Forever Roaming

by Yuki Harima

A fogged mind

Forever Roaming
Chapter 8
A Fogged Mind

---

The Party after the real wedding went off without a hitch. William enjoyed helping out with preparing for the real wedding. While Chris ended up being asked by three major Canterlot Newspapers to join their staff full time. He was given the time of a week to think it over. There was magic and music and dancing and Twilight singing Love is in Bloom, which Chris for once did not complain about due to the setting. It was enjoyable, however William and Luna were still giving odd looks at each other and looking back towards the city proper.

During the time between the invasion and the real wedding the entire castle was in overdrive to recreate the royal wedding, this time without any risk of changelings. Rarity had cornered the three humans and upon demanding that she make some more presentable clothing for the three humans. In fact she was really excited in trying out making pants for humans. So those three days between the invasion and the real wedding was spent on top of preparations with measurements, fittings, and finally the end product of three tuxedos for the humans.

The others didn’t notice it, but it seemed that one moment William and Luna were there at the party, and then the next moment they both were gone. They discovered this after the carriage that carried Cadence and Shining Armor rolled away into the night.

William and Luna walked into a nondescript hospital room that had one bed and many medical instruments taking care of measuring vitals of the patient in the bed. Rick was still sleeping even though it was three days now since the battle that knocked him out.

“I am worried.” William muttered to Luna as he adjusted the royal clothing of a Lunar Advisor. “This is not good, the veins blackness appeared to have spread.”

“Be it may, We think we may have to venture into his mind to wake him from his slumber.” Luna looked at William. “As thou are closer to his race then I, shall you be willing to enter his mind with me?”

William looked at Luna and back at Rick. “I can give it a try, but no sharing memories with me.”

Luna made an odd sound, “There is magic that can let one do so? I knew not that was possible.”

William’s mouth twitched. “Oh heavens above, let not my world and thy world’s Twilight meet, or all would be lost for knowledge.”

Luna sighed and closed her eyes and began to have her horn glow in magic. William closed his eyes on instinct before he felt a lurching feeling and found himself seeing even though he did not remember opening his eyes. They were in a hallway of some kind to WIlliam’s eyes. The hallway itself was not in a peaceful state, the floor seemed to be fractured and split apart in some areas. The walls themselves had some doors but most of them were covered in what seemed to be blocked by a black gelatinous fluid. The hallway spread forward, and at the end, was a door still somewhat clear of the fluid. Just being in there made them feel as though they were being watched.

William looked at Luna. “I hope you know how to fight and work here. I sure don’t I am more use to fighting Nightmares in the real world, not in somepony’s mind.”

Luna remained silent as she walked forward towards the door. William followed a little behind wishing he had a rifle with him. Yet he had nothing to really protect himself. He was a little lost in his mind that when Luna actually kicked the door in with her front hoof; it caused him to jump a little and had to race a little to catch up to Luna as she entered the door.

On the inside was several things, what looked to be a busted cage with the fluid all around it, what looked like a screen, which was displaying something floated by, a bed was off to the right side of the room, and at the other end of the room was another door, the floor and walls around it were black, and spreading very, very slowly.

William quickly looked to the bed to see if anything was on it. Luna took to the air and flew to look at the screen to see what is on it. William blinked as he saw a bump under the blanket. William being cautious and began to step towards the bed as he avoided the growing blackness. It took a while in WIlliam’s mental timekeeping to get to the bed. While Luna kept watching the scenes playing on the screen. William looked one more time before he made a connection that it looked like a sheet of torn out glass. Still must have been his mind working on connecting things.

He returned to the bed and slowly moved the covers and found, a sword. He moved the blanket more and realized it was the sword that Rick always had at his hip. “Well, I got a weapon.”

His voice shook Luna from watching the screen. “That,” She began sounding distracted. “is good, this man. He survived a airship crash. I am, for a non winged being I am impressed.”

WIlliam nodded his head before looked at the spreading darkness and decided to tap the sword again the blackness hoping that it might hurt the darkness. A faint chuckling could be heard coming from the closed door on the other end of the room.

William was startled at the noise and stepped back as he heard a small squish sound and he looked down in horror as he had stepped onto a black spot only to slowly relax as he saw that the blackness was not going to spread over his foot. He looked at Luna and it seemed she got the question as she moved and without ceremony kicked the door down while William Charged into the room hoping to scare whoever was in the room.

Inside the door was another hallway, this time the black material was all over the walls. In the center of the hall looked like Rick for a moment, before realizing something was terribly wrong.

His iris held a red hue while the rest of his eyes were black, the veins around them spread it down. A dark grin was plastered on his face, and a faint black aura surrounded him.

“Oh, would you look at that... Guests! Perfect, I do enjoy more fun.” His voice was distorted and combined with a darker one. “Perhaps you might be just as fun as this fool.” His twisted grin grew slowly.

William glared as his hand tightened on the sword’s handle. “Luna, how much can I control of my own self in this dream self?” He looked right at this Nightmare Rick.

Luna didn’t have time to respond as the Nightmare Rick responded quickly. “Little to none.” and with a swipe of his hand he faded.

“Lets see what you can do here, I think I might be getting bored...” his voice echoed all around them.

William growled a little as he moved to his neck before smiling. “I fought Nightmares, I defeated an entire town of whispers and shadows.” He closed his eyes hoping to channel some mental power into the sword.

“Nightmares? Shadows? Whispers? Pathetic, this man has done the same, and look at him now. Broken. Like the fool he was, is, and forever will be.” The dark voice said in response. “I for one, am no mere nightmare, though you may dream of my torment. The shadows twist with my energy and your mind is my toy, from where I come from, that wretched little world, I am the Demon of Insanity, and you are just another fool fallen into darkness.”

William began to laugh. “A Demon of Insanity? I faced the combined might of War and Greed, with Insanity sprinkled in. I charged a Castle that tried to corrupt me and turn me. They are all sealed beyond the wall. I do not fear you like a child stricken by the fear of shadows on the wall. I fear you as a soldier and an army fears the enemy. You want fear? Insanity. Let us dance and play.”

Luna looked back at William with fear. William was looking a little dark around the edges as it seemed that whatever taint William might have had was feeding on the darkness around him. She could feel something, it was something that harkened back to her darker days of the time right before Nightmare Moon came to being.

A dark chuckled reached their ears and a faint whisper circled them. “Oh, this is going to be fun...” And with that said, the shadows began to contort, collapsing on themselves and rising slowly off the floor. Glowing orange lights entered the creatures as they stared at the two, their image always shifting and altering its form. One minute it was a legless creature, the next on four, but one thing remained true, the eyes that pierced the mind.

William only chuckled a little, his voice going a little deeper. He swung the sword and it passed through the shadows as if nothing happened. The chuckling deepened more. “Oh... you are good, protecting yourself from others, but what of the mind you reside in?” William’s own shadow seemed to dance a little now on its own accord as a light scattered around the blade returning it to the state before William tried to put his own good mind into the blade and he swung again.

Luna moved a little. “Fight it William.” Her voice sounding young, scared, and trembling in her voice as she saw the small tiny moment of grey growing in William from the NIghtmares of William’s previous world.

William only smirked. “Oh, I am fighting it, I am fighting Insanity. Come now. You think you can meet me?” William stepped forward as Insanity pulled a trick and the two shadows of Luna and William pulled away from them and began to form into creatures. William knew right away that the shadow of Luna was turning into Nightmare Moon, however he blinked as he found his mind clear of that. He stop frozen as he stepped back and saw his own shadow began to form into a hybrid creature.

A dark voice, darker and more sinister sounding then William began to chuckle from a newly formed mouth. As he looked he gasped as a wall sprung up between Luna and William.

Insanity chuckled even harder. “Oh I don’t think I will let you exchange each other’s foes, I want this to be somewhat fair for the fun factor.” He chuckled again.

William turned back to his nightmare form. “So, you are what I was to become that night of Nightmare Night?”

“Oh yes, and I would have return our Queen and you become her King.” The voice responded. “King of Nightmare Earth.” He began to chuckle. “Whose throne was once the capital of a free nation. That is still possible, you just need to drop your sword and let me win.”

William growled and swung the sword only to have it knock off the armor that appeared on King of Nightmares. William stepped back as pain coursed through his arm allowing him to fully see what he would have become.

One thing he saw was that from his back grew large black featured wings that were flared open in an attack manner. The armor as black as the darkest forbidden caved had dark blue veins coursing through the armor while the face was scarred from battle and the eyes were blazing cold fires of hatred and anger.

William took a deep breath and attacked again only to be pushed back once more. “Owww.” He muttered as the King of Nightmares walked forward. Only to have the stone wall explode behind him as a raging blue fire covered alicorn ripped the shadows apart and drove the Nightmare King away.

William looked behind him and widened his eyes in fear. The fading shadows of a mangled Nightmare Moon that had been defeated.

Luna smiled a little. “That was, very therapeutic to be honest.” She looked at the fleeing nightmare. “I should teach thee a way to fight them. That sword without armor is nothing and I cannot make thee any at this time. This Insanity is,” She paused as they both noticed a lightness around the hallway.

Both of them began to step forward, the blue flames from Luna was still flickering as she looked rather angry for some reason. Still they both remain silent as they slowly moved through the hallway and found the light growing more and more. Suddenly they found themselves at a T and the light appeared to have been coming from the right corner and so with caution they slipped around the corner and found it much more lighter. Both of them doing their hardest to avoid looking at the screens after the first few videos in the darkest hallways had black aura’s around the memories. These memories were twisted and frankly unnerving pictures of screaming, yelling and to William, felt like some of Insanities memories he was showing the two as another way to torment the visitors to the mind. Yet both were not going to look at them for fear of adding more nightmares than what they had seen already in in their own personal moments of living nightmares. However due to this, they did not noticed that every once in awhile they would pass a screen that had no black aura around it.

Another corner was coming up and the screens were fading away as the light seemed to be the brightest around the corner. With a hurried pace the two moved around the corner and saw sitting at the back of the wall of a dead end was Rick, curled up and rocking back and forth muttering over and over again the phrase “not again, not again.”

William here noticed cracks of faintly seen grey matter and it looked to be slowly, ever so slowly bleeding out like that of an sheet of ice that is slowly ever so slowly melting away. Luna looked at Rick and spoke. “Rick, Rick, we are here, we-” She trailed off suddenly as she and William realized that they were unseen. William tried to step forward but found his feet stuck to the ground and so was Luna. Even her wings were unable to be opened.

From around them dark laughter spread around causing Rick to cringe from the noise. “Oh, this is so much fun, but you can’t have this so soon, no one can help Rick, he is mine to do as I please, besides I think a little fun is in order.” As those words the darkness began to seep out into the air surrounding the two and cutting off their vision of Rick.

The entire time the two were shouting with all their might in hopes of contacting Rick. But nothing happened and they soon found themselves back in another hallway. This one had cobwebs and spiders crawling over the walls. The moving creepers all paused at the new comers. Luna only smiled a little, while William froze in utter terror at all the spiders and he could feel in his mind a lot of them now crawling up his neck and back. “Mommy.” William whimpered.

Luna looked around after seeing the fear on William’s face as she saw spiders starting to spin a web around him. Luna with a light touch of magic slowly pulled off the spiders and put them back on their webs before picking William in her magic and she slowly moved and entered into second door that appeared to have some light coming from it.

As they entered the door the light faded to the point they could see once again. They stood on hard wooden floors and all around them were shelfs, specifically bookcases. The rows reached high to the ceiling which seemed to be made of a darker, and looked to be dense, stone. Screens flew around the area, each showing something different, while the books themselves seemed to flow through the air into other shelfs, seeming to be organizing. This part of Ricks mind seemed to not have been tampered with. The light was a blue spherical object in the center of the open area in the center of the shelfs, lighting the whole room.

William and Luna looked at each other and one of the few unspoken orders passed between the two as they began to move through the LIbrary. Luna began to look at the book covers and WIlliam looked at the screens hoping to glean an idea of how to seal this monster away so they could deal with it safely and hopefully eradicate it.

One of the screens showed what looked to be a airship flying through what appeared to be a storm. The scene was skipping some parts, but it showed Rick, at a much younger age, on the deck of the airship, holding his hand out grabbing onto something in the air, ash. With a fearful look he looked out into the distance and saw what was causing this, a small town by the ocean, burning. With a hint of panic he ran towards the airships controls only to be thrown to the ground as gust winds knocked the airships around. Next the ropes began to break, one by one, and he gave in, running below deck and being tossed around as the ropes on one side broke, leaving the ship sideways. All that he could see next was the ship impact the floor, then darkness.

The image flew away, off into another part of the library.

William just stared in shock and awe. “he, he survived?” he shivered a little. “I, that must have been pure terror falling in the wreckage of an airship.” He shivered a little and tried to not think too much on it as he worked on finding another memory.

Luna on the other hand picked a book, and read its title. ‘The Bedrock Library’. After reading a bit of it, it made note of a library underground encased in stone, a darker stone that was dense and packed with enchantments to keep those of bad will out. It contained knowledge of things that never existed before, things that happened, and creations of high interest. The book was like notes, notes written by Rick so he could remember what it was.

William by now had found another of the floating memories and watch. The memory flickered, from darkness to light, the light from fire, spreading across the wood scattered across the planet. There in the wreckage was Rick, his side had been gashed open and bleeding terribly, other wounds scattered across him. With a shaky hand he pushed himself up and got to his feet, slightly wobbling. A look of fear took his face as he quickly began to walk over to a not so broken part of the airship. It contained scattered books and papers, but most of all, it had his satchel and sword. With a grunt of pain he took the items and placed them on, then he started off, not caring about his wound, to the burning town, in hopes of finding a living soul.

And with that, the memory blackened and flew off, heading to a place unknown to William.

William blinked and shivered at the memory and looked around the library. “I am,” he took a deep breath as he continued unable to keep from replaying these moments in his head. “What happened?” he muttered. His gut told him he was not going to like what he saw.

Surprisingly he did not have to move as another screen flew in front of him, a crack straight through it as well. The image seemed to be broken, but still showed what it could. It revealed Rick, on his knees crying. His sword off to the side, stained in blood. He appeared to be in the middle of the burning town, but, the bodies around him showed something worse. Their veins were black, their faces were stuck in a expression of fear and horror. Rick was crying terribly, mumbling, saying that it had to be done.

It had to be done.

Behind him, the shadows grew, they twisted, and soon a dark shrouded figure stepped out, clapping its hands together.

Rick paid no mind to it as it walked closer, its voice sounded somewhat familiar to William. It was the voice of Insanity, but less mixed. “Aww, look at what we have here... Wow, what a blood bath I must say. I mean, these were all your friends! Sure I had a small hand in corrupting them, but still...” Insanity Chuckled. “You lasted this far, I have to give you some credit. How about a small gift. I am sure this will cheer you up...” And with that he placed his hand on the side of Rick’s face. The image began to shake, tearing ever so slightly as Rick screamed in agony as his veins turned from normal, to grey, to black. Soon the image stopped its shaking, but seemed darker, Rick sat on his knees and Insanity was nowhere to be seen, but his voice echoed ever so slightly. “Go have some fun.” Slowly Rick smiled, his head lifted up, the veins black, and his eyes burning with darkness. The grin on his face was of pure madness, as he grabbed his sword, and step by step, slowly walked out of the town laughing a dark laugh.

William stepped back almost as if fearful of the being stepping out of the screen and into the room. “Okay, okay, I need to find how to defeat this thing, how to, How do I beat him?”

The screens around him seemed to teleport around, seeming to glitch around, the screens portrayed darkness, and some, a new burning town, each one the corrupted Rick stood in the center of, his smile still big, and his laughter still strong with madness, but then, in the back he saw a small one, this one seemed to be slightly hidden but it had a glow around it, the screen perfectly clear.

William blinked and found suddenly all the other screens swarmed around him to keep him from the smaller screen, with a grunt of pain as if the screens were hurting him when he touched them. He kept on pushing forward towards the small screen pulling more and more energy into the event as Luna was suddenly he realized somewhere else as he couldn’t realize or call for help. He was doing enough hard breathing to just keep from crying out in pain. He grunted and shoved harder than before and found himself face down on the floor in front of the smaller screen as the other screens now created a small protective cover around him and the screen.

The screen flickers for a second, and it showed Rick, not corrupted, but at the same time, inside a cage in a dark room, the bed in the corner of the room was messy, and the room lurked with a black fluid. He sat in the cage, seemingly too weak to fight, but, he could still hear. The pain the demon was causing. Each scream something seemed to change in Rick slightly, he seemed to grow more and more, angry. With a final shout of pain from the outside he stood up, his expression full of anger and with a shout he grabbed the bars. “Enough! I will not stand for this any longer!” A light blue aura surrounded him faintly as he gripped the bars, and with force, he parted them. He stepped out of the cage and his blue aura seemed to interact with the darkness, leaving a light trail behind. In an instant the corrupted form of him appeared through a doorway, seemingly surprised. “How... How are you out!? I won, you lost!”

With a step forward the corrupted Rick unsheathed its sword. “No, I won before, I can win again. You. Lost. And you will forever lose again!” With his arm raised his brought the sword down onto Rick only to stop short. Rick had his hand out, one encased in his blue aura, and the other grabbing the sword. With a yank he removed the sword from its hands. “The rules of this game have changed.” He said, then quickly grabbing his corrupted counterpart, lifting him off his feet. “But you have cheated from the beginning... Some do not like that.” And with a grunt he threw him into the wall. “I have fallen once, but this time, I will not stand for failure.”

And with that the screen faded out, showing all it could. It was, after all, a smaller and weaker memory. One thing was for sure, Rick could not stand to hear, or see those around him being hurt.

William looked up and saw that the screens were gone. He took a breath and quickly went hunting for Luna, hoping she was okay with the idea he was going to go through on for Rick. He soon realized how big the library was.

William found Luna who was just staring in awe at a large book at a table as she had a pile around her. William walked up behind her and touching her shoulder blade only to find himself on the floor as Luna had knocked him back with her wings opening and she was glaring at WIlliam. “Don’t ever touch there. That is not a place a common citizen is-” She trailed off before bowing her head meekly. “Sorry William.” She looked confused. “Did you find what you wanted?”

William only nodded his head a little. “Yes let me explain to you before the Insanity finds us.” He paused at seeing Luna snicker a little.

“This library is unassailable by the Insanity, we are safe, please, tell me what you have learned.” Luna looked at the books. “However I dare say with how you look, you would not like what I have learned of the Demons.”

William only nodded his head before pausing. “Wait, Demons? as in, oh right his sword.” he muttered while Luna slowly nodded sadly. “Anyway, this is what I learned Luna, and a plan I have.”

---

The two slowly walked down the no longer spider infested hallway, as they left by another doorway. As soon as they left they began to hear the laughter of Insanity as he slowly crafted the shadows to his will again and William remain calm. However they were feeling him slowly drawing closer to them. They quickly began to step up the walk and it was at this faster pace they began to see a tiny strand of light hidden in the shadows leading away from the library and into the darkness ahead. The two quickly began to follow the pale light and soon they began to see it grow a little lighter, a little brighter, and a little bigger.

Suddenly they were in front of a door that was closed and sealed. Luna actually began to kick at it, but it didn’t budge at first. In a moment of frustration Luna turned around and like a real horse kicked it with both rear legs sending the door flying through the room and crashed through ornate windows that overlooked a blackened and dark rage filled sky and lake.

William and Luna quickly walked in as the air was filled with howling wind, thunder from a few lightning strikes and the ground and walls were beginning to get soaked from the downpour outside.

From all around them laughter that sounded and penetrated to the depths of both Luna and William’s bones as they saw Rick double over even more clutching his head in pain and his teeth gritting to stop it.

“I thought my hint would have been enough.” The voice of Insanity came from behind them. This time, it was not in the form of a corrupted Rick, it was a dark shrouded figure with a dark blade. “I took you away so you could be of no trouble. I gave you a warning, now I will give you the reason why you should have stayed away.” The black aura around him fluctuated and seemed to grow in a very unstable way. “You are going to leave, Dead or... Actually dead sound nice.”

William looked at the room and looked at Luna. “Leave, get out and warn Celestia of what we have learned in case I fail.”

Luna blinked and seemed to argue only to William to do something with his hands and Luna vanished. William hoped that this would attracted the attention of this demon to him. “I am not afraid of you, I faced Nightmares and I won. You are just another monster for me to face and win.” He was speaking forcefully and move to the middle of the room. He knew he was going to face pain.

“Aww, trying to play hero? I hate heroes, they die too quickly.” he laughed.

William began to chuckle. “Oh? So you want to fight the nightmare that I have in my head? I have no clue what it does or how to get it out.... why not try yourself?” He taunted him as he drew Rick’s sword and took up a defensive stance.

“Please, I have seen nothing that shows your ability to keep on going. I had that fool Rick running and building for years, and you know what, all it took was the death of his family, his friends, and an entire town he built with all his friends, now dead, and it all just fell into play. You on the other hand, I know only of, what was it, less than an hour? Pah, lies are easy to say, whether or not they are true is up for choice.” Insanity said. “Having to corrupt a being that could be pathetic would be a shame, one I would have to put down myself, so why not skip those steps and get on to it...” it said while pointing its blade at William.

William only nodded his head. “Right, you have me at a weakness but you know that, you saw me fight my doppelganger. Where is the fun in this? I am a new toy am I not? Am I all talk and nothing more?” He shrugged. “I can fight you, but you know you will win. I am not a swordsman, I have not the skill nor expertise. You will cut through my defenses faster than you sneezing or shaking someone’s hand.” He stepped closer, “where is the fun in that?”

“The fun,” He said, pausing. “Is the fact I can finally spill blood again. The fun part of this, is I get some practice at an open target.” And with no more words he lunged forward, bringing his sword downward.

William did his best to defend himself and Insanity saw that William did not hold back his attempts to keep his life, but like a master going after a beginner he tore the sword from William’s hand and promptly plunged the blade into William’s right shoulder right above the heart missing major stuff. “What’s the point of dying quickly?” He pulled the blade out as William didn’t hide the pain. “Not so much big actions for big words.” He attacked again going for a leg.

The entire time William cried out in pain and anguish and as Insanity got into the heat of the moment Rick began to hear William’s cries. Another leg, the other arm, a deep cut on the side of his body. Insanity enjoying the time of his fun, his back to Rick. Rick on the other hand, began to stand, his eyes focused on Insanity, and with his fist drawn back, he punched the barrier that was around him, shattering it. Both William and Insanity had heard this, and Insanity realized what William had done. “Oh you clev-” He was cut short as Rick grabbed him, tossing him against a wall, his blue aura burning. With a snarl Rick began to speak.

“Not once, but twice. Twice you do this, and twice I will put you back where you belong!” He grabbed onto Insanity by what William could guess was his throat, and began to flow his blue aura around him, the black aura being extinguished in the process, and with a blink of an eye, he was gone. “Back where you belong. Locked away.” He turned towards William, his expression showed regret. With a sigh he walked over, helping William on to his feet before placing a hand on his shoulder, his aura covering the cut and slowly spreading around his body, slowly healing him.

“I, am sorry. Sorry for what you had to deal with” Rick said loud enough to be heard.

William looked at Rick. “No worse than what I faced when I saw, The physical pain is nothing compared to the pain and fear and anguish of getting a full colored detailed step by step plan of seeing two worlds enslaved by Nightmares and darkness.” Physical pains will heal, and go away sometime or another, the scares of the mind.” he tapped his head. “I am sorry for screaming too loudly, I had to get you moving on your own as quickly as I could. I hope you liked my solution to a No Win Scenario.” He was acting a little loopy from the healing magic as he smiled a little.

“You figured out what angers me, thankfully to your advantage. Good job finding the Library.” Rick said with a smile. “Now, if you are ready, I think you should head back, I have to clean up.” Rick said, making a gesture with his head towards the black fluid.

“Right, if you want me to help, let me know, I, I,” He paused and trailed off as he found himself fading and shivering at his own memories. His last words were to Rick before fading from his mind were, “See ya later Rick.”

“You have seen a lot, I do not blame you.” He said while raising his hand, placing it on Williams head, removing him from the nightmare he had to call his mind.

---

William slowly opened his eyes only to find himself laying in a bed. With Luna watching him and Rick. “Whatever you did, it worked the veins are fading, but you, never do that again. Your mind was in pain a lot of it from the looks of things.” She leaned in closer. “I do not know what you have in your mind, but I rather you not have a death wish. Also, How did you get me to speak modern Equestrian?” She pouted. “I miss using ye olde tongue.”

William could only chuckle a little only to find that his body was sore and it hurt to move. “How long will I be here?”

“A day.” Luna replied before turning around. “Or Less if you ask the right things or not, now I must go find my sister and inform her of Rick’s recovery.” She left the room that was currently now occupied by two persons, Rick and William.

Slowly Rick opened his eyes, before squinting them due to not seeing light for quite some time. He turned, looking towards William. “How much?”

“How much what?” William asked as the question was asked in a dead silent room that he could hear it fine. “How much were you out? Three days. We beat the Changelings and the real couple had a grand old time are on their honeymoon.”

Ricks expression didn’t seem to cheer up. “That is good, but not what I wish to ask... How much did you see... I feel them returning again.”

“Ah,” William paused and closed his eyes. “The crash of the airship. The waking up in the rubble. Finding that Insanity took and destroyed your town, your home, you,” WIlliam’s voice broke in sadness and anger. His voice retaining it’s angry tone. “How he used you like Nightmare Moon to destroy Towns, and,” His voice tapered out. “How, how to wake you up.”

William took a deep breath. “Sir, I am, I was just a squire before being pulled into the world before this, and, I want you to know that even with your, with what those nightmares did, I want to say you are a role model for me on how to keep fighting even when, when it is the darkest.” He looked up at the ceiling, he spoke something without realizing it. “It is always the darkest before the dawn. Always the coldest before the light of day breaks.” He closed his eyes as sleep began to take him. “Hold on a little longer and light will find thee.”

William was pulled out of his trance by something light hitting his stomach then landing into his lap. A small red fire-like orb. Looking up he noticed Rick already on his feet. “Come on, I have a feeling they might question where you are soon. Don’t want to be bedridden do you?” He said in a soft voice smirking slightly. “Crush it, it should be absorbed by you naturally and heal as a whole rather than a single spot.”

William blinked at the orb and looked up at Rick before picking it up and using some of his frustration he had for Insanity and the Nightmares he faced let him actually finally crush it, and he felt a surge of energy and was smiling. “Oh man, okay, okay time to get up and out.” he spoke as he found himself much more awake and ready to leave. “Yeah, the debriefings, those are going to be the long ones.”

---

The partygoers at the afterparty finally left and are heading back to their homes. The guest that stayed at the castle are making their way back to their rooms. Twilight was carrying a drunk Rainbow Dash and AppleJack when they got into a drinking contest. Chris and Pinkie Pie were walking next to her, talking about the party.

“That was an awesome party Pinkie Pie.” Chris complimented the party mare. “I never been to a wedding party that grand without getting kicked out because I wasn’t invited in the first place. “

“Don’t worry chrissy! When we get back to Ponyville, we have to throw you and William, and Ricky a huge party since I never got to throw you a welcome to ponyville party cause there was the emergency here and...”

“Be quiet Pinkie Pie...I have a throbbing hangover...” Rainbow Dash painfully replied.

“Sorry dashie” Pinkie Pie apologize.

“It’s your own fault for getting into that drinking contest with Applejack. Now you are suffering for your mistake.” Twilight ribbed back

“I don’t need...ugg...criticism from the egghead right now.” Rainbow Dash bitterly stated.

Chris noticed William and Princess Luna walking in the distance just leave from one of the rooms they were in. “Hey there William. Hello Princess Luna. We didn’t see you at the afterparty. It was a real treat.” Chris greeted.

William smiled a little but the smile did not go further then the corners of his mouth. “checking up on a friend to be honest.” He moved further into the hallway. “Luna, do you know of anything that is not alcoholic yet a little strong?” He shivered and rubbed his forehead. “Anyway I am happy you had a good time at the party.”

Chris picked up on the good friend part and realized who he was referring to. “Oh you saw Rick then. Well I hope he is feeling better. He is an enigma so he can be unpredictable.”

A chuckle ran through the air. “Oh, more than you would believe friend.”

The door opened, revealing Rick standing tall, his veins clear and he looked better, with a small smile on his face.

Chris jumped. “Damn it! you scared me!”

Rainbow Dash groaned a little and looked up. “Woah, I didn’t know you had a twin Rick.” Dash placed her head back down and moaned. “Stop rocking the boat egghead, you’re making me seasick.”

Pinkie Pie only quietly hoped to Rick and presented him with a small plate of cupcakes for him to eat. “I hope you like them.” She whispered.

Applejack was out like a light and sleeping as soundly as one could after a drinking contest. Twilight only sighed and waved a little with a hoof. “I’ll put them away for the night, we can talk in the morning.”

William nodded his head. “You all get some sleep, I am going to be up a little longer.” He looked around the group. “Chris, the Equestrian Daily asked me to tell you that their offer still stands with an increase of twenty bits to the signing bonus.”

“Wait what about a signing bonus and Equestria Daily?” Chris asked. “I never got any news from them or know them.

William blinked and pointed above him. “They have a contract up on your desk. Plus I think two other papers, all of which are the big names in the regions of Canterlot and beyond. Oh, the Ponyville Gazette also gave a contract too.” William shrugged at Chris’ gaze. “What, they all asked me to give them to you when they learned I was not thee. I find it hard to believe that they got me confused with you.” WIlliam laughed a little.

“Well the confusing you for me makes sense...sorta. Also, I am about to faint.” Chris just fainted right there from the information he just got from William about getting hired for the newspapers.

Twilight only sighed and picked Chris up as well and moved to take three persons, one human and two ponies to get some rest. Ignoring William’s smile and Luna hiding a hoof over her own small giggle while Celestia decided to help with the load her most faithful student was under. Leaving it really now Rick, Luna, and William.

“Anypony requireth warm milk to help with their sleep?” Luna asked the last of the people in the hallway.

Comments

[val]

what was insanity going to say to william when he said “Oh you clev-”?
I WANNA KNOW NOW!