A royal bed chamber…
A loving father’s lullaby…
A loyal and affectionate maid’s embrace…
Hushed whispers and betrayal…
The queen has noticed…
Running… Running…
An empire’s downfall…
“The time we had together was short…”
“But for your sake, you must be cast away…”
“Your journey will be hard, and for a time, you will be alone…”
“And there will be nights where you will yearn for us, and days where you will scorn others for being more fortunate…”
“But despite all of this, remember that you are loved…”
“So… Wherever you may end up…”
“May the ponies you meet be kind and gentle…”
“Until then…”
“Please wait for us…”
It’s that dream again…
Turning to my side on my bed to face the window of my well-furnished room, I saw that the sky was still dark, moonlight shining through the glass a bit of dust flew about in the air.
To my left, a clutter… Well, not really a clutter, but a mountain of books comprised of various subjects from magical theory to cookbooks.
Argonia had gone out of her way to make sure that I was reading up on the basics while Buddy recuperated, but I knew that this was all just an attempt to distract me from worrying too much about him, it didn’t really take all that much to discern her need to make me focus on something else other than being Buddy’s caretaker and feeling, sometimes sharing, the pain that he felt.
Holding my breath for a moment, I listened carefully to the ambience of the night, hearing nothing but a bit of the wind outside rattling the window and the crickets making noise from indiscernible places
I tried to go back to sleep, but as the minutes flew by, my drowsiness had instead melted away and I spent the good portion of an hour changing positions and flailing about in bed only for me to grumble in annoyance, get up, and start my day.
When I first arrived at the Whinnychester Mansion, the entire estate was quiet and dreary, almost in a state of disrepair with only very few rooms being used.
According to Argonia and Haymaker, if it weren’t for them spending most of their free time there whenever they could, one could easily think that it was abandoned with how Buddy spent most of his time alone in his study.
That, of course, began to change in the past few days…
“Guys? Tea and snacks are ready,” I said after poking my head through the front door of the mansion where two royal guards, an earth pony and a pegasus named Rocky Road and Meadow Breeze respectively, stood guard adjacent from each other.
“You go on ahead,” said the mottled earth pony to Meadow, gesturing for her companion to take a break first with her head.
“Now that’s mighty kind of ya! I’ll try and not to eat your share then!” teased Meadow before stepping out of his post, earning a groan and a roll of eyes from Rocky.
Once Meadow had trotted inside, I gently closed the door on Rocky who moved so that she was now standing in front of the door now that there was only one royal guard to ‘greet’ visitors.
When they first arrived and went on duty to act as the stationed guards of the Whinnychester Mansion on General Armstrong’s orders the day after the golem attack, neither of them would budge from their post as they kept on insisting that the other should take their break first.
While this sentiment had some amount of courtesy, their unwillingness to take their break together mostly stemmed from them knowing that there should be at least one pony guarding the front door at all times.
I offered to guard the door so that they can rest after standing all day, but this only led to Rocky taking charge and ordering Meadow to say ‘just get inside, you feathered buck’.
To which, Meadow responded ‘Make me’, basically, what he really said was something along the lines of… Uhh… A string of words that I am pretty sure would cause Argonia to wash my mouth with soap if I dared to utter them.
What happened next was Meadow being picked up like a sack of potatoes and thrown inside the foyer unceremoniously.
Having both of them in the Whinnychester Mansion definitely livened the place up a little as Haymaker had already left for Manehattan a few hours before this interaction to receive his next assignment at the Rays of the Sun HQ while Argonia tended to her potion shop in town, practically leaving only me to take care of a still-delirious and pain-paralyzed Buddy.
At first, I felt rather overwhelmed as there are two ponies working directly under General Armstrong now working at the mansion, two ponies that may or may not be secretly evaluating me on how I’m doing with what ‘secret task’ of his, but not long after they had arrived, an hour at most, the pain and anguish that Buddy felt…. Somehow lessened.
Not entirely of course.
It was a small reduction of pain from what I could sense, like around… 2% out of a hundred had melted or faded away.
I didn’t think much of it as it could have just been my imagination, or that Buddy was recovering, however slightly, but when a group of ten ponies arrived the next day to visit him, all of them introducing themselves to me as friends of his and former royal guards, my mentor’s state began to improve more significantly.
Previously, he was groaning, whining, crying, and sometimes screaming in pain, but upon their arrival, this was reduced to heavy breathing and the occasional groaning.
The state of pain that Buddy felt, for reasons that I did not know, steadily began to melt away the more visitors came to the mansion.
Some of them took residence in the many vacant and unlocked rooms of the mansion while others preferred to stay in the many inns of Hooverheim.
The ones that did stay, however, acted as additional guards, allowing them to patrol the perimeter in shifts, allowing Rocky and Meadow to rest by sundown.
And here I am a week later, ushering in Meadow to the dining room which was converted into a makeshift canteen or chow hall of sorts where five other ponies were already helping themselves to the cupcakes, scones, bread, and tea that Housefold, a brown and red pegasi, made with the help of two other Rays of the Sun bodyguards.
And me.
I helped with making those.
I insisted.
Because that is housework.
And housework is my domain.
Nopony but me has the right to clean this mansion except for-
My thoughts were suddenly cut short when I noticed the apron-wearing pegasi leave the serving table to approach me.
“You, go and take a break yourself” he said in a scolding voice, like that of a father getting annoyed that his kid was focusing too much on playing.
“I still have to sweep the yard-“
“Leave that to me”
“Okay, but then the dishes-”
“Everypony hasn’t eaten yet, I can do that later once we’re all fed, including you”
Okay, not a father, but a mother scolding her child, for the wrong reasons.
“…. The hole that I made from throwing Capt. Boon through the wall???”
“Nope! We’re all set here, just gotta find the wallpaper for this to match the rest of the wall once we’ve smoothed it out and put the primers on” said one of the members of the work crew that got together to fixing that little ‘oopsie’ that I did.
It might have been my imagination, but I think I saw Housefold smirk slightly now that it’s decided that he’s taken responsibility over nearly everything that needs to be done.
Fine, you win this time, Housefold, but once you’re out, I’ll be the king of housekeeping once again!
Begrudgingly, I went to the dining room, stopping as I passed through the entryway when I sensed a hint of… Deviousness? Playfulness…?
Scheming…ness???
Is that even a word?????
Well, whatever it is, there was something in the air, like somepony was about to play a prank. What it is, however, I did not know, only that it felt like it was… ‘Coordinated’.
If I had to guess however, this was all Housefold’s doing, he probably told everypony to do the other chores so that I won’t be able to do them…
Yeah…
I’m sure he’s not above such trickery…
That scheming meanie….
Shaking my head, continued towards the table and took a few cupcakes and banana bread from the trays before grabbing the nearby teapot with my hoof so that I can pour myself a cup of tea-
However, as I was about to tilt the large teapot, I was slammed with the emotion of utter confusion and bewilderment, and when I turned to look at the others, I saw the confused look in everypony’s face while staring at me.
Meadow, who was sitting alone, did so as well while in mid-bite to his cupcake.
Seriously, all of them looked like as if I had dropped a Buddy-grade punbomb all of a sudden.
“… What?” I asked, hooves still on the teapot that was holding in a slightly tilted position but not enough to pour its contents into my cup.
“What are you doing?” asked Housefold with a grimace as if I had just broken a piece of fine china that was only used whenever guests came over.
“Pouring myself a cup of tea?!”
“Ding dong!”
“Yeah, we know that, but why are you doing it like that?!” asked Meadow who had lowered his cupcake back into his platter before placing a hoof on his cheeks as if trying to discern if I was playing a prank on them.
“How else am I supposed to pour my tea?!” I asked, demonstrating it by finally pouring a healthy amount of the fragrant liquid into my cup before taking it with my hooves and showing it to them to prove that there was nothing wrong with what I’m doing.
“I said ‘Ding dong!’!”
That mere action only caused them to cringe and grimace even more.
“What is wrong with you guys?! Have you never seen pony pour a cup of tea before?!”
“Tenderheart, what are you?” Housefold asked in a very annoyed tone.
“I’m a-“
“DING BUCKING DONG!!!”
“Ding dong???” asked all of us at each other, wondering why was somepony shouting ‘ding dong!’ at the front door as if trying to mimic a doorbell even though it was unlocked and that Rocky would have allowed them anyway if they were a visitor.
Or you know… They just could have KNOCKED.
“LET ME IN, YOU DING DONGS!”
“I’ll get it” I groaned, downing all of my tea in one swig before heading to the front door while Housefold, Meadow, and the others followed behind me to see what the commotion was about.
Placing my hoof on the doorknob, I twisted it to discover that it was really unlocked and whoever was outside could have just let themselves in.
“The door’s unlocked, you know? Also, Rocky could have let you in-“ I said, pushing the door outwards slightly only for me to be pulled forwards with such force when a hoof hooked itself on to the side and opened it with such strength that I was lifted off the ground.
Instead of crashing into the soil, however, I was instead caught by somepony and turned around so that I was facing Housefold and the others.
“GRHHK-!!!”
Not more than a few seconds after that, my vision began to darken around the edges as pressure was applied around my neck when a limb snaked around it expertly while another moved to push my head forwards, pushing me close to the point of losing consciousness.
I wanted to struggle, to use my own hooves to pry myself out of the chokehold that I was in, but my limbs instead fell limp on my sides as my body refused to move as the world went darker and darker.
In front of me, Housefold and the others just seemed to stand there, watching, showing no intention of helping me out.
If this was an elaborate kidnapping then they surely went out of their way to knock me out even though they could have done this a few days ago.
Buncha meanies…
“… Alright, Sweetcheeks, I don’t think he’s a changeling”
“Damn, there goes my 10 bits…”
Suddenly.
AIR!
My vision cleared and I gasped and inhaled loudly for air, falling to the side as the pressure in my head gradually vanished.
“I told you morons he wasn’t a changeling,” sighed Household who FINALLY went over to me and tried to help me up much to the resistance of my limbs which were still in a state of jelly.
“Yeah, but you still agreed to us to make sure”
"YOU GUYS THOUGHT I WAS A CHANGELING?!" I screamed at them as I tried to stand up only to fall to my side when the lightheadedness caught up to me, fortunately I was caught by the very same earth pony, who was wearing some sort of blue uniform but it didn’t look like something out of the royal guard’s official uniforms, that put me in the chokehold… For whatever it was worth.
"To be fair, you don't exactly act all that normal to begin with. ‘Empath’ can be another word for their ability to sense and feed on emotions" explained Red Velvet, a cream-colored unicorn with really baggy eyes wearing a red wizard's cloak, his pipe floating beside him idly.
"And you do most of your chores without using magic" added Housefold nonchalantly.
"Most unicorns utilize their magic in everyday tasks almost by second nature, but you on the other hand rarely do so, only doing so with hard to reach areas like the ceiling… To an extent, we can ignore that, but the fact that you open doors with your hooves, and other times with YOUR MOUTH, something just doesn't add up" he added.
"Also, are we just going to ignore the fact that he could have used magic to easily pry my hooves off his neck to get out of my sleeperhold?” asked the butter yellow-coated and red and white-maned earth pony with the blue uniform as he went to stand beside Red and Housefold.
“That didn’t need explaining, Sweetcheeks” said both Red and Housefold at the same time, pointing it out since the scene did happen in front of them.
“And what’s wrong with all of those?!” I inquired, not really caring that I was arguing against three stallions that could kick my flank easily.
"YOU'RE NOT AN EARTH PONY!" they argued back with different intensities with Housefold being the most disinterested while Red Velvet and Sweetcheeks seemed to be more passionate about why I had allegedly acted in a way that was only normal for earth ponies.
"Oh yeah, sure, because not using magic to escape a sleeperhold is proof enough" I grumbled, my voice still a bit coarse from the hold while my vision has yet to completely return.
"If you were a changeling, your disguise would have collapsed when you were about to pass out. Either that or you would have morphed into an earth pony with enough strength to throw Sweetcheeks off," explained Red Velvet before taking a few puffs from his pipe.
As the unicorn went on about his lecture and enjoying his pipe, I saw Rocky in my periphery leaning against the wall beside the entrance, watching the scene unfold.
“Oh come on! You were in on it too?!” I asked to the earth pony who was supposed to be guarding the entrance from any sort of threats.
“Sorry, kiddo, those three are my seniors so I had to obey orders,” she shrugged “I would have stopped them but I also wanted to make sure you’re not a changeling,”
Well… I guess it’s fair… But I’m sure as heck ain’t happy about how they did it.
Wait, seniors?
“Seniors? They’re royal guards?” I inquired, turning to the three stallions who didn’t look like they were part of the royal guard, like, at all. Sure, it already goes without saying that they’re part of the Rays of the Sun but I don’t think you can be part of the two organizations at once.
“Former royal guards, yes,” answered Sweetcheeks “But I left the moment Buddy went to make his bodyguard company with La Keyes while Red Velvet steered away from the military and took up a professorship at the Canterlot Magical Academy,”
“And I regret every minute of it…” grumbled Velvet through his pipe.
“I stayed, however” Housefold chimed in “And now I’m one of the quartermasters of the Cloudsdale Special Aerial Forces”
“It’s really strange that you were allowed to leave Cloudsdale all of a sudden” Velvet pointed out.
“I haven’t had a day off for the last 8 years, I have, at the very least, around 210 days of paid leave since I also work during special non-working holidays”
At the mention of how many days of Housefold had at his disposal, Rocky; Velvet; Sweetcheeks; and Meadow, who was at the doorway in mid-bite on his cupcake, stared in bewilderment at how long he can leave Cloudsdale and be paid for it.
“C-… Can I have three of those? Please?” pleaded Velvet, his pipe dropping to the ground, never mind the fact that you really can’t transfer day offs from military to civilian.
To be fair, he did sound and look like he needed a day off… Or three… Or seven.
“No.”
“Fold, please, I’ll do anything, I just need three days of sleep”
“… Anything?” asked Housefold as he finally turned to look at Velvet.
I don’t know why, but I could feel a murderous wave of emotions emanate from the Pegasus, and with how he sounded like he wanted to make sure that Velvet would do anything to get three days of rest, I wouldn’t be surprised if he asked the unicorn to do something really dangerous or drastic.
“Yes, anything!” Velvet affirmed.
Housefold went silent for a moment before giving Velvet a nasty stare.
“Then perish”
Ouch, I actually felt Velvet’s heart break from that.
“Okay, before you guys go at each other for days off, quick question though: just what’s your relationship with Buddy anyway?” I inquired.
Since they seem to be very… Friendly with each other and that they seem to have worked with Buddy or served under him at some point, I guess that would make them my seniors as well, right?
“Oh, us?” asked Sweetcheeks, turning to both Velvet and Housefold before looking back at me “We’re his apprentices,”
…
“Buddy doesn’t take apprentices,” I pointed out flatly.
“He doesn’t” said Velvet, Housefold, and Sweetcheeks at the same time in an ‘as a matter of fact’-ly tone.
“Then how are you three his apprentices?” I asked, squinting my eyes a little.
“He accepted us as his apprentices” answered Velvet as he picked up his pipe, cleaned it by wiping the mouthpiece with his cape before putting it back on his mouth.
Okay, somepony is clearly lying here
“Is this a hazing? Am I being hazed? It feels like I’m being hazed”
“Oh heavens no” answered Housefold to my question, giving me a bit of relief even though I’m still annoyed with them. From what I can tell, none of them were lying, their emotions were clear as day whenever they answered me with no hint of reluctance. Usually, when somepony lies to me, I can feel that small piece of hesitation and alarm as they look for a suitable answer.
Again, that element wasn’t present in these three ponies.
“We’re going to do that to you much later” he added.
…
That is when I wished that Housefold was lying because the ‘intention to do something’, the emotion of being excited for it, emanated from the three of them at the same time like sharks pinpointing the source of blood from a mile away.
“You know what, screw you guys, I’m gunna go check up on Buddy” I grumbled before heading back inside.
“… So… We’re really going to make him meet Hannibal?”
“We have to be really, REALLY sure”
“Yeah, but… Hannibal? That stupid chicken doesn’t even like us”
“If you have any better ideas, Sweetcheeks, we’re all ears”
“How do we even get Hannibal over here anyway? I’m sure he’ll murder us if we so much as tried to pick him up, much less be carried all the way over here in the middle of nowhere…”
“… What if we lured him back to Canterlot instead and have HIM go to Hannibal?”
“… Sweetcheeks, this is the only time I will excuse you for hanging out with your marefriend, she may have bucked us over dozens of times, but she finally got you to be devious for once”
“Hey, that’s meeeeean, she’s more than just a thief, you know”
“He already called her your marefriend, Sweetcheeks, and that’s saying something coming from Fold”
“… Is it because he’s still having trouble with Gem Burst?”
“Shut your kisser before I put poison in your cupcake”
Buddy didn’t know when or how, but somewhere along the line, the state of indescribable pain that he was trapped finally vanished.
Finally taking notice of his surroundings, the unicorn saw that he was laying on a valley of white stargazer lilies with his head resting against the side of a blue-uniformed cream-colored and braided brown-maned mare, her ruby brooch glistening in the middle of her uniform’s collar in the soft glow of the cloudy twilight sky above them.
“… I’m not truly with you yet, am I?” asked Buddy to the mare, turning away from her and resting his head on the flowery ground instead.
“Fortunately,” she answered, teasing him a little “What gave it away?”
“If I was dead, my parents would have greeted me, and they would have explained why they dumped me in that orphanage”
“Is that really how you think the afterlife works?”
“If the power of love can repel a city’s worth of changelings, if the power of friendship can free Luna from her state of being Nightmare Moon, then I think it isn’t too much to ask for” Buddy explained before giving out a sigh, his voice muffled a little from the grass and the flowers.
“Do I at least go into the tier of consolation prizes if those two aren’t possible?” she inquired playfully.
“Do you have almonds?”
“… Buddy, they’re not ‘almonds’” she muttered with a tired expression on her face, looking as if she had to lecture him about the almonds not being ‘almonds’ for the 283341313475th time.
“YES THEY ARE! They’re tasty almonds and Argonia hogs them and keeps them away for her stupid potions and I need a snack every now and then!” whined Buddy before rolling to lay on his back.
“I can’t even die properly: The griffons did a shit job at killing me, the changelings couldn’t finish the job, the recovery period was a success, and now even being crushed by a stupid golem that appeared out of nowhere to assassinate me got all bucked up when that apprentice of mine just had to play hero,” he grumbled.
The mare went silent for a few seconds, but after that, she began to chuckle, prompting Buddy to blink and to her in confusion.
“Why are you chuckling?”
“Well, for one, he reminds me of you” she smiled before standing up and moving so that she was laying beside him.
“Our similarities begin and end at being orphans, nothing more” he huffed, closing his eyes.
“Perhaps, but… You saved me, you know” she said, easing a little closer to Buddy and resting her head against his cheek, and although he knew that this was nothing more than just a very strange dream, a spell of sorts, or some mental failsafe to keep himself from going insane from the pain, he couldn’t help but return the gesture and lean his head back against hers.
It may not be the afterlife, or an afterlife, but Buddy would settle for this illusion.
“I couldn’t save you in the end…” he admitted, his lips quivering.
“No, but I saved you… And in a way, we saved each other, even if it meant parting forever,” she whispered tenderly “I found my ‘treasure’, Buddy, you helped me, but you… You still have yet to find yours,”
“But what if you are… Were my ‘treasure’?”
“I’m flattered that you’re now wondering if I was your ‘treasure’ if I couldn’t even let you eat almonds,” she chuckled before nuzzling into Buddy “I may be ‘one’ of your treasures, but I’m not the one that you’re searching for,”
“There’s nothing out there for me, Equestria is in an era of peace, Luna has been purified, the Elements of Harmony are functional… There’s nothing else that I can do”
“You’re a genius, Buddy, but sometimes, you overthink things” she explained before placing a hoof on his cheek gently.
“Hm?”
“It’s right in front of you, Buddy… It has been for a while, you just don’t know it yet, you just haven’t realized it yet, but it’s arrived…” she hinted as a strong gust of wind blew over them, causing Buddy to finally open his eyes and look around, seeing petals of the stargazer lilies and some grass fly into the air as the wind picked them up and swirled everywhere in strange and unconventional directions.
“… It’s time, isn’t it?” he asked, slowly standing up from the ground, his companion following suit.
“Unfortunately…”
“Hmm…”
Breathing in deeply, Buddy looked up at the cloudy twilight sky, watching it slowly clear up to reveal the natural blue colors that it should have had in the first place.
“… Is there any way I can conjure something in here?” he inquired with a weak smile “I mean, I know it’s a little late, but I’d like to give you something just to lift your spirits up now that we’ve met again…”
“… You do know that making puns at dead ponies is very disrespectful?” she asked with a very disgusted face as she crossed her hooves at Buddy “But you know what, fine, I’ve been waiting for a long while for you anyway, just do the ‘hammer space’ routine and I’m sure you’ll be able to conjure the object that you wanted to give to me when I was still alive” she huffed.
At her behest, Buddy turned slightly and did a rummaging motion as if trying to find something from a dimensional pocket, grinning when he got hold it of it and turning back to his companion before giving it to her.
It was a pair of spectacles that was haphazardly tied to a saw with dozens of rubber bands.
“You should really learn how to wrap things properly” she sighed and looked over the strange object “What is this, exactly?”
With that question, Buddy finally grinned evilly.
“It’s a seesaw”