//------------------------------// // CH 7: A Modest Proposal // Story: A Mirror of Stars // by Cyberdutchman //------------------------------// Liam exhaled softly and slowly eased himself into the rear seat of the car, closing his eyes and breathing deeply for a moment to center himself while Twilight carefully navigated her way through the last of the debris. It was a surreal but oddly peaceful moment. If he really concentrated on drowning out the sounds around him he could almost believe he was back on Psyche, or maybe back on Earth in his parents' car as they went out to the latest movie and dinner, some place out of town where they wouldn't be recognized immediately. Old but happy memories. It lasted for all of ten seconds before a swift breeze brought the faint scent of chocolate, vanilla, and flour wafting over him. He squeezed his eyes closed tighter as a sneaking suspicion of what he would see if he opened them formed in his mind. Stealing himself he risked a peek and confirmed those suspicions: a whole lot of Pinkie Pie in his face. "I have sooooooo many questions for you," she said with an intense expression. The part of Liam's brain gifted to him by his ancient ancestors was screaming at him to run from the predator in front of him. He wasn't entirely sure it was wrong. "Uhhhhh... I did say I'd try to answer what I could, didn't I..." he replied, regretting ever stringing those words together into the same sentence. Pinkie was not someone he wanted asking questions about them, especially ones that might include favorite forms of media. She breathed in deeply and Liam prepared for the worst. "What'syourfavoritekindofcakebecauseIwasthinkingyoulookedlikesomeonewho'dlikechocolatebutthenithoughtthatmaybeyou'dpreferyellowcakeorangelfoodandthenIrealizedyourhomemighthavecakewedidn'tandthenthatgotmethinkingthatyoumightnotlikecakeandpreferpieinsteadsowhat'syourfavoritekindofpie?" Uhhhhhhhhh... Liam was fairly certain words had been a part of the sound wave crashing over him but would not have sworn by it. It might just as easily have been one of her hunting methods for catching prey by stunning them. If so it worked perfectly because somewhere along the line his brain had slipped a gear and was now spinning aimlessly. "Uhhhhhhhhh..." he said, mouth in perfect harmony with his mind for possibly the first time in days. "She asked about what your favorite dessert is," Sunset said from up front while Twilight turned the car on. It rumbled softly then began rolling forward slowly as she put it in drive. "Really? You got that?" "You get used to it. She'd just really excitable sometim- all the time," Sunset said without missing a beat. "Uh, well then I guess I'd say I like dark chocolate? Things like ganache, that sort of thing?" "Mhmm... got it," she said as she made a final quick mark then pointed the pencil at him. "That's all." Liam blinked. "Wait, that's it? What happened to all the questions you had?" "Done for now," she said with a single quick shake of her head and a beaming smile. Liam was about to check to make sure she wasn't pulling his leg when Twilight cut him off. "Well then do you mind if I ask you something?" "Oh, uh, sure, go ahead," Liam answered, momentarily caught off guard. Again. He was starting to dislike the experience, particularly after having gone the better part of forty years without it up until only days ago. Twilight glanced at him in the rear view mirror as they approached the intersection with the main road. She turned left and the ride instantly became smoother as they went from compacted dirt and gravel to pavement. It also became much quieter which made her following words all the more clear and concise. "I'm curious about what happened to your ship before you came here. Part of the back looked a lot more damaged than the rest of it." Liam did his best to not move a muscle while his mind searched wildly for ways out. DAMMIT. Why couldn't you have asked about science? Really not in the mood to explain my planet's latest genocide attempt. "...we had an explosion in the rear pylon. Still not sure what actually did it. It's why we came through the gate at such a weird angle and why it took us longer to right the ship and start decelerating than it should have. If not for that we might have pulled off a softer landing. Or we might have skimmed over the top of the orchard and impacted the surrounding hills. Hard to say and I don't like to deal in what-ifs like that. Keeps you from focusing on what you have to do here and now." "Like avoiding other people here knowing about you?" Liam paused to consider his words then decided directness was the best approach. "Twilight, you're circling around what you actually want to ask me so go ahead and ask." She looked at him in the mirror again, a bit long this time, then sighed. "Well... you see... Applejack doesn't like you." Liam rubbed his temples a bit to try to relieve the instant headache. "I might have noticed her complete and utter disregard and dislike for myself and my counterparts, yes. I'm trying to not let it get to me. That's still not a question though." Twilight winced while Sunset turned to look at him, her face almost neutral except for a slightly sympathetic pinching of the brow and lips. He looked to see what the third occupant besides him thought and found Pinkie giving him a sad smile while ringing her hands. She stopped when she noticed him watching. "It's just... Applejack has always been a good judge of character as long as we've known her," said Pinkie. Liam arched an eyebrow and thought to himself, Applejack? The one I just met? That Applejack? You sure you're not thinking of a different Applejack with less predisposition to lash out over material damages- ... how I wish that was true and didn't point back to us in the end. I really, really wish I could. Would make things so much cleaner and easier to figure out. "Now I'm hearing the question. So, you're concerned she's caught on to something you haven't and you're all... charmed or influenced by us or something? Guys, I've got nothing. No magic, no diabolical mind control machine, nadda. Our world just doesn't work like that. All I've got is a weird story from when I was much younger and a small ability to influence an odd and not well understood field of physics." "Really? This coming from the guy who copied his mind into half a million mechanical copies of himself?" Sunset asked incredulously. Liam let out a faint snort. "Touche. We do have theories on that that don't require anything special though. Just a different way to make a brain work with different materials. What I'm trying to say is hurting her home is hurting her more than it's hurting the rest of her family and she's lashing out at the cause. No matter if it was unintentional. I just hope she finds her center or some peace soon or else the repair work is going to be awkward incarnate." Sunset grimaced for a moment then said, "We didn't talk about the possibility much after we left last night but it was something AJ brought up. If it weren't for how you arrived and how you've acted since we would have sided with her and her gut. That's what friends do. But she's normally a lot more open and welcoming, like the rest of her family. Even for people who... don't make great first impressions. I just don't understand why she's so hostile towards you. Will and I talked about it briefly last night and losing the trees in the orchard probably isn't it." She frowned then twisted further to look at the other passenger in the back with him. "Any ideas Pinkie? You've been friends with her longer than Twilight or I have." Pinkie Pie shook her head. "Nope. Applejack isn't being very Applejack-ish right now, at least not Applejack from before yesterday. I've been thinking about ways to cheer her up, but none of them seem good enough and I don't think I can get a hot air balloon, a marching band, and two hundred gallons of bubble soap fast enough to make the best one work." "Riiiiight... I don't know what to tell you. Maybe you can ask her family when we get back?" Liam nodded. "That was my plan. We've been a bull in the proverbial china shop since we crashed and so far it seems to be working. Why change tact now?" If she hasn't told you then me telling you will definitely make things worse between us. Sorry Sunset. Sunset chuckled and turned around again, giving Pinkie an opportunity to reenter the conversation. "Hey, we've been asking you all the questions. Now it's your turn!" she said excitedly, yanking Liam to face her in obvious anticipation. Liam blinked then cast his eyes about, trying to come up with a question that wouldn't reveal his hand about the show and his foreknowledge of them. He didn't have much luck though. His mind kept wandering back to the same all-consuming topic no matter where he started. He let out a small sigh. "Sorry Pinkie, I haven't given it much thought. I start thinking of anything for any length of time and it always circles back to how we're going to get home. I told you all that this has never happened before. At this point the best we can do is try to set up a massive number of jumps and vary things until we find the right combination. Coming up with the theory behind it will almost certainly take longer, if we can do it at all." "And if you can't?" asked Twilight. Liam shut his eyes and clamped down on the small rise in anxiety she got out of him. There was an answer. There were two actually but he was never going to entertain one of them. "We keep trying. I mean, we're here somehow. We'll build what we need and keep trying till we make it. I just hope it's in time to see my folks again." "Don't say that, you'll get home again soon and then everyone can throw you a "Welcome Home" party!" Pinkie said in her usual chipper tone. "I bet they're already planning it right now!" Not unless they've already taken the orbitals over Earth. We're not celebrating anything till that happens, he thought grimly. He made sure not to let a hint of that thought show on his face though. "Thanks Pinkie, but we're not the partying types." Pinkie let out a small gasp- okay, make that a large gasp since it kept going and going- but before she could follow it up Liam held up a finger and she froze. "I promise you we'll come up with a party plan if it makes you happy." She exhaled, almost playing back her gasp in reverse, then smiled and nodded. "Accepted. It's too bad we only have a portal to the pony world. If you had one you could jump back and forth and have welcome back parties every day." Liam nodded distractedly. He turned to look back out at the scenery passing by, naming types of trees that should not have been on this world, birds and animals too similar to the ones from home. It was incredible that there was such a strong link between-... "WAIT, WHAT?!" "THAT'S IT!" seven Legionnaires all cried out as one. One immediately followed up with a string of expletives fiery enough to peel paint. whoever it was muttered over the radio line in each of their heads after they'd all calmed down a bit. They'd switched them on to listen in on Liam from his watch mounted microphone in case of trouble. What they'd heard instead was the exact opposite. "Dude, the the heck was that?" a scratchy and irate voice called out. Jax leaned over the side of the Celestia to where Rainbow Dash was staring up at him. She did not look happy. "I nearly dropped a log on my foot! Next time how about a little warning before you all start randomly shouting! What was up with that anyway?" "Sorry Dash, we were listening in on Liam in case of trouble. Before you ask they’re fine," he added quickly as she tensed up. "Instead Pinkie might have just saved us a couple lifetimes of frustration and pointless effort!" Dash relaxed slightly and tilted her head to the side. She glanced back over her shoulder to where Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy were. Fluttershy and Rarity were collecting the apples strewn about the ground, looking for any that could be salvaged while Applejack had an entire tree slung over her shoulder to be replanted if possible. It was an unnerving thing to see. She was fit, no question of that, but she wasn't a body builder and seeing her haul around a tree three or four times her size like it was a branch felt surreal. Magic was going to take some time getting used to. Possibly some mental trauma and ennui as well. "Huh? How'd she do that?" He grinned hugely and shouted back, "She said that there’s a already a multiversal portal to Equestria! It might be the key we need to build a way home if we can study it for clues!" Dash paused for a moment before nodding in excited understanding. “You think that will work?” she asked while Applejack fumbled her tree for a second before steadying it again. She glared up at him then gave her head a vicious shake and continued on. He frowned at her then focused on Rainbow again. "Better than just guessing," he said with a shrug. She gave him a huge grin and a thumbs up then went jogging off towards Fluttershy and Rarity, probably to tell them of the new development. Jax leaned further over the side as Applejack passed under the back of the ship. “The hell was that about? First she wants us gone and now she doesn't want us finding a way to leave. Still can’t figure her out...” a matching voice said in his head. He’d forgotten about the open radio channel. the mildly static laden voice asked. From the mannerisms and slight inflection it was Will doing the asking. Alphonse that time, the cocksure attitude was a giveaway. Will asked in return with an amused snort. <...point taken.> Probably Darian there. Or maybe that was Darian. Out of all of them he leaned the most towards caution. That or fatalism depending on how you looked at it. Mercer that time. The classical grammar was a dead giveaway. Jax wasn’t sure who had said it but it was the closing argument. No one spoke for awhile after that. He had nothing to add either. There wasn’t a need. The decision had been made. That commanding tone could only have been Will. There was a short pause filled with faint static. Jamison now. He liked to tie things up in neat little plans. This one was good and left a lot of wiggle room which was always a plus. Problem was it was still going to be slow without one of them and their in-depth understanding of their tech to work with the two and translate from what they found to something they could engineer. There was simply an experience gap with the girls that one of them would easily bridge. Wait... one of us? thought Jax. His grin threatened to split his face shroud in two. “Jamison, I can do you one better. Things will go a lot faster if one of us can work with them at the school, right?” he asked, hand on his throat and the two tabs there that activated the transceiver. Jamsion replied uncertainly, waiting to see where he was going. Jax almost laughed at how blind they all were to a very key fact about the Legion. “Well, thankfully one of us won’t have to worry about being spotted. In fact, one of us will blend right in out in the open. A very special and particular one,” he replied smugly. Six sharp intakes of breath told him they’d finally figured it out. A long pause followed until- Will said hesitantly with a half-hearted chuckle. Liam was still in an almost stunned state when Twilight pulled the car into the back alley parking lot Sunset had guided her to. She shut off the engine and turned in her seat to look at their additional passenger. After Pinkie reminded them of the portal he hadn't said much else, just stared out the window with an intense frown. She and Sunset had shared a silent conversation swapped in looks, gestures, and small noises while Pinkie had carried on a very one sided conversation with him about the portal and what it was for and where it went. Twilight wasn't sure it had been the best way to introduce him to recent events but he hadn't seemed shocked or incredulous. If anything, he'd just about ignored her. I can't believe he didn't react at all. I could barely believe it and it happened to me! she thought as they all pulled themselves out of the car, Liam last to do so. Though I shouldn't be surprised. The girls said Sunset reacted in kind of the same way when I accidentally shut down the portal this past spring. She felt a disgustingly familiar sense of depression sink in again and shook her head to try and banish it without much luck. "Listen, the guy we're meeting is a little.. shady. He knows me so just let me talk to him and then we'll see what he'll offer for the bricks," Sunset said. "How do you know him again?" asked Twilight, trying to find something more pleasant and less recently raw to think about. Sunset sucked in a breath and glanced over her shoulder at the building behind the small parking lot. It had originally been a pleasant red brick office as far as Twilight could tell but time and neglect had taken their toll. Now it was coated in a dull layer of grey mold and grime and the picturesque windows were glazed over from what had to be years of never getting cleaned. It wasn't in a great part of town either and most of the other surrounding buildings were in similar condition though this one was by far the shoddiest. Sunset's shoulders slumped while she sighed. "He... forged my IDs and background when I first came here from Equestria. It's how I got into CHS and got my apartment. I've been paying him back since." Twilight's frowned at her close friend. "Sunset, why didn't you tell us! We could have done something, gotten him off your back maybe or at least paid off your debt to him-" she began but stopped when Sunset held up her hand, her eyes shut tight and her face grim. "Twilight, no. I have to finish this myself. I'm close to paying him back what I owe anyway." Twilight was about to reply when a soft murmur from behind drew her attention. "Huh, guess that explains it... ," Liam said quietly while staring up at the building. "Explains what?" she asked. He did a double take when he realized he'd been heard then quickly tossed a thumb towards Sunset. "Oh, I was, uh... having a little trouble with the whole 'unicorn-turned-human sidling into town unnoticed' part of the story. I honestly wasn't sure if Pinkie was making all of that up or not. Still not convinced but I really want to be. That portal could be everything we need to get back home." He immediately went back to looking at the building, though this time he seemed to be staring past it. Twilight gave a little mental shrug and turned back to Sunset, ready to lecture her on not always trying to do everything herself when she stopped. Sunset was staring at Liam wide eyed with her arms and shoulders tucked up stiffly at her sides. Oh no... "Isn't there some other way you can get back to your own world? You know, work on your gate-drive-thing so it can take you back? There's no guarantee the portal can do what you want it to," Sunset said slowly and carefully. He shook his head. "Maybe, but it's the best lead we've got. We're going to need your help too. Pinkie's elevated you all to our only hope right now." He's got way more confidence in us figuring it out than I do, Twilight thought glumly. All any of us have been able to do is almost destroy it... "Don't worry Liam, if this doesn't work out we'll help you find a new hope to follow," Pinkie said as she hung out the back door of the car. He tilted his head to the side with a confused expression and flicked his eyes towards her. She simply smiled back, either unaware or simply not acknowledging the look. Pinkie's chipper voice seemed to remind Sunset that they were there as well. "Hey, it might be best if it's just me going in." Liam waved the case in his hand once and to catch her attention. "Or just me and Liam," she added with obvious unease. Twilight scrutinized at her for a moment. " No. First Applejack and now you. Everyone's trying to leave me and the rest of our friends out of their troubles. You all showed me that it wasn't helping anyone when I did it and I'm not letting you do it now. Sunset, I'm going in." She looked to Pinkie for support and wasn't left wanting. "Don't worry Sunny, we'll be extra quiet. You won't even know we're there," Pinkie said in much more restraint and poise than she usually showed. Sunset bit her lip then glanced at Liam. He shrugged and stepped back a foot, making it clear this wasn't something he was involved in. He kept glancing over at them, and Twilight irritably began to wonder if his culture didn't have as strong a concept of eavesdropping as they did. "Alright, fine. Just... try not to touch anything or comment on anything he has. He might say you have to buy it," Sunset warned them. She turned and stepped through the squeaking door and held it open till they'd all passed through. A few minutes and one more flight of grungy, refuse strewn stairs than Twilight would have liked later found them outside a surprisingly pristine door. Black letters stenciled onto the smoked glass window centered in it at eye level declared it to be the door to "Flint Skin Surplus and Fixtures." Sunset stood in front of it uneasily. She reached for the handle then stopped hesitantly. "Sunset, not to rush whatever thoughts you're having, but the stuff in this case is reeeeeally heavy," Liam said with a strained grunt. She glanced at him and his white knuckled grip then breathed in deeply said, "Just... let me do the talking okay?" She waited until they all agreed or in Liam's case grunted, then opened the door, revealing a large but dimly lit interior that could almost be called cavernous. As they stepped inside Twilight immediately noticed a few things. One, the place was a kleptomaniac's dream. Every kind of item from trinkets and watches to instruments and jackets dotted the walls. She noted one such article with surprise, a leather blazer that almost perfectly matched Sunset's apart from a difference in highlight colors, white being the standout on this one. The next thing she noticed was due to it's proximity to the jacket: a glass case with a paneled metal back. It was strung with more guns then she'd ever seen in her whole life, all of them illuminated from the top in a brilliant white glow. She felt her skin prickle with goosebumps and slowly turned back to their guide. Maybe we should have stayed outside. "Sunset-" she began uneasily before noticing the last standout thing about the large room. Placed just in front of the back wall was a sleek and minimalist bronze and glass desk completely devoid of the clutter filling the rest of the space apart from a single laptop and a tiny gunmetal phone. It was emitting a faint golden glow that barely served to illuminate the face of the only other occupant of the room besides themselves. A man with a rather bored expression sat in a large leather backed swivel chair, lazily typing on the laptop. His eyes slowly swung their way then stopped when he saw Sunset. One eyebrow inched higher as he looked over the rest of them. He glanced back at the screen and pressed a couple keys causing it to go dim. The absence of the gold light revealed him to have almost pure grey skin and light blue eyes that seemed supremely bored but also attentive, all set beneath a shock of jet black hair pulled into a ponytail that hung a short ways down the back of his head. "Shims, this is a surprise. What brings you 'round these parts? Making a payment early? Or did you just miss me and our monthly chats?" he said with the barest hint of a grin that failed to displace the bored look in his eyes. Sunset rolled her eyes with a snort. "Don't get any ideas Flint. I'm here to help someone else today." He huffed a little and the smile grew slightly larger. "You know, that's what I've always liked about you Shims. You've always been so helpful. Sets an example for me to live up to. Speaking of which, I've got a new loan term if you're looking to make your payments easier for awhile. A new group that'll refinance at a lower rate. I know it can't be easy with how many jobs you hold down-" "We've already got a deal," Sunset interjected darkly. He closed his eyes and nodded with that same creepy smile. Twilight wasn't sure how much he knew so much about her friend and wasn't sure she wanted to know. More and more what she wanted was to leave. The office was eerily quite apart from the muted conversation and she kept feeling like she was being watched from the deep shadows in the racks and shelves. "That we do. Seems my end of it has done good things for you too." He spread his hands in the air in a way that put her in mind of a cat stretching. "I keep hearing on the grapevine about this good girl with hair like the sunset, a young stand up citizen working her way through school under her own power, making new friends along the way, putting a mysterious past farther and farther behind her day by day. They could make a movie out of that if you wanted to branch out, give acting a try. You've certainly got the presence and looks for it. In fact, I know a guy who's working on a new Daring Do flick, they could use someone like you if-" "Stop trying to sell me one of your "fixes" Flint. I'm not interested." He frowned comically and sighed. "Alright, but I'm tellin' ya you're missing out on a golden opportunity," he said dramatically and shook his head. Only then did he look over the rest of them with that original disinterest. "So how can I help you be helpful?" Sunset looked at Liam. He stepped forward and placed the case on the table, opening the lid and turning it so it faced Flint. Flint looked up at him with that slightly arched brow then peered into the case. His eyes shot open wide and he whistled softly. "Speaking of golden opportunities... Shims, there's no way you were a good girl when you got these. Where on Earth did you get these?" Before Sunset could reply Liam sighed and gave Flint the most put-upon look Twilight had ever seen. "Does it matter?" Liam asked in a possibly even more bored manner than Flint. "Do you really want to know or are you just fishing for your next 'fix'? Actually, that doesn't matter either. It's take it or leave it." Flint seemed momentarily taken aback but then smiled mischievously and tapped a finger on the rim of the open case. "Well someone's full of themselves, aren't they? Fine, we'll make it simple and skip the opportunities to make it better." He stood up, revealing a long but not lanky frame in a simple grey suit with a crimson vest underneath. As he turned around Sunset flushed and spun to face Liam. She grabbed his shoulder and lightly pulled his ear down closer. "What happened to let me talk?" she hissed barely loud enough for Twilight to hear. "Are you going to stop letting him lead the conversation?" he countered equally quietly. Sunset blushed harder then shoved him back and quickly faced Flint again as he fumbled with a set of keys until he found the one he was looking for. He opened an antique cabinet behind him and pulled out a plain digital scale along with a box filled with vials and a couple small ceramic rods. "First things first," he said, taking a rod and running it over one of the one of the bars till it had a small coating. He dropped it into a vial or liquid and shook it vigorously then held it up to the light. He rotated it a few times then whistled again. "That's pure as anything I've seen before... okay then." He packed the vial away then ran his fingers over the keys of his laptop and watched the screen as the glow returned. "Going rate on gold right now is about fifteen hundred an ounce and silver's about fifty. I've gotta make something back on moving these myself so call it twelve fifty and thirty five. Sound good?" Liam looked to Twilight and arched an eyebrow. What does he... oh! She pulled out her phone and brought up her browser. A quick check on her browser found that he wasn't trying to pull anything on them. She looked back at Liam and nodded. "Sounds good," he said to Flint then looked up, his eyes narrowed in calculation. Twilight did the same, numbers rushing across her mind. He hadn't weighed them yet but given the size of the bars that meant there had to be... Liam grinned at the same time that Twilight inhaled sharply. Flint whistled even more loudly as he weighed the first bar. "We're looking at almost a quarter of a million in this little brick alone. The silver ones will probably net you a couple thousand. I think you'll be able to do pretty well on this for awhile kid." Flint shifted his eyes to Sunset and said "Shims, if I'd have known you were gonna be this good for business I would have offered you a partnership when you first stepped through my door." He gave her a wink then went back to weighing the silver blocks. Sunset just scowled at him in return then at Liam out of the corner of her eye when Flint went back to weighing the silver blocks. Twilight leaned over to whisper into Liam's other ear. "What about the art stuff?" He tilted his head to speak directly into her ear, never taking his eyes off of Flint as he worked. "We'll get those appraised by someone more... reputable. We can check the price of gold so he can't undercut it too badly but he could make up whatever he wanted for those. Also better to not let him know the extent of everything we've got. I'd rather no one else takes an interest in us if they buy information from him." Twilight arched an eyebrow. "Wow, that's... did you know someone like him back home?" she asked, a little more loudly than she liked and had to stop herself from grimacing at the mistake. His eyes flicked her way again. He took a few seconds to consider then let out a disgruntled sigh and whispered, "More than I'd like. I'll tell you about it later as part of my 'Liam as a World Leader: A Tale of Misery' series." "Ooooookay..." she replied softly. He's almost as overdramatic as Trixie every now and then, she thought in equally parts surprise and annoyance. Before then she would have sworn that was nearly impossible. "Okay, that should do it Mr...?" Flint said, inclining his head towards Liam. "Oh, uh... uh, Liam Harcourt," Liam replied. Flint arched an eyebrow at him. "Well... that's a name." "Yeah, yeah it is. Try going through school around here with it." Flint snickered a little and said, "Shims, you do seem to meet the most interesting people, don't you?" Sunset huffed. "Yeah, new friends every day. Just pay us for the blocks and you can go back to whatever you were doing." "Sorry, not going to be that easy," Flint said with an exaggerated shrug. "What? But you just said-" "Oh, I can pay you for them. Just not now. I don't keep assets like that in the shop. I'll need to make arrangements and let you know when the payment's ready. I'll take that in the mean-" he began, reaching towards the opened case. Liam's hand shot out, slamming the lid home and rolling the combination lock at the same time. Flint slowly glanced up at him, hand still outstretched. "Not a very trusting start to this deal Mr. Harcourt." Liam gave him a faint grin that didn't reach his eyes. "How about trust through transaction? Let us know when you have what you need and we'll come back asap." Flint returned his intense grin ounce for ounce. "Careful Mr. Harcourt, don't go tipping your hand early," he said softly and steadily. He pulled his hand back and waved it across the top of the table a few times then said, "Very well, it will take longer than it might have but I can work with it." He held out his hand to Liam. Liam didn't hesitate for a second in taking it and giving it a couple shakes before withdrawing and collecting the case in the same motion. Flint narrowed his eyes for the briefest moment then gave a tiny shrug and faced Sunset. "Shims, you should stop by more often. This has been the most interesting thing to happen around here all week. I should be paying you for the entertainment." "If you really feel that way then you can take it out of my next payment," she replied with a glower. He smiled that same minute smile and inclined his head towards her in an equally minute nod. "We'll see. Pleasure doing business with you all." Liam and Sunset both nodded then turned and gestured towards the door. Pinkie, who true to her word had been remarkably restrained the entire time, bounced after them followed closely by Twilight. As they piled into her car while Liam stored the case next to the other one in the trunk she watched Sunset closely. She was still fuming a little, her chin rooted firmly in her hand. When everyone had climbed back into the car she turned around and placed an elbow on her seat back, locking eyes with their passenger. "Why?" Liam grimaced and looked away, shaking his head side to side a little. He faced her again and with an almost pitying expression. "He was about to walk all over you- correction, he was walking all over you and us well. I owe too much to Applejack to not get the best deal I can. And that wasn't going to happen unless one of us took the initiative back from him." Sunset frowned and hung her head a little at the mention of his debt to the Apple family. He's not wrong... but he's not doing himself any favors either. He's coming off as dismissive which I don't get, thought Twilight. Last night and this morning he was nothing but charm and wit and now... I can't figure him out. "You couldn't have warned us first? Pulled us aside, talked to us?" Sunset asked. Liam shook his head once. "Not enough time." "How can you know that?" Sunset asked angrily. "That was not the first low-life sleaze I've had to negotiate with. We were five seconds away from him laying down terms or asking questions we can't answer." Now all three of them were giving him curious expressions. "Liam, just what-" He sighed loudly and gave them all a sad smile. "How about we have that discussion over dinner or lunch tomorrow? Just, some other time please? I promise I will tell you why I felt I needed to do that." "Really?" Sunset asked with plain misgivings. "I keep promises." His brow tightened slightly and he seemed to sit up straighter and taller. He said it with such conviction that Twilight was taken aback momentarily. Sunset appeared flustered as well then shook her head and slumped back in her seat. Twilight started the car and began slowly backing out of the small lot. "Sunset, for what it's worth, I'm sorry. If I could have done it another way I would have but I didn't see one. Not in the moment. I'm... just trying to do the best I can with a lot to worry about." Sunset and Twilight both glanced at him in the rear view mirror. The confidence and conviction were gone, replaced by the faint, tired look from last night. He noticed them looking back at him and immediately the fatigue vanished from his face like a switch had been turned. Sunset glanced at Twilight, arching a brow in silent question. Don't ask me, I'm not an extradimensional therapist, she intimated with a shrug. Sunset looked back at Liam, regarding him for a moment, then gave him a crooked smile. "Fine, you get a pass. But next time it's not going to be so easy. He's going to be insufferable and a complete creep when I make my next payment and I'll be passing that along to you. Then I'll consider it even." Liam laughed and nodded. "Fair enough. Now where's the nearest art dealer?" Flint Skin finished putting together the rest of the documents he'd need along with the money transfers and prepared a new file in his safe. He made sure to take care of new business immediately before it piled up. Never did to give customers the impression that he was swamped. Better that they came in, saw the obvious success and displayed merchandise, then left with a sense of confusion over how he managed to make it work when he never seemed to do anything. Keep them off their toes and guessing. That was why we was fuming internally, enough that he was almost grinding his teeth. He'd entirely let that Harcourt kid take over the talk when he'd been thinking of how best to swing the goods his way. He hadn't had that happen since he was a rookie, new to the business and trying to set up contacts and make a name for himself. He bared his teeth in a silent snarl as old memories floated up to the surface. It hadn't easy when those same people were more cutthroat than anyone he'd met before or thought and acted in ways that had shocked him. He'd had to learn fast, and the lessons had left their mark. It hadn't been enough to deal with that punk though. But he slipped up too, Flint thought with a growl. He'd let Flint know he was being played, hadn't disguised the fact he'd rammed his deal down Flint's throat when he was off balance and didn't give him a single inch of leeway or pull or an opening to find out details he could use to sweeten the deal his way. Things like where the little shit had gotten that much pure bullion. Instead, Flint was having to operate by the kid's rules, all the while maintaining his professional smile, and he loathed it. "The hell kind of a name is Liam Harcourt anyway?" he muttered, tossing out any little snipe that would improve his mood. "Kid's parents must have doing something hard and damaging when they picked it for him." Though that was unlikely considering what he'd just brought in. He was probably from some local rich family, one eccentric or loopy enough to think that giving their kid a name so outside the mainstream was doing them a favor. He'd thought he'd had all of them scoped out a long time ago though. He'd have to check to see if there were any recent additions to town that would explain the kid's affluence. His laptop beeped and the screen suddenly went dark apart from a single red band across the middle with an amethyst circle in the center. Inside the circle was the stylized depiction of a silver half-oval hanging over a short line: "Priority Update." Flint rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. What now... I thought I told them not to notify me during work hours... He sat down in his plush seat with a grunt and spoke his passphrase aloud. "I am the shepard guarding the wolves." His laptop beeped in acceptance and the screen lit with a long document. Flint's eyes were immediately drawn to the large, bold text at the top of the page. They shot open wide and he quickly began scrolling down, skimming the full list of details. He rolled over to the last page and stopped in surprise and no small amount of shock. The very last page of the document was a series of color photos. The centerpiece of the spread was a zoomed in shot of a face. A face that had just left his office not five minutes ago after insulting and mocking him. Below it was written the phrase "Primary Target". His fingers flew across his phone as he hissed and muttered and a few seconds later the line clicked. Before the voice at the other end got a single word off he cut them off, just barely missing the bar for shouting. "Get me Nightingale, I've encountered the Target with three of the Paragons," he hammered out, glaring at the face of the bastard who'd outmaneuvered him now dominating his computer's screen. He didn't feel the same shame he had before. It wasn't surprising he'd been outplayed by someone of this magnitude, not when he didn't have a clue about who and what they were. But now he knew, and that changed all the rules. "Hey guys, welcome back! How much did we bring in?" asked Rainbow Dash as the quartet climbed out of Twilight's car. Pinkie sniffed at the air and the faint hint of apple pie wafting from the front door then let out a small squeal of delight and burst through the door. Rainbow Dash suddenly worried if there'd be any left by the time dinner came around then remembered that Applejack was in the kitchen as well. Pinkie might be daring when it came to sweets but she wasn't crazy. Well, probably. Dash frowned as she thought long and hard about the accuracy of that thought then decided it wasn't worth it and focused back on her other friends. "I mean, you had actual bars of gold to sell. We've gotta be rich now right?" she asked Sunset as she passed by her into the house Sunset rolled her eyes as she held the door open. "Not... quite. We're going to have to wait a bit to sell them but we've got an agreement on it. We got decent deals on the art though. A couple local galleries and shops were interested in them as display pieces." "Sweet! Applejack and her family are almost finished making dinner so hurry up and get inside." "Oh man, that sounds amazing. We didn't have time to grab lunch earlier and I think we're all running on empty. But yeah, we had some takers. Not great prices for them but we expected as much," Liam explained as he pulled the two cases out of the trunk, one weighing him down noticeably more than the other. "Still, should be enough to take care of some of the immediate stuff Granny mentioned like the phone line we cut during the crash. How have thing's been going on your end?" he asked as he stepped up to the porch and set down the cases. "What, you haven't been keeping in touch with them? No some super advanced space communicator thing?" Dash asked with a smirk. He gave her a deadpan look in return. "Depends on how advanced you consider radio to be. No point in anything else over ground distances." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and held the door open for him as he walked through. "I wasn't actually asking for the nerd explanation. Just thought you'd have talked with them more, checked in, that sort of thing?" Liam shook his head as he placed the cases down by the staircase the door faced towards. "No point. If they decide to do something it's the same thing I would have decided. Mental mirrors of each other, remember? One collective will and that sort of thing, takes out a lot of the bureaucracy." "Dude... do you ever not speak like a nerd? I get enough egghead already from Twilight and sometimes Sunset if she gets going on magic." Liam rolled his eyes. "It's that or politician and you don't want that, trust me." Dash groaned. This guy was turning out to be as much fun to talk to as Octavia but without the benefit of her funny Trottingham accent. "Fine, go back to nerd then if you don't have anything else. Just try not to infect Twilight with it. We can't afford for her to get any more nerdy than she already is or else she'll just stay in her room all the time studying and never hang out with us." "Did someone say my name?" the nerd in question called out from deeper into the house. The two shared a grin then lazily walked down the hallway, Dash trailing a few steps behind him. She wasn't really interested in him, not compared to some of the other guys she'd met at meets and tournaments, but he was... unusual. That was the best way to describe it, unusual. Plus she really wanted to hear more about the Legionnaire guys. They weren't just unusual, they were crazy weird but crazy cool too. Except for the arm blades... well, okay, those were pretty cool too, just not when they were being used to threaten her and her friends. What she was really interested in was how good they were physically. Whatshisname, Jax, had jumped off of the top of their ship and landed behind them like it was nothing. If they could do that then what about basketball? Or running? Or soccer? Dash's grin took on a cocky edge as she thought about how undeniably awesome it would be to beat one if even half of what Liam said about them was true. She was pulled back into the conversation when he laughed. "Fine, me try speak teenage male instead. Maybe drive Twilight mad. Football, video games, girls, football. How me do?" "Dude, don't ever do that again. That was just painful to listen to. Plus I'm pretty sure you were thinking cavemen, not teenage guys." Dash chuckled as they stepped into the kitchen and dining room. Her friends were either seated at the table sipping cider or helping with the final work for dinner. Or in Pinkie's case prolonging the work by wolfing down pie filling as fast as she was making it. Still, the pies were almost ready to be put in the oven so no harm no foul. Liam tilted his hand back and forth. "Is there really a difference?" He paused for a moment while looking around with a goofy grin then pulled up a chair at the table along with Sunset, Fluttershy, Twilight, and Rarity. Fluttershy pushed a glass his way and he took it with a nod of thanks. "No, not really. You should talk to some of the meatheads at school. But you realize you just burnt yourself as well, right?" she said with a snort. "Uh, what's not different? And how did he burn himself? Sorry, I came in at a weird place," said Twilight. Rainbow flashed her a toothy grin. "Liam over here just called all guys cavemen. Didn't quite think that one though." Liam slowly lifted an eyebrow and flicked a finger at her. "No, I said there wasn't a difference with teenage guys. There's just barely any after they pass that age." He brought that finger down and tapped the timer on his other wrist. "Remember, I've got eighty years on teenage-hood, appearance aside. I can make fun of that hormone ridden nightmare all I want thank you very much. Heck, I can make fun of most geezers now and I'd be within my rights." "Ya've got what?!" Granny shouted, nearly fumbling the green apple salad she was mixing as she spun around to stare at him slack jawed. "Oh, right, you three didn't hear that. Guess Alphonse didn't mention it either. I turn a hundred in a couple months," he replied sheepishly. Granny stared at him, her eyes darting back and forth looking for any sign of dishonesty. She looked down at her hands holding the bowl of greens and fruit, turning them this way and that, grimacing in particular when the skin fell slackly to one side as she rotated them. "Ah could'a done without knowin' that. Life just loves sockin' ya in the gut sometimes..." she muttered she she turned back to the dinner preparations. Liam winced and awkwardly sipped at his cider. Dash stepped back a second and looked him over again. "Dude, you can say you're old as much as you want but I just don't see it." Liam turned through the window at the ship lying nose first in the ground. Faint lights flickered around it as the Legionnaires worked to get it fixed as quickly as they could. "Neither do I most of the time. I don't really feel it either. No bad knees or anything that would tell me I'm getting old. I'm as fit if not more so than I was before I got hit with that anomaly. It's like I stayed a young adult- okay, teenager," he said grumpily as Dash raised a finger, "but just got more mellow. I'd like to think it's maturity but if my brain's still young as well then it's probably just years of experience and the lack of things surprising me anymore. That said... hmmmm." He lightly massaged one his wrists, turning his hand this way and that while staring at it intently. It took her a second or two to notice it was the hand with his "timer watch", hidden from her view by his other hand, and his gaze was rooted firmly on it instead. "You know the thing not aging? It changes how you view things, how you remember things. I remember the day I realized I wasn't looking any older than I had before. I had passed thirty barely a month earlier and it changed everything. I'd been worried about what the future for the Legion would be, how long they could continue without me or how people would look at them without me as a basis for judgement. Then, instantly those fears were replaced with different ones. I was going to be with them for it all. Probably." He glanced back at her. "We're pretty sure I'm not going to suddenly turn to dust but I'm not immortal. My body is just insanely good at maintaining itself." "So you have like super healing or something?" asked Sunset. Liam shook his head. "Nah, I heal from injuries just barely faster than most people and don't form scar tissue, that's it. It's more at a cellular level. I just don't, well, age. But that brings me back to my point about viewing things differently. I'm no longer like any other human I know. In many ways I'm closer to Legionnaire than I am to Human. The squishy, fleshy part's about the only real difference now between me and Will and the others," he said, pinching the skin of his forearm. Dash chuckled and leaned against the wall of the house. This was in at least the top ten of the weirdest stories she'd listened to. At the top of that list was Pinkie explaining where Princess Twilight was from on "a hunch" but this was up there pretty high too. He let out a faint snort. "I remember my fiftieth birthday celebration. Huge party with the whole of the Legion cramming into our main station. Games, competitions, congratulations and proposed plans for how to mark the date. Went on for what felt like forever and I'm pretty sure I didn't sleep for at least two days," he added with a chuckle. "I remember launching the Celestia," he said as he faced the ship, "and a hundred others. More than that actually. But day to day... it's a blur. I can't remember how old I was for each of those smaller events. I can't remember the order they happened in. Not well anyway." He paused for a bit, long enough for the the rest of them to look at each other, wondering if that was the end of the story. Turned out it wasn't since he added another line not long after. "I remember when I passed my parents in age. That was... strange." Dash blinked. "Uhhhhh... how does that work exactly? You mentioned something about stretchy years last night and kind of lost us then." He flicked his eyes at her with a smirk. "The only way to explain it is in science nerd. You really want that?" Dash crossed her arms and said, "Hey, just because it's not my thing doesn't mean I can't understand it. I do well enough in science and math. Mostly." The rest of her friends all found various things to suddenly be very interested in, though Pinkie staring at the baking pies was probably actual interest. "Thanks guys, great to see you've got my back." Applejack sighed and said, "Sugarcube, I just don't want to have to lie to back you up." Dash glared at her only for AJ to shrug with a decidedly "Am I wrong?" feel in return. She wasn't unfortunately. Liam thankfully didn't laugh which she was suddenly extremely grateful for. "You can explain it to me then because none of us can figure out exactly how it works, only that if we do ill-advised action A we get unexpected result B. But anyway, here's the gist of it. You know how gravity works? At the spacetime level?" "Spacewhat?" "Wait, can you give me just one second..." Twilight muttered as she reached into her pocket and pulled out that same small notebook and pen she always kept on her. "So your powers are gravitic based?" Liam shook his head. "The exact opposite actually. You know about inflation?" Twilight alone nodded while the rest of them gave him various shrugs and head shakes. "Well, I'll give the lecture notes version then. Think of space as a flat, flexible sheet, like a trampoline. You put a heavy mass in the center and it sinks downward and everything else starts rolling towards it. Now take that sheet and roll it along any axis you like so it's in three dimensions and you have a rough approximation of gravity. Then there's inflation, or at least our understanding of it based on what we can do, which is like pushing up on the bottom of the trampoline so you get a hill that everything falls away from. From there you get things like this," he said as he pointed his arm at the center of he table and the bowl of apples sitting in the center of it. He narrowed his eyes and contorted his fingers almost painfully. Suddenly the apples all began rolling and floating away from the center before falling back down after they'd moved away a little. Where they'd been sitting was a small orb of red light that seemed to spring from nothing. "An expansion field." "Ooooh! How're you doing that? Some secret hand gesture passed down through a secret society that alters the fabric of existence in secret and mysterious ways?" Pinkie asked excitedly as she peered over his shoulder from out of nowhere. To his credit he only leaned away from her slightly instead of jumping in surprise. "Uhhhhh... no. It it's not." Pinkie frowned, deflating a little from her initial excitement. "Oh. Then why are you twisting your hand like that? It looks kinda painful." He laughed again, though it was closer to a grunt really. "Oh, it is. Trust me. But this is what I have to do to get the right signals to go where they need to be," he said, grunting a little as he relaxed his hand. The red glow in the bowl shrunk down to nothing without so much as a flash or pop. "Signals? What kind of signals?" Twilight asked, glancing up from her frenzied writing. Liam didn't hear her though or chose to ignore the question, instead turning his arm this way and that. "Where's that one that's close to the surface..." he muttered as he pressed and poked his arm. He stopped and pressed one place a few times then spread his fingers apart. "Ah, there it is." The girls leaned in and collectively gasped or winced or just wrote more furiously in Twilight's case. Dash pushed off the wall and crossed over to see what they were all looking at. She stood behind Liam next to Pinkie and leaned in close then felt her skin crawl when she saw his skin bulge in a sharp, geometric bump between his fingers. "Darling, you need to see a doctor about that right away!" gasped Rarity. "Dude, what the heck is that?" Dash shouted, sticking out her tongue to emphasize her disgust. Liam laughed and released the skin, hiding the protrusion again. "That would be one of the little gifts from the anomaly that I mentioned last night. A couple million tiny crystals embedded in most of my body. It's why my irises look like this," he said as he pointed at one of his eyes. The transition from the blue to that deep red-ish purple stood out even more in the light of day. "They congregated there after the doctors removed the largest pieces. They're what allow me to make fields." Twilight put down the pad and pen and gave him a set of puppydog eyes to rival Fluttershy's. "How? What are the variables? Ooh! Do you have a sample I could-" "Woah woah woah!" Liam said loudly as he held up his hands to slow her down. "Remember last night? I've told you more than I would normally since we that was part of our agreement. Sorry Twilight, but the answer's still no." Dash frowned as Twilight sank back into her seat, hunched over and moping a little. She still didn't see what was so important about not letting anyone look at their stuff. It wasn't like it was world ending magic or anything. Just a weird glow that pushed everything away. "Sorry, I got carried away. I'm just really interested in new knowledge and this is even bigger than when magic started appearing!" Twilight said, earning her a skeptical smile from Sunset. Dash leaned over to her and whispered, "Somehow I doubt she'd be saying that if she'd been around for the first two two times it popped up as well. This is starting to just feel like a Tuesday now." Sunset snorted and waved her away with a grin then nodded back at Liam and Twilight talking about her interest and more science stuff. "- back to the original topic, spacetime includes time and gravity contracts it locally, making it run slower to anyone outside the influence." Dash gave him a half lidded stare. Oh yeah, that makes sense... Liam noticed her look though and paused his explanation. "Okay, quick tangent. Twilight, you're the other resident nerd, correct me on any tiny details I get wrong. One of the big rules of physics is that light always travels at the speed of light. Simple. What's tricky is that it doesn't matter where you're watching it from, it will still be that speed. So say you have an area of space with a lot of gravity surrounded by space with none and you somehow watch a beam of light pass through both. It will look like it's gone through them at the same speed. Now, the area with a lot of gravity contracts so the distances gets smaller which means the light should shoot through in less time than it would normally take, or rather faster than the speed of light. But that doesn't work because you're watching that light pass through it with the same speed it had outside. How? Time inside stretches, gets longer, slower. Time dilation increases the time it takes that light to pass through gravity with respect to you so it always has the same relative speed." Dash blinked. Then blinked again. Then blinked a third time just to be sure she'd gotten her blinking across. "Twilight, anything you need to correct?" Dash looked to her friend for help and the possibility of making her feel less dumb. She got nothing. "No, that was pretty good. It's not intuitive but I think you made it pretty clear," Twilight replied. What part of that nonsense was clear!? Liam gave her a tilt of his head in thanks then looked around the table again, pausing briefly on Dash with a grin. Just wait till I can get you out on the field. To each their own nerd, to each their own, she thought with evil anticipation. Liam coughed and went back in. "Well, expansion fields do the opposite, making time run faster for anyone inside one when compared to anyone outside. I've spent all but maybe twenty years of my life inside a field as we built up while my folks stayed back on Earth." He looked up for a moment then chuckled. "There's a movie from home that does a decent enough job of showing what it's like. Better than I can explain it anyways. I'll show it to you all sometime if we're here long enou-... if there's time." "That's... wow, that's incredible. So all that comes from a crystal in your body?" Sunset asked as she looked over the skin of his arms and face. Liam nodded then opened and closed his hand a few times. "Made the first ten or so years after I recovered a pain. Can't tense up, that's going to make a field, can't apply a lot of strength to anything, that'll make a field, can't do a lot of things, or else I'd be making fields left and right and throwing myself around like a ragdoll all the time. Found ways around it in time but it still limits me in some ways." "I'm sorry you had to go through that," said Fluttershy. Everyone else nodded, even Applejack; hers was more of an acknowledgement than real sympathy. "It's fine, I've had plenty of time to get used to it." "Heyyyyyyy... you're sure they're not magical stones? Reeeeeeeally sure?" asked Pinkie. "Ninety nine percent certain. Magic's not a thing in our world. Why?" "Weird, that's how we got our powers. Guess it's just a big coincidence then," she said nonchalantly with a shrug. "Pinkie..." Applejack said with a groan. "Were we not going to tell him that?" asked Pinkie. "No, we were. It's fine Pinkie," Sunset said while giving Applejack a pointed look. She shrugged then turned around and started helping her family get out plates and silverware. "Wait, you got those powers from a crystal?" Liam asked, suddenly much more animated than he'd been before. "Yeah! At Camp Everfree!" said Pinkie. "Camp Everfree..." Liam said with exaggerated slowness. Suddenly a loud uproar came from outside the house in the direction of the Celestia. The girls jumped up and started for the door but stopped when Liam waved them down, his face covered by his other hand. "That was the others laughing which means..." he said before a ringtone none of them recognized chimed out. Liam pulled out a thin phone from his pocket and glanced at the ship through the window. "Guess they found a signal to piggyback on. So what did they come up with this time... oh. Oh yeah, terrible minds think alike." He groaned and shook his head. "What is it darling? Is something the matter with the others?" Rarity asked with a confused frown. "Yes, something is horribly wrong. They've just proved again that they, and by extension I, have terrible taste." Dash leaned over and looked at the simple message written across the screen. "Coming to theaters soon, Camp Everfree: The Summer of Magic?" she read out loud. Liam jerked in his seat and looked over his shoulder at her then back down at the phone and chuckled. "Sorry, but there are a bunch of movies we've seen that had stories about encountering weird things at summer camp." Twilight tapped her lip then said, "When you put it that way... so do we. Just never really noticed it because those were movies and this is-" "Real life?" Liam guessed with an odd smirk to which Twilight nodded. Dash wasn't sure why he seemed so amused, it wasn't hard to figure out where Twilight was going with that. Then again he did just about admit to having a weird sense of humor so she wrote it off as part of that. "This I have to hear about." "Only if you tell us about your world and how Will and the others came about," replied Sunset. "That's fair. So where-" "Now hold up, food's ready. You can gab after ya have the grub," Granny said as she and the rest of the Apples began placing plates piled high with rolls, corn, green beans, and apple salad on the table. Dash loved coming here for group cookouts. Nothing beat an Apple family spread. "Oh, sorry Granny. This looks amaz-" he began before his phone chimed again. He pulled it out once more and scrolled down the screen. His eyes narrowed and his lips pressed into a thin line as he reached the end. "Something the matter darling?" Liam looked up at Rarity then back at his phone. "Will's almost to the house and says he needs to talk to me about something." "Oh my, that sounds serious. Do you know what about?" "No, but him walking over here to tell me instead of just shooting a note means one of two things. Either it's too complex to explain by text or it's a problem that he needs my input on." "Do you think your ship is in worse shape than you thought?" asked Sunset. Liam shrugged. "Probably. I don't see what else it could possibly be. Granny, I'm sorry, I'll be back in just a second." "Ain't a problem mister, you take care o' your business and then come on back," she replied with a motherly smile. "Thanks, appreciate it." He pushed his chair back in as he got up and headed out the door. Dash listened for the screen door to shut at the front of the house then looked at her friends. "So he's odd." "He's from another world Rainbow Dash. Honestly, I think he's adapted surprisingly well, most likely because he's also human," Rarity said as she carefully took a roll from the top of the pile. "Remember what it was like for Princess Twilight when she first came here?" "Heh, yeah. Hard to forget. She still does that whole 'hoof hands' thing when she visits. How long did it take you to stop doing that Sunset?" Sunset squinted up at the ceiling then clicked her tongue. "Too long. I think it was a year or more before I stopped doing it. Let me tell you, fingers are hard to get used to." That earned laughs and general comments of the "only around here" sort from the rest of the table. "Rarity has a point about how he'd be more familiar with things here then anyone from Equestria but I know what you mean Dash. It's why I believe him when he talks about his age. It reminds me a lot of how Princess Celestia talked every now and then, just less, you know regal." "Was she as tight lipped and snarky as he is?" "No, definitely not. But she was more of a teacher than a ruler to most everyone. I'm not sure what I'd call him. I want to hear more of his own history, more about his world before I make any sort of judgement call." Dash nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good," she said as she bit into a corn cob. Oh yeah, this is the good stuff. "Man, he doesn't know what he's missing. Wonder what he's talking with Will abo-" "I AM NOT GOING BACK TO A DAMN HIGHSCHOOL! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!?" Everyone was silent as the shout rang through the entire house. Dash slowly looked over he shoulder towards the front door and the lively argument happening on the other side. "Well that wasn't even close to what I was guessing," she said as she faced her very confused friends again. "Can someone pass me the rolls?"