//------------------------------//
// Chapter IX: "Just A Regular Guy" 
// Story: Evergreen, Act II 
// by DoctorEvergreen 
//------------------------------//

	Evergreen
Fan fiction by Grey McBoyd


Chapter IX
“Just a regular guy”


*KNOCK-KNOCK*

Ivory Scroll perked her senses to the mahogany wood of the large pair of double doors that led into her office. She was at her desk, still doing paper work after several hours of the pencil-pushing formalities she hated so. A moment passed before the large doors deeply popped open and creaked on their hinges to allow a small crack of open space between them. The head of a large, muscular stallion, a bright, sandy coat and a short, auburn mane, wearing the sunglasses and suit that came with his job peaked through the crack in the door. One of the Mayor’s many members of security, Safe Keeping, spoke in a deep voice.
“Mayor Scroll, somepony is here to see you.”
“Did they state their business?” she replied formally.
“She said it had to do with ‘yesterday’s incident’, Ma’am.”
“I see…” she looked down at the far edge of her desk, but not for long until she turned her gaze back up at her bodyguard and said, “Send her in please.”
The door mildly swung open to show the stallion gripping the handle and standing with his back to the door, a much smaller, purple unicorn standing timidly behind him. 
“Ah, Miss Sparkle!” the Mayor said, beaming a quick but small smile, “Come on in!”
Twi nervously looked to the colt as he kept his gaze fixed on her, but quickly looked back to the Mayor as she trotted into the office. The bodyguard began following her after she passed him, but was stopped by the Mayor.
“Relax sir. She poses no threat to us.” she said dismissively.
“Are you sure, Ma’am? You can never be too-”
“Please Mr. Keeping, she’s a friend.” she mentioned, cutting him off once again.
“I understand Miss.” he said, nodding his head once without hesitation.
He looked to Twi once more with a slight, but non-insulting concentration before turning, exiting and shutting the large door behind him. Twi looked curiously around the Mayor’s office as she slowly stepped closer to her desk, amazed by the height of the unexpected height of the ceiling. It was, on terms, a small, dark office space despite the vertical size of the room, the ceiling leading all the way up to what little space there was before the pinnacle of the building’s pointy roof. Although, horizontally, the room was small, just large enough for The Mayor’s desk and some necessary elbow room, the two padded chairs that sat in front of it, about ten feet of space between the desk and the door, and the decorations on each side of it. The walls on the left and right sides of the office were lined with bookcases that stretched halfway up the walls. On one side of the room stood the large mahogany double doors, along with two paintings on each of the walls beside them. The one on the left was a picture of a former mayor with an end table just below the painting’s frame and the painting on the right showed a large but calming picture of a flax flower. Along the floor was a luxurious maroon rug that ran in a mildly thick line up to the far side of the room and just before The Mayor’s desk. It was grand, occupied and made of beautiful tigerwood, but orderly enough to look very professional. On it sat great loads of papers, some kept in stacks and others just carelessly set aside for later or even thrown onto the floor. Beyond the desk was a large window that stood as high as the bookcases, mostly shrouded by a tan curtain that gave the room a light brown, heavenly sort of glow.
“So Miss Sparkle,” said the Mayor, “you wanted to see me?”
“Yes ma’am.” Twi replied, “It’s about…what happened yesterday…out in the square.”
The Mayor’s listening expression popped a reminiscent smirk as she swiveled ninety degrees to her right in her padded office chair, looking through the small, curved triangle of visible window left by the large curtains that draped down from high above. She looked out to the square and replied.
“Ah yes…” she said, sighing through her nose and then continuing calmly, “Definitely not what I had planned for that day.”
“That’s…sort of what I came to talk about today, ma’am.” Twi said as she waited for the Mayor to swivel back to her before continuing, “You seemed so…calm about Doc’s transformation, his return to town and his big speech. You even said that you knew him when you were a child. W-would you mind giving a little more insight on that, please?”
“Sure Twilight.” she responded calmly, talking as if to a good friend and not just another townspony coming in to give a complaint.
She put her elbows on the desk as she leaned in slightly towards Twi, letting her fore hooves vertically rest flat against each other.
“That is, of course,” she said, “if Doc has told you as much as I think he has.”
Twi nodded.
“He told us a lot after we found him outside of town.” she mentioned, “But after the little speech he gave, he also confirmed a gut feeling I had afterwards. Something just felt like he hadn’t told us everything. The most that my friends and I know is that he and those three stallions were ‘The Four Horses of the Apocalypse’ and that all of them are apparently ‘immortal’, sort of like gods. But beyond that, I’m blind.”
“It’s good that you know that much, it makes my side of the story a whole lot easier to tell.” Ivory began, “But yes, your right, all four of the stallions that viciously fought in the square yesterday were immortals, including our good friend, the traveling doctor. I actually met him back when I was just a filly, and obviously, he didn’t look a day younger back then and he’s not a day older now. But all the same, he met me in the park while I was out playing like all good fillies were supposed to back in those days. We played the entire day and became very good friends, helping me peacefully deal with school bullies and generally looking out for me for years to come. He was even the one that talked me into running for mayor, since I actually wanted to get into the family business of printing. He always said I was meant to be a leader, that I had the heart and mind for it. Such good years those were…and yet, as I grew older and he remained so unchanged, suspicions in my mind grew and grew, eventually hitting reality when he told me the truth. Needless to say, I was just as disbelieving as anypony else was at the square yesterday. It was difficult to understand who he was and the things he did, telling me he was immortal and that he had three others equal to his power, hunting him down to the very corners of the earth. He never told me much about who they were, but he did say that when I became mayor, there was a possibility that they would catch up to him in town, and he gave me the choice to decide if he should leave and never came back right then and there. But I knew Doc, he was a friend. I couldn’t just drop him like a rock after all he had done for me, no matter what damage his conflicts might cause.”
She swiveled to her right once more and looked slightly farther out into the square, catching sight of the little white caravan that a peculiar white stallion drove all the time, thinking that it must have so many stories to tell. She continued with the same reminiscent, calming and friendly smile she had kept throughout the conversation.
“Despite him being the spirit, or god for all I know, of such an evil act, one of destruction and control over the innocent, he just had…just has…too big of a heart to be anything like his story tells, too good of a soul to be what those stallions think is best for him.”
Twi looked to the bottom corners of her eyes in thought, biting her lip in slight guilt until she finally worked up the nerve to tell Ivory the truth.
“Actually, Ms. Mayor…” she said as the old mare swiveled back to the desk in interest, listening as Twi continued, “I didn’t come by to talk about the incident yesterday. I actually came by to talk to you about…well, Doc. I couldn’t sleep at all last night. Thoughts kept running through my head about him, about that little rampage he went on, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how he acted during it. In all honesty, he scares me now. Like, if I or anypony does one thing wrong, he’ll go crazy again and get somepony hurt. I couldn’t keep myself from showing my nervousness on the way over here, but I also saw that all of the ponies in town were just as nervous and twitchy as I was. Even my library assistant admitted to feeling the same, and I think that secretly goes for everypony else in town. Frankly, I’m worried of how this day will play out in the end with everypony so wired up.”
The Mayor turned her expression from an interested gaze to a calm simper once again, swiveled closer to the desk and rested her elbows on it, hooves flat in each other’s palms, as though it was routine when talking to somepony. If so, she did a good job at making everything seem calm, despite the subject being so…unique. But I digress. After the Mayor arched her back forward in her office chair and rested on her elbows, she replied to Twi’s suspicions.
“It’s just the jitters that ponies get when they first realize Doc’s secret.” she said dismissingly, “He knows everypony will have it and I do too, so relax. It’ll only last for a day or two… depending on what happens today.”
She promptly giggled, surprising Twi with its joyful noise, but still resonating a leader’s deep octave in her voice.
“Although…” she said after a content sigh, “I’m worried about him too. I have a feeling he’s gotten himself way in over his head, like he’s doing something he hasn’t entirely thought through. He’s crazy, but then again, aren’t we all?”
Twi popped a small smile, seeing how Ivory felt the same way as her right now, understanding her and being a good friend in unnerving times. Ivory continued while taking her elbows off of her tigerwood desk and slumping back into her chair lazily.
“But, back on the subject of why you’re here,” she said, “I’ve already told you so much about Doc that I know, so I don’t think have I much else to say that will be useful.”
Twi’s shoulders slumped a little as she looked to the bottom left of her eyes, not wanting to look disappointed, but Ivory could understand her worry for Doc first hand. She leaned forward from her slothful slump and reached over her desk, placing an unsuspecting hoof on the caring unicorn’s shoulder, catching her off guard slightly. Twi looked up and saw Ivory’s smiling face as she reassured her with the kindest of words.
“It’s okay to be worried about him,” she said, “but relax…he’ll be fine. After all, *heh* he isn’t exactly in danger of dying, now is he?”
Twi laughed a little, smiling back as she replied.
“Yeah…Thanks Ms. Mayor, I needed that.” she said, then began to get up and make her way out of the office.
“Oh, and Twilight.” Twi heard just before she could place her hoof on the door handle.
She turned and saw Ivory smiling as she sat at her desk, sunlight from the window giving a heavenly glow around her khaki coat and ashen mane as she spoke.
“You can just call me Ivory, our strange friend certainly does. Bye for now.”
She then turned all the way around in her chair to look out the window thoughtfully, elbows on the arm rests, hooves flat in their palms and her gaze centered on the little, white, mysterious wagon that sat on the side of the square, strangely closed and abnormally inactive for just what kind of demigod called it home.

****

*HOO-HOO  HOO*

The sudden noise from a dead nearby tree made Twi’s heart skip a beat before she looked up, noticing an owl perched on a horrifically bent tree branch just before it took flight and escaped through a hole in the dense, overhead canopy. She was far into the Everfree Forest, and it was one of the few times she had ever actually ventured through it alone. Last time she did so, she was turned into stone by a cockatrice and left to be a statue for Fluttershy to find several hours later in the middle of the night. Still, Twi worked up the courage to continue on until she rounded the trunk of another horrifying tree to see a much larger, less terrifying one. Culturally designed bottles and lamps hung from its branches and tribal decorations littered the sides of the abnormally large trunk, ending their placement at a red door that stood fixed in the tree’s bark. After a long and frightful walk through the unnatural darkness of the Everfree, Twi was glad to finally have reached Zecora’s hut. She knocked on the door, slightly nervous of how the conversation would fare on the topic she had just discussed with Ivory. But hey, Twi figured that if that conversation went well, this one should be just fine. Now feeling a tad more confident, Twi could hear hoof steps just beyond the old timber of the door before it calmly swung open and the kind zebra of a friend Twi knew was standing there, hoof on the door handle and a smile on her striped face.
“Hello Ms. Sparkle, you’re looking quite well.” she said before motioning a hoof across her chest and into the room, “Would you like to come in and rest for a spell?”
“Thanks Zecora,” Twi acknowledged before taking her offer and trotting inside, “but right now I really need to talk to you about something.”
Zecora closed the door as she replied.
“Anything my dear, but still I must say. ‘Tis strange you came alone for such a long way.”
“Well I had to make an exception of company. I don’t have much time before I miss something important.”
“In that case my dear,” Zecora said as she trotted just past Twi and lied down on one of the several pillows that were arranged to be her spot for lounging or talking with guests. She continued, “have a seat. Come and say the things of which you’d like to speak.”
“Thanks again.” Twi replied before plopping onto one of the pillows herself, “I’ll cut straight to the chase. I came here to talk with you about Doc.”
“Ah, you speak of yesterday’s case. I could already tell by the look on your face.” she replied with a calm smile and even humorous tone.
Twi cocked an eyebrow.
“You mean you know what happened?”
“Once I heard his howl through the trees, I could tell our Doctor was certainly not pleased.”
She looked over to the door and continued, making it all sound like a poem or a song.
“I ventured out of my little nook, daring to take a simple look. But once I arrived at your town square, I quickly regretted my foolish dare. I saw Doc standing, the height of a tree, meeting his hind hoof to a black stallion’s knee. The sound it made was a horrifying crack, but certain thoughts of the stallion quickly came back. I remembered the stories told by Doc in my youth, and I instantly realized the horrifying truth. They were the other horses told in his tale, including the red stallion, on his rear, a giant flail. After seeing the truth behold, I blent into the crowd, a move I thought bold. The battle waged on and came to an end, the grey one monologuing like Doc’s old friend. Then they left and our Doctor stood tall, horrifically statured until his sudden fall. After a time, he eventually ran, and you, Twilight Sparkle took a valiant stand. You followed him like the mare that you are, and the thoughts of your friends then came to a par. They followed your lead just after that show, the rest, of course…you probably know.”
Twilight comprehended all the rhymes Zecora made and through it, sparked a revelating question.
“So…wait, you already knew?!”
Zecora replied by chuckling out her next words.
“After four long months of supervision, did you not expect him to bring the truth to fruition?”
Twi looked to the lower corners of her eyes.
“Well…okay, that does make sense.” she said before shaking her head and looking back to Zecora, “But wait…Does that mean you’ve known all along?”
“As a matter of fact, yes, I do. It might have been noticed in an unforeseen clue. As Doc told the story of his time at my home, there was one thing he chose to keep in his tomes. He had saved me from a buffalo, which are feral where I’m from. Still, in doing so, the deed of truth had been done. He scared the beast off with each demonic leg, and in addition to the sight, his eyes changed black and red. Needless to say, I nearly fainted at the sight, but Doc reassured me before I fell in fright. He told me his story of who he truly was, and yet, at the conclusion, I was scared of what he does. And through all the doubts and worries that I had, his grand personality had always kept me glad.”
Twi smiled at this, the same sort of relieved simper she gave when realizing Ivory’s feelings on the matter slowly came across her face. Twi knew she had made the right decision by coming to talk to her and Zecora before she went to talk to Doc and see the stallions return. She heard Zecora continue.
“So as the days went by, I had nothing to fear, for it felt good knowing he was near. My whole village even knew the truth within time, but only through convincing, did they see Doc at his prime. I spoke on his behalf to leverage his odds, and after some discussion, they acknowledged with nods. They now knew of this unearthly fact, still they ordered he leave, to never come back. Doc left without objection, tone professional and firm, a good quality about him, one all of us should learn. But before he exited that chapter of my life, I made sure I promised him my never ending strife. We said our goodbyes, our promises and pacts, and after several years, here he is, as a matter of fact. So although I know of his power in rage, I choose to just flip my life’s book to the very next page.”
After hearing this amazingly long poem that Zecora was able to think of as she spoke, Twi smiled. She was able to piece together Zecora’s thoughts and realize that even though she has known of Doc all these years, she’s merely accepted what he is and chosen to move on. Twi got up from the pillows, making her way for the door as she spoke.
“Thank you again, Zecora. I only asked three questions…and you said everything I needed to know.”
“Tis but my job to help your problems amend. I believe that is ‘loyalty’ in the qualities of friends.”
Twi was at the door already, hoof just before the handle like at Ivory’s office before she smiled widely and turned back to Zecora.
“You bet, ‘Stripes’. See you later.” she said before happily making her way out the door and on the trail to her newly prepared day, now absolutely ready for anything those monsters could throw at her once they arrived.

She had no idea how stupid a statement like that was.

***
Doc yawned loud and deep on the roof of his caravan as he sat in a criss-cross sitting position, fully dressed in a brand new work shirt and looking somewhat “back to normal”. He had decided to climb up on the roof of his caravan and do overnight surveillance of the roads that ran into the square, making sure to be prepared if his old “friends” decided to pay him a midnight visit. Now having spent the whole night sitting on his roof with no sign of the stallions, he had begun to get exceptionally bored. He finally gave up his job of sentry and surveillance and decided to lie back and rest, putting his fore-hooves behind his head as he looked up at the wispy clouds above, making curious shapes out of their freely bent figures.
“Hey Doc!” he heard shouted from below, causing him to instantly sit up straight and look around for the noise’s origin with a swivel of his head. He eventually peered his gaze over the edge of the roof and down the side of the caravan, spotting Twi as she looked up to him from just beyond the platform’s steps, an uncommon smile draped across her face despite everypony’s slight negativity and anxiety towards him. He was glad to finally see a smile that wasn’t faked, replying with an identical, much more relaxed expression.
“Hey Twi, what’s up?”
“Not much. What are you doing up there?”
“Just keeping watch.” he said while hopping down from his roof and onto the wooden patio of his closed shop in a kneeling stance, “I stayed up all night to make sure those stallions wouldn’t sneak up on me once the sun went down.”
Twi cocked an eyebrow as Doc cantered to the edge of the platform and sat, dangling his legs off the side.
“Really?” she asked, “Don’t you think that’s a little extreme?”
“Extreme?” Doc asked with disbelieving expression, “*pfft* Believe me Twi, these guys will try anything to make sure I join them again. *heh* After yesterday, I don’t even think the term ‘extreme’ applies to them anymore.”
Twi walked up the steps and onto the platform, sitting beside him as he continued in a stressed tone, stretching his back as he spoke.
“But all the same, *sigh* I couldn’t stop thinking about them all night. So, I figured doing something about it might help to calm my nerves.”
“Jeez…” she replied, “Well, you certainly don’t look tired after staying up all those hours.”
“That’s ‘cuz I’m not…and I never will.”
Twi looked at him with a curious expression.
“What?” she asked, “What do you mean?”
“It’s a thing about being an immortal.” Doc replied, “Since we just undo any damage done to ourselves throughout the day, our bodies are designed to never need rest. Even if we want to, we can never really fall asleep.”
“Wow, really?!” Twi asked enthusiastically, “That must be amazing! I can’t tell you how much studying I could get done if I never needed to sleep.”
“Yeah,” Doc replied flatly, “but answer me this, Twi. What happens when studying gets boring, or you’ve studied all you ever could?”
Doc’s tone somewhat stomped on Twi’s enthusiasm before he continued.
“It may seem great, never needing to stop, but think about this for a second. Have you ever appreciated the ability to dream, or to not be by yourself for hours every night because everypony else is asleep?”
“Oh…” Twi responded guiltily, “I-I’m so sorry Doc.”
“Meh,” Doc replied casually, “you don’t need to apologize. And sorry for my tone, it just…kinda sucks, y’know?”
“W-well…it can’t be all bad, right?” Twi said, trying to cheer him up, “I mean it’s gotta have its upsides, having that much time on your hooves.”
“That’s true.” he said, sounding slightly reassured, “Still, it can be a little hard to take up that much time.”
“Well, what do you normally do?” she asked.
“Mostly reading, coming up with new alchemy recipes and thinking.” he answered, “If not that, it’s mostly spent getting unbelievably drunk and singing to myself for hours at a time.”
Twi responded after sounding a quick, very-surprised chuckle.
“Well, you certainly aren’t shameful about it!”
“Why would I?” Doc asked with a smile, “I certainly think of it as time well spent.”
“Yeah. I guess you weren’t kidding when you said you enjoy the occasional drink.”
They both enjoyed a little laugh after Doc just responded with a sheepish “Yeah”.
“Still,” Twi continued, “I didn’t know you could sing.”
“Eh, I dabble.” he replied.
“You think you can show me?” she asked.
“*heh* There’s a time and place for everything, Ms. Sparkle.” he replied with a smirk, “Maybe someday, but not today.”
“Aww, fine.” Twi responded, “*heh* So did you do any of that while you sat up there all night?”
“Nope.” Doc answered with the slightest ounce of pride, “Kept vigilant the entire time. I didn’t want to give them any chance of sneaking up on me.”
“Jeez.” Twi said, surprised by his commitment for such a paranoid thing, “Don’t you think your being a little paranoid with them? I mean, sure, they do seem pretty crazy, but-”
“But nothing.” Doc interrupted, “Believe me, I’ve dealt with these dudes for a long time. That is exactly something that they’d do.”
“True…but they didn’t.” Twi mentioned slyly.
“*heh* Still,” Doc responded, “‘Better safe than sorry’ has always been my way to go with those guys, and it hasn’t failed me yet.”
They sat in silence for the next few moments, almost like they were expecting something to add itself into the conversation. Twi swung her hind legs in playful alternation over the edge of the platform like a child, smiling and lightly swiveling her torso to the sides in rhythm with the swings.
“Now that I think about it…” she said, breaking the small silence, “doesn’t it seem kind of…unnatural without everypony else here?”
Doc sat up from his backwards lean and arched his back to relax his elbows on his thighs.
“What?” he responded, “You mean AJ, Dash and the bunch or everypony in town that was here yesterday?”
“Do I really have to answer that question?”
“Well…no.” he turned his gaze down as he contemplated her point, but only for several moments until he said, “But yeah, it does feel weird not to have them here.”
“Yup.” Twi said before she jumped down off of the platform and continued, “I think I’ll go round everypony up. Wouldn’t want them to miss today’s show now would we?”
“*heh* You sure seem confident.” Doc said, slightly mocking but in a friendly way, the way he would speak to a friend like Dash, “What’s got you so calm?”
“I went to see the Mayor and Zecora before I came here. I wanted to hear their side of the story first.”
Doc smiled reminiscently and turned his gaze downward for a moment, the sign that he was thinking of the past or of somepony he cares/cared about.
“In that case Twilight,” he said with a calm and nostalgic voice, “what were those sides like exactly?”
“The Ma-…uh, Ivory, says I have nothing to worry about, and ‘Stripes’ has accepted you for who you are. She’s just chosen to move on.”
Doc thought of them again with the same course of action.
“Good.” he said before turning back to Twi, “Thanks Twi, see you when everypony else gets here.”
He spun to his left until he was able to lie down on the edge of the platform, right foreleg dangling off of it lazily as looked to the sky, admiring the shape of a pirate ship in the clouds above.

***
Twi then spent about the next hour finding and rounding up everypony in her main six of friends, her fellow pieces in the Elements of Harmony. She traveled to every place she knew she would find them, and was surprisingly right on all accounts. Still, as she arrived and told them of her purpose, each took some slight convincing before they willingly went back to Doc. Most of them were very nervous and skeptical about him, even Pinkie felt a little cynical on the subject, completely opposite from her joyful and hoppy disposition. Yet, each one she spoke to, whether it was Fluttershy to AJ, from Pinkie to Rarity, they all gave off the same kind of vibe. They all had done the exact same thing Twi had done when she tried to sleep, lying awake, thinking of Doc’s fury like a disease or spasm that could occur at any moment. So, Twi responded the same way to each, telling them the thoughts of Ivory and Stripes as she heard them, then giving her own opinion on the matter. Some took a bit more convincing than others, but they eventually chose to go and be the friends they knew they should be, despite their paranoid thoughts. Then, last but not least, Twi climbed into her personal balloon and got ready to go meet the final of her friends, a certain colorful, sky blue pegasus she thought would just love to come and see Doc again.
Her balloon landed on the large, cloudy porch outside of Dash’s home in the clouds. She took in the décor of the small palace that here friend had built from her own two hooves. She was even slightly impressed by the detail, such as the cloud columns along the building’s sides and the unnecessary waterfalls of rainbow spectra that ran off the cloud’s edges, evaporating before they could even come close to hitting the ground. Only somepony like Rarity would put this much effort into anything, but Twi’s judgmental thoughts let her know that this had to all be in the name of pride. A mare of my abilities deserves to live in a palace, if not in my own kingdom. is probably what Dash thought when building it.
Twi hopped out of her balloon and onto the cloud with ease, standing on the fluffy mass due to the cloud-walker spell she used on herself during the ride here. She walked up a few stairs and knocked on the large, cloud blue double doors twice, accidently pushing the door slightly open with the second knock. It felt ominous, like the large door hadn’t been shut all the way, leaving it to crack open and for the snap it made to be heard echoing throughout the abode. Twi pushed the door open an inch farther to peek inside, seeing a single long hallway, lined with door after door along the walls and completely shrouded in darkness, giving the cloudy textures a midnight-blue tint. The peculiar lifelessness and ambiance of the situation left Twi unsettled, but after taking a moment to work up some courage, she dared to step further. She checked each of the doors that lined the sides of the hallway, seeing common rooms like a living room, kitchen, and an unexpected pool, but still no sign of Dash.
Twi noticed that every “window” in the building was purposely closed, giving each room that ominous and abandoned feeling. Was Dash out this early in the day? Had Twi made a mistake in the address? Was this just an abandoned manor in the clouds? These thoughts hung in the mare’s head as she continued searching, peeking into each door from one side of the hallway to the other, making slow progress down the hall until finally reaching a door she hadn’t noticed. It was at the far end of the hallway and almost looked identical to all other doors she checked, the only difference being a symbol in it’s center. It was a colorful lightning bolt, comprised of red, yellow and blue coming out of a cartoonishly fluffy cloud. Twi could tell this was Dash’s bedroom, and the only room the mare could possibly be in if she was even at home.
Twi slowly creaked the door open and peeked half of her head inside. She could see it was a large cloudy room with a fluffy and detailed bed in the center. Not much else was in the room, like all other rooms, the overhead windows were cloaked in more distinguishable clouds, but only certain bits of cumulus furniture scarcely littered the walls. Twi expected as much, with how many things were in all the rooms she checked, there wasn’t much in this room that would not be overkill. Twi continued to scan the room until she noticed something out of the ordinary. A cyan-colored hoof flat against the floor and a similar hind leg that led to it at an angle from behind the left side of a large, cloudy recliner and just out of Twi’s sight. Twi gained a smile, as big of one as she could in this kind of atmosphere, snuck her way in and approached the chair, crossing its front slowly as to not alert her and poke her head around it in surprise.
She had a humorous, happy and open-mouthed grin as she swung her head around the chair’s edge. It died shortly afterwards.

***
She saw Dash, sitting on her rear with her back to the wall and her knees lifted just high enough for her to wrap her forelegs around and bury her face in. She moved back and forth occasionally, but only in slight flutters as she made a depressing and muffled sobbing noise. She was crying. Twi, after having her friendly gaze drop like a rock, steadied herself to stand directly in front of her friend, allowing her to sob for several more seconds before breaking the silence throughout the entire house.
“Rainbow…” is the only thing she said, watching Dash’s sobbing as it came to a dead stop and echoed throughout the building. Eventually, Dash looked to Twi slowly, showing her face to be a deep red from crying and all of the space beneath her eyes to be twinkling with tears. They stared at each other for what felt like minutes, silence falling back over the house, Dash looking up to Twi with a sad, scared and controlled face. Twi looked down on her in an expression of concern for her well being. Finally, Dash broke the silence, barely forcing out her next words in a wilted whisper.
“Hey Twilight…What’s up…”
“A-are you okay?” Twi asked before Dash chuckled once, allowing a small smirk to rise on her face while responding in a withered, exhausted and terrified demeanor.
“*heh* Okay? How can I be okay?”
She then allowed her expression to die, only for the effect of showing how she feels. The smirk was never meant to be real, her eyes’ focus and spacing drifted to not quite look at Twi, but rather past her head and into deep space.
“I only saw the stallion I’ve looked up to my entire life turn into a monster right before my eyes. Why wouldn’t I be okay?”
“Now Dash-” Twi began in what was going to be an attempt of calming her down, only to be interrupted.
“I mean, it’s not like I have any problem with it and all.” she continued, “Traveling merchants are supposed to secretly be one of the four members of some apocalyptic thingy, right? Right. It’s all normal…nothing out of the ordinary.”
She was talking to herself now, completely oblivious of Twi’s presence and in her own little world while she rocked back and forth on her rump, ranting to anypony who would listen, even if it was just herself.
“Dash please I-”
“I mean if anything was out of the ordinary, he would tell me. We’ve been best friends for years now, he wouldn’t leave me out of the loop!”
“Please Dash, just listen-“
“Oh, who am I kidding!” Dash placed her hooves on her head, pushing her hair and shutting her eyes tight as she lightly screamed, “He’s kept this a secret my entire life! He’s never trusted me and he never will!”
“DASH!”
The sudden scream Twi uttered, echoing and shattering the silent stillness of the house, made Dash open her eyes and release the pressure on her hair. She looked up shortly afterwards, Twi was internally happy to see the focus and spacing in her eyes was according to actually look at her now, but Twi kept the face of her other half, the half that was furious with Dash’s over-reactive thoughts, completely apparent on her angered expression. Twi continued after her bellow in an austere and deadpan tone.
“Think about what your saying for a split second! Do you even realize just how wrong you are?!”
Dash attempted to react, uttering, “Bu-“ before quickly getting interrupted as well.
“I mean weren’t you the one who said you would never leave a friend like Doc hanging?!” Twi interrupted, leaning her head in on the pegasus and turning it to the left slightly.
Twi waited for a response as Dash slowly turned her gaze down in thought, shaking her head gently and puckering her lips until she returned to placing her hooves in her hair and sealed her eyes shut. Several seconds past of Dash slowly slipping back into this stage until Twi bellowed once more.
“WELL?!”
“I…I don’t know okay!” She replied after wincing at Twi’s howl like a scared, little child, “I really didn’t want to think about this stuff, b-but it kept me up all night last night! I’m j-just,” she buried her face in her palms, muffling her voice, “s-scared…I’m lost at what to do! Please don’t hate me for it…please…” and she began crying again.
Twi retracted at this and let her eyebrows dip into more of a pitiful watch than an enraged scowl. Dash just admitted to her own fear and pleaded for forgiveness. She is the exact opposite of everything this house said of her pride and attitude. After a small bit of silence, Twi looked down in regret of her cruel and unnecessary response.
“I don’t hate you.” she said, quiet and ashamed as she looked back up.
“Yes you do.” Dash muffled out through her sobs.
“No, I don’t.”
Twi sat down to her left and wrapped Dash’s shoulder in her right foreleg.
“I’ve never hated you Rainbow, and I never will.”
“Then why did you-”
“I overreacted a little, okay.” responded Twi quickly, “It just…struck a wrong nerve when I put the thoughts you had to mind. I didn’t want to think about him like that, and I didn’t want you losing your sanity over one pony, especially not one like Doc. Out of all of us, I think he trusts you the most. So relax, you’re not alone in your suspicion.”
“What?” Dash said as she finally looked out of her tear-washed hooves.
Twi began smiling after she had taken her foreleg off Dash’s shoulders.
“I was kept awake all night too, thinking the exact same things you were, over and over again. So, to cope with it, I went to talk with Zecora and the Mayor, and guess what I found out?”
Dash sniffed in response after placing her hooves around her knees again, followed by Twi beginning to sound much more enlightening and happy.
“Turns out that everypony in town feels the exact same way you do. It’s not uncommon.”
“Really?” Dash asked as she changed her sitting position to an identical one as Twi’s, which was now cross-legged with her hooves in her lap.
“Yeah, really. Even all of our friends had the same thoughts. I’ve been going to all of them and talking with them about it. But just a talk wasn’t the real reason I went to them. I came to ask a question, and after some convincing I was able to get an answer from them, but now I need to know your answer. Dash, after all you’ve seen, thought and said, would you be willing to join me in seeing Doc again? Just going and talking with him?”
Dash scanned the floor as she thought through her answer. She turned her gaze to the ceiling after several seconds, watching it until she grew a smile on her face, a real one. She got up, flew to the darker tinted clouds that covered the overhead windows and kicked all of it away with a single, spunky buck to its center. Light flooded the room and made both of the mare’s corneas burn, their eyes already adjusted to almost complete darkness of the room. Still, despite the piercing agony in her eyes, Twi looked up to see her smiling, cyan, pegasus friend looking down on her happily, suspended in the air with lively flapping and liberated wings. Twi smiled back up, followed by Dash implying in the brash tone Twi had begun to miss.
“Come on Twilight, let’s go see just what the world has to throw at us today.”

***
“Wait, how long did Doc say he stayed there?” Dash asked.
“Four months, I think.” Twi acknowledged, “He said it was for a ‘business trip’ and he even moved his hooves like air quotes. *sigh* He’s so strange at times.”
The mares were on their way to the town square from the library after Twi dropped her personal balloon back off at home. As Twi walked and Dash flew, they discussed why Twi had visited Zecora earlier that day, Dash unaware of her involvement of Doc’s current situation. Twi summarized her visit to the zebra’s hut with Pinkie and Doc a few days ago, quickly telling the story of Doc’s visit to Zecora’s homeland, but she made sure to tell as he described it then, leaving out the part of Doc revealing his powers to save Zecora’s life. Twi wanted to save that for when she told of her visit to the zebra’s hut the second time.
“ ‘Sneaky’ would be more precise.” Dash said in an impudent response as she landed and trotted beside Twi, “He’s been like that ever since I met him. *heh* I’m not even surprised he could speak Zebra with all the little secrets he has. ‘Probably knows some sort of ancient…dragon language or something that he hasn’t used in a million years.”
“Oh, come on Dash. I don’t think he’s that old. Known history only goes back like ten thousand years.”
“How am I supposed to know? Ponies like Doc could have been around since before time or something crazy like that…”
She paused.
“Okay…maybe that is a little overboard.”
They both laughed, enjoying each gentle chuckle as they let it die down into a pleasant sigh.
“Alright,” Twi said, several moments later, “the square should be right around the corner of this candle shop. You sure you’re ready to see him again?”
“I was born ready!” she slightly shouted, her tone happy and rebellious, giving a small hop, followed by lifting her left foreleg in the air with a flick after landing.
After Twi watched her do these acts in unison with her speech, she nodded her head with a wide smile and they rounded the corner. They saw the caravan almost on the other side of the square, sitting right where Twi had left it. Doc was sitting in the same spot he had been about fifteen minutes ago, hanging his hind legs off the edge of the wagon’s customer platform and arching his back as he sat, located a few feet from the set of small stairs that lead up and onto the platform. Around him stood or sat the other four mares that made up Twi’s band of comrades. Rarity and Pinkie stood in front of Doc while AJ sat with him on his left and Fluttershy on the opposite side. Twi was slightly amazed as she looked at their faces and noticed the extreme lack of nervousness and tension within each. They weren’t exactly as “happy” as they usually are, but they definitely showed no discomfort in the situation. Doc must have said something pretty impressive to calm them like that, but Twi refused to dwell on it and continued with Dash towards the bunch. They could hear little bits of conversation as they grew closer and began to notice that they were speaking in a pattern of somepony in the bunch asking a question or saying something, quickly followed by Doc replying.
“Hey everypony.” Twi said as the two mares grew closer, still undetected by the group, “Not too late to the party are we?”
The four mares and stallion turned their attention to the voices and grew happier to knowing who they belonged to.
“We were wonderin’ when ya two were gonna show up.” AJ said.
“Yeah, sorry.” Twi replied while scratching the back of her neck, then using the same right foreleg to point across her chest and at Dash, continuing, “I had to go and convince this pony to show up. But in the meantime, what’d we miss?”
“Not much.” Doc answered with a straight face and casual tone, “I’ve just been answering minor questions while you were gone. Stuff like if my back hurts from having these things, which it doesn’t, and if I can use them whenever I want, which I can.” 
“Cool!” Twi replied with a smile, which quickly changed before she asked, “But…why do you say those are ‘minor’ questions?”
“Because I wanted to wait until you returned before I got into the major stuff. You remember that drawing I got before those stallions arrived?” he asked them.
They nodded.
“Okay…I’ve been thinking about it, and I want to show you just what it means.”
He stood up from his spot and onto the platform before saying “One sec.”, turning around and making his way to one side of the caravan, the side that had the door to the inside. Although, as he did, Twi noticed something yellow and shiny on Doc’s back. She said his name to catch his attention, then asked about it.
“What’s with the…” she said before pointing at her own back in implication.
“Oh those!” Doc replied while perking his ears and widening his eyes slightly, then turning back to open the caravan door and walk inside leisurely. After getting behind the counter and motioning for everypony to come closer, he turned around and stood on his hind legs to show the back of his shirt. On it were four golden rings, reasonably thin and about half a foot in diameter, located in the same spots of the small geysers for Doc’s supernatural legs.
“Now that everypony in town knows I have these things, I can wear this shirt so that it won’t tear when I use them.”
Twi and the group of mares looked at this for a few moments.
“…Wait, why didn’t I see you wearing this earlier?” Twi asked.
“I thought to put it on after you left. It’s just a failsafe in case I have to get a little ‘technical’ again when our guests show up.”
He fell back down onto his fore hooves and turned back to the counter.
“But anyway,” he said, “that’s not the point of this conversation.”
He reached under the counter and pulled up the paper that had that strange symbol on it, placing it on the countertop and promptly pointing to it.
“This is. This symbol was able to show me that those stallions were going to show up shortly after I got it. I just wanted to describe to you how exactly it does that. Now, listen carefully…”
He was now leaning in on the counter’s edge and pointing to the picture as he spoke. The group watched intently as he began pointing out important things and explaining what they meant.
“In the picture there are four circles with lines through them that point towards this big one in the center, here. The reason I could tell the stallions were coming was because these circles represented the stallions and I, since there’s four of us, and the big one here in the middle showed that there would be a conflict between us, which turned out to be our little fight.”
The group looked at each of the pieces of this sketch in varying orders, putting the puzzle pieces together and taking mental snapshots.
“So do the circles represent immortals in general?” Twi asked.
“Actually, quite the opposite.” Doc said matter-of-factly, “That symbol, the circle with a line through it, only pertains to the other three Horses of the Apocalypse and myself. It’s like our logo.”
The group thought harder as they understood this, hearing Twi ask another question.
“But why would something like the Apocalypse be shown by such a…simple thing.”
“Yeah,” Dash added, “I mean what’s a circle with a line through it even supposed to be?”


“Why, the earth splitting in two, my dear…”


They all turned alertedly to the tone of that unforgettable voice, Doc more than any of them. They saw the three monstrous stallions once more, standing in the same formation as last time with the red one on the left, black on the right and the sickly grey one in their center, standing slightly ahead of them. The main difference in their approach was the lack of the giant mace behind the red one and the absence of gigantic wings that had protruded from the black one’s back. The grey one, unchanged in comparison to yesterday, was the one who spoke. He continued doing so after everypony got the chance to turn their heads and see them.
“Our kind, the immortals, finds…beauty in simplicity, you see.”
Doc swiftly hopped over the counter and put himself between his friends and the stallions, furrowing his brow and standing in a defensive position.
“I knew you’d show up again.” he said very sternly, the same sort of tone he used yesterday.
“Well that’s good news.” the grey one said, same pompous and malicious accent from yesterday present in his voice, “After how long we’ve been chasing you, it’d be foolish to think otherwise. But for the meantime, shall we get down to business?”
Doc replied by bringing his demonic legs out of his back slowly. For the group, who stood just behind, it was still slightly terrifying to see them slide out casually while making strange, fleshy noises. It looked as if there was a gigantic spider or strange parasite in Doc’s back that vied for escape. Still, they only saw this as Doc began revealing his demonic appendages, but the grey one lifted the palm of his right hand towards them in a stopping motion while shutting his eyes regally, ceasing Doc’s preparation for a fight in its tracks.
“Relax Doctor,” he said before letting his palm drop to the ground once more and opening his eyes slowly into their villainous droop once more, “we are not here for a fight.”
They stood, baffled by the words they never thought they would hear from this thing’s mouth. Doc, reacting more than any of them, noticeably brought his head back and changed his furrowed brow to an almost exaggerated kind of astonishment, staring for several seconds with everypony else before he shook his head, retracted his legs instantly and screamed at them in confusion.
“What?!”
The grey one chuckled before speaking again.
“We merely chose to make a small visit on peaceful matters. Gentecolts like us should give ‘proper’ introductions, and I feel that yesterday’s fiasco was a horrible first impression on your new friends.”
He tilted his head slightly so as to give the impression of him looking at the sextuplet of mares behind Doc, but his raven eyes still looked dark and still, unable to show any movement or location of his vile gaze.
“Do you really think I’ll trust you to get anywhere near them after what you did yesterday?!” Doc asked, bringing back his spiteful glare.
“That is why we’re here.” he replied, “After realizing who your friends were, we came to talk and give according first impressions to such well known mares…maybe even make a friend or two as well.”
Doc growled savagely at them, but only for a second before he felt a hoof on his right shoulder. He turned to see Twi, giving a pleading expression and the tone to match.
“Please Doc,” she said, “they’re not here to fight, just to talk.”
Doc slowly turned back over to the stallions as he let his sight bounce from Twi, to the wood of the platform on his right side, and to them.
“Fine then guys,” he said, “let’s talk.”

***
Within a minute, the three stallions began talking with the gals of the group as they all stood on the platform. Twi watched as the red one discussed with AJ, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie while Dash, several feet away, was busy fending off the black one, who happened to look like he was flirting with her. After a few moments of the black one acting sly and Dash stationarily dealing with it, he must have said something that struck a nerve and made Dash punch him square in the jaw. Nopony really cared for the assault and the black one even stood back up and laughed, rubbing the spot of impact while saying something else that was muffled by the other bits of conversation. Twi was glad to see the small talk session going as “smoothly” as it was, but she couldn’t keep her calm for long before she heard a creepy voice on her right.
“Miss Sparkle, I presume?”
It was the grey one, standing at her side with a slightly less malicious smile on his face. As “better” as he looked, his stature still dwarfed her own, making her shrink down and take a step back as she responded.
“Uh…yeah, that’s me.”
The stallion gently reached out for her left hoof, lifted it up and kissed it like a true gentlecolt.
“‘Tis a pleasure.” he said politely.
Twi became slightly flushed at such a demonstration of courtliness and regality, but remembered just who this stallion was and retracted her hoof from his fingers casually.
“Um, thanks.” she said, “I can see you already know my name so…”
“Indeed, I do know you so there is no need for introductions on your part. As for myself, it is nice to meet you.”

“I am Finality.”

Twi replied inquisitively while tilting her head lightly to the side
“But I thought your name would have been De-”
“Yes! Yes…” he interrupted, slightly loud and panicked in his own formal way, “But I prefer Finality. That other name just seems so barbaric and most ponies tend to react a little…differently to it…”
An awkward silence began brewing in the conversation before Finality spoke again.
“Well! All the same,” he said, “‘tis a pleasure to finally meet you in person, one of the star pupils of Princess Celestia herself.”
“…Oh, you know of that.” she replied, a hint of anxiety in her voice, “Well…I guess it’s nice to meet you too. But, how is it that you know my past and my name all of a sudden? I mean, you barely even knew we were Doc’s friends yesterday.”
“That, my dear,” he replied with a smile as he lifted his right index finger sideways to the level of his eyes, “is precisely why I am here. I came to apologize for my crude behavior against you yesterday. I wanted to make sure you were not hurt from when I so wrongfully hit you in the stomach.”
Twi remembered that, the pain of being physically assaulted for the first real time in her young life. She hadn’t thought about it at all that day, merely shunning it as a mandatory side effect of getting herself involved in the fight the day before. But as Finality brought it up, she remembered, rubbing her stomach slowly as the soreness that remained became apparent.
“Oh, it’s okay.” she dismissed while looking to the lower right corner of her eyes, “For just charging at you after seeing the power you three had…I kind of had it coming.”
“Well,” Finality said, “whatever thoughts you may have on the situation, still know that I give my sincerest apologies and hope for your forgiveness.”
“Same here.” a deep and gritty voice mentioned from behind Twi.
It was a voice of experience, one of a real leader that was strong, independent, and had the skill to fight with anyone, anywhere, at any time. Twi knew exactly who the voice belonged to. She turned to see the red stallion standing behind her, a face and tone not angry and stern, but temperate and normal. Still, despite his regularities, his height towered over Twi’s even with the distance between them, making Twi shudder even more before hearing the stallion continue.
“I’d also like to say sorry for throwing that fire at you yesterday. It was merely a way to make the Doctor react and show his abilities after so long. We had to make sure he was still as battle-ready as he had been since we last saw him.”
He rubbed his right cheek with his hoof and continued humorously.
“And boy, did he give us a clear message.”
Twi looked at him, scanning him over once again having now obtained a true first impression. It turned out he was not just the stern, silent and clueless powerhouse she thought he was. He sounded like a regular stallion, maybe a little more matured by the heat of battle, but he apologized nicely and even made a joke out of how badly his face got damaged.
“*heh*…Yeah.” she said, “Thanks for the apology. It’s nice to meet you.” “Likewise,” he replied with the smallest of smirks,

“My name’s War.”

“Yes.” Finality commented to Twi, turning his attention to War as he finished, “He’s a good companion, a regular tank of the litter. Aren’t you, War?”
The stallion responded to the childish remark with a blank expression, his top eyelids lightly drooping as to emphasize his annoyance.
“You almost make it sound like we’re part of a family.” he said.
“‘Course we ah!” they heard spoken from the direction of the others.
They turned to see the black stallion trotting closer to War as he continued.
“Aftah all this time,” he put his left hoof around War’s shoulder, “I’ve begun ta think of us like…three devastatin’ly powerful peas in a…rightfully grand and malicious pod.”
He was looking up into the sky now with a far gaze and a small upward tilt of his head, smiling and suspending his right foreleg in the air to align with his sight. He looked like a philosopher before he turned his gaze down to Twi in a second, smiled again and spoke.
“Well ‘ello beautiful.”
He walked over to her, stopping a few feet away before bowing formally.
“It’s a pleashah makin’ your acquain’ance.”

“The name’s Famine.”

“Ah yes.” she said, “Nice to meet you. If I’m right, then the fact that these two know about me means-”
“You bet.” he interrupted while standing straight once more, “I know a li’le thing or two about you, but not too much. Perhaps we can get ta know each other a bit bettah, maybe ovah a cup of coffee?”
He was flirting with Twi now, so she could obviously see he was the “Casanova” of this strange little team.
“I can see why Rainbow punched you in the face.” she responded with light amounts of spunk, “Not to say that your words aren’t smooth, but she’s not that kind of mare.”
She tried to react calmly to his banter, attempting to not let it get to her by bringing up a recent subject.
“Ah I’m used to it.” he humorously dismissed, then brushed over his jaw with his hoof as he continued, “The li’le miss has got quite the arm, though. But I c’n win her ovah eventually, I always do.”
“And then you move on to another mare in a matter of seconds.” War mocked, a small smirk cracking on the side of his grizzled face.
“Comin’ from the love expert ovah here. When’s the last time y’ even spoke to a proper mare?”
“Hey!” War responded, sounding a little infuriated, “You know very well why I don’t, so shut it.”
“Yeah yeah, let’s see that excuse last ya long. Soon enough you’ll have ta come out a that shell of yours and learn ta be a real, warm blooded male again.”
“Boys, please.” Finality said, ending their petty argument, “We’re here to make the right first impression on a very important mare, let us not mess it up for the second time in a row.”
They both straightened slightly, as if given an actual order from a superior.
“I assure you Madame,” finality continued, “we are usually not as childish…” he glared at them in a slight pause for emphasis, then turned his expression back around, “…as we appear. We are just common ponies on a simple mission.”
Twi looked to each of them as Finality finished, noticing the different levels of size in their smiles. War was only cracking a minor smirk, Famine still had his devious grin and Finality had his villainous simper.
“All that we hope for is that it may be accomplished with as little interruptions as possible.” Finality concluded.
“Then the question is…” they heard from an unobserved side of the conversation.
They turned to see Doc, expression more on the stern side and tone, deep and sharp as he continued.
“Just how far are you willing to go?”
“As far as necessary Conquest,” Finality responded with closed eyes, “you know that.”
Doc zipped up to him, but in a way to get right in his face rather than to attack.
“That’s not my name!” he said in a hiss.
“Fine, fine,” Finality dismissed while lifting his hands up, eyes opening with a forward lean of his neck as he said, “Doctor. I shall get my head around your new persona eventually. But all the same, I still say that we only take our measures as far as necessary.”
“That doesn’t quite answer the question. How far is necessary?” Doc asked.
“What is necessary is however far you wish for us to go, Doctor. If you had only joined with us in the past, all those unfortunate instances could and would have been avoided.”
Doc responded deeply as he began tightening his hooves, the equivalent of clenching human fists.
“Let’s keep matters like that out of the conversation before I lose my temper, Death!”
They began getting into an argument about how to address each other, both sides disliking the name the other used on occasion. Twi had already backed away from their talk before it started, now standing between the other two stallions as the altercation ensued, never escalating past emphasizing speech and far from the level of assault. Twi turned her attention from it to look at War. She shivered once again at his stature and how much it towered over her own. Although, she was used to the tilt of the head she had while looking up to him. It was the same angle that she would look up at to see the kind face of her celestial mentor. Still, as Twi familiarized with this angle of looking up to War, it only continued to unsettle her to realize that War really was nearly as tall as the princess, but in powerful muscle, not simple leg length. Twi tried to calm her anxiety by looking to the back of the stallion, instinctively curious about what cutie mark something like him would have. It was a strange symbol, a thin and black circle with a vertical line through its center, just like the pieces of the drawing Doc was describing before the situation turned into the peaceful introductions of these monsters. The only difference between the drawing and War’s cutie mark were two objects within the circle. They appeared to be two arrows, but crudely drawn as if by a cavemare on an ancient cave wall, one evenly above the other and facing opposite directions.
“Uhm…excuse me.” Twi asked timidly, catching his attention before asking in the same bashful fashion, “What does your cutie mark mean?”
“Think about his name, love.” she heard Famine say from her right, “Arrows heading towards two opposite sides…showin’ conflict or…?”
“War.” War said to finish his sentence and answer her question in one word.
“Oh,” Twi responded, “that’s why…but wait, why is that your cutie mark. Have you had it since you were born?”
“No,” War dismissed, “I had it since I begun my job as the spirit of War. All three of us have one,” he looked to Famine, “right Fam?”
“Yep.” he responded, “It’s our logo, pretty much. We all got one, see?”
He pointed to his flank, Twi looking to inspect his mark. It was, once again, a ring with a line down its prime meridian. It was the same sick green as the other bits and bobs on his person, making it stand out amongst his black coat. Twi was surprised she hadn’t noticed it sooner, but continued surveying to notice the icon in the circle’s center. It was a coarsely drawn picture of a weight-measuring scale, two half-moon cups on both sides of a vertical line, connected by lines on their flat tops that ran to a singular, higher point on the center line. One of the cups was filled with the neon-green coloring, while the other remained only outlined by the strange tint. Twi looked up and asked after giving an inquisitive *hmm* at the strange emblem.
“What does it mean?”
After looking at Twi as she asked, Famine looked to the top right of his exotic eyes and put his left hoof on his chin in thought. Several seconds later, his ears perked slightly higher than the norm and he regained his devious grin. He turned his head to look across Twi and at the red Clydesdale beside her.
“Hey War.”
War turned his attention away from looking back to the argument, still unheated and bearing only spiteful concepts. As War turned, he began asking, “What is it n-” but before he could finish, Famine had already reached one of his hooves over Twi to wrap its grip around War’s face, muffling his unfinished sentence. Shortly after, War’s already surprised expression grew stronger as the veins on Famine’s hoof could be seen coursing up against his skin severely. War began lowering to his knees forcefully, giving an occasional, small grunt of what sounded like involuntary and suppressed agony. Twi had quickly stepped backwards after realizing the slow descent of War, watching as he fell to his knees like a slave before his now devilishly-grinning master. After several more seconds, Famine released his grip with an upward bend of his elbow, letting War finally fall unto his hooves and struggle to get up, failing at every minor attempt.
“Famine!” they heard Finality bellow from the argument, sounding like an infuriated parent.
He had turned his attention away from the argument only for a second once he saw this display over Doc’s shoulder, yelling with the same volume of the argument and asking in the same tone.
“What have I told you about using your powers on War?!”
“What? The lass asked what my mark was about.” he motioned to Twi, causing her to shrink down slightly, “So I showed her.”
“That doesn’t excuse you using that skill!” Doc interjected, strangely supporting Finality despite their conflict, “Now give it back to him!”
“Just give me a second ta explain myself,” he said defensively, “then I’ll be a good, little, harbinger of the apocalypse again, alright?”
Both Doc and Finality’s shoulders that once grew tense during the argument sank as they calmed down slightly. They looked to each other for a second, then back to Famine as they simultaneously nodded. Famine nodded in return, turned around to face Twi and trot closer to her. She appeared to be slightly anxious after seeing immortals like these stallions in such a heated situation, but quickly calmed as Famine came nearer, speaking in a pressured tone as he stretched his forelegs.
“Well, story time.”
He crouched next to Twi in a parent-like fashion with his left foreleg over her shoulder, keeping more of a straight face than the devious grin that he wears at all times. After today, Twi just assumed that this face was the farthest she would ever see him from that terrifying persona.
“Alright love,” he began, “just ta start off, what I just did ta War was an ability I have. It allows me ta suck the pure energy outta somepony just by placin’ my hoof ta there face. Now granted, I could’a done much worse to him, but all I did was take a little of his strength.”
He lifted his right foreleg up in a low, presenting position so that Twi could see it clearly.
“Now,” he continued, “when I take the power from them, I can always save it for later, stored in my body for emergencies.”
He looked to his foreleg.
“But I can also use it.” 
The veins on his foreleg began coursing up and the muscles along them grew, growing as strong as War’s while still keeping its sinewy look. He continued as his dastardly smile grew.
“It’s why my symbol is a scale with one side full, and the other side empty. ‘Means I can steal as much power as I want…”
He regained his sadistic speech as he continued looking over his now stalwart muscles.
“Make it my own…”
He began standing up, still keeping his sight fixed on the power in his blood.
“I could have enough power to make up a whole other pony…”
He grew louder while turning his gaze upward lightly.
“or ten…”
And louder.
“or a hundred…”
And louder until his gaze was to the sky.
“or a thousand! I could have enough power to rule the world,” he looked to Twi, finishing in a lighter but callous volume with a shifty and crafty tone that made his statement frightfully believable, “and nopony in this world could stop me!”
“Yeah, but as of now,” Doc said uncaringly from the same spot, deepening his gaze as to give further emphasis of his frustration to him, “you won’t. Now are you going to give War his power back before I lose my patience with you, or what?”
Famine’s face grew into a flat, minor frown after looking to Doc as his shoulders sank in a sudden and agitated fashion.
“Sorry mum.” he said mockingly while walking next to the still weakened clydesdale.
He put his left hoof to War’s scalp, replacing his strength as his veins became visible once more, letting the grand amounts of muscle leave his arm and transfer back to his comrade.
“All ya had ta do was bloody well ask.”
After a few more seconds, Famine let his hoof drop and War began getting back on his hooves.
“You okay, big guy?” Famine asked as War was just getting his bearings, only to promptly have War’s large right hoof meet his face with tremendous force and speed, making a grotesque noise on contact and sending the dark steed clear off of the platform.
Everypony except Doc and Finality flinched at the assault, staring at Famine’s body for a few seconds longer after it came to a screeching, but cartoonish halt against the dirt on his back. Yet, a moment later, Famine’s upper body quickly sat up with a happy grin on his face, allowing almost everypony in the group to give a sigh of relief. Famine stood back up, rubbing the left side of his jaw with his hoof and speaking loud enough for everypony to hear.
“Man…two thwomps ta the face in one day?” he looked to everypony happily, saying, “I’m on a roll!”

***
“Well they seemed…nice.” Twi mentioned, attempting to lighten the semi-awkward mood.
She and her friends were now at the caravan’s counter once more. After some last little bits of conversation, the three stallions eventually gave their farewells and left, leaving the group to return to their usual matters. They had gathered at the counter again, Doc on the inside while leaning on it with his elbows. He replied to Twi’s statement bluntly and blankly.
“Believe me Twi, you don’t know them.”
“But they seem fine to me!” she reacted happily.
“Agreed.” Rarity added, “Some of the girls and I spoke to that ‘War’ fellow, and he seemed like a reasonably fine gentlecolt for his size.”
“Yeah,” Pinkie said, “I don’t see why you hate those guys so much.”
“Look,” Doc replied, sounding slightly agitated, merely a way to stop the wave of commentary from coming in before continuing, “I’m glad that you see the good in them, but you don’t know their ways. The only reason they came and apologized is because they realized just who you six really are.”
“What do you mean?” Fluttershy whispered.
“I mean that the only reason they were nice with you today is that they did research on who you gals are. They know of your pasts, and especially that you are their friend.”
He pointed to Twi as he said “you”, grabbing her attention as she noticed herself being made the focal point of the conversation.
“Once they realized that you were one of the Princess’s most personal students,” Doc continued, “they knew that if they messed with any of you in any way, the Princess would crack down on them like a firestorm.”
Twi and her friends looked to each other in concern, acquiring the expressions to match.
“So…” Twi asked timidly, “does that mean that all those apologies and nice things they said were lies?”
“Not necessarily.” Doc replied reassuringly, “Granted, they might have actually been trying to make friends with you all, coming here with peaceful intention. But if you ask me, and I’m honestly the worst pony to ask if you want any positive opinion on them, I just think they’re doing it to kiss up to the Princess. Get on her good side.”
“Wait,” Dash asked after several seconds of everypony putting their hooves to their chin in thought, “so does that mean that Famine guy wasn’t actually hitting on me?” 
“Sorry Dashie,” Doc replied with a smile and dash of humor, “he’s kind of a lady’s colt. He meant it.”
“Ponyfeathers.” she said under her breath.

***
Finality sighed the scent of that cool night’s zephyr as he calmly strode through the snoozing streets of Ponyville, wearing a shady, malicious smile, with just a hint of glad reminiscence. He had been walking amongst the town for some time, in no rush to reach his destination and just taking in the happy country ambience the area had to offer, even in the midst of the night. But after walking amongst town, he had finally reached his desired location, the town square. He saw his old friend’s bright white caravan on the other side of it, straightening his tie gladly before making a silent approach. He made his way to the front door that stood on the left rectangular side, taking in a deep breath before knocking on the door three solid times. He could hear some slight clattering before the sound of hoof steps grew near the door. It quickly opened into the wagon, showing Doc holding the inside handle with one hoof, wearing only his black undershirt and casual blue jeans. As soon as he realized just who was at his door at this hour, he froze. He stood silent and still, waiting to see just which one of these two would make any sort of first move, just as Finality did the exact same.
After several seconds of dead silence, Doc finally spoke, no emotion in his voice as several thousand plans of action rushed through his head.
“Hey.”
“Hello.”
Finality’s smile grew a little wider before he asked in a surprisingly friendly fashion.
“What are you doing?”
Doc looked behind him before turning back and answering flatly.
“Reading.”
“That’s nice.” Finality complimented before looking to the stars as he continued, “A good pass time for these long nightly hours.”
“Thanks.” Doc replied.
A few more seconds went by as they stared each other in the face, Doc’s expression blank while Finality kept his calm, unwavering smile.
“So…” Doc asked, “what’s up?”
“Not much.” Finality replied, “I simply came by to talk with you again.”
“Not to sound like I’m not absolutely giddy to talk with you,” Doc said sarcastically, “but didn’t we do that already?”
“Yes, yes…” Finality replied, “but all we did was argue, we never really spoke. I wished to converse with you on a more…personal level.”
Doc looked to the lower corners of his eyes quickly, then shook his head lightly. 
“Fine.” he said mildly, “If it gets you off my back and lets me get back to my book,” he leaned against the door frame with one crossed foreleg, “shoot.”
“Alright.” Finality pronounced, sounding lightly more encouraged, “To start off, how have you been all this time? We haven’t caught up to you in the last decade. ‘Tis a long time for a pony to change.”
“I’m about as good as I’ll ever be.” Doc replied blankly, “Made some new friends, seen some new places…the usual.”
“Ah Yes.” Finality replied before looking at the scenery around him, “You sure have a knack for picking pleasant locations. I had a quick walk before arriving, and I must say, this town dons some of the best ambience I’ve seen in a while. If not that, it certainly has its own…‘flavor’ to it.”
“Don’t they all?” Doc replied, gaining a smile just before quietly chuckling several times with Finality, like old partners, like real friends.
Doc thought about this for a second, shook his head at the stupid thought of acting like friends around this monster and let his smile drop.
“So what is it you really want?”
“I’m not sure exactly.” Finality responded casually, “I came with the intention of having an actual conversation with you, to see how you are after so long.”
“You’re almost making it sound like you care.”
“But we do.” Finality quickly responded, “I mean, you certainly have been our number one priority all this time.”
“Me working for you has been your number one priority. That’s all you’ve cared about and that’s all you ever will, Death.”
Finality gave a royal, upset puff from his nose, adding another tally to the number of times Doc has called him that in a single day. He quickly let his anger be shrouded by his villainous simper and a partly tense and suppressed tone.
“Well…” he straightened his tie once more, “whatever your thoughts may be, let it be known that we care about you,” he turned around, swiftly and regally, “and that we will stop at nothing until you come to your senses and return to your true family.”
“You aren’t my family.” Doc replied in a deep, cold voice.
He wished to make sure this ball of slime that calls him a friend heard him loud and clear. Finality heard him, waited a moment after smiling, turned his head half way around to look at him and say “Good night Doctor.” before beginning to walk away.
“Oh and Doctor…” Doc heard from Finality as he was half way turned in the doorway, the grey stallion several meters away from the caravan. Doc saw him turn his head lightly to the side, implication that Finality was still talking to him.
“Today was a reprieve from how we normally settle things. Just remember that I won’t be handing those out too often.”
“Whatever.” Doc replied agitatedly, “Just get out of my face and let me think. Damn sandbag.” before promptly closing the door behind him.
Finality only took this act of audacity with a smile and a chuckle as he spoke to himself.
“You haven’t changed a bit Conquest…” but grew more sinister as he grew a dastardly grin and concluded,

“Not…one…bit…”