//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: The Trial Of Shadows and A Fated Meeting // Story: Silent Ponyville: Duet Of Sorrow // by KillerSteel //------------------------------// An uproar. Shouts of anger from all around. They all seem to be shouting at someone, someone in the center of the grand courtroom. Upon a small stand, before 30 shadowy, red-eyed figures, stands a small blue Equestrian with a rainbow mane, looking around completely confused. “Guilty! Guilty!” “We demand the death sentence!” “Revenge for what’s been done!” “KILL HER! KILL HER!!!” The shadows scream across the room at each other, the stands next to the central podium before the Equestrian filled with them. They all demand one thing; her death. “Order! I will have order!” The shadow on the central podium speaks up, silence conquering the room once more. His stare at her seems blood-chilling, like every vein in her body just froze up. She can’t break his gaze, as he leans his head on his hand, eyes half-closed. He speaks with a voice indistinguishable from a demon’s. “Equestrian, how do you plead?” He asks her, as if she knew what this entire event was about. “P-plead?! Plead for what?! I didn’t do anything!” She shouts back, the shadows all standing and shouting back. “How could she just blow this off?! Indescribable idiocy!” “Cruel Equestrian! You’re all the same!!!” “We should have left you there!!” “Let the others sort her out!” “Death! Give her death!” “I SAID I WILL HAVE ORDER!!” The central shadow shouts, the room shaking under the mighty boom of his voice. All the shadows stop and stare at him, their angered eyes not yet quelled, as they all take their seats. “I do not take your previous response as an answer, ‘pony’. I asked, how do you plead?” He says, rage slowly quaking up in his voice as he stands. “Plead for WHAT?! I’m not answering until I know what’s going on here!” The blue Pegasus responds, anger prevalent in her voice and confusion in her eyes. “How could she not know?! This was a tremendous crime!” Says one shadow upon the stands to her left, standing with his fist raised. “I’ve never committed any crime! What are you all shouting about? As if I’m going to DIE for something I don’t know about!” The Pegasus screams back at him, causing the shadow to change his look from anger to bewilderment. “She…how…” the words cannot be found, instead replaced with a low growl. “ORDER! One more outburst and you’re all going to be burned!” The judge shouts at the surrounding shadows, causing them to look over at the standing shadow, before he sits and they all shift their gaze back to the Pegasus. “I’m impressed I’m still calling you by this title, Equestrian. It is no longer fit for someone of your stature.” The judge states, his head still laid on his hand in a bored look. “Yeah, calling me a ‘pony’, all sarcastically, that isn’t very nice, y’know. Show some respect!” She shouts back with a smirk. The shadows all gasp in unison, growing wide eyed, as if she’d just committed a crime worse than what she was being put in here for in the first place. The bored look disappears from the central shadow, his solid red eyes growing a black flame where his pupils and irises would be. “…You will learn of what you’ve done. By the power vested in me by the Highest, I sentence you to DEATH! Executioner!!!” The judge’s hand forms a gavel from the shadows of his body, bashing it against the pad on his podium, each wooden smash echoing louder in the room. The pegasus’ eyes grow wide. Sentenced to death? For what? She looks down from the judge, where another shadow stands before her. A tall shadow, though his features are more distinct. The shadow seems…familiar. He holds a sword balanced on the ground, laying his hands on the butt of the handle. “Guilty! Guilty! GUILTY! GUILTY!” The jury rises in their cries, the unified screams of them echoing louder in the room with each iteration. The Pegasus begins to back away from the armed shadow, as he places his hands around the handle, and draws the blade from the ground. He spins the sword upwards into a proper stance, and the edge of the silver blade begins to burn with a black flame. “GUILTY!!! GUILTY!!!” The cries grow louder, more excited, as the executioner begins to step forward towards her. “Don’t do this! I’m innocent! I don’t know what you’re all talking about!!!” The Pegasus, consumed with fear, lowers her head, looking around at all the shadows that cry for her death, scream for her blood to be spilled before them all. The judge simply looks on, his blood red eyes like red-hot spears through her soul. She levels her eyes with those of her executioner, as he raises his blade. He only utters a few words… “…I’m sorry.” Everyone falls silent as the blade is swung, right onto her head. Time begins to slow as her mane is split between the blade, the heat of the edge reaching the top of her head. The blade falls closer, the Pegasus beginning to scream for mercy, the end of her life only seconds away. The blazing edge touches her skin, burns through it to her skull, the pain is excruciating. Everything goes dark… Her eyes snap open as a loud shriek is sent into her pillow. The scream is muffled, only a quiet whisper to the room. She quickly looks around, taking in the environment. She quickly takes a hoof from under her pillow and feels along the top of her head, checking for any wounds. Nothing seems to be there, besides a damp feeling of sweat. She shakes in the bed, terror consuming every thought. “What…just happened?” Is all she can say into her pillow, before rising from it slightly, shaking her head. Another nightmare? And this one had been far more terrible, far more real than any she’s had over the past month or so. Thirty shadows, all shouting for her death, for judgement of some crime she’d committed. What were they talking about? And why did that shadow with the blade sound so familiar? She lets out a sigh and collapses back into her pillow. It’s just a dream, nothing more…why should she lose sleep over something like that? It’s not like she could’ve died or even been hurt. Just your imagination going crazy during sleep, normal thing that happens to everypony. Rainbow raises her head and yawns, before laying back down into the pillow, trying to finish off the sleep she started. Sunrise brings a headache and a slight queasiness as Rainbow rises from her bed, rolling slightly before falling off of it and onto the floor. “Oof! Ngh…ow…” She grunts as she gets back on her feet, her eyes still half closed from a rather fruitless sleep. “Mmm…what am I doing today…something about…AJ I think…” She rubs her forehead, everything about her feeling slow. “The farm…umm…yeah, I said I was gonna help out at the orchard today…what time is it?” She looks out her bedroom window, the sun still quite low. She yawns, “Barely morning? Well, a good flight would do me some good…maybe it’ll wake me up.” She thinks to herself before heading to a nearby mirror hanging on a wall made of clouds. She looks at herself in the mirror, the surprise kicking her brain into a higher gear. Her hair’s a mess, her rose-colored eyes are bloodshot, the veins reaching half-way to her irises, and her color is a color much closer to grey than usual. “What the hay happened last night?” She asks herself, looking at the wake-up call of her looks in the mirror. “Well…least I’m awake now.” She takes a comb and quickly fixes her mane, squinting her eyes, trying to focus on how it looks before simply nodding and heading for the door. She exits into her living room and towards the kitchen door, staring inside. “When was I supposed to head over…ahhh, usually not this much of a mess.” She looks around, the kitchen a blurry mess. “Maybe I should just go back to sleep? If I’m this out of it and I go flying, might end up hurting myself or someone else…maybe a few practice stunts, get the blood flowing.” She nods, heading to and out the front door. Sitting down on the porch, she takes the horizon in, deciding on where to go. The sky before her, simply clouds dimly lit by the red light of the rising sun, show a light pink, and the blue sky is still trapped in dusk. She rubs her eyes, mulling her flight plan over in her head. “Allllright…couple loops, then I’ll head into town, maybe buy some breakfast. Fly around town, move some clouds, then I head over to the farm and help out. Solid plan.” She tilts her head to the side, tapping her chin, before nodding. Rainbow stretches out her wings, flapping them a few times before jumping off the porch of her cloud house into the empty sky before her. Easily she bursts forward, and with a few easy flaps, already begins to ascend into a first loop. Reaching the apex of the loop, she closes her wings and does a quick backflip before falling into the rest of the loop, dropping altitude to pick up some speed. She dodges through groups of clouds, barrel rolling and rapidly ascending and descending, treating the sky like an obstacle course. “Already starting to wake up! Air this frigid always gets the heart going. Bit cold, but if I don’t want to fall asleep half way through helping AJ, then I may as well do something fun instead of sleeping all day.” Smirking, she boosts forward, quickly picking up to her top flying speed, and launches herself into a straight ascent. As she begins to feel gravity take hold on her, she angles down and launches towards the earth below, quickly picking up speed. She flaps her wings to help gravity’s pull on her towards the ground. Faster, faster, she begins to see the cone of air forming around her. Something feels strange about this though. She starts to slow down, almost instinctively, a good 1200 meters above the ground. She had plenty of distance to cover, so why’d she stop here? “Usually I can pick up speed until I hit the tree line, then I change direction…why am I stopping all the way up here?” She raises an eyebrow, thinking about this new sensation now charging through her mind, that sharp fall in her stomach before she began to slow down. “Did I get scared? I’ve done this plenty of times, why am I getting so scared about it?” She looks down towards the earth below, nothing but a flat green plain in sight, thin shadows drawn by the puffy clouds above it. “You’ve gotta be kidding…must’ve been a fluke. Ground looked closer than it was, or something?” Rainbow asks herself before shooting back into the air. She keeps rising past her previous start point, before stopping again, reaching the limit of her breathing capacity. “Air’s getting too thin…can’t go much higher. Now or never!” She says to the skies as he blasts downwards, a powerful flap taking hold before gravity. Now she accelerates even faster towards the ground. 2500 meters, 2200 meters, 1700 meters, 1200 meters. She flies past her old stopping point, every creeping tentacle of this new sensation gripping at her mind, trying to stop her. 200 meters. The ground suddenly flies straight at her, shocking her out of her descent, causing her to madly try and slow down. She stops, her pupils growing smaller from pure shock. “D…did…that just happen?” She blinks a few times, taking a few deep breaths to try and calm herself down. A good 150 meters separates her from the ground, a fall from this height could seriously injure even her. Plenty of room to speed up and change course… “Something’s wrong with me…” Rainbow thinks as she rubs a hoof on her face, closing her eyes, trying to sort her mind out. The scare certainly woke her up better than any morning exercise, so that’s a plus, if any. She starts heading towards town, going noticeably slower than normal. Walking through the streets of Ponyville, a sense of unease can’t be pulled away from Rainbow’s thoughts. She wobbles slightly, still feeling drowsy, the adrenaline of her scare now gone. “Maybe I should’ve slept longer…” She thinks to herself. Some ponies turn to her with confused looks on their faces, seeing the Pegasus they’re so used to seeing rocketing through the skies now walking amongst them. “And now everypony’s staring at me…great. Was hoping I could get through today without any strange looks.” She blinks hard, trying to get the sleepiness out of her eyes. She’d just gotten a sandwich from a nearby shop, hoping the food would put some energy back into her, but it just didn’t seem to work. None of her friends had shown up either, which seemed especially strange. “Bet Pinkie could get my blood flowing better than anypony. Usually she finds me though…well, I’ve got a job to do anyway. Now…guess I should check which way I’m going.” Rainbow thinks to herself as she leaps into the air, launching back into the sky. She ascends high above the town, looking around for the orchard. She begins to head towards it before noticing something else, or rather, hearing something else. It sounds far away, but seems to be catching up at a very high speed. “…gaaaaAAAANGGGWAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!” A male voice screams at her as she spins around, seeing a black…comet-like thing heading straight for her. She throws herself out of the way, the black object slashing through the air she used to be in. “SOORrrrryyyyy…!!!” The voice cries out again, disappearing into the distance. “What the HECK was that?!” Rainbow tilts her head, eyes wide with both surprise and shock, as the flame heads straight for the farm. “Oh no, that thing’s headed straight for the orchard!” She thinks as she explodes forward, quickly picking up speed. Just before the boundaries of the orchard, the flame seems to immediately die, revealing a silver-haired hedgehog. He’s dressed in a camo vest, black short-sleeved shirt, and cargo pants with heavy boots. He looks around, spinning around in the air, getting a cross look and folding his arms before falling out of the sky. Rainbow charges down towards the ground, catching him before he hits the ground. He holds his cross look, staring straight ahead, as both him and Rainbow land on the ground. She managed to catch him by flying under him and letting him land on her back, but the impact was pretty rough, knocking some of the wind out of her. The hedgehog slips off her back as she falls to her knees, panting. “Man, you’re heavy…you know that?” She looks over to the new male, his back still turned to her. “Well, can’t say I was expecting to fall right out of the sky like that…” He says, turning his head slightly. “Thanks.” “Yeah, yeah…just watch yourself next time. I’m only one pony, can’t be around to save...every…um…” She squints her eyes, looking at the hedgehog, taking in his profile. “Wait…what DID I just save from that fall?” He turns around fully to face her, having the same confused look. “Whadya mean ‘what did you just save from that fall?’ Y’saved me, kid! Well, can’t say saved…more like ‘convenienced’. Could’ve survived that fall easy.” He says with a sniff, rubbing his nose with a smile. “Now then…where am I?” He asks himself, turning back around, taking in the scenery. Both him and Rainbow are in the middle of a track between trees, a single road heading through the forest towards AJ’s farm. He rubs the back of his neck. “Hey um…do you know which way it is to Canterlot?” He asks, smiling with a slightly embarrassed look on his face. “I was headed over that way on a um…errand. Kinda got lost.” “Canterlot? Why’re you heading over there?” Rainbow asks, getting to her feet, still staring at the hedgehog with a slightly suspicious look. “It’s ahh…kinda secret, y’see. Just heading there to meet up with some family. My dad’s a stickler for timing, so if you could just help a guy out…eh?” He crouches down to sit level with Rainbow’s eyes, eyebrows raised with a smile. “Whadya say?” Rainbow backs away a bit. “I dunno. You seem weird…and that’s in more than one way.” She looks him over, causing him to follow her gaze along his body. “Weird? Hey, lady, just cause you look different from me, doesn’t mean I get to call you ‘weird’. Now are you gonna help me or not? I’m short on time…here…” He lowers his brow, blinking a few times, before cocking his head to the side. “Wait a sec…don’t…don’t I know you…?” He says, squinting his eyes and rubbing his chin, looking over Rainbow’s figure. “Hey, watch where you’re looking, bud! And how could you know me? We’ve never met!” Rainbow backs off, moving around to face him. “And what exactly ARE you? I’ve seen different looking ponies, but I’ve never seen anypony that looks like YOU.” “Well aren’t you rude?” The hedgehog says with a grimace, his eyes half-closed. He stands up straight, pulling a pair of aviator sunglasses out of his front pocket. “Well, if you must know. I’m Sehn, a Hemoran. Guy from outta country, if you really wanna get into that. And you, little miss Equestrian…your name is right on the tip of my tongue, I know it is!” He scratches his chin, looking down at Rainbow. “Listen to me when I said I’ve NEVER MET YOU. Now, I’m sorry, but you’re starting to creep me out, and I’ve got a job to do for a friend. So if you’ll excuse me…” She starts to walk off, before Sehn seems to appear right in front of her in a blur, in a crouching position. “No…I definitely know you. Blue coat, rainbow mane…bad attitude…Pegasus…starts with an Rrrrr…c’mon, think.” He shuts his eyes in deep thought, gloved hand on his chin. “R…Ra…Rai…Rainnnbow…Rainbow. D…d..d…da…das, dash, yeah. Rainbow Dash, that’s your name!” He snaps his fingers, smiling, seemingly proud he remembered her. “Wait, how’d you guess my name?!” Rainbow seems to hold the opposite reaction, definitely freaked out by this discovery. “Wow. You really don’t remember me? I’m hurt, Miss Dash. Honest. Then again, what I came here for would probably be better off forgotten…listen, that job you had to do for your friend, mind calling it off? You and I gotta go somewhere.” “As if I’d go anywhere with YOU. Just because you know my name doesn’t mean we’ve been anything close to friends.” She stomps off around him, shooting an angry look behind her before looking forward with a ‘hmph’. Sehn sighs, rolling his eyes, before hopping backwards, throwing himself a good 10 meters in front of Dash. He skids to a halt, blocking her path. “Alright lady. I’ll drag you there if I have to. This is important to us both, alright? Just trust me on it.” He stretches out his arms, creating a road block with his body. Rainbow just stares at him, rolling her eyes, before launching up into the air and flying over him. “Oh come on!” Sehn shouts as he starts chasing Rainbow, his sprint keeping up easily with her flight. They lock eyes, both growing angered by each other’s persistence, and pick up speed down the path. Before long they’re racing down the forest path in a blur, changing directions through the forest, Rainbow trying to lose her pursuer while Sehn tries to keep her in sight. Sehn dashes up a tree, throwing himself into the air several feet above the tree line, before kicking off the peak of a tree towards his target, jumping across the orchard. “Just listen to me for a second, aright?! This is important, I’m serious!” Sehn shouts over the racing wind past his face, trying to keep up with the Pegasus. “I’m done listening to you, weirdo! Just leave me alone!” She shouts back before flying up into the air, straight through a low-hanging cloud, putting a good 30-meter diameter hole in it. “Bloody hell…” Sehn grumbles, closing his eyes. ‘Loki, I need our wings. Seems Dash has taken off above the cloud cover.’ ‘Got it. Any particular memory you want me to dig up?’ The familiar dragon’s voice calls back. ‘Nah, just channel the hate. I’ve got enough already dug up.’ Sehn thinks as he snaps his eyes open, taking on Loki’s eye color and pupil shape, before the two flaming wings grow on his back. “Alright, Dash, you’ve always been faster than me…but that was two years ago. Let’s see you keep up with THIS.” He shouts into the sky before blasting off a tree top, the wind generated from the single beat of his wings causing the trees to whine and quake in the typhoon. He quickly ascends into the hole his target created, ripping the cloud to pieces. He holds in the air on a platform of black flame, looking around. He closes his eyes, trying to track her. ‘…Ahhh, this isn’t working…I can’t force enough hate in order to create a good trace. Loki, can you see her anywhere?’ Sehn thinks, pivoting his head, trying to see that familiar black tendril extending from his soul. ‘I’m trying too, but she’s an evasive girl. You’d think it’d be easy with our combined senses.’ Loki replies. ‘Considering we’re tuned to only one side of emotion, I’d go against that thought, honestly. Keep looking, I’ll fly around.’ Sehn sighs, opening his eyes. “Now…if I were a Pegasus trying to get away from a Hemoran…where would I go?” He says, folding his arms and stroking his chin. “C’mon Sehn, think…where would she go if she were being chased? Further up? Or would she go below the cloud line into the orchard?” He rubs his forehead, talking to himself. “She said something about having a friend to help…someone named ‘AJ’? That could be any combination of names! Arrrgh!” He growls, moving his hands back and forth over his hair. “Heh…guess I gave him the slip.” Dash smiles to herself, hiding in the branches of an apple tree, looking up at the shredded cloud her pursuer crashed through. “Still…that’s a lot of force in that jump. And did I see wings on his back?” She squints her eyes, her smile becoming a frown. “I don’t know any kind of pony that can fly besides the Pegasi, yet he doesn’t seem to belong anywhere in Equestria…where’s he from? He said he’s a ‘Hemoran’…Hemoron, more like.” She chuckles at her little joke, as she jumps down from the tree and starts walking away, keeping under the shadow of the trees. “No way he can find me down here…hmm. Nah, if I start mocking him now, he’ll just follow my voice…still, so tempting!” She giggles, staring up at the silver hedgehog. The clouds have moved away from under him, revealing two leathery wings on his back, massive and armored with purple scales. He stands on two small black planks of fire under his feet, and he looks around. “Wait…why are his eyes closed? Is he trying to find me using sound?” She covers her mouth, keeping quiet. ‘Maybe that is what he’s been trying to do…’ she thinks to herself, creeping under the trees towards the farm. ‘If I can just get away from him, and get over to the barn, I can hide out there…warn AJ. She’ll get the word out.’ Thoughts roll through her head, thoughts of something terrible waiting for her if she’s found by the one who called himself Sehn. Dash picks up into a run through the orchard, keeping under the cover of the trees, hoping she can make it to the house before he does. “This still isn’t working. Why can’t I hate her?” Sehn asks himself, as if expecting the answer to form right in front of him. ‘You do like her, don’t you?’ Loki responds, slight clattering sounds following the echo. “I guess I do. She’s probably the one Equestrian I can respect, even if she did some terrible things in the past. But respect has nothing to do with it…I use hate for others in order to help them, to find them in case they get in trouble.” Sehn rubs the back of his neck, turning around, the flames under his feet moving with them. He starts walking across the sky, his dragon wings folded up behind him. ‘Well, you have to think that the connections we made have always been two-way. We make the person we’re trying to help angry with us, and that starts the tether. Then, we just hate them back, and that completes it, basically creating a rope between us and them. She’s more scared of you than anything, Sehn.’ “That’s…rather explanatory of you, Loki. You been reading in my head?” ‘I pick things up. Even pretty girls like me have to learn some things about the world.’ “Well…yeah. Everyone’s gotta learn what they can about the world, about themselves. Still, this educated sound to you, it’s weird. Out of your character if you ask me.” ‘What, I’m not allowed to be smart? You have so many books in here though, I get bored sometimes.’ “Never meant that, and…wait, books? I have books in there?” Sehn raises his eyebrows, looking up towards his forehead. ‘Yeah, you do. Lots of books, mostly about military guidelines, rules and fighting techniques and stances. You read too much about the physical arts, nothing about increasing your…ahem…’ The sound of pages flipping in a book can be heard, ‘Meennnntaaaallll faacultiiiiieees…yeah. Mental faculties!’ Sehn lowers his eyes, “You just learned that, didn’t you.” ‘I’m young! Don’t speak to me like I’m some newborn!’ “You practically are though, even though you’re still a hundred years older than me.” ‘I’m not a baby anymore.’ “Arguable.” ‘Shut up and keep looking, spiky-head.’ “Fine, fine…” Sehn looks down, having walked for quite a while, and sees a large farm below him. He raises an eyebrow, seeing a small blue streak heading towards the front of the large house in the center of the farm land. “Guess I didn’t have to look for long. Lucky me. Still…hmm, she did mention helping her friend, maybe her friend lives here?” ‘Worth a shot. Going to head down looking like you are, or are you going to take a more…covert look?’ “What do you mean? My use of this fire is kinda limited, even with you helping me out. Is physical change really all that easy?” ‘Wellll…no, not really…we’d both have to concentrate pretty hard, but once the disguise is on, it just takes a small memory in the back of the mind to maintain it.’ “Well? Concentrate on what is the question here, I think. And I think with my body and hair color, this disguise is going to look really out-of-place.” ‘You could always base the design on my colors.’ “And make myself look like a deep purple target? I think I’ll chance it with the ghost look.” Sehn sighs, “Sometimes looking this good is almost a bad thing…” He smirks, before the flames below his feet disappear, allowing him to freefall into the orchard. Branches break under him, and he lands with a thud on the ground below, and a thin circle of flame is cut into the ground around him. “Well, no one’s around…let’s get this started.” Sehn says, taking a seat and putting his hands together. A slap is heard in his head, as Loki takes the same pose in her own little mental pocket in Sehn’s mindspace. ‘Alright…focus on yourself, and the form you want to take. Doesn’t have to be really defined, just make it as clear as you can in your head.’ “I don’t need a lecture, Loki. I asked if it was going to be easy, not if I needed a refresher course on one of the first things you learn in the Dragons.” ‘Alright, you walk me through it then, since I actually do need a refresher.’ “Right. Focus on the form you want to take…make it as dark as possible on the white walls of the Void in your mind…allow your soul to attach to the image…then, form the flames around your body, and forge yourself into the form you imagine. Simple…just the visualization has to be exact, even if it isn’t defined.” ‘Well, you have me here!’ Loki cheerfully replies, ‘So buck up and let’s get this done. Give it too much time and the whole process falls apart, right?’ “Right, right, or someone comes along and breaks my concentration…and considering I’m actually changing my body type, not clothing or anything, this much flame would…well, we’re both aware of what would happen.” Sehn closes his eyes, as the flames around him intensify, reaching out to his arms and legs. A shadow watches him from the edge of the small clearing Sehn made during his descent. “Darkness of the mind, void of the flame. Absorb this form and grant it change. Fool my enemies and confuse my friends. A cloak to disguise all.” Sehn quietly chants to himself as the flames begin to tie themselves like rope around his arms, legs, neck and torso. “Going under…!” Sehn mutters to himself as the black ropes tied around his body begin to drag him into the circle of flame under him. He grits his teeth as the flames eat away at his flesh and bone, the pain like sitting within an inferno. “Gah…forgot how much this hurts!” He grunts to himself as he falls up to his neck into the circle. Soon his face up to his eyes is gone, and a few moments later, nothing remains of him, simply the blazing circle in the center of the clearing. The shadow simply sits there, watching, nothing but confusion on his face. Gears turn in his head, grinding, trying to process what just happened. A male he’s never seen before, never even seen his species before, just sank into a circle of burning…something. He’s not coming back up, and he looked like, during his last moments, he was letting out a scream of pain. The half-closed eyes of the shadow blink slowly, the gears not churning hard enough to call this anything but a weird hallucination. “Been workin’ too hard…” the shadow says to himself before trudging off back to the farm and his family. Several minutes pass. The circle of fire seems to have expanded to cover most of the clearing, the flames now liquid ooze, boiling. Small puffs of steam come up from the bursting thick bubbles, like tar over a geyser. The center of the circle begins to bulge, folding on itself, before some rips through the surface. The leg comes out and slams down onto the surface of the flames, dragging out the rest of its body. Every part that emerges is covered in the tar-like liquid fire, before a head emerges, sputtering. It lets out a mighty roar of agony, as if it had just emerged from the torturous depths of Hell itself. “AAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!! Bloody HELL that HURTS!” The voice is a tone higher than the being that entered the circle. It drags the rest of the body connected to its leg out of the circle, standing on the circle. The shape is that of an Equestrian, a bit bigger than average. As the tar begins to return to its flaming state, and burn away, it reveals more of the body. The Equestrian has a gray, shiny coat with a silver mane and tail. The silver seems to shine in the sunlight coming down through the trees. The eyes are a deep brown. “Oyyy…no matter how many times I’m gonna end up doing that, I doubt I’ll get…used to it…” The pony squints his eyes, looking over himself. “Well look at that…it worked.” He says to himself, rather impressed. ‘Hey, Loki! It worked!’ He calls out in his mind. No answer. “…Huh?” He lowers his brow, looking around him. The voice in his head is usually very responsive in emotional situations, especially considering how awake she was before he’d gone into the circle. He calls out in his mind again. ‘Loki! I know you’re in here, this isn’t funny! Answer me!’ Still no answer. He grits his teeth, stomping the ground. The hoof splatters into the tar, spreading it onto his legs and belly. “Where the heck is she? That change shouldn’t’ve done anything to her…” The words are a slight slur, as he closes his eyes and focuses on his memories. His vision begins to turn purple, the environment showing itself as black and white silhouettes in the purple background. He lowers his vision to his chest, where a black tendril has begun to emerge. It searches around, as if having a mind of its own, before plunging into the tar pit below its host. “How’d she get down there?” The pony wonders to himself, opening his eyes, the tendril disappearing from sight. He waits for a moment, before a claw bursts out of the tar in front of him. The claw quickly extends into an arm, which slaps down onto the circle and begins dragging out the rest of the body. The small dragon emerges from the flames, slouched over, coughing. “Aww, my poor lungs…being down there is like suffocating.” She says to herself, looking up at the Equestrian before her. She opens her eyes wide in shock, and begins looking around, backing away. “Oh no…Sehn, where are you?” She says, staring up at the pony in fear. “Uhh…Loki. The disguise isn’t THAT good, is it?” Sehn tilts his head, shifting his weight onto his left foreleg. “Wait, YOU’RE Sehn?” Loki raises her brow, surprised. “I knew the spell would work…but I never figured it would work THIS well. It’s like you were born and raised as one of them!” She says gleefully, quickly returning to her usual bubbly self, before jumping onto Sehn’s back, taking a seat. “So, you know why you managed to get out here? I didn’t send you out.” Sehn looks behind himself to the dragon. “Not sure. Maybe there isn’t enough room in your head for me anymore, so I got kicked out here during the conversion.” Loki says with a shrug, just as confused as Sehn. “You’re going to have to get back in my head, then. Not many Equestrians have a dragon riding them…” Sehn lowers his eyelids. “Aww, c’mon though! I’ve never ridden an Equestrian before! Giddy up!” She says with a big smile. “You’re a hundred years too young to be riding around on me, kid. Off y’get.” “Party pooper!” Loki says with a pout as she jumps off. She turns around, looking over Sehn’s new body. “I’m serious though…I never would’ve thought the spell would work like this. Not a single feature of your old body is left, besides your colors. The silver mane and grey coat make you look like an old geezer though.” Loki says, stroking her chin, as if appraising a work of art. “Stop staring at me like that, and if you think about it, I am pretty old. Youthful as a twenty-year-old though, and I plan to keep it that way.” He says with a smirk, wiping his mane back, it shining in the light. “Careful with that hair, you’ll blind someone.” Loki shields her eyes. “Anyway, back to it, eh? We’ve messed around out here long enough, and Dash is likely finishing up at her friend’s. Hopefully she doesn’t think I’m still out here…” Sehn crouches down, closing his eyes. After a few seconds, his face curls into a grimace, and he opens his eyes. “Shoot…can’t use Dragonflight. Can you try getting back in here?” Sehn taps his head, looking at Loki. “I could try, but I’m not guaranteeing anything. Open the door up.” Loki walks up in front of Sehn as he closes his eyes, a small black flame appearing at the base of his neck. A tendril extends from it, expanding into a small hole in space. “…That…is really small.” Loki stares into the hole, it barely being big enough to fit her arm. “There’s no way I’m going to jam myself in there, not even with a plunger.” Sehn opens his eyes, the door disappearing, and sighs. He stomps the ground twice, the tar grabbing onto his leg and climbing onto his body, being absorbed back into his soul. “Guess we’re winging it then. Just have to think of how to approach this.” Sehn says, stroking his chin, as Loki jumps onto his back again. “You don’t really talk to others much, do you? The only conversations you really have are with me, your brother, and the General whenever he calls you up to the war room.” Loki grabs onto Sehn’s neck, pulling herself up to the top of his spine. “True. Never had to use this spell for any kind of spy work where conversation was needed. Should I just head up to the farm house, ask for Dash, say I’m from some organization wanting to recruit her? Do I just wait out here, since she’s sure to come over this way? If I waited though, it’d make this disguise a waste…and I don’t think I’m going to be able to go back to normal anytime soon anyway.” Sehn sighs, “Better make use of it then…here goes nothing.” He starts walking out of the orchard, moving slowly to get used to having to use all four legs, occasionally stumbling. After about ten minutes of walking, Sehn comes up to the treeline overlooking the farm. He looks over the landscape, the first thing coming into his sight being a massive, red barn. “Well doesn’t that stick out like a sore thumb…” Sehn mumbles to himself as he continues looking over the land. Several ponies are running around, doing chores and chatting with each other. “No Pegasus…is she somewhere in the orchard?” Sehn takes a seat behind a nearby apple tree, watching everyone go about their daily business. “I really don’t want to just walk up there and say ‘Hey, I’m looking for this girl, Rainbow Dash, you know where she is?’…massive chance I’ve already been talked about.” He mumbles, tapping his chin, trying to think of a good plan of attack. “Alright…I’ve got about 300 yards of absolutely unknown territory, and I have to assume my prey has the entire landscape figured out like the back of her hoof. Not only that, but there’s about ten ponies wandering around, all who likely know what I look like. Given how I-“ “Hey, whatcha doin’?” Sehn leaps a good three feet into the air, spinning around to face whoever it was that suddenly popped up behind him. “GAH!” “Ah!” The small pony jumps back. “Don’t scare a guy like that! You’ll give someone a heart attack!” Sehn shouts but keeps his voice down, putting a leg to his chest to check his heart hadn’t just exploded. “Ah’m sorry. Ya looked lonely, so I thought I’d come over and talk to ya.” The small pony walks up to Sehn, the light showing off a bright red ribbon on her mane, a bit bigger than her head. Sehn just kind of stares, and thinks ‘Wow, so this is what one of their kids looks like?’, and he crouches down to look her level in the face. “So…you see a colt sittin’ in your orchard, staring at the farm, and you introduce yourself by scaring him? Very kind of ya.” “Ah said ah was sorry! Ah didn’t think ya’d get scared that easily!” “It’s fine. The scare’s gone.” Sehn gestures a sweeping motion with his leg. “So what’s your name, kid?” “Yer new around ‘ere?” “Yeah, you could say that. Definitely new to this town.” Sehn nods, Loki hiding behind his neck, claw on her chest, her heart still racing. “Too bad ya didn’t run into Pinkie Pie first, she’d give you a real welcome.” The filly smiles. Sehn doesn’t return it, instead cocking his head to the side, squinting his eyes with a small frown growing on his face. “Pinkie Pie, you say?” “Yeah. Somethin’ wrong?” “…Nah, thinking of someone else, probably…” Sehn clears his throat, “So yeah, who’re you?” “Name’s Applebloom! What’s yers?” She replies, leaning in. “Oh uh…my name? My name is…uh…” Sehn stutters, looking around, trying to think of a name that’d help him blend in. “S…Si-Silver Rush.” Sehn looks at her, raising his eyebrows, praying the name didn’t come out as obviously bad as he thought. “Oooo, cool! Matches yer mane!” Applebloom says cheerfully. ‘WOW, I thought that came out terribly…thank goodness she’s still a kid.’ Sehn thinks to himself, letting out a light sigh of relief. “So what are ya doin’ out here, Mistah Rush? Seems weird that yer staring at mah sister’s farm, mumblin’ to yerself.” Applebloom raises a brow, staring at Sehn. “Oh, you know…I was just wandering around, got bored, figured I’d stand here, see how a farm worked…I come from a big city off in the West, so I never really got to see how all the produce was made and sent out.” Sehn nods, happy with his lie. “No kiddin’? Well why didn’t ya just come up to us and talk? We’d show ya the ropes!” “No! No, I wouldn’t think of disturbing this work! Livelihood of the town rests on what you pick from here, right? The farm’s massive!” “Well, Ah guess we do help the town out a lot with all this. Still, ya shouldn’t just sit there and stare out at us! It’s kinda weird, y’know?” She tilts her head, staring at him. “Yeah, that’s true, I just don’t really like ta-ow!” Sehn moves a hoof up to the side of his neck, feeling a pinch. “Somethin’ wrong?” Bloom asks, looking at where Sehn was grabbing his neck, a slight show of worry on her face. “Nah, definitely fine. Nn…” Sehn rubs the area where Loki grabbed him just a bit too hard, and he feels a bit of blood. “Ah, great, now I’m bleeding…” “Bleedin’?!” Bloom shouts, stepping back. “Wh-what? It’s nothing serious, just a bit of a wound, that’s all! It’ll heal by itself, no need to start screaming.” Sehn puts pressure on the small scratch, a small trail of blood having seeped down to his shoulder before stopping. “Ah think that’s a bit more than just a small wound!” Bloom starts walking around to Sehn’s side, trying to get a better look at the wound. Loki jumps off Sehn’s back and moves around to his other side, crouching beside him to stay out of sight. She winces as the feeling of Sehn’s growing hate creeps into her mind. “Sorry…guess I twitched…” Loki whispers. Sehn lowers his leg, letting Bloom get a good look at the scar. The wound isn’t very deep, but is definitely bleeding pretty badly. “Ya, that isn’t any small wound I ever saw. C’mon, we’ll take ya to Applejack, she’ll getcha fixed up.” Bloom tugs on Sehn’s leg, trying to get him to move. “Tch, c’mon kid, I said I’ll be fine! Just lemme relax here for a bit, the scratch will scab over on its own!” Sehn grunts, finally getting to his feet from the constant tugs on his leg. “It’ll just take a second! C’mon now!” Bloom moves around to Sehn’s back, Loki running off into the trees in front of him, taking cover behind a large trunk. He starts walking forward, getting shoved. “Ah, jeeze…I’m not good with…ah, ponies, y’know?” Sehn walks out of the tree line, looking back at the filly shoving him along. “I mean look! It’s already started healing!” He points to the dried wound. “Ah said it wasn’t any small wound! Now come awn, quicker we get you taken care of, quicker you can get back to studyin’. Ya wanted to know how farms worked, right?” Bloom keeps shoving him along with her shoulder, staring up at his chin with a contorted look of effort on her face. “Well yeah, but I prefer studying from the sidelines, written texts and that…quit shoving, I’m gonna trip!” “Then mah sister’s the best pony t’go to when it comes to runnin’ a farm. Just trust me, everypony here’s a good one!” “Alright, alright! Now seriously, quit shoving, or I’m gonna trip and give myself another ‘small wound’.” Sehn grimaces as the filly quits shoving at his back leg, and he takes a seat at the gate to the barn. “Sheesh…looking at it from here…this place really IS big. What’re you and your sister living in a giant house like this for? All of it storage?” “Whadya mean just us? We’ve got tons of brothers and sisters!” Bloom smiles. “Oooof course you do.” Sehn looks off to the right, a small smirk growing on his face. “Maybe this really isn’t the best thing for me. I don’t speak well with others, I’m trying my best with just you. What’s going to happen if a crowd starts to gather?” Sehn looks down at his “Then ya buck up and put some confidence in ya. Not gonna get anywhere by being all ‘lone wolf’. Besides, ya’ve talked pretty well with me, haven’t’cha?” Bloom smirks, looking up at the towering figure beside her. “Yeah well…guess that just means I’m good with kids, eh?” Sehn looks back down at her, before shifting his gaze to the sound of footsteps in front of him. ‘Oh crap…’ is all that goes through his head. “Well now, who might this be?” Says the approaching pony, a deep orange coat with blond hair and tail, and a ten gallon hat on her head. “This is Silver Rush, he’s new around here!” Bloom says a big smile. “Y’don’t say. Well, howdy, Mistah Rush. Name’s Applejack, pleasure to meet’cha.” “Ah, pleasure’s all mine. Ahem…” Sehn dodges her look, staring at the ground in front of him. “What’s wrong? Can’t talk to a girl?” Applejack grins. “T-that’s not it! I’m just not very social usually. Normally just stay up in my bar-be-bed. Yeah. Usually just stay cooped up in my bed with a book.” Sehn stutters a bit, still looking around at Applejack’s hooves. “Uh huh. Y’know, ya remind me of a friend a mine who oughta get out a lot more.” She chuckles. “No kiddin’.” Sehn replies, finally bringing his gaze up level with Applejack’s eyes. “So, what brings ya ‘round here, Mistah Rush?” “He was watching the farm from the orchard! Said he was studyin’ how farms worked!” Bloom immediately blurts out, causing Sehn to look down at her. “Ah. Applebloom, maybe we should let the colt speak fer himself, eh?” Applejack looks down at her sister, eyes half-closed. “Right, sorry Applejack.” Bloom pouts. Sehn sighs, rubbing the back of his neck and nicking his wound, causing him to twitch in pain. “Dh…” “Hm? Somethin’ wrong?” Applejack looks up from her sister to Sehn, spotting the wound. “Where’d ya get that?” She says, walking up closer to inspect it. “I uh, got it while walking through the orchard! Branch must’ve slashed me as I walked by. It’s nothing serious, see? Scabbed over nicely!” Sehn points to the wound, now a black gash with some red still seeping out. “No, no it hasn’t actually. Still bleedin’. How long ago did ya get this?” Applejack looks up at Sehn, inches away from his face. “Um…five, ten minutes ago?” Sehn moves his head back from the mare staring him dead in the face. “Not a lotta time for the wound t’properly heal. I got some disinfectant and bandages in the barn, wait here.” Applejack turns and walks back down the path towards the barn, a slow canter. “Oy! Rainbow! I need you t’grab somethin’ for me!” She shouts to the barn. “What?! I’m busy!” A blue Pegasus pops out from behind the barn, flying over top of it. Sehn looks up, smirking slightly. ‘There you are!’ He says to himself. “Huh? Y’say somethin’, mistah?” Bloom looks up with a raised brow. “Not a word, kid.” Sehn replies. The smirk stays on his face as he watches the Pegasus fly back into the barn. A few minutes later, she comes back out and flies down to Applejack who’s waiting between two fields, and she takes the supplies then starts walking back. She has a medical kit in her mouth. She speaks through clenched teeth, “Aright, here y’go.” She puts the kit on the ground. “Are you sure you should be using all this on a tiny wound like this? Seems like a waste of good gauze.” Sehn says, moving the right edge of his mouth up. “It’s fine, I restock at the clinic in town. Now move your head so Ah can do this properly.” She shoves a hoof into his face, moving his head to the side as she starts to open the kit. “Kinda forceful, ain’t she?” Sehn grunts, looking over at Bloom. “She can be, yeah.” Bloom nods. “Hey, Ah’m not the pony who ‘erself cut. Ah’m the one tryin’ t’fix it.” Applejack interrupts, a bit of a cross look on her face. “And stop pushin’, Silvah, yer makin’ it difficult.” “Ah, we’re on a first name basis now?” Sehn smiles. “Keep dreamin’, mistah. Yer a couple years too old for me.” Applejack smiles back. “You wound me, miss.” Sehn chuckles, then gets shoved further to the side as the disinfecting ointment is applied. “Woo, feels weird. Mind not pushing so hard?” “Yer the one pushin’ back that hard. Relax and Ah’ll lay off.” Applejack squeezes the disinfectant out of the tube in her mouth, wiping the tip gently on the wound. “This is pretty exact work, so stop shakin’ so much.” Sehn relaxes his neck, and the push gives up some of its force. Applejack leans down and puts the ointment back in the kit before taking out a roll of gauze. Sehn keeps his head leaned back as she begins wrapping up the wound. “There y’go. Didn’t take much now, did it?” Applejack smiles at her patchwork. “Yeah, not bad. Bit tight…but I can still breathe. Kind of.” Sehn takes a deep breath, stretching the bandages out to make some room for his windpipe. “So who was that Pegasus? Never saw her around when I came into town.” Sehn says, looking up. “Oh, her? She’s Rainbow Dash, friend a mine from way back. She’s helpin’ out at the farm t’day. She works hard but she’s a bit too prideful.” “Don’t I know it…” Sehn says under his breath, looking back down at Applejack. “Thanks. I guess the wound’ll heal up nicely now, and hey, now I can say I’ve been in a fight.” He chuckles. “Where y’from, Silvah? Never seen you ‘round here.” Applejack takes a seat next to him, the sun starting to set. “I’m from out West, one of the cities out that way. Been moving East, studying how each of Equestria’s exports work. Once I got to this town here, I heard talk of this farm…though I couldn’t quite catch the name.” Sehn rubs his chin with his foreleg, thinking. “Sweet Apple Acres.” Bloom speaks up. “Ah, yeah, that’s it. Though it doesn’t seem like you guys would export from here…the orchard’s big, sure, but it doesn’t seem like it’d be big enough to have left-over stock for sending to other towns.” “Yeah, true. We’re happy with keepin’ business here though, money’s helpful, but it don’t make the sun shine, now does it?” Applejack smiles. “Pretty good outlook on things, yeah. So, how much does this farm mean for the town here?” Sehn looks over at Applejack, raising a eyebrow. “Y’must be new if y’keep callin’ Ponyville ‘the town’. Wasn’t it on a sign when you came in?” Applejack cocks her head, raising an eyebrow. “Guess I missed it. Wasn’t focusing much until I heard a lot of shouting in the streets.” “Anyway, yeah, this orchard does mean a lot to Ponyville. Biggest apple export we’ve got, and the bits that come in just help it grow.” Applejack smiles with pride at the farm, the sun setting behind the barn. Sehn stares up below the sun, watching the shadow extend from the barn towards his group, as a black dot shoots up from the orchard behind the barn and comes racing towards them. It takes a few seconds before the shadow closes the gap and slams into the ground on her hooves, skidding to a halt a couple feet in front of Sehn. He whistles, “Not bad.” “Yeah, yeah, I’m great. Anyway, I’m done for the day, AJ. Tell me if you need help again.” Rainbow says. “Ah’ll be sure to.” Applejack says back, as Rainbow moves her eyes over to the new pony between Applejack and Applebloom. She tilts her head slightly, staring at him. She squints her eyes, as if in deep thought. After several seconds of intense memory digging, “Nah, nothing’s coming to mind when I look at you. You new around here?” She raises her eyebrows, looking at Sehn. “Yeah, I am. Came from a city off in the West, crossing the country and studying it’s major exports. Arrived here and heard about Sweet Apple Acres from a pair of ponies at a local shop.” Sehn nods, pretty content with his lie now. “So Pinkie Pie didn’t find you as you came in?” Rainbow smirks. “Who?” “Yeah, she didn’t, obviously. Pinkie’s a friend of mine, real energetic, loves throwing parties for whatever reason she can think of. Pretty sure the entire town would’ve come to your welcome party.” Rainbow giggles, thinking of how it would’ve gone. “Considering I’m not the most talkative, I doubt I’d make that good a center of attention. Anyway, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Silver Rush.” Sehn says with a bow, the name fitting him like a second skin. “Nice to meet you, Mister Rush. You’ve already met AJ and Applebloom, I see. I don’t think Ponyville does a lot of exporting though, so what brings you here?” “I was passing through on my way to the Eastern border. Got interested in the farm so I came by, met these two fine mares.” “Yeah, I found him standing at the edge of the orchard, watching us work! Said it helped him study if he was left there, but I dragged him out here to meet everypony!” Bloom speaks up, causing Sehn to shiver slightly. “Wow. That’s…a little weird, actually.” Rainbow says, tilting her head and squinting her eyes. “Anti-social doesn’t begin to cover how bad I am with ponies, believe me. I prefer just staying secretive and observing, rather than getting up in ponies’ faces and interrupting their lives. Makes things run more smoothly, I figure.” Sehn looks down, scuffing the ground. “Ah, it’s fine. Yer new, o’course you’re gonna be uneasy meetin’ new ponies, right?” Applejack taps him on the foreleg, smiling. “Just as good ya ran into us instead of Pinkie Pie then, the way you are, the party woulda been kinda borin’, even with Pinkie runnin’ the show.” “Ooooh yeah, you don’t know the half of it. Anyway, I’m gonna head back into town and grab a bite to eat; I’ll let you get back to the rest of your day. Pleasure meeting you all.” Sehn bows to each one of them before turning down the path and walking back to the orchard. “Nice guy, think he’ll fit in with wherever he ends up.” Applejack says with a nod, before patting Bloom on the back and them both heading back to the barn. Rainbow flies over to Sehn and joins him as he walks back to the orchard. “Need a show around town?” She asks. “I can find my way, don’t worry about me. There’s enough light left that I can take everything in before heading back out in the morning.” Sehn replies, looking at her. ‘Who am I kidding? My objective is right here! I should just tell her about the mission and take her back with me, forcefully if I need to. So why isn’t that option clicking in my head right now?’ Sehn thinks to himself, before he spots a shadow moving through the trees. It steps on a branch, snapping it, and catching Rainbow’s attention. “Who’s there?” She says, walking up in front of Sehn, putting herself between him and the shadow. It looks back at the duo, before leaping out of the treeline and sprinting up to Sehn, grabbing him by the neck and hugging him. He goes wide-eyed, staring at the small dragon now glomping on his neck, constricting his breathing. He pats it a couple times on the back before pulling it off with both his hooves, and stares it dead in the eyes. “Don’t say my name! It’s Silver Rush now! Ok?!” He whispers to the dragon, making sure Rainbow can’t here. “Ok, ok!” Loki replies in the same quiet volume, sending glances to the Pegasus staring at them both. She raises her voice, “Silver Rush! I missed you!” She shouts into his face, proceeding to grab him by the neck and hug him again, though less tightly so she doesn’t strangle him. “Yeah, you too.” Sehn replies, worried about this extra wrench that’s been thrown into his plans. “Is…is that a dragon?” Rainbow asks, tilting her head, staring at the small purple figure. “Yeah, I am! My name’s Lokiria, but you can call me Loki!” She says cheerfully, swinging around Sehn’s neck and landing on his back, taking a cross-legged seat. “What’s your name?” “Uh, Rainbow Dash.” She stutters a bit, staring at the dragon. “What?” Loki asks, raising her eyebrows. “Oh uh, nothing. Just kind of rare seeing dragons around, and none of the ones I’ve seen were as small as this one. Reminds me of Spike, Twilight’s assistant.” Rainbow squints her eyes as she replies, before looking back up at Sehn. “Oh! There’s another dragon here?! Oh, we have to go see him! Can we, Se-s-Silver?!” Loki sputters, almost revealing Sehn’s identity. He looks back at her, a bit freaked out. “Ah, I…I guess. Miss Dash, would this ‘Twilight’ mind visitors at all?” “She should be fine with it, but I don’t know if she’d be cool with a new guy just walking into her library.” “I wouldn’t want to crash into her…wait, she lives in a library?” Sehn asks, kind of surprised. “Yeah. Bedroom, kitchen, everything’s there. It’s just full of books too. Ponies sometimes go there and take them out, but it’s usually impossible to find what you want in there with how much frantic studying Twilight does.” Rainbow smirks, looking down the path through the orchard in front of them. “C’mon, sun’s coming down, we’d better get going.” “By all means, lead on, Miss Dash.” Sehn replies as they both start running down the path, Loki holding onto the back of Sehn’s neck to make sure she isn’t knocked off. Dash takes to flying and speeds off, and Sehn keeps pace with her. “You’re pretty quick! I thought nopony could keep up with my flying besides Pinkie! How about a race?!” Rainbow shouts back, wind ripping by between them. “Oh, you’re on! First one to the gates wins!” Sehn shouts back, and bursts off into a full sprint. “Huh, maybe this form isn’t so bad after all…I’ve got four limbs with my leg strength now instead of two…hehehe, shouldn’t be too hard to beat her this time.” He says to himself, a big smile growing on his face as he runs like never before down the path. Rainbow immediately comes up beside him, then races off, Sehn watching her as he tries to keep up. “She always was faster…alright, how about this…?” Sehn mumbles to himself, before turning his head. “Loki!” “Yeah?” Loki shouts back, the wind flying past them. “What’s up?!” “I need you to channel the flames! Can you do that without being in my head?!” “I…should be able to! Why, what do you need?!” “Let me worry about that, just be the channel for now!” Sehn shouts as he closes his eyes, letting his body automatically run forward. A black line begins to grow on the outside of his legs, expanding into a black fire, and it reaches down to his hoof, covering the bottom of it with fire. This repeats for all four of his legs, and now each of his strides is accompanied by a small bang, as explosions from the fire help push him along. He quickly catches up and passes Rainbow. “Woah!” Is all he can hear her say as he flies past, the wind now an all-consuming tunnel of noise, Ponyville coming into view. “Ohoho, baby, this race is ALL mine!” He smiles to himself, his irises turning purple, the same as Loki’s. “Just gotta keep this speed and-“ Sehn is cut off by the sound of a jet screaming past him, and he looks up to catch a swift blue silhouette explode past him. “Where the hell did she get all that speed?!” Sehn shouts to himself, shocked. In one final stride, he blasts himself off the hill towards the gate, now running along the air on platforms of black. The gate comes into view, Rainbow sitting below it and looking back at, eyes wide. “Oh shoot, right, I don’t have wings…” Sehn says to himself, immediately killing the fire below him and dropping to the ground. “And I misjudged the heeeiiiIIIIIGGGHHHHT!!!!” He slowly begins shouting louder as he falls faster, before faceplanting onto the ground, fourty feet below him. Rainbow sprints over to him, Sehn’s face buried in the dirt, not moving. “Silver! You alright?!” Rainbow shouts at Sehn, shoving him on the shoulder. It takes a bit, but he starts moving, a low groan coming from the ground. He puts his legs next to his head, and shoves a couple times before his head pops out of the ground. He puts a hoof to his nose, blood coming out. “Ow…ohhh, that hurts a lot…” Loki says, coming out from behind his neck, holding her own nose. “You’ve got a really hard spine, Silver…” “The ground’s pretty hard, too.” Sehn replies, both of them rubbing their noses with synced action. Sehn blinks slowly, staring past the gate. ‘She beat me again…’ Sehn thinks as he sighs. “Hey, don’t be so down! Not many ponies can keep up with me like that! Though I never lose any race, you made a good effort!” Rainbow says with a smile, nudging Sehn’s shoulder. “Yeah, good words. I’ll race you again sometime, Miss Dash, and I won’t lose when I do.” Sehn says with a chuckle, holding his nose to stop the bleeding. “You alright?” Rainbow looks at the blood dripping out of his nose. “Must’ve broken it when I landed…ahh, how do you fix this?” Sehn takes his hand off his nose, blood streaming out. “Yep, that’s pretty messed up!” He covers it again, the bottom of his hoof red with it all. “We’ll get you to the clinic, get you fixed up. You can walk, right?” Rainbow asks, a slight sigh coming out. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Clinic first or your friend’s?” “Definitely clinic. I don’t think she’d do too well seeing all that blood on your face.” Rainbow leads the way into the town, the streets now pretty empty, the sun fully down. Sehn looks up at the night sky, the moon just starting to rise. He stops and takes a seat, hoof still up against his nose. “Something else break in you, Silver?” Rainbow asks, causing Sehn to look down. “Nah…just I’ve never seen the moon in such a clear sky before. Must be nice living out here, where things are just ‘take it day by day’, instead of being worried about deadlines and projects…” Sehn says, looking back up at the sky. “Yeah, we do have it pretty good around here. But it does tend to get boring. Wish it were, lately…” Rainbow looks down, a look of fear entering her eyes. Sehn looks down, lowering his brow. “You wish it were? Things seemed pretty quiet when I got here.” Sehn states, tilting his head slightly, wincing in pain when his hoof twitches against his nose. “Well…nah, I shouldn’t be worrying you about it. We’ve gotta get you fixed up anyway. Clinic’s just down the road here, off to the right.” Rainbow turns and leads on, Sehn slowly following, having to prop himself up on one foreleg. He looks around at all the buildings, all of them looking far more rustic than back home. “Wonder if I’ll be able to live in a place like this when I…mm…nah. People like me don’t ‘retire’…” He says to himself, Loki looking rather solemn overhearing his conversation with himself. “You’ll get out sometime, Silver. We’ve been at it for a while though, haven’t we?” She asks, looking kind of sad. “Sometimes I wonder if we’ve been at it for too long. It’s difficult work, this…and now we’re here, just another job to do. We get breaks, of course, but I never get to spend them outside-“ “Something wrong?” Rainbow pops up in front of Sehn’s face, causing him to jump back a bit. “Gah-jeeze! Don’t scare a colt like that! You’ll give em a heart attack!” Sehn nearly shouts at Rainbow, moving the hoof covering his nose down to his chest, feeling if his heart just exploded. “Déjà vu…” Loki mumbles, looking at Rainbow. “Sorry, sorry. Still, something wrong?” Rainbow says with a smirk, a curious look on her face. “Well…” Sehn sighs, sitting down on the dirt road, “I dunno…my job has me running all over the city, and I’ve been doing it for a long time, never getting outside unless I’m on vacation. All this just…well, makes me wanna retire, move here. Everyone so far has been very kind, innocent, caring. All the ponies back at the city are condescending or greedy, always wanting a bit of your money with each passing day, like some parasite attached to your wallet. It’s rough living out there…but I make a living I suppose. The nightmares don’t really make it any better, though…” Sehn looks down, exhaling. “Wait…nightmares?” Rainbow says, lowering her brow. “You say you’ve been having nightmares?” “Yeah. Started about a month and a half ago, been a never-ending assault against me and my sleeping patterns. Waking up randomly in the middle of the night, waking up my co-workers, one time making a late-night visit to the local doctor. It’s all messing with me…” Sehn looks back up, a rather depressed, worried look present in his eyes. “That’s weird…I’ve been having nightmares too, and they started a month or so ago as well. What were yours about?” Sehn goes wide eyed, sputtering a bit, “T-d-ah, b-believe me, you don’t want to hear about me. It’s pretty…well, graphic…” He looks down at the ground, letting the blood stop flowing on its own, planting both his hooves on the ground. “Believe me, I do need to know. This sort of thing has happened before and…well, I know how we could fix it…but…” Rainbow seems to slow down a bit with each word, shaking. “I’ll live with it, it’s fine. Seems the bleeding’s stopped in my nose anyway…think it’ll fix itself or should we still go to the clinic?” “Yeah, we’ll go to the clinic now. Then we’ll visit Twilight, and hopefully take a look at those nightmares.” She says before turning away from him, proceeding the road. “And hopefully mine as well…” she mumbles to herself. With a few minutes of walking, they come up to a large, white, wooden building. Above the door is a simple red cross, and a single window off to the right of the door. Rainbow walks across the small stone path between the green lawns in front of the clinic and opens the door, Sehn quickly following behind her, and he looks around. The room inside the clinic seems too big for what you can see from the outside, containing three benches, an operating table, and several medicine cabinets over a sink and tool case. The room extends back to a door, a sign saying “Doctor Healesten” over it, leading to his office. By the benches are several small books, reading material for patients awaiting treatment or examinations. A nurse with a purple coat, cyan eyes, and a red mane and tail, wearing a white nurse’s coat and hat stands by the operating table, taking stock of the tools and supplies in the room, before looking over at Rainbow and Sehn. On her flank is a simple red cross. “Jen?” Sehn immediately says, spotting the purple nurse. She looks back at him with a confused look, before he stutters out a response, “D-oh, um, sorry, must have confused you with someone else. There’s a friend of mine back home who looks a lot like you do, heheh!” The laugh causes a bit of pain to shoot up from Sehn’s nose, causing him to twitch and close one eye, and a small trickle of blood starts flowing again. “It’s quite alright, but what happened to you? Did you run face first into a wall? A couple of ponies have come in looking like that, and Rainbow is usually with them.” She chuckles, causing Rainbow to blush slightly and look away. “Some of the races got into some of the alleyways and…well, at least I got em here, right?” Rainbow speaks up, smiling with a bit of an embarrassed look. “You really must take these things outside Ponyville though, dear. Somepony’s going to get badly injured doing these races with you.” She says with a motherly tone, before looking back over at Sehn and his injury. “Now then, sir, if you would come over here? I’ll tell the doctor you’ve come in for treatment.” She smiles and gestures to a small chair next to the operating table. “T-thank you, Nurse…erm…” “Crossia.” “Nurse Crossia, thank you.” Sehn makes a quick bow before moving over to the chair and sitting down in it, holding his nose. “Just hold it up like this and the bleeding will stop.” Crossia puts her hoof up to her nose and leans her head back. Sehn copies this action, and breathes through his mouth. “Good, just like that. Now wait here while I go get Doctor Healesten.” She says with the same tone used on Rainbow. “Aye, ma’am.” Sehn replies, kind of nasally with the hoof covering his nostrils. Nurse Crossia walks off into the back as Rainbow comes up beside him. “Well, tack on another injury caused by my racing. How’d you jump so far, anyway? I’ve never seen anypony cover even a quarter of the distance you did!” Rainbow asks, surprised. “Loooots of practice and exercise. Running all over the city as a gopher for your team is a heck of a job. Your legs naturally get pretty strong. I could cover Long Street in about twenty seconds, and that’s a good half mile, heheh.” “Twenty three point two six seconds, Silver.” Loki speaks up, Rainbow looking at the small dragon latched onto the back of Sehn’s neck. “Completely forgot you were there. You’re quiet, aren’t you?” “I’ve been with Se-Silver for a while…I picked up some of his less wanted traits.” Loki says with a small giggle, looking up at the back of Sehn’s head. “Yeah, and I’ve picked up a couple from you, like your stubbornness…” He replies, lowering his eyelids. “That’s all you, Silver. Don’t pin that trait on me!” Loki pouts, raising her nose, as if she’s too high up to have a bad trait. “Yeah, whatever, Princess.” Sehn says in a mocking tone, closing his eyes and moving his head around so his nose is up towards the ceiling. Footsteps catch the group’s attention, Rainbow looking over and spotting the doctor, an aged looking pony with a brown coat and a mane strewn with grey hairs. He has a beard that stretches a bit off his chin, and he’s wearing a spotless white coat with a nametag on it saying “Doctor Healesten, M.D.”, beside a stethoscope and pen in his pocket. He slowly walks up to Sehn. “Well now, sir. Seems you went and got caught up in one of Miss Dash’s races.” He says with a smirk. “That I did, sir. I was running through the orchard near the gate to town, racing Miss Dash here before I faceplanted into a tree trunk…I think I messed up my nose.” Sehn leans his head down and moves his hoof so the doctor can look at it. “Hmm…” Doctor Healesten puts his own hoof on Sehn’s nose, moving it around. A few slight cricking noises can be heard, and a tear rolls down from Sehn’s eye, his face contorted in severe pain. “Indeed, I’d say you managed to break your nose.” “AhahahahahahOOOOWWWW!” Sehn shouts out in pain as he puts a leg over his nose, more tears of pain rolling down from his eyes. “Is this how you treat broken legs, Doc?! Move around till you hear bones crunching?” “Not at all, usually a broken leg is a lot more obvious to tell than a nose bleed or a broken nose. I was checking to see if it really was broken or if you’d just burst a blood vessel in there somewhere.” Doc replies with a matter-of-fact tone, rubbing his beard with his hoof. “That REALLY hurt, too!” Sehn says through clenched teeth, one eye closed. The doctor simply chuckles. “I’ll give you some painkillers if it’ll calm you down. Now, let’s get you fixed up, shall we? We’ll need to stabilize the nose so the cartilage can re-form nicely…hang on.” Doc says as he walks over to the medicine cabinets, and starts digging through the supplies. He pulls out a tray of ice from a cooler, and walks back over to Sehn. “Now then, my boy. Simply take one of these and hold it on your nose. Sit there for 15 minutes and don’t take it off till that time has passed.” Healesten says as he cracks the tray to loosen the ice blocks, then taps out one onto his hoof before handing it to Sehn. He takes it between his two hoofs and holds it on his nose, the cold hitting him harder than the pain. “Woooohoho, that’s cold…kinda numbs the pain but gives you brain freeze at the same time…” Sehn says as he shivers. “Oh come now, it’s just one block of ice. Simply do this hourly for a day or two so it doesn’t swell up.” Healesten says with his eyes closed, giving his beard a stroke. “Aright doc, whatever you say.” Sehn replies, balancing the ice on his nose, moving a leg down to keep himself propped up. “And be sure to keep your head up! We don’t want the bleeding to start again.” Healesten says as he pushes Sehn’s head back up. “Oy, careful! Nearly dropped the ice.” Sehn shouts, adjusting himself so he doesn’t fall over or drop the ice, moving his other foreleg up to hold the ice in place, and he leans into the back of the chair. “Alright. I’ll tell you when fifteen minutes is over.” Healesten says before wandering off back to his office, Nurse Crossia taking the ice tray from the operating table and putting it back in the cooler. “My apologies if Doctor Healesten doesn’t seem like the most caring person. He is a very good doctor and does care about his patients, but he tends to be a bit grumpy with late night visits.” Nurse Crossia giggles. “Yeah, it’s fine…believe me, I deal with enough guys like him back home to last a lifetime. How long’s it been? Starting to get frostbite here.” “Five minutes.” Crossia replies, looking up at a clock at the other side of the room. “My skin’s gonna be black and dead before long…great.” Sehn mumbles to himself, Loki now standing on the back of the chair. She looks out from behind him, and Crossia looks back at her. “Oh my, a baby dragon! I’ve never seen one besides Spike!” She puts a hoof up to her mouth in surprise. “…Am I really that rare around here? I mean, I am amazing but…really?” She asks, kind of weirded out by all this attention she’s getting. “Well, ponies do come through our town here but none of them ever have dragons with them.” Crossia says, lowering her hoof to the floor. “Guess I’m one of the lucky few, eh…now just tell me why it had to be her.” Sehn says with a chuckle, inciting a sharp prod in the back from Loki. “Ow!” “Don’t mock me, it’s not nice!” Loki pouts, folding her arms. “It’s only cause I love ya, kid.” Sehn says with a smile. Seven more minutes pass with small talk being exchanged amongst the group, before Healesten comes out and tells Sehn that fifteen minutes are up, and to take what’s left of the ice off his nose, the block being a small shard of what it used to be. Sehn eats the ice, figuring it’d be better to not waste the water, and he wipes his face off to get the cold water out of his eyes and nose. “Alright…fixed my broken nose and replaced it with frostbite. Thanks a lot, doc.” Sehn says with a smirk. “My pleasure, Mister…” “Rush. Silver Rush.” Sehn completes the sentence. “Mister Rush, then. Just remember to apply the ice hourly for fifteen minutes, and your nose will fix itself.” Healesten says with a nod, looking at Sehn. “So can I lower my head?” “Fine, just don’t lower it too far or the bleeding is going to start again. Take a paper towel and keep it covered.” Healesten gestures to the sink, where a roll of paper towel is sitting. Sehn hops off the chair and walks over to the roll, pulling off a piece and rolling it up before jamming it up one of his nostrils. He repeats the process for the other one, and walks back. “That should do it.” Sehn says with a smile, Healesten responds with a slight roll of the eyes and Crossia with a smile. Rainbow just kind of stares at him, the left edge of her mouth moving up. “Have a good night, Mister Rush.” Crossia says as both her and Healesten bow before the doctor moves back to his office, and Crossia walks past Sehn to return to her work. “As to both of you. Thanks for the help.” Sehn says with a smile before coming back over to Dash. “Finally. I was thinking we’d be here all night. Just had to go and fall all that way and get your nose smashed in, didn’t you?” Dash says, obviously annoyed. “Well excuuuuse me, Princess. I’m sorry if my nose can’t survive slamming into the ground after a fourty foot fall.” Sehn says with a smirk. “Yeah, yeah. We were heading to Twilight’s after this, so come on. She’s probably tidying up with Spike before going to bed now.” Rainbow says, quickly heading for the door. “Thanks for the help, Nurse Crossia! We’re heading out now!” “Goodbye dear, and try not to bring in any more injured ponies!” Crossia says back as Rainbow and Sehn head out the door, Sehn laughing. “So, where’s this friend of yours live anyway? You said a library but I haven’t seen any place so far that looks big enough for one.” Sehn asks, the paper towels in his nose slowly turning red. He leans his head back before sneezing. “Achoo! Ah…stupid paper towels tickling me…” “She lives in a big tree on the main street. Believe me, you’ll know it when you see it, even in this lighting.” Rainbow says to Sehn. “Yeah, kinda hard to miss a big tree when I just ran through two miles full of em…where’s this main street?” Sehn asks, Rainbow turning her head towards him. “Just up ahead. Keep walking and we’ll be there in no time.” Rainbow says before jumping up into the air and flying slowly next to Sehn. “You seem to like flying a lot.” “It’s that obvious, huh? Yeah. I’ve got a dream to join the Wonderbolts after all, so flying is my favorite thing to do. That and perform stunts to amaze ponies.” She smiles. “Wonderbolts, eh? Sounds like quite a team. What do they do?” Sehn asks, as Rainbow looks at him, eyebrows raised with a look of shock in her eyes, and she falls slightly from the shock locking up her wings. She pulls herself back up before she hits the ground. “What? What do you mean ‘what do they do’? You’ve never heard of them? They’re Equestria’s elite flying team, the best of the best! They perform shows all over the country!” Rainbow says to Sehn, him squinting his eyes. “Heh, sounds like quite a team. Sure you’ve got what it takes to join them?” He says with a smirk, turning his gaze down the road. They both take a turn left as Rainbow replies. “Absolutely! I am THE BEST flyer there is, my spot in that team is set in stone!” She says, folding her forelegs and looking away with a grimace. “Can’t believe you’ve never heard of them…” “Yeah, yeah…anyway, this the place you were talking about?” Sehn says, sitting down next to a large tree. “Yeah, this is it. Twilight’s library. Wait here, I’ll go knock on the door.” Rainbow says before flying past Sehn and landing in front of the door. She bangs on it a couple of times, but no answer comes. “Did we just miss her?” Sehn asks, as Rainbow bangs on the door a couple more times, harder. “Hang on, hang on!” A muffled voice comes from behind the door, obvious irritation in it. The door cracks open to reveal a small purple dragon with green spikes. “Rainbow? What’re you doing here so late at night? Twilight’s in bed already.” “I need her to get up, Spike. We’ll explain once she’s awake.” Rainbow says to him, Loki coming out from behind Sehn. “Oh! So that’s Spike! Cool, another dragon!” Loki says with glee as she jumps off Sehn’s back, and he grabs her with his foreleg, dragging her back next to him. “Woah there, kid. Let’s not go sprinting at the baby dragon who hasn’t even seen us yet.” Sehn rolls his eyes, waiting for Rainbow to call him over. Spike and Rainbow exchange a few more words before she gestures for them to come over and heads inside, Sehn and Loki following closely behind. “…Wow. This place is a LOT bigger than it looks from the outside.” Sehn looks around the massive chamber, at all the books stacked on the cases. “Not a bad collection you have here, though the knowledge base back home has a few more cases full…” “Wait, who’re you?” Sehn looks down at the small dragon in front of him, who seems to be staring back up, arms folded. “Me? Name’s Silver Rush. And I think it’s polite to introduce yourself first before asking another’s name, kid.” Sehn replies with a smirk. “My name’s Spike. Sorry, was just wondering since we don’t have many new faces who look quite like you do.” Spike replies with a rub of the neck. “After all the ponies I’ve seen here, I really can’t say I break the norm all that much.” Sehn replies, sitting down, and Loki jumps off his back. “Oooo, another dragon! Hi!” Loki says with a huge grin on her face, while Spike just stares at her. “Another dragon?” He says, lowering his arms and turning to her. “Well that’s pretty cool. What’s your name?” “Lokiria! But you can call me Loki.” Loki tilts her head slightly to the side as she lowers her grin into a light frown, putting a claw to her chin. “Something wrong?” Spike asks. “Isn’t a gentleman supposed to introduce himself first to a lady?” “I am? Oh, uh, name’s Spike. Sorry.” He rubs the back of his neck, a small grin on his face. “It’s alright. So what do you do around here? Can’t imagine there’s very much excitement in a town so small.” Loki asks, placing her hands behind her, a curious look on her face. “Oho, you have no idea how much excitement the town can get into. Believe me. Wait till you run into Pinkie Pie. She’s the definition of ‘excitement’.” Spike says, rolling his eyes. “I’ve heard that name before, what’s she like?” “Hmmm…imagine…a cake, where one bite of it sends you into a high where you can’t stop partying with other ponies. That’s what she’s like, I guess…can’t really put words to her.” He says with a chuckle. “Yeah, that didn’t make much sense. I’ll take your word for it though, she sounds pretty fun to be around. More so than Silver over here.” She thumbs over her shoulder to Silver. “Probably because I’m around you too much. Having a kid riding around on your back for the better part of a decade would make anyone sick of fun.” Sehn says with a smirk, looking around at all the books. “Hey! I told you I’m not a kid!” Loki looks over her own diminutive body in comparison with Sehn, and looks back to Spike who easily sees her at eye-level. “Well…I’m not a kid, darn it!” “Yeah, yeah, keep tellin’ yourself that. It’ll come true one day.” Sehn laughs. Loki looks up at him with anger and a growl, stomping off towards one of the book cases in the back of the library, Spike following behind her. “What’s his deal?” He asks, stopping beside her as she starts pulling out a large tome from the bottom shelf of the book case. “He’s been like that ever since we met. A real worry-wart who thinks too much of his work and not enough about having fun. Any party he goes to dies immediately, pretty much, so I don’t think Pinkie would much like running into him.” Loki replies, opening the cover and flipping through some pages in passive boredom. “If she does run into him, she’ll try and make a party of it. Not much has stopped her before.” Spike looks over Loki’s shoulder, seeing what she’s reading. Some pages are related to old legends in Equestria, one remarking about the “Eastern War”. “Huh?” Loki raises an eyebrow, looking through the entry in the history book. “Ah, yeah, I’ve seen Twilight reading up on this. Apparently, three hundred years ago, there was a big fight off in the Eastern mountains. A massive force of soldiers suddenly appeared at the border and started attacking the guards there. Not a whole lot is written about it though…this entry is only three pages long, I think.” Spike says, looking over the scrawled words on the page. Loki just lowers her eyelids, sighing lightly before closing the book. She looks depressed, as if the vague events spoken of in the book felt all too real to her. She closes her eyes and, with a ‘hmph’, she puts the book back on the shelf and reaches out for a new one. Sehn still seems captivated by the sheer volume of books in the room, starting to walk over to one of the cases when he hears some talking from above. “So that’s the gist of it. Think you could come help?” Says one familiar voice. “Yeah, I’ll come. Let me get ready.” Says another, though this one rings new to Sehn. “Must be getting her friend up…” Sehn mumbles to himself as he sits down in front of the book case, looking over the spines of old tomes in front of him. He rubs his chin before pulling one out, using the top of the spine to tip the book out of the case. He turns it around, reading off the title. “Beginner’s Spells; Telekinesis and Transformation?” Sehn raises his eyebrows, cracking the book open, then goes wide eyed in complete confusion at the complex magic algorithm presented before him, filling half the page. “How the heck is this a beginner’s spell? Looks like some doomsday thing that’d rip a country out of the ground…” He tilts his head to the side, furrowing his brow and wracking his brain to understand all the cryptic symbols. “Is that him?” Says the unfamiliar voice, causing Sehn to turn around. He widens his eyes slightly, a memory hitting him. A lavender unicorn stands in front of him, her head tilted slightly to the side. “I heard that you needed some help?” She asks, unease in her voice. “Um uh, yeah. Guess Miss Dash here already explained the situation to you?” He can’t remove the strange stunned look on his face, his brow furrowing slightly, as if expecting something bad on the horizon. “Yeah, she did. My name’s Twilight Sparkle, and I guess you are…Silver Rush?” She asks, rubbing her chin. “Yeah, I am.” Sehn says with a nod. “Alright. Well, I’ve already done this twice, so can you and Rainbow go over to the table there? I’ll grab some books. Been a while since I’ve done this spell.” Twilight points over to a small table in the middle of the room, and wanders off to one of the book cases as Sehn and Rainbow move over to it. They sit down, watching Twilight pull books from the case and toss them to the side, giving quick glances to the covers. “Does she always do this?” Sehn asks, looking over at Rainbow while raising an eyebrow. “Yeah, she could pull the whole library apart while looking for what she wants and not really mind. Spike always cleans up after, and she helps him out sometimes.” “Sounds rough for the kid, honestly. This many books and she could pull em all off just to find the one she wants?” “He doesn’t mind, usually. Guess he’s happy just helping out with her studies and keeping the place clean. Speaking of Spike…” Rainbow leans down and looks past Sehn at the two dragons reading books. “Seems he’s already made a friend.” “Yeah, Loki seems to get along with anyone just fine. Wish I had that trait sometimes…” Sehn says, a grin on his face. “Dunno why, but it’s always been troubling having friends. Never had one beyond her for the past few years…” “Really? No one at all?” Rainbow asks, surprised. “Not a one. It’s not all bad though, Loki gives me all the friendship I need, even though she gets a bit annoying sometimes.” He replies, the grin on his face growing as he watches the two dragons exchange words and opinions, Loki sometimes getting up to bonk Spike lightly on the head with her fist. “She can be a bit…controlling, I guess. But she’s got a heart of gold.” He says with a chuckle. “She does seem pretty nice. Poor Spike’s gonna have a real lump on his head if she keeps hitting him like that though.” Rainbow says with a giggle, leaning back up to look at Sehn. “Besides, if you need some friends, just stick around here. Ponyville may be small, but we’ve got a lot of ponies who would love to know someone from the city. I bet you’ve got lots of stories too!” “Naaah, my stories would just bore you. A desk job isn’t too exciting. Must be way better being able to fly through the sky like that, though.” Sehn says with a smile. “Got it! Finally!” The exclamation from Twilight catches the attention of everyone in the room, and they see a massive pile of books surrounding her, a loud sigh coming from Spike. “Come on, Twilight, do you have to rip the place apart to find what you need every time?” Spike gives a pat on Loki’s shoulder before running over to the pile of books, quickly looking at the covers before jumping onto a nearby ladder to put them back. “Right, sorry, just had this buried away on the third shelf. Right then…let’s see.” Twilight says to herself, opening the book and quickly flipping through the pages, the magic from her horn holding the book in front of her. “No, no, no, no…” Sehn shifts his weight, watching the pages flip by, raising his eyebrows. “You sure you didn’t miss it? You’re flipping through that thing pretty quickly.” “My eyes work just fine, thanks. I can read quickly enough to get through these books in a few minutes.” She goes back to mumbling ‘no’ over and over with each passing spell. “Alright, whatever you say, Miss Mage.” Sehn says with a shrug. Twilight starts flipping back through the book, going through a few pages slowly before quickly nodding. “Right, here it is.” She says as she comes over beside Sehn, placing the book on the table. “Alright, I need you to clear your mind. This spell will let me see what’s giving you these nightmares, so just be calm, alright?” “No problem.” Sehn nods, as Twilight’s horn begins to glow. She taps Sehn on the forehead.