheek and rests a hoof on my forehead. “Shh, shh. It's okay. I'm just cleaning it so it doesn't get infected. I'm sorry if it hurts...” she reassures me. I let out a pathetic sounding whimper as the rag sweeps across my skin. I don't think I've ever been hurt this much before. I feel like every part of me is broken.

Soon, the others arrive with the other injured, including Twilight, Spike, Rarity, Rainbow, Celestia, and Luna. “Whew, we got a lot ta deal with here,” Applejack comments, brushing the sweat off of her brow. “Ah feel like today lasted fer years. Pinkie, put Rainbow in the bed next to Fluttershy an' Seth. Ah'll take care o' the princesses.”

“Yupper-doo!” Pinkie responds, somehow managing to sound happy despite the situation.

Now that I realize that somehow, despite all of the odds, we're all alive, I close my eyes, finally allowing myself to fall unconscious.

	

> 100th Chapter Special
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Terran34: Now then, time to get this started. As I mentioned before, I'll be posting my outline, which has some noticeable differences here. In addition, my friends and I...and even some of you, have come up with some pretty hilarious jokes over the past year, so I'll be writing up some scenes to bring said jokes to life...no matter how ridiculous they are. A lot of them will be blatant references, and some will even include some of you in them.

Anyway, first things first. The outline!





Arc 1: New World

--What if there was a character that didn't trust the ponies?
--Names? Hawke, Seth, Zane, Trevor...need something unique. 	
--Needs a backstory. Maybe try the lost love thing. People love that shit.
--Work at Sweet Apple farm. Applejack's the only pony he doesn't completely hate.
--Use side characters. Lyra, Vinyl, Derpy, Octavia, and so on. Avoid 	fanon. 	
--Fuck human obsessed Lyra. Tone it down to mild interest, focus musical talents.
--Stays at a hotel with money he earns.
--Doesn't make any friends.

Arc 2: Rescue the Filly Arc

--Encounter with Diamond Tiara at school
--Encounter with Filthy Rich
--Visit from Royalty
--Filly lost in Forest. Make it Sweetie Belle. Seth goes to help because it's a filly.
--Main Character learns magic through some shit. Idk, probably a manticore or something.

Arc (3 or 4?): Expedition Arc

--For some reason, Seth gives location of Science Building to Twilight or Royalty
--Expedition is funded.	
--Entire mane six goes, plus entourage of royal guard and scientists..
--Group sleeps in first floor classrooms.
--There are still Oppressed in the basement levels and Science Wing
--Some 	guy at the bottom with an undead thing. Not sure what his motives are yet. Maybe he too loved Amaryllis? Needs thought, idfk what I'm doing.

Arc (3 or 4?): The Royal Wedding

--Chrysalis Invasion succeeds
--Mane 6 + Seth+Luna infiltrate dungeons, free royal guards for counter assault
--Battle for Canterlot
--Chrysalis tempts Seth with a chance to go home, choice between ponies or home
--Not sure why he'd pick ponies. Gotta think about that.
--Seth+Luna defeat Chrysalis

Arc 5: Sombra's Return

--Crystal 	Empire's Return
--Events 	unfold as usual. Crystal Fair and all that jazz. Flugelhorns!
--Twilight fails to break free from door
--Seth tempted away from city by illusion of Amaryllis, meets Sombra
--Sombra v Seth, Sombra wins and takes back power, becomes stronger than princesses
--insert other human maybe? Not sure. Think I'll use a guy to be a foil to Seth, if anything.
--Battle for the Crystal Empire, Royal Guard v Oppressed
--Princesses v Sombra, Sombra wins, princesses saved because of Starswirl the Bearded
--Sombra + Crystal heart starts a dark age.
--Sombra steals Elements of Harmony
--Some epic war that lasts a while. Equestria united and all that.





Terran34: That's all I've got. I've cut off the last bit, because some of it has spoilers in it. Basically, it was a very bare bones rendition of the story. Half of this crap I threw out because it was pretty bad, and the rest I improvised along the way. Notice that Rainbow and Vinyl were never mentioned in this at all. Honestly, I left out a lot of the world building, because when I wrote this outline, I actually thought that I wouldn't have to do that much. I was wrong. The moment I wrote that the show didn't exist in Seth's time, I made it so I had to build the world from the ground up.

Now then, enough talking about shit that I've already talked about before. Time to start with the random omakes! Notice that they'll be switching POVs a bit, because sometimes it's just funnier from another perspective.





Pinkie's Mane:

I walk through the streets of Ponyville after a long day's work, sighing and letting the breeze flow over me. It feels good, especially with how sweaty I am. Now, I think I should go find Rainbow or Vinyl, because I'm bored and they can usually pull some bullshit to entertain me.

I take my phone out of my pocket, glancing down at the gently glowing screen. As always, the words “no signal” blare at me from the upper left corner of the screen. It's almost like a constant reminder that my old life doesn't exist here anymore. I wonder if any of the satellites crashed down to earth. Maybe they just drifted away into space, because they don't have computers to control them any...

In the middle of my train of thought, my phone suddenly starts getting a signal. “Wait, what the hell?” I exclaim, looking at the one bar on the screen, indicating a very low wifi signal. As I watch it incredulously, the signal soon rises to two bars, and then three bars. At the same time, I hear somepony humming in a high pitched voice.

Looking up, I spot Pinkie Pie bouncing through the street just behind me, humming a happy little tune. When she spots me, she smiles brightly. “Hi Sethie! How ya doing?” Pinkie asks in a friendly manner, passing me by on the way to whatever it is she's doing. I respond vaguely with some pleasantry or something as my mind tries to figure out what the hell is going on. “That's awesome! I'll see you later, okay? I'm busy busy busy!”

Shaking my head at her antics, I look back down at my phone to see that the signal is now going down, until suddenly I'm not getting a signal anymore. My head jerks up and looks at Pinkie bouncing away. “Pinkie! Wait!” I call after her, sprinting as fast as I can to catch up to her.

Pinkie doesn't stop, but she does slow down so I can jog by her. “What's the matter? Couldn't stay away from me?” she teases me. I ignore her at first, looking back down at my phone. Sure enough, there's a full signal now. What the fuck? “What is it?”

“I don't even fucking know...Pinkie, how are you giving my phone reception?” I demand, panting a little from trying to keep up with her. Pinkie nods, as if she knows exactly what I'm talking about.

“Well, the stallions always say I give them mixed signals,” Pinkie responds with a grin, making me adopt a flatbrowed expression. “Now sorry, but I really need to get going!”

Pinkie speeds back up, but I don't let her get away. “No, you get the fuck back here! I've gotta check my texts!” I cry out, breaking into a sprint. When I reach her, I lunge forward, until finally I'm riding on her back, even as she bounces up and down again and again.

“Whooaa!” Pinkie yells, unbalanced by the sudden weight of a human on her back. Knocked off course, she runs right into a market stall where a pony is selling textbooks. The stall shatters to pieces and the books go flying everywhere, much to the horror of the selling stallion. “Sorry! I'll pay you back later! Sethie, are you trying to take me for a ride?”

“Yes! You're giving me a wifi signal! It's like your mane is made out of Google Fiber or some shit. Now try and hold still, I'm trying to check my facebook!” I shout back, right as one of the flying textbooks falls and lands right on the face of Carrot Top. “Wait, I think I hear my Twitter!”

Pinkie almost runs right into Fluttershy, who is herding a small group of birds through the street. Fluttershy yelps and throws herself aside, and the birds fly in every direction, raising an awful clamor.

Over on the other street, Twilight and Rarity are standing still, watching the chaos unfold in the town square with 
confused and unamused expressions. Their heads follow as Pinkie and I bounce from street to street, back and forth, like fucking Scooby Doo style.

“What in the world are those two doing?” Twilight asks calmly, glancing over at Rarity.

“I'm...not quite sure,” Rarity admits.

Pinkie's Comfort:

“That I don't understand. Why would you do that? What do you get out of seeing me smile?” I question honestly. I get tired of standing, so I move over to the bed and sit down next to her. Pinkie shifts to give me room.

“Because seeing anyone sad is enough to make me sad, and you always look sad, so I'm sad when I see you sad,” Pinkie begins, and her wording is enough to make me pause a moment and try to make sense of it. “But if I make you smile, then I can smile, and everyone's happy.”

“Wait, so you're telling me that the happiness of others is your happiness?” I ask, putting her reasoning into my own words to make sure I understood.

“Uh-huh,” Pinkie confirms. I look down at the ground trying to process that. However, I just don't think that anything can make me truly smile, except the return of my race. If only there was another human I could talk to...someone similar to me.

For some reason, a bright smile crosses Pinkie's face, as if she can hear what I'm thinking. “I can help with that!” Pinkie declares. Then, before I can do or say anything in responds, she proceeds to pull a very confused looking human out of her mane and sets him in front of me.

I blink, completely dumbfounded by the presence of another human...who looks exactly like me. Hell, he's even wearing the same clothes as me. Pinkie...you...how...the fuck? “What the...” I begin.

“...hell?” the other Seth finishes, looking just as dumbfounded as I do. “Did she just...”

“...fucking whip another me...”

“...out of her mane? Wait, are you...”

“...completing my sentences? This is weird,” I state, my eyes wide with astonishment and confusion. Next, the two of us lean in towrads one another in exactly the same fashion, as we're looking in a mirror. We examine each other's hair, poke at one another's cheeks, and lift up each other's shirts to see if the scar from the staircase back in the ruins is still there.

“Oh! That's really good! It's like a mirror act! You two are totally in sync!” Pinkie praises us, jumping up and down with glee. Seth and I both look at her at the same time, with identical exasperated expressions.

“That's because we're the exact same person!” The two of us snap at the same time, and then we look at each other with raised eyebrows. “Fucking jinx. Oh shit, double jinx. Stop that! Triple!”

As Pinkie rolls around on the ground laughing her ass off, Rainbow peers into the room, wondering what's going on. When she sees me and the other Seth, her jaw drops open, and then a blush forms on her face.

“You know...” Rainbow declares, drawing our attention as she walks into the room. She's blushing furiously for some reason, which is odd, considering she never blushes. “I've sometimes had dreams about two Seths...”

Seth and I both look at each other, understanding the thoughts that's running through both of our heads. “I'm out!” Seth yells, and then he turns around and jumps right back into Pinkie's mane, disappearing from view.

“Fucking nope!” I add, and then I too jump into Pinkie's mane somehow, into a world of cotton candy and balloons.

“You two come back here! We're gonna have some awesome fun times!” Rainbow yells, and then she pounces atop of Pinkie, trying to get inside her mane as well.

“Rainbow, you're not even supposed to be in love with Seth yet! You can't break continuity!” Pinkie scolds her, even as she giggles madly and fends off Rainbow's assualt.

“Continuity can go to Tartarus!”

This is the scene that Vinyl walks in on, as she had coming to check and see what they were doing. A grin crosses her face, because all she can see is Rainbow and Pinkie intertwined together on the floor, the former grunting and the latter giggling. Vinyl promptly pulls out a camera and snaps a picture.

“Hah! Going to the FoalFree Press with this!” Vinyl declares, and then she dashes away so fast she leaves a little cartoony cloud behind.

Rarity's Hat: (Inspired by Brave-Hooves's comment)

The first outfit is another set of blue jeans and a long sleeved shirt, only this time the shirt is white with dark purple rings around the collar and sleeves. Huh, so Rarity essentially made a shirt with her own color scheme on it. I guess I don't mind wearing it. I mean, purple isn't that bad of a color, and I never gave a fuck about fashion anyway.

“And lastly, to finish off this delightful outfit, I present to you one of my favorite sun hats,” Rarity finishes with a flourish, presenting to me one of the ugliest hats I have ever sen. It's made of straw, has an extremely wide brim to stave off the sun, and it has these dumb looking purple flowers tied to the rim. “With it, you will look simply fabulous, darling!”

I stare at the ridiculous hat with a flatbrowed expression. Without another word, I take out a lighter and promptly catch the rim on fire, much to Rarity's horror. “Fuck your hat with a brick,” I state flatly as the hat burns to a crisp.

“Oh, how could you, you simply ungrateful ruffian! That was one of my favorite...such language too, oh dear!” Rarity proceeds to rage as I pocket the lighter, cackling to myself.

The Problem with Writing Rarity: (Inspired by Anyne's comment)

Terran34 and Brave-Hooves sat in the back of the studio, just behind the backdrop of Rarity's Boutique, as Rarity and Seth were running through the scene where the stubborn human finally lets her make him some clothes. This was their third run through, and Terran34 wasn't quite satisfied with it yet.

“It's good...almost perfect. But something seems missing. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe I should throw Fluttershy in the scene somewhere?” Terran34 says aloud, grasping a clipboard in his hand and scribbling down notes on it with a pencil. “Hmm...hey Brave, you got anything from the commenters?”

Brave-Hooves sets down his sandwich and produces a set of notecards, each one with one of the comments for that chapter on it. “Hm, this one tells you to keep writing despite the hate...oh hey, here's a new one. Who's this Pontiac56 guy?,” Brave-Hooves comments, showing me the notecard.

“That's a pretty short comment,” Terran34 remarks, giving it a glance before putting it back in the pile. Brave-Hooves wrinkles his nose.

“Don't complain about comments, man. He could become your favorite commenter in the future for all you know,” Brave-Hooves points out.

“I doubt that,” Terran34 scoffs. “Anything in there that actually gives me some advice?”

“Uh...there's one in here saying that you wrote Rarity saying 'darling' too much in the script,” Brave-Hooves responds. Terran34 raises an eyebrow and takes the notecard.

“What? That's bullshit. She hardly ever says that in the chapter! Look, I'll prove it to you,” Terran34 snaps, offended. He pulls out a table from nowhere covered in shot glasses, each one filled with straight vodka. “Tell you what. Each time she says 'darling' in the scene, we take a drink. I'll bet you twenty bucks we'll still be standing by the end of this.”

“Sounds interesting. But how is this a bet? It seems more like you...” Brave-Hooves starts to protest, but then Terran34 clamps his hands over his head, shutting him up.

“No, shut up, this is what we're doing,” Terran34 interrupts. As Brave-Hooves pouts from the unexpected contact, Terran34 approaches the backdrop and peers over a dresser. “All right, you two! Start the scene over from the top one more time!”

“Fucking hell, how many times do I have to keep putting on these god awful clothes?” Seth complains, once again stripping out of Rarity's outfit and getting ready to start over. “Alright, fuck it. Let's go, Rarity.”

“They are not 'god-awful' Seth. How rude,” Rarity huffs. Just then, the lights go out, and they fall silent, because the scene is about to start. However, because it's so dark, no one sees the devious smirk cross her face. Rarity had heard everything Terran34 had suggested.

The scene progresses as normal, with Rarity never mentioning the word “darling” even once...until a certain portion of the script arrived.

“By the way, how the hell did you manage to replicate my jeans to such perfect detail?”

“Oh, you like them? I was worried you wouldn't.” Rarity practically glows at his question. “It was mostly trial and error. You have no idea how many tries it took me before I could get the details just right.”

“So you reconstructed these from memory?” Seth queries. He actually felt kind of impressed. She's only seen them a few times, and she made a perfect set just by looking at the shitty pair he was wearing now?

Rarity's smirk suddenly reappears full force, and she approaches Seth. “Now then, darling, you would be the most darling of darlings if you would be a darling and help me produce a darling set of clothes for my darling little darlings? Darling, it would be most darling of you to help a darling in need of a darling such as you,”she coos, until a thump is heard from backstage. Seth's eyebrows raise at her inane speech.

“Wait, hold on a minute, that's not in the script. What the fuck are you doing, Rarity?” Seth demands.

“Oh, you know. Just being a darling,” Rarity responds deviouslly, and then she giggles helplessly as she hears another thump. “Seriously, I was messing with the author. Take a look!”

Seth and Rarity both look behind the backdrop to see both Terran34 and Brave-Hooves passed out absolutely shit faced drunk, silly expressions on their faces.

“Okay, that's fucking brilliant,” Seth chuckles, and then he and Rarity exchange a high five.

Seth's Suicide Scene:

Maybe if I had been born anywhere else, I wouldn't be like this. Maybe I'd have had a chance for a normal life somewhere else.  

I swiftly look back over my life, the rocky rapids getting closer and closer to me every passing moment. I remember my early life and childhood, and how vicious mankind was to me the moment I was exposed to them. Oh, I didn't realize it at first. Everything was fine...until...Janna...showed me what humans were really like.

I smile ironically and close my eyes, mentally bracing myself for my incoming death. Goodbye Amaryllis. Maybe I'll be granted one last kindness, and I'll be able to see you again in an afterlife. A bitter chuckle escapes me at that thought. Then, the rushing sound of the rapids overpowers my every thought. This is it.

I open one eye as I fall, suddenly realizing that something is missing. “Uh...Rainbow? You're uh...you're supposed to catch me..” I stammer, but there's no sign of her at all, and the rocks at the bottom of the cliff are getting closer and closer. “Rainbow? Rainbow! Oh god oh shit oh no aaahaaaah!”

Splat.

Suddenly out from behind the backdrop, M. A. Larson himself jumps out, waving his arms around. “He's dead! The end!”

Rose's Ultimate Power:

“Oh, so you want me to fight you now?” I ask incredulously. As much as I'd relish the chance to beat some respect into this bitch, I can't help but feel a little wary.

“What's the harm? Surely if I'm as weak as you say I am, then it shouldn't be much of a challenge for you at all,” Rose replies, her expression unreadable. I stare at her with a raised eyebrow. I feel like she's trying to taunt me into the fight now.

You know what? I'm too angry to care. I'm going to teach you a lesson you won't forget. “All right then,” I say softly, clenching my fists. “I'm going to show you just how strong I already am.”

Rose takes a few steps back, such that there's several meters between us. She gives me a cool look, and then she produces a sword from seemingly nowhere. “Have you forgotten?” she asks me calmly. Wait a minute, was she supposed to get a sword in this scene?

“Wait what? Forgotten what?” I ask tentatively, unsure if I want to hear the answer. Rose smirks, and then she drops the sword point down into the ground. However, instead of sticking into the dirt, it phases through the ground as if it were made of water, even leaving little ripples behind. Hold on a minute, that looks familiar...

“That I too, know Bankai,” Rose emits, and then two rows of katana blades emerge from the ground on either side of her, completely encompassing the whole field. Rose smiles evilly, and then the blades all turn bright pink. “Shatter, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi.”

My eyes widen, and then I promptly break the fuck away from the fight. “Oh you've got to be fucking kidding me!” I screech, and then I'm chased off into the distance by a swarm of deadly cherry blossom blades.

Meanwhile, in the Seireitei, Byakuya Kuchiki is ransacking his manor, trying to find out where the hell his zanpakuto went.

Love Poison Take 1:

Seth is sitting at the bar with Rainbow after the whole mess with Twilight occurred. Rainbow is attempting to cheer him up with cider, but it doesn't seem to be working. She sighs and rests her head on her hoof, drinking idly from a straw. If only there was some way she could help him that would actually work...

Rainbow suddenly sees Vinyl approaching them, taking a break from her current set list to visit them. However, she also notices a strange vial filled with a sickly pink fluid that bubbled ominously. Rainbow raises an eyebrow, for some reason finding that awfully familiar, but she can't quite figure out why. It isn't until Vinyl puts on the most evil grin and pours it into Seth's drink that she suddenly understands. Rainbow's eyes bug out when Seth goes to grab the cup.

“Seth! Wait! Don't drink that! Seeeeth!” Rainbow screeches so loudly that everypony in the bar turns to look at her. However, it's too late. Seth downs the drink entirely, and then he turns to look at Rainbow, making eye contact. Rainbow gulps, wondering how bad it's going to be this time.

“Why, what the hell is the matter?” Seth asks irritably. Rainbow lets out a sigh of relief. Perhaps humans weren't affected the same way as ponies were. Just then, a strange look crosses Seth face, and suddenly Rainbow feels quite exposed as the human's eyes trace over her form, lingering particularly on her lips, her toned muscles, and her flank. “You know...I never really noticed how fucking beautiful you are.”

“Oh no...” Rainbow moans, rubbing her face with both hooves. Behind Seth, Vinyl is snickering into both hooves, setting the empty glass aside. “Vinyl, I'm going to kill you, I swear.”

“No, seriously...you're just too perfect,” Seth praises her, and then he rests his hand on her shoulder, making Rainbow squirm uncomfortably. It's only when Seth's hand starts tracing down her side and heading for her flank that it gets too much for her. Rainbow yelps when his hand pinches her cutie mark, and then she bolts from the table, knocking over cups and chairs on her way out of the bar. Seth immediately gets up and follows her at a run. “No, come back, Rainbow! I love you!”

At this point, Vinyl is rolling around on the floor, beating her hoof on the floor repeatedly to express her mirth at her successful prank.

Seth chases Rainbow through the streets with his arms held out before him almost like a love zombie. “Come back, my love! I'll do anything for you!” Seth pleads.

“No! Gah! Somepony help!” Rainbow cries out helplessly as she speeds up. Yet somehow Seth is still keeping up with her. “Leave me alone!”

“Let's get together, my sweetie pie! We'll embrace tenderly underneath the stars and take long flights together in the morning sun!”

“Oh, sweet baby Celestia why!?”

Love Poison Take 2:

Seth stares at Vinyl, who has just stuffed a hoof into her own mouth to keep from continuing her own sentence. “Um...what was that?” Seth asks suspiciously.

“Nah. Just figured that joke was too bad, even for me,” Vinyl explains, removing her hoof. “Also I realized I'm too close to you to make a quick getaway.”

“Not to mention I'm right here. You were about to make another joke about me, weren't you?” Rainbow accuses, shoving Vinyl playfully. “You really need to cut that out.”

“As long as it annoys you, not gonna happen,” Vinyl quips, much to both Rainbow and Seth's exasperation. “Anyway, I'm getting more cider.”

“Me too,” Seth agrees, refilling his cup and returning to his seat. Just before he takes a sip of it, Rainbow quickly produces a vial of the same pink liquid and dumps it into the cup without Seth noticing. Vinyl sees it happen and her jaw drops, as she knows exactly what that is.

“Rainbow...you...” Vinyl stammers as Seth drinks the poisoned cider. Rainbow snickers and grabs Seth's head, forcing him to look at Vinyl, the two of them making eye contact. “Oh, horseapples.”

“Thought I forgot, didn't you!?” Rainbow screeches at Vinyl, and then she removes a video camera from nowhere and flicks on the recording light. “This is going right to the local newspaper.”

“Vinyl...you're looking exceptionally sexy tonight,” Seth says in that same enthralled voice that all love poison affected individuals used. He gets up and approaches her slowly. Vinyl looks up, taking off her shades and putting on a grin.

“You sure you want to record this, Rainbow?” Vinyl remarks, seemingly ignoring the approaching amorous Seth. “I'm feeling a little adventurous tonight. Who knows how far I'll let him go?”

Rainbow lets the camera drop from her grip, a blush forming on her face as Seth descends upon Vinyl. With an embarrassed squeak, she dashes out of the room, wondering what the hell she just unleashed.

Behind the backdrop, Terran34 is wearing an uncomfortable blush. “Brave, I don't think I thought this through,” he comments. However, he doesn't get a response. Terran34 turns to see Brave-Hooves watching with an inappropriate me gusta face on. “Oh son of a bitch. Quick! Somepony get Seth out of there!”

Chrysalis's Mistake:

“Oh, changeling not good enough for you? I can work with that,” Chrysalis titters, not offended in the least. Suddenly, her body shimmers, and she becomes Cadance again. “How about it? There's nothing I can't become. I can be anything, all for the purpose of fulfilling your every desire.”

As Seth watches, she cycles through several different ponies, settling on Rarity at one point. Every time, Chrysalis shows off her marehood, and Seth does his best not to puke all over the floor. Finally, she pauses. “Oh, who's this I see in your mind? Mm, this oughta get you a little hot and bothered,” she remarks, and then she transforms again into someone that Seth wished he'd never have to see again. Those bouncing blonde curls, that confident smirk...Chrysalis has taken the form of Janna.

Chrysalis bends over once more, and she grins when Seth starts to approach her. “Oh, did I do good?” she asks, but then she pauses when Seth powers up, his magic springing into existence and becoming so strong that it destroys part of the ceiling and blows out the windows. “Wait...I think I made a mistake...”

“You...not you...” Seth growls, and then he powers up even further, his hair shooting upwards and a streak of a black substance shooting through his right eye. He lifts a hand, his fingers elongated into claws, and clenches it into a fist. Chrysalis gulps audibly.

Meanwhile, the two guards outside the doorway suddenly become unenthralled. They look at each other in confusion as the ground starts to shake, and the sound of somepony getting mercilessly beaten to a pulp can be heard from inside the room.

“FUCK YOU!”

“OH FOR THE LOVE OF HOLY SOMEPONY STOP HIM!”

“I'M GONNA BEAT YOU UNTIL YOU CAN'T WALK! YOU'RE GONNA HAVE A FEW MORE HOLES WHEN I'M THROUGH WITH YOU!”

“HEEEEEEEELP!”

The two guards shrug, and return to guarding the room, figuring that the whole threat to Equestria would be dealt with now.

Time Travel Spell Revised: (inspired by Mad Maudlin's comment)

After defeating Chrysalis and capturing her, it had been an easy task to force the knowledge of the time travel spell out of her. Then, with the combined power of all of the princesses and Twilight, they planned to send me all the way back in time to my own time, at least for a little while.

I stand in the center of the room, a little bit nervous about going back after so long. “All right, let's get this over with. Come on, cast the spell already,” I demand of the three unicorns in front of me.

“All right. Come on, Luna, Twilight. Let's do this one thing for him, in return for all he's done,” Celestia requests. Luna and Twilight nod, and then they all power up at once, putting as much power into the spell as they can.

The bright green rune forms beneath me, and the images of several floating clocks start to rotate around me, their chimes blending together in a discordant cacophony. However, just before the spell fully takes effect, Pinkie bursts into the room.

“Wait for meee! I wanna go too!” Pinkie cries out, lunging into the spell just as it fires. “Wheeee!”

“Pinkie wait!” Twilight calls out just before the light blinds me, and the two of us disappear from the room.

When I next open my eyes, I'm standing in the stairwell of my school, and it looks exactly as it used to three thousand years ago. Hell, I can even hear the sounds of students moving around upstairs. However, there's a slight problem with this.

“Ooh! It looks all humany! Oh! What's this say? Sethie, what's it say?” Pinkie exclaims, pulling down a piece of paper off a bulletin board and shoving it in front of me.

“Did you really have to follow me back? What if you can't go back?” I demand. However, before Pinkie can respond, the bottom doorway opens, and Amaryllis comes charging in, looking extremely anxious. When she sees me standing up, she visibly lets out a sigh of relief. Thankfully because Pinkie is standing behind me, she doesn't see her just yet.

'You fucking dumbass! You had me so worried that something had happened to you! Is this some kind of joke!? I swear, I'll kick your ass into next week!” Amaryllis swears at me, storming up the stairs and glaring at me.

“Uh, yeah, it wasn't a joke. Yeah, you see that guy that I told you about? Turns out he zapped me three thousand years into the future where all mankind is dead and magic is like, everywhere,” I tell her all in one breath. Amaryllis blinks, wondering if I'm being serious or not. Then her eyes trail down to look at Pinkie as the hyperactive pony bounces into view. “Also, yeah, I brought you a pony.”

“What?” is all Amaryllis can say.

“Hi!” Pinkie declares, bouncing up and down. “My name's Pinkie Pie, and I'm going to be your new best friend!”

“...WHAT?!”

Battle Princess Luna: (inspired by my own stupidity)

“Uh...you sure you really want to call her this?” Brave-Hooves asks uncertainly, holding the script before him. Terran34 is sitting confidently in his director's chair, his arms crossed.

“Yeah, this is the coolest name! Trust me, the fans will love it. It's simple, but it doesn't change her title too much. Come on, trust me. Look, the scene's going on right now,” Terran34 assures him, pointing to the stage, where Luna, Seth, and the mane six were acting out the aftermath of Chrysalis's takeover.

Luna is quiet at first, and then she looks at her guards, who all nod. She turns back to them with a determined expression. “Very well. Then we hath made a decision. We shalt take command of the reclamation effort.”

“How? Even with you here, there's simply not enough of us,” Seth points out, deciding to throw aside his earlier optimism and face facts. “Chrysalis is stronger than all of us, and we might get overwhelmed before we even get to her. There's only twenty of us here, and four of us can't fight at all.”

“Rest assured, Seth Rogers. I hath confidence in mine ability to retake Canterlot. Thou shalt discover why I was once called...” Luna expresses. A determined grin slowly crosses her face. “...Battle Princess Luna.”

Suddenly, the scene comes to a halt as a swarm of fans burst in from the audience chambers and head directly for Terran34. The author has time to give one yelp before they oust him from his chair and throw him to the ground, where they proceed to stomp on his body repeatedly.

“That is a stupid name! Try changing it to Princess of Battle, or Princess of War!” Starlight Nova rants.

“Battle Princess Luna? Really? I think I've lost all hope in the creativeness of this story!” SpIRITofRANDOM yells.

Meanwhile, Brave-Hooves stands there shaking his head. Lifting a glass of tea, he sips from it and leaves the room. “You reap what you sow, man.”

The Fellowship of the Pony: (inspired by Mad Maudlin's comment)

With a blink of her eyes, the hologram reverts, once again showing the entirety of Canterlot. “This will not be an easy strategy. If it is to succeed, we will need each one of thee to give thy utmost effort. Art thou with us?”

“I am, Princess Luna. I want to save Princess Celestia, Cadance, and my brother. I'll fight if I need to!” Twilight is the first to respond. She scuffs the ground with a hoof, a determined expression on her face.

“If it means savin' Equestria, count me in. This is mah home too,” Applejack asserts, cracking her neck and stretching her limbs.

“I've got a score to settle with that Chrysalis jerk. You won't be leaving me behind,” Rainbow joins, her eyes narrowing.

“Just because I'm a lady doesn't mean I can't step up if necessary,” Rarity declares after Seth misses his line for some reason., throwing in with the rest of them.

“Oh! Me too! I wanna say something cool!” Pinkie exclaims, bouncing in place. She attempts to put on a serious face, except all it succeeds in doing is looking ridiculous. “I'll save you, princess! How was that?”

“I'll...try my best,” Fluttershy whispers, her voice barely audible.

“If you need me, you have my flame,” Spike promises. Finally, Seth decides to step in, a dumb grin on his face.

“...and my axe!” Seth declares, and then there's sound of a record screeching to a halt. The other ponies stare at him in annoyance and confusion. “What? Oh come on, that was the perfect moment for that reference!”

Behind the backdrop, Brave-Hooves is chuckling and Terran34 is resting his face in his palm. “Goddammit! Seth! Whose character are you anyway!?” Terran34 yells, only for a pistol shot to fire right between his legs. “Eeep!”

#YouKnewThisJokeWasComing:

This is it. This is the fight that this whole battle has been building up to, and the one I've been dreading ever since I felt her power in this very hall, back when I saved Rainbow and the others.

“Let's go, Seth Rogers,” Luna says softly, hunching down and scuffing the ground with her hoof.

“Right,” I reply grimly. Then, Luna and I both tap into our magic at the same time, exploding with magical power. This time, neither of us hold back. Thin pinpricks of light, like stars, appear in Luna's aura, while mine sparks with green electricity.

Chrysalis suddenly looks confused. “Hold on a minute. Luna, how the hay are you using magic?” the queen demands. We both look at her in confusion, wondering if she really doesn't know that her magic canceling field is down. “My cancellation field should still be up!”

“Obviously it's not working as well as you thought,” I remark. Suddenly, a grin crosses my face, confusing Chrysalis. I sidle closer to her, nudging her with my elbow. “You know what this means? Do you? Eh? Eeeh?”

“...What?” Chrysalis asks hesitantly, unsure if she really wants to know the answer.

I then put on the most robotic facial expression that I can muster, looking her right in the eyes. “YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS!”

Chrysalis and Luna both promptly hit the floor out of exasperation, and there's the sound of Terran34 throwing his clipboard across the room behind the backdrop. “Goddammit!” the author yells as I laugh my ass off.

What most of you were thinking:

“Yeah, sure, let's go!” Rainbow says, seeming much happier than before. We move back towards the street, but Rainbow slows down just before we leave. Ugh, what the hell is her problem now? “Hey...so, before we go back out there...I wanted to ask. Did you mean what you said before? About me...being your reason to live?”

Fuck...I did say something like that, didn't I? Goddammit, I thought we were all going to die back there. Way to go, Seth, just blurt out whatever's on your fucking mind just because things got a bit dicey. Well...more than a bit. Still, this is an embarrassing thing to admit to.

“I'm not saying it again, and if you tell anypony I said that, I will deny it with every fiber of my being,” I express vehemently, though my words pretty much tell Rainbow exactly what I'm feeling. Rainbow grins and emits a fucking squee (and this is the first goddamn time I've heard her do that), and  then blushes slightly. “And stop blushing! I was just telling the truth!”

Rainbow is about to emit her next line when all of a sudden a voice screams from offscreen. “JUST F*CK ALREADY!” A record screeches to a halt as both Seth and Rainbow blush even more intensely and look away from one another.

“WHO SAID THAT!? WHO THE FUCK SAID THAT!?” Terran34 screeches irritably at the interruption of another of his scenes. Of course, no one owns up to it, but everyone laughs at it. Including Brave-Hooves. “Stop laughing, you're not helping!”

Animorph Spell: (inspired by Mad Maudlin's comment)

Rainbow is sitting alone in Seth's room at Vinyl's house, waiting for him to get back from whatever it is he's doing so that she can keep hanging with him. After the whole mess at the royal wedding, she finds herself wanting to hang out with him more and more, though she will never admit that to anypony ever. She just keeps getting so excited whenever he's around, and she's finding it harder and harder to justify that to herself.

“So uh...” Rainbow hears Seth say from outside the closed door to his room. He sounds uncomfortable, for whatever reason. “So you know how I've been getting better with magic and stuff?”

“Yeah, so?” Rainbow demands, wondering why he's hiding himself outside of his own room like that.

“So I found a transformation spell in Starswirl the Bearded's book...” Seth continues, and then he walks into the room. Rainbow's jaw drops when she sees a handsome male pegasus walk into the room.

Seth's coat is a beautiful chestnut brown that gleams in the dim light. His mane is very similar to his hair as a human, falling down both sides of his face in a cascade of shimmering ebony, and his eyes are a bright green. Thick corded muscles from his runs with Rainbow ripple clearly through his limbs.

Seth coughs uncomfortably under Rainbow's intense stare, flexing his new wings. “So...how do I look?” Seth asks awkwardly.

Rainbow's tongue slowly hangs out of her mouth, and then without warning...

PWOMF!

...both of her wings shoot open to their full span, completely erect. A line of drool drips from her tongue, and then before Seth has a chance to react, she charges him, pouncing atop him and throwing him to the bed. “You. Me. Right now. No questions, just do it,” Rainbow orders breathlessly.

Meanwhile, Vinyl opens her front door, wondering why she doesn't see Seth anywhere. He is supposed to be hanging out with Rainbow, but there's no sign of them. Then, she becomes aware of the sound of squeaking bed-springs emanating from Seth's upstairs bedroom.

“All right...” Vinyl remarks with an amused grin. She turns right back around and leaves the house. “Freakin' about time already. I think I'll give them a little privacy.”

If there wasn't at least one of these in here, I think I'd be lynched or something:

“You've lived with me for a while now. You're practically my roomie,” Vinyl begins, looking happy to explain. “It's going to get a little lonely around the place without you around.”

“So...you're saying that if I moved out, you'd miss me?” Seth says, wanting to make sure he understood.

“I wouldn't have put it quite like that because it makes me sound lame, but yes,” Vinyl responds after a pause, looking sheepish. “It'd just be weird not having you around the house.”

“Oh, but you shouldn't worry too much,” Seth remarks, a grin on his face. “Want to know why?”

“Sure,” Vinyl replies, curious. Then, out of nowhere, Seth whips out a red sweater and puts it on over a white dress shirt, complete with a nice tie tucked into the sweater.

“Because...I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you~,” Seth randomly starts singing in a soft baritone voice. Vinyl's eyebrow shoots right up into her mane, wondering what the hell Seth was smoking. “I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you~”

“Uh...Seth? Are you...” Vinyl starts to say, but then she yelps when Seth hooks an arm into one of her legs and starts dancing with her.

“So let's make the most of this beautiful day! Since we're together, we might as well say~” Seth continues. Behind the backdrop, the sound of Terran34 beating himself into a concussion can be heard. “Would you be mine, could you be mine? Won't you be my neighbor?”

“Yes, just please for the love of Celestia, stop singing!” Vinyl begs.

Back-scratching Business:

I stand next to the counter, a clipboard held in my hand. Behind me is Aloe, who is dealing with one of the customers who came in a few moments earlier. I think Lotus is actually with one of them in the back.

Damn it, why am I even here? Oh right, it's because I let myself get convinced that it would be worth tempering my sense of pride in order to get some extra money. According to Aloe, there are tons of ponies out there who would pay a lot of money in order to get their back scratched by someone with fingers. So here I am. My first customer is set to arrive in several minutes. I only hope it's not too painful of an experience.

The door to the spa opens, ringing the little bell. I groan miserably when the first thing I hear is. “Ooohhh Sethiee!” As expected, Lyra prances into the building with a giant fucking smile on her face that makes me wish I'd never signed up for this. “Let's see you put those hands to work!”

“Goddammit, why did I just know it would be you?” I groan. Aloe giggles behind me, knowing full well of what happened. “Ugh. At least it's only a little over ten minutes. Come on, let's get this over with.”

“Oh, don't lie, Sethie. You know you want to run your hands all over me,” Lyra teases me as I accompany her to one of the back rooms. She flops down on one of the tables on her stomach, waiting expectantly for my touch.

“Fuck you, Lyra,” I retort, reaching down with my hands and starting to scratch her back. Lyra lets out a long soft moan that makes me extremely uncomfortable. Her moan turns into a soft sigh as she practically melts beneath this treatment.

“Not unless you buy me dinner first,” Lyra responds sleepily. I scoff and count the minutes until it's finally time for her to go.

“All right, time's up. Now pay me and get the hell out of here,” I snap at her once the fifteen minutes are up. Lyra just gives me a cheeky smile along with her payment, and then she leaves the salon.

The next customer comes in, and I raise an eyebrow, because it's another mint green unicorn, only this time he has a mustache and a hate, along with some sunglasses and a coat. “Hello, I'm here for the back-scratching?” he calls in a strange gruff voice that almost sounds a little forced. I sigh and take him back as well.

The next customer is yet another mint green unicorn with a beard, spectacles, and a fedora, along with a scientists coat. When the next customer is yet another mint green unicorn, I get suspicious and whip off the hat and fake facial hair to reveal a sheepish looking Lyra.

“Seriously? Has it been you the whole time?” I demand. Lyra nods with a bright smile as if nothing is wrong. I turn back to a snickering Aloe. “Did you know about this?”

“Of course! Why would I turn her down?” Aloe responds innocently. “I mean, sure, she booked all the appointment slots for tonight, but she did pay us quite a lot.”

“For the whole NIGHT!?” I exclaim in shock as Lyra giggles innocently behind me.

Lyra turns around and wiggles her rump at me. “Better get scratching Sethie!” she calls to me with a smirk.

This is going to be a long day.

The Undead:

After I slide down the next part of the shaft, I soon near another opening to the shaft. I peer through the slits in the vent cover. There's a wide room beneath me that looks like it has been re-purposed into a makeshift barracks...and there's actually ponies in there. Well, except they're dead. Just like Frozen, each and every one of those ponies are dead and decomposed to skeletons, moving through magical power. They're all standing there aimlessly, not making a sound.

I smirk and punch the vent cover off, figuring that as long as they're not Oppressed, I can handle them without much trouble. “All right, I'm about to put you all back in the ground where you belong!” I declare confidently, landing on the floor and powering up.

The skeletons don't move. They don't even turn to look at me, instead staring straight forward from their sightless eyes. They're almost like statues, but without the stand to hold them up. If they hadn't been standing up, I'd have ignored them entirely.

“Oookay, then,” I say, feeling a little awkward that I'd just announced myself to a room full of undead ponies that apparently couldn't hear it. I approach one of the skeletons to see if it'll react to me now. It doesn't, so I'm essentially just staring at a statue. “Why they hell are they just standing there? They're like, all in a row...like they're preparing for some kind of dance number. Hey! Why are you all standing like that?”

Suddenly, the first skeleton whips out a curly black wig and a white suit. In a clear voice, he starts to sing a very familiar song, each of the skeletons dancing in sync and dancing from side to side. 

I turn around and leave the room without another word. I'm done. I'm just done. I quit this fucking fic. Go find another main character.

A Different Soundtrack:

“Are you sure we need speakers this big? This is a fanfiction, I'm pretty sure that half the guys that read this don't even listen to the music,” Brave-Hooves asks again as he carries one of the speakers Terran34 requested inside of the studio. “You know that, right?”

“Yes, yes, whatever. And that's why I'm getting these speakers. That way they'll be forced to listen to my epic musical choices!” Terran34 responds irritably, waving his hand as if he was dismissing Brave-Hooves's concerns. “Mwahahaa!”

“Welp, the author's gone insane,” Brave-Hooves comments, figuring that there's no point in arguing when Terran34 gets to this point. Suddenly, an evil glint appears in Brave-Hooves's eyes as an idea came to him. “All right. Don't worry, I'll handle the soundtrack. Pass me the remote, would you?”

“Sure. Just make sure to follow my playlists exactly, or I'll come after you,” Terran34 warns him, and then he passes the remote to the speakers over to Brave-Hooves, who catches it. “Now get ready. The Mega Oppressed is about to show up, and the music is crucial for that portion.”

Brave-Hooves nods, and then he sits back against the speakers with the remote in his hand. On stage, Seth has just finished looking through the cameras in the laboratory.

Something slams into the reinforced metal door where he came in, denting it and almost tearing it right off of the hinges. A feral roar fills the room, filling Seth's heart with dread. As the Mega Oppressed barrels through the door, a certain song starts playing from the speakers.

Seth's eyes widen and he screams like a little girl, dashing the other direction. “TAAAAAAANKK!” Seth screamed, running off screen. He soon met up with Brave-Hooves, who was now running from an enraged Terran34. “Wait what the hell? Why are you in the scene?”

“I'm in the scene?” Brave-Hooves asks as he runs. Seth nods. At first, Brave-Hooves looks really excited, but then he realizes what the roars and thudding footsteps behind him mean. “Oh shit, it's right behind me!”

“Me too! Aaaaaaggh!” Terran34 screams at the top of his lungs, and then suddenly there's three humans running down the hallway.

“Seth, I'm here to...what the hay?” Rainbow remarks as they zoom past her. “I think this scene got messed up somewhere.”

Different Soundtrack 2:

I take a few steps back from it, trembling a little from beneath its eyeless gaze. Then, the whispering intensifies, and then wisps of a glowing, translucent blue substance stream into the room from all over the place. Behind a pillar, from the upper floors, from behind me, from the individual rooms, and even from the mummified body in the magical field, the wisps converge upon the skull of the bone construct. They seep inside of its eyes, mouth, and cracks in the skull...and then the entire construct shudders, as if coming alive. Its eye sockets suddenly fill with two ominous orbs of glowing crimson light, and both of them turn to glare down at me.

“Prepare yourself, Seth Rogers...I'm going to show you the necromantic magic that destroyed your kind's defenses, once and for all!” The construct's mouth opens and closes with each syllable, Vanta's voice emanating from within. The skeleton leans down and takes a combat stance, its talons scratching against one another with a painful screech.

“Oh trust me, I'm ready for you,” I respond with a grin. Much to Vanta's surprise, I turn around and quickly put on a set of equipment that I find beneath a pile of bones. Then, equipped in a full set of 3D maneuver gear, I take to the skies and wield my dual blades with gusto as a certain song plays in the background.

“HOW!? HOW DID THAT SHIT EVEN GET ON THE PLAYLIST!?” Terran34 demands shrilly, shooting an intense glare at Brave-Hooves, who is whistling innocently, stuffing the hundred dollars in cash that Seth had given him to set all of this up. Terran34 groans and slumps back in his director's chair. “I hate my job.”

Mob Justice:

Vanta holds out his hand, and a wicked black scythe with jagged edges bursts out of a pile of bones on the left wall of the room and zooms to his grip. Vanta brings the scythe down to his side, and just that one action sends a shockwave through the ground so powerful, it tears up the area for several yards and sends dirt and rock into the air. Finally, Vanta's jaws open and an otherworldly screech bursts forth from his maw.

“Are you impressed? I've been pouring the magic power of everyone and anything I find into this body for years and years, and now that King Sombra is gone, I am the strongest being in existence,” Vanta exults, lifting a bony hand and gazing at it almost lovingly. He glares at me next, bringing his scythe to bear. “Prepare yourself, Seth. With this form, I'll end this in a second!”

Seth sighs and looks away, clearly uninterested. “Please, I have something far worse up my sleeve than that,” he remarks. When Vanta looks confused, Seth grins evilly. “The fans.”

Seth proceeds to rip open the fabric of the backdrop, revealing the audience studio where the fans were watching. When they see a way in, suddenly a huge crowd of fans stampede in and pile over a screaming Vanta like zombies.

“Take this you son of a bitch!”

“Death by irony! That's how we kill you!”

“This is for the human race!”

Seth walks away towards a dumbfounded Rainbow, looking satisfied. “Aaand, victory is mine.”

“There's no way that just happened,” Rainbow states as Vanta is torn limb from limb by the rabid fans.

What Happens When You Kiss a Pony: (inspired by Xzaves's comment)

Her lips press against mine, completely overwhelming my body with so many sensations that I can't even describe. I can feel her body pressing against me, her muscles tensing and her chest heaving, even as her breath fills my lungs.

I have no idea what I'm doing. I've never kissed a girl like this before, but it doesn't seem like Rainbow cares. Her hoof is wrapped around the back of my head, holding me close. I can feel her sighing in relief and pure happiness, seemingly stemming from just this simple act.

My cheeks are filled with a heat so intense, unlike any that I've ever felt before. My body feels tense, yet more alive than ever. My heart pumps with an intensity so great that I feel it beating against the underside of my chest.

Suddenly, I clamp my hands down on Rainbow's shoulders, pushing her away. Rainbow grunts in surprise and confusion, wanting to get back to me, but I won't let her. I suddenly start hacking and coughing, feeling one of the worst sensations in the world right now.

“What? What's the matter?” Rainbow asks anxiously, still blushing from the kiss. She beats on me back, thinking that I was choking. “Are you okay? Seth!?”

“Gah...hair in my mouth...” I manage to get out, and then I go right back to coughing. Rainbow puts on a flatbrowed expression.

“Really...?” Rainbow deadpans as the sounds of Terran34 and Brave-Hooves laughing in the studio echo in her ears. “Ugh, guess we gotta do the scene again.”

Seth's Last Mistake:

“Um...I don't think you can fit in here,” Seth remarks, looking up at the vent that he'd bolted through to avoid getting torn to shreds by the Oppressed. He couldn't see it last time because it was so dark, but now, he notices just how small it is.

“I beg your pardon?” Celestia responds, and Seth swears she sounds indignant. She joins him in the prison cell and looks up at the vent.

“Yeah! Maybe you should think twice before eating all that cake and not doing anything all day!” Seth yells at her in annoyance. Celestia's expression darkens and her eyes glow golden, but Seth doesn't seem to notice. “I mean, Jesus Christ woman! It's like, Fat Bastard called: he wants his ass back! For...”



The resulting explosion could be seen all the way from the Crystal Empire, where Hawke is sitting on a rock in front of a campfire. “Huh,” Hawke comments, and then he goes back to cooking his fish.

The Necromantic Heart:

The room itself is completely covered in that same flesh like substance in the hallway, only now there's sagging pods of darker colored flesh on the walls. There's a large metal archway in the center of the room, with tendrils of flesh snaking up the metal. Suspended by several thick red cords of translucent flesh in the center of the archway is a massive heart like structure. Every second, it would pulsate and shift, beating like an actual heart. Each beat sends a dark fluid shooting through the cords and into the archway.

The relative peace in which the heart operates is suddenly shattered as a fucking convertible Lamborghini slams in through the front doorway, sending bits of metal and flesh everywhere. Seated in the driver's seat is Seth, wearing a 80's metal rock outfit and a set of Kamina style sunglasses, the triple barreled shotgun clenched in his free hand.

In the passengers seat is Celestia, her mane all frizzy and wild. She's wearing spiked bracelets on her two front hooves, and two high top laced boots on her back two hooves. In addition, she's wearing a black leather vest over a red plaid shirt. To top it all off, she is wearing aviator sunglasses.

The car's radio blasts out an old rock song as the two of them unleashed their attacks all at once, shooting the heart full of holes with magical blasts and shotgun shells, all while the two of them are rocking out to the theme from the radio. “Hell yeah, dial that bitch up to 11!” Seth cries out.

“Kick it!” Celestia agrees, blasting the remainder of the heart to oblivion. Meanwhile, in the back studio, Brave-Hooves is rolling around on the floor laughing while Terran34 is bloodying his head on the nearby wall.

Winter Wrap-Up: (inspired by Pontiac56's comment)

“Oh, Winter Wrap-Up?” Twilight responds, eager to explain another part of her culture to me. “It's an annual event that all ponies do at the end of winter. It's where we all work together to clear the wintry environment and make way for spring!”

“Something tells me this is going to give me a headache. So what exactly does that entail?” I ask even though he's sure it's going to be something absolutely ridiculous.

“There's quite a lot of difficult tasks. I'm actually the organizer for the whole event...” Twilight begins.

“That's not surprising,” Seth interjects with a grin, much to Twilight's annoyance. Twilight's a control freak at times, so of course she's in charge of everything.

“...because it's what I'm good at, as opposed to heavy lifting or something similar,” Twilight continues, ignoring my interruption. “Some of the things we have to do is wake up the animals, retrieve the birds that went south, and...”

“Oh my god, I was hoping it wouldn't be that bad,” Seth groans, interrupting her again. Twilight huffs and gives him a pouting expression. “So everything that nature should be doing, you do for it?”

“But nature doesn't do that. If we don't wake up the animals, how will they know when spring is here?” Twilight asks curiously. Suddenly, Seth gets up from his seat and flies out of the building through the window. “Seth? Where are you going? Seth!?”

Meanwhile, in Canterlot, Celestia blinks, hearing the sound of something crashing against stone. She walks out to her balcony and looks down to her garden. To her shock, she sees Seth standing next to the statue of Discord, smashing it repeatedly with a massive sledgehammer.

“Take this! This. Is. For. Nature. You son of a. Bitch!”

Celestia sighs and walks back inside, because she knows it won't do any good. All Seth is going to do is knock himself out.

Blatant Reference:

“Say it,” Cadance tells me, nudging me in the middle of the Crystal Tower's hallway, right after she mentioned Rainbow and I being together. I groan, wishing I was anywhere other than here.

“Fuck you.”

“Not until you say it!”

I sigh and give her a glare. “You're really going to force me on this?” I demand. Cadance puts her face right up next to mine when she replies.

“I'm practically dripping right now. I NEED to hear this!” Cadance tells me firmly with that bright grin on her face, her voice slightly wavering.

“Fine! You were right!” I yell angrily. Cadance's response is to let out a long emphatic moan, her back legs shaking. “Jump up your own ass and DIE!”

Hawke's Appearance: (inspired by Everyone's comments)

“Seth Rogers...I wouldst give thee one last gift, from me to thee,” he states enigmatically. Then, he lifts his head and faces towards the Crystal Tower. “Amaryllis, attend to me.”

A soft wind starts to blow through the streets, which are now completely silent save for the sounds of battle in the distance. If Seth didn't know better, he'd say that he can actually see the wind. Seth recoils when he discovers that he actually can. The wind contains traces of a strange black smoke that is flowing towards them rapidly. When Seth sees traces of green electricity sparking through the smoke, he realizes that he's about to come face to face with the necromancer he saw in the ruins.

The smoke starts to slowly coalesce into a tall form next to Sombra, except it's much to tall to be a pony. What the hell species is this...my thoughts slowly trail off into total shock when the form starts to gain definition. At long last, Vanta's last words come back to me, at last making sense.

“You're not alone...”

The tall, muscled form of another human coalesces in the air next to Sombra. Seth get to my feet, staring in shock upon seeing another of his race in the flesh, completely alive for the first time in months, after I was certain that they were all dead. Something isn't right, however.

“Mwahahaha! Look at me!” Amaryllis proclaims, standing atop a rock as the sun shines down on her dramatically. “I have returned from the depths of hell to take my revenge on you! You and I, once best friends and almost lovers, now forced to fight one another in a tragic battle that will tear your very...fuck, this is a cliché plot line.”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Seth complains, glaring back towards Terran34, who was sighing and already making changes to the script.

“Man, fuck the both of you,” Terran34 grumbles.

Hawke's Appearance Take 2: (inspired by Everyone's comments)

“Seth Rogers...I wouldst give thee one last gift, from me to thee,” he states enigmatically. Then, he lifts his head and faces towards the Crystal Tower. “Janna, attend to me.”

A soft wind starts to blow through the streets, which are now completely silent save for the sounds of battle in the distance. If Seth didn't know better, he'd say that he can actually see the wind. Seth recoils when he discovers that he actually can. The wind contains traces of a strange black smoke that is flowing towards them rapidly. When Seth sees traces of green electricity sparking through the smoke, he realizes that he's about to come face to face with the necromancer he saw in the ruins.

The smoke starts to slowly coalesce into a tall form next to Sombra, except it's much to tall to be a pony. What the hell species is this...my thoughts slowly trail off into total shock when the form starts to gain definition. At long last, Vanta's last words come back to me, at last making sense.

“You're not alone...”

The limber, petite form of another human coalesces in the air next to Sombra. Seth get to my feet, staring in shock upon seeing another of his race in the flesh, completely alive for the first time in months, after I was certain that they were all dead. Something isn't right, however.

“Mwahahaha! Look at...!” Janna begins, but before she can get any further, Seth is already on top of her, beating the absolute shit out of her. She screams out in pain just long enough for Seth to lift her into the air by the neck, and then drop her into a pit of shark-infested acid placed behind her solely for the purpose of this joke.

“To be fair, t'was a horrible villain idea,” Sombra advises Terran34 as the author attempts to find away to murder himself with his own tie.

Hawke's Theme Song: (inspired by Dostya's comment)

“You're not alone...”

The tall, muscled form of another human coalesces in the air next to Sombra. I get to my feet, staring in shock upon seeing another of my race in the flesh, completely alive for the first time in months, after I was certain that they were all dead. Something isn't right, however.

The man, once his form is fully stabilized, is holding a beaten and broken Twilight by the neck in one hand. She coughs weakly, showing that she's alive, but she's been hurt badly. Celestia gasps in horror to see her student in such a shape, and then she glares angrily at the both of them.

“You...human...how?” Is all I can say as I approach the man, taking in his features as I do so. The man looks to be a Russian male in his late twenties to early thirties. When he hears my voice, the man lifts his head and stares at me with sunken blue eyes. I start to feel that same feeling of hatred that I felt down in the ruins.

Hawke is about to start his early lines, but then he glares up at the sky, where the music is playing from. “That is not my theme song,” he states firmly. “We don't even look anything alike. I don't shave the sides of my head like that. Plus, there aren't even any tanks...”

Terran34 looked over to Brave-Hooves with a deadpan stare. “Oh great, and now he's triggered. Gonna be all day with this.”

“I regret nothing.” Brave-Hooves remarks.

Hawke's Theme Song 2: (inspired by Anonymous's and cryptarch's comments)

“You're not alone...”

The tall, muscled form of another human coalesces in the air next to Sombra. I get to my feet, staring in shock upon seeing another of my race in the flesh, completely alive for the first time in months, after I was certain that they were all dead. Something isn't right, however.

The man, once his form is fully stabilized, is holding a beaten and broken Twilight by the neck in one hand. She coughs weakly, showing that she's alive, but she's been hurt badly. Celestia gasps in horror to see her student in such a shape, and then she glares angrily at the both of them.

“You...human...how?” Is all I can say as I approach the man, taking in his features as I do so. The man looks to be a Russian male in his late twenties to early thirties. When he hears my voice, the man lifts his head and stares at me with sunken blue eyes. I start to feel that same feeling of hatred that I felt down in the ruins.

Hawke is about to start his early lines, but then he glares up at the sky. “Okay, this time you're clearly doing it on purpose. Let me start by telling you why that's bullshit...”

“Brave! I swear to god, if you break him one more time I'm going to shiv you!” Terran34 yells at a snickering Brave-Hooves.

Hawke's Theme Song 3:

“You're not alone...”

The tall, muscled form of another human coalesces in the air next to Sombra. I get to my feet, staring in shock upon seeing another of my race in the flesh, completely alive for the first time in months, after I was certain that they were all dead. Something isn't right, however.

The man, once his form is fully stabilized, is holding a beaten and broken Twilight by the neck in one hand. She coughs weakly, showing that she's alive, but she's been hurt badly. Celestia gasps in horror to see her student in such a shape, and then she glares angrily at the both of them.

“You...human...how?” Is all I can say as I approach the man, taking in his features as I do so. The man looks to be a Russian male in his late twenties to early thirties. When he hears my voice, the man lifts his head and stares at me with sunken blue eyes. I start to feel that same feeling of hatred that I felt down in the ruins.

Hawke is about to start his early lines, but this time, he powers up straight to his transformed state, destroying the entire area around him. “OH COME ON!” Hawke roars, and then he sends a wave of destructive darkness right through the studio, practically burning Terran34 and Brave-Hooves to a crisp.

Hawke's Theme Song 4:

	“You're not alone...”

The tall, muscled form of another human coalesces in the air next to Sombra. I get to my feet, staring in shock upon seeing another of my race in the flesh, completely alive for the first time in months, after I was certain that they were all dead. Something isn't right, however.

The man, once his form is fully stabilized, is holding a beaten and broken Twilight by the neck in one hand. She coughs weakly, showing that she's alive, but she's been hurt badly. Celestia gasps in horror to see her student in such a shape, and then she glares angrily at the both of them.

“You...human...how?” Is all I can say as I approach the man, taking in his features as I do so. The man looks to be a Russian male in his late twenties to early thirties. When he hears my voice, the man lifts his head and stares at me with sunken blue eyes. I start to feel that same feeling of hatred that I felt down in the ruins.

Hawke is about to start his early lines, but before he can, Vinyl zooms up behind him with her musical set up, along with my phone that has YouTube open. If you're asking how the hell it has signal, ask Pinkie, who is standing right to her.

“Hey there, big guy!” Vinyl calls to get his attention, and then she presses play. A certain song starts to play that makes Hawke stiffen and turn around, practically with tears in his eyes.

Hawke makes a powerful salute and starts to sing along as much as he can in his native language, while I exchange high fives with Pinkie and Vinyl.

Epilogue:

“I'm so done with screening for today,” Terran34 comments, walking with Brave-Hooves towards the exit to the studio. “If ONE more actor fucks up, I'm going to lose my goddamn mind.”

“You know, it's your fault for picking such crazy characters to be in your fic,” Brave-Hooves teases him. “Maybe you wouldn't have such trouble if you wrote something original...and if you weren't such a little bitch.”

“Yeah, well, fuck you too, best buddy,” Terran34 shoots back, causing his friend to laugh. Then, the two of them open the door that leads to the lobby...only to stop dead in their tracks at the sight laid out before them.

There are tables set up all over the place, with hundreds of ponies, as well as Hawke, Seth, Amaryllis, and Janna, though that last one has a bite taken out of her face, courtesy of an angry shark. The tables are covered with plates upon plates of Mexican food.

At the front of the group is King Sombra, dressed in a sombrero and holding a taco with his magic. Upon seeing them approach, he grins widely. “EEEEEEEY! Come on in, have a taco!” he calls to them in the most overly exaggerated, stereotypical Mexican accent they've ever heard. “We having a lil fiesta to celebrate the 100th chapter special!”

“What. The. Fuck.” Terran34 states. Pinkie bounds up to him, the grin on her face suggesting that she had something to do with it.

“Get it? It's King Sombra-ero!” Pinkie proclaims. Terran34 then turns to the screen and starts walking towards it.

“That's it. I'm done. I'm not writing this special anymore. I'm going to go find a cliff and...”

**Screen goes black**



	

	

	




> 101. Rebirth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I don't know how much time has passed since then. Even though I'm unconscious, I hardly feel like I'm getting any rest. My dreams are plagued with nightmares from everything I've dealt with so far: from my first encounter with an Oppressed, to Chrysalis's ungodly power, to the Crystal Empire, where everything fell apart in less than an hour. 

Particularly, images of Hawke flash through my mind, the only other human I've seen in Equestria. Several times, I find myself screaming as I watch Hawke descending upon Rainbow, dealing her incredible injuries while I can't reach her. Even if I run, my legs feel like they're moving through molasses, and Rainbow always falls limp before I can get there.

During all of this, I think I wake up for a few times as well, but every time I do, the first thing I feel is unbearable pain that makes me whimper and moan. Each time, I think I see ponies in the room with me, moving around and calling to me indistinctly. I can never figure out what is being said or who is saying it, because my eyes always become too heavy to keep open, and I fall unconscious again.

One time I wake up feeling a strange itching feeling, and my blurred vision reveals nothing but a soft yellow glow. It encompasses me with a warm, safe feeling, and I'm lulled back into a much more comfortable sleep.

Finally, consciousness returns to me slowly, as if emerging from beneath a deep lake. The first thing I become aware of is the sound of somepony eating rather obnoxiously from the bed next to me. At first I try to ignore it, but then it gets rather annoying when said pony slurps down a drink.

“Jesus Christ, would you keep it the fuck down?” I demand, opening my eyes with a groan. I close them again immediately, because it's rather bright in the room. Hold on, the ceiling looks a little too white to be the airship...so where the hell am I?

“Seth?” That voice...it's Rainbow. I almost want to feel happy, but then I remember what happened in the Crystal Empire. Any relief that I might have felt quickly leaves me, to be replaced by an emptiness the likes of which I can't describe. “You're awake!”

“Yeah...” I reply listlessly, sitting up in the bed. My muscles protest against the movement, which lets me know I've been asleep for a while. I notice that I'm in decent condition. My broken bones seem to have been healed some point while I was out, because I can move my arm and body without any real pain. “Where are we?”

“We're in a hospital in Trotsdale! Most of us were pretty conked out, so we set down here,” Rainbow informs me, somehow managing to sound happy despite everything that's happened. I turn my head away, unable to bring myself to respond to her...which she picks up on pretty quick. I hear the soft clatter of dishes on an end table a few moments before Rainbow's hooves clop down on the tiled floor. She approaches my bed and rears up, placing her two front hooves on the edge of my bed and looking at me with worry. “Dude, you feeling alright?”

There's a short, uncomfortable silence when I don't say anything, or even look at her. Instead, I lift a slightly trembling hand and look at it. I've never really noticed it before, but it looks so fragile, like it might break given just a small amount of force. It feels lifeless for some reason, even though I can see the veins running through the skin, pumping life giving fluids to each of my respective digits. Just to confirm it, I try to call up some magic to my hand, but there's just nothing. My body is as empty as it was the day I got to Equestria. I close my eyes, giving a sigh.

“Hey! Equestria to Seth, are you in there?” Rainbow tries again, poking at the side of my head repeatedly with her hoof. Normally I'd react to something so annoying, but I can't bring myself to. I scoff bitterly. None of this matters. 

“Where's everypony else?” I ask, ignoring her previous question, instead looking around at all the empty beds around me. The room is empty except for Rainbow and...wait, now I see Fluttershy. The frail pegasus is sitting at a table on the other side of the room, her head resting in her hooves as she snoozes peacefully. 

“The princesses, once they were healthy enough to start moving around, healed everypony back to tip top condition, so they're all out and about,” Rainbow explains, looking glad to give me good news. “They all come back pretty often though. Fluttershy there never left.”

“Why not? She looks fine,” I ask in confusion, glancing over Fluttershy again. Rainbow smirks, shaking her head.

“She is fine. She was just worried about you, the ol' softie,” Rainbow assures me with a grin. I watch the sleeping pegasus's chest rise and fall with a sad expression. Why would she worry about me that much? I've never really spoken to her apart from the odd greeting here and there. “So are you good to get out of that bed? The others probably want to know you're okay.”

“What's the point?” I ask bitterly, looking down at my hands and leaning back in the bed. Rainbow flinches, not expecting that at all. “It's not like I'm any use now anyway.” 

Rainbow smacks me gently with her hoof. “You stop that. I've been friends with you forever, even before you had magic,” she scolds me. “So what if you don't have it now?”

“Don't you get it? You think it's all over now that we got away?” I snap at her, irritated at how clueless she is. “That's stupid. There's no way Sombra is going to leave us be. There's no way Hawke is going to leave me be.”

“So? We'll just beat 'em up and get back to it!” Rainbow claims, punching at the air. I look at her in disbelief. How can she still talk tough after getting knocked out with a single hit from Hawke? No, we're all screwed. Sombra is stronger than Celestia. None of us can possibly beat him, and it's all my goddamn fault, for handing his magic back to him on a silver fucking platter. He was quite intent on making us pay...so I doubt he'll just let it go.

“No! No you won't! You can't do shit!” I yell at her to the point where Fluttershy jerks awake on the other side of the room. Rainbow reels back as if I'd hit her. “And guess what! I'm just about as powerless as the rest of you now. Fuck, now I'm back to being that shitty little human that couldn't even take a simple pegasus in a fight!”

“So what, you're just going to give up?” Rainbow shoots right back at me. “That's not like you! What happened to the awesome guy who took on Chrysalis for us even though he knew she would kick his tail?”

I get out of the bed and leap to the floor, already tired of this argument. Rainbow's accusing gaze follows me wherever I move, making it difficult to think. Is she right? Am I really considering giving up? I guess I am, but...what the hell else am I supposed to do? I've never faced a situation as hopeless as this one. Who knows where Sombra is right now? Maybe he's already chasing us.

“I don't know what I'm doing, Rainbow. I thought I was going to change and enjoy life, but now...that's not going to happen,” I admit, looking down at the floor. There's no way I'll be able to live peacefully with Hawke still out there. Even if by some miracle he didn't decide to chase me, I wouldn't feel right, knowing that there was a killer like him on the loose. How many humans did he kill, I wonder? 

“Um...” Fluttershy approaches us, looking like she'd rather not get in the middle of us. Rainbow closes her mouth and the both of us look at Fluttershy expectantly. “You shouldn't be so down on yourself...because you don't have magic, I mean. I always feel really weak...I can't fight like Twilight and the others can.”

“Fluttershy, you...” Rainbow tries to reassure her.

“Please, Rainbow...I want to finish,” Fluttershy interrupts her softly, hoofing at the floor timidly. Rainbow blinks, because she just got interrupted by fucking Fluttershy of all ponies. Fluttershy looks back at me. “But that doesn't mean I should stop trying. I don't care if...if I get hurt...but I'll do anything I can to keep my friends safe. That means you too.”

Her words cause me to remember that while I've never seen her fight before, she did during the fight in the Crystal Empire. Hell, I distinctly remember her beating the shit out of an undead pony that got in her way. But can I do something like that? I've always been weak; magic was all I had. 

“Shit...well...I guess if you're not giving up,” I say awkwardly, even though I'm not fully convinced. “Still...I can't be on the front lines anymore. Dammit, I can't believe I'm even weaker than Rarity now.”

“Who cares about magic? I don't need any magic to kick some flank!” Rainbow dismisses my worries, punching at the air repeatedly. “I'm fast enough to dodge any real magic!”

I consider pointing out that she wasn't fast enough to dodge Hawke, but decide against it. At this point, the two of them are ganging up on me. They both have a point, but I still think it's meaningless in the end. Sombra is just too strong. Nevertheless, no matter how I feel, I can't just sit in this room and wait for Sombra to get here. I need to find out what the situation is, and how many of Equestria's army managed to survive. 

“Fine. You win for now,” I relent. Even as they smile at one another at their somewhat successful argument, I make sure to mention, “But you do know we're going to have to deal with Sombra and Hawke before long, right?” 

“Yeah, but Princess Celestia will annihilate the both of them. She's the best!” Rainbow declares, nudging me in an attempt to assure me.

“She always takes care of us,” Fluttershy agrees, smiling up at me. Right...even though Sombra was clearly stronger than her. The sinking feeling in my chest increases further. “We should go and find the others. They're all worried about you.”

“Sure, whatever. Let's just go then,” I grunt. Rainbow and Fluttershy smile and flank me on either side.

With that, the three of us exit the room and walk through the hallways of the hospital proper. It looks like there's other soldiers still here as well, because I can see some of the unicorn regiments in the rooms. One thing I also notice are the earth pony guards stationed around the halls. I've never really seen that many earth pony soldiers, apart from the typical few that were in Ponyville. I wonder how many there are?

Rainbow seems to know her way around, because she takes the lead and directs us through the halls. As we approach the front of the building, I become aware of an odd roaring sound that steadily increases in volume. However, it's only when we leave the hospital and exit out onto the street that I see what it's coming from.

“Holy...” is all I can say as I look at the splendor of the natural wonder before me. The city we're in is situated next to a waterfall the likes of which I've never seen in my life.

It's almost like looking at a solid curtain of water cascading down a set of stairs, showering the surrounding landscape with spray. The crest of each individual cliff is topped with white frothy mist and ringed with mystical rainbows that flicker in the afternoon light.

The banks of the river as well as the few islands present are lush and green, teeming with wildlife that I can see even all the way from here. Rising high above the waterfall itself is a breathtaking view of the mountain from which the river originates. Its slopes are blanketed with trees and its peak is shrouded with clouds. Even from here, I can see flocks of birds wheeling through the air in the distance.

“Neighagra Falls...it's so beautiful...I don't think I could ever get tired of looking at this,” Fluttershy whispers with a contented sigh. The dumb horse pun aside, I think I can agree. You know, if Rainbow didn't live in Ponyville, I'd want to live here. Just look at that. “All of the lovely plants and the cute little animals...I wish I were here under better circumstances.”

That's certainly true. At the upper part of the waterfall, I can see that trebuchets are already being set up along the top of the cliff. That means that Celestia must have ordered that this place be fortified. I wonder how close we are to the Crystal Empire. We must be at least somewhere close, because if Celestia is focusing efforts here now, she must expect this place to come under fire eventually. 

“Hey Seth, wanna go...” Rainbow starts to say, but then her eyes widen and she abruptly clamps her mouth shut, causing me to look at her suspiciously. “...Uh...wanna go see the others? Yeah, that's what I meant.”

Bullshit that's what she meant. But I don't care enough to press the issue. Let's just go find the others so I can figure out what Celestia plans to do about all of this. “Yeah, let's go. I need to find out what the hell is going on,” I reply.

As Rainbow leads me through the streets, I find that calling Trotsdale a city is a bit of an exaggeration. If anything, it's a village, because it's only a little bit larger than Ponyville. There aren't that many ponies in the street apart from the earth pony guards, but the ones that are give us friendly nods. I've never been here before either, so of course I get the usual cursory stare.

“Where are they?” I ask curiously, looking around the town. It's a bit more sophisticated of a place than Ponyville, in that the buildings are generally multi-level and the streets are paved with cobble stone. You know, the ponies don't eat meat, so I wonder why a village was set up so close to this waterfall? A fishing business would have made sense...but maybe I'm overthinking things and they’re here just because it's a decent source of freshwater. 

“What, the girls? Probably in the town hall. The princesses have been talking to the mayor a lot,” Rainbow replies, shrugging. “That's where I'm taking you anyway.”

As we get closer to the town hall, I notice the multiple airships hanging over the village. There's rather a lot of them, more than I remember seeing at the Crystal Empire. That probably means that Celestia is calling as many soldiers as possible to this area. But...that doesn't make any sense. If all the soldiers are here, who's going to defend the southern front from Chrysalis?

Entering the town square reveals a mostly abandoned market area. Most of the stalls are empty except for a few hardy salesponies still selling their wares, despite the multitudes of unicorn royal guards in the square. I even spot Rose and a few of the Wonderbolts in the area, the latter wheeling through the air carrying what look like messages.

“Rainbow! Fluttershy! Seth!” Twilight calls happily from the front of the town hall. She seems to have been waiting there, most likely for us. She canters over to meet us, coming to a halt just in front of us. She nuzzles her friends affectionately, and then does the same for me, even though she can only reach my waist.  “I'm glad you're finally awake. Even when the princess healed you, you still wouldn't wake up. We were worried!”

“Yeah, what about you? Last time I saw you, you were beaten half to death,” I remark, not sure how I feel that all of them were worried about me. Twilight flinches at the memory. “What happened to you, anyway? All I know is that I heard you scream, and everything went to hell.”

“Come on, I'll tell you on the way in. You're just in time; the mayor prepared a meal for us,” Twilight informs me. Our group of three, now four, we enter the large rectangular town hall. “My research led me to the Crystal Heart, but just as I was climbing the tower to get it, that man appeared...”

“Hawke,” I grunt, clenching a fist. It kills me that I can't find him and beat the truth out of him about my race. I really hope Celestia nukes him into next week. If he helped kill my race, he deserves the pain.

“Yes...I was more than surprised to see another human. I thought he might have been a friend of yours, but I didn't even get to say anything before he was attacking me,” Twilight reveals, flinching again. “He was so strong. I'm not weak, but...I couldn't land a hit on him. It was like trying to catch the wind...and every time I missed, he would hit me again and again.”

“He was as strong as I was, if not a little more so,” I say, nodding in understanding. Her tale makes sense. Hawke targeted Twilight on orders of Sombra, in order to take out the Element of Magic, and thus our only hope of beating him.

“I heard that you lost your magic,” Twilight recalls, giving me a sad expression that makes me want to hit something. Great...and now she's pitying me. “To think it was King Sombra's power this whole time...”

“Yes, thank you, I was there, I got the fucking memo,” I snap, causing Twilight's ears to fold back timidly. “I'm fucking useless now, so I don't know why I'm even bothering with this shit.”

“Seth,” Rainbow starts to say, but I wave her words away in annoyance.

“I know, shut up,” I grunt impatiently. Now that Twilight's here, if I tried to voice my true feelings here, they'd all gang up on me again, and I'd never get a word in edgewise. Right after that, Twilight leads us around the corner, and I start to hear the sounds of other ponies talking and laughing. Sheesh, I envy their ability to stay in high spirits despite the situation.

We enter into a large meeting room not unlike the one where Celestia and I met with the expedition heads, over a month ago. In this case, there are multiple small round tables, rather than a large rectangular one. Everyone else that's important is inside, such as both princesses, Applejack, Rarity, Spike, 	Pinkie, and all of the other officers that had been at the final battle. In addition, there's a brown mare that's wearing a white collar and a red tie sitting with Celestia and Luna. If I hazard a guess, I'd say that's the mayor of Trotsdale. 

Upon our arrival, everypony looks up to see us. In particular, Celestia is looking at me like she always does in situations like this. Essentially, she's reading my fucking mind –  of that I have no doubt. “Welcome, you three,” Celestia greets us with a small smile. She looks like she's back in top shape, which makes me wonder how long we've been here. That, and despite her smile, there are bags under her eyes. They're barely noticeable, but I can tell that she's worried. As if my spirits weren't low enough...seeing her trying to put on a strong face for her subjects makes me want to give up again right here and now. “We've been waiting for you.”

“You two, fetch them some food! And make sure there's food suitable for a human!” The brown mare snaps orders at the two guards standing on either side of the doorway we just passed through. She nods in satisfaction as the guards leave, and then smiles apologetically to us. “My apologies. My name is Redwood Robin, and I'm the mayor of Trotsdale.”

“Mayor huh? That's cool. Guess you're here because of that whole mess up north, huh?” Rainbow responds first, moving to sit down at the table where the others are eating their own meals. She makes sure to leave a seat open for me. I sit down next to her, my body feeling a little lethargic. Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity all smile at my presence, but I can't look at them.

“That's correct. Her city is the closest to the Crystal Empire, and as such it was necessary that she be here for this meeting,” Celestia answers for Robin, who nods in confirmation. “However, I'll allow you to enjoy your meal in peace before we hold an official council of war.”

“War in Equestria...as Granny Smith would say, what's the world comin' to?” Applejack laments, shaking her head. “That aside, it's good ta see yer okay, Seth. You were pretty beat up.”

“I want to apologize for that. I made sure to heal you as soon as I was able,” Celestia calls to me. Right, as usual, Celestia heals me whenever the shit gets beaten out of me. I need to really get around to paying her back for all of that...but I can't really, because none of us are going to be alive for much longer. Sombra's just going to kill us when he gets here.

“Thanks, but it doesn't matter. I'm fine now, for all the good it does,” I reply darkly, waving their concerns away. My words cause an awkward silence to form, lasting until the two guards return with plates of food for Fluttershy, Rainbow, and I. It's just a salad for me with a few flowers in it, but at least it's something. I don't know when the last time I ate was. “How long was I out?”

“For several days. The airship didn't have the facilities necessary to treat us all, so we set down in this city,” Celestia reveals. “I set about healing the rest of you as soon as I recovered my magic and strength.”

“Several days? What the hell is Sombra doing?” I snap, turning to face Celestia with worry. There's no way Sombra is willing to just sit around instead of chasing us. Several days should have given him plenty of time to catch up.

“Your guess is as good as mine. Our intelligence is sadly lacking at the moment,” Celestia admits. At the table near hers, Captain Gale sighs and hangs her head, looking rather ashamed of herself. “However, I will fully go over the situation once everyone has finished eating.”

With that, the meal continues. There's mostly silence, but every so often, one of the six ponies I'm seated with will start up a conversation, though I usually stay out of it. Some of them, like Rarity and Applejack, as me how I'm feeling. My responses are never very elaborate. I feel like shit, and my chest feels empty and devoid of hope. 

Just looking around at all of their faces, smiling despite the shit that's going on, makes me want to die rather than let them down. But...it hurts more than any physical pain. Sombra and Hawke are going to come for them, and nopony will be able to stop them. Not Celestia, not Luna, and certainly not me. They will all die, and everything that I've worked for since I realized how much I cared will disappear.

Yes, I care about these stupid fucking ponies. All of them. Like I was told before, they're not perfect by any means. Rainbow's an egotistical jock. Applejack's a farm pony with a tendency to be overly competitive and stubborn. Twilight's a fucking book nerd with obsessive compulsive tendencies, as well as a bit of a control freak. Pinkie is...well...one does not simply describe Pinkie as being anything other than herself. Fluttershy is exasperating to talk to at times, because if I raise my voice even a little, she gets frightened. Rarity is the most frustrating mare who cares too much about fashion and holds herself up on a pedestal half the time.

Even despite all of this, every single one of them has never stopped trying to help me, no matter how hard I tried to push them away. No one has ever tried so hard to get to know me. While I resented it then, now I realize that I would be dead a million times over without them. That's why this hurts so much.

My feelings get to be so powerful, I stand up from the table, surprising the ponies in the room and causing them all to look at me at once. “Seth?” Rainbow asks.

“Is everything alright?” Rarity inquires worriedly.

“I need some air,” I respond simply, turning the other direction and storming out of the room before any of them can say anything else. I remember the way out, so it isn't long before I leave the building entirely. Out of habit, I jump a little in the air, only to come back down with a crash. I curse and rub my backside, remembering once again that I can't fly anymore.

I don't know where my feet are taking me. My mind seems to zone out as I head away from all of the ponies in the town hall behind me, unable to face them, because I know that when Sombra gets here, I'm going to have to watch them all die. It's like I'm dealing with Chrysalis again, only this time there's no promise of Celestia to save us all.

Eventually, I find myself at the edge of the town, at the top of a cliff overlooking the waterfall. The river froths chaotically and falls down hundreds upon hundreds of meters down into the lake at the very bottom. I have a painful flashback to the time several months ago, when I almost committed suicide in a place very much like this. Except this time...I'm going to die no matter what I choose to do.

After a moment of looking at the waterfall, I turn my gaze up towards the horizon, where I can see the Crystal Mountains rising high into the air, a long way away. A dark, ominous cloud bank hangs over the mountaintops, lightning flashing in its interior. Just like before, the lightning is green. It's far away, but that sight only seems to confirm that Sombra is back and aching for revenge. The irony is not lost on me. A storm is coming, and I'm not going to be able to hold it back. 

“Hey,” Rainbow calls from behind me. I sigh and look back down at the waterfall. Of course she followed me. Why wouldn't she? When she speaks again, she sounds determined. “You're not yourself, and I want to know why.”

“Don't you already know?” I return, once again starting to think about whether or not jumping off of this cliff would really make a difference in my fate.

“I thought we already talked about this! Didn't you say you weren't going to give up?” Rainbow challenges me, hovering around me and shoving me away from the edge of the cliff so hard I almost fall over backwards. Now she's really looks angry. “Why am I finding you here at the edge of a cliff!? Don't tell me you were planning on abandoning me!”

“Whether I give up doesn't make a difference. They're going to kill us all anyway,” I respond with an empty voice. “I can't stop it. Not even Celestia can stop it.”

My head snaps back as Rainbow slaps my cheek hard with her hoof. “What the hay, Seth!? Why are you acting like this just because you lost your magic? We're alive! That means we have a chance, no matter how small!” Rainbow yells at me furiously. “I can't believe you'd considering throwing that away just because of this!”

“Just because of this!?” I demand, my eyes narrowing as my temper rises. I jab a finger at her emphatically. “You don't understand! I don't feel like this because I lost my magic!”

“Then why!?” Rainbow shoots back. When I next speak, I'm right up in front of her, to the point where we're practically nose to nose.

“Because I can't protect you, Rainbow!” The words leave my mouth before I can stop them. Rainbow's anger seems to die as understanding dawns in her face. “I can't protect you, I can't protect any of you! That magic was all I had! Ever since losing my race, it was the one thing keeping me from losing hope!”

“It's why I let myself become friends with you in the first place! I told myself I wouldn't lose you like I lost Amaryllis...and that I'd keep you safe with these hands!” I continue fervently. Rainbow slowly backs away, her eyes widening as she takes the full brunt of my feelings. "How do you think I feel now that I can't even do that!? I don't know if I can handle losing everyone again...especially not you! I love you; I'd rather die than have to suffer losing you!”

“Seth...” is all Rainbow can say. I don't think she expected to hear such an outburst of emotions from me, especially since I'm so bad at expressing them.

I turn and sit down on the edge of the cliff, my legs dangling over the side. I thought I'd feel a little better getting that off my chest, but now I just feel numb, a dull acceptance seeping into me. I pound a fist into the ground, angry at my own powerlessness. After all of this...everything I've been through...I'm going to lose it all again. Why did I let them in? This would be so much easier if I didn't have any friends, or anything to lose.

“Just...leave me alone, Rainbow,” I say in a quieter voice, rubbing my cheek where Rainbow struck me. “I need some time to myself. I promise I won't leave you.”

“Fine, take all the time you want,” Rainbow responds in a hard voice, her fur bristling. As she starts to fly away, she turns her head back and fixes me with an angry stare.“Try to think about someone other than yourself. You're not the only one with someone they'd die rather than lose.”

I don't acknowledge her statement. Rainbow leaves the area not long after that, leaving me alone at the cliff. I take some solace in the sound of the waterfall roaring in front of me. I feel terrible now, thinking about that last thing Rainbow said to me. But, it doesn't matter in the end. Sombra is just going to kill us all.

I sit there at the edge of the waterfall for a long time, staring at the water with an empty expression. However, that peace eventually comes to an end, as I feel a presence in the area that makes me sigh slightly. “So, is it your turn now?” I ask in annoyance. I don't even have to look to know that it's Celestia here now. She's the only one whose magic I can feel around her like that.

“I would just like a moment of your time, Seth,” Celestia confirms, emerging from between two of the houses. She looks to be completely on her own, with no sign of Rainbow or Luna anywhere. “I came to see you as a friend, not as a princess.”

With a grunt, I get up from the edge and approach Celestia, because I've never been able to simply brush her off. She always sees right through me, and that makes it so I lose every argument I have with her. “I don't think you can convince me this time,” I tell her honestly.

“I would at least like you to hear me out,” Celestia responds, dipping her head slightly in acknowledgment to my words. “I believe I understand how you are feeling.”

“Why, because Rainbow went to you for help?” I respond bitterly. Because she couldn't convince me, no doubt Rainbow ran right to Celestia. To my surprise, Celestia shakes her head.

“Rainbow is currently taking time for herself. She will not speak to us. I came to this conclusion on my own.” Celestia informs me. Of course she did. “Without your magic, you believe yourself to be powerless and unable to protect your friends as you used to. Am I on the right track?”

I nod wordlessly. At this point, I shouldn't be surprised that Celestia can read me so accurately. I wonder if she's ever been in a position like mine.

“I know how you feel. Everypony, at some point in their life, feels as if they are powerless,” Celestia continues. “In my own case...I have felt as such multiple times. I felt powerless to save the crystal ponies as they disappeared into the snow. I felt powerless against Discord, against whom magic had no effect. I felt powerless when I was forced to banish my sister to the moon. It's not a feeling I am unfamiliar with. I know just how hard it can be.”

“That's great, I'm glad you understand what I'm feeling,” I snap, getting a little annoyed. “But you can't fix it, can you? You can't beat Sombra. Because of that, we're all going to die when he comes for us. How are you not crippled by this? You know he's stronger than you, and he plans to make you and your subjects pay for defeating him the first time. How can you still act, knowing that you can't protect your subjects?”

“Because it does not matter whether or not I think I can defeat him,” Celestia responds, her eyes narrowing. “I know only that I must defeat him, in order to protect all I hold dear. I have faith that I will succeed. This, plus the overwhelming support I receive from my sister and my friends, allows me to keep going.”

“Faith...I never could understand how to have faith. It basically means accepting something despite all of the evidence,” I admit, my shoulders slumping. “I think...I think I almost envy you.”

“You can have faith as well, Seth. I know you can. You have done it before, whether you realize it or not,” Celestia promises me, stepping forward. “Have faith in the strength of your friends, and have faith in me. Keep fighting, knowing that your friends will support you no matter how dismal the future may seem.”

“My friends...” I repeat, turning her words over in my head. Celestia steps towards me, lifting a hoof and extending it towards me. Behind her, in the streets, I notice all of the other ponies as well, including Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie, Twilight, Fluttershy, Iron, Blades, Cadance, Luna, Spitfire, and even Shining Armor. They're all standing in the streets a good distance away, watching us with determined expressions. All of them came here just for me?

“Seth, let us move towards the future together, no matter what it may hold. Will you accept my support and my friendship?” Celestia expresses to me, holding more feeling in her expression than I think I've ever seen her display towards me. I glance down at her hoof, which she is holding out to me invitingly.

“Yeah, okay. We'll fight together then,” I say after a long pause, reaching out and accepting her hoof. Celestia smiles with joy, and she brings me in for a short reassuring nuzzle. What she's said to me is far out of my comfort zone. I've never taken something like this on faith before. I'm basically agreeing to fight against what equates to a god, even though there's almost no hope of victory. 

Especially since I don't have any magic.

	
> 102. Council of War
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I turn to look at Celestia, feeling both thankful and a little foolish at the same time. However, I still feel a little hint of trepidation about the future. As weak as I am, the most that I can handle are the small fry monsters, but that's about it. I'll have to leave Sombra and Hawke to Celestia, as much as that pains me.

“Thanks for that,” I tell her finally, brushing my hair out of my face. I then look at all the ponies that came to see me as well. “What the fuck are all of you doing out here, anyway?”

“We know you lost your magic, and you were feeling down. I wanted to be here, even if I couldn't help,” Twilight is the first to reply, much as I expected.

“That's right. We're your friends,” Fluttershy joins in next from her position besides Twilight. I can't help but scoff. This is a bit ridiculous. It doesn’t matter what the situation is, but if I'm feeling just a little bit angry or sad, these fucking ponies crawl out of the woodwork and try to help me...even if that gains them a verbal tongue lashing from me.

“We won't let you give up, darling,” Rarity asserts. “I'm not made for battle, but even despite that, I won't give up. If I can fight with the rest of them despite my admittedly lower magical power, then you certainly should be able to.”

“That's how it is, youngster. Still, I oughta kick you,” Blades admonishes, approaching me and resting a hoof on my chest. I blink in surprise,. I didn't expect him to scold me. “Didn't I tell ya last time that you gotta quit mopin' around and make yer decisions quickly? Magic or no, that don't change a thing.”

“You did...” I admit, recognizing the truth in his words. “And you know, I probably should have listened.”

“That's just the nature o' the young. They only respond to fallin' on their flank a few times, rather than a lecture,” Blades reassures me with a lamenting chuckle. You know, I don't think I've heard something so fucking true in a long time.

“Now, ah think you got somepony to talk to,” Applejack tells me sternly. Wait, who is she...oh. Rainbow. Fuck, I feel really stupid. I yelled at her like that and made her mad, even though she was right in the end. She doesn't have any magic, but she's still going to fight, despite the fact that she can't even hold a candle to the stronger enemies. I guess now I'm on the same level as her.

“That's right. I could feel the disharmony from here,” Cadance scolds me next, standing next to Applejack. Her lips wrinkle into a glaring pout. “Go fix it, or I swear I'll sic my husband on you.”

“You'll do what?” Shining Armor says with an incredulous chuckle. He looks at me next, a strange expression crossing his face. “So that's how it is. Unless you want a beat down First Regiment style, you'll do what she says.”

“Right, you all say that like I wasn't planning on doing that anyway. Sheesh, it`s not like she's my girlfriend or anything,” I complain sarcastically, holding up my hands disarmingly. I blush a little when I realize I just said that aloud to a crowd full of ponies that may or may not already know. Judging from Luna's blink of surprise, I don't think she knew.

Still, I'm a little surprised Shining Armor can talk to me without glaring. I wonder what changed between now and the last time we met right before the expedition. I turn around, resolving to search for Rainbow. I pause though, realizing that I don't exactly know where she is.

“Go ahead, Seth,” Celestia urges me, spreading her wings. “When you are finished, meet us in the town hall. Now that you're back in the fight, it's time to decide on how to deal with King Sombra. Let us go, everypony!”

The other ponies all chorus in agreement and filter back into the town proper through the alleys, back on their way to the town hall. But like Celestia said...I have to learn to have faith in my friends and not give up, even if the situation seems hopeless.

“I'm such a fucking idiot,” I berate myself aloud as I walk back into the city myself on my way to find Rainbow. It's true. Amaryllis wouldn't have given up, even if the odds were stacked against her like that. Hell, if I were to give up and die like I was considering earlier, she would be disappointed in me. “Now where's that pony?”

So, because I'm completely useless at times, I end up having to ask one of the few ponies in the street where to find Rainbow. None of them really know her except by name, but one of them does mention seeing a flash of rainbow heading for the top of the waterfall. That's a start.

I'm relieved that she isn't hiding in the clouds somewhere. Then there would be nothing I could do except wait for her to come back down, and who knows when that would be. Still, this will be a pain.

With the help of some of the locals, I discover that there's a mountain path that leads up to the top of the waterfall and beyond, heading all the way up the mountain. It's regularly maintained and used as a draw for tourists, likely because there's no doubt this is one of the most beautiful places in Equestria. In any other situation, I'd have slowed down and enjoyed the sights as I walk through a forested area on my way to the top of the waterfall. The scenery is beautiful of course, but I can't really focus on it. Sometime, I'll come back here and enjoy a walk around this place...but when I do, I want Rainbow to be there with me.

At the top of the waterfall, the massively wide river starts to froth and divert along the edges of rocky islands before pouring downwards into the basin far below, past several additional waterfalls. It's along one of these islands that I spot Rainbow lying on the ground near the cliff's edge. She occasionally tosses a rock over the side, watching it fall into the abyss with distant eyes. Goddammit, Seth, when will you learn to stop hurting this mare's feelings?

Son of a bitch...the island is in the middle of the river, and the current is moving extremely fast, because we're literally on the edge of the waterfall. Swimming is out of the question, and even if I yelled, I doubt she'd hear me from this distance over the sound of the falling water. What to do?

I notice several jagged rocks jutting out of the water. If I'm careful, I should be able to use them to jump between the different islands until I reach her. Of course, I could also slip and fall, but I'm not seeing much of an option here. Here goes nothing.

Rainbow looks behind her when she hears the sound of me landing on the ground near her. Her eyes widen with surprise, looking between me and the rushing river rushing over the cliff. “Seth? How the hay did you get over here?” she demands, raising her voice to be heard over the sound of the falling water.

“I jumped. It wasn't that hard, considering all the little rocks between here and the bank,” I comment loudly with a bit of a smirk, crossing my arms. Rainbow's eyes bug out and it looks like she's going to hit me again, but then she remembers how close we are to the falls. “What, you thought a little water would keep me from you?”

“You idiot! What if you'd slipped?” You could have gotten hurt!” Rainbow snaps, getting up and approaching me.

“Yeah well, I wasn't going to wait for you to come back down, so I had to reach you somehow,” I retort with a shrug. Rainbow looks at me strangely, noticing that I'm acting more like myself than before. “But who cares about that? Can we go somewhere where I don't have to shout?”

“Fine, but I'm not letting you jump back over those rocks! That was dumb, even for you,” Rainbow derides me with a frown.

“What do you mean 'even for me?'” I complain even as I see her take to the air. “What are you doing?”

“Just come here so I can lift you back to the bank...jumping around so close to a waterfall...seriously...” Rainbow grumbles, hooking her front hooves underneath my arms and lifting me roughly before I have a chance to prepare myself. I can't help but yelp as she flies over the rushing river. Being unable to fly causes a sense of vertigo to come over me, and I gulp, sweating slightly. “Calm down, I won't drop you.”

“You better fucking not!” My voice rises into a high squeak as I clamp my hands over her withers and cling tightly for dear life. I can't help but look down at the water pouring over the edge of the falls, and the instant death to await me if I fall. “Oh Jesus Christ...”

I almost kiss the fucking ground when she finally puts me down near the mountain trail. I think I finally know how Applejack felt when I carried her back in the Crystal Empire. That aside, we have some relative peace and quiet here in the trail. Now we can talk without having to shout.

“What do you want?” Rainbow asks, snorting a little. Yeah, she's still mad. I scratch the back of my neck, a little unsure on how to proceed. She's a woman, so I doubt I can just take back the words I said about giving up...fuck it, I'll just wing it like I always do.

“I wanted to talk to you. You and Fluttershy were right,” I admit, coming right out and saying it. Rainbow sits down on her haunches, watching me carefully and expectantly. She probably wants me to elaborate. “I shouldn't have given up like that.”

“You think?” Rainbow returns. Oh boy, she's pissed. She glares at me, her muzzle wrinkling. I notice her hoof move slightly, and I tense in expectation.

“Are you gonna hit me again?” I ask tentatively, wondering if I should back away from her.

“I'm thinking about it,” Rainbow confesses. She lifts her hoof and curls it slightly to the point where I flinch, expecting pain. However, she lets out a sigh and drops her hoof. “You're just so selfish!”

“What are you talking about?” I inquire. Yeah, I'm selfish as fuck, but I'm confused as to why that's suddenly a problem.

“You're thinking about no one except yourself! Going on and on about how powerless you are and how we should all give up now...did you even think about how I feel!?” Rainbow demands, getting up and walking towards me until her muzzle is in my face. I remain silent, hardly able to meet her gaze. She's right; how she felt never crossed my mind. “You think I don't know that this Sombra pony is stronger than me by far? That Hawke guy is the same way!”

“But you said...” I start to say, but Rainbow isn't finished talking. She plants a hoof on my mouth to keep me from speaking further.

“”I never thought about quitting. Not even once. My friends need me. I don't care how strong they are. I'll fight anyone that threatens them. Threatens you,” Rainbow snaps, removing her hoof. My eyes soften, and I look at Rainbow with new understanding. Her eyes soften as well. “I finally found someone like you...I'd die rather than lose you.”

“That's exactly how I feel,” I breathe. Rainbow nods, taking a slight step back. “Celestia helped me realize something earlier. Sombra is stronger than me. Stronger than all of us. But she won't give up. She told me to have faith in my friends, and faith in her.”

“She's right. I know that's like, an alien concept to you, but without it, we can't push forward.” Rainbow points out. I nod, agreeing.

I clench my hand into a fist with determination. “I also promised something to myself. I'm going to try my best and give everything I have. That way, even if worst comes to worst and we fail, I'll be proud of my actions. I'll be able to face Amaryllis and my family with my head held high.”

“That's more like it. That's more like the Seth I know,” Rainbow responds with a grin, slapping my shoulder. “Yeah! You and I are gonna kick some undead flank! We can fight together, just like in the changeling invasion!”

“Right!” I affirm, mirroring her grin. Even if we all die some time in the future, I do appreciate the time I've spent in Equestria. I can't believe I just fucking said that, but it's true. I've realized the many things wrong with myself, made friends, and even fallen in love. How could I have ever thought that coming here was pointless?

Rainbow and I look at one another for a moment longer. Then, she looks around the trail to make sure nopony else is around, and then she pulls me in for a kiss. I wasn't expecting it, so I end up falling backwards onto the trail, with Rainbow on top of me. I yelp into Rainbow's mouth as her weight causes the two of us to slide down the trail for several feet.

“You know, you're supposed to hold still while I kiss you...” Rainbow admonishes me as she pulls away from my lips, a little smirk on her muzzle. “...but considering the circumstances, I'll let it...slide.”

“Get the fuck out,” I groan at the incredibly horrible pun. Rainbow snickers shamelessly and sits on her haunches in my lap as I sit up straight. I turn around so that my back is resting against the uphill portion of the trail. “You know, we should probably head back.”

Rainbow presses herself into me, her body weighing down my chest. “Yeah, I know, but the moment we do, it'll be all business for who knows how long. Let me just enjoy this a minute, okay?” Rainbow retorts, caressing the side of my face with her hoof. I chuckle at the odd show of affection, but I guess she does have a point. “You're my human. Weird and stupid, but still mine.”

“Fuck you too,” I retort, but any further response is cut off by her kissing me gently again, her lips parting slightly in a rare show of passion. I wrap my arms around her back, holding her close to me, and the two of us spend one last moment together in peace.

Who knows what the future holds?





Eventually, Rainbow and I have to make our way back down the mountain, occasionally trading snipes at one another. For me, I called her out on why she always had to go to the highest place possible to get away from everyone. For her, it was why I always have to be so fucking stupid. And of course, my jackass response is to tell her that I don't know either.

All of that goes away the moment we re-enter the city and return to the town hall, where Celestia and the others are waiting. Then, the both of us fall silent. I think I'm speaking for the both of us when I say that from here on out, it's likely going to be hell.

When we enter the central room in the town hall, we find that the room has been rearranged entirely. The round tables from before are folded up and stacked neatly against the walls, along with the stools that had once surrounded them. The mayor's desk is also nowhere to be found.

Celestia, Luna, and Mayor Robin as well as the other thirteen ponies in the main group are situated around a large rectangular table that seems to have been brought in here solely for this meeting. Fleetfoot appears to be here as well. Stretched out across the table is a large, full map of Equestria along with the surrounding regions. Differently colored pins are clustered together inside of a small plastic cylinder next to the map. I guess seeing all of this confirms it. This is a council of war.

“Excellent, the two of you have arrived. Now we can begin.” Celestia observes, looking up at our entrance. I notice that she and Luna are wearing their armor once more. It looks like their armor has been mostly repaired since the battle in the Crystal Empire. It seems that the others are fully decked out in armor as well, except for Rarity, Twilight, and Spitfire. Though, judging by the pile of armor beside Twilight, there's no doubt she'll be wearing a set at one point or another. Spitfire is just wearing her Wonderbolts outfit.“I trust that you both have settled your affairs?”

Rainbow and I nod, joining them all around the table. I squeeze in beside Iron and Fleetfoot, Rainbow just next to me. “What is all of this?” I respond, indicating the map and the pins on it. Celestia responds with a glance.

“It is what we feared would happen,” Celestia answers, closing her eyes and sighing. “King Sombra has formally declared war on Equestria.”

“Formally?” I repeat, curiously. “I don't think showing up randomly and wrecking our shit counts as formal.”

Celestia wordlessly uses her magic to produce an odd scroll whose ends are encrusted with crystals. She passes the scroll to me so that I can see it for myself. “This was given to us not long after my recovery, by way of an undead pegasus, which fell apart not long after delivery.”

I unroll the parchment to reveal lines of fancy archaic text. It's a different dialect of Equestrian, so I don't recognize all the words, and as such I have to sound them out in my head in order to understand what they mean.

“This is a joint resolution: a state of war now exists between the Crystal Empire and the Principality of Equestria and its denizens.

Whereas the Equestrian Royalty hath committed unprovoked acts of war against the lawful government and denizens of the Crystal Empire: Therefore be it resolved by the King and his council assembled that a state of war is hereby formally declared, and the King is authorized to employ the entirety of the country's military force to carry out this war and bring it to a satisfactory termination.

Signed as follows;
King Sombra
Hawke Volkovin
Flowing Mist
Earthen Glass
Silent Shatter,”

“Shit, he really did declare war,” I admit, setting down the scroll down on the table. I expected him to just charge over us with his incredible power, but I guess there's more to being a king than just sitting on a throne and killing your enemies.

“I can't believe this...the first war in Equestria for a thousand years!” Robin laments. I clench my hand into a fist as I glance back over at the scroll.

“Unprovoked acts my ass! Still, why would he do that, instead of just crushing us? I ask in confusion.

“Sombra wishes to reclaim what he believes to be his country,” Celestia reminds me. “No doubt he wishes to be recognized as a legitimate country by the rest of the world.”

“Wasn't it a military takeover in the first place? How did he ever get recognized in the first place?” I demand. I almost said coup d'etat, but I doubt these ponies would understand French.

“That is a story for another time. At present, time is not a luxury we can afford,” Celestia lightly chastises me. I sigh at being scolded, but I suppose I understand. “Here is the present situation as it stands currently.”

Celestia leans over the table and places several pins down right on top of the town labeled as Trotsdale. “The majority of our armed forces are being relocated to this city as we speak, in response to Sombra's declaration. It is a naturally defensive position, and is the closest location to the Crystal Mountains,” she explains. I nod, understanding that the mountain we're on, as well as how the city seems to be built into it, can be very easily defended. Celestia then places more pins of a different color beyond the Crystal Mountains, where the Crystal Empire is located. “According to recent intelligence gathered by the Stealth Corps, Sombra is rallying his forces behind the mountains, no doubt preparing for the inevitable assault.”

“He no doubt intends to take his undead through the mine tunnels that riddle the mountains, in order to avoid using the singular mountain pass,” Luna deduces, using her superior knowledge of combat tactics to our advantage. “Sombra is anything but foolish. The pass would have made an excellent position to set up a defensive line.”

“He can only come at us with one or two hosts of undead, right? He and Hawke are the only two necromancers,” I ask. I don't pretend to be as much of a strategist as Luna is, but I feel my mind is the only thing I have going for me now that I don't have magic. Suddenly, even before they respond, I remember the other names on the declaration of war. “Wait, shit...”

“I do not understand how, but Sombra has discovered a way to resurrect his generals,” Celestia explains. So that's what those other names are. I figured that Hawke is one of Sombra's generals now, likely the replacement for Vanta. But those others... “I recognize those names from our first war with the Crystal Empire.”

“T'is prudent to assume they possess their previous abilities,” Luna suggests. Yeah, I agree with that. In war, plan for the worst case scenario. That way we're not taken by surprise. “Therefore, while their forces may be undead, they art fully capable of commanding them to their fullest potential.”

“What about Canterlot, Princesses? If we relocate the majority of the unicorn regiments to Trotsdale, the capital will be left undefended,” Shining Armor points out, tapping Canterlot on the map with his hoof.

“Perhaps t'is so,” Luna points out, placing her hoof on the map near the Crystal Empire. “But to reach Canterlot from the Crystal Empire, Sombra must pass his forces through the Crystal Mountains. We hath charted every exit to the mines, and the only exits are close to Trotsdale or here...in the hills north of Manehattan.”

“What happens if those beasties surface there?” Blades asks, scrutinizing the map. Luna taps the mountain range against which Trotsdale is settled.

“Should they attempt to circumvent or ambush this city, they must traverse the pass north of Hollow Shades. T'is a perfect place to trap his forces,” Luna explains. Celestia and the other officers nod, seeing the logic in that. Luna's hoof then moves to Manehattan. “Trotsdale is connected to Manehattan by railway. Should they attempt to assault Manehattan, t'will be simple to relocate our forces there.”

“Sombra will not attempt to travel to Canterlot by sea to get around our forces. Those waters belong to Griffonstone, and he is too smart to risk antagonizing its denizens,” Celestia surmises, looking to her sister for approval. Luna nods, and then the both of of them look at Shining Armor. “Canterlot will be safe, Captain. I will not let Sombra's forces that far into our territory.”

“Definitely! I ain't lettin' them varmints anywhere near Ponyville!” Applejack asserts.

“So what are we going to do? Sit here in Trotsdale and wait for them?” I demand, unsatisfied by that course of action. There's got to be something else we can do other than just sit and wait. What if Sombra comes himself? Trotsdale will be decimated.

“Here is our decision. We shalt make our stand here, at Trotsdale,” Luna decides. She then glances over where Shining Armor and Robin are standing. “Firstly, Robin, we will require that thou evacuates the civilians, and lead them to Canterlot. Secondly, Shining Armor, we must continue to fortify this city. Canst thou construct defenses around the perimeter?”

“Given the amount of trees at the base of the waterfall, I believe I can get a rough palisade built around the city, at the very least. How much time do we have?” Shining Armor returns, as Robin leaves the room after acknowledging Luna's order.

“As it stands, we believe it will take at least a week for Sombra's forces to reach the city, given the time it will take to cross the mountains and mobilize for an assault,” Luna estimates. A week, huh? I certainly hope we can get defenses up in that time. “We suggests thou start immediately. Thou art dismissed.”

“Yes, your Highness!” Shining Armor salutes smartly, and then he retreats from the room, no doubt getting ready to start the preparations immediately. Iron moves to follow him as well.

“Not you, Commander,” Celestia calls. Iron pauses as the entrance to the room, and then he obediently returns to the table. “There is still something I wish to discuss that concerns you.”

“Captain Blades, thy task is to organize thy troops and prepare thy magical countermeasures,” Luna orders the older stallion next. Yeah, I do remember being told that that was the role of the Canterlot Royal Unicorn 2nd Regiment, but I don't know what that specifically entails. “Take Commander Rose with thee. Dismissed.”

“What about the rest of us? What do we do in the meantime?” I ask curiously as Blades leaves the room along with Rose. I especially want to know what I'll be doing. I'll likely be put with the earth pony guards where I can fight with them on a relatively equal level.

“That is what I wish to discuss. Luna's plan is sound, but should we manage to weather their assault, Sombra's forces should be depleted enough to make a counteroffensive,” Celestia answers. Wait what? If Sombra comes himself to the battlefield, we're all screwed. And even if he doesn't, attacking him head on is suicide.

“So will ours,” I point out, basically admitting that there will be losses. Of course there will. Who knows how many undead Sombra has under his control?

“That's true. And that's why we need allies – now more than ever.” Cadance is the one that answers this time. Allies? Who the fuck is going to help us? As far as I know, there's a lot of tension between us and some of the other countries, and even for those that are friendly, this really isn't their affair. I don't see why they'd help.

“But before we get into that...Captain Gale, return to thy duties. Keep an eye on Sombra's movements. Captain Spitfire, work with the others and set up supply lines. We will need to maintain our army,” Luna commands.

“Yes, your Highness!” With that, Gale, Spitfire, and Fleetfoot exit the town hall next. Now, it's only Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Iron, Rainbow, me, and the others from Ponyville in the room.

“Who the hell is going to help us? This is technically our problem, and that's how the other countries are going to see this,” I question. Celestia and Luna look to Cadance, rather than answering me. That's right, Cadance is the princess that handles most diplomatic matters. She would know more than them, I suppose.

“Equestria has always been friendly with Griffonstone. I'm friends with their viceroy; I think that if I approached him, he would help us,” Cadance explains.

“That is a good idea. It would be a definite help to have Griffonstone's armored airships alongside us,” Celestia agrees. “If you think you can convince them, then by all means, send a detachment.”

“I'll have to go myself. Zythe is...well...let's say he's a little eccentric. If it isn't me that talks to him, he won't listen,” Cadance asserts. Celestia and Luna look at one another in worry at that. I do too, because Cadance is pretty strong. Shouldn't she be on the front lines with us? “If anypony can get Griffonstone to help us, it's me.”

“Very well. I trust you,” Celestia says with a sigh. Cadance smiles at her words. Next, Celestia turns to Iron. “Now, for why I asked you to remain, Commander. I know what you have gone through, but I need your help.”

“Princess?” Iron asks, starting to look a little hesitant.

“Your blood brother...he still rules over Bleak Island, correct?” Celestia asks. At that, Iron visibly shows a pained expression, which is uncharacteristic for him. Then again, I don't really know much about Iron except that he came from Bleak Island and that his parents died in a civil war.

“Y-Yes, as far as I know, Warlord Salamul is still in command,” Iron responds. His eyes widen as he suddenly anticipates what Celestia is trying to ask. “You want me to...go back?”

“I would not ask this of you if we were not in need of every ally we can muster,” Celestia responds apologetically, not bothering to deny him. “I know what happened there left its mark on you...but we need his power, and you are the only one he respects.”

“I...understand...” Iron returns through gritted teeth. Finally, he sighs and looks down, faint acceptance in his eyes. “If I must return for the sake of Equestria, I will. This is my home now, not that island.”

“Thank you, Stalwart,” Celestia expresses gratefully, reaching forward and giving Iron a nuzzle, who looks visibly shocked by the gesture. “You are dismissed.”

Iron salutes and leaves the room, such that there's no more officers in the room. Now that it's just us, I have to ask. “What are your plans on dealing with Sombra himself?” I ask, crossing my arms. All eyes are on Celestia next, because she's the strongest one here.

“At best, it would take a combined effort to take him down,” Celestia answers, pretty much admitting that she has no idea if we can win against him or not. I'm about to ask another question, but she's ahead of me. “Sombra does not like to fight on the front lines. Therefore we have to outmaneuver his army and force him into a direct confrontation against the magically strongest out of all of us.”

“Which would be me and the three of you, right?” Twilight asks, speaking up for the first time since the council began. By that, I'm assuming she means the three princesses. But still, Sombra had a lot of power. He was hardly even injured during the fight against her and Luna...the only one that could even touch him was Iron because of that shield, and he can't do it again.

“I appreciate the sentiment, but Sombra is far above you,” Celestia replies, pretty much saying what I'm thinking. “I do not want you fighting him.”

“But you need all the power you can get! If I focus on training, I should be able to do something!” Twilight pleads, approaching Celestia directly. “I know...I know I'm not strong compared to you all...but I'm the Element of Magic! That has to count for something.”

Celestia looks like she is about to protest further, but then a pensive expression crosses her face. “Hm...you have been steadily growing in strength over the course of your life. If you were to apply yourself to training...” Celestia muses. Finally, she shakes her head. “No, it is too uncertain. Perhaps I will change my mind when it's time to fight Sombra, but until then, I cannot let you anywhere near him.”

“I...I understand. But I won't give up. I'll do my best to raise my power to be of use to you,” Twilight promises.

All of this talk about fighting Sombra makes me realize that if I still had my magic, I'd likely be included in the battle against Sombra when the time comes. Against Chrysalis, she was threatening my friends, but with Sombra...it's personal. I want to be there at the final battle more than anything, but there's no way I can fight him now. If only there were a way!

“Don't worry, Twilight. I think I can beat him, if I am given enough time to prepare my strongest technique,” Celestia assures us. I perk up at this. Her strongest technique? If she had something like that, why didn't she use it in the first place? “If the three of us fighting together can lower his power enough, I should be able to destroy him.”

“But you're not sure,” I prompt. Celestia pauses, and then she nods in confirmation. The sinking feeling returns to my chest, but I don't let myself despair as before. I promised everypony that I'd have faith in them and fight until the end.

“You are right. I am not sure we possess enough power to contend with him,” Celestia admits. She looks between Luna and Cadance, both of whom are wearing solemn expressions. “We could really use another magic user. If only there were some other being that could use magic...”

We all fall into silence after that, frustrated with the situation. I don't know if we can win. We may be able to crush his armies and defeat his generals, but unless something changes, Sombra will probably defeat us at the end. I clench my fists and grit my teeth, wishing more than anything that I had the magic to fight alongside them all.

“...There is somepony else with that kind of magic,” Cadance says softly after an agonizing minute of silence passes. At that, every single one of us turn to look at her in surprise. Who? Who else has enough power comparable with theirs?

“Who, Cadance?” Celestia prompts, watching her niece with anticipation. The rest of us wait anxiously for the answer with baited breath. When Cadance finally answers, it's in a low voice that's barely above a whisper.

“Queen Chrysalis.”








> 103. Taking a Stand
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 	Practically everypony in the room starts protesting all at once, their voices intermingling and becoming indistinguishable from the others. My jaw is hanging open; I'm completely speechless. The very suggestion that Chrysalis of all fucking ponies would even consider helping us is so ludicrous that if the others weren't protesting, I'd have thought I imagined it.

“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Luna yells, her voice rising to such levels that she drowns out everypony else. She slams her hoof down on the table with so much force that it flips over, sending everything flying across the room. Celestia, who is the only one other than Cadance and me that's keeping quiet, returns the table and everything that was on it back to its original position with her magic. Despite her usual composure, she looks troubled.

“I agree with Luna; what the hay?” Rainbow demands, approaching the table as well now that there's space for her. “She's a monster and she should be beaten up, not allied with!”

“She ruined my brother's wedding day, and even yours, Cadance!” Twilight adds, though she looks more confused than angry. Finally, I manage to gather the words for my own protest.

“There's no way in hell that I'd ever ally with that bug eyed bitch!” I spit out my words with venom, clenching my fists and remembering the hell that she put Canterlot and me through. I almost let everypony die because of the offer she made me. Cadance winces at the vehemence in my words. “The better question is, why would you even consider it!? She not only stole your husband out from under your nose, but she also beat you half to death, shoved you in the caves and cut off your magic for days, and then almost killed everypony you loved!”

“Seth and I did not fight so hard to save Canterlot only to invite her right back in with our blessing!” Luna adds right after me, agreeing with me wholeheartedly. “This is completely out of the...”

“That's enough,” Celestia inserts firmly, raising her voice just loud enough to be heard over everypony else. The authority in her tone is enough to silence us all, albeit grudgingly. She then turns to her niece with serious stare. “Let Cadance speak for herself. I am...intrigued, for lack of a better word, why she would bring up such a...dissenting suggestion.”

“Thank you, Auntie,” Cadance responds, slipping out of formalities now that there are no longer officers here. She regards us next, noting how every single pair of eyes is fixated on her. “I understand your protests. Really, I do. But this isn't a situation where we can afford to hold a grudge. We need more power, right? Who else has the power to stand at our level other than the changeling queen?”

“Hold a grudge!?” I shoot back hotly, forgetting that I'm talking to a princess. “She put me through hell and almost cost me everything I've accomplished since getting here. Don't you call that a fucking grudge!”

“Seth!” Celestia snaps, her voice rising again. Shocked, I quiet down, albeit with a hateful stare. Celestia hardly ever rises her voice at me, so I figure I should back off, even with how angry I am right now. “I understand that the changeling invasion was a tumultuous time for us all. However, let us discuss this in a professional and orderly manner.”

There's an awkward silence after that, but it only lasts until Cadance recollects her thoughts. “I know what she did to me. I know what she did to all of you,” she admits. The silence in between sentences seems almost oppressive. “But we're facing nearly insurmountable odds. If we lose, Equestria will be conquered and enslaved, just like the Crystal Empire. I would do anything before I let our poor ponies suffer through that. Even if it means extending the olive branch to Queen Chrysalis.”

“Ah actually agree.” At that, everyone in the room looks at Applejack with varying degrees of shock. She doesn't look the least bit ashamed for saying something like that aloud. What the hell, Applejack? Some of us express our surprise more vocally.

“Applejack? How could you say that?” Twilight confronts her, looking betrayed at the very thought of one of her friends wanting to team up with Chrysalis.

“Ah jus' think it's the sensible thing ta do. Them changelings are pretty tough. If we had 'em on our side, this'd be a lot easier on us,” Applejack explains, shrugging. “Not only that, but that also keeps us from havin' ta fight a war on two fronts.”

“...Which would decimate our forces,” Luna admits, as much as she hates to say it. Even Celestia nods, agreeing with that logic. “I am still opposed to this. Letting in the changelings wouldst provide them with a golden opportunity to infiltrate our country once more.”

“But why would she even want to help us?” Rarity joins the conversation next with a very legitimate and pressing question.

“She won't. She's said more than once that she wants nothing more than to crush Canterlot,” I point out, a bit of a growl in my voice. “This conversation is ultimately pointless. She'll never help us, even if by the grace of god we all agree on this. Which we won't. I certainly won't.”

“Don't be so quick to say that, Seth,” Cadance says to me.

“Oh? And why shouldn't I?” I demand. I can't believe Cadance of all ponies is suggesting something this fucking stupid.

“Did you ever listen to Queen Chrysalis? Did you ever wonder why she attacked Canterlot with everything she had, even risking herself?”” Cadance returns fervently.

“Despite what you may think, this is something I have to do. I won't let you get in my way. Come.”

“The changelings have never known peace, or happiness. I am always hungry...there's never enough love...just useless lust, which is as empty as an abyss!”

I pause, remembering the things that Chrysalis said during our battle with her. At the time, I didn't focus much on it because I was too busy fighting for my life, but I do remember feeling like I understood her a little more, because she thought a lot like I would have if I'd never come to Equestria. Even so...her race's plight is no excuse for doing what she did.

“She had to, Seth. Her changelings were starving, and she believed that Princess Celestia was the largest source of love to be found,” Cadance reveals, restating what I already know. However, the other ponies don't look like they knew that, because they're looking at one another in confusion.

“You really are the fucking Princess of Love,” I groan, unable to believe how far she's willing to go to support her suggestion.

“I don't forgive her...but I understand her,” Cadance continues. “That's why I believe that if we help her first, she'll be willing to help us fight. After all, if Sombra wins, she and all of her changelings will starve to death.”

“Well...she does have a point,” Rarity admits, moving over to Applejack with a bit of a sheepish expression on her face. “She's monstrous, but I'm not seeing another option. It's not as if I can fight King Sombra.”

“If she was trying to protect her children...I don't think I can hold that against her.” Fluttershy gives in next, though she looks ashamed at what she's saying. “I don't like what she did...but she reminds me of a predator. She can't help that her body was made for a different kind of nutrition.”

“I don't believe this,” I scoff, looking at the four ponies who are now for siding with Chrysalis. “I won't stand for this. Shining Armor won't stand for this.”

“Pinkie, what do you think?” Twilight addresses the pony that's been mostly quiet so far, which is a miracle in and of itself.

“Chrysalis friendship party!” Pinkie proceeds to squeal, firing off two separate party cannons into the air while waving two pennants around that have Chrysalis's face painted on them. Despite the situation, I stare at her dumbfounded, wondering how in the hell she got all of that stuff. Celestia similar looks bemused as she puffs confetti off of her nose. Once she realizes that everypony is staring at her, Pinkie shrugs and tosses the cannons and pennants away, where they disappear just as fast as they appeared. “Chrysalis is a meanie. But if we tried to make her go away, then we'd be the meanies.”

There's a small silence after that. With Pinkie's opinion, we're half and half here as far as opinions go. Considering how outlandish and stupid Cadance's suggestion is, I'm beyond shocked that even half of us agree with her. On the dissenting side, there's me, Twilight, Rainbow, Luna, and I hope Celestia, though she hasn't exactly stated her opinion either way. On the agreeing side is Cadance, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie.

“Enough. I have heard your opinions on either side, and I will take them into consideration,” Celestia finally says before the argument can start back up again. “I will need some time to think on it before I can make a decision. As of right now, let us assume that we are on our own.”

“The only decision to be made here is to fucking blast her into oblivion,” I grumble under my breath instead of yelling at Celestia directly. The princess made the most diplomatic response she could have, so yelling at her would only make me look biased...even though I certainly am. I can't believe Cadance of all ponies would think of allying with that bitch.

“That's fair, I suppose,” Twilight admits. Rainbow is seething next to me, much to my relief. It's good to know that at least she has my back. Not that she ever hasn't. “Princess, what do you want us to do?”

“That is the next order of business I wish to address,” Celestia responds, fixing all of us with a serious expression. “I want to express to you that this is no longer your battle. With the absence of the Element of Magic, the Elements of Harmony are useless, and as such there is no need for you all to risk yourself on the battlefield with us.”

“If any of you wish to return home, none of us will think less of you. I promise to keep Ponyville safe from harm in the coming war,” Celestia finishes, meeting the gaze of everyone around her, even me.

“What? How could I leave you all to fight without me?” Twilight is the first to respond. She looks appalled that Celestia would even suggest she run away. “No, I'm staying for as long as you need me, princess.”

“Ah fought durin' the changeling invasion. I ain't backin' down now,” Applejack asserts, flexing a hoof. “This's actually easier. Now we don't gotta fight livin' things.”

“I'm staying! If I don't stay, then what am I gonna do with this?” Pinkie proclaims, and then she proceeds to to pull out what looks like a fucking organ cannon that fires streamers and party buzzers into the air. Wisely, the others choose to ignore the ridiculousness that is Pinkie.

“I would really rather not have to engage in battle with such ghastly creatures...but there's more at stake than my own sensibilities,” Rarity admits. “Just tell me how I can help.”

“Yeah, let's do this! I'm with you the whole way! There's some undead that need a beating!” Rainbow declares. Right, like there was any chance of Rainbow going home while the rest of us fought.

“Magic or not, I made a promise to myself, and to you. Even if I have to go in with just a sword with the earth ponies, that's fine with me,” I declare. Unfortunately, I never did learn how to wield a weapon, but it's not like I'm fighting somepony who's skilled with a blade. They're just undead.

All eyes fall upon Fluttershy, the last one who hasn't said anything. She jumps a bit when she realizes she's the center of attention, and then she quails. “Um...I...I don't want to fight, but...if you are all going, then...I'll do what I can,” Fluttershy stammers. “I don't want anypony getting hurt.”

“Twilight, you have some wonderful friends,” Cadance remarks, earning a smile and a blush from the unicorn in question. Celestia nods in agreement.

“You are all willing to fight with us?” Celestia asks one last time. She gets a confirmatory nod from all of us. “Very well. Then I have orders for you all. Twilight and Rarity, I'm assigning you to the Second Division, beneath Captain Blades. He will know best how to use your respective talents.”

Twilight and Rarity look at one another, and then nod their assent. That seems about right. Twilight seems like she'd fit well in the Second Division. Rarity as well, because there's no way she could be a part of the more physical and up close First Division.

Celestia regards the two earth ponies and me next. “Pinkie Pie, I would like you to place yourself at the disposal of the First Division. Your aptitude for...heavy artillery...should prove useful on the front lines.”

“Oki dokie lokie!”

“Seth, Rainbow, and Applejack, I have other plans for you that I will discuss later,” Celestia continues. The three of us exchange glances, confused. Shouldn't we just join the earth ponies? And why wouldn't Celestia assign Rainbow to the Wonderbolts or something? “Lastly, Fluttershy, if it would not be too much trouble, I'm assigning you to medical duty. I feel  it is where you'll be the most help.”

“Oh. Thank you, Princess Celestia. I'll do my best,” Fluttershy responds, no doubt relieved that she doesn't have to do any fighting. Still, her job is pretty tough as well.

Anyway, I think that's all of us. I still don't have any orders, and there's a week to wait before Sombra's forces get here. “I believe that covers everything. Report to your assigned locations, and follow the orders of your captains. We have a week until the undead arrive; I trust that you will do everything in your power to ensure the safety of this city,” Celestia finishes. She returns her gaze to Applejack, Rainbow, and I next. “I would like you three to report to me by the end of this evening. I will have orders for you by then. Until then, you are all dismissed.”

The other ponies chorus in acknowledgment and start to leave the room. I give one last look at Celestia to see if I can discern her intentions for me, but to no avail. She's discussing something with her sister and Cadance in hushed tones right now.

I let out a sigh and leave the room alongside Rainbow and Applejack, figuring that I'll find out tonight what she wants from me. In the meantime, I should probably find a weapon. I'll probably visit Shining Armor as far as that goes.

“Ah wonder what other plans the princess's got for us?” Applejack wonders aloud as the three of us follow the others down the hallways leading out of the town hall.

“Maybe we're gonna be like, special agents or something!” Rainbow suggests, excitement brimming in her voice. Special agents. Gosh, that's extremely childish. “Slipping in under the cover of night, heading right for their leadership, and then be like...pow! Right in the jaw!”

“Ah think you've been readin' too much Darin' Do,” Applejack comments dryly. Heh, that sounds about right. No, this isn't going to be glamorous. We're going to war against an undead army. If anything, this'll be much much worse than the changeling invasion.

“It could happen!” Rainbow protests with a pout. She looks at me next. “Seth agrees with me, right?”

“Of course I...” I'm about to make a smart comment, but then Applejack presses a hoof to my mouth, taking me by surprise.

“Just kiss 'im. He'll agree with ya then,” Applejack jokes. I push her hoof away and glare at her, while Rainbow blushes at the joke.

“Shut up! Stupid Applejack,” Rainbow emits, shoving her snickering friend with her shoulder. Heh, the sad part is, I do have a tendency to forget anything I'm thinking whenever Rainbow kisses me spontaneously. Rainbow blushes further. “I'm not going to kiss him in front of you, anyway.”

“Still here, thank you,” I point out, which is enough to cause Applejack to laugh harder at Rainbow's expense.

The short moment of merriment ends when we exit the town hall into the streets. The first thing we notice are the lines of civilian ponies walking through the streets. Most of them are wearing packed saddlebags, and others are lugging suitcases behind them. Others are riding in wagons filled with their personal belongings. Judging by the soldiers with them, they're being escorted out of town, on their way to Canterlot. It's official. Trotsdale is preparing for battle.

Twilight and the others have already split paths ahead of us, moving to their respective divisions. It isn't long before they're out of sight, and it's just the three of us standing here awkwardly, wondering what the hell we're supposed to do in the meantime.

“So uh...what now?” Applejack questions, voicing my thoughts. “Think we should go an' help out somewhere?”

“It's not like we have anything better to do,” I reply with a shrug. Actually, I'm lying. I need to go get a weapon. “Actually, I should probably find an armory somewhere. I can't use magic, so I need a weapon.”

“That's cuz ya ain't got the muscles of a workpony,” Applejack teases me, flexing the muscles in her back legs.

“Yes well, I'm not built like you ponies. Humans only survived because of our ingenuity,” I remind her, earning an understanding nod from her.

“Fair 'nuff. In that case, ah might see if Shinin' Armor wants mah help with the trees,” Applejack suggests. Tipping her hat, she breaks off from the Rainbow and I. “Ah'll catch y'all later tonight.”

“See ya, AJ!” Rainbow calls after her. Then, a moment later, she grins as an idea comes to her. “You know, as long as we're just killing time, I think I should go see if the Wonderbolts need help!”

“Right...I'm sure there will be no fawning over Spitfire involved,” I remark wryly, noticing an excuse when I see one.

Instead of acting embarrassed, Rainbow turns around and gives me a half-lidded expression. “What, are you jealous, Seth?” Rainbow asks with a smirk.

“What? Why would I...jealous of...but...” I stammer, taken off guard by her random accusation. “That's not...ugh, fine, maybe a little.”

Rainbow cackles at my confession. She swoops down next to me, and then after making sure that nopony else was watching, she gives me a light peck behind my ear. “You're cute,” Rainbow comments, and then she starts flying up into the sky, where the pegasi are patrolling. “I'll see you tonight!”

“Hey! I am not...cute...” I protest weakly, but she flies out of earshot before I can finish. I groan and rub the spot where she kissed me. Blasted infuriating rainbow pony with the stupid mane and...fuck, I love her. Nopony else can throw me for a loop like she does.

Now that I'm alone, I pick my way through the streets, looking for Shining Armor to see if I can't find a weapon of some sort. Unfortunately, finding him is easier said than done. I reach the part of the city nearest the waterfall where the ponies have already evacuated. Soldiers are swarming through the streets in ranks, shuttling weapons and supplies to and from the different houses.

Some of the houses, particularly the ones near the edge of town, have been converted into defensive positions, where the windows are open and soldiers are positioned inside and equipped with longbows. Some of the houses even have powerful ballistae set up inside in locations where there's a clear view of the land before them. Considering the land slopes downward from the city, that's actually a tactically sound decision. The undead will have to scale the hills to reach the town, all while death is rained down on them from above. That's not even counting the trebuchets on the mountainside near the waterfall.

Eventually, I give up trying to find Shining Armor; finding him in this large town is ridiculously hard. He might even be up on the mountainside chopping down trees. Considering all of the weapons I'm seeing carried around, surely one of them can be spared for my personal use.

“Hold up a second,” I say to one of the unicorn soldiers passing by me. He has a box of weapons with him that he's carrying with his magic. From here, I can see swords and lances, as well as a few shields. The soldier pauses, giving me a cursory stare. “I need a weapon. Mind if I take one of those?”

“Go ahead. Good to see you're fighting with us again,” the soldier says to me with a friendly smile. Hold up, do I know this guy? I don't think so, but apparently he knows me...apart from the obvious fact that I'm the only one that looks like me in the entire world apart from Hawke. Whatever. It's not that important.

Let's see, I have no experience in fighting with a lance...not to mention I don't like the idea of being unable to hurt my enemy except with a very small point. My attention is soon drawn by one of the swords on top. It's similar to a bastard sword, but a bit shorter, kind of like a hand and a half version. It has a long, thick blade that tapers to a lethal looking point. 

I grab the weapon’s case and unsheathe it, a little surprised by how heavy it is. I've never held a sword before, but I always imagined them being lighter than this. I haven't trained with it, but it can't be much different from wielding the scythe. It should actually be easier than handling the scythe, and much more practical.

“Thanks,” I respond, holding up the sword to get a feel for its balance. The soldier nods and departs, carrying his shipment of weapons to wherever they're needed. Now then, I should probably take this someplace where I can practice with it without lopping off somepony's head by accident. That clearing where I spoke with Celestia sounds like a good place.

As I walk, I strap the sheath to my side, fastening the straps around my waist. Of course I have to loosen the straps as much as possible, because they weren't made for humans. It's a little tight, but it works.

Before long, I'm back in the clearing overlooking the waterfall, and I can finally work on getting used to this weapon. As expected, it's much easier to handle than the scythe, so it isn't long before I'm practicing different types of thrusts and slashes.

I only get a half an hour to practice before I'm interrupted. “Excuse me, Seth. Do you have a moment?” Cadance addresses me, emerging from the street behind me. Thankfully she gave me enough warning, so I lower my sword and cease my practicing for now.

“Shouldn't you be on your way to Griffonstone?” I ask, annoyed at being interrupted. Besides, I'm not too happy with her considering what she tried to pull during the strategy meeting earlier. “What are you doing talking to me?”

“I should be, yes. I will be leaving in less than an hour,” Cadance answers, walking towards me. I sheath my sword, figuring that this might take a while. I wonder how anypony does anything if they get interrupted as much as I do whenever I try to take time for myself. “But I have something very important to speak to you about.”

“I'm listening.”

Cadance sighs and looks down, as if it's taking a great deal of effort just to bring herself to talk to me. I raise an eyebrow, getting a bad feeling. This better not be bad news, or I swear to god I'm going to break something. “You won't like it. It's about Queen Chrysalis,” she warns me. My mood drops like a stone, but I wait for her to finish before saying anything. Cadance lifts her head and stares directly into my eyes. “If Celestia chooses to ally with the changelings, I want you to be the one to negotiate with their queen.”

My immediate reaction is to throw back my head and laugh for a solid ten seconds. Cadance winces, but doesn't look surprised. After I calm down, I note that she's still looking at me expectantly. “Hold up, you're actually serious?” I ask incredulously. When Cadance nods, I scoff in disbelief and derisiveness. “God no! What the hell kind of drugs have you been taking? What in God's green earth makes you think I'd even consider entertaining that request!?”

“I expected you'd say as much,” Cadance admits, sighing in disappointment. “But I would like you to reconsider. You're the only one that has even the slightest chance of convincing Queen Chrysalis to ally with us.”

“Okay, let's assume I'm on board with this stupid fucking scheme of yours. Which I'm not, just in case you care,” I retort. As stupid as this is, I'm curious as to what's going through her head right now. Besides the ridiculously mistaken belief that I would negotiate with the changeling queen, to whom I would much rather shove this sword up her nether regions for what she tried to do to me back at Canterlot. “How does that follow? Last time I checked, Chrysalis is busy building up another army for an assault. She even said that she intends to come back and crush us all when she has the chance. I'm damn sure that if I were to just randomly show up and ask to negotiate, she would laugh in my face and then proceed to incinerate me.”

“Not necessarily. I learned a lot about what occurred during the invasion through the reports as well as asking Celestia herself for details. Thus, I know why she approached you and made you that offer in the first place,” Cadance responds, taking my angry skepticism in stride. “You're the last human, and you fascinated her. She offered you a place at her side first, didn't she?”

“Yeah, she did. And then I threw it in her face, as well as everything else she...ugh...offered me,” I remind her sharply. “I'm pretty sure that she has a grudge against me now.”
“Maybe, but I heard she gave you not one, but two chances to reconsider your decision, even after you fought against her and harmed her changelings,” Cadance counters. “Then, both Celestia and Luna heard her offer you a place with her, even after she escaped. Am I wrong?”

	“Seth, if you ever change your mind, come find me. I'll give you a life beyond your wildest dreams.”

“Alright, I'll give you that much. But that doesn't matter. I'm not taking her offer. Why does it sound like you're trying to convince me to?” I demand.

“I'm not telling you to take her offer. I'm just telling you to take advantage of the fact that she made it in the first place! At the very least, she'll hear you out,” Cadance explains vehemently. “Please, Seth, just think about it. If we ally with the changelings, not only will we have a better chance at defeating King Sombra, but we'll also protect our rear and remove the threat of a war on two fronts!”

“It's not happening. I'm not going anywhere near Chrysalis if I can help it,” I tell her firmly. “Even if I go and she listens to me, I can't fight her anymore. There's a very good chance I would end up captured and likely her personal human slave. And then what are you going to do? Send the army to free me while Sombra is breathing down your necks?”

“You wouldn't be going alone, of course,” Cadance tries to reassure me. However, she releases an irritated huff and stamps the ground out of frustration. “You know, it seems to me more like you're afraid to face her!”

“What, did I give you permission to start acting all therapist? The answer I gave you is no. Can't you just accept that?” I shoot back, offended...even though I have no right to be. She's right. I'm terrified of Chrysalis. The first time I met her, she nearly ruined my life, and then proceeded to beat the everliving shit out of me. Even when I had as much power as her, there was still a chance she'd beat me in battle. Now? Now she could make me her bitch and there would be nothing I could do about it.

“You...!” Cadance looks like she's about to say something else, but then she gives one last sigh. When she next looks at me, it's with a deceptively calm expression. “Fine. I'll respect your decision. But I want you to know that if you keep running away from the problem, it'll never get resolved.”

“Noted. Now fuck off so I can get back to practicing,” I snap, turning around and unsheathing my sword. Cadance stands behind me for a few seconds longer as I start to practice, until I finally hear her depart. God, that was the dumbest conversation I've ever had. Like I would really go and negotiate with Chrysalis of all ponies.

As I work at perfecting a stance, I can't help but let my thoughts wander. A little niggling voice in the back of my head asks me, what if Cadance is right? Am I really just running away from Chrysalis? I mean, what else should I do? Every time I've faced her ever since meeting her, I've been afraid of her potential. It only grew worse after Luna and I fought her. After the battle, I had nightmares for weeks about her that grew steadily more twisted over time. I never told anypony about it, but I was always waking up sweating to death in the middle of the night during the month following the battle. I was never more grateful for manual labor to help keep my mind off of everything. Eventually the nightmares faded, but every so often, I'd have another one, and I'd be just as terrified as before.

Shit, I can't focus on practicing. I sheath the sword again and sit down at the edge of the cliff, gazing down into the waterfall. This sight always serves to help calm my nerves, even now.

I realize something as I stare into the falling water. I don't want to go back and fight Chrysalis. I say that I do, but every time I think about it, I feel a pit of fear in my stomach that I can't shake. If Celestia were to show up right now and declare her intentions to take down the changelings, I don't know what I would do.

In fact, it's the same with Sombra and Hawke. I get scared just thinking about them, especially now that I can't defend myself against them. I'm terrified that if they find me, I'll end up as just another human that they've killed. I want nothing more than to take everything important to me and run as far away as I can.

This brings me to a sudden realization. Isn't that what I always do? Haven't I been running from my problems for most of my life? Every time something difficult would happen to me, I would avoid the issue completely, and instead elect to ignore it. Heh, as if ignoring a problem would ever make it go away. Yet that's how I lived. Even when I came to Equestria, that part of me showed through, like when I avoided Lyra for days just because I didn't want to face the fact that things were different here. Or how I tried to die rather than realize that I would need to find a new path for myself.

“I really have been running all the time,” I comment ruefully, staring into the frothy cascade of the falls. And why wouldn't I run? Every time I come closer to my problems, it hurts so much, and I just want to turn my head and pretend things will turn out okay if I ignore them.

I haven't gotten this far without solving something, of course. But that's just it. I've never done it on my own. Every time I've made a decision, I've had to be forced or persuaded into it. Yet even so, things have always turned out for the better because I confronted the problem. That's how I'm in a relationship with Rainbow now, isn't it? I really have to hand it to my friends. I'd never have gotten this far without them.

I fall into a meditative state as I attempt to clear my mind. Once again, I feel the empty void inside of me where Sombra's magic used to be. After so long of using that magic and becoming accustomed to its presence, it feels strange for it to just be gone. But it can stay gone. I don't need it. I have my friends, and they have me. I have to believe that if we all try our hardest, we'll end up on top in the end.

Just after I think that and return to my meditative state, I notice something odd about myself. There's something else inside of me that I didn't notice before. It's difficult to describe, but it's like there's a pinprick of light in the void where Sombra's magic used to be. Surprised and a little hopeful, I push deeper within myself, until I'm almost blinded by the well of power sitting deep within myself.

I can't believe what I'm feeling. A calm, smooth stream of magic is circulating around my core, of a completely different composition than the magic I possessed before. Instead of dark and malevolent, it feels warm, familiar, and undeniably...me. That's the only way I can describe it. For as long as I had magic, the darkness never felt truly as if it belonged to me. It felt like a foreign intruder within my body, and it felt more evil than good. But not this magic. This magic must be mine. I just know it is. It responds to my touch as if it had been waiting for me my whole life.

“How...how is this here? How is this possible?” I demand aloud. How long has this magic been here? Why couldn't I access it before? Unless...it had always been overpowered by the darkness, and I'd never understood how to access anything other than dark mana. Hesitantly, I tap into it...and the feeling of power surging through me is all too familiar.

My eyes snap open, glowing with an emerald light. The ground cracks and shatters around my rear as I draw upon this new magic. No, that's incorrect. This is my magic, not Sombra's. I stand up, just as ribbons of lime green energy burst from the ground and circle around my body like fire. My new aura explodes from around me, feeling like an extension of myself rather than another entity that wanted to drive me insane. There's no electricity either, just a smooth flowing current that swirls around me and fills my body with strength that I never thought I would feel again. Not just that, but my vision doesn't change, allowing me to see much clearer than before.

I let out a rising cry as I call upon as much magic as I can. For every single particle of dark mana that I possessed before, there's an equivalent one of this new mana...my mana. As strong as I was before, I'm just as strong now. A happy expression crosses my face as I realize that I can finally fight with the others, and return the faith the they've given me. I'm not going to run away anymore.

My aura spirals higher and higher as I push all the way to the limits of my power, reaching the mental barrier in my mind and breaking past it in an instant. Unlike when I controlled darkness, there's no pain as I ascend further. My hair rises up just like before, flowing upwards into the air as if suspended in liquid. However, my hands remain the same. This time, the most noticeable difference are the lime green runes made from magic that etch themselves on my skin. Two of these lines run through each of my eyes, but don't obscure my vision. They run down my chest and along the outer edges of my arms. I even recognize some of the symbols...and holy shit, I think that's cuneiform writing.

“Yes...with this, I can finally take a stand,” I declare, my hands outstretched. “Chrysalis, Hawke, and Sombra...I'm not going to run away from you anymore.”





> 104. A New Purpose
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 	I leap up and hover a few feet in the air, noticing how different it feels to use this magic. This is a completely different magic than what I'm used to, so I don't even think my normal techniques will work anymore. Thankfully, flying is still relatively easy to work out. Not to mention, I don't have my rifle or the scythe, so all I have right now are my fists as well as my recently acquired sword. I take a few quick jabs at the air to test my speed and strength.

My brow wrinkles, recognizing that I'm at a bit of a disadvantage. Attempting to use any of my previous techniques doesn't work. If I remember Twilight's lessons right, it has something to do with the differing composition in this magic in comparison to before. This won't do...at some point I'm going to have to take some time to figure out some new techniques. That dash ability from before is too good; I have to try and come up with an equivalent.

I've never really had the chance to push myself to my absolute limit. Right now, I'm extremely tempted to see how far I can take this new magic, but I'd probably destroy the cliff I'm on if I did so. With that in mind, I let myself power down, the cuneiform fading from my body and my hair flowing back down to normal.

A wave of air blows over me as both Celestia and Luna land on the ground not too far from me, no doubt drawn here by the magic I've just displayed. Both of them look confused, but that soon changes to pleasant surprise when they see me standing near the edge of the cliff in the crater I just formed. Cadance soon joins them, emerging from the streets.

“Seth? Was that thy magic we just sensed?” Luna questions, her eyes wide with shock at the magnitude of the magic she just felt. Celestia and Cadance remain quiet, waiting for my answer.

“Yeah. I don't know how in the hell I still have magic, but this means I can fight with the rest of you now,” I reply excitedly, snapping my fingers. That motion causes my flame-like magic to spark into existence, engulfing my hand with emerald light. The three princesses glance at my hand with interest, noting the very different composition of my magic.

“But how? I thought King Sombra took it from you,” Cadance expresses, her face showing confusion rather than doubt. “This is...not his magic. It doesn't feel the same.”

“No, it feels more like you, Seth,” Celestia observes rather accurately. Yeah, that's the only way I can really describe this new magic. “If you don't mind, where in your body was this magic hiding?”

“It was...agh, it's hard to describe. It felt like a thin layer around my core, hidden beneath where Sombra's magic used to be,” I try to explain, but I'm not sure I got my point across. Luna and Cadance look at once another, still confused, but Celestia is nodding.

“As I expected,” she reveals, much to our surprise. What? She knew I would somehow regain my magic? Is that why she gave me time to myself? When she notices us all looking at her, she smiles and elaborates. “I had my suspicions, based upon what you've told me about your kind. Seth, you couldn't perform magic before receiving Sombra's spell, correct?”

“That's right. Humans can't use magic. If we could, we wouldn't have needed all the technology we used to have,” I return. “What's your point?”

“Therefore, it is only natural to assume that humans do not have magical cores as we ponies do,” Celestia assumes. “I believe that when Sombra implanted his magic in you, he created a magical core inside of you capable of producing dark mana, similar to himself. At the Crystal Empire, he removed all of your current magic as well as your core's ability to produce dark mana. My theory is that he did not take your core itself, as that is impossible for a non-unicorn.”

“And I remember you telling me that dark magic can only be used by those whose cores can produce the necessary mana,” I recall, understanding what she's getting at. I may not be as well-schooled as her or Twilight, but I did go through some schooling. “So maybe when my core lost its ability to produce dark mana, it produced my own, original mana instead?”

“I am not certain, but that would be my guess. Perhaps you could not access it before because you have not been trained to control anything apart from dark mana,” Celestia theorizes. Huh, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, my magic is filling me up now, but before that, it had been hidden against my core, as if oppressed by the dark magic. “I must say, I enjoy the feeling of this magic. It suits you much more than King Sombra's ever did.”

“Yeah, it definitely feels more like me. You know, and it helps not being tempted to go insane,” I remark. “I can push myself to the limit without having to worry about that.”

“Indeed. Now, I must ask,” Celestia approaches me seriously. “Are you willing to fight King Sombra alongside the rest of us, now that you possess the power to do so?”

“You don't even have to ask,” I determine, slamming my fist into my palm with a grin, the impact causing magic to flow outwards. Despite my fear of Sombra's might, it feels good to know that I can fight alongside my friends again.

“This is very good. Now we no longer have need of the changelings' assistance,” Luna expresses with satisfaction, glancing at Celestia for confirmation. Ah yes, the changeling issue. A slight tension falls across the four of us at that. The opinion should still be divided between us all as far as that goes.

“I wouldn't be so certain. King Sombra is stronger than all of us put together by a great deal, right?” Cadance corrects Luna, much to the latter's displeasure. “While Seth fighting with us gives us a better chance, Queen Chrysalis's power certainly wouldn't hurt.”

“We planned to fight even without Seth, with the changeling queen's power! Now that Seth has returned to full strength, we do not need her help!” Luna hisses angrily.

“What about if she chooses to attack while we're busy fighting the Crystal Empire? You even said yourself that if we're caught between two invading forces, we would be destroyed!” Cadance shoots back, bristling as well. Next to them, Celestia sighs, rubbing her forehead with a hoof.

“What if we were to ally with her, and then she betrays us during a momentous battle? What then?” Luna demands. Right now neither Luna nor Cadance look like they're going to back down in their viewpoints.

“Queen Chrysalis is no fool! She no doubt knows that if King Sombra were to win, then her kind would perish! She wouldn't dare risk that by betraying us!” Cadance asserts. As Luna opens her mouth to continue the argument, I finally lose my patience.

“This is getting us fucking nowhere!” I yell, cutting both of them off. They both clamp their jaws shut, surprised that I'm yelling at both of them. I look at Luna first. “Luna, you're right. Chrysalis is a bitch who wouldn't think twice about screwing us over if she could get away with it.”

“Then...” Luna tries to say, but I'm not finished. I turn to Cadance next.

“Cadance, you're also right. If Chrysalis attacks us, we're fucked. Neutralizing the threat without bloodshed is a decent plan.”

“Wait what?” Cadance emits, shocked that I've said something even close to supporting her point. “But you said...”

“I know what I said. But at this point, I want to go into battle trusting that my back is secure. One way or another, we have to deal with Chrysalis,” I point out. Just saying that causes me to feel that familiar fear of facing her, but with Cadance right here, I don't want to show that weakness. The only way to make it go away is to face the problem head on. I'll never stop being afraid of Chrysalis if I don't face her.

“Seth is right,” Celestia finally rejoins the conversation. “While I am uncertain as to which path is the right to take for our subjects, we cannot risk her turning against us.”

“So let us crush her! The four of us could take her on and wipe her and her kind out!” Luna suggests vehemently. Whoa there. I didn't think Luna would be the kind of mare to suggest wiping out an entire species.

“No, Luna. We cannot leave the front lines. If the worst case scenario occurs and King Sombra comes to the front lines, we must be here,” Celestia responds, shaking her head. Luna seethes with frustration, but she doesn't protest, seeing the logic behind that. Celestia then notices me looking at her pointedly. “Seth, do you have a solution?”

“I might. As you know, I'm as strong as I used to be. In other words, nothing short of Chrysalis herself could harm me,” I remind them all. Cadance's eyes widen when she starts to realize what I'm getting at. “Let me go. You were intending to handle the battle without me, right? If anyone should go and handle Chrysalis, it should be me.”

“Thou intends to take her down thyself!?” Luna emits in shock. Celestia just watches me with interest, waiting for me to continue.

“If I have to. But, like Cadance said, it would be much better for all of us if she were to ally with us,” I answer, albeit grudgingly. I still hate the idea of allying with Chrysalis, and there's still a high chance that she won't even consider helping us, but Cadance is right. At best, we have an entire other army at our disposal, along with the powerhouse that is Chrysalis herself. At worst, I wipe out the queen and the changelings cease to be a threat.

“Seth! I thought thou wert on my side!” Luna exclaims, looking betrayed. I notice that she dropped her pluralisms again for some reason.

“I'm on both of your sides!” I snap, not wanting to deal with Luna acting all indignant. “I hate Chrysalis. I really do. But...a friend told me that running away from our problems won't solve them.”

Cadance lets out a small gasp at that, a smile forming on her face despite the situation. Celestia looks between Cadance and I, no doubt drawing the connection immediately because she's a mind reading horse. Despite that, Celestia is looking at me with respect.

“To clarify, what exactly do you intend to do, Seth?” Celestia addresses me.

“I'm going to go find the changeling hive. Then, I'm going to see if Chrysalis would help us. Out of everyone, I'm the only one she wouldn't attack on sight. Despite her failed invasion, I'm still the only human she knows of,” I relate. Luna bristles at the idea, but Celestia and Cadance are nodding. “If she won't help us, I'll kill her. She and I are even now in terms of power. I think I may be a little stronger, if I push myself. Does that make you happy, Luna?”

“I suppose...but I do not like this. I do not like this one bit,” Luna admits grudgingly. “But, considering how vehement thou wert about destroying her, thou must believe this task will truly benefit us.”

“Trust me, I still want to beat the hell out of her. I'm actually hoping Chrysalis will prove difficult so I can do exactly that,” I assure her with a rueful grin. A silence falls after that as Celestia takes time to weigh everything over in her head.

“All right, I have decided,” Celestia finally says, regaining our attention. She faces me next. Her horn lights up, and she produces a set of two insignia from a hidden pocket in her armor. One of them looks very similar to what I usually see Iron and Rose wearing. The other is one that Cadance usually wears. “Seth, you are to go to the changeling hive and undergo negotiations with the changelings. In order to give you the authority to deal with another race in the same manner as us, I am temporarily promoting you to the rank of Commander. Keep in mind that this is a wartime measure, and as such will be revoked upon the cessation of hostilities.”

“Damn straight. You couldn't keep me in the army even if you paid me,” I remark, glancing down at my chest as Celestia pins the Commander insignia to my right shoulder. Wow, even if it is temporary, it's a bit surreal to be the same rank officially as Iron and Rose. “What's this other one?”

“This second insignia recognizes you as a diplomat for Equestria, and gives you the authorization to act as such,” Celestia explains, pinning the insignia right next to the one indicating my rank. Upon hearing that, I'm suddenly reminded of a conversation I had with Cadance around the time I first met her.

“Oh? Then I assume you're a diplomat or ambassador?”

“How the hell would you draw a conclusion like that? Do I look like a diplomat to you?”

I shake my head, finding that to be incredibly ironic. It's funny how things have changed since getting to Equestria. “Right then. You realize she's going to likely demand things from us, provided she agrees to hear me out in the first place?” I point out. “Are you sure you're okay giving me that kind of authority?”

Celestia nods, and then she produces a crystalline orb from her armor as well, making me wonder how much shit she hides in there. She passes it to me, dropping it in my outstretched palm. “I anticipate as much. If so, I trust you to use your own judgment in that situation. Should these demands prove to be more than you believe you can handle, use this to contact me.”

“Fair enough. When do you want me to leave?” I ask, hoping that I at least have time to tell Rainbow where I'm going before I leave.

“As soon as possible. However, I would like you to stay for dinner at least. Your trip may take you a long time, and as such I would like some time to prepare supplies for you,” Celestia answers. That much works for me. I'll go visit Rainbow first, have some food, and then get going and hope I don't die. Part of me still thinks this is a terrible decision. The rest of me thinks that part of me is mostly likely correct.

“Supplies? Can't I just fly over there?” I question. It can't be that far to the areas south of Dodge Junction.

“You can, but it's at least two day's flight, provided you fly while conserving your energy,” Celestia advises me. Huh, that's true. I guess I can't fly full speed if I want to be at close to full power by the time I reach the badlands. “I also seriously doubt that the queen will accommodate you.”

“No kidding. All right, that's fair. When's dinner?” I ask, feeling a little hungry now that she mentions it. “Soon, I hope?”

Celestia nods, and then she turns around, spreading her wings. Luna does the same, so I release some magic myself, figuring that we're about to get going.

“I can't stay for dinner,” Cadance confesses regretfully. “Honestly, I should have already left. I would have been on the train to Baltimare already, but then Seth happened.”

“Well, sorry, for getting my magic back and restoring some hope,” I respond sarcastically, earning a chuckle from her. “Go on to Griffinity or whatever the hell the name of that place you're going to is called.”

“Griffonia, Seth. And I will. Wish me luck!” With that, Cadance spreads her wings and takes to the air, heading for the train station. Heh, bitch didn't even wait for me to wish her luck. She should be fine though. Having the griffons back us up would be cool. Especially because I've never seen a griffon, and I'm more than a little curious what they look like in this world.

The three of us left take off, angled for the town hall. I guess that's just going to be our base of operations until this whole battle is over. But, before I go there, there's something else I have to do. “You two go on ahead. I've got something else to do first,” I tell them, flying away from them. I don't wait to see their reactions.

Man, it feels really good to fly again, even though the last time I flew wasn't that long again. It's mostly because I thought I'd never get to fly again. Because of that, the feeling of the wind blowing through my hair and clothes is exhilarating.

Now then, it's not that hard to find one of the Wonderbolts. The one I find first is Fleetfoot, who seems to be handling scouting patrols. She quickly spots me when I approach. “Hey Se...” she starts to say, but then she notices the insignia pinned to my shoulder. “Wait, Commander? You're the same rank as me!?”

“Temporarily, for the sake of this war,” I respond quickly, unwilling to waste any time. Fleetfoot looks like she wants to ask about that, so I beat her to the punch. “Have you seen Rainbow? I figured she'd have gone right for Spitfire.”

“Oh yeah, she's been helping by lifting in supplies for the defense. You'll probably find her near the perimeter, where we're starting to set up the palisade.” Fleetfoot responds. She shakes her head, grinning at me. “Commander Seth. Nice. What's the princess got you doing?”

“Diplomacy,” I spit out with a grimace, even as I turn to leave. “You'll probably find out later. Anyway, I gotta get moving.”

I leave Fleetfoot behind, figuring she's got better things to do than talk with me. No doubt she's not the only pony that's going to comment on my rank, however temporary it is. I know it's technically just so I can officially represent Equestria, but it still feels like a cop-out to get a rank like this without earning it. I'll probably feel better once everything's over and I can give it up. Provided we all live that long.

Down below, I can see the preparations for the battle underway. Trenches are being dug into the ground, and logs are being carried in by groups of pegasi down from the mountain. I can see other ponies sharpening the ends of the logs. The way things are looking, we're gonna need every minute of this week to come in order to get ready.

A train rolls out from the station, heading east. That's probably the train carrying Cadance to Baltimare, where she can catch a ship or fly to Griffonia. Another train rolls in next, releasing scores of soldiers from the cars. Pegasi take to the air, reporting to their division captain, and the unicorns march through the streets.

There's so many soldiers...sheesh, and I though the changeling invasion was bad. This is looking to be a battle the likes of which I've never seen. I hope I can get back in time to help fight. Two days down and maybe a day back provided I go at full speed on the way back. That's not counting how long I'll be down there.

My eyes track across the air, until finally I catch sight of a streak of rainbow, descending towards the trenches. By the time I catch up with her, she's almost to the ground. I notice she's carrying a box filled with tools in her hooves. “Rainbow!” I call to her, getting her attention.

“Oh hey, Seth!” Rainbow responds readily, turning her head to nod at me before continuing on her path. Really? Is she not gonna notice? “Give me a sec, I'm...”

And there's the double take. Rainbow turns around sharply and drops the box of tools into the trench, her jaw falling open at the sight of me flying there with her, with an entirely different magical aura than what she remembers. “Hey! That could have hit somepony!” A soldier complains, glaring up from where he's digging in the trench.

“Sorry!” Rainbow calls back down, and then she goes back to gaping at me. “Seth, you're flying!”

“Holy shit!” I exclaim, as if that was the most shocking thing she could have possibly told me. I look down at the ground below me. “I am? Quick, somepony take a fucking picture!”

“No, seriously! Did you get your magic back?” Rainbow demands, brushing aside my sarcasm. “When did...what? It looks so different!”

“Yeah, about ten minutes ago,” I answer, finding some delight in the shocked expression on her face. I fly a circle around her, chuckling at the way she turns her head to follow me. “Turns out you can't take out a magical core once it's been created!”

“What?” is Rainbow's understandably confused response. She knows next to nothing about magical theory, nor has she ever particularly cared.

“Suffice to say, Sombra took his magic away. My body didn't like being empty, so it made its own,” I reiterate, simplifying the explanation in a way that she can understand.

“Oh. That seems...oddly convenient,” Rainbow comments, blinking. I shrug. It is convenient, but who cares? I can be on the front lines again and go on flights with Rainbow some more. Sombra made a mistake, and it turned out well for me. Rainbow suddenly puts on a bright grin, and then she zooms around me in a tight circle, almost spinning me all the way around in her excitement. “Yes! This means we can go flying again! We gotta go flying over the falls at least once!”

“That actually sounds like a lot of fun and...would you slow down?” I yank on the back of Rainbow's neck, stopping her from continuing to circle me at a pace where I can't keep track of her. “But that's probably going to wait until everything's over. You are coming to the town hall with me to eat dinner, and then I'm leaving.”

“Leaving? Where are you going?” Rainbow asks, confused. She flies beside me as I start to move back towards the town hall. Oh boy, I guess I better be honest with her. She's going to bite my head off, no doubt.

“Down south, to deal with the changeling problem once and for all,” I reveal without beating around the bush whatsoever. Rainbow's reaction is to promptly stop moving and stare at me. “Yeah, I figured that would be your response.”

“Deal with the changelings? What does that mean? Are you going to beat 'em up?” Rainbow demands, looking a little too excited. “If you are, sign me up!”

“I might be, depending on how things turn out. But Cadance was right about one thing. We can't afford Chrysalis attacking us while we're trying to deal with Sombra,” I explain. Rainbow's enthusiasm drops like a brick once she realizes what I'm saying.

“What!? You're going with Cadance's plan!? Weren't you the one that said that you'd never ally with her?” Rainbow snaps, quickly growing angry. “Seth, she's a monster!”

“I know she is! But this really is the most logical course to take. If she agrees to help us, that's two birds with one stone. If not, I'll kill her. Either way, problem solved,” I return.

“No, Seth! Why are you the one to go, even if I were to somehow agree to this!? Isn't this a job for one of those fancy diplomats?” Rainbow argues. I turn my shoulder slightly so that Rainbow can see the insignia's on my shoulder. Her response is a scoff. “No! I'm not okay with this! The last time you and her were alone together, you almost let all of us die!”

Rainbow yelps as I suddenly grab her shoulders and pull her close to me, so that I can stare her right in the eyes. That one sentence was crossing the line. “That's exactly why I have to be the one to go! I'm tired of being afraid of her, Rainbow! Do you know how many times I've woken up, remembering her and what she almost made me do!?” I yell at her vehemently. Rainbow quails slightly, but she still looks angry. “Besides, how dare you!? How dare you even suggest that the same thing would happen again!? I gave up my family for you! Hell, I even fell in love with you! I'd sooner gouge my own eyes out with a rusty spoon than let anything happen to you!”

“Chrysalis isn't going to go away, Rainbow. I'm not going to stop being afraid of her unless I face her, sooner or later. I'm not doing this because Equestria needs it. I'm doing it because I need it. I'm not running away again.” I finish my tirade, breathing heavily and glaring at Rainbow.

Rainbow is utterly silent for a moment, taken aback by the fervor and vehemence in my words. “Wow...um...I guess you're right. I'm sorry,” Rainbow begins, stammering a bit. “But back then...I felt like I lost my best friend. It was the worst feeling I've ever felt. I don't want to feel that way again. What if Chrysalis gets the drop on you?”

“She won't. You have to trust me,” I tell her, my ire calming down now. “I'm the only one that she'll even consider talking to, rather than just nuking on sight.”

“I do trust you...and I understand you feel this is something you have to do...but can I at least go with you?” Rainbow responds.

“No. She'd kill you without a second thought,” I answer with a firm shake of my head. Rainbow sighs, rubbing her eyes with her front hooves.

Just as I'm about to say something else, the moment is then thoroughly killed by the most obnoxious growl emitting from Rainbow's stomach. I slowly turn my gaze back to Rainbow, one eye starting to twitch. “What? I'm hungry!” Rainbow responds as if nothing is wrong. She struggles a bit in my grip. “Can you let me go now? I want to go eat!”

“No, I don't think I will,” I claim, and then I wrap my arm around Rainbow's middle and pin her to my side, much to her surprise. “No, we're going to dinner like this.”

“What? No, lemme go! Seth! Stoppit!” Rainbow promptly starts to struggle fiercely in my grip as I fly towards the town hall. Unfortunately, for her, she doesn't have magic. She's not going anywhere. When she starts struggling harder, I reach over my other hand and start tickling her belly. Rainbow starts flailing around, giggling helplessly. “Hey! Hehe, stop! No fair! Seeeth!”

The first thing the princesses and the other elements see when we walk into the main room of the town hall is me walking into the room with a kicking and yelling Rainbow hoisted over my shoulder. Rainbow goes quiet when she realizes that all of her friends and even the royalty are staring at her with perplexed and amused expressions.

“Help!” is all Rainbow has to say, before the ponies in the room dissolve into laughter.

A few minutes later, we're all seated down at the table with an array of food spread out before us. It looks like the officers aren't here, because they're probably busy with handling the defense. Iron is no doubt already on his way back home to Bleak Island, and Cadance is on her way to Griffonia. Therefore the only ponies in the room are Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow, and the two princesses. Spike is here too, which makes me wonder where the hell he's been since I woke up from my injuries. Probably sending and receiving messages, now that I think about it.

There was some slight surprise about the return of my magical energy, especially on the part of Twilight, who wanted to study me, but we didn't dwell too long on it. That's because I changed the subject. I didn't want the subject going to Chrysalis just yet.

“So what about them special orders y'all were talkin' 'bout, Princess Celestia?” Applejack eventually asks curiously, pausing in the midst of munching a delectable looking pie. I look from from my almost empty plate as well.

“Ah yes. There has been a slight change in plans since I mentioned that, but I suppose I can tell you now,” Celestia decides, delicately wiping her mouth with a napkin. “As you have likely noticed, I have promoted Seth to the rank of commander for the duration of this war.”

“I did notice that. I wanted to ask about that,” Twilight responds, nodding her head. Suddenly, everypony is looking at my shoulder where the insignia marking me as a commander is pinned.

“Seth has proven himself to be an asset on the battlefield. Now that he has regained his magic, I intend to form a small specialized combat group with him at its head. Not all battles are won with armies, after all,” Celestia explains. Applejack and Rainbow look at one another, and then at me. I look confused as well. I always assumed I would be fighting on the front lines with the rest of the army, like I did in the changeling invasion. “Applejack, you and Rainbow are the physically strongest, and as such compliment Seth's magical prowess relatively well.”

“Okay, but can you really call the three of us a group? Isn't it more like a trio?” I point out. Celestia smiles this devious smile that lets me know she has more planned than just that. “Okay, who else are we getting?”

“There are a few others whose files I have pulled that I believe would be an asset in battle. Once you return from your mission, I will pass them to you for evaluation,” Celestia explains.

“Evaluation? You're letting me pick the ponies in the group?” I ask in surprise. On one hand, I'm curious to know which ponies she's chosen. On the other, I'm confused as to why she'd let me pick. I'm no tactician. At least, I think I'm not. I haven't really been tested as such.

“Of course! You are the commander, after all,” Celestia answers, her smile returning. I sigh. I have a feeling that she's not going to assuage my curiosity until I get back from the whole thing with Chrysalis.

“I knew it! We're going to be secret agents!” Rainbow declares, pumping her hoof in triumph. Next to her, Applejack sighs, and rubs her forehead at her friend's antics. “We're gonna kick some undead flank!”

“That sounds all nice and reasonable, but what mission are ya talkin' 'bout?” Applejack questions, indicating me with her head. “Ain't we jus' gettin' ready fer the undead ta get here?”

“Does it have something to do with the diplomatic insignia on Seth's shoulder?” Rarity adds, quite astutely. Once again, eyes turn to my shoulder. Understanding dawns in Applejack's eyes, as well as a few others.

“You're not sending him to negotiate with Chrysalis, are you?” Twilight asks anxiously. At this Luna scoffs and looks down, and Rainbow looks worriedly down at the table. Celestia nods in confirmation. “But, princess, Seth was against that plan in the first place!”

“Actually, it was my idea,” I clarify, finishing the last bite of my meal. I stand up, figuring that I might as well get going sooner rather than later. Twilight's jaw drops, while Pinkie nods next to her, as if she knew that all along. “I'm not going into the details, but I'm doing this. Don't try to dissuade me.”

Twilight looks like she wants to protest anyway, but upon seeing the hardened glint in my eyes, she closes her mouth, nodding mutely.

“Are you planning on leaving now, Seth?” Celestia asks. When I nod, her horn lights up and an an organized pile of bags levitates off of the ground and moves towards me. Looking down at it, I can see important travel items such as canteens and blankets. “Very well. I have gathered supplies for you. In here, you will find a week's worth of food and water, emergency medical supplies, as well as a small tent and blanket for you. You should be able to secure this on your back while you fly.”

“Don't you think this is rather soon?” Rarity asks, looking at me anxiously. Soon? We literally have a week before Sombra's forces get here.

“Time is of the essence, dear Rarity,” Celestia assures her, voicing my thoughts. Rarity nods, but doesn't look any less uneasy.

“I just can't believe you're going alone, Seth.” Twilight expresses. As I move towards the door, all of the ponies stand up to see me off.

“Trust me, nopony other than the princesses can handle Chrysalis, and they can't leave here in case Sombra or Hawke shows up,” I remind her. “Now unless any of you have anything else to say, I'm leaving now. The sooner I get going, the sooner I get back.”

“Yeah, ah got somethin' ta say,” Applejack approaches me first with a smile on her face. She presses a hoof to my leg. “Ah think yer doin' the right thing. Thank you, and make sure ya come back.”

“Indeed. I agreed with this plan, but I didn't realize you would be the one to go,” Rarity expresses next. “I simply won't forgive you if you don't return.”

“Um...thank you. I know you don't like her, but she was only looking out for her babies,” Fluttershy talks to me next, standing alongside Rarity and Applejack. “Be careful.”

“You already know how I feel,” Rainbow puts in, joining the three of them. “Bring her back if you can, and kick her flank if you can't. But I don't care if you fail. You come back, or I'm dragging you back.”

“I don't understand...but if you feel you have to do this, then I'll support you,” Twilight adds next, smiling despite her misgivings.

“Yippee! Bring her back, and we'll have that Chrysalis Friendship Party! There'll be chocolate and lime cupcakes and cake! Oh, and Chrysalis balloons!” Pinkie squeals. She then proceeds to whip out a party cannon, which she fires into the air to release changeling themed confetti and the aforementioned balloons. She waves around two pendants with pictures of Chrysalis and I hugging and grinning like best friends emblazoned upon them.

My eye twitches for a moment at that last one. Pinkie...just...where did you even find time to...how...what? Whatever. I turn to face the group of ponies that are supporting me and give them a smile. “Don't worry, I'm coming back. I promise I will,” I say to them all. I lift the backpack carrying all of my supplies and sling it over my shoulder, looping my arm through the straps. “I guess I'm off.”

“Seth,” Celestia calls after me just as I start to leave the room. I turn my head in response. “Be careful. Chrysalis is still dangerous.”

I nod in confirmation, and then I leave the room behind. I feel a strange sense of dread about the future to come, but also a sense of freedom. When I leave the building, I flare my magic and take to the skies, heading due south.

Chrysalis is waiting for me.
	

> 105. To the Hive
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 	The land drops out beneath me as I rise higher into the air, shying just short of the cloud layer. The sound of the waterfall slowly fades away into the background as I travel. Remembering Celestia's advice, I fly at a relatively slow speed. Technically I could reach the badlands in a day or so if I travel at full speed, but I'd be drained once I got there, and Chrysalis would proceed to laugh and then stomp me into the dust. This way takes longer, but it's safer.

I pass over the forest, and then the railroad that travels east to Baltimare. Far ahead of me, in the distance, I can see the massive single peak that houses Canterlot. There's also a set of smaller mountains near it that are less than half the size of the Canterlot peak. According to the map Celestia provided me in my supplies, those are the Foal Mountains.

“I'm not going to be able to fly over those,” I observe, noticing how the mountains reach up into the cloud layer. “Magic or not, I'd freeze to death. I'll have to go around.”

Checking the map, I notice that there's a small pass between the Canterlot peak and the Foal mountains. I orient my flight path slightly to aim for that area. It'll take me a bit of extra time to go through the pass, but it's better than freezing solid.

The sun sets further, and the shadows start to lengthen. From the forest to the east that I pass on my left, I notice a clearing in the center of it where a small collection of lights twinkles up at me. That must be the town of Hollow Shades. It looks like it's in the shadow of the mountain near to it. I bet it's dark there all the time.

“Dammit, I wish I had my headphones,” I curse. Traveling seemed like it would be pretty fun, but honestly, once you take in the scenery around you, it's pretty boring. It's even worse, because I know I could go faster, but I shouldn't. So there's hours of this to come.

Let's see...I should try and make for the halfway point between here and the badlands before resting. That probably means flying through the night...but that means I'd arrive in the badlands when the sun is setting...where a bunch of black armored creatures live. Okay, let's think about this. I want to reach the badlands during the day so I won't get ambushed. Maybe if I fly for a few hours and then take a short nap at the base of Foal Mountains. Then, if I wake up early in the morning, I can fly until I reach Dodge Junction, and then enter the badlands the next day. There. I like that idea. I'm still taking almost two days, though.

As I near the Foal Mountains, I pass underneath a large dark cloud bank. The wind starts to pick up, causing the canteens attached to my bag to clank against one another, the water sloshing around inside. The moment I start to think about how shitty it would be if it started raining...guess what? It starts to rain.

“Great,” I comment with a sigh, getting drenched in frigid water pouring from the clouds not too far above me. I glare up at the clouds, shielding my eyes with my hand. “Fuck you! Did you have to do this right now!?”

To my surprise, a small hole opens up in the bottom of the cloud to reveal a dark pegasi wearing an outfit decorated with rain-themed designs. “Sorry! Board's orders!” the pegasi calls back down to me with a cheeky smile, tipping his hat. Without another word, he closes the hole and leaves me alone in the rain once more.

“What the...” I start, my eye twitching. Right, storms aren't random and are controlled by ponies as if they were simple everyday events. Once again, I wonder who the hell is in charge of this Board, and how he or she chooses which storm goes where, or the intensity of said storm. “Fuck the Board.”

Because it's getting too cold, I descend to the ground, right in the foothills of the Foal Mountains. The pass is just a few leagues to the southwest. Considering how dark it's getting, I think I'll set up camp once I reach it. I could technically make for Canterlot and stay there, but that would take too much time.

Using the foothills for cover from the elements, I steadily make my way to the pass at a run. I can't really waste time, so I don't let myself slow to a walk for more than a few minutes. Even though I hated it at the time, I've never been more grateful for my morning runs with Rainbow. It's only stopping that really hurts, so I never let myself stop. I just walk for a few minutes and get right back to running.

Of course, once I fly over the river and reach the pass, I have to stop...and I promptly end up on the ground, feeling like someone had shoved a fucking spike up my esophagus, complete with the taste of iron in my mouth. Who the fuck does this for fun? It's still raining, so eventually I pick myself up and get to work on pitching a tent beneath a rocky overhang.

A few leagues away, I can hear the sound of a train whistle blowing. Glancing up from my work, I notice a train trundling along the rails into the Canterlot peak, on their way up to the city. I envy the ponies on that train. They'll be living their peaceful lives, not having to worry about the war with the Crystal Empire.

No doubt the news of the war has already spread through the country. That kind of news travels pretty fucking fast, especially with all of the refugees from Trotsdale. Actually, I take it back. Canterlots going to be crammed with refugees fleeing the war front. I hope they have the facilities to handle them all. They likely will, but it just means that those jackass nobles will actually have to give up some space.

The tent that Celestia gave me is very small, now that I see it upright like this. It's hardly large enough to even fit me. I manage to fit inside, but I can't stretch out my legs all the way. Therefore I have to curl up. Well, it's far from comfortable, but anyone who thinks that traveling is comfortable is fooling themselves.

The next morning, I pack up the tent and make myself a small meal from the bread and cheese Celestia packed for me. I don't know what kind of cheese this is, but it's delicious. I'll have to ask about that sometime when I get back from this trip. If I get back.

Once I'm finished, I take to the air again, passing over the river and continuing south. I give one last look at Canterlot before I leave it behind. As much as I hate the city, I've had some pretty good times there. I'll have to go back sometime.

On my right, I can see the lights of Ponyville in the far distance, twinkling in the dim morning light. Closer to my on my right, I see the dark twisted trees of the Everfree Forest. I'll have to fly over that if I keep going on this path.

A rocky cleft in the ground stretches out before me, looking almost as if some giant had tripped and gouged out a rift in the land. That's Rambling Rock Ridge, according to my map. Apparently the place is supposed to be pockmarked with caves. I give that a quick glance as I fly over it.

I fly over the Everfree next, and the first thing I notice is that the wind picks up and the clouds are moving on their own. There's a huge dark cloud bank hanging above me, present only over the forest.“The fuck...?” I exclaim, the wind buffeting me. Oh yeah, that's right. The Everfree Forest is literally the only place in Equestria where nature is mostly normal. Right now it looks like there's going to be some severe weather here. Welp, I'm getting the fuck away from here.

In the distance, a range of reddish mountains comes into view. Those are the MacIntosh Mountains, and from what I've heard, they're a plentiful source of clay. That makes sense to me; clay soil can make that kind of reddish color.

At the base of the mountains, a few kilometers away from the mountain pass, is a collection of houses and other assorted buildings. That's Dodge Junction, and that's my destination for tonight. That mountain pass heads right into the badlands, and the end of my journey.

By the time I set down on the outskirts of the city, the sun is dipping below the horizon, and the moon is rising. Technically I can just set up camp here, but I'm going to see if I can't get a place to stay in town. Besides, how pathetic would that look? Socially awkward Seth builds a tent outside town rather than associate with ponies.

There are four earth pony guards at the nearest entrance, each of the clasping onto spears with one hoof. Though how they use them as earth ponies is beyond me. Upon seeing me, they clench their weapons even tighter. I guess they don't know who I am.

I get closer without a word, until finally they catch sight of the insignia on my shoulder. Their eyes widen, and then all four of them salute me at once. “Commander!” They chorus smartly. Heh, I could get used to this treatment. Besides, this gives me the chance to say something that I've always wanted to say in a serious situation.

“At ease, soldiers,” I tell them, feeling a little giddy. The moment soon passes when I glance over at the badlands. “I'm passing through here on a diplomatic mission. Do you know a place where I can stay?”

“First time in Dodge Junction, sir?” one of the soldiers questions me. I give a nod, looking past him into town. Some of the townsponies inside are giving me curious looks as they head home for the night. “Well, Mistress Sandy owns a delightful Bed&Breakfast inn that's perfect for travelers.”

“Yeah, about that,” I say, scratching the back of my head awkwardly. “When I was called up to the situation in the Crystal Empire up north, I didn't exactly bring my money.”

At the mention of the war, the soldiers look at one another in concern. No doubt they've heard about it already. Hell, a formal declaration of war would have been heard all over the country in less than a day in my time.

“In that case, you can stay with my family and I,” another of the soldiers offers. I glance at him oddly. Why would he just offer up his...oh duh. Because I'm a commander and I'm on a war time mission. Technically I could just order him to let me stay with him, but he's offering.

“Thanks. I'm only here for the one night, and then I'm heading into the badlands,” I tell him. The soldiers blanch at that. Oh yeah, no doubt they know what's down there.

“The...the badlands, sir? But, that's where all the changelings are hiding,” the first soldier warns me.

“Who do you think I'm going to negotiate with? Celestia's orders,” I point out. That doesn't seem to make the guards worry any less. “But yeah, I'll stay with you for a night. When do you get off shift?”

The guard who offered to let me stay started to think, but the first soldier spoke before he could. “Don't worry about it, Slate. Go ahead and go. We'll grab one of the recruits and have them stand in for you tonight.” Slate nods gratefully, and beckons to me as he turns and walks into the town proper.

“Okay, I'm curious. Recruits? Have you been drafting?” I ask Slate while we stride through the rapidly emptying streets.

“Drafting? Of course not. What with the war and all, ponies all over the country are enlisting, hoping to help in any way they can,” Slate explains. “After the declaration, the amount of guards tripled in this town.”

“Okay, but are they trained?” I ask curiously.

“Generally not, but if they've got the physique, they're run through a rigorous training procedure. If they're not tough enough, they're assigned to other tasks, like medical staff or support,” Slate responds. Huh. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that ponies want to protect their nation. But still, I don't know how I feel about barely trained recruits going into battle.

“Well, I guess I'll just have to fight hard enough so those recruits don't have to see much battle,” I express, cracking my knuckles. Slate looks at me with respect at those words.

“Now that's something I can agree with,” Slate replies, grinning. “You know, I never caught your name, Commander.”

“Because I never gave it to you. I'm Seth Rogers. Just call me Seth. I'm only a commander until the war is over, anyway,” I answer him.

“It's a pleasure to meet you, Seth.”





Slate's home is a decently sized plaster home reinforced with wood, complete with a shingled roof and wooden porch, upon which an empty rocking chair and table rested.

Once inside, I sit down to dinner with Slate and his wife, Violet, who cooks us a meal of motherfucking fried rice. Yeah, I'm not even kidding. While Slate is playing with his daughter and talking with me, she's just in the back, frying rice in her pan and vegetables in another. She's like a cooking ninja. She even puts eggs in there!

With all of these, the only thing missing is a set of chopsticks and I'd feel like I was at a Japanese restaurant. It doesn't taste like most fried rice meals I've had, but it's still delicious. By the end of the meal, I'm full and satisfied.

“Thanks for the meal, Violet. I can't believe you know how to make fried rice,” I exclaim, rubbing my full stomach and sighing. “With soy sauce and everything. Slate, you found yourself a keeper.”

“Isn't she though?” Slate responds with a happy smile, setting down his giggling daughter. He then adopts a wry expression and leans towards me. “You know, she doesn't cook like this for just me. Can you drop by more oft...ow, hey!”

Slate looks over at Violet, rubbing his head from where she'd tossed a wooden spoon at him. Violet dusts her hooves off on her apron, wrinkling her nose. “I heard that, mister!” she accuses him. Their daughter is currently rolling on the floor, laughing at her father's misfortune. “Keep talking, and you're sleeping on the couch tonight!”

“Oooooh, she got you!” I echo obnoxiously, laughing at the defeated expression on Slate's face. You know, these ponies are practically strangers. Not only were they kind enough to let me stay with them and feed me, but here I am, accepting their kindness, and laughing with them like it's no big deal. Sheesh, this is weird. So much shit has happened since I got to Equestria; I even look back at myself after I first got here and think, “Seth, you were a fucking idiot.”

Soon, everything calms down and the family starts to clean up after themselves. I try to help them, but Violet refuses to let me anywhere near the dirty dishes, claiming that I'm a guest and I shouldn't have to clean up after them. She even threatens me with that spoon if I try to help.

“Alright, fine. Then I'm just going to head up to bed. Where do you want me to sleep, by the way?” I respond, withdrawing my hand away from anywhere near Violet's spoon.

“Little Leaf, would you mind showing Seth to the guest bedroom? Mommy and Daddy have to finish cleaning up,” Violet calls to the little filly who is hovering around Slate's back hooves. Leaf nods and trots over to me, smiling brightly up at me.

“This way, mister Seth!” Leaf beckons to me and gallops upstairs, despite Violet telling her not to run in the halls. I shake my head and follow her up the stairs. Kids. Once again, I find myself remembering that no matter how much things change, some things will always stay the same.

The room itself is quaint, but homely enough. Dodge Junction isn't a fancy place by any means, and this room reflects that. There's a simple desk without anything adorning it other than a quill, inkwell, and some parchment. The bed is crammed against the far wall, looking hardly large enough for me in the first place. The window looks out onto the street and has a decent view of the badlands. The craggy spires of the badlands look dark and forbidding in the dim light of dusk. I shudder, remembering that I'm going to be going there tomorrow.

“Worrying about it isn't going to change anything,” I say to myself, shutting the door to the room and turning off the light. I strip out of my clothes and fold them up on the desk. My travel bags go into a corner. With that, I'm finally ready for sleep. I plan to get up early in the morning to save daylight. Who knows how long it'll take me to find the changelings?

I lay down in the flimsy bed, and sure enough, my feet stick out from underneath the blanket. I have a sigh. This is one of the worst feelings ever. Whatever. I guess I shouldn't complain, considering how generous they're being to let me stay here in the first place.

I guess I'll try and get some sleep.





The next morning, my phone alarm wakes me up at the crack of dawn. It's 6:30 in the morning, far earlier than I usually get up. The sun is just barely starting to peek over the horizon, its earliest rays alighting on the small town.

I quickly get dressed and gather up all of my equipment. I don't want to leech off of these ponies any more than I already have, so I take a quick meal of bread and cheese and wash it down with water before getting ready to go.

I run into a mostly armored Slate into the hallway, on his way down the stairs as well. He silently nods and accompanies me down the stairs into the living room.

“Leaving so early?” Slate asks conversationally as he finishes strapping on the rest of his armor.

“Yeah. I don't want to waste time. There's no guarantee the changelings will be willing to just let me walk into their territory,” I reply, keeping my voice low as to not wake Slate's wife and daughter. “I don't want to get ambushed during the later hours, so I'm leaving now to get the best visibility I can.”

“Good idea. I'm getting ready to take my post by the northern entrance to town again,” Slate answers. “There's been no sign of changeling activity in the badlands recently, but I guess you would know more than I would. Anyway, can I get you anything more before you go?”

“No, you've done enough. I had a meal before coming downstairs,” I tell him, heading for the door. However, Slate blocks me.

“At least let me refill your canteens. It's hot in the badlands. I don't want you getting dehydrated,” Slate insists. I want to protest, but he has a point, and he doesn't look like he's going to get out of my way unless I let him.

“Fine. You know, you're being way too nice. It's not just because I technically outrank you, is it?” I question as he takes my canteens over to the sink.

“No, after seeing you yesterday, I remember you. You're the human that came to Equestria from the past, right?” Slate reveals. When I nod, he grins. “I knew it. See, word gets around. You've had Equestria's back ever since you got here, even though we're not your kind. I just want to pay you back in my own way.”

That's not exactly true...I wanted nothing to do with Equestria since I got here. But I guess he doesn't know that, because he no doubt heard of me from the official statement that went out after the royal wedding. Technically I have “had Equestria's back” as he puts it, even though everything I've done has been for my own personal reasons.

Once my canteens are filled, I leave the house and bid farewell to Slate. Sure enough, it's already warming up fast outside. I guess I didn't realize it because I got here late, but I'm pretty far south in Equestria. According to the map, if I were to go west from here, I'd end up in the San Palomino Desert. I bet it's going to get a lot hotter.

I take to the air and fly for an hour and a half before I reach the mountain pass that leads into the badlands. From there, I fly a little bit farther before landing and proceeding further on foot. I can't just fly right into the badlands. No doubt I'd get spotted by changelings pretty fucking quick, and then get mobbed because it would look like a head on attack. No, I'll walk until I find the hive or a changeling that'll take me to said hive.

It's definitely gotten hotter, to the point where I'm starting to sweat. I'm so grateful to Slate for refilling my canteens. Now I don't have to ration my intake as much as I was before. I have a full week's worth of water now.

The badlands reveal themselves before me as a rocky reddish landscape adorned with craggy rock formations, cliffs, and ominous caves. It's almost completely quiet; the silence is only broken by the sound of a faint breeze that barely does anything to disperse the heat. Occasionally, a crow will caw from its nest in a rocky cleft of a cliff face. Or rarely, I'll hear the sound of a lizard pattering over the rock in search of food.

I don't like this. There's no sign of anything related to changelings. The Stealth Corps wasn't wrong, was it? Gale said they spotted changeling activity down here. I can't believe they haven't seen me by now. Maybe I didn't fly in, but I'm not exactly trying to conceal my presence. I figure it'll be easier if they come to me. If it were that easy to find their hive, Celestia would have crushed her already.

Hours pass without any sign of the changelings. The sun is blazing down on my head from above, and I'm certain that I'm going to have sunburn by the end of this. I try to stick to cover during my travels to minimize my exposure, but there's a few wide open spaces that I have to pass through. Sheesh, where are these fuckers hiding?

Finally, I have to take a break. The heat is exhausting me, and I'm certain I'm sweating out water fasting than I can drink it. I take cover beneath a rocky overhang, pressing my back against the relatively cooler stone. Here, I don't hold back. I drain an entire canteen's worth of water, feeling extremely satisfied by the cool feeling of it passing through me.

Just as I'm contemplating taking a short nap, a pony sticks its head into my hiding place, grinning in happiness when it sees me. “Seth! There you are!” I lurch up in shock to see Rainbow picking her way into the cave, nearly stumbling over a bit of the rock on the ground.

“Rainbow? What the fuck are you doing here?” I demand, lurching up from my seat. I told her I was going to do this alone! “Didn't I tell you to stay behind? Chrysalis will kill you!”

“Is that any way to talk to the mare who just flew all the way down from up north to reach you?” Rainbow demands, looking indignant as she approaches me. It certainly looks like she flew a long time, if that sweat staining her fur is anything to go by. “I came to help you! You should be more grateful!”

“Well, I'm not! We both agreed that I was to do this on my own. Don't they need you up north?” I demand, incredulous that she would so easily disregard my wishes. I start to get angry. “How did you even get here this fast!?”

“I am the fastest pegasus in Equestria,” Rainbow boasts, puffing herself up and brushing her chest with a hoof. I groan, rubbing my forehead. I can't believe this.

“I don't care. Go home, Rainbow,” I order her, jabbing my finger towards the hills. Rainbow glares at me defiantly, unmoving. “Now!”

“No! Now that I'm here, I'm not leaving! I was worried about you, you dolt!” Rainbow yells at me. I raise an eyebrow, because it usually takes a lot to get her to admit she's worried about anything. “How could I stay up there, when my best friend is heading down into danger?”

Rainbow's words cause me to pause, a sudden thought striking my mind. I look around, remembering where I am. I look at Rainbow with a different expression on my face, the anger dissipating. Rainbow sighs in relief, thinking that she convinced me. “I'm sorry, what?” I ask calmly, wondering if I heard right? “I'm your what?”

“Best friend! We've been buddies since the royal wedding! Don't tell me you forgot,” Rainbow answers, looking confused and a little hurt. I nod and stand up, grabbing my supplies. “All right, you ready to go? I came down here to help you out.”

Rainbow turns around and the two of us head towards the exit to the overhang. Rainbow walks beside me, looking completely at ease now that she's together with me. However...

“Bullshit,” I state, and then I slam Rainbow right below her neck with a magic infused chop of my hand. Even though I held back, there's so much force behind the attack that Rainbow is sent reeling across the ground, gouging out bits of rock and slamming into a rock formation several meters away. A cloud of dust is churned up from the impact, shrouding Rainbow's form from view.

As the dust clears, my suspicions are validated. Where Rainbow used to be, there was now a large changeling, looking like the strongest variant, like that one guy Mantis had been. The changeling groaned and slid to the ground, greenish blood leaking from a small crack in his chitinous armor. I approach him, my fist swirling with magic.

“That's what I thought,” I declare, cracking my knuckles. “As if Rainbow would come all the way down here after the conversation we had.”

“How...? I thought my act was perfect! Rainbow Dash brags, she's conceited, and she's stubborn!” the changeling complains in a somewhat familiar voice, getting to his hooves shakily. “How did you know I wasn't her?”

“Two things actually. You never once told me where you came from. All I said was up north. You did a nice job rolling with it, but it was enough to get me suspicious,” I explain. The changeling nods, blinking. “But the clincher was that you called me your best friend.”

“Wha...but aren't you?” The changeling demands, confused.

I lean in forward, staring at the changeling right in his eyes. “She's my marefriend,” I point out plainly.

The changeling pauses, blinking. Then, it slowly lowers its head into its hooves, groaning miserably. “...Blast it.”

That one expletive gets me to snort with laughter. Now that this changeling isn't trying to kill me, it's actually kinda funny how he's all disappointed in his simple fuck up.

“Ugh. I can't believe it was a detail that simple,” the changeling laments. Finally, he gets serious and stares at me. “It's been a long time, pale being. Do you remember me?”

It takes me a moment to think about it. I know his voice...but...ah that's right. There were very few changelings that talked to me other than Chrysalis. “Mantis. Of course I do,” I respond, crossing my arms. “This is convenient. Though I'm curious: why did you contact me now, instead of when I first entered the badlands?”

“We've been watching you. Since the moment you stepped into our territory, you've been surrounded. Even now,” Mantis reveals. I look around me in alarm. There's no sign of any changelings...until I look closely at a crow perched on a rock formation nearby. Its eyes flash green momentarily. Oh shit, so all of those animals...some of them were changelings. “We wanted to discover your intentions first, before acting.”

“I figured you would just attack me,” I state bemusedly, suddenly feeling stupid for not just flying into the badlands after all. I mean, if they would have just seen me regardless, it wouldn't have made a difference.

Mantis scoffs at that. “I can't beat you. None of us here can. It would likely take countless changeling lives to take you down,” he admits, causing me to feel a little bit of pride in my own power. Even before I gained that secondary level of power, I was strong enough to beat Mantis. “I suppose I should just cut to the chase. Why have you come here? Do you intend to destroy us?”

“I came here to talk to your Queen. Whether or not I end up fighting you all depends on how stubborn she is,” I explain, and then I angle my body so that my new insignias are visible.

Mantis's eyes widen. “What? Diplomat? But...no one negotiates with us. They just wipe us out as if we're monsters,” he declares, no doubt knowing what the insignias mean due to his time inside Canterlot. “Are you serious?”

“Dead serious. Do you have any idea what's going on up north?” I demand, gesturing emphatically with my hand.

“Unfortunately not. Ever since your scouts found us, we've been taking refuge here and preparing for an eventual assault,” Mantis admits. Huh. I guess the Stealth Corps wasn't as stealthy as they advertise. Then again, changelings are masters at keeping hidden. “But I suppose that if it's dire enough for you to come to us...all right, come with me.”

“Where are we going?” I ask as Mantis takes to the air with iridescent insectoid wings. I hop into the air myself, relieved to be able to fly instead of pick my way through an endless blistering landscape.

“To the hive, of course. The queen has been wanting to speak with you, ever since we first spotted you,” Mantis answers me. I gulp, sweating for another reason besides the heat.

“She...she knows I'm here then,” I say, hoping for clarification. Mantis nods, and my spirits darken. I suppose I should have expected as much. I take out a canteen and drink from it nervously. “You're willing to just take me to your hive? What if things don't work out, and I escape with its location to Celestia?”

Mantis turns his head, transfixing me with a single pupil-less eye. “If that's the case, then you will not leave the hive alive,” he hisses. “The queen is more than capable of dealing with you herself. She has not been idle these past couple months.”

...That means she's been training, doesn't it. Shit.





After a few minutes of flying, a massive plateau comes into sight in the distance, towering over the surrounding rock formations. The top of the plateau is as barren and lifeless as the rest of the area. Honestly, if we weren't heading right for it, I likely would have passed it up as being just another useless formation of lifeless rock.

Mantis lands on the ground at the base of the plateau, and he waits for me to join him before continuing further. “This way,” he tells me, and then he turns a corner and disappears from view. When I follow him around the corner, there's no sign of him.

“What the...Mantis? Where did...” I start to say, but then Mantis pokes his head out of a very thin crevice in the rock wall. It's so hidden that I probably would have walked right past it without ever seeing it.

“In here,” Mantis responds patiently, and then he ducks back inside. It's very narrow, but I manage to squeeze into the gap, albeit with a bit of rock scraping my skin and clothes. I have to take off my backpack and bring that through separately.

Once I'm through, I find myself in a dark tunnel. The light from the crevice leading outside does nothing to pierce the blackness ahead of me. Very faintly, I hear the sounds of hissing and chittering coming from deeper within.

“This way.” Mantis leads the way into the darkness, his jagged horn lighting the way with a dim green glow. The path ahead spirals downwards in a slow winding loop. Eventually, I note a sickly green light coming from deeper within. As we approach it, Mantis lets the glow from his horn die away.

My foot steps upon something squishy, causing me to look down. A strange sense of deja vu falls over me as I see a black substance stretching across the ground ahead. It even covers the walls and arches up towards the ceiling in a strange kind of insectoid architecture. The green light comes from similarly colored orbs embedded in the walls and ceiling.

My jaw drops as the tunnel finally opens out. The tunnel opens out into a chamber so large, I feel like it could fit the entire town of Ponyville in here and still have room left over. This place...it looks like I've stepped into another world entirely. Stretched out before me is a large open space that continues on for as far as I can see. The ceiling is supported by multiple carved columns of a black solid material, in which more green orbs are embedded, filling the area with dim light.

Mantis leads me out onto the top of a cliff that takes up the whole right side of the..chamber, even though calling it a chamber is doing it a huge injustice. On the left is what looks to be a bottomless gorge that descends into the very depths of the earth. In the walls of the gorge are several caves, from which changelings are flying to and from. Bridges and ledges connect the different rooms and levels. Some changelings are transporting eggs across some of these bridges, while others are carrying slime green cocoons in which small changelings are encased. From the depths of the gorge, an eerie greenish light filters up from below, giving the place an otherworldly appearance.

As for the inhabitants, there are changelings everywhere. I'm not exaggerating. Everywhere I look, flocks of changelings fly through the air. Groups of changelings cross the landscape on hoof as well. Still others cluster together in certain areas, speaking to one another in low hisses. My presence causes several of them to look upon me with narrowed eyes and bared fangs. I feel like the only reason they're not attacking me is because Mantis is here with me.

I guess this is it. This is the changeling hive. Somewhere in here, Chrysalis is waiting for me.

> 106. Demands of the Queen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 	“You are the first in many years to set eyes upon the majesty of the changeling race,” Mantis informs me with a hardened tone, but even despite the hostility, I can detect a hint of pride there. Well...yeah, majesty is definitely one word for it. I'm breathtaken by the scope of the hive before me. How many changelings does Chrysalis even have down here? There's definitely more than enough to cause us a serious problem if they all decided to attack at once. “Stay close to me. The queen's chambers are a few minutes flight.”

Mantis hunches forward and leaps into the air, adding the sound of another set of buzzing wings to the amalgamation of noises already present in the seemingly unending chamber. I quickly follow him, my head craning around in every which direction to take in the sights around me. I can't help it. I always pictured the changeling hive to be just a massive labyrinth of caverns and chambers...not something massive like this.

One thing I can tell is that my presence is not welcomed here. Hundreds of eyes follow me as I follow Mantis through the air, watching my every movement. Down beneath me, I see groups of assorted changelings flying or walking to and from the different chambers. I didn't notice before, but the pillars that I thought supported the roof of this chamber are actually pockmarked with chambers themselves. Changelings perch at the entrances of many of them, their eyes turning to follow me as Mantis and I pass by.

A feeling of icy dread sinks into my skin the further we fly. I become aware of a hint magic in the air that seems to settle on my skin like an invisible spiderweb. The feeling makes me shudder, because I know full well whose magic this is. Mantis leads me ever onwards, towards a particularly large column that doesn't seem to be as pockmarked with chambers as the others. In fact, I can only see one chamber at the dead center of the column. Its entrance is decorated and obscured by drapes of red silk, as well as two burning flames situated atop small stone pillars located on either side of the ledge.

Mantis silently lands on the ledge, and I follow him a second later. I hear nothing but foreboding silence within, but then I hear a light feminine humming emanating from within. I recognize the voice immediately, because I've heard her hum before. This is Chrysalis' chamber, and she's waiting inside for me. I gulp visibly and attempt to remain composed. There's a chance I might not leave this chamber alive, but I've come too far to run away now.

“My Queen,” Mantis announces his presence from outside the chamber, not getting too close in order to respect Chrysalis' privacy. “I have arrived with the intruder.”

The humming stops from within, and silence pervades the area once more. The sound of hooves clopping on the floor is heard, growing ever closer. From behind the drapes, the queen's silhouette appeared, dark and ominous. “Welcome back, Mantis. I assume he didn't give you too much trouble?” Chrysalis' silky smooth, yet distorted voice calls from within. She doesn't seem overly worried about the prospect of an intruder. Come to think of it, she does know it's me, right? Mantis said she wanted to talk to me.

“No, my Queen. He came willingly,” Mantis answered formally. For being the queen's consort, he is extremely stiff and overly formal with her. You'd think they'd be a little more casual, especially if consort still means the same thing as I think it does.

“Did he now?” Chrysalis sounds a little smug at that. I can hear her walking away from the drapes. Following that is a disgusting squelching sound that makes me cringe. What the hell is making that noise? Thankfully, it only lasts a few seconds before silence returns. Mantis remains completely still, so I do as well. Annoying Chrysalis would not be in my best interest at the moment.“Well? Don't keep me waiting. Bring him in.”

Mantis nudges me with his side, indicating that I should accompany him inside. Well, this is it. Steeling my resolve, I follow closely behind Mantis as the changeling brushes aside the drapes and walks inside the queen's chambers.

The chambers themselves are rather spacious and luxuriously decorated, complete with a plush red carpet covering the center of the black coated floor. There's a strange archaic desk tucked up against one corner that seems to be made of a hardened black substance similar to what coated the floor. On the other side of the room is an open archway that leads to what looks to be the bathroom, and immediately I can see the differences between changeling and pony architecture. There's no shower or toilet; instead there is a pool of steaming hot water that's bubbling up from a spring in the back. I don't see anything that resembles a toilet, but I don't have a chance to look further.

At the far end of the room is a large mushroom shaped construct made of green slime that glowed gently in the light. It looked fresh, because it was covered with a slimy sheen that indicated that it was still a little wet. I guess that's what caused that disgusting sound I heard.

Curled up on top the mushroom is Chrysalis herself, looking just as calm, collected, and terrifying as I remember. She doesn't look at us at first, instead running a hoof through her webbed mane casually. She lifts up her head and transfixes me with a stare, her expression guarded and impossible for me to read. “Well now...I must say this is a surprise, dear Seth,” Chrysalis addresses me directly at last. She turns to Mantis right after that without waiting for my response. “Leave us, Mantis. I would speak to our guest alone.”

Mantis nods and retreats from the chamber, taking to the air and leaving me alone with what, before Sombra reappeared, I considered my worst enemy. “Chrysalis,” is all I can bring myself to say. Now that I'm here, that familiar fear that I feel is back, only this time it's more justified, due to what Mantis said about Chrysalis training.

“I didn't expect to see you again so soon. You were quite attached to those ponies after all,” Chrysalis expresses, spitting out the word pony as if it were distasteful for her to even utter. Oh yeah, she's still pissed at me for rejecting her back during the wedding. “I don't suppose you're here to take me up on my previous offer?”

“No, I'm not. I have other business I need to discuss with you. It's...well, it's a bit difficult to explain,” I tell her, stammering a bit. Chrysalis is quiet at first, and then she releases a disappointed sigh, though she doesn't look all that surprised.

“Then what is it?” Chrysalis asks, stepping down from the mushroom bed. Her eyes narrow, and I realize that there's a very good chance that she's going to attack me, depending on how I answer. “Are you here for vengeance? Closure? To beg for my time spell?”

“None of the above,” I say, causing Chrysalis to look slightly confused. I let out a frustrated sigh, realizing that we're getting nowhere. “Look, I know you pretty much want to beat my face in right now, but I'm not actually here for my own sake.”

“Oh? I was under the impression you were a relatively selfish individual,” Chrysalis states, raising a brow and coming closer to me. “Why would you risk walking right into my lair, if not for your own purposes?”

As she approaches, I unwitting catch a whiff of her scent, and I flinch, expecting to smell Amaryllis again. Except I don't. Instead, I catch a scent that's very familiar to me, but it takes a few seconds for it to register in my head. Holy shit, that's Rainbow's smell. Chrysalis smells like Rainbow right now. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, considering the changelings' biology.

“Like I said, it's a bit complicated. There's a situation up north that...” I trail off when Chrysalis' eyes widen as she cranes her head forward, gazing at the insignias on my shoulder. Chrysalis hisses angrily and snaps her jaws at me, almost taking a chunk out of my shoulder. I have to leap back, barely avoiding getting chomped. “What the hell!?”

“Diplomacy!?” Chrysalis screeches incredulously. “So you're here as Celestia's pet, knowing full well that I'd let you in to talk to me! You disappoint me, human!”

“Hold on, I haven't even told you why I'm...”

Chrysalis doesn't let me finish. “Let me guess! Celestia wants peace between us. Hah!” Chrysalis lets out a harsh laugh, causing my hopes that this will end peacefully to sink further. “Oh yes, I bet you all would love to have peace between us! Don't speak to me of peace offerings! This is clearly a threat!”

“How is offering you peace a threat?” I demand, taking a step back from the raging queen. She isn't making much sense right now, but I get that she's offended by even the very notion of diplomacy. I expected this would be the case.

“This is Celestia's way of telling us that she'd love to leave us alone as long as we stay out of her way! Peace? No, I am insulted,” Chrysalis hisses. “You think you can drive us away once, and then expect everything to be end peacefully? My situation has not changed!”

“I know that!” I finally shout over her, losing my patience. “You really think I'd come all the way down here by myself just to deliver a generic peace proposal?”

“Why else would Celestia send you as a diplomat!? She knew that I would let you in, if nothing else!” Chrysalis demands. “If what you have come to discuss wasn't peace, then you would have brought an army!”

“Okay, first off, Celestia didn't send me. It was actually my idea to come down here on my own,” I point out, leaving out the whole argument with Cadance and Luna and the rest of them. No point in letting Chrysalis know how little her help was wanted. That at least gets Chrysalis to blink, bemused enough to let me continue. “Secondly, it's a great deal more complicated than a what you're making it out to be.”

“You claim Celestia didn't send you, but bear the mark of an Equestrian diplomat. You understand my reluctance to believe you,” Chrysalis counters, jabbing a holed hoof at my shoulder.

“Of course she's supporting me. I'm still here on behalf of Equestria, but I came here because I feel it's time to put the events of the royal wedding behind us.” I can't believe I just said that, because I still hate Chrysalis with every fiber of my being for what she tried to do there, but I can't focus on that. Nothing matters if Sombra wins. He will destroy or enslave everything, and I'll be damned if I let a simple grudge hold us back from fighting him with everything we have. “To put it in different words, we need your help.”

Chrysalis looks honestly dumbfounded when that last sentence leaves my mouth. Her jaw drops open a little in shock. No doubt the thought of us asking for her help had even crossed her mind. I stand there awkwardly, hoping against hope that she'll at least hear me out.

Finally, Chrysalis' expression changes, and then she bursts out into incredulous laughter. It quickly intensifies until the whole chamber echoes with her mirth. I wait patiently as tears stream from Chrysalis' eyes, and she collapses against the mushroom bed. “Celestia needs my help? She needs the changelings' help?” Chrysalis manages to get out in between bouts of merriment. “Oh, this is just too rich! Princess Celestia, the almighty ruler of Equestria and sovereign of the sun...wants my help?”

“I'm serious. You can quit laughing any day now,” I respond irritably. “We need your help. That's why I came all the way down here. There's something out there far worse than anything you can muster.”

“Absolutely not. Why would I ever help you? I want her and all of her subjects enslaved to provide us with love for eternity! I want you as my personal human slave!” Chrysalis snaps, her laughter fading and a snarl replacing her grin. “What's stopping me from simply seizing you here and keeping you for myself, and then let this threat that you speak of dispose of Celestia for me?”

Remembering my conversation with Cadance, I decide to go out on a limb and hope it doesn't backfire on me. “Because then you'd pretty much be condemning your race to death,” I answer calmly. Chrysalis pauses, and then she gazes at me with narrowed eyes. “You said you feed on love, right? That's why you want Equestria so bad; because of all the love.”

“That's right. There has never been a more nourishing love than what these ponies can produce,” Chrysalis replies, starting to drool a little at the thought. “What is your point?”

“So, you need Equestria,” I reiterate. When Chrysalis nods, I grin inwardly, realizing that at the very least, I can push this point home. “If Equestria were to suddenly be wiped out by our enemy, where would you get your love?”

“From the victor, of course,” Chrysalis answers as if it should have been obvious. Now that gets me to laugh, despite the situation I'm in. Chrysalis doesn't look happy by that. “What's so funny? Are you laughing at me?”

“You clearly don't know who we're facing,” I point out, crossing my arms. “Please, tell me more about how you're going to drain the love from the undead.”

Chrysalis' eyes widen at that, and at that moment I realize that I've gotten my point through to her. The first order of business is that I have to convince her that if she lets us all die, her race is screwed. “Undead? But...such magic has not been seen for ages. Not since...wait.” A realization seems to strike her. Chrysalis is far from stupid, so I think it's safe to assume she's putting two and two together. “Are these the same undead that destroyed humanity?”

“That's right. The exact same. The same necromancer has been sealed in the ice for a millennium, and now he's back, stronger than ever. If he wins, there will be no love for you to harvest,” I finish. Chrysalis falls silent, pondering my words in her head. I watch her breathlessly, wondering if I'm about to succeed after all. “So will you do it? Will you help us fight them?”

“Of course not!” Chrysalis returns without missing a beat. I sigh in frustration, because I thought I'd been close to convincing her. “You are still my enemy. As of right now, it sounds like you intend to use us for your own purposes.”

“But...”

“Can you tell me honestly that Celestia wouldn't turn around and crush us the moment we stopped being of use?” Chrysalis cuts across me. I hate to say it, but she has a point. She would have no way of defending herself if Celestia were to turn on her. Also, considering my hatred for Chrysalis, I can't say I'd begrudge Celestia for it if she did crush Chrysalis right after we used her to defeat Sombra. Of course, I doubt Celestia would, but I have no way of convincing Chrysalis of that. My silence seems to confirm Chrysalis' suspicions. “No. An alliance would not be in our best interests. So far, you have only told me what we can do for you. As far as I know, my race would perish either way. It seems like the smart thing to do would be to take my changelings and flee for a safer location.”

I sigh, and realize that there's a hidden meaning beneath what Chrysalis is saying to me. “Alright, what do you want?” I ask her hesitantly. Chrysalis pauses, and then she looks at me with a slight smile forming on her face.

“I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear that. What did you say?” Chrysalis asks coyly, even though she heard full well what I said. Still, I don't have the advantage over her. I'm here on her home ground, making demands of her. No doubt Chrysalis wants to make a few demands of her own.

“What do we have to give you so that you'd help us?” I repeat, albeit in different words. Chrysalis closes her eyes and gives out a little moan, as if hearing that was the highest form of pleasure I could give her.

“My, look at you now, little Seth. You're so desperate for our help that you'd even resort to begging,” Chrysalis replies, causing a growl to form in my throat. I'm not begging, I'm just being diplomatic. If anything, I want to tear her head from her body. “Who is this villain, to which you would go to such lengths to defeat?”

“King Sombra, of the Crystal Empire. He's so strong that he could take down Celestia and Luna together while hardly taking any damage,” I answer, hoping that that revelation would shock her. To my relief it does, because Chrysalis' eyes widen, and I swear I see a little bit of fear. Of course. Sombra has so much power, you'd be insane not to be afraid of it. “Have you heard of him?”

“I...I have. And you believe that I would be able to make a difference in the outcome of the battle?” Chrysalis responds, her voice shaky at first, but she composes herself. I don't blame her. Knowing that there's something out there with more power than Celestia is a terrible feeling. I give Chrysalis a firm nod. “Again, I feel that if this threat is so great, the better course of action would be for me to take my changelings and flee.”

“That wouldn't make a difference. But that's besides the point. How about you quit beating around the bush and just tell us what you want. As much as I hate you, even I know that there's sense in working with you,” I snap. I feel as if I'm so close to getting her to join us, but Chrysalis is nothing if not stubborn and frustrating.

“Hm...very well. If what you say is true, and there is an undead force threatening to remove our future food source, I may consider lending a hoof,” Chrysalis begins tentatively. Right, I hear a “but” in there. “But...you still need to make it worth my while. As I said before, you've only said what we can do for you. You need to make this worth risking my hive in battle for.”

“Then list your demands. With these insignia's, I'm legally entitled to deal with you as a diplomat of Equestria,” I tell her officially, sighing in relief now that I can see success on the horizon. Chrysalis grins at that, and then she approaches me, gazing at me with half-lidded, suggestive eyes. “And before you even ask, no, you cannot have me. I'm...well...I'm spoken for.”

A look of disappointment crosses Chrysalis' face, which is quickly followed by surprise at my words. “You? Spoken for?” Chrysalis repeats incredulously. Then, realization strikes her. “With...Rainbow Dash, was it? I recall you being rather fond of her...enough to give up your family to save.”

When I remain silent, Chrysalis clicks her tongue. “Aww. Well, I suppose it was only a matter of time. Nevertheless, I am disappointed.” Chrysalis then stares at me, a wicked grin forming on her muzzle that fills me with dread. “Though, Rainbow Dash is not here. What is stopping me from taking you by force as a part of our deal?”

“Because I'm not as weak as you remember, Chrysalis,” I growl, summoning up my magic and showing Chrysalis just a hint of what I'm capable of now. Chrysalis looks unfazed, but that's because I can't actually push myself to the limit without destroying her chamber. “I'll say it again. I am off of the table. Do you have any other demands?”

“I'm sure I can think of a few,” Chrysalis assures me coyly. She paces through the room a bit. “Hm...I would like a full pardon from all costs, damages, and other repercussions and reparations resulting from our invasion during the royal wedding.”

Hm, that much is par for the course. Basically, by agreeing to this demand, we can't hold her accountable for her actions at the wedding at all. No doubt there will be a great many ponies out there that would protest heavily to this demand. I do as well. I want to see her put to justice for what she did there, but if I want her help, I have to give that up.

“Done. You will not be held accountable for your actions there,” I grudgingly assure her, hating every second of this. “Anything else?”

“Why, yes! Thank you for asking,” Chrysalis returns, smiling in what would have been a sweet manner if it weren't for the deadly fangs poking out from beneath her lips. I want to groan, but I restrain myself. “I would like the badlands.”

“Wait what?” I ask, wondering if I misheard. Did she just ask for the entire wasteland?

“The badlands. This is Equestrian territory still. I would like the badlands to be given to my changelings and I,” Chrysalis repeats, giving me an intense stare. Well, shit. This just went from manageable demands to something as big as giving Equestrian territory away. Fuck, I can't do this on my own after all.

“That's a pretty big demand,” I state uneasily, reaching into my bags for the little orb that Celestia had given me in the case that this very situation occurred.

“So is asking me to send my hive to their potential doom,” Chrysalis snaps, her voice like a whip. “If you wish for our help, you must be willing to give me what I demand. So will you give the badlands to me or not?”

“I can't make that kind of decision on my own. One moment,” I tell her, and then I produce the orb, tapping it with a bit of magic. The orb responds by starting to glow.

“What are you doing?” Chrysalis demands. As she watches, I throw the orb towards an empty area of the room. Instead of hitting the ground, it pauses in the middle of its trajectory and floats upwards. Chrysalis takes a step back as a cyan translucent hologram of Celestia forms in the middle of the room, directly over where the orb landed.

Celestia looks around the room, no doubt seeing a holographic representation of the room on her end as well. Chrysalis appears to be in shock for a few seconds, until she extends a hoof and passes it through Celestia's form. “Seth. By contacting me, am I to assume that you are currently in negotiations with the changeling queen?” Celestia says in an official manner. A second after saying that, Celestia and Chrysalis lock eyes. “Queen Chrysalis.”

“Celestia,” Chrysalis spits, her teeth bared at her ultimate enemy. “I should've known you'd want to be part of this too.”

“Of course I would. Should these negotiations succeed, it will allow for peace to come between our races,” Celestia diplomatically responds, even though I know Celestia can feel the hostility from the queen. Chrysalis scoffs derisively, causing me to recall her initial view at the thought of peace between us. Celestia turns to me. “Has Chrysalis begun making demands?”

“Yes, and she asked for something rather...uh...out of my league. Basically, I can't just give it to her without consulting you,” I answer, indicating Chrysalis. Now that Celestia is here, I feel like we can actually make some real progress now. If we can just satisfy Chrysalis' demands, we'll have ourselves a powerful ally and her entire army to boot.

“Very well. I thank you for your foresight,” Celestia responds, and then she returns her gaze to Chrysalis. “What are your demands, Queen Chrysalis? I am willing to be flexible in exchange for your aid during Equestria's darkest hour.”

“Dark indeed, if you're coming to me despite the fact that I nearly destroyed your city,” Chrysalis taunts, but she fails to get a rise out of Celestia. “The first thing I asked for was a full pardon from all costs, damages, or other repercussions and reparations resulting from our invasion.”

“Which I agreed to. I felt that like was...reasonable, given the situation,” I explain to Celestia. The princess nods, agreeing with me. “And the next demand, Chrysalis?”

“Ah yes. I wish for you to secede the entirety of the badlands to the changelings,” Chrysalis repeats smugly. Celestia's eyes widen a little at the magnitude of the request, but apart from that she remains calm. “Don't tell me this little wasteland is worth the deaths of your subjects to this...Sombra.”

“The badlands consist of more than the open wasteland in which your hive is located,” Celestia informs Chrysalis, her expression turning grave. “Are you including the MacIntosh Hills in this demand?”

“But of course. I can't have you building outposts to watch over us, can I? No, those mountains will be our defenses,” Chrysalis answers. God, her smug tone just makes me want to punch her right in the face.

“Very well. The badlands will be given to you, provided you assist us in battle against the Crystal Empire,” Celestia finally says, much to my shock. She's really okay with just giving that much territory to the changelings? I mean, if we don't, there's a good chance we'll all be screwed, so I guess I understand, but still. Just as Chrysalis is starting to grin, Celestia continues. “However, you may not have the portion of the mountains west of the railroad that leads south from Appaloosa. That railroad will be your territory's western border. Is that acceptable?”

“It will do. That is but a small portion of the mountains,” Chrysalis responds after a pause. I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding. I notice Celestia writing upon a scroll in the hologram at that. “No doubt we can discuss borders later.”

“Any other demands?” I ask, hoping that Chrysalis would say no after demanding all that land from Celestia. I try not to groan when Chrysalis only grins.

“Of course I do. I'm far from finished,” Chrysalis answers. Celestia finishes writing, and then stares down at Chrysalis expectantly. “Next, provided this war goes in our favor, I would like you to formally recognize the changelings as our own independent country, capable of undergoing diplomatic negotiations such as this and interacting with the global community as a whole.”

Well shit, as if the last demand wasn't bad enough. Chrysalis wants to make herself known to the world as a whole through Celestia's influence. Even Celestia looks taken aback by the magnitude of Chrysalis' demand. “I'm afraid it isn't that simple. In order to establish as your own sovereign state, you must be recognized by the majority of the governments represented in the International Committee,” Celestia explains down to an unbothered looking Chrysalis, who doesn't seem to care how difficult her demand really is. “You may present yourself to the committee, but all I can promise you is my vote in that regard.”

“I expect you to make it happen, one way or the other. Give me your word that you will do so, or there will be no alliance,” Chrysalis returned uncaringly. I remain silent, because now that I've gotten Chrysalis to this stage, my role in this is pretty much over. I'm relieved that I didn't have to fight Chrysalis, but this is nerve-wracking just the same.

“Very well. You have my word that I will do everything within my power to help your state reach sovereignty,” Celestia concedes, though it looks like she is extremely reluctant. If the situation we were faced with wasn't as dire as it was, this wouldn't be happening. We don't have a choice really, if we want to keep Equestria safe. Chrysalis nods her head, satisfied.

“Excellent. Next, I want Dodge Junction,” Chrysalis states. I give a start and step towards her in outrage at that. Dodge Junction is a fully developed town filled with ponies! We can't just give that to her. Celestia stares pointedly at Chrysalis, so the queen continues. “Not the city itself, mind you. I would simply like Dodge Junction to be considered a neutral ground for my changelings and your ponies to interact. After all, I must secure some sort of food source for my kind, else my situation will not have changed whatsoever.”

“Your request is an understandable one, but I cannot give you Dodge Junction,” Celestia declares, much to my relief. “However, I agree that there must be a solution for your food problem if there is to be peace between us. Therefore, I propose that I build an extension to Dodge Junction across the railway, and that will be your neutral ground. As for your food problem, I will task my best scientists with discovering a way to give you what you need without harming my ponies. Is this acceptable to you?”

“My, you're being awfully reasonable with me, Celestia,” Chrysalis comments. Celestia remains silent, waiting for an answer to her question. “Yes, I find that acceptable. However I am quite curious as to what this King Sombra is like, for you to go so far out of your way to accommodate me, the one who almost brought your kingdom to its knees.”

“This is not the time for past grudges to interfere with rational decisions,” Celestia wisely responds. “I would much rather have you at our side than at our backs with a knife.”

“Oh, please, dispense with the flattery. If it weren't for this King Sombra, you would no doubt be marching upon me instead,” Chrysalis snaps. To be fair, she's speaking the truth. We would have had to deal with her eventually. “I'm simply doing what is best for my changelings.”

“As am I, for my ponies,” Celestia adds, her eyes softening a little. “Now, do you have any further demands?”

“I do not. However, I wish to see some form of documentation of this deal. I want to know that you'll be held accountable if you double-cross me,” Chrysalis demands. Finally, she's done with demands. I can't help but smile a little. We fucking did it. Chrysalis is now eliminated as a threat for now. Still, I'm a little pissed that I won't be able to kick her ass for what happened at the wedding.

“Do not fret. I have been devising a treaty over the course of this negotiation,” Celestia responds, lifting up the scroll that she's been writing on these past few minutes. She writes one last thing on it, and then it disappears from the hologram. A few seconds later, it reappears in the air right in front of my face, which I catch out of reflex.

I walk with Chrysalis over to her desk and spread the scroll out atop of it. Sure enough, there's a written representation of the deals we have just made, including the promises Celestia made with Chrysalis. Basically, I'm looking at a binding contract that compels both parties to fulfill the promises they've made.

Celestia's signature is already down at the bottom, where there are two more lines awaiting signatures. One of them is for Chrysalis, while the other is for the diplomat representing Equestria. So basically, me.

“Excellent,” Chrysalis expresses, and then she lifts up a quill with her magic and proceeds to sign her name down at the bottom. She passes it to me next, her hoof brushing against my hand as I take it. I can't help but feel a little tense. It feels like it was only a few days ago when those very same hooves were beating the absolute shit out of me.

When I finish signing the treaty, I snap my fingers and send it back to Canterlot. The scroll reappears in the hologram, and Celestia sets it down, looking satisfied. “There. With this, we are allies, until such time that King Sombra is defeated,” Celestia states, looking as if she can hardly believe it herself.

“I want a copy of that treaty,” Chrysalis demands. Yeah, I guess that's fair at least. Still, I can't believe this crazy plan of ours actually worked. With Chrysalis by our side, we have a much better chance of defeating Sombra.

“That is reasonable,” Celestia responds, nodding her head. She then looks at me gravely. “Now, Seth. I need you to return to Trotsdale as soon as possible. Sombra's forces are on the move. We may only have a little more time before they reach us.”

“Got it. I'll rush back immediately,” I answer. With that, Celestia gives us all one last look, and then the hologram fades, the orb falling to the ground, inert. I quickly retrieve it, and then I look at Chrysalis. Part of me can't believe she's on our side now, even if only temporarily. I feel like if I try to leave, she'll try to stop me. “Will I be flying back with you?”

“No. Return to the defense of your city. There is much to do before I can fully aid you,” Chrysalis tells me firmly. She walks with me towards the exit of her chambers, each of us pushing aside the drapes as we go. “Still, this is a most interesting turn of events. From fugitives to allies...it's funny how you all throw away your pride so easily.”

“Sometimes there's things worth throwing your pride away for,” I tell her, even if I know she won't understand. Chrysalis and I take to the air, her with her wings, and me with my magic. I notice her eyeing the difference in my magical aura curiously, but she doesn't say anything about it. “I'm headed back to Trotsdale. Meet us there when you're ready.”

“Are you ordering me around, Seth?” Chrysalis teases me with a grin. I groan and turn around , wanting to leave this hive behind. “Don't worry, I'll be there. I have taken an interest in this struggle now.”

Chrysalis then lifts her head and releases a shrieking hiss to the changelings below, who immediately stop everything that they're doing to look up at her. Mantis soon joins us, as if that hiss had been a personal summon directly to him. “What is it, my Queen?” Mantis asks, dipping his head respectfully.

“Prepare the hive for flight,” I hear Chrysalis order as I head for the exit. Her eyes narrow. “The changelings are going to war.”



> 107. Return to Trotsdale
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	With the help of a friendly changeling infiltrator assigned to guide me by Mantis, it's not long until I find my way back to the entrance of the hive. Heh, can I just say that 'friendly' is not an adjective that I ever thought I'd be putting together with anything relating to changelings? It's really odd, flying behind this drone. My hands twitch; I still feel like I should be fighting it rather than letting it guide me. Well, I guess it's a him, considering infiltrators can talk. Not that this one has said anything to me other than a simple “Follow me.” 

The changeling leads me back through the tunnels, towards the tiny crevice that leads back out into the badlands, where the sun is starting to set. Well, technically I should call it changeling territory now. I wonder what Chrysalis will end up calling her country? It's not like she can do something like similar to Griffonia, and name it Changelingia or something. That just sounds dumb. Chrysalidia? That's a bit egotistical, but I wouldn't put it past her.

“My Queen has a sense of humor,” the infiltrator grumbles, squeezing out through the crevice after I do so myself. I raise an eyebrow, wondering why he's following me, when all Mantis told him to do was lead me out. 

“Yeah, a really sick one,” I retort as the infiltrator pops out next to me. "I'm guessing that's not what you're talking about, though.”

“No, it isn't. You don't remember me, do you?” the infiltrator prompts me. I give him an exasperated stare.

“Gee, you tell me. You all look the fucking same! I can't be expected to remember every single changeling I meet,” I tell him flatly. The changeling clicks its chitinous jaws together, blinking. I can't read their expressions like I can a pony's, but I'm guessing he's annoyed.

“I guess not,” the changeling groans. He reaches up with his hoof and rubs his head. “You and the pony with the rainbow mane gave me a concussion, back during the invasion.”

“Rainbow and I? Well, that narrows it down. Let's see...the number of infiltrators we fought together must have been...hell, I don't fucking know,” I snap, getting impatient. “Look, I can't stick around. I need to get back to Trotsdale before the enemy gets there.”

“Good. The sooner we get going, the better,” the infiltrator agrees, taking to the air as I do. I give him an incredulous stare. 

“You're not coming with me, are you?” I demand, flying back over the rock formations in the direction of the mountain pass.

“Yes. If you'd have let me finish earlier, I'd have told you that my Queen has ordered me to accompany you back to the front and assist you in battle,” the infiltrator explains, following me through the air. Ugh, I guess this means I have a traveling companion; a very creepy,insectoid companion that I still want to punch just on principle. “I'm to be her eyes and ears, to gauge the level of threat that we are going to be dealing with.”

“I guess that makes sense...but how did Chrysalis order you? I never even saw her speak to you,” I question curiously.

The infiltrator taps his head with a toothy grin. “It comes with being a changeling,” he answers cryptically. He doesn't seem to want to elaborate more on that either, he just falls silent and follows me through the pass, towards where Dodge Junction is no doubt getting ready for nightfall.

When we fly over town, some of the guards look up and freak out, pointing their hooves and yelling to one another. It's not so much at the fact that I can fly, but more about the large changeling flying beside me. Thankfully they don't start tossing spears. I'm guessing Slate did me a favor and warned some of the guards about what I was down here doing. I'd stop by and say hi, but I need to get back to Trotsdale as quickly as I can. I'll rest a little in the morning.

As one might imagine, the flight back to Trotsdale is nowhere near as relaxing as the flight down. This time, I know I'm walking into a pitched battle that's likely going to make the Canterlot invasion look like a walk in the park. Who knows how many of them are Oppressed and immune to magic? 
The infiltrator and I make some idle conversation on the way there. By that, I mean we mostly exchange small questions and one word answers. Neither of us have forgotten that up until very recently, we were enemies. I also find out his name, which is Pterax. I'm a little surprised. I used to think that only the bigger changelings like Mantis got names, but I guess in hindsight, that's stupid of me. No doubt the changelings that can talk all get names.

Other than that, there's mostly silence between us. Now that I'm able to fly faster than before, we're making much better time. By the end of the night, Pterax and I easily make it past the pass between Canterlot and the Foal Mountains. The sun peeks over the horizon, and I start to get a little tired. I can't tell how Pterax feels. I'm not even sure if changelings get tired like we do. 

I push on for as much as I can, speeding up further to the point where Pterax starts struggling to keep up. I should rest now, but I can see the falls in the distance, and I know we're getting close. 

During this process, my tired mind starts thinking. If the ponies call those Neighagra falls, does that mean that they were originally the real Niagara falls? That would mean that Trotsdale is in what used to be New York...but that wouldn't make sense, because if the Everfree is in what used to be Atlanta, then the distance between the two wouldn't make sense. My tired mind tries to make sense of the fucked up Equestria, but eventually I give up. This doesn't make sense. Fuck it, I blame Discord.

Eventually, Pterax starts slowing down even further, so the two of us have to make camp near the point where the railroad crosses the river. It shouldn't be more than an hour's flight to get to Trotsdale, but I also don't want to be dead on my feet when I get there.

“You fly...so fast...” Pterax grunts, collapsing on the ground next to my tent. He suggested sleeping outside, because I only have the one tent, and there's no way I'm snuggling with a changeling. The very thought makes me cringe. “How do you do it? I'm out of magic entirely just trying to keep up with you.”

“That's because I have a shit ton of magic. If you thought there was a gap between us the last time we met, it's become a fucking gorge now,” I brag, stretching out my arms and climbing into the tent. “You're all like insects to me.”

“That's racist.”

“Shut up, I'm too tired to care.” 





My alarm wakes me up five hours later, though when I open my eyes, I realize that I didn't even need to set one. It's likely noon, or at least a little past noon, because the sun is beating directly down on my face through the top of my tent. I sit up and wince, because it feels like I've woken up in an oven. Okay, sleeping during the day isn't the best idea. I'll keep that in mind for next time.

I unzip the tent and start packing it up, noticing the sleeping changeling next to it. For some reason, he's shifted into the form of a nondescript pony stallion. “Hey! Wake the fuck up. It's time to get moving,” I call to him, kicking some rocks over to him. Pterax wakes with a start, his eyelids opening to reveal his pupilless green eyes.  He quickly shifts back into his original form, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

“Ugh, hungry,” Pterax groans, getting to his hooves and rubbing his chitinous belly. I give him an askance glance as I pack the tent into the bag. Hungry...that means he wants love. Well, I don't know how how he's going to get any love, nor do I know how long they can go without eating.

“Is that going to be a problem?” I ask, slinging the bag over my shoulder. With a slight hand gesture, I signal for the two of us to take off again. It isn't going to be very long before we reach Trotsdale, so I'm waiting to eat until I get there.

“Yes, if I don't get something to feed upon soon. You think there's any loving ponies in Trotsdale?” Pterax responds, licking his lips with a forked tongue. I give him a firm glare.

“It doesn't matter if there is or if there isn't. You are not feeding on any of them. They're all soldiers, and we need them at peak efficiency,” I growl at him over the sound of the wind whipping across our bodies.

“You don't understand. A simple siphon off of ambient love energy won't harm them, just momentarily disorient them,” Pterax tries to explain, but no matter how he words it, I don't like the idea of some bug thing leeching off of their love. “Only more intense and frequent feedings can emotionally damage the target.”

“That's bullshit. I saw what Chrysalis did when she fed off of a guard back during a wedding. It did not look pleasant, and it didn't look like he felt just simple disorientation,” I snap back at him. In the distance, Trotsdale appears, and immediately I notice the differences. “Seriously. Feed on any of these soldiers, and I'll fucking end you.”

“That's because it was during the invasion, and my Queen felt no need to hold back,” Pterax argues from behind me. “We infiltrators know how to show restraint. Do you really think we could stay hidden in a pony settlement if we'd harmed any of the ponies?”

I remain silent, not wanting to acknowledge the admittedly valid point that he'd just made. Honestly, I don't care how many points he makes. I will never like the idea of these insects feeding on the love of others. That just seems wrong to me. There's no way there's not side effects from that.

“Would you rather I starve? I've been going without for days due to limited supplies,” Pterax presses insistently. “I'm going to be fighting with you in the front lines, right? I can't operate at my best without some food.”

“Chrysalis knew this was going to be an issue, didn't she?” I demand, groaning and rubbing my forehead as we descend upon the city, heading for the heavily fortified town hall. “She did this on purpose...”

“She does have a weird sense of humor,” Pterax admits. “That's likely why she sent me with you, instead of another changeling that wasn't familiar with you.”

I remain silent for a few more seconds, trying to come to a sensible conclusion about this situation. However, I eventually lose my patience, causing me to groan. “Fuck it, I'm not dealing with this. You're going to talk to Celestia about this.”

“To...to Princess Celestia?” Pterax looks visibly shaken by that suggestion. “Do I have to? She's...well...”

“Terrifying?” I supply helpfully for him. Pterax gulps and nods, making me chuckle and shake my head. She's a little terrifying to me too, even now, when she's literally our sole remaining hope. Our whole plan hinges around distracting Sombra enough for her to destroy him. So, to a tiny changeling that can't even lay a hoof on me, Celestia probably seems like a goddess. “Get over it. She's the one in charge, not me.”

Our conversation comes to an end as we finally arrive in Trotsdale. The city itself looks wholly different than it did when I left. Now, it looks like it's finally ready for battle. Well, as ready as a town like this can get to withstanding a horde of undead.

There's now an extensive wooden palisade set up around the entirety of the city that isn't backed up against the mountainside. At regular intervals in the wall are set up multiple partitions in which a single ballista is housed. That's smart. Even if the undead reach the wall, they can still fire the ballista out through the small hole.

There are several gates in the wall consisting of a single thick and reinforced sheet of sanded wood that looks to be raised by simple pulley systems. They're good enough to allow supplies and troops in and out, but will still allow a momentary amount of protection before the undead break it down.

Each and every building close to the wall looks to be fortified with barricades and siege weapons. The smaller buildings are supply depots I assume. As I descend, I can see the ponies moving to and from the front lines carrying barrels of arrows and javelins. On top of those buildings are...archers? I've never seen pony archers before, but there they are regardless. They mostly look to be earth ponies sitting on their haunches and using their front two legs to hold the bow. Or in other cases, the bows are attached to the ground by the bottom tip. Huh, so that's how earth ponies fight when they're not using their hooves. The higher buildings have more archers and ballistae on top of them.

Trebuchets line the cliffs further up the mountain side. While I only saw two or three of them being set up before, there's now around fifteen of them, each one fully set up and already loaded with large boulders. If I had to guess, those came from the rockier areas further up the mountain. From where they are now, I have no doubt their range is wide enough to reach far over the walls and deal serious damage.

And speaking of ponies in general, there are tons of them now. I don't even think I’m stressing that enough. There are literally battalions of soldiers throughout the city. There's a perimeter of soldiers several rows deep standing just behind the walls, with an even greater concentration of them located around each of the gates. Every single one of the ballistae are manned, for lack of a better word, by a small group of ponies. Each rooftop with a view of the outskirts of the city is covered with archers. The streets are filled with columns of soldiers, with large groups of unicorns situated upon the clifftops for some reason.

In the distance, I faintly see the outline of something approaching in the distance, coming directly from the Crystal Mountains. There's no doubt about it. Sombra's forces are definitely on their way. From here, I'm guessing it'll take them a little less than a day to get here.

“I've never seen Equestria this prepared for battle since...well ever,” Pterax admits as the two of us land gently down on the streets in front of the town hall. Our very approach is enough to cause the soldiers in this area to react with varying degrees of shock and hostility. The latter is mostly directed at the changeling that is blatantly standing next to me, its true nature on display. Pterax winces, noticing how the guards are pointing weapons in his general direction. “Uh...I don't think they're happy to see me.”

“I'm still not happy to see you, and we've flown together for a full day,” I retort, crossing my arms. I'm technically a commander, so I guess I have at least some authority over these soldiers. I swallow nervously and look around at all the guards. “Don't worry, it's with me.”

The guards look amongst themselves and then lower their weapons after a slight pause. Nevertheless, they never take their gaze away from the changeling. At my words, Pterax gives me an askance stare with a hint of a sardonic expression that I never thought I could see from a changeling apart from Chrysalis. 

“'It?' Did you just call me an 'it?'” Pterax demands, unamused.

“Well, what else should I call you? You changelings can be whatever gender you want, right? So, you're an 'it!'” I retort, moving towards the town hall. That's where I think Celestia is, and I feel like I need to report to her. She'll know what we should do next. “Besides, your voice is androgynous as fuck.”

“I'm a male, you ignorant monkey. Just because we can shift ourselves to be whatever we want doesn't mean our original gender changes,” Pterax corrects me as the two of us pass into the town hall. No matter where we go, the guards all eye Pterax with suspicion and hostility, but they don't outright attack. I'm guessing Celestia had something to do with that. “The only female in the hive is the queen. The rest of us are male.”

“Did you just call me a monkey?” I shoot back, offended.

“You called me an insect!” Pterax reminds me, equally offended.

“You ARE an insect!”

“I'm a changeling, thank you very much.”

“Whatever! It's still offensive! Monkeys are ugly, hairy, and disgusting!” I snap right back at him, wanting to punch him something fierce. The only thing that I've been called that's worse than that is a hairless ape.

Pterax angles his head to one side, giving me a matter-of-fact look. “Aaand...your point?” He responds. I reach out my hands and squeeze the air, as if showing him exactly what I'm going to do to him.

“You...I'm gonna wring your little...” I start to growl, but then I'm cut off by the sound of somepony patiently clearing her throat in front of the two of us. Pterax and I turn our heads slowly to see Princess Celestia standing there just in front of us, gazing down on us with a faint smile on her face. We'd been so busy arguing that we hadn't noticed our proximity to the central room until just now. Pterax visibly gulps next to me, having not expected to see Celestia this soon, before he had a chance to get prepared. I blink and stand up straight, pretending that nothing is wrong. “S'up, Celestia. I'm back now.”

“So I have noticed. I heard you from the down the hall,” Celestia teases me, reaching forward to nuzzle me. “It is good to see you back safely. I was quite worried about you going down to the hive all by yourself.”

“Eh, I would have been fine,” I return, playing off her affection even though I know there was a very good chance Chrysalis would have crushed me there if things had gone south. Celestia giggles at me knowingly, no doubt knowing exactly how I feel because she's a fucking mind-reading horse.

Celestia's gaze then moves to Pterax, who visibly trembles beneath her gaze. He blinks his multi-faceted eyes and swallows. Heh. It's pretty funny how utterly terrified he is. I can't help snickering under my breath, covering my mouth with a hand to hide my grin. “Uh...hi,” Pterax stammers, weakly lifting a hoof in greeting.

“You must be an advance unit,” Celestia correctly surmises. Pterax nods his head nervously, recognizing the sheer power of the being just in front of her, as well as keeping the memory of their species' last contact in his mind. Due to that, he looks taken aback when Celestia smiles and drips her head respectfully. “Welcome. My name is Princess Celestia, and I will be your commanding officer for the duration of your time with us, or until such time that your Queen arrives. Is that acceptable to you?”

“Really? You're just going to...” Pterax responds before he can stop himself, his eyes wide with surprise at Celestia's polite greeting. No doubt he expected a glare at least. To be fair, Celestia is one of a kind. While others may show hostility towards the changelings, Celestia is able to keep her composure. She's practically always able to keep her composure. “Ahem. Yes my Que...uh...your High...uh...Ma'am.”

“Just Princess is okay,” Celestia supplies for him helpfully, giggling a little. She directs her gaze back to me. “Now that you are back, we have much to do. The enemy will be here in less than twenty-four hours.”

“So I noticed. Do we have a plan, apart from waiting here and hoping we don't die?” I ask. Celestia nods, and gestures for the two of us to follow her. Pterax looks between the two of us, confused, but when we start to leave him behind, he rushes to catch up with us. No doubt he doesn't want to stay near those guards any longer than he has to.

“Yes, in fact. We will be running a defense against the bulk of Sombra's forces until reinforcements arrive, either from the changelings or from the griffons,” Celestia answers, leading us into the main room, where the map is spread out on the table. Pins are stuck in its surface, each one detailing the postings of each commander and battalion. “Shining Armor assures me that in the case of an all out assault, we should be able to hold out behind these walls for several days.”

“Celestia, Sombra probably sent Oppressed with his army, and they're immune to magic. Even if you go out on the front lines yourself, you might get overwhelmed with numbers,” I point out. Even as strong as she is, their claws and teeth mostly ignore magical protection, so eventually even they could kill her, if there's enough of them.

“Those creatures in the the ruins, you mean? Yes, I have taken them into account. It is why I cannot simply crush the army on my own,” Celestia admits. On her own. Yeah, without the Oppressed, a bunch of undead likely wouldn't be a problem for her at all. She taps the map with a hoof, indicating the area up near the cliffs where it looks like groups of the second division will be stationed. “I will be up on the clifftops to provide the ground forces with magical artillery strikes. That is where I will be except in the case of emergencies, such as King Sombra himself appearing on the battlefield.”

“In which case we're all screwed,” I return grimly. If Sombra himself gets here before we're ready for him, he'll just methodically destroy us while his army kills our soldiers. “I really hope you're right about him not liking to fight up front.”

“It would greatly surprise me if he did so. King Sombra is very vain at times. He no doubt wants us to defeat his armies and face him personally,” Celestia responds with a sigh. After a short pause, she nods and returns her gaze to the two of us. “Now then. In the short time we have until the enemy arrives, I have a few orders to give. To begin with, your specialized squad still needs its members, if you recall.”

“Yeah, I remember you mentioning that. What's this squad even for?” I question, watching Celestia produce several cream colored folders from a cabinet in the room. I take them from her when she passes them to me. One quick look inside a few of them show different ponies with descriptions inside. I'm guessing these are the files she wants me to look through.

“Provided everything goes well and the battle ends in our favor, we will march on the Crystal Empire,” Celestia informs me. “No doubt by now, King Sombra has seized each of the villages that are in his territory. Each one is likely to be defended. If this is the case, then we must liberate each one to prevent him from receiving reinforcements during our fight. I will likely use your squad to help expedite this process through covert operations, in order to reduce casualties.”

“I...this isn't going to be over any time soon, is it?” I groan, though that's mostly a rhetorical question. I've felt this feeling before, at the beginning of our battle with Chrysalis. A feeling that the battle would never end, and that hell awaited me at the end of the road. This time, it's only going to get worse. Celestia smiles at me sadly, likely knowing how I feel. “I guess I understand. What do you want me to do after I've finished looking through them?”

“Take some time to think on them, and then get ready for battle. I want you on the defensive front, with the First Regiment,” Celestia commands. Oh fuck, that means the front lines. Why am I always on the front lines? “However, you need to be careful. With the return of your magic, you are integral to our final victory. We cannot afford to lose you.”

“Trust me, I'm not going to die. God knows you ponies can't do anything without me,” I retort, grinning a bit to let her know I'm joking. Celestia chuckles a bit herself, and then she turns to Pterax, who jumps at the sudden attention.

“What is your name, changeling?” Celestia asks curiously.

“Pterax, Princess,” the changeling answers, nodding its head. “I'm here to gauge our enemies' strength and give our forces an idea of what we're dealing with.”

“I see. Due to the tension between our kind and yours, I'm putting you at Seth's disposal. He will know best how to utilize your strengths,” Celestia orders him. 

“Oh great, so I'm stuck with him,” I complain, giving the changeling a withering stare. Pterax doesn't seem too thrilled about the idea either, but he nods in acknowledgment to his orders. He knows better than to challenge Celestia. “Alright, I'll make sure nopony kills him.”
“Good. Now, I have many more preparations to make before the battle begins. Take some time to look over those folders, and to get used to your new magic,” Celestia suggests. Wait, how does she know I don't know any of my techniques anymore? Whatever...she just knows everything. “You're dismissed.”

“Got it. Come on, Pterax. You're apparently sticking with me until this battle's over.” I gesture for the changeling to follow me out of the room. He does so, his chitinous hooves clicking on the wooden surface.

“Gee, how ever shall I survive?” Pterax returns sardonically. I roll my eyes and continue down the hallway towards the exit.

The moment we leave the town hall, I run right into Rainbow, who looks like she was heading right in this direction. Her face lights up in a bright smile when she sees me. “Seth! You're back! It's about time! I could have gotten there and back three times now!” Rainbow declares, running to me. She quickly comes to a halt when she spots the changeling next to me, her smile dampened. “What the...what is that doing here? I...guess it worked, didn't it?”

“Yeah, but it wasn't easy. Chrysalis came out on top with her demands, and she knows it. With this agreement, we literally can't hold her accountable for her actions at the wedding,” I admit, knowing that Rainbow isn't going to take to this well at all. Turns out I'm right.

“What!? Are you kidding me!? Even after all that she pulled back then, we can't punish her for it!?” Rainbow demands. Her front hoof twitches, and for a moment, I fear that she'll knock out Pterax just on principle. “That's not fair!”

“I hear that, but I'd rather not get destroyed by Sombra either. Besides...I hate Sombra a hell of a lot more than I ever hated Chrysalis,” I confess. Chrysalis is a sadistic manipulative bitch, but at least she didn't kill Amaryllis, my family, and the rest of my race.

“Yeah, but...ugh, I really wanted to pay her back for everything she did,” Rainbow expresses with frustration. She eventually sighs and looks down, her wings drooping. “At least you got back oka...eep!”

Rainbow yelps in the most adorable fashion when I reach down and scoop her up in my arms in a hug. She's taken by surprise by the sudden gesture, and as such she scrambles around a bit, but eventually she settles. “Seth...” Rainbow whines, her head over my shoulder. “We're in public. Can you not?”

“So? Nopony's looking. Just shut up and let me have a moment. When I was talking to Chrysalis, I almost thought that I wasn't going to come back at all,” I tell her firmly, scratching lightly beneath her wing joints.

“I guess...as long as none of my friends see. They tease us enough already,” Rainbow admits, sighing and relaxing. 

Behind us, Pterax looks between the two of us, bemused. But after that, he starts to drool, his forked tongue hanging out and licking his lips occasionally. It isn't until I hear his stomach growl that I remember exactly what he is.

“Hey! Don't even fucking think about it,” I warn him, setting Rainbow down and glaring at the offending changeling. Pterax blinks and looks innocent, as if he hadn't just been salivating over the two of us.

“I wasn't!” Pterax protests, holding up his hooves. “But I can't help looking. It makes me so hungry...”

“That reminds me. Go back inside and speak to Celestia about your hunger problems. She'll know what to do about them,” I order him. Pterax nods and retreats back inside, looking a little sheepish that he had forgotten to do so in the first place. “Sheesh, fucking changelings.”

“Was it really about to feed on us?” Rainbow asks with a little bit of perverse curiosity in her expression. I wince. I remember seeing Chrysalis do it, and I'm in no hurry to feel what that's like for myself.

“I don't know, but I don't trust the fuckers. Even though they're supposed to be on our side now, I don't think that's going to change,” I grumble. “Did you see the way he drooled over us?”

“Yeah...creepy. I don't know what's worse: the fact that it was about to feed on us, or that it thought our love was strong enough to drool over,” Rainbow responded, shuddering a bit. The way she phrased that made me raise an eyebrow.

“What's wrong with our love being strong?” The second after that leaves my mouth, I cringe a bit, because that sounds so fucking cheesy I feel like I should go get some nachos to go with it.

“Because it sounds really sappy!” Rainbow complains, blushing. I snort with laughter, because that was exactly what I was just thinking. She glares accusingly at me. “Hey! Quit laughing! It does!”

“I know it does. That's why it's so funny,” I chuckle, ruffling Rainbow's mane. As per usual when we're in public, she nips up at my hand...except this time I dodge it and then lightly press the palm of my hand against her snout, causing her to release a cute little snuffle. Of course, I immediately regret it a second later when she bites down on my fingers. “Yowch! Bad Rainbow!”

“You asked for it,” Rainbow retorts without any kind of remorse. All silliness aside, I still have some work to do, so I start to hover just above street level. “So what now? Applejack and I have just been waiting for you to get back. You're technically our commanding officer now.”

“Please, like you'd ever accept having to serve me,” I remark, causing Rainbow to stick her tongue out at me. Whatever. She knows I'm right. “But yeah, I have a few files to look over. What about you? Has Celestia given you any orders concerning the battle to come?”

“Not really. She just dismissed us and told us to wait for you,” Rainbow answers. With an effortless hop, she starts to hover in the air next to me, her wings flapping leisurely.

“Which basically means she's already putting me in command. She's putting a lot of faith in me...I don't think that's very smart. I've never been in command before,” I admit. “Come on, take me back to where you and Applejack are staying.”

Rainbow nods and ascends above the buildings, with me following her closely. “You sorta were. Remember the invasion? You and I were like, all secret agent and stuff, when we had to rescue all the soldiers. Not to mention you helped beat up Chrysalis and stuff.”

“Just because I can fight doesn't mean I can lead,” I point out, choosing to ignore the point she made about the dungeons. I was technically in charge, but I don't think that counts, because I was with just Rainbow, and then Iron took over later. If anypony can lead, Iron can. Too bad he's at Bleak Island or whatever.

“You'll be fine! Quit being uncertain. We can't have you being like that when the battle starts,” Rainbow attempts to reassure me. I guess she's right, but that doesn't mean I'm ready to order them around. Hell, if I get to control where they're posted, they're staying with me so I can keep an eye on them. “Anyway, here we are. What with the evacuation, Applejack and I have been staying in one of the civilian houses.”

Rather than using the door, Rainbow hovers in front of one of the windows, slides it open, and slips inside. Once she's inside, I can hear Applejack greeting her. Shrugging, I fly inside as well, squeezing through the smaller opening. I could have used the door, but whatever.

“Welcome back, Seth,” Applejack greets me as well once I'm inside. The farmer is lying on the bed, sliding into her golden armor in preparation for the fight. “We've been waitin' for ya, commander.”

“Don't call me that,” I groan, even though I know she was just teasing. Applejack snickers at my reaction and returns to armoring herself. Rainbow is starting to pick through her own pile of armor as well. “Sheesh. I can't believe we're about to go into another battle. This time it's going to be worse than before.”

“Ah gotta admit...t'ain't what ah wanna be doin', but it's gotta be done,” Applejack agrees, giving a grunt as she adjusts the straps on her breast(back?)plate. “But this time, all of Equestria's here ta fight.”

“The scale's definitely bigger. Don't worry about it though. We're gonna kick some flank and then go home,” Rainbow assures me. Heh. She's far from being right. There's so much more battle to come...enough to make the changeling invasion look like a walk in the park.

“Right...well, anyway, I'm gonna eat the rest of my rations and look over these files,” I say, walking over to the other bed in the room and hopping on top of it. I take the folders and arrange them into neat stacks on my right. Grabbing the first one, I open it up and take a look.

Time to see who Celestia has picked out for me.  

	

	

> 108. The War Begins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow and Applejack, sensing that I'm doing something important, leave me be and instead converse faintly out in the front room. A soldier dropped by not too long ago, bringing rations for the two of them, so I can hear them eating out there as well.

I'm sitting on top of the bed of some unnamed civilian that evacuated a long time ago, with different folders spread out across its surface. There's a small stack of folders on my right, where I've put the three or four files that I've rejected. 

I know I can't be too picky. Before I got to Equestria, this country hasn't seen a real battle in centuries. That being said, the files I've rejected are those soldiers that showed their mettle fighting monsters that couldn't think for themselves. No, if I'm going to be leading a covert squad like Celestia said, then I want soldiers that have had real experience in a covert situation, or those with skills that I could use to our advantage.

The next file I pick up gives me pause, because this one depicts a soldier who seems to have fought alongside us during the changeling invasion. It's a member of the first division that had been captured and held beneath the dungeons until we freed them all. Okay, this one's got a better chance of being accepted. I put it on my left in what I consider to be my “maybe” pile. Literally any soldier that fought in the changeling invasion is going to go there. 

However, Celestia said I should only choose one or two of these to join us, so I can't just take them all. This is difficult. Whichever ponies I choose could have a huge impact on whether or not we succeed as a unit. I'm really strong, but that strength doesn't mean a damn thing against Oppressed. This sword at my belt is likely going to be my best friend.

Hold up, I recognize this one. I raise my eyebrow, surprised that this pony would end up in this list. It's Swift Lance. A picture of the light gray furred mare with the dark blue and lavender mane stares up at me from the page, fully armored except for a helmet.

It says here that she is a lieutenant in the CRU 1st Regiment. Hold on a second, I thought she was only a sergeant? When did she get promoted? The file also goes over her specific talents, highlighting her skilled telekinesis while only stating that her combat magic is “adequate.” Of course. She's 1st Regiment,  who are all about using their magic to wield a variety of weapons, rather than blasting their enemies with it. Moving on, I note that she wields a lance, because she views the sword as an inferior weapon. Of course she wields a lance. Duh. I could have figured that much out myself without being told.

Next, the document details her involvement in the changeling invasion. After being freed from slime, she teamed up with Blades, Spitfire, and the rest of the 2nd Regiment in the defense of the shopping district. It says she used the alleyways to lure changelings into ambushes, allowing them to hold out until Rarity, Spike, and Pinkie arrived to detail the plan. Okay, that much she didn't tell me.

Finally, the document concludes by explaining that Swift got promoted during the award ceremony that occurred after Celestia was freed and the reconstruction was completed. Huh. I didn't realize that Swift was such a badass during the invasion. Even though Luna and I were instrumental in securing victory, I guess I should consider that if even one of our fronts had failed, we would have been screwed.

Okay, this one's a definite. Swift's pretty uptight, but at least I've seen that she can interact with me without either of us snapping at each other overmuch. I set her file behind me in a new pile. She'll be one of the ponies that I accept, unless I find somepony better. Though to be honest, I don't think I'll find somepony better, considering the only ones really of note are the captains and commanders, neither of which are available for me to use.

I munch on some bread from the last of my travel rations absentmindedly, sifting through the other files. As it stands right now, I have two physical powerhouses in Rainbow and Applejack, and a rather intelligent weapon user in Swift Lance. I need another magic user. I know that any unicorns I find here will be nowhere near as skilled as me or any of the other heavy hitters, but I feel like I could do with some magical support. Maybe barriers or distractions.

Several other files later, I come across one more that catches my eye. I say that because it's not even a member of the military that's in the file. No, there's a civilian staring up at me from the picture. It's a unicorn with an aqua blue coat and a white mane streaked a blue so pale it's hardly distinguishable. Her name seems oddly familiar to me for some reason. I can't exactly place it, though, which bugs me, because I usually have a good memory.

“Trixie? Who the fuck is Trixie?” I murmur to myself, looking over the picture. “I know I've heard that name before, but where?”

That aside, the better question is why a civilian has been recommended to me. My eyes trace down the page until I reach the main description. Huh. So Trixie is a pony that volunteered her services upon hearing about the war. I guess some ponies have guts after all. Still, I don't see why the hell I would pick her just because she has the heart to sign up. Simply being eager doesn't make up for a lack of skill and experience.

Okay, reading further reveals that Trixie has a level of latent magic that's been growing deeper over time, looking to rival Twilight's at the rate she's going. Hold the fuck up just a second, what? There's a unicorn out there that could possibly rival Twilight, the Element of Magic?

This makes more sense. Trixie has apparently been training to make her level of magic stronger, while Twilight hasn't been doing any training at all until recently. No doubt Twilight will far outstrip this Trixie character now that she's training too. I'm convinced that the status as the Element of Magic means that Twilight has a ridiculous potential for power.

Still, a unicorn this strong is pretty enticing, even if she's only a civilian. My doubts are soon alleviated by the description of her talents, which lie in minor illusions, extremely precise control of her telekinesis to the point of controlling multiple objects easily, and other displays that quite simply classify as distraction tactics. In other words, exactly what I'm looking for. 

“Hm...a potentially powerful unicorn who can support me with magic and provide distractions. Done,” I toss the file behind me on top of Swift's. That's two files now. I think I have plenty to round out our squad. However, I still have two or three more files to look through before committing. Who knows, maybe I'll find somepony more qualified than these two. 





“Aren't you gonna put on a helmet?” Rainbow asks Applejack as I stride back into the room, carrying the folders tucked beneath my arm. 

The funny thing is, I never did find a pony in the files that would have been a better choice than the two I found. Like I said before, there's just too many of them in there that only have experience fighting monsters. I don't have time to interview each one and find out which ponies amongst them have the right mindset for battle. At least with Trixie, her file stated that she was brave enough to face down one of those constellation monsters, distracting it long enough for a more experienced unicorn to get there.

Anyway, back to the ponies in room I'm now in. Both of them are fully armored...except for Applejack's head. Instead of a helmet, she's just wearing her stetson hat that she never ever takes off. Applejack wrinkles her nose at the question. Rainbow just asked.

“Why would ah? The thing's heavy and unwieldy,” she answers, looking defensive. “Ah gotta be able to move mah head aroun' while ah'm fighting, right?”

“It's not that heavy. If I can handle it, you can too, since you're right around my level of fitness,” Rainbow corrects her, tapping the helmet on her head. “No way in Tartarus a simple hunk of metal can slow me down, after all.”

“Ah ain't wearin' it. It don't feel right,” Applejack declares, shoving the helmet away from her and closer to Rainbow, who huffs. 

“You just don't want to take off the hat,” I accuse her flatly, setting the files on the coffee table next to the offending helmet. Applejack flushes and adjusts the hat in question, acting like a foal with her hoof in the cookie jar. “Still, you never had armor during the changeling invasion, and you did fine. That's literally the only reason I'm not going to make you wear a helmet.”

“Yeah, see?” Applejack says to Rainbow petulantly, and then she sticks out her tongue. Rainbow gives both Applejack and I a flat browed stare, but relinquishes the point. “Thanks Seth. You done with all yer commander stuff?”

“Yeah. I picked out a few ponies who looked like they'd be useful,” I answer, indicating the files. “You have no idea how many of them were just some soldiers that got lucky fighting a monster or something.”

“Oh cool! Anypony we know?” Rainbow asks excitedly. Hm, considering I picked Swift Lance and Trixie....nah, I don't think Rainbow or Applejack has met either one.

“Likely not. One of them's with the guard, and the other's a civilian volunteer, so I don't think you'd know them,” I reply, much to their disappointment.

Applejack quirks a brow. “A civilian? You sure that's a good idea? It's gonna get real rough out there,” she questions me. Yeah, Applejack isn't going to ask me anything I haven't already asked myself.

“I figured, but apparently she's pretty strong. It's a risk, but it looks like she's most magically adept out of all the other candidates, so I went with her,” I explain. Applejack still looks uncertain, however. “You know, you're the one who called me 'commander.'”

“Ah know, but ah don't like the idea of sendin' some poor civilian pony into battle with us,” Applejack returns, holding up a hoof placatingly. 

“Uh, Applejack?” Rainbow inserts. “You do remember that we were civilians before the changeling invasion?”

Applejack chuckles nervously, rubbing the back of her neck; even she has to admit to that. Technically they fought evil Luna and Discord, but both times it was just with the Elements of Harmony. I don't think that really counts. “Yeah, ah s'pose yer right, but that don't mean ah kin just accept it, either.”

“Not that it matters right now anyway. How about you argue with me about this later, and now we focus on getting through the impending undead invasion that's sitting at our front doorstep?” I cut across her impatiently. I made a decision, and I'm going to stand by it. I just have to trust that Celestia knew what she was doing when she put a unicorn like this Trixie into the files for me to choose from.

“Ah guess we do got bigger problems to think about,” Applejack admits, adjusting the hat on her head.

“Good. Now, enough about the files. Any news on the....” I try to change the subject, but I'm interrupted when the door opens to reveal Pterax, who peeks his head in uncertainly. He looks more sure of himself when he sees us. “Oh. Well, the changeling is back.”

Applejack stands up and puts herself on guard, even despite the fact that she was told beforehand about the changelings arriving. Rainbow eyes Pterax suspiciously, but she doesn't get up, because she's seen him before.

“Uh...yeah. You're...Applejack, right?” Pterax says to the farmer after nodding to my tactless greeting. Applejack pauses, but eventually nods and approaches the changeling, her muscles tense and ready to move in case she gets attacked.

“That's right. Sorry for not greetin' ya properly. Ah know we're gonna be workin' together, but...it weren't that long ago when you were our enemy,” Applejack responds after a lengthy pause. She tentatively reaches out a hoof to the changeling, being surprisingly more accommodating than either Rainbow or I was.

Pterax looks at the offered hoof in surprise. He slowly reaches out his own holed hoof, as if testing to see if this were some kind of joke. Eventually, their hooves met in a firm shake. He looks at the small smile Applejack is giving him and attempts one of his own, though all it really does is bare his fangs. “I could say the same. Until recently, I fully expected to be in conflict with Equestria again. My name is Pterax, an Infiltrator from the hive.”

Rainbow scoffs, watching Applejack and Pterax seemingly getting off on the right hoof so easily. I know better. Though it seems cordial, Applejack's muscles are still tensed, letting me know she's fully alert.

“That's great and all, but tell me about what Celestia said to you,” I cut across them, remembering exactly why he was missing from my presence in the first place. As of right now, Pterax doesn’t look hungry. He seems to be standing taller and more confidently than before, indicating that he'd gotten food from somewhere.

“She wasn't happy about it. Sending a hungry changeling as an advance unit was likely meant as an insult, and the princess picked right up on that,” Pterax admits, looking a bit sheepish. “She made me tell her everything I knew about our biology, down to the smallest detail.”

“Right, but I'm not stupid. You clearly fed off of somepony, so Celestia likely came up with something. What was it?” I demand impatiently, feeling uneasy. I know this is the last thing I should worry about, but I feel like Celestia might have done something risky.

“She...had me feed off of her.” Pterax reveals to us, much to our shock. Noting the outraged expressions on our faces, he lifts his hooves and hastily states, “She made it very clear to me that if I feed on anypony here in the city...I won't walk away unscathed.”

“You fed off of Celestia? What the fuck, was she nuts!?” I demand angrily. Of all the things Celestia could have done, that seems to be the dumbest thing she's ever done. Who knows what kind of side effects there are to being fed on by a changeling? Oh you know, besides mind control, emotional damage, and who knows what else.

“It wasn't like I could harm her! She had a mind like an iron trap! There was no way I could get past her mental barriers, even if I wanted to!” Pterax defends himself. “To be honest, I didn't want to do it either. It's not like there's no risk involved in feeding.”

“I can't believe she would let you! That's just wrong!” Rainbow snaps, agreeing with me. “There must have been a better way than that.”

“Ah agree, though ah can see why she did it. Ya can't exactly tell somepony not to eat, so ah guess she offered herself so no other pony would get hurt?” Applejack suggests sensibly, in contrast to both Rainbow's and my less than tempered responses.

“Nopony gets hurt if I just siphon a little ambient love! I told you that, but you're just too stubborn!” Pterax argues. “Your way of feeding is just as wrong to us as ours is to you, but you don't see us trying to starve you!”

“Because you can't starve us unless you somehow get rid of all the plants,” Rainbow points out, must to the changeling's frustration.

“Not to mention there's not a chance for us to damage the plants permanently by harvesting a little too much,” I add as well, referring to how changelings can emotionally damage the ponies they feed from.

“Look, does it really matter? What's done is done, you two,” Applejack finally says, getting tired of the argument. Pterax, who had been about to form another protest, gazed at her gratefully. “The guy's gotta eat, and Princess Celestia made a decision. We jus' gotta trust that she knew what she was doin'.”

“I know...but I don't like it,” Rainbow states, crossing her hooves and looking at Pterax with an accusing stare. “You good now, right? You don't need to feed anymore?”

“Not for at least a few more days. A week if I push it,” Pterax answers, grimacing. “But...I don't look forward to going that long without food.”

There's a silence in the room after that, as our opinions have been made and Applejack made it clear to us that there's no point in arguing about something that already happened. Deciding to change the subject, I turn over to the changeling. “What's the news on the enemy?” 

“We're running out of time. I spotted them getting closer on the horizon. They're...like nothing I've ever seen,” Pterax answers, failing to suppress a shudder. “There were these twisted creatures that walk on four legs,  but move as if their limbs are broken. I saw the broken and rotting remains of ponies shambling along behind them...is that what we're going to be fighting?”

The three of us nod grimly, recognizing the description of Sombra's armies. It seems like he's sending the Oppressed in the first wave, with the rest of his forces behind. Pterax looks less than happy about the prospect of fighting monsters like that. He actually seems to be trembling a little. 

“Undead...ah only fought 'em once, and they're real tough customers. Ya can't just knock em down with a well placed buck; ya gotta keep hittin' 'em until they don't get back up again,” Applejack explains to the changeling, grimacing at her memories of the battle in the Crystal Empire.

“They're also really fast. Not as fast as me, of course, but that's not the point. Those little ones that walk funky on all four legs like you said are trouble, because they band together and come at you like a river,” Rainbow adds, correctly summing up the Oppressed, except for one minor detail, which she then proceeds to mention. “Oh yeah, and they also negate all magic. Rarity was pretty much useless   there.”

“They negate magic!? What...how...?” Pterax demands in shock. This is the first the changelings have heard of those monsters, so it's only natural he's surprised.

“I don't know. Somehow Sombra managed to make it so that when he made them, they wouldn't take much magical damage. I think Vanta was the one who perfected that aspect, though,” I ponder, though I honestly don't know how they did it. What I do know is that it's going to be a pain in the ass, and our main threat in this battle.

“So I can't use magic on them. Ugh, that's a problem,” Pterax groans. “I'll have to take a stronger form and attempt to contend with them physically. Seth, do you mind if I take your form again?”

“I guess if it lets you fight better. Don't go abusing it though,” I warn him. Suddenly, I do a double take. “What, what do you mean 'again?'”

Any further conversation is interrupted by the deep resonating sound of a bell ringing from somewhere out in the city. It booms again and again, and soon we can hear the sound of soldiers moving through the streets. That can only mean one thing.

“They're getting close. That's the signal to deploy and get ready for battle,” Rainbow informs Pterax and I. Applejack is already moving for the door. 

“Damn. I thought we had more time than that,” I curse, starting to feel restless and more than a little afraid. This is going to be a battle the likes of which I've never seen, and just like before, there's a very real chance that I might not live through it. “Let's go then. I need to check with Celestia first, and then we're headed to the defense line.”

“Okay. We'll head on up ahead o' ya. Meet us on the front lines when you're ready,” Applejack acknowledges. Just before I leave the room, I set the files down on the coffee table. I remember the names of the ponies I chose, so I don't need to bring them back with me. Celestia only told me to look over them, after all. I can retrieve them after the battle is over.

The four of us leave the house together and walk out into the streets. Applejack, Pterax, and Rainbow move ahead and join the throng of soldiers streaming through the streets on their way to their final positions in preparation for the battle to come.

I jump off of the ledge above the street and flare my magic, flying above the soldiers and heading towards the town center, where I figure Celestia will be. The sound of the bell seems to be coming from the singular clock tower behind the town hall, where a pegasus is tugging relentlessly on the rope of a large brass bell. The whole town is filled with the sound of clanking armor and weapons, as well as the flapping of pegasus wings.

Surprisingly, I run into Celestia flying towards the front lines, rather than in the town center like I expected. Luna is with her, both them fully armored and ready for battle. In addition to their usual armor set up, both of them are sporting weapons. In Celestia's case, she's wielding a sword and a shield, the armaments hovering in midair in front of her, courtesy of her magic.

The sword is a glimmering golden color, with accents of red lining the hilt and extending down the center of the blade itself. The hilt is designed with a motif of the sun, with the individual rays of the sun forming the crossguard. The blade is long and straight, the edges colored as golden as the rest of her armor.  Her shield is similarly designed, colored gold and red. It's structured like a heater shield, and there's a large mural of the sun emblazoned upon its surface.

Luna's weapon is far simpler, as she chose to forgo a shield in favor of a larger weapon. She is wielding a thin sickle sword that curves like the shape of a crescent moon, with a hilt colored deep blue and a pommel made of pearl. 

I whistle slightly to myself. Those are some lethal looking weapons, each of them looking as if they were forged for them personally. They don't normally need weapons, but I'm guessing that this time is different, because of all of the undead that can't be harmed with magic. Because I haven't seen their army up close, I have no idea how many Oppressed are there.

“I thought you two were going to be serving as magical artillery from the clifftops,” I address, reorienting myself such that I'm flying beside them.

“Partially correct. I shall be serving on the front lines along with the rest of the First Division,” Luna answers for me, twirling her sickle sword around once and narrowing her eyes. “However, there is another matter to which we must attend.”

“Another matter? Like what?”

“Look ahead, Seth,” Celestia says, directing my gaze with an armored hoof. I follow her outstretched hoof to see the plains beyond the town, where Sombra's army is much closer than before, to the point where I can make out the individual Oppressed comprising the frontal ranks. My eyes bug out when I see the extent of their numbers. From here, I'd estimate that the army is hundreds of soldiers wide. As if that wasn't bad enough, I can see the army stretching all the way out to the horizon. Holy shit...just how many undead are we facing? 

I start to tremble a little, recognizing that this isn't just an army; it's a horde. Sombra intends to crush us through sheer numbers. It might even be possible, if there are enough Oppressed out there to render our magical assaults useless. “There's just so many of them...is that why you're coming to the front lines?” I ask, my voice wavering despite my attempts to keep calm.

“No. I will still be standing by my original plan. However...” Celestia directs my gaze to the enemy army once more. This time, I notice that the army isn't moving. They're standing completely still several hundred meters away. However, there's a spot of white amongst the black and sickly gray color of the army. “That appears to be their leader.”

A snowy white pony mare emerges from the horde of undead. Seemingly everything about her is white, from her hooves to her coat to her mane. I can't make out any facial features from here, but she looks fully alive, in that she's picking her way across the open field to us gracefully and in full control of her movement.

“What the...is she coming to negotiate? Don't they intend to wipe us off the map?” I demand incredulously. “I mean, I doubt that army is just for show.”

“I agree. Ultimately, I do not believe anything will come of negotiation, but there are still some courtesies that must be exchanged during war,” Celestia replies, her face sharing my disbelieving expression. “It is but a formality, but I will meet with this pony.”

“It might be a trap. I don't think you should go out there alone,” I advise her. Celestia smiles wanly, even as Luna looks at her with a triumphant expression.

“Thou sees? This is what we said. We art coming with thee, sister,” Luna asserts, adopting a smug smile. 

“I suppose I must relent. Very well. I would appreciate it if the both of you would accompany me,” Celestia requests. I raise an eyebrow.

“Wait, why me? You're the leader of the country, right? You don't need me,” I ask, more out of a sense of curiosity than of any desire to decline her invitation. Celestia pauses and rests a hoof on my shoulder.

“King Sombra has wronged you and your kind far more than he ever has us. This is your fight just as much as it is ours,” Celestia assures me with a dead serious expression. My skeptical expression fades away, and I release a heavy sigh. 

“You're right. Let's go see what this fucker wants.” The three of us resume our flight, passing over the palisade fortifications and soaring towards the approaching white mare. I guess I've finally figured out why Celestia keeps letting me into her war councils and divulging all this top secret information. Sombra's killed more humans than ponies, and inflicted horrors upon the ones that lived the likes of which still give me nightmares. As much as it frightens me...I need to be a part of this fight.

The white unicorn mare comes to a halt as the three of us land several meters away from her. Now that I'm up close to her, I can see exactly what she looks like. My initial view of her was pretty much spot on. If she's undead, then I'm not seeing it, because there's no sign of putrefaction on her flawless white coat. Her mane is long and flowing, colored as snowy white as the rest of her. Two amethyst eyes stare out at us from her empty, emotionless face. 

“Princess Celestia?” the mare addresses only Celestia, seemingly ignoring Luna and I entirely. Her voice is a soft and distinctly feminine one, but it sounds empty and devoid of emotion. Celestia meets the mare's gaze with her own, never flinching. She responds with a terse nod. “I am Flowing Mist, general of his Majesty's ground forces. You will order your ponies to lay down their arms and submit themselves to Sombra's mercy.”

Well, that's pretty much exactly what I expected to hear. This isn't a negotiation. It's a demand for our surrender. This is a fucking insult. It's almost as if Sombra doesn't even believe we're worth devoting his time to.

“Tell me, General Mist. Why would we surrender to you?” Celestia's answer is calm and composed, even though her eyes are set in a glare. Mist doesn't seem at all perturbed by Celestia's inherently hostile reply.

“The lives of your ponies will be spared,” Mist answers, matter of factly. I blink. That's it? She thinks we'd just give in because maybe we'd survive? “You and your sister will submit yourself to interrogation and execution in the Crystal Empire, on charges of performing an unprovoked act of war upon our kingdom. Your human will be delivered to Governor-General Hawke. If you satisfy these demands, we will refrain from exterminating your populace.”

I scoff derisively after Mist finishes speaking. Those demands are ridiculous. She expects us to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of the ponies? Hell no, these ponies are more than capable of putting up a fight. However, I'm curious as to why Hawke has a title that puts him above Sombra's previous generals. Does that make him Sombra's right hand man? What the hell did Hawke do to make Sombra trust him so completely?

“I see,” Celestia responds, holding up a hoof to hold back a bristling Luna who looks about as insulted as I feel by this whole situation. “Let us say for one moment that I agree to this proposal of yours. What would happen to ponies whose lives you spare?”

Mist doesn't miss a beat in answering. “According to the Royal Decree, article fourteen, section four: the population of the defeated sovereign nation will be assimilated and enslaved by the Crystal Empire. The population will be withdrawn and subjected to correctional facilities, before being put to work in various ventures dedicated to furthering the dominion of the Crystal Empire. In the case of captured military officers, the pegasi will be stripped of their wings, the earth ponies crippled, and the unicorns de-horned and put into...

“Enough!” Celestia thunders, her eyes narrowing and her jaw set with fury. Mist stops talking, looking with interest at the princess. Suddenly, the ground starts to shake, and then a crater forms around Celestia's hooves just as magic erupts from the ground. Her body is shrouded in her immense power, making it so that I have to cover my eyes from her blinding radiance. “You come in to my country, threaten my little ponies with a lifetime of fear and misery, and then dare to speak as if your cause is righteous!? You think to read me such statements of depravity, as if I would view them as a viable alternative to defending ourselves!?”

“The Crystal Empire is long dead, murdered by the hooves of the one you call King. Sombra is no true king; he is a usurper. To act as if you have the authority to make demands of Equestria is pretentious beyond compare!” Celestia asserts, her voice loud, clear, and sharp as a whip. Mist takes a step back, her eyes wide at the sight of such raw power in front of her. “Know this, General Mist. Every action I have taken towards the Crystal Empire has been made with the safety and well-being of your people in mind; something that King Sombra, as their sovereign and ruler, has failed to consider!”

“No, it is I who will be making the demands today,” Celestia continues. Watching her and listening to her speak causes chills to run through me, goosebumps forming on my arms and legs. I feel inspired standing here with her, as if nothing can take us down. “You will release each and every pony in your kingdom from slavery, and you and King Sombra will take your undead and depart this continent, never to return. If you do not comply, then I cannot be held responsible for the pain that we shall inflict upon you. Am I understood?”

I'm not the only one inspired by Celestia's words. A resounding roar of approval erupts from behind the fortifications of Trotsdale, coming from every soldier that heard our conversation. Even from here, I can make out some of what they're saying.

“You tell em', Princess!”

“This is Equestria! Not your playground!” 

“Turn around and run!”

“For Celestia, Luna, and Equestria!”

Mist stands silently for several seconds after Celestia's tirade, as if thinking about her words. After an agonizing minute, Mist starts to retreat, moving backwards such that she is still facing us. “Kill them, my faithful friends. Wipe their pathetic existence from the face of this planet,” Mist orders, and a vicious snarl tears from the throats of the undead behind her.

“So be it,” Celestia responds. She lowers her head and releases a powerful beam of golden magic directly at Mist's retreating form, the intent to kill behind the attack evident in the air. 

To my shock, a mega Oppressed just like the one Rainbow and I killed in the ruins bursts right out of the horde of undead and stampedes across the open ground. It positions itself directly in front of Mist, taking Celestia's blast head on.

The magic streams across the monster's form like a river on rock, damaging the ground around its feet and behind it in its wake. When the light fades away, the mega Oppressed is revealed. Its torso and face are burnt, but the monster is far from defeated. It lets out a challenging roar and thunders across the ground, one ham fist raised high with the intent to punch Celestia.

“Sister! Let us retreat!” Luna states with alarm, taking to the air. Nodding, Celestia follows suit, with me not close behind. I'm not fighting one of those fucking things up close; at least not when I'm alone.

“Fuck, fuck!” I curse, noticing the entire undead horde moving once more, heading directly for Trotsdale. The three of us fly beyond the fortifications to safety. Luna flies to the ground to join the rest of the 1st division. I do as well, landing beside Rainbow, Applejack, and Pterax, who are all gathered in the middle of a group of soldiers defending the front gate. “That could have gone better.”

Celestia halts, hovering just above the bulk of our forces. “Ponies! Prepare for battle! Face your enemy head on and with your heads held high! Do not fear; all of Equestria is fighting with you! Remember that the fates of your families and friends rest entirely in your hooves!” She announces. Morale soars at her words, another resounding cheer risings from the soldiers around me and in the streets behind me. With that, Celestia flies back towards the cliffs to take her battle position as the soldiers down here prepare their weapons and load the ballistae.

The ground shakes gently beneath my feet. A sound like the rumbling of thunder hangs in the air as the undead horde charge straight for us, roars of mindless bloodlust filling the air. I swallow hard, and then I draw my sword, knowing that I'm going to need it very soon.

The battle for Trotsdale, and for my future, has begun.

> 109. The Siege of Trotsdale
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I summon my magic and go straight to my base form. As strong as I am, my lowest form  is enough to shroud me in a haze of lime green energy. The power even runs down the length of my sword, similar to how I used to handle the scythe I got from Vanta. I clutch the weapon tightly in my hand, listening intently to the thundering sound of the approaching horde.

Next to me is Pterax, who has shifted into my form to give him a wider range of movement, as well as mobility. He's also glowing with green magic, though his is a darker shade, more akin to emerald, and is much more sickly looking. On my other side is Rainbow and Applejack. The former is hovering in midair, her face set with determination, while the latter is on the ground next to me, staring intently at the wooden gates in front of us. Luna is at another of the gates, assuming command there and keeping morale high.

On top of the building behind us is Captain Shining Armor, the breeze rifling through his mane as he surveys the battlefield beyond the walls. “Steady, ponies!” he directs. He looks down at me and the other ponies surrounding the gate in front of me, and then casts his gaze around to the different gates. “Back away from the gates! Form perimeters and prepare to intercept any intruders!”

We do as we're told, forming a small open circle around the gate. Similar maneuvers happen at the other gates. There's no doubt in my mind that the undead will breach them; it's smart of Shining Armor to order us to keep our distance. I don't want to be in front of them when they fall.

“Get ready!” Shining Armor orders, lifting his hoof. Around him, and on every rooftop, the archers drop lit matches into barrels filled with oil, wood, and dried grass. With a crackling whoosh, fires erupt from each of the barrels, casting an eerie orange glare down on the rest of us. The archers dip their cloth-wrapped arrows into the flames to ignite them, and nock them to their bows, pulling back the strings with their teeth or their hooves. Finally, Shining Armor slashes his hoof forward emphatically. “Fire!”

Hundreds of arrows whistle through the air, released from hundreds of bows all at once. A cloud of deadly flaming arrows surges over my head, trailing behind black smoke in the air. I can't see what happens, but I can tell when the arrows land. The sound of the lethal wooden shafts impacting with rotten flesh can be heard even from here.

Next, a colossal stream of bright golden magic streaks through the air, colliding with the enemy forces and exploding violently. It came from the clifftops near the waterfall, where Celestia is standing with Captain Blades, Twilight, Rarity, and the rest of the 2nd Regiment. Immediately after Celestia released her attack, the other groups of unicorns follow suit, and soon the air is filled not only with flaming arrows, but also differently colored streams of magic surging towards the enemy.

The trebuchets are loaded, and it isn't long before the weights are dropped and the siege engines are catapulting flaming boulders the size of several ponies through the skies. The massive boulders arc through the air in an almost lazy fashion before finally slamming into the enemy army and rolling for several meters before stopping.

“Don't let up! Fire at will!” Shining Armor orders. The ballistae hidden in the walls and in the windows of the taller buildings release volley after volley of deadly bolts into the enemy. With all of this deadly weaponry firing at once, I have to screw my eyes shut and force myself to breathe. This waiting is the worst.

Suddenly, Shining Armor grits his teeth and lifts up a thick pole, which I assume is his weapon. On either end, a crescent shaped blade is attached, similar in style to that of a polesword, bardiche, or glaive. “Heads up, everypony! They're climbing up the walls!” He warns us, twirling the weapon and narrowing his eyes. My eyes shoot to the wall and my grip tightens on my weapon. “Show them what you're made of, 1st Regiment! Make me proud! Make yourselves proud!”

Just after Shining Armor's announcement, the first grisly head of an undead pony peers over the top of the wall...and is immediately nailed with a well placed javelin that pierces right through its face and sticks out the other side. “Nice throw!” A pony calls from somewhere behind me. The triumph doesn't last long. “Look out!”

To my horror, scores of Oppressed hurtle over the walls at every location, roars ripping from their mutilated throats. They're amongst us in seconds, laying into our forces with their lethal claws. The ponies around me let out their battle cries and surge forward to meet them, carrying me along with them.

“Let's go, Seth!” Rainbow declares, she then surges ahead, catching an Oppressed as it hurdles over the wall. She expertly twirls it around her leg and throws it on the ground to Applejack, who obliterates it with a buck right to its head. “One down!”

I reach the enemy with a battle cry of my own, though I sound more like a scared teenager than a battle ready warrior. Holding my sword tightly with both hands, I cleave through the first Oppressed I come into contact with. My blade manages to get halfway through before it stops, and I have to kick the struggling monster off of the blade with my foot. Even with that, it's not dead. It growls and rushes forward, only for another pony near me to finish the job with a sweep of a broadsword. Okay, note to self: don't waste time trying to cut one in half. Just kill it and move to the next.

I find myself hacking endlessly at a wall of undead flesh as Oppressed leap over the walls in a seemingly endless wave. It looks like they are buying time for the regular undead ponies to climb over, along with what look like minotaurs and other assorted beasts. Thanks to the soldiers flanking me on either side, my back and sides are protected, allowing me to use my sword to block each claw or bite heading my way, and retaliate with lethal force.

“Hold them! Archers, provide covering fire! I'm going in!” Shining Armor commands. With a yell, he leaps right off of the roof top and right into the thick of the enemy, clearing a bloody swath of destruction around him with his double ended bardiche. He quickly discovers that his barriers are useless against the Oppressed. He retreats to our lines, easily taking out any enemies in his way. “Damn...they negate even magical protection?”

“They negate magical everything, Captain!” I call to Shining Armor as I ram my blade through the skull of an undead pony, having to raise my voice over the sounds of battle. The captain nods and joins Pterax in rescuing a group of beleaguered soldiers from a powerful undead minotaur.

The other ponies around us take our advice. They choose to forgo magical attacks in favor of blades, and for a time, we seem to be holding our own. If they keep coming at this pace though, I'm not sure how long we'll be able to hold them back.

“Watch out!” A pony cries from the rooftops, and then a huge boulder soars over the wall and demolishes a building in which a ballista is housed. More boulders fly over the walls as well, landing inside the city and dealing destruction wherever they land.

“Fuck, they have trebuchets too...” I groan in dismay, even as I push down my blade against the teeth of an attacking Oppressed. I manage to push him back long enough for another soldier to dispatch him for me.

“Somepony get a message to the princess! We need those siege engines taken out!” Shining Armor barks. A nearby pegasus turns and flies for the cliffs, flying low to avoid the magical and physical barrages. Shining Armor  yelps and forms a quick barrier just in time to block the fist of a minotaur. “Heh...at least I can block you!”

Soon enough, another beam of golden energy zooms overhead, though headed in a different direction. Celestia must have gotten the message, because soon I see the volleys of boulders decreasing in number with every concentrated beam of magic.

A minotaur, its unearthly eyes blazing crimson, shoves its way through the Oppressed and assaults me and the other soldiers nearby with a snarl ripping from its decomposing throat. With one sweep of its fist, it knocks several soldiers away, rendering some of them unconscious. I leap back just in time to avoid it, but then I realize something.

“Hold on, you're not an Oppressed,” I observe. A grin streaks across my face. When the minotaur roars again and brings its fist down on me, I raise my arm and catch it on my forearm. The force behind its attack is great enough to force my feet into the ground, but it doesn't hurt me whatsoever. “Mistake.”

Much to the surprise and happiness of the soldiers near me, I stick my sword in the ground next to me and grab the minotaur with both hands, hurling it clear off of its feet and into a group of clustered undead behind it. I quickly finish it off with a quick blast of magic. The display raises the morale of the soldiers around me, and together we rush back into the fray.

“Don't hesitate to blast the ones that aren't mangled and hunched over! They're the only ones that are immune to magic!” I call out as loud as I can, hoping that the other soldiers will benefit from that information.

“Good to know!” Pterax responds, still in my form. He then tears an undead pony apart with his bare hands. When an Oppressed reaches him, he manages to dodge it, but not before cursing. “Ugh. Somepony pass me a weapon!”

“Who needs a weapon!?” Applejack declares brazenly, laying an Oppressed flat with her front hooves. However, another soldier hears Pterax and tosses a spear to him. With it, he and Applejack tear their way through a group of Oppressed. “Dash, send that one yer tangling with ta me!”

“No need, I got this!” Rainbow responds, lifting an Oppressed up in the air and hurtling it down onto the palisade wall, where it becomes impaled on the spiked top. “How come none of them can fly?”

“Brace for impact!” A pony cries out just as a boulder hurtles over the walls. The archers standing on the very building where Shining Armor had been not too long ago look up in shock as the shadow falls upon them. The ponies panic and throw themselves from the rooftops into the streets, seconds before the boulder collides with the building and completely reduces it to rubble. Some of the rubble falls down upon me and the other ponies, but thankfully it isn't enough to hurt us.

“Pull the wounded out now! Get them to the medical tent!” Shining Armor orders, directing ponies to the archers that wounded themselves in the fall. He soon turns his attention back to the front, where he's being threatened by several undead. “Come on! I'm the captain of the 1st Regiment! Come get me!”

“Ugh, would you fuck off!?” I grunt, nearly tumbling over as an undead wolf clamps its jaws down on my arm. It can't pierce my skin, but it does unbalance me enough for an Oppressed to knock me over and gallop towards me, intending to rip me apart.“Shit!”

Thankfully, the soldiers on either side of me intervene, forcing the Oppressed back with swift jabs of their spears. This buys me enough time to kick the wolf away from me and obliterate it with a follow up punch. With a quick leap, I'm back on my feet. I rush back into the battle to plug up the hole in the formation left by my absence.

So far, the line seems to be holding. The amount of enemies coming over the walls is staggering, and we are being forced to take steps back to avoid being overwhelmed, but our formation is holding strong.

“Clear the gate!” A pony shouts in a panicked voice from atop a nearby building that's taken some damage from an enemy barrage. I see the soldier who yelled rush up to the edge of the gate and point towards something on the other side of the gate. “Move! Incoming!”

I cut an Oppressed in front of me to pieces and look towards the gate, where soldiers are throwing themselves out of the way. Then, with no further warning, the gate shatters to pieces.  A Mega Oppressed charges right through as if the gate hadn't even been there. Shards of reinforced wood and other debris flies in every direction as the beast gallops right into the thick of our forces, laying waste to everything in its way with its flailing fists.

“The gate is breached! Group up and get ready!” Shining Armor orders. Sure enough, a horde of undead surges through the opening left by the hole in the wall, pushing us back even further. Our line threatens to break with the intervention of the Mega Oppressed that's seemingly unstoppable. It's taken multiple injuries on its arms and torso, and arrows stick out from its thickened hide, but that doesn't even seem to be slowing it down at all. “Back away from the big guy! Leave him to me!”

The other gates in the distance shatter as well with a loud crash, and more Mega Oppressed batter their way through, leaving multiple breaches in our defenses. Fuck, we're going to get overwhelmed at this rate. Shining Armor moves to confront the Mega Oppressed, twirling his bardiche. He leaps out of the way of the monster's initial fist, and then slices into it, but to little effect. Yeah, there's no way he's going to be able to take that thing down on his own.

“Rainbow! Applejack! Pterax! To me!” I call over the sounds of battle, breaking formation and heading for the Mega Oppressed. The horde is pressing hard at our lines, so I have to hack my way through several undead before even reaching the clearing where Shining Armor is fighting. The ponies and the changeling that I called for soon rush to assist me, allowing for fresh soldiers from behind ours lines to move forward and occupy the spaces left by our absence.

I see Shining Armor fighting with the monster, managing to dodge most of its attacks. However, the captain takes a risk and slices at the Oppressed's torso, putting him right within range of its attacks. The Mega Oppressed raises both fists and swings them down at once. “Get down!” I yell at Shining Armor, rushing forward. I unconsciously call upon my magic as I do so, and I find myself approaching Shining Armor at an incredible rate. Just in time, I knock the captain aside, the both of us narrowly avoiding its attack, which ruptures the ground where we'd just been standing.

“Does nothing kill this thing?” Shining Armor demands, spitting out blood from where his lip had impacted with the ground. I help him stand, and together with Rainbow, Applejack, and Pterax, we get ready to face the monster. Last time I faced one of these things, it easily knocked me around like I was nothing, and now there's more than one of them. I only hope that Luna can handle the one over by her gate.

“Trust me, this thing's like indestructible. Magic doesn't hurt it, and it can take nearly everything we throw at it,” I warn him, gulping. “Move! Here it comes again!”

The Oppressed roars and charges all of us, swinging its fists with wild abandon, not even caring that it bowls over a few of its fellow Oppressed as it does so. The five of us scatter in every direction...only to be met with more normal Oppressed. I curse and hack my way through them, barely ducking beneath one of the giant Oppressed's attacks. “Damn, we can't fight this thing and its minions!” I curse.

“Soldiers! Keep us covered and hold that breach!” Shining Armor orders. To my relief, several soldiers push forward and engage the Oppressed threatening us, giving us a little breathing room to fight the Mega Oppressed. “Seth! We have to take this thing down, or it'll tear our line apart!”

“I know that!” I snap back, leaping out of the way to narrowly avoid the monster charging past us. Rainbow and Applejack attack it from behind, the former flying around its head like an annoying hornet while battering it with hooves, while the latter kicks at its legs in an attempt to unbalance it. “It's almost invincible!”

“Tell me you've got something more than that!” Shining Armor shoots back, his teeth gritted as ducks underneath the monster's fist, slicing its arm with his polesword as he does so.

“The last one I killed, I impaled right through the middle with a giant spike!” I answer, even though I know that's not nearly good enough. There's no giant spikes around here that we can make use of as far as I know.

“How about this!?” Pterax yells, leaping onto the Mega Oppressed's back and slamming his spear deep into the creature's back. As the monster roars, he grins and starts digging in the weapon...only to yelp and hold on for dear life as the Oppressed starts attempting to buck him off, seemingly unaffected by the spear in its back. Eventually, the spear haft breaks and Pterax is sent hurtling away. The changeling quickly transforms into a bird and flutters back to the ground before turning back into my form.

“I have an idea! Rally to me and lead it this way!” Shining Armor orders us. As we rush to meet up with him, the captain lowers his head and blasts the side of the Oppressed's head with a beam of magic. Of course, it does absolutely nothing, but it does get its attention.

“This way, you son of a bitch!” I yell at the monster, blasting it as well with a weak orb of magic to enrage it. The Oppressed doesn't even take a moment to think. The moment it sees us grouped together, it charges without hesitation, lowering its head and lifting its fists in preparation for a mighty attack.

“Run!” Shining Armor yells, turning the other direction and breaking into a sprint. I don't need to be told twice. I turn tail as well and rush to keep up with the captain, distancing ourselves away from the broken gate. In the process, we free up the rest of the 1st Regiment to push forward and meet the swarm of undead surging in through the breach in an attempt to hold them back.

A sense of deja vu falls over me as the five of us lead the Mega Oppressed through the street that runs the perimeter of the city. I got really lucky to take down one of these things in the first place. I sure hope Shining Armor knows what he's doing.

Just ahead, there's a clearing that extends inwards away from the wall, where it looks like a market was once located. However, the stalls are all collapsed or burning now, leaving a wide open space, where soldiers are clashing with the undead. At the far end of the clearing is a tall building...in which a large ballista is garrisoned. It starts to dawn on me exactly what Shining Armor is trying to do.

“Here! Hold him here!” Shining Armor demands, coming to a halt and motioning for us all to scatter. We do so without question, narrowly avoiding the monster as it speeds past us. It doesn't take the Oppressed long to reorient itself on us, stomping towards the five of us angrily. “Buy me some time!”

“How long do you need?” Rainbow answers, swooping down on the Mega Oppressed and raining blows down on its face.

“As long as you can give me! Do not let it leave this clearing!” Shining Armor finishes. The captain turns and sprints towards the building where the ballista is, leaving the four of us to battle the monster.

“What in tarnation does it take to hurt this thing?” Applejack grunts, bucking the creature in the chest. The attack has little effect other than forcing the monster back a few inches. She then yelps as Rainbow swoops in and saves her from the Oppressed's counter assault.

I rush forward to meet the monster, slicing at its arms and legs alongside Pterax, who seems to have picked up a sword and shield from one of our fallen soldiers. The Oppressed heaves a roar and slams a fist down onto Pterax, who attempts to block it with his shield. Even as I cry out, his shield shatters beneath the impact and sends Pterax skidding backwards until he tumbles over.

I gasp as the monster's fist plows into me next, bypassing my magical protection and sending me flying backwards, completely winded. Thankfully, Rainbow catches me from behind, cushioning the impact. “I got you. I uh...don't suppose you've got another elevator you want to drop on it?” Rainbow whispers in my ear, panting from the exertion. I give a breathy chuckle, but I don't say anything more, instead getting up to return to the fight. My eyes bug out when I see that the monster seems to be retreating to fight some of the other soldiers now that we're a good distance away from it. Oh...that's not good.

“Somepony stop him!” I cry out desperately, rushing back and firing blasts at the monster in an attempt to draw its attention back to us. Pterax rushes past me, his body wreathed with magical energy. He starts shifting even as I try to catch up to him.

Just as the Mega Oppressed starts to leave the clearing, Pterax meets it head on, his body expanding massively into that of a black dragon, green flames emitting from his toothed mouth. That gets the Oppressed's attention. It turns to combat Pterax immediately, giving out a roar of challenge. Pterax roars in return, and fist meets armored claw in a colossal impact.

“Go Pterax! Bring it back this way!” I call out, standing back and choosing to assist some of the other soldiers here, I don't want to get near that battle of titans.

“Kick his flank, changeling!” Rainbow cheers, before she and Applejack move to assist me against some of the other undead.

Pterax struggles with the Oppressed, who seems to have the advantage in terms of overall strength. Yes, Pterax may be a little stronger and bigger now that he's in the form of a dragon, but he's not as strong as a real dragon would be. However, Pterax seems to know that. With a guttural grunt, the dragon uses the Oppressed's strength against it, grabbing the monster's arm and throwing it to the ground.

When the Mega Oppressed rises...it's right in the middle of the clearing. Almost immediately after it gets up, the ballista fires from the building. The Mega Oppressed staggers forward as a massive ballista bolt rams right into its middle. Its body shudders, but it doesn't fall. The bolt hasn't gone all the way through.

The sound of somepony galloping behind me causes me to turn my head. Shining Armor is sprinting towards me, his horn glowing and his brow set with determination. “Seth! Get ready to fly!” He orders me. I'm confused at first, but then I see a barrier forming in the air in front of him.

Just as the Mega Oppressed is starting to turn, I leap into the air and fly towards it. Shining Armor's barrier presses against my feet and propels me forward at a much faster rate, giving me an incredible amount of momentum.

Switching my sword to my left hand, I pivot my right fist back, lime green magic surging from around it like flames. I let out a yell, and then slam the back of the ballista bolt with everything I can muster. The Oppressed shudders and spasms as the impact forces the bolt right through it, forming a gaping hole right through its torso.

I leap back to the ground and step back, watching the monster roar and flail around in pain, knocking aside any poor soldier or undead that gets in its way. “Are you kidding me? What else does it take to kill this thing?” Rainbow demands with exasperation.

Just as the Oppressed moves towards a cluster of fighting soldiers with its mindless flailing, Pterax is there. “I'll have you die!” The changeling turned dragon roared. He then hooked both of his large claws into the hole in the Mega Oppressed's chest, holding it still. Another ballista bolt thuds into the back of the monster's neck around the same time.

Pterax lets out a loud growl of exertion, the muscles in his arms straining as it pulls outward on the hole. All of us watch in shock and awe as the changeling puts all of his strength into his efforts. Until finally...the Mega Oppressed is torn apart, an entire section of its torso, including its head, ripping right off. Our jaws collectively drop as the monster falls on the ground in two pieces, twitching, until it finally falls motionless.

Shining Armor doesn't stare for long. “Good job, you four! Let's get back to the main gate! They need us!” he orders, wiping the sweat from his brow. With a motion, he indicates that the rest of us should follow him. I nod breathlessly and readjust my grip on my sword, following him through the street. Applejack and Rainbow are just behind us, along with Pterax, who has returned to using my form. “By the way, Seth...I take back what I said before.”

“Wait, what thing did you say?” I ask in confusion as the five us fight our way through a group of undead blocking our way back to the main gate.

Shining Armor looks back at me with a grin, despite the situation. “I'm definitely buying you that meal now.”





The five of us return to the main gate, and what we see isn't good. The undead are pushing back our lines, and we're taking casualties. Even when we return to the front lines and carve our way through any undead in our way, there's still a flood of them charging in through the hole in the wall. There's just no fucking end to them. When I hazard a glance out the gate, my spirits drop like a stone. I see an endless ocean of rotting flesh surging towards us.

Rainbow flies to an Oppressed climbing over the wall and hurtles it down into a group of undead ponies, knocking them over and allowing the nearby soldiers to make quick work of them. Applejack backs up the soldiers. Nothing gets back up after a single kick from the strong mare. Pterax has lost his weapon again, so he shifts into a massive mountain bear, laying waste to the undead by battering them with powerful claws.

Shining Armor grits his teeth, slicing several enemies to bits with his bardiche. Even he is starting to recognize that we're getting pushed back. Finally, he calls it. “Fall back! All soldiers fall back to the corridor!” Shining Armor commands. Without question, the soldiers of the 1st Regiment start to retreat, walking backwards as quickly as possible while still harrying the enemy with everything they have. I go with them, trusting Shining Armor's combat judgment more than mine.

Our troops surge into the corridor that leads to the second tier of the city, while blasting horns to let the troops at the other gates know to fall back as well. I can see a tornado of dark blue magic swirling into the air from another gate, so I assume that's where Luna is. I sure hope she's taken care of the Mega Oppressed over there.

Once we're in position on the far side of the corridor, Shining Armor snaps a few orders, some of which don't make any sense...at least until I see the pony moving up the corridor by herself.

When the undead turn the corner and rush down the corridor towards us, they find that the area is mostly empty, except for a single pink pony standing behind a row of organ cannons, each one colored bright obnoxious colors with stripes and polka dots all over them.

“Surprise!” Pinkie Pie exclaims enthusiastically. All of the organ cannons start to fire at once. An unending stream of powerful shells burst from the individual barrels, tearing through the undead ranks and causing massive destruction. Each of the shells trails behind ridiculous looking streamers and confetti, but they do enough damage that I don't even give a fuck how ridiculous they look. Pinkie manages to even keep them firing nonstop, because she's bouncing all over the place, reloading them from a basket she's carrying on her back. “I never leave home without my party organ cannon!”

“How does she...?” A soldier starts to ask from behind me with a bewildered tone.

“Dude, just don't ask,” another soldier answers for him. That small exchange makes me chuckle a little.

“Don't just stand there! Give her fire support!” Shining Armor orders. The soldiers chorus in affirmation, and then they start to hurl javelins over the cannons into the ranks of the enemy dealing even more damage.

Even with all of the damage Pinkie is doing with those cannons, the undead are creeping steadily closer, overcoming the opposition with sheer numbers. Whoever is controlling them is being smart, because they're sending the undead that aren't Oppressed first, such as the minotaurs, to soak up damage from the cannons and allow the undead behind them to push forward.

“Get ready to fight them! This street is a natural choke point! We can hold them here for a while!” Shining Armor commands, setting aside his own javelins and picking up the bardiche again. I straighten up, as I'd been resting my hands on my knees in an attempt to catch my breath. Shining Armor then turns to Pinkie. “Pinkie, can you pull those cannons back? We can't afford to lose them!”

“Yessiree! Make way, the Pinkie is coming through!” Pinkie replies, moving back with the cannons while still managing to keep them firing at a high rate. Our ranks part to let her through, though we have to cover our ears from the earsplitting sound of the cannons firing repeatedly.

The cannons cease firing once they're behind our lines. However, now that they're unobstructed, the undead rush towards us, their gnashing teeth and claws eager for blood. “Let's meet them head on! Charge!” Shining Armor roars.

Together, with a rousing battle cry spurring us on, I charge with my friends and the rest of the 1st Regiment to meet the undead in deadly combat. With my sword held over my head, I reach the enemy forces and cut down upon the first undead I see, which happens to be a wolf.

Side by side with Rainbow and Applejack, I give everything I have to keep the undead from pushing us back. However, because the street is on an incline, I can see the mass of undead charging up to us. Once again, I can't prevent a hint of despair falling over me when I see just how many we have to fight. No doubt those undead are pouring through the gates even now.

“Yo, did you miss us?” Suddenly, scores of pegasi fly overhead, lead by Commander Fleetfoot and Rapidfire of the Wonderbolts. Clenched in their hooves are large pony sized boulders. As they reach the ranks of the undead, they fly overhead and drop the boulders down on top of the enemy, crushing any unlucky enough to be caught underneath one. “We're here to support you. Captain Spitfire is combating one of those big guys by the waterfront gate!”

“One of those things? How's she doing? Does she need support?” Shining Armor asks anxiously, even as he cleaves through the enemy alongside me. Fleetfoot waits to reply, instead flying out and dropping her own payload down on the enemy.

“Nah, she's got Soarin with her. They're planning on pushing it over the waterfall. It's like, indestructible otherwise,” Fleetfoot informs the captain, flying back to the rooftops in the back, where there's a large stack of boulders that they've collected. No doubt that's why they took so long to get here.

“Good. Glad that you're here. We can't hold out forever. I'm losing ponies, and I don't like it!” Shining Armor grunts, deflecting a thrust from an undead Oppressed and shoving it back with the haft of his bardiche.

A white beam of magic suddenly streaks from the wall and strikes one of the pegasi carrying a boulder. The mare gives a yelp and falls to the ground, dropping the boulder in the process. The boulder falls amongst our lines, causing some damage and disarray. Outraged, we look up to see General Mist standing atop a platform on the walls, her eyes narrowed and her horn glowing.

“Dammit, that's their general!” I yell out. The only thing capable of magic out there is her as far as I know. No doubt that they've captured the walls, she's joining in the fight herself.

“Take evasive action!” Fleetfoot directs her pegasi as Mist fires more beams of magic towards our line.

“Return fire!” Shining Armor orders. Archers and other unicorns fire magic towards her, but she uses her magic to either deflect them or just outright block them.

Hold on, she's no Oppressed. And that means... I leap into the air and sheath my sword. I clasp my hands together, causing a green glow to leak out from the space between my palms. I withdraw my hands and fire stream after stream of magic towards where Mist is standing, holding nothing back. If she wants to fight me, she'll find I'm more than she's bargained for. “Suck it, you albino freak!” I yell, my arms and shoulders pivoting back and forth to shoot more streams at her.

Mist's eyes widen at the barrage of magic heading towards her. She attempts to block with her own magic, but her shield is quickly overwhelmed and she's forced to retreat back behind the wall to safety. Satisfied, I unsheathe my sword again and return to the front lines. I descend upon them like a whirlwind of deadly steel, rendering several unfortunate undead to bloody ribbons as I land.

“Good job. Make sure she can't interfere with us again,” Shining Armor ordered me. I nod and turn my attention forward, to the army of undead that's still running towards us, climbing over the inert and mangled bodies of the ones we've already killed.

This battle is far from over.


> 110. The Trap is Sprung
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The first rays of dawn peeked over the horizon, alighting the besieged city of Trotsdale. The battle had raged on throughout the night. Even now went on in the city, the sounds of snarling undead and the yelling of soldiers filling the air like some kind of twisted symphony. The landscape around Trotsdale is steadily burning, the flames eating their way across the once lush grass. A stream of undead pours into the smoking city through each of the gates and through multiple breaches in the walls.

The outer circle of the city is in ruins, demolished by siege catapults and rampaging undead. The Equestrian forces have pulled back to an inner circle, using the narrow streets to funnel the undead to them in manageable numbers.

I take a quick moment to catch my breath, resting my hands on my knees. I'm tired. I'm a college student. I wasn't built to do something like this. Even with all of the training and work I've done to bulk myself up, I was never really made for battle. I can still fight, but I'm breathing noticeably harder than before.

The amount of undead that we've killed thus far has started to pile up in the street, so Shining Armor had given the order to pull back further to a clearer location. Right now, we're formed up in ranks just in front of a gap between two buildings. In this part of the city, the buildings are arranged in concentric semi-circles around the base of the mountainside, with the town hall at its very center, much further in.

“Get ready, here they come again!” Shining Armor announces, once again wiping his brow free of sweat. I groan and lift myself up as well, gripping my sword. Applejack's idea of collapsing the buildings further up to slow them down was a good idea, but it didn't buy us more than a few minutes as the Oppressed climbed over the rubble to get to us.

The Oppressed reach street level once more and run towards us, two burly minotaurs leading the way. At Shining Armor's command, flaming arrows streak down from the rooftops near us, peppering the enemy lines and rendering any undead they hit alight. While initially ineffective, the flames would quickly eat away at their flesh until they collapsed, unable to move.

The pegasi drop boulders down upon them as well, hampering their progress even further. They've been much more cautious since losing several of their number to General Mist's attacks. Despite my efforts to keep her away, Mist is now in the city, hiding amongst her army. Every so often, she'll leap out of hiding to attack us with piercing beams of magic.

The undead reach us once more, and I rush to meet them along with the rest of our front line. I immediately find myself confronted by a countless number of undead. The first group I come across is a minotaur supported by several undead ponies. When the ponies leap at me, I lift my blade and slice into them, until they're reduced to chunks that fall on either side of me. The minotaur lowers its head and attempts to ram me with its razor sharp horns, but I'm more than ready for it.

I shove my blade in the street beside me to free up my hands, and then I catch both horns with my hands. The soldiers around me give me a bit of a berth when they see my magic flare up around me. The minotaur doesn't even budge me. Please, it has to be an Oppressed to give me any kind of threat.

With a yell, I grasp the minotaur by the head and hurl it overhead right back into the enemy lines, bowling over several ranks worth of undead with the creature's bulk. Without missing a beat, the sword is back in my hands and I'm swinging it overhead. An arc of cutting green magic emits from the blade and slices the minotaur apart before dissipating on an Oppressed beneath it. Yeah, it was Vanta that inspired that technique, but it's one of the only ones that I've figured out how to do with this new magic.

Beside me, Pterax and Applejack are fighting hard to keep any undead from slipping past our lines. They're working incredibly well together, as both of them are using solely physical attacks in order to beat down the threatening Oppressed. Pterax is now in the form of a large minotaur with steel blue skin, bulging muscles, and two razor sharp horns. Standing several feet above me, he makes an imposing sight.

“On yer left!” Applejack warns Pterax just in time of another undead minotaur approaching him. The changeling grunts in acknowledgment and rushes the charging minotaur. He cleverly sidesteps the monster's charge, grabbing its arm as it passes him. Using its own momentum against it, Pterax throws it through the air towards Applejack, who knocks its head right off its body with a powerful buck.

“Captain!” Rainbow Dash calls to Shining Armor from above, having just delivered a boulder of her own onto the enemy. However, she looks more frantic than pleased. Shining Armor looks up at the yell, his eyes fixating on her. Rainbow jabs her hoof towards the enemy. “They're heading for the side streets!”

“Damn, they're trying to flank us!” Shining Armor curses. I vaguely hear him from my position on the front lines. I had misjudged the momentum of a charging Oppressed, and as such there was now a cut oozing blood on my shoulder. Its talon had carved right through my magical protection as if it wasn't even there, living true to its nature.

When Shining Armor's words hit home, I gasp with alarm. If we're flanked, we're totally fucked. We're only barely holding them back as it is, and that's only going to last as long as we have fresh soldiers, or until the powerhouses like me get tired.

“Collapse the buildin's again?” Applejack suggests as she slams the heads of two Oppressed together.

Shining Armor nods and directs a group of soldiers to do as suggested. “Good idea, but all that's going to do is buy us a little time,” the captain reminds her. The way this area is structured is very similar to city blocks in my time. There are buildings running lengthwise, and they're packed closely together with streets running all the way around them. Because of that, the enemy can close in around us on three sides if they move around the buildings on either side of us. “Pinkie Pie! I need those cannons up and running! Get ready to intercept hostiles on the left flank!”

“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie obligingly positions her organ cannons in a row on the left side of our army. At the same time, the buildings adjacent to the ones in front of us collapse as their supports are blasted away by magic, barring the street and preventing the undead from flanking us for at least several more minutes.

“Seth! I'm diverting some ponies to the right flank, and I want you to lead them. You need to hold out until I can organize reinforcements.” Shining Armor surprisingly tells me next, indicating the street in question. Wait seriously? He's actually putting me in command of part of the army? When he sees me hesitate, he stomps his hoof. “Double time, you hear me? Get moving!”

“Yes, sir!” I snap out on instinct, as it's the first thing that comes to mind. I feel a little stupid for saying it like that, because I've never called anyone sir ever, but I don't dwell on it. I'm pulling back from the front lines, allowing Pterax and Applejack to fill in the gap I leave behind.

Accompanied by several scores of soldiers, I move to the right flank, where the ponies that had been sent to collapse the buildings are now returning from. Once we're in position, I merge with the first row of ponies. If I get surrounded, I'm screwed, and I can't afford to let that happen. I never thought I'd say this, but I have too much to live for to die here.

As expected, it isn't long before we spot the undead circumventing the fallen building and heading directly for us. From behind me, I can hear Pinkie's cannons firing, so I assume that they're getting attacked from that side now too. Seriously, where the hell are the other troops? This wouldn't be happening if we were organized enough to cover every side street.

Their lines meet ours once more, hitting us on three sides all at once. Shining Armor is leading the front, Pinkie is defending the left flank, and I'm here, hacking and slashing through any undead that gets close. However, our forces are spread out and their momentum doesn't ever slow, so it isn't long before we're pressed against the rest of our troops with nowhere to go.

“Sorry for the wait, everypony! I'm here with your relief!” From the other side of the enemies that we're fighting, another whole group of soldiers slams into their other side, led by Spitfire and Soarin, who were leading the Equestrian forces near the waterfront.

“Finally! Where the hell have you all been?” I demand, spurred on by the arrival of our reinforcements.

“The enemy cut off our retreat with a lucky shot by their catapults,” Spitfire answers, hurling a boulder down onto an Oppressed, crushing it. “We're through now; we're looking to meet up with the rest of you and reinforce the inner circle. Princess Luna's orders.”

Between Spitfire's forces and mine, we quickly dispatch the undead that had been trying to flank us, and we quickly set up a defensive line between the buildings. Pinkie's cannons stop firing and I hear cheers from our troops, so I'm assuming the southern forces are here now, reinforcing our left flank. Keeping the city's map in my mind's eye, I deduce that the entirety of our forces are now forming a defensive line along the entire semi-circle of the middle city. That would make the most sense to me.

With Spitfire's blessing, I return to Shining Armor's side. The captain doesn't look at me as I approach, as he's too busy fighting off several Oppressed at once. I quickly join him, running through the Oppressed on the captain's immediate left, earning a grunt of thanks from him.

“How many are there?” Rainbow complains, swooping down beside me and supporting my left side. I can't help but feel a little empowered, fighting alongside her. Together, we cut and punch our way through the enemy, keeping our lines from getting pushed back any further.

“Too many. I only hope the griffons or changelings get here soon,” I say, panting, even as I jam my blade in the jaws of one particularly nasty Oppressed. I curse when the creature claws at my wrist. I attempt to dodge, but it manages to leave a shallow cut behind that stings like hell.

“Don't falter!” Shining Armor calls out in an attempt bolster the morale of the soldiers around us. “As long as we stand firm, they will not...!”

In the middle of the captain's speech, a building that looks like it used to be a strip mall in front of our defensive line explodes outwards, a bulky Mega Oppressed powering its way through the stone and plaster like a battering ram.

“Shi...!” is all I can get out of my mouth before the monster's arm plows through our front ranks, catching me on the side in the process. I'm knocked against the wall along with several other troops, scraping my skin along their armor.

“Take it down! We can't let it break our lines!” Shining Armor yells frantically, picking himself up from the ground. The Mega Oppressed is making a huge mess of the front lines, stampeding over our ponies and inflicting heavy damage. This time, there's no ballista to help us kill it.

Pterax once again turns into a dragon and attempts to constrict the Oppressed's movement, slamming against it with his scaled body. The Oppressed roars and fights back, slamming its meaty fist into Pterax's chest and forcing him back.

I pick myself up and retrieve my sword, even though there's not much I can do against that monster. No, instead I attack the undead threatening Pterax. The best I can do is keep them off of him while he fights it.

Unlike before, Pterax looks to be unable to fight it on an even level. This Mega Oppressed doesn't have a weakness like the ballista hole in the other one. The changeling is fighting hard, but he can't seem to do any lasting damage to the monster.

Pterax lunges forward with a hiss and extends his claws out for the creature's neck. The Oppressed powers through the blow seemingly unharmed and grabs Pterax's neck with one hand and slams him down on the ground, steadily choking him. Other soldiers rush to help, but the monster shrugs off any and all attacks by lesser weapons like swords and spears.

Applejack and I rush to assist him, but Shining Armor stops us with a barrier. “Stay back!” the captain warns us, just as the wind starts to pick up in the street in front of our defensive line. The wind intensifies to the point where the undead are physically being pushed by it. Holy shit, it looks like a fucking gale out there. What the hell is causing it?

Suddenly, a huge cloud of weapons surges from the street where the wind seems to be originating. Spears, swords, and arrows fly through the air like a storm of deadly hornets, thudding into the undead and obliterating everything within several meters of where we're standing.

Even the Mega Oppressed is knocked off of Pterax by the sheer force behind the wind and the many weapons ramming into its body. It hurtles end over end and bowls over any unfortunate undead in its path, until it hits a building and crashes into it. “What the hell is going on?” I ask, in awe of the winds of death that I just saw.

It starts to make sense when a smattering of cherry petals flutters through the street, just as the wind dies away. At that sight, the soldiers let out a rousing cheer.

“It's the Blossom Wind!”

“Commander Rose!”

On top of the building to our left is Rose herself, her eyes narrowed and riveted on the fallen form of the Mega Oppressed. Next to her is Twilight, and both of their horns are glowing with magic. That huge wind that we'd just seen must have been their doing, but I have no idea how they did it.

We don't have time to dwell on it. The Mega Oppressed stirs and gets to its hooves, looking like a misshapen pincushion with all of the weapons sticking out of it. However, the two unicorns are already on top of it.

Twilight grunts with exertion, using all of her mental strength to lift a huge spike fashioned out of rubble from the ruins of a nearby building. “Rose...hurry...” I hear her say, her voice strained from keeping that thing hanging in midair.

Rose obliges, her horn lighting up. It dawns on me what they're going to do once a massive pink hammer forms behind the spike. With a sound like thunder, the hammer slams into the back of the spike, just as Twilight releases it from her hold. The spike is propelled through the air with the momentum of a speeding train.

The Mega Oppressed stood no chance. Caught directly in the middle, the monster is pinned against the wall of a building, completely impaled. It flails its hooves around and roars loudly before finally falling limp.

“Yes! That's right! Stay away from my brother!” Twilight shrieks down at the undead, which are now climbing over the bodies of their fallen brethren to reach us. Beside her, Rose allows a rare smile to cross her face at their momentary victory.

“Reform the line! Get ready to meet them!” Shining Armor commands, spurring the troops into moving quickly.

“You all right there, sugarcube?” Applejack questions the changeling as she and I help him to his hooves. He's back in his normal form, but he's panting pretty hard.

“Yeah I'm...wait, what did you just call me?” Pterax asks, one brow shooting up. I would laugh, but there's no time to be amused. This surge of enemies is never ending.

“Skip it,” I tell him firmly. Now that he's on his hooves, I move back into the line. “We're holding them here, but I'm getting tired. I'm not sure how long I can last.”

“Don't worry. That's why we're here.” I'm surprised by Twilight hopping down from the roof and approaching me through the lines of soldiers. She lowers her head, her horn lighting up again. A cool feeling falls over my body, as if somepony had just upended a bucket of water over my head. Steadily, I feel the burning in my limbs ease, making it easier for me to move. “I can't keep you from being tired, but I can deaden the pain for you.”

“Thanks. And why are you on the front lines, anyway? You can't do a thing to them,” I ask, bending my limbs. Almost immediately, I have to turn and engage the undead that are charging at us anew. Twilight is just behind me, blasting any undead she can see that isn't an Oppressed. Anything her magic hits is blasted to pieces, revealing her strength compared to the average unicorn.

“The 2nd Regiment has been crafting powerful magical measures in the case of emergency. We've been ordered to come here and use them as we see fit,” Twilight answers, nailing an undead pony with her magic just as it was starting to approach her brother.

“Was that what that wind was?” I grunt, kicking away a wolf just long enough to deal with the two Oppressed menacing me. Three more take its place, causing me to take a few steps back in order to keep from being overwhelmed.

“Yes! It was Commander Rose's and my idea! We decided to use a magical amplification loop to increase the velocity of...” Twilight starts to explain, but then she cuts off with a squeak as an Oppressed orients on her. I shove her out of the way and cut the monster down.

“Idiot! Don’t explain the details in the middle of battle! Get back on the roof, like Rose is! Pick your targets from there and support us!” I yell at her. Twilight nods gratefully and teleports back to the roof, where Rose is firing beam after beam of magic downwards in an attempt to thin out the enemy numbers.

The fighting continues, our lines moving steadily back under the onslaught of the undead army. Even though we're managing to hold out, we're being pushed back. The Oppressed come at us like a flood, nullifying all of our magical attacks and pushing us back with sheer momentum. Slowly, but surely, we're retreating towards the town hall. If that gets taken, we've essentially lost the city, and we'll have to retreat through the mountains.

A bright beam of white magic lances up through the air, causing me to curse and prepare my magic. That means Mist is trying to cause trouble again. However, there's no sign of her in my line of sight. Hold on a second, she was firing up in the sky. What the fuck was she aiming at?

“Incoming!” Rose calls from her position on the roof top. Casting my gaze upward, I notice a lone pegasus mare spiraling downwards from high in the air, smoke issuing from her left wing. The pegasus plummets through the air, looking to land right in the middle of the enemy forces, which would no doubt spell her end.

“I've got her!” Rapidfire swoops through the air and catches the falling pegasus, adjusting his momentum and path of travel to keep from injuring her even further. In the process, he attracts General Mist's attention, who starts firing up at him from her position behind her army. “Waah!”

“That's it,” I snap, and then I take to the air, speeding to Rapidfire and defending him from the beams of magic heading for him. “I'm sick of this bitch!”

I lift my hand and form a wavering orb of magic at my fingertip. With a yell, I thrust my arm forward and hurl the orb right for where Mist is taking cover behind a building. She looks up and she quickly scatters, right before the ground where she had just been standing explodes and erupts with a large pillar of lime green power, decimating any normal undead in the area and completely destroying the structures nearby.

I don't know if I got her, but at the very least she won't poke her head out for a while. Fucking coward won't face me head on, because she knows she can't take me.

When I return back to the ground, Shining Armor has fallen back from the front lines and is standing just inside the nearby building, next to the wounded pegasus. Spitfire and Rainbow are with him. In their absence, more of our soldiers rushed forward to fill the gap.

“What's going on? Who is that?” I demand, stepping inside the building as well. It better be important, because we don't have time to waste standing back here. Because I don't see any kind of armor on her, I'm compelled to ask, “Is that a civilian!?”

The pegasus lying wounded on the ground has a mint green coat almost like Lyra's, except her mane is a bright orange and slicked back over her head. She's still conscious, though she looks to be in shock, judging from how she's looking at her badly burned and useless wing with wide, disbelieving eyes. She's starting to hyperventilate, emitting pained cries from her muzzle.

“Hey. Hey! Look at me. I need you to calm down,” Shining Armor says to the pegasus compassionately, but firmly. The pegasus nods and attempts to breathe steadily, but she still looks terrified out of her mind. “That's better. What's your name?”

“L..Lightning Dust...” the pegasus manages to get out, looking up at us.

“Hey, I know her,” Spitfire emits in surprise, eyes sparking with recognition. “She's a really skilled flier from Cloudsdale.”

“Okay, Lightning Dust. We're going to make sure you get someplace safe,” Shining Armor states, still in that same firm tone.

“Okay...” Lightning Dust says, nodding shakily, but then she suddenly shakes herself, as if remembering something. “Wait, no, we don't have time for this! Cloudsdale is under attack!”

There's a shocked silence in the room for half a second, and then everypony reacts with shock and horror. Rainbow and Spitfire look the most impacted by that.

“What? Cloudsdale!? No way!” Rainbow gasps, looking understandably horrified. She mentioned to me once that she grew up there.

“Under attack by what?” Spitfire demands, taking a step closer to Lightning.

“I...I don't know! They were monsters, and...they came out of the ground!” Lightning answers, shuddering at the memory. “They were assaulting the city guard before we even knew what was going on...I came as fast as I could to warn the princesses.”

“Monsters? Out of the ground? That's impossible. We've been over the maps of the documented tunnels, and there's no entrances anywhere near Cloudsdale's usual resting place,” Shining Armor responds. “How did they get there without us seeing them?”

“They must have made a new tunnel,” I suggest, even though I'm trying hard not to hyperventilate myself at how much more complicated this whole situation just got. Even though we're struggling just trying to live here, Sombra has enough forces to attack Cloudsdale too?

“That would take much too long, and the resulting tremors that such an endeavor would cause would have alerted the smaller settlements in that area,” Shining Armor argues. “There's no way they'd be able to keep a tunneling effort hidden from us...unless...”

“They couldn't get messages to us,” Spitfire completes, realization dawning on both their faces. I start to get it too, and dread fills my heart. “It was a trap.”

“We've been so busy fortifying and preparing for an attack on Trotsdale; we never thought the attack could come from anywhere else,” I complete for them. “But why do they want Cloudsdale? It's just a bunch of clouds right?”

All of the ponies in the room look at me as if I'd just spewed pure idiocy from my mouth. I feel like I'm missing some important context here. “Seth. Cloudsdale has the weather factory,” Rainbow explains. Oh....shit. Somehow I completely forgot about that.

“If they take Cloudsdale, and control of the weather factory with it, they can lay waste to Equestria!” Spitfire shouts. “We have to stop them!”

“You're right, but we don't have the troops to spare. Besides, only pegasi can go to Cloudsdale,” Shining Armor states, anxiety and fear on his face for the first time since the battle began. He then calls to one of the pegasi outside. “You! Soldier! Get this message to the princesses, and fast, you hear me!?”

“Yes sir!” The pegasus shoots off like a rocket.

“No troops to spare? To Tartarus with that! I can tell you right now: I'm going to Cloudsdale!” Rainbow asserts, determination stamped on her features. “Lightning Dust, how many monsters were there?”

“H-Hundreds!” Lightning stammers with fright. Shit, this really is the worst kind of situation. Send a huge force to Trotsdale to scare the shit out of us, and while we're running around shit scared, take the objective with a smaller force while it's mostly undefended.

“I'm going too. That's my home,” Spitfire states, stamping the ground with her hoof. She moves to stand next to Rainbow. “Even if it's just the two of us.”

“It won't be. I'm going with you,” I say, having an idea, causing the different ponies to look at me as if I'm insane.

“What? No, Seth, we need you here,” Shining Armor tells me firmly.

“Look, we don't have time to argue. I'd be of much more use at Cloudsdale. As far as I know, the Oppressed can't fly, so I'd be able to use my magic to its fullest there. Here, I'm just a foot soldier,” I explain quickly. Before Shining Armor can protest, I move to stand with Spitfire and Rainbow, both of whom look at me gratefully.

“You have a point...but,” Shining Armor starts to say, but then he's interrupted when a scroll materializes in midair just above my head in a burst of golden light. “Is that...Princess Celestia's magic?”

I grab the scroll and quickly unroll it, casting my eyes over what's written within. I can tell it was written very hastily, likely because Celestia is fighting herself somewhere. These are orders, sent directly to me due to the magical message link between us.

“Okay. I've been pretty much ordered to go to Cloudsale. Spitfire, you have command of the operation, and you have permission to take half of the Pegasus Corps with us,” I reveal, looking at Spitfire even though I'm essentially addressing everypony the room.

“Got it. Anything else?” Spitfire responds smartly. Next to her, Rainbow is sighing with relief, as is Lightning Dust.

“Yeah, one last thing. Celestia very specifically ordered that we take Pterax with us,” I answer her. They look about as confused as I do about that, but I'm sure that Celestia has a good reason for it.

“What? But...” Shining Armor starts to protest. No doubt he wants to keep Pterax around in case another Mega Oppressed shows up.

“Captain! We need your help out here! They're pressing hard!” a soldier cries from outside. The snarls from the undead is getting closer, meaning the line is being pushed back further. Shining Armor curses and picks up his bardiche, getting ready to get back to it.

“Damn, we have no time! Okay, you get going and take your pegasi with you. I'll keep up the defense and get Lightning Dust somewhere safe,” Shining Armor commands us. Rainbow salutes smartly, while Spitfire and I just nod.

“Can you hold out here without us?” I ask worriedly. It's been difficult even with us here. I can't help but worry that if we leave now, the city will fall because we weren't here.

“Don't worry, I'll do my job. As long as the princesses still stand, we will not fall,” Shining Armor assures me. “Additionally, it can't be too much longer before the griffons get here. Go. You can't let Sombra have the weather factory.”

“Alright. Come on, you two. You're under my command now,” Spitfire tells the two of us. Rainbow and I nod. I don't care who I'm following, as long as we're doing what needs to be done. “Let's move! We've got a city to save.”





Pterax is understandably confused when we pull him away from the front lines, but he quickly joins us in the skies when he hears the situation. He was confused as to why Celestia ordered him to go, however. At this point, I don't care. It's probably because he can fly and use magic at the same time.

While Rainbow and Spitfire go on ahead and rally the other pegasi, I fly above the front lines and fire streams of magic down on the enemy in an attempt to keep Mist behind cover. I don't want her figuring out what we're doing. For all I know, she can contact the force attacking Cloudsdale and let them know we're coming.

Now that I think about it, this explains why I haven't seen any flying undead attacking Trotsdale. I always thought it was a little odd, but now it makes sense. They've all gone to Cloudsdale while we were distracted fighting off the main force. Fuck you, Sombra, for pulling one over on us.

“We're ready to go, Seth. Let's get flying!” Spitfire orders me, swooping in beside me. In her hooves is a boulder, which she hurls down on the enemy forces just for good measure. Rainbow and Pterax fly in on my other side. Behind us are a flock of pegasi, each one of them looking ahead with hardened eyes, determined to save Cloudsdale.

Together, we climb into the skies above Trotsdale. As expected, we quickly draw Mist's attention, but there isn't much she can do apart from fire up at us, but even that halts once Twilight and Rose target her immediately.

Now, I get the first look at the battlefield from above. I wince, looking at the huge number of undead still left for the defenders to defeat. There's still hundreds of them, but at least now I can see the edge of their army a few meters away from the main gate. Compared to them, our defenders appear as a large circle of gold, holding fast against their defense. We've taken a lot of losses, but I can see from here that for every pony that's fallen, we've killed a hundred more undead. If we can keep that up, we might have a chance.

Luna is fighting hard on the southern line, blasting undead here and there, refusing to give up any ground to the enemy. On the waterfront edge, Celestia herself has taken the battlefield, and she's wreaking havoc. In a whirlwind of golden destruction, she annihilates Oppressed and normal undead alike with physical attacks and magical prowess, respectively.

I try to take a glance at the horizon to see if the griffons are on their way, but the view of Baltimare and the sea is blocked by the mountains. Eventually, we leave the battlefield behind, moving swiftly towards Cloudsdale. If we move as fast as we can, we'll get there in half a day at the latest.

According to what I've heard from Rainbow, Cloudsdale tends to move around depending on where it's needed, which is what Shining Armor meant by its “usual resting place.” According to the map, the usual resting place of Cloudsdale is a short distance northwest from Canterlot, just east of the railroad heading to the frozen wastes.

“You know, this is not how I wanted to go back to Cloudsdale,” Rainbow grumbles angrily from her position next to me, after several hours of flying. The three of us are flying ahead of the rest of the group by several meters. She and Spitfire are easily keeping pace with me, though Pterax is lagging behind with the rest.

“What are you talking about?” I ask her curiously. I regret it a second later, because it's obvious. She didn't want to go back to see it under attack like this.

“Because I was actually going to...uh...” Rainbow trails off for a moment, a light blush forming on her face. “...ask you to come with me sometime! It was gonna be so awesome! You and I were gonna see the sights, tour the weather factory, and visit all the cool shops! You know...so you could see the place where I grew up.”

I honestly don't have a response to that. All I feel is pure emotion. Love for the stupid, sappy pony next to me and...you know, I didn't think it was possible to hate Sombra more than I already do, but I've been proven wrong. I hate him even more for ruining Rainbow's innocent dream of taking me to her hometown.

“...Tell you what,” I say, an idea coming to mind. This is going to be pretty sappy, but it's no sappier than what Rainbow just said to me. I turn my head to look at Rainbow, who's looking at me curiously. “When all this is over and Sombra is six feet under...we should get away for a while.”

“Get away?”

“Yeah. Just, take a vacation and fly all over Equestria for a while. It would be just you and me. How's that sound?” I can't believe I'm saying all of this, but it just feels right.

“You mean like a cross country flight? That sounds so cool! We'd fly through all the gorges, over the waterfalls, through the mountains. We'd even go camping in the wild like Daring Do does, and then we'd...” Rainbow shoves a hoof in her own mouth to shut herself up before she gets too excited. She takes a deep breath, and then sighs. “Yeah. That would be awesome. You just better make sure you take down Sombra beforehoof, okay?”

I reach out and grasp one of Rainbow's hooves, ignoring Spitfire near us. It'll only be for a second anyway. “Okay. It's a promise.”

With that, we fall silent, content in our promise. Now, we can turn our gaze towards the future. Towards Cloudsdale, and whatever creatures are awaiting us.

I'm off to save Rainbow's hometown.
> 111. The Cloudsdale Ambush
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 	Cloudsdale looms over the horizon just as the sun is passing its zenith. This is my first time seeing it, and it takes my breath away. It's basically a city where everything is made of clouds, complete with rainbows spanning the rooftops and rivers of every color surging alongside the streets made of ice that pour over the edge of the clouds. To sum it up, it's every fantasy writer's dream.

The only stain on its beauty is the fact that a battle between our forces and the enemy's is raging over the rooftops. The Cloudsdale city guard, consisting of all pegasi dressed in their city's colors, are clashing in midair with Sombra's undead. They consists of hundreds of undead pegasi with webbed wings, rather than feathered like they should be. There's also what looks like undead griffons flying around as well, with their wings made out of that same webbed material. It doesn't make any sense considering that griffons are part bird rather than part bat.

The defenders are far limited in number and experience, and are clearly struggling. If we don't get there soon, there's no way they'll be able to hold the city. Even now, some of the pegasi are ducking down into the city to take cover, only to be chased by the undead.

“Spitfire,” I address the captain, having a sudden idea. When I make sure I've got her attention, I continue. “Can we use the weather factory against them? Wouldn't a tornado or storm rip their army apart?”

“Not an option. Once we create a group of clouds, it needs time to be prepared into a storm. How do you think we get storms anywhere if they're already raining by the time we produce them?” Spitfire returns. She doesn't give me a chance to argue back, however. “That aside, there's also the fact that once we unleash them, we only have limited control over them. If we make a storm the size it would take to do any real damage, we'll no doubt lose control over it and it'll destroy all of us indiscriminately. No, it's too much of a risk.”

“Ugh, and let me guess, Sombra's just willing to use it because he doesn't give a shit how many undead die as collateral,” I complain, even though I understand her reasoning well enough. A powerful super-cell storm is impractical to set up, and dangerous to all of us. I guess I didn't really think that through.

“That's right. Even if we were to pull out all of our ponies and do it anyway, the storm would no doubt drift towards Canterlot, what with the way the wind's blowing,” Spitfire finishes. I hang my head, disappointed. So it's just a bad idea all the way around. “We'll just have to hope that we can handle the enemy with the forces we've got now. It looks like we're still outnumbered, however.”

“What I'd like to know is how Sombra whipped up an army this massive in such a short time,” I state, eyeing the huge cloud of undead fliers that we're about to go up against. It's true. Even with the forces we're bringing, they still outnumber us four to one. But this time...there's no Oppressed. That means there's absolutely nothing they can do to hurt me. I grin a bit at that thought. I'm going to absolutely annihilate them.

“Me too. But worry about that later. We're getting close,” Spitfire tells me. I nod, turning my gaze forward again. From the way things are going, we're going to him them right from the flank. If we keep our momentum, we could do some real damage. Once I get in the thick of them, I'll go on a rampage and find their leader. I just hope it isn't Hawke. Next to me, Spitfire raises her hoof and addresses the rest of the Pegasus Corps. “Get ready, everypony! These unliving monsters thought they could pull a fast one on us and steal Cloudsdale right from under our noses! Now are we going to take that?!”

The resounding negative is enough to make my ears ring, especially with Rainbow joining in from her position next to me.

“That's right! Now let's show them what we pegasi are made of! This is for Cloudsdale!” Spitfire roars, and then she picks up speed, leading the charge into the enemy forces. The front of our army measures a score and a half wide, with Pterax, Rainbow, Spitfire, and me up front.

The undead pegasi on the flank facing us don't even know what hit them when our front lines burst out from concealment in a cloud bank and crash right into them, knocking them aside like ninepins. Spitfire lays into the first undead she sees with her hooves, beating it to a pulp within seconds. Rainbow is right next to her, showing similar treatment to another undead nearby. All along our front lines, our pegasi collide with the enemy.

Leaving my sword sheathed, I fly into the enemy as well, my body wreathed with green magic. I tear through the enemy like a knife through warm butter. My magic empowered fists completely disintegrate any undead I target, and my aura badly burns any undead in my path. I'm like an unstoppable juggernaut, power emanating from my body in waves.

“Stay back!” I shout loudly to alert any pegasi near me. Once I'm clear, I rush into a group of enemies, forming two orbs of lime green magic in either palm. As I fly, these orbs stream behind pure energy as if tearing the sky. I come to a swift halt, orienting my arms in a spiral pattern.

A quick turn of my body causes a circle of searing magic to surround me. As I spin again and again in midair, a tornado of magic forms. Then, I become completely still, just before I thrust out my arms to either side of me, sending the tornado exploding outwards in a wave of destructive force.

Any undead within several meters of me is incinerated in the storm of magical power. Even as the wave eventually dissipates and the undead start to swarm back in, I've cleared enough room for Spitfire and the Pegasus Corps to swoop in and join with the rest of the Cloudsdale city guard, who cheer loudly at their arrival.

“Nice job, Seth. Thanks for coming along with us,” Spitfire compliments me, even as she looks a little taken aback by my power. “You've gotten a lot stronger since the last time I saw you.”

“Oh please, that was nothing. Twilight could have done that,” I boast as I face the enemy, feeling a little full of myself. Just to reassure myself that it's still there, I touch upon the well of magical energy hidden deep within me, hinting at the presence of my transformation. If things keep going as well as they are, I won't even need to use it. “You haven't seen anything yet.”

As the Pegasus Corps and I engage the undead pegasi rushing towards us, Spitfire turns to address the nearest city guard, who I assume is their leader due to his embellished uniform. Because this fight isn't challenging me in the slightest, I listen in on what they're saying.

“Corporal, what's the situation? How many casualties?” Spitfire demands.

“Captain, I'm so glad you're here. They came right at dawn and hit us when we weren't expecting it. We lost everypony on duty at the front of the city in the first assault. They even tried to attack the civilians!” the corporal responds frantically, looking as if he wanted to hug Spitfire. “The ones on guard...sacrificed themselves so that the civilians could escape.”

“Where are the civilians now?” Spitfire follows up, her voice hard.

“We've fortified the central hub and hid them inside. Now, everypony we've got is out here fighting,” is the corporal's response.

“Good thinking. Do you know where the enemy is coming from?” Spitfire presses, trying to get as much information as she can.

“They came out of holes in the hillside down below, near the gorge! They're still coming!” The corporal finishes. Spitfire nods and turns to me.

“Seth!” She calls just as I take down a full score of undead that were attempting to make for the city. This is way too easy for me, so I turn around to look at Spitfire, nailing a griffon in the face with the back of my fist as I do so. The hapless creature's face is demolished just from that simple hit. “Your orders are to locate the tunnels and collapse them. With your power, that should be easy for you.”

“Okay. Where are they?” I respond, looking around.

“Head to the west. It'll likely be near a huge gorge in the ground. If in doubt, just look for the swarms of undead,” Spitfire clarifies, indicating the right direction.

“Got it,” I respond simply, then beat my way through a crowd of undead while searching the ground for any sign of the tunnels. The source is easy to spot, because there's a seemingly never-ending stream of undead flying out of a hillside. Now I just have to fight my way through it.

Pterax and Rainbow are fighting with the rest of the Pegasus Corps, the former blasting undead with beams of changeling magic and the latter laying into them with her hooves. At Rainbow's speed, she's easily flying circles around the enemy. To outmaneuver the enemy, Pterax changes form frequently.

Without waiting for help, I charge into the enemy ranks with a grin stamped upon my face. As I am right now, I feel unstoppable. Compared to how I felt during the siege of Trotsdale, it's a very welcome feeling. Plus, if I can end this quickly, we can get back to Trotsdale, where we're needed the most.

I turn and kick an undead pegasi with my right foot, obliterating it, and then I reach behind me and grab the talon of the griffon trying to slash me with my bare hands. With it, I hurl it over my shoulder into a group of three undead pegasi, who I then quickly obliterate with a blast of magic. Reaching my arms out, I grab the necks of two more pegasi and smash them together, before proceeding to use them to bludgeon several other undead to pieces. That entire exchange took place in only five seconds.

Now that I've cleared some space, I fly towards the gorge where the undead are coming from. I don't get very far. I hear a guttural roar from beside me, and then suddenly a massive set of jaws clamps down around me, courtesy of a large undead dragon.

“Now, that would hurt...if I was normal,” I retort, holding the creature's jaws open with both hands. It's easy to pry them apart and slide out. Then, just because I'm pissed that it tried to eat me, my fist barrels into its chin in a vicious uppercut, sending the dragon flying. To finish it off, I unsheathe my sword and execute a series of horizontal and vertical slashes, each one sending a cutting arc of magic downwards towards the dragon. Every single one finds its mark, slicing the dragon into pieces. “You guys really shouldn't have wasted something as strong as a dragon on me. Better stick to Oppressed, assholes.”

Thus unimpeded, I sheathe my sword again and halt in midair above the tunnel entrances, which are in the walls of the gorge down below. I lift my hand, forming an orb of magic there. One quick blast should cave in all the tunnels at once...and likely widen the gorge a bit in the process. If we do this, we can crush their reinforcements in fallen earth, and thus win the battle. As strong as I am, I can't be everywhere.

“This'll take care of...” I start to say, but I don't get to finish. Just as I'm starting to fire my readied blast, I'm completely blindsided from the right. Something hard slams right into my center of gravity, cutting right through my magical protection as if it isn't even there. The force behind the attack is so strong that I'm sent careening through the air, my hand flying up and releasing my attack harmlessly up towards the sky.

So great is my momentum, I streak through our allied forces and pass into Cloudsdale, finally coming to a stop when I slam into the icy streets and slide several meters. “What the fuck was that?!” I groan, pressing against the street to lift myself up. If I hadn't cast my cloudwalking spell, I probably would have gone right through the street; I doubt this ice is that thick.

I leap to my feet and take a moment to get my bearings. Judging from the wide open space I'm in, this must be the central portion of Cloudsdale. In the center of the plaza is a raised circular platform upon which an elaborate fountain is set up. Instead of spewing water, however, a vibrant liquid rainbow gently pours from the top and cascades down the multiple levels.

On the other side of the plaza are residential buildings, if the draped windows and balconies are anything to go by. Behind me, there's large circular structure with a domed surface, complete with pillars reminiscent of Greek design supporting the roof. All of the above is made out of carefully sculpted clouds. Further beyond is a strange building that's so large, I can see it from here, even as far away as it is. It looks almost like a factory...with lots of free clouds surrounding it. If I had to guess, I'd say that's the weather factory. The domed building must be the central hub...which means the civilians are inside.

But first and foremost, who the fuck just hit me? Rubbing the side of my head, I feel a tender area where a painful lump is forming. What the hell...I had my magic focused around my body to make damage from all sources practically negligible, and whatever that was cut through it like it was nothing...just like what an Oppressed does. But that's impossible...they can't fly.

The fluttering of wings brings my attention up to the sky, where a single pegasus stallion is flying down from the battle above to the icy street just across the way from me. A single crimson eye stares down at me from the left side of his face, letting me know that this pegasus is in no way allied to us. I ignite my magical aura in preparation for a fight.

“Seth Rogers....I was hoping to meet you,” the pegasus says, his voice silky smooth and wholly unpleasant to listen to, as if his lips were emitting nothing but pure poison. He folds his wings and steps forward so I can get a closer look at him.

The pegasus is of an abnormally larger build, standing taller than Rainbow or Spitfire, but remaining proportional otherwise. His coat is an orange so light that it almost appears tan, but is too dark to be so. As for his mane, it's as black as night with large streaks of white passing through it, and it’s pulled back around his head and tied into a long ponytail. His right eye, as well as the majority of the right side of his face, is covered by his mane, revealing only his nose and mouth. Unlike General Mist, this pegasus is wearing a set of tight fitting robes, colored mostly white with accents of black and gold, complete with a reddish collar that matches the crimson of his single visible eye. Attached to his two front hooves are two metal braces that cling tightly to his legs. Lastly, a glimmering ruby pendant hangs around his neck, from which I can sense a hint of magic.

“Who are you? A general, I presume?” I challenge, clenching my fists. This must be their leader, considering how tough he is. However, that doesn't make much sense, because he isn't a unicorn. How the hell does he control the undead?

The pegasus gives me a brief, polite bow, though I feel like he's mocking me. “I am General Silent Shatter, of his Majesty's King Sombra's forces, at your service,” he reveals, taking a few steps closer to me. “I must say, I was hoping I would be the one assigned to deal with you.”

“What are you talking about?” Assigned to deal with me? They way he said that almost makes it seem like they knew I was going to be here.

“Oh, come now. Surely you didn't think your arrival was unexpected?” Shatter responds, one side of his mouth curling up in a smug smile. “Though I must say, we expected it to be one of the princesses that came here. We were under the impression that your magic was gone.”

Okay, that makes a little more sense. This must have been a trap to lure the princesses out, but I'm the one that took the bait instead. Once again, I'm taken aback by Sombra's planning. Not only did he use Trotsdale as a trap for our forces, but he was also intending to take out one of the princesses when they came to save Cloudsdale. But that still leaves one detail that I don't quite understand.

“So, this was a trap then?” I ask, wanting to hear him say it for myself. Shatter's smile widens.

“But of course. In the end, it doesn't matter who takes the bait. Either way, we will be rid of one of Equestria's strongest defenders and gain control of the weather factory, all at the same time,” Shatter responds. I can't help but notice that he moves one of his front hooves to emphasize his words as he talks. “Though, I'm glad it was you that came. You see, I didn't get to go back in time with my King. Only Governor-General Vanta had that honor. I never had the chance to see your kind for myself.”

“Take a good look then. You're stupider than I thought if you think you can handle me on your own,” I tell him confidently, forming an orb of magic in my right hand. He's just a pegasus. There's no way he can take a hit from me head on.

“Oh? You're sure you want to waste time fighting me?” Shatter asks innocently, tapping his chest with his hoof. “You're alright with watching your pegasus allies die in battle against our unstoppable army?”

“Unstoppable? Please. I'll just beat the shit out of you and then wipe out your army next. It was a big mistake coming here with just normal undead,” I snap back at him, getting more annoyed with everything this guy says. He's just so confident...I want to wipe that smirk off of his face.

“Even if I told you there's a separate undead force coming from the west?” Shatter offers. That gets me to freeze. Wait, what? Another...but...Spitfire and the others will get overwhelmed if they're attacked from both sides! I need to take this guy out as fast as I can.

“That's it! Go to hell!” I yell at the general. I finally go on the offensive, hurling orb after orb of scalding green magic at him. Shatter doesn't even try to dodge, standing there grinning even as the first attack impacts him right in the chest and explodes. The blast is so great, the street around his hooves shatters, sending shards of ice and puffs of cloud into the air. Each subsequent blast only increases the destruction at that single point, to the point where it gets the attention of the ponies hiding in the central hub, who are now peering out of the windows at us with hints of fright in their faces.

I stare at the explosion, allowing myself to relax. Well, that takes care of...what the fuck!? Before I can react, Shatter zooms out of the explosion, completely unharmed, and knocks me back several feet with a hammer blow to my jaw with his front hoof. His assault cleaves right through my magical protection, such that I can feel a bruise forming at the point of impact.

“How...?” I try to say, holding my jaw, but Silent is already flying at me once more, his wings keeping him in the air. Deciding to worry about the details later, I go on the defensive, watching his hooves closely. When he attacks, I move my body around his hooves, dodging each one that he sends at me. However, he's just as fast. When I try to counter attack with a punch of my own, Shatter swiftly moves aside then ducks inside of my effective range. In the split second I have before his hoof hits my ribs, I knock him upwards with a magically empowered knee to his chest.

Shatter grunts and retreats, hovering a short ways away from me. I gape at him in shock. An attack like the one I just hit him with should have broken several ribs, if not defeated him outright. What the hell is up with this guy?

“You look surprised,” Shatter observes, his smirk returning. He lowers himself back to the street, brushing the ice shards off of his robes with a hoof. “Shall I explain it to you?”

Something's not right with this general. His attacks cut through my magical protection like nothing, and even my own magic can't harm him. It's almost as if he's one of the Oppressed...but how is that possible? “What are you? You're not Oppressed, so you can't be resistant to magic!” I shout at him with frustration. I can't waste time here...I need to beat him down and warn Spitfire about the reinforcements from the west before it's too late.

Shatter gives an amused laugh. “You call them 'Oppressed,' do you? Tell me, dear Seth. Just how do you think they get that immunity in the first place?”

That gets me to freeze. Oh shit...I have a feeling I'm not going to like what I'm about to hear. “They...I thought it was just intrinsic to them, because they used to be humans,” I respond, but judging by Shatter's chilling laugh, that must not be the right answer.

“Not quite. Though that is part of it,” Shatter corrects me. “You see, Vanta wasn't just wasting his time poking and prodding at dead bodies, you see. His job was to develop and store an army superior to that of any other.”

“Using the unique resources present in the human body as well as the raw potential of channeled electricity, Vanta managed to induce this immunity in his creations, which you call Oppressed,” Shatter continues. Hardly anything about what he said makes any real sense, however. “He spent the last years of his life...or rather, his unlife...attempting to create a prototype serum that would work on himself...but it seems he perished before he could fully perfect it.”

“Get to the point,” I snap, getting impatient. I don't have the time to listen to a scientific explanation.

“As you wish. Where do you think that serum went?” Shatter proceeds. Before the meaning of his words fully sinks it, he lifts a hoof and brushes his mane aside, revealing his right eye. I recoil in shock and revulsion as a truly grotesque sight is revealed. His right eye looks mostly normal, but the side of his head is covered by spidery veins of dim crimson light, forming some type of arcane scar the likes of which I've never seen. It doesn't look healthy, because the skin around the flowing magic looks to be deteriorating. “That's right. I was the test subject for this immunity serum. That is why I was sent here to Cloudsdale. You cannot harm me with your magic, human.”

“What? Goddamn it, how many creatures am I going to come across that I can't fight with my magic!?” I demand, thoroughly worried now. That explains why Shatter was sent here. This really was a trap. If he completely ignores magic, any alicorn that may have been sent here would have been in very real danger, as they would have to fight him in purely physical combat. Suddenly, an even more chilling implication occurs to me. “Wait, 'test subject?' Does that mean...”

“Relax. The serum will not be used on anypony else. As you can see, it's destroying my body. It won't be long before I'm living in a flesh construct myself,” Shatter admits, letting his mane fall back over his disfigured eye. “Now, are you satisfied? Perhaps you'd be willing to surrender. I know the Governor-General would like a word with you.”

“Surrender? Get real,” I retort, feeling reassured by Shatter's words. That means that Sombra won't be immunizing himself to magic or anything like that. Plus, I have something here that'll make that serum of his totally useless. As Shatter watches, I reach to my side and unsheathe my sword with a screech of metal on metal. “If I can't destroy you with magic, I'll slice you to bits. Come on, Shatter. Enough talking.”

Shatter narrows his eyes, watching my blade with the caution it deserves. The two of us start to circle one another, searching for any openings in the other's guard. We remain completely silent, all of our attention focused on the other's movements.

We both attack at the exact same time. I propel myself forward with a blast of magic beneath my feet, and Shatter flies to meet me with his natural speed. I bring my sword down on him, but he blocks it with the metal brace on his right hoof. His other hoof swings forward, but I remove a hand from the hilt of my sword and redirect it with my wrist before retaliating with a swift kick.

Shatter is faster. He leaps back to avoid my foot and then immediately moves his head out of the way of my follow up stab. I want to keep him on the defensive, so I slash at him repeatedly, aiming for any part of his body that I can reach. Shatter moves like smoke in the wind, twisting and turning his body every which way so that my blade whistles past him harmlessly. Anything he can't dodge, he blocks with his hoofbands, sparks emanating from the impacts,

Finally, Shatter ducks beneath a horizontal slice and rams his head directly into my chest, knocking me up in the air while slightly winding me. He flies up to meet me, his hoof swinging in for a follow up attack before I can recover. Well, as far as he thinks. I right myself in midair with magic and block his attack with the flat of my blade, and then I grab his hoof with my other hand and hurl him clear across the street into one of the residential buildings. The wall gives way before the impact, sending Shatter into some poor pony's living room. Thankfully, the house is currently uninhabited.

“Raagh!” My eyes widen as Shatter hurls an entire table through the hole at me. I easily cut the table into pieces to keep from being hit, but Shatter is there a second afterwards. He grabs my face painfully with his hooves and throws me into the street against the wall of the central hub, where the ice cracks beneath the impact.

Before I can move, Shatter is in my face, pinning me against the wall with a swift punch to the stomach. As I'm coughing and wheezing from the hit, he slams a hoof into my wrist, causing me to drop my sword into the streets. Oh shit.

Shatter quickly grabs the blade with his right hoof and swings it at my neck, forcing me to throw myself to the ground in order to keep my head where it is. I don't know if his magic immunity extends to the weapons he's holding, but I'm not going to take that chance.

The general moves his hooves over his head to bring down a powerful overhead chop, but I duck beneath him and shoulder rush his belly, knocking him off balance and hurling him away. Shatter quickly rights himself and swerves around me, hoping to hit me from the side where I'm unguarded.

He speeds up to an incredible rate, so even as I turn, he's already moving. I let out a cry and move my body just in time to avoid his charge, the blade slicing through my shirt and nicking my skin, drawing blood and confirming my suspicion that the blade also nullifies my magic as long as he's holding it.

As I'm recovering, Shatter maneuvers behind me and once again aims for my neck, so I have to duck once more. I turn around just in time to catch his fetlock as he's bringing the sword down again. My other hand catches his other hoof as he attempts to dislodge me. Suddenly the two of us are in a test of strength as we glare into one other's eyes and push against one another. Quickly, I'm reminded of the fact that ponies will always have stronger muscles than humans, especially ones that constantly fly all the time. Even as buffed up as I am now, Rainbow can still beat me in a test of physical strength.

I let out a grunt of pain as Shatter breaks the stalemate by ramming his head directly into mine, causing me to disengage my hold on him. Even as disoriented as I am, I manage to ram both of my hands into the crook of his right leg, disarming him before he can seriously hurt me.

Both of us watch as the blade tumbles down through the air and passes right through the clouds, falling down and down below the cloud layer, on its way down to the ground and out of reach. I got rid of his weapon, but also lost mine as well. Not to mention, disarming him cost me the initiative, and Shatter quickly goes on the counteroffensive, pummeling me with both hooves repeatedly. Finally, he turns and swiftly bucks me down to the street near the fountain. I feel a piercing pain in my chest from the impact, letting me know I've probably cracked a few ribs from that one hit.

“And now you're weaponless. Quite convenient for me, don't you think?” Shatter gloats, zooming down towards where I'm resting on the ground. Acting on impulse, I dip my hand into the liquid rainbow and fling the scalding hot liquid onto Shatter's face, ignoring the burning pain on my hand. “Gah!”

Shatter retreats, nursing his face from the burning rainbow on his face. I seize the moment and leap up at him, but he quickly recovers enough to dodge my punch and deal out one of his own, knocking me into the living room of the building behind me.

“Shit, this is bad,” I whisper to myself, , my body aching all over. That nasty immunity to magic he's got has really put me in a bad spot. I'm basically trying to fight a pony without any magic; a pony that seems like he's been militarily trained.

“Please, that was an amateurish mistake. It's almost as if you haven't been trained,” Shatter criticizes me, looking down at me with a sneer as I fly out of the building. Good, as long as he's talking, I'll take a moment to catch my breath. It doesn't help that I've been moving for almost a full twenty four hours now without rest.

“I haven't...I taught myself how to fight,” I pant. I was magically trained, but not physically. That much I had to pick up on my own, because there's not a single pony that understands how to use a human body to its fullest potential.

“And yet they still use you in a command position. Oh, how the Equestrian military has fallen,” Shatter jeers derisively. I growl and fly towards him, my fists at the ready. “You think you can beat me? I've been fighting for years. You're out of your depth, human!”

Shatter easily dodges my assault, moving noticeably faster than before, as if he had been going easy on me earlier. I only barely manage to block his retaliatory punch with my forearm. I fall back before him as the general releases a flurry of lightning fast punches and kicks that I can barely block, and even when I do, they hurt like a bitch without my magical protection.

I can't stay on the defensive, or he'll crush me. The moment I see an opening, I slide between his punches and plant an uppercut on his jaw, but it hardly seems to faze him. Shatter brings his head back down and grits his teeth. When I swing another punch towards his leg joint, he curls his hoof around my arm and slips beneath me, throwing me over top of him towards another building.

This time, I'm more prepared. I plant my feet against the surface of the building and propel myself off of it, meeting Shatter as he zooms towards me as well, intending to follow up his attack. My fists meet his hooves again and again as we exchange attacks, trying to get past one another's guard. Each time our limbs meet, a painful vibration travels down my arms. He's physically stronger than I am and more skilled. If I keep fighting him, he's going to start breaking bones, and then it'll be over.

“Give up!” Shatter growls, shoving me back into the wall of the building behind me with his two front hooves.

“Fuck you!” I retort, lunging towards him and wrapping my arms around his barrel. With my momentum, I carry him towards the ground, holding to use him to absorb the impact. What I don't account for are his legs. Shatter brings up his back leg to kick me in the stomach, causing me to loosen my grip on reflex. Shatter rotates us in midair such that I'm the one who hits the ground first, on my stomach..

The air once again leaves my lungs, and I wheeze and cough, saliva flying out of my mouth. Frustration overtakes me as I flip myself over and repel Shatter off of me with a few swift punches. It's just one general! If I can just beat him, we'll win the battle! The undead can't resist my magic like he can, after all.

I get to my feet, and Shatter lands a few feet away. The two of us charge one another at the same time without missing a beat. The two of us clash together, fist meeting cannon bone and hoof meeting forearm. Briefly, we exchange swift attacks, neither of us managing to inflict any real damage. Eventually, Shatter reads through one of my moves and knocks me away with his head, and then sends me skidding backwards with an agile backflip kick.

I stare over at Shatter, growling and wiping a trail of blood from my lip. Something's been bothering me ever since he revealed his immunity to magic. “With your ability, why don't you take on Sombra? He won't be able to touch you,” I demand, taking a moment to catch my breath.

“The thought has occurred to me, of course,” Shatter admits, surprisingly enough. Since seeing Vanta, Hawke, and Mist, I've generally thought of all of Sombra's generals to be fiercely loyal to him. “But alas, this body won't last long. I need him to keep me alive.”

“I see,” I respond, taken aback. That actually makes a surprising amount of sense. His body is dying from the serum, and he needs Sombra's necromancy to stay alive. “You're pretty forthcoming for an evil bastard.”

“I've always liked conversing with my enemies. It's so I can watch the despair in their eyes as their last hopes drain away,” Shatter responds, and then he's flying at me again, forcing me to shift into a defensive stance just in time to intercept his assault. “I'll tell you one thing, however. I'm going to deal with that Hawke character.”

“With Hawke? Isn't he your commanding officer?” I grunt, ducking beneath his punch lashing back at him with a two handed swing, which he dodges.

“I will never accept his command,” Shatter snarls, his hooves meeting with my fists such that our faces are close together as we strain against one another's strength. “I was serving King Sombra long before he entered the picture. If anyone should have gained the position of Governor General, it should have been me!”

Shatter cuts off when I manage to get in a lucky shot to his chest, winding him and causing him to cough. His eyes narrow and he quickly retaliates with a fierce headbutt that knocks me back and causes me to see stars. While I'm disoriented, he follows up by throwing me up into the air. Before I can right myself, he swerves around in front of me and kicks me right back down, completely reversing my momentum.

I skid across the ground, my ribs certainly broken by now. I force myself to my feet, pressing my hand against my side. A sharp pain greets me, confirming my earlier suspicions. This isn't good. I don't think I've landed any satisfying hits on him.

“Dammit, I'm sick of being on the losing end!” I shout angrily. When Shatter starts to fly down to me, I meet him halfway, speeding myself up with magic and hitting him head on. Immune to magic maybe, but not immune to pure momentum.

“Get used to it!” Shatter snaps back, easily avoiding my angry rush. He quickly spins his body in midair and deals me a swift kick in the back, propelling me fair up in the air, the wind rushing past my face. When I right myself, I find myself high above Cloudsdale. Shatter quickly hovers to join me, though he pauses at first. “Look around at your army, human. It was a valiant effort, but all has gone as anticipated.”

It doesn't look good. In front of me to the northeast, the Pegasus Corps is fighting with the Cloudsdale city guard against the steadily swelling mass of undead. While we had been doing really well before, they've lost their momentum now that I'm not there to support them. They're taking casualties, while the undead's numbers only swell.

“We can still win...I just have to kill you and then wipe out your army,” I respond, sounding more confident than I feel. Shatter's smirk returns.

“But can you do that before our reinforcements arrive?” Shatter challenges me in that cocky manner of his that makes me want to tear him limb from limb. I'm about to answer, but then he starts to laugh. “Oh, it seems the answer would be no. They're already here.”

I quickly turn to the west in alarm, fearing the worst. Sure enough, there's a mass of greenish gray dots approaching in the distance, growing steadily closer. From here, I can make out hundreds upon hundreds of them, dwarfing the size of the army already fighting the Pegasus Corps. Dread fills my heart as I realize just what's going to happen. Shatter isn't going to let me help them, so they're going to get hit from both sides and annihilated...and Rainbow's with them!

I can't believe this. We're all totally screwed.
	
> 112. She Who Feeds Upon Love
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 	My body seems to lock up, horror overtaking me as the reality of what's about to happen sinks in. There's so many of them...where the hell did Sombra get this many undead for his army? This was supposed to be an easy defense, but we fell right into their trap. I'm the Pegasus's Corps strongest asset right now, and if I can't get free to help them, they'll all be killed by the undead reinforcements...even Rainbow.

“Get out of my way!” I yell angrily, throwing myself at Shatter without any thought of the consequences. Shatter smirks and holds his position, intercepting my poorly thought out assault and easily flipping me in the air through a swift maneuver of his hooves. Disoriented, I'm forced to take a moment to catch my bearings. I half expect Shatter to push his advantage, but he seems content to watch me struggle as his reinforcements get closer. Growling, I zoom at him once more, unleashing a flurry of punches towards any part of him that I can reach.

Shatter crosses his front hooves and easily maneuvers his body around my attacks with just his wings, occasionally ducking his head beneath some of them. “Now this is just pathetic. You were doing better against me before. This is foal's play, now that you've lost your cool,” the general scoffs, smacking me hard on the side of my head. Shooting pain lances through my head to the point where I almost black out, but I don't stop there. I return to the assault, hoping to get at least one hit on him. “Have you lost hope? Or is it that there's somepony you care about up there, about to be massacred by my undead?”

The general lifts his hooves and blocks a powerful double handed blow from me aimed for his head, his one visible eye narrowed and thoroughly unamused. I growl down at him with my teeth grinding together, the only thought on my mind is bashing this pegasus' head in. Shatter sighs, as if bored. He lifts a back leg and kicks me right in the stomach again, causing me to double over.

Shatter leaps onto my back, constricting my throat with his two front hooves and holding me in place. He turns me around so that I'm forced to look at the oncoming reinforcements, which are so close that I can make out the individual undead. “Take a good look,” the general hisses as I struggle in his grip. It seems like the harder that I try to break free, the more his hooves squeeze around my throat. It's getting hard to breathe. “Say your farewells now, while you can. Your little pegasus friends won't be able to stand up against General Mist's crowning achievement.”

Shatter points my head towards the front of the approaching undead formation. Like the army we're currently fighting, the undead amongst them are smaller dragons, griffons, or pegasi...with the exception of the single undead at the front. My eyes widen at the sight.

At the head of the enemy army is a massive flying wyrm, unlike any dragon I've seen so far. It's so large, I estimate it's easily above twenty meters tall, with a similarly stretching wingspan. Its head is enormous, easily enough to swallow me and any number of pegasi whole.

“She's a novice at necromancy, but she's always had a knack for controlling larger undead,” Shatter explains casually, as if we weren't in the middle of a battle to the death. “Not bad for a former slave, don't you think?”

My struggles start to cease as hopelessness sets in. Against something that size, not even Pterax can hope to fight it. Without any magical support from me, the Pegasus Corps will get annihilated. I gaze at the enemy reinforcements, cursing my rotten luck.

To make it worse, the wyrm opens its mouth and releases a gout of green flame, letting me know that it can use magic as well. How could things possibly get any...hold on a minute. A sudden thought enters my mind at the sight of that flame. I've never seen a single undead use magic before. Even the undead unicorns never showed a single spark. No way...could it be...?

Shatter starts to notice something is amiss as well, because his grip loosens slightly around me as he tilts his head, looking at his reinforcements oddly. “Wait...something isn't right,” Shatter says uncertainly, watching the dragon and the other undead approach. I feel his grip loosen further and let myself fall slack, I’m just waiting for a chance to get free. “I wasn't aware that she discovered a way to allow undead to use magic...”

The reinforcements draw closer to the Pegasus Corps, who have recently noticed their approach and are starting to panic. Even Spitfire looks extremely worried, as she's now snapping out orders as quickly as possible to prepare for the inevitable assault.

The wyrm starts to glow with a sickly green aura, its entire body eventually burning alight with sheer magical power, enough to fill the air with a very familiar crushing feeling that I've only felt once before. As the realization hits me, I let out a sigh of relief and start to grin. Shatter's in for a rude awakening.

“What!?” Shatter screams in utter shock when the wyrm's body explodes outwards, bits of undead flash scattering in every direction before dissipating in the wind.

Out of the gory display soars Queen Chrysalis, her fangs bared and a blood chilling battle cry tearing from her throat. Around her, the other undead start to shed their disguises all at once, revealing thousands of changelings stretching all the way to the horizon. Next to Chrysalis, Mantis sheds his disguise as well. At Chrysalis' cry, they all lower their heads and fire countless beams of magic from their horns towards the enemy forces, blasting holes in rotted flesh and shooting down any undead unlucky enough to get their wings damaged.

Spitfire, after realizing the situation, quickly reorganizes her pegasi. She is finally free to catch her breath. Now that the changelings have arrived, there's not nearly as much pressure on them as there was before. She directs her pegasi into a counterattack, hitting the undead as they try to face this new threat. When the changelings meet the enemy lines, there's a clash of epic proportions. Chrysalis tears through the undead with ease, laughing with delight as she does so.

“How can this be...uh!?” Shatter cuts off with a grunt as I slam my elbow into his stomach, winding him and causing him to release my neck. Pushing my advantage, I whirl around and plant my palm into Shatter's chest, sending him hurtling down through the roof of a building below. When he emerges from the wreckage, his smirk is gone, to be replaced with grim determination. “You. Human. Explain now. What are those!?”

“Never heard of changelings before? I guess you haven't done your homework,” I shoot back, confidence returning to me in droves now that the cavalry has arrived, so to speak. With the changeling army behind us, there's no way we can lose now.

“So they're your allies...” Shatter growls, wiping sweat away from his brow. “No matter. I have more than enough power to deal with you. Once you die, our trap will be complete. Then, I will wipe out their commander and retreat. I will not let you have this victory!”

Shatter suddenly speeds towards me faster than I've ever seen him go, quickly slipping beneath my guard and pummeling me with swift punches to my my chest, pushing me back. After coughing up a bit of blood, I manage to get my bearings and put up my arms, blocking some of his strikes. He's strong, though, and he's no longer holding back. I feel like my skin is going to peel off from the pain from every hit that impacts my guard.

“I don't have time for this! Just die!” Shatter yells at me, losing his cool for the first time since this battle began. He viciously kicks me down towards the street, where I roll over several times and skid across the icy street painfully. He flies after me hastily in order to follow up...but he never gets that far.

“Time's up,” Chrysalis says sweetly, seconds before she grabs Shatter by the neck and slams him into the ground. She's not done. The queen gallops across the street, grinding the general's face against the ground for several seconds, before finally hurling him with incredible strength through three buildings. I can't help but gape at her, her strength and timely arrival rendering me speechless.

The queen pauses for a moment to check the streets, and then she turns around and casually walks towards me, her chitinous hooves clicking against the heavily damaged icy street. She doesn't look at me at first, instead taking a moment to look around. She looks with interest into the pool of liquid rainbow, going so far as to dip her hoof into it...which of course makes her withdraw it with a wince of pain.

“I do hope you're happy to see me,” Chrysalis finally says, dipping her head down to my level, a confident smirk that bares her fangs on her face. I quickly compose myself, shutting my mouth and attempting to straighten up...only to realize that I still have broken ribs. Chrysalis notices my wince of pain and looks at me with surprise and a little amusement. “Are you serious? That pathetic little pony was able to hurt you? I expected more from you, Seth.”

“Shut up....he can negate all magic, and he's a more skilled fighter than I am. What the hell was I supposed to do?” I shoot back, irritated from the condescending tone in Chrysalis' voice. As happy as I am to see her (and I can't fucking believe I just thought that), I still don't like her one bit.

“Really? He can't be hurt by magic?” Chrysalis asks, looking genuinely surprised. Sure enough, as if to cement my point, Shatter emerges from the ruins of one of the buildings, glaring at Chrysalis and I with fury. The left side of his face is cut badly, from where shards of ice from the streets had sliced through the skin. The moment he appears, I drop into a defensive stance, while Chrysalis just eyes him warily, seeming to take the enemy far more seriously now that she knows she's at a disadvantage. “It seems you're right. That attack would have killed any other pony.”

“Who are you, creature?” Shatter demands, his voice cracking like a whip as he stares at Chrysalis with simmering anger present in his eyes.

“Oh, I suppose I haven't introduced myself yet,” Chrysalis responds, lifting up a hoof and gazing at it, as if she didn't really care about the whole situation. “I am Queen Chrysalis, monarch of the changeling race, and temporarily allies with Equestria.”

“Where are my reinforcements?” Shatter snaps back, showing little to no reaction to Chrysalis' identity.

Chrysalis gives a chilling laugh, licking her lips in a disturbing manner. She's still as terrifying and psychotic as always, but it's nice to know that sadism isn't being directed at me for once. “Them? I'm afraid they won't be coming. It just isn't safe to be flying around Equestria at this time of day. You never know what might be lying in wait,” Chrysalis taunts the general coyly. Shatter's brow wrinkles in fury, his teeth grinding together.

“You destroyed them?” the general presses, his voice terse and filled with anger.

“And I had such fun doing it. It isn't often that we changelings can sit back and enjoy a fight without the threat of Equestria hanging over us,” Chrysalis reveals, setting her hoof back down and staring at Shatter with her vivid green eyes. “I dealt with the dragon myself. Such a marvel of necromancy, that one. I delighted in killing it.”

Shatter slams his hoof into the street, cracking it. He leans forward, getting into a combat stance that I've seen some of the other pegasi using. Oh shit, he intends to fight both of us. “I see. Then you have also declared yourself as King Sombra's enemy. He will not show you mercy, and neither will I. You will perish here, changeling!”

Chrysalis releases a slight scoff and forms a deranged smirk, her fangs clearly showing. “You clearly don't know who you're dealing with,” she returns, showing seemingly no concern about Shatter's ability to negate magic. She turns her gaze to me next. “Stand aside and lick your wounds. I’ll take care of him myself.”

“Yeah, okay. But be careful though. He’s a trained fighter,” I warn her, kneeling down to nurse my broken ribs.

“Worrying about me? You’re cute,” Chrysalis giggles and then gets serious, lowering her head and firing a series of powerful beams of magic that make General Mist's look like a light sprinkle. I look at her in confusion, but she's raising a hoof to me, as if telling me to wait.

“You fool!” Shatter hisses. His grin returns, only this time it looks truly demented. He knows he's at a disadvantage here, but is determined to fight us nonetheless. The bolts of magic collide with him and do absolutely nothing, splashing off of him like water ad dissipating. Next to me, Chrysalis lets out a little “huh,” as if she'd just wanted to see for herself his negation ability.

Shatter pushes his advantage and powers through the other lasers, lifting his hooves and meeting Chrysalis in open combat. Once more, I see Chrysalis's true skill shining through as she blocks and counters everything the general sends her way. “You little foal,” Chrysalis taunts, her hoof plowing into the general's jaw, snapping his head back. “You can flaunt your so-called 'skill' as much as you like...but I have hundreds of years worth of experience.”

Shatter is sent reeling back from a punch to his shoulder, completely overwhelmed by the Queen's assault. I can’t help but watch with a slack jaw as Chrysalis makes a complete fool out of the general. “Grr...how….?” Shatter growls, swinging a hoof at Chrysalis’s jaw. “You can’t use your magic!”

Chrysalis casually flows around the general’s attack and just watches without counterattacking, infuriating Shatter further. The general turns his body and kicks out with both hind legs...only to have both of his hooves blocked with a single cannon bone from Chrysalis. “As if I need magic to deal with you,” Chrysalis returns with a shrug, pushing Shatter away easily and leaping after him.

Shatter’s eyes bug out as he’s thrown completely on the defensive by the queen’s lightning fast attacks. Even as skilled as he is, Chrysalis seems to know exactly how he’s going to block. Her punches flow around  his guard and pummel him mercilessly, forming bruise after bruise on his body. There’s an audible crack as Shatter’s nose turns to one side by a vicious headbutt from the queen.

Shatter swings both hooves towards Chrysalis’ head, but the queen knocks his attack aside and shoves the general back by ramming him with her shoulder. Because he had been in the middle of an attack, the general is unbalanced and tumbles backwards several meters.

Chrysalis lets out a hissing laugh and fires a beam of magic towards Shatter, but it goes over his head. “Hah! Where are you aiming, miss 'hundred years!?'” Shatter retorts. However, he realizes that something is wrong when he sees Chrysalis and I looking above his head. When Shatter looks up as well, he lets out a shout of alarm seconds before a building made of ice slams on top of him and collapses, its supporting cloud destroyed by Chrysalis' attacks. Damn, I should have thought to do that.

“I will give you the privilege of fighting with me, Seth. Be grateful,” Chrysalis suddenly says to me, walking up next to me. I get up, understanding that she’s going to let me help finish him off.

“Right. I'm not even going to begin to say what's wrong with that statement,” I return wryly, lifting my fists in preparation for a renewed assault on Shatter. “But thanks for the help.”

“Get ready. We're going to take him down in one single attack,” Chrysalis whispers to me. I nod back, and the two of take a few steps towards the collapsed building. She then proceeds to taunt Shatter some more. “Did you really think you could trap anypony with this half-baked scheme of yours? You failed to take into account how old we royalty truly are. At your level of skill, you couldn't even beat Luna.”

“Grr....don't you mock me!” Shatter roars, bursting out of the icy rubble and zooming towards us with his hooves outstretched for an attack.

However, he's taken completely off guard when both Chrysalis and I appear in front of him with no warning. His eyes bug out and the air whooshes out of his lungs as both Chrysalis and I slam our respective limbs into his chest in an uppercut. The general doesn't even get to fly upwards. Chrysalis presses both front hooves together, and I clench both of my hands together, and we simultaneously hammer down on his back. That combined with the upwards momentum from our previous attack causes his back to bend, snapping something in his back.

Shatter's scream of pain is loud enough to heard from all over the battlefield, even in the midst of the one sided melee in the air above. The changelings are systematically wiping out the enemy, with the tunnels already destroyed to prevent any more undead reinforcements.

When the dust clears from the impact, Shatter is revealed lying in the middle of the street, the ice shattered around his body. The general is thoroughly defeated, hardly able to move at all. No kidding, I think we broke his back, or at least something important back there.

Chrysalis approaches the fallen general with a smug expression, very similar to the one she wore back when she had nearly defeated Luna and I back during the changeling wedding. You have no idea how satisfying it is to see it directed at someone else. “Don't be dying just yet, little pony,” Chrysalis teases Shatter, giggling sadistically. “Now, I have so many things to ask you. You'll answer me if you want to live.”

Shatter snorts with laughter at the queen's words...immediately followed by a groan of pain. “You want to gather intelligence from me? What good would it do you? You will perish in the end no matter what you know,” the general reveals to us. “King Sombra is far above the level of you maggots. All you can do is flail before his unending might.”

Shatter forces himself to a standing position through incredible willpower, even as Chrysalis narrows her eyes at his response. “Spare me the empty threats. Time to die, little pony,” the changeling queen hisses, seemingly changing her mind about interrogating him.

Just as she's raising her hoof to deal the finishing blow, Shatter reveals the amulet on his chest. Before we can do anything, he shatters the gem on the amulet. A burst of magic erupts from the broken amulet, obscuring his form with a crimson light so bright that we have to shield our eyes.

When the light fades away and we can see again, there's no sign of Shatter in the clearing. He's just disappeared...which means that amulet must have held some kind of escape mechanism. “Dammit! He got away,” I curse, allowing myself to relax now that the battle is basically over. Without their leader, the undead in the air have lost any kind of organization and are flying in all directions...only to get annihilated by the combination of changelings and pegasi. The changelings' magic is ripping the enemy apart.

Pain wracks through my body, causing me to collapse and hold my ribs, remembering just how much damage I actually took during the battle. “I can't believe I had to come all this way to save you,” Chrysalis observes with a hint of amusement, even as she sees me lying on the street in pain. “I just couldn't picture you as a damsel in distress, but here you are. It's so funny I could cry.”

“Would you shut the fuck up and help me? My ribs are broken and I'm pretty sure my head is bleeding,” I snap back while holding my head, not amused at all. “I need you to take me to someplace where I can get some healing.”

“Oh, Seth, don't insult me,” Chrysalis returns, leaning down on her front legs to bring herself closer to me. Her horn starts to glow with her sickly green magic, and an aura starts to surround me. I look around, alarmed...but then I feel the familiar warm feeling of the healing spell. “I can heal you, of course. The princesses aren't the only ones who know that spell.”

“Thanks,” I respond, feeling more than a little sick that I allowed myself to look weak in front of her. I hate that I have to ask for her help at all. I lie back on the street and allow myself to relax. The sounds of the battle are slowly dying down as the rest of the undead are mopped up, so I don't feel the need to rush to their rescue. “By the way, how did you know to come to Cloudsdale? I told you to meet us at Trotsdale.”

Chrysalis chuckles and taps the side of her head. “You have one of my infiltrators with you, don't you? The moment the situation took a turn for the worse, I directed my changelings here. In the process, we stumbled across a group of enemy reinforcements. I thought I should do you a favor and wipe them out.”

“Thank god,” I say, laying my head back. That must be why Celestia insisted we take Pterax with us. That way, Chrysalis would have been able to see both the situation at Trotsdale and the one here in the cloud city. “I hate to say it, but you really saved my ass.”

“Well, if you really want to thank me, I can think of a few ways,” Chrysalis responds with half lidded eyes, shamelessly flirting with me. Ugh, didn't I tell her before that I'm taken?

“Hell no. Take the fucking compliment and don't push your luck,” I retort, shuddering a little. She soon finishes healing me, the ribbons of magic fading away. I get to my feet and stretch out my muscles, verifying that I feel as good as new. That healing technique is very useful, but there's no way it would work in the middle of combat. It takes too long, after all.

“You really shouldn't be so tense. I was just kidding,” Chrysalis admonishes me playfully. I scowl back at her. She's even more infuriating now that I can't take a punch at her for being the ass that she is.

“Whatever. Anyway, we should meet with Spitfire and get ready to move. Trotsdale needs us now more than ever,” I tell Chrysalis, taking to the air. Chrysalis nods and follows me, the both of us moving for the small group of pegasi. I wince at how reduced their number is. “I just pray the city hasn't fallen yet.”

“It hasn't. In fact, the griffons have already arrived, if you really want to know,” Chrysalis reveals from her position in the air beside me. I glance at her in shock at her revelation. Chrysalis smirks back at me. “What? Are you surprised that I know that?”

“How can you possibly know that? You didn't pass by Trotsdale on the way here, so...” I start to say, but then Chrysalis puts on a devious smile.

“I may or may not have an agent present within the Equestrian army,” Chrysalis explains, looking far more smug than she has any right to be. I give her an stare.

“Are you kidding me? We're allies now, you idiot! Why would you spy on us?” I snap at her angrily, even though I'm inwardly relieved. If she's to be believed, the griffons arrived in Trotsdale and the city is still holding strong.

Chrysalis looks affronted. “And why wouldn't I? We are a race that has relied upon our intelligence for centuries. I don't see why that should change now that I've signed a piece of paper,” the queen argues, clearly serious about what she's saying. “I won't simply throw aside all of my assets and trust my race to your Celestia's goodwill.”

“I...well...I guess you have a point there...but I don't like the idea of you having spies in our midst,” I grumble, unable to argue with that logic. I would never trust Chrysalis; not in a million years. If I had a spy in her number, I damn well would keep it there.

“Seth. Stop complaining. My agent has been fighting bravely for you ponies, and serves as a source of information for us,” Chrysalis hisses, her eyes narrowing into a glare. A jolt of adrenaline shoots through me at her expression, making me feel as if I should be running. I don't care how many times we fight together in the future; I will never get used to seeing her bare her teeth at me like that. “Would you rather I have let you worry?”

“Seth! There you are!” a familiar scratchy voice calls to me, interrupting our argument. I now feel more relieved than ever, and I turn up to Rainbow with a smile, meeting her head on as she flies right into my arms for a brief embrace. She quickly backs away after that, blushing momentarily. She's not a fan of public affection, but I'm guessing that considering the circumstances, a little hug isn't uncalled for. “I saw you getting hurt down there...but I couldn't get to you. There were just so many of those monsters...”

“Rainbow Dash,” Chrysalis interrupts, looking rather grim. Her words cause Rainbow to stiffen and raise her hooves threateningly. The two mares glare at one another, and I swear I can see sparks flying between the two of them. Chrysalis then takes a moment to look between the two of us, her tongue slithering out to lick at her lips with barely contained hunger. “So you're the one who stole Seth.”

“Oh great, and now she's here,” Rainbow growls, never taking her eyes off of Chrysalis for even a second. “And I didn't steal anyone.”

“Well now, is that any way to address your savior?” Chrysalis taunts, turning her head aside and gazing at Rainbow through her mane coyly. “I can take my changelings and leave, if you'd rather I do that.”

Oh shit no, even if she's joking, the thought of having to go up against Sombra without her is enough to make me intervene, even as Rainbow is opening her mouth to shout something back. “Okay, can we save the killing each other part for after we deal with Sombra?” I ask with a strained expression, moving next to Rainbow within tail grabbing distance in case she tries to do anything rash.

“I didn't need her help...I would have been fine,” Rainbow grumbles beneath her breath, but she does back down. She tenses beside me when Chrysalis smirks in triumph. “Darn smug-faced witch.”

“Dear me, this is going to be so much fun if I can antagonize her so easily,” Chrysalis responds with a mischievous grin. She sees me look at her sternly, opening my mouth to chide her further. “Oh fine, I'll abstain from stepping on the poor filly's pride. Such a needy marefriend you picked, Seth.”

“Hey, I am not...!” Rainbow beings to yell back furiously, but thankfully calms down when I press a hand lightly on her chest. Instead, she settles with grumbling beneath her breath again. The next thing she says is in a low whisper that only I can hear. “I'm going to beat her up. I swear.”

“Ugh, let's just go find Spitfire before you two start arguing again,” I insert before the situation can devolve further.

The three of us meet up with Spitfire at the northern edge of Cloudsdale, where she's busy giving orders to the corporal in charge of Cloudsdale's defense. Pterax and Mantis are with her, conversing with one another.

When we approach, Pterax and Mantis immediately lower their heads in respect, due to Chrysalis' presence right next to me. I had the presence of mind to fly between Chrysalis and Rainbow to prevent any further problems. “My queen...” Pterax murmurs reverently at her approach.

“Seth! Good, you're here,” Spitfire responds once we join her and the other high ranking pegasi. She then locks eyes with Chrysalis, her expression unreadable. “You know, even though I heard you would be joining us, I didn't quite believe it until just now.”

“Trust me, I'm not too enthused about the prospect myself,” Chrysalis returns, running a hoof through her mane nonchalantly. “I would much rather take my hive far away from this Sombra character, but...I've been promised quite a bit in exchange for my assistance.”

“Nevertheless, I have to thank you,” Spitfire insists with a sigh. No doubt thanking our previous enemy is the last thing she wants to do. Without her though, we would have been screwed. Spitfire turns to me next. “I saw you fighting with their leader down in the city. Did he have the same immunity as the other undead? I didn't see you using your magic at all.”

“He did. Thankfully he's the only general with that kind of ability. He intended to lure one of the princesses here and dispatch her,” I reveal to Spitfire, whose eyes widen. “He might have been able to, if they couldn't use their magic.”

“We're just being led into trap after trap, aren't we?” Spitfire growls, anger stamped on her face. “Who does this Sombra think he is?”

“Oh, don't be ridiculous,” Chrysalis butts in, uncaring about the whole situation. “That general was pathetic. I didn't need my magic to put him in his place. It would have been foal's play for Celestia or Luna to deal with him.”

“Yeah well, I don't have hundreds of years of experience like the rest of you, so can you not make me look bad?” I snap over at Chrysalis. She just lets out a hissing giggle at my reaction.

“Nevertheless, the battle is over. It's a shame we couldn't capture him, but we have to move, now. We need to haul tail back to Trotsdale, double time!” Spitfire commands us. Chrysalis once again scoffs, much to Spitfire's annoyance. “Something else you have to say?”

“You can all relax. Trotsdale is safe. The griffons arrived not too long ago with a fleet of airships. The undead didn't stand much of a chance,” Chrysalis reveals. I'm the only one that's been told that so far, so Rainbow, Spitfire, and the others show signs of relief, despite their efforts to hide it.

“How can you be sure?” Spitfire asks, looking doubtful now that her initial relief has passed. Chrysalis smugly taps the side of her head.

“Don't underestimate the changeling intelligence network,” Chrysalis hints smugly. Spitfire looks unsettled by that insinuation, as does Rainbow. Pterax and Mantis just look proud of their race's accomplishments. “So there's no rush.”

“So you say, but until we receive some kind of notice from Princess Celestia, we're going to move as fast as we...” Spitfire starts to say.

“Uh, Spitfire?” I interrupt, a hint of a smile turning up the corners of my mouth. The captain turns to look at me, annoyed at the interruption. Her expression quickly changes when she spots the scroll in my hand that I literally received just a few seconds ago. “About that notice.”

“Let me see that,” Spitfire takes the scroll from me before I've even opened it. Whatever. She's the commanding officer, so she might as well read it. No doubt it was meant for her anyway. Spitfire takes a few minutes to glance over it, and then she gives it back to me. “Okay. We have new orders.”

“Oh? Then let us hear it. What does the illustrious Princess Celestia want with us now?” Chrysalis rejoins, earning dark glares from the other ponies due to her blatant disrespect towards Celestia.

“Trotsdale is safe. Together with the griffons, they're currently mopping up the remainder of the undead that didn't flee when General Mist was defeated,” Spitfire begins, essentially confirming what Chrysalis told us. The queen has no issue letting us know how right she was too, considering how she's giving us all knowing looks. “As for us, we've been ordered to meet up with Commander Iron and the Bleak Island forces coming from the west, and then return to Trotsdale in preparation for our invasion of the Crystal Empire's territory.”

“Yeah! So we're finally taking the fight to the big bad, right?” Rainbow proclaims. She's been silent for the remainder of this conversation, as she usually is during strategy meetings.

“Now's a good at time as any. Thanks to our reinforcements, we've dealt the enemy a crushing defeat, and their forces should be weakened. If we're going to strike, we should do it as soon as possible,” Spitfire answers sensibly. Yet, she still looks troubled. “However, I'm concerned as to how the enemy built up such a massive undead force so quickly.”

“That's what I said!” I agree, throwing my hands up emphatically. “There's no fucking way Sombra pulled over a million undead out of his ass all at once!”

There's an exasperated groan from Chrysalis, who is currently rubbing her forehead with a holed hoof. “Something you know that we don't?” Spitfire demands impatiently.

“It's obvious. From what I've heard from my agents, King Sombra has been sealed for a millennium,” Chrysalis starts to explain, sounding condescending. “Clearly his allies and subordinates have been preparing for the day of his release. If I were a general, and I knew that my king was going to break free in the near future, I would do all I could to ensure his victory over his enemies.”

“Now that you mention it, wasn't that Hawke guy or whatever building an army up north before Sombra even got free?” Rainbow reminds us. Oh yeah, she was there when Captain Gale gave her report about that as well. At her words, Spitfire starts to understand.

“Exactly, little pony. They've clearly been building up an invasion force for a great deal of time,” Chrysalis agrees, even though I doubt she knows who Hawke is.

“I see. Either way, it doesn't matter now,” Spitfire decides, waving her hoof in dismissal. “Let's get the troops organized and link up with the Bleak Island forces. It's time for us to stop being on the defensive.”

“Aw yeah!” Rainbow exults, pumping her hoof in the air.

“Seth, you and Rainbow fall in with the rest of the Pegasus Corps,” Spitfire orders. She then turns to Chrysalis and the other two changelings.

“Don't presume to give me orders. I am your ally, not your servant,” Chrysalis interrupts coldly before Spitfire can even open her mouth. The captain stares back, her eyes narrowed, but the queen ignores her, instead turning to Mantis and Pterax. “Mantis, rally the hive and get them ready to fly. We move on my command.”

“Yes, my queen!” Mantis responds with a salute, and then he flies off to carry out her orders. Chrysalis looks at Pterax next.

“Pterax, your orders have not changed. Remain with Seth and his 'squad' and follow his commands until I tell you otherwise. Am I clear?” Chrysalis commands him next. Pterax nods then salutes. He proceeds to take his place beside Rainbow and I. Huh. I guess he's sticking with us. Chrysalis returns her gaze to Spitfire. “Satisfied, captain?”

Spitfire thankfully doesn't rise to the bait, instead nodding tersely. She turns her head back to the remainder of her troops. “Alright, everypony, let's get moving! Form up and tend to the wounded. We've got a long flight ahead, and I want us moving as soon as possible!” Spitfire orders loudly. There's a chorus of acknowledgment from the other soldiers as they move to do as they're told.

“I guess that means we should get moving as well,” I say to Rainbow and Pterax. I gesture to them and fly towards the reforming Pegasus Corps. “Phew...I was not prepared for today.”

“At least things turned out alright,” Pterax replies, nodding his head. He then lifts his head proudly. “I'm so jealous. You got to fight beside the queen herself! Isn't she just magnificent?”

“Uh-huh,” I deadpan, not interested in his blatant gushing over Chrysalis. Rainbow is quiet for a few seconds, but then she flies closer to me, her side brushing against mine. “Rainbow? What is it?”

“Nothing. Just..sorry for not being able to fight the general with you,” Rainbow expresses, her head dropping a bit. She looks around to make sure nopony else is watching, and then she nuzzles my side. “Thanks for helping to save my hometown...and would you stop drooling!?”

Her last exclamation was directed towards Pterax, who is eyeing the both of us hungrily. He quickly closes his mouth and attempts to look affronted. “I'm not!” Pterax whines. I can't help but chuckle.

Rainbow's right though. For what it's worth, I did manage to save Cloudsdale, even if all I did was hold off Shatter long enough for the changelings to get here. Even though I'm healed, I want nothing more than to rest. Unfortunately, I know that's not going to happen for a while.

We have a lot of work ahead of us.

	
	


> 113. Warlord of Bleak Island
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 	As commanded, Rainbow, Pterax, and I meet up with the rest of the Pegasus Corps...or what's left of them after this battle. I can't help but notice how many of them aren't with us right now. Even though the battle ended with our crushing victory...we've definitely taken some losses. Rainbow clearly notices as well, because she's been quiet.

Pterax is holding himself proudly, repeatedly gazing over at the dark mass of changelings forming up Chrysalis' army. Several times he tries to draw attention to himself and his kind, but eventually stops when he doesn't get much of a reaction from Rainbow or me.

“This is hard,” I eventually admit. Even though Chrysalis healed me, I'm still tired as hell. I haven't slept for two days, and it's starting to take its toll on me now that there's no pressing enemy to fight. We've defeated Sombra's initial invasion force; surely it's okay if I take some time to rest.

“Yeah,” Rainbow agrees, giving a huge yawn. She's in the same boat I am, though she's doing a better job of hiding it. “I need a nap. Where's the nearest cloud?”

“Sorry you, two, but we won't be sleeping for a while,” Spitfire tells us, swooping in from above, where she'd been organizing the rest of the Pegasus Corps in preparation for our movement. Rainbow and I both groan hopelessly, wanting nothing more than to just pass out where we are. Fucking falling to our death; sleep is more important. “I understand. You two aren't soldiers, so you're not used to this kind of thing.”

“What? Do the Wonderbolts do this kind of thing a lot?” Rainbow asks with a hint of trepidation. You know, I almost forgot, what with all of the crazy shit going on, that Rainbow really wants to be a Wonderbolt.

“On occasion. Usually whenever there's a significant monster attack, we don't sleep until the problem is taken care of,” Spitfire answers with a wry smile. “Don't worry though. We're all feeling the same as you. I'll have us set up camp once we've met up with Commander Iron. I've already sent out a scout to search for them.”

“Thank god,” I sigh, looking forward to getting some sleep for the first time since this whole mess started. Spitfire smiles at me...but that smile quickly disappears when Chrysalis joins us, her insectoid wings buzzing as they work to keep her in flight. Mantis follows her dutifully close behind.

“My hive is ready to fly, whenever you feel ready.” Chrysalis' words are polite, but they sound almost smug, as if she's mocking what she perceives to be a lack of efficiency. Yeah well, we don't have a hive mind like you, bitch.

“Good. We'll likely have to proceed on hoof once we meet up with the Bleak Island army,” Spitfire reveals. Chrysalis rolls her eyes, but nods. “Will you stay with us, or fly ahead to Trotsdale?”

“Hmm...I see no need to accompany you...but...” Chrysalis trails off, but then she glances at Rainbow and I. As if deciding something, she turns back to Mantis. “Mantis. Take the majority of the hive and proceed to Trotsdale. I'll stay here with a token force and make sure these pathetic ponies don't get themselves killed.”

Mantis salutes and flies away to meet up with the large changeling force. Chrysalis turns back to us with a smirk, even as Spitfire and Rainbow glare back at her. They didn't miss the insult the queen just dealt them.

“Something the matter? I'm doing you a favor,” Chrysalis addresses them sweetly. Okay, she's deliberately antagonizing us. Rainbow's hooves are tensed and her teeth are grinding together, while Spitfire just stares. “Now, shall we go?”

“Yes. The sooner we get moving, the sooner we can all get some rest,” Spitfire responds diplomatically, placing a hoof on Rainbow to soothe her temper. Then, she turns to the rest of the Pegasus Corps. “Alright everypony! Let's get moving! We're headed west to meet up with our other allies!”

With a chorus of acknowledgment, the Pegasus Corps starts to move.





We don't have to fly very far to the west before we meet up with Spitfire's scout, who directs us towards the Bleak Island Army. If I remember right, Bleak Island is far off the coast of Vanhoover city (fuck the puns). That's likely where their military disembarked from their vessels, or whatever they used to get over here.

According to the scout, their army has been using the train from Vanhoover to get as close to Cloudsdale as possible. The railway runs from the city all the way to Canterlot, with only one other stop along the way: just southwest of the gorge that we damaged to cut off the enemy reinforcements. Apparently it's called the Galloping Gorge.

We soon catch sight of their camp as we near the Unicorn Range. At the base of the foothills just south of the railroad, there's a collection of large white tents situated around campfires. The camps aren't anything special. In fact, it looks like they're deliberately set up in such an unremarkable fashion to make it easier to pack up and move. The setting sun reflects off of the unique silver armor of the soldiers inhabiting the camp.

Together with Spitfire, Rainbow, and Chrysalis, I land at the edge of the camp. We left Pterax behind with the other changelings to keep order. Upon our approach, two earth pony soldiers come to meet us. Huh. They look...well...grizzlier than the typical Equestrian soldier. By that I mean that their manes are scruffier and their bodies are scarred, as if they've seen a lot of battle. They're wearing armor similar to what Iron wears, except simpler in design, with only a breastplate, helmet, and greaves protecting the legs. The color scheme is mostly silver, though there is the ever present motif of a golden eagle emblazoned across the breastplates.

“Hail, Equestrians,” one of the soldiers calls to us, addressing mostly Rainbow and Spitfire. He and the other soldier give Chrysalis and me curious and wary glances, but don't say anything. They've never seen anything like us, I bet.

“Greetings, soldiers. Is Commander Iron here? I need to speak with him,” Spitfire returns the call cordially, dipping her head. The soldiers respond strangely to her request, glancing at one another in confusion.

“Commander?” one of the soldiers echoes to the other, who then proceeds to shrug and look insulted. The first soldier turns back to Spitfire, his eyes narrowed. “Is that a joke? Commander!?”

“Excuse me?” Spitfire questions, confused. I'm similarly confused. Why would they take offense to that? Is there like, some other meaning to that rank in Bleak Island? Fuck, I don't know their customs. I just hope this doesn't turn into a mess.

“Stalwart Iron is...what kind of sick joke is that? Do you have any idea...?!” the first soldier starts to explain, his voice rising. The second soldier sighs and nudges the other roughly with his shoulder, cutting him off.

“My apologies. Yes, he is here. He is with our Warlord in the main tent. They've been waiting for your arrival,” he finally answers us, dipping his head apologetically. He tips a hoof over his shoulder, indicating the largest tent in the camp. “Move along, and don't tarry.”

“Thank you,” Spitfire responds shortly and gestures for the rest of us to follow her. I do so, stepping past the guards and eyeing them strangely.

“What was that all about?” Rainbow asks Spitfire, looking perplexed. “Something wrong with being a commander?”

“I don't know...but I don't feel very welcome here,” Spitfire admits. Looking around, I have to say that I agree. Whenever we pass by a group of Bleak Island soldiers, all conversation usually ceases and they look up at us with unreadable expressions. They don't say anything or show any real emotion; they just watch us.

“Absurd. Why would they allow us entry if they weren't willing to work with us? Or better yet, why even come to Equestria?” Chrysalis scoffs, looking around at all the different soldiers with interest. “I still don't see why you need their help. My changelings and I are more than enough to deal with this Sombra character.”

“Uh, because our forces got hit hard in their attack? Plus, your changelings can't do shit to Sombra himself,” I point out. Chrysalis's eyes orient on me, though her head remains still. I freeze, wondering if I made her mad or not. Thankfully, she doesn't respond, and instead returns to looking around the camp. Yeesh, allies or not. She'll never not be scary.

“Even so, Chrysalis brings up a valid point. The Bleak Islanders have always been rather reclusive. I heard it was difficult even setting up trade agreements with them,” Spitfire divulges. Huh...then I don't know. I know next to nothing about these guys, apart from the whole civil war bit.

“I guess we'll find out,” I say with a shrug as we near the main tent, passing a large bonfire on the way.

There's a ton of soldiers here, sleeping in the tents or out here eating or taking care of their weapons. There's not that many of them, compared to the Equestrian or changeling armies. If I had to estimate, I'd only say there's a few hundred here.

I notice that there's an even mix of species here. Some of the earth ponies have weapons that they're polishing, but the unicorns have the most pronounced weapons. They're strange exotic weapons, but none of them are tridents like what Iron uses.

There are two guards standing on either side of the main tent. Upon noticing our arrival, one of them lifts up the tent flap. “They're just inside,” one of them tells us gruffly. I follow Spitfire inside, glancing at the two soldiers warily.

The interior of the tent is sparsely decorated, consisting of only a few bedrolls and a rough cloth spread across the majority of the floor to separate their hooves from the grass and dirt below. Standing in the center of the tent is Commander Iron...and the largest unicorn I've ever fucking seen in my life.

Seriously, how the hell did a unicorn ever grow to be this size? Standing tall above Iron, I'd have to say this guy is at least a head taller than Big Mac, and that guy's pretty large as it is.

The large dark brown furred unicorn turns his head to regard us with golden eyes. Is it just me, or is he sizing us up? “They do not seem to be alicorns,” the massive pony rumbles in a distinct bass tone. His gaze eventually settles upon Chrysalis, and his expression changes almost imperceptibly. “Except for this one.”

“This one has a name and a title, if you please,” Chrysalis snaps irritably, causing everyone in the room, including me, to wince. That's not really the best first impression to give to our would be allies who may or may not want to be here in the first place. “I am Queen Chrysalis, and I will thank you to refer to me as such, lest you regret it.”

The large unicorn raises a brow and steps towards Chrysalis, his bulky crimson armor clanking together as he does so. He looks almost intrigued, releasing an inquisitive grunt. “Oh? Chrysalis, is it?” he repeats, omitting her title, much to her annoyance. The unicorn looks back at Iron, who seems to be standing alert, as if he expects there to be combat at any moment. “Brother, I think I like this one. Uniquely attractive and courageous...perhaps I should have visited Equestria before now.”

I have to physically hold my jaw shut to prevent it from falling open. Did...did this guy just call Chrysalis attractive? Both Rainbow and Spitfire are glancing between the large unicorn and Chrysalis with wide-eyed expressions, no doubt thinking the same thing that I am.

“Excuse me? You do realize I'm standing right here,” Chrysalis emits, raising a brow. Although she sounds annoyed, I can't help but notice that she looks a little pleased at the compliment. Heh, bitch she might be, but still a vain bitch.

“Can we just get to business?” Spitfire inserts before the situation can deviate any further from our intended purpose.

“Yes, I believe that would be prudent,” Iron agrees hastily, coughing nervously. The large unicorn nods and plods back over to his brother, his long white mane flowing behind him. Iron indicates the crimson-clad unicorn with one hoof.“Now, then. Captain Spitfire, this is Warlord Salamul, sole ruler of Bleak Island.”

“You need not show me deference, brother. You are equally as important as I,” Salamul chides Iron lightly, interestingly enough. Iron pauses and looks down, his eyes downcast for some reason. Once again, I wonder what the hell went down at Bleak Island to make Iron act so uncharacteristically in the presence of a fellow Islander. Salamul then turns to Spitfire, offering his hoof. “A pleasure, Spitfire. Am I to believe you are the head of the military?”

Spitfire accepts the hoof politely, though her eyes widen a bit at the strength she feels behind the simple hoofshake. “Not quite. I am but one of five captains in the Equestrian military. The true leaders of our military are the princesses,” Spitfire explains. Salamul nods, withdrawing his hoof. I notice he looks a little pleased.

“That's good. I was about to be disappointed if that were the case,” Salamul expresses. Iron sighs and plants his face into his hoof, even as Spitfire looks mildly insulted by that statement. Salamul's eyes soon fall upon me. “One last thing before we continue. Brother, what is this one?”

Oh, he's talking about me. Damn, this guy is difficult to read. His expressions rarely change, and his tone remains constant. Still, I guess I better respond. “My name's Seth. I'm a temporary commander for Equestria,” I tell him. Salamul blinks, showing a hint of disbelief. Before I know what's happening, he approaches me and starts looking me over in a rather uncomfortable manner.

“Commander? You?” Salamul repeats, lifting up one of my arms. I jerk it away from him indignantly. “How can you fight? You walk on two legs like a minotaur, but have not the muscular build. What good are you?”

“Can we please focus!? I don't want to spend all day standing here watching some self-entitled Warlord decide whether or not we're good enough for him!” Chrysalis butts in, having lost her patience. Once again, we all stare in shock at Chrysalis, and then back at Salamul. We just hope that he doesn't take too much offense to her. Chrysalis glares at Salamul as the warlord glances at her. “Do you even know the situation we're in, Salamul?”

“Not particularly,” Salamul reveals offhand, as if it doesn't really matter to him either way. The hell? Is this guy for real? Did he really just bring over a bunch of soldiers to Equestria without really knowing what he's up against? “My brother came back after several years and told me he needed my help. That's more than enough for me.”

“I'm glad I can still count on you,” Iron tells Salamul with a grateful nod. Sheesh, what’s with this guy? He has no idea that we're up against what equates to a god in terms of sheer power.

“You can always count on me, Brother. Our ponies will follow you,” Salamul emphasizes. Iron scuffs at the ground nervously. He looks grateful, but that uncomfortable way he's holding himself is still present. Salamul then turns back to Spitfire. “Direct any orders you have to my brother. I am his axe, as he is my shield.”

“Understood. Thank you for your cooperation,” Spitfire responds with an uncertain nod. I have to agree with her. These Bleak Islanders are fucking weird. For one, why the hell is their warlord content to take orders from Iron? “Commander, how many troops have you brought?”

“Four hundred in total, not including myself and my brother,” Iron responds. I notice that when Spitfire revealed Iron's rank, Salamul gives her a sharp glance, much like the ones we got from those other soldiers during a similar situation.

“Just four hundred? That's all?” Chrysalis retorts, scoffing. “I brought several times that amount. Where's your commitment to the cause?”

“Oh, don't fucking make me laugh,” I shoot back at Chrysalis sardonically.

“Don't underestimate the ponies of Bleak Island,” Salamul cuts in, staring at Chrysalis pointedly before she can react to my scathing words. “We've seen far more combat than any paltry Equestrian pony. Our experience and skill more than makes up for our number.”

“Quality over quantity,” I rephrase, tapping my chin. Judging from the way the soldiers outside are all scarred, I can believe that. Even Salamul here is covered with a few visible scars. Come to think of it, Iron has a scar too, right on his eye.

“Precisely,” Salamul agrees. Chrysalis doesn't look convinced, but she lets it go when Spitfire starts talking again.

“At least it's something. With the changelings and the griffons, we should have a strong enough force to strike at the Crystal Empire,” Spitfire decides. “Alright. It's not dark yet, but our forces are exhausted. Everyone can take tonight to get some sleep, and then we march to Trotsdale first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Are the princesses there? I greatly desire to meet with them,” Salamul inputs, his expression shifting into one of mild curiosity. Spitfire nods, causing Salamul to look satisfied and glance at Iron. “Excellent. I do hope they're as strong as you say, Brother.”

I can't help but scoff at that. Please, I don't care who you are. Celestia could kick you into next week. Sombra doesn't count. That fucker cheated, and everypony knows it.

My thoughts are interrupted when I feel something tugging on my leg. I look down to see a tired Rainbow tugging on my pant leg with her hoof. “Seth, can we go to sleep now? I haven't slept for two days!” She complains.

“Hmph, I'm leaving now. I'll thank you not to disturb my rest,” Chrysalis states, shooting Rainbow a glare and leaving the tent now that the meeting is essentially over. As confusing as it is that Salamul is just willing to let Iron call the shots, it certainly makes negotiating easier.

“Yes, everyone get some sleep,” Spitfire agrees, gesturing to Rainbow and I with her head. “Go on ahead, you two. I have a few things to discuss with Commander Iron before I retire.”

“Thanks. Where do we sleep? Is there a tent for us, or do we just pick a spot outside?” I question, brushing Rainbow's hoof off of my pants.

“I made sure we packed a few extra tents. Ask one of the soldiers outside to help you find them,” Iron answers shortly. Oh good, that should be fun. Ask one of the soldiers that would really rather we not be here. That sounds like fun.

“I'll send somepony to get you in the morning,” Spitfire calls after us as Rainbow and I leave the tent. I acknowledge her with a half-hearted wave, and then we're back out in the camp.

As we were directed, Rainbow and I end up accosting a random soldier for help finding a tent. Of course, he isn't that happy about it, because he has “much better things to do than help out some two-legged freak.” Suffice to say, I had to hold Rainbow back to keep her from slugging him over it.

After I threatened to go get Iron, the soldier relents and leads us to the collection of extra tents in the supply tent. He quickly hightails it out of there back to his post, leaving the two of us to set up the tent ourselves.

Several minutes later, Rainbow and I are inside our new small tent, staring at the single foldable cot in the center of the room. There are a few others in the supply tent, but Rainbow insisted that we only needed the one.

“Rainbow, it looks a little small,” I observe, my hands in my pockets. Next to me, Rainbow nonchalantly starts stripping off her armor plates and tossing them in a corner, making a loud racket as she does so. “Are you listening to me?”

“Yeah, but it's big enough,” Rainbow assures me with a devious smile, kicking off the iron plates on her hooves. She wiggles her rump so the plates on her back slide off, and once again I start to feel a little weird, such that I look away and run a hand through my hair. I wish she wouldn't do that in front of me.

“How do you figure?”

“Oh quit complaining. If the bed is smaller, than that just means we have to squeeze a little closer together,” Rainbow insinuates, tossing away the last piece of her armor. She stretches out like a cat, giving a little moan. “Ah, I've been wearing that for two days now. I'm so cramped!”

“Whatever,” I grunt, kicking off my shoes and climbing into the cot first, my exhausted body rejoicing at the opportunity to relax. Rainbow soon joins me, her hooves scrabbling on my chest until she finds decent leverage to hoist herself up into my lap. This really is a small bed, so she stretches herself across my chest, her face right above mine. “Comfortable?”

“I am now,” Rainbow declares, lying her head in the little crook between my head and shoulders adorably. She heaves a tired sigh, her eyelids starting to droop. “These Bleak Island ponies are weird.”

“No kidding. It is practically impossible to read that Salamul guy. Besides, who the fuck calls a changeling attractive?” I respond, my exhaustion starting to catch up with me as well. It's getting harder to talk, especially when an involuntary yawn escapes me.

Rainbow giggles at that. “Apparently he does. What a weirdo. You see how he was okay with letting Iron do everything? What's up with that?”

“Yeah...I get the feeling Iron's a lot more important in Bleak Island than he let on. Especially with all those soldiers getting insulted by the fact that he's a commander,” I respond tiredly, idly wrapping an arm around Rainbow's body, stroking the ends of her mane. Rainbow hums contently at the treatment, closing her eyes. “Fuck, I can't think right now. I'm so tired.”

“So go to sleep, you silly human,” Rainbow murmurs sleepily, lightly tapping my nose with a hoof before letting herself fall limp.

Yeah, that sounds really nice. Once I close my eyes, sleep comes upon me before I even realize it. Glorious unconsciousness soon overtakes me.





My eyes feel like crushing weights. We wake the next morning when my alarm goes off at 6, which I assumed would be around the time we would start moving towards Trotsdale. However, I'm guessing I might have a little more time, because it's completely dark outside, and there isn't much movement going on outside, as far as I can hear.

God, I didn't get enough sleep. I know I didn't. It takes an insane amount of effort just to open my eyes; my eyelids feel like they're made of solid metal. The next thing that hits me is how sore I feel. My muscles ache all over my body, reminding me that I spent practically the past two days fighting nonstop.

I groan, finally managing to open my eyes. The first thing I see is Rainbow's face right in front of me, the mare curled up on my chest. Her hooves are slipping down my side, as this cot is very small. Right...if I'm going to get up, I need to wake her up first.

“Rainbow...get up,” I tell her weakly, reaching my hands up to rub the sleep out of my eyes. Rainbow doesn't stir, her mouth slightly open as she snores quietly. This is going to be more difficult than I thought, isn't it? I nudge her repeatedly, but her body is limp, barely moving at my attempts to wake her. “Rainbow! Wake the fuck up!”

Rainbow still doesn't move, which causes me to take things to the next step. With the little strength that I've gained back now that I'm a little more awake, I flip her off of me so that she's laying on the cot, and I'm over top of her. I call out her name a few more times and slap her face gently, to no effect. Sheesh, I guess she needed this sleep more than I did. Seriously, what the hell do I do to wake up a pony this oblivious?

Okay, it's time to take drastic measures. I lean down and bite her on the ear. To my annoyance, even that doesn't work. As I pull back, I catch sight of her face, sleeping peacefully. My eyes slide down to her partially parted lips, and a rather dumb idea comes to mind.

“This is stupid...it's all your fault, fucking oblivious pony,” I grumble to myself, leaning back down to her, and lifting her head slightly with my hands. I gulp and hesitate once, and then I press my lips to hers, hoping that at least this will work.

When Rainbow tries to breathe in, she wakes with a start, her eyes shooting open in surprise. It takes her several seconds to realize that she's being kissed, and then another second to realize that it's me doing the kissing. She suddenly reacts by returning my affections vigorously, taking me by surprise when she leans up into me, her hooves wrapping around my neck.

I give a slight yelp when Rainbow somehow manages to flip me over, climbing on top of me and straddling my chest. She rubs her eyes with a hoof, and then she smiles down at me, panting slightly. “Did...did you just kiss me awake?” she breathes, her cheeks a little flushed. I try to respond, but she doesn’t let me. She dives back onto me, her lips enveloping mine once more. This time, it’s with more fervor than usual, her tongue pressing against my mouth. Oh god, what have I unleashed? She's never used her tongue before, what do I even...

Our session is abruptly interrupted when the flap of our tent flies open, a dark shape entering the room. “Time to get up, Seth! We're about to get mo...” I hear Chrysalis's distorted voice start to say, but then she cuts off when Rainbow doesn't bother to stop kissing me. Chrysalis's mouth closes with a tight snap, a low growl rumbling in her throat. “Well. I see you're already awake.”

Rainbow breaks away from me as Chrysalis storms out of the tent furiously, leaving behind a slight hint of magic in her wake. Oho, she's pissed. Rainbow turns her head over her shoulder and sticks her tongue out at the tent entrance, even though Chrysalis can no longer see her. “Heh. That's what you get, witch. Mine,” Rainbow gloats, pawing at my chest possessively with her hoof.

“Okay, now that you've managed to piss off Chrysalis, can I get up now? It sounds like we're about to get moving,” I say dryly, panting a little from Rainbow's voracious assault on my mouth. I guess I triggered her or something by kissing her awake. I see Rainbow looking reluctant to move. “Spitfire'll be looking for us.”

Rainbow looks uncertain for a few more seconds before finally shrugging. “Eh, she can wait,” she decides. Wait seriously? Since when has Rainbow ever turned down a chance to see Spitfire? What is she...gah, Rainbow's kissing me again, her tongue once again seeking entrance to my mouth. This time, I only hesitate slightly before tentatively opening my mouth into the kiss, allowing her tongue inside.

I find that it doesn't feel anywhere near as disgusting as I thought it might.





“There you are. Where have you been?” Spitfire greets us as we approach her, a little after packing up our tent. Next to the captain is a simmering Chrysalis, Iron, and the massive form of Salamul. “Queen Chrysalis went to wake you twenty minutes ago!”

I shrug, blushing a little from the intense...uh...what even was that? Were we basically making out? I've heard that phrase all the time, but I never really knew what it meant except from what I gathered from context. I certainly never thought that phrase would ever apply to me. My head is still feeling a little light. God, I'm embarrassed.

Rainbow shrugs as well, looking sprightly and happy next to me. She's wearing her armor again, but it doesn't seem to be weighing her down all that much.

“They were probably too busy slobbering all over each other,” Chrysalis scoffs bitterly. Spitfire looks between the two of us with surprise, before finally connecting the dots when she sees the blush on my face and Rainbow's smug expression. She gives a little chuckle out of good humor, while Iron and Salamul make no reaction whatsoever. Chrysalis is more than pissed though. “Clearly they don't think much about the safety of Equestria.”

“Like you care about Equestria,” Rainbow retorts sarcastically back at Chrysalis, who just scoffs. Suddenly, a smug grin appears on Rainbow's muzzle. “Wait, hold on. Oh Celestia, you're jealous, aren't you? The queen of the changelings is jealous of me!”

Chrysalis sharply turns to glare at Rainbow. So intense is the hate and anger in her gaze, that I swear Rainbow would be dead a million times over if looks could kill. Spitfire tenses up when Chrysalis takes a step towards Rainbow. My eyes harden as well, and I step slightly in front of Rainbow.

“Don't get so full of yourself, brat,” Chrysalis hisses scathingly at Rainbow, and then she turns away, her wings spreading and starting to buzz, lifting her into the air. “I'm going to rally my forces. Don't wait up for me.”

Once she's gone, Rainbow quickly loses her composure and falls over laughing, while Spitfire stares disapprovingly at her. “Did you see her face!? She's so jealous! Baaahahaha!” Rainbow squeals with merriment. Her display gets me to grin despite myself as well. It's not often that something can unsettle Chrysalis to that degree.

“Rainbow Dash, please don't antagonize our allies. Our relations with them are strained enough as it is,” Spitfire scolds Rainbow once the cyan mare gets up off of the ground, wiping a tear from her eye.

“Aw come on, it was just a bit of fun! She was so smug yesterday,” Rainbow protests. However, she eventually gives in under Spitfire's stern stare, her smile dropping as she accepts the chastisement. “Yes, Captain Spitfire. Won't happen again.”

“Thank you. As long as you understand,” Spitfire responds with a satisfied nod. The captain looks around for a few seconds to make sure no changelings are nearby, and then she leans in. “Though between friends, that was pretty funny.”

Rainbow's grin returns, and then she and Spitfire bump their front hooves together. Iron shakes his head with a sigh next to them, probably figuring we're past all hope. Salamul's face is as stony as it has always been.

Holy shit, how did I not notice that monster before? Hidden just behind Salamul's bulk is an incredibly large weapon, which I only see once the warlord turns his head to speak to Iron in a low voice. It's an axe embedded in the ground beside him, or at least I think it is. It's the largest axe I've ever seen. It consists of one lethal blade extending from the haft, the steel colored pure black. The haft itself is a massive pole with jagged and uneven edges and is colored as bloody crimson as the rest of Salamul's armor.

I can't help but gape at it until Salamul moves again, hiding it once against from view. Jesus that's an exotic looking weapon. Looking back at Iron, I notice he's carrying his trident once more, but also his shield. Last I remembered, that shield had been shattered absorbing a powerful attack from Sombra himself, but now I see it hanging in front of Iron, as good as new. Well, almost as good as new. I can still see a few lines of lighter steel where there had once been cracks. I guess that he got it repaired back at Bleak Island, or whatever.

“Pterax, reporting.” My thoughts are interrupted by the changeling infiltrator that lands next to me, having come from the swarm of changelings flying overhead. He looks at me, which reminds me that he's literally reporting to me. Chrysalis did order him to follow me.

“There you are. I was wondering where you went last night,” I remark to him, moving to give him room to join us.

“I was with my kind, of course. It felt good to be connected with them all again,” Pterax reveals. Okay, don't have a clue what that means, but whatever. He's stuck with my team, so at least he's here now.

“Good. I believe we're about ready to move. Iron, give the order to your countryponies, if you will,” Spitfire declares. When Iron looks at her with a raised brow, she explains. “I don't feel comfortable giving them orders. They don't seem like they'd take very well to that.”

“Of course not. You are an unknown to us, Spitfire,” Salamul responds as if it should have been obvious. “We will not respect you until we have seen you perform on the field of battle. Only once you have fought alongside us will you see our attitude towards you change.”

“I see...I'll keep that in mind,” Spitfire responds, looking a little troubled and intrigued at the same time. “I've never been out of Equestria much. Your culture is interesting.”

Salamul grunts noncommittally at that response. Iron shakes his head again and turns back to the ranks of Bleak Islanders that have been forming up behind us. All chatter silences the moment they spot Iron looking back at them without the commander even having to say anything.

“Fellow ponies of Bleak Island! We march for Trotsdale!” Iron calls out in a strong level voice that easily projects to the entirety of the Bleak Island army.

“Yes, Stalwart Iron! All hail the Warlords!” the army calls out as one, loud and clear enough to give me chills.

With that, our combined force starts to move for Trotsdale. The Bleak Islanders march on hoof, while the changelings and Pegasus Corps fly overhead, all of us on our way to meet up with the main body of the Equestrian forces.

As we march, one niggling, questioning thought fills my mind, nursing a powerful curiosity within me.

Warlords? As in plural? Who's the other?

> 114. The Great and Powerful
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Not long after we started moving, Spitfire sends a messenger pegasus back to Vanhoover, informing the management there of the victory at Cloudsdale. Despite Chrysalis's reassurance that Trotsdale was safe, Spitfire wanted to get back there as quickly as possible.

While the initial plan according to Iron had been to use the trains to get to Trotsdale, the attack on Cloudsdale had rendered the rails too dangerous to use. Of course, the railways were now off limited to civilians, rendering internal movement mostly static. With the news of the defeat of Shatter's forces, Spitfire hoped that she could get the trains running again. We'd be able to move much faster if our ground units could travel by train.

Thankfully, it seems everything went over without a hitch. The messenger soon returns with the news that the mayor of Vanhoover is sending a train our way. Thank god. I've been flying up in the sky at a slow pace alongside Spitfire, Rainbow, Pterax, and Chrysalis. It hasn't been fun. By that, I mean there's an awkward silence between the four of us. The resentment can clearly be felt from Chrysalis, making me wonder if recruiting her was really a good idea after all.

Because of that, the moment I hear the train's whistle blow from behind me, I immediately bank off, much to their surprise. “Where are you going, Seth?” Spitfire questions me, even as Rainbow moves to follow me.

“To the train! We have to move at the same pace as the ground forces, don't we?” I call back to her.

“Yeah, I suppose we do. So?” Spitfire returns, confused.

“So, I'm gonna hop on the train and take a nap,” I finish explaining. With the train, we'll be at Trotsdale in a few hours, which should give me about that much time to sleep. Spitfire appears to understand that, because she smiles and shakes her head.

“That sounds good to me. I'm right behind you!” Rainbow chimes in, flying close beside me as I leave that awkward situation behind. Pardon me if I don't want to be anywhere near Chrysalis if I can help it. It's a little sad that she's easier to deal with when we're fighting.

The train soon comes to a halt with a screech of brakes on metal wheels. It's just as fucking colorful as the one in Ponyville. There's just so much pink, I can't even take it. Hilariously enough, I notice even some of the Islanders eyeing the train with a little bit of disgust.

“There's just...so much pink,” one of the soldiers comments as he climbs aboard, echoing my exact thoughts. I snicker and nudge Rainbow, who rolls her eyes.

“It's not that bad,” she whispers back to me. Bullshit. It literally could not get any worse than this. After all this time spent in the company of the Equestrian military, I guess I forgot just how fucking girly this country can be.

With a grunt, I land on the grass beside Iron and Salamul and walk alongside them, heading for the nearest carriage. Salamul turns his head slightly upon my arrival, but he quickly loses interest. I notice that he and Iron are oddly quiet. You'd think that if my brother showed up out of the blue, I'd be talking to him nonstop. I mean, technically they're blood brothers, but still.

Rainbow and I step inside the carriage with them and several other soldiers, our feet and hooves thudding onto the wooden floorboards. The seats inside are arranged in sets of two, alternating which direction they face as they line the sides of the train. I hope they're as comfortable as they look, because I'm looking forward to getting some more sleep.

I sit down next to Rainbow in one row, and Iron and Salamul take the seats across from us. It isn't long before I'm settled, but the two soldiers across from me take a little longer to set their weapons and equipment down in such a way that they can sit comfortably. You know, I've never really gotten a close up look at their weapons like this. They really are unlike any weapon I've ever seen.

“You guys are awfully quiet,” I address the both of them, deciding to go ahead and act on my curiosity. Now that I have their attention, I continue. “You guys are brothers, right?”

“Stallions who truly understand one another have no need for words,” Salamul rumbles, smoothing out tangles in his mane with one hoof. Iron nods and grunts in agreement. Huh. Well, that told me practically nothing. “From what I've seen...you Equestrians seem to put your emotions on full display.”

“That was the first thing I noticed when I came to Equestria,” Iron agrees with a wry expression. He lifts a cloth out of his armor and starts to polish his trident. “It was a little disorienting.”

“Dear Celestia, we do not 'put our emotions on display!'” Rainbow protests. The train shudders and the whistle blows once more, indicating that the vehicle is fully loaded and ready to move. Sure enough, the floor starts to rumble and the train chugs to life, the doors shutting. “You guys are just like, statues. Are all Islanders like that?”

“Yup.”

“Pretty much!”

“Don't want everypony knowing my feelings.” Multiple soldiers actually respond to that, having been listening in on us shamelessly. Rainbow's response is to plant her hoof into her face.

“When you have been a warrior as long as we have, you learn that showing your emotions is a weakness your enemies can exploit,” Salamul explains, his expression unmoving. The other soldiers that are listening nod their heads in agreement. “That is how you usher in the possibility of defeat.”

“Seth, don't listen to him!” Rainbow says to me frantically. I shrug. I mean, I can see his point, but I could never do it. If I was capable of hiding my emotions that well, I'd never have let Rainbow or anypony in back when I first got here. Sometimes being soft isn't really a bad thing. Rainbow jabs her hoof at Salamul. “That's like, the opposite of what we believe here.”

“So I have observed,” Salamul acknowledges. He stares her her, his dark eyes as stoic and unreadable as ever. “I have already gathered enough knowledge to deal significant damage, if I so chose.”

“What are you talking about?” I demand sharply, not liking the way he's looking at Rainbow. Salamul then lifts a large hoof to indicate Rainbow.

“If I wished to defeat you, I would target this one first. You would be much easier to deal with if you were worried about another in the heat of battle,” Salamul reveals. Wait, what the hell!? Rainbow scowls and my hands clench into fists, unnerved at those threatening words.

“Are you threatening me?” Rainbow snaps back, her muscles tensing. Iron sighs and looks over at his brother.

“Brother...” Iron begins, his voice chastising.

“Of course not,” Salamul answers in spite of Iron's warning, as if the very idea were preposterous. “If I truly wished to defeat you, I would not need to rely upon such tactics. I would simply crush you.”

“That doesn't make me feel much better,” Rainbow comments. I, on the other hand, relax when I realize what Salamul is trying to say.

“I am simply proving a point. Your beliefs, while they are a nice ideal, are but a hindrance on our island,” Salamul finishes. Rainbow relaxes as well once she realizes that the large unicorn isn't actually threatening her.

“That reminds me,” I say, wanting to change the subject. One thing I'm sure of: I'm never going to Bleak Island. Ever. “Iron, how come you never mentioned that you're a warlord?”

“Wait what!?” Rainbow looks between Iron and I in surprise at the revelation. Yeah, after my first initial confusion, I quickly put two and two together. I mean, it only makes sense. The soldiers at the camp got insulted at Iron's lower rank (a rank that in Equestria is one of the highest), Salamul respects him so much that he defers control of himself and his entire army to him, and the other soldiers follow his every command without question.

Iron's eyes widen a little, and then his face falls. He sighs, and turns back to polishing his weapon, remaining silent for a few seconds. Next to him, Salamul remains stoic. I guess he knows enough about Iron to know not to speak for him. “It was never my intention to hide it,” Iron eventually answers. “It was just never important enough to mention.”

“How do you figure? You're one of the leaders of a literal country. Wouldn't you coming to Equestria be a bit of a big deal?” I press further. I know next to nothing about Iron, even though we've fought together plenty of times. To say that I'm curious would be an understatement.

“Why would it be? I gave up my title when I left,” Iron replies coolly. Salamul gives him a sharp look at that statement. “I hadn't been a warlord long enough to garner notice from Equestria. As such, I was just another pony when I got here.”

“You're wrong about that, brother,” Salamul interrupts, earning our attention. “Even when your path strayed from that of your homeland, you were always a warlord. It is a title gained through merit and prowess, not through physical location.”

Iron sighed and looked as if he wanted to protest, but decided better of it. “Thank you. However, I am content where I am. I have no intention of returning to rule Bleak Island,” he states firmly. Salamul looks rather perturbed by that. “There are too many memories there.”

“Very well. That is your choice,” Salamul states, and the conversation comes to an abrupt halt. It becomes quiet, the only sound being the chugging of the train beneath my feet. Well, this is a little awkward.

Looks to me like some serious shit went down during this civil war. I'm extremely curious, but I doubt Iron would appreciate it very much if I pried too much. I look over at Rainbow, who meets my gaze, looking about as confused and curious as I am.

Whatever. I have other, more important things to do at the moment. By that, I mean getting some more sleep before we get right back into the thick of it again. Leaning my head back against the seat, I close my eyes and attempt to get some sleep.





There's a slight pressure on my cheek. I ignore it and attempt to turn over, but then it happens again, and this time I'm aware enough to identify it as a hoof pressing into my face. I huff and open my eyes reluctantly to see nothing but cyan, which tells me everything I need to know.

“Leave me alone, Rainbow, I'm tired,” I groan, closing my eyes again. Rainbow huffs and shoves me right off of the seat and onto the floor of the train, waking me up fully despite how tired I still am. “What the....do you mind?”

“Yes, sleepyhead! Get up, we're almost to Trotsdale!” Rainbow answers impatiently. I pick myself off of the floor and slap my face a few times, attempting to dispel how sleepy I still feel. I guess relaxation time is over. Looking at Rainbow, I notice how smug she looks. “And that's how it feels to get woken up that way. Bet it doesn't feel so great, does it?”

I glare at her, almost wanting to wipe that smug grin off her face the only way I know how, but Iron and Salamul are still sitting across from us stoically, meditating or whatever warriors do in the long waits between battles. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Laugh it up, I guess,” I grumble. I then notice that Rainbow isn't in her seat, but instead walking around in the aisle. “Uh, going somewhere? The train is still moving.”

“Yeah, so? I wanna go flying to the city. I only got on the train because you wanted to sleep, and now you're up. Let's go join the Pegasus Corps!” Rainbow urges me, pushing me towards the door of the train despite my reluctance. “Quit dragging you're feet!”

“I'm going, sheesh! Pushy pony...” I can't help but notice the Islanders watching us and rolling their eyes at how carefree we're seemingly acting. Right, I doubt they like us any better since the last time I checked. Anyway, Rainbow slides open the door to the train, causing wind to whip through the carriage. “And why can't we just stay in the train again?”

“Because I want to see the airships! Come on!” Rainbow answers incredulously, as if it should have been obvious to me.

“Airships? What...wait, Rainbow!” Before I can get any more information, Rainbow throws herself off of the train and spreads her wings, flying up into the sky. Blasted pony and her impatience...fine. I jump out of the train after her, powering up my magic just in time to keep myself from getting dashed across the ground like an insect. My heart still jumps through, even as I fly up and away to safety. This is my first time jumping off of a speeding train. I quickly catch up to Rainbow as she flies up to the rest of the pegasi and changelings. “Would you wait up? God, you're like a filly on a sugar rush at times. What airships?”

“Those airships!” Following Rainbow's outstretched hoof, I see Trotsdale, the city still smoking from the siege. But it's what's hovering above that city that really gets my attention.

There's an entire fleet of airships hanging above the city, counting a score of them in total from what I can see from here. They're clearly not Equestrian in design, in that they're all bulkier and much more heavily armored than anything I've seen before. And wait...protruding from gun ports in the sides of the ships...are those fucking cannons? Since when did this world have cannons? I mean...besides Pinkie's bullshit.

“That's so cool!” Rainbow squeals, flying a little faster, such that I have to match her speed in order to keep up. I have to agree. Those things look powerful as hell. I'm not sure how well they'd stand up to a magical assault, but I doubt any ballista could penetrate that armor. How the hell does a balloon...even one that size...keep those monsters in the air?

As for the city and the surrounding landscape, there's nothing but devastation. Some of the streets are collapsed, buildings are demolished, and fires still burn in the streets, if the plumes of thick black smoke are anything to go by. The fortifications around Trotsdale are completely destroyed, bowled over by the horde of undead that had once been here.

Speaking of the horde, it's just gone. There's nothing left of it. The battlefield is littered with the motionless corpses of the undead army, as well as their destroyed siege weapons. Craters pockmark the field, no doubt from where the griffon airships bombarded them with their deadly cannons. It's a bittersweet sight. On one hand, I'm glad to see the enemy destroyed, but on the other, it'll be a long time before the once beautiful landscape recovers from all of the destruction that occurred here.

Moving on, the city is filled with activity. Pegasi fly through the air above, moving from place to place to make necessary repairs and put out the fires before they can spread. I also get my first look at a griffon, because there's a few of them flying with the pegasi, assisting in the efforts. Scores more are present on top of the decks of the airships. I can't see them very well from this distance, but I notice that they're slightly larger than a typical pony.

Holy hell. We have a massive army on our side. With our somewhat weakened forces combined with the changelings, Islanders, and now the griffons with heavy firepower to boot, I think we have a very good chance of punching through the Crystal Empire's defense. If everything goes well, all we have to worry about is dealing with Hawke... and eventually Sombra himself. If we don't beat Sombra, all of this will have been for nothing.

Spitfire acknowledges our arrival by her side with a terse nod. She too is looking down at the city with a mixed expression that I can't quite interpret. Chrysalis, however, is looking at the griffons' airships with interest. “Good, you're here. I was just about to send for you,” Spitfire greets us. She indicates a dark blue pony flying towards from the city. “It appears Princess Luna is coming to meet us; likely with more orders.”

Sure enough, Luna flies just in front of the four of us, causing Spitfire and Chrysalis to signal their respective forces to halt. “Thou hast returned. We heard from Seth that thou hast been successful in the defense of Cloudsdale?” Luna addresses us, her tone official and clipped. Once thing I notice about her is that she's tired as hell. She's not showing it all that much, but I can tell by the lethargic way her wings are flapping, and the slight bags under her eyes. I doubt she's slept since the war began.

“No thanks to your incompetent Pegasus Corps,” Chrysalis answers instead, cutting across Spitfire before the captain can make her report. Spitfire shoots the queen a sharp glare. “I have to ask, what was your fool of a sister thinking, sending such a paltry force into what was clearly a trap? You would have lost if I hadn't come to save the day.”

Luna finally gives Chrysalis her attention, and boy, she does not look happy to see her. That's not surprising. If it weren't for Luna and I nearly dying, we'd have never beaten Chrysalis in the first place. Equestria would be under her rule at this point, and the rest of us would likely be enslaved or dead. “Chrysalis...” Luna growls. Her clear displeasure causes a smug grin to cross Chrysalis's face.

“Chrysalis, can you stop your shit? Seriously,” I finally step in, quickly becoming the center of attention. I glare at the changeling queen. “We get it. You don't like us, and we don't like you. I am so sick and tired of this antagonistic bullshit you keep trying to pull!”

“Why, Seth, I'm merely pointing out the flaws in your tactics. What kind of ally would I be if I didn't do everything I could to help your plans succeed?” Instead of acting defensive, Chrysalis smoothly redirects my irritated demand with her sharp wit, making it seem like I'm the one causing trouble. It takes everything I have not to snap at her. Instead, I just groan in utter frustration, much to her amusement.

Luna glares at the queen, not taking her bullshit for even a second. However, she chooses to do the mature thing and not cause trouble. “We thank thee for thy...timely assistance,” Luna grits out through clenched teeth. Chrysalis' grin only widens at her words. Luna sighs and returns to the situation at hand. “With the rescue of Cloudsdale, the Equestrian front is secure. We are currently in the midst of planning our counterattack.”

“Understood. What are your orders, princess?” Spitfire responds smartly.

“Captain. Reorganize the Pegasus Corps and coordinate with Captain Shining Armor. Prepare thy troops for movement and report to the town hall in two hours for a strategy meeting. Inform the Bleak Island warlord of the meeting as well,” Luna orders without even needing to take a moment to think about it. She then turns to Chrysalis. “We request thy presence at the meeting as well, once thy changelings are prepared for movement.”

“But of course. Winning this war is impossible without a brilliant mind such as mine,” Chrysalis responds. Without waiting to be dismissed, she takes off as well.The rest of the changelings follow her like a black speckled wave across the sky. The only exception is Pterax, who remains with Rainbow and I as he was ordered.

“I hate her so much. I can't wait until this is all over and she gets the hell out of this country,” I grumble once I make sure she's out of earshot. Luna and Spitfire agree with that sentiment, nodding their heads and grimacing. “What do I do, Luna?”

“We have specific orders for you, Seth,” Luna begins. “You're to meet with Commander Rose in the appropriated barracks. She has gathered the recruits thou requested, and they are waiting there to meet with thee.”

“Huh. Okay. I guess I should get going then,” I respond. I'm a little surprised I wasn't told to go directly to Celestia, like I usually do whenever I get out of battle. “Am I going to be around for the meeting?”

“Of course. Thou hast two hours before the meeting. Use this time to integrate thy new recruits into thy team, and get thyself some refreshment,” Luna informs me. She then winces. “T'is nothing but travel rations from here on.”

“Right. I'll get going then,” I reply with a nod. I don't know where the appropriated barracks is, but it shouldn't be too hard for me to find it. I beckon to Rainbow and Pterax, and then start to fly down towards the city. “Come on, you two. You're part of the team too, whether you like it or not.”

“Don't be dumb. I like it,” Rainbow tells me, looking affronted that I would even imply that she wouldn't like it. “I mean, we're your friends. We like working under you.”

“I don't...” Pterax points out.

“Shove it, bug face!” Rainbow immediately shouts back, causing me to roll my eyes and press forward.





Finding the place was easy, as all it took was asking any soldier. The “appropriated barracks,” as the ponies are calling it now, is actually just a collection of buildings surrounding the town hall. They consist of re-purposed restaurants and several residential buildings. The furniture inside has been hauled away and replaced with cots and racks for armor and weapons.

There aren't too many soldiers inside the restaurant that's serving as the central barracks. Most of them are leaving the central area and moving towards the plains, no doubt getting ready for the march to come. That fact reminds me that I'm literally about to participate in what's basically a full scale invasion of another country. I guess it's easy to forget how crazy this whole situation is when I'm just focusing on how I'm going to get myself and the ones I care about through this in one piece.

“There y'all are!” Applejack rushes out of the adjoining dining hall, looking no worse for wear despite the siege that she just had to last through. She gallops towards us with a relieved smile.

“Applejack!” Rainbow exclaims, equally happy to see her. She runs to meet her friend halfway, stopping just short of her...only to nearly get knocked off of her hooves when Applejack hugs her fiercely. “Waah! It's good to see you too...heh.”

It's true. Seeing Applejack again causes a sense of relief to well up within me. Even though we saved Cloudsdale, I felt really guilty about leaving her behind to fend for herself along with the others. I know I had to, but that wouldn't have made me feel any better if one of them had ended up dead. However, there's one thing I have to find out first.

To my surprise, Applejack hugs me next, equally as fiercely, reminding me just how strong she actually is. I chuckle nervously and awkwardly hug her back. “Y'all alright? Ah heard y'all had to skedaddle pretty fast to save Cloudsdale,” Applejack asks once she releases me. Behind us, Pterax sits down and waits impatiently, bored at the sudden affection.

“Yeah. It was rough, but the changelings came through and got to us just in time,” I answer truthfully. Applejack looks at me in surprise.

“Was it that bad? Ah didn't think there'd be any Oppressed up there,” Applejack questions. I shook my head.

“There wasn't, but their general was a real bitch. But enough about me. We're fine. What about the others? Twilight, Pinkie, what?” I demand, quickly changing the subject to what's been bothering me this whole time. “Is anypony hurt?”

“Nuthin' serious. Ah took a few hard knocks out there mahself, but nuthin' Fluttershy couldn't take care of,” Applejack responds, much to my relief. “Twilight's training her heart out, bless her. As fer Rarity, you can hear her yells over the waterfall. She scuffed her hooves when them baddies got close to the town hall.”

“Oh Jesus Christ, how will she ever survive such a horrific injury?” I scoff, earning chuckles from Rainbow and Applejack. Seriously though, I'm relieved as fuck. Somehow, we all made it through Sombra's onslaught. “That's a relief. How did the battle go after we left?”

“Ain't gonna lie, it wasn't pretty. They pushed us back all the way to the town hall, so the princesses had ta come help themselves,” Applejack began, emphasizing her tale with her hooves. “They were gonna beat us, but then the griffons showed up in those airships, and then their general came out too. She was beaten pretty quick, though.”

“Did we capture her?” I ask earnestly. It would be really satisfying to see that bitch in jail after all that difficulty she gave us during the battle. Even if she is some former slave like Shatter mentioned. Though why a former slave would serve her evident captor so loyally is beyond me.

Applejack shook her head, disappointing me. “Nah, she used some weird mojo to zap herself away,” she explained.

“Wait, isn't that what the guy back at Cloudsdale did too?” Rainbow realizes aloud just as I make the connection in my head. Both generals that we've defeated used the same method in order to retreat. That can't be a coincidence. Sombra, or whoever the hell is controlling the war effort, must not be willing to risk losing his generals. “That's really frustrating...but it also means I can get a shot at them later.”

A burst of inspiration strikes me. “You know, it's probably because the whole 'cutting off the head of the snake' metaphor has a whole new meaning for these guys,” I deduce aloud. Rainbow and Applejack both look at me blankly. “Celestia told me that the undead need to be sustained by something, otherwise they'll just fall apart. I guessing that's what the generals do. If you take down a general, I think the entire army they control is defeated too.”

“That does make sense. Yeah, ah see why she ran away so fast then,” Applejack admits. Rainbow just seems to get more frustrated.

“You mean if we'd beaten any of them, it'd be a huge loss for them?” Rainbow asks in dismay. When I nod, she groans. “Ugh, and we let them get away!”

“Gettin' frustrated ain't gonna help nopony. We'll just gotta hit 'em hard next time,” Applejack admonishes Rainbow lightly. Yeah, as much of a smack in the face figuring this out all now is, Applejack is making sense. Trust her to keep a level head during all of this. “Anyway, ah'm guessing you came to meet our new teammates?”

“Yeah, that's right. Luna ordered me to meet Rose here. Do you know where she is?” I return, getting back to business. I'm eager to meet this Trixie myself and determine whether or not she'll be an asset or a detriment to this team. I already know Swift Lance will be.

Applejack suddenly puts on a strange expression that's a cross between a grimace and a chuckle. “She went upstairs ta clear her head. Apparently she an' one of the new ponies don't get along so well. Couldn't possibly imagine which one that could be.” Is it just me, or did that last bit sound a little sarcastic? “Ya picked a doozy of a pony there. Can't imagine what went through yer head.”

“What are you talking about? Which pony?” I ask suspiciously. Why the hell is Applejack acting so shifty about it?

“Ah'll let ya figure that out. Just head into the back room. They're back there,” Applejack responds with a smirk. She turns to Rainbow next, who looks just as confused as I do. “C'mon Dash. Let's go get Rose an' let Seth talk to the new ponies.”

“What? But I want to see too!” Rainbow protests, but Applejack is now behind her, pushing her towards the back stairs in a comical fashion. Soon I'm pretty much alone in the room apart from Pterax, wondering what in the hell is going on. Applejack usually doesn't act weird without a reason.

I shrug, guessing that I'll figure it out for myself in a little bit. I pick my way through the cots towards the back of the room, where it looks like the kitchens used to be. There's a set of double doors back there, and I can hear a heated, uppity female voice coming from within. As I get closer, I can make out what she's saying.

“The absolute nerve of that mare!” the voice is screeching angrily. I'm guessing that's Trixie, because that's certainly not Swift's voice. “How dare she!?”

“Calm down, she didn't mean it like...” Swift is trying to calm her down, but to no avail.

“Trixie is every bit as strong as that Twilight Sparkle! How dare she say Trixie has no place on a battlefield!?” Trixie shrieks. God, her voice is loud and annoying as fuck. Did I really pick this mare? Though I guess I can see why she's upset. That does seem like something Rose would say. “And to call my masterful illusions 'parlor tricks?!' Trixie feels she should...”

Okay, I’m tired of her yelling now. Motioning for Pterax to remain behind, I push open the doors and step inside, gaining their attention...for better or worse. The mare next to the armored Swift Lance turns to look at me...and promptly screams, causing Swift to cover her ears.

“What in Equestria is that!?” Trixie screams, pointing a hoof at me in shock. My shoulders slump and I look at her with a deadpan stare. Wow, it has been a long time since somepony has had such a pronounced reaction to my appearance. I can say right now that I didn't miss it very much.

Now that I've got a closer look at her, I take a note of her appearance and come to one conclusion. Everything about this unicorn is fucking blue. From her sky blue coat to the wand on her ass to her mane, which is a soft pale blue that curls in front of her face and down her side.

Next to her, Swift Lance groans and facehooves. She gives me an apologetic glance and then stares at Trixie. “That...is our commanding officer, Commander Seth,” Swift deadpans. Trixie promptly closes her mouth indelicately and gives me another look, noticing just how unhappy I look at her reaction. “If you want to be treated as if you belong, perhaps you should show a little respect.”

Trixie gulps, realizing that she hadn't exactly made the best first impression. She clears her throat at first and tries again. “Trixie is sorry. She...uh...didn't know that you would be an...um...type of ape,” she addresses me at last. I give a snort.

“Not an ape,” I tell her, flustering her even further. Swift sighs in exasperation next to her.

“Uh...albino minotaur?” Trixie guesses.

“Nope, strike two. Try again.” Now I'm just fucking with her. It's been too long since the last time I just messed with somepony over my species.

“Alien from outer space?”

“Sure, let me just go grab my flying saucer.” It's easy to tell that I'm being sarcastic there, and Trixie picks up on that with a huff of frustration. I almost want to make an ass probing joke, but I don't know if that trope is still a thing in this time period.

“But...you...” Trixie finally lowers her gaze, sighing in defeat. “Trixie gives up. What exactly are you?”

“I'm human, your predecessor race, zapped here from three thousand years in the past,” I reveal to her, telling her my story in a nutshell. Trixie's jaw drops again, speechless. “You didn't know about me? Where have you been over the past few months?”

“Trixie...hasn't exactly been kept up to date on the news,” Trixie admits. Okay, seriously, it's pretty consistent. What the hell is up with the third person? “She's been...keeping to herself and living on the road.”

“Right, your file said you'd been training,” I recall, nodding. I'm actually interested to see how strong she is. “So why did you volunteer for the war effort?”

“Because Trixie will no longer languish on the sidelines. She is ready to prove that she is just as much of an asset to Equestria as that Twilight Sparkle!” Trixie declares proudly, stamping at the ground. Okay, that's the second time she's referred to Twilight as “That Twilight Sparkle.” I get the feeling she has something against Twilight. “And it seems Trixie has been recognized for her true prowess, considering she is here with a team of the best!”

Okay, something is starting to tell me I made a bad decision. I want to see if she can really put as out much power as Twilight, and there's no way I'm going to wait until we're in the thick of battle. I have to trust this mare to have my back if necessary.

“Uh-huh. Let me tell you something, Trixie. You're here because I chose you,” I tell her flatly. That seems to deflate her a bit as if she had thought she was chosen by the princesses or something. She technically was, but it was my decision in the end. “And honestly, I don't see much in front of me except for a mare who looks like she has something to prove. So until I see this 'prowess' you've mentioned, Twilight would be more useful on this team than you.”

“You...what!?” That seemed to hit a nerve. Trixie's eyes narrow to near slits and I can practically hear her teeth grinding. I guess I was right in bringing up Twilight's name. She really does have something against Twilight. Holy shit, she really does, because now I can sense magic. “No! I did not come this far to be told I don't belong!”

Trixie starts to glow with a blue light, causing Swift to step back in alarm. “Who do you think you are!? You and that other mare keep talking down to me like I'm some kind of filly barely out of diapers! You keep telling me to go home, and I'm telling you that I won't have it!” Trixie shouts. I can't help but notice that she dropped the third person mannerisms. “What does that Twilight Sparkle have that I don't!? I have just as much of a right to be here as she does!”

Wow, that's some power I can feel. Now, I want to try one more thing, and then I'll be satisfied. “Oh yeah? You think you're as strong as Twilight?” I taunt her, intentionally trying to egg her on. “Prove it, then.”

“If you insist!” Trixie yells, and then she lowers her horn, all of her magical power collecting there. The pressure in the air intensifies, and my eyes widen. Oh shit. I manage to flare my own magical aura just as Trixie fires a thick beam of aqua blue magic from her horn directly towards me.

I lift my arm and catch the beam on my forearm. Even with my preparation, it pushes me back a bit, nearly knocking me over due to how slick this floor is. Her attack starts to burn through my protection towards my skin, so I have to focus a significant amount of power there to keep from being hurt.

Trixie eventually lets up when Swift Lance furiously threatens her with her lance. “Stand down, Trixie! You're assaulting our commanding officer!” she demands. Trixie is shocked enough to realize that she just attacked someone, so she powers herself down and looks horrified at herself.

“Huh. I stand corrected. You are actually pretty tough,” I admit, lowering my arm, rubbing the stinging portion. Perhaps that wasn't my best idea, but now I feel assured that I made the right choice. She's about as strong as I was when I went up against Chrysalis, and that's pretty impressive. She really has been working her tail off, I guess. “Don't worry, Swift. I actually wanted her to attack me.”

“You did?” Swift asks incredulously, lowering her lance obediently. Even Trixie is looking at me in confusion.

“There's no better way to get a gauge on somepony's strength than to feel it yourself,” I explain. Swift looks troubled, but backs down, seeing the sense in that. I turn back to Trixie. “I've got to trust you at my back. I need to know you're capable of doing the job.”

“Hmph. Trixie is more than capable of holding her own,” Trixie retorts, lifting her nose. She looks proud at the praise I just gave her. “But she meant everything she said. Trixie is not going home. This is her home as well.”

“I can respect that. You're right. You're staying right here, especially with that kind of p...” I start to say, but then the door to the kitchens slams open, and Rainbow comes charging in.

“Seth! Where's the enemy!? I'll beat the hay out of...” Rainbow begins, no doubt drawn here by the the small clash between Trixie and I. She cuts off the moment she sees the unicorn in question. “Wait...Trixie!?”

Applejack gives me a wink and a grin as she walks in right behind the shocked Rainbow. “Told ya so.”

	


> 115. Alliance Force, Assemble
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Okay, I have to be missing something. Right now, Rainbow, Applejack, Rose, and Pterax are standing in the doorway, opposite from Trixie, Swift, and I. This is making the kitchens a very crowded place. Rainbow is staring at Trixie with a mixture of shock, confusion, and dismay on her face, while Trixie is gazing back coolly, and with a hint of disdain.

“What....what is...what are you doing here!?” Rainbow demands, jabbing a hoof at Trixie, ignoring me and everypony else.

“Trixie is here for the same reason that you are,” Trixie replies. So far, it seems like Rainbow's animosity isn't shared. Rather than being as confrontational as Rainbow, she just looks annoyed. “Is it so hard to understand that she too would be chosen?”

“What? No, you've got to be kidding! You? You're just some poser who thought she was better than all the rest of us!” Rainbow accuses, approaching Trixie. Confused, I look over at Rose to see if she's going to help me out here. All I get is an impatient expression and a quick gesture of her head towards my team, as if saying, “handle it.”

“Whoa whoa, hold on a second. You two know each other?” I butt in, stepping between the two of them and interrupting their conversation just as Trixie was about to form a retort.

“Uh, yeah! I even told you as much! Don't tell me you forgot!” Rainbow responds, looking offended.

“Uh...I've slept since then,” I tell her after wracking my brain for any memory of Rainbow mentioning Trixie. Rainbow gives out a groan.

“It was when we were in Canterlot together for the first time, and you were all surprised that Octavia wasn't full of herself...” Rainbow reminds me. It isn't long before her words click in my head and I suddenly remember what she was talking about.

“What? That was forever ago! But...” I turn around to Trixie, who has been waiting impatiently next to Swift. “Now I remember. You were a traveling magician?”

“That's correct. Then, she was known as the Great and Powerful Trixie, a grand magician capable of defeating even the strongest of monsters!” Trixie proclaims, looking both proud and wistful, for whatever reason.

“Yeah, except you were a fake. You couldn't even beat an Ursa Minor,” Rainbow puts in with an unamused expression.

“Of course I couldn't! It was all for the...” Trixie shoots back hotly, but before this situation can devolve any further, I step in once more, growling with annoyance.

“Look, would both of you just shut up?” I demand, my frustration getting the better of me. Both Trixie and Rainbow cut off and look at me, affronted. But I could care less at this point. “Who the fuck cares who did what way back when? Is this really the time to be yelling at each other about stupid shit?”

“It's not stupid! She humiliated me in front of the whole town! Applejack too! I don't want to work with somepony like...” Rainbow argues, but I don't really even pay attention.

“So what? We've fucking accepted Chrysalis into our ranks at this point, and the same logic we used there holds true here. None of these grudges matter right now. I mean, do you really think Sombra is going to care that Trixie hurt your feelings?” As I yell at her, Rainbow's ears flatten and she reluctantly dips her head, seeing the sense in my words. Trixie is starting to look smug though, so I'll have to fix that too.

“That's 'xactly what ah was sayin,'” Applejack agrees sensibly. “Ah ain't crazy 'bout her, but if Seth thinks she can do the job, ah'm all for it.”

“But...fine, I guess you're right,” Rainbow admits, scuffing at the ground. “She isn't as bad as Chrysalis, I guess. You didn't have to yell at me though.”

“Yeah, well, I'll make it up to you later,” I promise her, reaching out and ruffling her mane a bit. This, of course, causes her to nip at me with a cute little growl. Applejack watches this whole display with a little smile. “...Applejack, stop smirking.”

“Ah didn't say nuthin', sugarcube,” Applejack responds innocently. I scoff and turn back to the ponies standing in the doorway.

“Alright, come on in. Now that that's taken care of, maybe I can actually meet with Rose now,” I say, motioning to the rest of them. With that, Applejack, Pterax, and Rainbow move towards Swift and Trixie, forming a small group. Rainbow stays as far away as Trixie as possible, however. Whatever. At least they're not at each others' throats.

They all stand in a line, a group of five ponies...well, four ponies and one changeling. This is apparently my squad now, for better or worse. A physical powerhouse in Applejack, and a magical illusionist in Trixie. Add that with a tactically minded Swift, the speedy Rainbow, and the changeling, I have quite the diverse team.

Rose approaches me, clearing her throat. She looks rather satisfied for some reason, as if she liked what she just saw. “Greetings, Seth. I apologize for the delay in meeting with you,” she addresses me at last. I give her a nod, glad that she can at least talk to me professionally. She and I haven't really talked to one another since Iron headbutted her way back when...and that mental image serves to remind me why I like Iron so much. “My task was to orient your new recruits, but you seem to have done a much better job than I.”

“That's because you suck with other ponies,” I tell her bluntly. Rose looks taken aback by my words, to the point where she actually flushes a little. Behind me, I can hear Rainbow and Applejack snickering behind their hooves. “What? You didn't think I'd be any different just because I'm in a command spot now, did you?”

“Excuse me for holding out hope,” Rose returns dryly with a hint of a smile, much to my surprise. I had thought she'd be more formal, considering how things went the last time we actually spoke. “Now, as you've seen, you've been given command of lieutenant Swift Lance and Trixie, who is being considered part of the army for the duration of her service. They are yours to use as you see fit.”

“Gee, it's like one giant dysfunctional family,” I remark, looking back at the ragtag group that's apparently mine. With the exception of Trixie, I've fought by the others enough to trust my back to them. “Anything else? Or was our meeting just a 'hey, here's some ponies' kind of deal?”

“That's a rather eloquent way of putting it,” Rose answers with a flat browed expression, causing me to chuckle. For a moment, it feels almost as if we're back in the field outside of Ponyville, exchanging dry humor and quips while we trained together. “But you are correct. I must return to my captain. We have many preparations to make, you see.”

“Yeah, no kidding. Will you be at the meeting?” I ask curiously.

“No. Captain Blades has put me in charge of readying the division to march. The meeting is for captains, commanders, and rulers only,” Rose explains with a shake of her head. Huh. I guess I'll be meeting the griffon viceroy then. That'll be really cool. I'm rather interested to see a griffon up close. “So if you'll excuse me, I'll leave you to it.”

I nod, and Rose backs out of the room, bowing her head politely. Huh. That wasn't nearly as excruciating as I thought it would be. I mean, I guess a few months is a rather long time to hold a grudge, but I always pictured Rose as the type who would hold a grudge.

“So...now what?” Applejack asks curiously, now that it's just me and the rest of them in the room.

I shrug. “Hell if I know. All I was told was to meet up with the rest of you and meet with the new recruits before heading to the meeting,” I answer nonchalantly. Swift Lance's response is to facehoof, no doubt expecting something more official and orderly than that. “We still have a little while until the meeting. Who wants to fire up these kitchens?”

“Is that really going to be our first action as a team together? Cooking a meal?” Swift asks in disbelief. Before I can answer, she's set upon by Rainbow and Applejack, both of them grinning.

“No, this is a great idea! I'm hungry, and there's a massive kitchen all around us!” Rainbow declares, wrapping a leg around the beleaguered Swift.

“Darn tootin'! Let's get cookin' a nice apple pie, and then I'll be happier than Twilight in a library!” Applejack chimes in, managing to poke fun at Twilight in the process. Swift groans and lets herself be dragged towards the ovens, leaving Pterax and Trixie behind. “C'mon! Let ol' Applejack teach ya how to cook them apples.”

“Uhm...what's the point to this? I can't eat pony food,” Pterax points out. The changeling rubs his ebony belly, frowning.

“Good point! Rainbow, why don't ya give Seth one o' them sloppy wet kisses yer always doin' and let the poor thing eat?” Applejack calls back, causing Rainbow to turn nine shades of red. Applejack chuckles and dodges the pans that Rainbow is now throwing her direction.

“No we're not doing that!” Rainbow yells, even as I roll my eyes and turn to Trixie, who seems to be reacting about the same as I am. This intensifies when Rainbow looks past an open closet. “Oh hey, they have crackers!”

“Are they always like this?” Trixie asks, sitting down and looking tired from all of the excitement.

“Yup.”

“Unfortunately.” Pterax and I both answer at the same time.

Trixie sighs and looks like she's going to complain further, but then she spots Rainbow coming out of the pantry carrying a plate piled high with thick crackers. She watches Rainbow pass, and when the pegasus moves out of sight, Trixie keeps staring at the kitchens with what looks like longing. She keeps looking like she wants to go join them, but she isn't moving. Uh, what?

“Trixie, what are you doing?” I question her.

“Wh-What? Trixie isn't doing anything,” Trixie responds after a pause, as if she hadn't been paying attention. She then mumbles something beneath her breath that I can't make out.

“What was that?” I press curiously, approaching the magician so I can hear her better.

Trixie flushes a light shade of red, shuffling her front hooves nervously. “...Trixie wants a cracker,” she finally admits. My immediate response is to burst out laughing and facepalm. “Hey! Stop laughing! It's not funny!”

“Just go in and get a damn cracker for the love of god,” I tell her, practically shoving her towards the others. Trixie staggers forward, yelping and glaring back at me, not appreciating my physical encouragement. Sheesh, and I thought I was anti-social. I guess living in the woods for months tends to do that to you. “They're not gonna bite you or anything.”

I follow her inside, towards where chaos is ensuing. “Is this really all the apples?” Applejack complains, her head stuffed inside one of the cabinets. Beside her on the counter is a pile of apples, though there aren't that many. “How am ah s'posed to make enough pie fer all of us with just this?”

“Who cares about the pie? I'm gonna make some awesome cheese dip for these cra...hey, Trixie, get your nose out of the crackers!” Rainbow cuts off to snap at the retreating Trixie, who looks rather triumphant with the single cracker clutched in her telekinesis.

“Trixie is sorry you're simply too slow to guard them,” the magician gloats and takes a bite out of her ill-gotten cracker, crunching with satisfaction.

“Oh, you did not just say that! C'mere!” Rainbow lunges at Trixie, but doesn't get very far before I pluck her out of the air by the scruff of her neck, bringing her up short. “What the...hey! Seth!”

“Yoink,” I quip, setting the pegasus back on the counter where she was assembling the ingredients for her dip. “Come on, you can give up one cracker. Now come on, let's go back to rifling through the owner's shit. Spoils of war and all that.”

“This ain't stealin' is it?” Applejack questions, poking her head back out of the cabinet, a box of cake mix on her head for some reason. “Ah mean, they're lettin' us use this stuff, right?”

“Please, Trotsdale is already a mess. The amount of bits it's going to take to fix everything is already pretty up there. The cost of a few ingredients is negligible,” I explain to her. Applejack still looks uneasy, so I continue. “Think about it this way. Even if we win the war and the ponies can come home to Trotsdale, most of this food will be  spoiled by then.”

“Huh. Ah see yer point. No sense in wastin' food,” Applejack responds with a shrug, and then goes back to rifling through the cupboards for useable food.

“Exactly! Seth, could you grab me some of the spices from the cupboard?” Rainbow asks without even looking at me. She just sits there, waggling a hoof at me expectantly. And now's about the time where I start feeling oppositional defiant, so I decide to start fucking with her.

“What, you're gonna give your commander orders now?” I tease her, earning an impatient huff from Rainbow.

“What the...you’re not my commander. Just do it, already!”

“Why don't you make me?” I shoot back, grinning. Rainbow's expression completely changes, and she forms this smug little grin, as if she knows exactly how to do that. Of course, we're so caught up in the moment that we don't notice Pterax walking between us.

“The tension...” Pterax comments longingly, his forked tongue hanging out of his mouth. Rainbow and I both grab the nearest solid object and throw it at him, much to his dismay.

“Shut it!”





Once we sit down at the table with our meals, we all take a moment to relax here, getting used to one another's company. By that, I mean I have to get used to hanging with Swift and Trixie in a social situation, which is difficult because I hardly know them. That, and Rainbow still acts snippy towards Trixie, but at least they're not yelling at each other.

Trixie is awkward as hell, and it's a little funny. She has literally had no contact with any other pony over the past months, apart from the few times she went into town to restock her wagon with supplies. She just doesn't know how to take it when Applejack starts treating her nicely, even going as far as to tease her about the pie crumbs on her muzzle. Trixie's blushing face at that was enough to get all of us laughing.

But eventually the moment has to end. The rest of our free time passes in what seems like a blink of an eye, and it's time for me to head to the strategy meeting.

“All of you stay here. I'll be back to pick you up once Celestia tells me what the fuck we're supposed to be doing,” I let them all know, getting out of my seat and brushing the crumbs off of my shirt.

“Understood,” Swift responds first, as the others nod. “We'll be here when you return.”

With that out of the way, I leave the kitchens and eventually the building itself...only to run right into Rarity. Rarity squeaks and almost falls over backwards, but I quickly move to catch her before she does. “Jesus, watch where you're going,” I tell her, even though I am happy to see her. I haven't seen her since I left, and while I knew she was okay, it's still nice to see for myself.

“My apologies. It's good to see you, Seth,” Rarity responds with a relieved smile. I notice that there's a small package hanging in the air next to her, wreathed in her magical aura. “I'm so sorry I couldn't come see you earlier, but as soon as I heard you returned, I got right to work.”

“To work on what?” I ask curiously, grateful that I'd decided to leave for the meeting earlier than I really needed to. Sometimes stuff like this happens, and it's best to be prepared.

“Why, new clothes for you, of course! I thought that yours would be quite worn out by now...and I was right! Just look at this atrocity!” Rarity sniffs as if it should have been obvious. I give her a flatbrowed stare, even as she shoves the package in my hands. She peers over my shirt, hoofing at the rips and tears in it. “Your poor shirt looks like it's gone through a blender...and is that a blot of cheese!?”

“Alright, alright, I get it,” I wave her off, accepting the package gratefully. “Thanks for the clothes, I'll get changed later. I've got to get to the strategy meeting in fifteen minutes.”

“Absolutely not! You're going back inside and getting changed right now! You are not going to a meeting wearing these tatters!” Rarity splutters. She nudges me with her head and shoves me back towards the doorway forcibly. “Come on, let's move it. Chop chop now!”

“Ugh, fine. What are you, my mother?” I complain, unable to do anything except walk back inside with the package in my arms. Rarity just smirks triumphantly and makes as if to push me again. “I'm going! Sheesh!”





When I emerge from the restaurant again, I'm dressed in an entirely new ensemble. Rarity seems to like the way white looks on me, because the majority of the outfit is white. The pants are made of a mostly tight cloth colored snow white. Covering my chest is a tight sleeveless shirt colored emerald green to match my eyes. Over top of that is a loose long sleeved jacket colored as ivory white as my pants, with buttons on one side and a buttoned down collar.

Also, I'm completely out of time. The moment I'm changed, I toss aside my old clothes (which Rarity promptly incinerates) and take to the air, leaving the restaurant behind in a matter of seconds.

Activity outside hasn't lessened either. In the devastated fields outside the demolished city gates, the changeling hive is mobilizing, forming organized ranks. The Pegasus Corps appears to be doing the same just behind them. Come to think of it, everything that can fly (except for the griffons) are forming up outside the gates. Everything else seems to be loading onto the Equestrian and Griffon airships.

Wait a minute, where the hell were those airships during the battle? I mean, most of them are on Gilded Skies' payroll, but it would have been nice to have those ballistae backing us up during the siege.

Whatever. I don't have time to think, because soon I'm walking into the town hall. It isn't long before I make my way to the central room, where we'd made plans for the siege not too long ago.

The other important individuals are in the room as well, gathered around the table. They include Captains Blades, Shining Armor, Spitfire, and Gale; Warlords Iron and Salamul; all three of the princesses, Queen Chrysalis, and...huh. I guess that's a griffon.

Just like mythology taught me to expect, the large creature standing beside Cadance looks to be half eagle and half lion. The lion half is dark gray and speckled with black, complete with a wiry tail waving in the air behind it. The bird half possesses white and black plumage, complete with a black crest resting just above his predatory yellow eyes. To top it all off, there's a yellow beak that looks as if it has been sharpened sprouting from his muzzle. Wow. That looks both terrifying and awesome.

“Good, it seems we are all here,” Celestia states, once I join them at the table. I get a few nods and murmured greetings as I squeeze in beside Iron and Blades. On the table before me is a newer map that looks as if it has been recently sketched. I say sketched, but it looks borderline perfect. “Now we can begin. First, I believe we should start with introductions.”

“Allow me,” Chrysalis is the first to speak, her distorted voice earning winces from all of the ponies that know her. Shining Armor, bless him, is trying so hard to keep his facial expression neutral. No doubt he's steaming on the inside. Cadance I can't read at all, because her expression is perfectly neutral. I guess she's good at that, considering she is a diplomat. “I am Queen Chrysalis, of the changeling race. I am...charmed, to make all of your acquaintances.”

“Changeling? What in the world is that supposed to be?” the griffon rumbles, his voice sounding gruff, yet breathy. That's an odd combination. “Some new race you dug up, Princess Celestia?”

“It is a rather long story. Whatever details Queen Chrysalis wishes to share is at her discretion, however,” Celestia diplomatically responds, dipping her head politely to Chrysalis. Thankfully, the queen looks satisfied by her words.

“We are your allies, for the time being,” Chrysalis explains cryptically, knowing better than to disclose her disagreements with Equestria. Now that I think about it, there are essentially three countries represented in here now, if you count the fact that Chrysalis will eventually be recognized as one. “I have told you my name. Now tell me yours, griffon.”

“I am Viceroy Zythe, the most powerful griffon in Griffonstone,” the griffon declares, pounding his chest with a talon proudly. “We might not have a king, but with my army and my airships, I'm the closest thing you can get.”

“Thank you for coming to our assistance, Viceroy,” Celestia responds, smiling at the griffon.

“Don't thank me. I'm not doing this for a bunch of namby-pamby ponies and their swiss cheese allies,” Zythe scoffs, earning a wince from Celestia and a warning hiss from Chrysalis. Oh jeez, and here I thought that Chrysalis was going to be the worst of our worries here. “Thank Cadance. She and I are even after this.”

“Perhaps it is best if we move on,” Salamul interrupts wisely, his expression calm and implacable. “We are the Warlords of Bleak Island. You may call me Salamul, and this is my brother, Stalwart Iron.”

“Awfully big for a unicorn, don't you think?” Zythe comments, clicking his beak with interest. “What do you eat in Bleak Island?”

“It's not important. Perhaps we should address the purpose of this meeting.” Salamul thankfully doesn't let Zythe derail the conversation any further.

“Indeed. As you are aware, the Crystal Empire has declared war upon Equestria, led by their usurper king, Sombra,” Celestia relates, retelling the situation for the benefit of Salamul and Zythe, who likely don't know the full story. “We have weathered their initial assault, and their forces are weakened. If we are going to strike, it must be now.”

“T'is time we march on the Crystal Empire,” Luna agrees, her eyes narrowing. She looks over at Gale. “Captain Gale, if thou wouldst?”

Gale nods and indicates several points on the map, where there are multiple marks, each one labeled with names that don't make much sense to me. “The northern settlements, as I have drawn here, have all been seized by the enemy and their populace withdrawn to the capital,” Gale begins.

“No doubt to be used for slave labor,” Cadance deduces sadly.

“While their main force was engaging us, the settlements have been fortified and are no doubt being used as military outposts,” Gale continues, tapping the map for emphasis.

“We won't be able to strike at the capital without getting rid of them,” Chrysalis points out sensibly. “I mean, unless you like being surrounded by undead reinforcements. Then by all means.”

“We would need to split our forces in order to do so,” Luna observes, looking troubled. “We do not trust Sombra. There is no doubt he wouldst exploit that weakness.”

“It's been trap after trap with this guy, so I wouldn't doubt it,” I insert, and immediately regret it. I feel so out of place here. The moment I open my mouth, I'm the center of attention. Zythe in particular squints at me curiously.

“What in the...I did not even see you there. What are you, some kind of albino minotaur?” Zythe questions, much to my annoyance. Great, I gave him another chance to change the subject.

“I'm human,” I tell him shortly. Zythe blinks, and then adopts a disbelieving expression.

“You lie. Humans are long extinct,” he shoots back. “If you're human, prove it.”

“How about no? Call me whatever you want; can we just focus on the meeting please?” I tell him impatiently. As if we have the time to debate over whether I'm human or not. Zythe clucks a bit and shrugs, thankfully not taking offense to my rudeness.

Chrysalis waits until it's silent again, and then she turns to Luna. “What, so you think we should sit on our tails for fear of an ambush?” she criticizes, causing Luna's eyes to narrow. “No, I believe we should do it, and plan for our enemy's trickery.”

“And what do you suggest?” Celestia answers instead of Luna, which is probably for the best. Even though Chrysalis is a total ass, she's a tactical genius, considering how she almost brought down Equestria all by herself. I hate to admit it, but we'd be stupid not to use her.

“An all out assault, of course. Hit every single one of these settlements before they can organize, and then they will run their forces ragged trying to stop us,” Chrysalis answers with a toothy grin. “They have four generals. Five, if you count their king. They cannot control more than one host per general. We hold the tactical advantage, provided the king remains where he is.”

“King Sombra has not left the tower, as far as our scouts have seen,” Gale inputs helpfully, much to our relief. All bets are off if Sombra goes to the front lines himself, because then every single one of us with magic will have to fight him....which leaves the other generals free reign to screw us over. “In fact, I've been told he's holding a feast.”

“Are you kidding?” I demand. My sentiments are echoed around the table, as we all take offense to Sombra's blatant disregard to our efforts. It's like he doesn't even care.

“His overconfidence is to our benefit,” Salamul rumbles. “Chrysalis's plan is a solid one. We can outmaneuver our enemies and throw them into disarray with a full frontal assault.”

“Speaking of which, where are their generals?” I ask Gale pointedly. “If we take them out, a huge chunk of their army goes with it.”

“You're serious? Even better,” Chrysalis says with a grin. “At this rate, only Sombra himself will be a challenge.”

I'm just about to mention Hawke when Gale starts to answer my question. “So far, we've located two of their four generals,” she states, sticking two pins into the map. “The first is here, in the northwest settlement of Free Wind. Not much is known about him apart from his species: earth pony.”

“That's probably Earthen Glass. We've met Mist and Silent Shatter, which just leaves Glass,” I recall My sensible deduction earns nods from the other ponies around the table. “What about the other?”

“The pegasus, Silent Shatter, is flying between the southern cities, likely controlling the majority of the defending forces,” Gale says. “He has been difficult to pin down.”

This all means that Hawke and Mist could be anywhere. I don't like that. Hawke is literally the strongest of Sombra's generals. I would rest easier if I knew where he was. He could really screw us over if he took us by surprise.

“Why is this location blank?” Celestia questions, rejoining the conversation. She sweeps a wing across the area in question. It's true. On the western side of the frozen north, there's a blank white space nestled against the mountains.

“Our scouts cannot get close. There is a blizzard raging in the area. To my knowledge, it has yet to dissipate,” Gale admits reluctantly.

“Strange...blizzards don't usually last that long,” Celestia muses. “We should assume it isn't benign. Can you tell me what should be in that area?”

“All I know is the basic geography. There is a valley here in the center of the blizzard, with a dormant volcano at the far end,” Gale states, drawing the terrain to the best of her ability from memory alone. “It is a defensible location. It is likely that there could be a base hidden within.”

“I see. However, it would be foolhardy to attempt an assault in that blizzard,” Celestia responds, nodding. “We cannot scout it either, as your pegasi will freeze.”

“Mine won't,” Chrysalis rejoins with a smug grin. Before our eyes, she transforms into a polar bear with a thick wintry coat. Those that have never seen her transform, such as Salamul and Zythe, watch in interest as the bear sits on her hind legs, somehow managing to look smug. She soon transforms back, her point proven. “We can scout in the blizzard for you. However let's not split our forces too much, else we will lose our advantage. The undead can't move through that blizzard either.”

“How do you figure?” I demand, looking at Chrysalis with surprise. “They're undead! What do they care about how cold it is? They can't freeze to death.”

“Maybe not, but they can freeze,” Chrysalis determines. Luna appears to understand what Chrysalis is saying, because she's nodding in agreement. “Just because they're undead doesn't mean they're not made out of flesh and blood. Whatever liquid that's in them will freeze. I'd like to see them move with frozen solid joints.”

“Which means we can safely ignore the blizzard until we hath taken each settlement,” Luna adds, nodding. My head turns between the two of them with surprise. I never thought I would see the day when Luna and Chrysalis collaborate on a strategy together. This is totally nuts. “Then we can consolidate our forces in our new offensive line while thy changelings scout the blizzard.”

“Precisely. And then, should it prove to be a threat, we will strike at it with the entirety of the changeling hive,” Chrysalis says with a grin.

“Not just your changelings. We can get through that blizzard too,” Zythe states. I look at his feathers and fur skeptically. There's no way that he would be able to last in a blizzard. We're going pretty far north, and I heard blizzards are pretty fucking nasty. “My forces can get through by airship, if we huddle in the hull near the engines. I would have suggested it earlier, but I'm not going in there blind.”

“We'll keep that in mind,” Chrysalis retorts, rolling her eyes. No doubt she wants to keep the glory all for herself. “Now, this just leaves distribution to be dealt with.”

“That's right. Which leads me to Seth,” Celestia speaks up, joining in once more. I can't help but notice that she usually stays out of the conversation when tactics are being discussed. I guess her sister has more experience in that regard than herself. “Captain Gale, which settlement is the most heavily fortified?”

“Here, in the town of Everwinter,” Gale answers, indicating the location on the map. The town looks to be pretty close to where the blizzard is. “It is enclosed within large stone walls, though I am uncertain as to how they were constructed so quickly. Likely magic is involved.”

“I see, sister. Thou wishes to use Seth's team to infiltrate its defenses?” Luna questions. Celestia nods, giving me a smile. Huh, so I'm going for the big fish there. I might end up fighting Shatter again if I'm unlucky. At worst, I'll run into Hawke, and I'll be in a fight for my life. “Hm...if the defenses are weakened and we acquire the element of surprise...”

“...we won't have to send as many troops there,” Chrysalis completes the sentence for her. Jesus, they really are on the same wavelength here. If Chrysalis hadn't been so overconfident of her victory during the royal wedding, I honestly don't know who would have won. “Well? Think you can do it, Seth?”

“I think so. I'm actually satisfied with the team I have right now,” I answer, knowing full well how much will depend on me if I take this mission. If I fuck this up, there'll be a hole in our formation....a weakness that Sombra could exploit. “Who'll be backing me up once we get those doors open?”

“Send us,” Salamul suggests, suddenly speaking up. He earns everyone's attention at his frankly audacious claim. “You will only need a small force to take it once the defense are down. The Bleak Island warriors are more than capable of doing the job.”

“There's only four hundred of you,” Chrysalis scoffs. Even Luna looks uncertain, as do several other of the captains. “Who knows how many undead are inside?”

“Do not underestimate us. We've seen more combat than the entirety of your army, thrice over,” Salamul returns with a growl. “We will crush them beneath our hooves. Let us take care of this. Your forces are needed elsewhere.”

Celestia muses for a moment, and then she turns to look at Iron, who meets her gaze. Iron nods, understanding her unspoken question. She's asking for his opinion. “I stand by my brother's claim. I know these warriors well. We can do it,” Iron states determinedly.

“You know, I like your guts!” Zythe is the first one to respond to that, clacking his beak and grinning. “Why not, princesses? Let's let 'em do it. I'll even give 'em one of my airships to take 'em there.”

“We will admit, if thy forces prove sufficient for the task, we will be able to hit the other settlements twice as hard,” Luna admits, mulling the idea over in her head. Finally, she nods. “Very well, we approve of this plan.”

“Very tenacious of you. Let's hope you don't screw it up,” Chrysalis comments, staring coolly at Salamul.

“I will endeavor not to disappoint you,” Salamul retorts, returning Chrysalis's gaze calmly. They stare at one another for several moments, until Chrysalis licks her lips and looks away, a ghost of a smile on her face. What the hell was that all about?

“It is settled. Seth's team and the warriors of Bleak Island will travel to Everwinter and seize it for the allied forces,” Celestia declares. She looks between Salamul and me for confirmation. “Do you understand?”

“You got it,” I answer.

“It will be done,” Salamul agrees.

“Excellent. Shall we distribute the remainder of our forces?” Celestia suggests, turning back to Luna and Chrysalis. With that, we return to planning the largest invasion Equestria has ever seen.

Sheesh, and to think that once my biggest worry was getting a good grade on that math final?
	

> 116. For a United Equestria
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	At long last, a plan of action has been decided upon, and all of the logistics have been settled, such as who is going to go where and attack which settlement. I already know my assignment, so it didn't really mean that much to me. However, it's nice to know that I won't be the only one battling once everything gets started.

With a sigh, I leave the room alongside the others, walking beside Chrysalis, Iron, and Salamul, with Zythe and the captains trailing behind him. We walk in silence for a while, but it is broken by Salamul. “I am somewhat disappointed,” the warlord admits. I look curiously over at him, but he appears to be addressing Chrysalis. “I had been looking forward to seeing you fight, Chrysalis.”

“I suppose you'll just have to wait,” Chrysalis returns with a rather snooty expression on her face. She also looks a little irritated. “Are you ever going to refer to me with proper respect?”

“How do you mean?” Salamul asks, honestly looking confused. Beside him, Iron shakes his head, as if he knew this conversation was coming. Chrysalis seems confused now as well, wondering if Salamul was being serious.

“I am a ruler, the same as you. I am the queen of my race. Shouldn't you refer to me as such?” Chrysalis returns with a bit of an edge in her voice. Oh great, and now this is happening. I slow my pace a little, interested to see how this conversation plays out. Salamul doesn't seem the kind to give respect where it isn't due. 

“I will not. That in and of itself is disrespectful,” Salamul answers. Both Chrysalis and I blink, once again, wondering if Salamul is being serious. How the hell is referring to someone by their title disrespectful?

“...what?” Chrysalis seems to be honestly speechless at that response. Her eyes narrow. “Explain.”

“Your title should be carried with pride, of course, as you have no doubt earned your position through competence and prowess in battle. However, it is not unique,” Salamul explains patiently, his deep voice echoing off of the walls of the narrow passage. Chrysalis watches him with a veiled interest as he continues. “There are countless titles in this world. There have been many queens, kings, warlords, princes, and princesses over time. However, there has only been one Chrysalis. Are you telling me that your title deserves more respect than you yourself does?”

Chrysalis is quiet, her eyes thoughtful as she mulls over Salamul's words. Eventually, she clicks her tongue. “No, I suppose not. Your way of looking at things is rather strange, I must say,” Chrysalis finally admits. Yeah, I'm with her on this one. I've never actually thought about titles and names like that before. “So you would rather I not refer to you as Warlord?”

“Indeed. I am proud of my name and my deeds,” Salamul responds. Chrysalis makes an acknowledging hum in her throat, and the conversation ends there, just as we leave the town hall. Salamul then turns to me. “Seth. You will be traveling with us, it seems. Gather your team. I will meet you at the loading area.”

“Sounds good. I'll be back in a bit,” I tell him, and then I turn the other direction. I'm guessing that by the loading area, he means the location where most of the airships are gathered, up near the cliffs by the waterfall. All that empty space makes it easy to position that much bulk, I suppose. 

“Do try not to die before we meet again,” Chrysalis advises me with a wry grin as I take to the air and fly the other direction. “It would be a little disappointing...but just a little.”

“Yeah, yeah, fuck you too, Queenie,” I retort, calling her the first thing that came to my mind. Just before I'm out of earshot, I hear her disbelievingly repeat that nickname, which makes me laugh. I'll have to remember that one the next time she starts acting antagonistic.





“Okay, so here's the deal. We're attacking the Crystal Empire head on,” I explain to Rainbow and the others as we walk through the streets. They had all been chilling in the restaurant still, so it was easy to pick them up and get moving, especially when I mentioned that it was time to take the fight to Sombra. “Our forces are splitting up to crush each of Sombra's individual bases, and then we're marching on the capital.”

“Aw yeah! This is what happens when you mess with Equestria!” Rainbow seems rather enthusiastic about all of this, as she's shadow boxing with the air. You know, I'm really glad we're fighting undead, which aren't sentient and don't think and feel for themselves. That makes all of this much easier on the peace-loving ponies. I don't even want to imagine how they would feel at having to hurt living creatures.

“Somehow I don't suspect it'll be that easy,” Swift Lance wisely surmises. She's fully armored once more, her weapon hooked into the side of her breastplate.

“That's right. Shatter is flying around somewhere, and Mist and Hawke are nowhere to be seen,” I reveal to them. At Hawke's name, Rainbow stiffens, as does Applejack.

“Trixie is confused. She has heard of those names, but who is Hawke?” Trixie questions. Oh yeah, not too many ponies know about Hawke just yet. 

“He's another human, like Seth here,” Applejack answers for me, much to Trixie's surprise. “He ain't exactly on our side though.”

“There's another human?” Trixie exclaims in shock. “What's he doing on the other side? Shouldn't the last remnants of an ancient race stay together?”

“You would think,” Rainbow responds, grumbling as she remembers the time she attempted to fight Hawke.

“He's our most dangerous enemy, besides Sombra himself.” I finally join the conversation, my tone grim. The others fall quiet at my words. “If we run across him during our mission, leave him to me. I'm the only one here strong enough to fight him.”

“Ah don't doubt that. All these baddies runnin' 'round with magic is a little unfair, if ya ask me,” Applejack responds with a sour expression. “Ain't often there's a problem ah can't solve with a well-placed buck.”

“What is our mission, anyway?” Rainbow changes the subject back to more relevant matters, such as what we're going to be doing very soon. “All you said is we're attacking the enemy head on.”

“We're basically infiltrating the enemy's most heavily fortified base,” I say, relating the mission to them in a nutshell. I continue before they can panic. “Once we've got the doors open, Salamul and the other islanders will come in and wipe out the undead.”

“That seems like it's really dangerous. Why can't you just knock down the wall with that magic of yours?” Rainbow inquires.

“I could. But excuse me if I would rather not fight a horde of Oppressed with only four ponies to back me up,” I retort.

“Five,” Pterax corrects me.

“You don't count. You're a changeling.” Right after I say that, I hear the hum of magic that usually accompanies a changeling transforming. Right after that, I hear Rainbow cry out in indignation, giving me a very good idea of what's going on behind me. “Pterax...I swear to god, if I turn around...and you're Rainbow...we're gonna have a problem.” 

When I turn around, Pterax is gazing up at me innocently, in his natural form, while Rainbow glares over at him from her position next to Applejack. “I have no clue what you're talking about,” Pterax replies sweetly. God, that tone he's using makes me want to slap him.

“Can we just...keep moving, please?” Swift Lance urges us with a pained expression, no doubt trying as hard as she can not to yell at us. She's right though. We're almost to the loading area.





“Girls!” To my surprise, Twilight and Spike are in the loading area, along with Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy. It's Twilight that's rushing to meet us happily, though the others are close behind. She skids to a stop in front of Applejack and Rainbow, nuzzling them lovingly. “It's so good to see that you're all okay!”

Trixie fucking backpedals so hard, it would be almost comical, if it wasn't just sad. She definitely has some kind of issue with Twilight, to the point where she's not even willing to face her. While Applejack and Rainbow greet Twilight, Trixie hides behind Swift and I, pretending to inspect her hooves. I quirk an eyebrow, but I don't say anything.

“I am so sorry. I would have come to see you sooner, but I was just so busy with Captain Blades...” Twilight apologizes, even as her other friends come to join us in one large circle. Spike goes to speak with Rarity, while Fluttershy approaches Rainbow timidly.

“Don't sweat it, sugarcube. This'n's been a busy time for all of us,” Applejack responds with a smile, good-naturedly pushing on Twilight's shoulder with a forehoof. 

“Fluttershy, stop skulking and hug me already. You have that look that says you want to,” Rainbow remarks, surprising the timid pegasus with the sudden attention. Fluttershy apologizes quietly, but smiles and hugs Rainbow's neck, the cyan mare looking away as if she's only tolerating the affection. Which is bullshit, because those two have known each other forever. 

“I'm so glad none of us were hurt,” Fluttershy expresses, managing to look happy despite the crap she no doubt had to go through in the medical tent. That's no easy job, especially for the tenderhearted like her. To my surprise, she turns to me next once she finishes hugging Rainbow. “How are you feeling, Seth?”

“Wha, me?” I'm a little surprised that she asked me that question. It's not like she and I ever really talk that much. Fluttershy nods meekly, telling me she's not used to interacting with me as well. I think she's the only one of the elements (Pinkie doesn't count. She's around whether I like it or not) that I don't know that well. “Uh, a little battered and tired as hell, but other than that I'm fine.”

Fluttershy rears up and hugs me next, again to my surprise. “You do look tired. Try and get some rest when you're on the airship, okay?” she advises me once she gets down. Rainbow is watching us with a warm smile. “I mean...if you want. It would be good for you.”

“Heh, thanks, I will,” I respond, not really knowing what else to say. I feel like I should say something else to that, but because I'm fucking clueless at stuff like this, I end up stammering awkwardly. “Um...hang in there. I know being a medic isn't easy.”

Fluttershy looks genuinely happy by my show of concern “I'll be okay. These ponies need me to be strong for them. Even if I can't fight with you, I'm doing the best I can,” she assures me. Wow, that's really admirable of her. She's always surprising me with how strong she really is. I always thought she was useless, but that changed when I saw her in the Crystal Empire, and then now. Sheesh. I've really got to learn to stop judging ponies by what's on the outside.

With that, she moves on to speak with Applejack, and suddenly I find Spike and Twilight in my face. We seem to be doing some sort of rotation thing, so that everyone can talk with everyone here. Trixie, Pterax, and Swift are in the back awkwardly, trying not to get in our way.

“Hey,” Spike says to me rather urgently once Twilight moves on. When I look at him, he beckons me lower with a claw. I quirk an eyebrow, but indulge him, getting down on my knees so he doesn't have to crane his head up to look at me. “I wanted to talk to you before you head out. I'm going with Twilight towards the northeast, so I won't get another chance.”

“What is it? This doesn't look like it's just another 'hey, how you doin',” I reply. I hardly remember ever seeing Spike this serious. Not since the royal wedding, at least.

“It's about that other human...Hawke,” Spike tells me with. His eyes slowly narrow into a glare, and his little claws clench into fists. Now he has my full attention. “If you run into him...I want you to really beat him up. He...he hurt Twilight.”

“Spike...” I say, unprepared for this rush of feelings from him. He forestalls my words with his claw.

“I know...I know I can't do it myself. I don't like it, but you're the only one I can ask to do this,” Spike continues. “So please...”

There's no sarcasm or anything in my response; just sincerity. “Don't worry, that bastard will get what's coming to him. I swear,” I promise him, standing back up. No further words need to be spoken between us. In just that one moment, I felt like I understood just how he was feeling. I guess that when it's time to finally deal with Hawke, I have more than one reason to make sure he answers for what he's done.

“Trixie?” Oh shit. With just that one word, spoken in Twilight's distinct voice, I realize that things are about to get dicey. Trixie stiffens behind me, having been seen because I bent down to talk to Spike. Twilight doesn't seem angry to see her or anything, just honestly surprised. “Trixie, is that you?”

“Twilight Sparkle,” Trixie finally says after sighing, as if to steel herself. Judging by the glare Trixie just shot me, she's not too happy about me taking away her hiding spot. “Yes, it is she. What do you want?”

“I'm just surprised to see you here. After you left Ponyville, I never heard from you again,” Twilight replies, walking to meet Trixie, who shies away a little. For some reason, Twilight doesn't seem to hold any kind of grudge against Trixie, which makes me wonder what the hell Trixie's beef with her is. “I didn't realize you were fighting with us.”

“Of course I am!” Trixie protests hotly, surprising Twilight with her sudden vehemence. I notice that Trixie dropped her third person speak again. “What kind of pony would I be if I allowed my home to be overrun by these...monsters!?”

Twilight smiles, much to Trixie's confusion. “I'm glad to hear you say that. We're glad to have you here,” she responds with a respectful nod to Trixie's feelings. 

Trixie blinks, her previous fervor seemingly forgotten in the wake of her dumbfounded expressions. “You are?” she repeats dumbly.

“It takes a special kind of pony to step up to fight for their home, especially when it's against something like this,” Twilight compliments her, referring to the undead. She tilts her head, looking at Trixie curiously. “You look a little different from before...more experienced. Have you been working on your magic?”

“I...I have,” Trixie responds, blushing and looking pleased at the praise despite her supposed hatred of Twilight. She shook her head frantically as if clearing her head of a fog. She then manages to look snooty once more. “Trixie is surprised you noticed. She will be just as useful to the cause as the rest of you.”

By “the rest of you,” I assume she means Twilight. Of course, Twilight doesn't pick up on that meaning, as she's nodding understandingly. 

“Sparkle! You've had enough time, now move it!” Blades calls down from the deck of one of the Equestrian airships, interrupting this rather interesting conversation. “That means you too, miss Rarity!”

“Okay, I'm coming!” Twilight calls back to Blades, and then she smiles at us all ruefully. “I've got to get going. It's...I...no, I believe in all of you. We'll see each other again at the capital.”

“You're goddamn right,” I growl, reaching forward and ruffling Twilight's mane before she can react. She giggles and nuzzles my hand in response, not even bothering to protest because of what we're all about to do. “You hear that, you ponies? You're all going to come back safe from your missions, or I swear to god I'll kick your asses. You hear me?”

“If it's coming from you of all individuals, then I'll do my very best,” Rarity answers with a warm smile. Fluttershy and Twilight echo her sentiments with confident smiles, and then we all start to break away, heading to our different assignments.

Twilight, Spike, and Rarity climb up the gangplank towards where Blades is waiting for them. I can see Rose beside him, which likely means a good amount of the 2nd Division are going with them. They're heading to the northeast, as I recall from the meeting.

“We're off! Don't have any parties without me!” Pinkie exclaims, waving cheerily at us as she bounces away with Fluttershy as if they were just going on a field trip or something. Together, they move up towards one of the Griffonstone armored airships, where Zythe and Cadance are together, waiting for them. Cadance got put with Zythe so that at least one alicorn was on the team, but I know that she was really put there so Zythe will behave himself. That griffon is a bit wild and quick to the trigger, so to speak.

Around us, the other teams are getting ready to go as well. Shining Armor and Luna climb aboard an Equestrian airship, while Celestia and Gale board another. Celestia is going on her own with only the Stealth Corps and several soldiers to back her up. With eyes in the sky, Celestia is practically invincible, and literally everybody in that room knew it. Nothing short of Sombra himself can stop her, and he's still in the capital. We'll have him surrounded before he even knows what's happening.

As for Chrysalis, she's going with Spitfire and the other fliers, as the settlement they're attacking is high in elevation. It is just northwest of Everwinter, where I'm going. Chrysalis should be fine on her own with her hive and the pegasi to back her up. As for us...

Swift brings my attention to Salamul, who is standing with Iron at the base of a gangplank that leads up to one of the Griffonstone airships. Upon meeting my gaze, Iron beckons to us with a slight motion of his head.  That means we're on.

“Let's move, everypony,” I order them. Without protest, the five members of my team form up behind me as we meet up with the two warlords, who lead us onto the deck of the airship without wasting time on words.

Soon, we're all in position, and there's nothing more to be done or said. “All forces, advance!” Celestia shouts in a magically enhanced voice from her position on the airship at the head of the formation. “To the Crystal Empire!”

The entire allied host starts to move all at once. The airships take point, arranged in a wedge formation with two rows: the Griffonstone armored airships head up the formation, protecting the less armored Equestrian airships flying close behind them. The air is filled with the sounds of their engines, and the sounds of the burning gasses filling up the balloons hung above them.

Behind us, a massive horde of changelings and pegasi combined take to the skies, adding the sound of flapping and buzzing wings to the cacophony already present. I stand on the front of our airship, looking out at the storm clouds flashing over the icy teeth of the frozen mountains...our destination. This is the sound of the largest military force Equestria's ever amassed, moving forward towards what's going to be the largest war that Equestria has ever seen. 

Sombra had better be prepared. This is Equestria's will, and my will, and we will not stop until the conflict is at an end. This is Equestria united.





An hour into the flight, and the airship is quiet, apart from the sound of the engine humming beneath our feet. The upper deck is mostly devoid of anyone, except for the usual griffon engineers that are piloting and maintaining the ship and keeping it running. There are also a few Bleak Island soldiers who are sparring with one another, showing skill far above any Equestrian soldier. It's a little surprising, actually. With the way that they're fighting, I feel as if they could beat me, if I didn't have my magic.

As for my team, most of them are below decks, preparing for the battles to come in their own way. Applejack and Trixie are in the mess hall, putting another meal together for the troops. Swift is in the armory, tending to her weapons, while Pterax is up here on deck near the rear, where he can be the closest to the changeling horde before it's time for us to split off.

Rainbow is with me, though neither of us have said a word to one another in a long time. We both know what's at stake. We both know what's ahead of us. What can we possibly say to one another to ease our nerves? No, she and I are side by side, the physical contact between us serving to comfort one another with the need for words. 

I remember I once mentioned that physical contact did nothing for me. I must have been lying. Maybe I was so unused to any kind of affection that I simply claimed I didn't need it. But I was wrong. I've said this before, but I'd have never have made it past that cliff back in Ponyville if it hadn't been for Rainbow and my friends. Even now, I would be a mess if I didn't have that sensation of Rainbow's fur against my body, keeping me calm and reminding me just what it is I'm out here fighting to save. As much as I claimed to hate it before, Equestria is my home now.

My thoughts turn towards the battle to come. Where we're going is the most heavily fortified out of all the settlements, but I'm worried as to why our scouts spotted no generals there. For something to be that heavily protected, you'd think there be some kind of commander to direct the undead. There's a chance I may run into Shatter again as well...which would be bad for me. I won't have Chrysalis to back me up this time. I have my team, but I'm not sure I want to rely solely on them to pull my ass out of the fire if the general does show up.

I glance back over at the sparring Islanders, which gives me an idea. There is one last card I can play in the time it'll take to get to Everwinter. Rainbow looks up curiously as I climb to my feet, grunting a little as I do so. “Where're you going?” Rainbow asks, getting to her hooves as if to follow me.

“To see Iron. I shouldn't be wasting all this time here up on deck, when I could be getting ready for the battle,” I explain tersely as I move towards the rear of the ship. There's a door set into the raised area on the stern that leads below decks, which I quickly pass through. Rainbow follows along behind me curiously. I think about telling her to stay, but then figure that she'd probably not be up on deck all by herself.

I pick my way past the other Islanders and the few scarce griffons. Iron should be in the armory as well, because he said he would be training down below. As I get close to the armory, I can hear the sound of grunting and metal clashing against metal. It certainly sounds like somepony is training.

When I open the door and step inside, I almost feel like I should leave, because what's unfolding in front of me is something that I feel like I shouldn't interrupt.

Iron and Salamul are going head to head in the middle of the room, their weapons clashing together in a cacophony of deadly steel. They're circling around one another and lashing out at almost the same exact moment, as if they know each other so well, they exactly where the other is going to attack.

Iron is wielding a normal spear and shield, rather than his usual regalia. Likewise, Salamul is wielding a normal one sided axe rather than that crimson monster he usually carries around. As I watch,  Iron grits his teeth and lowers his body, keeping himself on the defensive. When Salamul attacks, Iron is ready. He leaps from place to place, avoiding Salamul's vicious swings. Whenever Salamul gets smart and anticipates Iron's next dodge, Iron twists his body and redirects the attacks with his shield and retaliates with a swift jab at Salamul's unprotected body. 

Salamul manages to dodge, but now Iron takes the offensive, weaving his way inside Salamul's effective range and forcing him back with quick thrusts of his spear. To Salamul's credit, none of them hit him, even in the compromising situation he's in. With a roar, Salamul butts Iron back with a shoulder charge and almost takes the commander's head off with a sweep of his axe.

On the other side of the room, Swift is standing with her jaw open, her lance on the table before her. She's holding a cloth in her magic, as if she had just been polishing her weapon, but her task lies forgotten in the wake of the fight going on before her. I join her at the table, but she hardly notices me, instead watching the deadly dance of the two warriors in front of her.

Salamul and Iron are completely and totally even. No matter what they do, none of them can get close to one another, and it's not for lack of trying. Holy hell. I guess I never really paid much attention when I was fighting alongside Iron earlier, but he really is one of the most skilled fighters I've ever seen. The fact that Salamul is just as good speaks well for their earlier claim that the Islanders could handle this one battle all on their own.

“Whoa,” Rainbow whispers, joining Swift and I at the table. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what her exclamation is aimed at. “That is so cool.”

Their fight only increases in intensity, their strikes getting harder and faster. Neither one of them  seems willing to back down, and they hardly ever look away from one another's eyes. They are completely focused on their fight.

Finally, Iron sees an opening, and takes it. Salamul does the exact same thing at the same time. In result, Iron's shield slams into Salamul's chest, while simultaneously Salamul's axe haft pushes Iron back. They both grunt, and then they bring their weapons towards one another at the same time. The collision is so great, their weapons completely break, the axe blade shattering to pieces as it collides and obliterates the haft of the spear.

Salamul and Iron look down at their broken weapons, and then they toss them aside, the room falling quiet now that they're not seemingly trying to murder one another. “It's good to see that you haven't lost your edge,” Salamul grunts in approval, the warlord breathing slightly harder. Iron is in a similar state, looking equally satisfied. “Let us replace our armaments.”

“Please tell me that wasn't the sound of your weapons breaking again,” a scarred Islander by the anvil in the back of the room says, her voice laden with a mixture of irritation and amusement. Much to her annoyance, Salamul and Iron both approach her with the broken remains of the weapons hanging in midair. “Oh come on, this is the third time now! You two are like a natural disaster whenever you walk into my armory!” 

Iron gives a bit of a smirk in response to that, which surprises me, because this guy never fucking smiles. Like, ever. I mean, this isn't really a smile, but it's still a positive show of emotion. “You'll have to forgive us, Crimson. There would be a lot more broken if we used our Storm Regalia,” Iron responds, using his magic to set the broken pieces down on the anvil. The Islander, whose name is apparently Crimson, sighs and rubs her forehead, clearly done with their shit. 

“Don't I know it. As great as it is that both Warlords are together again, you two have a habit of completely draining my time with repairs!” Crimson scolds the both of them, causing Iron and Salamul both to look a little sheepish. When the two warlords back away towards the weapon racks, Crimson calls back. “Hey hey! No. Take a break. You've been sparring for two hours now, and I'm not even done with the second set of repairs!”

“I suppose that will suffice for now,” Salamul agrees after pausing for a moment. The massive unicorn moves towards one of the tables, sitting down there. Iron moves to do the same, but now is when I choose to make my presence known.

“Iron!” I call to him simply as I approach his table. My call gets his attention as well as Salamul's as they notice my presence for the first time.

“Seth. Is there something you need?” Iron returns my greeting as simply as he always does. His expression is back to being as neutral as ever, which makes me kind of curious as to who Crimson is to be able to entice anything positive out of this guy.

“Yeah, I need another favor,” I admit, deciding to cut right to the chase. Iron stares at me, and then he takes a seat next to Salamul, and indicates that I should sit down as well. I oblige him, swinging my legs over the wooden stool and scoot forward. “So you're pretty good at fighting with a spear. Can you fight just as well unarmed?”

“If I need to. It is a skill all warriors should learn,” Iron responds. With his magic, he lifts up a cup filled with water up to his mouth, taking a moment to replenish the fluids he lost through sweating. “Why do you ask?”

“Because I want you to help me learn how to better fight against a pony,” I tell him, once again deciding to give my point to him bluntly. Iron blinks, looking a little surprised by my sudden request. Next to him, Salamul grunts with interest.

“You think you can stand up to my brother in combat? You have not the muscle,” Salamul observes. His words don't hold any contempt in them as far as I can tell, merely curiosity. 

“Brother, I have fought alongside him before, and he deserves a measure of respect,” Iron explains briefly to Salamul, who then goes quiet to muse over that. He watches us with interest as Iron addresses me once more. “I see. I suppose I could, but I'm curious as to why you think you need to. Your magic more than makes up for your lack of skill, and even you're more skilled than those Oppressed.”

“One of their generals has the same magical immunity, and he beat the hell out of me at  Cloudsdale, before Chrysalis got there,” I explain my situation to him in a nutshell. Understanding dawns in Iron's face, and he rubs his chin with a hoof. “I don't want to lose to him again...especially if he shows up during this mission.”

“That's prudent of you. However, I'm not sure that I can make you a better fighter than he in the short time we have before we reach Everwinter,” Iron admits.

“I realize that, but any little thing helps. I'd have asked you before if I had a chance, but we were always on the move,” I insist. “Besides, you're literally the only one I trust enough to ask favors from.”

Iron gazes back at me for several seconds, and then he nods. “Very well. I'll teach you as much as I can,” he relents. I sigh in relief...and feel a little trepidation as well. This probably means fighting him, and after witnessing him fighting Salamul...let's just say I feel a little outmatched. But then again, I guess that's why I'm doing this. Iron then turns to Salamul. “Brother, our next sparring session will have to wait.”

“No need. Train this creature as you will. I have fought you enough to be confident in our victory,” Salamul assures him. I scoff, not really liking the idea of being called a creature. “I will return to the deck and give orders to our scouts.”

Iron nods, and then Salamul takes his leave of us, plodding back through the door and out of sight. Iron takes a moment to finish his drink. “We should get started immediately then. Come with me,” the warlord directs me as he gets up. I follow him obediently, removing my jacket and setting it aside. 

Crimson, who has been hammering on her anvil ever since the end of Iron and Salamul's spar, spots us immediately, and she ceases work for a moment, her nose wrinkling. “Oi! Iron, didn't I tell you to take a break?” Crimson snaps, seemingly ignoring me.

“Peace, Crimson. We will be fighting unarmed,” Iron responds, lifting a hoof to placate her. Crimson looks slightly less annoyed now, but she's still glaring at him. “I know you're concerned, but we have no time to waste.”

A vein pulses in Crimson's forehead, and she lifts up a wrench and hurls it at Iron without warning. “Who would be worried about you, idiot!? I just don't want you wrecking my armory for the umpteenth time!” Crimson shrieks, making me cover my ears and wincing. Iron smirks again and catches the wrench with his magic setting it back down, just as Crimson looks at me next, causing me to jump slightly. “That means you too, whatever you are! Mess up my armory and your head is going on this anvil!”

“Jesus, quite a firecracker you've got there,” I remark to Iron, keeping my voice low so that little red maned devil can't hear me. “Where'd you pick her up?”

Iron shakes his head, his smirk fading away. “Don't worry. Crimson Flame has working with us for a long, long time. She may have a temper, but she's a friend that's stood by us whenever we needed her. There's no smith I'd trust more to take care of my weapons and armor,” Iron reveals. Unlike me, he doesn't bother to lower his voice, such that Crimson hears every word.

“Hmph. That's just because you wouldn't even have any weapons or armor without me, because you keep breaking them! No other smith would put up with your nonsense!” Crimson snaps right back, but judging from the way she's blushing a little, I can tell she's pleased by Iron's words.

“Quite so,” Iron responds, smirking again. He then gives me his full attention. “Now then, it's best we get started. Let's begin with something simple. I want you to show me how you fought that general, and I'll tell you where you made your mistakes.”

“Sounds good to me,” I respond, getting into a combat pose.

As Rainbow and Swift watch, Iron and I put our best into our training, readying ourselves for the battles to come. When I meet with Shatter again, I don't intend to lose.






> 117. The Frozen North
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 “Now, I want you to remember what I've showed you,” Iron tells me firmly, his face stern and focused. He hunches his body down and scuffs at the ground, letting me know he's getting ready for a charge. “This time, I'm not going to tell you what I'm going to do. Study my movements and predict.”

“Okay,” I say, nodding in assent. I lower myself into a defensive stance that Iron helped me devise, where both arms are outstretched. My left hand is spread out before me, palm held open, and my fingers loose. This, as Iron instructed me, is the hand I'm primarily going to use for guarding and redirecting. My right hand is held upwards, clenched into a fist. This one is meant for retaliation. Of course, this is all just for the initial clash. After that, I'm allowed to use each hand in either role depending on the situation.

On the sides of the room, the others watch, as they have been the whole time. Rainbow and Swift sit together at the one table, while Salamul sits alone at the other. Crimson, this whole time, has been pounding away at the anvil, the heat from the forge causing beads of sweat to roll down her face.

Iron doesn't give me any more warning. He breaks into a gallop, quickly closing the distance between us. As I've been taught, my eyes track his movements as he strafes from place to place, which he once told me was so he could throw his enemies off until the last moment. As I watch, Iron switches which hoof is leading, telling me exactly what angle he's going to attack from.

The moment he leaps, I swiftly move my left hand to intercept his swinging right hoof. My palm stings from the impact, even as I hook my right arm beneath his leg. Pivoting on my right heel, I completely turn my body and throw Iron the other direction using his own momentum against him.

Iron lets out a pleased grunt and lands on all four hooves on the other side of the room. Panting, I watch him, wondering if he's coming for me again. “Excellent. You have a long way to go, but this is a decent start,” he compliments me, cracking his neck. I nod, but scoff a little. I can tell that even despite his praise, Iron has been pulling his punches this whole time. It's honestly a little terrifying. For the first time, I start to wonder...if it came to blows between Shining Armor and Iron, who would win? “Let's stop there for now. If we still have time, we'll try again once you've had time to rest.”

“Thanks. Where did you learn to fight like that? You and Salamul...you're both ridiculous,” I inquire, moving over to Iron near the edge of the room, just beside an area where the weapons are being stored. Coincidentally, we're right next to Iron's shield and trident, as well as Salamul's crimson axe.

Iron's eyes harden at the question. “My father taught me the basics. The rest I was forced to pick up for myself,” he reveals to me. Huh. I suppose that's the most personal thing he's ever told me, though that's not really saying much. “On Bleak Island, you learn through experience, if you're lucky.”

“And if you're not lucky?” I have to ask, even though I know I probably won't like the answer.

“Then you die,” Iron tells me plainly, not bothering to sugarcoat it for me. Hah, I figured it would be something like that. Bleak Island sounds like one hardcore place. I'm just gonna make a mental note never to visit the place.

“Sheesh,” I retort, a sentiment to which Iron agrees, judging from the way he's nodding. Just as I start to move back over to where Rainbow and Swift are, Applejack comes walking in through the door, wearing her armor once more. “What's up, Applejack?”

“There y'all are. The feller in charge o' steerin' the ship sent me to let y'all know were almost there,” Applejack says, addressing all of us. Everypony looks up at that, and an air of serious drops over the room. “We'll be there in about an hour.”

“Alright, you heard the mare. Everyone get suited up,” Iron tells us all, heading to the armory rack, where his armor and weapons are waiting for him. Salamul moves to join him, and even Crimson sets down her hammer and powers down the forge.

“Where are the others, Applejack?” I ask the farm pony as I grab my jacket from the table, slinging it on. It's only warm right now because of the engine beneath us and the forge nearby. Outside, it's going to be cold as fuck. If we're almost there, we should be in the frozen north now.

“S'far as ah know, they're up on deck. Least Trixie is. Ah dunno 'bout Pterax,” Applejack answers, adjusting her hat. “Ah'm about to head up there mahself.”

“Me too. We're gonna go and get those gates open. It'll be easy!” Rainbow declares bravely, clenching one hoof. “Right Seth?”

“Yeah, sure, let's go with that. I don't even know what this place looks like yet,” I say with a shrug. Honestly, I figured we were just going to wing it once we got there, but now I'm starting to get anxious. I guess I'll use this hour to think up a decent plan. We've got to get in ourselves somehow without getting spotted, and that'll be impossible if we don't know the place well enough. Which we don't. “I'm sure I'll think of something. Anyway, go on ahead. I'm gonna stay here, finish my drink, and grab myself a new weapon.”

By drink, I mean the cup of water on the table that I just hijacked. “That was my drink, but okay,” Swift retorted, joining Rainbow and Applejack by the door. I give another shrug and take a long drink from it. Well, she wasn't finishing it, so I figured I might as well. “I'll see you on deck, commander.”

“Try not to take too long,” Rainbow teases me, and then the three of them depart, leaving me with the two warlords and the smith. I set the cup down once it's empty and join Iron and Salamul by the racks on the wall.

The two of them are lifting their individual suits of armor down from the racks and strapping them on with their magic, their individual auras casting a small glow around them. Salamul's armor, unlike the majority of the Islanders, is a dark, blood red, matching the color of his axe. A question comes to my mind when I glance over at Iron's weapon.

“You know, I've always been curious,” I say, turning away from the racks to address Iron, who is currently strapping on his helmet. Once I have his attention, I indicate his weapon. “I've literally never seen anypony use a trident in battle. Why is your weapon so different from the other Islanders?”

Iron nods at the question, as if he'd heard it before. “My weapon, as well as my brother's, are what we call the Storm Regalia, the unique treasures of Bleak Island. There are no other weapons like them, and only we can wield them,” he reveals, lifting up his trident with his magic. I quirk an eyebrow at that. What does that mean? Why wouldn't a normal pony be able to use it?

“Huh, so what, they're like, legendary weapons?” I question, taking a step closer. Iron nods wordlessly, allowing me to inspect the trident. I reach a hand towards it curiously. “You mind if I...?”

“If you wish,” Iron responds, setting the trident down on the table. He and Salamul both watch me as I approach the weapon, lowering my hand towards the haft. The moment my hand gets within a few inches of the haft, lightning visibly arcs from the silvery metal and shocks the fuck out of my hand.

“Ah, fuck!” I curse, withdrawing my hand, where there's now a faint red circle of lightly burned skin on my palm. Iron nods, not looking surprised at all. “What the hell? Your weapon has an attitude problem.”

“As I said, only we can wield these weapons. No other can lay a hoof on them,” Iron finishes. Huh...I guess that's what he meant. My palm stings a little, but it's fading away. No doubt that if I actually touched the thing, I might have burned my fucking hand off. Sheesh, that thing is hardcore. “Now, if your curiosity is assuaged, perhaps you should be joining with the rest of your team.”

Yeah, I guess I've lingered here long enough. I return my gaze to the weapon rack and quickly making a decision, pulling down a sword of similar make to my previous one. It comes with its own scabbard, thankfully, so I'm able to fasten it around my waist through the loops Rarity helpfully stitched into the waistline. There. Now I can fight the Oppressed again. This time, I'm not going to lose it.





“T-Trixie is f-f-freezing!” Trixie stammers out through gritted teeth. I roll my eyes as I walk out on deck. I notice that she, unlike Applejack and Rainbow, is wearing a set of thick winter clothes that she must have found below decks somewhere. We've been flying for almost a day now, so it's already starting to get dark...though I doubt I'm going to get any sleep tonight.

“Ah'll agree, it's a little nippy,” Applejack admits, shivering a little herself. “Ain't too bad though. Ain't worse than workin' the farm on a cold winter day.”

“I've gone flying through worse! Pony up, Trixie!” Rainbow brags, seizing the moment to nudge Trixie smugly, much to the unicorn's annoyance. Yeah, it's just as cold as I'd expected. I button the jacket I'm wearing together in a rather vain attempt to keep out the cold. To Rarity's credit, it does help to keep me warm, but I wish I'd have brought a scarf or something.

“You there...changeling. Aren't you cold as well?” Trixie turns to Pterax for help in her plight, all while hugging herself with her hooves. Pterax just gives her a blank stare, and then turns into a small polar bear with a green flash. Trixie blinks, and then moans. “That's just not fair!”

“Oh hey, Seth's here now!” Rainbow finally notices me, making room for me to join her in their little circle.

“Finally,” Swift groans, rubbing her face with her hooves. “Commander, please come here and put an end to this nonsense.”

I join the circle...and then I turn to Pterax and gesture emphatically at him with both hands. “What...how is that a bear? That's way too small to be any kind of bear,” I criticize him, more for the purpose of annoying Swift rather than out of any problem with Pterax's form. Pterax blinks, and then he grows in size slightly, tilting his head at me. I chuckle when I hear Swift groan again. “Hah, that's more like it. That is a proper bear.”

“Seth, what in tarnation are you talkin' about?” Applejack calls me out on my bullshit, smiling despite her confusion.

“I dunno, really. I'm just trying to see how far I can get before Swift gets an aneurism,” I retort. Swift's immediate response is to practically fall over, while Applejack and Rainbow snicker at her expense. “Anyway, let's get serious. Where are we right now? I'm assuming we're close, considering.”

“We're a little ways out from Everwinter.” A griffon lands amongst us, a light dusting of snow covering his feathers. I recognize him as one of the griffons who've been at the helm. He clicks his beak and leads us to the edge of the ship, pointing his wing. “My orders are to put us down in the foothills of the mountains, to keep out of sight of their sentries.”

Over the edge of the ship, we can see Everwinter in the distance. I can tell that's the place because of the large stone walls surrounding it...that somehow were built in the space of a week. Fucking magic. The little dots circling above the town are likely undead pegasi or griffons serving as sentries, though I can't tell how many there are due to the dimming light.

As for us, we're flying through the craggy peaks of the mountains, as it's the safest way to travel without being detected by the enemy's scouts (if they even have any). In the distance, far to the west of Everwinter, I can see the blizzard Gale mentioned raging like a wall of roiling solid white. I mean, it's snowing right now, but nowhere near that much. Yeah, anyone that goes anywhere near that is going to freeze...unless you're Chrysalis.

“That's correct. The Bleak Island forces will be disembarking in the foothills,” Salamul confirms the griffon's words, stepping out on deck with Iron and Crimson close behind him. He's all suited up now. That bulky crimson armor plus his similarly colored horned helmet makes him an imposing presence on the airship. “We will be on standby until you return to tell us it's safe, Seth.”

“Got it. Ideally, we can slip in, disengage the locking mechanism on the gate, and slip out with the undead being none the wiser,” I respond, rubbing my chin and looking over at the town. Behind me, Applejack and Rainbow exchange glances, and then look back to me.

“Exercise caution. Remember that our ultimate victory relies upon your survival,” Iron reminds me. “We need you to fight King Sombra.”

“I know that. Trust me, I'm not gonna go in there and fuck things up on purpose. This isn't the first time I've been on an infiltration mission,” I answer him impatiently. Of course, I'm referring to the time during the changeling invasion, when Rainbow and I sprang Iron from solitary. The only difference is now my opponents are dumber and I have a lot more ponies backing me up. “I guess all that's left now is to wait.”

“That's right. We'll let you off once we've found a place to set her down. In the meantime, it's about to be my turn at the helm,” the griffon informs us, soon leaving us alone in the area. Behind us, the Islanders are emerging from below decks and forming ranks without need for much direction. I guess that's just another testament to their experience.

There isn't much conversation between us all during the short time we have before it's time to begin the mission. Well, apart from Trixie griping about the cold and Rainbow snickering about it behind her, despite her own shivering frame. Talk about winter all they want, they're still cold. It's the fucking frozen north.

The ship comes alive with activity once the griffon at the helm announces that we've reached our destination. Griffons fly to and from different locations on the deck, making the preparations necessary to land the airship. The engine rumbles and hums beneath our feet as the ship starts to descend into a small valley. Despite Everwinter being a little ways from here, they have to land this far away to avoid being spotted.

Once I feel us land, the griffons lower a gangplank, allowing everypony to disembark. As for me, I leap right over the side, lithely landing on my feet at the bottom of the valley. My feet sink well over a foot into the snow, to the point where I almost slip and fall. “Sheesh, I don't think I've ever seen so much snow before,” I comment, shivering. Rainbow and Pterax fly down next to me, though Pterax quickly resumes his polar bear form. The warmth aside, I'd never be able to see Pterax if I didn't know he was there.

“Golly, ah feel like ah'm swimmin' in it all,” Applejack agrees as she steps into the snow. Trixie balks a little just behind her, but staggers down as well when Swift impatiently gives her a little shove. Above us, Iron and Salamul take command of their troops, leading them down the ramp now that we, the infiltration team, have finished using it.

“Okay, let's get going. Nothing good can come from waiting,” I say once all six of us have gathered in one place. Without waiting for an answer, I plod through the snow towards the direction of Everwinter. Rainbow and Pterax easily keep pace with me, and the other three doggedly push on just behind me. I can't say that I blame them for having difficulty. This snow makes it difficult to move very fast.

“Do you have a plan?” Swift asks from behind me. Honestly, I don't have a clue. All I know is that we're supposed to get inside somehow, get the gates open, and then get out without raising the alarm. That's easier said than done. But..I'm guessing Swift wants something concrete. I guess I'll fake it.

“For right now, let's focus on getting as close as we can without getting seen. From there, we'll analyze the situation and decide on a course of action then,” I respond with false confidence. However, it seems to work, because Swift doesn't raise any objections.

We soon leave the clearing behind. The Islanders are following slowly, I think, though I doubt they're going to leave the safety of the foothills until our task is done. As of right now, we're passing through a set of rocky cliffs, upon which heaps of snow are piled perilously. We're in a mountainous area, and there's snow everywhere. No doubt avalanches are common.

After at least half an hour of walking, I spot a ridge up ahead that looks down upon the town of Everwinter. It looks to offer us some concealment as well. Getting the attention of the others, I direct us to the ridge. “Everypony get down, and keep your voices low. We're as close as we're going to get without being seen,” I order them, flopping down on the snow, wincing at the feeling of the cold snow against my clothes. Goddamn, I really need to think Rarity for this jacket. Not only is it warm, but it's also white.

I hear the sounds of the other ponies grunting as they do the same, though I hear a whine from Trixie as she feels the snow sink into her fur. Ignoring her, I peer over the ridge at the town.

All I can see of Everwinter are the large stone walls easily reaching around thirty feet. What I didn't notice from the map is that there's a frozen river running around the front of it, making the approach perilous for anyone approaching on foot or hoof. As far as the gates are concerned, they're made of thick and sturdy wood and reinforced with chains. I don't know how they built it so fast, but that gate isn't going down without one hell of a battering ram. No wonder we were sent here.

Above the town itself are several circling undead pegasi and griffons, numbering around ten. That makes approaching the place without getting seen even more dangerous. Not to mention, there doesn't even seem to be any other entrance that all of us can access. There look to be some side doors, but I bet they're locked tight. I can't just break my way in with magic, as that would make too much noise. If we want to get out of this without being discovered, we have to do this the old fashioned way.

All of these difficulties serve to make me realize exactly how difficult of a task I've been given. Why did Celestia think I was capable enough to handle a mission like this? The better question is, why did she think I'd be able to command? These troubling thoughts almost make me start to hyperventilate.

“Commander? What are your orders?” Swift addresses me in a low whisper. Okay okay, I need to calm down. If I think about this rationally, I should be able to come up with some kind of strategy.

Firstly, what are my assets? Rainbow's extremely fast and maneuverable. No doubt the low visibility of the night and snow wouldn't slow her down much. Applejack is sturdy and packs a hell of a buck, but that doesn't serve me well until we get inside. Pterax can transform...hm...I remember the changelings taking the form of the undead back at the battle for Cloudsdale. I can most certainly make use of that. Trixie has illusion and powerful magic, though I'm not certain what kinds of illusions she can do. Lastly, Swift is good at tactics herself, and she is fairly capable with her weapon.

“Okay, we're running mostly blind here. I need to know where the undead are, what all the possible entrances are, and most importantly, the location of our objective,” I start off, having an inkling of an idea. “Rainbow, how good are you at staying out of sight?”

“I can do a good job of hiding if I need to,” Rainbow boasts, keeping her voice quiet. Applejack turns her head and gives her a wry stare.

“Ya mean like how when it comes time to work, yer nowhere ta be found?” Applejack quips, causing Rainbow to swipe at her with her hoof. While that is funny, we don't have time for that.

“Not helping Applejack,” I snap. Applejack murmurs an apology, but I'm already looking back at Rainbow. “Do you think you can take a quick flight around the town? What we need right now is information, and you're the only one that can do it.”

Even as Rainbow puffs herself up with pride at my words, Pterax tilts his head in confusion. “Why wouldn't you send me? I can take the form of an undead myself and fly close,” the changeling suggests.

“I figured you could, but even with that, undead stick out like a sore thumb against this snow, and I'm pretty sure even a brainless undead would find the sight of a single other undead flying in from out here strange,” I reason.

“You say that as if you think the undead are capable of thinking that well,” Pterax scoffs. “Trust me, they won't know the difference.”

“How about no? You may be right, but I'm not about to take that chance,” I return. Pterax doesn't seem convinced, but he does back down. I don't know enough about the capabilities of the undead, so I'm not making any assumptions. “Can you do it, Rainbow?”

“Darn right I can. You're trusting the right pony!” Rainbow whispers enthusiastically. She's about to take off, but I reach out and grab her by the tail. “What the...”

“Not yet, idiot,” I snap at her. There's still one more issue I need to address. “Trixie, can you do something about Rainbow's appearance?”

“Excuse me?” Both Rainbow and Trixie respond at the same time, making me groan. I think this is a good idea, but it's hard to explain.

“You said you had some skill with illusions. Can you make it so that Rainbow is harder to spot amidst the snow?” I reiterate. Understanding dawns in their faces as my point finally gets across.

“You mean camouflage? Such spells are foals play for the Gr...for Trixie,” Trixie responds confidently, noticeable stuttering mid sentence for some reason. Whatever, it's probably not important. Her horn starts to light up...causing Rainbow to back away from her.

“Whoa whoa, nopony said anything about spellcasting. What exactly are you going to do?” Rainbow questions nervously. Trixie smirks, saying absolutely nothing, even when she casts the spell at Rainbow. Rainbow yelps as the spell hits her, and the changes immediately start to make themselves apparent. “What...what's happening?”

Rainbow's cyan fur seems to lose color, slowly turning paler. Her mane undergoes the same effect, until finally Rainbow is a pure white pony, blending in easily to the snow of the ridge. The only way we can see her is because she's so close. “Genius. Good thinkin', Seth,” Applejack compliments me, with Swift nodding in agreement.

Rainbow looks down at herself and yelps. “I'm white! What is this?” Rainbow exclaims, pulling at her fur restlessly. “I look like that Mist pony. This isn't permanent, right?”

“Sadly not. Trixie thinks you're much more pleasant to look at now,” Trixie retorts, causing a vein to twitch in Rainbow's forehead. “It's a simple camouflage spell. Your body will change in color to reflect the environment upon which you are currently in.”

“Good. Now get going, Rainbow. Find out as much as you can, and for the love of God, don't get yourself caught,” I order her before she can snap back at Trixie. Rainbow nods and breathes out, as if mentally preparing herself. When she looks back at me, it's with a confident smile.

“I got this. I'll be back before you know it. Wait for me, okay?” she declares. Without another word, she turns and launches herself off the top of the ridge, flying a low path along the snowy ground. It isn't long before her white coat blends completely into the background, making it impossible to see her.

“And now we wait,” I say with a heavy sigh. I hope she'll be alright. As we sit here, I start to become aware of another problem. We're all fucking cold, and we're in the frozen north. Despite our bravado, we're all shivering. Which means there's only really one way to keep ourselves warm. “Pterax, become the polar bear again, and get in the middle of us.”

Pterax quickly shifts, becoming a normal sized polar bear. He bemusedly does what I told him, lowering himself down on the ground between Trixie and I. “Any particular reason I'm doing this?” Pterax questions. Before I answer, I reach over and grasp Applejack, much to her surprise. I then drag her over to me, earning a yelp from the farmer pony.

“Huddle close to each other. It's not getting any warmer, and the last thing we need is any of us getting frostbite,” I order them. I hear sounds of understanding from the others. Pterax even shifts again into a larger polar bear with longer fur, now that he understands my meaning. Applejack and I huddle together up against Pterax, his warmth providing some relief. “Swift, huddle up with Trixie and get yourself as close to the bear as possible. And I don't want to hear any complaints from either of you, got it?”

“Yes, commander.”

“...Trixie understands.” With that, we all fall silent, pressing ourselves up against Pterax to keep warm. I never thought I would be grateful to have this changeling on my team, but right now he's keeping us all as warm as we're gonna get.

I keep my eyes on the town, watching the flying undead for any differences in their flight patterns. If Rainbow gets caught (which is a possibility), then I want to know as soon as possible so we can go to plan B...which I have yet to think of. Thankfully, there doesn't seem to be any sign of a disturbance just yet.

“Trixie, what else can you do with those illusions?” I decide to ask now. All we're doing is waiting, so now's the time to discuss this. “Is it possible to disguise us once we're inside?”

“Disguise? Er...” Trixie seems taken off guard, looking a little uncertain. “It's possible, though it's an extremely difficult spell...”

“If you can't do it, just say so. We can afford to bet on maybes,” I tell her flatly. Trixie looks offended by that, but I couldn't care less.

“Trixie never said she couldn't do it. It just requires a bit of planning,” Trixie returns indignantly. “Keeping just one of you disguised would be simple, but if Trixie needs to disguise you all, you would all need to be close to Trixie for her to keep the spell active.”

“How close?” I ask her. Trixie ponders hard for a moment before responding.

“Trixie believes she can keep the spell active within a radius of ten meters,” Trixie answers. Hm...ten meters. That's a bit of a limitation, but I should be able to work with that. I look over to Pterax.

“Pterax, you're our trump card. You don't need an illusion spell to keep yourself disguised. Thus, the hard jobs are likely going to go to you,” I warn him. Pterax give a bearlike grunt, letting me know he understands. “I'll come up with the specifics once I hear from Rainbow.”

We fall into silence once more, waiting for our scout to return. I can't even tell you how anxious I am becoming, as more time passes. It feels like hours are passing, even though I know it's only been a few minutes.

You cannot imagine my relief when Rainbow lands on the ridge with the sound of fluttering wings. Her eyes are wide and she's panting, though not from fatigue. “And back...whew, that was too close,” Rainbow emits, wiping away sweat from her brow. She then notices our position. “Uh...what are you all doing? Why are you hugging a bear?”

“Trying not to get frostbite, smartass,” I retort, though I feel like a weight's been lifted from my chest now that she's back safe. “Did you manage to get back here without getting seen?”

“I think so...though it was close. I am so glad the spell turned me black when I was up against the top of the wall,” Rainbow expresses. “I thought that one dead guy was gonna see me.”

“Well, I don't hear an alarm, and the sentries are still flying normally, so I'll believe you,” I say, and then I pat the ground beside me. Rainbow sits down there, wincing at the cold feeling of the snow on her body. “What did you find out?”

“There's...um...a lot of undead. Like, a lot,” Rainbow reveals, much to our dismay. “I don't have a number, but I think it's safe to say the Islanders are outnumbered three to one.”

“Huh, so an estimated twelve hundred,” I calculate in my head, wincing at that number. “ I certainly hope Salamul knew what the fuck he was signing up for when he volunteered for this mission. I don't care how good they are...twelve hundred is still a lot. Rainbow, are they all gathered in the town?”

“More or less. There's this big building in the center that I don't think used to be there, because it's all stony like the walls. A lot of 'em in are in there,” Rainbow answers. Hm, so standard castle layout. There are four walls surrounding a keep. Usually taking the keep would mean victory, but in this case, we have to wipe out all undead. “The gates look like we can get 'em open if we go to the gatehouse that's like, right next to them.”

I nod my head at the mention of a gatehouse. That makes sense. That means that's our objective. Which just leaves one more thing to take care of. “What about entrances? Did you see any way for us to get in?” I question her further.

“Sort of? Everything's locked up tight, but the windows on the upper levels are open,” Rainbow explains. “But that wouldn't exactly work for all of us.”

“No, but it's a start. If you, Pterax, Trixie, and I can get up there, we should be able to get down to one of the side doors and let in Applejack and Swift,” I reason. Trixie blinks.

“Trixie is...a little curious how you plan to get her through one of those high windows,” Trixie asks, looking as if she doesn't really want to hear the answer.

I give her a stare. “I'm carrying you of course. Out of all the ponies here, we need you with us. Whether you realize it or not, you're one of the most important ponies on this mission,” I tell her honestly. Trixie flushes a little, but nods nervously. “One last thing. Rainbow, are there any defenses you saw?”

“Yeah. There are ballistae on the walls, and there are these two pots set into the wall above the gates. They look to be controlled by this lever at the top of the wall,” Rainbow reveals. Well, that's a problem. Those ballistae need to be taken care of, and that goes double for the fucking pots of what is no doubt oil.

“Okay. So let's go over this one more time. Our objectives are to get in, disable the defenses, open the gates, and then get out before we're caught,” I summarize. “I'm taking Trixie and the fliers through the upper windows. Once we're inside, I'm going to send Pterax to take out the defenses, because he doesn't need to be near Trixie for the spell to work.”

“What spell?” Rainbow asks in confusion.

“We're going to be disguised as other undead. It won't be glamorous, but it should work.” That's a big should there, but unless any of them have a better idea, this is the only plan we've got. “While Pterax does his work, the three of us are going to open up a side door and let in Applejack and Swift. Then we'll meet up at the gatehouse and get those gates open.”

“After that is the hard part,” Swift correctly surmises. I nod grimly.

“Yeah. We'll have to make sure they can't just close the gates again. Which means breaking the mechanism and getting the hell out of dodge before they find us,” I finish. “That's the plan. Any questions?”

“Not really a question...but there's a tiny little detail that I may have forgotten to mention,” Rainbow admits, shuffling her hooves nervously. Oh god, please tell me this won't be something that'll wreck my whole plan.

“...what?” I ask despite my trepidation.

“I saw General Mist inside the building in the center,” Rainbow reveals. I stare at her in silence for a few seconds, and then I groan.

“Well, shit,” I curse, pounding the snow with my fist. “Things just got a lot more complicated.”

	

	

	
> 118. Infiltrating Everwinter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“I suppose it would make sense for a VIP to be here,” Swift deduces, while I'm busy trying not to tear out my hair. She's not all that strong, but with all the Oppressed that are likely inside, Mist could definitely be a serious problem. Even more so if I'm forced to contend with her while fighting said Oppressed. “If walls this size were built so quickly, it stands to reason that there's something important here...or at least important enough to warrant sending a general.”

“What does this do to the plan?” Applejack questions. And there's that question. With Swift's looking at me again, I bet she wants an answer to that question too. The silence that follows that question is maddening. People that say that leadership doesn't bring pressure are full of shit.

“Okay, let's see. Rainbow, you said she's in the central building?” I say, trying to get a sense of just how fucked my previous plan is now. Rainbow nods. “What's she doing?”

“Just like, pacing around, I guess? I didn't really get a clear look,” Rainbow admits, frustrating me. Well, that tells me a fat load of nothing. “It looked like she was talking to somepony though.”

“Wait, fuck. So there's more than one general here? Who else is there? Hawke? Shatter?” I demand, starting to freak out a little. This has gone from a relatively simple infiltration plan to what looks to be one of the most intense battles of this whole war...especially if Hawke is there.

“No, not that I could see. There was nopony else in the room with her,” Rainbow explains. A feeling of relief washes over me, but it is short-lived. If not another general, who in the hell was she talking to?

“Perhaps a communications crystal?” Trixie suggests.

“That would make sense. She's got to receive orders somehow,” Swift agrees. You know, I'm glad these ponies are here. No doubt I'd screw this up on my own.

“Okay. If she's occupied by a meeting or whatever, we should be able to proceed with our original plan, and then we can take care of her on the battlefield once the Islanders are here,” I deduce. If I calm down and think about it, her presence doesn't really change anything. It just means we have to be more perceptive and convincing in our disguises. “Trixie, will your illusions fool an attentive pony?”

“Trixie is offended you would suggest otherwise,” the magician protests, causing me to roll my eyes. Whatever. As long as they're good enough to make Mist walk right past us, I'm comfortable with using our original plan.

“Good. Then yeah, we'll go with our original plan. We'll just have to make sure we avoid her. The town's big enough, so there should be plenty of places to hide,” I decide. 

“Sounds good ta me.” 

“Understood.”

“Let's get at 'em!” 

“Alright then.” I take a breath after hearing their acknowledgments, and then wipe the sweat from my brow. Yeah, I'm fucking sweating in freezing temperatures. This is what being in charge feels like. Go figure. “Trixie, let's do this. Cast that camo spell on us all. Once we're close, you can use the real illusions.”

Trixie nods, her horn lighting up blue. Applejack shifts uncomfortably as she too starts to turn white, even her armor and her hat. Hilariously enough, Applejack takes off her hat and peers at it suspiciously. “This ain't gonna stay white, is it?”

“No, Applejack,” I say in exasperation. Swift is already pure white, though thankfully she's not showing any signs of discomfort. When Trixie turns her spell on to me, I feel a peculiar sensation, as if somebody is pouring a fine powder over my body, like flour. I lift up a hand and glance at it in wonder as my skin turns as pale white as the snow I'm lying on.

“You look weird. Your hair is white,” Rainbow comments, poking at my hair from where she's flying in front of me. I scoff at that.

“Look who's talking. I'm so used to you looking like an artist's accident that seeing you all one color is a little disturbing,” I quip back, pinching at her mane. Rainbow sticks her tongue out at me...and even that is white. That's just weird.  “Anyway, let's get moving. Spread out and stay low.”

With that, we hop off of the hill and slide down to the bottom. As I suggested, we spread out and crawl along the ground. It's cold as fuck now that Pterax isn't with us to keep us warm, but if all goes well, we'll be inside before long. As for Pterax, he transforms into a small arctic fox. With that animal's natural camouflage, seeing him would be practically impossible if I didn't already know where  he was.

Keeping low to the ground, we inch closer to the town. I make sure to keep my eyes on the flying undead sentries every step of the way. I plan on taking my team and bolting if they start acting unusual in any way. Thankfully, the spell seems to be working well at keeping us hidden. It isn't long before we've made our way to one of the side walls of the town. 

“There! Up above. The windows are open,” Rainbow whispers, pointing her hoof up towards the higher portions of the wall. Sure enough, several upper story windows are hanging open. It's only by a sliver, but even that's enough to get ourselves through.

“Okay. Trixie, cast that spell now,” I order, once we're all situated outside of one of the side doors. Trixie nods and her horn lights up with magic again. This time, I don't feel much of anything other than a slight tingling on my skin. I don't even notice anything different...until I look at Rainbow and nearly jump out of my skin because there's a fucking undead pegasus standing there.

“This is just freaky. I feel like, unclean,” Rainbow remarks as she looks at herself, her undead jaw waggling in a disgusting manner as she talks. I have to physically try not to throw up. Beside her is an undead unicorn, so I'm assuming that's Trixie. Pterax has already shifted into the form of an Oppressed...which just leaves me. “Seth, wow. You look....disturbing.”

“Of course I do. It's an illusion,” I retort...and then I look down at my arm. It's bluish and discolored, covered with grime and dried blood. My hands are broader and tipped with short claws...making me wonder what the hell she turned me into. “What am I, anyway?”

“A minotaur, of course. It's the closest thing Trixie could think of to what you are,” the undead unicorn explains, Trixie's uppity voice coming from its rotted jaw. God, this whole situation is just really messed up. “You should be thanking Trixie for her thoughtfulness. Now you don't have to crawl on all fours.”

“Yeah, thanks I guess,” I reply uncomfortably. Great, so I'm prancing around as an undead minotaur. I certainly hope there's other minotaurs in the town. Otherwise, I'll stick out like a sore thumb. “Now come here, Trixie.”

Trixie takes a step back when I approach her, though her back is soon against the wall. “Wait a moment, Trixie still needs to prepare herself and...eep!” Trixie squeals when I hook an arm beneath her and lift her up. She's heavy, so I immediately have to adjust my grip so that I'm holding her bridal style in both arms. Because of the illusion, I half expect to feel gross skin sliding beneath my grip, but instead I just feel normal fur. Right, it's an illusion. I'm guessing touch isn't involved in that. Which means we can't let any of the undead touch us, or the jig will be up. “How rude...this isn't how you hold a pony.”

“I really don't care at this point. Now come on. Rainbow, I'm gonna need you to get the windows all the way open for me so I can fit inside.” Rainbow nods and flies up to the upper levels, pressing her body against the wall so that her fur turns the same drab color. Trixie squirms in my grip, forcing me to hold her tighter. “Quit squirming, goddammit.”

“Trixie can't help it. This is weird!” Trixie complains. I suddenly lament the fact that both of my hands are full, because I am having the urge to rub my forehead. Instead, I turn to Applejack and Swift, who are still normal...albeit white.

“You two huddle together and keep each other warm. We'll be down to get the door open as soon as we can,” I order the both of them. Swift nods and presses herself up against Applejack, who reciprocates. With that, I motion to Pterax, and the two of us fly swiftly and silently up the side of the wall until we rejoin Rainbow. “You got one open yet?”

“Just a sec,” Rainbow replies, her hooves hooked underneath the lip of the window. She grunts, and I can see the muscles straining in her forelegs as she struggles to lift the window. She pauses after several seconds, and then she tries again, with her hind legs braced against the wall. “What the hay? This shouldn't be that hard.”

“Perhaps the mechanism is frozen,” Pterax suggests. Oh shit, that's right. It would be much harder to open this thing if the edges are frozen. “We would need to warm it up first. Perhaps with a spell?”

“Can you do it? Trixie is doing all she can to keep the illusion up,” Trixie requests. Pterax shrugs, and his horn appears atop his head, glowing green. He orients a beam of magic onto the edges of the window, even as Rainbow attempts to keep pulling. Eventually, their combined efforts pay off, and the window slides open.

The moment the window is open, I push Trixie inside unceremoniously, much to her annoyance. I quickly slide in after her, followed by Pterax and Rainbow. The room we're in now looks to be little more than a guard posting. It's small and rectangular in design, with a few tables and two doors on either side. There's another window on the opposite side of the room that overlooks the majority of the town. Even from here, I can see a large amount of undead outside.

“Okay, now we're..” Rainbow starts to brag, but I quickly cut her off.

“Quiet!” I hiss at her in a harsh whisper. Seconds later, I hear a throaty growl from behind one of the doors. My blood turns to ice when I hear the familiar click-scraping of an Oppressed drawing closer to the door. No matter how many times I see or kill them, they will never stop being scary.

The door, which is slightly ajar, is nudged aside by the approaching monster. Immediately, all four of us spread out and stand listlessly and limply, like what an actual undead would do. When the Oppressed steps inside, it pauses, turning its twisted face around to regard the room. After several long agonizing seconds, the creature gurgles and plods out of the room through the other door.

I let out the breath I was holding, as do the others. “Okay, from here on out, keep quiet and speak only when I do,” I whisper to the other ponies. “No doubt this place will be filled with those bastards from here on out.”

“Okay. Should I head for the ramparts now?” Pterax questions, keeping his voice low as I directed.

“Do it. Once the defenses are down, meet us at the gatehouse,” I direct him. Just as Pterax is starting to leave us, a sudden thought strikes me. I hate to say this, but it's only sensible. “If we don't show up, go back to the Islanders and tell them to start the attack. The gate might not be open, but they'll be practically unobstructed with the defenses gone.”

Pterax nods and shifts into an undead pegasi, slipping out through the other window and descending into the town, soon leaving us behind. Rainbow and Trixie are looking at me uneasily at that order.

“Why wouldn't we show up?” Rainbow asks hesitantly. “Do you think we're going to fail?”

“Of course not. It's just something I had to say, in case we're delayed,” I tell her, which I hope cheers her up somewhat. I can't tell how she's feeling because she looks like a goddamn zombie. Even so, I probably shouldn't talk about a possible death here in front of my team. Morale is a thing too. “Okay, now come on. We've got to find the stairs in this place. Make sure to walk and carry yourself like one of them.”

Rainbow promptly starts to do this horribly strangled growl, along with this over-exaggerated shuffle walk that looks nothing short of ridiculous. Trixie and I both give her a deadpan stare. “That's too much,” Trixie and I both tell her at the same time. Rainbow stops and chuckles nervously.

“Right, I knew that,” Rainbow responds sheepishly. I roll my eyes and get us back on track. I walk normally until I reach the door on the left. However, once I make my way inside and notice the undead in the corridor, I slow my pace and adopt a rather unsteady gait. I'm not sure if this is good or not, but I'm not about to walk normally in the middle of all these undead.

Sweat forms on my brow as I walk past the first set of undead. They're not really doing anything. They're just standing there in no particular pattern, staring listlessly at the walls. Some of them are moving, but it's generally in a slow and shuffling manner. Thankfully, I see another minotaur in this hallway, as one of the moving ones. Seeing it walk helps me adjust my own gait to match. I feel ridiculous walking like this, but it's better than getting caught and sliced apart by Oppressed claws.

I swallow nervously, stepping through a cluster of several Oppressed that are just standing there listlessly, not doing much of anything. They don't seem to give us a second glance, much to my relief. As directed, the other live ponies stay close to me. I'm so glad that Trixie went to the trouble of putting something distinctive on each of us so I can tell them apart from the other undead. For example, Rainbow has a discolored patch of red and blotchy skin on her left eye, which is really noticeable from a distance. Thank you, Trixie. I never even thought of that.

It seems like forever before we reach the tower at the corner of the wall. Here is where we find a staircase leading to the lower levels. I quickly press my back against the wall near the door and look around, making sure there are no undead watching me. I'm not sure how smart they are, but I figure I can't go wrong if I treat them with caution.

Once I determine that the undead are still standing around and snarling randomly at one another, I motion towards the stairwell with my head. Trixie nods and goes on ahead of me, dragging Rainbow with her. This allows me to keep an eye on the undead until they're out of sight. I dash into the stairwell after them and gently close the door behind me. 

Quickening my pace, I move past Rainbow and Trixie and take the lead again. If I remember right, there were about three sets of windows before the ones we entered through, which means we have to go down several flights of stairs. Thank god this place is constructed sensibly, because from here, we can travel all the way down to the bottom level.

Sure enough, after three flights, the stairway comes to an end, leveling out onto a bare stone brick walkway. There's another door leading out into what I assume is another hallway, but it's shut. Motioning for the other two to wait, I move to the door and press my back against it. It looks like it opens outward, so I hook my hand in the handle and gently ease it open, stepping back behind the door frame in case there's undead right around the corner.

Several moments of silence pass before I step out into the hallway, making sure to maintain an unsteady gait. Sure enough, there's undead in the hallway. They growl a little and turn their heads, but I force myself to keep moving, despite the way my heart is pounding in my chest.

Before long, we find one of the side doors leading outside. However, I'm not sure if it's the right one. I think it is; my sense of direction usually doesn't lead me astray. However, there's no way to be sure. I could just open it, but there's two undead in the room: an Oppressed and a normal earth pony. 

Trixie angles her head towards the doorway, telling me she thinks this is the right door too. Okay, I'm going to risk it. However, that means taking out these undead. Moving silently, I step behind the Oppressed and head towards one of the doors leading into this particular room. Making sure I'm not being watched, I stealthily close and lock the door. Rainbow sees what I'm doing and quickly understands, so she moves to the other door on the other side of the room and does the same.

I make eye contact with Trixie, and then glance towards the earth pony zombie. Trixie looks confused at first, but understands when I slowly lift my hand and draw a finger across my throat. She moves towards the earth pony, and I move towards the Oppressed, my hand moving to the sword belted to my side, concealed by the illusion.

“Now!” I hiss in a harsh whisper. As the undead start to react to my voice, the two of us dispatch them at the same time. My hand reaches to my sword and unsheathes it long enough to completely decapitate the Oppressed in one single fluid motion. Trixie powers up for a short moment and wraps her forelegs around the other undead's head, snapping its neck and severing off its vocal cords so it can't roar. “Okay, let's hope none of the other undead heard that. Now, let's get that door open.”

“Ugh, there's goo all over Trixie's legs,” Trixie complains, brushing her disguised fur in a vain attempt to clean herself. Rainbow moves over to the side door and unlocks it. The moment it's open, Applejack and Swift quickly dash inside, shutting the door behind them. The both of them are shivering; they sigh in relief when they feel the warmth of the interior wash across their fur.

“What took ya so long? Ah was freezin'...” Applejack whispers, rubbing her fur. Before I answer, I give Trixie a meaningful stare. The magician jumps sheepishly and stops trying to clean herself. Instead, she turns her horn on Applejack and Swift, soon disguising them as an undead earth pony and another unicorn, respectively. Applejack yelps at the sudden change in appearance. “This ain't natural.”

“No shit, we're undead, and undead aren't natural,” I retort. Applejack plods over to the rest of us, shifting and rubbing at her fur uncomfortably. “Alright, let's get out of these walls and into the town itself.”

“Lead the way, commander,” Swift responds. With that, we group up and turn away from the side door. On the other side of the room, there's an exit that leads out into the town itself. However, just as we step towards it, I hear a growl from the other side of the locked door, and then a scraping as whatever it is on the other side rakes its claws down the wood. Shit.

“Quickly,” I hiss, throwing the door aside and leaping out into the cold once more. The others don't waste any time, quickly following me out of the room, allowing me to shut it behind us. I shiver involuntarily as a frigid breeze passes over me, scattering my skin with freezing cold snowflakes.

Now, as we plod through the snow, I get my first look at the town. The houses are made of stiff plaster with wooden supports. They're really small to make heating them easier, and the windows look to be extremely thick, made to be resistant to high speed winds.  In contrast to the stone walls that tower over the small houses, the village looks really out of place.

It's also devoid of any kind of life. Any townsponies that may have lived here are long gone, no doubt carted off to the capitol to be enslaved for Sombra's ill purposes. I don't know what he uses his slaves for, but I'm not really sure I want to find out. No, the only sign of anything moving are the hordes of undead in the streets, consisting mostly of Oppressed. Well, shit. So if we get caught, there's no guarantee we'll get out of this alive.

Looking around, I decide that the best course of action is to move through the town and blend with the other undead to avoid arousing any suspicion. A group of undead moving along the walls and avoiding the others would certainly look suspicious. At least it would to me, and that's how I'm operating.

“Stick close, and don't make a sound,” I warn the others, and then I lead them right into the paved streets, joining the throng of undead clogging the streets. I wrinkle my nose at the smell, and then wish I hadn't. The cold is making my nose run...and then the mucous is freezing painfully. There's no way I'm not going to get sick after everything is said and done.

My eyes turn to the gatehouse in the distance. In addition to its size, it's made of the same stone as the wall, so it sticks out quite a bit. Carefully picking my way through the Oppressed around me (and being careful not to touch them) I stealthily direct our path in that general direction. Now, slowly, but surely, we're moving towards our objective. So far, things are going without a hitch.

“My children,” a female voice sighs in what I think it supposed to be some kind of happiness. However, the voice is wavering, and an unsettling giggle follows that one simple statement. I come to a complete halt, causing Rainbow to bump into my rear from the sudden stop. I had to open my fucking mouth.

General Mist makes her presence known in the street, walking out from an alley between two houses. I notice with interest that she's only looking at the few undead ponies that are near her, and not the Oppressed. Her expression now is such a contrast to what it looked like back when she gave us Sombra's ultimatum. Back then, she looked dead and emotionless...and now she looks a little unsettled.

Her pupils are small and move quickly, and her expression looks almost fragile, as if she's torn between trying to smile and crying with despair. In fact, her eyes are also slightly reddened, making me wonder what the hell she's been doing while she's been here all by herself.

I try to stay as undead-like as I can as General Mist walks right in front of me. The last thing I want to do is alert her. This is actually the first time I've been so close to her. From a distance, it looked like her mane flowed down her face like her namesake. Only, now that I see it up close, it looks dull and lifeless, hanging limply down one side of her face. Her coat also looks similarly dull, now that the sunlight isn't shining on it like it was back at Trotsdale. Hold on, she looks almost like a...

The tiny, suppressed twinkle that seems to linger deep inside of her body seals it for me. I never noticed it before, but now it's clear that Flowing Mist is a crystal pony, not unlike the ones we saw back at the Crystal Empire. Come to think of it, that makes sense, considering Shatter said she was a former slave. But then why would a slave ever serve her captor?

Mist pauses, and then she turns to look at an undead pony near me. She approaches it with an unreadable expression, causing my heart to beat faster with every step she takes closer to me. There's an Oppressed in her way, but she shoves it aside with a hoof callously, scoffing as she does so. When she reaches the normal pony, she regards it sadly.

“Emmie...” Mist whispers to it, confusing me. Wait, did she give it a name? Who the fuck names their undead? I continue to watch with a sick fascination as Mist reaches out a hoof and softly caresses the monster's cheek. What the fuck...is she crying? A few tears rolls down Mist's face as she gazes at that one undead. She eventually wipes them away with her other hoof, and then retreats, looking worse than before. 

Mist's horn lights up, and a few Oppressed turn their heads and look at her. “It's your turn to patrol. Get moving,” she orders them, her voice back to sounding as cold and emotionless as it did when I first saw her. The Oppressed gives these twisted growls before clambering off to do as they were told.

Mist shakes her head, and taking “Emmie” with her, she moves back the way she came. A thought strikes me as she goes, and then that thought turns into a rather brilliant idea. Once she's gone, I step towards the nearest house. Once I determine that the others are following, I slip inside the house and out of sight of the other undead. The others follow me inside, and once we're all safely out of sight, I shut the door.

“Okay, I just had an idea,” I relate to the others, keeping my voice low. “I didn't realize it before, but the fact that Mist is here gives us an incredible opportunity.”

“I thought you said she would just complicate things?” Rainbow asks me in confusion.

“What are you talking about, commander?” Swift questions. I rub my hands together. I can't believe I didn't think of this in the first place.

“New plan. Instead of meeting Pterax at the gatehouse...let's take down Mist,” I suggest. There's a stunned silence from the others ponies at my idea.

“How can we? Even though you may be stronger, she's surrounded by all of these monsters that are immune to magic!” Swift points out. “I believe it would be safer to stick to the original plan.”

“If we don't go to the gatehouse, won't Pterax be left waitin'?” Applejack questions, sounding uncertain. “Ah dunno, Seth. It don't sound like a good idea.”

“Yeah, what about the Islanders? How are they going to get in?” Rainbow reminds me, agreeing with the rest.

“We'll let them in ourselves. Have you forgotten? Without her to keep them alive, the undead will fall apart. If we take down Mist, her entire army goes down with her,” I argue excitedly. The other ponies are silent at that, recognizing the truth in that. “Think about it: if we get her alone and take her down, we'll take Everwinter without losing a single pony.”

“That...would be ideal. Your idea does make sense...,” Swift acknowledges, but she quickly has a counter. “...but it seems too risky to me. What if we fail, and we're caught right in the center of the town? We'll get surrounded and annihilated.”

“We won't fail. Trust me, I'm worlds stronger than she is. You've never seen me at my best,” I tell her firmly, too proud of my own idea to care that they're trying to shoot it down. We'll be responsible for taking down an entire fifth of Sombra's army all by ourselves if this works. That's too good of an opportunity to turn down. “I'll power up and take her out with a single attack. Trust me.”

“Trixie agrees with this plan. Can you imagine the fame she would gain for such a victory?” Trixie speaks up, making her own opinion known. “Why, she could even be called Great and Powerful, once more.”

“Yeah, but who cares about that? I'm already famous,” Rainbow retorts, causing Trixie to glare at her. Impatiently, Swift nudges the both of them.

“Are you sure about this, commander?” Swift asks me, ignoring Trixie's and Rainbow's indignant complaints. “I'll stand by your decision, but I feel that you're being a little overconfident.”

“I'm totally sure. When the Islanders get here, they'll be able to just walk right in, because Mist's entire army will be completely defunct,” I insist. Swift sighs, but then nods her head. “Pterax will follow my original orders and fetch the Islanders, and they'll be just in time to see the town fall to us.”

“Trixie agrees. We don't need an army to win our battles for us. Wit shall win the day,” Trixie proclaims proudly. I give her an exasperated look. She may be agreeing with me, which I appreciate, but I feel like she just wants to feel accomplished.

“Alright, ah guess we'll follow yer lead, Seth,” Applejack relents with a sigh. “Ah'm with Swift on this one, but ah'll back ya up.”

“Thanks. Don't worry, we'll do fine, and win the whole battle in the process,” I say with a grin. I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier. Screw the gatehouse, let's just kill her whole army ourselves. “Okay, now keep quiet. It's time to get back out there.”

“Right behind you, commander,” Swift responds, nodding in an official manner. With that, we step back outside into the throngs of undead lining the street. Now, Mist went back the way she came, which is towards that large central building. If memory serves, she was there before we got here. It stands to reason that that's where her quarters are. That'll be the best place to take her down.

Getting through the streets isn't any less harrowing, despite the fact that our objective has changed. I give one last guilty look back towards the gatehouse, figuring that Pterax will no doubt think that something bad has happened to us. Yeah, well imagine the look on his face when he comes back to find out we've already won.

As we near the central building, the amount of undead in the streets starts to thin. In fact, the area around the central quarters is almost completely devoid of undead...or at least Oppressed. There's only a few patrolling undead as far as I can see, but none of them are Oppressed. Well, all the better for us. Keeping to the shadows and blending with what undead we do find, it isn't long before we're able to find an opening in their patrol routes and head right for the front door.

“What are you all doing here, so close to my room?” Mist's voice cracks out of the darkness like a whip, causing my blood to run cold and dread to sink in. Doing my best not to panic, I turn my head to see Mist stepping out of one of the nearby buildings, which is labeled as a shop. She seems to be carrying a fancy teacup set in her magic, though what the hell she's going to do with it is beyond me. The only one here is her. “Well?”

I don't say anything, and thankfully none of the others in my team does either. I have to hold on to this facade as long as I can. Undead don't do anything other than growl, so that's what I do, trying to make my voice sound as undead-like as possible. Mist tilts her head to one side, approaching me curiously.

“Did you all just want my company?” Mist asks softly. I try my hardest not to raise an eyebrow, because that is the strangest thing I could ever have expected her to say. I remain silent, not giving that frankly creepy thing she said an acknowledgment. “That's okay. You're not his Oppressed...so you can join us. And what happened to you?”

Mist rears up on her hind legs, and before I can stop her, she presses a hoof against my cheek. Oh shit, if she feel that my skin isn't like undead, we're screwed and...what the fuck is she doing? She's brushing my cheek as if tracing something on my face. “You're all cold! And where did all these scars come from? Did someone hurt you, before you...you...” Mist suddenly freezes, as if she came to a sudden realization. “Were you a slave too?”

Suddenly, Mist gets down, thankfully not getting tipped off. Thank god I was made a minotaur that has skin similar in composition to my own. If I had been something furry...that would have been a problem. Her horn lights up, as if she's getting ready to order us to do something. “Come with me, all of you. Let's get you in, out of the cold.”

Oh my god, this could not have gone any better. She's leading us inside, away from the Oppressed outside. Once we're alone...I'm going to knock her the fuck out and win this whole battle for us.

Mist opens the front door to the central building and ushers us inside, closing the door behind us. I do my best not to try and sigh in relief as warm air rushes over me. The central structure is literally just a house for Mist to stay in, because I can only see four rooms: a living room with a desk and a bed, a dining room,  a kitchen, and a bathroom. There's a fire crackling in the hearth on the far side of the living room...as well as several Oppressed guards. Fuck. No, it's still fine. We'll bide our time, and determine when the best time to attack her is.

"Join us in the dining room. I'll go ahead and get started making tea," Mist orders us, her horn lighting up again. I give an assenting growl and move to go do so. Now, I'm confused as fuck. She's treating the undead (and by extension, us) like normal, and frankly it's getting more than a little creepy. Is she so far off the deep end that she can't tell the difference between undead and living? Or is she just deluding herself into thinking the undead are her friends?

Whatever it is, it doesn't matter. I'm still going to take her down.
> 119. The Everwinter Crisis
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Exchanging glances with Rainbow and the others, we do as we're directed and move into the dining room to wait for Mist. Inside the room is a large circular table, with fancy table mats set up in front of each of the chairs. Some other undead are already sitting at the table, including that one undead that Mist named back in the streets. They hardly stir at our arrival; all they're doing is just sitting there listlessly, waiting for their master to return.

There are several Oppressed guards standing at the doors and windows, making me wince. There's too many of them for me to fight while dealing with Mist at the same time. Ideally, Swift, Applejack, and Rainbow could help me take care of them, but there's only three of them, and six Oppressed. Okay, so we'll bide our time. We'll sit through this twisted tea party or whatever, and then attack her when she's on her own, or when there's a manageable number of Oppressed around.

I sit down at the table across from a more decorated chair, where I assume Mist is going to sit. Rainbow and Applejack sit on either side of me, with Swift and Trixie on the exterior. With our, arrival, the table is filled, apart from Mist's empty seat.

“Here I am. I'm sorry I took so long.” Mist soon enters the room, carrying a steaming kettle filled with tea in her magic. She sets it on the table, and then retrieves a fancy set of teacups, passing one to each of us around the table. Naturally though, the other undead don't make a move to accept it; instead they just stare blankly at the table. That's what undead do. So we five emulate those undead, staring at the teacups without actually making a move to accept them. “Let's get started! I brewed a rare brew of Everwinter tea. Did you know that this town makes a living by exporting this tea?”

As Mist sits down across from me, I remember what Rainbow said about how Mist had been pacing around in here, talking to someone. Heh, I guess she really was talking to herself. Just looking at her, she has this fragile smile on her face that's fake as fake can be, and she doesn't seem to care that the undead can't answer her back.

Mist directs the kettle around the table, filling each cup with a decent amount of hot tea. When my cup is filled, I catch a hint of a balmy herbal fragrance...which then causes me to get a little thirsty. “This might be our last tea party together,” Mist declares sadly to us, setting the kettle back down on the tabletop, though she makes sure to place it on a cloth so as to not harm the wood. “The Equestrians will be here soon...and then it will be over...for all of us.”

What the hell...? I'd say she was being cocky, but that's not a confident voice. She sounds resigned, almost defeated.. She sounds like she's already given up. Mist gives an unsettling giggle at that. “I can't wait. This nightmare will finally be over, and then we can have all the tea parties we want, up in the sky.” She then takes a delicate sip from her cup, while I process the words coming out of her mouth. The more she talks, the more uncertain I feel. At this point...killing her would make me feel like shit, especially if these are her true feelings.

“Emmie...we'll finally be able to go on those walks together, that we always dreamed about,” Mist says to that undead pony, using her magic to lift its teacup to its mouth, forcing it to drink. Of course, it doesn't have any control over its swallowing reflex, some of the tea dribbles out of its mouth and patters onto the table. Mist giggles and cleans up the mess with a cloth. “You're so messy. But it's okay. I'm here.”

On the other hand...she's fucking crazy. Being this close to her, it's easy to see the way her eyes are darting around. It makes me wonder how she can focus on any one thing for too long.

Mist goes around the table, addressing the different undead as if they're her close friends, calling each one of them by a name. However, interestingly enough, when she's at the point on the table where there's an Oppressed, nearby, she glares at the monster balefully. “You don't get any tea, monster. You're not my friends,” Mist snaps at the Oppressed. The undead human of course, doesn't give a single fuck about Mist's words, because it's dead and can't process words that aren't commands.

Eventually, Mist reaches Trixie. Now, Mist actually gets up from her seat and climbs on top of the table, flopping herself down on her belly in front of Trixie. “Hm, but you're a new face to me. I don't think you're one of my friends...but that can change,” Mist addresses her. Trixie, bless her, is likely uncomfortable as hell right now, but she manages to keep from showing it, knowing how important it is that we don't get caught. “Are you one of Hawke's creations? Or maybe Earthen's? Or...are you Silent's?”

Interestingly enough, Mist doesn't seem too fond of any of those names, especially Shatter's. Then again, Shatter's a bit of a disloyal fuck, so I can't blame her for hating him. “No matter. You're with me now, so you can rest easy. I can take care of you,” Mist croons, lifting the teacup to Trixie's mouth. Trixie, having not expected to drink just yet, coughs and expels some of the tea, causing Mist to raise an eyebrow. I freeze in my seat, watching with baited breath to see Mist's reaction. “Oh, is there something in your throat? Let me help you.”

Before anyone can stop her, Mist reaches for Trixie with her hoof. Trixie tries to retreat, but it's too late. Mist presses her hoof to Trixie's jaw and levers her mouth open. “There, and now we can...” Mist starts to say, but just as she's lifting the teacup, she pauses...her eyes widening. “Fur? But...you're dead, you shouldn't...”

Mist's eyes narrow, and she tosses the teacup aside, where it shatters on the floor, its contents soaking into the rug. “You shouldn't have fur,” Mist states, her tone turning from that of a doting mother to a cold general once again. To my horror, Mist's horn lights up, and she orients a ray of white light over Trixie's body. Trixie's illusion shifts and withers away like sand in a stream, revealing a very nervous and panicking blue unicorn, now exposed to Mist's scrutiny. Mist freezes, looking honestly surprised to see something living here.

“Uh...Trixie can explain,” Trixie says hastily, laughing nervously. To her credit, she manages to keep the rest of our illusions up, even though hers has been dispelled. Mist's expression turns into an angry glare, and she bares her teeth, grinding them audibly. 

“You...how dare you...!?” Mist growls, her voice rising. My mind races, trying to think of a way to handle this situation without getting any of us killed. Mist's horn lights up, and this time I notice a slight pressure in the air, telling me that Mist is getting ready to kill Trixie. “You're not going to be my friend....you're a filthy liar! I'll hurt...”

“Fuck it,” I grunt, shooting up in my seat and shedding the illusion with a powerful burst of emerald magic that incinerates the chair beneath me. Before Mist can react, I lunge forward and plant my blazing fist into her cheek. Mist yelps and hurtles right off of the table, slamming into the wall. “Okay, everypony, plan B. Take them all down!”

“You got it!” Rainbow declares, her illusion fading as well. Even the camouflage spell from before is gone, revealing her in her true technicolor glory. As one of the Oppressed roars and charges her, she wheels around its attack and rams both forehooves into the back of its neck, such that a resounding crack fills the air.

“Yes, commander!” Swift acknowledges, hefting her lance. All of our illusions fade away at once, and the room quickly devolves into a frantic melee. Applejack and Swift stand together and intercept the undead heading for them, laying them low with vicious punches and ruthless jabs of a lance. 

“You....you're all....after I was going to do for you...and you're Equestrian...?” Mist expresses, getting to her hooves and glaring at me. Her snowy white aura explodes up from around her, standing in stark contrast to my green aura and Trixie's blue aura. Her horn flashes, and she unleashes a powerful beam of white magic towards me...but I'm already powering up even further. I bat her magic aside like it's nothing, causing it to drill right through the wall on the other side of the room. “You're all liars...”

“You're fucking insane,” I express to her face. God, it feels so good to finally say that to her after listening to all of this crap. Mist's mouth opens, offended, and she gets even angrier than before.

“You're just like Shatter! Who are you to judge how I feel!?” Mist screams, and then she rushes me head on, using her magic to propel her entire body into my torso. Taken by surprise, I'm knocked right off of the table and into a group of undead, slightly winded. I quickly turn and slice the undead to pieces with a combination of magic and swordplay. When I turn to face Mist again, that one pony that she called Emmie is now rushing towards me with a snarl. Mist sees that and her mouth opens in horror. “Emmie, wait!”

Right in front of Mist's eyes, I pivot on one hell and slam the flat of my palm into Emmie's face. My magic is so strong, it completely obliterates the undead pony, bits of its body scattering across the table. Mist's scream of anguish is so pronounced that I almost want to cover my ears. To my shock, Mist gets even stronger, her aura widening in radius and erupting further upwards, rupturing the stony ceiling. Rubble falls down around her, and snow from the outside starts to fall within, a chill filling the air.

Mist turns and intercepts Trixie, who has been trying to attack her. With one quick sweep of her hooves, she knocks Trixie aside, and then fires a beam of magic after her. Trixie thankfully manages to land on her hooves in time to block the attack, but she's pressing a hoof to the place where Mist hit her, a bruise already forming. However, Mist is already turning her attention back towards me.

“You were going to be my friend!” Mist shrieks at me, and then the two of us meet on top of the table in a roiling melee of hooves and fists, the sturdy furniture crumbling beneath us. “I thought you were like me...but you lied! Lied, lied, LIED!” Mist punctuates each of her repetitions with a powerful blast of magic from her horn, which courses of my aura and stings my skin. However, she's hardly stronger than Twilight, even as enraged as she is.

“Who gives a shit!?” I finally shout back at her, blocking one of her punches on my arm and then pounding her downwards into the table with a fist to the top of her head. Mist recovers quickly and rolls over to dodge my follow up attack. The table shatters entirely beneath my fists, sending Mist tumbling to the ground. She can't fly like I can. “Give up! We've outsmarted you, and now you've nowhere to run.”

Mist snarls and reveals another amulet similar to what Shatter wore back during Cloudsdale...which causes me to panic. “Oh no, you fucking don't!” I yell, moving towards her. Time seems to move in slow motion, as Mist's hoof moves towards her amulet, and I try my best to reach her before she activates it. Mist's lip turns up in a smirk as the amulet starts to glow...

“Not this time! Hyaaaah!” Swift's yell fills the room, and her lance soars across the room and nails Mist right in the throat, piercing the amulet and shattering it before its teleportation spell can activate. Mist yells and is borne to the wall by the impact, but the lance doesn't actually hurt her, due to her magical protection. “You're staying right here!”

Mist looks around at all of in panic and anguish, deprived of her only escape. She watches as my team systematically finishes off the other undead in the room. Swift, her lance broken against Mist's  protection, is now using a smaller javelin to deadly effect. It isn't long before the five of us are surrounding her, closing in on her with our respective weapons pointing directly at her.

“Trixie suggests you surrender. You have lost,” Trixie advises the fallen general, a confident little half smirk on her muzzle. I have to mirror her expression, because my sword is pointing at Mist too. “She is sure the princesses will treat you well.”

Mist is silent, her eyes widened and filled with tears over the loss of her undead “friends.” Remembering her earlier words, I wonder if it would be better to kill her. It seems to be what she wants, after all. “No...I won't let it be over,” Mist growls, her sadness quickly turning to rage. She gets back up again, her magic far from depleted. “Not until you pay for the deaths of my friends!”

“They were already dead, you fucking psycho!” I snap back at her. I take a step towards, her, but then to our shock and horror, her horn flashes, and she disappears from the room with a pop. “What? Are you fucking kidding me? How did she...?”

“She must have teleported! I can sense her nearby!” Swift informs me, whirling around and storming towards the door. We follow her as quickly as we can in an attempt to catch Mist before she can escape...but just as we open the door, we are greeted by the growls of hundreds upon hundreds of undead, swarming through the streets towards us. And most of them are Oppressed. “Commander, we're in trouble!”

“There's so many of 'em! How can we take 'em all on our own?” Applejack yells, backing away from the door and shutting it. With that, we're trapped in here, surrounded by thirteen hundred undead, most of whom are immune to magic. Shit, we went from victory to almost certain defeat...and it's all my goddamn fault for thinking I could take down Mist so easily. 

“Seth, what do we do?” Rainbow demands. Fuck, there's no way out. There has to be something we can do...I'm not going to die here if I can help it. There's always a way out. 

“Barricade the door! We might be able to hold here if we can keep them from swarming us!” I command, motioning towards Applejack and Swift. The two of them nod and move to grab every piece of rubble and furniture that they can. “Rainbow, look for other exits. We might be able to slip out and make a break for it if we're lucky.”

“What should Trixie do?” Trixie asks frantically, looking panicked now that she's in a true life or death situation for the first time. I look around the room and notice a rack of weapons on the wall. I grab a shortsword and toss it to her. Trixie catches it out of reflex in her magic. “What...? Trixie doesn't know how to use this!”

“Maybe not, but it's better than flailing your hooves at the Oppressed!” I snap at her. Trixie blanches, but nods in understanding. “Get ready. The most we can do is hold here until we find an opportunity to escape.”

Just after Applejack and Swift push a heavy dresser against the front doors, the first wave of Oppressed slam against it, the resulting crash resounding through the room. Some of the Oppressed are throwing themselves against the windows as well, and it isn't long before one of them shatters and an undead manages to slip its way inside.

“I don't think so!” Rainbow declares, swooping out of the sky and flooring the creature with a swift uppercut. She finishes it off by slamming its head several times into the wall until it stops struggling. “Seth, we've got the windows and the front door. There's no other way out!”

“You've got to be kidding me!” I groan, tangling with an Oppressed over by another of the windows. They broke this one quickly as well, so now it's taking everything I have to keep them from piling through in droves.

“This door ain't gonna hold!” Applejack warns me, just as the door starts to splinter beneath the Oppressed's assault. Fuck, everything is going to hell fast. Come on, Seth, think. There has to be some way I can get us all out of here. I won't be able to live with myself if I get one of these ponies killed because of my poor decision. “Seth, they're comin' through!”

“I know!” I yell, slicing apart another Oppressed that's climbing in through the window. Behind me, Swift jabs her javelin through a hole opened in the front door, taking out an undead's eye in the process...though that does little more than slow it down. Trixie is at the window on the opposite side of the room, flailing around with her new shortsword in an attempt to fend off the undead coming in through that side. We're surrounded, and it's only a matter of time before we're overwhelmed.

As I blast the head of an undead away, an idea comes to me. This one is possibly foolish and could possibly fail, but it's better than standing here and waiting to get killed by magic-immune zombies. “Rainbow, can you lift Applejack?” I demand. Applejack blinks at that.

“Can she what now?” Applejack questions, but I ignore her, staring at Rainbow. Rainbow looks over at Applejack.

“Yeah, definitely. She's not that heavy,” Rainbow responds. “Why? Do you have an idea? Please tell me you do. I don't want to be dinner for these things.”

“I think so. It's dumb, but it shouldn't be dumber than getting ourselves trapped in here in the first place,” I answer her, and then I wince when the front door splinters further, and the upper half of the doors crumbles away, such that the Oppressed are starting to claw their way through. Applejack and  Swift meet their assault, punching and stabbing away to buy as much time as possible. “I'm going to blow up the building. When I do, grab Applejack and escape through the rubble. I'll take Trixie and Swift and we'll fly for the walls. With luck, we might be able to escape to the Islanders for backup.”

“You're sure you can lift two ponies?” Swift questions me uncertainly. I give her an askance look, and then nod. I've lifted three before. Granted, one of them was a filly and I didn't last very long, it was at least something. With all my power now, I should be able to do this. Swift nods slowly and moves towards me, as does Trixie. “Okay. It's the best chance we've got, I suppose.”

“Trixie will not forgive you if you drop her,” Trixie asserts, backing away from the window. As an Oppressed starts to climb through, she tosses her shortsword at it, impaling it through the skull. “Well? What are we waiting for?”

“For them to get inside. I want to catch some of them in the destruction,” I say. The moment after I say that, the front door shatters into pieces and the Oppressed swarm through, tearing apart the dresser in their way with their razor sharp claws. “Fuck it, here goes! Get in the air!”

I power up one last time and slam the ground with a magically empowered fist. Lines of destructive emerald magic arcs out from the point of impact in a star like pattern, gouging through the ground and demolishing the walls and ceiling in one massive explosion. 

Grabbing Swift and Trixie, I take to the skies beside Rainbow and Applejack. I hold the two ponies close to my with my arms hooked around their barrels. It's not ideal and they're no doubt uncomfortable, but it'll have to do for now. We manage to escape the rubble, the building collapsing beneath its own weight now that it has been destabilized so much. Any undead in the building are crushed by the debris. A cloud of dust and debris is thrown into the air, which we use as short term cover long enough to put some distance between us and the building.

“This is just crazy!” Applejack wails from her position in Rainbow's grip. Trixie is similarly crying out in panic as her hind legs dangle several scores of feet above the ground, promising imminent death should I drop her. But I won't drop her.

“Make for the mountains! We've got to get to the Islanders!” I order, flying as fast as I can while carrying the weight of two ponies. If it weren't for my magic, I'd never be able to carry these two for a long distance, much less fly with them. Rainbow nods, and the five of us fly as fast as we can towards the gates, with several undead pegasus in hot pursuit. The walls loom closer and closer, and I start to believe that we'll get out of this...

“You will not escape!” Mist shrieks from far below. Before any of us know what's happening, a beam of lethal white magic lances up from below...and hits Rainbow right beneath her right wingjoint. Rainbow cries out in pain and her flight pattern spirals out of control, taking her and Applejack down towards the ground.

“No!” I yell, and then I whirl around, looking for Mist. I find her standing atop the ruins of her old chambers, her white aura licking up around her like flames. Ignoring her angry expression, I immediately fly down towards Rainbow, as she can't seem to control her downward flight.

Rainbow slams into the ground, and she and Applejack tumble over one another, yelling out in pain as they do so. I land right beside them, setting down Trixie and Swift. “Rainbow! Are you okay? I swear to god, you better be okay, or I'll...” I start to say, my mouth running out of sheer worry and fright.

“Ow...I'm fine...but my wing...” Rainbow moans, managing to hoist herself to her hooves. She shows me her wing, and it's bent at an awkward angle, in addition to the burned fur and skin where Mist shot her. “Darn it, we were so close!”

“Applejack, are you hurt? Can you stand?” Swift expresses anxiously, extending a hoof to the farmer pony. Applejack groans and accepts the hoof.

“Yeah, but ah reckon ah'll be feelin' that in the morning,” Applejack grunts, rubbing at her bruised ribs. She moves to comfort Rainbow once she's standing again. “Hang in there, sugarcube. We can't do this without ya. Can you fly?”

Rainbow tries, but yells out in agony and falls back to the ground. She looks down at the snowy ground, looking dejected. “No, I can't. I'm useless now,” Rainbow moans. “Why did this have to happen now!?”

We were...the gates are right there. Literally all we needed was a few more seconds, and we would have been home free. Now, we're trapped inside the walls, with the undead quickly moving to surround us once more. This time, there's no structures nearby other than the gatehouse to hide in...the gatehouse. 

“No time to stand around, the undead are coming!” I shout at the rest of them, indicating the hordes of undead charging towards us, even as we speak. “Get in the gatehouse, now!” 

None of the other ponies argue with that. Swift immediately throws open the reinforced door to the gatehouse and slips inside, holding the portal open so the rest of us can follow her. Once we're all inside, she slams the door shut and slides the bolt closed, locking it for now. “That should buy us a few moments, at least,” Swift determines. “Commander, what are your orders? We won't be able to hold out here forever.”

“We won't have to,” I say, looking at the back of the room. Out of all the places we could have landed, this was probably the best. At the back of the room is a complicated apparatus, consisting of a large spool of chains that looks to be turned by a valve connected to the top of it. The chains feed up the wall into a slot high up on the wall, in the general direction of the gates. “This is our objective. If we can get those gates open, the Islanders can get in. If we can just hold out long enough for them to get here, we'll win.”

“What luck!” Trixie exclaims, moving over to the spool. I quickly join her, figuring that it'll take at least two of us to get this thing moving. She and I stand on either side of the wheel and grasp the handles together. “Let's get those gates open, Seth!”

Just then, the door shudders and cracks as the Oppressed throw themselves against it. We dont' have much time to do this. “Sounds good to me. Swift! Barricade that door with whatever you can find! Buy us as much time as you can!” I order her, and then Trixie and I start to strain, the wheel only turning slowly despite our combined efforts. “Ugh....it's moving so slow...come on!”

“Trixie feels like...this gate...weighs at least a ton...” Trixie grunts, starting to use her magic to help turn the wheel. As the wheel slowly turns, I can feel something shifting in the walls. There's the sound of wood and and metal groaning from outside, telling me that the gates are opening at an agonizing pace.

Swift and Applejack are throwing everything can in front of the doors. Chairs, tables, and even end tables are being piled up at the base of the door in an attempt to put as much matter between the Oppressed and us. Thankfully, there's only one window that opens to the outside, and Rainbow is standing in front of it. She's grounded, but she doesn't look like she's going to be giving up any time soon.

The door splinters under repeated impacts, making it clear that it's not going to hold out for very long. However, Trixie and I are in full form right now. The wheel is steadily turning. I can't see the outside, but I'm sure the gates are partially open now. Pterax, I pray that you made it to the Islanders. I hope they can make it here in time.

Suddenly, there's the sound of magic sparking in the air from the far side of the room, opposite the door. I quickly turn my head. To my horror, a very angry Mist is standing there, having just teleported in. I then curse, remembering that the window was probably what allowed her to get in. Unicorns need a line of sight to teleport. 

“Step away from that wheel,” Mist growls, her muzzle screwed into an expression of intense sorrow and hate. She summons her magic, cracking the floor beneath her. “You killed Emmie...and now I'm going to kill you.”

“Trixie, I'm gonna need you to keep turning the wheel,” I whisper to the blue unicorn, stepping away. Trixie groans in complaint at the extra weight she has to turn all on her own, but she doggedly keeps turning it. I turn my gaze onto Mist, summoning my own magic, such that the room is awash with white and green light. “You shouldn't have come here all on your own, general. You can't stand up to me.”

“I didn't come here on my own,” Mist replies ominously. As if on cue, the wall just in front of her explodes inwards with a thunderous crash. Chunks of debris and dust briefly flood the room...and then a powerful, hulking Mega Oppressed charges into the room, releasing a roar of challenge. My bravado evaporates instantly, my eyes widening with terror. Mist's horn flashes, and the monster orients on us, flexing its unnaturally swollen muscles. “Tear them apart!”

“Fuck! Fuck fuck!” I immediately, curse, throwing myself away from the Mega Oppressed's charge, narrowly avoiding it to the point where I can feel the disturbance in the air left in its wake. “Everypony scatter right now, or we're all screwed!”

Trixie yelps and dashes forward in time to avoid the monster's thick fingers as it reached out for her, intent to squeeze the life from her. Making a split second decision, I turn to the wheel and slice through the chain with my sword, effectively breaking the mechanism. Now, they won't be able to close the gates, no matter what happens. Even if we die, the battle will still be won.

“What in tarnation...!? Oh no, not one of these critters!” Applejack exclaims in horror as the Mega Oppressed charges right into the middle of us. There's no room to dodge, so one of its flailing arms rams into my stomach, knocking me into the wall. Shrugging off Swift and Applejack's combined attacks, it knocks the both of them aside with vicious punches. 

“Back off, ugly!” Rainbow charges the creature bravely and foolishly, shoulder rushing its legs in an attempt to unbalance it. When Rainbow reaches it, it clamps its fingers around her barrel and starts to squeeze mercilessly, causing the pegasus to scream in agony. The sight causes me to see red, and I hurtle into the fight, slicing into the creature's fingers with my blade repeatedly until a finger is severed, loosening its grip long enough for me to pry Rainbow out. Immediately afterward, the Mega Oppressed roars in rage and rams the both of us with its mangled fist, causing us both to roll across the ground painfully.

“It's tearing us apart, commander! We have to flee!” Swift yells frantically, evading the monster's next charge and vainly attempting to inflict some kind of damage with her javelin. On the other side of the room, Trixie is engaging with Mist in an intense magical confrontation. The both of them seem to be evenly matched; with every collision between their magically enhanced hooves, an ethereal wind surges up from around them, and the room is further damaged. The floor boards are torn up and the surrounding furniture is disintegrated.

“There's nowhere to go! This fucker's in here, and the Oppressed are outside!” I lament. The moment I see the Mega Oppressed going for Applejack, I lunge forward and knock her out of the way, only to take the hit myself, which nearly sends me right through the barricade. I hold my no doubt broken ribs, panting and groaning from the pain. Through the splintered remains of the continuously degrading door, I can see the masses of undead outside...and the halfway opened gates just nearby. 

“We have to take our chances! We can't fight this thang!” Applejack expresses, getting up from the ground. “Rainbow's hurt too! We gotta make a run fer the gates!”

“I guess we have no other choice. Let's go!” I order. With a nod, Swift knocks aside the barricade and bucks the door down, bowling over a few undead that were beating against the door not too long ago. She dashes outside and works to clear a way for us. Applejack joins her outside, quickly followed by Rainbow. “Trixie! Get your little blue ass over here!”

“Little...busy!” Trixie manages to get out as she ducks beneath Mist's hoof. She then stamps the ground with both hooves, releasing a wave of cyan light forward. Mist nimbly leaps out of the way and counterattacks with a destructive orb of snowy magic, which is then blocked by a hastily erected cyan barrier.

“Fucking...we don't have time!” I dive beneath the Mega Oppressed flailing fists and fire several blasts of magic towards Mist, forcing the general to back away from Trixie. “Come on! Get moving! I'll keep the big guy distracted!”

Trixie nods and dashes past the hulking Oppressed. It tries to swipe at her, but I step in front of its fist and block it on my forearm....but the force behind the attack is so great that I'm knocked clear through the front wall. If it weren't for my magic, that would have broken my back, no doubt.

I land right in the middle of a chaotic melee between my team and the undead. We're completely surrounded on three sides by the small fry, and behind us is a rampaging Mega Oppressed and general Mist herself. Because of my bad call, this has quickly gone from bad to worse.

“We can make it! Come on, fight harder!” Rainbow urges us on as she punches an Oppressed into the ground. Now that we're all together, we let out a collective battle cry and charge the undead lines that are blocking us from getting to the gates. Panic and adrenaline fuel my tired muscles as I cut my way into the wall of dead flesh between us and safety.

At first, it seems like we're going to make it. Swift is doing a marvelous job at watching our backs, despite the fact that we're all getting collectively overwhelmed by the sheer amount of enemies that we're fighting. More than once, I miss my guard, and an Oppressed claw slices into my skin painfully, leaving behind bleeding cuts on my arms and legs. I'm not the only one taking hits either. Applejack is favoring her left foreleg, and Trixie is sporting a cut on her forehead that's steadily oozing blood.

However, as we get closer, I notice with horror that the gates are starting to slowly close. What? How is that possible? I broke the mechanism myself, there's no way they should be able to close! I whirl around to look at the destroyed wall of the gatehouse, where the Mega Oppressed is steadily approaching us. However, what I see causes my hopes to sink like a stone. Mist is standing beside the broken mechanism, using her magic to control the severed chain and close the gates. Oh fuck...magic. I completely forgot about magic. 

If she closes the gates, we're all screwed. We'll be completely annihilated here by all of these undead, and it will have been all my goddamn fault. I had to be so confident that we could win the battle without losing anypony. Because of that, we're going to lose everything.
> 120. The Fall of Everwinter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

My sword flickers around me like a deadly steel hornet, slicing through any Oppressed unlucky enough to be near me. They're starting to group up and swarm us, just like they always do, quickly limited the space in which we have to move, and cutting us off from reaching the rapidly closing gates.

“Seth! That big guys comin'!” Applejack warns me frantically while bucking an Oppressed apart to keep it away from the wounded Rainbow. She flinches when a claw scrapes across her shoulder, but she doesn't give in, retaliating swiftly against the offending undead.

The Mega Oppressed is charging towards us at a high speed , bowling aside its fellow undead without any concern for their wellbeing. Its eyes are fixed on us...and Swift is the closest one to it. When the monster reaches them, Swift hunches down and gets ready to assault it. Trixie quickly moves to join her, slicing up Oppressed on her way. “Trixie will assist....aah!” Trixie and Swift then both have to throw themselves to the ground to avoid a deadly sweep of the monster's swollen arm that could have easily broken their necks.

Shit, I need to help. I turn to face the Mega Oppressed, recognizing it as the biggest threat on this field. However, as I'm turning to do so, a burst of white magic buffets my face, singing my skin and pushing me back. I grunt and clasp a hand to my face, one eye gazing out at General Mist, who has taken to the battlefield herself now that the gates are once again closed.

“Coming to face me yourself, General?” I say with a sense of calm falling over me. I recognize that I made a bad call...but now I'm starting to see a way to pull us out of this. Mist doesn't respond, glaring at me with her magic swirling over her form like a raging whirlwind. I plant my feet and hold out my sword before me, noting how the area around me is clear of undead. Mist must want to take care of me herself. “Come on then. I'll help you with the release you seek.”

“There's no hope for you,” Mist states in a wavering voice. Her expression turns pained, as if her statement was spoken with sorrow and despair rather than any sense of gloating. It's almost as if she wanted us to win. “You cannot defeat him. It's...it's pointless to even try.”

“Defeat who?” I ask, even though I have an idea what the answer is going to be. Mist starts to look fearful, even as she speaks the name.

“King Sombra. He is the one truth of this world....he is undeniable,” Mist reveals, her body shaking. Her muscles tense, and she starts to approach me. “But now, you are trapped in these walls with me. I will do you a favor, and put you to rest, so that you never feel the pain as your last hope is crushed.”

I scoff, and then stand up straight, seemingly lowering my guard. Mist pauses, wondering what I'm planning. Honestly, I should have done this before, to the point where my previous panic seems a little foolish to me. It may not have been the best idea to do this before, but now, it's a matter of life or death.

“Trapped?” I repeat. As Mist watches, I let my magical energy explode from my body, forming a small crater beneath me. Before she can stop me, I pivot on my heel and channel my magic into the blade. A surprising, yet familiar sensation passes through me. Instead of questioning it, I seize upon it, and magic rushes through the blade, transforming it into greenish crystal, with the luster and richness  of emerald. With my powered sword in hand, I hold it in both hands and sweep forwards in front of me twice in an X pattern. Green waves of slicing magic emanate from the blade and surge towards the gates.

The magical waves collide with the gate and are briefly halted by a white barrier, telling me that Mist must have warded the door against magical assault. However...she's not anywhere near my level. I lower my sword and lift a hand, which flashes green with power. The shockwaves struggling against the barrier receive the extra power and slice right through the opposition, chopping right through the wooden gates. “Trapped? I think not.” I restate, smirking.

Mist's jaw drops as she sees her barrier broken so easily. She watches the gates fall apart, revealing the snowy wasteland outside. I'm not even looking at the gates anymore, because I know I can't make a run for it until my team is safe. “No...you won't escape! You won't!” Mist screeches, and then she charges at me, firing beams from her horn as she does so.

I stick my sword into the ground and meet her charge head on, her beams impacting my body and leaving burns. Mist cries out when my fist hits her right in the chest, halting her charge and pushing her back. However, she quickly turns around and rams a hoof upwards into my chin painfully. What the hell...I should be a lot stronger than her.

It then dawns on me. I am stronger than her...but right now, in my current form, we're at relatively the same level. I think I'm still higher, but for all intents and purposes, we're even right now. No...I only become alicorn levels of strong once I transform.

I grunt and get smart, dodging her next few attacks and retaliating with a burst of magic emanating from both palms. Mist deftly blocks it with a barrier and turns on her forehooves, her hind legs lashing out in a powerful buck.

Getting hit by a buck would hurt, so I sidestep and then grab her by a hind leg. Using it as leverage, I hurl her around into the ranks of her undead, near where Rainbow is fighting. That'll buy me a little time to take the heat off my team...

“Waaah!”

“Commander!” Both Swift and Trixie go hurtling backwards into the walls on either side of the gate, both of them completely overwhelmed by the indestructible nature of the Mega Oppressed. It's more than a match for any of us like this, and we know it.

Applejack and Rainbow move to guard the two as they rise, joining me. The three of us meet the wave of rushing Oppressed, preparing ourselves as the Mega readies itself for another charge. “Seth! Let's make a run for it. Ya opened the gates; there's nuthin' stoppin' us!” Applejack yells out to me as she lifts an Oppressed with her two front hooves and then throws it to the ground into a group of its fellow undead.

“Yes, we need to retreat!” Swift agrees, getting to her hooves and lifting her javelin. I nod in agreement. I can't fight Mist and the Mega Oppressed at the same time...and that's not even counting the hundreds of undead still left in the fort, all rushing towards us at once.

“Agreed. Let's get the hell out of dodge!” I confirm, and then the five of us make a break for the gates...only to stop at what we see on the other side. Shock crosses my face...and then a grin slowly forms.

“Hold your ground, valiant warriors,” Salamul's deep voice rumbles from outside the gates. The warlord, dressed in his imposing crimson armor and armed with that monster axe, stands on the other side, flanked by Iron and Pterax...and backed by the entirety of the Bleak Island elite forces. Salamul sweeps his axe down to his side with his magic, a snarl forming on his lips. “There will be no defeat this day! Islanders! With me!”

A rallying battle cry rises from the Bleak Island ranks, and they all follow Salamul as the warlord breaks into a gallop, charging right for the open gate and the ranks of undead on the other side. Mist, upon seeing the enemies outside, snarls in frustration and sends a thick and concentrated beam of snowy magic directly towards him...

Salamul roars and slices right through the beam with his axe, cutting it into two smaller beams that harmlessly impact the snow on either side of him. His charge isn't even slowed. When he passes through the gate, he leaps all the way over my head and lands right in the middle of the undead, annihilating a whole circle of them with a single sweep of his axe.

Iron is right behind him, and it isn't long before the entire Bleak Island force meets the ranks of the undead in a clash of epic proportions. The Islanders cut their way through the undead like a knife through butter, at last showing their true prowess in battle. It's almost laughable how easy they're beating the Oppressed, sweeping aside their clumsy claw attacks and slicing them apart with ease. In fact, some of the soldiers are even laughing in delight.

With a guttural battle cry, Salamul raises his axe...and then a fucking lightning bolt as thick as a tree slams down from the clouds above, striking his axe and causing it to resonate with electrical power.. Oh, so that weapon is magical? Well, good for him, but that's not going to do a thing against...

Salamul spins his axe in the air, the weapon releasing a whirlwind so strong that the air visibly dilates around him. Much to my utter shock, the Oppressed are knocked aside like ninepins, and that's not even counting what happens to the poor fuckers that get hit by his electrically charged axe. The one Oppressed unlucky enough to get hit is blasted to pieces by the electricity.

Oh my god. I look over at Rainbow and Applejack, who are equally as shocked as I am. Hope returns to me, and I lift my sword back out of the ground. “We can't give up now, team! You heard the guy! Let's stand our ground and bring the fight to the enemy!” I call to my team. As battered as we all are, I can see them nodding, morale surging among us now that a monster like Salamul is here with us.

“Geez, you numbskulls,” Pterax joins us with a scoff as all six of us charge back into the ranks of the enemy. He quickly turns into my form, wielding a weapon to deadly effect among the magically immune Oppressed. “I'm away for not even half an hour, and you manage to get the entire fort up in arms against you. How did you even manage that?”

“It was my fault,” I answer shortly as he and I fight alongside one another. “I make a stupid decision and nearly got us all killed. You can all yell at me later.”

"I should have known," Pterax remarks, much to my annoyance. 

“Ah told ya it was a mistake...but what's more important...” Applejack grunts while tangling with two Oppressed at once. “...is that we all git out o' this alive.”

“Commander Iron! Watch out!” Swift calls to where Iron is fighting with his trident and shield. He's currently combating Mist in a tense head to head skirmish, but Mist is obviously overwhelmed. Not only is Iron outfighting her, but she can't touch him with her magic. Every time she tries, her power is sucked into Iron's shield and sent right back at her through his trident. “It's coming!”

Mist steps aside and lets the Mega Oppressed charge past her, using it as a shield to buy herself time to lick her wounds. I start to move to help Iron, but a light red hoof stops me from going any further. “Nuh-uh. You stand right there, you stupid spindly thing,” Crimson Flare cautions me, a grin on her face. As I start to protest, she indicates Salamul, who's now at Iron's side, getting ready to fight the huge monster charging right towards them. “Watch. These are the two that brought our country together as one.”

“You ready, brother?” Iron asks Salamul grimly as the Mega Oppressed charges towards him. Salamul gives an amused grunt, hefting his electrified axe and waving it through the air threateningly, such that the very air hummed and crackled with its power.

“Please...this is nothing compared to what we went through. Let's show them what we are capable of...” Salamul returns, his expression stoic as ever. Iron nods, and then the two of them gallop directly towards the Mega Oppressed, meeting its charge head on.

The two brothers split right around the monster's charge, sweeping their weapons in a low arc and slicing right into the creature's legs, using its momentum against it to inflict enough damage to cause the creature to slow to a stop, staggering as it tries to keep its footing.

As the Mega Oppressed turns around, Salamul and Iron are ready for it. They easily weave their way in and out of its frenzied attacks and simultaneously slice up its torso with their weapons. Salamul's supercharged axe leaves a deep gash in its chest, electricity sparking from the point of impact and causing the monster to jerk spasmodically, as if the power is running through its limbs.

My jaw slowly drops as Iron and Salamul weave around the monster, slicing it to ribbons with their combined assaults. They are cooperating and coordinating with one another without even exchanging any words or glances, and the Mega Oppressed doesn't even stand a chance.

The monster is now on its hands and knees, as its legs are all but sliced to pieces and its torso is hacked to ribbons. It attempts to rise again, but its end is near. Salamul and Iron stand together a few meters away, their weapons crossed and touching. The metal of the two weapons seem to be connected by arcs of dancing electricity that gets more and more intense with every passing second.

With simultaneous roars, Salamul and Iron bring their weapons down to the ground at the same time. A shockwave of electrical power surges forward across the ground, tearing up the stone of the street and annihilating everything in its way. Despite its seemingly magical nature, it reaches the Mega Oppressed and slices it to bloody chunks, defeating it once and for all.

“All hail the warlords!” the Islanders cheer at their leaders' victory, even as they utterly overwhelm any undead in their way. From where I'm standing, I don't see a single fallen Islander among the dead. No kidding....400 Islanders is more than enough. It's almost like these are the pony versions of Spartans. Jesus Christ.

Mist reappears atop a building, looking fully charged and ready for battle. She looks as shocked as I feel to see the Mega Oppressed lying in pieces on the street, and even more shocked to see the Islanders utterly carving up her forces, while each individual laughs and jokes as they do it. She growls and starts powering up...but I won't let her.

“Stay here with the Islanders. I'm going to deal with Mist,” I order my team. Without waiting for acknowledgment from them, I take to the skies and charge right towards the general, emerald flame wreathing my form. “We're not finished, you and I!”

Mist quickly turns and meets my charge with a magically empowered guard, causing the building's ceiling to crack beneath the impact. She glares into my eyes, and then locks her hooves around my shoulders, bashing my forehead with hers. I yelp as her horn cuts into the skin of my forehead, and I then kick her in the barrel viciously. She doesn't let go, and as such we both go tumbling off of the building into a crowd of Oppressed...who soon spread out to give us room to fight. I'm guessing that's Mist's command.

“Why...why are you fighting so hard...?” Mist demands, dodging several slicing shockwaves of magic from my sword. “You can't win...it doesn't matter how hard you flail...how many battles you win...he'll kill you...”

“The better question is....why the hell aren't YOU fighting?” I shoot right back, meeting her punches with open palms. As we strain against one another, we glare into one another's eyes. “I heard about you from Shatter. You're crystal pony slave, aren't you? Sombra has enslaved and tortured your kind to the point where I don't even want to think about it! Doesn't that mean anything to you?”

“Stop acting like you understand!” Mist cries, punching me in the nose and causing me to recoil. She goes on the offensive, forming orbs of magic and throwing them at me in an endless barrage. “It doesn't matter what I do...there's no escape. Every last hope, extinguished...every rebellion...snuffed out...it's too much!”

“So what, you're just going to give up!? I demand incredulously, powering through her assault and planting my hand into her face, hurling her across the street and through a house. I quickly pursue her into the building, where the two of us exchange swift punches and kicks. “What about all of your friends? Your countryponies? You're okay with them living in slavery like this?”

“No...no...! But there's nothing I can do...I'll just die....” Mist expresses. She's starting to cry, tears welling up in her already reddened eyes. “It's better to just accept it...please, I just want the pain to stop...”

“So stop it yourself, you coward!” I snap at her, using my hands to propel myself away from the floor seconds before Mist detonates a magical rune there. “There's no excuse for what you're doing. You think you can live in this twisted little fantasy with your undead 'friends,' all while your real friends are suffering and dying?”

“You don't know what it's like! How dare you lecture me!” Mist screeches. She and I meet in the middle of the room, blowing out the rest of the building in the resulting explosion. Her words anger me, because on the contrary...

“I do know what it's like, you idiot! My race went through the same damn thing!” I tell her, causing her eyes to widen in shock. I grab her by the shoulders and lift her up so that she's forced to look at me. “My people went through worse, actually! Sombra's top general, Vanta, tortured and killed my kind with sick and twisted experiments to make the very same troops you're using right now! And do you know what I did? I blew that fucker to ash and made him pay.”

“I can't do that...it's not possible. No one can defeat Sombra...he's the one thing that will last forever...” Mist returns weakly. I throw her to the ground painfully, my disgust showing in my curled lip.

“Last forever? I don’t think so. Nothing lasts forever...certainly not tyrants like him,” I snap back at her. I glare at her, only one thing left for me to say. “Mist, I'll defeat Sombra.”

My resolute statement causes Mist to look at me in utter shock and disbelief. I plant my feet and tap into my innermost wells of magical power, releasing the strength that I've almost never used.

Mist watches in awe as my magical power rises by several fold. My aura circles up around me, filled with flowing ribbons of archaic cuneiform glyphs. My hair flows up around me, and those same glyphs climb up my body, glowing with an ethereal emerald light. Once my transformation is complete, I let out a wordless cry and plant my feet, sending out a shockwave that completely demolishes whatever is left of the house around me.

“I'll defeat him,” I repeat to her, lifting up a rune covered hand and clenching it into a fist. “If you want to make it up to your friends...you'll help me.”

Mist lies there with an air of shocked silence for a several seconds. For the first time, a little bit of hope seems to enter her expression. “Maybe...maybe with your power...we can...” Mist starts to say aloud...to the point where I think she's about to give in. But then, she clenches her eyes shut and shakes her head vigorously. “No...NO!”

Mist stands up, closing her eyes shut tight. When they next open, there's nothing but darkness coming from beneath her eyelids. A whispering fills the air, along with a feeling of eerie magic that's very similar to how Vanta's magic felt. She's using some powerful necromancy right now. “How dare you....instill this kind of hope in me...!” Mist starts to yell, her voice now sounding distorted and unearthly. “There is no escape for me....except death!”

Around her, Oppressed and other undead gather to her, clinging to her body. Bile rises in my throat in disgust as their skin and bones start to crack and merge together in a grotesque amalgamation of bodies. A twisted flesh construct not unlike a Mega Oppressed starts to form with Mist as the center of its torso. Once it's complete, white fur sprouts from the undead bodies, and sharp teeth and claws form from the “head” and “hands.”

“I will kill you, and show you the same despair that I feel!” Mist utters ominously from her position in the center of her construct's torso. I lift my sword once more and hold it out before me. I know full well that with the Oppressed that are a part of that construct, there are likely to be parts of it that are immune to magic. But that's okay. I need to show her that no matter the odds, it's always worth fighting back.

“Come on. I'll break this despair of yours,” I challenge her, beckoning to her with my hand. Mist grits her teeth, and then the construct charges at me, with its thick claws held high. However, in this form of mine, I start to see things the same way I did when I fought Vanta.

Mist blinks when her claws slam onto the empty ground where I used to be. She turns, but is hardly able to follow me with her eyes as I circle around her with the speed given to me by this form. Doing what feels natural, I grasp one of the lines of glyphs in my aura and sling it out like a whip. The other end coils around the flesh construct's arm. From there, it's easy to upend the whole thing, dropping it on its back, earning a yowl of frustration from Mist.

I land in front of Mist and dash past her created body as it rises, dragging my sword across her arm, cutting a deep gash into it, to the point where it's only hanging on by a few strands of muscle and tendon. Before she can even retaliate, my sword stretches and lengthens into a length of chain, with a dagger attached to the other end.

“There is always hope!” I shout at her, flicking the chain out at her and slicing into her body with the dagger. I whip it at her again and again, tearing into her constructed body and slicing the surface into ribbons. “I learned that from ponies very close to me...ponies that I never would have met if I'd let myself fall to despair like you have!”

“Don't lie to me....I hate liars!” Mist reaches out with a massive arm and grabs onto the chain..but it dissipates in her hand before she can tug me in. “Friends die...and all I'm left with is a hole that I can never fill!”

Her unharmed fist shoots forward towards me...only to be blocked by one hand. It pains my hand to block it, but I can handle it. It seems like the merging of Oppressed and normal undead diluted that magical immunity, such that its only resistance now.

“I know how that feels...god do I know,” I return calmly, feeling a little melancholy as memories of Amaryllis fill my mind. Even now there's a hole in my heart where she should be, but it's only through accepting it and moving on can I keep it from taking me over. I feel sorry for Mist, that she never learned how to do that. With a grunt, I tear her construct's arm completely off and toss it aside. “But I'll never let it keep me from fighting back...and neither should you.”

Mist looks at me with terror as I power up even further. She takes several steps back as I approach her, as if that could save her. I hunch down, and then propel myself forward with an explosion of magic behind my feet. “No...don't....I'm not ready....!” Mist yells as I streak through the air towards her...and then I rip right through the center of her construct, wrapping my arms around her middle and taking her with me.

Mist screams as I land on the ground several meters away from her destroyed construct, which even now starts to turn to dust now that she's no longer supplying it with necromancy. I hold Mist tightly, my arms wrapped around her, almost like an embrace. Mist trembles in my grasp, hyperventilating and struggling weakly.

“And there's your answer,” I whisper in her ear. Mist tries to wriggle free...but when the meaning of my words sink in, she slowly settles down, looking up at me not with the cold dead eyes of Sombra's general, but with the frightened and confused eyes of a filly that never got to grow up. “You're not ready to die. Not yet. You still have friends out there, waiting for you to rescue them.”

Mist blinks as tears start to pour from her cheeks. All magical output ceases from her, and she throws her hooves around me, hugging me as she starts to sob loudly. I flinch a little from her sudden affection...and then I realize that I just managed to fight and talk down one of Sombra's generals. Holy shit, when did I get so persuasive?

All around us, the battle starts to die down. The moment Mist started to cry, the undead start to slow down. Eventually, they start to shut down entirely, the life draining from their bodies. Eventually, the rest of the undead army is just standing still, easy targets for the Islanders to wipe out. That means...she's relinquished control of her army. This means...the battle is over. I let my magic peter out, the runes disappearing from the air, my aura dissipating, and my hair flopping down to my shoulders.

Sure enough, a chorus of cheers rise up from the Bleak Islanders once they realize that none of the undead are fighting back. Now, instead of an invasion, it's become a cleanup mission. Of course, now I have to figure out what to do with the sobbing general in my arms.

“Your name...it's Seth, right?” Mist questions me, looking up at me tearfully. I nod solemnly. She sniffs and wipes her eyes with a battered hoof. “What...what do I do now? How can I rescue my friends?”

“You can come with us,” I tell her, pulling away from her so she has room to stand up. “However, you'll likely have to talk with the princesses. You were our enemy, so I doubt many of the ponies here will trust you.”

“I know...you can lock me up if you want. It's nothing that I haven't dealt with before,” Mist replies sadly, lowering her head. I shrug, not really knowing what to say to that. My species may have had it worse than hers, but I've never gone through anything close to what she has. “Can...I come with you?”

“Yeah, come on. The others are going to want to know,” I tell her, getting to my feet. I wince a little as all of my wounds start to ache at once. It really sucks that we don't have a healer like Celestia, Luna, or Chrysalis around. I guess I'll have to get treated the normal way. I look behind me to make sure Mist is walking with me, and then I step towards the Islanders, with whom my team is celebrating now as well.

I meet up with Iron and Salamul on the way, the both of them approaching me purposefully. They both take note of the timid Mist standing behind me. “I see you have captured their general,” Salamul observes. “A shame. I was actually beginning to enjoy myself.”

Iron shakes his head, giving Salamul an exasperated expression. “Are you alright, Seth? How are your injuries?” Iron questions me, his words betraying his concern, despite the fact that his expression is as neutral as always.

“I'm fine, more or less. I am really glad you got here when you did,” I express to him. Iron nods, accepting my gratitude stoically. “Next time, you lead the infiltration. I fucked this up something fierce.”

“You made a mistake,” Iron tells me sternly, causing me to scratch the back of my neck awkwardly. I don't think he even knows the details, but I guess he doesn't really have to. His next words are spoken with fervor.“You were lucky. Now, learn from this experience, and do not make the same mistakes again.”

I nod. I remember him saying something very similar back on the airship. I guess I should have paid more attention to him then.

“General Mist.” Iron then turns to the unicorn behind me, who attempts to hide behind my form again. Of course, you can't exactly hide from Iron, so it isn't long before he's staring at her in the eyes. “Do I have your surrender?”

Mist nods silently and timidly, unsure how to react in the presence of somepony that used to be her enemy. Iron nods and produces a set of shackles, no doubt given to him by one of the other Islanders. Mist quails a little, but then obediently presents her forehooves. Wordlessly, Iron snaps the shackles in place around her legs, and then slides an odd ring over her horn...which leaves a white web behind on her horn that quickly soaks into it. Oh shit, that's a really small nullification device. Smart. Now she can't use her magic even if she wanted to.

“Good job capturing her alive. We'll present her to the princess when we have established a base of operations here,” Iron says to me.

“Indeed. No doubt we be discussing our next course of action,” Salamul adds, placing his axe in a slot on him armor. That reminds me. I have a question to ask that really needs an answer.

“Okay, before we do anything, what the fuck is that axe, Salamul?” I demand, jabbing a finger at the weapon in question. “The Oppressed are completely immune to magic, but that didn't seem to stop you any!”

Salamul stares down at me for a few seconds, as if deciding whether or not he wants to explain. Eventually, he lifts the axe back out and presents it to me. “This is one of the two Storm Regalia. It does not use magic in the standard sense of the term,” Salamul explains. I reach out to touch the axe...and then of course get shocked by it because I forgot about that. “Its power stems from the fury of nature.”

“That's still magic, isn't it? I'm confused,” I point out. "You can't just say that 'it's empowered by nature.' That is magic!"

“It's a bit of a long story,” Iron rejoins before Salamul can answer. “Suffice to say, these are weapons with unique attributes that stem from...sources other than magic.”

“That's fucking cryptic,” I mutter, but drop it. I'm not going to look a gift pony in the mouth, I suppose. That axe could shoot rainbows and butterflies, but if it can hurt the Oppressed, I'm happy as hell that it's on our side. “Now what?”

“My brother and I will set up a command center in one of these buildings,” Iron explains. “We'll take care of settling our troops into the fortress. You can relax in the meantime. Go and speak with your team, and then report for medical treatment.”

“Got it. What about Mist? You're not going to hurt her, are you?” I question, uncertain as to whether or not I want to leave her with somepony like Salamul. I wouldn't put it past him to torture somepony for information.

“She will be safe in my custody. I do not hurt my prisoners,” Iron assures me. Okay, if he's looking after her, that'll be fine. I can trust Iron, I think. “Now go. Your team is waiting for you.”

“Yeah, I bet. They probably want to kill me,” I mutter, and then I take my leave of the two of them, conscious of Mist's soulful eyes watching me as I go. I'll have to check on her later to make sure she doesn't lose her mind again. That would be a little inconvenient.

Rainbow, Pterax, Trixie, Swift, and Applejack are all waiting for me together by one of the more intact buildings. Rainbow is sitting down next to an Islander nurse pony, who is treating and dressing her wing. They all look up at my appearance, displaying various levels of relief.

I notice Applejack and Swift staring at me rather intently when I arrive, causing me to raise an eyebrow. “Uh...what?” I ask hesitantly.

“Ah told ya so,” is Applejack's pertinent response. Swift nods emphatically. The whole scene is a little comical...or at least it would be, if it had been anypony other than me that fucked up, and in a less severe manner.

“Your original plan was better,” Swift agrees, making me even more regretful.

“Yeah, you're right. Honestly, if I'd have known that it was just Mist here and no one else more dangerous, I'd have blown up the gates sooner,” I confess. I move to join Rainbow, sitting down at her side, reaching out to brush her back. I'd hug her, but the nurse is in the way, and I don't want to hurt Rainbow. “Sorry about your wing. No doubt you wouldn't be hurt if we'd have just left Mist alone.”

“What? Nah, I was just too slow. Applejack's fat butt was weighing me down!” Rainbow remarks in good humour. Immediately, Applejack's ears perk up and she turns around with a glare.

“Hey! You talkin' smack, Rainbow Dash?” Applejack exclaims indignantly, earning a snicker from Rainbow. “Ah'll have Seth hold you down while ah give ya a good whuppin'!”

I shake my head at their antics, trying not to laugh too. Rainbow can make light of it, but I feel like I'm always getting her hurt in one way or another. “Seriously though,” I tell Rainbow.

“No, seriously yourself. You're stupid, we get it,” Rainbow interrupts me before I can say anything else. “I've always known you're stupid. But everything turned out fine, so I'm not mad.”

As much as I want to protest that I'm not always stupid, that argument would fall rather flat here, so I just nod. “Okay, thanks. You're sure you're not mad?”

“Nah...but...there is something you could do to make it up to me,” Rainbow muses, rubbing at her chin. I watch her expectantly, willing to do pretty much anything at this point. Rainbow soon adopts a grin. “You have to make me meals, whenever I ask, for a month when we get back.”

“Wha....” I can't even form a proper response to that for a good several seconds. Around us, Applejack is snickering, while Swift is just shaking her head. Trixie isn't even paying attention, instead whining to the nurse about her aching hooves. “Wait, before or after the trip we take around Equestria?”

Rainbow thinks about that for a moment before responding. “...Yes,” Rainbow decides, causing me to roll my eyes and rub my forehead in exasperation. Her dumb bullshit aside, I'm glad she's not angry at me. Heh, I remember when I used to not give a shit whether she was mad at me or not.

“There, that should do it for now,” the nurse says, finishing up with Rainbow's wounds. “You won't be doing any flying for a while, however.”

“Aw, c'mon...” Rainbow complains. She'll be fine. No doubt we'll be meeting up with the princesses at some point. She can get healed then.

“Commander, if you would come here?” the nurse beckons to me next. I try to protest and say that she should treat another pony first, but then both Applejack and Rainbow get up and force me to sit down next to the nurse and get treated. “There. This won't take too long. I just need to dress these cuts. Just lie back and relax.”

While the nurse bandages me up, I look up at the snowy white sky, reflecting over the events of this past mission.

It shouldn't be long now, before we take the fight to the capital.
> 121. A Time for Rest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	With the undead taken care of, Everwinter soon falls under our complete control. The walls are almost entirely unharmed, so the only real repairs that need to be made are for the gates. It takes the cooperation of several unicorns and mechanics to get a working gate set back up. Though I suppose it's mostly for cosmetics, because I just proved not too long ago that gates are woefully inadequate against any decent unicorn.

After clearing away the debris in the center of the village, Iron and Salamul quickly get a command center set up, consisting of several large tents in which tables, maps, and other strategic equipment is arranged. Other Islanders are busy gathering materials and supplies from the untouched houses. No doubt the poor ponies who originally owned them don't have much use for them now. My only hope is that we can get to them before Sombra can hurt them too much.

As for me...well, I don't really have much to be doing now that our mission is over with. The first thing we do is get a fucking good night's sleep for the first time since Trotsdale. The one at the Bleak Island camp didn't count because that was only a few hours. So, holing ourselves up in one of the houses, it feel really fucking good to just rest for a full eight hours. 

When we next wake up, it's about noontime the next day. My team and I, after getting washed up in the frankly frigid showers, are now sitting in one of the larger houses that's been turned into a mess hall of sorts, eating our breakfast. I think it used to be a tavern, due to the presence of the bar like structure on one side of the room, as well as the multitudes of tables scattered across the the first floor.

“So yer tellin' me that you managed to get that Mist character to join us?” Applejack questions me in disbelief, an apple clutched in her hoof. Before I can even reply, Mist, who is sitting on the other side of Applejack, starts to look rather uppity. “Like...not just capture her, but actually join us?”

“But of course he did! You see, I was just faking it this whole time to get on Sombra's good side, so that I could...” she starts to declare, but soon peters out as all of our heads slowly turn to look at her, none too amused. “...what?”

“You stop that,” I tell her. Mist adopts a grin, even as her form disappears in a flash of green light to reveal a snickering Pterax. “You weren't even here, so you don't know. Besides, that's just so goddamn cliché.”

“I thought it was pretty good,” Pterax returns smugly, crossing his front hooves on the table. Unlike the rest of us, he's not eating, due to his changeling nature. “Still though. Who knew you could say anything apart from random expletives and sarcastic comments?”

“Fuck off, Pterax. As if you actually know me,” I retort irritably...realizing a second later that I pretty much proved his point. Even Rainbow is laughing at my expense. “I don't know why, but after seeing her in the streets and in her dining room, the idea of killing her didn't really sit well with me.”

“Honestly, it didn't sit well with me none either,” Applejack agrees. “To begin with ah ain't never gonna be alright with the idea of takin' another thinkin' pony's life, no matter what she done.”

“Yeah...me neither. I kinda just wanted to knock her around a bit, but that's it,” Rainbow agrees uncomfortably. “So I didn't like the idea of us going to 'take her down,' like you said.”

“You do know we're in the middle of a war, right? We're lucky in that the majority of our enemies are already dead, but these generals are alive and willing to kill us,” I point out to the two of them, sipping my drink as soon as I finish talking. Swift nods in agreement, understanding that sentiment from a soldier's standpoint.

“Still, she seemed mighty pitiful. So ah'm glad ya managed to do somethin' for her,” Applejack persists. I nod. It's a little funny, actually. When I'd first come to Equestria, I likely would have chosen to kill Mist, no matter what her situation. I notice Applejack looking at me rather strangely. “If ya don't mind me askin', what about that other human?”

“Hawke? What about him?” I ask curiously. This subject came right out of left field, so I don't quite get her motives.

“What are ya gonna do about him? He's yer kind too, right?” Applejack inquires. I freeze, and then sigh, setting down my sandwich and resting my hand on my fist.

“I don't know. I don't know anything about him, really, except that he doesn't seem to give a shit that Sombra is the reason our race is dead,” I admit after a few moments. Unlike Mist, I already feel strongly towards Hawke...and I only know one thing. “Between his betrayal and what he did to Twilight and Rainbow, he needs to pay.” 

“He didn't hit me that hard,” Rainbow mutters, flushing a little. I scoff at that. Yeah right, he sent you hurtling into a building with just one hit of his arm. It wasn't even his fist, either. “Anyway, can we talk about something more cheerful?”

“Trixie scuffed her hoof...” Just completely out of the blue, our conversation is interrupted by an complaining whine from the blue unicorn sitting beside me. We all turn to look at her in disbelief and amusement. Trixie sits there, hardly paying attention to any of us. Instead, she's peering closely at one hoof that looks like it's seen better days. She looks up and notices us all looking. “What?”

Applejack is the first to lose her composure, letting out a loud guffaw that quickly turns into full blown laughter. From the darkness of our last conversation, hearing something so innocent and typical of her out of the blue like that just makes it twenty times funnier.

“Stop laughing at me! It looks horrible!” Trixie whines as Rainbow and I start to laugh as well. Swift lets her head hit the table out of exasperation as our professional facade disappears in an instant. Even Pterax joins in on this, turning into another Trixie with a similarly marred hoof, mimicking her whine perfectly. That sight makes us laugh even harder. “Stop that! I do not sound like that!”

“Oh look, I'm the Great and Powerful Trixie, look how pretentious I sound!” Pterax mocks her, to the point where the real Trixie throws a spoon at him with her magic. Rainbow finds that incredibly humorous. 

“Pterax, that's just great! Do somepony else!” Rainbow requests. She thinks for a second, and then grins. “Do Applejack!”

“Say what now?” Applejack demands, but before she can protest any further, Pterax obliging turns into the farmer pony, albeit without the hat. Applejack stares at herself with a strange expression on her face, which Pterax mirrors. Suddenly, the changeling steals her hat and puts it on. “Hey!”

“Howdy, everypony! Ah'm Applejack. Buy some apples!” Pterax declares in a perfect rendition of  Applejack's voice. I almost choke on my sandwich at how fucking hilarious Applejack's expression is right now. Pterax looks at the rest of us with a cheeky grin. “That's it. That's her personality.”

While all of us chortle at her expense, Applejack tackles Pterax to the ground, scattering dishes everywhere. “That ain’t true and y’all know it! And gimme mah hat back!” Applejack protests. Yeah, of course it's not true. We know her better than that. It's still fucking funny.

“Wait, what the...!” Rainbow exclaims, once Pterax and Applejack get back up from the ground. Pterax is now in Rainbow's form, which causes my right eye to twitch.

“Pterax...” I say in a dangerously soft voice, reminding him of the last time he took Rainbow's form. 

“I'm Rainbow Dash! I like going fast and I have a fetish for humans! Look at the muscles on that Se...” Before Pterax can even finish his declaration, both Rainbow and I set aside our meals and pounce upon him at the same time, knocking him out of his chair and back onto the ground. “I regret nothing!”

“Dear Celestia...it's like I'm looking after a group of foals,” Swift complains, her head still resting on the table out of exasperation.

Our merriment is interrupted by the sound of somepony clearing his throat in front of us. We all freeze in position, with Rainbow and I on top of Pterax, and Applejack trying to keep water from going out her nose.

“Enjoying ourselves, I see,” Iron observes dryly. Well, if he's here, then it must be for business. I get up off of the changeling and return to my seat, giving Iron my full attention. Rainbow and Pterax hop up onto their seats as well, the latter reverting to his original form. “Seth, your presence is requested for a meeting in the command tent.”

“Okay, I guess,” I respond. I quickly stuff the rest of my meal in my mouth and get up from the table. 

“I'm coming too,” Rainbow insists, hopping off of her seat and walking up to the two of us. It's weird, seeing her walk everywhere instead of hover like she always does. I can't wait until I can see one of the alicorns and get her healed. It'll make the both of us feel better.

“As you wish. Follow me,” Iron directs us. With that, he turns and leads us out of the tavern building and into the snowy streets. I wrinkle my nose at the stench in the air, no doubt coming from the piles of burning undead bodies situated in the streets every so often. I'm guessing that's an Islander tradition, but it's certainly not a pleasant one.

“Any word from the other teams?” I question curiously as I walk alongside the warlord. I doubt we're the only one who's succeeded.

“Very little, unfortunately. All we have heard as of right now is that Princess Celestia has captured her designated settlement,” Iron reveals. 

“Of course she has,” I remark under my breath to Rainbow, who chuckles. Please, Celestia was the one I was least worried about. Like I said before, she's fucking unstoppable, even on her own. I mean, was there ever any doubt? “Nothing else?”

Iron shakes his head. Okay, now I'm wondering whether or not the others are alright. I know Chrysalis will be fine, because she's really fucking smart and wouldn't make a mistake like I did. Same goes for Luna. I'm not sure about the others. Though I guess in a wartime situation, no news is good news.

When we reach the command tent, I hear Salamul talking with somepony, who is replying to him in soft female tones. I recognize that voice in an instant, and I actually start to feel a little embarrassed. I hope to hell she doesn't already know how I messed up yet again. Oh, who am I kidding. She always knows.

“Perhaps another time, Salamul. Considering the current state of affairs, it would be hardly be conducive to proper morale, don't you think?” Celestia replies to something the warlord said. Iron, Rainbow, and I join them in the tent, gaining their attention.

Celestia isn't actually here, but is instead present in the form of a hologram emanating from a communication orb much like the one I used back at the changeling hive. Salamul looks rather disappointed for some reason or another.

“Perhaps. Nevertheless, I will expect a match once there is adequate time,” Salamul insists. Wait, a match? Is he trying to fight Celestia? What, is he nuts? “But now, it seems, we have company.”

“Welcome back, commander,” Celestia addresses Iron, who nods reverently at her greeting. She then faces the two of us. “Good to see you two are alright. I heard your infiltration was a success?”

“More or less,” I respond hastily, hoping she doesn't inquire much further. And...shit. Celestia is giving me the look. It's the one she always wears when she's figuring someone out. In this case, it's me. Yeah no. I cross my arms and gaze at her. “I assume you just curbstomped everything in your own mission?””

“The Oppressed, as you call them, are a dangerous foe. However, they are no match for an experienced warrior,” Celestia assures me. So yeah, basically that's a yes. “More to the point, I assume you did not contact me to exchange pleasantries?”

“That's correct. We've captured one of the enemy generals,” Iron reveals. He stomps the ground with a hoof, signaling the guards to bring in the chained up Mist. The former general sees Celestia and cowers, lowering her gaze. Celestia's expression, although surprised at first, turns stern, telling me that she's definitely not forgotten what Mist said to her on the fields of Trotsdale. “There are some...extenuating circumstances. I believed it would be best to seek your judgment.”

“I see,” Celestia replies shortly, gazing down at Mist with a searching gaze. “What sort of circumstances are you referring to?”

“Rather than being defeated, she...” Iron starts to explain, but then I interrupt, stepping in front of him and approaching Mist.

“How about we let her speak for herself?” I cut across Iron, causing him to close his mouth and look at me with a raised brow. Mist notices my approach and gets a little calmer, though she still trembles before Celestia's intimidating presence. I don't envy Mist right now. I don't ever want to be on the receiving end of Celestia's fury. “Mist, this was your decision. Don't let somebody else speak for you.”

“What...? But...I...” Mist stammers, looking between me and Celestia. I sit down on the ground beside her, shoving away the guard that's looking after her. Celestia's expression changes, turning to mild surprise briefly before becoming thoughtful. Just in this one exchange, I think she has a basic idea of what's happened.

“I rather like that idea. Well then, General Mist. Is there anything you wish to say to me?” Celestia addresses the former general. Mist quails beneath Celestia's stare, but just by my presence next to her, she gathers the courage to speak.

“I...I want to help,” Mist manages to get out. Rainbow and Iron both look surprised by this, because they weren't there when I talked her into surrendering. No doubt the last thing she wants is to remain in chains for the rest of the war.

“Excuse me?” Celestia utters. From her facial expression, it looks like that was the last thing she expected to hear. Mist's tone gets a little stronger now that's she's already said it once.

“It's...it's him. King Sombra,” Mist begins, doing her best to keep eye contact with Celestia, despite the trembling in her knees. “He's invincible. He's always been this pillar of unstoppable might in the middle of the empire. It didn't matter what we did, or what was done to us. He would never look at us...”

“'Us?'” Celestia repeats, looking as if she's starting to figure it out. “Ah, of course. I didn't see it before, on the battlefield, but you're a crystal pony, aren't you?”

“I was...a mother of three...” Mist continues, her voice catching. Okay, what? This part I never heard her mention. Even Celestia gets that the story she's about to hear isn't going to be a pretty one, considering how she's starting to look a little pained. “Winter Rain, Soft Dreams, and...Emerald Horizon.”

I think I understand a little better now. When she said she wanted the pain to stop, I guessed she was talking about the torture they must have inflicted on her. But...I'm guessing she was referring to the torture and loss of her family. I guess when she called some of those undead her “children,” she really meant it. And now....I remember that I pretty much killed one of her children right in front of her face. Well, re-killed, but still.

“They're gone now. I wanted to avenge them, but...King Sombra promised me that by embracing necromancy, I could get them back,” Mist admits. Celestia closes her eyes and sighs, nodding as if she had expected something like that. “But when I realized he was lying...I couldn't go back. The other crystal ponies...they would never accept me back after the things I did.”

“Then what changed your mind?” Celestia asks softly. Mist spares me a momentary glance before answering her; it's a glance that Celestia easily catches.

“I want to have faith in you all...please, bring him down and set the other crystal ponies free. I can't go back to them, but if I can help them in any way, I'll do it,” Mist finishes, sounding determined. “Just please...let me help.”

All of us watch Celestia closely. It's rare that I get to see her put in a situation like this, and despite my obvious bias for one side, I'm a little interested to see how she handles this.

“This is quite the difficult situation that you have put me in, Mist,” Celestia says truthfully. “As I have come to care for many ponies as if they were my own, I can understand your feelings, and I sympathize with them. But I simply cannot just ignore the pain you have inflicted upon my subjects.”

“I...understand...” Mist whispers weakly, looking crushed despite the fact that she no doubt expected this outcome. Still...I'm not satisfied with this. What, so after all that shit I said to her, she's just going to get screwed anyway? “If you want to kill me...I'd understand.”

“Flowing Mist,” Celestia snaps, using the general's full name. For some reason, the princess looks angry. Mist looks up in surprise at the sudden change in Celestia's tone. “After all that you just said to me, are you truly willing to accept a punishment as harsh as death so easily? Do your friends and family mean so little to you?”

“What!? No!” Mist protests, stiffening at Celestia's harsh words. “I want to help them! I do!”

“Good. Then you can start by never using your necromancy ever again,” Celestia asserts, stamping the ground. Mist blinks at that. “I have witnessed first hoof what happens to the souls of those enslaved through death. If your feelings are indeed sincere, then you will never put another living soul through that agony, for as long as you live. Promise me.”

Did...did Celestia just...she did. Mist and the others likely don't understand what she meant by that, but I do. I was down there in the ruins of my old school with her when we saw the spirits of the ones we freed from the slavery of undeath. I didn't think the experience truly affected her as it did me. 

“I...I promise. I no longer want any part of King Sombra's magic,” Mist agrees readily, starting to shake a little. She freezes, and she looks down at her trembling hooves. “I can't believe that I...oh no...Emmie...”

“Secondly, when the time comes, I want you to tell us everything you know about Sombra and his operations,” Celestia orders her. Mist nods, and once again I'm blown away by Celestia. It's like, on one hand, she's a normal mare like anypony else. On the other, nothing ever seems to faze her. 

“Okay...I'll tell you everything you want to know...or as much as I do know. King Sombra never held counsel with any of us...except for Hawke. He's the only one Sombra ever spoke to directly. All of our orders came from him,” Mist reveals. Wait what? Goddamn, what the hell did Hawke and Sombra go through together, to the point where even the evil king himself trusts him? Looking over at Celestia, she's nodding to say that she understands.

“Lastly and most importantly, I absolutely forbid you to die,” Celestia tells Mist commandingly. The former general looks at her in shock, as do Iron, Salamul, and Rainbow. Even I do, because that's an odd command to give to someone, especially somepony who used to be your enemy not too long ago. “If you want to make up for the things you've done...if you truly regret them...then you shall repent by continuing to live. Live and struggle, or I will never forgive you.”

There's a short silence after that, as Celestia stares intensely at Mist, who seems truly taken aback. “I...I will. I'll keep living! Thank you, princess!” Mist finally exclaims. “I've never met anypony quite like you.”

“Hah. Preaching to the choir on that one,” I retort, giving Celestia a cheeky expression. Celestia's response is to quickly and discreetly stick her tongue out at me, which almost makes me lose my shit right here, despite the heartfelt conversation that just went on. “So what now? Do we just sit around on our asses out here in Everwinter?”

“Not quite. I have been receiving reports from the other teams. So far, our invasion seems to be going well,” Celestia reveals, much to our relief. “We have met heavy resistance in the different settlements, but it seems as if they are more disorganized than before.”

“How is that possible? They nearly screwed us over several times, what with the nested traps and all,” I demand. That was Sombra, right? “What's changed?”

“I am not sure. Sombra has not moved from the capital, and Hawke's position remains a mystery,” Celestia admits. “This should have been far more difficult.”

“You are suspecting a trap?” Salamul asks, joining the conversation once more. Wait, you have got to be fucking kidding me. This whole invasion might be a trap? God, this is why I'm glad I'm not a goddamn tactician. Why is everything a trap?

“It is possible. For instance, that blind spot greatly concerns me,” Celestia continues, no doubt referring to the blizzard. “Queen Chrysalis has already completed her objective, and is scouting that area as we speak. Hopefully we will know more soon.”

“When can we expect to hear from the other teams?” Iron questions. Yeah, that's what I want to know. I want to know if the others are okay. “Our job here is mostly complete.”

“In the morning, I expect to receive a report from Cadance and Zythe. After that, we will hold a meeting with all of the team leaders to determine our next course of action,” Celestia answers. Oh boy, and here I thought we'd actually get more than a day to rest and recover. I guess not. We are in the middle of a war I guess. “To reiterate, have your communication crystal ready for contact early tomorrow morning.”

“Understood, princess. Any last orders?” Iron responds with a quick salute. Celestia turns to Mist one last time.

“Yes. Mist, you are under Commander Iron's supervision for the duration of this war. You are to follow his commands as if they were mine. Do I make myself clear?” Celestia orders her. Mist nods meekly, looking over at Iron hesitantly. “Iron, I am leaving it at your discretion when to return the use of magic to her. I trust you will make the right decision. Now then, I will see you bright and early the next morning.”

Celestia's image disappears from the room, leaving us in silence for several moments. Iron then turns to Mist. “You heard her. You're with me from now on,” the commander tells her. Mist nods timidly. “In any other case, I'd want to fight you to understand your strength, but we've already done that.”

“And she didn't stand much of a chance, considering your Storm Regalia or whatever are plain broken,” I quip. Iron shakes his head, mostly ignoring me.

“Until tomorrow's meeting, I'll want you to accompany me as my brother and I finish shoring up the defenses in case of attack,” Iron finishes. 

“Okay. I can help with that. I know where all the weak points are,” Mist suggests. Iron nods with satisfaction, and then turns to his brother.

“Brother, I'll leave you to look over the other Islanders,” Iron states. Salamul nods, plodding out of the room without another word. Iron looks to me next. “Seth, you and your team are on standby until the next morning. Take some time to recover from your injuries. We'll need you at your best for the upcoming battles.”

“Standby. Got it,” I reply, sighing with relief. This means I can rest some more and just hang with my friends...though that's probably irresponsible. “Iron, can you find me later? I want to train some more.”

“I'll see if I can find the time,” Iron responds and moves for the exit. “Now then, I have work to do. Mist, come with me.”

Mist hesitates before following him. She approaches me real quick, pressing her muzzle to my leg in a quick show of affection, causing me to shift uncomfortably. “Thank you,” she whispers to me. She quickly retreats and follows Iron out of the tent.

“What's she doing, nuzzling you?” Rainbow remarks, watching Mist closely until the former general is out of sight. I raise a brow at Rainbow. “What?”

“Oh, don't be jealous. Come on, the others are waiting for us.” Even as I turn for the exit as well, Rainbow follows behind, spluttering indignantly.

“I'm not jealous...what are you talking about?”

“Of course you are. You're always jealous when somepony else nuzzles me,” I point out. “Remember when Lyra did it? I thought you were gonna put a little sign on me that said 'property of Rainbow.'”

“You did not! You were still oblivious at the time, you dolt!” Rainbow snaps back at me, causing me to laugh uproariously.

“Still funny,” I tease her, causing her to nudge me roughly.





It isn't long before we're back with the team, though we find them in a rather awkward situation. Applejack is laughing uproariously while watching Pterax shift into different forms to make Trixie even more uncomfortable. I happen to walk in at the exact moment as Pterax shifts into Twilight's form and makes Trixie fall right off the bench in panic. Next to them, Swift is repeatedly banging her head into the table, no doubt wishing she hadn't been picked for this team.

“You know I could add clothes to this too,” Pterax remarks, noting Trixie flushing in embarrassment as she picks herself up off of the ground. She raises an eyebrow at Pterax's comment...and then she squeaks as Pterax flashes again, and Twilight's form is now wearing lacy purple socks. Trixie blushes furiously, as does Applejack and Rainbow. “What, too much?”

“Pterax, quit fucking with the ponies,” I admonish him, as entertaining as I'm finding this. A little interesting to see how ponies react to socks. Maybe I should ask Rarity about that later. It might be hilarious to see Rainbow react to a set of socks.

“But it's so much fun though!” Pterax protests, though he does return to his original form. He then looks between Rainbow and I, a smirk forming on his face. “Besides, like you're one to talk.”

“If you mean what I think you mean, we're having roasted changeling for dinner,” I tell him pointedly, cracking my knuckles. I find it hard to keep from laughing as I see Applejack's disgusted face at the thought of eating Pterax. “Anyway, it turns out we're all on standby until tomorrow morning.”

“What's happening tomorrow morning?” Trixie questions. 

“I'm going to a meeting with Celestia and the others. Turns out things are going well in other areas of the invasion,” I reveal to them. Swift lifts her head up from the table and looks at me curiously.

“Really? Just like that? We're attacking the largest and most dangerous army to ever exist, and things are going without a hitch?” Swift questions, suspicious. I nod understandingly.

“Yeah, you and Celestia are both thinking the same thing. She thinks it might be a trap,” I answer her. Applejack groans beside her.

“What? How is it a trap this time?” Applejack asks in exasperation. Yeah, I understand how she's feeling. We've dealt with nothing but traps since this war has begun.

“That's what I'd like to know. We're just worried about how easy it's been to complete every one of our objectives so far,” I reply. Rainbow scoffs.

“Easy? How has this been easy? I hurt my wing!” Rainbow complains, showing us her bandaged wing. “Sure the others did okay, but they probably had a hard time like we did. I mean, where's that Shatter guy? Or Hawke?”

“Yeah, we have no idea where Hawke is right now. It's actually a little worrying,” I add. That reminds me. I look down to my sword, reminding me of how I managed to rediscover my ability to absorb it into my magic just like my old rifle and scythe. I wonder what other abilities I can rediscover if I were to actually put my mind to it. 

“Well, ain't no sense worryin' about it now. Leave all them fancy tactics to the princesses,” Applejack suggests sensibly. Her expression darkens. “Ah'm just hopin' we get to the capital soon. There's some ponies I want to rescue.”

“I think that goes for all of us,” I say. I can't help but remember those two crystal ponies Applejack and I spoke to, back in the Crystal Empire. I feel like shit every time I picture their faces, and then how they must be faring under Sombra's rule. Applejack must be feeling even worse about it. “Anyway, I should probably go.”

“What? Where are you going?” Rainbow asks me as I make for the door. Technically I should be resting, but I don't really have time for that. Standby is the best time for figuring out my magic.

“An open place. I don't remember most of my abilities from before I got this new magic. I figure I should take some time to train and get myself back up to par. I haven't had time before now,” I explain. Swift nods approvingly.

“That's a good idea. In fact, do you mind if I join you?” Swift asks. I blink at her. Did she just ask to train with me?

“What? Join me? How would that even work?” I ask with a raised brow. “I mean, could you even take a single hit from me?”

“Obviously I'm not going to train with you...just near you. I just need to work on my lance techniques,” Swift retorts, rolling her eyes.

“Ah okay. That makes more sense. But do you even have a lance anymore? Didn't you break it on Mist's neck?” I recall. As if she had been waiting for this very moment, Crimson Flare walks into the room, looking irritated as usual. We all watch her as she carries a brand new lance over to Swift, who flinches at her approach. “Oh shit.”

“Here's your stupid lance. Do you have any idea how many repairs I have to do? Do me a favor and don't add to them!” Crimson shrieks at Swift, dropping the lance unceremoniously on the table in front of her face. Swift nods timidly in response. Crimson nods in satisfaction and leaves the room, leaving the rest of us who haven't encountered Crimson before to look bemused. It figures she'd be the one to fix Swift's lance. She's the only smith around as far as I know. I wonder where she's set up shop?

“That mare...scares me,” Swift admits, much to my amusement. She lifts up her lance and hooks it to her armor, and then she joins me at the door. “Anyway, if that answers your question, let's get to training. In fact, we should all take this time to get some training done.”

“Sounds like a good idea. Ah never did like just sittin' around all day,” Applejack agrees. She takes a moment to finish her drink before joining Swift and I near the door. “C'mon, Trixie. You too.”

“Wait, why does Trixie have to train with you all?” Trixie demands, looking none too pleased about the prospect. “She has always done just fine on her own.”

“Yeah, but if you want to get any better, maybe you should train with someone who can withstand your might. Unless you want to go ask Iron or Salamul for help, training with me is your only option,” I suggest to her. I plan on taking most of this time to train myself, but I don't mind knocking her around a bit for the sake of making her stronger.

Trixie gulps, remembering Iron and Salamul's skill. They did fucking take apart a Mega Oppressed like it was made of paper mache.  She quickly gets up from her seat and follows to rest of us.

“Eh, guess I might as well follow. If only to watch you all flailing around,” Pterax grumbles, annoyed that we're all leaving at once. 

“Aw yeah, group training time!” Rainbow declares. She pulls out a hat from nowhere and puts it on with a grin. “Tell you what! I'll get you all running laps around the city in no time! Call me Coach Dash!”

“No, we're not doing that,” I retort, taking the hat off her head and tossing it away, much to Rainbow's annoyance. “You can certainly do that if you want, but it's the magic I'm worried about.”

“How you guys get such ridiculous amounts of magic is beyond me,” Swift grumbles, glaring at Trixie and I. Of course, that statement causes Trixie's ego to shoot through the roof, considering how uppity she's looking right now.

Trixie yelps as I poke her in the side of the head. She rubs the affected portion and gives me a disturbed expression. “What was that for?” she demands.

“Just deflating your overly swollen head,” I answer, much to her annoyance. Trixie pouts and starts grumbling something under her breath, even as Rainbow starts laughing at her. “Oh sure, laugh it up Rainbow. Your head gets so big I have to use one of Rarity's sewing needles.”

With that, the six of us leave the mess hall and roam through the streets, looking for a decent place to settle and start training. It isn't long before we find one near the edge of town, in the snowy space between the walls and the outer residences. Once we're there, we split up and start to train on our own.

After all, who knows what's going to come next. But for better or worse, it's almost over.


> 122. The Final Obstacle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The rest of that day we spend training, each of us doing our own thing. I spend some time meditating as Rose taught me, attempting to familiarize myself with this new magic. Thanks to how crazy things have been, I've never been able to truly understand the composition of this magic. It's difficult to explain, but it feels as though I'm afloat in myself. It doesn't make sense, but this magic feels like me.

Swift is at another end of the clearing, practicing her technique with the lance. She spends her time perfecting her form, using her magic to jab forward at a practice dummy with her lance. Applejack  and Rainbow are exercising together, though both of them assert that they're practicing on their own. Essentially, they're running laps around the village...though I feel like it eventually turns a race. I say that because they're running faster every time they pass through the clearing.

Surprisingly, Trixie seems to be doing the same thing I am, sitting down on her haunches with her eyes closed and a serene expression on her face. It's a nice change, because she's always looking stressed or awkward whenever she's with us. Nevertheless, it's good to know she knows proper technique for training herself. I wonder where she learned that from? She never really seemed like the meditating type.

As for Pterax, he's not doing much of anything except lying curled up on the ground in the form of a polar bear, keeping warm and watching us, though he only looks half interested.

As time passes, I eventually get up from the ground and flare my magic, melting the snow around my feet. From there, I unsheathe my sword and transform it like I did during the fight with Mist, until the blade becomes emerald once more. Now that I have a chance to look at it, this sword actually looks really cool like this. 

For several hours, I practice with my magic, attempting to rediscover old techniques. Should an old ability prove particularly hard to recreate, I attempt to create new ones instead, to limited success. That dashing ability I had with Sombra's magic was invaluable to me in battle, but I can't seem to recreate it. Every time I try, the most I get is a substantial increase in movement speed. In other words, it's slower than the dash, but faster than I can ever move on my own. It also has an advantage in that I don't have to use it in bursts like the dash ability.

Rainbow and Applejack suddenly yelp as I swiftly catch up to them, moving so fast that my magic leaves behind multiple emerald shadows of myself. The fact that I' using magic isn't what's surprising them...it's that they're galloping as fast as they can in an attempt to beat one another, and I caught up so quickly.

“Yo, mind if I join you?” I call, cheekily waving at them. Applejack and Rainbow look at one another, and then back at me, a competitive gleam forming in their eyes. Without another word, Applejack and Rainbow lower their heads and pick up their speed. Imagine the faces of the soldiers as the three of us zoom right by them at a speed that they can hardly follow. 

As I am, I'm faster than Rainbow, but relatively even with Applejack in terms of overall speed. No doubt if Rainbow was able to fly, she'd kick my ass pretty quick. I could probably beat Applejack in maneuverability, considering that when I concentrate my magic like this, it affects all of my movement. My point is proven when the three of us turn a corner, and I easily take the lead due to my heightened maneuverability.

However, they quickly catch up to me on the long straightaways in the village, showing me that ponies...and especially earth ponies, are extremely fast runners. These two could outrun me any day of the week without this magic.

Eventually, after several laps around the town, I come to a halt back in the clearing, my legs starting to get tired. I've also gotten used to the way it feels to speed myself up like this. I wonder how much faster I'll be able to go when I power up to the next level.

Then, while Rainbow and Applejack start working on exercising their legs, I focus on trying to shift the shape of my sword, much like I did with the rifle. It's difficult, but I do manage to recreate the chain knife that I used against Mist. The feel of the magic is different, so it's a little difficult to get it to do what I want, but it's definitely responding easier than Sombra's magic ever did. You know, and it also helps that there's not that little voice in my head, constantly telling me to give in and lay waste to Equestria.

We don't stop training for the rest of the day, except for short breaks to eat and rest. Once the sun starts to set, we pair up and start training together to improve our skills. Applejack and Swift go head to head on one side of the clearing, grappling one another vigorously. Swift is a soldier, so she's drilling proper fighting techniques into Applejack so that she isn't just bucking things all the time. Rainbow eventually joins them, and Swift takes the both of them on at once, showing her superior training. As for me, well...

“What the hell was that, Trixie?” I demand, catching her hoof easily on my arm. From there, it's easy to grab her hoof and press down on her barrel with my free hand, pinning her to the ground. “Your magical technique is good, but you literally just tossed yourself at me.”

“It's not Trixie's fault you're so much stronger than she is!” Trixie protests, getting up from the snow once I release her. She's wearing an adorable pout as she glares at me. She flares her magic once more and charges into the attack.

“What? No, I'm not using any more magic than you are,” I correct her, blocking or evading each of her vicious magical attacks. Every time her hooves hit my guard, a small shockwave emanates from the point of impact, caused by the collision of our magical energies. A large round area of melted slush forms around the two of us, our magic superheating the ground. “You've just got to be less predictable about your moves. You had trouble against Mist because of that.”

“Then how do you like...this!?” Trixie rears up on her hind legs and kicks her forehooves in the air. Magical bursts of color and light fill the air around me in tandem with her flourish. I wince as my eyes are assaulted by that sensory overload. There are so many colors and lights blending together in my vision that it physically hurts. I have to close my watering eyes....and then Trixie attacks me a second later.

Her hoof rams into my side painfully before I can gather much magic to that area, knocking me back several feet from the impact. I can feel a bruise already forming from her attack, and I can't help but feel impressed. However, even with my eyes closed, I'm able to intercept her follow up attack with a kick of my own. Basically, I'm assuming that she's going to attack from the same direction, so I'm lashing out and hoping I hit her.

Sure enough, my gamble pays off and feel my foot connect. Trixie yelps, and then I hear the sound of her falling into a snow drift. “Okay, that was a better, if a little over the top from a training session,” I tell her, rubbing my eyes and holding my side with my hand. It stings, but it's not serious. “The illusions was a nice touch, but you have to move around a bit more than that if you want to keep your advantage. Now, let's go again.”

Trixie grumbles something under her breath as I finally manage to open my eyes again. My vision is a little funky at first, but eventually she and I get back to sparring.

As the day comes to a close, we all start to get tired. Iron shows up at one point to help me out with training, but it only lasts for a little while before the others start to retire.





“Whoo-ee!Ah'm plain tuckered out,” Applejack sighs, wiping the copious amounts of sweat beading on her forehead away. Her mane is damp as well, as is Rainbow's. Swift has been easily handling the both of them, despite Applejack's obvious strength advantage and Rainbow's speed advantage. However, Applejack doesn't seen annoyed at all, unlike Rainbow. “Thanks fer the help, Swift. Ah feel like ah really learned somethin' today.”

“That's good to hear. Even the littlest bit helps on the battlefield,” Swift returns amicably. She then gives the grumpy looking Rainbow a small smile. “Don't take it too hard, Rainbow. I've been in the guard for a long time. It's only natural that I'd be more skilled than you.”

“I don't care! I hate losing...” Rainbow grumbles. Oh my god, she really is salty. This is too funny. “Just you wait. Next time, I'll get you.”

“I look forward to it,” Swift retorts, lifting her lance off of the ground and hooking it back into her armor. She looks up towards the heavens, where the moon is starting to rise in the darkening sky. “It's getting late. Perhaps we should all rest up for tomorrow.”

“Why, what's happening tomorrow?” Trixie asks, looking up from her position on the ground. It looks like she'd been inspecting herself for bruises.

“We're not going to stay in Everwinter forever, you know,” Swift reminds her, offering her a hoof. Trixie takes it and gets to her hooves, dusting herself off. “It's best to be in good condition for whatever may come.”

“Precisely,” Iron agrees. The commander and I had been training hard together, but I've had enough for now. Iron is a ridiculously hard opponent to face, even though we're just training. “I'll be taking my leave. Seth, do not forget about the meeting in the morning.”

“I won't,” I promise him. Satisfied, Iron retrieves his equipment and leaves the area. I notice the curious faces on the other ponies and figure I'd better explain. “We're having a strategy meeting with the other leaders tomorrow. Chances are, we're making our next move tomorrow.”

“And there you go. It would be prudent of us to prepare ourselves for tomorrow's events,” Swift adds, sounding vindicated. “Shall we return to our barracks?”

“It's not a barracks, Swift. It's just the house where we chose to sleep,” I remind her, just to be annoying. Swift scowls and ignores me, looking instead to the others.

“Yeah, I guess I could use a nap,” Rainbow answers with a yawn. Applejack, who is next to her, looks down at the both of them, their fur streaked with sweat, and wrinkles her nose. 

“Not before we git a shower. Ah feel like ah just came out of a hard day at the farm,” Applejack expresses, picking at her fur uncomfortably. Heh, I guess that's the closest she'll ever get to complaining.

“Are we leaving now?” Pterax asks, shifting back to his normal form. He blinks his eyes several times, as if trying to wake himself up. I guess he took a nap while the rest of us were all training. I don't know changeling physiology, so I don't know if training would have even benefited him. “It's about time.”

“Trixie didn't see you doing any training,” Trixie accuses him as the rest of us start to walk back through the streets towards our chosen house. “She thinks she even saw you napping.”

“Pterax doesn't exactly care what Trixie thinks,” Pterax retorts, mimicking Trixie's voice mannerisms, much to the unicorn's annoyance. “Besides, if I wanted more muscle, I'd just give myself more muscle.”

“Right, except it doesn't work like that,” I remind him. Every time I try to make sense of the fact that even by taking the form of a dragon, he won't have the strength of a dragon, I start getting caught up in physics and my head starts to hurt, so generally I just don't question it. Magic is bullshit. “Now quit instigating, Pterax.”

“Not my fault she makes it so easy,” Pterax replies, though he doesn't say anything else after that to irritate Trixie.

After that, it only takes us a few minutes to reach our chosen house. Inside, there's two separate bedrooms with three beds in each. According to Iron, every house is crammed with soldiers, so it's not like we could all choose our own house. We have to make do with what little space we have.

So unfortunately, that means that Rainbow won't want to sleep in my bed, because there'll be another pony in the room. It's funny...it used to feel really awkward that Rainbow would be that close to me when I sleep, but now I've gotten used to it. It feels weird not to have her there now, as fucked up as that is for me to admit.

The moment we step in through the door, Rainbow streaks up the stairs. “First two to the bathroom get the shower first!” she declares. Applejack immediately bolts up the stairs behind her, not willing to let Rainbow get the shower to herself.

Swift and Trixie look at one another, and then shrug. “Well, sure, they can have it first. I doubt the heating crystals are charged with magic, so it won't be fun for them,” Swift remarks. Trixie giggles next to her, looking incredibly mischeivous. Wait, what are they talking about? Heating crystal? Is that what they use to...

A startled screech emanates from upstairs, and I hear something hit the ground hard. I raise a brow, wondering what the hell their problem is. “This water is so cold it's like bathing in liquid ice!” Rainbow screams, causing Swift and Trixie to snicker at her expense. “Swift! Come heat this up for me!”

The four of us move upstairs. Swift and Trixie look at one another, nod, and then walk into the bathroom. “Sure, Trixie'll heat it for you...” Trixie begins mockingly. Seconds later, Applejack and Rainbow are simultaneously thrown out of the bathroom by Trixie and Swift's magical auras. “...but only if she gets the shower first!”

The door shuts in Rainbow's face, causing the pegasus to start banging on it furiously. “Hey, that's not fair!” Rainbow then turns to me for help...only to find me laughing my ass off at her misfortune. “Seth, he...oh, you're no help!”

“Not my fault you jumped the gun. This works for me. The unicorns go first, and then the rest of us get hot water. Win-win, as far as I'm concerned,” I say with a shrug, resting my back against the wall. Rainbow grumbles, but she knows I'm right. “Anyway, I'm gonna lay down while I'm waiting for my turn. Who's in my room tonight? Besides Rainbow, I already know that.”

I had to mention Rainbow because the moment I asked, she had already been opening her mouth. A sinking feeling comes over me as I see a smirk form on Applejack's face. “Ya know, ah'm thinkin' ah should stay out tonight. Ah don't think ah wanna be aroun' when ya start makin' it up to Dash about her busted wing,” she teases us. I groan, even as Rainbow turns nine shades of red next to me. I should have figured this would happen the moment I opened my mouth. “Ah'll go sleep with Trixie.”

“You most certainly will not!” Trixie yells from inside the shower, causing the rest of us to start laughing, despite the joke that just happened. Of course, I'm not going to let it go. 

The moment Applejack lets down her guard, I tackle her to the ground, aiming to hoist her up off of the ground. Of course, I've never wrestled her before, so I'm completely unprepared for her strength. Applejack manages to resist me, grabbing my arms and forcing the both of us to the ground. While Rainbow is laughing her ass off, Applejack and I roll over the floor into the bedroom, until she finally manages to pin me down.

“Y'all gonna have to train for another thirty years before you can wrassle this earth pony,” Applejack teases me, her powerful hooves keeping me from moving at all. Gah, and I thought I could handle her after my minor victories with Rainbow. Applejack sees me grin and my eyes start to glow, so she puts a hoof on my nose. “No, stop that. Magic ain't fair.”

“Alright, fine, you win. Now get off of me so I can lay down,” I admit. I could easily best her with magic, but then that wouldn't count. Applejack chuckles and climbs off of me, heading back out to the hallway to wait for her turn in the shower. Once I'm free, I hop onto my bed and lay my head back on the pillow with a sigh. 

Today's been fun for the most part. That's good, because I really needed it to help relieve some of this stress that's been present ever since the war began. Of course, it's just going to come back tomorrow, but for now, any relief will do.

Once we've all showered, it isn't long before the three of us get to bed, choosing to head to sleep immediately to get as much rest as possible before the morning.





My alarm wakes me up before any of the others, a little after dawn. I blink the sleep out of my eyes and get to my feet, adrenaline helping me wake up when I realize that I should be at a meeting. I let Rainbow and Applejack sleep, leaving the room and walking down the stairs. I grab my sword and scabbard on the way out, because I don't really want to be without it in case of attack.

The first thing I notice after I step outside is that it's fucking cold as shit. Right, it's dawn in the frozen north. I don't know what I expected. Tightening my jacket, I step into the snow and head for the command tent.

As I'm walking, I happen to glance up into the sky and notice dark shapes flitting through the air. Alarmed, I almost release my magic. However, I soon relax when I hear the sound of hissing an buzzing insect wings, rather than the growling of undead. Okay, for some reason, the changelings are here. Aren't they were supposed to be to the northwest, scouting the blizzard?

When I walk into the command tent at last, I find Iron, Salamul, and Mist gathered together at one end of the room, and surprisingly, Chrysalis is here as well, standing on her own with Mantis by her side.

“My, my, Seth. You are starting to build up quite a track record,” Chrysalis comments when she notices my presence in the tent. Even though I'm choosing to stand by Iron and the others, she moves to join me, much to my annoyance. “It appears I am not the only enemy you've turned to your cause.”

“Talking about Mist?” I reply tiredly, rubbing my forehead. Mist looks up at the sound of her name, but she quickly goes back to hiding behind Iron when she realizes how much closer Chrysalis is to her.

“But of course! I'm a little surprised; I had no idea you could be such a bleeding heart,” Chrysalis remarks, her expression a mixture of surprise and disgust. “I remember you being much too dark to bother saving an ailing mother.”

“That's because you weren't down in the ruins with me when I killed one of Sombra's generals, months ago,” I shoot back, quickly losing my patience with this conversation. I'm not a fucking bleeding heart...I'm not going to go out of my way to save the enemy. Mist just didn't seem like an enemy. Chrysalis gives me a questioning look at my answer. “And no, I'm not going to explain it to you. Besides, why are you here, anyway?”

“Because when I left the blizzard, this town was the closest,” Chrysalis answers uncaringly, looking miffed at my refusal to explain my change of heart to her. Please, out of everypony I know, she's the last one that I'd ever tell about that. “I have a report to give concerning what I found...whenever Celestia decides she's ready to talk to the rest of us.”

Iron walks to the center of the room, where the table is. He places a communications crystal on the table and activates it, causing the orb to flash at regular intervals. “Let's get ready. I've let the others know we're ready to receive communications,” Iron announces. Chrysalis scoffs and moves back over to Mantis. 

Moments later, the crystal starts to glow, and Celestia appears on the side of the room opposite Chrysalis. But that's not all. The crystal flashes several times, and more figures appear in the room. Luna appears next to Celestia, followed by Blades, Cadance, and Zythe. With this, all of the team leaders are present.

“Is everypony present?” Celestia asks, looking around the room at the other holograms. She smiles happily at the sight of her sister and niece, and then nods when she notices the others. “I trust all of your missions went well?”

“It was too easy, if you ask me. Immune to magic or not, there's simply no beating my intelligence,” Chrysalis boasts shamelessly, lifting one of her hooves and glancing at it nonchalantly.

“We ran into one of the generals, but we managed to complete our objective,” Blades reveals, causing me to look curiously at him. “A real nasty one, he was. None of our magic could hurt him, and he was a particularly skilled fighter.”

Oh great, so Blades and Twilight ran into Shatter. I sure hope they killed him. “So what, you shoved a knife in his gullet?” Zythe joins with a bloodthirsty grin, agreeing with my mental thoughts. “You ponies rely too much on this magic of yours.”

“No, unfortunately. Just like that mare at Trotsdale, he had an escape plan ready in case he got cornered,” Blades admits, much to my disappointment. Damn, so Shatter is still out there. Blades then looks at Celestia. “You should be real proud of your student, but the way. She's the one who took him down.”

“Really?” Celestia looks honestly surprised by that. “You said he was immune to magic, correct?”

“That's true. He was takin' on all of us by himself with ease, but she had the bright idea to knock him right outta the sky with a boulder. Turns out magic won't hurt him, but debris propelled by magic does,” Blades explains. Celestia nods, looking impressed. Damn, too bad I couldn't have done that. I can't use telekinesis like unicorns can. Neither can I teleport, for that matter. “Anyway, he took off after  she broke his wing.”

“Lucky you. All we had was a bunch of lousy undead to fight,” Zythe grumbles, clicking his beak irritably. “But we're not here to discuss war stories, are we? Come on, point me at my next target!”

“No, the purpose of this meeting is to discuss our findings in the blizzard, and to choose what our next course of action will be,” Celestia rejoins, gathering all attention back to her once again. “As planned, Queen Chrysalis and her changelings infiltrated the veil of snow and discovered what lies beyond. If you will?”

“You will be very interested to hear what I've found.” Chrysalis steps forward to the table, her horn lighting up and striking the wooden surface. All of us lean forward with interest as a small green hologram appears, much like the one Luna used back during the changeling invasion. This time, it depicts a large mountain with a faint trail of smoke emanating from the crater up top. Shit, that's the dormant volcano that Gale mentioned. However, it's the large complex built right into the side of the mountain that draws our attention. “The blizzard is a danger, but once you are within its veil, it is clear. As you can see, the enemy has a sizable base of operations here. It is guarded by a large horde of undead, but there doesn't seem to be anypony there to sustain them.”

“I see. Perhaps another necromantic heart,” Celestia muses.

“'Tis a threat we cannot ignore. Should we march upon the Crystal Empire, they could flank us while we are occupied,” Luna decides. Chrysalis nods in agreement. “However, 'tis a mystery. That architecture is unlike anything we have ever seen.”

After a few minutes of looking at the structure, my eyes widen. “That's because it's human architecture,” I reveal, much to everyone's shock. I can't believe this, but that is very clearly a power plant of some sort. It's a very large one, making me wonder why the hell Sombra needs that much electrical power.

“Art thou certain?” Luna questions me curiously. I nod and point at different locations on the hologram.

“Yeah, look at these lights. Those are clearly electrical. Plus, if I'm thinking about this right, that's a geothermal plant,” I point out. “What it does is makes electricity from the heat released by radioactive decay...though I doubt that means much to you. What worries me is that you don't have this technology...and neither should Sombra.”

“You told us that Sombra went back to your time, did you not? Perhaps he picked up this technology from there?” Celestia suggests. 

“It's possible, but I doubt Sombra could have learned how to harness geothermal energy in only a single year,” I return. Comically enough, some of the other ponies look completely lost at the implications of this. “I have no idea what he could be using all this power for, or how he managed to build a complex that large in such a short time. Even with magic, electricity is not a simple concept to grasp.”

“I....I can help with that,” Mist speaks up timidly, making her presence known for the first time since the meeting began. Celestia smiles at her appearance, though the others that didn't know about her defection stare at her in confusion and anger. “I've been to that base before...I know what it's being used for, and how it was built.”

“Hey, ain't that the mare that led the attack on Trotsdale?” Blades asks curiously, jabbing a hoof in her direction. Luna's eyes narrow as she recognizes Mist as well. Chrysalis doesn't look like she cares one way of the other, of course.

“You mean the coward who turned tail and ran the moment she got faced by griffon cannons?” Zythe brags, though he doesn't seem angry, just amused. “So how much did they torture you to get you to spill this information?”

“Viceroy, if you please,” Celestia chides Zythe gently, giving him a meaningful expression. Zythe scoffs, but he does fall silent. “Yes, this is Flowing Mist. To put a long story short, she was a slave to the Crystal Empire, but is now determined to see us succeed. Now, let her speak. Mist, can you tell us what you know?”

“Yes, I can. It's an electrical plant like Seth said it was, but it has nothing to do with Sombra,” Mist reveals. I blink. Wait what? If it's not Sombra, then... “That plant is where Governor General Hawke has been living.”

“King Sombra's second in command, huh...” Zythe comments, rubbing the feathers at his neck absentmindedly. “And how does he have this 'hooman' technology?”

“Because he's a human himself,” I reply, taken aback by Mist's revelation. That actually makes a lot of sense. If he knew enough, he could definitely build a plant like that if he had the time and resources. It's a long shot, but it makes more sense than Sombra building it in less than a month. “What is Hawke using it for?”

“There's a weapon that he's been working on...one that channels all of this electrical energy and fires it in the form of a piercing beam,” Mist answers. She moves up to the hologram and indicates a large construct on the roof of one of the protruding buildings of the complex. It looks like a massive cannon of some sort, though I've never seen anything like that, even for humans. “It's not complete, but right now it could still very easily devastate any armies sent towards it.”

“Cunning. Erect a barrier in the form of a raging blizzard, and then blast to oblivion anything that manages to get through,” Chrysalis comments, rubbing her chin. “That aside, I am very interested in this other human...”

“Chrysalis, no. He's our enemy,” I tell her immediately. I can practically see the wheels in her mind turning. She has a fixation with humans, so I don't doubt that she'd try to possess Hawke too if she had the chance. Chrysalis just gives a toothy grin.

“So were you,” she reminds me, not looking dissuaded in the least. She turns to Mist eagerly. “So, little Mist...is Hawke there now? I do remember sensing someone's presence while I was there.”

“Yes. Or at least he should be. He never leaves unless explicitly ordered by King Sombra himself,” Mist replies. Well shit. We've just been presented with the biggest threat apart from Sombra himself. And apparently he's building one epic weapon capable of devastating armies.

“I see. Then the solution is plain to see. We must divert our forces to crush this base and deal with Hawke before attacking the Crystal Empire,” Celestia decides. She looks about as grim as I feel right now. “Queen Chrysalis and the changelings are an obvious choice, as they can get through the blizzard with ease.”

“Don't forget my airships. They're so well insulated that a smaller force can easily get through, if they all huddle near the engines,” Zythe reminds her. Celestia nods understandingly. “But I doubt the big bad's just gonna sit around in the capital while we crush his second in command.”

“That is true, I suppose. Sister, do you have any ideas?” Celestia says, turning to Luna. Luna ponders for several moments. She soon perks up, and looks over to Chrysalis.

“Chrysalis, couldst thou taketh thy forces into the blizzard and hit the undead in a head on assault?” Luna questions. I sigh, knowing that Chrysalis is going to object to something that's so blatantly dangerous.

“I see...you and I appear to think alike,” Chrysalis agrees pensively, much to my surprise. Wait, they do what? “You know as well as I do that we are the only ones that can attack that base in bulk. So, if I use my changelings as a diversion, you can send a smaller force in on the airships and tackle the complex directly.”

“Precisely. That weapon Mist spoke of must be eliminated. However, if Hawke is indeed there, he will need to be dealt with. It will take one of our strongest magic users to do so,” Luna agrees, showing me once more that she and Chrysalis are incredibly smart when collaborating together. Luna turns to her sister, who nods.

“Very well. I shall travel aboard the airships and confront Hawke directly, while a smaller force disables the weapon,” Celestia determines. Oh shit, if Celestia goes herself, Hawke is screwed. However...this doesn't sit right with me. “The rest of you will...”

“Celestia,” I interrupt suddenly. Celestia closes her mouth and regards me curiously, even as some of the others raise a brow at my rudeness. “I don't like this plan.”

“Oh, and I suppose you have a better idea? Considering you nearly got yourself killed fighting this pitiful thing, pardon me if I don't have much faith in your tactical ability!” Chrysalis snaps, irritated. It's partly her plan too, so I guess saying that offended her. As for how she knows about Mist, Pterax was there, so that's probably why.

“Seth, what are you saying?” Celestia asks me calmly, lifting a hoof to stave off Chrysalis's anger for now. 

“Let me go in the airships,” I tell her. I don't know if this is the smart thing to do or not, but I have to do this. “Let me take care of Hawke myself.”

The looks of shock and scorn pass across the assorted leaders' faces. Celestia starts looking at me oddly, no doubt trying to figure out my motives for such a gutsy move. “Seth,” she says softly. “You remember that Hawke is one of our most dangerous enemies? He is likely stronger and more skilled than you. It would be safer if I were to take care of him.”

Before answering, I walk forward and stand in front of Celestia's hologram so that I can look directly into her eyes.“I know that. Trust me, I really do. But this is something I have to do,” I tell her firmly. “He's human, just like me. He and I are the only humans left in the world. He's my responsibility.”

Celestia's eyes soften when she realizes what I'm trying to tell her. “I believe I understand,” she responds softly.

“Believe me, if he were just any other pony, I'd let you take care of him, no problem.” I try to justify my feelings to her, but even despite all this, part of my knows this is crazy. There's a chance that Hawke will manage to defeat me...but I just can't stomach the idea of Celestia crushing him before I have a chance to talk to him again. “Please, Celestia. I need to do this.”

“Are you sure you can defeat him, Seth?” Celestia asks me, her eyes filled with concern for me. I close my eyes and sigh, remembering something Celestia said to me a while back, at that cliff in Trotsdale.

“It doesn't matter whether or not I think I can defeat him,” I begin, clenching one hand into a fist. Celestia's eyes widen almost imperceptibly when she realizes what I'm trying to say. “I only know that I must defeat him, for the sake of the human race.”

Celestia looks surprised that I echoed her own words back to her for several seconds. Finally, she gives me a genuinely happy smile. “You've come so far, Seth,” she says to me sincerely. I flush a little, not really sure how to deal with praise like that. Celestia then looks back to the rest of the leaders, who have been watching with interest. “Very well. Seth will lead his team aboard the airships and deal with Hawke and his weapon. The rest of us will solidify our positions and defend against possible counterattacks from the capital. Is this acceptable to the rest of you?”

“I hope thou knows what thou dost,” Luna warns me, her voice filled with veiled concern as well. “This Hawke is no pushover.”

“You're going to get yourself killed,” Chrysalis grunts, though I can't help but notice that she looks a little impressed. Zythe and Salamul do as well.

“You've got guts, monkey. I can't wait to see whether or not you end up in a pool of your own blood,” Zythe expresses to me, shrugging his feathery shoulders. “But I'll get you there, for better or worse.”

“Then that is that. Now, there are a few last details to cover, and then we can adjourn this meeting in preparation for the battles to come,” Celestia decides. I step away from her, back towards Iron and Mist. Celestia turns to Zythe, and the discussion of the finer details begins.

While they talk, I zone out a bit, and start thinking to myself. Soon, I'll be facing Hawke again...and this time it's of my own choosing, and I have the power to stand up to him.

We are the last humans. I have to be the one that takes care of him, once and for all.


	
> 123. I'll Face Myself
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 It's going to take several days for Zythe and his other airships to get here to Everwinter, so we can't yet begin our assault on Hawke's geothermal plant. Now that the plan's been determined, there's nothing left for me to do except get ready for the upcoming confrontation. In the meantime, Chrysalis and her entire changeling horde has already left. According to her, she's going to use this time to position her troops outside of the blizzard in preparation for our assault.

Before she left, I managed to convince Chrysalis to heal Rainbow's wing. Yeah...and it wasn't exactly easy. Chrysalis despises Rainbow, and it's obvious that helping her is the last thing she wants to do. However, she did it in the end, because I'm sure she knows that this war is too important for grudges. Or at least I hope she does.

The waiting has started to really get to me. There's absolutely nothing I can do to make it go by faster. I've tried helping with the defenses, staying on lookout duty, or even just plain sleeping, but I can never focus on anything. My thoughts always turn to what lays on the horizon, and it always makes me restless.

Eventually, I find solace in training. Dedicated to making myself stronger and bolstering my magical core as much as I can, I push myself harder than ever before. I spend countless hours doing that, hardly paying attention to anything else going on around me. Sometimes my team comes to join me, but they always end up leaving before I do. More often than not, I only stop training when I'm too tired to continue.

Finally, on the second day of this routine, Rainbow comes to find me. In spite of the setting sun and the sounds of the soldiers moving to rest, I'm still in the clearing we've chosen to train in. The snow in this area is entirely melted, leaving the hard ground covered in a fine layer of moisture instead.

“Hey, the rest of us are making food. C'mon in!” Rainbow offers, walking up behind me. She winces as my fist collides with a training dummy, obliterating it with a cacophonous crash. I curse and look at the wreckage ruefully. I hadn't meant to hit it that hard. “Hey, Equestria to Seth?”

“Nah, don't worry about me. Go ahead and eat. I'll be back in later,” I tell her impatiently, anxious to get back to my training. I hear a frustrated huff behind me. I'm forced to lower my magical aura to accommodate her as she trots up next to me. “That's the opposite of leaving, Rainbow.”

“That's because I didn't come out here just to leave, dummy,” Rainbow retorts, stubbornly planting her ass on the ground next to me. “You need to take a break. You've been out here hitting things for hours.”

“I can't take a break. The battle is coming soon, and I need to be ready,” I snap back, not in the mood to have an argument like this. Even the slightest bit of magical power could influence the outcome of the upcoming battle with Hawke. “I can't just wait around.”

“Look, you are ready. A few hours of training isn't going to make a difference when you're this strong already,” Rainbow points out obstinately. “Besides, if you push yourself too hard, you're gonna be sore when it's time to move out, and then that Hawke guy will easily mop the floor with you.”

“But...”

“Trust me, I'm an athlete, and there's nothing worse than the soreness you get after a workout,” Rainbow cuts across my protest before it's even left my mouth.

“I'll be fine,” I grunt stubbornly, turning back away from her in the attempt to get back to training.

Rainbow is quiet behind me, and for a moment I start to think that she left. Eventually, she sighs. “Well, there goes my chance at convincing you with logic,” Rainbow says with a shrug. I don't really pay attention to her until I feel her hooves on my shoulders. With one quick jerk, she spins me around and clasps around my neck before I can react. As I'm opening my mouth to express my annoyance, Rainbow kisses me.

It's been a long time since the last time she kissed me, so it takes me completely by surprise and causes any and all rational thought to promptly cease. Despite the frigid air, my cheeks start to feel warm, and soon I start kissing her back, my magical aura dissipating and my arms wrapping around her back.

It's over too quick, and Rainbow pulls her head back to look at me smugly, a little blush of her own on her face. “So how about now? Want to go inside now?” Rainbow asks.

“You know...kissing me isn't exactly a feasible argument,” I feel the need to point out to her. Still, just feeling a little affection has me thinking more clearly...which helps me realize that I really do hurt from training so hard. How I ignored it up until now is beyond me.

“Yeah, but is it working?” Rainbow retorts hopefully, her hind legs gently dangling in the air. I give her a scrutinizing stare.

“Of course not...okay, I'm lying. It's working a little,” I admit, much to her happiness. But I don't want to give in so easily, so feel like being a little difficult. “But I might need a little more persuasion.”

“Sure...if you come back inside with the rest of us,” Rainbow replies, nuzzling my face with her own. I chuckle and roll my eyes. I might as well. I can't say no when she's being so fucking cute.

“Alright, fine. Let's go then, I guess,” I relent. Rainbow grins and lets go of my neck, choosing to celebrate by flying in a circle around me. “Alright, don't gloat.”

“What can I say? I am a master at the art of kiss-uasion!” Rainbow jokes as we start walking back towards the house. I slowly turn my head towards her with a deadpan stare.

“That was awful.”

“Eh, bite me.”

Shaking my head and chuckling, I walk with her back to the others. It was a good thing that she stopped me, because I was indeed sore the next morning, and the airships arrived not long after that.





The group of armored airships glide purposefully through the cold wintry air. At the head of the formation is Zythe's personal airship, which is distinguishable by the royal golden accents decorating the dark armored plates along the hull. It is this airship that my team and I are aboard. The mission has begun, and it won't be long before we reach the blizzard.

I stand on the forecastle of the ship with Rainbow and Applejack, the three of us standing together in silence. My eyes are set straight ahead into the distance, where I can see the whirling white blur of the blizzard. I may be on the deck now, but by the time we reach that unnatural storm, standing up here will be tantamount to suicide.

“Hey, Seth?” Applejack addresses me, her voice breaking the long silence that's been stretched across the deck. When she sees that she has my attention, she continues. “You thought about how you gonna handle this any?”

“All the time. But I'm not any closer to having an answer for you,” I tell her honestly. She's referring to our discussion on Hawke the other day. Even though I fought to have the chance to confront Hawke myself, I still don't know what I'm going to do. “I don't know anything about him, except that he's human, like me.”

“And that he's a bad guy,” Rainbow chimes in helpfully. “I mean, to build a weapon like the one we're going to smash? That has 'bad guy' written all over it.”

“I know. Either way, when everything's all said and done, I know what I have to do. I have to stop him,” I reply softly. I take a deep breath. “Heh. You all probably think I'm crazy. I mean, going on this mission myself instead of Celestia? How dumb is that?”

“It ain't dumb. Even a blind mule could see that this ain't no ordinary villain we're dealin' with,” Applejack assures me, placing a hoof on my leg. “He's yer kind, and that makes this yer fight. We're all gonna support you on this.”

“That's right, commander.” To my surprise, Swift steps up to join us as well, having overheard the conversation herself. “I'll do whatever it takes to see you to that human. I know you won't steer us wrong.”

“Well...Trixie doesn't exactly know you as well as the others...but she knows what it's like to have someone that she has to measure up to.” Trixie makes her presence known as well, walking up beside Swift and Applejack.

“We know how important this is to you,” Rainbow adds, nudging me slightly. “After coming this far with you, we're gonna do all we can to see you succeed.”

“Jesus...you know how weird this is?” I say after a pause, giving out another little chuckle. “Knowing that individuals like you exist makes me really realize what a dumb fuck I was before meeting you.”

“Oh don't worry, you're still a dummy. Just now, you're our dummy,” Rainbow jokes affectionately, rubbing up against my side. My right eye twitches and I give her a mock glare. I'm just about to give her snappy retort when Zythe's voice rings loud and clear from the stern.

“Everyone below deck, on the double! That blizzard's coming up fast, and unless you want to be an icicle, get moving!” Zythe lands on the main deck himself, opening the door that leads down into the ship and ushering every griffon that's nearby. Besides us, the other members of the assault force are griffons. “Pterax! Get your tail up to the wheel and keep this baby on course! Don't mess it up, you hear?”

“Sure, whatever,” Pterax remarks, emerging from below decks himself. He flies up to the ship's wheel and transforms into a polar bear, with his paws resting on the handles. Due to their ability to keep warm in the blizzard, changelings are being used at the helms of each of the other airships. “I'll be up here...in the snow.”

The wind howls nearby, growing louder with the increasing proximity of the raging blizzard. Taking that as the cue to get moving, the five of us join the throng of griffons heading below deck.

As we're moving through the cramped inner corridors of the airship, I notice a certain pony staring at me shyly from one of the outlying rooms. “The rest of you go on ahead. I'll meet you down by the engines,” I say to the rest of my team, and then I break off to confront the pony I just mentioned. “So you look like you want to say something to me.”

“Oh...I...yes,” Mist responds, a little startled by my sudden approach. For this battle, Iron chose to send her with the airships to make use of her considerable magic power. Due to that, the ring on her horn is gone now, as are the shackles. The others didn't trust her as much, but I know she won't betray us. “It's just...are you going to kill Hawke?”

“I don't know. If I have to, I guess,” I answer, raising a brow at that question. “Why? What does it matter to you?”

Mist shuffles her hooves, lowering her gaze. “Hawke never leaves this plant...and only takes orders from King Sombra himself. But whenever I visited on business...he was always kind to me,” she reveals. Now that confuses me. Hawke didn't seem like the kind type at all on the battlefield. There, he fought without care for the crystal ponies that may have been in his way. “I was a slave...so weak compared to him...but he never treated me like the others did. So I guess what I'm trying to say is...I don't want him to die.”

I look back at Mist for a long time, uncertain how to even respond to that. Eventually, I nod my head. “I'll do what I can then...but don't expect anything. I don't think he's going to back down,” I promise her. Mist nods, sniffling a bit. “Anyway, come down to the engines where it's warmer. It's about to drop to forty below out there.”

With that, the rest of the crew and me take shelter by the engines, just as the airship moves into the blizzard. We can tell, because the sound of the wind and snow beating against the hull can be heard even through the hull. The temperature drops noticeably, but we manage to avoid freezing thanks to everyone huddling together and getting warm from the heat of the engines.

“It won't be long now. Everyone get suited up for battle,” Zythe orders, walking among the huddled griffons and ponies. He comes to a stop in front of me, his eyes hardened in preparation for the battle to come. He produces a communications crystal from his armor and presents it to me. “Power this baby up for me, monkey.”

“What for?” I ask, a little annoyed by his repetition of that offensive nickname. We shouldn't need communications crystals now anyway. We've already discussed the plan, right?

“The bug queen has to know when to move sometime, dullbrain. Now hurry and fire it up,” Zythe reminds me, clicking his beak impatiently. He holds out the orb to me once more. “It's time to start the attack.”





At long last, the flagship of the griffon fleet emerges from the veil of snow, parting the falling white curtain like water. Immediately, my team and I head out from below deck and head to the forecastle of the ship. Following us are the scores of griffons that have been hiding below with us, as well as Mist. Zythe flies up to the wheel and callously shoves Pterax out of the way, taking his rightful position at the helm.

“Griffons! Prepare to take flight!” Zythe roars from the stern, spreading his wings wide. A cheer rises from the ranks of the griffons. The sound of metal grinding against metal fills the air as the gunports on the hull of the ship open up, and the black barrels of lethal cannons emerge. “Roll out the cannons! We're taking the fight to the enemy!”

Standing on the prow of the ship, I look forward at the horizon. A wide open valley presents itself before us, an untouched carpet of snow stretching out all the way towards the still smoking dormant volcano, where Hawke's facility is nestled up against its side.

Chrysalis and the changelings are already embroiled in a massive conflict with the undead hordes. Even from here, the battle is clearly visible. Explosions of emerald magic dot the air like deadly fireworks as the changelings give it everything they've got. With Chrysalis at their head, they press the attack in an attempt hold the enemy's attention for as long as possible.

The Oppressed charge against their lines, tanking everything magical sent at them, which forces the changelings on the ground to transform into other forms to contend with them on a physical basis. Chrysalis herself is dominating the field, her magic spiraling up around her like a tornado as she tears apart any undead that even look at her funny. Not even the Oppressed can stand up to her exceptional physical strength.

It isn't long before our encroaching fleet is noticed by the enemy. Undead fliers reveal themselves from the nooks and crevices of the geothermal plant, taking off in a swarm of black dots and heading directly for us.

“Fire the forward cannons!” Zythe orders as he takes to the air. At the front of each airship are two smaller guns in the style of swivel cannons, the type that you'd see on old 18th century ships. They are quickly manned by separate griffons and oriented upon the approaching undead. The air soon fills with the booming sound of firing cannons as the swivel guns unload into the undead, shredding anything unlucky enough to be hit. Zythe grins at the carnage and looks back at the other griffons.“First division, flock to me and prepare to intercept! I'm ready to shed some blood!”

I continue to stand on the front of the ship with my team, waiting for the moment when it's safe enough to disembark with my team. Judging from the undead on the edges of the complex, there's some Oppressed there waiting for us. I don't want to go down there without backup.

I wince and watch as Zythe's forces intercept the flying undead in a cacophony of screeching and roaring. The griffons rend through the enemy's flesh with metal claws attached to the end of their talons and their beaks, proving their prowess in battle. Everything seems to be going well, but I'm starting to worry. Hawke is here, right? If his home is under attack, why the hell isn't he out there defending it?

My eyes shoot open with shock as the giant barrel of the electrical cannon on the top of the plant slowly starts to turn. In panic, I turn over to Mist, who is standing with us. “Wait, fuck! I thought you said that thing was incomplete!” I demand frantically.

“It is! It doesn't have anywhere near the amount of power Hawke said it should...but that doesn't mean it's inactive!” Mist yells back over the sound of the roaring cannons. Shit shit...that weapon is orienting on us...whoever's controlling it knows we're coming.

“Commander, we've got to move! If we're targeted, we'll be completely destroyed!” Swift screams, standing there and panicking.

“Trixie can't believe she's saying this, but can you carry her again? And the rest of us?” Trixie suggests hastily.

“Yes...but...!” I start to say, but then the sound of something clicking into place echoes through the valley. The cannon is pointed directly at our fleet...and I doubt that humming I'm hearing is coming from our engines. “Oh shit, it's firing!”

The weapon hums louder and starts to glow from the base. Lines of lights along the rims of the barrel start to light up red, green and yellow, eventually reaching up to the mouth. The mouth starts to glow a bright white light...seconds before it fires.

All of a sudden, our vision turns completely white as the cannon fires, but it only lasts for a split second. The next thing we all hear is a menacing fizzing zap, and then what looks like a massive lightning bolt streaks from the mouth of the weapon and strikes the bow of the airship that's flying right beside ours.

My mouth drops as the lightning cuts right through the armor of the ship and blasts it to pieces, causing the engine to explode violently and hurl debris in every direction. Even that's not enough; the lightning streaks right through the wreckage and destroys the airship behind that as well, before finally dissipating.

“What in tarnation!?” Applejack cries out.

“Aaah, what's going on!?” Rainbow screams.

“Trixie didn't sign on for this!”

“Jesus fuck!” I shout with my hands clapped to my ears. All of us throw ourselves to the deck as debris rains down on our ship, consisting of shards of metal and burning wood. When I feel like it's safe enough to move, I turn to Mist. “How fast can that thing reload?”

“I'm not sure...Hawke said it depended on how much energy he had stored up!” Mist answers.

“Come on, give me an estimate!”

“Anywhere from one to ten minutes if there's a decent stockpile of electricity!” Mist throws out, causing me to panic further. “If we're going to fly away, we'll have to do it now!”

“One minute!? That's total bullshit. Alright, Swift, we're going with your plan. Trixie, Swift, come here, right now!” I order them. I can carry two at the most, Rainbow can carry one, and I'm not sure about Pterax. As Trixie and Swift nod and approach me, I turn to Pterax. “How many can you carry?”

Pterax shifts into his dragon form, with a decent amount of space on his back. “Two, at the most. Mist, if you're coming, get on my back!” Pterax roars. Mist nods and clambers up on Pterax's back.

“Wait, where are you going!” Before I can give another order, a griffon comes out of the airship. “Wait, you're leaving? But if that cannon fires again, we'll be defenseless!”

“The sooner we get to it, to sooner we take it down!” I shout back at him. I hook my arms under Swift and Trixie, getting ready to move.

“But there's at least fifty griffons below deck, keeping the ship running!” the griffon insists. The stress starts to build up at me, and I hesitate, even though I know I have to make a decision now. “Please!”

“Seth, that cannon is getting ready to fire again!” Rainbow cries out, jabbing her hoof down towards the colossal weapon, which is already starting to hum. I stand there agonizing over what to do, until finally the cannon lights up the sky with a piercing white again, and this time the bolt of destructive lightning is heading directly towards us. “Seth! We need to...!”

“Fuck!” I yell out. There's nothing else I can do. I toss Trixie and Swift aside and dash towards the front of the airship, leaping over the gunwale and sprinting up the prow. I hear the sounds of the ponies and griffons yelling at me with panic and worry, but I ignore them. At this point, there's only one thing I can do if I want to save both ourselves and the helpless griffons below deck.

I power myself up as high as I can and shoot my left hand forward in front of my face, catching the bolt of lightning directly on my palm. My eyes widen and water with pain as my hand goes numb and I'm nearly knocked right off of my feet. I focus every drop of magic that I can put out at once into that one hand and dig my feet into the deck, splintering the wood beneath me. My hand is still there, holding back the massive beam with everything that I have.

“Aaaaah...hyah!” With a final yell, I jerk my hand over to the left, completely redirecting the lightning bolt up and overhead, leaving the ship safe, as well as the rest of our fleet. The beam surges through the air and impacts a mountain top far away from the battle. A massive explosion ensues, forming a mushroom debris cloud that rises high in the air. The mountain is so destabilized by the blast that an avalanche of snow and rock cascades down the mountainside, making me so glad that it's nowhere near the fight.

When I turn around, everyone on deck is staring at me in dumbfounded awe. Even Mist, the one who told us all about the weapon, is taken completely by surprise by my completely last second maneuver that should by all rights have killed me. I look down at my hand, which is singed and burnt, but I can move it just fine. I rest my hands on my knees, panting.“Oh my god...I can't fucking believe that worked.”

“You utter imbecile!” Swift screeches at me, looking as if she wants to smack me silly right now. Rainbow looks similar, except I can see a lot of relief in her expression. The griffon that had been yelling at me has promptly passed out on the deck, no doubt thinking he was going to die. “What if you had died there!? What is Equestria going to do without you!?”

“Okay, fine, whatever. Yell at me later. But if that thing has enough juice for another shot, I'm not waiting around to let it charge up,” I cut across her grimly, looking down at the cannon. “Pterax, Rainbow, behind me. We're going in ahead.”

“What about the rest of us?” Applejack demands, nodding her head in acceptance of this plan.

“Tell the griffon at the wheel to bring the ship down as soon as possible. Then, join us the second your hooves touch the ground, got it?” I order. At this point, sheer adrenaline is keeping my mind running. Applejack nods in assent. Trixie does as well, followed by Swift, despite the latter's anger at my stupidity. Honestly, I should be dead right now. I am so goddamn lucky. “Now, let's go!”

Without another word, I run back up the splintered prow of the ship and leap off of the top in a swan dive, using magic to orient myself directly on the cannon. The weapon is starting to hum again, letting me know that I have only seconds left before that fucker fires again. But at this speed...I'm not gonna make it. I'm even feeling the sound barrier tugging on my body, but there's no way I'm going to be able to break it.

“I gotcha! Let's do this!” Rainbow declares, grabbing onto my back and accelerating as fast as she can. Together, we combine our power and push as hard as we can against the sound barrier...until finally, I feel it give way before us. A sound like thunder erupts from around us, and my vision is filled with all colors of the rainbow tearing through the air around us. “Yeah, Sonic Rainboom! Here we come, you overgrown tin can!”

There's no way I can destroy a metal construct that large. But I can stop it from firing again. With the help of Rainbow's speed, I power up and reach the cannon just before it fires. I turn my body in midair and slam both feet on the barrel of the weapon. The sheer force behind a mass as large as me moving at the speed of sound causes the thick metal to crumple and dent inwards, blocking off the mouth of the cannon. It's a good thing I have magic, or my body would be jelly right now.

“Move!” I cry out to Rainbow, wrapping my arms around her and bearing her to the ground, just as the cannon tears itself apart violently from the feedback of its own electrical surge. I wince as the flame from the explosion passes over my back, singing my jacket and my hair. I refuse to move though. There's no way I'm going to let any of that heat touch my Rainbow. Not for the first time, I praise my magic for keeping the skin off of my back from being roasted.

The moment the dust clears, I hear the growling of the undead as they start to close in to investigate the destruction of their weapon. When they catch sight of us, they roar and charge towards us. I leap off of Rainbow and draw my sword, noticing that some of them are Oppressed. Rainbow gets up as well, panting and wiping the sweat from her brow. She notices the undead approaching and hunches down, scuffing at the ground threateningly.

Together, we charge into the enemy, hacking and punching them to pieces, fighting our way through them. Near the wreckage of the weapon we just destroyed is what looks an entrance into the complex. That's where I need to go, but I can't go anywhere with all of these undead everywhere.

Suddenly, Applejack and Swift are there, landing in the midst of the enemy and carving a circle of destruction around them with a combination of vicious punches and lance thrusts. Flying just above us is the flagship of the griffon fleet. The griffon behind the helm has taken the flagship extremely low, below safe levels, the engines blowing away the snow behind it. Trixie joins the two of them as well, followed by Pterax and Mist, who had been left behind by our sonic boom.

“We're all here! What's next, Seth?” Applejack demands, flooring an Oppressed that got too close. She ducks another undead's bite and proceeds to fend off three others that target her. She ends up back to back with Swift, helping to defend Trixie from the magically immune Oppressed.

“I've got to get inside...but there's too many undead out here. I can't get past them...” I grunt, embroiled in combat. I slice apart a minotaur easily and then bash the hilt on top of an Oppressed's head, smashing it in.

Before anypony can answer, a volley of cannon fire smashes into the undead lines, coming from the low flying flagship above us. It's so loud it hurts my ears, but it demolishes any undead between the door and me. I look up in surprise, and then the griffon who had been at the helm pokes his head over the gunwale.

“This is your show from here on out, human!” the griffon shouts down to me. “Leave the undead out here to us and the viceroy. Get inside and take out their commander!”

“What? Just leave you all here? Are you sure?” I ask, not liking the idea of leaving my team behind to fight the undead without me. Swift and Applejack close in front of me, easily holding back the Oppressed and leaving my path clear. Their training is clearly paying off, because neither of them have taken any injuries yet.

“Remember what we talked about up on the ship?” Applejack reminds me, her teeth gritted as she tangles with a vicious minotaur. “This is what we've come to do. From here, it's up to you.”

“The sooner you take him down, the sooner these undead will stop functioning!” Swift reminds me. Her lance is doing a marvelous job at ripping into the undead. “Go, we'll hold them all off!”

“Please, a bunch of weak undead, taking us down? Go, Seth. Get inside, and show that guy what for!” Rainbow urges me, wearing a reassuring grin. “Just make sure you come back. I won't forgive you if you don't.”

“I was lying before. This is what I signed up for. If holding here will bring us a step closer to bringing this war to an end...” Trixie expresses to me as well, dropping the third person mannerisms. She slams the ground and sends out a cyan blue shockwave of magic, demolishing any undead nearby that aren't Oppressed. “Then I'll hold here as long as I need to.”

“This is nothing to me,” Mist growls, her eyes narrowing. Her snowy white aura erupts around her for the first time since her defeat. She lifts up shards of debris with her magic and hurls them into the nearest group of Oppressed, impaling them and pinning them to the ground. “This is my chance to show King Sombra that I will not give in again!”

“I'm here. Quit standing around and kick their leader's tail,” Pterax adds as well, sweeping his spiked dragon's tail around the field, knocking nearby undead off of their feet.

“You guys...” I say, unable to think of anything else. They're right. I can't stand around and waste time out here. The longer I wait, the more of our forces that could get hurt. I nod. “Alright. I'm going in. Be here when I get back, or I swear to god I'll kick your asses.”

Without another word, I turn my back and enter the facility, blasting the locked doors off of their hinges with minimal effort. My magic is near full, despite my exertion earlier. To keep from wasting any more, I power myself down and walk normally through the empty halls.

There's no sign of any undead inside. It's just eerily quiet, the silence only broken by the increasingly faint sounds of battle outside. Instead, as I descend deeper into the depths of the plant, another sound starts to become prevalent. It's the sound of magma running beneath my feet, complete with the sound of the liquid bubbling up and popping. Yes, I can't see it, but I know I'm getting deeper into the volcano with every step.

The path is mostly straightforward. It looks like it was built to be as simple to understand as possible, complete with several maps pinned to the metallic walls and signs labeling each branching corridor. However, it's clear that whoever made this knew exactly what he was doing. It doesn't look like it was rushed at all, as if the designer had all the time he needed to make everything perfect.

Using the maps and signs to my advantage, I head directly towards the center of the complex, where there's apparently a larger room further up the mountain. Where I am right now, there are several rooms that are housing massive electrical machines and structures. No doubt there’s superheated water running through those pipes that are being fed into one large construct,  no doubt meant for refining the steam into electricity.

Once I'm at the very lowest portion of the complex, I walk into a wide open room holding hundreds of pipes, each one color coded and coiling around one another. Other large mechanical structures are in the room, from which the pipes feed in and out of. Looking down, I notice that the floor is made of thick glass...and there's nothing below us except for a long drop into a pool of magma at the bottom.

I shudder involuntarily. I've never seen magma before in my life. I mean, there were no volcanoes near where I lived back in my time, so why would I? The sight of the magma flowing slowly and bubbling far below me is an entrancing and deadly one.

Once I've moved through this room, the path starts to lead me back upwards again, through several sets of stairs. With the map as my guide, it isn't long before I find myself at the center of the complex.

There's a set of double doors, but they seem to have a lot of security. I see not only a fingerprint sensor, but also what looks like a retina scanner and a code lock. No doubt this is where Hawke is hiding. I'm just about to power up and knock the door down, but then I notice that the doors are open slightly.

That can only mean one thing. Hawke knows we're coming. If anything, this is an invitation to come and find him.

I push open the doors and step inside. I find myself in what looks to be a large observation area. There are rows of computer terminals on either side of the room, each one looking to be fully operational and well maintained. On the far side of the room is Hawke.

Hawke is standing with his back to me, his hands clasped behind his back. He looks much the same as I remember him, even down to the dark military coat that he's wearing. Beside him, leaning against the wall, is my rifle and Vanta's scythe. Even though I'm certain he knows I'm here now, he doesn't turn, continuing to stare out the line of windows towards where the battle is raging fiercely between the changelings and the undead.

“So...you have come,” Hawke finally emits, his accented voice evoking unpleasant memories of the Crystal Empire. Even now, my body feels like it's aching in the places where he'd injured me. Hawke turns his head to look over his shoulder at me, nothing but firm resolve in his dark eyes. “I knew you would not be able to resist coming for me yourself, Seth Rogers.”

“Hawke,” I respond in a calm voice. Now that I'm here, my trepidation and dread seems like it's slipping away. I know what I have to do. My choice is set, and there's no running away now that I've come this far. “I bet you're getting a kick out of being called 'governor general,' huh?”

“If the king wishes to refer to me as such, I will not refute him,” Hawke replies. He swiftly turns around and faces me fully, the hate evident in his expression. “In the end, it does not matter what I am called. I am here for one singular purpose: exterminating you, the last of the human race.”

“So you've said. But I still don't understand why you find that necessary. You were too busy beating in my face to explain,” I return wryly. Hawke shakes his head, his expression cold and constantly unchanging.

“You do not need to understand,” he asserts, frustrating me. He lifts his hands into a combat stance, his arms held out before him with his wrists crossed over one another. His fingers spread out into claw-like shapes. “A question, before we begin. For what reason do you fight? Is it a vain attempt to redeem yourself for your last defeat? Or perhaps vengeance, for the race you cared nothing for?”

“You know, for being so damn smart, you're just so fucking stupid,” I snap back at him, causing him to blink. I get into a defensive stance myself, knowing full well that this is likely to be the most difficult fight I've ever been in. “Why would I risk my life for something so petty?”

“Petty? You believe that getting revenge for the human race is petty?” Hawke repeats, raising a brow at my words.

“What would revenge accomplish? They're long gone, and nothing is going to bring them back. No, I chose to live for them...to remember them as best as I can,” I tell him fervently, even though I know he likely won't understand. “No, I'm here to fight for my friends, the ones who have saved my life, in more ways than one. If I can pay them back by risking my life, I'll gladly do it.”

Hawke scoffs, looking disgusted at that explanation. “Friends? You mean these ponies?” he repeats incredulously. I don’t respond, but I don’t really need to. Hawke scoffs. “Ridiculous. They are but animals. They have not the propensity to exhibit deeper emotion. If that is your reason, I am disappointed.”

“Now that is what’s ridiculous. They are ponies. They are as much animals as we are.” I correct him, narrowing my eyes. Hawke doesn’t appear convinced in the slightest.

“I see...so rather than waiting for the end like the tool that you were, you chose to play around with these creatures,” Hawke surmised. “Did you enjoy your little farce?”

“Yes, I've enjoyed myself, but it was no farce. I've lived more in Equestria than I ever have in our time, and it's all thanks to them,” I assert. Hawke appears to finally lose his patience at my response.

“I tire of this meaningless conversation. You disgust me,” Hawke spits, his jaw tightening. I see his body moving ever so slightly, and I realize that it's about to begin. “It's time I finished what I started, three thousand years ago!”

“And it's time I brought this vendetta of yours to an end!” I grunt, clenching my fists. At the same time, Hawke and I both power up, causing the whole building to start shaking. Hawke's black shadowy aura erupts from around his feet, sparking with green electricity. His eyes turn green and trail purple, reminding me all too well of what I used to look like. My emerald aura flares up from around me as well, standing in stark contrast to Hawke's.

Hawke and I both plant our feet onto the metallic floor and dash forward at the same time, our magic propelling us forward at an incredible speed. I swing my right fist forward, my hand wreathed in emerald magic. My fist collides with his left fist, the impact halting us entirely. The collision of our magics causes air to flow outwards at high speeds, blowing our hair backwards.

A star of white light forms at the point where our magical auras meet, slowly growing until finally, the entire ceiling of the room is completely blown away in a massive black and emerald explosion. Through the dust and debris, I see a cloud of black smoke zooming through the air, barely visible. Locking eyes on it, I take to the air and surge upwards, turning my body just in time to meet Hawke as he materializes just in front of me.

I swing my fist forward towards him, only to be blocked by his arm and counterattacked with his free hand. Blocking that is easy; I catch it on my free arm and attempt to retaliate with a swift thrust of my knee, but he's too clever to fall for that. He backs away and turns to smoke again, flying upwards in the air.

He's not going to get away. I fly up after him, spiraling around until I can fly at him head on. Hawke does the same thing, reforming just as I reach him. The two of us lash out at one another, though neither of our attacks get past the other's guard. Again and again, Hawke and I spiral upwards, flying high above the battlefield and clashing with one another viciously.

Finally, Hawke slams his elbow into my jaw, knocking my head back. However, his momentary victory gives me time to kick him in the side. Hawke grunts, but recovers quickly, grabbing my leg and hurling me all the way back down to the observation room.

I grunt and flip in midair, landing on my feet and raising my guard just as Hawke appears in front of me, using that dash ability that I used to use back when I had that magic. Hawke clenches his hands together and brings them both down on me, aiming for my head.

“You're not going to break me so easily this time,” I growl, pushing aside his attack with my left arm and then slamming my fist into his chest, causing Hawke to gasp and cough. Seizing my advantage, I hook an arm around his chest and hurl him into one of the remaining walls, shattering it.

“It does not matter. You will fall,” Hawke asserts, climbing out of the rubble and facing me once more. He lifts his right hand, the tips of his fingers starting to glow. Remembering that attack, I immediately start moving, just as beams of shadowy darkness shoot forth from his fingertips. “Humanity ends today.”

“Like hell it does!” I snap back, dancing in and out of his beams with ease thanks to my enhanced speed. I maneuver across the ground towards him until I'm within his effective range. However, my fist shoots through smoky darkness as Hawke fades away. Immediately, I fend off his follow up attack by whipping my hands behind me just in time to receive a blast of magic. Wincing, I kick him away to give me a little breathing room. “I've had it with your shit about humanity! You're going to tell me what the hell we did to you, right now!”

“I told you once. It appears you didn't understand,” Hawke shoots back, meeting me head on in another charge. We exchange vicious punches and kicks, but neither of us are able to get past the other's guard. The ground shatters and crumples beneath the sheer amount of magical power emanating from each collision of our fists. “Your sin is...”

“...turning my eyes away from the injustices of our world,” I complete for him, remembering what he said back in the Crystal Empire. I sweep Hawke's legs out from under him and then swing my fists downwards while he's on the ground, but he quickly rolls away, such that my fists slam into the ground and form a crater. “But that's bullshit. No one man can be held accountable for the entirety of mankind. What about you? Did you do a damn thing to help humanity? No, you chose to kill them. How dare you talk to me about injustice!?”

Hawke weaves around me arms as I rush forward at him, my fists swinging for his gut and stomach. He grabs one of my arms and yanks me forward, planting his fist into my stomach instead, causing me to choke as the air whooshes out of my lungs. “I brought their suffering to an end. Killing them was a mercy and a necessity,” Hawke argues. He knocks me backwards with a swift uppercut to my jaw, causing my teeth to slice into my lips painfully.

“What suffering? Were you blind? There were good people out there...people that you helped kill!” I spit out blood from my mouth, wincing at the metallic taste. Hawke isn't letting up. It looks as though he's starting to use his magic more now. I suddenly notice a rune of glowing green magic appear beneath my feet. Immediately, I toss myself out of the way, just as Hawke closes his fist and causes the rune to detonate violently with green electricity. Despite my quick maneuver, I feel my side burn painfully.

“You were deluding yourself,” Hawke counters, appearing nearby the moment I dodge and kicking me into the wall. I quickly hop out of the rubble and retaliate by sending several orbs of explosive emerald magic towards him. I soon stop when I see that he is easily able to dodge them by turning to smoke and weaving through them. I cross my arms together and raise my guard as Hawke reforms in front of me and lashes out with a magically empowered fist. “There are no good people. They steal, murder, and lie, pretending to stand for the cause of righteousness, when in the end, all that mattered to them was furthering themselves.”

As Hawke and I exchange a lightning fast flurry of punches and kicks, I can't help but draw similarities to his words and the way I used to think. I too, believed that the majority of mankind was worthless, doing good deeds only when it was convenient for them, and profiting off of the suffering of others.

“King Sombra gave me the power to fight back...and I will always be grateful to him for that,” Hawke continues...and then my fist rams right into his face, knocking him clear across the room towards the only untouched wall left...the one that's built into the mountainside itself.

“Now who's deluding himself? You are nothing but a backup plan for him, just as I was. Don't you see? He turned you against your own race is using you as his own personal weapon!” I remind him, hardly able to believe that he doesn't see that for himself. “He turned you into the very thing you hated!”

“I am well aware. But the difference between you and I is that I chose to become his tool. You see, I was already an enemy to my own race long before he arrived!” Hawke roars, propelling himself off of the wall and towards me. I meet him halfway and roll under his guard, ramming him with my shoulder and reversing his momentum. Hawke grunts and wraps his arms around my middle, flipping in midair and hurling me into the remaining wall, going right through it. The first thing I notice is the sudden increase in temperature, and then the red glowing light coming from far below me. Panicking, I right myself and land on the only stable ground in this new chamber.

Looking around, I find that I'm now in the very crater of the volcano, standing on a singular large platform made of rock. There's a narrow walkway leading back out onto the mountainside on the far end of the platform, and directly below, a score of meters below, is nothing but a roiling pit of bubbling hot magma. Pipes thread in and out of the rock walls, some of them even dipping into the magma.

Hawke flips through the air, landing on the walkway across from me. He turns to face me with that same cold expression, not even slightly out of breath. I'm in good shape too, only a little bit bruised and not in the least tired. No, I'm just getting warmed up. But then again, neither of us are going all out, and we both know that.

“I fought back because I was tired of the constant exploitation and corruption that ran rampant in my home country!” Hawke continues fervently, stepping towards me across the rocky platform. He stops a few meters away, clenching his fists together. “If I couldn't fix it, I would bring it to an end entirely, with their deaths! I will no longer be controlled through lies disguised as happiness!”

Suddenly, I freeze, his words striking a chord within me. That sounds...very familiar. It's almost as if...I have to know. “Hawke...what about the times people would help you? Did you not appreciate it, when you received their kindness?” I ask. His answer will determine whether or not my hypothesis is right.

Hawke’s face contorts with hate at my words. “They would never help me. They never helped her. The only time they saw fit to help me is when they could use it to control me! And I wouldn't have it!”

“I'm so damn sick of you ponies always trying to sucker me in with these favors of yours. I won't have it, you hear me? I WON'T HAVE IT!”

I close my eyes and sigh, nodding my head. I never thought that this would be the case. He doesn't just sound like me. He's me...the me that I would have become without the friends that I've made here. I can’t help but ask myself...if I had lost Amaryllis...would I have gone to Sombra willingly, as he had?


“I see...so you're like me then,” I tell him calmly. Hawke pauses and looks at me in confusion. “No, you are me. Or rather, me as I used to be.”

“What are you talking about?” Hawke demands. I smile, finally seeing a different expression on his face other than hate. However, this leaves only one conclusion in my mind. The talking part of this is over.

“But if you are like me, no amount of words will convince you of the truth,” I say sadly. I reach up towards the edge of my burned jacket and slide it off, tossing it aside. Beneath, all I'm wearing is a sleeveless green shirt to match my eyes. I clench my fists and start to power up, my aura towering even higher than before. “Come on, Hawke. Enough feeling each other out. I'm going to show you what I've learned myself.”

Hawke's eyes narrow, and then he nods. He slides off his white gloves, one by one, and drops them to the rocky ground. Then, he reaches up to the collar of his coat and starts to unbutton it. Once it's fully unbuttoned, he takes off the garment and lets it fall atop his gloves. Beneath, he's wearing similar clothing to me: a sleeveless tight fitting black shirt. His corded muscles clearly stand out, now revealed from the long sleeves of his coat.

“As you wish. I'll bring humanity to an end, here and now,” Hawke growls. He clenches his fists and thrusts his arms by his side, power erupting further from his body. The two of us power up as much as we can, and then we both transform at the same time, the sound of our magic rising in volume until it reaches a low roar.

Hawke's fingers elongate and taper to points, forming vicious claws. A line of a black substance shoots through his right eye, causing flakes of skin to crumble and peel away. As for me, emerald cuneiform runes form in structured lines around my body and flow through my aura. Lastly our hair rises upwards, flowing through the air as if suspended in water. Now, I can feel his magic pressing down on me in the air, and I determine to my surprise that he and I are even in terms of overall magical power.

Hawke thrusts out his hand, and then Vanta's scythe soars through the hole in the wall and lands securely in his palm. Dark magic runs through it, converting the weapon to black crystal, such that it looks exactly like it used to when I used it before. He clasps it with both hands and holds it out before him, green electricity crackling from the blade.

I reach out my hand as well and summon my emerald blade, the weapon coalescing in my palm with a flash of green light. If he's going to fight with a weapon I'm going to do the same. I can't afford to give him any kind of advantage in this fight. I can't look away. I can't get distracted. I can't let my guard down, even for a second, or he'll kill me. And I'm not about to let that happen.

Without another word, Hawke and I charge towards one another a speed that puts our previous fight to shame. Blade meets scythe with a clash of metal on metal. We push against each other's weapons while staring into one another's eyes, sparks showering the ground beneath us from the point where the blades meet.

We both step back at the same time, and then Hawke goes on the offensive, spinning his scythe around expertly and lashing out at me repeatedly with the blade. He's so fast, but I'm equally fast. Remembering my training, I step lightly around, using a small amount of effort to redirect each swipe with the flat of my blade. With a straight blade like this, it's easy to hook it into the blade of a scythe and knock it away.

Hawke grunts and brings the scythe hurtling down from overhead, slamming the blade into the rock. I flip backwards repeatedly, narrowly avoiding the resulting shockwave of dark magic by letting it pass underneath me. The moment I'm on my feet, Hawke hurls the scythe towards me, relentless in his attempts to kill me. He soon retrieves it through magic once I block it, and in the short moment before he attacks again, I'm dashing forward. It's my turn to attack.

Using my increased speed from my newly discovered technique, I run up to him and swing my sword upwards, aiming for his chest. Hawke is just as good, so he blocks my blade and attempts to punch me with a free hand, but I'm not there anymore. With my speed, I'm running circles around him, unleashing a series of furious swipes in an attempt to hit him at least once.

Hawke, to my surprise, reforms the scythe into a katana much like my own technique, and it uses it to fend off my assaults at close range, using his dash technique to keep up with my speed. With a yelp, I move my head out of the way to avoid his counterattack, the blade of the katana swishing right in the spot between my head and shoulder.

My blade clashes with his several times, and once I find an opening, I swing down from overhead. However, I'm suddenly tasting blood again when Hawke forms the scythe again and repels me by slamming the haft into my face.

I distance myself with several flips back, just in time to avoid a curtain of dark magic released by Hawke's fist. The wave passes over my head, and I swear I could feel the tip of my nose burning. The moment I land on my feet again, I grasp the coils of runes in my aura and lash all four of them out at once, snapping them like whips at Hawke.

He's fast, dodging around the whips expertly. Each time one of the whips collides with the ground, it gouges out a cleft in the rocky ground. Hawke snarls and swings his scythe multiple times, sending arcs of slicing magic through the air. One of the arcs cuts through a whip, causing it to dissipate, so I call them back and slice my sword through the arcs, keeping myself safe.

This is crazy. We're so even, neither of us can land a hit on the other. Keeping my distance, I form my sword into the chain dagger and lash it out at him, preventing Hawke from moving towards me any faster. He weaves in and out of the attacks, and eventually lets the chain wrap around the heft of his scythe. He tries to pull me in with it, but I clench my fist and cause the chain to break apart into individual links.

Hawke looks around at the links, but doesn't have any time to find a way out before I make a slashing motion with my arm, and cause all of the links to converge upon him at once and explode. I sigh in relief, thinking that I finally dealt some real damage to the guy. It doesn't last long.

Hawke dashes out of the explosion, burns and cuts on his body. He throws his scythe forward, but it's easy for me to dodge. However, I get suspicious when the scythe circles completely around me, leaving a sparking ring of green electricity behind. With a grunt, Hawke thrusts out a claw, which flashes ominously.

I scream in pain as the ring of electricity constricts around me and burns my skin ruthlessly. With a yell, I repulse the ring with a shockwave of magic and move to counterattack, but Hawke is already here. With his scythe in hand, he whirls it around and jabs repeatedly at me with the blunt end of the weapon. Now, it's my turn to step backwards, dodging each of the jabs with some difficulty. As I do so, I can feel the ground rumbling beneath me. The pipes in the walls are groaning and creaking ominously.

My sword flicks up and blocks one of his jabs, allowing me to slide the blade down the haft of his scythe and get close to him. The tip of my blade flicks up and cuts at Hawke's skin, earning a grunt of pain from him. However, I soon regret it, because his scythe soon reforms into a combat knife and slices into my shoulder, leaving a bloody gash behind.

The two of us distance ourselves from one another, taking a moment to check the damage of our wounds and catch our breath. Now that we're going all out, it's starting to take a toll on us. The both of us are breathing a little harder now. Once again, the ground rumbles ominously beneath us, and I swear I see the orange glow from the magma below get a little brighter.

It doesn't matter. I'm not going anywhere until Hawke's defeated. Hefting my sword, I dash back into the attack, my blade arcing through the air and aiming towards Hawke's vital areas. Hawke reforms his weapon into the katana and meets me head on, our blades clashing repeatedly and showering the area with sparks. Holding my sword with both hands, my blade flickers in once, twice. Each time, Hawke expertly diverts the attacks, and then he counterattacks, his blade flashing past my side, missing only because of a last minute dodge from me.

We swing our swords and clash at the same time, our arms shaking from the vibration of the impact. Again and again we slash at one another. Every few strikes, one of us will find an opening and slice into the other, spattering the shaking ground with our blood. We’re tearing each other to pieces, and it’s not giving either of us an advantage. Pushing against one another, we retreat to the edges of the arena to gain some distance. Using my enhanced speed, I run forward as fast as I can with my sword at the ready, gaining as much momentum as possible. Hawke does the same, forming into smoke and zooming forward at me.

Yelling wordless battle cries, the two of us meet in the center, our swords swinging forward with all of that momentum behind them. As the blades meet, they halt for only a second...and then they shatter completely. Hawke and I look at our now useless weapons, the shards littering the ground around us.

Hawke doesn't even hesitate. He tosses his weapon aside and swings his fist forward, punching me in the chest and shoving me back. He presses the attack, but I block his assault, having tossed away my weapon myself. If blades are rendered useless by our strength, then we'll have to do this the old fashioned way.

I redirect his punch and sidestep within his effective range. Seizing the opportunity, I ram my elbow into his ribs and push him back. I follow up with a vicious hammer punch from my left hand, but Hawke blocks it by whipping up his right arm and catching it just above his elbow. The impact sends out a shockwave that ruptures the ground beneath us...and then the whole platform starts to rumble again.

“You're tough...” Hawke grunts, wiping away the sweat pouring from his brow. I do the same, because it's hotter than hell in here. Now that I look, I can tell that the magma is definitely rising. We're putting out so much power, this place is taking a real beating. Around us, some of the pipes break off from the walls and splash into the magma below.

“Amazing what someone can do when they have something to fight for,” I return, not bothering to thank him for his acknowledgment of my strength. “Unlike you, I don't use this power for myself.”

Hawke growls and leaps upwards, intending to hit me from above. However, I leap up to meet him, and we exchange a flurry of punches...only this time we find openings in one another's guard. My fist slams into Hawke's cheek, and then his rams into mine, snapping my head back. His fist arcs up from underneath and punches me in the ribs, but then my hand locks around his arm and holds him there while I lever my knee into his stomach once, and then twice. Hawke chokes and coughs, but then he headbutts me back to the ground.

I chuckle dryly and wipe a streak of blood away from my nose, panting. He and I are completely and totally even. Every time we manage to get a hit in, the other hits back with equal force. My arms are aching and bruising, but so are his. My face is a mess with blood and sweat, but his is as well.

Hawke dashes down in front of me, but I see him coming, and I thrust my fist upwards into his jaw, knocking him back to the other side of the platform. It isn't long before he and I are charging at one another once again. His left fist streaks forward, but I catch it in my left. I attempt to retaliate with my free hand, but he catches it as well.

The two of us headbutt one another, my eyes glaring into his, and we push against one another's grip in a battle of strength. Behind us, the rising magma flares upwards, spewing in the air around the platform and bathing the whole platform in a sweltering orange light. Magma rains down on the platform around us, but neither of us pay any attention, far too focused on defeating the other.

Hawke kicks me repeatedly before I let go, and then he kicks me one last time to knock me backwards, and I swear I feel my ribs crack. I suck in air painfully, but I'm not willing to give up just yet.

Hawke stands still, rotating his arms in a circular fashion. His hands seem to tear through the air, forming a trail of darkness. That looks bad. Even while he prepares his technique, I start to do something similar, a transparent wall of runes appearing in front of me. Hawke forms a circle with the darkness, and then he places his hands in the center, positioning them such that it looks like he's holding an invisible crystal ball.

The circle suddenly fills in, forming what looks like a portal to endless darkness. With a yell, Hawke jams his hands into the circle. A veritable storm of shadowy projectiles shoot forward in such number that even despite my attempts to weave through them, I'm eventually overwhelmed by them. I cry out in agony as the blasts of magic pound into my body and scorch my skin and clothes.

“It's over, Seth Rogers,” Hawke growls at me, panting. He lets the attack dissipate when I fall to my knees in pain, blood seeping from the burns in my skin.

“Not just yet,” I tell him, snapping my head back up. My hand shoots out and flashes before he can react. Hawke yelps in surprise as several transparent walls of runes form around him in the pattern of an octagon. Countless whips of runes emanate from the walls and coil around his every limb and torso, holding him in place despite his frantic attempts to get free. In the time that he had been setting up his own attack, I set up my own. This never would have hit without that opportunity. “Not until I show you what I've learned.”

I clasp my hands together, a pulsing emerald ball of magic forming in the gap between my palms. A massive sword made of green flame forms in the air high above Hawke, suspended only by my magic. With a grunt, I clap my hands together, snuffing out the ball that was there. Hawke screams in agony himself as the massive blade slams down upon him and explodes violently, taking a whole portion of the platform with it.

When the explosion and debris clears, Hawke is revealed standing on a safe part of the platform, his shirt burned away and his skin just as damaged and burnt as mine. We're both panting hard at this point, knowing that it won't be much longer before neither of us are able to fight anymore.

“Why...why won't you just fall...and let my burden end?!” Hawke growls, stepping towards me inexorably. The platform around us is starting to fall apart, slowly cracking and crumbling away at the edges. The debris falls into the steadily rising magma. One quick glance lets me know that we're almost out of time.

“There is no burden, Hawke. The only burden you feel is the one you have created for yourself,” I tell him fervently. Hawke grows furious, and his aura explodes around him and whirls up into the air in a furious tornado. He seems to be tapping into the last vestiges of his strength.

“What would you know about it? What knowledge do you believe you have that allows you to understand my feelings!?” Hawke demands angrily, dashing towards me. I sidestep his assault and latch onto his arm. Using his own momentum against him, I spin around on one heel and hurl Hawke up into the air far above me.

“I lived it!” I yell with every last bit of feeling, placing my hand on my chest. “I lived the pain you feel! I believed everyone was just as worthless as you did...but in the end, it was just my own pain that I allowed to cloud my vision of the world. I could not escape it, and I allowed myself to live in further pain, just as you have!”

“No...you're....you're wrong. Mankind is worthless, and I was justified in my actions! You cannot convince me otherwise!” Hawke snarls viciously. He powers up all the way to his limit, his aura appearing as a black cloud of shadow around him. I reciprocate his motions, pulling out every last drop of power that I have left and exerting it into my body. My aura becomes as large as Hawke's, lime green magic casting a glow around my feet, even as the platform further falls apart.

“I'm going to kill you, and bring humanity to an end...”

“I'm going to show you the error of your ways...”

I propel myself off of the ground with as much force as I can muster, aiming directly for Hawke. Hawke does the same, aiming directly down towards me. He and I thrust our fists our forward, each of us intending to end the fight in one last, desperate attack.

“SEEEETH!”

“HAAWKE!”

The two of us fly past one another. Agony shoots through my chest as I feel the brunt of his power spread across me...but Hawke has taken even more damage. My fist had hit him directly on his face, and he looked close to unconsciousness.

“Ah...” I cry to myself, holding my aching ribcage. It takes me everything I have not to collapse and fall unconscious...but then I see Hawke falling down towards the roiling magma. If he falls there...he'll die horribly, and the battle will be over. But yet...knowing that he was just another me that didn't get the intervention that I did...I won't let that happen.

Immediately, I'm moving, running as fast I can to reach Hawke before he can fall past the platform. Despite my broken ribs, I throw myself to the ground chest first and manage to grab onto Hawke's wrist just before he falls out of my reach. I almost want to cry in the agony I feel from my impact with the ground combined with the utter strain of holding someone as big as Hawke from falling down to his death.

“You're safe now...I've got you,” I tell him fervently, not even knowing whether or not he's conscious. Hawke slowly turns his head up. His eyes widen in shock when he sees that I've saved him, and for the first time, I see a look of pure and utter shock and confusion on his face.

“What...? What are you doing!? I'm your enemy!” Hawke demands furiously. I gaze back at him wordlessly, knowing that this is my one chance...my one chance to prove to him that humans are not all like the ones that hurt him. “You've defeated me...let me go!”

“No. I won't. You're the last human, other than me. It doesn't matter what you've done or what you say...I'm not going to let you die,” I tell him, my brow wrinkling in determination. The pain in my chest is getting harder and harder to bear, but I'm not going to give in. I won't let him go. “You're my responsibility.”

“What...but that's absurd. You have no reason to save me You should have every reason to kill me!” Hawke yells at me. Despite his words, he looks frightened, his eyes wide and darting this way and that. He starts to tear up slightly, much to my surprise. “Let me go, Seth! You've won! Just...just let it be over!”

I remember those words. Those are the words of a person who's given up on all hope a long time ago...given up on life. Those are the words of a person who chooses to die, rather than face the hardship of living onward. Those are the same words that passed through my mind, a very long time ago, on top of that cliff.

Using every last bit of my strength that I have left, I raise Hawke just high enough so that his face is gazing into mine. Lifting my free hand, I slap him hard across the face, earning a pained yelp of surprise from him.

“You are a fucking idiot,” I snap at him, feeling just as angry as Rainbow did, when she had to save me. “How dare you? How dare you suggest that I let you kill yourself?”

“I've killed...and stolen...and I nearly did the same to you. You have defeated me...this is an ending that I can accept...the end to my darkness...my struggle,” Hawke tells me. From then on, I stop seeing Hawke as the governor general, but instead as just another broken man that couldn't handle the pain. “I am nothing but a mass of hate and revenge...let me go.”

“You're wrong,” I tell him flatly. “I know there's more than that inside of you. I heard about you from Mist, you know. I know you have the ability to be a decent guy, if given the choice.”

“What does it matter!? I've wrought so much pain and suffering...this is what I deserve!” Hawke snaps, trying to wring free from my grip. I don't let him, grasping onto his wrist with my other hand.

“No, you're just too afraid to face the consequences of your own actions. Killing you would solve nothing. It wouldn't bring back the human race, nor would it make them happy,” I correct him, remembering everything I've ever learned over the course of my time in Equestria. “If any part of you feels regret for the things you've done...then live. Live, and find happiness.”

“Wha...” Hawke is rendered completely speechless by my words. His eyes slowly widen as he soon comes to a realization. “That is the most unique and selfless thing any human has ever said to me...if...if there were people like you...three thousand years ago...then...oh gods...what have I done?”

“Come on...let's get out of here before this whole place falls apart,” I tell him with a smile, knowing exactly the feelings he's experiencing right now. They are the same feelings I felt during the events in the ruins, when I discovered that humanity was so much more than what I believed them to be. I regretted that I never had the chance to be kinder to them. I'd bet my life that Hawke is now feeling the same thing as well.

Hawke looks down at the magma that's steadily getting closer and closer to his dangling feet, and then back to my encouraging smile. He does this several more times, and then with a grunt of determination, he swings his dangling hand up to me, which I catch with my other hand. Now that we're both trying, it's easy to get him back up on the platform.

He almost collapses once his feet are on solid ground, but I keep him upright, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and helping him stay upright. Part of me is still reeling in disbelief that things have turned out as they have, but the other is oddly happy.

Together, we limp as fast as we can across the crumbling walkway. The platform where we had our fight is now completely falling apart, large chunks breaking away and splashing into the magma below. Just after we reach the exit out onto the snowy mountainside, magma sweeps over the remains of the platform and the walkway, devouring it all with an angry hiss.

Outside, the battle is coming to an end, because the undead are all standing and milling around listlessly. Taking down Hawke has removed his connection to them, so now they are nothing but sheep before the slaughter. Chrysalis looks like she's having way too much fun, blowing apart the now defenseless undead.

It's over. We've defeated Hawke, and brought down his weapon. Not only that, but he's with me right now, and he's finally open to the same lessons I have. I have to get him to the airships...agh...it feels like my body is on fire...

“Seth!? Is that you?” Applejack's concerned voice cries out when she catches sight of us limping down from the mountainside entrance. Hawke has already fallen unconscious, so all of his weight is bearing down on me, and the pain is getting to be too much.

I hear the other ponies from my team rushing over to me, calling out my name and expressing their relief at my return. I also hear concern at Hawke's presence, but I can't really make it all out. Instead it takes all of my remaining energy to respond to Applejack's call.

“No...shit...it’s me...” I grunt, and then I fall forward, hitting the ground painfully. Knowing that the battle is over, I allow myself to lose consciousness. After everything that’s happened today...I think I deserve a rest.
> 124. Rest and Recovery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Awareness comes back to me a little at a time. The first thing I feel is a cool and damp cloth gently brushing across my forehead. With the pounding headache that I'm feeling right now, it feels really good. I give a soft sigh, slowly opening my eyes. It's difficult; my eyelids feel like lead, but eventually I get them open. My vision is blurry, but as my eyes focus, I can get a basic view of my surroundings.

“Oh my...! You're awake,” a soft, gentle voice sounds with surprise. I try to get up, but a hoof firmly pushes me back down. I obediently remain still, as my body still aches. My body feels like it's been wrapped in bandages, if that constricting feeling on my skin is anything to go by. Blinking away the blurriness in my eyes, I turn my head slightly to see a familiar butter yellow pegasus gazing down at me with concern. Fluttershy? What is she doing here?

I try to talk, but my throat is sore and dry for some reason, such that it hurts when I try to say something. “Please don't talk. You've been through a lot,” Fluttershy ushers me. She presents a cup of water to my lips. “Here. Drink. Queen Chrysalis is on her way.”

I gratefully drink from the cup she's holding up for me. So I haven't been healed yet. That explains why I feel like shit. I can still feel the cuts all over my body stinging, and my broken ribs throbbing. My body is swathed in carefully treated bandages, no doubt to keep the burns on my skin under control. Other than that, I'm wearing a haphazardly stitched sheet of white fabric for a shirt and my old torn pants.

“What are you doing here?” I manage to get out once I've drained the cup. My throat feels a little better now. I guess it was dried out from how fucking hot that volcano was. Oh god, that's right. The whole thing with Hawke that went down...did I really save him? Is he here somewhere? “I thought you were left behind in another settlement along with Cadance?”

“Um...yes, but the princess suggested we join you all here at Everwinter. She thought that...with the battle and all...you could use another pony to take care of the injured,” Fluttershy explains, going back to brushing my forehead with the cloth. Huh...I guess that makes sense. It's not like Celestia can come all the way here to do the healing herself. That, and Chrysalis doesn't go out of her way to heal anyone other than the ones she actually likes. You know, like me. My next thoughts turn to Rainbow and the others. “I'm glad I came. You're hurt so much...it's hard to look at. Poor Rainbow was so worried...she never left your side.”

Wait, is she here now? I turn my head, and sure enough, Rainbow is fast asleep in the bed next to me, having taken a beating herself during the battle. That's good. I'm glad she made it out in one piece. She looks a little cut and bruised, but that's nothing Chrysalis won't fix. She hates Rainbow, but she'll do it if I bat my eyelashes a bit, so to speak.

“Stubborn pony,” I grunt. I feel like shit, but I don't think I was in danger of dying...well, actually I was bleeding quite a lot, so I might have. I feel a little guilty for making her worry that much (even though she'll never admit it), but I'm also grateful she stayed here for me. “So I'm back in Everwinter?”

“Yes. Applejack and the others brought you back in the airships with the Viceroy,” Fluttershy answers. She takes a moment to dunk the cloth back in a basin of cool water. After wringing it out gently, she returns to keeping my forehead cool. Man, that really feels nice against this fucking headache from hell. Fluttershy shudders a bit. “But...I didn't expect...that other scary human...to be here too.”

“So Hawke is here somewhere?” I question her, my thoughts now turning to him. I don't know how the other ponies are going to treat him if I'm not around. None of them know what went down between him and I. For all they know, he's one of our worst enemies who beat the absolute shit out of me the last time we saw him. “Do you know where he is?”

“Yes...he...they're keeping him locked up in another building. Commander Iron and Warlord Salamul are both there, guarding him in case he wakes up,” Fluttershy answers. “I heard Princess Celestia is on her way.”

“He won't be a problem, I don't think,” I assure her. Fluttershy doesn't look any less scared...not that I blame her. Despite the fact that I think he's willing to listen to me now, he's a terrifying guy. “Anyway, where are the others?”

“You mean Applejack and the rest of your friends?” Fluttershy inquires. I nod. No doubt they took their fair share of injuries themselves. “They weren't hurt that badly. I helped patch them up, and now they're in your house, preparing a meal. I told them I'd send you to them when you were healed.”

“Yeah, that would be nice. I could use a meal before I pay a visit to Hawke,” I muse, suddenly realizing how hungry I am. “Of course, I can't go anywhere until that freaky bug bitch gets her tail over here.”

“That 'freaky bug bitch,' as you so eloquently put it, will take as long as she pleases, if you don't mind.” I freeze, mortified, as Chrysalis steps into the room at the exact wrong moment, looking none too pleased at the way I just referred to her. Fluttershy yelps and promptly dives under the bed where Chrysalis can't see her. Chrysalis ignores her, instead staring pointedly at me. “In fact, unless you change your tone right this instant, I think I'll take my healing magic somewhere else.”

“You've gotta be fucking kidding....” I curse, realizing that she's got the upper hoof here. For the first time in my life, my vulgar words are coming back to bite me in the ass. Maybe I should cut back on the cursing. Chrysalis's lips curl into a smug smirk, because she knows she has all the power in this situation. “Alright, fine. I'm sorry, okay?”

“Mm...that's not good enough,” Chrysalis responds, infuriating me even further. “I think you should be a little more complimentary. Unless you'd rather stay in this infirmary for another day or so until Celestia gets here.”

“You little...!” I start to say, but her eyes narrow, such that I cut off and sigh in frustration. I groan and rub my forehead, before finally looking back at Chrysalis. Every fiber of my being wants to die before saying this, but it's either this or sit around completely unable to move. “Okay, fine. Please heal me, oh most esteemed Queen Chrysalis, she who is more beautiful and intelligent than Celestia.”

Chrysalis beams, enjoying the praise despite the fact that she knows I'm lying through my teeth. “That's much better. You see, was that so hard?” she gloats, approaching me. She lowers her head, touching her horn to my arm. I shift uncomfortably, feeling her mane against my arm. “Now hold still.”

Her horn starts to glow, and I do my best not to squirm as her healing magic works its way through my body. My ribs reconnect and fuse, my skin knits together beneath the bandages, and my burns are soothed. It doesn't feel as warm and comforting as Celestia's does...but instead like a curtain of insects are crawling across my skin.

When she's finished, Chrysalis steps back, giving me room to move. I take off the cloth from my forehead and place it on the end table next to my bed. Thus freed, I leap out of the bed and land on my feet. There. As disconcerting as her healing spell is, I'm back at full strength. I take a quick moment to stretch my arms and legs out.

“Thanks. Think you can touch up Rainbow, too?” I ask, knowing full well that Chrysalis is going to be annoyed. Sure enough, Chrysalis scoffs. The glare she gives the sleeping Rainbow clearly says what she thinks about that request.

“Ugh. It was already a stretch for me to heal her the first time. Now you want me to do it again?” Chrysalis grumbles. She turns back to me with a defiant expression. “No. She can suffer for all I care.”

“Oh, don't be petty. Just fucking heal her, please. It'll take you less than a second,” I snap at her, annoyed.

“I think not. That's less than a second that I could be using doing something other than healing the pony I hate,” Chrysalis hisses stubbornly. God, this is annoying. “Now, I do believe I'm done here. I think I want to take a look at this other human.”

“Yeah, good luck getting past Iron and Salamul,” I remind her. I don't know how the two of them would fare against her if the two of them tried to keep her out, but I think they'd stand a chance with the strange weapons they have. “Tell you what. Heal Rainbow, and I'll go with you after I eat dinner. I've been meaning to talk to him anyway.”

“Fine, for the love of...I don't want to heal her,” Chrysalis relents with bad grace, turning to the sleeping pony on the bed. Her horn lights up with magic, and Rainbow's bruises and cuts quickly heal. Chrysalis soon finishes and moves away hastily. “She wasn't even that hurt that badly. You really have become a bleeding heart. It's really off-putting. I think I liked you better when you were dark.”

“That's just too damn bad,” I retort. Even though she's trying to insult me, I actually feel good about myself, hearing her tell me that she doesn't like me as much anymore. She's a sadistic motherfucker, so if she can't relate to me anymore, that's a good thing. “Now get out of here so I can get Fluttershy out from under the bed. I'll meet you wherever Hawke is after I eat.”

“It isn't my fault the pony has no backbone,” Chrysalis grunts, referring to Fluttershy. I know better, bitch. She's a strong pony when she needs to be. Besides, I wouldn't blame anybody for being scared of Chrysalis. “I'm leaving now. Don't take too long, or I'll come to fetch you.”

Once Chrysalis is gone, I peek under my bed to see the hiding Fluttershy. “You can come out now, she's gone,” I assure her. Fluttershy nods timidly and gets out from under the bed, looking a little sheepish. “Sorry about that. I swear, she's more trouble than she's worth sometimes.”

“It's okay...I guess I can't blame her,” Fluttershy responds, dusting herself off. And as usual, Fluttershy is being too nice, despite the fact that she'd been scared enough to hide from Chrysalis. “Now, I should tend to Rain...wait, Seth!”

In the middle of her sentence, I grab the basin of cool water from the floor. Disregarding Fluttershy's calls, I promptly upend the vessel over Rainbow.

“Waaah! Bleh...pfeh!” Rainbow sputters, lurching out of the bed and spitting out jets of water. She's completely soaked now, as is her bed. She shakes herself vigorously, sending water every which way. She doesn't even need to ask to know what happened to her. She gives me a disbelieving stare, ignoring the fact that I'm laughing hard at the noises she just made. “Of course. It would be you. No, we get out of one of the toughest battles of our lives, and what happens? You empty a bucket of water on my face the second you wake up. You blasted...c'mere!”

Rainbow launches herself at me without any warning. She closes her hooves around my chest and bears me to the ground, the two of us rolling over the floor and laughing together. Fluttershy smiles at our antics, already moving to clean up the mess I made. At this point, I'm just happy that the both of us are okay.

“Now, you two should really be careful...” Fluttershy tries to tell us. She continues heedlessly as the two of us knock one of the beds over behind her, the structure hitting the floor with a loud crash. She proceeds to duck as an end table flies over her head. As if nothing had happened, she keeps talking. “I wouldn't want you two to get hurt again. If you would please settle...down?”

Fluttershy trails off when she sees me dripping and annoyed, having just had my head dunked into a basin of water. Rainbow and I gaze innocently back at Fluttershy, the former's hoof still tangled in the back of my hair. “Oh...you two,” Fluttershy emits with a giggle. She thoughtfully places a folded towel on my head.

“Thanks,” I deadpan, shoving Rainbow off of me. I use the towel to quickly dry my face and hair. “Is there a comb around here? I'd like to brush my hair so I don't look like an idiot in front of my team. Of course, that wouldn't even be necessary if Rainbow here hadn't dunked my head in a bucket!”

Rainbow sticks her tongue out at me shamelessly. “Hey, not my fault you can't take what you dish out,” she teases. I scowl, and then gratefully accept the brush Fluttershy brings to me a few moments later. With it, I get my hair looking relatively normal again. I'd like to use a blowdryer, but we don't get any luxuries in the middle of a war.

I wince as my stomach growls again. I place a hand on it and gesture to Rainbow. “Whatever. Come on, let's go eat. I'm starving,” I urge her. I notice some clothes hanging from a hook near the door, consisting mostly of just lengths of thick fabric meant for wintry weather. I shrug and grab them, wrapping them around my body. As I do so, I remember Fluttershy. “You coming, Fluttershy?”

“Oh, thank you for offering, but I should really stay here and attend to the other patients,” Fluttershy responds regretfully. I look around, raising an eyebrow. Other patients? Are there even...wait, of course there are. There were others out there besides just us. I guess they're just not in this room. Fluttershy looks down sadly. “I'm sorry. Go on ahead. I'm not that hungry anyway.”

“Nah, don't worry about it. You do what you gotta do,” I tell her, accepting that explanation. Seconds later, I hear Fluttershy's stomach let out a telltale growl as well. She immediately turns a light shade of red and claps a hoof to her belly. There's a silence as both Rainbow and I give her deadpan stares.

“Okay, come with us,” Rainbow states flatly, her tone clearly letting us know she isn't going to brook any argument.

“But...I should...” Fluttershy tries to protest, tapping the tips of her two front hooves together uncertainly. She yelps with surprise as Rainbow grabs her shoulders and steadily hauls her out the door with us. “Rainbow!”

“You've been working ever since the battle began. I'm pretty sure no one will blame you if you take a food break,” Rainbow reasons as the three of us leave the building and step into the snow. Fluttershy stammers incoherently as she tries to form a meaningful protest. She looks up at us with uncertain eyes...only to see both Rainbow and I smiling back at her.

“Come on. You've been taking care of us all this whole time. It's high time you come and take care of yourself,” I tell her reassuringly. Fluttershy blinks with what looks to be shock, and then she nods meekly.

“Okay,” Fluttershy relents, giving the building one last guilty look before following us. She shouldn't feel that bad though. I mean, if anyone was in dire need of her help, she'd be there right now instead of looking over me.

I look up at the sky, noticing the fresh snowflakes falling from the cloudy skies. Even though it seems like all of our lives have been put on hold because of this damn war, that doesn't mean we can't enjoy one another's company.





I walk up the steps leading to basically what we've started referring to as our house. I can see smoke rising from the fireplace, and a mouthwatering aroma reaches my nostrils. Wow, that smells like stir fry. A vegetarian stir fry of course, but that doesn't mean it won't be delicious.

I open the door and stride unsuspectingly into the house...and then my vision is suddenly comprised completely of the brightest pink. I let out a startled cry as my arms are suddenly filled with by a happily giggling Pinkie Pie. “Sethie! You're here you're here!” she squeals excitedly. Still in shock, I try to keep my balance, but I end up falling backwards onto my ass. “I feel like I haven't seen you in forever, even though I totally did a few weeks ago, but then you got hurt and I was worried but now you're fine and here and I'm sooo glad you could make it because I...!”

“Pinkie!” I yell, cutting across her stream of babble before it can get much worse. Pinkie closes her mouth with a snap when she remembers who she's talking to. She looks down at how she knocked me over again and looks at me in momentary horror, as if scared I'm going to yell at her. “Yes...yes, nice to see you too...but give a guy some warning. You seem to have this fixation with knocking me over.”

“Oh, you're not mad?” Pinkie asks me in surprise, stepping off of me. She offers a hoof to help me up, which I accept.

“Nah. Just hungry,” I reply, brushing pony fur off of my chest. Pinkie immediately becomes all smiles again, bouncing around me with barely contained excitement. It's only now that I notice the others sitting at the table nearby. They're all watching us, smiling. Well, except for Pterax, but with those teeth he's got, I have no idea what face he's making. “So why are you here? Did you come with Fluttershy?”

“Yup yup! I was going to throw a 'we're halfway there' party, but the princess said I shouldn't, so I came here to make sure Fluttershy kept smiling!” Pinkie explains in her own ridiculous way. Fluttershy walks in the room beside Rainbow and I, looking happy at Pinkie's explanation. She then leans in closer, poking my leg with a forehoof. “And now that I'm here, I'm going to make the rest of you smile!”

“You don't even need to try, sugarcube!” Applejack calls from where she's standing at the stove, grinning broadly. I shake my head as Pinkie whoops. In the end, that explained practically nothing. Heh, it doesn't matter that we're in the middle of a war that could end with Equestria being annihilated. She's still the same. That's actually a little reassuring, in some weird way. “Now c'mon over everyone! Dinner's about done!”

With the addition of Pinkie and Fluttershy, I join my team at the table for a succulent stir fry meal. The food tastes a lot better than the typical military rations that we've been using. According to Applejack, Mist had a store of food for herself back when she was the general here. Now that she's on our side, the food in storage has been distributed to the rest of us. So basically, we can have one meal of luxury.

“Speaking of Mist,” I comment, changing the subject away from Pinkie's discussion on the expert naming convention of a particular kind of cake. I don't know, halfway through I stopped paying attention. However, at my words, the conversation ceases, recognizing the change in subject. “Where is she now?”

“With the bad guy, no doubt,” Rainbow remarks, looking none too happy about that. “She's been with him the whole time.”

“I still can't believe you took him down,” Pterax joins, referring to Hawke. I shrug. It was probably one of the hardest fights of my life. “He was supposed to be top notch. Like, of the type only our queen could handle.”

“Ah'm just glad everythin' turned out alright,” Applejack expresses gratefully. She looks at me with concern. “Ah thought you might kill him. Which leads me to ask: what happened in there? Nopony knows a thing cuz you two have been conked out since the battle ended.”

Well, I didn't really want to talk about this right now, especially in front of everyone, but I suppose it should be done sooner rather than later. I know Rainbow particularly won't be happy. I look around, noticing that all of them look as curious as Applejack is, including Pterax and Trixie. I set down my drink and sigh.

“It was tough. He's every bit as good as I am. The whole battle, I couldn't get even a single hit on him without taking one myself,” I admit.

“But you kicked his butt in the end, right? Because now we have him!” Rainbow exclaims with triumph. “I bet Princess Celestia's gonna banish him right to Tartarus.”

“Oh, I hope not...that place sounds awful,” Fluttershy protests weakly. I raise a brow. I've heard them use Tartarus as an expletive before, but never thought it was an actual place.

“Trixie doesn't even know who this Hawke is,” Trixie comments with a shrug.

“I wouldn't say that. We could have just as easily taken each other out. It was that close,” I stress, responding to Rainbow's words. If Hawke had moved his fist a little to the left, he'd have hit me in the face too, and I'd have fallen into the magma with him. I still shudder to think about how close to death I was. “But basically...Hawke is really similar to me.”

“What? No he's not! He's evil!” Rainbow protests hotly. “He's not even close to being as awesome as you!”

“How so, Seth?” Applejack addresses me directly, ignoring Rainbow.

“He's like...hm, how to explain this...” I muse aloud. “He's like...what I might have been if I never met Rainbow.”

“No, he's n...wait what?” Rainbow pauses in the middle of her pre-prepared protest and cocks her head. “Wait, but then he'd be...or...I'm confused.”

“You're talking like you understand him,” Swift surmises accurately. That's close, but not really right. I don't understand his particular circumstances that caused him to hate humanity, but I understand the way he was and is thinking. Swift notices I don't deny her, and then she freezes. “Wait, you didn't talk him into surrendering too, did you?”

I notice the other members of my team who were there to see Mist join us are now looking at me accusingly. I raise my hands up innocently. “Oh no...well, not quite. We still beat the shit out of each other. I just told him to keep living. I don't know what he's going to do next,” I admit. Rainbow in particular gives me an unreadable expression. “What? I wasn't going to let the last human other than me...especially one that thinks like I used to...just kill himself. I hate him, but that doesn't mean I'd just let him die.”

Rainbow looks like she's going to protest further, but then her jaw drops when she realizes what I just said. Her eyes slowly widen, and then her expression turns into a happy smile. At first I don't understand her expression, but then I realize I pretty much just said the very same things that Rainbow said to me, way back when at the cliff. Holy shit, this pony...this one fucking technicolor pony...has changed my entire outlook on life.

Suddenly, the moment is thoroughly ruined by the sound of two cannons firing confetti and streamers into the air from behind the table. Pinkie throws up her two front hooves, holding a pennant in each one. One of them has my face on it, and the other has Hawke's. “Whee! We're gonna have a human party to celebrate having two humans on the same team! I'll bring the cake, and you and him can learn to be best friends!”

“Wait, are you serious?” I respond, a little shocked that Pinkie is so willing to forgive Hawke just like that. “You'd really throw a party for Hawke of all people? Don't you remember what he was going to do to us?”

Pinkie sets down the pennants. There's a smile on her face, but her eyes are uncharacteristically serious. “Don't be silly. Of course I'd throw him a party! If he thinks like you did, then if anyone needs a smile, it's him!” she asserts. I blink, dumbfounded by her logic. “Aaand...that's not all. He's never actually hurt any of us.”

“He hurt me. Nearly bashed my face in, if you remember,” I point out. However, I recognize that she has a point. Hawke has never really hurt anypony seriously, as far as I remember. I don't know how many humans he's killed, but as for ponies, he's stayed mostly out of their way. Even when Rainbow was getting in his way, he just knocked her out so she couldn't interfere.

“Of course I remember, silly! I was there!” Pinkie reminds me, poking my nose from across the table with her hoof. “But if you told him to hang in there, then you must have forgiven him a little. And if you can forgive him, why shouldn't I?”

I gaze at Pinkie, floored by that response. She really finds it that easy to forgive what was...and may still be...one of Equestria's greatest enemies? All because I understand him now? I can't help but smile. Pinkie...as annoying as you can be...you've more depth there than meets than eye. Why I didn't see that so early on is...

Pinkie suddenly gasps incredibly loudly, and then she squeals equally as loud, standing up on the table and pointing at me emphatically with her hoof. Everyone in the room is taken by surprise at her suddenly exclamation as well, considering they're all staring at her. “I did it! I did it I did it I did it...!”

Pinkie starts bouncing around the table, repeating that phrase over and over again until I manage to grab her by the shoulders and keep her in one place. “Pinkie, calm down! You did what?” I demand.

“Made you smile!” Pinkie proclaims. The way she's beaming at me, you'd think she just won the lottery or something. “A real one this time! I mean, I know you're always smiling with Rainbow because she's your marefriend and stuff but this time it was all me! I have kept my Pinkie promise to myself!”

“Wha...I mean I guess you did, but is it really that big of a deal?” I finally manage to say, blinking. Applejack is chuckling from her seat, as is Rainbow and Fluttershy. Pinkie looks at me as if I just told her that parties were stupid.

“That big of a...,” Pinkie stammers incredulously. Before I can stop her, she yanks my face forward, her hooves resting on my cheeks. She brings her face up close to mine. “YES!”

I splutter when she releases me, and then I can't help but laugh at the whole situation along with Applejack, Rainbow, and Fluttershy. Swift is rolling her eyes at the whole exchange, while Trixie and Pterax are just watching blankly. “Sheesh, alright,” I say, sitting back in my seat. I sip from my drink and watch Pinkie proceed to celebrate for several more seconds. “Gee, better throw another party.”

“Ohmigosh, you're right! The two human party can come later; first, I need to throw an I made Seth smile party!” Pinkie exclaims the second I realize my mistake. I groan and let my head fall to the table's surface as Pinkie starts rapidly listing aloud the types of supplies that she'd bring to such a party. Sooner or later I'll learn to keep my dumb mouth shut.

After that, it isn't long before I finish my meal. I lean back, satisfied. Unfortunately, I know it can't last. Now that I'm done, I have someplace to be. I stand up from the table and stretch, wishing I could stay longer. “Okay, I should be leaving now. There's something I have to do,” I tell the others reluctantly. Fluttershy nods; she already knows what I'm going to do.

“Wait where are you going?” Rainbow demands. I think she'd been asleep when Chrysalis came around, so she didn't hear any of that.

“I've got to go see Hawke. I'm the one that brought him in, so I should be present when Celestia gets here,” I explain. Applejack and Swift nod understandingly at that. “Besides...somebody needs to be there to keep Chrysalis from getting her hooves all over him.”

“Yuck,” Rainbow agrees, sticking her tongue out in disgust. I wonder if she's referring to Chrysalis or Hawke with that statement. She starts to get out of her chair. “Should I come too?”

“No. This is something I should do on my own. I'm the only one that was there in the volcano with him, after all,” I tell her. Rainbow looks put out, but sits back down. “Stay here. I'll let you all know what happens when I get back.”

“Good luck, sugarcube,” Applejack calls to me as I leave the room. Okay, back out into the cold again. I've really got to thank whoever made these thick clothes I'm wearing. They don't fit me of course, but that just means I can wrap them tighter around me.

I step out into the snow, shivering at the change in temperature. Okay, I don't know where Hawke's being kept, but I'm guessing it's in the same place Mist was kept before she was brought in to talk to Celestia. I'll head there first.

I don't get very far before I hear Rainbow call my name behind me. Goddammit, I told her to stay behind. She reaches me just as I turn around to tell her exactly that. “What? I told you I have to do this on my own.”

“It's not about that. It's about what you said during dinner,” Rainbow assures me. She coughs nervously and looks up at me. “About Hawke and how you didn't want him to die.”

“Oh. Okay, I guess I can take a moment,” I say, kneeling down. Honestly, I should have expected her to want to talk to me about that. “I meant what I said though.”

“That's what I'm talking about. Ugh, this is going to sound really sappy, but...you sound so different now,” Rainbow tells me. “It's like...you look at things completely different from when I saved you on the cliff.”

“That's because I do. If it hadn't been for you, I meant have ended up like Hawke,” I tell her, choosing to respond to her seriously rather than tease her about her sappiness comment. “I couldn't let the only human other than me to do the same thing.”

“And there, that's it! I don't like Hawke at all, but I never thought you would...ugh, I don't even know what I want to say!” Rainbow groans in frustration, rubbing at her head with her hooves. I think I get what she's trying to say though.

“I think I understand. I've used the lessons you've taught me to save the life of another,” I supply for her. Rainbow looks up and nods.

“That's right. You've come so far since then...it's a little mind blowing to think about the person you used to be,” Rainbow exhibits. She presses her muzzle against my cheek affectionately...a gesture that I return by running a hand through her mane. “And now you're the man I lo...gah, that's so cheesy! How do ponies say this stuff?”

I snort with laughter, finding it hilarious how she cut off her sentence before she even finished it. “Do I need to say it for you?” I tease her, earning a nudge for my efforts. Once I steady myself, I gently grasp her cheeks and kiss her briefly. “You changed my life and saved me from myself. I love you, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow blushes furiously, but smiles despite herself. She kisses me back. “You know, I feel like I need to go get some crackers to go with this cheese,” she whispers, and I promptly burst out laughing. Well, the moment's passed. The final battle is coming soon, so I'm glad I had a chance to say that, in case things take a turn for the worse. “But seriously, keep complimenting me. I'm starting to feel really good about myself.”

“Please, like you need my help to do that,” I retort, earning another nudge. I stand up, getting ready to move. “Anyway, you should probably go back inside to the others. The sooner I go deal with Hawke, the sooner I can come back and chill with you all before we have to march on the empire.”

“Oh yeah, that's coming soon, isn't it?” Rainbow responds. I nod, feeling apprehensive about the battle to come. If I thought fighting Chrysalis or Hawke was hard, Sombra is going to make all of that look like a cakewalk. “Alright, I'll head in. Don't take too long, or I'll come in there and get you.”

“I'll keep that in mind. Be back soon,” I tell her with a wry grin. With that, Rainbow turns back to the house, and I continue walking down the street.

Before I even get halfway there, Chrysalis alights on the street right next to me, her wings making barely any noise apart from a faint buzzing. I almost jump out of my skin at her sudden appearance, but I do my best not to show it. “Took you long enough. I was starting to think you were being distracted by that accursed rainbow pony,” she complains, clicking her tongue. The way she said that lets me know exactly what context she was referring to, causing me to wince.

“Don't be stupid. Like we'd do that in the middle of a war,” I snap viciously at her. Chrysalis shrugs, taking my insult in stride.

“What are you talking about? That's the best time to do it. You never know when your last day is going to be,” Chrysalis responds nonchalantly.

“Right...changing the subject now,” I tell her uncomfortably, wanting nothing to do with this particular topic. Chrysalis snickers at my discomfort. “We're almost there. Any changes since the last time we spoke?”

“Yes, in fact. He's awake, for one, and speaking with that other general,” Chrysalis informs me. Oh, Hawke's awake now. I guess it's a good thing that he's not blasting his way out of the building. “I left an agent to keep an eye on them. It's not smart to leave two enemy prisoners... even more so with generals...in the same room together unsupervised.”

“I don't think there'll be a problem,” I assure her despite the uncertainty I'm feeling. Chrysalis hums, but doesn't object. Together, the two of us approach the building where Hawke is being guarded by both Iron and Salamul.

I convinced Hawke to keep living...but I have no clue what he's going to do now. The only way to find out is to talk to him myself.
	
	


> 125. The Last Humans
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Iron and Salamul both emerge from the building on our approach and meet us halfway, falling into step beside us. Iron walks on my left, while Salamul strides alongside Chrysalis's right. “It's good you're here,” Iron expresses, his armor clanking with every step. “The prisoner has been asking about you.”

“I figured he would be,” I retort. In truth, I'm a little surprised that Hawke wants to see me so soon after waking up. If he's really going through the same revelations as me, I would have thought he'd want some time to himself. “Has he caused you any trouble?”

“No. He's been very quiet ever since waking up,” Iron answers. He lowers his head and orients his magic on the door. There's the sound of locks disengaging, and then the door opens, letting us inside. “Flowing Mist went in to speak with him, but she hasn't gotten much out of him.”

“At least he isn't trying to blast his way out,” I say with a shrug, counting my blessings. No doubt Mist's perception of Hawke is colored by her previous experiences with him. There's no way she could understand him enough to get him to say anything of substance to her. 

Looking around the interior of the building, I make a guess that this place used to be a sheriff's office or something to that degree. There's a set of offices on the far side of the room with a counter just in front of them. Each office door is labeled with the name of the previous occupants...who are no doubt in the capital by now.

On the left side is a set of stairs that leads underground, where the jail cells are located. That's actually a smart idea. Considering it's impossible as far as I know to seal off both Hawke's and my magic, placing him underground makes it so that he can't just blast his way out. The only way out is the staircase, and that's guarded by all four of us. Not even Hawke can handle all of us at once. 

“How long until Celestia gets here?” I ask the remaining question on my mind. I don't know how far away Celestia is, but I doubt it'll take her that long to get here. Chrysalis said a day, but that's bullshit, considering how fast I can go when I fly...and she's way stronger than me.

“A day at the most. Perhaps sooner if she exerts herself,” Iron responds, matching my estimates. Okay, so basically she'll be here sooner rather than later. Hopefully I have time to have a meaningful conversation with this guy before she gets here. “Come on...I'll take you to him.”

The four of us descend the staircase into the dank prison, whose cells have long since been emptied. The only cell that is occupied is the one at the far end of the dungeon, which also happens to be the largest and lowest one.

Hawke is lying shackled to the lone bed with his back propped up with pillows. He hasn't been healed like me, so his body is wrapped in bandages and poultices to ease the pain of his cuts and magical burns. One eye is covered by bandages that obscure the ugly black mark that was the result of the attack that took him down. The other eye is open and staring blankly at the wall ahead. He doesn't even seem to notice our approach.

Beside him is Mist, the former general sitting on the floor with her front hooves propped up on the edge of the bed. Her horn is alight, casting her aura upon a wet cloth, which she's using to help keep Hawke cool. The man doesn't thank her or show any kind of reaction to her efforts, but neither does he try to stop her.

A shimmering transparent wall of magic covers the cell door like an ethereal curtain, letting me know that the cell is warded with magic. I don't know how well it could stand up to Hawke, but it's not a bad idea. At the very least, it could buy some time.

“Can he hear us in there?” I ask, leaning over to Iron. I probably have to pull something with Chrysalis so I can talk to Hawke alone, and I'd rather not do that where he can hear me.

“He shouldn't be able to. The ward is designed to be one way,” Iron answers. Huh, so a bit like a one-way mirror, except with sound. That's pretty useful. “He shouldn't even know that we're out here.”

“Good,” Chrysalis expresses, and then she brazenly walks up to the wall, craning her head as close to it as she can without actually touching it. She stares for a few moments, her lips turning upwards into a toothed smirk. “Ooh, he's not bad to look at. Seth, he hardly looks anything like you.”

“Oh thanks, I guess that means I'm just not as attractive as he is. Fucking sue me,” I snap back at her, her comment not sitting well with me. Of course, I'm not the only one who's disapproving of this situation. Salamul seems none too happy about this either.

“I am beginning to wonder how his strength compares to that of a warlord's,” Salamul muses. His axe shifts threateningly from its position against the wall nearby.

“I just didn't expect there to be that much of a difference in body structure between two different members of your species,” Chrysalis responds with interest, craning her head to get a look at other angles. “Your noses are shaped differently...and his jaw is broader than yours. That's not even counting his overall build. I wonder if he'd take my offer...?”

“No, he wouldn't. If I'm not okay with living underground all my life fucking a bug horse, he definitely won't be,” I answer her bluntly, crossing my arms. Chrysalis whips around and hisses at me, looking genuinely insulted by that. I take a step back when faced with her glare.

“I agree. Let the spindly things be, Chrysalis,” Salamul inserts, boldly taking my side. Unlike me, he doesn't even flinch when she turns her intense gaze onto him. “One should prove their worth by individual prowess and judgment, rather than by species.”

Chrysalis looks like she's about to argue back...but then she does a double take, raising a brow at Salamul. I look between the two of them, confused. Why is she giving him a look like that? What Salamul said makes perfect sense to me. 

“Huh...perhaps,” Chrysalis finally says, turning away from Salamul with a thoughtful expression. “I'm interested to see your definition of worth, Salamul. Despite all your talk, I doubt your combat ability truly approaches mine...”

Salamul's axe flies to his side and slams into the ground blade first, cracking the floor. The corners of Salamul's mouth turn up ever so slightly and his brow tightens. Oh shit, Chrysalis just issued a challenge, and Salamul doesn't look like he's one to back down.

“Okay, can we focus please? We need to determine what the hell we're going to do with Hawke,” I step in, wanting literally anything other than to be caught in the middle of a fight between these two. Seriously...Salamul is nuts, considering he's even trying to pick a fight with Celestia. Next to me, Iron is shaking his head, but otherwise not trying to get between them. 

Chrysalis and Salamul gaze at one another a little while longer, before finally the former turns back to look at the cell. “You're right, of course,” Chrysalis comments, giving a little giggle at frustrated huff she hears from Salamul. “I am very interested in speaking to this human.”

“Not before I do. Didn't you hear Iron? Hawke's been asking for me,” I remind her. “You can talk to him after I get some time alone with him.”

“What? So you can poison his mind against me before he even meets me? I don't think so,” Chrysalis snaps, standing squarely in between the cell and me. Oh god, I just knew she was going to be difficult.

“What the fuck does it matter? He's not your kind, he's mine!” I react angrily.

“So that just gives you a free ticket to do as you please with him?” Chrysalis argues. 

“I could say the same thing to you! All you want to do is go in there and just...!”

“That's enough. Both of you!” Iron interrupts sharply, finally losing his patience. He steps in between Chrysalis and I, glaring at us in turn. “You are acting like foals fighting over the next meal!”

Chrysalis and I both look over at him, surprised by his sudden interjection. Chrysalis in particular looks shocked and annoyed by the way she's being addressed. “A foal...!?” she hisses, but Iron doesn't let her continue.

“Seth, you will speak to the prisoner first. Queen Chrysalis, you may remain and listen in to the conversation, and intervene if he chooses to speak ill of you,” Iron directs the both of us. “It's a simple conclusion. I know the two of you don't get along, but this argument is unseemly and unnecessary.”

Chrysalis releases a low hiss, steaming mad from being talked down to like that. For a second, I feel a hint of magic, and I freak out and wonder if she's about to attack him. Much to my relief, Chrysalis backs away and releases an angry huff. “Fine, whatever. Talk to your new pet all you want,” Chrysalis spits. She stalks away from Iron and I, moving to Salamul instead, who shifts to give her some room. “You're lucky I want Sombra dead as much as the rest of you.”

I sigh in relief. That wasn't handled that well. Still, at least now I'm free to talk to Hawke without interruption. I nod in thanks to Iron and walk steadily forward. It's then that I remember that Chrysalis stated that she left an agent here. However, I don't see anything inside...until a small mouse scurries across the cell floor. It lifts its head briefly, its eyes flashing green momentarily. Then it dashes back into the shadows. Huh. Well, that answers that question.

Iron's horn glows, and a hole just large enough to admit me opens in the magical wall. Once I'm inside, it shuts behind me. Out of curiosity, I give the wall a glance once I'm behind it. Sure enough, I'm looking at an opaque shimmering wall that shows me a faint reflection of the room in front of me.

Hawke finally shows signs of life as I walk into the room. His eye, which had been fixed on the wall, shoots to me in an instant. I guess had been alert this whole time. Mist notices me soon after that. The former general gives me a weak smile, but not much more than that. Most of her attention is focused on keeping Hawke comfortable.

“Hey. Uh...how are you doing?” I say awkwardly, unable to think of any other way to start this conversation. Seconds later I curse myself for starting with something so goddamn generic. Hawke stares back at me in silence for a few seconds.

“Dispose with the pointless pleasantries,” Hawke grunts, shifting on the bed to get a better look at me. In the process, he winces in pain, causing him to press a hand to his chest. “You are here to determine what to do with me. Don't waste my time.”

“Well gee, fault me for not knowing how to speak normally to my own kind. It's almost like I haven't been around them for months,” I respond, the sarcasm practically dripping from my voice. Hawke scoffs, unamused. I get serious, sitting down on a stool across from the bed. Mist wisely stays out of the conversation, though she keeps tending to Hawke. “Honestly, I haven't a clue on what to do with you. I'm no leader. I don't know what the ponies do with their prisoners of war. All I know is I don't want you to die.”

“So you've said. I am still struggling to understand why that is,” Hawke replies truthfully. He looks like he's about to explain, so I sit back and cross my arms patiently. “Do you not understand? I've   hurt you and your friends. How can you forgive me so easily? It is just because you don't want to be alone?”

“Don't get me wrong. I haven't forgiven you. Not entirely,” I tell him flatly. Hawke blinks at that, perplexed. “I still remember what you did to Twilight and Spike. I can forgive you beating up on me; I'm used to that kind of thing. But Twilight? She was an innocent pony who'd never felt that kind of pain before.”

Hawke closes his eyes, sighing. He's quiet for several moments. “It was one of the few explicit orders I was given. 'Seize the Element of Magic through any means necessary,'” he reveals to me. I nod. That does make sense. Without even one of the Elements of Harmony, we're without our primary hope of victory. “I hold no ill will towards these...ponies. However, for the sake of my king, I did whatever was necessary to ensure his return.”

“'Twilight,' as you call her, sealed the Element of Magic within her own magic once she determined my intent. Thus, the only method of retrieval was through force, until her magic was too depleted to keep it sealed,” Hawke explains. His tone holds no emotion in it as he explains the situation  methodically and logically. “The dragon was collateral damage. I would not have harmed him without a reason.”

“Don't you feel guilty about hurting her?” I demand, not liking any of what I just heard. He sounds like a robot when he's talking about hurting somepony like that.

“I regret the necessity, perhaps,” Hawke admits. His eyes harden when he looks at me. “I don't expect you to understand. Just don't expect me to suddenly gain your viewpoint simply because you helped me determine that some of my race may have been worth saving.”

“I don't. I'm just trying to hear your story here, so I can figure out what to do about all of this,” I  confess with a sigh.  As I expected, this isn't going to be easy. I have to determine where his attachment to Sombra came from in the first place. “You regret what you did to humanity?”

“That depends,” Hawke says, surprising me. When he sees me look alarmed, he explains. “If you and I are truly similar, then there may have been good people out there. That I am beginning to understand...”

Hawke's eyes narrow. “But I do not regret the few humans I have killed personally. They believed they controlled me, as if I were some tool to be used,” he asserts firmly, causing a chill to run down my spine. “When I met her...when I believed I had some chance to exert my own free will...they removed her.”

“Her...so you had someone too?” I ask softly, starting to understand. He and I are very similar, but fundamentally different, in that he actually chose to kill those that oppressed him. However, hearing about him talk about a girl...reminds me way too much of myself. Hawke is silent at my question, as if he thinks he's revealed too much already. “I had someone too. Her name was Amaryllis, and she taught me that I was actually worth something.”

“Yes...her name was Klara,” Hawke reveals. Suddenly, he sits up straight, despite the pain that it causes him. Mist gasps and tries her best to get him to lay back down. Hawke's hands clutch at the sheets as he stares at me. “Tell me then, Seth. If this Amaryllis of yours were to die in front of you...how would you have reacted!?”

That...there it is. Even as Mist manages to coax Hawke into relaxing, I think his words over. That's the diverging point. His friend...Klara...must have died. I can understand how that must have felt, considering I felt the very same when I woke up in those ruins. 

“Like I'd want to make whoever did it to her pay,” I admit, unable to deny that much. In fact, I wanted to kill Sombra so badly when I first discovered it was his fault. However, I had to give up that revenge, because he was gone...or sealed. If my friend's killer was right in front of me like Hawke's was...oh god..I'd have killed them. “Oh god, that's why you...?”

“Now you begin to understand. Tell me then...if King Sombra had appeared before you with the means to get stronger, would you not have taken it?” Hawke demands fervently. He doesn't wait for an answer this time. “So yes, I went to him. Yes, I did whatever he willed of me. Perhaps...I was misguided, but if the situation were the same, I would do it again.”

“You would kill your own race again, knowing what you know now?” I ask, troubled by all that he's telling me. I can't say that I would have been able to do any different in his situation.

Hawke pauses, and then looks down at his hands. “Perhaps not. What I am trying to say is that I couldn't let Klara's killers live,” he confesses. “You must understand something. Apart from the humans I killed myself, I did not participate in the extermination. That task was given to Governor-General Vanta.”

"That doesn't make you any less responsible. Allowing it to happen is the same thing as taking part in it yourself. Trust me. I know," I tell him firmly. His words, as well as  my own, remind me an awful lot of the changeling invasion. Even though I didn't hurt any of the ponies themselves, I pretty much allowed it to happen. The only difference between us is that I fought back.

"I suppose you are right. Don't worry. I'm under no illusions that I'm bereft of guilt," Hawke responds, his eyes falling. I'm quiet for a while after that...until suddenly, something about what he said before strikes me as odd. 

“Hold on a second. How could you have participated in the extermination, anyway? Doesn't accepting Sombra's power zap you into the future?” I interrupt, confused. If he knew Vanta...but that's impossible, considering Vanta was left behind in the past.

“Only if a stasis spell is bundled into the transfer,” Hawke answers. “All I received was the transfer. Unlike yourself, I stayed in the past with Vanta.”

“That's impossible. That would mean you'd have to be over...”

“Three thousand years old,” Hawke completes for me, looking dead serious. But...that would mean...he's immortal. But he's human like me, so how could that be true? Upon seeing my blank face, Hawke elaborates. “I believe it was intended for me to die and become undead with Vanta...but King Sombra taught me a great deal of necromancy, more so than he ever did with Vanta. With a great deal of study, I was able to determine a method of keeping my cells alive and fresh.”

“You discovered immortality. You're...older than the princesses. Holy shit.” It's a good thing I'm sitting down right now, otherwise I'd have to do that now. The fact that Hawke is extremely fucking old explains so much. That's how the geothermal plant was built. Hawke had all the time in the world to study human technology and recreate it for himself. With the help of undead as free labor, he could do whatever he wanted.

“My orders were to wait for your arrival in Equestria,” Hawke continues. “Then I was to steal the Alicorn Amulet and prepare an army for my king's eventual return.”

Hawke falls silent after that, letting out another deep breath. He lets Mist brush his brow with the cloth. I don't say anything either, taking a moment to sort all this information in my head. Once again, I'm taken aback with Sombra's incredible planning. 

So if I'm understanding this right, Sombra used his time spell to come to my era the moment he learned of the Elements existing. He stored a portion of his power within me and brought me to this time as a backup plan. Then, he discovered Hawke, and stored more power within him, as a fallback in case I did not arrive or died before he managed to unseal himself. While Vanta built an army of Oppressed and exterminated mankind, Hawke kept to himself and built up a horde over thousands of years...and that's where all these undead are coming from. 

Sometime after the news came out about my existence in Equestria, Hawke must have heard of it...and that's when he moved to take that amulet and then meet with Vanta...only to find that I had just killed him.

“Okay, I think I get it now,” I say, rubbing my forehead. God, my life has gotten complicated. “But I guess the most important question right now is...what do you plan to do now? Are you going to go back to Sombra, knowing what he did to our kind?”

“I don't know,” Hawke answers truthfully, shaking his head. “It hurts, Seth. To think that three thousand years went by, and I never stopped thinking for an instant that mankind was scum that deserved its fate.”

“I know how that feels. I wish I could go back and smack my past self in the face. Like, there are good people out there...if I'd have just gotten my head out of my ass and quit clinging to only Amaryllis,” I agree.

“How could I have thought that, when there were people such as you...and Klara...? Gods, she would be disappointed in me,” Hawke continues, resting his face in his hands. “But now...I still feel grateful to the king for giving me the power to break free from society. That much hasn't changed.”

“Don't you feel angry though, knowing that the whole time, he was just using you, just like the people in your past?” I press. Hawke's jaw tightens at that, anger flaring in his eyes. 

“Yes. Now that you have stripped my end goal from me...it seems there was indeed a time in my future when he would take my power away from me and toss me aside, just as he did for you,” Hawke answers, much to my relief. “Nevertheless, I find myself at a loss. Without the goal of killing you, I do not know what my purpose here is. Tell me how I should act, Seth. You seem to have found a purpose for yourself.”

“Hah well, it wasn't easy. But I can't tell you how to act. As similar as you are to me, you're not me,” I tell him. From that response, Hawke seems to be at a loss, a frown on his face. “But you could always try starting over.”

“Starting over? That's impossible. There are no humans left but you,” Hawke snaps back. “Where would I start?”

“Um, hello? There's an entire country out here whose fate is in the balance,” I point out to him. 

“What? You mean these ponies?” Hawke asks in surprise, scoffing at the thought. “I told you before what I think about them.”

“Then you're a dumb ass. I told you before, they are as much animals as you and I. They have the ability to process deeper emotions, despite what you might think. In fact...” I trail off.

Even as Hawke listens to me with a disbelieving expression, I lower my gaze to Mist, who has been tending to Hawke this whole time. Hawke follows me gaze, until he eventually locks eyes with Mist. Mist smiles at him in response. Hawke looks back to me, suddenly understanding.

Remembering what Celestia said to me so long ago, I look Hawke dead in the eyes. “Give them a chance. They're not all perfect, but I believe they're genuinely good individuals. I believe that given enough time, you could make some good friends, much like I have,” I request, standing up. Once again, I find myself echoing the sentiments once given to me by others. Just more evidence about how much this place has changed me.

Hawke stares at me  for a long while, mulling my words over in my mind. “I see. However, I will not fight in your battle,” he expresses. “I cannot fight King Sombra. Speaking from both an emotional and logical standpoint, it would be unfeasible for me.”

“What do you mean?” I ask him curiously.

“I owe him for the strength I have now, and for my revenge in the past. I cannot bring myself to fight him because of that, even knowing what he had in store for me,” Hawke explains. “However, it is folly for me to fight him; all it would do is make him stronger.”

“That's true. You wouldn't even be able to hurt him anyway; it's his magic,” I recall, remembering how even though I was leagues above his current power when I gave in to the insanity back at the Crystal Empire, I didn't even scratch him. “Plus, you'd be signing our death warrant. He'd just take your power too and become even more of a god.”

“Therefore, I will stay behind and recover. I will try to help you indirectly, but that is all I can offer,” Hawke promises me. I sigh in relief. So this whole talk was worth something after all. Hawke's eyes harden once more. “But I will not be judged by your pony princess.”

“What? You're talking about Celestia?” I ask, taken aback by the sudden venom in his voice. “What are you talking about?

“I stayed in this prison because I wished to speak with you. I will not be held, nor will I accept her authority,” Hawke clarifies, clenching his fist. To prove his point, his eyes turn green and he easily breaks one fist out of its shackle, shattering the metal like paper. He lets his magic die away, even as he winces from the pain in his arm from the exertion. 

“Well said!” Before I can say anything to that, Chrysalis walks through the barrier, smirking in satisfaction at hearing Hawke's words. Hawke falls silent and his face turns stone cold again at the presence of someone here other than me. “Now, if only there were more like you willing to stand up to her.”

I don't miss the pointed stare that Chrysalis gives me, nor do I particularly care. That's just her being salty that we defeated her last time. No, but I do care about being interrupted. “Chrysalis, it wasn't your turn yet. Get out of here,” I tell her firmly.

“No, I don't think I will. You've had long enough,” Chrysalis asserts, pushing past me. She approaches Hawke, attempting to make herself look as presentable as possible. “Besides, all we needed to hear was that he'd help us, correct?” 

“Chrysalis, stop...” I try to tell her before it's too late. Chrysalis ignores me, instead pushing aside Mist roughly and lowering her horn to Hawke.

“Out of my way, slave pony. As if there's any need for your ministrations now that I am here,” Chrysalis proclaims, her horn lighting up. Hawke winces and turn his head curiously at Chrysalis as his body starts to heal itself. Oh shit, she's healing him before Celestia even gets here. I sure hope Hawke really is on our side, otherwise he could do some real damage now that he's in full form. “I always find your kind so fascinating...”

When Chrysalis finishes, Hawke easily breaks the rest of his shackles. Without a word, he gets to his feet and starts unraveling his bandages, letting them fall to the floor. Apart from his shorts, Hawke isn't wearing anything in the way of clothing, leaving him shirtless in front of the rest of us. Chrysalis noticeably traces her eyes across his defined muscles, much to my disgust.

“Now, perhaps you wouldn't mind accompanying me to someplace with less prying ears?” Chrysalis requests of Hawke, giving him a rather sultry expression. God, she isn't wasting any time. Giving up immediately on me, she goes to the nearest human. As I expected, she just wants to possess one of us. “I believe you and I have much to discuss.”

Hawke ignores Chrysalis at first, instead moving past her and helping Mist up from the floor. Then he turns back to the queen with a cold expression. “You have my thanks for healing me,” he states calmly. “But I have no interest in you. Begone.”

Chrysalis's jaw drops at the outright rejection before she even had a chance to make her intentions truly clear. I choke and nearly explode with mirth, but when Chrysalis hears me I quickly disguise it as a coughing fit. Oh my god, that's just fucking brilliant. Everything with Chrysalis up to this point is worth it just to see her rejected so fucking quickly.

“Hmph...perhaps I should have left you to suffer after all,” Chrysalis growls, a hiss emanating from her throat. Gathering what's left of her dignity, she whirls around and strides out of the room pridefully. “Ungrateful humans...waste of my time...”

I'm practically crying at this point with the effort of keeping my laughter in check. This has to be the most priceless thing I've ever seen. Get fucking owned, Chrysalis.

In front of me, Hawke summons his magic, pulling out fresh clothes from seemingly nowhere with his magic. Wait, you can do that? I thought you could only store weapons and stuff in it and...my thoughts are immediately cut off as Hawke pulls out a plain t-shirt and transforms it into another military coat exactly like the one he'd always worn. Holy shit. I need to learn how to do that.

Before long, Hawke is fully clothed. He turns to me not long after that, looking as imposing as ever. “Where are your...friends?” Hawke asks, much to my surprise.

“Back at the house. Why?” I ask suspiciously.

“I intend to test whether or not these ponies are capable of higher emotions as you claim,” Hawke answers ominously. “The best way to do this is to speak with individuals that still view me as an enemy.”

“More like ponies that'll still swing a punch at you if you get close,” I retort, thinking of Rainbow first and foremost. I'm not sure I want him near my friends. First of all, I have no idea how the others will even react to his presence...but Rainbow's reaction is a given. “I'm not sure it's a good idea. They might seriously try to hurt you.”

“They won't be able to,” Hawke assures me, moving for the barrier. When I still look reluctant, he reassures me. “If you're concerned for their safety, then come with me.”

I follow him helplessly, knowing that without a significant amount of effort, I can't stop him from going. I don't like the idea of letting him anywhere near my friends.

When Hawke nears the barrier, he places a gloved hand on it, testing its strength. Part of me wonders what Iron and Salamul are thinking right now. Of course, it looks like I'm going to get a chance to find out, because Hawke punches a fucking hole right in the barrier, shattering it. He was right...we really can't hold him.

"Go no further!" Iron and Salamul both meet us on the other side, their weapons at the ready. “Seth, you should be more cautious,” Iron warns me, blocking Hawke's path.

“It is not wise to trust the enemy so soon,” Salamul agrees. “Though I would love a chance to test my strength.”

“Move. I do not intend to harm you or your cause any further,” Hawke tells them flatly. Just as he starts to move, something catches his eye. He pauses and looks at Iron. “I've seen you. You're the one that damaged King Sombra.”

Iron remains silent, instead hefting his shield, as if reminding Hawke of its power. Hawke regards the shield with great interest. Eventually, he turns away and attempts to move past the both of them...only to be blocked by both weapons. “Desist. You will remain here until Princess Celestia arrives,” Iron warns Hawke. At that, Hawke raises a fist and clenches it, magical power visibly rippling from it. 

“Under whose authority? Yours?” Hawke demands. “I will repeat: I will not be held. I am here for my own reasons. Block me at your peril.”

Before this situation can get any worse, I step in between them. “Okay, two things. First, Hawke, I get where you're coming from. You're so old it's basically like children telling you what to do, right?”

“I will not be controlled again. I am my own man,” Hawke asserts, basically answering my question. 

“Second, Iron, I get that letting Hawke roam around unattended is a bad idea,” I say, turning to Iron next. “So let me escort him. The last thing we need is to blow up the city trying to stop him.”

Iron hesitates, understanding my reasoning, but battling with his sense of duty. Eventually, it's Salamul that makes the final choice. “Brother, let them go. I will accompany them to ensure there is no mischief,” the warlord rumbles. I give the warlord a stare. He probably just wants to fight Hawke in case there is mischief.

“Very well. I'll relay the situation to Princess Celestia when she arrives,” Iron finally agrees, though he doesn't look happy about it. His gaze meets mine. I feel like he's trying to communicate to me that it's on my head if Hawke goes rogue or tries to escape. Yeah, I got that. But Salamul and I should be able to take him down if he tries anything.

“If we're done here,” Hawke states impatiently. Without another word, he strides past Iron and Salamul, heading for the door. Salamul and I fall into step behind him...and it seems like Mist is coming too. Sheesh. There's going to be so many of us in the house at once I'm hardly going to be able to keep track of what's going on.

Once we're outside, I turn to Hawke. “You know, you should really lighten up,” I advise him, even though I know it's probably not going to have much affect. Sure enough, all I get out of Hawke is a scoff. “I get that you don't want to be controlled, but that doesn't mean you have to be antagonistic, either.”

“Whatever,” is Hawke's simple response. I can't help but sigh. This is going to be more difficult than I thought.

We eventually approach the house, where my team is still relaxing and getting ready for the next battle. As we get up to the front door, I try to catch up with Hawke. “You should probably...” I start to say, but Hawke doesn't slow his stride even a little. Without waiting for me to finish talking, he walks in through the front door, right where the others are sitting. “...let me go first. Ugh, here we go.”

Immediately after Hawke's entrance, all sound from inside dies away. I get inside as soon as I can. Hawke is standing in the center of the entry hall, with Rainbow, Trixie, Applejack, and the others all staring at him in shock at his sudden appearance. Swift is up and out of her chair, her lance hovering in the air beside her. Pterax has already taken the form of bear, his hackles raised. I notice that Pinkie is oddly absent for some reason. It's so dead quiet, I feel like I could hear a pin drop.

No one makes a move. Hawke is wearing an emotionless expression, not flinching even a little from all of their gazes resting upon him.

“Uh...Seth...?” Applejack is the first to break the awkward silence, turning her head away from Hawke to look at me. 

“You!” Rainbow is the next. She immediately throws herself out of her seat and soars towards Hawke before I can say anything to stop her. In a fit of rage, Rainbow recklessly swings her hoof forwards at Hawke's face.

To my surprise, Hawke lets the punch land, though it clearly does absolutely nothing to him. I freeze in horror, as do some of the others. Antagonizing Hawke is a really bad idea, especially since there's so many here that he could easily annihilate.

“That was your free shot,” Hawke finally tells the surprised mare calmly.

“...What?” is all Rainbow can say.

“Seth informed me that should I venture here, there would be some of you that would attempt to harm me. I assumed he meant you,” Hawke explains to her, keeping himself composed despite the fact that he just got punched in the face. “I will not fault you if you wish to hit me further. It is only fair, as I previously did the same to you.”

“What the...are you...is this your way of apologizing?” Rainbow exclaims incredulously. She looks to me with a dumbfounded expression, and then back to Hawke again. Hawke remains completely silent, letting his actions speak for him. 

“Well, ah'll be,” Applejack echoes, taking off her hat. She gets up as well and approaches us. “It's much appreciated, Mr...uh...Hawke. But ah don't think any of us is gonna really forgive ya until ya apologize to Twilight too.”

And there's Applejack, being as utterly sensible as always. You can't help but respect that. Hawke looks down at Applejack as well. “She is not here,” Hawke replies. “However, I do wish to speak with her.”

“Good. Now ah won't pry, but have you two come to an understanding?” Applejack questions warily, looking to me for an answer.

“Of sorts. I'll have to tell you the situation sometime later,” I say with a shrug. Unlike Mist, Hawke isn't joining us. He's just agreeing to stay out of the fight. However, there is one thing I need to know. “Are you satisfied, Hawke?”

“Perhaps...they do act similar,” Hawke answers reluctantly, knowing immediately what question I was asking. He gives me a peculiar look, which I understand immediately. We're so similar, I feel like I can predict what he's thinking right now. Right now, he's drawing the comparison between ponies and humans, much like I did. “However, I am not sure. I will need some time to adj...”

“Aaah! Hawkie! You're here!” Pinkie suddenly streaks out of the kitchen like a bolt of pink lightning, carrying a tray of cupcakes on one hoof. She skids to a stop in front of Hawke. “You have to try this! It's delicious! Now open wide!”

Before any of us can stop her, she bounces up like a pogostick and shoves a cupcake into Hawke's mouth. All of us collectively freeze in horror at Pinkie's brazen actions, and then we all look at Hawke and slightly back away. I start getting ready to save Pinkie if necessary.

Hawke's eyes are filled with confusion, even as he instinctively starts to chew the cupcake. He lifts up a hand to prevent crumbs from falling on his coat until he finishes eating it. He conjures a handkerchief from nowhere and wipes his mouth with it. Once he's finished, he tosses the handkerchief upwards, where it disappears back into his magic.

“Well? Tell me what you think, silly!” Pinkie exclaims, bouncing up and down in place. That same action causes the cupcakes to act similarly, yet none of them fall over or get smashed for some physics defying reason. 

When we can see Hawke's face again, his expression is one of complete and utter confusion, to the point of being completely dumbfounded. I've never seen an expression like this on him before.

Finally, he opens his mouth to respond. “...Hawkie?”

	
> 126. Hawke's Decision
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Hawke's face is so perfect right now. For a man who's been alive for over three thousand years, I doubt anything could have prepared him for the ridiculousness that is Pinkie Pie. Despite his dark and imposing appearance, as well as the knowledge we all have of the things that he's done to us, Pinkie is treating him just like the rest of us.

Hawke attempts to keep the hyperactive pink pony in his view, but ultimately gives up, because Pinkie is bouncing around him relentlessly. “Did I hear you right? Did you truly call me...Hawkie?” Hawke repeats in a level voice. I'm still a little tense, because despite how he hasn't taken any hostile actions yet, I don't know him that well. Hawke exhales with irritation, unable to follow Pinkie's movement. “And can you please remain still?”

“Whoops! Sorry!” Pinkie skids to a stop in front of Hawke, somehow still carrying the tray of cupcakes. I can't help but notice Hawke's eyes dart down to the fresh confections. Pinkie gives him a bright and happy smile. “So how was the cupcake? I made these to celebrate your arrival, because now Sethie can have another friend just like him! I hope you like strawberry and vanilla, because those are his favorite flavors! You see, he didn't tell me at first, but I found out through dumb luck!”

Hawke lets a disbelieving exhale, seemingly unable to comprehend the words coming out of Pinkie's mouth. It's true that she's being very welcoming to him...just like she was to me back when she first met me. I don't blame him for not knowing how to react.

Instead of answering her question, Hawke leaned down and reached a gloved hand towards the tray. He hesitates before taking one. “May I have another?” Hawke asks simply, and my jaw drops, as do several of the others. He's actually going for it? Goddamn, Pinkie.

If Pinkie's smile gets any wider, I feel like the corners of her mouth will right off of her face. “Take as many as you want, silly! I made them for us all to share! Cupcakes for everyone!” Pinkie exclaims happily. After Hawke picks up another of her cupcakes, she bounces back towards the dining table. “Don't just stand there! Come sit down and join us for dessert!”

“I can't believe this is happening,” Rainbow whispers to me, having joined me at some point while I'd been watching Hawke.

“That makes two of us. I'm about to sit down for dessert with someone I thought to be one of my greatest enemies,” I reply back, keeping my voice low. We look back to Hawke to see him standing there hesitantly, unsure if he should follow or not.

“Well, you comin'?” Applejack addresses the still shell-shocked Hawke. She lets a small smile show on her face when Hawke gives her a confused expression. “Pinkie'll be upset if ya don't join us, and that ain't good. She went all out on dessert this time 'round.”

“They're really nice, Governor General,” Mist adds from her position beside Hawke, still addressing him by his former title. “Even to individuals like you and I.”

“Very well. If you are inviting me, I shall accept,” Hawke finally says after a while, much to Mist's relief. He looks at me next. “It seems there is some truth to what you've said. I have never been greeted in such a way.”

“Oh trust me. The second you think you have these ponies figured out, they always surprise you,” I assure him with a half grin. I've said that very same thing to myself several times since getting to Equestria. “Now come on. I'm getting a bit of a craving for sweets myself.”

Soon, the dining room is completely filled. With the additions of Salamul, Mist, and Hawke, this makes eleven of us sitting around the wooden table. Well, currently, there's only ten of us, what with Salamul standing in the doorway. His armor practically fills the whole hall.

“I made cake!” Pinkie trills. She zips in and out of the kitchen at a speed I can barely follow, quickly filling the tables with a variety of sweets There's so many of them I feel like she could open a bakery just with this spread here.

“Where did you find the materials for these?” Hawke questions curiously from his position in the seat beside me. He's still holding the cupcake he'd taken from Pinkie's tray in his hand. “It should not be possible to obtain such refined ingredients this far north.”

“Oh Hawkie, I never leave home without all the ingredients I need to make dessert!” Pinkie exclaims nonsensically, producing a large platter filled with bags of sugar, flour, and other assorted baking materials. Hawke's eyes bug out at the spread that suddenly appeared from nowhere.

“But where were you keeping them? To make even a single dish, a great many ingredients are necessary,” Hawke demands, even more confused. I chuckle under my breath and shake my head. He hasn't learned yet that you don't question how Pinkie works. She just does. Even somepony as analytical as Twilight has accepted that fact.

“In my mane, silly!” Pinkie explains as if it should have been obvious. I have to physically try not to burst out laughing at this point. Hawke looks like he's going to have an aneurism or something if Pinkie says even one more thing he can't understand. 

“In your...” Hawke starts to repeat, but cuts off halfway through and just sighs, holding his head in one hand. Around the table, some of the ponies start snickering and giggling, like Applejack and Rainbow. “I don't understand.”

“You get used to it,” I assure him, reaching for a plate myself. That cake looks particularly delicious. “Thanks for the food, Pinkie. I could really use a sweet fix right now.”

“That's what I'm here for!” Pinkie replies with a beaming smile. Her head quickly turns to Salamul, who has been standing silently behind us all the whole time. “Why are you standing there all frowny? Come join us, Sally!”

Salamul's eyebrow visibly rises at that. “That's a mare's name,” he deadpans. Despite that, he does move to join us without further complaint. 

“Oh, so it is. Hm, Salad? Muley? Salamander?” Pinkie starts listing off an array of possible nicknames, each one more ridiculous than the last. 

“Salamul?” Salamul suggests wryly, the whole table shaking as he sits down at the last remaining seat. Pinkie puts on a shocked face, as if calling the warlord by his actual name never actually occurred to her.

With that, the eleven of us start to dig into our desert with gusto. All except for Hawke of course. He's still holding the cupcake, staring at it with an unreadable expression. Eventually, Applejack calls him out on it.

“Somethin' wrong, sugarcube? Yer lookin' at that cupcake like you never seen one before,” Applejack observes.

“You wouldn't be wrong. I have not seen such foods for hundreds of years,” Hawke admits, much to everyone's shock.

“What!? How have you not seen a cupcake!?” Pinkie cries out as if such a thing was a heinous crime. 

“There were no more bakeries in my time,” Hawke answers, gently peeling the paper away from the bottom of the cupcake. “My only thoughts were of survival, rather than luxury. I suppose it would have been a simple matter to farm and produce the materials myself, but there were far more important studies to occupy my time.”

“That...sounds...miserable!” Pinkie whines, her bottom lip poking out. “What about cakes? Pies? Turnovers? Cookies? Brownies? Eclairs? Pastries? Doughnuts? Muffins?!”

Hawke shook his head one last time, and I swear Pinkie looks like she's about to cry. She suddenly shoves the whole tray of cupcakes over to Hawke. “Eat them all! We have three thousand years of not eating sweets to make up for!”

Hawke shrugs, but doesn't protest, biting into the cupcake in his hand in a proper manner. I shake my head and continue eating. It's a bit surreal to think about Hawke sitting here with the rest of us, sharing dessert. I'm glad that my talk with him seems to have had an effect.

Now the only thing I have to worry about is how he'll react to Celestia when she arrives.





Eventually, the day comes to an end. After finishing dessert, my friends and I start up a conversation about the different things that we'd do when the whole war is over. Hawke and Salamul pointedly stay out of the conversation, remaining silent.

“I'm going to throw a party the likes of which Equestria's never seen! I'll make it as large as a whole castle! No, a whole city!” Pinkie proclaims to absolutely no one's surprise. At this point, that's one party I'd go to in a heartbeat. “I'll invite the whole country! I'll invite other countries! Worldwide party!”

“I just want to go back to my animals and make sure they're okay. They must be so worried without me there to look after them,” Fluttershy expresses quietly, looking more than worried herself. “Poor Angel...he gets so mad if he's not fed his favorite foods.”

“Trixie thinks she'll start touring again. It's been so long since her last show,” Trixie decides, looking a little uncertain. “After all, the whole of Equestria must hear about our victory!”

“Just make sure to keep things a little more truthful this time, sugarcube,” Applejack teases her lightly. Trixie flushes and tosses a marshmallow at the farm pony...who then catches it in her mouth and eats it. “As for me, ah ain't gonna do nuthin special. Just gonna go relax with mah family in Ponyville an' take care of the farm. How 'bout you, Dash?”

“Oh, Seth and I already know what we're doing!” Rainbow chimes in eagerly. She's about to continue when she notices the expressions on Applejack and Pinkie. “Both of you, stop smirking! We're just going on a trip around Equestria for a little while, to see the sights!”

“Oh, how romantic! Then the both of you will be alone all you want!” Pinkie trills, causing Rainbow to blush.

“That's not what I...aaagh!” Rainbow groans, causing the other ponies to laugh at her expense.

“That aside, there's a lot of places in Equestria I haven't seen yet. I want to know a little more about the land I'm living in,” I add on with a smile. Pinkie can tease all she wants, but I'm really looking forward to it.

“I'm looking forward to some simple monster extermination missions,” Swift adds, joining the conversation. “I used to wish for something serious to happen, but now I'm perfectly happy to go back to doing nothing. This is all too much.”

“Yeah, lucky for the rest of you. No doubt it's going to be crazy for us changelings,” Pterax put in bitterly. “You guys know where our hive is now. We can't exactly hide right now without taking the whole hive and running.”

“Yer helpin' us now, right? We don't need to fight after this, do we?” Applejack asks in alarm. Pterax shrugs.

“I don't know. Maybe not, but that doesn't mean it's not going to be busy for us. If we get recognition from the International Committee, we're going to have our work cut out for us,” Pterax explains. Yeah, I guess that's true. I'm not sure what kind of role Pterax will have in it all, but Chrysalis for sure is going to be really busy.

“For me too,” Mist joins in softly. “I want to put the Crystal Empire back to the way it was...even if the other crystal ponies never forgive me.”

The room falls silent after that. Mist has it pretty tough after everything is said and done. Who knows if the other crystal ponies will accept her back? 

“This conversation is pointless,” Hawke interjects, setting down his glass of water. All eyes turn upon him at his sudden interruption. “You are but distracting yourself from the battle to come. Should you not be spending this time preparing yourselves?”

“What are you talkin' about?” Applejack questions. Hawke shakes his head in disbelief.

“Your plans for the future are meaningless if you are defeated,” he asserts. “You realize that you are walking into a battle where the chances of success are very slim?”

“I refuse to believe that. We haven't come this far to lose now!” Rainbow snaps at Hawke, pounding the table with her hoof. Applejack and Swift nod in agreement at that point. Hawke's eyes narrow.

“It does not matter how far you have come. King Sombra's plans leave very little room for error. With the addition of Seth's evolved power and the Alicorn Amulet, his strength is nigh insurmountable,” Hawke tells us firmly. At this point, he's starting to sound a lot like Mist...and a lot like me, back when I nearly lost hope in Trotsdale. “Should your princesses fall, he will crush you and your army, and then you will have no future.”

“That's enough,” I cut across Hawke before he can say anything else negative. “We know exactly what we're walking into. We know how strong he is, and what will happen if we fail.”

“Seth's right. We're not going to give up hope for the future just because our enemy is strong,” Rainbow agrees fervently, standing up on her chair and leaning over the table. “I'm going to have faith in Seth and the princesses...they'll take down the big bad and save everyone! Just you wait!”

“That's right. Ah ain't gonna give up as long as we still got each other,” Applejack joins in as well. She sees how skeptical Hawke is starting to look and leans in closer. “Call us naïve if ya want. But this is what we believe. Equestria ain't never gonna fall to this Sombra. Ain't that right, everypony?”

Swift, Trixie, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie all chorus in agreement at that. Hawke is quiet, his hands clasped together on top of the table. “Hm...your unity is evident, if nothing else,” Hawke concedes. “I look forward to seeing if you succeed.”

“Where are you going?” Salamul demands when Hawke rises from the table. The warlord gets up as well, ready to intercept if necessary.

“I wish to return to my cell. The hour is late, and I grow tired,” Hawke answers shortly. He moves for the door without waiting for an answer, his coat flapping in the air behind him as he walks. Salamul and Mist move to follow him.

“Do I need to come too?” I ask Salamul as he passes me. The warlord shakes his head tersely, so I sit back down. I guess he's okay with Hawke going back to his cell. Celestia should be here soon, and then Hawke won't pose much more of a threat. “Alright, I'll be here if you need me.”

There's a silence after Hawke and the others are gone. “He's...scary,” Fluttershy whispers. Some of the others nod. 

“Aww, he's not so bad. He just really really needs a friend!” Pinkie proclaims. Right, well, good luck with that. He's probably going to be more difficult on that front than I was, and I was pretty bad myself.

“He's right about one thing though,” Applejack says. She yawns widely, showing the exhaustion in her face. “Ah'm tired. Thinkin' we should call it a night.”

“That's a good idea. The princess is getting here tomorrow, so it won't be much longer before it's time to march again,” Swift agrees. The others let out various murmurs of agreement, and we all start getting up from the table. “For better or worse, it's almost over.”

The sound of scraping chairs fill the room as the table is abandoned in favor of more comfortable demesnes. I stretch out my limbs and yawn, starting to feel a little tired myself. Rainbow rubs against my side as she moves for the stairs. She looks back and beckons to me with a quick head motion. I smile wryly and follow her.

“Good night, everyone,” Fluttershy says to all of us as she retreats into her room. She's answered with reciprocating murmurs from everypony else as we all split into our separate rooms. 

After I take a moment to strip off all the heavy clothes I'm wearing, Rainbow and I hop into the bed together. It's funny how comfortable I've gotten laying with her like this, even though I'm wearing practically nothing. It's a nice feeling, the way her warm fur brushes up against my bare skin.

“Good night, Seth,” Rainbow murmurs to me tiredly, kissing me gently on the cheek. I chuckle faintly and wrap an arm around her shoulder, pressing her closer to me.

“Good night, Rainbow.”





Wrapped once again in thick winter clothes, I stand just outside the police station, accompanied by a few other guards. Iron is here as well. Salamul would be here too, but he is inside guarding Hawke.

I rub my aching eyes with one hand. I woke up pretty early, thanks to a guard coming to get me. Celestia's going to be here really soon, so It was best to get an early start.

The sun is just starting to peek over the horizon, casting daylight's first rays over the town of Everwinter. From the northwest, hundreds of changelings are arriving, called here by Chrysalis. With her are the Pegasus Corps, led by Spitfire and the other Wonderbolts. From either side of us, airships steadily fly in, carrying the Equestrian and Griffon forces.

According to Chrysalis, who was here not too long ago, the final assault is going to be launched from here. We don't have enough troops to surround the capital, so we're hitting it head on. Cadance, Shining Armor, and Luna have already arrived, and are coordinating the troops that arrive in preparation for the final battle. No doubt the other commanders will arrive soon. Now that our flanks are secure, there's nothing stopping us from taking the fight to Sombra.

I cast my gaze upwards as I hear the fluttering of wings. Celestia herself descends from the skies and gracefully lands on the icy ground not too far from Iron and I. When her eyes alight upon us, she smiles briefly, but that expression is soon replaced with stern determination.

“It's good to see the both of you,” Celestia greets us, dipping her head slightly. Iron bows his head in respect as well, but I remain still. “I wish I had the time to exchange pleasantries, but we have more pressing matters to deal with. Where is the other human?”

“Just inside with my brother, your Highness,” Iron answers smartly. “He has proven to be rather difficult. He refuses to be confined, and renders any attempts to do so ineffective. We have settled with escorting him from place to place.”

“I see. Has he caused any trouble?” Celestia questions, looking troubled. Iron shakes his head wordlessly. Celestia sighs, glancing towards the police station briefly before turning her gaze to me. She gives me a small smile. “I'm glad to see that things have turned out for the best. I was worried that he might prove too tough of an opponent for you to overcome, Seth.”

“Oh geez, don't get me started. I was convinced that I was in hell the whole time. Have you ever been inside a volcano?” I grunt, wincing at the memory of the intense heat that I fought through. “Which then started to erupt while you were in it?”

“I can't say that I have,” Celestia returns, giggling a little at my words. “Nevertheless, I know that defeating him meant a lot to you. How do you think I should deal with him?”

“What? You're asking me?” I reply in shock. Celestia nods solemnly. “I can't make a decision like that. You're the one who knows all about how to judge people and stuff, and I can't even handle a simple combat mission.”

“He is your kind, Seth. If anyone should have a say in this, it is you,” she explains to me firmly. “You don't have the make the decision if you don't feel you can, but I will welcome any insight you have to share.”

I close my eyes and sigh. She has a point, but...I guess it'll be fine if I just tell her what I've found out from my conversations with Hawke. “He's...a difficult case. He's very similar to me, in that we had very limited independence in our lives,” I try to explain as best as I can. “He's different in that his..well...the thing that kept him sane...was taken.”

“I see. So you believe you understand his actions,” Celestia responds. I nod reluctantly. “However, he has taken direct action against Equestria. He has opposed us for a long time. While his circumstances may be tragic, we cannot ignore that it is his actions that have given Sombra this army.”

“Yeah...I know that. But you might have to force him to accept any judgment from you. He was very clear that he doesn't respect your authority,” I explain to her. “He's been living alone for...well...he's far older than you.”

“Is he? Was he not transferred here in the same fashion as yourself?” Celestia questions, visibly surprised. I shake my head solemnly. Celestia looks very interested at that. “Intriguing...the only immortals that I have met have been my sister...and Discord. I suppose I can understand why he would find it difficult to accept my decisions.”

“You can? Then what do you intend to do?” I ask curiously. Celestia sighs, suddenly looking very serious.

“This leaves me with very few options. I will attempt to speak with him and determine a course of action from there. However, if he intends to remain our enemy, I will be forced to banish him,” Celestia answers. I raise an eyebrow.

“You really think he would care about being exiled? He's proven that he can hide from you,” I remind her. 

“No, Seth. I am not referring to exile. I am referring to Tartarus,” Celestia answers. I freeze. I remember hearing that word several times, as a place where only the worst criminals are taken. “Short of killing him, that would be the best method of nullifying the threat.”

“Jesus...well, I hope it doesn't come to that,” I respond. “The guy's had it pretty rough.”

“I hope so as well, Seth. It is not a course of action that I would ever willingly take. It is a hellish place,” Celestia answers sadly. “I will do the best I can, but I make no...”

Celestia suddenly cuts off as the both of us become aware of another presence in the clearing. Our heads turn to see Hawke standing just in front of the police station, having appeared from seemingly nowhere. He's staring directly at Celestia, his expression as cold and emotionless as always.

“You are Celestia,” Hawke addresses her directly, striding purposefully forward. Celestia turns to face him, summoning enough magic such that I can feel it, but not enough that we can see it just yet. Nevertheless, she's clearly ready to fight if she needs to. “I have heard much about you from many sources. You have made quite the name for yourself over the past two thousand years. It is high time the two of us have a chance to speak.”

“I agree completely. Your name is Hawke, is it not?” Celestia responds, equally as seriously. I step away, moving to stand beside Iron. I'll step in if I need to, but it looks like this is a conversation for Hawke and Celestia only. 

“It is. I sensed your presence immediately upon your arrival,” Hawke answers. He grits his teeth. “I know you intend to pass judgment upon me like some petty prisoner of war. I will tell you now that I will not stand for it.”

“So I have been told,” Celestia responds tactfully. At this point, I feel like Hawke is playing with fire. She can crush him easily, and everyone here knows it. I'm just not sure that he does. “What then, do you intend to gain from this conversation?”

Hawke is quiet for a few seconds. He then sighs. “I do not intend to harm you, if that is your concern,” he assures her. “I am here to come to an understanding between us, from one immortal to another.”

“I see. As for me, I am here to ensure that you do not bring harm to me or my dear ponies,” Celestia returns. “You have aided King Sombra, Equestria's worst enemy. You understand that it brings me no small amount of unease to have you amongst my subjects.”

“King Sombra gave my life back to me. All I have done, I did to repay him,” Hawke answers. “Yet, as Seth helped me to understand, I have only allowed myself to be used once more. To be honest, I find myself at a loss. I have no purpose now.”

“So you mean to tell me that all you have done has been out of a sense of gratitude, rather than malicious intent?” Celestia asks curiously. Hawke nods solemnly. “Hm...will you share your story with me?”

“No. My tale is my own,” Hawke's answer is damn quick. “I did what I did in order to get revenge on those who wronged me. I would do it again, if given the choice.”

Celestia's expression darkens, and I start to wonder if she really is going to send him to Tartarus. “What was your friend's name?” Celestia asks simply. Hawke's eyes widen, taken by surprise. “I can tell you are not being entirely truthful with me. Revenge is usually done for the sake of another. Am I correct?”

“You are...perceptive,” Hawke responds after a pause. I can tell he too is taken aback by Celestia. Without even trying, she managed to draw out the root cause of his darkness...just like she did to me. “Her name was Klara.”

“And do you think she would approve of the lengths to which you've gone to avenge her?” Celestia continues without missing a beat. Hawke's eyes narrow, his brow wrinkling in growing anger. “I understand your feelings, but killing those humans did nothing but lead you down the wrong path. Revenge will not bring back the dead, nor will it give you happiness. Do you not agree?”

“You believe you understand? Don't presume to lecture me with your pointless pre-rehearsed admonitions, pony. I have lived far longer than...” Hawke starts to snap at her, but he doesn't get a chance to go further.

“No, Hawke. You may have endured for all of the long years of your life, but you have not lived,” Celestia asserts, her face set into a frown. Just that one line causes me to get chills that have nothing to do with the cold weather. Even Hawke is taken aback by that one line. “Do you truly believe that all you have done truly makes up for the tragic death of your friend?”

“You...” Hawke tries to say, but he can't seem to form a coherent response.

“I am very sorry for your loss...but all you have done is added more sadness to the world, in an attempt to fill that hole left by her absence,” Celestia continues to berate him. “I understand how that feels. I have lost many friends over the years...and nothing can make the pain of their loss go away. But I will never lose myself to it as you have.”

“You want a purpose?” Celestia walks towards him determinedly. “Break free from your past. Atone for what you've done by persevering and working to make this world a better place. Settle down someplace, make friends, and live your life the way it should have been. Make your friend proud of the man you are.”

Hawke is quiet for a long time in the face of Celestia's words, as if thinking them over. Eventually he sighs. “You have a way with words, princess,” Hawke admits, crossing his arms. Finally, he meets Celestia's gaze. “Very well. Celestia, I request to withdraw from this conflict.”

“What will you do?” Celestia asks.

“I will give you all of the information I have concerning the Crystal Empire,” Hawke answers, much to my delight. That'll make the final assault much easier if we know more about what to expect. “After that I intend to return to my home in the Crystal Mountains. You have given me much to think about. You are...not like anyone I've ever met.”

“Damn straight,” I whisper under my breath. Hawke may have lived longer than her, but he's nowhere near as wise and experienced as she is. She's just incredible.

“Very well. I welcome your assistance,” Celestia agrees. “If you would meet me in the central building, I will receive your information there. I have some matters to take care of first.”

Hawke nods, and starts to walk away, as composed as ever despite the tongue lashing he just received. However, before he leaves the clearing, he stops, as if remembering something. He clicks his fingers, and a very familiar object forms in his hands. “Seth, this belongs to you,” he says, and then he tosses  it to me before I can respond.

I catch the slender object in both hands, its weight taking me by surprise. In shock, I look down to see my old rifle in its standard form, looking as good as it ever has. “No fucking way,” I utter, wrapping my fingers around the handle out of habit. “Goddamn, I have missed you. How did you get this out of the volcano before it erupted?”

“Items bound to your magic can never be separated from you. With the right technique, it is easy to call them back to you,” Hawke explains. Wait, really? I never knew that...that's really useful. Hawke surprises me further by forming Vanta's scythe once more. “Nor can they truly break. They will eventually reform themselves, given enough time.”

To test his theory, I pass the rifle to my other hand and open my newly freed hand. Sure enough, with a little focus, my sword reappears there, looking as good as new. Holy shit, I learn more about this magic every day. 

“Now, if you'll excuse me,” Hawke says, and then his body dissolves into smoke, eerily streaking through the streets and out of sight. Now, it's just Celestia, Iron, and I in the clearing...not counting the other soldiers.

“You sure it's a good idea to let him go? What if he goes back to Sombra?” I ask Celestia once Hawke is out of view.

“I do not think he will. You were right about him. There is pain in those eyes, even if he hides it very well,” Celestia answers me. You know, just once I wish I could see the world through her eyes. She always seems to know just the right things to say or do. “However, I am not without caution. I will devise a way to keep an eye on him, despite his ability to hide himself.”

“That's good,” I reply, even though I have no idea how to remotely spy on someone who can hide himself so well. I guess I should just trust her. Celestia has never steered us wrong before and...wow, I think this is the first time I've had so much faith in one pony. This country couldn't have a better ruler. “So what's the plan? I know we're all forming up here for the attack, but when should I get ready? What's my role?”

“You will receive your assignment once I have gathered as much information as possible on the capital's defenses. At the least, I can tell you that I intend to keep you away from the front lines as much as possible. I need you at full power for the fight against King Sombra,” Celestia answers me. She then turns and gives me a warm smile, as if she can tell how nervous I am about the battle to come. “We will not be marching for several hours at the least. Get some rest and spend time with your friends.”

“That's an order I can get behind,” I respond wryly. I move to stand beside Celestia, crossing my arms. I heave a sigh as I stare up at the sky. “I guess it's almost over, huh?”

“Are you nervous?” Celestia asks softly, brushing her side up against me. I let out an incredulous scoff at that. That should have been self-evident. Still, if anypony understands how I feel right now, it's Celestia.

“Terrified. I mean, to be honest, your power scares me, and he's even stronger than you,” I admit to her. “I don't know if we'll all get out of this in one piece.”

“Sombra is indeed strong, but I am confident we will succeed,” Celestia assures me. “Just do your best and remember what you are fighting to protect. Stay strong, Seth. Have faith in your friends, just as I have faith in you.”

“Thanks,” is all I can say in response. Honestly, her words do help, but I can't shake this feeling of unease. I know just who I'm going to be fighting: King Sombra...the strongest magical being I've ever seen. After a silence, I sigh and step away. “Alright, I'm going to take your advice and get some more sleep. I'll be ready by the time we march.”

“Alright. Sleep well. You and I will need all the rest we can get,” Celestia responds. She leans her nose forward and gently nuzzles my cheek. I awkwardly attempt to reciprocate, though I'm sure that I messed up. Celestia chuckles, but clearly appreciates the effort. She steps away and lets me go, turning the other way herself. No doubt she has much more important things to take care of. I take my leave of her not long after that.

My feet crunch on the icy ground as I make my way back to the house. I look up at the sky. It's still early...but I haven't really had a good night's sleep since this whole war began. Today's no exception, considering it's barely past dawn. I really need some rest. I heave a sigh, noticing the airships flying in. I'm looking forward to seeing the others.

My breath catches in my throat as I near my house. I don't know how in the hell I'll be able to sleep now, knowing what's in store for me. This really is it, isn't it? Only a matter of hours before we're marching on the empire...where the final battle awaits.


> 127. March on the Crystal Empire
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun rises high above the frozen hills surrounding the Crystal Empire, shedding its rays upon the glistening snow drifts. In the distance, the twisted and blackened spires of what used to be beautiful crystal buildings are clearly visible, towering over the surrounding landscapes. Any grass that used to be there has long since died away, to be replaced with by sick, blackened ground. It's as if Sombra's magic tainted the very land around the city.

I, along with the rest of my team, am standing atop a large hill. From here, we can see the whole city, as well as the imposing black walls that have been erected around its perimeter. Even all the way over here, I can tell that the city is teeming with a massive amount of undead, consisting of Oppressed and other undead of multiple species; such as wolves, manticores, and normal ponies. I even see the occasional Mega Oppressed prowling among their ranks. We have our work cut out for us.

The entirety of the Equestrian forces are situated around me. They are arranged into orderly ranks, with the unicorns and earth ponies forming the bulk of the army. At the head of the First Regiment, near where I'm positioned, Shining Armor and Cadance are standing, each of them armored and ready for battle. Pinkie is here as well, wielding a variety of ridiculous weapons that don’t make a lick a sense...as per usual.

Blades and Rose are with the Second Division on the leftmost flank of our army, accompanied by Princess Luna, Mist, and Twilight. All of them are fully armored in preparation for the hard battle to come, determined expressions stamped on their faces. Luna is wielding her sickle sword, spinning the lethal weapon occasionally to test its balance.

Flying high in the air above us are the Griffon and Equestrian airships, teeming with griffon technicians. The cannons of the armored airships are extended, armed, and manned by griffons. I can tell that anything on the receiving end of a volley from a broadside by one of those things won't last for very long.

Gilded Skies has his own fleet of airships. Surprisingly, despite the fact that he isn't military and therefore not obligated to help us, he's here as well with everything he has. The ballistae are oiled and loaded, and Gilded Skies himself is at the wheel of the flagship with his crossbow close beside him.

Spitfire and the Wonderbolts are flying in the air at the head of the Pegasus Corps, along with Gale and the Stealth Corps. Hundreds of pegasi fly in the air around us, the sound of their wings filling the air.

Formed up on the right flank of our army are the Bleak Island forces, led by Warlords Salamul and Iron. Even Crimson is amongst them, wielding a hammer in one of her hooves. Considering my proximity to the right flank, they're actually not that far away from us.

Lastly, arrayed behind the Equestrian forces in orderly ranks is the changeling horde, consisting of hundreds upon hundreds of drones and infiltrators. Chrysalis herself is flying in the air high above them, her jaw set with determination and her eyes fixed upon the city ahead.

Princess Celestia stands at the head of the army, fully suited up in her red and golden armor and wielding her shield and sword. Standing beside her is a soldier carrying the Equestrian flag, which waves proudly in the breeze, raising the morale of all who gaze upon it.

The princess stares grimly at the Crystal Empire. Once, the Crystal Tower used to be a beautiful building, the highlight of a once glorious empire. But now, it looks nothing like it used to. Gone are the serene crystalline colors and smooth angles, to be replaced with sick and twisted black crystal. The edges are jagged and sharp like a guillotine, and its spires jutting up into the air like twisted pikes, their tops burning with a sickly purple fire. The spire itself shoots up into the air like a pillar of darkness, widening out into a platform up top.

Dark clouds swirl around the top of the tower, covering the land in darkness. Lightning flashes from within the clouds, causing faint thunder to peal through the air. If King Sombra's going to be anywhere, it's up there. I can just feel it.

Celestia turns around, meeting the eyes of each and every one of her soldiers assembled before her. This is the final battle, and everypony knows it. “My dear and most loyal subjects,” Celestia begins, somehow projecting her voice loud enough so that the whole army can hear it. I can hear her loud and clear even from where I'm standing. “Sombra, usurper king of the Crystal Empire, lies in wait ahead. He and his army of undead pose the greatest threat to Equestria; greater than any crisis that we have ever faced before.”

Celestia starts to stride purposefully past the ranks of the Equestrian forces so that it seems like she's addressing each one of us individually. “I know how you all must be feeling. These creatures are unlike anything that you have ever faced. You have trained to fight monsters and to keep Equestria safe, but never did you expect to handle a threat of this nature. I understand,” Celestia assures them all. “That is why King Sombra takes us lightly; he believes that because we value peace, harmony, and friendship above all else, he can brush us aside as though we pose no threat to him. He has not taken Equestria seriously from the moment he set hoof in our time!”

Around me, I can hear the sounds of the soldiers' ire rising. The different ponies are snorting and pounding their weapons against the ground. Even I am a little angry; I feel Celestia has nailed Sombra's thoughts exactly. While we were fighting to save our home, he has been holding goddamn banquets and other frivolous shit, as if we didn't even matter. I open my hand, allowing my sword to materialize and fall into my grasp. I waste no time in allowing my magic to course through it, turning the blade to emerald.

“This complacency will be his downfall! No matter our ideals, we are willing to stand up and fight for the sake of the peace that we have fought so hard to maintain for hundreds of years! It matters not what manner of creatures attempt to keep us from this goal...we will not stop until the land is safe once more!” Celestia continues, her eyes narrowing. She gives a smile after that. “I am proud of each and every one of you for coming this far with me. In our fight to keep Equestria free from those who would oppress it, we have lost friends...loved ones...family members. We all feel the pain of these losses. Hold them close to your hearts, everypony, and remember just what it is we are fighting for.”

“Will you let King Sombra inflict the pain we have felt upon other innocent ponies? Will you let the sacrifices of all of those ponies that have fallen so far be in vain?” Celestia calls out to the allied forces. From the ponies surrounding us, a chorus of angry shouts and cries rise up. Her words make me think about those that have died in the fight against Sombra. My family...Amaryllis...Maka...the human race...this is the one thing that I can still do for them. With that in mind, I can't help but shout out myself, my blood starting to boil. “Come with me, ponies of Equestria! Come with me, Griffons of Griffonstone! Come with me, soldiers of Bleak Island! Come with me, changelings! Come with me, Seth Rogers!”

Chills run down my spine as Celestia utters my name personally, turning to gaze directly at me. Lastly, she regards her army one more time. “Come with me, my dear friends. Let us bring peace to Equestria once and for all...and freedom to all those King Sombra has enslaved! For Equestria!”

Without another word, Celestia turns around and breaks into a gallop, heading directly for the Crystal Empire. Her horn lights up with a bright golden light, and with an almighty crash, a colossal beam of powerful magic blows a hole in the black gates of the capital.

With a rousing battle cry, the front ranks of the army start their final charge. I break into a run myself, forming my rifle into a pistol form in my remaining hand. Beside me is Rainbow Dash and Applejack, each one of them easily keeping up with the front lines. Pterax and Trixie are just behind us, as well as Swift.

“I didn't realize I was suddenly your friend, princess,” Chrysalis spits from her position in the air above us. She shakes her head in exasperation, and then she grins wolfishly. “You certainly talk a good game, though, I'll give you that. Let's go, my changelings. Let's show these ponies what we're really capable of.”

The air fills with the sound of buzzing insectoid wings as the entire changeling horde lifts off of the ground and takes to the skies alongside the pegasus corps. There are so many of them that they form a black cloud of swarming changelings that seemingly block out the sun.

“Open fire!” Gilded Skies roars out from above. Ballista bolts fire from the Equestrian airships repeatedly, raining down into the ranks of undead that are now streaming out of the hole in the wall. Not long after their assault begins, Zythe's voice cracks out like a whip, and the sound of booming cannons fills the air. The fleet of airships advances on the city, firing relentlessly into the enemy.

The undead are mobilizing now, forming themselves up into organized ranks as well and flowing across the plains like the tide. From the city itself, trebuchets located on the ramparts and on some of the buildings inside unload volleys of flaming boulders over at our lines. One of the Equestrian airships is hit head on by a boulder, tearing it right in half and detonating the engine.

I can see the Oppressed and the other normal undead getting closer and closer. We're on the front lines, so it's me that's going to meet them first, along with the ponies on either side of me. I lift my left hand and squeeze the trigger of my pistol, firing several shots into the enemy ranks. My shots dissipate harmlessly against any Oppressed they hit, but any normal undead are obliterated when the crystalline bullets explode violently with magic and shrapnel, tearing their bodies apart.

Above us, the pegasi and changelings fire down upon the enemy with arrows and beams of emerald magic. Chrysalis herself charges ahead, meeting the enemy head on and plowing them aside like a bulldozer. The whole time, she's laughing happily. “Come to me, wretched creatures! Let the Queen of the Changelings show you her true power!” Chrysalis taunts, tearing an Oppressed limb from limb with her bare hooves.

With a yell, our lines reach the undead. I let my pistol disappear and duck underneath the first rank of undead as they leap towards us. Holding the hilt of my blade tightly, I cut through a whole line of them, using my magic to boost my movement speed and momentum. Now that I've mastered the ability, it's easy to weave around the undead's attacks and slice them to pieces.

Shining Armor and Cadance soon join me, laying waste with their weapons and magical prowess. Shining Armor's bardiche dances in and out of the enemy like a deadly hornet, prioritizing the Oppressed. Any normal undead that get too close to the captain are incinerated by Cadance's powerful magic.

Applejack and Rainbow tear into the enemy themselves, letting out cries of their own as they lay flat any undead in their way with their powerful hooves. Together, the two of them easily intercept an undead manticore and beat it into submission with their superior speed. “Let's see if ah kin take down more o' these varmints than you, Rainbow Dash!” Applejack challenges her friend as the two fight side by side.

“Oh, you're so on!” Rainbow shoots back with a grin.

Behind them, Swift Lance and Trixie wade into the fray themselves. “Watch my back, Trixie. If your illusions can help keep the enemy off of my flank, I'll be very grateful,” Swift requests. She grunts and points her lance forward, halting a large undead pony's assault by using its own momentum against it.

“Trixie will protect you; have no fear!” Trixie proclaims. With her illusions, she distracts the undead by forming false images of herself and several soldiers around her. This causes the undead to flail harmlessly at the images and allow the other soldiers and I to mop them up without much trouble at all.

“I'll fight with you,” Pterax says from his position beside me. He transforms into another version of me and unsheathes a sword similar to mine. He envelops the sword in his own sickly green magic, and then the two of us slice into the enemy, fighting side by side to deadly effect.

Despite the sheer amount of undead pouring out of the gates, we're killing them faster them they can emerge. With all of us fighting together, we're slowly but surely pushing them back towards the gates. Celestia is at the front of the battle, annihilating anything to stand in her way. Not even the Oppressed are a match for her; a single punch from her hooves causes their entire bodies to buckle inwards.

“Remember the plan, Rogers!” Shining Armor reminds me as he and I work together to take down a particularly nasty wave of Oppressed, supplemented by wolves. More often than not, I find his barriers helping to keep the undead from latching onto me. If they're not Oppressed, they can't harm me, but they can immobilize me, and that would spell the end for me. “As soon as we reach the walls, get moving!”

“I haven't forgotten,” I grunt in response. I hold out my free hand and reform my sword into a set of large shurikens, a new weapon that I've learned to make since the last time I was in battle. Using my magic to control them, I send them both out into the enemy lines. Even the Oppressed are eviscerated by the very physical objects. I'm taking a page out of Twilight's book. I remember how I was told that she helped fight Shatter with magic propelled rocks...and the shurikens here are using the same concept. “Stay close to me, team! It's about time for us to split off!”

“Understood, commander!” Swift responds.

“You got it, sugarcube!” Applejack chimes in as well. My team forms up around me not long after that. Supported by the soldiers around us as well as the Islanders attacking from the right flank, we're practically unstoppable.

As our forces near the wall, we start to put the plan in motion. I hear an explosion from the left flank that shakes the ground, letting me know that Luna has destroyed the wall on her side, making two holes in the enemy defenses.

“My turn,” I grunt. Pterax and Swift move in to cover me as I call back my shurikens and dismiss them, replacing them with a new form of my rifle. The weapon thickens and elongates into the unmistakeable form of a rocket launcher. I rest it on my shoulder and aim briefly down the scope just long enough to ensure that the wall is firmly within my sights. “Take this, motherfuckers!”

The rocket launcher roars to life and fires a green crystalline rocket that trails behind a plume of white smoke. The backdraft scatters the earth behind me as I fire it. Damn, I need to be careful firing this around my allies.

The rocket soars through the air in a spiral pattern, zooming over the heads of undead and soldiers alike. It slams into the wall a moment later and blows a huge hole it in, sending pieces of black stone raining down into the twisted black streets of the capital. Cracks spider away from the hole, and eventually the whole thing comes down, leaving a huge opening for our forces to exploit.

“Good job, Roge...oh ponyfeathers,” Shining Armor starts to compliment me, but then he looks beyond the hole to see a Mega Oppressed climbing over the rubble and shoving its way through its undead allies. “Incoming! Spread out and surround it! Don't let it break our formation!”

“Son of a bitch,” I curse, reforming my shurikens and letting the rocket launcher disappear. I look around at my team. “You heard him...spread out so it can't charge us as effectively!”

Just as my team starts to do as I commanded, the Mega Oppressed charges, roaring loudly and clenching its thick hands into fists. Our soldiers attempt to meet it, but it bowls them aside easily, laying several of them low.

Before it can go any further, Shining Armor and I are there. Shining Armor hurls his bardiche and slams a powerful barrier against one side of the weapon to propel it right into the monster's torso, impaling it. Despite that, the monster keeps coming. I step ahead and hurl my shurikens at it one at a time, using as much magic as I can get away with to keep the Mega Oppressed at bay.

At first it seems to be working, as the shurikens cut deeply into its skin and hold it back. However, after each hit, it takes a step forward, pushing forward against the assault. Just as it's about to reach me, a deafening boom fills the air, and the entire right arm of the monster is blown clean off by a steel cannonball.

“Indestructible my tail! Nothing stands up after a round of griffon cannons!” Zythe boasts from the top of his flagship. He grins viciously and hurls a javelin down at the undead, skewering one of the Oppressed. “Let em' have it, griffons!”

The flagships's cannons roar to life, obliterating the Mega Oppressed in a few well placed shots, leaving our path open. Now that the path is clear, our forces surge forward towards the hole in the wall.

“Get going, Rogers! You know what you have to do,” Shining Armor orders me, retrieving his bardiche and wading back into the fray. “Cadance and I will support the right flank with the Islanders!”

“You got it. Let's go everypony!” I call to my team. Applejack, Rainbow, and the others nod and trail after me as I leap over the bodies of fallen Oppressed and infiltrate the city. I look around cautiously, my feet clicking on the black crystalline streets. It feels surreal to be inside the city now that it's been transformed. At the same time, it disgusts me, because I know how beautiful it used to look. “Stick to the ground, everypony. Don't fly too high, or you'll just come hurtling back down.”

“Ugh, these defenses are a pain,” Rainbow complains, landing on the street. She gazes up at the skies, where the dark clouds are slowly rotating about the spire of the tower. As revealed by Hawke, Sombra has an airborne defense system to keep anyone from approaching the tower from the air, in the form of high speed winds. No, the only way to reach the top of the tower is from within.

I lead my team through the streets, cutting around the right side of the main conflict. Behind us are a separate division of soldiers that have been assigned to my command for the time being. With them behind us, we move as far as we can towards the Crystal Tower.

It isn't long before we meet heavy resistance. Undead swarm out from the gaps between buildings, breaking away from the main horde in an attempt to keep them from being flanked. Whoever is controlling the undead seems to have a good measure of tactics.

“Here they come!” I alert the soldiers following us. A chorus of acknowledgment rises from their ranks not long after that. Thus assured, I clench my hands around the grip of my sword and charge right into the enemy lines. With my new magical prowess, I dash through them like a whirlwind, carving up any enemy in my way. I work from within to disrupt their ranks and create gaps for my team and the other soldiers to exploit.

I grin and tear an Oppressed to pieces by running around it in a circle. It's attacks seem sluggish and predictable compared to before, and as such it doesn't even pose a slight threat to me. Immune to magic they may be, but it doesn't mean anything if they can't hit me.

Together, we deal so much damage that the undead are forced to send more and more of their troops to intercept us, exactly as we'd planned. With Luna and the Second Division's efforts on the left flank, we're forcing the undead to spread out and battle us on our terms. We're essentially using their own walls against them and taking away their advantage in clustered groups.

“There's just so darn many of 'em!” Applejack exclaims, narrowly dodging the attacks of a minotaur and its Oppressed followers. She bucks one of the Oppressed backwards into the undead ranks, knocking several of them over. Seconds later, she's forced to throw herself to the side to avoid the minotaur's fist, which cracks the street right in the spot where she used to be.

I curse under my breath, realizing that she's right. I can't let the enemy hold us here, otherwise I'll be too drained of magic to fight Sombra when the time comes. Moving through the battlefield with ease, I zip through the enemy and target any undead that are pressuring my soldiers. I make sure to use as little magic as I can get away with, using it only to boost my speed.

“What about the airships? Can we get some air support?” Trixie demands, her horn glowing bright blue as she struggles to maintain the illusions protecting us.

“They can't come into the city, or they'll be pushed around by the winds!” Swift responds, as she's the closest to the blue unicorn. She's right too. Even if their sturdier ships can withstand the wind, it'll be impossible to fire accurately, which would raise the risk of friendly fire.

“This is so annoying! Quit trying, I'll just beat you!” Rainbow groans. She's flying circles around a group of undead predators such as manticores, wolves, and tigers, laying flat any of them that leave themselves open. However, she eventually makes a misjudgment, giving one of them an opening to counterattack. Despite a last minute dodge, Rainbow winces as one of the tigers rakes its claws down her side, scratching her painfully. “Yowch!”

“Careful, idiot! Be patient and don't get yourself hurt, or I swear to god I'll kill you!” I snap at her. Forming my sword into a chain knife, I flick my wrist and wrap the chain around the offending tiger. The knife cuts deeply into the tiger's belly, anchoring itself there. With the tiger attached to that end, I swing the chain around in a vicious arc, knocking over a swath of undead unlucky enough to take a hit from the tiger or the chain itself.

“Oh, calm down. It's just a scratch! I'm fine!” Rainbow retorts, shrugging off the injury and re-entering the fray. I do notice that she is being a little more cautious now. “Where's my illusions, Trixie?”

“Trixie is doing the best she can!” Trixie whines, wiping the sweat away from her brow. Keeping illusions up for the front lines is clearly tiring her out. “She is not sure she can keep this up!”

“Don't tire yourself out! If you need to take a rest, do it! We'll manage!” I tell her fervently, zooming past her in time to dispatch the undead unicorns menacing her. Trixie nods and lets some of the illusions dissipate. She lets out a sigh of relief now that she's not expending so much power at once.

Despite the amount of undead opposing us, our superior tactics and strength are starting to show. As we fight, we're steadily moving forward. None of the enemy prove capable enough to push past my team's excellent defense. Even as outnumbered as we are, we synergize so well together that it's difficult for the enemies to get close. With the addition of the soldiers supporting us, we're slowly making progress.

All around us, the sounds of battle can be heard. Multicolored explosions of magic rock the city and rise above the buildings, to the point where even we can see them. The most visible ones are the white gold of Celestia, the starry black of Luna, and the sickly green of Chrysalis. In addition, lightning strikes down from the heavens towards the streets on our left, where Salamul and Iron are destroying anything in their way without much trouble at all. As for us, we're now in the region of the city where Applejack and I once walked through in search of information.

“We've got incoming, Seth! Two big guys, coming in from ahead!” Rainbow warns us with a panicked tone, zooming away from the enemy lines. I immediately look ahead to see two Mega Oppressed barreling through the undead lines to reach us, their roars audible even over the sounds of combat. “What do we do?”

“Everypony spread out! Surround them and work together! Remember, no magic!” I call out to the other soldiers. I immediately flip out of the way of the first Mega to reach us. With my new speed, it's much easier to anticipate its moves...which means... “Focus on the second one! This one is mine!”

Remembering what I saw of Iron and Salamul, I tempt the monster into attacking me directly with its fists. The monster's fists slam into the crystalline ground, but I'm not there anymore. I'm running alongside the monster's legs, slicing into them with my blade. The monster whirls to counterattack, but it simply can't keep up with me anymore. As the astonished soldiers nearby watch, I dash around the Mega Oppressed's body. My blade strikes out again and again in a deadly dance of emerald, tearing the tendons in its legs until they physically can't support its weight anymore.

The Mega Oppressed roars loudly and topples over, giving me room to leap onto its back and stab its head and torso repeatedly. Eventually, the monster's body can't take anymore and it falls limp, its body a mangled mess. With a grunt, I hop off of the monster's back and into the fray once more. Holy shit, I can't believe I just took one of those things down on my own. It wasn't elegant, but it got the job done.

Over on the other side of the field, the rest of my team as well as several soldiers have surrounded the second Mega Oppressed and are taking it slower, baiting the monster's attacks and retaliating from its blind spot. Their individual attacks aren't doing much of anything, but they're slowly wearing the monster down.

Once the Mega is distracted with Applejack and Swift, Pterax transforms into a powerful grizzly bear and attacks the monster from behind. Wielding a sword in one paw, he uses all of that extra strength and mass to bring down the weapon on the Oppressed's left arm, chopping right through it. Without its arm, the soldiers move in on that side and step up their attacks, aiming for the legs and torso now.

With Pterax's help, it isn't long before that Mega Oppressed falls as well, taken down by the combined efforts of my team and the soldiers. With their absence, our group is given enough room to push forward down the street.

The Crystal Tower is just ahead, several meters forward. If we can break through this line of undead, we can rush right there and set up a defensive position while we wait for Celestia and the others to get there.

“Almost...almost...!” I grunt, carving through an Oppressed that lunges at me. There's a gap ahead of me, so I press my advantage, taking to the air and keeping low. If I can get around their lines and hit them from behind, we can crush them between us.

Just as I start to reach the other side, I hear Applejack cry out from behind me. “Seth, watch out!” That's the only warning I get before something slams right into me, completely halting my momentum. I cry out in pain as hooves latch around me, one of them hammering into my face and completely cutting through my magical protection as if it isn't even there.

My eyes narrow. That only means one thing. Rallying my magic, I tussle with the limber pegasus pony that is no doubt General Silent Shatter, one of our most fearsome enemies due to his ability to negate all magic. I grab onto his next hoof before he can hit me again, and then I lash out with my free hand, managing to catch the general on his cheek.

The two of us hurtle backwards through the air, refusing to let go of one another. Shatter's one visible crimson eye glares into mine, determination evident in his gaze. With a grunt, he lifts up a hind hoof and kicks me in the stomach, winding me and giving him an opportunity and lever me into a building. The crystal shatters beneath the impact and I'm sent into the upper floor of some poor pony's house.

Shatter flies in the air above the hole, staring down at me with his lips curled into a sneer. I can't help but notice that the degradation of his body seems to be more extensive than before. The dead and furless skin now stretches down the left side of his neck. “You won't get farther than here, human,” Shatter hisses at me, raising his hooves in a combat stance. “There will be no mistakes this time. Here, you die.”

“Not this time, you son of a bitch,” I snap at him, despite the fact that I'm very worried now that he's here. I'm nowhere near as good a fighter as he is, and I'm told he fought off Blades, Rose, and Twilight all at the same time. However, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. I immediately whip out my sword and reform it into double shurikens.

Shatter immediately understands the threat behind my new weapon and lithely twists his body to narrowly avoid the shurikens as I throw them one at a time at him. He lets out a mocking laugh as they both miss him...but he cuts off as I twist my arm back and bring the shurikens flying right back towards me...and he's right in their path.

“Annoying,” Shatter grunts, turning his body to face the oncoming weapons. With his metal braces, he fends the weapons off one at a time, giving me the opening I need. Seizing the opportunity, I leap up out of the building and grab hold of his neck, carrying him across the air. I keep going until I ram him into a building on the other side of the street.

The general isn't idle for long. The moment he hits the building, he grunts in pain and twists up his hind legs, levering them both into my chin and knocking me to the street behind the undead lines. “Not bad...you've learned a few new tricks,” Shatter compliments me in that silky smooth voice of his. Goddammit, he's still acting smug. “But you won't hit me like that again.”

Right after Shatter finishes speaking, beams of magic shoot up from the ground from the Equestrian forces. Some of them are from Trixie and Swift, judging from the color. However, none of them even leave a mark. The magic splashes across his skin like water, leaving him completely unharmed. Shatter's grin grows.

“Don't waste your magic! You can't hurt him with it!” I call down to the ponies...but that one moment of distraction gives Shatter enough time to unleash a furious assault of punches on me. One barrels into my jaw, and another hits my gut, almost causing me to double over.

By the third attack, I get my shit straight and boost my movement speed once more. With it, I weave in and out of his attacks with some difficulty until I see an opening. I immediately seize it and attack him head on with furious punches as well, but he's just as fast as I am. His grin never disappears as he easily dodges my attacks.

Shatter catches one of my attacks on his cannon bone and redirects my fist, giving him room to slip in and ram his shoulder into my chest. He doesn't let up. I gasp and choke as he continues his attack, raining punches on my stomach and chest. “You're still not good enough!” Shatter berates me in that condescending tone of his. He grasps my arm and hurls me right across the street into another building, my body breaking its supports and causing the whole thing to collapse down on me.

“Goddamn,” I curse under my breath, bursting out of the rubble and checking myself. I'm still mostly fine, but if I can't land any hits on him, it won't matter. I reform my shurikens and send them both at him, using my magic to control them in a never ending rain of attacks.

“Useless!” Shatter scoffs, using his braces to fend them off as before. It's like trying to hit smoke. His body twists around in ways that don't seem possible to dodge any shurikens I send at him, and those that he can't dodge, he just blocks with those braces of his. “Don't tell me this is all you've learned since...wha!?”

Shatter has to immediately distance himself from me in order to avoid Swift's lance as it soars through the air where he used to be. I turn my head to see that my team has broken through the enemy lines and is now moving to support me. Swift curses and takes out a javelin from where it's hooked into the other side of her armor.

“He's not alone this time, buster!” Rainbow yells, zooming through the air to meet Shatter in combat. Shatter scowls and doesn't hesitate, easily avoiding Rainbow's attack and bringing both forehooves upwards...only for them to pass right through Rainbow's image.

“Wait, wha...?” is all Shatter has time to say before the real Rainbow knocks Shatter to the ground with a somersault kick. On the ground, Trixie grins and flips back her mane egotistically, her horn shining with her unique magic.

“Let's do this, Seth! Leave the undead to the soldiers...this is the real threat!” Pterax says he flies past me in his original form. I nod, and together the three of us rush to assault Shatter all at once.

Shatter leaps to his feet and meets us without hesitation. When I reach him first, he weaves around my punches and knocks me away with his hoof just in time to fend off Pterax and Rainbow's attacks. Shatter easily avoids their punches and kicks, dealing out heavy punishing blows to both of them whenever he sees the opportunity.

I grunt in frustration, joining the assault once more. Even with the three of us here, how can we not land a single hit on him? I've said this before, but it's like trying to catch smoke.

“Now, allow Trixie to help!” Trixie announces, her horn lighting up again. Shatter hears her and knocks the three of us away by spinning in midair, all four of his hooves lashing out at once. I rub my aching jaw and curse, chasing him.

Shatter flies up and around us, heading right for Trixie. Thankfully, Applejack is there to protect her. “Oh no ya don't!” Applejack retorts, lashing out with her two hind legs. Shatter rolls his eyes, easily moving around the attack and tripping her up with a forehoof, causing the farm pony to land on her belly hard. “Oof!”

“Stay away from...aah!” Trixie cries out in pain as Shatter reaches her next, his hooves ramming in her face and shoulders. Her spells are disrupted as she's sent skidding across the street due to Shatter hurling her away. She slams into a building and groans in agony.

“What does it take to stop you!?” Rainbow yells in frustration, meeting Shatter head on once more. The general's smirk returns and he redirects Rainbow's punches, knocking her right to the ground with a hard punch to the top of her head. “Gah!”

Pterax and I reach him at the same time, but Shatter is more than ready for us. He blocks a punch from Pterax on one of his braces and easily does the same to me with his remaining hoof. However, Shatter soon notices that I don't have my sword. He moves back the second I move my knee up, a shuriken attached to the join. Luckily, the tip of the shuriken skids across one of his legs, drawing blood.

“Ggh! Annoying,” Shatter grunts, retreating from us and landing on the crystalline street a few meters away from us. We land on the ground not too far from him. I'm still fine as far as fatigue goes, but I can see a few of the others panting. Shatter's one of the worst opponents we could have possibly run into...and judging from that necklace he's wearing, there's a very good chance that even if we do outsmart him, he'll just retreat to the tower.

“He's tough,” Pterax grunts, watching Shatter closely for signs of another offensive. Swift is over with Trixie, helping the poor unicorn get back on her hooves.

“Even with all of us, we can't hit him,” Rainbow pants, disbelief evident in his voice. “How is he so good?”

“We've got to defeat him. We can't be held here,” I express determinedly. The Crystal Tower is so close, but with Shatter here, we'll never reach it. Where's Celestia or Chrysalis? We really need their help right now. “We've just got to keep trying. He'll slip up eventually.”

“I think not,” Shatter responds, looking as confident as ever. He takes a moment to inspect his leg where I cut him. Unfortunately, I can see that it's a shallow wound. It won't do much other than annoy him. “Foals such as you should stick to less violent pursuits and leave the fighting to your superiors. Perhaps, if you surrender now, King Sombra will find a use for you in the mines.”

“Yeah, right. I'm going to beat you down and then take him down next,” I snap at the general, cracking my knuckles.

“That's right! You're toast, buddy!” Rainbow yells back at the general. Shatter reacts by bursting out into incredulous laughter.

“You? Take down Sombra? When you can't even land a hit on me? What a joke.” Shatter retorts, running a hoof through his mane. From here, I can see the eerie red glow of his dead eye from under his mane. He sighs, as if tired of this whole thing. He starts to walk towards one of the nearby buildings...which looks a little familiar to me for some reason. “I grow tired of this. I want to see your eyes as your last hopes are extinguished.”

“What are you...?” I try to ask, but then, just as Shatter slams open the door of the house, I recognize whose house that is. A squeak of fright sounds from inside, and my blood runs cold. “Don't! Stay away from them!”

Shatter emerges from the house carrying a very familiar crying crystal pony filly in one of his legs. He lifts up his other hoof, and a sharp dagger shoots out from one of his bracers, extending dangerously close to the poor filly's neck. “Now then...wouldn't you like to see me kill this poor filly? I think it would be fun, to see your faces when her life ebbs dry in front of you. What do you think?”

Clutched in Shatter's arms is none other than Amber, the frightened filly that Applejack and I encountered here not too long ago. And he's going to kill her unless one of us does something fast.
> 128. Final Resolve
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

All around us, the Equestrian soldiers are still fighting hard, thankfully keeping the undead from approaching us and getting in the middle of the situation currently unfolding.

Goddammit, I should have thought of something like this! There was never any guarantee that Sombra would do the smart thing and pull out all the civilians. In fact, why did I think that there wouldn't be any of the crystal ponies around?

“P-Please don't...hurt me! Please!” Amber cries helplessly, squirming in Shatters grip. Next to me, the other members of my team are stock still as well, helpless to do anything, lest he kill the filly. It's even a filly that I know...making this ten times more painful for me. I can't even imagine how Applejack is feeling right now. Amber squeaks again as Shatter brings the blade closer to her throat. “Eep!”

“Put my sister down!” Rubella shrieks, galloping out of the house. She looks as drab and lifeless as she did the first time we met her, as does Amber. Her expression is one of desperation and fear for her younger sister's life. Bravely, she lunges at Shatter, but he easily maneuvers out of the way and kicks her to the ground viciously. “No! Please, general!”

“Keep quiet, slave. You should be grateful that it was your sister that I chose to take instead of you. Praise your luck and run, and maybe I won't kill you next,” Shatter scolds Rubella harshly. Rubella starts to sob helplessly, knowing that she can't do anything to save her sister.

“That's just...put her down, you twisted ass! You can fight us head on, can't you? Why do you need to bring in ponies that have nothing to do with this!?” I demand furiously, taking a step forward. Shatter, brings the blade up against Amber, making her cry out in terror. I freeze, cursing Shatter with every breath.

“Of course I can. It would be easy...but considering how special everypony else seems to think you are, I want to have a little fun with you,” Shatter answers, shrugging. Even as I grit my teeth with rage, I notice Applejack next to me, standing stock still, as if in shock. Her eyes are wide and fixed on Rubella and Amber, unable to look away. “I wonder how long you'll be willing to fight once I cut this little filly's throat? There's nothing I'd like more than to see you scream in despair about all the ponies you can't save.”

Applejack starts to shake next to me, her teeth grinding together audibly. She grows even more and more unsettled with every word Shatter says. I'm hardly paying attention though; my mind is running through scenario after scenario, trying to find a way to save Amber and take down Shatter at the same time. No matter how hard I try, I can't come up with anything. He's just too good.

“Dammit!” I yell, slamming my fist against a wall, almost shattering it. “Don't do it, Shatter! Leave her alone!”

“I think not...already your expression is absolutely thrilling,” Shatter responds, his grin widening at my rage. He brings the blade closer, the tip scratching against the crying Amber's neck, drawing blood. “Now, say goodbye to this precious little...wha..!”

I don't even know what just happened. One second Shatter is about to cut Amber's throat...and then suddenly Applejack has vanished from next to me. Now, she's several meters ahead, holding Amber with one hoof, while Shatter is down on the ground, nursing his jaw. “Ah've had it!” Applejack shouts, sounding angrier than I've ever heard her.

“How did...?” Shatter stammers, gaping at how incredibly fast Applejack had just moved to reach him. His astonishment fades away, to be replaced by anger. He rises to his hooves, glaring at Applejack. “Now you've done it, little pony. I'm going to kill you first.”

“Go back to yer sister, Amber, and don't y'all worry 'bout a thing. Ah'll keep y'all safe...ah promise,” Applejack says softly to Amber, lowering her to the ground. The filly nods thankfully, rushing back to the crying Rubella and tearfully uniting with her.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” Rubella sobs, hugging her sister closely and gazing gratefully at Applejack.

“She did it! Come on, let's take him down!” I assert, stepping forward. However, Applejack's voice cracks through the air like a whip, causing me to freeze in place.

“Don't y'all take another step, ya hear? Ah've gotta bone ta pick with this one,” Applejack snaps at us all. Applejack glares at Shatter and cracks her neck and hooves threateningly. My eyes widen when I hear that she basically wants to fight Shatter by herself.

“Are you crazy!?” I demand, but Applejack and Shatter are already moving to attack one another. “Stop! You can't take him on your own!”

Shatter and Applejack meet head on in the middle of the street. Applejack swings viciously at Shatter, but as before, the general easily dodges them. He soon retaliates with his free hoof...and hits Applejac right in the face. He laughs in triumph, but the grin drops from his face when Applejack doesn't seem fazed by it at all. With Shatter's hoof still in her face, she cranes her head forward and slams a hoof right into the general's jaw, knocking him upwards.

Applejack chases him, leaping up and propelling herself off of the wall. Shatter grunts and rights himself in midair...only to yell out in shock when Applejack is suddenly hurtling through the air towards him. The general lashes out with a hoof, but the farmer pony just takes it without budging. Instead, she grabs onto the hoof that hit her and uses her weight to bear Shatter to the ground, her hooves forcing him painfully against the ground.

My jaw slowly drops at the fight unfolding before me. Shatter rolls over and lashes out with his blade, but Applejack turns her body so the weapon skids off of her golden armor. He curses and stabs at her again and again, finally hitting her shoulder and leaving a bleeding gash behind...but Applejack uses that against him.

When Shatter's hoof zooms past her, Applejack uses a hoof to slam down on Shatter and pin the bladed hoof down to the ground. A split second later, she uses her free hoof to stomp down on the blade, snapping it off at the handle and leaving Shatter weaponless once more.

“How is this happening!? Accursed earth pony!” Shatter growls, and then he lifts up his hind legs and wraps them around Applejack, flipping her around and hurling her over his head. Shatter leaps to his hooves as Applejack slams into the wall of a nearby building. He immediately chases after her, intent on eliminating her before she can rise.

Applejack isn't down for long. She meets Shatter halfway and just fucking tanks any punch he throws at her, using that to get close to him and grab onto one of his hooves. Shatter's eyes widen, and then he cries out with pain as Applejack levers a hoof into his face. She doesn't stop. She hits him again and again, causing blood to trickle from his mouth.

“No!” Shatter snarls, and then he hits Applejack right back, but she shrugs it off just like every other hit that she's taken so far. What the hell is that pony made of? Shatter growls in frustration and kicks the farmer pony in the belly, causing the air to leave her lungs. She can no longer hold onto him when he uses her grip to toss her away from him. “You won't be able to stop me from the air, foolish earth pony!”

Shatter takes to the air and swoops down upon Applejack, lashing out with his hooves every time he gets close. Applejack dodges several of his attacks, but is hit by several others, knocking her around and bruising her skin. Oh to hell with it. I start to move towards her to assist.

“Ah told y'all to stay back, didn't ah, Seth?” Applejack snaps at me the moment I start moving. I freeze again, unable to believe that this is happening. Why is she being so goddamn stupid and fighting someone as fearsome as Shatter on her own? Her body can't hold out forever and...what the hell is she doing?

Shatter flies a large circle through the air, gathering momentum for another assault. When he turns back around...he yelps as the loop of a lasso flies over him and fastens around his middle. The end of the lasso is held in Applejack's mouth, who had skillfully managed to loop him all the way from the ground.

With a jerk of her head, Applejack brings Shatter hurtling down to the street, where she lets go of the rope and grabs Shatter with both of her front hooves. She lets out a shout and slams him right into the ground...and then she stomps a hoof down hard on Shatter's outstretched wing joint. Shatter's cry of agony fills the street as the sound of cracking bones fills the air. I don't believe it...Applejack just grounded Shatter. I'm with the general on this one...how the hell is this happening?

“You won't be flyin' no more, ya hear? Now yer gonna pay for raisin' a hoof to those poor innocent ponies!” Applejack yells, bringing her hooves back down to stomp on Shatter again. The general grunts and rolls out of the way. He swiftly bites through the rope to free himself, and then he gets up to glare at Applejack.

“You...you broke my wing...I'm going to kill you...” Shatter hisses, truly angry for the first time since I've met him. He breaks into a gallop, charging towards Applejack with pure murder in his eyes. Applejack doesn't hesitate in galloping back towards him, showing no fear of any kind.

When Shatter reaches Applejack, he executes skilled combat maneuvers that I've never seen him use before, telling me that he feels backed into a corner and that he's pulling out all the stops. He easily deflects Applejack's attacks, allowing him to rain down relentless punches down on the farmer pony. Applejack takes every one, forced back under the momentum behind Swift's hooves. Shatter grins and kicks her across the street.

“Now, that should take care of...” Shatter starts to say, but then his eyes bug out as he sees Applejack rise again, even as battered as she is. “You...what are you!?”

I find myself thinking the same thing now as I watch the fight unfold. Applejack is fighting Shatter all by herself, and seemingly coming out on top. I've never seen Shatter this flustered before. I can't believe what I'm seeing.

“A mare...who knows what she's fightin' for...” Applejack forces out, despite how unsteady on her hooves she is. She zooms towards Shatter without any further words. Shatter growls and prepares his stance again.

Shatter shows off his skills once again, hitting Applejack repeatedly...but it doesn't matter. Applejack pushes her way through the pain and hooves, getting all the way to Shatter. She turns on one hoof and bucks Shatter hard in the chest with all of the power possessed by an earth pony.

Shatter flies across the street and crashes into a building. When he next rises from the rubble, he's breathing heavily. He hacks and coughs, spitting out blood, which lets me know that Applejack hit something important in there. “I can't believe this...” Shatter splutters, his own blood dripping onto the street. His hoof reaches for his necklace...but he doesn't even get to touch it before Applejack is already there.

“No! Yer not runnin' away again!” She yells, and she rolls forward under one of Shatter's punches and bites the necklace right off of his chest. She jerks her neck and hurls the necklace over to where we are...and Trixie quickly blasts it with her magic, rendering it useless.

The general tries to hit Applejack, but the mare is already ready for him. His eyes widen as he's hit directly in the side with another powerful buck, knocking him across the ground towards where Rubella and Amber are. When the general gets back to his hooves, he holds a hoof to his side. Some of his ribs must have broken. He won't be able to fight much longer, but neither will Applejack.

Shatter looks up at the advancing Applejack, panic evident in his eyes. He looks between her, and then I see his gaze pass over to Rubella and Amber again. I immediately jump into action, dashing across the street. Oh no you fucking don't...

Rubella and Amber scream as the general makes a beeline for them, no doubt intending to use them as hostages again. However, just as his hooves reach out for the crystal ponies, I appear in front of them just in time to kick Shatter down away from his last hope.

The general skids across the street. When he comes to a halt, he looks up...right into Applejack's eyes. She's glaring down at him with a terrifying expression on her face, promising pain to the one who dared point his weapon at a filly. Shatter starts to back away, fear filling his eyes.

“No...no...this can't be happening...” Shatter whimpers, unable to comprehend that he had just been defeated by a simple farmer earth pony. He backs away across the street faster, but Applejack gets closer and closer, no mercy in her eyes. “You're just an earth pony! Who do you think you are!?”

“The name's Applejack,” is all she says, before she stomps down both hooves onto Shatter's chest. Shatter's mouth opens wide, blood and saliva spraying into the air as the wind whooshes out of his lungs. At last, he falls limp, unconscious. There's a silence as my team and I look at Shatter's defeated form. None of us can believe what we just saw.

“Holy shit, Applejack!” I finally manage to say, unable to come up with any other words to express how I'm feeling right now. At a loss for further words, I rush over to the battered Applejack, as do the other members of my team.

“Applejack!” Rainbow cries out anxiously, zooming to her friend's side.

“I've never...wow,” Swift emits breathlessly. Swift is a skilled fighter, and she had been training Applejack back in Everwinter...and soundly beat her. This...this is beyond anything any of us could have expected from her. “It's okay now, Applejack.”

Despite how all of are approaching her, Applejack walks unsteadily over to Rubella and Amber. It's clear she's having trouble staying upright...not that any of us blame her. She took one hell of a beating from Shatter....it's a miracle she's still conscious.

“Applejack...thank you,” Rubella stammers, reaching out a hoof to brush the farmer pony's cheek. She sniffs, tears rolling down her cheeks.“You...why did you get yourself so beat up for us? We're nothing special...”

“Don't y'all ever say that...” Applejack pants with fervor, lowering herself down to face the both of them. “Ah wasn't gonna leave y'all behind again...no way, no how.”

“What are you saying? None of that was your...?” Rubella asks in confusion.

“It was! Ah talked all 'bout how it was over and you were safe...only ta turn tail an' run when things got hairy,” Applejack cuts across her vehemently. She gasps in pain and collapses forward, unable to keep her footing anymore. Rubella yelps and catches her in her forelegs, keeping her from hitting the ground. Applejack pants weakly, gazing up at the crystal pony. “Ah can't imagine how y'all must have felt...ah'm so sorry.”

“Applejack...” Rainbow emits softly from next to me. The five of us are standing around Applejack and the two crystal ponies, unsure of what to do. Behind us, the soldiers are steadily pushing their way through the enemy lines, making quick work of any undead in their way. With Shatter out of the way, there's nothing standing between us and the Crystal Tower.

Rubella sniffs and hugs Applejack closely, her muzzle pressing into the latter's neck. “Don't be sorry...you're here now. You came when we needed you...I can't ever repay you for the gift of my sister's life,” she assures Applejack. The farmer pony smiles weakly, starting to lose consciousness.

“Commander, we've broken through the enemy lines,” a soldier informs me, running up to the rest of us with the rest of my task force behind him. “What are your orders?”

I look between Applejack and the soldiers. There's only one thing on my mind right now. “Send some troops and get Applejack back to the rear camp. She needs treatment immediately. Then, take Shatter back as well and secure him,” I order the soldier. “After that, get the troops ready to march on the Crystal Tower before the enemy can muster reinforcements.”

The soldier salutes and moves to carry out my orders. With that handled, I approach the two crystal ponies, kneeling down so as not to frighten them. “You two should get yourself someplace safe. If you go back with Applejack to the rear camp, we'll protect you,” I advise them. Rubella nods and joins Applejack as some soldiers lift her up off of the ground. Amber follows along closely behind her.

I turn towards the Crystal Tower, the sight of it filling me with dread. According to Captain Gale, Sombra's chambers are near the top...and that's where he'll be. Honestly, I'm surprised he hasn't come out to fight us already. We're right on his doorstep; you'd think he'd take notice.

“Okay we should get moving,” I say to Rainbow and the others. I know they're still a little in shock from the events that just transpired. I say that because I am too. If Applejack had that kind of potential in her this whole time...it just boggles my mind. “There's not much farther to go.”

“Right behind you, Commander,” Swift acknowledges. The others form up behind me as well, the sound of armor plating clanking echoing throughout the now empty streets. The battle is raging hard elsewhere, but it seems we've got a lull for now.

Suddenly, from behind me, I hear the sound of fighting. One of the soldiers assigned to taking Shatter grunts as he's thrown aside by the suddenly reawakened general. The second one is promptly punched multiple times and thrown across the street, giving Shatter a direct line to me.

“I'm not going down alone!” Shatter roars, and the general leaps through the air, another blade extending from his remaining leg brace. Immediately, I switch my sword to a reverse grip and pivot on my left heel, the blade sweeping through the air...and slicing right through Shatter's middle. Shatter's eyes widen...and then glaze over for the last time as he separates into two bloody halves. Shatter's remains scatter across the ground on either side of me, unmoving.

I pant from the feeling of the adrenaline pumping through my body. In his desperation, Shatter had relied only on the element of surprise...and that gave me the opportunity to take him down once and for all. And it is over...he's dead. I flick the general's blood off of my sword and step away from his body. “Good riddance...now he'll never hurt another pony again.”

“Good reflexes, commander,” Swift compliments me, purposefully averting her eyes away from Shatter's body.

“Oh dear Celestia, I'm gonna be sick,” Rainbow chokes, moving away from Shatter. Trixie exhibits a similar reaction, joining Rainbow in a nearby alley.

I sigh and stare at the body, realizing that I basically just killed my first living and breathing pony. I mean, Vanta and Frozen don't count, because they died long before I met them. This is a little more real. However...I don't feel that bad about it. Shatter was the worst kind of pony. He held no loyalty to anyone and was willing to sacrifice innocent lives just to see his enemy's despair.

“Alright, come on, everypony. We can't stay here for too long,” I finally say. Once my team forms up once more, I lead the task force down the street towards the Crystal Tower.





It's oddly quiet once we reach the underside of the tower. I can hear the sounds of battle fading away as our forces easily dispatch the undead between them and the tower. It seems like the first part of the battle is going as planned...which is just odd to me. Sombra sprung all those traps on us in the very beginning of the war...but ever since we made our counterattack, it's like he stopped caring. I'm starting to get a little anxious.

I turn my head as Salamul, Iron, Shining Armor, and Cadance enter the clearing at the same time, crushing the last wave of undead in their way. Behind them is the rest of the Bleak Islanders and the First Division. On the other side of the area, Luna, Blades, Rose, Twilight, and Rarity arrive with the Second Division, all of them looking no worse for wear.

All of us meet up in the middle. Twilight and Rarity rush up to us anxiously, meeting up with Rainbow Dash and embracing her in relief. I stand back and smile, as this is the first time that I've seen those two since we left Trotsdale.

“Thank goodness you're all okay. Where's Applejack?” Twilight asks Rainbow, who then animatedly starts to tell the story of how Applejack took down Shatter by herself. Twilight looks incredibly shocked by that, because she fought Shatter once before as well.

“'Tis good to see thou hast arrived unharmed,” Luna greets Cadance and I, walking over to meet us. “How fares thy magic?”

“I've been holding back as instructed, so I should be okay. I have plenty left,” Cadance reassures her. The both of them look at me next, looking for confirmation.

“I'm good. Got into a bit of a tussle with a general, but overall my magic is running high,” I add. I look around the clearing, searching for the other two. “Where's Celestia and Chrysalis? We can't do this without them.”

“Celestia's force looks to have met the most resistance, but it shouldn't be long before they get here. Nothing can take her down,” Cadance assures me. As if on cue, I hear Celestia's soldiers striding into the clearing, accompanied by the Wonderbolts, Pinkie, and a hell of a lot of changelings.

Chrysalis and Celestia walk in together, the former looking as smug as ever. Celestia doesn't even have a scratch on her, to no one's surprise. With their arrival, the entirety of our combat force has arrived. There's no sign of any undead. But if there's no more of them, does that mean we've taken the city? That can't be right. There has to be more.

“It appears we have all arrived,” Celestia observes, walking to the center of the clearing. Without waiting for any response, she immediately starts giving out orders. “Shining Armor, work with Captain Blades and set up a defensive perimeter. Expect enemy reinforcements. Everypony, focus on holding this area above all else!”

A chorus of acknowledgments rise up from the allied forces, followed by a loud hissing as Chrysalis gives her horde orders as well. All five of what I've started referring to as the “Sombra team” then gather in the center of the clearing, so I join them as well. There's not much time left before what's going to be the hardest fight of my life.

“I'm looking forward to this,” Chrysalis expresses, nonchalantly running a hoof through her webbed mane. I look at her as though she's gone crazy, as does Cadance. “I've been fighting all this time without even seeing what my enemy looks like.”

None of us answer her. Each of us is busy steeling ourselves for the fight to come. None of us hold any illusions about Sombra's strength. I've seen it first hand when he took my magic from me, so I know just what we're up against.

“Are you all prepared?” Celestia asks us softly, facing all of us with concern evident in her eyes. “This will not be an easy fight.”

“Of course. I'm anxious to see his power for myself,” Chrysalis responds first. I give a quiet scoff. I don't think she has any idea what she's getting into. “Honestly, I think taking all five of us is overkill.”

“I will stand by thee, sister. This time, let us make sure to put him down permanently,” Luna answers, using magic to clean her sickle blade.

“There are hundreds of ponies out there counting on us to free them. We can't fail,” Cadance adds next, as serious as the rest of us. “Still...he's so strong. I'm a little frightened.”

“Hah, I don't blame you on that one. To be completely honest, I'm not prepared for this,” I admit, my arms crossed. “I'm not prepared for any of this. I'm not a soldier. I just want to go home to Ponyville and live there with my friends.”

“I understand. I believe I speak for all of us when I say that we share similar goals,” Celestia responds, her eyes softening. Luna and Cadance nod in agreement. Chrysalis rolls her eyes at that, but otherwise remains silent. “But we must fight, Seth. There is no other course of action available to us.”

“I know that. I know what's at stake. I'll fight with the rest of you, don't worry about that,” I return softly. “I'm just tired of all this. I want it to be over.”

“Hey. We'll be fine,” Cadance assures me, rubbing up against my side. “We all have things to come back to...I have Shining Armor, and you have Rainbow, right? Just remember that, and you'll be okay.”

“Oh spare me. What, do you want me to spill my heart out to you now?” Chrysalis grunts, unamused by the exchange taking place. She pointedly ignores the disapproving stare that Celestia gives her. “You take too long. Let's just get in there and fight.”

Any further conversation is cut off when Captain Gale flies in from the northern sectors of the city, accompanied by several others of the Stealth Corps. “Princess! We've got enemy reinforcements inbound!” Gale announces in a clear voice, such that the whole clearing can hear it.

“How many, captain?” Celestia demands immediately.

“Too many to count. We'll be hard pressed to hold the tower!” Gale warns us. Oh shit, there's the other foot. I figured it wouldn't be that easy. We didn't fight anywhere near enough undead to account for his whole army.

“Don't pay attention to her, princess!” Shining Armor calls back from where he's been constructing barricades. “We can hold here while you take care of King Sombra!”

“Are you sure?” Celestia asks uncertainly.

“Ma'am, I'd be ashamed to call myself a captain if we couldn't even do that,” Blades calls in next, joining Shining Armor by the barricade. “Trust us. You do what you need to do, and we'll make sure nothing gets in to bother you.”

“You heard the stallion! We've got this, princesses,” Spitfire adds confidently. She and the rest of the Wonderbolts are hovering above the ground with the Pegasus Corps, prepared to provide fire support for the ground forces.

“Very well. Thank you, all of you,” Celestia finally responds with a smile. Determination fills her eyes, and she looks at us. “Let's go, everyone. It's up to us now.”

As we all nod and follow Equestria towards the entrance to the tower, cheers rise up from the allied forces.

“All hail the princesses!”

“We're depending on you all!”

“Take that mongrel down!” The soldiers cheer, raising their weapons into the air. As for me...I see all of the ponies that I've known ever since getting to Equestria standing in a line and gazing at me. The only one not there is Applejack and Fluttershy, as they're in the rear camp.

“Make sure you come back, or I'll come up there myself!” Rainbow threatens me, jabbing her hoof in my direction. “You know I will!”

“Be careful, darling. Know that all of us are rooting for you!” Rarity calls. Even as dirty and mussed up as she is now, her usual complains are absent, replaced with only concern for our safety.

“Make that mean meanie-pants take a time-out! That'll teach him a lesson!” Pinkie adds as well, sounding as nonsensical as ever.

“I wish I could be there with you all...but I'll hold here with the rest. Just come back to us, okay? There's so many things I wanted to share with you!” Twilight calls, focusing the last part of her comment on me.

“Trixie...uh...I am proud to call you my friend, Seth!” Trixie even adds, showing a great deal more emotion than she usually does. She immediately goes back to her usual demeanor, making me chuckle a little. “And I don't say that lightly! Be grateful of my generosity!”

“We'll keep them off of you, commander. You have my word!” Swift affirms, clutching her lance tightly in her magic. “Just make sure to do your part!”

Hearing all of their cries of support to us makes me tear up slightly, to the point where I'm at a loss for words. All I can do is turn and give them all a short two-fingered wave...and then I follow the others into the tower itself.

The inside of the tower looks so different from what it used to be. The halls are dark and menacing, and with the angled crystal and crystalline spikes extending from the walls, it looks like we're walking through the mouth of some twisted beast. The only lights come from the torch sconces lining the wall, each one burning with an ethereal purple and green flame.

It's absolutely quiet; even the cheers of the soldiers outside have been completely shut out by the thick crystal walls. The only sound comes from the clip clopping of the others' hooves on the floor....and from my own heartbeat that I'm painfully aware of.

“This way. If I remember correctly, the staircase was hidden before Twilight uncovered it,” Celestia directs us, changing paths down another hall. Eventually the area leads out into the main central part of the tower, which I remember walking through before it was corrupted.

The moment we near the other side of the room, one of the hallways erupts with the sound of guttural roaring, as well as pounding hoofbeats that seem to shake the floor beneath us. I immediately take out my sword, knowing exactly what's making that growling.

“Steady...it appears the tower is not without resistance of its own,” Celestia states. Taking her advice, we put some distance between ourselves and the hallway. Seconds later, a Mega Oppressed barrels out of the corridor...followed by another, and another, until there are a total of five Mega Oppressed in the room with us. My eyes bug out, having never seen that many of them in one place before. “Each of you take one and dispatch it as quickly as you can! Do not use your magic against them; it is ineffective!”

“Shut up, Celestia. We all know the drill at this point,” Chrysalis hisses back impatiently. She rears up on her hind legs and kicks at the air. “If you think you can take me down, come give it your best shot!”

The Mega Oppressed roar and charge all of us at once. The first thing we do is scatter apart to make it so that they can't group up on us. When I see two of them heading for Cadance, I form my blade into shurikens again and get one's attention by slicing into its flesh repeatedly.

While I'm contending with my own, Celestia is making short work of hers. With her superior speed, Celestia easily outmaneuvers it and bucks it hard into the wall. Her strength is so great, the monster's chest buckles in so far that some of its rib bones puncture the skin on its back.

As for Chrysalis, she smirks and transforms into a massive dragon that makes Pterax's look like nothing. With the added physical strength that it affords her, she lifts her Mega Oppressed clear off the ground and impales it on one of the larger spikes coming up from the floor, taking it out in no time at all. She then reverts to her original form, dusting off her hooves smugly. “And you all say these things are a threat. Adorable,” she emits confidently.

Remembering my tactics with the last one I faced, I aim for the creature's legs first, because it's pretty much helpless to stop you from getting behind it if it can't maneuver anymore. Just like before, I run circles around it until it falls, and then take it out from behind with my sword.

Celestia joins Cadance in dealing with hers, while Chrysalis and I move to assist Luna. With all of us working together, dealing with them is no trouble at all, especially considering how skilled all of us are.

When the last one falls, we immediately start moving again, traveling through the corridor from where the undead emerged. From here, it isn't long before we find the hidden staircase of which Celestia spoke. The doorway is hanging ajar, for some reason. Either it was left open since the last time we were here...wait no, that's unlikely. Sombra must have left it open, as if inviting us up to see him. His arrogance causes me to grit my teeth in anger.

“Not much further. Be ready,” Celestia advises us all as we step into the stairwell. As we climb higher, we eventually exit out into the open air high above the battlefield. Around us, we can hear the winds whipping around the tower not too far from us, keeping anypony from flying up here to join us. That's why we don't just fly to the top. Below us, we see the massive amount of undead bearing down on the tower, putting pressure on our defenses. I only hope the allied forces are doing well. “Remember the plan, everyone. When I retreat to build up my magical energy, you must keep him from searching for me. If I am interrupted, we are lost.”

“I'm telling you, that's not going to be necessary. There's so many of us, one pony can't possibly stand a chance,” Chrysalis expresses. However, she's ignored by the rest of us, who aren't as stupid as she is right now and know how much of a threat Sombra is to us.

“We will not let him find thee, sister,” Luna assures her. Cadance and I nod in agreement, as there's nothing more to be said. There's nothing standing between us, and the king.

At the top of the tower, the staircase opens out onto a wide platform...the very summit of the Crystal Tower. We're so high off the ground at this point, we're above the dark clouds that swirl around the tower. On the edges of the platform are several pillars, casting shadows over the crystal and giving the area an ominous look.

In the center of the platform is a construct of black crystals. Floating a few feet above the top of the construct is the Crystal Heart itself, looking black and corrupted just like the rest of the city. So it was up here the whole time. However, that's not what truly draws our attention.

Standing just in front of the crystal construct with his back to us...is King Sombra.

> 129. The Last Night of the Kings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The night drags on. Shadows dance among the summit of the tower, upon which the final battle is to take place.

The five of us spread out, each one of us moving with caution, in case Sombra decides to attack us all at once. I take a position between Cadance and Chrysalis and immediately get into a defensive stance. I'm armed with my rifle and sword, knowing fully well that I'm going to have to use every technique and ability that I've ever learned in order to keep up with the monster before us.

King Sombra doesn't move an inch, even though I'm sure he's fully aware of our presence. The wind, much calmer up here than down below, blows across the tower summit. Sombra's shadowy mane and cape gently flutters in the breeze.

It's dead silent. Not a single one of us makes a sound. Sombra is gazing silently into the tranquil surface of the twisted Crystal Heart. From what I can see of his reflection, he's wearing a stoic and unreadable expression. I can't even imagine the thoughts that might be running through his head right now.

Sombra closes his eyes briefly, and an invisible wave of magic flows over the summit. It's so dense I can physically feel it passing over my skin, causing goosebumps to form. When Sombra opens his eyes again, his sclera have turned a vivid green, and streams of purple magic trail back from the corners of his eyes.

The Crystal Heart sinks down into the floor with the rest of the crystal construct, leaving us all standing atop a bare crystal platform.

The king turns his head ever so slightly, gazing back at the five of us with one malevolent eye. Dread fills me up inside, and I almost step back under the intensity of his gaze. He's hardly using any magic...but I can feel his evil power...and it unsettles me, even more than when I faced Chrysalis the first time.

“Thou art most tenacious, princesses,” Sombra observes in his deep, unearthly voice. His eye turns to focus on only Celestia and Luna. I suppose that's because they're the only ones he knows personally, besides me. “Despite every obstacle ye hast faced...here ye stand, at the summit of mine tower.”

Sombra turns slowly, his armored hooves clanking on the smooth crystal floor. When he's facing us, I can see the amulet that Hawke gave to him...the Alicorn Amulet...pinned to his chestplate. The gem in the center of the amulet is pulsing an ominous red. Remembering Hawke's words...that amulet enhances his power even further past its natural limits. I can't help but gulp with trepidation.

“Thou hast not changed, in the past millennia. Thou never wouldst give up in the face of hopeless adversity,” Sombra addresses the two princesses again. I'm a little confused; it seems like he's complimenting them. “I admire thy determination. What drives thee, that thou feels thou must rail against thy fate?”

“I would not expect you to understand, King Sombra.” Celestia is the one who answers him, the princess stepping closer to him. “There is far more at stake here than a simple grudge between you and I. You have never understood the pain you inflict upon those whom you oppress, those whom you enslave, and even those who serve you.”

“Ah yes...thou believest that thy unprovoked assault on my kingdom was for the sake of justice, if I recall correctly,” King Sombra returns, his eyes narrowing. “As I explained to thee during thy attempts at diplomacy, the fates of mine servants art not thy concern. The task of any king is to create a lasting empire to span the ages. To accomplish this, they art given resources...tools...in the form of ponies, capital, and natural resources. I have done nothing but use what was given to me...surely thou understands?”

“That...King Sombra...is why we declared war on you,” Celestia responds without missing a beat. She stomps her hoof on the floor, the impact causing a thunderous sound. “Ponies are not tools to be used; they are wondrous creatures, each one with the ability to laugh, love, and cry. They are to be nurtured and cherished. To enslave and torture them as you have is the highest of moral crimes.”

“Thou was not given any resources to utilize, tyrant! Everything that thou hast, thou hast stolen from the innocent crystal ponies! Thou hast no room to speak of royal duties, knave. Thou art no true king!” Luna accuses him, moving to stand beside her sister.

“And that's not all!” I suddenly find my voice again, the words I've been dying to say coming to me in a flood that I can't control. I step up beside Celestia and Luna, earning Sombra's attention for the first time. Despite the way his glowing eyes bore into mine, I force myself to keep talking. “You weren't satisfied with just taking over the Crystal Empire and treating them like shit. No, just because you saw the possibility that it would be you that lost, you decided to come to my time, ruin my life, and kill off my entire race! What about us!? Were we just tools to be used, all for the sake of creating some pointless empire that isn't even yours!?”

King Sombra is silent in the wake of our combined denouncements. I'd like to say that he showed at least some form of reaction to our words, but I would be lying. His expression is as stoic as ever. If he's unsettled by anything we've said, he's not showing it.

“Ye know nothing, all of thee. Ye believe that my kingdom ought to belong to you, solely because ye disapprove of the way I govern...such audacity,” Sombra returns, closing his eyes briefly. “All I have done is for the sake of showing the world an eternal empire ruled by true power...my power. Laughter, love, and tears...these feelings are fickle and fleeting, disappearing into the sands of time in the blink of an eye. They are but trappings, holding one back from attaining true strength...the strength to endure time itself.”

“Thou claimest to love and cherish thy subjects, princesses, but they are but tools to you as well. Every kingdom is built upon the shoulders of its citizens. How these citizens are used and treated is up to the discretion of its ruler...yet in the end, their nature as tools is unchanging,” Sombra criticizes the two princesses harshly. His eyes shoot to me again. “Seth Rogers...I see thou continuest to endure. Despite all expectations, thy species is a hardy one. Art thou here to exact revenge upon me?”

“No, I'm not,” I tell him flatly. Sombra raises a brow, obviously taken by surprise at that response. “Don't get me wrong. You do need to answer for all of the crimes you've committed...against my race...and the ponies. There's no doubt about that. But that's not why I'm here.”

“I have a future waiting for me back home...a happy future, of the likes that I've never had the chance to pursue before...and that's why I'm fighting you,” I finish, cracking my knuckles. Celestia and Luna both give me approving glances at my words.

Sombra's lips turn downwards into a snarl. “What a disappointment. 'Tis good thou accomplished thy purpose before losing thine individuality to these Equestrians. Perhaps thou wouldst have made a better tool if thou had shared my goals...like my Governor-General,” he derides me harshly, looking genuinely disgusted at my response. He straightens up, angling his head towards the sky. “'Tis time thou art dealt with. Hawke, attend to me.”

Nobody moves as Sombra's command peters out into the clouded sky. Sombra's brow wrinkles in confusion as there is no response to his call. He repeats his command, only to be ignored once more. I can't help but smirk at his expression.

“That won't be happening, Sombra. The human race isn't going to be ruled by you anymore,” I snap at him confidently. “Hawke's with us now, and you're without your last backup plan. You won't be powering up any further.”

Sombra, for the first time, looks truly surprised. “Hawke hast betrayed me?” His question seems almost innocent in the way that he phrases it, as if this outcome had been the last thing that he had ever expected. Anger fills the king's face, and then he slams his hoof into the surface of the tower, shadowy magic erupting from his hoof. The force of impact is so great, I feel the entire tower shake beneath me, once again letting me know just how strong he is. “This was unforeseen. Nevertheless, he hath served his purpose. I shall simply have to deal with thee myself.”

“This is pointless,” Chrysalis finally interrupts impatiently. The queen had been standing there quietly, taking in Sombra's features, but at this point it looks like she's had enough. “All we're doing is standing around. It's obvious that none of us are going to change our minds, so let's just get on with it and crush him now!”

Chrysalis stares back confidently as Sombra turns his gaze onto her for the first time. She doesn't show any kind of fear, though I can't tell if that's because of true confidence or just ignorance. “Who art thou, creature?” Sombra demands curiously. “I have not seen thy kind during mine experiences.”

“You wouldn't have, of course. My name is Queen Chrysalis, sovereign of the changeling race,” Chrysalis introduces herself with a bow. “Usually, I'd be offering you an alliance, because I don't really care one way or another whether Equestria falls or not. But...I can't exactly feed off of undead, so as it stands, I'm here to kill you.”

“Indeed. It's time to bring this whole war to an end, and give the crystal ponies back their home!” Cadance joins in next, glaring at Sombra fiercely. “We've overcome each and every one of your strategies and traps; you can't stop us now!”

“My strategies?” Sombra repeats, a slight smile appearing. “Thou art mistaken. Beyond the formal declaration of war, I had no involvement with thy war.”

That gets all of us to stop and look at him in shock. I mean, I thought it was odd how he held a banquet while we were marching on his kingdom...but...to think that he didn't take part at all? That can't be right. What about all those traps we were caught in?

“You mean to tell us that you were not coordinating the assaults on Equestria?” Celestia questions, as surprised as the rest of us. Sombra shakes his head firmly. “I was certain you intended to take revenge for your defeat in the past. If you were not in charge of the war effort, then what were you doing for all this time?”

“I was waiting...waiting for thee. I knew that I need not act personally against thee, as given enough time, thou wouldst return to challenge me thyself,” Sombra explains. “I left the war in the capable hooves of General Shatter and Governor-General Hawke. 'Twas they who maneuvered thy armies into a trap.”

Sombra's magic slowly starts to rise, the king's eyes narrowing. All of us react by taking defensive stances, watching Sombra closely. “No, thou wouldst approach me. Thy misguided sense of justice made this meeting inevitable...” The very floor beneath us begins to shake, making it harder to keep my footing. “'Tis now that I will test my newly acquired strength...the strength which I hath endured a millennia of imprisonment to attain...”

King Sombra plants his hooves firmly on the floor and begins gathering an incredible amount of magical energy around his body. The very air twists and dilates around him, forming tendrils of utter darkness that stream to his body.

“Here he comes....get ready,” Cadance whispers to me. I nod and ready my rifle, transforming it into a drummed machine gun. I'll let Celestia and Luna handle him up close. I'll fight from a distance at first and deal as much damage as I can.

“Prepare thyselves...” Sombra's horn becomes shrouded with reddish black magic, green electricity sparking from the tip ominously. His muscles tense and his teeth bare, and then magic explodes from around his body, releasing a shockwave across the entire summit of the tower. I hold my arms in front of my face, warding off what looks like an ocean of reddish blackness as it washes over us. When my vision clears, Sombra is revealed, tongues of shadow licking up his body like flame. Like before, I can't feel the entirety of his magical might. It's too far out of my comprehension as I am right now. When Sombra next speaks, it's in an guttural roar. “Thy fate is at hoof!”

Immediately, all five of us power up at once. Pillars of magical energy erupt from each of us and shoot up into the air. Celestia's white golden energy is the largest of us all, surging up from around her in a torrent of sheer power, causing her mane to rise in an ethereal wind. On either side of her are Cadance, with her light pink aura engulfing her; and Luna, with a wave of starry black magic shooting up into the sky.

Beside me, Chrysalis's sickly green energy makes itself evident as she powers herself up all the way for the first time since I saw her at the royal wedding. She wasn't lying about training; she's definitely stronger than she was before.

As for me, I'm going all out from the very beginning. At my current level, I won't even be able to put a scratch on Sombra. I break past the mental barrier in my mind and push myself to the limit, moving directly into my transformation. My hair flows upwards as if suspended in water, and cuneiform runes streak over my body like ethereal chains.

Luna and Celestia, with their weapons held high, charge at King Sombra at the same time, followed closely by Cadance and Chrysalis. The first thing I do is leap forward in a roll and level my machine gun at Sombra. I immediately squeeze the trigger and unload a stream of deadly magical bullets into Sombra's general direction.

The king turns his head to glare at me. Seconds before my bullets, Celestia, and Luna reach him, he explodes into a thick cloud of black smoke. Weaving through all of us, the smoke streaks around us in a circle and swiftly forms a tornado of darkness that encloses all of us in. Sombra's menacing laughter seems to echo from everywhere at once.

Before I can process what's happening, something slams into my upper back, knocking me right off of my feet. I yelp and hit the floor hard, rolling over and over several times until Cadance lowers herself down and stops me with a hoof. As she's helping me up, I look back to where I was standing, but I don't see anything that could have hit me. Nothing...except the whirling black wall of smoke that's holding us in.

“Stay away from the smoke!” Celestia warns us all. Immediately after she says that, Sombra appears out of the smoke behind her with his front hooves wreathed in darkness. She immediately notices and whirls around, lifting her shield just in time to intercept the king's vicious attacks. Each hit sends Celestia skidding backwards.

“What a cheap tactic!” Chrysalis scoffs. She gallops to intercept Sombra and Celestia, swinging a hoof directly at the king. Her hoof passes through nothing but shadow as Sombra dissipates into the smoke once more. Chrysalis hisses in frustration.

“He's closing in!” Cadance alerts us. My eyes shoot to the smoke...and see that the walls are indeed closing in. Luna cries out from her position as she's forced to intercept Sombra as the king appears and strikes at her without warning. She manages to block his hoof with her sword just in time, but can't counterattack in time before he retreats into the smoke again.

This happens repeatedly as Sombra appears all around us, attacking us repeatedly at increasingly intervals as the walls close in. Unable to focus on anything other than defense, the five of us group close together, fending off the king's fast and relentless assault.

Above us, a dark cloud of magic starts to form, green electricity sparking from inside the cloud. Chrysalis is the first one to spot it. “He's trying to group us together!” she warns us. Seconds later, lightning bolts of Sombra's magic shoot down from the cloud, forcing us to dodge in every direction to keep from getting shocked.

The moment I near the wall, Sombra appears from within and attacks me, his hoof slamming into my side and knocking me back towards the center of the vortex...right in the path of one of the lightning bolts.

Celestia immediately shoves me down with her side, lifting her shield in time to block to the lightning bolt. The metal on the shield dents and cracks from the collision with Sombra's incredible magic power.

“Everyone fly! Get up above the clouds!” Luna calls out frantically, flying up into the air. I break into a run, distancing myself from Celestia and taking to the air, narrowly dodging another bolt in the process. Together with Chrysalis and Cadance, we force our way out of Sombra's magical trap.

Down below, Celestia and Luna stand in the center of the whirling tornado of smoke. Celestia narrows her eyes and stomps both hooves on the floor, releasing a burst of golden magic in all directions. The smoke dissipates like fog in the morning sun before her power...except for one streak of darkness that whirls through the air up towards us.

I cry out in surprise as Sombra appears in midair right in the middle of Chrysalis, Cadance, and I. The bottom half of his body is obscured in a wisp of shadow that trails down behind him. Despite the fact that he's not an alicorn, he is flying just like us.

Wielding my sword once more, I join Chrysalis and Cadance in attacking him all at once. I grunt and swing my sword in a vertical slice, aiming for his head. Sombra, his face stoic and focused, lifts up a gauntleted hoof and redirects my attack, a shower of sparks falling to the floor below from the impact. He immediately turns and fends off Chrysalis and Cadance's punches with just his hooves, handling them with practiced skill. From below, Luna waits until she sees an opportunity, and then she fires bolts of starry magic from her horn up at the king.

When Sombra is dodging Luna's magic, I attempt to seize the opening and unleash a series of attacks with my sword, making sure to angle the blade towards the weak points in his armor. I immediately have to halt my assault when Sombra ducks beneath my weapon, which puts Cadance right in my way.

Sombra's hoof barrels into my unprotected stomach, sending unbelievable pain running through my body as well as winding me at the same time. As I'm keeled over, coughing, the king grasps my neck and hurls me over his shoulder into Cadance.

Cadance and I both hit the floor together painfully, leaving Chrysalis up there to fight Sombra on her own. “I have to thank you for getting them out of my way,” Chrysalis confidently says to Sombra as the two of them exchange a furious array of punches. Her right hoof slams into his cannon bone, and then his left hoof collides with hers. It's not that evident, but I can see Chrysalis wince with pain. Even she is starting to feel Sombra's raw power. “Now I can take you down on my own.”

“Is that so?” Sombra responds. He takes a moment to back away from Chrysalis and avoid Luna's attacks once more...and now Celestia is starting to return to the fight. His horn flares with magic, and the air seems to crack open behind him in the shape of a horizontal crevice. Hundreds of razor edged crystals fire from the crevice in a seemingly endless torrent, raining down on Luna and Celestia and keeping them busy defending themselves.

Chrysalis smirks and takes his moment of distraction to attack head on with a double hoofed strike...only for her hooves to pass through the empty air where Sombra used to be. The king's shadowy form surges beneath Chrysalis and up around her, reforming on her right. Before Chrysalis can react, his hoof snakes out and collides directly with her cheek. Chrysalis gasps in shock and pain as her head is snapped to the side, saliva and blood flying from her mouth. Reforming his legs, Sombra uses gravity as well as his own momentum to perform a skilled flip, levering his hind hooves unto Chrysalis's body and sending her crashing down onto the ground just beside Cadance and I.

“Come on...we've got to get back into it,” Cadance says to me, offering me a hoof. I take it and get back to my feet, still panting a little from how hard Sombra hit me. I nod and run with Cadance back towards where Luna and Celestia are fighting Sombra at the same time.

Sombra summons a black crystal from nothing and uses his magic to shape it. The crystal thins and elongates, one end tapering to a point. The edge of an axe forms on that same end, until the crystal has become a halberd. With it, he blocks both Celestia and Luna's blades at the same time. The impact creates a sound like that of thunder, and the floor cracks and shatters around them. High speed winds gust out from the point of impact, blowing across my face and hair as Cadance and I rush to join them.

With Luna on one side and Celestia on the other, they both swing their weapons again and again at Sombra. The king's halberd whips through the air faster than what seems physically possible, blocking every strike that comes his way. Each impact causes similar shockwaves as the first...a testament to the insane amount of magical power being released.

King Sombra never moves. Even as Celestia and Luna circle around him in an attempt to find a blind spot, he does not move a single inch. His body spins in place in the blink of an eye as he rotates to fend off the two princesses, but that is the extent of his movement.

Cadance rushes ahead of me as I kneel down and aim a long ranged rifle at Sombra from several meters away. Putting my eye to the scope, I maneuver the sights on him, waiting for a moment to fire.

With the three princesses attacking him at once, Sombra appears to be occupied, giving me the perfect opportunity. I squeeze the trigger, which fires a thin beam of piercing magic through the air towards the king's head.

Sombra's eyes narrow. When he brings up his halberd to clash against Luna's blade, he brings it down to the ground and uses his free hoof to bat Luna aside like she's nothing, sending her tumbling across the ground. He immediately turns in place to block both Cadance and Celestia's attacks with very little effort, his halberd flicking around like a hornet.

He easily ducks beneath Cadance's hooves and rams his shoulder upwards into her chest, knocking her into the air. A split second later, his weapon collides with Celestia's. With a burst of magic, he repulses her away just in time to turn and slice my shot right in half, if that's even possible. That whole exchange took place in the short amount of time it took for my shot to reach him.

“That's enough of this...I will not be humiliated...!” Chrysalis growls furiously from behind me. I turn my head slightly to see her rising from the floor, her horn flaring with her magic. My eyes widen as her magical power exerts itself on the air around me, indicating that she's about to use an incredibly powerful attack. “Know despair, false king!”

She lowers her head and her spell fires, forming a beam larger than my standard rifle blast. It surges towards Sombra with the promise of imminent destruction to anything caught in its way. Celestia immediately moves out of the way, as does Cadance.

Sombra remains still, turning his head slowly to gaze at the incoming beam of magic. His face is tinted with the green light of the powerful magic heading his direction. “It appears it is time to begin taking this seriously,” Sombra observes. Just before the beam reaches him, he leaps up and completely deflects the beam up and away from him with a single sweep of a darkness covered hoof.

“B-But...what...? That was...I...” Chrysalis stammers, taking a few steps back as King Sombra starts to approach her. Cursing, I step in front of the shell shocked queen and form a chain dagger in my hand.

“Don't just stand there! Keep moving, and don't waste your magic!” I criticize her. In an attempt to keep Sombra away from her, I shoot out the chain knife with a flick of my wrist. Sombra avoids the first one, but when the second lashes out at him, he lifts a hoof and lets the chain wrap around it. Even though I realize what he's about to do, I don't have time to react before I'm tugged right off of the floor and hurled through the air.

I cry out with pain as my back slams into one of the pillars surrounding the summit, the structure giving way before my momentum. I hurtle backwards through the air for several seconds before I gain my bearings. Immediately, I fly back towards the battlefield, firing a pistol towards Sombra, who is now contending with Celestia, Luna, and Cadance again.

Luna leaps back and sticks her sword into the floor. A glowing circle of blueish magic forms there...seconds before a larger one forms in the air above Sombra. Several points of white light form in the larger circle, forming the outline of a familiar constellation....Orion.

Sombra immediately moves to get out of the circle, but he's met by Celestia, who turns her body and lashes out at him with both hind legs. Sombra blocks the attack with his halberd, but it's enough to force him back into the circle. When he tries to move the other way, Cadance blasts him back with a blast of her own pink magic.

“Taste the fury of the night skies! Orion!” Luna shouts, her horn flaring with starry black magic. A bright white line connects the stars of the constellation, and then the whole thing slams down on Sombra. The king manages to catch it with one hoof, and is starting to repulse it...when another constellation falls from the circle. “Aquarius! Cancer! Gemini!”

Sombra grunts and buckles beneath the weight of each different constellation as they fly through the air and surround him in a web of pulsing white light. The shining light intensifies, and then they all explode violently around him.

Luna's triumph doesn't last long. The cloud of crystalline dust and rubble from the explosion is suddenly blown away by Sombra's magic. His aura seems to have doubled in size...much to my horror. He's already taking everything we throw at him without any real damage...how much stronger can he get!?

“Allow me to show thee...” Sombra growls. When Celestia, Cadance, and I move to attack him head on, he leaps above us, using his mastery over shadow to fly through the air. Once he's high above us, he shoots bolts of green electricity down to the floor...though he's not aiming at us. He fires four bolts, each of which land on a separate point on the summit corresponding to the four cardinal directions. Walls of electricity shoot across the floor to connect each point, forcing all of us to dodge frantically to avoid getting fried.

“Don't let him fire off that technique!” Celestia orders us all. Nodding, I form my standard rifle and fire pillars of emerald light up towards him. My shots are accompanied by beams of magic from everypony else as all of us shoot up at him at once.

Sombra forms a large ball of roiling shadow in his forehooves. With a shout, he hurls the orb down at the center of the cross formed by the electricity. The ball of magic comes into contact with all of our attacks, absorbing and negating them.

“Brace thyselves!” Luna yells to the rest of us. Seconds before the ball hits the floor, I break into a run, intending to get as far away from the blast as I can.

In the end, it's pointless. When the ball collides with the floor, it combines with the electricity and causes the entire summit to explode with a pillar of darkness that surges up into the air and evaporates the clouds in its way. The explosion is so loud it deafens me, and is so destructive that it destroys all of the pillars surrounding us. I'm blown completely off of my feet and right off the edge of the tower.

I'm not the only one falling through the air. Chrysalis, Cadance, and Luna are hurtling end over end with me. Just as we're starting to slow our fall, Sombra zooms through the air and appears in the middle of us.

I cry out in surprise and right myself just in time to block Sombra's hoof on my forearm. It hurts like hell, but I power through the pain and block several other of his attacks. However, the last one is a double hoofed strike that powers right through my block and sends me shooting down to the snowy ground outside the Crystal Empire itself.

Groaning, I open my eye and look upwards to see Chrysalis, Cadance, and Luna fighting Sombra all at once, their hooves striking out at him again and again, their bodies wreathed in magic. Sombra is just too much for them. He dashes between them in a wave of shadow, unleashing volleys of darkness and onslaughts of punishing punches and kicks. As I'm rising from my position on the ground, Luna slams into the ground next to me, groaning in agony. Cadance follows soon afterward.

“Ggh...you're not that tough! I'll...!” Chrysalis grunts as she contends with Sombra on her own. She and the king land on the snowy ground not far from us and engage in a vicious melee with one another. Each impact of their hooves on the other's guard sends out a black and sickly green shockwave that rushes over me, blowing back my hair and clothes.

Sombra smirks at her determination. He catches one of her punches with no effort, holding her in place. He turns and bucks her backwards through the air, causing the queen to cough up greenish blood. However, he's not finished with her. He streaks around her like a comet and appears behind her. He punches her right in the barrel, completely halting her momentum. He punches her again and again, overwhelming any defense she might have attempted to mount and beating her into submission.

“It seems thou hast misconceptions of thine own power...a delusion to be pitied,” Sombra criticizes Chrysalis as he slams her into the ground with a single hoof. He presses her head into the snow as she chokes in agony. “This is no place for thee, changeling. Thou art nothing but a foal, playing in the arena of kings.”

“Get off of her!” I yell out, getting to my feet and charging Sombra before he can deal any more damage to her. We can't let her fall here...we still need her! Sombra's head jerks up at my approach, and his eyes narrow.

“Seth...” Sombra rumbles. He moves away from Chrysalis and meets me head on, ducking underneath my blade as it whistles overhead. I choke as he uppercuts me into the air...only to reappear above me and flip kick me right back into the snow.

“So...strong..” I grunt, leaping to my feet just in time to block his follow up attack with the flat of my blade. I can feel my sword straining under his sheer physical strength. It won't last long if I try to use it as a shield.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Luna moving to heal Chrysalis. Cadance seems to be moving to support me. Okay, I just need to buy time for Chrysalis to get back in the fight.

I push Sombra away with the flat of my blade and then quickly reform the weapon into an archaic arm cannon, consisting of a bladed barrel and a single handle upon which my hand is clenched. I pull the trigger and fire blasts of runed magic up through the air. Sombra blocks each and every one with his hooves, but he is forced back into the air.

Sombra deflects another shot and retaliates with a beam of his own from his horn, forcing me to frantically dodge in order to avoid getting incinerated. Now that he's free to breathe, the king lifts one hoof and starts gathering magic there, the limb seeming to ignite with sparking shadowy fire. With a yell, Sombra turns in midair and plummets to the earth, aiming directly for me.

I look up in panic, forming a pistol. I won't be able to block that...I can tell from the immense magical pressure emanating from his hoof. In a last ditch effort to fend him off, I point my pistol at him and squeeze off shot after shot. Each bullet just bounces off of his breastplate, causing me to panic further. If that hits me...I'm fucking toast.

Just before Sombra reaches me, Celestia appears in front of me, her armor damaged and her weapon missing. She raises a blazing white hoof just in time to block his shadowy hoof. The collision sends out a dull rumble through the air and ground at first...and then a bright light flares out from where their two hooves are connected. I cry out and throw myself to the snowy ground seconds before a massive explosion ensues, melting the snow nearby and blowing all of us away.

I land over by Luna and Chrysalis, the latter of whom is back on her hooves, albeit shaken. Upon my appearance beside them, Luna helps me back to my feet. “Art thou injured, Seth?” Luna asks me worriedly.

“Yes...but nothing for you to waste your magic on,” I grunt in response, nursing my aching limbs. I feel like I'm hurting all over. I don't think we've hurt him at all yet...and I'm already winded.

When the explosion dissipates, Sombra and Celestia are revealed, the two of them exchanging destructive blows with one another. Snow rains down around them, having been thrown into the air from the explosion. As the strongest amongst us, Celestia is managing to hold her own against Sombra's immense strength, but it's clear that she's losing ground. Every so often, Sombra will power past her defenses and deal her a nasty blow to her face or chest.

Celestia grunts and grabs Sombra's hoof as he moves to punch her again. She spins around and hurls Sombra right back up into the air, following up by firing a beam of golden magic after him. Sombra rights himself...but he's too late to guard himself from Celestia's attack.

Sombra blows away the magic after a moment, revealing that his armor has been singed and his body is slightly burned in a few places. However, it doesn't stop him from charging up an incredible amount of magic in his horn. With a roar, he fires a massive beam of destruction down at her.

Celestia immediately turns to the ground and draws something in the snow around her with the tips of her hooves. Just before the beam of darkness reaches her, she turns and gives us all a meaningful look.

Seconds later, the beam collides with the ground. The explosion that ensues is so large, a mushroom cloud forms from the point of impact. Celestia's form is completely obscured...and for a moment I start to fear the worst. If she's taken down...we're all screwed, because she's the one around which our entire plan hinges.

When the smoke clears...Celestia is nowhere to be seen. Sombra lands nearby and looks at the crater formed by his attack, searching for any sign of his foe. “Strange...that should not have been enough power to vaporize her...” Sombra doesn't appear convinced that his attack worked. As he starts to look around for Celestia, I realize what just happened.

“Come on! We've got to stop him!” I tell the other three. Understanding dawns in their eyes as they reach the same conclusion that I did. Celestia must have used a spell to teleport away...and now she's charging up the attack that will hopefully bring us victory. Now...all that's left is for us to buy time for her and damage Sombra as much as we can.

Sombra turns his head to us as we run towards him. He is clearly more skilled than I am in close quarters combat, so I hang back and run in a wide circle around him, tossing shurikens and firing rifle shots every time I see a opening.

Chrysalis gallops ahead of the other two, her eyes alight with fury. She reaches the king first and fires a blast of magic at point blank range. “How dare you call me a foal!?” Despite the fact that Sombra emerges from her blast practically unharmed, she presses her attack. “I have lived for hundreds of years...I am no foal!”

Goddammit, Chrysalis is letting him get to her. Sombra knows this, as he's now grinning wolfishly. Despite how much magical power Chrysalis is putting into her attacks, he easily matches her and blocks or avoids everything she sends at him.

“Queen Chrysalis, calm thyself!” Luna warns her as as she and Cadance join Chrysalis in attacking Sombra. Sombra shows off his skill with magic as he uses his hooves to combat Cadance and Chrysalis, and his halberd to block Luna's sickle sword, all at the same time. As for my shurikens and bullets, I can't seem to damage him at all. He dodges my shurikens and just lets my bullets hit him; they just bounce off of his skin and armor. Never once does his concentration falter. I grunt in frustration. His magical protection is ridiculously strong...even Vanta took damage when I shot him.

“I will not be made a fool of by some smug tyrant!” Chrysalis rages, swinging her hoof wildly at Sombra. The king moves his head to one side, letting the queen's hoof zoom past him. Using the opening, he steps forward and knocks Chrysalis's head up with a swift uppercut to her chin. Then, he blasts her right off of her hooves with an explosion of shadow right to her chest.

Goddammit, she keeps getting herself hurt for no reason! I rush in with my sword to keep the pressure on Sombra, but it isn't long before my blade clashes with his halberd. Every time I swing down at him, my blade collides with his halberd. One thing I notice is that his weapon has split into two smaller versions of itself, and he's now using the both of them to fight Luna and myself, hardly even needing to move his own body.

Beside me, Luna and Cadance cease their onslaught and clasp hooves together. Recognizing what they're trying to do, I dash around Sombra using my increased movement and attempt to occupy his attention. I try to zoom around him like I did to the Mega Oppressed...only to find that Sombra is just as fast as I am. He and I run alongside one another, our weapons clashing together and showering sparks on the ground.

Eventually Sombra skids across the ground and cuts me off, his halberd ramming against my sword. He moves forward and viciously headbutts me, his horn cutting a gash into my forehead. My vision flashes red and I swear I see stars.

Finally, Luna comes to help me before Sombra can take advantage of my disoriented state. She kicks the king in the side and then brings her sickle sword to bear...only it looks very different compared to its usual appearance. The blade is shining a bright white, and is outlined by a telltale pink light that trails behind it. Sombra eyes the blade suspiciously and immediately blocks Luna's uppercut with a halberd.

Sombra grunts as Luna's blade explodes with a mixture of pink and starry black magic. Taken by surprise, Sombra is hurled upwards into the air...where Cadance is waiting for him. She lets out a yell and blasts the king all the way back into the ground with a pink beam of magic that's tipped with a crescent moon.

“I remember...” Chrysalis's voice grunts out from beside me. I look over to see her next to me, battered and burnt from all the hits she's taken from Sombra. “You and Luna used that same method to damage me...how would one do this?”

“You want to combine magic with one of us?” I ask in surprise. Chrysalis seemed like the type who would be too proud to resort to combination attacks.

“What I want...is to make that Sombra eat his words! I don't care how I do it!” Chrysalis hisses at me furiously. Not far from us, Sombra emerges from the cloud of snow thrown up from the explosion. His cape is burnt to rags, and his armor is singed black in several places. His skin is mostly uninjured, but if we can keep catching him off guard, we might be able to deal some actual damage. “Now tell me how!”

I nod and hold out my hand to her, remembering Iron's description of combination spells. “Just give me your hoof, and channel your magic to me. You'll know what to do after that,” I explain to her. Chrysalis nods and thrusts her hoof into my grasp. My fingers close around her, and I focus on channeling magic to her. A moment later, I feel her magic running through me...and god, it feels fucking weird. It's like there's tiny insects running through my skin. It makes me shudder. “Okay. Now let's go help Cadance and Luna before Sombra counterattacks!”

King Sombra is looking between Luna and Cadance, no doubt putting two and two together. Therefore, the moment his eyes fall upon Chrysalis and I with her hoof in mine, his eyes narrow and he zooms toward us, propelling himself forward in a cloud of shadowy magic. Oh shit, he knows what we're up to.

Luna and Cadance throw themselves in front of him, lashing out at him with their hooves. Sombra bats Cadance aside with a single hoof, knocking her into the snow and gouging out a trench in the land. Luna's sword flicks towards Sombra in a flash of dark metal, only to be blocked by Sombra's halberd. To Luna's horror, Sombra reveals his other halberd and brings it around. Luna attempts to dodge, but isn't fast enough. She cries out as the axe blade slices through her armor and leaves a bleeding gash behind.

“Dammit, come here!” I meet Sombra next, my sword engulfed in sickly green flame. The king appears to recognize the threat, and as such he leaps and dances around me, his halberds flashing in. Each time, Chrysalis's magic running through my core helps me keep up with him. Every time my blade clashes with one of his, Sombra leaps away in case the sword explodes. However, that's not what I'm planning.

He and I trade blows again and again, until finally Sombra fuses his two halberds together and knocks my sword right out of my hand with a swift flick of the shaft. The green flame dies away from the blade as it falls, which causes Sombra to grin again.

His grin disappears when I leap into the air, Chrysalis's magic running through my right arm. As I raise my fist to strike him, the skin on my arm blackens and solidifies, forming a chitinous shell with holes running through it, looking very similar to one of Chrysalis's limbs. Small bulbous green orbs are embedded in my skin and claws extend from the tips of my fingers, giving my arm a demonic appearance.

Time seems to move in slow motion as Sombra brings his halberd up to block. Finally, my transformed fist collides with the halberd...and completely shatters it to pieces. “Down you go!” I yell. Sombra's eyes widen, but there's nothing he can do to stop my fist from plowing right into his side.

The king slams into the ground with a grunt of pain. The ground ruptures and forms a crater beneath his body. When he rises from the ground, I notice a bruise forming where I hit him. I doubt I pierced his magical protection, but perhaps he hadn't expected me to get past his halberd, and as such didn't bother to focus magic in that spot.

Sombra growls and flares out his magical aura, melting the snow around him. “Hey!” Chrysalis calls out to the king, just as he starts to head for me. Sombra turns around to see the queen standing at the top of a hill, her horn alight with two different shades of green. Cuneiform runes much like the ones running across my body and in my aura now snake across her body, giving her an otherworldly appearance. “Talk tough after you take this!”

Chrysalis lowers her head and fires all of our magic together at once in the form of a dense beam of magic. Accompanying the initial beam is what looks like a volley of gunfire emanating from her horn as if it were a rifle.

Sombra leaps to face the incoming attack, his aura growing larger. “Enough of this!” Sombra growls in frustration, and then he fires a beam of magic even larger than Chrysalis's from his horn as well, meeting the emerald beam halfway. For a moment, both beams halt in place, neither one able to gain any ground. The air shudders with the raw magical energy, such that I can feel it blowing across my skin and bearing down on me.

At last, the two beams merge and explode in a roiling pillar of emerald and dark energy. The explosion tears up the ground in a large area, blowing droplets of half-melted snow and rock outwards.

King Sombra reveals himself by blowing away the debris near him with a wave of his own power. Glaring at Chrysalis, he brings one hoof up emphatically. The ground beneath Chrysalis cracks, causing her to look down. A split second later, a colossal black crystal erupts out of the rock at an incredible speed, knocking Chrysalis high into the air.

Chrysalis yelps and rights herself, but the moment her flight stabilizes, Sombra appears behind her and hammers both of his hooves down on her head. I curse and run sideways until I can catch Chrysalis before she can hit the ground. There's so much momentum behind her flight that it sends the both of us skidding several meters backwards; I can feel the soles of my feet gouging into the rock beneath me.

“This...this is ridiculous! Nopony should possess this much strength! It's unreal!” Chrysalis curses, the reality of the situation starting to dawn on her at long last. Sickly green blood is trickling from her nose and from the top of her head.

Luna and Cadance walk up along side us. The gash in Luna's side is closed now thanks to Cadance's healing, but the both of them still look beaten and battered. The fur on Cadance's face is matted and stained with blood that's trickling from her mouth and nose, where she's taken the most hits.

“Come on...we can do it. Let's work together and deal as much damage as we can!” Cadance attempts to encourage us. We all gaze towards Sombra, who is glaring at the four of us with annoyance stamped on his face. We haven't really done anything to him apart from a few lucky hits...but I'm hoping we've at least managed to drain his magic a little.

“All together!” Luna calls to us, and then the four of us simultaneously break into a run, charging across the cratered and torn landscape towards the king. Forming two drummed machine guns, I open fire at Sombra's hovering form.

“'Tis time ye understand...ye are outmatched!” Sombra asserts, letting himself fall to the ground. The muscles in his body visibly tighten as he calls upon his innermost reserves. His hooves dig into the rock, and I swear I can feel something in the air change. He's preparing something truly powerful. With a grunt, Sombra lifts a hoof and jabs it at the air in our direction.

My eyes widen in shock and horror as the entire landscape shifts around us. The ground beneath my feet becomes soft and muddy as the structure of the rock itself alters to Sombra's whims. Ridges form on either side of us, growing larger and larger until they tower over us.

Suddenly, the tops of the ridges form streams of black spiky crystal that spiral through the air towards us. There are so many of them, they form what looks like a wall of black thorns. Unable to halt my momentum, several of them hit me directly. Pure agony ripples through my body as thorns covered with Sombra's magic break through my protection and slice into my skin all over my body.

Judging from the screams I hear from the other three, all of us have been caught up in this monstrously powerful attack. Powering through the pain, I summon up my magic and release a shockwave, breaking free of the crystalline vines. I leap to the nearest strand of crystal and run along its edge, hoping to find the others and break them free as well.

Sombra appears beside me without any warning. I immediately propel myself from the strand of crystal...just as the king shatters it to pieces with an explosion of shadowy magic. Even though I avoided the main attack, the blast knocks me off course, causing me to slam into another strand of crystal near where Luna is imprisoned.

Luna grunts and breaks free from the thorns, followed by Cadance and Chrysalis. As I'm kneeling on a strand and nursing my wounds, the three of them confront Sombra directly. It looks almost like a deadly dance as the three of them clash with him, leaping from strand to strand to avoid one another's attacks.

Sombra charges directly towards Luna as the princess brings her sword down to him. Without even bothering to summon a halberd, Sombra swings his hoof at the weapon. To Luna's shock, his hoof shatters her blade as if it were made of glass. She quickly attempts to block his next attack, but it doesn't matter. There's so much force behind his strike that it powers through her guard and sends her hurtling downwards...where her side collides with one of the strands of crystal and breaks through it.

As Chrysalis attacks Sombra head on, Cadance flies above him, charging a blast of pink magic on her horn. She yells and jerks her head downwards, hurling the bolt down at the king while he's distracted. Thankfully, the bolt hits him head on, causing him to grunt and back away from Chrysalis.

King Sombra looks up and swipes his hoof to the right. Cadance yelps as a strand of crystal comes to life and rams her right in the side, carrying her away.

Chrysalis, who is caught behind the strand, snarls and shatters it with her hoof. She rears up on her hind legs and spins rapidly in place, her forehooves trailing behind blades of sickly green magic. Sombra lifts his hooves and blocks the blades as they reach him, not even budging an inch. However, Chrysalis isn't finished.

Chrysalis leaps into the air and lifts her forehooves, a ball of green magic forming there. I recognize the attack and force myself to my feet. I've had enough time to rest...and she needs some time. As Sombra moves towards her, the air around Chrysalis erupts with a ring of emerald explosions, forcing him back momentarily.

Before Sombra can power through them, I land agilely on the strand of crystal behind him, my sword forming in my hand despite the fact that it was knocked away from me earlier. I swing it down over my head in an attempt to take him by surprise, but he turns in a blink of an eye and shoves my blade aside with one hoof. The other hoof rams into my chin with such force that my bottom teeth ram up into the roof of my mouth, splitting the skin and drawing blood.

I recover as fast as I can and exchange several vicious blows with him, my blade clashing with his gauntleted hooves. He's so strong that each impact is jarring and painful, vibrations running down the blade into my arms. Sombra moves to one side, my sword whistling past his head. He swiftly pins the blade to the crystal beneath us with one hoof, and then his free hoof shoots out and flashes with magical energy.

From the crystal strands surrounding me, spikes of black crystal shoot outwards, all of them hitting me simultaneously. The razor sharp tips snap off thanks to my magical protection, but the impacts themselves bruise me badly, to the point where I can't help screaming in pain. Sombra wastes no time in following up with an incredibly powerful blast of magic to my torso. I focus as much magic there as possible, but it's still powerful enough to shatter the spikes and carry me all the way down to the ground, where I fall prone with an intensely stinging burn on my chest.

“Good work, Seth. Nice to see that you can be useful for something,” Chrysalis compliments me. The orb of magic that she's been charging up is now at full size. She wastes no time and bringing her hooves forward and tossing the formidable ball of magic down towards King Sombra. “Beg for mercy, Sombra!”

Sombra whirls around immediately, his eyes narrowing at the sight of the large ball of magic heading right for him. He reaches up a single hoof and stops the orb there, keeping it from hitting him. For a moment, I start to think that he's just going to deflect that too. However, as Sombra's hooves dig into the crystal, he starts to realize otherwise. He lifts the other hoof, holding the deadly orb back with both of them now.

“Having trouble!? Have some more!” Chrysalis flies forward and shoots a stream of smaller balls of green flame into the main orb. Sombra's eyes widen, and the strand of crystal shatters beneath him. He lets out a low growl as the orb carries him further and further down to the ground, forcing him through any strand of crystal that gets in his way.

As Sombra nears the ground, I realize that I might be caught in the explosion if I keep lying here. I start to get up, but it's really hard. Pain shoots through my body, making it slow going. Panic spurs me on as I start to think that I won't get out of here in time.

“I've got you!” Cadance shouts, galloping past me and lifting me into the air with her magic. Luna is right beside her, and together the three of us get out of range just as Sombra hits the ground and the orb of green flame detonates.

The explosion forms a pillar of searing green flame that rises high into the air, completely engulfing Sombra's form. The strands of crystal are all incinerated in the blast, leaving the area beaten, torn, and empty.

Cadance stands in front of me, covering her eyes with her hooves and my body with her own as the shockwave from the blast rushes over us. Luna is just in front of me, applying what little healing magic she can spare to me to take the edge off of my pain.

Chrysalis lands just in front of us, a smug grin on her face. She's as worn and beaten as the rest of us, her mane matted and her body pockmarked with cracks, each one oozing greenish blood. She watches the conflagration of her magic, until it finally starts to dissipate. What she sees in the clearing causes her jaw to drop in disbelief.

Sombra stands in the center of the area, his cape burnt to shreds and his armor seared partially black. His mane is slightly singed and his body has trace burns on it, but other than that, he looks fine. I start to lose hope at the sight. Even with an attack as strong as that, he's taking only minimal damage. In comparison, I'm not sure how much longer I can keep fighting. With Luna's healing, I'm able to stand back up, but my body is battered and I'm running out of magic.

Sombra takes several steps forward, and then he seemingly disappears. Before I can attempt to pinpoint his location, he appears directly in front of Chrysalis. The queen hardly has time to lift her guard before he's upon her. With one hoof, he wrenches her guard aside with a painful sounding crack, earning a shriek of agony from Chrysalis. Then, he grabs the queen by the neck and lifts her clear off the ground before slamming her into the ground hard enough to form a crater.

Luna, Cadance, and I rush him next, attempting to get him away from Chrysalis. We don't even get close. Sombra rears up on his hind legs, his horn lighting up. The ground beneath us writhes and rumbles, forcing us to slow down or risk losing our footing.

Jagged black crystals of various sizes rupture the ground from below and shoot upwards. I leap upward into the air to avoid them, but they're rising faster than I can, and there's practically no space between them. One of them catches me on the side, traveling at what feels like the speed of a train. My body is knocked upwards, turning end over end. Lightning bolts of pain shoot through my chest from what are no doubt broken ribs. The others don't fare much better. Each of them, including Chrysalis, are caught by the massive circle of crystals emerging from the ground and knocked into the air.

Sombra appears beside Luna and kicks her towards the center of the circle. She attempts to counterattack, but he's already moving. He dashes to Cadance and bats away her attempts to stave him off, and then he lowers his head and rams her with his shoulders. With his head, he hurls her forward until she collides with Luna.

Chrysalis grunts and turns her body, but Sombra's already in front of her, no mercy in his cold red eyes. With a spin of his body, he knocks her towards the center as well. Just as I'm starting to piece together what he's doing, he zooms through the air and forms beside me in a burst of shadowy energy. I lift my sword to block, but his hoof snaps the weapon right in half before ramming into my sternum.

I collide with the other three in the center of the circle of crystals. “We need to move...he...!” I try to warn them, but it's too late. Sombra flies through the air until he's directly above us. He lifts both hooves and forms an orb of darkness between them. Before we can scatter, he throws it straight down...and it hits us all at once.

I gasp and wheeze as I hit the ground on my stomach, winding me completely. My mouth fills with the iron taste of blood, until I can't help but cough it out onto the snow. Around me, Chrysalis, Luna, and Cadance land nearby, each of us badly damaged from that attack.

“Have...have to get up...” I tell myself, steadily attempting to rise. I cry out pitifully with pain as I slowly rise. I crane my head up to look around...only to stare directly into Sombra's cold eyes. The words “oh shit” pass through my mind seconds before he wrenches me right off the ground by my arm and slams me into the ground again. My screams intensify as I feel my arm bone pop out of its socket, dislocated by the force of Sombra's throw.

“I'll...I'll help! Seth!” Cadance manages to rise and rush Sombra as well...only for the king to bat her aside without much effort, sending her tumbling across the ground like a ragdoll. This is bad. It's not even a fight anymore...we're all so badly hurt it's becoming an effort just to stand. Celestia...where are you? We need you...now more than ever.

Chrysalis forces herself to her feet, firing a blast of sickly green magic towards Sombra. “Enough...” Sombra says calmly, batting the blast aside. He lowers his head, charging a blast of magic that will no doubt wipe Chrysalis out if it hits her. “'Tis over. Thy struggle has ended.”

Chrysalis, one eye lid swollen and drooping over her eye, hardly has the strength to stand. All she is doing is staring helplessly as Sombra orients his horn on her. Recognizing what's about to happen, I force myself to my feet and break into a run.

“CHRYSALIS!” I yell out hoarsely, throwing out my own working arm just as Sombra fires his attack. Realizing that I'm not going to make it, I throw my body forward, ramming into Chrysalis' side and carrying us both to the ground. Chrysalis squeaks with pain as we both skid across the snow, but it's worth it. The beam of magic passes right over us, searing the skin on my back in the process. I have to physically try not to cry with pain when I land on my dislocated shoulder.

“You...idiot...you should...have let me die...and hit him instead...” Chrysalis criticizes me weakly, but I'm too out of it to answer. “Heh...we can't win...who'd have thought...I'd die here...with you...”

The battlefield is quiet, save for the sound of the wind whistling eerily through the destroyed wasteland. The sounds of the battle in the Crystal Empire carry faintly over the wind. Cadance is lying on her side not far from us, groaning and struggling to move. “C-Can't move...it hurts...” she whines.

Luna is similarly affected. She's lying on her knees, her body burnt and damaged. Her armor is in pieces, falling off of her body bit by bit. “I...sister...I cannot...”

As for me...my body feels like it's on fire. My ribs are broken...I think some of my insides are damaged too, if this blood coming up my throat is anything to go by. My right arm is useless, my sword is broken...and I can hardly move. I guess we did...the best we could.

King Sombra stands in the middle of us all, gazing down upon us with an unreadable expression. He's breathing a little harder than before. “Ye were worthy opponents...I shall afford ye that compliment,” Sombra expresses. He closes his eyes and shakes his head. “But ye cannot stand in my way. I must attain more power...until I stand above the gods themselves.”

Sombra suddenly pauses, as if sensing something strange. He turns his head to look around. “Thy princess...Celestia. Her absence begins to trouble me,” he expresses. He starts to walk away from us, not even bothering to finish us off. “Rest where ye lie...I shall return to finish ye once thy princess is dealt with.”

A bolt of adrenaline runs through my body as I remember Celestia's words. The one thing that she told us to do...the one hope that any of us would get out of this alive.

“Remember the plan, everyone. When I retreat to build up my magical energy, you must keep him from searching for me. If I am interrupted, we are lost.”

I press my bleeding and cut hand onto the ground, pushing myself upright slowly. My eyes are fixed upon Sombra's retreating form. I can't...I won't let him leave. “Everypony...we have to...we need to stop him...” I grunt out, taking a step forward. “We can't give up here...all of our struggles...up to this point...will mean nothing....if we can't stop him here...”

“You're right...I have somepony I have to go back to...I promised...I promised!” Cadance forces herself to her hooves and flares her magic. “Get up, everyone! I'm not ready to give up yet!”

“Indeed...as long as I draw breath...I will never stop fighting,” Luna asserts weakly. With Cadance's help, Luna gets back to her hooves as well. “I do this for my sister...and for the Equestria that we have built together.”

“I have a future waiting for me...one that I'm not going to give up on just yet...I too, have somepony waiting for me...and I won't disappoint her!” I assert, stepping unsteadily towards Cadance and Luna. I don't know how I'm going to fight with only one arm, but I'm with Luna. I'm not going to stop fighting until I'm dead. I've come too far just to let Sombra end everything here.

“Easy...for you all to say...” Chrysalis chokes out, still lying prone. I turn back to face her, noticing how beaten she is. I've only seen her badly hurt once before, back at the Royal Wedding. She's much worse than that now...I don't even know how she's still conscious. “I don't have anyone waiting for me...no friends to welcome me back...”

“Don't be fucking stupid,” I snap at her, stopping just in front of her Chrysalis looks up at me sharply at my scathing words. “You have an entire hive waiting for you to come back and help them. Hell, you can hear what they're thinking all the time, right? Listen to them, Chrysalis. What are they saying?”

Chrysalis freezes, her eyes going blank for a moment as she does what I suggest. When her eyes refocus, there's new vitality and strength there. “Heh, I guess you're right. They'd be utterly useless without me...” Chrysalis admits as she struggles to rise. She blinks as I offer my hand to her. “You...what are you doing?”

“Let's stop Sombra, Queen Chrysalis. We've got your back,” I say to her, hardly realizing the significance of my words until they're already out of my mouth. Chrysalis looks up at me, her jaw slightly falling open. She takes my hand and I help her to her hooves, albeit painfully. “Let's do this.”

Chrysalis gives me an appreciative glance. Her eyes trail down to my arm...and then she slams a hoof directly into my shoulder. I howl with pain as a sickening crack emanates from my joint. I almost fall back over from the pain, but she holds me up, unwilling to let me fall. Seconds later...I realize I can move my arm now. It hurts like a bitch....but I can move it. She helped set my shoulder back in place.

“Are ye ready, everyone?” Luna yells out, starting to move towards the form of Sombra in the distance. “All together! Let us show King Sombra our true might!”

“Yeah!”

“Damn straight!”

“For my changelings!” With that, we all break into a sprint, ignoring the immense pain in our bodies.

King Sombra casts his gaze around the clearing as he follows Celestia's magical signature. So intent is he on his search, that the last thing he expects is for all four of us to appear around him in a circle. “What?” he emits in shock, seconds before Luna and Chrysalis knock him clear off his feet with a magical combination attack between the two of them.

The king rights himself in midair and blows away the magic that just hit him. He powers up once more, his oppressive aura flaring into existence. Before he can counterattack, Cadance is running alongside him, firing laser after laser from her horn into his side. Sombra winces and moves his head to orient his horn on her.

“Don't even think about it, bastard!” I run directly towards him, firing my pistol again and again. Sombra glares at me fiercely with one eye, not even bothering to block the bullets as they bounce off of his armor and skin. When I reach him, I leap into the air and bring my knee forward, the limb wreathed in emerald flame. Sombra raises a hoof and blocks it, repulsing me backwards with hardly any effort. “Gah!”

“Have at thee, fiend!” Just as he's turning to fight me, a beam of starry magic slams into his side, sending him skidding back a few feet. Luna gallops directly towards him, her hooves lashing out, aiming for his head. Sombra spins in place and kicks her away. He starts to charge up another bolt of magic...but then Chrysalis's hoof barrels into his chin, snapping his head to one side.

“I. Won't. Fall. Here!” Chrysalis yells, punctuating every word with two swift punches to Sombra's face and neck. Sombra growls, starting to get frustrated. However, the moment he repels Chrysalis with a vicious punch of his own, Cadance's blasts impact with his body once more.

Cadance lets out a yell that rises in volume as scores of magical beams fire up into the air from her horn. Each one arcs down upon Sombra and explodes violently around him, causing him to grunt and retreat in an attempt to avoid them.

“Don't give him a chance to fight back!” I yell to the others, attacking Sombra directly from behind. My magic coalesces around my hands, forming a set of emerald gauntlets with lethal spikes extending from each knuckle. As Sombra retreats from Cadance's assault, my fists catch him right from behind. My first punch manages to get through to him before he can focus magic in that area, leaving four bleeding gashes in his back.

We attack Sombra relentlessly, each one of us dashing in and dealing as much damage as we can before he drives us away with his overwhelming strength. Every time he repulses one of us, another is in there to harass him.

“Ye are most obstinate! Perish!” Sombra roars, and he blasts us all back with a shadowy shockwave, green electricity sparking from his body. Now that we're distanced from him, he lifts his hoof and sweeps it to one side. A wave of green electricity surges across the ground around us, knocking us all off balance and throwing us away.

Sombra straightens up, expecting to have some room to breathe after that. To his shock, Chrysalis and Luna dash out of the smoke to combat him. We all are bleeding, battered, and burned almost beyond recognition, but we won't fall. Not yet.

“Aaaaaaah!” Luna roars, her magic enshrouded hooves swinging forward to ram into Sombra's side. Chrysalis screeches out her battle cry, attacking from the other side with her entire body wreathed in sickly green flame.

Sombra redirects Luna's hoof and rams his own into her midsection. A burst of shadowy magic explodes on impact, sending Luna's smoking form tumbling across the snow. He swiftly turns and blocks Chrysalis' next punch. Much to his surprise, Chrysalis grins, and green traces of her magic start to slither down Sombra's hoof.

Sombra kicks Chrysalis away viciously and retreats, looking suspiciously at Chrysalis. “What are thy plans, insect?” the king demands. He attempts to step forward...only to find that he can't. Letting out a cry of alarm, he looks down to see four emerald whips of changeling magic wrapped around his hooves, holding him down. He strains against his bonds, slowly starting to break free. “A pointless endeavour. Thou canst hold me for long with such feeble magic.”

“I won't have to,” Chrysalis informs him with a toothy grin. The resulting look of understanding on Sombra's face causes her grin to grow wider. “Let him have it, you two!”

The dust cloud thrown up from Sombra's previous electrical attack finally dissipates, revealing Cadance and I, her hoof clasped in my hand. I let go of her and hold my left hand back, an emerald green orb forming at the tip of my finger. Cadance throws her right hoof back, a similarly sized pink orb forming there.

The two orbs meet and merge together, forming a pulsing pink and green orb that steadily grows larger and larger in size, until it's the size of a watermelon. Sombra's eyes widen and he doubles his efforts to get free, but it's too late.

“I'll give it everything I've got! Hyaah!” Cadance and I yell out and bring our assorted limbs forward at the same time, bringing the orb with us. With a sound unlike anything I've ever heard, the orb shoots forth into a beam that's easily twice the thickness of a redwood tree.

Sombra isn't able to get free before the beam plows right into him and engulfs his form with an explosion that shoots into the air in a pillar of roiling pink and green light. The magic twists around itself within the blast, forming a vortex at the base of the pillar that tears up the ground in a large radius.

Cadance and I slump down after that, breathing hard. I barely have any magic left...my transformed state is starting to fade. Cadance looks pretty winded herself...I only hope she can stay conscious a little while longer. We both know that was nowhere near enough to kill him.

When the magical explosion dissipates, Sombra walks out of the crater left behind, free from his bonds. His cape is completely gone, and his armor is starting to fall apart. His body is more noticeably burned, to the point where it actually looks like we've really damaged him. He's breathing noticeably harder now, but he still looks very capable of fighting further.

“Very well...ye has pushed me far enough. It is time I bring an end to this struggle...my kingdom awaits,” Sombra says in a dangerously calm voice. Even with the trouble we're giving him, he's still keeping his cool. Despite everything, I have to admire that about him. His horn starts to spark dangerously with black lightning, something that I've never seen him do. “Ye shall bear witness to my most powerful technique...”

“And you shall bear witness to mine!” The air fills with the sound of flapping wings as Celestia descends from the skies above, revealing herself at last. Behind her, the light of the dawn shines down upon us, giving her an air of true majesty. The four of us look up at her in exhilaration. She's here! With luck, we can bring everything to an end right here and now! Sombra lifts his head and glares up at the princess, one hoof scuffing at the ground. “Your end is at hoof, King Sombra! It is now that you answer for your crimes against ponykind...and humankind! Face the fury of the unbridled sun!”

Celestia closes her eyes briefly. When she reopens them, her entire body seems to ignite. Her mane and tail physically catch fire, turning from their natural cool colors to a blazing red. Her eyes have gone pure white, tongues of flame trailing back from her corneas.

Behind her, a small orb of flame appears. However...just by looking at it, I can tell it's no ordinary fireball. It seems much more pure...more primal. As the ball grows larger, I can see what looks like magma roiling across its surface...except it's not magma. My eyes widen as the ball surpasses Celestia in size and continues to grow at an incredibly rapid speed. I know what that is...that's not just a ball of flame. It's almost as if...that's a true sun behind her. That's impossible on so many levels...but I have no other explanation for what I'm seeing.

Sombra takes a step back, fear filling his eyes at the sight of so much power accumulated before him. No doubt he truly understands now why we were fighting so hard to keep him from finding her....but it's too late for him to do anything about it. The sun, if that's what is is...is now so large, it makes Celestia look tiny in comparison.

Celestia lets out a chilling battle cry, pure wrath evident in her voice. She flaps her wings forward, and the sun slowly starts to move forward, the very air dilating around it from the sheer heat emanating from its surface. Celestia flies around behind it and kicks it forward, sending it hurtling down towards the king.

“Thou underestimates my power! I am the king!” Sombra roars. The black lightning sparking around his horn increases in intensity. He plants his hooves firmly on the ground and thrusts his head upwards, firing a beam of pure shadow so strong, that waves of black electricity form rings around it.

As the two attacks meet in midair, the entire landscape beneath us shatters and ruptures. Any debris thrown up from the turbulence in the air is disintegrated by the waves of incredible magic power emanating from the struggle above.

Sombra grunts and pours more power into the beam, causing the sun's momentum to slow to a halt. He grins and steps forward, slowly starting to push the sun back up, despite Celestia's efforts to push it down upon him. However...his grin disappears when he sees what's happening above them.

Chrysalis, Luna, Cadance, and I are standing in a circle high in the air behind the sun. We are all linked together...them with their hooves intertwined, and me with my hands holding onto their hooves. Together, as our unique individual magics channel between us, our will becomes as one. We break apart and turn to face the struggle below, our bodies filled with the combined magic of one another.

“This is for all the suffering you've caused...to my friends, my family, and to all those you enslaved! Hah!” Cadance lowers her head and fires a brilliant beam of pure rose forward.

“My hive will not fall to the likes of you, scum! This is payback!” Chrysalis adds her power to the mix, firing a beam of brilliant emerald down towards the sun.

“We shall never fade! Not while tyrants such as thee exist! Fall, King Sombra!” Luna jerks her head forward and fires a beam of brilliant navy blue, pinpricks of stars forming within the deadly magic.

Without a word, I lunge forward, using the combined magic given to me by the others to propel myself forward. I fly forward directly into the point where the three beams mix, merging my entire body with them. Together, the magics merge together into a single pillar of destruction, colored a bright sparkling gold. Like a golden comet, I surge through the air down towards the sun.

“Let's end this!” I cry out. I pull my fist back, and then just as I reach the sun, I slam it forward, right into the roiling maelstrom of sweltering heat.

The surface of the sun seems to press inwards beneath my punch. It gives me resistance, but I use every last drop of magic in my body to overpower the force of Sombra's magical beam. Down below, Sombra's eyes widen with horror as the sun slowly overcomes his magical might.

“What? No! My power...my power cannot be overwhelmed! Not by this!” Sombra's yells of denial turn into a cry of pain as the sun presses into his skin and pushes him right into the ground, the rock melting on contact with the sun.

I hover there in midair, my transformed state fading away, leaving me void of all magic. Even the amount that I'm using to stay afloat is leaving me, my body wobbling in the air. I don't move, though. Instead, I watch the sun pressing down against Sombra's body, disintegrating his flesh and tearing apart his body.

“Come away with me, Seth!” Celestia's hooves close around me, her appearance back to normal. As the last of my magic runs out, she carries me away from the battlefield...just as the sun explodes.

“CELESTIAAAAAA!” Sombra's roar of utter agony echoes across the landscape as the resulting detonation obscures my vision with pure white. I have to cover my eyes to keep from being blinded...because all I can see is white. If I had to describe the scale of the explosion...the only word that comes to mind...is a supernova.

Celestia holds me tight and keeps me safe from the tumultuous shockwaves that rush across the landscape, completely obliterating any natural formations nearby. The explosion sounds as if hundreds of speeding trains are zooming past my ears at every given moment. The winds that pass over us are akin to that of a hurricane's...and if it weren't for Celestia's strong hooves holding me close, I'd be blown away like a leaf in a storm. It seems like an eternity before the world finally comes back to normal, the light fading away and the shockwaves dissipating. When I open my eyes, my jaw drops.

The landscape for a large radius is now a blackened wasteland, flat and devoid of life. In the center of it all is a dark and wide crater; the center of the explosion.

Celestia lowers me to the ground beside the others, who are as spent as I am. She looks down at all of us, a proud smile on her face. “I cannot even begin to tell you how happy I am to see that you are all okay,” Celestia expresses to all of us fervently. Heh...that's subjective. I'm pretty sure that most of me is broken right now...or at least that's how I feel. Celestia lowers her head, her horn lighting up. “I only possess a small amount of magic, but I will do my best to soothe your pain.”

Celestia stands over us all, a faint stream of golden magic descending upon each of us. I can feel it trying to ease my burns and fix my broken bones...but it's going extremely slowly. At best, she's treating the most life-threatening injuries...but it's clear we'll all need medical treatment soon.

“Is...is he gone?” Cadance rasps from where she's lying on the ground a short distance away.

“I believe so. I have never concentrated so much magic into a single technique before. It...was quite taxing,” Celestia reveals, sweat beading on her brow from her healing efforts. Her words cause me to remember my lessons with Twilight. According to her, our cores are generally capable of holding much more magic that we can put out at once. However...if one of us were to spend a great deal of time continuously releasing magic and concentrating it into a single technique...we would be capable of producing an attack far above our current ability. “However, I believe it would be prudent of us to make sure of that.”

“That would be best...” Luna grunts, starting to stir now that she's slightly healed. Celestia's spell soon peters out. My whole body is still burnt and battered...but I can at least move. “I will...join thee...”

“Me too...I need to see for myself,” I agree. Celestia gazes at us all soulfully, and nods. She helps her sister stand, and then proceeds to do the same to the rest of us. “I won't relax until I see him in a pile of ash.”

I try to take a step forward, but one of my legs gives out. Before I can hit the ground, a hoof grasps me by the arm painfully, earning a cry from me. “Oh, quit complaining and lean on me...” Chrysalis grumbles, placing my arm around her shoulders. She staggers a bit herself, but with the two of us supporting one another, we manage to stay upright. She colors a bit when she sees me looking at her. “Don't look at me like that! You're an utter fool...but you did save my life, for whatever reason.”

Similarly Celestia supports both her sister and Cadance, despite her own visible signs of fatigue. Together, the five of us slowly approach the dark crater where King Sombra supposedly met his end. In the distance, we can still hear the sounds of battle raging in the Crystal Empire. Despite Sombra's apparent defeat...there's still one general left. There's no way to know for sure whether or not Sombra is truly gone.

I curse softly as Chrysalis and I nearly slip into the crater. The lip is precarious and the angle of descent is steep. If we aren't careful, we could tumble all the way to the bottom and further injure ourselves. I let out a low groan of agony as I have to put weight on my legs to keep from falling as we descend into the crater.

“There is no need to push yourselves...travel at your own pace,” Celestia assures us as she navigates Luna and Cadance down into the crater with her. Right...that's easy for her to say. It feels more painful if I move too slowly...but I can't speed up either.

It feels like forever before we reach the bottom with the other three. The ground we're walking on is completely changed in composition from before. Well, I say that, but I don't really know what it used to be. I'm just sure there wasn't obsidian involved before. Celestia's attack must have melted the ground, which then quickly froze back over. It's a bit scientifically farfetched, but whatever.

At the very bottom of the crater, there's a fine layer of ash...and what looks like blackened bits of warped metal. If I assume that's what's left of Sombra's armor...then...I start to think we may have succeeded after all.

Something glints in the ash pile, catching my eye. “Let me down for a second...” I grunt at Chrysalis. She wordlessly releases me, almost causing me to fall over. I get down on my hands and knees, conscious of the others watching me. “I see something in here...aha!”
I pull out an ash covered Alicorn Amulet from the pile. Surprisingly enough, the thing is not only in one piece, but it also looks completely untouched. Celestia approaches me as I dust off the ash from the amulet, revealing the ominous red gemstone, which shines with a pristine brilliance.

“The Alicorn Amulet...it is said that it cannot be removed by anyone other than its bearer,” Celestia observes, lowering herself down beside me. She lets out a soft exhale. “If you have found it...then perhaps we may assume that we are victorious.”

Sighs of relief sound from each one of us. Cadance promptly falls unconscious in Luna's grip, carrying the both of them to the ground. Chrysalis just lets out a low hiss, too exhausted to say anything. A small smile crosses my face. We did it...he's gone. Now I can go back to Rainbow...and Ponyville. I have never missed that town more than I do right now.

“What of the battle?” Luna questions weakly. “The undead still press upon the city...yet none of us possess the magic to fight them.”

“Perhaps not...but I will return and assume command of the defense. We may be outnumbered, but I have faith in our allies. We shall not lose to the remnants of his army,” Celestia assures us all. She spreads her wings in preparation for take off. “Let us go. I shall escort you to the rear camp for treatment.”

“That sounds amazing. Let's go already...” I say, forcing myself to my feet. My legs wobble beneath me, causing me to reach out a hand to Chrysalis's back to steady myself. The other hand is still holding the Alicorn Amulet.

As I walk with Chrysalis towards the edge of the crater, I lift up the amulet to look at it. I've never really had a close look at this thing...but apparently it's supposed to make you really strong, at the cost of corrupting you. I guess Sombra was corrupt to begin with...so it never affected him that much.

I peer closer at it, the gem winking up at me invitingly. The way the light reflects from its surface is fascinating...it kinda makes me want to try it on myself. The second that thought runs through my mind...the amulet comes to life in my hand.

The amulet releases a deep thrum that sounds eerily like a heartbeat. A small wave of air dilates away from the center of the device...and something in my body starts to feel very wrong. “Ga...aaagh!” I choke, pain running through my whole body. It feels as if my very insides are rebelling against me, pressing against my outer skin in every direction.

“Seth? What is it?” Chrysalis demands. A look of alarm crosses her face as I fall forward onto my knees. I can't look away from the amulet. The central gem seems to be pulling me in like a black hole. I try to let go of the amulet, but my fingers won't loosen around its frame. “Celestia! Something's wrong!”

My vision blurs and unfocuses as the feeling of my insides roiling inside me intensifies. I blink to attempt to clear my vision...and the first thing I see denies all explanation. Something is coming out of my body...shimmering and undulating as it tugs fiercely against me in an attempt to get free. The Alicorn Amulet is glowing brightly now, drawing the shimmering apparition forward towards the central gem. As my vision grows even more unfocused, I realize with a shock that the apparition is a ghostly reflection of myself.

As soon as I realize that, the central gem appears to grow larger and larger in my perception, until the image of glimmering red crystal is all I can see. A rushing sound fills my ears, growing rapidly louder in volume until it overwhelms my every sensation...and then everything goes dark as my consciousness fades.

The last thing I hear is the sound of Celestia and the others frantically calling out my name.





When consciousness returns to me, I become aware that I'm lying on a cool, smooth surface. I lie there for a while...until I realize that I don't feel any pain. My eyes open in alarm as I remember what happened before I passed out, and I quickly lurch upwards and look around.

The first thing I see is the color red. There's so much red around me, it's hard to make out anything else. The smooth, reflective surface of the floor is colored that same red, as are the walls and faceted ceiling. Wait, facets?

Looking up at the ceiling, I confirm my initial findings. The ceiling is indeed faceted like that of a gemstone, and made of the same red material as everything else. However, it's slightly translucent, as I can see up through it to an empty blue sky, far away in the heavens.

Where the hell am I? Getting to my feet, I start to walk. The clicking of my burned boots across the crystalline floor echoes eerily throughout the expansive room. Come to think of it...I can't tell how big this place is. I see the walls supporting the ceiling all around me, but they don't seem to be getting any closer, no matter how far I walk. I'm completely and utterly confused. We defeated Sombra, didn't we? So what happened?

“Shall I explain it to you?” the deep, unearthly voice echoes eerily in the wide open space, coming from behind me. I whirl around immediately...and then freeze in shock and horror. King Sombra is standing several meters away from me, alive and completely unharmed.

The king takes several steps forward. Unlike before, he's not wearing anything at all. There's no crown, no armor, no cape, no nothing. There's just a dark gray stallion before me, his shadowy mane falling to either side of his face now that there's no crown to hold it back.

“It seems that my destiny is tied to thine own, Seth Rogers,” Sombra addresses me solemnly. He clicks his tongue, his eyes closing momentarily. “That it would be thy hand that clasps the amulet...Fate's whims are fickle, indeed.”

I finally find my voice, dread sinking into the pit of my stomach just at the very sight of this stallion. “What...what's going on? How are you still alive?” I demand, a hint of despair in my voice. I don't know where or how he brought me...but if it's just him and me...I'm beyond screwed. “We watched you die!”

Sombra inclines his head in agreement. “You are correct. I was outwitted and outmaneuvered by thy clever plan. To think that Princess Celestia would feign destruction in order to build up an attack of such magnitude...my body is no more,” he reveals, shaking his head as if disappointed in himself. His expression turns into a hard stare. “But I never enter a battle without a plan. As it was one thousand years ago...the same holds true now.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask him, not liking what I'm hearing.

“There was another reason I requested Hawke to retrieve the Alicorn Amulet,” Sombra begins calmly. “This gemstone is of a particularly unique strain...as it is one of the few gems that can house a living soul.”

“You mean...!” Everything starts to make sense...and I think I'm starting to realize what I'm doing here.

“Thou art standing within the amulet itself,” Sombra reveals, lifting a hoof and sweeping it through the air, indicating our surroundings. “I enchanted it to receive my soul should my body retain irreparable damage...and to steal the soul of the first to lay hoof upon its surface.”

“You stole my...you...you took me down with you?” I step forward, fury running through my body. It overpowers my despair and seems to run through me like an electrical current. Every part of me rebels against what I was just told. “You couldn't just die, could you!? You couldn't just let go of your ill-gained empire and this ridiculous quest for power!? I had something to live for, you son of a bitch!”

“Destroying thee is indeed the goal...but I will not be destroyed with thee,” Sombra corrects me, ignoring my outburst entirely. “We are both trapped within the amulet...but it is enchanted to expel its contents when only one soul remains. Let me make mine intentions clear to thee, Seth. The only nearby vessel capable of sustaining a soul...is thy body.”

“I can't believe this. So let me get this straight. You want to kill me here...and then take my body?” I repeat in disbelief. It looks like I'm going to have to fight after all. I don't understand how one soul fights another...but I'll be damned if I'll let him have my body. “It would never work. You'll be found out immediately! If not by Celestia, then by anypony else who even remotely knows me!”

“The aftermath does not concern thee...for thy tale ends here, Seth Rogers,” Sombra tells me threateningly. He starts to walk forward, shadowy power swirling up from the floor around his hooves. “I will not die. I will crush thy soul and continue to live, so that I may attain even more power.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” I retort, lifting a hand. I try to flare my aura...only to find that my core is completely absent. Wait what? How is that possible? This isn't like before, when my magic was stolen. Then, I could feel my core...but it was devoid of all magic. Now, it's just gone. “What the hell? My magic!”

“Thy core is embedded in thy body. Thou wilst not be able to access it from within the amulet,” Sombra explains. That doesn't make sense...if I can't access my magical core, how is he doing it? “As a soul, thy strength is a manifestation of thine own will. This is a battle of minds; thou hast no need of magic.”

I become completely still after that explanation. A strange feeling of calm rushes over me as I truly understand the situation for the first time. Nothing matters here, in the amulet. My friends, the battle, my home...nothing exists here except for myself...and King Sombra. None of us can leave until the other is defeated.

“A battle of will?” I say softly, walking across the crystalline floor towards the king. I briefly close my eyes, picturing for just one second what would happen if I fell here. My eyes shoot open...and they're blazing with emerald magic. “You made a mistake.”

Sombra takes a step back, his eyes widening as I seemingly disappear from his vision. “How...?” is all Sombra has time to say before I appear in front of him. My fist streaks forward and barrels into his chest, and then my forehead smashes into his savagely. My blazing eyes glare into his surprised red pupils...and then I spin on one foot and kick him ruthlessly away from me.

Emerald light explodes outwards from the impact. Sombra hurtles through the air, smoking from the burns he just sustained. Just as he rights himself, I appear above him in midair. “You made a mistake, Sombra!” My body spins like a top, gaining momentum until I kick him right back down into the ground. “You won't be taking my body. You won't even destroy my soul.”

Sombra growls and meets me head on when I appear in front of him. His shadowy hooves collide with my fists, a shockwave shooting outwards from the impact. For once...King Sombra and I are on an even playing field...no, this isn't even. This isn't even at all.

The king's eyes are wide with shock and disbelief as I easily overpower his guard and bring my fist down from overhead, plowing him into the floor. “What are you fighting for, King Sombra?” I demand, dashing across the floor in a streak of emerald light.

“Power...and recognition. I will gain power to rival that of the gods! I will not be stopped by thee or thy allies!” Sombra responds fervently. He slides across the floor and leaps to his hooves. He thrusts his horn forward, and hundreds of emerald lightning bolts streak through the air with a fizzing zap.

“Are you serious? That's it!?” I reply angrily. Everything seems to just come naturally to me...my movements...and the “spells” that I'm using. I know that none of this is true magic...but it doesn't matter. The magical aura around me turns from emerald to a blazing white. I sweep my hand in front of my face, causing a massive white circle of magic to appear in front of my body...its inner workings dotted with thousands of cuneiform runes. When Sombra's lightning bolts collide with the circle, I thrust out my palm, causing the circle to flare brightly and redirect each and every one of the bolts, changing them to the color of my own power. “Power, power, power! That's all you ever say! Is that the only reason you fight? There has to be more!”

“I...aaagh!” Sombra roars with pain as every single bolt slams into his body, engulfing him in an explosion. He blows it away with a shockwave of his own power and slams his hooves on the ground. Two shadowy circles of his own power form in the air behind him. Sparks of green electricity gather together in the center of each one and shoot forth in the form of two solid beams of dark magic. “It is of no concern to thee...I will crush thy soul with my will alone!”

“What will!?” I shout back at him, catching both beams on each of my palms. I'm forced back several feet from the force...but the skin on my hands aren't hurt. They don't hurt at all. With a yell, I redirect the both of them to either side, where they detonate harmlessly. I zip forward at speeds I never once thought I was capable of before...but come easily to me now. I appear above Sombra and somersault through the air, bringing my fists down on his guard. He and I are strain against one another, neither of us giving any ground. “The will to get stronger, no matter who you hurt in the process; and the will not to die!? Did you really think your will was strong enough to triumph!?”

“What then, dost thou suggest, impudent human?” Sombra grunts and forces me back, spinning in place and bucking me back several meters. I quickly land on my feet and dash back to meet him. “Dost thou think thy will is stronger than mine own?”

“You're goddamn right I do! In fact, I have to thank you.” He and I clash together once more, exchanging vicious and thunderous blows that visibly distort the air around us. “If it weren't for you...I likely never would have come to understand the things I do now. People aren't the scum I thought they were...”

I twist and swing my foot in a kick, which he blocks on one hoof.

“They're capable of pushing past the surface to see who we truly are...”

Ducking beneath Sombra's punches, I swiftly stand back up and uppercut him in the chin.

“They're capable of kindness...laughter...generosity...honesty...loyalty...and so much more!”

Sombra skids backwards across the floor after receiving a fierce kick from me. He's breathing heavily now...and his body is starting to waver in form. He looks panicked, his last plan failing no matter how hard he's fighting back.

“It's a magic I never thought I'd be able to understand...so for that...I have to thank you,” I tell him, slowly walking across the floor to him. I crack my knuckles threateningly. I'm not going to stop until I've destroyed him. Only one of us is getting out of this alive. “But you...do you even know how many people you've hurt? How many ponies?”

“It...it dost not matter...they wert...” Sombra attempts to say, but I'm not having any of it.

I raise my fist and clench it, white flame erupting around it. “Do you even know their names!?” I shout viscerally. Sombra doesn't respond, instead backing away from me. I don't let him get any farther, dashing to him and knocking him high into the air with an explosive punch. “I'll tell you...”

I circle in the air around him, zooming in and punching him mercilessly. I don't even let him fly backwards; I fly around him so fast that I hit him right back into the air. I punch him again and again, shouting each and every name that I remember back at him. Sombra's mouth is open in a scream of pain as he takes my relentless attacks. I yell the names of the princesses, the Islanders, the changelings, the crystal ponies, the soldiers...everything that I can remember. At last, I come to the most important ponies to me.

“Celestia!”

“Twilight Sparkle!”

“Pinkie Pie!

“Fluttershy!”

Each name I yell, punctuate with several vicious punches. Sombra never even reaches the ground, due to the sheer amount of hits he's taking. As I continue to shout out more names, I speed up faster and faster.

“Rarity! Applejack! Rainbow Dash!” I slug him right into the ground, which shatters beneath his body. Sombra grunts and coughs, getting to his hooves slowly. His body is beaten and battered...and it won't stay in focus. I land in front of him. “And that's just the ponies...I wish I could tell you the names of each and every human you ordered killed...but I don't know them myself.”

I slide forward and slam my elbow into him before he can raise his guard. “But I do know Amaryllis! I do know my mother, Elaine! I do know my father, Gerome! My brother, Adam!” My assault never lets up, to the point where my fists are starting to sting from all of the times I've hit him. I kick him up high into the air. “I know Hawke, the one you manipulated! And this is for making my life a living hell!”

Sombra flips in midair and grunts, fury overtaking him. “Cease thine endless prattle! I care not for these names...they mean nothing to me! Only power!” Sombra's horn lights up like a lightning rod, channeling an immense amount of power. A massive runed circle appears in the air in front of him, colored pure black. Hundreds of smaller circles spread out from the central circle, forming a curved arc...with me at the focus point. “I will not die!”

“You won't stop me here!” I propel myself off of the ground at the speed of a rocket, my fist arcing back and igniting with power. My energy spreads out from my body, sweeping across the entirety of open space in the amulet behind me. Everything becomes awash in white. Around me, shapes form in the white flame...coalescing into the likeness of Amaryllis, my family, Hawke, Celestia, Rainbow, and every single other individual that I'm fighting for...manifestations of my will.

My fist collides with Sombra's magic with a colossal crash. My power washes over his...crashing together like a tidal wave against the shore. An array of concentric circles emanate from the point of impact, trailing back over my body and drilling in the floor far below me. His power holds me back...but I won't let it stop me. Sombra's eyes open wide with horror as his will only slows me, rather than stopping me outright.

With a rising yell, my fist shatters his magic like glass...and then my arm shoots right through Sombra's middle. Our magic merges together and explodes around us...but I can't feel any of it. All I can see is the shocked face of Sombra in front of me...and the sight of him impaled on my arm.

“That one...is for all of the humans and ponies whose names I don't know,” I whisper to him softly. I rip my arm out of his chest, leaving behind a gaping hole that shines with a bright white light.

“What...what is this...” Sombra lands on the ground and presses a hoof to the blazing hole in his chest. Already, cracks are starting to form in his body, white light leaking through from within. He squeezes his eyes shut as he attempts to keep his body together...but to no avail. “No...I cannot die...I will not die...I need..power...more power! This...isn't enough!”

I stand there and watch calmly, breathing hard, as Sombra nears his end. The king's body fragments and starts to crumble. “I...need more power!” Sombra roars. Suddenly...he pauses, as if accepting his end. “Why...why did I...desire power? What...was I fighting for? Can't...recall...”

Sombra's eyes suddenly open. His pupils...instead of being dark red as they always are...are now a calm shade of green. Understanding dawns in his face as his body falls apart. “Ah...yes...now I remember...the Crystal Fair...”

With that, I have to cover my eyes as Sombra's body detonates, a bright white light filling the entire area. It gets so bright to the point where I can't see anything else. My senses are soon overcome by that blinding light...until nothing is left.





I suddenly jerk awake, familiar pain filling my body from all of the wounds I sustained in the battle. I open my eyes to see a canvas ceiling. In the background, I can hear the soft tones of Fluttershy soothing a wounded soldier, telling me exactly where I am.

The moment I grunt in an attempt to rise, I hear the sound of scores of hoofbeats galloping towards me. The first thing I see is a cyan pony poking her head in my face. “He's awake! Everypony look! He's back!” Rainbow exclaims happily. The whole room explodes into chatter, the loudest of whom is Pinkie.

“Oh, thank goodness!” Rarity gasps from somewhere around. “Somepony get Fluttershy!”

“I'm here...it'll be okay.” I wince as I feel a wet cloth brushing against my burns. Despite their protests, I force myself into a sitting position...to see everyone looking at me.

I mean everyone. Everyone from Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and her friends; to Iron, Salamul and the Islanders; to Chrysalis, Pterax, and the changelings; to Trixie and Swift from my team; to Celestia, Luna, and Cadance, each of them still badly injured, but forcing themselves to stand.

“Seth...are you alright?” Celestia asks me anxiously, rushing to my side. I nod, and she gives a small sigh of relief. “Is it over?”

I look down at my hand, where I've apparently been holding the Alicorn Amulet so hard that it has cut into my palm. The gem, once so lively and bright...is now dull as a stone. As I watch, a crack runs through the center of it.

“Yeah,” I say with a sigh, true relief settling upon me for the first time since this whole war began. “It's over.”
> 130. The End of the War
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The room fills with the sound of happy cheers at my words. The different ponies around me, even as battered as they are, hug one another with joy. Cadance allows herself to slump to the floor, tears of happiness and exhaustion trailing down her cheeks. Beside her is Luna, a smile on relief on her usually composed face. 

Rainbow leaps onto the bed and nearly hugs my neck out of excitement, but she instead settled for resting at my side and nuzzling me affectionately once she remembers how hurt I am. Applejack is awake in the bed next to me, with Rubella standing and Amber resting in the sheets next to her. Applejack is smiling broadly, as relieved as all of us to hear that the war has finally ended.

“It's finally over...I almost can't believe it,” Rarity admits, her hooves wrapped around Twilight in a happy hug. Even the other wounded soldiers filling the beds here are smiling, lifting their hooves and cheering with the rest of us.  “I thought it would never end.”

“At long last...” Celestia finally says with a sigh. Her knees buckle beneath her from exhaustion...and she would have fallen right to the floor if there hadn't been several other soldiers there to catch her. “Oh...oh dear...I am more drained than I thought...”

“Oh no, bring her here please. I'll do my best to make her comfortable,” Fluttershy insists, quickly setting up another bed to accommodate the princess. Celestia smiles gratefully as her soldiers help her to the bed. “That goes for the rest of you...none of you are in any condition to be standing.”

“Please, I'll be fine. I certainly don't need a pathetic pony like you to look over me,” Chrysalis hisses softly, even as Luna and Cadance obediently move to the nearest open beds. Despite her words, she's hardly standing. The only reason she hasn't fallen yet is because she's leaning against a pile of crates. Fluttershy bites her lip in fright, but bravely attempts to approach Chrysalis anyway. She promptly flees under the bed when Chrysalis hisses at her. “I mean it...I can handle mysel...wha!?”

Chrysalis lets out a screech of utter shock as a brown hoof snakes beneath her belly, hoisting directly into the air. The ponies nearby scatter in every direction as the queen kicks and flails in the grip of the Warlord Salamul. “Put me down! I will not be handled in such a familiar fashion!” Chrysalis protests hotly. 

“You are being stubborn...” Salamul rumbles, refusing to loosen his grip. Compared to Chrysalis, his body is much better shape; there's no way she's going to get free from him right now. She eventually realizes that and stops struggling, hanging limply from the warlord's grasp. “You need to rest, else you run the risk of injuring yourself further.”

“What do you care?” Chrysalis retorts as the warlord lays her into one of the beds. Salamul doesn't answer, instead turning back around and approaching his fellow Islanders. She's left watching him with a confused and embarrassed expression.

Despite all of the celebration around me, I'm a little confused as to what happened while I was out. I look at Rainbow. “What happened to the undead? Wasn't there another general out there controlling them?” I ask her softly.

“What? Oh yeah, we totally kicked their tails!” Rainbow responds enthusiastically. “You should have seen me out there. I was like a whirlwind of color, beating down any nasties that got close. There was this one minotaur that...”

“Rainbow,” I interrupt wryly 

“What?” Rainbow stops in the middle of acting out her encounter with the aforementioned minotaur.

“The general. What happened?”

“Oh, the general. Well, he fell pretty quick, to be honest,” Rainbow continues. “He got up close...and I just have to say, he was REALLY frustrated. The two Islander guys...uh...Salamul and Iron...took him down in the blink of an eye!”

“Not surprising,” I remark, looking over to the two warlords. Despite having fought with a general, neither of them look all that injured. I wish one of them had been around when we fought Shatter. Then Applejack wouldn't have needed to get herself beaten to near death.

“What about you? The princess said you were soulless or something! We were freaking out!” Rainbow demands. 

“Well, that's a long story. Suffice to say, Sombra didn't go down so easily,” I admit to her. Rainbow looks even more curious, unsatisfied with that little of an answer. “I'll have to tell you later, once I'm not in a million pieces.”

The celebration doesn't get any quieter. In fact, as word spreads out of the room to the soldiers outside, it isn't long before the whole army is letting out victory cries and shaking their hooves and weapons in the air. I can't help but smile, listening to it all. It makes me feel really warm, knowing that I helped make this happen.

However, there's one thing that still bothers me. When Rainbow goes to speak with one of the others, I turn my head over to my right. “Celestia,” I say to the princess in the bed on the other side of me. Celestia turns her head to meet my gaze curiously. “What's the Crystal Fair?”

“Hm...it sounds familiar, but I am not quite sure,” Celestia admits.

“Oh! I can answer that!” Twilight zips between us almost faster than I can follow, excitement evident in her voice. Celestia chuckles at her enthusiasm. “I read it in the same book that taught me about the Crystal Heart!”

“Speaking of the Crystal Heart...” I say, interrupting Twilight and turning back to the princess. 

“Do not worry. The Crystal Heart has been secured, as has the Element of Magic. All is well,” Celestia assures me. I sigh in relief. I didn't see the Element of Magic among Sombra's remains, so I'd been worried. I'm guessing he actually stored them someplace away from the battle. “You were saying, Twilight?”

Twilight straightens up proudly. “Yes, the Crystal Fair. It's an annual event that was held by the Crystal Ponies before King Sombra's reign. There were games, refreshments, and other attractions, like jousting! It was all meant to lift their spirits and power up the Crystal Heart!” she explained. 

For some reason, during her explanation, Pinkie had somehow arrived without any of us noticing. She immediately leaps into the air and gasps over-dramatically. “Ohmigosh, it's like a huge party! How have I not heard of this before? Princess, we need to do it! It would make all the Crystal Ponies so happy!” Pinkie asserts loudly. “Please, can we do it? Please please, can we? Oh, princess, please...

“What would?” Rubella approaches us timidly as Pinkie continues to bounce up and down, pleading with Celestia. She had apparently heard Pinkie mention her kind. Celestia chooses not to immediately respond to her, instead rubbing her chin with a hoof, contemplating Pinkie's words.

“That is a good idea, Pinkie Pie. How would you like to be in charge of planning it?” Celestia offers after several seconds, her lips curving into a knowing smile. Pinkie's eyes go as wide as dinner plates.

“YEEESSS!” Pinkie squeals extremely loudly, causing me to wince and cover my ears. She looks a little sheepish when she sees us all wincing. “I mean, me, planning the first party the Crystal Ponies have seen in over a thousand years? Count me in! We'll invite all of Equestria!”

“Party?” Rubella questions, her head lifting a little with hopeful curiosity.

“Very well. Once I have enough time to heal, I will set the army to work clearing the rubble and repairing the damage to the Crystal Empire...and then you and I can see about making preparations for the Crystal Fair. Does that sound good, Pinkie Pie?”

“Yessiree, Princess Celestia!” Pinkie responds enthusiastically. However, it's Rubella's reaction that's the most telling. 

Rubella's jaw drops, her eyes widening with disbelief. “The...the Crystal Fair? We're going to have the fair again!?” she asks, unsuccessfully trying to keep her hope in check. Celestia doesn't respond, instead smiling at the crystal pony reassuringly. “I...I don't believe it...is it really over? You even have the Crystal Heart?”

Pinkie hops beside Rubella and wraps a hoof around her in a loving manner. “Of course! I'm gonna make it the best Crystal Fair you've ever had!” she assures the crystal mare. “The princesses have the heart! Right, princess?”

“Indeed. It is kept under lock and key at the spire...ready to be retrieved when needed,” Celestia affirms. “Rest assured, little one. We will not allow your kingdom to fall into ruin...not while we still breathe.”

Rubella gasps softly. She closes her eyes briefly, tears squeezing out from beneath her eyelids. When she opens her eyes once more, her body flashes and undergoes a transformation. Her mane and tail style themselves, life returning to her twinkling coat. She gallops over to Amber and scoops her little sister into a hug, excitedly telling her the good news. It isn't long before Amber too is shining with a crystalline light, matching her sister.

“Wow...that's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!” Rarity exclaims, seeing the way the two ponies shine and reflect the light as if they were actually made out of crystal. She soon joins Pinkie and Twilight, looking interested in our conversation. “So...for this Crystal Fair...will there be decorations?”

Rarity puts on her most winning smile at Celestia, even batting her eyes a bit in an attempt to look as adorable as possible. I sigh and rub my forehead. Even I can tell what she wants in this situation. Celestia obviously can as well.

“Yes, you may assist in the décor, Rarity,” Celestia obliges her. Rarity does her best to hold in her joy at that response, instead bowing formally and thanking the princesses politely. However, the moment Rarity turns to leave, she giggles and then squeals with glee. “I am quite liking this idea of a party in the Crystal Empire, now that we have claimed victory.”

“Me too! All the crystal ponies will love it! We just have to get this right!” Twilight agrees. She turns and starts to trot away. “I have to go read up on the fair! The more we know, the more authentic we can make it! This'll be so much fun!”

“I am curious, however, how the topic of the fair came to be on your mind, Seth,” Celestia addresses me personally now that the others have left us and we're relatively alone.

“It's...just something Sombra said, right before he died,” I reveal to her, earning her interest. “He looked...different...and he said that the reason he wanted power was for the Crystal Fair. But I don't get it.”

“Neither do I...but I will assume that it isn't a happy story,” Celestia responds solemnly. “Do you remember what I told you about the dangers of dark magic?”

“As if I could forget, considering you beat me into a mountain,” I remark, though my tone is more teasing than accusatory. Celestia looks a little sheepish at that, but giggles nonetheless. She soon grows serious once more.

“Those who delve too deeply into the search for power...tend to lose themselves to the very power they strove to obtain,” Celestia explains. “I do not think even Sombra remembered why he set out to gain power...not until the very end.”

“Yeah...you're probably right. Still, I'm glad he's gone,” I return, crossing my arms. Celestia nods understandingly.

“As am I. Now, I suggest you get some rest,” Celestia suggests. “I have a few orders to give, and then I will do the same. I will need several hours before I have enough magical energy to heal us all.”

“Sounds good,” I respond, turning back over to face the ceiling. My eyelids soon start to droop, reminding me just how exhausted I really am. Even though I was unconscious, my mind wasn't...as it was in the amulet with Sombra. This will be the first decent rest since the initial assault. And god, I can tell it's going to feel really good.





From then on, the process of the Crystal Empire's restoration begins. Not long after I fall asleep, Celestia regains enough magic to get us back on our feet. From there, we're assigned to the city to help clean up; there's a lot of work to do. Between the cracked streets, the destroyed buildings, and the bodies of the undead all over the place, we have our work cut out for us.

In the mines deep below the city, we find the hundreds of crystal ponies enslaved by King Sombra, as well as the fewer number of northern ponies that lived in the settlements such as Everwinter. The northern ponies thank us, but make it pretty clear that they want to be pretty much anywhere other than here. Escorted by some of the First Regiment, they depart the city. As for the crystal ponies, they want nothing more than to help us rebuild their city.

With the help of some of the freed crystal ponies, we start to put the city back together. They know their own architecture better than we do. As happy as they are to be freed, it doesn't take much convincing to get them all working together with us to put everything back the way it was.

The streets are smoothed out, the buildings are slowly repaired, and the undead are dragged out of the city and set alight atop large bonfires, purging their taint from existence. I'm assigned to all sorts of jobs. Unlike the last time I helped repair a city, this time the atmosphere is much lighter. Now, whenever I work with Shining Armor or one of the other soldiers, they treat me amiably rather than with suspicion. It's a huge difference from the changeling invasion.

Speaking of the changelings, Chrysalis actually stays to help rebuild with the rest of us. I'm really shocked by that, because she doesn't seem the type. I usually see her together with Salamul and the other Islanders doing the heavy jobs, such as lifting a reconstructed beam of solid crystal to its new resting place, and keeping it there until the crystal can be fused together. Her changelings are a huge help; there's so many of them, we're never short on labor.

However, the griffons soon take their leave.





“I did my job. Consider us even, Cadance! I'll want something more solid next time...like money!” Zythe says sharply from his position on the gangplank of his flagship, jabbing a claw at the princess in question. I pause my work on the window in front of me and listen in curiously.

“Oh, you're not staying for the Crystal Fair?” Cadance asks in surprise. Zythe grimaces and feigns throwing up.

“No, I don't do pony parties. Maybe if you can stock foods and games that we griffons would like, I might change my mind,” Zythe retorts. Cadance winces, knowing as well as I do that that would never fly amongst the other ponies. Griffons are carnivores, and nopony would be comfortable having them eating meat around them. Not to mention their games are no doubt more violent. “That's what I thought. I'm outta here.”

“Wait, just one moment,” Cadance inists, and then she shocks Zythe by giving him a friendly hug. “Thanks for coming to our aid. We couldn't have done it without you, friend.”

“Yeah yeah,” Zythe grunts, barely tolerating her affection. Eventually he extricates himself and hightails it up the gangplank, embarrassed and conscious of the griffons snickering at him from the deck. “You touchy feely ponies. I feel like I'll go soft if I hang around you ponies for too long.”

Giggling, Cadance watches Zythe return to the airship's wheel and retract the gangplank. With a roar of engines, it isn't long before the Viceroy and his fleet sails through the air and out of sight.





The Islanders stay as well, though I think that's mostly because Salamul refuses to leave his brother just yet. I often see him and Iron in an alley, discussing something fervently in low tones as I pass by. I shrug. I'm not going to butt in on their business. I'm just happy they're staying for the fair.

In fact, not many ponies are actually leaving. Even the ponies that have no obligation to be here now that the war is over, like Trixie, are sticking around to help rebuild. The only ponies that aren't usually in town are Captain Gale and Stealth Force. They've been ordered to keep an eye on the surrounding landscape, in case any further undead are wandering around. So far, I don't think they've found anything.

As we continue to work on rebuilding the city, the darkness slowly recedes from the buildings. While the city was black and twisted due to Sombra's magic, now it is slowly starting to return to its former glory. Many of the crystal ponies I come across cheer whenever they see the darkness receding, more than a few of them reverting to their crystalline appearance like Rubella and Amber.

Then, as I was helping to repair a house near the edge of town, something rather interesting occurred.





I squint one eye and slowly ease the window pane inside the hardening putty. Once it’s in place, I gently press down on the edges. “Okay, that just leaves the frame, and then this window is done,” I say to myself. I take a moment to take off the gloves that I’m wearing (Rarity is a sewing wizard, I swear) and wipe my forehead free of sweat. It’s really cold up here, but considering that I’m always moving, I can hardly tell.

“Working hard?” Shining Armor joins me on the scaffolding, carrying a set of wooden window frames with him. He’s wearing a hard helmet as well as a simple set of wintry clothes to keep himself warm. I make room for him to join me.

“Yeah...but I don’t think I ever want to see another window after this is through,” I grunt, glaring at the offending glassware. Shining Armor chuckles and passes me one of the frames. “What about you? Haven’t seen you around much.”

“I’ve been working with the crystal ponies. Some of them used to be guards, but their military fell apart after the occupation,” Shining Armor explains, sitting beside me and working on the other window. “I’m helping to get them set back up in their barracks. We can’t keep our troops here forever.”

“Oh yeah...I guess that since Sombra’s gone, Celestia’s moving forward with the whole protectorate plan,” I recall. Huh, so technically this place will become part of Equestria...except not really, at the same time. Shining Armor nods in confirmation. Suddenly, I remember something. “Hold on a minute. Cadance is going to be in charge, so that means she has to stay here. What are you going to do?”

“Stay here with her, of course. I can’t leave my wife,” Shining Armor responds with a smile. “I’ll be helping her rule as her steward.”

“What about Equestria? What about the First Regiment? You can’t just leave them without their Captain of the Guard,” I point out, turning to face him now that I’ve fixed the frame to the window.

“Don’t worry, we’ve thought of that,” Shining Armor reassures me. “I’m essentially getting promoted, so somepony’s gotta step up and fill my spot. I’m thinking of recommending Stalwart Iron for my old position.”

“Huh...yeah, okay,” I respond, actually pleased with that. Iron’s one hell of a soldier; I have no doubt he’d make a great captain. “I wonder what his brother will think of that.”

Before Shining Armor can answer, an explosion tears through the air, originating from the snow fields outside of the city. I drop my tools and leap to my feet, preparing to use my magic if necessary. The first thing I see is a sickly green plume of magical flame spiraling up through the air in the distance.

“What the fuck?” I demand, recognizing that as Chrysalis’s magic. Seconds later, lightning rains down from the sky, coming from black clouds that seemingly formed from nowhere. Another massive explosion ensues, and this time wind rushes over me, blowing my hair back.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Shining Armor groans, facehoofing in exasperation. “You can relax...it’s not the enemy.”

“What’s going on?” I ask, watching as green magic clashes against pure electricity, far in the distance. I can see two small figures clashing against one another, but I can’t really make them out.

“It’s Warlord Salamul and the changeling queen. I was working with them in the tower just a few minutes before I left to come here, and she said something about how he was just posing, and that he didn’t have anywhere near her level of power,” Shining Armor explains. I blink, and then I groan too, getting the gist of what’s going on. “I told them to take it outside...but I didn’t think they actually would.”

“I should’ve seen that coming,” I say, sitting down on the scaffolding now that I know that there isn’t a threat. It’s just Salamul and Chrysalis beating the shit out of each other to satisfy their own egos. “At least they had the sense not to do it in the middle of the city.”

“Thank Celestia for small favors, right?” Shining Armor responds with a chuckle. The two of us get back to work on the windows, aiming to complete this wall before tonight. In the distance, the sounds of the fight between Salamul and Chrysalis can be heard, but neither of us pay them much attention.

As for Shining Armor and I, ever since that battle in Trotsdale, he’s been more amiable towards me. I actually confronted him about it recently, when I had a free moment. 

“Look, I still do not and will not approve of the decision you made during the changeling invasion. You nearly cost hundreds of ponies their lives, all for your selfish desires,” Shining Armor had told me bluntly, not bothering to sugarcoat his words. “But I acknowledge that you have been making every effort to make up for your mistakes...and that’s what I respect.”

I’m grateful that he told me like that. I was an idiot back then...I’m still angry at myself for even considering Chrysalis’s offer, so it would be ridiculous of Shining Armor to just forgive me so easily.

Time passes, and eventually the sounds of the battle taking place outside the city cease entirely. I guess the battle ended. “You think we should send somepony out to make sure they didn’t beat each other to death?” I ask Shining Armor wryly. 

“They’ll be fine. I doubt either of them were truly being serious,” Shining Armor assures me. “Besides, the princesses must not think it anything to worry about either, otherwise they’d have put a stop to it already.”

“That’s fair,” I respond with a shrug. “Anyway, let’s get this window done so we can go get something to eat. You still owe me a meal, remember?”

“I haven’t forgotten,” Shining Armor assures me with a friendly smile. The two of us continuing working, branching away from the windows and eventually shoring up the walls. Later, one of the crystal ponies will come by and reinforce them with crystal.

Eventually, we finish this particular building, and then we descend the scaffolding into the streets. “There. Now, I need to report back to the First Regiment. As for you, I think that Blades was asking for…” Shining Armor starts to say. He trails off, staring past me. Confused, I follow his gaze to one of the streets that leads out of the city.

Salamul and Chrysalis, the both of them bruised and burnt, walk slowly into the city. The warlord is dragging his axe behind him with a hoof, seemingly devoid of the magic necessary to carry it telekinetically. Chrysalis doesn’t look much better, as her chitinous plates are battered and her mane is matted with sweat. They stop when they see us, the both of them looking very surprised to see us here.

Wait, hold on a minute. They’re just getting back into the city now? It’s been a full hour since the sounds of battle died away...so what the hell were they doing for all that time? 

Beside me, Shining Armor blinks, and then sniffs the air. Strangely enough, he picks up the scent of something that causes his eyes to grow wide with shock, his cheeks blushing a deep red. He stares between Chrysalis and Salamul with disbelief.

“What the devil are you two looking at?” Chrysalis hisses at us defensively. Together with Salamul, she makes her way past us. “I’ll thank you to mind your own business!”  

I stand in silence with Shining Armor for several seconds as I try to figure out what the hell I just witnessed. “What...just happened?” I ask dumbly. 

Shining Armor shakes his head, the blush remaining. “You don’t want to know.”





Days pass over the course of the reconstruction. Every day, I work my ass off with the others until my wintry clothes are soaked with sweat. Every night, I retire with Rainbow to our old room in the Crystal Tower and sleep until the next morning. Over time, the city slowly starts to resemble its previous glory.

However, just as things are settling down, the last general, Earthen Glass, escapes from the dungeons, where he's been confined until the princesses determine what to do with him.





“What happened, soldier?” Celestia demands. Together with Luna and I, the three of us are standing outside the dungeon. The doors have been ripped right off of their hinges and strewn across the street, telling us that whatever knocked them down had a great deal of physical strength.

“He busted his way out, your highness. We're not sure how, but all we heard was the door slamming open, and then he just plowed right through us,” the soldier responded, holding an ice pack up against the nasty bruises on his face. “He's really strong, even for an earth pony.”

“Did he happen to mention his objective?” Celestia continues. Honestly, if it came to a fight, we could probably take Glass down pretty quick, since he has no magic like we do. However, I'm just worried about who he'll hurt while we're running around trying to find him.

“No, he wasn't really making much sense,” the soldier replies ruefully. He rubs his chin  with his free hoof, trying to recall the incident. “He seemed very frustrated for some reason.”

“Frustrated?” Celestia repeats with bemusement. Before the soldier can respond, we hear the sound of hooves clacking against the crystal street behind us. 

We quickly turn to see Earthen Glass himself landing on the street, revealing himself brazenly. I've never seen him before, but I know it's him...because he's a massive earth pony. His face is contorted with rage, his teeth bared and grinding together.

“There you are, you worthless old princesses!” Glass snarls at the two of them, scuffing his hoof against the street. I blink in surprise. I certainly didn't expect him to show himself so easily. What, is he stupid? The general lifts a hoof and jabs it at us. “Stay where you are, and hold your tongues! I am talking now!”

“Um...you do realize you're pretty much screwed now, right?” I tell him, regardless of his request for silence. I cross my arms, meeting his gaze. “The princesses are going to wreck you.”

“Wreck me? Me?! I am Earthen Glass! The very gods themselves fear my name! My skill in combat is peerless! And if I want this kingdom, then this kingdom I shall have!” Glass snaps back at me, his voice rising.

“That will not be happening,” Celestia warns him, her horn starting to glow with a hint of magic. “My sister and I will never let you enslave these ponies again.”

“Graagh! Miserable princesses! I care nothing for you! If you won't get out of my way, I'll tear this kingdom down stone by stone! None of you have a chance against me!” Glass roars, rearing up and kicking at the air. He breaks into a gallop, charging directly at Celestia with the intent to kill in his eyes. 

He lifts up a hoof to strike her...and then Celestia simply bats him to the ground with a magically empowered hoof. Glass yelps and hits the street so hard, he shatters the crystal around the point of impact. The three of us just stare at the now unconscious pony. Did this...really just happen?

“I...what the...” I try to say, practically speechless at the stupidity of the scene I just watched. Finally, I understand what the others meant. “Rainbow was right...he was really frustrated.”

“Snrk...” one of the soldiers who had been behind us suddenly starts to chuckle despite the situation. The other soldiers start to laugh as well, until the entire squad in charge of watching the dungeon is laughing hard at the event that just unfolded. “Oh dear, he just...and then the princess just...ahahaha!”

“...'tis a little funny,” Luna admits, starting to chuckle a little herself. My shock and confusion soon gives way to mirth as well. I can't help but double over with laughter. He was so frustrated...I've never seen a pony so frustrated...and then Celestia just...in one hit...!

“I suppose his foolishness is indeed amusing,” Celestia admits, smiling with relief. “We are lucky that he chose to confront me directly instead of harming my subjects, else this could have...none of you are listening, are you?”

At that point, the clearing is filled with the sounds of laughter from Luna, myself, and the guards. Celestia shakes her head and chuckles a bit herself.





After that, Glass is taken to a more secure location, to ensure that he will not escape again. Though given how stupid he was to attack Celestia head on, I don't think he'd be a threat even if he did get out. Honestly, I wonder why the hell Sombra ever recruited him as a general, if he's that stupid?

It's only a few more days before the city starts to look as normal once again. With that being said, construction work started to slow down, and preparations for the Crystal Fair started to begin.





“Cyan, burgundy, a deep blue...” Rarity muses to herself from the center of the clearing. She paces from house to house, carrying a small color wheel with magic.  Every so often, she'll walk up to one of the houses and hold up the color wheel, turning it to see which colors would work best. “Perhaps ruby red? Wait, no, Rarity, what are you thinking? Such colors would only clash with the burgundy! But perhaps...considering the cyan and deep blue seem to mesh well together...it might fit the color scheme...but then...”

Applejack huffs from her position at the table. “Rarity, we're on break right now. Get off yer hooves and come join us for a bite!” She calls over to the muttering mare. “Ah made some apple pie!”

“In a moment, dear. I'm quite busy, you see,” Rarity responds absentmindedly. Applejack just shakes her head, and then takes a bite out of her own pie.

The seven of us are hanging out in a clearing just outside of an old cafe that only just recently reopened. By seven of us, I mean Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Spike, and myself. While we're supposed to be taking a break from all the work, more than half of us are still working. 

Twilight flips through a thick history book beside me, her muzzle practically pressed up against the pages. Every so often she'll make a noise and write something down in a notepad beside her. “Rarity, did you know they have their own unique banners that they fly at the fair?” Twilight speaks up, getting the fashionista's attention. Rarity doesn't waste any time in zipping over to Twilight and peering in the book as well. “See here? Do you think we can get a set of these?”

“Of course, darling! I would be remiss if I couldn't get everything just right for these poor crystal ponies!” Rarity exclaims, looking hurt, as if Twilight had just implied that she couldn't. “Just look at that design! I must say, the crystal ponies have good taste. Now if only I can get my hooves on a decent material this far north...”

Beside Twilight, sitting on top of the table, is Spike. The little guy has been chomping on generously donated gems this whole time now. I think he's just relieved that everything is going back to normal. Not that I blame him. The feeling of there being nothing on the horizon for me to worry about is very freeing. I'm happier than I've been in a while.

As for me, I'm working on transcribing the Anthem of the Crystal Empire down on paper. We haven't been able to find any copies of it in the library, so myself and an older crystal pony (who is also a musician) are working together on recreating it.

“No, it's got to be a flat there, son,” the older musician corrects me. “You did hear me, didn't you?”

“Yeah I did, but it that just doesn't sound right in my head,” I retort in annoyance. I can sightread and sound notes out in my head to an extent, and no matter what this guy says, a flat note right there makes a very discordant sound when combined with the other parts. “That's a fourth right there, and if it isn't structured right, it just won't sound good.”

“It won't sound good if you hold it for too long, perhaps, but the intent is to take the audience by surprise with its unusual sound, before blending the two discordant notes into a perfect third,” the musician instructs me. “Trust me...I used to play this piece all the time, before...before all of that ended.”

There's a short silence. I understand what he was about to say there...and I certainly don't expect him to be over Sombra's enslavement just yet. It's just a miracle that he's managing to remember as much as he is, considering his age. Still, his words do make sense. I reluctantly add a flat symbol to the note, trusting that he knows what he's doing.

“What are the...what do you call those things again?” I ask, pointing at the page where the musician had drawn the image of a weird looking trumpet.

“Flugelhorns, son,” he reminds me. Across the table from us, Pinkie lifts her head and pulls one of the crystalline horns out of her mane and blows on it obnoxiously, just because she can. “Yes, like that, pink one.”

I roll my eyes as Pinkie giggles and goes back to the papers in front of her.  She's filling out several hundreds of invitations, and she's doing it really fast, too. The completed invitations start to pile up on one side of her, to the point where Spike has to grab a bag and catch them before they fall onto the street. Sheesh, I think she's actually inviting ponies from all over Equestria to this thing. 

“Right, flugelhorns. Freakin' weird name. Anyway, what are they doing in the measure here, where the strings are doing those ascending triplets?” I question him next, pointing the pen at the blank measure in question. The musician hums the tune softly as he attempts to remember. 

“I believe...here, let me see that pen,” he grabs the pen in his hoof somehow and lightly sketches down several notes on a spare sheet of paper. “Hm...yes, that seems right.”

“Seems right, or is right?” I press him with a raised brow. The musician harrumphs and passes me the paper so I can transcribe the notes.

“Don't be difficult. Don't worry, we're going to pass this to the other musicians to get it reviewed before rehearsing it,” he admonishes me. I sigh and do as I'm told, writing the notes in the flugelhorn measures.

“Are you two done yet?” Rainbow interrupts for the umpteenth time. She's lying on her back on the seat across from me, eating some of Applejack's pie and lazily kicking at the air.

“No,” the musician and I both say at the same time, annoying her. 

“Ugh, I'm so bored!” Rainbow complains, sitting up straight. “I need something to do.”

“Oh, you can help me,” Twilight suggests. Rainbow puts on a less than enthused face at the prospect. “Don't make that face; I'm not going to make you research with me. Did you know the crystal ponies like jousting?”

“Wait what? Jousting?” I ask, looking up from the music for one second. “Seriously? We had jousting back in my time too...though it was usually humans riding horses that did it. How the hell do ponies joust?”

“Well, according to what I read here, they strap the lances to the sides of their armor and aim to knock the other over first,” Twilight reads. She lifts the book and shows me a picture. I can't help but scoff. Ponies jousting. That's just so wrong on so many different levels. “Rainbow, do you think you can find a smith to make us some blunt lances?”

“That I can get behind. Maybe I'll ask that one Islander mare!” Rainbow takes off from the table and zooms away, causing the table's surface to rock. Papers go everywhere from the disturbance, causing me to groan.

“Really!?” I yell up after her in frustration. Of course, she's too far to hear me now, so there's nothing I can do except reorganize the sheet music. Thank god I had the foresight to number the pages. “That mare sometimes.”

The others chuckle at the faces I'm making, and then we all get back to work.





That's generally how the preparations go. Rainbow never wants to sit still, so Twilight is always sending her on errands. Twilight and Pinkie are generally the ones organizing the preparations for the fair, as the former has a talent for fishing out useful information on previous fairs, while the latter is one of the best party planners that I know.

As for Pinkie, she really is inviting everypony. I know that, because I accompanied her when she gave them all to a member of the Pegasus Corps to mail. Most of these names I don't recognize, but I do notice several of them are going to Ponyville. 

That gets me excited for this party as well, because maybe even my friends that I haven't seen in what feels like forever will show up too. I can't believe I'm admitting it, but damn, I really miss Vinyl....and even Lyra. I just miss that town. I can't wait to see all of them here.

I don't see much of Swift or Trixie, either. Swift is working with her regiment once more, so I usually only see her in the presence of other soldiers. As for Trixie, I think she left not long after the city repairs finished. She said she had to bring her home up here, whatever that means. Still, it makes me feel a little sad. Now that the war's over, I'm guessing my team is disbanded now.

Sure enough, Celestia approaches me one day. It's time for me to give up my rank as commander. I'm not all that attached to it, but I am fond of my team. Even Pterax, despite the fact that he's a smartass. I haven't seen him since the war ended. I think he's with the hive.

Anyway, I guess I'm back to being a normal civilian. I'm perfectly fine with that. In fact, the moment I get home, I'm hanging up my sword and rifle on the wall. I have no intentions of ever using them again. I plan on living the rest of my life in Ponyville with Rainbow, Vinyl, and the others.

As preparations come along, areas in the street are marked off and reserved for tents and market stalls. The idea of having market stalls came from Celestia, who suggested it would be a good chance to get the Crystal Empire's economy up and running again. Given how many invitations I saw Pinkie send out, I'm inclined to agree with the princess on that point.

Areas are set aside for the jousting arena and other events, most of which I'm not sure of just yet. According to Twilight, there's apparently a petting zoo as well. Fluttershy is working on that one, so I'm guessing that's going to turn out just fine. 

A musical arena is in the middle of construction as well. Considering my interests, I spend a lot of time with the crystal pony musicians. It's actually a lot of fun for me;  all of them appreciate music as much as I do. After I get past the initial awkwardness, it's easy to get into an enjoyable conversation with them while we work. And there's definitely a lot of work to do. Once the sheet music has been transcribed and reviewed, it's time to start finding instruments for the crystal ponies to use. The flugelhorns have to be physically cut out of crystal, but the rest we have to ship in from Equestria.

They invited me to play with them, but I respectfully decline. As much fun as it would be to perform with them all, it would mean that I would have to play the whole fair, and miss out on interacting with my friends. There's also a few things I want to take care of as well, and that requires mingling with the crowds.

Finally, Celestia appoints an actual date for the fair to take place. Excitement among the crystal ponies and the Equestrians quickly starts to rise after the announcement, and our efforts are invigorated. As for me, the date can't come soon enough. I've been working hard for every single day since the war ended, and it's starting to get really tiring. There always seems to be something else to do. I never seem to be able to get to bed before midnight.

As the day draws closer, ponies start to filter in early from all over Equestria, occupying the recently reopened hotels. Some of the Canterlot ponies arrive first...and I can tell that's where they're from due to their dress and demeanor. No doubt they're expecting this to be a formal affair...hah, I can't wait to see their faces when they find out that Pinkie planned the whole thing.

At last, I lurch up in bed on the day of the Crystal Fair. Rubbing my eyes, I push Rainbow over the edge to wake her up, and then gaze out the window towards the rising sun. I can't help but feel that this is going to be the greatest party ever.
> 131. The Crystal Fair
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 	“Darn it, Seth, I was having an awesome dream!” Rainbow complains, sprawled on the floor from where I shoved her. She rolls over and looks up at the window, noticing the small amount of light coming in through the window. “What the...the sun's not even up yet! I'm going back to sleep.”

“No you're not,” I say. The second she leaps up to the bed, I yank her right back down by the scruff of her neck. She yelps and struggles, flipping and somehow managing to smack me in the face with a hoof. I wince and wrestle her for a moment, finding it difficult to keep her still. Finally, Rainbow lets out a stubborn huff and curls up in my arms. “Would you relax? Today's the Crystal Fair! I mean, unless you want to sleep through the biggest party ever. In which case, be my guest.”

“Oh yeah, it is the Fair today, isn't it? Why couldn't you have just said that in the first place?” Rainbow confronts me, shifting in my grasps so that she's looking up at me.

“I did, you idiot,” I say, pressing a finger against her nose, causing her to snuffle. I quickly have to withdraw said finger as Rainbow snaps her teeth at it. “Don’t bite me...we're up so early because the Fair lasts all day.”

“An all day party! This is going to be so great. I'm totally getting in on that jousting tournament! I'll knock 'em all flat!” Rainbow exclaims, leaping out of my grasp. She leaps to the window and swiftly unfastens it. Just after opening it, she looks back at me. “You're gonna come watch, right?”

“Might as well, if only so I can laugh when somepony knocks you flat,” I retort. Rainbow immaturely blows a raspberry at me and climbs out the window. “Hold up, dammit! I gotta get dressed first. Would you close the window and quit letting all the warm air out?”

“Ugh, quit being so slow! You humans and needing clothes,” Rainbow grumbles, but she does slide inside and close the window while I search around for a set of warm clothes. She adopts a sly expression, turning her head slightly. “...would you go faster if I helped you?”

I straighten up and give her a pointed stare, a shirt held in my hands. “You are not helping me dress,” I tell her flatly, causing Rainbow to burst out laughing. I shake my head and get the rest of the way dressed, wrapping a set of scarves around my neck and shoulders. “Okay, I'm ready.”

“Finally. Come on!” Rainbow throws open the window and again slithers out through it. I quickly follow her outside, flaring my magic to keep myself airborne. I leap out into the open air high above the city, the wind whistling through my clothes. Down below us, we can see the decorative multicolored lights of the Fair flickering on, revealing the lines of tents, stalls, decorations, and other plazas that have been set up for Crystal Fair events. I can see a stage for entertainment, the arena for the jousting, the amphitheater for musical and drama performances, and many others. Heh, I guess this is what happened when you put Pinkie in charge and throw money at her.

“There's another reason we got up this early,” I tell Rainbow, raising my voice over the howl of the rushing wind. “I want to be at the station when the first train rolls in.”

“Oh yeah! I wonder how many of the ponies from Ponyville are coming! I can't wait!” Rainbow speeds up out of excitement, forcing me to output a little more magic to keep up with her.

As we pass over the city, I notice the windows lighting up in the different houses. Ponies filter into the streets, consisting of both Equestrian and crystal ponies. They're all walking towards the Crystal Tower, where the opening ceremonies are going to take place. I know that because I had a hand in helping to set everything up.

It isn't long before we reach the edge of town, where the newly constructed station is located. Over the course of the long period of time it took for us to fully repair the city and set up for the Fair, Celestia saw to it that there was a connection built between the Crystal Empire and Canterlot. Now, one could ride here by train...which means there's no need to ride the airships back, and now the city is accessible to everyone.

“You see this? I helped build this! Look at my awesome hoofwork!” Rainbow brags. As I land with a click on the crystal street, she flies over to the doorway and indicates it with an egotistical flourish of her hooves. I roll my eyes.

“Yeah, I'm sure that it's all you. Good job at learning how to cut and mold crystal into the shapes you need in such a short time,” I congratulate her, even giving her a thumbs up. The sarcasm is practically dripping from every pore in my body. I immediately duck as Rainbow hurls a broom at me. Looking at the thrown object, I raise an eyebrow at her. “Where did you even get that?”

“Inside. Somepony had to get rid of any snow that got in while we were building,” Rainbow reveals. Just after she finishes speaking, I hear the the train whistle blaring in the distance. Rainbow puts on a happy grin, practically bouncing with anticipation as the light from the front of the train shines on the platform. “Here it comes!”

The train rolls into the station, looking very different than the brightly colored trains that we're used to. It's colored and styled in the same fashion as the Crystal Empire, each car constructed of crystal and colored a shade of blue or pink. Yeah, we got a lot done over the past month and a half. With all the crystal ponies and the changelings willing to give us an endless amount of labor, our only limits were our budget.

The train gently glides to a halt, the machinery chugging softly. I can hear the sound of many ponies talking excitedly from within as the doors open. I don't know who's going to be on this first train, so I guess I'll just stand here and wait. I might be waiting a while, after all.

I'm taken completely by surprise as a mint green streak of color zooms out of the train like a thunderbolt. The pony somersaults multiple times in midair before stretching out her forehooves. I have less than a seconds notice before I'm knocked entirely off my feet by a flying hug.

“SETHIE!”

“SON OF A..!”

Lyra and I tumble across the platform, knocking down the door to the station and rolling inside. Rainbow’s head follows us comically the whole time.

Lyra hugs my neck tightly the whole time, squeeing with happiness. I'm too dizzy to react at first, but eventually, I manage to grab her by the shoulders and wrench her free, just as the two of us slam into the back wall.

I pant softly, lying on my back and holding the shamelessly grinning Lyra in the air above me. She closes her eyes and beams at me innocently. “Hi!” Lyra squeaks excitedly. “It's been like...so long since you disappeared and now you're here...and...eep!”

I can't help but bring her forward and hug her properly, my arms slipping beneath her hooves and lifting her up with me. Lyra squeaks in surprise at the unprecedented show of affection, before happily reciprocating. “Goddamn...you have no idea how much I've missed your bullshit,” I tell her softly. Lyra's smile falters slightly. She pulls back her head and looks at me with a soft expression. “It's been hell...I'm sure you've heard.”

“Well...none of us knew anything at first. You just disappeared with the others, and it was only a few days later that we heard about the war,” Lyra responds seriously after I set her down in front of me. “We were so worried...especially when refugees from Trotsdale started coming in from Canterlot.”

“You okay in there?” Rainbow pokes her head in with a grin, shaking her head. Next to her is Bon Bon, the mare rubbing her forehead with a hoof out of exasperation. Lyra and I look at one another, and then I gesture to the door with my head. She nods and her smile returns, and then the two of us walk back out onto the platform.

“It's so good to see you two!” Lyra squeals, her cheer returning like a switch had been flipped. She hugs both Rainbow and I at the same time, rearing up on her hind legs to do so.

“Yeah, you all sorta disappeared on us, and then we all heard about the war,” Bon Bon adds, adjusting her mane. “I'm glad none of you are hurt. We could hardly sleep, knowing you all were up here fighting for us.”

“That's sweet, but you shouldn't have worried. Seth and I kicked total flank up here! None of those undead nasties stood a chance!” Rainbow responds, taking their sentiments in stride. She even starts boxing with the air. I notice that Lyra and Bon Bon look slightly reassured by that. Huh...well, I guess that even though Rainbow is totally understating how difficult it was, the two of them don't really need to know the darker details. “And you should have seen the princesses! They're invincible!”

As Rainbow starts regaling the two with highly exaggerated tales of her exploits, I look at Lyra with a soft smile. I never thought I would miss her as much as I did...but she really is like a little sister that I can mess with. I guess I'll cut her a little more slack from here on out.

From the train, scores of ponies are exiting. I recognize tons of them from all over the place. Some of them are clearly from Canterlot due to their dress, while others I remember seeing from Ponyville. Many others that I don't know are departing as well. And this is just the first train. I've been told this train is going to be running all day, bringing ponies to and from the Fair.

I catch a flash of electric blue from within the sea of departing ponies. I straighten up and move forward, leaving Lyra and Bon Bon with Rainbow. I wade through the ponies as best I can, trying not to disturb them overmuch. Some of them even call to me, recognizing me from Ponyville. Finally, I reach the pony I'm looking for. She doesn't notice at me at first, as she's facing the train and hauling out a cart filled with all her mixing equipment.

Behind her is Octavia, dressed in relatively formal attire. When she catches sight of me, her eyes brighten and she opens her mouth...but then closes it in confusion after I place a single finger on my lips. I reach my hands forward...and then lift Vinyl entirely off the ground without even a word of greeting.

“Whoa, what the hay!? Waaah, put me down!” Vinyl yells, her tomboyish voice practically music to my ears after not seeing her for such a long time. I turn Vinyl around in my grip and press her to my chest, embracing her roughly as well, one hand mussing up her mane. “What the...Seth? Is that you, bro?”

“You're damn right it's me,” I return. Vinyl's hooves scrabble against me for several seconds before she hangs them over my shoulder. She uses one to keep her shades from falling off, and then she stares at me.

“Wow, it's been forever, dude. It's really good to see you...but...why are you hugging me?” Vinyl remarks, her voice sounding more amused than annoyed.

“Because shut up. I haven't seen you in ages, and I nearly died more times than I can count. Cut me some slack,” I respond, , holding her tightly. Vinyl nods, her smile falling as she starts to understand. Of course, that doesn't last long, because soon a grin forms.

“I'm just saying, you might want to hold off on the affection. You don't want to make your marefriend jealous, do you?” Vinyl teases me, tweaking my nose. And there's the relationship joke. I have missed those so much...though no doubt they'll get annoying again after a while. I see a flash of cyan from the corner of my eye. I grin, and then instead of replying, I turn in place, just as Rainbow is flying towards us. “Whoa, you'll make me dizzy!”

“Vinyl sandwich!” Rainbow declares obnoxiously, and then she too flies to hug Vinyl from the other side, her hooves wrapping around Vinyl's shoulders and resting on either side of my neck. Vinyl lets out a surprised grunt, and then all three of us unbalance, falling to the floor in a mess of hugging ponies. “Aw yeah!”

“Rainbow? Awesome, the gang's all...” Vinyl doesn't get to finish, because then Lyra sees what's going on and decides to investigate.

Lyra only takes one look before hurling herself on top of us all. “Group hug!” Lyra squeals, landing on top of Rainbow, Vinyl, and I. The three of us grunt, but I can't keep from laughing. It's so good to see all my stupid friends again. “Bon Bon, come on!”

Bon Bon rolls her eyes, but smiles and steps forward, joining the hug as well. At this point,Vinyl and I are at the center of a mass of ponies with assorted legs wrapping around our shoulders. Octavia stands on the outside not far away, chuckling softly at our antics. “Tavi! Come join in!” Lyra calls to her.

“Um...thanks, but I must decline. You see, I'm wearing...” Octavia tries to excuse herself, but then she's latched onto by several pairs of hooves and dragged into the rest of us. “Waaah! No, stop!”

The other ponies coming from the train walk a wide berth around us, giving us mixed reactions. The Canterlot ponies turn their noses up of course, but the more rustic ponies smile and laugh before moving on.

“Now that's what I call a reunion!” Rainbow proclaims as we finally get untangled from one another. “I'm glad you all could make it!

“Are you kidding me, Dash? I'd never miss it! The chance to see all you guys again in like, the biggest party in Equestria?” Vinyl agrees, one hoof wrapped around Rainbow's shoulders. “I’m totally here!”

“We're not in Equestria, in case you hadn't noticed,” I point out to her. Vinyl sighs and stares at me for a second through her shades.

“It's even good to see this guy's dumb sarcastic face,” Vinyl responds without missing a beat. “Speaking of dumb, Tavi’s a little mad at you.”

“Wait, why?” I ask, turning to look at Octavia, who is pointedly staring at me. She comes up to me, and then rears up on her hind legs to smack me lightly on the shoulder.

“You locked my cello in your house the night you disappeared!” Octavia accuses me hotly. At first I'm confused...but then I remember that Octavia had been visiting at the time I was called in to Canterlot. Oh...shit. “I had to get Big MacIntosh to kick the door down!”

“Yeah...now that you mention it, I did lock...wait, you kicked the door down!?” I quickly demand, worried about the thought of my door being broken with all that expensive musical equipment inside.

“I had a rehearsal to attend, and I simply couldn't miss it! I had to take drastic measures!” Octavia defends herself.

“You couldn't have tried opening a window?”

“Well...the door was the most direct route! Besides, glass is more expensive to replace than a simple door,” Octavia reasons. My brow flattens at that response.

“Okay, maybe by like, five bits, but you didn't even check the windows first, did you?”

“No...but that's not the point! I needed my cello!” Octavia whines.

Finally, Rainbow gets bored and gets between us. “Oh for the love of Celestia, who yells at a party?! Calm down and let's get going! I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm dying to hit that Crystal Fair!”

“Seth used to yell at parties,” Lyra points out, much to Vinyl's amusement and Rainbow's exasperation. Even I give her a stare at that. I mean, she's right...but that's not helping matters any.

“Let's just move, already!” Bon Bon interjects impatiently. With a chorus of laughs coming from all of us, we group together and join the growing crowd of ponies heading towards the Crystal Tower.





The plaza is absolutely crowded. The six of us are hard pressed to stay together, but somehow we manage to get a spot in a relatively close location to the tower. I look around, whistling in awe. There are hundreds of crystal ponies here in front of us, and that's not even counting the ponies that are coming from Equestria, or the changelings that are still here with Chrysalis. Some of the crystal ponies in front of us are transforming to their crystalline state in flashes of light, smiles forming on their faces to see their traditional fair taking place in front of them.

Looking up, I see Cadance and Shining Armor stepping out onto the balcony of the Crystal Tower that hangs above the central square. Cadance is wearing a regal dress as well as her crown, letting everypony know that this is a formal occasion. Not only is this the first Crystal Fair for over a thousand years, but this is also Cadance's first appearance as the Crystal Princess.

“Greetings, mares and gentlecolts, crystal ponies, Equestrians, and changelings all!” Cadance begins, her voice magically amplified to project to everypony in the plaza. Everypony quiets down around me, recognizing the start of the event. “For those of you unfamiliar with me, my name is Princess Cadance, the Equestrian Princess of Love...and now the newly crowned Princess of the Crystal Empire!”

The crystal ponies cheer loudly, recognizing Cadance's authority. All around us, the sound of applause erupts from the audience. I shrug and clap as well; I respect Cadance too, considering what she and I have gone through together.

“I am delighted to welcome you all to the Crystal Empire's first Crystal Fair in over a thousand years! I cordially invite you all to partake in the festivities, share in the love and comfort of your fellow ponies, and celebrate our victory over the dark King Sombra!” Cadance continues, smiling broadly as she addresses the crowd. I notice that she phrases it as celebrating our victory rather than celebrating his defeat. “But first, we must not forget the centerpiece of the whole event. Allow me to present to you Princess Celestia!”

Celestia walks out onto the balcony to the absolute adulation of all of us. Every single one of us shows our respect for she who made all of this possible. I don’t think I’ve cheered for anything for years, but hell, I’ll cheer for her. She views the crowd with a warm smile, and then she lifts up the Crystal Heart for all to see. Even more crystal ponies return to their former selves as the cheers intensify.

Celestia spreads her wings and leaps from the balcony, gliding gracefully down to the streets with the Crystal Heart held in her magic. I'm glad I'm taller than the average pony, because I can actually look over them to see what's going on.

As we all watch, the princess approaches the strange apparatus beneath the tower. It appears to come to life at her approach, rising up and extending several spikes in which to hold the heart. I start to feel an incredible latent magic fill the air as the apparatus starts to glow. With a swift toss, Celestia places the Crystal Heart in the apparatus where it belongs.

Around us, the crystal ponies start lowering their heads, bowing in reverence to the object. As if acting in response, the Crystal Heart shines brightly and starts to spin. The faster the heart spins, the more the magic I feel intensifies. Finally, the heart releases a sphere of gentle blue magic that rapidly grows in size, passing over each and every pony in the crowd.

Even though I know it won't hurt me, I can't help but wince as it passes over me. All I feel is a slight tingle, and then a gentle sense of warmness passes over me. The wave travels further, encompassing the entire city.

That's not all though. The heart sends even more power straight up through the tower itself as if it were some sort of transmitter. The top of the tower sparks with incredible magic, and then releases it in the form of multiple multicolored streams of light that travel in every direction. The snow clouds overhead are completely blown away to reveal a bright blue morning sky, the sun shining down on the city. The snow on the ground and streets melt and evaporates, and grass grows beneath the streets and beyond just like it was before.

Cadance views the crowd once more, and to my shock, her body is suffused with a crystalline appearance, just like the crystal ponies. Is that something the heart did? It has to be, because even Shining Armor has been “crystallized,” for lack of a better phrase.

“And now, everypony, I declare that the Crystal Fair has begun!” Cadance announces, and the applause and cheers start up anew. With that, Cadance and Shining Armor retreat inside the building, no doubt coming to join the festivities themselves.

“Whoa...” Vinyl remarks, causing me to turn to look at her. She's staring at herself in one of the more reflective surfaces of a building, taken aback by her new appearance. My jaw drops in shock at what I see. Vinyl has been crystallized as well, and her mane is actually styled and tied in a way that actually rather flatters her. Lengths of white twine have tied themselves into her mane and tail, seemingly coming from nowhere. “Dude, if I'd have known this was going to happen, I wouldn't have brushed my mane this morning.”

“Bullshit, you don't brush your mane in the first place,” I retort, crossing my arms. That response gets my friends to look at me...and then they too start to stare. I freeze, the realization coming over me. If everypony has been crystallized...then...I lift my hand up to where I can see it...and sure enough, I can see crystalline waves of magic running through my skin. Wow...that's...I don't even know what to say. “Okay, move aside Vinyl. I need a mirror.”

I stand beside Vinyl and peer at the reflective surface. Just like Vinyl, my hair has seemingly been styled for me as well. My hair has been straightened and smoothed to the point where it shines and cascades down my back. My bangs have been pulled aside and tied back behind my head in a miniature ponytail with a piece of white twine. To top that all off, two locks of hair have been braided and hang down my cheeks.

“Looking good, Seth!” Rainbow compliments me. I lift one of the braids, surprisingly okay with the way this looks. As weird as it is to look like a crystal pony, I don't look half bad. I turn to Rainbow...only to snort with laughter. Rainbow proceeds to look indignant. “What? What's so funny?”

“What's up with your mane?” I ask her, as that's the first thing I notice. Her mane, while usually messy, is now styled as well. The ends of her mane are curled up over her head, and her mane itself is fastened with a length of golden twine. In fact, this is the neatest I've ever seen her mane. One lock of her mane hangs down behind her ear, the ends fastened with a single pink bead. Even her tail looks groomed and tidy. “Wow...you...actually don't look bad.”

“Of course I don't! I look better than the rest of you when I actually try!” Rainbow retorts as if that fact should have been obvious. The funny part is that she didn’t actually try. The Crystal Heart did it all for her.

“No, the title of most stylish crystal mare goes to me of course,” Lyra interrupts, drawing attention to her. And...wow, that doesn't look bad either. Her mane, which is usually hanging free and messy, is now tidied and bunched up in a stylish manner, held in place with a silver headband and a silver hairpin shaped like her lyre. Noticing the flat-browed expression she's getting from Bon Bon, she giggles and hugs her marefriend. “Of course, Bon Bon also looks adorable.”

“This is...odd, to say the least,” Octavia comments, standing beside Vinyl to peer into the reflective mirror. “I was not expecting a crystal makeover, as it were.”

“Pfft, a crystal makeover. That's perfect,” Vinyl chortles, dragging Octavia over to her with a hoof and then indicating the reflection. “Look at this! Picture perfect. And then there's Seth.”

“Hey, fuck you too, Vinyl,” I retort, crossing my arms again.

“Luv ya, best buddy! Tell you all what, we should totally get a group picture while we're all crysta...crystalled. Crystallied?” Vinyl tries to say, but it isn't coming out right.

“Crystified?” Rainbow supplies.

“Crystanized!” Lyra inserts.

“Crystmogrofied?” Vinyl tries again.

“I believe the correct term is crystallized,” Octavia inputs sensibly, putting an end to...whatever those three were doing. Slowly, the three of them turn to look at her.

Vinyl puts on an uppity expression. “Well...hoity-toity miss bookworm smartypants,” she remarks, wrinkling her nose. Octavia blinks, utterly confused by that response.

“I'm not wearing pants,” Octavia points out, indicating the formal outfit she's wearing that only covers the front half of her body. Vinyl groans and chuckles, reaching out a hoof to muss Octavia's mane. The cellist swiftly hisses and bats Vinyl's hoof away, causing us all to look at her strangely, and then start laughing. “What? I happen to like the way I look now!”

“Either way, we need a group shot. How's that sound?” Vinyl repeats, grinning at the rest of us. Lyra looks down for it, but Bon Bon and Octavia look at one another with a rather pensive expression. “I mean, I doubt this crystmogrification will last forever.”

“Crystallized!” Octavia corrects her again, but no one pays her any attention.

“Yeah totally! Where's a camera? I totally want to get an awesome picture of us all looking crystified!” Rainbow agrees. Octavia groans and rubs her face with her hooves. Rainbow looks around wildly, though I don't know what she's expecting to find. I slowly draw out my phone. Despite everything, I've managed to keep this thing in one piece. For one, I never bring it with me into battle. I can't afford to lose it. Rainbow notices it in my hand. “Wait, does that thing have a camera?”

“Yeah, it does. Only problem is, you'll never be able to get it off my phone without some extra work,” I say with a shrug. Apart from my charger cable, there’s not a thing in this world that can interface with my phone. “Still, as long as we're taking pictures, I kinda want one for my phone.”

“What about that mare over there? She has a camera,” Lyra suggests, drawing our attention to the mare in question. I turn to look at her...noticing her sky blue coat and ridiculously large shades. Hold on, I think I've seen her somewhere before. Wasn't she at the royal wedding? “Let's get her to take a picture.”

“Do we have to?” Bon Bon asks, but it's too late. The photographer pony eventually spots me, and makes a beeline over to us, no doubt because of how unique I look compared to the other ponies.

It doesn't take much convincing to get her to take a group picture of us, but it does cost us some bits to get a set of copies for each of us. Thankfully, Octavia suggested that we all pitch in, so it doesn't cost us that much in total.

“Stay close togezer now,” the photographer directs us with a rather strange accent. “Tall one in ze back. Quickly now!”

“What if I do this?” I ask, sitting down behind the other ponies. The photographer holds her chin, letting out a hum.

“No, no no! Zat will never do. Ve need to show off your friendship! Get intimate!” The photographer demands, though she is wearing an amused smile. I huff, confused, and try getting on my knees instead, such that I’m slightly higher than the heads of the other ponies. “Much better! Now, I said closer! Pretend zat you actually like each other, no?”

“Like these idiots? Not bloody likely,” I retort, causing Vinyl and Rainbow to both slap me with their hooves playfully. Nevertheless, we group together as directed.

I'm in the center of them, kneeling down with Vinyl and Rainbow on either side of me, my arms draped over their shoulders. Lyra and Bon Bon are nuzzling together in front of us, and Octavia is laying down at the very front. Then, with a satisfied click of her tongue, the photographer snaps a picture. “Magnificent!” she declares.

After she passes the developing copies to us, I pass my phone to the photographer, as I paid her extra to get a shot on my phone. After a hilarious moment where she fumbles around with the controls, she manages to get a decent picture on my phone as well...by booping the shutter button with her nose.

Once the photographer departs, I look around to see that all of the ponies are starting to branch off to the different stalls, vendors, restaurants, and events that are just now starting to kick off. Hell, this isn't a party. If anything, I would compare this to a convention, because that's what this feels like.

“Hm...I'm interested in visiting this event called 'an analysis of crystal music,'” Octavia suggests, pointing down at the corresponding event on the brochure she's carrying. Yeah, Pinkie was giving this away on the way up to the tower before the ceremony. On it is listed all the events, when they take place, and where they are. “Would anyone care to join me? It's in twenty minutes.”

“What the hell, I'll go. I love music,” I insert, standing beside Octavia. Vinyl joins us as well, being a musician herself. Even Lyra looks interested.

“I'm more interested in this Crystal Empire candies and treats,” Bon Bon says, showing Lyra. “Look, there's even free samples!”

“But what about this awesome group sports event going on? That's where I want to go. I bet Applejack will be there too!” Rainbow interjects. I look between the three of them , quickly understanding that this is basically going to be like a convention. We all want to go to different events.

“I guess we could meet up later?” I suggest, getting their attention. “We have all day. Everypony should go and do what they want.”

“Good idea. Is that alright with you all?” Octavia agrees.

“Sounds good. I'mma go join that sports event,” Rainbow confirms. She gives me a pointed stare afterward “But you and I gotta hit that dance floor later tonight! Got it?”

“Yes, yes,” I assure her. Unlike the other events, the dance floor takes place in the clearing around the Crystal Heart, and is open the whole day. Already the first set of musical entertainment is being set up, in the form of three ponies. Huh, I think I recognize them. Yeah, I messed with that dark furred pony guitarist way back when. Who knew she'd be entertainment here? “Alright, let's get moving. I want to get some good seats at that music event.”

With that, the six of us split into three groups. I'm going with Vinyl and Octavia, because Lyra seems to have elected to stay with Bon Bon. Rainbow zooms off in a flash, leaving the rest of us behind pretty quick.

Just as we're walking past the dance floor, I notice a particular pony walking timidly towards Princess Celestia. I suddenly stop. I want to be there for this. “You two go on ahead of me,” I say to Vinyl and Octavia. They give me questioning looks, but I'm already moving. “I want to see this.”

Celestia looks different as well, the crystalline magic running through her body giving her an ethereal appearance. If anything, it makes her look even more regal than before, if such a thing were even possible. A proper looking stallion is behind her, talking in a prim tone to her while carrying a clipboard. I’m assuming he's one of the council, if that badge is anything to go by.

The former general Flowing Mist approaches Celestia, her head held low. Unlike the other crystal ponies, her coat is still dull and lifeless, as is her mane and tail. When Celestia sees her coming, she forestalls the councilpony's words, much to his annoyance. “Um...princess..?” Mist asks shyly.

“Hello, Mist. I was wondering when you would come to speak with me,” Celestia responds warmly, revealing that she had expected this encounter. Mist doesn't know Celestia like I do, so she looks surprised by that. “You are wondering what is to become of you, now that the war is over and the construction is complete.”

“Y...Yes! That's exactly how I feel,” Mist responds. She looks around at all the crystal ponies. “I fought hard and helped with everything I could...but now...I don’t think I should stay here. I'm...I'm thinking of leaving the Crystal Empire...and Equestria as well.”

“Flowing Mist. Why do you believe that this course of action is the only one available to you?” Celestia questions, using the general’s full name. She gazes intently at Mist, who is averting her eyes. “Please, lift your head and look at me as you speak.”

Mist gulps and does so, trembling a little. “Because...I was your enemy. I betrayed my own country...my friends...so why should I be allowed to stay? Exile is the punishment I deserve.”

“That’s quite enough. Mist, do not forget the words I gave to you before, after your capture,” Celestia asserts, her eyes hardening. “I told you to live, and to make up for the things you have done through hard work and perseverance. But, if you choose to elect for exile, how is that any different than running away from your deeds?”

Mist's eyes widen at that, Celestia's words again striking home. “But...how can I...you're going to let me stay?” she asks timidly, hardly daring to hope.

“The Crystal Empire needs you, Mist. There are hard times to come in its future. It has been thrust into a brand new world, and essentially has to rebuild its society from nothing once more,” Celestia continues, resting a hoof on Mist's shoulder. “I want you to be there to help them. In fact, I am assigning you to the command of Princess Cadance. After the Fair, you will report to her. Am I understood?”

“Yes! Thank you, princess...I really don't deserve your kindness,” Mist murmurs, dipping her head in respect. Instead of departing, Mist remains there for several seconds, fidgeting awkwardly.

“Is there something else?” Celestia prompts, tilting her head. Mist nods, starting to blush a little.

“I...I don't know what to do now. I...don't know how to...have fun,” Mist admits, shuffling her hooves. Understanding dawns on Celestia's face, a soft smile forming. “Especially because...there's all these crystal ponies...I can't interact with them. They all hate...”

“Mist?” the sound of another voice calling her name causes Mist to stiffen with fright. She turns slowly to see a group of three crystal ponies, all of them staring at her in shock. “Flowing Mist? Is that you?”

“I...yes...” Mist says timidly, shifting so that she's hiding behind her mane. “I'm sorry...I...”

“Oh thank heavens, you're alright!” a crystal mare responds, trotting up to her with a relieved smile. Mist goes completely still, a look of utter confusion on her face.

“You're alive! I never would have thought!” a crystal stallion walks up to join her, such that the three of them are gathered around her. “What with all they did to you...”

“I can't imagine how you stayed sane!” the third crystal pony expresses happily. She reaches forward and briefly hugs Mist. “We thought we had it bad...but nopony should have had to endure what you did. Nopony blames you...we've all done terrible things to escape the pain...”

“I...I...” Mist can't even form a coherent statement.

“But that's all over now. Come join us! We're free again, and the Crystal Heart is even in its rightful place! Let's go have some fun!” The first mare advises her.

“After all of this...I think we've earned it, don't you think?” the stallion remarks.

Mist is utterly speechless in the face of the three ponies and their openly displayed care for her. Her mouth hanging open, she turns back to look at Celestia.

“Go on,” Celestia urges her, gesturing with her head.

Mist can't take any more. She lowers her head and releases a choking sob, tears rolling down her cheeks. She leaps forward and hugs all three of the crystal ponies at once...and then it happens. Just like that, her body lights up with crystalline magic for the first time. Her mane and tail style themselves before our eyes, giving her a truly elegant appearance. For the first time, Mist appears to come to life.

“Thank you so much...” Mist cries, squeezing the ponies tightly. “I'm home...everypony.”





When I rejoin Vinyl and Octavia, it's with a broad smile. I guess, every once in a while, happy endings do occur. For once in my life, I feel like I honestly made a difference. If I had just killed her like I did to Shatter...she would have never had this experience. She would never have known happiness again...and dammit, I'm getting a little teary eyed. I really have gone soft...but I don't mind at all.

Anyway, the three of us attend the musical analysis event, managing to get into the back rows of the amphitheater where the event was taking place. There, some of the older musicians, including the one I worked with, explain to us all the differing styles that appear in their music. This includes the flugelhorn, as well as its history and impact on their musical style. Suffice to say, Octavia and I find it very interesting. But as for Vinyl...

“Is she really?” I whisper, making sure to keep my voice low enough so as not to disturb the other ponies. Over on the other side of Octavia, Vinyl is fast asleep, snoring loud enough to cause the surrounding ponies to give her strange looks.

“It seems she is...this mare is simply incorrigible,” Octavia responds, uncomfortably shifting. Vinyl's head is resting on her shoulder shamelessly, making Octavia rather annoyed. “It seems she simply doesn't appreciate the finer points of the very art in which she claims to profess.”

I reach over Octavia and gently close Vinyl's mouth with my index finger and thumb. However, the second I take my hand away, Vinyl's mouth falls open again to release another obnoxious snore. I sigh and rub my forehead, a sentiment that Octavia echoes.

“There's no helping this mare,” I say, and then the both of us turn our attention back to the event.





After the event ends, I end up splitting up with the two of them, as they both want to go to separate events. I wave to the both of them and make my way through the streets. I have a bit of time before the next event I want to see, so I think I'll take a moment to browse the different stalls to see what's being sold.

They're really good with shaping crystal, as if that hadn't been made clear to me already. In one of the stalls, I see these gorgeous figurines of dragons shaped entirely out of different shades of crystals. Not surprisingly, I see Spike there, gazing up at the dragon figurines with awe. He's accompanied by Twilight, who has her nose buried in a book that looks recently bought.

Hm, I feel the need to talk to her, so I direct my path over to that stall. Twilight isn't completely absorbed in her reading; she lowers the book and smiles when she notices me coming. “Hello, Seth. Did you come to look at the dragons too?” Twilight asks.

“Not really. I came over to talk to you,” I tell her flat out. Ever since all of this has happened, I've felt like there are some things between Twilight and I that have been left unsaid. After all, I haven't really interacted with her much on a personal level.

Twilight looks surprised by that. She closes the book and sets it into a set of saddlebags that she's wearing, giving me her full attention. I notice that like the rest of us, she's been crystallized as well, her mane done up with shining silver ribbon. “Oh okay. Shall we move elsewhere then?” Twilight offers. Wordlessly, I accompany her away from the stalls and into a calmer street, where there aren’t as many ponies due to the lack of any attractions nearby. Twilight studies my face, starting to look worried. “Is something wrong?”

“Sort of,” I admit. I sit down against the side of a building, and gesture for her to join me. She does so, watching me quietly and waiting patiently for me to continue. “My time in Equestria...it's been pretty crazy.”

Twilight giggles at that. “I'll say. I don't regret any of it, though. Equestria is safe now, all thanks to us,” she responds. She gestures to the Crystal Fair. “All of this is only possible because we fought so hard.”

“I know that, and I'm not debating that. What I do regret is the way that I've treated you, when you never really deserved it,” I admit, choosing to just tell her bluntly how I feel. Twilight's expression abruptly changes, her eyes widening slightly. I chuckle drily. “The first time I met you, I kicked Spike and treated you like shit.”

“No, Seth, please. I don't blame you,” Twilight tries to assure me. “You just lost your entire race and found out you were in a whole new world...who wouldn't be a little upset?”

“Except I didn't give a shit about my race at the time,” I correct her, causing her to recoil. “Yes, I lost the few I cared about, but that didn't mean I had to be a total ass to you.”

Twilight is quiet, her eyes softening. But I'm still not finished. “Let's be honest. If it weren't for you, I probably would have just wandered around senselessly until somepony decided to lay me flat for being an ass,” I continue. “I guess the point I'm trying to say is...thank you. You've been a really good friend.”

“Oh, Seth,” Twilight whispers, her eyes sparkling with tears. She leans forward and wraps her forelegs around my neck, her mane brushing against my cheek. I chuckle and hug her back, feeling a little better now that I've said that to her. “It really means a lot to hear you say that. I thought I messed up with you so many times...I thought I wasn't cut out for making friends. Thank you...”

“You idiot...why are you thanking me? I'm trying to thank you,” I mutter in her ear dryly, earning a soft chuckle from her. Eventually we pull apart...and the first thing we notice is Spike standing about a foot away from us.

“You guys done being all huggy? Because I can keep looking at the dragons if you're not,” Spike remarks. Twilight and I both give him a flat-browed stare...and then I push him over with a light finger to his forehead. “Whoa!”

“Yes, we're done,” I retort, standing back up. Twilight does as well, looking much happier than before. “Anyway, I'm going to head off to the next event. Some 'Great and Powerful Magic Act?'”

“I'm going to see that too! Come on, let's go see it together!” Twilight suggests. Spike hops up on Twilight's back, and then the three of us walk back into the Fair, on our way to the next event.





Twilight and I sit side by side inside an auditorium, located inside one of the larger buildings. Sitting around us are several scores of ponies, crystal, changeling, and Equestrian alike. In front of us, where a stage should have been, is a seemingly nondescript wagon about the size of one of the smallest houses. There's nothing special about it...it's just made out of wood.

Suddenly, the wagon comes to life, the front half of it unfolding in an impressive display of magic and engineering. The sides fold outwards to become a backdrop, complete with a hanging curtain. The top opens up to reveal a lighting system as well as a headboard upon which several flashy decorations are engraved. The bottom rolls forward to form the shape of a stage, complete with automated instruments that play a majestic fanfare.

Trixie steps out on stage from behind the curtain, wearing a lavender hat and cape adorned with a starry pattern. Two colored spotlights shine down upon her, giving her a mystical appearance. Heralding her appearance are several beautiful displays of fireworks and light shows, all emanating from her glowing horn.

“Come one, come all, and witness the showstopping magical ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie!” Trixie announces, her voice easily projecting through the building. The ponies around us express their awe with oo's and ah's, each of them impressed by the complex patterns being formed in the air through her magic. “Watch in awe as her story is revealed; she who held armies at bay until the evil King himself toppled from his gilded throne!”

“She's bragging again,” Twilight whispers to me with a knowing smile. On her back, Spike is resting his face in a claw.

“I mean...she's not wrong,” I whisper back with a shrug. “She did fight with you and the others while we fought the king. Besides, it’s for the sake of the show.”

“That's true...maybe this will be fun after all,” Twilight admits, and then the two of us sit back and watch as Trixie retells the story for us all to hear, accompanied by magically created illustrations.





The Fair continues, and I think it's safe to say that I'm having the time of my life. I go from event to event, each one serving to entertain or educate me. Every so often I'll meet up with one of my friends, and I'll end up seeing the next event with them.

I don't really buy anything; I don't have the bits with me. I left them all back at my home in Ponyville. After all, there's no point in keeping money on hand when you're in the middle of a war. However, just browsing the selection is fun as well. There's all these neat little gadgets on sale, along with some gorgeous artwork. I find myself regretting that I didn't bring any money. Some of the paintings I see are amazing, and would look really good on the walls of my house. I don't have anything to personalize my house yet, after all.

I end up meeting with all of my friends at a cafe for lunch, and that turns out to be a blast...especially when Rainbow started messing with Lyra over her choice of meal. I just sit back and laugh, feeling happier than I've been in a long time.

After lunch, we end up parting again. I take a moment to rest against the side of one of the buildings. Sheesh, I forgot how exhausting these kinds of events can be. I look up at the sky, noticing that it's already well past noon. Time has been flying, to the point where I feel like it needs to slow down a bit so I can enjoy everything this Fair has to offer….yep, this is definitely like a convention.

“Let's see, what's next?” I say to myself, looking down at the brochure. My eyes scan over the list of events, searching for one that I might like to attend next. No, I'm not interested in that one...and the musical performance of the anthem I helped transcribe isn't until later tonight.

Oh yeah, there's that jousting event that Rainbow is going to compete in. I'm not that interested, but she wants to me see her, so I guess I'll be hitting that one next. Except it's not until an hour later, so I have some time to kill. I think I've mostly looked over the marketplace, so I guess I'll hit the dance floor.

“Who is that I see resting to catch his breath? My, if it isn't the human, Seth!” My eyes flick up from the brochure at the sound of the very familiar voice that's now addressing me. Wow, I did not think she would be here.

“Zecora?” I reply, pleasantly surprised. Sure enough, the foreign zebra is standing just in front of me, looking surprised as well. She's looking well, her mane done up with green ribbon, and crystal magic dancing through her just like the rest of us. “Holy hell, I haven't seen you in forever!”

“Indeed, a long time it has been. It is very nice to see you again,” Zecora responds happily, trotting over to me. Heh, and her rhymes are just as strong as ever. I remember when I first met her...I thought she was some kind of freaky rhyming alien. She was the first living creature that I met in Equestria that didn't want to murder me. “Much have I heard of your adventures in this nation. I am quite curious to hear your own narration.”

“Yeah, that's a story that'll take a lot longer than we have time for,” I admit with a sheepish grin. Zecora nods understandingly at that. “Suffice to say, it's been crazy. You know, I'm actually glad I ran into you here. I haven't really spoken much to you since you helped me out in the forest.”

Zecora tilts her head to one side, pleasantly surprised by the positive way I'm speaking to her. “Through all of your trials, you have not faltered. Yet I find your tone seems to have altered,” she observes accurately.

“Yeah...basically, you were right,” I admit, referring to the parting words she gave me, right before I entered Ponyville for the first time. “I wasn't able to be an island. Honestly, I should have listened to you in the first place. I would have had a much easier time of it.”

Zecora nods solemnly, understanding immediately what I'm trying to say. “You know, I don't think I ever properly thanked you. I mean, I sorta did, in my own pissed off way, but if you hadn't been there, I'd be dead,” I confess to her. “But now, I have friends that are practically family, and I even have my own relationship. If you think about it, that's all because you were there to save me.”

Zecora colors a bit, ducking her head modestly. “Now, you do this humble zebra too much praise. It was your own perseverance that carried you through the days,” she responds, though she does look genuinely appreciative of my words. “It was your will, burning brightly ablaze, that allowed you to embrace the sunlight's first rays.”

“You're being modest...just take the damn compliment already,” I retort, though it's not in a nasty way. Zecora understands that, as she's now chuckling. “Still, it was good to see you here.”

“Indeed, it is nice to see you have made a fresh start,” Zecora responds with a nod. She then indicates the brochure that she's holding in one hoof. “However, I'm afraid it is time we must part. There is a showing of quite interesting art; an event in which I feel I must take part.”

“Makes sense. I'm headed to the dance floor later. I'll drop by your hut sometime after this is over when I'm free of work,” I promise her, waving as she leaves. Well, that was a pleasant surprise.

Anyway, now that I'm on my own again, I fold up the brochure and stash it in my pocket. Then, I head back into the streets, making my way back to the Crystal Tower.





The dance floor itself is pretty crowded, but nopony is really dancing just yet. It looks like the previous entertainment has just finished, and now the next musician is setting up. I join the crowd, looking to see who's going to be playing next. Oh, I should have known.

Vinyl is bent beneath her tables, which are partially set up on the far side of the clearing. Her speakers have been set up all over the dance floor, such that everyone will be able to hear the music at it's highest intensity. Of course she's playing for a bit. Being a DJ is what she does, and I'd have been surprised if she hadn't played at the Fair at least once.

“Hurry up, pony, you've got ponies waiting to dance down here!” I yell up at her, my hands cupped around my mouth. Vinyl promptly hits her head on the top of the tables, and then she emerges, glaring down at me. Hilariously enough, some of the ponies around cheer at my words, their enthusiasm running high.

“Hey, at least I'm taking my time to complete this elementary job!” Vinyl retorts. My right eye starts to twitch at Vinyl's reference to my fuck up with the equipment a long time ago. “Unless you're offering to help?”

“I don't know am I getting paid for it?” I call back up to her, earning laughter from the surrounding ponies.

“Not this time. I've practically done everything myself!” Vinyl answers, adjusting her shades.

I cross my arms and shake my head. “Then no, I'm not helping.”

“Well, then don't complain! It's taking longer because I'm yelling at you!” Vinyl replies with a grin, and then she gets back beneath her tables as the ponies all laugh at the exchange. Chuckling to myself, I merge with the crowd and search for a suitable place to dance.

I notice Celestia standing at one side of the area at the very edge, accompanied by the council pony from before. She's looking rather annoyed right now, for whatever reason. I then notice that the council pony is still talking to her, showing her something on his clipboard. Seriously, is the council not going to leave her alone for the whole Fair?

“Awright, I got this all ready to go! You ponies want to dance!?” Vinyl calls to the crowd, her speakers turning on. The resulting cheer is enough to make me grin and cover my ears. I can practically feel the enthusiasm in the air. “Then let's do this!”

Vinyl puts a disc on the tables, and upbeat electronic music blares from the speakers. As if on cue, the dance floor comes to life once more as ponies start moving their bodies to the beat.

“Ooh, this seems to be a rather charming little song,” Celestia comments in the middle of the councilpony's sentence, cutting him off. He huffs and glares at her in frustration.

“Your highness, there is still the matter of trade rights to consider,” the stallion reminds her with a clipped tone. Celestia huffs and gives him an askance look.

“Perhaps, but I believe that can wait until after the Fair, can it not?” Celestia attempts to reason with him. At that, the stallion looks like he's going to have an aneurism.

“Your highness, this is the fate of an entire nation we're thinking of. You simply cannot take time off at such an important junction. Now, if you'll please focus on the policies I have prepared...” the stallion responds in an uppity fashion that makes me want to just punch him in the face.

“You know what? I do not think so,” Celestia finally says, giving the stallion a pointed stare. She starts to step towards the dance floor, much to his shock. “I believe I am going to let my mane down and have a little fun. Perhaps you should do the same.”

“Princess, there are Canterlot nobles and lesser royalty here as well! You simply cannot be seen dancing to such an absurd performance!” the stallion insists. Celestia pauses, and then she turns her head, giving the stallion a frankly intimidatingly calm stare. He quails under her gaze.

“First, this 'absurd performance' as you so rudely put it...is the product of many hours of hard work. I will not tolerate any further insults against this performance which stems from her passion for music,” Celestia warns him calmly. The stallion nods vigorously in response. Then to his absolute horror, she gives him a knowing smile, and then she removes her crown and every last piece of her regalia with her magic, much to the councilpony's utter horror. “Second, stop fussing and have some fun. Matters of business can wait until after the Fair.”

The stallion is completely helpless to stop her from joining the throng of dancing ponies. Hilariously enough, Celestia even joins a set of crystal ponies, letting out an enthusiastic “ow!” in the process. I shake my head, grinning. Celestia is going to do what she wants...and I pity the poor pony who thinks they can convince her otherwise.

As the song kicks up, I make my way onto the dance floor as well, eager to let off the rest of this stress. What's even better is that I run into Rainbow and Pinkie in the process. “Hey, you made it! Good, I was just about to go looking for you!” Rainbow exclaims, joining me on the dance floor. “Now, step it up! You're looking a little rusty!”

“Well excuse me for not dancing in months,” I retort, making room for her as best I can. Pinkie makes her way to us as well. I get a bad feeling the second she opens her mouth.

“Hey Sethie, how are you doing? Do you like the party that I helped plan? Was the food okay? Oh, did you see Trixie's show? She was so good and it was all true and the lights were...wait, ohmigosh...did you visit the sweets panel!? There was...” Pinkie immediately starts spouting off, much as I'd expected. She keeps going and going, bouncing up and down again and again. Eventually, I just reach out a hand and hold it gently over her head, pressing down to keep her from bouncing. Pinkie pauses, looking up at my hand. With a giggle, she slides her head up and licks my hand.

“Aah! God, I forgot you do that!” I yelp, frantically wiping pony saliva off on my pants. Pinkie just giggles and snorts, proud of her small victory.

“Your fault for trying to stop Pinkie,” Rainbow reminds me. I shake my head and go back to dancing. Yeah, don't I know it. I'll eventually learn my lesson as far as that goes. “Now come on! Move that body!”

The dancing continues, with each of us taking breaks every now and then. Unless you're Pinkie, because then she just keeps going, seemingly having unlimited energy. It's a lot of fun though, and any stress I might have had just melts away into the music.

Eventually, a slow song plays, causing Rainbow to lose interest and rest at the other side of the room. We don't have much time before the jousting event starts anyway. Pinkie goes and does her own thing, of course, somehow managing to make dancing by herself look somewhat graceful.

As for me, I take a break as well, finding the nearest wall to rest against. Looking up at the gently rotating Crystal Heart, I let out a sigh of happiness. Things really couldn't get any better.

I cast my gaze idly around the clearing...and I happen to catch a slight glance of a dark cloud moving in an alleyway between two buildings. Immediately suspicious, I start walking towards the alley. My mind immediately goes to the worst case scenario...but when I get close enough to see what it was, I relax somewhat.

Standing still in the alley with his back against the wall is Hawke. He's gazing blankly at the wall, though occasionally he'll flick his gaze over to the festivities with an unreadable expression. Ever since he left for the mountains, there's been no sign of this guy, making me wonder what had brought him down here for the Fair.

Before I can approach him, I see Fluttershy of all ponies walking into the alley and approaching him. Taken by surprise, I press my back against the wall, waiting to see what's going to happen.

“H...Hello?” Fluttershy calls to Hawke's dark form shyly. Hawke turns his head slightly, fixing Fluttershy with one dark eye. She quails and almost steps away, but somehow she forces herself to step closer. “Why are you hiding in a dark place like this? Um...if you don't mind me asking, that is...”

“I...dislike events such as this,” Hawke admits in that deep accented voice of his. He turns fully to face Fluttershy. “Your name is Fluttershy, one of the Elements of Harmony, is it not?”

“Yes, that's right. It's nice to meet you, mister Hawke,” Fluttershy bravely answers him. She squeaks a bit under Hawke's intimidating stare, but stands firm.

“I came to investigate the outflux of power. I see now that it was caused by the return of the Crystal Heart,” Hawke explains, not bothering to return her greeting. He turns around and starts to walk away, his form starting to waver, letting me know he's about to dissolve into smoke. “My business here is concluded. I will take my leave now.”

“Wait!” Fluttershy calls after him, causing him to pause and look back at her. “Everyone's having a good time. Don't you want to come and join us? I mean...if you want...I think it would be nice...”

Hawke gazes at her for a long time. “I think not. I doubt I would be welcome, considering my former affiliation to King Sombra,” he replies softly.

“That's not true! This is a party for us all...even for you. Even Flowing Mist has been accepted,” Fluttershy argues. In a much softer tone, she continues. “...she's been asking about you. I think you should go see her.”

Hawke lets out a quiet sigh, and then he turns all the way around, walking up and past Fluttershy. “Very well. I suppose I can join you, momentarily at least,” he responds. Fluttershy smiles brightly and walks beside him.

“I'll take you to her,” she states, breaking into a trot. There's a happy spring in her step now.

“Huh,” I whisper to myself, seeing Hawke and Fluttershy walk together to the dance floor. Mist, who's in the crowd as well, immediately makes her way to Hawke upon seeing him, a bright smile forming on her face. “How about that?”

I walk back to the dance floor, still surprised at Fluttershy for managing to convince Hawke to join the Crystal Fair with us. Fluttershy is smiling to see the two of them together.

“Fluttershy,” Commander Rose walks out of the crowd, approaching Fluttershy with a small smile. She's wearing a very nice dress, though the style looks very familiar. “I was looking for you.”

“Oh, hello, miss Rose. Your dress is very pretty,” Fluttershy compliments her, moving with Rose to the dance floor for a slow dance.

“You like it? Rarity made it for me,” Rose responds with a beaming smile. She gets a little more serious. “So, I was thinking of sending a letter to my parents like you suggested...”

After that, I can't hear them anymore. As for me, I'm thinking of going back to my break...but then I see Celestia just getting up from a short rest of her own. A thought strikes my mind, and I know it won't go away until I talk to her about it. I sigh in annoyance. God, giving a damn about other ponies is really a hassle at times.

When she catches sight of me approaching her, the words that I pre-rehearsed in my head die away. Goddamn, I don't know how she manages to do that with just her gaze. Fuck it, I'll just say the first thing that comes to mind. “Want to dance, princess?” I end up saying, and then I immediately kick myself for how dumb that sounds.

“Oh? Well, it would be my pleasure,” Celestia takes the offer in stride, dipping her head. After that, I freeze a little, because I don't fucking ask immortal beings to dance everyday. Thankfully, she picks up on that and leads me to the dance floor herself.

Remembering how I did it at the royal wedding, I lift one hand and accept the hoof that she extends to me, and then gently place my other hand on her back, close to her neck. I let Celestia take the lead due to her experience. Together, the two of us slowly move ourselves to the soft and slow beat.

“Is there something on your mind, Seth?” Celestia asks me softly, picking up immediately on why I asked for the dance in the first place. Of course, reading my mind as always. Hopefully I can at least get a thought out before she completes it for me.

“Yeah...I wanted to thank you,” I manage to get out. It's so much harder finding the words to say to Celestia, as opposed to Zecora or Twilight.

“Whatever for?” Celestia responds.

I make a small shrug. “Everything. For helping and putting up with me ever since we met. You went well out of your way to help me, even though I'm just a small guy in the grand scheme of your kingdom,” I express to her, my voice getting stronger and more confident as I speak. “It’s like...even I would have given up on myself back then.”

Celestia looks at me softly, her eyes filled with warmth and compassion. “Everyone is important, Seth. Even the smallest filly is as important to me as family,” she replies. “You were an individual in need of love and guidance. Ever since you snapped at me in Twilight's home, I wanted to help you to realize all the happiness and warmth there is in this world...to help you reach your full potential. I could not bear to see you facing such pain alone.”

“Celestia...” I can only say. I didn't expect her to respond this passionately to my words. If anything, she sounds like a compassionate mother, speaking to her accomplished child.

“My only regret is that I could not help you further,” Celestia admits. She lifts her hoof and brushes my cheek with it softly. “Seth, I could not be more proud of the growth you have shown, over the time we have known one another. I feel..as if you have at last reached your full potential, through the combined efforts of your friends...no, your family.”

Her words seem to touch my very soul, as dumb as that feels. A shiver runs through me, and I once again look at Celestia with true respect. I have never respected an individual as much as I have her. I think I can say that for sure.

“But it does not end here. Life is a grand journey, and you will never stop growing as an individual,” Celestia assures me, her smile widening. “And I will always be here for you, whenever you need me. Whether it be for help, advice, or even something as simple as a night out with a friend, I will assist you.”

“Dammit, Celestia,” I say, using my free hand to rub the forming tears from my eyes. “I wasn't expecting to cry tonight...”

I then straighten up, meeting her gaze. “But thank you. I cannot put into words how that makes me feel. All I can just say is thank you. Thank you so goddamn much.”

Celestia beams, reaching her head down to nuzzle me. “You are welcome, little one.”





I sit in the bleachers with Vinyl, Lyra, and Bon Bon, having met up with them just as Rainbow and I were heading to the jousting arena. Together, the three of us are eating popcorn and drinking soft drinks, waiting anxiously to see Rainbow compete.

The arena itself isn't anything special. It's just a dirt rectangular area with a crystal railing running through the center. Not far from the jousting arena is the judges panel, where three crystal ponies are sitting. The contestants would start on either side, wearing a suit of light armor with the lance strapped to the side nearest their opponent. Then, the two of them charge at one another and attempt to knock the other over. The contestant who won two out of three times would be declared the winner, and would move up on the rankings.

So far, the matches have been pretty uneventful, at least as far as I’m concerned. I don't know most of the ponies that are competing, so I don't feel like cheering one way or the other. However, I do know Applejack, and when she walks out onto the field, I sit up, suddenly interested.

“Yeah, it's Applejack! Go Applejack!” Lyra cheers loudly. Vinyl does the same, while Bon Bon just looks mildly interested. Oh boy, this means that Applejack and Rainbow will have to go up against one another eventually.

Applejack puts on a competitive expression, grinning at her opponent. When she breaks into a charge, it's like, not even fair for the poor pegasi she's competing against. Applejack is like a juggernaut, practically tanking the lance from the other contestant...and then hurling the pegasi through the air with the blunt tip of her own lance. The next round ends much the same, letting Applejack through to the next set of matches.

Rainbow similarly dominates her opponent, not even getting hit by the other's lance. As we watch, both Rainbow and Applejack power their way through the tournament, laying flat all those who dare to stand before them.

At last, it's the finals. Applejack and Rainbow step out into the arena, equipped with fresh lances and armor. They both see one another and glare at each other with competitive spirit, grins on their faces. Both of them look incredibly sure of themselves.

“I don't know who to cheer for,” Lyra admits, shuffling her hooves.

“I'm just not going to cheer. Or if I do, it'll be wordless. Honestly, I'm just thrilled to see this, because either way it'll be awesome,” I tell my friends. “If Applejack wins, I get to laugh at Rainbow getting knocked down a peg or two. If Rainbow wins, then my marefriend is awesome.”

“That's one way of looking at it,” Vinyl agrees with a snicker.

The bell rings, signaling the start of the first round. Applejack and Rainbow break into a gallop, charging towards one another with determination etched into their faces. As they get close to one another, time seems to slow down. I watch closely...and Rainbow turns her body ever so slightly, causing Applejack's lance to whistle past her. Then, Rainbow's lance plows into Applejack's chest, knocking the farmer pony off of her hooves.

“Yeah! Take that, Applejack!” Rainbow boasts as the bell rings, awarding her the first round.

“Don't get too cocky, Rainbow Dash. Ah ain't gonna underestimate ya again,” Applejack retorts, and then the two of them set up at either end of the arena once more.

The bell rings once more, and again the two gallop towards one another as fast as they can. This time, Applejack anticipates Rainbow's dodge, and hits her head on with her earth pony strength. Rainbow yelps and is hurled to the ground, where she skids for several feet.

“Gah! How!?” Rainbow cried out in frustration.

“Yeehaw! Got ya good, Dash!” Applejack boasts.

“This is intense,” Bon Bon admits, popping a cluster of popcorn into her mouth. Lyra nods wordlessly, sipping from her soft drink.

When the third round begins, I lean forward in my seat, wanting to see every second of this. Applejack and Rainbow get closer and closer to one another...and then everything ends in a split second.

Rainbow leaps upwards, slamming her lance downward on Applejack...but the farmer pony anticipates, and her lance shoots upwards as well. Their lances slam into one another at the same time, sending the both of them sprawling across the dirt.

The bell rings, but there's silence from the judges. “Uh...they both fell over. What now?” one judge remarks. “We didn’t think this much through.”

“Uh...it’s a draw! We have two winners this time around!” Another judge decides The others soon agree, finding that to be the easiest solution.

“What? That's lame, I totally beat Applejack,” Rainbow complains, getting up and giving her lance to an attendant.

“You did not! You were usin' yer wings!” Applejack accuses. The of them then proceed to bicker with one another like foals. Heh, at this point, I half expect one of them to say something infantile like “NO U!”

“Er...ahem,” one of the judges interrupts. Once she has Rainbow and Applejack's attention, she continues. “Considering that the final match of the tournament is a draw, we will give the both of you a prize as well as the chance to go a few rounds against the champion from the previous tournament that we had earlier in the day!”

“Um...who's the winner of the last tournament?” Applejack questions curiously. There's the sound of clanking armor, and then a familiar figure walks out into the arena.

Applejack and Rainbow both turn around to see Swift Lance, carrying a blunted version of her trademark weapon and decked out in a full military uniform. Applejack and Rainbow look at one another, and then back at Swift. “Oh...ponyfeathers,” they both curse simultaneously.





Applejack, Swift, and Rainbow come out to meet us outside the event area after their rounds are over, each of them carrying their winnings. However, Rainbow and Applejack are both muttering under their breath, shooting glances at Swift.

“No fair...you have a cutie mark in lances,” Applejack mutters.

“I'll get you next time...smug military pony,” Rainbow mutters as well. Their complaints just serve to amuse her, as well as the four of us.

When Swift sees me, she salutes smartly. “Commander,” she greets me. I raise an eyebrow.

“You're not supposed to call me that, remember? I'm just a civilian now,” I remind her. Swift gives me a smile.

“Not supposed to salute you either, but there it is,” she admits, causing me to chuckle. “I'm glad you got to see me giving these newbies a thrashing.”

Applejack and Rainbow both grumble at that, hilariously enough. “Hah, maybe now their heads won’t get so big,” I remark, causing them both to shove me at the same time. 

After that, our little group gets together and starts to wander throughout the streets, talking about nothing in particular. I laugh and smile more than I have in months. 

Suddenly, we all come to a stop. Chrysalis emerges from an alley, walking right in front of us. She turns to face us, halting in place. Her eyes fall upon me. Right, I forgot she was still here as well. “There you are, Seth. I've been looking for you,” she addresses me directly, stepping closer to us. “I want to talk to you.”

“We're talking right now, aren't we?” I point out, crossing my arms. My friends gather around me, though I can’t help but notice that they don’t look that angry to see Chrysalis.

Chrysalis's eyes narrow. “Let me rephrase that. I want to talk to you alone, without your pesky friends interfering,” she snaps. Okay, now that just pisses me off.

“No. anything you have to say, you can say in front of my friends,” I tell her flatly. Chrysalis lets out a frustrated huff, as do a few of my friends, for some reason. What?

“Just do it! It's about the royal wedding, you imbecile!” Chrysalis elaborates. My eyes widen at that admission. I give an apologetic look at my friends, and then I step away from them, moving to join Chrysalis. “Finally. Come with me.”

“I'll be back, you guys. Don't worry,” I assure my friends, though they don’t seem like they want to follow me. In fact, some of them are smiling, confusing me. Whatever, I guess I’ll find out in a moment.  I follow Chrysalis back through the streets, heading in the general direction of the Crystal Tower. Once we're relatively alone, I address her. “So what do you want? I mean, I doubt it's to apologize for nearly ruining my life.”

“Don't be stupid,” Chrysalis scoffs. Then, to my surprise, she starts to look a little uncomfortable. “Do you remember the reward I promised you, if you stayed out of my business?”

“How could I forget?” I respond coldly, getting angry just at the memory. I don’t know why she’s bringing this up now, all of a sudden. “What about it? Cut to the chase.”

“I couldn't have actually followed through,” Chrysalis confesses. I immediately stop walking, a cold chill running through my body. Chrysalis notices, and she turns around to face me.

“What are you talking about?” I ask her, my voice dangerously calm. My hands clench into fists, my nails digging into my palms. Complicated emotions run through my mind all at once, causing me to tremble slightly.

“The time spell I used does have the capability of transporting you back in time. I was not lying about that,” Chrysalis explains. “However, it is not an efficient spell. even using all of my magical power, I could only send you back a thousand years...and only for a few moments. I never had the ability to send you all the way home.”

I'm completely quiet for several seconds, unsure of how to process all of emotions sparked by this confession. That whole time...I was twisted into a knot by a simple lie...I can't believe this...she... “You!” I growl, unable to hold back my fury any longer. I close the distance between us in less than a second. My arm seems to move on its own. Chrysalis’s head snaps to one side with a burst of emerald magic, hit directly on the jaw by my swinging fist. “That whole time...you were lying...”

Chrysalis turns her head back to me with an angry glare, her face burnt slightly at the point of impact. “You're lucky you saved my life, human...else I would make you pay for that,” she hisses. She and I glare at one another for several seconds. She eventually sighs. “But if you’re quite finished acting self-righteous, I didn't call you here to fight with you. I did what was necessary for me back then. I was Equestria’s enemy, and you were going to be my trophy...but this is about now, rather than then.”

Chrysalis starts walking again. I follow close behind her, still furious. She made my life a living hell for that whole wedding...and it was all for a lie. I should have just gone with the ponies in the first place then! Goddammit! I'm so angry right now, I can hardly see straight.

“You saved my life, and I do not forget my debts,” Chrysalis continues, leading me to the dance floor. She circumvents the crowd entirely and takes me to the entrance to the Crystal Tower. In the process, I notice that Celestia is no longer at the dance floor. “I will do you this one favor...and then we will be even for everything.”

“What favor?” I ask, forcing myself to stay calm. The two of us climb the stairs into the main body of the tower.

Chrysalis takes a breath. “Would you like to see your friends and family one last time?” she asks. My eyes widen in shock. “It would only be temporary, but it is the best I can do. This is the only time I will make this offer, so consider your choice carefully.”

“Why the hell would you even ask that!?” I demand as we walk into the main central chamber, my anger rising once more. Don't fucking ask me things like that...you're just giving me false hope, and that hurts like hell. “You just said that you don't have the power to take me back that far!”

“Maybe alone she doesn't...” I hear Cadance's voice in front of me, so I turn to look at the center of the room...and then take a step back in shock. Standing in the center of the room is every magically adept pony that I've ever interacted with. Celestia, Luna, and Cadance are standing at the center of the group, each of them smiling warmly at me. Beside them is Twilight, Trixie, and Rarity, and that's not even counting the military ponies. Rose is here now, as is Shining Armor, Iron, Salamul, Mist, and Blades. In addition I spot Pterax and Mantis, along with several other changelings. Even Hawke is here, standing at the back of the room with his arms crossed.

“...but together, we do.”


> End of Story Special
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The camera slowly pans into the filming studio, revealing it to be as tidy and organized as would be expected. Sitting in the director's chair is Terran34, looking much worse than he did before. His skin is pale from lack of sunlight, and his eyes puffy from lack of sleep. As the camera focuses on his face, he jerks awake. “Whoa, what? Oh, we're starting the special already?” he exclaimed. He quickly scrambled in the seat, sitting upright and straightening the wrinkles in his suit. “Ahem. Yes. I trust you'll edit this part out? Okay.”

Terran34 faced the camera calmly, putting on a smile. “Hello, readers! Welcome back to the end of the story special...and don't give me that face. You'll get the final chapter soon. Besides, if I didn't post this first, you guys wouldn't even read it, because why stick around after the final chapter?” He addressed the camera. The sound of groans echoes from the audience, causing a vein to twitch in the author's head. “I've got to do some research first! Cut me some slack!”

“Now then, I wanted to relay to you all how I feel about writing this story...” Terran34 starts to explain. As the author rants about crap you probably don't care about, Brave-Hooves walks tiredly into the studio, wearing a set of Applejack pajamas. He heaves a yawn...and then catches sight of the camera. He quickly scrambles away to go get changed. “And now, I'd like the thank the many people that have supported me since the...”

“Thank you for your patience, everypony!” Spike suddenly leaps in front of the camera, wearing a formal suit and tie, a microphone clasped tightly in one claw. Terran34 blinks at the interruption. “Here on SpikeTV, we're dedicated to delivering you the highest quality of entertaining and original TV series!”

“Spike...” Terran34 says flatly.

“And now we're back, to today's all new episode of Pony Fiction Investigated!” Spike continues heedlessly. He starts walking through the studio, the camera dutifully following him, such that the author is completely panned out of the shot. “Today, we're going behind the scenes of Tales of the Oppressed, to see what the original actors had to say about being part of this story!”

“Spike!” Terran34 repeats, raising his voice. Without another word, the camera pans back over to the author just long enough for Spike to shove him in a sack and tie the mouth closed. Wordlessly, Spike hands the yelling and struggling bag to Brave-Hooves, who obligingly takes it off screen.

“We offer our apologies for that pointless and distracting interruption, but now we can return to the program at hoof!” Spike continues to walk towards the edge of the studio. “Today, we have a very special gift for you all! We are here to offer you exclusive footage of the first time our favorite ponies set foot on stage, found only on SpikeTV!”

The First Audition:

The sound of clunking metal and squeaky audio can be heard as someone handles the camera horribly. This goes on for several seconds before the static on the screen gives way to actual video...of the ground. 

Finally, the camera lifts up into an uncomfortable close up of Spike. “Okay, is this thing on?” Spike asks aloud, tapping the audio input to the point where it causes a loud scratching. “I see a red light. So I think it's on. Alright, let's do this. It's gonna be so great.”

Spike begins to walk with the camera down the studio hallway, snickering to himself under his breath as he does so. When he reaches the door at the end of the hallway, he opens it up and steps inside.

Inside is a small room that clearly serves as storage for several movie-making materials, such as camera tripods, badly constructed props, and other such things that should never see the light of day. In the center of the room are a series of chairs arranged in an arc. Each chair is filled by one of the six main characters of the show.

“There you are, Spike. Maybe now you can tell us what's going on?” Twilight addresses Spike, setting aside the book that she'd been reading. “Why have we been called here?”

“Yeah! I can't stand just sitting around, doing nothing. I could be practicing my new trick right now,” Rainbow complains, rocking in her chair back and forth. 

“Especially in a place that desperately needs a makeover. I don't even see wallpaper on these walls!” Rarity agrees. 

“Alright, settle down. Basically you've all been called here today because you are going to be participating in yet another fanfiction!” Spike announces proudly. All six of them stop talking immediately...and then they all release various sighs and groans of annoyance.

“Okay...so who am ah having sex with this time? Am I going with Rainbow again? My brother? Or heaven forbid, Apple Bloom?” Applejack asks resignedly. She suddenly becomes aware of all the others giving her strange looks. Applejack looks defensive. “What? Fanfiction writers are really weird.”

“Spike, can you tell the author we simply don't have time to sit through another shipfic?” Twilight asks hopefully. “I mean, that's all they usually are....besides, it's always Trixie, Celestia, or my brother. It's really awkward!”

“Actually, that last one was my fanfiction!” Pinkie admits gleefully.

“That explains a lot,” Applejack quips. 

“Nope, he's super determined about doing this!” Spike answers cheerfully, enjoying this far more than he should. “But don't worry, I think you'll like this. It's called Tales of the Oppressed, and it's a human in Equestria story!”

There's another chorus of groans. Fluttershy, however, bursts into tears. “It's going to be me, isn't it? It's always me in these human stories...curse my own popularity...” she moans with despair.

“At least you have admirers. It's never me. I don't get shipfics. At least with anything normal! Why, the majority of my stories are with Sweetie Belle! The horror! The scandal!” Rarity exclaims. 

“Um...hello? Rarijack! One of the most popular pairings ever!” Pinkie reminds her. Rarity and Applejack look at one another, visibly coloring as they recall their various shipfic escapades together. “No, you want to know who's unpopular in shipfics, it's me!”

“That's because your character is so...complex,” Rainbow responds tactfully. “No seriously, Spike, who's the love interest? There's ALWAYS a love interest in these human stories...and stop crying, Fluttershy!”

“Hm, let's see here,” Spike flips through a sheaf of papers that he has in his free claw. “Huh...it's you, Rainbow.”

“Oh thank Celestia!” Fluttershy gasps in relief, while Rainbow just sits there with a twitching right eye.

“Oh you've got to be kidding,” Rainbow emits, facehoofing. The others adopt relieved expression as well...Applejack in particular starts snickering at Rainbow's misfortune. Resigned, she looks at Spike again. “So...who's the lucky guy huh? Is he at least hot?”

“Okay, once second.” Spike turns around to view the door, opening it once more. “Okay, come on in, Seth. They're ready to meet you now!” 

Seth, dressed in his early college outfit, steps inside, peering around at the ponies with a pensive expression. Rainbow hops up from the chair and hovers up to him to get a closer look. “...he looks like a girl,” Rainbow observes...and then immediately ducks when Seth swings a fist at her.

“Fuck you! Everybody says that! Why!?” Seth starts to cry, triggered through his bullshit anime character backstory. 

“Oh come now, dear, there's nothing wrong with looking a little on the effeminate side,” Rarity attempts to reassure him. “This just means a wider variety of clothes will look good on you. I mean, I'm assuming I'm the one making the clothes? That's how these human in Equestria stories usually work, right?”

“Make sure ya make him something good for hard work. Cuz of course he's gonna be workin' on the farm. Ah mean, the humans always work on the farm in these stories,” Applejack advises Rarity.

“Oh, I can just hear the author steaming with every word you all say. This is so awesome,” Spike gloats, gleefully rubbing his claws together. “So what do you think, Rainbow? Is he good-looking enough for you?”

Rainbow peers closely at Seth, who shifts uncomfortably under her stare. She tilts her head to one side. “Meh. I guess it could be worse,” she admits at last.

“Meh? I thought you were into mares, Rainbow?” Applejack quips with a dirty grin. Rainbow slowly turns her head to glare at the farmer pony.

“Okay, first off, he's not a mare, he's just a very effeminate stallion. Second off, that rumor came from fanfiction! It's not my fault I keep getting paired with you! Or Twilight...or Fluttershy...or Scootaloo...or...the kitchen sink. Don't ask about that one. I think the only straight pairing I have is Soarin!” Rainbow laments. “I mean, come on, all he does is make awkward pie jokes! I can never take it seriously!”

“Now then, moving right along, Seth,” Spike takes the camera and orients it on the thoroughly unamused human. “How do you feel about being the main character of the best human in Equestria story to ever exist?”

“Like everyone I know and love is dead,” Seth responds without missing a beat. 

“Ah don't be that way, Seth. After all, you're being paired with me, and everypony knows I'm the coolest mare on this show,” Rainbow proclaims, to the annoyance of her friends. She then turns to the camera. “So is the author going to see this, or what?”

“Oh yeah...I'm gonna play it back to him after he starts writing the last chapter. I'll tie him down for it too,” Spike responds with an evil grin. “Why, something you want to say to him?”

“Yeah, there is. So, mister author guy. Since you've made me the love interest, your story just got...” Rainbow gets up close to the camera. She whips out a pair of dark tinted shades from nowhere and slips them on. “...twenty percent cooler.”

The room erupts into a chorus of groans, complete with Twilight beating her head with her book. “Must...erase...horrible...meme...”

“Oh come on, Rainbow!”

“Dash!”

The last thing that's heard before the camera goes blank is Rainbow questioning, “...wait, he's going to make me tsundere, isn't he?”

The camera goes blank again, until finally the studio is revealed again back in the current time. Just behind the suited Spike is the author tied up and gagged, forced to watch the interviews where the main characters made fun of story tropes.

“Thank you all for watching today's captivating episode of Pony Fictions Investigated! Make sure to tune back in for more thrilling episodes, all here on SpikeTV!” Spike finishes with a flourish and a bow.

Seth walks into the shot, sitting the chair next to the author. “That was a complete waste of time!” he lamented, as Brave-Hooves chuckled in the background.





Eventually the cast gets ready for the filming of the final scenes in the fic. Terran34 stands in the studio with Brave-Hooves, rubbing his forehead as he tries not to think about how badly this could go. “Alright, everyone, we've just got a little bit more until the end of the story. Put in your best effort, and this'll be over before you know it!” the author calls to Seth and the others as they fill the room. He then turns to Brave-Hooves. “You did set up the speaker system properly, right? We need the soundtrack, otherwise the scene loses half the impact.”

“Calm your shit, I took care of it,” Brave-Hooves assures Terran34, holding the remote in his hoof. He starts to snicker under his breath. “I got this under control.”

“Okay, then let's start with the attack on Hawke's base. Remember your lines, ponies!” Terran34 calls, and then the first screening begins.

Attack on Hawke's Base: (Inspired by Brave-Hooves)

Music: Star Wars: Return of the Jedi - Endor Chase

My mouth drops as the lightning cuts right through the armor of the ship and blasts it to pieces, causing the engine to explode violently and hurl debris in every direction. Even that's not enough; the lightning streaks right through the wreckage and destroys the airship behind that as well, before finally dissipating.

“What in tarnation!?” Applejack cries out.

“Aaah, what's going on!?” Rainbow screams.

“Trixie didn't sign on for this!”

“Jesus fuck!” I shout with my hands clapped to my ears. All of us throw ourselves to the deck as debris rains down on our ship, consisting of shards of metal and burning wood. When I feel like it's safe enough to move, I turn to Mist. “Hold on a minute, that shot came from the cannon! That thing's operational?!”

“Seth, that cannon is getting ready to fire again!” Rainbow cries out, jabbing her hoof down towards the colossal weapon, which is already starting to hum. “What do we do!”

“Take evasive action!” Swift yells up to the griffon at the helm. He immediately jerks the wheel in an attempt to get the airship far away from that cannon.

Finally the cannon lights up the sky with a piercing white again, and this time the bolt of destructive lightning is heading directly towards us. “It's a trap!” Seth calls...

...and then the soundtrack ends, courtesy of an annoyed author. Seth turns towards the backdrop grinning. “What? You wrote trap after trap into this thing, and you didn't expect one of us to make that joke?”

“I did...but I was holding out hope that you guys would actually act professional for once. Sue me for being wrong,” Terran34 retorts. 

A Different Soundtrack Take 1:

Music: Ride of the Valkyries

At long last, the flagship of the griffon fleet emerges from the veil of snow, parting the falling white curtain like water. Immediately, my team and I head out from below deck and head to the forecastle of the ship. Following us are the scores of griffons that have been hiding below with us, as well as Mist. Zythe flies up to the wheel and callously shoves Pterax out of the way, taking his rightful position at the helm.

“Griffons! Prepare to take flight!” Zythe roars from the stern, spreading his wings wide. A cheer rises from the ranks of the griffons. The sound of metal grinding against metal fills the air as the gunports on the hull of the ship open up, and the black barrels of lethal cannons emerge. “Roll out the cannons! We're taking the fight to the enemy!”

Standing on the prow of the ship, I look forward at the horizon. A wide open valley presents itself before us, an untouched carpet of snow stretching out all the way towards the still smoking dormant volcano, where Hawke's facility is nestled up against its side.

It isn't long before our encroaching fleet is noticed by the enemy. Undead fliers reveal themselves from the nooks and crevices of the geothermal plant, taking off in a swarm of black dots and heading directly for us.

“Fire the forward cannons!” Zythe orders as he takes to the air. At the front of each airship are two smaller guns in the style of swivel cannons, the type that you'd see on old 18th century ships. They are quickly manned by separate griffons and oriented upon the approaching undead. The air soon fills with the booming sound of firing cannons as the swivel guns unload into the undead, shredding anything unlucky enough to be hit. Zythe grins at the carnage and looks back at the other griffons.“First division, flock to me and prepare to intercept! I'm ready to shed some blood!”

Brave-Hooves turns in his seat over to Terran34, grinning and holding the remote. “I notice you haven't called cut yet. It works, doesn't it?”

“Yes it does...but there's no way I can use it, because nobody would take this scene seriously,” Terran34 admits with a dry smile. Eventually he stands up. “Cut!”

The sound of groans and complaints fills the room. “Oh come on! I know it's a good song, but there are some songs I just can't use! It's like using the Fairy Tail Main Theme, everybody knows what it's from and what it stands for, so it doesn't have the same impact!”

“Nobody cares about the music as much as you do, idiot!” Somepony calls from offscreen, causing Terran34 to run out of the shot in search of the speaker, while Brave-Hooves laughs.

“I think the music is an integral part of the experience,” Octavia's voice inputs from somewhere.

“You're not even in the scene!” The rest of the audience yells back at her.

A Different Soundtrack Take 2:

“But if you are like me, no amount of words will convince you of the truth,” I say sadly. I reach up towards the edge of my burned jacket and slide it off, tossing it aside. Beneath, all I'm wearing is a sleeveless green shirt to match my eyes. I clench my fists and start to power up, my aura towering even higher than before. “Come on, Hawke. Enough feeling each other out. I'm going to show you what I've learned myself.”

Hawke's eyes narrow, and then he nods. He slides off his white gloves, one by one, and drops them to the rocky ground. Then, he reaches up to the collar of his coat and starts to unbutton it. Once it's fully unbuttoned, he takes off the garment and lets it fall atop his gloves. Beneath, he's wearing similar clothing to me: a sleeveless tight fitting black shirt. His corded muscles clearly stand out, now revealed from the long sleeves of his coat.

Suddenly, he pauses and looks up towards the ceiling where the music is coming from. “Excuse me! Do I look like the personified anger of some super-dimensional being?”

“That game sucks!” Seth agrees, hurling his sword up to the speaker, breaking it. “I mean, what happened to the awesome thing we were going to do, where you use my old theme song for the fight? You know, mirror of myself?”

“But...but...there's lava...and the atmosphere is similar...so I thought,” Terran34 weakly tries to explain from backstage.

“That is the weakest argument I've ever heard,” Seth states flatly. “Hawke, screw our fight. Let's just beat the crap out of the writer.”

“Agreed,” Hawke responds, cracking his knuckles. Terran34 immediately bolts from his chair and leaves the studio with the two in hot pursuit.

Brave-Hooves sits in silence, unmoving, for several seconds. “So...what, am I the writer now?” he asks aloud. There's no answer, as the room is completely empty. A grin crosses his face, and then he pulls out a laptop. He opens a new document and labels it Chapter 133: Seth's Desires. Brave-Hooves starts to type, echoing the words aloud to himself. “Rainbow Dash and Applejack descend upon Seth's naked body...”

The Chapter Title Gave This Joke Away:

Hawke’s face contorts with hate at my words. “They would never help me. They never helped her. The only time they saw fit to help me is when they could use it to control me! And I wouldn't have it!”

“I'm so damn sick of you ponies always trying to sucker me in with these favors of yours. I won't have it, you hear me? I WON'T HAVE IT!”

I close my eyes and sigh, nodding my head. I never thought that this would be the case. He doesn't just sound like me. He's me...the me that I would have become without the friends that I've made here. I can’t help but ask myself...if I had lost Amaryllis...would I have gone to Sombra willingly, as he had?

Wait, hold on a minute....is this supposed to be me? How I was back then? Would I have become this murderous? No...no, I refuse to accept this. “I....you need to listen to yourself...Hawke,” I try to tell him.

“No. You need to stop deluding yourself, Seth. You hated everyone...and everything...all because of some stupid girl that wouldn't let you go,” Hawke sneers, his tone suddenly changing. His voice becomes eerily distorted, and his eyes start to glow yellow. “Even people that didn't really deserve it...and even people that just annoyed you were utter trash.”

“No...that's not true...I didn't feel that way...” I try to argue, but Hawke won't let me finish. He steps ever closer to me.

“Did you ever stop to realize that maybe it wasn't them that was the problem? Did you ever consider that maybe it was you that was a whiny, unlikable, worthless little bitch?” Hawke accuses, jabbing his finger at me. 

“Stop!” I cry out, unable to take it.

“All in all...despite your so called hatred for the world, you clung to your brother and that girl...all because you really didn't want to be alone after all,” Hawke declares, coming to a halt. “I know how you feel; I know what you're thinking. It's because I am you...”

“Screw that!” I yell out angrily. “You're....”

“Uh oh...”  a voice utters from off screen, a slight bit of panic in his voice. “No...stop it, Seth. Don't...”

“You're...!” I growl, trying as hard as I can to get the words out.

“Don't you do it! I mean it!” the voice called again.

“You're not...!”

“BRO DON'T YOU DO IT!”

“You're not me!” I yell as loud as I can, powering up to the max, even powering to my transformed state.

“Oh, son of a bitch. I haven't grinded enough for this...”

“You're right...I am a shadow...I am the true self!” Hawke's fingers elongate and taper to points, forming vicious claws. A line of a black substance shoots through his right eye, causing flakes of skin to crumble and peel away. 

“Okay, STOP! CUT!” Terran34 calls, his eyebrow twitching. “That was way off script, but it was actually pretty good...until I realized you were ripping off Persona 4 the whole time! The fuck, guys!?”

“Dude, you're the one who named the chapter 'I'll Face Myself.' I don't know what you expected,” Brave-Hooves points out. Terran34's response is to just let his head fall forward onto his desk.

Healing Rainbow Take 1: (was actually going to be canon before I realized how stupid it was)

“Thanks. Think you can touch up Rainbow, too?” I ask, knowing full well that Chrysalis is going to be annoyed. Sure enough, Chrysalis scoffs. The glare she gives the sleeping Rainbow clearly says what she thinks about that request.

“Ugh. It was already a stretch for me to heal her the first time. Now you want me to do it again?” Chrysalis grumbles. She turns back to me with a defiant expression. “No. She can suffer for all I care.”

“Oh, don't be petty. Just fucking heal her, please. It'll take you less than a second,” I snap at her, annoyed.

“I think not. That's less than a second that I could be using doing something other than healing the pony I hate,” Chrysalis hisses stubbornly. God, this is annoying. “Now, I do believe I'm done here. I think I want to take a look at this other human.”

Just as Chrysalis is walking away, a dumb idea comes to mind. Deciding to act on it, I step forward, catching up to Chrysalis in a few large strides. Before she realizes what I'm doing, I reach out my hand up to her head...and lightly start scratching behind her ears.

“What the devil are you...ooh,” Chrysalis reacts angrily at first, but soon lets out a contented moan. She leans her head up into my fingers, a silly smile on her face. “Ooh, that's amazing...yes, I'll heal whoever you want if you just keep doing that...”

“I can't believe that worked,” I whisper to myself.

Healing Rainbow Take 2:

“Mm...that's not good enough,” Chrysalis responds, infuriating me even further. “I think you should be a little more complimentary. Unless you'd rather stay in this infirmary for another day or so until Celestia gets here.”

“You little...!” I start to say, but her eyes narrow, such that I cut off and sigh in frustration. I groan and rub my forehead, before finally looking back at Chrysalis. Every fiber of my being wants to die before saying this, but it's either this or sit around completely unable to move. “Okay, fine. Please heal me, oh most esteemed Queen Chrysalis, she who is more beautiful and intelligent than Celestia.”

“I beg your pardon?!” Celestia demands, walking through the door with an affronted expression on her face. I freeze in place, my blood turning to ice. Her power starts to swirl up from around her hooves, promising impending pain.

“Oh fuck me,” I groan helplessly, as Chrysalis snickers and leaps out the window. 

Limited Options: (inspired by TwiAmeliaSparkle)

Hawke and Seth stand in the cell together, completely alone and away from prying eyes. Hawke  is looking down at the ground, his hands clasped behind his back. Seth looks somewhat uncomfortable from the unending silence, as neither of them seem to know what to say.

“I think it will be some time before I'm used to this world,” Hawke admits, breaking the silence.

“You mean because of all the magic and stuff?” Seth asks, glad that they can talk about something relatively normal. Hawke shakes his head solemnly.

“I am referring to the lack of options when it comes to...well...romance,” Hawke explains. Seth blinks, flushing a little. “Have you ever...”

“What? I...that's hardly any of your business!” Seth stammers, his face turning nine different shades of red.

“I've seen how you look at the one with the rainbow mane,” Hawke continues, his eyes fixated on Seth's. “I mean, I won't judge you. It's not like there's anything left.”

“No! I am not having this conversation! Just stop!” Seth wails, growing even more embarrassed. There's a short silence.

“So does their fur tickle when you...” Hawke starts to say, but Seth interrupts him with an anguished yell. “I mean...we are very sensitive in that area...”

“I swear upon all that is holy, if you don't shut the hell up, I'm going to find another pool of lava to drop you in,” Seth tells him flatly.

“What was the slang phrase that we humans used to use?” Hawke attempts to recall, oblivious to the magically powering up Seth. “I believe it was...dat flank, yo.”

“THAT'S IT!” Seth lunges across the room, swinging a punch directly for Hawke's face.

Hawke lifts up an arm and blocks the attack easily, his face unfazed. “Of course, if you wish to restrict yourself to other members of the species, there's always you and I.”

“What!?” Seth's voice goes up several pitches at that very suggestion. Hawke remains unblinking.

“...the fangirls would like it.”





In the studio, Terran34 and Brave-Hooves are laughing so hard, that they're practically crying. “I don't think any of them realize that we were rolling the whole time!” Terran34 howls with merriment, holding his ribs. “Oh god, my sides!”

“This shit is going right on YouTube!” Brave-Hooves agrees.

Hawke's Secret: (inspired by Brave-Hooves)

The four of us descend the staircase into the dank prison, whose cells have long since been emptied. The only cell that is occupied is the one at the far end of the dungeon, which also happens to be the largest and lowest one. 

A shimmering opaque wall of magic covers the cell door like an ethereal curtain, letting me know that the cell is warded with magic. I don't know how well it could stand up to Hawke, but it's not a bad idea. At the very least, it could buy some time.

“Can he hear us in there?” I ask, leaning over to Iron. 

“He shouldn't be able to. The ward is designed to block sound and light in all directions,” Iron answers. Huh, so a bit like a one-way mirror, except with sound. That's pretty useful. “He shouldn't even know that we're out here.”

“Huh. Okay then. Guess I'm going in,” I say with a shrug. Without another word, I walk through the barrier, wondering what I'm going to see on the other side.

Out of everything I expected, it certainly wasn't this. The first thing I see upon walking inside is Hawke dancing as though he were at a rock concert, bobbing his head to the beat of a...very girly sounding song that's blaring from the boombox next to this bed.

The second Hawke notices my presence, he freezes completely still, as though he were a statue. He and look at one another, completely speechless, the song playing in the background.

Hawke straightens up and glares. “You saw...nothing.”

Hawke's Proposal: (inspired by Cereal-killer)

Hawke's eyes are filled with confusion, even as he instinctively starts to chew the cupcake. He lifts up a hand to prevent crumbs from falling on his coat until he finishes eating it. He conjures a handkerchief from nowhere and wipes his mouth with it. Once he's finished, he tosses the handkerchief upwards, where it disappears back into his magic.

“Well? Tell me what you think, silly!” Pinkie exclaims, bouncing up and down in place. That same action causes the cupcakes to act similarly, yet none of them fall over or get smashed for some physics defying reason.

When we can see Hawke's face again, his expression is one of complete and utter happiness, tears streaming down his face. He approaches Pinkie unsteadily, and then he goes down on one knee, pulling a rock out of the air with his magic. He rushes his hands over it, forming it into coal...and then he crushes it in his hands. When he reveals it, a diamond ring is clasped between his fingertips.

“Pinkie Pie...will you marry me?” Hawke proposes, causing everyone in the room to complete scatter their jaws across the floor from utter shock. “I can't live without this sugary goodness any longer! I need you in my life!”

“Ohmigosh! Yes! Look at this! Someone wants to be shipped with me for once! Take it down on record!” Pinkie squeals in shock and happiness. “Pinkie Pie is best housewife!”

Spike sidles into the room, a grin on his face. “Don't you mean...horsewife?” Immediately, Spike is kicked out of the room by Seth. “I regret nothing!”

“By the way,” Brave-Hooves leans over to Terran34 in the studio, completely straight-faced. “By 'sugary goodness,' do you think he meant the cupcake, or...”

Terran34 immediately slams Brave-Hooves into the ground with a single fist, knocking him unconscious. “Don't you even think about making that joke,” he asserted.

Hawke then leaned into the studio. “I meant both.”

“Goddammit!” Terran34 raged.

Because Why Not:

“Now, perhaps you wouldn't mind accompanying me to someplace with less prying ears?” Chrysalis requests of Hawke, giving him a rather sultry expression. She isn't wasting any time. Giving up immediately on Seth, she goes to the nearest human. As Seth expected, she just wants to possess one of them. “I believe you and I have much to discuss.”

Hawke ignores Chrysalis at first, instead moving past her and helping Mist up from the floor. Then he turns back to the queen with a cold expression. “You have my thanks for healing me,” he states calmly. “But I have no interest in you. Begone.”

The record immediately screeches to a halt as everybody immediately reacts to that statement. “OOOOOH!” Seth calls out, his hands cupped around his mouth. A crowd of fans bursts in through the studio, crowding into the set and jeering at Chrysalis. Even Terran34 and Brave-Hooves burst through the backdrop, joining their voices to the chorus of jeers.

“BURN!”

“ZING!”

“GET REKT!”

“OOOOOH!”

“YOU JUST GOT TOLD!”

Chrysalis just stands there with a very annoyed expression. “You realize this is just my script, right?” she points out, but nobody is listening to her. She sighs and blows the entire set away with her magic. “You know what, to Tartarus with all of you.”

Attack on the Crystal Empire Take 1:

General Shatter paces back and forth on the battlements of the constructed walls. Nearby are several undead, as well as General Glass. Shatter peers over the ramparts, gazing at the horizon. However, there's no sign of the enemy forces just yet.

“Remember the plan, Glass,” Shatter says to the larger earth pony. Glass was a bit...dumb, for lack of a better phrase, so Shatter knew he had to reiterate the plan several times until it stuck. “When the enemy appears, retreat and hide with the second half of the force, and then wait for them to get inside before crushing them with a pincer attack. I'll handle the heavy hitters.”

“Plans!? I have no need of plans! I am Glass! The...” Glass starts to proclaim. 

“...gods themselves fear your name, right,” Shatter finishes for him, rolling his eyes. He'd heard this sermon over and over again, so he had it memorized. “You'll tear down Canterlot stone by stone, and blah blah blah. Just do your job, for Sombra's sake.”

“Hey...what is that?” Glass suddenly asks, pointing a hoof over the ramparts. Shatter blinks and turns to look as well...and then his eyes widen with shock.

In the distance, just coming from over the mountains, is a storm system larger than any he'd ever seen before. The blackening, threatening clouds surge over the skyline towards the Crystal Empire, lightning sparking within their interiors.

“That's not a thunderstorm...that's not a gale...and that's certainly not even a hurricane! What...is...that, what IS THAT!?” Shatter demands shrilly, his voice rising in panic. The storm grew ever and ever closer...and then the wind slams against the walls with an immense force. Shatter could even see multiple funnel clouds forming at the base of the storm system. “What's causing that?! Wait...is that...”

Shatter suddenly cuts off as he sees the cause behind it all. At the very forefront of the storm system...is the city of Cloudsdale, its weather factory tasked to capacity as it adds to the storm that's now so large, Shatter was wondering if he needed to go make a second Ark. 

Suddenly, as the storm reaches the city, lightning arcs through the air, striking both Shatter and Glass, rendering them screaming and twitching on the ground. On top of Cloudsdale, heading up the storm front, is Rainbow and Seth, the both of them dressed in black outfits, complete with metal studded bracelets and collars, as well as headbands with devil horns on them.

“I guess you've been...” Seth begins, sliding on sunglasses. All of Cloudsdale's residents appear behind him, similarly dressed, just as the storm's tornadoes touch down and obliterate the walls and undead in the way. 

“THUNDERSTRUCK!”

Attack on the Crystal Empire Take 2: (inspired by TwiAmeliaSparkle and Brave-Hooves)

Seth and the other main characters stand on the top deck of the flagship, on their way with the rest of the allied forces to the Crystal Empire; it all comes down to this one battle, and everyone knew it. The stress was starting to set in. 

“Don't just stand there, you numbskulls! Do something productive!” Zythe yells from the helm, glaring at the seven of them. “Batten down the hatches! Tend to the burner! Just don't stand around! It sets a bad example for my griffons!”

“Aye aye, captain!” Seth and the others chorus...except for Rainbow. At our response, she raises an eyebrow.

“'Aye aye?' What are we, pirates?” Rainbow asks wryly. She watches her friends all look between one another, shifty looks on their faces. Rainbow suddenly comes to a realization. She looks at the way the airship is structured, at the way the balloon is colored and designed similar to sails, and then at the grizzled captain. “Oh dear Celestia, we are pirates.”

Seth snickers under his breath. “Oh my god, and we're even going to raid a city. Pirate ponies. What next?” he jokes. The others laugh at that. There's a short silence, and then Seth starts to sing quiet. “My little pirate~”

Twilight giggles, and then she follows up. “I used to wonder how raiding could be~” she sings, a bit louder. As if they'd been preparing for this, the usual orchestra for the original song starts to play in the background. Rarity grins widely, and then she dashes into the cabin for half a second before returning. In a split second, she dresses all seven of them up in pirate outfits, complete with cutlasses, hats, and a parrot for Rainbow....just in time for the next time. “Until you all shared it's plunder with me!”

“Big adventure...” Rainbow joins in.

“Tons of fun~!” Pinkie trills.

“A beautiful ship...” Rarity begins.

“...with lots of sails!” Applejack continues.

“Sharing treasure...” Fluttershy swings sweetly. Suddenly, there's the sound of a record screeching to a halt, the orchestra dying down. Fluttershy quails as all of her friends stare at her at once.

“What the...no, Fluttershy, we don't do that; we're pirates!” Rainbow corrects her friend with exasperation.

“Oh...um...sorry,” Fluttershy apologies, dipping her head. After a short silence, the record slowly winds back up, the music fading back in.

“My little pirate~” they all sing together. “Because you know you're all my very best crew~!”

“STOP SINGING AND GET TO WORK!” Zythe screeches down upon them.

One Does Not Simply Charge into the Crystal Empire: (inspired by Nitrous Rainbows)

Princess Celestia stands at the head of the army, fully suited up in her red and golden armor and wielding her shield and sword. Standing beside her is a soldier carrying the Equestrian flag, which waves proudly in the breeze, raising the morale of all who gaze upon it.

The princess stares grimly at the Crystal Empire. Once, the Crystal Tower used to be a beautiful building, the highlight of a once glorious empire. But now, it looks nothing like it used to. Gone are the serene crystalline colors and smooth angles, to be replaced with sick and twisted black crystal. The edges are jagged and sharp like a guillotine, and its spires jutting up into the air like twisted pikes, their tops burning with a sickly purple fire. The spire itself shoots up into the air like a pillar of darkness, widening out into a platform up top.

Dark clouds swirl around the top of the tower, covering the land in darkness. Lightning flashes from within the clouds, causing faint thunder to peal through the air. If King Sombra's going to be anywhere, it's up there. I can just feel it.

Celestia turns around, meeting the eyes of each and every one of her soldiers assembled before her. This is the final battle, and everypony knows it. “My dear and most loyal subjects,” Celestia begins...but then she's suddenly cut off as Seth front flips out of the ranks of the army and lands right on her back. Unlike before, now Seth is wearing a full set of plate mail armor, complete with a white gold crown resting atop his head. In one hand is a shining regal longsword, the likes of which only kings would wield. Celestia turns her head slowly. “Seth...may I ask what it is that you are doing?”

“Shhh, Celestia, I'm borrowing your back for a second. It'll be great,” Seth whispers to her. Celestia looks less than amused. Seth yelps as he feels her getting ready to buck him. He gives her a pleading expression. “Please, just give me this.”

Celestia sighs. “Fine...but don't take too long,” she relents. She can't help but smile when Seth practically squees with happiness. Seth then lightly spurs Celestia into motion. Galloping across the field in front of their army, Seth puts on a serious expression.

“Hold your ground! Sons and daughters of Equestria!” Seth yells out loud enough to be heard by the whole army. “Of Bleak Island! My brothers and sisters!”

Seth slows down, peering forward to meet the gazes of everypony he comes across. “I see it in your eyes...the same fear that would take the heart of me!” he declares fervently.

Terran34 blinks, and then he and Brave-Hooves look at one another. “Hold on a minute, this seems familiar.” the author comments.

“A day may come when the courage of ponies fails...when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of harmony!” Seth admits...but then he turns around, lifting his sword. “But it is not this day!”

“He's really doing this, isn't he?” Brave-Hooves deadpans, rubbing his forehead. 

“Ah, cut him some slack. It's the only motivational speech he knows,” Rainbow remarks. Instead of standing with the army with the others, she's sitting next to Terran34. 

“An hour of timberwolves...and shattered shields...when the age of ponies comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight!” Seth shamelessly continues to rip off the popular speech...but the ponies are loving it because most of them have no idea. “By all that you hold dear...on this good land...I bid you stand, ponies of Equestria!”

Seth turns and leads the charge, Celestia galloping beneath him with a very unamused expression on her face. Behind him, the fooled ponies cheer loudly and thunder along the ground behind him as the allied forces begin their charge. “Heh...Seth one, bucket list zero,” he whispers to himself triumphantly.

“I think I just died a little inside,” Terran34 groans. “Cut!”

“No, fuck you! It was going to be great!” Seth yells harshly with anguish. “I spent weeks on this cosplay!”

More Lord of the Rings References:

Applejack and Rainbow tear into the enemy themselves, letting out cries of their own as they lay flat any undead in their way with their powerful hooves. Together, the two of them easily intercept an undead manticore and beat it into submission with their superior speed. “Let's see if ah kin take down more o' these varmints than you, Rainbow Dash!” Applejack challenges her friend as the two fight side by side.

“Oh, you're so on!” Rainbow shoots back with a grin.





The general skids across the street. When he comes to a halt, he looks up...right into Applejack's eyes. She's glaring down at him with a terrifying expression on her face, promising pain to the one who dared point his weapon at a filly. Shatter starts to back away, fear filling his eyes.

“No...no...this can't be happening...” Shatter whimpers, unable to comprehend that he had just been defeated by a simple farmer earth pony. He backs away across the street faster, but Applejack gets closer and closer, no mercy in her eyes. “You're just an earth pony! Who do you think you are!?”

“The name's Applejack,” is all she says, before she stomps down both hooves onto Shatter's chest. Shatter's mouth opens wide, blood and saliva spraying into the air as the wind whooshes out of his lungs. At last, he falls limp, unconscious. There's a silence as my team and I look at Shatter's defeated form. None of us can believe what we just saw.

Applejack walks up to Rainbow Dash, who is standing there, utterly dumbfounded. Finally, she finds her voice.

“THAT STILL ONLY COUNTS AS ONE!” Rainbow shouts.

Seth's Worst Nightmare:

“If I remember correctly, this should be it,” Seth states, looking down at the map in his hands. Next to him is Rainbow, the mare wearing her armor. The sounds of the raging battle for the Crystal Empire still filter in through the windows faintly. Seth looks up to see the singular crystalline door in front of him. “Alright, here goes I guess.”

Seth reaches forward and grasps the handle. When he pulls open the door, he squints as a bright light streams out from the crack. It eventually overtakes him, forcing him to shut his eyes. A rushing sound fills the air, and he starts to feel dizzy.

When he next opens his eyes, he blinks. For some reason, he's wearing nothing other than his boxers, and he's lying in his bed back at his house in Ponyville. “What the hell?” he remarks, looking around.

“I...I finished cleaning the living room like you asked...” Seth looks up to see the absolute most terrifying thing he's ever seen. Rainbow walks into the room, blushing up a storm and wearing a formfitting maid outfit, complete with an awkward set of white panties that have a hole just for the tail. Rainbow looks down at the ground, her rump swaying from side to side. “Did I do good, goshujinsama?”

“What the fuck!?” Seth demands, his eyes widening and his heart rate quickening. Rainbow gets closer, her expression becoming seductive and a small smile forming on her muzzle. “No...stay away!”

“Is there anything else I can do for you, Seth-goshujinsama?”  Rainbow climbs on top of the bed, pressing a hoof on his belly, which then starts to droop lower. “Maybe...some other desires I can fulfill?”

“No! Nooo! NOOO!” Seth wails piteously...until suddenly he jerks awake to find himself back in the Crystal Tower, his body trembling. Beside him is Rainbow, who seems to have been shaking him. “Wait, wha...?”

“Seth, are you okay? You just opened that door and starting screaming,” Rainbow asks anxiously. Seth turns to look at her...and even though she's not wearing it, he can't help but picture her in that outfit again. He chokes and looks away. “Seth?”

“Oh god, I can't even look at you,” he moans, as Rainbow stands there in confusion.

Seth's Worst Nightmare (continued): (inspired by Brave-Hooves)

Rainbow yawns and hops up out of bed, having slept in her house that night because she had to get up extremely early. Just as she is starting to get ready for work that day, her window opens. She turns to see a bemused looking Princess Luna fly in through the window. 

“Princess Luna? What are you doing here?” Rainbow inquires, walking up to the princess. Luna looks rather uncomfortable for whatever reason. “Something wrong?”

“Not necessarily...we were...slightly confused about something. We hoped thou wouldst clarify for us,” Luna expresses to Rainbow. 

“Sure. What's up?” Rainbow responds amicably.

“'Tis about Seth. Ever since that day at the Crystal Tower, when he opened that enchanted door, Seth has been having...bizarre nightmares, to say the least. We have been spending many nights on him,” Luna reveals. Rainbow starts to look a little worried at the thought of her coltfriend suffering. “There is one...particular phrase that keeps reappearing.”

“What is it?” Rainbow asks anxiously.

“Dost thou know what...'onii-chan' means?”

#WhyDidIStartWatchingThisAnime Take 1: (inspired by Brave-Hooves)

Rainbow barges into Seth's room with a grin, not even caring that the door was shut. Seth looks up from his reading in annoyance, as he had shut that door on purpose to keep other ponies out. “Hey Seth, I gotta show you something!” Rainbow declares happily.

“Rainbow, I wanted to be left alone so I could finish this book! Don't you know what a shut door means?” Seth demands irritably. Rainbow ignores him, instead hopping up and grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt. “Hey!”

“Be angry later, it's time to be amazed right now,” Rainbow tells him excitedly, hurling him to the bed. “So you know how all ponies have innate magic, right?”

“Yeah, so what?” Seth grunts, half curious despite himself. 

“Check this out!” Rainbow declares. She makes a series of strange motions with her hooves, and then claps them together. “Transformation no Jutsu!”

Seth's jaw drops as Rainbow disappears in a puff of smoke...to be replaced by a very attractive human woman...who is completely naked. Her unblemished skin is a gentle shade of cyan, and her multicolored hair is short and curls at the neck. Her eyes are a round, liquid magenta, and are set in a cute tomboyish face, with a small nose and pert lips. Rainbow straightens up quickly, causing her bust to bounce in the process, and spreads her legs slightly. 

“So...you ready to give up that book now?” Rainbow questions him, her voice unchanged from before. She climbs on top of the bed, approaching Seth on all fours.

“Yes...yes please...” Seth murmurs, causing Rainbow to grin. “Well, I guess I have to start praying, because there is a god.”

Offscreen in the studio, Terran34 is staring blatantly at the scene that he just called cut on...though no one was in a hurry to usher them off the set. He slowly turns to Brave-Hooves. “Where the hell did Rainbow figure out how to do the fucking Sexy Jutsu, of all things?”

Brave-Hooves stealthily returns the flash drive containing the entire Naruto series to his pocket. “I have no idea. So you gonna break them up, or what?” he responds.

“I guess I have to. Go get me paper towels. I need something to stem the blood flow when Rainbow breaks my nose,” Terran34 mutters, sighing in resignation as he gets to his feet.

#MySenseOfHumorConsistsOfSexJokesReferencesAndUnnecessaryHashtags:

“There are hundreds of ponies out there counting on us to free them. We can't fail,” Cadance adds next, as serious as the rest of us. “Still...he's so strong. I'm a little frightened.”

“Hah, I don't blame you on that one. To be completely honest, I'm not prepared for this,” I admit, my arms crossed. “I'm not prepared for any of this. I'm not a soldier. I just want to go home to Ponyville and live there with my friends.”

“I understand. I believe I speak for all of us when I say that we share similar goals,” Celestia responds, her eyes softening. Luna and Cadance nod in agreement. Chrysalis rolls her eyes at that, but otherwise remains silent. “But we must fight, Seth. There is no other course of action available to us.”

“I know that. I know what's at stake. I'll fight with the rest of you, don't worry about that,” I return softly. “I'm just tired of all this. I want it to be over.”

Celestia walks up to me with a solemn expression, understanding filling her eyes. “I know how hard this must be for you...” she whispers. Slowly, she starts to pull something out of her mane with a hoof. “Listen up, Seth. Don't believe in yourself.”

“Wait what? Isn't that like, the total opposite of what you've been telling me to do for the whole time?” I demand, confused. Celestia grins, and then she slides on the set of orange spiky shades that she'd just produced from her mane.

“Believe in me! Believe in the Celestia that believes in you!” Celestia declares. I immediately get the reference, groaning and rubbing my forehead. “What? Isn't this the right context for that quote?”

“How did you even learn about that!?” Terran34 yells from offscreen. Celestia then produces my laptop from her mane, the thing now equipped with a charger that works for magic. “What the...!?”

“I borrowed Seth's laptop. I must say, there is quite a lot of decent material on this device,” Celestia comments, the laptop floating in front of me tantalizingly. I try to reach for it, but she yanks it away from me. “Not just yet. I am still perusing your stores of anime.”

“Look through his porn folder!” Brave-Hooves yells from offscreen. I immediately form a rocket launcher with my rifle and fire a piercing rocket through the backdrop.

“I don't HAVE a porn folder!” I roar as the studio explodes violently with lime green magic.

The Search for Decent Songs:

Just before the final battle, Terran34 calls a lunch break, and all the actors, ponies and otherwise, split in all directions to eat and socialize. As for the author, he spends this time searching through his vast library of music disk, muttering under his breath.

“No...no...definitely not...epic, but doesn't fit...” Terran34 mutters, tossing rejected cds over his shoulder. Brave-Hooves walks into the room with a tray of food. He blinks and bats away a flying disk, confused.

“Uh...what are you doing?” he asks curiously, stepping over to the author and peering over his shoulder. “Wait, these are music disks. I thought you had all your music ready to go?”

“I did, but then I had second thoughts about the final battle theme, so I've been searching and searching! I'm running out of time and music!” Terran34 rages, pulling at his hair in frustration. “I can't even tell you how many disks I've gone through, looking for the right song!”

“How do you keep track of which disks you've already been through?” Brave-Hooves inquires, picking up one of the disks to inspect. “Hm, not bad.”

Terran34 points ambiguously over his shoulder. “I put all the rejected disks in that back closet over there,” he explains vaguely. 

Now curious, Brave-Hooves sets aside the disk he's holding and walks over to the closet. He clasps the door and pulls it open...only to scream in alarm as a huge stack of disks flows out of the closet like an avalanche, completely burying him from view.

“Dude, I got this. I've got the perfect song for your final battle!” Vinyl Scratch trots into the room, carrying a disk with her magic. Terran34 looks up and over his shoulder, the mare having gained his attention. Behind Vinyl is Octavia and Lyra, the both of them carrying disks as well.“I just mixed this up for you. Pop this sucker in and tell me what you think!”

“Sure, why not. Can't be any worse than what I'm dealing with.” Terran34 obligingly takes the disk and pops it in. He soon adopts a flatbrowed expression as an upbeat dubstep battle theme pounds out of the speakers. “I don't know what I expected.”

“Try mine.” Octavia passes him her disk next. Terran34 sighs and slides it in next. Once again, he nods, having expected to hear the rousing orchestra theme that comes out next.

“Ooh ooh! Mine! Pick mine!” Lyra shoves Octavia out of the way next, bypassing the author entirely and plugging it in herself. She giggles mischievously, rubbing her front hooves together. “You'll love this, I just know it!”

Terran34 raises an eyebrow as soft lyrics, sung by no doubt Lyra herself, started coming out of the speakers. He liked it at first...but then he could hear what the lyrics actually were.

“The human from times long past, and the king whose deeds set his foes aghast, destined to be together forever in the endless flow of passionate love~...”

The camera suddenly shows the outside of the studio, seconds before Lyra and her disk fly out of the door, dropkicked by an irate author. “Oh my god, get out!”

“Worth it just for that face!” Lyra squeals, even as she tumbles head over hooves through the air.

Battle Against The King Take 1:

“Prepare thyselves...” Sombra's horn becomes shrouded with reddish black magic, green electricity sparking from the tip ominously. His muscles tense and his teeth bare, and then magic explodes from around his body, releasing a shockwave across the entire summit of the tower. Seth holds his arms in front of his face, warding off what looks like an ocean of reddish blackness as it washes over them. When my vision clears, Sombra is revealed, tongues of shadow licking up his body like flame. Like before, Seth can't feel the entirety of his magical might. It's too far out of his comprehension as he is right now. When Sombra next speaks, it's in an guttural roar. “Thy fate is at hoof!” 

Seth lifts up a hand, signaling the others not to attack just yet. They all look at him in confusion...only to see him grinning. “Let's do this, Hawke!” He announces, powering up.

Hawke appears out of midair just beside him, coalescing in a cloud of black smoke. Celestia's jaw drops in horror; if Hawke is here, then Sombra will just drain him and get even more power!

Seth and Hawke suddenly lift their hands in a strange pose, their arms held out straight. “FUUU...” they both say loudly while sidling towards one another.

“Oh no...” Terran34 facepalms so hard there's a mark left on his face.

“...SION!” Seth and Hawke then flip the other way. Sombra watches them, perplexed. Then, they turn the opposite way, the index fingers of each hand meeting. “HAAA!”

A massive burst of light ensues, and then a wave of magical power rushes outwards, reaching heights so great, that even Sombra starts to look a little worried. When the light dissipates, a new being stands in the center of the platform. His hair is past shoulder length, one side being ivory white while the other is ebony black. One eye is dark while the other is green, and his outfit is a strange vest with white formfitting pants.

“I am neither Seth nor Hawke! I am the man who will defeat you!” Sawke declares, jabbing a finger a Sombra.

Brave-Hooves turns his head slightly to see the author banging his head against the desk repeatedly. 

“That should not even be possible...magic isn't ki...I don't even...”

Battle Against the King Take 2: (inspired by Nitrous Rainbows and Kichi)

“Prepare thyselves...” Sombra's horn becomes shrouded with reddish black magic, green electricity sparking from the tip ominously. His muscles tense and his teeth bare, and then magic explodes from around his body, releasing a shockwave across the entire summit of the tower. Seth holds his arms in front of his face, warding off what looks like an ocean of reddish blackness as it washes over them. When my vision clears, Sombra is revealed, tongues of shadow licking up his body like flame. Like before, Seth can't feel the entirety of his magical might. It's too far out of his comprehension as he is right now. When Sombra next speaks, it's in an guttural roar. “Thy fate is at hoof!” 

Seth lifts up a hand, signaling the others not to attack just yet. They all look at him in confusion...only to see him grinning. “Let's do this, Hawke!” He announces, powering up.

Hawke appears out of midair just beside him, coalescing in a cloud of black smoke. Celestia's jaw drops in horror; if Hawke is here, then Sombra will just drain him and get even more power!

Seth and Hawke suddenly lift their hands in a strange pose, their arms held out straight. “FUUU...” they both say loudly while sidling towards one another.

“What? Not again! We just did this!” Terran34 yells, his head bruised badly from the last time his characters' stupidity made him lose his cool.

“...SION!” Seth and Hawke then flip the other way. Sombra watches them, perplexed. Then, they turn the opposite way, the index fingers of each hand meeting. “HAAA!”

A massive burst of light ensues, and then a wave of magical power rushes outwards, reaching heights so great, that even Sombra starts to look a little worried. When the light dissipates, a new being stands in the center of the platform.



Sombra blinks...and then his eyes widen at the creature standing before him. A wolfish grin appears on his face, and then he produces a pokeball in a burst of dark magic. “Thy power is mine!” Sombra declares triumphantly. Sawke yelps, and then he is sucked into the pokeball in a flash of light. The ball hits the ground and lies still, before starting to twitch. Sombra's eyes are transfixed on the orb as it twitches once, then twice, and then a third time...and then the pokeball explodes outwards to reveal the powerful Sawke once more. Sombra's face contorts with fury, and he lets out a guttural roar. “DAMNATION! 'TWAS ON THE THIRD BOUNCE!”

“Cut, cut for the love of god! Make it stop, Brave, make it stop!” Terran34 wails as he rolls back and forth in his chair, hugging his knees close to his chest. 

“I'm having too much fun to stop this,” Brave-Hooves admits, chuckling.

Battle Against the King Take 3: (inspired by NeonWarrior)

Sombra stood above the beaten and broken bodies of his enemies, his overwhelming power licking up and down his body. He walked purposefully over to the body of Celestia. “Thy plans were not nearly enough to forestall thy end, princess,” Sombra rumbled in his unearthly deep voice. “Choosing to rely upon thine allies was thy downfall.”

The king turned back towards the kingdom, summoning up his magical reserves. He started to fly through the air towards the battle, intending to bring everything to an end himself. Without their leaders, the Equestrians would fall before him like ninepins...

“Wait a moment,” Sombra said, noticing something strange. He turned in midair, gazing towards the horizon, where the sun had just been starting to rise...an hour ago. He began to understand when he realized that the sun hadn't risen any higher over the course of the past hour. He looked back down at the bodies of Celestia and Luna. “Well, it seems I did not think this through...”

Battle Against the King Take 4: (inspired by Cereal-killer)

Sombra stood above the beaten and broken bodies of his enemies, his overwhelming power licking up and down his body. He walked purposefully over to the body of Celestia. “Thy plans were not nearly enough to forestall thy end, princess,” Sombra rumbled in his unearthly deep voice. “Choosing to rely upon thine allies was thy downfall.”

The king turned back towards the kingdom, summoning up his magical reserves. He knew he could trust the outcome of the battle to his overwhelming, limitless forces. As foolish as Glass could be, such a simple clean up job would be well within his capabilities.

Sombra clicked his tongue. In the end, it didn't matter what happened to this kingdom. With all of this power, he knew exactly what he was going to do next.





The crystal ponies all yelp in surprise as King Sombra steps out of a stabilized time portal. When his hooves clicked upon the crystalline streets, he cast his gaze over the pristine, untouched skyline of his home city. Unlike the city he had just left from, this one was from over a thousand years ago, which he had reached due to his perfected time spell.

“At last...” Sombra whispered to himself as he strode through the crowd of happy crystal ponies as they enjoyed this year's Crystal Fair, earning curious stares from them, as they didn't recognize him when he looked like this. He could feel the power of the Crystal Heart tugging upon him, but with his current strength, such a trifling amount of power couldn't touch him. “I have returned...and I possess true power...I will accomplish my true desires for the first time...”

Sombra walked down the street, not even bothering to look at the other attractions. No, there was only one that he cared to see. At the base of the Crystal Tower was a very familiar carnival attraction, consisting of a large red button placed at the bottom of a pillar. The pillar stretched all the way to the top of the Crystal Tower...and at the very top was a large bell. This game, where the object was to hit the button and get the ringer as far up the scale as possible, was a favorite among the crystal ponies. Even now, there was a decently sized line for it.

Sombra joined the back of the line, waiting excitedly for his turn. This game was well known for being impossible to complete, as nopony had ever risen the ringer all the way to the bell. In fact, nopony had ever even made it halfway, as the Crystal Tower was impossibly high. The prize for hitting the bell, a massive soft plushie of the Crystal Princess, was worth over a billion bits, and had never been won. Sombra intended to change that today.

“Come one, come all, to the Crystal Bell Tower! Come up and test your strength, and even win a prize!” the crystal pony attendant announced, passing the hammer to the next contestant. Sombra watched in contempt as the ponies that tried their hoof at it couldn't even get it more than a few meters up. The fillies giggled and walked away with little candy prizes, while the stronger ones managed to win a few bits. “The high score for today is fifteen meters! Can anypony beat this score!?”

“I can,” Sombra declared confidently as he reached the front of the line. The attendant beamed at his confidence and passed him the hammer, but the king simply batted it aside callously. “I have no need of thy useless tools. Gaze upon the power of the true king!”

Sombra flared his magic intensely, blowing back any poor ponies that happened to be nearby. The attendant's face is blown back by the sheer force, to the point where he has to grab a nearby post to keep from flying away. With a grin, Sombra leaped high into the air, flipping several times. At the peak of his flight, Sombra turned so that he was facing downwards, and then he fell straight down in a powerful piledriver, hitting the button with both hooves.

An explosion obscured the base of the contraption, and the ringer shot up the pillar like a rocket, easily passing ten, then twenty, then thirty meters, and it still wasn't slowing down. All the ponies watched in dumbstruck awe as the ringer zooms far up and up. Not only did the ringer hit the bell, it broke the thing clear off, carrying both the bell and the ringer high into the stratosphere.

The ponies watched in silence, and then they all broke out in thunderous applause, having never seen such strength before. The attendant, once he cleaned the debris from his mane, cautiously stepped up to the expectant king. “Right...so, after that amazing feat of strength, I am proud to present you not only with the new Crystal Empire Record, but also with the exclusive...one billion bit...Crystal Princess Plushie!”

Sombra grinned wolfishly as the attendant's horn lit up. With a burst of light, a huge meter tall plushie of Cadance appeared, even though she was not even alive at this point. Fuck you, this is a joke sequence. Sombra's eyes light up, and then he leapt forward, hugging the plushie close and letting out a very uncharacteristic squee. “YEES!” he roars triumphantly. “It's beautiful! I will treasure and take care of it with everything I have! I will love it and brush its mane everyday, and hug it to me close while I sleep...”

The camera pans back to Terran34 and the real Princess Cadance, the latter wearing a very disturbed expression. “Uh...I don't know how to feel about this,” she comments uncomfortably.

“What's even going ON right now!? THERE'S NO SCRIPT FOR THIS!” Terran34 shrieks.

Battle Against the King Take 5:

“Very well...ye has pushed me far enough. It is time I bring an end to this struggle...my kingdom awaits,” Sombra says in a dangerously calm voice. Even with the trouble they're giving him, he's still keeping his cool. Despite everything, Seth has to admire that about him. His horn starts to spark dangerously with black lightning, something that Seth has never seen him do. “Ye shall bear witness to my most powerful technique...” 

Suddenly, a knife slings across the field, landing in the ground pointfirst not far away from King Sombra. The king pauses, looking at the knife with confusion.

“DYNAMIC....” Celestia streaks in front the far side of the field, coming from Sombra's blind side now that his attention is focused on the knife. She swings out one hoof, a miniature sun formed on the flat surface of the appendage. 

Sombra turns his head in shock, but it's too late. All he can get out is one panicked, “Celestia...!?” before her hoof slams into the side of his face, the sun exploding violently and practically taking the king's head off.

“...ENTRY!” Celestia skids to a stop, standing over Sombra's defeated body with a giant grin on her face. 

Seth stares at her, an incredulous expression his face, even as Terran34 frantically yells cut offscreen somewhere. “...Celestia, you REALLY need to stay out of my anime folder.”

“I cannot help it. There are so many wonderful stories held within!” Celestia responds shamelessly, taking off the Leaf headband on her head. “What was that other power the main character used? Transformation no...”

“STOOOOP!” Terran34 leaps onto the set and slides in front of Celestia before she can finish the hoof motions. “No no no NO! We're not doing that jutsu on stage anymore, okay!? We've learned our lesson from Rainbow!”

“You mean you learned your lesson, when Rainbow decked you in the face,” Seth retorts, crossing his arms. “I dunno about you, but I wouldn't mind seeing Celestia naked.”

“Seth, I am always naked,” Celestia informs him with a perplexed expression. Terran34 and Seth both stare at her, both annoyed and pleased at the fact that she's actually clueless about something for once. “Is it different for humans? I am afraid I am not quite familiar with your customs.”

“No, it's not different at all,” Seth tells her.

“It's totally different! Don't do it!” Terran34 tells her at the same time.

Celestia blinks, further confused. “Well, which is it? I am getting mixed responses here.”

“It isn't.”

“It is.” Once again, Seth and Terran34 comment at the same time. The both glare at one another, and then Seth tackles the author, the both of them descending the ground, beating the crap out of each other.

“I feel I am missing some important context here,” Celestia comments. Rainbow quickly trots on stage and hovers beside Celestia, whispering the details in her ear. Celestia smiles. “Oh, is that all? Are humans that bothered by something as trivial as bare skin? Life is too short for them to be caught up on such things, is it not?”

“Hear hear!” Seth yells, only to get clobbered by the author. 

Brave-Hooves sits in the studio, eating popcorn with Applejack. “Is it just me, or are half of these jokes sex related?” he comments.

I Have Sunk to a New Low of References: 

Behind her is Octavia, dressed in relatively formal attire. When she catches sight of me, her eyes brighten and she opens her mouth...but then closes it in confusion after I place a single finger on my lips. I reach my hands forward...and then lift Vinyl entirely off the ground without even a word of greeting.

“Whoa, what the hay!? Waaah, put me down!” Vinyl yells, her tomboyish voice practically music to my ears after not seeing her for such a long time. I turn Vinyl around in my grip and hoist her up into the air, starting to sing a long high note, followed by a long string of foreign words that would be completely gibberish to any pony, but instantly recognizable by any self respecting human. Vinyl looks around, hanging from my grip and looking utterly bemused. “Uh...what is he doing?” 

“Seth, stop referencing old Disney movies and put Vinyl down already!” Terran34 shrieks from offscreen. “Seriously, it's been twenty years! It's not funny anymore!”

Morning Ritual: (inspired by Brave-Hooves)

The morning sun slowly rose above the horizon, shining its first gentle rays upon the Crystal Empire. It was a peaceful morning for the recently freed city; one of the many to come ever since King Sombra's defeat. The earliest rising crystal ponies began to emerge from their houses, eager to begin the day.

Shining Armor and Cadance, the two rulers of the empire, slumbered gently together in the royal chambers of the Crystal Tower. The two of them cuddled with one another lovingly between the sheets of their lavish bed, content to lie there and get some extra sleep before beginning the day themselves.

At least, that was the plan. Shining Armor's eyes blinked as something soft and white scatters against the window with a light pattering sound. He huddled closer to his wife, content to ignore it. However, another one hit the window, followed by several more. 

Shining Armor groaned and opened his eyes, knowing immediately what was going on. “Honey, he's doing it again...” Shining Armor growled. Cadance woke up as well, groaning.

“Oh for the...again? How many times do we have to throw him back in jail before he stays there?” Cadance complained, hopping out of bed and walking over the window. Just as she expected, a snowball hits the window, bursting into a shower of soft white snowflakes upon impact. 

“Have you forgotten? We stopped throwing him in jail, because there's no point. He just escapes every time through some incredibly impossible means,” Shining Armor reminded his wife, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. His eye twitched as another snowball scatters against the window.  “Remember the time we locked him in a secure dungeon on an island in the center of an icy lake, complete with deadly pikes that could live in such temperatures? It was supposed to be impenetrable!”

“Right...and then he picked the lock with one of his teeth that he tore out himself, fought off the guards all by himself, and then proceeded to swim for over a mile across the lake, beating into submission any of the pikes that tried to bite him,” Cadance recalled. “Yes, I remember. This is ridiculous...let me put a stop to this.”

Cadance opened the window with her magic, just in time for a snowball to come sailing over her head to land on her bed. She let out an annoyed groan and stuck her head outside to regard their assailant.

Earthen Glass sat upon a rooftop at the base of the tower, a huge pile of snowballs lined up next to him. Every few seconds, he would pick one up and hurl it up at their window with incredible strength and precision. “I shall have this kingdom! I shall begin from the bottom up: by disrupting your sleep schedules, I will prevent you from ruling properly! Then, your your lack of skill will cause the crystal ponies to revolt, and I shall be there at their head, ready to take over the Crystal Empire! Ahahahahaha!” Glass cackled, hurling snowball after snowball at the princess.

“Ugh! This is the fifteenth time!” Cadance screamed down at him, using her magic to blow away the snowballs. “Go home!”

“Never!” Glass howled, shaking a hoof at them. Just as he started to reach for another snowball, the guards leaped up onto the roof with spears. Glass spotted them and hopped from roof to roof to avoid them. “You'll never take me alive!”

The Wrong Soundtrack:

“Who is that I see resting to catch his breath? My, if it isn't the human, Seth!” My eyes flick up from the brochure at the sound of the very familiar voice that's now addressing me. Wow, I did not think she would be here.

“Zecora?” I reply, pleasantly surprised. Sure enough, the foreign zebra is standing just in front of me, looking surprised as well. She's looking well, her mane done up with green ribbon, and crystal magic dancing through her just like the rest of us. “Holy hell, I haven't seen you in forever!”

“Indeed, a long time it has been. It is very nice to see you again,” Zecora responds happily, trotting over to me. Heh, and her rhymes are just as strong as ever. I remember when I first met her...I thought she was some kind of freaky rhyming alien. She was the first living creature that I met in Equestria that didn't want to murder me.

Suddenly, Zecora pauses, starting to look very annoyed. She looks up at the sky, where the soundtrack is currently playing down to the give the scene emphasis. Now that she's drawn attention to it, I notice it as well. Zecora huffs.

“What is this soundtrack you claim to have mastered?” Zecora demands of the author, lifting her hoof up into the air, such that her bracelets rattle. “You, my good author, are a racist bastard!”

“What the...I am not! What's wrong with this music!? It suits your kind perfectly!” Terran34 demands, enraged at the interruption to the scene. He  strides onscreen, surprising the crystal ponies. “Don't all zebras like this kind of music?”

“That's what Zecora is talking about,” Chrysalis remarks, walking into the area as well, accompanied by Salamul. “Oh, she has these masks in her hut and talks in a strange accent; she must like outlandish music!”

“And what do you even care?” Terran34 retorts, turning to Chrysalis next. “You shut up. I mean, I gave you good music.”

“You mean you gave me something with percussion that sounded like buzzing wings. Because I look like an insect to you, clearly my music must have insect themes. You need to face it, Terran34,” Chrysalis says firmly, stepping up to the author and jabbing a hoof at him. “You. Are. Racist.”

“I...I am not...I'm just...” Terran34 stammered, trying to do something to convince the glaring ponies around him of his innocence. Finally, he gives you. “You know what? Fuck you, Chrysalis.”

“Too late,” Salamul rumbles. 

Epilogue:

Terran34 groans, rubbing his forehead clean of sweat with a handkerchief. Behind him, the different actors and other important staff are cleaning up the set in preparation for the final set of scenes: which were to take place on earth, during the time when the humans were still alive.

“Oh god, I'm so done with this story. Considering everyone seems to be picking on me today for some reason, I need some rest before I put my ideas together for the final chapter,” Terran34 mutters to himself, walking through the corridors on the way to his work room. “I have so many loose ends to tie up...and if it isn't just right, the readers will kill me. Amaryllis is a fan favorite for some reason, despite her grand total of maybe ten lines in this whole fic.”

“Maybe it's because she's so much like me!” Rainbow declares, stepping out of one of the side rooms. She starts to trot alongside Terran34. “And, of course, I am the coolest pony on this show, so of course Amaryllis is a fan favorite!”

“If you can really call it a fan favorite. Ah mean, do ya really have fans? Yer still some obscure writer that nobody knows about,” Applejack jokes, joining the two of them. Terran34 glares at her. “What? Jus' being honest. Ya know, when it's all over, this story's gonna sink into obscurity, right?”

“Okay, first off, shut up, Applejack, you're making me sad,” Terran34 grumbles. “Second off, Rainbow, she's not that much like you.”

Rainbow's expression clearly tells Terran34 what she thinks about that. “That's a load of horseapples. Hello, remember the whole scene where you had me repeat one of her lines to make Seth dance?”

“Yeah, I guess...” Terran34 harrumphed. He grew calm and silent after that. “It'll be a shame to be done with this story. I feel like I've been working on this thing forever. 

There is a short silence after that...until a mischievous expression appears on Rainbow's face. “...So, when's the clop scene?” she asks boldly. Terran34 nearly falls over.

“The what!?” Terran34 exclaims.

“The clop scene! Hello, it's an HiE! There's always clop in these things! Just ask Fluttershy,” Rainbow points out...and the sound of Fluttershy sobbing can be heard in the distance. “I mean, I know we don't actually do anything in the sex scenes, courtesy of sneaky camera work, but still...I want to have one.”

“I thought Seth was 'meh?'” Applejack questions.

“Eh, he grows on you,” Rainbow admits with a small smile. She turns back to Terran. “So when's the clop scene?”

“There's not going to be a clop scene! I'm not comfortable writing that stuff!” Terran34 complains. Rainbow adopts a coy expression, leaning in closer.

“Not comfortable? Or are you just afraid of finding out that you're secretly really good at them?” Rainbow teases him. Terran34 flushes and starts walking faster.

“Good at what?” a guy pokes his head out of another room, wearing a pony t-shirt with the label “generic commenter” on it. 

“Clop scenes! Terran34 said he's going to do one!” Rainbow declares, causing the commenter to grin happily, and Terran34 to gasp. “Right, author dude?”

“It's not happening!” Terran34 shrieks.

“Guys, Terran34's gonna write clop with Seth and Rainbow!” the commenter yells. At that, other doors start opening, revealing other commenters familiar with the story, each of them looking way too happy. “Clop!”

“Clop?” a commenter asks. Others start to repeat that word over and over, streaming out into the corridor and mobbing Terran34. “Clop? Clop? Clop? ClopClopClopClopCl....”

“Aaaah! They're everywhere!” Terran34 yells, breaking into a run and zooming down the hallway away from the mob of clop-crazed commenters, each of them still chanting at him. “I can't, my family reads this!”

As the mob chases Terran34, other people and ponies poke their heads out of their doors, repeating that word again and again. Even at one point, a strangely cartoony looking seagull pokes its head out of a door, followed by several others. “Clop?”

Scooby Doo style, Terran34 starts running into doors and out of others, being chased around by the mob of commenter, ponies, and apparently a flock of seagulls. Finally, the author makes his way to the room at the end of the corridor. He zooms inside and shuts it behind him, bolting it several times over.

“Dude, what the hell is going on out there?” Brave-Hooves comments, trotting away from his computer to see Terran34 cowering on the floor with his back pressed against the door. “It sounds like a mob is after you.”

“There is! They want me to write clop for them! Help me!” Terran34 wails as the mobs slams against the door on the other side. “I won't do it! I won't!”

“Aw, is that all? That just means that they respect your writing style,” Brave-Hooves attempts to reassure the author. Then, a sneaking smile crosses his face. “Besides...I wouldn't object to a nice little session of cute, vanilla clop.”

Terran34's jaw drops, and he starts to look betrayed. “Brave! You were supposed to be my friend! How could you betray me like this!?” The door starts to crack despite his efforts. “Fuck this! I'm out! Screw you guys!”

Terran34 gets up and sprints away from the door just as it bursts open. Then, before he can be caught, the author wails and hurls himself out through a window, the glass shattering beneath his weight. “Yaaahaahaa! Goodbye cruel world!”

Brave-Hooves watches as the mob follows Terran34 out the window, his head craning to watch them. When they've all passed, the room is empty except for Applejack, Rainbow, and Spike.

“So, is the special over, or what?” Brave-Hooves asks, completely clueless. The three of them look between one another and shrug. “So who's idea was the clop mob?”

“Mine. Heh, I don't even want a clop scene. I just wanted to make his life miserable,” Rainbow snickers, rubbing her hooves together.

“Golly, you are evil, Rainbow Dash,” Applejack comments, chuckling herself. “Anyway, this story has been really fun. Much funner than ah expected.”  

“Yeah, it really has been. Might be nice to move onto something new though. Provided Terran34 even has any more plans for us,” Rainbow admits. “Darn it...I'm gonna miss this.”

“Hey!” Terran34 pokes his head in through the window, his hair all messed up with twigs stuck in it. “Don't be getting all sappy on me! I still have the final chapter to write...though none of you are actually in it.”

“Yeah, exactly,” Rainbow points out.

“Don't be sad, everyone,” Twilight walks into the room, using her magic to help Terran34 get back into the room as well. Behind her, Rarity, Pinkie, Seth, and Fluttershy are standing, making all of the main characters present. “It may be over, but we all had fun together, and that's what matters.”

“That's right! It was like one big huge nine hundred thousand word long journey of fun!” Pinkie exclaims. “I made a bunch of new friends! Like Terran34 here and his friend Brave! Isn't that right, Terry? Bravy?”

“Bravy...?” Brave-Hooves states dryly

“Terry?” Terran34 asks, but then he smiles. “Hey, I actually like that. Terry. Sounds like a badass character's name.”

“To get back on track, I believe the experience was worthwhile, but all things must end. But that doesn't mean our friendship has to,” Rarity explains to the others. Everyone starts to smile, seeing the truth in Rarity's words. 

“I think we should have a group hug to celebrate!” Pinkie trills happily, and then she starts to drag everyone together, until everyone is huddled close together, their arms and legs wrapped around one another. “Friends!”

“Yeah...” Terran34 says softly, hugging Seth and Brave-Hooves, with the ponies clustered all around them, their hooves resting on their shoulders. “Friends.”
> Final Chapter: Seth's Story
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't move for a long time. My feet seem to be rooted in place; all I can do for the first half a minute is just stand there, looking at the crowd of magically adept individuals in the room. I've already been thrown for a loop by Chrysalis's admission concerning the royal wedding. Thus, the implication of Cadance's words render me utterly speechless.

“Are you serious? You're all in on this?” is the first thing I can say. Chrysalis walks past me and turn around once she reaches the others, standing at the forefront of the group. She smirks at my incredulous expression. “I don't...this...”

“It was Queen Chrysalis's idea,” Celestia informs me. Behind her, Rose and Blades are weaving through the other ponies, applying some magical spells to the floor, though I have no idea what they could be. “She approached me with the idea a week or so after the battle ended. The spell is impossible to perform to that extent alone, so I agreed to lend my power. I felt it was the least I could do for you.”

“I heard about it not long afterward,” Twilight adds before I can even finish processing what Celestia said. Her eyes are shining with happiness. “You've gone through so much with us...I wanted to help too.”

“She let the rest of us know about it...apart from the other princesses, of course,” Iron continues, his face as stern as always. “It's no trouble to lend my magic to the endeavor. There's no reason why I wouldn't.”

“Precisely! It's something any friend would do,” Rarity finishes. The others nod and voice their agreement as well. I release an exhale of disbelief and wonder. Confronted with the reality of the situation before me, a little niggling hope has started to worm its way into my head...as if I could really see my family...and Amaryllis...again.

“Do you really think you can do it?” I ask softly.

“Fool...I would not have called you here if I wasn't certain,” Chrysalis retorts, running a hoof through her webbed mane. “Reaching the time period is foal's play with this much magic. Keeping you there for a long period of time is what will take the most effort.”

I have to sit down. I move around the corner and sit on the bench just to the left of where I came in. “I...I was not prepared for this. I'm not sure if I...what do I even say? I didn't expect you all to go so far out of your way for me,” I stammer. I rest my face into my hands, as if doing that would stem the tide of possibilities that is now rushing through my head.

I'm silent for several moments...and then my heart starts to feel heavy. If I'm not dreaming...if this is really happening...then I have a chance to temporarily go back to my time. While I would have jumped at the chance forever ago...now...it's more of a difficult decision. I've come to terms with their deaths...or at least I think I have. Can I really survive overturning all of that after seeing them only for a short amount of time?

“Well now, shall we get started?” Chrysalis suggests impatiently, turning to stare at Blades and Rose. “Yes, I know I'm the nicest of individuals, and blah blah blah. I don't want to stand here all day.”

“Seth?” Celestia addresses me, moving out of the crowd to approach me.

“I'm not sure if I should,” I admit, much to the surprise of Twilight and a few others. As for Celestia, she pauses and waits for me to continue. “I don't think I could handle having them back after all this time...only to lose them again. It would be cruel to myself.”

“That is a very good point,” Rose comments, looking up from her work momentarily. “However, it is your decision.”

“Don't get me wrong, I really want to see them again,” I clarify, lifting up my head and gazing at Celestia. I just hope that she can understand how I feel about this. I feel like total shit for even considering turning this offer down. However, even as much as I'm protesting, I also want to accept. This is a really hard decision for me to make. “But I've accepted that they're long gone. I've done my grieving. Going back would just start that process all over again...and I hardly made it through the first time.”

“I guess I can understand that,” Cadance states sadly, looking down at the floor. “It was just something nice that we wanted to do for you.”

“And I appreciate that, but...” I'm just about to decline their offer when Twilight interrupts me.

“Wait, Seth! Don't turn us down just yet,” she says. She walks up to the bench, climbs up on top of it, and then sits down just next to me. She sets a hoof on my leg. “I understand what you're saying but...you were wrenched away from your time by King Sombra, right?”

“Yeah, so?” I ask, confused.

“That means that at the time, you had no idea you were never going to see them again. Wouldn't you have wanted to do some things differently, if you had known that was your last day in that time?” Twilight attempts to persuade me.

I pause and look at her. She's...actually right, and I'm starting to inwardly groan because of it. Deciding to turn down this offer in the first place was hard as hell...and now she's making me want to change my mind. Basically...if I had known that I was going to run into Sombra...I'd have wanted to say goodbye. I never did get that chance. But still...

Twilight moves closer, her expression turning pained. “But don't just think about how you feel...what about your family?” she beseeches me. “Think about how they must have felt to hear about your disappearance...and how they must have felt, never knowing what happened to you. Don't you want to spare them that pain?”

My eyes widen...I'd never thought about it from that angle before. I hardly remember the last thing Amaryllis ever said to me, as it was over to the phone and I was already succumbing to the stasis spell, but she sounded panicked. Holy shit...if I nearly lost myself after losing her...how would she have felt? She didn't have other friends to fall back upon. And that's not even counting my family.

“Twilight's right...I think I would just die if you or another of my friends were to just disappear forever without any warning,” Rarity agrees, joining Twilight and I on the bench. “All we're asking is that you consider it...I think it would help both you and your family in the long run.”

“Hah...you don't know them, so you're basically just guessing,” I reply, though it's a weak retort at best. They're right. My family and I had a strained relationship for most of my life...and I can't even imagine how they must have felt to lose me, just as things were starting to get better. I wave off their forming protests before they can voice them. “But you do have a point...dammit, I didn't need you all to make this harder for me.”

I take the next minute to collect my thoughts, sitting in silence. The others wait patiently for me...except for Chrysalis, who just sighs in annoyance and paces back and forth. I still have misgivings, but the opportunity to see my friend and family again is proving to be increasingly harder to give up. I already gave up that opportunity once...so the idea of giving that up again is becoming too hard to bear.

“Okay, so let's say I accept. How would this work?” I finally ask, clasping my hands together and gazing up at Chrysalis. She's the one casting the spell, so I'm assuming she knows all the details. “I'm assuming there's some logistical constraints about all of this.”

“Of course there is. This is a very complex spell to execute,” Chrysalis sniffs, stopping her pacing and showing interest once more. “For instance, I can only send you back to your time. So get rid of any half-baked ideas of introducing your little pony mate to your family.”

“I...hadn't even thought of that, but okay. I guess that's good to know,” I respond, blinking. Now that she mentioned it, it might have actually been nice to take Rainbow back with me...but I guess that would have just complicated things in the end...especially if she met Amaryllis. But it seems there's no possibility of that happening to begin with. “What else?”

“As I said, this spell is temporary. Given how far back in time I have to send you, as well as the amount of magic available for me to use, I doubt I can keep you there for more than forty eight hours,” Chrysalis explains. Wow...even that's more than I expected. Two whole days? “After that, you'll flash right back here. So it's best that you take care of whatever you need to by then.”

“Okay, that makes sense. But what's stopping you from just sending me back repeatedly after you've had time to recharge?” I ask curiously. I really hope she has an answer other than the fact that she's not that nice. “That way, I can have all the time I need.”

Chrysalis scoffs. “Don't be a moron. Assuming that was possible, I doubt you'd ever leave if you had that much time,” she hisses. She then narrows her eyes at me as I start to form a protest. “Don't get any ideas. It's not actually possible. I've done some experimenting with this spell myself, and it has very precise constraints preventing its exploitation.”

“What do you mean?” I inquire, honestly interested.

“If it were that easy to simply keep returning to the same timeline, I'd never have lost against you all during my...previous invasion. I'd simply have kept returning to the past until I won.” Chrysalis reveals. She has a point. “This will probably be too much for your simple mind, but this reality as we know it is based upon a singular timeline.”

“Oh god, we're going into multiple timeline theory, aren't we?” I say with a groan. I rub my forehead in preparation for the inevitable headache.

“It is only possible to access this timeline at this particular time...once. After that, the spell prevents us from crossing our own timeline a second time. Do you understand that?” Chrysalis attempts to explain. My expression strains as I try to make sense of her explanation in my head. My face tells her everything she needs to know, causing her to groan. “All you need to know is that it only works once. After that, your loved ones won't remember the previous attempts, as it did not occur in that timeline.”

“My head hurts,” Rarity comments, causing me to smile a bit. Twilight looks like she's starting to understand...but she's a lot smarter than I am, so that's not too surprising.

“To put it simply, this is a one time deal. I won't be helping you again,” Chrysalis reiterates coldly. “Now, are you going to do it or not? I'm out of patience.”

All eyes turn to me in expectation of my final answer. The magnitude of this decision causes my emotions to roil up inside me, making it very hard to choose one way or the other. However, in the end, I realize that this really isn't a choice. There's no point in trying to resist it. I have to do this.

“Yeah...yeah I am. I can't give up this chance a second time,” I admit. Twilight and Rarity smile on either side of me, and then they hop up off of the bench and return to the others. Rose and Blades seem to have finished whatever preparations they were making, as they're now standing still with the rest, watching me expectantly. I get up and walk towards them, a little hesitant. “Let's do this. I don't have to do anything special, right?”

“Just stand in the circle with the rest of us,” Chrysalis directs me. Circle? Taking a second look, I notice that all of them are standing in a closely clustered group in the vague shape of a circle, despite the fact that the room is much larger. Chrysalis looks at Celestia. “Your turn, Celestia.”

“Wait, hold on a second. When you used this spell on me before, my physical location didn't change. Canterlot wasn't there in the past, so I appeared several hundred feet in the air,” I suddenly remember. “If you send me back now...”

“Do not worry. Queen Chrysalis informed me of that particular detail. I have taken steps to ensure that you arrive in the proper location,” Celestia assures me. Oh. With a shrug, I decide to trust her and step inside the circle with the others. “Is everyone ready? This will be a little jarring for those of you that have not experienced it before.”

Once Celestia is assured by the others, she nods and summons up her magic, her horn glowing brightly. “Very well. Mass Teleportation Rune, Mark VI...” Celestia utters, lifting her two front hooves up off of the ground. Recognizing the name of that spell, I look down at the ground to the see the familiar magical rune inscribing itself upon the floor, formed from bright white lines of magic. Every single one of us are encompassed in the center of the rune. A moment later, Celestia stomps her hooves down on the floor. “Activate!”

The rune's glow grows in brilliance, engulfing all of us in a blinding light. I feel myself slipping away into the other dimension, a sensation I've felt only once before. However, the question remains...where are we going?





When the light finally dissipates enough, I open my eyes. At first my vision is blurred from the contrast in lighting, so several seconds pass before I can see well enough to observe my surroundings. At first, I don't recognize the place, because the debris has been cleared and the area is well lit.

“Wait, is this...?” I emit, stepping away from the others. Sure enough, I am standing in the depths of my old college, in the large room that adjoins the math and science buildings. I haven't been here since the expedition. I know Opal and the others stayed after I left, so that explains why this room is much tidier now. That aside, it now makes sense how Chrysalis is going to send me back. “Holy shit, you really planned this out, didn't you?”

“Will this suffice?” Celestia asks warmly. The others start to spread out as well now that the teleportation is over and they don't need to stand together anymore.

“Yes...this'll work. I should appear right back in the middle of my college if things go like before,” I say, looking around at the ruined buildings. There's none of the other archaeologists or workers down here right now; I guess Celestia made sure to keep this area clear. “Wait, but that's a problem in and of itself. I can't exactly appear out of thin air in the middle of a school day.”

“Ugh...then go someplace where you'll have reasonable privacy,” Chrysalis groans. Despite her impatience, she looks very interested in her surroundings. While I think of a place, she stalks around the room, regarding the architecture and layout of the area. “Interesting...this is the most intact human ruin that I've ever seen.”

“This way. If I remember right, there's a courtyard out back that's well concealed,” I decide, interrupting the others as they explore the room. Rarity seems to be complaining about some dust that got on her hooves, though Hawke just looks utterly uninterested. I walk through the room and step over the line of broken glass where the dividing wall used to be.

I look around the room, remembering how students used to stay in this common area and study together before class. I could always tell when there was a test that day; the room would be cram packed.

Unlike the last time I was here, the courtyard I mentioned has been excavated. The fountain that used to be there is well preserved, though obviously it's thoroughly clogged with dirt. The area hasn't been completely cleared of packed dirt, but there's just enough room to fit all of us inside.

“Here. This should work,” I say at last, standing in the center of the courtyard next to the fountain. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, the reality of the situation falling upon me. “Okay...I think I'm ready.”

“Finally,” Chrysalis grunts. She approaches me purposefully, coming to a halt just a few feet away from me. She turns her head back to Celestia. “Celestia, I'm going to need you to channel me your power. Everyone else...be ready to do the same once she runs out of power. My magical energy will drain fast, so there won't be much waiting involved.”

“I understand,” Celestia responds. She walks up to Chrysalis and rests a hoof upon the queen's back. “I am ready.”

“You're sure you can get me to the right time?” I ask anxiously. I'd hate for this to go wrong and I'd end up way off course.

“It's around three thousand and eighty years, if I'm not mistaken. Expect some discrepancies. However, I can assure you I will put you within a reasonable time frame of your disappearance.” Chrysalis assures me.

She plants her hooves on the ground, her horn starting to glow. I have to stop myself from taking a step back as I feel the air fill with an ancient, powerful magic. Oh shit, this is really happening now, isn't it? Come to think of it, I have no idea what I'm even going to say to my family, or if they'll even believe me.

The magic in the air feels much stronger than before, now that Celestia's magic is traveling through Chrysalis’s body. Ethereal runes of an arcane nature fade into existence around her, each one pulsing gently. They rotate around her in a series of concentric circles, the very air thrumming before them. The humming green glyph forms on the ground around me, complete with a series of equestrian numbers rapidly counting down.

The other ponies watch in silence and awe as multiple clock faces coalesce around my body. Each one strikes the hour all at the same time, filling the air with a chorus of discordant chimes. It's so loud, it causes me to flinch.

Chrysalis opens her eyes, revealing a glowing green void where her corneas should be. Magic surges into the air from around us...and then she finishes her chant with a thunderous cry, her mane flying upwards in the current of disturbed air.

The rune's glow intensifies one hundred fold, forcing me to cover my eyes as it engulfs me and obscures the others from sight. I feel the wind whipping around my body as if I'm hurtling backwards through the air at a high speed, even though my feet have never left the ground.

Eventually, the air stills around me, and a whole new rush of sensations overcome me. The air is filled with the sound of chatter and birdsong. Sunlight bleeds through my eyelids and warms my skin, a welcome change from the arctic weather of the frozen north.

I open my eyes, feeling breathless now that it's come to this. The first thing I see is the small fountain in the courtyard, the water gurgling and flowing down into the pool at the bottom once more. As I take in my surroundings, a rush of nostalgia overtakes me.

It's my college. I let out a disbelieving laugh. It's my fucking college. I look around at the restored walls, intact windows, and the green blades of grass growing tenaciously through the cracks in the concrete walkway beneath my feet.

A small gasp gets my attention, snapping me out of my reverie. My eyes snap to its source...and then widen. Standing before me is a single, very surprised human. He seems to have frozen mid-stride, his jaw hanging open in shock.

Heh, I've almost forgotten what we look like. The man standing before me looks young enough to be a freshman or a sophomore. With the button covered messenger bag slung over his shoulder, the way he's dressed in simple loose clothes, and the glasses on his face, everything about him just serves to show me that I'm definitely looking at a college student.

I know I've been seen. There's no hiding that. So, deciding the make the most of it, I put on a smile and wave at him with two fingers. “Hey! Sorry about dropping in like that,” I apologize to him. The student blinks repeatedly, unsure what to make of what he's seeing. However, I know full well that's he's just one guy. Nobody's going to believe him. I turn the other direction, heading back towards the study hall. However, just before I do, I briefly look back. My eyes trace down to his shirt, upon which an image of a popular anime character is emblazoned. “Heh. Nice shirt, by the way.”

Deciding to leave it at that, I hoist open the glass door and stride into the study hall. Just like I remember, there's at least a score of students in here, sitting at the desks with their laptops and bags. The only difference is that I don't recognize any of the faces.

I get a few odd looks due to the way I'm dressed, considering I'm wearing a set of royal blue clothes that were made for me to wear to the fair. Thankfully I'm not crystallized, otherwise I'd be getting a lot more than odd looks. Apart from that though, none of them really give me a second glance. It's college. They're all focused with their own work.

The smile stays on my face as I make my way out of the study hall and towards the front entrance of the science building. It's pretty crowded; It seems like people are heading to and from their evening classes. Unlike how I usually handled the crowds before, this time I carefully pick my way through them, making sure not to jostle anyone too much. I don't want to get in their way.

As I go, I take out my phone and navigate to the clock application. From there, I set a timer for forty eight hours. That way, I'll have an idea of how much time I have left. In the process, I also notice that I'm getting service. Well, that makes things a lot easier, even if it doesn't make much sense. Did my mother keep me on the plan?

Okay, next order of business. I need to find out when I am. Chrysalis said that there might be some discrepancies, so I need to make sure she's not too far off. With that in mind, I descend the staircase towards the front entrance. On the right side of the hall is a bulletin board. If I remember right, that's where they hang up the calendar for academic events.

Sure enough, the calendar is still there. I walk up to it, joining another student that's looking at it as well. He turns his head curiously as I stand up beside him. “Hey. Nice outfit,” the student compliments me, indicating my jacket. “Who made that? Doesn't look like it's from any company I know of.”

I meet his gaze. The old me would have told him to mind his own goddamn business without missing a beat...but things have changed since then. I smile at the compliment gratefully. “Thanks. You wouldn't recognize it; a friend made it for me.” Yeah, a fashionista pony with a bright purple mane. Might not be a good idea to mention that.

“Custom made? Wow. That's really cool,” the student responds amicably. He turns back to the board, where flyers advertising various events have been posted. “You going to that music concert today too?”

“Huh?” I cast my gaze over the board, until eventually my eyes land upon a flyer advertising a performance at the auditorium. My eyes widen slightly when I see that the date has been set for March...2022. Damn...so there was some discrepancy after all. I disappeared in 2014...so it's been eight years since then. No wonder I don't recognize any of the faces here. Anyway, I should respond. “I would, but I'm busy with other plans today. What about you? Are you going?”

“Oh nah. It sucks, but I can't afford to spare the cash for it,” the student responds regretfully, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I gotta get my textbooks soon, after all.”

One quick look at the flyer tells me that there is an admission price. Heh, I know his pain. Textbooks are expensive, so it's no wonder he's trying to save his money. Actually, hold on. The student watches me curiously as I fish out my wallet and retrieve the required amount of paper money. I almost got rid of this stuff because it was worthless in Equestria...but I held onto it for sentimental reasons.

The student's eyes go wide with shock when I hold out the money to him. “Wha...dude, that's a lot of money to just hand out to a guy you don't even know,” he exclaims. He hesitates to take the money from me. “I'm not sure I should accept this.”

Keeping a smile on my face, I gently grab his hand and press the money into it. “Go ahead. I have no use for it anyway. Go and have yourself a good time on me,” I assure him. With a wave, I confidently turn away from him and head towards the exit.

“Wait! I never even caught your name!” the student calls after me, just as I'm leaving the school building.

I turn my head back and flash him a grin. “It's Seth. Seth Rogers.”





The campus has really changed since I was here last. The open lot over there that was never used before is now a recreation center from the looks of it. The little copse of trees by the music building is gone now, to be replaced by an expansion. Heh, so I guess the professor finally got that extra space he'd been lobbying for.

I make my way to the student center, where there's now an outdoor study area beneath an overhang. There are wire chairs and tables there with outlets nearby, making it a very convenient place to sit and get some work done. That goes double for if you're working with a group.

As of right now, it's mostly empty. However, that's not what I'm here for. If I remember right...yes, it's still here. Just through the study area, there's a small area hidden in an obscure corner. It's mostly used by the maintenance team to store their equipment when they're working, but it's usually empty. Luckily, it's empty right now.

There's a single chair back here. I remember I used to sit in it when I wanted to be outside, but also away from people. So basically, I was here a lot. Or at least I was, before I met Amaryllis. It's fitting that I should be here now.

Okay, I guess I can't waste any time. I don't have that long to be in this time, so I need to make the most of it. I flip out my phone and navigate to my contacts page. Immediately, I hit the number of the first person to come to my mind.

I hold the phone to my ear as it starts to ring. At that moment, the reality of what I'm about to do hits me, and I start to breathe a little harder, my heart seeming to jump in my chest. It's painful, so I force myself to breathe long and slow in an attempt to slow my heart rate.

My first attempt goes to voicemail, unsurprisingly. I guess I'll have to try a few more times. She can stop whatever the fuck she's doing and talk to me. I don't even care if she has a job or whatever. I dial her again, getting the same result. Unperturbed, I continue to call her again and again...until finally I hear someone pick up on the end of the other line.

“Is this some kind of sick fucking joke!?” Amaryllis's angry voice shoots out of the speaker all of a sudden, causing me to reel my head back, wincing. Still...I can't help but smile. That's definitely her voice. “Do you think you're funny, calling me at this number!? Are you trying to get a laugh out of exploiting someone else's misery!?”

I hold the phone a short distance away from me, able to hear Amaryllis's furious tirade even like this. Hoho, she's pissed. I can't say that I blame her either. “Do you think you're some kind of big shot, spitting on my friend's memory like this?! Now, you listen here, whoever you are. You better explain yourself right fucking now, or I swear no law on this green earth will protect you from me!”

Amaryllis stops talking, breathing heavily on the other line. I have to shake my head knowingly, suppressing a chuckle in the process. Honestly, there's no other way she could react at something like this. It's good to see she hasn't changed, at least. I'm quiet for several moments, trying to think of something to say. Fuck it, I give up. I've never had to think about my words with her before. I bring the phone slowly back to my ear.

“Hey, Amaryllis,” I say simply. I hear her breathing skip a beat, and then a light rattling sound comes through the speaker, as if her phone is actually shaking in her hand. She doesn't say anything, her breath quickening. I figure I should say something else. “Is now a bad time, or...?”

There's an agonizing silence on the other end of the line. The only way I can tell that she's still on the line is the sound of her breath quietly blowing against the microphone. I can feel my pulse quickening in my chest, my heart seemingly moving up into my throat.

“...Seth?” Amaryllis finally says, any trace of anger gone, to be replaced with a hesitant hope. I have to resist letting out a sigh as I'm filled with relief. “Is...how...what the fuck?”

“Yeah, so...” I trail off awkwardly, not really sure how to breach the crazy subject of my past absence to her. There's so much to say, and I don't know how to say any of it. “I don't suppose you're free right now?”

“I'm...I'm at work for another three hours,” Amaryllis responds breathlessly. “Wait, what the hell am I saying? What the fuck Seth!? Are you alright? Where are you?”

“Don't worry, I'm fine. It's a bit of a long story...a really long story,” I admit, sitting down on the chair behind me.

“Don't you give me that shit! You've been gone for...it's been eight years, asshole! I thought you were dead!” Amaryllis shouts furiously, deafening me. “No, you're not allowed to hang up the phone until you give me an explanation!”

“Tell you what. Fuck your work and come down to the old Rainier University,” I tell her, not surprised at all by her vehemence. I don't give a shit about her job...she needs to come see me. “I'll tell you the whole thing once you get here. That sound good?”

“...Yeah, to hell with work. I'm leaving right now.” I hear the sound of Amaryllis's footsteps across concrete. A few moments later, I hear a car door open. “Where do I meet you?”

“You remember where my dorm is, right? Just go there,” I answer, already getting up to head back there myself.

“Okay. But you better not fucking disappear again before I get there, you hear me!?” Amaryllis commands me. I hear her sniff, and then let out a short sigh. Holy shit...is she actually crying? She never cries. “You better have a good fucking reason for this...or I swear to god I'll kill you.”

“Heh. Well, don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. I'll see you in a bit,” I reply with a chuckle, and then I end the call. I look up into the sky as I walk and sigh. Goddamn, it's really good to hear her voice again. You know, even though I only have a short time here, I'm going to make the most of it and cherish the time I have left.

After this, it really is goodbye.





My room key still works, thankfully. With a click, I walk back into my dorm, propping the door open in the process. It's still my room, because of the crazy idea my mom had to pay the rent for fifty years. I don't know if there's a guy living in the other room in here, but there doesn't seem to be anyone home at the moment.

As for my family, I should call them next...but I want to try and talk things over with Amaryllis first and gauge her reaction before I do anything else. Only after that will I call my family and get them to come see me. It's been eight years...I really hope they're doing alright.

It only takes half an hour before I hear a car pull up in the parking lot outside. Immediately, my phone goes back to my pocket and I get up from the couch, suddenly nervous for no good reason. Actually, scratch that, there is a good reason. I determined that I was in love with her before I disappeared...and judging from the stereotypical fluttering feeling in my stomach, I think I still am.

A door slams, and keys rattle just outside. I don't even get a moment to mentally prepare myself before Amaryllis herself steps through the front doorway, still wearing her work uniform. I recognize her immediately by that distinctive red hair of hers.

Amaryllis comes to a halt upon seeing me, her cold expression melting into one that I can't really describe, her lips slightly parted as if in awe. She still looks much the same, but even I can notice the differences. She's aged noticeably, now looking a good eight years older than when I disappeared. If I estimated, she's in her late twenties, approaching thirty. She's aged well,as the only sign of the years is in the form of barely noticeable lines on her face. Her hair, to my surprise, is cut much shorter than it used to be, falling only slightly past her shoulders. But the most noticeable thing about her are the incredibly well defined muscles rippling through her body. She's about as well built as I am.

After only a moment of standing, Amaryllis's eyes harden and she closes the distance between us with a few long strides. Her fist flashes forward in the blink of an eye. I grunt as her knuckles barrel into my jaw, snapping my head back. Fuck...she didn't hold back at all. It feels like my jaw just got hit by a truck...but I guess I should have expected that.

“Goddamn...you hit as hard as ever...and..” I cut off as Amaryllis suddenly embraces me, the total opposite of her first reaction. I don't have a clue how to react to this. Just as I try to hug her in return, she's already pulling back.

“Fuck, I can't believe this. I can't believe you. I want to hug you and beat the shit out of you at the same time,” Amaryllis emits. Her hands reach up to my face, surprise and confusion filling her eyes. “What the hell? It doesn't look like you've aged at all. There's not even a single line on your face.”

“Yeah, that's a part of the long story I...” I try to say, but then Amaryllis's hands move down to my arms, her eyes widening.

“And what the hell are these? You don't work out. Ever. You were a computer geek...” Amaryllis's hands start to trace my own muscles, which I've gained over long periods of hard work and training. I start to get a little uncomfortable when one of her hands lowers to my abdomen...and then I let out a small yelp when she hits it to test the firmness of the muscles. Satisfied, she returns her eyes to mine, a hard glare forming there. “Now you're going to tell me what the hell happened to you. Right now.”

“Okay. I guess you should sit down then. It might take a while to explain the whole thing,” I admit, indicating the couch to her. Amaryllis does so, crossing her arms and watching me expectantly.

“Start talking,” she states, showing a little hostility. “It better be good; I haven't forgiven you for leaving me on my own. You were my only friend; you know that, right?”

I sit down next to her, heaving a sigh. I have no idea how I'm going to explain ponies to her. There's no way that I can phrase this without it sounding completely crazy. “You were my only friend too. Trust me, I wouldn't have left you if I had the choice.”

“So quit beating around the fucking bush already. What happened that day?” Amaryllis demands. “The last time we spoke, you were going on about some guy with a crown.”

I take a breath and decide to start from the beginning. “He's the one that did it all. If you're going to blame anyone, blame him. He's the reason I disappeared,” I reveal to her. Amaryllis blinks, confused.

“That doesn't make sense. I saw this guy you were talking about,” Amaryllis replies. I freeze and regard her with shock. Wait, she ran into Sombra? Then why didn't he zap her too? Or was I enough for him? “He looked fucking creepy, I'll give you that. But you weren't with him, nor were you in the stairwell where you said you were. Who was he? And what exactly did he do to you?”

“Here comes the unbelievable part. Trust me, this is all going to sound insane,” I warn her.

“I don't give a shit. What...did he do to you?” Amaryllis repeats, her eyes narrowing and her voice lowering to a threatening tone. Heh...at least Sombra is dead. Otherwise Amaryllis might want to go kill him herself.

“His name was Sombra. He...well...the best way to describe him is as a sorcerer king from the future...” I can tell from the moment I start explaining that I sound like a complete lunatic. Amaryllis picks right up on that. The second the first sentence gets out of my mouth, her expression changes to one of incredulity. Despite that, she waits for me to finish.

Knowing that I just sound crazier with every word out of my mouth, I force my way through the tale, giving her the brief rundown of how everything went down. I focus on the conflict with Sombra, as I don't feel the need to tell her everything about my time there. The moment I mention that practically everyone I interacted with was a pony, Amaryllis loses her patience.

“Okay, that's enough,” Amaryllis interrupts, lifting a hand. She's starting to look furious now. “What kind of crap are you spewing now? Princesses? Sorcerers? Magic? Ponies?”

“Uh...yeah, I did say that this would sound crazy,” I remind her. Amaryllis shakes her head vigorously.

“Uh-uh. No. 'Crazy' is if he had kidnapped you and took you to another country to use in like, a drug operation or something. That would be difficult to grasp, but would still be in the realm of possibility,” Amaryllis corrects me. “No, what you just said...that's just utter lunacy. It sounds more to me like the guy tied you down in his basement and force-administered LSD or some shit to you for all this time.”

“You know, I actually thought that exact thing at one point,” I admit with a hint of amusement in my voice. I jump when Amaryllis's palm slams down on the table.

“Or, what happened to you was so horrible that you'd rather come up with some ridiculous story then tell me the truth? You know how I feel when people fucking lie to me, Seth!” Amaryllis is yelling at me now. Sheesh, this is harder than I thought. “Do you just not want me to hunt down and kill whoever took you?”

“Okay, if everything I said is false, then why haven't I aged?” I remind her, standing up. I still have one trick up my sleeve that should utterly convince her.

“There's a ton of ways to look younger. I don't know, Seth, but I refuse to believe that you were missing for eight years because you were off frolicking in a land of magical fucking unicorns!” Amaryllis retorts, her eyes following me as I move to stand just across the room from her. I sigh and close my eyes, reaching deep within myself for the one thing that I know will convince her. “I thought better of you! Why won't you just tell me what...what...the fuck is happening to you?”

Amaryllis trails off when she sees the thin tendrils of lime green magic snaking up from the carpet and twisting themselves around my legs. I clench my hands into fists and lift them slightly, the magic engulfing my body and filling the room with a green light. With a grunt, my aura explodes to life, burning the carpet beneath my feet.

I open my eyes to see Amaryllis standing up now, her face awash with green light. Her jaw is hanging open at the sight of the raw magical power that I've gained over my time in Equestria. I could go further than this, but I'd rather not damage my dorm. Besides, I think this small display is enough to convince her.

When I release the magic and let myself return to normal, Amaryllis releases a short exhale of utter disbelief. She's forced to sit down to deal with the rush of realizations that are running through her head.

She's quiet for a full minute after that. “...Ponies?” Amaryllis finally repeats, one eye twitching. “Seriously? The human race is replaced by talking ponies? Ponies. Like, I didn't hear you wrong, did I? Bright, colorful little ponies?”

“I know... I felt the exact same way when I first saw one myself,” I say with a chuckle, happy that she's accepted my explanation now. I take out my phone and pull up one of the pictures of Rainbow that I took. Amaryllis glances at it curiously when I pass it to her...and then her expression changes to one that lets me know I practically just broke her.

“I don't know whether I should be laughing or crying,” Amaryllis sighs, letting her face fall into her hands. “Bright rainbow haired ponies with fucking massive eyes. And you lived there for months? How did you not grow a pussy?”

“By constantly hitting things and surrounding myself with tomboys,” I admit with a small grin. She's just as foul-mouthed as ever. Amaryllis pauses, and then she gives an accepting shrug.

“Fair enough. Hold on, I need to process this. So if everything you said was true...then...I need to change my world view,” Amaryllis confesses. After a short pause, she starts to chuckle.

“What?” I ask curiously as her chuckle turns into a laugh. “Is something funny?”

“Did you make friends with the colorful little ponies? Did you have tea parties and wear dresses?” she teases me, forcing her words through her growing laughter.

I lift a finger and attempt to protest...but then I realize that she pretty much nailed it. “...Yes,” I admit. Amaryllis completely loses it there, laughing so hard she nearly falls off the couch. “And for your information, it was a suit, thank you very much.”

“I can't believe this!” Amaryllis is practically crying, taking short breaks to breathe heavily before dissolving into laughter again. “Seth, the asshole, made friends with cute little ponies! I knew I should have bought you that dress!”

“Fuck you, it was a suit,” I retort, though I can't help smiling with her. At least she's not yelling at me anymore. “It's not that funny...quit laughing.”

“You have got to tell me the full story,” Amaryllis says, wiping a tear from her eye. “I'm assuming you beat this Sombra guy into a bloody pulp, right? So now you're back for good?”

“Yes and no,” I reply, my face falling. Amaryllis's smile disappears in a split second. “We did defeat Sombra, though he kicked our asses from here to the moon before we could. But no, the time spell I'm using to see you only lasts for two days.”

“What!?” Amaryllis shrieks and stands up. “You're leaving again so soon? But you've been gone for eight years! Why can't you stay!?”

“It's just the way that this spell works,” I answer, hating the situation that I'm in. “After this, I can't come back here again. I'm here to let you all know what happened...and to say goodbye.”

“That's...that's bullshit!” Amaryllis shouts, grabbing the nearest object (which happened to be a glass) and hurling it against the far wall, where it shatters to pieces. The next thing she does is punch down on the table with her fist, splitting the skin on her knuckles in the process. She sits down, sighing and looking utterly miserable. I remain silent, because there's really nothing I can say to make this situation any better.

Finally, Amaryllis stands back up. “Fuck it. If you only have two days, then let's not waste time standing around and talking,” she decides sensibly. She grabs my arm and guides me towards the door, not even bothering to ask permission. “We're going to see your family...and then we're going to make the most of this time.”

“That's...probably the best way to look at it,” I admit, letting myself be guided. It's been forever since the last time Amaryllis bossed me around...I never realized how much I actually liked that until now. “I was actually planning on seeing my family after talking to you.”

“Good. Because you only have two days, and you have a family that would probably like to know you're alive,” Amaryllis returns. She leads me out of the dorm and into the parking lot, where there's a single dark red truck that I'm assuming is hers.

“You know, I can walk on my own,” I remind her, tugging a little against her grip. I yelp as her fingers tighten around my arm.

“Clearly not, considering the last time I let you walk on your own, you ended up in the fucking future,” Amaryllis snaps. Well, I guess I can't argue with that logic. “I still can't believe that's even a thing. Our world becomes a fairy tale in the future. Ugh...just get in the damn truck.”

“Why did I just know you would get a truck?” I remark. I leap up onto the ledge and open the passenger side door, slipping into the seat a moment later. The interior of the car is rather cramped, but the seats are comfortable. It even smells like Amaryllis in here. I can't help but trace my fingers over the dashboard; I haven't seen the inside of a car for a long time.

“Probably for the same reason I figured you'd get a Prius,” Amaryllis returns without missing a beat, climbing into the driver's seat. I can't help but wince at that.

“Ouch...so is that how this is going to be?” I respond with mock anger. Amaryllis doesn't respond with anything other than a grin. “Eight years, and you're still a bitch.”

“Eight years, and you're still a pussy,” Amaryllis returns, once again causing me to wince. I forgot just how fast she could be with the comebacks.

“I'll have you know I've done a lot of fighting,” I try to defend myself, but honestly, I don't really care if she wants to insult me or not. It's just like before...and I don't think I could ask for anything more than that.

“I'll have you know I still don't give a shit. You haven't changed at all. You're still my pussy...” Amaryllis retorts. I blink, and then slowly turn my head over to her, wondering if she realized what she just said. Judging from the look on her face, she did. She places a hand on the wheel. “That came out wrong.”

I can't help it. I burst out laughing as Amaryllis flushes red at her mix up. My merriment only lasts for a few seconds before she promptly punches me in the stomach, slightly winding me. “You know, you're gonna have to hit me a lot harder now,” I remind her.

“I noticed,” Amaryllis grunts, rubbing her hand. She shakes her head, smiling despite herself. “Anyway, enough sitting around. I'm going to call your mother and set something up. Two days...I can't believe this is all the time we have.”

“I'm lucky I could even get this much,” I tell her with a regretful shrug. Amaryllis grunts noncommittally, pulling out her phone. Oh so she really is calling my mom. God, she's going to kill me too.

Amaryllis plugs in the phone to the car's audio system and dials the number. She turns the key in the ignition and pulls out of the parking space. The phone continues to ring over the speaker system, even as we roll out of the parking lot and get onto the road. “Come on, pick up the phone,” Amaryllis complains, smacking the dashboard.

She ends up having to redial the phone twice more before Elaine answers the phone. “Hey, Amaryllis, I can't really talk right now. We're working on a project, so I'm constantly busy,” Elaine answers quickly, the sound of her voice filling the car. I can hear the sounds of fingers tapping on a keyboard in the background. “Can I call you back later?”

“No, you can leave work, because I'm coming over,” Amaryllis responds sharply.

“Excuse me? I'm sorry, but this is an important contract. I only have a few more hours to work on this, and my only teammate is off today,” Elaine reasons, sounding a little incredulous at Amaryllis's blunt request.

“Oh quit being difficult and make an exception,” I urge her, forgetting for a moment that I'm not supposed to speak. There's a short moment of silence, and then Elaine promptly drops the phone, causing a deafening clatter to reverberate through the car. I notice Amaryllis is giving me stare. “What, was I supposed to stay quiet?”

“Is...is that my son!?I...oh...” Elaine is taken completely by surprise. I hear a scrape as she picks the phone back up. “Seth? Is it...you're alive? Oh...yes, I'm leaving work. I'll get my teammate to cover for me. If he won't, then management can screw off.”

“Yeah, I'm okay now...though I do have one hell of a story,” I respond, smiling at her words. “Can you be home in an hour? You still live in the same place, right?”

“I'll be home in half that time. Don't worry, we haven't moved,” Elaine reassures me. Amaryllis pulls onto the ramp leading to the highway, having memorized the route between the campus and my parents' house. “I...how have you...where...I have so many questions, and...I need to call your dad and your brother!”

“Dad's not on duty, is he?” I ask anxiously. I know we had a bit of tense situation as far as military matters went eight years ago, but I don't know if that's still happening now. Still, it would suck a lot if dad was on active duty elsewhere and couldn't get home.

“No, but he is just past the state border. But he travels in your uncle's old one-seater plane, so he should be back by the time you get here,” Elaine answers, excitement making its way into her voice. “I'm so happy...you still like pizza, right? I'll order three extra larges for us while you tell us all about where you've been....wait, you're not in any trouble, are you? Is that why...”

“Elaine!” Amaryllis interrupts.

“Mom!” I cut across her at the same time. Elaine sheepishly falls silent, giggling a little nervously. “Pizza sounds incredible. But I am not explaining things to you over the phone. I've already explained myself to Amaryllis once, and I'd rather only do it one more time.”

“I understand. I'm just so happy to hear you're alive and well...we all fell apart after you disappeared,” Elaine admits, sniffing. “Just...come home safe, Seth. I've got to call the others.”

“I'll see you soon then,” I reply. After a few more parting words, my mother hangs up the phone. I look over at Amaryllis with a guilty expression. “God...I hate that I'm only here for two days. She's going to flip.”

“I'm still pissed off about that. If your so called friends are gonna give you a time travel spell or whatever the fuck you're calling it, make it last longer than that!” Amaryllis snaps. I open my mouth and start to explain why it only lasts thing long, but she doesn't let me. “Don't bother. You're not going to make me any less pissed.”

“I'm sorry, but this is the best I could get. Magic isn't exactly the easiest thing to use,” I weakly say.

“Whatever,” Amaryllis grumbles. For a few minutes, the only sounds come from the rumbling of the tires on the highway and the cars whizzing by on either side of us. Eventually, curiosity gets the better of her. “So...what kinds of things can you do with magic?”

That leads into a long discussion for the remainder of the trip. Unfortunately, I have to disappoint her because I only know how to do one spell that isn't combat related, and that's the teleportation circle that doesn't even work right unless it's set up beforehand, with two different circles serving as gateways.

Apart from that, Amaryllis continuously asks me questions about my life in Equestria. Like, what did I eat, or what the technology level was like, or what I did with myself in my free time. I actually end up telling her a little about the ponies I spent time with the most, though I make sure to steer clear of too many details involving Rainbow. That's just something I don't need to bring up.

“So you're telling me there's a bright fucking pink pony that has hammerspace in her mane?” Amaryllis asks in between laughs as we pull into the suburb where my parents live. She seems to be finding the things I'm telling her to be really stupid or silly...though I can't really blame her, considering I find Pinkie stupid and silly at times. “How does that make sense?”

“It doesn't. It really doesn't. It's not like I didn't try to understand how she worked...it's just that every time I tried, the others would just give me this look and say 'we don't get it either, stop trying,'” I confess with a sheepish grin. “Literally not even the ponies understand how Pinkie works.”

Amaryllis shakes her head. “Ponies...every time you say that I wonder what the hell happened that caused ponies to take our place,” she marvels. Suddenly, she does a double take. “Wait, what did happen to us? There weren't any other humans?”

I freeze, remembering what happens to this world. It's been eight years out of the eighty that humanity lasted...I wonder if Vanta is already strategically taking down targets. Still...I doubt I should drop that bombshell just yet. “No, there weren't any others. Well, there was one other, but he got there the same way I did. As for the rest of us...well, I'll tell you that at the same time as the others. You won't like it,” I warn her. Amaryllis blinks, but doesn't say anything more.

At long last, Amaryllis pulls into my driveway...and I can see Elaine's car there, as well as my dad's and brother's. Wow, I thought my dad was a state over. I mean, I know the border isn't that far off, but he got here freakishly fast.

From here, I can see someone sitting on the front doorstep, dressed in casual jeans and a t-shirt. The moment we pull in, he stands up and swiftly approaches us. I can tell immediately who it is by the man's broad shoulders and messy blond hair. Holy shit, I can't even put into words how much I've missed this guy's stupid face.

I don't even wait for the car to fully stop before I throw open the door and leap out. Adam quickly spots me and lets out a happy shout, vaulting over the front of Elaine's car. He and I meet in the middle of the driveway. I stop just in front of him, but he goes further than that and pulls me into a rough hug.

“I have no words...no words, little brother,” Adam expresses vehemently, his arms tightly wrapped around my middle. “Except that it's really good to see you're alive.”

“Yeah...I've missed you guys a lot....and did you get bigger, or is it just me?” I comment when he pulls back, looking at his muscles. My brother has always been sturdily built due to his interest in sports, but over the past eight years, it seems like he's grown even stronger.

“I could ask you the same question. Since when do you work out?” Adam points out, punching my shoulder lightly. He puts on a grin. “I mean, at least now you look like you're related to me.”

“Since shit happened and I had to work,” I reply with a shrug.

“What do you mean? Where were you for the past eight years?” Adam asks, wearing a concerned expression. “I mean, all I got from Mom is that you were back and Amaryllis had you.”

“I'll tell you guys everything. Just wait a bit until we get inside and I can explain it to all of you at once,” I tell him. Adam sighs impatiently, but nods. Behind us, Amaryllis locks up her truck and joins us down here, greeting Adam with a polite nod.

The front door to my house opens and both Elaine and Gerome come out at the same time, having heard the dialog between my brother and I. Looking at them, it's easy to see how the years have affected them. They're both clearly showing the past eight years. While I'm assuming Elaine is still coloring her hair, Gerome's is streaked with gray and his face has hard lines on it.

In just a few short moments, I'm being practically suffocated in my mother's embrace, the poor woman crying shamelessly. Gerome stands a bit further back, a faint smile on his face. He's still wearing his military uniform, so I guess he had been at a base before traveling down here to see me.

The moment I get free of my mother, she and Adam start bombarding me with questions. Gerome has always been the quiet one of the family, so he stands back and regards me with concern. Finally, I have to raise my voice to be heard over them.

“Come on, I get it. I'm back all of sudden, and you want answers,” I interrupt, getting them to quiet down and listen. “Let's go inside. I'm going to explain everything to you all at once.”

“Okay...yes, you're right. Let's go inside and settle down,” Elaine agrees, seeing the sense in that. “Are you thirsty? Should I get you something to drink? The pizza won't be here for another half hour.”

“That does sound nice actually,” I admit. The five of us weave through the cars and enter the house.

There, I navigate to the living room and head towards the sole armchair there. It looks like the same one from eight years ago...I guess it was designed pretty well to last this long. I quickly orient the chair so that it's facing the sofa, and then I place myself on it with a sigh. All of the memories of my parent's house coming rushing back to me...though not all of them were necessarily happy. But then again, the bad memories were my fault.

“You guys are not going to believe this shit,” Amaryllis warns my family with an exasperated shake of her head. She sits down on the couch across from me. It's an L-shaped couch, so there's enough room for everyone to sit down on it. “It's utter lunacy...but it's somehow true.”

“Now I'm even more worried,” Elaine admits from her position in the kitchen. It looks like she's making drinks for all of us. I notice the alcohol with a wince. I hope she knows not to make a drink like that for me. “Hm, I know Seth wants water because he always does, but Amaryllis, what would you like?”

“Something strong please. God knows I need it,” Amaryllis answers back with a sigh. I give a smile, glad that Elaine still remembers my preferences. After a short wait, Elaine returns with drinks for all of us, consisting of wine for her and Gerome, a strong beer for Amaryllis, and just plain ice water for me. “Now, this time I get the full story, right?”

“More or less. There's a lot to cover,” I admit. I danced around a lot of it with Amaryllis, so I suppose I should go more in depth. However, I should still avoid talking overmuch about the combat. My mother will flip even more than she already is. “I should probably handle this a little differently this time and skip the angry disbelief part.”

“Oh don't give me that! Even you said it sounds like an acid trip!” Amaryllis protests, amusing me and further confusing my clueless family.

“What exactly are you referring to?” Gerome inquires, talking for the first time since I've seen him. He's always been quiet though, so I'm not too worried.

I take a breath. “I'm going to start by showing you something unbelievable,” I begin. As they all watch, I lift one hand and concentrate until a gentle magical aura forms in my flattened palm. The aura flickers and dances like an emerald flame. My family gazes at it with surprise, unsure what to make of it.

“What...is that?” Elaine questions, her eyes alight with awe. She leans forward to get a closer look. “How are you doing that?”

“This is magic. I'm showing this to you because you'll know that everything I say after this is true,” I reveal to them. To further prove my point, I allow the magical flame to grow, engulf my hand, and course down the length of my arm.

“Magic? No way...that's some Fairy Tail crap right there,” Adam marvels. Surprisingly, he doesn't look as surprised as I might have expected. Instead, he looks...jealous. “That's so cool. How do you do that? Can I do that?”

“I see. While I'm not sure it should be referred to as magic, I concede that this is a force I'm unfamiliar with,” Gerome observes. “Is it dangerous?”

“Never mind that...what exactly happened that you learned how to do...whatever that is?” Elaine interrupts. I sigh and let the magic dissipate.

“Just sit back. This is going to be a long story,” I remind them, and then I begin my retelling.

I go through nearly everything I've experienced since the my meeting with Sombra. I start with how I was transported to a ruined version of the school and emerge into a completely changed landscape. I make sure to leave out the ultimate fate of mankind; I'm going to leave that to the very end. Even then, I'm sure as hell not going to tell them everything about it. I'm certainly not telling Adam how his daughter dies.

Their faces are priceless when I move on to explain how the world I appeared in was populated mostly by bright multicolored ponies. Just like before, Amaryllis can hardly keep herself from laughing. Again like before, I mention nothing of my relationship with Rainbow, but I do relate how I made friends with them (again, to Amaryllis's amusement).

The story continues into the night, my family's attention fixed on me and my wild fantastical tale. Before long, the pizza my mother ordered gets here, and we all dig into it as I continue. Though I do get odd looks when I stop and emit a moan of happiness as my teeth sink into meat for the first time in months. I ordered a sausage and pepperoni pizza for that very same reason.

Then, skipping past the Royal Wedding, I move on to detail my interactions with Sombra, and how ultimately that ended up in our victory. AT the very end I tell them all the clincher...I'm only here because of a time spell that only works once...and lasts for two days only. Suffice to say, their reactions are completely negative.

“What? I finally get to see both of my sons in the same room for the first time in eight years, and I'm just going to lose you all over again?” Elaine promptly yells, the poor woman starting to cry again. Gerome holds her close to him, his own expression nearly unreadable as it usually is; the only reason I know he's not responding well is because he's closing his eyes and sighing.

“I know! It's complete bullshit! I mean, if you have magic anyway, how is it so hard to make it so you can stay longer?” Amaryllis snaps, agreeing with my mother's protest. “Isn't magic supposed to defy all reason?”

“This is just not cool...even though you being able to go Super Saiyan is totally awesome,” Adam adds as well. Despite their protests, I can't help but smile. Even now, he can't not reference an anime in a simple conversation.

Their protests escalate from there, to the point where I have my mother clinging on to me from one side, and Amaryllis is just venting her fury. As difficult as this tale is for them to swallow, now I'm hitting them with the solid fact that I can't stay. In the wake of all this raw emotion from my family, I feel like my heart is steadily getting heavier. I knew this would be hard...but I guess I underestimated just how hard.

“Is there truly no other way?” Gerome asks. His words, while they are usually few, are generally spoken with firmness and purpose. Therefore, the others force themselves to calm down and listen.

“I asked, but it seems there isn't. It has something to do with how timelines work. I'm not sure about the details, but Chrysalis was quite firm that I would only have these two days,” I admit to them. “After that, I'll be returning to Equestria.”

“You're...you're returning? You're not disappearing?” Elaine asks, surprised and confused. When I give her a questioning look, she elaborates. “When you said that you would disappear after two days, I thought you meant for good...like, gone forever. But you're going back to the...the pony place?”

“Yeah, it's a time spell. Think of it like a bungee cord stretched to its limits. When time runs out, I rebound back to its origin,” I explain. Elaine doesn't look any less sad that her time with me is limited, but she seems relieved to hear me say that. “I won't be dying, if that's what you thought.”

“Oh..okay,” Elaine sniffs. She closes her eyes and shudders, attempting to calm herself. She takes a step back...and then she reopens her eyes and transfixes me with a solemn expression. “Can I ask you a serious question?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Are you happy there?” Elaine asks simply. I blink, taken aback by the question. “As a mother...I want the world for you. I wanted you to make lots of friends, settle down with a nice girl, and live the rest of your life in happiness. I know...I haven't done the best job of parenting you. I know our relationship has been rough...but you're still my son, and I love you. So I want you to tell me truthfully...will you be happy living in Equestria for the rest of your life?”

Everyone is watching me now for a response, now that my mother has poured her heart out to me. My mind flashes back to the many arguments I've had with my family. I've kept my inner feelings close to my heart, and I've always just done what was necessary to give me a stable life. One time...I told my parents that they had no business caring about my personal feelings, as long as I was doing what needed to be done in order to live a productive life. I have never regretted saying that to them as much as I do right now. The least I can do is be just as sincere back.

I stand up and approach Elaine steadily. “I know that now...and you have absolutely nothing to blame yourself for. The troubles that we went through were because of me...and my inability to recover from an unfortunate encounter. My regret is that I didn't see that sooner,” I reassure her. Elaine's eyes widen...because the last she saw of me, I was still as bad as I've ever been. Even Amaryllis is shocked, judging from the way she's looking at me as if I've grown a second head. “You guys have been supporting me no matter what I put you through...the least I could have said is 'thank you.' I don't know how you did it.”

“We're your family, bro. That's what we're here for,” Adam joins in, punching my shoulder lightly. “You could yell and curse at us all you want, but we'd never leave you out to dry.”

“Thank you. I know it's a little too late for me to say that now...but at the very least, I can finally bring myself to say...I love you too, Mom,” I say. The words are hard to say...but this is the first time that I've ever returned that sentence to her in years...not counting the eight years I've been gone. Elaine stares at me, and then she brings me in for another rib shattering hug. I gasp as the air leaves my lungs, and then I chuckle. “To answer your question...yes. I will be happy in Equestria. Amaryllis may laugh, but I made lots of good friends who've stood beside me even during the bleakest of situations. I have my own home and a stable job in a nice town...the only thing I was missing was the chance to see you all like this one more time.”

“I...I need another beer,” Amaryllis groans, ruining the moment thoroughly. She shakes her head and stalks into the kitchen, rummaging through the fridge for another drink. “I never thought I'd see the day. Seth's gone soft.”

“I have not 'gone soft,'” I snap at her in annoyance. That's probably the nastiest thing she could have said regarding the lessons I've learned.“It's not soft to realize that it's okay to trust others, and to be myself. I'm not as naïve as I was before...but neither am I going to stay closed up in myself, either.”

“Yeah, okay. Make that two beers,” Amaryllis replies, frustrating me further. I don't think she's even listening to me. I wonder if this is how Twilight and the others felt when talking to me early on. Amaryllis walks back into the room with two bottles of beer and sits down on the couch next to my mother...who is gazing at me with shining eyes.

“I have never been more proud of you than I am right now,” Elaine expresses happily. She sniffs and clasps Gerome's hand tightly...though for some reason, my father is staring at me intently with a rather intense expression. Elaine lets out a deep breath. “Okay. If there's no way that you can stay longer than two days....then I'm just going to make these two days with you the happiest that we've ever shared.”

“I'm down with that. Seth, you've totally got to meet my wife,” Adam agrees. I freeze. My eyes slowly widen as the meaning of that one invitation sinks in. Adam misinterprets my expression as surprise, and he laughs uproariously. “Yeah, I got married! Even have myself a little baby girl! How cool is that?”

“Daughter...huh?” I repeat softly, a small smile curving across my lips. If Adam got married...then that means his daughter is...Maka. At that, another realization strikes me like a freight train, Vanta's words from long ago coming to mind.

“Did you know she kept a diary? What a delightful girl she was. She wanted so much to meet you again.”

His words made no sense back then...but now...my coming back here at this particular point in time must have been part of the original timeline...but I never realized it because I hadn't yet experienced it. So now...if I take Adam up on his offer...I will finally get to meet her, and make Vanta's words true.

“Yeah, I think I'd like that,” I say to Adam, making him beam. “I mean, I'm interested to see who you ended up marrying. I bet she's as crazy as you.”

“She really is...you have no idea,” Amaryllis quips, proceeding to take a gulp of her beer. “They practically live in a weeb cave.”

“Hey, you know I hate that word!” Adam throws back at her, but his protest only serves to amuse her. I actually hate that word too, but Amaryllis is just fucking with him like she always does.

“I'm going to use my vacation savings to take us out and do something fun with all of us,” Elaine suggests. “Maybe not a movie because that takes too much time, but definitely something hands on. Maybe like a park trail?”

“Before we do any of that,” Gerome interrupts solemnly, his deep voice again causing everyone to quiet down. “There is one detail that you failed to mention during your story.”

“What's that?” I ask curiously.

Gerome's eyes narrow. “Humanity has been existing on the planet for nearly two hundred millennia. It strikes me as odd that in only another three thousand years, humanity is replaced by another sentient species. I understand that this being called Discord is responsible for the majority of the discrepancies, but the question remains: where did humanity go?”

Everyone's eyes return to me at Gerome's rather astute observation. Being military minded, I guess I should have expected him to pick up on this. I heave a sigh. “You're pretty sharp. You're right; after all this time that we've endured, three thousand years shouldn't mean much,” I respond reluctantly. “I didn't really want to bring this up just yet, but I guess you deserve to know.”

“What happens?” Elaine asks hesitantly. Even Amaryllis sets down her drink, suddenly interested.

I remain silent for several seconds...and then I drop the bombshell. “King Sombra didn't just kidnap me and return home. Before leaving, he invaded the world with his forces. Humanity only lasts for another eighty years,” I reveal with a heavy heart. The silence in the room after that is palpable.

“That's impossible,” Amaryllis responds first, holding her head in one hand. “How can one ridiculous pony king take out the whole human race? With our technology, we'd last a hell of a lot longer than eighty years.”

“Well, he said he had undead, right? What can we do against monsters that can swarm us and not die when you shoot them?” Adam puts in, equally shocked. “Holy shit...this means my daughter won't even live to be eighty...goddamn, I wish you hadn't said anything.”

“I...see,” Gerome responds, pausing a moment. He closes his eyes and sighs through his nose, somehow managing to keep his composure. “I'm afraid I must believe you.”

“Wait, what? Why do you say that?” Elaine questions. I watch my father as well, interested in what he's going to say next.

“According to intelligence reports, small rural towns over in Russia are going dark,” Gerome reveals seriously. Huh, no kidding. I guess Vanta has been busy...and it makes sense that they would start in Russia. After all, Sombra recruited Hawke sometime after me, and he's Russian. “If what you say is true, then perhaps it has already started.”

I sit back in my chair, massaging my temples. It's gone quiet after Gerome's confirmation. Considering that humanity only lasts for another eighty years, they're now confronted with a very harsh reality. I'm not sure how long it'll take for Vanta and his undead to reach the United States, but I do know that Maka ends up commanding a group of soldiers stationed in my college. I doubt that she was the only group to bunker down, but she definitely dealt Vanta a crushing defeat.

Amaryllis finishes her second beer, but it doesn't look like it's helping her any. She looks at the empty bottle with a lamenting sigh. She sets it down and gets up. “I'm just gonna get the whole case,” she decides, returning to the kitchen.

“Suddenly, I've lost my appetite,” Elaine confesses, setting her unfinished plate on the coffee table. “Not only do I find out that my son is alive and trapped in a land of ponies, but also that we're going to die to a bunch of unliving monsters.”

“That's not necessarily true,” Gerome reassures her. “The last of humanity, according to Seth, is extinguished by the end of eighty years. It is unlikely that you or I will live to see the danger reach our country.”

“Lucky for you,” Amaryllis retorts, walking back into the room with the entire case of beer with her. She sets it on the table and takes another bottle from it, as does Adam. “Though come to think of it, I doubt I'll live that long either. I'm already thirty,”

“Same here. Our generation likely won't be the one to encounter the undead,” Adam agrees. His face starts to look pained. “But the next...that's a different story.”

“Nevertheless, there's no use worrying about it now,” Gerome advises us sensibly. “It is troubling, but it likely won't directly affect us.”

“So we're just going to ignore it?” Elaine demands.

“Of course not. But Seth's time is limited, isn't it?” Gerome responds, showing once again his ability to keep a cool head even when faced with such dire news. “Let us leave that revelation for later, and instead focus on spending as much time as possible with our son.”

“Yeah, I don't know about you, but I'd like to have some fun now,” Amaryllis agrees, already halfway through her next bottle. I give her an askance look.

“Aren't you already? How many of those have you had now?” I remark, pulling the case further away from her. I yelp and duck beneath the bottle cap that she throws at me in response. “Try not to get too drunk before we even do anything.”

“I've only had a few; shut your damn mouth,” Amaryllis retorts, throwing another cap at me. “It takes more than this to get me drunk. There's hardly any alcohol in this crap.”

“I'm sorry that our beer doesn't fit your taste,” Elaine responds sarcastically, taking one of them herself now that she's finished her glass of wine. “Anyway, so what should we do for tonight? A movie? It is too late to go anywhere after all.”

“Oh, I got one! It came out forever ago, but I still have it on my portable drive,” Adam pipes up enthusiastically. He dives into his bag, rummaging through whatever is inside of it in search of his drive. “Get this: it's called Summer Wars, and it's totally self-contained. You'll get a kick out of this, bro.”

“Not that anime crap again,” Amaryllis groans. “I mean, that's what it is, isn't it? It's always anime with you, Adam.”

“Heh, well, I'm sure it can't be that bad,” Elaine expresses with a carefree shrug. “I mean, it's all about Seth right now, so if he wants to watch it, I'll sit here with you all.”

“Seth, please...” Amaryllis starts to say, but then she sees the grin on my face. She lets her head fall into her free hand. “Ugh, here we go. It's a good thing I'm already drinking.”

“I'll make some popcorn so we can all get settled,” Elaine decides. All the while, Adam is plugging in his hard drive into the media player hooked into the large TV.





Once the movie starts, all of us sit back together on the sofa with bowls of popcorn and our respective drinks. I don't think I've ever just watched a movie with the whole family like this...at least not for a long, long time.

I'm sitting between Amaryllis and my mother, with Adam and Gerome sitting on either side of us. Gerome is more or less disinterested in what's happening in the movie, so he spends most of his time on his laptop. However, he does look up every once in a while when something major is going on.

As for Elaine, she gets curious halfway through and asks in a whisper if I'd taken any pictures while I was in Equestria. When I tell her I did, she asks to see them. I shrug and hand her my phone so she can look through them at her leisure.

“Ooh, they're so cute!” is her first reaction to seeing a pony. Hah, I guess that's worlds better than my first reaction. The first time I saw a pony, my first thought was “...the fuck is that!?” I almost burst out laughing when Elaine turns to Gerome and whispers, “I want one. Gerry, can you get me a pony?”

My dad's reaction is to roll his eyes and ignore her, focusing instead on his computer.

By the time the movie ends, it's past midnight, and all of us are tired. Amaryllis is definitely a little tipsy by the end of it, hilariously enough. Even though she denies it, her face is a little flushed and she keeps giving me these weird looks.

After that, my mother handles the dishes while the rest of us head off to our rooms. According to my family, my room is still the same as it ever was, open and free for me to use. Amaryllis takes the guest room, and my brother goes to his own room.

Laying back in my bed, I let out a satisfied sigh. This is just like I remember it...no, better than I remember it. Now, I'm actually going out of my way to be a part of the family...the way I should have been doing it in the first place. The only thing that feels off is that everyone is much older than before, while I haven't aged all that much. Amaryllis is eight years older than me now, for example.

Nevertheless, I'm going to make the most of this time.





The door to my room slams open without warning, startling me awake. I lurch up in bed to see the blurry form of Amaryllis standing in the doorway. “Wake up! Food's almost done and I'm tired of waiting,” she demands. She leaves before I can respond, leaving me wondering what the hell is going on.

Seconds later, I fully wake up with a start, remembering exactly what situation I'm in. I reach over to my phone and quickly check the timer. I still have plenty of time; there's still thirty six hours left before I have to go back.

I sniff the air curiously, smelling a delicious odor from downstairs. That smells like eggs, potatoes...and...is that fucking bacon!? Oh my god; all of my yes. I excitedly leap out of bed...and soon remember that the only set of clothes I have are the ones I brought with me.

On a whim, I throw open my old closet. Sure enough, my mother hasn't gotten rid of anything. I haven't aged or grown much compared to the others, so I'm sure they'll still fit me. Then again, I think I can get away with wearing Rarity's clothes for one more day....except my parents would complain.

I give in with a sigh and take some clothes out of my dresser and closet and quickly get dressed. I'll just have to make sure to be wearing Rarity's clothes when it's time for me to leave. That pony will kill me if I lose another one of her outfits.

“Oh my god, I could not love you more right now,” I say to announce my presence when I walk downstairs. Elaine looks up from where she's frying the bacon in the pan, smiling brightly at my appearance. “I've been a vegetarian for months...and now you're giving me bacon.”

“I remember you used to love this meal...so I thought I'd make it for you,” Elaine explains, beaming. “Have a seat. I'll get everything for you.”

The dining table is in the kitchen for ease of access, so after getting myself a cup of water, I sit down with Amaryllis and Adam. Gerome is pacing in the living room, speaking to someone over the phone in low hushed tones.

A few minutes later, we're all seated around the table with plates of food and assorted drinks. Hilariously enough, we had to take the alcohol away from Amaryllis, who insisted that she should be allowed to drink it to help her cope with the fact that the future is basically ponies.

“So...tell me about your friends, Seth. I remember seeing that winged pony with the rainbow hair a lot in the pictures you've taken. Who is she?” Elaine asks after we start eating. I choke a bit on my eggs, put rather on the spot. I can't exactly tell them that I'm technically together with said pony.

“There are ponies with wings?” Adam inquires with evident interest. “Are there unicorns?”

“Yes, actually,” I answer him wryly.

“That's just awesome,” Adam comments.

Amaryllis just shakes her head and gazes longingly towards the refrigerator. “It's not even nine in the morning and I already need a drink,” she complains. “Unicorns...I mean really?”

“To answer your question, mom...her name is Rainbow Dash. So named because her mane is rainbow, and she can fly really fast. Totally counter-intuitive, right?” I reveal, taking the moment to poke fun at my marefriend. If this was an anime, she'd be sneezing right now. “She's also got an ego like you wouldn't believe.”

“I thought you hated people with egos,” Amaryllis points out. I shrug.

“Well, I did peg her as a worthless jock the moment I met her...but that was way immature of me. She's actually a lot of fun, and I've couldn't had a more loyal friend....current company not included, of course,” I retell, the others listening with varying degrees of interest. As for Elaine, I doubt she could look happier than she is right now. “Granted, that ego of hers makes it really easy to mess with her.”

“I still can't believe you made friends with it,” Amaryllis expresses. The way she said that doesn't sit well with me.

“With her,” I correct her sharply.

“Whatever.” Amaryllis just rolls her eyes. Heh, I guess that's no way I can really convince her that they're anything more than animals. That took me a while to get over, after all.

“She sounds wonderful. I wish I could see more of her,” Elaine responds. She pauses, and then brightens up. “Did you take any videos? I didn't get all the way through your photos last night.”

“I have a few, yeah.” I navigate to one of the first videos I ever took and pass it to her, turning the volume up to high. I don't mind sharing my experiences with her. At least she's being open-minded about all of this.

Elaine takes the phone and sets it against the basket in the center of the table, where all the napkins are held. The phone is set up in such a way that it can stand up on its own at an angle that she can see it well. She taps the screen, and the video starts to play.

“Would you quit playing with that?” My voice comes out of the phone, sounding irritated and tired after a hard day of working in Canterlot. This particular video took place right after the changeling invasion, when we were working on reconstructing the city. Needless to say, Rainbow and I had a lot of time together in her suite at the end of the work day. “You don't even know what half that shit does.”

“That's the point!” Rainbow's scratchy voice comes out from the speaker. The mare has her face up close to the camera...if I remember right, she accidentally hit the record button with her nose. “This thing is awesome...ooh, I can see myself now.”

Elaine chuckles at the sight of Rainbow posing ridiculously in front of the phone. “What the...how did you turn on the front camera if you can't even read English?” I had complained, stomping over to her.

“I dunno. I just started hitting buttons,” Rainbow admitted. “Um, the little figures keep changing for some reason. Should it be doing that?”

“You turned on the video, didn't you? Turn it off, I don't have that much space,” I directed her.

“This thing takes video?! Wow, Seth, you've totally gotta get me doing a Sonic Rainboom on video!” Rainbow asserted excitedly. “Also, how do you turn this off?”

“Give me this.” I step into the picture, taking the phone and halting the video there. Elaine passes me the phone back, still laughing.

“She's so adorable,” Elaine squeals. Adam takes the phone next, insisting on watching it for himself. I start to get a little embarrassed as they all laugh at Rainbow being silly. “Gerome, I want one!”

“Talking ponies,” Amaryllis laments with a shake of her head. “What has happened to my reality?”





“So where exactly are we going?” I ask Adam as the five of us move towards the family car, our each of us carrying our swimming outfits. I glance at the car...which surprisingly is not the same one I remember us having. I guess the old thing broke down over eight years. It wouldn't surprise me, considering it had been a twenty year old car.

“I'm driving, mom. I know the way.” Adam leaps into the driver's seat and shuts the door before answering. “We gotta drop by my house real quick and grab my other key ring. Then we're gonna head up to my boat at the lake!”

“You have a boat?” I question in surprise. I remember Adam had always liked the idea of driving around on boats, but I didn't think he'd actually make enough money to get one. Okay, changing my thought. He was an engineer...of course he made enough money. I'm just surprised he actually managed it well enough to buy a boat.

“It's actually a really nice boat,” Amaryllis inputs. She ends up crawling to the back of the car with me, considering my parents are going to be sitting up front. “You could seriously live in it for several days, provided you had the supplies.”

“It's great for when I get days off. Like now,” Adam concurs. With a turn of the keys in the ignition, the car rumbles to life. “Anyway, it's about a thirty minute drive to my house, so I'm gonna put on some music. Any requests?”

“Only that if you put on even a single anime opening, I'm coming up there,” Amaryllis warns him from her position beside me.

Adam cranes his head back to look at her, a stupid grin on his face. “Got it. One Lucky Star opening coming right up!” he responds in his most troll-like voice. Amaryllis just groans miserably.

“That's just cruel and unusual punishment!” I complain, bracing myself for the incredibly girly theme. How my brother can watch that stuff is beyond me. “At least give me something I like!”

“I have the weirdest family,” Elaine comments.





Adam rushes up the porch steps without waiting for the rest of us, a noticeable spring in his step. His keys jingle as he unlocks the door, and then he sticks his head inside. “Hey! Lena, we've got company!” Adam announces, gesturing for the rest of us to follow him. I notice as I get closer that I can hear soft music coming from somewhere deeper in the house.

“What!? Company?” A faint female voice calls back, the music pausing. A series of bumps and thuds emanate from further in. I look at Amaryllis with a perplexed expression. She just rolls her eyes upon meeting my gaze. “What company?”

“I may or may not have brought my whole family,” Adam admits sheepishly. Following that is the sound of blankets rustling and drawers opening.

“Yah! Give a girl some warning first! I'm not even presentable!” Lena complains loudly. Adam chuckles and shuts the door behind us once we're all inside. “One second!”

“Your wife sounds...interesting,” I remark. The front door opens out into a small foyer, from which there's two small staircases heading up and down, respectively. The one heading down no doubt leads to a basement. I give an appreciative nod and stride up the small staircase into the living room. From there, I start looking around in order to take in the features of my brother's house. “Huh...it almost looks...presentable in here.”

“That's just so they can entertain professional company if they have to. Just wait, you haven't seen the room they actually live in,” Amaryllis inputs before Adam can say anything.

“Hey, it's an awesome room. I'm sure Seth will agree,” Adam retorts. He heads further into the room towards an end table. He rifles through the drawer for a moment before returning with a separate keyring. “Okay, that takes care of that. Now I just gotta introduce you to my family. Wait here, I'll be right back.”

Adam retreats into the hallway that offshoots from the main living area. I do as I'm told and lean against the railing overlooking the foyer.

I hardly get a moment to think before a woman walks out of the hallway, dressed in clean and presentable clothes. Noticing her, I stand up straight and approach her. So, this is my brother's wife, Lena. She looks younger than I expected, so I'm guessing she's only in her late twenties or early thirties. Despite the nice clothes she's wearing, I can tell that she just got out of bed. Her hair is brown and tied up in a bun, and she's wearing glasses to complete her image. She's decent looking I suppose...I can see why my brother would like her.

Lena pauses when she sees me, not really recognizing me. Yeah, there's not much of a family resemblance. That goes double, considering I haven't aged compared to everyone else. When I see her, I look her up and down and put on a smile. “I guess you're my sister-in-law, then,” I greet her politely, though on the inside I feel a little awkward.

“Sister? Then that would make you...Seth?” Lena suddenly looks interested. When I nod, she beams at me. She and I shake hands firmly.“No wonder Adam took off in the middle of the day yesterday. We all thought you were missing!”

“I went on an adventure. That is literally the simplest way I can express the crazy things I've been through over the past eight years,” I respond wryly. It hasn't been eight years for me, but I don't feel like explaining that again. “I come back, my brother has a wife. Nice to meet you, Lena. How ever do you tolerate my brother?”

Lena giggles, adjusting her glasses. “It's been a challenge, but he's so much fun, so it makes up for it,” she replies. She then gives me an odd look. “You should be around my age, right? Because you certainly don't look it. How did you do that?”

“I...uh...went on an adventure,” I repeat lamely, much to her confusion. Before she can ask further questions, my brother returns from the hallway, carrying a small child of about four years with him. My attention turns to her immediately, my interest captured. “Is that...?”

“Yeah, here's my baby Maka,” Adam proclaims proudly, holding the girl in such a way that she can look out at us. Glancing at her, I recognize her almost immediately. With those green eyes and long blonde hair...she looks a lot like I remember from the video...except a hell of a lot younger. Granted, the Maka I saw there was in her later years. Seeing all these people causes Maka to hug her father's neck shyly. “Aw, don't be shy. This here is your Uncle Seth. I've told you about him, remember?”

Maka peers at me with a sudden interest, and all of a sudden I feel rather strange. Even though I knew of her existence, I've never actually met her...and it's really weird to hear myself addressed as an uncle. “He's him?” Maka whispers in a small voice. Adam nods in confirmation. She smiles brightly and innocently. “He's pretty.”

Behind me, Amaryllis chokes and claps a hand to her mouth in order to stifle her prompt laughter. She fails miserably to the point where she has to turn around and bite her lip. All the while, I stand there with a deadpan expression. That would be the first fucking thing she said to me. God. Dammit.

“Uncle!” Maka reaches out her arms to me, still smiling. She leans forward and almost falls, but I quickly step forward to catch her. I stumble and nearly unbalance, unused to the weight of a child in my arms. She giggles the whole time, her little arms wrapping around my neck. She coos happily, her face snuggling into my neck.

“Oh sheesh; she's adorable,” I have to admit, a sheepish grin on my face. Lena and Adam both beam at the sight of their daughter snuggling with me in my arms. She's surprisingly well behaved for a child her age...I guess she's been parented well. I never pegged Adam for a good father, but then again, he did have a knack for surprising me. I then glance at Adam pointedly. “Good thing she takes after her mother.”

“Hey, what's that supposed to mean!?” Adam exclaims indignantly, much to the amusement of his wife. He walks up and lifts up a strand of his daughter's hair. “She has my hair! And my eyes! Look! Green!”

“But she has my face,” Lena points out smugly. I guess she does...the rather elderly Maka in the video did look like an older version of the woman in front of me.

After that, I hand her back to Adam, and then my mother spends a little time fussing over her. It's only a short while longer before Adam shoos us all out of the house. Together with Lena and Maka, we all pile together in the car. According to my brother, we're going to spend the whole day at the lake, and maybe even visit the water park that's there. I can't help but be excited as well.





“Holy...um...wow! You weren't kidding,” I gasp aloud at the sight of the boat moored at the end of the dock. I have to bite my tongue to keep from cursing, due to the presence of Maka in Lena's arms. She's much younger than Apple Bloom, and she's actually family, so probably should watch my mouth.

The lake extends out before us, being of such size that it stretches as far as the eye can see. I've never actually been to this lake before, so all I know about it is that it's a popular tourist spot, as well as the reservoir for most of the state's freshwater. To capitalize on the tourist industry, there's scores of restaurants, hotels, and other attractions lining the shores. There's even a water park at one end.

“There she is! My pride and joy!” Adam proclaims, gesturing emphatically at the boat. I think the best way to describe it is as a yacht. Complete with tinted windows, antennas on the roof, and even a rather extensive deck open to the air, it looks the very picture of luxury.

“Exactly how long did you save up for this?” I ask wryly as we all walk towards the yacht. Adam steps on deck first, the keys jingling in his hand. At my words, Lena gives Adam a hilarious annoyed expression, causing him to look rather embarrassed.

“...A long time. I mean a really long time,” Adam admits with a rueful grin. He heads over to a ladder that leads up to the helm. “But I don't regret it for a moment! I take this baby out with my family as much as I can!”

Once Adam reaches the top, he sticks his head over the railing. “Okay, now all of you ditch those clothes and get into your swimsuits! We're lucky; it's gorgeous out today!”

“Sounds like a plan!” Amaryllis responds, immediately moving into the yacht's interior, no doubt heading for the bathroom. “You guys are too slow. I'm getting changed first!”

“What the...”

“Amaryllis!”





We finally take the yacht out into the lake, each of us taking turns driving the yacht. Together with my family, the hours seem to fly, the sun traveling relentlessly over the horizon. However, I am determined to push the time out of my mind and just cherish this time without thinking about the future.

Due to it being the middle of the week, the lake is mostly devoid of tourists, much to my relief. That way, we don't have to worry as much about running into other boats or people. More than once, Adam brings the boat to a stop and we spend some time dipping in the lake. Thanks to the sun beating down on us from above, the water is relatively warm.

Just as expected, our true destination is the water park at the other end of the lake. Due to owning a mooring place for his boat (which requires a monthly fee I'm assuming), Adam doesn't have to pay for entry into the park. However, there are too many of us to get in completely free, so I spend the rest of my money to get us all in. My parents try to protest, of course.

“Look, what good is this money gonna do me in Equestria? I might as well get rid of it now while I can,” I say to them with a shrug, passing the money to the ticket-taker before my parents can stop me.

The water park itself is rather extensive and populated despite the time of week. Just from the entrance, I can see towering waterslides, a wave pool, and even a slowly trickling stream where other people are lazily floating along on inner tubes.

From there, we all split off into groups to do our own thing. At first, Adam and Lena take Maka off on their own, while my parents come with Amaryllis and I. With them, we visit the water slides together.

I can't stop smiling. This is more fun than I've ever had with my family, especially now that I truly appreciate them for who they are and what they mean to me. At one point, Amaryllis and I plummet together down a twin waterslide, the two of us whooping and laughing all the way down through the open air tube.

I also go out of my way to spend time with Maka in particular, tagging along to different rides and attractions to make sure that I can show as much love to her as possible. I always regretted never being able to love her as family...so this is a chance I can't pass up. It'll never be enough, of course, but this is all I can do. Clutching the giggling girl in my arms, she and I slide down into the whirlpool ride together, where we're swirled around the great pool and out through the slide at the bottom.

As the sun starts to set, Amaryllis and I split off from the others and visit the tubing stream. My mother looks like she wants to come with us, but Gerome thankfully doesn't let her, recognizing the fact that the two of us want some time to ourselves.

She and I have a petty little squabble over what color of tube we should go down the stream with.

“Red is my color! Look, it matches my epic hair. You should have black, not red like me!” Amaryllis points out with an adorable pout, holding the red tube close.

“But what if I want red too? You gonna tell me I can't have that color?” I tease her, my hands moving for a red tube as well. Near us, the park attendant in charge of the stream glances between us with a perplexed expression.

“It's my color!” Amaryllis repeats, buffeting me with the tube. Snickering, I duck beneath her next “assault” and grab another red tube. Before she can catch me, I leap into the river with it. “Hey! Come back here!”

She and I travel down the stream, splashing one another multiple times until the both of us are lying back on the tubes, panting. My hand falls limply into the water close to Amaryllis's tube as I take this moment to relax with my best friend.

I start to move ahead of Amaryllis without realizing it, a gap widening between us. A fork approaches, tubers heading in either direction randomly. I don't even realize what's happening before Amaryllis grabs my hand, dragging me closer to her just before we reach the fork, so that we travel down it together.

“Whoa, thanks,” I say, looking back at the fork. Why is there even a fork there? Suddenly, I realize with a start that Amaryllis is still holding my hand. I attempt to extricate myself from her grip, but her fingers only tighten around me. I look over at her in shock. “Amaryllis...?”

“Quit looking at me like that. It's only because you're too damn oblivious to notice the stream ahead,” Amaryllis snaps with a light blush, pulling my tube up against hers. “What's the point of going on a ride together if we don't stay together?”

“Heh, I guess you have a point,” I admit, relenting and letting her hold me. Admittedly, I don't try very hard to get free.

The two of us drift down the stream together, closing our eyes and delighting in one another's presence. Honestly, I couldn't picture a better way to spend this time with her.





Eventually, the park has to close, and the rest of us meet up and eat dinner at a burger joint. And oh my God I can't even express in words how amazing it is to have a cheeseburger after all this time eating vegetables.

Eventually we return to the yacht. However, the fun doesn't stop there. As the sun droops towards the horizon, Adam emerges from the interior of the yacht with a long and thick cord...as well as a large inflatable tube.

“What are those for?” I ask curiously. I seem to be the only one that doesn't know, considering the others are starting to look excited.

“Tubing, doofus! We're going tubing! Have you never been tubing before?” Adam explains while he rummages through a cupboard. With a little “aha!” Adam pulls an air pump out and starts to pump up the tube.

“No...I honestly didn't even know that was a thing,” I admit, a little apprehensive at the thought of what we're about to do. “You're sure this is entirely safe?”

“Oh, don't be such a...” Amaryllis starts to say, but then her gaze falls on little Maka, the girl looking up at her innocently. Amaryllis sighs, an eye twitching. “...such a crybaby. It's a total blast! Especially when you fall off!”

“What do you mean, 'when...?'” I repeat, but Amaryllis isn't having any of it. She ends up dragging me onto the tube once it's fully inflated and hooked up to the back of the yacht.

She and I are the first to go out...and it's the most exhilarating and heart-pounding experience. What happens is that Adam speeds the boat up greatly and drags the tube we're in behind at such speeds that the thing practically skips across the water. The whole time, I'm yelling and clinging to the handles for dear life, all while Amaryllis is laughing on the tube next to me.

Every single time, we only last for maybe five minutes before Adam pulls some crazy turn that causes the tube to fly up into the air...which more often than not hurls us into the water. At one embarrassing moment, I attempt to hold onto the handle even as Amaryllis is hurled away...causing me to skid across the water at a near parallel angle. The result is that my bathing suit is tugged right off of me.

My suit ends up floating in the water several meters away, leading to me swimming frantically after it in a sort of awkward dog paddle so that I don't end up exposing myself. Of course, the whole time, Amaryllis is laughing so hard she almost pees herself.





Later, as the sun vanishes and the sky grows dark, we all start to dry off and change into pajamas. There's enough room onboard for us all to sleep, so Adam insisted we all stay here for the night rather than bothering to head back to shore.

I'm sitting on the prow of the yacht, dressed in a comfortable set of pajamas. It's gorgeous outside, with the only light coming from the rising moon and the countless stars shining down from above. A soft breeze rustles through my hair and clothes.

While I'm waiting out here for the others to finish getting dressed, Adam comes to find me. I hear him stepping out onto the prow with me by the sound of his feet on the deck. Without a word, he sits beside me, our legs hanging over the edge.

“You were really great with my daughter, by the way,” Adam says to me softly, breaking the silence. He looks genuinely appreciative of that, as well as a little relieved. I wonder if he thought I would disapprove? “Thanks for that.”

“She's a sweet girl. You should be proud,” I tell him, my voice firm and unwavering. There's no way I can tell him about her true fate. That would be cruel of me. Nevertheless, I know she grows up to be the kind of daughter that any parent would be proud of. She looked to be in her sixties in the video, so I know she lived a relatively long life...and even despite the tragedy of her death, she went out with a bang, trapping Vanta and the entirety of his undead underground.

“Heh, yeah,” Adam responds. A look of sadness forms on his face moments later...and it doesn't take a genius to realize what he's thinking about. “I really hate that I can't see you again after this. I wanted to watch more shows with you...I wanted you to be a part of Maka's life.”

Adam looks at me with surprise when I lay a hand comfortingly on his shoulder. I meet his gaze , a confident smile on my face. “Hey, it's not like I'll be dead. Just think of it like I'm going away on a long trip. I'll be happy, surrounded by my new friends...and I'll constantly be thinking about you all,” I reassure him.

Respect shows in his eyes at my words. “You really have changed, Seth,” Adam observes. His lips curve into a sad smile. “Whatever those ponies did, I really want to thank them. They gave me my brother back...even if it's just for this short time.”

“It wasn't easy for them either,” I admit with a rueful chuckle.

“Yeah, I don't imagine it was,” Adam laughs, understandingly fully what I mean. Despite my overall positive relationship with him, he knew very well that I had a lot of issues that he couldn't do anything about.

After a short silence, Adam looks back at me, an inquisitive expression on his face. “By the way...I've been meaning to ask. What kinds of things can you do with that magic? Are there like, spells?” he inquires.

I form a small ball of gently glowing magic in my hand, showing it to him. The light casts shadows on my brother's face as he looks at it with awe. “There are, but I don't know that many of them. I mostly just used it for combat,” I confess. Adam looks at me with a raised brow. “I skimmed over it because I knew our parents would freak, but I did a lot of fighting. King Sombra was not one to let me live in peace.”

“At least you got through it...wait, hold on. You used it for combat? Does that mean you can make beams?” Adam suddenly asks, an expression forming on his face that promises trouble. Then his eyes light up. “Like a Kamehameha?”

I stare at him incredulously, and then groan, facepalming. I should have known I'd get this question; my brother and I spent a lot of time watching that show. Despite its flaws, it was always one of our favorites. “Goddammit, Adam. I mean, I guess I could...but...” I try to say.

“Oh my god. You have to show me,” Adam demands, leaping to his feet. I look up at him skeptically, wondering if he's really serious. “Come on, there's no one around. Do it. Do a Kamehameha.”

“That's not...it's not actually that attack, it just...” I try to protest, but judging from the look on his face, nothing I'm saying is getting through to him. He looks like an excited child...to the point where I half expect him to start bouncing up and down like Pinkie. “Seriously? You really want me to do it?”

“Of course I'm serious! The chance to see one of the greatest and most iconic attacks in all of anime history in person? How could any self-respecting anime fan turn that down!?” Adam demands. I sigh and get to my feet. Knowing my brother, he won't shut up until I do it.

“Fine,” I relent. I'll only do a small one, because no doubt the light from my attack will shine brightly in the night. That, and I don't want to accidentally swamp the boat with massive waves caused by a big one. I certainly have the power to do that if I go all the way. I let the small emerald ball of magic grow larger in my hand, attempting to do a one handed beam, but my brother grabs my wrist.

“No, you gotta do it right! With the hand motions and everything!” Adam insists. I let the magic fade away, groaning.

“Ugh, fine. I can't believe I'm doing this,” I mutter. Feeling like a total nerd, I stand in a combat ready position and even put my hands by my side, my palms only a short distance apart. I form a small pulsing ball of magic there that grows steadily larger. Finally, I thrust my hands out forward, releasing a thin beam of green light forward towards the water several meters away. “Kamehameha!”

“Yes!” Adam cheers, squealing like a damn kid. The beam hits the water and explodes in a bright flash of light, but it's only violent enough to cause sizable ripples in the water, gently rocking the yacht. “That was awesome! Now do a bigger one! This time with the aura!”

“I'm not doing a bigger one! You want me to capsize the boat?” I snap back at him with exasperation.

Adam and I proceed to squabble like petty siblings for several minutes, until our family comes out to fetch us. Adam ends up relenting, much to my relief. Together, we join our family and play board games until we get tired, and then we retire to separate rooms.





We all wake up early the next morning and get dressed. Because this is the last day I have with them, I make sure to get back into the clothes Rarity made for me. I've already been yelled at several times for losing her other outfits...not an experience I'd like to repeat.

Adam drives the yacht back to the dock, moors it, and locks everything up. We all disembark and load back up in the car, on our way back to town. While we're in the car, we toss around different ideas on what to do next. Lena suggests a movie, but everyone pretty much agrees that would take too much time.

In the end, it turns out to be Maka who comes up with a solution. While sitting in my lap, she raises a hand and suggests, “Bowling!” in an adorably cute voice. After laughing, we decide that's actually a rather decent idea. If I remember right, there's a bowling alley and arcade not far into town...and that would give us a variety of things to do while still being able to interact with one another.

After getting breakfast at one of my favorite restaurants, we travel to the bowling alley. Elaine assures us that she's going to buy the full experience, no matter how expensive it is. I feel bad that I'm cutting into her vacation funds like this, but nothing I say will convince her otherwise. My mother is very stubborn when she wants to do something.

Again, considering it's the middle of the week, the bowling alley isn't as crowded as normal. That works well for us; we pretty much have free reign to do whatever we want. The full experience, as it turns out, happens to be a set amount of tokens per person for the arcade, a bowling lane for our exclusive use, and a reserved time for the laser tag room.

From there, we once more split off to enjoy our time in the arcade, intending to meet up at the bowling lane later. Adam and I team up to play one of those retro shooter games with the pistol shaped controllers. Even though we fail miserably, we both have a lot of fun doing it. I do a lot better than Adam due to my reflexes being much better honed than his; combat tends to do that to you.

I also help Maka complete a few games to win her some extra tickets for the rewards. With the two of us working together, I manage to win her a prize of her choice...and she chooses a cute unicorn plushie. The irony isn't lost on me of course. It certainly isn't lost on my brother, who keeps laughing and teasing me about it.

The bowling itself is a lot of fun too, though Amaryllis is clearly better than the rest of us for some reason. Gerome is rather good at it as well; he and Amaryllis are commonly getting strikes. It's a good thing we split into two teams, so the two of them can compete. Honestly, I stop paying attention to the score halfway through.

In between bowls, I sit with the others, exchanging quips and answering questions about my life in Equestria. That's how I spend my time until lunch, when we purchase food from the complementary concession area. It's not that great of course, but the desserts were good. They're not at Pinkie's level, but it's hard to fuck up sweets.

Then comes the best part of the day...the laser tag. We split into two teams and wear these vests that register hits, and then grab our weapons and enter the dark room that's lit only by neon lights. The teams consist of Amaryllis, Elaine, Maka, and myself; and Lena, Gerome, and Adam. The teams are uneven because Maka is on my team, and she's likely not going to be that good. Somehow we convinced my dad to join in as well.

In the tag area, I end up dominating the field, nailing shots on Lena and my brother and easily dodging their counterattacks. It's not really fair to use my battle experience here, but hey, it's not my fault I'm so good.

Of course, that all goes out the window when Gerome actually decides to get serious. His military training is much better than my own, and before I know it, my vest is lighting up like a Christmas tree as I take hits from god knows where. He's much better with a gun than I am, it seems.

When our time runs out, we leave the bowling alley and head to a dinner place. While I'm there, I glance down at the timer...and sure enough, time is running out. I only have two hours left here. It feels like it hasn't been that long yet...but I guess that's how it goes.

By the time I arrive home and get clean...there's only ten minutes remaining.





“I wish you didn't have to go,” Elaine cries as she hugs my neck tightly. Every single one of us has gathered outside in the front yard of the house, ready to send me off. The poor woman has started crying again, and her grip is so tight I feel like she'll never let me go. “I know you'll be happy there...but I'll miss you terribly.”

“I know that. But I'm glad that I at least had this chance to see you all one last time,” I respond softly, somehow managing to keep myself from crying as well.

“That's true. I'm forever grateful to this Chrysalis person. Without her, I'd never have known what happened to you,” Elaine reveals. I can't help but snort in amusement. Clearly she has no idea how much of a bitch Chrysalis really is...but I don't see the need to let her know about that. That would just make her worry. “I love you, Seth. You'll always be my little boy.”

“I love you too, mom,” I say, flushing a little in embarrassment at her words. She doesn't let me go just yet.

“I hope you make lots of friends in Equestria. I hope you find a stable job with a steady income...and I daresay even find a nice mare to settle down with,” Elaine says warmly. Her words cause me to jerk back and look at her oddly.

“Wait, what the hell? Mom!?” I say, utterly shocked by that statement. For one heart pounding moment, I start to think that she somehow figured out my relationship with Ranbow. “They're ponies and you...what?”

“You said yourself: there's no humans left in the future...and as far as I've seen, they're as intelligent as you and I. I would hate for you to live your life without finding someone. Love, in all of its forms, is truly a blessing. It doesn't matter what they look like on the outside, as long as you can love and understand one another,” Elaine explains to me with a smile.

“I can't believe you're okay with that...but I see what you mean,” I say, looking a little uncomfortable. With one last squeeze, Elaine giggles and releases me.

I then step over to Gerome. He and I stare at one another in silence for a few seconds. He's not really the hugging type. I've always known that. Despite that, he reaches his hands forward and places them on both of my shoulders. He manages to show one of his rare smiles. “Go...and live well, son. I'm proud of you...and the progress you've made,” Gerome reveals, squeezing my shoulders. “Don't worry about us. I'll keep everyone safe.”

“I'll leave them to you then. Love you, dad,” I return. Gerome's a man of few words...so even his short statement is enough to move me. When he says something, he means it.

“Yeah, go and find yourself a mare, Seth,” Adam teases me, snickering shamelessly as I move to him next. I promptly shove him in response, which just makes him laugh harder. After a moment, he gets serious and hugs me as well. “Kick some...what, is it flank now? Yeah, kick some flank.”

I move on to Lena and Maka next. I don't know them anywhere near as well as the others, and judging from Lena's face, she doesn't know what to make of this situation either. Without warning, I hug her, causing her to tense up. “Oh, stop being awkward. You're my sister now...it's only right I treat you as such,” I assure her with a grin. Lena lets out a small chuckle and hugs me back.

“I don't really get what's going on...but I appreciate that. Your acceptance means a lot to me,” Lena expresses. I never really explained the situation to her as in-depth as I did to the others, but we managed to get her to realize my situation after showing her my magic. “I hope you'll be happy, wherever you're going.”

I lean down to Maka next, the young girl looking innocent and blissfully ignorant of what's going on. I embrace her gently as well, causing her to giggle and hug my neck. Heh, she really is adorable. “You're going to grow up to be a total...totally awesome,” I whisper to her. I almost said badass, but then I corrected myself. “Goodbye, Maka. It was an honor meeting you.”

Maka just blinks. I chuckle and stand back up. My heart feels like it's traveling up my throat as I move to the last member of the group. Amaryllis. She stands there with her arms crossed, looking none to happy about me leaving. “What, is this the part where we hug and cry?” Amaryllis remarks before I can even say anything. “Please...I hate goodbyes. I'm fine, really. I'll just be laughing because you're going back to frolic with all the colorful little ponies.”

“Heh,” I chuckle. When I look back at her, my breath seems to catch in my throat. I'm having a lot of trouble coming up with the courage to say this...but I have to do it. I'll never get another chance. “Actually, I had something I wanted to say to you...in private. Do you mind stepping away with me real quick?”

“Huh? I mean, sure, but what's so important that you can't say it here?” Amaryllis responds, suddenly confused. I don't respond, instead motioning for her to follow me. With a perplexed expression, she follows me to the far end of the flat driveway. In the distance, the setting sun shines down on us, giving our skin an orange coloration.

“Well, it's...” I start to say, but then stop, words failing me. I have so many emotions running through my head right now; it's hard to find a way to put them into words. Amaryllis notices my pause and gets a little impatient.

“Come on, spit it out. We don't have all night,” Amaryllis demands. Her eyes suddenly widen, green light reflecting off of her pupils. I give a start and look down at my skin to see that it is starting to glow green. The timer on my phone has just hit the three minute mark. I'm running out of time.

“No, it seems we don't,” I say softly, gazing at my glowing hand with my lips set in a thin line. Gathering my resolve, I turn to look her in the eyes. It's funny how I've fought life or death battles more times than I can count...but this still frightens me more than any undead. I let out a sigh. “I'll be blunt. I've always admired you.”

“What?” Amaryllis says, raising a brow.

“I'm serious. You went through the same stuff as me...but somehow managed to stay strong. You were always snapping off insults at me...but when it counted, you pushed past your cynicism and reached out to me...even when I couldn't do that for you.” The words come easier to me as I go, my confidence rising as well. Amaryllis watches me in silence. “You are my best friend...and without you, my life might have taken a much darker turn. In part, I owe everything to you...and I wanted to say how grateful I am to you for that.”

I take a breath. “It's more than that, though. You and I were always together. You were the only one I could go to when I needed help or someone to rant at. You've never told me what I wanted to hear...you were honest, and I really appreciated that.” I make sure to hold her gaze as I get to the hardest part of all of this. “I guess what I'm trying to say is...you were...and are...the most important person in my life.”

“Wait, Seth, are you...?” Amaryllis starts to say, her eyes widening in shock. I've gotten this far...I can't back out now. I have to say it. My body is starting to dissolve slowly into the air, particles of green light trailing behind me.

“Yes, Amaryllis. Here, before I go...I wanted to tell you,” I tell her fervently. “I never really understood how I felt until now, but...I've always...always loved you.”

There. I fucking said it. Holy shit that was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. It feels like a weight has lifted from my chest. Despite that, I'm filled with tense anticipation as I gaze at her. Her eyes are wide, but apart from that, I can't read her. I have no idea how she's feeling right now.

Amaryllis's eyes harden, and then she abruptly smacks me across the face hard. I'm not prepared for it, so my head jerks to one side. I let out a gasp and hold my stinging cheek, looking back at her. I see her glaring at me furiously. “Fuck you! I can't believe you!” She snaps at me. My spirits start to plummet...but then I hear her sniff...tears forming in her eyes. “Do you have any earthly idea how long I'd been waiting for you to say that!?”

“You mean you...?” I emit breathlessly, but Amaryllis doesn't let me finish. She steps forward and pulls me close. Before I realize what's happening, her face comes up to mine...and I feel her silken lips pressing up against mine.

My every sensation is blown away by this new feeling. All of my trepidation and fear of rejection is washed away like sand in the waves. All I can think about is that the girl I only recently figured out that I loved is now kissing me furiously, her hands planted firmly around my face.

“Yes, idiot!” Amaryllis snaps again when we finally have to break apart to breathe. She's actually crying shamelessly now, the tears flowing down her cheeks without end. “Of course I felt the same damn way! You think those dates I used to go on ever satisfied me? No...each one only made me more certain...that the only one I wanted was you.”

“Amaryllis...” is all I can say in response to this. My composure is finally starting to slip, tears welling up in my eyes as well. I can't believe she felt the same way that whole time. Time is running out. My body is dissolving faster now as the timer dips below thirty seconds.

“Of course I loved you, Seth. Why do you think I put so much effort in staying with you?” Amaryllis demands. She pulls me forward and hugs me tightly. “But...thank you for finally telling me...even if it took you this fucking long. Now...now I can be satisfied.”

“Are you sure?” I ask her, hugging her back. Together, even as my body fades away, she and I hold one another close, refusing to let go.

“As satisfied as I can be...considering I won't ever see you again,” Amaryllis retorts. She rests her head on my shoulder. “But at least I know you'll be alright. Go be happy with your pony friends...and tell the rainbow one I'll kick her little ass if she doesn't take care of you.”

“Don't worry...I will,” I promise her. My body is finally shrouded in green light, my vision of Amaryllis disappearing.

“Goodbye, Seth,” Amaryllis whispers as I finally dissipate completely.

“Goodbye, Amaryllis.”





I reappear in the ruins of the college, staggering slightly as the spell releases me. The first thing I hear is the sound of multiple ponies panting hard. It takes me several seconds for my eyes to adjust to the darkness...and then they widen when I see the state of the others.

Chrysalis's mane is damp and her body is damp with sweat, the strain of holding the spell clearly showing in her face. Behind her are the other ponies in various states of exhaustion, looking completely bereft of magic. Twilight and Rarity are lying flat on the ground, panting hard, while Salamul and Iron are leaning on their weapons. Celestia is resting on her haunches, looking a little sweaty herself.

The only one still standing is Hawke, his hand resting on Chrysalis's body. No doubt he was the last one to contribute his magic to the spell. When he sees me appear in front of Chrysalis, he retracts his hand and slips it back into his pocket.

“You have returned,” Hawke states as he steps away from Chrysalis.

“Finally...hah...I'm completely out of magic,” Chrysalis huffs, standing up straight again. When she sees me, she glares. “I hope you're happy. That was the hardest and most strenuous spell I've ever cast.”

“I am happy,” I reply, wiping my cheeks dry. “Thank you, Chrysalis. Thank you all for doing this for me. I can't thank you enough.”

Celestia gets up and approaches me, nuzzling me comfortingly. “I hope you were able to make peace with your family,” she says when she draws back.

“Yeah...I was. I think I'm satisfied...though it still hurts,” I have to admit. There's no way I can hide that sort of thing from Celestia. She seems to have picked up on that as well. She's nodding understandingly.

“I expect that it does. It's not easy, saying goodbye to your loved ones,” Celestia says with a sad sigh. “Living as long as I have, I have had to say goodbye to many dear friends...and it never gets easier.”

“I can't even imagine. I'm not immortal,” I respond, earning a smile from Celestia. I wouldn't even want to be immortal. No, I want to grow old with Rainbow Dash. That much is for certain. I'm actually itching to see her...but that brings up another point. “Also, have any of you saved enough magic to get back to the Crystal Empire?”

“I believe I have enough,” Hawke answers, clenching his fist. “Is it time to return?”

“If Seth is ready,” Celestia affirms. She looks to me for confirmation. Behind her, the other ponies start to congregate in the teleportation glyph. Twilight and Rarity in particular look ready to return to the fair. If this works like I think it did, hardly any time has passed here in comparison to the two days I spent in the past.

“Yeah, I'm ready to go back. There's still some time left in the day, isn't there?” I ask, joining the others in the circle. “I want to go hang with the others some more.”

“That sounds like fun. I can think of a certain pony who might be very impatient right now,” Rarity insinuates, nudging me. Yeah, I bet. Even though Rainbow might have been in on it, she's not one to sit around and wait. I hope she hasn't stirred up too much trouble.

“Let's go,” Hawke interrupts. Once the last pony is in the circle, he claps his palms together with a grunt, summoning up his remaining magic.

It isn't long before we reappear in the central room of the Crystal Tower once more. I can hear the sounds of the fair still going on outside...all of them oblivious to what I just went through. But that's okay. I prefer it that way.

“Now then, shall we return to the festivities?” Celestia suggests with a bright smile, approaching the doorway leading outside. I hear various sounds of agreement coming from the others. “Provided you don't need time to rest, Seth.”

“No, I should be fine. To be alone is the last thing I want right now,” I confess. That gets Twilight and Rarity to walk up beside me, the both of them giving me support with their very presence.

“Yes, let's go! I'm sure the others are waiting for you,” Twilight encourages me enthusiastically. I smile appreciatively at the both of them, once again feeling grateful to have such good friends.

“Go on, Seth. We'll be right behind you,” Celestia urges me gently. I don't need any further persuasion. I let out a content sigh. All things considered, I'm left with a happy, full life ahead of me, with plenty to look forward to. With Twilight and Rarity flanking me on either side, I walk forward, climb down the staircase, and walk out the front door...

...to where my Rainbow and my friends are waiting for me.





Epilogue:

Stalwart Iron: 
Despite his brother's wishes, Iron chose not to return to Bleak Island, and instead accepted Celestia's offer to fill the position of Captain of the Canterlot Royal Unicorn First Division left open in the wake of Shining Armor's move to the Crystal Empire. Despite all he had been through, both during the civil war and the battle against Sombra's forces, he still remained strong and became one of the best captains the force had ever seen.

Warlord Salamul: 
Once the war was over, Salamul tried and failed to convince his brother to return to Bleak Island with him. Afterwards, he challenged Celestia to a duel, only to be defeated soundly. Respecting his brother's decision, he returned to Bleak Island to rule as the sole Warlord. However, as a result of the war, relations with Equestria had improved. Due to his newfound respect for Celestia, Salamul chose to open his borders to Equestria, allowing travel between the two. Relations between Bleak Island and the changelings were especially tight. Ever since their battle in the Crystal Empire, Salamul often visits the changeling hive for another rematch. He was witnessed vowing to Chrysalis that one day, he would take her back to see his homeland. 

Queen Chrysalis: 
In the wake of the war, Chrysalis was glad to see Celestia follow through on her promises. At the next meeting of the International Committee, Chrysalis and the changelings were acknowledged as their own independent nation. Immediately afterward, Chrysalis formed a strong alliance with Bleak Island. Relations between her and Equestria remained strained, but with the addition of the neutral ground near Dodge Junction, ponies began to interact with changelings on a regular basis. Over time, with the sincerity of Pterax and Mantis, they became less afraid of the strange black creatures.

Captain Blades: 
After the war, Blades retired from his position as Captain of the Canterlot Royal Unicorn Second Division, passing the role onto his capable commander. He went on record saying that "he was too old for international throw-downs like that." Rather than leaving the force entirely, Blades remained in Canterlot to train the newer recruits, regaling them with tales of his exploits. He became a father figure to many, and an inspiration to the troops.

Commander Rose "The Blossom Wind":
In the wake of Blades's retirement, Rose took his place as captain of the Canterlot Royal Unicorn Second Division. However, despite the worries of the ponies below her, she was a much kinder captain than expected. Her friendship with Fluttershy had proven to be a strong influence on her, causing her to lighten up and even get back in touch with her family, who were delighted to hear from her. Every so often, Rose could be seen visiting Ponyville to spend time with Fluttershy, their friendship never fading.

Swift Lance:
After Iron's promotion to Captain of the First Division, she was elevated to the rank of Commander for her actions in the war against the Crystal Empire. She always complained about how she was given more duties than usual, but it was said that she never let her rank go to her head. She maintained a friendship with Seth and the other members of her former team, often visiting them when she had spare time.

Trixie:
Trixie's fame spread like wildfire after her performance in the Crystal Empire. Before long, Trixie found herself swamped with requests from all over Equestria, asking for her to come and perform for them. Trixie went on record as saying, "Trixie supposes she can grace your cities with her presence." However, the smile she wore upon saying that was one of genuine happiness. In the end, everypony that went to see her shows proclaimed once more that Trixie was truly great and powerful.

Former General Flowing Mist:
She remained in the Crystal Empire long after the war, helping to rebuild their society and put things back to the way they used to. Despite her misgivings, the crystal ponies accepted her readily. Mist once stated that without their help, she never would have made it as far as she did. She remained forever grateful to Seth and Princess Celestia for their help in turning her life around.

Hawke:
The dark enigmatic immortal that had once served Sombra kept mostly to himself in the frozen north, taking refuge in his mountain base. He rarely ever left...though on occasion, he could be seen visiting Mist in the Crystal Empire or Fluttershy down in Ponyville. 

The Elements of Harmony:
After returning home to Ponyville, the six friends were heralded as heroes. The news of their roles in attaining victory for Equestria had spread like wildfire after the Crystal Fair. Pinkie in particular kept throwing so many parties that ponies had to practically beg her to give them a break.

Seth and Rainbow Dash: 
After the war, the two returned home to Ponyville for a few weeks to enjoy some rest and relaxation with their friends. After the fiasco with Pinkie's spree of parties, the two of them gathered supplies and bid goodbye to their friends. They left Ponyvillle together, fulfilling the promise that they'd made together before the battle of Cloudsdale. It would be quite some time before they returned. The discoveries they make along the way, however, is another story.

END