Chapter 24: Confrontation and Conversations
The room was nearly pitch black, the only light in the room coming from a single gas lamp in the bathroom. The quiet breathing of the alabaster mare in the bed next to Twilight was the only sound that broke the peaceful tranquility of the otherwise silent night. The air, despite them being inside a massive mountain, was fresh, and the scents reminded the mare of apples and daisies. The plush mattress and sheets of the bed she laid in were some of the finest linens that the she had ever tucked herself into; the bedding possibly being of better quality of even Twilight's room when she was studying magic incantations under Celestia. In fact, if there was a way to bring her sense of taste into the room, she would assume that it would serve nothing more than to calm her nerves even further, and assist her to join Rarity in a deep slumber.
Still, she could not sleep.
She wasn't entirely sure why this was the case, but her mind just would not settle down. There were so many things that had happened recently to her, that her mind raced through every event and subject imaginable, attempting to dissect, analyze, and piece back together all of conversations, actions, and emotions from since she was called to Canterlot by Celestia to deal with Discord in the first place all the way to now, where she and Rarity were finally safe from the cruel world. They were supposed to be sleeping so that they could be ready for whatever Sarlaka had planned for them. Trying to help them sleep, he had pulled out the stops on the dinner that night. Fresh apples, the best carrot and mushroom soup Twilight had ever had, and a plate of cookies big enough for a party of twenty finished off the meal. From how Rarity looked as she was eating, she taking any semblance of decorum and throwing it out of the window, the white mare made sure that she ate her share of the meal making up for the lack of the other four members of their group.
That's not to say that Twilight had not eaten her fair share. In fact, thinking back, she was certain that if she had some way to visually play back the scene, she wouldn't dare show her face to Rarity or Sarlaka ever again. If nothing else, she was glad that Rarity probably looked just as foolish as she stuffed her face, though the thought of their host just looking on, popping a gem into his maw every few minutes in silent amusement, was a little more than slightly embarrassing. Thinking to herself, Twilight concluded that she would have to eat breakfast with an exceptional amount of formality to make up for the... rambunctious nature she acted in, but all of that was besides the point. What WAS the point was that after all of the things to help her relax, she couldn't sleep, and that her thoughts were going in circles. Sighing in annoyance, she carefully picked herself up, and started to make her way towards the bathroom.
Twilight carefully stepped into the bathroom, and, being as silent as possible, closed the wooden door behind her. She turned up the gas on the lamp with a quick use of her magic, bathing the room in its yellow tinted fire. She slowly stepped up to the counter so that she stood in front of the mirror, turned on the sink, and splashed water into her face. Instantly, the cool and clean liquid did wonders for her, ridding her mind of the fog that was blanketing it, and helping to get out all the pesky tangles and knots on her cheeks and forehead that had accumulated. After she rubbed her face with her hooves for a few moments more, she rested her forelegs on the counter, and simply allowed the water to drip from her wet face and mane as she stared into the sink, not really looking or thinking about anything in particular. Finally, after several minutes of clearing her mind, she looked up, and took in the image of herself in the mirror.
Suddenly, the memories of the last time she was in this position came back to her mind, the thoughts of Pinkie so worried for her, unusually scared that something was going to happen to one of them; the mare scared enough that she wasn't her happy and bubbly self that she always was. Twilight had been so tired that night, that now she barely could remember what exactly was said between the two. All she knew was that it was something about Pinkie being extremely scared about something that was going to happen. In fact, after Pinkie thought that the lavender mare was asleep, Pinkie had specifically singled her out, and asked her in particular to be careful. But why was she singled out? Twilight wracked her mind trying to figure out why Pinkie would be so persistent with her and her alone, when all of them were potentially in danger, but no logical conclusions came to mind. Finally, Twilight gave up, and just settled on the idea that she thought something would happen to her, and was scared to the extent that she was hoping that Rarity would keep her safe.
Twilight chuckled a grim and empty laugh, “Pinkie Pie... you guessed the wrong unicorn.”
Her mood slightly depressed from the last statement, she turned back towards the door and, after turning the gas back down on the lamp, let herself out of the bathroom. At first, she turned back towards her bed to try and get back to sleep, but something stopped her. Instead, the mare slowly made her way to the doorway separating the bedroom to the rest of the lair, and as quiet as a mouse, creaked the wooden portal open. Twilight tip-toed her way out of the room, making sure that she didn't disturb her sleeping companion, and with a last push, closed the wooden door behind her.
The lavender mare let out a breath that she wasn't even aware that she was holding, and with a new found spring in her step, trotted her way down the long and dimmed hall. Even though the lighting was the exact same as during the day, the light fixtures apparently not being turned down at night, the hall had a more somber feel to it, as if the passage itself had its own consciousness and thoughts. Of course the idea of a sentient room was completely ludicrous, but still, the fact that she was thinking these things didn't means she was crazy or anything... right?
Shaking her head, Twilight cleared out the strange thoughts that were invading her mind. Her mind once again focused on the present, she continued to make her way back into the main hall, Sarlaka's hoard piled on her right. Taking a few moments to inspect the room, she realized that for as much as she's been in the dragon's home, Twilight never really went into that much of it. On the left wall, a single passage led out onto the ledge overlooking the valley. On the wall opposite of her, there were two doorways, the one on the left being the main dining area, while the one on the right was that massive store room that she and the girls had used extensively to prepare for their journey. And, of course, there was the passage that she was standing in now that led to the guest bedrooms on this wall.
Other than those four passages, there were three doorways that she had never gone through before; one just to her right on the same wall as the guest bedroom, and two large iron doors on the right wall. Both of these iron doors, both standing just behind the piles of gemstones, looked identical to each other in every respect, and both looked like they were meant to keep something very important safe from any prying eyes. Twilight's curiosity was already in overdrive, so the thought of teleporting into each of the rooms to see what was behind those pesky doors was slowly creeping into the mare's mind. What could be inside? Was it long lost treasure? No, there was lots of treasure right in front of her, so there was no point in hiding other treasure. Maybe a superweapon to defeat Discord? No, that was the elements, and if he had a superweapon capable of defeating Discord, he would've used it. Maybe it was his private bedroom and his study, with nothing of real significance inside? Yeah... that's probably it...
Regardless of what was behind the doors, Twilight decided NOT to incite the wrath of the massive dragon by sneaking in, the warning he gave the girls a week ago about going in those rooms coming to mind. Instead, she decided to explore where the final doorway, the one on the same wall as she was standing, went to. Smiling to herself for her noble restraint, something that half of her friends were lacking, she trotted carefully over the outer edge of the piles of gems, and made her way down the large passage. The tunnel was very plain, the only notable features being the small candles on either side of the tunnel that gave off the same tiny light as the other candles in the hall leading to the bedroom. The ground was much rougher than the finely polished floor of the rest of the residence, and so gave the feeling that this part of the lair was not meant for guests to normally meander in and out of nearly as openly as the rest of the place. Still, Sarlaka never said that she shouldn't go down this way, so no harm, no foul!
The one thing that DID stand out in the place was how hot it was getting. It wasn't a blistering heat like that of a volcano or anything crazy like that, but it was more like a hot summer day back in Ponyville. Very quickly, Twilight found herself wiping her brow due to the sweat that was steadily starting to drip. However, the heat was still bearable, and Celestia's most trusted and best student didn't back down from a little heat.
Twilight frowned for a moment, her thoughts turning towards Celestia, but she forcefully tossed the negative feelings to the side, not allowing herself to go down that mental path
Thankfully, the sudden sight that beheld her made distracting herself that much easier. Before her eyes, a large doorway stood wide open, allowing the mare's vision easy passage into the room. All around her, the surfaces of ceiling and walls were unfinished, the entire area consisting of nothing more than a rough and rocky surface. The floor was in the same state, but it was also smoothed over slightly, so that there was no possibility of anypony tripping or falling on any loose rubble.
However, it was the vast amount of machines and tools in the room that really made the place stand out from the rest of the complex. Various work benches, stools, anvils, grinding wheels, and other strange devices that Twilight had no idea what were, all of which were much larger than the typical pony size, were carefully placed in all parts of the room, filling the large space. Along with those devices, massive hammers, tongs, saws, and even what looked like a few pickaxes were strewn around, many of them appearing to be used fairly recently by the amount of dirt and grime that was caked on a few of them.
Then, of course, there was the large dragon that nearly filled the room. Sarlaka, appearing not to notice the recent entrance of his unicorn guest, was hunched over what looked like some kind of blast furnace. While many of the tools and equipment in the room was fitted for a creature his size, the blast furnace appeared to be sized properly for normal ponies, though why this size difference existed was beyond Twilight. Sarlaka was hunched over, every so often putting his face close to an open hatch on the furnace to blast his flame into the massive oven, using his own flame to build something of an unknown design. Twilight looked around, but found no blueprints or other drawings that could glean any clues as to what that might be though. Still, just watching the impressive display was interesting, and while she felt almost like some sort of voyeur watching the dragon work, there was something about it that forced her to simply sit down in the doorway, and smile.
Finally, after several long of observing and studying, Twilight got back up, and walked over to where Sarlaka lay. As soon as the mare made her way past the doorway, it felt like she had walked into the oven the dragon was hunched over, the heated air emanating from the furnace felt like it was blasting itself against Twilight's face, causing her to quietly gag. Sarlaka either did not notice, or did not care that Twilight was behind him, for he diligently carried on with his work, as if Twilight wasn't there at all.
Finally, when she was right behind him, as he was blowing a large amount of flame into the furnace, she spoke, “So what are you up to?”
Sarlaka quickly raised his head, slamming his scaled skull into the top of of the opening. Groaning in pain, he carefully took his head out of the hatch, the very top of the frame now slightly dented from the impact. He turned his vision towards the unicorn, and while rubbing the top of his head with a clawed hand, spoke, “Do you have to sneak up on your kind host like that? It's very rude... not to mention it hurt!”
Twilight rolled her eyes, “Please. You are an armored adult dragon. I'm fairly certain that hitting your head isn't going to hurt that much.”
“Hey, it hurt more than you think,” he retorted. Turning back towards the furnace once more he breathed a massive amount of fire into the core of the device one final time before he shut the hatch, the top part of the frame not quite closing properly. Scowling at the recent imperfection, he turned back towards Twilight, and with a much calmer face, lowered his head so that they were at eye level, “So what are you doing up so late?”
“Oh... you know... just thinking about things.” Twilight spoke. Sarlaka only moved his claw in a circular motion, beckoning for her to continue the thought, “Well first things first, I guess I should ask about how getting those other two elements are going. You know... Rainbow's and Applejack's?”
Sarlaka didn't even shift his form at all, and merely stared right at Twilight's eye, “I'm working on it.”
The lavender mare moved a forehoof in a circular motion just as he did before, waiting for him to elaborate on the statement, to which he did not provide. After waiting a few seconds, she continued, “You are working on it... how?”
“I am working on it. That is all you need to know.”
Sighing, Twilight tried again, “Ok, well, if you can't tell me that, can you at least tell me where they are?”
“Where they are is not important. Only the fact that I will obtain them is, so that you should not worry about the minor details.”
“You and I both know that the minor details are ALL that I think about.”
Sarlaka smiled, “True, but my statement still stands.”
Twilight groaned, sitting down so that she could bring bring a forehoof to her face in annoyance, “You are not being very cooperative right now, you know that right? Could you at least tell me when you will have them?”
The dragon paused for a second, his smile fading, before he answered, “Soon.”
“Soon?”
“Soon.”
Twilight's calm and patient tone was gone, “Why are you being so evasive about answering these simple questions!? Its not like I'm telling you to tell me anything really serious here! Just a what, where, and when! ”
Sarlaka raised his head up, so that his face now towered over Twilight. Even with this massive advantage in size, power, and height, Twilight steadily held her ground. Finally, he spoke, “Because the answers are not ones that you want to hear, nor do you need to know them, so I have no reason to tell you. Is that simple enough, Magic?”
“Not even close. I mean, come on Spike, I ha-”
“I am not Spike,” Sarlaka interrupted, irritation in his tone.
Silence fell over the two, the only sound that echoed around the chamber was the crackling roar of the furnace behind the massive dragon. Twilight stared up at him, trying to find some sort of answer to any of her questions, but his face revealed nothing. Finally, she lowered her head, and sighed, “Why not? Why can't you be my little Spike again?”
She felt tears forming on the corners of her eyes, but they refused to fall. Instead, she kept her eyes down, almost hoping that the hot tears to fall down her face. After a few seconds of quiet, she heard his monotonous response, as if he read it from a notecard, “I already told you this, Magic. My crimes are too many for-”
“Your crimes?” Twilight looked up, her vision blurring from the buildup of more tears, “What crimes do you think you would have to do to make me renounce you in any way? You told me you killed lots of ponies, good ones even. You said you killed a lot, and you implied you potentially killed many more, but you know what? I don't care! You're still my so...”
Twilight paused, barely choking back the sobs that were in her throat, salty tears were freely flowing down her cheeks now, mixing with the sweat to mat her facial hairs. She had no idea how to say the next word, nor did she know what it really meant to either of them. The surprisingly cold feeling of a claw on her chin forced her to look up, and she looked into the sorrow filled eyes of the purple dragon.
Suddenly, she lunged forward, rearing back on her hind legs as she wrapped her forelegs around his gargantuan snout the best she could, and cried. As she let her heart out him, she felt the gentle strokes of his razor sharp claws carefully petting her back, the light scratching giving her a wonderful feeling even in the situation they were in. She had no idea how long the mismatched pair, a tiny lavender unicorn mare from the past gently nuzzling the ancient and murderous purple dragon, were embraced. Even when she had fianally stopped crying, she held him as close as she could, and he, for his part, kept up his gentle pets, until finally she tore herself away, and looked into his emerald eyes.
“I love you... no matter what. You know that, right?”
After a few more seconds, he slowly pulled his head back, until he was once again a fair distance away from her. He didn't look at her, his eyes focused well above her and he stared off at the wall behind her, though his pets never ceased, “I know, Magic, and I appreciate it so... so much. But... I don't know... I just...” he let out a frustrated sigh, “... I have to be Sarlaka. I know you don't want me to, but please, let me keep this name for a little while longer. I'd rather not have the other girls knowing just yet. I know you don't want to, and trust me when I say I don't want to, but... well... just... just remember what you said, about loving Spike no matter what...”
The urge to ask what he meant by the last statement burned inside her, but she decided for the second time that night that her curiosity would cause more harm than good. Instead, she looked past him, gazing at the machine behind him. When she finally felt that she could talk without the previous moment's sobs catching in her voice, she spoke, “Ok, I have to ask, what in the wide world of Equestria are you doing with that thing?”
“Oh this?” Sarlaka turned his head around to face the furnace, “I'm making something.”
Twilight looked up, and raised an eyebrow, “Making something? Making what?”
He merely gave her a wide smile, “A lens.”
___________________________________________________________________________________
“Ah gonna tell ya right now Pinkie, Considerin' how tired Ah am, Ah don' think Ah'm ever gonna get up tomorrow mornin', if ever again.”
“That's not true silly filly! You're going to have to pee at some point, and I think you don't want to do that while laying down!”
“Pinkie... knowing you... Ah'm sure you could think of somethin' to take care of tha'.”
Pinkie giggled, and Applejack couldn't help but laugh along with her. Her laugh was contagious really, like a string of small bells in the wind lightly ringing their gentle song. The cowpony wouldn't have believed how much she would miss that very laughter when it was gone. Looking back, just a few days ago Applejack was nearly driven to homicidal daydreams by the constant yapping and laughing of the pink pony that now was laying in the dirt a few hooves next to her under the night sky. A few days ago, she wouldn't have given a second though to the prospect of it even being possible for Pinkie to stop being herself, the only other time being when they had that near disaster of a surprise birthday party for her.
But now, Applejack realized just how much that very laughter meant to her. Sure, the two were friends before, but they hadn't really done that much together before this whole trip. Now though, she couldn't think of another friend that she felt closer to in their little group. It was funny really. The two were almost completely opposite of each other, yet here they were, laughing and giggling like they had been friends all their lives. Applejack trusted the mare with any of her secrets, and Pinkie in turn trusted her with nearly anything, though one exception loomed between the two. The orange mare had tried to pry the information out of the ball of pink fluff, but she was resolute in her refusal to tell. All that Applejack was able to get out of the pink mare was that it wasn't her, which helped make the situation a little less awkward, the idea of having to tell Pinkie she “didn't swing that way” was not one she wanted to think about. Still, the cowpony was curious, but she let it drop for now, knowing that Pinkie would tell her when she felt ready.
However, something else was bugging Applejack that really didn't make much sense. It had been bothering her since the two had settled down a couple of hours ago, and was part of the reason why she hadn't told Pinkie that it was time to settle down, and go to sleep just yet. “Hey, Pinkie Pie,” Applejack called out, making sure that she had the mare's full attention, “Ah have a question for ya.”
“Forty-two.”
“For... wait... wha'?”
“Never mind! What's up Applejackie?”
Applejack sighed, trying to collect her thoughts again before continuing. If somepony had asked her a week ago that she would be going to Pinkie about a question of logic and reasoning, she would've laughed that pony out of Equestira itself. Still, she had nowhere left to turn right now, and she had learned that Pinkie was more... knowledgeable than she looked, “Ah've been thinkin'. You know how tha' Sarlaka fellow had us go get our elements?”
“Well duh, that's why we're here, right silly filly?”
“Ya know wha' Ah mean. Well, accordin' to him, he we each had to get our respective elements, like you had to get Laughter, or else... well... somthin' bad would've happened. Right?”
Pinkie nodded furiously, “Mmhmm!”
“Well... then how can he get the elements of Loyalty and Honesty then? Ah reckon tha' somethin' fishy is goin' on with those two elements.
Applejack saw out of the corner of her eye that Pinkie rolled over to her side so that the mare was facing her, and propped her head on a forehoof, “What do you mean?”
“Well... Think abou' it. Like Ah said, he told us only you could get your element, Fluttershy could only get her's, and Rarity her's. Why, then, can Sarlaka jus' go up an' grab the other two? Wouldn' tha' go against everythin' tha' he told all of us?”
Pinkie hummed in thought for a second, “Maybe... he's planning on having you and Rainbow going out and getting those next?”
The cowpony shook her head, “Nope. Ah plainly remember tha' he told us tha' he was gonna get those two for us while we were getting these.”
“So you think that Meanie Dragon Pants is lying to us?”
"Ah thin' tha' tha' idea is startin' to make more sense every day.”
Pinkie sat herself up on her flank, and brought a forehoof to her chin, her the gears in her mind plainly in motion with the amount of thought she was putting into her answer. The entire time, the orange mare patiently waited, hoping that the mare could think of another reason behind why Sarlaka would plan things out this way. Everything about the whole plan, from them picking up the elements, to trusting him in having his lair as their base camp, seemed far too suspicious in her book. Things were not adding up, and no matter what the answer was, she knew that there were a lot of secrets that the dragon was not telling them.
Finally, Pinkie's face lit up like a flash from Twilight's magic, “Ooh! I got it! Maybe he's the most loyal and honest of dragons that has ever existed, so it will let him in!”
Applejack rolled her eyes, “Pinkie, if there’s one thing tha' Ah can tell ya about Sarlaka, its tha' he's anythin' BUT honest an' loyal. In fact, Ah reckon tha' he's one of the mos' disloyal and lyin' ponies... err... dragons Ah've ever met.”
The pink mare didn't skip a beat, “Well maybe he's sooooooo disloyal and sooooo dishonest that he goes around the loyalty and honesty wheel allllll the way, so that he goes all the way past zero on both! That way, he hits negative scores on both, which the universe can't really understand, so it just gives him an infinite score on both, which make him completely loyal and honest in terms of the universe!”
Green eyes met blue as Applejack just stared at her friend, her mouth agape in disbelief. The entire time that she was recovering from the completely absurd idea, pearly white teeth beamed in her direction, Pinkie grinning widely in hopeful anticipation. Finally, Applejack finally found her voice, “Pinkie... Ah love ya, but tha's the stupidest and craziest thing Ah've ever heard in mah entire life.”
“Is it as crazy as me having a rocket launcher that's as big and as heavy as me hiding in my mane for a week without anypony realizing it?”
Applejack blinked for a few seconds, before she slowly laid head back on the ground, “... Point taken...”
The pair of ponies laid there in the dirt for a while afterward, the silent night beckoning both to enter the realm of dreams. The cool wind blew against the orange mare's naked mane, and the desire to have her hat back to shelter her came to the forefront for a split second. Regardless, the chilling bite of the wind and ground were not unbearable, and she knew that sleep would come quickly if she let it. She decided to relent, her eyelids fluttering shut, and she slowly started to lose consciousness, the gentle breathing of the pink mare next to her comforting her from any worries.
With a final yawn, Applejack heard Pinkie's soft voice whisper to her, “You really think that Mr Dragon would do something mean to us?”
The cowpony, barely awake, mumbled her reply, “Ah don' know Pinkie... Ah don' know...”
A/N: Wow, this took a while to post. Blah... blame Gilda for it.
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"no point in hiding other treasure Maybe a superweapon to defeat Discord?" I think you missed a punctuation mark.
"Twilight decided NOT incite the wrath" I think you missed a "to" there.
"Its very rude... not to mention it hurt!" Missed an apostrophe.
"drawings that could gleam any clues" Did you mean glean?
“... soon?” ...capital?
"You're still my s...” Another capital?
"The orange mare had tried to pry that ball of pink fluff who she had her eyes set on," Did you mean to add an "out of" there?
I hope you don't mind me pointing out mistakes.
Well, Applejack didn't crush Equestria underneath the weight of her awesome today, so I guess we can call this chapter a success. We need a break in the action every once in a while. Although I fear for us all once Pinkie teaches her how to disregard logic.
637376
*looks at your comment. Looks at my chapter. Looks at the comment*
Fuck.
Oh, and "You're still my s...” is correct. The next word is not Spike...
As for Pinkie... well... how else could I work this picture into the story?
terrariaonline.com/attachments/131039729019-png.8618/
637439 Are you telling me that being Pinkie Pie is contagious? I'm okay with that.
And now I'm going to spend the time wondering what that "s" could have been. It's probably something totally obvious that blew completely over my head.
637451
... maybe...
And if it isn't obvious, then I failed. Fixed it to make it better...
637543 ... son?
637554
Good boy.
Always blame Gilda
I can see why Applejack is still doubtful about everything, but in time, I suppose we'll see more of what's to come with that? I guess so! Her interaction with Pinkie Pie was silly as always...and yeah, hey, Pinkie is being Pinkie. XD Who can defy the laws of logic! A rocket launcher in her mane! Funniest thing ever.
Oh, at least she has a little something light-hearted and fun by her side. 
It might be tough at times, but at least it helps get them through.
I'm just glad Pinkie's okay, too, considering what she's been going through, and how she'd felt previously.
Oh boy, this story just gets better and better! It's awesome!!
There's just something about big traveling adventure stories within a fandom I like that just kind of brings me back to them. And you, good sir, have done well with that. Awesomespice! 
This shall be my first Fimfiction.net review utilising my brand new laptop. That's an unrelated, un-needed, and unimportant detail there but I needed something to say to open up this review, and it will explain any strange cases of spelling (the letters are placed a little different than my former laptop so I keep pressing A instead of S and H instead of G and small errors like that).
For some reason I have decided to do the criticism first and then move onto the praise. There are a few mistakes, not terrible ones but a lot more word errors than in previous chapters. The humour is pretty weak this time around, not that there isn't comedy within this chapter but it just isn't as funny as previous chapters. Most of the mysteries don't feel quite as intriguing as before ones (possibly because the doors has already been brought up and the whole Loyalty and Honesty retrieval has been something I've been thinking about since Sarlaka first mentioned them several chapters back) and it doesn't feel very eventful because, while much is conversed, nothing is decided on or given an answer too.
Despite not enjoying this chapter as much as a lot of your other ones there are plenty of good parts featured. The element of mystery is in strong force here and is helped along by great vocabulary and a setting that fits it. I found Applejack's observations about how she interacted with Pinkie before and now to be genius and is a wonderfully played piece of development between the characters. Finally Twilight's conversation with Sarlaka presented her emotions brilliantly through her choice of words and her manner of speaking with description being used to pace the moment well, and small actions neatly depict the moods of the characters.
While not the most satisfying of chapters it has some elements in great levels of strength, and as one which further eludes to future and near future events, the true strength of this chapter will be discovered upon the unveiling of what it has begun. Great job, keep up the good work!
First off, I would like to apologize for not posting the next chapter. In fact, I admit, I haven't really started in it much more than the first few hundred words. I could blame a lot of things, technical issues, lack of time, etc; but in all honesty, I've just been plain lazy. Every time I get around to writing it, I say, "... nah, I'll do X instead." Tomorrow is going to be a writing day, and I'll get it out (with good quality) fairly soon (I hope).
643050 She's an easy target, what can I say?
645593 Well I try to deliver the best that I can. Naturally, that comes with the territory of being the most amazing person on the planet, but I try to be humble about it.
664145 Oh hey! Chapter 2 comment! Haven't seen one of those in a while. Welcome! Cookies are on the tables to the right.
665557 I'm only going to comment on two parts of this. First, I have no idea what happened on the proofreading part. Most likely its because after my editor got done with it (I poked him to rush through), I kind zipped through before posted. I didn't give it much of a second reading, so I blame myself (and my laziness). As for the Applejack "Honestly/Loyalty Elements" part, I admit that its been something that the readers have probably been thinking about for some time now, but I mostly put it in because I wanted you guys to know that no, it is not a plot hole that I left these two out. There is a method behind the chaos!
Heh... I made a pun...
Ah have a question for ya.”
“Forty-two.”
“For... wait... wha'?”
Haha. The meaning of life.
The missing elements are behind the doors (just waiting for them) or ...
Discord has them and they have to take them back from him as a group.
The pink mare didn't skip a beat, “Well maybe he's sooooooo disloyal and sooooo dishonest that he goes around the loyalty and honesty wheel allllll the way, so that he goes all the way past zero on both! That way, he hits negative scores on both, which the universe can't really understand, so it just gives him an infinite score on both, which make him completely loyal and honest in terms of the universe!”
.......in some dimension this makes sense....does it make sense here...........
Ha! My theory was correct! What do I win?
Anywho, that was a great scene between Twilight and Spike. Well done
t.qkme.me/3rks9z.jpg
1994638 You win... a boot the head.
More interaction between Twilight and the dragon. Forging a lens? After all that talk last chapter? He's making a horn isn't he?
And I do wonder how the elements of loyalty and honestly will be found... I'm... a little worried and scared.