The ponies were giving me a wider berth as we continued on our way into town. The sun was already setting as we entered the town proper so there were very few ponies on the streets. A good thing, too, considering how cautious ponies are when around something new and strange. Been down that road one too many times. After another few minutes of silent walking, our little group came upon a large tree near the center of Ponyville. “Really, Ponyville? I mean, come on! Trottingham was bad enough!” I shook my head, thinking like that is going to drive me mad, again. Anyway, Twilight gestured to the door.
“Well, here we are,” Twilight said. “This is the Golden Oaks Library, where I live and work. Let’s go in and we can talk a little about you Kat.” I could see her eyes gleaming brightly. Definitely an intellectual. If I didn’t know any better, I would say that she was related to Starswirl. That old coot and his experiments! He always knew how to bring a smile to my face.
“Alright then Twilight. But, mind if I use your kitchen first? I could really go for some food after being ‘stoned’ for so long.” I chuckled at my own stupid joke, but the looks I received in return meant that it went completely over their heads. “Never mind the joke, but I am famished.”
“Sure thing, Kat. Kitchen’s in the back.” She opened the door, allowing me and the other mares to enter first. Though Rainbow stopped Fluttershy from entering.
“We’ll join you girls in a moment. I need to talk to Fluttershy for a moment.” I shrugged and so did the others. Twilight closed the door and I started for the kitchen. I wonder what she has for food. I am still partial to meat, even though it was hard to acquire for a long time. The griffin trade really helped that out. It was a part of their surrender.
Back to the quest at hand, I entered the relatively small domestic kitchen. It looked like a typical one from the fifties back on Earth, even in coloring. White everything: built-in oven (dial, not digital), an old-style microwave on the counter (surprised they advanced that far, honestly), an ice box in the corner, and a refrigerator with a purple tail sticking out of it. Wait, refrigerators don’t have tails. Something was in here with me! That tail looks familiar, actually, it looks like a… dragon’s tail! There was a dragon in Twilight’s kitchen with me!
Cautiously, I activated my hands again, drawing in all of the cutlery in the kitchen to surround the drake. How did I know it was a drake? Well, most don’t know that male and female dragons have different looking tail fins. Males’ are more pointed on the tip, while females’ are smoother. Okay, lesson over, back to me about to skewer a lizard with about a hundred forks and knives. The dragon closed the door and I couldn’t believe what I saw. He had a spoon in one claw, a large tub of chocolate ice cream in the other. The little thing, being that the guy was about as tall as my knee, was stealing ice cream from the fridge. Wait, who keeps ice cream in the fridge?
The drake looked up as he picked up a spoonful of ice cream, only for him to notice his situation. I glared daggers at the creature before I spoke. “Don’t move dragon, I don’t wish to get blood in an acquaintance’s house.” The dragon nodded, scarred out of his mind. “Twilight!” I called out to the main room.
“Yes, Kat?” she yelled back.
“Are you aware there is a dragon in your kitchen, stealing ice cream?”
“What are you talking abo—SPIKE!!” I heard Twilight’s hooves rushing towards me and then I saw her, a frantic look of worry on her muzzle. She brushed passed me into the kitchen, immediately seeing a dragon surrounded by her silverware. “Oh thank Celestia. You didn’t hurt him.” She sighed out a breath of relief and then looked to me. “Kat, this is my assistant and practically my little brother, Spike. Please don’t hurt him.”
“Oh.” Now I look a jerk. I moved all of the sharp, pointy things away from Spike and returned them to their proper places. “Sorry about that Spike. I know that dragons are welcome in certain parts of Equestria, but I have always been cautious around them. I thought you might have been here to harm Twilight, so I reacted. Again, really sorry.”
“Uh, don’t worry about it?” he replied, still a little nervous. “Um, if you don’t mind, what are you?”
I was about to reply, but Twilight beat me to it. “Kat, here, will answer all questions when we return to the main room. Come on, Spike. You can help me gather the materials I’ll need to mark this momentous occasion.” Twilight walked out of the room and Spike began to follow, but Twilight poked her head back in the room. “And put the ice cream back. You don’t need it.”
“Aw rats!” the dragon pouted, complying with her request and walked out of the room, still sulking. I chuckled a little at his pouting, it was humorous. I made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (classic), mostly due to their being nothing but lettuce, tomatoes, and other plant based foods available. I retired to the main lobby where six mares and one dragon awaited me. I saw that Rainbow and Fluttershy had finished their talk and came in to join us. I looked around and noticed a distinct lack of chairs, so I plopped myself down on the floor, opposite of Twilight. Said mare was currently surrounded by several notebooks, papers, and books, with a quill and parchment floating in her magic awaiting to take notes.
“Are we ready to begin?” Twilight asked with a beaming smile. You know, when the ‘scientists’ way back when said that to me, it was incredibly creepy. When Twilight said it, it seemed, I don’t know, pure, I guess? Like a complete lack of malicious intent, I suppose. I don’t know, I’m not a scientist! Practicing theoretical physicist, yes, but only just to understand gravity more. That’s about as far as I go.
“I think so. You don’t mind if I eat while we do this, right?” She nodded and I dug into my sandwich.
“Hey, Kat?” Spike asked while reading one of Twilight’s books. I look up and swallow my bite. “Is this you?” He passed me the book. It was a guide to the myths and legends of Equestria and the page he showed me was my own.
“’Gravity’,” I read aloud. “’A mystical being that at one time was believed to have served under Princess Celestia as a warrior and confidant before disappearing nearly one thousand years ago. Not much is known about this creature only that it was able to manipulate the very force of gravity at will. Many sightings were made during the Dragon War, the Minotaur Skirmishes, and the Griffin War, though none were conclusive. Some even claim to have seen Gravity at the defeat of the great chaos lord, Discord. The last sighting of Gravity was in the aftermath of the Trottingham Massacre, where witnesses claim they witnessed Gravity destroying the attackers of the city, who, to this day, remain anonymous.’” I sighed, once again the memory of that night coming back to haunt me. “Yep, that’s me alright. At least it doesn’t call me a murderer or a monster, I can be thankful for that.”
“So you really were a part of those ancient battles?” Twilight asked me.
“Yes, I was the one who led Celestia and Luna’s troops into battle. At first I was more of a secret weapon and a body guard, but after I defeated the Dragon Emperor on my own, they saw fit to place me in charge of their military. At least on the front lines, that is. Dusty never really approved of me taking militaristic actions, but at least I was helping others and that was all that mattered to me at the time.”
“Could you tell us a little about Dusty?” Fluttershy asked nervously. “If you don’t mind that is.” There it is again. Why is it that that mare seems so familiar? Could I have known one of her ancestors? I wonder which one it was.
“I guess I could.” I really didn’t want to, but I figured that reminiscing about him would be better than just letting the pressure build until I grow a tumor. “Dusty was, well, he was my only friend when I arrived in this land. That cat was always by my side, offering advice, tactics, and suggestions. He was my confidant, my friend, my rock, and my only family. Of course he could get into the fighting spirit himself now and them, especially when others doubted my power, but he was usually the one who would keep me on the right path. Dusty always wanted to hash things out diplomatically, without violence, but even he knew when it was time for talk and time for action. Whenever I began to fall into despair, Dusty was always there for me. No matter what happened, he would always come back. I have seen him squished, stomped on, smacked around, and even blasted by dragon fire and he always just poofed right next to me a moment later, completely unharmed. He was the only constant I had in a world of unpredictability. And then one day, he’s just gone forever.” I felt my fist clenching again, and the tears threatening to fall. “I let it happen again.”
“Let what happen, darling?” asked a concern sounding Rarity.
“You can’t keep blaming yourself for this Kat,” Twilight said comfortingly, interrupting Rarity. “I know you hate the princesses right now, but believe me when I say that they had the best intentions. They weren’t trying to take Dusty away from you, that was a complete accident and they feel horrible for it. The princesses just wanted to make sure you didn’t harm anypony since your powers had begun to act erratically with your increasing age. Your mind was deteriorating, Kat, and it was affecting your powers.”
“That doesn’t excuse what they did Twilight,” I said with anger. “If they were truly my friends, they would have come to me with their concerns. I did nothing to warrant such actions, the only thing close to me letting my powers out of control was Trottingham!” I clasped a hand over my mouth, but it was too late. The girls stared at me with bewilderment and confusion. I stared back in horror, silently praying they didn’t begin to question this.
“Kat,” Twilight started and I knew it wasn’t going to end well. “You mentioned earlier that some creatures called changelings were the ones who attacked Trottingham. I have never heard of such creatures, so I must ask, why is that? What happened at the Trottingham Massacre?”
“I can’t tell you that Twilight. It was one of my weaker moments and I am far from proud of what I did. Maybe I will tell you some day, but not now. Not when I can still hear the children of that night in my nightmares.”
“There it is again,” spoke Applejack who had been silent through this whole thing. Rainbow had been too, but that seemed to be just out a lack of interest. Pinkie was, I don’t even want to know why, but she was too preoccupied licking her hoof. “You constantly mention children over and over again as your reason for fighting. While Ah admit that it’s a noble reason to fight for, it just seems like your might obsessed with it.”
“Applejack, do you have any younger siblings?” I asked in return after a moment’s thought.
“Eeyup, Ah got my little sister, Apple Bloom to look after.”
“What would you do if she were to die in front of you?” I asked bluntly causing many stares at me, though Applejack’s was one of horror and anger.
“You best not be threatin’ mah little sister,” she warned me.
“No, Applejack, I was trying to help you understand what I went through.” The room went cold suddenly, realization coming down upon them all like a ton of ice blocks.
“You don’t mean that…” she started in horror, but couldn’t bring herself to finish, so I did it for her.
“In the accident that took my parents, so too did it take my little brother from me. I watched them die, girls. The reason I was in therapy for so long was because even to the point where I was entombed, I could still hear their screams as they burned alive in front of me while I was powerless to do anything about it.” The ponies were deathly silent, even Pinkie could only gape at me in horror. I suddenly felt a pair of legs wrap themselves around me. I looked down to see that it was the usually bubbly Pinkie who was holding me as hard as she could.
“That’s so sad!!” Pinkie cried out while hugging. “No wonder you got angry when the princesses killed Dusty! It’s the same thing that happened to your family! That’s not right!”
The others must have come to the same realization as I was suddenly the object of a group hug. I just sat and waited for them to be done, I was tired of crying right now. “Thank you for that. I appreciate it, but enough sad talk. Were there any other questions, because I would like to ask one?”
“Oh, go ahead, Kat. It’s only fair that we share what knowledge we have of the past thousand years,” Twilight said waving her hoof dismissively.
“Okay, then I wanted to ask, why were all of you there at the castle with the solar princess? Are you nobles of some kind?”
Twilight giggles a little before answering me. “No, we’re not nobles. You see, Princess Celestia is my teacher and I am her personal student sent here to Ponyville to study the magic of friendship. The girls and I are also the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. We were at the castle to return Discord’s stature back to the Canterlot Gardens after we sealed him away again.”
I think my brain stopped working when I heard that these six ponies were the elements. That was a little too much and now I was a little worried that they were going to seal me away like they did Discord. Then I thought better of it. As Dusty always reminded me, innocent until proven guilty. These mares have done nothing, but be kind to me this entire time, so I need to give them some level of trust in return. It’s only fair.
“That makes some sense I suppose. How did you six become the new bearers of the elements?”
“Actually, Kat, could you show us some of your powers before I answer that? You know, so we can do this as more of a back and forth?”
“Oh, that’s fine. What powers did you want to see?”
“I heard you can fly,” Rainbow said on my left. “Is that true?”
“Well, it’s not really flying, I suppose. It’s more like falling with style.” Again, my reference went, *zoom*, right over their heads. “Anyway, I can redirect my personal gravity field so that I fall in where my shift had gone. You saw me at the castle, right? Well, there I shifted gravity around me to a horizontal slant which caused me to fall away from the castle. I have learned a few tricks which help increase me speed though, since before I just had to rely on my own weight time the force of gravity itself for speed.”
“What about the one you used on my brother?”
“Ah yes, that is one of my original powers called the Stasis Field. Basically, it allows me to use my gravity shift on nearby objects and manipulate theirs as well. It comes in handy for taking packages and troops. It took a long time to be able to pick up things like I did that stallion, though. At first, I could only lift objects up that were in my immediate vicinity. After getting jealous of unicorns and your levitation, however, I decided to focus on turning that power into my own form of a levitation spell. Took nearly twenty years, but I did it!” To prove it, I activated a stasis field around the book nearest Twilight and began to lift it up. “See.”
“That’s amazing!” Twilight beamed excitedly. “There’s not even an aura around it. Simply fascinating. What else can you do?”
“Why don’t we let the rest be a surprise? You still haven’t answered my question, yet?”
“Fine,” Twilight grumbled reluctantly.
Then Twilight went into her whole story about coming to Ponyville after being ordered by Celestia to make some friends, while also supervising the Summer Sun Celebration (whatever that is). She talked about meeting Applejack and her family, Rainbow Dash bawling her over, Rarity fixing her mane after said bawling, Fluttershy obsessing over Spike, and Pinkie’s surprise party at the end of the day. Then came a part I wasn’t prepared for, the return of Nightmare Moon.
“Who or what is a Nightmare Moon?” I asked.
“Oh, that’s right, you were sealed before Princess Luna turned, weren’t you?”
“Turned?”
“You see a few years after your, um, banishment, Princess Luna let her rage take control of her and transformed into Nightmare Moon, a pony bent on making night last for eternity. Princess Celestia was forced to use the Elements of Harmony on her and sealed Nightmare in the moon for a thousand years. It was through facing her that I gained my first friends in the ponies that are around you and we also freed Princess Luna from her hatred.”
“Wow,” I said amazed. “I guess Luna should have been meeting with my therapist too. I know she always felt a little miffed about ponies not caring for her night like I did, but wow! Going bat shit crazy was not how I would have guessed she would have handled it. Only to be defeated in the end by a bunch of young mares. That’s kind of embarrassing when you think about it.”
Twilight giggled nervously. “Yeah, I suppose it is. Does this mean you won’t kill the princesses?” she asked me hopefully. I sighed out loud. Honestly, I didn’t know the answer to that question myself. Did I really want to kill them? After everything we went through, do I really want to make one mistake the whole reason to take back centuries of friendship. I didn’t really know anymore.
Before I could say anything, however, a coin appeared out of nowhere in front of me and landed on the floor with a *klang*. I looked at it incredulously. “Did anyone else see that coin just pop out of thin air?” I asked the ponies around me. They were just as surprised as I was and nodded in response to my question. I stared at the coin for several long moments, but decided ‘ah the heck with it’ and picked it up. “As the saying goes, find a penny, pick it up, and all the day you’ll have good luck.” Coin in hand, I inspected it, though nothing jumped out at me as it being anything other than ordinary old coin. Then a bright flash of light appeared in the center of the room. “So much for good luck.”
Once the light faded, it revealed a new pony in the room. He was an orange-coated unicorn with a black mane that was tipped in gold and an eclipse for a cutie mark. Very unassuming from my end and I just assumed he had goofed up a teleportation spell. Lord knows Starswirl did that almost every other time before he finally mastered that effin’ spell. Then my world had to go and shatter as the pony spoke.
“Hello there, Displaced from Earth. We should have a little talk about your plans for vengeance.”
Wait …what?