Never Be The Same

by Kickback


Chapter 6 - The First Sign

I can feel you fallin' away.
No longer the lost.
No longer the same.
And I can see you startin' to break.
I'll keep you alive, if you show me the way.


There I sat at the shore of a lake just down the road from the house. Exhausted, I mechanically dug my hand at the soil, reaching for another nearby stone to clutch in my fist. Once I found one, I'd squeeze it before lunging the piece of granite into the water with a quick arm swing.

As the rock splashed blandly into the still, blue void, I allowed myself to relax, breathing at length through my nose. I leaned backwards, positioning my hands behind my head, my palms cupped my tangled hair as my knuckles hit the ground with a dull thump with my weight. I closed my eyes as several stray blue-winged butterflies flew by my field of vision.

It wasn't until I heard the clacking of tiny hoofbeats that my eyes opened again...and smiled.


I feel like my story is getting repetitive as I recount the events of that day, my third day in Equestria. I say that because the nightmare I experienced while sleeping on that mattress fit for royalty cannot go without saying. Looking back, I dearly wish the princess of the night was still around by the time I got here just so she could destroy the terror that plague my mind.

However, she was evil and banished at the time so...I faced it on my own.

There I stood, the lone, short figure in the alleyway. In front of me I saw a courtyard, dozens upon dozens of nobles and other Canterlot folk gathered around to form a crowd just facing a large, wooden stand in the centre. My eyes drifted up to the ponies standing there, their forelegs were all bound in rope and above them was a long, wooden plank stretching to each side but that's not what caught my attention.

Hanging from them were four, sturdy pieces of rope. All tide into nooses.

Fear welled from my chest as I noticed the four ponies entirely; On the far right was an elderly green mare, mane of once youthful, glossy hair now a barren snowy cap upon her wrinkled face. Her orange eyes casted down to her hooves in complete solemn. Standing next to her on her right was a tall, well-built, red stallion. His short orange mane blowing ever so gently in the slight breeze that passed by as his jade rimmed eyes just radiated a determined glare. On the far left was a young, yellow, red-maned filly. Her eyes were red and puffy, an obvious sign of crying before her current position, still, I could see her sniffle absentmindedly as she stood there.

Then, I saw her.

Her orange pelt that glistened in the sunlight, her strong legs, the adorable freckles below her eyes, her brown stetson resting on the golden strands of her tamed mane. The emerald rimmed eyes that were glued to...to...

To me.

It was the Apple family, all how they appeared in the show, standing there upon the stage, helpless to do anything but just stand and wait.

And Applejack, she was looking directly at me, I stared into her eyes from the distance, wanting nothing more than to help her, help her family, save them but...but I couldn't.

Suddenly, a masked stallion walked up the steps to the stage and slowly, one by one, lowered the nooses to coil around their long, equine necks. They showed no resistance, why didn't they fight?

AJ never looked away, never glanced back at her family being sentenced to death, not even to look down as Applebloom was the last to be tied.

The stallion walked to a lever on the far side, coiled his hooves around it and pulled.

The last thing I saw was Applejack's eyes staring into mine, glassy as tears began to seep from either one...and then the rope being tightened as the floor below her gave out.

I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, to save her before she died, to kill the pony at the lever but before I could, I was swallowed up by an inky blackness. The last glimpse of light was consumed in the dark void and I was left alone in utter silence. However, the darkness was well welcomed as soon as my eyes caught the sight of something to focus on. The void dissipated, I now stood just outside a glass window, on the other side was...was...

I watched helplessly as the full-grown cyan pegasus squirmed around in her restraints, her cries muffled by the wall between us. There was no one in the room I was in and there was no exit, I pounded my fists against the glass, hoping the window would shatter under my strength but to no avail. I looked back Rainbow Dash, tears poured unbidden from her magenta eyes as she tried to break free. My eyes drifted upwards to see a long, mechanized needle slowly descend towards her face, a blue laser pointing directly into her eye. Her legs, head and wings convulsed spastically as the point drew closer to her bloodshot iris.

"Rainbow Dash!!" I screamed in sheer desperation as I slammed against the window. Thankfull, the glass began to crack under my fist and I fastened my punching on the damnable material. Dash seemed to notice and watched me, mouthing unheard words to me as I grunted and beat the hell out the strong-willed glass.

The needle drew closer.

My knuckles began to bleed but I didn't care, I had a second chance, I was going to save her.

The needle drew closer, Dash looked away from it and closed her eyes before they shot open and locked with mine. She screamed but this time...I heard it.

"HELP ME!!!"

With one final strike, the glass, or what I thought was glass, gave in, cracking open to reveal a fist-sized hole in the transparent material. As the mechanical drilling sounds became all too audible aswell as Dash's sobs and strained sentences, I acted. Without thinking I barrelled into the window, the sharp material cutting me in several places and clattering around me as I fell to the ground in the white room. I instantly looked up and saw Rainbow continuously convulse in her leather restraints as the needle drew much closer. I rose to my feet instantly and ran over to the table, quickly undoing her latches one at a time.

"Get me outta this thing!!" she screamed at me as I uncoiled her left back leg. I moved to the other side, not paying attention as her hooves flailed about aimlessly. I undid the strap on her right back leg and she rewarded me with a swift kick in the face.

"Argh!!"

"Sorry! Hurry! Please!" Rainbow quickly said, bringing me back to awareness, I moved to her right foreleg and with a quick move with my hands, her last restraint was now unlatched. Wordlessly, she jumped out of her stance on the table, just barely missing the needle that was a little more than a few centimetres away from her face. She gasped as the needle lunged forward suddenly just as she landed on all-fours beside me.

I didn't care what was going on anymore, whether this was another lucid dream or not, all I cared about was that she was safe.

Rainbow stared at the machine, tears brimming on her faint lashes as the needle slowly withdrew and retracted from it's outstretched position. As I tried to regain my own composure, Dash looked at me breathlessly, I did the same and our eyes locked.

Suddenly, the cyan pony lunged at me, wrapping her forelegs around my neck in a tight, powerful hug. She wept silently into my shoulder as I caressed her, slowly but assuringly rubbing my hands along her back. From her prismatic mane to her tail, I tried my best to calm her.

"Thankyou...thankyou...thankyou" she said, over and over again, sniffling, gasping and sighing as she did so. I tried to smile but I couldn't, I felt too sympathetic for her, I know I was scared but had no clue how she felt.

"It's okay, Dashie, it's okay" I instinctively said as I stroked her multi-hued mane. She didn't move away or flinch at all, she just sat there, sobbing as I held her.

We embraced for a few minutes afterwards but after she seemed to settle down a bit, I pulled her away from my shoulder and looked into her magenta, swollen eyes.

"C'mon, let's go..." I said, quickly giving my surroundings a glance, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders as I noticed a brown-painted door on the far side of the room, I turned back to her. "...we need to get out of here, alright?" she nodded and I stood up to my full height which was roughly a few millimetres taller than her. I gestured for her to follow, she rubbed her eyes before complying. The soft clacks of her hooves being a small comfort as I walked beside her to the door.

I grasped my hand around the golden knob...and the door creaked as I slowly pulled it to the side.

Within, it was dark but thankfully, a hanging light bulb in the distance indicated that this led towards a hallway. An exit.

An escape.

"C'mon, Dash, we're free" I said, smiling at her, stepping aside to allow her to pass through. She smiled back at me before...before...

I wish to hell I had been in front of her, I wish I was standing in the way.

Before Rainbow could even complete her first step, the light bulb in the corridor exploded in a shower of glass and then, when all was in pitch blackness.

A long, javelin-like spear propelled from the darkness...aiming directly at Rainbow Dash.

It was too quick, so quick, I couldn't see it until I heard the gut-wrenching crunching on skin and bone...along with a sharp yelp as the spear passed through.

I looked at her, her eyes were widened to unnatural proportions, her mouth hung lazily agape, dripping thick red liquid. Blood gushed down from her forehead, falling over her unfocused eyes, her now dampened cyan fur and finally cascading to the floor.

I wanted to cry, to throw-up but I just stood there, in complete and utter shock. Watching the life slowly drain out of the pegasus, mainly from her head as...as...the spear...it skewered right through her forehead.

"Dash, no..." I uttered as she began to topple to the side. She fell onto a bleeding heap on the white floor. My body lost all tension as my mind went blank and all I could focus on was her dead, bloodied body.

"No, no, no, no, no, no...it's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair...why? Why? Why? Why?" I stuttered helplessly as tears began to fall from my eyes unbidden. I slowly walked towards her, leaving the opened door. When my feet now stood in her blood, I fell to my knees, closed my eyes...and sobbed.

Like a child.

"Dashie...Oh god, Dashie...why?" I managed through pained sobs. "WHY!?!?"

As I screamed, what felt like the form of a hand wrapped around my body. The limb was made up of pure blackness, pulling me through the door. It clamped shut with a loud boom as the hallway dissapated, revealing an empty dark chasm for the hand to drag me down into.

Why must the memory be so clear? Why must I remember the gut-wrenchingly disturbing images of that night? Even after all this time.

The hand pulled me down into the abyss until the door was no longer visible above me and then, seemingly transforming, I felt my body being strapped down by inky tendril-like restraints. With limbs spread wide but my neck free, I squirmed and struggled helplessly in my black confines. The void was dead silent, my grunts and cries were the only echoing sounds audible to the naked ear.

That is until I heard something, something hauntingly familiar; it was a laugh, a high-pitched giggle that could make anyone in the universe crack a smile wider than they had ever before. However, I simply couldn't but the noise stuck a feeling of hope in my heart. I looked around desperately to find the source of the sound but found nothing. Instead, I called out to the owner of the voice, there wasn't anyone else who giggled like that.

"Pinkie?" I asked. "Pinkie Pie, is that you?!" I continued, straining my neck to look to the side. However, as I did a glimpse of a bright pink hue caught my attention from the corner of my eye. Confused, I looked straight ahead.

There she was, just hovering in the inky void. All I could see was from her neck to her head. Everything was the same about her, the bright pink coat, the fluffy, darker mane, her big light blue eyes. Oh, it was Pinkie Pie, alright and just like everypony else I had met, she had an added touch of realism to her. All in all, she was an adorable sight, despite everything.

"Pinkie? Pinkie!! What are you doing here!?" she just giggled again with bit of a snort.

"I dunno, silly, what are YOU doing here?" she replied with that big grin of hers, I began to sweat.

"Pinkie Pie, you shouldn't be here, leave this place, Go! Before you get hurt!" I yelled at her, she didn't move though.

"Are you stuck? Here, lemme help you" she said, still smiling.

"No, Pinkie! Just g-" as I tried to speak, she took her first step forward.

That's when I heard it.

The quick wisp of metal slashing through the air. Next came the grotesque sounds of bone and flash being violently sliced. In the few short milliseconds, I caught sight of what looked like a large machete, glimmering in the darkness as it swung directly into the pink pony's neck. Passing through without effort.

Pinkie stopped smiling. My mouth fell agape as fresh tears bordered on my eyelids, her lips pursed into an 'o' of surprise and began dribbling out red, thick liquid. Much like the pony before her. As her head slowly began sliding off her neck, I clenched my eyes shut and looked away, biting my lower lip to suppress my sobs. There was a gruesome wet sound before a heavy thud echoed throughout the void, the second I opened my mouth, I wept sorrowfully.

"No, Pinkie, not you too, please...please make it stop" I said to the nothingness, trying my hardest not to look at the pink pony in front of me. As I was sure I'd throw up the minute I saw her mangled state. I began sobbing as I limbs remained bound to the relentless grip of the darkness, my tears seemed to fall into nothingness, only registering as tiny, invisible droplets. "This has to be a dream, this had to be a dream, wake up, wake up, Kyle" I muttered to myself, trying desperately to grab onto the remaining sanity that dwelled in my mind. The thought that none of this was real comforted me only slightly, you don't really know what true dread is until you see something like that, though.

Of course, I didn't quite know yet either. I was about to, however.

"Open your eyes"

Something...something was whispering to me. It was a low, scratchy voice, I found it hard to put a face to it. Nothing I could think of had a voice like that, so terrifying, so psychotic...

It's all too easy now.

Without doing as it asked, I cursed at the surrounding void.

"Who the fuck is there?! Who in the Hell are you!?" something told me, convinced me that whatever was the source of that voice was causing all this to me, making me see what I had seen. Just for that...I had never hated something more than right then.

"Open your eyes" the voice got louder, now almost hissing it's words angrily. I shook my head to the side and gritted my teeth, not daring to abide it.

"Fuck You!"

"Open your eyes!"

"NO!!"

"OPEN YOUR EYES!!" it screeched, the sheer intensity of it's high-pitched, now shrill voice threatening my ears to burst. Out of pain, I gasped, grimaced and bared my teeth to bite back my pain. However, it was not enough and unfortunately for me...

I did it, I opened my eyes. I wish the Hell I never had.

Thinking back now, I'm not sure how my young mind was able to keep a level of sanity after everything that I saw. It might've just taken one more push and I would crack. Thankfully, very thankfully I hadn't. It was almost as if someone had set up about a dozen televisions in front of me and turned them all on. Though instead of a show, I watched what I could only describe in one word;

Death.

"ARGHH!!" I screamed.

The first thing that I saw was a hand violently tear into little, timid Fluttershy. She gasped, coughing up blood as the hand reached inside, paused for a moment before it retracted, holding a red, pulsing object in it's hand. A dark, gaping hole now decorated her chest and she collapsed on her side, eyes rolling back in her head.

I turned in disgust only to see poor Vinyl Scratch galloping for her life, screaming for help, cuts and bloody scars decorated her snow-white coat. I didn't look away as a pack of ravenous group feral looking things surrounded her. As I watched them tear her apart, eating whatever they could, they gnawed and clicked irritably.

I turned my gaze again and gaped as Rarity's face became all but unrecognisable as something scraped and sliced at her features with sharp talons.

It went on a bit like that for a while, each time I watched a pony die in the small bit of light in the black void, I call out their name as little by little I felt as though there was nothing left for me to cry, dehydration was the last thing on my mind however. Octavia, Bon-Bon, Roseluck, Twilight, Spike, Colgate, Trixie...Hell, everypony you could think of.

Even Derpy. That was one of the roughest to see. Thankfully, whatever was torturing me didn't show me anything that had to with Lyra.

It was small comfort, really.

After a while, all I could do was look down, my eyes registering nothing but the blackness. Unfortunately for my ears, all I could was the sounds of ponies screaming before being silence with a loud splash of blood. However, after what felt like an eternity, it stopped. My eyes widened as confusion took over, i looked up and to my relief, there was nothing. I sighed happily, letting a small smile work it's way onto my face. I closed my eyes in bliss.

Only to shoot them open as I heard the sound of hoofsteps, two sets actually. I looked dead ahead, fearing the worst as they seemed to draw closer. I noticed that one set was much quieter and had a quicker pace, the other was slow and heavy but with it's own little detail that still eludes me to this day.

"Hello?" I said, in the back of my mind, I was happy to be able to speak again, my throat muscles were unbelievably strained.

Then they came. They came, illuminated by a bright white aura. I can't believe how wide I smiled.

"Kyle!" called out that sweet little voice of the green unicorn filly. I looked at her, she grinned at me. There she stood, barely coming up to the knee of the radiant Princess Celestia, her wing span was spread majestically, almost as if they were the source of the aura around them. I looked up at her, she simply smiled back calmly. Suddenly, I felt the grip on my body loosen and I was on my feet, standing a good couple of metres away from the.

They were the light at the end of the tunnel.


My shot open and immediately I jumped away from the pillow. I let out a rough cough, my throat seemingly feeling incredibly scratchy, it hurt actually. I covered my mouth instinctively and strained my eyes shut.

"...Goddamnit..." I muttered between coughs. My head ached suddenly and I let out a groan as I put the same hand onto the side of my fringe and collapsed back onto the pillow. "Fucking nightmares" I breathed, trying desperately to push the images from my mind. It worked somewhat but hardly, it's kind of difficult to burn something like that from your head. "Whoa" I let out in realisation, rubbing my forehead. "Did all that really come from my own mind?"

Had it?

I shrugged it off and sat back up with a groan, letting out a brief grunt as I stretched my arms, arching my back with a sudden crack. I couldn't whistle so what only came out was a brief 'phew' as a response. I looked to the side and found my jacket where I had left it the previous night. I smiled as I patted the blankets quickly. "Alright, time to-" was all I could manage before I heard a slight creak noise from my side. I turned, still smiling, hoping to find a fresh and calm-looking Celestia at the door.

But...that wasn't the case.

Instantly my smile faltered and my eyes widened as I noticed who was now standing at the door, her hoof resting on the know as she peeked her head in, not noticing me as she swung the door open entirely.

Then she saw me.

Nervousness welled up inside me as I took in the image of the pony. Obviously, it was a mare, she had a pale pink fur coat, her eyes were oddly but adorably shaped amethyst eyes, almost being bordered in black around her lashes. Her unicorn horn passed through her mane, straight through where the magenta met the lavendar stripe of her mane.

Guessed who it was yet? No? The majority of ponies I'd seen had there manes cascading down their necks but not her, no, a light blut ribbon tamed the multi-hued hair, forming it into an ironic pony tail that somewhat curled at the end. Same kind of ribbon was wrapped around the base of her tail, of which I could hardly see but...I really didn't need to see her to know what she was wearing. I also didn't need to see her sides as I knew there were be a pair of pink wings nestled against her coat.

The alicorn met my gaze and immediately, her eyes widened in shock and she gaped. I froze, a blank expression on my face.

"Princess Cadence..." I began, nervously. "...G'morning" her lips wobbled slightly before she uttered a single word.

"Morning" she said, half-dazed and then, just like that, she let out a sigh as her eyes rolled back in her head and swayed to the side. I watched as she hit the door with her head, an audible dull thump being created and collapsed on the floor. I couldn't believe it, she fainted.

"Well, shit" I muttered. What exactly was I supposed to do now? Get help? No, no that wouldn't work, even though I had walked through the castle before and some guards saw me with Celestia, it was a high posibility that the guards during the night shift would probably become hostile.

If not then do exactly what Cadence did. However, that wouldn't make them good guards, right?

I had woken up this morning thinking that maybe the white alicorn was going to drop in and see how I was doing and then...well, I don't know. I, no, we had come here to find a way for me to get back to Earth but that was obviously not going to happen.

At least, yet.

Maybe we were going to discuss living arrangements, where I'd live, how I'd live and for how long. I shook my head, I needed to focus, right now I had an unconcious alicorn princess just lying there in the open doorway on the ground. I groaned as I slid out of bed. Probably, should have not gotten up so quickly, I felt dizzy and vision gave way to blinding darkness. I swayed, reaching my hand out to the nightstand for support. Finally, my blackout dissipated, I don't know about you but when I sit up too quickly after lying down for too long, I sometimes get those.

I walked over to the Crystal Princess, which still sounded kind of dumb in my head, if the Crystal Empire is in fact, an empire, why isn't she an Empress? I really should've paid more attention in S&E classes. Anyway, I knelt down and shook her shoulder gently with an outstretched hand.

"Princess? Princess Cadence?" I said, still shaking her. To my dismay, she didn't answer, I sighted. "Well, c'mon then" I begrudgingly said as I moved my hands underneath her. I hooked my arms around her torso and neck and began to lift her. I expected to struggle, that the young mare was at least a little bit heavy but to my astonishment, I hoisted her up with little problem. I looked at her face, she looked so serene as I craddled her, her tail nearly reaching my shins. Her fur was soft and her mane, even softer, I couldn't help but smile as I turned and gave the door a quick kick, shutting it once more.

I walked over to the bed with the princess in my arms and gently laid her down on the bed, I had thrown the covers off so she now rested on the sheets where I previously resided. My arms slipped out from under her and watched as her head lazily drooped to the side as her head rested on the pillow. I merely smiled and walked around the bed, finding my Mum's university jacket and slipping my arms through each sleeve. I grabbed a nearby chair, pulled it over to the side of the bed and sat down, resting my hands on the arm-rests as a low sigh escaped my lips.

Damn, this thing was comfy. I leaned my head back, taking in long breaths as I waited. Occasionally I would glance over to the unconcious mare and I'd smile at the princess, she was adorable in her own right. I could use that word for almost every mare I'd meet, I thought. They were all cute, I reckon.

Some more so than others though.


"Ahhhh, what happened?" I shot up at hearing the voice of the princess and looked up at her, she stirred under the covers I had pulled over her earlier, when I had thought she'd be out for only a few minutes seemed to be not the case. I believe nearly an hour went by before she awoke. Cadence fidgeted around with her hooves for a moment, glancing around everywhere except at me.

"You, uhhh, kinda fainted, you highness" I said. Now she was looking at me. It took a few seconds to register for her but eventually, her expression was right back to what it was when she caught me in bed. Shocked and all.

"G-g-gu-" she muttered, my own eyes widened as I realised what she was doing. Immediatley, I shook my hands at her.

"Uhh, Cadence, stop, stop please" I said nervously.

"Gu-g-gua-" she stuttered.

"Cadence-" I stood up.

"GUAR!!-mmhmhmph" was all she could manage. As she turned her head to shout at the door, her eyes flickered towards it, giving me just enough time to dash forward. I brought a firm hand up to her muzzle and covered her mouth, pinning her to the bed with my other hand. I stared down at her, I could see the fear in her eyes as she laid underneath me. Suddenly, her eyes formed into a determined scowl, my confidence had left somewhat. Her angry look however was changed as her pupils dialted in pure shock, I felt confused but remained silent, waiting for her to calm down.

She didn't.

Instead, she seemed to panic, she flailed her hooves around, occasionally kicking me in the side or back but due to the angle, it didn't hurt much.

"Cadence, Cadence, calm down-" I tried, tried again and then tried some more, nothing seemed to be getting through to the young pink mare.

It wasn't until she managed to punch me in the face with a hoof that she stopped. My head swung to the side, I felt a thick liquid run down my chin and felt as though a piece of a tooth was missing somewhere. My eyes instinctively shut from the shock and the pain that followed, when they opened however, my breathing became heavy. I glared daggers at the ceiling above me and Cadence, now it was my time to calm down.

Why was I so angry all of a sudden?

Slowly I rotated my head to look down at Cadence, I bared my teeth behind closed lips to stifle screaming at her. She watched me for a few seconds, her eyes widened with fear as I stared angrily at her. After realising that she had stopped moving, I let out a sigh and looked back down at her with a much softer expression.

"Ya done?" she didn't answer. "Okay, I'm going to let go now, alright? I'm not going to hurt you Cadence" I said, trying to give her an assuring smile. I could only, somewhat, manage. She nodded under my hand, I took that as a good sign. I released her muzzle but she kept her mouth closed, her eyes locked directly onto mine as I brought her back up, allowing her to sit on her haunches on the mattress. My hand still rested on her shoulder, she didn't seem to notice though. As the two of us remained silent, I could tell that something was gnawing at her. "Sorry about, err, ya know" I said with a grin. Cadence didn't answer me, much to my confusion.

Finally, she spoke. "H-how did you do that?" she asked.

Oblivious, yes, that was the word. I was completey oblivious to what she was talking about. "Do what?"

"That...what you did, how did you do it?" she repeated.

"Princess, I don't know what you're-"

"I was trying to teleport and you stopped me, how?!" she asked again desperately.

"What?" Now, I was utterly lost but according to Cadence, she had been trying to use magic and when it didn't work, she blamed me.

"Why isn't my magic working?" she said, more to herself than me as she glanced up at her horn. She let out a few grunts as she clenched her eyes shut, trying desperately for her horn to respond. Absentmindely, I released my hand from her shoulder and suddenly, Crack-a-boom, her horn was a bright as a goddamn sun.

Or maybe it was THE sun? I had never really thought about it.

I recoiled from the bright light, as did Cadence and dimmed her horn's brightness until it was just managable. She let out a brief sigh of relief with a small smile as the glow dissiapted. She closed her eyes for a moment before looking back up at me.

Before she could say anything, an intriguing thought came to mind, an idea. "Could you do that again?" I asked. Cadence gave a confused look but abided nonetheless. Her horn began to glow again and started creating an aura of light within the large bedroom. Slowly, i reched out with me hand to her. She flinched slightly as I rested my hand on her her, which now lazily rested on the blanket she was under and I sat upon.

The results were...interesting.

Immediately when my hand made contact, Cadence's horn ceased it's alluring pink glow. As if it had just simply ran out of charge, there wasn't even a dimming fade of light, it was just simply cut off and replaced with shadow. Cadence looked up at her horn then back at me, our eyes locked and I could sense the curiousity in her stare aswell as her confusion.

We were both, however, astonished. When I pulled back though, her horn returned to it's enchanting glow. Our eyes flickered back and forth from her horn. Finally, Cadence dimmed down her magical aura and locked eyes with me once again.

"Who are you?" she asked. I sighed, not quite sure why though, perhaps I was simply relieved of how quickly she came grips with something such as me, perhaps that wasn't even remotely the case. Regardless, I took a breath before answering her, nodding my head as I glance back into her eyes, characteristically.

"Mercer...but most folks call me Kyle" I said, looking at it as a total Red Dead Redemption moment for me. I smirked a bit at remembering that game.

Maybe I should've gone with John Marston...John is my middle name, after all

I could tell that a small, almost smug smile came onto the pink alicorn before she spoke. Still facing away from her, I heard her. "I'm Ca-" she cut herself off before finishing her name. Nervously, I turned to face her, she looked up at the ceiling, her brow furrowed and her mouth, agape. After a moment, she gazed back at me, blatantly puzzled. "How do you know my name?" she asked.

Oh, great, this again. Seriously, it was getting kind of old. Even though it made sense. I gave a half-hearted, uneasy chuckle. "Well...you're a princess, right? I would imagine lots of pe-ponies know about you" I managed.

"But..." Cadence paused. "You're not a pony though..." she paused again before her eyes widened, a hint of an apologetic twinkle in her amethyst irsies. "Are you?!" she asked. I stifled a bemused giggle, she probably thought that I was a pony with some kind of physical defficency. Still, as her worry sank in, a feeling of comfort washed over me. Why?

She was concerned about me, which probably meant I was getting through to her. Which also meant she wasn't going to call the guards.

"No, no, not at all" I waved a hand. "I'm no more a pony than you are a stallion" I grinned.

"Then, what are you?" she inquired. I scratched the back of my neck through my hair, I really needed I hair...or so I was told. I blamed the Mercer gene for a my hair growth and colour, being a family of musical semi-hippies, it was rare to see a Mercer with short hair.

That is, until Dad donated it to a cancer foundation. Idiot. Still, I loved the big ol' bastard.

"Well...my race's name is 'Human', if that's what you're asking" I said with a small smile. "I, personally, am a teenager, if that means anything, I kinda like to think myself as a writer but-"

"A human?" Cadence cut me off. "I've never heard of anything like that before" she said lowly, an emotion in her voice that I couldn't quite place. I shrugged.

"Makes sense, I suppose, I mean, I'm not exactly from he-"

"Hang on a sec" she said quickly, I let out a low grumble at her interuption habit, she seemed to notice. "Heh, sorry, it's just..." she leaned in and narrowed her eyes at me. "I...I can't tell what your feeling" she muttered, more to herself. I blanched a bit.

"Huh? Tell what I'm feeling?" I asked.

"Yes, you see..." she gestured to her horn. "As the princess of love, I can kinda...sense what a pony is feeling but with you..." she put a hoof to her chin, examining me. "I just can't"

"Is that another 'magic' thing?" I asked. She nodded and I sighed. "Well, then that makes sense, I guess" I said.

"How?" she inquired.

"Because apparently, I'm-"

"Because he's entirely immune to magic, my niece" I heard a familiar voice say. Cadence's eyes widened a bit as both of us turned to face the regal form of none other than Princess Celestia standing at the door, a noticable smile on her muzzle.

"Aunty Tia!" Cadence recoiled and jumped off the bed with her surprised cry, the white alicorn and I looked at her with confusion. The young princess trotted over to Celestia, a litle bit quicker than needed and beamed up at her. The solar princess simply smiled back down at her before looking up to meet my gaze, she smiled at me, I smirked friendly in return.

"Mornin' Princess, sleep well?" I greeted.

"Yes, very much so, thankyou, yourself?" she kindly replied.

I grimaced.

"Ehhhh, could've been better, I suppose" I half-heartedly said.

"Nightmares?" she asked, I rubbed my left arm.

"You could say that, your majesty" I replied. She nodded, I suppose in either understanding or sympathy. Goddamn, I would've liked sympathy for that, reckon it was necessary anyway. Before silence could fall, Cadence looked between us almost in a shocked expression.

"Wait, wait, wait" she stammered, waving her front hooves. "You two know eachother?!" Cadence asked, confused.

"Why, yes, who do you believe allowed him to spend the night here?" Celestia jokingly said, I chuckled along with her suppressed but audible giggle, much to the pink mare's blantism.

"Wait, but-"

"Why don't we talk in my chambers? I'm sure we can help whatever things you may be confused about, dear" Celestia said, assuringly. Cadence paused but nodded, the solar mare looked up at me, I nooded at her and jumped off the bed, landing on my feet with an audible thud. Celestia smiled between the two of us and turned to head out the door, Cadence followed with me in tow. I closed the door on out way out and the white alicorn began to lead us through the castle.

This'll be interesting