• Published 10th Jul 2012
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Shackles and Friendship - Zaibatsu



A HiE fic filled with light comedy and a bit of adventure. Enjoy.

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Chapter 23 - WE GOT BEER PEOPLE!!

Shackles and Friendship
Chapter 23 - WE GOT BEER PEOPLE!!
Edited by Noxxels

Credit to teamsapphire for the inspiration.

AN: Thumbs up for the biggest chapter yet!


The trek back to Ponyville was far less laborious than before because: one, I had a chance to rest up and two, Scootaloo decided to ride her scooter instead of me. I could easily tell the offer was extremely tempting for her but for some reason she declined. Her reason being I was far too slow for her liking, but something tells me that was just an excuse. I didn't press the issue considering we'd just met so I seriously doubt she'd indulge my curiosity. Plus, seeing as she was definitely the most energetic and fit of the three I feared she could twist or turn my neck beyond its limits, maybe even break it if I’m not careful. And after the stress Applebloom and Sweetie Belle did on my shoulder I doubt I’ll suffer through one hell of a muscle pain, probably won’t be able to properly lift my hands tomorrow.

We continued to make our way back to Ponyville with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle trotting by my side while Scootaloo stayed on her scooter ahead of us, loudly egging me to pick up my pace. Obviously, she was still a bit peeved at how slow I was walking. After the first fifteen minutes she gave up complaining and simply played around riding circles around us and joining in on the conversation. For obvious reasons, the topic of our conversations were all mostly about myself or something that has do with me. How I walk on two legs, why I walk on two legs, my clothes, where I came from, how I got here and so forth. However, I hesitated a bit when they questioned about the shackles around my arms.

My initial thoughts were to simplify the answer, hoping the children would understand, "Because I need them to protect myself" or something like that. It did make me contemplate whether or not I should hide the nature of my powers from public, it would certainly make sense to do so. I can't just walk around saying "OH! They prevent me from sucking up all your magic away because that's just what I do".

'Rarity was right, there's enough stigma on me already and there's really no reason to add fuel to the flame, I'll have to ask Twilight the next chance I get.'

In the end I simply told them that it was important that I wear them at all times even when sleeping, immediately adding it was just a human thing to stop them from prying any further. I wasn't surprised by their curiosity considering they are children after all. It's why they can ask anything they want without holding anything back. It was quite adorable really and it’s not like we have anything else better to talk about, though unfortunately it got old real quick when they started asking increasingly personal questions.

"No Applebloom I don't have a girlfriend and yes, that is the human equivalent of a marefriend."

"Equiwhat?"

"Equi-va-lent" I spoke the word out slowly to Sweetie Belle. "Means something equal or similar." I turned to Applebloom cutting in before she could say anything. "And no I'm still not asking your sister out!"

'That's actually not a bad idea, I've been craving for a bite of her apples.'

'I'm not dating anyone, let alone a pony just for apples!'

'I said "her apples".' I cringed when that image popped into my head, which unfortunately Applebloom misinterpreted.

"Why not!? She ain't good enough fer yah?" Applebloom asked in an upset tone.

"Because we've only just met and other than growing apples and being an awesome cook I don't know anything else about her." I took a deep slow breath to calm myself before continuing. "Is it normal for you to hook up your family members?" I threw the question out as a joke but the way all three fillies froze for just the briefest moment was all the answer I needed. "You gotta be kidding me."

"It...kinda worked." Sweetie Belle spoke with a small sheepish grin.

"We just accidentally mixed up potion with poison." Scootaloo added.

"Now why in blazes did'ya go and spout that off?" Applebloom shouted, "he don't need tah know that part!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose and let out a long sigh while Applebloom started bickering with Scootaloo, "Alright that's enough of that." I decided it was best to change the subject, mostly for my sake. "So which part of Ponyville are you girls taking me to first?" They all paused for a second before putting a hoof on their chin, obviously neither of them had given it much thought or none at all. "Why don't we just walk around town and you three can tell me what's what and who's who?"

"I guess that'll work." replied Scootaloo.

"Sounds simple, I like it." added Sweetie Belle.

"Ah'm ok with that." Applebloom concluded.

"Good," I gazed up to the sky, "cause by the looks of it we won't have time to see all of it."

"And who's fault is that?" Scootaloo said irritably at me. I let her have the last word in and continued on towards Ponyville which was already in sight. Unfortunately, it didn't take long before the conversation veered back to my love life.

"Why don't you ask Rainbow Dash out? There's nopony cooler than Rainbow Dash." Scootaloo asked.

"Is not, he's asking Applejack out!" shouted Applebloom.

"Is too."

"Is not."

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Girls no more arguing! And I am not asking anyone out on a date." I spoke in a tired tone.

"Yeah! It's rude making him ask somepony he doesn't like on a date." I looked down at Sweetie Belle pleasantly surprised.

"Thank you Sweetie Belle, that's nice of you-"

"He clearly prefers Rarity seeing as she's the most beautiful and ladylike pony in Ponyville." Sweetie Belle added with a hint of pride in her voice.

"Oh for the love of god." I let out another frustrated breath as the three fillies suddenly fell into a heated argument which soon enough became more of a shouting contest. It was evidently clear I wasn't going to be able to stop them at this point so I just tried to ignore them as we traveled. I could only hope they'd get bored and move on by the time we reached Ponyville.

[About 20 mins later, in Ponyville....]

"Rainbow Dash is the best flyer in Equestria!"

"Applejack’s the toughest mare!"

"But Rarity is the most beautiful!"

The bad news is that they haven't stopped, good news is that the conversation soon became an argument of whose a better pony. I should probably have stopped them, but I feared they would most likely just revert back to the original topic. Still, I can't walk around town with them screaming like that.

"Girls that's enough we're-Girls!" None of them were paying attention. "Oh for crying out loud." I was about to lift them all an inch from the ground to grab their attention but due to recent events I've made it a habit to question my actions further than I usually do. Setting three fillies alight in blue flames would definitely send the townsfolk into a frenzy. So instead I moved in closer and cast my shadow over the three fillies. It took several seconds for them to realize the sudden loss of light in the area but soon enough each filly slowly turned and tilted their head to look up at me.

'Time for some payback.'

Before either of them could say or do anything I bent over and reached out towards Sweetie Belle and Applebloom and grabbed them both by the side. With my fingers under their belly I immediately started tickling them and poking at their ribs, sending them into the agonizing embrace of a tickle attack.

"Hahahaaa! Rodney! Hahaaa! S-stop!" shouted Sweetie Belle.

"Kyaahaahaaahaha! Quit it-haahahaha! Ah'ma wet myself!" screamed Applebloom.

They tried to run away but I easily prevented that by lifting them just an inch above ground which made them kick about randomly, trying to use the momentum to free themselves. I continued to torture them for about a minute before finally letting them off and dropping them to the ground only to turn my gaze upon Scootaloo who has been giggling and laughing at her friend's expense. Her mirth immediately died the moment my eyes locked on to her with a mad glee clearly showing my intent.

"Ponyfeathers." She started galloping off towards her scooter hoping to run away, or tried to. Unfortunately for her I'd glued one of her hooves to the ground with my magnet spell, a very weak one meant to simply trip her over so it only made her hoof glow a bit instead of catching fire. After all, not a lot of ponies know how my spells look and I didn't want to frighten her to death thinking she caught fire out of nowhere. Her tumble gave me enough time to reach out and grabbed the orange pegasus by one of her hind hooves and dragged her back towards me.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She screamed while trying to dig into the earth, creating twin ditches as I continued to pull her closer. Unlike Sweetie Belle and Applebloom I focused entirely on torturing Scootaloo and tickled her with both hands on each side of her body. She tried to squirm and flee my grasp, much like the other two who were now getting back on their hooves but to no avail. Instead of enjoying Scootaloo’s predicament much as she did theirs, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle leaped on my back wrapping their hooves around my neck screaming at the top of their lungs.

"CUTIE-MARK CRUSADERS TICKLE HUMAN CATCHERS!!" Out reflex I tried to cover both my ears with my hands only to lose balance and fall on my back. Luckily I was already crouched low so neither Sweetie Belle nor Applebloom were hurt from the fall nor from my weight. These ponies probably have a greater body density than humans do.

I didn't really have much time to think further on it because as soon as Applebloom and Sweetie Belle wormed their way out from under me they immediately jumped right on top and started to to exact their revenge. Despite their lack of fingers these ponies somehow found a way to tickle my sides and dig their way past my clothes, the sensation of their fur on my skin only made it worse. However one thing still remains a fact: hooves are freakin hard. As a result I was laughing hard from the tickles yet at the same time was suffering in pain from the flat ends of their hooves which felt like jabs and punches.

"Hahahahaha-wait Sweetie Be-AH! Applebloom that's my kidn-GAHahahaha! No wait Scoota-GUUUHH!" Scootaloo somehow got the bright idea to leap up as high as she could with her wings flapping like a bee trying to gain as much altitude as possible before dropping dead center on my chest right between Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. "I give hehehehahahahaaa! Surrender! Mercy!" It was only after I pleaded so did they finally stopped beating my ass.

'This is just sad.'

I laid at the ground trying to catch my breath which took some effort with Scootaloo standing on top of me striking a pose with her right front hoof pointed towards the sky. "I claim this victory in the name of the Cutie-Mark Crusaders!" She shouted which caused the other two to yell and hop in circles around me. I could hear the laughter and giggles from the nearby ponies who stopped to watch the scene. Whether they were laughing at me or just enjoying the scene didn't really matter much to me, in fact it might help them see me less of a threat.

I reached out and lifted Scootaloo and placed her on the ground next to me before finally getting back on my feet, only to see the three fillies looking down at the ground with a disappointed pout. "What's gotten to you three?" I asked.

"We didn't get our cutie-marks." Sweetie Belle answered.

"As...tickle human catchers?" All three nodded their heads in sync.

'Exactly how desperate are they?'

"Cheer up girls, I'm sure you'll get them someday. Besides you still haven't shown me around town yet."

Their looked at each other for a moment, "Oh yeah, forgot 'bout that." spoke Applebloom.

The moment I saw each filly took a deep breath I immediately stuffed my ears with a finger, "CUTIE-MARK CRUSADERS TOUR GUIDES! YAY!"

I merely shook my head at their antics before we finally set off to explore the town in random. It didn't take long for us to settle down to routine, mostly we would walk around town and I would try to commit the sights into memory while keeping an eye on the fillies. Once in awhile I would ask them about a store or building that caught my interest. Some of the buildings in town had a sign hanging on atop the front but it was either a picture or symbol and never contain any actual words, from what I could tell they were all either stores or some service. One particular building had what appeared to be a picture of a large sand hourglass which at first I thought it was some kind of time shop or maybe even an antique shop, however the interior design and look suggested it wasn’t a store at all.

"So what's this place?" I asked the fillies. When I didn't get an immediate reply like I usually did I looked at them and saw how each filly had an irritated look on their faces.

"Can we skip this one?" Scootaloo begged which of course only made me that much more interested.

"That didn't sound like something a professional tour guide would say, what happened to all that enthusiasm?" They each turned to look at each other nervously. "Oh come now girls, how bad can it be?"

"It's the dentist." Replied Applebloom in a sour tone.

'Ah, that explains it.'

'I know these ponies are quite advance in medicine and health care so dentistry shouldn't be much of a surprise. But still....hooves.'

"Am I correct to assume the dentist is a unicorn?" I asked.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" replied Scootaloo.

'Because if it wasn't for magic I'd wager going to the dentist includes some fatal risk. Or a dislocated jaw.'

"Just a guess." I answered with a shrug. "C'mon let's go in."

"Do we really have to? Can't we just stay out here?"

"Sweets I promise you're not having an appointment, none of you are. And I promised to keep an eye on you so no, I'm not leaving any of you alone." Hearing they were safe from the dentist's care we proceeded inside the building.

Much like Carousel Boutique there was a bell above the door which rang to signal our presence. The entrance room was pretty much a simple waiting room with two couches against the wall with a small table in the center, all in all it all felt cozy. I waited for several moments until the back door opened to reveal a unicorn mare with light blue coat with a deeper and lighter shade of blue for her mane and tail.

The moment she saw me her expression became one of uncertainty and anxiety, "Uhh can I...help you?" With some hesitation she trotted up to the stand behind the counter while I kept a non threatening demeanor. However her hesitation and fear was replaced by confusion when she spotted the Crusaders standing behind me. "Girls? What are you three doing here?"

"Hi Doctor Colgate." They all spoke in a synchronized, unenthusiastic tone.

'A dentist named Colgate....this world just keeps on throwing it huh?'

Considering this was our first meeting I decided to put on the Rarity act again, "Hello Doctor...Colgate was it? My name is Rodney, I'm sure you've heard about me." I gently extended my right hand out over the counter towards her causing her to stare at my shackles in confusion. "Please don't let it confuse you, I am by no means anyone dangerous and have no ill intent towards anyone. My reasons for wearing them are....complicated."

"I....see." There was some clear hesitation but eventually she placed her hoof on my palms and we greeted each other.

"I was just exploring the town and trying to take in the sights with the help of these children. Am I to understand that you are the resident dentist in Ponyville?" I could almost feel the girl's confusion at my sudden change change in my speech.

"Yes you are correct, my name is Minuette." I tilted my head in confusion. "Colgate is just a nickname Pinkie Pie called me during my 'Welcome to Ponyville' party and it sorta stuck," she explained. "Still not sure why she called me that in the first place."

"A pleasure to meet you Minuette." I gave her a small simple bow. "The reason I came into your establishment was simply out of curiosity and I had hoped to begin befriending new ponies. I just hope I wasn't disturbing your busy schedule." Either it was my manner of speech or seeing girls being comfortable with me, calmed her down rather quickly.

"Oh I see, well I'm always up to meeting new ponies-er, sorry but what are you exactly?"

"Human ma'am."

"Oh please call me Minuette, or Colgate, take your pick." she replied with a shrug. "And don't worry about bothering me, my last appointment for today already left some time ago." She turned to walk around the counter and made her way to stand in front of me. It was then that I noticed the sign out front was the exact replica of her mark, a sand hourglass.

"I'm sorry if this sounds too personal but, is it not true that cutie-marks represent the talent one is most gifted at?" I asked gently.

"You're wondering what my cutie-mark have to do with dentistry right?"

"If it's not too bold of me to ask."

"Don't worry about it, everypony ask about it all the time. My special talent is simply for always being on time, I've never been late for pretty much anything less I can help it. I simply have a gift for remembering where I need to be, when I need to be there, and what I should do to make it on time. Now you might be wondering, how that has anything to do with dental care? You see I found out I can help keep track of things other ponies might forget. My parents thought I was meant to be a secretary or somepony's assistant, maybe even for Princess Celestia herself. Instead I turned to general health care in order to-"

"To keep track of everyone's health and well being." I finished.

"Correct, I actually work together with Ponyville Hospital to keep track of everypony's health and make necessary appointments for ponies who otherwise might forget. Monthly appointments, yearly injections and making sure everypony remember to stock up on any medication they might need, to name a few. Dentistry is simply something I've fallen in love with, you'd be surprised how much you can learn about somepony from studying their teeth."

I chuckled at her last comment, "I'm not sure I actually want to know that much about someone, too much power for my taste. Well then Colgate, it's very nice to meet you." With a wide smile I bent over and extended my hand again for a shake.

Out of nowhere Colgate suddenly jumped and pushed me down to the floor, luckily I was quick enough to balance myself out so instead of falling on my injured back I fell on my ass in a sitting position.

"Uhm Rodney, there's something you might want to know about doctor Col-" But before Sweetie Belle could finish, Colgate reached up and pulled my face down forcing me to look at her with her muzzle only a few centimeters away from my face. I could smell her breath which was extremely minty and fresh.

"You have FANGS!?" She had a maniacal grin splayed across her face.

"Uh...yes?"

"Are you carnivore?" I'm not sure how but she somehow found a right angle to squeeze my cheeks with both her front hooves forcing me to open my mouth. Quicker than I thought possible she shoved the edge of both her front hooves into my mouth and pried it open further. "No wait you have molars in the back, an omnivore then."

"Uaah ah hu hoih!?" I grasped both her hooves and tried to pry myself free but she just wouldn't budge.

"Shuush, don't bother me! Oh this is so exciting! The only other meat eaters I've treated were gryphons and they don’t have any teeth. What in Celestia am I suppose to do with beaks!?"

'If this goes on she'll rip out our jaw.' Unfortunately I was inclined to agree from the way she kept prying my mouth to open wider.

At first I was about to drain her just enough to pry her hooves away but it was tough trying to concentrate while someone was splitting your face in half. Even if I could Twilight will only give me hell later, so I decided to apply some scare tactic instead. I traced the inside of my mouth with a levitation spell that hardly had enough magic to have any effect, however there was enough of to make my mouth look like a small furnace.

To my surprise the blue unicorn wasn't fazed at all, in fact she even started scolding me. "Now that can't be healthy! It might kill some germs but think of the gums!" She was inching closer and closer and I was certain she was about to stick her muzzle inside my mouth just to get a closer look at my teeth.

Seeing as she wasn't at all frightened or even startled by my spells I decided it was relatively safe to use my spells on her, though I'll have to explain it to the girls after. I terminated the levitation spell in my mouth and immediately cast a magnet spell on her flank and another one of the opposite polarity to the wall behind her. Unfortunately I'd underestimated Colgate’s tenacity, the spell was working just fine and she was being pulled towards the wall however she suddenly wrapped her hooves around my head thus dragging my ass along for the ride. From my seated position I tried to create as much traction as possible with my hands and feet but this mare just wouldn't let me go.

'Gods it's like she has hooves like a-'

'Horse?'

'Not now dammit!'

As if that wasn’t enough the Crusaders have decided to lend a hand, or hoof I guess. "CUTIE-MARK CRUSADERS TO THE RESCUE!!" Although I couldn't turn my head thanks to Colgate, I was still able to sort of guess what transpired.

I could feel one of the fillies biting down on the back of my shirt and started pulling back hard, from her voice I would wager it was Sweetie Belle, "Kah'mon hirls! Phull!" I could feel the other two helping when Sweetie Belle suddenly started pulling twice as hard.

Despite Colgate's iron grip hooves were still hooves and her fur only made it easier to slip off. The moment we broke contact was like a slingshot sending the fillies and myself flying backwards into a messy pile. Colgate on the other hand hit the wall with a loud THUD which made me worry, but she easily picked herself up from the floor with her flank still stuck to the wall.

"Time to go!" I shouted while grabbing all three fillies of the floor. With Sweetie Belle under my left arm and the other two on my right, with Scootaloo being upside down, I carried them out the front door as fast as I safely could.

Before I even hit five feet from the building we could hear Colgate shouting from inside, "You'll have to come see me one day Rodney! I'll get my hooves on those fangs you hear me!? No teeth lasts forever!"

(AN: Thank you teamsapphire for the Colgate scene.)

My pace quickened as I continued to carry the three fillies away from the mad dentist, who knew anyone could be so obsessed with teeth. Though seeing as most of her clients are herbivores I can somewhat understand the thrill of working with an unknown or exotic, I guess being a meat eater counts as the later.

Once I finally got enough distance to feel relatively safe I settled the laughing fillies down the ground, with exception to Scootaloo who had suddenly taken on a greener color. "You ok there Scoots?"

With some effort she nodded while trying to keep herself from blowing chunks, "I think so." We took a break under the shade of a nearby tree giving time for Scootaloo to settle down. "But what about the fire though? Shouldn't we ask somepony for help?"

"Yeah about that," I waited until each filly focused their attention on me. "Those flames you saw earlier is actually how my spells manifest themselves," they looked confusedly at me. "What my spells look like," I clarified. "I'm actually surprised you two didn't panic when you saw it."

"If it weren't fer Sweetie Belle ah probably would actually." Applebloom jerked her head a bit towards Sweetie Belle.

"Same here, I just jumped the moment she screamed for help." added Scootaloo.

"Well I've seen it when Rodney and I was cleaning up the boutique before so...."

"Well I guess I know who to thank then." I reached out and rubbed Sweetie Belles head causing her to laugh and giggle again before dodging away beyond my reach. "Alright then, let's change thing up a bit. What's the first place that comes to mind when you hear 'Ponyville'?" I asked.

"The boutique!" shouted Sweetie Belle.

"The farm." replied Applebloom.

"Rainbow Dash." mumbled Scootaloo.

"That ain't even a place."

"Well it should! Somepony should name someplace after her."

"Enough." I warned before Applebloom and Scootaloo could fall into another argument. "Alright, second place then."

"Sugarcube Corner." they answered instantly.

"Third?"

"Our clubhouse!"

"Ok cool where's that?"

"In mah farm." answered Applebloom.

"Ok last shot then. What's next?" They contemplated in silence for a few seconds.

"We'll it's not exactly a place..." spoke Sweetie Belle.

"More like several." added Applebloom.

"There's this street called Hoofpoint that has the best shops in town." Scootaloo's color was slowly returning when she spoke. "It has the coolest toy shop where I got my scooter." She pointed to her scooter in the distance which was leaning next to the front door of Colgate's establishment.

"Ah that's right, we forgot you scooter back there."

"No worries, I leave it around town all the time. Most ponies know it's mine." She tried standing as tall as possible while puffing out her chest in a proud manner. "Because nopony else can ride my scooter like I can!"

'I guess I shouldn't be surprised how there's hardly any crime here, I've yet to see or hear anyone being arrested. I don't know if the entire world is like this or it’s just this town in particular.'

'That'll take some time getting used to.'

"Yer also gonna find the candy shop there!" Applebloom was getting excited while licking her lips. "It's as good as Sugarcube Corner except instead of pastries it's all candies!"

"It's also where we get some of the stuff we need when we go Crusading for our cutie-marks." Sweetie Belle was just as enthusiastic about the shops there. "There's even a hardware store where you can get power tools!"

"And exactly how did you know where to get power tools?" Before either could answer I raise a hand to stop them. "Forget I asked." With a grunt I pushed myself off the ground and got back on my feet. "Well it's a good place as any I suppose, shall we get going then?"

We made our way at a casual pace towards Hoofpoint street with the girls leading the way while I tried to strike up a casual conversation to help pass the time. This time though I took the reins, so to speak, of the conversation asking some basic information about them and their daily life as well as about myself to get better acquainted. I learned about the school they attend which sounded a lot like pre-school back on my world though there are some differences. For instance each race of ponies would undergo a different test or examination once in awhile specific to their abilities. For obvious reasons earth ponies tend to be excused from such events though they do have one specifically for them, just far less frequent.

The fillies were right though, Hoofpoint was everything they mentioned and then some. Every building on the street were all mostly shops and services of a wide variety, from sweet shops to mechanical hardware and even a gym, were all lined up along the way. The street was quite lively with quite a number of ponies going about their business with unicorns floating their purchased items while the rest either used saddlebags or just carried them in their mouths. It reminded me of Trademare's Street but the stores there mostly sell supplies and raw materials instead of finished products.

'Guess that explains the name.'

"So where to first?"

"........"

"Girls?" I looked down and around but the fillies who were just standing next to me a second ago were gone without a trace. "GIRLS!?" My heart skipped a beat and I had to take a couple of deep breaths to calm myself and prevent a panic attack.

'Easy now, this ain't our world so don't go jumping to conclusions. They probably just ran off somewhere.'

'Ok so where would three fillies like them go in a street like-' The answer came to me faster than I could finish questioning myself. I ran down the street while scrutinizing every store and their symbols on both sides and before long I halted to a stop right in front of a sign with a picture of three wrapped candies.

Despite my efforts to remain calm I entered the candy store a bit too aggressively causing quite a commotion, making the ponies inside turn their heads to stare at me. I didn’t pay them much mind and they mostly went unnoticed as I scanned each row and corner of the store for those fillies. I let out a sigh of relief once I spotted them busy tinkering with some large machine in the back of the store.

"Excuse me, but could you please move out of the way? You're blocking the door." A cream colored earth pony was standing in front of me with an irritated look on her face. Her mane and tail had a startling contrast of pink and dark blue while her mark was the exact same three wrapped candies as the sign outside. Behind her stood several ponies of varying age carrying small colorful bags trying to leave the store.

"Oh sorry I was just...sorry." I took a few steps sideways into the store where the ponies slowly made a line to exit the building, each of them glanced sideways at me as they passed by me.

"I take it you're the one everypony's been talking about?" Asked the cream colored mare from before, she was eyeing me up and down giving disapproving looks. At first I thought she meant the shackles on my arms but looking down at myself I realize she probably meant everything about me. My clothes were heavily stained with dirt and bits of foliage after the trip to the farm, not to mention the smell after bathing in my own sweat all day. "I'm sorry but I have to ask you leave my store, it's not anything personal it's just I can't have you accidentally contaminating any of my products."

'Funny hearing that from a race that actually eats plants from dirt.'

"It'll ruin the flavor."

'Oh.'

"I'm sorry ma'am but I can't," I replied in a calm manner. "I'm currently responsible for those three," I pointed towards the Crusaders who were still busy playing with the machine completely oblivious to us. "I'm not implying their in any danger while inside your store but I did gave my word I'd keep an eye on them."

'Probably both my eyes after their little disappearing act.'

She looked back down to gaze at my shackles suspiciously, turning around to the girls she shouted, "Girls! Do you know this...."

"Human."

"This human?" The three fillies turned their heads to look at us.

"Yup!"

"Uh huh."

"Sure."

Satisfied that I was telling her the truth she turned and spoke to me with a bit more warmly than before, "So do you have a name mister human?"

"Just call me Rodney ma'am, and please don't worry about me. These chains are there for an entirely different reasons other than what you think." I bent over and held out my hand. "I am simply here hoping to better know the ponies I'll be living with, nothing more."

"I suppose the Princess wouldn't send somepony dangerous to live with us." She placed her hoof on my hands and we shook. "Bon Bon, welcome to my candy shop. But back to the matter at hoof, those three are my regular customers but that doesn't mean you can hang around my store looking like that." She raised a hoof and pointed towards a door on the side, "The bathroom is through there, you should find everything you need to clean yourself up."

"You're letting me into your home after we just met?"

"I live a few blocks from here with my roommate actually, all the extra rooms I have act as kitchens and storerooms." She added before pointing to the door a second time, "Bathroom, clean, now. Or do I have to drag you in there?"

I raised my eyebrow surprised at her forwardness, "I take it you're the dominant one in the house then?" I teased as I made my way towards the door.

"Somepony has to keep that unicorn in line," she commented before trotting towards a line of ponies. "Now if you'll excuse me I have to attend the store."

"Uhm one more question, what are those three doing with that machine?" I jerked my head to point at the machine. "It's not dangerous is it?"

"Oh that? It's my candy maker, something I design to let the kids make their own candies. You can change the flavor, size, color and so much more." There was a great sense of pride in her voice.

"I take it the machine uses magic?"

'That or this mare must be some mechanical genius to create such a complex piece of machinery.'

"It does actually, I designed it but my roommate wove the spells and enchanted it for me. She drops by to power it up once a while."

"No I meant if it...nevermind." I made my way past the door as Bon Bon went back to her customers. The bathroom was just where she said it was, it was very basic and shared the same design as Twilight's library. That made me pause for at the door for a moment, remembering back to that event I decided to take some precaution. Turning on my 'Sense' I scanned every nook and cranny of the bathroom with my 'Sight' for any trace of magic, specifically upwards at the ceiling. Fortunately as far as I could tell the bathroom was completely free of any magical influence, they probably design the store to work manually because the owner was an earth pony or something.

'Then again, Twilight's house was an actually living tree so that might be a special case.' With no threat of any catastrophe I began undressing and tried my best to clean up my clothes, even with magic, before finally getting into the shower for a quick wash up. All the while contemplating how I would scold those three for disappearing from me like that.

[Meanwhile.....]

"You really think he'll like it?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"Of course he will, who doesn't like candy?" replied Scootaloo she threw the ninth block of sugar into the machine.

"I guess," Sweetie Belle was still feeling unsure about the whole idea. "I still think we shouldn't have run off like that, don't you think he'll be mad at us?"

"Don't worry 'bout it Sweetie Belle, ah'm sure he'll forget it all once we surprise him with the best candies in Equestria." Applebloom was busy setting and turning the various dials and knobs around the back of the machine.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing? Bon Bon said to use these controls." Sweetie Belle pointed towards another set of colorful dials and buttons which looked much simpler to use.

"But none of them makes the candy any bigger." There were a few more clicks and squeaks as Applebloom continued to tinker with the machine. "Since he's bigger than anypony ah've seen he probably eats more candies."

"Does that mean Princess Celestia also eats more than everypony?" Asked Scootaloo as she threw in the thirteenth block of sugar.

"Ah.......guess?" There was a moment of silence as each filly pictured their own version of their divine ruler stuffing her face with food.

[Elsewhere.....]

As Celestia made her way towards her throne room she felt a sudden jolt of ice travel up her back making the fur on her neck stand at their ends.

"Somepony knows."

[Back at Bon Bon's shop.....]

"Well, ah think that does it." Applebloom came out from behind the machine just as Scootaloo threw in several more blocks of sugar. "How many of those have'ya thrown in?"

Scootaloo tapped her chin in thought, "I lost count, but the sweeter the better right?" Scootaloo threw in another block before they made their way to stand next to Sweetie Belle in front of a big red button.

"Everything ready?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"Yup!"

"Well, here goes nothing."

[In the bathroom.....]

I scrutinized myself in the mirror and felt quite pleased with my accomplishment, my clothes were still stained with brown patches of dirt but at the least it looked like I fell down rather than rolling around on the dirt and dead leaves, which I did. Confident that Bon Bon wouldn’t kick me out, I left the bathroom and made my way back towards the storefront. But just as I was about to reach for the door something hit it from the other side, leaving a sizable dent and sending splinters flying at me.

"What the hell!?" Only moments ago the only sound I could hear was the occasional chatter and ponies walking around the store, but now there were cries of fear and panic. The moment I pushed through the door I immediately dropped to the floor in order to dodge something that flew straight at my face. From what I could tell it looked like a colorful jawbreaker the size of a two footballs.

Looking around there was absolute chaos, Bon Bon and several other ponies were laying low hiding behind whatever shelter they could find trying to shield themselves from the giant projectiles flying about the room. One unlucky stallion was dangling from the ceiling with strands of melted sugar. How he got up there in the first place was beyond me. The machine at the back had gone completely crazy, jumping up and down as it continued to shoot out giant colorful treats randomly into the room. Some hit and stuck to the wall like they were made of glue, while others continued to ricochet from the walls like rubber balls. There were dangerous ones however, they appeared to be solid hard rock candy that could probably punch a hole into the walls, in fact there were already some holes around the room. From what I could tell the machine was shooting these things randomly in a variety of colors, making it impossible to guess what type of candy it was until it's too late. As far as I could tell nobody was actually hurt, frightened and confused probably, but they should count themselves lucky.

Keeping myself low I carefully crept my way towards Bon Bon who was hiding behind her counter, "What happened!?"

"I-I don't know! I heard the machine making weird noises and it suddenly started shooting giant candies at everypony! I never designed it to do that!"

"Where are the kids?!"

"Last time I saw them they were still by the machine!" I poked my head out over the counter only to jerk back down when one flying candy landed just a few inches away from my head.

"GIRLS!! CAN YOU HEAR ME!?" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

"Rodney! Help!!" Sweetie Belle's high pitched voice sent a wave of relief over me.

"Sweetie Belle is Applebloom and Scootaloo with you?! Are you all safe?!"

"Ah'm here!"

"Me too! We're behind the machine!!" Once I heard where they were I let out a sigh of relief. From what I could tell the machine was shooting towards the store and away from them. For the moment those three are probably at the safest place right now, right in the eye of the storm.

"Stay where you are and no matter what DON'T COME NEAR THE MACHINE!!" I took a few deep breaths to calm myself before activating my 'Sense' in an attempt to drain the magical enchantments on the machine. Unfortunately the machine was beyond the range of my powers which means that I have to get closer in order to shut it down. Diving back in my memory I envisioned the scene of the room, trying to remember every detail as I formulate a plan to navigate my way through the chaos.

'If I'm right there should be an overturned table that should be close to put me in range of the machine.'

'But there's absolutely no shelter between here and there, we'll have to navigate through the line of fire to reach it.'

'I've got a shield spell that can block a kick from Luna, I think it can handle a few jawbreaker missiles.'

'Only it's not designed to cover our entire body remember? We agreed it was too inefficient to make one like that.'

'Then I'll just cast two of them on my arms, they'll stick even when I move and-'

'And practically give us a set of bucklers.'

'Oh wow that is irritating. How's our magic reserve?'

'Plenty, but don't let that get to your head. Looking at how fast those things fly they must pack quite a punch.'

'Alright let's do this.' Since the conversation took place in my mind with adrenaline pumping in my veins, the entire thing took only took several seconds in real time. Taking several more deep breaths I began concentrating on weaving my magic to create the same passive shield spell on the back of both hands. It only took a fraction of the time it did the first time since I merely had to duplicate the spell, plus there wasn’t any time to hesitate or second guess in this situation. Once I finished weaving the spell I cast it on each hand making them flicker with azure fire for the briefest moment before disappearing.

"What was that? Was that fire!? What are you planning to do!?"

"Sorry Bon Bon but there's not time to explain, just sit tight and stay low." I inched towards the edge of the counter and poked my head out hoping to get a view of table. The machine was still vibrating and jumping wildly, but so far it kept it's aim directed away from the girls. With another steady set of breaths I took a running position in the corner while trying to get the rhythm of the machine, which so far appeared to launch with one second delay in between.

'One. Fire. Two. Fire. Three. Fire. Four. GO!' I pushed my legs out as hard as I could sending me into a leap before falling into a sprint just the machine shot a sticky glob of sugar towards the opposite side of the store. I pumped my legs as fast as possible with my arms at the ready while trying to keep myself as small a target as I could. From the looks of it the table was only a few strides away and luckily for me the machine has been firing off away from me.

I can’t say the same for the poor stallion still dangling from the roof completely defenseless. He got hit right in the side of this body making him grunt and pain though he should still consider himself lucky, the projectile appear to be the rubbery kind and kept bouncing around the room as it hit the floor. I hesitated for a moment looking back and forth between the stallion and the machine trying to decided which to go for first.

'Kill the machine you eliminate the danger!'

'Right.' I was about to start sprinting again but unfortunately my hesitation cost me too much time. Before I realized it I was hit on my side with a glob of sugary concoction. I was more surprised than I was hurt so I kept running towards the table with my hands ready to intercept the next assault. I was about two strides away from the table when my left leg suddenly refused to follow through with my movement, causing me to fall hard to the floor. I cursed as I twisted my body around to inspect my leg, the glob of sugar I was hit with earlier had trickled down and had practically glued my leg to the floor.

"Ah you've got to be-woah!" The sound of splitting wood nearby reminded me I was currently sitting duck in the open. I tried to use brute force to rip my leg free but the glob held me down firmly and wouldn't let go. I turned to look at the machine just as it launched a big red colored ball of sugary death directly at me.

I raised both hands just in time to block its path causing an explosion of blue light to shower the room as both shields on my hands exploded to life causing the red candy ball to ricochet off harmlessly over me. I was however reminded of one flaw in my shield that I have yet to correct, it may block the actual impact and collision but it did not divert the force behind it. Much like the incident with Luna the force would have sent me skidding across the floor towards the shelves behind me were it not for my leg being stuck to the floor.

"Aaw ffffffuck..." My hands however suffered the most damage since it was what captured almost the entire force of the impact. The force, plus the added weight of the shackles around my arms, sent them flying back, almost dislocating both my shoulders. In all honesty it felt like I had just tried to catch a cannonball with my bare hands, considering the fact the the candy was the rock hard type I probably just did. After feeling the actual impact I realized using the meager table as a shield was a foolish plan, it will most likely break apart from the first hit.

'Not like it matters though, I can't move anywhere with my leg stuck to the floor.'

'Doesn't mean we can't bring things towards us.' I thought about using my spells to bring the machine in range but I could easily tip it over by accident and endanger the kids. So far they were safe behind the machine and it’s best to keep it that way. With some quick thinking I cast two magnetic spells on the side of two shelves in front of me, each with a different polarity. With a loud crash they collided in front of me acting as a makeshift wall against the onslaught, it would't hold long but it's better than nothing.

'Ok so what are my options here?'

'Not much considering we can't move. Though we could always lob a fireball at it.'

'Definitely not! I'm not risking their safety! I'll just have to work from here.' From what I could tell the machine was roughly seven metres away. 'Two meters, I'm NOT going to be bested by two meters!'

I closed my eyes and focused my mind activating my 'Sense'. Sure enough, I just couldn't 'feel' or 'see' the machine through the makeshift wall in front of me. But I kept at it, diving deeper and deeper into my mind ignoring all other distractions around me. Every other sound and sensation became a shadow somewhere in the back of my mind, I put all my focus imagining the machine in the distance, the sound it makes, the rumbles and vibrations.

Ever so slowly I began to feel a familiar sensation of 'weight', it was agonizingly slow but I kept my cool and patiently waited, continuing to focus until eventually I could 'feel' the magic emanating from the machine. Using my 'Sight' I could 'see' the spells wrapping around the machine almost creating an outline of the machine in the darkness. Part of the machine itself was glowing brightly like a florescent light indicating that those were the enchanted ones. However one particular 'fire' was burning much brighter than any spell or enchanted object. This 'fire' felt different than the rest, its size was much smaller than the spells around it but the 'weight' of the magic felt much heavier than anything else.

'It's the fuel source,' I concluded. 'What did Twilight call it? A battery gem?'

'Who cares what its called! When are we actually going to drain the damn thing?!' Just then I could hear something big and heavy hit my makeshift wall hard nearly startling me out of my focus, but thankfully I was able to keep my cool.

'Right.' I was just about ready to drain the battery gem expecting it would shut it down much like unplugging an electric machinery but hesitated in the last moment. Seeing as I'm actually dealing with magic in a world that consistently fucks up every natural law I used to know, it's probably best to err on the side of caution.

So instead of draining from a single source like I've always done before, I concentrated my focus on an area around the machine to include very source of magic I could 'feel'. It was all purely experimental and in the event of failure I could simply drain the battery gem as planned before. This was simply a safer alternative since I knew nothing about the spells placed upon the machine.

'I vote no on this! We could easily drain too much magic and fry our brains again!'

'I can't just drain the thing carelessly, for all I know the spells could retain enough magic to go haywire and harm the kids. I'm doing this!' I reached out with my mind and 'touched' every spell and enchantment along with the battery gem, intent on draining every one of them empty in a single swoop.

The sensation was, in a word, overpowering. It felt like a tidal wave was crashing down and funneling inside me, like sucking in an entire storm into my lungs and never needing to expel it out. Much as I would have liked the experience to last longer, it only took a fraction of a second for me to drain it all completely. I could no longer 'feel' or 'see' any magic from the machine in my mind. Suddenly my mind was assaulted by a small throb of pain which quickly grew and intensified, I clenched my teeth and braced myself for the incoming pain. However just as quickly as it grew the pain started to level off and soon it became something comparable to a hangover after a night of heavy drinking.

'At least it wasn't like before, I guess Twilight was right. Battery gems pale in comparison with arcane gems.'

'I still think that was a stupid thing to do, what happened if we were wrong and end up splitting our heads open again? That was unnecessary risk.'

'Wrong, it was entirely necessary.' After what felt like forever I finally opened my eyes again only to squint as the light stung my eyes. After a few seconds to let my eyes adjust to the brightness again I picked myself up from the floor while keeping my left leg firmly planted on the floor, not like I had much choice in the matter.

"Girls can you hear me?" I shouted over the shelves in front of me. "It's safe to come out now!"

"Rodney? Where are you?"

"Over here Sweets, behind the shelves. I can't move my leg is stuck. Is Applebloom and Scootaloo with you?"

"Yeah we're here."

"Ah'm here too, we're fine."

"Aright, you three stay where you are, I don't want you walking around the place with all the mess. Let me sort things out and I'll come get you ok?"

"Ok."

"Sure."

"Uh huh."

"Good girls." By now the ponies that were stuck hiding in the store started to come out of their respective shelters as they heard my conversation with the fillies. "Alright is anyone injured or need any help? If not, please calmly leave the store and inform everyone outside to not panic. Everything's been taken care of here."

"Uhm, could somepony please get me down?" Begged the pony dangling on the roof.

"As soon as we can, just hang on a minute."

"Oh ha ha, very funny."

"Sorry, that sorta slipped out. Bon Bon you there?" I yelled to towards the counter. Her head poked out from behind the counter, looking about nervously at the machine. "It's off Bon Bon don't worry. Do you happen to have anything that can remove this gunk of me?"

"Y-yes I do, I use some special soap that can easily dissolve sugar in the bathroom. Let me just go get it."

"You do that while I try to move the stuff around the room and clear a path." I began using my spells to levitate debris and pile them up to the sides, starting with the largest ones like shelves and furniture since it'll take more magic to move and I need to rid myself of excess magic. I sped things up a bit by using less control and finesse as I tried to waste as much magic as possible with each spell, using roughly twice as much magic necessary. Fortunately everyone except for the stallion on the ceiling had left the store so it was relatively easy to calm him down and explain why stuff were burning around him, which didn’t take long seeing as he just wants to get this day over with.

By the time Bon Bon came back most of the shelves and furniture were cleared away giving a reasonably clear path from one end of the room to the other. There were a few that were stuck in place covered in the same sugary gunk that I was, while others were just broken to smaller pieces which I piled up in one corner. Bon Bon was trotting towards me carrying a small bucket of steaming water, which was bubbling with suds, in her mouth.

She placed the bucket down next to me, "This should only take a second." She tilted the bucket over just a bit to drench my leg with the cleaning solution which almost instantly melted the glob of sugar way. It even cleaned out some of the dirt and grime on my pants. Once I was free I used my magic to levitate some of the water, which was real tricky, and threw it to the stallion like a water balloon. He was clearly frightened being covered in flames but didn't struggle or cause any problems as I levitated him down to the floor.

At first I thought he was an earth pony but once he was cleaned up I saw a pair of folded wings start to form as the sugar dissolved. 'I guess that explains how he got up there, probably got hit while flying to the door.'

"Uhm...thanks for the help."

"No problem." He turned around and trotted off towards the door, only to pause and look back at me.

"You're alright in my book monkey. Come by the bar and I'll treat ya to a drink."

"I'm not a-wait, by drink you meant alcoholic beverages right?"

"Oh course, what's the point of going to bar if you ain't getting drunk? There's only one bar in town so just ask around." With that he trotted out the store with leaving me stunned.

'WE GOT BEER PEOPLE!!'

'OH SHIT JUST GOT REAL!!' After promising to myself to definitely take him up on that offer I made my way to the girls who, surprisingly, waited exactly as I told them to. Probably because they knew they were in serious trouble.

"Now then," I gazed at them with a small frown with my hands folded across my chest.

"We're sorry," they spoke in unison, their ears were folded flat on their heads nervously.

"We just wanted to make yeh somethin' nice," Applebloom was drawing circles on the floor.

"But it didn't quite turn out the way we wanted," Sweetie Belle avoided looking at me and kept her gaze downward.

"Like always," added Scootaloo dejectedly.

Much to my surprise I wasn't at all angry at them, a bit frustrated maybe, but knowing everything was unintentional I couldn't find it in me to resent them or anything. A handful maybe but they were kids after all and I've dealt with worse human kids before.

"Well, seeing as it was all for me I guess I can let it pass," they each let out a long sigh of relief at the news. "However," their ears perked back up at attention, "that's not to say you won't go unpunished. I'll have to inform Rarity and Applejack about all this."

"Aaaaaww!"

"Don't aaaaww me, now go apologize to Bon Bon." I raised a hand towards the cream-colored mare.

"We're sorry."

"It's alright kids, the important thing is nopony was seriously hurt." Much like myself, Bon Bon can't seem to find the heart to be angry with them as well.

"I'll drop by sometime tomorrow and help clean up the mess." I offered.

"Oh no that won't be necessary, my roommate's a unicorn remember? We'll manage on our own, it'll only take a day to clean and fix everything." Looking around I had my doubts two ponies could sort through the entire mess in a single day, but then again they have magic to speed things up.

"Are you sure? I would really like a chance to make up for everything."

"I'm sure, you've done more than enough by saving everypony and keeping my candy maker intact. How did you do that by the way?"

"Just a trick I know," I answered with a smile. "Well then Miss Bon Bon-"

"Please just Bon Bon." I nodded.

"Well then Bon Bon, I had better get these kids back home. I think that's enough adventure for-"

"Oh my stars! Sweetie Belle is that you?" We all turned out heads towards the front doorway to see Rarity forcing her way past the spectators out front before galloping inside with her floating shopping bags following behind.

"Easy Rarity, everything's fine and nobody was hurt." I tried my best to calm her down but she wasn't listening and kept galloping towards us trampling over sugary treats.

She skidded to a halt right next to Sweetie Belle and began poking her muzzle and hoof in order to better inspect the filly. "Rarity stop, I'm fine!"

"Rodney what happened here!?" Shouted Rarity while still fussing over her younger sister. "I trusted you with-"

"It's not his fault Rarity! He saved us!" It took some time to calm Rarity down and even longer to explain the whole situation, but with Bon Bon's help she eventually settled down. After several apologies from Rarity to Bon Bon, and one to me for jumping to conclusions, the five of us left the store, leaving Bon Bon to start cleaning up the mess we made. Rarity and I did offer our aid but she held firm and even threatened to kick us out if we didn't listen.

As we exited the store the sun was already starting to set casting an orange blanket across the sky, clearly the day passed by much quicker than I realize. The fillies had returned back to their energetic self running around to the side of the street in order to peek inside the many stores while Rarity and I walked in the middle of the street. Seeing as the day was over we decided it was best to simply take the fillies home which I wholeheartedly agreed to. I was brimming with energy a few minutes ago but that was mostly due to the adrenaline and it was already starting to wane off, I was starting to drag my legs around more rather than walking. The plan was for Rarity and Sweetie Belle to head on home while I take escort Applebloom back to the farm.

"I could take Scootaloo along with me." I offered while gazing at the orange filly running around with the other two in the distance, darting back and forth between store windows.

"That won't be necessary dear I can take her home."

"No it's alright, I've been wanting to meet her pa-"

"Rodney." she cut in with a sharp tone. "I insist."

"Oh...kay?" Before I could question why she was so determined she picked up her pace and trotted ahead of me towards the fillies.

"Girls! It's time to go home!" Rarity shouted.

"But we haven't shown Rodney all of Ponyville, how are we suppose to get our cutie-marks in tourism if we can't even-"

"There's always tomorrow Scoots," I cut in before the Applebloom and Sweetie Belle could voice their agreement. "Just because you didn't get to show me everything doesn't mean any of you are bad tour guides. Most importantly I had fun." I paused, "Well, mostly."

We continue to make our way up the street while the fillies recounted the events of the day exaggeratedly to Rarity which, of course, I never corrected. Once the road split of we separated with Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Rarity heading of one road while Applebloom and I went down the other. Rarity's unusually strong insistent with Scootaloo earlier on still stuck to my mind, however eventually my exhaustion and Applebloom's never ending energy easily made me forget. Luckily Hoofpoint was already near the edge of the town so it shouldn't take much time to reach Sweet Apple Acres.

'Hopefully dinner will be ready by the time I get back.'

[That night, in Canterlot Castle.....]

"Excuse me your Highness," spoke one of the guards outside of Celestia's personal quarters. "Sorry to bother you but there's somepony here that kept insisting to-"

"By sun's grace Celestia, it's me!" Shouted a deep strong voice. Inside Celestia smiled as she recognized the voice, though it really didn't matter if she did, only one pony alive had enough gall to address her like that and get away with it.

"It's quite alright my little ponies, you can let him in." Slowly the large double doors slid open revealing a grizzled old gray unicorn stallion with a lighter shade of gray for his mane and tail. By appearance alone anypony would assume he was just another aged unicorn with a messy mane, but with closer inspection they would notice the hard thick muscles underneath his coat that could challenge the healthiest earth pony. His most noticeable feature was, without a doubt, the long ghostly white horn sticking out of his mane. It wasn't anywhere near the same length as an alicorn's horn but it was a good three inch longer than the average unicorn. The contrast of color between his horn and coat created an illusion of his horn glowing like a beacon. But to Celestia she found his eyes to strike out the most, unlike other ponies of his age she could still see the fire of youth still burning strong in his eyes along with the occasional mischievous glint every now and then. His cutie-mark was an old tome with a unicorn silhouette painted on the front and the entire book was wrapped tight in bindings hiding arcane secrets within.

As usual, he had an irritated look etch across his face, much to Celestia personal amusement. She couldn't quite remember the last time he wasn't irritated by something. "Come in Inquest, it's always good to see you. How have you been?"

"Getting older by the second obviously," Inquest trotted inside, completely ignoring the scowls of the guards. He knew many members of the guards disliked him for his carefree attitude towards the princess. "Unlike somepony I know, you look exactly the same when I was a sniveling colt."

"Ah yes, you were so adorable back then." The memory made Celestia laugh lightly while as Inquest simply rolled his eyes. "So what can I help you with Inquest? And please don't say you need more lab equipment replaced."

"That whole incident was never my fault, had the carpet been made to my specification it would have flown perfectly!"

"Instead it went on a rampage and destroyed more than half of the laboratory." replied Celestia flatly. "But let's not dwell on past mistakes."

"Right, I came here because I have something to discuss about our visitor." The stallion trotted towards a nearby table and helped himself to a cup of tea.

"You actually took time off from your research?" asked Celestia teasingly.

"Well it's not like we get a case like this everyday now do we?" He answered before levitating the cup to his lip and drinking a mouthful. "I read the reports from the team you sent to investigation the site of his....entry."

"Did they make some mistake?"

"Not really, they did everything right. Everypony followed exact precise steps straight from the textbook." He took another sip before continuing. "And that's problem. Nothing like this ever happened before so everything they did was the wrong approach."

"Let me guess, you went ahead and did your own investigation. Alone. In the middle of the Everfree." Now it was Celestia's turn to look irritated.

"Come now Celestia I can take care of myself, you know where I've been and done. It'll take more than the Everfree to get me." Inquest refilled his cup before making his way to sit comfortably in a large pillow across from Celestia. "But let’s not argue where and when I choose to go, you won't win." Celestia merely shook her head with a small smile. "So yes I did travel to the site and did my own set of experiments and investigation, unsurprisingly I discovered something your team missed." There was a small hint of smugness in his voice.

"Did you manage to find a way to send him back?" Celestia asked with great interest.

"Sorry but no, whatever created the rift in our world and his is long gone and there's barely anything left. Face it Celestia, he’s here to stay." He took another sip of tea before continuing. "No, what I discovered was small traces of magical residue in the area around the site. It's like a ripple or an echo of the phenomena that brought him here and even that took a great deal of effort to detect."

"Is it not possible to mimic the phenomena from that echo?"

"Impossible, it's too weak to learn anything in time. By the rate at which it’s dissipating I calculate it’ll be gone in one or two days."

"Then what-"

"I'm getting there." Celestia huffed out a breath in irritation which made Inquest crack the tiniest smile as he drank another sip of tea. "The reason I was able to detect the echo in the first place was simply because it stood out and felt so different from everything else, and I mean everything. In all my life nothing I've seen, heard, or read about even comes close to how....alien it felt. Its very nature was almost a complete opposite of Equestria, probably this entire dimension. Thus I theorize that this echo came from the other side of the rift, most likely the world he came from." He leaned in closer to Celestia with a serious gaze, "The thing is, I discovered another echo alongside it." Inquest paused letting his words sink in.

"What do you mean another echo? Does that mean there's another human somewhere out there!?" Celestia was now feeling very worried. A single human, and an unconscious one at that, caused so much chaos and panic across Equestria by simply existing.

"No." Celestia let out a sigh in relief but it didn't last long. "The second echo was just as alien as the first, however they were vastly different from each other." Inquest paused again before continuing in a grave tone, "Something else came through."








AN: Finally it's done! I don't know that came over me to write something this big! I'm so sorry it took so long to finish, if you're not aware I'm back in college so I don't have much time to write.

Now some of you may not know but there has been a few inconsistencies in previous chapters so I've done some revisions and changes. If you want to know everything I created a blog that listed all the changes and why, here's the link.

So I'm really sorry the changes confuses anyone, I know some people like the technical side of this fic but it can be a bit confusing to others. I promise to keep it reasonably simple so you can just enjoy the story which is finally getting on.

Alright I'm coming! Please comment and question if you're confused and I will answer them all. Promise.

Now then, here ya go.

Yay! Muff....... *sniff-sniff*

Oh hang on now, what's with the sudden water works? They're muffins, blueberry muffins like you wanted.

Its-it's so *sniff* .........beautiful.

Oh right, guess you've never seen one like this before. Their bite-sized muffins.

You just pop each one in your mouth but you-

*munch-munch-munch!*

....gotta take the wrappings off first. *siiigh* Pinkie where are you?

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