Day 24: A Lot Can Happen in a Day
I woke up sore, cold, and on the floor. My face ached, especially my left eye, my right cheek felt swollen, and my chest felt numb. Slowly, I tried to push myself up but my legs gave out and I stumbled, hitting something with my shoulder. I leaned against it, whatever it was, getting my balance and trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with me. Everything seemed... flat.
I noticed that to my side was a shelving unit full of books and pictures. An image of a cyan mare being held by a young Brian smiled right at me. A family picture. Rainbow's house. That was when I saw myself in the mirror. My left eye was puffy, my right cheek looked like I was sucking on a jawbreaker, and I had dried blood caked on my chest and around my nose.
"Wow," I whispered and leaned in closer, "Damn I look ugly."
"You do."
Spinning around, I nearly fell again before I spotted the source of the voice. My laptop was still hanging on the back of the door, the large hideous frame hiding the keyboard and touchpad in such a way that only the screen was visible. To anybody in this world it would have looked like a plain picture of the Everfree Forest with an unreasonably huge large and tacky frame around it.
"You scared the shit out of me, Tues."
"I noticed. You really ought to go to the hospital and get yourself looked at. You don't look too good."
"How long was I passed out for?" I asked, gently dabbing my jaw with my hoof trying to gauge how bad the damage really was.
Tutela stared at me for some time, "About three hours."
"Why was Rainbow so pissed at me?" I asked, recollecting how she had shoved me off of her and into the wall with her wings. She was one strong mare.
"Hm... let me educate you about Pegasus anatomy. Like with you humans, there are certain... 'areas' that cause stimulation. One such area is the base of the wings along the spine. Well, you kinda rubbed her wings the wrong way – a big no-no when it comes to Pegasi, especially females. Think of it like rubbing their," she leaned forwards and wiggled her fake-pony eyebrows. My face felt like it was on fire, I had no idea that wings were erogenous zones. "Then you sorta looked like you were trying to mount her. I think she might've been slightly," she grinned mischievously at me, “overwhelmed?”
"What?" I shouted, "I tried to do what?"
"Relax, Forest. I think she overreacted. I mean, she did have a very bad day, no thanks to you, but you weren't exactly in your right mind," Tutela replied. Then she burst out in rancorous laughter, "It was hilarious though."
"She's going to kill me!"
Tutela nodded, "Most likely. And if not her, then Twilight or Applejack would most definitely give you a piece of their minds. Especially Twilight."
I broke out in cold sweat, "I-I need to apologize..."
"You should, but not right now. Now you need to get some rest. You also need a nice long shower. Don't want to get blood stains on the bed..."
"Forest?" Rainbow poked her head through the door, "Who are you talking to?"
My blood froze in my veins. My heart went into overdrive. Fear gripped me and I stood there like a deer trapped in headlights.
"Rainbow!" I exclaimed in panic, "W-w-w-w-what are you doing down here?"
"I was worried, okay? You didn't seem right in the head, so I came down to check on you, then I heard somepony shout. I clearly heard two voices..." She entered the room and looked around, "Who's here with you?"
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit...
"Are you sleeping with somepony else?" Rainbow glared at me. She looked absolutely pissed off, more than when I had supposedly tried to mount her, "Are you cheating on Twilight?"
"What? No! I... like to talk to myself."
"Huh?"
"Yes. Sometimes I like talking to myself. You know, to entertain me," I said the last part in a falsetto voice, trying to sound like Tutela. It hurt my throat and I found myself hacking a whooping cough.
"I don't believe you. You were talking to somepony else. Who?" She narrowed her eyes, "Tell me who it was!"
"I...” I tried to think of excuses, of anything, just something, but my heard was beating so fast and I couldn't think. I couldn't think of anything. I felt my breath catch in my throat, “... can't..."
"What?"
"I can't... tell you." I wanted to kick myself as the words left my mouth.
"What do you mean 'you can't tell me'?"
"I mean I can't tell you because I can't tell you, alright?" I shouted running with it, "Just... leave me alone. I don't know anything!"
"You can't bring strange ponies into my house, Forest!"
“There's no one here!”
Rainbow look at me funny.
“I mean nopony. There's nopony here...”
She flew over to me and pinned me against the wall. By Celestia's mane she was strong. "Tell me who was in here with you?"
I looked into her eyes as she shoved me harder. She stared into mine, but what I saw wasn't anger, it was concern. Was she worried about me? Probably not… probably concerned that I was doing something wrong, like cheating on Twilight... cheating... on...
Never! I would never cheat on her!
"Tu..." I stopped myself. What was I thinking? I had six days! Six days until this was all over! There was no chance I was going to give up the time I had left, not without a fight. "Truly there was no pony here with me."
"You're lying! I know you are! I know when somepony's lying to me, and you are lying to me! You know something? The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that you're hiding something big. Far bigger than... than... big! You're so hiding something so big that...” She growled as she couldn't find the words.
I stood there not saying anything. She released me from the wall, and I dropped down on my legs. I couldn't look her in the eye.
“I don't know what you're hiding from us, but I intend to find out." Her whole demeanor changed. She looked tired; worn out. "Why can't you be honest with me? I'm the Element of Loyalty for Celestia's sake! I won't tell a soul. I promise. Please, Forest, I need to know! I have to know! Tell me!" she shouted the last two words in my face, her saliva splattering my muzzle.
I couldn't look her in the eyes. I couldn't even look at her face.
"I am telling you the truth. No pony was here with me."
"Oh? Then explain why I heard two voices? I know what I heard, Forest. You can't lie about that."
I looked up at her with my eyes briefly before averting them away again.
"No pony was here with me." It wasn't a lie. No pony was. In fact, nobody was either -- physically, at least. "I don't feel so good..."
"Don't try to change the subject," Rainbow warned, "I'm not done asking quest-"
My head throbbed as I slowly sat up and looked around. Dawn streamed through the open curtains. How long was I out for? To the side of my bed I felt something weighing the sheets down. Rainbow had her head on the bed, her face turned towards me, her left hoof gently holding mine. I watched as her shoulders slightly rose up and down with each breath she took. She looked absolutely exhausted... and cute.
As I released my grip – an ability that still confounds me – I noticed that her hooves were stained red. Worry flooded my chest Everything seemed fine apart from the sharp ache in my eye, and the numbness in my chest. What had happened? Did I faint again? I seemed to enjoy doing that, it happened so often.
As much as I hated having to wake her, I had to.
"Rainbow," I said gently as I pushed her shoulder, shaking her awake, "Rainbow, are you alright?"
Rainbow's eyes shot wide open and she sat up sharply and looked at me for a moment before inhaling a long sigh, "That was scary."
"What was?"
"After our... argument last night you just stood there and... stared. Stared like... I dunno how to describe it. It was like you were there and... not. Then you fell on your face," Rainbow shuddered, "Your face looked so... blank."
"Blank?"
"Yeah, like... I dunno. Like I said, you were there, and you weren't. How else can I explain in?”
“I think I get what you're saying... I think...”
Rainbow made a 'yeah-right' face and pushed herself away from my bed. She stood up and stretched her body, including her wings. Then I remembered Tutela's words about how those were erogenous zones, and I couldn't help but blush a little at them. Quickly, I found the ceiling fascinating and let me eyes stay there.
“What you're looking at?”
Again, I panicked, “N-n-n-nothing...”
I looked at her and saw that she too was looking up at the ceiling as well, oblivious that she was the reason. Good thing that. Things were getting a little weird already.
“Really?” she asked.
“Yeah, I was just... thinking... yeah, thinking about... things...”
She shook her head as she turned towards the door. Before she stepped through she looked over her shoulder at me, "Oh, you're cleaning this room today. You don't get to bleed all over the floor and not have to clean it all up."
"'Bleed all over the floor?'" I looked down, and there certainly was a sizable puddle there. Streaks were visible in it, and a cloth lay on a small heap to one side. Obviously someone tried to clean it up from before.
That would explain the red stained hooves.
"Uh... yeah. Just look at your chest!"
I did as was suggested and found that my entire chest was crusty from coagulated blood. I hadn't noticed it before because of the brown from my coat. It sort of slightly tinted it without changing it the overall color.
Instinctively I started poking it, feeling the dried fur and the blood as it broke off and turned to red powder in my hoof.
After a few more times of this, Rainbow stopped me with her hoof and gave me a curt expression, "Stop that, you're getting your crusty blood-powder all over the bed!"
My hoof froze in place, and I removed it quickly and placed in front of me as if I had been a young boy caught red-handed (red-hoofed?) stealing.
"Sorry."
Rainbow sighed, "No, I'm sorry, Forest. I'm sorry about everything. I shouldn’t at you when I shouldn't have, not after you stood up for me the way you did. And for last night... after your... brain freeze, I took a good look around. There was nopony in there with you. I wanted to call for the doctor, but...”
“But?” I prompted.
“But... you wouldn't let me go. You held my hoof so tightly... I couldn't get help...”
That explained why I was holding her hoof on the bed.
“Sorry... again... about that...” I said, feeling rather stupid about it.
Rainbow turned away from me and shrugged, “S'okay.” She whipped her head back towards me sharply, “But I did hear a second voice, and I intend to find out who it was or what it was. Whatever you're hiding, Forest, I hope to Celestia that it's worth it."
You have no idea, Rainbow. None. I thought to myself. Quickly I tried to change the subject, "Why aren't you at the hospital?"
"Dad'll still be sleeping, and after your freaky moment yesterday, I thought I would stick around.”
We stood there in awkward silence for a few moments.
"Rainbow,” I said softly, “I'm sorry about last night. What I did... when you tried to help me..." I blushed despite myself, "I didn't mean to try and... do things... I wasn't thinking, and was kinda... oblivious. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."
Rainbow's face was lit up too, and found that she tried to avoid looking at me as much as I tried to avoid looking at her. It was going from awkward to worse.
"Go take a shower, then clean this place up! I'm going upstairs for a bit," she said roughly as she stood up.
I saluted her, "You got it, boss..."
“Boss?” She gave a quick giggle-snort as she exited the room, “You got that right.”
"What do you mean 'the train is being delayed further'?" Twilight shouted, "We've been stopped here at this station for six hours! Couldn't you have told me sooner?"
"It isn't that. We've been told that there's to be no trains moving until the military has cleared out all the frontier towns. We've been trying to get a going, but orders are orders," the conductor replied nervously, backing away from the angry unicorn. He knew very well who she was. There wasn't a Pony in all Equestria that did not know the face of Twilight Sparkle.
“Then are there are other trains?” she asked trying to keep her patience in check.
"No trains are running, You Highness. Unless they are operated or managed by the military, they are – um – stopped. Most of them are heading south and west, opposite where we're heading. They say it's got something to do with Ponies selling Ponies and dogs... it's all very confusing. I'm not quite sure I heard right. It's all supposed to be hush-hush, so I don't know much..."
Twilight smoothly avoided the subject of The Pit. If it wasn't yet known, there must be a reason.
"And since when did the military own the railroad?" Twilight gave the engineer a look, but she knew fully that national security came first. Her brother would have ordered the trains to be locked down to prevent suspects from escaping.
“I'm sorry, Your Highness...”
“I'm not royalty!” she barked back.
“I'm sorry... er... miss?”
Twilight harrumphed at that and stalked off towards her compartment where Applejack, Fluttershy Aiden and Atom sat. It took her a moment to realize they were missing two. "Where's Spike... and Sweetie?"
"They went with Pinkie to get some snacks 'n stuff," Applejack replied, "Don'cha think that Spike's been actin' mighty... clingy to Sweetie? 'Specially after last night?"
That brought grins from all the friends.
"Did you see how they were holding each other on the platform?" Fluttershy blushed as she wrapped her face in her hooves and exhaled a deep, longing sigh while gazing upwards, "When will I find my special somepony?"
Suddenly she realized that the two stallions across from her were now staring.
"That's the first time I've seen Fluttershy not be shy," Atom commented, barely able to contain his amazement with how normal she had sounded.
Fluttershy blushed and tried to hide behind Applejack, "Oh... they were adorable..." she squeaked.
Atom laughed and gave Fluttershy a friendly smile that helped calm her down, "I thought Spike had a thing for Rarity..."
Twilight sat down next to Fluttershy and closed the door behind her.
“Get anything from the conductor?” Aiden asked, knowing fully that from Twilight's expression, nothing was gained.
"Well, I asked him about what's going on, and he said that because of last night's incident – he only knows that there was an incident – all trains have been halted until further notice. So, we've got two choices; one is to wait and hope that trains start moving again, the other is to try and take turns teleporting to Ponyville."
Aiden made a face, "Count me out on that one. I can't cast magic like I used to. I'd tire out after two jumps and be useless for the rest of the day. Even then I could probably take only one Pony with me."
"I can teleport all of us two or three times, and I think that Sweetie might be able to teleport us once. That should get use close enough to Ponyville to walk..."
Aiden raised his hooves, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're telling me you can teleport us that far in two hops? What are you, an Alicorn in disguise or something?"
Twilight smiled, her cheeks a pink hue, "I'm pretty strong, but not that strong."
"Unicorns with your strength don't come along very often, Twilight. Even if their talent is magic, you're still one of a kind."
At those words, Twilight blushed even harder.
"I'm kinda anxious to get back home. I'm worried about Granny – and Forest too, but more over Granny..." Applejack shifted in her seat, "She's gettin' along in her years."
Atom gave the orange mare a comforting smile, "We'll get back soon."
"Well, if we do go, and the trains start moving, we're going to lose a lot of time. The train will get to Ponyville long before we get there even if we teleport.”
“How ya figure that out?” Applejack asked Aiden.
“Depending on the distance, a Unicorn needs to rest to,” Aiden rotated his hoof in small circles trying to find the right word, “power up? Any magic requires a little time to recover. Soldiers usually train themselves to cast and rest in a way that they can execute a lot of spells in...”
Atom raised his hoof telling Aiden to get on with the explanation.
“Oh, sorry. Well, even if we teleport, we're still going to have to wait for Twilight to regain her strength. Depending on the distance that could take anywhere between an hour to two per hop. In that time, our train could reach halfway to Ponyville... unless Twilight can teleport us closer, but long distance teleports are a rare talent. Very few Ponies can pull something like that off.”
“Have ya met Twilight?” Applejack asked sarcastically, “If there's anypony that can do it, it's her.”
“Thanks, AJ.”
“I believe it, but I still think that waiting would be quicker," Aiden stated and held his hooves up in surrender, “but if you all want to go via teleporting, I'm game.”
“Can ya get us that close to home, Twi? You don't have to go all out, and if we keep near these here tracks, we could always jump back aboard the train.” Applejack looked at her friend, “That ought to make everypony happy.”
Twilight nodded; that was a good idea. She wasn't sure if she could get them all the way to Ponyville with them all together, but she wasn't afraid to try.
"It makes more sense to wait if you guys want to get back home quicker. Plus, Spike is still hurt, taking that into consideration-"
"What about you, Flutters?" Twilight asked cutting Aiden off and looking at the yellow mare, "Should we wait here or go?"
"Oh... I don't know... I am worried about my animals. I know they can take care of themselves, but I'd really like to get there quicker and be sure..." Once again she looked over to the stallions and tried to hide behind Applejack when their gaze did not abate.
Seeing that, the two stallions started trying to pretend to ignore the Element of Kindness, knowing just how ridiculously shy she could be. Aiden suddenly found the door to their compartment fascinating and Atom seemed to find something outside the window equally interesting. Aiden noticed Atom's expression and followed his gaze.
"Dear Luna... would you look at that..." Aiden muttered, and had to press his face up against the window to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
Guards. Pegasi, mostly. They were flying in their heavy armor, the same kind that was worn during the day of the races. Atom looked at Aiden, an almost imperceivable silent exchange went between them. Almost.
"Aiden. What's going on?" Twilight asked. She had noticed the look they shared.
Aiden shrugged, and looked away. Atom began to sweat.
"What's goin' on?" Applejack asked, pushing Aiden aside with her head to see better.
"No-nothing..." Atom said stupidly.
Aiden wanted to smack him. He was usually calm and cool, but whenever Applejack got near him, he'd turn into a bungling buffoon, worse than Forest, if that was possible. If Aiden had a chance to think about it, he might have found a neutral answer, but now with Atom's response he doubted very much he would get away with anything except the truth.
Still, he could try.
"It's maneuvers."
"Maneuvers?" Twilight asked sarcastically, “You're serious?”
"You know, practice? To prepare... just in case..."
"In case of what?" Fluttershy asked, she was floating above them and peering out of the window in such a way that from the outside, you would have only been able to see her lowered head and the tips of her hooves.
"This isn't maneuvers. My brother commands the Royal Guard. I know maneuvers when I see them, and let me tell you: this isn't it. Now, what's really going on?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow, and pushing her bottom jaw out a bit. This was her 'angry' face – which, despite her best efforts to look intimidating, was adorable.
Aiden took a deep breath, "In case of an attack on Ponykind, there are orders handed down by various members of the senior staff of the Royal Guard that executes predesignated orders to prevent any... repercussions. After the Changeling attack, the Guard issued an order like this to find their queen. This has got to be something like that."
"Aiden! You're not supposed to tell them!" Atom shouted in a harsh whisper, "That's against the law."
"I'm not a Guard anymore, Atom, and as far as I can tell this isn't a secret. Look out there! I've never seen this kind of deployment in my entire life. Entire regiments must have been ordered to mobilize, and these are only Pegasi.”
Turning to the others, Twilight narrowed her eyes, "What predesignated orders?"
Aiden shifted uncomfortably in his seat, "Orders vary, but they all have a number or codename to them. The Edicts of the Royal Court... only superior officers would have them. They are proposed by them, then taken to the Court, and are granted by Princess Celestia..."
"I know how the functions of military protocols works, Aiden. I've read about them,” Twilight stated, rolling her eyes as she did. She knew that was what they all were going to ask, she was used to it, “What I want to know is what are these orders? I mean, how many of them are there and why don't we know more about them?"
Aiden and Atom just looked at one another for a long time, then they both shrugged.
"I don't know what the orders are anymore, and neither does Atom. We haven't been in the Guard for years," Aiden stated.
Atom turned away from Twilight.
"Where are they going?" Twilight asked.
"From the looks of things," Aiden shrugged, "I'd guess towards the Griffin Empire. If you think about it, the Griffins will demand that Tyrant Rex be handed over to them for his crimes against their kingdom. Perhaps there was an ultimatum sent out, but I still can't imagine our long time allies proposing to invade our nation. We've been friends for years.”
“Well, it's Tyrant Rex, Aiden. I'd think that the Griffin's would do anything to get their claws on him. I know I would if he'd done the same to my kingdom."
"What did he do?" Fluttershy asked, landing next to Aiden and staring up into his eyes, water forming on the corners.
Aiden looked away, "I don't want to talk about it."
Fluttershy looked at Atom.
"I don't want to think about it..." Atom shuddered.
"Why not?" Applejack asked, tilting her head slightly.
"Because," Aiden replied on behalf to the flightless Pegasi, "We were there..."
“The Griffins deserve to execute that mutt,” Atom whispered looking away from Fluttershy who couldn't believe what she had heard.
“W-w-why?” Fluttershy tears rolled down her cheeks.
Atom looked over at Fluttershy and shook his head. He sighed and looked up, “Tyrant likes Griffins. A lot.”
“That doesn't seem so bad,” Applejack said slowly.
“He likes to... have them for dinner...”
“That doesn't seem so bad either,” Applejack said, slightly confused.
Aiden sighed, “Let me rephrase that for you, AJ. He likes to have them for dinner.”
Suddenly Twilight and Appplejack felt sick, while Fluttershy rolled her eyes towards the top of her skull and promptly dropped heavily on the compartment floor.
I squeezed the cloth as hard as I could and wiped the sweat from my brow. It seemed that all I did the past day was clean, and this was a rude awakening. Literally! Wake up, and the first thing I did was clean! And I couldn't use a mop! I had to get down on my hands and knees – knees and knees? Whatever. I had to get down on all fours and use my hoof to wipe the coagulated muck that was my blood from the floor. There was certainly quite a lot of it. No wonder Rainbow was worried.
“Forest, you done?" Rainbow called from the other room.
"Almost!"
"Do you mind if I play some music?" She called back.
"Sure!" I shouted back.
There was a long moment of silence as I stood up on all fours and stretched by bending the middle of my back downwards and lifting my head up at the same time. My neck cracked slightly and I let out a long sigh of relief. I swiveled my shoulders around as the top of my back cricked a little bit more also giving me a brief respite. Mopping was back-breaking work! I didn't envy those that did this for a living... then again, ponies in Equestria who had a talent for mopping must have loved their job. Was it even possible to get a Cutie Mark for something you hated to do?
Suddenly, music. Loud.
A part of me frowned. This song was a song I loathed. I hated it. Not because it was bad, but because no matter how many times I heard it, I'd always smile and let the tune take me away. The words were beautiful, sung in a gruff, rough bass tone. So, I hated how happy it always made me feel. How memories of my grandmother would flood through my brain and powerful feelings of nostalgia engulfed my essence. And it was happening this very moment.
"I see trees of green,” The words flowed from my lips as I sung along quietly, "Red roses too. I watched them bloom, for me and you," Beautiful. How eloquent. It was as if he was singing about this world. About Equestria, "And I say to myself... what a wonderful world."
I put the used cloth into the bucket and lifted the handle up with my mouth as I headed towards the bathroom to empty it. The music flooded the hallway as I entered. Rainbow was in the kitchen hovering about doing something. I could see her tail in mid-air as she was doing something with the upper cabinets.
The colors of the rainbow... so pretty in the sky, are also on the faces of people, I smiled to myself, singing the words in my head, ponies passing by. I see friends shaking hooves, saying: how do you do? They're really saying: I love you...
Pouring the reddish water in the bathtub, I watched as the water swirled down the drain. I wondered if there was a Pony in Equestria that could play the trumpet. Could you play a trumpet with hooves? It didn't seem possible to me, but somehow I knew that somewhere there was a musically talented pony that could probably not only play this, but do it with their own twist and it would sound real awesome.
“I hear babies... foals cry. I watch them grow. They'll learn much more, than we'll ever know... and I think to myself, what a wonderful world," The song started to slow down as I placed the cloth on top of the shower curtain holder, "And I think to myself. What are wonderful world. Oh, yeah..."
I nodded. A job well done. Floor was clean, bucket was empty, cloth was on its way to being dry. Chores were done. Now to get a job and earn some bits! Make some money and then go off and have a little fun.
Can't rely on Aiden all the time.
As I turned around, my jaw dropped to the floor and cold sweat broke out across my brow. There, standing in the doorway, was a cyan colored Pegasus. On her face was a similarly shocked expression.
The both of us didn't as the next song started to play. Another fantastic song.
"Y-you know that song? H-how do you know that song? H-how can..." Her eyes opened wide as realization dawned upon her.
My mind blanked out, and I blurted out the only thing my mind could process.
"Fuck..."
"I can’t wait any longer!" Twilight shouted, making her companions all jump up in their seats.
Spike and Sweetie were sitting next to each other, blushing as their tails wound themselves around each other behind them. After Twilight's outburst, they have instinctively separated from each other and were now sitting with enough of a gap between them for Pinkie to roll around in, which she did. They both stole a glance at one another shyly. Fluttershy, who had been unconscious, jerked up at the sudden outburst.
Aiden sighed, "We've been waiting for ten minutes, Twilight."
"It's still too long!"
"Well, since Fluttershy is awake now,” Aiden said as the butter colored mare blushed and apologized, “I guess we'll be teleporting then."
All six of her friends looked at Twilight with an array of emotions. Applejack was nodding in agreement, Atom copying her verbatim. Aiden frowned and sighed in resignation, clearly not liking the thought of teleporting but accenting to what he assumed was an inevitable majority. Fluttershy gave Twilight a quick smile, displaying that she too thought that this was a great idea, before ducking her head back into her shoulders as Aiden's gaze travailed over her. Sweetie and Spike looked at one another over Pinkie's head and shrugged; clearly they had no opinion on the matter, just that whatever the decision was they were content in going together. In fact, apart from Aiden, everyone seemed pretty gung-ho about teleporting.
Twilight made a face. "I don't see what the big deal is, Aiden? We'll get closer and closer. Walk part of the way until I regain my strength, then continue. It isn't that difficult, right? Why aren't you more impatient? Don't you want to see Forest and make sure he's alright?"
Atom laughed to himself, "It's Forest. What's he going to do? Run away?"
"Forest!” Rainbow Dash shouted at me, "Get your ass back here!"
That was a close call. She had actually tried trapping me in the guest room by locking the bedroom door after my stupid, stupid, stupid mistake. After she had caught me in the bathroom, she had stumbled backwards in shock at her revelation. In that moment I had tried to slip by her, but Rainbow's a strong mare, and slammed me against the wall. After a struggled, I managed to get into the bedroom and lock the door behind me. There was a humongous window near the bed and it took me a few minutes to get everything together, which wasn't very much, open the window and slip out. I escaped.
In retrospect, if I had done so quieter, I could have probably got a bigger head start.
"Forest!" the cyan mare barked, "Stop!"
"No!" My voice was muffled because I was running with the laptop in my mouth. It was somehow still attached to that hideous picture frame – not that I was complaining. It was easier to hold.
"Explain yourself! How do you know that song-?"
She cut herself off as I darted around a tree that she nearly collided into. We were headed towards Fluttershy's place, or in that general direction. Rainbow tried to keep up with me as I wove through the trees, but she found herself losing ground against me, so she flew upwards over the obstacles continuously shouting something. She was too far away for me to make out, and I was kinda lot listening.
I knew I couldn't stay in Ponyville. How would I be able to face Twilight or Applejack? They trusted me completely. They never doubted me. If Rainbow told them... it'd be over. Completely. It was the cowardly thing to do, I knew that. By running away I was cementing my guilt. Fleeing was the wrong thing to do, but the thought of facing them... the thought of making them sad, it made me feel so sick. The thought of hurting their feelings was making me gag. I wanted to throw up.
Rainbow appeared ahead of me along the path, "Forest! Don't think you can get away..."
Her voice was once again faded off as I turned a sharp right and headed towards Ponyville. I heard her grunt in frustration as I sped towards town.
My stomach grumbled. I was starving. Why is it that the one time I skip breakfast and remember, my body decides it can't survive without eating something?
"Ready?" Twilight asked.
"Ready," all the others replied.
Spike pulled Sweetie closer to him, which made the mare blush a little bit, and the next thing they knew they were standing at the edge of a forest looking at a small village within a fairly sizable copse. In the far distance they could see Canterlot. Twilight had teleported them extremely far in one hop. The surprised expressions on both Aiden's and Atom's faces clearly revealed how far they had come.
Aiden shook his head and laughed to himself, "Remind me not to get on your bad side..."
"You're already on her bad side," Atom reminded him with a sly grin on his face.
Aiden narrowed his eyes at the black Pegasus giving him a rough nudge with his shoulder, "Then remind me not to get further onto her bad side."
Atom shrugged, "Too much effort. I'd rather watch you suffer."
The three boys laughed lightly at that, while the girls merely shook their heads in disapproval at their attempt at humor. All in good fun, of course.
"I'm right here, you know?" Twilight said, wiping the sweat from her brow, "Give me a little time, and I think we can get close to Canterlot. That... took a lot out of me."
“You okay, Twi? You don't look too good...” Spike said with concern. He walked over to his older sister and touched her forehead.
“I'm fine, Spike. Just need to rest a little...”
"I can try, Twilight." Sweetie Belle walked forwards, Spike seemingly reluctant to let her go as she charged her magic up. She turned briefly to the dragon, giving him an 'I'm-right-here' look, before she turned around and concentrated on a point in the distance. Unlike Twilight, she could only go where she could see.
In a flash of bluish light, they appeared just below the edge of the mountain's slope. Sweetie nearly collapsed, but Spike quickly caught her and she gave him a grateful nod, which made him blush in return. Their faces were so close and their eyes sparkled as they peered deep into one another.
“Aw...” came a chorus of voices.
Sweetie and Spike turned their heads to see Applejack give the two of them a warm smile and an adoring murmur, Fluttershy, surprisingly, was less subtle and cooed out loud making the young pair blush profusely.
Atom and Aiden grinned at Spike and wiggled their eyebrows, which made the Dragon stand up tall and rub the back of his head with his left claw. He laughed nervously, not really sure if he liked or didn't like the attention. Sweetie coughed and Spike apologized as he helped her onto her hooves.
"That's impressive, Sweetie. I didn't know you had that kind of power in you!" Twilight nodded, pleased with their present location. She looked up at the castle in the distance and smiled, "I think we should go see Princess Celestia. We need to tell her what happened. Then I'm sure she'd let us know what's going on. I know how much magic I need to get from Canterlot to Ponyville, so we can go directly once I'm ready."
“I can see Ponyville from up there, Twilight. I could try and teleport too,” Sweetie offered, and Twilight nodded.
Aiden looked at the castle with a frown. "Do you think that's wise? Shouldn't we let your brother report to her instead?"
“What difference would it make? Besides, we were the ones that stopped the Diamond Dogs, not the army. You, me, Atom, Spike, Sweetie, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Forest – with the help of the other prisoners down there as well,” Twilight replied looking at Aiden with a furrowed brow, "Why would you not want to report to her?"
"It's not that I don't want to report to her, it's that... look, I'm not part of the military anymore, and I don't really have anything to do with Her Highnesses. I just feel real uncomfortable around them. I know that I was chosen to be Forest's guardian, but I don't think anypony needs to be watching over him anymore. Not after what he did for Equestria in The Pit. I consider Forest trustworthy; he's proven himself. So, who cares if he's got some big secret? I don't."
"Big secret?" Applejack asked.
"You really bought that whole amnesia thing?” Aiden replied.
Applejack didn't really know how to respond to that. There was certainly something weird about him.
“Do you care?”
“No."
“Why should he need a nanny then?” Aiden rested his case, “Who cares if he's hiding something?”
Twilight sat down and furrowed her brow. Something about what Aiden just said disturbed her. Something about his words triggered something that she had trouble remembering, something from the past that she had suppressed.
"He almost gives his life for us. That proves to me that he's not out to harm anypony. I admit that there's still doubts as to his origin, but for that whole amnesia shtick? Yeah, total baloney. He remembers everything just fine."
"Where are you?” Rainbow growled.
Hiding in a bucket of apples, I watched silently as the cyan Pegasus marched down the alleyway right past me before exiting the other end and disappearing around the corner. I could practically see the anger emanating off of her.
"You lost." The voice was blunt, "Take off the bracelet, Forest. You lost fair and square. Your own stupidity got you caught. And you ran off! Why didn't you just stay behind and pretend that you heard the song somewhere before? You could've lied..."
"I'm tired of it!" I shouted, "All the lies, the deceit. I'm tired of it all! I just wanted to stop being a liar to them! I wanted to come clean! I guess that manifested itself in that stupid, stupid confession, but I just couldn't take it anymore. I just couldn't. All I wanted was..."
"Was to what?"
"Was to be their friend! A real friends, you know? The kind where they can come to, to shed tears, to depend on, to get a reassuring word – even if that word is nothing more than repetition. I'm going to miss it here." I looked down at Tutela's face on the laptop's screen, "So, how about I spend the next few days... saying goodbye?"
"That isn't part of the deal, Forest!" Tutela narrowed her eyes, "You lost fair and square, now you have to honor your part of the agreement. Take. Off. The bracelet."
"Aw, come on, Tues. Just six days!" I pleaded.
Tutela leaned back away from the monitor and folded her hooves in front of her chest, “Did I stutter? The answer is no. You can’t just change the conditions of our agreement!"
I turned away from her, "I will honor my end of the bargain. I only ask that you wait for the next few days before I come back to you. That's all."
"And the answer is no! You better get your flank over here, or so help me Chrysalis, I'll-"
I didn't see the rainbow trail until after it hit me.
"Her Highness will see you now. Please follow me, Twilight Sparkle. The rest may remain here for the time being. Refreshments will be brought shortly."
Honey Dew was Princess Celestia's personal aide. She usually ran the day to day affairs of the Princess, which included tasks like signing minor petitions and scheduling audiences with Ponies. Especially efficient, polite and gentle, Honey Dew's Cutie Mark was three bees hovering over a golden shaped hexagon in the middle. Her favorite saying was always 'busy as a bee', and it always seemed that Honey loved being stressed out and constantly keeping herself occupied. It took Twilight a while to understand that Honey was happiest working hard with running the mundane affairs of Equestria.
Honey Dew was a medley of yellows. Her coat was a bright sun-orange yellow, her mane a darker orange-yellow, and her eyes were a light, light brown – a similar color you'd find in large jars of honey and, like her name, she had a sweet demeanor. Although, sometimes, the stress of her job got to her and she'd end up stark raving mad. Especially during the Summer Sun Celebration that celebrated the longest day of the year.
As they two mares headed for the Celestia's private bed-chambers, something felt off about this.
"What's wrong, Honey?"
Twilight and Honey had become fast friends over the years. In fact, it was Twilight who had shown her the ropes on how to manage Celestia's life better to such a degree, that the kingdom mostly ran on autopilot. Very rarely was there a need for the Princess to step in and do something, and most of the time it was because of ceremonial duties.
"The Princess has been very quiet about the latest incident involving the Diamond Dogs. I've been around Her Highness for years, but I've never seen her like this. Something is really bothering her, but I'm at a loss as to what it is."
Twilight gently placed a hoof on her shoulder, "I wouldn't worry. The Princess knows what she has to do."
"And you know what she has to do?" Honey asked, stopping in mid-step.
At times like these, Twilight hated her deductive skills. Although there were plenty of things that could really upset the Princess, there was only one thing that would fit in this particular scenario. The thought that her Ponies were involved in something so horrific and despicable like slavery would have hurt her deeply. The law would come down hard on them.
"Honey, what's the law say about Ponies who forces others to work? What I mean is: if a Pony enslaves another, what is the penalty?"
Honey, who used to work as a lawmaker with the Royal Court, stopped and took in a good helping of air. There indeed was a law. It hadn't been used in over two hundred years, but the law was clear. Ponies enslaving other Ponies were to be interned into forced labor camps. There hadn't been labor camps in Equestria since that time. There had never been a need.
"That's... I didn't know we had laws like that..." Twilight said aloud to herself as the two of them continued down the hall, "Then it's no wonder that Princess Celestia has been especially upset. Facing a decision like that... I can't even begin to imagine what's going through her head.”
“The Court will be all over her for this,” Honey replied.
“They always claim to support the Royal Sisters in their endeavors, but sometimes I feel that they're trying their best to find reasons to take charge themselves." Twilight felt really angry.
"Welcome to the world of politics,” Honey muttered quietly, “It just doesn't seem... they are on the same level of thought. I always thought that it was from the experience of the Princesses that our land has been as peaceful as it has. I mean, it hasn't been long since the return of Princess Luna, and still there are those that fear her and there are still those that despise her."
Twilight followed close behind, thinking on Honey's words. Even after all the good Princess Luna had done, she couldn't believe that anypony would have ill feelings towards the kind and gentle Princess of the Night.
"I think Princess Luna might have to issue the charges." Honey continued to walk, but it was clear that she was stalling with the way she was pacing herself, "I know it seems cruel, but I don't think Princess Celestia can do it. I think she's... too soft."
"Too soft?"
Honey turned her head slightly to look at Twilight, "Yes. She loves her subjects too much; she won't be able to issue these sentences. Her Highness, Princess Luna, will hate doing it but she will if it's needed. I know Princess Celestia would do it, but it would eat at her for a long time. What do you think?"
Unable to meet Honey's eyes, Twilight glanced down at the ground, "I think that you're right. I know what you mean..."
"That's perhaps why she's never invited you to sit in a full session of the Court. Who knows what you'd say if you were there!" Honey giggled slightly at the thought of an angry Twilight magically throwing Celestia's worst critics around.
They stopped in front of Princess Celestia's personal bedchamber. The guards at the entrance both nodded to Twilight and stood at attention for Honey.
"The Princess has been expecting you, Your Highness," one of the guards said, "Please go right in."
Twilight took a deep breath as the doors to Celestia's private chambers opened and she stepped inside. Usually she wouldn't hesitate to enter this place, but after discovering what she had the past few hours, she felt just a little apprehensive.
Just a bit.
"Why do you know that song?" Rainbow screamed into my face, "Who are you? What's your purpose here in Equestria?"
Turning my head away from her, I remained silent.
"Forest. Please. I want to know. I need to know."
I turned to meet her eyes, and felt my heart break. Gently, I pushed her off me and sat up. I guess the resigned look on my face was enough to convince her that I wasn't going to flee. There was a long moment of silence before I summoned enough courage to say what I could say.
"I want to tell you, but I can't. Please, Rainbow, I have a promise to keep, and I want to keep it."
"Promise to who?" Rainbow's eyes had tears in them.
"W-why are you crying?"
She looked at me, "Because I'm scared. I'm scared and angry. I'm scared because... because... because of you! I'm scared because of dad still in the hospital. I'm scared because all my friends are Celestia-knows where! And I'm angry, so angry because you're a..."
"No!" l shouted, and grabbed her by her shoulders, "No, I'm not."
"Not what?" She looked up at me, "Not what, Forest?"
"No... that."
I could feel her heart stop beating as she understood the meaning behind my words, "Then... you admit..."
"I have to." I turned my face away from her, "I can't see you cry. I can't see anyone else cry. It hurts too much."
She shoved me back, "You lied to us. Lied to Applejack! Twilight! Lied to me!"
"I didn't have a choice. I never had a choice."
“Then... why now?”
“I got tired of lying.”
We both sat there in silence for a long time. Neither of us knew what to do or say. My wrist was on fire – Tutela was probably focusing all her magic in trying to get me back to her world, but the pain in my chest was more unbearable. Although I had been discovered, I felt relief – relief that I no longer had to lie.
"We can't let the others know," Rainbow said softly.
That shocked me. "What?"
"We can't tell the others. It would break their hearts. You can't tell any of them. You can't tell them anything. Nopony should ever know. Not even father."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Rainbow wanted to keep my secret? That was something I never expected, and yet that was the one thing I expected Rainbow to say. She certainly was a loyal friend.
"Are you sure, Rainbow?”
“I'm sure... I'm really sure. You know what'd happen if Twilight found out?”
I shook my head.
“I... I don't know what she'd do, but I know it wouldn't be pleasant!”
Despite the gravity of the situation, I couldn't help but chuckle at Rainbow's words.
“You know I'd understand if you changed your mind."
She stood up and shook the dust off of her, "Forest, you're an idiot. I know that you know that. But you're not a bad Pony..."
"I am..." I interrupted her before she could continue, "I am a very bad Pony."
"Nah, you're not. You're just dumb."
"So... we keep this a secret from the others?" The pain in my wrist subsided a bit, "We keep it between ourselves?"
Rainbow hesitated, but then gave a single, firm nod. "We keep it to ourselves."
"That's not part of the bet!" A voice shouted.
Both Rainbow and I jumped at the suddenness of the outburst.
"What was that?"
"Forest! Get your flank over here!" Tutela barked. “Now!”
Standing up, I rushed over to the laptop that lay on the ground. I picked it up and got a full view of a very, very annoyed mare. She glared at me from within the screen.
"Who's that?" Rainbow asked peering over my shoulder.
"Tutela. Tutela, this is Rainbow Dash..." I said trying to sound nonchalant.
She narrowed her eyes at me, "I know who she is.”
“Uh... hello?” Rainbow said, unsure about talking to a talking picture.
Tutela narrowed her eyes, “Beat it, fly-girl. I've got business with the Stallion. I'm not here to talk to you.”
It was clear that Rainbow was surprised with Tutela's aggressive nature. She didn't quite know how to respond.
Seizing the moment of silence, Tutela turned towards me, “You gave me your word that if you lost you'd come back..."
"Back where?" Rainbow asked, interrupting, "Where does Forest have to go? What's going on? Why are you in a picture?"
"This doesn't concern you, Pegasus. Stay out of it!" Tutela shouted before turning her attention back to me, "You're breaking our contract!"
"It wasn't a contract! I was a bet, and I admit that I lost! I only asked that you give me till the agreed date! Then... then..." I settled down, "I'll come back to you peacefully. I won't break our agreement even if it kills me."
"You say that now, but when the time comes..." She narrowed her eyes, "How can I be sure you won't do something like this again?"
She was right. There was no way I could prove that I wouldn't break that promise.
"Why are you so concerned, anyway?" I asked, "You get me forever and forever. What difference is a few days going to make?"
"It isn't you I'm worried about. Its other... stronger beings in that world that I fear. Namely the two Princesses. If they found out about..."
Rainbow shoved me downwards, "What's going on? Are you guys some sort of secret anti-Princess group? Because if you are..."
"You're still here?" Tutela asked sarcastically, "You don't seem to get that this is between Forest and me. You've got nothing to do with it. So go away."
"Forest's my friend! And I stand up for my friends. I'm not about to abandon him; I wouldn't leave him hanging..."
"Isn't that wonderful?" Tutela applauded lightly, clopping her hooves together, "But it changes nothing. Forest, I'll give you until tomorrow before I alter the bet further. Don't make me do that."
“You can’t do that! That’s not fair!” I replied pouting.
"And you can't stay there after losing the bet! That's not fair either!"
"What bet?" Rainbow placed herself between myself and the laptop – did she know it was a laptop? Well, she couldn't see the computer area due to that ugly picture frame...
Tutela looked at me. I just shrugged.
"Fine. I'll tell you. He's not from Equestria..."
"Yeah, duh. We established that fact already. Now, stop stalling. What bet?" Rainbow looked over to me this time.
I remained silent.
"It's a bet on Forest's... life. If he loses, which is has, he stays with me. If he won, he would've got a choice to return back to where he came from."
"You... you want to leave us?"
"No!" I shouted viciously, making her take a step back, "No. I don't. Never. I want to stay here."
"But you don't get to choose any longer. You lost your bet. The only reason why you're not with me is because of that bracelet!" Tutela growled.
"Then Forest will never remove it."
Rainbow's reply stunned both Tutela and me.
“What?" I asked, not sure I heard right.
"I said: 'Forest will never remove it!” she said louder.
I stood there with my mouth half-open.
"As noble as your efforts are, Forest really has no other choice. You think I'd let him go to Equestria without some sort of backup plan? Some form of insurance?" Her voice suddenly sounded strained, "Is being with me really that bad?"
Rainbow didn't expect that change in emotion, and honestly, neither did I.
"Tutela, I give you my word. I'll come back to you happily if you give me these next few days. I mean, what difference would it make?"
"You already asked me that, and I already told you the answer."
"Please, Tues. I beg you." I fell to my knees.
Rainbow watched the two of us.
A long, long sigh came from Tutela before she said: "Fine."
I couldn't resist the urge to smile, "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you so, so, so much! You don't know how much this means to me. At least I can say a proper goodbye to all my friends."
“Goodbye?” Rainbow faced me, "What do you mean 'goodbye'?”
I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I didn't know what to say.
She turned towards the picture frame, "Where exactly is Forest going, and why does it sound like he can never come back?"
Again I opened my mouth to talk. I wanted to tell her exactly what I knew, exactly where I was going to be – in that void between the two realities; the temporal prison of Tutela's own choosing. I wanted to tell Rainbow everything, to get the weight of this knowledge off of my chest.
But how could I?
"Stop!" Tutela screamed.
I flinched. Her voice sounded like it would shatter glass.
"My ears!" Rainbow gasped, pressing her hooves against them.
"The heck was that for?" I asked, my eyes watering from the pain echoing in my inner-ear.
"You may trust her, but I don't. I don't know your friends..."
"They're good Ponies! They've helped me every step of the way! And Rainbow wouldn't betray anyone... right?"
“Right.”
Rainbow had her reputation, but in all honesty, I was leaving my fate in her hooves. There was no way of knowing if she'd really keep my secret from the others, or if she would even heed her own words, but something inside me felt that my trust in her wasn't misplaced. She was one mare that I could always count on to be on my side.
"If there was anypony I could trust, it would be Rainbow, Twilight, Pinkie and Applejack... and Spike."
"You forgot Rarity and Fluttershy," Rainbow remarked.
I gave her a sheepish look, "Not really, I don't know them that well..."
"Give them a chance; you'll see what I mean..."
"I don't care, and you two are boring me. Forest, you make sure that hole on your face you call a mouth remains shut about this, understand? And Rainbow, I'm going to humor you to keep what you've found here to yourself. If you tell a soul then Forest forfeits his right to remain for the next few days. Agreed?" Tutela smirked, “Let's just see how good you are at keeping secrets.”
"You can't tell me what to do!" Rainbow retorted.
Tutela sneered at the Pegasus, "Not if you want Forest to stay. Promise or no promise, if anypony else finds out..."
"Are you threatening me?" Rainbow asked, "You better not be threatening me, I don’t like being threatened, especially from mares who are too cowardly to face me head on!"
My blood froze in my veins. Again.
"Unlike your other brainless peers who would leap at such a pathetic taunt, I am far more mature and-"
Rainbow stuck her tongue out and mouthed Tutela's speech while rolling her eyes, mocking her. Despite her cool demeanor, it was clear that Rainbow was getting under the Changeling's skin. Did Changelings have skin? Well, in her present form on the screen as an Equestrian mare, she did.
"Quit it, both of you!" I barked standing between the two of them… relatively speaking. Tutela was still behind the monitor's screen.
"She started it!" both girls exclaimed at the same time. At those words they faced each other and growled.
I could only sigh and place myself on the ground as I watched the two of them continue their bickering. Wasn't much I could do except wait for this nonsense to end.
And knowing Tutela and Rainbow, that was going to be a very long time.
"I... I..." Twilight shook her head, "I can't believe... that's fantastic, Princess!"
"Without a doubt, my little Pony," a very tired Princess Celestia said walking over to her favorite student and smiling gently at her, "The Diamond Dogs have finally accepted our law into their communities beyond the Known Lands. Perhaps now peace between our races will come. It will take time, but at least it is a step forwards."
"That's fantastic!"
"I'm going to need an ambassador... and after much thought, I wanted to offer you the position."
"Me?" Twilight asked, incredulously, "B-b-b-but I don't have any experience with politics..."
The Princess shook her head, "No, no, my little one. There is no longer any need for that anymore. Our peoples have vowed to proceed to a better future, and we need to set an example by sending a Pony who is well versed in the art of friendship."
Twilight blushed, "Thank you, Princess. I... I don't know what to say..."
"Then say yes, my little pony. Unless you still have some doubts." A knowing smile appeared on the Princess' lips, "Perhaps something that has been on your mind as of late? Some... pony?"
The lavender mare couldn't face her mentor. Her face felt as if it were on fire.
"Then why not ask him to go with you? I'm sure that Forest will be more than willing, should you ask."
"This is all too sudden, Princess. I'm... I'll have to think about it, if you don't mind." She said the last part quickly, trying to make it sound like an apology. She had spent more than a decade in Ponyville. Her whole life had been there, her home was there, her friends, and her work. To suddenly pack up and leave...
"Twilight, things change. Your friends will always be there for you, but they will have to move on with their dreams. The Elements of Harmony will eventually find new Ponies and you'll have other priorities as time goes by..."
"What do you mean, Princess?" Twilight asked, not really sure what she was implying.
Celestia grinned mischievously, "Don't you want foals, Twilight?"
Twilight barely contained her surprise, "I-i-it hasn't crossed my mind, Your Highness."
"You're really a terrible liar, Twilight Sparkle, perhaps not as bad as Applejack, but still pretty terrible. Get married..."
"No!" Twilight screamed suddenly. She lowered her head, her ears drooping as she did, "I'm so sorry, Princess. I didn't mean to scream like that."
"That's quite all right, my faithful student," Celestia replied, barely able to contain her laughter. She took a deep breath and regained her composure, "I am not asking you to become the Ambassador as your princess, I'm asking you to do this as a friend. I know you're the most capable Pony for the job, and I know that you'll make us all very proud."
"But... ambassador..." Twilight could barely wrap her head around the concept.
Celestia walked over to the fidgeting Pony, "The choice is yours. If you do decide to go, please send me a letter. If not, then don't worry. I will find another."
"Thank you, Princess. And I'm sorry I can't make up my mind right away."
"Please, Twilight. How could you? As you said, your whole life for the past ten years has been in Ponyville . It would be selfish of me to expect you to suddenly drop everything without thinking about it."
Twilight felt guilty, but she also knew that she needed time to process this. Being the ambassador to another nation was an honor, and with her experience in making friends, and being one of the Elements would make her position even more potent for her country. Yet the thought of leaving her life behind, all her friends, everything felt... scary.
"Let's not dwell on it for the moment." Princess Celestia used her magic to lift up a small bell from off of a small table. The light tingling was a familiar sound, one that she had always heard ever since she was a filly under the Princess' care. She turned to see Honey enter the chamber followed by Mrs. Pots, as she rolled in a tray of tea and crumpets, "Now, tell me everything."
"Your Highnesses would like tea?" Mrs. Pots asked.
"Yes, please, thank you," Princess Celestia replied gently as Honey placed some parchments on a table next to her.
Honey leaned over and whispered something in the Princess' ear, to which the royal made a face, but gave a nod. Honey then bowed and left. The entire exchange could not have been longer than a few seconds, but it drastically altered Celestia's mood.
Twilight took note of this. She lay down on the large floor cushion and smiled, "Where should I start?"
"From the beginning, of course," Celestia said as she levitated a hot cup of tea to her lips. "Everything from the beginning."
"Well, after the race, the girls and I went out of look for Spike..." she hesitated for a moment, then thought better of it. If there was one thing she knew about her Princess, it was how she loved a good story. So, she blushed a little before she continued, "... and Forest. They had both suddenly disappeared from the after-Race ball and I knew something felt off, so we..."
"I still don't get why you can't tell me where you're going. It's not like you can go back... to that world," Rainbow muttered as we made our way back to the window I had jumped out of from her home.
"I'm content with that fact, Rainbow. Look, I can't tell you, okay? Please don't make me."
Somehow Rainbow hadn't figured that me being in Equestria in the first place proved that the way between the worlds wasn't closed. I was not about to ruin the moment, but I badly wanted to say something.
"I'll go in and unlock the front door. You wait there, okay?"
"As you wish, madam," I replied, bowing low.
She giggled and shook her head as she flew through the window. I ran to the front of the house and right into Applebloom who was just about to ring the doorbell. She shook her head as I backed up and beamed a smile at me.
"Good mornin', Forest, you seem to be in a real good mood… and in a hurry…"
"Yeah, sorry about that, I didn’t mean to crash into you. Speaking of good moods, you seem to be in a good mood yourself, Applebloom." The smile she flashed was a little bit brighter than what I was used to, "Something good happen last night?"
Her face beamed an even brighter smile, this time with a rosy tint to her cheeks.
At that moment, Rainbow opened the front door to her home and saw the two of us. She noticed Applebloom's dreamy expression and gave a knowing smile in return.
"Let me guess. A boy?"
Applebloom's cheeks somehow brightened their pink glow at Rainbow's words. She looked up and gave us a shy, sheepish grin. "Yeah..."
"Is it that Lance fella? The one we were talking about yesterday?" I asked.
"Maybe..." Applebloom said slowly, still grinning from ear to ear, "I was on my way to the lake where I'm supposed to meet him. You... you guys wanna come along?"
Rainbow shook her head, "I've gotta head on to the hospital. And Forest's coming with me. He made a promise."
"I did?"
Rainbow gave me a flat look.
"I mean, of course I did! How could I forget... that promise... the one about me coming with you?”
"That's the one. So, sorry, Abby. Next time?" Rainbow ruffled her young friend's mane, "Plus, threes a crowd, and fours... bigger! Don't you want to be alone? If somepony I liked asked me out on a date... well, I wouldn't want the extra baggage."
Applebloom shifted a little on her hooves, "I know. I'm just nervous is all. I... I've never been on a proper date before, and I just don't know what to do! I figured, since Forest dated my sister and Twilight, and you dated Soarin... well, I was hoping you could give me a few pointers..."
I laughed out loud.
"Yeah, even I know that taking advice from Forest is a bad idea..."
"Oi."
"... but you don't need any help, Abby. You'll be fine. Just be yourself."
"Well... what if he doesn't like me?"
Rainbow put a hoof on Applebloom's shoulder, "Then he isn't worth it. I learnt that the hard way."
Applebloom looked at Rainbow Dash for a long moment before she spoke, "I'm sorry, Rainbow, I didn't mean to remind you..."
"No worries."
Applebloom smiled, "So... just be myself, and see how it goes? What if it don't work out?"
"As your sister would say: there're other apples in the tree..." Rainbow wiggled her eyebrows at that statement, which made us laugh lightly, "You Apples and your apple... uh... what d'ya call 'em?"
"Analogies?" I offered.
"Yeah! Those thingies. Anyway, what's important is that you have a great time. Will you come see me later and tell me about it?"
The young orange mare nodded profusely, "Thanks again, you guys. I'll be seein' you later!"
And with that, she trotted down the road towards Fluttershy's place, and beyond.
Rainbow looked at me, "I'm not taking my eyes off of you until I find out this secret hiding spot of yours, okay?"
I didn't want to argue, so I just nodded slowly.
"So, I'm going to be like a shadow. Understand?"
I nodded slowly again.
"Good. Now, let's go."
And so we headed towards Ponyville hospital.
"Oh my!" Princess Celestia gasped as Twilight described Forest getting sucked in under the water. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea he was..."
"He's fine!" Twilight blurted before the Princess could finish her sentence.
That brought a somewhat confused look from Celestia, "Didn't you say he got swept down the tunnels by the water current?"
Twilight nodded her head slowly.
"And yet he's still alive?"
She nodded slowly again.
"How?"
"That's what I intend to find out. I knew there was something strange about Forest and I intend to find out what."
"You seem to know where he is."
"He's in Ponyville. For sure."
"Ah, yes. I do remember Lu-lu telling me about a tower of light piercing the sky last night...”
"Forest's Marking Spell..."
"I know about the spell, Twilight. You sent me a letter about the bracelet, and I removed it if you recall.”
Twilight felt a little embarrassed; of course the Princess knew.
“Now, is there something else you wanted to tell me?"
There was a long pause, "I think that Forest isn't from Equestria, Your Highness. I've had my suspicions for a while now, and I think he's..."
"He's what?"
For a long while the two sat in silence before Twilight summoned enough resolve to answer her, "I think he's a Changeling."
That brought a stunned silence from the Princess. Eventually she snapped out of it, "Are you sure?"
"No. Not sure. He doesn't act like a Changeling, but we don't know much about them apart from the fact that they have a queen and they feed off of the feelings of love." Twilight shuddered at the memories of Chrysalis and how she had almost taken Canterlot all those years ago, "When we fought against them, I remember their magic. It felt cold... like dipping my entire body into ice. When I cast magic on Forest, it felt similar. At first I didn't quite remember where I had felt that magic before, but after the Diamond Dogs incident I remembered the Changelings... and it sort of just clicked."
Celestia took a sip from her cup of tea, her eyes never leaving Twilight's face. Carefully she placed the cup down and stood up, walking over to the window and peering out over the palace gardens and to the city of Canterlot. There she stood for another long moment, clearly in deep thought, as Twilight slowly sipped from her own cup of tea and watched.
The Unicorn knew that sometimes the Princess would zone out like this when she had a particularly troubling decision to make.
"What do you think we should do then?" Celestia asked after another moment still staring out the window.
Twilight set down the cup of tea, "I don't know. I... I still have feelings for him, but now that I suspect he's an enemy to Ponies..."
"An enemy? You really think that?”
“As much as I don’t want to, I have to be a little realistic. A random Pony wakes up in the Everfree with amnesia, befriends the Elements of Harmony – getting very close to a couple of them, including myself,” Twilight shrugged, “It just all seems so… convenient.”
“Then... that is why you've been confused. You usually come to a conclusion by this time. Sometimes they can be a little… premature, but a conclusion nonetheless.”
Memories of Twilight embarrassing herself flooded her mind. Getting overly worried about writing a letter to her Princess and causing a riot with her old doll, banishing herself for breaking a law that was never really a law in the first place nor was it her decision to be banished, and a few other times – each memory as bad as the last. Over the years she had been careful not to humiliate herself, but sometimes, just sometimes, she’d get careless. Luckily she had good friends to put her back to her normal, level-headed self.
“No not this time, Princess.”
“Let me answer your question with one of my own. Are you sure he's an enemy? I mean, you haven't really come across Ponies like Forest before, have you? Ponies that have no magical affinity of any kind? Even in my long life I've encountered very few Ponies with little magic, but never with none."
"That's the thing, Princess. He does have magic inside him, just very well disguised and hidden, as if someone had deliberately sealed magic within Forest with the express purpose of hiding it."
"How do you know this?" Princess Celestia asked, turning around to see her favorite student looking at her, "Even I couldn't detect anything in him..."
"I know. That's what had me confused for so long. But if you didn't know what to look for, would you have known? Remember how Queen Chrysalis fooled everypony including you at my brother's wedding?"
Princess Celestia's face contorted into an expression of disgust, "Must you remind me?"
"I'm sorry to bring up that memory, but you can see where I'm coming from, right? You weren't specifically looking for something in Forest, and because of that, you missed what could've been obvious. Forest might be a ChangeIing..." Twilight's ears drooped, "Would that mean what I feel for him is fake?"
"I don't know, Twilight. I've never encountered anything quite like the Changelings," Princess Celestia put a comforting wing around her student, "but I don't think that Forest is one. Perhaps we should keep this fact to ourselves?"
"I would like that." Twilight looked up at her mentor, "Are you sure that this is okay? Would it be safe?"
"Again, I don't know, Twilight, but I think after what Luna and I did to him, he deserves the benefit of the doubt. So far he has not harmed anypony physically, and has gone through exceptional lengths to protect others."
"But could it have all been an act?"
Celestia thought on that. What could she say? It could have been an act, but it could have just as much not have been. Eventually she spoke.
"That seems highly unlikely, especially after the Diamond Dog incident from yesterday and from what you’ve told me. It also fails to explain why Forest is allergic to magic."
With those words, Twilight already felt like a silly filly. It had taken Celestia all but a few minutes to already find a gaping hole in her theory and she could not think of any possible explanations as to why. Forest was allergic to magic, like Brian – that much was certain. But Changelings were magical creatures, able to project magic as freely as any Unicorn. All her curiosity did was raise more questions about the mysterious stallion.
"I will leave it to you, Twilight. I'll understand whatever decision you choose to make and will support you no matter what. I only ask for one thing in light of this discovery. I want Aiden to move from the hotel into your library."
"What?" Twilight blurted out spitting tea all over the table.
"Twilight, I'm giving Forest a lot of leeway here. I'm not putting him on special watch, but I can't risk him harming others. If there was anypony that the Changelings would want to especially harm, it would be you. You thwarted their invasion. You revealed the conspiracy..."
"Yeah, but it was my brother and Cadence who beat their Queen. Not me."
"True, but it was because of you that Chrysalis had to alter her plans. It was because of you that the real Cadence was found in the tunnels beneath Equestria. It was because of you that we finally found the imposter. If you had not, Princess Mi Amora Cadenza might have died, and Queen Chrysalis might have taken Canterlot through other means. You changed the course of history that day. You saved Equestria."
Twilight had not really thought of it that way.
"Now, because of what you've done, don't you think that maybe, in some long-winded way, getting to you through a Pony like Forest would be far-fetched?"
"Sorry, it's... that's really pushing it. Even to that extent..."
Princess Celestia sighed, "We're still a little unclear how my niece managed to get herself foalnapped and imprisoned beneath the castle. And while we're on the subject; why didn't Queen Chrysalis kill Cadence?"
"Princess!" Twilight exclaimed, "H-h-h-how can you say that?"
"That's the kind of question we must ask ourselves as leaders of a nation. Don't get me wrong, Twilight, I am both happy and relieved that Cadence is alive and well, and I'm ecstatic she's with foal, but you have to admit the question does remain a sore point for me even after all these long years. Why didn't the Changeling queen kill the only thing that could have thwarted her near-perfect plans?"
"I don't know..."
"And neither do I. But, thinking on it, would it still be considered farfetched? Perhaps Forest is a Changeling, and that he can't remember his past life because he never had one. Or perhaps Forest was a Pony who got caught up with those creatures. All I'm saying is that I'm changing the parameters of Aiden's service slightly. Being close to you, he'll be able to protect you if something goes wrong, and with his magic he can cast it on Forest without killing him."
"C-can Atom stay with me instead?" Twilight asked, "It's just that I'd feel awkward living in the same house as Aiden after... everything."
Celestia raised an eyebrow at that, "Care to explain?"
With a heavy sigh, Twilight began to.
“Remember what I said. Not a word about anything to pops, ‘kay?”
“Are you sure? I mean, I’d understand if you want to tell him…” I offered, although deep down inside I hoped that she wouldn’t take me up on it. I was bad enough that I’d lied about myself, there was no need to rub it in anyone’s faces, especially to the one person who had got it right in the first place.
Rainbow nodded, “Oh, I’m sure. Dad’ll never forgive you, and he’d tell the Princesses. That would be the right thing to do, but I… I don’t know. There’s something about you that makes me want to make sure you’re not… well banished, I guess. I dunno what would happen to you. Maybe… they'd... ki-ki-ki-”
“I highly doubt they’d kill me, Rainbow. Somehow I can’t see Princess Celestia ending my life.”
“How about Princess Luna?”
That shut me up. Princess Luna seemed to be a lot more merciless, but then again she wanted to protect her people and especially her family. It wasn’t that she had it in for me – well, at least I hoped she didn’t, but I was just concerned. She had thought that she would help her sister from getting hurt and attacked me. Although I did get hurt, I understood where she was coming from.
What was up with me and all this forgiveness?
“No, not even Princess Luna.”
Rainbow looked at me for a moment, then shrugged and pulled the door open.
“There you are!” Brian announced as Rainbow walked in, “So, I take it that Forest’s back.”
“H-h-h-how did you know?” I stuttered as I walked in.
Brian laughed at me fretting away, “You do know that I know about that light spell, right? The one that comes out of your bracelet?”
Of course he did. “Yes… but weren’t you asleep?”
“I was, until that light was cast. I don’t think anything for miles around slept after that. It was bright as… well, bright as day. I can’t even to imagine what Princess Celestia must have thought when you created that… thing! Ha! She must have fallen out of bed!”
“Bless you,” Twilight said as Celestia let out a cute little sneeze.
“Thank you. I think somepony was thinking about me just then.” She smiled at her faithful student, “Where were we?”
“I just told you about Aiden and how he confessed to me after the date auction,” Twilight replied, her face a nice bright pink, “It was so embarrassing!”
“I’m sure,” Princess Celestia laughed along with her student. “So, then what happened?”
“Well, then Princess Luna…”
“.... after that, I couldn’t really sleep, so I picked up this book,” Brain held up a large black leather bound book, “It was lying next to me here. I think Twilight must’ve accidentally left it here when she dropped off the books I asked for last week. Otherwise, I have no idea how it got here, but it was… interesting to say the least. Did you know that Changelings have the same kind of blood I do? I mean, that thingy about the magic stuff in my cells or something. Come to think of it… don’t you have a similar trait, Forest?”
“We’ve been over that. I’m allergic to magic,” I muttered, “Or are you implying that you think I’m a Changeling?”
“Actually… yes, I am.”
“What?” Both Rainbow and I barked at the same time.
“You can’t be serious!” Rainbow blurted a moment later.
Brian looked at his daughter with a hurt expression, “I didn’t mean it in a bad way, Dashie.”
“Sorry, pops. I didn’t mean to shout at you. Sorry.” Rainbow hugged her father and rubbed her snout against his neck.
They both held onto one another for a long moment making me feel real awkward. In the silence that loomed, I somehow managed to slip out of the room without being seen by the cyan mare.
Outside I made my way over to one of those waiting room chairs that outlined the halls of the hospital halls. Every so often, agitated ponies sat on these clusters of chairs, much like a hospital from back on Earth. Brain’s room was at the end of the hall; the last room on the right if your back was towards the central staircase, so it was naturally empty.
Carefully, I placed my rear on the nearest chair and watched the going-ons of hospital life. It’s amazing how little you notice when you’re not paying attention. After doing the cleaning up work at the hospital, I began to notice things. I noticed how everything seemed to follow a system that flowed with amazing efficiency. The nurses in their white gowns patrolled the halls making sure that patients were doing well and were comfortable. Orderlies made sure that everything was clean, going over everything several times in needed. The visitors of the patients were as oblivious as I was to the hospital staff, and were off in their own little worlds. Understandably so; I doubted visitor ponies would give a damn about how the hospital staff worked if it didn’t affect them directly.
“There you are!” Rainbow shouted poking her head out of her father’s door.
That earned her a violent ‘shush’ from one of the nurses. She grinned sheepishly and lowered her ears as she mouthed ‘sorry’, which seemed to satisfy the nurse who went on with whatever duties she needed to do.
“How’s your dad?” I asked.
“He’s fine. Just was wondering where you ran off to…”
“It was getting kinda... weird in there. Rainbow, I’d rather just stay out here if you don’t mind. It’s uncomfortable for me to be in that room…”
Rainbow sighed and nodded, “Yeah, I bet it is. Fine. You wait here, and when pop’s asleep, I’ll come for you.”
“Thanks.”
She flashed me a quick smile and disappeared into the room, while I sat there and thought. There were a lot of things I had to think about, like the fact that I got to get used to knowing that my time was up. In six days, whether I’d discover the truth about friendship or whatever that ridiculous bet was, my sentence was set. I was to be Tutela’s bitch for the rest of my miserable life.
“Finally!” Applejack blurted when Twilight descended the stairs from Celestia’s private chambers, “I was beginning ta think ya fergot about us.”
“There was quite a lot of things we needed to discuss, AJ. I’m sorry. I should have told you instead of going on and on with the Princess. You could’ve gone on ahead with Sweetie.”
“Can we go now? I want to get home lickety-split.”
Twilight nodded, “Of course. I’m ready to teleport us. Tell you what, let’s split up. Sweetie will take two, and I’ll teleport the rest. Sound good?”
“S-sure,” Sweetie blurted before Spike could argue, “I’ll do it!”
The entourage made their way towards the gardens, Twilight leading the way. There were a few clouds in the sky around the city with a clear view of Celestia's sun high in the sky. That meant it was close to noon, and almost time for lunch. A slight blush appeared on her face as she thought about asking Forest where he’d like to go, but at the same time she felt conflicted. With the knowledge that Forest could be a Changeling, she was confused about her emotions. Were they really her feelings?
“Ready?” Sweetie asked Spike.
“Ready.” The Dragon smiled gently as he pressed up close to the pony. Then, in a bright flash they were gone.
“Hey! Wait! Aw, they totally forgot about me!” Atom shouted, standing a little behind where they had vanished from, “I thought she was going to teleport me as well.”
The rest of the group laughed at Atom.
“Guess Sweetie wanted to take Spike somewhere special,” Aiden said nonchalantly.
“Oh… my…” Fluttershy whispered, her face exploding at the implication. She wasn’t the only one.
Applejack shook her head, “I wonder what Rarity’d make of it…”
And in the back of her mind Twilight had asked herself the exact same thing.
“Why, hello there, Forest,” Nurse Redheart said pushing a tray of food towards me, “I didn’t expect to see you back so… is your eye swollen?”
I had turned to look at her without thinking. The swollen eye and cheek were on the other side of my face, if I had sat staring straight ahead she would not have noticed. Alright, that might not have worked either, but it would have been worth the risk. I sighed and waited for the reprimanding to commence.
“Why can’t you be like normal Ponies and come to the hospital to visit without having to be treated at the time? I gets rather old having to keep telling you this…”
“I know! I’m sorry, I won’t do it again,” I replied, making yet another promise I knew I couldn’t keep.
“Okay, I’ll go and give Brian’s food to him. You stay here until I get back.”
“Okee dokee.”
With that, she entered the room and I waited where I was like a good boy. Moments later she reappeared with Rainbow in tow. Nurse Redheart looked at the two of us funnily, before shrugging and walking away.
“What was that about?” The Pegasus asked.
“No clue. I just hope it wasn’t anything bad.” I regretted the words as soon as they left my mouth.
“Don’t think like that,” Rainbow said glowering at me, “It isn’t nice.”
“Sorry…”
Before we could continue our conversation, Nurse Redheart returned with what looked like a large snowball. She put it into a small towel then walked over to a drinking fountain along the hallway wall. I hadn’t noticed it before. There was a pedal at the bottom that she pressed and water sprinkled out, which she held the towel under. Then, she walked over to me and placed the moist, mini-towel over my eye.
It was really, really cold.
“That should help reduce the swelling a little,” Redheart commented, “I just can’t get over how you keep getting hurt. It’s almost as if you do it on purpose.”
“Not really, I just happen to get hurt a lot primarily because I’m real clumsy.”
“That’s an understatement – you’re not just real clumsy, you’re also good at getting yourself into situations that involve you getting hurt.”
That was very true. I couldn’t deny that I’d almost certainly ended up hurting myself in one small way or another.
“Maybe it’s time we did a full-body checkup on you. When was the last time you had one?”
I just looked at Red blankly.
“Oh right… amnesia. Forgot about that for a second,” She laughed and shook her head at her own joke, “Well, you want to have one?”
“Uh…”
“Then let’s get started right now, shall we?”
The way she said it made it abundantly clear she wasn’t asking, “S-sure…”
What else could I do? I looked over to Rainbow, who just shrugged.
Nurse Redheart took me to an empty room and motioned for me to sit down on a bed. While I did that, she walked over to a counter and took out some medical instruments. Rainbow walked in quietly and sat down at the opposite end of the room.
“Oh, Rainbow, you don’t need to be here for this.”
Rainbow didn’t budge and remained sitting where she was. Clearly she wasn’t going to leave, and it was also clear that Redheart wasn't going take no for an answer. After a few minutes of silence, the nurse spoke.
“Miss Dash, this is a private and confidential checkup. Will you kindly please leave the room?”
Rainbow made a face, “Fine. But I’ll be outside the door.”
As soon as Rainbow left, Redheart locked the door and shook her head, “Sometimes that mare can be so thick-headed. Just because you’re a world famous athlete doesn’t mean you get to go around breaking the rules.”
“I’m sure she didn’t mean it like that, Red.”
“Forest, there are things about mares you don’t understand. That aside, I thought you were with Twilight.”
That confused me. “I am...”
Redheart looked at me obviously equally as confused, “Then… why are you with Rainbow?”
“Wait, what? No! No, no, no, no-no-no-no. No. I’m staying at her house until I get back on my own,” I lied, “So, I’m just being a good… uh… tenant?”
“Uh-huh. Well, it's not really any of my business. Anyway, let’s get started.”
It didn’t take long, and soon I had been checked-upped. Redheart did a number on me, and I found myself feeling rather healthy. Nothing out of the ordinary – physically, that was. And I didn’t have to do any blood-work as they already had done it a couple weeks back.
“Okay, now to ask you some standard questions. Will that be alright?”
“Sounds good.”
“First, when you woke up in the Everfree Forest for the first time, how did you find your way out?”
That wasn’t a medical question. “Um… I didn’t. I was walking around and was chased by a Timberwolf that led me to Zecora’s place. She led me into Ponyville. If it hadn’t been for Zecora, I doubt I would’ve survived.”
Redheart nodded, “How far back can you remember?”
“Not very, I don’t even remember entering the Everfree. I just remember everything after that.”
“Did you have any severe headaches? Any pain along your skull, or anything that could have hinted at any brain trauma?”
“No… my head wasn’t hurting… nurse, why are you asking me all of this suddenly?”
“Just want to know if it’s just amnesia you’re suffering from, Forest, and not something else. Just humor me, okay?” She gave me such a comforting smile, that I just complied. “Okay, the next question is: do you suffer from any withdrawal? Are you getting stomach aches, or anything like that?”
Again, I shook my head, “No… why?”
“Sometimes a Pony on… mind-altering substances might forget who they are.”
“You mean like… narcotics?”
“Yes… like that. Some species of plants can alter the mind… wait, how did you know about that? Most Ponies outside the medical field don’t really know about narcotics let alone the word.”
“Why? Is it illegal?” As soon as those words left my mouth, I regretted them. That was the second time I let my mouth fly off the handle.
“No… I don’t think narcotics are illegal… that’s a strange question. I’ve only heard it asked once before… a very long time ago. I remember it because it was asked by somepony rather…” Nurse Redheart looked at me strangely, and then she just a suddenly smiled, “It’s nothing. Shall we continue?”
And that was the second weird look she had flashed at me.
“Okay, if you insist.”
“Have you been active sexually?”
I felt a tingling sensation in my cheeks as my face started to burn, “W-what?”
“Are you sexually active?”
“N-n-n-no! I mean… I haven’t had… I mean... I just can’t…” I was digging myself a deeper grave with each passing attempt, so I just shut up and lowered my head to the floor, “Can I go now?”
“Just answer the question, Forest. Have you ever had sex?”
My face felt like it was on fire. How was this relevant to my health? Was this relevant to my health? I couldn’t really see how or why, in fact I couldn’t really see much of anything except that right now I wanted to crawl into a hole and die.
“Forest?” Redheart pressed, placing a hoof on my shoulder, which made me jerk my head back up in surprise.
“N-n-no…” I squeaked, “No…”
“So, you’re a virgin?”
The way she said it, as professional she wanted to make it sound, I could tell she was enjoying watching me squirm. I struggled with the words, but forced them from my lips.
“Yes.”
“Thank you, Forest. This has been... revealing. You may go now.”
I walked over to the door in a daze as I pulled the latch and opened the door. Even before I could step out, a cyan pony fell through the door and onto her face. She was lying on the ground in front of me. Slowly, she looked up at me, her face as rosy and red as mine.
“Did you hear?” I asked quietly.
Rainbow stood up slowly, “I was just making sure that you were safe, okay?”
“D-d-d-d-did you hear?”
Rainbow blushed even harder, “I’m sorry…”
I couldn’t take it anymore. I walked past her and down the hall. It felt like my face would explode at any moment.
“Forest, wait!” Rainbow called after me.
I stopped in my tracks without turning around.
“Look, I said I was sorry. I won’t tell anypony that you’re a virgin…”
“Who’s a virgin?” Cyan Crystal asked. She was standing behind the both of us, a basket of flowers on her back.
“N-n-nopony! Especially not Forest…”
“Forest’s a virgin?” Cyan grinned, and then laughed, “How cute! Wait till I tell Cheerilee...”
I wanted to die. So, like I always do in desperate situations, I just ran away.
Twilight stretched her hooves out, “Home sweet home!”
They had teleported to the lake, on top of the hill that overlooked it. To their backs was Canterlot palace, and down in front of them was the road that led past Sweet Apple Acres and into Ponyville. It was just after lunch, and Twilight felt proud of herself. They had come a long, long way in such a short amount of time.
“Whatever happened to Sweetie Belle and Spike?” Aiden asked, looking around.
“Beats me,” Atom replied, shrugging, “My head feels like I landed on top of it.”
“That’s a common side-effect for those not used to teleportation,” Twilight replied, “Headaches are a sign that your body is getting used to the suddenness of being pulled through a temporal rift. Considering how many jumps we've gone through today, your head might be hurting a lot more than usual.”
“In plain Equestrian please,” Atom stated, “I can’t understand all this magical mumbo-jumbo.”
“It means that you’re head isn’t used to being pulled through one place and into another. It’s a common side effect to non-Unicorns. You’re just not used to magic being shoved into you like that,” Twilight patiently explained.
“How come I don’t got a headache like him, then?” Applejack asked with an eyebrow raised. She already was walking towards the road that led to her home.
“You’re an Element. You’ve got a massive amount of magical potential stored inside your body. Of course you’re going to be fine. I’ve got a migraine, but I’ve learn to deal with it now,” Aiden replied as he followed after Applejack walking a little behind her.
“Uh… excuse me, girls, but can I go and see my pets? I want to make sure they’re all fine…” Fluttershy said as she started to rise in the air.
“Okay, let’s all meet later in town.”
Everypony nodded at that and, with the exception of Fluttershy, made their way towards the town. They all walked in silence having exhausted both conversation and themselves. Twilight was thinking about what Princess Celestia and her had discussed about Forest, the knowledge that he might be a Changeling disturbed her, and yet she never doubted that her feelings for him were genuine. In fact, her feelings for him gradually became clearer.
“Alrighty, everypony. I’ll see y’all later. Gotta check up on Granny.” Applejack stood at the front of her driveway towards her farmhouse.
Atom shifted on his hooves, “D-do you want company?”
Applejack shook her head, “Not now. Maybe later. I just want to see my family.”
Visibly disappointed, Atom nodded, “You’re right. I’ll be in town if you need me.”
“Don’t take it wrong, Atom. It’s just… it’s too soon, okay? You’ve gotta let me think about… things.”
“Of course. I didn’t mean to imply…” Atom shut himself up before he could further make a total flankhead of himself.
“Move along, doofus,” Aiden whispered as he shoved the black Pegasus with his head, “You’ll see her later.”
The boys started fighting each other, which just made the girls sigh, “I’ll see ya later, Twi. Don’t let those two get on yer nerves.”
“I’ll try,” Twilight said with a giggle, “No promises.”
Twilight watched as Applejack cantered to her doorstep then into the house. She waited a moment before turning towards the two stallions still bickering with each other a few yards away. She rolled her eyes as she walked past them, the two falling into step behind her.
“Where to now?”
“We find Forest. First stop, the hospital!”
“How do you know he’s going to be there?” Aiden asked.
“Intuition,” Twilight replied without missing a beat, “Plus with Forest’s ability to get himself into trouble, he’s bound to end up there at some point… if he isn’t there already, that is.”
Aiden laughed, “You’ve got that right.”
Standing outside the hospital, Twilight spotted Rainbow Dash, Cyan Crystal and Nurse Redheart standing around. They were all laughing, except for Redheart who looked stunned.
“Hey, Dashie,” Twilight stated as she walked up the steps, “How’s it going?”
“Oh, Twilight! You're back! You missed the finniest thing, ever! It was so funny! Nurse Redheart made Forest admit that he’s…” Rainbow fell to the ground laughing.
“Well, it’s nice to see you too…” Twilight replied with a smirk, “So, Forest was here?”
“Oh yeah. Ran away faster than he ran at the Race. He’s long, long gone by now. See,” Cyan pointed at the path of fire now fading away that led into Ponyville proper, “I will never get used to seeing that stallion run…”
“Oh? Crying?” Twilight asked not knowing what to make of this. Her friends were laughing at Forest who was crying? That seemed really mean and cold-hearted.
“Nurse Redheart got Forest to admit… he’s… he’s a…” Rainbow started to laugh again too hard for her to continue.
“What have I done?” Redheart intoned, shaking her head with a somewhat perplexed expression on her face. “I can’t believe I just did that to one of my patients!”
“Do what?” Twilight demanded, “What’s so funny?”
Cyan was shaking her shoulders, chuckling to herself. Finally she calmed down enough for her to speak. “Forest admitted that he’s a… he hasn’t become a full stallion yet.”
“What do you mean by that?” Twilight asked, not getting the reference. That only made Rainbow howl in laughter once again.
Aiden grinned and could barely contain his own laughter immediately getting the point, “Really? He’s never got his... groove on?”
Atom copied Rainbow and was pounding the ground with his hooves, twisting around unable to breathe. That brought some curious glances from other ponies. What was so hilarious?
“Please, you two, don’t make me feel any worse than I already do,” Redheart pleaded.
“I still don’t get it…” Twilight admitted, failing to see what was making the Pegasi go nuts.
“Oh dear,” Cyan whispered, “Honey, Forest has never… been with anypony… and when I say been with, I mean been with.”
The gears in Twilight’s brain went into overdrive, and she suddenly put two and two together.
“Oh. Oh! Oh? Oh!”
Seeing Twilight embarrassed like that that made the others laugh even harder than before, even Nurse Redheart found it hard not to chuckle.
Clutching the side of the building with my hoof – alright, so it was more like hoofing the side of it – I paused to catch my breath. I looked back the way I had come; my trail of fire still was going, burning brightly. I knew it, yet I didn’t slow down to let it diminish. I wondered why that was. Surely it would have made more sense to slow down and let the trail grow cold instead of leading those meanies straight to me.
“Oh sweet, sweet Celestia, now every pony in Ponyville knows that I’m a… a…” I couldn’t say it. What was wrong with it? What was wrong with me being… untouched? It wasn’t like I…
Technically, that wasn’t true. I did have sex before, but never as a Pony, and for some reason the thought of that seemed… acceptable now. Had I really put aside any prejudices I’ve had about it? I remember distinctly telling myself never to humor such a thought, but after Applejack… and Twilight…
Just then, Rainbow Dash floated across my thoughts. Her lips firmly planted on mine.
The suddenness of the memory was so shocking, that I found myself stumbling backwards over something that sent me sprawling onto the ground. Picking myself up, I noted that I had tripped over the end of a see-saw. Next to that was a slide.
“Forest!” a voice called out to me, “You came! A little early, but you came!”
“Cheerilee,” I whispered standing up and dusting myself off. “H-how are you?”
“I’m fine. So, you’re ready to start learning how to write… again?”
With nothing to do, and wanting to find some way to disappear, I eagerly nodded my head. At least for the time being I’d be safely hidden away in a classroom. Rainbow would never think to look for me inside a classroom.
“The trail just vanishes here!” Twilight groaned, “Where could he have gone?”
“Well, my house is in this direction... so, he could’ve gone there, or he went towards Carousel Boutique or the school…” Rainbow offered.
“I can’t believe we forgot Pinkie in Canterlot. She’d be able to find Forest in no time at all!” Twilight wanted to kick herself for forgetting to bring along her best friend. Pinkie had a nasty habit of disappearing inside the castle, and finding her was impossible.
If Fluttershy was good at Hide and Seek, then Pinkie was supreme champion. Nopony can escape her.
Rainbow smiled, “Yeah, Pinkie’d find him in no time. Maybe we ought to go look for her instead.”
“She’ll be back soon. We just need to find Forest.”
“Why do you want to find him so badly anyway?”
“Can you keep a secret?” Twilight asked.
“Sure. Don’t I always?”
“Is that why half of Ponyville now knows that Forest's a… virgin?” Twilight whispered the last word as if it were taboo.
Rainbow grinned sheepishly, “I wasn’t the one that let it slip, okay? I just… well, I may have accidentally said it loud enough for several other Ponies to hear. It’s not like it’s my fault…”
“Dashie…”
“Okay, so it was my fault! I said I was sorry. Sheesh.”
Twilight looked at her best friend, “Rainbow, you’re one of my best friends, and I don’t want to keep secrets from you, even if the Princess says I should. I need to tell you something about Forest. Something… shocking.”
“I know. I found out. He admitted to it.”
“Wait… what?” Twilight looked at her friend, “Are you sure? He admitted that… that…”
“That he’s not a Pony? Yep,” Rainbow smiled at her friend, “Don’t worry, I don’t think he’s here to hurt us. He’s just… he’s got… he hasn’t got very long.”
“Wait. What do you mean? What do you mean he’s not got long?”
“Oops…” Rainbow grinned nervously, and laughed, “I didn’t say that, did I?”
Twilight grabbed Rainbow with her magic before she could escape, “Where do you think you’re going? Now, elaborate. What do you mean ‘he hasn’t got long’?”
“I thought you said you knew!” Rainbow shouted, trying to wriggle free from Twilight’s magical grip. She gave up after a few more attempts.
“Apparently not everything,” Twilight replied. She squinted and peered into Rainbow’s eyes, “Now, tell me everything you know.”
“Class, today we’re having a special guest student. He’s going to be here to learn how to write. Can somepony lend Forest a quill?” Cheerilee clopped her hooves together.
Several of her students raised their hooves, “Ooh, ooh, Miss Cheerilee! Miss Cheerilee!”
“Okay, Pumpkin, you may give your spare quill to Forest.”
Pumpkin jumped down from her desk and walked over to me, and handed a light blue quill, “Hi, Forest.” She said, a big smiled across her face.
“Hi, Pumpkin,” I grinned in response, “How’s mom and dad?”
“Fine.” She stood there and giggled shyly.
Cheerilee clopped her hooves again, “Now, now, Pumpkin. Recess is over, so back to your seat.”
“Yeah, back to your seat, Flumpkin!” Pound Cake barked, bringing a rancorous laugh from a bunch of colts in the back.
A light blue aura appeared around Pound’s inkwell, and in the next moment all the colts at the back of the classroom were covered in the black goop. That brought laughter from the girls, and moans from the boys.
“Children! I will not have you all acting like a bunch of foals in this classroom! You will cease all this immature behavior this instant.”
“But she started it,” Pound Cake moaned, “She used her magic to throw the ink all over us.”
“Is that true?”
Pumpkin bowed her head, “Yes, Miss Cheerilee.”
“Now, that wasn’t very nice of you. Please clean them up with your magic, then stay behind after classes for detention.”
"Yes, Miss Cheerilee.”
“Serves you right...” Pound whispered, which got him a stern glance from Pumpkin.
“Now, where was I?” The teacher turned to look at her blackboard as Pumpkin used her magic to magically remove the ink from the floor and replace most of its contents back into the jar. The boys were glaring at the poor Unicorn, but she did what she was told, and went back to her seat shooting venomous glances at her brother.
“Ah, yes. Writing. Today we’ll be practicing cursive. Except you, Forest. You’ll be learning from scratch.”
“Yes, Miss Cheerilee,” We all replied in unison.
“So, everypony, please write a one page paper about what you did this weekend entirely in cursive writing.”
There was some groaning going on, but they all did as they were told.
“Forest, I just want you to try and write the letters of the alphabet, okay?”
“Yes, Miss Cheerilee."
She just smiled and laughed at that.
“I-impossible!” Twilight shouted, “That's impossible. There’s just no way that can be right.”
“You thought he was a Changeling?” Rainbow asked, “Really?”
“That made a lot more sense than him being...” Twilight couldn't say it.
“Yeah, tell me about it. I was surprised at first, but he came clean after I roughed him up a little bit. Oh, and that Tutela kept saying something about ‘coming back’ to someplace. It sounded… final. Like, if he went, he could never come back. You don't suppose... she'll send him back to Earth, do you?”
“Princess Celestia closed any way between our worlds, remember?”
“Yeah... but he's here, isn't he?”
“True... but... Forest can't be...” Again, Twilight couldn't say it, “It's impossible... it might be some Changeling trick. You know how tricky they can be.” Twilight stopped and thought for a long moment, “I don’t think you should have told me, Dash.”
“You’re my best friend! Of course I’m going to tell you…”
“But that Tutela made it clear that nopony else should know. And now you’ve told me…”
“Wait! You wanna talk to her? Forest’s got this ugly picture that he uses to talk to her.”
“What?” Twilight was now completely confused, “An ugly talking picture? Uh… okay, let’s see this thing.”
"Yeah, okay. It’s back home, in Forest’s room… I mean the guestroom…”
With that, the two of them headed towards Rainbow’s place.
“There!” I gave a muffled shout as I put the last stroke on the letter ‘Z’. I felt really proud of myself, writing all twenty-six letters with my mouth.
“Very good, Forest. Now, I want you to write the Equestrian alphabet.”
I felt my bowels knot, “E-E-Equestrian?”
“You do remember your Equestrian, don’t you?"
"Um… I… can’t say that I do.” I laughed sheepishly, rubbing my hoof on the back of my head.
“Yeah! Why do we have to learn Equestrian?” Pound Cake asked from behind me, “It’s not like we’d ever get to use it. That's only for Unicorns and all their magical magic magicry.”
A couple other students voiced their dislike at the mention of the apparently unique language. I had no idea that the students hated it as much as I did.
“Students, please. You all know how important it is for you to learn Equestrian. It’s our mother-tongue, and although we’re using Common as our day-to-day language, we can’t forget our roots. Our language comes from ancient times and has survived to this day and age when most old languages have been long forgotten. Even the Griffins are jealous of how we remember our old language because we’ve kept it up,” Miss Cheerilee smiled, “And besides, it’s a beautiful, wonderful language…”
“Oh no… not again…” I heard one of the colts from behind me moan.
“Gather around me children; listen to me till I’m done,
About an ancient kingdom now long gone,
In a place that time forgot,
It is true, I kid you not,
In a time before Celestia rose the sun...”
A song? Seriously?
Somewhere I heard an instrument being played. It sounded like a tuba, and I whipped around to see one of the students playing it in the corner. His Cutie Mark brandished the instrument, so it made sense, but within the next second three other ponies took up instruments and instantly started playing in tune. They played it so perfectly. I was convinced that it was rehearsed, but knowing the Ponies and their abilities, I wouldn’t have been surprised if they had started playing on the spot.
“There was once a time when our races; three,
Were as unfriendly as unfriendly can be,
We fought each other,
It did not matter,
Pegasus, Unicorn, or Earth Pony,
They each had their own way of speaking,
At each other they’d start shrieking,
Unable to communicate,
Only led to frustrate,
Clearly a common language needed seeking,
But how can there be a way?
When neither knew what to say!
What can you choose tell?
When all you can do is yell, yell, yell!
It was simple in the long run,
Painful in the start,
But then it was done,
Thanks to a pony so smart, smart, smart!
She had figured it out using words in song,
When you sing something loud, loud, loud!
And it did not take long,
That's why speaking Equestrian makes me proud!”
“But I can't remember – I mean, I don’t know any Equestrian at all! That is to say, I’ve forgotten how! It's like my mind hit a brick wall…” I replied when Cheerilee paused to look at me. It took me a moment to realize that I had just sung along by accident; my words flowed with the music as easily and as concise as Cheerilee’s. Suffice to say I was scared, amused, and wierded out at the same time.
“But that’s okay, because you see,
No matter how hard it is, as long as you’re a Pony,
You can feel it deep in you,
Just do as I do,
Try it! Just breathe in really slowly,
Then with the breath of air,
Your heart will take you there,
To our ancestors song of old,
You will hear a tale within you told,
And you will remember – if you care…”
“I can see what you mean, that magic runs deep within the Pony gene. But I can assure you Miss Cheerilee, you’re wasting your time trying to teach me.”
Again, I had rhymed sort of unintentionally, but this time instead of just saying the words, I had actually sung them. The suddenness of it made me place my hooves over my lips, but it was… actually pretty cool.
“What makes you say that?
You aren’t a flying bat,
Nor a swimming turtle,
Or a luscious green myrtle,
Nor a nosy little rat,
You’re a Pony!”
“I’m a Pony?”
“That’s right! You bet! That's what she said!” The chorus of children joined in, “It’s about time you get it through your thick head!”
“Wow, that’s cute how you all able to sing along, but I’m really pretty sure you’re all dead wrong! Even if I am a Pony, I can confidently say, that I can't read nor write Equestrian today.”
“Then put your mind to it, let your body show you,
Take a big, deep breath and let your senses go!
Don't listen with your ears, listen with your heart,
You feel the rhythm deep inside you start...”
Everything stopped, including the music at that moment. I looked at all the young colts and fillies there and at Cheerilee before sighing and taking a long, hard, deep breath. I closed my eyes and listened. Just listened. I didn’t know what I was listening for, all I knew what that something was supposed to happen to me.
But would a creature allergic to magic like myself hear this so-called ‘Magic of Equestria’? I somehow doubted that... and yet, I did what they asked. I listened.
“Listen… listen… listen…” The students began to chant quietly. “Listen… listen… listen…” Their voices slowly getting louder and louder until all I heard was their vices screaming at the top of their lungs – well, not screaming, but singing as loud as they possible could.
How the hell is anyone supposed to hear anything over this racket?
As soon as the question left my mind, I realized that the words of the students were no longer words, and instead it sounded like static. Electrical static. The kind of static you’d hear from a radio, or a television that was left on a blank channel. Slowly, I opened my eyes and I could see the students and Miss Cheerilee dancing around, still obviously singing something, but I couldn’t hear them. Instead, I heard something else.
Something… musical, but a different kind of music. There were no words that could describe this type of music, and even if I wanted to I couldn’t find the words to describe the sensation. It was like something deep within me was vibrating to the essence of… everything. I could feel the kids dancing and singing, I could feel the beat of their hooves like my heartbeat. I could feel it inside me. Deep inside, within the very core of my existence, but it was more than that.
I felt... life.
“Now can you see what we mean?
Are you eager to learn? Are you keen?
Just let your senses,
Pass your defenses,
And take you to where you’ve never been!”
My mind blanked out. Slowly, I opened my eyes. Everything seemed brighter now. Clearer.
“By Celestia's mane, I don't know how, but I think I can write Equestrian now!” I held the last word for a long time as the music faded out.
Then everything promptly when dark, and I feel face first onto the ground.
“Forest did what?” Twilight asked, “Are you sure? That's not possible.”
“What do you mean? Of course it's possible. He's a Pony, why wouldn't he be able to learn Equestrian?” Cheerilee replied, a little taken aback by Twilight's words. Then Cheerilee smiled, “Unless he isn't a Pony...”
“How'd you know that?” Rainbow blurted before Twilight could cut her off.
“I figured it out,” Cheerilee said with a smile, “And you've just confirmed my suspicions, Rainbow.”
Rainbow eyes opened and she made a face, “Aw, nuts.”
“My guess is he's a Changeling who really has amnesia and has, for some reason, taken the body of a Pony. That would explain his lack of a Cutie Mark at his age...”
“Applebloom doesn't have a Cutie Mark,” Twilight pointed out.
“But Applebloom is not as old as Forest,” Cheerilee replied, “Not only that, but there are other things that made my suspect that he wasn't a Pony ever since I met him. Still, I think as long as he doesn't remember what he was, he's harmless.”
“I think you're right,” Twilight said carefully. She knew that if anypony could sniff out something out of the ordinary, it would be her, “But you have to agree that, just in case something goes wrong, somepony has to keep an eye on him, right?”
“Oh yes, I do. I think one of you should be around him all the time. One of you Elements. Think of what this could mean for our kind. We have the ability to change a Changeling into a normal Pony. All we need to do is find out how to give the Changelings amnesia...”
“That's not right!” Rainbow blurted out again, “Even lame creatures like Changelings deserve to be... uh... to be...”
“What Rainbow means is that we can't be like them. We need to set a standard, and we need to teach others that we can change others without having to resort to harming..."
"No, you're not getting it.” The school teacher shook her head, “My intention was never to harm others, and never will be. Think of what Forest has done. Think of what he has achieved. He chose to do things of his own will. For all intents and purposes, he is an Equestrian. The way he sung this afternoon if proof that even Changelings can change-”
“But what if he's not a Cha-”
Rainbow found a purple hoof shoved into her mouth before she could finish.
“What Rainbow was trying to say is, what if he's not able to change?" She flashed a look at the cyan mare through the corner of her eye.
“The we'd better be careful. That's why I was thinking that one of you, as the Elements of Magic, especially you, Twilight, should stay with him. I think he should move in with you, and stay with you until we can understand more.”
Twilight tried to fight the heat rising up to her face. Forest and her living in the same house? Under the same roof? She felt her heart starting to beat faster.
“I don't know... I mean, that seems a little...”
They all hushed up as Forest made a groan, and started to sit up in the bed. Twilight's heart beat even faster, and when he looked up at her, with a smile on his face, she couldn't resist.
It wasn't my head that hurt this time. Well, that's not entirely true. My head did hurt a little bit, but my wrist burned like it was on fire. Sitting up, I looked at it with a hopeless feeling. Tutela was shoving her magic into that bracelet with everything she had. I could feel her.
But I felt eyes on me. As I turned, I looked up and to my surprise I saw Twilight standing there, her face a looked so... gentle, kind... and relieved.
Without saying a word, I smiled at her and spread my forelimbs wide open.
She pushed past Cheerilee and ran into my waiting embrace. She felt wonderful to hold.
“Bleh.”
“Oh, come now, it was cute,” Cheerilee snickered at Rainbow's reaction, “They make such a nice couple, don't you think?”
“Uh-huh,” Rainbow muttered and looked behind her at Twilight and Forest. They were indeed cute together, holding each other like that. For some reason she felt really annoyed at that.
“Jealous?”
“What? Me?” Rainbow guffawed at Cheerilee's insinuation.
The flat expression from the school teacher meant that she saw through her act.
“Okay... yeah, just a little, okay? Not of Forest... oh, by Luna's mane, not because of Forest! It's what they have. That's what I'm jealous about. I... I miss Soarin..."
“How can you miss that... that... bad pony, especially after what he did to you?”
“No! I miss him from before...” Rainbow growled, “Never mind.”
“Sorry, Rainbow. I think I know what you mean. You miss what you had, and are jealous of Twilight and Forest because you had that, right?”
“Yeah! That's it...” she stole a glance at the two. Somehow though, somewhere deep inside her gut, she knew that wasn't it at all, “Yeah..."
“Stop...” Twilight giggled, “Somepony'll see!”
I couldn't resist her, and kissed her lips again, which made her blush even harder. I was going to make the most of the time I had left on Equestria, and if that involved making Twilight the happiest mare alive, then by Celestia, that's exactly what I was going to do.
“Forest...” she cooed.
“Twilight Sparkle, are you embarrassed to be kissed by me?”
She blushed even harder, if that was possible, “Yes...”
I leaned forwards and pulled her head to me and licked her neck right up to her ear.
“Good.”
She shuddered.
“Forest...” she whispered, “What's gotten into you... you're... aggressive...”
I reluctantly let her go, “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...”
“No, no,” she looked away from me and lowered her head slightly, “I like it...”
I pulled her into my embrace again, “That's my mare-”
“Great! I search all over Ponyville for him, and now I find him all over the girl of my dreams,” Aiden made a face, “At least I know you're fine.”
“Ignore the grouch, Forest,” Atom said pushing past the green Unicorn, “I'm glad that you're alive and kicking. We all are. What's the matter? Decided that Ponyville hospital was too familiar? Decided to tryout the school's infirmary instead?”
“Long story short, I learnt Equestrian and fainted.”
“Somehow, I figured you'd say something like that,” Atom said, laughing to himself, “But I'm dying to know how you survived The Pit. I'm really interested.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, “You're not going to like the answer.”
“Let me guess. You woke up in the Everfree not knowing how you ended up there, am I right?” Aiden sat down at the end of the bed, and Twilight released and sat a little away from me.
“Uh... yeah, you got it. That's what happened,” I lied.
Aiden rolled his eyes, “Why am I not surprised? It's good to see you're alright. Better than 'alright' it seems.”
That made Twilight and I look at each other, which in turn made the both of us look away instantly out of reflex. Why was I acting like a kid?
“Where's he at? Let me see him,” a southern twang rang out from outside the door. Applejack walked in and spotted me sitting up on the bed. She brandished a smile that still made my heart skip a beat, but not as much as before, “There ya are! And in one piece too! Thank Celestia.”
Applejack embraced me tightly, and I couldn't help but return the gesture.
"Don't you ever scare us like that again, ya hear?” She ruffled my mane, “Ya gave us all quite the scare...”
“We thought you were dead,” Aiden said bluntly, “we never expected to ever see you again.”
The mention of death made all of them shift uncomfortably on their hooves. I couldn't even begin to imagine what they had gone through in those hours they believed I was gone.
“I'm sorry. I... I'm so sorry...” What else could I say?
“No, Forest. I'm sorry. It was my call that could've cost you your life. It was me that cast that final spell. It was me that forced you to take too many chances...” Aiden lowered his head, “I'm the one who should be sorry. My job was to protect you, yet I did the exact opposite...”
“Aiden, please, stop it. You've been nothing but a good friend to me. Even after... everything,” I looked at Twilight and gave her a smile, “You still treated me normally. You have no reason to apologize. You saved a lot of Ponies, that has to account for something.”
“He's right, you know,” Atom put in, “You did save a lot of Ponies that day.”
“As much as would love for you to continue your little gathering here,” Cheerilee said suddenly, "I have to lock up, and close the school.”
“School? I'm still in the school?” Looking around, I noticed a large number of very small medical equipment. “In the infirmary?”
“You got it,” Cheerilee smiled, “I don't mind you guys continuing your chat, just do it outside.”
“Out of curiosity, why did I faint this time?” I asked.
Twilight stood up, and gestured for me to follow, “I'll tell you on our way out.”
“Guys, I'm gonna scoot. I'm going to the hospital. I'll be there if you need me.” Rainbow didn't wait for a reply, and sped out the nearest window and was gone before anyone realized what she had said.
“That mare... sometimes I wonder if she has any other concept of speed apart from stop and Sonic Rainboom,” Cheerilee muttered.
We all laughed together.
Outsde, Atom eyed Applejack, who was trying her best not to do the same.
“So, what happened to me?" I asked, stifling a laugh at Applejack's expense. She saw me and rolled her eyes. All that did was make me laugh out loud lightly.
“Why are you laughing?” Twilight asked looking between Applejack and me.
“Oh, nothin'. Just Atom's been ooglin' at me...” Applejack said aloud.
At once, Atom looked away blushing ferociously, “I'm sorry...”
At that, Aiden roared in laughter, “Creepy stalker type much?”
“I'm not a stalker!” Atom squawked, “I just... I'm just...”
He ran away before anyone could blink.
“Aw, shucks, now look at what ya did, Aiden. Atom! Stop!” Applejack yelled as she started to chase after the black Pegasus, "Wait! He was just jokin' around!”
“No I wasn't...” Aiden mumbled, not loud enough for Applejack to hear.
“Um... so, are you going to tell me why I passed out and ended up recuperating in the school infirmary?”
Twilight smiled, “I will Forest, but I need to ask you something else first. Privately.”
“Well, I've met Forest and can confirm that he's alive and fine... if you need me, I'll be at Berry's place. I need a drink...”
“I'll join you,” Cheerilee offered, “I need to unwind. Today's been... eventful.”
Aiden smiled and gestured with his hoof, “Then, this way.”
“Oh, I know the way, but thank you,” Cheerilee replied, “See you two later.”
“Bye,” I called after them, “See you both so-”
“Are you a human?”
The question hit me like a ton of bricks. I stopped waving in mid-swing and turned to Twilight. She didn't repeat the question, she knew that she didn't need to. The others had gone beyond hearing distance, but I waited for a minute or two before replying anyway.
"I... what?”
“Don't lie, Forest. I asked Rainbow. She told me that you confessed to being a human. I need to know if you really are. You have to tell me...”
The burning sensation on my wrist was getting worse. This time is was quickly becoming unbearable and I could barely keep my eyes open from the tears that started streaming out of my eyes.
“Yes. I am.”
“How is that possible? Princess Celestia closed the portal to Earth with my help. We made it so that nopony could ever open it from either side. It shouldn't be possible...”
“And yet, here I am. I guess you could say it was a fluke...”
“Or, you're not a human, and that your memories and feelings are stolen,” Twilight said slowly.
The burning sensation stopped, but instead of relief an overwhelming sense of dread started descend onto me. Was this something serious, or was Tutela out of magic. I swallowed hard, not knowing what to expect.
“What if you're a Changeling that forgot who he or she really was, and now you think you're a human because you stole the memories from the only other human in Equestria...”
“What?” I asked, not really sure what she was talking about.
Twilight placed a gentle hoof on my face, “The memories you have of your past are an elaborate lie forged by your own mind to let you believe that you came from Earth, when you are actually from right here in Equestria. You're a Changeling that tried to eat Brian's emotions, and that could have caused your amnesia. That would also explain why you both have a similar condition in regards to you blood MA count.”
This was way over my head. I didn't get it.
“A Changeling can adapt to a Pony by imitating them. Right down to their Cutie Marks. Brian isn't a Pony, and doesn't have a Cutie Mark, is somewhat allergic to magic, and has memories of Earth...”
“But... but how can I have memories of Earth? Vivid ones too?”
“Honestly? No clue. But, I have a hunch that it's your real memories of your past infusing with Brian's memories. Think of it like mixing two types of juices in one glass. When you mix them both, you're going to make a new mixture that is a combination of both. Get it? Your memories aren't your real memories... I know that sounds completely insane, but it explains a lot and makes more sense.”
“Why? Why do you think that?”
Twilight smiled gently. It was so disarming the way she did that, “Because it's the only thing that makes any sense.”
“So... my memories of my grandma...”
“Are real... but not yours completely. They've been mixed up. Oh, Forest, I just guessing, please don't take everything I tell you to heart. I just want to make sense out of all this like you, okay? Whatever it is, I'll be right here by your side.”
She took my hoof in hers and held it tightly. She was being so genuine that I was almost inclined to agree with her. Almost.
“Oh... there's something else... something... I want to ask you,” Twilight walked to me and shuffled on her hooves nervously, “Would you... would you like to stay at my house... just until we figure things out, I mean. You don't have to stay there permanently...”
“You mean... the two of us... under one roof?” I asked hesitantly, “Just you and me?”
“And Spike...”
I didn't know whether to feel happy or disappointed with the knowledge that Spike would also be living there, but staying with Twilight didn't seem so bad. In fact, it sounded pretty awesome.
“I don't mind, but what would Rainbow say? I don't want to leave her alone in her home through this... tough time.”
Twilight smiled, “She'll be fine. She's always been very independent... plus she spends most of her days in the hospital.”
“You don't seem fazed at all by the fact that I could be a Changeling, you know. I thought that you'd be a lot more cautious if I was one. Aren't Ponies and Changelings on bad terms?”
There was a long moment of silence between the two of us, “Yes and no. We're on bad terms, but if you think about it another way, why did they attack Canterlot?”
“No clue.”
“Love. Changelings eat love. That's all they wanted to do. Eat. So, their actions were wrong, but when you've got mouths to feed, and you don't know how else to go about it, how are you going to satisfy that need? Their intentions were right. Don't get me wrong. It was bad what the Changelings did during my brother's wedding. It was horrible what their Queen did to my sister-in-law. It was terrible the amount of damage they did to specific structures and Ponies in the city, but it doesn't change the fact that they did it for one thing.”
“Food?”
“That's right. Food,” Twilight started to walk down the path, “Forest, you don't eat very much do you?”
“Actually, now that you mention it...” She was right, I hadn't really eaten anything in a while. I never really thought about it much.
“And that's another piece that fits in the puzzle. You see?”
She did make sense, but how can it really be true? I remember everything clearly. How I worked in that lame computer place, how I had stolen the money and given it off to several charities. I even knew their names, funnily enough, and the exact amount that went to each. I could recall my apartment where I lived, my cellphone number, where I went to school and college, what cities around the world I had the pleasure of seeing. These weren't fabricated memories, were they? How could that be?
“I'm so confused...” I muttered. Twilight placed a hoof on my shoulder, her smile comforting my troubled mind. I returned her smile, “Guess it's business as usual, right, Twi?”
Twilight giggled at me, “I love it when you call me that.”
“I'm glad you like it... Twi. I'm hungry.”
Twilight thought for a moment and nodded, “I know just the place...”
“What's wrong, hun?” Brian asked Rainbow as she sat on the space next to her father on the bed, “You've been awfully quiet since you got back.”
“It's nothing, dad.”
“Don't tell me it's nothing. You're my daughter, I know when something is nothi-”
“Dad, please. I don't wanna talk about it, okay? I just want to... think.”
“Okay, Dashie,” Brian replied despondently, “I'll just shut up now...”
At those words, Rainbow hovered over to her father and allowed him to put his arm around her neck, “Why do you gotta always be like that, pop? You know that I can't take it when you start acting all mopey.”
“Is that right?” Brian replied grinning at her.
Rainbow just laughed at her father, relieved to find he wasn't really that hurt, “Yeah. So stop, okay? You can't keep using that against me."
Brian hugged Rainbow tightly, “Okee dokee lokee...”
“What are ya? Pinkie now?”
They both laughed together.
“Dashie, I want to ask you something serious now. It's about Soarin...”
“What about him?” Rainbow asked, trying her best to sound nonchalant.
Brian gave his daughter a kind smile, “It's a small town, Dash. Word gets around pretty quick, and you sorta didn't make it private... not with all the drama over at Cyan's hotel.”
“Oh... you know about that...” Rainbow's ears drooped, “Sorry, dad. I know you wanted me to...”
“Be happy, Dash. I just want you to be happy. I don't care who you're with. Honestly. I just want what's best, and I know you know what's best. You're Rainbow Dash for Celestia's sake...”
Rainbow eyes went open and she hugged her father tightly, “You're the best father, ever!”
“I know, Dashie. I know.”
“What were you saying about modesty?”
Brian chuckled in response, “Let me off this once?”
“No need. It's true, anyway.”
“I've never been to this place,” I said as I looked around, “It's got quite a lot of Pegasi...”
“That's because this particular restaurant serves something that most other Ponies don't eat. They sell exquisite samples of fish.”
“You eat fish?”
“I've tried it before. Not particularly something I like, but I don't dislike it either. What about you?”
“Yeah... I guess I like fish... I mean, I did... I mean, at least I think I did.”
Twilight stifled a laugh, "Well, let's see if you still like it.”
“Hello, Twilight,” an ivory colored pony with green hair said, “Fancy seeing you here. The last time you came here, you nearly puked-”
“Yes, well, I'm with Forest. You know, the Pony that won the Race a few days ago?” Twilight gestured over to me. I waved. “Well, my friend Forest has amnesia. I just wanted him to try some-” Twilight swallowed hard, and I could have sworn her face turned a shade greener, “- fish, if you don't mind.”
“Naw, not at all. Tell you what, I'll give you guys a small sample and if you like it, I'll bring out a dish. That way we won't have any-”
“Waste! Waste... we don't want to waste any food do we, right, Forest?”
“It's okay to admit you don't like fish, Twilight,” I chuckled, “You don't have to pretend.”
“I like the taste, it's the texture-” She shuddered a little, “That is what gets to me. It's so-” She shuddered again, “di-”
“Disgusting?” The waitress said with a raised eyebrow.
“Different. It's different. No, not disgusting. I like the taste, it's just what it is. It's got nothing to do with your husband's cooking, Cloudy.”
“You are just so cute when you act all prim and proper,” the mare snorted a laugh, “It's always good to see a friend, and with her coltfriend too. You know, honestly, I never thought I'd see the day that Twilight Sparkle would find a stallion for herself.”
Twilight found the floor suddenly very interesting, which made me smile.
“I guess we all just need to wait for that special somepony.”
This time it was my turn to look at the floor. Slowly, I looked up, and coincidentally looked right into Twilight's eyes as she too had decided to look up at me as well. My face burned and I tried hard not to grin stupidly.
Failed miserably.
I just felt so light and happy.
“Well, I'll leave you two lovebirds alone for now. Something to drink? A nice wine perhaps? It's still early, but you know what? Who cares?”
“S-s-some wine sounds nice,” Twilight whispered.
The waitress looked at the two of us, “Would you two stop acting like this is the first time you've ever been on a date? Please?”
Taking a deep breath, I looked up, “This is our first real date, right Twi?”
Following my lead, she also raised her head, “Yes, it is. Our first date-date.”
“Then, we ought to make the most of it, wouldn't you agree?”
She giggled, “Of course. Some wine please, Cloudy.”
“Not anything too expensive,” I said sheepishly, “I'm kinda low in the money department.”
“Oh, don't worry about that. Just come back and pay me when you can,” Cloudy said with a wide smile, “You're dating one of the Elements, for Luna's sake. You need to show her the finest things. Don't be a stick-in-the-mud.”
As much as I wanted to argue with her, Cloudy gave me a massive wink while her back was turned to Twilight. She then walked off and into the back room, where she and her husband, and the rest of the kitchen staff peeked out at us through the round port-window that led into the kitchen.
If Twilight noticed, she did a helluva good job ignoring it.
“Why'd you run away?” Applejack asked the black Pegasus, “Aiden was just kiddin' around...”
“AJ, please, tell me, do you love me?” Atom asked, cutting right to the chase.
“Really? You're askin' me if I lo-”
“Like before, AJ. From when I was here last. You know that I love you more than anything in this world.” Atom looked Applejack in the eyes, “Can't you tell me the truth?”
“Now Atom, you know that I jus' ended thin's with Forest,” she said slowly. “My heart's still a little confused. You understand, right?”
Atom turned away from the orange mare.
“Right?” she pressed.
“No. Not right. It's wrong. You can't do this to me. I see how you look at him-”
“Because I still got feelin's for him, ya big silly! I know that, he knows that, you should know that! It's gonna take me time to get over it,” She punched Atom in the forearm, “Just give a gal a chance to get her apples sorted. I'm not goin' nowhere.”
Atom sighed, “That's the problem, AJ. I... might have to go soon.”
“Why?” Applejack asked after a long pause.
When Atom didn't reply, she punched him on the forearm again. This time it wasn't a friendly punch, “Why?”
“Because... things change, AJ. Things happen. And... I might have to go,” Atom sighed, “Look, I'm not like Aiden, I don't have the luxury of being free... oh horse-apples...” He realized he had said too much a second too late.
“You're still with the Guard? Even with your broken wing?” Applejack shouted, “You can't be serious! Why didn't ya tell me?”
“Nopony asked! And I'm not with the Guard in that sense... don't get me wrong, I'm still a part of it. To be honest, I had no idea... no idea that you still cared.” Atom put a hoof on Applejack's lips, “No, I can't tell you why so don't make me.”
“Why in Celestia's name can't you tell me?”
“Because... that's... I...” Atom growled and shook his head in frustration, “I hate how you always know just what to say to make me blab. Just... just let it go, okay? Forget I mentioned it.”
“How's anypony supposed to just forget something like...”
They heard the sound of a voice calling. They both looked around and spotted Spike running towards them. He was running on all fours quite quickly, a far cry from when he used to waddle around on his hind legs when he was a little Dragon.
“Atom,” Spike panted, “You got a letter...”
It didn't take a genius that it was from Celestia's Royal Guard. Atom gulped, and opened the scroll. He read the contents, and shook his head, “It's a recall.”
“What?” Spike asked, and took the sheet of paper out of Atom's hoof.
“They're calling all able-bodied Guard back. That means...”
“War?” Spike asked bluntly.
“Maybe. I don't know. All I know is that I've gotta go again. Soon...” Atom looked at Applejack who shook her head angrily.
“You ain't able-bodied! Your wing's broke...”
“Just because I can't fly doesn't mean I can't do other things, AJ. Besides, it's probably nothing. Standard practice when dealing with a potentially hostile nation. They'll put Ponies like me on standby.”
“You can't go... you only just got back here... to me,” Applejack said, placing her hooves on Atom's shoulders.
Atom smiled, “I know, AJ. Really, I do. But I am still a Guard and I must go.”
Deep down in her heart, Applejack knew that he was right. This was one of the things she loved about him, his resolve to do what was right.
“But why?” She asked as she watched Atom walk away. The stallion either didn't hear her, or chose to ignore her.
“Well? What do you think?” Twilight asked, still with her piece of fish on her plate.
I chewed on it for a few more minutes before shaking my head, “Delicious, but I can't eat it... I mean swallow it.”
Twilight giggled, “See? Told you.”
Cloudy handed me a piece of tissue and I spat the leftovers from my mouth into it and folded it away and left it on the now empty plate, “Flavor is top notch, though.”
“Don't worry, Forest. We get a lot of Ponies that want to try it. It only seems to appeal to Pegasi. I mean, most Ponies can't get past the taste...”
“How come? I mean, you don't get fish in the sky, do you?” I asked.
Cloudy looked at me as if I was the idiot. Probably was.
“Haven't you heard of flying fish?” She asked.
I thought about it for a second, “Well, of course I have-”
“And what do flying fish do?”
I bit my lip, but I already knew what she wanted me to say. “They fly.”
“And what doesn't grow on clouds?”
“Green things...”
“Yes. That's right. So, what choices did we have to eat up in the clouds?” Cloudy asked, “Of course this is centuries ago, and back then there were a lot more attributes as to why Pegasi couldn't just flutter down to the ground and eat grass. Right Twilight?” Cloudy smiled at the mare, “Our races weren't on speaking terms in those days.”
“She's talking of a very, very long time ago, long before the reign of the Princesses,” Twilight translated for me, “There were... differences.”
Cloudy shook her head, “That's an understatement. War was constant in those times. It's almost impossible to think that now with how things run.”
“You guys must have good historical records.”
“We do. You're a Pony too, remember?”
I hit myself on the head, “Oh yeah!”
Twilight gave me a knowing smile, which I returned.
“Anyway, thanks to the Unicorns we know everything!” Cloudy barked, “They liked to always write everything down, and in most cases they wrote down the truth. It's amazing to what detail as well. Twilight here has shown me some books.”
“Only because I was just as interested in it as you were. I was curious to see how many Pegasi love to eat fish.”
“Somehow I can't picture Fluttershy eating fish,” I laughed at my own joke.
“Funny you should bring that up, Forest, but Fluttershy actually doesn't mind eating fish. I mean, if you have something else, she'll take it, but if you have fish being served, she won't make a big deal out of it.”
“Really? Wow. I just... I just can't picture it.” I turned and smiled at Cloudy, “And this wine is incredible. What is it?”
“It's from Zebrica, the very southern area. It's famous for its wines. Many Ponies in Canterlot drink that Prench wine, but it doesn't have the same kind of kick this does. Berry recommended this to me, and I think it goes well with...”
“I like it!” I drank the last bit of what was left in my glass, “It's got a nice flavor.”
“It's also pretty strong. You ought to take it easy,” Cloudy stated, but she poured me another glass anyway.
Twilight giggled at me, “You can't hold your drink, Forest. Remember what happened in Esperia. I don't want to have to go looking for you in the morning...”
“You could just make him stay over at your place, you know. That way he won't be able to disappear without you knowing. Clever idea, right?” Cloudy grinned at Twilight, who tried to say something back, but she couldn't find the proper words.
“Cloudy! Get your flank over here and leave our customers alone!” an angry voice shouted from the kitchen.
Cloudy shuddered, “Oh Luna, the husband is calling. I better go. If you need anything else, please don't hesitate to call for a member of staff...” she said the last part out loud before walking towards the kitchen.
“You know, I have given it some thought, and I think it wouldn't be a good idea for us to sleep together... I mean under the same roof... I mean, not that I wouldn't mind... I mean that it would be nice... wait, I meant to say that if you like we could do something...” I banged my head against the table, which made Twilight jump in her seat. “What I mean to say, Twilight, is that as much as I would love to stay over at your place, I can't.”
“Why not?” Twilight asked, taking a sip from her drink, “Is it because of Applejack?”
“No, it's because I don't trust myself around you. I'd... do things...”
She gave me a confused look, “What do you mean?”
“Twilight, I'm a stallion, and right now, I'm a slightly intoxicated stallion, and by slightly, I mean very much so. Do you think that I would be able to keep my hooves to myself? It would be a bad idea to let me stay at your place...”
Twilight blushed and very quietly said, “I wouldn't mind.”
My mind blanked out for a moment.
“Um... did you just say you wouldn't mind, Twi?”
She looked away, “Please, don't make me repeat it.”
All I could think of was the implications of what she was saying, “I'm sorry, but I just can't get what you're saying through my head. Did you say that...”
“Please, Forest. It's embarrassing enough already.”
I stood up, walked around the table, and knelt in front of her, “Even knowing that I'm a-”
“Even knowing, Forest. Like I told you in Canterlot after the race, I fell for you.”
“B-b-but how? I just don't get it, Twi. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love it. I love how you feel about me. I love how you couldn't care less what I am. That, to me, is the most amazing thing about you. You have no idea what your words mean to me...”
Twilight picked up my face in her hooves and kissed the tip of my nose, “Stop talking. Let's go.”
My heart skipped a beat.
“Okay...”
The train came to a grinding halt at the station. A light blue Pony descended from the carriage and onto the platform. She took a look around with mixed feelings.
“Welcome to Ponyville...” A yellow mare stated, “You look familiar, do I know you?”
“I am the Great and Powerful Trixie!” The pony replied, “Now, would you be so kind and to tell me where I can find the human named Brian?”
The yellow mare did not miss the sudden change in her voice at the second part. The boastful tone she originally had vanished when she asked about Brian's whereabouts. It was only because of that change that the yellow mare decided to humor her.
“He's in the hospital. Just get out of the train station, head straight down the road towards Ponyville proper, then in the market, follow the signs towards the hospital. You can't miss it.”
“Trixie thanks you.”
The yellow mare gave her a half-smile, “Word of advice? Take off the hat and robe. Ponies here still remember you, and after what happened to Brian, more than a few of them aren't too pleased with you.”
Hesitantly, Trixie touched the brim of her conical hat, “But... this is Trixie's clothing... she...”
“She should know better,” The yellow mare completed for her, “But it's up to you.”
“Thank you... I don't think I know your name, Miss...”
The yellow mare thought for a moment, “Daffodil. Daffodil Flower.”
“Thank you, Daffodil. Trixie is... no... I am grateful. Thank you.”
Daffodil's half-smile turned into a full smile, “Good luck, Trixie.” When the light blue mare was a good distance away, she lowered her voice, “You're going to need it.”
Twilight was leaning against me as we headed out of the restaurant. I could feel the eyes of the Ponies that worked there staring after us. For some reason I didn't care. It could have been because of the alcohol, but whatever it was, I was so happy that the purple mare was there with me. Not only that, she was actually enjoying my company, and she didn't care that I wasn't a Pony. Twilight was, to say the least, the most amazing Pony ever. Perhaps a little too kind, maybe naïve, but she was spectacular.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Twi?” I asked, “I mean, I'd understand if you wanted to think about it.”
“No...” She whispered. The way she said it made me shudder in excitement, “I'm sure.”
Eagerly we headed towards the library, the sun still shining high up in the sky. Never before had I felt so excited. I wasn't sure what to expect, what was going to happen, or what Twilight was thinking. You could say that I was not thinking at all – or some other body part was doing the thinking for me.
As we reached her door, I spotted something that instantly averted my attention.
“Trixie?” I asked out loud.
At once the light blue mare froze in her tracks. She looked over at me, then at Twilight, then back to me.
“Trixie wishes to be left alone. She means to do no harm...”
Again with that third person bullshit!
Twilight snuggled my chest before turning her head around to look at Trixie, “What are you even doing back here? Wait... how'd you get here?”
“Unlike you, Trixie waited patiently on the train. I only just arrived... I mean, Trixie has only just arrived. Trixie does not wish to talk to you. She only wishes to progress unhampered to the hospital.”
That alerted Twilight, “What do you want to do at the hospital?”
“That is none of your business,” Trixie replied, turning her head away, “She only wishes to see the human...”
“And to apologize, right? That's why you are here, isn't it?” I asked.
At this, Trixie's entire demeanor changed, “Yes, it is. Trixie... no, I wish to tell..." she fumbled a bit.
"Brian.”
“Brian... yes, I wish to tell Brian that I am... sorry...”
Twilight gave her a level look, “This ought to be good. Fine. I'm not going to stop you, but I want to see this for myself.”
So, just like that, my special moment with Twilight was shoved to the back of her mind. Why was I not surprised? Well, as she so eloquently put it: this ought to be good. I only hoped that by making Trixie to do the right thing, there would be some sort of closure between the two. With my impending doom, I kinda knew how she felt. I think. I hoped.
As we walked on, Trixie coughed out loud and made a gesture. It was clear that she wanted me to start a conversation with her.
“What?” I said, a little harsher than I intended.
If it affected her, she played it off rather well.
“Forest, Trixie wants to...” she saw the bored expression on my face and changed her tone, “I just wanted to thank you. For helping me back there. I appreciate it. Also, I just wanted to make sure that you were safe, as did your friends.”
Now I felt really bad.
“Thanks, Trixie,” I said slowly, “Sorry I snapped at you...”
“That's okay. I'm used to it.”
I stopped and turned to her, “You shouldn't be.”
She shrugged, “Trixie doesn't know why everypony thinks that she is bad...”
“No,” Twilight corrected, “Everypony thinks that you're a vengeful, arrogant mare. You came here with malicious intent directed at me and my friends. You harmed one of them very badly.”
Trixie paused briefly in her tracks, “I only wanted you to acknowledge me, Twilight Sparkle.”
“Then why attack Brian?” Twilight barked back, “Why did you do that? What in Celestia's mane made you do that?”
This time Trixie froze in her tracks, “I... didn't mean to hurt anypony...”
“Maybe you didn't mean to, but you did. What you have done to Brian and Rainbow is completely unforgivable. You don't deserve to meet with him. You don't deserve to talk to him. The only reason why I'm even humoring you is because of Forest, otherwise I wouldn't let you within a mile of Brian or Rainbow.”
What had I done?
“There are no words that can express how terrible I feel, Twilight Sparkle. Please, give me leave to regain what little dignity I have left, and to try and earn some form of forgiveness from the ones I've harmed. After this is over, we'll part ways, and I vow never to interfere with your life or your friends again. You have my word.”
“That makes little difference at this point, but like I said, I'm only allowing this because of Forest. For some reason he thinks that you deserve a change,” Twilight leaned in, “But I don't. Whatever you did to Brian, he's not left the hospital since.”
“Twilight, I saw the whole thing... Trixie didn't do anything in particular to harm Brian...” The look on Twilight's face shut me up.
We all stood there in silence. Eventually Twilight turned and stalked off ahead of us.
“Trixie, why does it matter what Twilight thinks of you? I mean, why does it matter so much to you?” I asked when Twilight was far enough ahead that I could whisper to her without being overheard.
“I've always wanted to be recognized as a strong magical Pony. It's difficult to live under the shadow of Princess Celestia's favorite student. I just wanted to show her that I wasn't all talk, that I could be as strong as her if I tried.”
“Then why the whip?”
Trixie tried to hide her face from me, but I spotted the rosiness in her cheeks clearly, “Admittedly, I didn't think things through properly.”
“No doubt about that,” I mumbled in response, “So, what are you going to say?”
“Honestly? I don't know. I just hope that whatever I say, it's the right thing."
I grinned, “That's good. I'm sure Brian'll like that.”
As we walked through the town, I felt like the center of attention. Or rather, I felt that a lot of attention was directed towards us. That was when I realized that quite a few Ponies were now following along with us. Most of them were murmuring to themselves, but something was definitely amiss. Well, more so than usual.
“You have a lot of nerve showing up here!” a large gray pony snapped at Trixie as we walked by her stand, “Not after what you did.”
Trixie said nothing and continued to walk on in silence.
“Now, looky what we got here! It's that loud-mouthed show-off!” a light brown Pony shouted, “What's wrong? Did the Ponies in the bigger cities get fed up of you as well?”
There was a nothing she could say to that, and to be honest, it seemed like a good idea to keep quiet. Brian had indeed touched a lot of lives in Ponyville. He was a well respected member of the community. His words held substantial weight. Usually he was kind and open minded, but he was sharp and had the ability to see things that others couldn't. He saw through my 'disguise' almost the very same day I had met him, and whether or not he still suspected anything, it was clear that he was more concerned with spending time with his daughter than chasing what could have very well been nothing.
In some small way, I actually hoped that Twilight would've told on me. I guess I was just tired of all the lies and deceit, the opportunity to come clean, even suffering through whatever repercussions seemed better than keeping up the charade. I mean both Rainbow and Twilight both know what I am... yet, I still felt a little perturbed. What Twilight had said to me about being a Changeling bothered me. What if she was right? What if my memories were not my own, but some sort of hybrid infusion of Brian's mind and my own?
Nah... couldn't be... could it?
“What is she doing here?” Rainbow barked outside the hospital's main door, “I had to see it to believe it. You must be crazy to think I'd let you see dad after...”
“Rainbow,” I said, stepping in, “I know it isn't really my place, but I think Brian deserves a chance to talk to Trixie face to face.”
“Oh you do, do you? Well, let me tell you something...”
Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder, “I think he's right, Rainbow. She did come all the way here despite knowing the reception she was going to get. Perhaps we should let her go and meet him, I would think Brian would like that.”
“I just don't know...” Rainbow looked away, “I don't want her anywhere near my father.”
“That is understandable,” Trixie said, moving past me to face Rainbow, “If I were in your place, I'd probably do the same thing. I wouldn't let some strange mare near my father, especially if said mare had hurt him in the first place. But I'm asking you, not as The Great and Powerful Trixie, but as... myself, please, let me apologize to your father. Let me do what's right. After what happened in The Pitt...”
“What? You were there?” Rainbow asked, her eyes opening wide, “What were you doing there?”
“I was being held there against my will. I was captured not long after I had run away from here. After that... incident, I went on a trip to find myself. To find a new direction in my life. After I was captured and while I was chained to the ceiling I really didn't have much else to do except to think. You don't know what it was like there for me. To be beaten every single day, to be told that I was a nuisance...” She stopped and turned her head away from us, “I don't want to hated.”
“You may fool Forest and Twilight, but you don't fool me, Trixie. Unlike my friends who spend most of their times here in Ponyville, I get around quite a lot – or I used to, with the Wonderbolts. We've travelled all over Equestria, and wherever we've gone, you've left nothing but a bad rep behind. So, no, you can't see my dad!”
The way she said it made it sound final.
“Why can't we let your father decide that for himself then?”
Rainbow made a face, “No. What my father needs is rest, not some sob story about a mare who hurt him trying to weasel out guilt by a meager apology. There is just no way that that's going to happen.”
“But...”
“This conversation is over!”
Everypony stood there not knowing what to do or say.
Then, suddenly, Trixie's horn began to glow and in a flash she vanished and reappeared inside the hospital behind Rainbow.
“Hey!” Rainbow yelled, spinning around and pushing through the doors,"What do you think you're doing?”
“The right thing!” Trixie shouted back, and with that she vanished again before Rainbow could get her hooves around her.
“Twilight! Help me!”
Twilight's horn started glowing, but it spluttered and then twinkled out. She closed her eyes and tried again, but with the same result. She looked up, “I'm sorry, but I can't!”
“What d'ya mean you can't?” Rainbow stressed.
A slight blush appeared on the purple mare's cheeks, “I... drank too much. I can't concentrate hard enough...”
“Drank too much? But it's just past noon!”
“That's my fault, Rainbow. I... we went to a restaurant and started drinking. Before long we had finished two bottles of wine...”
Rainbow made a face, “You can make up for it by finding that mare and getting her out of here before she finds my dad. I'm going to his room and locking the door.”
With that she whizzed off, leaving a rainbow streak behind her.
“This isn't going to end well...” I muttered.
Twilight rubbed her head against my neck, “Let's get this over and done with quickly.”
Once again, the way she touched me sent shivers down my spine, “Okay. Let's do this thing!”
Trixie ran into the next room and peeped inside. Wrong one. She had been peeking into every single room while at the same time trying to avoid other Ponies, especially Rainbow and Twilight. Especially Twilight. Usually Trixie would be the first to meet her in open challenge, but now was not the time. She needed to find Brian and apologize. She had to.
“Hello, miss,” a young colt said looking up at the frustrated mare, “You look upset.”
“Do I?” Trixie replied, kneeling down to meet the colt's eyes, “My name is Trixie. The Great and Powerful Trixie!”
At those words she stood on her hind hooves and using a simple series of fire and water controlling spells, she made what looked like little fireworks around her head. It was easy. You put the fire inside the drops of water and then you cast them around you. They would look just like fireworks if you did it right, a skill that took her years to perfect.
The colt eyes opened wide, “Wow! Do that again...”
“Uh...”
“Please? Pretty please? With a cherry on top?”
How could she say no to him? Again she raised herself on her hind legs and again she summoned the fireworks around her. “Ta-da!”
The colt laughed, “Can you do something else?”
Trixie scratched her chin with her hoof, "It has been a while, but yes, I can do something.”
With practiced skill, she turned around and pulled out a long stemmed rose from a nearby vase and put it in between her hooves. With an over-dramatic flourish, she closed them over the flower, but as she removed them the color of the rose had changed from a deep red to a bright and vivid white flower (that wasn't a rose).
“That's so awesome!” the colt said smiling up at her. "Can you do more?”
"Yes! I can!” Trixie grinned.
Somehow she found that she was really enjoying this.
“Hey, Forest...”
I turned around and put a hoof to my nose, shushing her. She walked up to me quietly and peered down the hall where I was looking at. There she saw Trixie entertaining a bunch of kids with her vibrant magic.
“Well, she still has a way with kids,” Twilight said shaking her head, “Forest, are you sure letting her go see Brian is the smart thing to do?”
“No, but it's the right thing to do. When I was younger, I once came across a saying that I've always kept in the back of my mind.”
Curious, Twilight tilted her head to one side that made my heart skip a beat. She was just so wonderful.
“What saying, Forest?
“Do the right thing. It will gratify some and astonish the rest,” I recited, and smiled, “Or something like that. I could be off.”
“That's... that's actually really deep. Who said it?”
“An author by the name of Mark Twain. He an author from...”
"Earth. I know.”
I tilted my head to one side, “Mark Twain. Why? You've heard of him?”
“Well... yes I have, actually.”
“How?" I asked, no longer bothering to keep my voice down.
Twilight put a hoof on my shoulder, “Brian's mentioned him to me before. We've had long discussions about authors from my world and his. Mark Twain was one of the ones he told me about.”
I started breathing heavily. I felt the panic flowing into me. Again, that fear about me not being a human. That raw fear...
“Are you okay, Forest?”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, then nodded, “I'm fine.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really,” I lied, “It was just shocking, that's all.”
Despite my words, I was freaking out on the inside. Was it my memories? Did I like Mark Twain? Was it me? How do I know about Mark Twain?
Calm down, Forest! I shouted at myself, You learnt about him in school. Relax. Relax...
“Are you really, really alright? You're looking a little bit pale.”
“Just got a little scare, Twi. I promise you I'm fine now.”
Actually, I wasn't. I was scared beyond scared. Fear was gripping my insides, and I didn't know how to shake it off. Yes, I knew that if I didn't get rid of it, Twilight would not stop worrying, so I forced it away, shoving any doubts out of my mind and body. I had to remain calm. Calm and cool.
Relax... relax... relax, damn you! I shouted in my head.
“Yay! Do another one!” one of the colts shouted attracting our attention again.
This time Trixie was blowing bubbles, but as the bubble floated upwards, she would change their shapes. She's start off making them go from a simple sphere to a cube, or a diamond, or something else. Then she started actually making other shapes.
“It's a fish!” one of the Pegasi children shouted as the fish-shaped bubble floated over to her. She opened her mouth and took a bite, making the fish explode in a colorful display of lights.
That made the kids all laugh together.
For the first time since I'd known her, which wasn't for very long, Trixie looked so happy and content.
I wasn't the only one. Many other members of staff and patients had stopped to take a peek at the show, and it was then that I realized that the children she was entertaining had one thing in common, they were all wearing hospital robes.
"They are Ponyville's sick kids,” Twilight whispered, barely audibly, “Some of those children won't...'
She didn't need to elaborate and I stood next to her as we continued to watch Trixie perform. The real Trixie. Not the 'Great and Powerful' Trixie, but the normal Trixie. And she was good.
“What's all that noise, Dashie?” Brian asked.
“It's nothing, dad. Just relax...”
“Don't tell me it's nothing. That's laughter I hear. Now, go poke your head outside and tell me what's going on.”
Sighing, Rainbow unlocked the door and peered out. At the other end of the hall she saw Trixie entertaining some kids with her tricks. She was about to go over to her and tell her to get lost when more kids came out of the ward. Soon Trixie had an audience around her, so much so that the Pegasi at the back had to hover above the rest to see.
Rainbow had seen enough, until her eyes caught two Ponies snuggling each other somewhat. A pang of anger flitted through her body before she pushed it aside.
“Whoah,” she intoned, “The hay was that?”
“The hay was what, Dash?” Brian asked.
“Oh... there's a... dad, Trixie's here. She's doing a show, and some kids are watching her and laughing...” Rainbow knew that once her dad caught wind of something funny, he would not let it go until he was satisfied with the truth. After years of this, she just decided to go with the truth on the get-go to avoid further embarrassments
“Trixie? What's she doing here?”
“Well..." Rainbow began, closing the door behind her, “She's kinda here... to apologize...”
"That was great! Thank you, Miss Trixie,” the colt said.
“It was my pleasure,” Trixie beamed, and knelt, “What is your name?”
“Sun Beam. Where are you from?"
“I'm from... everywhere!” Trixie smiled. “I live out of my hat, and I go where the winds decide to take me. I've been all over Equestria... and beyond.”
The kids all gathered around her, the attention now completely on her. Never before had Trixie been with such an audience. Why did this kids captivate her so? Surely it was she that should have been doing the captivating, not the other way round. Still, here she was, staying with these children. She found herself wanting to tell them more, wanting them to listen to her.
So she began to tell them one of her one adventures – or perhaps a misadventure.
“She's good,” I said, “Look at those kids hanging on her every word.”
“I... I didn't know there was a side to Trixie that wasn't... annoying. I mean, I know she can be normal, but it's just, I've never seen her this normal... ever!” Twilight replied.
“Well, she is an entertainer,” I chuckled.
"Yes, yes, I know. We all know that. But not all entertainers can walk into a hospital and made the children actually feel good about themselves, right? Not that, at least. I mean, look at them all. We're all...”
“Entranced?” I said looking into her eyes.
Twilight blushed, “Yes, entranced. Stop looking at me like that! It's distracting...”
“I grinned and moved in closer to her, “You're distracting.”
“Forest, stop it... not here. This is a hospital.”
She was right, this wasn't the place, but lately, especially around Twilight, I was feeling... hungry. I wanted her. I wanted her so badly, even more than I had wanted Applejack.
Fear shot up my gut. Was this how Changelings felt when it was time to eat? The more I thought about what Twilight said, the more I started actually listening those words. I forced it out of my head. I wasn't a Changeling. I wasn't... I hoped.
“Forest, your starting to look sick again.” Twilight placed a hoof on my head to feel my temperature.
“Huh? Me? No, no, I'm just peachy.” I flashed my best grin, but she knew something was amiss. No Pony can fool Twilight Sparkle. Especially me.
A noise echoed from down the hall. Not a loud one, but one that made me stop thinking about myself and turn my attention onto the source. Trixie.
“Thank you, kids. You've all be a terrific audience,” Trixie announced swinging her arms in a wide movement over her head. As she did a rainbow formed, that quickly faded away. The kids all made a disappointment noise in unison, so Trixie gave them a brief encore, after which they seemed a little pacified.
They all returned into the room they had come from; all of them, save one.
“Are you gonna come visit us again?” Sun Beam asked, “I'd like that very much.”
“Y-y-you would? I-I-I can come by tomorrow, if you want...”
“That's great! I'll see you tomorrow Trixie... sorry, 'The Great and Powerful Trixie'!” As the colt said that, he mimicked her exaggerated bow, “That's just such an awesome name.”
“Thank you,” Trixie said, visibly fighting the tears trying to flow from her eyes, “That means so much to me.”
Sun Beam shook his head, “See you next time, Trixie.”
With that he entered his ward and was gone.
With the show now over, the Ponies got on with their lives. It was then that I spotted Rainbow hovering towards us.
“Oh, hello, Rainbow,” Twilight said as she waved to her friend, "Did you see Trixie?”
“Couldn't believe it. I'd have said you were lying if I hadn't seen it for myself.”
“Where are you going now?” I asked.
“Dad wants to meet Trixie. He heard her... and I told him about her wanting to meet him. If you don't mind, would you two come with me? Just in case... not that I can't handle things myself...”
“Of course,” Twilight replied without a hint of hesitation.
“Is that really necessary?” I muttered. If the girls heard, they ignored me.
“Thanks, Twilight,” Rainbow replied, then flew over towards Trixie.
“You know, I've noticed something,” I said as Rainbow hovered away, “Cyan had trouble making friends, now I notice that Trixie's having the same problem. Both their coat's colors are almost the same. Do all light blue Ponies have trouble befriending others?”
“Somehow I doubt that has anything to do with the color of the coat. Trixie can easily make friends if she didn't think so highly of herself. I've heard that once in a while she reveals her 'true self', but this is the first time I've actually seen it. It was... interesting.”
We both shared a chuckle before we were distracted by the sound of Rainbow's angry voice telling Trixie the set of rules she had in order for her to see her father.
“... and I don't ever want to see your horn glow, even for a second, you got it?”
“Got it.”
“And you can't go near him either. Got it?"
"Uh... sure. Can I get close enough to talk to him at least?"
“What? Yeah, but no closer.” Rainbow looked over her shoulder at Twilight then back to Trixie, "Promise me you'll not do anything that would hurt him.”
Trixie eyes widened, “Of course I won't hurt him. I've already done enough...” she closed her eyes for a moment, “I promise I will not in any way do anything that would even hint at harming him. I never meant to hurt anypony. I never did. Even with that Ursa incident years ago, I never mean it to happen...”
“Yeah, we know... didn't we apoligize to you for that?”
“I think you did, but my pride didn't let me accept it. This past week has really opened my eyes. I hope that you can believe me.”
Finally, with Rainbow fully satisfied, she led the way towards her father's room, with Twilight following right behind them, and me bringing up the very rear, as per usual. I'm always the caboose everywhere we go...
The four of us filed into the room, and I instantly made my way over to a seat at the other corner. It was nice not having Brian watch me, as his eyes kept on the light blue mare as she walked in and stood at the foot of his bed.
“Trixie.”
“Uh... Mr... Brian... Dash?" Trixie said, unsure what to call the human.
Brian smirked slightly, "Just Brian is fine.”
“Oh. Brian. Yes. Well... um... h-how are you feeling?”
“Been better, as you can see.” He gestured to the hospital room.
Trixie let out a nervous, unsure laugh. “It's been quite some time and...”
Brian raised a hand silencing her instantly, “Look, let's not make this any more awkward than it already is. You wanted to see me, here I am. Now, what I want to know is why. Why do you want to see me? Just tell me.”
A look of relief flooded Trixie's face, “I've come here to tell you that what I did to you was wrong, and I don't know if you believe me or not, but I promise you from the bottom of my heart that I didn't intend for it to be... I didn't want... it was only meant...”
Brian raised his hand again, “Pause. Take a deep breath, and then speak.”
“What I'm trying to say is,” the light blue Unicorn took a long, deep breath, “I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry, and if there is anything, anything at all, that I can do to make it up to you, then I will swear on my life that I will fulfill it to the best of my abilities.”
At those words, Brian leaned against the headrest of his bed, “That's a pretty open ended promise, Trixie."
“After what I've done to you, I think it is only natural.”
“You stopped referring to yourself in the third person...” Brian pointed out, “I like that.”
“Well, yes... it seems that referring to myself annoyed more than a few... Ponies.”
“The Diamond Dogs beat the habit out of her,” I said out loud.
Oopsie...
“What do you mean by that, Forest?” Brian asked.
“Uh... that is...”
“Forest saved my live. I owe him for what he did for me in those caves. When all the others left me, he alone stayed by my side. For that, I am grateful.” Trixie smiled over to me, “He's the one who told me about you, and what I had done. If only I had known sooner, I would have returned long ago.”
“I have no idea what you're talking about, but it sounds like a good story,” Brian said, making himself comfortable, “and I think I would very much like to hear it from you, Trixie.”
Rainbow looked at her father with a knowing smile. Her expression visibly softened at the Unicorn as she hovered to one side and pulled up a chair, gesturing for the mare to sit down on it. Trixie nodded in thanks as she sat down, then she began to tell her tale.
And she was good.
Trixie was a one-pony entertainment center. She not only told the story, but in such a way that it pulled us in. Even though I was in it, it was like hearing about someone else. Someone a lot more exciting than me. Perhaps all that bullshit she kept spreading around gave her the ability to be one helluva storyteller. She even went as far as to try and imitate the voices. Even the voice she did for me, which sounded nothing like me, was distinct enough that it actually made me think that my own voice was wrong and that hers was right. Truth be told, I had no idea if the voice I heard from her was indeed my voice.
Afterwards Trixie explained the battle, and what she had done to take part. While Twilight, Aiden and Atom were fighting along side the newly freed Ponies, it was an exhausted Trixie that teleported towards the nearest town through the desert to get the Royal Guard. She was the one that led them to The Pit. She was as much a hero as the rest of us were.
“You went back to help them?” Brian asked.
“Of course. I may be selfish, but the last thing I want is to cause any Pony harm. That was never my intention. I only wanted to show off my talents, and I thought that the best way to do that was to be better than everypony at what they did.”
“That's just silly,” Rainbow added, "You can't be better than me at flying.”
“Or me at running,” I chimed in.
“Or me at apple buckin',” Applejack said from behind us. She had just walked in, “Howdy y'all. Didn't expect the whole lotta you ta be here. 'Specially Trixie? What in tarnation she doin' here?”
“It's okay, AJ,” Brian said, “she came to apologize, and tell us stories. She's actually quite good at it.”
“I bet she is,” Applejack replied, the sarcasm was literally dripping off of her words.
“So, Trixie, now that you've updated me on Equestria's affairs, I'm going to make you promise me something.”
“Anything,” Trixie said, nodding once to affirm that she meant it.
“You know that Rainbow told me how good you were entertaining those kids down the hall. Well, I want you to do that at least once a week for the rest of your life. Entertain kids. Any kids. As long as you make sure they're having fun, I'll be happy.” Brian chuckled to himself, “Sorta like what Pinkie does.”
“Pinkie?” Trixie asked, “I don't think I... oh, yes I do.” Trixie's expression revealed that she did not like being reminded.
“Say, where is she?” Brian said looking around.
Twilight blushed, “Well... I kinda left her back in Canterlot and I don't have enough magic power in me to go and get her. If she's taken the train, she should arrive soon."
"You girls are your trips,” Brian sighed, “Ah, to be young and free again. Wouldn't that be something?”
“You do know...” I said slowly.
“No,” Brian said even before the words left my mouth, “I know what you're going to say, and the answer is no. I'm a human, Forest. I don't do... body altering spells."
“Maybe so, but think about your daughter!” I countered.
Brian shook his head, “I have. That's why I must stay a human. Because that is what I am. I'm a human being, Forest. If I die... then I die. That just means it's my time...”
“No!” Rainbow shouted, “No. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear this... just stop...”
“I'm sorry, Dashie,” Brian said, opening his arms wide, “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that... I'm sorry...”
Rainbow hugged her father back, and the girls, except for Trixie all did the same. I stood there wondering why I had said that. Why did I open my big mouth? It must be the alcohol. I had no business sticking my nose into some other Pony's affairs, least of all this.
“I'll do it.”
Everypony looked at the Trixie.
“I'll do it, Brian Dash. I will keep that promise. To entertain the children.” Trixie's voice was so quiet, that I had to double check to make sure that it was indeed her that was talking.
A wide smile appeared across the human's face, “Then I'm happy. And you'll see, Trixie.”
"I'll see what?”
“You'll see that The Great and Powerful Trixie is no match for The Kind and Humble Trixie. Whatever else you do, you will find that your biggest and best rewards will be on the smiles of young fillies and colts who watch your show.”
Trixie didn't know what to say, her mouth kept opening and closing.
“I... did enjoy entertaining them... I... The Kind and Humble Trixie?” The light blue mare's eyes began to water, “I... I don't know what to say. Th-thank you, Brian.”
“Don't cry. Please don't cry. How about something to eat?” Brian smiled, “How about some cake?"
“Cake?” We all asked at the same time. Brian lifted up a small bell and rang it. Instantly balloons appeared from under the bed, and out popped a pink mare with a small party hat on her head.
“Surprise!” she shouted, and then placed a party noisemakers in her mouth.
Before I could even speak, one such object was shoved in my mouth.
“But... how did you get here, Pinkie?” Twilight asked, genuinely surprised.
"I teleported with Sweetie and Spike, silly-nilly. They took me with them so that I could come and prepare a surprise party!”
“Sorry, Twilight. She made me Pinkie Promise not to tell any of you she was here. Not even my daughter was allowed to know.” Brian gave his daughter an apologetic look.
“Dashie's not the best at keeping secrets,” Pinkie announced, pulling out a large cake from under the bed and placing it on the bedside stand. No matter how many times I've seen her do such things, I would never get used to it.
Rainbow, Twilight and I shared a look. That was true. Rainbow did happen to have a pretty big mouth.
“I mean, she doesn't mean to tell anypony, but she's so super-duper-quick, that the words are all out of her mouth before she realizes what she's said! She so super-fast that it takes thinking a few seconds to catch up."
“Hey!” Rainbow barked.
“Oh, don't you worry your pretty head. You're not the only one who does that,” Pinkie giggled.
Every single one of them turned towards me.
“Oi!”
They all burst out laughing at my expense. In good fun, of course. Or, at least I hoped it was in good fun.
“I've got some drinks... some snacks...” Pinkie went on.
Everypony started to take a piece of cake, but my attention was now on Applejack. Despite everything it was clear that she was distracted. I was about to walk over to her and ask what was wrong when a loud knock made everypony stop what they were doing and turn towards the door.
“Hello,” a voice said quietly, “are we late?”
In walked in a white Unicorn and a very happy looking Dragon by her side. They both saw us all staring and blushed.
“We were at Rarity's place helping clean up,” Spike said, “Took us a little longer than expected.”
“Helping clean up, eh?” Rainbow said slowly, “Are you sure you were only cleaning?”
The way the two of them froze like two deer caught in headlights, it was obvious that cleaning wasn't the only thing they were up to.
I elbowed the Dragon's side, “You sly Dragon, you.”
Spike just laughed nervously, “Nothing happened, Forest. I promise. We're taking it nice and slow, okay?” He said it quietly.
“I'm not here to judge, my friend. Whatever you want, just know that I'm here for you,” I whispered back.
“I know. Thanks, though. It's always nice to be reminded that there are good friends around when you need. Good friends that will help out.”
“We're all good friends, Spike,” Twilight said, hugging her little brother, “And I'm family. Now, don't tell me that Rarity allowed anything that wasn't 'cleaning' to happen while she was home...”
Spike grinned nervously.
“She wasn't home, was she?” Twilight let out a sigh of resignation, “Well, you're adults now, so I'm not going to say anything...”
“Nothing like that happened, Twilight,” Spike said, releasing her from his embrace, “We really did only clean... but we also hugged and kissed a little...” He said the last part so quietly, but everypony heard it. He tried to pass it off as a normal thing, but his face gave away just how both happy and bashful he was feeling.
“Way to go,” I nudged him again, making him grimace a little at the looks he was getting from his older sister.
“Forest, don't encourage him,” Twilight said, giving me a disapproving look.
Walking towards the cake, I stopped next to the purple Unicorn and leaned in close to her ear, “Were we going to your place to 'clean' as well?”
Now it was Twilight's face that lit up like a red light, her cheeks practically inflating from all the blood that rushed there. She looked so adorable and... hot, that it took every ounce of strength from me not to lean in a kiss her. The only reason why I didn't was because Applejack was in the room. I still had feelings for her! How long does it usually take for feelings like these to go? Would I always be cursed with feelings for the orange mare for the rest of my life? Knowing that, would it be fair to keep seeing Twilight knowing that.?
"Yummy, nummy, cake!” Pinkie said, shoving a plate in my hoof, “There you go! Say, where's Aiden and Atom? They're missing my 'Welcome-Back-to-Ponyville-Secret-Party'! Why didn't anypony tell them?”
“Because it was secret?” I offered.
Pinkie grinned, and clonked her head with her hoof, “Oh yeah!” She then proceeded to stuff her face with more cake.
I couldn't help but laugh.
“So... you got one too?”
“No, Atom. Only the Guard that serve get one. Even though I'm Forest's guardian, I'm still not part of the Guard. Anyway, I thought you said you were retired. You shouldn't be getting letters like these if you're no long serving. What gives?”
“I... haven't been completely honest...” Atom began.
“Ah, so you're one of them, aren't you. One of the hidden bodyguards for the Elements, right?”
“Wait... you know about that? How the hay...”
“I knew about the orders, yeah. When they were asking for volunteers for a top secret mission, I was one of the few that did. Obviously, I didn't pass, so they never selected me. It took me a while to discover the purpose of the secret mission, but by that time the Guards were already selected, so I just... bought a bakery.” Aiden looked towards the hospital and spotted Forest walking with Twilight inside, “My magic was too weak – is too weak...”
“I... accidentally told Applejack...”
“Why am I not surprised,” Aiden sighed, “Do you understand what would happen if the Princesses find out?”
“I didn't tell her what I was here for, but-”
“No, I don't want to know. Don't push your troubles onto me. I've already got enough on my plate as it is.”
“You and I both know that it's only a matter of days before you're dismissed from foal-sitting Forest, Aiden. What are you going to do after that? Go back to your life as a baker? You'll never see Twilight again. At least with Forest around, you have to stay. Without him you're-”
“I know,” Aiden replied interrupting the Pegasus, “Don't remind me.”
“What I can't understand is why don't you just tell her again how you feel.”
“You know what I can't understand? The fact that you never listen. What would I say that to Twilight after what she and Princess Luna put me through? She's in love with Forest, and as much as I hate the fact, after what happened in The Pit, I'm content that he'll be there for her. Plus, it's Twilight. She's... strong.”
Standing there under the shade of a nearby tree, the two stallions stared at the hospital with mixed emotions.
“Are you going to Pinkie's 'secret' party?” Atom asked.
Aiden shook his head, “No. I don't think I want to.”
“Neither do I...” Atom said as he saw Applejack walking down the path and into the building.
“You do know that she'll tell the others,” Aiden said when the mare disappeared inside, “The Princess knows just how stubborn they are. They'll confront her about it, and ask why she thought it was necessary to leave hidden Guards in and around Ponyville.”
“Yeah, about that...” Atom rolled his eyes, “The Princess. Sure. Anyway, I want some of Pinkie's cake. She always did make the best cakes. I guess I'll be seeing you then?”
“Yeah. See you around.”
Atom waved briefly before trotting off. Aiden stood there for a for minutes longer before turning around and heading back towards the hotel.
Unknown to them, a yellow Pegasus with a pink mane and tail hovered above the tree they were talking. She had heard it all.
“Oh my...” she whispered before flying towards Brian's open window.
“Girls!” Fluttershy shouted as she flew trough the open window, “Girls, I've got something I need to tell you...”
Everyone turned their attention on the usually shy mare. Right now she didn't seem shy at all.
“What's wrong, Flutters?” Twilight asked.
Oh man, not I'm never going to get lucky... I muttered in my head. I felt my cheeks heat up as soon as the thought entered my brain. What was wrong with me?
“It's about Atom... he's-”
Her voice died in her throat at the knock on the door, “Hello? I'm here for cake!”
“Speaking of which...” I muttered as Atom poked his head inside.
All eyes were suddenly on him.
“W-what? Why's everypony so quiet? Did I come at a bad time?”
“Fluttershy was going to tell us something, weren't you?” Applejack said. There was a distinct tone to her voice. I knew that tone well.
“D-did I? I d-don't think I should-”
“No, please do tell, Flutters. I really want to know,” Applejack pressed.
“O-okay... just a few minutes ago I was flying towards here because I just found Pinkie's invitation in my garden while I was uprooting some carrots for the rabbits-”
“Wait, you hid your invitation underground?” I said looking at the pink Pony, her mouth full of cake.
Pinkie nodded vigorously, “Shesh alwaysh diggingsh cawwotsh for da wabbish...” she said with her mouth full.
“I will never understand you,” I muttered.
Pinkie swallowed her cake, “I said: She's always digging carrots for the rabbits!” she took another monstrous bit from a piece of cake she had and flashed me a grin, her cheeks still full. She looked like a chipmunk with those overinflated cheeks.
“You were saying, Flutters?” Twilight said, encouraging the mare to go on.
“Um.. yeah, so I was flying over here when I spotted Atom and Aiden talking under the old willow tree just outside and-”
“Stop!” Atom shrieked, “Stop, Fluttershy! I beg of you!” He realized that by saying that he had inadvertently dug his own grave. Too bad he didn't look before he leapt.
A common trait between the two of us.
“Now, I wonder what's eatin' you, Atom.” Applejack gave the stallion a keen look, “Guess your secret's about to be revealed, ain't nothin' you can do about it...”
Before he could respond Spike let out a horrific belch. In his hand he had a scroll.
“Here's another one for you, Atom...” Spike said slowly. “You've been getting a lot of these today.”
“Uh... yeah, sorry, Spike. I don't know why that is...”
“Yes you do,” Fluttershy whispered back firmly.
At that the black Pegasus' face turned white in fear. He really was a terrible actor.
“I think I've figured it out,” Applejack said, “It's got something to do with how you've been in and out of Ponyville these past few months, hasn't it?”
“What's she mean, Atom?” Brian asked, “Have you been keeping secrets from us?”
His eyes flashed to everyone's face, but he kept silent. Then, slowly, he raised a hoof, “T-t-take it easy, guys. I'm j-j-just here for some cake...”
“You're hidin' somethin', an' we wanna know what. You can't hide these thin's from me, y'know. I know you better 'an any Pony here.”
“Listen, there's nothing going on, okay? Let's just eat some cake."
“Yeah, some nice delicious, juicy, icing-covered, sweet vanilla goodness!” Pinkie licked her lips and took another whopping bite of cake. It was rapidly disappearing.
The others weren't interested, which made Pinkie quite content.
“This is serious, isn't it?” I said lamely, “Why can't we just not have serious moments...”
“Hush, Forest,” Twilight shushed me, “I want to know too.”
“S-s-say, isn't that... I hear something... that sounds like...”
“No. You're stayin' here until you tell us what's goin' on!” Applejack bit off any arguments.
“I'm... I mean...” Atom looked at Applejack's face and finally abated.
“You guys are horrible. I'm not supposed to tell you. Please don't make me.”
“Why?” Applejack's voice did not change.
“'Cause it'd change things,” Atom muttered, “More than you'd know.”
“Well, I still wanna know.” The way Applejack said it, I knew that if she had human arms, she'd be folding them in front of her chest in a stubborn posture. Uncanny how I could tell.
“I'm... still with the Guard,” Atom began slowly, “I never really retired. I've been... working all along. I kinda didn't tell you the truth because that was what I was supposed to be doing.”
“What?” Applejack exclaimed, “How can you be a part of the Guard when your wing's broke?”
Atom laughed nervously. “Well, I'm still... I can still do other things.”
“What other things?”
“The Elements of Harmony... you guys have specific guards around town whose mission it is to protect you. I am one of them. Or was. Now that you know, I'm afraid that my duty here might come to a swift conclusion.”
Everyone in that room was stunned. Myself included. We all stood there staring at Atom in shock, but none more shocked than the Elements themselves.
“You're lying. There's no way that Princess Celestia would allow the Guard to hang around Ponyville without us knowing,” Twilight said, anger in her voice.
Atom shrugged, “Yeah, I knew you'd say that. That's why none of the Guard who were assigned to Ponyville to be your guards know the identity of the others.”
“Who authorized that?" Twilight asked, her voice not as angry as a moment before.
"Princess Celestia, I think. I'm not sure. I got my orders from the Guard, but something like this... I'd be pretty surprised if it didn't come from her,” Atom said cautiously, “But you've had Guards here for years. I mean, I was recently reassigned here a year ago...”
“You were reassigned here and ya never told us?” Applejack's face showed pain. Pain for being betrayed, I imagined.
“It wasn't my choice! I was reassigned from...” Atom stopped himself before her could continue, but once again he had put himself in a bad place. Compared to me, he was far worse at putting his foot – hoof – in his mouth.
“Reassigned? Where were you before?” This time it was Rainbow who asked. “What's with all this secret secrecy?”
“Ladies," Brian said aloud, his voice drowning the rest of them out, “I think we've got our priorities wrong.”
We all looked at each other in confusion.
Brian looked at the Pegsus, “Atom, what do you mean that your duties here could end? Didn't you just return?”
Suddenly we understood the weight of those words. They were all so busy accusing the Atom that they had forgotten that part.
“It's... we were supposed to protect the Elements in secret. If they know, then the mission is over. I don't think I can perform my duties-”
“No!” Applejack cried out, “No. No, no, no, no! You've been gone all this time! I'm not gonna lose you again!”
“AJ...” Atom's eyes began to water, “Thank you. You don't know how much that means to me.”
“We could just keep what we know a secret!” Pinkie's voice seemed to instantly lighten the mood. “Think about it, you guys. If Celestia's got secrets, then we can have secrets, then we'd all have secrets with secrets while other Ponies will not know our secret about knowing about their secret!”
“What?” We all commented together.
Pinkie took a deep breath, “I said, we should just keep is a secret! If they have a secret then we can have a secret that we know their secret without them knowing we know their secret. I think.” Pinkie scratched her head, “I'm confused.”
“So am I,” I muttered.
“Ditto,” Atom put in.
“I think I get what Pink's saying,” Rainbow answered, “We keep our mouths shut, and hopefully Atom won't have to go away.”
“That's what I've been trying to tell you all! I said-”
“Pinkie, we got the idea,” Twilight said placing her hoof on the pink mare's back.
She grinned before turning her head and taking yet another whopping chomp of cake. That was when I realized that it was all gone. All of it. I wanted to cry. I wanted a second piece.
“So, what now?” Twilight asked, “Do we pretend that we don't know? How can I trust the Princess if she won't tell me...”
“I'm going to cut you off right there, Twilight. I don't want to be rude, but the Princess was thinking of you when she made these orders, if she made them. I'm still unsure where these orders came from. But, I'm glad. I'm glad because I know that Her Highness was thinking of your safety. You're precious to us all! You're the Elements, for Celestia's sake! You're the symbol of all that we stand for...”
“We not symbols or anythin' like that,” Applejack said roughly, interrupting Atom, “We're Ponies, same as everypony else...”
“Yes, every Pony is special, but you're a different kind of special. You're the kind of special that locked Discord up – twice. You're the kind of special that helped beat the Changelings. You're the kind of special that helped free slaves in an underground Pit, and countless other things. That's the kind of special you are, and quite frankly, that deserves more than just a 'same as everypony else' kind of Pony. You're not the same, and that's okay.”
That was the most eloquent thing I've ever heard Atom say.
“So, you were hangin' around Ponyville protectin' me?” Applejack asked.
“No,” Atom said, a small blush on his cheeks, “I was protecting Fluttershy...”
“Oh? Th-thank you... I think,” The butter colored mare said in a quiet voice. She whispered something to herself and stood up tall, “But you still should have told us,” she put in firmly, “It wasn't very nice of you to keep that a secret.”
“I know, but I had no choice,” Atom said as he opened the scroll Spike had given to him.
Everypony watch him expectantly. He read it one more time before rolling it back up, “I've been recalled. Seems like something big is happening in Canterlot. I'm needed there, so...”
“Now, just hang on just one gosh darn minute,” Applejack said standing in front of Atom, “Where exactly are ya goin'? We were just in Canterlot. T'ain't Guard there, least not many...”
“You always manage to sniff out the fine details,” Atom said, smiling at her, “but I'm afraid that that's where it really says I have to go.”
He tossed the scroll towards Applejack, who caught it and opened it. She looked at it long and hard, “Atom, it says nothin' about Canter-”
We all looked up. He was... gone.
“Atom?” Applejack shouted. There was something in her voice. It was the same something I heard when I was dangling over that cliff back in The Pit. That fear.
The fear of losing someone.
“Atom!” she practically screamed as she rushed towards the open window and peered out. Not a sign of him. “Y-you have to help me find him!”
“On it!” I didn't need to be told twice. I'd do anything for Applejack, even find her idiot ex-fiancé.
Before any of them could say a thing, I was out the door, down the hall and on my way out the front door. I had no idea why I was headed outside the hospital, but maybe I was just eager to get out of there. With all that had happened so far, this kind of distraction from me was just what I needed to think about things. I let my mind wander, allowing all sorts of thoughts to flood my mind, especially about Twilight and Rainbow.
A pair of lips firmly planted on mine. First Twilight's, then Rainbow's.
I shook my head vigorously, but the image of Rainbow under me, kissing me remained. It was then that I heard a voice calling my name. Thankfully the image disappeared and I was able to think clearly again.
Why was it her and not Twilight? I didn't get it.
“Hey, Forest. Whatcha doin'?” Applebloom asked.
“Looking for Atom. You seen him?”
“Atom? Yeah, I just saw him glidin' overhead.”
“He was flying?” I asked incredulously. There was a limit to how much of a lie one could tell. Oh right, I not somebody who gets to say that...i
“No, Forest. I said he was glidin', not flyin'.”
“Oh. Sorry, my mistake. Wait... how is he gliding...”
“You okay? You seem kinda out of it. More than usual.”
“Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for asking,” I replied trying to sound cheerful.
“You know, you're a worse liar than Applejack...”
“Am not!”
“Forest! Hey,” Rainbow landed next to me.
The instant I saw her face, I felt mine starting to heat up.
Oh, for Luna's sake, Forest! Stop acting like a child! I told myself.
“Hey, Rainbow,” Applebloom said in the awkward silence.
“Heya, Abby. Seen Atom 'round? He sorta ran -er- disappeared on us.”
“Yeah, he was glidin' towards the Everfree a moment ago. I was just tellin' Forest here...”
Rainbow was gone before she could finish.
“Oh, for Celestia's sake!” I shouted, “Applebloom, can you tell the others at the hospital where we went?”
“Sure thin', Forest!” Applebloom saw my expression and realized the urgency in what I had said, “I'll get them right away.”
“Thanks!” I watched her head off for a few seconds before I started my run.
Now, I'm fast, there is no need to deny it anymore, but Rainbow was something else. She was long gone by the time I reached the edge of Ponyville. Only the very end of her Rainbow colored jet stream (rainbow stream?) was barely visible as I desperately tried to follow. My attention was upwards, so predictably, I ran smack hard into what felt like a wall. I rubbed the tip of my nose, hoping that it wasn't broken. Luckily for me, it wasn't. Redheart would've had another fit if she found out that I had somehow broken another piece of myself in some way.
In front of me was a row of trees tightly wound together. Some sort of natural wall, it looked like.
“Oh yeah!” I said and smacked myself upside the head with me hoof, “You can only go inside through the entrance.”
Looking up, I noticed that Rainbow's trail had evaporated into the ether. So, I was on my own. Jogging to the front of the entrance to the Everfree, I stood on the path that led inside and paused staring hard into the darkness within. I hated this place and it seemed that whenever I entered here it felt like I was taking a gamble with my life no matter which direction it was; entering or exiting.
“Let's go,” I mumbled to myself and into the Everfree I went.
“How'd he manage to escape? I just don't see how it was possible without him teleportin',” Applejack said, clearly frustrated with the way things panned out. She trotted next to Twilight around the back of the hospital keeping a sharp lookout at the skies above.
“There he is!” Twilight shouted excitedly pointing towards a black dot floating off in the distance. They saw him heading towards Ponyville somehow managing to stay aloft. He wasn't falpping his wings, so he wasn't flying. Where was Rainbow when you needed her?
Twilight concentrated with her horn, but after drinking she found that it was a little too difficult and her magic fazed out with a pop. She'd have to wait a little while before she could summon any proper magic for her to use.
“Sorry, AJ..."
"Don't apologize! Let's just go after him!”
“Forest's on the way. He might seem like an irresponsible Pony, but he's dependable when he needs to be. Plus, Rainbow is already headed after him. Look.”
Sure enough, Rainbow's blur whizzed over them as she sped towards the black Pegasus now descending lower and lower. Twilight did not like the direction he was heading in, it seemed a little too far away to be Fluttershy's cottage.
“No offense, Twi, but I kinda know that about Forest,” Applejack stated giving the mare a dry look.
“Oh yeah,” Twilight said grinning sheepishly at her friend.
Applejack trotted a few steps ahead towards the Everfree, “We've got to go after him, Twi!”
“Why?”
“What d'ya mean 'why'? 'Cause it ain't safe in the Everfree...”
“You're talking about Atom, AJ. Don't you remember how he handled himself during The Pit? Do you actually think that he's incapable of protecting himself?” Twilight shook her head. Twilight stopped in her tracks and looked at her friend, “We've been friends for a long time. I know you better than anypony in Ponyville, but you've got to make your choice clear, Applejack...”
“I ain't saying I don't want him to be around! I just need time to think thin's through. My heart can't let go of either, and I know I need to, but I just can't.”
Twilight stopped and took a deep breath. “I love Forest.”
The suddenness of that statement stunned the orange mare. “What?”
“I love Forest, Applejack. I really do.”
“Well... so I do, Twi-”
“He's not a Pony. He is most likely a Changeling,” Twilight said quickly, unsure why she was spilling her guts out when she herself wanted to keep it a secret. She knew she was taking a gamble, but if Applejack had any feelings for Forest, even as friend, then she would have to understand.
Applejack didn't say anything and stood there dumbfounded.
“Now that you know that, can you still say you have feelings for him?” Twilight inquired.
“That ain't true... is that a metaphor for somethin', 'cause I can't see your point by it...”
“No. I'm not making any metaphors, or giving you a what-if question. Forest is a Changeling. He's not a Pony, but I still love him. Can you really say you feel the same way about him knowing that he is most likely not a Pony at all?”
“If you're not jokin', then that's dangerous, Twi. You should...”
“Princess Celestia already knows, and she's trusted me with doing what's best for me and Ponykind. I trust him, and want to be with him.”
“But...”
“I know. I want to be sure that there isn't some mind-altering spell he's using, but he can't use magic. I know we don't understand the Changelings all that much, but I don't care. Forest was always there for us – and for me, whether he wanted to be or not. He could have run away in The Pit, yet he stayed and it nearly cost him his life...”
“You ain't thinkin' clearly! If he's a Changeling then how can you be sure that they're your feelin's that you're feelin'?”
“I just know, okay? So, please, Applejack, if you go after Atom, promise me you'll start treating Forest as a friend. I know he has feelings for you, everypony knows it, but he has feelings for me too..."
Applejack stood in silence for a moment longer, “Okay, Twilight. Now, I know you haven't had much luck in findin' that special somepony,” she quickly raised a hoof before Twilight could interupt, “and I know that Forest's a good colt. I know. But from what you've told me, and from what Atom's said, it ain't gonna be safe for him in Ponyville. You've got to get him outta here.”
“I... I didn't think of that...” Twilight said in hushed tones, “We've got to find him before somepony else does, especially from this secret Guard...”
“I hear ya!”
The two Elements turned and headed towards the Everfree.
From around the corner of the nearest house a mare stood and watched the two Elements silently for a moment. She watched them go round the next corner and head down the path that lead towards Fluttershy's cottage. She stood there for a long moment before shaking her head in disbelief. Not only had somepony broken the code of silence, but now she just discovered that Forest could very well be a Changeling, the very creature she had been sent to Ponyville to protect the Elements of Harmony from. She stood there for another moment to collect herself before heading out after Twilight and Applejack, running as fast as her legs could carry her.
“Wait!” she shouted, catching up to them, “Twilight! Applejack! Wait!”
“Oh, heya, lil' sis, what're you doin' here?” Applejack asked.
Applebloom smiled, “I just saw Forest. He was headin' towards Esperia.”
“Esperia? But I just saw him head towards the Everfree...” Applejack said, looking back over her shoulder towards the forest.
Applebloom shrugged, “That's what I saw, sis.”
Twilight nodded, “Okay, then let's head that way. I don't think they'd have gone too far, and I can teleport once I get my strength back...”
“Alright, Applebloom, you head on into the Everfree and find Zecora and start lookin' for Atom, okay?”
“Okay, sis, will do,” Applebloom smiled, “Be careful, okay?”
The three of them walked together until they reached the entrance to the Everfree. Then, Twilight and Appljack moved past it on the path that headed by Fluttershy's and then towards the main road towards Esperia. Applebloom watched as her sister and Twilight continued on the road for a few minutes before turning around and heading into the forest.
“I'm sorry, sis, Twilight, but my mission to protect you comes first,” Applebloom whispered, “and I'm sorry, Forest...”
“Is anypony there?” I heard a voice cry out.
Rounding the corner I spotted Rainbow standing on top of a rock peering out across a large bog. Huge bubbles bubbling from it. She turned to me and smiled.
“I'm here,” I said lamely.
“Kinda noticed,” she replied with a smirk, “I saw him head this way, but I lost him here. He may act dumb, but he's a clever one. Used the bog's mist to hide himself as he descended into it. By the time I got under he was gone.”
I looked up and saw that there indeed was a fog cover. It was weird, like a large cloud that hovered above us. It wasn't thick enough to block out the sun, but there was still thick enough to hide a pony floating through it. I even noticed the large gaping hole where Rainbow must have zoomed through.
“Let's split up,” Rainbow said as she hovered over to where I was standing, “I'll search from up above, you head over towards Zecora's place and see if she's seen anything.”
Nodding, I saluted her, “You got it!”
Trotting at a moderate pace, I heard Rainbow shout for me to be careful. I paused, turned and waved at her, before proceeding. It would have been far cooler to just keep on running and wave as I disappeared into the foliage, but knowing my lack of 'Poniness', I would have probably landed on my face instead. Even nearly a month of being one, I still wasn't used to it.
It took me a moment to realize that I was now completely lost.
“Why me?” I shouted to the sky.
“Forest, hush your mouth and do not shout! You'll attract all the vicious creatures about!” A familiar voice said in a harsh whisper, “Come here to my side quick, mind you do not step on that stick!”
Quietly I snuck up and knelt down next to her. We were both peering from behind a bush and I could see Atom standing in the clearing ahead of us. To his left were two Ponies I had never seen before, and to his right were two heavily armed Guards. One was a Pegasus, the other a Unicorn. The Pegasus had blades on his wings, and their helms had long feathers. The Unicorn's was a long white plume, while the Pegasus was a very dark blue.
“What are they doing?” I whispered as quietly as possible.
Zecora did not respond, but I noticed that she had a large blade next to her on the ground as well as a long spear. I suddenly felt very afraid of the Zebra, while at the same time I was glad that she was armed like she was. She knew these woods like the back of her hand- hoof. There wasn't anyone else I'd rather be stuck with than her. A Zebra with a spear and a machete.
Political corrections be damned! This is awesome.
Something zipped over our heads and landed in the middle of the others.
“Well?” The large Pegasus asked.
“Must be somepony who got lost in here, sir. Couldn't find any trace 'cept for the Element of Loyalty heading southwards, sir. She seems to be looking for somepony, sir.”
That voice came from a mare. This Guard has no plume, and her armor was a lot lighter than the other Pegasus, and by the way she spoke she was definitely lower in rank. How do Ponies discern rank? I saw no markings. Maybe it was the length of the plume?
Atom sighed, “That would be me. I... kinda told them about our mission-”
“You did what?” the Pegasus in charge roared, “Do you realize that you've jeopardized years of flawless service! Miss Sparkle will have our heads for this!"
“Not to worry, we always had planned that they'd find out. Let's just be glad that none of the other agents were discovered,” the other officer, the Unicorn with the blue plume, stated, “That might have gone over worse.”
“You mean... these are the other 'secret agents'? Right here?” Atom turned and looked at the other two that were with him. They both smiled and nodded. “I don't know them...”
“We know. That's why they were chosen,” the Guard stated, “Atom, I would like to introduce you to Bass Chord and Neon Fracture.”
“Hi,” the deep baritone voice of the Earth Pony rumbled. Bass Chord was certainly a name that suited him. He looked strong, but not as bulky as Big Mac. He also had these weird patterns all over his body in a purple that matched a stripe through his light-brown mane and short tail. The rest of him was this weird brown-purple mix.
“Hello,” came a shy squeak from the dark blue Pegasus. She seemed to try and hide behind the large Earth Pony, “How are you?”
“Fine,” Atom replied, and grinned, “Can I call you Neo?”
“No,” She said sharply, which drastic contrast. She must have realized this because she blushed slightly and tried even harder to hide behind the stallion.
Bass Chord chuckled, “Don't let the cute demeanor fool you. She's not as shy as she makes herself out to be. Wait till she gets used to you...”
“Shut up,” Neon muttered, nudging Bass Chord in the gut, “I'm not in the mood.”
Bass Chord leaned close to Atom and said in a relatively quiet voice, "See what I mean?”
Neon put on an angry face and started punching (hoofing?) Bass, but the large Pony moved with unexpected grace especially for a guy his size. He danced around Neon blocking almost everything she could throw at him. She was fast, but Bass Chord seemed to know where to go. It was incredible.
“Knock it off, both of you,” the Unicorn officer ordered, “We're not here to enjoy each other's company. Just... stand there!”
“With all due respect, ma'am, why are we being recalled?” Atom asked, “Are all current missions and their objectives placed on hold?”
“As far as I know, yes.”
“Where are the others? We've only got three of us here. Shouldn't there be six?” Atom asked.
“The others are still getting their orders, and I know that there's going to be at least one Pony who's going to have a hard time figuring the code out.” The Pegasus in charge walked over to the end of the copse and pulled out a large sheet of paper, “How 'bout we get started?”
“Sounds good to me,” Neon said, and walked over to the large paper, which looked a lot like a map. It was hard for me to tell from where I was standing.
“Atom?” a voice called out. Rainbow's. She was coming close. “Atom! Get your flank out where I can see you!”
Atom looked up, then at the others, “She'll see us!”
“Please,” The Guard who was clearly the leader said with a condescending tone. “Relax. I got this.”
Above us the cyan mare rushed by without stopping. The Guards stood below and looked up without flinching as the Pegasus mare flew on by. It was clear that she didn't see them, but how was that possible? She should have clearly spotted them.
That was when I noticed one of the other Guards' horn was glowing. The Unicorn released her spell after a moment and then saluted to her superior.
“Good work, Blue Sapphire.”
“Thank you, sir,” the gray Unicorn said, grinning from ear to ear.
“A mirage effect?” a voice asked as a Pony exited from the foliage opposite us. “Simple, yet effective. It still astounds me that the Elements of Harmony do not have the propensity to learn about detecting magic. Perhaps the only Pony to ever actually want to know about that is Twilight Sparkle herself, although that is a given considering she is the Element of Magic.”
My mouth dropped, “Is that...”
Zecora nodded, “Do you know what is going on here? I am extremely lost, I fear.”
Again the officer in charge turned towards our direction. He stood there for another long moment before shrugging and turning to the newcomer.
“Fancypants, it is always a pleasure seeing you.”
“Major Brave Heart! It is always good to see you again. I say, having that scroll sent via the purple Dragon was least expected. Am I to assume that we are being redeployed elsewhere?”
“What good is he to the Guard? He's a...” Atom started.
“Some son of a rich military parent? Who had never earned his rank through his own merits. I do say that I'm actually higher ranked than all of you here, save for the Major.” Fancypants smiled, “And just so you all know, both my parents never served in the Guard, nor did my uncles. My grandfather did, and he held the esteemed rank of-”
“Field Marshal, the only Pony to have held that position in over two hundred years.” The fifth Pony that entered the copse was perhaps the last Pony I would ever expect to see. In fact all the Ponies were stunned, except for the Major who nodded respectfully at the mare.
She looked at everone and nodded, “Nice to see you all. It's good to know who I happened to be working with. I see that the choice was well thought out.”
“Ditzy Doo?” Atom said unable to believe his eyes, “You're a Guard?”
“I am. Have been for a while.”
The way she talked, she was completely different from before. I wasn't the only one that couldn't believe it, because even Base Chord had to rub his eyes a few times to confirm that it was true.
“Well, well. Looks like I'm the third highest ranked officer here,” Fancypants said and bowed to Derpy, “Captain.”
“C-c-c-c-c-captain?” All the others exclaimed together.
“Wait, how do you know all this?” Bass asked Fancypants, “We were kept in the dark...”
Fancypants laughed, “Let's just say that there are other... services involved.”
Every single one of them seemed to know what he meant.
“Let's hurry this up, I have to sneak back to Canterlot tonight and then catch the train back here in the morning,” Derpy said, then added quickly, “If that is okay with you, sir.”
“We all have places we need to be,” the Major replied. “Well, I'll let the Lieutenant explain things.”
“As you may or may not know, two days ago the Diamond Dogs were discovered using ponies as slaves for mining gems and precious stones,” the grey Unicorn explained. She paced in front of the others slowly, “One of us here was there during the incident in what is now known as 'The Pit'. We will now listen to a full debrief from Corporal Atom.”
Atom looked around, clearly he did not expect that.
“Well, it all happened two days ago...”
The way Atom told it was boring, not at all like how Trixie had done with all the voices and vivid descriptions. Atom stuck to the facts, telling everyone what exactly happened, what transpired, how it panned out, and most of all, who were involved.
“Wait.” Neon raised her hoof prompting the Major to gesture for her to continue, “You did this two days ago? Where were you yesterday?”
“It took us a while to get here. Even with the Element of Magic helping us, it's a long way from where The Pit is located.”
“We have other more pressing matters to discuss. Right now I want you all to tell us who you were protecting, starting with you, Corporal,” The Major said.
“I was protecting the Element of Kindness. Fluttershy was my charge.”
“Mine was Rainbow Dash,” Neon Fracture informed. That was actually an obvious choice. A Pegasi to chase another Pegasi, it made perfect sense.
“Mine was Rarity,” Fancypants said. “I know it isn't really a surprise and I can't deny that I didn't have a say in who I was protecting. I am glad that it is her, however.”
“Next!” the Major shouted.
“You got to pick?” Neon muttered, “That's not very fair...”
“I've been given the task of protecting Pinkie.” Bass Chord smiled, “She seems to be the hardest one to protect, believe me.”
None of them seemed to contest that statement. Good ol' Pinkie.
“The Elements had secret guards?” Zecora asked in a low whisper, “I see the Princesses have played their cards...”
“No, no. The Princesses most likely had nothing to do with this,” I whispered back. “The reason why I'm here is because of Atom-”
“There! I heard it again,” The Major shouted, “Without a doubt there is someone here with us.”
Shit.
“Could be a wild animal, sir,” Derpy suggested, “We can't really tell unless we fan out and conduct a proper search, which would give away our position if Rainbow flies overhead.”
“Good call, Miss Doo. Now I know why they chose you to protect the Element of Magic herself.”
Derpy blushed, “Thank you, sir.”
This was way too much. I shouldn't be hearing all this. I should be elsewhere, hiding or something.
“That leaves one Pony out. The Guard for the Element of Honesty.” The Major shook his head, “I knew she was way too young to be selected. Well, we can't wait any longer. Our orders are to be debriefed and have you all shipped to Canterlot, where you will be deployed along the border with the Griffin Kingdom.”
“We're mobilizing against the Griffins?” Atom asked. “Since when was there any hostility between our two nations?”
“No, we're not attacking anypony, nor are they.” The Major shook his head, “You know what? Let's skip the debriefing.”
“Good idea, sir,” the Lieutenant said, agreeing with her superior, “Especially since none of them have been on active duty for a while.”
“Protecting the Elements isn't considered active duty?” Bass asked.
The Lieutenant shook her head, “No. You've been kept in the dark as to the current situation along our borders.”
“So, we were left blind on purpose? Just like the rest of the country?” Neon put in, “Why couldn't we get some sort of information as to what's happening?”
“You weren't told because it was considered a security risk,” The Major replied.
Me head was spinning. I didn't get what was going on, and I was so confused. What they hell were they talking about?
“As Atom has described, the reason why we are mobilizing is because we suspect that the Dragons might make a move against both our nations. As far as we know, Tyrant Rex was gathering precious gems to hire Dragons to invade our lands with the promise that all the spoils were to go to them as long as he got to enslave the populations of both nations. I can't stress how dire this knowledge is. If it is true, and the Dragons have agreed, then we must expect them to try and free him. If that is the case, we're going to need all the help we can get.”
“Sir, just how many Dragons are we expecting?” Bass Chord asked.
The Major shook his head, “Haven't got a clue.”
I could feel the sweat dripping off my head. What was I even doing here? I shouldn't be hearing this. This had nothing to do with me, did it? I hoped not.
“Gather your things, you're to depart for Canterlot tonight,” the Major started to walk away, “Oh, and make sure to have a good story about your departure. There is no need to raise any alarms.”
Atom lowered his head knowing fully that remark was directed at him.
The Major stood tall at the end of the copse as his Lieutenant started to cast a spell. “Oh, and one more thing; not a word of this to the Princesses, understood?”
“Yes, sir,” the all replied, saluting as they did.
Then in a bright yellow flash, they were gone.
The Guards stood around for a moment not really knowing what to do or say. Everything had been so sudden.
“Well, I gotta go and say farewell to my family,” Neon stated, “I'll see you all in Canterlot.”
“See you there,” Bass Chord rumbled in response. He watched her hover above the ground then up into the air.
Fancypants had already started moving along, his blue tail disappeared around a bush before the others headed in that general direction. Zecora and I waited for a long time not moving from our spot. I wanted to move, but when I had tried to, Zecora pulled me down again and shook her head. Apparently she had seen something that I had missed.
That was when a mare appeared from the opposite side of the clearing.
“Applebloom?” I asked quietly.
Zecora visibly relaxed and stood up leaving the copse, “It is good to see you Applebloom, but tell me why is your expression gloom?”
“I can't say,” she replied. “Say, have you seen Forest?”
I was about to pop out of my hiding spot when Zecora said; “He's close by, that I know. Won't you tell me what brings you woe?”
“Zecora, please. I'm just worried...”
“Your worry is misplaced, there is little in this forest he's not faced.”
Why was Zecora not telling her where I was?
“It's getting' dark, y'know. I think I'm just gonna go...” Applebloom smiled, “If you happen to see Forest, can ya tell him I'm lookin' for him?”
“That is something I will do, tell your friends I said hello too.”
“I will.”
With that, Applebloom started towards the exit of the Everfree. She didn't once look back.
I remained where I was. I hadn't moved a muscle. Zecora had made it clear that me revealing myself was out of the question, and the woman with the machete is usually right. In my book, at least.
“You may come out of your hiding place, she's gone leaving no trace.”
“Thank you, Zecora, but why did I need to hide from Applebloom...”
Zecora looked at me and shook her head, “I saw vicious anger in her eyes, the kind that I despise. I'm afraid I must be curt, but I think she wanted you hurt."
“What? Why?”
Zecora shook her head at me again, clearly disapproving my lack of understanding of the finer points of Pony body-language. “Forest, there are things we have discovered here, that make me shake in fear. I don't know why she is so mad, while at the same time so very sad.”
“You think she was mad? She didn't seem like that to me...”
“Forest, I mean no offense, but you have a reputation of being rather dense.”
“Oi.”
“Follow me to the exit with haste, night is coming – no time to waste!”
She didn't need to tell me twice. Not after the Ursa incident.
We didn't say much to each other as she led the way. There was really nothing much to be said, but all through I kept wondering about Applebloom. She just didn't seem like the kind of Pony that would hurt others. I would expect more rough-housing from her sister.
“This is where we go our own ways, I best be off lest I get lost in this maze.”
“Thank you, Zecora. I hope to see you soon.”
She smiled and nodded, “Take care of yourself is what you should do, then sooner than later I will see you.”
I watched her go for a few minutes before turning around and heading towards Ponyville. I wondered about Rainbow. She hadn't flown over us on the way back since. A part of me felt worried, but another felt relieved. Who knows what would have happened if she had found the Guard and their secret meeting. Things would have gone very badly for everyone involved.
“There you are!” Rainbow shouted as she came to a soft landing on the ground in front of me. "I've been looking for you all day! Where were you?”
Quickly, I explained about what I had seen, but leaving out all the details about Applebloom and how Zecora was acting suspicious of her. Come to think of it, how did she know what Appleblom was thinking?
“So that's why I didn't see you guys when I flew overhead. That Unicorn must've used some sorta hiding spell...”
“Ya think?” I said, poking fun at her.
She put me into a headlock and gave me a noogie, “Aw, you still haven't learnt who's boss yet, have you? You wanna go again?”
At those words we both stopped what we were doing and looked at each other. We both must have thought the exact same thing because she was blushing, and I felt my face light up. She released me and took a step back.
“I was just -er- joking about that.”
“Yeah,” I laughed nervously, “I know.”
There was a long moment of awkward silence between us.
“So... uh... what are you doing for dinner?” I asked lamely, “I was going to ask Twilight what she wanted to do.”
“Um... nothing, I guess. I was just going to grab a bite over at the hospital cafeteria,” Rainbow replied. “You wanna walk that way together? It's kinda on the way to Twilight's.”
“Sure.”
We walked side by side, but kept about two ponies distance away from each other. We walked in silence not really knowing what to say. At least I didn't know what to say. The sun had gone down and soon the moon would soon rise, courtesy of Luna, Princess of the night.
“You know, I always thought that flying around at night was pretty cool,” Rainbow began. “The stars are real beautiful when you sit on the clouds...”
“I know. I was on the Intrepid, remember?” I shuddered as images of plummeting towards the ground flooded my mind.
“Oh right...” Rainbow bobbed her head up and down affirming my statement.
I swallowed, “Rainbow, about... yesterday's...”
“Yes?” She quickly cut me off.
I was glad of that.
“I just wanted to tell you again that I feel really bad. I mean, about how I ruined your life, like you said. I really feel like a total...” I was at a loss for words.
“Shit?” Rainbow offered.
I stopped in mid-step and looked at her.
“What? You think that I lived on Earth and didn't pick up a word or two from watching TV?”
“Well, no, not that. Just... it sounds really weird when you say it.”
“To be honest, it feels really weird to say it. Guess that's a good thing. Dad really hates it when I swear,” she looked ahead of herself, staring into the distance, a nostalgic smile on her face. For a moment I thought she was going to cry, but she laughed quietly and looked down at the ground, “I've had one heck of a complicated life.”
“You're not the only one.”
“Yeah, you got one too. Twilight told me about how she thinks you're..."
"Howdy!” a Pony shouted making Rainbow and I jumped.
“Oh, sweet Celestia, you nearly scared me...” Rainbow replied.
“Wait... what?” Did she just say 'nearly scared'?
They both ignored my question. Typical.
“I've been lookin' all over for you, Forest. Where've you been?” Applebloom asked, taking a step towards me.
“In the Everfree... looking for Atom.”
“What'cha lookin' for him for?” She walked right up to me, making me sit down on the ground and lean back as far as I could go to keep a little bit of space between us.
“Your sis asked me to help...”
Her eyes were boring down on me, peering deep into my pupils, “Did ya find him?"
“Y-y-yes...” I muttered, “b-b-but he wasn't alone...”
“So ya saw the Guard then?” Applebloom asked.
“Wait, how do you kno-” Applebloom put her hoof in my mouth, a little rougher than I would've liked.
“No, I'm the one askin' the questions, alright?”
“Bu-”
“Alright?” Applebloom said, pushing a little harder. It was starting to hurt.
I nodded.
“Did ya see the Guard?”
I nodded again.
“Did ya hear what they were sayin'?”
Again, I nodded.
“Did ya see me talkin' with Zecora?”
I gulped, and very slowly nodded.
“What didn'tcha come out of yer hidin' place?”
“I... I wanted to, but... well, Zecora kinda told me not to...”
“Oh? Why's that?”
“She said that you were acting funny. That you weren't...”
The feeling of pain shot through my face as Applebloom gave me one helluva mighty slap. I fell to the ground.
“Ow.”
“Abby! What are you doing?" Rainbow shouted pushing the mare aside and putting herself between me and Applebloom, “Why'd you hit him for?”
Applebloom smiled at her friend, “He's a Changeling. It's my job to protect the Elements of Harmony, and that's what I'm gonna do.”
“No offense to you Abby, but I could take Forest on blindfolded with both wings tied behind my back. He's not very tough, and even if he were a Changeling, he's still my friend.”
Applebloom looked at Rainbow and shook her head, “You think I wanna do this? But I have to! It's... it's what I was trained for! I just wanna protect my sister.”
"I know you do, but Forest's not a Changeling, Abby. Please, listen to me...” Rainbow said flying closer to her friend, “I promise you he's harmless.”
They both looked at me nursing my cheek. “Aw, now Nurse Redheart's going to kill me,” I said standing up. “Both my cheeks are swollen.”
“He's not? You mean he's a regular pony, just without any magic?”
“Well... not entirely...” Rainbow began.
“What d'ya mean?”
Rainbow looked at me, “He's a...”
“Hi!” Rainbow was cut off by a burst of joyous, musical mayhem as Pinkie somehow appeared out of a trashcan by the side of the road, “I've been looking all over for you guys. You have to come quick. Atom's leaving town, as so is Bass and Neon.”
“Who?” Rainbow asked.
"How?" I blurted. Typically, I was ignored.
“You know, the funny large Pony that sometimes helps out Big Mac on the farm? He likes to sing to himself. He's got a really, really super deep, deep voice that's like a trombone or a bassoon.”
That only confused us more.
“I don't know him...” Rainbow admitted, “But I do know Neon. She's part of my weather team... wait, did you say they were leaving? Tonight?”
“Yep,” Pinkie chirped, then at the next moment she looked so sad, “They said that they had to go and that they wouldn't have time for a farewell party.”
“Coincidence?” Rainbow asked looking at me. I had not mentioned the names of the Ponies that were there, but considering the timing – it was too perfect. There was no use denying it.
“They are Guard...” I said bluntly.
Through the corner of my eye, behind Rainbow, I saw Applebloom flinch ever so slightly. My heart sank. She was indeed the last member. She had to be. I might not be the smartest Pony around, but even I could figure that much out.
“What's is going on?” Rainbow muttered, talking to herself, “Everything is happening so fast. You guys gotta do me a favor. Don't tell dad about any of this. I don't want him to worry, okay?”
We all nodded. What good would it do to worry him? He needed to just sit back and relax.
“Anyway, I'm going back to the hospital now. Forest, sorry, but I'll just leave you here, okay? You can find your own way?”
“Of course. No need to worry about me. Besides, Pinkie's here...”
“Sorry, Forest, but I kinda wanna go see Brian too. I'll see you later.”
With that, the two Elements of Harmony walked off leaving me behind with Applebloom.
“So,” I began, “you're one of the Guard too?”
Applebloom narrowed her eyes at me, “And you're not a Changeling.”
It wasn't a question.
“If you're not a Changeling, and not a Pony, then what exactly are you?”
I laughed nervously, “Um... you're not going to believe it even if I told you.”
“Try me.”
“There's just no sign of him anywhere,” Applejack muttered. “We've been walkin' on this road for forever. Somethin's not right.”
“Yeah, I'm getting that feeling too,” Twilight replied, “Let's head back. I've got enough strength to teleport us to Ponyville.”
“Alright.”
Twilight closed her eyes, and the next thing Applejack knew, she and her friend were outside Carousel Boutique.
“Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise,” a voice said from behind them, “It's always nice to see you ladies.”
“Fancypants!” Twilight smiled politely, “It's always good to see you too.”
“You're too kind, Miss Sparkle,” Fancypants replied bowing slightly and replacing a monocle over his eye. “I must say you gave me quite the fright just now. I've just arrived to inform darling Rarity that I've got some urgent matters to attend to back in Canterlot. I'm afraid that I might not be free for a while.”
“Oh? She'll be sad to hear that,” Twilight replied.
Applejack nodded, “She's always happy to see you, Mister Fancypants."
"Please, we're friends now. There's no need for titles, Miss Applejack.”
“You say that, yet you use 'miss' in front of my name,” Applejack replied with a smile on her face. “I don't think it right to call you just Fancypants if you insist on calling me 'Miss Applejack'.
The Unicorn laughed, “True, true. Then, I must excuse myself, Applejack, but old habits are difficult to break sometimes, especially when referring to such lovely mares such as yourselves.”
“You do have a way with words, that's for sure,” Applejack said quietly, which earned her a tiny shove from Twilight.
“Well, we don't want to keep you. I'm sure Rarity is looking forward to seeing you.”
“She's been very busy with her designs. Apparently she's got a new show in Manehatten and has been working non-stop since she got back from Canterlot. After all, it was her uniforms at the Race that have started somewhat of a trend. I wouldn't be surprised to see Ponies across Equestria, let alone Canterlot, will be wearing Ponville's colors.”
Both Applejack and Twilight exchanged looks, “You mean Ponies will be wearing the colors of the Elements?”
“Ah, yes. That slipped my mind. Of course, the colors of the uniform are the colors of the Elements of Harmony. You know, sometimes I miss the most obvious of things, wouldn't you agree?”
They all laughed at that. It wasn't the least bit true, and the girls knew it.
“So, um, yeah, we're actually looking for a black Pegasus named Atom. Have you seen him?”
“I may have,” Fancypants replied neutrally, “Not so long ago, I think I saw a black Pegasus near the Everfree Forest.”
“Near the Everfree, you say?” Applejack asked suspiciously, “You sure about that?”
“No, I'm afraid not. You see, I only know of this Atom by reputation, so I cannot say if it was him or not. Only that I did happen to see a black Pegasus in the vicinity of the Everfree not too long ago. I'm sorry if that isn't any help...”
“No, no. That's plenty of help. Thank you, Fancypants. Please, don't let us keep you.”
“Thank you again, ladies. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for this Atom for you. Ta-ta."
With that, the Unicorn entered Rarity's boutique.
"Now what do you make of that?” Applejack said glaring at the shut door, “He's either lyin' or Applebloom, and I know that Applebloom wouldn't lie...”
“Applebloom didn't lie, AJ. She just said that Forest looked like he was heading for Esperia, right? Well, the path to Esperia goes by the Everfree's entrance. She could have just seen him heading that way.”
Relief flooded Applejack's face, “That's right. Thanks, Twilight. So, where do we go from here? We need to find Atom and the others.”
“Let's head back to the hospital. Everypony should be there, and we need to compare notes.”
“Okay, Twi. Let's go.”
“... but the way was closed! You're not tellin' me the truth.”
“I swear to you that it's true, Applebloom. Twilight is convinced that I'm a Changeling, but I'm not. I'm... not.”
“Well, I'll be... another human in Ponyville. The Princesses'd freak if they found out, y'know?”
“I know.”
Applebloom sighed, “I'm still not sure I believe you, Forest. So, what'll we do?” She tilted her head to one side, “You know who I am, and what I'm here for, and now I know what you are, but not what you're here for...”
“That's another story.” I didn't elaborate. Frankly, I was still in shock that I had told Applebloom everything. In fact, I had told Applebloom much, much more than anyone else. In retrospect, how many Ponies did I reveal my secret to today? And what was Tutela doing?
I shuddered at the thought. She must have been pretty pissed off at me by now.
“Gee, I just dunno what to think. I mean, I did think you were right for my sister...”
“Yeah, well...” I didn't finished the thought. I didn't really have one.
“I just don't know anymore, okay? If Twilight vouches for you then I guess it's fine, but I am going to tell you to be careful. Especially 'round Derpy. She might not look it, but she's real tough. I heard that she had to put up with a lot of things a while back. Dinky's father was... special.”
“Really? You know, I'm just surprised that you're a Guard. I always thought the Guard were all stallions and wore various armor and stuff...”
“Well, not all Guard are soldiers like that Forest. I joined the Guard after Sweetie and Scoots got their Cutie Marks. I just felt left out, y'know? So, I kinda just went to Canterlot and signed up. How was I supposed to know they'd make me be a guard for my own sister?”
I nodded, “That actually makes a lot of sense.”
“I guess... still, I'd rather have had some experience out there in the world. I'm a Guard, I'm an adult, and I still don't have my Cutie Mark!”
“Neither do I...” I mumbled.
“Well, you're dif'rent. You don't count.”
“Don't count, eh?”
“That's right. Don't count."
The both of us laughed at that, "I'm sure you'll find your talent soon, Applebloom.”
“If I had a bit for every time I've heard that, I'd be richer than Filthy Rich!”
“How rich is that?” I asked.
“Well, Filthy's the richest pony in Ponyville...”
l held a hoof up, “Wait, wait, wait. There's a Pony by the name of Filthy in town? Filthy Rich? What's his wife's name? Really Expensive?”
Applebloom didn't know whether to laugh at that or scold me. I could tell from the way she had that half-smile on her face she couldn't decide.
“Anyway, so what now? Are you going to Canterlot?”
“Nope. Haven't got my orders to leave town yet, and long's I avoid Spike, I won't have to. He's the one that gives us our orders, though he don't know it.”
“Taking advantage of Spike like that isn't nice...”
Applebloom shrugged, “Well, he's been doin' it for years. It's the easiest and least suspicious way of doing it.”
“Really?”
We had both now ended up near Berry's bar. The night was still young, but already there were a few Ponies heading inside. The last time I was in there didn't end very well. Well, I guess that was subjective. I did have a great time with Spike and Aiden – the parts that I could remember, at least.
“You wanna drink?” Applebloom asked, “I'll treat.”
“I... okay, sure. Why not.”
As soon as we entered, we saw Aiden and another Unicorn standing inches apart growling at one another. A fight? Looked like it.
“Say that to my face!” Aiden shouted back.
The Unicorn grinned sadistically, “I said that the Princesses are and shouldn't be allowed to rule over us anymore!”
“The last time we had the Council running things, we were endlessly at war with our neighbors and ourselves! You're a fool if you think that...” Aiden was cut off short as a chair broke across his head sending him stumbling into a table where the patrons got soaked from their spilt drinks.
Applebloom eyes bulged from her head. I gritted my teeth, “Never a dull moment. Never.”
“Forest, wait!”
I didn't listen to her. The next thing I knew I was crashing headlong into the Unicorn that had attacked Aiden. Hey, he was my friend. Looking up, the Unicorn slugged me in the jaw, which really, really hurt because my jaw was still sore from Soarin's punches and from Applebloom's mega-slap.
“Heya, Forest,” Aiden shouted above the din of the fight as more Ponies began joining in, “Glad you could join us!”
“Why is it that whenever we hang out, I somehow always get hurt?”
Aiden just laughed as he took the Unicorn from me and, using his magic, tossed him aside where he was ceremoniously sat on by a fat donkey, who grinned and smacked him on the head with a bottle making his eyes spin. The yellow Unicorn shook off his dizziness and lobbed the fat donkey with his own magic, sending him crashing onto a nearby table.
Through the corner of my eye, I saw Berry shaking her head as she opened a big bottle with her teeth, spitting out the cork, and slowly started to drink from it while lowering herself behind the bar, narrowly avoiding a stray projectile from colliding with her as it smashed bottles and glasses behind her. Just as I thought that she was safely hidden away, I saw her hoof feeling around the bar for a moment, then she found a bowl of some finger-food (nuts, I guess), and took that over the side of the bar with her.
All this took no more than a few seconds, but I couldn't help but laugh.
That earned me another smack in the face.
“Oops, sorry, Forest,” Aiden said grinning at me, “Thought you were somepony else."
“Really?” I replied, before shoving him with my head.
He roared in laughter before taking a chair and lobbing it at me. It hit me in the head, splintering into pieces, but that wasn't all. He took a table, and tilted it in such a way that when I charged at him, I found myself launching off of it like a ramp and crashing headfirst into the wall on the far end with a loud crash.
Picking myself off the floor, I noticed that the whole bar was duking it out. But, for some reason, instead of hating it or finding it negative in anyway, I found that I was actually enjoying it. The fight was a fight, don't get me wrong. Ponies were getting hurt, but the feeling of... being alive was just ridiculous.
Strangely I noticed that the Ponies that were fighting were all Unicorns and Pegasi. There weren't many Earth Ponies in the mix, and most of them seemed content with watching from the sidelines. That was when I noticed Big Mac in the corner watching the mayhem with a disapproving look on his face. He took a sip from a large mug in front of him.
A light blue Unicorn stallion was sent sailing through the air over a banister by a well placed kick by a purple Pegasus mare, and he landed right on top of Big Mac's table. The large red stallion looked at his broken mug, only the handle had survived, and he gently placed it down and stood up.
“I can see that you all need ta be taught a lesson!” He roared.
The fight was over in a few seconds. He had single handedly won, and he wasn't ashamed to admit it by standing on a pile of unconscious, groaning Ponies in the middle of the bar. He snorted, steam coming from his snout.
“That's how an Earth Pony does it.”
Applebloom walked over to her brother and shook her head, “AJ's not gonna be happy when she hears about this.”
At once the large stallion shrunk back and moved off his 'pile'.
That brought quite a few laughs from some of the more coherent and conscious Ponies.
Aiden pushed himself up from where he had been knocked out and shook his head. He saw me looking at him and sat bag and patted his muzzle, “What'd I miss?”
“Big Mac won.”
“Predictable. Where's that Unicorn?”
I pointed over to a table at the far end, the young colt was still out of it on the floor.
“Excuse me while I... talk to him some more.”
“Take it easy, Aiden. You don't want to do anything you'll regret.”
“Forest! Are you suggesting that I'd actually hurt him more?”
“Er... yes."
The green Unicorn cackled at me, “You're right...”
It wasn't the kind of torture I had expected, nonetheless, I did feel a little sorry for the colt. Aiden had given him a 'wet-willy', or the Pony version of it. In the human world, it's when you put your finger in your mouth and swirl the moist appendage inside the ear of your victim. Now imagine a hoof in place of the finger. Yeah, I cringed when I saw it too.
“Who's your princess!” Aiden shouted, repeating the action, “Who?”
“Celestia!” The colt whined, “Stop it! It's gross!”
“No, not yet!” He put his other hoof in his other ear, “Who's your other princess?” Aiden looked over his shoulder at me and grinned. He was enjoying this way too much.
“Luna! It's Luna!”
“And don't you forget it!”
As soon as Aiden got off the poor guy, he shook his head sideways trying to empty the contents of his ear as he headed towards the exit. That's when the door burst open and in stepped Ponies in blue.
“Right on time...” I heard Berry's voice sigh.
The fight was over already, so what were they doing here in the first place.
Ponies tried to flee, but from their huge grins it was hard to tell if they were serious or not. It was like a big cops and robbers game, but whatever the case, the next thing I knew I was corralled into a large jail-truck and we soon were heading away from Berry's place.
"Well, that was fun.” Aiden grinned over to me, “Thanks for your 'help' back there.”
“Stop being mean to me. You know I'm not a fighter.”
Aiden laughed, “That's for sure.”
“Why were trying to pick a fight anyway?”
“I wasn't trying, Forest. I did.”
“Fine. Why did you want to fight?"
He chuckled to himself, “After all that's happened, I thought it would be a nice way to... I dunno, sometimes a Pony does things. Silly things. Stupid things.”
“I think I know what you mean, though I don't quantify picking a fight as something to... let your mane down. So to speak.”
Aiden leaned back and rubbed his cheek, “Most Ponies don't fight, Forest. That is, unless we're pushed to it. You should know that. You were there in The Pit. How many of those Ponies just resigned themselves to being a slave? It's not that they like it, but it's because they don't wanna do it. They don't want to harm others. But...” He trailed off.
“But sometimes you've got to do things you don't want to.”
“Exactly,” Aiden shrugged, “For years the Guard has been protecting our borders while the vast majority of the Ponies we protect have no idea what we do... sorry, I'm starting to get preachy, aren't I?”
“I've heard it all before,” I wasn't sure when, but I did, “I suppose it can be rather... unrewarding.”
“Strangely enough, no. I was always content in knowing that others just had no idea what the Guard did. It makes our efforts that much more... valiant. I guess.”
“I never knew that's what you did,” One of the other Ponies spoke up, “That kind of selflessness... it's very humbling...”
He burst out in tears and hugged Aiden tightly.
Aiden rolled his eyes, “And this is another reason why I think most of the Guard don't tell the others what we do.”
Our laughter was drowned out by the bawling mare.
“Out,” The policepony said, waving his baton with his magic, “Everypony into the station. No talking.”
They had caught quite a number of us. We were the last ones in the line, since we were the first ones off. Slowly the line began to shrink as each Pony was given a mug shot, a file to sign, before being released. One of the Ponies was so proud of getting his mugshot taken, he kept trying to show it off to random Ponies along that way.
In a small town like Ponyville, this all seemed pretty pointless.
“Heya, Aiden,” One of the policeponies said, “I'm afraid that you guys have to spend the night here.”
“You're putting us in jail?” He asked.
“Well, according to everypony, you guys did start the fight... apparently.”
“Can't deny that,” Aiden replied, "Not that I'd want to.”
“Look, Aiden, every Pony from here to Canterlot knows that you're angry at Twilight for what Princess Luna did to you, but you can't just take it out on others. As punishment, you're going to spend the night here. It's about time we used the jail for something other than storage anyway...”
“I'm not mad at Twilight or anypony else anymore!” Aiden barked back.
The policepony just pushed him back down into his seat. “Relax. At least you can say you've been in jail. Very few Ponies can get to say that.”
“That isn't something to be proud of...” Aiden muttered and looked over to me, perhaps hoping for some sort of input.
“Well,” I coughed out loud, “Wish I had a harmonica.”
I was unceremoniously tossed one.
“Well... here we are... in jail... just...”
“Shut up, Forest! I'm trying to sleep.” Aiden had turned his back towards me, “Look, I know this might be the first time you've been behind bars, but it isn't mine. Apart from the uncomfortable beds, barely edible food, and random extra company, it isn't all that bad.”
“I can vouch for that,” the extra random Pony in our cell put in, “Sometimes it's the best place to meet new Ponies.”
“Whatever,” I muttered, and put the harmonica to my lips. I began to play, hoping that somehow I'd find my hidden talent in the instrument. After about ten seconds into the attempt, it was clear that a harmonica based Cutie Mark wasn't going to appear on my behind.
“You know," Aiden said sitting up and looking right at me, “If you played like that for the Ursas, you could've just scared them away.”
“Really?” I exclaimed sarcastically.
“You two seem like good friends,” the stallion with us said, “How's about an intro. My name's Rough Rider. Adventurer extraordinaire. Was just breezing through Ponyville when the fight broke out. Couldn't resist joining in the -er- 'festivities'. Thanks for showing me a good time. It was one heck of a duke-out.”
“Rough Rider?”
“That's my name, though most of my friends call me Rider, or Rye, if you're feeling extra lazy, which is most of the time, so... yeah, just call me Rye, if you like.”
“Rye? Okay. Sure. Why not. I'm Forest, and that grumpy, green Unicorn is Aiden. As you can see, we've been arrested for causing the fuss over at Berry's, but what about you? I didn't notice you doing anything.”
Rough scratched the back of his head, “Well, I kinda... started it too.”
“Well, when you arrived, I think it was originally him that started the whole 'we-don't-need-Princesses' thing. Just that being a Guard, you kinda get defensive about protecting them. I love the Princesses. I would gladly put my neck on the line for them because without them, you really think we'd have this paradise?” Aiden laughed to himself and shook his head, “Somehow, I highly doubt that. Wisdom comes with age, and there is nopony alive older than the Princesses.”
“You know, if they're princesses, what about the queen?”
At that Aiden's smile faded away, “We don't talk about that. It's a very touchy subject even today.”
“Oh.”
Rye looked at me more than a little bit confused, “How can you not know the story? It's one of the three lessons you learn when you leave school...”
“Amnesia.”
“You don't remember anything?” He asked, doubt plastered across his face.
“Look, while I admit that I have no memory of my past, I think I kinda have a right to know what...”
“Okay, enough talk.” The policepony said at the cell's door, “It's lights out. Not a peep, or I'll put you in the cooler, and trust me, since our fridge broke, it really is the cooler. So, stop your yammering.”
Aiden looked over at me and shrugged, "The next time then, okay?”
“I guess so. Good night.”
“Night.”
“Night.”
“Night.”
With that, the lights went out, and the blue glow from Luna's moon found its way through the barred window. In my mind three things occupied it. One was Trixie's apology and forgiveness. How she managed to earned it from Brian. The Kind and Humble Trixie he had said, and to be honest I thought that it suited her a whole lot better than her other, self-proclaimed title. The second thing on my mind was how deliciously Twilight was acting with me. Our short but sweet date had completely converted how I felt about being in a relationship, which led me to my third and final thought.
Rainbow.
Again I felt her lips pressed against mine. It just kept appearing in my head, and I couldn't stop thinking about it. It was strange because I felt so much affection for Twilight, yet I also felt so much for Rainbow as well. I didn't know whether it was affection I felt for the Pegasus, or just... something else, but whatever it was it just felt both wrong and right. Saying I was confused would have been an understatement.
"What's on your mind, Forest?” Aiden asked quietly.
"I would tell you, but we're not alone...” I motioned with my head towards Rye, “It wouldn't be fair on the girls if I told you in front of him.”
“You're right, that was callous of me. How'd your date go? Pretty good?”
I felt my cheeks catch on fire.
“That good, huh? Well, well, well. Aren't you the lucky one.”
“Nothing happened, okay? We just had dinner...”
“Those are pretty rosy cheeks for a 'just dinner' date. Oh wait!” Aiden grinned at me, “I forgot about this afternoon's... confession? The one the nurse got out of you. Yeah, I guess it would explain why you've got such a flushed complexion.”
While he laughed, I tried very hard to give him a glare. I didn't need to be reminded that I had inadvertently confessed I was a virgin.
“I can never understand mares,” Rye stated, rubbing his chin with his hoof, “They are a mystery within a mystery. Try solving one aspect, and a thousand more questions come running at you.”
Aiden and I both nodded I heads. He was right. Females in general were complicated.
“Didn't I tell you that it was lights out?” The policepony said from the cell door, “Just go to sleep. The sooner you do, the sooner you can get out of this place.”
“Will do, officer. Sorry.” Rye said and looked to us, “Good night.”
I sat on a bed at the far end of the room and looked at the moon once more.
“I'm sorry Tues,” I mumbled quietly to myself before laying my head down on the pillow, “Five days left. Only five days... then I'll be all yours...”
“Jail?” Twilight asked, “Why?”
“For starting a fight,” Nurse Redheart stated, “Apparently they aren't hurt very badly and will be fine in the morning.”
“Oh, Forest,” Twilight moaned.
“Relax, Twilight. It's not like he's going anywhere.” Spike held his sister in a quick hug, “Let's go home.”
“Okay. Good night, Brian.”
“Night, Twilight.” The human saluted her casually.
“Night, Rainbow.”
“See ya in the morning!”
Twilight smiled, closed her eyes, and when she opened them again she found herself standing in her living room, surrounded by her books.
“Home sweet home.”
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44,000 WORDS
FFS I WANT TO READ THIS NOW BUT IT'S TOO LONG SHEEEEEEEET.
I'll TRY to read it later as well as now, but .....
well it took me about an hour but ive read it and damn good job though i think tutula is going to be really pissed when she finds that stuff out. and the spell keeping him human wont last forever..... unless he is a changeling... but hes not and he better not be one or i will somehow teleport to you and watch as pinkie bitch slaps you with a turkey.
1706090 you just wanted first post... diddnt you....
I believe he could've just said that he heard Brian singing it in the hospital, also there a quite a few grammatical mistakes but meh still a bloody awesome story/chapters.
1706403
Whaaaat, nah...
images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120527113937/mlp/images/2/2d/Applejack_Corrupted.png
Of course you post a forty-four thousand word chapter that I won't have time to read before work...
FINALLY! God DAMN that took you a helluva long time..
Good chapter.
1706932 Glad you like it.
1707058 Damn straight I enjoyed it.
I like this story.
Not a huge fan of all the various OC or the crossover with My Little Dashie, but woooow 320k words with a non-Mary Sue main character, it's really good.
And Derpy as a badass royal guard
1707748 I'm glad you enjoy it. It tickles me bones.
*wakes up and signs on* oh he updated the story sweet*hour later* HOLY SHIT IT STILL GOES ON*done readong* it may be a loong as story but worth the read
phew! was dying of waiting, but this 44k chapter has re-invigorated me! keep on keepin on my friend!
This one one helluva chapter.
I like how Cherilee was all just like oh Forest isnt human, whatever.
Derpy is best guard
So much romance and action all rolled into one big ball of story. Amazing. Glad to see you're back.
I last thing: Big mac is a fucking beast.
I love this chapter and I didn't think so much could happen in one day I was sure wrong. Though now we do know that forest will have to leave after 5 days unless something extravagant happens.
FINALLY!! Well nice chapter. One typo found around half way through:
Was that on purpose?
Long chapter is long.
You have been busy my friend, and of course it was a magnificent piece of literary work.
(Oh, and a very aptly named chapter!)
Keep up the good work, I can't wait to see how this crazy train ride ends at the hands of our excellent conductor!
This bitch took me three hours to read... THREE HOURS. I guess it's time to go to sleep considering its 2AM.
1709755 Oops. That's supposed to be 'colt'.
GASP!
OH MY GAWD YOU UPDATED!
Took me 3 days to read this...
I'm starting to hate my own damn OC.
FACE APPLEJACK YOU COWARD!!! FUCK ORDERS YOU HAVE A MARE TO LOVE!!!
...in cases like this, making sense is the least thing you would want to do...
Excellent as always.
1719945 Don't be too hard on the guy...
finally after 3.5 days
day one-Thursday 11/29 : read 1/4 of it after coming home from school late
day 2- Friday 11/30: came home read 1/6 from last time, distracted
day3- saterday 12/01: forced to go to school due to regents score, read 1/2 of last time
today 12/02: finally finished
deathtap you awesome, this brony wants more
,
but not to long of a chapter
DAYUM THIS IS LONG. Will have multiple edits as I go along. And
ERMAGERD ERPDATE MERUST REARD NER!!!!
Edit 1.
Edit 2.
Ya put the boom boom into ma heaaaaaart.
Edit 3.
Ahh so thats how your going to stretch it out. Hmm
Edit 4.
I'm laughing at the pic in my mind.
Edit 5.
Edit 6.
I thinks its time for Forest to Fuu
1.bp.blogspot.com/-CTdmuhtafL0/Tm4UyUNHXsI/AAAAAAAAA-U/8KnGHc7tcEw/s1600/FUUUUU+Rage+face+meme.jpg
Been waiting for this for a while now. See the update, 44,000 words. I say screw it. Now, here I am at 4 in the morning after reading for over 3 hours.
Pretty good read though, wish I found this during the day though
i.qkme.me/35lz43.jpg
Words... Words... absolutely can't describe what I just read the past few days.
You are truly an expert, no, beyond that. I can never ever EVER, Hope to compare any of my stories with yours.
This is why I made my story. If you can make one of the best fanfic's I've ever read in my entire life, then I can at least try.
Don't you dare stop this project until we all see big letters at the end of the last chapter saying "THE END"
Amazing, just... amazing.
MWAHAHA THOU SHALT NVR B LUCKY (idk if spoiler)
Forest: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
Ya know, at first, I thought you were talking about rape.
CURSE YOU DIRTY MIND!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!
Hol-ee shit, it took my three hours to read this chapters. This is probably the second longest chapter I've read, with the first being at six hours.
this is one of those stories where i can actually ignore the mispelt words.
And yes, there's a lot.