//------------------------------//
// Wayward Plans 1.4 
// Story: The View from Rock Bottom 
// by Fickle Wood 
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It was plain and simple, I was angry. Not the kind of anger like a maelstrom, but the kind that drives you toward something, and that something was going home. These ponies hadn’t listened to a word I’d said so far with their constant dismissal, and I was sick of it. Sure, their behavior had been understandable, but I was done being understanding. That nurse had shown me what they were really like, they were all bark and no bite, or all neigh and no buck in their case. I hadn’t run into any other staff on my way out of the hospital room I woke up in yet, but I would tell them off just like that nurse.

Typical doctors. Like always, they can’t figure out what is wrong with me. Of course, their first thought is drug use, but at least back home they would run their blood tests and stop asking that nonsense. If they can’t move past the accusation of drug use here, then there is no reason to stay here.

The green walls and blue linoleum flooring gave the hospital a much more inviting look than most hospitals I had ever seen, even the patient rooms themselves looked inviting with all the nature themes I saw in the open ones I passed. I wasn’t quite sure where I was going, with my anger still fresh and burning from my encounter with that nurse, but I felt like I was making progress toward my goal of getting home, and that was enough for me. I pushed open one-half of a pair of doors and saw the light of day through a pair of glass automatic sliding doors, further down this corridor and through what looked to be the waiting room.

I continued my way toward the exit but heard the sound of hooves running and the doors opening behind me. My movement was ceased when a dull cyan glow filled my vision. "Ah ah ah, Miss Punch," A male said, behind me.

The sound of hooves continued, but at a much slower pace, and a stallion came into view. The unicorn stallion had a light amber coat, a dark wood brown mane, cerulean eyes, and a dull cyan glow coming from his horn. This stallion stood out from all the other ponies I had seen so far with his doctor’s coat, a stethoscope slung behind his head, and small reading glasses that were hooked over his muzzle, but the clothing and accessories did make sense. 

“You have to stay in bed until we figure out what happened to you. Now will you go back to your room quietly or do I have to call an orderly? If we have to go with the second, we will also have to strap you to the bed, and that wouldn’t be very comfortable,” the doctor said, or at least he looked like one.

The dull cyan force that surrounded my body disappeared and I looked him straight in the eyes. “Leave me alone,” I said, and kept my voice level, even though I wanted to yell at him for threatening me and give him a quick jab with a forehoof to the face. The stallion's eyes went wide and distant, then he walked back the way he came from.

I walked toward the sliding doors but gave a look toward the receptionist. The pony was an earth pony mare, had a dull blue coat, a mint green mane, purple eyes, and a simple red cross on her nurse’s cap. All it took was a look from me for her to freeze up and not say a word to me. The doors slid open, then I left the hospital without another thought.


(0) (0)


I felt like I could do anything since I had left the hospital with just words and a stern attitude. I swore I had been this confrontational before when the pleasantries didn’t work, but I felt different. Maybe I just hadn’t been in the right mindset? If I keep this up, I know that Twilight will cave into my demands, then this will all be over. The ponies continued to avoid me, but I didn’t care, I didn’t need them. I had seen the top of that crystal castle finally, and I made my way in the general direction of it through the winding streets of this village.

“Hey, Jack!” I heard a familiar someone say above and behind me. The voice of the only pony that had been nice to me, well the only other with Fluttershy now, the voice of Surprise. I wasn’t in the mood for or even needed her anymore.

“Go away!” I said, then turned around to give her a good look of my eyes, but she was nowhere to be seen. Am I hearing things now? I turned around to continue my way toward the castle and found Surprise stood in front of me instead. “Gah!” I said, then fell back onto my rear, with my tail sticking out in between my legs.

“Sorry, Jack. I was trying not to surprise you, but you turned around right when I landed, and I didn’t have time to think about what I should say to not surprise you since I was busy trying to figure out if you were still Jack or if you were Berry. See, Twilight said she sent you home when I brought Spike back last night, but I realized later she didn’t say how so I went back to check whether she sent you back to your world or if she sent you to Berry’s home. When I got there, she said ‘Surprise! It’s midnight! Stop worrying about Berry!’, and then I said ‘I’m not worried about Berry. I’m worrying about Jack.’, then she made that groan she makes when she is frustrated and I took that as a hint to leave. Anyway—”

I finally recovered from the surprise and stood up on all fours. “Go away!” I said, while looking her straight in the eyes.

“Wow, you look just like Fluttershy when she gets angry! Whenever Berry gets angry, typically after she has had a few, her eyes get half-lidded and she starts fights. That reminds me! I saw Fluttershy and she said she took you to the hospital today. She didn’t know what exactly happened to you, but she said that the doctors said you suffered a magical overload that almost killed you. I guess Fluttershy just heard wrong though since here you are and not in the hospital. What did happen to you though?”

My anger was sapped by this mare, I just couldn’t be angry with her around. Annoyed maybe, but not angry. “Actually, Fluttershy was right, at least that is what the nurse said. As for what actually happened to me? No clue.”

“But they let you go from the hospital?” She looked me up and down with a puzzled looked on her face.

“Pretty much.” Give or take a stern word and mean look.

“Wow…” She seemed lost in thought. “Guess it is that earth pony resilience of your’s, or… well, Berry’s body that is.” She gave me a warm smile with closed eyes.

“Yeah, well I got places to be.” I walked past her and resumed going in the general direction of the castle.

“Huh?” I heard her say, then her upside down face entered my vision from above. “Where ya going?” she said, as she flew backward in front of me.

“Somewhere.” I can’t tell her where I’m going, she’ll want to come along and I need to be able to get back in that mood I was in earlier.

“Can I come?” It felt like she was a child with how innocently she asked.

Even if I say no, she might just follow me anyway. I’m not going to be able to make myself angry if she is around, she reminds me too much of Katherine, at least in her enthusiasm. I stopped and turned my head back at the saddlebags, then an idea struck me. I turned my head back to Surprise and hoped it would work. “Surprise, do you ever have parties with alcohol?”

“Sometimes, though I don’t drink any myself, still being underage. After the absinthe incident, I don’t ever want to touch any kind ever again really. Why?”

“Well, this morning I noticed Berry’s house lacked nearly any food, and I think I ate the last bit there was. I was hoping that you could buy some food for me and take the alcohol in the kitchen in exchange for whatever you think fair. Interested in helping me out? Just in case Twilight doesn’t help me again today.” Not likely though, from what I’ve heard, Twilight will be the easiest pushover.

“Hmm…” She seemed to mull over my offer. “Deal!” She flipped over and began to fly away.

“Wait!” She was going to need the house keys. I didn’t want her to get there and then figure out she couldn’t get in, which might lead to her seeking me out.

Surprise flew back toward me. “What?”

“You’ll need a key.” I turned my head and fished the ring of keys out of the saddlebags, then held them in my mouth before her.

“Oh, I was just going to pick the lock.” She grabbed the keys with a forehoof. “Anything else?”

I gave her a deadpanned look. “Did you seriously admit to me that you were going to break into Berry’s home? That you can pick a lock?”

“Um…” She looked a little sheepish. “Yes? Is that all?”

“If you would, please empty the entire kitchen of alcohol, but leave the wine in the wine cellar alone. I may not care for Berry, but she might get mad at you if you took any of what I think is fairly expensive wine.”

“You don’t like Berry? Why?”

“Have you seen her life lately?”

“Well, I guess stepping into someone else’s life at rock bottom wouldn’t be a very nice experience. Just…” She seemed to stop and formulate what she wanted to say next. “Remember that Berry is a being like you or me? I don’t know why it is that every time I seem to make any progress with Berry it just seems to disappear like it never happened, but I remember how smart she was. How she could look at someone who was feeling down and formulate the perfect drink to bring a smile to their face. And if they weren’t thirsty, she could lend an ear and know just the right things to say to make everything better.” She looked at me thoughtfully, with an uncertain smile. “If Berry were right here and right now asking me to get rid of alcohol in her house, well, I’d be very proud of her.”

“I’m sure she would.” I gave her a smile. “Now, if that is all, you can go now.”

“Yeah…” She turned and flew off, but not nearly as energetically as she had before.

Well, that should keep her busy for a while. I continued on my way and hoped for no more distractions. I may have found Surprise annoying in how she liked to ramble on, but I knew she had a good heart, and just didn’t want her to see the monster I needed to be.


(0) (0)


I had found the castle and was ready to confront Princess Twilight, but I had stopped at the base of the stairs that led up to the double front door. Stairs… I didn’t know what it was about the stairs, as they looked perfectly normal as far as stairs went, but I had this nagging feeling in the back of my mind I was missing something about them. Is nag a curse word here? I shook my head and ignored the feeling, then ascended said stairs to the front door and entered the castle.

It was strange to just be able to walk into the castle like someone had just left their front door unlocked and I decided to go into their house. I supposed it was more than a home though since Surprise had spoken of Princess Twilight as some protector of the land, but what exactly it was beyond a home I couldn’t fathom. If the castle were the central place of government here, then it should’ve been busy and full of the ponies. Maybe the government is completely autonomous outside of this princess and she just gets paid for being the protector of the village? Protection from what though?

The castle was the same as it had been yesterday, but it seemed so much more lonely than it had yesterday, something that Surprise had distracted me from. The glacier blue crystal tile flooring gave the place a cold feeling, though the royal purple carpet with its gold trim did warm it somewhat, if not only in a distant and detached way that the idea of royalty gave me. Suppose having someone that could fly and use magic as a protector would leave you with peace of mind in a world of uncertainties.

I tried to remember how far Surprise and I walked before we stopped at the entrance of the library, but my attention had been so focused on Surprise, that I hadn’t even paid attention to if we went around a corner or not. I knew the library was big and should’ve been along the outer edge of the castle due to the windows, but for all I knew the library could’ve been bigger on the inside and right in the middle of the castle. Anything seemed possible in this world, which I probably should’ve been in awe of, but all I could think about was the fact that my life back home could be falling apart.

A pair of doors stood out to me for some reason, regardless of the fact every other doorway had a pair of doors and looked the same as it. I opened both doors and was met with the library from yesterday. The library itself was a little different than before, due to its lack of flying books and alicorn princess, but Spike was here with his back to the library's doors, along with a pile of cushions that said dragon was laying atop. I tried to remember how Spike had treated me yesterday. What would the term be for him? All smoke and no fire? Bet he is just like the rest of them, ignorant and unwilling to listen. My anger began to grow.

The dragon seemed to have heard the doors open and sat up, but kept his back to me still, and I heard a heavy sigh come from him. “Look, Twilight. I’m sorry for how I acted toward Berry yesterday. It’s just she brings out that obsessive side of you, and that never ends well when faced with a problem you can’t solve.”

I continued my casual walk toward him, with no interest in correcting him. Why does he think I’m Twilight? Does she have a habit of silent treatment when angry? Well, catching him off guard might make him more willing to tell me where Twilight is, or at the very least give him a well-deserved fright.

“Fine, I’ll apologize to Berry next time I see her.” He began to turn around. “So how is—” His eyes landed on me, and went from surprise to confusion in quick succession. “Berry?” He removed himself from the pile of cushions to stand on all fours.

I stopped my stride and looked him straight in the eyes as angrily as I could, but he didn’t seem intimidated at all, just like Surprise wasn’t. Figures that the being with claws wouldn’t be intimidated by me, though can only guess as to the reason Surprise wasn’t. I couldn’t fuel my anger, not if he was sincere in what he said. Might as well get something nice out of him. “Well?” 

“Shouldn’t…” He looked me up and down. “Shouldn’t you be in the hospital?”

“Where is my apology? You said you would apologize next time you see Berry, and you are seeing her right now, even if I’m still Jack Taylor.”

His facial expression changed to a look of disbelief. “Does that really matter right now? We heard from Rarity, that Fluttershy took you to the hospital today, and the doctors said you almost died. Why are you on your hooves and here?”

“Well, they didn’t see fit to stop me from leaving the hospital, so it must not have been that bad, that or they just don’t care enough about Berry to keep me there for a 24-hour observation, which I could understand. The reason I’m here is because Princess Twilight failed to help me yesterday.” It was all basically the truth.

He stood up on both legs and crossed both of his arms, which showed off how slender his body was compared to the ponies I had seen so far. “So you possibly almost die and your first priority is to find Twilight?”

I gave him a smile. “Pretty much. So where is Princess Twilight? She already said she could do something with my mind, which will hopefully prove to you all that I am what I say I am.”

He raised a scaly eyebrow and had a smirk on his face. “A liar?”

I walked straight up to him, my eye level at his stomach, and looked up him. Damn, he is tall on two legs. Guess he wears overwear as well. “Where. Is. Princess. Twilight?”

He uncrossed his arms and took a step back toward the pillows. “She went to the hospital a little while ago.”

“What happened to her?”

“Nothing, she went there to see you. Mysterious magical occurrences are her specialty.”

My left eye began to twitch. “You have got to be kidding me!” I fell to my rear, with my back legs stuck out from under me, while my front legs were off to the side. “Heh, she came looking for me and I went looking for her.”

He went back to standing on all four, which seemed to mean that he was done trying to look intimidating. “Well, she’ll come back here eventually, not like the doctor would’ve let you go if you had suffered something life threatening.”

I made a small chuckle at his statement. “They did though…”

“What are you talking about, Berry?”

I looked at him and tried to get a sense of the kind of person he was. Straight talk isn’t working. I know I can anger him with ease, but that won’t get me anywhere. Sympathy maybe? “Have you ever thought about how awful it would be to be Berry Punch? To just wake up one day hated by everyone?”

He sat down on his rear and copied my pose. “Berry, I—”

“Jack.” I wouldn’t be called Berry anymore, I would make sure of that.

“Seriously, Be—”

“Jack.” I gave him a look that I hoped conveyed how serious I was.

“Fine, Jack it is. Happy now?”

“Yes.” I gave him a smile. “So you were saying?”

He rolled his eyes, then gave me a serious look. “Jack, I don’t hate you.”

“So you’ve never thought if Berry Punch were just to disappear, that your’s and everyone else’s lives would be better?” I gave him a knowing look, someone who showed as much anger as him yesterday had to have had that thought.

He looked away for a moment, a moment of hesitation in what he wanted to say. “No.”

“Really now? Well, you’re a better being than I. If I met someone like Berry, I wouldn’t want her in my life. How do you deal with her?”

He looked around a little, seemingly confused by my question. “This is getting really weird.”

“When was the last time you had a real conversation with Berry?”

“Never? She is typically too drunk to talk with, though she sure can argue.” He let out a small sigh.

“If I were an imposter, you wouldn’t even be able to tell?”

“No?”

“How do you tell if someone is a…” What were they called? Not shapeshifters, but— “Changeling?”

“Weren’t you claiming to be an outsider?”

“Yes, but it seems like the same thing would apply.”

“Not really, changelings are masters of disguise and manipulation. We hardly know anything about them, other than their need to consume love. While an outsider would be, well Discord, since Discord is the only outsider ever. See that is the problem with this story of your’s, you went beyond plausible. Changelings or a magical entity are within plausibility, but you are claiming that you have the mind of an outsider in you. The Equestrian Protection Agency would’ve been alerted to a breach between worlds, that is the whole purpose of their existence.”

“Have they ever had a breach of this barrier between worlds?”

“I guess? Everything they do isn’t public knowledge.”

“What do they do that is public knowledge?”

“Well, in short, they advance science and train agents to address threats.”

“I think this E.P.A. of your’s isn’t as good as you think it…”

“I’ve seen them in action, trust me, they are.”

I let out a sigh. “Seems we have come to a standstill. You refuse to believe or offer me a way to prove that I am what I say I am.”

“If it helps, you haven’t been as terrible to be around so far.” He flashed me a toothy smile, which showcased his fangs.

I looked around at all the books, which gave me an idea. “Have you read many medical books?”

“A few…” He gave me a scrutinizing look. “Why?”

“Ah, well I’d like for you to diagnose me in a moment.”

“I’m a librarian.” He gave me a deadpanned look.

“That’s alright. Doctors have always failed me when I do what I am about to do.”

“And that is?”

“Is there a type of magic that requires eye contact?”

“Sight magic, but you can’t do that.”

“Hmm, I always thought it was a psychic ability, but that is an answer. Ready for me to relive one of your memories?”

“I don’t know, are you going to do something really stupid?”

“Great! Begin diagnoses!” I looked him straight in the eyes and the world faded away.


(0) (0)


Was that a cruel thing to do? Wonder how long he’ll just sit there thinking I’m playing a trick on him. Will he nudge me to try for a reaction? I’ll probably be knocked over when I wake up, and hopefully relatively unharmed, I thought, while I waited for the memory to begin.

Before anything formed, I felt a wave of anxiety wash over me. I can’t do this, I thought, but at the same time felt as if I hadn’t, and was terrified for seemingly no reason at all. It was as if failing had become the only possible outcome to everything, that there was nothing I could do to pass the test. Test? What test? What is going on with this memory? There was something really wrong with this memory like it was trying to do something to me.

Sight and sound came into focus, but it was all wrong, there was no way this was Spike’s memory. The muzzle in sight wasn’t Spike’s scaled light purple dragon one, but a lavender pony foal’s muzzle. I focused on what I was feeling throughout the body but noticed a distinct lack of extra limbs that would’ve been wings, though I did feel a horn upon the head of this filly. I was at a loss, as it seemed that even my ability decided to stop following the sense I was used to.

This lavender filly was seated on what felt like a cushion and was looking at an analog clock on an aquamarine wall, with even her hearing attuned to the clock’s constant ticking. What’s taking so long? Did they forget about me? No, this is probably a part of the test! They are testing my patience! The filly thought, and she sounded somewhat like Twilight.

The sound of a conversation could be heard, but it was indiscernible due to the fact this filly hadn’t paid attention to it. What if they ask me to transmogrify something? The only book I read on that was ‘Apples to Oranges’! I don’t have the magical skills to do any of that yet!

A dark brown coated earth pony stallion, with a long straight black mane and piercing blue eyes, obstructed the filly’s focus on the clock. The stallion removed a tray from his back with a forehoof, which was when I noticed how half of each of his legs’ coat hairs were black from knees to hooves, then lowered it down toward the filly to reveal several small glasses of water. “Glass of water?” he said,

The anxiety this filly was under increased with this new development. What do I do? Do I take one? What if waiting on the current filly to finish her entrance exam takes so long I need to go tinkle? They might call my name and fail me for not being here! But what if I have to recite a series of verbal spell? If I don’t drink any water, my mouth might get dry and I might misspeak a word! I could very well unleash dark forces upon Equestria! I don’t want to go to Tartarus! I wasn’t sure exactly what the filly’s facial expression was, but I was pretty sure it was along the lines of abject horror.

The stallion raised an eyebrow at the filly. “Child, if you are this worked up about your entrance exam, then you’ll have a streak of gray alongside those other colors in your mane by the time you graduate. Want a tip that will help you succeed in almost any situation?”

I doubt one tip is that good. “Sure…” the filly said, in a very resigned way.

“There are only two things you need to become a great mage: an open mind and a vast imagination. If you have and use both of those today in your entrance exam, then I’m sure you’ll pass it with ease,” he said, and gave the filly a smile.

“Really?” There was a lot of doubt in her voice.

“Really. Now, how about a small glass of water? You never know, passing the entrance exam might be as simple as saying a few sentences. You don’t want to have a dry mouth if that happens.”

The filly levitated one of the small glasses of water in her magenta magic from the tray, gulped down the mouthful, and then levitated it back onto the tray. “Thanks,” she said, and I could tell she meant it due to all the anxiety she had seemed to melt away.

“You’re welcome, and good luck.” The stallion transferred the tray to his back and turned to walk off, which gave Twilight a look at his tattoo of an open book, but it looked a little off to me. The tattoo was fine really, with its simplicity of a red outline and squiggly lines on the pages, but it looked like it could’ve been centered and skewed slightly better, like all the others I had seen. Overall, it was a minute detail that didn’t really matter, something that just bugged me from artistic consistency.

What does an open book mean? That he is honest? The filly looked at her flank, which lacked a tattoo. Wish I had my cutie mark already. It seemed that the tattoos were called cutie marks, though I wasn’t sure if that is what the adults called them yet. Her obsession with the clock and it's ticking seemed to be at an end, which led to her setting her attention on a pair of ponies nearby and their previously indiscernible conversation.

The pair that sat on pillows next to this filly seemed to have been lost in their own conversation since the beginning of this memory. The first was a light gray unicorn mare, with a two-tone mane of purple and white in a similar style to Princess Twilight, while the other pony was a gray-blue unicorn stallion, with a dark blue mane. Neither were looking Twilight’s way, so I couldn’t see either of their eyes, which made me give pause and briefly think about the obsession my ability had given me when it came to eyes.

“Night Light, you need to stop worrying. Twilight is completely prepared for the entrance exam.” the mare said, sounding very tired.

“What if—”

“The entrance exam is just a test of basic magical skill and knowledge when presented with a problem. She has learned everything she needs to pass,” the mare said, cutting off the gray-blue stallion before he could say anything more.

The gray-blue stallion let out a sigh. “I know, Velvet. I just want to make sure we’ve done everything for Twilight, just like we’ve done for Shining Armor.”

“And we have.” Velvet looked back toward who I now knew was Twilight, but I wondered how she got her wings and became a princess, though magic is probably the answer. “Isn’t that right, Twilight?”

“Mhm!” Twilight gave both the ponies an eager smile.

“Well, I’m glad to see you aren’t worrying anymore.” Velvet turned her attention back to Night Light. “Now if only we could get your father to stop.”

The sound of hooves perked up Twilight’s ears, then she stood up and turned her attention to the end of the hall. A light brown coated earth pony stallion, with a black mane, and green eyes came into view. He had a pair of cherries for his cutie mark, which drew Twilight’s attention.

Hmm… He is an earth pony, and they often do have nature related cutie marks, but that is a generalization and almost tribalistic assumption. Could it be he is simply good at pairing things? Why would he work here at the school though? Oh, I wish I could just ask him, but I don’t have the time. Twilight gave the stallion a smile and I heard the sound of her parents getting to their hooves.

“The judges are ready for your entrance exam, Miss Sparkle.” The light brown stallion said, sounding somewhat tired.

“Was that last filly taking her entrance exam this entire time?” I heard Velvet say, and Twilight turned her head to look at her mother.

“No, ma'am.” The stallion let out a heavy sigh. “That filly did take up a great deal of time though, and we shouldn’t keep the judges any longer than we have to. Follow me please.” He turned back the way he had come from. Twilight’s parents walked past Twilight before she realized she was supposed to go as well and followed her parents.

What the hallway looked like was hard to tell due to how little attention Twilight paid her surroundings, but I did know the floors had big dark blue and light blue tiles, while the walls were aquamarine with a couple dark green horizontal lines running along them. Twilight’s attention seemed to be focused on her parents’ flanks, a behavior that back home I would’ve questioned thoroughly, though understood the reason in this case. The attention did give me a look at their cutie marks though, where the mother had three purple stars, while the father had a large yellow crescent moon with a smaller white one inside.

“So did that filly blow up the exam room?” Night Light said.

“Well… I can tell you both, but I’d advise you don’t say anything to the judges. I think a fuss would only hurt your daughter at this point.” The light brown stallion said.

“Politics?” Velvet asked, in a tone that seemed to mean she knew the answer already.

“Yes.” The light brown stallion let out another sigh.

Twilight’s attention was still on her parents’ flanks, which seemed to mean her fixation on things like the clock from earlier wasn’t an uncommon behavior. It would be neat if Mom’s writing talent was passed down to me in the form of spellcrafting, though I think I would like some form of Dad’s talent with light alteration more. The books said that talents aren’t always passed down though, but Shining’s talent with barriers is a form of alteration, so that gives me a good chance. That filly from earlier was so certain of everything with her cutie mark. Wish I had her confidence. I don’t even know if my talent is in magic yet…

“So they let her have as much time as she needed with her exam?” Night Light said.

“No, she actually finished it in record time.” The light brown stallion said.

“Really? Then what took so long?” Velvet said.

“She had a show prepared for the judges and the judges couldn’t refuse with the family she comes from.” The light brown stallion let out a groan.

Everyone stopped in front of a pair of blue doors, with metallic gold colored lever handles on them. The light brown stallion opened the doors and gestured for everyone else to go inside. Twilight followed her parents into the room and began to look all around, with the sound of the doors being closed behind her.

The room looked to be a small lecture hall, with its theater seating and a podium off in a corner opposite the door, which had large globe next to it. The floor was the same large light blue and dark blue tiles from the hallway, while the walls were light green, with dark green accents and trim. The room lacked much else, aside from banners that hung from the ceiling of various designs and a blackboard on the wall, which led to Twilight finally setting her eyes on the group of four ponies, who were up and at the back of the room behind the theater seating.

The group of unicorns was made up of two mares and two stallions, who wore various forms of clothing that I only noted due to the fact so few ponies wore more than overwear. Going from left to right, which alternated from mare to stallion, their coats were: yellow, light blue, beige, and gray, while their manes were: faintly purple, gray, brown, and black. They seemed to already be scrutinizing Twilight, while she and her parents went to and stopped in the middle of the room.

“Has the filly been educated in the required basic magical knowledge?” The yellow mare said, in a very professional tone.

“Yes, ma’am.” Velvet said.

“Very well. You two move off to the side and she will remain in the middle to await her test,” The yellow mare said.

Velvet turned to Twilight and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Remember, analyze the problem and you’ll solve it with ease,” she said, then walked off toward the side of the room.

Night Light turned and gave Twilight a hug. “You’ll have this wrapped up in no time and we can go to Donut Joe’s afterward,” he said, then joined Velvet to the side of the room.

Twilight centered her attention on the judges but didn’t seem anxious or worried about the entrance exam. An open mind and a vast imagination, that’s all I need. Just like… Who said that? Mom? Dad? Some great mage? This filly couldn’t have forgotten that dark brown earth pony stallion already, it was barely a couple minutes ago. It seemed this memory continued to elude any sense of logic.

“Hopefully this one doesn’t refer to herself in the third person,” the beige mare said, in a whispered tone toward the gray stallion next to her.

“Or claims herself great and powerful,” the gray stallion said, matching the mare’s tone, with a snicker at the end.

“Act professional you two,” the light blue stallion said, keeping his voice on the same level as the other two.

The sound of the doors opening drew Twilight attention toward them. The light brown stallion, that had led them to this room, pushed a cart into the room, with an egg in a bed of hay on top of it. The stallion left the cart next to Twilight, then walked backward out of the room, with his head held high. closing the doors on his way out.

The egg itself was light purple with dark purple spots all over it, while the cart had a picture of the egg’s shell split in two, with a dragon in the middle. Dragon egg. Dragon mothers are considered one of the fiercest creatures in Equestria and beyond, known to even abandon their hordes if the safety of their unhatched eggs would be put in danger defending it. Orphaned dragon eggs are known to become as hard as diamonds if they go without their mother’s flame for too long, but remain capable of hatching, even centuries later, and only require a flame from a dragon of their own kind to continue maturing toward hatching. Twilight looked toward the judges.

“Well, Miss Sparkle?” the yellow mare said, while the gray stallion at the other end of the line turned his head to cough.

Twilight looked back at the eggs and furrowed her brow. What they’re asking me to do is impossible… Isn’t it? The hay is obviously there to catch the inattentive student that thinks a simple fire would hatch the egg since that egg is close to unbreakable and wouldn’t need the hay to cushion it. How do I solve this?

So, if that is right, then all they want is for her to point out they are asking the impossible? Trick questions are the worst. I thought, bored with this useless memory, that was somehow in Spike’s head.

They can’t be asking me to do… Sadness washed over her and she began to frown. They only want a sorcerer.

Well, she failed. At times I wished I could end these memories early, but I had never found a way to end memories prematurely.

They must already have enough regular fillies and colts… Well, I have to at least try. Twilight closed her eyes and formed the image of the egg in her mind, which she then imagined hatching, while a painful feeling built up in her horn and she made a straining sound. The painful feeling in her horn dissipated, with the sound of what I thought sounded like electricity sparks shooting off. She opened her eyes to see the egg exactly how it had been, unhatched and sitting upon the cart, motionless, then closed her eyes again and tried to do it again. It didn’t seem she could gather the magic as well this time, as the feeling in her horn dissipated before any spark sounds could be heard, then she opened her eyes to look at the egg.

The sound of a yawn was heard, and Twilight turned her attention back to the judges to see it was the light blue stallion who had made the sound. The yellow one held up a leg and looked at a wristwatch she was wearing, though I supposed it was a pasternwatch in this case.

“We don’t have all day.” The yellow mare said, in a very impatient tone.

The sound of a hoof landing drew Twilight’s attention to her parents, where Velvet held a foreleg in front of Night Light, which barred him from moving forward. Night Light looked somewhat angry and was looking at the yellow mare, but Velvet shook her head to say no, and he pulled his hoof back, then just made an angry snort.

Twilight returned her attention to the egg and continued to imagine the egg hatching. First, she tried what she’d tried before, then switched over to the other side to try it again, without any results. Maybe I can do sorcery with hoof gesture magic, like that one earth pony mage. She ran back over to the other side where she started, stood up on her hind legs, which for some odd reason felt familiar to me, then began to do movements with her forehooves. No. I felt bad for this filly, as she dropped back to all four, then ran back to the other side to try the horn thing again, since she clearly knew the answer to this test. No. Failing yet again, she jumped up on the cart itself, and tried the hoof motions again, while straining herself as she had done with the horn attempt. No!

I was certain her attempts were painful to watch for everyone here, and whatever she was straining within her made my viewpoint actually painful. This filly had just overthought the problem. The dark brown earth pony stallion, that had given her the glass of water, had even hinted toward a solution she might not think of pursuing.

With the attempt on top of the cart a failure, she jumped off, and stood on her hind legs again, with said act giving me that same nagging feeling I had with stairs. The balance Twilight showed on her hind legs was impeccable, especially once she began to do a back to front wave with her forehooves over and over, but it didn’t seem to have any effect on the egg. I wasn’t sure this filly had much more in her with all the fatigue I felt setting in, but it seemed she still had at least one more try in her since she dropped back to all fours and ran over to the other side of the egg.

This would be a great time to earn my cutie mark through the dire moment circumstance! My life is over if I don’t pass this! Over! Twilight closed her eyes, with the image of the egg hatching in her mind taken to a whole new level of detail, in that it shook, slowly cracked, and a small claw burst from the shell. The magic seemed to actually build throughout Twilight’s entire body this time, with her horn, hooves, and two spots on her back tingling. Just as something felt like it was about to happen, the sound of sparks came from her horn, and she collapsed to the floor. I… failed.

Twilight pushed herself up off the ground and hung her head in shame, with her eyes closed, most likely not wanting to see the disappointment from her parent or disapproving glares from the judges. “I’m sorry for wasting your time,” Twilight said, in a heartbroken tone.

Barely a moment after Twilight had uttered her words, an earth-shattering sound rung out and the room began to shake, but neither of those things mattered with the surge of magic I felt build up in Twilight's horn. The pressure in Twilight's horn was beyond anything she had mustered so far, which caused Twilight an immense amount of pain, then she lowered her head toward the direction of the dragon egg with her eyes clenched shut. The magic seemed to pour out through her horn, but it only seemed to stall the pressure building in her horn, and it seemed this magic was building everywhere else in her body as well.

With the sounds of something cracking, all senses from Twilight’s body were lost, almost as if the memory had ended or were at the beginning again. After what couldn’t have been more than a minute, all sensations came back, but they weren’t the ones Twilight had before. I did notice that the memory became much clearer and felt like normal, unlike earlier with the slight confusion I was experiencing.

I’ll have to take notes later and— I paused in thought and wondered where this need to take notes came from. What the hell am I thinking? I… Well… Taking some notes wouldn’t be a bad idea since I did steal that notepad from that nurse at the hospital, but only because it might help get me home. I focused back on the memory and tried not to be disturbed by the fact I was somewhat more attentive than before.

The eyes were closed still, due to a severe disorientation that even I had trouble ignoring, but I knew the feeling of hooves had been replaced with the feeling of hands and feet, alongside what I was certain were wings on the back. All sensations of hair seemed to be entirely gone and replaced with an odd sensation of skin covered in something hard, not to mention something going in a straight line from the middle of the scalp and down the back. After I noticed the ears had moved position from the upper to middle side of the head, I tried to focus on smaller details, but the eyes shot open to a strange sight.

Huh? Twilight thought, at least it sounded like her, but it was debatable due to what was in sight.

I knew for a fact I wasn’t Twilight anymore, at least technically I wasn’t, since beyond the light purple scaled muzzle was the filly Twilight, with the cutie mark she had when I saw her as an adult. It seemed that these cutie marks weren’t tattoos at all, but it was just another thing to file away as irrelevant, since if it didn’t get me home, it wasn’t worth my attention. I was certain I was Spike now, which cleared up the strangeness of this memory, and the whole mind copying adult Twilight mentioned just fell into place.

Spike looked at Twilight’s cutie mark, and seemingly hadn’t realized the situation yet, Stars? No… Sparks! Six of them? No, wait! Seven! The most magical number! I got a cutie mark in magic! Spike thought, with a smile on his face, a smile I was sure would be gone soon.

Twilight was staring up at a pony I knew was Princess Celestia, as I had seen her illustrated in ‘The Colt Who Cried Timberwolf’. Twilight’s parents’ eyes were also fixed upon Princess Celestia, but the princess was stealing glances toward Spike. At least I know what Princess Twilight was talking about with the mind copying now. Guess it didn’t screw Spike up too much. Wait… Is Princess Celestia’s mane ethereal? I thought, and was mesmerized by Celestia’s mane.

Princess Celestia seemed to demand attention with her sheer presence from everyone in the room, as she was taller than any other pony I had seen so far, with a pair of wings and a horn that were also much larger than the average pony. I noted how this princess actually dressed the part, with gold shoes shaped like the fleurs-de-lis going up from the base, along with a gold torc and tiara, both of which had a large amethyst each and went well with her magenta eyes. The mane and tail had to be the most striking thing about this princess though, since they both seemed to just flow from her in an ethereal blend of cerulean, turquoise, cobalt, mauve colors.

Celestia turned her gaze to Twilight, though her ears swiveled toward Spike. “Twilight Sparkle,” she said, and it seemed like how you would address someone instead of a question.

“Yes?” Twilight and Spike said, at the exact same time. A silence fell upon the room and the four ponies in view looked toward Spike, though I was sure the judges out of sight had their eyes on Spike as well.

A sense of dread washed over Spike, which was understandable given the situation, and I could relate to the whole new body aspect. What? I… Spike thought, then his right eye began to twitch, as his new world view had finally caught up with him

Celestia let out a sigh. “I can work with this,” she said, though it seemed more like a thought she had said out loud. A light gold aura wrapped around Spike’s body, which broke him out of his mental breakdown, then levitated him toward herself and placed him next to Twilight.

Spike looked at Twilight and she did the same, then he turned his head with her to look up at Celestia. “I don’t understand. What—” They both said together, then Spike turned his head back toward Twilight to find she had done the same.

“I don’t quite know yet, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out together, that is if you want to be my personal protégés here at the school,” Celestia said, which drew Spike and Twilight’s attention back to Celestia.

“Huh?” They both seemed at a loss and continued to steal glances at each other.

“Well?” Celestia said, and sounded amused at Spike and Twilight’s actions.

“Yes!” they said, in unison.

“Now then, with that out of the way, I think we should think of a temporary way to address you two.” She brought a forehoof up to her muzzle and looked Spike and Twilight over. “You will be Twilight,” she said, pointing toward Twilight, then pointed toward Spike. “And you will be Sparkle, at least until we think of something more permanent. Now let’s test it out. Sparkle?”

“Yes?” Spike said.

“Good! Twilight?”

“Yes?” Twilight said.

“Excellent! Mr. Light? Mrs. Velvet? Could you come over here?”

Spike and Twilight looked over at Twilight’s parents, and I supposed they were his as well, though Twilight was also kinda his mother as well. “Yes, your majesty,” Twilight’s parents said, while bowing down, then stood and walked over from the side of the room to stand behind Spike and Twilight.

Spike and Twilight turned their eyes back toward Celestia, both still at a loss. “Now then, we are going to take a trip to the E.P.A. Headquarters to run some tests on Twilight and Sparkle. Has…” Celestia stopped and looked down at Spike and seemed to contemplate for a moment, then looked back at Twilight’s parents. “the child much experience with teleportation?”

“No…” I heard Velvet say, then Spike turned his attention away from Celestia and looked up at her with a smile on his face. She looked at him with an uncertain look, which turned his smile into a frown.

I’m just some magical accident and she doesn’t want me. Spike thought, then I felt his ears and spikes droop, before he turned his attention back to Celestia and the sight of her seemed to brighten his mood slightly.

“Well, it would be a good idea to put a forehoof on them, so they don’t suffer the nausea effects,” Celestia said, and looked toward Velvet with a look, that seemed to indicate something to her.

She probably doesn’t even want to touch me. Spike’s eyes began to become damp and he was on the verge of crying.

Celestia let out another sigh and lifted up a forehoof, but before she could move it forward a weight was on Spike’s back, which brought a smile to Celestia’s face. Spike looked over his shoulder to see Velvet had a forehoof on him.

“This is going to take some time to get used, but everything will be okay.” Velvet said, and gave Spike a reassuring smile, which he returned with a smile of his own.

“Alright, this will be over in a moment,” Celestia said, then her horn began to glow.

Spike turned his head to look at Twilight. “Um, congratulations on your cutie mark,” he said, which gained her attention.

“Huh?” She looked at her flank and her face lit up at the sight of her cutie mark. “Yes!” she said, then broke contact with Night Light to jump into the air with her excitement.

“Twilight!” Night Light said, but the teleportation began before he could grab hold of her.

The feeling was just as it has been when Twilight had teleported me away, with the same feeling of being stretched and squashed, before it was all over. The room had changed to a pure white room from floor to ceiling, with nothing in view, aside from the beings that had teleported into it. Twilight fell to the floor and looked a little woozy.

“I don’t feel so—” she said, then threw up, right on Celestia’s right foreleg. Twilight’s eyes went wide with horror, and gasps were heard from Velvet and Night Light.

Spike cringed at the sight. Glad I’m not her right now. Spike thought, then looked up at Celestia to see her reaction.

Celestia had a blank expression and lifted up her right foreleg to look at it.

The sounds of sniffles drew Spike’s attention back to Twilight, who looked to be on the verge of crying. “Please don’t banish me from Equestria! I haven’t had time to learn a second language yet!” she said, in a tone somewhere between a wail and plea, while tears poured from her eyes.

A snicker was heard and Spike turned back to Celestia to see she had a smile on her face, which turned into a joyful laugh. “Twilight,” She took a moment, to get her laughter under control. “I’m not going to banish you.” Celestia’s horn lit up, and with a flash of her light gold magic, the bile on her and the floor was gone. “The reason this room is empty and white is due to that happening from time to time.With that out of the way, how about we get those tests out of the way?”

“Really?” Twilight said, and tried to wipe the tear from her eyes with the fetlock from a forehoof.

“Really. Now let’s get those tests over and done with, then we’ll have some cake.” Celestia said, and the smile she had seemed to say she looked forward to the cake as well.

Spike leaned forward and stood with both his hands and feet on the ground. This feels weird. He looked up at Celestia and began to walk with her. Everything is going to be alright.

The memory faded away, with the flowing ethereal mane of Celestia the last discernible thing.


(0) (0)


My sight came back to me, though it had turned sideways, and my head was on one of the pillows Spike had been perched upon. The sound of whispers filled my hearing, at least, it seemed to. There was something odd about the whispers, they were indiscernible, but not because they were to too low to hear. The whispers just weren’t understandable, even though they sounded clear. Hopefully, whoever are whispering, are whispering about me, and the fact I’m telling the truth. Getting tired of this identity issue.

I inhaled a deep breath, exhaled it, then pushed myself up to a sitting position. Spike had moved to a nearby table and was hunched over a book, mumbling something to himself. I looked around to find the voices I heard whispering, though no one else was in the room, and the whispers didn’t shift position with the turning of my head. 

Am I hearing voices now? Well, technically they are whispers… Are indiscernible whispers better than voices? Guess the whispers aren’t telling me to do anything, but the fact I can’t hear them might just mean I’m failing at being crazy… Okay, failing at being crazy is a good thing. I thought, and pushed myself to all four, then had a fun idea.

I walked over casually to the left side of Spike, and the sound of my hooves didn’t seem to alert him to my presence. He was still mumbling, but the proximity allowed me to make out what he was saying.

“Some sort of practiced trick? A psychosomatic condition? Twilight could figure this out…”

I began to smirk. “What are you doing?” I said, and tried to sound innocent.

“Trying to figure out what is wrong with Berry,” he said, and didn’t even look my way.

Oh, this will be fun. I needed to have some fun. “What’s wrong with her?”

“I don’t know.” He let out a sigh.

“Well, shouldn’t you take her to a hospital?” I said, then let out a few snickers.

“She was just at the hospital and they missed whatever it is. I also don’t want to move her since I don’t know what is wrong with her, and I can’t go anywhere, since I don’t want to leave her alone.”

“Wow, how very nice of you. Checked on her lately?”

He turned right to looked back at where I had been. “Where’d she go?!” he said, panic clear in his voice.

I decided I had had enough fun and raised a forehoof to tap him on the back. He turned to face me and seemed to be unable to process the sight of me.

“Hi!” I said, and flashed him a smile.

He turned back to look at where I had been, opened his mouth, then closed his mouth, seemingly at a loss for words.

“So, did you figure out what just happened? You’d be the first in my life to ever figure it out. Why, think of all the publicity! You could even write a paper on it!” I said. Wait… Paper? Where’d that come from?

“So… it was a trick,” he said, and his features said he was displeased.

“Oh, no! That was no mere trick.” I stopped for a moment to think about my ability. “Well, it kinda is. Not everyone can relive another person’s memories.”

“Be—”

“Jack!” I narrowed my eyes at him.

He sighed again. “Jack,” He rolled his eyes. “you can’t do that. Even if you could, you couldn’t use it on me, I’m immune to all forms of magic that affect the mind.”

“Technically, my ability doesn’t affect others, it affects me. I know everything I experience has to go on in my mind since my ability doesn’t require constant eye contact. It’s like I download a video and play it personally in my head.”

“Download?” He seemed to be at a loss with the word.

“Oh yeah, you’re a fantasy creature living in a fantasy world. Give me a second to figure out how to describe it to you.” What is applicable here? Something magical probably…

“There is only one person living in a fantasy world here and that isn’t me…” he said, though I didn’t feel it was important enough to address.

Oh! The memory! He would totally get it if I made it analogous to his creation. Best to approach it slowly though. Might be a sore subject. “Alright. I can explain it to you, but you have to promise not to get mad at me and be civil, since I’m going to bring up the memory I saw, and I don’t know how touchy you are about it.”

“Sure, at the very least, this should be entertaining.” He walked over to a nearby cushion and sat down on it in an upright position where his arms were still fully extended.

I followed his lead and picked a cushion opposite him to sit on, and sat upright like him.

“Alright, the memory began with… Okay, I need to ask a question first. Is your… existence a sore subject?”

“No,” he said, without any hint of emotion.

“Okay, well the memory began with a feeling of confusion like it was trying to make me believe I was Twilight.” He opened his eyes wider. “Pretty sure I’m still suffering from it a little actually since I kinda want to take out the notepad I have and write this all down. Any of this ringing a bell?”

“Go on.” There was a hint of something in his voice, it sounded almost like curiosity.

“So, what came into sight first was a clock, with Twilight’s hearing—”

“What time was on the clock?”

“I…” I closed my eyes and tried to remember what the time had been. It hadn’t been important enough to me to note at the time, but I could always remember foreign memories perfectly… for better or worse. “4:51.”

“Was the clock analog or magical?”

“It was analog, at least it looked analog to me. Don’t you remember the ticking?”

“Vividly…” He had a distant look.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how much of her life do you remember?” This was more than I could’ve hoped for. He could relate to my ability.

“Everything…” he said, and it seemed like I shouldn’t press further, but my curiosity got the better of me.

“How far back?”

“I remember being in the womb…”

“I… Okay, I know this a world of magic, but can beings here seriously have memories that far back? Humans don’t start making permanent memories until after about three years old, that is if I remember correctly.” Katherine doesn’t even personally remember our parents…

“No, they can’t.” A pregnant silence formed, and the irony of the term didn’t pass me by unnoticed. “Just go on.” I knew not to press him for anything further.

“Now then, Twilight thought about: them taking too long, that they forgot about her, that the waiting might very well be a test, and worried she might have to do transmogrification. Do you believe me yet? About reliving other being’s memories?”

“No, you could’ve gotten this information from Twilight. Ponies love talking about the events leading up to them getting their cutie marks in detail.” It seemed like her cutie mark was a sore subject with him, at least from the way he said it.

“Does she normally include throwing up on Princess Celestia in the story of her cutie mark?” That mention of that shot his eyes wide open and leaned forward. The whispers from earlier increased a few decibels, but I ignored them since whatever they were wasn’t important.

“Details!” he said, and I didn’t mind that he was demanding it.

I’ve done it! Finally! With him, I can get Twilight’s help for sure! I felt giddy, and I didn’t even mind how close that word was related to equines. “Okay, she threw up because Princess Celestia teleported you and your… Okay, I don’t want to ruin this with a hot topic. Do Twilight’s parents consider you their child as well? That is if you don’t mind answering.”

“They did…” he said, with a sad tone, and lowered his head.

“Oh… sorry. I know how it is to be estranged to your parents.”

He shot up on all fours and looked at me with anger. “Are you rutting kidding me!”

I pushed myself back up to all fours. “Calm down, that’s why I asked. You said you wouldn’t get mad earlier. Remember, this is about my ability.”

His anger seemed to dissipate and sadness overtook his features. I was sure he was on the verge of crying.“How can you talk like this?” The way he said those words, it spoke volumes to me.

“Oh…” All I can think of are the cliches for this. Well, at least I can pick the best cliche. I’m sorry for your loss never made any sense. “My condolence. I’m sorry for upsetting you.”

“Just… go away,” he said, and that made me stand up straight.

“No, we were making progress. You were surprised by the whole throwing up on Princess Celestia. You almost believe me.”

“You probably just heard that from Princess Celestia… or something.” There was no question in his tone, he didn’t believe what he was saying.

“I can repeat everything I saw, from start to finish perfectly! Like the dark brown stallion!” The whispers increased in speed like a frantic discussion was ongoing.

“There wasn’t a dark brown stallion on that day. Leave.” He seemed very adamant about it, but I didn’t get the sense he was lying.

“He had a straight long black mane! Piercing blue eyes! The hairs from knees to hooves were black!” The whispers increased in volume again, and I could almost tell what they were saying.

“There was only a light brown stallion that day!” he said, though is was close to a snarl.

“Do you remember the glass of water?”

A wave of confusion washed over him and broke his anger. “I… I…”

“How about the advice he told Twilight?” I took a moment to remember the words exactly. “ ‘There are only two things you need to become a great mage: an open mind and a vast imagination. If you have and use both of those today in your entrance exam, then I’m sure you’ll pass it with ease.’. Any of that ring a bell? His cutie mark was an open book!” With the mention of the stallion’s cutie mark, the whispers stopped being whispers and became clearly defined voices, voices that sent a shiver down my spine. I wasn't hearing them through my ears; I was hearing them as clear as my own thoughts.

We must own her. She is more valuable than even the dragon, a male thought. It sounded massive and shook me to my core with every word.

Why does she have an ability like that? I should be able to grant that! It isn’t fair! a female thought. It sounded very entitled, like a spoiled child, but it was obviously a woman’s voice.

All good things in time, dear. We just have to work together and you’ll have plenty of time to figure it out. If it turns out you can’t figure it out though, we could always see if it is genetic. You know much I enjoy procreation, a second female thought. It had a sultry tone to it, but it definitely wasn’t in any way inviting.

Just some ugly earth pony if you ask me. Too fat, doesn’t keep her mane or coat groomed, and worst of all a mixed breed. Would be doing her kind a favor if she just walked into the Everfree at midnight. Really though, only the unicorns are worth a look anymore, but they won’t even be worth a glance at the rate they are going, a third female thought. It sounded like some snobbish people I’d dealt with before my art career crashed and burned. I found this voice infuriating with the elitism it showcased and its casual support of suicide.

This one, I know this one. She knows how to indulge in liquid pleasures. If we are taking our focus off the dragon for her, than I might just be moving up the ladder. With my knowledge and her talent, we could be consuming things that I’ve only dreamed of! A second male thought. The enthusiasm in its voice and the tone it used made it clear that whatever it had in mind wasn’t wholesome.

The voices didn’t seem to know I could hear them, though I supposed hearing them was misnomer since they were like the thoughts in memories. I was fairly certain I was experiencing another weird magic thing, but why was the question.

“The water was there… I remember drinking the water… But where did the glass come and go from?” Spike seemed to be lost in confusion, which was fine since I had a new thing to worry about.

Hate this magic stuff. Everything is just called magic and I get nothing more from there. It has to at least follow cause and effect, right? Earlier I wasn’t hearing these voices and now I am. The changed happened between while I was… reliving a memory. No, it couldn’t have… but it is the only cause available and they mentioned a dragon several times.

“Those words… I remember them, but nopony ever said them…” Spike’s memory issue was another strange thing, but he didn’t matter right now, I did.

There was also the whole thing Twilight brought up about my hooves not making noise. She said it was impossible and that Surprise could only do that… and I used my ability on Surprise. Am I copying things? My ability never did that before, not that I ever noticed at least. I wasn’t in a magical land full of talking creatures either, so that might have an effect on my ability.

Do any of you have agents near or in Ponyville? The dragons and gryphons in my employ would stick out and draw the attention of the E.P.A. on the way there, the first male thought.

Some ponies envious of others that didn’t lose anyone in the Manehattan incident, but nobody deep enough in it to hear me. My agents elsewhere are too committed to obtaining the things they desire for them to listen to me, at least for now, the first female thought.

Ponyville is far too wholesome for any of my active agents. There is also the problem almost all of my active agents are being hunted by the E.P.A. I miss the days when the E.P.A. was blindly groping their way forward in the dark, like innocent foals trying to act like adults. My agents could get up to some really kinky things back then, the second female thought.

Like I would have any agents in Pony— the third female thought, before she suddenly couldn’t be heard anymore.

The sudden and abrupt silence was eerie. I wanted to take comfort in the fact the voices weren’t in my head and talking about me, but there was something wrong with this silence. It was like I was being watched and something was breathing down my neck.

Did you know it is rude to eavesdrop? a new third male thought. Compared to every other voice I had heard, this one didn’t seem to have any clearly defined characteristics, aside from the smart aleck tone he used.

My eyes went wide at the realization the voice had spoken directly to me.

Just as I thought, you can hear us. The others get caught up in their discussions and fail to notice the little things, but I pay attention to everything. How can that be though? Does that unique eye magic carry benefits beyond reading memories? Your mannerisms have changed greatly from previous observations as well, so it could be your story of being an outsider is true. Why don’t we have a nice chat? Just intend your thoughts for me, or you could speak out loud, though then my siblings would instantly know you can hear us. I promise you don’t want them to know.

I looked at Spike, who was still lost in his confusion, then treated this voice in my head like a phone call and walked out of Spike’s sight.

Who are you? I thought, to the unknown speaker in my head.

Well, I could answer that question with a meaningless name, but I’m highly doubtful you want the name of some nobody. I suppose you could call me The King of Nobodies that Never Did Anything, but that seems like an awfully long name. No, the real question you should’ve asked is ‘What are you?’.

I could tell this conversation was going to be annoying, though this wasn’t exactly a conversation since there were no spoken words. What are you?

Well, that is a complicated question that spans the entire history of this planet. Some of my siblings would say the beginning of the universe, but they just say that to appear bigger than they are. They don’t want beings truly knowing that they depend on life to exist and that life could destroy them. One of my brothers tried to destroy us once actually, though using gender specific pronouns isn’t the best way to describe us since our astral representation changes anytime a stronger being than the last wields one of us.

This thing was testing my patience. I had to be very specifics with my questions. What do I call you?

Well, I’ve been called many things by many different things. Let’s see they’ve called me: acedia, apathy, hebetude—

What do the ponies call you? I felt like this thing was wasting my time.

Oh? Why didn’t you ask in the first place? The ponies call me Sloth, Sloth thought.

I may not have been a religious person, but I knew enough about most modern religions to recognize where this was going. My next question would be simple and straightforward, one I didn’t want the answer to. Counting you and your siblings together, are there seven of you?

Why yes, there are. It seems you are quite knowledgeable for an outsider, or where you come from also has us.

With that, I knew what I was dealing with. The danger of this thing was unknown, but out of all of them, Sloth always struck me as the lesser of Seven Deadly Sins. The fact I was now dealing with living concepts added a whole new level of danger to this world, but it didn’t mean I had to be rude. Well, this has been a very enlightening thought exchange. Thank you for the information, but I must get back to trying to get home. Have a good day.

Jack, we are far from done here. I haven’t even offered you my deal. Sloth dropped its smart-aleck tone for a cold and straight one. I swore the room temperature dropped as well.

I’m fairly certain I do not want anything you have, but thank you for considering me. I may not have known much about this world, but making deals with evil forces was certainly not a good thing.

You will listen to my deal and consider it, or I tell my siblings you can hear them and you will never have a moment to yourself ever again.

The threat lost some of its sting with the fact that I was fairly certain I had gotten this ability to talk to them through Spike and could probably get rid of it… I hoped. Regardless, I wasn’t going to test this thing. Well, if you put it that way, I would be more than happy to hear and deliberate upon your offer.

Good, now then. My deal is quite simple really. Give up your quest to go home.

In return for what exactly? Deals typically have more than one party making demands of the other.

Local time manipulation and instantaneous teleportation.

What happens if I accept your deal? This was a situation I couldn’t ignore when it came to my goal of getting home. These things had talked about their agents, which were the first real danger yet.

You would become my agent and do whatever I ask of you.

There was more to this. It couldn’t be as simple as that. What do I lose if I make this deal?

Most beings never ask that, though typically they are too deep in our vices when we are able to contact them to really lose much more. Putting it simply, when you accept a deal with one of us, we become a part of you. You wouldn’t ever have any regrets about your choices or actions ever again.

Okay, I’m dealing with psychopaths, great, I thought to myself, glad I had that privacy for myself. Their interest in me was the only other thing that was a mystery. Why are you and your siblings interested in me? I thought, to Sloth.

I think you’ve asked enough question. Choose, though I think I already know your answer.

Yeah, sorry, but I have no interest in your deal. Now, is this where you go and tell your siblings about me hearing them anyway? Just to spite me for not accepting your deal? I probably shouldn’t have challenged him, but I felt certain he was going to do just that.

Well, it seems you aren’t gullible enough to think any of us will keep to our word, but in this case, I will. I’ll give you a word of advice though. Don’t continue to pursue the dragon. He may not listen to us, not that I bother much with him, but he doesn’t want anyone to know he can hear us. Of course, you could always use that against him, but then they’ll know as well. Sloth thought, then it just felt gone. The voices returned to fill the void Sloth left, but they had returned to indistinguishable whispers.

I looked back over at Spike to find him still confused. I didn’t know what I had said exactly to make it happen to him, but I felt bad for doing it to him. Does this happen often? A glitch in his… Programming? Conditioning? Brainwashing? Should I just leave him like this? Are there options other than the ones Sloth offered?

I had found someone willing to believe me, but it seemed he carried some risks. Now the question was if those risks were worth the help. I felt an urge to list the pros and cons, so I sat down, then pulled the notepad and pen I had taken from the hospital nurse out of my saddle bags. The notepad was fairly empty, aside from a few personal notes on a couple patients, one of which being me, I noticed the page on me was filled to the brim with names of things that I could only guess were drugs, compared to the simple comfort notes for other patients.

I found an empty page and began to list things. Spike is close to Twilight, so he could help me. Spike is close to Twilight, so he also could hinder me. He can perfectly remember all of Twilight’s memories, so he knows in those cases I’m telling the truth. Suffers from some sort of cognitive function problem related to Twilight’s memories. Hears evil incarnate and doesn’t listen to it. Admitting to him I know about the voices also lets them know I can hear them. I stopped to think about The Seven.

Okay, so things that share their names with religiously defined vices are actually alive here. They want me for some reason and were discussing agents. Agents seem to be beings that have heard them and accepted deals like Sloth offered me. So… I’m already in danger. I looked over at Spike. Not pursuing him further is just what Sloth wants me to do.

I picked up the notepad, put the pen back in the ring binding, then stored them both back in a saddlebag. With my mind set on what I was going to do, I pushed myself back up to all fours and walked back over to in front of Spike. He had stopped muttering and just stared forward.

“Spike? You okay?” I said, not really sure what to do.

He didn’t respond at all to what I said. It was a little unsettling and felt like I was being paid back for every person I had ever worried using my ability. I walked right up next to him and touched him with a forehoof, then shook him, which also didn’t register any response.

Do I punch him? Pain might just knock him out of this. Don’t think he would be too happy about it though. Is there— An idea popped into my head, a very strange one that I felt could work. I licked my lips, then gave Spike a kiss.

Spike’s eyes focused on me, and his facial scales went red with blush. “Gah!” he said, as he pulled himself away from me, though he tripped up his arms and legs in his haste and sprawled himself out on the library’s floor. “You… you…” he stammered out.

It worked! It seems a kiss is magical here. I need to remember more fairytale stuff. I decided I should stop him from going comatose again. “Yes, I kissed you. Now then, how about you help me get home?” I said, trying to treat what I had done as casual as possible.

“But… my first real kiss… suppose to be…” The words that came out of his mouth sounded like something a school kid would say.

Well, if I’m good at doing one thing to Spike, it’s causing him to break. I let out a sigh and walked closer to him, then held out a forehoof. “Get up.”

He looked at my hoof like it was an alien object, then grabbed it briefly to put himself back on four limbs, before quickly retracting his hand. “That… didn’t count as holding hooves… did it?”

I couldn’t help smiling at the thing he was saying. “How old are you?”

“19… physically and mentally. Not linear time-wise though.”

“No, it didn’t count as holding hooves. Wouldn’t it be holding hands for you?”

He looked at a hand, and I really meant looked at it, like it was a foreign thing. “Yeah… I guess it would.”

“So, could you help me now?” I said, and felt like I was close to getting home.

“With what?” he said, seemingly serious.

“Me being an outsider? Reliving Twilight’s memory? Recounting every detailed asked of me?”

“Be—”

I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Jack, you’ve only raised the question of if you have some form of eye magic, which though rare, and I’ve never heard of a form of it like the one you claim to have, is possible. It isn’t like you can bend the fabric of reality like Discord.”

I’ll show you what I can bend… There wasn't any way to convince these beings. My reputation was Berry’s reputation and that was all anyone could see. Their trust in the E.P.A. overruled any claim I could make about being an outsider. Even my ability could just be reasoned out as magic. “I give up,” I said, then fell back to my haunches.

“Give up what? That your name is Jack? The whole story of you being an outsider? Your claim to be able to use eye magic?”

“You.” I gave him an angry glare, while I pointed at him with a forehoof. The act of pointing didn’t quite have the same gratification for some reason. “I give up convincing you. Just like you’ve given up on Berry.”

His face took on a new expression with my words, and I was pretty sure it was a look of shame. He sat down on his haunches as well, closed his eyes and let out a long sigh, then looked at me. “Fine, how about you tell me what you are and what where you come from is like. How well you can describe those things will show that you are either making this all up or that your claim is possible.”

I perked up at his words. “Really?”

“Yeah, it isn’t like I was doing anything better with my time today.”

“Great!” I couldn’t help, but smile. He was at least listening to me. “Okay, well a human is…” I drew a complete blank, which caused me to become terrified.

“Jack? ‘A hueman is’ what?”

I didn’t know. I knew I was one, that humans didn’t normally have an ability like I had, but what a human looked like was a complete blank. All the weird feelings I had throughout the day finally made sense. How stairs gave me pause. Why it had felt so familiar when Twilight had stood on her back legs. The fact I knew what hands and feet felt like instantly from the switch to Spike’s body. Even just now when I pointed at Spike with a forehoof. I just had to fill in all these blanks.

“Jack?”

“One sec.” I reached back into my saddlebags, which gave me that same weird feeling I had with everything else that had come to mind, then pulled out my pen and notepad. This was a puzzle I had to make the pieces for.

“What are you doing?” His curiosity would have to go unfilled until I was done.

I decided to try for a simplistic anatomy diagram. Has to walk on two legs, four is too animalistic, and any more than four would delve into a horror I have no interest in imagining. I drew the legs to the length that seemed normal and copied Spike’s three toe configuration due to lack of anything else to go on. A torso is a given. I couldn’t be certain of exactly how a human torso looked, but I drew what looked normal. Arms with hands, since I know we can grip things and anything else would also be too animalistic or horrifying. The hands were drawn with three fingers and a thumb, just like Spike’s, but it didn’t feel exactly right. Head…

“Jack, your stalling is only hurting your claims.” The annoyance made it clear I couldn’t delay any longer.

The head was left completely undefined since I couldn’t decide on what a human face looked like. “This is a human.” I turned the notepad to Spike.

He seemed to study my drawing for a moment, then returned his gaze back to me. “Alright…” The skepticism in his tone wasn’t something I wanted to hear. “You can draw?”

I looked at my drawing and knew I would be revising it over and over later, then stowed it away in my saddlebags. “Yes, though typically much better than that.”

“And you know Piña Colada, Berry’s sister, is talented with drawing as well?” He was getting at something here.

“Yes… I learned about that in a memory from Fluttershy, which I experienced while she took me to the hospital.”

“And did you know talents tend to run in pony families?”

Great, even showcasing my own talent hurts my credibility. I let out a long groan. “No, I did not. I’m beginning to think your entire reality is out to get me.”

“Typically happens when your own reality is made up of lies…” The way he said those words didn’t sound like him being smart. No, it was him lamenting about his own lies.

“Anything you wanted to ask about humans? Like our society and technology? Can’t personally go into any technical details, but I can give you generalizations.”

A smirk came to his face. “I think I’d rather hear about this supposed eye magic ability of yours. Can all huemans do it, or are there different kinds of huemans?”

“I… Well, I’m the only one that I know of with it…” Even I knew how bad my story sounded, but it was the truth.

“So, in this parallel reality of your’s, you are one of a kind?”

“Doubtful, I just never found anyone like me. How rare is eye magic here? Know anyone with it?”

He took pause at my question. “No, natural eye magic is pretty rare among civilized creatures. It is typically a stigma in society, due to the fact that vampires had and used a form of it, at least before that disease was eradicated.” If he did know anyone, he certainly wasn’t going to tell me.

Of course, vampires exist here, or existed according to him, though I don’t take much faith in the claim they are gone. I felt tired, both mentally and physically, then decided to lay down with my forehooves on my muzzle. “Words really can’t get me anywhere here, can they?”

“You could prove you actually have eye magic to me though. If you really do, and Twilight never noticed it the past three times she tried to help yo—”

I may have been on the floor looking up at him, but all I needed was a glare to correct him.

“Tried to help Berry, then I could convince her to take the time to examine you mentally. Twilight wouldn’t even need to file a request to use her mind magic with E.P.A. this time since she is a princess this time around.”

It was all I could’ve asked for. “How do I convince you?”

“Well… I suppose you would have to use it again…” He seemed reluctant to the idea now that my claims might actually be real. “Can you control what you see? Like when and what you see.”

Of course, he’d be worried now. He is afraid I might find out about the fact he can hear The Seven. Suppose it is time to lie. I couldn’t even remember if I had lied at all in the past two days. “Yeah, if I know what to look for.”

“Alright.” He closed his eyes, seemingly to focus on whatever he wanted me to see. “What I want you to tell me is what my mom said to me after I came home upset about some teasing, that had happened at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. It happened nine years ago, at the end of August, though I can’t remember what day it was.”

“Okay. Spike?” He was missing something about the situation.

“Yes?” he said, with his eyes closed.

“I need to see your eyes…” I made sure my displeasure was clear in my voice.

His eyes shot open. “Oh! Sorry…” He made a bashful grin, while his scales went slightly red with blush, though not nearly as red as they had when I kissed him.

I sat up with my front legs extended and my rear legs tucked under me. “Don’t knock me over this time.”

He looked sheepish, while he scratched the back of his head with one of his hands.

I focused on his eyes and the world… didn’t fade away, but I felt light headed. Thankfully I was sitting, as otherwise, I was sure I would’ve collapsed, and instead was able to continue sitting with my legs outstretched.

“Jack? Are you alright?” His concern was genuine, at least I had that.

“Sure.” I gave him a smile and tried again. It took more effort than usual, but with focus, the world finally disappeared properly.


(0) (0)


Senses began to come into to focus, first hearing, then… it stopped. Nothing else formed and left me with a severe sensory deprivation, an entirely new experience for me. I didn’t even feel the mental presence of Twilight or Spike, so I doubted I would even get thoughts. Damn, I don’t even feel alive like this. I thought, the situation extremely unnerving.

“What is wrong with me? Is it because I’m a dragon?” Spike said, and sounded just as he had outside of this.

“No, Spike. It isn’t because you are a dragon. Please, just leave it at the fact I’m not interested.” Rarity said, and I knew it was her, her tone of voice was unmistakable.

“Do you think I’m ugly?” With that, I was certain this was a memory of a romantic rejection.

“No, you are a very handsome drake. I could even introduce some mares that are interested in you.”

“But I don’t want to be with them! Was it my etiquette at dinner? I went over several books on it, but if I made a mistake, I could improve!”

“Spike…” She let out a sigh. “If you Surprise Swear not to tell anyone, then I’ll tell you why I’m not interested in you.”

“I… cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a muffin in my eye.” He sounded so defeated. I doubted he had really wanted to know.

“Well… I’m a…” Whatever it was, it seemed like it was something painful for her to admit. “I’ve never told anyone this, Spike. I don’t think anypony would look at me the same again if it got out and it would ruin any hope I have of a fashion career in Canterlot.”

This was another situation I felt like I was intruding with my ability. I supposed that I was always intruding really, but this felt overly so. This was two people having a very private conversation and… I would use whatever this secret was against Rarity, but only if the need called for it.

“Hello?” a new female said, and it was familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it.

“I think it would be better if I just showed you, Spike.” A low constant sound was heard, and I was fairly certain it was the sound of a unicorn using magic.  Strangely, there was no reaction from either Spike or Rarity to the new voice.

“Rarity? Is that you?” I knew for certain I had heard this voice recently.

“I…I don’t know what to say, Rarity,” Spike said, and sounded shocked.

“Spike? Are you the one in need?” Dread filled me as I realized where I had heard the voice.

“Do you hate me?” Rarity said.

“Fear not! Whatever this is will soon be over!” one of The Seven said, and from I had heard it say earlier, I decided it had to be Envy.

The sound the unicorns made when using magic was heard again, then there was nothing.


(0) (0)


All the wonderful senses beyond sound were back, so I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, then let the breath out as I opened my eyes. “Okay, Spike. That memory didn’t…” Spike was standing and looking straight at me, with my notepad in his hand.

“What are you trying to pull here?” Spike said, with anger in his voice and eyes.

I knew what this meant and I let out a sigh. “They know now, don’t they?” A presence was felt and my skin felt like it crawled.

You are just full of surprises, aren’t you? And here I was just telling Spike that all you needed was a good rutting, a female thought, and I could tell it was the third voice I had heard due to its sultry tone. I was certain the voice belonged to Lust.

“Are you working for them?” He took a defensive stance. “Are you an agent for one of them?” His accusations annoyed me.

“The only one I answer to is myself, and I’m pretty sure any deal they offer carries with it damnation, so they have a snowball's chance in Hell of me accepting any deal they offer.” I may not have been a religious person, but I did like modern religion from a fantasy lore viewpoint.

Are you some sort of beaver in this parallel reality of yours? Do you even understand probability? Lust seemed deeply confused by my words, which was something I didn’t think possible for a personification of evil.

“A dam nation? A snowball’s chance in hail? You aren’t making sense!” The way he said the words. How he said I wasn’t making sense. It was just like how the nurse had reacted to ‘fucking and ‘damn’ back at the hospital.

“I think we are having a synonym and foreign word problem here. Would you relax and let me explain?” Lust and whatever other evil that listened wouldn’t like it when they knew what I had said, but I couldn’t care less about them, at least not until they did more than talk to me.

“Fine,” He relaxed somewhat. “but this better be good.”

“Great! Let’s start with ‘hell’. To you, it seems you think I’m saying ‘hail’, as in ice that rains from the sky. For me? It means a place of evil and suffering, where wicked people are punished after death for eternity. By the way, it is spelled ‘h’ ‘e’ ‘l’ ‘l’. The idiom ‘Snowball’s chance in Hell.’ refers to the fact Hell is often thought of a place perpetually on fire.”

So what you are saying is that there is no chance whatsoever? You’d be surprised how many beings we’ve broken, that claimed the exact same thing. The way she said that was troubling, but I could deal with it later… hopefully.

Spike didn’t look like he knew what to say to my explanation. “Punished? As in tortured? For all eternity?” He sounded horrified.

“Yeah…” Note to self, avoid as many horrible things as possible, especially ones that actually exist… Well, I suppose Hell could actually exist now… and just about anything else. “So yeah, that’s the word hell, though I typically use it as an exclamatory. As for ‘damn’, which is spelled with an ‘n’ at the end, that refers to wicked people sent to Hell, though I just use it as a curse when I’m angry.”

He looked me up and down like he was seeing me for the first time. “And how can you hear them if you aren’t working for them?”

“How can you?” I was being smart with him now.

“I… just can… like an umbra, but worse,” Spike said, the admittance hard for him to say.

I felt bad for him, since my ability was actually useful, while his only tortured him.

“And that is why I can.” I was sure this was another thing The Seven would value me even more for, but dissuading any of Spike’s fear mattered more.

You can copy things too? I bet an ability like that offers a lot of room for experimentation. Anything else you want to share? Fetishes?

“What?” Spike said, clearly not following.

“I only noticed it after getting this hearing evil ability, but it seems I can copy things from anyone I use my ability on. Like yesterday, I used my ability on Surprise and gained her… I don’t even know what to call her ability. Perception filter? Noise nullification?”

He put a hand to his forehead, apparently trying to process everything. “None of this makes sense. If you are an outsider, like you say you are, then the E.P.A. has some sort of hole in its security. The only other explanation is that you are an agent for The Seven, but that makes even less sense since they wouldn’t risk exposing me.”

I stood up, then stretched my legs and back. “Well, the first is the truth. The second would go against my morals.”

He retook his defensive stance. “But either way, you are dangerous!”

I rolled my eyes made a very horse-like snort with my muzzle Damn pony body. I wasn’t going to get in a fight, especially with something that had claws and sharp teeth. “I surrender myself to you.”

“What?” My ability to cause confusion seemed to have no end.

“I am within your custody. Let’s find Princess Twilight and have her sort me out.”

“You… Just like that?”

“I’ve been telling everyone I meet I’m an outsider for the past two days, and I even came straight to Princess Twilight. I haven’t exactly been afraid of anyone knowing what I am. Hell, after Surprise talked about how you’ve treated Discord, any fears I may have had were gone.”

His abandoned his defensive stance entirely, though he still looked confused. “You are basing us off of how we’ve treated Discord? Really?”

“Yeah, the best and the only way you should judge others based on what they have done in the past, but you should also always allow the possibility of change, otherwise someone bad can never be better.”

Don’t expect that from any of our agents, Jack. Once they are ours, there is no turning back. Short of tearing us from them that is, but that typically ends badly for most of our agents and is the reason most are sent to Tartarus.

“Huh…” The realization of something made itself known on Spike’s face. “I need you to Surprise Swear not to say anything about The Seven,” Spike said, his tone very fearful.

Poor Spike, he continues to put up this facade of his. He really needs to just learn to take what he wants, be it valuables or the joys of the flesh.

“Now, I could do that, but I don’t know how I could keep to it. Since I need Twilight to see I’m not Berry Punch.” Getting home was my only concern, not what happened to Spike.

“I can tell her you aren’t Berry Punch. See? Problem solved! Now, please, Surprise Swear you will not tell anyone about The Seven.” His tone shifted to panicked.

“No, I think she needs to see what I truly am. I feel the mind magic she knows will do that perfectly, and that is the reason I can’t promise you anything. Holding back anything wouldn’t be good for me, and maybe not even possible in the first place.”

You know, most creatures would be apprehensive to letting someone else into their mind. Of course, I would love to actually get into yours, since it is a playground with no end. How about that? You could experience pleasures that are only limited by your imagination.

Spike moved forward and placed a hand on one of my shoulders. “Please?”

Bah, I do need a friend… Well… I do already have Surprise, but she is just humoring me. I needed more information. “What will happen to you if someone finds out you can hear The Seven?”

His ears drooped and he plopped himself down on the floor. “I would have to go away…”

“Like to an insane asylum?”

He stepped back in surprise. “What? No! I’m not crazy! I would just have to go through the same training umbra fillies and colts go through.” He let out a long sigh. “I can’t be away from my friends that long, they need me, especially so with Twilight.”

“What’s an umbra?” It probably wasn’t important, but I figured I might as well learn what they were.

“Oh, I guess you wouldn’t know about them yet. Well, they are a pony type descended from Prince Sombra and Princess Hope, who are the rulers of the Crystal Empire. The umbra almost always have a dark gray coat and black mane, just like Prince Sombra, though their eyes can be any color. That one police pony in town, Due Process, is one by the way, and even has Prince Sombra’s exact same eye color.”

“So, what happens to umbra fillies and colts?”

He made a couple embarrassed laughs. “Sorry, I can get a little carried away. Equinology is one of my favorite subjects. Um, so yeah, when umbra reach age seven they develop the ability to naturally communicate with The Seven. The E.P.A. has a training program they put the fillies and colts through to wall themselves off mentally from The Seven, and in doing so are invulnerable to evil magic, alongside being able to use their shadow magic, without fear of negative effects.”

Magic they don’t deserve! The sultry tone was lost from Lust’s voice, replaced with pure malice.

“Seriously? You don’t want anyone to know so you don’t have to train? I don’t see why I should Surprise Swear not to tell anyone now.” I was irritated Spike had wasted my time with something so trivial.

“You don’t get it! Those fillies and colts spend years just walling off the one or two of The Seven that is attuned to them! I’ve heard six!”

You don’t want to wake the dragon, do you? Not that I would mind. I like it when things get rough. Lust’s tone had returned to normal, but the tone shift it had done made it clear this thing was monstrous.

I stood my ground. “All it sounds like to me is you not facing your problems! Every moment you don’t tell anyone just makes it worse! The truth always come out in the end!”

“It doesn’t have to! All you have to do is Surprise Swear you won’t tell anyone!” He looked around the room frantically, though he was probably just desperately thinking of a solution. He stopped his search and looked back at me. “If you don’t promise, then I’ll discredit you.”

“So, you would damn Berry Punch to another reality? I don’t think hearing The Seven is a genetic thing for you. I think you can hear them because at heart you are just like them.” I tried to inflict as much damage I could with each syllable.

He reeled from my words, dropping my notepad in the process, and stepped back. “No, I’m—”

I wasn’t going to let him recover and pressed toward him. “Hey! Now I see why you want to keep this a secret. It’s because you know that once they find out they’ll see you for the monster you are and no longer be your friends!”

Bleh, I hate when Sloth is right. Why couldn’t you be a xenophiliac instead? This just complicates matters.

He cried as he backpedaled. “That isn’t—”

The power I felt pouring my anger out was exhilarating, It was the same high I had experienced at the hospital talking at the nurse. It was the exact same thing I had denied myself with Corona. “Well, seeing as you aren’t above threats, how about I make one of my own? If you don’t do everything in your power to get Twilight to help me, I will tell anyone I can about Rarity’s secret.” It didn’t matter I didn’t actually know what it was, just the fact one existed at all would be enough.

Spike stopped in place, seemingly shocked by what I had said.

“Her career in Canterlot will be ruined. All because—”

Showtime! Lust gleefulness surprised me.

“No one threatens Rarity!” Spike said, but he sounded just like the first male's voice I had heard in my head, one I decided to label Greed.

It all happened so fast. His pupils turned red, the white of his eyes turned green, and an ethereal purple energy flowed out from the corners of his eyes. My eyes were so transfixed on his, that by the time I noticed the green and purple energy on his right claw, it was too late. The claw dug deep into the left side of my muzzle, scraping along bone and teeth as its owner raked it back toward himself.

I stumbled backward onto my rear, my gaze still transfixed on Spike, as his eyes turned back to normal, with his eyes transfixed on the bloody claws of his right hand. I could see a deep blackened gouge on top of the left side of my muzzle, but it just didn’t register to me. My left forehoof moved up to the left side of my muzzle, then felt the blistered skin and exposed teeth there. I’m hurt. I thought, and with it came the pain.

My attempt to scream out was met with a choke, as the feeling of something spread from my muzzle throughout my body. It literally felt like something was crawling underneath, a horror I continued to be unable to scream about. Convulsions rocked my body twice, before I fell forward, followed by more pain I couldn’t express as my muzzle hit the floor.

For the first time, I felt Berry’s tail move, alongside her ears, both of which had been limp for the entirety of my time in this body. My legs moved of their own accord to stand, my sight focused on Spike, then a grin formed on my muzzle. The grin caused more pain, but I was unable to express it, I wasn’t able to do anything.

Having problems, Jack?

The horror of what was going on filled me with terror.

Oh, I love that feeling. You should learn to enjoy things more. It isn’t like I’m going to kill you. She mentally giggled, then moved the body toward Spike.

Spike noticed the movement and looked my way, a different kind of terror than the one I had filled his face. “Jack! I—I didn’t mean to!” He realized what he had done, though I didn’t think he realized everything yet.

Lust moved closer to Spike, leaned down to sniff at the blood on his claw. then began to lick the blood off of them.

“J—Jack?”

Lust licked his claws clean of blood and looked at him. “Mhm. Sorry, Jack isn’t, as the ponies would put it, in control of the reigns.” Lust said, and it was the exact same sultry voice I had heard in my head, not Berry’s.

“No… That voice… You can’t…” He began to back away again.

Lust moved toward him, with extra sway added to each step. “Oh, but I did. Your dark magic infused claws, combined with the magical exhaustion of this body, made it a simple act. Now I’m in control of this body, if only for a little bit, but I’m going to make the most of it. I think it’s about time you lost your virginity.”

“No! Let her go!” His expression took on a panicked look.

“Oh? Is that what excites you? Well, if you insist.”

I felt in control again and began to do the only thing that the pain from muzzle wound called for, scream.

He stopped in place at my screaming. “No! Stop it! Don’t hurt her!”

I lost control again and my need to scream went unfilled.

“Me? No, I didn’t do anything just now.” Lust turned the head to show him the damage he had done. “This is why she screamed.” She moved a forehoof up to the wound and parted the burned flesh slightly, eliciting more pain I couldn’t express.

“I didn’t mean to!” His backstepping resumed, but he would run out backpedaling room soon with the wall of books behind him, that became closer with each step.

“How did it feel, Spike? You can try to deny my brother, but he always gets what he wants. Greed has been a part of dragons for millenniums, and not you or those dragons in Fillydelphia are going to ever change that.”

“This is all a bad dream, that’s—” He backed into the wall of books and turned his head to see what he had backed.

Lust galloped forward, reared up on the hind legs, then planted both forehooves to the left and right of Spike’s head on the wall of books. Spike turned his head back to Lust, who was now face-to-face with him.

“Let’s make it a wet one.”

Spike tried to duck away, but Lust hooked both forelegs around his long slender neck before he could, then we tumbled to the floor, with Lust on top.

“How about we both get rid of the overwear? I have so many things to show you.” She rubbed a foreleg over what I was sure was his crotch.

“No!” Spike rolled us over so that he was over on top, then tried to pry himself free from Lust’s grip. “Get off of me!”

“I’m trying to get you off. I swear, you need to be a more attentive student. Of course, I don’t mind disciplining you.”

Spike managed to unhook Lust, then pinned all four legs to the floor, with his arms and legs. “Get out of her! I’m not going to fall prey to you!”

Lust tried to struggle, but he had pinned the legs well. “Is it my demeanor? Oh, I know what will get your blood pumping.” Lust made a pout with my lips. “Spike? Would you be a dear and move these packages to my bedroom?” Lust had changed her voice exactly to Rarity’s.

Spike looked shocked at the voice change. “Shut up! That isn’t going to work!”

“You can just put them down by the bed. What is in them you ask? Oh, just some special toys I ordered for us to play with together.”

“Shut up! I’ve accepted what she is!”

“Yes, I guess you have.” Lust said, in her normal sultry voice, then formed another grin, which aggravated the muzzle wound further. “Spike! Oh, Spike!” she said, like she was looking for him, this time using Twilight’s voice.

“No…” He wasn’t ready for this.

“There you are! I desperately need your help finding something!”

“Shut up!” He shook us and hit my head on the floor, Lust didn’t even flinch at the pain and just smiled on.

“It is a matter of utmost scientific importance! I need you to find my g-spot!”

“Leave her out of this!” Tears began to run from his eyes.

“I see how you look at her. How you want to be with her. I keep telling you to just go into her bed one night and take her. Why, I even think she might feel the same. You just both think that the other will reject them, that you’ll be left without anyone to call family. Don’t worry, I’ve overseen every brother and sister couple. You’ll be unbreakable! Why, you aren’t even actually brother and sister, so it could be public too!” Lust said, in her own voice.

“I just want to be left alone…”

The sound of a door opening and closing was heard through the active ears on top of my head, accompanied by the sound of a set of hooves getting closer.

“Looks like our time will have to be cut short, Spike. Don’t worry about Jack, if you don’t say anything, we can take care of her. Now to make sure Twilight doesn’t ask questions.” Lust said.

The pain in my muzzle disappeared and was replaced with an intoxicatingly good feeling, that spread throughout my body. I was aware I was in control again, but I just laid there under Spike’s restraint, and basked in the feeling, while the visible wound on my muzzle disappeared, and the unseen wounds felt whole again.

Too bad I have to burn up all the dark magic in you, would’ve loved to assert control for a little bit longer later, but Twilight would notice it. Enjoy the pleasure and remember, as an agent for me, you could experience this and more for the rest of your life. Lust thought, then its presence just felt gone, while both my ears and tail went limp again.

“Spike! I need everything we have on scrying spells. Berry was not at the hospital and the ones I know are not…” Twilight said, before going silent.

I looked over at Twilight, as Spike did the same, while he continued to restrain me.

“Argh! Spike!” Her horn lit up and she disappeared in a flash of light, then reappeared right next to us. “Spike! Let her go right this instant! I do not care what she said to make you cry! You knew she went to the hospital today for some unknown, but potentially fatal reason! That is not how we treat potentially sick ponies!”

“I…” He looked back at me and seemed reluctant to let me go. I would’ve probably been just as reluctant to let a potentially possessed person free back home as well, that was if such things actually existed back home.

“Now!” she said, and I was glad I wasn’t on the receiving end of her anger.

Spike removed his hands from my forelegs, which allowed me to roll off my back and stand. I looked at Spike, who had an uneasy look on his face, then looked at Twilight. How do I use this to my advantage? She’ll get angry if I accuse Spike of anything and the truth has failed me too many times already. Is it time I started lying?

“Berry?” Twilight said, and gave me a quizzical look.

My eyes teared up and I began to sniffle, which came easy for me, then lunged toward Twilight. My unexpected embrace made her whole body go rigid and make her wings shoot open, while I cried onto her. Her posture relaxed after a moment, and then I felt her rub a forehoof on my back.

“Shh, it’s okay. Whatever you did, we can fix it. Spike? What happened?” she said, her tone had relaxed along with her body.

“Nothing…” He didn’t sound very convincing.

“Spike, I will find out what happened. The only question is if you tell me or if I have to find it out directly from Berry’s memories. I promise if you don’t tell me, I will be much angrier with you.”

“Just Berry… being Berry.” He tried to play it cool, but I knew he was afraid at any moment I might say something. It didn’t matter that Twilight wouldn’t believe me, it was just the fact I might plant the seed of doubt in her mind.

“Uhuh.” She didn’t sound very satisfied. “Berry, I need you to calm down so I can ask some questions and run some tests, alright?”

“Mhm.” I ended my embrace with Twilight, sat down on the floor, then wiped at my eyes with my forehooves’ fetlocks.

Twilight’s horn lit up for a moment, then a quill and piece of what looked like parchment materialized, though I seriously doubted the parchment was made from animal skin… or my new worldview still needed some adjusting. “I need you to tell the entire truth, Berry. I want to know everything that happened between after you woke up this morning and when you left the hospital,” she said, then lit up her horn again to levitate one of the cushions in the library toward herself and sat down on it.

I looked back over at Spike, who seemed a little calmer, then returned my attention to Twilight. “What I believe is the truth or what you think is the truth?”

“What are you saying?” She raised an eyebrow at me.

I gave her a serious look. “That you don’t want to hear the truth that doesn’t fit your current worldview.”

“Is this about yesterday? Be—”

“Jack.” I stated my name simply and clearly.

“That isn’t your name…” She seemed displeased.

“My point exactly.” I crossed my arms at her.

“Fine.” She began to write something down on the parchment she had floating in her magic.

“What are you writing?”

“Well,” She finished writing down whatever. “if you insist that is your name, then there has been a grievous error.” She cleared her throat. “I, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Ruler of the Friendship Rainbow Kingdom, hereby decree that Berry Punch resident of Ponyville is henceforth named Jack Tailor.” She had a smile on her face. “Still insist that is your name now?”

“Did you spell ‘Taylor’ with a ‘y’?” She was either joking or serious, it didn’t matter which. Win-win situation.

“Berry, if I actually did this, it would be properly spelled with an ‘i’. You aren’t seriously okay with this, are you? I will do it, I swear I will.”

“I don’t think Berry Punch will like it very much, but I’m sure she can fix it when she gets back.” I just smiled on at her inconsequential threat.

“Twilight,” Spike finally made himself known again, not that I had forgotten him. “don’t let her get to you.”

“Spike, I do not need royal advice, but thank you for your concern.” She turned her eyes back toward me. “Last chance.”

“Do it!” I had both forehooves in the air and was practically cheering her on.

The parchment rolled up in her magic, a tie materialized on it, then it disappeared. “There we go, Jack Tailor will be your name once it is processed. Any other legal corrections need to be made?”

“I need a mental exchange between realities.” It wouldn’t hurt to try.

“I’ll get right on the paperwork for that.” The sarcasm was strong in this one. “Okay, Jack.” She materialized another scroll. “What did you do today?”

I looked over at Spike again. “Does he have to be here?”

Anger crept into his features. “What are you getting at?”

I turned back toward Twilight. “Well, he’s a guy, and there are some things I need to mention that I’m not comfortable talking about around guys.” She’d be angry later when I told her I just said that to get rid of Spike, but I was tired of him. He was a coward, the whole evil seeing through him made me uneasy, and… I was a little afraid of him.

Realization slowly dawned on Twilight. “Spike, would you go make lunch? I have not had it yet and I doubt you have either.”

“I’m not hungry,” he said, very resolutely.

“Would you just leave then?” Irritation crept into her voice.

“It’s my library.” His irritation level increased as well.

“Fine, we will go somewhere else.” Her horn began to light up.

“Wait!” I had just realized I was missing things.

“What, Jack?” Twilight said, the annoyance fairly high in her voice.

“I need my saddlebags…” They had fallen off during the struggle with Spike, and I hadn’t paid attention to them. I looked around and noticed them a few feet away, next to the wall of books. I made the effort to stand, but before I could, Twilight had them in her magic and laid them across me.

“I need my notepad as well…” I pointed toward where it had been dropped by Spike. Twilight levitated the notepad over, then I stowed it away in my saddlebags.

“Anything else?” Twilight said, annoyance edged back into her voice.

“A sitting pillow?” I pushed my luck.

She looked over at a pillow, grabbed it in her telekinesis, then flung it at me. I grabbed the pillow before it hit me, then before I could say anything else, a flash of light blinded me.