//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5-Apple Pie and Fashion 
// Story: Emerald Fires 
// by FolkloreBrony 
//------------------------------//

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Chapter 5- Apple Pie and Fashion
////
The Alicorn woke to a loud ringing in his ears, disorienting him from the world around him, but soon he was able to take in his surroundings. He was in a bed set in a large bedroom with several types of furniture lying around along with an endless amount of books lining the walls, easily enough material to keep somepony busy for a LONG time. Looking down at himself, he saw that there was some kind of mask that covered his mussel, its surface transparent so that he could see his breath moving inside of it when he exhaled, fogging the inside. Not only that, but noticed a small metal collar that had been placed around his neck, but when he tried to take it off, he found that it was held in place by a locking mechanism, ensuring that it stayed put. Sighing into the mask, his eyes scanned around the room, processing everything that came into view, until his attention was drawn to a group of medical instruments that, unknown to him, were keeping a close tab on his health. His eyes started to follow the many tubes that were connected to the metal boxes and was horrified to see that they ended with needles that were inserted into his body.

He started to panic. He had no understanding of want these accursed boxes were or want they were doing to him, and he didn’t like it. Only one thought ran through his mind, and it was that he had to get them out.

He tried to sit up, only to gasp as pain shot through his body, sending him into a world of agony that in his whole life had never experienced. He felt like he was going to vomit.

It took a few minutes for him to regain his composure, taking his time to go over his situation before he attempted to try that route again, hoping that he would have better luck on a second try. But once again, he found that any movement made the pain intensify, sending the unpleasant sensation up and down his spine.

He would have given up if it hadn’t been for his pride, forcing him to push all feelings aside as a surge of determination shot inside of him. ‘No, I can’t give up’ he told himself. He had never conceded to anypony in his life, and he sure as hell wasn't going to start now, especially to a soulless machine! So building up all the strength that he had, he shut his eyes tight and gritted his teeth as he shot straight up in his bed for the third and final time.

The intense pain that rocketed through him made the world circle around him, the extremity of it nearly causing him to black out again. He wanted to scream, but he assumed that whoever had placed him in this nightmare would likely be close by, and he really didn’t want to take his chances in his present condition. However, the pain dulled down to a sharp aching sensation, allowing him to use all of his focus to rid himself of the tubes attached to his arms, wincing as blood trickled out of the tiny wounds that the needles had made.

The stallion through the tubes on the ground, but as he began to remove the sensors, he was caught off guard when one of the machines, which had been monitoring his heart rate a moment ago, started humming loudly as the rhythm on the monitor flat-lined. And though he didn’t fully understand why, the noise it made was pissing him off.

“Shut. UP!” he hissed out as his hoof slammed into the monitor screen, sending several sparks to fly off its surface as the innocent machine was completely demolished, falling silent with a sharp, metallic screech.

Satisfied that the metallic menace was destroyed, he jumped off the bed onto the floor and walked across the room to a beautifully furnished dresser that had a mirror mounted on the top, anxious to get a good look at himself.

The stallion gasped as he stared at his reflection, studying the many scars that ran down his body. He now fully understood why he felt like crap; his right eye was bloodshot while his left was covered in bandages with a scar clearly visible despite the cloth. His mane was a mess, along with a leg that hurt when he stood on it, concluding that it was probably broken. Looking at his sides, he noticed that both of his wings were set in a type of cast, but what he considered to be the worst was the SCARS. His entire body was covered in scars, making him look a little too monstrous for his taste. However, before he could become too upset with his looks, his mind was drawn towards a new problem that reared it’s ugly head as all thought was focused down into his stomach.

He was starving.

“Well, we know how to fix that, don’t we?” he said quietly to himself, as he walked to the door, turned the knob, and stepped out into this new world that he had entered.
////
“So, you in or out, Flash?” the guard beside him asked.

Flash Sentry sat around the kitchen at a table along with three other guards, studying the cards in his hooves. Twilight had ordered them to watch over the alicorn upstairs while she and the elements of harmony dealt with some business in Canterlot, and order that he was not willing to disappoint. However, standing over a comatose pony in a make-shift hospital room for hours on end had its limits, and so they had decided to go downstairs and play a game of poker. But just to play it safe, Flash had taken out a magic-canceler and placed it on him. Twilight had warned him that the alicorn had displayed an incredible ability for advanced magic, and he wasn't going to take any chances.

Iron Shield stared at him impatiently while he tried to plan his next move, but was disgusted to find that his hand was a total lost cause, again. Huffing, he laid he cards face down on the table, conceding to his losses, “I'm out, dude.”

Iron Shield looked at him sympathetically, knowing that he had been able to get his hooves on a decent set of cards the whole game. Turning, he faced with a bit of discontent to the one pony that no pony was liking at the moment: Platinum.

“Alright, what do you have?” he asked rather coldly.

Platinum sat proudly at the end of the table with his hindlegs plopped on its surface, looking at everypony with a big ugly grin. Platinum had somehow been able to win almost every game that they had started, and he sat there fiddling with his winnings like they were trinkets, and no pony was sure if he just had a bad habit of handling things or if he was deliberately toying with them.

Looking up, he simply stared straight and smiled, “Pass.”

This surprised everypony. Maybe there was hope that somepony else could win in the confounded game. Turning to gaze at Blazing Armor, Flash and Iron waited anxiously for him to reveal his hand, hoping for some change in the tide.

Looking rather pleased with himself, Blazing Armor placed his cards on the table for everypony to see, “Two Jacks, two Queens.”

Flash Sentry and Iron Shield sighed triumphantly at his set, even though that they had lost a good amount of money, they were relieved that Platinum hadn't won.

“Ha! I guess that it's not your lucky day, after all, Platinum!” Blazing laughed before looking at Platinum's blank expression, “Hey, what was your hand, anyway”

“Oh, just this.” Platinum placed his cards down, a grin spreading across his face as they all realized just exactly what he had, his whole hand consisting of four kings and a five of hearts.

“Sorry.”

The anger that fueled Blazing Armor was channeled into his arm, which he slammed onto the counter of the table, “How the hell do you keep winning?! No pony's THAT lucky!” he spat, coming within an inch of Platinum's face.

But Platinum stood his ground, not even blinking at Blazing's sudden outburst, “Temper, Temper.” he said calmly with a grin, “I would suggest that you bottle it for now and let it out on the battlefield if we ever go to one. It might save your life.”

Blazing would have retaliated, but was cut off by Flash, looking at Platinum oddly, “You know platinum, he's right. You HAVE been winning a lot here lately. You wanna maybe explain that?”

Platinum just stared at him, shaking his head in a care-free state, “I guess I'm just better at this game than the rest of you.”

“Maybe.” Flash then revealed his hand, everypony looking at it curiously. In it, one card, in particular, standing out from the rest. A five of hearts.

“Or maybe poker's not the only thing your good at.”

“Now wait, wait, wait! There's a perfectly good explanation for this!” Platinum rose in a panic, quick to defend himself.

“Oh really, because this is MY deck, and I don't keep extra cards in it.” Flash and the rest began to get up from the table, moving closer to him, “So if I take a look in those cards, I'm not gonna find anything out of place, am I?”

But apparently, Blazing Armor had the same idea, quickly going for the first card at the top of the deck, which also happened to be the king of spades.

“Why you cheating, lying, son of a-!”

Blazing grabbed him faster than lightning, and before any of them knew it, both stallions were on the ground with their hooves on each other, one trying to get away and the other hoping for an attempted murder.

Grabbing Platinum by the throat, Blazing raised his other hoof in the air with the full intention of bloodying his nose, “You're luck just ran out, you-!

Crash!

Everypony was startled by the sound of glass shattering on the ground, their heads turning to see what had caused the disturbance. To their horror, behind them, leaning on a stand that had displayed an old antic vise, stood the alicorn that they had been ordered to watch, huffing and wheezing from his journey down the stairs. Everypony froze to look at this new resident, who had lost his balance and knocked over the vise in an attempt to prevent his fall, eyeing them cautiously, unsure of what to do next.

“How the hell did he get out of his room?!” Iron Shield shouted frantically, immediately picking up his spear by instinct, “I thought he was in a coma!”

Standing as a group, they all slowly made their way towards the alicorn, who upon realizing their intention quickly began to panic.

“P-P-Ple-assss-e, d-dooo-nn-t-” was all he could say at the moment, barely letting it out in a whisper, having too much difficulty speaking their language now.

The soldiers moved cautiously, unsure if it was safe to be confronting him on their own. But Flash Sentry suddenly grew more confident, upon remembering what laid around his neck, “Guys, we can take him! He's completely helpless with that collar on!” he announced, drawing their attention to the magic-canceler that had been placed on him.

Smiling comfortably, they all made their way to him at a normal pace, not feeling the need to keep their guard up. That soon ended, however, when the alicorn stood up in a defensive position, the horn on his head glowing brightly as it was amped up with magical energy. Frowning disappointingly at them, he closed his eyes as the final spark in his horn lit.

“I'm s-sorrrr-ry.” he said, before firing his spell at them.

“What the-!?!”

FLASH!
////
The streets of Ponyville were crowded as the alicorn made his way from the castle, taking in everything that came into his view, and though everything that caught his attention would have normally brought a smile to anypony's face, he was left feeling depressed. Deep inside he felt a small pang of guilt for paralyzing the guards. He hadn't actually harmed them, however, he would have preferred to have made it out of that situation peacefully, but they really hadn't given him much of a choice.

But that didn't matter now, what MATTERED was finding something to fill his empty stomach, and that's exactly what he intended to do, looking around into each individual food-stand, booth, and cart that was set up in the make-shift marketplace that he was in, while keeping an eye on any and every pony that happened to look in his direction, cautious of any unwanted attention.

Not that any pony actually GAVE him any, to begin with. Before he had left the castle, he had taken the time to have a second good look at himself in a mirror, quickly taking note that a blooded-up alicorn that towered over everypony else, walking blindly through a town whose residents had hooked him up to strange metal boxes, all while taking the risk that one of these evil ponies would recognize him, was probably not the closest thing to a wise and logical course of action. So in the light of this, he had cast a concealment spell that he had learned from a small hive of such nice changelings, so many years ago. He wondered if there were any of them left. So now he was just walking around town in the form of a light-gray unicorn with a solid black mane, his height now barely exceeding any other stallion on the street, if only by an inch or two.

Of course, he wasn't entirely successful in keeping under the radar, as he had been the temporary focus of the occasional inquisitive mare or stallion, commenting their convictions of never seeing him before, and by proxy wanted to welcome him to their town. That was how he had learned of where he was, the facts being that he was now presiding in the Provence of Ponyville, a rural community somewhere in the Kingdom of Equestria, a country that he was unfamiliar with. However, because he recognized some of the geological characteristics of the landscape, he deduced that he was somewhere near the ancient city of Tar-La-Mina, a revelation that brought a lot of pain to his heart.

Fortunately, he wasn't able to dwell on his unhappiness for long, as his senses were soon flooded with a delightfully pleasant aroma, quickly drawing his attention away from the past to an apple-stand set up off to the right of him in the present.

So he decided to walk over and look around, studying the many different verities of apples on display, gazing hungrily towards the jugs of juices, ciders, and the display-case filled with a bazaar of pastries showing off to any passerby.

"Well howdy there, partner!" a deep, southern voice said, suddenly out of the blue.

The disguised alicorn looked up with a jerk, startled by the sudden presence of a large red earth-pony smiling at him from behind the counter, his big green eyes giving a friendly atmosphere to him.

"Sorry, didn' mean ta spook ya." he chuckled softly, giving him a warm smile.

"Oh, um...hello." the colt mumbled weakly, still finding it a bit difficult to speak this new and unfamiliar language.

The red stallion eyed his uneasiness, but dismissed it, “If y'all just give me a sec', I'll ten' ta ya after I get some business aside.” With that he turned his back on him, allowing the alicorn to breathe a sigh of ease.

By no means was he made nervous by the integrity of his deception or the possibility of this colt seeing through his illusion, he was too old and had used it on too many occasions to be swiped away by that kind of foolishness. But his inability to master the common tongue of these ponies would be the death of him. If he got careless and started speaking in his native language, he would likely be discovered, and all hell would break loose.

An idea however suddenly popped into his head. His mind reverted back into an earlier part in his life when he had been invited by his youngest brother to live among a group of nomad ponies from the Frozen Waste, ponies who at that time had not spoken the same language that was used throughout the rest of the realm, but they had developed a spell that they had been more than willing to share with him which could translate anything that was said between the user and the receiver into something that they could both comprehend. And more importantly, it would go completely unnoticed.

Quickly casting his spell, the unicorn looked over the counter to see if the southern pony was coming back. But seeing that he was busy with some mare, and by the way that they were speaking they would probably be in the conversation for a while, he simply decided to just sit there on the ground, and politely wait his turn.
////
Thank ya kindly for yer purchase, hope ta see ya again!” Big Mac said proudly as he handed the bag of apples to Ms. Cherilee, smiling as she walked away. Turning his head back to the second counter, he was a bit surprised to find that the unicorn wasn't there. But when he looked over the counter ledge, he found him with his back leaning on the stand, “Sorry fer the wait, mister. Wha' can I do ya fer?” he asked.

The unicorn, however, didn't respond, making Macintosh wonder if he had heard him, “Umm...Mister?” he said with a little more volume, shaking him by the shoulder as he did so.

As if he had been sleeping(which he had), the unicorn's head shot upwards, startled by the sudden inquiry made by the red earth-pony. Big Mac looked at him rather closely, noting the dazed expression on his face as he got himself to his hooves, making him feel a little uncomfortable.

“Sir, ya feelin' alright?” he asked, genuinely feeling concerned.

“What?” he said slowly, shaking his head profoundly, “Oh, um...y-yes, yes I'm fine, just, just feeling a little light-headed.”

“Ya sure? Cause it looks ta me that yer gonna hurl. Ya like me ta-”

“NO! No, its nothing to worry about.” he said quickly, doing his to avoid any eye-contact, “I've just been...going through a lot lately.”

Macintosh nodded understandably and dropped the subject, not wanting to pry into his personal affairs.

“So, is there anythin' I can get ya?”

The unicorn took a quick glance at the jugs lined up in the back of the stand, “Is that cider you have back there.”

“Eup, homemade too. Ya wantin' some?” Big Mac asked.

The unicorn sighed, looking up rather awkwardly, “That depends. Is it hard?”

The red farm-pony looked at him for a moment before leaning under the counter, pulling out a clear bottle of cider and setting it on the plywood, the liquid inside reflecting the light of the sun like crystal, “It'll cost ya extra, now.”

“It's worth it.” the unicorn said before using his magic to materialize a large sack beside him, the loud clanking inside suggesting that it was filled with money.

Big Mac didn't know why, but something didn't seem right about this stallion. There was just a feeling he got when he looked into his eyes, something that said that he was the type of pony that had been traveling from hell and back his entire life. But he decided to toss his thoughts aside and handed the bottle to him. He was greatly alarmed when the unicorn, taking the bottle and placing the cork in his teeth, pulling and spitting it out, brought the brim to his mouth and choked down half the bottle.

“Wow there, partner! Ya need ta take this stuff slowly,” Macintosh said, reached out with his hoof, “Don' wanna get crocked in the middle of the day, do ya?” he chuckled, until falling silent when the unicorn took the bottle from his mouth and stared at him with a cold glance.

But then he broke out with a soft snicker, taking his eyes off of Big Mac and looked back down to the ground. He hadn't realized just how thirsty he had been until the liquid had come into contact with his tongue, “You're right. Sorry, haven't exactly had a decent meal in a while.”

“Well, we can fix that, I reckon.” Macintosh grinned as he turned to one of the crates, “How 'bout some farm-grown apples?”

“Sure, I think four will do.”

Big Mac nodded and grabbed the fruit from the crate, placing them on the table, “Tha'll be about eight bits.” he smiled.

But his smile soon faded when the unicorn started to take the coins out of his bag, his eye quickly noticing the unfamiliar currency, “Wow, wait a sec,” he said, picking up a coin to inspect it, “Wha kind of coin is this?”

The unicorn immediately froze in place, giving him a severely worried look, “W-Why? What's wrong with it?”

“What's wrong with it? I don' even know wha kind of currency it is!” Macintosh's voice raised in volume, making the unicorn look even more frightened, “I can' make enough profit for my family with this, it's worthless!” he spat, throwing the coin back on the table.

“B-B-But-”

“But nothin'! Get outta here before I-” Macintosh paused.

Looking more closely at the unicorn, his eyes went as wide as saucers as he looked at his stomach. At first glance, everything seemed normal. But on closer inspection, watching his body moving from side-to-side, he could see the bones sticking out in the skin, changing Big Mac's emotions away from being angry with a no good trickster trying to get his hooves on a free snack to having compassion on a starving neighbor. Usually, he was a pretty level-headed guy, but sometimes he really could make a jerk out of himself with his temper, the one trait that he could share with his sister, and he felt foolish for judging this pony so quickly. He was obviously malnourished, no question about that, and if he turned him away nopony in town would give him any charity. As bad as he needed the money, his upbringing wouldn't allow him to turn a pony in need away.

Turning aside, Big Mac looked at the starved pony out from the corner of his eye, “Ya know, now that I come ta think of it, I reckon I recall seein' some of those same coins bein' tossed around by them Crytal Empire folk visitin' a few months back.” he laid, hoping that the unicorn would catch on to his vibe, a smile spreading across his lips as he did so.

And he did, his own smile growing on his face while his tail began to sway from left to right excitingly, reminding Macintosh of Wenona waiting for a treat back on the farm.

Macintosh almost lost it right then and there, holding back his laughter to continue speaking, “Ya know, I think we can do somethin' better than just apples.” Mac smirked before opening up the pastry box, pulling out one of Granny Smith's apple pies, freshly baked earlier that morning.

The unicorn only looked at the pastry questionably before looking back up to Mac, “What is this?”

That nearly gave the red earth-pony a heart attack, “Oh, come off it, ya know a pie when ya see one.”

But the unicorn only shook his head in disagreement. The only thing that Big Mac could do in response was raising an eyebrow at him like he was an alien, “Where's the rock ya been livin' under all these years?” he asked sarcastically.

“Oh...um, I-I-” the unicorn stammered over himself, growing more nervous by the second.

“Hey, don' sweet it, ya don' have ta explain yerself ta me. Ask ya no question, ya tell me no lies, right?” he smiled at him.

That seemed to relax the unicorn, resting his shoulders that had tensed up just a few moments before, while Big Mac cut him a piece.

“Here, try this.” Mac placed the slice of pie on a plate with a fork and pushed it towards the unicorn. He looked at it for a moment, then levitated the fork over to cut himself off a sizable proportion before placing it into his mouth.

The unicorn's eyes widened as he chewed the mouth-full slowly. The flavor was like nothing he had ever tasted before, the blend of ingredients bringing a warm comfort to all his troubles as he swallowed. When it hit his stomach, he was shaken by a violent rumble down in his gut, bringing a sense of just how hungry really he was.

So he abandoned his fork and quickly devoured the remainder of the pastry, not really caring if the work-pony in front of him saw him as a slob or not, licking and smacking his lips at the remaining crumbs left behind from his messy eating.

“So I take it that ya like it?” Mac smiled at the enthusiasm exhibited by his eating habits.

The unicorn nodded eagerly, before looking at his bag, “How much is this going to cost?”

“Well, the cider's four bits a bottle, an' each slice of pie comes ta about two bits, but I suppose that since yer a new costumer, I can spare y'all plus the rest of the pie for about ten.”

A loud rumble from the pit of his stomach was all the response that Macintosh needed to hear, taking out seven more coins from the bag before handing it back to him along with the rest of the pastry. The unicorn thanked him for his kindness before he turned and walked on his way, levitating his well-earned prize alongside himself. Mac watched him as he left and then stared down at the worthless coins on the counter, frowning at the foreign language on its surface that he began to aimlessly work to spell out.

He had no idea that he had just made the greatest business deal of the century.
////
The stallion walked happily down the street while enjoying a mild autumn afternoon breeze, eating his meal eagerly as he basked in all that Ponyville had to offer. He was truly impressed. For a small town, it was surprisingly busy with ponies running here and there as they went about their daily lives, and the abundance of larger infrastructures, both for business and royal dignitaries, was almost a contradiction. However, as far as he was concerned this was considered normal. So many things had changed since he had been separated from this world, but by his observation, he was greatly relieved by everything he saw, and he had high hopes in what the changing times had to offer, with the appearance of a better world than the one he left.

As he rounded a corner, he was amazed to find a second castle erected in the small proceeds of this town. He had not been too surprised by the one that had been made his prison; he was well aware of the origins of the Castle of Harmony and the tree that was its seed and foundation. His second youngest brother was an expert in plants and how they worked, and the same process had been used frequently in the ancient cities.

But as he got closer he could feel the lingering magic of a darker force, something that he was naturally sensitive to. Looking up to the great towers that stood as monoliths over the town, he took note of every detail of its design, from the black mortar that had been used as the building blocks for it's walls, to the ominous, dreadful forms and likenesses of ponies that had been carved for the railings as gargoyles, the twisted wickedness in their expressions displaying the corrupted minds that had seen to it's construction. Turning away, he saw that the iron gates to its inner court were held under lock and chains. Walking over to peer inside, he soon realized that whoever had made the place a reality had long since vanished, as he gazed at the autumn leaves and the withered vines that grew around the base and up along the sides of the walls and the ordinate fountain in the middle of the court, cracks beginning to form on the statued pony by means of neglect. But still, that dark presence remained, and studying the ponies that would pass by it, he could feel their fear as they hurried along, lowering their faces as if the castle would destroy any who dared looked upon its walls.

Deciding that it was time to move on, the alicorn walked along the avenue when he came across a large cylindrical building set up just two houses ahead on the street corner. What got his attention was that the building was ordained with fabrics and small expert cut jewels that hung on the overhangs like little chandeliers. Trotting up to the front of the store, he gazed at a sign that had been placed outside its entrance that read “Carousel Boutique”, before the menswear displayed in the widows called out to him and grabbed his attention, looking admiringly at the unique designs woven into the casual wear, dresses, coats, and suits that littered the widows of the building, then looking down at himself, he moaned when he realized he had nothing on. Now, he wasn't what you would call a 'flashy' pony, nor was he really that concerned whether he wore a suit or not, but he never truly felt comfortable unless he was wearing something that would cover his subconscious nakedness, and he would be completely satisfied with something simple like a neckerchief or a carrying bag hung around his shoulders. That perked him up a bit, the idea of getting one of those for himself, being able to carry things around him without having to use magic. He laughed at himself, realizing just how much he was getting involved with the idea. It was amazing how old habits tended to be hard to get rid of.

So the unicorn decided that he should have a look inside, a little bell ringing above his head as he opened the door, drawing his head up to look at it for a moment. But when he looked back down, he gasped at the decorum around the shop, looking anxiously at the mannequins with different suits and dresses, beginning to pick and choose what he liked, wondering who's creativity had inspired these magnificent fabrics.

“I'll be right with you, darling.”

The sudden call from the back room left him a bit startled by a greeting that he had not expected, and would have mentally kicked himself for forgetting that a store would have a manager running the place. But at the moment he was puzzled by the familiarity he had with the voice, even developing a slight headache just trying to wrap his mind around his confusion. But his confusion was quickly turned into horror when he was greeted by a white unicorn, whose runny make-up made the fact of her crying evident, even though she had made the attempt to clear them away. She looked at him with a weak smile, one that wasn't returned. Looking around the store, she quickly made an effort to take the focus off herself, “Oh, I don't think I've seen you around in Ponyville before. Was there something that you would like for me to do for you today?” she asked.

But he just stood there transfixed on the mare in front of him, the fear inside of him slowly transforming into anger. This was the same mare that had accompanied the group chasing after his previous host, the same one who had been able to bring the dragon to consciousness momentarily, this 'Rarity' who was somehow involved with his imprisonment. Pain shot through his skull as he tried to remember more details of what happened, but everything was fuzzy, the only thing accomplished in his attempt to recollect was in intensifying his headache. It was odd, she didn't seem like the type of pony who would comment such a heinous act against another pony, but he knew all too well, that appearances can be deceiving. If anything, he was determined to discover the reason why she had done those 'horrible' things to him.

Cocking an eyebrow at his dark expression, Rarity to a step back, “Is everything...alright, sir?” she asked uneasily.

“No, just the opposite,” he said slowly. Casting a new spell, a field of magic surrounded both himself and the now panicked mare who tried desperately to get away through one of the backrooms but was held inside by his magic's blue glow, looking at her with a heavy frown. Then, after she had stopped going at the wall that now surrounded the entire room in a feeble attempt to escape, she turned to face him, caught in his immediate gaze.

“Ms. Rarity,” he said calmly but harshly, taking a step closer to her, “You and I need to have a little talk.”

“You better not try anything!” she shouted, trying to intimidate him, “I'll have you know, that I am well acquainted with the Canterlot royalty, my friends and I are the barriers of the Elements of Harmony, and I will not be bullied by some ruffian, so whatever your intentions are you can just forget them! And it would be wise if you tell me who you are! She threatened.

Frowning, another glow emitted from his horn, as he looked at her hatefully, “Telling you will take too long for what I have to say, and I think you will know my intentions when you realize just who I am.”

Rarity's eyes shot opened as a blue flame trailed down his horn and onto his body, while a wheel of fire circled around him. The flame began burning away the gray coat and flesh from his head, quickly spreading along the length of his torso and down his legs. But no scream of pain came from him, he only closed his eyes as the fires stripped away the last remaining evidence that the gray unicorn had ever existed, revealing his true identity as the white alicorn that had lived shortly under its disguise.

“Hello.” he addressed her with a fetched smile.

He smiled quickly became replaced with panic when Rarity's fears were overtaken by rage, as she began to throw everything that she could find at him, dodging around to avoid being hit by the flying brushes, hairspray canisters, scissors, yarn balls, and mannequins that came his way.

“You BASTARD!!!” she screamed at him with dagger-eyes, “How DARE you come in here and threaten me, after everything that you have done?! You stole one of the elements, you tried to kill my friends, and you brainwashed Spike! Why are you even HERE!?!”

“I'm sorry! I'm SORRY!” he cried, moving his head to avoid a potted-plant that zoomed past him, barely missing him by an inch. Had he really done all that? He knew that the enchantment holding his consciousness in the altar had been forceful, but he had never considered it in any way dangerous, but here she was, accusing him of horrible deeds. No wonder they had treated him so cold-heartedly. “I didn't mean for it to turn out that way!” he said, coming out into the open where she could see him, “I would have returned your friend Spike back to you unharmed, and I can't remember if I was attempting  to end you're friends lives or not, but you have to believe me, I would never do something like that in my right state of mind!”

Rarity froze, ending her onslaught to hear what he had to say, “I couldn't fully control what I did and didn't do. It wasn't even me, it was a spell, Rarity. A spell created upon our basic instinct to survive. It was made for the purpose of luring a dragon with no prejudice or favor, and get him to do whatever it took, even if it meant turning upon his friends and family in the event that they tried to stop him, in order to release me from that stone nightmare! Out of all the dragons in the world with their mentality for being uncooperative brutes, how was I to know that the one that would activate the enchantment would be one of the good guys? Tell me that!”

Sighing, the alicorn lowered his head, “I know I've wronged you and your friends, and I'm sorry, I really am. Maybe I deserved the punishment you gave me, locking me away in the castle, left to be experimented on with those strange machines and the needles in my arms.” he admitted, though cringing at the thought of going back there, “But fighting isn't going to solve anything between us, so can we at least start from the beginning and talk?”

Rarity looked at him closely, part of her wanting to continue throwing everything she had in the store at him. But the other part could see the sincerity of his apology in his eyes, and she felt that he was probably a good pony deep down. He was even accepting a punishment that had not been given to him.

She also wanted answers. She would have a better chance of learning something from him if she made him feel comfortable around her, but more importantly, she wanted to know how he had made himself look so healthy. She had seen him lying on his bed just a few days before, so beaten and bruised that he looked more like a slab of meat torn around in the dirt by a pack of greedy, slobbering wolves. But now he was almost fully healed, save for the more severe scars on him and a limp that he had in his back-leg. Even his left eye that Dr. Heartstrings had removed had grown back, just as functional as the right.

She had to turn away for a moment, realizing that she had been staring at him longer than what she thought was proper or comfortable. But she DID acknowledge that he was indeed handsome, though she didn't like to think of him in that manner. Mature and strong, he had high cheek-bones and a hard, stern look in his gaze. He had made himself smaller, as he had been significantly taller than herself the night that they had confronted him, but now he stood only about a good foot or more than herself, which was larger than he had been as a unicorn, but nowhere NEAR what he had been on that night, weighing at a size somewhere between Caramel and Big Macintosh.

“Fine.” she finally said, giving the alicorn what he needed for some relief.

“But,” she turned to face him, eyes glaring coldly, “If your lying and try anything that would endanger another pony again, I don't care if you ARE an alicorn, I promise that being turned to stone again will be the least of your worries when I'm done with you, understand?”

His eyes widened, nodding in agreement. She gave a cocky smile, proud that she had been able to scare him, “And, incidentally, you weren't being punished, darling. You were being held under medical surveillance because of how bad a shape you were in, and those machines were there for your benefit.”

Now he really felt stupid.

“Well, I think I'll make us some tea if that's alright with you. That way we can at least be civil while we talk over this.” she headed towards the kitchen, then stopped to look at him, “I'm sorry. You seem to know my name well enough, but I've completely forgotten to ask you your?”

He looked down at his hooves sheepishly, a little nervous to be giving away that information. But he realized that it was trivial to be conflicted over something so irrelevant. It had been so long ago that nopony would have any reason to be afraid of what he was, the memory of his life had long been forgotten by everypony but himself by the sands of time.

“My...my name is Novis.”
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