Pearlwort, Unintentional Villain

by Halira


Chapter 10: Crusaders and the Dynamics of Immortality

We went to a private area at a higher the central part of the temple complex. There were a few acolytes about, but no temple staff. This was a place the public was not allowed.

We were let into a smaller room to the side by some of the acolytes who waited outside. Inside were plenty of cushions to sit in various colors, but little other decoration. There were no windows only the single door that we entered through. On three of the cushions sat three very clear Alicorns, one yellow, one orange, and one white. They had dropped their Crystal Pony disguises.

They gave us a chorus greeting as we entered. "Hello," before breaking into speaking individually.

"We are glad you are looking well after yesterday, Pearl," the white one said.

"We apologize we didn't act faster to put a stop to it," the orange one said right as the other finished speaking.

"We will make sure nothing like that happens with us. If something doesn't seem right we will stop immediately," the yellow finished.

I looked the three over. "Um, what are your names, or do I just call you yellow, orange, and white Crusaders?"

They laughed together, then they spoke up one at a time.

"We are very casual, unlike the Alicorns here in Harmony," the yellow one said. "Just call me Bloom."

"Call me Scoots," the orange one said.

"Call me Sweetie," the white one finished.

"She better not be calling you Sweetie," Biblo grumbled possessively. This got another laugh from the trio.

"It is just the shortened version of my name," Sweetie laughed. "I have no interest in Pearl that way."

"We understand you are a hybrid," Bloom said to Biblo. "If it makes you feel better you can touch us and confirm we mean what we say. We understand if you are a bit untrusting after yesterday."

"Again, we are really sorry that happened," Scoots said.

Biblo shook her head at the offer. She apparently had no interest in getting any further reads on Alicorns. I wondered what she felt when she punched Meadowbrook.

"If there aren't any more concerns we would like to get right to work," Sweetie said to me. "We have been really eager to look over your cutie mark since we heard about it."

"If you could just make yourself comfortable in front of us," Bloom said. It suddenly occurred to me that they always took the exact same turns speaking. It was kind of weird. They were informal, but the turn-based speech from the trio was weird.

I sat on a purple cushion in front of the three. Biblo and Hot Sticks sat on some cushions a short distance away. Time to get this over with.

"Can you turn to one of your sides, so we can get a clear look at your cutie mark?" Scoots asked.

I adjusted and the three of them stood up and got up close to examine. It made me nervous having three Alicorns so close. They were full Alicorn size now too, which made them each at least twice my height.

"Some sort of flower," Sweetie observed.

"I would assume that is what a pearlwort bloom looks like," Bloom replied. "We need a botany book."

Out of nowhere such a book popped into existence in front of Scoots. Said Alicorn promptly opened it with her magic, flipped through a few pages, and started reading. "It says here self-pollinating plant. Can survive in harsh climates without aid of insects or birds to carry seeds or pollen. Can spread at a rapid pace in less harsh environments giving it a reputation as a weed." I really didn't like being referred to as a weed.

"Well, survivability and resilience is the base talent, so that makes sense," Sweetie said.

"It doesn't explain the magic resistance though," Bloom said putting her muzzle extremely close to my mark while looking.

"Makes me wonder how she would do if ponies weren't so hostile to her though," Scoots added. "It says the plant spreads rapidly in less harsh environments."

"Unfortunately, not something we can test now," Sweetie said.

"Perhaps something we can follow up on in the future," Bloom said hopefully.

"Think it is time to make with the magic," Scoots announced. Then she made the botany book vanish from existence. She must be teleporting it to and from some other location. The other two nodded in agreement to her announcement.

Sweetie turned to Biblo and Hot Sticks. "I am going to explain what should happen here, so you don't get upset. We will be removing Pearl's cutie mark for about one minute. When we are done we will release it and it should go immediately back to her flank. While it is unattached from her she body will respond a certain way. It should not be painful. She will dim in color and seem more washed out. She will feel tired. She will also have a strong sense of loss while it is off. All of this will go away instantly when the cutie mark returns."

"If something goes unexpected we will immediately release the cutie mark to return to her," Bloom continued. "If we see any sign of pain or anything else that doesn't seem normal we will end this right away. There will not be a repeat of yesterday."

"Do you have any questions or objections?" Scoots finished asking.

Hot Sticks nodded his acceptance. Biblo took an extra second and looked unhappy when she nodded hers as well.

Sweetie turned to me. "Pearl, do you have any concerns, questions, or objections? If you are unwilling to do this, we understand. Having your cutie mark removed, even for a minute, can be an extremely scary experience. We understand you have been through a lot lately and we won't make you do this if you really don't want to. We can also put it off to a later date if you want."

I considered whether I wanted this delayed and couldn't see where waiting would make it any better. I did have a question though.

"Why do you need to even remove my cutie mark to study it?" I asked. "Can't you study it without removing it from my flank?"

Bloom gave me a reassuring smile as she answered. "Cutie marks disperse as much magic as needed through their owners’ bodies when attached. When they are removed they can't act, but they start pushing off magic at full strength in the immediate area around them, looking for their owner. It is when we can get a read on how much power a cutie mark actually has. It doesn't tell us exactly what it does, we have to learn that through observing you, but we can tell how powerfully it can do whatever that thing happens to be." I nodded my understanding to this.

Scoots picked up explaining. "We will divide up the workload. Bloom will be measuring the mark's power. I will be running a quick scan of you just to see what your body is doing in your mark's absence. Sweetie will be holding the mark still and keeping an eye for anything that might go wrong. We are experts at this and have done it hundreds, if not thousands, of times. We have encountered incredibly powerful marks before as well, so we are prepared for that. Only Starlight Glimmer, among the other Alicorns, knows how to do this and she can't do it as well since she would have to divide her attention doing operate things. The fact she has done so with you before with no problem should hopefully reassure you that this will be safe."

I just wanted to get this over with. "I am ready. Do what you need to do. If Biblo punches you, please don't throw her in a dungeon." Biblo gave me a flat look for my comment. Then she gave the Crusaders a look that said she would do it in an instant.

The Crusaders collectively rolled their eyes and settled in around me at equal distances. I could see Bloom and Sweetie, Scoots was behind me. Sweetie's horn lit up in a silvery glow showing that they were starting.

My mark glowed silver and then just popped off both flanks. The two Frank's marks seemed to fuse together and go in between Bloom and Sweetie. I could feel the symptoms they described would happen right away. I could also see Biblo shifting her weight from hoof to hoof nervously. Hot Sticks was right outside my field of vision, so I had no idea what his reaction to this was. I didn't know if it was okay to move or not, so I just focused on watching Bloom, Sweetie, and my mark. If I kept focused on them then I might not think of how wrong I felt.

Sweetie was focused on me watching for any trouble. She spoke to me. "You are doing great Pearl. Better than I expected. This will be over quick, don't worry. Just keep doing what you are doing."

Bloom was focused on the mark. I noticed a faint orange glow about me which I guessed was Scoots doing the body scan. I could see Biblo giving a glare to the area behind me which I assumed was directed at Scoots. I was tempted again to look behind me to see what was prompting her to be the main subject of Biblo's ire. I kept my focus ahead though.

After what felt like an eternity it all stopped. My mark snapped back like it was launched by a slingshot. When it reconnected, I felt recharged and renewed. I turned finally to just check my flanks. It was back in place like it had never been gone. I could see relief on Biblo's face.

Bloom was smiling happily. "We rate mark power level on a scale of zero to five. Zero being it is broken somehow and not functioning, two is around average, five being the strongest level. You are a nice high five! We don't get many fives, maybe one every few decades. Plus, you are the first five we have had in centuries who has a passive talent. Most fives are unicorns with a talent for some particular field of magic. You should be proud!"

Scoots walked up to the other two from behind me and addressed the other two. "Um, girls? I think we need to discuss some things amongst ourselves for a moment. I noticed some things that I wasn't expecting." The other two raised an eyebrow each at her, then nodded. Something unexpected seemed bad for some reason, and Scoots tone indicated it was something of concern. I felt some anxiety build up.

Sweetie turned to the three of us briefly and said. "Give us a moment to confer," and then the three of them walked to the far side of the room in a loose huddle to talk quietly together.

Biblo finally couldn't take it anymore and came up to me embracing me in a hug. Hot Sticks walked up to me as well and gave me a smile I assumed was meant to reassure me.

I kept my eyes on the Crusaders. One of them had conjured a new book into existence that the three were now consulting. I caught the title on the spine of the book as they shifted it between each other. The spine of the book read Cellular Biology. They were talking quietly one to another and taking turns pointing at things in the book. Was something wrong with the cells in my body? Worry rose some more and Biblo started brushing my mane with a forehoof.

The book the Crusaders were consulting disappeared and they nodded agreement to each other. Then Bloom turned to us, as the other two watched, to ask and asked a question. "Thank you for your patience. We unfortunately are going to have to be a few more minutes. We must consult about something with Meadowbrook."

"I don't want her doing anything to Pearl again," Biblo objected. "I understand she wasn't thinking, but I don't want her laying her magic on Pearl again still." Biblo was glaring challenge at the Crusaders.

Scoots responded. "We understand your feelings, and she is still unable to leave her chambers anyway. She is still recovering from the feedback of her spell collapsing. We will be going quickly to her ourselves and then back. We can show her what we found so she has no need to look herself, but we do need her opinion on what we found. She should have had us deal with things when she had trouble with your cutie mark, but we are not foolish enough to try to interpret what we observed in your body without consulting her."

Anxiety was still building, and I tried to focus my mind on the feel of Biblo's hoof moving through my mane trying to sooth me. "Is something wrong with me? Am I sick with something and my mark is just preventing any pony from seeing it?"

Sweetie smiled. "We don't think anything is wrong. What we are concerned about isn't really a bad thing, at least we don't think. Meadowbrook is getting consulted because she will be able to tell if we are right about what we are guessing or not, but we don't want to tell you about what we guess until we have confirmed with her that we aren't mistaken about how what we saw impacts you. It will take only a minute or two more, we are basically just asking her if we are right or not about our theory on how this works."

I wasn't happy, but I nodded that it was alright. Immediately after Scoots disappeared with a teleport out of the room.

I turned to Hot Sticks as we waited for the Crusader's return. Keeping my voice down I asked, "How did you determine I wasn't sick back in Starlight's Folly?"

"I was able to observe the blood cells of the infected using magic on samples," he began. "They behaved a particular way. I did the same tests on your blood after I drew it from you. Yours did not show that behavior."

"Do you think that I caught whatever it was every pony else got and my magic just kept it dormant?" I asked.

Hot Sticks shook his head. "I would have seen it in your blood after drawing it from you. Yours magic didn't carry over through your drawn blood remember? If it was there it would have gone active in your blood samples since they were separated from your body."

So, I wasn't a carrier for the ailment. I guess that was good news.

Scoots appeared again suddenly and began consulting excitedly with the other two. I couldn't make out what was being said, but they obviously thought it was big. After a moment the nodded agreement again and walked back over to us.

Bloom spoke up. "We are reasonably sure of what we discovered. It is not something we have seen outside of certain circumstances before, and never in a typical pony. It’s something that we would see in something like can Alicorn and some other things. Your cells are doing something unusual because of your cutie mark."

Scoots continued the explanation. "Cells are constantly dying and replicating. This is true of everything living, including Alicorns. When they do this over time, the new cells become less and less well replicated as you get older. That is why everything starts breaking down as it ages. Your cells don't show this cellular destabilization. Your cutie mark keeps them replicating without this happening. At least when your mark is on you, when we took it off we could see it start to happen the way it should. But there was no sign that it had been destabilizing normally before that. It is really remarkable seeing this in a normal pony."

Biblo looked confused, unable to follow the implications of the explanation. Hot Sticks apparently could follow it and looked shocked. I was more in the same camp with Biblo. So, I had healthy cells? That was good, but I didn't see what the big deal was.

Sweetie looked at me and finished the explanation. "Your cells aren't the same as our cells, but in this aspect, they are very similar. This is what keeps us from aging. In terms of getting older you aren't going to. Your cells are going to keep maintaining the same level of health. Pearl, in terms of growing old and dying, you are effectively immortal."

***

Biblo and I went out to the courtyard after leaving the Crusaders. Hot Sticks said he wanted to talk with Meadowbrook about a few things and went off to attend to that. I really didn't know how to feel about what I had just learned. How does any pony process being told you aren't ever going to die of old age? Strangely, it felt like being told that I only had a few months to live.

We sat silently watching the Medical Guard training. Every one of those ponies I was going to outlive if tragedy didn't kill me. That was another horrifying thing, I wasn't told I would live forever, I was told I would not die of old age. I would assuredly be killed by something else at some point. Being told you would meet be murdered, or have an accident that would kill you at some point was pretty scary. I wasn't having a panic attack, but I was having an existential crisis.

Biblo soothed me by running her hoof through my mane. She may be have been growing highly aggressive with others concerning me, but she was increasingly focused on trying to make me feel calm when we were alone. She was highly protective and highly possessive of me, not characteristics I would have ascribed to her a little over a week ago.

"I'm not upsetting you, am I?" Biblo asked after reading the stray emotions about her.

"I am not upset with you," I said. "Just a passing thought about how much you changed in a short period of time. But we both know all the reasons for that. More upset about the prospect of immortality. It seems like a pretty depressing existence."

"Maybe," she said. "I still haven't figured out how I feel about it. It could be fun seeing the world change over time, having the time to learn anything, do anything, or visit anywhere."

"It would also be lonely and sooner or later something is going to kill me," I replied back.

"You are forgetting something," she chuckled, "You'll have me. I will keep you safe and keep you from getting lonely."

Except I would outlive her. I would still be young when she was a forgotten memory.

"Biblo you are going to die someday," I said sadly. "So is Hot Sticks. So is every pony I ever met except the Alicorns. I guess I should make sure I am on good terms with them, only ponies who aren't going anywhere."

"You are forgetting," she replied, twisting up her muzzle and rolling her eyes. "Your magic is what is making you immortal. I absorb your magic constantly. So as long as I am with you, then I am immortal too, silly pony. I am surprised that didn't occur to you. I bet Hot Sticks realized it."

I gazed wide eyed at her. I hadn't thought of that, and it really should have occurred to me. It also meant that she literally lived off my love and affection. Not right now, but long term she needed it to survive. If I ever left her it would be a death sentence for her. I wasn't sure if I should be happy at the prospect of her company for eternity, or horrified that I held her life in my hooves.

"Hey! No worrying about me. I trust you to never leave me. You are a good pony," she booped me on the nose with one of her forehooves to punctuate her statement.

"What if I become a horrible pony?" I asked. "Ponies aren't meant to live forever, and ponies change over time. Forever is a really long time. A lot can change with me over all that time."

"Well then," she said, taking on a serious look. "I guess I will become a bad pony too. I am not leaving you, and I pick up your emotions and traits."

I didn't want to pursue that train of thought of becoming a pair of diabolical ponies over time right now. The thought I would not lose Biblo to old age was at least somewhat comforting. We would be two filly-fooler mares out in the world for the rest of time. I had taken on a bigger commitment with being Biblo's marefriend than I originally thought possible.

"I wonder if we will become like the Crusaders," I said. "Spending so much time together it is like you aren't dealing with separate ponies anymore."

"Maybe, I figure my personality would get to be an almost perfect mirror to yours eventually," she replied. Then a thought occurred to her and she paused in her brushing. She looked at me slyly and grinned. "We are going to be together till death parts us. Does this make you my wife instead of just marefriend?"

Okay, today had just pushed its weirdness level to the max. I wasn't prepared for any of this. My vision went fuzzy for a moment, I felt like I was burning, and it was getting hard to breath. Panic was setting in. Biblo embraced me right away and resumed petting my mane.

"Calm down, calm down, I was just joking," she pleaded as she soothed me. "Please don't be upset with me. I know this is all too much for you right now. I shouldn't have said that right now. It is all that nurse's stuff that I absorbed. She has such a naughty personality!"

It took her a few minutes to get me calmed down. I noticed that the Medical Guard made a point of ignoring what was going on with us, for which I was grateful. I let my mind drift to various subjects.

"Biblo," I began. "Do you think you sitting here comforting me this way is partly having that nurse's traits as well?"

"Maybe," she replied. Her ears were low. "It is hard to tell sometimes where things come from. Whether it was already part of me or not. Once it is part of me then it is completely part of me. It isn't them anymore, it is me. Some of it I can figure out where it came from, but other things it isn't so clear."

"Are there things about you that you have picked up lately that you don't like?" I asked in a low voice.

She thought about it for a moment. Giving a lot of consideration to the question before she answered.

"Again, it isn't easy for me to answer. It's me now. It is easy to say what I miss more. I feel like I am getting farther and farther from my mom's personality, and that makes me sad. I used to be bubblier, now I feel like I am serious a lot more often, and I am more grumpy. I didn't used to get so grumpy. I don't like thinking of myself as grumpy, but I would rather be grumpy if I need to be in order to protect you. Plus, I got some specific traits, for sure, from that nurse. I would like those traits, maybe, if it weren't for all the stuff I get from you about those same things, I just wish that was one way or another, and not so confused. I also worry I might be getting boring too."

"i worry you might be getting overly obsessed sometimes," I said. "Like you are completely lost in trying to be things for me."

"I'm sorry," she pouted. I gave her a hug to comfort her.

"When this trial thing is over I want to do that thing you suggested this morning," I told her.

She tensed up. She quickly looked around to see if any pony was in earshot, then she whispered back.

"Are you sure? I think the reason I even suggested it was wanting you better for selfish reasons. We can try to figure out a different way of helping you," she looked at me seriously. "This is a big deal. I would be taking away part of your memories, part of your personality, part of your feelings. It can't be put back."

"Why would I want to remember that?" I asked. "I have to keep it in my head until this trial is over. They might need me to testify or something, but once it is over with I want it out of my life. I don't want to keep feeling panicked and scared all the time. I don't want you feeling that when I am going through that. It isn't just impacting me, it is impacting you. I am surprised it hasn't started giving you the same panic attacks. It isn't fair to either of us that it is there."

"I don't have a good answer why," she groaned. "It is a big deal, with lots of rules, for a reason. I would be messing with your mind! It could have other side effects that we don't realize. I don't want to accidentally hurt you."

I brought a forehoof up to the side of her face and touched it gently. She looked at me with barely held back tears.

"I am already hurting," I said simply. "I want to stop hurting, and I want you to stop hurting as a result. I also don't want to have to be treated like I am made of glass indefinitely, or transfer the reasons why I get treated like I am fragile to you either. I want it all gone."

"Whatever you want me to do I will do," she said hugging me tightly. "We can talk to the Crusaders, or some other Alicorns, to make arrangements. I am going to need to study carefully what I need to do. I only know it is possible for me to do it, not how to do it. I am also going to need to get a focus stone, I can't actually do anything with magic without one."

"Maybe I won't even need to be the one to do it," she added as an afterthought. “Maybe one of them can do it. I am going to need one of them anyway to help, though I really don't want to have them do it. This isn't me absorbing after all, this is me actively doing something to you, I will need them to take your cutie mark off in order to do it..if they agree to help at all, as I said this is a big deal."

I just continued to lay against her. Trying to imagine what it would be like. It was a silly question. How do you imagine not being able to imagine monsters in your head? It seemed the silliest thing to not be able to imagine, but at the same time it was hard to do. Better than trying to imagine eternity.

"What are you two discussing?" Hot Sticks asked, startling the both of us.

"Stop doing that!" Biblo fussed as she regained her composure. "Why do you always sneak up on ponies!" Hot Sticks gave her a confused look in response.

"I am fairly certain I have never done that to you before, Biblo," Hot Sticks replied. Biblo turned an darker shade of pink realizing she was voicing frustrations that didn't originate from her.

"Consider it her speaking for me," I said while giving my own glare. "She absorbs my feelings after all. You do that way too much. Is your cutie mark somehow related to sneaking or do you just practice a lot."

"It's one-hundred percent practice," he said with a smile. "I can give you lessons sometime if you want." I made a mental note to add a few more bucks to his side whenever I finally got around to it.

He sat down to the side of us and pulled out his pipe and lit it. Triggering a craving in me for my own pipe.

"I was consulting Meadowbrook about what the Crusaders had said," he explained. "I was curious about what kind of implications that might have on you two in terms of how the Alicorns treated you. I didn't figure you two really wanted to deal with that discussion right then."

"You get some points back you hedonistic unicorn," Biblo said. Hot Sticks raised an eyebrow at her and she silently cursed at herself. "Bloody Tartarus! I just did it again, didn't I? How does Pearl think highly of you and so rudely of you at the same time!"

"I just have that effect on mares. I guess," Hot Sticks deadpanned.

Biblo looked at him a second before she burst out laughing. Then she rose a forehooves to him offering a hoof bump. Hot Sticks smiled and clapped a forehoof against hers. I was totally lost on what just transpired, and I figured I didn't want to know. I instead brought attention back to what Hot Sticks had been up to.

"So you are guessing the same thing we are guessing, about Biblo absorbing my magic?" I asked. "You said implications on the two of us. What did Meadowbrook think about it?"

"You won't age any further if you have a constant supply of Pearl's magic in you," he said addressing Biblo instead of me. "For periods where it has dissipated out, you will age normally. There wouldn't be any dramatic attempts by your body to catch up. So, if you suddenly got caught off from her magic permanently, after say a few centuries your aging would resume normal progression then, and you could expect to live still another fifty to one-hundred years, based on how well you take care of yourself. Periodic dissipation is what seems the most likely scenario, which would result in extreme slowing in age. You would age normally while the magic is not there, but cease where you are when it returns. So, you would eventually grow old and die, but it would take an exceptionally long time. That is the most likely scenario." Biblo took this in and silently considered the implications.

I asked the more pressing question while she did. "And did Meadowbrook say what kinds of intentions they might have for the two of us?"

Hot Sticks blew a plume before replying. "She said she couldn't be sure. She considers you two a curiosity, but not some ponies that need to be tightly watched or controlled. She imagined that the greater Alicorns would keep tabs on you, but likely not do much else. They give similar treatment to the lesser Alicorns. You two aren't super powerful beings, so you would likely be less strictly watched by the greater Alicorns, and less frequently asked for help in affairs. They might contact you if they think you have extensive experience, or familiarity, with something they need aid in. However, beyond that they would mostly leave you to your own lives--unless you do something to make a nuisance of yourselves. The lesser Alicorns might take more active interest in you, just as fellow immortals out and about in the world, that is not certain though. Lesser Alicorns are more solitary, the Crusaders being an exception, and are mainly concerned most of the time with just keeping themselves from being revealed as Alicorns in the community they currently take up residence. They may care about you, they may just avoid you, lesser Alicorns' thoughts are often less predictable than the greater."

That was a relief. We would be free to live our own lives. Yeah, we would likely be spied on for the rest of our lives, but if spying was all that was happening I could live with that. Not that I had much choice in the matter of living.

"I guess I am going to do a bit more training now, since I am down here anyway," Biblo said, apparently deciding she wasn't going to put more thought into this for now. She separated from me and got to her hooves.

"I am trying to avoid picking up any feelings, and other stuff that I don't want," she smiled at me. "Pearl, I love you, but you are yearning for that stinky pipe, and I would rather not pick up that particular trait up. I am going to either break you of that habit, or absorb it myself at some point. I am going try my best to do the first option rather than the second."

"Awe," Hot Sticks laughed, "but how am I supposed to keep my hometown from becoming destitute?" Biblo blew a raspberry at him in response, before hoping down to the grounds.

I guess she was right about addiction being in force, but didn't make any move to go get my stuff. It was up in my room, and I didn't really feel like leaving where I was right this second.

"You might want to start doing some of those training exercises too," Hot Sticks spoke to me. "It could be be good for you. Your wing is healed up now, and you could stand to work it out with some light flying. Exercise in general would do you good. I'm saying that as both a doctor and a friend. It isn't just getting your body back in shape, it is doing something other than mope about. Moping about isn't going to help with your other hurts."

He must not have gotten to listen in on our conversation earlier. If he did he wasn't letting on that he had heard. I wanted to talk to the Crusaders again before I discussed it with any pony but Biblo. For the moment I wasn't going to let Hot Sticks know we had a plan for dealing with my other hurts.

He was probably right about needing to get back in shape, my wings felt stiff not only from healing, but from disuse. I might have well been a very funny looking earth pony with the lack of flying I had done in the last week. Getting back in the air again would feel good.

"I am sure you are right," I replied. "I will talk to the Guard captain about it later. See if he will let me do what Biblo started off doing, and see about doing some light flying exercises. I think I will try flying up to my balcony in a minute or so."

"Keep yourself busy," he said, accepting my response. "It is going to be at least four days till the trial, according to Meadowbrook, another week or so for the council to convene. It takes them a while to gather all the Lessers back for council, you have to track them down first, plus they have to make their departure from their homes in a way that doesn't draw suspicion of their true nature."

"In the meantime, we are just sitting," he continued in frustration. "Sitting with no further answers about Starlight's Folly. All of today has been world shaking for you and Biblo, but it doesn't help us at all with why we came here. I am going to try to get Stygian or Fluttershy to talk to us, see if there is anything they might have overlooked. I don't like not having answers about what happened. It is bad enough that we seem to have failed to save our town, but we still don't know what even happened. To be honest, it has been causing me to cry in private." His final admission was said quietly.

I got up and gave the stallion a hug. I was becoming such a touchy-feely pony. It wasn't just me rubbing off on Biblo, she rubbed off on me too. I could feel light tears on my shoulder. I gave him a light stroke on his mane to soothe him.