• Published 21st Dec 2012
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Forgiveness Pending - Kiroberos



Moon Mender's adventure continues right where left off. He jumps at the chance for a new life, but will his old one truly leave him in peace? Some things are better off forgotten.

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Chapter 54

"Okay, and remember, if you start to get tired, it's perfectly fine to take a break," I repeated again for the third time. Rainbow would disregard it, of course. Scootaloo further looked like she was more ecstatic for training with aforementioned mare than actually listening. At least the other three were paying attention and nodded in understanding, even if Sweetie might have been paying a bit too much attention.

All four ponies and dragon were lined up nicely along the shore of the lake, and I paced slowly in front of them. "We get that much, Mender. Can we just start now?" Rainbow asked, rocking back and forth on her hooves impatiently as if she had to use the bathroom really badly. I rolled my eyes and dropped my head, defeated.

"If you wear yourself out to the point of exhaustion again, I'm launching you into the lake. If you're lucky, I'll even use the regeneration technique on you first," I warned her, glaring upwards as she grinned towards me.

"Eh, more work for you having to fish me out all soggy-like, but okay! Race ya to unconsciousness, Scoots!" she announced. What?!

Scootaloo grinned and nodded, flaring out her wings at the same instant that Rainbow did, both expanding three levels instantly. The little filly's eyes widened as Rainbow's kept going, however, extending out an additional two extensions past hers. "Whoa! You can get five?!" she asked in surprise. Okay, yeah. They weren't serious. Rolling my eyes, I just walked back to the other three, ignoring the excited discussion opening up behind me.

Apple Bloom was already focusing intently, glowing runes expanding across her skin like armor as her legs in particular started to flare up with light. I smiled towards her as the ground started to shiver, realizing she already knew the basics and was following instructions.

Stepping past her, I noticed Spike already focusing on the water in front of him, his arms raised out horizontally with the ground and his claws extended out. The lines of energy drifted easily from each sharp point, lightly stirring the water as he focused. Slowly, he closed his claws back up into a fist and frowned, two orbs starting to rise gently out of the water, lightly webbed with green and purple light. I was glad to see my experiment was successful on that end! Dragons had energy inside, just like ponies, and he was able to manipulate them similarly. It got me wondering about other races in Equestria, and how much magic they possessed. Dragons and Ponies at least appeared to inherently create their own magic, so much so that it literally leaked out into everything. Equestria was absolutely flooded with magic, and I wondered where it all came from. Surely it had to come from somewhere, right?

Moving behind him so I didn't disrupt his focus, I turned and rounded the other side of the line to peek at Sweetie Belle as well. That, well, wasn't going so hot. I double-checked my enchantment, but noted that it was actually exactly the same tension values as Spike's, who had never really used his magic before, as far as I knew. Sweetie was fighting like crazy, however, to even expand past the first layer, and looked beyond frustrated.

"This... It's just not working!" she whined, a few sparks shooting off the tip of the energy construction as her attention wavered. Hmm.

"I'm not familiar with unicorn magic, obviously, but maybe it would help if I took a peek at what you were doing with your magic when trying to channel it?" I offered, not entirely sure what I could do to help her.

She tilted her head curiously at me, but nodded a moment later. "You can do that?" she asked gently.

"Yeah. I'm just going to lightly toss a couple magical probes into you and see what's going on with your energy lines while you focus. Just a second," I requested, starting the basic-most probe spell, the runes forming in my mind as I held my hoof up. Calculation and energy was bestowed a moment later, and I nodded, firing three tiny little strings of magic into her shoulder. She looked confused more than anything, but just stood there as I slipped the lines of energy into her own flows and traced them in various directions. She probably didn't even feel them due to the small amounts of energy there.

I nodded to her a second later, and she looked back at the lake, giving a short nod in return before her horn lit up again and she squished her eyes shut in rather intense focus. I raised an eyebrow as her entire system went rigid with tension and pressurized, forming a sort of percolating effect. It was beyond weird as her magic just sort of 'bubbled' up under the pressure and leaked out of her horn into the effect she wanted. That was totally different from Twilight. Hers was kinda like a high-pressure tsunami directed through a fire hose. Intimidating to say the least when the 'end' of that hose was pushed into my forehead when I was watching it.

"I think I see the problem. You're not really doing anything with your energy directly. Has anypony ever taught you how to use it?" I asked, trying to remember back to the culture books I'd read in the hospital.

"No. Rarity's too busy most of the time for private lessons, and I'm too young for the official unicorn magic training yet," she explained, eyes softening a little as she looked down. A pang of sympathy shot through me and I smiled, lightly rubbing the top of her head.

"Well, cheer up. Admittedly, I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'll try my best to give you lessons myself! I only know how I use my own magic, though, which I'm told is quite a bit different than what a unicorn does," I warned.

Her eyes lit up and she looked back up at me with a tiny smile, nodding and blushing a moment later. "Please! Thank you, Mender!" she squeaked out after recovering for a moment.

Chuckling, I nodded to her before asking, "Okay, let's try a few things. How do you normally start 'channeling' your magic to make it work? What do you focus on and how does it feel?" That would be a good start for comparison's sake, anyway.

"Well, I just kinda try to stir it up inside and make it move around while I focus on what I want to do," she explained hesitantly, looking back over at me as I sat down next to her. Direction was her problem, then.

"I see. I'm thinking I know where to start now, then," I returned, lightly closing my eyes. My magic leaked out of me from all sides as I pushed it to the surface and held it there, hearing a light squeak of surprise from the filly next to me. I just relaxed as the glow danced around me, shapeless and doing absolutely nothing, apart from turning me into an oddly shaped lamp.

Slowly, I opened my eyes again and held up my left hoof, looking at it. "Shaking my magic up, I'll try to create an orb of light in my hoof," I explained, focusing on starting to ruffle up my magic without direction. It was pointless, of course, but I activated the spell anyway. It 'bubbled' there, for lack of better words, and slowly splashed up and about, weakly powering a flickering orb of light on my hoof. Sweetie frowned as she watched the flow of energy all around me shake about, probably noticing how similar it looked from what she had just done.

"The easiest way to naturally understand channeling is to picture a river. The gentle bubbling flow as it drifts through you and cycles around endlessly," I explained gently, feeling the shaking stop and the light start to slip back into a flowing motion, following my natural mana links along my body. Her eyes widened as she watched curiously, and I smiled towards her.

"This is what your body naturally looks like. Frothing your energy up inside of you might get a little to the surface, but it lacks direction, as you saw. So feel the river, the flow, inside of you and listen to it," I explained, closing my eyes again. It circled endlessly, like life itself. It was all mine, and the pool ran a lot deeper than it had even a week ago. I was growing stronger again, and it felt amazing.

My eyes opened up again, alight with an amber glow instead, my natural eye color. The flow in my left hoof gradually shifted, ebbing forwards until it touched along my hoof. The energy flowed into my carefully constructed magical weave, and the orb of light formed almost instantly as I willed it. Normally it wasn't visible, of course, but the lights I'd stuck along my fur kept flowing with every drift of energy inside of me, and Sweetie saw it all. Her eyes were huge now as she stared at the little orb in front of me as it drifted free as programmed.

"My magic isn't spontaneous. I need careful focus and calculation to use it. Unicorn magic is formed instead by 'aura', or an exercise of will over the energy itself. That's how Twilight explained it, anyway. Your magic is far faster than mine, and can grow quickly past any bounds you need for it. My strength is in stamina and conservation, using far less energy to do the same thing," I explained, letting the magic sink back inside of me. The orb broke apart a second later and was reabsorbed into my body as I released the framework.

Of course, there was another reason I had given her this talk, showing her instead of having her try it. Watching me for a minute or so had stabilized her own flow again inside of her, I noticed through my little energy probes. She had relaxed now, which would make trying it easier. "Give it a shot. Just close your eyes and try to feel that perpetual flow inside of you. I'll put a little more energy into my probes so you can feel them moving around, too, and make it easier," I explained.

Sweetie did as instructed and closed her eyes again, this time not shaking her entire system up instantly. My probes flared up like little dancing beacons along her system, and she shivered lightly as I felt her suddenly become aware of them. I smiled and just let them drift inside of her as I leaned closer. "Ebb and flow, Sweetie. It's a river constantly going in a soft circle. I know you can feel it, even as it dances past the base of your horn. You can see it now in your mind, right?" I asked quietly, trying to drown out the sound of Rainbow's 'advice' to Scootaloo a couple meters away. I wasn’t entirely sure ‘throwing yourself at the ground and missing’ was legit flying advice, but she was the expert, I guess.

The small unicorn didn't seem to even hear them as she just nodded, and I suddenly 'felt' all of her focus on only me as she sat there with her eyes closed. She was aware of me, too, having felt back up the links through the probes, I noticed. Heh, fast learner. "Then just try to light up the tip of your horn. A soft, green light. Feel the color and flow as you lightly push it upwards on your forehead to touch the bottom of the horn inside your mind," I explained, keeping my voice low and calm for her. Her magic was green, so that would give her the easiest time with it.

Slowly, almost cautiously, I saw the flow point in her forehead reach out with a line of energy as she exhaled quietly, an airy sigh as it brushed into her horn. She gave a start as it danced along the length of the extension suddenly, then smiled as she felt the light flare up instantly, giving a soft green tint to the sand under her. Her eyes opened and she looked up at the tip of her horn in surprise, staring at the glow as her eyes shivered, a smile forming on her muzzle.

"That, Sweetie. That's how you channel magic as a unicorn. Pretty soon, it'll be like second nature to do it, I'm sure. Then you can do more complex stuff like-" I started to explain, grinning at the little filly.

She interrupted me with a violent pounce to the chest, hugging me tight around as much of my torso as she could manage. "Thank you, Mender! Thank you, thank you! This is amazing! I've been doing it wrong this whole time!" she squeaked out, sliding back down and grinning up at me.

A little surprised, I recovered quickly and nodded down to her, adding a wink as I reactivated her enchantment. That was probably one of the stupider things I've done so far, of course. The horn extension expanded off her forehead two sections instantly, putting it barely a sixth of a meter from my face before the magic caught up.

A minute and a half later, I was still curled on the ground and holding my eyes, the bright dots still showing on the insides of my eyelids from the massive flare of light. Okay, that was idiotic! "Aaah, I'm still sorry, Mender!" Sweetie squeaked out from somewhere in front of me. Apple Bloom's hooves lightly rubbed my back from behind, and she snickered again in amusement.

"As I said, that was kinda totally my fault. You didn't do anything, Sweetie," I groaned, finally starting to feel the wetness coming back to my eyes. It figured that it would generate heat, too.

"Admittedly, it was kinda stupid," Rainbow added a second later, followed by a snicker.

"Dash!" I heard Scootaloo yelp, apparently still a little on my side, even with her all-time favorite pony right there.

I couldn't help but start to chuckle as well and nod, agreeing with, "You got me there. Let's just activate the magnification enchantment while she's casting a light spell a meter from my face! I've... Well, I've definitely had better ideas." Was it good that even I found it funny?

Rainbow started outright snickering at that, and I heard a warm laugh from Apple Bloom behind me as she ruffled the top of my mane. "Y-You really aren't mad, then?" Sweetie asked hesitantly, sounding like she shifted a little closer, but I couldn't tell without looking.

"Of course I'm not. I'm proud of you for managing your first full spell!" I chirped, feeling enough wetness to finally open my eyes up again. A couple persistent spots and a grinning Sweetie Belle greeted me immediately, and she slid forwards and gave me a hug on the foreleg.

"You really helped me with that magic you did! Being able to see it like that..." she cooed, nodding twice as she swayed there. Her horn was still activated, interestingly enough, but the light spell had long since been halted. She probably turned it off after the incident.

Rainbow exhaled gently from behind her and snickered again, shaking her head slowly towards me before raising it and giving me a smirk. "Well, now that I know you're fine, it's back to practicing for me! I've got a race coming up and I need to show them how awesome I am!" she reminded. It didn't take much effort to see through that statement, and I returned her smirk.

"Thanks for worrying about me, Dashie. I'll help you train extra hard today," I thanked, making sure to really lay it on thick with her nickname. I'd only ever heard Pinkie call her that, but it was cute, so...

Her cheeks tinted furiously and she scowled at me, but Scootaloo started grinning as she watched. "Hey, she's not going to have any problem winning. This is just to make her look even more awesome! Then maybe AJ will call her Dashie, too?" the little filly suggested, giving a rather impish smile. Oh, wow!

I started to laugh when the extremely red Rainbow Dash squeaked and pounced at Scootaloo, who squealed and took off to the side, blasting off over the lake with her wing jets. Rainbow was after her like a bolt of lightning from hell itself, and I once again found myself admiring the mare's pure feral speed as the lake exploded out in blasts of water, rainbow light distorting across the small shock waves formed. Huh. Well, that happened.

We stared after them for a moment as everything went silent, and I sighed. "Uh, you guys can keep practicing. I guess I'll go see if they're still alive," I muttered. A small chorus of laughs sounded off behind me as I walked towards the water...

* * * * *

Despite almost a half dozen accidents and them almost killing each other with enchantment-enhanced showing off a couple of times, I'd say the training session had gone fairly well so far! Relaxing on the blanket, I idly lifted and took another bite of my sandwich with my right hoof, the faint glow keeping the tasty morsel attached. Sweetie was tucked into my right side, and Apple Bloom had taken residence a half a meter to my left while we ate. Rainbow laid herself out across from me, crashing hard after the practice and only sipping a bit of water until she cooled off, while Scootaloo compulsively tended to her every need, like a real, worrying sister. Now she was munching lightly while keeping Rainbow's water bottle and straw balanced upright with her right foreleg, tucked into the cyan mare's stomach. It was rather adorable and I found myself idly wishing I had a foal of my own to cuddle and spoil rotten. The thought caused me to blush lightly as I realized that might be ahead somewhere in the future. Still, the process of 'getting there' still felt amazingly foreign. Even though I cared for both of them, it was really hard to see either Fluttershy or Twilight in that sort of light.

"This was an amazing idea," Spike chipped in a few quiet moments later. I peeked over at him in time to watch him devour the rest of his sandwich, giving me a pleased smirk afterwards. I chuckled, but nodded as well, deciding this picnic was far better than our last attempt. Nopony had even been poisoned yet!

Apple Bloom perked up and nodded to the little dragon who was to her left, comfortably using Tank's shell as a table. Following his normal pattern, the tortoise just didn't seem to care. I was impressed at how little actually fazed him. "Ah packed it up mahself. Ah'm glad ya like it, Spike!" the yellow filly chirped, sounding pleased. I was just glad they'd made up and were friends again, it would seem.

His grin widened and he started to look like he was suddenly going to say something when his eyes widened and he froze. I gave him a questioning glance, considering he was staring at me, and double-checked my proximity sensors and status. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, so I tilted my head towards him curiously. A few seconds later, his cheeks puffed up and his pupils shrank a little bit. I started to get concerned for his health when he suddenly opened his mouth and blasted flames right at me!

My eyes extended to full size as I backed my face up, barriers flickering up to block the attack that never landed. The flames solidified into a scroll instead halfway between us, and the rolled up message skipped off my barrier, landing on top of the picnic basket in front of me. Oh! Oh hell. He really needed a warning system or something for that! I almost wet myself...

Apple Bloom didn't look surprised in the slightest, but instead looked at the scroll in awe. "Ah message from tha Princess?!" she asked, looking impressed. The lightly snoozing Sweetie Belle perked on the other side of me and opened her left eye, curiously staring at it.

"Uh, I'm not sure. There are only, like, five ponies that can send me messages. The three Princesses, Twilight, and Shining," Spike informed, leaning over to pick up the rolled up scroll. It must be a spell or something they used, then? Did all dragons function as a long distance communication method?

I watched curiously as he broke the seal with his claw and unrolled it gently. A long minute passed in silence, as he seemed to almost be counting to himself for some reason. Tilting my head, I finally asked, "Uh, who's it from and what are you doing?"

"It says it's from Princess Celestia, but it's got a summation number, and I'm checking to make sure there's the right number of words, paragraphs, lines, and spaces," he explained absently, his eyes moving incredibly quickly, to my surprise. I peeked at the number printed at the very bottom, noticing it was an unlabeled series of letters and numbers, seemingly at random. Fascinating! So, to make sure the letter hasn't been tampered with, they make a complex, manual checksum at the bottom. Could dragon delivery service be intercepted or something? Apparently that was a yes, if Tia went to this much trouble to safeguard against it.

"Uh, what's all that mean, again?" Apple Bloom asked curiously, looking more than a little skeptical.

"That code on the bottom somehow tells Spike how many of each of those to expect in the letter. If his count shows up differently, it might mean the letter has been tampered with before it arrived here. That transfer must be able to be intercepted, then?" I guessed idly. I wasn't really surprised when the filly perked up in understanding, seemingly able to grasp my explanation.

Spike nodded again before finishing counting out the letter. "Yeah. Powerful magic can intercept a letter for a few seconds, which is enough to use a different spell to change what it says. This really is from Princess Celestia, however. Also, it's for Mender," he elaborated before smiling and extending the sheet towards me.

Blinking lightly in confusion, I reached out and touched it with a hoof, my magic locking onto it as I lifted it over to where I was. What did she want with me again?

Rapidly, I started silently reading the letter. "Hello again, Mender. I hope this letter finds you well," it started, giving me a nice, informal feel. Plus, it was always a good idea to hope for my health, both physical and mental. It continued with, "I wanted to inform you that the guest that you sent to us is proving most cooperative. As per your warning, we gave her prompt medical attention and treatment for her injury, although it wasn't severe in the least." That was good. I'd feel terrible if I'd given her, or through inaction, let her get a concussion or something.

"What's the letter about?" Sweetie Belle asked curiously, interrupting my flow.

"You should let him read it first," Scootaloo chastised lightly, giving the unicorn an amused stare.

Sweetie shot an annoyed glare her way, but I held my hoof up and shook my head. "It's fine. It's talking about that mare I had to arrest and send to Canterlot. She appears to have made a full recovery and is cooperating with them," I explained, hopefully heading off any arguments.

Rainbow's lips curled up into a smirk, proving she was still awake. "At least Tank didn't cream her too hard. Way more restraint than me! I would have bucked her through a tree for trying to blow you up," she muttered tiredly, but managing to open her left eye up to give me a mirthful glance.

I chuckled before correcting, "Low density explosive. Plus, it was rock salt fragmentation, so her goal wasn't to blow me up so much as just stunning me. It didn't even make my barrier flinch, so don't worry." Her amused look only doubled, and I braced for a barbed retort, but it never came. Sweetie instead beat her to the punch.

"I agree! She shouldn't be treated nice, at least, if only because she tried to hurt Mender!" the little filly growled, in an uncharacteristically menacing tone. I gave her a surprised glance but Spike started laughing, distracting me.

"You would have gotten your wish had Mender not stopped Carrot! The mare would still be in critical otherwise," he chipped in, apparently finding it infinitely amusing. Heh. Critical? She'd be lucky if the berserking mare stopped short of putting her six feet under! Seriously short temper on that one. Possibly shorter than Rainbow's, but that was a tough call to make. Also, I wasn't about to run empirical testing on it. I wouldn't survive the process.

"Works for me. She kicks almost as much flank as AJ, and that's saying something, considering she's not trained for it," Rainbow tossed in, adding a low whistle afterwards that was almost universal for respectful awe. It also amused me that they used 'flank' rather than 'rump' or 'haunch', which would be the butt of a pony. I chalked it on to some sort of cultural significance and made a note to ask somepony later, who wouldn't laugh hysterically at me.

Shifting back down to the letter, I continued reading where I left off. "She's given us insight as to what is going on, and I have a solid hunch I know of what is behind the slander and magical attack against you. It's not good news, however, and I must hold off and inform you in-person upon your arrival in Canterlot. In the meantime, we continue looking into the matter on this end." Well, Tia being negative about something was definitely cause for alarm. I sighed and then widened my eyes a little at the final paragraph.

"Lastly, I must alert you immediately of current information. She also informed us that she may not have been the only operative in your current area, and that there might be an additional issue to contend with. Be vigilant, and protect those around you as best you're able. Stay safe until we meet again," the last paragraph read.

I stared at the letter for another moment before sighing and folding it up again. It distorted across its surface and was gone an instant later, falling into the wrinkle of space inside of me, instantly dropping inside my saddlebags, which were in the same spot. Sweetie watched curiously where it had been on my hoof for a second before I shook my head.

"It was just detailing what she'd said so far and informing me that they're investigating more using her information," I explained, entirely honestly. There was no sense in telling them about potential danger that may or may not even still be here. Whoever was here before might have run after the mare had gotten arrested. I kept my proximity sensors on, however, just in case.

Spike perked up and nodded at that, smiling towards me gently. "That's good that they're getting closer to finding the ponies responsible. They can't get away with this," he said, closing his eyes lightly as if intently focusing on his own words.

"They won't. This whole thing'll probably be resolved before winter even hits! Ya got ah lot o' ponies supportin' ya now," Apple Bloom predicted, making me frown towards her. I really, really hoped she was right, but there was something that suddenly made me uneasy about the whole thing. For just a second, her smile matched up with the one in my mind, and I saw her as a little blue filly instead. It was gone before I even grasped it existed, and I was forced to look away. Remember. Remember what?

Giggling snapped me out of my focus, sounding far off yet. My proximity sensors picked up the location instantly and started passive distortion scans towards it as my ears twitched, my head turning to look in that direction. Three levels of magnification to my eyes later, I saw four small foals coming down the road. Two I recognized almost instantly as Featherweight and Pinch from the other day. The other two were unknown, however.

My focus shifted to the unknown two as the three fillies around me perked up and rotated to look at where I was staring. Same size, mane length, and tail length. Related, maybe? The gray one sported a mane of two slightly different shades of silver, looking surprisingly grayscale in comparison to most ponies. The pink one further had a two toned mane of purple and white, to my mild surprise. I guess white was a legitimate mane or tail color for ponies, regardless of age. Maybe to offset her distinct lack of color, the gray one also sported a rather expensive looking, and in my opinion, ugly pair of blue glasses. Well, at least they were practical, which couldn't be said about the small tiara the filly next to her sported. I decided I was channeling too much inner Rarity, and set aside the opinions so it didn't poison my first meeting with them. Oddly, Featherweight and Berry Pinch were sporting two rather sizable saddlebags apiece, and didn't exactly look pleased about the situation. Huh.

"Eh? Four ponies are headed our way. Small, so foals maybe?" Scootaloo guessed, impressing me significantly with her eyesight.

"Yeah, four foals. Two earth ponies, a pegasi, and a unicorn," Rainbow added, squinting a little and impressing me even more. Damn, she had to have at least double the standard pony's vision! No, probably more if she could pick out enough shape to see Berry's horn.

I decided to not say anything, and simply turned back towards Dash instead, complimenting her with, "Nice vision, Dash. I only was able to hear them." A small lie, but watching her grin and puff up was so worth it.

"A pegasus has to have good vision if they travel as fast as I do! Gotta see what's ahead of me at all times," she explained, with no light amount of bragging. Scootaloo sucked up every word as if it were the ultimate training manual, and then got a determined look in her eyes before nodding vigorously.

Smiling, I nodded happily towards the two of them, and then raised an eyebrow to my left as Apple Bloom disappeared into my peripheral vision. I felt two small hooves set down on my back a moment later, and looked over my right shoulder instead in time to see her peeking in the direction of the foals as they got closer. My distortion scans were within range enough to pick up their different types now, so I figured she could probably see them fairly well.

"Ah! Pinch an' Featherweight! Wait... Aww, no. Also, Diamond Tiara an' Silver Spoon," the yellow filly groaned out a moment later. Oh? I didn't know which was which until I glanced back at them again curiously, and noticed they sported Cutie Marks remarkably similar to their names. Weird. What would I be then, Heart Gear? I shivered at the prospect, suddenly having the urge to vomit up the sandwich I'd just finished, which was a distinctly foreign sensation. Successfully eating without something destroying or removing my food was a challenge! I didn't want to expel it once it was already in my stomach.

The other two fillies let out a groan, Rainbow looking between them with a vaguely skeptical expression. Spike sighed, however, adding, "What are they doing with those two? Diamond Tiara probably conned them into something or other." Diamond Tiara... Where had I heard that before?

"Wait, wasn't she the one that was spreading rumors about me not going to make it after the hospitalization incident?" I inquired, frowning as I glanced back towards Sweetie Belle, who was the one who'd said it, if I recalled right.

"W-What?!" Rainbow asked, sounding shocked as Sweetie nodded at the same time.

"Yeah. She said that you were nothing but trouble and weren't going to make it. She said she had some sort of insider scoop from the hospital! It was really mean and I was already worried about you before she said that," Sweetie murmured, frowning weakly and shivering there.

Giving her a gentle smile, I wrapped my right foreleg over her back and massaged her gently. She didn't look all that appeased, but sighed and finally gave me a light smile before burying her face into my chest. Rainbow let out a stiff groan, glaring down the road further. "She's the pink one with the stupid looking tiara on her head, right? Starting to not like her already, and we haven't even met," she spat out, her wings twitching lightly across her back.

"She teases us all the time about not having our Cutie Marks yet," Scootaloo admitted, looking down towards the dirt a little, which further made me want to toss the pink filly into the lake. Uh, the mean pink filly, not Pinch. Pinch and Featherweight seemed nice, and were both spoken highly of by the others. Suddenly, the reason they seemed to be hauling all the beach equipment seemed a little more apparent.

The group halted once they'd broken into the clearing, apparently not paying us much attention as Pinch suddenly stomped forwards. The two in front apparently heard and turned around to confront her before she got more than two steps. "Hey! We hauled your stupid equipment all the way here. Give back Featherweight's camera, like you promised!" she suddenly shouted out, causing my eyes to widen in surprise. After Diamond Tiara rotated around, I was able to see the familiar looking camera bag slung to the right of the filly's shoulder. She stole his camera?! As angry as that made me, it was even easier to pick out the burst of rage that shot down the empathy link from Rainbow. I watched her stand up fully, her wings starting to twitch as she glared daggers at the scene unfolding.

"Oh? I do vaguely recall something about that, right, Silver? Hmm. However, I don't think I heard you respectfully address me as Mistress there," Diamond Tiara added, smirking over at the other two with a rather possessive looking glint in her eye.

Featherweight stepped up next to Pinch a moment later, a far more apologetic look on his face. "Please, Mistress Tiara. Can I please have my camera back? It was a birthday gift from my parents," he begged, staring in apprehension mixed with horror as she flexed her shoulder, sliding the camera bag to her chest instead. The front of the bag folded open, revealing the camera itself and various reels of film in neat loops. Oh, the strap on it was actually connected to the camera, I realized. The leather part was just a case that fit around it, then?

Featherweight's eyes widened as she took the protective leather case off it, then popped the cap off the lens and pretended to focus the camera on the small colt. "This? Ooooh, I'm a camera pony! Heh. I don't know why they got you such a stupid gift. You look dumb carrying this around everywhere," she muttered.

"It's not 'camera pony', stupid. The proper term is a photographer! And he looks super cool carrying it," Pinch retorted, looking even angrier now as she tossed aside the equipment bag.

"Please, this piece of junk? It was probably barely a couple dozen bits. Your parents must really not like you if they only got you this cheap thing. How much does it go for, Silver?" Tiara asked. Rainbow let out a growl and stomped towards the group. My mouth opened to say something, but I suddenly held my tongue, deciding that maybe, just maybe, I didn't want to stop her. A second later, I found myself slowly following after her, at a lesser pace, of course.

Silver Spoon shook her head, however, adding, "Um, actually, it's fifty six bits for the base camera, and twenty more bits for that added lens." She hesitated after her friend gave her a confused glance, and then giggled lightly as if unsure of herself. Eh? She was either interested in cameras, too, or had amazing memory for prices.

"Well, well. More expensive than I thought! Oh yeah, now I remember. Your parents are dirt poor and probably saved up a whole year just to afford this! Ha! I guess they must care about you after all," the annoying pink filly teased, after recovering from her apparent confusion. Parents that cared for him. I felt a light pang go through my chest, but frowned as his eyes started to tear up.

Rainbow snapped, bursting the last ten feet before landing defiantly between the two groups of foals. Ah crap. As angry as I was, I really didn't want to see Rainbow cave their faces in over it. She probably had the restraint not to, but I broke into a jog just in case, at least getting within reasonable barrier-forming range. I heard a light growl from behind me as well, noting the four individual sets of steps alongside it, and the very distinct rotary blade sound.

"Leave them alone! That camera isn't yours, so just give it back!" Rainbow shouted, stomping her right forehoof down again and kicking sand backwards as she scraped with it, wings jutting out angrily to each side of her.

"W-What?" Tiara asked, momentarily looking surprised before glancing over to her right at us as we approached. "Oh, it's the three blank flanks and their loser friends. I'm not afraid of you, you g-garish freak! You shouldn't even be here!" she retorted a second later, taking an uneasy step away from the pissed off pegasus, kind of calling her own bluff.

Garish freak?! Rainbow was amazing, and her colors were quite beautiful. My eyes narrowed as I slowed to a walk towards them. "Show Rainbow Dash proper respect. She saved all of you multiple times, and is an amazing, beautiful mare," I defended once I was within reasonable talking distance. Err, okay, my own feelings might have bled through a bit into that statement, but it hardly mattered.

Rainbow blushed lightly, giving me a startled glance that seemed to distract her from the anger a bit, which was a good thing. Both bullies turned to me instead, however, which was a bad thing. "Oh? Is she joining your stupid fan club, too? What are you going to do about it, monster?” Diamond Tiara inquired pointedly, causing something inside me to twist up, that prior anger bubbling a little again.

"Monster? Funny, coming from the one blackmailing an innocent colt using his birthday present!" Spike defended suddenly, walking up on my left with an angry expression as well.

"I'm not a monster like him! I have secret information and know all about how monstrous he really is. Besides," she continued, raising her hoof to the camera on her chest again before lightly tapping it against the lens and continuing with, "What are you all going to do about it? Try to hurt me? I'll have you all arrested if you even touch me! Especially the freak, because she isn't even supposed to be here."

The pink filly punctuated her threat with a much harder movement of her hoof. My eyes widened at the sudden snapping noise of breaking glass an instant later. "No!" Featherweight yelled out, accompanied by Rainbow's sudden snarl. His scream echoed through my head as he ran forward in almost slow motion, tears coming down each cheek. In that instant, as the throb went through my mind, he wasn't Featherweight. I saw a good friend, whose son's body was just dumped in front of him. Her grin matched almost perfectly, a twisted mirror holding a camera rather than a bloody body bag.

It reared up again, escaping as a snarl from my throat. The magic was released before I even realized I'd formed it, shooting across the sand in less than a heartbeat. It slammed upwards, and I barely managed to restrain it from slicing her head off. Instead, the box of barriers formed around the camera and bag, knocking her hoof away from it in a second and hauling it upwards, strap and all. For a second, she was still attached to it and struggled against the leather band at the back of her neck. I yanked it off her, sending her stupid looking tiara flying as she fell sideways onto the ground from the force of it.

"This does not belong to you! If you so much as say one more cruel word towards anypony here, I'll haul you back to your parents myself and see how much they'd be interested in their daughter potentially getting arrested for theft and harassment," I growled, slamming my right forehoof down as my magic carefully brought the camera back over to where I was.

The little filly looked more than flustered, and her friend looked actually horrified as she backed away from both of us, apparently really not interested in being an accomplice, if her friend was getting arrested. "H-How dare you! You can't-" Diamond Tiara started to yelp.

I cut her off in an instant by tapping my chest lightly, shooting magic into the pendant I knew was there. It activated instantly, revealing itself and, in turn, me to be a member of Princess Luna's Royal Night Guard. "I can. You said you know about me, but you didn't remember that I'm a full member of the royal guard? Further, Rainbow is here under my direct supervision and still on ground not associated with the cabins, so your threats count fully as harassment," I concluded, watching her eyes bug out as she stared at the 'badge' of sorts around my neck.

There was a long five seconds of her just staring at me in shock before she swallowed uneasily and scrambled to her hooves again. "F-Fine! Uh, come on, Silver. We're leaving," she ordered, sounding shaken. I tentatively raised an eyebrow towards the gray and silver filly, who suddenly looked conflicted.

"B-But, I thought we were gonna swim?" Silver Spoon whispered to her friend, a slight tone of disappointment sounding from her voice.

"No w-way! I'm not staying another second around these-" she started before wincing and looking back at me as my eyes narrowed again. "Uh, ponies. Come on!" she finished after a slight hesitation, that time her 'order' not sounding nearly as convincing as a byproduct. She didn't stick around to let me say anything, however, scampering over to where her tiara lay and snatching it up in her muzzle before booking it surprisingly quickly back towards the trail they walked in on.

Silver Spoon stood there with an open mouth and slightly bewildered look, her right forehoof extended towards where her friend was a moment ago still. She lowered it a second later and looked down at the fallen equipment bags before swallowing weakly. "B-But the bags. I can't lift them by myself and, uh, I really wanted to..." she whispered, almost to herself.

"You should have thought of that before going along with Diamond Tiara and being mean," Scootaloo snapped, causing the gray filly to wince away from the sound.

To my surprise, Rainbow wore a thoughtful expression on her face instead before shaking her head towards Scootaloo. "Ease up, Scoots. Silver Spoon, right? Just because that spoiled brat says something, doesn't mean you have to do it, right? I'm sure you really wanted to swim, and you still can, right? You can hang out with us instead as we enjoy the lake," she offered. My blood cooled a little and I felt a light smile form on my muzzle. That was unexpected from Rainbow Dash, but there was probably something I didn’t know about. Scootaloo looked surprised herself, and then hesitated as she glanced back, looking like she just noticed how distraught the gray filly looked.

"I, uh, really? Even after I was mean, you'd let me, uh?" Silver questioned, glancing back at Rainbow with a shocked expression. Diamond Tiara was making amazing time meanwhile and I raised my eyebrow as the filly disappeared over the hill way up the path, apparently not even bothering to look back. I guess she didn't care about her beach equipment all that much.

Featherweight ran over to me an instant later, giving an absolutely miserable look towards his camera, his cheeks wet and eyes tinted red. Pinch followed after him almost immediately, frowning towards it as well. I smiled gently to him and set the camera down on the leather case on the sand. Well, fake leather, I noticed, starting to be able to tell the difference from the seams. Snapping myself out of my tendency to go off on a tangent ahead of time, I examined the lens. It had a lovely fracture across the surface of it, splitting the main body into almost five chunks. The young colt's eyes started to water even more, and he sniffed weakly, sitting down in front of me while staring at it.

I held a hoof up to him and shook my head, however. "Just a second, Featherweight. I wanna try something," I offered, lightly touching my left forehoof against the lens as I felt the magic stir into the glass. The fracture was bad, but I also specialized in Transmutation, which usually dealt with far worse damage in my engineering days. Er, my original's engineering days, anyway.

"I'm sorry about the camera, Featherweight. Um, and I apologize for Diamond Tiara's behavior. I really would like to swim with everypony. You'd really let me?" Silver Spoon asked weakly, walking up towards us instead. I glanced up momentarily just in time to notice I'd gotten everypony's attention when I spoke, Featherweight giving me a surprised yet hopeful expression.

"Of course you can swim with us. You don't have to hang around Diamond Tiara all the time, you know?" Sweetie offered, smiling as well and nodding towards the filly. Pinch sighed and reluctantly nodded as well, but shifted her attention back to what I was doing instead.

The glow from my magic was readily visible under my hoof, but the lens wasn't due to me covering it from view completely. I felt the cracks as the heat began to form, distorting the arrangement of the material lightly as I shifted its shape and consistency. It was a nicely formed lens, and I was able to get the shape down rather easily. Professionally made, and I suddenly realized why it was a little expensive to purchase. I was impressed by the quality. Smiling, I felt it seal back together gently, and I made sure to adjust the gradient of the glass as well as carefully smooth out the surfaces for him. As an added touch, I also cleaned both sides of the lens before lifting my hoof up again, admiring my work. It looked like a complete lens again, and I relaxed lightly, sagging back to my haunches.

Featherweight's eyes expanded significantly as he stared at the camera, as if expecting it to suddenly explode or something. My enchantment had been made smoothly and had the proper safeguards, so the risk of that was far less than point zero two percent! Carefully, I slid the case back over to him and nodded.

A second passed, and he just stared at it, and then slowly looked back up at me. "Uh, I kinda saw a flier in town advertising your business before we left. Um, h-how much is it for that?" he inquired hesitantly. Er, what? Blanking for a second, I looked back down at the camera. Flier?

"Ugh. Why did she do this? I'll cover whatever it costs, Mr. Mender. Um, normally she doesn't go out of her way to break things," Silver Spoon added, sitting down next to the rapidly growing group, Rainbow following her as well. Oh!

She fished a small bag out from the discarded equipment bag, hooking the drawstring around her hoof and making a clinking noise as she pulled it out. Smiling, I placed my hoof over her gray one and shook my head. "No, I'm not charging for that little thing. The only thing I want in return is for both of you to smile again," I muttered, looking back to Featherweight specifically.

His eyes softened and he nodded again, genuinely fulfilling my request with a warm smile. "Thank you, Mr. Mender! I'm definitely going to write up a good story for the school paper about you," he agreed.

"Uh, just Mender, please. And you don't have to. Although, I am interested in where you saw the flier you mentioned," I admitted, having a sneaking suspicion Pinkie was involved.

"I'm kinda interested in why you were hauling bits along to the lake, hidden in your equipment bag, too," Berry Pinch muttered, gesturing back to the gray filly next to me still.

Perking, I glanced back over at Silver as well, noting she had suddenly become the center of attention again. Wait, why did she haul a large sum of bits with her to the lake? There weren't exactly any vendors around, even in the camp.

Silver Spoon blushed lightly and looked down at her hooves, sighing to herself. "I always bring bits along when I'm with Diamond Tiara. Sometimes she, well, upsets ponies and I don't want her getting in trouble, so having a small amount of bits with to pay for any damages or smooth over hurt feelings is, well, useful. I was going to pay you two for hauling the equipment along, too," she explained, once again causing me to blank out. Did that honestly work that often?

Rainbow thankfully was far ahead of me in the reaction department. Unfortunately, however, that also meant that Rainbow was far ahead of me in the talking department, too. "Wait, why are you the one to pay out bits for Diamond Tiara being a jerk?!" my cyan friend asked bluntly, with no small amount of irritation playing through in her voice.

Silver winced lightly and looked away from Rainbow, her eyes softening down at the bit pouch. "She, um, she has reasons why she's like that. But she's the only one who'd talk to me my entire first year of school. She's my only friend and I don't want her getting in trouble and going away somewhere like her dad threatens her with sometimes," she revealed quietly. I swallowed uneasily, really wishing Prudentia would pop up and conveniently rewind things a bit so I could pounce Rainbow into the lake before she'd said that.

"Wait, what?!" Scootaloo asked, tone similar to how I'd imagine a pony would respond to finding out the sky is actually purple.

Apple Bloom frowned at the same time instead, and shook her head slowly. "Why didn't anypony talk ta ya, Silver? Ya could've come talk ta me, as well," she offered tentatively. I was all sorts of mixed feelings at this point. On one hoof, paying ponies off to look the other way really wasn't teaching Diamond Tiara anything. But on the other, if she was down to her last 'chance', so to speak, with her dad, I could see why Silver Spoon was doing what she was.

Silver shook her head and gave a weak smile towards the sand before reaching up with both forehooves and lightly taking her glasses off. Rather pretty lavender eyes rested behind them, but they looked rather sad. "I was the only filly in our class to get glasses at that time. Almost everypony thought there was something wrong with me, and would just run away or call me a freak. Diamond Tiara not only talked to me, but she helped chase some of them away by threatening to sue them," she replied, giggling lightly towards the end as I saw more of a smile play across her muzzle. Rainbow slapped her forehead with a hoof, but I smiled a little, too. Seeing a little foal threatening bullies with legal action would have been kinda amusing. Silver continued, however, before anypony could say anything, and added, "Plus, I kinda was interested in talking to you, but that huge stallion would walk you to school every day and he was kinda scary."

Apple Bloom giggled instead this time and shook her head. "Mah brother's super nice, Silly. He's real big an' strong, but wouldn't hurt ya," she assured confidently.

Sweetie Belle looked lost in thought, but frowned to herself before gently speaking up. "Do you think we should try talking to her? I mean, I know she's never really been nice to us, but if her dad's really mean to her or something..." Going away somewhere sounded more like different schooling or some sort of etiquette school or something. Was he so busy that he didn’t want the responsibility of teaching his daughter manners himself?

I frowned for a split second. Her father. Her taunt shot back into the forefront of my mind. Secret information. It was vague, and probably a bluff, as hearing the crowd call me a 'monster' during that incident wouldn't have been all that hard. Still, though, those newspaper thingies had 'secret information', too. I made a mental note to run it past Twilight when I got back. It was probably nothing, but I didn't particularly like taking chances, especially when a reasonable alternative presented itself.

"I think we should try. She might really need friends, and I'm sure Silver Spoon wouldn't mind having more as well," Spike agreed, sitting down to Sweetie's right while holding onto Tank's shell lightly. I didn't see a head or legs anywhere, but two eyes peeked out from the darkness at the hole in the front of it, so I assumed he was okay.

Silver Spoon sighed, but nodded weakly. "After everything we’ve done to you three and Spike, I didn't expect you to really even let me stay and swim. I'll, well, I'll try to get her to not pick on you so much if it doesn't work," she muttered, sounding as if she knew something we didn't. Something felt off still, and there was a bitter undertone to her statement. Nopony seemed to notice, however, as Apple Bloom just nodded back happily, so I decided to let it drop for now.

"Speaking of, I think we're done eating and napping, so you lot can go and play in the lake again. I'll keep an eye on you," I offered, gesturing towards the body of water in question.

Scootaloo was the first to perk up, nodding happily at me before bounding off towards the water without even a word. What, did she take that as an order or something? "Hey! Wait fer us!" Apple Bloom shouted after her before breaking into a sprint as well. Her legs powered up, however, and she burst ahead as Scootaloo laughed and took to the air. Aww, crap. They forgot already?!

My ears flattened down as I watched them, and Rainbow gave me a questioning eyebrow raise. "Whoa! How are they doing that?!" Pinch asked, however, answering for me as I sighed.

"Oh! Oops. We weren't supposed to use the enchantments with anypony watching," Rainbow suddenly muttered, lowering her ears and glancing back out at the two fillies chasing each other across the beach.

"I gave them an enchantment that magnifies their abilities. Uh, please don't tell anypony, you three? It takes a lot of effort to make them and if everypony knows, they'll all want one," I requested, glancing back at Pinch, Featherweight, and Silver. To my surprise, Featherweight looked more horrified as he watched Apple Bloom take a nasty spill and skip almost twelve meters across the sand. Her armor was on and she was far from injured, of course, but-

"Uh, I won't tell anypony so long as you don't put one on me. That looks kinda scary," he requested, flattening his ears down a bit.

Berry Pinch rolled her eyes but snickered at him, lightly giving him a shove in the shoulder with her hoof. "You don't have to be such a chicken. Mender wouldn't give them out if they weren't safe, right?" she reasoned, smiling back at me as if asking for confirmation on that. Silver Spoon just watched the two enchanted fillies curiously instead. Spike grinned a moment later and ran out after Apple Bloom as she dashed past, lines of light coming off his claws and lashing out at the unsuspecting filly. Well, I guess now that the cover was blown, he might as well.

"Kinda. They're prototypes at the moment. Mostly safe, but I'd like to work a few more precautions into them before they become public knowledge," I warned, shaking my head towards her.

To my surprise, Silver Spoon smiled and nodded instead, looking back over at me. "That's for the best. It wouldn't be good business if somepony got hurt using your products. Still, the amount of bits you could rake in from this service would be amazing! Especially if you put in time limits to the magic or something, so they had to keep coming back to you for refills. I've never heard of magic being used to magnify a pony's abilities before, so you could probably even have a monopoly!" the little filly exclaimed, smiling fully at me. I stared back, eyes widening a little.

That, well, was actually a little scary that a tiny little filly knew what a monopoly was in the first place, let alone knew tricks on how to start one up and abuse it. Suddenly I wondered what exactly a silver spoon Cutie Mark represented. "Uh, I'm kinda content with just making a little bit of bits. I don't need all that much," I muttered, suddenly feeling kind of awkward talking to her.

She tilted her head, staring at me like I'd just grown a second head. Or tentacles. My scanners told me I hadn't, however, but I still caught myself checking in paranoia. "Why wouldn't you want more bits? You can get anything you want with them," she asked, looking utterly confused. Rainbow gave her a disbelieving glance, but just shook her head and went back to watching the three play in the sand.

"I already have more than I need with Twilight and Fluttershy with me. I can't really think of anything I really want to buy in the first place, apart from just having enough to get some food and supplies for myself," I admitted, my ears drooping a little more. I'd never really considered anything that I 'wanted'. I just realized that I didn't really have any goals to work towards past just getting an income set up.

This only seemed to confuse Silver Spoon more, who frowned at me but remained silent, her eyes shifting out of focus as she considered what I'd said. "There are some things you can't buy no matter how many bits you have, Silver. You can't buy true and honest love or friendship with them, and they won't make you truly happy," Rainbow muttered, still looking out at the lake, but softening her eyes a little. I felt a wave of unpleasantness slip down the link, and suddenly wondered if she was speaking from experience.

"Do you, um, need those things?" Silver asked hesitantly a moment later. Rainbow glanced back at her, but I smiled and shook my head, looking down at my hoof, my eyes tracing the metal that was strapped to it.

"No, you don't 'need' them. You can continue existing with very little, it turns out. But that's all it is without friendship, love, or happiness. Existing. In order to live, you need to be happy and content with yourself," I reasoned, already having known the answer to that one. The other me had 'existed' his entire life. Staying in Equestria had been the easiest choice I'd ever made, even now. No hesitation was needed at all.

Silver looked surprised at that answer, but Rainbow smiled over at me. It was interesting, really. For that brief moment, I realized how valuable that sensation was. She was smiling genuinely at me. I felt the warmth through the link, and realized that in that moment, she wasn't hiding her feelings or trying to pretend she was 'cool' and detached. She was just genuinely happy, and I'd caused it.

Sweetie Belle looked confused as Rainbow bumped into her other side, sandwiching the filly between us as the cyan mare leaned over and lightly rested her forehead against my shoulder. It 'felt' like a hug, even if it wasn't, and I smiled and nodded in understanding. I suddenly had a sneaking suspicion the mare didn't really 'need' her weather job, given the amount of bits she'd tried to deliver to me for payment, and the sheer size of her house I frequently saw floating over Ponyville. Her house she oh so rarely saw fit to actually sleep in, apparently deciding a passing cloud or tree was more comfortable. There was probably a reason for that, but I was content enough to just understand her a little more.

"Are you okay, Rainbow?" Sweetie asked softly, shifting a bit to adjust to the new presence, but apparently deciding she was perfectly content with being sandwich filling now. Actually, she was a fairly easygoing filly. Sandwich filling, scarf, hat, cape... She didn't really care no matter what.

"She seems more than okay against Mender," Pinch cooed, giving a smirk over at us. I raised an eyebrow to her, but she bumped Featherweight in the side with her hip instead of continuing to actually look my way. He gave a startled yelp, having been watching the lake instead, and fell into a lying position. She smiled contentedly and rotated around once before flopping down against his right side, earning a blush and questioning stare from him.

Rainbow snorted, giving her a skeptical glance before rolling her eyes and returning her attention to the water. "I trust Mender. We've been through a lot together and he's one of my best friends," she explained, carefully avoiding that whole 'kissing' part, which even with Pony culture being rather cuddly, I was pretty sure was a breach of friendship.

Sweetie must have thought the same thing as she snickered. The clever filly then slipped forwards and rolled onto her side instead, squeezing out from between us and landing across my forelegs. I didn't even have time to give her a questioning glance as Rainbow slipped the rest of the way sideways and the sensation of warm fur covered my entire right side.

My missed skeptical stare was given to Rainbow instead, who made no attempt to move, just lightly blushing while lying against me. I saw the raw focus in her eyes, however, as she literally willed herself to keep looking out at the lake. Oh boy. Yeah, this was a bad idea. That lingering sensation of warmth drifted through me as well, and I felt the deepest sensation of frustration coming from the mare, mixed with a rampant hunger and the strange desire to locate and consume a juicy slice of watermelon. It was a little confusing. The longer I stared at her, the more I felt her becoming acutely aware of my gaze, and I felt the warmth start to get a little hotter. It was strange, though, as I'd never gotten appetite or specific sensations from the empathy link before. Normally it was just blanket sensations revolving around emotions. Weird.

I'd focused so intently on Rainbow that I didn't notice Sweetie Belle staring at us. "What's that?" she asked curiously a second later, causing both Rainbow and me to jump at the sudden noise. Eh?! I looked back at her at the same time Rainbow did, and then traced where she was looking.

There was very little, honestly, that gave me that 'blood freezing' sensation anymore. My eyes met Rainbow's, and perhaps from instinct or sudden compulsion, both of us looked up at the exact same time. Ever so thin, and so light you could barely see it, there was a tiny cord of prismatic and blue light running between our foreheads.

Shit.

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