//------------------------------// // Chapter 34 // Story: Forgiveness Pending // by Kiroberos //------------------------------// Slowly, my eyes opened again to greet the hospital room. The flickering projection of the other reality melted away as I shifted back here at the same time. Rainbow and Fluttershy were both facing the wall, having previously been looking out the 'window' that was projected there from inside the ship. Both turned around and smiled at us as the other three stirred, one by one. "That was surprisingly relaxing," Celestia commented, stretching her wings out upon lifting her head. I blinked my eye repeatedly, it having dried out a little while projecting the image for the girls. Twilight snickered before gently brushing her muzzle against my cheek. "Eye got a little dry, did it?" she observed, grinning. I nodded and gave a sheepish smile back. At least I found out that the transmission thing worked across the dimensional gap. That meant it should work in the other direction, too, if Keela wished to talk to us. I made a mental note to bring the topic up with her if I had time later. "That was very productive. She's very easy going," Shining Armor noted, pulling out a pad of paper from his saddlebag and jotting down a few notes on it. I figured he'd have to do a report on all of this. "She's doing better than I thought. At least she's taking it well," I muttered, idly looking down at my emaciated leg resting under me. Fluttershy landed to my left again shortly afterwards, brushing against my left side as she settled into the blanket. I gave her a warm smile, but frowned when I noticed the focused look on her face. Normally she only got that expression when she was trying to nerve herself up for something. "Um, do you think I can stay for, well, whatever it is that you're going to tell Twilight? I want to be part of the herd so, uh, I mean, if it's okay, of course. I don't want to be a burden or anything," she asked after another few seconds of silence. Oh. Oh hell. "Fluttershy, you're not a burden. If Mender doesn't have a problem with it, I most certainly don't mind," Twilight assured somewhere behind me. I almost didn't register it as panic shifted throughout. I had to tell Fluttershy, too?! This was going to go very, very poorly. Damn it! It was a stupid idea to have shared the feed with them. If she hadn't been watching, she wouldn't have even known about any of it! "Um, Mender?" Fluttershy asked, snapping me out of my panic, only to realize I'd been frozen in one spot since she asked me, staring wide-eyed at her foreleg. Well, that wasn't creepy at all... "Ah! Uh, yes?" I asked, shakily looking back up at her. She looked startled at my reaction, and I fought to regain control of my expression. A moment later, all three of us jolted as Shining Armor let out a frustrated groan from all of half a meter away. "No! I forgot to ask her about the creature that attacked her sister that night in the forest! I knew I was forgetting something!" he groaned, sounding a bit annoyed. The irony of his topic wasn't lost to me. My ears flattened back a little as I really hoped it would just be dropped. "It's okay, Shiny. We'll talk to her again sometime soon and ask then. Relax," Twilight assured in a calming tone, resting her forehoof on his left shoulder. He smiled up at her and shook his head wearily, shifting from annoyed looking to seemingly embarrassed over the whole ordeal. Rainbow landed slightly behind Fluttershy a second later and made a scoffing noise, however. "Why would you want to know about that thing in the first place? It's gone now, and that's all that's important!" she exclaimed. Thank you, Rainbow. I agreed fully with that sentiment. It's in the past, so they shouldn't need to ask about it. Awkward questions set me up for awkward answers, after all. "It was extremely dangerous, Rainbow. If there was more than one of them out there, ponies could get hurt," Shining Armor reasoned, shifting back into that defender role he was so fond of. I appreciated the outlook he had, but sometimes I wondered if he didn't stress himself out with it. He struck me as a little high-strung. Blinking, I glanced over at Twilight a moment later. Yeah, maybe it ran in the family? "It didn't look all that tough! Actually, it looked kinda shrimpy. Totally ugly too," Dash shot back, flaring her wings out. My ears flattened a little more as I suppressed a sigh. Her expression when looking at me that night looked more 'horrified' than 'disgusted'. Although there was probably a little of both in there. "Oh, I forgot that you actually saw the creature. Yes, I read your report on it. You actually said it was pony-like?" he inquired. I became more and more uncomfortable with the conversation. Celestia looked back and forth between them, her expression mostly neutral with a mix of concern blended in. "Yeah, that was the weird thing! I thought I saw a Cutie Mark, too, but it left way too quickly. It definitely wasn't a pony, though. There were totally gross looking tentacles coming from its back like an octopus, and it had creepy looking, glowing blue eyes!" Rainbow continued, sounding more excited than scared, oddly. I twitched at the 'gross' part. Fluttershy let out a squeak and shrunk down away from her cyan friend, while Twilight let out a sigh instead. "Rainbow, stop it. You're scaring Fluttershy, and making Mender uncomfortable," she requested, shooting her a skeptical glare. Rainbow deflated a little before looking over at me instead as I tried to rapidly shift back to a neutral face. She was nothing if not fast, however. "Oh, sorry, Mender. I forgot that those weren't the best memories. Sorry for scaring you as well, Fluttershy," she apologized, tone a bit lower than prior. She had no idea how close she just hit to the absolute truth. "We should let him rest now, speaking of. That probably took a lot out of him, and we have reports to file, Shining," Celestia reminded, subtly coming up with an excuse for me. I wasn't exactly tired, but I didn't mind pretending if it meant a topic change, and nodded over at her. "Oh yeah, I gotta go check on Pinkie anyway! She's supposed to be getting the bandages off at the end of the hour and I said I'd help her. I'll probably be by later with Pinkie in tow, Mender," Rainbow suddenly relayed, seemingly just now remembering. "Fluttershy and I will stay here with Mender for now. I'll see both of you then when Pinkie and you get here?" Twilight asked, smiling pleasantly at Dash. "Totally! Anyways, I'm actually a bit late, so I gotta go. See you in an hour or so!" she exclaimed, flapping backwards and latching onto the windowsill long enough to open the window again. Fluttershy smiled as well, finally recovering enough to nod towards Dash, who probably missed it entirely before zipping out the window. I guess I'd be getting a visit from Pinkie later, then. I smiled at the aspect. As tiring as she was, she somehow managed to cheer me up. I'd probably need it after this. Plus it was nice that Dash was finally relaxing around me again, of course. "I'll be back later today in order to get a few details on Keela and the Keldarians if you don't mind, Mender. I have a report to file, then a letter to send out to Cadence," Shining Armor requested, stopping by the door and glancing back at the three of us. Celestia got off the bed and stretched her legs as a guard spontaneously came in without call and started rotating the bed onto its side again. I couldn't tell if it was the same guard as before or a new one. Did she pick all of her guards based on color? That hardly seemed economical. I guessed an enchantment of some sort and wished I could scan him without my eyes glowing. I snapped out of it after catching myself again, and nodded to Shining Armor. "That's fine, Shining Armor. If I'm asleep, just smack me," I requested, sure I could easily take a whack or two at this point. He laughed immediately, smirking and assuring, "Just call me Shining. You'll probably be my brother-in-law soon enough, after all." I stared blankly at him for a moment, parts of that sentence simply not computing. "Aah! No! I'll tell him later. Shoo!" Twilight exclaimed, a gentle nudge of magic pushing him towards the door. She exhaled quietly as she turned around, and then promptly deflated as she saw me staring at her. I was vaguely aware of my mouth being open. "Well, I know when to take my leave. My sister is expecting me back soon. I'm going to shift that talk to a couple days from now. I need to make some arrangements first," Celestia interrupted, smirking gently towards me. Wait, what? What 'arrangements' was she talking about? My mind swirled in confusion at the bombardment of new questions raised. Celestia apparently intended to capitalize on my stunned state and beat a dignified yet hasty exit, nodding to her guard to follow her with the packed up bed. I watched the end of the bed disappear out the doorway before finally rectifying my slack-jawed expression and giving a wide-eyed stare back at Twilight, who was blushing furiously. "Ah, yeah. I was going to explain, of course. Um, Shining Armor kind of told our parents about the syncing thing. Dad wasn't entirely pleased with me," Twilight revealed after an incredibly awkward ten seconds of me staring blankly at her. Fluttershy fidgeted next to me, ears drooping as she muttered, "Oh. Oh my. Um, are you in trouble or anything?" My brain slowly rebooted, somewhat literally, and I frowned. It would help if I were fully aware of the implications of what was involved. "I deflected the anger away from Mender, and did manage to alleviate a great many of his concerns. If I'd been coerced somehow or blackmailed, and if it was both ways, which of course I assured him it was not. I even tried to get in that it was initially part of a magic examination, but he still wants to come visit and meet my 'future husband' as soon as possible," Twilight explained in length. Uh, I hadn't realized that Twilight wanted to marry me. This was, well, unexpected. My brain went blank again as I realized I couldn't tell how she'd prefer me to react to that revelation. If I was pleased, it might alleviate some of her stress, but that would also indicate quite a few other things that I somehow doubted she'd be happy with. What did I want, honestly? More importantly, what did she want me to want? My head started spinning again and I momentarily felt sick. "Oh dear. I didn't know that the binding ritual was so important! What's your mother think?" Fluttershy asked, sounding considerably worried, regardless of the fact that it didn't really affect her all that much. Twilight rolled her eyes, which I couldn't place as a good or bad sign. "She's a mixture between laughing hysterically at my father, and hoping for foals in the future. Ugh. She also mentioned something about getting me fertility tonics for this upcoming season, and I'm horrified to say that I couldn't tell if she was joking or not," Twilight groaned, deciding to bury her face in the blankets rather than risk looking at me. It suddenly dawned on me that this might make my own reveal after this all the more awkward. Yeah, by the way, Twilight, I hope you don't mind marrying an abomination of nature and physics. Further, I noticed no 'not getting married' clause anywhere in her information. Would her father hunt me down and personally execute me if she were to suddenly break up with me? "Um, it's a little sudden for foals, if you don't mind me saying so. Well, maybe next year, but the herd should really be official first, right?" Fluttershy reasoned, rather wisely. I didn't want any legality problems. Although I wondered if they had some sort of communal child centers or something. Sadly, I didn't know of any other methods off the top of my head, unless they were like our allies and used a sort of family based unit to raise the children. That might take some adjusting to, of course. Wait, why was I even thinking about this?! "W-What?!" Twilight asked, looking up at Fluttershy in shock and a slight mixture of horror thrown in. Well, there was further proof contrary to the idea! "You were serious about that earlier? Are you crazy?!" At this point, I decided my wisest course of action was to simply stay silent until addressed. Fluttershy tilted her head, seemingly not fully understanding the question. I frowned, wondering if there was something I was missing again in a social context. Which mare was the incorrect one?! "Well, I'm sure by then we'll be a lot more comfortable with each other. Undoubtedly we'll have, uh, progressed to, well..." She trailed off, leaving me at an extremely awkward cliffhanger. I realized it must have been something that was supposed to be implied, as Twilight immediately flushed a violent red shade. Was that healthy for her circulation? Probably not, I decided, as she immediately locked up, unmoving. Fluttershy frowned as well, but smiled a moment later and gently brushed her cheek against my shoulder while watching Twilight. "Well, that's almost a year. Surely you aren't, um, opposed to the idea, right?" she asked quietly, with what I almost labeled as a hinging of amusement if I didn't know better. This was Fluttershy, after all. She didn't tease others! Twilight started shivering, somehow getting more blood flow to the cheeks and starting to look a little faint. I was getting a little tired of not knowing what we were talking about or what to say, and sighed. "Twilight doesn't have to do anything she doesn't want to, Fluttershy. Maybe we should just talk about something else?" I offered after a moment's consideration. That seemed a safe enough choice. It was difficult deciding what was the best course of action in social situations, for me. I knew the males were on more equal terms here, but I kept worrying about overstepping my bounds or something and getting reprimanded. How did family dynamics and child raising work in Equestria? Twilight jumped, startled to hear my voice speak up again and looked towards me, wide-eyed. Uh... "No! It's not that. I'm just, well, nervous. It's fine, Mender," Twilight assured, suspiciously without hesitation. I raised an eyebrow to her, but Fluttershy shook her head rapidly. "No, he is right. We should talk about something else. Rainbow and I did manage to hear one side of the conversation with Keela earlier. Did you say that you had something to talk to Twilight about?" Fluttershy reminded softly. Aww, hell. That wasn't a 'better' topic! Twilight perked up instantly with the reminder and nodded towards me. "Yeah! Do you mind if Fluttershy hears it, too?" she inquired, suddenly glancing towards the yellow mare uncertainly. I frowned, considering my words carefully. "Well, it's a little, um, scary. It involves the night of the incident," I admitted, hoping Fluttershy would bow out. Of course, would either of them really accept the truth all that well? I somehow doubted it. If I were an outsider, I'd probably find it hard to swallow too. Fluttershy shook her head, however. "I, well, I'll be okay if you don't mind sharing, that is. I want to be a part of this herd, and that means accepting and being connected to each member," she explained, closing her eyes while doing so as if to draw strength from somewhere inside. Oh boy. I swallowed nervously as both mares shifted their attention to me. I suddenly felt extremely exposed and tucked my legs up a little, guarding various soft and squishy parts along my stomach. This was bad. Fluttershy began to look concerned after I hesitated for a good half a minute, but Twilight nudged me ahead with, "It came up after Keela mentioned that you really did a number on Nirru. Did you actually manage to attack her before that creature came along?" She unknowingly gave me the perfect out if I had really wanted to take it. Still, I should tell them the truth at some point. It only felt right. Crap. I closed my eyes and shook my head softly. It would make it easier if I introduced this a bit slower to edge them into it. Looking around, I managed to spot my saddlebag under the bedside table. I gestured towards it with my right foreleg. Tilting her head, Twilight took my hint and levitated the bag over to me. Well, technically they were her old saddlebags, but she'd been letting me use them anyway. I dug around inside of it for a moment, knowing there were only books inside. While doing so, I formed one of my claws on my left forehoof before popping it off. I stared at it at the top of the bag for a moment before magically picking it up and pulling it out. Fluttershy gave it a curious stare, but Twilight's eyes practically shot out of her head. "That's one of the creature's claws, isn't it?" she asked almost instantly. Fluttershy's eye size joined hers for a totally different reason, and she shrunk down and away from the thing. I nodded gently and passed the claw over to Twilight, who took it up in her magic and examined it. "Oh wow. How is this even possible? This isn't bone at all. It's laced with organic metal of some sort, is the best I can describe. How did you get this, Mender?" she asked after rapidly analyzing it. Heh. I expected nothing less from the clever mare. "Celestia and Luna won't let you see the body because Luna didn't destroy or kill it," I continued, ignoring her prior inquiry. Fluttershy's eyes got even larger, killing me a little more inside. Would that expression change after I told her everything? "Wait, why would the Princesses lie to us?!" Twilight asked almost instantly, frowning and looking down at the claw again. To my mild surprise, she didn't seem distrustful of me in the slightest. I was expecting her to jump to their side at that point. "Because I told them to," I replied softly, eyes lowering to the sheets. That got the attention of both of them instantly, of course. "It would be better for them if they lied, but it also gave me, well, time to try to think of how to tell you two." "Tell us what, Mender?" Fluttershy whispered timidly. Yet another piece of me fell away as I swallowed, starting to shake a little bit. Please let her not hate me. Please! I closed my eyes again to try to gather my courage. There was no escape. I couldn't live with a mask to them, never letting them see the real me. I'd never know if it was me they cared for or the mask. "They didn't kill it because there was no monster. There never was. I was the one who killed Nirru," I finally got out. A feeling of finality set over me as I realized there was no turning back now. Fluttershy gasped, tearing free yet another chunk of me as I winced. Twilight's eyes shifted into calculating, however, with record speed. "There's no way you could have defeated Nirru in the state that Applejack described to me. You were critically injured before being taken away in the first place. But you say there was no monster, and Keela specifically said that you took a lot out of her sister. That's what you actually wanted to tell us, right?" she deduced, skipping a lot of parts and logic. I should have expected as much, honestly. I had a feeling Twilight was onto me before this, even. I nodded weakly. "I didn't defeat her. She killed me. Well, more specifically, she let me die from the wounds she and Applejack inflicted on me," I detailed, frowning as I corrected myself. Fluttershy shivered, tears forming in her eyes and Twilight gave me a blank, surprised look. There was nothing else for it. "She told me a lot of things before I died. Then, after my heart stopped, something else woke up. It was what killed her. It was what Luna found and talked to. I... I'm just..." I broke down and started crying as it all spilled out. I told them everything she'd said after hauling me away, and everything I'd found out about myself. The fact that I was a cyborg clone of a Keldarian that was turned into a pony to scout their dimension, then got damaged or something on the way over and developed whatever the hell personality I was. My consciousness was a mistake in and of itself. I was a mixture of scout and biological weapon. I told them about how something had happened that set me off on our old world and killed billions of Keldarians and how I had all their DNA in me. After all the information was released, I just kept blabbering, afraid my world would fall apart if I stopped. I told them that I didn't have a clue what I honestly was, as the sum of my parts didn't equal what I was now and something had obviously changed in my transition to Equestria. I went over everything that happened that night, up through tearing Nirru apart for what she threatened to do to everypony I cared for, trying to get Luna to kill me, running away from a horrified Rainbow Dash, and regenerating my foreleg. Finally, I quieted down when there was absolutely nothing left to tell. * * * * * Twilight still sat on the bed, absolutely motionless at this point. Her eyes were wide and she barely risked breathing. Fluttershy was tucked into a ball, looking more sad than shocked as she watched me quietly. I didn't know how to read either mare at this point and just slumped under my covers. It had taken almost forty minutes to relay the entire tale in between my small breakdowns. I didn't feel better like I thought I would. There was no sense of relief or weight being lifted off my chest. I just felt empty and cold now while waiting to see how alone I was going to be left. "Y-You killed Nirru?" Fluttershy asked again, barely audible after almost a minute of silence. Her entire form shook, and I expected her to run away at any moment. It wouldn’t surprise me, and I couldn’t blame her for it. It was pointless to hide the truth at this point, regardless. "I destroyed her. I tore her apart and made her feel it. It scares me now, but I hated her so much for what she did to me, and what she was threatening to do to you ponies," I reiterated, little emotion to my voice at this point. It felt like a giant icicle was impaling my chest. "But it was a fake body, though? She was remote controlling it from their dimension?" Twilight asked, sounding far less disturbed over the whole ordeal than I expected. I nodded softly, still staring straight ahead while not looking at either of them. "Yes. At first I wouldn't let her leave, but her sister begged me to spare her," I furthered, repeating in a little more detail what I'd already said. Fluttershy frowned but nodded before asking, "You did spare her, then? She really didn't die because you, um, let her go, and now she's being punished by her sister?" I nodded again, wondering where she was going with it. I’d said all that already. Why did she need confirmation on that part of all things? She frowned, however, seemingly considering something. I looked away again just in time for Twilight to continue instead. "I mostly understand what you are now. You're basically a genetic copy of the Keldarian we used to think you actually were, that was created to scout Equestria but then abandoned. They turned you into a cyborg, or cybernetic organism as you call it, which is essentially an organic individual like us with extra or replacement synthetic parts, right?" she inquired, sounding like she more wanted confirmation than anything. It was also amazingly astute, but I’d expected as much from Twilight. It wasn’t her understanding the situation that I was scared of. That was basically accurate and I nodded to her, wondering where she was confused if she was asking for confirmation. She picked up all of the details amazingly fast. "The only thing I don't understand is the biological weapon part. I know that your dimension's weapon technology far surpasses Equestria's, but I can't seem to grasp the concept," she explained, frowning. "That's probably a good thing. Frankly, it's horrifying and I wouldn't have even created such a thing had they asked me. It's a biological entity that consumes practically anything it touches, can take any shape it desires, and can warp bits of itself through space, connected via our FTL engine to move at hundreds of times the speed of light. It was like a living plague that consumed and destroyed everything on a universal scale, moving from planet to planet as a colossally large thing. It's impossible to describe and I wish it had never been created. But that's what I am. I don't know why it fired off on our planet, or why it stopped, or why I came to be after it moved here in the body of a scout, but that's what it was originally, and why I have over half our planet's population of DNA in me," I elaborated quietly. "You think it's, um, horrifying, then?" Fluttershy asked quietly, again slipping in with a strangely off topic question. I figured that much would have been obvious in the way I described it. Her shivering had stopped however, and she just stared at me with wide eyes. I’d expected her to be fleeing at this point, honestly. I nodded to her regardless, attempting to be as honest as possible. "Of course. It's, well, beyond bad. It's unspeakably horrifying that somepony could even think to create something like it," I muttered, shivering again. "You don't have any direct memories of the event because 'you' weren't the one doing it, I bet. You didn't lie to us at all, but really became 'you' when you landed here and thought you were the Keldarian," Twilight concluded, seemingly thinking that herself out loud. I watched her curiously, while Fluttershy also fell into thought. Well, they weren't running away screaming yet, which I should take as a good sign. "I didn't mean to lie to you. At that point, I didn't know any better myself. I've been struggling with how to tell you for days," I explained, sighing weakly. Twilight's ears flattened, snapping her out of her thoughts as she looked up at me sadly. "I've kept secrets a lot longer than that from you. Please, Mender, don't worry about that. If anything, this conversation only proves that you really are uniquely 'you', you know," she pointed out, causing me to raise an eyebrow. She explained however, taking my non-verbal hint. “You’re expressing doubt over the originality of your existence. Further, you show deep remorse for what happened and all events indicate that you only have ‘recordings’ of the weapon in question. This leads me to believe that you became ‘you’ in the transfer to Equestria. You’re not a robot, Mender. This ‘cyborg’ thing leads me to believe that you’re also a lot of pony too. So empirically, all evidence points at you being your own, unique self that was ‘born’ on the day you arrived in Equestria, but with memories from the individual you were cloned from,” she reasoned, being extremely level-headed about things and rather surprising me. Fluttershy perked up and nodded rapidly while listening, adding, “Yes! If you were just a machine, you wouldn’t think to ask if you’re a machine or not, right?” I blinked and raised an eyebrow over to her, causing her to blush and continue before I could say anything. “I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense and I’m not as good at, well, wording things as Twilight, but I know what my feelings are. The Mender I’m talking to right now is the same Mender that I like and want to be with, so that’s enough for me,” she appended. My eyes widened and I stared at her in surprise, causing her to shrink a little. Twilight gave me a skeptical glance as I looked away and down at the bed sheets. Was this real? Oh, please let this be real! If I was seconds from waking up from an amazing dream, I was going to be all kinds of pissed off. “I… Well, I didn’t think that either of you would really want to still be with me after you found out I’m not a pony. Especially because of what I actually am,” I muttered, frowning to myself. If I had fingers, I’d be attempting to pinch my foreleg now. Fluttershy relaxed again, and Twilight shook her head. “I’m not going to lie to you anymore, Mender. Remember? Both of us told you that we like you for who you are. I know that it’s hard for you to trust, well, anything anymore, but please make us an exception?” the unicorn requested softly, tipping her head around so she could look into my eyes. They shifted up to meet hers a moment later. “It wasn’t what I was expecting, but I guess that should tell me something. I just want to stay here with everypony in Equestria. I don’t want to be a part of anything my old race tries to do. I just want to be with you two,” I confessed, resting my head on my forelegs, mindful of my injury. Fluttershy tucked in against me to the left, and Twilight giggled lightly before resting against my right foreleg. “Nopony’s going to make you leave. We want you to stay, Mender. This proves that you’re still you as well, even if you have some extra parts,” Twilight agreed. I opened my eyes again in time to see her smile. My chest warmed up a little bit and I nuzzled against her cheek, earning a grin. “There! Now cheer up, Silly. You’re not scary if we know you’re still you,” she concluded. “Um, can I, uh, see it?” Fluttershy asked timidly a moment later. My mind blanked as I looked back at her questioningly. See what, exactly? Twilight frowned, however, asking, “Are you sure, Fluttershy? He did say it was scary.” I looked back and forth between them, a little concerned now. She wanted to see my other self? That was, well, going to be unpleasant if so. The yellow mare frowned and gave a stern look, however. “Yes! I took Rarity’s advice to heart. I’m not going to let anything involving Mender scare me anymore. I want to, well, get used to it,” she explained, pushing a little harder into my side for emphasis. I swallowed the lump in my throat. “If you’re sure, Fluttershy. Rainbow was right, though. Despite what she said, I can still remember… what she looked like that night,” I warned, lowering my eyes a little. She was horrified. Rainbow’s eyes told me she was looking at the most ugly, unnatural thing she’d ever seen and that I was an abomination. It tore me apart. My thoughts were obliterated when the pegasus pushed forwards instead, momentarily kissing me directly on the lips. My eyes opened up in an instant as I jumped, but she pulled away a moment later. “Stop it, Mender. Please? She didn’t know it was you, and wouldn’t have looked like that if she did.” My eyes closed again and I resisted snorting. That I wasn’t so sure about. My eyes opened again after I made up my mind, scanners activated in them. The blue light washed across the mares and Fluttershy gave a start. Twilight didn’t look nearly as surprised, however, blinking once then shifting to lean in closer and get a better look. “Wow! There are actually things rotating and moving inside the eye. What is this?” she asked, obviously noticing my display on the inside of my eyes. “I have a computer display on the inside of my eyes that gives me readouts and information. The blue light is actually scanning energy being projected from my eyes,” I explained simply, turning to look at Twilight instead. Fluttershy relaxed as she watched, apparently deciding that blue eyes weren’t all that intimidating. That I agreed with. Twilight nodded rapidly, her notepad sliding out of her bag along with a quill. I resisted groaning as she started taking notes rapidly without looking. Did she have to start studying me already? “Rainbow did report that your eyes were blue. She must have seen the light as well,” she deduced, sounding as if she were mostly talking to herself. “She also said that your skin was, um, black and beetle-like? So kind of like armor?” Fluttershy asked as Twilight wrote, seemingly curious, oddly. Oh, she did like animals, so relating it to something that insects had would make it seem less foreign, probably. I nodded and focused, shifting a bit of my armor back into place. The left side of my face shifted to the plating almost instantly, it merging out of my skin as it folded in segments down my neck and over my shoulders. “This is what she was talking about,” I explained, my voice splitting into two tones again as the armor covered my vocal cords. This time, Fluttershy didn’t even look surprised as she reached out and ran a hoof lightly along the smooth organic metal. “It’s warm,” she murmured, tilting her head at it. Twilight’s writing picked up speed as she stared even harder, looking more and more excited the more of me changed. Well, this was exactly the opposite reaction that I had been expecting. Either I had a few things fundamentally wrong in my outlook, or I had cracked from the pressure and was even more insane, rocking back and forth somewhere in isolation. Either case seemed likely at this point. “This is amazing! It’s made out of the same stuff as the claw. And it merges seamlessly out of your skin! You really are amorphic, then!” Twilight squealed, causing me to sigh. No, that hadn’t surprised me, I realized. Fluttershy rapidly shifted around me to give Twilight a concerned glance. “Twilight, he’s not an experiment. This is probably uncomfortable for him so, um, please don’t be insensitive,” she quietly requested before tucking up against me again. This time I blushed, pleasantly surprised at how well she was taking it. Twilight started not taking it so well as she flailed, releasing a series of murmurs while shaking her head rapidly. “No, no, no! I didn’t mean it like that! Everything’s just making sense now about the forest issue and I guess that makes me happy,” she explained, ears lowering before I shook my head to stop her. “No, it’s fine. I’m just not comfortable with this form. I don’t think it’s pleasant to look at in the first place, so I guess this just surprises me,” I explained, shifting to completely armored instead. Being covered in plate armor made me feel remarkably less exposed, even if it did nothing to block less tangible things like opinions and feelings. My ears flicked lightly, the metal shifting gently as they moved. Twilight smiled and nodded, relaxing back down against the covers and resting her quill on top of the pad instead. “I know. Thank you for showing us. It’s a bit unnerving to look at, admittedly, but knowing it’s you makes it far less scary,” she admitted, watching me carefully. That surprised me. I was expecting one extreme or another. Well, honestly, I had been expecting them to run screaming. Accepting me was amazing, but this was different. She just admitted that I was a little on the scary side, but that sort of made me feel better in a backwards sort of way. At least I knew she wasn’t lying to me and actually was looking. Fluttershy nodded in agreement as well on the other side. “You are scary, but seeing you change made it a lot less so. Even if it, well, is scary looking, I definitely know it’s you,” she agreed. Oh, I hadn’t thought about that. Them seeing the transition also probably smoothed that aspect a little. Rainbow obviously hadn’t gotten that either. “This is most of the transformation, anyway. I can move really fast and take quite a beating in this form. I also regenerate while inside of it. That’s how I got my foreleg back,” I added, lifting it up and moving it around without problem now. Technically, it wasn’t doing the moving, of course, but it was nice to see regardless. “You also must be really strong in order to do that to the tree the first time you changed. I can see how you beat Nirru now, and I’m glad you did,” Twilight deduced, frowning towards the end. Fluttershy sighed and blew a stray piece of her bangs out of her face before looking down. “Um, yeah. That bothered me at first, but she wanted to do really bad things to us. You only got angry and hurt her after she threatened us, and that, um, kinda makes me happy in a way,” she tried to explain, tilting her head at herself after she said it. “She threatened both of you specifically. That’s what set me off. I just… I know you two are strong and can handle yourselves, but the thought of her even trying to hurt you just infuriated me. She was there because of me and I wasn’t about to let her hurt anypony,” I muttered, feeling that familiar anger coming back. The sad thing was that I probably wouldn't have cared nearly as much if she stopped at killing only me. Both mares quieted after that, and I settled again on my stomach. At least this was going better than I thought it would. Although, I had expected them to be afraid of me, not disappointed in me. My back clenched as I remembered absolutely hating Nirru. Hate. I wanted to murder her in the most painful manner possible. That raw rage scared me, to some degree. It didn't feel natural. "She deserved it. You should have done worse. You should have killed her outright. Eaten her corpse just to make sure," I heard whispered directly into my skull. I sighed, realizing it was stronger than before as I glanced over at the book lying on my bedside table. I just kept pretending it was its own entity rather than some aspect of myself. Unnatural, right? I resisted chuckling. "I'm..." Twilight started before trailing off. I glanced back up at her, surprised at her hesitation. She frowned to herself a moment later, eyes flicking lightly as she apparently fought intensely with something internal. Finally she shook her head and closed them, that familiar sensation of seeking peace inside of yourself showing on her face. As if the world wouldn't be able to see you if you couldn't see it in return. "I'm not as strong as you think sometimes, Mender," she continued after a moment's focus. I tilted my head to her, but she kept going before I could say anything. "I know now why you're afraid of me. It probably won't help much, but I wanted you to know that I'm not as strong as you think. I'm powerful with my magic but, well, I have insecurities just as much as you do. I'm unsure of a lot and I don't always know what to do in any situation. I'm okay if I can prepare ahead of time but you can still catch me by surprise. I bleed just like you do," she admitted, opening her eyes to half-mast before looking back up at me. I exhaled gently. What does one say to something like that? "What do you mean, Twilight? If it was something Keela said, I probably didn't hear it. All Dash and I could hear was things Mender said," Fluttershy reminded gently. "Females on my world held every aspect of political and social power. Males were treated as second-class citizens at best, slaves at worst. We were kept weak and plentiful because of the genetics magic exposure inflicted us with, so we were expendable. If we acted out or showed any signs of anything apart from submission, we were typically disposed of," I explained quietly for Twilight. As expected, Fluttershy's eyes were huge by the end of the explanation. "It's terrible, but it also explains why you were afraid of me. I showed strong magic and, well, quite a temper, I'll admit. Even if you didn't remember specifically why you should be afraid and submit, it was probably conditioned into your original self," Twilight deduced, resting her head down on the surface of the bed. I swallowed weakly, the knot feeling almost tender as it drifted into my stomach. The urges to apologize again for being an idiot hit me, but I clamped my mouth shut. Was that part of it, too? It just felt like, well, me. Twilight sighed at my silence and continued, "It wasn't just you, obviously. I was scared by my own feelings, which was rather silly now that I look back on it. It made me cranky and impatient with you when I shouldn't have been. That's another reason why I asked you to finalize the link. You'd understand I'm telling the absolute truth then when I say I'm not going to hurt you anymore," she revealed. Fluttershy let out a sudden squeak, looking surprised. "You tried to get him to finalize the link with you?" she questioned, apparently not processing it very well. I shot her a questioning glance. Why was that so surprising to her? "Yeah. I want him to trust me like he trusts you. All of the disks have our marks on them now, but he's only completed yours, Rainbow's, and Pinkie's," she returned. Fluttershy looked momentarily confused before smiling gently and looking down. I thought I saw just the slightest hint of sadness in her eyes. "Rarity suggested it, didn't she?" Fluttershy asked quietly, barely audible. I frowned further, getting a little concerned over her reaction. Twilight blinked, expression of surprise shifting over her face that told me that Fluttershy was right. "How did you know that?" she asked a moment later, mirroring my question exactly. Fluttershy shivered and squeezed her eyes shut, looking momentarily horrified. My eyes widened, but hers shot open a moment later, tears starting to form in them as she looked up at us. "I'm sorry! I just can't take it anymore. I'm so, so sorry! I've been trying to get you two together this entire time, and not just for, um, you two's sakes," she spilled out, almost as fast as the tears spilled forth from her eyes. Oh, oh hell. She liked both of us, I knew that much. Had she actually tried to get us together so it would be easier for her to be with both of us? Actually, that didn't exactly sound like it was detrimental to either Twilight or myself. I didn't exactly feel that 'used', considering she liked me, too. "Fluttershy! Calm down, please! What are you talking about?" Twilight asked, extending a forehoof towards the yellow mare, who shrank away from it and let out another choked whimper. "I wanted you two to be together so badly, but it wasn't just for you. I'm a horrible pony who doesn't deserve to join you two! I can't stand lying anymore. It hurts too much. I talked Rarity into having that talk with us after Mender fell into the coma. I wanted to be able to share Mender with you, um, not just because I liked him," she admitted, managing to look horrified and embarrassed at the same time. "Fluttershy, you don't have to do this," I offered, brushing my armored hoof along her shoulder, claws retracted. She froze, shivering again before shaking her head rapidly. I forgot how stubborn she could be sometimes. "Fluttershy, I don't understand. Being a herd isn't a bad thing, and you like Mender, so what's the problem? I don't understand," Twilight muttered, looking utterly confused. I would have thought it was obvious by now, but then I remembered that Twilight didn't specifically look for romantic cues from other ponies. She probably hadn't even considered it as an option. "Twilight, I... I-" Fluttershy started to squeak out. The door opened up an instant later, Pinkie Pie sliding in happily alongside Rainbow Dash hovering above her. "We're back! Turns out Pinkie was totally already on her... way..." Dash started before trailing off, look of horror growing on her face. Mine mirrored hers as my eyes widened and I rapidly looked towards her. My mind blanked, multiple of the worst possible outcomes shifting through it all at once. Fluttershy sprayed tears from her eyes as she whipped her head towards Rainbow, look of surprise matching Twilight's as the purple mare dropped her jaw. "Oooh, shiny!" Pinkie exclaimed happily. * * * * * What had gone wrong? Everything about my admittance had actually gone smoothly up until that point. Things had gotten a little rocky with Fluttershy's panic, but I was sure that could have turned out wonderfully as well. Why did everything seem to go as badly as possible at the worst possible moment? It was almost as if some higher being with a sadistic sense of amusement was writing out my life ahead of time. The air felt cool along the dulled sensation from my metal plates. I was thankful that Dash herself had left the window open when she slipped out earlier. My tendrils latched out, momentarily connecting with the side of the building before pushing backwards as hard as I could manage. Like a cannon, I was launched away from the window at high velocity, almost silently sailing through the air. Shame and embarrassment were fairly prevalent in my mind, but that face was right at the forefront. That expression from a friend I trusted with my life tore me apart. Rainbow's expression had shifted from shock to utter horror; it was the same expression she wore that night as well. She looked at me as if I were the ugliest, most horrifying thing she'd ever seen and practically willed me away from her friends. This time, anger had been mixed in with the look, too, and I could only guess as to what had shot through her head at that moment. I couldn't stand her looking at me like that. The shame made me want to throw up. So I did the only thing I seemed to be good at and ran away. My armored hooves hit the floor half a second after registering her look. Prudentia snapped to my left side like a magnet as I skidded and angled at the window. I heard Twilight shout something and the magic tried to form around me. It was all I could think of was to throw up a decoy body made of weak barrier magic before leaping forwards and clear of her spell. I came a hundredth of a second away from being grabbed by the magic anyway. She missed, however, and I was out the window before she had time to fire another effect off. I felt the magic subdue the barrier body an instant later with amazing precision and force. "Mender, wait!" Twilight called out in the same moment. It was scary how she managed the gentleness of a drifting feather yet the force of an avalanche at the same time. After that, I was sailing over Ponyville as fast as I could. If I'd made any noise at all, I doubt anypony could have even managed to look up in time to see me. Snapping back to attention, I angled myself to the right as I descended towards the trees below. I recognized the extremely familiar forest at this point and knew that hiding there for a couple hours was all I could manage. My mind was a blur and I was in full panic, not having a single clue how to fix this. Staying there and pretending it was a new spell or illusion would have gone over as well as somepony insulting AJ in front of Rainbow. She had recognized the form instantly, and most of my options had evaporated then and there. My mind adopted the only thing I could manage to process. Run away from the horrible shame that her expression burned into my head. My tentacles hit the tree first, easily shifting me past it and into a gentle landing in the forest, skidding to a halt over a good thirty-foot distance. I panted, watching the blades of grass fly every which way in the cloud I'd made from my impact. Damn it! What was I doing?! Frustration mixed with the disgust I felt in my chest and I felt like screaming after I calmed down a little. The forest around me was alive with the sounds of all sorts of animal life, and I looked around it, uncertain if I was far enough from the edge to not be spotted by anypony in town. This was all going to hell at an amazingly fast rate, I decided. No, I needed to hide myself away for a little bit and think about this! I needed to decide what I could do to fix this and get Rainbow to… To what? Accept my other form? That seemed unlikely, at best. It was an extremely short-lived calm, sadly. Something I hadn't expected in the least happened an instant later as the link’s sensors fired up. A cyan bolt exited the hospital window I had just escaped from, the proximity warning pinging off from my link to her giving me the visual. Oh. Oh shit! Why was she following me?! It dawned on me in the same instant. Twilight had called out my name! Rainbow knew it was me, which eliminated the remaining possibilities for keeping it a secret. I choked back the swell of frustration as I spun and took off further into the woods as fast as I could manage. Minutes passed as I ran, ducking deeper and deeper into the forest in random movement patterns, trying to slip into the thicker tree clusters. My scans stayed skyward and picked her up twice, following my general direction from high above. Somehow, her eyes were able to pick up and differentiate the movement at that distance, and she followed at an extreme height. She knew that if she dropped below the tree line, I could probably lose her fairly quickly. Damn it! Luckily, my bad luck kicked in before she could catch up fully. Glancing upwards again, my proximity sensor fired off just a half second too late. I tried to jump, but I snagged my hoof on a rather large root and went flipping out of control, spiraling through the air at a good hundred kilometers per hour. Tucking into a ball, I tried to use my tentacles to slow me down but I ended up hitting some sort of sinkhole instead. The way down was a spinning, tumbling mess. I stayed in a rough ball form as my armor strengthened and my tendrils sucked back into me. After almost twenty seconds of skipping off various rocks at untraceable angles, I finally smashed out onto flat ground and skidded along the rocks under me, sparks coming off the armor plating and barriers that surrounded me. Seconds passed after I came to a stop. Slowly, I opened my left armor plate over my eye and looked around. I was surprised to find myself in some sort of illuminated cave. Well, that could have gone much, much worse. Slowly, I looked around as I stepped forward. The cave was illuminated by glowing flowers of some sort. Given my reputation with 'alchemical' based reactions in Equestria, I kept my distance from the things. Various tunnels appeared to branch into the cave along the walls, most of which were angled upwards towards what I presumed to be the surface. What a strange cave. Reaching a main chamber of some sort, I immediately noticed a massive pool of water that prominently took up most of the floor. At least it looked like water. Walking over to it, I slowly peeked in, the metallic vibrations of my hooves sending ripples out from the edge I sat next to. It was disturbingly clear and mirrored the top of the cave, and my face, with a disturbing level of clarity. I couldn't seem to see into the water at all! Moments passed as I stared at my reflection in the water. The metallic edges of my armor combined with my gunmetal black shade and ominous glowing blue eyes made me look more demon than pony. I knew that if I pulled the tentacles out, it would only serve to compliment that appearance. My ears flattened downwards, the metal plates covering them making a sharp clank upon hitting the sides of my head. What was I doing? Ultimately, I should have asked that before running away. Again. It seemed to be all I was good at lately, especially when it came to Rainbow Dash. I couldn't blame her, though. Fluttershy and Twilight had gotten a monumental amount of warning and had seen me transform. For all I knew, Dash had thought Twilight and Fluttershy had been having a tea party with an eldritch abomination. Heh, tea would have been nice, of course, but that might have actually made that statement true. "They don't understand," was suddenly whispered into my skull. I started and looked around, noting myself alone in the mostly dark cave. I glared to my side again at the book I'd hauled along. Initial instinct was to protect it, or more specifically, the secrets inside of it that might involve me. The whispers seemed to echo from all around me, however. "They'll never understand you. They might eventually come to tolerate you, and maybe even appreciate you, but did you ever stop to consider why?" the whisper asked again, this time, outside of my head. My eyes widened as I whipped around, eyes searching the darkness and shadows at the edges of the cave. A broken visage stepped out of the dark, snapped and shattered horn draining blood down an all too familiar looking face. She smiled as she stepped out of the dark, watching me. My eyes expanded to maximum size as I lowered a little, barriers coming back on to full as tendrils expanded out my back. No, it couldn't be! She was dead. That body was destroyed. Well, its head was destroyed, anyway. Sure enough, tears and cracks displayed along her skull where I had crushed it. Her internal organs slid along the floor under her, leaving a wet red trail as she walked forwards with a limp, her back legs still twisted and broken. "I see everything you see, but for some reason, you refuse to accept it," she muttered, stopping a good six meters from me. I glared at her for a moment before straightening myself a little, hair trigger reflexes twitching gently. No, if she had wanted to attack me, she should have when I wasn't paying attention. "What do you mean? There's no way you could see what I see," I refuted, refusing to buy into her garbage. She snorted and laughed a moment later, looking completely relaxed even though she was very obviously beyond mortally wounded. "Oh, please. You're smart, Mender. There, I admitted it. You've seen Fluttershy's reactions to Twilight. I'm sure you've noticed the contrast between how she acts around her and how she acts around you," Nirru pointed out, sitting down in a pool of her own insides as absently as one would a comfy sofa. I ignored the wet, squishing noise. "She's comfortable around me. She doesn't have to panic because she knows I already know about her feelings," I explained, seeing where she was going with this instantly. The smile didn't waver, however. "Is that so? Yes, a gentle soul like Fluttershy would be absolutely devastated from using somepony! You're right! Why, she'd probably break down and cry, feeling absolutely horrible and thinking she had no right being with them," the fake, torn up Twilight agreed, amused grin dancing across her face. It snapped through me like a bolt of lightning. She had seen that. Somehow, she had seen that which happened only a few minutes ago! For a moment, I doubted. Fluttershy had assured me that she really did like both of us, and Nirru was a psychotic bitch that I honestly couldn't trust in the first place. She made an absent minded sighing noise a moment later before shaking her head and looking down. I raised an eyebrow at her exceptionally muted personality in comparison to what she was like before. Her eyes opened again, a somewhat sad look to them. "You saw what happened to me. I can feel it. It doesn't excuse what I do, but it was oh so easy to justify it after that. I'm not understood either; not even by my own sister. While different, both of us have monsters inside," she added, looking up again slowly. My eyes widened again as the whispering came back, louder this time but with so many tones and voices that I couldn't differentiate them. "How... Why do you know all this?" I asked, holding my left forehoof up to my temple and gritting my teeth, trying to shove the voices out of my head. "You took a little part of me that night. But don't worry, you proved that you are undeniably stronger than me. I'm not going to attack you, Mender," she assured, tone shifting to a softer one. My head rose again as she stood and slowly started walking towards me again. My tentacles extended their blades regardless as I swallowed. She looked heavily damaged, but I wasn't about to take chances and prepared to use full force if she got too close. "Stay away from me, Nirru," I warned, glaring again. She smiled softly this time, no upturned corner of the lips or sneering shift of expression. I somehow found it creepier. Her skin shifted around her hooves, metal forming out of them and linking together as she pressed them into contact. The metal separated from her skin around the ankles a moment later, becoming a solid metal band. What the hell?! Her forelegs firmly sealed together, she nodded and kneeled down in front of me, eyes closed. "Part of me is disgusted, but you've proven your undeniable strength. Plus, a part of me is infuriated by how easily you allow them to walk all over you, given that strength. At least allow me to... serve to release some tension," she suggested, voice shifting silkier as she shifted around. Wait, what was she doing?! My eyes shot open as she spread her back legs and eased her tail to the side. I almost stumbled backwards into the water before halting and rapidly looking away from her presentation, even further disturbed by the fact that bits of bone were sticking out of her back legs and her entrails still leaked along the ground. What the hell?! "You're stronger than me, Mender. By our oldest laws, that means you can have me. I'll have to do anything you say," she revealed, voice practically dancing heatedly upon 'anything'. I resisted throwing up. "I'm with Twilight, Nirru. I'll give you the data if that's what you still want. I already promised to give it to Keela anyway," I refused, feeling more awkward than angry at that point. Was the body she controlled practically immortal?! All she did was make a sighing sound, with a wet splattering accompanying it. Huh? Against my better judgment, I peeked back in her direction. An elongated face half torn apart and crushed greeted me from three inches away, long fangs dripping blood as steam from its hot breath exited between them. No noise. I gave a sharp intake of breath as I leaped backwards in an instant, clearing the entire underground pond as my tentacles tore through her form a moment later before I landed on the other edge. Nothing. The tentacles hit nothing. Her form was gone as the arms of the tentacles cleared my vision. What? A whispering laugh exploded all around me as my sensors came alive again. I was alone in the cave. "What are you?!" I demanded, heart still hammering in my chest. "I'm you," my reflection whispered, grinning at me with razor teeth from the reflection in the water. My breath caught as I took a step back and away from the pool, suddenly very much not liking this place. The creature stepped 'up' and out of the water, instead standing on the surface as it flowed smoothly, form seemingly made of moving liquid. "I'm the hatred inside of you given form. You hate how they treat you. You hate how your life has been dictated, removing every choice you ever could have made," it spoke, voice raspy and dripping with venom. I shook my head rapidly, holding a forehoof to each temple. "No, no I'm not! I don't hate anything!" I denied, glaring at it. It smirked, wide rows of teeth glittering in the glow of the cave. "You hated her. You hated her so much that you were ready to murder her. You heard the urgings to do so," it reminded, tilting its head unnaturally to the side as it watched me, snaps coming from its neck. I shook my head and took a few more steps back away from the forsaken water creature. What was the power of this pool?! "There is no power here. Only you. That's another thing you hate. Yourself," it pointed out, grin extending and continuing until its jaw snapped, a good foot and a half of grin now being displayed. "Shut up and get out of my head!" I screamed at it. I don't remember telling them to move, but my tentacles sliced its head off a moment later with a scissor motion. It formed back with a splash of liquid and laughed. "Temper, temper. To be expected from a monster, though. We're a monster, you know. Your true form is me, and you live to consume everything until all is as dark as your heart. Don't fight it. They see your true nature and either lie to you or use you!" it shouted back. I screamed, anger exploding as I tore its form apart with tentacles. It laughed as I sprayed the walls with the liquid it was made of and didn't stop until there was nothing left. My head felt like it was on fire as I stared at the pond, silent once more. It was time to do what I was really good at, I decided. I didn't recall ever having run so fast in my life. My imagination showed me images of that thing chasing me back up the tunnel that was behind me, laughing and twisting its jaw as it ran. In blind panic, I broke out into daylight an eternity later, tripping and rolling like a flailing hippo down an embankment and into a stream. My heart tried to beat its way out of my chest as my mind blanked. I whipped back around and extended tentacles out, smashing down bits of the cliff and burying the small exit I'd just came out of with a few metric tons of rock. To hell with that place! Shakily, I realized nothing was chasing me, and nothing was happening in general. I looked around, noting the rather sunny clearing was dead silent. Heh. That made sense. Again, if I were a small, woodland creature, I would have run away by now, too. The irony wasn't lost to me this time, either. I had technically just run away from 'myself', if the thing had spoken the truth. Still, it was something I was good at. At that point, I had no idea where I was, however. A glance about told me that I'd fallen into some sort of stream running along the base of a moderate rocky embankment. A long-collapsed wooden bridge was a few dozen meters downstream, and I wandered towards it. Sure enough, there was a faint path leading off through the forest. I knew Ponyville was back towards the southwest, so if I followed the path in that direction, I'd probably be okay. I couldn't be that far away, having not run from Rainbow for that long. My eyes picked up a partially broken wagon axel as I stepped out of the water next to the bridge's remains. It looked like it had taken a moderate blow to each end and snapped in the middle. Actually, that was probably the accident that had doomed the bridge. The wagon busted through and dropped a meter and a half into the riverbed, breaking the axel off. There was no wagon however, so I guessed that they had a spare one to fix the thing with. Wagon... An idea hitting me, I walked towards the axel and peeked about. Sure enough, in the grass nearby was a partially broken wagon wheel, the metal having dented at the impact. I smiled and felt along the rim. Like most wagon wheels, it had a heavy wooden frame that was layered with metal around the outside of the wheel to give it a bit of tenacity. It would last a lot longer than a solid wooden wheel this way. Nodding to myself, I noticed the metal was a bit rusted and not the greatest strength, but there was a lot of it. With a bit of focus, my energy activated and danced across the surface of the metal. It melted off the wheel as it was taken apart at a molecular level, oxidation and impurities being filtered as I pulled it towards me. It was iron, and I couldn't change its base mixture without having other, necessary materials, so it would have to do. A minute later, I was shifted out of my heavily armored form and was wearing an iron brace on my left leg, comfortably molded to fit perfectly, rotational hinges and all. I shuffled along at a moderate pace, the newly added metal implement allowing me to at least hold my weight with the injured leg. My barriers stayed active, however, just in case I either had to correct myself from a nasty spill or deter some animal or something from attacking me. For the first time in quite a while, I felt a sense of proud accomplishment as I looked down at the brace. I enjoyed it when I could think I was clever, I guessed. I'd walked for a good five minutes before I had the nagging sensation that I was forgetting something. I checked my side, but the book was still there. I hadn't taken anything else from the hospital room. What could I be forgetting? It puzzled me for a moment before I glanced upwards, mid-pondering. Oh. I was on a path. The path was cleared through the forest. If the path was cleared, that meant the trees were removed from it. Damn it. I stared blankly up at the open sky as I heard the telltale flapping noise arc in from behind me. I froze as I heard the thud and sliding motion in the dirt from a few meters back. Slowly, I peeked over my right shoulder, eyes locking onto Rainbow's as she sat there, watching me silently. Well crap.