To Guard Equestria

by BleepBloop2

Chapter 4

Half an hour later, I found Spike shelving books in the Royal Library. Spike is a dragon, a baby one. Standin upright, the top of his head comes to maybe the middle of my ribs. His scales are a dark forest green on his stomach and the crests on his back, and a purple so dark it might be black everywhere else. They aren’t shiny, like you think they’d be. They’re not quite dull, either. They just don’t seem to reflect a lot of light.

He walked along the shelves quietly, the only sound the squeaking wheels of the cart he was pushing. He had hands, like me, but with one less finger. I could see the tips of claws peeking out of the ends.

He turned as I walked over to him, my armour’s slight rattling sounding out of place in the silence of the library. He smiled at me with a face full of canines. “Hiya, Michael. Not seen you in a while.”

I grunted. “Been busy. You got a bit? We need to talk.”

“Sure, I guess. Let me just put these books away.” I waited until he was finished. It took around fifteen minutes, maybe twenty. He seemed to know where every book was meant to go.

Spike had been hatched by Twilight during the same accident that brought me to Equestria. Given both of those things were supposed to be impossible, Celestia was probably left with a bit of a problem. Considering when she came to look at me my first night here I’m pretty sure she was considering having me killed, I think the problem was mostly me. Spike, it was decided, would be raised in the palace, as a ward, while Twilight taught me how to read, speak and generally function.

I had spent a fair bit of time with Spike at first. I taught him how to walk on two legs, how to use his claws. When he was about five or so, Celestia sent him off to a private school. At least, thats what she said at the time. Not technically a lie, just the way she likes it.

We moved to a more secluded section of the library, not that any of it was really ever busy. It was a corner between ‘Cooking’ and ‘Cookery’, a pair of surprisingly large sections I don’t really know the difference between.

When I was sure we were alone, I turned to face Spike. “I know. Luna told me.”

“Know what? What did Luna tell you?” he asked. Spike is a very good liar. Not perfect, but very good. Much better than any pony I’ve ever seen, thats for sure. But he looks you in the eyes too much when he lies. His claws extend a bit. His tail swishes.

“Don’t play dumb with me, Spike.”

He stared me dead in the eyes now, no emotion on his face that I could see. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.” I saw him tense a bit, and stand up straighter as well. His tail scraped against the wooden floor and he leaned towards me. He was getting ready to move. Now, that may not mean much, but remember, Spike is a dragon. And dragon’s are top of the food chain here for a reason.

And then he laughed. “Oh man, the look on your face,” he said, wiping at one of his eyes. “The Princess sent me a message saying to expect you dude. So, you’re Captain of the Night Guard. What’s that got to do with me?”

“You work for me now, in the Night Guard. You get your orders from Luna and myself. Not Celestia. Understood?”

He nodded once, and started walking away.

“I’m not finished.” He stopped, and looked back at me. “Tomorrow, you’re going down to Ponyville. You’ll be guarding Twilight Sparkle. Anyone asks, you’re her assistant, sent down to help her settle in and to learn about Equestria or something.” Another nod, and then he turned a corner and was gone.

I waited a couple minutes, then left.

The next couple months were uneventful. I interviewed some of the Day Guard interested in transferring, probably hoping for officer ranks. Spoke to some recruits as well. By the start of winter, the Night Guard had grown from two to one hundred and ninety four. In addition to myself and Spike, we had forty eight unicorns, fifty pegasi, fourteen griffons and eighty earth ponies. Still less than a tenth of the Day Guard, but considering how most ponies felt about the Night Guards appearance, it was alright. Also a decent representation of Equestrian population. 2:3:5 ratio of unicorns, pegasi/griffons and earth ponies.

The ponies in the Night Guard got some changes to their armour’s enchantments. Instead of being grey or white, they turned dark, with bat wings on the fliers and cat eyes on everyone. Luna offered me the changes, but I declined. Magic can be finicky, and I wasn’t letting it anywhere near my eyes. She was not happy with that.

Not having the Day Guards numbers meant we had smaller practice drills. In the Day Guard, the instructors went on and on about how its important to fight properly and fairly. Which always seemed stupid, to me. If you have to fight, you fight to win, not to make everyone feel good. I had the griffons learn how to use crossbows, and they got pretty good with them. Got pretty good with it too.

The first thing I did as Captain, other than get recruits I mean, was to get on the good side of Canterlot’s nightlife. I talked to club owners, bar owners, anywhere people spend time after the sun goes down. I managed to strike a deal with most of them. In return for being told of any illegal business going down inside the club, we wouldn’t shut the place down. Oh, and we would check in every hour or half hour, depending on the size of the place. Regular guard presence really cut down on the number of incidents taking place. It was a while before we had the numbers to live up to it, but that gave them a chance to clean up their act, so they didn’t complain.

It was a few weeks after I spoke with Spike that I next saw Twilight. This was also the Night Guards first mission, and Princess Luna’s first bit of official business since her return.

A dragon had decided to take a nap in Equestria. It must have some serious lung problems, because it’s blowing smoke all over the country. This wouldn’t be a problem, except dragons can hibernate for centuries. Its part of how they can live for so long, I think.

So, someone had to go and wake it up. Originally, Celestia was going to send Twilight and her friends. I don’t know why. She managed to get Shining Armour to agree to that. I don’t know how. Frankly, I was beginning to doubt Shining Armour’s ability as Captain. He would be better off on the training ground. He blindly follows orders, and refuses to see the bigger picture. The only thing he has going for him is that ridiculously strong shield of his.

So, when I found Celestia was going to send Twilight and the other Elements, I objected. Vehemently. Luna agreed with me, thankfully. Which led to Celestia telling us to go with them. She refused to let us take care of it without them, and even went so far as to tell us to let them try first. My plan of killing it and taking its horde was shot down without a thought.

We arrived in Ponyville a few hours before moonrise. I had my chain armour, my sword and crossbow and a few other things that I was hoping I wouldn't have to use. The chariot landed outside Twilight’s library. Spike was there to meet us; Twilight was off rounding up the other Elements. He have me a quick report on how Twilight had been.

“She still isn’t used to living alone. Sometimes she’ll say your name and turn around before she realises you aren’t there. Happens less now than it did. She reads a lot, and writes a lot of notes. Pretty wierd how much she needs everything to be just so. Still, she seems happy. No problems to report.” The young dragon looked around after that. The two of us were in the kitchen, packing some food for the journey. Seeing noone else, Spike leaned towards me and continued.

“I just want to say thanks for the transfer, sir. Even with her… issues, Twilight’s still better than my old boss was. And I don’t miss the other work I did for her, either.”

His ‘old boss’ was probably Celestia, not whoever he reported to in the library. “Don’t mention it. Seriously, don’t. Celestia was not happy I transferred you, and neither was Luna. Best to not bring it up.” I gave one more look around the kitchen, and then down at the supplies Spike and I had collected. I figured we had enough for Twilight.

“Anything I should know about the townsfolk?”

Spike mentioned a few things, nothing serious. A couple stallions who came by seemingly just to talk to Twilight, which she was completely oblivious of. A jealous mare. A few other small town folk that didn’t like her because she was from Canterlot, or a unicorn, or both. Nothing serious about the last one, just a little grudge. I told Spike to keep an eye on them anyway.

We entered the main lobby to see Luna browsing the shelves. I told Spike to send me a report every two weeks and walked over to the Princess. The building had been checked before Luna set hoof off the chariot, which she complained about, but I ignored her. I probably should stop feeding my paranoia like that, but it keeps me warm at night.

Anyway, Luna had brought eleven Guards with her. Two (earth ponies) were outside the front door. Me and two others (one unicorn, one earth pony) were in the library proper. One (unicorn) was on the balcony. One (pegasus) was hovering above the tree. Three (two pegasi, one earth pony) were outside with the chariot. I stood silently as Luna looked through the titles. Spike tidied up a little before wandering around. I heard him checking on the Guards.

Luna had grown quite a bit, though it had slowed down after the first week or so. She was now around Twilight’s height, perhaps a little bigger. She was built differently though, with longer and slimmer legs, a slimmer barrel, that sort of thing. We browsed the shelves while we waited. She kept bumping into me, though, nudging me along.

Every now and then, she’d open her mouth as if to talk, but always closed it without saying anything. Happened about ten times in five minutes. Was she worried about slipping into her old speech habits? This was her first time out of the castle since her return. And her first time meeting Twilight since then as well. Being nervous was understandable.

I made a quick check on the Guards, and was back in the main lobby just before Twilight. She blinked over to me (blinking being a form of short range teleportation) and tackle-hugged me. She must have really missed me, because I actually rocked backwards slightly. I quickly wrapped my arms around her middle and, because it always made her smile, spun in a circle.

“I missed you, Michael,” was all she said before we let each other go. I just smiled and ruffled her mane. She pretended to hate it, but I knew she didn’t.

Luna cleared her throat behind me. Twilight looked at her, eyes wide. “Princess Luna! I’m sorry, but when I saw Michael I sort of forgot you were coming as well. Apologies, your Majesty.” Twilight bowed as she spoke, kneeling low enough to touch her horn against the floor.

Luna looked at Twilight for a moment. After glancing at me, she said, “There is no need to apologise, Twilight Sparkle. And please, call Us” - I coughed lightly there - “me, call me Luna.”

Twilight seemed surprised by that. “Okay, Pr-, eh, Luna. And please, call me Twilight.”

Luna nodded. “Very well, Twilight. Pray tell, when can we expect the rest of your group?”

At that moment, the door slammed open and Rainbow Dash shot in, followed by the others, albeit at a much more relaxed pace.

I swear whatever God or gods there are in this universe or dimension are treating it like a story.

Now that everyone was here, Luna told them the whole story. To summarise: There is a dragon nearby. We don’t want him there. Lets make him leave.

There’s more to it than that - she spoke for a good ten to fifteen minutes on international politics and how having a dragon in one countries borders changed the delicate balance, which made me wonder how much of an effect Spike had. I paid some attention, but midway through I heard someone call my name from behind. Given my back was to a shelf of books, this was impossible. I shrugged it off as me hearing things.

After Luna’s political speech - that seemed to put everyone but Twilight, me and Rarity to sleep - we left. I had the pegasi fly up and circle around us, and gave each unicorn two earth ponies to watch over them, one for offense and one for defense. It’s a tactic I’ve found works well. The strengths of the three races have their strengths and weakness.

Earth ponies are physically stronger than pegasi or unicorns. I don’t know how different they are, biologically speaking, but I know that an earth pony of the same size can have twice as much mass when compared to a unicorn, and almost three times as much as a pegasus. Earth ponies can shake off hits that would cripple or kill a pony of another race.

Pegasi are, physically, the most fragile of the three races. They’re also the lightest, and the fastest. Again, I’m not sure on the precise biological differences that make that so. They also (generally) have better eyesight.

Unicorns are weaker than earth ponies and slower than pegasi. They can, however, attack from a distance, which is invaluable. Anyone with any common sense would realise that the best formation would be with unicorns behind earth ponies, with pegasi at the flanks. Earth ponies protect unicorns, pegasi distract enemies to protect earth ponies, unicorns watch out for pegasi.

We walked in silence, with nothing interesting to be seen or heard, for the better part of two hours. This placed us at the base of the mountain the dragon had taken for it’s home. If the mountain had been level, it would have been another two hours of walking before we reached the dragon’s lair. Instead, we had a three or four hour hike ahead of us.

“Why couldn’t we have flown?” Rarity asked, not for the first time.

“Not enough pegasi to pull this many people,” I said, also not for the first time. Rarity huffed at my answer, and went back to complaining about the dirt, also not for the first time. The cycle repeated itself every ten minutes or so.

The drudgery was starting to get to everyone. The guards had kept their stoic facades on, but I could tell even they were feeling it. As for me, well, Twilight was walking next to me. I was fine.

It took us four and a half hours to reach the dragon’s cave. We took a break around halfway, and I put together a quick lunch, but still. Four and a half hours of walking, climbing over landslides when we couldn’t go around, and dragon snoring louder and louder. Four and a half hours if wondering if the next snore would bring rocks down on us or not. Everyones nerves were a bit frayed.

At the top, we had another rest and finalised our plan. My plan of ‘kill it and take its horde’ was once again shot down without consideration. Eventually, it was decided that Twilight would try and convince it to leave, then Fluttershy, and the other Elements could try if they wanted, and then Luna. If they all failed to get it to leave peacefully, then I had to try. If I couldn’t get it to leave peacefully, it died.

I had the pegasi clear the smoke, and then Twilight got ready to go inside. Without a guard.

“A guard would be seen as a sign of weakness, Captain,” Luna explained. “It would only make an attack more likely.” She seemed a bit nervous. It was then I realised my crossbow was loaded. I didn’t remember loading it. I unloaded it and put it up.

Twilight looked up from her notes. “I’ll be fine, Michael. Really. I’ll teleport out at the first sign of trouble.” It didn’t make me feel better, but I could tell I wasn’t changing their minds. I just nodded and settled down to wait.

After the longest two minutes (and eighteen seconds) of my life, the dragon roared. A second later, Twilight came out. She was frazzled, but unhurt. She walked over to where the rest of us were waiting. She stumbled, once, but I was there before she fell. I helped her over to the camp we had set up.

“That,” she began. She swallowed and took a deep breath. “That is a very grumpy dragon.”

I handed her a flask of water, and after a quick drink she told us the little she had learned about the dragon. Lexavarone, what the dragon had called himself, was around sixteen hundred years old, and had been living in this cave since he was a whelp. He was not willing to move.

With Fluttershy now refusing to go in, the others took there turn. Pinkie Pie did something, I don't know what, but it involved baloons and confetti. Rarity almost had it, but tried to steal from it's hoard, the idiot. Rainbow Dash tried to attack the thing, and was thrown from the cave. That left Luna. I don’t know what her plan was any more than I knew what Pinkie Pie's was, but she seemed confident. She ordered the guard to wait outside, and went in.

She lasted a minute and a half, longer than anyone else. Another roar, and she was thrown backwards from the cave. One of the unicorn guards managed to slow her down enough to let her get her wings out. With a few quick flaps, she was at the camp with the rest of us.

“That… that wyrm!” Was the only coherent thing we got out of her. Leaving her to mutter to herself, I turned to the other guards.

“You know the drill. If it sounds like I’m not coming back out, get everyone else gone.” I got a round of ‘yes sir’s, and turned to look at the dragon’s cave. “Keep an eye on Twilight,” I said, quietly. I glanced over at the pony in question as I spoke. Not a twitch. “She might be trouble if I don’t come out.”

“Good luck, sir.” I turned to face whoever had spoken. One of the guards. Night Wind, Lieutenant, from a town near Cloudsdale. She was naturally a dark colour, so she didn’t need any enchantments to blend in, though she had opted to keep her own wings. She looked like she honestly expected me to fight the dragon and win.

I looked over at Luna, who had thankfully calmed down. She caught my eye and flicked her wing towards the cave. I nodded, and walked inside.

The first thing to hit you about a dragon’s lair is the heat. Directly outside the cave, it felt like a too-warm summers day. Nothing to worry about, but enough to be uncomfortable. I was regretting bringing metal armour, but Equestria didn’t have leather, so it was that or nothing.

I made a mental note to ask Twilight about heat repelling enchantments as I got farther in. Pretty soon the heat was oppressive. I could feel it sapping my strength and clouding my mind.

And then I was standing in a field in the late Autumn. Not literally, but that’s what it felt like. The fierce heat was gone, replaced by a gentle coolness. I looked around the cavern. It was large, taking up most of the mountains peak. Canterlot’s tallest tower could probably fit in here, though without much room to spare.

The cavern was either natural, or carved out by something which doesn’t care about how it looks. The walls and ceiling were rough, and could see what looked like claw marks along the walls. The floor was perfectly level, though. Right up to the small mountain of treasure that was the dragon’s horde.

There didn’t seem to be any organisation to the horde, just piles and piles of treasure. Gold, silver, gems, weapons, and trinkets all mixed in together. I’m surprised Twilight didn’t offer to organise it for him.

The dragon seemed asleep on his horde. His head was facing the entrance, and it dwarfed me. His head was bigger than I was. He snorted, and then growled.

“Not another p…” he began. I felt his voice more than I heard it. It was a deep sound, like an earthquake. He lifted that giant head of his and it snaked towards me. He looked at me with a massive yellow eye. “You are not a pony.” I nodded, thinking quickly. Twilight had described him, but she was never very good at judging size. His head was right in front of me. Dragon’s eyes were one of the few unprotected points on their body. Would a single crossbow bolt through the eye be enough? I doubted it. But I wouldn’t have time to reload.

His eye narrowed. Dragons could not read minds, but they were predators. Predators recognise other predators.

“You are not a minotaur, though you look similar. What are you, little mortal?”

“Not from around here.”

“Not from...?” The eye widened slightly. “Ah, you are a Traveller. What brings you to Equus?”

“An accident.” A difference between Equestrian - the language the dragon and I were speaking - and English is that the Equestrian version of capital letters are pronounced differently than the lowercase versions. So, there is a difference between ‘traveller’ and ‘Traveller’. “Can you elaborate on ‘Traveller’?”

“And what would you give me in return, little mortal? The balance must be maintained. Nothing begets nothing.” He was smiling now. Grinning, really. I could see rows of razor sharp teeth, each about the size of my forearm. They gleamed in the low light of the cave, casting a rainbow of shimmers on the cavern walls. They were coated in gemstones, diamonds, rubies, all that sort of thing.

I thought about it, but I really didn’t have anything I wanted to offer him. I shook my head.

“You feel you have nothing to offer?” he asked. He started making an odd sound after that. It took me longer than it should have to realise it was laughter. A small chuckle, for him. Personally, I was worried about another landslide. “You couldn’t be more wrong. I am sure there is much one like you could do for one like myself.”

An inkling of a plan formed. “There is. And much I could do that noone, no thing, else could do the same. I am the only one of my kind here, after all.” I put no small amount of pride into my voice as I spoke.

It seemed to work. He was interested now, whereas before he just seemed curious. “And what are you, little moral? From where to you hail?”

Gotcha. “And what would you give me in return for those answers? Nothing will come of nothing.”

The huge eye narrowed, the pupil shrank. “Throw my own words back at me, do you? Very well. What do you wish, little mortal?”

“Wish? I wish a great many things.” I couldn’t keep my emotions from spilling over into my voice. It came out colder than I intended. “The question is, what do I wish, that you can give?”

“You already have my attention, mortal. Speak quickly, or be gone with you.” But I could tell that he was paying more attention now. I started to pace, and that great eye followed my every step.

“Speak quickly I shall. You wish to know about my kind. I am the only one that can answer your questions. I am sure there are others that can answer mine.” He growled, and I raised my hands, pacifyingly. “Perhaps not as well as you, but there will be others. And I am, as you say, mortal. I will die one day, and my answers with me. With that in mind, I propose a trade. You may ask me three questions about my people. In return, I will ask you to explain what you mean by ‘Traveller’, and that you leave your cave for your long sleep.”

“WHAT! You think that an equal trade?” he roared. “Foolishness. If you will not be reasonable, be gone.”

“Allow me to explain.” Feeling bold, I walked over to the nearest pile of the horde and picked up a coin. The temperature rose a few degrees. I looked over it like I hadn’t noticed, and dropped it back in place. The temperature fell again, but slower. “Where did you get your hoard?”

“I took it from towns razed and warriors slain,” the dragon said, with no small amount of pride.

“And those towns and warriors. They were in or from Equestria, yes?”

“Where else?” he asked. “Only I, Lexavarone, could settle in Equestria, the richest of nations.”

“And if Equestria were to die, where would you get more treasure for your horde? Mine it yourself?” He seemed offended at the idea. “Please, such tasks are beneath you. No. If Equestria dies then your horde will not grow.”

“And what, pray tell, does this have to do with me moving?”

I pointed to the smoke pooling at the roof of the cavern. “The smoke will block out the sun in a matter of days. Dragons sleep for centuries. Equestria can’t go that long without the sun.”

“You speak truly?” I nodded.

“Very well.” The dragon sat, watching the smoke above him flow out of the cave. “I agree to the proposed trade. We will trade questions. Let it be sealed.” I huge limb shot out from under a pile of priceless treasure, stopping an arms length away from me. I reached out and shook it. “You first, mortal. What are you?”

“My kind are called humans. Or people. One person, many people.”

“What form of creature are you?” he asked. From somewhere behind him, a stack of metal tablets floated out. He hit them with a spurt of flame and wrote in the molten metal.

“We are mammals, like ponies, but we aren’t herbivores. I think the term is omnivore. We can eat almost anything. A fair number of plants, meat, insects, the whole gamut.” As I spoke, I showed him my teeth, the sharp canines and flat molars.”

“What is it that your kind does better than others? The ponies have magic, and the sky runs in the veins of griffons. Minotaurs are master smiths, and Diamond Dogs control the earth. Dragons have the fire at the heart of the planet. What do you ‘humans’ have?”

I had to think. Not of what the answer might be, but how to explain it. “A difficult question. You see, in the world I am from, humans are the only intelligent species. So, the one thing that humans do better than any I have seen here? We learn.” I could tell from the look on his face he wasn’t pleased with that answer, so I went on.

“We have no wings, but we can fly. We make weapons that can level mountains, and build cities that make Canterlot seem a hovel. We have no magic, but we can tell you how stars are born and die. And this is what they had before I was brought here a decade ago. Who knows what they have now?”

“What ‘they’ have now?” Lexavarone asked. “You no longer count yourself among them?”

“Thats a fourth question,” I evaded. But I did, I realised. I mean, while I’m pretty sure all I said is true, humans need more than a couple hours sleep a night. They can’t stay in full armour all day either. Equestria changed me. I might be close, but I’m not really human anymore. It didn’t hurt as much as you might think. There had been one human in Equestria. Now there was none.

Or I could go the other way. I was human, whatever I was. I mean, if I suddenly sprouted wings or started to photosynthesize, no one else would be able to say humans didn’t start to do that at a certain age. As far as everything here was concerned, I was a human, so a human was whatever I was.

But I could think about this more when I wasn’t in a dragon’s cave.

He was staring down at me, waiting. “You know my question. What did you mean by ‘Traveller’?”

The dragons low chuckles shook the room. “You wish to know what I meant by ‘Traveller’?” I nodded, and almost immediately regretted it. The dragon brought a huge talon over to me and, which a sound like an ocean of silk being pulled over a mountain of iron, he extended a single claw and pressed the tip to my forehead.

Have you ever zoned out and had your eyes go slightly out of focus? What happened next was like that, but for all my senses. Things floated at the edge of my vision. Low whispers invaded my ears. My skin crawled as non existent things crawled over me. I could smell freshly cooked food. I tasted meat and something sweet. All of this, and more, was added on top of what I was already seeing and hearing, touching, tasting and smelling. It was the scariest thing I have ever went through.

I had the sudden sensation of being one person in a crowd. I tried to focus on the things I thought I saw, and the world lurched. I saw a crowd, screaming and chanting- no, singing. We were singing. I was covered in mud and dirt and snow and happier than I’d ever been. I looked around me, as saw hundreds, maybe thousands of people. Humans. I felt odd, and realised I was exhausted. A happy exhaustion, brought by doing something you enjoy until you can’t do it anymore, and then not stopping. Things floated at the edge of my vision. I focused on them, and the world twisted and spun.

I was back in the cave. Lexavarone was staring at me, a smug look on his face.

“What did you do?” I asked. My voice sounded odd. There was an echo of sorts to it, as if someone was copying what I said, but was just slightly out of sync. Things still floated at the corner of my eye, shapes and symbols that always seemed to be on the edge of sight. I started to focus on them again, and felt a slight lurch. I stopped trying to look at them and tried to calm myself down.

“I merely showed you what I meant by Traveller, little mortal. It is not my fault of you do not understand.”

God dammit, I should have known something like this would happen. When a mortal makes a deal with a mythical being, it often ends up with the mortal being screwed over. Just look at Celtic mythology and the Sidhe.

Wait, what? How the fuck do I know that?

“What did you do to me?” I asked. I didn’t try and keep the anger from my voice.

“Another question? And what will you give me in return, little mortal?” The dragon seemed to be enjoying himself now.

I wasn’t going to give him anything. Not after that. I would have to ask Twilight or Luna. Hopefully one of them would know. I didn’t want to go to Celestia.

“Our business will conclude when I leave this cave,” I said, turning to leave.

“Farewell, little one. This was most… enlightening.” There was the always odd feeling of power being gathered behind me and, with a flash of light and a smell like an aftermath of a lightning strike, Lexavarone and his horde vanished.

When I stumbled out of the cave, the moon was rising. The others had left, a while ago judging by the campfire. No way I was going to try the mountain path at night, so I started it up again, and spent the night staring into the flame, thinking.

The dragon was gone, which was good, but I didn’t know where, which was not. I would have to look into his using magic as well. Never heard of a non pony using magic before.

So, to stop stalling, what the fuck did he do to me? I can still feel and hear the crowd, but its different now, quieter, more subdued. I find myself singing along with them.

“Oh, can it be, the voices callin’ me, they got lost, and out of time.”

Soon, I was listening to the music as I stared into the fire. I really cannot describe how good it felt to hear English again. Even after a decade here, Equestrian was just so wrong to my ears. Figuring it out could wait. For now I just wanted to listen.

Author's Note:

Chapter 4!
I'm not going to lie, I'm not happy with how parts of this chapter turned out, and I'm probably going to rewrite it eventually.

Anyway, thanks for reading! I hoped you enjoyed it. If you didn't please let me know why.

Comments

[Some random Rapidash]

Another chapter! *another fist pump*