//------------------------------//
// 6. In-security 
// Story: The Guardian 
// by Alexshy 
//------------------------------//

“Well, those are of course not the best clothes I’ve ever made,” Rarity examined Alex with an unusually modest expression on her face. “But at least they are decent… I even dare to assume decent enough to face a princess.”

“Though, if I were Celestia, I wouldn’t mind the alternate variant either,” she added in half-tone, yet audible enough for him.

“You’re joking,” Alex pretended, he didn’t hear the last remark. “If this is “decent enough”, then I wonder how excellent looks in your books.”

He checked himself in the mirror, Rarity held with her magic. Her vision of his clothes was simple and classy, perhaps she didn’t have enough time to let her imagination fly, but that was exactly fine for him. He sported now straight cut pants of the dark-green colour, Alex noticed that black was generally not very popular for clothes in Equestria, and a pristine white relaxed-fit shirt with long sleeves. Surely for a picky eye, he might look like a hero of an 80-s blockbuster in those, but considering circumstances given, it was almost a marvel that she could grasp the general concept of human clothing that fast. He couldn’t draw well to give her any examples and obviously had nothing left to show as such.

The underwear problem was solved by simply copying what he had for now. All newly-made boxers fitted perfectly, as Alex made sure by trying them in the bathroom. He carefully closed the door noticing Rarity following him with a rueful look.

“You’re a true genius, Rarity,” Alex kneeled to her eye level. “All those for less than a day. I have no words… really… I hope you have slept at least.”

“You’re too kind, darling,” she looked down demonstrating her eyelashes. “Those are simple enough, so I could easily make them, as long as I got the idea of what you needed. A few… how do you call them… boxers, a couple of shirts more, like that one, those pants and one more pair of a tougher fabric, in case you need something to work in. I didn’t have time to make any of those beautiful, sorry…”

“Look,” Alex smirked. “Excuse me, if I shock your aesthetic principles right now, but I’m not into those shiny trinkets anyway. In my world men prefer clothes being practical and fitting… mostly, so do I. I will be immensely grateful, if they stay that way, simple and comfortable.”

“Somehow I suspected you would say so,” Rarity wasn’t offended by his words and looked up to him appraisingly.

“I, for example, have no idea what to do with this,” Alex handed her a silk band with a shiny sapphire. “I suppose that’s a tie of some sort… but, kill me, if I know how to tie it properly.”

“Never was a fan of ties, to be frank,” he said in a half voice.

“Oh, that’s easy, darling,” Rarity laughed heartily. “Let me…”

She used her magic with extreme care, not to touch Alex with it, to make the tie slither under his shirt collar and form a proper knot. Then adjusted it a little.

“Not too tight I hope?”

“It’s perfect, thanks. But I won’t be able to repeat your magic in the morning or each time, when I will need to untie it then put on again,” confessed Alex. “And I doubt Fluttershy can either.”

With a faint frown Rarity looked into his eyes.

‘I will gladly do that for you anytime necessary when you move with me,’ she couldn’t hold that thought and blushed a little. Then she said instead.

“Actually I have bigger plans. I suppose you’ll need something sleeveless as well, and perhaps some fine clothes. And, of course, something warmer, as you don’t have natural coat… in case of cold weather,” Rarity seemed to mount her hobby-horse. “Besides we can try those… shorts that you mentioned. A-a-and… the socks shouldn’t be too different from those which fit ponies’ legs.”

“I don’t know what to do with your shoes though,” she suddenly dropped her enthusiasm. “We have boots here for some special conditions, like boots Applejack uses on her farm when there is more dirt than solid ground. But those differ from yours I suppose, and you can hardly find something fitting in the general stores.”

‘I sincerely hope that I’ll get home before I really need warm clothes or boots here,’ thought Alex meanwhile, but he didn’t say anything.

“I doubt I have enough experience to help you here,” Rarity continued to elaborate. “Maybe when you get to Canterlot and meet princess Celestia… then you can try contacting the maker of royal hoofwear. You know, the one who manufactures ceremonial hoofwear for princesses, he is surely more competent and may come up with some solution for you… especially if the princess supports your request.”

“Oh, I suppose my own boots won’t stop serving me for a while yet,” said Alex.

“And to tell the truth I have no faintest idea of how I can repay you for all those,” Alex ran his fingers through Rarity’s mane, so she started purring again. “I mean you’ve spent so much time and effort doing this for me… and plan to do more… and I have nothing to give you instead… for now at least. That doesn’t fit well with my principles.”

“Huh, I’m doing that of pure generosity, don’t you worry, darling,” huffed Rarity, while snuggling her head and neck into his hand.

“But if you insist, we can think of something later,” she shot him with a spear gaze from half-lidded eyes, so Alex stiffened inwardly getting ready for… just anything.
 
Fortunately, the door opened and Fluttershy flitted in. 

“How’s fitting going, pals?” she then noticed Alex’s new look and landed right next to him. “Oh, Alex, you look totally different now, I like that… n-not that I didn’t l-like how you looked before… I mean… if you’re OK with… oh, squee!” she seemed to lose the idea, suddenly turning embarrassed.

“S-so, do you… people, always go around l-like this?” she tried to defuse the situation, while Rarity chuckled quietly. “Because we… mostly use dresses for special occasions only.”

“More or less so,” answered Alex simply, putting a stray strand of pink hair off Fluttershy’s face and behind her ear. He then bowed towards Rarity. “Though I must admit I have never dressed with such a class lately.”

It was so amusing to watch, how her cheeks reddened through the perfectly white coat.

“And I’m happy you like it,” he added with his lips only, looking into Fluttershy’s eyes. Her ears perked joyfully.



The question of returning the favours somehow was still inevitable. And Alex was returning to it willy-nilly all the time after dinner. This time they were making it together, totally denying the proverb about two hostesses being unable to share one kitchen. Fluttershy could cook in addition to her other advantages and Alex was to admit that the soup was indeed delicious. He remembered that Elen was a completely non-cooking type of person, she couldn’t grasp the simplest things, despite all his attempts to teach her. They always laughed at that, but she realized, she was a total disaster at the kitchen.

“Damn,” Alex stumbled upon that thought. “Why this even came to your mind. Are you already comparing?”

He returned to the uneasy thought about repayment, while washing the dishes. He could keep his “guest” status for a week or two without that becoming plain impolite. Maybe longer, if the princesses demanded an investigation of his arrival to Equestria. But at the end of the day nopony owed him anything and leaving the things, as they were, would be abusing their hospitality. Alex was a realist and, despite he hoped for the best – fast solution of his problem, he also foresaw the less promising variants. From his departure being under long delay to… completely impossible. This one was a fair chance also.

As he said already, being a parasprite wasn’t in his plans. So what could he do to earn money in this world? Or repay in any other way for all those services and goods others generously offered.

Alex was good in managing informational systems, programming, even hardware engineering, but those would stay mostly unapplied here, as according to his knowledge, Equestria didn’t reach the stage of wide usage of personal or industrial electronics. The devices, he saw and heard about yet, were simple, nothing more complex than radio, and he still wasn’t sure about the amount of magic rather than technology put into the latter. The hardware part of his knowledge could be adapted though if he could simplify and widen it. Alex thought that he was lucky being a technical specialist, if he was a politician or economist, surviving here would be a greater challenge while being completely unclaimed.

Then a bright idea came to his mind. Alex remembered that he didn’t see any electrical appliances since he came to Equestria. Of course, there must be some, for example, the mentioned radio, but they were not widely used. He could assume that the whole process of producing electricity could be a problem here, perhaps involving too many resources or magic to succeed. He noticed that, despite being close to nature, ponies didn’t realize that useful energy could be produced using the simplest environmental effects like wind or water current. Moreover, this could be done harmlessly to nature.

“Of course, they got used to that style of living,” said Alex to himself. “And it would be hard enough to prove anypony that for example food can be cooked using electricity, or at least the fuel in the oven can be ignited with it instead of matches when they use fire all the time and cope perfectly. Nopony would see any advantage of an electric doorbell over an actual copper bell, and so on.”

“But there are things which could obviously benefit from this type of energy source,” he pondered. “Rarity’s sewing machine could be propelled by electricity, not her magic, thus she could concentrate the magic on something else and as the result could produce more complicated, thus outstanding dresses.”

“And there is of course lighting,” he couldn’t remember anypony mentioning lighting their houses any other way than with oil lamps, candles, torched, other things of that kind. “Ponyville would only benefit from that kind of “industrial breakthrough”.”

“If only I could make a simplest electric generator, attach it to the windmill preferably… though a water wheel could also fit, where applicable and the current allows. And then make some sort of electric bulb and hope for it to be stable enough. Propelling a sewing machine will be even easier.”

“But this calls for blacksmith work, woodworks and the hardest part – wiring,” he slowed down his enthusiastic planning a bit. “I will need to ask the princess for help… if she is ready to help anyway. I’m sure some facility will be able to produce wire of necessary diameter… still, I will need to think of insulation myself most likely.”

“Yet that can be an excellent start for actually being of some help and use here,” Alex felt as wide smile forms on his face.

“Hey, didn’t you plan to return home as fast as possible?” said a small voice inside. “And now you’re almost planning your future business in Equestria. Not to mention that it is nearly impossible without the good will of the princess and with your current… “top secret” status. You are not supposed to contact the locals freely… well, the majority of them.”

“Are you all right, Alex?” Fluttershy stopped brushing her long hair and watched him for a while already. “You’re wiping the same plate for a few minutes already. Is everything OK?”

“Oh,” Alex put the plate and the towel on the table. “I was just thinking about earning some money or compensating all that you girls have done for me otherwise somehow. Sorry, if I made you worried.”

“But why would you?..” Fluttershy seemed to genuinely wonder. “I mean we can afford, what we need… and both Twilight and Rarity are my… our friends, they said already, they were doing it disinterestedly.”

“Yes, your friends are great, Shy,” Alex tried to elaborate. “But that’s more about my feelings. I simply can’t allow myself to accept all this help, again and again, not returning anything instead. I don’t think that it is socially normal in Equestria when a… stallion lives at some mare’s expense. Back home we called such a person a gigolo.”

“Besides I really need to do something, to mean something… I don’t know how long I’ll stay here for, or even if I’m able to return home at all, yet I need to mean something, not be a decoration or a… pet.”

“Did I actually sound, like I was treating you as a pet?” Fluttershy let out a small sad smile. “I never tried to put it that way. Really… Sorry.”

“Look, I didn’t say you were treating me as a pet, Shy,” Alex felt regret for his outburst already. “There were just my expectations, you could take into account not. Not because you intended to…” he sighed.

“Yeah, I must have sounded terrible,” Fluttershy was noticeably upset and her eyes filled with tears. “I-I’m so sorry, Alex… I thought about it being so great now… when I’m with you… rather than your feelings about being locked and in suspense.”

Alex approached her chair, sat right on the floor and hugged her knees. Fluttershy looked at him surprisingly.

“Please, Shy, forgive me for sounding that harsh,” he said. “I didn’t mean to offend you. You the very least… You’re a real miracle, Shy, and I mean it. You were the best of what could happen to me when I got to Equestria, and I’m truly thankful for that. I just wanted to be on equal terms with you all… and… I guess I suck at expressing myself sometimes.”

“The inevitable result of spending more time with machines, than with… somepony like you,” Alex looked up into her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Fluttershy sniffed, wiped her eyes and then hugged Alex nuzzling his head. He felt so emotionally close to that girl. The more it scabbed in his heart at the thought that he was so eager to leave Equestria if it was possible.

“I understand,” she cooed. “I never thought about you as a pet, but I really should take your point of view into account. I know that doing nothing will be unbearable for you.”

“Somehow I knew that since the moment we met,” she whispered barely audible.

“So what did you come up with?” She asked lightly after a moment of silence. Alex stood up and grabbed another chair.

“Well… I thought about a couple of things. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I haven’t noticed that electricity is widely used in Ponyville for example…”

“Yes, we don’t have any means to collect it,” Fluttershy was evidently interested. “In Cloudsdale pegasi collect atmospheric electricity for their weather making purposes somehow and in Canterlot they use magic to produce it. I’m not familiar with the process though…”

“Collect?” now it was Alex’s turn to wonder. “So they namely gather electricity from the atmosphere, when there is enough, right?”

“And in Canterlot they need constant magic propulsion to generate any?”

“Yeah, something like that,” Fluttershy nodded.

“I was actually going to suggest making it out of nothing,” Alex smirked. “I mean using the power of wind or water current to generate electricity. Nopony would need to look for lightning or constantly apply magic this way.”

“And this could be easily used to light the houses, or run the sewing machine, or mix and churn… just anything at Pinkie’s bakery,” he continued describing all the benefits. “So I could finally show my gratitude to those, who helped me… and earn some money, in case I’m staying here for an undefined period.”

“So you could stop paying for me,” he added with a smile. “But I could buy you a present instead!”

Fluttershy produced a small surprised squeak and looked slightly embarrassed, but Alex didn’t notice and continued less cheerfully.

“But this all needs lots of hard work, and while it’s neither a problem nor a let down for me, it still calls for princess help… as I won’t be able to find necessary materials without that. Besides I can do nothing, while I need to keep my presence here in secret.”

“And that applies to everything, I could think of as something to start with,” he added while absently watching Angel entering the room and jumping onto Fluttershy’s knees, the little tod expected some stroking. “Just every simple work. Applejack needs help with her farm, the local blacksmith can probably provide some job as well… but everything needs me to go out and communicate. Except maybe rewriting stuff for Twilight…”

“But she rarely needs that, besides this would make me run on the walls from boredom soon anyway,” Alex chuckled sadly.

“I hope everything becomes easier after you meet princess Celestia,” there was more confidence in Fluttershy’s words than in her tone. “Yet, I’m afraid, it won’t be the simplest task to gain her trust. But she needs to think about her subjects first, of course…”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” smirked Alex. “And I’m an alien.”

*

TINK! Something hit her window lightly. TINK! TINK!

Apple Bloom put away her toys and cautiously approached the windowsill.

TINK! A small stone hit the glass again, somepony was trying to gain her attention from below. Apple Bloom opened the window and looked out. She saw Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo standing in the yard and looking up to her.

“Psst!” Sweetie Belle waved her hoof. “Are you coming, little Apple? I’ve found something,” she added in a loud whisper.

Scootaloo impatiently jumped on the place. Whatever it was, it seemed that Sweetie Belle was going to share only with both friends at once, and Scootaloo was dying from curiosity.

“I’m coming,” Apple Bloom closed the window. She trotted downstairs, peeked into the kitchen and told Granny Smith, they would be gathering in their club tree house.

“Would you like to take your lunch with you?” Granny Smith called after her.

“Oh, no, no, thanks, granny,” little filly answered over her shoulder, heading to the door. “I’ll come back later for lunch.”

When she got outside, she quickly ran to her friends on the other side of the house.

“What? What did you find?” asked she Sweetie Belle while regaining her breath.

“Not here! Let’s go to the clubhouse,” Sweetie Belle cocked her head with such a familiar motion, just like her sister. She was obviously proud that her personal investigation didn’t come fruitlessly.

“Sweetie Belle managed to dig out something really interesting,” Scootaloo almost jumped over her head, when they headed into the depth of the apple garden.

When the girls reached the tree house and got up the ramp, Sweetie Belle closed the door and drew the curtains, putting the house into mysterious twilight.

“Well, girls, that’s a bomb!” she whispered loudly with her eyes sparkling. “Rarity hid everything too well and I didn’t have much time to look,” she was visibly embarrassed by the fact she was to dig her older sister belongings, but the temptation to unearth the secret was too high. “But she forgot those two under her pillow. I wonder why…”

Sweetie Belle opened her saddle bag and pulled a couple of paper sheets out. She smoothed them out on the table and girls bent over them.

“Well… That’s definitely…” breathed out Apple Bloom. “I mean we can now say for sure Rarity and Fluttershy are not a thing. Rarity is rather into…”

“… apes!” exclaimed Scootaloo. 

“What?” she shrugged under the grumpy gaze of Sweetie Belle. “That looks like monkey… But a smooth and furless one. Although, the face is nothing like a monkey, to be honest… It’s kinda handsome I must admit.”

“Look at those muscles,” squeaked Sweetie Belle. “It must be really big compared to the armchair it sits on. Oh, dear, I now understand, why she was stitching those strange large shirts…”

“I’d rather say it’s “he”,” concluded Scootaloo funnily wrinkling her nose.

The drawing on the table portrayed a human figure, sitting in the armchair facing the observer. It was completely naked, except a small towel draping the private area, but with such minimalism that it seemed to reveal more than it covered. The careful sculpting of the muscles on the figure and overall attention to anatomy detail revealed the loving hoof, which made the drawing. In reality, Alex could reach that effect only flexing on purpose and not while sitting most likely, but some loving eye caught and emphasized each advantageous detail of the figure while retouching small flaws.

Three fillies felt, as their necks and cheeks started getting hot.

Sweetie Belle woke up and put the sketch aside, opening another to their eyes.

“Look here!”

This one made them blush instantly. The same creature was drawn here laying on a couch, draped the same minimalistic way, but this time there was a unicorn laying next to him and leaning over almost touching his lips with her own. A few precisely depicted facial features and curly mane clearly said it was Rarity leaning over that creature, touching his shoulder with her hoof. His fingers ran through her mane while another hand rested on her flank.

“Wow!” Scootaloo could only say with a sly smile. “So they are hiding this there!”

“Errmmm…” started Apple Bloom.

“Hey, girls, you’re here. Ah was looking for ya, Apple Bloom. Ah needed help in the barn and granny said that you were having your usual meeting.”

Three fillies jumped on the spot looking at Applejack, who just entered their tree house. They tried to hide the drawings on the table behind their backs, but Applejack spotted something right from the door.

“What do you have there?” her senses didn’t fail her and she approached the table.

Applejack stood there like hit by the thunderbolt. She felt as her cheeks became red.

“Tarnation!” she muttered, then gritted her teeth. “Twilight told meh, but Rarity couldn’t be more light-headed…”

“Look, girls,” she grabbed both sheets and rolled them into a tube, then turned to face the silenced fillies. “Ah feel that we all have something to explain each other. But naturally, you should start…”

“Sorry, sis,” squeaked Apple Bloom with a guilty look on her face. “We meant no harm. We just thought that you, big girls, were hiding something from us and… We thought it was kinda unfair.”

“When Ah was of yar age,” frowned Applejack. “Adults hiding something from the kids meant one thing only – that the kids were not supposed to see that! Ah seriously can’t understand, how did you…”

“It’s all my fault, Applejack,” Sweetie Belle stepped forward. “I’ve sneaked upon my sister and took those drawings from her room. I’m really, really sorry…”

“Where exactly did you find those?” Applejack interrupted her.

“I took them from under her pillow,” the filly replied sheepishly. “I supposed that I could find something important there if my sister was passionate about some subject and she was evidently under strong inspiration.”

“Will you tell Rarity everything?” she hanged her head low. “I know you are to do that. She will be mad at me,” she sighed heavily and sniffed.

Applejack looked down on the girls. Surely they bucked up, but she knew, how this could be turned into an advantage. She was thinking hard, how the essential truth could be told without revealing the detrimental details.

“OK, girls, you all understand that Ah will tell others that you’ve found out, what you were not supposed to. And Ah am to tell Rarity, where it roots. But…” she made an emphasizing pause. “But we can tell that you came across those sketches accidentally. Like if they were on the floor or peeking from under the pillow.”

“But this is as much as Ah can do for you. Ah will need to make a big deal with myself about that already and convince that half-truth is not a lie,” added Applejack.

“Ah will cover up yar little tails, girls. For the last time!” she said meaningfully. “But on one condition only – you keep yar mouths shut about all this.”

“And Ah mean that!” she made the scary eyes. “Nopony, except us six… and now you, should know anything about the human.”

“About what?”

“Look, girls, it’s hard to explain shortly, but Ah’ll try,” Applejack rubbed her forehead shifting her stetson back. “Fluttershy met that creature, that human in the Everfree a few days ago. He saved her life actually, but got wounded and she took him with her and treated his wounds.”

“He is not an animal, he is sentient, can talk and… well, he is generally like us all,” she explained to the girls listening to her with their mouths open. “He is from another world sorta… Ah don’t know exactly how he is able to understand or speak our language, but… take it as given. He wants to get back home, as Twilight told me.”

“But why the secrecy?” squeaked Scootaloo.

“Hey, hey, hold yar mules,” smirked Applejack. “Ah didn’t finish yet.”

“Two main things you three should know and remember,” she continued. “First, this is a mythic… well not so as of now… creature from another world. Get it? Another. World! He is resistant to all kinds of magic, as Twilight says, moreover he absorbs magic applied to him.”

“He can drain yar energy in a wink, if you try to fiddle yar magic with him,” Applejack turned to Sweetie Belle. “And Ah’m not trying to scare you, that’s just a warning.”

“And the second thing,” she said in complete silence. “It’s princess Celestia privilege – to decide what to do with him. She wants to investigate his case thoroughly, to find out, if he is a danger to Equestria and if he can be returned to his home world. So naturally, until she states that ponies should know about his existence, nopony should know about him, except those who do already.”

“You were not supposed to find out,” Applejack added after a pause. “Just imagine how the princesses could be disappointed with you.”

Three fillies stood in front of her with their eyes lowered and ears flattened.

“Of course, Ah will need to inform my friends about you finding out that secret. But Ah won’t tell how exactly you did,” Applejack told them with a reassuring smile. The girls looked up to her with sudden hope shining in their eyes. “Ah will need you girls to help me. Sweetie Belle, tell Rarity we need to meet at Twilight’s at eight. Scootaloo, please, find Dash and tell her the same. And it’ll be great if after helping me here you can ask Fluttershy to come, Apple Bloom,” she turned to her sister.

“But,” Applejack made the most strict face she could manage. “If you fail that and tell anypony… or moreover, spring another surprise like that… and Ah make sure Rarity invents a fitting punishment and even give her some advice about it. Ah hope you understood me right, Sweetie Belle.”

“Yes, Applejack,” squeaked Sweetie Belle guiltily. “Thank you… for covering our debacle… again…”

“Just don’t make another one,” warned Applejack, then muttered aside under her breath. “And Ah would rather give Rarity a good slap. But who might think…”

“Oh, one more thing,” she remembered. “Sweetie Belle, return please those exactly where you took them from. No need to pay them more attention though!”

She handed the papers to Rarity’s younger sister and raised an eyebrow in a hinting manner. Then trotted outside.

“Ah still need your help, Apple Bloom,” the girls heard her call.

“I better go,” fussed the younger sister.

“So that was why Rarity was almost dancing the last two days, everything was flying in her hooves and she seemed to get special inspiration. She fell in love with… extraequestrian creature!” giggled Sweetie Belle.

“Yeah, your sister seems to completely lose her head,” Scootaloo remembered the drawings and snorted, feeling how colour hit her cheeks again. “Don’t give that out to her though, otherwise I don’t envy you.”

*

That evening the Oak Library looked rather crowded. Applejack asked all the girls to come for a serious talk and Twilight, who was generally informed about the subject, was still puzzled about the urgency and details. Rainbow Dash, who came the first, right after Applejack, seemingly had no idea about there being any problem, as she got to the bookshelf with Daring Do series, chose a book and conveniently placed herself right on the floor nearby. She already managed to fall out from reality, as Spike was to ask her thrice if she would like some tea. She muttered something ambivalent and Spike waved his hand, fairly supposing that she would join others and choose, what she wanted… if she wanted.

Fluttershy came next and was constantly lamenting that she left Alex busy with all household without help (even if it meant merely cleaning up after dinner). Besides last time she left him with Angel alone at home, Angel dug out an old darts game somewhere and they made quite a few pinholes on the front door surface. Alex swore that he would patch them up, as soon as he was able to get to the town. Fluttershy still worried that those two might invent some other crazy entertainment.

Then Pinky joined the meeting and Applejack had a hard time, trying to hold her impatient and curious friend from jumping around the room and asking questions, Applejack wasn’t going to answer before everypony, including the “hero of the incident”, came. Then Pinkie turned her attention to Fluttershy asking her something about the human and Applejack could take a breath.

Rarity came the last and, perhaps, she felt that it smelled of roast, as she was unusually quiet and laconic.

“OK, girls,” started Twilight when she saw that even Rainbow Dash put away the book unwillingly and listened. “Applejack asked everypony to come, as she has a serious question to discuss. All I know is that it is human-related. So, dear, if you please…”

“Yeah… Thanks, Twi,” Applejack raised her stetson a bit and rubbed her forehead. “It’s a bit complicated, girls… You all know about the human, and that his existence is still a secret for the majority… for different reasons. Not my idea and not Fluttershy’s… But Ah guess princess has a point preferring to keep it that way.”

Rainbow yawned stealthily.

“Is it about “Welcome to Equestria, Alex” party?” Pinkie jumped on her place eagerly.

“Oh, dear, not again…” whispered Fluttershy while her pupils became pinprick.

Rainbow huffed disapprovingly, but only Twilight seemed to notice. She watched Rainbow Dash reaction with investigator’s interest though.

“No, Pinkie, not yet. It’s not the best time for,” smirked Applejack. “But if the things keep going this way, we may simply face that “party” just happening sooner or later.”

“As you know,” she continued looking at the puzzled faces of her friends. “Only us six were supposed to know about the human… at least until princess Celestia makes any other decision.”

“But a few, or should Ah say, three exact ponies found out our secret.”

In the sudden silence the teaspoon, Spike dropped in the cup, sounded like a thunder strike.

“But… How?” he scratched the back of his head with the claw, then turned to Twilight. “You said he was not leaving the house and…”

“Oh, no…” Fluttershy put a hoof to her mouth. “But I’m sure nopony saw him except you girls and Lyra… At least I-I did my best… to keep everything in secret… Squee!”

“I was expecting something alike,” muttered Twilight pessimistically. “It’s Ponyville…”

Rainbow Dash soared with the “I told you there will be problems with that human” look on her face.

Pinkie murmured something under her nose and seemed to be completely uninterested, but those who knew her well could tell that she heard everything perfectly, just didn’t find it necessary to react at that moment. 

Rarity wasn’t calm, but she hardly worried more than any other girl, and Applejack concluded that Sweetie Belle managed to return the sketches in time without any problems.

“Ah mean it’s easy to guess, who exactly,” continued Applejack, when everypony looked at her again expectantly. “We already have met the consequences of their… investigations.”

Twilight closed her eyes with a deep sigh, as it appeared that her suspicion was coming true.

“As we all know, Rarity was helping… Alex with his clothing problem,” Applejack turned to Rarity, noticing that the latter blinked and stiffened. Dash huffed once again at the mentioning of the human’s name. “And she made some measurements and… sketches to stitch him something fitting.”

Rarity’s eyes gazed at the floor at the word “sketches”, Applejack sent Twilight a meaningful look. Spike looked from one to another and the third and back again, not noticing that he was pouring the tea on the table instead of the cup. Then he woke up, noticed his mistake and blushed, wiping the small pool quickly.

“So today Sweetie Belle came across one of those sketches by pure accident,” Applejack continued while Rarity’s cheeks were almost on fire. “And she found it very interesting, noticing somepony completely different than usual on the stitching sketch,” she emphasized the word “stitching” and noticed, how it made Rarity relax a bit.

“Naturally she shared her observations with her club mates… And they were guessing what that could be when I caught them upon that in their club house…”

“Of course,” Fluttershy slapped her forehead and a guilty look appeared on her face, despite being uncalled for. “They sneaked in the garden when you came for the first time,” she turned to Rarity. “But I’m sure they haven’t seen anything at that time. Maybe… just got extremely suspicious about us… behaving s-strange…”

“Tricky little squirts!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash flying up to the ceiling, her expression was rather approving than condemnatory. Twilight rolled her eyes.

“Well…” Applejack stumbled trying to avoid the delicate details and keep that unnoticed simultaneously. “Ah simply was to explain them everything in brief and make them swear they keep it shut…”

“Did they do the Pinkie Promise?”

“Pinkie!..” Twilight frowned. “That’s a bit more serious than you treat it.”

“What? At least they wouldn’t dare to break…”

“… Ah decided, it would be better, than if they started to ask or poke their noses, where they were not supposed to,” Applejack seemed to ignore Pinkie’s suggestion. “So now they know that we have extraequestrial sentient creature, which is magic resistant and practically dangerous if you apply magic to him.”

“They want more information for themselves, but Ah made it clear that we share what possible, only if nopony spills the beans.”

“Meanwhile we must think, what we can do to avoid further… revelations,” Twilight looked around at everypony. Applejack nodded.

“And what’s there to think about?” Rainbow Dash seemed to decide everything already and just waited to suggest. “I’m one hundred per cent positive that we should just lock him till the princess decides what to do with this… human.”

Fluttershy gasped. Rarity evidently wasn’t sure, if that was a good idea. And Twilight seemed to share their pessimism.

Pinkie was totally occupied by tea and cakes, but Spike, who was listening all the time very carefully, asked.

“But isn’t it practically what you are doing to him already? I mean, he has been stuck in the house anyway.”

“Ah guess,” sighed Applejack. “And if we agree with Dash, that will mean no getting out of the house during the day time, when somepony may notice him while passing Fluttershy’s cottage simply, no peeking out of the windows to wave goodbye as well, and he must stay hidden if anypony except us comes to visit Fluttershy…”

“But that’s awful!” Fluttershy’s eyes filled with tears. “Alex is not a monster or a threat of any sort.”

“Huh?” Rainbow landed next to her and patted Fluttershy’s back. “Flutters, pal, if you can deal with Manticore, that doesn’t mean everypony else can… and last time I heard you exactly saying those words while treating a Manticore like a kitten.”

“That won’t be necessary for long,” said Applejack, seeing that Fluttershy became completely upset by the seemingly unfair measures. “Celestia is going to address him soon as Ah understand.”

“I suggest,” Rainbow elaborated her idea meanwhile. “That only Fluttershy and Twilight deal with the human for the time being. Until Celestia finds out what to do with him. I for sure won’t object!” she smirked.

“I’m still to finish some clothes for him,” Rarity frowned, the idea to stay without her “inspiration source” didn’t rub her feelings well. “So count me in visiting him from time to time anyway.”

“Why are you so unfair to him, Dash?” asked Fluttershy barely audible.

“Who says I’m unfair,” huffed Rainbow. “I’m just being careful… He is an alien if you haven’t yet noticed.”

“And under “alien” I’ve meant somepony who thinks different, feels different and can spring some surprise anytime. Until proved otherwise, I will stick to my words – I don’t trust him… and I advise you against doing that blindly.”

“I feel otherwise,” whispered Fluttershy that nopony except Dash heard her.

“Ha-ha, Flutters,” Rainbow hugged her friend, she surely meant well… but the method was what Fluttershy didn’t like. “You know, sometimes good judgment is all that we need to save us from our “feelings”!”

“So,” Twilight stood up. “I don’t like this as much as you do Fluttershy, but… let’s round it up. Who’s for the lockout?”

Rainbow raised her hoof immediately, Applejack didn’t hesitate for long as well. Pinkie yawned and said something that made everypony look down in embarrassment.

“I’ll pass. We seem to forget to invite Alex to our meeting… and now deciding, what to do with him… without him. Yeah, I’ll pass.”

“I sincerely think that it’s better to keep everything the way it is now,” said Fluttershy quietly. “No need to emphasize any restrictions just to make him feel more uncomfortable than he does. I guess that’s a “No”.”

“I’m with Fluttershy,” Rarity cocked her head after a minute of thinking. Fluttershy gave out a small smile. “Not because I want to see Alex. Not only because,” she whispered in Fluttershy’s ear.

“Well, if my vote counts…” Spike coughed quietly clearing his throat. “I’ll pass as well. Don’t know him well enough, but for what I know, he seems a nice guy. Locking him out would be unfair…”

Twilight let out a deep tired sigh. Why it was always her to make the decision? Especially when the decision looked outright unpopular.

“Sorry, Fluttershy,” she raised her hoof as well. “I believe it would be better if only we two… OK, three, including Rarity, contact Alex, before princess Celestia takes the case in her hooves. And safer for… everypony.”


Fluttershy soon left the meeting with the feeling that things could hardly go worse. One thing was to take simple natural precautions, but locking anypony out is a totally another story. Rarity wanted to support her and walk home, but Applejack asked Rarity for a private word, so Fluttershy headed home alone. She didn’t mind though, it was the moment when she wanted to stay with her thoughts on her own.

“Look, my friend,” Applejack made sure that other girls were minding their own business or enjoying the baking, before addressing Rarity. “Ah can understand yar interest in… Alex as… extraequestrian creature, though it suits Twilight more. Ah can even understand yar… errmmm… personal interest in him. We’re all ponies at the end of the day and for each their own.”

Rarity blushed and Applejack almost noticed, how she was guessing which details about her crush were known.

“But at least make sure that your sister doesn’t come across something, fillies don’t need to see,” Applejack continued in half-tone.

“What’s wrong with stitching sketches?” hissed Rarity, she tried to keep a good face in a bad game.

Now it was Applejack’s turn to show embarrassment. She almost broke up but managed to find the way out.

“Ah know yar easily enthralled nature, Rarity. Ah am sure there are more of ‘em!” Applejack raised one eyebrow.

“Yeah, he-he… You got me here, AJ,” Rarity sported a sheepish smile. “I’ll try to keep Sweetie Belle out of all that, sorry.”

“Not only her, but you can also easily make Flutters and Twi responsible for a fail, they aren’t guilty of.”

Rarity nodded with a sigh. 

*

“Damn it!”

The sneaky wick didn’t want to get under the roller no matter what, and the lack of simple instruments was a total disaster. But Alex was ready for that, it would be excessively optimistic to think that Fluttershy had screwdrivers, tweezers and so on in her house. He was limited to a thin knife in his repairs.

The mere idea of doing nothing was killing him. Alex got used to working during the daytime… or entertain himself on weekends. Here though all his duties were very limited and he managed to complete the job fast enough to suffer from boredom. When Fluttershy was at home they could talk, but when she wasn’t time crawled slowly and aimlessly. Alex tried to read, but he caught himself on becoming nervous no matter what. And when he took a book on gardening, he noticed that he was going through one place, again and again, trying to find known terms.

The thoughts about his possible return relying mostly on the image, he was going to create, and Celestia’s good will, didn’t leave his mind. For all he knew about Celestia, she was a nice… pony generally but… that was her attitude towards her kin. Besides he knew that she preferred to award only well deserved, in other words, one should at least start solving their problems to be granted some regal help. And Alex had no idea where to start in his case.

Thus when he came across a broken oil lamp, he grabbed it as a treasure. At least something could distract him from nervous leisure. But this damned wick…

The knife was obviously too big to reach something that prevented it from scrolling. Alex searched the kitchen lockers one more time and finally found an awl.

“Aha!” He attacked the mechanism opening for the wick with the newly obtained weapon.

Some hard slag showered from the slit, that was obviously what prevented the whole thing from working properly. When Alex was blowing it out and looking through the cleaned hole to the light, he heard the front door opened and somepony slowly came through.

“That’s me, Alex,” something in Fluttershy’s voice made Alex put all the stuff aside.

He watched, how she entered the kitchen, deep into her thoughts, which weren’t bright, as her head was down and her mane and tail seemed tarnished. Fluttershy placed herself on the chair and leaned on the table, putting her chin on both hooves and looking sadly afar.

Alex came closer and put his hand on her shoulder.

“What’s wrong, Shy?” he asked simply, trying to sound most sympathetic. “I thought you were going to meet the girls. Did something happen?”

Fluttershy sighed and looked up to his eyes. Then she suddenly snuggled into him and Alex was to stand closer. He stroked her mane waiting for the answer. 

“Yes… and no. I-I don’t know how to put it right…” sniffed Fluttershy ruefully. She kept silence for a while.

Alex reached another chair and grabbed it, dragging it closer. He then sat next to Fluttershy, still hugging her.

“Come on, girl, tell me. Somepony offended you?” 

Fluttershy nuzzled his shoulder gently.

“Not me, you…” she tried to find words to explain. “Some fillies, Rarity’s and Applejack’s younger sisters and their friend, found out there is a human in Equestria, that means you.”

“Fillies,” Alex smiled inwardly. “Kids are always kids, and everywhere.”

“What could possibly be wrong with that?” he asked. “Unless they start telling everypony… but I doubt there is another Lyra Heartstrings in Ponyville, or a few…”

“That’s the point. And if you listen to the whole story, before asking…” Fluttershy frowned slightly.

“OK, OK, I shut up. Do tell.”

“Rarity’s sister, Sweetie Belle, came across some of Rarity’s sketches. Supposedly stitching sketches for your clothes… B-but I know Rarity, if she is… “inspired”…”

Alex sighed, understanding what she was talking about.

“Then she shared her discovery with her friends, Apple Bloom, Applejack’s sister and Scootaloo. They are classmates and run the club – Cutie Mark Crusaders… But… that’s another story…”

“Well, they didn’t know, my existence was a secret,” Alex apologized for the girls.

“Yeah… That wouldn’t make explaining it to Celestia easier… Anyway, Applejack “caught” them on discussing the sketches, thankfully between them three only yet. She made them swear, they wouldn’t tell anypony else yet… and promised to share information about you with them, when possible,” Fluttershy facehoofed, understanding how it sounded. “I’m sorry, Alex, if that makes you feel like a showpiece. Really sorry!”

“Well,” Alex smirked. “That’s not my worst experience here. I’m sure, I can cope with it. But I still fail to see, what I should be offended by.”

“Alex!..” Fluttershy cocked her head, as he was interrupting her still. Then she turned embarrassed again. “I-I need to apologize for the girls. D-don’t think of them worse… than they really deserve…”

“It was Celestia’s order to keep your presence in secret and thus we were to conform,” she rushed to explain. “And while today we stopped them in time, nopony could guarantee that nopony else would notice you accidentally. This was where the worst part started,” she sighed sadly and Alex stroked her head again. “Rainbow suggested that nopony except me and Twilight should see you. Moreover, she suggested that you shouldn’t leave the house before the princess decided what to do with you. I know that it is what you’re practically doing now anyway, but… one thing is when you realize the need, and another – when you’re forced to stick to some rule. Rainbow first would be mad about the latter applied to her.”

“Well, I can’t say, I’m very much surprised,” Alex gritted his teeth. But Fluttershy looked so miserable, he didn’t want to upset her even more. Besides, it wasn’t her fault. Alex squeezed out a smile. “I’m an alien… and need to be treated with extreme caution. Not every pony is such a daring soul like you, Shy!”

Fluttershy smiled, her nose became pinkish.

“We voted, can you imagine,” she looked down to the table with her ears flattening. “I was against that of course… So was Rarity.”

Alex huffed, but the next phrase caught him by surprise

“Pinkie said she would pass, as we decided what to do with you without you actually. Spike also passed, saying the whole thing looked wrong to him.”

“So, it was Rainbow’s idea and she voted for,” Fluttershy said quietly after a moment of silence. “Applejack joined her, but I suppose… she just didn’t want to deal with another incident like with girls. And Twilight…”

“Don’t apologize, Shy,” Alex stopped her. “I understand Twilight, among you all she is second after you, who takes most pressure and stress. She is a princess, so technically shares the responsibility of Celestia… besides, she is Celestia’s best student. It’s not her fault that things are turning that way… But why Rainbow hates me?” 

“Alex,” Fluttershy looked up at Alex’s gloomy face. “P-please, don’t say so… She is not… hating you, she is just a bit…”

“…xenophobic?” Alex smirked grimly.

“Ye-eah… That’s the word…”

They listened, as a night butterfly bumped against the window.

“OK,” Alex broke the silence first. “I got it. I’ll be a good human and won’t poke my nose outside… yet. And try my best that nopony else notice or hear me.”

“Alex!”

“I’m fine. More or less…” her expression was so gentle and caring that Alex couldn’t hold a smile. “Look what I have found.”

He turned and moved the lamp parts closer. Now the wick entered its place under roller freely and Alex accurately, not to spill the remaining oil, reassembled the whole lamp. He then rotated the handle, readjusting the wick, waited a couple of minutes, letting the oil come up and lighted the wick.

“Thank you!” Fluttershy watched the small flame, while Alex put the glass back on the lamp, then raised her eyes on him. “I was going to take it to the workshop.”

“Are you sure, you’re fine?” she asked once more, still seeing a shadow on his face.

“Ugh!” Alex shook his head. Then he turned to face her and said. “Let’s just forget about that for now, OK? It was a long day and now it’s late. We both need some sleep.”

Fluttershy leaned to him and rested her head on his chest. Alex nuzzled her hair, inhaling the flowery aroma.

*

The bright moon peeked through parting clouds and poured liquid silver onto the forest. The warm breeze touched the trees making their leaves whisper hastily. Alex had no idea how he got here. He looked around, when his eyes accommodated to the twilight, the moonlight can’t come through the crones entirely. Apparently, he was in the Everfree, but he can’t recognize the place even approximately. And the darkness didn’t help it either. 

“Great,” thought Alex. “If I learned something during my staying in Equestria, then it is for sure – Do. Not. Be. Surprised. Ever!”

“Either this is another utterly strange thing happening, not the first and I suppose not the last, or I’m dreaming again. Last time I found myself in princess’ Luna bedroom, now what?”

The dream was the easiest explanation, but Alex couldn’t help noticing that all the feelings were too vivid for a sleeping person. Alex listened to the cicadas concert with some night bird soloing in the distance. The grass rustled softly under his feet. The wind, which he felt on his face, brought some tart and exhilarating scent, Alex thought it was somewhat familiar, but he couldn’t recognize it still. 

He decided to go towards the source of that familiar smell. Besides, the ground lowered noticeably in that direction. Alex walked through the forest, stepping over the fallen trees and noticing that he produced way less noise than he normally did in the same conditions. But when he tried to touch himself, he felt it perfectly. He even pinched himself slightly to find that it hurts as always, but apparently, that didn’t make him wake up. So if it was his dream, it was a very strange yet realistic one.

The forest thinned meanwhile and the ground inclined more and more in the direction he was heading. Just when Alex wondered, if the realistic dream included realistic wolves or… it was a very unwelcome idea… manticores, the trees parted and he stepped into the wide opening brightly lit by the moon.

A deep cleft opened right at the edge of the forest and went further and deeper guarded by the trees on both sides. At least there was some path unlike in the forest which seemed all the same here; so Alex went down that slope.

Soon the cleft became more like a canyon and Alex noticed that he got about sixty feet lower than the rest of the forest. Strangely he didn’t feel any unease about that or the whole situation. Maybe the faint glow, coming from behind the turn of that cleft, calmed him and attracted at the same time.

When he reached the dead end, Alex found himself in a large natural chamber. Irregular in shape it was framed with the tree crones far above and lit by the moon. But that wasn’t what made Alex’s heart skip a beat.

There was a giant tree in the far end of that “chamber”, it was the biggest Alex saw in his life. Or at least one of the two, as Alex immediately remembered the tree near that damned road turn, where he was taken to Equestria from. This one thought was even larger, more than sixty feet high, its crone must be on the same level the crones of common trees above were.

Alex was absolutely sure, this one wasn’t nearly common. In addition to its size it looked simply… Alex thought that he couldn’t find a better fitting term, even if he tried – magical. The whole crone was rather silvery than green, almost glowing, the enormous trunk and branches were of the same colour, silvery roots covered the ground. The glow seemed slowly pulsating as if the tree had a heart. Or perhaps it was the heart itself, of the Everfree for example, or…

He found himself standing there with an involuntary happy smile, looking up to that miracle of nature. The sudden feeling of serenity, of peace and… harmony filled him.

“Merlin’s pants!” Alex was struck by that lightning-like guess. “It can’t be… the Tree of Harmony! If it is, then it’s the heart of not only Everfree but rather the whole land… or even the planet.”

Alex approached the trunk which looked like a silver column twelve feet in diameter. Back at home, he was never able to stand near a really high tree and look up to the top as he immediately imagined the whole height of it… and heights and Alex didn’t come together well. Here though he caught himself on looking up to that forest monarch without any phobia clawing his soul. It seemed that the tree would chime if someone touched it.

Unable to hold that impulse Alex stretched out his hand and touched the glowing bark. It felt surprisingly warm, not as some usual hard wrinkly bark of a common tree did.

“Greetings, Guardian!”

Alex heard the soft melodic voice deep in his head. 

“WHAT?!” Despite the evident oddity of the whole situation, he always treated the bodiless voices in one’s head as something to be worried about. Alex twitched and stepped back, removing his hand from the trunk. He breathed heavily but heard the light steps behind nevertheless.

Alex turned around quickly, readying himself to any surprise this strange place might provide. But all he saw was a human figure stepping out of the shadows cast by the cleft wall. When it came closer, Alex saw that it was a woman. Moreover, the very familiar woman or better say the girl as Alex noticed that she looked young and graceful. Exactly the girl Alex already saw in the dream about himself and Elen visiting the ocean coast. The dream where he came to the coast with Elen, but then found himself holding Fluttershy in his hands.

She approached letting him notice the dark-blue long noble dress, the long hair of seemingly all colours of the night sky, the blue shades on upper eyelids and the whole beautiful face with clearly delineated features. Yet when she smiled, her cheeks rounded almost childishly.

Alex stepped forward unconsciously, he was amazed to see another human here, especially such a pretty girl. His eyesight blurred a bit and when he regained focus… he saw a night coloured alicorn in front of himself. She had the same blue shades on her eyelids, same starry night mane and tail, same noble beauteous look. Alex saw the sly sparkles in her large dark eyes when she spread her wings and granted him a smile, making her cheeks round the familiar way.

“Merlin’s pants! That’s princess Luna, the one exactly whose bedroom I’ve “broke into” in my strange dream. Or was it…” Alex blinked.

Alex opened his eyes. When his eyesight accommodated to the darkness, he could discern the ceiling slightly highlighted by the moon, the bed he lied on, the pillows and covers. Fluttershy turned in the bed to face him, then she moved closer and snuggled hugging him with her fore legs.

“Mmmm… Alex,” she muttered while practically still sleeping. “What’s wrong? Your heart… It’s beating… very fast. Mhm…”

“It’s OK,” Alex gently kissed her in the top of her head. “I just had a weird dream… one of… Never mind, Shy, sleep.”

She happily sighed, when he hugged her and held in his arms stroking her mane, and soon he fell asleep under her even breathing.


*

Princess Celestia came to Crystal Empire not to pay a courtesy visit or not because princess Cadence and her husband Shining Armour couldn’t rule their domain on their own. The news, they sent her regularly, became more and more strange and alarming each day and finally reached the stage, when Celestia decided to attend personally and check the source of all the troubles on her own. That was why she left Canterlot, leaving Luna deal with local cases, and flew to Crystal Empire with a small squad of pegasi guards.

The problem, which got her attention, could look like King Sombra revenge attempt from the first sight. If she didn’t know that Sombra was defeated finally and completely last time, not without the help of her bright student Twilight and… despite how wild it could sound, her aide Spike. If also she didn’t know that King Sombra, in his best days, preferred to gather forces and strike in one well-aimed blast, not wandering around outskirts of the Empire in a seemingly aimless manner.

The Dark Mist surely shouted “Sombra” and was indeed his calling card, but… If it was him, the Dark Mist would be certainly concentrating around Crystal Empire, complicating the travels and transportations, making the residents feel hopelessness and despair, oppressing them, yet gathering and trying to materialize and strike in some single weak spot. King Sombra, peace be upon him, was a bit too straightforward and self-confident, but at least that gave his opponent a chance to get ready.

Here it looked entirely different: the Dark Mist, and Celestia couldn’t literally find the better name for the phenomenon, wasn’t concentrating in some predictable pattern. Instead of that small sources of it appeared here and there, mostly in the coldest and distant areas of the Empire surroundings, on far north, making an impression that somepony was just trying the turf and simultaneously looking for something, not readying an imminent attack. In other words, it was cautious reconnaissance, not a crusade attempt.

And that didn’t look like Sombra tactics at all. But who’s then?..

That is why Celestia sent her guards to keep hooves on the pulse of local frontier defence duties and report any new incident immediately.


“… and while I devote all my time, making crystal ponies feel our Empire carries solemnity of law and order no matter what, Shining spends his days and nights, watching guards training, analyzing the reports and making the distant scouting most effective,” Princess Cadence shook her mane while levitating a cup of coffee towards her, making the faint scent of roses fill the air. “He practically returned to guard captain duty, like in Canterlot… with the exception that the stress doubled or even tripled. I can’t remember when he slept normally last time,” she finished with a sad smile.

“That doesn’t sound right. Completely!” Celestia nodded. “I’ll try to find the way out of your situation in the closest perspective. But I naturally need another incident to base my outlook on.”

“Your majesty!” the guard which stormed in the room, breaking all the possible etiquette, was breathing heavily and looked extremely anxious. “Your majesty, my deepest apologies! The problem needs your immediate attention!”

As the protocol demanded, he was to address the ruler of the region, thus Princess Cadence, first, but the guard was from Celestia’s personal security, yet addressing the guest first ignoring the host would be direct etiquette breach, so he reported to both princesses at the same time technically. His eyes were moving from one princess to another and back in the cycle.

“Yes,” Cadence showed that he got her full attention. “What’s the problem, officer?”

“Your majesty. Princess Cadence, Princess Celestia, we have another incident,” the guard took a breath before continuing. “We are having another incident right now. The Mist has materialized this time… and it’s something we didn’t face yet.”

“The substance formed an… entity and it is already giving our mages troubles,” explained he the urge while Celestia and Cadence listened with full attention. “That’s why we need your immediate assistance, princess,” he bowed to Celestia.

“Cadence, dear, my apologies,” Celestia raised on her hooves. “I’ll keep you informed when I check it on my own.”

“Guard, gather three more and give me the coordinates,” she trotted through the doors with the guard following close. “Five minutes. We’ll teleport there immediately.”


The warp took them exactly to the place provided by the guard. When the glow faded, they found themselves in the middle of a snowy field. Apparently, winter felt at home here, just like at the whole northern border of the Crystal Empire, where it attempted its regular raids to the south from. The snow was compacted by the frost and its own weight, and therefore easy to walk on. Big rocks in snowy hats – trails of the long-gone glacier – protruded through the thick white blanket here and there. The dark band of the forest edge lied to their left and the whole terrain raised forming a big sloping hill.

Gray low clouds passed by and the sun was barely visible through that gloomy veil, bathing the landscape in the soft dimmed light. Rare snowflakes slowly floated in the cold air. And there was… silence. The only sound they could hear, except their own breath, was the distant wind whistling in the treetops of the nearby forest.

“Your majesty,” the guard explained noticing Celestia’s silent asking gaze. “We need to go up that hill. Getting right on the scene would be shortsighted due to certain conditions, you will see shortly.”

“Fine, officer,” Celestia nodded. “Let’s have a look at that… incident.”

They trotted up the hill bypassing the snowy rocks. The guard continued explaining the situation meanwhile.

“The Dark Mist materialized as a… creature, we haven’t seen before. We spotted it accidentally and its utter weirdness captured our attention. It’s unknown yet if it is sentient in usual sense… or just a magical entity controlled by somepony,” the guard took a breath. “A few our mages keeping it distracted and thus locking it in a limited space. When we spotted it, it was moving on a widening spiral, seemingly searching for something, stopping for a while, then proceeding again.”

“A few mages?” Celestia looked surprised. “Is this… entity that strong and dangerous, that one capable unicorn can’t hold it.”

“It wouldn’t be a problem, princess,” retorted the guard. “If we dealt with any known enemy. But this one possessed abilities, which made it quite… tough for capturing.”

“Like which?” Celestia raised a brow.

“First of all, the creature seemed to be blind, at least we didn’t found any evidence that it could rely on vision. But it “felt” living creatures, moreover, it felt magic and was able to resist it,” explained the guard. “And the way this entity affected ponies made it extremely dangerous to operate with alone.” 

“It simply makes anypony feel despair and panic,” the guard shuddered, perhaps he experienced the effect himself already. “Apparently it is able to drain positive emotions and energy from living creatures, leaving only fear, hatred and so on. When our mages tried to dissolve it with a spell, it quickly chose one of them and rushed towards, making him almost drop in a panic attack. For now, they use all their force to contain it. It seems that if we want to take it down, the attack must be really fast and effective, giving it no time to react and aim the caster.”

“Hmm… It sounds so nasty, I wonder…” Celestia stumbled, they reached the border of the impact zone.

She suddenly got the feeling that somepony evil, gloomy and unkind crawled out from under the ground behind their backs and stared on them fixedly. Suppressing the urge to look over her shoulder, Celestia noticed that guards visibly struggled with different symptoms of unease and stress as well while proceeding.

Celestia started remembering her quarrels with Luna, when they were fillies, all the harsh words they used to say each other because of unequal, as Luna thought, admiration and recognition of their subjects, the image of Luna crying and slamming the door of her bedroom in Celestia’s face…

“O-o-ok!” Celestia gritted her teeth. “Just wait, I’ll get you!”

She trotted up faster with the guards forcedly following.

The other side of the hill was steep, opening the “battle” scene below. At first, it could look, as if there was a small local blizzard surrounding a few sporadically standing stones and low flat shrubs surviving the wind and frost. The wind howled, forming a real tornado below and the snow mercilessly lashed everything in the circle of couple hundred feet radius. Certainly, one couldn’t see or feel anything in the middle of that cold and snowy hell. But higher above the ground the blizzard thinned and from their hill Celestia and guard could see perfectly the dark figure which wandered irregularly, changing direction and stumbling. 

Six unicorns surrounded the blizzard on a considerable distance and obviously, they exactly formed and controlled it with their magic. From time to time one or another gave the creature inside the snowy swirl a magical nudge, making it immediately turn towards the “offender”, aim very precisely and rush to him. Then another mage “kicked” the creature making it stumble and lose track. It was obvious that the creature below wasn’t very intelligent, which brought instant thoughts about somepony’s magical puppet. But what was the purpose of that puppet, nopony could yet tell. One thing certain, it looked nothing like King Sombra’s shenanigans.

“What, in the name of Starswirl the Bearded, is that?” muttered Celestia, her eyes dilated.

The dark entity looked most likely a headless centaur without any arms. The whole figure was made seemingly of the dense Dark Mist, with bands of thinner substance flowing around its legs and torso, forming its “tail” and generally curling around the creature, while it tossed about in the snow storm. The torso was wide and could be called muscular if anypony knew for sure this creature had muscles… or any complex internal structure at all.

The only distinctive trait was a dark red opening right in the middle of the upper torso. Was it an eye, though the creature seemed to be blind, or perhaps a mouth, nopony could tell. Eventually, when it lost the track of another mage, the creature leaned towards the ground like trying to find something or sniffing the trail with its red orifice.

“Ughhh!” shivered one of the guards. “What an abomination!”

“It was doing exactly that when we noticed it in the field,” he turned to Celestia and she noticed sweat drops on his forehead, despite it was cold and the wind was stronger on the top of the hill.

When the creature turned facing their side, the disgusting feeling strengthened every time. Celestia felt sorry for the mages on the front line, imagining what they were going through if she herself desperately wanted to be hugged by somepony and kept away and safe from that ugly spawn down below.

“Enough!” decided Celestia. “It’s time to stop that… seeker.”

She jumped in the cold air and opened her white wings, rising higher in the sky right above the raging blizzard. For a moment her pink-turquoise-green mane and tail seemed to cover half of the sky. The guards watched their princess, like enthralled, when she speared to the sun, spreading her wings.

Celestia’s horn glowed bright and a golden beam of pure blinding solar light aimed at the “seeker”, piercing its black body.

The muffled howl rolled over the field below. The dark “one-eyed” centaur figure glowed from inside for a one short moment and… exploded, bursting in clouts of Dark Mist, which were immediately devoured and dissolved by the blizzard as the magical force keeping the creature together ceased to exist. The overwhelming feeling of despair and torment vanished at once, like never existed and the world around suddenly seemed so bright and happy, that guards even couldn’t hold uncertain smiles, taking their breath.

The mages in the field seemed totally exhausted though, as they lowered right on the snow, stopping their spells and letting the blizzard weather out at once. Celestia headed right towards them flying down. The pegasi guards followed her.

“Inscrutably magnificent. As usual!” exclaimed one of them, when they all landed.

Celestia let herself a small smile.

“Thank you. But I’m afraid I’ve overdone,” Celestia was in a self-critical mood. “The spell was too powerful for a simple magical puppet, even such an unusual, this… seeker was.”

“But I remembered your words about the fast and well-aimed strike,” she added. “And decided to err on the side of caution.”

“Excuse us, your Majesty!” one of the unicorns they approached was still heavily breathing, yet he bowed low. “We need a couple more minutes to recompose, so we can follow you, princess.”

“There is no need,” answered Celestia softly. “I’ll transfer us all to Empire City. Thank you all for your loyalty!”

The guards and mages saluted.


The more she thought about all the details of the “seeker incident”, the less she liked the conclusions and the more unwilling similarities became obvious to her. And the latter was alarming as well. She could mistake of course, but the occasions it actually happened were scarce. Celestia watched, how Cadence and Shining Armour listened to her, telling them about what Dark Mist activity fruited into, and her decision to investigate the human issue grew rock solid. She told them in brief about latest Fluttershy “discovery”, but it seemed that Cadence and Shining were more surprised by the mere fact there existed a human in Equestria, than consider obvious differences in mythology and actual human capabilities discovered. For them, he was still a mythic creature, while Celestia was bothered by his complicated relations with magic. They resembled the “seeker” abilities too much, to be easily treated as a coincidence. Though she was to admit that human’s impact wasn’t nearly as detrimental. Neither it was used as an active attack method ever, as Twilight confirmed.

Celestia had no reasons to distrust Twilight or her judgment of others, one of the abilities Twilight mastered, was her intuition for the personal qualities of those she tried to befriend. But still, the security of Equestria was at stake and the princess couldn’t ignore any detail, even if it was going to turn out a coincidence. Thus she decided to extract the human and investigate his arrival and nature thoroughly as soon as she was able to return to Canterlot. And the possible means to return him to his mother land… but the Equestrian interests went first.

“… so I’ll stay for a while more, at least until it is confirmed that the Dark Mist activity ceased and was generally connected to that materialization we dealt today,” Celestia stepped from hoof to hoof. “I suppose it’ll take a couple of days, hardly more. Then I’m returning to Canterlot.”

“Well, if that hurry is absolutely necessary…” Shining Armour wasn’t still sure that he understood, why the human needed to be addressed that urgently. “But we are always happy to see you here, Princess!”

*

“So,” Rainbow Dash put a thick branch into the campfire and moved the firewood a little to make it burn evenly. “He naturally thought that it would be a good idea to scare somepony shitless with that trick and waited patiently for his chance.”

Her move made the burning logs crackle and let out a bunch of hot sparks. Rarity wrinkled her nose and moved back slightly. She sported her comfy dressing gown already and didn’t want it to be ruined by the ashes or unwelcome sparkle. Sweetie Belle snuggled up to her older sister for warmth, the nights were still quite fresh. She yawned when Rarity hugged her and kissed in the top of the head.

The fire burned brighter after Rainbow gave it a nudge and the circle of light widened, revealing, in addition to the logs they all sat around it on, the tents, the small glade and the first line of dark sleeping trees, surrounding their camping place. The smell of fresh leaves mixed with the smoke, which raised apeak in the still air, repelling the few mosquitoes. Some night bird whistled sadly and pleadingly in the distance.

“He made a time-worn looking coat to mimic the Black Thirsty Pony,” Rainbow continued her story. “And next time camping, when night fell, he wandered around the camping ground. He knocked the random tents, put his fore leg inside and wheezed in the scariest voice, he could produce “Waaaater! Please, give me some water!!!” Somepony laughed, but those were rare, the majority were scared, some scolded him when the trick opened up. But generally, he noticed that the idea was successful…”

Applejack huffed disapprovingly, whatever you say, it wasn’t her kind of entertainment – scaring innocent ponies. She looked down on Apple Bloom, who nested on the log and put her head on sister’s lap, and smiled with a wink, like saying ‘We know, no such idiots are hiking with us, fortunately!’

“… but then he spotted another small old tent on the edge of the camping ground, closer to the dense forest. The tent was time-worn, dirty and had no light burning in. But that colt was too proud of his joke and wanted to scare the owner as well,” Dash lowered her tone, looking at all the present with a sly expression. “So he came closer and pulled his trick again. Silence. He thought that maybe the tent was empty or its owner was sleeping too tight and wanted to look inside…”

“When suddenly a black hoof protruded from the tent and grasped the colt’s throat! “WHAT DO YOU NEED MY WATER FOR?!!”

The fillies squealed more from her sudden exclamation than from real terror, the last phrase caught them off guard.

“And nopony saw him ever since. Either he was taken by the Black Pony… or became one…”

Rarity rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Where do you get all this rubbish from?”

“Oh, come on,” Rainbow stuck out her tongue. “Don’t be a party-pooper, pal. Girls like these stories. Right?!”

“Yeah!” Scootaloo jumped cheerfully around Dash. “They are awesome. I want more, please, Rainbow.”

Rainbow chuckled, not long ago Scootaloo was scared of the campfire stories and was too embarrassed to confess that. But since she overcame her fear of Headless Horse during one of their collective hikes, she started enjoying the storytelling talent of her older friend.

“You enjoyed a bit of careless fun as well perhaps when you were a filly, Rarity.”

“Ah somehow suspected, it turns out that way,” huffed Applejack, scratching the back of her head. “The guy was calling it upon his arse if you ask meh.” 

“Can you tell us something else?” Scootaloo stopped for a moment and looked up to Rainbow Dash with puppy eyes.

“I have a better idea, girls,” Apple Bloom sat on the log and stretched. “Sis, why don’t you tell us something about the human at last. There is nopony else here, except us, so it’s right about time, you, big girls, spill something as promised.”

In the silence that followed the bonfire crackled especially loud. The almost full moon raised above the forest and bathed the trees, the glade with tents and resting ponies in silvery light.

“Well,” sighed Applejack. “Ah guess it is inevitable. What do you want to know? Mind that we don’t know everything, so can tell you what we know for sure only.”

“At first how did Fluttershy get him?” Apple Bloom raised her ears. Sweetie Belle stopped yawning and seemingly woke up completely, and even Scootaloo stopped horsing around and perked up her ears.

“Get him” is a bit strong to say,” Applejack smirked. “Fluttershy had a timberwolves-related problem in the Everfree and he saved her.”

“You don’t say,” Apple Bloom re-asked, making surprised eyes. “There is something in the Everfree Fluttershy can’t deal with.”

“Apparently there were too many of them, Little Apple,” Applejack patted her sisters head. “Don’t worry, she managed to stare most of them, but the help was just in right time and place.”

She told fillies the whole story of human arrival as heard from Fluttershy. They listened with their mouths open.

“But how come he is magic resistant?” asked Sweetie Belle. She turned to Rarity. “Last time I remember you said humans can neither use nor resist magic…”

“Who can heal a wound half a foot long in three days?” gasped Apple Bloom. “I certainly don’t know a way without magic, as Twilight does.”

“People”,” automatically corrected Rarity. “They call themselves “people”. Well, that was at least what Twilight and Lyra said – normally they can’t. But apparently, something about this one is different.”

Rainbow huffed, listening to her friend speaking about the human as something special. She nudged Scootaloo and rolled her eyes, like saying ‘Just listen to her!’

“Ah don’t know,” added Applejack. “As Rarity said, he is different. Look, we don’t know many things about him, for example how he got to Equestria actually.”

“This is what I keep telling them,” muttered Rainbow. “We don’t really know him.”

“But where did he come from?” Scootaloo sat closer to Rainbow and Dash put her rainbow tail above the girl’s head, so its end hung above her face closing the eyes. Both giggled, while Scootaloo was blowing the tail off her eyes.

“Long story short, Fluttershy said he came from the Sisters’ Castle ruins,” Applejack added a few sticks to the fire. “Later she confirmed her conclusion… when he told her his story. But Ah don’t know the details yet.”

“He talks just like everypony else,” jumped Scootaloo. “So she can understand him, doesn’t she?”

“Ah told ya, he is sentient, he talks, reads… Though Ah have no faintest idea, how comes he knows our language. But apparently, he does…”

“Alex is like everypony else, just looks different,” Rarity checked her mane and took a random leaf out, she then threw it in the fire.

Rainbow snorted at her friend mentioning human’s name and admitting his similarities with ponies.

“What?” Rarity raised an eyebrow. “You don’t like he has a name. But he does, why should I treat him differently from anypony?”

“Oh,” Rainbow raised her fore legs in a theatrical gesture. “As you wish, Rarity! I’m not trying to offend  your special somehuman.”

“Hmpf!” Rarity cocked her head, while the fillies giggled quietly.

“Alex lost his clothes and he came the whole way from the ruins wrapped in the royal tapestry,” she then continued.

“Princess Luna tapestry!” added Rainbow meaningfully, she huffed. “What a perfect couple: the weird princess and the weird and perhaps dangerous alien!”

“Hey, princess Luna is not that weird as you tell,” laughed Applejack. “Even Fluttershy got along with her eventually… and Flutters is not the most daring pony, you know.”

“Just because you have personal… experience doesn’t mean that Luna is bad or strange.”

“Who said she was bad?” Rainbow Dash blushed a bit. Apparently, the talk changed direction Rainbow wanted to avoid. She still pouted on princess Luna for feeding herself Rainbow’s own recipe on the last Nightmare Night celebration.

That time Rainbow entertained herself, scaring ponies with thunder and lightning from a small cloud, she dragged with her everywhere. It was awfully funny when others jumped on spot… and she accidentally startled a bunch of kids, exactly when Luna tried to show her better side. But it was totally… not awesome, when Luna played the same trick on Rainbow, literally sending a small lightning bolt in her plot. Fortunately, there was only one extra witness of that – Twilight and she didn’t tell the details to anypony… but something still leaked apparently.

“Who said she was bad?” repeated Dash. “Bad and weird are different things if you ask me. But she still gives me the creeps.”

“She helped me overcome my fears,” Scootaloo suddenly confessed. “I think that princess Luna is nice.”

Rainbow gazed at the filly, like finding out something totally new about her younger friend, then she shrugged.

“I’ll show you the Royal Tapestry, girls,” Rarity decided to change the topic. “But obviously only after I bring it to the best condition I can.”

“Really? You haven’t told me about yourself working on it…” Sweetie Belle started to yawn wildly again.

“Come on, Rainbow, Applejack, it’s too late, girls need to be sleeping already!” Rarity stated flatly, watching her sister rubbing her eyes. “We can delay all discussions until tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Applejack couldn’t hold a yawn as well. “Ah will get up early anyway. Ah can’t do anything about that, so Ah need to be sleeping already as well. Good night, girls. Let’s go, Apple Bloom.”

“Good night!” Rainbow Dash directed Scootaloo, who was still sleepless, towards their tent. “Race ya to sleep, squirt!”

Scootaloo hopped inside, she knew that it was for her own benefit – to get asleep first, as Rainbow snored quite audibly.

When they closed the tent, Rainbow leaned towards Scootaloo.

“Listen, Scoots,” she said in half-tone. “I want to tell you one thing… and I want it to remain in between us two, OK?”

Scootaloo nodded. Obviously, she was always ready at least to listen to her idol and role model. How could she miss an advice from a pegasus, she wanted to become alike most of all in her life?

“It’s up to you, of course, to decide,” Rainbow shrugged. “Just listen to what I say. Others can have their mindless fun, but I know for sure – I don’t trust the human. I can’t convince my friends if they don’t want to know anything – they are adults and capable to take care of themselves anyway. But you fillies are a different story.”

She then spread the sleeping bag in complete silence, seemingly thinking of better words to express her idea.

“Are you sure, Rainbow?” whispered Scootaloo, pulling her wing to show that she was still listening. “He doesn’t seem dangerous and… girls seem to not share your suspicion.”

“Well, I can’t be sure entirely,” unwillingly confessed Rainbow Dash. “But look what we have. As far as I know, Applejack is not ready to embrace… Alex wholeheartedly. Then Rarity… well, she evidently has a crush on him… despite how mad that sounds.”

Scootaloo put both hooves at her mouth at that claim, her cheeks become pink, but the sly sparkles in her eyes told clearly that it would be the topic to discuss with the girls.

“Fluttershy can deal with any wild beast, as long as there is not an army of them, so she obviously doesn’t take my concerns seriously… unfortunately.”

“Twilight. Huh, that’s the same Twilight we’re talking about, right? As long as she can study something, be it an alien or a crocodile, she feels awesome,” Rainbow smirked. “And Pinkie… is simply too kind and open towards anypony. She thinks nicely about others regardless of their image and ready to make friends with everypony.”

“And you, girls, put curiosity before common sense, no offence,” Rainbow turned towards Scootaloo. “Which effectively leaves only two of us with an adequate and careful approach.”

“So, as I said, it’s up to you. But I would be happy if you be careful yourself around that human… and hold your friends from the thoughtless deeds if necessary.”

“Yeah, this is me talking,” Rainbow granted surprised filly a smile. “Sometimes the risk must be weighted twice… otherwise you won’t be able to admire the result.”