I'm surprised Spike hasn't been saying anything for the last five minutes. Our walk home was calm as can be for the most part, yet I expected a few more questions right now. He thought questions could wait, I guess. The Everfree was a dangerous place, and neither of us wanted to linger. Whatever was on Spike's mind would go unmentioned for a while if I didn't coax it out of him.
"So, a bit for your thoughts?" I asked.
"Is it okay if I start asking questions now?"
"Shoot."
"Okay," Spike took a moment to think of whatever seemed most appropriate to ask first. "So how do you know where Twilight's soul is? Can you see it or something?"
"Or something, yes." I answered. "It took a long time for me to figure it out, but I needed to study divinations for a while before I had the necessary skill to find her soul manually."
"Didn't you have any magical talent before?"
"I didn't even know magic was real about seven months ago. I had to learn the basics before I could even study real spells."
"How basic are we talking here?"
"So basic that I didn't even know how to access my latent magical energies."
Spike sucked in a sympathetic breath. "Wow, even unicorn foals know how to do that."
"Can you blame me? My world has spent so many centuries publicly executing people even suspected of having magic that most people think it's a myth."
"Really? Magic is so taboo that it warrants murder?" Spike asked, stunned.
"Not any more, if you live in a civilized country. Nowadays it would just net you a million bucks from James Randi."
"Who's that?"
"A pretty famous street magician. Don't let that title fool you though, he doesn't use real magic. It's just sleight of hand and misdirection when he does it."
"Oh. So you had to start from scratch?"
"That's right. Heh, since we lived so close to this place, I primarily focused on combat spells for a while. I'm kinda glad I didn't need-" I stopped myself right there, not wanting to jinx myself.
"What's wrong?" Spike asked with worry.
I darted my senses around us, trying to make sure I didn't just tempt fate at the worst possible time. The area around us was completely still. "Nothing, I hope. I almost tempted the humor of our cruel universe into ripping me a new one. You hear or see anything?"
Spike looked around. "No... " His face scrunched up. "But what's that smell?"
I took a whiff of the air and regretted it. Yeah, what was that smell? "It smells like roadkill."
"What's roadkill?"
"The decaying corpse of a disemboweled animal sitting in the sun on my world's paved roads."
"Ew, your world sounds awful!"
"Yeah, tell me about it." Wait, this smell really did smell like roadkill. Did something die? "Did you pass a corpse on the way here?"
"No, this smell is new."
Odd, where did this come from? I tried to trace the smell, but I couldn't. It seemed as if its source surrounded us. I almost tempted fate and a new, bothersome smell appeared on the path.
I sighed dejectedly. "Hey, ten opals says we're surrounded right now."
"Surrounded? By what?"
A nearby bush rustled. "Whatever made that sound." I lit my horn. "As much as I sarcastically love being the universe's favorite punching bag, I think I'd rather strike first. Hold on tight." I let loose the power built in my horn, making a spike of hardened earth shoot into the bush at an angle. The spike hit something, eliciting a pained bark.
Since I expected a group to surround us, I prepared to leap away from the inevitable counter-attack. Dark brown figures leaped from the surrounding wilderness as expected, so I hurled myself toward my rocky spike. I grabbed hold of it and channeled more power into it, raising it above the ground. We looked back to face our foes. Angry wooden wolves smashed together and recovered to glare hungrily at us, eyes glowing green with unnatural power. Three of the beasts lowered themselves into predatory stances.
"Right on cue; Timberwolves." I griped. If I recalled correctly, these creatures were formed by angry spirits that hunted not for food, but needless slaughter. Where do you think that horrid smell comes from? It's not like they digest anything they eat.
Assuming the noise I attacked earlier was another Timberwolf, we were being assaulted by four of them. This was troublesome to say the least, as I wouldn't be able to outrun them. Without some kind of teleportation to safely evacuate, I had to fend them off. Not that easy when their only motivation is angry murder.
I levitated Spike off my back and placed him near the top of the spike. I quickly conjured a lavender sphere around Spike to keep him out of harm's way. "That bubble should keep you safe. I'll have to fight these things off."
Spike was panicking at the sight of the monsters that confronted us. "B-be careful!"
I turned back in time to see one of the wolves jumping up at me. Because of my miscalculation of their athletic ability, it smacked me aside. I landed hard on the ground below and rolled to my hooves.
I've fought groups before, and I've fought dogs before, but there was no way I'd be able to handle three to one odds as I was. If I was to be outnumbered, I needed an edge. My horn flared with power and morphed my form into the familiar bipedal structure of a human. Hopefully this form would provide me with the versatility I'd need to survive.
The wolves converged around me. The wolf I faced directly charged at me with its wooden fangs bared. I juked to the side and grabbed its head, throwing it past me with only a scratch from its outstretched claw digging into my stomach. While that wolf rolled by, the wolf now behind me raked its claw into my back. I staggered away from the attack and powered a spell into my hand, unleashing a concussive blast just in time to shatter the opposite wolf before it could pounce at me.
I turned to the wolf behind me as it swung another claw at me. It raked into my arm when I tried to brace into it, but I prevented it from knocking me to the ground. I threw a fist into its face, burying my hand into its fragile head and displacing the wood debris into it. My hand was covered in nasty scratches from the attack, but I couldn't let up because of a little pain.
Two of the wolves I saw collapsed into rubble, but the last one wasn't out of the fight yet. It went for a second charge, one I was prepared to counter with another blast of magic. It collapsed like the others with its bits and pieces littering the forest floor.
I took a deep breath and took stock of my wounds. A lot of the deeper cuts would scar for sure, but I didn't think a full recovery was out of the question. I waved up at Spike with a smile. "Got 'em!"
"Behind you!" He yelled.
I spun to face what he indicated. Bits and pieces of one of the wolves levitated in the air of their own volition and resumed their previous shape as a snarling beast.
Shit, I forgot they could do that.
I took a cautious step back, which it took as an opening. It pounced at me with murderous intent. With a quick lift of my glowing hand, a column of hardened earth shot up into the wolf's underside, launching the beast past me and slamming into the unforgiving earth to crumble like a house of cards.
Before my eyes, the other two wolves formed up as well. They rushed in opposite directions to flank me. Both of my hands lit with arcane power, which I unleashed at the both of them. Explosive forces shattered them instantly.
I spun once more to face the first wolf, as it was reforming again. I needed some way to destroy them for good, or they would just keep coming like this until I ran out of steam. I'd love to use one of my fire spells, but that wouldn't be a good idea for this environment. One missed firebolt and the battlefield becomes a wildfire! Much easier to escape, but comes with its own host of problems. I could use a touch spell, but that would mean getting in close with these things. That was a no-go, since they could just as easily tear me to ribbons as I could make ash out of them.
I fired a spear of ice into the charging wolf, giving myself a little breathing room. As awesome as it was to break these wolves again and again, I couldn't afford to make any more mistakes. Hell, I'm sure my current wounds were enough of a ticking clock.
The two other wolves formed up and switched tactics. One rushed me while the other strafed around. I erected a pane of force to protect myself from the charging wolf. As luck would have it, the wolf smashed itself into the barrier and shattered itself. The other wolf took this opportunity to take a swing at me. I tracked its movement easily enough and jumped back to avoid the swipe. I raised the magic barrier between us in time to deflect another blow, but the strength behind it pushed me back. Seeing its advantage, it rained blow after blow on my shield to keep me locked in defense.
I angled the barrier to parry one of its predictable attacks and bashed into it with my magic shield. It went down. But while I faced more moving debris forming up into wolves, something ticked in the back of my mind. I knew something was wrong, my instincts telling me that I was missing something important. What was it?
Figuring I could deal with it when it popped up, I summoned a ball of energy into my unused hand. I underhand tossed it into the middle of debris trying to form up, the ball exploding like a hand grenade upon contact with the ground. Wood and dirt blasted in all directions from the spell, all of which bounced off my shield.
I was able to keep them suppressed, but that could only hold for so long. At least this was getting easier. A wave of explosive power confirmed this idea, blasting away another moving pile of scrap wood.
A terrified cry interrupted my planning. I looked up at the bubble that protected Spike, still suspended on an angled thorn of rock. The drake pressed his back against the side of the bubble, his petrified gaze upon a timberwolf I missed. The beast scratched and gnawed on the bubble, trying to break it open for an easy meal. The sphere rippled and faded in places to maintain its shape under the prying of a savage creature.
I grit my teeth. This son of a bitch was using its pack mates as a distraction to go after easy prey! I was offended for a great many reasons, but there was one reason above all the others.
No one fucks with my friends!
My face, no, my whole body burned! My blood boiled in my veins. I clenched my fists and ran straight for the foolish beast that thought to attack my family. One stride, two strides, then something caught my leg. I pulled harder to take another step and made little progress. I spun around to find what caught my ankle: a timberwolf sinking its jaw into me. The pitiful beast thought it could stop me now. I knelt down and wrapped my my hand around its neck, stray bits of wood digging into my palms. I didn't notice, nor did I care. I pulled with all my might, ripping its head off its shoulders.
More movement around me. I was far past the point of taking it easy on them for being mindless freaks. I raised my hands above me, magic pumping into them with unrestrained fury and wild abandon. An outside observer would notice my aura went from a soft light to that which reminded one of flame. I brought them down, unleashing an explosive burst that shook the forest around me. The moving shapes that surrounded me stood no chance.
I raised my glare up at the offending wolf that still thought of my little brother as an easy kill. How could the stupid beast not notice my anger burning like the fires of hell? I surged forth with a cry of rage, my fists burning with the flames of hatred. I leaped into the air with unparalleled strength with a mighty swing. I buried my fist into its chest, deep lavender flames engulfing its entire body. It howled in despair, falling to the ground, futilely struggling to put out the flames with its pitiful rolling.
I watched it burn, my angry eyes condemning it to the fires it deserved. Its howls faded into ashes.
My heart filled with the sensation of satisfaction, yet I still wanted more. I turned slowly to the clearing behind me, finding the first three wolves gathered, glaring at me with uncertainty. I returned their glares with a hateful growl, stomping towards them with the thought of destruction filling my mind.
The wolves figured they couldn't win as they were. They saw what I could do and knew I was too powerful for a group of them. Surely, if three weak wolves couldn't get the job done, then maybe one powerful wolf could. The wolves broke apart before me, their bits converging between them. I held back from immolating them then and there, interested to see where this was going. Besides that, which do you think I preferred: three campfires or a bonfire?
The combined wood scraps formed in the rear, making a reverse jointed pair of legs of tremendous size. Its chest was built broader than it had any right to be for a four-legged animal, its arms vaguely resembling my own if they had wicked claws. It stood erect on its hindlegs, howling with bloodlust.
I grinned madly at the beast I would surely destroy. Wouldn't you be excited to slay a werewolf? We rushed towards each other, arms reeled back for attack.
Our fists connected between us, halting our momentum with a crack. Pieces of its claw fell off. It noticed its own failure to exceed my power and pulled back for another blow. I ducked under its clumsy swing, lighting my hand with the fires of hell. All it took was one strike with my palm. The attack threw the beast off its feet, forcing it to its back. It didn't shatter this time, but it was doomed regardless. It sat up to pick itself up, but it looked upon its stomach where dark flames ate at its very being. It patted the flames to stymie its spread without success. The flames went up its arms and down its legs. It shook wildly and growled in frustration as more and more of it was reduced to ash.
The flames consumed the beast entirely. Only a scorched mark of earth marked were it passed.
Still I wanted more.
I looked all around me, looking for another victim to fall before my hate. My eyes fell upon Spike. The little dragon who I rushed to rescue in the first place.
My breath caught in my throat at the sudden chill that went through my body. All the heat and power that flowed before subsided deep in my chest, dissipating like it was never there.
Pain shot through my ankle and up my leg. I grimaced and fell to my knee, breathing strongly like I ran a mile. My head swam, my whole body weakened. Parts of me felt a different kind of burn than what I felt before. I weakly examined one such point, my hand, and rediscovered the cuts and scratches that covered it. I felt my wounds catching up to me now.
I took a deep breath and pushed myself into a straighter posture. My vision blurred for a moment, but returned to me after a firm massaging of the eyes.
"You okay Spike?" I asked weakly.
It was a silly question; Spike was still trapped in that bubble. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. What about you?"
I gave him a thumbs-up. "Couldn't be better."
Spike looked doubtful. "You don't look so good. Are you sure you're alright?"
"Ah, I've had worse." I lied with a smile.
Spike didn't press the issue. He patted the bubble walls. "So, uh..."
With a wave of my hand, the bubble faded away. "Yeah, we should get going. I've about had it with this forest." A pause. "So, uh, wanna piggyback ride, or what?"
"I think I should walk on my own." He said, noting my injuries.
I put a hand over my stomach, but it nearly slipped off from how slick it was. I didn't even look down to see to obvious reason for that. "Don't sweat it." I stood to my full human height, pain shooting up my leg. "In any case, I don't think I can walk around Ponyville looking like a contour map of Ghastly Gorge without causing a ruckus." I calmed my nerves and cast a relatively simple conjuration. An opaque lavender cloak that trailed down to cover my ankles. With a quick illusion, its color shifted to black. "Right, let's get going."
We started down the path, Spike noticing my delicate gait with worry. There wasn't much he could do to help anyway, so he took my mind off my injuries with some conversation. "So what was with that magic back there? I've never seen anything like it. Is that a human thing?"
"Nah, I don't think that's it. I'd guess it was drawing upon some kind of untapped potential of mine. We'll have to check it out later."
"Whatever it was was pretty cool, letting you fight like that." He noted with an excited smile. "It was like you were invincible!"
I chuckled. "Yeah, if only. I did feel a surge of strength, though. That's probably why I didn't feel as much pain as I should have."
"Maybe you have super powers, like Saddle Rager?" Spike suggested.
"Aw, that sucks, I would've preferred Fili-Second's powers. She's the best."
"Pfft, Radiance is."
I smiled impishly. "You wanna fight about it, bro?"
He laughed. "Not after that showing!"
We laughed our way out of the forest, well on our way home. I went serious for a second. "Listen, I'd appreciate it if we could talk about our 'mutual interests' in private. Let's save it for when we get to the library, okay?"
Spike nodded acceptingly. "Alright."
We walked the rest of the way in silence, but an easier silence than before.
Hiding my wound had the desired results. Walking through town was a peaceful task; nopony even batted an eye at seeing me as a human tromping through the streets. It was weird, I didn't think I spent that much time in this form.
I noticed about halfway there that there was a dampness on my foot, no doubt from the bite from my ankle. I didn't want to start a commotion out in public over this, so I conjured myself a pair of faux fur boots. I naturally changed their color to black to match my cloak, but the real benefit was hiding my blood from sight.
After all, who knows how the ponies would react to that?
We entered the library with me opening the library with my magic. Quite fortunate that I discovered spells could be cast through clothing without betraying the glow of one's magic aura. Made Trixie's magic seem a little less impressive, though...
"Pinkie, I'm back! I even brought Spike!"
There was a thump from up the stairs. Pinkie bounded down with a big smile on her face. A big, implicating smile. "Heeeey, Twilight." She reached behind her and held out some clothes. "I found your socks." She giggled. "I didn't think you were into socks."
I looked over the set of socks, plush stockings striped with alternating hues of lighter and darker blues. "Where'd you find those? I don't remember buying any socks."
Pinkie's smile vanished with confusion. "Huh? You mean these aren't your socks?"
"No." Then I had a delayed reaction over her implication. "Wait, what's the big deal about socks?"
Pinkie looked down at her find with contemplation. "If these aren't Twilight's, then who put them in that shoebox...?" Pinkie's face brightened. She smiled slyly at Spike. "Oh, Spikey!"
I raised my eyebrow at Spike, who was looking a little flushed. "What, what's so special about socks?"
I was ignored in favor of Spike awkwardly changing the subject. "H-hey Pinkie, how do you like Twilight's new clothes?"
Pinkie threw the socks behind her, forgetting them entirely, and closely examined my cloak and boots. Very closely. She was walking circles around me, practically rubbing her nose over every fold as if looking for some kind of imperfection, loudly saying "HMMMMM..." in nerve-wracking inspection.
I felt like I was sweating profusely. Not that the cloak was hot or anything, but I was scared that Pinkie would somehow notice the lacerations underneath. I knew she was psychic, so I didn't put it past her.
Finally, she straightened herself and came to her conclusion. "It's as I thought."
"What?" I asked hesitantly.
"You look better without clothing." She said simply.
A moment of silence. That was not the statement I was expecting. I didn't even know Pinkie was so anti-textile. "...Right. In any case, what do you think of its overall design? You think Rarity would approve? Black goes with everything, after all."
"Mmm..." She tottered her hoof. "Rarity wouldn't be offended."
"Good enough for me!" I cheered.
Pinkie smiled at my enthusiasm. "I'm glad you found something you like!" She blurred to the front door. "As much as I would love to harass you about your sexual interests, I have to go! I should have been babysitting Rumble an hour ago." She shrugged, as if the mistake could've happened to anyone.
"Yeah, you'd better get on that."
Pinkie left the library with a happy trot, definitely not in a hurry to go anywhere. I watched her leave for a little bit, and quickly shut the curtains on every window in the living room. I conjured the first aid kit and some other supplies from the basement and dispelled my magic clothes. It was about time that I properly dealt with my injuries.
I sat upon one of the chairs and unloaded the medical goods onto the table. "Now that we're alone, we can finally talk about important things." I wiped my hands of dried blood with a cloth and dabbed some hand-sanitizer in my palm. It burned into some of the punctures with a grimace from me, but I tried to keep my focus. "Let's get down to business. I'm sure you have a lot of questions."
Spike sat across from me. "So, about Twilight. How is she?"
"Hmm, hard to say." I explained. "I found her soul still in this body, but I'm the one currently in control. My best guess is that her soul is dormant, inactive until such a time that it can take back control."
"So she's sleeping?"
I gave a little smile. "That's one way to put it."
Spike smiled himself. "Okay, so you have a way to bring her back?"
I opened the first aid kit and retrieved some cotton balls. I opened a bottle of rubbing alcohol and hesitated with its use. "Well, I'm working on it. For now, my plan is to master conjuration so I can bring her back as a permanent summon. In other words, she'd be a being made of magic. She'd be in a bit of trouble against somepony with a Universal Dispel spell, but I don't think anypony would think to do that."
Spike looked worried. "What would happen if they did?"
I applied some alcohol to a cotton ball and pressed it onto the cuts on my hand. "Ngh! She'd just be 'banished' into this body like she is now. That's assuming my idea works at all."
"Do you have any other ideas?"
My whole hand burned with the invading alcohol now. I grabbed a rag to wipe it away. "I have only one lead. Seeing as how we're dealing with a soul, I might need to learn necromancy."
Spike paled. "Necromancy? But I thought you said Twilight was okay!"
"She is!" I hurriedly interjected. "But her soul is currently out of use. Barring a simpler solution, I might have no choice but to make a new body for her by scratch and transfer the soul over."
Spike took a calming breath. "So things aren't that easy, huh?"
I shook my head, wrapping some tape around my hand. "Yeah, I have my doubts about the conjuration. Worse yet, necromancy was outlawed over a thousand years ago. There's no way to learn it nowadays unless I can find some forgotten manuscript in ruins somewhere."
"Where would you even look for something like that?"
I shrugged. My squeezed my taped hand experimentally. "The only ruin I know of is the Castle of the Two Sisters. I'd just go there and hope there's a library."
Spike nodded. He was silent long enough for me to repeat the process of disinfecting and taping my other hand. I looked down to my stomach and my arm with disdain. I remembered my ankle then and groaned. I really should have done that first. I lifted up my ankle and looked at the wound. Considering the amount of blood that came out of it, the wound was pretty deep. I poured a bottle of water over it and wiped it down with a cloth. I quickly grabbed a strip of gauze and wrapped up my ankle.
"So why didn't you tell anypony?"
I paused, staring at my ankle all wrapped up. "...I don't know. I guess I thought nopony would believe me. I was going to tell everypony after the Summer Sun Celebration, but I thought I was already on my out of Equestria, so I kept it to myself. Then the next day I was more worried about how I'd just get myself banished or something. I didn't think Celestia would listen to me long enough for me to explain myself, so I kept silent and tried to learn magic on my own."
"But Celestia is the most understanding mare in Equestria!"
"Well I didn't know that!" I protested. "I was only in Equestria for maybe twenty four hours by that point. I didn't know anything about this place when I was tossed here without a clue." I sighed. "Besides, I still don't think anypony would take it that well. I was going to tell them this one time, but I realized they wouldn't understand."
"You mean when we met Zecora?"
I nodded, covering my stomach with bandages. "That's when I realized that I had to keep quiet. The way they thought about Zecora without a second thought, it just scared me. I was determined then more than ever to hide away."
"But everypony trusts you! Surely they know you well enough that they'd give you a chance!" He argued.
"That's what I thought back then. But if I told them the truth now, they'd only question why I felt the need to hide for so long. They'd cease to trust me and jump to conclusions that I fear. After all, I'm not even a pony, so why should my word be trusted? I already demonstrated that I'm willing to lie to my own friends. I'm just a monster who needs to be expelled."
"Do you really think they'd go that far?"
I sighed. "I don't know. I know that they're the kindest people I've ever met, but I'm not sure how they'd react if they got to really know me, you know? I'm not proud of myself, so what chance do I stand with others?"
"Why, what's wrong with you?"
I chewed my lip apprehensively. "It's no secret that I'm not as good as the real Twilight. I'm violent and easily set off. I tend to hurt people. I'm a liar, a scoundrel, and now a monster." I squeezed the edge of the table. "I've spent more than half a year in Twilight's rightful place and spent that time with ponies I love. I wasted so much time on my selfish desires when I should have been gaining the power I need to make things right. There's no excuse for that. No matter how you look at it now, I'm just a beast no better than those goddamn wolves."
"Do you really feel that way about yourself?" Spike asked with worry. I sat in silence, staring down at my knuckles. My continued squeezing of the tabletop stung with increasing intensity. Spike sighed. "I had no idea you felt this way. You do such a good job hiding it."
I chuckled humorlessly. "Thanks, I guess. It's pretty easy to do with as much practice as I've got."
"So if you're feeling so guilty over this, why don't you tell Celestia about it? I'm sure she would make things right."
"I know it's selfish, but I want to be the one to do it. I'm not ready to leave yet. I feel like I have a lot left to fix before I'm through, and it's only right that I give something to Twilight to compensate for my interference. I need to build things up for her return." My eyes turned up to the young dragon. "Please, let me do this."
Spike frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know, that seems like a lot to ask."
I nodded understandingly. "Then I swear, if I can't bring Twilight back the week before Hearth's Warming, then we will tell Celestia together. Would that work?"
Spike thought it over and nodded. "Well, if Twilight is alright, then I guess we're in no hurry to bring her back. I suppose I can accept that." I smiled with relief, but Spike had one request. "But you'll need to tell me about yourself. I'm going to be living with you for a few months, so I should know more about you, right?"
"Fair enough." I conceded. "What would you like to know?
"Your name, for starters."
I grinned at the question. Finally, I got to tell someone my real name. I was finally able to be completely honest with one of my friends. Words could scarcely describe how excited I was at the prospect. "I'm glad you asked. My name is Twi-" I halted my speech.
Spike was confused. "Uh, what was your name, again?"
I rubbed my throat in contemplation. Was I really about to say "Twilight"? It must have been a deep-rooted habit by this point. I took a deep breath and thought over it for a brief moment. Twilight was obviously not my real name. Then what was? It was a very simple question, yet I racked my brain for an answer. Why was I having such difficulty? I remembered lots of things about myself, but what made recalling my name so difficult?
Smith? No.
Steve? Nope.
Adam? That wasn't it either. Come on, something has to sound familiar!
Jack?
Mark?
Vince?
I made a shocking realization that left me pale. I didn't know. I lost my name. I've forgotten a fundamental fact about myself! How could that have happened? I still remembered the names of everyone in the Metal Gear franchise, but I couldn't recall my own name! How was that even possible?
I was worried now. I've been wishing for so long that I could stop pretending to be somepony else, but now I was having difficulty doing that. How could I be losing track of myself?
Spike broke my existential crisis with a simple question. "Are you okay?"
I looked back at him, just now realizing a bead of sweat trailing down my head. I gave him a reassuring smile and came up with my best lie. "Sorry, just a little internal debate. You see, among my people, the sharing of True Names is an exchange of great power. It's normally only ever done when we are born, when our parents assign a name to us, and when we marry, to demonstrate our faith to one another. 'Breaking the question', as ponies call it, is often preceded with a request for our True Names. It got me a little flustered, is all." I forced an awkward laugh. "Anyway, I hope you can understand why I don't share my Real Name with you. Perhaps you would like to give me a nickname?"
Spike looked disappointed. "Uh, alright. Do you have anything in mind?"
I felt relieved that Spike wasn't questioning this. I wasn't ready to answer his questions on the subject. "Maybe you could say something about my duplicity."
"Oh, how about Two Face?" Spike suggested excitedly.
"Ehhh, how about something else?"
"What's wrong with Two Face?" He asked.
"It's already taken by a character from a popular comic series where I'm from. Any other ideas?"
Spike thought for a bit. "How about Silver Tongue?"
"A little uninspired, don't you think?"
Spike got right back to thinking. "I don't know, thinking of names is tough."
I rubbed my chin in consideration. "... Dusk?"
"Isn't that a boy's name, though?"
"Well then, it fits. I'm actually a guy."
Spike smiled impishly. "Not from where I'm sitting."
I pouted with exaggeration. "Not funny, man."
He chuckled at me. "That's where you're wrong!"
I smiled beside myself. All things considered, I was just glad we could put things behind us. "So you'll call me Dusk, now?"
He nodded. "Sounds good to me."
"Then it's decided: I'll be known as Dusk between the two of us. Is there anything else you'd like to know?"
"Well, why did that wizard send you to Equestria? I doubt it was to scout us out."
"Uh, right, that." I rubbed the back of my neck nervously. "I was being a dick to him. I found him at the flea market one day, so I started insulting him a lot. He didn't take it too well, so he cast some kind of spell that sent me here. Heh, you know, I thought I was dead when I first got here. His fist went right through my chest."
"Uh, does that mean you're a ghost?" Spike asked apprehensively.
"Probably not." I said. "My soul is just misplaced right now. The fact that it's bound to a corporeal body proves that I'm not a ghost."
"So you can't just leave that body and go to another one?"
"Not without magic, I can't. Worse yet, I'd need necromancy for that. As we've already established, I don't know a single necromancy spell."
Spike pouted. "Darn, that's too bad. I was kind of hoping you could just go to another body."
"I'd like that too, but I have a moral objection to that."
"Why's that? You could fix this easily then, right?" Spike asked confused.
"Well, Twilight would come back, yes, but where would I get another body? The only bodies around are in use by other ponies. To get another body, I'd have to sacrifice another's independence. I'd be back where I started, only then I'm hurting even more ponies than before. No, if I'm going to do this, I'd have to find a way to make a body from scratch, thus I need necromancy."
Spike nodded at my explanation. "Yeah, and nopony would realize that you're not such a bad pony, like I did."
I chuckled lightly. "I'm glad you don't hate me anymore." Even if I deserve it. "I'm surprised you came around to me at all."
Spike sighed. "Well, I had to accept at some point that you're not the monster I thought you were. There's no way a monster could be as nice as you, even as an act."
"You really think I'm nice?"
"You have to be, if you're willing to go out of your way to comfort ponies you don't even know. You went all the way to Canterlot for some ponies you never met. Even ponies around town think well of you. I think you're a really nice pony."
I smiled at the praise. It was nice hearing a compliment that applied to me.
"Actually, it's funny with the ponies in Canterlot; I don't think Twilight would have gone back up there. She barely even noticed when those girls were around. I gotta say, you went above and beyond right there."
I stopped to think about that. It was odd to consider that Twilight would have friends she paid little attention to. What was the deal with that? Was Twilight an inattentive friend? I don't know about that. It just seems unlikely that an overachieving pony like Twilight would half-ass anything, especially something like friendship.
Or maybe she did, but she was just that good at it.
There was some sense in that. If Spike thought Twilight's behavior was neglectful but her friends thought well enough of her that they were sad when she left, then I could only conclude that Twilight was a magnetic personality.
Just another way she's got me beat. It was good to see that she'd have little difficulty connecting with my friends when I leave, at least.
"Dusk?"
I looked back up at Spike. "Huh?"
"Are you okay? You spaced out there."
I smiled it off. "Nah, I was just thinking. In any case, I'm glad we can move on now. You can talk to me about your concerns, you know. I'm willing to help while I'm still here."
Spike nodded, but looked confused. "Okay," He took this as his cue to switch subjects. "So what is your world like?"
I sat back with my arms crossed. "It depends on who you ask. Some say it's great. I dunno, it was alright in a lot of ways. We didn't have magic there, or so I thought, but we did have technology. About the best stuff we had was cellphones that could store books on them."
"What are cellphones?"
"Eh, they're these little bricks of plastic and electronics that can be used to speak with people over long distances. They advanced to the point that they're also commonly used to store additional information, like books and games."
"Whoa, why would anyone want to leave such a world?" He asked with astonishment.
"You mean besides the constant wars, disasters, and rampant douchebaggery? I guess the crime rate."
"Is crime that bad?"
"Maybe I'm biased because I lived in a bad neighborhood, but yeah. You wouldn't believe how many times the apartment across from mine was raided by cops busting drug dealers."
Spike's face reflected his astonishment, but he wasn't impressed this time. "Who would want to live in such a world?"
I shrugged. "Who's got the choice?"
"I guess you do." Spike pointed out. "Do you think you'll be going back?"
I stared ponderously up at the ceiling. My answer was simple. "No."
"Really? You don't want to go home? Isn't there anyone waiting for you or something?"
I shrugged indifferently. "Not really. I don't have a reason to go back."
"That sounds kinda lonely." Spike muttered sympathetically.
"Ugh, why does everyone think I have have issues with loneliness?" I complained. "Trixie, Pinkie, you; it's as if everyone thinks I can't handle living alone for a while!"
"Can you handle it?"
"Yeah! I lived alone for, like, seven years straight!" I explained with a raised voice. "Come on, I'm the most capable person ever to live alone!"
"Uh, I'm sure you are." He replied, unconvinced. "So you're going to stay in Equestria when all is said and done?"
"Yeah, that's what I'm gonna do. Relaxed paced life, predictable weather, an economy I can easily abuse, loving neighbors, and an easily thwarted screening process for space aliens? I'd be a fool to pass that up."
"So what about your friends?"
"Ah, they'll do fine."
"I meant about you."
"What about me?"
Spike sighed. "I mean, what about you being with your friends? Surely you're going to assume a new identity, so what do you plan on doing when Twilight comes back?"
"Well, I guess I can just wait for Pinkie to throw me a 'welcome' party and start over from there."
"But aren't you worried about the sudden change in your relationships with them?"
I felt a twinge. "Urgh, that's a good question. I suppose it'll suck at first, and we'll never reach the same heights of friendship, and I wouldn't have any kind of excuse to go around hanging out with them all the time without looking like an obsessed freak..." I shook my head. "But the important thing is that I can still see them any time."
He nodded slowly at my answer. "Okay, so I guess that about covers it. You know plenty about me, huh?"
"Yeah, seven months will do that."
He chuckled. "Yeah, I guess we know each other a bit more than we thought."
We really did, didn't we? We were both total comic book nerds who shipped and big into gaming. The few arguments we had were minor skirmishes that didn't bother us, mostly about petty things like chores. We both knew a lot about our respective origins. All in all, we had a lot going for us.
Thinking back on it, Spike and I were closer than we realized. Seeing for the first time that we could continue onward as open friends rather than secretive enemies made both of us happy. We could move forward, and it seemed like nothing could bring us down.
The universe, however, certainly likes to try.
There was a firm, authoritative knock on the door. It startled me at first, but I quickly set about cleaning up my mess. I whisked away the medical supplies with my magic, sending them to whatever anonymous void I sent things. My magic cloaked me in black garb once more, to hide my treated wounds, leaving me ready to greet our untimely visitor.
Opening the door revealed two visitors, neither of whom looked very pleased. The white pony wore a grim expression that didn't fit her in the slightest, like a cruel reflection of what should have been a very gentle mare. Her companion was wary and focused. The dark blue mare had a sense of paranoia about her, and her eyes were locked on me. Both radiated power of great magnitude, ready for a threat that they alone knew existed.
"Twilight, would you kindly let us in?" Celestia asked.