Small Beginnings

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Small Beginnings

“Kael!”

“Yes Mr. Hardis?”

“I want you to organize the canned goods, they’re all out of order.”

“Yes Mr. Hardis.”

“And go put all the carts in the proper place, it looks like a hurricane hit them!”

“Yes Mr. Hardis.”

“And the customer’s bathroom is clogged again. You know where the plunger is.”

“Yes…Mr. Hardis.”

It seems those three words are the only ones that I have ever spoken to my boss, Donovan Hardis. I’ve always bowed my head, muttered a quick affirmation, and just went on my merry little way without question. For the past two years, that’s pretty much been my life summed up in one sentence.

Yes Mr. Hardis.

And nothing else.

My name is Kael Maalouf. If you think that’s a strange name, then take solace in the fact that you aren’t the first and certainly won’t be the last. My mother emigrated from Ireland, and when I was born, and she wanted to give me a Gaelic name that would fit with the last name of my Lebanese father. No, I have absolutely no clue how an Irish lady and a Lebanese man found each other in Canada or how they had enough in common to fall in love and get married, all I know is that it happened. Thus, Kael Maalouf.

I’m an even six feet tall, short brown hair and brown eyes, and a light tan skin colour, all of which I inherited all from my dad. If you weren’t told in no uneven terms that I was related to my mother, you would never guess that we were related with her fair skin and sandy coloured hair.

My name is Kael Maalouf, I live in one of the dirtiest and shittiest part of Toronto in Scarborough (although I could live in a lot worse), I work at a grocery store, and I only have a highschool diploma.

My name is Kael Maalouf, and so far, life hasn’t been the greatest to me. Such as right now, as I desperately try to unclog a toilet whose pipes must be the diameter of a freakin dime with how often they get blocked, and the only thing I have to comfort me is the knowledge that I’ll have plenty of other menial tasks to do when I’m done.

The toilet put up a good fight, but I eventually prevailed, sending the disgusting water down the drain with a wet gurgle and a satisfying sigh. I washed my hands and tossed the plunger into the maintenance closet outside of the bathroom, not caring to wash it off as I knew that it would just get dirty when it and I go through the same song and dance tomorrow. And besides, I’m the only one who ever uses this closet, so it’s not like anybody’s the wiser.

The tag I wear on the dark red collared shirt says that I’m an assistant stocks organizer. That’s just a fancy way of saying that I do the work that nobody else does. The boring and the gross, day in and day out.

“Kael!”

“Yes Mr. Hardis?”

“You done with that toilet?”

“Yes Mr. Hardis.”

“Finally. Go and clean out the deep freezer. Some bags of meat had holes in them and the liquid on the inside leaked out and froze. It smells like shit, I want that fixed.”

“Yes Mr. Hardis”

Mr. Donovan Hardis, the cheapest man I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. He holds onto a quarter tighter then he would his own unborn child’s life, and wouldn’t spit on a puppy if it was on fire, saying it was his moisture, he worked for it, so why waste it on a dumb dog? It’s rather impressive really. Some people think that they’ve seen the lowest of the low in the world, but then they meet good ol’ Mr Hardis, or Mr Hardass as he is colloquially known, and they realize just how wrong they are, and that there is always a little bit of innocence left just waiting to be squashed.

He treats his employees like shit, because he knows that if they are working for him, then they’ve probably reached rock bottom, and he knows that they have no other option. And in my case, that’s true. I used to be in college, studying psychology as that was the only thing I could find that created a spark of interest in my mind, but after my dad was killed by a drunk driver while on the way to visit me from the small town in which he lived in Northern Ontario, I’ve lost the drive to make something of myself.

I sort of fell out of college when that happened a few years ago. My dad and I were pretty close, and the shock hit me hard enough to pulverize any chances I had of focusing on school. So I decided that I shouldn’t bother paying for classes that I knew I would fail, and I dropped out. I didn’t blame myself for what happened, as I knew that it was a freak accident born of stupidity and alcohol on the other drivers' part, but it still hit me pretty hard.

Where there once was a moderately intelligent and somewhat boring young man, there is now an apathetic husk. The only use of which seems to be cleaning up other people’s shit, literally and figuratively.

My name is Kael Maalouf, and I’m fucking miserable.

I quickly made my way home through the streets of Toronto, eager to get back to my small apartment. It was 8 PM, and the streets were still pretty crowded, so I didn’t really have any reason to fear being out at night. Relatively speaking, Toronto is a sorta safe place. I know that there are many cities much more dangerous than this one, and I’m well aware that the chances of me being hurt by any undesirables were slim, especially since it was so early into the night.

Unfortunately, this knowledge did absolutely nothing to actually prevent me from hating being on the streets at night. All around me were people who were talking, laughing, walking, and otherwise going about their own business. They had nothing to do with me, and I had nothing to do with them. Rationally, I knew this. Irrationally, it still terrified me.

To put it short, I’m a bloody coward. It’s something I’ve come to terms with a long time ago after many attempts to find a solution have failed. I’m absolutely terrified of anything that has the smallest chance of harming me, be it other people who look even the slightest bit dodgy, or any creature that has teeth. I don’t associate myself with many people because of this due to the fact that I’m usually too damn scared to talk to anybody I don’t know. For some reason, my mind is set on the idea that, if I annoy or inconvenience somebody in the slightest, they’re going to shove a knife through my ribs.

Stupid, I know. What makes it even more stupid is that, mentally I’m weak, but physically I’m pretty dang strong. When I was a little bit younger, I went to taekwondo classes for eight years, getting my 2nd degree black belt. I was pretty close to getting my third too. Despite my cowardice, I knew that if I was in the right mindset, I could royally mess somebody up.

Unfortunately, the right mindset could only be achieved when I was in a safe environment where I knew I wasn’t in any real danger. The only time I could get myself to raise my fists was in the dojang when I was with a sparring partner, and when I was wearing padded equipment. When those conditions were met, I was a beast in combat. I even once knocked a guy out cold for a few minutes from a spectacular hook-kick to the side of the head. I was so in my element that I forgot to restrain myself at the time, and even though the fault technically was his as it was his duty to avoid or block the kick, I still felt terrible for it. Thankfully, the guy was fine. He even complimented me for it.

If I ever were in a confrontation on the street however, any and all training that I had would instantly become worthless. As soon as actual danger is factored into the equation, I became as defenceless as a child. That’s why, every night after work, I always make my way back to my apartment as quickly as possible while trying to make myself look as non threatening as possible. I just put my hands in my pockets, put my head down, and look at nobody. So far, it hasn’t failed me.

I was in an unusually good mood tonight, mainly due to the fact that it was raining. I’ve always liked the rain, although I don’t rightly know why. All I know is that every time I’m out in the rain, or can hear the tapping of the drops hitting the ground in the background, I’m much more quick to smile. It’s a mental thing I suppose.

I live approximately 40 minutes away from my work in a dingy apartment building in the middle of a neighbourhood consisting of small, run-down houses. It wasn’t luxurious, with its terrible plumbing, non functioning heater, and thin walls that muffle sound as well a chainmail fence, but it was dirt cheap which was good enough for me.

I cut through a small playground like I did every night to help shave off a few minutes on my walk. I could hear the sound of the rainwater tinkling against the smooth aluminum of the children’s slide as I walked past it, and the creaking of a rusty swingset was ever present as it was disturbed by the slight wind.

This was the best kind of rain. The kind that was made of big, fat drops that hammered into the ground, but didn’t fall fast enough that it was a outright downpour. I paused in the middle of the empty park, the moisture slowly starting to seep in through my cheap shoes. I gave a shuddering sigh, made sure there was nobody around, and turned my head up to the sky to better feel the rain hitting my face.

I smiled slightly as the drops pounded on my eyelids and streaked through my messy hair. It was a euphoric feeling, one devoid of worry or distress. I let the thoughts that were clouding my mind dissipate, revelling in the feeling of the emptiness that followed. I was completely calm, and for the moment, slightly happy.

“OW!”

I yelled as my moment of peace was interrupted as a small, hard object collided with the middle of my forehead. My hand immediately went up to the spot where I was hit with god knows what, and my eyes started to water.

I started to look around, thinking that someone must have thrown a rock at me or something. Figures, I finally get a moment of peace all by my lonesome, and some tool has to throw a rock at me. If I weren’t such a baby when it comes to dealing with other people, I would have thrown one right back.

Or at least, I would if I could see anybody. I was expecting to see a group of punk kids, probably with their pants around their knees and their hats on sideways, pointing at me and laughing. Instead, all I found was a few trees and the rusted figures of the playground around me. As nervous as I was, I wasn’t about to think that an old see-saw had started throwing rocks at me, so I came to the conclusion that I was alone. The perpetrator had probably bolted by now.

It soon occurred to me to look down and see what had hit me. I turned my head back downwards and was met with a curious sight. In the sand below was a single shiny ring.

I looked around again, but still couldn’t see anybody around me. Figuring whoever had thrown it had run off, I bent down to pick it up, muttering to myself all the while.

“Seriously, who the hell throws jewellery at people?” I grumbled as I took the ring between my forefinger and thumb. I could immediately tell that it was made of metal, but because of the lack of light due to the late hour and the rainclouds above me, I couldn’t tell what kind of metal or discern any other features.

I sighed. “Oh well, I guess it’s mine now.” Since some twathead had been so generous with their possessions, I might as well keep the ring. Who knows, it might be worth something and the idiot didn’t know. Although, knowing my luck, it’s much more likely that it was made of tin rather than gold.

I put the ring in my pocket and continued on my way, my good mood ruined by the rude interruption. I brought my hand back up to my forehead and rubbed the spot that was hit. I’d be lucky if that didn’t bruise. I bit back another curse.

I power walked the rest of my way home, now eager to have a happy reunion with my bed. By the time I had reached my apartment, it was almost 9. At this point I was so weary, both mentally and physically, that I forgot all about the ring in my pocket, took off all of my clothes, and flopped onto my small bed, instantly falling asleep.

Morning came too soon, as it always does, the rude bastard. I dragged my arm out from under the pillow that I was laying face down on, and slammed it against my alarm clock, hoping that it would be convinced to shut up its incessant beeping. Unfortunately, the damned hunk of plastic couldn’t take a hint, so it took several arms flails to get it to quiet.

I groaned as I plopped myself up on my arms, stretching like a waking cat. My back popped in several spots, the brief spouts of pain and relief helping my wake up out of my sleepy reverie. Nothing wakes you up like giving yourself late onset arthritis, no sirree.

I dragged myself out of bed and blearily pulled on a pair of boxer shorts that I found in a pile of unsorted laundry I had yet to put away. I then made my way to the kitchen, where I threw open the fridge door and pulled out a big granny smith apple. I took a bite out of it without bothering to wash it first. I couldn’t help but laugh slightly when I took full stock of my situation. Ain’t the bachelor’s life grand?

My good humour slowly dissipated. The looming prospect of work started to enter my mind, and I resigned myself to a day of menial labour as I made my way back to room in order to get changed with my apple in hand.

I pulled out my backup red uniform shirt that I used when the other one was dirty, and hastily threw it over my head. I didn’t bother using a different pair of black jeans then the ones I had used yesterday. Everybody knows that jeans don’t get dirty after all.

I noticed something curious in the right pocket of my jeans, and when I dug my hand through it to investigate; I came out with the ring that I had picked up yesterday. It sat in the palm of my hand as I recollected the events that ended up with it being in my possession.

Wait a minute…I found this thing yesterday…yesterday was Friday…today’s Saturday…

Oh shit, I’m not going to work today!

I grinned as I remembered that I didn’t have any obligations to anybody other than myself today. Then I groaned as I realized that I could have easily just slept in this morning. I was tempted to go back to bed, but I knew that the chances of me actually falling back to sleep was unlikely, so I abandoned the idea.

The cool metal in the palm of my hand drew my attention back to it. The ring was an intricate yet simple band with a strange design on it. From what I could tell, it looked like a majestic four legged horse with wings that were curled along the length of its back. A long horn protruded from the head of the figure, almost touching its flowing tail on its other end. The figure was elegantly lined within the metal on the outside of the ring, resulting in a fairly pleasing image.

The picture of the flying horse thing was a little strange, but I didn’t pay much attention to it. Instead, my mind was drawn to the material of the ring that glowed yellow in the morning light. My eyes lit up in sudden realization.

“Shit…I think this is gold…” I muttered to myself in awe. I didn’t know much about fine metals, but I knew what shiny yellow paint looked like, and it definitely didn’t look like this. From the looks of it, this ring could actually be valuable.

I laughed out loud at the thought of somebody throwing away a ring that could easily be worth a few hundred dollars. Whatever idiot threw this must be either extraordinarily dumb, or extraordinarily unlucky. Either way, it was looking like things were starting to look up for me. I quickly pulled on my belt and grabbed my smartphone (mandatory to every big city dweller), and made my way out the door in a hurry. Any thoughts of going back to bed had quickly been replaced with something far more important.

“I’ll give ya 20 bucks for it.”

My jaw dropped. 20 dollars? For a golden ring? That’s bloody criminal! I made sure to voice my displeasure at the walking bucket of lard behind the counter.

“For crying out loud Mitch, this is gold we’re talking about here. I don’t know how much you think gold is worth, but it’s a lot more than just 50 dollars.”

Mitch snorted, sending his double chin flapping as though it was caught in an unseen wind. “I don’t know what gave you the idea that this was gold kid, but it sure as hell ain’t.”

Mitch was the owner of a fairly successful, if somewhat shady, pawn shop. I came to his place in the hopes of selling off the trinket to him and making a pretty penny, one that would really help me with bills, rent, and food. He was an extremely heavy man with permanently greasy skin and whispy blond hair. He had a facial structure similar to that of a bulldog with a heavy jaw and too much skin to fill his head.

“Well then what is it?” I asked him indignantly. Mitch merely shrugged his shoulder, sending his chin and jowls into more wobbly shakes.

“Hell if I know. All I know is that it isn’t gold.” He answered.

I opened and closed my mouth for a few moments like a fish out of water. I sighed dejectedly and kneaded my brow with the heel of my palm. I looked back up to Mitch who was looking at me expectantly.

“Well…even so, don’t you think 20 is a little low?” I asked in a small voice.

Mitch raised an eyebrow, severely unimpressed with my pathetic attempt at haggling. “Kid, as far as I know, this thing could be made aluminum. It’s pretty to look at, sure, but it ain’t got any selling point other then that. I’ll give ya 20 for it, no more.”

I looked at Mitch in despair. If he was right about the ring not being gold, and he most likely was as he examined jewellery on a daily basis, then it probably wasn’t worth anything near what I was hoping it to be.

The ring was sitting on the glass counter between us. I glared at it, demanding an explanation as for how it could lead me on like this, but eventually I sighed, realizing that this was probably my fault for getting my hopes up so quickly.

“You know what…I’ll just keep it.” I said slowly as I grabbed the ring from the counter and shoved it into my pocket. I might as well own a snazzy piece of jewellery that I could use to impress people, even if it was faker then a 3 dollar bill.

Mitch shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

I nodded and mumbled a “thank you for your time” before I slumped out of the pawn shop, my hopes of leaving with a heavy pocket crushed.

By the time I got back to my apartment, I wasn’t in the mood to do anything. Usually I would spend my days off of work reading, watching T.V, or otherwise relaxing, but right now I couldn’t even work up the motivation to fall asleep.

I cursed myself for my idiocy. I should know better than to let my hopes up for something that may or may not be true, like a ring that could be worth a lot of money. I had looked at it, made an uninformed decision about its worth, and when it turned out to be nearly worthless, I start to feel like shit. I only have myself to blame, but that doesn’t make it any less depressing.

I stood in the center of my apartment. It had only 3 rooms, the main room which was a combination of living room and kitchen, the bathroom, and the bedroom, all of which were nearly too small for a person to live in. Thankfully, my low paying job didn’t allow me to buy much of anything, so it was very sparsely furnished with only the barest necessities.

I took the not-gold ring out of my pocket and looked at it with a sigh, resigning myself to the fact that it was just a pretty bauble and that its only value was aesthetical. Feeling a little bit better about my situation, a slipped the ring on the pointer finger on my right hand. It was a little loose, but at this point, I couldn’t care less.

Before I even took one step I knew something was wrong. The ring in my finger went from cool to very hot in a matter of seconds. I looked down at it in shock, and I gasped when I saw that the lines that made up the design of the winged horse creature were glowing an ominous red. I quickly moved to pull the ring off my finger, but before I could, the impossible happened.

The ring itself changed its shape. It somehow made itself smaller so that it went from fitting loosely around my finger to clamping shut on it like a vice. The light emanating from it brightened as it slowly started to get hotter, almost to the point that it felt like it was burning my skin. My eyes widened in terror as I desperately tried to yank it off of my hand.

The ring wouldn’t give no matter how hard I pulled at it. I started to whimper slightly, now becoming downright terrified of this crazy little loop of metal. My head was starting to hurt and my vision was becoming cloudy in a feeling not unlike a major head rush. I could feel the heart pounding in my chest as my vision darkened more and more and as my dizziness increased until eventually I couldn’t stand up anymore.

I collapsed on the dirty carpet. The last thing I saw before blacking out entirely was the crimson glow of the ring emanating from the hand that had fallen in front of my face.

Today was the day that I experienced my first night terror, something I had only heard about but thankfully never understood the true meaning of. I had considered them to just be nightmares that were extra scary. I was wrong. They were fear incarnate.

My sleep was being tainted by the most terrifying nightmare I had ever had. I was floating in a dark, misty void while a pair of gigantic blood red eyes with retinas that were a sickly green colour. I could see a fine veil of purple emanating from the edges of the eyes as they studied with what felt like a combination of malice and contempt. I couldn’t move to run away, or open my mouth to scream.

“At long last…”

A voice had resonated in my mind, each word long and drawn out. I couldn’t pinpoint its source as it sounded like it was coming from all around me and from inside me all at once. It was a voice that was so filled anger and hatred that it would have almost been comical if it weren’t so terrifying. The eyes just continued to glare at me as I floated in space.

“The ring…has returned...”

I had started to feel a pulsing burning sensation on my hand where I knew the ring I had found was. I would have looked into it had the menacing eyes allowed me to look away from them.

“Now…I will be WHOLE!”

A giant mouth appeared underneath the malevolent eyes. It opened to reveal a row of incredibly long and deadly looking fangs, the smallest of which looked to be slightly taller then me. The gaping maw approached me with a roar, and my mind nearly tore itself apart as I mentally screamed from the primal fear that coursed through my body.

I was consumed by the void as the jaws of the monstrosity clamped over me. Somewhere in the edge of my mind, I heard screaming that sounded a lot like mine.

“AAAAAAAAHHH!”

I woke up violently, thrashing my arms above my head and kicking my legs out around me.

“Aaaaah…aaah…”

I panted heavily as curled into a ball where I lay, shivering from the remnants of the fear that I had just experienced. I started to sob uncontrollably as my body started to spasm and convulse. I feared that I was going to throw up.

I lay there for what felt like hours. My mind was replaying the horrible images and feelings that I had been subjected to. Eventually, I stopped sobbing, my throat feeling raw and my face hot from the tears.

My heart rate slowed as I started to calm down. Only then did I start to realize that something was very wrong with my situation.

I perked my ears, listening. I could very clearly hear the chirping of birds and the sounds of the wind passing through a canopy of leaves. What struck me as odd however, was how in the world I could hear leaves when the closest tree to my apartment was a 15 minute walk away.

I also noticed that I could feel something tickling my cheek, like I was laying down on a field of grass. It was when the smell of dirt and mud started to assault my nose did I realize what the problem was.

I quickly sat up to find that I was lying in grass. Not only that, but I was in the middle of a damn forest. Massive trees, the biggest ones I had ever seen in my entire life, surrounded me as I lay in the middle of a small and remote clearing.

I looked around dumbly from where I was sitting. As I gazed at this completely new environment, I could only think of one thing to say.

“What the hell did I do last night?" I whispered to nothing.

No answer was forthcoming from assorted plant life all around me. I took a moment to search my memories to try and remember how I wound up in the middle of a forest. After a while pulling at faint recollections, it all came back to me in a flood of realization.

I remembered getting back to my apartment and putting that ring on, and then getting dizzy and passing out. I looked down at my hand and saw that the ring was still firmly clamped down on the bottom of my ring ringer.

I frowned at it, remembering how it shrunk down from its original size and how it glowed with that strange red light. Something was profoundly wrong with this seemingly innocuous piece of jewellery, and I didn’t like having it on me.

I tried to pull the wring off my finger, but it was stuck as firmly as though it were welded into my skin. I tried to pull it off with my teeth but only succeeded in giving myself a slight toothache. After a few minutes of desperately clawing at my hand, I gave up.

I pulled myself up from the ground and looked around. There were no trails or signs that I could follow, so I figured that I must have been pretty deep within the forest. I had absolutely no idea how I got there, but that was something I was going to think about later when I was back safely in my apartment.

I checked my pockets to see what I had on me. I had my wallet which held only a 20 dollar bill and a few cards, and my smartphone which had less then half its full capacity of power left. There was no signal unfortunately.

I felt the fear starting to seep into my mind as the reality of my situation started to sink in. I was miles away from civilization, I had no knowledge of how to survive in the wilderness, and I had no way to find my way back. Death was a very real possibility in this forest.

Before I could dwell on this fear for too long, my thoughts were interrupted by a sound piercing through the quiet. A long howl that could only have belonged to a wolf came from somewhere deep in the forest. To my dismay, several more similar howls responded to the first.

I knew next to nothing about wolves, and even less about animals in general, but if years of watching action movies and shows taught me anything about wolves, is that they always hunt in packs. And when wolves howl, there’s a good chance they’re hunting. And if you can hear that howl, you better get out of there fast, because they’re hunting for you. I didn’t know if this was true or not, but since I was faced with the prospect of being hunted by a pack of vicious predators, I didn’t really care.

“Shit…” I muttered under my breath. At this point the terror that I had been experiencing earlier had come back in full force, but was forced down as survival instincts kicked in. I immediately took off in the opposite direction of the howling wolves, tearing through underbrush and shrubbery as I made my way through the forest, and hopefully away from danger.

I’ve been in this forest for about 4 hours now, fleeing a pack of wolves that I had stopped hearing a short while ago, and I have come to one conclusion.

There is something seriously wrong with this forest.

As I was walking through the trees, taking it easier now that I had put what I hoped to be enough distance between the wolves and I, I heard what was unmistakeably the roar of a lion the distance. Not a bear, not wolf, but a full blown lion.

Now I ask you, because I honestly have no idea myself and would really like some answers, WHAT THE HELL IS A LION DOING IN THE MIDDLE OF A FOREST?!

I didn’t wait around to find out. As soon as I heard that roar, my body was flooded with fear adrenaline and I took off running as fast as I could. I could feel the limbs of trees and the thorns of bushes tearing into my arms and legs as I ran, but I didn’t care. I only cared about moving to safety, although I was starting to doubt I would be able to actually find any.

By the time I stopped running, my arms and legs where sore to the bone. There was a painful stitch in my side that felt like someone was running a handsaw through it with every breath I took. My vision was blurry, and I briefly worried that I was going to pass out again, but it turned out only to be from the tears that I didn’t know I was crying.

Just more proof that whoever designed this place was on a little bit too much of the good stuff, I had heard a chicken clucking somewhere nearby as I ran for my life. Just another creature to add on the list of creatures that should never be in a forest, yet somehow was.

I slowly lowered myself down to rest for a while, keeping my sense open for the slightest sound that could even suggest danger. My breath was coming out in ragged breathing at this point, and it took a while before I could breathe normally again. Fortunately, I hadn’t heard anything out of the ordinary as I rested.

I looked up at the sky. The sun was starting its decline into evening. I gave a sort of half sigh, half whimper, and got up again to resume my walking. I had been going in a straight line this entire time, and I still hadn’t found any signs of civilization. Needless to say, my hopes were fading fast.

But still, I persisted, never allowing to give up on the hope that I would pull through and get out alive. I knew that if I allowed myself to be swallowed up by hopelessness, then any chances I had of getting out of this forest would be completely thrown out of the window.

As long as I had hope, I had a chance.

While this was a pretty sentiment, it did nothing to assuage the terror that pervaded every fibre of my being. My steps were small and unsteady as I walked, almost resulting in me tripping over an exposed root several times. The eeriness of the forest was starting to get to me more and more as I got increasingly nervous.

The fear was…incredible. I’ve never felt anything like it before. It was not only the fear of being injured, but the fear of dying. The differences between the two were not something that I had ever had the chance to appreciate before. Now however, I had all the time in the world.

I had to get away fro the fear, the remaining rational part of my mind told me. It threatened to overwhelm and consume me, rendering me into a helpless, sobbing mess. So I did the only thing I could think of. I sang.

When I was much younger, I would get scared very easily, much more easily then I do today. The dark, the monsters in the closet and under my bed, the shadows on the wall of trees outside my window, everything scared me. When I was scared, my mom would hold me in her arms, whisper reassurances, and softly sing to me. It didn’t matter what she sang, it was just her presence that reassured me.

I conjured upon the precious memories of my mother and her singing to me, trying not to dwell on the possibility of never seeing her again. I picked a random song from my memory, one that was simple to sing.

“A long, long time ago, I can still remember how that music used to make me smile.”

I sung very softly, almost in a whisper, so as not to attract any attention from whatever wildlife may be around me.

“And I knew that if I had my chance, I could make those people dance and maybe they’d be happy, for a while.”

My muscles screamed at me in protest as I trudged along. I hadn’t exerted myself so much in such a short amount of time for years, and my body was paying for it.

“But February made me shiver, with every paper I’d deliver.”

I noticed a rocky outcropping up ahead, and my body immediately changed direction for it. I needed more then just a few minutes rest, I needed sleep.

“Bad news on the doorstep, I couldn’t take, one more step.”

I collapsed to my knees as the combined weight of the days stress, both physical and mental, finally won. I was only a couple of meters away from the outcropping now, and I continued making my way towards it on my hands and knees.

“I can’t remember if I cried, when I read about his widowed bride.”

My quiet singing started to become choppy as I was wracked with more sobs. They were dry, heaving sobs however, as I didn’t have the energy to shed any tears. Too much had happened in such a short amount of time. I just wanted to sleep.

“Something touched me deep inside, the day, the music died.”

I finally reached the outcropping. It offered very little shelter and camouflage, but it was still something. I dropped down to my stomach and curled into a ball as the ground started to steal my warmth.

I continued to sing as I clenched my eyes shut and drifted off to sleep.

“So bye, bye miss American pie, drove my chevy to the levy and the levy was dry.
And them good old boys were drinking whisky and rye, singing this will be the day that I die.”

“This will be the day that I die…”

The eyes were back. Twin drops of burning red in pools of poisonous green, staring at me while I remained helpless. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t scream, I couldn’t do anything. Just float in the nothingness and be judged.

“Soon…you will return to me.”

I felt the world spinning around me as I started to leave this accursed dreamscape. My unconscious mind was rapidly being replaced by conscious one as the real world rushed in to greet me.

“Soon…”

I awoke with a start, inhaling dirt from the ground that I had been laying on. I coughed violently to clear my mouth and airways and was left with a disgusting taste coating my tongue. Swallowing dirt and sand did not help my condition and all.

With a groan, I sat up slightly and looked around me. From what I could tell, it was evening. I could see the clouds tinged pink and orange as the sun prepared to fall below the horizon.

I didn’t know how long I had been sleeping for, but I knew that it wasn’t long enough. My eyelids felt like there were weights attached to the ends of them, making me put in extra effort to keep them open. My calves were burning with a dull pain which intensified as I moved, and my arms and legs felt 3 times heavier then they normally did.

I crawled out of my little hidey hole and slowly stood up, massaging and stretching the tension out of my muscles as I did so. I drew myself up to my full height, feeling a few joint in my arms and legs crack as I did so.

The sound of a twig snapping made my heart skip a beat. Something was here, and it was watching me.

Not daring to breath or move, I slowly paned my vision across the forest. I saw evergreen trees that were at least 4 stories tall, I saw bushes thick with leaves and thorns, but I didn’t see anything moving. I allowed myself a brief moment of relief before I heard a rustling of leaves coming from the left of me.

I whipped my head around, and what I saw was enough to make my heart stop. Peering out of one of the bushes, watching my every move, were a pair of slanted golden glowing eyes. I froze up immediately, not daring to move an inch. The eyes merely continued to watch me, not blinking at all.

To my terror, more pairs of eyes started to pop up around the first pair. All of them a golden colour, glowing as they reflected the dim evening light. There were 5 in total.

We stood there, watching each other for what couldn’t have been shorter then an eternity. Eventually, one of the creatures shifted, sending the bush they were hiding in rustling once more. This was enough to snap me out of my reverie, and I immediately turned and bolted in the opposite direction.

I could hear the sound of the creatures giving chase to me as they leaped from their hiding spot and started barking and yapping. My eyes widened in realization as I ran for my life once more.

Wolves. A pack of them, probably the same ones that I had heard before. I knew that they had an incredible advantage over me, being smaller and faster, able to navigate the undergrowth much more effectively than I. Not to mention there were more of them.

So I did the only thing that I could think of. I ran faster, pushing my body to limits that I had never encountered before. I leaped over fallen logs, tore through clumps and foliage, and otherwise took advantage of the one thing that I could do that the wolves couldn’t. I could manoeuvre through and around obstacles without slowing, while the smaller creatures and had to slow down in order to avoid running face first into a stump.

It wasn’t enough however, as the wolves’ incredible speed kept them close on my heels the entire time. I knew that it was only a matter of time before I made a mistake. Before I tripped over an exposed root or twisted my ankle on a slanted surface. But still, I pressed on, focused only on running.

A little bit too focused perhaps. So deadest on running as fast as physically possible, I hadn’t noticed the extremely steep slope that I was quickly approaching until it was too late.

My running was interrupted as the ground disappeared from beneath my feet. I screamed as my momentum sent me tumbling forward down the slope, gravity taking complete control of my movements. I rolled and crashed through bushes and sticks, receiving a whole new set of bruises to call my own.

My painful fall was interrupted when I collided violently with a thick tree that was standing on the near 90 degree angle slope. I felt one of my ribs crack, and my side exploded in a blaze of pain. Tears started to swell, blurring my vision and making any efforts to control my fall even more impossible then they already were.

I had bounced off the tree trunk and continued tumbling until I finally reached the bottom, rolling a few more times before finally stopping. I was a wheezing, broken pile of nothing but pain as I lay on the grass, unable to move.

A few of the wolves had fallen with me, and the rest were quickly making their way down to where I was laying. I was only now able to get a good look at them, as I had been too busy running from them to notice something that was very peculiar about them.

They had no fur at all. Instead, their bodies were covered in a brown carapace. I noticed that leaves were growing at random points around their bodies, and realized with a start that the carapace was made of wood.

I was about to be killed by timberwolves made of actual of timber. Oh irony, you are a cruel, cruel bitch.

I closed my eyes as all the wolves gathered at the bottom of the hill. I didn’t want to see them approaching, see the fangs that I knew would soon be tearing into my flesh. I just wanted this nightmare to be over.

I prayed to whatever god or goddess that had forsaken me that they would let it be quick and painless. That the wolves would go for my neck first, snapping it in half and killing me instantly. Having the beasts go for my legs and arms first, slowly killing me as I writhed in agony and my own blood would have been nothing but an even bigger fuck you from the world to me.

My prayers were interrupted as they were caught off by the sound yelling, which was surprisingly not mine, as this voice was unmistakeably female. I could hear a crashing sound from behind me, and the wolves’ attention instantly switched from me to whoever it was that just made themselves known.

Something was thrown where the wolves were standing in front. I heard the sound of glass breaking, and then a loud hiss as a dark smoky mist filled the air. The air was suddenly filled with an extremely pungent and disgusting smell of woodrot. My nose wrinkled instinctively, but the wolves were hit much worse.

They started yapping and crying as their strongest sense was attacked by the disgusting smell. Before they could recover and escape the cloud, a shadow passed over me as my saviour leaped over my body and at the wolves.

My mind almost broke when I saw my saviour through the curtain of smoke. It wasn’t much bigger then the wolves, and although it was a quadruped, it was definitely a different creature entirely. The only resemblance I could think of was an extremely small horse with a rounder head and thicker legs. I could see the outline of a mane on its head, and my confusion only increased when I dimly realized that it was in the shape of a mohawk.

The creature went to action right away. As soon as it landed amongst the pack, It twisted on its front legs and kicked its hind legs out behind it, striking one of the wolves right in the face. The wolf looked as though it had been hit by a car as it was sent flying through the air and landed heavily on the ground. To my surprise, the wolf completely shattered into a pile of sticks, twigs, and logs.

The equine shaped creature nimbly dodged a snapping bite that another one of the wolves that had recovered had thrown at her. She quickly swooped one of her front legs underneath the wolf, kicking his legs out from underneath it as the equine crashed its hips into the wolf, sending it to the ground. From there, the equine crashed its front leg into the wolf’s face, shattering that one as well.

At this point, the other three had completely recovered and were glaring at the equine creature. I could faintly make out their glowing eyes through the smoke, but I could still only see their outlines.

Two of the wolves charged, and the creature reacted by charging back. Right as they were about to collide, the creature jumped, landed on the back of one of the wolves, and leaped off of it. It landed on all fours directly on to the third wolf, sending its wooden pones flying in all directions.

The two remaining beasts had wised up at this point, realizing that just attacking the equine creature was fruitless. One of the timberwolves yapped at the other, who then quickly ran in a circle around the equine creature so that it was standing between the two predators. The equine creature hadn’t moved at all.

With another bark, the two wolves charged simultaneously at the equine. I watched in horror as my four legged saviour was rapidly approached on either side by what would surely be a gruesome death. I mentally yelled at the figure to move, I pleaded for it to get out of the way, but it stood as still as a statue.

I wanted to close my eyes, but I couldn’t. I was to transfixed on the scene in front of me as the wolves simultaneously leaped at the equine, their open mouths eager to rend and tear into flesh.

It all finished in a blink, but not in the way I expected it to. As the two predators were inches away from the neck of the equine, it twisted away at the very last second and ducked its head, sending the two surprised animals barreling straight into each other. There was an explosion of wood as they burst apart, their body parts spreading in all directions.

All was silent now that the wolves lay scattered across the forest floor. I could see the equine figure standing completely still, and now that I wasn’t transfixed on its fight, I could hear it breathing, steadily and evenly.

The smoke began to dim. The outline of the equine slowly turned towards me and began to walk closer. With each passing second, I could glean more and more details about whatever it was that saved me. I saw big, slanted turquoise eyes on a large round face. The body was grey and covered in black stripes, and its impressive Mohawk of a mane was striped black and white. It had brass rings on one foreleg and on its neck, and large hooped earrings hanging from its large ears.

With all the excitement gone, I started to notice the condition my body was in. The pain from my cracked rib came back full force, and I winced and gave a sharp intake of breath, causing the creature to pause before continuing towards me.

I noticed my vision darkening, which could only mean one thing. My body was shutting down. I had gone through too much physical and mental trauma, and my body’s defense mechanisms were forcing me into unconsciousness to protect itself.

I struggled in vain to stay conscious, but it was a losing battle. The striped creature was upon me as I eventually blacked out.

At least I'm Not Dead...

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At Least I'm Not Dead

My nightmares were different this time as I slept, and I was fairly thankful for it. The malevolent, omnipotent being with the blood red eyes was starting to get a little stale to be honest, so I was glad that my subconscious had moved onto other horrific images to terrify me at my weakest moments. This time, I was being torn apart by strange creatures, all of which had the body of a wolf, but had the head of some other random animal. One creature ad the head of a lion, another had the head of a chicken, and the other had the head of a horse. Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to die I this particular night terror, so I was forced to watch a multitude of spliced mutants slowly devoured me.

Needless to say, I wasn’t in the right state of mind when I finally woke up gasping and in a cold sweat. My vision flashed painfully as a light near the bed I was laying on shined directly in my eyes, and I squeezed my eyes shut. I lay where I was, panting, tired, and now that I had accidentally thrown the covers off of me, cold.

“Wait a minute…bed…covers…pillow…I’m sensing an inconsistency here. Wasn’t I just in a forest?” I thought to myself slowly as realization dawned on me. I was laying in a comfortable bed, I had my head on a slightly scratchy mattress, and I was covered with a what felt like a wool blanket.

With my eyes still closed, I smiled and sighed.

“Finally.” I thought with satisfaction. “Finally that damn dream is over. I’m back in my bed in my cheap apartment, I’m safe and sound, and I can finally stop being afraid.”

I slowly opened my eyes to gradually get them used to the light. My vision was blurry, so I waited for it to clear.

“That was an incredibly realistic dream.” I mused. The sounds of the animals, the crisp smells of the forest, the pain of the injuries that I had sustained, they were so lifelike that it felt like I was actually there. I could even remember everything that happened in vivid detail unlike in most dreams that are halfway forgotten as soon as you wake up.

My eyes finally adjusted, and I frowned as I lay on my back and looked at the ceiling over me.

“That’s not my ceiling.” I thought aloud. The surface above me was made of what looked like a dark type of wood. The ceiling in my apartment was made with whatever bargain bin material the builders could find at the time. Probably paper mache or something.

I wrinkled my brow in confusion, propped myself up on my elbows to get a good look at my surroundings. All of a sudden, I became aware of several different things at once as I realized that I hadn’t just woken up from a dream where I was being chased through the forest for the better half of a day. I was either still in that dream, or it wasn’t a dream at all.

The first thing I became aware of was a burning pain in my side as I moved, making me gasp in sudden pain. When the pain subsided, I looked around and became aware of a second thing, which was that I wasn’t in my apartment, or in my own bed. The wall directly next to me was decorated with a multitude of frightening, albeit colourful masks of grinning animals and snarling demons. The bed I was in was also about a foot too short for my body, resulting in my feet hanging of the edge.

The third and most important thing I became aware of was that I was not alone. I heard a bit of a hasty scuffling noise to the right of me, and my head snapped in that direction to see whoever was in the immediate vicinity.

Or whatever was in my immediate vicinity. I didn’t know what it was that I was looking at, but I knew that it was something that I wouldn’t consider to be worthy of the term “whoever,” as that word usually conjures up the image of a human being. What was staring at me from what looked like the interior of a very small and very rustic one room house was definitely not a human being.

It was sitting at a small wooden table with a steaming clay mug in front of it. It was staring back at me as I stared at it. Neither of us moved as we looked at each other.

My first instinct was to, of course, panic. Say what you will, but I’m pretty sure that if you were in the same situation of being in a strange bed in a strange house being watched by a strange person that wasn’t even a person, you would panic too.

That instinct was driven back however when a small rational part of my mind recognized the creature. I faintly remembered laying on a forest floor, watching through a thick and pungent haze as an equine type creature fought off a group of vicious wolves. I also remembered catching a glimpse of the details of that particular creature as it walked towards me moments before I passed out. As I looked at it, I was able to determine that the thing sitting at the table, sipping at what looked to be tea, was the same creature that saved my life.

And so I decided to do the chivalrous thing and not wet myself in fear as the creature slowly stood up from the table and walked towards me. I did however recoil slightly from her movement, sending another burst of pain running up my chest. I winced and whimpered slightly as I clutched at my side.

It stopped approaching me as its eyes widened. It shrunk back slightly and started to speak in a low voice, one that somebody would use to calm a wild animal.

My eyes widened in surprise as the thing started to speak softly, cooing at me like I was a frightened deer or rabbit. The shock that this thing was speaking almost knocked me unconscious yet again. I strained to hear what she was saying, as the voice was most definitely female, but I found the language to be completely unidentifiable. Woven within the thread of her words, I could hear an occasional whinny that sounded as though it was actually part of the language.

I’m not the most culturally diverse guy around, but I can say with certainty that there isn’t a human language that uses whinnying in its vocabulary. This realization only gave me more questions alongside “How did I get in a forest?” and “No seriously, why is there a lion in this forest?”

Despite the weirdness of the situation, what with what could very well be an alien trying to calm me down from an anxiety attack, her mutterings still managed to soothe my nerves somewhat. My heavy breathing slowed down slightly, and my eyes stopped flickering around the room, desperately looking for an exit. Instead, I was looking at her with the most profound confusion I had ever had the misfortune of experiencing.

The equine, which I now noticed was very similar looking to a zebra with the stripes in her hair and mane, reached the edge of my bed. I still had my eyes locked on her, and she was still muttering to me like the frightened animal I probably was to her. Ever so slowly, she raised a foreleg and laid it gently on my arm, which I couldn’t help but tense in nervousness.

The zebra softly patted my arm in a reassuring manner. My eyes flicked from her leg to her face, and I started to calm down. The way I figured, someone (or in this case, something) wouldn’t by all gentle and patient with me if they didn’t have any intention to hurt me. With the way she was acting, she almost looked like she was acting motherly towards me in a creepy, “I’m not gonna murder you, so please don’t murder me.” kind of way.

Now that I was calmed, something that she had noticed when she gave me a small smile, I became aware of one final thing about my situation. Namely, that my…sensitive bits were a little bit more sensitive then they normally would be under a woolen blanket. I quickly lifted up my blanket and discovered to my chagrin that I was completely naked under it.

Completely naked if you didn’t count the bandages scattered over my body that it. All over my body, on my stomach, legs, arms, everywhere I looked, there was a bandage or wrapping. I realized that they were applied to places where I had scraped or cut myself in the forest, and I realized that this gentle zebra must have been the one to apply them.

I drew my attention away from my damaged flesh and back to the zebra creature with a new kind of interest. She was looking at me expectantly with a hint of what looked like worry on her face.

I opened and closed my mouth a few times like a fish out of water before finally finding my voice. “Thank you.” I said quietly.

The zebras ears perked at my voice, and although she didn’t understand my words, I think she understood my meaning, because she gave me a small smile and a humble nod of her head. Then to my surprise, the zebra reached over and started to remove wool blanket from my body.

I reacted as most people would, that is to say, with surprise. I gave a quiet yelp and pulled back the covers before she could remove them from my midsection, but that only caused the zebra to look at me disapprovingly before sternly shaking her head. She more tugged at the blanket more forcefully, and in my weakened state, I wasn’t able to resist. With a final tug, she revealed my naked body in all of its glory.

My face burned red in embarrassment, but the zebra payed my face no mind as she moved to the end of my bed. She moved a foreleg up to my leg, and put a slight amount of pressure right above my foot before looking back at my face to gauge my reaction. When I only looked back at her blankly, my face still red, she moved to my other leg and repeated the action, again looking back at my face.

She moved up both of my legs, applying slight pressure before looking back at me and moving to another spot. I only sat there in complete confusion until it finally dawned on me.

“She’s checking for internal injuries.” The small, rational part of my mind chirped. I realized that she wouldn’t have been able to tell if I was internally injured just from the look of me on the outside, and with me being unconscious, there was no way she could have known.

Now that I realized was that problem was, I decided to help her along her way before she got a little bit too close to certain areas that I would rather she didn’t get near. I made a small noise to get her attention, and when she looked back at me, I pointed at my ribcage and made a gesture with my hands that was similar to breaking a pencil in half. I made a small crkk sound with my mouth to help make my point.

The zebra’s eyes widened in understanding, and she swiftly moved to my side. She applied a very small amount of pressure to the spot on my ribcage that I had pointed at, and then nodded to herself when she saw me wince. I had cracked a rib as I tumbled down that hill when I was running from the wolves, and it seemed that this kindly zebra was going to help me out.

The zebra walked away from my bedside and went to the other side of the room where I could see shelves full of all sorts of glass containers and different varieties of plants. I noticed that dried plants were also hanging from the ceiling and that there were assortments of what looked to be totems scattered across the room. All in all, it gave off the impression of the house of a shaman.

She moved over to a shelf and picked up what seemed to be a small stone in her mouth. She then walked over what could only be a large cauldron and scraped the stone against the side of it, sending a shower of sparks that lit a bundle of wood sitting beneath it. A liquid inside the cauldron slowly began to boil.

“Not a shaman,” I thought as the zebra began to pull off various herbs and plants and throw them into the cauldron, chanting in a low voice as she did so. The cauldron released puffs of different coloured smoke with each dried root or leaf she added.

“she’s more of a witch doctor.”

I didn’t know what exactly the zebra was doing, but I was fairly certain that she was concocting some sort of medicine for me all while chanting lyrically in that language that I didn’t recognize. I briefly thanked my lucky stars that I was found by such a generous and helpful creature in my time of need. I was under no illusion that I would not be alive had she come around. I only wondered what it was that she had in mind for me. Did she help me completely out of the kindness of hr own heart, or were there any ulterior motives to her actions. Regardless of her reasons, she still helped me in my time of need.

I took the chance to look around me a little bit more, and I noticed that my clothes were neatly folded and sitting on the floor next to my bed. I also saw that the contents of my pockets had been taken out and were sitting on the end table next to my head.

My wallet, my smartphone, and my headphones were safe and intact, something that gave me a small measure of relief. I reached over and pressed the button on my smartphone, and was disappointed when I was greeted with the symbol that meant it was out of power. I wondered if the zebra had fiddled curiously with it in an effort to learn its secrets. Something told me that she wasn’t very familiar with advanced technology such as it.

One thing that I noticed that was especially peculiar about the zebra’s home was with how similar it looked to a home belonging to a particularly low tech person. I couldn’t help but wonder how it got furniture that was almost exactly the same as the kind that could be seen in any Ikea. The furniture was mostly made of wood, and there were very few pieces of metal to be found. The stove was made of stone and ran on wooden logs, and there was no technology to speak of. Everything was smaller then it usually would be to account for our obvious height differences, including the one door that I could see.

The zebra delicately grabbed a flask off of her shelf by the neck, and she carefully dipped it into the liquid. Holding the glassware in between her teeth, she walked over to where I was laying down and gently set it on the table next to me before looking at me expectantly.

“Drink.” her eyes told me.

I pointed meekly at the potion. It was dark blue, bubbling, and not appealing at all.

“Drink that?” my expression asked.

She nodded firmly, and I sighed in dejection. I reached out and grasped the potion by the neck and brought it under my nose to take a whiff. I inhaled, and couldn’t help but gag slightly. It smelled like liquefied compost, no doubt from all the plants that were thrown in it. No doubt it didn’t taste much better then it smelled.

“Can I get some sugar, or honey, or…” My words trailed off as she stared blankly at me. She then motioned towards the bubbling flask with her head, her meaning clear.

“Drink.”

I looked at the bubbling, fetid liquid, and I seriously considered refusing drinking it. The way I saw it, no matter how much help this zebra had given me, it was still an intelligent creature that was giving me an unknown item that it wanted me to consume. I didn’t know if this was medicine or some malicious drug or poison.

Eventually, under the stern gaze of the zebra similar of that of a doctor looking at a troublesome patient, I relented. I brought the flask to my mouth, and hesitated.

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” I thought before I poured the liquid down my gullet. It seemed that I had called it right; it tasted like leaf juice with a touch of sourness.

The effects were almost instantaneous. I felt a chill run through my entire body, but instead of feeling it in my muscles or on my skin; I somehow felt it deeper, in the core of my bones. It wasn’t unpleasant really, it just felt weird.

Shortly after I drank it, I started to feel dizzy. My eyes started to get heavy and my head started to pound. I tried to resist falling over, but the zebra started to gently push me over so my head fell on the pillow.

“Noooo…” I muttered weakly. I really, really didn’t want to go back to unconscious land. It seemed that every time I closed my eyes for slightly longer then a few seconds, I would be assaulted with all sorts of terrible dreams. Not to mention I didn’t like being unconscious around this creature. Just because she helped me doesn’t mean that I trusted her. Not yet at least.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t resist the pull of sleep, and my mind started to haze over as I was pulled into a deep slumber.

I don’t know what it was about this particular instance of sleep, but to my great relief, it was nightmare free. I don’t know what it was that prevented any horrific images from assaulting me at the time when I was at my weakest, but I knew that I felt more rested than I did in a while.

My eyes fluttered open as I returned to the world of the living, laying in the same bed and covered in the same scratchy wool blanket. I gave myself a little bit of time to figure out where my arms and legs were before sitting up so I didn’t topple out of the bed. As I lay there, I recalled drinking the potion that the zebra had given me and falling asleep right after, and a small bubble of fear formed in my stomach.

Why had I been knocked out after I drank the potion? Was it supposed to do that? It seemed that the zebra had expected that to happen with the way she gently laid my head onto the pillow, and for reasons that I couldn’t understand, it reminded me of the way that somebody would gently lay somebody on the ground after putting a chloroform cloth to their mouth.

I slowly got up and looked around the one room house, and what I saw made my jaw drop. The zebra was in the middle of the room with her eyes closed in meditation. That in itself wasn’t too strange; my history in martial arts has made my quite familiar with meditation. However, I could not recall a single time that I have ever seen someone balancing on their head on top of an upright staff with their arms at their chest and their legs splayed out in random directions. And even as I was looking at the zebra doing just that, I could still hardly believe it.

The zebra must have sensed my presence, as she soon opened her eyes to meet my astonished gaze. With a quick twisting movement, she leaned off the top of what looked to be a bamboo staff, landing gracefully on all fours as she caught the staff in her teeth before it fell. She quickly tucked it away in a corner of the room and then walked over to where I was laying.

She approached my bedside, and before I could stop her, she pressed her hoof to my ribs in the spot that I had injured. I winced instinctively, but was surprised when the searing pain didn’t come. Instead, the wounded area was just a little tender at her touch.

I looked at my ribs in bafflement before putting pressure on the spot with my own hand. It didn’t hurt at all. I put a little bit more pressure, and I could feel my ribs bend slightly under my hand, but no pain was forthcoming.

I looked up at the zebra to see her smiling at me, and I smiled in return. I didn’t know what happened, or why my injury had healed in what couldn’t have been more then a few hours, but I knew that I had this wonderful creature to thank for it. I bowed my head and smiled gratefully, and she nodded before turning away from the bedside and walking to what had to be the kitchen. I guessed that it was around time for dinner as she started to pull out wooden and stone kitchen utensils.

I decided that I would take this opportunity to get dressed while her back was turned. Whether or not this creature truly is a zebra or not, she doesn’t seem to have any aversion to nudity. I however, did. I quickly pulled off the blankets and picked up my clothes and started to pull them on.

I realized that all the other smaller injuries that I had acquired during my trek through the forest had not been healed as I could feel them smart underneath the bandages that had been put on me. I didn’t pay that much mind however. I figured that half a loaf was better then no loaf at all.

I quickly pulled on my underwear, black jeans, and plain red collared shirt with some difficulty, as my body was still stiff and sore. I slowly rose from my bed and stretched my limbs as far as I could, eliciting a few satisfying pops and cracks.

The zebra noticed that I was moving, and she turned to look at what I was doing. I saw a little bit or surprise when she saw me standing, and thought that I could understand why. She only came up to about my waist, so I must have been quite the imposing figure to her.

She muttered to herself and turned away from me, reaching into a small cupboard where she pulled out a variety of vegetables and a knife. She quickly got started on cutting up some green peppers and throwing them into a bowl. I watched in fascination how she expertly manoeuvred the knife with just her mouth.

As I sat on the edge of the bed, and as I watched her work absentmindedly, I started to think about my situation, something I haven’t had enough time to do yet. I thought about how I somehow managed to faint in my own apartment and wake up in the middle of a forest. I also thought about how this place was inhabited by the strangest creatures, from ones that don’t belong in a forest to ones that don’t belong in anywhere other than fiction .

There weren't many reasons that I could think of that sounded realistic enough to be true, and I had already overruled the dream possibility. Only two reasons stood out. The first was that this was an extremely imaginative and well thought out prank, but there was a multitude of problems with that theory. The first was that I didn’t know anybody who would go to such lengths just to pull a fast one on me, and I certainly didn’t know anybody insane enough to drug me, leave me in the middle of a forest, and set wolves after me. Especially not the types of wolves that I saw.

Unfortunately, that was the theory that made the most sense. My second theory as to how I got in this predicament of mine was that I had traveled to another planet or dimension entirely. I had absolutely no idea how that could ever be possible, but after all that I’ve seen recently, I wasn’t about to discount anything as being too absurd.

The more that I thought about it however, the more that that idea made sense in my mind. I thought about the wolves made out of wood, and about the kindly equine that had saved me from them. The way I figured, at the level human technology is right now, It would have been nearly impossible for those creature to live on our planet without our knowledge. Plus, there was one more thing that made me seriously consider that I might have broken some sort of space-time continuum in coming here.

I looked down at my right hand, or more specifically, at the shiny ring that was firmly wrapped around the base of my index finger. I had nagging feeling that this ring had something to do with my being here. The way that it glowed after I put it on, and then immediately passed out, and the way that it refused to come off was far too suspicious to ignore as insignificant.

I sighed and sat down at the edge of the bed, burying my head into my hands. I had to fight back the urge to cry, because I knew if I started, I wouldn’t stop. I couldn’t help but think about my mom, the only family I had left, and my few friends back in Toronto. I started to tremble slightly as I contemplated the possibility of never seeing them again, and of them never knowing what happened to me.

I couldn’t let that happen. My mom was a wreck after my dad died, not eating or moving for several weeks afterwards. It was one of the reasons I had to leave college. She suddenly lost any and all desire to care for herself, so I had to take up the responsibility, something that I couldn’t do while still in school. I knew that if she lost me too, then there was no way she would be able to go on.

I gritted my teeth and dug my nails into my scalp. I couldn’t let that happen, and I wouldn’t let it happen. If this ring really was what brought me here, then no matter what it took, I was going to get it to take me back. Granted, I didn’t know the first thing about it, this world, or the inhabitants of this world, but no matter how long it took, I was going to get home. I had to.

My resolute thinking was interrupted when I noticed something strange happening with the ring on my finger, namely that it was glowing red. Not bright like how it did before I fainted for that first time, but softly like an old glowstick. The glow quickly disappeared as soon as it arrived however. I stared at the ring for a few moments, waiting to see if anything else was going to happen. When nothing did, I pushed it out of my mind.

The rest of that evening was spent mostly in silence between me and my host. We both knew that there was an unbreakable language barrier between us with no way of getting past it, so we didn’t bother attempting to communicate in anything other then charades. It got a little bit awkward when I had to use gestures, motions, and sounds to tell her that I needed to use a bathroom, but she eventually figured it out and pointed to the door of the small house. It seemed like I was going woodsman style.

It was nearly night when I left her house in order to relieve myself, trying to ignore her snickering at my attempts to get my message across to her. I realized that this meant that I had spent a full day in this forest, and that I would soon be spending another full one here.

I did my business and went back inside her little hovel, but when I turned around to go back inside, I stopped in surprise. The house wasn’t a house at all, but a hallowed out tree that had been repurposed into a home. There was some decorations hanging off the walls and the branches of the tree, ceremonial masks and painted on symbols. The result was an extremely striking image of an environmentalists dream home.

“A place fit for a witch doctor.” I thought with a wry smile as I went back inside. I saw that the zebra had finished making dinner and had laid out two bowls of what looked to be a simple garden on a rough hewn wooden table.

It wasn’t fine cuisine, but considering my situation, I was happy with it. I nodded my thanks and took my bowl and a small cup of water in my hands, and sat down on my knees to eat since the chairs were too small to sit in, and the table would be too low to eat at comfortably. She didn’t give me any utensils, so I just ate with my fingers.

By the time I had finished, I had been awake for only an hour and a half, and I was starting to feel tired again. The zebra must have noticed how my movements became sluggish and my eyes became half lidded. After I had eaten, she had walked up to me and gently pushed me in the direction of the bed that she had given me. I dragged my body, still sore from the scrapes and scars that covered me from head to toe, and I gratefully collapsed into the thin mattress. The zebra gently patted my head as my eyelids fell and I slowly fell asleep, something I had been doing far too much of for the past day.

“It’s a big and scary world out there Kael…bigger and scarier than any of us will ever know. But no matter what happens, you need to be strong”

“Never take anything for granted son. Not even the simple things. The wind on your face, the light of the sun, everything, no matter how insignificant, is much more valuable then it seems at the time. Every sensation, every experience, every feeling is another step in the journey of life, and no matter how insignificant it might seem, it should be a step taken with the utmost care and attention.”

“Remember Kael, an answer earned is much more valuable then an answer given.”

“You know what Kael? Friends are a lot like snowflakes. If you pee on them, they disappear.”

My dreams were haunted by brief flashes of my dad and his voice. I caught glimpses of his kindly, wrinkled face, and I heard an assortment of random bits of wisdom that he was so fond of imparting on me, even though I didn’t understand most of them at the time, and still don’t for some.

I slowly rose from the bed on which I was laying and stretched out my arms. I felt like very well rested, something that I was very relieved about. I had been worried that even though the kindly zebra had given up her bed for me, I wouldn’t be able to sleep due to the underlying fears and worries that plagued my thoughts.

I slowly rose from the bed and looked around. To my surprise, the zebra was nowhere to be found. I went to the front door and looked outside, peering around at the trees and shrubbery, but I couldn’t find her. My brow furrowed in confusion.

“She probably just stepped out for a while…” I thought to myself. From what I could tell, this zebra lived in isolation, and she probably lived off of the forest. I wouldn’t be surprised if she came back with bags laden down with fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

With not much else to do to entertain myself, I just sat and waited for her to get back. I looked at the various colourful masks that decorated the walls; I examined the small cauldron and the assortment of dried plants and powders that she had used in her potion making, and basically just entertained myself for about an hour. Thankfully, I heard a small rustling noise that indicated that the zebra had returned from wherever she was. I had to admit that it was more then a little disconcerting being alone in such an unfamiliar environment, and I was glad that she had returned.

I was sitting on the edge of the bed when she returned, twiddling my thumbs and idly looking around. I looked towards the door and smiled when I saw her walk in, but my smile froze on my face as I realized that she wasn’t alone.

The Rocky Road to Wherever

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The Rocky Road to Wherever

The zebra entered first, and behind her came two more creatures of a similar build and shape as her, with four legs, a big head, and large eyes. As they walked in, I saw them eyeing me much in the same way that the zebra had been before. Hesitantly, like I was a feral creature that could bite their heads off at a moments notice. Little did they know, I was thinking almost the exact same thing about them.

I recoiled slightly as the door closed behind the three of them, backing up from the edge of the bed that I was sitting on. The three of them stood on the opposite side of the room, motionless as statues, with their eyes glued on me.

My surprise and growing nervousness was interrupted by a thin slice of confusion. The one that had helped me so far, the zebra as I had started to call her, looked nothing like these other two. Instead of being black, grey and white, one of them was lavender coloured and the other was butter yellow. Their hair, or manes as the case may be, were longer and different colours, with the lavender one having a darker purple mane with a single pink stripe running down the length, and the yellow one having a long, baby pink mane that hid half of her face. They were draped over the sides of their faces, much unlike the zebra’s short mohawk that stood straight up on her head.

I was under just as much scrutiny as the lavender coloured one and the yellow coloured one started to converse with the zebra in hushed tones as they examined me from afar. Not that it would have mattered if they spoke loudly, as I still wouldn’t have understood their bizarre language anyway. Many sideways glances were thrown my way as they stood huddled in front of the door, although from my perspective, it was more like they were huddled in front of the only exit. I remained where I sat on the bed, watching them like a hawk for any signs of hostility.

I wasn’t able to effectively read these creatures, unfortunately. I could definitely tell that they were intelligent beings, more then just mindless animals, although whether or not they realized that about me I didn’t know, but their vastly different physiognomy made it difficult to determine their emotions. I was thankful that their eyes were so big and revealed a lot about how they were feeling; otherwise I’d be running completely blind. I could tell, however, from the way that their hushed whispers grew louder and more frantic, that they were agitated about something. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what it was with the way they were gesturing and looking at me.

The lavender one seemed to be the most anxious, whether from fear or excitement, I couldn’t tell. All that I could see was that she was trembling slightly and that she had a slightly manic look in her eyes that I did not like one bit. She seemed a little bit too interested in me, much more than the zebra and the yellow one was.

The lavender one and the yellow one sounded like they were having an argument while the zebra just stood next to them impassively, watching. Eventually, the lavender coloured one broke off from the little group and started to quickly walk towards me, the crazy gleam still present in her eyes. It was then that I noticed that, unlike the other two, it had a pointy protrusion coming out of her forehead, a horn of some sort, much like a mythical unicorn. It looked dangerous, and with the way the lavender one was approaching me with a wide smile and unblinking eyes made me jump to conclusions that I did not like one bit, all of which involved me being perforated like a sheet of paper.

I yelped and scrambled away from the edge of the bed, resting my back against the wall on the other side. The lavender stopped walking and looked shocked for a moment before a loud noise from behind her drew her attention.

The yellow one looked angry, and she quickly marched over to where the lavender one was standing while jabbering away in that language of theirs. Its voice was distinctly feminine, I noticed, before it quickly grabbed the lavender one’s tail with it teeth and started to pull it back towards the door, eliciting a little “eek” from it. The lavender one was female too, it seemed.

And she was also in a lot of trouble. The manic gleam had left her eyes almost completely as the yellow one gave her a tongue thrashing of a lifetime. She didn’t yell, but I didn’t need to understand their language to know that she meant business just by her tone. The lavender shrunk away from the yellow and nodded meekly, mumbling what I assumed to be an apology.

My heart was beating strongly in my chest from the fright as I observed them. The zebra was watching me closely. After the yellow one had finished with the lavender one, it looked at me, her eyes quickly going from hard and stern to soft and concerned. Or at least I think that they did. It was hard to tell, really.

Now it was her turn apparently. Ever so slowly, she made her way to where I sat with a panicked expression on my face. Her head was low and partly hidden behind her long pink hair, and her eyes were locked on mine. And then she started to speak, softly and quietly.

I had to strain my ears to catch her voice. It had to be the smallest, most delicate noise that I had ever heard that had come out of a mouth. I couldn’t understand her, but for some reason, she was managing to ease my nerves with just the sound of her voice, soft and pretty like the whisper of a note from a filled crystal glass.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see the lavender one observing the yellow one closely. The zebra had a small smile on her face, and seemed to be nodding in approval.

She was now at the edge of the small bed, less then a meter away from me. My panic had almost completely dissipated at this point. There was something about her that disallowed me to feel fear in her presence at all. It sort of reminded me of my own mom, the way she used to make the biggest fears seem small with just a few comforting words.

I inched closer to her, and her face lit up with a small smile. Not a crazy grin like the lavender one had worn, but a gentle, encouraging one. I slid closer still until I was less then a foot away from her. I could reach out my arm and touch her if I wanted.

I couldn’t help but return her small smile with a small one of my own. Before I could stop myself, I hesitantly reached out my hand towards her, stopping a few inches away from her forehead because my entire arm was trembling so much from nervousness. The yellow equine then did something that took me completely by surprise.

She gently closed her eyes and moved forward so that her head was resting against my palm. I could feel the soft hairs of her coat and the longer strands of her mane in between my fingertips. Her eyes remained closed as I moved my hand and fingers a slightly, enjoying the feeling of the soft hairs on my skin.

At first I was confused as to what she was doing, but realization soon struck as I looked upon her downturned face with her closed eyes and peaceful expression. I realized that this was a sign of trust. She was putting herself in a vulnerable position in front of me, and in doing so, was telling me that she trusted me to not hurt her. This equine, putting herself at the mercy of a creature that she didn’t know for sure was a friend or foe, was basically telling me that she trusted me, and that I should trust her.

This epiphany struck me with the force of a hammer. I drew my hand back and she opened her eyes to peer up at me. I could see the question in her eyes, and I nodded my answer to her. She smiled sweetly and nodded back at me.

A small noise from the lavender one drew both of our attention. The lavender was looking at the both of us curiously, and she seemed to ask a question to the yellow one which she promptly answered with a word. The lavender one then made a brief remark and gestured with her head towards the door, and the yellow one nodded once more before turning back to me.

To my surprise, the yellow reared on her back legs slightly and reached out with her two forelegs, taking my hand in between them. They were smooth and hard, and she was surprisingly strong as she started to gently tug at my arm while giving me a meaningful look, still wearing that small smile. It took me a moment to understand.

I slowly got off of the bed and stood up. The yellow one smiled slightly wider and nodded reassuringly at me before letting go of my hand, seemingly unperturbed about my height that was double hers. Then, to my great surprise, a wing that had gone unnoticed until now popped out of the side of her body and gently lay across my back, nudging me forward a little bit. It was the exact same colour as the rest of her coat, which combined with my high strung state of mind; was probably why I didn’t notice that she had wings. If the lavender one was a unicorn, then this one was a pegasus, but I briefly wondered whether those wings actually granted her the ability to fly. From what I saw, they seemed a little bit too small in comparison to her body to do so, but I may be wrong.

My surprise wasn’t allowed to stay long however, as the yellow one was still gently urging me to move forward. I had noticed that the lavender one had opened the door and was standing next it expectantly.

They wanted to take me somewhere. I nervously looked over at the zebra who was standing on the side, observing everything in a stoic silence. She quickly caught my eye and gave me a brief nod.

I quickly weighed my options. On one hand, I could co-operate with these creatures. I didn’t know anything of their intent, but they seemed to be friendly enough, if a little worrisome in the lavender one’s case. On the other hand, I could refuse to leave, something that probably wouldn’t endear me to these creatures, and the way I saw it, the more that they liked me, the less likely they would be to suck my brain out of my ears or something.

I quickly chose to co-operate, figuring that if the yellow one trusted me to not harm her when she was vulnerable, then I should extend to her the same courtesy. Besides, the lavender one worried me and I didn’t want to know what she would do if a put up any resistance. So I started walking and made my way out the door, the yellow one right by my side as the lavender one gave me a disconcertingly piercing look, except she was looking at my legs and how they moved for some reason. Weird creature.

With words of what I assumed to be goodbye towards the zebra, the lavender one followed us out the door with the zebra close behind her, stopping at the door as she saw us out. I gave her one final look behind my shoulder, one that conveyed equal amounts of confusion at my current situation and gratitude for all that she has done for me thus far. With one more nod and smile, the zebra closed the door.

The yellow one walked forward a few steps before looking back at me and gesturing me forward with her head as the lavender one went to stand next to her. I looked around nervously, eyeing the thick foliage around me with the eyes of somebody who has recently learned not to trust forests. The only thing I could hear was the chirping of birds in and above the treetops as they merrily flittered about their business. I had to admit; in the morning, this forest was actually pretty peaceful with the clean morning light filtering through the leaves and the sleepy stillness of a world still asleep.

I took a step forward, and the two equines took that as their cue to start leading the way through the forest. They stepped through the bushes and into the tall grass, and I followed, equal parts worried and curious as to what the destination to this little field trip of mine was going to be.

Thankfully, we soon came across a well worn trail that made our walk much more tolerable. As we walked through the forest, the two equines leading the way as I followed, a feeling of calm started to pass over me. A fond nostalgia started to bubble in my stomach as I remembered the many hours I used to spend in the forests around the house I grew up in. Now that there weren’t any vicious animals that didn’t belong anywhere but in nightmares chasing me, I was starting to feel much more at ease.

A little bit too at ease, it seemed. I accidentally reverted back to an old habit that I had developed where I would whistle as I walked amongst the trees. Right now, I was whistling one of my favourite walking songs, The Rocky Road to Dublin, without even realizing it. I started to tap my hand against my leg and bob my head slightly to the tune, and for the first time in what felt like days, I was enjoying myself.

The enjoyment was short lived; however, as I realized that the two equines were staring at me. My jaunty tune petered off to an end as I met there eyes, one pair shining with amusement and another sharp and piercing as they bored into me.

They started to converse quietly, the lavender one shooting frequent glances back at me. They seemed to be arguing again. The yellow one was shaking her head like a mother denying her kid a cookie that he really wanted, and the lavender was acting the part of the kid with her mouth pouting and her voice anxious. I couldn’t fathom the nature of their dispute, so I didn’t pay it too much mind, instead going back to observing the peaceful surroundings.

Something about the two equines caught my attention, however. I noticed that they both had pictures on the muscles above the rear legs on both sides of their body, the flank I think it was called. The yellow one had a trio of pink butterflys while the lavender one had what I could only describe as a purple six pointed star surrounded by 5 smaller white stars. I couldn’t tell for sure, but I figured that the pictures must have been tattoos. There was no way that they could be natural.

All in all, it took a little over an hour before we finally got out of that forest. I breathed a little sigh of relief as the last shadow of the last tree passed over me and the sky reappeared in all of its glory. I dimly noted that I still didn’t recognize my surroundings in the slightest, something that only lent more credence to my ‘I’m in another world/dimension theory,’ but any more thoughts about it were instantly pushed out of my head as I beheld something in the distance that I deemed to be much more important to think about.

In the distance, down the hill that we were standing on and across a few fields along the dirt trail, was a small town. And when the two equines automatically started to go down the trail leading into it, I knew that it was our destination. I felt a small surge of excitement at this small piece of normalcy, the first that I had seen in a long time, but I also felt a small stone of fear settle in my stomach as I wondered how normal this town really was.

15 minutes later, I was walking down a wide dirt road with my jaw dragging on the ground behind me and a pain in my neck from twisting my head around as I tried to look at everything at once. The town itself was normal enough; although the buildings were strangely colourful and all looked a little bit too small. The residents of the town however, well that was a different story altogether.

Everywhere I looked, I saw the same quadrupedal equines like the ones that were escorting me through the streets. Hooves, manes, and in some cases, wings or a horn, were present everywhere I looked, all in every different colour of the rainbow. As I stared at the equines surrounding me, awed slightly as I did so by the incredible strangeness of my situation, they stared back at me with as much disbelief on their faces as was on mine.

I glanced at the ring on my figure and compared the design on it with the creatures surrounding me, most of them looking at me with wide eyed expressions and all of them looking at me with curiosity. I saw some with horns, and some with wings, and some with neither, but I couldn’t see any that had both horns and wings. My curiosity bubbled as I considered the implications of this. Maybe the figure on the ring was a type of God or Goddess, or a figure of legend from their culture? I pushed the thought out of my mind, refocusing on my current situation. It wouldn’t be prudent to be distracted in such an unknown environment.

One thing that I was sure of now was that this ring had something to do with all of this strangeness. There was absolutely no way that the ring that had a picture of the equines that I was no seeing in droves was not related to them in some way.

What struck me most about the strange town wasn’t the beings that inhabited it. It was the fact that, just by the buildings and structures alone, it looked eerily similar to a rustic human town. It sort of reminded me of a 50’s style small town that one could find kilometres away from the big city’s and sprawling metropolis’s back then. The houses, albeit small, were almost exactly the same as the kind you would see in such small towns, mostly made of painted wood and red brick with quaint gardens at the front. Benches, streetsigns, streetlights, and mailboxes were common sights as we walked past shops, houses, market stalls, and even a hospital as identified by the big red cross over the front entrance. I even saw a clocktower in the distance.

Our walk was interrupted as I hard a loud braying noise from above us, and our attention was drawn skywards where I saw something that took my breath away for what had to be the tenth time in half the amount of minutes. I had seen several equines with wings (I called them pegasi) throughout the town, but this was the first one that I had actually seen fly.

This one had a blue coat and a colourful mane of all the colours of the rainbow. The mark on its flank, something that I had noticed all the equines had but was unique to each one, was a picture of a white cloud spewing a red, yellow, and blue lightning bolt.

It flew down in front of the yellow and lavender ones, giving me a wide berth as it did so. It started to converse quite heatedly with the two, and there was much arm waving and hoof pointing, mainly in my direction. Finally, after a few incomprehensible words from the lavender one, the pegasus gave me a suspiciously curious look before taking to the sky and flying away at dizzying speeds.

The lavender one sighed as the yellow one looked back at me before nodding encouragingly. They took off again in the same direction that they had been walking, and like a puppy keeping close to the heels of its owner, I dutifully followed. I wasn’t worried so much about being attacked by these equines any more, as all of their faces showed only surprise and curiosity with the rainbow one being the exception, but I still made a point to keep a watchful eye out for danger.

The thought that I was in a dimension or world other than my own surfaced in my thoughts again as we continued walking. The mere implications that I may be on a foreign planet filled with foreign life, possibly lightyears away from anything from home, had me feeling sick to my stomach. It took a tremendous amount of willpower to force those thoughts from my mind. It wouldn’t do me any good to throw up surrounded by alien creatures whose intentions with me I still didn’t know.

I must have had a pained expression on my face as I thought. The yellow one looked over her shoulder at me as we walked, and her gaze instantly turned into one of concern. With a few flap of her wings, she floated to where I was walking and landed beside me. She gave my hand a small, comforting nuzzle, and I couldn’t help but smile at her. Out of all the creatures that I’ve met so far, this one was definitely my favourite. I doubted that she could so much as hurt a fly, much less me.

Before I could attempt to assure the yellow pegasus that I was alright, We turned a corner I saw something that took the words right out of my mouth. A giant oak tree, bigger then the ones that were in the forest, was standing right in the middle of the town. At the base of the tree facing us was a small red door (small for me, but probably not for them). This coupled with the multitude of four paned windows that dotted the trunk of the tree at different altitudes resulted in what had to be the most literal tree-house that I had ever seen.

What most amazed me however was the fact the tree was unquestionably alive even though it had holes poked into it and has been hollowed out. The bark was a healthy dark brown colour and the canopy was full of bright green leaves that swayed gently in the wind. I couldn’t help but awe at the fact that these beings had somehow managed to hollow out an entire tree, yet still keep it alive.

“They must have some incredible technology at their disposal.” I mused to myself as I gazed at it.

The unicorn walked up to the door of the tree-house where the unicorn promptly opened the door and entered. The kindly pegasus looked up at me and nodded encouragingly, so I bent my head low and followed.

First impressions told me that this was a library or archive of sorts as the walls were carved into the shapes of bookshelves that were filled to bursting with books of all sizes and colours, all of which had titles written in a language that I couldn't understand. I was standing in what seemed to be the main room of the library. Small chairs and small tables, all made of wood, were scattered around the room, probably to give the guests a good spot to read. I could see the entrance to what looked to be the kitchen from where I stood, and at the end of the room a long winding wooden staircase ascended into the floor above us.

Looking around, there wasn’t much that I could see that wasn’t made of wood except for the books themselves. I did notice a desk that had a number of strange metallic and stone instruments on it whose purposes I didn’t know. Judging from the looks of this place and from how familiar the lavender one seemed to be as she walked inside, I figured that she must live here as some sort of scholar or something.

I could hear the pitter-patter of little feet thumping away on the floor above me. The sound moved to where the staircase leading up the second floor ended, and a small purple body appeared at the top. To my surprise, it wasn’t walking on 4 legs like all of the other equine creatures that I have seen so far, instead it stood on two stubby legs It peered down, and when its eyes fell on the lavender unicorn, it smiled, showing two rows of little pointy teeth.

It started to say something in an excited tone of voice, but then it noticed me as I was being escorted in by the yellow pegasus. Its eyes widened drastically, and it made a small, awed sound that I knew just by its tone translated into the word ‘woah.’ The lavender unicorn let the little purple…thing stare at me for a few seconds before saying a few commanding words that were received with a stiff salute as the creature quickly made its way down the rest of the stairs. It grabbed a long piece of paper from the desk with the numerous instruments on it in one hand, and a big fluffy feather in its other hand. A quill, I realized as it dipped the thin tip of the feather into a small pot of ink and held it above the paper while looking at the lavender one expectantly, occasionally shooting me a few curious glances.

The lavender unicorn started to talk at a face pace, and the quill immediately started to scribble along the piece of paper as the little guy wrote what she was saying. This added more credentials to the possibility that the lavender one was a scholar of some sorts, as she seemed to have her own personal scribe.

I took advantage of the attention leaving me to examine the little bipedal creature and hopefully glean its species if I could. It was a shiny purple colour, the shine coming from the light reflecting off what I realized to be the scales that covered its small, stubby body. It had green spines on the side of its head and all along its back and the small tail that protruded from above its legs, similar to the way that a dinosaur would have spines on its body to help regulate its body temperature.

The dinosaur comparison may be more appropriate then I thought as I realized that this creature was definitely reptilian. The pointy teeth and spines suggested that it might even be more closely related to the ancient giant lizards than most of the reptiles that I’m more used to back on my planet, lizards and such.

I briefly entertained the idea that it actually was a living and breathing dinosaur in the flesh, but I quickly dismissed it as being highly improbable. Not only was the creature tiny, about the size for a newborn baby, but unlike the dinosaurs, it was also definitely intelligent; something that was plain to see as it dutifully wrote down every word that the lavender unicorn said.

After about 5 minutes of nonstop talking on the unicorn’s part and writing on the little lizard’s part, the river of words finally stopped, and the piece of paper was then promptly rolled up and tied with a red ribbon. The little lizard gave the unicorn a questioning look, and when she responded with a nod and a few words, it promptly blew green fire on the scroll where it quickly disappeared.

My eyes must have grown to the size of dinner plates. A spurt of green flame flew out of the little lizard’s mouth and bathed the rolled up piece of paper. To my increasing bafflement, instead of being set on fire and disintegrating into a pile of ashes, the paper disappeared completely in a puff of smoke that trailed through the air and flew through an open window at the back of the room.

I blinked several times as the unicorn and the little lizard, or should I say, little dragon eyed the window that the smoke had flown through. I looked to the yellow pegasus to see if she looked as surprised as I did, but she had a completely content look on her face, as if this was a normal, everyday occurrence.

I started to knead at my brow as a headache started to form, no doubt due to all of the mind breaking that has been going on as of late. Before I could dwell on it however, there was a crash from outside of the tree-house, and the front door violently flew open, making me jump in fright.

A flash of prismatic colour zipped in and out of my vision in the blink of an eye. All of the sudden, I found myself nose to nose with the face of a very irate looking blue pegasus who was hovering in front of me by rapidly flapping its wings. Its magenta eyes were narrowed and its mouth was curved into a thin, disapproving frown. I felt my body freeze like a deer in headlights as it tried to decide whether or not fight or flight would be the best response to this situation

The pegasus started to say something, its sandy feminine voice sounding upset at what could only be me. From the tone of the voice and from the way that she paused, as though waiting for me to respond, I realized that she was asking me a question.

“Meep.” was all that I was able to force out of my constricted throat. Her eyes narrowed even more, and she opened her mouth to speak again. Before she could however, she let out a strangled yelp as something forced her out of the air and away from me.

She looked behind her to see the yellow pegasus with her rainbow coloured tail in her mouth. She mumbled something angrily at the blue pegasus, her voice muffled by the hairs in her mouth, before spitting her tail out and walking over to my side where she stood protectively, shooting the blue one a glare that made her slink away from me sheepishly.

Look at me, terrified shitless by a colourful flying creature that's half my size and would be considered cute in any other situation. I was more than a little ashamed to realize that I liked having the yellow one close by me to protect me from the crazy inhabitants of this place.

I soon noticed that there were three more strangers in the room who were standing off to the side next to the lavender one and whispering quietly amongst each other. One was snow white unicorn with long, curled purple hair and another was bright orange with a yellow ponytail topped by a brown stetson hat. They had their mouths behind their hooves and were shooting me furtive, nervous glances as they conversed. The third was a light pink equine with poofy, curly hair, also pink. It, however, was standing ramrod straight, its eyes shamelessly glued on me with its mouth hanging open slightly like a baby looking at something supremely interesting.

The one with the rainbow coloured mane slunk off to the side to join the others where she sat on the ground with a moody expression on her face. The lavender one leaned over and patted her on the back, nodding in what I assumed to be understanding.

My nerves stopped screaming at me after I had a few moments to breath, and I suddenly felt extremely tired. I was tired of being afraid, tired of seeing all this crazy shit, and tired of feeling like a child being introduced to a world that was completely foreign to them with no context to help them make heads or tails out of it.

As my body was wracked with a wave of fatigue, my legs gave out from underneath me and I collapsed to my knees next to the yellow pegasus who looked at me with surprise. Before I could stop myself, tears started to pour down my face. I buried my eyes into the crook of my arm in an effort to preserve what little dignity I had left at this point.

“I just…want to go home…” I managed to choke out, my voice quiet and raspy. My shoulders heaved and shuddered as I was assaulted by soundless sobs.

A hush fell on the room as all eyes in the room turned on me. Nobody spoke a word as they watched me, a crumpled pathetic heap on the ground, bare my grief for all to see. I heard a ruffle of movement beside me and felt something soft, like a thin blanket, lay against my bent back.

I raised my eyes to see the yellow pegasus with her wing stretched across my back and her eyes wide with shining concern. A sob escaped my throat, and her eyes widened even more.

She moved closer to me pressed the side of her body against mine as she held me tightly in the embrace of her feathery wing. She nuzzled her head against my shoulder, offering me comfort in the only way that she could without the use of words.

It took a few minutes, but my tears finally subsided. When I finally was able to look up again without collapsing into another fit of sadness, my vision was slightly blurry. I saw the other equines standing in the same place that they were before, but with entirely different expressions on their faces.

The orange one and the white ones had expressions that varied between shock and concern. The pink one had eyes swimming with tears as she bit her trembling lip as she sat on her haunches, the tip of her pink tail firmly under the hoof of the orange equine. The blue pegasus and the lavender unicorn were both wearing expressions of guilt on their faces as they looked at me nervously.

I sniffed once more before attempting to stand on unsteady feet. The wing across my back was removed as I slowly rose, my knees shaking slightly. I took a deep shuddering gasp to calm myself, and gave the yellow pegasus a grateful nod, to which she replied with a smile.

Still tired, I looked over at the other equines who were watching me with a variety of expressions. They looked torn with indecision. Do we do something, or stay back? Do we say something, or keep quiet? I could see the lavender one struggling with her words as she thought of something to say, but whatever it was rendered moot as a commotion from outside drew our attention.

A bright light quickly flashed through the windows, elongating our shadows across the library floor for no more than a second before disappearing as fast as it came. The reaction to the ones around me was instantaneous. The lavender one sprung into action, quickly moving towards the front door as the others started to whisper amongst themselves. The yellow pegasus was watching the lavender one with interest, but stayed next to me.

As the lavender one approached the door, it swung open, seemingly on its own accord. She stopped dead in tracks for a brief second before hastily stepping to the side of the doorway so that whatever it was that she seemed so excited about could make its way inside. I figured that it was just another equine like themselves, short and colourful with cute faces and big eyes. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The figure that stepped through the open was much taller then the equines that I had seen so far. Instead of being short and sort of stumpy, this one was tall and slender. It was pure white with a multicoloured mane of light pink, blue, and green that seemed to billow in an invisible wind. Its legs, body, and neck was longer than those of the others with the end result making her to be almost exactly as tall as I was. It, like all of the other equines similar to it, had a tattoo above its rear legs, its being the image a yellow sun with orange rays emanating from it.

What struck me the most about this newcomer however was the fact that it had both a long spiralling horn and large feathery wings. I became very aware of the weight of the ring around my finger as the being’s eyes fell upon me as she entered. The picture on the ring and this newcomer looked strikingly similar.

She, for its voice was decidedly female much like the others, exchanged a few words with the lavender one, who for some reason seemed breathless with excitement. I gulped nervously as I noticed that crazy look returning to her eyes. The tall newcomer studied me closely, her face impassive behind stony eyes. I squirmed under her scrutiny, wishing that I was somewhere else right now. Something about her gave me the feeling that she wasn’t one that I would like to cross.

Suddenly, her stoic mask broke as it blossomed into a kindly smile. She slowly walked up to me, her eyes never leaving mine, and stopped a few feet away. I could feel my knees trembling a bit, but the presence of the yellow one stopped me from darting away like a frightened deer.

The tall white one spoke, very quietly and slowly as all of the others watched on. I figured that she was speaking to me with the way that her eyes never left mine. I shook my head slowly in an effort to tell her that I didn’t understand a word of what she was saying.

She nodded, as though she was expecting that. And then, to my surprise, she moved a little bit closer to me and lowered her head, pointing her long horn directly towards me. I jumped away, suddenly suspicious of her and her sharp horn, and she looked at me with surprise. I didn't like the look of that horn and how sharp it was, but of course, she didn't know that.

The yellow one said something to the tall one who then nodded in sudden understanding. She gave me one final look before she bent her legs and lowered the back of her body to the ground and gave me an innocent, yet expectant look.

I glanced towards the yellow one who nodded encouragingly at me. At this point, I had been placing my entire life in the hands of the yellow pegasus who had been so kind and helpful to me, so I swallowed my nervousness and began to approach the newcomer like I would a sleeping bear.

I gradually got closer until I was standing right in front of her. Her expression that had been as blank as a new sheet of paper now showed previously hidden signs of personality. I saw a face on which a smile seemed natural under eyes that twinkled with lights of kindness and laughter in their midst. It struck me then, how similar our two species were. For the short duration that I have been in this world, I have seen many things that these creatures are capable that I used to think were purely human traits. Language, science, and most importantly to me, compassion and kindness are all things that I have noticed are possessed by these creatures in spades what with the way that they have helped me thus far.

I took a brief pause to reflect on how I’ve been acting for the past few days. I realized that it was probably rather foolish of me to continue this having this fearful distrust of the ones that I owed my life to, probably several times over. Besides, from what I can tell by their reactions, humans aren’t exactly commonplace around here, and I haven’t exactly been representing my species very well. It’s about time I change that.

“Alright, as Ozzy Osbourne would say, no more tears.” I thought to myself with conviction.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I steeled my nerves, much as I would do in my meditation sessions that I used to do. I forced the tumultuous and roiling ocean that was my mind to calm. My fists clenched briefly before relaxing, and I opened my eyes once more.

She had a look of minor befuddlement on her face which quickly turned into one of slight amusement. I took one more step towards her so that I was standing right in front of her. She smiled charmingly at me.

She wasn’t really all that scary now that I forced myself to think about it. She had an almost motherly aura about her, one that gave the feeling of love and support. I gave her a small nod and she reciprocated before lowering her head once more, pointing her horn directly at my forehead.

I wasn’t scared anymore, but I wasn’t exactly at peace either. These equines have proven to me that they didn’t mean any harm to me, but that didn’t change the fact I still didn’t know their motives. I trusted them at the moment, but it as a very flimsy trust.

“I just hope that lulling them into a false sense of security isn’t how they get all of their victims.” I thought as the horn came into contact with my forehead.

I felt a sudden rush of sensation like all of my blood flowed into my head, sending my ears pounding and my eyes spinning. A bright flash of light from inside my head consumed my vision so that it was nothing but whiteness. And then, as soon as it came, the sensations stopped, like a camera flash that left you blinking and seeing spots.

I wobbled on my feet a bit before righting myself. I carefully looked myself over, wondering what on earth just happened to me and what effects it had on my body or mind. My fingers were all in one place, my nose was where it was supposed to be, and I could think just as clearly as before, so it seemed that it didn’t do anything dangerous to me. I looked up at the tall white one in confusion.

She looked at me for a moment, her face just as impassive and unreadable as it was earlier, before opening her mouth to speak.

“Can you understand me?”

Greetings! I come in peace!

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Greetings! I come in peace!

“Can you understand me?”

Never before has such a simple sentence thrown me for such a loop. It was 4 simple, innocuous words that, in any other context, would seem to be a completely unremarkable thing to say. In this case, however, the mere saying of those 4 simple words was almost enough to knock me on my ass as though I had been hit by a truck.

It took my mind a long time to process what I had heard. The words traveled into my ear and flew past my eardrum, but somehow encountered a barrier that they were unable to pass. I was left blinking stupidly for several long seconds, no doubt giving off the impression that I was intelligent as your average potato to these equines. The tall white one was looking at me blankly.

“Can you understand what I am saying.” she said, this time slower and with more enunciation as though she were speaking to a small child. Finally, something clicked in my brain and I was able to fully register the fact that she not only was fluidly speaking my language, she was also asking me a question.

“Yes.” I said quietly, my voice slightly raspy due to nerves and a lack of use over the past few days. Instantly, there was a reaction amongst all of the others in the room. Eyes widened, ears perked, and backs straightened in interest as everybody in the room turned to look at me with astonishment. I noticed that the purple one had a cheeky little grin on her face.

The tall white one smiled pleasantly. She had a nice smile, for a talking horse thing. It was one that exuded warmth and a general sense of happiness and wisdom. It’s the pleasant type of smile that you would expect somebody who was extremely pure hearted to have, somebody like Mother Theresa or Buddha.

“Well then,” she said before one of the others could speak. She dipped her head respectfully towards me. “please allow me to be the first to formally welcome you to Equestria.”

If I were a smarter man, I would have realized a few things. I would have realized that her use of the word “formal” had various implications that this particular equine was very important, and I would have realized that the variety of jewellery that she was wearing also marked her as such. Unfortunately, my intelligence never was my strongest suit, so I replied to her in a way that only I could so eloquently do.

“Er... what?” I asked bluntly. I could see the cyan pegasus chuckle into her arm, or hoof or whatever it was.

If she took offense to my lack of tact or manners, she didn’t show it. Her smile didn’t waver in the slightest, and she continued to look at me with kind eyes.

“Allow me introduce myself.” She continued. The wings on her side opened widely, their span almost as wide as I was tall. She held them high like a pair of white sails before she bowed her entire body towards me respectfully. “I am Princess Celestia Ab Solaris Et Ignis, one of the rulers of Equestria, the country we are in. I rule alongside my sister, Luna Ab Noctis Et Gelu. She would like to join me in greeting you to our land, but she has been unfortunately held up by the court.” She explained easily.

“Um, alright…thanks.” I said uncertainly. I had never heard of Equestria before, and from her descriptions of its apparent diarchy, it is definitely not something that could be found in any country on planet Earth. Her and her sister were apparently the big bosses around here, so I instantly made a mental note to watch my step and my tongue from now on.

I didn’t have time to reflect on the fact that she had addressed herself as Princess, suggesting that there was a royal family to this species. I was too distracted with the realization that me earlier theory of trans-dimensional travel had pretty much just been confirmed by her. Surprisingly, I was taking that information in stride. It was almost a relief to finally have a better understanding of my situation. I was also pleased to see that I was correct in my earlier assumptions that the figure on the ring, a horse with wings and a horn, much like this one, was symbolic for an important part of this species culture. Score one more for me.

“Hold on,” I said as I was struck with a sudden strange realization. “Your name is Ab Solaris De Ignis? As in, of Sun and Fire?” I asked nervously, my paltry knowledge of Latin gleaned from years of reading Harry Potter showing itself. A name like that conjured the image of growling, muscled hero from some campy movie who wielded a flaming sword and cut the heads off of dragons in their free time. My earlier hesitation started to trickle back.

Her eyes widened in surprise. “Why yes, that’s correct. However did you know that?” she asked, not a hint of interrogative malice in her voice. I thought for a moment before answering.

“…Books.” I replied simply.

I don’t know if that was the wrong thing to say or if it was the right thing, but I was never given the chance to find out because as soon as I uttered the word, a humongous gasp sounded through the room.

I heard a small pop noise, and all of a sudden, the space in between Celestia and I was filled with a short hyperactive purple unicorn who was rambling uncontrollably while smiling deliriously. My eyebrows shot up into my low hanging bangs. I was about to make a hasty retreat from her for the second time before I realized with a start that this time, I was able to understand her.

“Ohmigosh, this is incredible! You, a creature that has previously never been seen anywhere in the world, and believe me, I would know, shows up in the middle of the Everfree Forest seemingly out of nowhere, and against all odds, you’re literate!” The unicorn reared up on her hind legs and set her front legs against my stomach so that she could get a better look at my face. She peered up at me with so much intensity that I thought she was trying to set me on fire with her eyes.

“Tell. Me. Everything.” She demanded. “Where do you come from? How did you learn to read? How did you come to Equestria? What is your race like?” Before I could make a peep, she stood on the tips of her hind hooves and looked at me even closer, her face bordering on desperation. “What kind of books do they have?” she asked urgently, as though her very life was dependent on it.

“Uh…The kind that you…read?” I answered uncertainly. The unicorn only nodded seriously, an awestruck look on her face.

“That’s the best kind.” She said with awe in her voice.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the others having variety of reactions. The blue pegasus rolled her eyes dismissively while the yellow one shook her head in disbelief. The orange one slapped her front leg against her forehead, and the rest just cracked amused smiles.

I was at a lost for words for as I tried to comprehend this one’s actions while simultaneously trying to push her off of me. Before I could say or do anything however, a yellow aura surrounded her entire body and lifted her into the air with a yelp of surprise and began to float her away from me.

She was now hovering besides Celestia with a surprised and somewhat shamefaced expression. My jaw fell as the unicorn seemed to give gravity the middle finger as Celestia shook her head and tsked at her.

“Now Twilight, I know you must be incredibly eager to pick the brain of our guest here…” I flinched slightly at the words ‘pick the brain,’ a number of very unpleasant images coming to mind, but the purple unicorn by the name of Twilight only nodded enthusiastically.

“But,” Celestia continued. “don’t you think that you should hold off on your scholarly instincts for the time being? At least until we get to know each other a little more and he gets settled?”

Twilight’s smile turned sour, and she nodded sadly. The Princess nodded once in satisfaction. Twilight’s body was gently lowered to the ground. She landed on all fours with a soft clop noise and turned to look at me sheepishly.

“Sorry about that.” she said as an embarrassed blush started to appear on her face. “I have the tendency to get a teensy overexcited over anything that has to do with books.” Her eyes glazed over slightly. “Especially ones that belong to an alien species…” she said as she bit her lip anxiously and looked at her fidgeting hooves.

The cyan pegasus scoffed loudly where she was and I could faintly hear her say “Yeah, and Pinkie is just a tad obsessed with parties.” She commented sarcastically. The pink one with the poofy mane beamed. Twilight just ignored her.

I paid neither of their words any mind, more focused on what I considered to be the most important thing of all. I waved my hand through the air dismissively, all apprehension gone to be replaced by my new curiosity.

“Nevermind that,” I said hastily. “more importantly, what in the world was that just now?” I asked the one called Twilight.

She frowned slightly. “Well, like I said, I tend to get really excited over books, so when you mentioned that you had studied ancient equestrian in the tomes of your own people I-”

“No no, not that.” I said quickly as I cut off her words. “You were floating just now. You were wrapped in a weird yellow light and was just floating above the ground. How in the world were you doing that? Why were you floating?” I said, my voice burning with curiosity. I didn’t have the mental facilities left to even ponder the reason why I could understand them and vice versa, but when you see something that bends the laws of existence itself, this law in particular being ‘what goes up, must come down,’ it tends to take priority over anything else.

Understanding dawned in Celestia’s eyes as Twilight’s just blinked uncomprehendingly. “That was just a simple telekinesis spell that I cast.” she explained easily. All of a sudden, her long horn lit up with a pretty yellow light that covered it from the tip of the horn to the bottom. I spied movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to look at the study desk that was covered in an assortment of tools and supplies.

A navigator’s compass was floating over the desk, wrapped in the same yellow light that was emanating from Celestia’s horn. It bobbed in the air for a moment before drifting over to where Celestia sat with a content look on her face and started to orbit around her head like a planet caught in a gravitational field.

It wasn’t the first time I felt my mind ‘break’ over the last few days, so I was able to recover from the mental shock quickly. I looked Celestia right in the eye with a look of awe and a healthy dose of disbelief.

“That’s magic?” I asked reverently. Celestia smiled and nodded. “And…is that how we’re able to understand each other? Some sort of, I don’t know, universal translation spell or something?”

Her smile grew wider. “Very impressive, that’s right.” she said. “I cast a spell on everybody in this room” she gestured towards herself and the others around her with her wing, “so that we would be able to understand your language and you would be able to understand ours in turn.”

My eye twitched slightly as the implications of honest to god magic hit me like a sack of bricks. How are they able to do magic, but humans can't? Or are humans actually able to, but have just forgotten? Is it like a science or an art? What is it capable of? Why, if we were able to use magic, we could probably think of all sorts of ways to fix our worldly problems! World hunger, pollution, the energy crises, all of those could be fixed! Diseases could be cured, lives could be saved, the world as we know it would change completely!

I fought to keep my composure in check and took a few deep breaths. It wouldn't do to start daydreaming how much bettr the world would be if we could use magic. Knowing us, we'd probably make just as much problems as we solved. “How…how does that even work?” I asked incredulously.

“It’s simple.” Celestia said with a smile. “The spell gleans the meaning and intent of your words and a passive auditory illusion translates that meaning and intent so that they may be understood by others.”

The blue pegasus and orange stetson wearing ones simultaneously scratched their heads confusedly at this. Twilight however seemed to understand it perfectly, and she turned around and looked at Celestia with admiration.

“Wow Princess, I had no idea there was a spell that could do that!” she said excitedly. Celestia nodded.

“It’s a very old spell invented by Starswill himself during his prime. It’s much more complicated to cast than it sounds and requires immense control and focus, not to mention the shear amount of magical power needed.” Celestia winked reassuringly at her. “I’ll teach it to you one day Twilight, when you’re studies have progressed further.”

Twilight nodded in satisfaction and then turned her attention back towards me. Her eyebrows rose at my open mouthed expression as I looked at her and Celestia with plain bafflement. She looked like there was absolutely nothing even remotely out of the ordinary with discussing the intricacies of magical spells as though you were speaking about a particularly interesting, or dare I say, spellbinding, piece of news from the next town over.

“What?” she asked me self consciously. Celestia chuckled from behind her and laid a wing across Twilight’s back. The two seem to be extremely close, maybe Celestia was Twilights mother? But that just raised further questions. Questions like, if a princess is the daughter of a queen, what do you call the daughter of a princess? A double princess? A princessess?

I’m getting distracted. Gotta get myself back on track.

“Relax Twilight Sparkle, I think that he just isn’t very familiar with magic.” She turned an inquisitive eye towards me. “Am I correct in that assumption?”

I closed my jaw with a snap and swallowed before nodding dumbly. “Magic is something of myths and legends where I come from.” I replied. “Finding out it exists is like…finding out that your parents aren’t actually your parents or something. It’s a gigantic shift in paradigms.” There was a touch of reverent awe in my voice, and I think Celestia noticed it because she smiled at me in amusement.

Twilight looked decidedly less amused however. Her eyes were wide with terror, and she looked at me as though I were just told her that I was a monster that was planning to eat everything and everyone she loved. I grinned inwardly at that. After that scare she gave me back at the zebra’s hut, she could do with a little bit of one herself.

“No magic?” she asked in disbelief. “How in the world to you ponies even live?” I raised my eyebrows dubiously and looked her straight in the eye.

“I’ll have you know that we manage to fare quite well even without ma-“ I stopped abruptly as something occurred to me. “Wait, what did you just say?” I questioned with the curiosity of a child who just found something supremely interesting.

She eyed me curiously. “How do you live without magic?”

I shook my head. “No no, before that bit.”

She looked even more confused. “Umm, how do you ponies even live?”

I blinked. “Ponies? Is that what you…creatures, are? Ponies?”

I could see Celestia holding in a chuckle as Twilight tilted her head like a confused puppy. “Yes, why do you ask?”

I looked at her blankly for a few moments before letting my head droop with a small sigh. “No reason.” I said flatly. Twilight still looked curious, but dropped the subject nonetheless.

“I hope you don’t mind my asking…” came an elegant voice from behind Celestia and Twilight. I looked behind the two…ponies to see that the white pony was walking towards me with a hesitant expression. Her voice was beautiful, the kind that one would expect to hear from those photoshopped attractive women on those fashion magazines you see at the grocery store checkout aisle. “But if you’re not a pony, then what, pray tell, are you exactly?”

All eyes immediately went back to me. I felt throat start to dry up under their scrutiny, and swallowed nervously.

“I am a human.” I answered simply.

“Ah ain’t never heard of no hoo-man before.” rebutted the orange pony in a baffling country accent as she walked up beside her friends. How in the world do these ponies have accents so similar to ones on earth? And for that matter, how is that spell-thing that Celestia did picking up the accent instead of just translating it for me in a monotone artificial voice? It was thinking about these questions that I had a thought that I’m pretty sure I was the only human to ever have.

“Man, magic is weird.” I mused. I was still reeling from that magical demonstration, but I was keeping that reaction bottled up inside until I was in a safe place to vent it without being seen or heard. The last thing I needed now was for these “ponies” to think that I was crazy because I started speaking random Latin words and squinting really hard in an effort to blow things up.

…

Well, obviously I’m going to try to perform magic by waving my arms around and muttering nonsensical words. If you were just told that magic existed, wouldn’t you do the same?

Wait a minute…that right there is something else that doesn’t make sense. How in the world does Latin exist in this world? Celestia, and apparently her sister Luna, both have names in Latin, but the Latin language is supposed to be human only! We have copyrights or… something.

This was just another thing that I needed to push into the back of my mind for the time being so that I may address it later, preferably with Celestia, whom as far as I can tell is the person, er, pony, to go to for answers.

“Not hoo-man.” I replied to the orange pony with the charming country drawl. “Hue-man. Hue as in the beginning of huge, and man as in…whatever word ends with man.” I said noncommittally. I didn’t know if my half assed attempts to get the pronunciation of the word right would even work considering that they would hear my words in a different language, but I at least had to try.

“That makes sense!” cried a bubbly voice. The pink pony bounced, literally bounced, like a big four legged rubber ball, over by her friends. It seemed that everyone was now suddenly eager to meet the new hoo-man. “The hue from ‘huge’ and the man from ‘talisman’ or ‘shaman’ makes a human!” She threw her arms into the air and laughed, as though she had just played a big practical joke on the world and she was the only one who got it, and from the looks of it, she was the only one.

I smiled weakly at her jubilance. “Er, right. What she said.”

A ruffle of feathers drew my attention to the blue pony who had taken flight and was drifting slowly towards me as her wings flapped lazily, far to slow to realistically make her airborne. I chalked it up to magic, something that was completely natural to these ponies but completely strange to me.

She hovered at eye level for a moment and looked at me critically. “So you have a name or what?” she asked brusquely. I winced slightly at her rough manner, but before I could answer her, the white unicorn tsked loudly.

“Rainbow Dash!” she reprimanded strongly. “Where in Equestria are your manners? Just because he is…different doesn’t give you the right to act like such a ruffian.” She gave the hovering pegasus a glare of disapproval and received one from her in turn.

“Rare’, we know nothing about this guy!” She glared at me suspiciously. “For all we know, he could be an agent of Discord!” she muttered darkly, spitting out the word Discord as though it left a particularly bitter taste in her mouth. “He could be planning to steal the elements from under our noses, overthrow the Princesses, and take over Equestria as we speak!” Her voice had risen to a higher and more frantic pitch, making her sound not unlike a panicky 11 year old girl.

The orange pony standing directly below her chuckled and looked up at her. “Dash, Rarity’s the one is supposed to be all dramatic and whatnot over things, not you.” she said with a surprising country accent.

Rainbow Dash huffed in irritation as the white pony closed her eyes and nodded in haughty satisfaction. “Exactly. If you won’t listen to me, then you can at least listen to…” her eyes opened and looked at the orange pony irritably. “Hey!” she cried with indignation. The orange pony only laughed.

I saw Rainbow Dash take in a breath to continue speaking, but before she did, I decided that it was about time I take matters into my own hands before they get into a never ending argument about whether or not I was a planning on taking over their country.

“Kael!” I blurted out. The words died in her mouth as she eyed me suspiciously. I cleared throat.

“My name, It’s Kael. Kael Maalouf.” I said with as much dignity and confidence as I could muster. Rainbow Dash’s look of suspicion turned into one of confusion.

“Kael Maalouf?” she remarked with disbelief. “What kinda dumb sounding name is that? It doesn’t even mean anything!”

“It’s not dumb!” I said indignantly, crossing my shoulders at my chest. “And it does have a meaning.”

“Oh yeah? What would that be? Evil creature who tries to destroy ponies?” she replied angrily.

I blinked. “W-what?” I sputtered. “I don’t even-” I shook my head viciously. “Nevermind. No, that’s not what it means.”

“Well than what does it mean?” she challenged. I rolled my eyes.

“I don’t know what it means. I just know that it means something.” I answered. Truth be told, I did know what my name meant. It meant ‘mighty warrior,’ although I couldn’t fathom why it was so important to this one. It’s not like names define you as a person or anything. The reason I withheld the meaning from her was twofold. One, I never like that meaning as I was always to meek and cowardly to ever be considered ‘mighty.’ Two, I didn’t think that revealing the meaning would endear myself to these ponies if they were under the impression that I was an ‘agent of discord,’ whatever the hell that was.

She looked at me bluntly for a moment. “Well it’s still a dumb name.” she muttered under her breath.

The white unicorn shot her another scathing look before giving me what seemed to be an apologetic one. Apparently, this type of behaviour wasn’t exactly unheard of from her flying friend.

“I don’t think that it’s a dumb name.” said a small voice from out of the blue. We, that is, the ponies and I looked around for a moment to try and locate the source. Finally, the country pony looked behind her, sighed, and stepped to the side to reveal the butter yellow pegasus that had been hiding behind her the entire time.

She let out a grightened squeak now that her cover was blown and instantly cowered away from all the attention, hiding behind the long pink mane the hung down her face. For a moment, she looked out from behind her mane at me fearfully, but then her eyes hardened slightly with determination and she shook her head violently to gather her strength before straightening up and speaking again.

“I think…that it’s a very pretty name.” she whispered, even quieter this time so that I had to strain to hear her.

I was a bit to shocked to speak, not only because she seemed so fearful and so delicate for some reason, but also because she called my name pretty. If this were any other situation that wasn’t as bizarre as it was, I would feel slightly emasculated. I felt no such thing however, instead settling on just being surprised that this nice one suddenly seemed so afraid of me. Had it been something that I had said earlier?

I seriously hoped not. Out of all the “ponies” as they called themselves, this one was the one that I didn’t want to alienate the most. She had been so kind and gentle with me, a creature that she never met before, so the last thing that I wanted to do was give her a reason to fear me, even accidentally. Plus, it was almost heartbreaking to watch her cower away from me. I found myself feeling unnaturally guilty about it, as though I had accidentally kicked a puppy that had wandered underfoot and was now whining pitifully.

“Umm, thanks, I think.” I said uncertainly. She nodded and nervously looked towards the floor without another word.

The other ponies were looking at her with surprise on their faces, and I could see what I thought was a hint of pride in Celestia’s eyes. While the rest of the ponies had extremely expressive faces, she was the complete opposite, having an excellent poker face without seeming to even try. She was one that I was going to have to look out for. I still didn’t know what her intentions were with me, and even though she didn’t seem to have any ill will towards me, I most likely wouldn’t be able to tell if she actually did.

“Oh, how silly of me!” cried the white unicorn. “It occurred to me that we haven’t introduced ourselves!” she looked at me apologetically. “So sorry about that darling, it must have slipped my mind.”

I looked at her strangely. Did she just call me darling? First I had a pretty name, now I was a darling? Good god, these ponies are weird. So polite and friendly, even though I was technically an alien to them. Well, except for the blue pegasus, but her reaction was at least somewhat understandable.

I couldn’t think of an appropriate response, so I only nodded.

“I shall go first.” she said brightly. She walked up to stand in front of me before crossing one front leg over the other and dipping her head respectfully. “My name is Rarity, it is a pleasure to make you acquaintance.” She said pleasantly.

I found myself surprised at her display of politeness and formality. I stumbled over my own tongue for a second before I managed to respond with what I thought would be appropriate.

“Um, the pleasure is all mine.” I replied uncertainly. Rarity smiled, pleased with my answer, and nodded in satisfaction.

The orange pony trotted to Rarity’s side and gave me a wide, charming style. “Howdy!” she said enthusiastically. “Ah’m Applejack, one o’ the owners of Sweet Apple Acre’s, which Ah’m sure you saw on your way in ta town.”

The Stetson wearing one with the country accent was a farmer. I was starting to suspect that this was a world that completely ran on storybook clichés what with the magic, the strange creatures, and the princesses. I could have almost laughed.

Instead, I just smiled back at her. “Nice to meet you, and sorry, but I don’t think I did. I was a bit too excited at finally leaving that forest to notice anything around me.” I said cordially.

Her eyes widened. “Ya’ll were in the Everfree?” she asked incredulously. “What in the blazes were you doing there?”

I shrugged. “Beats me. I passed out in the middle of my apartment and woke up to find that I was in some forest. I haven’t a clue how I got there.”

Applejack looked at me sympathetically. “Shee-oot, that sounds rough.” She looked me up and down, obviously taking in my torn and dirty clothes and my messy hair that probably still had bits of leaves and grass in it. “How long were ya in there for?” she asked.

I grimaced slightly. “A few days.” I answered. Her eyes widened even more as she whistled impressively.

“Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit,” she said, which was received with a cringe by Rarity. “Ya’ll must be pretty tough to rough it in the Everfree. ‘Specially with all them nasty critters out there.”

I winced as I remembered running away from that pack of wolves, pushing my body and mind to limits that they’ve never needed to reach before. The sight of their snarling, snapping, fang filled jaws was still fresh in my mind, and I shuddered.

“I suppose.” I said quietly, looking down and away from them. I had been so close to death then, so close that I could already feel its bony fingers grasping at my soul in preparation to rip it out of my soon to be lifeless body. It was only a stroke of incredible luck that I was saved by that…zebra? Or was it also a pony? Well, whatever it was, I owed my life to it. Hopefully I’d be able to express my gratitude to it someday, somehow.

Applejack’s comment made me realize just how vulnerable I was in this strange world. I didn’t know the customs, the inhabitants were completely unfamiliar, and I didn’t even have a place to sleep or eat. My fists clenched as a wave of anxiety washed over me. I was well and truly fucked, and if I wasn’t extremely careful, I could lose my life here amongst these ponies just as easily as I could in that damned forest that, to be honest, I would be happy never seeing again.

My feelings must have bled onto my face too much as the ponies were now silent and looking at me with worry, whether for me or for themselves as the case may be, I didn’t know. The yellow one looked at me with something akin to desperation on her face as she looked as though she were about to cry. Her legs were twitching and shaking, and her eyes were full of indecision and nervousness. Twilight looked more curious than anything else, and I had absolutely no idea what Celestia was thinking. The rest all wore strained expressions, including the little purple lizard thing that had been standing off to the side and had yet to say a word.

“Sorry about that...” I muttered. “It’s been a rough couple of days.” At that, the yellow pony let out a strangled sob, and before I knew it, she had her front legs wrapped tightly around my midsection as she started to cry uncontrollably.

“Oh you p-poor thing!” she wailed. “It m-must have been so s-scary to be out there all on your own!” All of her earlier nervousness seemed to have evaporated into thin air as she babbled words of consolation and squeezed me tighter. “Don’t you worry you poor d-dear! You won’t have to go to that...that…horrible p-place ever again, I promise!”

The ponies looked almost as surprised as I felt as she hugged me tightly and cried hysterically, further staining my already dirty shirt with tears. I would have felt extremely touched that my plight had moved her this much if I wasn’t so damn confused by it.

Not knowing what I should do, I gently patted her on the top of her head. “There there,” I said awkwardly. “It’s alright, I’m fine, don’t worry about me.” I tried to sound as reassuring and gentle as possible, and from what I could tell, my lacklustre efforts seemed to be working.

Her sob started to quieten as she hugged me. She looked up at me with teary eyes and gave me a weak smile to which I tried, and probably failed, to return. She nodded and said a weak “okay.” before finally letting go of me. To my surprise, she stayed right by my side instead of returning to stand by the other ponies.

Rarity was, thankfully, quick on dispersing the air of awkwardness that was starting to settle on the room with a dainty clearing of her throat before speaking. “Well,” she said primly. “Now that that’s over with, why don’t we-“

Before she could finish, my vision was filled by pink face wearing the biggest most innocent smile I’ve ever seen. “Hi!” she blurted out happily.

I recoiled in shock, but quickly composed myself as the pink face disappeared at the bottom of my field of view and then reappeared. “I’m Pinkie Pie!” it said before it disappeared again.

I looked down to see the bright pink smiling pony bunch her legs up underneath and bounce back up so that she was again nose to nose with me.

It took my mouth a few seconds to catch up with my brain. By the time it had, she had fallen down and bounced back up two more times, like a bright pink, deliriously happy rubber ball.

“Heyyyy…” I said awkwardly. This only made her smile wider as she fell back down to the floor and bounced back up again. I took a few steps back to try and put some distance between us, but she was somehow always right in front of me.

“You know,” she said before she fell back down and bounced to my eye level. “You’re really tall!”

“And yoouuu, my pink friend, have no concept of personal space.” I said, half nervously, half irritably as I took a few more steps back.

She gasped, her eyes widening so much that I thought they were surely going to pop out of her head and start rolling around on the floor.

Bounce. “I’m you’re friend?” she breathed excitably. Bounce. “That’s great!” Bounce. “I love making new friends!” Bounce. “And you’re the first-” Bounce. “-human friend that I’ve-” Bounce. “-ever made!”

I was speechless as she bounced on, each one punctuated by a little bit more of nonsense and crazyness.

Bounce. “Oooooh!” Bounce. “Do you know what-” Bounce. “-this calls for?” She threw her forelegs in the air as she bounced once again. “A party!” she cried in jubilation, somehow throwing an armload of colourful streamers in the air.

“Pinkie Pie.”

Bounce. “I’ll have to throw you a-” Bounce. “-welcome to Ponville party and-” Bounce. “-a made a new friend party and-” Bounce. “-an escaped from the Everfree party-”

“Pinkie Pie.”

Bounce. “-and there’ll be cake-” Bounce. “-and punch and pie and-” Bounce. “-lots of ponies to meet and-”

And then, all at once, it all stopped. The room seemed to lose almost all of its warmth as Pinkie Pie’s face became frozen in a mask of numb shock. She fell back down to the ground and landed on all fours with a dull thud, and this time, she didn’t bounce back up.

I looked down to see Pinkie Pie standing as still as a statue. Her eyes were away from me and were glued to the face of the yellow pony that was standing protectively beside me. As soon as I looked at her face to see what it was that calmed the pink storm of energy, my heart nearly skipped a beat.

Her eyes were huge, and her face was as expressionless and still as a statue. Not a trace of emotion was to be found as she stared right into the eyes of Pinkie Pie, but this wasn’t just any stare, oh no. this was a stare that would convince a bear to gladly give up her cub. This was a stare that could boil water just by glancing at it. This was the type of stare that could calm the most hyperactive being in existence in less than a second. Just by being next to it could I feel its incredible power and influence. I couldn’t imagine what the pink one must be feeling.

“Pinkie Pie.” She said quietly and sweetly. “Please calm down. You’re making him very uncomfortable.” And she was right. Had that gone on for 10 seconds more I might have turned tail and jumped out of a window. As innocent and happy as this Pinkie Pie was, there was something incredibly unnerving about her, and up close, unnerving quickly turned into downright creepy.

Pinkie Pie’s mouth moved, but no sound came out. Realizing that any attempts at speech would be futile under the fiery gaze of those eyes, she just nodded vigorously.

“Thank you.” Said the yellow one kindly as she gave her friend a gentle smile. “He’s been through a lot over the past few days, we should all treat him nicely.” She turned to look at the others who were looking on with wide eyes and open mouths. “Isn’t that right girls?” she said pointedly, her tone indicating that there was only one answer that she would accept and god help the one who didn’t give it to her.

“Yes Fluttershy.” they said in unison, save Princess Celestia who kept her silence. Fluttershy gave a happy nod and turned back to Pinkie Pie.

“Now, why don’t you try again Pinkie Pie?” she said pleasantly. “A little nicer this time.”

The pony in question blinked several times before responding, obviously still shaken by that…thing that she just did. I didn’t know how exactly she did it, but I was willing to just chalk it up to magic, something that I would likely be doing a good many times in the next day or so.

Pinkie Pie took a few steps back and sat on her rump, looking at me with big, eager eyes. “Hi.” She said again, still excited yet much more reserved; something that I was very thankful for.

“Hi.” I said back.

“I’m Pinkie Pie.”

“Yeah I…I got that.”

She lit up with a smile. “Good!” she chirped before bouncing away to stand next to Applejack who slapped her forehead with her front leg and shook her head in disbelief. I gave her a weak smile to which she responded with an apologetic look.

Rarity cleared her throat once again. “You’ll ah…have to forgive her darling.” She said apologetically. “Restraint and subtlety never was on of Pinkie Pie’s strong suits.” I gave her a small nod to show that there were no hard feelings.

“Good.” she said curtly. “Now, speaking of ponies without any subtlety…” she gave her hovering, rainbow maned friend a pointed look.

“What?” she asked flippantly. Rarity jerked her head in my direction and glared at her. It took her several more seconds to catch onto what she was saying.

“Awww hay no, I’m not introducing myself to no spy.” she said with an indignant scowl in my direction. I tried to muster up the will to scowl back but couldn’t manage it. I just sighed instead.

With a roll of her eyes, Rarity groaned. “Oh for the love of… Rainbow, just because Kael here is different than us doesn’t mean that he’s an enemy. Don’t you remember what happened with Zecora?”

“That was different.” Rainbow said with a huff.

“And how, pray tell, was that situation any different than this one?” Rarity said pointedly.

“Zecora wasn’t a spy!”

“Well you didn’t know that then!”

“So?”

“So?” Rarity repeated, bafflement plain to hear in her voice. “So she…you…he…uggh!.” Rarity groaned and cast a despairing look to the heavens before turning to the purple unicorn, Twilight, helplessly. “I give up.” She moaned pathetically. Rainbow gave a victorious smile.

Twilight patted Rarity on the shoulder. “Don’t worry Rarity, you tried your best.” Rarity only gave her a small grunt of acknowledgement in return.

Twilight focused on me one again. “Well, since she won’t do it for herself, I’ll have to do it for her.” She gestured towards the floating blue pegasus. “This is Rainbow Dash, the head weathermare and resident knucklehead of Ponyville and Cloudsdale.” Rainbow Dash stuck her tongue out at me.

“And I,” she continued primly, now holding her foreleg to her chest, “am Twilight Sparkle, the resident librarian of Ponyville.” She gave me a small smile to which I returned.

“And this,” she said briefly before her horn flared up briefly resulting in a small purple flash of light accompanied a light pop just as the little purple and green lizard creature appeared next to her. It blinked confusedly for a few seconds before realizing what just happened.

“is Spike, my number one assistant.” She finished proudly. Spike flushed and turned his face to the ground before muttering a small “Hullo.” to me. I responded with an equally weak one back to him. He glanced up and nodded before looking away again. I had to admit, he was kinda cute for a fire breathing lizard.

I looked around at the faces before, some of them bearing most of them bearing eager or polite smiles, one of them being very openly hostile towards me. It took me a moment to realize that one pony had yet to introduce themselves.

I looked down next to me at the yellow pony who was looking down shyly, trying to retreat behind her hair somewhat. I waited politely, seeing that she was a little bit uncomfortable, for her to speak.

“I’m Fluttershy.” She murmured, to quiet for me to here.

“I-I’m sorry?” I said.

“I’m…Fluttershy.” She whispered. Well, we were halfway there. Maybe just one more push.

“Um, could you say again?”

She took a deep breath and steeled herself before she bravely looked back up and faced me. “I’m Fluttershy.” She said quickly before letting out a small eep and turning away again.

I nodded slowly. “Well, it’s very nice to meet you Fluttershy.” I said as gently as I could. She merely nodded at my words and said nothing.

“Well!” the Princess said briskly. “Now that that is finished, I think it’s time that we move onto more pressing matters.” She smiled politely at me. “From your reactions to meeting us, I can tell that you come from very far away and have no prior knowledge of Equestria. This leads me to believe that you either came here accidentally, or against your will.” She paused and looked at me for confirmation.

I was taken aback by her sudden desire to talk about me and my coming to their land. I realized that Celestia, being the Princess, probably wanted to assess my coming here to see if there was any threat to her and her subjects either by me personally or by any others. I couldn’t begrudge her for wanting to keep her subjects safe, so I did my best to answer her question.

I thought back to when I first put on that ring in the middle of my apartment. Technically, I did come here against my will because I had no say in the matter, but I was also the one who put the ring on my finger, triggering my coming here which was a complete accident. I mulled the thought in my head for a bit replying.

“It’s a little bit of both to be honest. I didn’t mean to come here, nor did I have a choice in the matter. And yes, I do come from far away.” I paused uncertainly. “From what I can tell…” I said slowly. “I came from either a different world, or a different dimension entirely.”

“I thought as much.” Celestia said simply as Twilight Sparkle’s eye twitched ominously. “In all my many years, I’ve never seen one such as you before, a ‘human’ as you put it, in Equestria.” She tilted her head and smiled. “So I naturally came to the conclusion that you, by some means, known or unknown, had to have traveled trans-dimensionally.”

Damn, she’s good, and I didn’t seem to be the only one who thought so. Twilight was nodding vigorously and was gazing up at the Princess with a pleading look on her face as though she were begging her to not stop talking abut magical science-y stuff. The rest of the ponies were all wearing expressions of varying degrees of confusion. Except for Pinkie Pie. She just looked happy.

Princess Celestia peered at me curiously as she continued. “Although, I am curious about one thing.” She looked at me closely. “Do you know what brought you to our dimension?”

I looked up briefly and put my hands in my pockets. “Weeeelll, yes and no. You see, I know what it was that brought me here, but I don’t know how or why.” When Celestia raised one eyebrow, I lifted my right hand and waggled my fingers. “It was this ring. I put it on and instantly passed out after it started to glow red and fit itself to my finger. I woke up to find myself in that forest.” I glared ineffectively at the piece of shiny metal. “It won’t even come off, no matter how hard I pull on it.”

Celestia's eyes were locked on the ring. A few moments passed before she quietly muttered “I see. Very interesting.” It may have been my imagination, but it looked like a shadow had been cast over her face for a brief second, making her look older and more dangerous before it disappeared completely. Nobody else seemed to notice it however, so I didn’t pay it any mind.

She smiled sweetly at me, now back to her normal self. “Would you mind if I quickly ran a few spells over it? It would only take a few seconds.”

“O…kay” I replied, a little weirded out that a bonafide princess was asking me for permission to look at a cheap piece of jewellery that may or may not be enchanted. Reality really was stranger than fiction, it seemed.

I held out my hand towards her, almost as though I was offering it to her to kiss it like I was the noble and she was commoner. She dipped her until her long horn was perpendicular to my hand, the tip hovering over the ring itself. It took a great amount of willpower to not jerk my hand back as the tip of her sharp horn suddenly started to glow with a yellow light. Old habits die hard I guess.

The light fluctuated and waved like a candle flame in a breeze. It suddenly changed colour from a light yellow to a dark red, and then from a dark red to a dull black colour. I was more surprised that she was actually able to make light that was actually coloured black than I was in the changing of the colour. It seemed that the laws of physics were getting the shit kicked out of it today.

When the light disappeared, Celestia's head rose with the same darkened expression that I had seen on her before. Her brow was creased and her jaw was clenched, and I could almost see a hint of anger deep in her eyes. She stared at the ring impassively.

“Princess? Is there something wrong?” Twilight asked with a worried voice. Celestia was silent for a moment before slowly shaking her head and smiling at the other ponies who were mirroring Twilight’s pained expression.

“No, my student. Everything is alright.” she said in a soothing voice. The other ponies appeared mollified, even if Rainbow shot me another suspicious glance. I however, was not so convinced. Nobody, or nopony as the case may be, gets that expression on their face without having a damn god reason for it. These ponies seemed to really look up to and trust Celestia, but having just met the Princess recently, I wasn’t about to take her reassurance at face value. Something was definitely up.

“Thank you for allowing me to examine it.” she said gracefully. I nodded and lowered my arm to my side. “It’s certainly a…very interesting ring. Could you tell me where exactly you found it?”

“Well, I was walking home one night, minding my own business and just enjoying the rain, when it just came out of nowhere and hit me right in the forehead.” She raised her eyebrows dubiously.

“Do you know where it came from?” she asked.

“Not really. My first thought was the some twerp threw it at me for some reason, but I couldn’t see anybody around when it happened. I figured that they just ran off before I could give them a piece of my mind.” To be honest, me giving them a piece of my mind would have been flipping them the bird when their back was turned skulking off, but they didn’t need to know that. The way I saw it, I still didn’t know how much danger I was in, so it would be better that I build up an image of being at least slightly capable of defending myself if I needed to, whether or not I actually would.

“You think that somebody threw an enchanted ring at you?” Twilight asked incredulously. I blushed slightly. Well when you put it that way…

“Well, it’s not like it just fell out of the sky right?” I didn’t get an answer. “Right? Hello?”

Twilight coughed awkwardly as Celestia looked at me with a good amount of pity. “I know this all must be very confusing for you Kael. I imagine that suddenly being torn from your own world and taken to this one would be a very frightening experience.” Oh she had no idea.

“But you must remember, our world is not bound by the same laws yours is. The truth is that it’s quite likely that the ring really did just ‘fall right out of the sky.’” she glanced at my hand. “Magical signatures on the ring tell me that it was not forged in your world, it was forged in ours. Something must have happened to it that forced it to cross the fragile barrier between time and space and end up at yours.”

I sighed tiredly any rubbed my temples as I felt a stress induced headache sneaking up on me. “Alright, so it did fall out of the sky.” Celestia nodded. “If that’s the case,” I continued, “why was it sent to me?”

She shook her head gently. “I don’t think that it was sent to you specifically Kael. The location that it appeared was probably completely random.” Again, she smiled at me pitifully, like I was a poor homeless man that she felt sorry for, but didn’t actually give any money to. “Your coming to Equestria was the product of a nasty coincidence.”

“Alright, that’s really interesting and all, but it doesn’t really help me.” I said irritably. “What do I need to do to get back?”

“That ring is acting as passage of sorts between our world and yours. As soon as you put it on, the enchantment that was put on it was activated and you forced into Equestria. It is now holding you here through the power of that same enchantment. In order to go back, you would need to take off the ring.” She explained easily.

I immediately started tugging and twisting at the ring in a frantic effort to get back home, but it was just as immoveable as before. When nothing very predictably happened, Celestia shook her head sadly.

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple Kael. You see, on top of being enchanted to act as a beacon between worlds, it was also enchanted to be irremovable, and as long as that is the case, you won’t be able to go back.”

I looked at her, horrified as an icy coldness washed through my body. “You mean I’m stuck here? In a land where wolves are made of wood and lions inhabit forests?” I asked anxiously. Celestia quickly shook her head.

“Not permanently. I promise you that I and my best spellcasters will try our hardest to try and break the enchantment that…wait, what was that about lions?”

I wasn’t listening. My overactive mind was now at full power as the possibility of never returning home was introduce to me. No more family and friends. No more T.V, No more cheap and greasy fast food. No more video games, or internet, or books in a language that I can read. Hell, there won’t even be anymore human interaction!

Oh god…

I don’t want to die a virgin!

My head twanged with a sudden and intense spurt of pain. I brought the heel of my pal up to my forehead and began to knead my brow as I grimaced from a sensation not unlike my skull was in an ever tightening vise. My entire brain felt like one big, swollen bruise.

The ponies looked at me with worry. Well, most of them did. Rainbow Dash just looked at me curiously. She didn’t seem the least bit concerned about my well being, but at that moment, I couldn’t really care less. I gazed at the group blearily with tired eyes.

“Look…I’m not gonna sugar coat this. My mind is so…screwed up right now that I can barely remember how to stand up straight.” I deadpanned. “I’ve been running for my life on an empty stomach only to discover that, not only am I in a completely different dimension, but it’s one full talking, colourful equines that are capable of magic, something that, in my world, is about as phony as a 3 and half dollar bill.” The ponies looked confused at that small reference that I let slip, but I continued anyway.

“Now that I’ve been told that there’s a possibility that I won’t ever be able to get back home, I am sporting the mother of all migraines.” I said, spitting out the last word as another piercing bolt lanced through my skull. “The way I am now, I don’t think that I’ll be much use to anyone, not to myself nor to you.”

Celestia looked at me pitifully. “I can assure you that we will find a way to send you back to your ho-”

“You don’t know that for sure.” I guess testily, marvelling at the fact that I had interrupted a princess. I guess headaches made me ballsy. “Until the very moment that this stupid ring is sliding off my finger, you don’t know if I ever will be able to go back home, so let’s not make any empty promises to ourselves.” Celestia bit her lip and nodded.

“Anyway, I’m not in any” I grit my teeth as my headache flared. “position to do anything more strenuous than breathing. So I hate to ask this of you, but do you think that I could take a nap or something and let my batteries recharge?”

I was almost pleading with them to spare me a few hours to recuperate, and it most have come off quite clearly. Celestia nodded reassuringly.

“Of course.” She replied. “I understand how hard this must be for you. Needing some time to recover is perfectly understandable.” I nodded grimly at her and gave her a wan smile that she returned.

“Twilight?” she said as she looked towards the purple unicorn. Twilight’s eyes instantly snapped towards the princess as her ears perked and her back straightened.

“Yes Princess?” she asked respectfully.

“Would you mind sharing a guest room with Kael so that he may recuperate? It would be best if he didn’t go outside. I imagine his coming here might have stirred a bit of commotion and I’d rather not put some fuel on the fire.”

Twilight Sparkle nodded. “Certainly Princess, I’d be happy to.” She walked over to where I towered over her digging my knuckles into my temples with a pained expression. “If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you were you can sleep in peace.” She said politely. I grunted in affirmation and followed her as she led me away.

She took me up the stairs and into a small bedroom that was very sparsely furnished with nothing but a comfortable looking bed and a desk that was only a little higher than my knees. I cheered inwardly as I laid eyes upon the bed. At that moment, in my less than optimal state, it was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen.

“Take as much time as you need.” Twilight said gently. I nodded.

“Thanks you for letting me rest. I appreciate it.” I said earnestly. She smiled and nodded before walking out of the room as her horn flared and the door closed behind her as though pushed by an invisible wind.

I sighed and walked over to the window that were open on the opposite side of the room that was letting light spill in. I yanked the curtains close, casting everything in a dim light that was much easier on my eyes.

I got ready to throw myself down on the bed, but stopped and groaned when I realized that it was about a foot shorter than I was. Oh well. Beggars can’t be choosers I suppose.

I lowered myself onto the mattress, letting out a massive sigh as my weight was taken off of my feet. Not even bothering to take of my shoes or throw the covers over me, I rested my head on the pillow and let myself sink into the soft bed, my feet and calves dangling over the edge..

Even though it was still fairly early in the day, I soon found my eyelids becoming heavier with each passing second. I took a brief moment to reflect on the wisdom of sleeping in the same building as 7 ponies that may or may not think that I was here to take over their country. I quickly shrugged that thought away. They seemed friendly enough, and the only one that thought I was a threat to them hadn’t seemed to have been taken too seriously. For the moment it seemed that I was safe.

It was with the comfort that only security can bring did I finally succumb to exhaustion, gladly letting sleep wash away all of my worldly woes.

Kind and Caring

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Kind and Caring

My eyes slowly opened to find myself suspended in a void of blackness that seemed somehow familiar to me, although I couldn’t recall where or how. I was floating with my arms and legs loosely hanging underneath me (or maybe they were above me? I couldn’t tell) like a submerged dead body. I found myself to be barely able to move, my limbs slow and sluggish as though they were weighed down. Even my eyes felt slow as they flicked back and forth, taking in the dark, all encompassing expanse in all of its glory.

It all struck a chord of familiarity in me, like a repressed memory that my unconscious mind was hiding from me; not just of this place, whatever it was, but of the feeling that it gave. I felt a cold spike of fear drill itself deep into my heart, not a fear for my own safety or for my surroundings, but for what was about to come. A foreboding gut feeling that promised doom and threatened pain flooded through my body, numbing me to my core.

A rising sense of panic flooded my system with adrenaline, forcing me to think clearly. I tried to call out, for help, for mercy, for anything, but even though I could feel my vocal chords vibrating, no sound came out. I tried again, louder this time, letting out a wailing, elongated scream for all my worth. After a minute of dead silence punctuated by the insulting lack of any sound, I stop my efforts, my throat raw and sore. I tried squirming out of these invisible restraints that hindered my movement, but I was barely able to move more than a few inches.

“You think the…Princess…will save you?”

I struggle more and more violently, throwing everything I have into thrashing wildly against the invisible ropes that bind me. Panic is rising and fear is settling even deeper into my chest, threatening to send me in an animalistic, instinctual rage as my breathing becomes shallow and erratic.

“You’re wrong…nothing can save you…nothing”

I let out a silent snarl as I gave one more desperate to free myself, dedicating my entire body and mind to the task. With a soundless snap, my arms and legs became free, sending me tumbling to an invisible solid ground as the darkness clouded over to be replaced by something that was both a lack of light and darkness. A vacuum where not even shadows lived.

My efforts left me exhausted, and I was suddenly wracked with an incredible fatigue. I felt my eyelids fall despite my best efforts to keep them up. I fought a desperate battle with myself, vying for control over my own body, but it was a lost cause. My eyes finally closed, sending me to dreamless bliss.

A sharp intake of breath from nearby jolted me out of my sleep. I suddenly sat up in the bed I lay in, fighting off a wave of dizziness due to me getting up too quickly as I looked around the room, trying to locate the intruder. When I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, it slowly occurred to me that the one who gasped must have been me.

I chuckled weakly as I slowly lowered myself back down on the bed. The sheets were in disarray underneath me even though I had been lying on top of them. I must have been squirming and thrashing in my sleep. I dimly remembered having a strange nightmare, but I couldn’t remember any specifics about it. All that came to mind was a general feeling of unease, like I was being watched from a distance by a particularly shady figure.

I briefly wondered how long I had been out as my head hit the pillow. I let my eyes flick across the room to find that there wasn’t any way to tell the time, so I dismissed it from my mind only to have it be replaced by another, more pressing thought.

“Good god, what is that reek?” I thought with a grimace as my nose detected the dank smell of sweat, dirt, and a touch of blood. It smelled like a festering garbage bag that has been let out in the sun on a hot summer day, making me briefly feel like I was going to throw up as it assaulted my olfactory senses. After a moment, the source of the smell occurred to me.

“Oh, it’s me.” I thought dumbly as I realized that I hadn’t showered in several days, half of which had spent in a dirty forest, rolling around in muck and dirt. I realized with embarrassment that I had gone this entire time smelling like a garbage dump and had been subjecting my saviours to a cruel and unusual torture without even realizing it. I could feel a thin sheen of grime and sweat coating my skin like seranwrap, and my clothes were stained with mud, dirt, and who knows what else. I embarrassedly noticed that the dirt that had been on me had fallen onto the bed sheets, turning them from a clean white to a dirty brown.

I swung my legs off the side of the bed and stretched my stiff arms above my head. “What in the world did those ponies think of me I wonder?” I thought aimlessly. All of a sudden, the reality of the hours previous came back to me as I remembered where I was and who I was in the proximity of. 7 ponies, some of which have the ability to use magic, one of which was apparently a god-princess of a sort. I had taken my leave of them with their consent after I had developed a splitting headache after being forced to think about magic, trans-dimensional travel, monsters, enchanted artefacts, multicoloured magical talking ponies-

I gritted my teeth as I felt another twinge of pain shoot in between my temples. Thinking this all over even more really wasn’t helping me out any. Needless to say though, I was going to have to apologize for smelling like I was from the 1600’s. I sighed, feeling as though the nap I just woke from hadn’t done anything to ease my fatigue, and stood up, my back cracking pleasantly as I did so.

I walked out the door to my room and looked around. I briefly entertained the thought that I was alone, but dismissed it when I noticed that I could hear the faint noise of conversation coming from the floor beneath me. The distance between us made it so the exact words were transformed into an indistinguishable hum of noise.

I silently walked towards the stairs, craning my ears to try and catch what they were saying. I was at a very clear disadvantage in this world, as I knew next to nothing about it except for the fact that (thankfully) gravity still works the way it’s supposed to. Because of this, I decided that it would be wise to glean as much information about this place as I can to balance out the scales a little bit, and since the books were out of the question as I couldn’t read pony script, eavesdropping was my best source for information at the moment.

The wooden floor squeaked a bit as I slowly advanced on tip toe, making me wince as the sound pierced though the air. I waited with bated breath, but the ones downstairs didn’t seem to notice, so I continued on towards the top of the flight.

Because there was no wall separating the stairs and the bottom floor from each other, something that occurred to me could be quite dangerous if one wasn’t careful when climbing them, I could hear what was being said without having to poke my head around the corner.

“-have no reason to believe that he has ill intentions towards us. To be blunt Rainbow Dash, you’re just being paranoid.” said an irate voice that I recognized to belong to the purple unicorn, Twilight Sparkle. She sounded as though her last thread of patience was about to snap, and before I contemplate why, another voice cut in.

“We also have no reason to believe that he doesn’t have any ill intentions towards us!” a raspy and agitated voice replied hotly. That must have been Rainbow Dash. “All we know about him is that he came from the Everfree forest, a place that spawns more monsters than Applejack does apples! Don’t ya think that this is even slightly suspicious?”

I heard an exasperated sigh. “Monsters don’t talk Rainbow.” Twilight said without inflection.

“The hay they don’t!” she rebutted. “Discord talked, that bug queen talked, Sombra talked! Are you telling me that they weren’t monsters?”

A chipper voice eagerly piped in. “Actually, Sombra didn’t really say anything besides crystaaallsss over and over again.” It said, putting a hissing emphasis on the word crystals.

“Still counts.” Rainbow countered quickly. “Well?” she said, likely directing the conversation back to Twilight Sparkle.

If these ponies were anything like ponies, Twilight Sparkle was probably rolling her eyes right about now. “No Rainbow, they aren’t. They might have been evil and nefarious, but they weren’t monsters. They were thinking, calculating entities that can feel emotions beyond the primal urges of eat, sleep, hunt, and mate. Monsters can’t do that. You can’t sit down and have an in depth conversation about your favourite author with a cockatrice.”

Somebody snorted in amusement. “Hah, I bet you wish you could.” said the little male voice. I recognized it from somewhere, but I couldn’t remember where exactly from.

“True, but irrelevant.” Twilight said, although I could detect the smallest hint of amusement in her voice. “That…human was it? Yes, that human is not a monster.” She finished with an air of finality. Despite my best efforts, I felt my heart warm slightly at her words. I didn’t often get compliments, and as ridiculous as this one was, it made me smile.

“Fine! Whatever! He’s not a monster. But that doesn’t change the fact that he could still be evil!” Rainbow retorted hotly, her voice started to sound slightly pleading. “Don’t you remember what happened with Chrysalis and how we didn’t-”

Rainbow was interrupted by the noise of somebody pointedly clearing their throat. “er..,I mean to say, you were the only one who suspected her as a threat even though she was acting all innocent? Well what if he’s just like Chrysalis? Pretending to be all nice, waiting for the moment that out back is turned and then WHAM,” I heard the sound of an arm slam against a wooden surface. “next thing you know we have shackles on our hooves and are working in the mines!”

I had to put my mouth to my hand to hold back a chuckle. This Rainbow Dash, despite the fact that she didn’t seem to like me one bit, was endearing herself more and more to me just by the fact that she was quite entertaining to listen to.

Twilight sighed once more. “This is different Rainbow. You saw what he looked like when he came in, didn’t you? He was filthy and bloody and was obviously scared. He even burst down crying when you confronted him like you did. How can you think that he could be some evil would-be usurper after that?”

I felt myself blush as Twilight reiterated that, errr…episode that I had earlier that day where I lost my composure. The rest of the ponies had seemed very sympathetic and understanding of my plight then, Twilight even had looked a tad guilty for freaking me out earlier at the zebra’s hut, but Rainbow Dash was the only one to consistently stay openly hostile towards me. I didn’t know what it was about her or me that made her distrust me so, but I had a feeling it might have at least a little something to do with that Chrysalis that was mentioned.

“Well…I mean…” Rainbow stammered, obviously grasping at straws. “He could of just learned how to act like that through his super secret spy training!” she announced dramatically. Again, my hand went up to my mouth to suppress a laugh.

“Think about it Twilight,” she continued. “We’re the bearers of the elements of harmony, the most powerful magical source in Equestria, and now this strange creature comes out friggin nowhere claiming to be lost after several failed attempts by a bunch of other evil dudes to do some really messed up stuff? If that doesn’t spell ‘suspicious,’ then I don’t know what does!”

“Rainbow you’re being ridic-“

“Hay, he could be plotting against us as we speak! Poisoning our food or setting up traps!” her voice took a low and menacing undertone. “He could even be spying on us right now, watching us as. We . Speak.” she muttered dangerously.

I suddenly became very aware that my position at the top of the stairs, perfectly optimized to overhear their conversation without being found out, would paint me in a very unfavourable light if they stumbled across me. Deciding that I had heard enough, I made to stealthily creep back to the guest room that I had been given so as not to be discovered and implicated against further. Before I could take a single step however, a small voice from below chimed in.

“Actually, he’s been standing at the top of the stairs listening this entire time.” The quiet voice said.

I clenched my teeth in annoyance and sighed though my nose. It seemed that some omnipotent being, possibly the same one that brought me here, was out to get me.

I briefly considered pretending that nothing happened and continuing on my way to the guest room, but discarded the idea when I realized that a hush had descended the ponies downstairs. If I did, there was no doubt that, with the new silence, they would hear me creeping away from them, and that would only make me seem more suspicious that I already did. No, it seemed like I was going to have to face the flames head on this time.

How did that saying go? Sometimes you had to jump off the cliff and build your wings on the way down or something?

Regardless, my choice was made for me. I took a deep breath before making my way down the stairs, one step at a time, preparing myself to meet the eyes of several suspicious, judgemental ponies as I did so.

To my surprise, I only met the eyes of one judgemental pony, and that was the irate pegasus Rainbow Dash. Twilight Sparkle looked at me with what seemed to be an embarrassed expression on her face, and in the eyes of Fluttershy, the one who must have revealed my presence to the others, I only saw curiosity and concern.

Rainbow Dash, of course, glared at me, but I didn’t take to much offense at it. Now that I understood a little bit more about where she was coming from due to my overhearing of their conversation, I found myself very easily forgiving her nasty attitude. From what I could tell, their country, Equestria, has really been put through the wringer as of late as several different “bad dudes” have tried to do some “really messed up stuff.” Now that I understood a bit more, my unnatural arrival seemed a tad suspicious even in my own eyes.

Just because I understood her position a little more didn’t mean that she and I were going to start singing Kumbayah arm in arm however. I just decided that I would tolerate her actions for the time being and try to make an extra effort and appearing as harmless and innocent as possible. Considering my natural personality, that shouldn’t be too difficult.

I heard Rainbow Dash softly whisper “Told’ja so” out of the corner of her mouth to Twilight who only rolled her eyes. I tossed Rainbow Dash a sheepish smile as I came to the bottom of the steps, hoping to break the ice between us somewhat. She responded with a simple huff.

I wracked my mind for something to say to dispel the awkward atmosphere that was rapidly accumulating in the room, but was saved the effort when Fluttershy trotted over towards me to stand in front of me, surprising me by taking laying her hoof comfortingly over my hand that hung at my side.

“Are you okay?” she asked, her voice delicate and caring, like a mother’s would be. “did you sleep well? Do you still have a headache?”

I smiled reassuringly at her. “It’s mostly gone now, thanks.” She nodded and smiled back. I noticed that her hoof didn’t stray from my hand. I didn’t mind, so I let it stay there.

The silence started to come back in full force once more, and it seemed to be up to me to break it this time. I took a deep breath and looked the cyan pegasus in the eye.

“Look, I know you don’t trust me.” I said completely straightfaced, exhibiting a sort of confidence and determinism that was pretty rare for me. “If I was in your position and some weird alien creatures just sauntered into my world, I probably wouldn’t trust them either. Even so, I just want you to know that I’m not your enemy. I have no plans to take over your country or steal your ‘Elements of Harmony,’ whatever they are. I’m just somebody who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I just want to go home before my friends and family presume me to be dead or missing.”

Rainbow raised her eyebrow, but said nothing.

“I’m not asking you to like me or be my friend or anything. All I’m asking is for you to trust me, because I really don’t want to spend every other waking minute thinking that a rainbow maned pony is going to hit me over the head with a metal pipe and dump my body in a lake or something.”

Maybe I was a bit too blunt trying to get my point across. Rainbow’s eyes widened as Twilight and Fluttershy gasped and looked at me with horror.

“I-I wouldn’t do that!” Rainbow sputtered indignantly. I shrugged at her.

“I don’t know that.” I said simply. “Hell, the first time I saw Twilight Sparkle here, I thought she was going to gouge my eyes out with her horn or something.” The purple unicorn coughed self consciously and looked away. “Besides, with the way you’ve been acting towards me, it’s a thought that crossed my mind several times.”

“Well I…I just…” Rainbow stuttered in bafflement while looking slightly shamefaced. After a moment of unsuccessfully trying to force the words out of her mouth, she slumped, defeated.

“Fine.” She grumbled, shooting me a much less hostile look. “I’ll take it easy on you.” I smiled gratefully at her.

“Thank y-“

“But!” she interrupted loudly, taking flight and hovering over to where I stood, placing her face right in front of mine. “I’ll be keeping an eye on you, so no funny business! Got it?” she asked sternly, looking a lot like teacher reprimanding a mischievous child.

I raised my hand. “Understood. Scout’s honour.” I said primly. She only hovered there for a moment before shaking her head and turning away.

“You’re weird.” She said quietly before landing back on the floor. She turned to Twilight who was watching our interactions with interest. “All right Twi’, I’m going to head on home. I’ve got to get some training done.”

Twilight nodded. “Of course. Goodbye Rainbow Dash.” She said. Fluttershy echoed her and said her own farewells which Rainbow returned.

The pegasus made her way to the front door. Just as she was about to open it, she paused and looked back at me.

“And uh…goodbye to you to.” She said quickly while avoiding my eyes. I nodded and smiled.

Once Rainbow left, I took a deep breath and visibly relaxed. Twilight whistled impressively and looked at me with a sense of awe on her face.

“Wow. I’ve never met somebody who could make Rainbow Dash change her mind that easily.” she said. I looked at her and shrugged.

“From what I heard, this country has been through some rough patches as of late.” I looked back at the door through which the pegasus had left. “It’s not that she wants to hate me, she just can’t afford to like me. And that’s fine. If I lost sleep for every person who didn’t like me, I’d be addicted to caffeine by now.” Not that I was a particularly unlikeable fellow, mind you, but I could be the nicest, most likeable guy on Earth and there would still be those who would find a reason to dislike me just because that’s what they do best.

Twilight Sparkle nodded contemplatively. “I see.” she said simply. “That’s a very…interesting way to see things.”

I shrugged, but before I could say something in return, I felt the pressure of Flutttershy’s hoof being withdrawn from my hand, reminding me of her presence. I looked down to see her shyly looking up at me, her face partially obscured behind her long pink mane.

“I don’t hate you…” she muttered quietly, looking down to the floor as she did so and shuffling her hooves. I could almost feel my heart break as the sweet little thing stood there self consciously, wanting to comfort me while seeming to be somewhat afraid of me at the same time. I couldn’t help but give her a genuine smile.

“Thank you Fluttershy. That’s very…kind of you to say.” I replied, my voice getting a little bit choked up. The yellow pegasus looked back up at me and gave me the tiniest of smiles back, her eyes wide with happiness.

“Say what you will about these ponies,” I thought to myself as I forced back an improper ‘aww’ at her expression. ”but they sure are adorable.”

I heard a contemplative ‘hmmm’ come from Twilight, and when I looked up at her, she was staring at Fluttershy with an unreadable expression on her face as she tapped her chin with a forehoof thoughtfully. After a moment, she shook herself out of her reverie and gave me a bright smile.

“So! Kael, how was your nap?” she asked politely. I inclined my head in a little nod.

“It was just what I needed. I really needed to let my mind take a rest from all this…” I gestured inarticulately, struggling to find the right words to describe my feelings. “From all this…this.” I finished uncertainly.

“Hmmm.” Twilight said thoughtfully. “Yes, I’d imagine. I’m sure it’s a lot to take in.”

“Definintely.” I said with a nod before looking away and scratching the back of my head. “So um…it has recently come to my attention that I smell like a sack of old compost that’s been dipped in vinegar…” Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise. “So I was just wondering, is there anyplace I could, you know, wash up?”

Twilight stared at me for a moment before nodding with the slightest of smirks on her face. “Ehm, yes. The bathroom upstairs has a working shower that you can use.” She eyed me up and down critically. “It might be a bit of a tight fit though…”

I blinked. A shower? I was expecting her to just point me towards the nearest pond or something and tell me to go wild with it. An actual shower with running water was a bit of a surprise, and now that I think about it, a blessing.. Just another eerie similarity between our two worlds I suppose.

I waved my hand dismissively. “I’ll make do.” I pinched the fabric of my once red-brown shirt and pulled it away from me, eyeing it with distaste. “I just wish I had something better to wear.” I muttered.

Twilight’s eyes lit up. “Oh right! I forgot to tell you about that. After Rarity saw you in that “disaster of an outfit,” her words, not mine, she decided that she was going to whip up something simple for you to wear.” At my confused look, she explained further. “She makes clothing for a living, so she’ll probably drop it off sometime later tonight. She’s very good at what she does.”

“But…I don’t have anything to pay her with.” I protested weakly. This was just what I didn’t need, to be in debt to a bunch of ponies when I didn’t even know what the standard currency was. I could only hope that Rarity wasn’t some type of loan shark who’ll charge me triple the cost of whatever she gives me.

She dismissed my worries with a smile. “Oh, you don’t need to worry about payment. It’s something of a hobby of hers to give gifts to those who need them.”

I looked at Flutteshy, the yellow pegasus being the one that I unconsciously trusted the most in this strange world. She only nodded reassuringly and smiled.

I nodded uncertainly. “I see…well, I most certainly won’t complain then.” I was overcome by a rush of gratitude as the prospect of having to live the next few days, weeks, or even months in the same ratty clothes was thrown out the window. “I’ll have to thank her next time I see her.”

Twilight nodded and smiled. “Right.”

With nothing more to say between us, I pardoned myself to her and Fluttershy who had been quiet the entire time and made my way to the stairs that I could give myself a much needed cleaning. Before I could however, I could see a look of apprehension and uncertainty come across Twilight’s face as she looked like she badly wanted to say something, but was preventing herself from doing so.

I sighed inwardly. I could tell by the way she bit her lip and looked around shiftily that something was bothering her, but she was too polite to mention anything. The facial expressions of these ponies were getting far more readable as I interacted more and more with them. In fact, I was starting feel like it was easier to read them than the average human due to their unusually expressive eyes. This was probably a skill that would come in handy.

Nevertheless, something was bothering her, and it had something to do with me, that much was clear. This was something that I should probably nip in the bud before it actually gives me any problems.

“Is there something wrong Twilight?” I asked her politely, willing her to say no so that I could just head upstairs and take my much deserved shower. The unicorn looked at me uncertainly.

“Well…you see, the thing is…” she stammered, looking extremely nervous and uncertain. “I don’t want to feel like I’m pressuring you or anything but I was just wondering if, maybe, possibly, there was any chance that you might consider thinking about if it was possible that-“

“Oh for Celestia’s sake, she wants to study you to learn more about your species!” cried out a little voice from the side of the room as the little dragon, Spike I remembered, walked up to Twilight and clambered onto her back with a smirk on his face. Annoyance flashed across her face to soon be replaced by embarrassed acceptance.

“Yeah, that.” she awkwardly. I raised my eyebrow at her. “I’m a scholar and a researcher, you see, and I would be incredibly grateful if you’d allow me to learn a bit more about you and your species.” She smiled hopefully before hastily adding “It wouldn’t be too scientific if you’re not comfortable with it. It could just be an interview or...something.”

“I see…well, why was that so hard to say?” I asked her, looking at her strangely. She seemed far too nervous than reason deemed necessary.

The unicorn rubbed her forehoof along her leg self consciously. “Well, you reacted so…negatively when I wanted to get a closer look at you back at Zecora’s, so I just figured you wouldn’t like the idea.” She replied sheepishly.

“Zecora would be the one that saved me before?” I inquired. She nodded.

“The zebra, yes.” She replied. I smiled inwardly, pleased that I had been correct about guessing the race of my saviour.

“Well, that was because I didn’t know if you wanted to shake my hand or cut it off.” I explained to her, her eyes widening slightly. “Now that I know that you don’t mean to harm me, I don’t see much of a problem in letting you interview me or whatever.”

A huge grin burst across her face. “R-really?”

I nodded easily. “Sure. As long as there are no dissections involved.” I added with mock seriousness. Twilight laughed, albeit slightly uncomfortably.

“Of course.” She replied with an eager grin. I couldn’t blame her. The idea of being the first to get an in depth analyses on a being from a different world would have me tickled pink as well.

“Just let me clean myself off first, and then we’ll talk.” I added. Twilight didn’t seem fazed by this in the slightest.

“Alright then! The shower is ready when you need it.”

I nodded gratefully and, excusing myself once more to the two ponies and the little dragon Spike, followed the stairs to the second floor where the bathroom was, hoping that these showers of theirs had warm water. Once I reached the landing, I overheard the ponies talking amongst themselves.

“You know, you don’t have to stay here Fluttershy. You can go back home if you want.” Twilight said to the pegasus.

“No, I’d rather stay here for a while longer. I mean, if that’s okay with you…”

“Of course, but might I ask why?”

“Because he needs me to.”

Well, on the plus side, the shower had hot water to spare, so not only did I thankfully get clean, but I got to relax my aching muscles while doing so. Considering the curtains, knobs, and showerhead, it was almost he exact same as any normal shower you’d find on Earth.

I say “almost” because it looked like it was made for somebody who was half my height, and considering those ponies were only about 4 feet tall, it probably was. Because of this, I had to sit my bare ass on the floor of the tub with my knees drawn into my chest and my head bowed so that the water would be able to cover me. Despite the discomfort, I managed to use a suspiciously girly bottle of shampoo on my hair (praying that it wouldn’t make it change colour or anything considering that it wasn’t made for humans) and scrubbed myself clean with a fresh bar of soap.

After about a half hour of sitting under the scalding water, needless to say, I felt like a new man. My muscles groaned pleasantly as I stood up and stepped out, grabbing a towel from the rack as I did so. As I buffeted my hair and dried myself with it, I briefly reflected on the profound strangeness on the similarities between my culture and theirs. Looking around the simple bathroom, I could have believed I was in any normal human home, if all humans were only slightly taller than my waist.

I picked up the articles of clothing that I had been given and inspected them. During my shower, a knock had come at the door and the white unicorn, Rarity, had tentatively asked if it was alright to come in. I, of course, denied her entrance instantly, but she insisted that it was necessary that she give something to me. We argued back and forth over it, me getting a little bit more panicked as I did so, until she eventually gave up, opened the door a crack, and floated in several garments in with her magic and set them on the counter.

I could tell that she had simply copied what I was wearing earlier. The shirt was a dark blue, something that brought me a bit of pleasure as the colour red looked absolutely awful on me. It was made of a light, thin material that was reminiscent of cotton but felt alien underneath my fingers. The material was probably something that was unique to their world, one that was surprisingly strong considering how thin it was.

They didn’t seem to have access to denim however. The pants were made of a rough material reminiscent of burlap, but not as uncomfortable around my skin. They were black and were obviously modeled after my jeans as they had loops around the waist for my belt and pockets on the side and on the back. I idly noticed that she had refrained from making a pair of underwear for me, but considering that I had a belt t hold the pants up and there wasn’t a zipper to fall and cause any embarrassing situations, I didn’t mind going commando. All in all, I was very pleased with the results, especially since the alternative was very unappealing.

It seemed that Rarity really was good at her job as she had gotten my measurements almost exactly right just by looking at me. It was clear that a good amount of the clothing was guess work, the hole for my head to go through the shirt was a little bit narrow, and the pant legs were a smidgeon too long, but it was nothing that was overly noticeable or uncomfortable.

I pulled the clothes on and looked at myself in the mirror. I groaned slightly when I noticed that Rarity hadn’t been able to resist putting in a little bit of artistic flair into the shirt. The bottom of the shirt had what looked to be lace ruffles on it, giving my waist a strangely poofy look, and I spied a simple design of black and white flowers near the shoulders.

Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers I suppose. I’ll trade a bit of self respect for clean clothes.

Through the process of my shower I realized that I was feeling quite peckish. The last time I had eaten was fairly early that morning, and it seemed my body was doing its best to remind me that I owed it some recompense for all of its hard work insofar.

And so, it was with a high heart that I swiftly headed to the bottom floor as the smell of cooking food wafted throughout the interior. When I got down there however, I was surprised at what I saw.

The main floor of the library had a few more bodies in it than I remembered. The other ponies that I had seen earlier upon my arrival were all there, accompanied with the tall alicorn Celestia. Standing next to the pony princess was another alicorn, one that was nearly as tall as Celestia, the only difference being that her coat was a dark blue rather than pure white. Spike, the little dragon, wasn’t anywhere to be seen, but judging from the whistling that I heard from the kitchen, I could guess where he could be found.

The conversation amongst the ponies seemed heated, and I could tell that they were tense. Fluttershy was speaking louder than I’ve ever heard her before, and from the looks on the faces of the others, they were feeling quite uncomfortable with the situation. It didn’t take a genius to figure out the subject of their anxiety. I felt a small bubble of nervousness from in the pit of my stomach.

All eyes had turned to me, the sore thumb, as I reached the bottom of the stairs where I proceeded to stand there awkwardly with my hands in my pockets. I briefly met the eyes of the white unicorn to whom I owed my new outfit, and I gave her a polite smile and a nod to show my appreciation, not entirely willing to be the first to speak lest I inevitably say something that will get me lynched.

The first to smile was, of course, Celestia. She was sitting next to the other alicorn with a slightly troubled, yet calm look on her face. The darker alicorn, probably the other princess that had been mentioned earlier, had a much more grave expression on her face, looking as though she was sentencing somebody to an execution.

“Ooooh, I really shouldn’t have made that analogy…” I thought as I felt my knees quiver slightly underneath me. I shot a glance at Fluttershy, and even though I could see that something had upset her, she gave me a small reassuring smile.

I felt a surge of warmth pass through as I suddenly felt inexplicably safer standing here under the gazes of these ponies, some suspicious and tense, others warm and kind. I was suddenly very grateful to the yellow pegasus for all that she’s done for me. She had reassured me when frightened, stuck up for me when accused, and supported me when upset. She was the only one who had given me what I needed in this strange world. A friend, someone I could lean on for support when things got rough. Just by her being there, I could feel my worries ease slightly.

I mustered up my courage, partly for my own sake, and partly for hers, and I attempted a weak smile at the assembled equines.

“Heya.” I said with a small wave in my hand, no more than an awkward raising and lowering of my arm.

Celestia’s smile grew wider, but the other alicorn’s expression was unchanging.

“Hello again Kael. I trust I find you in good health?” Celestia asked pleasantly.

“I’m feeling…better.” I said uncertainly. “Definitely not as bad as before, that’s for sure.”

Celestia nodded, happy with my response. “I’m glad to hear it.” she replied, sitting a little straighter and taller as she did so. “Now, I’m afraid that I haven’t much time to stay here as I need to lower the sun in but a few moments, but there is something that we, that is, my sister and I” she gestured towards the black alicorn, “need to discuss with you.”

“Indeed.” Spoke the other alicorn as she stood up and began to approach me with heavy steps. Even though her head only came up to my neck, she seemed to dwarf me with her presence alone. She walked with less grace than Celestia, she seemed to stomp across the floor while Celestia seemed to glide, but with more purpose, her eyes alight with the passion that came from ruling a nation with an iron fist, or hoof as they case may be.

“Kael the human,” she said, each word being spoken as though it was of the utmost importance, as she came to a stop in front of me. “My sister and I wish to have words with you about your coming to Equestria, and how we may send you back to your homeland.”

I couldn’t help but cower under her gaze like the commoner that I was. Every movement she made was decisive and strong. Her jaw was set and her eyes were stern as she looked at me like an extremely strict father would a disobedient child as he considered how to discipline it.

“Okay.” I squeaked.

“Dost thou find that acceptable?” she boomed, speaking so loudly that it seemed as though the floor under my feet was vibrating. While she was asking me a question, it felt like it was more of a command that left little doubt that, if I said the wrong answer, the only way I’d be able to get home is in pieces.

“Yes.” I said, my voice unnaturally high.

The intimidating princess nodded in satisfaction. She raised her hoof and opened her mouth as though to make one more proclamation, no doubt one loud enough to rattle my bones in their sockets and cause my bladder to empty its contents out of fright, but a loud ahem from behind her drew her attention away from me.

“Sister dear, you’re reverting again.” Princess Celestia said sweetly with a hint of firm disapproval. She eyed Princess Luna critically. “Please make more of an effort to not frighten our guest Luna, we need him in good mental health.”

The black alicorn looked at Celestia for a brief moment as her words died on her lips. She turned back to me, and upon seeing that I was basically cowering in front of her, my knees knocking and my eyes wide with fear, her face contorted into an expression of mild surprise, her mouth form a perfect o.

She daintily brought a hoof to her mouth as her eyes filled with regret. “Oh dear.” She muttered with a much more gentle voice. She lowered her hoof and took a few hasty steps away from me, giving me some space. “Oh dear, I am so so sorry, I didn’t even realize…”

Her eyes fell guiltily away from mine which were now filled with confusion instead of fear. “Oh Luna, you silly mare…” she muttered to herself angrily before giving me a tiny apologetic bow of her head. “You have my sincerest apologies Sir Kael, I hadn’t realized that I was reverting to the speech of old yet again. I must have just been nervous…”

“Aheh…heheh…” I chuckled weakly as a sense of relief flooded through me, making me feel somewhat delirious. “Don’t…don’t worry about it. No harm done.”

“Oh god, I think I’m going to puke.”

She looked once more, smiled, and nodded gratefully. “It shall not happen again, I assure you.”

I returned her smile weakly. “That’s good to know.” I replied. “Really good.” Something that she had said struck a strange chord in me. “But why would you be nervous meeting me? Shouldn’t I be the one who’s nervous?”

Princess Luna shook her head. “You are an ambassador of your land, and by Equestrian law, ambassadors of foreign countries are to be treated with the utmost respect and dignity.” She smiled. “To encourage good relations you see. I just…forgot that respect is shown in different ways now than it was a thousand years ago.” She said with a blush. “It used to be that the royal Canterlot voice was used at all times. Now, not so much.”

“Too many ponies were developing hearing problems.” Celestia explained with a smile.

I decided to comment on Luna basically saying that she was over a thousand years old. Instead, I just smiled easily, pretending that I mostly knew of what they were talking about.

“I see.” I said an understanding nod. “So, you said there was something that needed to be discussed with me?”

Princess Luna brightened. “Ah! Yes, we wish to discuss a proposal that we have regarding the issue of that ring on your finger.” She pointed at my right hand where the ring was fastened with her hoof. “My sister and I have discussed it,” she looked enigmatically at Celestia for a moment “in great depth, for a time, and we believe that we have an idea that may help us better understand how to dispel the cur- the enchantment on the ring.”

She had my immediate attention. I barely noticed that the other ponies in the room had wary and nervous expressions on their faces. They had been watching our exchange with rapt interest insofar, and now they seemed to be…afraid? That wasn’t the right word use, but they were definitely bothered by something.

“And what is that?” I asked immediately, intensely curious.

The princess nodded in satisfaction at my eagerness. “We were discussing it earlier before you arrived, although some were…less than pleased with our proposal.” She didn’t move her eyes from mine, but I noticed that Fluttershy’s eyes were unusually red, and there were hard lines on her delicate face that I hadn’t seen before.

“I have been led to believe that you arrived several days ago in the midst of the Everfree forest by means of trans-dimensional teleportation. Is that correct?” she asked me with a curious look.

I nodded. “As far as I know, it is.” Twilight, listening to the conversation with rapt attention, nodded her assent.

Luna looked thoughtful. “Well, if my sister and I are to have any luck in sending you back home, then we will need to have a better understanding on the exact spell that brought you here and, if possible, the unicorn who cast it.”

“In order to better understand the magics that have brought you to our world,” she continued, “we think it would be best if you would accompany us to the Everfree Forest and locate the sight of your arrival. Once there, we will be able to examine the residual magical signature that was released by the spell that brought you here.”

I felt my eye twitch slightly at her words as my blood started to turn cold. It took me a while to find my voice, but when I did, it was that of a small child who had just been told that its parents were going to be leaving them home alone for an entire week.

“You want me to go…back?” I asked weakly. The Princess’ confident expression turned uncertain, and I could spy the ponies out of the corner of my eye looking at me with varying degrees of sympathy and concern. Fluttershy herself looked like she was close to tears with the way she bit her lower lip to stop it from shaking.

Princess Luna leaned back from me, raising a forehoof as though I were a wild dangerous animal that she may need to flee from at any second. She eyed me uncertainly. “Why, yes, is that a problem?” she asked me hesitantly.

Was it? I didn’t rightly know myself to be honest. On one hand, it seemed that the best chance I had at returning home lay somewhere in my new idea of what Hell was like, and on the other hand, I really needed to get home before I missed my rent payment and lost my apartment completely. It seemed that I had to choose the lesser of two evils, but I was going to need to figure out which one of those two outcomes that was.
I idly fingered the ring on my hand in silence, running my left index finger over it, feeling the thin outline of the alicorn figure that ran around the entire length. Without even realizing it, I tugged at it slightly, trying to dig my nail underneath it and gently pry it off, but to nobody’s surprise, it didn’t budge. I looked down at it, this time without anger or fear, but with conviction.

I could feel a curse on the tip of my tongue, but didn’t let it out. As much as I hated myself for even considering Luna’s proposal, it seemed as though I didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.

I opened my mouth to give my answer, but was cut off by an outburst from one of the other ponies in the room.

“Of course it’s a problem!”

All eyes instantly turned to Fluttershy who had all four hooves planted on the ground like a predator defending its territory and was downright glaring at the Princess. Her eyes widened for a moment as she realized what she said and, but they hardened once more as she shook her head defiantly and stood her ground.

“Kael can’t go back in there, not now, not ever! He had to endure horrible things in that forest, and I won’t let you take him there!” She said with a commanding tone in a voice that was much louder than anything I’ve heard come out of her before, but still managed to somehow seem meek and quiet even though there was a roaring fire in her eyes. The entire room of ponies was taken aback, the two Princesses and the other ponies looking at the small and dainty pegasus with no small amount of shock and awe.

Fluttershy quickly moved to where I was, standing in front of me protectively as a mother bear would her cub, staring down the threat unflinchingly. “I promised him.” she said with finality.

The room was silent except for the oblivious whistling that came from the kitchen where the Spike the dragon was. A mixture of played on the faces of every pony in the room, nervousness on some, anger on others, and in the case of Rainbow Dash, a healthy case of respect.

My thoughts went back to a few hours ago when the pony had tearfully embraced me with a hug with a strength that belied her size “Don’t you worry you d-dear! You won’t have to go to that…that…horrible p-place ever again, I promise!” she exclaimed tearfully.

I looked down at the little pegasus who was so vehemently sticking up to the Princess for my sake, and couldn’t help but feel more than a little bit touched. I felt a tear begin to form in my eye as I was awash with emotions of gratitude and appreciation, but I blinked it back quickly.

Princess Celestia was the first to find her voice, as the rest will still rather dumbstruck. “Fluttershy, I can assure you that no harm will come to-”

The temperature of the room dropped several degrees as Fluttershy turned her gaze towards Celestia, staring with an intensity that could melt steel. Celestia, one of the rulers of the entire land, the one who commanded armies and arcane powers, quickly shut her mouth and stared back with an expression that was almost expressionless if it wasn’t for the set jaw and slightly widened eyes that revealed her surprise and, dare I say, fear.

“I said no.” Fluttershy responded with the conviction of a mountain that was determined to not be moved. I could see the two Princesses frantically try and defuse the situation, to ease the pegasus and restore the authority to themselves, but I could tell that it was futile. No matter what they said or did, this mama bear wasn’t going to budge an inch.

“Fluttershy.”

The yellow pegasus made a startled noise as I quietly said her name, knocking her out of her protective reverie as she turned to face me with wide eyes.

“It’s okay Fluttershy, I can go.” I said as gently as possible, trying to sooth and reassure her with my voice.

She looked at me fearfully and shook her head frantically, her long hair, now in slight disarray, flew about her head.

“But you- I can’t- no!” she cried. “No! I-I won’t let you!” She rushed forward and wrapped her front hooves around my legs as though to prevent me from moving. “I won’t let you…” she muttered tearfully into my pant leg.

I looked down in bewilderment, wondering what it was that I did to receive such attention, such concern, such care from the pony. I have known her for less than a day, and already she has done so much for me even though I’m a complete stranger, not to mention a complete alien to her. Why is it that she cares so much? Why is she so kind?

The tears threatened to fall once more, but I firmly held them back, knowing that if they started to fall, they wouldn’t stop. I reached my hand down and grasped a trembling forehoof in my hand, gently prying it off of my leg. Fluttershy resisted at first, but then reluctantly released her hold on me and stood back with her head down as she sniffled miserably.

It broke my heart to see her like this, it really did. The last time somebody was so worried for me was when I was younger and living with my parents. I’ve been out of their house and on my own for a little over 4 years now, and if I was being honest with myself, I was starting to forget what it felt like to be cared for.

Not being able to stand to see her so upset, I did the only thing that I could think of. I crouched down so that I was kneeling on one knee in front of her, and when she looked up to see what I was doing, I gently wrapped my arms around her and embraced her.

She let out a startled squeak and trembled even more as I held her in my arms, becoming tense for a moment before relenting and burying her face into my shoulder, staining my new shirt with tears. I reached up a hand to stroke her mane comfortingly as I held her, but that only made her sob harder. A few of the other ponies let out a simultaneous ‘awww’ at this, but I ignored them.

It took her a little while, but she finally started to calm down as I held her and whispered condolences in her ear. Eventually, she had gotten a hold of herself enough that I could release my hold of her and look at her properly as I held her at arms length.

Her eyes were red of course, and her lower lip still trembled slightly. I noticed her eyes avoiding mine, as though she were ashamed of her behaviour. I frowned at that.

“Fluttershy, look at me.” I commanded gently. She shuddered slightly before slowly lifting her gaze to mine as though fearful of what I was going to say.

“I’m very…” I struggled to find the right word for a moment as I forced back a few tears from escaping. “touched…that you are so concerned about me. I’ve never met somebody as caring and kind as you, and I’m glad I did.”

Her eyes widened as she sniffled. Instead of saying anything, she just nodded her understanding.

“And I know that you don’t want me to go back there, hell, I don’t even want to go back there, but right now, it seems I don’t have a choice.”

She shook her head frantically, her long mane flying up and brushing against my cheek.

“Yes Fluttershy, I have to go. If this is what I need to do to go back home, back to my family and friends, than so be it."

She looked at me imploringly for a moment as though begging me to not go. “But…I promised…” she whispered in her tiny voice. I nodded at her as I lifted a hand up to her cheek to brush away a few errant tears that were escaping her eyes.

“I know you did, and I’m grateful, but this is something I need to do no matter how much it scares me or how dangerous it is." I looked deeply into her big round eyes. "Do you understand?”

She took a deep, shuddering breath in an effort to calm down. Her lip ceased its trembling and her breathing became less erratic. Finally, she nodded sadly and looked down with a defeated expression.

“…Yes.” she whispered.

I smiled at her. “Will you let me go?” I asked gently, wanting to give her a sense of closure in a decision that wasn’t actually hers.

She nodded once more. “Yes.” She repeated, more firmly this time. I smiled gratefully.

“Thank you Fluttershy.” I said as I laid a hand on her shoulder. She nodded once more and looked up at me, a surprising strength in her eyes.

“But I’m coming with you.” she said with an air of finality that gave no room for argument. Her voice was louder this time, as though she was talking to every pony in the room instead of just me.

My eyebrows rose. “Are you sure?” I asked her with surprise.

“Yes.” She replied with more confidence then I’ve ever heard from her. “I’m not letting you go without me.”

I smiled at her before shooting a glance at Princess Luna who seemed incredibly nervous and indecisive at this new development. She shared a look with Celestia, and after a brief moment between the two, the white alicorn gave a small nod.

“That is acceptable.” Luna declared, although her expression looked as though the words left a bitter taste in her mouth. Fluttershy nodded, as though that were the answer she was expecting.

“Hold on, if Fluttershy’s going, then I’m going too!” came a loud voice. Rainbow Dash took to the air and hovered in front of the Princesses with a determined look on her face.

Princess Celestia responded immediately. “No Rainbow Dash, you must stay in Ponyville. You and the rest of the Elements will be needed for…something else.” She said cryptically. Rainbow Dash immediately opened her mouth to protest, but was cut off with as stern look from Celestia. Obviously, she was going to have better luck arguing with a wall. She seemed to realize this as her shoulders slumped and gave a sour look to the ground.

“Fine…” she mumbled before hovering over with the rest of her friends and plopping down beside Applejack who gave her a shoulder a reassuring pat.

Twilight Sparkle, ever the inquisitive one, piped up. “What is it you’ll need us for Princess?” she asked with a curious tilt of her head. The Princess looked at her expressionlessly for a moment before smiling.

“We will discuss that later, my student.” She replied reassuringly. A look of confusion passed Twilight's face, but nodded all the same.

I paid little mind to the Princesses, figuring that I would let them keep their secrets if they wished to. Instead, I smiled at the yellow pony in front of me and stood up from my crouched position. While the rest of the ponies were preoccupied with one another, I muttered a quick “Thank you.” to her. She smiled sweetly and nodded.

“Alright everypony, Food’s ready!” called a voice from the kitchen. The little dragon Spike appeared at the doorway with a pleated chef’s hat on his head, a pink apron around his body, and a smile on his face. He looked at the scene in front of him, taking in Fluttershy’s red eyes, Rainbow Dash’s moody look, Luna’s expression of nervousness, and Celestia’s trademark poker face that seemed slightly more strained than usual.

“What’d I miss?”

To Hell and Back Again

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To Hell and Back Again

The rest of the night passed by swiftly, and I don’t say that only because I couldn’t remember much of what happened the next morning. I was far too engrossed by both my nervousness of the Everfree that I would be returning to the very next day and by the delicious food that had been prepared by the surprisingly skilled little dragon. He had whipped up a delightful Prench onion soup that drew almost all of my attention away from any other conversation, especially since it took a good amount of willpower to not giggle at the pun on the word “French.”

The more and more I sat there, often switching between eating and listening to the chatter of the ponies all while trying to fade into the background (a very difficult task considering my alien appearance), I realized more and more how eerily similar my world was compared to theirs. From ancient Latin language that we seemed to share to the ridiculously similar designs of common household items, it was almost if they were a culture designed by humans themselves, like the brainchild of a fantasy writer.

“Or maybe they were the ones who designed us.” I thought to myself, sending a shiver up and down my spine. Now there was a scary thought. That so many human inventions, achievements, and cultural norms could be the creation of an ulterior species? It gave me chills just thinking about it.

But of course, I eventually realized the impossibility of that theory. Not only was human technology years ahead of theirs, we had physical proof of the existence of human evolution from thousands of years ago. Unless these ponies knew something that I didn’t, the chances them foreseeing the creation of all human culture from the background like a shadowy puppeteer was very slim indeed.

The night passed smoothly, something that I was greatly thankful for. There weren’t anymore outbursts or accusations from Rainbow Dash, and the Princesses hadn’t deemed it fit to throw my ass into a dungeon, and then throw that dungeon into a volcano, so I considered our little impromptu dinner party a roaring success.

Fluttershy was adamant on sitting next to me, constantly asking me if I needed anything, more water, more salt, a blanket because apparently I must be cold not having any fur all over my body. She hovered around me like a mother hen, always checking up on me and looking out for me, and I was rather surprised at how little this surprised me. I was also surprised to realize how much I enjoyed the attention. It was comforting to know that she was looking out for me, if it did get a mite aggravating at times.

I retired for the night earlier than I usually would, telling the assorted ponies and dragon that my weariness was starting to catch up on me again, when in reality, I couldn’t bare to be up too late knowing what was going to be in store for me tomorrow. I was a nervous wreck at the dinner table, constantly fingering the ring on my hand and as my eyes unconsciously flicked from place to another as though searching for hidden dangers and traps. Fluttershy, of course, was the only one who noticed, and she would occasionally lay a wing across my back to help calm my nerves, which thankfully, it did.

The ponies bought my excuse instantly, although Applejack seemed a tad confused at my lie, tilting her head and looking at me strangely before dismissing whatever it was she was thinking with a shake of her head. Princess Luna notified me that the three of us, that is, her and Fluttershy and I, would be leaving first thing in the morning tomorrow. She also told me that she would make an effort make my sleep as restful as possible, whatever that meant.

Sleep did not come easily for me, however. I was still pretty awake from my nap earlier, so I spent the next hour or so laying in the bed that was about a foot too small for me, stewing in my own nervousness and fear until all that remained was a twitching heap of a man. Thankfully, and somewhat ironically, all my worrying managed to completely exhaust me to the point where my body now had no choice but to surrender to fatigue, giving me a much welcome respite from the real world as I delved into the land of dreams.

After what felt like nearly seconds after closing my eyes, I was suddenly awakened by a tremendous crash sounding through my small room, echoing from the walls and hammering into my eardrums with nearly enough force to rupture them. I bolted upright, my heart racing in my chest as I looked around uncomprehendingly.

“Where’s the cannon?!” I blurted out stupidly, my mind fogged over by the remnants of sleep.

“There are no cannons, Sir Kael. Indeed, tis only I, the Princess of the Night, who has come to wake you from your slumber so that we may depart!” announced a loud and emphatic voice that belonged to little more than a dark blue blur in my eyes.

I rubbed the sleep away from my face and blinked hard, and the tall form of Luna came into view. Standing behind her, Fluttershy was trying to untangle herself from the alicorn’s long tail that moved as though caught in a breeze. She was trying to say something, but was continuously interrupted by strands of hair getting into her mouth.

“Princess, we can’t just-” she spat out some hair with a soft pthew. “We can’t just barge in like this! We need to be gentle and quiet and-” Fluttershy paused as she noticed that I was awake. “Oh dear…” she squeaked.

I raised an eyebrow at her before letting out a humongous yawn, not even bothering to cover my mouth as I stretched my arms out and arched my back, eliciting a few satisfying pops.

Fluttershy untangled herself from Luna’s tail and was by my side instantly. “Oh, are you all right? Did you sleep well? How do you feel? Would you rather just stay in bed for the day?” I opened my mouth to answer, still reeling slightly from being woken up so abruptly, but was cut off as she turned anxiously to Luna.

“Oh Princess, we can’t go to the Everfree forest, just look at him! He’s in no shape for anything so dangerous!” she wailed. The Princess arched an eyebrow at her before glancing at me. I gave her a pleasant smile.

“Sir Kael looks quite alright to me.” She stated bluntly. The yellow pegasus whimpered pathetically.

“B-but…”

Taking advantage of the brief lull of conversation, I gently lay a hand on the back of her neck causing her to tense in surprise. She looked at me worriedly, her eyes wide and fearful, and at that moment, I understood.

“You don’t need to come you know. I’ll be alright without you.” I said to her quietly. Her eyes widened slightly before she looked away, ashamed. I could feel her shiver under my hand, and for a moment, I thought she was going to take me up on my offer. Instead, she took a deep breath and looked me straight in the eye.

“No. I promised I’d protect you, and I will.” she said with a conviction that surprised me. All of a sudden, it seemed as if her will had turned from a brittle little twig into a bar of solid iron, hard and unyielding.

I nodded, partly in gratitude and partly in relief. Luna nodded in approval, stamping one hoof on the ground in satisfaction.

“With that settled,” she declared formally, “it would be most prudent if we got ready to depart, the earlier the better.”

I nodded, swung my legs over the side of the bed, and slowly started to stand up so that I wouldn’t get a debilitating case of head rush. It was strange, I felt more rested that I ever had before. It was almost as though I had slept for the combined span of 3 days. My aches and sores were all but gone, my muscles felt as good as new, and my mind was already wide awake. To sum it up in one word, I felt good, almost good enough to not feel nervous about the upcoming day.

Almost.

Breakfast was quick, curt, and silent, our thoughts and attention preoccupied by the unique situation we were in. It was a quick meal, no more than a snack really, of a small bowl of cereal and a few strawberries, that was consumed with an awkward silence between us.

That is to say, there was an awkward silence between Fluttershy and I seeing as were weren’t in any mood to talk. The rest of the ponies on the other hand were as nonchalant and content as ever. We were joined by Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle who spent their time idly chatting with Luna as Fluttershy and I cast nervous glances at each other, never straying too far from each others side. Misery loves company after all.

As it usually is with these types of things, time seemed to speed up so that at one moment I was kneeling at a table that was too low for me, and at the other I was walking down the path away from Ponyville towards the edge of the dark forest that lay next to it. The sun was still low in the sky, so there were not that many out and about, something I was thankful for as every pony that was out seemed dead set on gawking at me with open mouths. I would merely nod and smile weakly in their direction while unconsciously sidling towards Fluttershy. The presence of Luna with us was probably the only thing that prevented them from freaking out at my presence.

We reached the outskirts of the forest in not time at all. Without faltering, Luna strode bravely straight into the forest, not even deigning to turn her head to the side as she was so focused on her task. I could detect a faint, grim look on her face that suggested her mind wasn’t in as much ease as she would have liked us to think.

Emboldened at her display of courage, I squared my shoulders and walked after her. Fluttershy let out a small squeak as the dim light of the morning sun was replaced with a heavy blanket of shadow. I could see a hesitation in her step as she walked next to me, but it was overpowered by her drive to protect me, and she made sure to stick right by side the entire time.

We had been walking for several hours by the feel of it. No words had passed between the three of us as all of our attention was focused on our surroundings, partly to make sure that we weren’t being stalked and partly to make sure we didn’t trip on any exposed roots and rocks that were unnoticeable in the dim light.

Thankfully, everything had been smooth sailing up so far. The sounds of wildlife, some mundane like the chattering of squirrels and some disturbing like the sound of a hissing chicken were all around us, but we never actually encountered them. The only interruptions to our trek was from Luna herself when she would occasionally stop, lift her horn as high as she could while focusing for a moment, and abruptly switching directions. This happened many times, and I eventually worked up the nerve to ask her what the purpose for it was.

“I’m tracing the magical signature of the ring.” She explained. “Upon your arrival, a magical anomaly was made, the faint remnants of which have the exact same signature as the ring.” She raised her horn once more, hesitated, and nodded before continuing. “The traces are faint, but there’s enough to lead us to where we need to go.”

“Then what?” I asked without thinking. Even Fluttershy looked slightly curious, and she was pressed right up against my knee shivering in fright, something that I found odd considering I would be just as useless as her if we got into a confrontation with any dangerous wildlife.

Luna didn’t answer for a few seconds, but when she did, her voice was emotionless and strained. “Then, I shall attempt to…identify the signature. Hopefully, Celestia and I will be able to track it to the pony responsible for it.” I nodded thoughtfully, not fully understanding the dynamics and intricacies of this magic, but understanding the meaning nonetheless.

“And hopefully it shall not be to the pony We think it is.” Luna muttered under her breath, almost too quietly for me to hear. Fluttershy didn’t seem to notice it however, and since it seemed that I wasn’t meant to hear it, I didn’t reply.

About half an hour later of more walking, I was starting to find myself wishing that something interesting would happen. I had almost completely stopped being completely afraid about an hour ago after my feet started to ache and fatigue set into my bones. Now, I was just nervous. As unnerving as the shrieks, snarls, and howls of the forest around us were, especially since they got louder the farther into the forest we went, I had started to tune them out. The fauna seemed to ignore us completely as we passed by their domain, likely because of the presence of Princess Luna. From the way she walked, with her head held high and with confident steps, I could tell that she knew her way around a scuffle, and the forest animals probably did as well.

As long as I stayed around her, I was safe. As long as she was around, there was nothing to worry about.

I only wished that Fluttershy shared this sentiment with me. While my nerves had calmed down a bit, hers seemed to be just as frayed as ever, maybe even more so. Every rustle of the leaves and snap of a twig underfoot caused to her squeak in fright and retreat to my side, something that confused me endlessly. Surely Luna was the one that she would look to protect her, right? What would I possibly be able to do? I really don’t think that dealing with any potential dangers the Canadian way by politely asking them to kindly not kill us would help if we ran into anything hungry enough to attack us.

Nevertheless, I felt bad for the poor girl. More than that though, I felt guilty. It was because of me that she was putting herself through all of this, and I couldn’t help but feel responsible even though I knew full well that it wasn’t my fault. I tried soothing her with quiet words of consolation and reassuring smiles, but they didn’t help as much as I would like.

If Princess Luna shared my feelings, she didn’t make it known as she was to busy leading us in the right direction. We often ended up turning around 180 degrees and walking in the completely opposite direction as she detected what I assumed to be trace amounts of magical residue in the air, muttering to herself all the while. Because of this, I was the only one that Fluttershy could look to for comfort.

After one more jarringly loud howl from a creature in the distance, Fluttershy let off an unusually emphatic frightened yelp. I could see tell that she was very close to breaking down in tears altogether from the way that her eyes were screwed up and from how her body was trembling.

Taking a risk, I reached down and gently stroked her mane. She tensed, but thankfully didn’t get frightened.

“Are you alright?” I asked her quietly so as not to be overheard by the Princess.

“O-of course.” She said hastily, hesitantly making eye contact with me. “I’m just p-p-peachy.” She attempted to give me a reassuring smile, but it only came off as sort of strained rictus grin.

I raised my eyebrow dubiously, and her grin became more and more uncertain and forced until she eventually abandoned it all together.

“No!” she blurted out loudly. “I-I’ve never been this far into the forest before, not even when we had to fight Nightmare Moon! It’s so-” A cawing noise that sounded like it came from a crow three times too large broke through the air. Fluttershy’s eyes widened pitifully and she hid behind her mane. Luna, of course, gave no indication that she noticed it.

“…scary…” she whimpered. I gave her an understanding nod.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” I asked hopefully. I didn’t know what I was expecting to do to ease her fears, all I knew was that I wanted to do something. Remembering the way that she consoled and calmed me down when I was at my worst brought a painful feeling to my stomach as I saw her in obvious distress. It was like watching a younger sister being tormented by nightmares and being powerless to stop it.

She thought for a moment looked up at me with big round eyes. “Could you…um…sing?”

I blinked. “Sing?” I asked incredulously. What the hell was she on about?

She nodded hopefully. “Yes. When we were walking to Ponyville before, you were humming a lovely little tune.” She looked downwards, all the more reminding me of a younger sibling looking for the support of an older brother. “It might help me feel better…” she muttered, slightly ashamed of herself.

I was torn. On one hand, I wanted nothing more to ease her pain as she did mine several time in the past few days, and on the other hand, she wanted me to sing, something that I never do outside the comfort of my own shower. I’ve never even done karaoke, my natural cowardice making it impossible to stand up in front people and actually sing. How then was I supposed to do it now?

A rustling bush somewhere nearby caused the pegasus to shudder, and my mind was instantly made up. I was fairly certain that I had a singing voice that was at least tolerable, and I knew a plethora of songs from the days when my mom would sing a little tune when going about her business around the house, so I might as well if it will make her feel better.

I quickly rifled through my mental file cabinet filled with songs that I knew all the way through, and picked a song that I thought would work well. I cleared my throat causing Fluttershy to look up at me expectantly, opened my mouth, and sang.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_VcNUgG2Yk

“I was just the age of sixteen when I first went on the drive
After six months hard labour, at home I did arrive.
I courted with a pretty girl, it was her caused me to roam.
Now I'm a river driver, and I'm far away from home.”

It was a simple song, one that was played only with drums to accompany the lyrics, so I simply tapped out the beat on my thigh with my hand as I walked and sang.

I'll eat when I am hungry and I'll drink when I am dry.
Get drunk whenever I'm ready, get sober by and by.
And if this river don't drown me, it's down I'll mean to roam,
For I'm a river driver and I'm far away from home.

Fluttershy looked up at me, all traces of fear on her face gone, with shining eyes wide with awe. Feeling heartened, I tried to put a bit more feeling into the lyrics.

I'll build a lonesome castle upon some mountain high
Where she can sit and view me as I go passing by
Where she can sit and view me as I go marching on
For I'm a river driver and I’m far away from home.

I'll eat when I am hungry, and I'll drink when I am dry.
Get drunk whenever I'm ready, get sober by and by.
And if this river don't drown me, it's down I'll mean to roam,
For I'm a river driver, and I'm far away from home.

I could tell that Luna was listening with the way her ears were perked, but she didn’t acknowledge it. Instead, she stayed stoic, silently walking forward as the two of us followed.

When I am old and feeble, and in my sickness lie,
Just wrap me up in a blanket and lay me down to die.
Just get a little bluebird to sing for me alone,
For I'm a river driver and I'm far away from home.

I petered off into silence as my song ended to be replaced by the sound of the wind blowing through the trees. A soft breeze passed over me as I walked, sending a smattering of leaves tumbling around my feet and rustling my shirt against my skin. I sighed, strangely relaxed as tensions that I didn’t know I had slowly bled away.

“That was lovely.” Fluttershy commented with an earnest smile. I grinned back at her, glad that I didn’t make a fool out of myself and that I was able to help her feel better. I even saw Luna give a small approving nod.

“Indeed it was.” she said in a low voice as she stopped in her tracks. “But I don’t think we will have enough time for another one.” She turned to her head back to face me. “We’re here.”

I blinked, realizing that I had not been paying attention to where I was walking for the duration of the entire song. Now that I had been brought back to reality however I realized that we were no longer surrounded on all sides by towering trees. Instead, we were standing on the cusp of a wide clearing that was bare of any plant life.

Well, except for the grass of course, but I would hesitate to call it plant life as there didn’t seem to be anything that could be considered life. The grass, once green and thick was brown and shrivelled, looking for all the world like a thin carpet of straw had been laid down on the forest floor.

More than that though, even the trees surrounding it seemed to be devoid of life. Whatever leaves that were still on branches were as dry and brown as though they were the victims of a drought. The leaves that had been blowing across the ground, I now realized, were no different.

“What in the…” I muttered to myself as I gazed upon the sight that was both familiar and completely alien. Fluttershy gasped from beside me, bringing a hoof up to her mouth as her eyes widened, horrified.

I glanced at Luna to ask her what had happened here, but my voice caught in my throat as I beheld her expression. As cutesy and innocent as these ponies generally looked, was surprised at how grim and dangerous she was looking right now. Her jaw looked like it was clenched hard enough to disintegrate rocks between her teeth and her eyes stormed with the force of a hurricane.

She sighed and shook her head sadly before turning to face me. “This is where you arrived at Equestria, correct?” she asked, although I suspected that she was well aware that it was.

I nodded hesitantly. “But it looked nothing like this.”

Her expression remained unchanging. “I see.” She stepped away from the treeline and started to make her way into the clearing with slow and careful steps. “Well, there’s no sense lollygagging, I suppose. Let us conclude our business and leave this place with haste.”

Fluttershy and I nodded, not quite willing to speak unless we absolutely had to or enter the clearing, letting Luna do whatever it was she needed to in peace. The pegasus was standing close by my side with her wings tucked close to her sides as her eyes darted from side to side. I noticed that her fur seemed to stand a bit more on end than usual.

“Something feels wrong here…” she whispered, almost too quiet to hear. I looked down at her, and she met my gaze fearfully.

“Yeah, something doesn’t sit right with me either.” I muttered back. There was a pervading feeling of unease that seemed to settle in the atmosphere all around us, making my body feel colder and heavier than normal. The pegasus shivered beside me and stood a little bit closer, pressing her side against my leg. I felt a little better at that, but not much.

“It’s like…” she said quietly. “It’s like all the life in this one, small patch of forest just…vanished. I can’t even hear any animals anymore.”

I looked behind me back into the mess of trees that I was standing on the cusp of as Luna did her thing, whatever that thing was. Currently, she was standing right in the middle of the clearing where the grass was the darkest and most sickly looking with a closed eye expression of focus as a dark blue aura surrounded her horn

“And I’m not entirely sure that that’s a good thing.” I murmured under my breath as I scanned the foliage for any sense of life, finding it extremely wanting.

I looked down at my hand and made a fist so that the ring glinted cheerfully at me in the sparse sunlight. “Is it because of the ring? Did it cause all of this?”

I glanced over at the grim faced Alicorn. Maybe she would be able to shed some light on this situation? No, she definitely knew something that she wasn’t telling. Nobody, or pony for that matter, looks that grim for no reason, but as much as badly as I wanted some concrete answers, I knew I wasn’t likely going to get them from her. At least not now.

“Hey Luna?” I called out to her. She turned her head slightly to indicate she was listening. “Is everything alright? I’m not gonna end up the same way as this patch of land, am I?” Fluttershy let out a small squeak from beside, and I instantly regretted my choice of words.

Luna sighed and turned to face me. “The truth, Kael, is that you are-“ she stopped abruptly, an alert expression on her face as something imperceptible caught her attention. Her ears flicked straight up and here eyes started to dart from one direction to the next, finally settling on us fearfully.

“To me! Now” She commanded. I blinked in surprise.

“W-What are you talking abo-“

Boom

A sound similar to a bomb being dropped in the distance behind me sounded through the forest, sending a mass of squawking birds scattering to the sky as I felt the ground tremor. Somewhere in the forest, I heard a tree crash to the ground.

I whipped around to look behind me, my heart all of the sudden hammering in my chest. I couldn’t see anything behind the trees besides a multitude of forest creatures of various sizes scurrying for safety. “To me if you want to live!” Luna shouted, her face set with the fearful lines of somebody who had just been told that they were going to die, but not when or how.

That spurred me to action, and Fluttershy as well. We immediately bolted out from under the canopy of the leaves the join the princess in the middle of the dry, flattened out clearing, the two of us anxiously looking around as the Princess looked dead ahead at the direction we had just came from.

“What’s happening?” Fluttershy squeaked, placing herself between Luna and I making herself as small as possible. Before Luna could answer, the sound resurfaced.

Boom

“Something approaches.” Luna answered solemnly, her tone far calm for our given situation.

“What do we do?” I asked quickly, my voice several octaves higher than usual. Luna regarded me with a glance.

Boom

“Let me handle this.” She murmured over the sound of squawking birds taking flight. “As long as you’re next to me, you’ll be fine.” She tried to shoot Fluttershy and I a reassuring smile, but it did little to soothe either of us. Fluttershy and I looked at each other with a wide eyed expression on our faces. I could see her panic, her distress that was moments away from completely shattering her vulnerable mind, and could feel myself mirroring it. I opened my mouth to try and say something comforting, but the abrupt noise of breaking wood and roaring made my words die in my throat.

Boom

My eyes, seemingly of their own will as I absolutely did not want to know what was making that thundering noise, was drawn back to the forest. A pounding, wailing roar assaulted me, hammering with on my eardrums like a pair of bongos. Just as the roar sounded, the edge of the forest exploded outwards sending shrapnel of wood flying in every direction. I winced as I was bombarded with hundreds of shards of sharp wood.

What emerged from the cloud of leaves, wood, and dust was unlike anything I had ever seen, both in real life and in my nightmares. My first instinct would be to call it a bull, but that would be as egregious an understatement as comparing a candle to a bonfire. While it had the characteristics of normal bull, muscular body, long narrow head, and protruding horns that tapered to a deadly point, that was where the similarities ended.

“It’s like the bastard child of a bull and a dinosaur.” I thought in awe as the creature shook itself free of leaves and wood chips. It was about 5 times bigger than the average bull, so big that it looked like it could flip over a tank if it had the inclination to. Its body was a mass of hard muscle, and its massive cloven hooves that tore at the ground looked to be only slightly bigger than my head, and it seemed capable of crushing it without even noticing that it had done so. Its eyes glowed with a fierce red light that left faint trails as it thrashed its head from side to side as though desperately trying to shake off a pesky mosquito. The most noticeable thing about it, however, wasn’t its size, but its colour.

The bull, if that was truly what it was, was a dark blue, but more than that, it was translucent. I could just barely make out the line of wreckage that it had wrought on the other side of its body which, strangely enough, was filled with all manner of white points of light that shone and blinked as it moved.

Fluttershy and I were frozen with equal amounts of awe and terror. “Well then, this is how I die.” The last rational part of me thought glumly.

Luna however, didn’t seem to share our thoughts. Instead, she seemed almost relieved as a wide smile broke upon her face.

“Taurus!” she exclaimed happily, taking a few steps towards the thrashing beast. “It’s so good to see you again!”

The bull, Taurus, froze and levelled its gaze on us as though it had just noticed us. It snorted loudly, a plume of red fire bursting out of each nostril and scorching the dry grass.

“Forget the dinosaur, this is the love child of a bull and a goddamned dragon.” I thought with wide eyes. I looked over at Luna who had a large happy grin on her face like a child who just came face to face with their new puppy. She didn’t seem to mind that the beast was glaring at her and pawing the ground angrily. It snorted again, more viciously this time, and it set the ground underneath it alight.

“Stand down Taurus, stand down.” Luna said reproachfully as though chiding a mischievous child and not an angry bovine the size of a Hummer. “It is me, Luna, your creator. Do you not recognize me?” she glanced back and shot Fluttershy and I an I’ve-got-this-all-under-control wink.

If it did recognize her, than that didn’t seem to change anything as it lowered its horns towards Luna and stamped, sending tremors throughout the ground as it did so. Luna’s smile faltered slightly.

“I said stand down, Taurus.” she commanded more sternly. “I am Princess Luna Ab Noctis Et Gelu, the ruler of the Night, and your creator, and you will stand down or else I’ll-”

Luna’s tirade was interrupted as Taurus let out a bone rattling roar that shook the leaves off of the half dead trees. Her eyes widened as the beast lowered its horns once more towards her and charged with all of its might.

“Wha-?” she started dumbly before she was cut off yet again, this time by the screams that Fluttershy and I were letting out as the colossal bull got closer and closer to turning us all into paste. She looked back at us with surprise before her face hardened with grim lines of determination. Her horn flared bright for a second, and I felt the world quickly melt away to replaced by a cacophony of senses.

For a moment so brief that I almost didn’t believe that it had actually happened, I was being thrown down a bright tunnel made entirely of bright lights of every colour, almost reminiscent of when a spaceship goes into warp in most cliché sci-fi movies.

The world returned back to normal, and I had only a brief moment of time to reflect on the fact that I was now strangely about 6 meters to the left of where I had been standing previously. I looked around wildly, disoriented and dizzy, to find Luna and Fluttershy standing next to me, the former with an angry look on her face and the latter with a confused one that probably matched my own.

“Taurus!” Luna yelled angrily, her wings flaring back threateningly. “What is wrong with you?! Why are you acting like this?”

She was answered with another ear shattering roar. Before she could do anything, Taurus opened its mouth to reveal monstrous teeth moments before a jet of crimson fire flew out of its maw and flew towards us.

Luna’s horn flashed brightly as Fluttershy and I screamed as the jet of flame raced towards us. Just before we were engulfed completely however, the stream split down the middle and passed us on either side. I winced as I recoiled from the wall of flame, its heat prickling at my skin uncomfortably.

The fire quickly dissipated to reveal a very confused looking mutated bull and a very angry looking Luna.

“THAT’S ENOUGH!” she yelled, stomping a hoof into the ground. Her voice, far too loud than any voice has any right to be, echoed throughout the clearing and, to my disbelief, made the bull flinch. Without warning, the princess stormed away from Fluttershy and I and approached the massive beast with fire in her eyes.

“YOU ARE STARSPAWN AND I AM YOUR MAKER, AND IF YOU DON’T STAND DOWN THIS INSTANT, I WILL UNMAKE YO-”

She was cut off by yet another roar as Taurus decided that Luna’s voice was starting to get annoying. With a final stomp, the bull charged forward directly towards Luna, its hooves thundering against the ground.

There wasn’t enough time for Luna to do anything besides blink in surprise mere moments before the rampaging bull reached her, headbutting her with a loud thwack. It didn’t stop there, however. Instead, it kept on running with Luna’s body plastered against its broad head. Unfortunately, it was running in our direction, and it was moving very quickly.

Without even thinking, I wrapped my arms around the pegasus next to me and dived out of the way of the charging bull, barely avoiding getting crushed underneath it. The ground vibrated as it passed us and brutally crashed through the trees, splintering them to debris, on the other side of the forest on the other side of the clearing and tore a path through them, not stopping for anything until it was well out of sight, not leaving anything but a trail of debris in its wake.

I lay there, sprawled on my back for a moment, before slowly getting to my feet and looking around. Luna was nowhere to be found, and I felt a pit of fear settle in my stomach. She was the only one who could lead us back to Ponyville. With her gone…

I shook my head and gazed at the wreckage of the trees she had been carried through, too numb to move or speak. I briefly considered running after it, as it seemed like the right thing to do and because I was reliant on Luna to keep me safe, but quickly realized how foolish that would be. Luna seemed to be pretty tough, but even so, getting hit by what must be the equivalent of a speeding train isn’t something that I could see many people, or ponies, surviving.

I kneaded my brow with the heel of my hand and shook my head. “Fuck.” I mumbled to myself, still at a loss of what to say. “Just…fuck” The fact that I would be dead right now if Luna hadn’t teleported me to safety in that brief moment wasn’t lost on me. Had I been in a more clear state of mind, I would have reflected on the fact that I had just undergone a genuine teleportation, and I might have been a little bit giddy at the thought. With the way I was now however, I just felt cold inside, and it was only when the noise of whimpering reached my ears did I realize that I was forgetting something very important.

I looked down and noticed that Fluttershy was laying on the ground in a trembling heap with her forelegs covering her eyes, but not enough to obscure the tears that were running down her cheeks. Her back legs and her wings were tucked into her as much as she could manage, and a whimper escaped from her every few seconds.

“Oh shit…” I whispered to myself, too quietly for her to hear. As I had dived to safety, she must have fallen out of my arms, and I had been too preoccupied with my thoughts to check on her. I resisted the urge to viciously slap myself as I realized that I wasn’t the only one who was scared and that there were others who were more frightened than I was.

“Fluttershy…” I said quietly as I bent down to lean next to the quivering pony. She didn’t seem to hear me, so I slowly reached out a hand and gently laid it on her shoulder, causing her to twitch violently.

“No!” she cried out quietly as she jerked reflexively away from my hand, leaving my arm extended into thin air. She looked at me with wide, wet eyes, and I couldn’t keep a few tears of my own from forming as I felt my heart break.

“Fluttershy, it’ll be alright, I promise.” I murmured soothingly. The pony was unresponsive. “It’s gone now, it can’t hurt us.”

She blinked. Tears started to well up once more, even more than before than before. “Kael…” she whispered breathessly before letting out a choked sob and rushing forward to bury her wet face into my chest. I immediately wrapped one arm around her and started to stroke her mane with the other, instinctually reverting to what my mother did to comfort me when I was a distressed young boy.

The pony cried senselessly in my chest for a good few minutes, blubbering inconsolably as she let it all out of her system. I occasionally caught snippets of what she was saying, “so scared” and “how terrible” being among them.

Finally, when she was calmed down a bit, I removed my arm around her and held her at arms length. She looked like a mess, but I tactfully refrained from saying so.

“Better?” I asked with a hopeful smile. The pegasus nodded weakly. “Good.” I said, giving her mane one more quick stroke, and before I could stop myself, I found myself leaning forward to give her a quick kiss on the forehead just as my mother did to me, eliciting a small smile from her. I gave her a pat on the back and said “Now come on, we should really get out of here before anything else shows up.”

She gave me a worried frown “But…what about Luna? You don’t think she’s…she’s…”

I didn’t let her finish the sentence. “I’m sure Luna is fine.” I said with as much conviction as I could muster, certainly much more than I felt. “She’s a princess after all, she can take care of herself.” I cast a quick look around us to make sure that we were still alone. “Right now, we need to worry about ourselves, and we need to become scarce before something else that breathes fire decides to make us dinner.” That was probably not the most tactful thing to say, something that became quite evident as Fluttershy flinched, but I needed to impress upon her the urgency that I felt. I could still feel that general aura of wrongness in the air, and it was only getting worse the longer we stayed here. My entire being was screaming at me to get away as fast as my feet could take me, and for once I intended to indulge myself in these more basic instincts.

Fluttershy nodded fitfully. “I just…I just don’t understand!” she said tearfully. “Why did it attack us like that?”

I gave her a bewildered look and shrugged. “Because that’s what wild animals do I suppose, I dunno.” I replied uncertainly. To my surprise, Fluttershy shook her head firmly.

“No. Animals don’t attack unless provoked.” She bit her lip and looked back at the trail of wreckage the bull had left in its wake. I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at her.

“Well then, why did it attack us?” I asked doubtfully.

“The way it was moving…” she muttered absently to herself. “It looked so panicked, scared even…” She looked back at me with wide imploring eyes. “What could have possibly spooked it like that?”

I raised my hands exasperatedly. “I don’t know Fluttershy, but we should really get going before whatever it was that scared it finds us.” I replied. I wasn’t entirely sure I believed her theory. It seemed to me to be a lot more angry than scared at us for intruding in its home, but I wasn’t going to argue semantics right now.

Fluttershy nodded hesitantly. “Okay then, let’s get go-” she cut off abruptly, her eyes widening and her pupils shrinking as she locked her eyes on something over my shoulder. A soft eep escaped her as her entire body froze up.

I quickly snapped my head around to look over my shoulder, my neck cracking uncomfortably as I did so, and what I saw made my blood run cold. Slowly emerging from the hole in the forest that the bull had burst through was several long, thin wolf-like creatures made of sticks, twigs and leaves sniffing curiously at the debris. There were 6 of them, and one by one, they trained their eyes, glowing and red, straight at us.

We looked at each other for a long time, neither of us moving an inch, Fluttershy and I because we were incapable of doing so, and the wolves because they were sizing us up for their next meal.

“Fluttershy?” I whispered as quietly as I could as my heart pounded in my chest. The little pegasus squeaked in reponse.

“Will they attack us without being provoked?” One of the wolves slowly started to inch its way out of the bush and into the clearing, its body low to the ground as though it were stalking us. Fluttershy squeaked once more, more anxiously this time.

I cursed under my breath “Alright Fluttershy, listen to me very closely.” I said slowly, making sure to enunciate my words so I would not be misunderstood. “I’m going to start running, and when the wolves are focused on me, I want you to fly out of here as fast as you can. Get to safety, and if possible, get some help.”

I saw, and felt, the pegasus shake beside me as the wolves all started to leave the underbrush, spreading out onto the clearing so as to minimize our room for escaping. “No!” she whispered back frantically. “I promised I’d keep you safe, I’m not going to leave you!”

I bit my tongue to prevent myself from cursing at her. “I know that Fluttershy,” I replied as calmly as I could. “but this is the only way the both of us will get out of this alive.” I resisted the urge to turn to her and give her a reassuring smile, knowing for a fact that the moment I turn my eyes away from the predators, they would attack. Instead, I tried force my voice to be clear and strong, as though I had everything under control. “Don’t worry about me, just get yourself to safety.”

The wolves slowly started to walk forward, making a semicircle around us as they did so. The wolf at the lead, the alpha I assumed, bared its fangs.

“No…I don’t want to leave you…” the pony whimpered from beside me. I felt my heart ache, knowing that there was nothing that I could do help her, knowing that the pain she was feeling was because of me…

“Fluttershy…” I warned. The pony let out a choked sob.

Knowing full well that there was no way that I was going to get away from these wolves, and that this was the only way that one of us could make it out of here alive…

The alpha wolf growled.

“NOW!” I shouted as I scrambled to my feet and started to run in the opposite direction. Behind me, I heard the surprised yips and snarls coming from the wolves as Fluttershy took wing and started to fly, and I was overcome with a sense of relief that she was going to get away safely now that she was in the air. Now I just needed to focus on getting far enough away that the pegasus won’t be able to see me as I get torn apart by the predators.

Had I been in any other situation, I would have taken a brief moment to reflect on how odd it was that being aware of your imminent death made you see things in such a different perspective. Normally, I would be paralyzed by fear, but right now, all I could feel was relief that Fluttershy, the one who had been so kind to me, was safe.

A high pitched cry pealed through the air, and I turned around for a brief moment to see one of the wolves that had started to give chase give make a mighty leap and crash straight into the airborne pegasus, barrelling her over and sending her tumbling back to the ground.

I stopped, too horrified to move any farther. All the attention that was supposed to be focused on me was on her, and my breath caught in my throat as they turned away from me and started to close in on her from all sides as she scrambled to her hooves. The wolf that had knocked her down quickly righted itself as well.

“Fly Fluttershy, Fly!” I yelled desperately, but it was no use. I didn’t think that she even heard me as she tried to back away from the predators, eventually ending up with her back pressed to the base of a wide tree. She looked around frantically for an escape, a pitiful moan emanating from her throat as she breathed heavily, and upon realizing there was none available, curled up into a protective little ball.

I tried to yell once more, but I couldn’t manage it. I wracked my brain for ideas of something that could be done to distract them, but nothing presented myself. Finally, one thought, clear and concise, made its way into my mind.

“I could just make a break for it.” a rational voice in my head said simply. I glanced behind me and saw the awaiting treeline of dried and dying flora. “They wouldn’t come after me.”

I shook my head viciously and pounded the heel of my palm into my forehead. “No! I can’t just leave her! Not after all she’s done for me!” I anxiously looked back to where the pegasus was curled up in what I imagined to be the pony version of the foetal position with her legs pulled in tight and her eyes squeezed shut. I gritted my teeth together as my fight or flight instincts warred with each other. Fight for my friend? Or flee for my safety?

“Damnit!” I growled between clenched teeth. The alpha wolf, apparently having heard my exclamation of frustration, briefly paused its advances to look back at me, its twiggy lips curling back into a snarling, dangerous looking grin. The message it was sending was clear:

You’re next.

A tremor ran through my body, almost stealing the breath right out of my lungs, preventing me from moving or even looking away from the promise of my soon to be demise. My body began to tremble, and sweat started to bead on my forehead as my breathing became deeper and more erratic. I was trembling, but something felt…off.

My vision briefly turned hazy before sharpening into a clarity that I have never before experienced, becoming strangely tinged with a red hue. No movement, not even the slightest twitch, escaped my notice as the wolves commanded all of my attention. I could easily pick out the noise of their panting breaths and growls from the noises of the forest around me, and I could keenly feel every lick of the slight breeze against my skin.

All of this happened within the span of less than a second. As the wolf turned back to its prey, to the quivering pony, I felt every muscle in my body tense. My hands slowly and unconsciously balled into fists, and I was completely overcome by a strange feeling, one that was foreign to me, but one that I welcomed as though it were an old friend of mine. And as I looked at the predators, I realized something that surprised me to my core.

I wasn’t scared.

I was just very, very angry.

A bad day was, by definition, a period of 24 hours in which a multitude of unfortunate or unfavourable events occur.

Fluttershy lay cowering in front of the wolves, letting frightened squeaks with each growl or snapping jaw as the wolves briefly enjoyed tormenting the mare before going in for the kill. As she lay there, awaiting the imminent feeling of fangs sinking into her flesh, Fluttershy realized that she was, by definition, in the midst of a very bad day.

She cracked an eye open to peer out at the predators, and immediately regretted doing so. She was greeted by the sight of grinning muzzles baring pointy fangs, fangs that started to get a lot closer as the alpha wolf decided to put the mare out of her misery. As was nature for timberwolves, the alpha would be the one to get the kill, and the first to feed.

Paws drummed against the ground as it bounded forward, leaping with its mouth open so as to easily slip around the pony’s neck. Fluttershy squeezed her eyes shut once more as her death approached, forcing a few drops to escape her tear ducts and slide down her cheek.

“I hope Kael will at least be alri-”

Crack!

The sound of wood snapping made Fluttershy’s eyes shoot open to see that her vision was obstructed by a tall bipedal figure with its back to her. A few metres to the right of it there lay the alpha wolf in a crumpled heap. Fluttershy noticed that the entire side of its wooden body was almost completely caved in as it struggled to stand.

She blinked uncomprehendingly as she stared at the tall figure. “Kael?” she asked hesitantly. The figure glanced back at her over his shoulder, causing Fluttershy to gasp. His eyes that had been once a dark brown were now an ominous red that seemed to glow in the dim light. Kael gave her a quick reassuring nod before turning back to the dumbfounded creatures.

“W-what happened to him?” The human standing in front of her was not one that she recognized. Where Kael had been a kind and gentle soul, one that seemed to be almost as shy and easily frightened as she was, something that had made her feel so protective of him since the moment they met, he now stood with presence of a king. His head was held high and his back was straight, giving him the aura of confidence and power.

“This is your only warning.” he said loudly and evenly to the wolves, “Back off.”

The creatures looked back and forth between the human and their alpha who had managed to stagger to its feet. It let out a brief bark and the wolves turned back to Kael and bared their fangs.

Kael’s hands clenched into fists at his side, but he said nothing. A shining red light brought Fluttershy’s attention to his right hand. The ring was glowing brightly, casting a red light over her and the ground.

Kael tensed, bending his legs slightly as he readied himself. A second passed.

He moved at the same moment that the wolves did.

“Fucker!” I screamed in my head as my fist connected with the snout of the first wolf that had made a jump for my neck. I felt jagged wood bend and crack underneath my hand, and the creature went flying backwards.

The others were unfazed. The alpha wolf, now on its feet again, gave another loud bark.

Two more rushed forward, one darting in low for my legs and the other jumping up high with its claws extended towards my face. I quickly dived to the side, claws and fangs just missing my skin, and rolled to my feet.

I was outnumbered. The one that I had punched had regained its senses, and besides a bent muzzle, didn’t look too worse for wear. This meant that there five against me, considering the alpha doesn’t decide to join the fray.

I grinned viciously as I eyed the lead wolf as it limped towards the trees. With the way I had thrown my shoulder into its side mid pounce, it wasn’t going to be going anywhere fast anytime soon. But as long as it was still there, it would be able to bark out orders, and that would make my life much more difficult.

It barked again. My eyes widened as the entire pack rushed forward, yipping and snapping their teeth. I leapt away, managing to only get a few claws raked across my legs, and started to run as fast I could straight towards the crippled creature.

The alpha yipped in surprise as I barrelled my way towards him. It barked a few more times, and I suddenly found that a strong pair of jaws had wrapped itself around my lower leg, many little sharp points puncturing the skin and muscle.

I screamed and whipped around, my vision clouded by red as I my anger grew and grew. I looked down at the snarling creature that had affixed itself to me, and glared at it straight in the eye.

Its snarl vanished as it whimpered around my now bloody leg.

I grabbed it around its neck with both hands, my fingers barely able to reach around the entire length of wood. The wolf let out a frightened squeal, accidentally releasing of my punctured leg as I squeezed and lifted.

It was smaller than the average wolf, and not as heavy considering it was made of wood, but it still weighed a good amount. In my fury however, it felt like it didn’t weigh any more than a puppy.

I lifted the creature as its paws scrabbled into thin air. “Fuck…” With a quick twist of my hips and a throw of my shoulders, I turned and slammed the creature into the ground as hard as I could. “off!”

To my surprise, instead of letting out a pained yelp or simply laying still, the wolf burst in a small explosion of twigs, sticks, and leaves. Shards of wood scratched and pierced my skin as the creature blew apart, but I was far too angry to care.

I turned my glare back to the alpha, and was awash with a certain satisfaction as I saw its eyes widen in fear. It made a few more frightened commands, and before I could move to finish it off, my path was blocked by the remaining four standing in a protective line.

I hesitated and let out an unconscious growl. “You guys are really starting to annoy me.” I snarled, keenly aware of the blood staining my pants leg. The creatures flinched at my voice, but did not move.

I did, faster than they could react. By the time their eyes had widened, I my foot had connected with the chin of one of the predators in a vicious punt, sending it reeling backwards. The quick drum of paws on the ground made turn as I raised my arm to fend off the pounce that I knew was aimed straight at my head.

Teeth sunk into the bare skin on my arm, and I roared as I flung my arm around, sending the wolf flailing through the air before it could get a strong enough grip. My vision burned red again, and without even thinking, I tackled one of the other two, knocking it over on its back as I landed on it.

A snapping muzzle was inches away from my face, one that I quickly silenced by jamming my knee into the beast’s side, eliciting a satisfying yelp. Taking my advantage of its brief lull in focus, I held it down with my left arm, leaning the entire weight of my body behind it, and drove right fist into its knobby head until the creature burst in a shower of wooden shrapnel. My knuckles were split and torn as a result, but I didn’t care.

I was in the process of turning around and getting to my feet when another bark pealed through the air, and I found myself knocked flat on my back as the remaining wolf, the one that I recognized by its bent muzzle to be the one I had first punched, landed on my chest.

The creature was almost as long as I was tall, so I found myself effectively pinned by it. My eyes widened as its maw suddenly opened and dove forward to clamp onto my face. Faster than I knew I could react, I reached up and inserted my both of my hands into its mouth, one on the upper jaw and one on the lower, and held it at bay, preventing the mouth from closing.

I could feel the jagged teeth dig into my fingers, breaking skin and spilling blood, but I held fast. The wolf growled and I could see its tongue moving inside of its mouth, eager to taste my flesh. Its paws scrabbled frantically at my chest, sharp claws tearing through my shirt and raking against my skin.

I winced as my chest started to get cut to ribbons, but didn’t dare take my hands off of the wolf’s powerful jaw lest it go for my neck. The red started to bleed into my vision again, and I noticed something incredibly strange about the ring on my right hand that was positioned on its upper jaw.

It was glowing now, much like how it did when I had first put it on, causing me to be transported to this world. A bright red light emanated from it, growing stronger as my anger at the creature currently trying to kill me grew, and as I became more and more enraged, the ring was temporarily forgotten.

Because I wasn’t able to take my hands off of the predator’s maw, I did the next best thing. Gritting my teeth, I started to slowly pull its teeth away from each other, fighting against its powerful jaws as they worked to clamp down on me.

Its eyes widened as it realized what I was trying to do, and its paws started to scratch me more frantically, this time in an effort to escape instead of to injure me. I felt the blood drip from my torn up fingers and onto my face. With each drop that fell, I could feel my anger fill me up more and more, making it more difficult to see straight. I soon found myself growling right alongside the wolf, my teeth bared in a ferocious snarl as everything became tinged with a blood red colour.

The wolf let out a whimper, and I grinned. With a roar, I put every ounce of strength I had into pulling, and with a sickening crack, the creatures entire head split apart as I broke its jaw, its body soon following it as it became nothing but a pile of debris.

I quickly sat up, wincing as my chest felt it was on fire. I heard the noise of whimpering and whipped my head around to come face to face the second remaining wolf. Its red eyes widened fearfully as I growled.

“Aren’t you the one that bit my arm?” I asked with a murderous glare. The creature let out a yelp before quickly darting away into the trees with its tail tucked between its legs.

“That’s what I thought.” I grunted as I got to my feet. Now there was only one thing that remained to be seen to. The alpha, the biggest wolf of them all, had made the same decision as its comrade and was in the process of slowly limping away towards the trees, a high pitched whine emanating from its throat as it tried and failed to run.

“Oh no you don’t!” I growled as I scrambled to my feet and ran towards it. Sensing my approach, the alpha squealed and started to limp faster.

Not fast enough, however. I quickly came up to it, and with a deft kick, I knocked it over on its back before firmly placing my foot directly on its throat. It stared up at me with wide eyes as I put some weight onto its neck and leaned down to look at it directly in the eye.

“Now you listen to me, and you listen well.” I said threateningly, not entirely sure if it understood me or not. “If I ever see you again, in this forest or not, I will feed you to a campfire, one stick at a time, and use your spine as a fire poker.” I lowered my voice. “Are we clear?”

Evidently, fire was these creatures biggest fears as the mere mention of it had it cowering under its paws. It nodded frantically, desperate to get away from me, and I smiled at it.

“Good.” I said as I released the pressure on its throat. Immediately the wolf got to its feet and limped away with a new vigour, letting out pained yelps and whines as it did so.

I watched it disappear amongst the trees, waiting a for a little while after it did so to be sure that it was gone. I was keenly aware of a dull throbbing throughout my entire body, mainly in my head, and my discoloured vision slowly started to change back to normal.

After a minute had passed and the wolf hadn’t come back, I let out a loud sigh and collapsed to my knees as my legs gave out from underneath me, clenching my eyes shut and grunting as the bite on my leg burned painfully. I was still high on the adrenaline rush, I knew, and the pain that I felt slightly disconnected from would soon be hitting me full force. Hopefully I would be well on my way out of here by then with Fluttershy in tow.

My eyes flew open. “Fluttershy!”

I quickly looked over to where the pegasus had curled up in a helpless ball and sighed with relief to find her in the same place that I had left her. I scrambled my feet and rushed over to her, stumbling slightly as my damaged body and fatigue impeded my co-ordination.

I fell to my knees in front of the pegasus who was staring at me with wide eyes. “Fluttershy, are you alright? Did they hurt you?” I asked hurriedly, looking for any signs that she was injured. As far as I could tell, she was in perfect health, but I could be wrong.

She opened her mouth to answer me, and I waited anxiously. Before she could say anything however, her eyes rolled back into her head as she promptly fainted, her head hitting the ground with a solid sounding thud.

I blinked, ran my blood stained hand through my hair with a sigh, and blinked again as a red light stung my eyes.

A flash of realization hit me as I remembered noticing the ring’s odd behaviour during my struggle with the wolves, namely that it had randomly started to glow red. Upon closer inspection, I realized that it was the outline of an alicorn that ran along the length of the ring was illuminated with a bright red light, not the ring itself. I stared at it curiously, idly clenching my hand resulting in it briefly flashing a little bit brighter every time I did so.

“Damn it all.” I murmured. I was so sick and tired of this magic shit, and just sick and tired and general, that I didn’t bother paying it any more attention. Right now, there were more pressing things for me to worry about.

I stood up and looked around as I considered my options. As far as I could see it, there were only two possible options, and neither of them were particularly attractive. I could stay here with Fluttershy and wait for Luna to come back seeing as she was my best bet at reaching civilization safely, or I could try to find my way back myself.

Both option sent a small shiver of fear down my spine, but I hardly paid it any mind. For some reason, despite having just come face to face with a matador’s worst nightmare and fought off a pack of vicious wolves that defied nature only to find myself effectively alone in a very dangerous place, I felt a calm that I hadn’t felt in a long time. It could be that I was just so traumatised by these past events that I became disconnected from reality, but something told me that wasn’t it. This was the calm of a man who was in his element, one who knew what he was capable of, and what he was capable of was overcoming any obstacle that came in his way. The last time that I had felt this way was when I was still training martial arts when I knew without a doubt that I was in an environment where I was in complete control.

Back to the problem at hand, I needed to make a decision. I briefly entertained the idea that Luna was going to come back for Fluttershy and I, but admonished myself for being foolish. As much as I had tried to convince Fluttershy of her safety, I knew deep down that her being safe was far from likely. I had seen what that creature was capable of, knocking over towering trees with a single charge, and I couldn’t see any way that Luna would be in any condition to help. This of course meant that it was up to me to get Fluttershy and I to safety.

I glanced at the passed out pony and felt myself filled with determination. “No way am I letting her die.” I thought to myself firmly, and if we stayed here and waited to be rescued by a false hope, that could very well happen if something new and horrifying happened upon us.

I took a deep breath and eyed my surroundings critically “Alright then, so if we entered the forest from there…” I muttered to myself, recalling back memories of traipsing through the forest with dad, him teaching me how to navigate the woods near our home and me not paying enough attention in favour of hitting inanimate objects with sticks.

I looked up to the sky and squinted. “And if the sun has reached its peak…” I struggled to recall my dad showing me how to identify where you are by comparing the position of the sun at the present moment to its position a few hours earlier. It was a useful trick if you got turned around in a forest and don’t know which way you should be going, he had told me.

“And if it was over there when we entered...” I trailed my gaze down, seeing an imaginary sun on the hidden horizon, silently thanking my inborn good sense of direction.

“Then Ponyville is that way.” I muttered with finality as I adjusted my gaze to a spot several meters to my left.

I grinned at myself before kneeling down and slipping my arms underneath Fluttershy’s limp body and lifted. She was lighter than I expected, something that I was pleased to find out considering I was probably going to be walking for a few hours. I held her horizontally to my chest, grimacing as the blood from the wounds on my chest and arms started to stain her coat. Oh well, that can’t be helped, and I’m sure she’ll understand when we get back.

“If we get back.” I thought grimly as I set off into the trees, idly praying that I hadn’t been wrong with my calculations.

Thankfully, my guesswork had been nearly spot on. I sent a prayer of thanks to my dad as I emerged from the forest a few hours later, dirty, dishevelled, and exhausted, holding the still unconscious pegasus to my chest. I had managed to come across a small trail that helped lead me to the outskirts of the forest bordering Ponyville, and I could now see my destination to be only about 20 minutes away.

The walk had been long and uneventful, something that I thanked my lucky stars for. There were a few confrontations I had had with some of the wildlife, probably due to the fact that Luna was no longer here to encourage them to keep their distance through her presence. Every creature I had encountered however, from the average bear that almost gave me a heart attack to a snake that had the head of a chicken that left me more confused than frightened all fled the moment I locked eyes with them. Every time something crossed my path, I would feel a familiar trickle of anger seep into my body as my muscles clenched instinctively, causing red to bleed into my vision. This would result in the animals inexplicably turning tail and running in the opposite direction.

So focused on my task of bringing the two of us to safety was I that I didn’t stop to wonder if anything was strange about me being able to frighten off a full grown bear just by glaring at it. All I could think about was moving forward, always moving forward to safety, not just for myself, but for the pony who lay unconscious in my arms.

Spurred by my closeness to safety, I picked up the pace and started to half walk, half stumble my way down the bumpy trail. Every step was a chore, and I could feel my body failing with each passing minute as I lost too much blood. My wounds weren’t bleeding as much as I would have expected them to, something that I found curious, but they were still bleeding enough to make my vision slightly fuzzy and my movements unsteady.

It was because of this blood loss that I didn’t consider how bad of an idea it was to walk straight through the town, torn up and bloodied, carrying a pony that wasn’t moving. Had I been in a better state of mind, I might have realized the conclusions that could be made by the ignorant observer, especially since a lot of the blood from my chest had stained Fluttershy’s coat, but I was far too focused on one thing, and one thing only:

Safety.

As I walked, dimly aware of the shrill screams of alarm as pony after pony noticed me and ran for their lives. One especially brave pony even tried to bar my way, angrily shouting at me in its language that I didn’t have a hope of understanding, but after a quick flash of red in my eyes, he recoiled in horror and ran away as fast as his legs could take him.

Idly wondering what it was he saw, and why I kept seeing red, I walking through the town until I came across the place I was looking for.

A small smile broke across my face as I turned a corner and found myself in front of the hollowed out library that I left earlier that morning. I quickly walked up the front door, but hesitated as I realized that my hands were too occupied to open the door myself. I could have just hollered for somebody inside to let me in, but I wasn’t exactly thinking straight, so I did the next best thing.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

I winced as I slammed my forehead against the top of the door frame, hoping that it would be loud enough to attract the attention of Twilight Sparkle or her little dragon assistant Spike.

I heard some pony babble come from the other side of the door, and a smiling teal unicorn opened the door, at which point her smile vanished completely to be replaced by a look of sheer surprise. Not paying her any mind, I bent down and sidestepped the pony who quickly stepped out of my way with a gaping mouth.

Twilight Sparkle, who had been lounging on a chair with a book in front of her looked up at me and gasped. “Kael!” she said, jumping to her hooves and rushing over to me. “Oh Celestia, what happe-” her eyes widened as she realized I was carrying a blood stained Fluttershy in my arms. “Is that blood?!” she asked loudly, her voice a few octaves higher.

“Don’t worry,” I grumbled as I strode right past her. I quickly found a couch and, with a pained grunt, gently lay the pegasus down, brushing strands of her mane out of her face. “It’s not her blood.”

“W-whose is it then?” Twilight asked, flabbergasted. I straightened and looked the unicorn square in the eye.

“Mine.”

I just managed to catch her eyes widening before I passed out.

The Alicorn Ring

View Online

The first thing that I was aware of in a dim and secluded corner of my semi conscious mind was the sound of slow and gentle breathing close by, small and delicate like a sleeping child’s. The second thing I was aware was the feel of warm air hitting my arm and causing my hair to stand up on end, tingling slightly where the warmth hit me. I listened to the breathing for a few moments, motionless where I lay on my back. It was very faint, and had a strangely soothing quality to it, like a lullaby that was fast putting me to sleep.

Eventually, it occurred to me that I was a mite uncomfortable lying on what felt like a wooden floor covered in blankets with a small pillow under my head. I frowned, still fairly out of it, and made an effort to shift myself, but to my great confusion, found that I could only move my extremities, and not much more than a few centimeters.

The sense of panic that I felt at not being able to move jolted my brain awake. I quickly opened my eyes only to shut them again with a hiss of pain as my vision filled with a painful, blinding white light, searing my retinas as though a red hot poker had been shoved into my pupils, branding faint imprints of vague and indistinct objects onto my eyelids..

I gritted my teeth as I quickly shut my eyes again. I waited a moment for the pain to go away before slowly opening my eyelids by a crack, letting just a sliver of light through so that my eyes may adjust. It took a little while, but I was eventually able to open them just enough so that I could see. I could only make out the ceiling above me, but at least it was something.

I resumed my efforts at trying to move, but only managed to raise my arm a few centimeters off of the ground before it fell back down. I furrowed my brow anxiously where I lay staring at the ceiling fixture above me. Why did I feel so weak? That little amount of movement had somehow managed to make my arm numb completely numb up to the shoulder.

“Shit…” I whispered, not knowing what else to do in my situation. I tried to move my head to better examine my surroundings (the ceiling was interesting and all, but it wasn’t really cutting it), but it too was motionless as a stone. I had to settle with flicking my half lidded eyes back and forth to get a better idea of where I was, but all that afforded me was a better view of the walls. Even moving that much was tiring.

I risked opening my eyes a bit more, and was rewarded with a splitting headache that bloomed in my skull. I winced instinctively and groaned, my surprisingly dry throat making it no more than a croak.

I heard a surprised snuffling noise coming from beside me and felt movement from near my arm as the steady flow of breath was interrupted, and then resumed shortly after.

Someone, or something, was there, probably asleep I figured. I took a moment to breath and gather my energy, my lungs aching as they expanded and contracted in my chest before I gritted my teeth, and with a mighty effort, managed to roll my head to the side so I could see what was near me.

My eyes came to rest on a pale yellow creature resting on its stomach with its head resting on crossed forelegs, snoozing peacefully right next to my arm. It had long pink hair that spilled over the floor around it, wings that twitched unconsciously in its sleep, and a strange picture of 3 butterflies on its rear. I stared at it dumbly for a moment before it all came back to me in a flash.

The forest, the monsters, the fight…me, broken and bloodied carrying the unconscious form in my arms…

My eyes widened. “Fluttershy...” I croaked, my throat feeling like it had been rubbed down with sandpaper. Immediately, I started to examine her from where I lay for anything wrong. I hadn’t noticed any injuries when I had carried her back, the blood that she had been covered with was mine I remembered with some embarrassment, but I wasn’t exactly in the right state of mind at the time to notice the little details, like potentially life threatening injuries. I had been running completely on instinct at the time.

She seemed alright, thankfully, if a little disheveled. There seemed to be bags under her eyes, and strands of her mane were sticking up out of place, giving her the look of a someone who hasn’t had a wink of sleep in far too long. All in all, she looked like she just needed a little bit of rest.

I sighed in relief, and then made a sharp intake of breath as a burning pain bloomed in my chest. I winced as the sensation of a saw blade tearing through my chest and abdomen assaulted me, bringing tears to my eyes.

I gasped as the feeling rapidly spread through my entire body, centering around my abdomen and chest and feeling like it was ripping me apart while I writhed instinctively in an effort to shake it off. It seemed to originate from inside me, tearing through my body without leaving the slightest mark to show its presence. Sweat started to bead down my forehead as my muscles clenched and unclenched spastically, causing my arms and legs to spasm uncontrollably.

Fluttershy’s sleeping body stirred from beside me. Her head rose from her forelegs drowsily. “Hmm?” she mumbled uncomprehendingly. All it took was for her to get one look at me, teeth clenched, body trembling, and eyes pained under my invisible assault for her to immediately snap back to reality.

“Oh no!” she cried, staring at my frightfully before turning away and running out of my field of view. “He’s awake!” I heard her yell, her voice uncharacteristically loud. “There’s something wrong!” She sounded on the verge of panicking, something that I could sympathize with as I was made familiar with what I imagine it would feel like to be electrocuted. I wasn’t even able to think coherent thoughts, just vague feelings of panic and agony.

I groaned loudly, my voice bursting forth despite the rawness of my throat. I was helpless to move or speak, the only thing I could do was wait while the sound of clattering steps on wood and loud voices came closer and closer.

Suddenly, my vision was filled with colour and activity. Multiple voices rose in unison, concern and shock rising in equal measure, making their words incomprehensible.

“Move.” somebody in a strong, commanding tone that silenced all of the other. I squeezed my eyes shut as I writhed in a vain effort to shut myself away from the pain that wracked through me, letting out another cry.

I heard a sob from somewhere in the opposite direction where my head was turned that cut through the air like a knife, but was ultimately ignored. A few gentle whispers met my ear, supporting condolences, I presumed, before everything was silent.

A small light, yellow and bright, suddenly appeared not far from my head, somehow not hurting my eyes in the slightest despite their sensitivity, and the most peculiar feeling washed over me. All at once, the spasms in my muscles stopped and my body lay still as a sweet warmth passed through me dulling my pain and numbing my aches. It felt like I had just submerged myself in warm water after having been freezing, the pain just melting away like it was never there to begin with.

I lay on the ground, gasping for breath. My sweat soaked hair was plastered to my forehead as I coughed; small drops of blood smattering the floor in front of me. Slowly, I opened my eyes, shivering as I beheld six horrified faces and one extremely serious one.

“What…the hell...just happened?” I wheezed hoarsely, despairing at how weak my voice sounded.

“You’re body was tearing itself apart at the seams.” Celestia replied, the only trace of emotion on her face from her furrowed brow. “It reacted negatively to the magic you used, treating it as something invasive and harmful.” Her brow furrowed more. “It started to tear itself apart, effectively destroying itself to protect itself.”

Before I could stop myself, I let out a nervous, high pitched laugh. “What?” I replied, not registering what she had said.

“I managed to slow down the process enough that it won’t hurt you whilst healing what damage it had caused.” She continued, not answering my question in the slightest. “You should be okay now, your body will adjust soon and go back to acting as it should.”

“…What?”

“You will feel weak for a little while, but eventually you’re strength will return. You must take it easy however, and give yourself time to recuperate. Being torn apart from the inside tends to leave one fragile afterwards. I have done what I can to speed up the process, but there is nothing more that I can do.”

I blinked stupidly and looked around at the assorted faces in the room, some holding expressions of concern while others held confusion.

“Okay…” I muttered, slowly pushing myself up on my elbows and sitting hunched over and looking at the tall alicorn straight in the eye, the fact that she was a princess not bothering me in the slightest in the face of what just happened. “How about we go back to the beginning…What happened when I came back?”

I was almost knocked flat on my back as something bowled into me. “I was so worried!” Fluttershy shrieked as she wrapped me in a hug. “You were unconscious for 3 whole days!”

This struck me dumb. “I…was?” I asked numbly, not receiving a reply from the yellow pegasus who was in the process of trying her best to crush my ribcage with a hug that belied her strength. I looked behind her inquiringly at the ponies watching, relieved expressions appearing on their faces as it dawned on them now the danger had passed.

“It’s true.” said Twilight Sparkle, walking towards me and patting Fluttershy on the back reassuringly as her quiet tears slowly sunk into my shirt. “Fluttershy’s been watching over you the entire time.”

“She told us all what happened!” Pinkie Pie chirped as she too bounced over and looked after their crying friend. I awkwardly patted the pegasus on the head comfortingly, not knowing what else to do. Pinkie's eyes watered as her lower lip started to tremble. "Poor Fluttershy, it sounded really scary."

The other ponies moved forward, Celestia opting to merely sit back and watch.

“It sounded absolutely dreadful!”

“Ya really know how ta get yourself in trouble, don’tcha partner?”

“Did you really fight off a pack of timberwolves all by yourself?”

“And the clothes that I made you are absolutely ruined too!”

“Seriously though, did you?”

“You were all covered in blood and everything! It was really weird looking!”

“Because that would be awesome if you did…”

“Girls!” Twilight interrupted loudly, cutting off their flow of words. “Please, he just woke up. Let’s give him some space to breath, shall we?”

The ponies stopped and looked at one another, muttering quiet affirmations as they stepped away. From where I sat, I could see a small smile form on Celestia’s face. Fluttershy however kept her arms wrapped around me.

I looked down at the pegasus and saw with some relief that her crying had stopped, but she was still trembling slightly. “Fluttershy? Are you alright?” I asked hesitantly, unsure of what I was supposed to do in the situation.

Slowly, she took her forelegs away from me and stepping back a bit before looking up with watery eyes and giving me a reassuring smile. “Yes.” She answered quietly.

“She’s been sitting by your side for 3 days, barely eating or sleeping despite our best efforts.” Twilight remarked matter of factly, eliciting nods from the other ponies. My eyebrows rose sharply at this, but I said nothing.

“We tried to get her to eat,” Pinkie Pie chirped, bouncing on the tips of her hooves a little bit, but every time we tried to get her away from you, she gave us…the stare.”

A small, inexplicable shudder went through the group, and Fluttershy blushed sheepishly.

I glanced at the pegasus before looking at the rest of them with imploring eyes. “I’ve been asleep for 3 whole days?” I asked, getting nods all around in return. I felt my mouth get slightly dry at this new piece of information. I hadn’t thought that my injuries were that bad; nothing more than a few bumps, scrapes, and bruises, although considering that little…episode my body had went through just now, I wouldn’t be surprised if I had been wrong. I looked from one pony face to another, eventually ending up on the long, alabaster visage of the Princesss. “How?’ I asked, both curiously and fearfully.

An eager spark appeared in Twilight’s eyes for a moment, and she quickly opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off when Celestia firmly said, “I shall explain.” The lavender unicorn closed her mouth looking slightly disgruntled, something which seemed to amuse Celestia, before the tall princess continued.

“You see Kael, unlike myself, my sister Luna, or any other unicorn, you are unab-”

She did not manage to get any further before a massive realization crashed down upon me with the force of a planet sized meteor. My eyes flew open, and before I could stop myself, I quickly sat up, causing my body to groan in a pain that was largely ignored.

“Luna!” I said loudly, startling the assorted ponies. I looked at Celestia, confused and slightly affronted by my outburst, with panic. “She was hit by this massive…bull…thing! What happened to her?! Is she going to be okay? Are her injuries serious?” My eyes widened even more as another, even more horrifying prospect came to me. “Did she even come out of the forest?!”

Understanding dawned on Celestia’s face, and she smiled sweetly at me. “I can assure you, Kael Maalouf, that my sister is perfectly-”

Celestia was interrupted yet again by a loud bang as the door to the room flew open with little regard to its occupants or its structural integrity. A tall pony idly munching on a crisp red apple promptly walked in and looked around.

“Did somepony say my name?” she asked pleasantly around a mouthful of fruit before taking a small bite from the floating apple in front of her.

I felt something in my brain twitch as I beheld the sight of the Princess of the Night standing there without a care in the world, as though she had not recently been hit head on by something that I wouldn’t have been able to dream up in my worst nightmare.

I get a couple of scrapes and bruises and I’m knocked out for three full days, but the pretty pony princess gets hit by bovine the size of a goddamned steam engine, and she just shrugs it off?! I thought in bewilderment as I stared at Luna, stunned beyond words as she made eye contact with me and smiled happily while I simply groaned inwardly, despite being relieved at seeing her in one piece. “Makes about as much sense as anything else in this place I suppose…”

“Kael!” she announced, still giving us a good view of the food in her mouth. I could see Rarity’s mouth tightening at this as a look of slight exasperation befell Celestia. :”You are awake! This is most joyous news!”

After a brief pause, I gave her a weak smile. “Y-yeah. And you’re…in one piece.” I stammered. “Somehow.”

Luna smiled at me, a hint of pride showing. “T’would take a lot more than a rampaging star-beast to defeat me.” Her smile grew wider as she glanced at her sister. “My injuries, small as they were, were remedied quickly by the capable hooves of my dear sister, as yours seemed to have been.”

Celestia smiled and dipped her head graciously. “I was always quite good at healing injuries.” she said with a touch of pride. She glanced at the assorted ponies and me and smirked. “She was always better at causing them.”

Luna gave a stiff nod, as though to say ‘damn straight,’ and stomped a forehoof, loudly cracking the wooden floor underneath her. A sigh came from Twilight Sparkle as her horn lit up with a purple glow, and the crack promptly vanished in a small purple glow.

“I was just about to explain, dear sister, the reason for Kael’s unfortunate lapse into unconsciousness.” Celestia quickly said before Luna could say anything else, drawing the attention back to her. “Would you care to leave Twilight’s food storage alone and join me?”

Luna nodded with a smile. “Verily, I would.” She quickly marched over and sat down next to Celestia, somehow managing to look royal and dignified with her head held high even as she munched on her apple. She looked way too casual for somebody who by all rights should be nothing more than a stain on the ground at this point.

“As I was saying,” the white coated princess continued, looking at me straight in the eye. “unlike unicorns, alicorns, dragons, and several other beings in our world, you Kael are not capable of consciously channeling magic.”

I looked at her for a moment, uncomprehendingly nodding my head. I really didn’t need her to tell me that I wasn’t capable of magic, but whatever.

“This is why, when you were channeling magical energy during your encounter with the timberwolves, your body reacted in a most negate-”

“Whoa whoa whoa, back up a little.” I blurted, staring at her with wide eyes, not even noticing the cross look that befell her for being interrupted for a third time. “What was that? I used magic?”

Her irritation was replaced with confusion at my disbelief. “Yes, you did.” She looked at me strangely. “Did you not know this?”

It took me a moment before I realized that my mouth was hanging open, and another moment before I was able to muster the willpower to close it. “I most certainly did not.” I replied, irritated by how shrill my voice sounded. “Hell, before coming to this place, I never even knew that magic existed!”

Princess Celestia and Luna arched their elegant eyebrows and glanced at one another, Luna displaying significantly more surprise than her sister. Twilight, to my slight amusement, simply flinched, almost as though I had just slapped her, and muttered under her breath. I managed to make out the word unnatural being said in a hushed tone.

Celestia gave me a peculiar look. “I remember you mentioning something of that nature before. You and your kind are truly unfamiliar with the concept of magic?”

I grimaced. “It’s not the concept that I’m unfamiliar with, but magic itself. No human is actually capable of performing it, or so I thought before you told me that I may very well have been the first!”

The two princesses hummed speculatively, casting each other meaningful glances that that seemed to say volumes in their own silent language. Finally, they turned their eyes back to me.

“We think that thy reasons for being so…negatively affected by the magic are clear to us now.” Luna said, adopting a sympathetic look on her face. Indeed, it still pained me to breath, and every movement was far more laborious than it should be.

“First, because you seem to be unaware of what really happened to you, we will explain.” Celestia added. I nodded hesitantly, not sure if I was terrified or excited to hear what she had to say, but giving in to the fact that I had to hear it.

“Fluttershy gave us a fairly detailed description of what happened in the forest with the timberwolves before she fainted.” she continued, ignoring Fluttershy’s small blush from where she stood close to me. “She said that she had only seen you for a brief moment before she lost consciousness, but it was long enough to get a good picture of what was happening.”

I waited for her to continue, my brow furrowed in confusion. Fluttershy, I noticed was looking away from me. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie were listening with rapt attention, although they seemed to already know what was coming.

“She revealed that she had seen something most peculiar about you.” Luna said, continuing where Celestia left off. “Namely, in your eyes, for they glowed with a shining red power most unnatural.”

At this point, I didn't even blink when she said that my eyes were glowing, although it was hard to say if it was because I was becoming simply numb to the strangeness of it all or because my sanity was wearing thin. I hoped that it was the former.

“She reported that the same glow, a red light that hurt to look into, was emanating from your hand.” Luna said, her voice gradually becoming lower and more ominous.

I looked down at my hands, and my breath hitched in my throat when I realized what she was saying. My eyes were immediately drawn to the ring sitting snugly around my finger, seemingly innocuous and innocent, although I was starting to doubt that was the case. The stylized image of a pony with wings and a horn was curled around it, as always looking like nothing more than a neat little design, its one visible eye seeming to look back up at me.

I looked back up to meet their grave faces. “We did not wish for you to know this, but…” Luna started, pausing uncertainly to glance at her sister. Celestia gave her a tiny nod in response, and she continued. “That ring is an old, old artifact…a magical amplifier that can make even the meekest creature capable of incredible feats that has been lost for over a thousand years.”

I raised an eyebrow dubiously. This was starting to sound slightly familiar.

“It was because of the ring that you did not lose your lives to the timberwolves.” Luna said, both to me and Fluttershy, who shivered instinctively. “You’re emotions, your will, and your drive to live were what activated it, and even though you are not intrinsically capable of magic, it was enough activate its powers and strengthen you.”

I recalled back to the moment in the forest where I had my back up to a tree, watching the pack of timberwolves approach a defenseless Fluttershy before turning to me and giving me that ‘you’re next’ look. I remembered how I felt as though something had snapped inside of me, an elastic band that had been stretched too far and finally broke under the strain, making me angrier than I had ever felt in my entire life. At that moment, not only did all of my fear of the wolves suddenly vanish, but the mere thought of beating them, of destroying them, something that I would have never entertained in my entire life, became feasible. I remembered the way that sounds, smells, and sights became sharper, my reflexes quicker, and my movements faster.

“However, as this magic was being forced into you by the ring itself, your body treated it as though it were and invader, and nearly destroyed itself in the process of getting rid of it. Thankfully, I managed to reverse the process before it was too late”

“It is also, unfortunately, extremely dangerous to any whom wears it.” Celestia continued grimly, causing my other eyebrow to jump up and join its brother in surprise. “It slowly degrades the mind, turning its holder into something less than themselves, something depraved and vile, a twisted shadow of what they once were.”

It was a little bit surreal, hearing such dark words coming from such a serene looking face. The only indication that Celestia was at all perturbed being a few creases on her brow made all the more strange.

Startled exclamations arose all around me. Disbelief and confusion filled the room as each pony voiced their opinions, some angry, others fearful, but in the end, Twilight Sparkle was the one who made herself heard.

“Princess, what do you mean by that?” she asked nervously, shooting me a worried glance.

Celestia sighed, bowing her head sorrowfully, but her voice remained strong and steady. “That ring, my student, is no ordinary artifact. It is an instrument of war, created by a dark, evil being in the hopes of using it to destroy my sister and I and to take over Equestria. It is known is known as the Alicorn Ring, and the one who made it…is known as Sombra, former king of the Crystal Empire.”

Gasps erupted in unison from 6 throats, looks of pure horror on the pony’s faces telling me that there was a lot of context that I wasn’t understanding here, but what I did understand made me incredibly uneasy. Again, their voices rose, this time in more worrying tones than before, vying to be heard by their rulers so that they may ease their fears, whatever they may be. Sombra? The Alicorn Ring? The words were meaningless to me, so I simply waited patiently, dread settling in the pit of my stomach.

"The Alicorn Ring? Like the Alicorn Amulet?" Twilight cried out in dismay, looking at the princesses with wide eyes.

"The one that that showboatin' Trixie was using?" Applejack added.

"And ruined Ponyville in the process?" Rarity chipped in, her voice shrill.

Luna raised her hoof, and their voices slowly fell into quiet. They all wore worried expressions, I could see, even Pinkie Pie who I had never seen wearing anything but a smile had a small frown.

“You have all have questions and concerns, we know, and rightly so, we realize.” She said soothingly. “We shall answer them for you, but first…” she look me did in the eye, a soft light of pity and concern shining in hers. “we must explain ourselves.”

“We did not wish to hide anything from you Kael,” Celestia said, continuing what Luna was saying. “but considering the circumstances, we deemed it necessary. The Alicorn Ring has been lost for hundreds of years, and while its return may have been a surprise, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. As far as Luna and I knew, its return with you could be nothing more than bad luck.”

“Extremely bad luck...” Rainbow Dash muttered quietly in her sandy voice, looking at the floor.

“‘Missing your surprise birthday party because your train was running late’ bad luck!” Pinkie Pie chirped in, her signature smile back, wider than ever as though to compensate for the worry that permeated the room.

“‘Your sister using up all of your most precious materials for some simple capes’ bad luck.” Rarity chimed in somewhat bitterly.

“‘Getting a bag of manure knocked into yer head by a spooked hog.’ bad luck.” Applejack added, her country drawl tinged with regret. “That wasn’t a fun day for me…”
-
“Yes, bad luck.” Celestia continued, steadfastly ignoring their words while Luna unsuccessfully disguised a laugh behind her hoof as a cough. “Until now, we had no reason to believe that there were any malicious machinations behind the return of the Alicorn Ring. Pony kind is far from understanding all of the intricacies of magic; it could have just been yet another unexplainable phenomenon.”

I picked up on the thinly veiled message behind her words and felt my mouth go dry. “What do you mean, ‘until now?’”

Celestia’s face seemed to become even more impassive. “That was the reason for your perilous trek into the forest, you see, for it was the only way to know for sure the circumstances behind your arrival.”

“The last time the ring was seen by pony eyes, it was being wielded by Sombra in conjunction with the Alicorn Amulet, another twisted creation of his, in his efforts to overthrow us.” Luna added smoothly.

“Yes. It has been hundreds of years since I’ve seen that ring, and both my sister and I were very close to being killed because of it, but I will never forget what it was capable of, or the one who wielded it.” Celestia said quietly.

I blinked at that. Hundreds of years? Just how old was she? I was on the verge of opening my mouth and asking, but stopped myself, figuring it would be more prudent to just chalk it up to magic and let her continue speaking.

A few flashes of strain flashed across the Princesses, suddenly making her seem a lot older if my inexperience in reading pony faces was to be trusted. Some rather terrifying memories seemed to be surfacing under that mask of calmness that she wore, and she was trying her damnedest to not let it show. If it was for her sake or mine, I did not know.

“His magical aura was unlike any I have ever seen, since or before then. Celestia said, causing Twilight Sparkle to shudder slightly and murmur some kind of affirmation from where she stood nearby her. “As such, it was imperative that we examine the site of your appearance, for if he did have a hoof in this, we would be able to detect his foul magic in the air.”

“Oh.” I responded, my voice sounding indifferent to my own ears simply because I didn’t know what I was supposed to feel about all of this. “And…did you?” I asked, directing my question towards Luna, dreading the answer.

She looked at me for a long, hard moment before gravely nodding, inciting a chorus of groans of despair, and in one case, exasperation.

“Man, after all that work to kick his flank into last century, he’s back?!” Rainbow Dash cried, taking to the air and hovering so that she could throw her hooves over her head in exasperation. “That is such bogus!”

The assorted ponies, the princesses included, cast her some strange looks. Fluttershy however opted to inch closer to me, her trembling body seeming to bounce along the floor in my direction. I put my hand on her back comfortingly, but it didn’t help much.

“Yes, Rainbow Dash, it is indeed bogus.” Luna said before quietly muttering “Whatever that means…” under her breath and continuing, passing a royal eye over her audience. “After his fall under your hooves however, it seems that he has grown desperate, and is now making one last, desperate gamble.” Her eyes landed on me, and seemed to bore into me like an auger through thin ice. “And that gamble is you, Kael Maalouf, the first human to stand on Equestrian soil.”

I blinked rapidly whilst trying fruitlessly to speak for a few moments, my mouth forming words that I couldn’t say until I finally remembered how to talk.

“M-me?” I stammered nervously. “How am I the last hope for a one thousand year old psychopath?” I asked, taking a brief moment to appreciate the fact that I was probably the first person to ever say that sentence in a literal context.

“He is using you, Kael, as a catalyst for his return.” Celestia answered, not answering my question at all. “Because he created it, the Alicorn Ring is irreversibly connected to him and his will, and it is because of this connection that any who wears it will slowly become tainted with its…his…evil. It is also why you cannot simply remove the ring and be sent back to your home, as his will is keeping it from being taken off.”

I felt an eye twitch as a dull throb started to return in between my temples as I became irritatingly aware of how sweaty my palms were becoming. I slouched slightly where I sat, discreetly wiping my hands on my pants.

“What does that mean for me?” I asked in a quiet voice.

Celestia opened her mouth to say something, probably something supportive or reassuring if her concerned look was anything to go by, but was cut off by her shorter, and much more straightforward, younger sister.

“It means that, should you be corrupted by the ring from wearing it for too long, his consciousness will eventually overpower yours, trapping you in the confines of your own mind until you fade away and cease to exist, giving him full power over your body.”

Dead silence filled the room, the only interruption coming from Fluttershy’s limp body hitting the floor as she fainted, her hooves twitching slightly where she lay. The ponies all wore expressions of shock and disbelief while Celestia squeezed her eyes shut and pursed her lips in what I thought to be exasperation. Luna, for her part, looked like she hadn’t said anything more interesting than a mild mannered comment on the days’ weather.

“Oh.” I said softly

“Please Kael, you mustn’t worry yourself.” Celestia said hurriedly, casting her sister an irritated glance as she smiled reassuringly at me. “While what Luna said is true, what she failed to mention was that, because you are not a creature of magic, it will take longer for the ring to effect you, and longer then that to for it to overcome your mind.”

I perked slightly at that. “Really? How long will it take?”

Her smile faltered a bit. “If I’m correct, about 3 weeks.”

My eye twitched once more as my breathing started to quicken, and I seriously started to weigh the pros and cons of simply cutting off my finger and seeing if that would let me go back to where things made sense.

“We will do everything in our power to make sure that does not come to pass, Kael. I promise you, we will not let you be overwhelmed by Sombra’s taint.” Celestia said hurriedly, sensing my distress.

Luna nodded besides the alabaster pony. “Indeed. You have our word of it.” She said seriously, her face stony and determined.

“And we’ll help!” came a chipper voice before I felt two arms wrap around my shoulders and squeeze me tightly as my vision was filled with pink strands of hair. “We won’t let that big, mean, Sombrero head take over your brain! Right girls?”

“Darn tootin!” said a voice from behind me moments before I felt something slap into my back, almost sending me toppling back down. “If’n we can kick his keister once, you can bet we can do it again!”

Rarity and Twilight looked at each other curiously for a moment before coming to an unspoken agreement. They nodded to one another and turned to me, smiling. “Well said Applejack.” The lavender unicorn said, followed by an approving nod from Rarity who laid a supporting hoof on my knee as Twilight tried to coax Pinkie Pie, who was still squeezing me with all of her might, off of me.

“We’ll give that ruffian what for darling, don’t you worry about that.” she said in her prim accent, her blue eyes twinkling with sincerity.

I blinked, surprised at their words, and more than a little touched that they would so sincerely offer their support, our differences notwithstanding. If only the people from could always be so kind. There were quite a few who came to mind who could realy learn a thing or two from these ponies.

Something was missing though, or rather, someone was missing. I turned my head to see the sky blue pegasus with the prismatic mane standing a few steps away, looking very unsure of herself.

“Oh, what the hay.” She finally said after a moment, shooting me a small, cocky smile. “You did save Fluttershy after all.” She puffed out her chest and flared her wings, her smile widening as she looked at me. “With Equestria’s best flier on your side, Sombra won’t know what hit him! Right Fluttershy?” she asked excitedly.

The pegasus twitched where she lay in response.

Her grin didn’t falter a bit. “Nevermind!” She turned and rounded on the Princesses. “So where is Sombra anyway?” she asked eagerly. “Cuz I’m gonna show that loser what it means to mess with my friends!”

That threw me for a loop. We’re friends now?

Celestia sighed and shook her head. “I’m afraid it isn’t that easy, Rainbow Dash. If it was a matter of simply defeating Sombra, Luna and I would have already done it.” The Princess of the night nodded alongside her sister. “Unfortunately, it’s a little bit more complicated than that.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, looking up at the tall, regal alicorn with concern.

“What I mean, my little ponies, is that Sombra is not on this world, or at least not any more.”

She was met with blank stares, even from Twilight who seemed to be the smartest of the bunch. “I will explain.” she said primly, extending and folding her wings behind her as she rose her head up high, looking down at us like a grandparent would when telling a story to their grandchild, her eyes glimmering with memories long past.

“Before the Age of the Long Night, Sombra challenged my sister and I and tried to take over the Equestrian throne.” she started slowly. I had no idea what the Age of the Long Night was, but these ponies seemed to know what she was talking about, so I didn’t bother wasting time by asking for an explanation; it probably would have been impossible to understand or comprehend anyway. “At first, my sister and I were not too concerned. After all, we had the cumulative experience of hundreds of battles and spells at out disposal, not to mention an army of the strongest ponies Equestria had to offer. We did not see Sombra as a major threat, which, in hindsight, was a big mistake.”

“Sombra did not have our experience or our knowledge, that is true, but he did have something that was almost equally as powerful.” Her eyes passed over us, her face a canvass of multiple expressions battling for dominance as she recalled these events that she was apparently a part of hundreds of years ago.

Again, I kept my mouth shut.

“Incredibly dark magic.” she continued softly. “Magic so vile, and so dangerous, that even Luna and I do not dare to use it. He had found old tomes that had been created by a dark sept called The Relíquiæ, or ‘The Remnants.’ It was a group dedicated to preserving old secrets that were too dangerous to exist, despite our best attempts to seal them away. These books of theirs held some of the most advanced dark magics known to pony kind, and has since been locked away forever.”

To my surprise, Twilight seemed slightly disappointed by that. If Celestia noticed, she didn’t let on that she did.

“It was with this magic that he grew powerful.” Celestia explained grimly. “By the time Luna and I realized the severity of the situation, it had already become too late. So taken by the dark magic was he, his power rivaled even ours. He could destroy our entire army with a single spell, and then make his own with the bones of the fallen.”

The ponies shuddered, Rainbow Dash’s cocky grin replaced with a sickly one. She didn’t seem so eager to go and rip him the evil overlord a new one now, it seemed. As for me, I was finding that my prospects of ever returning home were becoming dimmer and dimmer with each passing word.

“We were not helpless, however, and we were able to defeat him by utilizing the power of the Elements of Harmony, which, as you girls know, can be slightly unpredictable at the best times…”

This must have meant something to the ponies as they all nodded in unison, their eyes riveted on their Princesses. Well, except for Fluttershy that is; she still lay on the floor where she had fainted, the poor thing. I briefly considered trying to shake her awake, but considering how weary she looked, I opted to simply let her rest. Someone will fill her in on the details later, I figured.

“Even under the attack of the most powerful magical force in Equestria, Sombra was too strong to be defeated.” Luna said, continuing where Celestia had left off. “He could not be destroyed, nor could he sealed by any magical means, not even by the Elements of Harmony themselves, the physical embodiments of magic, and thus, there was only one thing that could be done.”

Sensing the apex of the story, I held my breath in anticipation, anxiously fingering the ring on my finger, the one that had apparently been created and casted onto me by a megalomaniacal sociopath straight from a fantasy novel. Giving it a brief glance, it looked like the picture of the stylized alicorn was staring up at me more than ever.

“He was banished.” Luna explained stonily, as though announcing the death sentence of a murderer. “He was hurled out of our dimension to wander forever in the endless void of the In Between, the place that separates the dimensions from touching.” Finally, her stoic expression softened as she sighed sadly. “We fear, however, that he has been busy since his banishment, plotting his return for hundreds of years. He first reared his wicked head but a little over a year ago, in the Crystal Kingdom when he attempted to reclaim his throne.” She smirked. “Alas, even his magic, dark and terrible as it was, was not enough to defeat these six.” She finished, looking fondly at the group who shared smiles amongst themselves, Fluttershy not included.

This caused my mind to reel a bit. Of anyone, these six ponies, so innocent and gentle seeming, would not have been my first guess as to who defeated the evil wizard of untold power.

Well. except for Rainbow Dash. I can picture her fighting an ancient evil with nothing more than a cocky smile and a an ego the size of a mountain.

“So lets just grab the Elements and do it again!” Rainbow Dash cried, doing a small twirling backflip in the confined room and landing deftly on her hooves, chest pushed forward like a pigeon. “We’ve beat him before, how hard could it be to do it again?”

Luna frowned at the overexcited pegasus. “The In Between, the thread that holds the fabric of different worlds together, is not a place that one can simply fly to my little pony, nor will the Elements of Harmony be sufficient to defeat him. Nay, now he must be destroyed at the source.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes crossed as she muttered to herself. I managed to pick up the words “Can’t fly there…” It looked as though it physically pained her to contemplate the thought.

“Well then, what is the source Princess? What do we have to do?” Twilight asked desperately, her wide eyes trained on the two alicorns as though she were begging. I saw Luna’s jaw twitch, and Celestia immediately reverted to that poker face that she wore so well.

“The source is the only thing anchoring him to this world from the In Between as his power is now completely spent,” Celestia answered stoically. “in other words, The Alicorn Ring. And because it is cursed so that it may never be taken off, any attempts to destroy would result in the host being destroyed as well.”

All the heat left my body, the blood in my veins and arteries turning to ice as every pair of eyes were suddenly trained on me. This is it. I thought. They’re going to throw me in the center of a volcano to get rid of both me and the ring, killing two birds with one stone. She said it herself, there’s nothing else that can be done. Strangely enough, I didn’t feel the slightest surge of panic, as I knew that there was no conceivable way for me to defend myself from the powerful princesses. I would be an ant fighting against a hurricane, and there was nothing that trying to run away or fight back would do to change that.

I hung my head and slowly breathed out, marveling about how steady my heart rate was even though I knew how easily frightened I get. I guess that, when finally on the brink of death’s door with no way of turning back, I couldn’t help but only feel somewhat disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to my few friends and family. Well, at least I can say that I died in a way that no human in existence ever had…shame there wouldn’t be anything for them to bury.

“Of course, that isn’t an option.” Celestia’s voice rang out, causing me to jerk my head up and look at her sharply. She had a very peculiar look on her face, as did every other pony in the room who had just seen what it looked like when somebody gave up their will to live, something that mixed disbelief with concern.

“But you just said it yourself.” I blurted out, surprising both her and myself. “We can't find him because he’s not in this dimension, and we can’t go to this ‘In Between’ place; not to mention that in just a few weeks time he’ll have returned by taking over my body and mind” I was shocked by how vehemently I was speaking, almost verging on angry. “There’s no other choice, and there’s no way I’m going to sit back and let some despotic shit-head take over my body just so that he can use it for God knows what!” I folded my arms, not caring that they were all looking at me with open mouths. “I’d much rather you destroy both me and the ring than let myself become an instrument of war.” I said with a note of finality that brooked now argument.

A moment of incredibly tense silence passed, every pony looking at me in a way that I imagined one would a child who just beat a master chess player at their own game. Even Celestia’s poker face was shattered as she gawked at me before finally recomposing herself.

“Your death isn’t something that should be taken so lightly Kael…” she said, quietly and firmly.

“Everyone dies, some earlier than others, and most for far worse reasons than to stop a war.” I retorted stubbornly. “Besides, I haven’t lived nearly long enough, experienced, enough, or done enough to make my death anything more than a 20 year long waste of time and resources.” Luna opened her mouth to speak, but I cut her off. “My life is not worth more than the thousands that could be lost and you know it. It would be better for all of us if you just do it.”

My bluntness had the odd effect of both surprising me and not surprising me at the same time. On one hand, I had no idea where those words had come from, or whether or not they were my true feelings. Had I always felt this way and not realized it, or was I just making up excuses to get them to do what they had to? On the other hand, I wasn’t surprised that, now that I had so easily accepted the idea, dying sounded like nothing more than an inconvenience.

Celestia flashed her sister a bewildered look and cleared her throat. “You misunderstand me Kael.” she said patiently. “While it is impossible to get to the In Between by any normal means, flying, walking, or otherwise, it is not entirely impossible.” She gave me a small, albeit somewhat awkward smile. “It would be difficult and time consuming, but with a simply little bit of magic and ingenuity, anything is possible.”

I felt my eye twitch slightly as I looked at her moments before my hand went flying up and colliding hard into my forehead, something I immediately regretted doing as a sharp spike of pain made me dizzy again. “You couldn’t have mentioned that before?” I said, irritated.

Celestia cocked an eyebrow and once more glanced at her sister who merely shrugged. “We didn’t think you would be so…receptive to the idea of being destroyed.”

“Well, neither did I.” I mumbled under my breath, looking away from the ponies and pointing my eyes to the ground as a sudden wave of fatigue washed over me. I tried and failed to suppress a massive yawn, my arms and legs sagging as I was overcome with weariness.

“Oh dear…” Celestia started worriedly. “It seems that we have been taking too much of your time, I’m afraid.” The alicorn princess drew herself up to her full, impressive height, the tip of her horn mere inches away from the ceiling. Luna followed suit, standing slightly shorter than her alabaster sister, but no less impressive seeming.

“We will leave you now Kael, and let you get some much needed, and well deserved, rest.” She stated, leaving no room for contention by me or any of the other ponies. I couldn’t bring myself to argue against that, and to be honest, I didn’t really want to; already it was becoming a challenge just to keep my eyes open.

“Come, my little ponies, let us leave him in peace. We have much that we must discuss.” Celestia said, addressing the others who nodded in turn with a chorus of “Yes Princess.” Twilight cast a concerned glance at Fluttershy who was still lying on the ground in an unconscious heap before lighting her horn and enveloping her yellow body with a purple glow, lifting her gently into the air and carrying her outside.

“Sorry about putting you on the floor.” She said quietly to me as she walked out. “We didn’t have a bed that would fit you…”

I lazily waved a hand in her direction. “S’alright.” I mumbled. She nodded at me and smiled before casting a glance at the blue pegasus, Rainbow Dash, who had yet to leave the room and was staring at me strangely. “Come on Rainbow, let’s let him rest.”

The pegasus nodded without taking her eyes off of me, although it was more of a respectful nod addressed to me than it was one of acquiescence to her friend’s words. She quickly turned and marched out the open door without a word, and the door was closed, leaving me alone with nothing but a few blankets, a small pillow, and a vague sense of unease.

I sighed as I fell from my sitting position so that I was again lying on my back, staring up at the plain wooden ceiling. The ring on my right hand felt like a weight that was suddenly too heavy to bear. Not only was it the reason that I was stuck in this mess, but it was also a catalyst for some incredibly powerful dark magic that was going to take over my mind and body until both were hollow shells that could be controlled at a whim. Such thoughts, and similar ones, such as what the hell was the In Between and how much of an idiot I was to fight a pack of wolves by myself, were making it very difficult for me to fall back asleep, something I very much wanted to do if only to briefly escape reality.

Not to mention I was incredibly sore and tired. Thankfully, it wasn’t long before I drifted off, only managing one last, insignificant thought before I lost consciousness entirely.

I just want to go home.

Out of The Frying Pan...

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Out of The Frying Pan...

Looking at my own hand, I watched as my body slowly changed. My skin, once, light and beige, became a sickly black, the veins becoming more and more pronounced underneath, almost pressing out of the skin itself. My fingers were lengthening, becoming slim and curled like the branches on a dead tree, knotted and bony, a bright glow of red shimmering on the pointed finger of my right hand. My bones shifted inside me, lengthening painlessly as my muscles stretched to accommodate, making me several inches taller, and much more thin. For some reason, I didn't feel surprised by this, or even slightly worried. All I could feel was a sense of dim acceptance.

Looking directly at the glow caused me to feel sick to my stomach.I could hear whispers in my mind, too quiet to make out, but loud enough to make me shiver. I tried to close my eyes or look away, but I could not manage it. Something was not allowing it.

The red light grew brighter, from a shining mote to a magnificent flash in the blink of an eye, and my entire world turned red.

My eyes shot open, and then stayed that way for a long time.

For the first time since in since I first fell asleep in Equestria, cold and afraid under a rocky outcrop as I was being hunted by wolves, I remembered everything. I remembered where I was, how I got here, and everything that has happened to me within the last few days. I remembered the conversation that I had with the others as though it had happened mere minutes ago, although judging how the light streaming in from the window was much dimmer than it was before, I knew that it was much longer than that.

All of these things, I remembered as soon as my eyes opened, and all of these things were instantly made irrelevant as I came to one simple, overpowering conclusion.

I'm hungry.

And indeed I was. From what I had been told, I had been spoon fed small amounts of processed foods in order to keep me alive while I recovered for two days (the thought of that gave me chills), but right now, I was feeling absolutely ravenous. If I was right, the last proper meal that I had had was about 3 days ago.

The thought of food drove me to a sitting position from where I lay on the floor, a few blankets being the only thing separating me from the hard wood.

I was expecting a wave of nausea or pain when I moved, but was pleasantly surprised when I didn't feel even a single pang of discomfort. Intrigued, I slowly got to my feet, and discovered that not only did I not feel like crap, I actually felt fantastic.

Quickly looking over myself, I realized that there was not a single scratch on my body. My fingers, which I had torn to shreds in the mouth of a timberwolf, and my sides which had been viciously clawed at were completely healed, not to mention a handful of other injuries that were missing. I was even absent a few long lasting scars that I had received years ago that I thought I would have with me forever.

Must have been all that magic. I mused, looking at myself in awe. If only humans were capable of such feats...

Oh wait. I thought as I realized that I had accidentally performed magic the other day in self defence and nearly died because of it. That would actually be kind of...terrible...

I sighed as a loud growl from my stomach brought my attention back to a much more pressing issue. My knees grew week for a moment when my hunger suddenly hit me full force once again, tearing me away from my thoughts and forcing me to move purely on an instinctual desire to find food. I had opened the door before I had even realized that I was moving. Without sparing a second thought, not about how loud I was being or about any of the other ponies who may be around, I made my way downstairs, making sure not to bump my head on any low hanging archways built for a pony's height, the promise of food guiding me to what I hoped was a fully stocked kitchen, my socked feet nearly silent on the hardwood.

Glancing out of the window at the bottom of the flight of stairs, it occurred to me that it would be best if I kept my head down so as not to be seen by any ponies from outside. Not only would I not be able to understand them, the translation spell not extending beyond the ones I've already met, but they were likely already pretty anxious about me already, especially since I had traipsed through town with an unconscious and bloodied Fluttershy in my arms and glowing red eyes. It was a marvel, in my opinion, that none of them had torn down the entire place in search of me, the menacing looking alien.

These ponies are either very forgiving, or very cowardly. I thought wryly, making sure I stayed away from the windows as I looked for food. I hadn't gotten a very good look a the place yet, and it was deceptively large on the inside than what it looked like on the outside. Then again, if I had seen a nine foot tall unknown creature walking around, I'd probably be pretty cowardly too.

Luckily, there weren't any ponies outside to see me. From what I could tell, it seemed to be fairly early in the morning. Most of them were probably still inside, sleeping off the nightmares of the tall, bipedal monster who lives in the tree library.

I sighed dejectedly. I felt a little bit guilty about that to be honest. I hadn't understood a word they were saying, but I certainly understood the screams of terror.

Walking around and looking for the kitchen, I stumbled upon the wide open room that was filled nearly to bursting with books of all sizes, most of them lining the shelves that were built into the walls, and many being stacked on carts, desks, and tables. The shelves themselves were about twice as tall as I was, and each one was filled end to end with books, the alien words on their spines standing out for the world to see. A ladder with wheels on the bottom was leaning against one of the shelves, presumably to let them reach the higher tomes, although I couldn't see how a pony could operate it, or why they would need to considering their magic.

The thought of all these words that were written down by a different species was extremely tantalizing, so much so that I almost forgot all about food and started leafing through pages to see what I could glean from between the covers, but another painful rumble from my stomach reminded me that books were not edible.

After a bit more searching I finally found what had to be the kitchen. I noted with surprise that it contained a small refrigerator and oven, although it was probably average sized for the ponies, but dismissed it immediately with a quick shake of my head. My stomach was going to wake up the entire town at this rate.

Without any further ado, I threw open the refrigerator door, hoping against hope that they didn't stock only foods that I wouldn't be able to eat without some degree of preparation. I didn't trust myself to use that stove after all. The translation spell the Celestia had performed didn't extend to written numbers and letters, and I'd rather not start turning any dials if I can't read the labelling. I couldn't imagine that a kitchen fire would be a very good addition to house that was basically a hollowed out tree.

Fortunately, there was an ample supply of fruits and vegetable for me to choose from, as well as all sorts of other common ingredients that one would find in a refrigerator. All in all, it seemed to be pretty run of the mill stuff as there were only a few things that I couldn't recognize, and that was mainly because I couldn't read the labelling or the ingredients. There was only one thing that was missing...

“No meat...” I whispered to myself bitterly. I wasn't expecting there to be any, it would be foolishness to expect that a race of equines would be omnivorous, but I had been hoping that I was going to be pleasantly surprised.

Yet another loud gurgle erupted from my stomach, causing me to wince. Beggars can't be choosers I suppose. I thought as I reached in and grabbed a ripe, juicy peach and promptly bit into it.

My eyes widened at the taste that I could only describe as what candy made in heaven probably tasted like. The juice ran down my chin and into my already torn and dirty shirt, but I couldn't find the capacity to care about it. All that was important to me at that moment was this one, simple peach.

I closed my eyes, suppressing a moan and smiling slightly as I chewed. How in the world did these ponies manage to make something so delicious from the ground?

Black magic, probably. I reasoned.

I swallowed mightily, sighing at the feeling of food finally reaching my stomach and easing the pain by a hint.

Opening my eyes, I looked down at the peach in my hand, the best thing that has happened to me since I was thrust head first through a dimensional plane, a sizeable bite taken out of it. Funny... I thought wryly. Funny how simply a few days of hell can make those glimpses of heaven that much sweeter.

I smiled sadly at the fruit. Well, if this is hell, then it must have an excellent produce industry.

I took another bite, relishing the feeling of my teeth sinking through the meaty pulp. My stomach wanted to scarf it down as fast as I possibly could, but I wanted to savour it.

“What are you doing?”

I spun around, bits of peach juice flying from my mouth. Behind me, standing in the archway to the kitchen, was the small, purple creature that I had seen before, but haven't really met besides a perfunctory greeting.

The dragon... I thought with a small sense of awe, remembering how he had exhaled fire as simply as I do carbon dioxide.

Of course, looking at him, one would never of guessed that he was a dragon. A little bit plump with purple and green scales, he only came up to my knee. He was no bigger than the average toddler really, although the brightness of his emerald, slitted eyes spoke of obvious intelligence beyond that of a 5 year old's.

I quickly chewed and swallowed my mouthful. The dragon, Spike was his name, was watching me wearily and intently. He was clutching at the frame of the archway he was standing as though it were a lifeline to safety, one leg hidden behind the wall.

He's not as young as he looks, I realized, But he's still pretty young. And if there was one thing that young children were scared of, it was things that they didn't understand. Things like what lived in the dark and creepy basement, or what those strange noises coming from their parents bedroom was, or in this case, what this creature was and what is it doing.

I grinned at him. “Oh, I was just getting something to eat.” I replied casually, as though we were a couple of buddies who went way back.

“Is that so?” he asked, his voice expressionless.

I gulped. “Yup. I haven't eaten in a few days, because I was unconscious and all, so I was really hungry.” I punctuated this statement by taking another bite out of the fruit and smiling widely whilst chewing.

Please don't set me on fire, please don't set me on fire, please don't set me on fire...

His sharp eyes narrowed for a moment, but finally, he shrugged and stepped out from behind the doorway. “Okay.” he said simply.

I let out a silent sigh. I felt a mite ridiculous for feeling so afraid of a child, but considering his claws, teeth, and fire, I felt as though I was justified.

“So what were you doing sneaking around?” he asked. I flushed.

“I was trying not to wake anybody up.” I responded, causing him to snort.

“Nothing is so quiet that a dragon can't hear it.” he boasted, pointing to the membranous fins that graced either side of his head.

Spike walked over to where I stood, walking past me and peering inside of the fridge for a moment before reaching in and withdrawing a large, wonderfully ripe looking apple. Without hesitation, he took a big bite out of it, even going so far as to bite straight through the core which crunched loudly in his mouth as he chewed.

He noticed me staring at him and shrugged his shoulders. “Twilight says I should start eating more hard things to condition my teeth.” he explained matter of factly. Swallowing, he frowned at the apple that now was missing a sizeable chunk from its bottom. “It's better than munching on rocks, but doesn't beat gems.”

“R-rocks?” I replied dumbly.

He nodded regretfully. “Tastes like dirt, but it has to be done if my teeth are going to grow properly.” Much like a child would, he tilted his head up and opened his lips to show me a mouthful of small, sharp looking teeth.

I nodded observantly at his pearly whites. “Very interesting.” A thought occurred to me, and I smiled. “Hey, you guys wouldn't happen to have meat, would you?”

He shot me a strange, almost scandalized look. “You eat meat?” he asked incredulously.

I looked at him back, eyeing the sharp teeth that I imagined would be very capable of ripping through flesh and muscle. “You don't?” I asked, equally incredulous.

Before he could answer, a sleepy voice called out from somewhere else in the library. “Spike? Is that you?”

“In the kitchen Twilight!” he called, loudly enough to be heard and softly enough that it wasn't too loud.

“What are you doing up so early?” she called back, her voice and hoofsteps getting louder with each second.

Early? So it's morning after all.

The purple unicorn rounded the corner, her head low and her hair messy. “This is earlier than even I would wake up.” she said sleepily. “Usually I have to fight you to get out of bed,...”

Spike shrugged from where he stood next to me and said nothing.

“Well, I'm glad you're taking the initiative to-” she stopped as she noticed me, her eyes, slightly red, widening considerably. “You're awake!”

I didn't know what I was supposed to say at that, make a joke, agree, or anything at all, so I simply nodded and continued to eat my peach.

Twilight's mouth opened and closed like a fish. “I...how....you....” Finally, she shook her head violently, her mane flying around her head in a halo of purple strands, making it even more disheveled, and cast me an accusing look. “You're not supposed to be walking yet! We don't know if you're well!”

I blinked. She sounded genuinely annoyed at me for some reason. “Well, I feel fine.” I said in between mouthfuls. “Just really hungry.”

Now it was her time to blink. “You feel fine?” she asked. “Your body was in the process of being restructured on a molecular level due to an incredibly powerful magic, so powerful that it's really a miracle that you're even alive, and you feel fine?”

I grimaced, very pointedly not glancing at the small metal band around my finger. “Well when you put it that way...”

She raised a hoof to stop me. “Never mind.” she said curtly. “That doesn't matter. What matters now is that you're awake.” she lowered her hoof and looked me straight in the eye. “Now, I need you to tell me exactly how you felt when you woke up, and exactly how you feel right now.”

I was taken slightly aback, but the hard look in her eye made me acquiesce. The next few minutes were spent explaining in great detail what happened from when I woke up to the present moment, and describing how I feel both physically and mentally. Spike simply stood nearby and listened interestedly.

When I was finished, she had a skeptical look on her face. “Well, I don't know much about your biology or psychology, but you seem to be alright...” she said slowly, adopting a contemplative look. “I guess Princess Celestia's magic really did its job.”

I frowned at the unicorn. “How long were you expecting me to be out for?”

She looked up at me expressionlessly. “I was expecting you to be unconscious for at least another day. I don't know why you woke up now though. It could be something about the ring that let you heal so quickly, or maybe you just lack an inner resistance to magic that would have slowed down the process.” She shrugged and smiled at me. “Oh well, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that you're alright.”

I smiled back. “Yep.” For now at least.

Twilight glanced at the pit that I held in my hand; I had finished my peach without even realizing it. “You shouldn't eat anything else.” she said with a touch of reproach. “You need to give your body time to adjust as you haven't eaten solid food in a while, or you could have some serious problems. For now, just drink a lot of water.”

I looked at her in surprise, and then glanced regretfully at the fridge. In truth, my stomach was actually already feeling satiated, probably due to it shrinking, so I felt like I could last a while longer without anything more to eat.

I sighed and threw away the pit in a nearby wastebasket. Twilight gave me a satisfied nod.

“Good. Now, I'm going to send a letter to the Princesses and tell them that you awoke earlier than expected and that we should be set to leave later on in the afternoon. She'll make all the arrangements needed.”

This caught me by surprise. “You're leaving?”

“Not me.” she replied. “Us. Or rather, us and the rest fo the girls.”

I furrowed my brow in consternation. The last time I had left these walls, things had not gone well for me, and I wasn't very eager to try to brave the outside once again, especially not on such short notice. “Where are we going?”

“To the Crystal Empire of course.” she said easily. “The only way to get that ring off of you and send you back home is to find its power at the source.”

That sounded familiar to me, and I remembered it being mentioned as the place where Sombra was fought before, and subsequently defeated and banished. To the In Between, I think it was. The void that separated dimensions.

“You should get ready.” Twilight said seriously, bringing my attention back to her. “It's a long trip to the Crystal Empire, and I don't know what's going to happen when we get there.” I nodded dully, not liking the sound of that.

“Come on Spike, let's go send that letter.” she said as she turned around, addressing the young dragon who leaped to attention and scurried after her, leaving me alone in the kitchen.

“You got it Twi'!” he called enthusiastically, pleased as punch at the thought of being of assistance. I, however, just felt vaguely sick.

Twilight and Spike disappeared for while after that, leaving me to amuse myself however I saw fit. I briefly considered going back to sleep, but then discarded the idea, reasoning that I had had enough sleep over the past few days to last me a week. A better idea came to me however, and it was with no small amount of excitement that I made my way to the main library where all those books had been sitting on those shelves, waiting to reveal their secrets to those curious enough to open the covers.

I looked up at the tall, imposing shelves with wonderment. The words of pony scholars, philosophers, and scientists are right in front of me, and I don't have a hope in hell to read them. I thought to myself with a touch of sadness. What could I learn from these ponies, from these creatures capable of magic? What secrets that have boggled the minds of the finest that humanity had to offer for centuries have they managed to unlock? It was a small tragedy, I thought, that I would likely never know.

Well, it wasn't all bad, I figured as I reached up and withdrew a well aged book from its spot on a random shelf. I could always look at pictures and see what I could learn from that. The elegant, flowing script on its cover was written in shiny black ink and curved over a rearing pony standing on a desolate battleground wearing vicious looking metal armour with spikes protruding from the helmet, shoulders, and hooves.

A fantasy novel. I realized as I quickly flipped through the pages to see nothing but indecipherable lines of script. Closing it and putting it back in its spot, I moved to a different shelf. Stories of brave heroes and epic battles between good and evil weren't going to help me much right now, even if I did somehow find myself in the shoes of what could very well be the a character in a fantasy story.

It took a lot of opening and closing of books, mostly ones that caught my eye for no other reason than what it looked like or I liked the way the script looked on the spines and covers before I was able to find something interesting. It was a big one, tall and wide with thin pages, but what interested me most about it was that picture of a globe on the front that drew my eye as soon as I pulled it out. It was not, however, the globe that I was used to seeing.

Smiling with excitement, I noted the area that I withdrew the book from and sat down cross legged in front of the shelf, the book laying open in my lap. I could have sat in one of the chairs in the room, but they looked to be a little too small to be comfortable. No, the floor was good enough for me.

The binding creaked as I slowly opened the book, starting at a random page somewhere near the beginning. Inside, I was met with what looked to be wireframe pictures of ponies of various genders, sizes, and races. Little multicoloured lines ran through their bodies, displaying important information about the way that their body worked that I was not aware of. In the unicorns, the lines were more focused around the head and horn, for the pegasus they were near the wings, and for the average pony, near the midsection and hooves.

Looking over the diagrams with interest, I skipped over the text and turned the page with a small smile. I felt like a child going over a brand new picture book, caring only for the pretty illustrations rather than the story.

I shifted and straightened, getting myself more comfortable. I didn't know how much time I had before things started to get hectic again, but I was going to make the best of it.

I had been “reading” for a few hours, wandering around Twilight Sparkle's library and leafing through books at random before the librarian herself walked in and told me that it was time to go. At this point, I was starting to get sick of doing nothing but looking at pictures in the books, especially considering I couldn't make heads or tails out of most of them.

Although, the dusty tome that I had found in a random pile filled with all sorts of intricate diagrams of two ponies in...intimate positions had been all too easy to understand. I didn't look at that one for very long, but a morbidly interested part of me wanted to.

Even across dimensions, some things never changed...

The purple unicorn had been extremely excited to know that I had taken an interest in her collection, and the moment that she saw me with a book in my hand, started asking me everything from my personal tastes in literature to what kind of paper are human books made out of, to which I answered mystery, and the thin, white kind.

Eventually, she calmed down enough to tell me that it was time to go. “I just received word from the princesses.” she said. “Everything has been arranged. We're going to the Crystal Empire.”

I blinked at this and looked down at the book that was currently in my hand. It was some kind of bestiary, with pictures of strange and somewhat dangerous creatures that apparently existed in this place. I had seen pictures of spiders the size of my head, snakes with the heads of a chicken, and creatures with scales, claws, and fangs that looked like they could tear my throat out without a second thought. Thinking back, I seemed to remember hearing an inexplicable lion's roar in the Everfree Forest, and I couldn't help but shudder. I didn't even want to know what had made that noise...

“Alright.” I replied stoically, picking myself up off the ground and filling in the gap in the shelves from where the book came from. “No sense putting it off.”

“That's the spirit!” the unicorn chirped, causing me to raise an eyebrow. “We're going to be taking a train there, so it won't be too long.” She paused for a moment. “Um...Do you know-”

“Yes, I know what a train is.” I said quickly. Twilight grinned with a blush and nodded.

“Right. Of course.” she replied, embarrassed.

Sighing, I put my hands on my knees and hauled myself to my feet, wobbling slightly as blood flowed through legs that were numbed from sitting on the wooden floor for so long. Twilight watched me interest.

“You know, you have a very fascinating body structure.” she commented. “Similar to Spike's, and to a lesser extent, to that of a minotaur, but unique in its own way. Skinnier, less muscle, longer, yet completely functional. How are you even able to maintain your balance without a tail?”

My first instinct was to reply sarcastically that it was “magic,” but I knew she would probably believe me if I did, so I simply shrugged my shoulders and walked over to her. She stepped to the side as I approached, and we both left the room side by side and made our way through the library.

“What's even more fascinating is that even though you have a completely different body structure, you're gestures are very similar to ours. A nod or shake of the head signifies assent or dissent, a shrug of the shoulders indicates indifference or ignorance. It's the exact same as for us.”

“I guess some things are so universal that they span dimensions.” I muttered noncommittally. Her eyes widened at this we approached the front door that led to the outside world. Next to it lay a few small bags and an impatient dragon tapping his foot.

“Now that's an interesting theory...” she said, more to herself than to me. “That completely different sentient beings across dimensions essentially share certain cultural aspects despite their differences? Fascinating!”

I let out a small, amused smile at this. These ponies were anything but boring creatures.

“You guys ready yet?” Spike said as we approached the door.

“Yes yes, we're good to go.” Twilight replied distractedly, a contemplative look on her face that I imagined would stay there for a while. I held in a chuckle.

“Well, for something that's so important, you seem to be taking your sweet time about it.”

I looked at the little dragon with confusion, and Twilight spoke up. “I explained the details to him. He'll be coming with us.” she said as she lifted her bags and strapped them to her side, like the pony equivalent to a backpack.

I raised my eyebrow, but said nothing. Spike was staring at me impassively, and under the gaze of his innocent, yet dangerous looking eyes eyes, I didn't really feel up to protesting. He may be young, but he was still a dragon after all.

“Alright then, let's go.” Twilight said, reaching out and putting a hoof on the door. She glanced back and cast me a meaningful look. “It would be best if you stick close to us. The Princess was able to reassure them, but after your last public appearance, Ponyville's citizens are likely going to be...somewhat wary of you.”

Well that's putting it lightly. I thought, nodding to her. I didn't really feel like going out and exploring anyway.

Looking satisfied, Twilight turned her hoof and pushed open the door. A rush of wind greeted us, causing her mane to sway gently and for the hair on my arms to stand up on end. The faint sound of birdsong could be heard, carried on the wind that held a faint smell of pine.

Stepping forward, I had to shield my eyes with my arm. Staying indoors for so long had caused me to become used to the dimmer light, and now my retinas were searing as I was met with the full force of the sun bearing down on me. I was forced to squint and look down at the ground just so that I could see where I was going until my eyes adjusted.

I heard the sound of the door closing behind me. “Alright, this way.” Twilight spoke, gesturing for me to follow her along the dirt roads. “The train leaves in half an hour.”

Glancing at her and nodding, we set down the path, the library, my last haven of safety, quickly disappearing behind us as it was hidden from view by other buildings and structures.

That's the eighth one. I thought to myself as a shrill scream pierced the air. In front of me stood a dark grey pony with a blue mane in the shape of a mohawk, eyes transfixed on me with horror and mouth agape. Without hesitation, the frightened pony turned around and took off with frightening speed, despite Twilight's protests that there was nothing to be afraid about.

“Wow.” Spike said, crossing his arms as he watched the receding dust cloud that was the pony. “I didn't know Thunderlane could hit that high of a note.”

Twilight lightly stamped the ground in frustration. “Why do they insist on running away?” she muttered to herself irritably.

We hadn't come across many ponies on our walk, but almost every single one we did cross paths with had immediately bolted on site. A few had simply given us a wide berth, looking at me curiously or suspiciously, and one had actually even walked up to me and began examining me closely. It was a very small pony, a child who was playing by herself with a ball on the side of the road, and she seemed rather excited to come face to face with me. In fact, it took quite a few stern words from Twilight to get her to leave me alone as she kept on pulling at my pant legs and jabbering nonsensically at me.

“I can't really blame them.” I said. I remembered that particular pony as one that I had come across when walking bloody and bruised through town with Fluttershy in my arms. From his perspective, seeing a red eyed monster who was almost twice as tall as you had to be a pretty traumatizing experience.

I winced guiltily. I was only trying to help... I thought to myself pitifully.

Twilight grunted in response. “Well, it doesn't matter.” she said as we turned one more corner. “We're here.”

A wide one story building with white painted walls showing the discolouration of age came into view. Flanked by it were two raised wooden platforms that sat perpendicular to a long, rusty looking track running far off into the distance.

“The girls are probably already waiting for us.” she said as we approached the station, passing a few bewildered ponies. “We'll find them and leave right away.”

I nodded absentmindedly, eyeing the ponies around me as they did the same to me. “Sounds good.” I replied.

Fortunately, the train station wasn't busy. Only a small number of ponies, cups of what looked like coffee clutched in their hooves and an assortment of bags and suitcases stood on the platform or in line for tickets. They looked at me wearily as I stepped through the door of the station, this time not having to duck my head under the unusually tall doorway. Thankfully, suspicious glances and nervous shuffles were all that they spared me as looked anxiously up and down the track that the train was soon to come on. It seemed that not even I was able to interrupt their daily commute.

I couldn't help but marvel over the fact that I was actually considered to be stranger and more of a threat than the dragon walking alongside me was.

Due to the small number, no more than twenty, it wasn't hard to locate the others, especially since one pony in particular was bouncing up and down and waving her hoof so frantically that it looked as though it were about to fall off.

“Over here guys, over here!” she cried to us, the others standing around her looking over to us.

Twilight raised a hoof in greeting and walked over, Spike and I promptly following her.

“Hey everypony.” she called as we approached them. “Are you all ready to go?”

“You betcha!” Applejack said with a grin. A loud groan from behind her caused her grin to fade slightly. “Well, most of us are.”

She turned around to look at Rainbow Dash who, to my great surprise, was laying sprawled out on what seemed to be a giant cotton ball that was hovering over the ground and supporting her weight. Her eyes, bloodshot and narrow, trained on us.

“There is something seriously wrong with you ponies if you think this is an acceptable time to be awake.” she mumbled. Applejack looked at her and huffed.

“It's 9 o'clock, Rainbow.” she said.

“Like I said, seriously wrong...”

“What is that thing?” I blurted out before I could stop myself, referring to the fluffy white mass that she was laying on. She raised an eyebrow and looked at me dubiously.

“What, you've never seen a cloud before?”

I didn't answer, instead looking around at the other ponies faces to see if what she just said sounded as strange to them as it did to me.

It didn't, evidently, and they paid it little mind. Instead, they continued on talking amiably amongst one another, friend greeting friend. Fluttershy, I noticed, was looking at me rather anxiously. Probably worried about my wellbeing.

I flashed her an easy smile and she relaxed, smiling back at me. I did not, however, feel the same way.

I'm putting my life in the han-hooves of these ponies? I thought despairingly as I watched them talk. Twilight was talking to Rarity about something involving crystals while Spike stood next to her and gazed up at the white unicorn with a look of adoration. Applejack seemed to be trying to calm down an overly excited Pinkie Pie who was bouncing up and down, as per usual. Rainbow Dash was lying on her...cloud with a look of irritation on her face, and Fluttershy was simply standing to the side and looking content.

I had to restrain a sigh. If I was being honest with myself, I didn't see how much help they were going to be in trying to prevent a powerful and ancient evil from taking over my mind. I know Luna said that they had beaten him before, although I can't possible see how...but is this really going to work?

Looking around at the ponies crowding the train station, many of which immdiately reverted their eyes when I caught them staring at me and tried to not look nervous, I couldn't help but feel a pit of dread settle deep in my gut.

They're all as cowardly as I am... I thought glumly, looking back to the smiling, multicoloured group. And they are going to be putting their lives at risk to help me...

“Alright everyone, here are your tickets.” Twilight announced, levitating some yellow strips of paper from her bags and giving one to each of us. “Princess Celestia sent them to me. I requested that we get a private car for ourselves so that we don't...bother...the other passengers.”

This time, I really did sigh, but was largely ignored as Pinkie Pie started bouncing up and down again, chattering excitedly.

“Ooh, look! There's the train!” she said, pointing off into the distance. Sure enough, a red speck with what looked like smoke puffing out of it could be seen, and as it came closer and closer, I could just about make out the details of a rustic looking steam engine barrelling towards us.

Rainbow Dash groaned and whacked her hoof against the...cloud...that she was laying on, and it promptly dissipated with a poof, falling to the ground on all floors. One by one, they all grabbed their stuff and waited by the station near the tracks as the train approached

I glanced down at the golden band on my finger as they others were distracted by the oncoming train. There's a good chance that we could all die from this. Suddenly, I found myself flashing back to the forest, watching as a group of hungry wolves approach a defenceless pegasus. My hand clenched instinctually and a knot formed in my jaw.

I won't let that happen. I vowed as the train came to a squealing stop in front of the platform. No matter what I have to do, I won't.

Clutching my ticket, I stepped onto the train as the doors opened, following the ponies in front of me and presenting my ticket. My newfound vigour deflated slightly as I saw Fluttershy shyly give her ticket to the attendant and walk away.

No matter what I have to do...

Funnily enough, the the attendant on the train didn't react to me in the slightest when I handed him my ticket which he levitated with a dark green aura and slipped into a small pouch by his side. He simply turned around and showed us to our private car and then left us, not sparing a second glance. In a way, I was somewhat thankful, although I couldn't tell if he was being professional or just plain rude.

The ceilings of the cars were fairly high, so I didn't need to stoop low when walking or standing, and while still somewhat small, the seats were a pretty decent size and somewhat comfortable. The floors were a clean, grey metal, and the walls, much like the outside of the train, where a bright red colour.

I chose my seat directly next to the large window looking out to the station as the others stowed their bags under seats and on racks. Outside, I could see a small procession of multicoloured ponies walking onto the train single file, presenting their tickets and being gestured through.

It all struck as so similar as what I would see back home in Toronto in the underground subways. “Bizarre...” I muttered under my breath as I saw one scrawny pony struggle to drag a large bag with them through the door.

“What's that, Sugarcube?” Applejack asked good naturedly.

I blinked. “Oh, uh...nothing.”

A train whistle pierced through the air, a shrill whine that signified it was about to start moving, and the others took to their seats. Fluttershy sat a few seats away from me, and the rest sat on the bench opposite me side by side.

The train jerked once, and then started to slowly move forward. The train station slid out of view, the weathered building and the wooden platform being replaced by trees and open fields.

I exhaled slowly and closed my eyes, letting my head rest against the vibrating window pane behind me. It was somehow comforting, like a rough head massage, and the stress of the past few days slowly started to ebb away.

I exhaled slowly. This is probably going to be the last moment of peace that I get in the next little while, so I might as well enjoy it.

“Alright, so here's the plan.” came Twilight's voice. “When we get to the Crystal Empire, we'll meet with my brother who will show us where we need to go to find Sombra's palace. After that, it's only a matter of finding the source of his power which will be located in the throne room, the place that he was defeated.”

Opening my eyes again, I looked at the unicorn dubiously as I chewed on the inside of my lip, not wanting to say anything. As far as plans went, that one sounded to unnervingly simplistic and straightforward.

“Ooooh! We get to see Shiny again!” Pinkie Pie squealed, happily clapping her hooves. “How is he? How's Cadence? Any itty bitty foals on the way yet?”

Twilight smiled at her. “They're doing fine Pinkie.” she replied before making a distasteful face. “Or at least, they were doing fine until they heard what was happening.” With a sigh, Twilight shook her head. “I was told that his reaction involved quite a few words that I'd rather not repeat.”

Pinkie Pie giggled.

“It will be a pleasure to see them again, the circumstances notwithstanding.” Rarity commented brightly, hoping to change the topic to a lighter tone.

Twilight nodded, her smile growing wider. “That's true.”

“We should play a game in the meantime!” Pinkie Pie announced. “It'll take a few hours for us to get there after all.”

Rainbow Dash groaned from where she lay sprawled over several. “How about we all just go back to sleep?” she moaned, eliciting laughs and rolled eyes from her friends.

“Hey...” Spike said from where he sat besides Twilight, drawing all attention towards him as he looked at me. “Why don't you tell us a little bit about where you come from? That would be kinda fun.”

This got their attention. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Applejack looked at me with interest plain on their faces. A bright light shined in Twilight's eyes, telling me that she liked that idea immensely, and even Rainbow Dash's ears perked up a bit, although her baggy eyes remained closed.

I shrugged. “I suppose that'd be alright.” I answered. “But, in exchange, you'll have to tell me a bit more about your world.”

They nodded eagerly, and I smiled, amused at their interest.

“All right then.” I said as I straightened myself as much as possible in my small seat. “What do you want to know?”

For the next few hours, both I and the ponies and dragon that I was with had our minds blown numerous times. A good portion of that time was spent trying to wrap my head around the idea that the sun and moon rose simply by the power of the two princesses, and not the movement of the celestial bodies as I was used to. Compared to that, the idea that all weather was controlled by the pegasus ponies was laughably believable.

On the other hand, they seemed to be absolutely fascinated with human achievements and culture. Obviously I wasn't the most qualified person in either of out worlds to represent my race, but I did my best. Twilight was absolutely giddy at the thought of the internet, the idea of almost all of human knowledge being stored digitally making her nearly vibrate in her seat with excitement. Rainbow Dash loved the idea of cars and airplanes, especially when I told her that we had broken the sound barrier, Pinkie Pie was fascinated with the music and entertainment, Applejack was interested in farming practices and city development, Rarity wanted to know about the culture itself, especially the fashion side of it, and Fluttershy and Spike were content to just sit and listen.

By the time we arrived at our destination, we were all boggling at the possibilities. I was given a somewhat lengthy description of what magic was and what it was capable in this world, and they were given one of technology in mine, and now each and every one of us was imagining what we could do if we could somehow combine the two. There were so many problems that I could think of that we would be able to solve if we were could do what these ponies were capable of.

It was an amusing and fascinating thought, but it was pushed out of my head with the squeal of the breaks announcing our arrival, reminding me why I was on this train in the first place.

“Oh boy, we're here!” Pinkie Pie cried, grabbing her saddle bags and darting out of the car door, surprising absolutely nobody. We followed at a much more reasonable pace, silent as we walked through the train and out of the doors, the attendant checking us off on a clipboard that floated in front of him.

As soon as I stepped out of the train, a blast of cool wind hit me. It was a fair bit colder here than it was in Ponyville, but not enough to make it uncomfortable. Besides, considering the weather that I was used to experiencing around the northern provinces of Canada, it simply felt rather mild.

I breathed in deeply as I stepped out of the train onto a station that was identical to Ponyville's, except for being a lot busier, the ponies here strangely having an odd, almost shiny look to them, and then paused. There was something different about this place, something that I couldn't quite place. It was almost as if the air was charged with a sort of...energy that I could somehow sense, like a smell or a sound that was so small that I could barely recognize its presence. I could feel it on my body as well, my skin tingling all of the sudden for no good reason, feeling like little licks of electricity were running across it.

“This place feels...strange.” I said aimlessly, ignoring the surprised and fascinated looks from the ponies around me that only grew in number when I spoke.

“Why do you say that Sugarcube?” Applejack asked curiously? “Something biting at your tail?”

I let the figure of speech pass without correction. “I don't really know why.” I said slowly, looking back at them. “The air just feels...heavy.”

Rarity adopted a surprised look and Twilight took on a grim one. The rest just looked confused.

“It's the effects of the ring.” Twilight said gravely, motioning to my hand. “It's subtly changing you, making you more sensitive to magic as though you were a pony. A unicorn to be exact, as it is usually only unicorns who can sense levels of magic saturation.” She looked around, breathing deeply. “I can feel it as well, and so can Rarity. The Crystal Empire has one of the most dense magical concentrations in the entire world.”

I felt my mouth go dry. “Oh.” I said simply. Had I been in a better state of mind, I would have realized that many ponies were now gaping open mouthed at us, and I would have realized it was because, to them, I was basically speaking to Twilight in one language, and she was speaking back in another completely different one. It must have been an odd sight from their perspective.

“Hey Twi', where's your brother? Shouldn't we have some sort of, I dunno, royal escort or something?” Rainbow Dash asked, already hovering above the heads of the other ponies.

“Not this time Rainbow.” The unicorn answered. “That would cause a lot of commotion, and we'd rather keep things low key.”

Rainbow stared at her, and then at me. “Yeeeaaah...good luck with that.”

Smiling slightly, I shook my head and chuckled, intensely aware of that disturbing, yet small pressure that I could feel somewhere in the back of my mind. When I was a kid, I'd always dreamed of what life would be like if magic was real, but it was nothing like this.

“He should be around here somewhere...” Twilight said quietly, scanning the crowd. “He said he'd meet us on the station...”

“Well, hopefully he'll hurry up and get here if he's not already.” I said dryly. “I don't think that this Sombra fellow will be willing to wait for...” I trailed off as I realized that Twilight was frantically gesturing at me, motioning her hoof across her neck and looking pained.

“What?” I asked her, my voice sounding strangely loud all of a sudden. I realized that the station had been plunged into an almost complete silence, save for a few vague whispers from its occupants. The others noticed it as well, and seemed to be just as confused as I was as all the eyes in station were now focused on us.

“You shouldn't say that around here...” Twilight whispered urgently.

“Say what? Sombra?” Her eyes widened, and it was only then that I realized what she was trying to tell me.

Oh shit.

And that's when the screaming started.

The Crystal Palace

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The Crystal Palace

One by one, the ponies let out a panicked yell, dropping what they were holding and running frantically for the nearest exit Ponies ran into and tripped over one another, screaming at the top of their lungs in an effort to get as far away from me as possible.

I looked around helplessly. W-what the hell is wrong with them? I thought as I watched two ponies fight each other over who was going to get out of the door first. They were trying to shove themselves through the same doorway at the same time until one of them punched the other in the head, clearing the way for her. The other one just blinked dizzily in the midst of all the commotion.

Wait...didn't Celestia say something about Sombra being in the Crystal Kingdom? Taking over it or something like that? Before I could stop myself, my hand flew up and smacked me in the forehead as hard as it could. Damn it all...

I felt a tugging on my shirt and looked down to see a wide eyed Twilight. “Come on! We need to go!” she said loudly, just barely making herself heard over the riotous cacophony. She pointed to where I could see the others quickly retreating. “We need to find my brother!”

I nodded, and the two of us took off. My long legs allowed me to move faster than her, but I made sure to slow down enough so I wouldn't be leaving her to fend for herself. It would be incredibly awkward if I had to explain to the others that I lost her in the midst of a frightened riot.

All around us, debris and junk were flying through the air as the hundreds of hooves pounded against the wooden floor, almost making it seem like a earthquake was assaulting the station. There were a few moments where I had to duck to avoid getting hit in the head with a flying piece of trash or luggage, and where I had to leap over some poor, unsuspecting pony that had gotten in my way. They squealed as I ran past them, some even going so far as to roll their eyes into the back of their head and faint dramatically.

I rounded a corner that I had seen the others disappear to, shortly followed by an out of breath Twilight.

“Are...are we safe?” she huffed. I looked around. We were in a small hallway that went further into the station, one that was thankfully devoid on any more panicking ponies. From the other side of the corner, loud voices could still be heard, their strange words completely incomprehensible to me except for one word that was repeated over and over again.

“Sombra! Sombra!”

“I think so...” I muttered. “But I don't know where the others are.”

It was then that I heard a sharp rapping against a nearby door. It opened by a crack and I bright green eye peeked out. “Psst! In here ya'll!”

We looked at each other, and Twilight shrugged, stepping forward and quickly slipping inside the door. After a moments hesitation, I sighed and followed.

It was dark, musty, cramped, and smelled like chemicals. I quickly came to the conclusion that we were hiding in a janitors closet.

“Is everypony alright?” Rarity's hushed whisper said from somewhere close by. It was too dark for me to see anything.

A few murmurs of assent, and one terrified squeak, followed. Next to me, someone sighed.

“Good.” Twilight's voice. “Now we should probably-”

“What the hay was all that about?!” another voice cried out angrily that I recognized as Rainbow Dash. “One moment, everything is fine, and the next, there's a riot!” There was another frightened squeak, and I could almost see Fluttershy shaking where she stood in this cramped, dark closet.

“I think they heard Kael mention Sombra, and got kinda panicky about it.” said a strangely muffled voice that must have belonged to Pinkie Pie. I couldn't help but wince, and was grateful that it was too dark for anyone to see my guilty expression.

“That must be it...” Twilight said quietly. “although that really shouldn't make any sense! The translation spell doesn't, or at least, shouldn't extend to anypony else besides us!”

I blinked. That's right, nobody else but them should be able to understand me. Even when I say their names in my own language, they hear them being said in their own. How then...?

The sound of a frustrated groan filled the closet. “It might just be yet another effect of the ring that's interfering with the spell, or maybe even because of the large amounts of magical energy in the Crystal Kingdom.” she sighed. “Or it could be something else completely that makes even less sense that I couldn't hope to understand. As far as we know, it could have been a freak occurrence, or it might happen again.”

There was a long silence. “Really?” came Applejack's voice, deadpan. From her tone, I could tell that she must look very unimpressed.

“I said that magic was unpredictable, didn't I?” Twilight snipped back, sounding very irritated “Look, right now, we just need to worry about finding Shining Armour. He knows where we need to go better than I do.”

“Actually, he's in here with us.” Pinkie Pie chirped, her voice still muffled for some reason. “I saw him outside in all that mess, so I brought him along.”

“What? Really?”

“Yep. Say hi, Shining.”

An unintelligible, but decidedly male voice cut through the darkness.

“Shining!” Twilight cried. “How did you-” There was a bump and the sound of clattering metal, and her words stopped. “Ow! Oh, hold on, let me give us some light...”

A second passed, and then a dim, lavender glow started to emanate from Twilight's horn, casting the small room in a purple light and just managing to illuminate the faces of everyone. For what it was worth, they all seemed to be alright, if not a little shaken. Pinkie Pie in particular seemed to be just as carefree as ever, although I realized that the reason that her voice was sounding strange was because there was a bucket over her head.

There was one face that wasn't familiar though. A pony, slightly taller than the others and with a pure white coat and a blue mane stood across from me, his eyes widening as he saw me. To his credit, he seemed to only be surprised by me, not scared as so many others were.

He murmured something under his breath as he stared at me. There was a look in his eye that made me uncomfortable, a look that told me that he was unsure of whether or not he should examine me as though a child would a curious animal or if he should lock me in a dungeon as far from pony civilization as possible.

“Shining, this is Kael. Kael, this is my brother, Shining Armour.” Twilight said perfunctorily. I said a weak greeting that he returned with a raised eyebrow and an unconvincing smile that didn't touch his eyes.

“Please darlings, can we save the pleasantries for later?” Rarity pleaded, obviously distressed. “A dusty broom cupboard is no place for a lady, and furthermore, there's spiders crawling up my leg!” Twilight looked down, the lavender light emanating from her horn revealing a number of small spiders scurrying across the floor and away from the light, and she grimaced.

“Good idea.” she said, opening the door to the cramped space. “We should go somewhere a little bit less cramped.”

Shining Armour said something, and Twilight nodded in reply as she and the rest of them stepped outside, shortly followed by myself. “That will work.” she replied.

Once we were all outside, and once Pinkie Pie had removed the metal pail from her head, Shining Armour started to walk and motioned for us to follow him, saying something in his language likely to that extent. The others nodded and voiced their assent, so I walked after them, my ears and ears open for anymore ponies who may find my presence to be...disagreeable.

We didn't manage to go five steps before a loud squeal cut through the air.

“Pinkie Pie, there's a mouse in your mane!” a distressed Rarity cried, hopping away from her pink friend as fast as her hooves could carry her. The mare in question blinked, and then rolled her eyes up, peering at her curly pink locks. True to Rarity's word, a small grey rodent was poking out of the top of her curls, its little nose twitching.

“Oh, that's just Chewy.” she replied calmly, walking along as though nothing were amiss. “He moves in there from time to time when he wants some time away from home.”

Rarity gaped at her friend, a look of pure, abject horror on her face. She was still for a few seconds as her friends passed by her, but a quick shake of her head brought her back to reality, a slightly disgusted expression the only indication that something was wrong.

I glanced curiously at Fluttershy who was, once again, hovering beside me. Somehow, she managed to interpret my curious look without a word.

“We're going to the palace” she said in her demure, quiet manner. When I looked nonplussed, she explained further. “The Crystal Palace.” she said, as though I was supposed to be familiar with it.

I took a breath to speak, but decided otherwise. I would discover our destination eventually.

The station, thankfully enough, was almost completely devoid of ponies, save for a few curious ones who had probably come in to see what all the fuss was about earlier. Pieces of trash lay dejectedly as we walked through the halls, ignoring curious stares as we did. Following Shining Armour, we quickly came upon the double doors that marked the exit, but before he stepped through, he paused and looked back, speaking to the group and looking wary.

“He said that, if we run into the guard, we should leave things to him.” my ever helpful pegasus friend murmured in my ear. He got another round of nods, and with a tired sigh, he opened the door and stepped through, us following close behind.

I wouldn't be surprised if the streets were teeming with guards, although I really hooo... My thoughts trailed off and took a strange turn as I stepped outside of the station. Holy shit...

My worries were briefly forgotten as I stepped outside and was greeted with a sight the nearly knocked me off of my feet. Outside of the station, much unlike how it was in Ponyville, ponies of all ages and colours swarmed cobblestone streets, many of them sporting the same shiny, almost shimmering look on their bodies. Stalls were set up on either side of the road, the cries of merchants barely managing to be heard over the din of raised voices and hoofsteps. Surprisingly enough, I managed to catch a few words being of english as the ponies spoke, words such as “flugelhorn” and “berries.” It seemed that the altering effects that the ring, or The Crystal Empire, or whatever the hell it was, had on the translation spell extended to me as well as others.

What struck me as even more surprising then suddenly finding myself in the middle of a bustling city was the actual city itself. To put it simply, it was beautiful.

Crystal was everywhere. Shops and buildings made entirely of the stuff lined the streets, their dazzlingly intricate design that seemed to almost be gilded with gold and silver, and over them, towers and spires that gleamed in the sunlight in all colours of the rainbow stretched into the sky. Everywhere I looked, there was another breathtaking site, large statues of ponies and fantastical beasts made of smooth crystal, architecture so intricate that it hurt my eyes to simply look at, and towering buildings that dwarfed Ponyville's in both size, presence, and beauty.

What really held my attention, however, was the absolutely massive structure that I saw directly ahead of me down the street that the station opened up to. It was shaped in a way that almost reminded me of the Eiffel Tower, four massive legs on the bottom that held up the rest of the body. It was made almost entirely out of white and blue crystal, standing well over everything else at a height that looked as though it would rival some of Toronto's tallest skyscrapers. It absolutely glowed with presence, everything from the main tower to the spire that jutted out from the side almost seeming to make its own light. That must be the Crystal Palace...

A nudge on my elbow brought me back to reality, and I saw Fluttershy looking at me worriedly. “Is everything alright?” She must have mistaken my awestruck look for discomfort.

I gulped and nodded. “Yes.” I replied quietly, not managing to say much else besides.

“We should probably get going then. We don't want to lose them.” she said, pointing down the street where I could see the other ponies moving away from us as I stood here gaping like a fool. I bit back my amazement for a moment, there would be plenty of time to ogle and gape on the way there, but I also needed to focus on not losing my way through this crowd. Granted, I was a lot taller than any of these ponies, and could probably find my way without too much difficulty, but I still didn't want to take any chances.

I nodded at Fluttershy and the two of us hurried after them, a small, rebellious part of me actually kind of wanting to go and explore this strange new land.

The Crystal Palace was a half an hour walk away, made so because Shining Armour insisted on taking us around some back roads and alleys that would let us avoid most of the crowds. Funnily enough, unlike in the station where I had been noticed almost right away, most ponies seemed to ignore me completely, walking right next to me without even a glance.

I commented about this to Fluttershy, and she responded with a smile. “You're probably not the most unusual thing that they've seen this week.” she admitted. Considering where they lived, I found that to be quite believable.

As we neared the palace, there were fewer and fewer ponies on the streets. The buildings that were once made of decorative wood, metal, and crystal now seemed to be made of nothing but crystal; multicoloured and multifaceted structures made of calcite, quartz, and amethyst that had doorways, windows, and chimneys sticking out of them. It seemed that we had left the busier, market area of the city and had moved to a more residential one.

“Incredible...” I muttered under my breath as I stared at one such house made of a rosy pink crystal. I could vaguely make out my reflection, blurred and refracted in the wall. “This is simply incredible.”

“I know.” Spike replied, looking around as though he were a child in a candy shop, licking his lips eagerly. This got him a stern look from Twilight, and he deflated a little bit.

Rarity took notice of this, and with a light laugh, stroked the dragon's green frills with a hoof. “Oh, don't fret Spikey.” she cooed. “If you manage to go the entire trip without eating anypony's property, I'll let you take something out of my personal supply of gems.” Spike immediately perked up at this and smiled adoringly at the unicorn.

As we approached the palace, I realized something troubling. Due to the fact that the palace itself stood on four long stilts, elevating it off of the ground, how were we going to get inside? I could see a large, double door on the front that served as the entrance, but it was about 20 feet too high to access.

The leader of our unconventional troupe, Shining Armour, didn't seemed to be the least bit concerned about this, so I simply waited, content that such an obvious design flaw couldn't have been overlooked.

So enraptured was I with magnificence of the tower itself, the way it gleamed with purpose and magic; I could imagine no other way it was created than with some fancy spellcasting, I failed to notice the two ponies who were standing alone in the dead centre of the courtyard. They were bigger than most that I had seen so far, and far more dangerous looking. On their heads lay helmets that left their faces open, but covered everything else with a thick layer of steel, a bright blue plume sticking out of the top. Shiny, interlocking metal plates covered their chests and withers, and held in the crook of their hooves were long pikes that almost came up to my own height, a dark blue banner just underneath each blade billowing in the wind. In the middle of the empty courtyard, they looked somewhat ridiculous, but they stood stone still, evidently with a purpose.

Only the movement of their eyes indicated that they were more than statues. Their eyes darted from one pony to the next, gauging potential threats in the time it took to blink before moving onto the next one. When they looked at me, I felt my breath catch in my throat, and when they looked away, I had to repress a sigh of relief. Unlike many of the others that I had come across, they did not look they were going to be running away screaming from anything, least of all me.

Shining armour exchanged a few words with them, and then, like clockwork, they raised their long pikes in unison and brought them down onto the cobblestones with a resounding crack that split through the air. They repeated the gesture again, and then once more.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I felt a small tingle, like a fly was trapped inside my skull and was buzzing around without a care, trying to get my attention. Just on the edge of my senses, I could detect a small noise, like the ringing peal that lingered after sharply striking a bell. All was quiet, and all was still.

And then, in an instant, that changed. From the ground in between the two points that the guards had struck their pikes on, a large, jagged crack appeared, shortly followed by another, and then another, and then a few more until finally the smooth stone was criss-crossed with fractures. With the sound of rock grinding against rock, and with the ground shaking underneath me making it difficult to stand, the fractures split open to reveal many long horizontal lines of crystal rising from below the ground, raising in a way so that the ones behind were slightly taller than the ones in front until, from out of the ground, rose a solid staircase of blue crystal leading straight up to the doors.

Shining Armour nodded to the two armoured ponies, and after a few more words, set up the stairs. I took a few seconds to recompose myself before I followed, alongside the others.

The look of amazement on my face must have been noticed by him, as he shot me an odd glance. He muttered something quickly to Twilight, who giggled in response. “He's just not quite used to it yet.” she muttered to him, just loud enough for me to hear.

Well, excuse me your highness if I, a creature from another dimension, act a teensy bit odd.

Shaking my head, we reached the massive double doors, stepping off of the stairs and onto the platform. The doors were already opening, surprisingly silent for their size, revealing the immaculate interior which was every bit as impressive and beautiful as its exterior. Behind us, a loud groaning noise appeared, and the crystal stairs slowly started to sink back down into the ground disappearing one by one underneath the stone, magically resealing itself so that it looked no different than it did before.

Since when did drawbridges not become enough? I wondered as I watched the impressive display magic and strategic thinking.

“Come on...let's follow them.” a small voice from my side said, nudging my shoulder forward. Looking towards it, I saw Fluttershy looking at me with her big blue eyes.

I blinked. “Right. Sorry.”

She smiled. “It's okay.”

Large red banners hung off of the wall, just barely hanging off of the ground, each picturing the same symbol, a blue heart surrounded by golden stars. Several spiralled columns wider than myself ran from the ground to the vaulted ceiling, a massive golden chandelier hanging precariously in the centre of it.

As the double doors closed behind us, Shining Armour stopped moving and turned to face us in the middle of the wide hall. He said a few quick words to his sister, who nodded and screwed up her face in concentration.

A blindingly bright light flashed from her horn, making me see stars for a moment. I was about to ask her what the heck she was doing, but was interrupted before I could.

“Thank you Twilight.” Shining Armour said. “This will make my job a bit easier.”

I blinked as he looked at the rest of us, his face serious. “I've already been debriefed about the situation in a letter from the Princesses, and although I don't really understand it, I understand that you all are, unsurprisingly, in the middle of it yet again, albeit with one member extra.” That was me, I supposed.

He sighed dejectedly. “In their letter, the princesses told me that I was simply to give you the resources that you needed to get you to the crystal palace and let you on your way, and that I wasn't to accompany you. Now, I'll be honest here, but the thought of that makes me want to pull out my tail with my teeth. I'd much rather come with you, but I know that if I did against Celestia's and Luna's wishes, my wife would have my head.”

There was a chorus of giggles from the girls, and I could see Shining Armour grin slightly. “Truth be told,” he continued. “since the Crystal Kingdom's return, much of the surrounding land is still uncharted, the most recent maps and records of them being over a thousand years old and lost to time, so we've been trying to chart as much as we could. However, we've had no luck in finding Sombra's castle, the Obsidian Castle, nor do we want to find it. It's an incredibly dangerous place, which makes it even harder to let my own baby sister go there without me.”

Twilight huffed irritatedly, but he ignored her, the grin on his face widening almost imperceptibly, yet still managing to look serious.

Pinkie rose her hoof, waving it in the air, and Shining Armour eyed her warily. “Yes Pinkie?”

“How are we supposed to find it if it's lost?” she asked. “I lost my sunglasses a week ago and I spent hours looking for them, but no matter where I looked I just couldn't find them, and a lost castle is probably a lot harder to find than a lost pair of sunglasses, even if I did manage to-”

“”Good question.” he interrupted, cutting the hyperactive pony's words off hastily. Pinkie Pie managed to say “They were on my face the entire time!” before falling silent once more.

“As for how you are going to find it, that's the reason you are here in the first place.” he lowered his voice and eyed his surroundings. “But before that, you need to promise me that you will never speak of what you see in here, not to anypony. There are secrets in this castle that can't be allowed to be revealed, except to a select few.” He looked at us imploringly. “I need your word.”

There was some surprised muttering of “What the hay?” and “My word!” from the ponies, but Shining Armour managed to draw a vow of secrecy from each one of them, even little Spike. They were all looking a lot more unsure of themselves, I could see, even Rainbow Dash's cocksure grin wilting a little bit as Rarity fiddled with her curls nervously.

Finally, he looked at me, and I gave a start when he realized that he wanted my word as well. Who did he think that I was going to tell? Even if I could communicate without the aid of a translation spell, within a week or so, I'll either have returned home, or have been taken over by a malevolent sorcerer. Either way, I'll be far to preoccupied to let loose any royal secrets.

I kept my thoughts to myself. “I won't tell a soul.” I told him earnestly. He breathed a small sigh of relief and nodded, satisfied.

“Alright then. Good.” he said heavily. “Follow me, and I'll show you where secrets go to die.”

The walk through the palace was almost as long as the walk to the palace. We came across what I assumed to be servants and staff of the palace through the halls, but we were largely ignored. At first, I tried to count the turns and take note of any special landmarks so that I could find my way back if I got lost, but with the dizzying array of colours and designs, I gave up after only a few minutes. They must find find a lot of skeletons of ponies who starved to death while looking for the bathroom.

Eventually, we came to a stop in a room that was comparably small compared to the others, but still fairly large in general. It seemed to have no other purpose than to showcase works of framed art depicting ponies in regal suits and dresses posing dramatically and looking off into the distance thoughtfully.

“Oooooh, who are all of these pretty ponies?” Pinkie Pie cooed, gazing wide eyed at the pictures.

“Former Princes and Princesses of the Crystal Kingdom.” Shining Armour replied, paying the pictures around him no mind. “On the surface, this room was built to showcase their portraits for the public to see, but in reality, it was protect some of the Crystal Kingdom's most valuable, and dangerous, secrets.”

“You hide all of your secret stuff in a room filled with pictures of stuffy ponies that literally anypony can access at any point in time?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking at Shining Armour as though he had grown an extra horn while Rarity huffed at the stuffy ponies remark. I had to admit, it didn't make much sense to me either, although he merely smirked.

“Who in their right mind would visit a place that had nothing but pictures of 'stuffy ponies'? Even when the occasional pony does come here, usually it's only because they're lost, otherwise they are watched the entire time.” He looked back at the befuddled pegasus and smiled. “The best place to hide something is in plain sight after all.”

Rainbow Dash hmm'ed and nodded thoughtfully. “Well then where is all this secret stuff you keep talking about?”

“Right here.” Shining said, stopping in front of the largest portrait in the room that stretched from the ceiling to the floor, a positively ancient stallion clad in red and purple velvet robes sitting stiffly on a throne and looking as though he was glaring at us. On the wooden frame of the picture, there was an inscription.

“It says, “What is a ruler's greatest duty?” Shining said for my sake. “It's supposed to promote thought to the ponies of what the rulers of the Crystal Kingdom should do to rule effectively.” Without turning, continued. “What do you all think the answer to that is?”

There were some confused murmurs and thoughtful hums. Finally Rainbow Dash responded with “To protect the nation from invaders!”

“To make sure that nopony lives in poverty.” was Rarity's response, not taking her eyes off of the painting.

“To make sure everypony is happy!” Pinkie Pie squealed her reply.

“I guess to supply their citizens with enough food and water.” Applejack said, scratching the back of her neck.

“To preserve and encourage the acclimation of knowledge for the benefit of pony kind!” Twilight said proudly, beaming at the portrait.

“Ummm...to keep eveypony happy and healthy, I suppose...” Fluttershy answered.

Finally, all eyes were turned towards me, and I realized with a start that they wanted to know what I thought about it as well. “I...haven't the slightest idea.” I admitted.

Shining Armour nodded. “Well, those are all good answers, but none of them are completely right. The truth is...” he took a breath, and then continued speaking as though entirely from memory. “A ruler's greatest duty is to know what truths are too dangerous to exist.”

And then, to everybody's great surprise, the picture of the regal looking pony nodded at us grimly before shimmering like a wall of mist and disappearing, revealing a heavy stone wooden doorway in the wall behind it.

“Oooooh...” came a chorus of fascinated voices.

“It's a bit outdated,” Shining Armour said with a hint of distaste. “But in essence, it's true.” He walked up to the door, grasping the heavy iron knocker, and banged it on the wood three times. “There are secrets behind this door that the general populace can not know about. Artifacts and magical scrolls too dangerous for the eyes of any but the princesses.” The door slowly slid opened inwards on grinding hinges to reveal a dark, wide hallway lit by wall mounted candles that bloomed alight.

“Neato!” Pinkie Pie said, bounding forward and sticking her head into the opening and looking around. “It smells like the Cake's basement in here!”

Shining Armour sighed, and Twilight Sparkle patted him on the back.

“Well what are we waiting for?” Rainbow Dash said, eagerly darting forward. “The sooner we get what we need, the sooner we can send Kael home.”

I felt a small warmth bloom in my chest at her words, but it was muffled slightly at the prospect at of walking into that creepy looking corridor. Shining Armour's words ringed in my mind, and I suddenly found my feet to be a lot harder to move than they were before. A small squeak at my side told me that I wasn't the only one feeling the same.

“Yes, let's get this over with.” Shining said, motioning us forward. “I want to get this finished as quickly as possible.” Fluttershy looked at each other for a moment nodded, following the others as they stepped through the opening, Applejack calling to Rainbow Dash to not be so impatient, and Rarity bemoaning the the fate of her coat in the mildewy hallway. Twilight and Pinkie Pie seemed to be completely unperturbed, excitement shining in their eyes, although I suspected for different reasons.

“Just make sure that you stick with the group.” Shining Armour said as the door rumbled to a close behind us. “This is the last place you want to get lost in..and don't touch anything!”

“Let's see here...” came Twilight's inquisitive voice, peering through a thick glass box at what lay inside. “The Necromancer's Guide to Grave Robbing, by Rickity Stick.” she tilted her head to the side. “Sounds...interesting.”

Shining Armour sighed. “Yes, very, now could you please not get too close to it?”

“Hold on just a second...” his sister mumbled back, focusing her attention to another glass box with another old tome encased in it. “Ooooh! The Beginner Basilisk Breeding Guide for Budding Beastmasters! Fluttershy would like that one!"

The butter yellow pegasus shuddered from where she stood beside me. “I really wouldn't...”

“Twilight dear, as much as we may like to, we can't stop to examine every forbidden tome of unspeakable horrors that we come across.” came Rarity's voice. “Keep in mind our purpose for coming in here in the first place, hmm?”

The purple unicorn sighed. “Oh, alright.” she replied as she reluctantly turned away from the sealed away books and joined us as we made our way further through the assortment of books and bric a brac.

“Really darling, you must keep your head in the game.” the white unicorn chastised gently. “We can't afford to lose our focus at every turn we make.”

“There was a book on the sewing techniques of Griffin Blood Priests.”

“Really?! Where?!” Rarity replied, making a mad dash back for the room filled with books. Luckily, Applejack managed to catch her by the tail with her mouth and pull her back, the fashionista's hooves scrabbling wildly on the ground for a moment before she realized what she was doing.

Letting go of her tail, Applejack smirked. “What was that ya said about focus there Rarity?”

Rarity huffed, her cheeks glowing red. “Yes, well...I never said I was without weakness, did I?”

There was a chorus of laughter, even a few giggles coming from Fluttershy, but I couldn't bring myself to laugh. I was too focused on Shining Armour, our only guide through these tunnels, partly because I desperately did not want to lose him, but mostly because the expression on his face worried me.

His mouth was drawn into a thin line that grew even thinner as the girls chatted and laughed. Worry lines creased his eyes, only growing more pronounced as we walked further and further into the catacombs. I recalled what he said earlier, about the dangers of our mission, and a lump formed in my throat.

Looking for a distraction from my worry, I searched for something to say to take my mind off of it. “So...what is this...thing..that you said would help us?” I asked him tentatively.

Without even slowing down, he answered. “It's a fragment of crystal that, like that ring of yours, is imbued with Sombra's magic. However, unlike that ring, it is connected to him and only him, and as such, it is constantly attracted to him.”

“I see...” I replied. “And is it...dangerous?”

He sighed, the lines around his eyes becoming more pronounced. “I don't know.” he admitted. “Tests have been done on it, but the only thing that we can determine is that it's filled to bursting with incredibly dark magic, although it seems mostly stable.” I frowned at the his use of the word mostly, and he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. “We are taking a huge risk by letting it out of the safety of the palace. If something goes wrong with it, then the results could be...well, I'm sure you can imagine.”

My mouth turned dry, and I nodded. “Right...I'll make sure nothing happens to it.”

He nodded. “Good.”

The next few minutes, I walked in silence, absorbed in my thoughts until our procession came to a stop. “Here it is.” he announced, stopping in front of what looked to be a box made entirely out of metal sitting on a pedestel, a padlock as big as my hand keeping it sealed. Without any preamble, he lit up his horn, and the padlock clicked open, the door gliding open silently. Almost immediately, that small, tingling sensation in the back of my mind seemed triple.

Illuminated by the dim light coming from the wall mounted candles, a misshapen shiny black lump, about the size of my fist, was floating in the middle of the box, the light reflecting off of each facet as it spun lazily in the air All in all, it seemed like a fairly unremarkable piece of black rock.

Gingerly, Shining Armour reached in and withdrew it with the crook of his hoof. “This is all that remained of him when he and the Princesses last fought years ago.” he said softly. He turned to look at us, his eyes stony. “This is how you'll find him.”

“How does it work?” Twilight asked, eyeing the little black lump.

He set the rock down on the ground and stepped away. “Watch.”

For a few moments, nothing happened, but then, seemingly of its own will, the rock started to slowly slide across the floor, edging further away from me and closer to...

“AHHH! It's coming after me!” Pinkie Pie squealed, leaping into the air and darting behind Applejack, who looked bewildered. “I'm so sorry Mr. Rock! I swear I'm not a rock farmer anymore! I'm sorry if I smashed any of your friends and family!” the pink pony trembled, causing Spike to giggle from where he sat on Twilight's back and the rest of the girls to roll their eyes.

“Uhh...” Shining Armour muttered. “Right...Well then. Moving on.” he cleared his throat. “All you need to do to find the Obsidian Castle is move in the direction that the crystal is moving. It's being attracted to the strongest source of Sombra's magic that is left in the world, and it will show you where to go.”

Levitating the black lump and depositing it in her saddlebags, Twilight nodded. “Sounds simple enough.” she replied. “Don't worry Shining, we'll take care of it. And of ourselves.”

For a moment, Shining Armour looked pained, but it passed quickly. “That's good to hear.” he said, giving her a small smile that quickly vanished. “Alright, we have what we need. Let's get out of here before Pinkie starts prostrating to it for forgiveness.”

“I don't even know what that means!” the pink pony in question announced cheerfully.

Shining Armour ushered us through the hall dark and cramped halls, quickly coming to the wooden door that we entered from. He took a moment to peak through a eyehole, and when he determined that the coast was clear, opened the door to the room of paintings. When he shut the door behind us, it was immediately hidden by the same illusion of that huge painting, the scowling pony looking down at us just as before.

“Well, we have what we need, so there's no use hanging 'round anymore. ” Applejack said. Rarity nodded alongside her.

“Indeed. We have food to last us and any other supplies we might need, not to mention a way to find Sombra's lost castle.” she gave a dazzling smile. “I dare say that we're quite ready to be off on this little adventure.” Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie grinned at one another.

Shining Armour nodded grimly. “Alright then. I won't hold you any longer.” his mouth twitched. “Just...promise me you'll be careful.”

Twilight laid a hoof on his shoulder. “We will be. Remember, we know what Sombra is capable of just as well as you do.” She smiled supportively. “We helped defeat him, remember?”

Her brother gave a tired sigh in response. “I remember...I just worry. These circumstances are a little bit different than last time. There's more unknowns.” He shook his head. “Nevermind. Just let me show you the way out of the castle and you can be on your way.”

Twilight nodded. “Lead the way.”

The sound of steps on the hard floor, presumably also made out of crystal, was the only thing that could be heard as we made our way back to the entrance, our minds and thoughts focused on the task that lay ahead and very aware of the . Each step, clear and sharp as a bell, reverberated through the wide corridors, seeming to get louder with each passing second. In fact, my head started to ring painfully with the sound.

I shut my eyes tightly. Every sound seemed unnaturally clear and loud. Everything from the sound of our walking to the sound of of breathing or talking sent felt like it was amplified ten fold, and I had to resist the urge to put my hands over my ears.

“Futile...”

My eyes shot open. I looked at the ponies, but none of them were looking at me.

“They won't help you...”

I blinked and looked away. Their mouths weren't moving, so that voice couldn't be coming from any of them. It didn't even sound like them. It was more of a wet, raspy whisper, like two pieces of old, rough stone sliding across one another. My finger that had the Alicorn Ring on it twitched.

“They can't even help themselves...”

My breathing began to quicken and I sweat started to bead my brow. My head felt like it was going to split in two by now, as though somebody was repeatedly taking an axe to it. Shut up. I thought. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.

“The mouse can not stand against the lion...”

“Shut up...” I growled under my breath, even my own voice sounding amplified in my head along with everything else.

“It can only accept its fate...and be devoured.”

“Kael? Are you alright?” a voice asked from next to me. I looked to see several multicoloured faces looking up at me with concern. I smiled weakly.

“Yeah, I'm great. Why?” I asked, thankfully managing to keep my voice steady despite the this massive, inexplicable headache that I was now sporting.

“Ya just seem a little pale is all.” Applejack replied. “More so'n usual that is.”

“It must just be the light.” I replied easily. “Don't worry, I'm fine.”

“Devoured...”

I hope we can find it in time. I thought desperately as I walked. For my sake as well as theirs.

Weary and Dreary

View Online

Weary and Dreary

We exited the palace through a narrow, dark passageway that Shining Armour showed us, that led down one of the legs holding up the castle and into the ground, hidden quite effectively from the public eye in a broom closet. I couldn't help but wonder what other kinds of secrets this place hid. Was there a button that could be pressed that would make the entire thing move on it's four legs? Did the statues that seemed to be littered everywhere come to life at a codeword? How awkward would it be, I wondered aimlessly to myself, if that codeword was accidentally spoken during some royal proceedings, and a staff wielding pony made of stone just started terrorizing the place.

We walked in the dark, cramped passageway for a good, long while, the only light being coming from Rarity's and Twilight's glowing horns. Shining Armour had left us at the door, saying he had some royal duties that needed to be done, and directed us to just keep walking until we got out. According to him, the passage was an emergency exit in case the castle were ever under siege. As peaceful and jovial as a lot of these ponies seemed, they seemed to have a pretty strong concept of war. The royal guards that paced the halls certainly didn't seem like somebody I wanted to go head to head with, and they were only half my size!

Rainbow Dash complained bitterly on the way out of the castle, bemoaning not being able to use her wings to whatever cruel gods that had forsaken her. Twilight offering to teleport her ahead of us, and commenting that hopefully she wouldn't materialize in a wall somewhere, shut her up pretty quickly.

Eventually, we came across a door that opened to a wide green field. It was hidden under a grassy knoll with large rocks scattered around it, hiding it from every angle in such a way that one would have to be looking for it to know that it was there.

Out came the stone then from Twilight's saddlebags, the impromptu compass that points only to our destination. Levitating it gingerly, Twilight put it on the ground, and we all stared at it, waiting. After a few seconds. It started to slowly inch across the ground, a bit to the left of dead ahead.

I had to look away as the girls marvelled over the moving stone. Just looking at it made me sick to my stomach, and I could feel my hands clenching and twitching on their own accord.

It was then that we set off, crossing the wide open plain in the direction that it pointed. In the distance, treetops poked over the horizon, and I could see snowy mountain tops reaching into the sky, their cool winds managing to reach us even here. Rainbow Dash joyfully took took to the sky, elated to be able to use her wings again, and the rest of us just shook our heads and watched as she twisted and twirled, simply happy to be alive. I only wished that I shared that sentiment with her.

“OOOOH what do you do with a drunken pony, what do you do with a drunken pony, what do you do with a drunken pony early in the morning!” Pinkie Pie cried with the gusto of a bar filled with sports fans on game day, much to the dismay, and in my case, amusement, of everyone else.

“Tie their tail to a chain and anchor, feed them pie with a glue based filler, leave em high 'n dry till they cough up water early in the morning!”

“Pinkie dear...” Rarity said with obvious annoyance. “I'm glad to see you so...perky...and I appreciate the effort to keep us all in good spirits, but do you think you could put a hold on the singing for a while?”

Pinkie stopped mid bounce. “Sure thing, Rare-bear!” she said, getting a grateful smile in return from a multitude of faces. Spike was the only one who looked disappointed, muttering something along the lines of “I thought it was good...”

We'd been walking for two days now, following the movements of the black crystal the pointed our way and keeping an eye out for anything tall and menacing looking in the distance, and our nerves were starting to where. The ponies seemed to be mostly okay, although Rarity often bemoaned the lack commodities needed to maintain her good looks, but they were all faring well. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash looked as though they did this type of thing daily, not even a hint of weariness on their faces. Surprisingly, Spike also seemed to be fine despite the exertion, the only weariness he showed being mainly due to a lack of sleep, although he made up for it as much as he could on the backs of the others, curling his little tail around himself and snoozing for a few hours a day.

I on the other hand was keenly feeling the differences between our races as I tried as hard as possible to disguise my fatigue with nothing but stubborn determination. I was just not built the same way as these ponies. Where they could fly and had magic and impressive endurance to help them, I was quite ready to collapse and fall asleep after walking for two days. My feet were so sore that I was starting to forget what it felt like for them to not hurt.

“When I get home, the first thing I'm doing is getting a better pair of shoes.” I thought angrily to myself, ignoring the sharp pangs of discomfort traveling up my shins. “You never know when you're going to get transported to another world and have to walk across a country to get back.”

“This looks like a good place to take a break.” Twilight announced to the group. She's been the biggest reason that this expedition of ours has been going so well. While everybody did their part to keep morale and motivation up, Pinkie Pie making it her solemn duty to keep us all entertained for every minute of every hour, Twilight was the one who kept everything going smoothly. She's organized our time effectively between breaks and made sure we ate enough food to keep our energy up without wasting anything. She assigned roles when it came to setting up camp, making sure that everything ran like a well oiled machine.

With how well these ponies worked together, each one accentuating and bringing out the best in the other, I couldn't help but be in a little bit of awe. Even the complete opposites, the quiet Fluttershy and the bubbly Pinkie Pie or the down to earth Applejack and the pampered Rarity were like sisters.

I looked around, only now noticing my surroundings, as I was caught up in my own thoughts, mainly to distract myself from my aching feet. To the right of us, a small, bushy pond sat, cattails sticking out of shrubs and lily pads. The water, clear and blue, shimmered beautifully in the afternoon sun.

I blinked as a strange, yet somewhat familiar sensation came over me. I felt like there was someone, or something, trying to get my attention, like there was a muffled voice in the back of my mind screaming at me. I shook my head to clear it, but that persistent niggling feeling remained, telling me that I wasn't seeing something that should be right in front of my eyes. It was, in some way, similar to the how I felt when I was in the Crystal Kingdom; Twilight said that it was because I was sensing the magical saturation, but it was very different as well. This time, it was paired with a strange feeling of dread that seemed to stem from nowhere.

I pushed it out of my mind. Stranger things have happened recently than funny feelings. I was probably just tired.

The girls took off their bags and sat down next to the pond with weary sighs. Spike jumped off of Twilight's back and incinerating a small patch of grass with his fire breath before comfortably sitting down on it. When I had asked him about why he did that, he said that it was just a dragon thing.

My feet almost seemed to ache even more as I lowered myself down to the ground now that I didn't have rhythmic movement of walking to distract me from them. I took off my shoes and started to rub them, trying to put some feeling back into them besides eye watering pain.

“Are you alright?” Fluttershy asked me, noticing my pained expression. I nodded back to her.

“Yeah. Just a little sore.” I muttered.

“Aw, c'mon buddy! It's only been a few days.” Rainbow Dash said rather unhelpfully, slapping me in the back. I couldn't help but grin back. She'd really warmed up to me since we left. Now, rather than bug me about being an enemy spy or some nonsense, she simply bugged me for other, more normal things, like how tall I was, or my still weird sounding name.

“Well, not all of us can hover around lazily like you can, Rainbow.” I replied. She snorted and shook her head, her disheveled mane flaying wildly about.

“Whatever you say, dude.” she said as she spread her wings open. “It's alright to be jealous, but don't let it get to your head.” She took off into the air, quickly shooting up so that her blue coat was a nearly indistinguishable dot in the sky. I couldn't help but chuckle and shake my head as I made to stand up.

“Oh, you should sit down.” Fluttershy said hurriedly, fidgeting around me. “If your hurt, you need to rest as much as you can.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Well, I also need to get a drink of water.” I said, causing her to pause and blush.

“R-right.”

I smiled at her. Throughout our trek, the yellow pegasus has been fussing over me like a mother hen so much so that the others were starting to give her strange looks. From what I could tell by their curious expressions, it wasn't completely unusual for her to act the caregiver, but the extent of her ministrations was. The only time I could get away from her for a moment was when I needed to heed to the call of nature and a bush was handy.

I didn't mind it though. If anything, it served as a reminder that I truly wasn't alone in this world, and that there was somebody watching my back. In fact, I found myself often regretting the fact that, if I did ever make it home, I would have to leave her behind. Such is how much she has grown on me, like a cute little sister.

I staggered over to the pond, my feet smarting more than ever, and knelt by the side. I cupped some water into my hands and brought it to my face, drinking as much as I could while trying not to splash it all over myself. It was deliciously cool and refreshing, and after I had my fair share of it, an idea struck me.

I peeled of my socks and left them on the grass as I slipped my sore feet into the cool depths of the pond. Immediately, a heavenly feeling of relief came over me, and I couldn't stop a blissful groan from escaping.

“Sweet Mary mother of God, that feels good...” I muttered, getting a few odd looks. They still found my vernacular to be a bit strange apparently, but right now, I didn't care. For a moment, my mind cleared of all of it's worried, poisonous thoughts. I no longer worried about what was happening back home, if my mother was worrying herself sick about my disappearance, or if my apartment had been broken into. For just a moment, I let all of that go, closed my eyes, and bathed in the moment.

...

“What's that?” a voice said from close by that I recognized to be Twilight's who was in the process of filling up our canteens and bottles with water.

Without opening my eyes, I answered. “They're called feet.” I said easily.

“I'm not talking about your feet.” she said, the eye roll she almost certainly gave being almost audible. “I'm talking about what's that in the pond.”

I opened my eyes and looked down. Out in the water, near the centre of the pond, there was a black small black spot, like a pool of ink, that was gradually growing in size. I looked at it curiously.

“I dunno.” I admitted with a half hearted shrug. “Probably something weird and magical.”

Twilight made a thoughtful 'hmm' sound, stroking her chin with the flat of her hoof. “Hey Fluttershy,” she said after a moment of contemplative silence. “Can you come her for a moment?”

The pegasus in question promptly flapped her wings and floated to over to us. “How can I help you Twilight?” she asked.

“Do you know what that is?” the unicorn asked, pointing with her hoof to where the inky black spot was located, and still growing. “I've never seen anything like it, so I figured I'd ask.”

Fluttershy cocked her head. “I...can't say it looks familiar.” she answered. The black spot was getting pretty big at this point, and we were all looking at it curiously. “It could be a type of water moss, but it doesn't look like it. I know that there are some creatures that can shoot ink from their bodies as a form of defence, but I've never heard of one living in a pond. Only in the sea.”

Twilight made more thoughtful noises as she looked at the spot which was about a metre wide in diameter. At this point, I found myself uncaring, and I wiggled my feet underneath the comfortable water, opting to enjoy the feeling rather than concern myself with what was probably just some strange pond creature that they had never encountered before.

A small plop sound made my ears twitch, soon followed by another, and then one more. Looking back the surface of the water, I noticed dark, shiny shapes sitting in the blackness. It took me a moment to realize that they were fish, and after a brief moment of examination, I realized that they were being unnaturally still.

With a startled yelp, I quickly drew my feet out of the water as more fish of various shapes and sizes floated to the surface of the pond, lifeless in the inky substance.

“Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy squeaked, her and Twilight backing away from the edge of the water as I scrambled to my feet. “W-what happened?”

“I don't know, they just started dying!” I replied in a shaken voice as I looked at my feet closely. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, thankfully. I was somewhat expecting to see my toes start falling off. For some reason, that feeling that something was trying to get my attention, an incessant voice in the back of my mind, seemed to be stronger now. So strong, that it almost felt like it was starting to actually hurt somehow...

“How...strange.” Twilight said, scrutinizing the dark stain with an unreadable look. Fluttershy on the other hand looked absolutely horrified as more and more lifeless bodies floated to the surface.

“What's all this racket about?” came a voice from behind us. Applejack trotted up, casting us strange looks. “Ya'll look more antsy than a timberwolf at a bonfire.” She looked at us and followed our line of sight, and when she noticed the pond turned fish graveyard, her eyes widened. “What in the hay?

“Those poor fish...” Fluttershy moaned, tears springing to her eyes. At this point, Rarity, Spike and Pinkie Pie had joined us and were peering into the pond curiously, looking taken aback. Every thing that the murky stain touched died, from the helpless aquatic creatures to the now shrivelled and wilted plants that poked up from the water.

Rarity, thinking quickly, ushered her friend away from the pond with quiet words, the little dragon close behind her as he tended to stay. By now, the black spot covered half of the surface of the pond and would probably render the entire thing devoid of life in a matter of a few minutes. After a few moments of hesitation, Pinkie Pie followed, bouncing quickly away.

“What's causing this?” I asked hesitantly to the air.

“I don't know.” Twilight responded gravely. “But I wouldn't be surprised if it had something to do with Sombra.”

“What do ya mean Twi'?” Applejack asked. “How could Sombra cause this?”

“I...don't know.” she repeated, a heavy frown on her face. She stepped up to the edge of the pond and looked deeply within its depths. “But I've never seen or hear of anything like this. It has dark magic all over it.”

I winced as a twinge of pain shot through my head. Unfortunately, it didn't go unnoticed.

“What's eatin' at ya Kael?” Applejack asked worriedly, looking concerned underneath her stetson hat.

“Nothing.” I said quickly. “Just have a bit of a headache.” Another twinge of pain struck me, and my eye twitched involuntarily.

“Is it bad?” Twilight asked me, her attention away from the pond for the moment. “You look sort of...pained.”

“I'm alright.” I reassured them hurriedly. Twilight sighed dejectedly.

“Good, because I think we're going to have to start moving again.” she said regrettebly. “We can't afford to stay here if this type of thing happens again, possibly hurting somebody.”

I suppressed a groan that was coming up. I had only managed to get a few minutes of relaxation, and just the thought of walking again was starting to make my feet and legs throb painfully. I nodded with a sigh.

“Alright then. Applejack, can you go and pack up? I'll go find Rainbow Dash.” the country pony saluted the unicorn before trotting away, and Twilight spared me a brief look before she went to find her feathered friend, leaving me alone by the tainted pond.

I glanced at it one more time, and winced in pain. My head was really throbbing at this point, and just looking at the ominous black water seemed to make it worse. My eye twitched, and I shook my head to clear it, my thoughts just as murky as the water that many dead fish floated in.

“Ow...” I muttered as I turned and walked away, resigning myself to more pain and discomfort. Unsurprisingly, I still had that vague feeling in the back of my mind that there was something not quite right.

As if I needed to be told.

Sunlight glittered through a sparse canopy of leaves over head as we walked through the thin woods, needles and leaves crunching underfoot. The procession was slow as we were all weary, even Rainbow Dash and Applejack seeming a bit fatigued after our very short break. We trudged on however, the ponies having enough energy to keep talking to keep their spirits light, although I didn't have the energy. Fortunately, my feet had stopped hurting, as they were too numb to have any feeling left in them.

A rustling came from behind me, and I turned to see Fluttershy stumble over an exposed root before she regained her balance. Something about her made me pause though. The way her ears drooped and her eyes never left the ground didn't sit well with me.

I waited for her dragging hooves to carry her forward so that we were close enough so as to not be overheard as we walked.

“Fluttershy?” I said hesitantly, causing her ears to twitch as she looked up at me. “Are...are you alright?”

she blinked, and gave me a weak smile. “Of course I am.” she replied, extremely unconvincingly.

My brow furrowed slightly. “Are you still upset at what happened in the pond?” Fluttershy had been nearly inconsolable when she saw the the floating bodies. She was an incredibly kind and caring soul, so it didn't surprise me that she was so torn up about so much needless death, even if it was only to some fish. I'll admit, I was somewhat saddened by it as well.

She sighed and looked back down. “A little bit...” she said sadly. “But...” she paused for a long moment and sighed.

“But there's something else that's bothering you.” I finished for her, not needing to phrase it as a question as I could tell it was true. Unsurprisingly, she gave a despondent nod.

“I'm just worried.” she said. I tilted my head curiously.

“About what?”

She looked up at me and met my eyes with her own. “You.” she replied.

I blinked in surprise. “Oh.” I said lamely. To my horror, her big blue eyes started to tear up.

“I know what Sombra is like, Kael.” she said, her voice quavering ever so slightly. “He's bad. He's very bad.” she took a deep breath. “Last time we faced him, we got lucky. I'm worried that this time...we won't.”

I had to stop myself leaning down and giving the pegasus a hug right then and there. In the short amount of time that I knew her, I had come to see her almost as an adoptive little sister. When we were in the Everfree forest and she was inches away from death, I had been overcome with a protective rage unlike anything I had ever felt before, but this time, there was nothing for me to pummel. Seeing her so distressed, so afraid for my sake, felt like my heart was being torn out of my chest with a rusty knife.

Instead, I had to settle for simply laying a comforting hand on the back of her neck. “Hey...” I murmured. “I don't know about luck, but I can promise you, I'm going to be fine. Sombra's not even in this world, remember? What's he going to do to me?” I still didn't know how that was going to work out, fighting somebody who was in the world between worlds, but I figured that we were going to cross that bridge when we reached it.

Fluttershy sniffled a bit and looked away. “I know...but with that ring doing weird things to you...I can see it. You don't look well, and you look worse every day.”

This took me aback. Truly, I did feel terrible, but I thought that I had been able to keep it hidden from the others. Every step was twice as painful as it normally would be, and every day I found myself getting tired more easily than before. It had even become a chore to eat as I never seemed to have much of an appetite. Having caught my own reflection in the occasional puddle or pond that we crossed, I had noticed that I looked unnaturally skinny, bordering on gaunt.

I smiled reassuringly at the pegasus, although it probably came off as sickly. “I'll admit, I do feel a little bit...under the weather, but we can't afford to let that stop us. Now come on, the others are getting away from us.” I said reassuringly, quickening my pace as I encouraged the pony forward, again reminding myself of a protective older brother.

I just managed to catch her muttering “That's what I'm afraid of...” under her breath before she hurried forward to join me. Her dejected tone hurt more than any dark magic could.

Unfortunately, the black crystal did not always lead us through rolling fields blanketed in wildflowers or green canopied forests. Occasionally, we would come across rapids that needed to be traversed and cliffs circled in order to follow its directions. In this case, it was pulling us through a wide patch of dank wetland, and as I slogged through swampy mud and muck that dragged me down with every step, I found myself feeling incredibly jealous of Rainbow Dash's and Fluttershy's wings.

The trees had went from tall and thin to wide and short, much like the hollowed out one that housed the zebra that saved my life a little more than a week ago. Insects chittered and buzzed all around us, and the occasional loud squawk or rustle in the bushes kept us well on our toes. The acrid smell of swamp gasses permeated the air, sour and putrid. Adding to our discomfort was the fact that the ground was covered in slippery mosses and lichen as well as mud, forcing us to be extra careful with each step lest we take a disgusting tumble through the swamp.

Thankfully, we finally found a patch of somewhat dry and flat land, and we settled down for the rest of the day, all of us agreeing that we should take some extra time to rest up. Our nerves were frayed and we were tired, so much so that Rarity even stopped complaining about how terribly dirty she was getting trudging through the mud. The poor girl just didn't have it in her anymore.

We all collapsed to the ground with sighs and groans. The mud was dried here where a little bit of sun managed to poke through, making it hard and fairly uncomfortable, but it was more than enough for all of us. Even Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked grateful for the break.

“I can't feel my legs anymore...” Rarity whined pitifully, stretching and wincing. Applejack chuckled as she rolled her shoulders in her joints.

“Ya know Rarity, with how much you like those mud baths of yours, I would'a figured that a walk through a swamp would be right up your alley.” There were a few tired laughs all around, and Rarity huffed.

“For your information Applejack,” Rarity countered primly as she attempted to fix her mane in vane. “A mud bath uses nutrient rich mud imported all the way from the Neighpon. This...” she raised her now somewhat cleaned hooves to her face and glared at them. “is not the same.”

Chuckling softly and shaking her head, Applejack leaned back against her saddle bags. “Whatever you say Sugarcube.”

Rainbow Dash swooped down from where she had been hovering high in the sky just moments before, grinning excitedly. “Hey guys, I can see something big in the distance!” she announced to the group. “It looks like it might be The Obsidian Castle!”

Our eyes all widened at this. “Really?” Twilight exclaimed. “In which direction?”

Rainbow pointed with her hoof into the trees, and Twilight murmured something unintelligible under her breath before she quickly withdrew the rugged black crystal from her pack.

I quickly turned my head away as nonchalantly as I could. The mere sight of it was enough to force me to release the contents to my stomach and make me feel disgustingly sick, or at least even more so than I did right now. It was like a poisonous substance coursed through my veins, coating my skin, muscle, and bones with a putrid goop that made every movement ache and that could not be washed away.

I tried to keep up appearances as flash of pain rang through my skull, but I noticed Fluttershy, who still stayed by my side, offering me water and food whenever she could, was frowning at me.

“Well, would you look at that?” Applejack muttered, probably looking at the crystal as it crawled along floor towards our destination. “Little thing's movin' in the same direction Rainbow said.”

“If Rainbow Dash is right, then we're probably not too far away.” Rarity chipped in eagerly. “Why, we should reach The Obsidian Castle sometime tomorrow even.

Suddenly, a pair of strong arms were wrapped around me, squeezing the air from my lungs. “And then we'll be able to stop Sombra from corrupting your mind with his evil magic ring thingie!” Pinkie Pie cheered as she attempted to break my ribs.

“Heh, yeah, that's great...” I grunted as I delicately tried to pry the pink pony's arms off of me. These ponies had some ridiculous strength when they wanted to. “But not if you kill me first Pinkie...”

Her eyes popped open. “Oh, right.” she said, releasing me from her crushing grip and stepping away with a sheepish grin. “My bad.”

I patted her on the head and laughed. “Man, you ponies are weird.” I said, eliciting a chuckle from a few of them and a loud “I know, right?” from Pinkie herself.

Rainbow Dash's cocksure grin returned with a vengeance. “If you think that we're the weird ones, mister 'walks on two legs,” then you need a reality check.”

I blinked and grinned, the throbbing pain in my skull mostly forgotten. “Hey, at least I don't have tattoos on my butt.” The ponies blinked and looked at one another, and to my surprise, Spike fell over clutching at his belly and laughing. “What are those things anyway?” I asked.

Rainbow smirked. “I'll let you handle this one Twilight.”

“Sure.” the unicorn chirped, thankfully stowing away the black crystal in her saddlebags. Strangely, my head only seemed to hurt whenever it was visible. “They're called cutiemarks, and they are an important part of pony, a symbol of who they are. When a pony finds they're natural special talent, the one they are best at, a cutie mark appears. It's a physical manifestation of that talent.”

I started to go around and gather some dry sticks and twigs that we could use to start a fire, but paused with a small bundle in more arms, a small frown on my face. “So, does that mean that your cutie mark determines what you do for the rest of your life? Like, a pony with a musical talent and cutie mark can only be a musician?”

Twilight chuckled and shook her head as she and the other ponies took out their bedrolls and laid them out. Unfortunately, because of my size, I didn't have one, and simply had a pillow to sleep with on the ground. “No, nothing like that. A pony could have a talent in music, yet do something completely different with their lives if they wanted.”

“Oh. Well that sounds...useful. I suppose.” A symbol that told you explicitly what you were good at, preventing years of speculation and experimentation? I could really go for something like that.

“Although, a cutie mark is rarely as simple as that though. There's usually more to them than 'this pony is good at this.' For example, Rarity's special talent is finding and creating beauty, and Pinkie Pie's talent is making others smile.”

“Ah, I see.” I said, nodding my head. “That makes a bit more sense.” I turned to see Spike recovering from his laughing fit, muttering something about 'butt tattoos.' “Do you have a cutie mark?” I inquired to the little dragon.

His eyes widened and he fell over laughing again, and this time, the others joined in with him. I just stood there with a confused look on my face.

That night, we were all in good spirits, fending off our fatigue and aches by talking and laughing around a bright fire until there was nothing but embers. It was almost as though we were making an extra effort to be happy to counteract the effect of this gloomy looking swampland around us, lest it come closer and smother us under an oppressive blanket. The occasional noise could still be heard through the thick trees and foliage as the sky darkened, making me jump in my skin to the amusement of some and concern for others, but I was assured that as long as we stayed in a group, we'd be safe.

The night was especially dark and eerie, the full moon overhead just barely managing to be visible through the leaves. There was precious little light in our ramshackle campsite, and as the fire dwindled, we found ourselves looking around nervously more and more often. Eventually, we all decided that it would be best to turn in.

It was difficult to sleep for me, unfortunately, the thick wooly blanket I had and the small pillow doing very little to prevent the ground from seeping away my body heat. Not only that, but time and time again I found myself jerked back to complete wakefulness at the grating sound of wildlife, a snapped twig or a rustle in the bushes serving as a constant and unwelcome reminder as to where I was. Even the fact that I could barely keep my eyes open wasn't enough to put me to sleep. Even more aggravating was the fact that everybody else seemed to have no trouble if the snoring and sleepy murmurs were any indication.

Shivering, I cursed under my breath as I curled into myself underneath the wool blanket, trying to cover as much of myself with it as possible. Because it was made for ponies, I found it extremely lacking in terms of size.

I imagined that I was a most pitiful sight. I twitched and startled at every noise, and my eyes were probably bloodshot in the last remnants of light cast by the glowing embers, and dirt and mud caked almost my entire body. I was incredibly thankful that, before we left Ponyville, Rarity had had the foresight to make me an extra few pairs of clothes that I could wear, all simple and plain, but durable and warm. Right now I was wearing loose fitting black sweater, like a hoodie without the hood, and the jeans that I came to this world with, still in one piece, but smeared with all sorts of stuff that I would probably have to burn them when, and if, I got home.

“Kael?” a small voice said from close by, startling me out of my self pity. I looked and saw a shadowy form just barely illuminated by the moonlight laying just a few metres away from me. I could just barely make out the blue in its eyes. “Are you awake?”

“Fluttershy?” I whispered back. “Why are you still awake?”

“I couldn't sleep...” the pegasus mumbled. I sighed in response.

“Me neither.” I lamented back, quietly enough so that I wouldn't wake anypony else. “It's cold, it's scary, and frankly, I can't help but think...” I trailed off, the words dying on my tongue.

“Yes?” Fluttershy said, prompting me to continue. It took me a few seconds before I was able to compose myself enough to go on.

“I can't help but think about my mom, and what would happen to her if...something were to happen to me. She lives by herself you see, and my dad...isn't around to help take care of her. If I don't make it back home-”

“Kael?” Fluttershy interrupted, her voice surprisingly strong, if still quiet and soft.

“Yeah?” My mouth was dry, and my voice was hoarse.

“You're going to go home.”

I was silent for a while as I processed this. “Thanks Fluttershy.” I replied, trying in vain to stop a few tears from leaking out of the corners of my eyes.

“You're welcome.”

Minutes passed in silence between us as we tried to succumb to our fatigue and get some much needed rest. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that Fluttershy had managed to do the impossible, but that allusion was broken when I heard her squeak when the peal of what sounded to be a frog cut through the air.

“Hey Kael?” She asked for the third time that night.

“Hm?”

“Would it...be alright if...I slept next to you tonight?” she asked meekly. My mouth twitched into a small smile as I felt those brotherly instincts kick in yet again.

“Sure thing.”

There was a rustle of activity, and a moment later, I felt movement as the pony lay down right next to me and curl herself into a little ball on her stomach, almost as though a cat would. With her wings, she managed to drape her blanket over herself as she looked at me.

“Thanks.” she whispered gently, and I felt a sharp tug on my heartstrings as I was once again wondered if this was what it was like to be an older brother and slightly regret the fact that I never was.

“You're welcome.” I whispered back as I closed my eyes once more and slowly drifted off to sleep.

“What are you walking towards, human?” A deep voice rasped at me. “Where do you think your feet will take you? To salvation?”

My eyes shot open as I sat bolt upright where I lay only to find myself alone, surrounded by thick darkness and indistinguishable shapes and figures that made up my surroundings. For some reason, the fire was crackling once again in the same spot where it had been mere embers just before. The others were nowhere nowhere to be seen.

“You know as well as I what good that will do you.” A dry laugh, like concrete rubbing on concrete in its roughness filled the air. “Absolutely none.”

“W-who are you?” I asked the disturbingly familiar voice, looking around frantically for its source. In the trees? For some reason, I couldn't make out any more than a metre through the treeline which was so smothered by darkness that a grizzly bear could hide without any difficulty. “Where are you?” I demanded in a shaky voice.

The laugh came back, echoing from all sides. “As for where I am, the answer is everywhere...and nowhere. As for who I am...I suspect I don't need to tell you that."

My blood ran cold with realization. “Sombra...?” I whispered. There was a sudden gust of wind through the camp, sending the flames waving and sparking in the air while throwing up jagged shadows across the ground. Strangely, the light seemed to grow dimmer even though the fire itself was the same size.

“Yes Kael...” The voice said, as deep and dark as an empty well. Suddenly, in the time that it took to blink, a figure, vaguely equine in shape yet made out of what seemed to be a dark mist, appeared across from the fire. A pair of glowing green eyes opened over a widening smile of fangs.

“It is I.”

I flinched as his penetrating gaze bore into me, sending a pang of sharp pain through my head. I frantically scrabbled away from it; or should I say, away from him, kicking up dirt and mud until I was suitably far away.

“What are you doing here?” I breathed, shivering. The tenebrous form tilted its head as Sombra smiled in what I guessed he thought was an endearing way, but only looked more menacing.

He made a soft crooning noise, as though slightly disappointed. “And here I thought you would welcome me as you would a friend.” he thrummed pleasantly. I shook my head in disbelief.

“Why would I do that?” I asked, bewildered. Somewhere, in a logical and rational part of my brain, a little voice was screaming at me, telling me that it was probably not the best idea to insult the one who held the knife that would cut the rope holding the guillotine blade over my head.

“Because I know more about you than any other, Kael.” he replied easily. “And as such, I'm probably the only friend you have in this...unfamiliar world.”

My mouth hung open for a second as I struggled to find the words to reply. “You...you know nothing about me!” I retorted angrily, flinching back at the loudness and strength of my voice.

“Indeed?” The ghostly pony asked with another tilt of its head, sounding very amused this time. “We are of the same body and mind, Kael. I know of the land you lived in, of the technological wonders that inhabits your world. I know of your past,and of the crushing insecurity and fear that plagued you from such a young, innocent age.” His eyes seemed to flash with excitement. “And I know of your present, you're dismal existence of servitude of and shame.”

There was another gust of wind, and with it carried the whisper of my own voice. “Yes Mr. Hardis...” it said, meekness clear. It made me flinch.

Disturbingly, Sombra, or this twisted fabrication of him, started to pace from side to side, never taking his eyes off of me and never getting a step closer. “I know how much you fear for your mother's safety after your father's untimely demise. I know how you ache for the acceptance of others, but can not bring yourself to seek, or even deserve it. I know the songs that lulled you to sleep as a babe, and which sights and sounds that bring the most joy to you.” His smile seemed to grow even more predatory, if that was even possible. “I even know the dread that festers in you, growing stronger and stronger with each step closer to my former domain.”

I breathed deeply in an effort to calm my racing heart. Sombra's smile turned pitying.

“But it needn't be that way, Kael. I am not your enemy. The ponies that you travel with are.”

I blinked, just struck with a frightening realization. I looked left and right searching for blue wing or a purple mane hiding somewhere in the trees. “Where are they?” I asked, surprised to find a shred of heat in my voice. “What have you done with them?”

“They should be none of your concern.” Sombra snarled, briefly losing his composed smile before quickly regaining it. “What should be of your concern is the delusions that you have been put under by them.”

“What delusions?” I asked, shaking my head before he could answer. “You know what, I don't care. Just bring back the others.”

His expression turned ugly. “Fool! Can't you see the what they are doing to you? They are trying to destroy you!” He took a step closer, and a sharp pain rang through my head, making me wince. “The alicorn ring makes you strong! It makes you swift! It makes you as fierce as lion!” ghostly images of myself, standing bleeding and bruised in front of a group of timberwolves appeared around us. My lips were pulled back into a snarl, and my eyes glowed red. “They wish to remove you from that power so that they may dispose of you!”

He took another step, tears springing to my eyes as my head felt like it was being split by an axe. “Y-you honestly think I believe that?” I mumbled through a haze of fear and pain.

Sombra's form paused to let out a low, rumbling chuckle. “You fool human...” he said softly. “It is only by the ring's power, by my power, that you are still alive.”

I gaped at him. “What-” was all I managed to say before he took another step, causing my hands to fly up and clutch at my skull as I fell whimpered in pain.

“The moment that ring is taken off, you're body will be torn apart as the magical energies of the world of the world rush through you with nothing to inhibit it.”

“B-bullshit...” I panted from where I lay on all fours, sweat beading down my forehead to fall into the dirt.

“They lied when they said that it was killing you. They lied when they said that it was cursed. And they lied when they said that you could return home.” Sombra said pityingly. “To them, you are a threat to be annihilated with no remorse.” He paused for a moment, letting it sink in as I gasped in pain. “But they needn't succeed.”

I looked up at him, but said nothing. He seemed to take this as encouragement as he smiled at me once again.

“Stand with me, Kael Maalouf, and I will teach you the ways of this world. I will show you how to harness the power you now wield, and we will rule Equestria together, as allies. As brothers.” A look of pure desire filled his ghostly features. “It will be glorious...and all that you need to do...is submit yourself to me.”

I took a moment to think, as well as I could in my pain filled haze, my brain feeling like it was being jabbed by red hot pokers. Many different responses went through my head, and I considered them all, and I decided which one was the most important to say.

Gritting my teeth, I met his green, earnest looking eyes head on. “Where...Are...The...Others...” I managed to choke.

His smile vanished and his eyes were filled with fury. “If you miss you're precious ponies so much...” he growled. “Then you can have them!”

Before I could react, he moved towards me, almost faster than my eyes could follow. One more searing blast of pain consumed me before everything went black.

I awoke in a cold sweat, panting and rasping for breath. My hand immediately went up to clutch at my head which was throbbing painfully, and I noticed that the ring on my finger was glowing an ominous red, and held my hand in front of my face and stared at it. Pretty soon, the light faded until I could barely see my hand anymore in the sparse moonlight.

The sound of gentle breathing nearby caught my attention, and I looked to see Fluttershy curled up next to me, my arm draped over her body protectively. She snuffled in her sleep and let out a little pained whine, probably reacting to me waking up so suddenly. Not wanting her to wake and get worried at my sweaty, panicked state, I ran a hand down her mane, hoping it would soothe her. Thankfully, it did.

With a tired sigh and another shiver, I lay my head back against the pillow, the extremely vivid dream running laps through my mind as I fell back into a fitful sleep..

Rise From the Grave

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Rise From the Grave

Tensions were high the next morning as we packed up and ate a sparse breakfast, talking sparsely and quietly. The ominous prospect of what was to come loomed heavily in everybody's mind, some of us being excited, some of us being fearful, and others just wanting to get home so that they could fix their hair.

We made our way forward at a slow and leisurely pace, conserving our energy for when we reached the castle. Along the way, we filled up our time by discussing what we were expecting to find when we got there. According to Rainbow Dash, she had seen a tall, black structure extending beyond the treetops in the distance yesterday, and it was the general consensus that what she saw must be castle. We discussed what we would find inside of it, from dangerous traps and guardians to wondrous treasures and magical artefacts.

Well, they discussed it. I kept myself to the side, not paying any attention to their conversation. Dead leaves and broken branches littered the path and crunched underfoot, but I didn't notice even them. My mind was far elsewhere.

“It is only by the ring's power, by my power, that you are still alive.”

I exhaled slowly in a long, quiet sigh. That's what Sombra had said in my dream last night. I could remember the entire thing as clearly as though it had actually happened just moments ago, and his words had been ringing through my head all morning and afternoon, endlessly worming their ways into my every thought.

“The moment that ring is taken off, you're body will be torn apart as the magical energies of the world of the world rush through you with nothing to inhibit it.”

I grimaced as I clenched my right hand tightly, very conscious of the gold band around my finger. What kind of dream was that anyway? I thought to myself sourly. Since when does anybody remember their dreams with absolute clarity? No matter what I told myself however, a single thought popped into my mind that made my blood run cold with a shiver.

That wasn't an ordinary dream.

I shuddered and forced myself to relax before somebody inevitably noticed how tense I was. I hadn't told any of the ponies about the dream as I knew that it would only cause undue strife and anxiety. I simply steeled myself against my mounting nervousness and focused on moving forward.

“What in the world is that?” Applejack said suddenly, startling me out of my gloom. I looked over to see her taking her hat off of her head and gazing upwards with an awed expression. Naturally, I looked in the direction that she was.

A tall, dark shape could be seen through the small spaces between the trees and vines of the swamp, just barely making itself visible over a backdrop of grey sky. It looked like a solitary tower, several times taller than then the biggest tree around us, a piercing spire capping the top.

“That looks like what I saw yesterday!” Rainbow announced, her wings buzzing anxiously at her sides, making it difficult for her to hover in place. She glanced around the rest of us and motioned us forwards emphatically. “C'mon slowpokes, move those legs of yours!”

“The Obsidian Castle has been sitting in the same spot for over a thousand years, Rainbow Dash.” Rarity said with an arched eyebrow as the antsy pegasus looked at her imploringly. “Surely it can wait another few minutes.” She turned her attention towards Twilight who was gazing up at the partially obscured tower curiously. “I assume that is The Obsidian Castle?”

“I think so...” The unicorn replied, then turned to face her dragon assistant who was riding on her back comfortably. “Spike? Can you grab the map from my bag?”

The dragon saluted primly and snapped open his steed's saddlebags, rifling through them until he found a rolled up map. Thanking him, Twilight took the map with her magic and unrolled it in front of her.

A few moments went by with her making thoughtful noises and the rest of us waiting around awkwardly. Finally, she rolled the map back up and gave it back to Spike.

“Well, from what I can tell according to Princess Celestia's previous instructions...this seems to be the place. Not to mention I can actually feel the crystal in my bag moving towards it.” she tilted her head and scrunched her eyes. “I admit, I thought it would be bigger though.”

Pinkie Pie bounced past the perplexed unicorn. “Look on the bright side Twilight, at least you'll be able to find the library much quicker! Or what's left of it, at least.”

“Hmm...” The unicorn hummed, watching her jubilant friend bounce through the shrubs and thickets. Finally, she shrugged. “Well, there's no point in staying here and twiddling our hooves about it. Let's get going everyone.”

There was a chorus of agreements, emphatic and excited, from the other ponies and dragon as we continued onward. I only looked up at the tower in the distance, a lone, bleak reminder of the evil being who created it.

Suddenly, a strange feeling came over me, like a warming fire was being lit in my bones, energizing my body from the inside out. My body tensed, almost painfully so, and for a moment, everything seemed to be more focused than usual. Sharper, and tinged with a little bit of red.

“Get ready Sombra.” I whispered to myself before I realized it, gritting my teeth. “Here I come.”

Fifteen minutes later, our ragtag group of eclectic heroes found ourselves before a most perplexing sight. After a little bit more slogging, a bit more eager than before with the sudden prospect of finally reaching our destination. What we found, however, was not what we expected.

“Where's the door?” Pinkie Pie asked as we stood at the base of the tall tower, gazing at the black structure with some amount of awe and a fair amount of confusion.

“That's what Rainbow Dash is hoping to find Pinkie.” Rarity said, hey eyes turned skywards as she watched her prismatic maned friend comb the outside of the tower. Pinkie Pie blinked in confusion at her.

“But why would anypony build a door” she craned her head back to look at the top of the spire, her eyes following the blue pegasus circling it above. “all the way up there?”

“Maybe it's for pegasi only?” Fluttershy suggested. Realization dawned on Pinkie's face and she grinned at her friend.

“Hey, that's right!” In a flash, she was beside Fluttershy, draping a pink leg over her shoulders. “Gosh Fluttershy, you sure are smart!”

The pegasus mumbled something in return, but I was glad to see that she was smiling, albeit slightly. Leaving the two to themselves, looked to the others to see what they made of it. Applejack and Rarity were casting the tall structure curious looks as they took a few drinks from their canteens and rested on the sparse grass, exchanging a few words every now and then. I saw them shooting me infrequent glances, but I didn't think much of it as Twilight Sparkle caught my eye.

She was looking, no, she was glaring at the small black stone that we had been relying on up until now to guide us. Currently, it was sitting on the ground, uncharacteristically still, and Twilight was looking at it in a way that I imagined somebody would in a western showdown, not even daring to blink lest their opponent moves.

“I wouldn't talk to her if I were you.” A voice said from my side. I looked down to see Spike standing with his claws on his hips and a discerning look on his face, only coming up to my thigh. “With that look on her face, she might just bite your head off the moment you get too close.”

I frowned and nodded. I was planning on approaching her to see what was she found so...enrapturing, but now I thought better of it. Besides, watching her observe the black stone so closely was giving me a headache.

“Hey Dash!” Applejack yelled from where she relaxed aside Rarity. “If ya haven't found the dang entrance by now, then stop wastin' your time and get back down here!”

“Indeed darling, you've been up there for 15 minutes!” Rarity chipped in.

A burst of wind and dust announced Rainbow Dash's quick return. “Nothing!” She cried in disgust. “Not even a single window!” She scowled at the tower. “What kinda castle is this? Was Sombra some kinda cheapskate or something?”

“This isn't right.” Twilight cut in, finally taking her eyes away from the black stone that was stubbornly refusing to move. “The few records that remain from 1000 years ago clearly say that the Obsidian Castle is much larger than this.” She gave a disgruntled huff and looked up at the spire. “Whatever this is, this isn't it.”

I was about to say something, put a peculiar feeling came over me, trapping my words in my throat. Like the day before, at the pond that had turned black and poisonous right before my eyes, it felt like something in the back of my mind was trying to get my attention, poking at me with a stick that I couldn't see.

“Who stands at my door...?” A voice whispered. “Who seeks the Crystal King...?”

I snapped my head back to stare at the tower, but nothing had changed. It was just as tall and still as before, and the voice that I had just heard had disappeared completely. From the way that nobody else reacted to it, it seemed that I was the only one who heard it.

“Well, there's no point in staying here.” Spike's young voice interrupted. Twilight sighed in response.

“You're right Spike.” she said dejectedly. “Although the stone that Shining Armour gave us doesn't seem to be working anymore, so I don't know how we're going to find the real Obsidian Castle.”

“Aw, don't worry about it Twi'.” Applejack said, moving to stand beside the purple unicorn. “This little hurdle ain't gonna be stopping us. We'll just keep on hoofin' it till we find the real one, doohicky or no. Ain't that right Kael?”

I wasn't paying attention to her however. It was strange, but I somehow knew that this simple tower was not actually as simple as it seemed. To the naked eye, it just seemed like an old structure, maybe used as a landmark or an outpost, but something was telling me otherwise.

“Who knocks at the doors of Obsidian...?”

“Kael? You alright big fella?”

Before I knew what I was doing, I took a step towards the tower, and then another, and then another. A hush fell over the other ponies and dragon as they watched me, wondering what in the world I was doing. In truth, as I came to stand right next outside wall made of decrepit black stone, I wondered the same.

I was surprised to find my hand raising in front of me, as though a ghost were moving my arm. Instantly, my eyes were drawn to the golden ring on my finger, the etched outline of an alicorn glowing softly with a dim red light that got steadily brighter to closer it got to the wall.

“Kael?” That was Fluttershy's voice, I could tell. She sounded nervous. “What are you-”

As soon as my hand made contact with the black stone, there was a blinding flash of red light from the ring on my finger, searing my retinas as I was thrown backwards with a loud bang as though a bomb had just gone off in front me. There were loud exclamations of surprise I sailed several metres through the air, land in a crumpled heap in the dried mud and musty dirt.

“Kael!” a multitude of voices exclaimed loudly in shock as my head spun every which way, making me feel sick to my stomach. Before I knew it, my vision was filled with all sorts of colours as the ponies converged on me, chattering on in concerned voices. A pair of strong hooves lifted me into a sitting position, and my vision swum with worried faces.

“The master has arrived...at last...” said the nameless voice in my head.

“Oh my goodness, are you alright?” Fluttershy fussed, shoving her face right up to mine and frantically looking in my eyes.

“I think so...” I mumbled, trying to force the world to stop spinning below me.

“Quick!” Pinkie Pie said, pushing the pegasus out of the way and looking at me wide eyed. She held up a leg in front of my face. “How many hooves am I holding up?” she asked seriously.

“Fifteen.” I answered sarcastically, closing my eyes and kneading my forehead. The inside of my eyelids was a moving and pulsing of bright colours and shapes.

There was a silence. “Yup, he's broken.” Pinkie declared sadly before she too was pushed away.

“Kael, look at me.” a strong, commanding voice said, one that I couldn't immediately place yet somehow compelled me to obey it . When I opened my eyes, I was surprised to see Fluttershy looking at me once again with an uncharacteristically serious expression.

“Are you alright?” she asked me, bordering on demanding me for an answer. Even the others were looking at her in surprise.

“Yes.” I replied earnestly. Things were starting to seem clearer now, and I could better make out the world around me. “I'm fine.”

Fluttershy smiled, but before she could say anything else, a loud voice distracted me.

“What under the light of Celestia's sun just happened?!” Twilight cried loudly, making me wince. “What did you do Kael? What was that flash of light? Where did it come from? Did it do anything?” Her flow of questions would have continued had I not put up a hand to stop them prematurely.

“I don't know what happened, but I think it had something to do with the ring.” I said quickly before I could be cut off. This took her aback, and she looked back at the tower, and then back at me, her head at a curious tilt.

Someone huffed from behind me. “That dumb thing's been nothing but trouble since day one.” Rainbow Dash grumbled irritably. I was about to agree with her wholeheartedly, but I was cut off by a tremor that I felt passing through the ground below us, causing the few trees around us to quiver where they were rooted. There was silence as the rumble faded away to stillness.

“What was that?” Pinkie Pie asked, a surprising hint of concern in her voice. The others looked at one another and shrugged.

“It felt like an earthquake,” Twilight commented, her brow furrowed. “albeit a surprisingly short...” she trailed off as she looked towards me, her eyes widening. “Kael...the ring...” she said, mystified. I looked down at my hand that was propping me up to see that the ring was burning with a fierce red light. The others' eyes were drawn to it as well.

“Aaah, I think I know what might have happened...” Rarity announced gazing at the ring critically and turning to glance at the towering black spire. “It seems as though the tower itself reacted to the ring. It must simply be enchanted to react to the its power, or rather, Sombra's power.”

We all stared at her in bafflement, and her cheeks coloured. “What? I work with enchanted gems and minerals, I know these types of things.” she said, looking away and adjusting her mane. She then squeaked in surprise as another small tremor burst through the ground, sending her slightly off balance.

“Well if that's the case, then that means this this really is The Obsidian Castle.” Applejack commented, eyeing the muddy ground warily as though a hole were about to open up underneath her. “I gotta say, I was expecting more.”

“No...” Twilight muttered, a look of heavy concentration on her face. I could almost hear the gears in her head whirring and turning together as she struggled to work something out. She chewed her lip as she looked back and forth between the tower, myself, and the still glowing ring. Another tremor passed, this one stronger than before.

Suddenly, she gasped in alarm. “We need to go!” she declared loudly, frantically ushering everyone to their hooves. “Now!”

“Woah Twi, what's the matter?” Rainbow Dash said, frowning at the unicorn.

“Rarity's right!” Twilight hissed anxiously. “This is the Obsidian Castle! And it is enchanted to Sombra's magic!”

“Well then why ever should we leave now darling? Wasn't our goal to find Sombra's lost castle?” Rarity asked, clearly perplexed, and she wasn't the only. I too failed to see how this was a problem, though Twilight's urgency in the matter was more than a little worrying.

“That's just it though! I just realized why it was lost in the first place!” She paused for a moment and took a deep breath, casting a nervous glance to the spire before looking back at us, speaking quickly. “It might have been because of Sombra's loss one thousand years ago, or it might just be the passage of time taking its toll, but the Obsidian Castle never actually disappeared. Rather, it sunk, possibly to lie in wait for Sombra's return. It could be a failsafe spell of his in the event of his demise, he was known for being a brilliant tactician, but what that means is that the real Obsidian Castle is right below us!”

“So what you're saying is...” I interrupted, chewing on my words. “that tower is actually the top of the castle, and not the castle itself?” The magic mumbo jumbo was mostly lost on me, but I thought that I understood the gist of it, although I didn't understand why that was a problem that required us to put as much distance between it and us as physically possible.

Twilight looked like she wanted to tear her mane off, probably because of all the blank stares she was getting, but when another tremor nearly sent her flying out of her skin, she looked at us with wide, pleading eyes.

“Yes, and because it reacted to Sombra's magic just now, that means that it's going to be surfacing for the first time in a millennium with us standing on top of it.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the piercingly loud sound of stone grinding on stone filled the air, and we all turned to see the structure that we once thought to be a solitary tower slowly start to rise out of the ground, stretching higher and higher into the sky. All around us, mounds of earth rose and broke as other point tips of the castle poked their heads from below, joining their brother in its journey to the sky. The ground was positively undulating beneath us, sending us all tumbling like a canoe on rough waters.

“RUN!” somebody yelled, and the next thing that I knew, I had scooped Fluttershy up in my arms, threw her over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and took off like a bat out of hell.

The chaos around me melded into one, indiscernible din of voices and panic. The frantic cries of the others as they went off in separate directions, the screaming of the earth as a millennium old castle burst from its midst, and the feeling of the world being turned upside down beneath my feat all took second place in my mind. All that registered was putting as much distance between me and this spot as physically possible.

There was another explosion of earth in front of me, showering me with shrapnel of broken rock and dirt, and another black spire started to thrust its way from the earth. With a hasty side step, I narrowly manged to avoid impaling myself while moving.

I felt Fluttershy squirm in my grasp, and I held on to her tighter. Had I had time to stop and think, I would have remarked on how strange it was that my first instinct was not to run away, but to pick her up and then run, or to even think that I needed to pick her up in the first place. Surely, she could have fared by herself, especially if she had simply taken to the sky and avoided all of this mess, but something in me had forced me to act before thinking.

I reached the treeline and burst through the shrubbery in a shower of leaves and twigs. Immediately, my feet sunk into the roiling mud of the swamp, bringing my mad dash to a shambling halt. I grimaced in frustration, nearly screaming angrily. More and more spires were stabbing out from below, and a quick look behind me told me that the tower we had been looking at was now double its original height, and still going.

The short and stumpy trees swayed menacingly around me, and I was dimly aware of flurries of activity around me as animals ran for their lives. Fortunately for them, they were much more used to having to move quickly in swamp mud than I was. I spared a brief moment to worry about the others and how they were faring, but I quickly pushed it out my mind. They were on their own for now.

Gritting my teeth, I slogged forwards helplessly, the mud nearly up to my knees as aI desperately prayed that another menacing looking spike wouldn't appear from directly underneath me whilst keeping on eye on my surroundings. Branches the size of my thigh were dropping all around us, and I was wary of one falling down and knocking me out cold.

My progress was agonizingly slow. Even through the mud, I could feel the earth rumbling below, the earthquake to end all earthquakes sending everything swaying and bobbing helplessly. I let out a frustrated scream, one that was quickly lost amidst the sounds of all the havoc. At this rate, with the mud nearly up to my knees, Fluttershy and I were going to find ourselves impaled or crushed by a falling tree.

Suddenly, something shifted below my feet, and I was briefly overcome by horror at the thought that I was about to be skewered. Horror turned into confusion however when it suddenly became much easier to move as my feet suddenly started to find much more purchase in the mud.

Confusion quickly turned to realization as the world shifted before my eyes. A flat, tiled surface that could only be the roof of the once subterranean castle appeared from below me, made of rough stone and as dark as the night sky. Rooted trees that had stayed in one place for hundreds of years were sent toppling like the toys of a monstrous child, sending leaves, branches, and frightened animals every which way

“Shit shit shit shit shit...” I fumed under my breath. I could move much faster and easier now, the stone giving me much more traction then the swamp mud ever could, but that little grace was overshadowed by the fact that I was now significantly more likely to become a human sized stain on the stonework.

My legs pounded below me at a speed and ferocity that only the desperate can muster. Over my shoulder, I could here Fluttershy whimpering and gasping at the carnage around us as I leapt over and avoided roots, branches, and the occasional spire. There was nothing that I could do regarding the wooden shrapnel that filled the air besides power through and hope for the best, resulting in a multitude of scratches and lacerations.

“Kael?” I heard Fluttershy whimper. “What's happening?” It seemed that she had her eyes shut to the carnage around us.

“Don't worry about it.” I replied with gritted teeth. I lowered my head and ran faster, my legs screaming in the exertion. I needed to get off of this roof before it got too high off of the ground. Already I was nearing the height of the treetops that had managed to stay rooted around us.

Thankfully, the section of roof that I was scrambling across amidst bedlam and chaos came to an end. Unfortunately, that end was a several foot drop that I didn't notice until I was stepping off of it.

“Shit!” I yelped, just managing to kick off with my other leg and keep my orientation as I was sent flying. My eyes widened when I noticed that surface below me wasn't flat as it was before, but at a steep angle downwards,. I would have admired the way that the sunlight glinted off of the dark stone, which somehow still managed to look polished and regal after so many years underground, but I had less than a second to react before impact.

I hit the roof and immediately collapsed as my feet gave way from underneath me for the rest of my body to come crashing down painfully, sending me sprawling and tumbling in a clatter of dirt and stone chips. Fluttershy shrieked as she was torn from my grasp and joined me as we slid, disoriented and confused.

I scrabbled at the tile with my hands and feet, trying to gain purchase to stop my rapid descent, but it was in vain. From beside me, where Fluttershy seemed to be trying to do the same, I heard a shout.

“Look out!”

I twisted my neck around and my eyes widened in horror. There, on the bottom of the slope that we were falling down, was a gargoyle in the shape of what looked to be a hunched over pony with leathery bat wings folded onto its back, one of many that had emerged and now lined the end of the roof, and we were heading right for it.

This is going to hurt. Was all that I managed to think before my rapid descent game to a jarring halt.

I slammed into the gargoyle, snapping off one of the wings and sending it careening off of the roof. Thankfully I had my feet underneath my at the time or I might have broken a leg or a rib, but I felt the shock of the impact travel through my entire body, and it was a marvel that nothing snapped in half. The gargoyle shifted a little bit, but to my great relief, manged to stay still

Reacting completely on instinct, I reached out blindly towards the sound of the screaming pegasus as she went over the edge. I grabbed onto something, her hoof by the feel of it, and held tight.

We remained there, dangling precariously as we both processed what happened. I could hear soft moan and whimpers underneath me, and I very carefully peeked around the statue that I was just barely managing to keep a grip on to see how my friend was. Thankfully, she was light enough to hold on to with just one hand fairly easily.

Fluttershy dangled below me with her eyes shut tight, whimpering in fear as the castle continued to rumble around us. Looking down, I realized that there was another section of roof below us that was low enough that I probably would have broken something had I not grabbed on when I did.

“Fluttershy? You okay?” I asked, causing her eyes to snap open with a gasp.

“Kael!” she shouted in surprise before her eyes settled on me. “Oh...” to my horror, her eyes started to well up with tears.

“H-hey, don't worry.” I stammered awkwardly. “It'll be alri-”

“I'm so glad you're okay.” she said, a wide, teary smile on her face.

I was take aback for a moment. She had just come inches away from splattering on the stone below us, and her foremost thought was for my safety? Remarkable. The only thing I could do was smile weakly in response.

“Yeah.” I said. “I'm good.” I felt like an abused punching bag thanks to the many brand new cuts and bruises that I was now sporting, but just the fact that we were both alive somehow made that pain somewhat more bearable. “I'm good...”

As good as somebody could be dangling off the edge of a roof and holding on to an old statue for dear life, but good nonetheless.

“Fluttershy, listen,” I said, raising my voice over the rumble of the castle. “Are you able to fly?”

Realization dawned on her face as her wings twitched open. Did she seriously just now remember that she had wings? My brief hope of making this situation much easier for the both of us was crushed however as she winced and quickly withdrew one of her wings.

“I think I sprained it.” she moaned helplessly, tears starting to well up again.

“Okay, okay, that's no problem.” I said quickly, trying not to let any panic show in my voice. “There has to be another way out of this. Here, let me pull you up...”

With a grunt, I started to slowly lift the pegasus up with my one arm, bringing her closer and closer to the edge of the roof. While it wasn't incredibly difficult to simply hold on to her to keep her from falling, actually hauling her up one handed was a bit trickier, and I didn't dare try and use my other arms in case I lost my balance due to the rumbling and need to grab the gargoyle for support.

It was slow going, but I finally managed to lift her to the point where she was a foot away from the roof. I put one last spurt of effort; my arm was really starting to ache at this point, and started to haul her up the rest of the way.

CRACK

The telltale sound of stone breaking right next to my ear nearly gave me a heart attack. I froze, my blood hammering through my ears, and very slowly turned to look at the gargoyle.

What I saw almost made me weep. On the base of the structure, underneath hooves with what looked like bladed gauntlets on them, was a large fissure that ran through the stone, winding up and around all the way to its back on the side that I was currently holding on to.

I gritted my teeth as my arm shook from holding Fluttershy aloft for too long. Repositioning myself so that I didn't need to hold on to it as much, I gingerly tried to bring her up again, but stopped as I felt something shift in the statue accompanied by small cracking and shifting sounds. More smaller fissures started to snake around the rock as dust and chips fell away from it.

Slowly, and rather painfully, I started to lower the pegasus who was looking at me with wide eyes that I couldn't meet back down. I barely noticed the movement of the castle as rose from the ground anymore, barely registering that it seemed to be slower than it was before.

“I don't think that's going to work.” I said with as much calm in my voice as I could muster. It was painfully obvious, however, that I was holding back a flood panic. “We'll need to think of something else.”

“What are we going to do?” she asked me quietly. I sighed and leaned over the edge of the roof slightly, peering once more at the stone below. It was more than far away enough for both of us to seriously hurt ourselves if we fell from this height, but it seemed we didn't have any choice.

I opened my mouth to tell her that the only thing left to do is jump instead of falling alongside the soon to be dislodged gargoyle, but something else caught my eye. A few metres to the left of us, marked only by a hole in the wall which was probably why I didn't notice it before, was a window.

The cracking sounds of stone didn't let me hesitate. “Hold on Fluttershy.” I said as I started to swing the dangling pony side to side, slowly getting closer and closer to the window with each swing. I was reasonably sure that it was large enough for her to fit through...

Her pupils shrunk when she realized what I was about to do. “Wait, hold on a second...” she whimpered, looking at the opening in the wall fearfully. “It's too far, you won't make it.”

“Yes I will.” I growled, grimacing at the pain my arm was in. I was going to feel sore for days after this.

“I won't fit!” she said, louder and more high pitched this time. “There might be something on the other side! You won't be able to come in after me!”

“Oh, I'll be fine.” I halfheartedly replied. She was almost close enough, which was good because the creaking noise coming from the gargoyle told me that I didn't have very much time until it too went careening over the edge, taking both of us with it. With a pained exhale, I put as much force as I had into one more swing and let go of her hoof.

Fluttershy shrieked as she as she tumbled through the air and disappeared safely, or so I hoped, into the dark hole.

I let out a tremendous sigh of relief, but it was very short lived. Finally having reached its breaking point, the snarling pony statue broke free from its base and started to tip over.

Shit! I thought as I scrambled for a grip on the slick roof tiles only to have my hands and feet slip off anything I tried to hold on to. The smoothness of the stones and the steepness of the slope gave me as much of a chance as the gargoyle did.

After a split second of trying to find purchase, I let myself go to the fact that I was going to fall. Twisting around so that I was on my stomach, my hands scrabbled for the lip of the roof, holding on so tightly that I wouldn't have been surprised if I had cracked the stone under my white knuckled grip.

Looking down, the drop looked to be a lot farther than it did before, and the window a lot smaller, maybe too much so for me to fit through. I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment as I dangled over what would have been a bone breaking fall. The castle, it seemed, had emerged completely and had stopped its incessant shaking, but I could still hear the rumbling due to the blood pumping in my head.

Cracking my eyes open, wanting to distance myself from the reality of my situation as much as possible, I started to slide one hand to the side, and then another. This was a mistake. I could keenly feel every cut, bruise, and scrape on my body, my clothes painfully rubbing on my numerous little wounds, feeling like sandpaper on my bare flesh. A big mistake. With the adrenaline rush gone, every muscle ached enough to bring tears to my lidded eyes, and it was only a matter of time until they gave up on me.

I fucked up.

“Kael!” A voice cried from nowhere, frantic and terrified sounding. “Are you alright?”

A wheezing gasp burst out of me, bloodshot eyes flying open to face the brunt of the sunlight, tears flowing freely. With a moan, I forced my arms to move, sidling me along the lip of the roof until I was right above the window, my tips of my feet barely able to stand on the edge.

“Keep going! You're almost in!” The voice cried desperately. “Please keep going!”

It was with a monumental force of will that I eased my grip and lowered myself to the window, clinging desperately to the wall. It was only because of the many years that I had spent in my child and teenage years in martial arts classes, granting me a stronger balance than most, that I was able to keep myself from careening off the edge. If only I could retained the physical strength as well.

The best sense of balance in the world can only do so much, however, and the tipping point was only seconds away. I didn't have a moment to hesitate.

Gripping the slight edge that jutted out from the top of the window, I kicked my legs out from underneath me and prayed for the best. Wind whistled by my ears for a moment as I swung forwards, meeting empty space and air for half a second before I landed in a crumpled, aching heap on cold hard stone.

“Oh no!” I dimly heard Fluttershy gasp through the haze of my pained and fatigued mind. She rushed forward and grabbed my shoulders, propping me up against the wall as she looked worriedly into my eyes.

“Kael? Can you hear me?” My eyes swam with the blurry image of her face, just barely able to make out her features. The desperation and worry was obvious, and I couldn't help but feel a stab of regret.

“I'm fine, I'm fine...” I croaked, patting the hoof that held me, probably the only thing that was preventing me from sliding back onto the floor. “Let me just...take a moment...”

“O-okay.” she whispered, looking relieved. She spared a brief, nervous glance down the shadowy before moving to my side and sitting close to me, one of her wings over my shoulder. “You just rest, for now.”

I closed my gritty, bloodshot eyes, resolving to just lay there for a few minutes of well deserved peace and quiet. My breathing was ragged and painful, every breath feeling like it was tearing at my throat with sandpaper, and just the thought of moving my arms and legs was painful. I stayed there for a long time, feeling like one big bruise and cursing my bad luck.

After a while, however, the silence was interrupted

When the sun has bowed its regal head
And the pale moon risen in its stead
Then off you shall go to bed
My little dear of mine.

Fluttershy's voice rang softly and clearly, echoing slightly off the walls and high ceiling of the corridor, making almost seem as though she was singing a duet with herself. My eyebrows rose a fraction and my lips twitched into a small, amused smile.

“Oh, sorry...” she muttered bashfully, abruptly stopping her singing.

“No, no, that was nice.” I muttered, not able to muster the energy to speak any louder than a muted whisper. “What was that?”

“It's a lullaby...that my mother used to sing to me.” she replied shakily. “Would you like me to keep going?”

My smile returned. “Please...”

She daintily cleared her throat before rising her voice ever so slightly,

Now that the light has gone away
To mark the end of one more day
Wide awake we cannot stay
My little dear of mine.

Her voice, while still staying at the same, quiet volume, started to become stronger. I suspected that she was singing this lullaby, this song from her past that signified comfort and safety, for her sake just as well as mine.

Look upon the bright moon face
And wrap yourself in night's embrace
Let all your worries be erased
My little dear of mine

For I am here, you need not fear
Make not a cry, shed not a tear
And if you need me, I'll be near
My little dear of mine

So we sat there, her keeping me warm with her wing and me in a ragged, dirty pile of cuts, bruises, and aching muscles. With my eyes closed, I drifted in and out of consciousness, my body naturally demanding me to sleep despite the fact that it was still only mid afternoon. I could feel my pulse go back to a normal, relaxed pace as I relaxed to the soothing song, very strongly reminding me of the songs that my own mother would sing to me when I was very young and was afraid of everything but my own shadow.

May you sleep in peace tonight
And dream of only happy sights
I'll see you in the morning light
My little dear of mine

I'll see you in the morning light
My little dear of mine

I sighed equal parts wearily and comfortably. Already I could feel the aches and pains start to ebb away from me, and the urge to succumb to weariness and fall asleep grew stronger with each passing second. I had to fight to keep myself conscious.

“THEY ONLY LIE.”

My eyes flew open and I jerked upright, causing Fluttershy to give an alarmed start. I recognized that voice very clearly, as I had come face to face with it just the other night in my dreams, and it rang in my head, echoing like a struck bell.

“YOU ARE THEIR PAWN.”

“Are you alright? Is something wrong?” Fluttershy asked me, moving closer to my side and peering closer at me. “You look pale...”

I resisted the urge to swat her away, just managing to smother a heated remark before it came out, although from where it came from, I didn't know. I only sighed and nodded wearily.

“I'm fine...” I muttered tiredly. “But we should probably get going and try to find the others.”

The pegasus' eyes widened in realization. Clearly, the thought hadn't even occurred to her, but her brow furrowed in consternation. “We should stay here and rest.” she protested. “You're injured and tired.”

“I'm fine!” I snapped back irritably, the blood rushing in my ears. Fluttershy was taken aback for a moment before she looked down at the floor, hiding behind her long mane.

“Sorry...” she whispered.

I squeezed my eyes shut, suddenly feeling ridiculous. She was only trying to help, why did I have to be so rude?

“No, it's alright.” I said gently, bringing a hand up and laying it on her neck. “Sorry...I guess I'm just...stressed. But we do need to keep on going.” She examined me for a long moment before giving me a tiny nod.

“Alright then...” I muttered, slowly staggering to my feet. Fluttershy stood close by me, watching me closely as though she were afraid I might fall. My cuts and scrapes smarted slightly as they moved, but I ignored them as best as I could. At least nothing was broken.

Looking down the hall both ways, all I cold see was an oppressive gloom of murky darkness that revealed nothing. Looking down at my winged companion, I steeled myself and started to walk with her right beside me.

“SHE LEADS YOU TO DAMNATION.” The voice rang one more, and then went silent.

The Obsidian Castle

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The Obsidian Castle

The soles of my muddy and worn out sneakers rang against the stone floor with quiet taps as I walked through halls painted with dust and decay. The darkness that filled the castle was murky, almost seeming like a physical substance that I could feel moving across my skin and entering my lungs. It was thick, heavy, and it never seemed to end. It was like a substance that coated my bones and flowed into my joints, making me feel more tired and sick with every step. It was only by the strength of my will, and the desire to find the others, that I was able to force myself to keep moving forwards.

Fluttershy and I made sure to only make our way down passages that had enough light for us to see with, and this meant avoiding most of the inner castle. While there were sconces and fixtures in the wall made for holding torches and candles, none of them were lit, so the only light source we had were the open windows. It was just barely enough for me to see the hand in front of my face with.

“What do you think happened to the others?” the pegasus asked me, treading as lightly as possible so as not to make too much noise, and seeming to flinch at every time she did, even at her own voice. Her mane hung in front of her face, something I have come to recognize as a sort of way to hide herself, and she stuck very close to my side.

“Applejack and Rainbow Dash I'm sure are fine.” I replied morosely. Throughout our entire journey here, they had been the most able to tough it out and keep on moving forward while the rest of us begged for rest. Applejack especially had endurance that, frankly, struck me as unreal. “As for the others...I can't really say.” I tried to keep my voice gentle so as not to scare her, but if I was being completely honest with myself, I didn't see how they would be able to get out on their own. Hopefully they were helped by their more physically capable friends.

Fluttershy adopted a thoughtful look behind her shroud of hair. “They are alright, I'm sure.” she commented, causing me to look at her from the corner of my eye. “Even if they were by themselves, which I doubt to be the case. They're very capable.”

I recalled the way that Rarity almost had a heart attack when she was asked to step through mud, and how Pinke Pie could never focus on one thing for more than five seconds at a time. I didn't comment.

Please let her be right. Please don't let them be...

“What's wrong Kael? You're looking kind of pale.” my companion asked, thankfully interrupting my train of thought.

“Nothing.” I said quickly. “I'm...nothing's wrong. I'm fine.” I struggled desperately for a change in the subject. “How are you doing? Is your wing still hurt?”

I shouldn't have come her in the first place. I shouldn't have let them come here.

“I'm...fine.” She said, not sounding entirely convinced of either my words or her own. She was obviously just as scared and worried as I was. She took a moment to extend her wing, injured when were falling off of the side of the castle, and winced. It stood out at an awkward angle, and some of the feathers were bent. “It still hurts, I'm afraid, but it's nothing serious.” I nodded, somewhat troubled, but still relieved to hear it.

We walked in silence for a few more minutes, listening carefully and staying alert. The sounds of the old castle permeated the wide halls, the occasional whispers of crumbling rock and crashes of falling structures reached our ears, always coming from far off into the darkness where we didn't dare explore. A dry wind whistled through the the castle, the first wind that it has seen in centuries, like the ghostly whisper of the ones who used to walk these very halls.

“I've got to admit...” I said quietly, peering down yet another wide, dark hallway. Everything in this castle seemed to be built with sole purpose to intimidate, doors, windows, and the occasional art pieces made far larger than conventional reason dictated. “I was expecting this place to be a bit more...scary.”

Fluttershy didn't answer, her eyes locked on a massive, somewhat deteriorated portrait of a dark pony pony draped in blood red robes and gilded with obscene amounts of gold, a severe scowl on his face. It made me want to shrink away just from looking at it.

“I mean, I don't really know what I was expecting from the domain of an evil magical overlord,” I continued, keeping my voice low as it seemed that I should. “But that we haven't run into any vicious traps or guardians is somewhat surprising, but maybe I'm just overthinking it.”

Still she didn't answer. I looked at the pegasus, and when I didn't see her standing beside me, I looked behind me to see her still standing in front of the giant picture. “Fluttershy?”

Finally, she took her eyes away from it. “This is the third time we've passed this picture.” she said.

“What?” I said, striding back to where she was standing and giving the portrait another look. It rang a chord of familiarity with me, but it was simply one of many decorations that lines these halls. Forlorn statues, decayed banners, and other pieces of art, almost all of them depicting some battlefield or angry looking pony, so rotted that it was impossible to tell what they once looked like lined these halls almost like clockwork. I could have passed this particular picture ten times in the last few hours and not have realized.

“That's impossible.” I said, frowning at the stern faced pony in the picture. “We've been taking directions at random. There's no way that we could be walking in circles.”

Fluttershy shirked away from me slightly, disconcerted by my frown. “I wasn't sure about it when I passed it before...” she muttered. “But I remember it now.” she pointed with a hoof to the end of the corridor we were walking down. “Around that corner is a big door framed by two statues, one of which is missing a head.”

I looked at her, and then in the direction she was facing. We couldn't have been walking in circles. I thought as I made my way forward, her following me close behind. We simply couldn't... The very thought turned my stomach into a knot.

Nevertheless, when I turned the corner, I immediately saw that she was right. Ahead of us was a door, although gateway might be a better term to describe it. It was almost twice as tall as me, stretching up the wall halfway to the ceiling. It was made out of dark wood and wrought iron and had golden lettering written in an unfamiliar language on the top, different from the language that I had seen the ponies use before. It looked like it would be able to withstand getting hit by a monster truck. Or a magical fire breathing bull made out of stars and magic the size of a monster truck.

I hope I don't run into one of those again... I thought to myself. Of course, just as she said, flanking the door on either sides were two large statues of rearing, spear wielding ponies, one with its head curiously absent. This, I definitely did remember seeing before.

“Well...shit.” I said lamely as she stepped up beside me, looking up at the towering door. There was no sign as to what lay behind it, although I imagined that it was something of great importance.

“Last time, we went down that way.” Fluttershy said, pointing down the hall to the left. “And the time before that, we went down that way.” She pointed down the other hall to the right.

I sighed. “Well then...I guess we don't really have much of a choice than to go through...here.” I said, vaguely gesturing at the entire door.

Fluttershy let out a small whimper, stepping closer to me. I wasn't much fond of the idea myself.

I forced myself to put on a smile. Given my current situation of being tired, sore, and dirty, it was almost painful to do so.“Don't worry, I'm sure we'll be fine. We've been doing pretty well so far.” I said earnestly. It seemed to boost her confidence, but only by a little.

I reached out my hands and grasped the handles, lower than on doors I was used to despite its size, and kept it firmly there for several seconds before withdrawing it. Finally, I turned to Fluttershy who was standing close to my side with wide eyes, trembling slightly.

“Do...you want to go first?” I asked, praying that I didn't sound too hopeful. To my dismay, she shook her head wildly, sending her long pink hair flying all around her and taking a few steps back.

“Of course you don't...” I muttered, taking a deep breath as my heart hammered in my chest. I slowly wrapped my hands around the handles yet again, counted down from three, and pushed.

The double door was massive, but it moved rather easily, gliding inwards on silent hinges as though of its own accord. Fluttershy and I both hold our breaths as we waited anxiously to see what lay behind it.

To our mutual surprise, the first thing that we noticed was the fact that a dim light seemed to pervade throughout the entire room, seemingly without a source and leaving no traces of shadows, as though it emanated from the walls themselves. The second thing we noticed was how incredibly massive the room beyond was. Fluted columns of what looked like marble, as thick as centuries old trees, stretched from the ground to the ceiling, almost vanishing in the shadows above that the light did not penetrate. The floor, much unlike the black stone that we had been walking on for the past few hours, was a misty white colour with natural swirls and veins of grey and black that I had never seen in a mineral before. Even the windows, stained glass depicting various scenes of a black unicorn in various victorious and triumphant scenes stretched several stories tall. Everything about the room seemed as though it was made to dwarf whatever was in it.

So enraptured I was with the sheer size of the place that I forgot to even see what was inside of it. I look around from where I stood on the doorway revealed rows and rows of wooden shelves filled books lining the ground with glass cabinets filled with works of art sitting against walls and around bare desks and tables cluttered with crystals.

“It's a library...” Fluttershy said with awe as she started to walk forward, her eyes on the towering shelves and her hooves ringing on the floors. I reached out a hand to stop her from going any further, but hesitated. The room had an air of emptiness to it that told me that nothing had touched these books in a long time. Dust had settled heavily on every surface, small puffs of it rising with every step she made, and the room was so large that surely we would hear anything in it that made a noise simply from the echo it would make.

My suspicion was still strong however, and my steps were hesitant as I followed Fluttershy inside.

“If only Twilight could see this.” she said with wonder in her voice. I found myself curious as to where all of her previous fear had disappeared to. “She would be so happy.”

“Remember, we need to find a way out of here so we can find the others.” I said, snapping her out of her awestruck stupor. “I'm sure Twilight would be much happier to see us alive and in one piece than she would be here.”

I was surprised to see a small smile appear on her face. “Yes, you're right. Let's try to find another exit.” Fluttershy immediately fell into step with me again as we started to walk along the rows and rows of books.

Everything of the room spoke of simplicity and function. Besides the stained glass windows, there was no decoration save for the columns that held the roof up. The shelves themselves were made of thick, plain wood, simple, yet strong and utilitarian. I gently ran my fingers over the spines of the tomes as we went along, stealing glances at the unreadable titles. I couldn't help but burn with curiosity over what was inside of them, even more so than I did at Twilight's home. These books have been here for hundreds of years, and with their wooden and leather covers and with script that looked like it was written in ink made of gold, they certainly looked the part.

We also came across a few of the scattered about tables and desks that dotted the massive room, sometimes off to the side in a cluster and sometimes sitting ostentatiously in the middle of the way. Each one had its own array of clutter on them, instruments, books, papers, and most of all, crystals were scattered on every open surface. On the first couple that we came across, we couldn't help but investigate.

“Oooh, how pretty...” Fluttershy murmured, gazing deeply into a pyramid shaped crystal of the deepest and brightest blue colour that I had ever seen. She picked it up in her hooves and started to examine it from all angles, cooing softly with delight. “Rarity would love this...”

I smiled slightly to myself, pleased and somewhat amused. It was good to know that she was strong enough, both mentally and emotionally, to not let our situation weigh to heavily on her mind to enjoy even something as small and harmless as this.

I turned to the tables and started to examine the crystals myself. Most of them were uncut and looked like any other crystal you could find in a museum, but some of them were obviously shaped and styled in a particular way. There was a rosy pink sphere the size of a baseball, a cloudy white crystal in the shape of a figure 8, a sunny yellow diamond shaped one the size of my hand, and more shapes and colours that I didn't even know the names of.

Gingerly, I went to pick up on of them, a long prism that, while completely clear, seemed to bend the light around it to make it look like it was made out of all the colours of the rainbow. As soon as it was in my hand, all of the colour in my vision disappeared, and the everything suddenly turned into various shades of grey. I immediately dropped it back on the table with a start and everything went back to normal.

That was weird... I thought as I watched the inanimate piece of crystal. Are they all like that? I went to pick up another crystal, an uncut lump of black, an as soon as I made contact, I started to feel incredibly sleepy. Another one was so cold that I would have gotten frostbite if I held onto it for too long, another gave me an overwhelming feeling of dizziness, and another was, despite being the approximate size of a golf ball, too heavy for me to even lift.

It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do to handle all of these crystals as they were obviously touched by magic, maybe even Sombra's magic, but I found it somewhat amusing and fascinating, and they all seemed to be harmless. One crystal in particular, a red hexagonal prism that fit quite comfortably in my hand caught my interest. It was warm to the touch, and it caused a small, yet very soothing warmth to resonate through my body, easing my aches and pains slightly. This one I pocketed.

“Alright, we should get going.” I said after a few minutes of examination, giving the strange minerals one more look over. What I would give to be able to learn how magic worked, and maybe even learn how to perform it.

Fluttershy was strangely quiet, and I looked over at her to see her with the same cerulean pyramid in between her hooves. Her eyes were trained on it, unwavering, and she gave no indication that she had heard me before.

“Fluttershy?” I said curiously, a little bit louder this time. She didn't even blink. “Come on Fluttershy, your starting to scare me.”

“So pretty...” she muttered to herself, barely loud enough for me to hear. A thin line of blood appeared from her nose and started to fall to the floor.

“Shit!” I cursed, scrambling over to where she sat, enraptured by the crystal, and quickly knocking it straight out of her hooves. She gave a start and tried to lunge after it as it clattered along the floor, coming to a spinning rest against the wall. Immediately she went to lunge after it, but I grabbed her around the middle, causing her hooves to start scrabbling against the smooth floor to the try and retrieve the gem.

I held on tightly to her as she struggled vainly for a moment, her uninjured wing flapping wildly. It was surprisingly hard for me to keep her as she tried to force herself out of my grip and after the gem. It seemed that there was a lot more strength to the petite pegasus than met the eye.

“Fluttershy, you need to – oof – calm down!” I said, receiving a flailing hoof in my stomach as I spoke, almost causing me to let go. “Get ahold of yourself!” Just like how the others were, the blue crystal that she had been staring at seemed to be enchanted, although with a more sinister purpose than the ones that I had looked at. She didn't even look from it as she struggled, a panicked expression on her face.

“Dammit Fluttershy...” I growled. My only companion turning feral was the last thing that I needed right now. “Calm down!” With a burst of effort, I pulled Fluttershy toward me, forcing her to look at me instead. Her eyes were wide and her pupils were small, and it barely looked like she could even see me for a moment, but after a moment, recognition slowly seemed to dawn on her, and she relaxed in my grip.

“Oooh...” she moaned softly, closing her eyes with a wince. “What just happened? Why does my head hurt?”

“Probably for the same reason my stomach hurts...” I replied, putting an arm around my midsection and wheezing. Christ almighty, if she could kick that hard, why hadn't she just broken down every wall we came across until we found the others?

“You're hurt?” She winced once more and rubbed her temple with a clenched jaw. “Oww...what happened? I don't seem to remember anything...”

I peered at her closely, ignoring my own discomfort. “Are you feeling okay though?”

“I...think so. My head hurts for some reason and-” she stopped as a drop of blood fell form her nose once more and landed on her hoof. She stared at the little red spot on her yellow coat and shuddered. “Oh my...”

I let out a huge sigh of relief and let go of her, no longer worried she was going to dart off like before. “Yeah, 'oh my' is right.” I said with a rueful laugh. She looked up at me with big, troubled eyes.

“What happened? Why does my...ooh...head hurt?”

I opened my mouth, and then closed it again. What had happened? Now more than ever I wish that we hadn't been separated from any of the others. Some insight the inner and outer workings of this pony magic would certainly be valuable at the moment.

“As far as I can tell,” I said slowly, “you seemed to be under the influence of some weird cursed crystal.”

“C-cursed?” she squeaked fearfully. I gave her a small smile.

“I think it stopped when I knocked it away from you. You should be fine now. Let's just take a moment to-”

I was cut off by the noise of something falling on the hard stone floor, ringing dully through the room as it echoed off of the ceiling. Everything then went silent.

Fluttershy and I looked at each other nervously, neither of us daring to speak. We waited to hear anything more, but nothing the cavernous library was as still and silent as it was before. Or at least, as it seemed to be before. It occurred to me that we had made a lot of noise just then, certainly enough for anything else that may be in here to hear us.

I leaned a bit closer to the frightened mare. “We should get moving.” I whispered. I briefly toyed with the idea that it was nothing to worry about, wind knocking something loose or gravity tipping something over, but I wasn't able to convince myself. Fluttershy seemed to be in the same position.

The pegasus nodded and gingerly got to her hooves. Keeping our steps light and our ears perked, we began to make our way through the library again, looking for another exit. This time, the countless books that surrounded us were completely forgotten and ignored. The two of us were for more concerned with the thought that we may not be as alone here as we thought we were.

Another noise, one that sounded more like a book falling off a shelf caused the two of us to stop in our tracks, a bolt of fear running down each of our spines. Fluttershy gave a muffled little whimper that sounded deafening in the silence, causing me to grit my teeth.

Please let it just be nothing. Please let it just be a couple of rats running around.

After a few more minutes of creeping by rows and rows of books that just never seemed to end, I heard it. A muttering, high pitched voice, muffled by the shelves. Putting my hand out for Fluttershy to stop beside me, I cocked my head and listened intently, only managing to make out snippets of what it said.

“Master...displeased with me...-truders will not...dirty thieves...”

The voice was very...odd was the only real way to put it. Very tinny sounding, it was like listening to an old gramophone from a distance. It crackled and fuzzed unnaturally with every other word, making it rather difficult to understand. It was hushed, sounding helplessly excited and anxious even though it was trying to be quiet.

“Precious libr...desecration...for mast...mustn't let...”

Fluttershy had evidently heard it too, as she started to pull on my shirt frantically. It was only then that I realized that the voice was getting louder, which could only mean that it was getting closer.

I cursed inwardly as I followed her. You're trying to not get yourself killed, remember?

Strangely enough, although I could hear the whisperings of this voice, I couldn't hear a trace of movement. The sounds of footsteps or of breathing were curiously, and somewhat disturbingly absent from our pursuer. I couldn't be certain, but it seemed like it was getting quieter as we moved along, so I could tell that we were moving in the right direction.

We just need to be quick and quiet, and everything will be fine. I thought to myself, trying to calm my nerves.

In Fluttershy's haste, and probably due in no small part to how dizzy she still seemed from her ordeal, she stumbled on her hooves and was sent sprawling forward. Instinctively, she spread her wings to stabilize herself, but with one of them injured, all she did was angle herself so that she slammed into the bookshelf beside us.

I froze as a small rain of books fell from above, shaken off by the impact and clattering noisily on the floor. Fluttershy seemed alright for what it was worth, but neither of us said anything as we looked at each other fearfully, waiting for the inevitable.

“Intruders! Intruders in the library!”

“Get up, let's go!” I hissed, trying to bring her to her hooves as the unnatural voice got louder and louder. She mumbled and whimpered apologies that I ignored as she hobbled forward unsteadily, and much too slowly for my liking. The lack of footsteps made it so that whatever was chasing us could be right behind us without me even knowing.

Immediately, the image of something vaguely pony shaped with grotesque wings popped into mind with fangs that rivalled a sabre toothed tiger. Something that had been living here for hundreds of years with no food that was eagerly looking forward to its next meal.

“Aha!” the voice cried from right in front of us, almost giving making my heart stop with fright as...something suddenly blocked our way at the end of another aisle of bookshelves. Floating in front of us, about the size of a basket ball, was sphere of pure, yellow light, like a miniature sun that was placed in front of us though it gave off no heat. It's entire being was light, literally having no other discernible features other than the fact that it was bright enough to gently illuminate our surroundings while still managing to not be able to see through it. It seemed to be very angry.

“Intruders!” it proclaimed loudly at us in its strange, tinny voice, crackling and fuzzing with each word. And was that an English accent I heard? “You are trespassing on the private library of High King Sombra, the splendid and divine ruler of all that is and shall be! For your crimes most dire you shall be flogged, beaten, and hung by your throats from the highest rafters to be eaten by the crows! I command you to now follow me to the dungeons where you shall be imprisoned before being put to a death most painful.”

Fluttershy and I could only stare in silence, blinking as the little ball of light floated away and disappeared around a shelf. Seconds stretched on in silence, and when we did not follow it, it reappeared.

“Did you not hear me trespassers?” It demanded angrily. If it had a face, it surely would be giving us the most hateful scowl right about now. “By decree of High King Sombra, the splendid and divine ruler of all that is and all that shall be, you are commanded to follow me!”

That's definitely an English accent. This time, it didn't start away, expecting us to follow. Instead, it simply floated where it was, waiting for a reaction from either I or Fluttershy, very much seeming like an impatient parent would command a child to do its chores.

“What...” I finally spoke. I had so many questions bursting through the surface of my brain that I couldn't decide which one was more important. Finally, I picked one that seemed the most harmless to ask. “What are you?”

“Aha!” The ball chirped in its oddly mechanical voice, rising a few more inches into the air and managing to conduct and air of pride. “I am the creation of High King Sombra himself, forged from his wondrous magic unequaled and unparalleled in this and all worlds. I am given the important task of keeping his private library” it said, emphasizing the word private accusingly, “organized and well kept. And so, it is with the highest of all authorities that I sentence you both, and your fellow intruder scum, to death!” There was a small pause.

Before I could respond to this, although I really didn't know how I planned on responding in the first place, Fluttershy gasped. “Our friends? Do you know where they are?”

I glanced at the pegasus, her head pain seemingly forgotten only to have been replaced with eagerness and hope. “I don't think it's going to tell us that Flu-”

“Indeed I do, worm!” it replied loudly. “I know the Obsidian Castle from brick to every brick. There is nothing within these sacred walls that escape my knowing.”

“Really?” Fluttershy asked, hope shining in her eyes as she smiled. “Can you take us to them? Please?”

I closed my eyes and resisted the urge to slap my hand against my forehead.

“Ha!” the orb of light said loudly, bobbing up and down slightly with what seemed to be mirth. “Excuse me as I laugh at you, pathetic pony. Ha! You're comrades are already doomed! As we speak, they approach numerous traps constructed by High King Sombra himself, conjured for the express purpose of teaching any would-be thieves and assassins the error of their ways. Of course, no being has ever survived being caught in one of them. You should rather consider yourselves to be lucky that you will only be sentenced to death.”

I opened my eyes to see a severely disappointed Fluttershy with her head bowed meekly and the hope vanished from her eyes. I didn't see how she expected that this...thing was going to help us, but it seemed she was willing to grasp at even the shortest of straws, whatever she could to find her friends. Now, the hope was rapidly draining from her eyes, and I could hear a quiet sniffle coming from her.

My eyes narrowed at the floating ball of light. Sure, it was the creation of a malicious being of incredible strength, one who was slowly killing me with its tainted magic and who was inches away from breaking out of the prison that held it, but a line had to be drawn somewhere, and this thing was dangerously close to crossing it.

“Now, you miserable little thieves,” it snarled at us nastily. “I'll generously give you one last chance to follow me before I call the guards to haul your pathetic selves to the dungeons.” It's voice turned amused. “If you behave yourselves, you may even be lucky enough to be buried beside your little friends, if you all aren't simply left to rot in the dirt.”

Another sniffle, and the faint drip of water hitting the stone floor met my ears.

And now that line has been crossed.

“Now you listen to me you overgrown firefly.” I growled, stepping forward as my vision started to tinge red. “I really couldn't give less of shit what cesspool you came from or what egomaniacal ass created you.” I took another step, and it slowly backed away. “We are not going to be following you anywhere. In fact, we're going to turn around and be going on our merry little way, and there's not single damn thing that you can do about it.”

“”Y-you can't-” It sputtered. Somehow that just made me angrier, and I felt my entire body tense as I drew myself up and loomed over it.

“Not. A single. Thing.” I hissed. “And if you're smart, you will float along and go back to counting books like the good little librarian you are, because I have half a mind to take one of them and beat you senseless with it.” I didn't know if I could even touch this thing if I wanted to, what with it seeming to be made of nothing but light and all, but the words just came out without me realizing. And oh, how I so wanted to do exactly that...

My angry tirade was interrupted as something strange started to happen. The ball of light started to distort, flashing brighter and dimmer, changing colours and size rapidly until it looked like a rainbow coloured strobe light before stabilizing once more in the same size and colour that it usually was. I glared at at it with red eyes, daring it to say something else.

“Lord Sombra...” It said quietly, backing away slightly. Then to my surprise, it lowered a few inches, almost as though it were bowing in the only way that a floating ball of light could. “My humblest apologies, my lord, I did not realize who you were. Please forgive my gross transgression...”

I blinked, and all of the red in my vision quickly vanished. “You...what?”

“Please my lord, I did not realize who you were.” The thing continued, almost as though it was groveling at my feet. It's tinny voice sounded fearful. “You're form is different, and it was only once I felt your magic that I recognized you. I beg your pardon, my lord, for the things that I have misguidedly said to you and your...companion.”

There was a pause of silence as the light waited for an answer, it's form flickering a bit as it prostrated itself before me. Was it actually afraid of me? Why did it suddenly seem to think that I was Sombra all of a sudden when he was still nestled safely in his prison between worlds? And what was that about my magic?

My eyes widened as I remembered something from a few days ago, when I, Fluttershy, and the Princess of the Night had found ourselves trekking through the Everfree forest.“I’m tracing the magical signature of the ring.” Luna had said as she led the way through the brush. And then, a few days after that when I had woken up, they told me the true circumstances surrounding my coming to Equestria. “Because he created it, the Alicorn Ring is irreversibly connected to him and his will.” Celestia had explained to me.

I looked at the metal band around my finger with wide eyes. It seemed that, as much of a burden as it was, it had its occasional uses. When I had unconsciously used the ring's magical properties to defend myself and Fluttershy from the wolves, I went unconscious for three days, but it seemed that I was able to use only a little bit of the magic without being affected the same way.

I blinked as realization flooded me. It was the magical “signature” that it was recognizing as Sombra's and since, presumably, no to beings had the same magic, much like no two humans had the same fingerprint, it was mistaking me for Sombra. I was effectively wearing the most impermeable disguise to ever be made.

I shot a glance to a very confused Fluttershy who looked back at me with wide eyes. I winked at her, and her expression turned to the picture of bafflement.

Alright Kael, think despotic and psychopathic. I told myself.

“I'll uh...forgive the error of your ways, my servant,” I said uncertainly. “but if you cross me once more, rest assured that your punishment will be...” I paused as I thought of what to say. Despotism didn't really come naturally to me. “...very bad.” I finished lamely.

It was as though a switch had been flipped as the ball of light started to prattle on excitedly, heaping liberal amounts of praises that would cause an emperor to blush. I let it ramble for the moment as I gave Fluttershy a sideways grin. She seemed torn between backing away slowly from the living magic that was currently babbling about my greatness and demanding to know what was going on right then and there.

I held up my hand for silence, and was immediately met with it, much to my amusement. I contemplated toying with it a bit more, but dropped the idea when I realized that we had more pressing concerns and that the answer to them was literally right in front of me. Prudence, at this moment, was probably more important than getting a few kicks.

“You said that you know the layout of this castle, top to bottom?” I asked, trying to sound like I was demanding an answer as I imagined Sombra would with its servants, but most likely failing. The thing immediately perked up.

“Yes my lord! I know every stone, step, and stairway in the castle.” It boasted.

“Do you know where our frie-” I managed to stop myself before I uttered the word 'friends'. Evil rulers did not have friends, they had enemies. “Do you know where our intruders are?”

There was a brief moment where the orb of light went still and quiet, its light rapidly flickering and changing colour like it did before. I watched it curiously for a few seconds before it snapped back to normal.

“Two of them are in the treasure room, specifically where the rarest of our books are kept for safe keeping. They have been there for a long time, and I suspect that they are trying to find any weaknesses of ours through the texts.” Fluttershy and I locked eyes, immediately coming to the realization that yes, now we knew where Twilight, and likely Spike was. Now we just needed to know about the others.

“There are three more heading towards the main hall at this very moment. Their movements are sporadic, so I believe that they do not know where they are going.” It's voice turned amused. “It seems that our enemies are underestimating us by sending such amateurs. No matter, they will learn the folly of their ways soon enough.”

I was about to shrug off its comment, but something in the way that it was said, expectant and eager, made me narrow my eyes suspiciously. “Why do you say that?”

This time, it chuckled. “Why, they are heading straight for a trap my lord, one of your own personal designs. It will not recognize them as members of the castle staff, and as such they will be swiftly...neutralized.”

Before I could react, Fluttershy was had thrust herself forward. “You need to take us to them!” she said urgently. “Please!”

The light recoiled slightly and made an indignant noise. “Get away from me you little-”

“Take us to them.” I interrupted firmly, thankfully before I heard what it was going to call her. It immediately forgot Fluttershy and turned its attention back to me.

“But my lord, your traps will surely take care of them, there is no need for us to waste our time with them.” It protested. “It is the other two in the treasure room that pose the most threat. And besides, I was created for the sole purpose of keeping your library organized and in good condition-”

It stopped talking abruptly as a frown creased my face, and the ball of light shrank away slightly. It sent a slight thrill through my body to see such a small action of my displeasure affect it so greatly. I've always been the one who was the commanded, not the commanding. It was a feeling that I could get used to.

“Did I stutter? Remember, you're on thin ice already with your earlier transgressions.” This was starting to get a bit easier. “Now I'll say it again...take us to them.”

“Yes my lord, as you command! If you will simply follow me.” the light said before quickly floating off in the opposite direction, leaving Fluttershy and I to follow its lead. Pretty soon, we found ourself out of the maze of bookshelves and finally out of the library.

“Why is he listening to you?” Fluttershy whispered as we followed the magical creation down an opulent flight of stairs. It was just far ahead of us enough that it wouldn't hear, and the sounds of our steps mostly hid our voices if we were quiet enough.

“It thinks I'm Sombra.” I said. She gave me a bewildered look, and I wiggled my right hand, displaying the ring on my finger. It took her a moment, but realization slowly dawned on her. She said nothing as she turned away from me then, a troubled look on her face.

We continued to walk in silence, not wanting to talk too much on the off chance that our guide overheard us say something that would make it realize its mistake. After a while, it started to dawn on me just how massive this castle truly was. Fluttershy and I hadn't seen very much of the castle from the inside as we had been avoiding opening any of the many doors that we had come across, but now that I was being shown the rest of the castle, the size started to set in. I could probably wonder these halls aimlessly for days and and only explore a quarter of the entire place. Thank goodness we weren't wandering aimlessly.

For such small creatures, ponies sure liked to build big, I noticed. The ceiling was at least 10 metres above us at all times, and heavy banners of thick cloth hung down on each side, the insignia of a horn and a shield in the middle of a star on a field of red on each one. The floor looked to be made of black glass, so polished and flawless that I could clearly see my harried reflection every time that I glanced down. The effect was somewhat dizzying, as the ceiling and the banners and every other decoration that we passed was also being reflected, making it feel like I was walking in the middle of the air with the ceiling far above me and the ground far below. Thinking about it too much made start to feel slightly sick, so I looked away.

After about 15 minutes of walking, I couldn't help but ask. “How much further are they?” I said to the the ball of light as it dutifully floated ahead of us in silence. We were moving pretty quickly, and we had be at least be close to them. A few corners away, hopefully.

“Not far now, my lord, not far now!” it called back in its inexplicably English accent, still sounding somewhat warbled and mechanical to my ears. We turned another corner and a door immediately flew open beneath one of the large banners, admitting us to a wide open courtyard of crumbling statues and destroyed vegetation. Above us, a cover of wrought iron carved into intricate shapes of vines, leaves, and animals stretched over the entire open space. The light snuck its way through the holes and played a beautifully hypnotizing pattern on the ground.

“The intruders have yet to set of the trap as they wander aimlessly through the halls, my lord, but with enough time they are bound to stumble upon it.” it paused for a moment before it continued to speak somewhat hesitantly. “Er...might I suggest, my lord, that we simply let them be destroyed by it and saving us the trouble? Surely there is no way that they will survive if they are caught. It would take a pony of strength and skills that rival your own, and surely there is none that exist on this world, so their demise is inevitable one way or another.”

I felt Fluttershy shudder from beside me, and I almost mirrored her. This thing was awfully sure of the...efficiency...of Sombra's traps. I could only hope that it was simply over exaggerating for sake of impressing its 'lord.'

I was on the verge of simply telling it to shut up and move faster, but something stopped the words before they came. The only way that we were able to make it this far through the castle was because it was showing us the way, and it was our best chance of finding the throne room, the place where Sombra was first defeated and where I needed to go. I didn't know how fooled it was thinking that I was Sombra, and a few errant words that were uncharacteristic of the despot might be enough to break my facade and cause it to turn on us. Granted, I wasn't exactly worried for our safety if that happened, the only thing that it seemed capable of doing in the library was bossing us around, but if we didn't get to the others soon...

Nevertheless, I had to be careful with what I did and what I said around it. The illusion may be fragile enough to break with only a few careless words, and if that happened, our chances of getting out of this castle will be much more slim.

“I want them alive so that I can teach them the error of their ways.” I told it. Fluttershy glanced at me with a surprised expression, and I winked at her. “If they are injured before I can get to them, I will be severely...displeased.”

The light brightened considerably. “Yes my lord! I understand!” it said eagerly, sounding like an excited child who was told that he was going to be having three Christmases and two birthdays this year. Immediately it started to move faster, and Fluttershy and I had to run to keep up with it.

We crossed the courtyard, went through another door, and continued down some winding passageways. Eventually, we came to a stop.

“They are in the Hall of Legends.” our guide told us as we stood in front of yet another unusually grand and opulent door made out of gilded black wood. Much like the entrance to the library, it made for a very intimidating presence, and I didn't doubt that it too held something very important behind it. A golden inscription was written on the wood in large, strange lettering that I recognized to be their language.

“Shall we attempt to sneak in my lord?” it suggested with the tone of one eagerly wringing their hands together at the thought of a wonderful treat. “Or should I announce your presence and command their obedience? Or maybe we- hey!”

It didn't get the chance to finish as Fluttershy rushed forward in her impatience and opened the door ahead of us and walked on in. The light only sputtered indignantly as it was ignored and interrupted. I gave it a consoling shrug as I followed her.

“Pinkie dear, would you please stop making faces at that statue so we can get going? It seems obvious that there's nothing here but some tacky artwork. And Rainbow Dash, would you put that thing down?”

“Aww, this isn't tacky Rarity! I mean, is it tacky to have an entire room devoted to nothing but paintings and statues of yourself looking scary? Is it tacky to then call that room 'The Hall of Legends?' Is it tacky for that room to be big enough to hold an Ursa Minor?”

“Yes Rainbow Dash, it is extremely tacky. Now can we please get going so we can find-”

“Girls!” Fluttershy shouted with excitement, rushing forwards to her friends. Rainbow Dash was hovering in the air with a snarling bust in her hooves, casually tossing it up into the air and catching it over and over again. Pinkie Pie was happily bouncing from one statue or picture to another, trying to emulate the snarling faces that she saw in each one. Rarity, for her part, was in the middle of the room and switching from berating and pleading with one to the other. All three of them immediately stopped to see us enter the room.

“Fluttershy!” they all cried at the same time, rushing forwards to greet her in one big hug. With her attention diverted, the bust that Rainbow Dash had been in the middle of tossing fell back down to the ground and smashed against the floor, shattering in several pieces. I heard the our guide make a sharp noise from beside me as it did so. It sounded...startled, for some reason.

The embracing ponies were a cacophony of laughs and happy exclamations as they revelled in one another's presence. Not for the first time since I have come here, I found myself slightly jealous over what they had with each other, but I quickly smothered it. I simply let them have their happy moment and found a small smile on my face.

“We were so worried for you darling!” Rarity said with a relieved smile as their group hug slowly broke away. “We didn't know what happened to you when the castle appeared. We barely managed to stay together ourselves.”

“I was worried about you.” Fluttershy replied, wiping gently at her eye with a hoof. “We were told you were heading right for a trap.”

“Eh...Master?” The ball of light murmured from beside me. I ignored it for the moment. Whatever it was, it could wait.

“A trap? Heck, I would have welcomed a trap rather than have to wander around for hours on end with nothing remotely interesting happening.”

“Master, I really think-” I interrupted it with a wave of my hand, and shrunk away.

“We haven't found any traps.” Pinkie Pie chimed in. “We've found plenty statues and paintings of mean looking scowl-y ponies, but no traps.”

“That's a relief.” Fluttershy sighed.

The ball of light was back again. “Master, it would be our best interests if we-”

“Would you be quiet?” I snapped at it. “We aren't taking them to the dungeon, if that's what you're pestering me about.”

“No my lord, I-”

“Kael! You're alright too!” A loud, sandy voice called, the others only just now noticing me. The three ponies started to come over to greet me, all smiles and sunshine, but hesitated when they saw the thing floating next to me.

“Ooooh, what's that thing?” Pinkie Pie squealed as she bounced over and and stuck her face right up at the ball of light so that her nose was almost inside of it. “It's so preeetttyyy.” With a sigh, Rainbow Dash grabbed by the tail and tried to pull her back while Rarity shook her head.

It recoiled away from the pink pony with a disgusted sound. “Step away from me you peasant!” It's voice immediately changed back to subservient. “Master, I only wish to explain-”

It was interrupted yet again, although this time it was from the loud slam of the wooden doors slamming shut behind us.

“Oh dear...” It said quietly. “That's...not good.”

“What's not good? What are you talking about?” I asked it sharply. Its defeated tone was very worrying, and I wondered if I should have paid it more attention before.

“That trap, my lord. It has been set off.”

There were concerned glances amidst the ponies, but I barely noticed them. “What? How?” I asked, my voice higher than it was just a few minutes ago.

“The statuette...” it replied, and it took me a moment before I realized what it was referring to.

I turned my eyes away from the now shut, and most likely sealed doors, dreading what I would see.

On the floor, the smashes remains of the bust that Rainbow Dash had been carelessly throwing around lay shattered in many pieces. Thin, wispy trails of black mist seemed to be leaking out from the pieces, congealing in a small gaseous ball over the wreckage. It was slowly getting bigger as more of the mist was collected into it.

“Oooh, what's that?” the easily distracted Pinkie Pie wondered aloud, only seconds away from bouncing over to the new phenomenon before Rarity grabbed her firmly by the tail and plonked her down next to her.

“That's a very good question, Pinkie dear...” Rarity's eyes turned towards me curiously. “What is that?”

I opened my now dry mouth and tried to speak for a moment, but before I could say anything, the ball of black gas exploded with a loud bang, sending flecks of its substance flying in every direction. Immediately, every single picture , statue, and, and sculpture in the room started to violently shake on their frames and bases until the whole room was a chorus of banging and rattling.

We slowly back away from the room, casting nervous glances in every direction until we got to the door. As I thought, they were locked.

“Y'know, when I said that I would have welcomed a trap...” Rainbow Dash said with a guilty grin. “...I was being sarcastic.”

Suddenly, a black hoof appeared out from one of the pictures bearing an image of a bloodied Sombra moments away from driving a spear through a helpless opponents neck. The picture wavered like a pool of water as the hoof turned into a leg, then into a torso, and then into an armour covered body that very much resembled the one in the painting. The image of the mad king in the picture was gradually disappearing as the body freed itself more and more from the frame until it finally did, landing on all four bloody hooves.

It turned to us and smiled with a mouth of sharp teeth. Meanwhile, statues were slowly starting to come alive, and more images were coming to life out of their frames. And they were all looking at us.

Somebody screamed, and I couldn't tell if it was me or not.

The Magic of Friendship

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The Magic of Friendship

Shit. I thought as we more and more caricatures of Sombra came to life and started to approach us, each one varying in appearance. Some wore armour that had seen war while others wore armour that gleamed. Others wore thick, expensive looking robes and all sorts of refinements of gold and gems. Some were as big as the average pony seemed to be, some a bit bigger and some a bit smaller, but every single one of them, even the once immobile statues that were only a few in number, had the same eager expression on their faces. An expression of pure bloodlust aimed at us.

I ran my eyes over the malicious grinning faces as we backed up. There were many, and they were taking their sweet time at the moment, but that could change at any second. Rainbow Dash tugged hard at the door which might as well be nailed to the floor with how much good it was doing. There had to be at least twenty of them. Just...shit.

“Stupid...door...” Rainbow Dash growled through her efforts. “Why won't you open?!”

“I told you already, dense pony.” the sentient ball of light by my side spat. “It won't until the trap completes its purpose.”

“And what is that purpose?” Rarity asked with a tremor in her voice, her eyes flitting from one face to the other as they came closer in unison.

“To kill, of course.” it replied. If it had shoulders, it would have shrugged.

“But of course...” she muttered as Rainbow Dash cursed, Fluttershy squeaked, and Pinkie Pie said “That's not very nice!” in an indignant voice.

“Oh, don't you worry your foolish little heads, ponies.” it said with a chuckle. “You will get the horrible ends that you deserve. Indeed, dying here would be a mercy for you. No, Lord Sombra will make quick work of this with his terrifying magic, and we will round up the rest of your comrades. Isn't that right, my lord?”

I could feel the stares of the other three ponies boring into me. I was going to have some explaining to do when we got out of this. If we got out of this.

“Don't count on it.” I muttered. All of the sudden, the Sombra's stopped and tensed.

“Scatter!” Rainbow Dash shouted as they rushed forward all at once, leaving the door forgotten and shooting up into the air. The rest of us took her example as they all pounced, fangs bared and hooves extended. I dived to the side only seconds before a stone arm occupied the space where my head was just was just moments ago. The others went their own separate ways , Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie diving, crawling, and bouncing to safety respectively.

Immediately, their heads turned to follow us, never breaking eye contact with their prey. It was disarmingly creepy how they moved, stiff and robotic like with their lifeless eyes never leaving us and their frozen smiles never leaving their faces. They didn't seem to be that fast or coordinated, but there were a lot of them, and I had no idea how strong they are.

I scrambled to my feet to see them break into smaller groups, each one focusing on only one of us. With my heart hammering in my chest, a darted away from them before they could pounce again.

“What do we do?” Fluttershy cried as she crawled away from the approaching effigies, her wings flapping ineffeectively at her sides. One of the Sombra's, one dressed in velvet robes with a golden crown on his head, darted for her as she scrabbled across the ground, and she let out a shrill scream.

There was a blue blur and the mad king crumpled as Rainbow Dash slammed into it with all four hooves from above. “We fight!” she said, bringing up a hoof and slamming it into its head where it lay squashed beneath her. All at once, it vanished in a puff of black mist.

“What the-” Rainbow Dash started before a Sombra that had slipped by unnoticed tackled her from behind. They rolled across the floor for a moment before she managed to place herself underneath it and kick it off of her with all four hooves, sending it flailing and crashing into the floor. A giggling Pinkie Pie then bounced extra high into the air and landed directly on it. It too disintegrated into mist.

“It seems like-” I said, but stopped as I had to swiftly move to the side to avoid another one lunging for me. “-they aren't that durable.” I faced the grinning Sombra, this one dressed in a torn and dented suit of armour. Still grinning, it started to slowly circle me as three of its companions joined it.

“The statues most certainly are!” came Rarity's high pitched voice. From where I stood, I could see her levitating a large stone that she must have picked up from one of the many already broken statues in the room and was bashing it with vicious abandon against the head of one of the slow moving statues. It didn't even flinch as it lumbered towards her, the rock crashing into its cranium over and over again. “Get back you vile...thing!” she screamed as her impromptu weapon became smaller and smaller with each swing.

I had no time to curse as the four Sombra's started to charge me all at once. Letting my body do all the thinking for me, I started to charge back before I realized what I was doing. Just moments before we ran straight into each other, I tensed my legs and jumped, leaping over them like a runner would a hurdle. My leg grazed against the sharp horn of one of them, tearing through my pants and making a shallow cut on my leg.

I hit the ground rolling and sprang back up without losing any momentum. Rainbow Dash was divebombing the Sombras from the air, turning them into puffs of black mist every few times she struck. Pinkie Pie was leading them around the room with her bouncing, causing them to run into each other as they tried to catch her. I was the only one who wasn't preoccupied with their own conflicts, but that would soon change if I stayed still for too long.

I sprinted across the room to where Rarity was now backed up against a wall with wide eyes, her stone reduced to nothing more than a jagged pebble. The statue was only an arms reach away from her now, and as slow that it was, I had no doubt that it would be very strong.

I leaped into the air once again, drew both of my legs into my body before and throwing them out in a donkey kick, and slammed my feet into the side of the statue. The jolt of it ran up both of my legs and into my spine, vibrating my entire body like a plucked string on a guitar.

The statue felt it just as much as I did as it went stumbling back, tripping over its bulky legs and falling to the floor with a crash, cracking the stone floor a bit under its heavy body. Rarity breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thanks you for that darling.” she said with a grateful smile as she threw the levitating rock behind her. I nodded back.

“Don't mention i-” I was interrupted as her horn lit up and felt a strong force on my shoulders and neck bring me to my knees. A dark shape sailed over my head and landed on the ground on four legs, sliding across the floor as it did so.

“Now allow me to return the favour.” she said with a wink, and the force on my shoulders disappeared. To my surprise, she turned away and, with another quick flash of her horn, pulled down one of the many crimson banners hanging off of the wall. Manipulating it with her magic, she began to twirl it around herself as the Sombra turned to her her and began to charge.

I scrambled to my feet as my heart leapt into my throat. Was she planning to fend off that thing with nothing but big piece of fabric? It would tear through it, and her, like a knife through butter!

“Look out!” I shouted as I went to make my way to her, but was brought down again as two more Sombras tackled me from the side. From the corner of my eye as their rictus grins filled my vision on top of me, I could see her opponent leap for her, hooves extended for her throat.

I cursed, putting my arms up to protect myself as the two fell on me with a flurry of blows aimed at my midsection and head. They got a good amount of hits on me, and even though they weren't flesh and blood, I felt them as keenly as though they were. The pain went forgotten though as I heard a very audible thump, like a taut bungee cord being plucked, followed by several cracks coming from where Rarity was.

My blood ran cold, and I could already see the aftermath of what happened in my minds eye. A twisted body underneath the bloodstained hooves of the mad king, grin wider than ever and victory gleaming in its dead eyes.

Against my own will, I looked to see the aftermath. What I saw, however, brought me up short.

Rarity was alive. In fact, there wasn't a mark on her. Sombra, however, wasn't doing nearly so well. Almost entirely wrapped in the banner, only bits and pieces of its body visible behind the black and red fabric, it seemed that Rarity had repeatedly slammed it into the ground as hard as she could, causing some of its limbs to bend at wrong angles. The broken mass was only able to twitch ineffectively against its constraints.

She turned to smile at me, but stopped when she saw the predicament I was in. I saw a fire light behind her eyes, and with another flash of her horn, the bound Sombra went sailing in my direction. The two that were on top of me, pummelling into the ground, had no time to react before they were steamrolled by their ally, causing all three to vanish in puffs of black mist.

“Are you all right?” she asked with concern. I grunted in reply.

“I...could be better. Thanks.” I said, gritting my teeth through the pain of sporting many new bruises to call my own.

“Don't mention it dear, but I think you really should get to your feet before-” she stopped mid sentence, her eyes focusing on something behind me. “Fluttershy!” she said with alarm.

That got my attention, and I was on my feet before I knew it.

The timid pegasus, once creeping around the room trying to go unnoticed, was now running at a full sprint as she was being chased by five of the Sombra's, four of the faster paintings and one of the slower statues. Tears streamed from her eyes as she ran in random directions, crying out all the way, only delaying the inevitable as they got closer and closer to her with every passing second.

I looked around frantically. Rainbow Dash was holding her own, dropping on them and lifting them into the air where she would beat the stuffing out of them and drop them back to the ground, and Pinkie Pie was jumping from head to the other, using them like stepping stones in a fit of mad giggles, but both were too engrossed with what they were doing to notice their friend's plight. With all the noise in the room, I imagined that they wouldn't even be able to hear me if I shouted their names.

“We need to do something!” Rarity said, looking at me with desperation in her voice. I worked my brain furiously, every instinct telling me to not put myself in any more danger, but something stopped me.

“Can you stop that statue with that banner?” I asked Rarity. She blinked in surprise.

“I-I think so, but-”

“Do it!” I commanded before taking off at a sprint after the pegasus, leaving her standing with her mouth open.

Destroy them...

the edges of my vision pulsed with red as I got closer to the Fluttershy and her attackers, becoming deeper and stronger with every step. The usual fear that I felt in the presence of even the slightest hostility was gone completely now, filled with a fire lit up underneath my heart and making me a creature fuelled by nothing but his emotions, and right now my emotions were running white hot with anger.

Crush them to nothing.

There was a whipping sound beside me as I rapidly gained on them, weaving around broken statues and at one point almost crashing head on into Pinkie Pie, and I saw a long piece of fabric surrounded by a purple aura of light fly ahead of me and wrap itself around the legs of the stone golem and pulling tight like a drawstring. It went down with a satisfying crash. With it out of commission, I had a chance.

Teach them the consequences...

I smiled now Rarity had taken out my most dangerous competitor, at least temporarily. This would make it a lot easier for me to deal with the others.

...of crossing you.

With a yell, I put on a burst of speed and blindsided the Sombra's, crashing into one from the side mid leap towards Fluttershy, ramming it with my full body and not stopping until I flattened it against a wall. It's eyes widened for a heartbeat before it vanished into mist.

My hands clenched and relaxed as I slowly turned around to face the remainders who had, thankfully, stopped their chase of Fluttershy to focus on me. Fluttershy herself, having noticed the sudden lack of pursuers out for her blood, glanced behind her, and when she saw me, she came to a screeching stop.

“Kael, no! You mustn't! It will tear you apart!” she shouted, but her words fell on deaf ears. The only thing that mattered to me now were me, and my opponents.

My prey.

I didn't know who moved first, me or them, but I soon found myself embroiled in a mess of black limbs, snapping jaws, and lifeless eyes. Faster than thought, I lashed out, my fist connecting with the chin of one effigy and sending its head backwards with a gruesome crack before it went up in a puff. Another got a knee to its stomach, and another a slam into the ground. The last one managed to swipe at me with metal claws that it had attached to its forehooves, bloodying them even more so than they already were. I threw myself at it with a vengeance, crashing two trembling fists on either side of its head. Had it been flesh and blood, it would have popped like a grape.

“Kael, stop it!” Fluttershy commanded once more, now hovering unsteadily beside me, her injured wing flapping erratically but managing to keep her airbourne. She grabbed my arm and dragged at it. “You're hurting yourself!”

Panting, more from the adrenaline surging through my body than from the exertion, I barely heard her and pushed her away. I wasn't done yet, and I didn't need her to get in the way. I looked towards the still bound and struggling statue. The banner hogtied around its legs still held, but I could see it starting to rip under the stress it was being put through. Taking a page from Rarity's book, I grabbed one of the stones that lay scattered across the now trashed room. To my surprise, it seemed that it was the head of one the statues that had littered the grand room, but had been smashed in all the confusion. How fitting, I mused, that I was going to smash in Sombra's head with his own head.

You're next.”I thought to myself with a grin as I started towards it, hefting the stone in my hands. It had a good weight and feel to it, and I was confident I would be able to damage the statue enough for the spell holding it to dissipate, like it did with all the others, although if I was being honest to myself, I was far more eager for the sensation of destroying it than I was in actually defeating it.

“Hey, get over here! I ain't done with you yet!” a sandy voice yelled from somewhere far off in the distance, too far for me to pay any mind.

That proved to be a mistake however, as the sound of multiple hooves beating against the ground came from behind me. I barely had enough time to turn around and wildly swing my rock in both hands, somehow managing to connect with a dark head before a pair of jaws clamped on my shoulder, and it disappeared into mist inches from my face.

This had the unforseen result of the dark misty substance getting into my eyes, nose, and throat. The smell was rotten and it burned like tear gas in my eyes and throat, sending me into a coughing fit as my I was blinded by involuntary tears. I only had a second to recover before something tackled my legs and brought me to the ground, hard.

“Kael!” Fluttershy somebody screeched as bodies started to surround me. It seemed that every single Sombra in the room, now only four or five or so left, was now focused on me and me only. I thrashed and kicked and at them, but they held my limbs down tightly on the floor.

There was a great ripping sound from nearby, and then the sound of stone grinding on stone as the bound statue freed itself and got to its hooves. It stomped its way to where I was held down, struggling to move, and soon I was able to make out its blurry figure standing above me.

“Hey, what do you think you're doing?!” I heard Rainbow Dash yell as she gave it a full body tackle, but not managing to do much more than annoy it. I could vaguely make out it swatting at her in response, its hoof connecting with her and sending her flying back.

“You big meanie!” A high pitched voice cried. At this point, my eyes had cleared somewhat from the tears and the burning sensation that I could only vaguely see that Pinkie Pie had firmly attached herself to its head and was ferociously gnawing on it. I felt my hopes drop to new lengths as the statue didn't seem to even be fazed by her, as evident by it simplt shaking her off before raising a hoof right over my head. I closed my eyes and stopped my struggling, trying to say something, a pleas for mercy maybe, but only managing a sigh.

“I won't let you!”

Fluttershy?

I cracked my eyes open to see a blur of yellow and pink catch the hoof before it managed to crush my head like a grape. Faster than I could follow, the blur moved, wrapping an arm around the head of the statue and placing another underneath it, pivoting with a yell, and somehow managed to send the statue soaring through the air to land with a bone shattering crash that blew it apart in a shower of black mist and rock.

“Rarity!” The blur called. It sounded like Fluttershy, and it certainly looked like her through my bleary vision, but something in the fact that she had just picked up that statue and hurled it across the room made me doubt my own senses. I didn't have much time to worry about it though as I was still being held down by the others, and with their stronger ally taken out, I didn't doubt that they would be just as eager to finish its job.

A strong rush of wind passed over me and my attackers, causing a mild tingly feeling to erupt over my skin. The last few remaining Sombra's were somewhat more affected by it however as they were sent flying backwards with helpless screeches, disintegrating in mid air.

“Woah, Rarity! That was awesome! Why didn't you just do that before?” An exuberant voice asked as I blinked and reoriented myself, all redness from my vision gone without a trace. One moment they were holding me down, a painful death promised in their eyes, and the other they had disappeared.

“That's because...” I heard Rarity's elegant voice say as she panted for breath. She sounded incredibly tired all of the sudden. “releasing raw, unfocused magic like that...is never a good...idea.” I sat up just in time to see her collapse to her knees daintily, her long mane that she cared so much for hung by her side bedraggled and, surprisingly enough, forgotten. “Phew.” she breathed. “I'm just going to...rest a moment.”

Of course, she had used magic to get them off of me. And as for the statue...

I was almost bowled over once more as I shakily got to my feet by a frantic pegasus. “Ohmygoodness are you okay? Are you hurt? Do you need help? YOu shouldn't have used the ring! Do you-”

I winced as a headache started to form out of nowhere, a muted throbbing in my brain that rapidly turned into something sharper and more painful with each and every word, and her high pitched voice only dug the nails in deeper. I tried to tell her that I was fine, that she needn't harp on me so needlessly and...gratingly, but she was talking so fast that she wouldn't let me get a word in otherwise.

“For the love of Christ, I'm fine!” I finally snapped at her, resisting the urge to clench my eyes shut, instead settling with clenching my fists. She finally stopped talking and withdrew away from me with a timid look and a whimper.

“Relax dude, don't be so hard on her.” came Rainbow Dash's disapproving voice as she floated up to the two of us, a few feathers out of place and her mane a little bit more messed up than usual, but still in one piece.

“Yeah, she did just save your life after all.” Pinkie Pie commented as she sat by Rarity, rubbing her back with a hoof as the unicorn recovered. It was the only time that I've seen her wear something other than a smile or stay still for anything. Right now she was switching between looking at me with a neutral expression and at Rarity with a concerned one.

I bit back a retort that found itself on the tip of my tongue. I was angry for some reason, and I wanted to snap at the ponies some more, maybe even yell and argue. Like bile rising from my stomach, a violent mass of vitriol threatened to erupt forth from my mouth.

I shook my head violently, managing to make my headache worse as well as make me dizzy on my feet, but also managing to clear my mind a bit.

“Sorry, I...I don't know what came over me there.” I muttered, looking away with a wince. “I'm fine, but I've got murderous headache for some reason...”

Fluttershy touched my arm gently, reassuring herself that I was okay whilst managing to reassure me that she was there to support me. I could see in her eyes that there were still things she had left unsaid. A thought suddenly came to me, and I looked at the wide eyed, still somewhat trembling pegasus.

“How did you...with the statue...” To my surprise, she only smiled at me and didn't answer, an errant tear leaking from her eye and falling down her cheek.

“Well, everyone seems to be alright. That's good.” Rarity said with a sigh as she tried her best to salvage what she could of her mane. “We're safe now.”

“FOOLS!” A loud voice said from out of nowhere, nearly making each one of us jump out of our skin. Fluttershy froze up with a squeak and slowly started to tip over, falling to the ground with wide, unblinking eyes. For my part, my heart started to beat rapidly in chest as I whipped my head around, trying to find the source.

There can't be any more! I thought desperately. Please don't let there be any more! My head pounded like a church bell and I already ached all over. The last thing I needed was to fight the 'final boss.'

In front of us, a golden light materialized out of thin air, and I let out a tense breath. It was only that weird little thing from the library with the strange accent. I had completely forgotten about it amongst the excitement, and it seemed to have hidden itself until the ordeal was finished.

“Safety is only an illusion for you, ponies.” It sneered as it immediately came to my side. “You may think that you've saved yourselves, but truly all you have done is delay your own demise!”

Three sets of eyes turned towards me as Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash were reminded of its existence as well. “You wanna explain this for us Kael?” Rainbow Dash asked bluntly with a raised eyebrow.

“I...” I started, still recovering from the surprise. There was no way that I could think of to tell them what was going on, especially since the longer it thought I was Sombra, the more it could help us, so I only sighed. “Let's get going and I'll tell you on the way.” I answered, wondering how I was going to explain this to them, especially since I didn't exactly understand it myself

Rarity slowly got to her hooves, seeming to be mostly recovered from the exertion that her spell had on her. She had to lean on Pinkie Pie to remain standing though. “On our way where, darling?” she asked.

I turned to the ball of light which rose expectantly as I looked at it. “Where are the other...intruders?”

“The last two haven't moved from their previous location. They still roam the treasure room for whatever nefarious purposes.” a slight distortion went through the light. “I shudder to think what they are doing with their filthy magic and hooves to your most prized posessions.”

I saw Rainbow narrow her eyes at it, ready for a heated remark in response to the insult to her friends, but I shook my head slightly at her. She squinted at me curiously and huffed.

“Take us to them.” I told it.

There was a long pause. “Er, my lord...” It said uncertainly. “should we not take these ones straight to the dungeons?”

Now it was my turn to scowl, and it came quite easily to me. “I am a very busy king, and I don't have time to be going back and forth from the dungeons.” I said with real irritation in my voice. “We'll just lock them up all at once.” Profoundly baffled expressions blossomed on the ponies faces, and I couldn't help but give the slightest of grins. It was good to be in control for once and to not be the only one who was confused about everything that's going on around them.

“Understood, my lord!” It said with newfound eagerness. It was disturbing how fond this thing was of dungeons. With no more preamble, it zipped past me to the entrance of the high ceilinged chamber and disappeared right through the door.

“We need to follow it if we're going to find the others.” I said. I was met with a variety of stares from all but the still frozen Fluttershy. I knelt beside the pegasus and shook her slightly, but there was no response. I glanced at the remains of the statue that had almost killed me. How strange it was to think that in the heat of the moment she had been able to shatter that thing like a fragile christmas ornament, but a loud noise was enough to render her catatonic

“And why would it show us where they are?” Rainbow asked, hovering over to land beside the recovering Rarity. “For that matter, what is it anyway?”

“As far as I know, it was made by Sombra as some sort of librarian or record keeper or something. And it thinks that I'm him, so it basically does whatever I tell it to.”

Rainbow looked at me for a long, hard moment before she burst out laughing, shortly followed by a similarly amused Pinkie Pie. Even Rarity gave a few tired giggles.

I rolled my eyes. “This really isn't the time...” I muttered.

“I know, I know...” Rainbow said between raucous guffaws. “But seriously, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. How could it think that you're Sombra? You're as friendly as an overgrown teddy bear compared to that guy!”

“While I wouldn't put in exactly the same manner, it is rather amusing.” Rarity said, hiding a tired grin behind her hoof.

I sighed, but couldn't help a tiny smile from forming that vanished as my head continued to pang painfully. It was pretty funny now that I thought about it, but I wasn't in the mood to do any laughing right about now. Sleeping maybe...

“As ridiculous as it is, it's still our best chance of getting out of here with our lives intact.” I said dryly. This caused them to sober up a bit, although Pinkie still wore her signature smile. Each one of us looked at the closed door that the light had left through, our imaginations running wild as we wondered what was on the other side of it.

“Alright, no point in wasting any more time!” Rainbow Dash said with confidence. “One way or another, we're leaving this castle and getting that ring off of you Kael, and we ain't gonna do it in here.” With the help of Rarity's magic, the catatonic Fluttershy was lifted onto Rainbow Dash's back who balanced her with her outstretched wings where she remained still. Noticing my concerned look, Rainbow Dash grinned at me as she started walking, the rest of us naturally falling in behind her. “Don't worry, she just needs some time to snap out of it. She used to do this all the time in flight school.”

I had to admit, I found her confidence to be somewhat...gratifying. It was a relief to have somebody take the reins, pressing forwards and taking charge. It was something that just didn't come naturally to me, much more suited as I was to taking orders than giving them.

“The slave knows when to obey.” A voice that was not my own spoke in my head. “You will learn soon enough.”

I shook my head with a grimace as I strode through the doors, now able to be opened with only the slightest touch, to find the light waiting patiently for us, or more specifically, for me. It rose a little bit higher into the air as I came out, seeming expectant and eager.

“They are this way my lord!” It said quickly before zipping off with a mad cackle that made me shiver. It may have been our best hope at leaving alive, but that didn't mean that I had to like it. It waited for us at the end of the dark corridor, waiting patiently as its dim light cast long shadows across the floor.

Pinkie Pie giggled as she bounce after it. “Hee! He's funny!”

“I don't think it's a 'he.'” I muttered to myself as we started to once more walk straight into the unknown.

As we moved through the decrepit halls, occasionally taking detours due to collapsed walls that blocked the path or traps that could be set off if we ventured too close, we filled each other in on how we had fared once the castle had started to rise from the ground. At this point, Fluttershy had, thankfully, come to her senses and was able to walk once again, keeping close to the rest of us.

The two of us had just finished informing them of what we'd been doing, stumbling around Sombra's private library, meeting our new, not-so-faithful companion, and finding them. They told us how they had managed to stick together through the chaos of the rising castle a combination of Rarity's magic, Rainbow Dash's wings, and Pinkie Pie's randomness.

“-so Dashie flew up into the air and started to look around for a safe place, but all these big pointy things were coming out of the ground, so she pointed to where Rarity and I needed to go, but Rarity didn't want to move becasue dirt and mud was being thrown everywhere so Rainbow Dash told her to get her head out of her-”

Well, Pinkie Pie was telling us. Rarity and Rainbow Dash were content to just move along and with us and keep their eyes and ears open for intruders and recover from our scuffle.

My mind flashed back to the events that happened just moments ago. My bruises ached as I rembmeberd the beating I took at the hooves of those Sombra's that had me pinned to the ground begore Rarity could bundle them up and break them in half with her magic. If I hadn't moved when I did, she would gotten a lot worse than I got from that statue though, so I didn't regret it.

That was before everything started to get...weird. Just like in the Everfree forest when Fluttershy and I were surrounded by those wolves, I simply lost control of myself when I saw that the demure pegasus was in danger. My senses had become sharper, my reflexes faster, and I threw myself straight into harms way such as I never normally would in my right mind, even if somebody near and dear to me was in danger. It simply wasn't in my nature to be thrown into a frenzy like that. I couldn't even walk down the street without avoiding everybody's eye for fear of accidentally offending them.

And yet I did once again, all because of the ring. If it hadn't activated when it did, Fluttershy could have been killed and I would have been powerless to stop it.

I sighed quietly to myself, resiting the urge to rub the heel of my palm against my head in a fruitless effort to quell the raging headache that pounded in my brain.

Wait a minute...didn't I pass out for three days last time this happened?m

My heart froze for a moment when I came to this realization. Indeed, I had been unconcious for a long time last time, becasue my body was fighting off the magic as though it were a foreign invader, Celestia said, tearing itself apart in the process. It was only because of her quick healing that I hadn't died a very painful death.

"You mustn't! It'll tear you apart!" Fluttershy had shouted at me when she had noticed I was using the ring's power again. It seemed that she had remembered what happened last time as well. I was only thankful that she wasn't hounding me like a mother hen making sure that I was alright.

Why am I still awake now? I wondered to myself. If the last time the ring's power had overtook me was anything to go by, I should be out like a light by now, yet the only thing I had to show for it was a splitting pain in my skull.

The pleasant voice of Celestia rang through my mind. “The Alicorn Ring is irreversibly connected to him and his will, and it is because of this connection that any who wears it will slowly become tainted with its…his…evil.”

I pondered this for a moment, and my blood turned cold as a terrifying thought occurred to me. Am I...getting used to its magic? Is it becoming a part of me?

I felt something warm and wet on my face, and reached up and hand to feel blood running down my nose and over my lips. I stared at it on my fingers for a moment before a violent shudder went through my body.

What's happening to me?

I wiped the blood away from my face before anybody could notice it. Thankfully, Fluttershy was distracted by the constant yammering of Pinkie Pie, so her eyes were pointed in the other direction. The last thing she needed was to worry about me any more than she already did.

Before I had the chance to think on it any more, Rainbow Dash came up beside me and peered at me closely.

“You look terrible.” she stated bluntly. I blinked, and gave her a smile that must have come out weakly.

“You don't look too great yourself.” I replied lighteartedly. She only grunted, looking at me closely some more. Had she noticed my nose bleed just then? Had she noticed how every step of ours that rang against the hard stone floor made me wince?

Thankfully, she just shrugged and looked forward, staying beside me as we followed the light that led the way down twisting halls, crumbling stairwells, and old passages. Finally, after a long moment of silence, if it could be considered silence with Pinkie's incessant talking; I think she was talking about the key differences that separated muffins and cupcakes, Rainbow spoke again.

“Thanks you, by the way.” She said gruffly, still looking forward. Now it was my turn to peer at her.

“For what?”

Her eyes flicked to me, and then back. “For keeping Fluttershy safe.” she said quietly. “Both now and when you were in the Everfree Forest. I never thanked you for that too.”

I was quiet for a moment. I seemed to remember a moment where this very same prismatic pegasus was pointing her hoof at me accusingly, loudly declaring me to be a spy, and now she was thanking me? It didn't seem like it was a very easy thing for her to do too, considering how stiffly she kept facing forward.

“D-don't mention it.” I said back, and she nodded, satisfied. She had said what she needed to say, and that was that.

“Besides...” I continued after a moment of quiet thought. “She's been keeping me safe too.”

Now she did look up at me, her eyes curious.

“If I had been alone in here, even for a short amount of time, I...” I stopped, unable to form the words I was looking for. It was only because of the demure pegasus that I had even been able to keep myself on my two feet, because if I wasn't strong for her, I didn't think she'd have been able to be strong for herself. “I would be screwed.” I finished.

Rainbow nodded slowly. “I understand.” she said, and it sounded like she really did. She cracked a small grin at me. “Not to mention how she stopped that statue from stomping your head in.”

My mind went back, and I could clearly see the raised leg of stone poised above me, ready to come crashing down with destructive force. I had closed my eyes; held down as I was, there was nothing I could do about it, but then a blur of yellow and pink had arrived with yell and the statue had been heaved through the air and smashed into the ground.

“Yeah...” I muttered. Although I knew rationally that that blur must have been Fluttershy, I simply could not force my brain to accept the notion that she was capable of such brutality. It was like suddenly being told that the sky was yellow and that fire was cold and being expected to believe. “That too... How the hell did she do that?”

The pegasus smirked. “That's the magic of friendship.”

I looked at her for a long, long moment. “Really?” I asked, doubt clear in my voice.

She raised an eyebrow at me. “Yep, same way you rushed to her help the way you did when you saw she was in danger, Fluttershy, usually so meek and cowardly, rushed to yours. That's the magic of friendship.”

That shut me up. I rolled the thought around my head for a moment before Rainbow chimed in with one more thing.

“Well, that and that she practices on bears with chiropractic issues. Say, how long do you think until we find the others? Applejack was the one with all the food and I'm starving.”

“I...what?” was all I managed to say before she flapped her wings a few times, put her hooves to her mouth, and hollered, “Oi, light thing! How long till we get there?” My vision went black for a moment as the sudden loudness hit me across the head with a mallet. I had to struggle briefly to stay upright.

“Have no fear, little pony!” It cackled back. “We will be arriving upon both of your companions shortly. Your torturous demise is soon to come!”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, and I could see that she was about to say something sarcastic but she was interrupted by Rarity's tired voice.

“Both of them?” She turned to look at me with confusion. “What does it mean, 'both of them'? We're looking for three individuals, not two.”

Everybody, including even Pinkie Pie, stopped where they were and looked at the unicorn. Slowly, the math started to work itself out in our heads.

There are three in our group not with us now, Applejack, Spike, and Twilight. It said that we were going to find 'both of them,' which suggests that there's only two of them at our destination, and not three. A quietly rational part of my brain told me.

“Hey, light thing! Front and center!” I called. In the span of a blink, the bulb of floating light was hovering in front of me expectantly. I stared at it sternly.

“How many intruders are left in the castle?” I asked it clearly and slowly, praying that it had simply mispoken earlier and that we were coming up on all three of them.

“Two, my lord!” It swiftly replied in its unnervingly tinny voice, like from a broken radio. I heard gasps from the others, but I ignored them.

“Are you sure? Is there nobody else in the entire castle but those two?”

The light hesitated for a moment. “I am sure, Lord Sombra. My knowledge of The Obsidian Castle is ever reaching and forever up to date. If there were a mouse out of place, I would know of it.”

One of them is missing.

There was a long, drawn out silence between each of us, first broken by a brief whimper that I heard behind me.

They're not in the castle, and we have no way of finding them.

I took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled. “Alright then. Keep leading the way.” I told it with a noncommittal gesture onwards. It zipped ahead of us a few metres and turned a corner. Without really wanting to, I turned to see the faces of others staring at me with wide eyes, some of them showing signs of tears soon to fall. I had to admit that I felt the same.

“I guess we'll...just have to keep moving and hope we come across whoever is left.” I said, hating every word as it left my mouth. The ponies looked at each other in silence for a moment before nodding amongst themselves somberly, and we continued onwards in silence.

They could be hurt already, or worse, and I didn't even realize until now.

“And it would be all your fault.” An unseen voice whispered in my ear.

Minor Complications

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Minor Complications

We came to a screeching stop outside one of the the many doors that lined the wide, high roofed hallway. Outside this door in particular, a large pile of jagged rocks and boulders were scattered around the hall and sunlight streamed through a gaping hole in the ceiling from where the roof seemed to have collapsed in on itself. Broken shingles, bricks, and slabs of stone were laying all around, the tile floor cracked in many places underneath them, and stone dust layered the floor all around. It looked like something had fallen straight through the roof and into the hallway from above. The door itself was bigger than most around it, tall and dark with a heavy golden knocker in the shape of a snake eating its own tail sticking out and glaring at us threateningly.

Rainbow Dash was only seconds away from grasping the knocker and throwing the door wide open before a loud screech of “Wait!” stopped her. She, and everybody else, turned to look at Fluttershy with curiosity and frowns. She retreated into her mane timidly.

“It...it might be trapped again...”she muttered behind her mane, just loud enough for us to hear. Rainbow Dash blinked, look to the door for a moment, and recoiled as though it had hissed at her.

“That's...a good point actually.” The prismatic pegasus said with gritted teeth and an expressionless look. She fidgeted where she stood, and I could see that she still wanted to throw the door open and charge in guns blazing.

“There's nothing we can do but go in and hope for the best, it seems.” Rarity commented unhappily, running a hoof through her long violet mane in her constant struggle to keep it as neat and orderly as possible. To her credit, she actually had it close to the condition that it was in before we left Ponyville. Most of the dust, dirt, and bits of debris had been removed and it hung just as perfectly as before.

“Actually, there is.” I said, tapping my chin thoughtfully before turning my attention towards the ball of light that waited patiently behind me. “Is this room trapped like the last one?”

There was a small pause, and the light started to distort where it floated for a moment before it perked up in the air. “That's a negative, my lord! The trap that was set on this door seems to be have been disabled by a skilled magic user. I would recommend extreme caution when confr-”

I interrupted it with a wave of my hand. “Yeah yeah, sure.” I said, giving a nod to Rainbow Dash who smiled and, without hesitation, grasped the knocker in her mouth and pulled.

The door opened to a wide area with no windows of any kind and a very low ceiling compared to most that we had seen up until then. Lit torches nailed to the wall provided the only illumination rather than the magical lights that we had mostly seen up until then, giving this room more of an ancient, forgotten look, but they only really managing illuminate in a few metres in each direction, not enough to light up the entire room.

I was reminded instantly of an attic in an old, forgotten house that might have once belonged to a hoarder. Scattered haphazardly on tables, shelves, and strewn across the floor were objects that I could only guess at their origin or use, and those were only the ones that I could recognize. There was a rack of long, twisted staves made out of a variety of woods and metals, a massive bookshelf that only held about half of its books, weapons and bits of armour of all sorts and sizes, robes and cloaks and jewellery made with eye wrenching designs and colours, a table cluttered with a variety of skulls and bones from different animals, and of course, crystals. Statues made of crystal, instruments made of crystal, furniture made of crystal, and even some weapons and armour made of crystal.

I think I'm starting to see a pattern here. I thought to myself dryly. It was called a treasure room, but it looked my like a place one would store all the things that they didn't really need, but didn't want to throw away. Before the thought could go any further however, a faint voice reached my ears.

“-and I'm telling you, Spike, that if we wander around the castle willy nilly, the chances of us finding the others are much smaller than if we just stay patiently in one place. There's no point in-”

Our eyes widened with recognition. Rainbow Dash, ever the impulsive one, didn't hesitate for a moment before lifting herself in the air, putting two hooves to her mouth, and shouting “HEY TWILIGHT! WHERE ARE YOU?” at the top of her lungs. Rarity winced and shook her head.

There was a long moment of silence that was interrupted when a searingly bright flash of purple light appeared out of nowhere, accompanied by a loud snap noise. My eyes watered and colours swam across my vision as I recovered from the flash, but I was immediately able to identify the figure that appeared.

“Hey everybody, long time no see!” the violet unicorn said cheerfully. On her back sat a grumpy, yet relieved looking dragon. “How have you all....been?” Her voice trailed off uncertainly when she noticed how mussed up and tired we all were. We all were sporting our fair share of bruises and scrapes, so I imagined that we were quite the sore sight.

“We've been great!” Pinkie squealed as she bounded over to her purple friend and gave her a quick, squeezing hug along with the rest of the ponies. “We walked around and saw some really neat things and we found Kael and Fluttershy and we got attacked by some art and now we found you two!” She let go of Twilight to give Spike a quick nuzzle, soon followed by a kiss on the cheek from Rarity, which he grinned widely at.

“That's...great Pinkie.” Twilight replied with a small smile. Then her eyes crossed. “Wait, what did you mean by-”

“And we made a new friend!” Pinkie Pie interrupted loudly, dragging her and the dragon on her back to stand in front of the ball of light that lead us to her. Pinkie Pie giggled as she saw the unicorn's eyes widen considerably.

“Don't you dare speak of me you vile waste of space!” it demanded with a shrill and high pitched voice.

Pinkie giggled as Rarity tsked and Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Isn't he great?” the pink pony asked with a smile.

Twilight didn't answer, instead looking at me. “I have so many questions.”

I couldn't help but let out a little chuckle at that. I honestly couldn't blame her.

It didn't take us too long to fill the two of them in on what had happened to us so far. Apparently, and rather unsurprisingly, Fluttershy had been right when she had remarked how much Twilight would have enjoyed stumbling across Sombra's library like we had been but a few hours before. Saying that she was envious of us and our foray into the the private library of the tyrannical dictator was akin to saying that Sombra was a teensy bit cracked in the head; an understatement of epic proportions.

When she finally got over her jealous pouting and we explained the rest, she was quiet. “And this...thing that you found, the magical librarian as you call it...is it safe to have around?”

We all looked at each other. Truthfully, I hadn't considered whether or not it was dangerous to have around, or at least not enough that it concerned me. It struck me more as a tool to help me find my way around than potential threat, albeit a very vocal one. It was currently waiting outside for us as I told it to on the pretence of making sure no more of those 'heinous ponies' snuck up on us. It went about its duty with gusto, leaving us free to talk without worrying about it hearing.

It has a posh British accent. I thought to myself. How dangerous could it be?

“I suppose so.” I said as I rubbed the back of my head and looked towards the exit. “I mean, I don't really see how it can be a threat to anybody. It seems like its bark is a lot worse than its bite. The only thing I can see it hurt is somebody's feelings.”

The ponies were silent for a moment, looking at one another or to the ground deep in thought, likely thinking along the same lines as Twilight. Rarity and Rainbow Dash glanced at each other, both wearing matching frowns that reminded me very much of how Rainbow Dash looked when she first met me and though that I was a spy of some sort. Pinkie Pie's trademark smile had vanished to be replaced by a contemplatively blank expression. She was looking off into the distance, through the piles and piles of stuff all around us. Fluttershy looked from one face to another with a pained expression on her face before looking down at floor. Spike, for his part, looked like he didn't have a care in the world and was just happy that we were all together again. Well, almost all of us.

“If it was created by Sombra, I don't think we should discount the possibility that it could be, even if only slightly, dangerous.” Rarity commented, breaking everyone out of their reveries, and very likely mirroring their thoughts as well.

“True...” Rainbow Dash muttered, eyeing the exit to the room not far off with a furrowed brow. “It seems harmless now, but that's the same mistake that most ponies make about Fluttershy's Devil Bunny before he claws their eyes out.”

Fluttershy looked up at the pegasus with her lips pursed, looking the closest to irritated I've ever seen her. She opened her mouth to say something, but then seemed to think better of it.

“It doesn't matter at this point anyway.” Twilight finally said, brushing an errant strand of her hair out of her face and standing up a little bit straighter, somehow managing to remind me of the alicorn princesses Celestia and Luna, taking charge and commanding the attention of the room. Out of all of us. “We don't know where Applejack is, and from what you all told me, keeping it with us is probably the best way to find her. ”

“Right.” I said, furrowing my brow in consternation. “But we still don't know where she is. It told us that she isn't in the castle.”

Twilight's ears laid back against her head as a worried look crossed her face. “That's true...which raises the question; if she's not in the castle, then where is she?”

“Maybe it was lying?” Pinkie Pie suggested, finally rejoining the conversation and looking back at us with an uncharacteristically serious expression.

“I don't think that's very likely, dear.” Rarity said as she shook her head. “It hasn't lied to us before, and with it thinking that Kael is Sombra, due to the ring I believe, it won't start now. It seems absolutely devoted to its master..”

I briefly noted an odd expression pass Twilight, causing her face to scrunch up slightly in what seemed to be mild confusion or concern. It passed quickly, however, so I didn't dwell on it.

“It's pretty mean, but I don't think it has any reason to lie...” Fluttershy agreed quietly with a slight nod.

“I suppose you're right.” Twilight consented. “There's nothing for us to do then but keep on moving forward and hope for the best.”

“What?” Rainbow Dash said indignantly. “We aren't going to look for her?”

“We can't, Rainbow.” Twilight replied with a regretful shake of her head. “This castle is massive, and we don't know the first place to start looking for her, and that's only if she's even inside it in the first place. We would only waste time, time that we don't have.” Her eyes narrowed and her brow furrowed with worry as she looked at me. “You said that you didn't feel as much of an adverse affect when you used the ring's power as when you did last time in the Everfree Forest, correct?”

I blinked in surprise as the focus of the conversation turned to me. Hesitantly, I nodded my head yes, wondering whether my own theory was going to be proven correct.

“That can only mean one thing.” Twilight continued gravely. “Your body is acclimating to Sombra's magic. That means that we have less and less time to remove the ring before Sombra is able to completely take over your mind.”

I cursed mentally. I was right...Why did I have to be right?

“I see...” I said slowly. “How much time is left before that happens?”

Twilight bit her lip. “I can't say for sure, but not as much time as you had before you used the ring's power again.” She looked at me imploringly. “Kael, this is important. You can not use the ring's power again. Under any circumstances. You might lose your mind completely the next time you do.”

My mouth felt dry, so I could only nod once more in response.

“That's why we need to focus on our mission for now.” Twilight said, looking at Rainbow Dash but effectively speaking to everybody. “As much as I hate to say it...” she closed her eyes and took a breath. “Applejack will have to fend for herself for the time being.”

There was silence as everybody mulled that over. Everyone had pained expressions on their faces, but Rainbow Dash looked the worst. Her jaw was set so hard that it was a marvel that her teeth weren't cracking from the force, and from the the way here eyes were narrowed and darted from one spot to another, it looked like she was in the middle of wrestling match with her own mind. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy clearly weren't any more fond of the idea than she was. Finally, the pegasus sighed.

“Fine...” she acquiesced, clearly unhappy as her shoulders drooped. “I guess we don't have much of a choice.” She cast a blank look my way, one that looked almost upset in its neutrality. Almost angry.

Almost accusatory.

I clenched my teeth to stop myself from standing up and shouting back at her. It's my life on the line here, not hers! It's not like I'm pleased that I had my life torn away from me only to be nearly killed multiple times and be told that I was going to die in a few weeks at which point my body would taken over and used as a tool for mass murder, and now she's looking at me like this is all my fault? Well, she can just go and fu-

I stopped mid rant and took a deep breath. My fists, I realized, were gripping the edge of the table that I was sitting on hard enough to turn my knuckles white. I forced myself to let go, eliciting a small creaking noise where I had managed to carve a small scratch in the wood with my nails only to find that my hands were trembling. Hard.

I took a deep breath. The is the last damn thing we need... I growled to myself mentally with a small shake of my head. Nobody was paying me any mind, engrossed as they were with their own thoughts.

“Alright then, there's no point in waiting here any longer.” I spoke, getting to my feet somewhat unsteadily. I only then realized that I was incredibly hungry, but pushed it out of my mind. “Let's grab that little bugger, go find Sombra and do whatever it is we need to do, get Applejack and get out of here.”

The ponies all smiled to a varying degree at that, Pinkie Pie's wide and eager and Fluttershy's small and demure.

“Right.” Twilight said as she levitated Spike and put him on her back. The little dragon didn't seem to overly bothered by anything. I had to admit that I envied him for that slightly. “Although now that you mention it, there's something that I'm a little bit confused about.” she continued as we all stood up and started for the door where the ball of light would be waiting for us.

“What's that?” I asked as I stepped around the piles of clutter, careful not to slip on anything.

“Doesn't that thing have a name?”

There was silence for a moment as I paused with my hand outstretched towards the heavy metal handle, yet to grasp it. I looked at the ponies and dragon and they looked at me.

Damn it.

“A name?” The as of yet unidentified ball of light. For the first time that we stumbled across it, it's voice sounded something other than crazed angry or crazed gleeful. Now it just seemed confused. Very confused.

“Yes, your name. The name you go by.” Twilight Sparkle clarified pointedly.

“My name?”

“Yes, your name. Who else's name would I be speaking of?”

For the past five minutes, this is how their conversation had went as it led us through the dessicated remains of the castle. Currently, we were trudging our way through a narrow hallway that branched off in random directions and had a continuous line of pillars down the middle that depicted carved pictures of Sombra as he traversed a great battlefield, laying waste to his enemies wherever he went. Currently, we were passing a picture that showed the king literally ripping a pony in half with his magic. The artist clearly was very skilled, as the horror on the poor victim's face was so clear that I almost thought I could hear the screams in my head. Or maybe they were my screams. It was hard to tell really, I was still pretty wired from before, twitching and jumping at every random noise.

Twilight, for her part, was questioning, no, interrogating our guide about its identity as we made our way, avoiding the pillars, some of which looked near to falling. It, for for its part, had been bullheadedly avoiding her question by simply repeating it back to her in a supremely baffled fashion, as though the prospect of itself having an identity that extended beyond its purpose was the most alien thing in the world to it.

Which it probably is. Sombra made it after all, and I doubt he would have cared much to name it. Nobody names a hammer or a screwdriver. It's just a tool. I thought to myself through the still hot anger and anxiety that plagued my mind, only getting worse as I beheld the vivid pictures of death and destruction. Twilight did not seem to share the same thoughts. I took deep, quiet breaths through my nose to calm myself, but in barely helped

“Why ever would I have a name?” it asked her. I had to admit, I was genuinely surprised that it had gone as long as it had without telling her to shut up or warning her of her impending doom. Maybe it was learning to play nice all of a sudden? I highly doubted it.

“Because you exist? Because you have a sense of self considering you just referred to yourself as 'I?' Because everybody has names? Take your pick, they're all good reasons!” She replied hotly, clearly getting frustrated at the lack of progress she was making. Twilight Sparkle didn't strike me as the type who appreciated obstacles in her search for answers.

Spike, who was walking had switched from Twilight's back to sit on Rarity's, something that he seemed to immensely pleased about, scoffed. “Seriously dude, how do you not know your own name?” the little guy piped in. I couldn't help but blink at hearing him address it as 'dude.' It just seemed so bizarre.

“Because I do not have one, dragon whelp, that's why.” it snapped back, some of the acidity I had come to expect seeping back into its tinny, English sounding voice.

“Wooow...I've never met somepony without a name before” Pinkie remarked, looking closely at the floating ball with fascination as if seeing it in a whole new light. “That's so weird!”

The light recoiled from the pink pony. “Ech, stay back you vile creature! I am a creation born of the magics of the great king Sombra himself, I do not need, nor desire a name or title. Merely being what I am is honour enough! Assistant to King Sombra himself!”

There was silence for a moment as the ponies let that sink in. “Yeeah...I don't think that's going to work.” Rainbow Dash commented dryly, taking to the air with a flap of her wings and hovering above us as we moved forward, peering like a hawk at the light. “If we're gonna have you around, we need to know what to call you.” I rolled my eyes as she grinned. I had a feeling I knew where this derailed train was going to crash. “How about Grumpy?” she suggested. “Or Cranky?”

“I already know a donkey named Cranky, so we have to name it something else.” Pinkie chirped. She gazed at it thoughtfully for a moment. “Hmm...it's really shiiinny...” Her eyes widened. “Oooh, that's it! We'll name the little guy Shiny!”

“We need a better name than that, Pinkie dear.” Rarity commented, quickening her pace to where she walked side by side with her friend. “Something more regal, something with poise and artistry. How about...Luminesce?”

“Or maybe we could name it Angel...” A quiet voice commented. We all turned to stare at Fluttershy who squeaked at the sudden attention and hid behind her hair.

“I miss my animals...” she murmured. Pinkie Pie patted her on the back.

"What about Crabby?" Rainbow chimed in.

"Or Glowey!" Pinkie chirped.

"Shimmer would fit nicely as well..." Rarity suggested.

“The only one who has the authority to give me a moniker to be addressed by is none other than Lord Sombra himself.” the light said with irritation plain in its voice, and I really couldn't blame it.

There was a silence.“Well then, it looks like it's up to you big fella.” Rainbow Dash said, looking at me with a grin. “What do you want to name the little guy?”

I blinked. “Me? Why do I have to?”

Rarity looked at me pointedly. “It thinks that you're you-know-who, remember?”

“Oh. Right.” I rubbed my forehead with the heel of my palm I had been examining the pictures that covered the pillars. Cities burning, rulers laughing, and commoners dying held me interest far more than wherever this conversation was heading. “Sorry, my mind was somewhere else.” Truthfully, I didn't care much for the little glowing bastard. The only reason that it was around us was because it thought me to be Sombra, and I couldn't wait to be rid of it.

“Do I really have to give it a name? It's not like it's alive or anything. It's just a tool that we're stuck using for the time being.” I said, not caring that it could hear me. The ponies looked at me reproachfully.

“Just because it's not alive or was created by a megalomaniac doesn't mean it doesn't have feelings.” Twilight Sparkle said pointedly.

That's funny, because I'm pretty sure that's exactly what that means.

“Yeah, c'mon Kael! Name the little guy! It'll be so much easier then just calling him 'it!'” Pinkie urged.

She had a point there, I had to admit. “Alright, alright. Let me see...” I considered for a moment, running through a variety of names in my head, some of them rather...harsh for my own amusement.

“I've got nothing. ” I admitted after a moment. “I mean, what do you name something like this? It's not alive, it doesn't have any features, and it doesn't have a body. It's just a floating, amorphous, glowing...thing.”

Something occurred to me, and my eyes widened as my corner of my mouth turned up in a small grin, a rare thing for me to do these days. “Hey, there we go. 'Thing'. That's its name.” I turned to address the ball, my grin widening in my own amusement. “You are now to be known as Thing.”

Thing made its own imitation of a bow, lowering itself to the floor as a reverent tone crept into its voice. “As you say, My Lord.” it said, sounding as though I had given it a gift that it was unworthy for.

I turned to look at the ponies to find them staring at me blankly. “What?” I asked them, defensive of my decision. I thought it was a good a name, but they didn't seem to agree.

Twilight shook her head. “Well, I suppose it does fit well enough...sorta.” Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Spike chuckled softly to themselves as Rarity just shook her head. Fluttershy had a small smile on her face. She seemed to be smiling more often now that me had joined up with most of her friends.

My miniscule smile disappeared. Most of them...but not all.

I shook my head to rid myself of those poisonous thoughts. For a moment, I thought I heard the sound of laughter echoing from the hall far behind us, but when I turned, there was nothing.

“Alright Thing, how much longer until we get there?” I said quickly, snapping my head back forward before anybody could notice. It wasn't the first time I've heard voices that weren't there since we found this place, and I doubted it would be the last

“My sincere apologies, my lord. I'm afraid I am having some difficulty navigating through the castle as many of the passageways are obstructed by the debris and remains from your battle.”

Before I could catch myself, I spoke. “My what?”

Thing paused for a moment in the middle of the hall, and we all stopped around him. Even considering the fact that he had no face to convey expressions with, I could tell it was shocked from what I just said.

“Surely you jest, my lord?” Thing asked me with a nervous laugh. “Your great battle with those pathetic Alicorns that call themselves royalty? As foolish as they are, they still had a great deal of power at their disposal, and I'm afraid the castle took quite a large amount of damage from it. Of course, they were no match for you though, Lord Sombra. They never had a hope of defeating you, and you destroyed them with ease!” There was a moment of silence, me and the ponies casting each other sideways glances. Nobody knew quite what to say to that.

“Wait a mInuTe, that'S not r-r-r-rGht...” Thing mumbled, just loud enough for us to hear, stuttering wildly as its voice rose and fell unnaturally. “I thiNk that they...almOst a-a-a-actually....bUt that's imPoss-oss-oss-ossible...” His voice was distorting wildly, becoming garbled and strained to the point where I could barely understand what he was saying. Its luminescent body started to waver, the soft light that it was made of flickering as it went from dim, to bright, and then back again, repeating several times in the span of seconds. “HoW strange, mY lord...I s-s-s-seem to rememBer you actually b-b-beiNg-”

“Alright, that's enough of that then! No need to dwell on the past!” I said loudly, snapping its attention back to me. The others, I could see, were eyeing Thing warily and were backing away. Spike had a predatory look in his eye from his perch on Rarity's back, and his sharp little teeth were drawn to a snarl. Rainbow Dash was staring daggers at it as Fluttershy hid behind her, and the others looked ready to hightail it out of there in a moments notice. I myself could feel a prickle of fear raising the skin on the back of my neck. Something about the what just happened struck me as incredibly...wrong, and I couldn't exactly explain why. Something in the back of my mind, a feeling that I couldn't quite describe, was resonating strongly. It was like a single guitar string that was incredibly out of tune being plucked over and over again, discordant and worrisome.

Thing thankfully snapped back to normal as soon as I said that. “Of course, my King.” it replied smoothly. I gave a silent sigh of relief that I'm sure was echoed by the others. We quickly started following him again as he led through ruined corridors, crumbling hallways, and half destroyed rooms. The ponies went back to talking to each other, occasionally flicking a nervous eye back to Thing.

Twilight cast me a look that I could tell meant she wanted a word, so I subtly stepped closer to her as Thing focused on finding a way through the multitude of dead ends that we ran across. We fell back a bit so as not to be overheard.

“Whatever you do, do not let it know that you're not Sombra.” she said in a low voice. I didn't really need her to tell me that, but it certainly didn't hurt to confirm my suspicions.

“Why not?” I asked for curiosity's sake.

“Just now, when it was trying to remember the details of Sombra's duel, the magic that fuels it started going into flux and almost lost control completely. Had you not stopped it then and there, something disastrous could have happened.”

It struck me that the strange feeling that I had just then was similar to the one that I had back in the Crystal Empire, a tingling in the back of my mind that told me that magic was nearby when, in actuality, it was everywhere around us. Here, when Thing started to malfunction like that, the same thing that enabled me to sense the magic back then must have allowed me to realize that something was wrong. There were similarities between the two feelings, I realized, but the one in Crystal Empire hadn't filled me with dread.

I bit my lip. “Tch...this is the last thing I need.” I said, referring both to me being able to sense the magic, and as a result becoming closer and closer to being assimilated under Sombra's control, and the fact that our only ticket around the castle was a ticking time bomb.

Twilight nodded. “Yes, so let's just go along with whatever...nd hopefully nothi...will go wrong.”

I blinked. In the middle of her sentences there, there were a few moments where her words had just turned to gibberish and I hadn't understood what she was saying. I blinked and cocked my ear. “What was that?” I asked, leaning in a bit closer.

“I said, let's ju...with whatever it says...rything will...ine.”

I looked at her with confusion clear on my face. "What? I can't understand what you're saying."

Her eyes widened all of the sudden. “...ell! The spe...earing off! We...derstand each oth...ny more!” She whispered frantically. I was only able to catch a few words, but I quickly gleaned what she was trying to say.

Oh God... I thought in horror as it dawned on me. The translation spell...it's worn off.

I was about to say something, likely a loud curse that would have little effect on the ears of the others considering my words were once more completely alien to them, but a frantic hissing noise from Twilight stopped me. She shook her head quickly and shot a fearful glance at Thing who was leading dutifully. She grimaced in his direction and looked at me imploringly.

“For the love of God man, don't!” her expression screamed at me, eyes wide with fright.

I blinked, and then nodded. Me speaking would let Thing in on the fact that something was wrong with his 'King Sombra,' and I really didn't want to encourage any more of episodes like earlier. I could feel the headache from earlier creeping its way back to my skull, and I seriously had to resist the urge to scream at something.

Twilight whispered something unintelligible, and her horn lit up with magic as she looked at me intently, making sure not to draw the attention of the others. I looked at her curiously, her face straining in concentration as sweat beaded on her brow. After a moment, she let out a pained grunt, and there was a small flash of light.

My eyes crossed, and I started to see colours that weren't there. A dizziness similar to when one stands up too fast after sitting down for a prolonged period of time overcame me, causing me to sway on my feet. It took an enormous effort to not fall flat on my face.

I glared at Twilight who was now looking at me expectantly. She said something in a low voice, and when I didn't respond, cursed under her breath.

“I don't think it worked.” I whispered very needlessly when I realized she had been trying to re cast the universal translation spell. It appeared to be a bit more than she could handle at the moment, unfortunately, and I wasn't the only one who seemed affected by it. Her breathing was a bit deeper now, and I imagined it must have took something out of her.

I took a deep breath as rising swell of panic bubbled in my chest. My legs started to tremble and my jaw ached from clenching it too hard for too long. Mentally, I was exhausted, and physicallyI was damn near the same. Now I was in just as bad a situation as when I first arrived in this world. No ability to communicate beyond, confused and disoriented, and getting awfully close to simply laying down and giving.

“The dead have never been able to speak, so why should you be any different?”

I repressed a wave of bile as the voice pierced my mind with perfect clarity. It hadn't been the first time it had surfaced today, and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

I'm not dead yet. I thought back resolutely. I only got laughter in response.