Chapter 23
For having a tear in my suit and a lightly singed sleeve, nopony at the party seemed to mind. Actually, the 'battle damage' had rapidly become a conversation point. After Twilight left, Octavia had insisted on taking me around and introducing me to anypony important she noticed and that wanted to talk. I didn't get much say in it, but her reasoning was fairly easy to understand, even if she was quiet about it.
I lost count of the times I paraphrased my thoughts during the accident or explained the enchantments on the suit allowing it to survive so readily. I didn't realize how important clothes were to the high society, even in a culture with no qualms about total nudity! Still, the conversations served to keep my mind busy and off what had happened. That and at least two-dozen ponies took Rarity's information down in the process. I guess my purpose here was fulfilled after all, even if her spoken reason to bring me no longer entirely matched her suspected reasons.
She kissed me. Rarity, of all ponies! She wanted a prince with reputation and esteem. I was a nopony with nothing to his name! What the hell happened?!
Vinyl noticed my downtrodden expression a moment later and bumped me sideways when I looked at her. "Chill, Dude," she ordered with an amused undertone to her voice. Neither herself nor Octavia had left my side since, and it was a little strange. I hadn't known them for long, yet they were surprisingly loyal. Of course, they also got their fair share of questions regarding the accident.
Shaking my head wearily, I nodded to her after a moment's consideration. "I know. I'm just worried that Twilight is going to be upset with me," I repeated, wandering towards the cleanup crew as they worked. The party was essentially ended soon after the accident. The questions I got were from lingering ponies afterwards, largely. A guard had also questioned me in length about what had happened, but thankfully I wasn't in trouble. Again. Fancypants spoke up for me, thankfully.
Of course, then the guards recognized me from Twilight's apparent description earlier. I stretched as I stood in front of the chandelier, looking over the damage. The guard next to the rubble that was gesturing the ponies away just nodded to us. Turns out, Twilight has, like, top-level clearance in the palace and surrounding grounds. Apparently she extended some of that to me, and I was allowed to look over the wrecked chandelier without issue. Of course, I'd already gotten a somewhat intimate view of it.
The chain was undamaged, I noticed. Tracing it back up, I saw a splintered section of a wooden beam still anchored to the end of it. My memory flared with the image of the ceiling caving away, and I sighed.
"The problem wasn't with the chandelier, but how it was attached to the ceiling. It didn't have anywhere near the structural support it should have," I pointed out, gesturing towards the beam still attached.
"It was a fast repair job. They wanted it done in time for the party tonight," Octavia revealed, glaring at the chain as if it had personally offended her mother. Not that I necessarily blamed her. It was kind of like me and apple trees.
The construction stallion from earlier stood up from the remains and nodded sternly. "You know your stuff. I've looked it over, but as far as I can tell, yer right. The candles didn’t go out after the thing detached, either, did they?" he asked, gesturing towards the scorched blast residue on the crystals. Whoa. Had they literally exploded when the thing crashed?
I nodded absently. "No, they didn’t. I'm guessing they were enchanted? Well, whatever they were enchanted with might not have liked the spell I used to cause it to float," I explained. Note to self. When you get some time in the future, compare Equestrian enchantments to your own to see if there’s some potentially explosive overlap.
"Sure looked awesome, though!" Vinyl cut in, sounding overly cheery, if not a bit gleeful. I rolled my eyes.
"I wouldn't know. All I saw was burning and pain for a bit afterwards," I groaned, looking back down at my suit again. It, interestingly enough, wasn't that damaged. Here I thought that Rarity was silly to fireproof it.
"Now, I don't normally do this unless for special orders, but due to your terrible misfortune for accidents, I'm going to weave a few tasteful protection spells into your new suit," I keenly remembered her explaining, just the barest hint of an amused smirk playing at the corners of her lips. I chuckled before withdrawing from the wreck again.
Octavia and Vinyl followed me yet again as I wandered back over to the banquet table. They always said that eating was excellent stress relief. "Um, you have second to highest clearance, Mender. You could just go to the kitchen and ask the staff to make you something a little tastier," Octavia reminded as I started putting a light sandwich together.
"They already made all of this. No sense in letting it go to waste. Besides, I don't think I'm important enough to warrant special privileges like that," I reasoned, watching the ingredients drift into place. Vinyl seemed more interested in watching my hoof pressed against the table as I manipulated the various barriers into putting the thing together.
Octavia smirked but shook her head. "You're a strange one. You're dating Twilight just for Twilight, aren't you?" she inquired, making it sound more like a request for confirmation than anything.
"Of course I am. I fell for her before I even knew who she was, fully. She also saved my life. Not to mention she's just so," I started before trailing off and frowning. Octavia's eyebrow rose, but she listened expectantly. Finally, I added, "There's a lot I like about her. She's kind, fun, smart, gentle, entertaining, and absolutely gorgeous, for the basics."
"You definitely got it bad. Ha! She's lucky. It's dang hard to find a stallion that wants you for you when you're famous, let me tell ya! How'd ya honestly never hear of her?" Vinyl questioned, sounding surprised before she flopped down onto her haunches.
I glanced over at her as my sandwich finished making itself. "I woke up outside of Ponyville with retrograde amnesia. Didn't have a clue who the Elements of Harmony were in the first place, let alone that Twilight was one of them. I'm under the impression that I'm Twilight's first attempt, also," I told, giving them the abbreviated, censored version of my arrival.
Octavia lowered her ears and shook her head at the same time that Vinyl looked honestly surprised. "I'm terribly sorry to hear that. Have you been able to recover any memories yet?" she asked gently, sounding concerned.
I slowly shook my head, mentally restricting what I knew I shouldn't say. "Not a whole lot. I know my name and what my talent is. Nopony knew me in Ponyville, either. I've honestly just been focusing on building a new life," I admitted, deciding that much was safe. Hopefully they didn't have complicated background checks in Equestria. A pony literally fading into existence out of thin air might be a tiny bit suspicious.
"Mender! I know I'm not supposed to contact you during the day, but I have a bit of news to share. You don't have to answer, but I know you can hear me," suddenly echoed out in my skull, scaring the metaphorical crap out of me. I jumped at Keela's voice and accidentally launched my sandwich up into the air. Flailing, I lashed out with a force field to try to catch it, but it was suddenly whipped downwards instead in a red aura.
Vinyl snickered as she caught it in her mouth, taking a rather impressive bite out of it. "Vinyl!" Octavia berated, looking a little upset.
"They're fast to make! Besides, I want to watch him use those cool powers more," the cyan-maned mare admitted, smirking after she swallowed the first bite.
As irked as I was momentarily, I was also distracted by the sudden compliment mixed with wondering what Keela wanted. I rolled my eyes and fired up the barriers again, proceeding with sandwich attempt number two while I heard my extra dimensional friend clear her throat.
"I wanted to let you know that I've been making serious headway on my end of the bargain as well. I've almost gotten a working spell that should be able to send the book directly to you. There are a few kinks in it that I'll try to work out first, however. Further, I discovered that, in theory, I should be able to continue to use the link you control with me to talk to you, even after giving you the book back," she explained.
I frowned while listening, a little concerned that a link would still exist between myself and that place, even after the book was retrieved. This time I added cheese into the mix, along with a bit of mayonnaise and hay bacon strips. It looked delicious, and I momentarily focused on salivating over my newly formed snack.
Octavia giggled while watching me, adding, "You have refreshingly ordinary tastes. It still surprises me that you're dating Twilight. Although now I see that she's quite grounded as well." I gave her a curious look while slowly chewing my first bite, loving the taste as I swayed happily.
"Simple pleasures! A stallion after my own heart!" Vinyl agreed, holding a hoof up as she nodded approvingly. Snickering quietly while my mouth was still full, careful to keep it closed, I reached forward and bumped hooves with her in the meantime. Our gray friend just rolled her eyes and laughed.
"The spell and equipment is mostly workable as is. I just can't control the entry point. It will appear somewhere within twenty meters of you, not limited to straight up or down. You'll either have to wait a few more days for me to work the kinks out, or find a secluded spot for the transfer," Keela continued. My ears perked a little out of habit, regardless of the fact that the voice was entirely in my head.
After a moment's consideration, I decided that I'd never have normally uttered that thought and still considered myself sane. Maybe I really was becoming jaded by recent proceedings? "Oh, and don't worry about our personal link. Due to its nature, you're in complete control of that one. I can't send you anything using it without you opening it up and letting me. You can also disconnect it at any time. But please tell me as much as you can first! I really do love hearing about new magical theories and, um," she trailed off, oddly. I frowned, but realized my mistake a second later and maintained as neutral a facial expression as I could.
"...have to visit Ponyville more anyway. I know I don't visit you enough, and now that I know Mender there, it gives me more reason," Octavia continued from some unheard starting point. She appeared to be talking to Vinyl, however, and I exhaled quietly. They missed the expression, anyway.
"Hey, it's all good. I know you're a busy mare," Vinyl waived off, smiling at her friend with a genuine look of happiness. She didn't seem to let much get to her at all.
Octavia, however, looked down and sighed, nodding gently. "I know. I still feel badly, though. Plus, Mender saved my life. What just happened is still a little hard to swallow, but I'm definitely feeling no small amount of affection and thankfulness towards him," she admitted before smiling back over at me.
She looked momentarily surprised to see me looking back. I felt my cheeks heat up a little and I shook my head, coughing. "You don't owe me anything. I'd be more than happy if you were my friend," I offered, holding a hoof out to her timidly.
Her look of mild surprise expanded, but she caught herself a moment later. With a practiced motion that felt like it contained years of experience, she nodded and extended her forehoof to mine, shaking both with just enough force to register, but not enough to be jarring. I was impressed.
"Most assuredly so! Are you sure you cannot think of anything else as well? Private orchestra performance? VIP Pass for life?" she offered, smirking at me. Oh, a business mare!
Deflating a little, I rapidly shook my head before she continued. "No, no! I definitely don't deserve that. I'm not a hero," I corrected, exhaling softly. Admittedly, I enjoyed her style of music, though.
Vinyl surprised me by actually laughing. It was a short series of rather impish barks, almost. "Ha! Tell that to the newspapers tomorrow. I have a sixth sense for these things, and it's telling me that you're going to make the front page," she assured, winking. What?!
"Ugh. I just don't know what I'm thinking anymore. Fine, to be honest, I've really enjoyed talking to you. Yes, just talking. I've not handled everything that's going on as well as I've been telling Nirru, and talking to you has helped a lot," Keela suddenly continued, reminding me at the same time that she was still there.
Frowning, I sighed weakly. As much as I was annoyed by my own problems, she was still living in a personal hell. It was rather shallow to think my issues the worst.
"I suppose as long as I'm not arrested again. I don't see why they'd be so interested," I protested idly, heart not in it anymore.
"Oh, true. I mean, you only saved twenty-seven ponies from either a really bad day, or death in general. Totally reasonable. I really like this guy, Tavi!" Vinyl agreed, height of amusement playing through her tone. Octavia actually laughed at that one. I, on the other hoof, just slapped my forehead.
"Not you too! I only did what I had to in order to minimize the suffering of anypony," I excused idly, honestly thinking that should be self-evident.
Octavia coughed lightly. I raised an eyebrow to her, but the spunky unicorn mare next to her just shook her head. "Duh. Ya could have just stepped back and watched the fireworks. It takes a certain level of balls to leap into the accident and use your nifty contact magic to stop it instead," she argued, managing to do so without losing the entertained tone.
Octavia nodded in agreement, effectively double-teaming me with, "As brash as her wording is, she's right. You didn't have to save us, and certainly got hurt in doing so. You didn't even hesitate, however. That's what's called a hero here, even if you do not agree."
Feeling ganged up on, I finished off the rest of my sandwich before standing up and stretching. "I just feel a hero is somepony who actually strives towards doing so. If one went out and looked for situations to help with, I'd imagine that would be a lot more heroic," I pointed out, looking down again. The situations just kind of happened to me. I'd keep helping if the events demanded I do, but I simply didn't have the energy to go out and seek them on my own. Lacking that determination, I decided that I wasn't hero material.
"Hum. I have a new idea as well. Tug twice instead if you want me to power up the book. One tug will tell me to send an audio probe through if you just want to talk without sleeping. Um, thank you again for doing all of this," Keela cut in yet again, sounding more final this time however. The distinctive radio static sensation faded away shortly thereafter, and I realized she had left once more, probably for a while this time.
"...or not, you still acted when you had nothing to gain and everything to lose. Further, in acting, you saved a huge amount of grief and lives. Ponies are going to consider you a hero regardless," Octavia warned, causing me to miss the first part of what she said due to timing. I got the gist of it, however. Having two conversations at once was a pain.
"I'm not used to this, really. Honestly, I'd rather everypony just treat me like normal. I just want to fit in and be useful," I complained, brushing my longer bangs out of my eyes. I really needed to get somepony to finish cutting my mane, too.
Octavia giggled softly again, her light, city accent bleeding through even into that. "Is it so wrong to appreciate that you saved my life? Besides, everypony likes a hero," she pointed out, resting against the edge of the table.
I suppose there was nothing wrong with that if she really wanted to. Unfortunately, that left me at ends with how to actually respond to that sort of thing. Vinyl took that moment to finish off her stolen sandwich and was oddly watching me with interest at the same time. I glanced at her and then noticed that she was actually watching my hoof instead. Giving a knowing smile, I gently extended the hoof towards the curious mare.
"Oh, sorry. It's just kinda awesome to see an Earth Pony doing magic. The rumors were true, then," she pointed out, getting a closer look at the hoof.
"I've never heard of such. That looks like actual damage, though. Does it hurt?" Octavia asked politely, also looking, albeit in a less intrusive way.
Sighing, I stared down at it myself. The grooves were burnt into the hoof itself, but that had healed a while ago. Now it just looked like something had branded the hoof. "It is damage. It only hurts if I hit it too hard or get something wedged in the grooves, though. The benefits outweigh the issues that come along with it."
Vinyl got another rather curious expression and I suddenly knew what she probably wanted to ask. She held her tongue, surprisingly, instead deciding to stretch and let me return to perusing for more food. I doubted it was a good idea to tell them how I got the injury.
"I'm starting to doubt she's coming back," I muttered after another few minutes passed in silence. The cleanup crew for the damage was starting to give me annoyed glances, and I realized they'd probably rather have all the 'civilians' out of the area.
Octavia hummed but nodded. "Do you have a place to stay for tonight?" she inquired simply.
"Kinda, I think. Twilight told me that we were staying in her old room in the palace. Rarity was supposed to stay in one of the guests bedrooms," I relayed, frowning. Of course, I had no idea where her room was.
"Ha! You should have expected that one, Tavi! I imagine Twilight would know enough to go back there as well," Vinyl added, smirking and winking at me in a way that brought heat to my cheeks. Why did everypony insinuate we were a lot further in our relationship than reality dictated?
Octavia smiled and nodded to both of us. "We should probably retire for now, then. I'm definitely going to be visiting Ponyville in the future, so I imagine I'll see both of you again soon," she assured, seemingly rather on the happy side.
"Heck yeah! You know you're welcome anytime. You too, Mender!" the electric-maned unicorn reminded, having said similar earlier, if I recalled.
"Will definitely do. Pinkie is planning a party in a couple days, actually. She's probably going to invite you regardless, but maybe I'll see you there?" I suggested to Vinyl.
She grinned, glasses scrunching up in the process. "Miss a Pinkie Pie Party? Heck no. I'll definitely be there. Maybe I'll even be playing the music," she hinted, seemingly excited again. She indeed liked simple pleasures, I noticed. As Octavia would say, refreshing.
We parted ways on pleasant terms, regardless. Far more pleasant than certain other mares earlier that night. Being alone with my thoughts now, I wondered what had happened. Rarity had mentioned liking the princely type, not a bumbling idiot like me. She seemed exceptionally conflicted, however, so maybe even she didn't know? At least, to my absolute delight, Twilight wasn't angry with me over the ordeal. I didn't even know what was going on until well after the fact!
Sighing, I wandered down a hallway that exited into a rather glamorous courtyard. I'd been to the guest bedroom Rarity was staying in earlier, which was in the back tower. Was Twilight's room anywhere near those?
Two guards posted at the end of the courtyard watched me carefully as I approached. Perhaps I should just ask them for directions? I noticed they were in golden armor, so I assumed I'd get a reply that wouldn't lead me to a broom closet or off a balcony. Still, I was a civilian, so I didn't know exactly what their reaction would be. Ah well. The prison cells were moderately comfortable when I wasn't bleeding all over the place.
"Um, excuse me. I'm kinda lost. Could either of you please tell me where Twilight Sparkle's room is?" I asked as politely as possible. The guard on the right remained stoically staring ahead, but the left one nodded gently to me.
"Miss Twilight Sparkle is staying in her old quarters in the observatory tower. Would you like an escort there, Mr. Moon Mender?" he inquired back. My eyes widened and for a moment, I didn't know what to say. They knew who I was? He watched my reaction carefully, a light smile playing at his otherwise stoic expression. "Miss Twilight informed us of you already, of course. You are a guest here," he explained after a moment.
I considered it for a moment before nodding weakly and agreeing with, "I'm not used to ponies recognizing me, sorry. I should probably have somepony show me where they are. I've only ever been to the guest room Rarity is staying at."
"Oh, they're in the same tower as Miss Twilight's quarters. You just need to go up to the top instead. I should also inform you that Miss Rarity canceled her stay in the guest quarters earlier," he explained calmly.
My body jolted as I turned back to look at the guard, having started in the direction I came from earlier. "Wait, what? Why did Rarity cancel her stay?" I asked, frowning. She didn't leave because of earlier, did she?
"We weren't informed, unfortunately. She canceled about an hour ago. Miss Twilight also asked the same when she came through here looking for her," the other, oddly identical guard chipped in, still staring blankly ahead.
My ears lowered a little. "She left then. Is there a train going back to Ponyville tonight?" I inquired next, following the hunch. I doubt she'd simply stay in a hotel to avoid us.
The guard I was talking to first smiled a little further and nodded, informing, "Miss Twilight asked that as well. There is one last train to Ponyville tonight. It leaves at midnight, so twenty minutes from now. I do believe that's where Twilight headed for as well. Is there something wrong?"
I sighed and shook my head weakly. "Twilight can probably handle it. They got in a, well, disagreement. Rarity left the party rather upset, and Twilight was trying to find her and talk to her," I relayed, contemplating it to myself. If I were to go, I'd probably just make things more awkward and potentially undermine Twilight's efforts.
"Shall we inform her that you've retired to her quarters when she returns, then?" the talkative guard suggested. I nodded, finalizing my decision.
"Yeah. I shouldn't get in the way. Now that I know where the room is, I should be able to find it on my own." I glanced back down the hall I recognized as able to lead me to that particular tower. The guard nodded politely before resuming his post. What a mess.
Slowly walking on, I found the base of the tower I'd been in earlier and started my long passage up the steps. Well, I needed to get into shape again, anyway. It was a pleasant enough night and stayed rather warm around me, even as I climbed up higher and higher in the tower. The view was spectacular, and I took a small moment to peek out each window I discovered on my way. The rooms were stacked on top of each other as I went. Of course, not having to pay attention until I got to the very top made it fairly easy.
The doors at the top were actually double, and quite stiff to open. Eventually they creaked free and I peeked into the well-lit room on the other side. My jaw dropped of its own accord as the room was revealed to me. This wasn't a quarters or room, actually. Twilight stayed in a rather luxurious five-room apartment, I quickly realized. Edging inside, I contemplated this actually being the wrong room or something despite the definite tastes of Twilight about. Books appeared to be the primary focus of the first room apart from a rather practical telescope setup. Hey! She didn't need to bring hers after all!
Shaking my head, I double-checked the bedroom and confirmed it. Our luggage was placed on the large bed. Damn. This was her place after all. Lowering my ears, and a little scared to touch anything, I peeked about further. There was a full bathroom, of course, conveniently next to the bedroom. A kitchen was also included and similarly attached to the main library area. Lastly was what appeared to be some sort of casting chamber with warnings still in place and set to use. Well, she was the student of Princess Celestia herself, of course.
I considered it, feeling more than a little on the tired side. Twilight didn't appear to blame me, but she could still be either a little miffed at remembering what she saw, or worse, awkward. Pacing, I stared at the large bed in her bedroom. In my current condition, it was looking more than a little appetizing. Still, if she came back in to find me in her bed, that would say a lot of things I should probably avoid saying. Deflating, I decided that as amazing as the bed looked, I couldn't risk it. Plus, with both her brother and Celestia this close, all she'd probably have to do is release a slightly higher pitched squeaking and I'd be either thrown back in the dungeon or banished to the moon.
Thirty seconds later, I had the lights dimmed down to sleeping range and was stretching out onto the cushions of the couch in the main room. It was a comfortable couch, so it didn't bother me nearly as much as I thought it would. Once I adjusted to the dim lighting, I watched the fire slowly flicker as my body relaxed. What a day.
A minute later, I gently closed my eyes, giving two tugs lightly to the link in my mind. The hum of the book powering up forty seconds after lulled me into a gentle drifting sensation. As tired as I was, it took no time at all before I was gone.
* * * * *
"So, this is the device, then?" I asked, sitting casually on my translucent, barrier haunches. The lab around me was dimly lit, and a device sat in front of me consisting of a long rail and a lot of rings. It was a massive accelerator.
Keela nodded, giving me a gentle yet excited smile as she played with the dials on the other side of it. "Yes. It accelerates a charged alloy orb until it's fast enough to activate the Slipstream Drive I've hooked up to it. Once the orb falls into Slipstream, I activate the resonance of the link and the energy from the FTL effect slides it into the other dimension. From there, the hard part begins," she explained rapidly, though most of the concepts I already knew about.
"You finished the algorithm that stabilizes the portal the orb creates, then?" I furthered, raising an eyebrow to her. Last I'd heard from her, the object she tried to move twenty meters to the left got cut into two fairly burnt pieces when the portal collapsed and exploded on itself. That seemed detrimental to our goal, although I suppose it didn't matter. Knowing my luck, however, the book would go up like a nuclear blast when cut in half.
Keela nodded rapidly, her bangs dancing in time with her excitement. "Yeah, it was a serious pain, but I managed to figure out how to make a stable portal. Interestingly enough, I followed a hunch and figured out that it could be stabilized using the Aegis Barriers. The only problem is that I can't control the exit point yet. This will get you your book, but it would appear anywhere within twenty meters of you or so," she warned, raising an eyebrow at her readouts. So it could arrive potentially inside solid surfaces or, worse yet, inside of me. That would be rather uncomfortable.
I watched her adjust several more dials and sigh, glaring at the display. "The portal is so finicky that it's hard to even experiment with it. Further, I've obviously never tried it with an actual connection to your Equestria instead. I've only been working with local spaces," she added, sounding a little unsure.
"So there could be further complications during the real attempt," I muttered, staring at the field of disks. It was clever, honestly. She accelerated the orb until activating Slipstream, which was our FTL Engine, then punched the thing through the dimensional barrier using the same Aegis Resonating effect that let me get to Equestria in the first place. Once it punched through, she used the pinhole as a starting point, spread it open more, shoved an object through it, and then let it close. The object would then bleed through the dimensional barrier and 'fall' into Equestria. Well, with a somewhat randomized landing point. Risky. Given my luck and the strange magnetic draw of my skull, it would phase halfway through it and kill me instantly.
She sighed and walked around the table before sitting down on the couch next to me. "It's untested, so of course. I calculated the same thing that happened to you and came up with some fairly disruptive results, actually," she revealed, suddenly looking a little guilty.
I raised an eyebrow to her, tilting my head as I just watched. "Mender, I don't think Rainbow Dash's Rainboom could have drawn you over to Equestria just by itself. Someone had to trigger a Slipstream effect and mix it with your Aegis shield on this side. You don't remember doing it?" she asked cautiously, looking a little perplexed at my probably gaping expression.
No, that wasn't possible. Does that mean that somepony knew about Equestria before I was even sent? It dawned on me in the same instant and I voiced, "Those disks."
Keela sighed but nodded minutely. "They do seem almost engineered for the six Elements of Harmony, as you called them. Honestly, I think they're meant for taking sample readings. Maybe the original goal of whatever project you were involved in was to scout out Equestria and get samples of energy sources? " she offered, shrugging absently a moment later.
"Project?" I questioned immediately, not sure if I'd like the answer.
Keela frowned but shook her head. She typed a few keys on her console to the right of her and another profile popped up on the screen. "Dr. Kyliona. She was the one who stopped your execution and submitted you to whatever her research was. The classified data was lost when our planet blew up. She died in her lab at the same time, it would seem," the pink haired Keldarian explained, gesturing towards the rotating image on the screen. It was that of an older Keldarian woman with a dark red mane, er, hair, and a darker blue hue to her fur. She wore a pressed and very clean looking lab coat as well.
"We don't know what she was even working on apart from her specialty being quantum mechanics. She interrupted your execution, stating she might have found a way to 'deliver us from evil' and that you were important to it. She never specified beyond that, and didn't have to, given her rank," Keela continued, rolling her eyes slightly after finishing the statement, as if disgusted with her own words.
"It's weird. I thought physically encountering myself would bring my memories back, but it didn't. I don't remember anything to do with her," I muttered, staring as hard as I could up at the image on the screen. As far as I could tell, I'd never even seen her before.
Keela exhaled but nodded, slumping back in the cushions and tapping the console again. It folded into the armrest before the screen went dark. "It's okay. I'll keep looking into that as well. I did find a bit of data on her, but it's heavily classified. My computer's been decrypting the data for the better part of the afternoon, now," she relayed, further reminding me that our day and night cycles were off by quite a bit.
"I'll let you know if I remember anything more. There has to be something," I promised, frowning a little as I looked back to the machine laid out on the table. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door opening, however. My eyes widened further as I realized it was the sound of a wooden door opening rather than the telltale hissing noise the doors on the ship made. The Keldarian next to me gave a raised eyebrow as I hesitated and glanced to my left.
Reality bled, flickering like an archaic movie reel I'd seen once. The image of a door and a small flood of light burned into the dim lab. I recognized the door as the main entry to Twilight's room. "Oops! Uh, Twilight finally came back, it looks like. I gotta go," I excused as politely as I could.
Keela grinned, and I caught a surprise blush as it headed for my cheeks. "Remember what I said. Act cute, apologize, and then kiss her on the cheek. If she's like how you've explained her to be, she'll eat it up," she tossed on.
I flailed, stomping my hoofs rapidly into the couch before glaring at her, heat rushing up into my face regardless. Which was ironic seeing as I technically didn't have any blood in me. "You're a brat. Anyway, I'll be back later," I groaned. I turned the book off, the last sound of my dimension being her snickering laughter as everything fell away again.
* * * * *
Jarring slightly, I opened my eyes slowly. It was always a little rough snapping back into my actual body like that. My vision focused just in time to see Twilight gently closing the door. Her features were sunken a little and she looked extremely tired. I watched her carefully as she sighed and her horn flickered up with a bit of light. It wasn’t very bright, and reminded me vaguely of a flashlight, interestingly enough.
The cone drifted across the floor, missing the couch completely as she walked right past me, heading into the bedroom instead. Er, whoops. I wasn't expecting that. Of course, it was rather dark in here. My ears twitched as I heard her breathing catch. She made an unhappy sounding murmur before backing up again and shining the light across the library and miniature observatory, again missing the couch but in the other direction this time. The light illuminated her face, showing me a somewhat nervous expression suddenly. She was expecting me to have been in her bed after all? I didn’t know if I should be happy or sad due to that.
I didn't want her to worry about me any further, however, and quietly asked, "Twilight?" All I was truly hoping for was to get her attention and alert her to my presence. I’m never that lucky, of course.
She made a light squeaking noise and whipped the light directly into my face on the couch. I let out a yelp, blinded completely by the flare of light as I flailed to cover my eyes. The cushion gave way and flipped under my unbalanced weight, causing me to spill to the floor a half second later, blanket tangling me up as I went.
"Ah! I'm sorry, Mender! Wait, what are you doing on the couch?" she suddenly asked, helping me untangle my head from the blankets. I groaned and rubbed the spots out of my eyes before looking up at her again, noticing she dimmed the light and made it radiant rather than a beam.
"Um, I'm sorry, Twilight. I was worried you'd be upset with me when you got back. Finding me in your bed might have sent the wrong message," I explained, ears lowering a little. I'd rehearsed the apology in my head, but I was still nervous as to what her actual reaction would be. I didn't want her angry with me.
Her eyes softened and she smiled finally, exhaling lightly. "I'm just glad you're here and okay. I'm not mad at you, Mender," she assured, shifting her head down slightly. She looked stressed, if nothing else. I mulled it over slightly. Well, Keela was a girl too. Maybe she was right and Twilight would appreciate it?
Deciding to take a risk, I leaned forwards and gently pecked Twilight on the left cheek. She made a starting motion, but I withdrew before overstaying my welcome and tried to just smile at her. I had a sneaking suspicious that I might have looked a little nervous, regardless.
She blushed lightly before exhaling and visibly relaxing, however, smiling fully at me. "Thank you, Mender. It's been a long day. I trusted you, of course, but the added assurance really does make me feel special. Rarity openly admitted that you had nothing to do with that when I caught up with her at the station as well," she informed, shifting closer to me and resting her horn on my shoulder. Huh. Keela was right. She didn't mind me pecking her on the cheek after all.
"She left then," I spoke quietly, it definitely not serving as a question. My ears lowered again wearily. I’d figured as much.
Twilight nodded against my shoulder slowly. "Yeah. She was pretty shook up by the time I found her. I couldn't stay angry with her when she was doing such a good job of being angry with herself. I'm worried about her, though. I've seen her when she loses her cool," Twilight confessed, looking back up at me carefully.
I frowned, but considered it before suggesting, "Maybe we should come back to Canterlot later? If you're worried about her, maybe returning to Ponyville tomorrow would be a good idea?"
Twilight's eyes widened a little, but only for a split second. "Oh, hmm. Well actually, that's not a bad idea. Otherwise we'd have to wait for the appointment with Princess Celestia and we wouldn't be able to leave until two days from now. Are you sure, though? I promised you that I'd have her scan you, after all," she reminded, her ears suddenly mimicking mine in a rather expressive manner.
I smiled, a little touched that she was considering me as well. "It's okay, Twilight. I'm sure we wouldn't have to wait too much longer to get another appointment. I'd almost think you were special to Celestia," I added, tossing an impish smile on afterwards.
As anticipated, Twilight grinned and batted me playfully in the shoulder. "You're a jerk sometimes. If you weren't my coltfriend, I'd so make you stay on that couch for tonight," she 'threatened' with a rather playful smirk on.
I started to laugh before it dawned on me. "Oh, wait. I'm not staying on the couch?" I questioned, suddenly a little surprised. Twilight slapped her forehoof under her horn before snickering.
"Wow, Mender. I can't hint any harder that I don't mind snuggling with you while sleeping than I already have. You know, by actually snuggling with you while sleeping," she reminded skeptically, giving me a raised eyebrow.
I blushed, coughing lightly again before standing up fully. "Oh, shush. I'm new to all of this. I'm sorry, but I respect your desires too much to risk assuming like I usually do," I excused. Her cheeks tinted pink this time in her own horn glow, but she smiled and nodded.
"Thanks again for that. You've been really understanding so far and it's been amazing. Um, do you think we could hold off until tomorrow night for the 'experimentation', though? I'm really, really tired after chasing Rarity down all night," she requested.
Frowning, I gave her a perplexed stare. If she was implying what I thought she might be, that left me a little on the confused side. "Wait. Now that I think about it, didn't you mention that last night, too?" I suddenly remembered, wondering if there were deeper implications behind the pattern emerging.
She whined as if burned before rapidly stamping her hooves. "I know, I know. I remember what Rarity said on the train, too. I've been nervous and slacking off. Please, put up with me for one more night?" she asked, causing me to frown. Something was definitely off.
"Twilight, stop it. Rarity was teasing you. Just relax," I reasoned, trying to calm her down. It’s almost as if she felt obligated to do this every night.
She exhaled and nodded weakly. "I know, I know. The book just said that nighttime was the traditional time to engage in such activities, so that's what I've been attempting to pull off. Things just keep getting in the way," she complained, heading back into her bedroom.
Admittedly, I pulled off a miraculous recovery from almost tripping over three of my own hooves while following her. "W-What?! Wait, so you've been suggesting the evening 'experiments' because you read about it in a book?" I asked, unable to contain my sudden shock. Things snapped into place rapidly, leaving a lovely sinking, icy feeling in my chest. Oh.
Twilight froze in mid-step, apparently not expecting a reaction like that. Slowly, she shifted and turned around, stopping right next to her bed. "Oh, um, is that a bad thing? I mean, I want to do this right and not screw up so I figured following things to the letter would be the best," she reasoned, looking a little confused.
I exhaled, confusion shifting to a light melancholy instead, before asking, "Do you actually want to do things like that?" I didn't know which was correct anymore, and my head spun. Why couldn't all of this be simple? Instead, it felt like we were plagued by communication errors.
"Uh, what do you mean? Do I want to do what?" she asked, tilting her head gently as she looked at me.
My eyes searched hers for a moment before I lowered them gently. "Let's go at a speed you're comfortable with, Twilight. From now on, you only have to kiss me like that when you want to. There's no obligations or quotas you have to meet," I assured, looking back up at her as she widened her eyes a little.
"But the book said that was really bad for," she started to protest before I gently pushed a hoof to her mouth. Her guilty eyes stared over my foreleg before I lowered it a moment later.
"Twilight, I might be new to this place, but all I can see is what's right in front of me. If you're uncomfortable with anything, we're doing it wrong. Don't listen to the book; listen to yourself," I tried to correct. All I knew is that if she was uncomfortable with anything, it wasn't worth doing no matter how, well, enjoyable I found it. I knew what I wanted in the big picture, and Twilight was far too important to be selfish with. I cared for her. A lot.
Her eyes softened as she listened, and she nodded shortly after I was done. "I've never done this before and I just wanted it to be perfect, is all. I'm used to having everything planned out," she furthered, revealing exactly what I had come to expect from the mare. She was extremely reliable like that, if not a little too so. Was there a thing as too reliable? Eh, I doubted it.
I smiled at her again and shook my head. "I'm more comfortable with you in control. I guess it's deep-seated from my old culture. You don't need a schedule if you want to snuggle or kiss me. Just do it," I offered, adding a nod as punctuation.
Her blush was rather adorable and she smiled softly. "You're indeed a good stallion. I'm glad my brother likes you as well. He's right, I see," she suddenly agreed.
I raised an eyebrow, drawing a blank before asking, "Right about what?" I searched back into my head, trying to remember any opinions he might have expressed or advice dished out.
Twilight snickered but shook her head quickly. "Oh, nothing. I'll admit, when the mood strikes me, kissing you like that is really, really nice. I've been tired lately due to everything I've needed to do, though. Night isn't as convenient as the book said it was," she muttered, exhaling softly. She did look really tired, now that I looked harder.
"Well, let's get some rest then, Silly. Are you sure you don't want me on the couch?" I offered one last time, watching her hop up on the bed with gusto. The luggage started to glow with a soft crimson and purple light before sliding off and onto the floor. I still admired her ability to manipulate things without needing to touch them. If I could have done that, the entire incident earlier with the chandelier could have been avoided!
"After everything you just said? Trust me, you did wonders to put my mind at ease with that," she admitted before sliding under her covers and lifting the side closest to me up so I could crawl in.
A little spike of apprehension hit me again, but I reminded myself that nothing bad had happened the night before. The only difference this time was that I was willingly getting into bed with her rather than being teleported alongside.
Closing my eyes, I nodded to myself before climbing up and sliding under the covers. Twilight made a content cooing noise before sliding over and pressing further into me. I exhaled as I felt her coat slide and mix with mine; her body heat started to warm me up as the blankets settled around me.
"This. This I have no complaints about at all. There's just something so relaxing and, I'm not sure. Stable, maybe? I've never particularly felt unsafe in my own bed, but having you here as well almost lets me feel like you'll keep any nightmares away, too," she tried to explain, voice lowering due to lack of energy and proximity, I imagine.
I matched her tone and volume, assuring, "I'd do everything I could to keep them away. And you can have this for as long as you desire it." Even if she thought it was a treat, I rapidly realized that this wasn't a bad thing. It didn't tax me in any way to be with her like this. Quite the contrary, actually.
Her horn lightly pressed into my forehead, and I felt her presence slip inside of my mind with a gentle shift. She didn't push too much energy in; just enough to perform the empathic connection. It always surprised me when I saw how gentle she could be. One would think with such a massive level of power and skill, she'd have difficulty doing smaller things. Not that I'm complaining. I've felt what it's like to have her shove as much energy as she could inside of me. It was vaguely similar to what I'd imagine being hit by a tsunami would be like.
"My turn tonight. Mmm. Maybe one day, both of us will go at the same time," she speculated quietly, folding her forelegs up between our chests as I lightly draped my right one over her waist.
Maybe she was getting more comfortable too? "I don't think we're ready for that kind of commitment, by the sounds of it. It's permanent, Twi," I reminded, remembering the details from the train ride. Contrary to popular belief, the only time I specifically wasn't listening was when I was actively throwing up.
"I know. Honestly, before you came along, I'd never really thought about relationships that much. I've never really wanted or needed that feeling, let alone understood the feeling in the first place. But feeling you right here makes me understand a lot better. It's a lot like that spark I first felt when we repaired the Elements of Harmony. A warmth I hadn't realized I was missing until that day," she compared, hesitating towards the final part. I perked my ears up at the interesting new information, but didn't interrupt.
Finally, she continued with, "It's a lot different from that feeling, too, of course. Whereas friendship felt pleasant and warm, relaxing even, this makes me feel almost stir crazy at times. It's a hot, needy feeling that makes me want to get as close as possible. More tactile and physical than what I share with the other girls."
I suddenly got the suspicion that she'd been thinking about this for a while. Of course, if she was freaked out by it when she first discovered I liked her like that, she probably did a lot of analysis on her personal feelings. "The descriptions fit easier than you realize, me feeling extremely similar things to compare them to," I pointed out, smiling gently against her nose.
She let out a light, sleepy giggle before nodding, pushing my head down with each motion due to horn contact. "I figured you felt similar. That's what made me realize it wasn't as scary as I thought in the first place. You have wants and fears, just like me. Even tonight, I saw the confusion and shock clearly enough and realized that you were just as surprised as I was by it. That meant a ton to me," she added.
I swallowed but nodded gently, still unsure of how to deal with that. "My only thought after was wanting you to not be mad at me over it. Now I just feel selfish for not considering how hurt Rarity was at the time," I groaned, pushing closer to Twilight.
She made a light murmur before kissing my nose in return, her energy warming up inside of my mind. "You're very kind, Mender. A bit dense sometimes, but still very kind," she complimented. I felt her smile widen as I knew she felt my eyes roll.
"Relax, though. Rarity was feeling better by the time we got done talking. I'd still like to go back to Ponyville and clear all of this up, though. All I managed to do before the train left was convince her that we weren't angry with her," she explained, relaxing slowly as we both calmed down. It was kind of weird in a good way that I could feel her, well, feelings.
"I was surprised. Well, shocked, really. I couldn't even process it when it happened. I'm nowhere near the traits I thought she wanted in a stallion," I elaborated, feeling a spike of frustration again.
Twilight just nuzzled me, however, and I exhaled. "I think Rarity herself is starting to realize there is no stallion quite as perfect as she was looking for. You do have a lot of attributes she likes, however. You treat her with kindness and respect, and try to be polite whenever possible. Most importantly, none of those traits are an act," she explained, opening her eyes again and staring into my own before adding, "Those are the same traits I appreciate in you. Sure, you can be clumsy, dense, and I've never seen such lengthy conclusion jumping before. Regardless of those negative traits, you honestly care for me and respect me. That's way more important."
My ears lowered a little, but I nodded. I was trying to fix a few of those, but it felt like my own body conspired against me sometimes. "Plus, it's nice to find a stallion I have a lot in common with. We both like reading and mental pursuits, and you can talk with me about magic as well," she tacked on, smiling again and suddenly humming pleasantly.
I raised an eyebrow, opening my mouth to ask what the demeanor shift was about when she leaned forwards and kissed me directly. My eyes widened briefly before dropping again as I pushed back gently, feeling her smile against my lips. The urgency wasn't there this time and she just melted against me further for a few seconds before letting my mouth go and snuggling again. I blushed but used my right foreleg to hold her tighter, giving a light squeeze around her side.
"This. This is nice. I'll never be scared of this," she murmured a moment later, brushing the side of her muzzle against mine before settling into the pillow again.
"I have no complaints in the slightest," I agreed happily, earning another sleepy snicker before her breath deepened.
Her consciousness slipped backwards, tugging mine down as well. I smiled, momentarily watching her sleep like a beautiful angel before I stopped resisting. Much more pleasantly than the book’s shifts ever could be, I felt myself pulled into her dreams alongside her, sinking into the warm heat to the sounds of her gentle breathing.
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yay new chapter, we need more.
all the Dawwwww
all of it
She love's it when a plan comes together!
fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/242/8/4/the_p_team_by_wowfluttershy-d5d164n.png
What? You're giving me the ammunition, and I'm using it!!
The cuteness! HNNG!
Man, the story and your writing quality get better and better with each new chapter! I seriously can't wait for the next one already
Fantastic work!
The chapter was was great as always, but that last cuddly scene with Twilight and Mender? I couldn't stop grinning like an idiot... hay i still am. Thank you for that one, the adorkable level reached beyond limits.
daaaawwwwww
2590516
"Bout of good luck"? I don't believe in silly things like that, at least not in books. If things don't go wrong, there's no conflict, and no conflict = no interest. Thus, no matter how good things get, they will eventually get worse (until the ending, which could go either way).
I do want Mender to be happy and everything, but not just yet
I have a suggestion, why not send the book while he is on a cloud .The only risk is the book getting stuck inside of him.
I still have no idea where your idea for Moon Mender's original race came out of. It's pretty good. And by the fact I can't find any traces of it already existing, a damn good race to come up with.
Lovely chapter, as usual. I swear to Celestia, if Mender meets a female yet whom he doesn't have a strong chemistry with within an hour of meeting, I'll eat my quill!
2591226
The only risk, and thus the only possibility. Seriously.
2590520
Aww, I'm flattered.
Now, on towards reading the next chapter!
EDIT:
Of course Twilight will come in and save him then! 
Loved the new chapter, as usual. And I still love the progression between Twi and Mender.
I do wonder what the paparazzi and news crews will have in store for them though. I can't help but picture poor trembling Mender being crowded by tons of loud and obnoxious reporters.
I guess I'll just have to wait 'till next week to find out what happens!
Read you later,
Baasz
I was afraid Mender would accidentally say something to Keela when he was with Octavia and Vinyl. Also thought he might be sleep talking later when Twilight arrived so she'd hear part of the conversation. Either would have been pretty awkward. Of course them sharing a dream like this could be all kinds of embarrassing and/or disclosing. Especially if he connects to Keela again with Twilight in his mind like that.
2591226
I figured that as well. And the chance of it appearing inside of him would only be about 1 in 300 000* so he should be okay.
* Volume of 20 m radius sphere: 33 510 m^3
Guesstimated pony volume: 0.1 m^3
33 510 m^3 / 0.1 m^3 = 335 100
AdorableponycuddlezfillRobowithwarmfuzzies. *glee*
D'aaaaaaaaaaw, looks like Murphy can be nice after all.
So, how long until he has caught the eye of every mare in Equestria?
2590664
Your picture is the spitting image of my reaction when I see the length of your comments. Pinkamena, when i see you and Kiroberos start a conversation.
P.S. I am going read the whole thing now,so... see you in 10 min
EDIT: Make that 10h. Your conversation is almost longer than the story itself.
2590509
I was most certainty not being sarcastic.
This was a very touching, very pleasant to read chapter. I deeply enjoyed it. The Twilight and Mender scene at the end had me feeling nice.
Keep em coming. I eagerly await the next chapter.
I have a feeling Keela is going to end up in Equestria as well.
Yay more aliens. 
Cute oh so cute.
Conversations get tricky when about half your existence is classified and the other half is lost to amnesia.
At least he managed to avoid saying anything was classified, that would really get the rumor mill going.
Now to wait and see what the headlines say. The newspaper will be in the story in the next week or 2, right?
and another great read, can a story get any better?
now that bloody wait again, though i suppose it makes the time spent reading even more precious
2591591
Nice math! I'm always glad to see people math it up!
2590510 Hmm... you got a point about it IS menders fault, and no one realy has ever commented about him likeing her back at all, i plan on reading the next chapter tonight.
That was a great end to the chapter. All the emotion was well done, and heart warming.
P.S. Once again, the chapter ends with Mender unconscious
So romantic! I love it!
So I have a question. His trips to the other dimension also requires his mind to be conscious, so wouldn't he still be very fatigued through the day? Because the mind has to rest as well and given that he's also conscious during his visits with Keela while he's "sleeping," wouldn't that tire out his mind even more and prevent him from getting the rest he deserves? If you describe the visits as dreams then that would make more sense but I don't feel like that's the way you wrote it.
Superb chapter, sir, a fantastic mixture of awesome conversing and adorable d'aww.
Wait how is there a day-night cycle on a space ship?
Okay, so that was adorable
That last line, though...
Specifically the part about being pulled into her dreams. Twilight just had a rather rough night dealing with Rarity's affections being out in the open. That + the stress of dealing with the problems that always seem to arise around Mender lead me to believe that her dreams might not be all that peaceful of a place tonight. Now let's just hope I'm wrong; being trapped in someone else's dream would leave you with no measure of control. That could end badly.
southparkstudios.mtvnimages.com/images/shows/southpark/vertical_video/season_14/sp_1411_clip05.jpg
Ha, another great chapter indeed
I realized i almost felt stressed out myself just READING the last few chapters, this one was a real relief.
Keep up the good work.
By the way, I still love the way you introduce Mender to the BG characters, and how they interact. Great job with Tavi and Vinyl.
2593503 It would be done hourly, or some other form of time frame. Astronauts in space orbit the planet multiple times a day, resulting in many 'days' over a 24 hour period. However, they keep the standard day-night cycle by sleeping and working during certain periods of a 24 hour time frame. That way, they never desync from their home's work and sleep times.
I can only imagine an interstellar spaceship would follow this as well for similar reasons.
2590510
will you be able to handle it? certainly, but the question is, will I be able to ACCEPT it?
You never cease to amaze
Yet another great chapter.
Wonderful character insights, plot developments, D'awwww's, and turmoil make this chapter great.
I particularly loved the Twilight and Mender scene (pretty much always my favorite part) and the talking with Octavia and Vinyl.
And, are Octavia and Vinyl a couple in this story? It didn't say it directly, but they seemed to have a very close relationship.
Keep up the great work!!!
This is just amazing. I haven't read the past few chapters in a while, and after reading through them, I can see the amount of effort that goes in this, how the chapters are segmented, the personalities of each of the characters, and even your misunderstandings such as the jail scene (Most of them are just misunderstandings but I find those more believable). This is good story-writing and the kind that makes this fandom amazing. Keep writing!
I wish these came out quicker - These things are too good for me to wait.
Keep up the good work~!
(Also, I understand the chapters take a long time to be put out because he wants to make sure they are as close to perfect as he can make it. (Run oooooon))
The story is turning out wonderful. I can't wait to see the fall out once the others find out what Rarity did.
~Hearn
2592403
This is voluntary unconsciousness. It doesn't count on the knock-out tally.
It's almost like Mender will end up with a harem by the end of this, you know? It's like everypony is interested in him these days! I'm quite interested in where you will be taking this next.
finally i have caught up with the story!
wow, turn of events, rarity. wow i some what thought it might happen but i thought she viewed him as a brother.
and the stuff about the disks.... so much is going on!
SO MUCH TO TAKE IN!
so fucking good!
I love how they've reached a point where they just assume Mender's so likely to get into some kind of scuffle, that they figure any clothes he wears will get ruined if they don't have some damage-resistance enchantments built in. If he joined the royal guard, he'd probably have to get a new set of armor every week, just from stand-there-and-don't-even-move duty.
But I've gotta say, somehow "gentle" isn't quite one of the words I would have expected Mender to use to describe Twilight. Sure she can be, but he still seems to think she's going to hurl him off balconies and such half the time, along with the accidental strangulations and such. Maybe in his mind it's like the thing they say that a frog won't jump out of slowly heating water, even as it approaches boiling, so he figures Twilight would murder him gently.
Startling him into losing his sandwich was mildly amusing, but it would've been funny if Keela had started talking to him during the chandelier incident. "Now's really not a good time!" as she's busily chatting into his brain while he's trying not to die. Also, it was kind of hilarious where his thoughts were mixing concerns about interdimensional peril together with the details of making a sandwich, with pretty much equal levels of focus. And hay-bacon strips, huh? I know where you probably got that from, but I'm strangely curious to know what that would taste like. But you know, it's kind of odd there isn't a little more interest in his magic. Vinyl is pretty much the only one who has even brought it up so far, even though I'd expect an earth pony using magic would be a really surprising thing to see. I guess he hasn't really talked to that many other ponies for it to have all that much chance to come up.
So it looks like I was on the right track a couple chapters back when I mentioned how it seemed like Mender ending up in Equestria was far less accidental than first appearances implied. But it's still strange, though, because Dash's rainboom clearly had something to do with it, so it's like there were three different key events all synchronized in a strange way. And then it seems like that Kyliona person must have already had some amount of information about Equestria for her to know there were key ponies to take samples from. Like she somehow deliberately targeted the rainboom as the destination point, perhaps. It also makes me wonder further about something else that's been puzzling for a while, which is why Mender's old body stayed behind when his awareness ended up in Equestria.
Funny that Mender thinks he's never seen Kyliona before, though. Don't you remember how much she really caught your eye back then, Mender? She pretty much has to be the one in that memory that came back during the incident with Fancy Pants, but then the lighting was such that he couldn't tell who she was. But it's odd, something about this Doctor Kyliona is really reminding me of Hojo from Final Fantasy VII. I half expect to find out that she mutated herself into some bizarre monster, and that she's the one who was rampaging around the Everfree Forest a while back.
So hmm, if Mender can seemingly open his eyes while his consciousness is with Keela, I wonder if that means his body might be able to get up and move around, like sleepwalking. That could be cause for some trouble. Or amusement. Probably both.
A weird little random thing, for some reason, it bugs me a little that Twilight said "My turn tonight" during that magic melding thing. I wouldn't have even thought about it otherwise, but as soon as she phrased it that way, it suddenly created a distinct feeling of imbalance in my mind, seeing that they aren't actually taking turns at all. They accidentally went the other direction with that link the one time a while earlier when Mender didn't understand anything about it, but these deliberate emotional connections have always been Twilight drifting into Mender's mind, or however would be best to describe it. So why did she say it was her turn? It doesn't even seem like it should matter to begin with, and I don't think Twilight saying that was supposed to be all that significant, but it was a minor little briefly irksome thing anyway. However, it was pretty cute how Twilight reacted when she found that he wasn't in her bed. I could practically hear her thinking, "Damn iiiit, what ditch is he lying in now?" Somehow that little grumble seemed like just about the single most telling moment we've gotten from her so far, her little sign of being concerned about him when she found he wasn't there.
You know, Mender sorta made the same mistake about Rarity that a lot of fans make, although nowhere near as harshly as I often see. Rarity is a total romantic, and had her fantasy about Blueblood because of her idealizations about the virtues being a prince must entail. A lot of people seem to think she wanted to be with him simply because of the status it would endow upon her, or that she's a gold-digger, and that really irritates me. That's not really what Mender thought, but still wasn't quite getting the real feelings behind the whole prince thing. She just had this assumption that a prince would represent everything perfect she always imagined from a fairytale romance, the perfect gentlecolt, and Mender really does have a good portion of those qualities she hoped Blueblood would have, plus her obvious recognition last chapter that he was a more real sort of stallion than her fantasy. It's another part of what makes it sad that this situation with Mender is going so badly for her. Twilight pretty much summarized a good chunk of what makes it unfortunate with her observations about how she'd never really cared about romance before Mender came along. Romance is important to Rarity, something she's dreamed about for years, and you just know she's gotta be at least a little bit lonely being single. And then when she finally finds a stallion who fits her dreams better than any other she's ever known, he immediately gets snatched up by her friend who never even cared about romance in the first place. Obviously you can't really blame Twilight for that, but it's still sad.
It's interesting, this situation with Keela is really starting to remind me of an idea I've long thought would be interesting to see in a sci-fi story some time. As far as I've ever seen, books and movies about encountering alien cultures always involve direct physical interaction, either meeting in interstellar space, or one civilization traveling to visit the other's planet, whatever their intent might be. But in real life, our capabilities are only enough that we'd be able to pick up radio signals and such with satellites, with wormholes or whatever forms of faster-than-light travel being just speculation, really. So it made me think it'd be interesting to see a story where we contacted another civilization that had a similar level of technology as we did. Neither planet having the ability to physically traverse the gap, the only option would be like a long-distance relationship, sending each other information and videos, but never really being able to do more than chatting with each other like people do over the internet with others they've never met. But since the distance between the worlds would automatically mean all communication would always come with at least years-long delays, the story would end up spanning centuries over the course of both civilizations' long-term histories as they developed, undoubtedly hitting ups and downs along the way. It's just a fascinating concept to me to have neighbors somewhere else in the galaxy, but knowing that you could never actually meet each other.
But jeez, is it really Wednesday evening already? I woulda of have of commented sooner, but I forgot how to read.
2616571 There's an anime that has a very similar vibe to what you described called "Voices of a Distant Star". It's only about a half an hour long, and the director made it entirely on his own computer. From the Wikipedia description: "It chronicles a long-distance relationship between two close friends who communicate by sending emails via their mobile phones across interstellar space."
Basically, the girl is recruited to fight aliens and communicates with her male friend back on Earth via text messages, and as she gets farther and farther away, it takes longer and longer for them to receive replies until years and years go by between texts. Kind of a lonely, isolated, sad tone to the whole thing.
So, not exactly communicating with alien pen-pals, but in the same sort of vein. It's been years since I've seen it, though.
2616776
I've heard of that before, actually, even though I've never seen it. I think it might be part of where I got the idea, in fact.
Kinda like a cross between that and Contact, in a way, since that's sort of slightly similar as well.
2616903
It's worth seeing at least once, especially if you're interested in animation. I'm always fascinated by what people can accomplish with limited resources.
Contact, that was the other one I thought of, but I wasn't sure if I was remembering what that was about correctly or not.
Man this story is such high quality! Talk about an interesting plot, vivid descriptions, and story hooks out the wazoo! Romance, Adventure, Drama, Action! This is just an AMAZING price of work. Can't wait for more chapters man!
2620683 I meant piece
Sorry for posting this so late, I would have commented earlier but things haven't been going so well lately, thankfully I have something to look forward to on Fridays
Anywho! I'm not exactly surprised that Rarity pretty nearly "Mender-proofed" his suit, heck, she could probably sell that service to parents and such! Might be a good product, who knows.
Good to see more interaction with Vinyl and Octavia, you definitely make it an enjoyable thing to read.
Interesting how he seemingly has a rather high security clearance, simply by just being with Twi, wonder if there was any paperwork involved, hopefully not as much as I'm required to fill out for mine, NOT looking forward to my renewal at all. I practically have to have a perfect memory and give away my first born.
Interesting interaction with Keela and Mender while he's making his sandwich and such, too bad it seems like he might have missed out on some interesting conversation with the two mares at his side. However, Keela did have some good info. I also must say, I'm excited at the prospect of continual contact after the book is returned, Keela is quickly becoming (if not already, who am I kidding, she definitely is already but I don't know why!) one of my favorites. She hasn't been handling things well? I'm curious as to what things, and how exactly Menders been helping, have they been talking about her issues? Or is it that she may want to leave her dimension/people/etc? I'm still pondering the thought that shes got a thing for him, if anything just buried deep in the back of her mind, then again we saw what that did to Rarity.
I'm not sure what to think about the whole speculation on how Mender came to Equestria other than "what the holy crap!" Something tells me that they Dr is not actually dead, just some inner bug nagging at me ya know? Interesting how the project was meant to deliver them from evil, really, what would be the embodiment of the exact opposite of evil? Equestria of course! Though, Mender being important to that project is making me a rather curious tiger (curiosity kills the cat, never the tiger, so I should be safe
) Interesting to find out what data there is on this doctor though.
Still happy with the relationship progress
I'm also not at all surprised that Twi is still acting on the advice of a book, rather than her own feelings, but hopefully now she knows better.
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No, it wasn't your chapter that did that, been having issues sleeping lately actually. May have to make an appointment about it one of these days actually. Work stuff has just been kicking my flank lately and not in a good way. It's only one thing, but it can have HUGE consequences (of the job ending variety, no matter how good I am at my actual work).
I hope we do see Spitfire, maybe Soarin, but I prefer Spitfire
I hope all is well, especially considering that one blog post the other day, if there's anything I can help with just let me know. Have a good one Kiro!
How did I miss these two comments?!
I'm very sorry!
2569489 - Blaise Brony
I don't think I'm that good, though. Still, it makes me happy to hear this. 
I really do strive to make everypony in-character as much as possible.
I'm very glad you're enjoying it.
2570124 - MuffinTop
You and Julia are in the same boat, then. Heh. See what I did there?
Ooooh, a Sparity shipper.