> Censorship Pending
>  by Kiroberos
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Forgiveness Pending - Chapter 25
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight let out a yelp as her head cracked off the wall, temporarily stunning her.  I wasn't entirely sure of her abilities, so I didn't want to take any chances.  The blankets constricted further, going all the way up to the base of her neck and keeping a tight hold there.  My barriers were primed and ready to go in a heartbeat if needed.  My eyes narrowed as I glared at her a moment before spitting to the side, trying to get her taste out of my mouth.  Ugh.  

"W-What are you doing, Mender?" she finally managed to stutter, gasping for air as she tried to raise her head up higher.  

I snorted, watching her carefully for any sudden moves.  "Cute.  Who are you really?" I asked cautiously.  

She stared down at me, eyes wide with shock before asking, "W-What are you talking about?"  Her voice was timid, sounding exactly like the familiar lavender unicorn.  Scarily similar.  I was starting to get annoyed at this point.  

"It all fits.  The static I heard before you got here.  Not mentioning Rarity probably being at Fluttershy's and simply going to check there.  Giving up on the search for Rarity in the first place.  None of these things are something Twilight would do," I pointed out.  

Her eyes started to water and she opened her mouth, but I continued first.  "Further, Twilight and I haven't progressed this far in our relationship.  She would...  She wouldn't have said that she loved me.  Or tried to do what you just tried to do." 

"M-Mender, it really is," she started to protest before I hauled her closer, momentarily distracted by the slight bruise the right side of her face bore.  

"Lastly, Twilight's eyes are lavender, not pink," I finished, staring right into her bright pink eyes.  Hers widened while mine narrowed.  

A quiet second passed by, and she suddenly smiled.  It was that same saucy grin she wore before.  "Clever.  Is this better?" she asked casually.  I watched, anger rising as her eyes shifted from pink to the purple I was used to.  Damn it.  Why hadn't I noticed sooner?  Sure it was dark down there, but still, her behavior was ridiculous.

"Who are you and what do you want?" I asked again, more slowly this time as my voice lowered.  Twilight was probably at Rarity's still.  Rarity was probably home after all with Spike there.  I subdued this mare easily, so Twilight could have stomped her into the dirt without looking.  No, Twilight was fine.  

"Aww, but I just want to have some no strings attached fun, Mender.  I even went to all of this effort to look like your girlfriend.  So, how about it?  We have a juicy little romp, you pretend to have fallen asleep, and I'm gone and out of sight before anyone's the wiser," she offered pleasantly.  Her voice shifted at the same time and I noted 'anyone' as if a flare was attached to it.  Not that I needed the clue, as I recognized the voice anyway.  

"Nirru?  What the hell?!" I asked, backing away from her a little.  How?  How was this even possible?!  Everything pointed at Keela.  I'd told her about Twilight, Spike, bits of Equestria, my friends...  

She grinned and smiled at me before nodding.  "Of course.  Keela attempting to contact you and warn you was probably what you heard earlier, but I blocked her from communicating.  I only want one thing, Mender.  Give it to me and I'll leave.  You'll never have to deal with us ever again," she assured, eyes half-lidding as she licked her lips towards me.  No, this didn't make sense.  Why was she even doing this?  

"Why do you want to mate with me?" I asked carefully, shifting to my left a little as she floated in the air, not trying to resist in the slightest.  

Her eyes closed a moment later and she sighed.  "You have something we need, and that's one of the fastest ways to get it.  I don't give a shit if the council likes it or not.  I'm going to save our species, one way or another." 

There it was.  It clicked into place and I sighed again.  "You think I have Keldarian DNA left that can be used to help repopulate," I muttered, losing the anger I had.  It was hard to stay mad at somepony blatantly lying to themselves.  

"I know you have the DNA," she corrected, losing her smile and just watching me now.  

"You know that one Keldarian isn't going to be enough to jump start our species again, right?  Even if this new form somehow didn't screw with my DNA, there's not enough diversity in just me for that to work," I warned, shuddering internally at the thousands of complications that would stem from that.  Disease, mutation, genetic abnormality, and massive amounts of defects would probably cause them to die out in all of four or five generations if they were lucky.  

"That's my problem, not yours.  All I'm asking is for you to just sit back and enjoy yourself for a bit.  In return, I'll break the link myself and send you your stupid book back," she offered, shifting to a business approach instead, it would seem.  

I opened my mouth to protest when both of us were interrupted by the sound of the door opening downstairs.  Uh oh.  Had Twilight gotten impatient and come looking for me?  Well this would be rather easy to explain if so, and she'd have her proof right here and now.  

"Twi, are ya up there?  Applejack and I saw you hit the door on your way in and were worried," Rainbow called out from below, causing my heart to fall into my stomach.  Damn it.  Okay, this was going to be harder than I thought.  

"Work with me!  We'll get them to leave, then we can mate and it'll be over.  You won't have to worry about us any further," Nirru whispered, shifting back to Twilight's voice and causing me to shiver.  The sensation of knowing who she actually was felt largely like nails on a chalkboard that was strapped to the back of my skull.  

Damn.  If I got them to go away, maybe I could talk some sense into her?  This was crazy.  "Twi, are ya okay up there?  Mender told us about tha disks, an’ Ah had ah few more questions if ya don’t mind.  He up there with ya?" Applejack asked a second later, earning another annoyed groan from Nirru.  I paced lightly in place, unsure of what I should do.  If I let her go and had her help me get them to leave, they'd probably tell Twilight anyway and then I'd get in trouble for tricking them.  But if I tried to convince them that this was some freaky space version of Twilight here trying to seduce me because she's off her rocker, I had a feeling that would go over as well as a barrel of rotten apples dumped over their heads.  

“Okay, just help me talk to them, Nirru.  I’m sure we can explain things in a way that doesn’t make me sound cra…  Any more crazy, and that will help both of us,” I suggested in a whisper, looking back up at her as she drifted.

Nirru hesitated for a moment before shaking her head and adding, "Idiot."  I glared at her before widening my eyes in shock as she yanked herself backwards.  Her back and side crashed into the wall again and she let out a muffled yelp before adding in, "Ahh!  H-Help!" 

What?!  Oh.  Oh hell.  "Twi!" I heard Rainbow shout from the stairs, followed by a powerful flapping noise as she undoubtedly took to the air.  I took a few steps back away from the bed, looking back and forth between Nirru and the stairs.  

A heartbeat passed and she was there.  Dash took in the situation with rapidly widening eyes, mouth slowly dropping open as her orange friend cleared the top of the stairs and split second later.  

"What in Equestria are ya doin', Mender?" Applejack asked, eyes rapidly joining Rainbow's in size.  Son of a...  I rapidly tried to think of something; anything I could say to convince them of what was actually going on, but it all sounded so far-fetched that I didn't know what to go with.  

"H-He hit me, and then wrapped me up," Nirru whimpered in Twilight's voice, making sure to show the right side of her head where blood now trickled down.  

The shift was like watching a train looming towards me in slow motion.  Applejack's eyes slowly narrowed and filled with an indescribable rage as she shifted her gaze towards me.  I shuddered and backed away, panic drifting readily into me now.  Oh crap.  Uh, she appreciated the truth the most!

"This isn't Twilight!  This is Nirru, one of the people from my dimension," I rapidly explained, shifting closer to the bed in case I needed soft things for something.  You never knew when you'd need something soft!

"Mender, just let her go and we'll talk about this, okay?" Dash suggested, looking unsure of the situation rather than pissed, surprisingly.  

"Yer crazy.  Yer absolutely crazy.  Let her go, or Ah'm gonna buck ya so hard yer ancestors'll feel it!" she warned, slowly stepping closer to me, one hoof at a time.  Oh hell!

Shifting Nirru, I intersected her between the two of us to ward off any potential charges.  "I'm telling the truth!  She's the crazy one!  She said she was here to try to seduce me or something," I defended, peeking out from around the blankets.  

"He's crazy!  He said he was tired of waiting and he," Nirru 'sobbed', burying her face in the blankets surrounding her.  What?!  "He tried to do things to me!" she finally managed to yell out.  I pulled the blankets tighter against her to shut her up, but it was probably a little too late at that point.  

Applejack looked livid and was actually shaking in rage while glaring at me.  Rainbow was just frowning, looking a little upset but still seeming unsure.  "Mender, calm down and just let her go.  AJ and I aren't going to hurt you.  Let's just talk about this," she reasoned.  I paused, not realizing the hoof I was touching the blankets with was shivering uncontrollably.  It felt like a ball of ice had settled in my stomach and I further retreated.  Applejack looked like she was going to murder me, which kind of lowered the believability of the cyan pegasus' claim.  

"Twilight's at Rarity's!  Go and check for yourself, Rainbow!  Applejack can stay here until you get back," I reasoned, swallowing hard.  I couldn't stop my stupid hoof from shaking, and I suddenly felt like crying.  That wasn't possible, though.  I couldn't let Nirru hurt my friends!

"Oh no.  Yer not gonna split us up.  Let her go, Mender.  Now," Applejack demanded yet again, voice dropping into a tone I'd never heard her hit before.  

Rainbow herself hesitated, though.  She believed me?  No, she felt the tension and utter horror coming off me through the empathy link.  "Just put her down, Mender.  Then I'll go check at Rarity's," she finally offered.  Crap.  Well, that was a lot better than not believing me at all.  

"Yer kiddin', right?  Ya actually believe that hogwash, RD?" Applejack asked skeptically, glaring over at her friend instead for a moment.  

Rainbow surprised me by glaring back.  "He at least deserves the benefit of the doubt!  Sure, it's crazy, but so is me flying through space and him taking out a giant ship!" she pointed out, sounding a little irritated.  I swallowed weakly, but peeked out from behind the blanketed mass again, hoping maybe that this could be resolved in a non-violent manner.  Heck, Applejack could buck me all she wanted so long as Nirru wasn't allowed to be free.  I'd certainly prefer she didn't, but given her expression, I decided that wasn't bloody likely.  More static sensation resounded into my skull, but I ignored it entirely.  Keela could wait.  

Applejack looked momentarily taken aback before scowling and returning her gaze to me.  "Fine.  But only after he lets Twi go," she finally acquiesced.  I swallowed and shifted back a little, unsure of myself.  

"I just don't want her to hurt you.  If I let her go, I'm not sure if I could defend you from her if needed," I explained uneasily, finally managing to get my hoof under control and force it to stop shivering.  A few cold swallows later and I slowed my heartbeat as well.  

Rainbow momentarily looked surprised before narrowing her eyes slightly.  Huh?!  Her stance spread out along with her wings as she slowly started sidestepping, putting distance between herself and Applejack while remaining oriented on me.  She was widening the flank I needed to defend.  Crap.  Why was she suddenly mad at me?  Applejack lowered herself as well upon noticing her friend's reaction, staying her ground and blocking me off from the stairs.  I swallowed, my heartbeat speeding back up again almost instantly.  Damn it!

A short scream of rage sounded off inside my head, and the static burst through, finally releasing a panting voice.  "Nirru!  What the hell are you doing?!  This isn't what you said you'd do!  You were supposed to talk to them and discuss the matter!" Keela suddenly demanded, sounding utterly pissed off.  It seemed like everypony here was pissed except for me.  

"I'm doing what you're too afraid to do.  Save our species," Nirru whispered under her breath into the blankets, sounding indignant instead.  

There was a huff, followed by, "You're hurting innocent bystanders.  Stop this, Sis!  Just tell them that he's not lying and talk it over!" Keela pleaded, calming down a little.  She had helped her sister get here?  Although their plan seemed to have deviated significantly, I noticed.  My feelings were suddenly conflicted over her involvement and I frowned, looking up at Nirru as the Keldarian turned pony hesitated, frowning to herself.  

My mistake was noticed several hundredths of a second too late.  To maintain the barrier over Nirru, I didn't have any on myself.  Looking away from them was all the opening Dash had needed.  She was in front of me before I could even widen my eyes, way faster than the guard had been.  There was no chance for me to raise a barrier in the slightest before she plowed me over in a feral pounce.  We slammed into the bed in an instant, sliding the entire thing across the floor as she pinned me to the mattress.  Suddenly I was glad of my decision to get close to the soft things.  

Regardless, her actual impact had hurt like a bitch, and I yelped as my skin bruised under the force of her hooves holding me down.  Contact with my hoof broken, the barriers collapsed, blanket and Nirru falling to the floor as Applejack rushed over.  No!  I fought against Rainbow, her being deceptively heavy as well as strong.  It apparently wasn't just her wings that were powerful!

"Twi!  Are ya alright?" Applejack asked almost instantly, helping Nirru unwrap herself from the blanketed mess.  I tried to look around Rainbow to see what was happening, but the pegasus just shoved me harder into the bed.  

"We do not need you to protect us, Mender," she hissed out a second later, glaring at point blank range into my eyes.  I swallowed, backing up completely into Twilight's pillow, starting to shiver again.  

A pause between Nirru's fake sobbing let her relay, "He c-cracked my horn when he first hit me!  I can't m-make my magic work!"  Clever.  

Nirru's 'crying' resumed shortly thereafter, and I saw Applejack wrap her hooves around the 'shivering' mare and glare over her shoulder at me instead.  Not good!  At that range, I had no idea what Nirru was capable of.  I struggled harder against Rainbow, trying not to panic as I saw the lavender forelegs gently wrapping around Applejack.  The left hoof, as it extended around behind the farm mare's back, slowly shifted into a metallic hue, a long needle starting to form out of it.  Shit!

"I'm sorry, Rainbow," I managed to mutter, causing the prismatic pegasus to raise an eyebrow.  My hoof touched her front elbow an instant later, however, removing all gravity from her at the price of more of my limited reserve of magic.  Her eyes widened as she felt herself become weightless, but I had already shifted my back legs up and shoved against her chest.  She yelped as she spun backwards, flailing and drifting towards the ceiling.  I rolled and lunged after the kick, sending myself off the bed and bounding towards Nirru's back.  She wouldn't hurt my friends!

Applejack's eyes widened and she surprised me by shoving Nirru to her right, sending the lavender mare sprawling, her hoof rapidly shifting back to normal!  Damn it!  I slid slightly, shifting my course and launching myself towards her new position, as fast as my legs could take me.  I hadn't wanted to hurt her, but if it came down to either that or letting her hurt anypony I cared for, there wasn't a choice!

Smashing her into the wall earlier had revealed a problem, however.  The vibration through her body had revealed to me that she was actually absurdly dense.  I hadn't mentioned that to her, but that had confirmed my actions in an instant.  Just a barrier wouldn't be able to even make a dent in her skin.  I just wasn't strong enough, and there wasn't any weight behind them.  In order to actually cut her, I needed to make a compressed blade like I had before.  Without my past self's energy pool however, I was severely limited in both range and size.  I'd have to get a lot closer if I was going to connect with this thing!

Applejack was thrown off balance by her toss, rotating around practically backwards as she spun.  My peripheral vision told me Rainbow had barely hit the ceiling and was still trying to recover as my burst of magic wore off her.  This was my only chance!  Two bounds passed.  My heart hammered at my chest in the same instant that Nirru hit the floor, face first.  Her flank was to me.  I couldn't reach her neck, so I formed the energy blade aiming at her spine instead.  It wasn't an assured kill, but she would be in too much pain to do anything, hopefully.  This was assuming that her current body had some sort of central nervous system.  

The blade flared up, compressing down as best I could with my limited amount of energy and time to form it.  It only extended a half meter or so.  My third bound landed against the harsh wood of the library floor, and then I leapt.  I angled my head down the best I could, aiming for her mid-back.  Time slowed as my body flared with adrenalin.  A nagging sensation hit my mind, as realization connected a second after.  Wait, didn't Applejack buck with her...  

"No!" the orange mare screamed out, bracing like a coiled spring on her front legs.  She had spun on purpose.  It dawned on me as my eyes widened.  There was no energy left in me to even try to form a barrier.  

Years of smashing her hooves into the solid trunks of trees had made Applejack an absurdly strong mare.  Both of her legs unfurled with practiced precision and timing.  I'd have been impressed, had both back hooves not connected with my right side a hundredth of a second later.  Time ground to a halt at the call of the brutal cracking sound echoing out from my side.  The air in my lungs was literally forced from my body from the impact, my midsection suddenly deciding to travel sideways instead of following the momentum of the rest of my body.  My legs and head snapped sideways as the force of her double kick shattered my prior forward momentum almost as easily as it had undoubtedly just shattered a few ribs.  

Then the pain hit, catching up with the torn apart nerves throughout the flesh along my side.  I let out a silent scream, having absolutely no air to actually make my vocal cords work.  My side screamed in bloody agony for another heartbeat, mirroring the whiplash from all four limbs and my neck as I was tossed through the air like a high velocity ragdoll.  The crushing pain was joined by an abrupt stabbing sensation in the same instant, it practically feeling like she had snapped me in half from the force of the impact.  Then I hit the window.  

My momentum had carried me forward a little bit still, but her strength had rendered it a moot point.  I rocketed sideways away from my intended target and smashed directly into Twilight's bay window near the balcony.  The wooden frame shattered under the weight of my body, the glass fragmenting around me as I was forced through it.  It didn't shatter in any uniform pattern, however, leaving long gashes along my skin as I was torn across it.  I didn't even feel the sensation at that point.  The explosion of raw agony from my side tore through my body like a ripple, leaving numb oblivion in its wake.  My back hit the railing of the balcony with enough force to splinter the wood and snap the supports, from the sound of it.  My instant stop was a harsh one as I momentarily caved my fragile body into the heavy rail before gravity outweighed my sideways momentum.  My world blackened as I hit the floor of the balcony, not unlike a sack of wet sand.  Ironically, that's the closest I could get to describing what my insides felt like.  She was right.  I swore I could hear an unknown ancestor crying as everything went black.  


* * * * *


Consciousness flickered back into my skull; not as a stirring this time so much as a belly flop onto cement.  I couldn't even manage a groan as I felt my body stiffen, points of agony dancing along my back, side, neck, and legs.  It would be easier for me to list what didn't hurt, I noted.  My eyes opened a second later as the realization of what had happened set in.  Nirru was free with nopony to stop her!  Speak of the devil, I saw she stood all of a meter from me on the balcony when my eyes opened.  Applejack stood next to her, looking furious still down at my unmoving form.  

"Yer lucky we're even goin' fer ah doctor.  Yer crazy an' we’re through as friends.  Nopony tries ta hurt my friends like ya just did!" she growled upon noticing my eyes open up.  I swallowed, eyes flickering back to Nirru's amused smirk behind the mare.

"This is insane!  Don't move him, AJ!  I'll go get the doctor," Rainbow rapidly excused from behind me somewhere, apparently missing Nirru's expression entirely.  Damn it.  If she left, it would be even easier for the fake Twilight to ambush Applejack!

"Don't," I managed to rasp out, my right foreleg shifting a bit as I tried to gain some sort of friction under it.  There was almost no strength however, all attempts at applying pressure only causing it to scream out in agony as it connected with my side.  

"Shut it," Applejack warned coldly, kicking my leg away from them as she saw the movement.  I didn't know if it was a good or bad thing when I felt nothing at all.  

"Don't do anything to him!  I'll be back as soon as I can!" Rainbow ordered, surprisingly sounding concerned.  The bitterness flared up inside of me, and I mentally snarled to myself.  Was everything I tried to do that pointless?  Applejack hadn't even hesitated for a second before deciding I was just crazy and a danger.  I felt my eyes start to get wet as they lost focus.  I tried and tried to fit in; to stay positive and persevere.  Now what?  Applejack didn't want to be my friend anymore, Rainbow no longer trusted me, and the one thing I tried to stop was free and gloating over the whole ordeal.  I couldn't win.  The tears just came, earning another glare from the orange mare.  I didn't care.  

There was only one thing left that I could do, I decided.  There was one secret I still hadn't revealed to Nirru.  She had no idea how my magic functioned.  Focusing as best I could, I tried to build up all that was left of my energy.  The blade had been entirely disrupted after I was kicked, and all of that energy was lost before I could pull it back in.  I doubted I had enough energy to move and still form the barrier.  That left only one option.  I focused on using the floor as a connector.  If I couldn't bring the blade to her, or her to the blade, I'd simply form it on her and shoot it upwards.  She'd probably die.  Applejack's retaliation would probably kill me as well.  I didn't have any other options, however.  

"Careful, Twi.  Don't get too close.  That weird, unnatural magic o' his might still be able ta work," Applejack warned, causing me to open my right eye again, not having realized I closed them.  Heh.  At least I knew what she really thought about my magic, now.  

My consciousness swam and I hadn't realized how hard it was to focus.  I pulled in the energy faster, realizing I might have internal bleeding.  The doctor might not even make it back in time at this rate.  "You did a number on him!  I don't think he'll be able to do much anymore," Nirru pointed out after giving me a prod with her hoof.  

"Are ya all right, though?" Applejack asked softly in reply.  A pang of jealousy hit.  Twilight had such amazing friends.  I couldn't manage to let myself be angry at Applejack.  She was defending her friend in her time of need.  The principle was there, even if she herself was being tricked.  Breathing became an uphill battle and I coughed, shocked suddenly by the wet sensation leaking out of my mouth as that cold numbness started to spread throughout my body.  Lung damage.  Probably shock.  

Nirru didn't answer, instead leaning down close and staring into my eyes.  There was no emotion in hers.  The only thing lighting them was cold, clinical precision as she stretched my eye open and looked into it.  "Nirru, you need to...  Don't do this!" I heard Keela beg, fading in and out between static.  

"Tch, the link is collapsing.  Keep your eyes open, Mender," Nirru ordered, standing upright again.  

"Wha?" Applejack muttered, sounding confused.  The fake lavender mare in front of me sighed and aimed her hoof backwards.  My eyes widened as I heard a pressurized launching noise and Applejack jumped in surprise.  "W-What tha?" 

My vision flickered down to the small dart buried in her chest.  "Hmm?  Oh, that?  It's a tranquilizing agent I was going to use on Mender after I seduced him and mated.  Then he would have just woken up after a while and thought it was all a dream.  See?  Aren't I nice?" she relayed, smiling back at Applejack.  

The country mare's eyes widened and she shook her head slowly.  It didn't look like the words even registered with her.  A moment later, her front legs started to shake and she slumped slightly, struggling to stay upright.  

I didn't have time to look anymore as I felt a sharp poke entered my neck and second later.  "And this is a mixture of proteins, mass enhancement, and adrenaline.  It was for the mating itself if you weren't impressive enough," Nirru added with a wink, smirking down at me.  I tried to roll my eyes but couldn't manage to feel where they were pointing in the first place.  "They should keep you from shutting down before I get what I want from you, though," she continued, shifting me closer to the edge of the balcony with her hoof.  Why wasn't anypony coming?!  Surely we'd made enough noise for somepony to investigate!

"Wait, yer not..." Applejack muttered, rapidly shaking her head and actually starting to stand upright again.  Damn.  

Nirru sighed wearily and turned back around to face her.  I sped my charging up as best I could.  If I released my limiter, I just might be able to fire it off sooner, but in my current condition, it might just kill me instantly.  "No, Applejack.  My name is Nirru, like he said.  He was telling the truth.  I can see you're going to be a stubborn one," she replied before extending her hoof towards the orange mare again.  No!

Nothing shot out, however.  Instead, a gentle barrier extended out and formed a shimmering, transparent cage around Applejack.  It was a low end barrier and not every well focused, I noticed.  Also, it was only pieced together from other barriers instead of being solid.  Sloppy.  

"There.  That'll hold you until I'm gone.  Your friend is fast, but I imagine it will be difficult to find a doctor at this hour, no?" she reasoned, looking far too smug when she turned back around.  Applejack stood in shock, mouth hanging limply as she shifted her gaze from Nirru's back to me as I watched her.  

"Why are you doing this, Sis?!  You didn't have to do any of this!" Keela demanded over the static echoing through my head.  Oddly, I felt my energy slowly returning with a tingling sensation as well.  Unfortunately, with the return of my strength came the return of my feeling as well.  Pain started to lance through my barrel, and I gave out a muffled groan, squishing my eyes tight.  

"Oooh, feeling coming back?  That's good.  The pain lets you know you're alive, am I right?" she asked, quoting an old soldier's sang.  She continued before I could so much as give a sassy retort, however, "And I'm doing what you were too afraid to do, Keela.  I already said that.  Whether you believed me or not, he's worth a lot more than just one Keldarian.  I know this.  I will not let this opportunity pass in efforts at being 'nice' to him."  What?  How the hell was I worth more than one Keldarian?  I wasn't even a Keldarian anymore!

"Oh no.  No, no, no!" Applejack finally started to speak up, snapping out of her shock and slamming into the front of the cage angrily.  Nirru burst into a grin before turning around and watching the mare.  

"Ha!  You're so hypocritical.  You were the one who practically handed him over to me, and then when you find out the truth, you get all indignant over it?  Please.  Honestly, he's been here what, a month and a half?  I figured it would be way harder to turn everyone against him like that," she pointed out.  A sharp pang stabbed into my chest regardless of the agony everywhere else.  As much as I wanted to stab her until she stopped moving, she was right.  Maybe I really didn't belong here after all?  I thought I was fitting in better but then something would happen that told me otherwise.  This was just another one of those times.  

Applejack didn't answer.  Instead, she just seemed to get angrier and let out a scream of rage, slamming into the front of the cage again.  The floor started to crack and splinter under the force of her impacts and my eyes widened.  

I sensed Nirru's did as well.  "My goodness!  The tranquilizing agent doesn't appear to be affecting you at all.  Either that or you really are just that stubborn.  I really didn't want to have to take more extreme measures, but I don't have time for you potentially throwing a wrench into my plans," she muttered, sounding annoyed.  Crap!  Just pretend you're getting weaker, Applejack!

My spell wasn't fully charged yet.  If I fired it off now, it would only extend a half meter or so.  That wouldn't be nearly enough to kill Nirru when I was forced to use the floor as the extension point.  Damn it!  I contemplated releasing the limiter again, but in all honesty, I was afraid that it would kill me before I could even release the spell.  

Applejack's eyes widened as Nirru drew her right foreleg backwards as if going to punch the cage.  The hoof shifted, extending a long blade out of it and angling it back off her elbow.  Oh hell.  Her body was amorphous!  "And now, you die knowing exactly how much you failed your friend," Nirru proclaimed, stabbing her foreleg forward an instant later.  

There was no choice.  My hoof flared with energy and the barrier blade stabbed upwards from the floor in the same instant.  Applejack's eyes widened and she pushed herself backwards away from the elongated blade, just as mine shot up under the extending foreleg itself.  Nirru screamed as my blade stabbed into the underside of her hoof, forcing her blade to overshoot the top of the cage and imbed itself in the wall above.  

"You little bastard!" she screamed a second later, smashing me with her other forehoof as she tore her wrist off the blade.  I winced but managed to pull back most of the energy from the attack.  Preparing a second stab, I readied to release the limiter just as I launched the attack, hopefully allowing it to be enough to finish her off.  

Her body moved far faster than I realized it could, however.  She whipped around before I had fully retreated the blade and stomped down hard on the still glowing hoof.  I screamed as I felt something snap inside my leg and lost focus on the second attack, energy dispersing instead.  "Ha!  So it's your hoof that's doing it.  This is just too rich!  You gave away your only hope, just to save the very same mare that handed you over to me," she cooed suddenly, looking ecstatic.  Shit!

I drew in more energy from myself as best I could, but she was on to me at this point.  "Mender!" Applejack called out at the same moment.  Nirru smirked as her eyes flicked to the orange mare momentarily before whipping me forward, smashing my face into the slate bars of the barrier!  I gasped as the thin sheets of energy cut into my cheek from the impact, and then I felt the hoof stomp down on the back of my left shoulder.  Oh hell!  No, no!

"And this is what we get for being a little bastard!" Nirru called out in a rather sing-song voice.  I screamed.  She smashed my face harder into the bars, Applejack looking horrified a few centimeters away from.  Nirru tore my foreleg backwards, causing a massive ripping sensation and multiple snapping noises along my shoulder.  I tried to thrash away from her, accidentally running my face into the bars on the other cheek in the process.  

"No!" I heard Applejack scream out, squeezing herself closer to me.  The pain was white hot and blinding.  Gasping for my breath, all I could do was sob pathetically as she smashed me hard into the cage and tore.  The pain shattered through me, followed by frigid nothing as I felt it tear free, blasting my neck, head, and chest with cold numbness.  Applejack's eyes went wide in shock as splatters of blood hit against her face.  

"Heh.  Here; a memento to remember him by," Nirru offered coldly before throwing the remainder of my mutilated leg down next to the cage.  Fractured bone, torn muscles, and stringy sinews stuck out the top where she tore it free from the shoulder, blood drenching the floor of the balcony. 

All I could do was let out an airy gasp as I slid down the side of the cage on my face, pain echoing through my mind and causing darkness to swim through my vision.  I couldn't talk.  I couldn't move.  All I could manage to do was cry as Nirru's hoof flared up and she momentarily singed my shoulder, cauterizing the wound.

"Now, now.  No passing out.  I need your stupid link in order to haul your DNA back.  You're not allowed to stop functioning until after I'm gone," she ordered snidely.  

Applejack let out a guttural scream of rage, thrashing against the front of the box while putting more cracks in Twilight's floor.  I could barely hear her until another stab went directly into my back, spreading more of the numb tingling sensation through me.  "I had a backup, just in case you were really pathetic," Nirru pointed out absently, echoing in my skull.  I couldn't think.  My head was swimming, burning hot on the inside and freezing on the outside.  I could barely even breathe, the wet sensation oozing out of my mouth.  

"You monster!  This isn't what I wanted at all!" Keela screamed through the static, ironically causing a stirring as I tried to focus.  Oddly, Nirru went rigid a second later, but I could barely manage to acknowledge her.  She had...  She tore off my leg!  Completely.  No magic escaped from my body anymore, and I knew it was over in that moment.  My vision slowly shifted over to the twisted limb discarded on the floor.  My mind refused to register it as mine, no matter how hard I stared at it.  Vaguely, I acknowledged shouting somewhere a ways off.  Ponies were investigating finally.  

"Mender, stay awake!" Applejack urged softly, lowering herself down to the floor of the cage, to my head level.  

I stared blankly at the severed limb for a few more seconds before gently shifting my eyes to her instead.  We stared at each other for a long moment before her eyes slowly started getting wet.  "I'm sorry, Applejack.  I don't have the energy left to stop her," I apologized, silently wondering if she'd take back her declaration of no longer being my friend.  I decided I was too afraid to ask.  A drop, followed by three more landed on the wood under her head as she watched me, eyes tearing up.  A moment later however, she started and looked down slowly at the floor.  I didn't have the strength to see what she was looking at, unfortunately.  

"Tch!  Looks like we made too much noise," Nirru finally muttered, shivering and snapping herself out of the trance I hadn't realized she'd fallen into.  The static flared up again, and Keela was silent.  The fake Twilight paused for a moment before shaking her head irritably.  "I'm going to have to move you, now.  This is getting downright annoying." 

"Twitchy twitch!  Applejack, are you okay?!" I heard suddenly from downstairs.  Pinkie?!  My memory snapped lazily back to her Pinkie Sense, and I realized she must have felt something was wrong.  Still, this wasn't the best of timing.  The clouds in my skull were beat back as I tried to shift myself around, looking past my mangled limb and into the main loft.  

Nirru let out a groan of irritation before shifting her attention to the left, asking, "What now?!  Are all these ponies crazy?" Pinkie hopped up over the stairs and gasped as she saw me lying on the balcony.  Her eyes widened further than I'd ever seen; her mouth hanging partially open.  

"It's not Twi!  Run, Pinkie!" Applejack shouted, shifting towards the back of her cage suddenly, away from me.  Huh?  Her hooves scraped gently along the bars of the barrier as she turned herself around, aiming her flank at me instead.  

"Annoyance!" Nirru yelled before whipping her yet bladed foreleg up.  The blade detached, much to my surprise, and flung itself at high velocity across the room.  No!  There was no time for warning at all before it drove itself into Pinkie's head.  

At least, I thought that's what would happen.  The spike embedded itself into the wall behind the pink mare, however, who turned and peeked at it in surprise.  "Hey!  That's sharp!  What the hay are you doing?!" she demanded a second later, turning to glare at Nirru again.  

Nirru actually looked surprised momentarily.  She blinked twice before peeking down at her blade again, seemingly just to make sure she'd properly fired it.  "What the hell?  Did the dimensional transfer throw off my targeting calibrations?" she questioned, hopefully to herself as assisting her was the last thing I was about to do.  

Pinkie slowly started walking towards her, nervously eyeing my leg on the floor while shifting her attention between that and Nirru herself.  "If you're not Twilight, who are you?  Are you a mean pony?" she inquired, sounding surprisingly reserved.  I'd never heard that tone from Pinkie before.  Even in my numbed state, it was a little scary.  

"I'm Nirru, not that it will matter after I put a spike through your fucking head," the fake Twilight answered, glaring at Pinkie as she took aim again.  Crap!  Deciding she re-calibrated the 'gun' thing, I tried to shift myself up.  There was almost no strength left in my legs at all, and I could barely feel anything.  I considered my options, immediately deciding throwing myself in front of it wasn't going to be fast enough.

Nirru fired regardless, aiming directly for between Pinkie's eyes this time.  The spike slammed into the wood next to the stairs, missing entirely.  Wait, no.  I tried to focus, and then realized that the thing hadn't missed at all.  Pinkie had shifted to the left a few inches!  Her fluffy, cotton candy tail flicked back and forth behind her as she walked, twitching lightly.  

Nirru just looked pissed this time, rather than surprised.  "How the hell can you dodge something moving almost at the speed of sound?!" she demanded, blade growing back and extending into a melee weapon this time.  That was easy, but required information she didn't know.  One simply moved out of the way before she even fired.  I softly smiled, chuckling lightly amidst the cold numbness.  The shot did almost nothing to remove it this time, and I realized I was probably in a moderate shock.  That in itself was strange when I thought about it, when I realized I was capable of thinking enough to think about it in the first place.  No, wait, that sounded like Pinkie logic...  

"I just moved out of the way, Silly!" Pinkie returned, earning a scream of rage and a downward cut from Nirru.  My eyes widened again as I saw her slide past the slash while spinning, causing it to miss completely.  Nirru blinked in surprise after embedding her foreleg blade into the wood of the library floor.  I momentarily felt sorry for it, realizing Twilight was going to have to spend a lot of bits to fix all of this.  

"Meany!" Pinkie yelled, frowning outright at Nirru before whipping her flank forward instead, smashing into the fake Twilight's hip with her own!  To my surprise, the blow actually sent Nirru sideways, cracking the railing of the balcony as her body smashed into it.  Holy hell!  How strong was Pinkie's flank?!

"Hold onto Mender, Pinkie!" Applejack suddenly ordered, rearing back and up with her hind legs.  What?!  I shifted my attention down to the floor, realizing what she must have noticed a moment later.  The barrier wasn't covering the floor!  Pinkie felt amazingly warm when she wrapped her hooves around me.  She rolled as she grabbed onto me, just as Applejack let out another scream of rage and brought both of her hind legs down onto the wood.  

My eyes widened as the entire balcony dislodged from the side of the tree with a splintering crack, the wood caving in and shattering around the two massively powerful orange legs.  Pinkie rolled off the balcony with me as it hit a forty five degree angle.  We momentarily hung in the air before she shifted and we landed in a rather sizable shrub near the base of the library.  A heartbeat passed and the entire balcony smashed into the ground next to us, kick starting my heart into fully functioning again!  Applejack landed on top of the balcony a moment later, rolling as she hit.  Nirru landed last, directly onto her face as she practically belly flopped into the dirt.  Ouch.  I suddenly realized that she wasn't a physical fighter at all.  Her body was powerful, but she moved with all the grace of, well, me.  

Groaning, she slowly stood up, wobbling on all four hooves as she shook the impact off.  Her body was connected directly to her nervous system, then.  She actually felt everything.  Applejack was already standing however, and stepped in front of Pinkie and I as the pink mare pulled me out of the shrubs, keeping me pressed close to her body.  She felt so warm that I was hardly going to complain, however.  

Nirru finally turned fully, glaring at both mares as she regained her composure.  "You can't win, you know.  This body is practically invulnerable.  I'm going to enjoy killing both of you, though," she muttered, starting to walk forward again.  Applejack shivered, similarly to how I'd seen her before, and looked downright furious as she stepped forward as well.  

The fake Twilight snorted and lunged, whipping her foreleg blade up into a quick stab.  Applejack stopped moving as she approached, then stepped back at the last second, shifting to the left.  The stab missed her head by a few dozen centimeters, and to my surprise, the orange mare 'grabbed' onto the hoof attached to the blade, using her forehooves to smash it into the ground, point first.  In the same instant, she spun around and bunched herself backwards, gently brushing against Nirru's chest before springing, a vicious double buck.  Both hooves embedded themselves into the lavender chest for a split second before I heard a snapping noise.  

Nirru hit a tree that had been a half dozen meters behind her, back first.  The bark splintered at the impact, and she gasped, cracking into the trunk of the tree.  Yup.  I knew what that felt like.  Her eyes remained wide as she slowly slid down the trunk, mouth partially hanging open in definite surprise.  The majority of her hoof blade remained stuck in the ground next to Applejack, point first.  

"Ow," she muttered simply upon finally resting her haunches on the ground.  I concurred.  Shivering uncontrollably under Pinkie, I noticed I could barely feel the remaining limbs I had.  Oddly, it kind of still felt like I should be able to move my left foreleg.  The numb sensations were welcome, however, as my body hurt like a bitch without being able to fully feel it.  

Nirru finally fell forwards, glaring up at us after securing all four legs on the ground.  Applejack stood fast, however; the muscles in her legs clenching and relaxing as she looked ready to pounce on a hair trigger.  "Fine.  I see I don't have any choice at this point.  The game's over now," Nirru spoke, tone soft yet cold.  

Applejack snorted, but in the same instant, silvery wings expanded from Nirru's back, looking like the refraction of light through a strange, monochrome prism.  My eyes widened a moment later, realizing the lines of the wings didn't necessarily adhere to Euclidean geometry, and hurt my eyes to stare at.  That was a Slipstream emanation.  She was carrying a personal one on her?!

The wings slipped through each other a moment later, coating her in a shimmering silver light.  "W-What tha hay is that?!" Applejack demanded, taking a step back as air pressure started to blast away from Nirru in all directions.  You weren't supposed to activate that on ground level!

"Don't!" was halfway out of my mouth when Nirru disappeared.  A twitch of my eye passed and she moved outside of my ability to see, due to the light simply not reaching my retinas fast enough.  I winced as a hoof slammed into my side, the distorted non-Euclidean bubble expanding around me in an instant from the contact.  The world melted away slowly, time seeming to fall apart as we folded ourselves across a field, through several trees, and into a forest; our movement not unlike that of a melting butterfly skipping through a mud puddle.  Geometry and perspective also took a coffee break, allowing me a momentary glimpse of both the inside of my nose and the traffic along the main street of Canterlot.  

The bubble popped a moment later, unceremoniously dumping me onto the ground, steam wafting off my fur.  Oddly, the energy field had done wonders to cauterize my various wounds.  Oh, and wake me up.  Although I wasn't considering that a good thing, as now I was more than a little nauseous.  Idly, I distracted myself wondering if it had cauterized the internal wounds, too.  Not that it mattered all that much.  Without treatment, I was still going to die rather shortly.  

Nirru climbed out of a heap of trees that had followed us into the clearing and promptly landed on her.  She apparently had the foresight to drop me out of FTL before stopping herself, thankfully.  She fell into the large rut we had left in the ground, wincing and shuddering on her side.  

"Fuuuuuuuuck," she groaned out upon falling out of my personal sight and smacking into the ground.  As bad as I felt right now, I was extremely glad I didn't just get subjected to her experience.

"...and that's why you don't fire off a Slipstream Drive while on a gravity bearing surface.  It bends, usually taking a lot of debris with it," I muttered wearily, not bothering to move from my position.  The orders to my limbs were only being followed in a halfhearted manner, almost no strength at all present.  

"Oh shut up.  Ugh," she shot back, crawling out of the rut on my side.  That was one of the problems with our variety of FTL travel.  Not only was it highly susceptible to forces such as gravity, it also distorted most sensors upon entering, requiring careful calculations and a planned course prior to actual activation.  The perks were it being far more accurate than our ally's version, which actually couldn't turn after being launched.  

Nirru's entire back was scorched badly, I noticed.  She aimed it away from me before opening a slot in her skin.  Three holes existed under the panel, one of them being already empty.  Half a second later, the middle one ejected a cylinder shaped crystal canister filled with a glowing blue liquid.  The grass caught fire around the canister when it hit, spreading out a good meter in each direction almost instantly.  Oh yeah.  That was another downside to our FTL Engine.  

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to use that.  This body isn't meant for physical combat, though.  Damn, that orange bitch is a brute," she groaned, sliding the plate shut again before standing upright fully.  

The static in my skull suddenly reared its ugly head again, reminding me of its presence.  Nirru glared at nothing in particular before sighing.  "Didn't you learn your lesson yet?  Just shut up and stop interfering, Keela," she ordered a moment later.  Whether not heard or ignored, I couldn't be sure as the static certainly didn't die down.  

"She disagrees with my methods for some reason," the fake Twilight explained a moment later, walking over to me.  I glared up at her, deciding not saying anything was preferred.  There wasn't exactly a point.  Even if Pinkie and Applejack had rescued me, there was a high probability of my body not surviving the time it took a doctor to arrive anyway.  

The realization was a frozen, numbing one.  I was going to die, and there was literally nothing I could do about it.  "Psh, you're a mess.  I guess I'd better do something if you're going to survive transferring the DNA over," she muttered absently to herself after giving me a good hoof prodding.  That was such a medically sound evaluation.  She obviously had extensive medical training.  I was so screwed...  

"Do I really have to be alive for it?" I asked bitterly, closing my eyes instead.  

She snorted, asking, "What, giving up already?" 

I think my eye twitched.  "You tore off my leg.  You alienated me from my friends.  There's no recovering from this!  What's left to fight for?!" I demanded, opening my eyes again to glare at her harshly.  There wasn't any force to the shout as I couldn't get enough air into my lungs to work my vocal cords properly.  I degraded into a series of coughs and spasms immediately after.  

She lost her smile and shook her head slowly.  "It's kind of sad seeing you after all, in a rather pathetic way.  You're a mistake.  You couldn't have fit in here even if you wanted to, yet you deluded yourself anyway.  You don't even know what you are," she returned quietly, looking surprisingly solemn.  

My glare could have burned through her skull.  "I know I'm not a Keldarian.  You're a fool," I shot back in a whisper, not understanding why she was even doing this to me.  What did she have to gain?  

"If you only had one sample of Keldarian DNA, then I'd agree with you fully and wouldn't be here.  You don't remember a thing, do you?" she asked quietly, watching me with interest.  

A weak sigh later, I shook my head.  She smiled and looked down.  A soft wind blew, and I finally noticed the forest around us.  It was familiar to me all at once.  The Everfree.  The moon above was a few stages from full still and spreading an ambient silver light over the entire clearing.  Nirru's mane blew gently along with the wind, and she looked up again, eyes almost looking through me.  

"Unit Zero Zero Two; initialize second, third, and fourth CPU core reboot and repair sequences in failsafe mode," she ordered with precision.  Wait, what?

My eyes widened and my heart leapt into my throat as an analysis display screen popped up seemingly inside of my eyes themselves, reading, "Rebooting CPU Cores." 
> Forgiveness Pending - Chapter 27
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The moonlight pierced through the branches of the tree I found myself in.  The soft, silvery blue light accentuated the deadly silence of the forest around me.  Lower yet, the light died out almost completely at the forest floor.  The cool breeze drifted through my fur, causing me to shiver as my nerves flared with each movement.  A heightened sense of awareness was accompanied by a feral, rushed thinking.  My pupils contracted, warding out the light from above and focusing on the prey I yet tracked.  I couldn't keep my eyes focused as I excitedly darted them back and forth, taking in all movement.  I could smell her on the breeze, a light string of saliva drifting out from the rows of razor-like teeth in my mouth at the sensation. 

Her breathing was irregular as she crouched beneath the overhang of a rocky outcropping.  The stream that undoubtedly carved it eons ago was still flowing at her feet as she struggled to regrow the basic structure of her foreleg, if not for mere balance concerns.  I shifted, a movement barely concerning my conscious effort as I slithered between three sets of trees, extending myself out and closer to her.  My harsh claws scraped gently along the bark of the tree I landed in, silently watching from above.  Holding onto the tree was easy when I had extra limbs!

Eight extra appendages extended from my back, although the term must be used loosely.  Each was almost twelve meters long at this point, flexing and twitching of their own accord like starving snakes as I watched her.  They were repulsive things, I noted.  The majority of their surface area had taken on the same texture as my flesh.  Coiled, lumpy, lightly oiled, and gunmetal black.  Dark red sores and ruptures covered them, occasionally squirting out a blast of pus as they shifted and flexed.  The smells were hellish, and that was being generous.  They were organic, yet I also saw corded metal and energy running down them.  These were, without a doubt, exactly what a biological weapon would look like. 

Yet for all of their speed, flexibility, and striking power, there was something far more frightening about these tentacles.  I watched a visual distortion drift lengthwise along a portion closed to my head; my sensors were unable to pick up the effect itself regardless of me knowing exactly what it was.  A byproduct of the Slipstream technology was a 'folding' of spatial connectivity.  That protected living organisms from the many complications of faster than light travel, of course.  It had a few other applications, however.  Out of the distortion came a partially liquid but rapidly solidifying blade, jagged in shape as it took form rapidly.  They could pop out of me anywhere, just like the tentacles themselves, it would seem.  

Without a doubt, I was a monster.  I was close enough to hear her blood rushing through her veins.  At least, whatever passed for blood in that artificial body.  I knew my body couldn't process it, but at the same time, I realized these things extending out of me could.  Oh, and how they hungered too.  Their wanton starved desires made me salivate as I slipped down the tree.  A tentacle extended above me, rearing back like a snake as a spear-like head extended out of the maw on the tip.  No sound.  No warning.  I wasn't about to delusion myself with giving her a sporting chance.  No, I just lashed out when it was ready. 

Her eyes widened at the last possible second and she dove sideways, just barely missing the blade driving itself through her eye socket.  I landed an instant later, propelled out of the tree at unnatural speeds by three additional tentacles.  My right forehoof drew blood using the claws extending from it as she rolled out of the way, fresh series of wounds sliced into her cheek.  She let out a blast of flames from her right forehoof as she flipped up to her feet, sending out three fireballs that blew away the base of the tree I was at prior, sending the entire thing crashing down to the earth.  On second thought, it was no surprise it was dead quiet.  If I was small, furry, and classified as a woodland creature, I would be running the hell away from here as fast as possible.  I entertained the idea of classifying my prior self as exactly that as I landed silently in a tree some sixty meters away, cloaked once again in darkness. 

"Stop hiding, you chicken shit!  Face me!" she screamed into the darkness, rapidly spinning in a sharp circle as she tried to find me in the dense forest.  I resisted laughing, thankfully.  Even had I been compelled by some strange form of honor or ego to do just that, this was far too much fun!  Her heart rate skyrocketed as she listened to the silence for another second before shifting closer to the trees.  Duking it out at point blank range was sporting and the gentlecolt thing to do.  Did she forget already that I was a monster?  Besides, I wanted her to taste the fear she'd forced down my throat earlier, preferably mixed with blood as I tore hers out.  I wanted her to pay for the hell she just made Applejack watch.  Even Twilight's floor and balcony deserved a few stabs of revenge!  Oh yeah; she also killed me.  My claws tightened at the thought as I flickered effortlessly closer.

Personally, I could keep this up all night.  She didn't look nearly as fortunate, however.  Her strangely realistic looking blood dripped from dozens of wounds dotting her body.  Honestly, I was surprised she managed to get the foreleg restored so fast.  She was panting heavily and rested against a large tree, peeking around it rapidly before also looking up into it.  Ah, she had caught on.  Pity it was absurdly dark, and I was an equally dark shade of gray. 

After her body moved faster than I thought possible while avoiding my first barrage of tentacle attacks, I had been playing hit and run with her.  My mind and newfound rage told me to lunge and not stop attacking until she was shredded mulch, but I managed to keep the bloodlust in check for the most part.  Wearing her down and learning what she was capable of seemed more productive. 

I slipped into the branches of the tree next to hers, tentacles shooting down vertically along the trunk and lashing out from the base.  Predictably, she saw them coming out of the darkness and lashed out with a slash of her hoof, releasing a surprisingly crescent shaped wave of flames.  I was already out of the tree, however, flipping sideways with actually calculated precision.  Two tentacles got singed before I moved them back up and away.  Her eyes winced down the moment the trunk exploded from her attack, the light difference briefly stunning her.  There!  I noticed that her own attacks would blind her with the light they released. 

I landed behind her on all four legs, digging into the dirt before lunging as fast as I could manage.  There was no time to raise a claw up, so instead, I improvised.  With a feral cry, the top of my head rammed into her lower back as hard as I could manage.  She let out a scream as I felt something snap against my forehead, both of us spilling over and smashing into the burning tree debris.  She lashed out with a kick I didn't even feel upon landing, but it did serve to wedge it into my chest, preventing me from landing on top of her.  She charged a blast of flames in her hoof, but two of my tentacles whipped down and smashed blades into both of her forelegs.  She gritted her teeth, barely blocking my downward claw attack with her other back leg.  With both back legs up now, she managed to shove hers out from under me, sparks flying from her shoulders as the blades scraped along them.  Damn, her skin was tough! 

Sliding, she used both forelegs to launch another close range fire crescent.  On instinct, my tongue lashed out from my mouth, extending two meters in front of me while covered in barriers.  Nirru's eyes widened in surprise as I smashed it along the path of the slash she made, knocking the attack off into the forest.  My tongue pulled back just as four tentacles lashed out instead, the remaining four balancing me again and raising me off the ground. 

Just like the first time, her body accelerated, launching her a good five meters backwards before she raised her head up fully again, landing on all four legs.  Her horn lit up this time, launching a barrage of fireballs.  Shit!  I let her get too much distance on me.  Thankfully that primal monster that directed my instincts reacted far quicker. 

The four limbs supporting me shifted, flinging me to the right and far clear of the incoming attack.  My mind replayed the video of her movement as I landed quietly behind a tree, the entire left side of my body lighting up from series of explosions I'd avoided.  It was fast, but definitely there.  Her hooves had flared up for a split second, and she used them like some sort of primitive rocket to propel herself away from me, getting more distance to attack with. 

Leaping away from the tree again, I lunged along the clearing she landed in, using the cover of the trees to block her series of straight shot blasts.  She was limited at close range and seemed to have an affinity for fire based attacks, then. 

"Activate the full tentacles.  They'll eat her alive," I heard whispered in my inner ear in the voice of the book.  No!  I hadn't dropped their shielding when they activated, and I wasn't about to now.  They'd consume everything, not just her!  I paused an instant later, realizing what I just said... 

It was almost disastrous.  A fire streak shot in, burning runes dancing around it.  There were layers to the shot.  The first was just a container.  The second fueled the shell like a rocket.  The third tore through a layer of shields before exploding.  I recognized the setup, it would seem.  She was skilled to rapid fire these things.  There was just one problem with the technique; the outer layer was a barrier. 

With a bit of finesse, my tongue found the blast instead.  It deftly curled around the thin barrier, strengthening it before crushing inwards.  The blast became a marble sized orb of heat before I swallowed it and pulled out the energy inside of me, adding to my reserves.  Nirru looked disgusted as I dove down and sprinted at her. 

"Monster!" she exclaimed, drawing forth another burning crescent wave at me.  That was ironic, coming from her.  I leapt over the wave of flames and landed within six meters of her.  Do it!  I lunged again while releasing a feral roar of rage, rather than lash out with my tentacles.  She leapt backwards again and I watched the runes light up on her hooves.  Right into my trap! 

Smiling, I whipped my upper left tentacle at her an instant later.  She smirked back as it missed, passing right in front of her.  That's when the shield around it disappeared, if only for half a second.  The air itself was sucked into the void that my tentacle's tip became.  Her eyes widened as the flames along her forelegs sputtered, being closest to the tentacles as it whipped past.  The back legs burst out fire a moment later, unfortunately for her. 

I've never seen somepony plant their face into the ground in such a spectacular manner before.  Her horn snapped and shattered as she ran her head into the ground at high velocity before her back legs flipped out the other direction.  Oh.  Oh crap.  I hadn't thought this through very well!  My eyes widened as well as her direction suddenly reversed, sending her grinding along the ground on her face directly for me.  At the last second, I managed to jump using my tentacles as a spring.  Her body clipped my back legs still and ended up flipping me forwards regardless.  Disoriented, I managed to spin in midair and land on all four legs again, rotating once before sliding to a stop.  Thankfully my CPU cores kicked in and rapidly re-oriented me a moment later. 

Nirru flipped over and landed on her back, a torrent of blood coming from a large gash along her forehead.  Further, fragments of horn were stuck in her face at various points, and what was left of the stump was a mangled mess.  She let out a primal scream of pain and clutched both sides of her head after landing, shaking there while lying on the ground.  Whoa!  I forgot she had an empathy link with that body.  Now that I looked closer, that probably hurt like a bitch.  Regardless, my eyes narrowed and I raised all eight tentacles up into the air, popping blades out of every one of them.  No, letting her recover wasn't on my agenda. 

All eight descended at once with the full intent of unceremoniously grinding her to a thick paste in an instant.  She whipped her foreleg backwards at the same time however, instinctively lashing out.  I could barely track the flash of light and searing arc before it smashed into my chest in a tight spiral.  A light explosion knocked me flying backwards, causing my tentacles to miss entirely, smashing into the ground instead.  I spread them out and drug them along the forest floor, anchoring my slide and slowing myself to a crawl until I could fully steady myself.  Systems scanned and noticed light dermal damage to my chest and forelegs from the detonation, with primary and secondary armor systems unharmed.  Ah; that attack was for speed and distance creation. 

Glaring, I rose my vision back up to meet hers as she stood, shaking visibly with blood splatters everywhere.  "That's it!  I don't care anymore.  You're fucking dead!  You and this entire forest are going to burn, and I'll pick the DNA out of the ashes!" she screamed, flames starting to dance up around her as she practically trembled in rage.  My eyes narrowed as the sensors in them picked up the temperature increases focusing into her hands rapidly.  That amount of energy wasn't good!  My first instinct was to dash away again and resume the hit and run tactics, but I realized that wasn't possible.  If she got too destructive, the collateral damage to the forest would be phenomenal. 

My body shifted forwards, flicking itself into a vault in an instant instead.  She screamed in fury this time as she whipped both forelegs forwards, standing up completely on her back hooves!  A radiating orb of white and orange flames expanded instantly from her held out limbs, blanketing the entire burning clearing in a bright, white light.  Damn it!  I started to recognize the magic and didn't like where it was going.  I'm pretty sure I'd only seen that particular attack performed once, but I remembered what it did well enough!  She wanted to end this in one shot, and I wasn't entirely sure I'd persist through that.

Processing power spiked as calculations ran through my mind.  Time slowed again as a burst of adrenalin combined with the heightened mental capacity and slowed things to a crawl.  All eight of my extra limbs spread out as far as they could, four to each side as I lashed them out forwards.  There was only one option if I didn't want her to reduce everything in a ridiculously large cone in front of her to ash, and it wasn't going to be pleasant either way.  My eyes widened as a true memory drifted into me from the individual I was created from...


* * * * *


The old geezer walked in front of our group, pace slow yet strutting.  He was probably well over a hundred and forty, but the crazy bastard was still teaching.  Jokes amidst the barracks said he'd invent a spell to reanimate himself after he croaked just to keep his position as head instructor.  At this point, I wasn't so sure that it was a joke!

He turned sharply, crossing both lightly furred arms over his chest.  Patches were missing here and there, but he obviously took good care of himself despite his advancing age.  "So recap!  Restoration, Alteration, Transmutation, Enchantment, Conjuration,  Illusion, Divination, and Evocation!  Those are the eight primary schools of magic.  Everyone here should have their tactics and summaries memorized, regardless of your actual profession!  Knowing your enemy is the first step towards defeating them," he reiterated.  I'd studied hard regardless, and knew the techniques of all of them by heart.  Each was broken up into categories, but that much was irrelevant.  I specialized in Alteration and Transmutation of course, being an Engineer.  More specifically, I held a special fondness for Barrier Magic, which was a subset of Alteration.  But that was for a different reason entirely.   Heh.  Regardless, I was a support type.  While I knew of the techniques of the other categories, I couldn't actually cast any. 

My elongated ears perked as I listened, knowing where this was going anyway.  I'd used Prudentia to take a 'peek' at his lesson plan last night, as usual.  "Today, we cover basic balances between the categories!  Right off the bat, we'll discuss the most likely cause of most of your death's in the future; evocation!  It's classified as the manipulation of energy at a molecular level in order to transform it into a different effect in order to provoke a reaction.  Fancy talk aside, it's used to blow shit up!  If any of you survive your evocation training later this week, you'll know what I mean," he continued, glaring at each of us in turn before moving on.  Evocation didn't frighten me.  As a barrier user, the only classes of magic that I really had to worry about were divination and restoration.  One was annoying to the point of mind numbing frustration, and the other was single handedly the most lethal class of magic in existence.  Always stay on a healer's good side!  Reversing the healing spells was not something pretty to see. 

"Those of you in Alteration or Transmutation specializations are probably laughing now, but you need to listen up!  A good amount of caution never hurt anyone, and I'm gonna show you why.  The upper most tiers of Evocation mess around with things you'd better damn well hope you never see comin' at you!  This, for example," he warned.  Wait, he wasn't seriously crazy enough to activate an Evocation inside of the gymnasium, was he?!

Sure enough, flames exploded around him as he gathered up a massive orb of heat and energy directly in front of him, his fur lightly blowing as it gathered into the size of a beach ball, radiating orange and white light!  What the hell was that?!

"This, ya soggy hairballs, is called Gigaflare.  An unoriginal name for a rather simple process.  That's what's sick about it, really.  It's too simple, in theory.  Imagine making a magical rune array to produce energy.  Then, you smash that energy together to cause a reaction to make even more energy.  Using that extra energy, you then do it again!  Pretty sweet deal, right?" he offered, gesturing with a nod towards the orb. 

The class nodded, mostly.  I frowned.  Exponential energy increases were fine and all, but the heat coming from what he was holding indicated something else entirely. 

"This is exactly what the 'medium' end magic in Evocation deals with.  Turns out, most of their higher end stuff comes from apprentices like you screwing up and leveling a few city blocks by total accident.  So, long story short, guess what happens when you get the hiccups and drop the energy tethers to this orb halfway through charging it?" he asked, looking amused.  Hiccups?   Seriously?  Well, if you dropped the tethers, you'd lose control over the spell.  The failsafe would kick in and disrupt it and, wait, unless the student forgot to apply the failsafe.  Then the reaction would spiral out of control and... 

"Ah!  I can see the look of horror on your face!  You, up front!  Got a guess?" the professor asked, gesturing towards me with a grin. 

I swallowed nervously and reasoned, "Well if they forgot the failsafe, the energy reaction would spiral out of control and explode in an exponentially larger detonation than what they put into it." 

The professor's grin widened and he nodded enthusiastically.  "Bingo!  Of course, the time it was discovered didn't go so well.  Lost the entire class of two o' seven and our fifty sixth gymnasium, but we learned quite a bit!  With a little bit of an adjustment, it turns out you can 'kick' the energy in a single direction.  It makes for a nifty attack!" he explained.  Oh hell.  He wasn't seriously going to...?!

He promptly turned around and aimed the ball into the corner of the gymnasium before releasing a pulse outwards from his hands.  The energy in the blast magnified and slammed outwards.  That little bump he gave it was all it needed once the fragile balance was lost!  It exploded outwards from him, radius expanding to seven or eight times his body length in a pure oval shape of radiating flames.  An actual corona formed around it of superheated energy before exploding into a cone-like wave of white and orange light and heat.  The side of the gymnasium disappeared into a blackened shadow before blowing away to ash an instant later as what looked like the maw of hell itself smashing through it.  The cone extended far past the gymnasium, and I saw one of the orbiting survey blimps explode in the distance.  Those were over the fields of ore fourteen kilometers away, though!

"What the hell are you doing down there?!" was suddenly screamed over the professor's belt communicator.  He lowered his still smoking hands and just burst into copious amounts of laughter as he watched half the corner collapse upon itself. 

Yup; he was crazy. 


* * * * *


My extra limbs smashed around the rapidly elongating oval of burning death as I leapt directly into it.  There was no way to stop the reaction, as she already released it.  That left only one possible solution and it wasn't going to be pretty.  The professor said trying to block or absorb that kind of attack was foolish and pointless.  The only defenses were to either not be there when the attack hit, or to redirect it as best you could.  Dodging looked pretty good about now, but if I did, half the forest would probably be burnt to ash.  I didn't know which direction Ponyville was in, either.  That left only one choice... 

Barriers activated along all eight of my tentacles, expanding outwards as I slammed to a halt right in front of the energy buildup.  Well, if this didn't work, I was almost assured a rather fast death.  With that optimistic outlook cemented in my mind, I activated all eight barriers.  Slowly, they started to expand outwards, forming an entire cage around the buildup of flames.  Nirru made a scoffing noise and the orb flared with light just as my tentacles connected together behind her, sealing both of us inside with the blast. 

"Seriously?  You prioritize those rats in this world above yourself?  Wow, you're stupid!" she screamed a moment later.  My eyes narrowed.  Yeah, I probably was an idiot.  But this was all I knew.  Even if they didn't want me, they were all I had.

The book itself seemed to dislike the thought too.  I felt it; so close yet so far.  Shifting, I felt that connection jingle and to my surprise, Keela's signal came alive again.  I hadn't heard from her since Nirru and I had started fighting, and just assumed she was being blocked. 

After a light burst of static, she finally spoke up in a whisper with, "I'm sorry.  I can't stop her.  This wasn’t what I wanted.  I couldn’t…  But I can do this."  My eyes widened.  She sat in a chair with wires connected to her temples.  A faint smile danced across her features as her hand reached out to the right, struggling and shaking as she moved it.  I saw a twisted and torn leather strap on the chair and a thick, dark liquid splattered across the armrest.  Keela!  Her hand finally landed on the counter next to her, dripping more of her blood down along the metal.  The book!  Her claws brushed against the cover before she latched onto it and, in one fluid motion, hauled it against her chest and hugged it to herself.  The energy flared into me through her link an instant later, and it all suddenly made sense. 

Smirking, I drew upon the energy and my barriers exploded, expanding out exponentially and covering the entirety of her blast in a massive cylinder shape.  Stopping the blast would be foolish.  Giving it a top and bottom direction to leak out of however would be far easier. 

"What the hell?!  You're not this powerful!" Nirru exclaimed, trying to break the reaction down instead before it went off.  Ha!  She had just expected it to punch through my shield with no problem at all, I realized.  Her frantic clawing made it far worse.  Instead of deactivating the massive chain reaction, she launched it straight downwards instead.  Well, this was going to be fun... 

The explosion radiated outwards in an instant, shattering my entire world into bright white light.  Nirru's scream sounded an instant later as the ground around my hooves gave away. 


* * * * *


Coughing, I managed to crawl out of the crater.  My skin tingled with an irritating amount of heat.  Opening my eyes, I winced and gasped as I saw that I was literally glowing red, steam from the air temperature difference wafting amply off me as I drug myself back onto level terrain.  The grass was missing.  Actually, it appeared to be missing in most of the clearing.  The ambient heat radiation from the explosion alone was enough to set fire to the vegetation around the center of the area for a good six meters.  The newly formed crater itself fared far worse with the center of it literally crystallizing various minerals in the soil under the heat.  If the shield hadn't been there, that probably would have done unspeakable levels of damage to the forest!

A weary glance up showed a rather large cloud of smoke and sparks wafting into the air.  I could only imagine what the column of flames had looked like a second ago.  Well, if anypony was looking for us, they wouldn't have to look very hard!  That display could probably easily be seen from Ponyville.  Damn.  Given the state of my ringing ears as well, I guessed nopony was asleep in Ponyville either, at this point.  That explosion had been deafening!

Nirru coughed weakly, crawling out of the crater on the other side.  Her left foreleg, ironically, was gone.  The stump at her shoulder was a charred mess, warped and blackened to unrecognizable remains.  Her back legs didn't look much better, but were rapidly reforming as she shakily tried to stand up.  Her fur was gone along with a lot of her mane and tail, embers drifting off her skin as she stood.  I sighed.  Nothing could be easy, could it?  Snapping my back right leg around to the proper angle, I pulled the cords together again and formed it solidly to my body.  After I steadied myself, I extended out all eight tentacles from my back once more, calmly noting the broken leg.  They were shells of their former selves, but rapidly lashed out with hundreds of miniature versions of themselves.  I smiled as they sought out and 'ate' the remains of the old tentacles, rapidly reforming as well as I turned.  No.  I didn't have any forgiveness left.  Oddly, what she just tried to do didn't really lower my opinion of her any further.  Maybe she'd fallen as low as she could?  I didn't have time to debate my opinion however, and just extended blades out of my extra limbs as I went. 

"Damn it.  You're a monster," Nirru muttered after coughing again.  She slowly started to back away, hobbling with each shift that should have went to the limb that no longer existed.  I couldn't help but notice that she wasn't regenerating anymore. 

I shook my head as I rounded the crater, tentacles extending to either side of me and forming seamless if not distorted scythe blades.  Finally, I spoke.  "Of course I'm a monster.  You killed me and turned me into this.  What does that make you, I wonder?" I questioned, expression emotionless as I rapidly approached striking range.  On three limbs and looking like she had been put through a blender and then an oven, she was far too slow to outpace me.  I didn't really care about her answer of course.  I was going to rip her apart no matter what she said. 

"No!  I'm just trying to save my race!  You're trying to kill us.  You're just like the council members!  You want the Keldarians to die," she denied, narrowing her eyes at me as she realized she couldn't get away.  She flicked backwards instead, shakily balancing herself on her hind legs as best the awkward spinal structure would allow for.  Her remaining right foreleg extended up again and caught fire, forming another fire blast.  I just kept walking.  The book was connected to me now.  I was done screwing around. 

"The amusing thing was, if you'd just talked to me like your sister wanted, I probably would have just given you the data," I pointed out.  Minus the information on the bioweapon of course.  Although maybe that’s why she didn’t?

"Bullshit!" she spat out before justifying with, "You males are all the same.  You do whatever you want at any given time, screw everyone else that happens to be hurt by it!  If we need anything from you, it has to be taken by force or you won't even acknowledge us!"  For a moment, I almost felt sorry for her.  Her fire blast launched off an instant later, reminding me of why that was foolish.  It was bigger than the one that hit me in the chest, but slightly slower.  My forward most left tentacle swatted it away and into the ground at few meters to my left with an Aegis Barrier, not even slowing me down.  Anger built back up in me rapidly, eyes narrowing and focusing solidly on only her once more.  My extra limbs began to twitch in anticipation of tasting her flesh again. 

I shook my head slowly.  "I don't know what happened to you to make you think that, but it doesn't matter anymore.  I'm not a Keldarian or a Pony.  I'm a monster, just like you said.  And now, I'm going to tear you apart for what you did," I quietly spoke, eyes softening as I stepped within range.

She screamed in rage again, firing almost half a dozen more times.  In an instant, my processors gave me the calculation and a target lit up each shot.  She was tired now, and badly injured.  None of the fireballs had much force behind them.  I divided it up; a limb for each blast.  Five shots were knocked away from me in the same moment.  Three remaining tentacles lashed out at the same time.  She let out a startled yelp as one swept low, knocking her unsteady legs out from under her, and the remaining two smashed her into the ground as hard as they could, blades now reinforced with Aegis Barriers.  They cut through her like butter, causing her to scream in pain as the elongated scythe blades pinned her physically to the ground via her right shoulder and inner left thigh, her blood splattering across the burnt grass. 

There was no hesitation and my body moved faster than I thought I could.  With my other limbs recovered from their defensive maneuver, I whipped them backwards to throw me towards and pounced the remaining five meters in an instant, landing on top of her prone form.  She screamed, sounding absolutely pissed as she whipped her right foreleg up towards my head as fast as she could despite the flesh tearing around the blade in the same shoulder.  I anticipated it a mile off this time, it being her only remaining defense.  My left foreleg was already moving as I landed on her.  I knocked her hoof aside, causing her flame whip technique to fail and burn out.  She screamed again, in pain this time as the magic exploded, tearing her hoof apart in a blast of light.  My left claws smashed her seared limb into the ground and I systematically crushed both the elbow and shoulder joint and instant later, tearing out tendons and ligaments just for good measure.  My chest grew cold as she writhed under me, silently screaming after her lungs ran out of breath.  No.  I was all out of forgiveness.  Nothing could undo what she did today.  Still, the realism put into her body was strange indeed.  Maybe it was specifically to try to seem as real as possible to trick me earlier?  I thought she'd shift to a solid body, being as amorphous as she was.  I tried to focus on the technical details as best I could, staving off the urge to tear into her more.  It felt so good to sink my claws and tentacles deep into her and feel the blood rushing up around the wounds; every little twist of my hoof released another whimper of agony from her.  To have this much control when I had none before was, well, addicting to say the least.  I actually could feel her matter being pulled into me as I rendered her, my body itself feeding on hers before she even died. 

"M-Monster!" she spit out at me a moment later, glaring up in seething hatred.  Even like this, she wasn't afraid.  It was almost addicting as her screams!  The urge to bite into her and tear meat from bone reared its ugly head again.  I wanted to tear her apart piece by piece until she stopped moving; the taste of her lifeblood pouring out and across my tongue.  She'd feel every last second of the agony until I was sure she deeply regretted coming here. 

I felt something twitch inside of me, and that cold feeling in my chest crushed inwards, twisting my expression into a glare.  The revelation hit me with both shock and cold acknowledgement.  I hated her.  "Yes, I'm a monster!  It takes one to destroy one!  You ruined everything," I growled out, slamming her hard into the ground beneath her.  I felt her collarbone snap under the pressure of my right hoof, but hardly cared.  Instead, my claws dug in, drawing blood from the base of her neck.  It was surreal.  I couldn't even see her as Twilight anymore.  That was probably a good thing, though.  Now she was just Nirru to me.  A monster, just like I was.  We were both monsters, out in the middle of the forest at night while dead set on murdering each other.  It was oddly simple. 

She spat blood up into my face mid-glare.  The liquid sizzled instantly and baked onto my cheek.  I didn't really pay attention.  "You're fake.  You're a mistake and never could have had anything here.  Maybe they all sensed that on some level and never really trusted you in the first place?" she suggested, tone venomous.  A lump formed in my throat, and some part of me wondered if she was right in that regard, at least.  It didn't matter now. 

"You have no right to judge me.  You killed me, and now I'm going to kill you, even if to only protect everypony.  Even if they don't trust me," I whispered softly, swallowing the lump painfully. 

Her head fell back against the ground and she closed her eyes.  "Do what you want.  You win.  Tear this body apart if it makes you feel better.  I have what I wanted for the most part anyway," she finally accepted.  Oh. 

Her fearlessness all clicked together instantly.  She was just a connection to here, and had already uploaded a lot of data to that connection.  All she had to do was 'log out' and pull the data with her.  Why would she care about what happened after that?  Unless... 

I smiled, sharp teeth glittering in the heat-distorted moonlight.  Her eyes widened and she let out a pitiful mewling noise as I slammed my left hoof, claws and all, directly into her stomach.  The sharp blades ripped through flesh and armor in an instant before smashing directly into her spinal column.  She gasped and whined in airless agony, and I felt it.   She slammed on the release, undoubtedly guessing what I was doing.  Too late.  My smile twisted into a sneer as I sent the electrical pulse directly into her spine, halting her 'logging out' attempt.  Her eyes widened in an instant as she gaped up at me.  The reaction was immediate; that cold exterior melted into panic and fear.  Lowering myself down to her, I asked softly, "I wonder what happens to your mind if you're torn apart before you can log out?  Wouldn't it be a bitch if everything you did tonight actually had consequences for you?" 

Her eyes widened further and I realized my guess was dead on.  They shivered and she slowly started shaking her head with what little strength she had left.  "No.  Please, no," she asked quietly, tone changing completely as what was left of her back legs tried in vain to push her away from me.  I tore apart her flank muscles in an instant with my back claws, causing her to wince and silently scream in pain again.  The reaction was dulled, however.  She was probably going into shock.

"M-Mender!  What are you doing?  Please, stop this.  She'll be punished when she gets out of the machine.  Please, she's my sister," Keela suddenly interrupted, apparently figuring out rather rapidly what I had done. 

I snorted, suddenly realizing she was exactly the same as the creature under me in that reasoning.  Had she expected her sister to just waltz out of Equestria with all the data after what she did?  The book was right.  I should have murdered both of them and just taken it back with me when I first went there.  "Yes, her getting a slap on the wrist after getting free with the data she wanted really helps me.  It totally takes back her murdering me after torturing me in front of my friends and turning them against me," I muttered in response before glaring back down at the fake Twilight below me. 

My eyes were close enough to hers now that I could see the new, radiating blue color reflected as she gasped.  They were kind of pretty; reminding me of my old coat color.  Why couldn't everything have stayed how it was before?  I slammed her back into the ground again, shaking now.  She let out a pained yelp as I slammed her head into the rock below with another angry thrashing motion, cracking the base of her horn in half and tearing off ribbons of flesh along the side of her head with my grip.  Again and again I stabbed, denting and breaking dermal armor and bone alike with each onslaught.  She gave up fighting and simply cried there as I slowly tore her apart.  Her heart slowed in her chest as more and more blood spilled out of her.  Soon... 

"This is all your fault.  You killed me and destroyed everything!  I don't care what I am.  Maybe I could have been happy here, but now you took all of that for your own selfish reasons!" I growled, eyes narrowing as I actually felt them start to get wet.  I hated her!  I wanted her to suffer and die just like I had.  She ruined my chance at having anything here and turned them all against me!  Not that it had taken much, the book reminded.  True.  Then she killed me after taking everything!

"I-I'm sorry.  Please, Mender," she begged weakly, her own eyes starting to water too.  They were dim and unfocused at this point, the blood from her torn skull leaking into the left one.  Sorry?  She was sorry?!

I smashed her legs again, tearing the right one off her body completely.  "Oh yeah, that just makes everything better now doesn't it?!  You murdered me!  I'm a monster, remember?  Mender died.  You killed him!  Do you honestly expect a 'monster' to forgive you?!" I screamed now, crushing apart what was left of her left shoulder with my free forehoof.  To my surprise, she actually started crying even harder, her body locking up.  My emotions tangled up and rage seeped through everything.  She didn't have a right to beg for her life!  She didn't let me beg for mine.  She just took it!  My right foreleg twisted upwards, tearing free with a splatter of gore from her shoulder before raising into the air.  I was done with this bullshit. 

"Mender!  Please stop!" Keela begged in a shout over the connection.  My hoof paused in midair, scythe-shaped claws twitching as I glared down at the crying, broken image of Twilight Sparkle.  There was no recognition there.  I fully knew it wasn't Twilight.  I hated Nirru.  Keela probably helped her, too!  "Please.  I'm deleting the data now.  Just let her log out?  She might be a complete monster, but she's my sister as well.  Please?" Keela begged, softer this time.  My foreleg froze.  Why was she bothering to delete the data?  She'd have that even if I killed Nirru.  Why waste everything her sister did tonight? 

My eyes softened as my raised claws curled up gently.  Keela had tried to help throughout all of this, honestly.  I really don't think this was her intent at all, like she said.  To think otherwise seemed a bit irrational, I noticed.  The cloudy haze shifted a little and I became distinctly aware of the book's anger as it separated from my own.  Urges to tear her apart became clear in my mind, and I shuddered.  They weren't entirely mine, I realized.  I'd wanted her to die for what she did to me, but this was...  I lowered my hoof a little, emotions smashing together inside my chest.  I hated her, but if I killed her like this, I'd hurt Keela as well.  Suddenly, I was confused.

There was a light, almost imperceptible growling noise followed by a hissed out, "No!  Kill her now!"  The book's hatred was all around me; there was a haze to my thoughts and vision as I stared down at Nirru under me, emotionless.  With her wounds and my claws in her gut, I knew she'd die shortly anyway.  Did Keela really deserve this, though?  No, she didn't.  I doubted she saw what her sister really was, but she had already made her decision.  My lips curled up into a grimace as I glared down at the broken body below me.   Nothing was ever fair it seemed.  Why couldn't I just be happy?  Why did something always have to try to take that from me? 

"HALT CREATURE!  CEASE YOUR AGGRESSIONS!" suddenly exploded from in front of me in a voice about six decibels higher than the prior explosion, I estimated.  Both Nirru and I let out a startled jump from the blast that caused my 'fur' to blow backwards.  What the hell?!  Wait; that voice... 

Both of us glanced up at the same time.  Princess Luna herself stood a half dozen meters from me, wings spread out in an extremely threatening manner with a look of fury on her face.  Oh.  Oh hell.  Well this complicated things a little!  Almost a dozen ponies stood near her, all wearing a dark purple armor and wielding various sharp and pointy instruments in their teeth.

"H-Help me!" Nirru groaned out, starting to cry again as she looked back at the Moon Princess.  She had shifted back to Twilight's voice in an instant, I noticed.  A light sigh escaped my throat as I extended my claws again on my raised hoof.  Not this again...  Well, she'd obviously try anything to live through the situation.  That much I kind of respected in her. 

"T-Twilight Sparkle?!  Let her go and once, creature!  You shall face our wrath otherwise!" Princess Luna warned, eyes narrowing from her brief look of shock at seeing the bloodied body of 'Twilight' under me.  As much as I really didn't want to face any wrath she could bring forth, I didn't particularly feel like letting Nirru go.  Princess Luna's negotiating skills left something to be desired.  Still, I had no doubt that the Princess of the Moon herself could very easily survive anything Nirru could attack her with, but I was more concerned about the far less imposing guards gathered around her.  My head cleared now that I separated myself from the still pissed off book, and I focused as best I could. 

What were the choices, really?  I couldn't let her go and risk untold amounts of complications.  If I killed her outright right now it would cause Keela immense grief and instantly earn the wrath of one of the most powerful beings I'd ever known, undoubtedly leading to my destruction.  That wasn't... 

It clicked and my eyes softened.  Wasn't that ideal?  What honestly did I have left, after all?  I wasn't a Keldarian or a Pony.  I didn't belong to either world, really.  In truth, I was a biological weapon pretending to be the pony-morphed clone of a Keldarian soldier that had been dead for a while.  A joke, really.  I lowered my eyes away from Princess Luna, looking down at my bloodied limb imbedded into Nirru's stomach.  If I was a joke though, it wasn't that funny.  At least, I wasn't laughing.  Knowing what I was; knowing what I'd done and how many innocent lives died directly due to me, there was no way I could bring myself to look any of them in the eyes again.  So what was left? 

I had wanted it all along.  I'd even achieved it once already.  I've always wanted to protect these ponies.  But what if I was the danger to them?  It seemed like my vary nature all along was nothing but a threat to Equestria.  Wasn't the solution obvious then?  It was right here, presenting itself to me.  I could eliminate every threat to Equestria at the same time, and still make Keela happy.  All with one motion.  Given my luck, I didn't dare ask for more.  Maybe a bit of fortune smiled on me after all in a perverse sort of way. 

My data readout showed Keela had kept to her word and deleted all of Nirru's connected memory banks.  I closed my eyes and raised my hoof back up to full extention, claws glistening in the moonlight.  Nirru's eyes widened as I opened mine again and stared down at her.  For a moment, we locked our gazes into each other.  I almost saw something clashing in her eyes.  There was sorrow there; a pain I recognized yet could do nothing for.  Her eyes softened as well as she stared into mine.  Did she recognize something there?  Maybe, if things had been different, we could have been friends.  Maybe we had in a different time. 

"DON"T YOU DARE, OR WE WILL DESTROY YOU!" the Princess screamed out once again, a pointless and ignored reminder.  Heard it the first time.  Maybe, after this played out, she'd realize maybe a more subtle tract would get better results in future negotiations? 

Finally, I swallowed painfully and shook my head.  "I'm sorry Keela.  I don't think I can talk to you anymore.  Thank you for everything," I quietly spoke, knowing she could hear me.  Nirru heard as well and quietly gasped, eyes widening as they grew watery again.  I released.  Her signal became unblocked again in an instant, earning another widening of her eyes.  She hesitated, obviously not even fathoming that I'd let her go. 

My claws flexed.  The realization sparked through her.  A heartbeat later, she was gone.  The fake corpse of Twilight Sparkle was all that remained under me, eyes glazing over.  The image burned into my mind in an instant and I almost threw up then and there.  Deciding it needed to be banished as fast as possible, I exhaled before whipping my clawed hoof down as hard as I could. 

A claw went through each of her dead eyes.  In the same instant, the right most one went through her temple while the opposable, larger one dug through her jaw.  The force crushed her skull like a watermelon, shattering gore and bone fragments in a meter wide spread from the impact point.  My powerful hoof continued until it smashed into the rock underneath her head, brain matter and cerebral liquid splattering my face.  It felt like an icicle had imbedded itself in my chest at the same moment; a part of me died with my very blow, I think.  Tendrils ripped free of my hoof a second later, rapidly starting to consume the bits and pieces of her head and neck that was left.  Scanning activated and memories flashed to and fro in my mind as my twisted body pieced the information back together again that was inside her skull.  There probably wouldn't be much left, but I let it do whatever the hell it wanted. 

A glance upwards half a second later showed me an utterly horrified Princess Luna.  The shock twisted into a look of absolute rage a moment later and she let out a scream.  I swallowed painfully as her horn flared up and, faster than I could track, a black crescent wave of energy tore through the air.  The ground under it ruptured and cracked as it passed.  One spin later, it cleared the distance between us.  There was nothing else.  I closed my eyes and lifted my head up as best I was able, revealing the entirety of my neck as the attack came in.  I'm sorry, Twilight.  Fluttershy. 

I winced as I felt the blade of darkness slam into my throat...
> Forgiveness Pending - Chapter 60
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sleep was a dark and empty thing.  It felt like I was barely out when whispers stirred in my head, as if from far away.  My ears twitched lightly and my eyes opened over the course of a couple seconds.  Dim light greeted me, the room having darkened significantly from my last memory of it, nothing but black outside the window across from me.  Crap.  How long had I slept?

Ever faithful, Clocky reported that it was quarter after twenty-two hundred hours, which honestly explained the relative darkness of the room.  The only light came from the stairs leading down to the first floor, and I looked towards it curiously.  Somepony had come home and turned on the lights, obviously, but was it Fluttershy or that crazy bastard, Discord?  My hoof snagged something lightly as I moved it upwards, however, and I frowned, looking down at my chest.

A soft, woven blanket had been laid over me with great care, covering every little inch of myself all the way up to the shoulders.  A light smile played at my mouth.  Fluttershy.  The voices that had stirred me from my sleep popped up again suddenly, and my ears flicked back towards the stairs.

"I just don't know.  What are we going to do about her?" I heard asked in a soft, concerned voice.  I'd recognize it at almost any distance now as Twilight's.  She was visiting?  Her bath must have gone well after Discord's disruption.

There was a pregnant pause before a very timid sigh was returned.  "Um, I don't know.  Her heats are really bad, and she seems like she's better now and thinking clearly," Fluttershy suggested.  Bad heats?  What, were they talking about Rainbow?

"Yeah.  Her apology was really earnest sounding.  I can tell she feels horrible and that it's all her fault.  Really, I don't think that I, well, I don't really feel angry about it," Twi returned hesitantly, as a rare moment of stumbling over her words.  Rainbow was apologizing to her?  Did something happen?

"Rarity told her to stop going over there.  The race is really, really important for her this year, if you remember," Fluttershy pointed out.  Oh, oh crap.  Did Rainbow tell them about what happened?!  Wait, she wasn't supposed to take all the blame for that!

Twilight chuckled for a moment, however, then added, "Yeah.  It sounds like it was a complete accident, plus the link is barely a tenth of the way completed.  As it is now, I doubt it's any stronger than the disks are."  Tenth?  Wait, this was only ten percent of the link?!  Holy hell!  No wonder it was a huge deal for Ponies.  I'd probably be able to feel almost everything Dash did if it were ten times as strong when completed!

There was a long pause, and I relaxed against the cushion again.  It didn't sound like Dash was in trouble, anyway.  I guess it turned out okay after all.  Still, Twilight was probably here to try to talk to me.  There wasn't really any point of them coming back here if that weren't the case.  I'd kind of figured Fluttershy would be returning by herself after everything that happened, but lying up here in the dark wouldn't change anything.

Regardless of my awareness of that, it was remarkably hard to will myself to move.  I didn't want to face them yet, or deal with this now.  Frankly, I just kind of wanted to run and hide somewhere, and engage in a therapeutic bout of wailing and mauling things.  I openly admitted I was childish in that regard.  Sometimes I was tired of trying to be a grown up.

A sigh from downstairs snapped me out of my irritated stupor.  "What are we going to do about the herd, then?" Twilight asked softly.  I froze.  Eavesdropping was bad, and I was a bad pony, but I listened regardless.  Not that I should really care, because if Hell existed, I most certainly already had a very special spot reserved just for me.

At first, I wondered if Fluttershy hadn't fallen asleep or something, but finally I picked up the barely audible whine, magnifying my hearing a couple times.  Could Twilight even hear that?  "I don't know.  It's just, um, nothing is going the way it should," the yellow mare finally whispered.

A light groan sounded from Twilight, and I winced, toning my audio level down a bit again.  "That you don't need to say twice.  Did he say anything at all about it?" she asked, sounding tired.  Well, I didn't feel so badly about eavesdropping now that she was grilling Fluttershy on me.  I guess even 'reformed', she was a rather natural spy.

"No," Fluttershy muttered, making it officially the saddest sound in the world.  A moment later, she elaborated with, "He just said that he was happy for us and smiled.  But his eyes looked...  They looked so dead.  Oh dear."  A knot formed in my throat and I swallowed.  She was highly empathic.  I should have known she'd notice.  Suddenly, I didn't want to go down there after all.

I heard a chair adjust itself down there, and hoofsteps on wood for a moment before Twilight let out a light groan.  "This is bad.  Really bad.  Gah.  I was so stupid!  Why did I send out the herd form?!  We need to think of something, Fluttershy.  Anything to fix this.  Do you think Princess Celestia could do an official appeal for the time limit?  Wait, that would require me to actually tell her," she started rapidly muttering.  Herd form?  Time limit?  Suddenly, I took a shot in the dark and guessed there was more lovely news I wasn't aware of yet.  I figured there'd be a form for it.  Governments run on paperwork, after all.  Time limits, however, were usually not in my favor.  Like waiting for your planet to explode, as a good example.

"T-Twilight, calm down.  You're, um, panicking again.  Please sit down, if it's okay with you," Fluttershy spoke up, a little louder to get over Twilight's rambling.  There was a delay, then a sigh and I heard the chair scrape across the floor again.  The unicorn was tense, like earlier.  I could tell she'd shifted into complete panic at some point over the week given the state she let herself fall into, but I hadn't realized she could go right off the deep end like that.  The image of her grinning face burned into my mind again and I shuddered.

My throat knotted up again as I heard crying instead.  At least 'anger' wasn't a viable argument anymore.  Either of them crying tended to really beat the crap out of that approach.  This was a soft sobbing instead, as if trying to hold itself back from tumbling into full out misery.  "I'm scared, Fluttershy.  We're both going to be lucky if we're not dumped, and after everything we've been through, I really...  He's special to me.  I don't want one foolish, compulsive decision in the middle of estrus to ruin that for both of us!" Twilight admitted.  She gave up on composure when her voice died down and the crying picked up fully.

No answer came, and I heard another chair slide out again.  Pushing my face into the back of the couch, I sighed weakly.  I just wanted the three of us to be happy together.  In the long run, did it matter if I had to wait a little bit to get into the herd?  Sure, I was sad that they made it without me, but it sounded like they really felt badly about it, too.  Plus, seeing how Rainbow got, I really did understand what Estrus could do a bit better.  Even if it didn't dictate their every action like it might have their distant ancestors, it certainly made choices a lot 'easier', as Rainbow would have said.  They cared deeply for each other, so was it really a surprise?

Then what bothered me?  I wasn't as important as I'd subconsciously hoped, was a good part of it, I admitted.  It felt like a kick to the stomach to fully 'think' about finally, but I guess I deserved that.  Equestria was already different enough from my old dimension to give me plenty to be thankful for.  I didn't need to be the most important pony to them, and it was just conceited at this point to even think that way.  When did I start thinking I was that entitled?

"Shhhh.  It's okay, Twilight.  Just let it out," I heard Fluttershy whisper weakly.  This wasn't how things were supposed to be.  Slowly, I sat up on the couch and let the blanket slide off me.  My left forehoof lifted up and I brushed it along the single braid descending from my bangs on that side.  "We'll be okay.  Mender's a nice stallion, and if we explain ourselves, I'm sure he'll, um, well, I hope he'll listen," she added after thirty seconds passed with just the softer crying.

"I-I know.  We have to try.  Do you think he'll also be, um, angry he was left out?  Oh no.  We sent him to the cabins to avoid this!" Twilight suddenly murmured, and my ears flattened back.  She was just going to work herself into a panic again.  I heard Fluttershy try to say something, but Twilight just continued, totally drowning her out.  "Oh no.  No, no!  I'm not safe yet!  If I ask him to wait another day or so, though, after everything we have to already tell him, it's going to sound really, really bad!"  Okay, yeah, time to stop this.

Her rambling ground to a halt a second after my hooves touched down on the floor, my own hoofsteps probably easily heard through the wood.  I heard her gasp a second later, and a chair slid out rapidly again as I walked towards the stairs.  Oddly, I heard the jingle of the front door's knob a second later before a light thud resounded through the air.  Uh...  Wait, no, I think I knew what happened.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs confirmed it with Twilight flattened on her stomach in front of the door, and Fluttershy on top of her.  She'd tried to escape.  Heh, it was actually almost cute.  Fluttershy gave out a weak squeak as she saw me, and Twilight looked up with an expression of horror.

"T-This isn't what it looks like!" Twilight shouted abruptly, rolling and pushing Fluttershy off her back with a light thud.  Eh?

I raised my eyebrow, sitting down at the base of the stairs.  "You weren't trying to escape, then, and got tackled by Fluttershy?" I inquired curiously.

I was mildly amused by her dumbfounded expression before she rapidly shook her head.  "N-No!  I mean, yes!  I, well, uh..." she whined, looking flustered suddenly before just groaning and flopping over onto her stomach again.  That feeling I could sympathize with.

Sadly, this wasn't very conducive to just talking.  Standing again, I walked towards both mares as Fluttershy managed to get to her hooves again, looking rapidly back and forth between us.  Oddly, Twilight stood fully upright and lowered her head towards me, not saying anything.  What was she expecting, judgment or something? 

"Of course she is.  They both fucked up, and now are at your mercy.  This is your chance to take control and really get what you want out of the relationship," was whispered into my ear, and I felt her smile.  My eyes narrowed, and I shot a mental snarl her way, earning a snicker. 

Fluttershy's eyes widened, however, and I suddenly realized that I'd narrowed mine in reality, too.  "Please don't be m-mad, Mender.  Please?  We, um, we're really sorry for what happened and we want to fix it, but we j-just don't know how..." she whispered, unease shifting into her voice as she stepped further forwards, past Twilight now.  Brave for Fluttershy, but it's not like I was going to hurt her anyway. 

"I know.  I was listening for a while up there.  Being a cyborg gives me really good ears," I admitted quietly.  The yellow mare looked stunned, but Twilight looked up at me again with a frown.  Her eyes searched mine for a second, and I realized she wasn't mad at my eavesdropping, but surprised at what I said for some reason.  I further noticed that she still had a light smell to her from before, but had cleaned herself up nicely. 

Her features softened as she looked at me, and I realized I really had missed her quite a bit.  Her eyes widened as I leaned over, but I pushed my lips into hers regardless.  Her momentary tension melted instantly as she pushed back a heartbeat later, slipping closer into my forelegs.  Fluttershy let out a surprised squeak, and then I saw her slowly smile as I opened my eyes again. 

Twilight was flushed by the time I pulled away and shivered lightly, mildly surprising me by ducking forward again and pushing into my torso.  "I missed you, Twilight.  You don't need to run away.  I'm not, well, angry at either of you," I muttered quietly. 

"Y-You aren't?" Fluttershy squeaked, shifting a bit closer to both of us before I reached out and pulled her against Twilight's side instead, hugging both of them. 

Much more conducive to talking!  "No.  I'm, well, sad that you two made the herd and left me out of it, and I don't know what to think about you two suddenly jumping your relationship up to a sexual one, but I'm not going to just give up on both of you," I tried to explain.  Well, as far as I got myself, anyway. 

Both shifted lovely shades of pink at that last part.  Twilight shook her head against me, however.  "The heat, estrus, doesn't control us, per se, but it does make it a lot easier to, well, 'justify' certain courses of action that you might know as not the best choice in the long run.  I take full blame for that.  My inhibitions were already lowered, and I was the one that solicited Fluttershy," she explained, pushing her face further into my chest before finishing with, "That means that really, the whole herd thing is my fault, too.  I was so stupid and sent the form in without thinking!"  There was that form again.

I pulled both of them a bit closer and sighed.  "You're not stupid, Twilight.  What exactly is this form, though?" I asked softly.  Remembering her when I first opened the door still frightened me a bit.  That was about as far from 'proper state of mind' as I'd imagine Twilight to get.  Yeah, it didn't honestly surprise me that she did something potentially without thinking about the future consequences.  I'd be a hypocrite if I held that against her.

"It's, um, a form you fill out when you, well, officially 'consummate' a herd.  Well, it's more tradition for the, uh, consummation part.  But really, it's for legal things.  Um, I know you're supposed to fill one out before getting married, too, or for a herd marriage," Fluttershy explained in a wonderfully awkward manner.  So, sort of like getting engaged, but for potentially more than two ponies.

Twilight fidgeted against me, and I frowned, not entirely sure of the specifics with just that description.  Thankfully, the unicorn was there to elaborate.  "She's right.  It's both for legal herd founding, and a pre-marital contract.  Sometimes both at once.  Write the names down on the form, have everypony sign it, then mail it to Canterlot for filing," she added, sighing afterwards and sitting more upright to glance over at Fluttershy instead.  Er, well that did indeed get the point across that they were legal contracts, anyway.

The little yellow mare only blushed and shrank down a bit, however, so Twilight smiled and continued instead.  "Consummation of the herd is just tradition.  It used to dictate herd 'ordering' and establish who the 'leader' is, but that's mostly ignored nowadays.  We both felt, well, pretty badly about it afterwards and signed it, and I was going to leave it in wait for when you got back home so you could be added but, uh..."  Mostly?

"It got sent out instead, accidentally.  I understand," I finished for her, eyes softening a bit.  Now what did that mean for our 'herd' then?

Twilight swallowed and nodded, then, as if reading my mind, added, "Normally you can add members to the herd after it's formed, obviously.  Happens all the time.  But, uh, in order to cut down on, well, hasty decisions being made and causing a lot of paperwork in Canterlot, they implemented a thirty day wait period between 'changes' made to the herd.  At least a pre-marital herd, anyway."  Oh.  So I was stuck as a 'third wheel' for a month.

Fluttershy squeaked and shook her head rapidly, causing me to realize that the link was enabled again after I woke up, and functioning quite well at this distance.  "No, Mender!  We're going to treat you just like you're part of the herd anyway, even if we have to wait to make it official!" she yelped, pushing further into me as she did so.

"Ah!  Of course!  It's only the 'official' herd.  I mean, I could try to talk to Princess Celestia and see about waiving the wait time, as it was obviously an accident but, uh, that would mean I'd have to tell her about, well," Twilight hastily added, then shrank a bit, her blush coming back.

Sighing, I shook my head towards her and relaxed, releasing both of them.  Neither moved, however, to my surprise.  Regardless, I assured, "It's okay.  Waiting a month isn't honestly that big a deal.  It's not a very long time, and it's only a piece of paper, right?"  I wasn't quite so good at social things still, and this whole 'reassuring' thing was rather hard, I decided, as both looked at each other with an uneasy glance.

Fluttershy shook her head lightly towards Twilight before turning back to me.  "This still doesn't feel very good.  We shouldn't have, um, done what we did regardless of the herd form.  It, well, it was so selfish!  It's not just Twilight's fault.  I normally have really light, um, heats.  I thought I was in control of myself!  I should have stopped her.  I should have said no and to wait."  Her voice got quieter and quieter as she went on, and she shivered lightly after falling silent.  Twilight frowned towards her and wrapped her forelegs around the yellow mare, pulling her into a gentle hug.  That was how things normally worked, regardless, I realized.  Maybe I should just start 'planning' on everything falling apart in the worst possible way?  Then, if anything short of complete disaster happened, I'd be pleasantly surprised!

There was no easy answer or way to relay my feelings.  I didn't even fully understand them myself.  Sliding sideways, I rested my left temple against the door and exhaled.  Both mares turned to me instead for a moment before I slowly closed my eyes.  A few breaths later, I felt two warm and furry sensations push into my chest and smiled weakly.

"I just don't know.  I'm, well, sad, yes.  Originally I was a bit mad, too.  I mean, I left partly because both of you weren't ready for anything sexual in the relationship yet.  At first I was angry because it goes directly against that, and made it seem more like, well, 'not ready for anything sexual with me', I guess," I started to explain, my eyes cracking open to look at them.  It felt good being honest, anyway.  That feeling was smashed and I regretted saying it almost instantly as Fluttershy suddenly looked like she just watched a kitten run over by a landslide.  Twilight swallowed and shook her head rapidly, her mouth slightly open but no words seeming to escape.

After a moment of awkward silence and Fluttershy's eyes starting to water, I closed mine again and shook my head.  "I know it's also because I'm male, and neither of you want to risk getting pregnant, too.  It's different with me, I know.  Now I see that and don't blame you two," I added, not sure how to feel and suddenly being distinctly aware of that tightening in my chest.  I was okay with it.  Why did it hurt so much?

"W-We're not going to do anything like 'that' again until we're really ready this time, so, um, we really goofed up and made some really bad decis-" Twilight started to rapidly defend.

A light scraping sound interrupted all three of us, and I opened my eyes again questioningly.  Twilight looked momentarily confused as Fluttershy turned and looked into her kitchen.  My eyes widened as a full-sized bathtub 'slid' out and peeked around the doorframe.  They widened even further as eyes opened up on the rim, and a smirk shifted against the ceramics.  What the hell?!

"Oh ho ho!  If only bathtubs could talk, for what Twilight's saw earlier!" the bathtub revealed in a familiar voice.  Oh.

Twilight shot him a glare in an instant, her horn lighting up as her eyes narrowed.  He made a yelping noise and the entire bathtub poofed away as fast as it had arrived.  Shape-shifting?  No, he could probably appear as whatever he wanted.  'Spirit' seemed only partially correct, as he had more properties of some sort of quantum entity.  It was a little disturbing how he could kind of show up anywhere and seemed to like eavesdropping... 

"T-That was just, um, snuggling and kissing!  Besides, I'm still technically in heat, so, well, it doesn't count!" Twilight defended adamantly, her cheeks shifting a bright pink as Fluttershy shrank a little.  Heh.  As cute as they were when awkward like this, I didn't see much sense in it.

"You two don't have to lie about it, or stop being with each other that way.  There's nothing wrong with it," I pointed out idly, looking back and forth between the two of them.

Fluttershy wasn't handling the conversation well at all, maintaining a full-face blush at this point.  Regardless, she actually managed to retort, with the utmost politeness, of course.  "Well, yes, but it is wrong.  It's wrong because you're not a part of it," she elaborated.  Ah.  I had immediate mixed feelings due to the simultaneous revelation that they were willing to abstain and wait for me, and the other revelation that they'd rather abstain and wait rather than just make me part of it.  Did they know something I didn't?  Suddenly, I started wondering exactly how desirable I appeared to be.  This time I blocked out the link as best I could. 

It didn't take a second for Fluttershy to shift to a frown, however.  "Um, please don't hide your feelings, Mender.  At least not from us.  We care about you very much," she whispered gently, leaning in and nuzzling my right shoulder.  It was amazing how fast she could make me feel like a total jerk.  I swallowed and looked down instead. 

"I just...  I don't want you two to not be as close or anything because of me.  I'm okay with waiting for you two to want me to join in," I muttered, slapping back the selfish jerk inside of me.  I valued them both for so much more than that.  To say otherwise suddenly felt insulting to them. 

Twilight smiled gently, and then looked over to her herdmate instead.  Eh?  Fluttershy simply blushed and nodded timidly, however, earning a smirk back.  "I'm not safe yet, unfortunately.  My hormone reading was four point five this morning when I took it, and it needs to be under four for me to be completely infertile.  It'll be fine by tomorrow afternoon or so," Twilight informed suddenly.  I, er, what?!  Why was she suddenly telling me this?

Fluttershy turned a bit pinker before nodding.  "I'm safe already.  We really want to be comfortable with you, too, Mender.  In a few days, maybe the three of us should, um, try to take steps towards that?  If it's okay with both of you, of course!"  She barely squeaked out the last part before shrinking down again.  I smiled towards how adorable she was before a light twinge went through my mind.  A few days?  Wasn't I supposed to be remembering something? 

"That's a good idea, Fluttershy.  We want you to be comfortable, too.  Also, can you stay here tonight, Mender?" Twilight asked softly, glancing over at me.  Huh?  I wasn't going to sleep at the library tonight? 

Fluttershy's eyes expanded to maximum size in half a second flat, but Twilight held her hoof up quickly.  "Just for tonight.  I'm not fully out of estrus yet, and the, um, pheromones are still all over the library," she muttered, blushing profusely.  Oh yeah.  Fluttershy wasn't producing pheromones anymore. 

"Oh.  Well, of course.  I don't want Mender to, um, be uncomfortable," the shy pegasus murmured, tone shifting to more relaxed as she seemed to realize the reason for it as I did. 

Twilight lost a bit of the blush, eyes softening as she slowly shook her head.  "Not just that.  I'm also afraid of not being able to control myself again," she admitted, tone quieter now. 

I smiled gently at her, leaning forwards and giving a soft kiss to her forehead.  Yeah, no matter what, I made the right choice.  I didn't like being angry, especially not with Twilight or Fluttershy.  Not much really needed to be said, my feelings being fairly self-explanatory.  Fluttershy smiled and nodded to her, too, before resting her head on Twilight's shoulder.  The lavender mare blushed, but pushed into us a little more.  This was really all I needed.  All I...  Oh. A few days!  I should probably tell them about that meeting with Tia.  

"I suddenly remembered, did Princess Celestia send anything to you two over the week?" I asked, looking between them.

Fluttershy looked momentarily curious, but Twilight smiled and nodded.  "Yeah, she said she sent you a letter and requested all of our presence in Canterlot in a day or so.  I already told the girls," she assured, causing me to relax.  I'd figured Tia had sent a letter to them, too, but it was better safe than sorry.

At that, the yellow mare perked and nodded to me as well, relaxing once more.  "Yeah, it's a bit sudden, but we know why.  Um, I was going to also ask, if you don't mind...  Do you think you could tell us about everything that happened during the week, if it's not too much trouble?  We heard about a lot from Dash but, well..."

Twilight snickered softly to herself and nodded.  "We'd like to hear it in your own words.  She has a tendency to, well, embellish things a bit, and not pay attention to other spots," she added, coughing lightly and looking away, causing Fluttershy to fuss nervously.

Chuckling, I nodded to them.  "Of course I can, but it might, well, take a little bit.  It's a little drafty here.  Why don't we use the couch upstairs?" I suggested, not really wanting to relay the entire story while sitting on my rump in front of the door to the cottage.

Twilight smiled and nodded, while Fluttershy just smiled, a tiny shade of pink dancing over her cheeks.  Deciding we were in agreement, I smiled to both and turned, heading up the stairs.  It was really, really hard not to trip when I suddenly picked up on Fluttershy staring at my butt, via the link...


* * * * *


So many questions!  It had taken over an hour and a half to relay all the events that had happened while I was at the cabins to both mares.  It had taken another half an hour at least to get through all the extra questions they had afterwards.  Between Fluttershy panicking over my getting injured and Sweetie hurting and poisoning herself, and Twilight's avid curiosity about how linking with Rainbow and healing her mental fatigue went, it had taken us long past midnight and into the new day.

Twilight almost didn't seem to even care that Rainbow had partially linked with me.  I hadn't expected that, but her focus seemed almost entirely on my healing her having worked, and the various enchantments I gave all of them.  Fluttershy's only concern was that Rainbow hadn't forced me into anything apart from surprising me with the kiss, which was a no, thankfully.  Both agreed that she'd probably be a lot more levelheaded now that heat was over, and that we all should talk about it in Canterlot after the meeting.  It made sense.

Fluttershy's eight second long yawn had called the meeting to a close, Twilight saying she should go get some sleep after finishing giggling towards the yellow pegasus.  Only then had the epic battle begun.

"No, really, it's okay, Mender.  Um, the couch is perfectly comfy, and you had a really, really hard week, so take my bed!" Fluttershy offered again, blushing lightly while she patted the couch cushion, as if emphasizing how soft it was.  I resisted her cuteness as best I could!

"Fluttershy, I've slept on tons of couches since I got here, and find them perfectly comfortable.  This is your house, so you deserve the bed, Silly," I protested, nudging my hoof in the direction of her extra soft, comfy looking bed a half dozen meters away.

She rapidly shook her head, however, and I sighed.  We'd been at this for ten minutes now, and weren't going to sleep tonight at all if we didn't settle it.  "You leave me no choice, then.  I'll have to resort to drastic measures," I warned, standing up fully as her eyes widened a bit.

"Um, w-what are those, if you don't mind me asking?" she squeaked out, edging backwards slightly as she watched me approach.  She let out a gasp, however, as my tentacles extended instead, and I smiled happily towards her.

"Nooooooooooo!" she squeaked out in protest, flailing about as I carried her over to the bed in a bundle of soft, warm tendrils.  Snickering, I set her gently down on the mattress and watched her pout up at me.

Giving me a timid smile, she hesitated for a moment, starting to open her mouth again.  My proximity sensor went off before she could say anything, however.  Wait, what?!  Something very pissed off, furry, and white bounded out of nowhere and put two padded feet right into the side of my face.  With its whole body, it provided enough force to kick my head sideways, tipping me.  Flailing, I yelped as gravity took over and I went off the side of the bed with a crash.

"Angel!" I heard Fluttershy yelp from somewhere above me as my head spun, giving me a very good, if not slightly dizzy view of the ceiling.  What was an 'Angel', and why did it hurt so much?  Wait, I'd heard that name before.  Given the double vision and developing headache sadly, recollection wasn't the easiest for me.  Eh, what's another concussion at this point?

There was a rapid thumping from the bed, but I heard a huff instead.  "No, that was a very bad bunny!  Mender is Mommy's very special somepony, and would never hurt me, no matter what you think you saw!  You are not to attack him," Fluttershy scolded suddenly.  Bunny?  Oh!  Yeah, she had a special pet bunny named Angel.  I'd forgotten.

Crawling up and onto my hooves again, I stood and propped my forelegs up onto the bed.  A very pissed off looking rabbit stared at me, its ears flattened back as Fluttershy chewed him out.  My eyes softened a bit and I just watched. 

"You're going to have to behave, Mister!  Apologize to Mender!" Fluttershy demanded, still glaring at him.  The little bunny's front legs crossed, and he abruptly looked away from me instead, closing his eyes.  That was a no, I was going to guess. 

"Angel!" my fillyfriend protested.  It was too late, however.  The bunny shot off in an instant, bounding off the bed and running downstairs faster than Fluttershy could grab him. 

Sighing, I hopped up the rest of the way onto the bed and helped Fluttershy up from her face first flop upon missing the speedy bunny.  "Phooey.  Um, are you okay, Mender?  I didn't think he'd even come up here tonight," she whispered, gaze shifting to me as she straightened out her mane. 

"Yeah.  I got my armor up before I hit the floor.  That was your pet, then?" I asked, reaching out and helping her straighten back some of her mane.  Actually, it looked rather adorable a bit messy, too, but I might be biased there.

She gave me a timid smile and nod, returning, "Yeah.  Um, normally I don't see much of him during, well, estrus week.  Bunnies go into theirs during our second one and he has a female friend...  Um."

Smiling, I nodded in understanding of her, releasing her from the need to say anything further.  She relaxed and nodded back, looking pleased to not have to finish that statement.  "Anyway, he must have, well, heard me yelp when you picked me up.  He's been my friend for a long time, and sometimes he gets protective of me.  Um, he didn't mean anything by it," she excused, frowning and looking down at her hooves.

"I figured that was the reason.  He's got quite a kick!  I'm leaving my armor on next time around him," I muttered, snickering and earning a soft smile.

"He'll warm up to you, don't worry.  Um, he has to.  I know I'm not giving you up," she added, voice dropping off as she blushed.

Feeling my chest warm up a bit, I smiled and leaned over to her, ignoring her widening eyes.  She gave a slight shiver as I pushed my lips into hers, but slowly slid closer against me a moment later, relaxing into my hug.  I brushed her mane back and cupped the side of her face as she leaned back, having gone from a soft smile to a full out happy one instead.  The timing was perfect.

"Sure you don't want me using the couch?" I offered one last time, my smile lifting up into a smirk instead.

As empathic as she was, she picked up on it instantly and snickered, shaking her head at my teasing.  "You'd better not.  Mmm.  Twilight's been with you while sleeping before tons of times, so, uh, if you don't mind, maybe I could be with you tonight?  We don't, well, have to do that dream sharing thing, but I kind of want to cuddle, if it's not too much trouble?" she asked quietly.

"Anything you're comfortable with, Fluttershy," I assured, squeezing her gently against me as her smile came back and she nodded.

"Um, okay, then!  I'm going to go get ready and brush my teeth, okay?  I think there's an extra brush in my cabinet, so could you go get that for yourself while I go first?" she offered, standing up again and hopping down off the bed.  Oh!  I'd not been able to brush my teeth during the entire cabins excursion.  My toothbrush was in the library, that's right.

Smiling, I nodded and hopped down on the other side.  "Right!  Uh, I'm allowed to use your toothpaste?" I inquired, watching her trot over to her bathroom.

She gave me a skeptical glance back over her shoulder before smiling and nodding happily.  "Of course, Silly.  I'll be out in a few minutes!" she chirped, in a good mood suddenly.  She was the silly one.  She should know by now that she didn't have to even ask when it came to cuddles.  I adored every inch of her, and feeling her warm fur against me and snuggling up to her while sleeping would be amazing!

A surprising burst of giddiness hit me as I swayed back and forth, smiling happily.  Okay, Mender, don't weird her out!  Toothbrush!  Surely it wouldn't be that hard to find.  She only had three cabinets up here.

Three minutes later, I was eating those words.  Toothbrush…  Toothbrush…  Why was it so hard to find a stupid toothbrush for me?!  Glaring, I shifted to the side and opened cabinet number three.  At this point, I was considering just forming one with magic for tonight.  I only needed it once! 

My ears perked up, listening to her quiet but adorable humming as she brushed her own teeth behind the carefully closed door.  Smiling, I sighed contentedly, actually rather enjoying staying with her.  She had a totally different dynamic to her apart from Twilight.  I felt more at ease and relaxed with Fluttershy.

Looking through the third cabinet like an ancient explorer might peek into a trap filled tomb, I noticed nothing even vaguely shaped like the one I’d had at the library.  Damn it!  Mane curler, combs, a couple animal bowls, a few bags of powder-looking stuff labeled with bars of soap on them…  Getting frustrated, I dropped back down to all fours and looked a bit lower.  Maybe she’d meant one of the drawers!  Perking up, I smiled as I hopped back over to the larger cabinet that had contained her clothes for special occasions.  Admittedly, that dress I saw in there was really pretty, and if I guessed right, I’d have to compliment Rarity on it later!

Smiling, I opened the first drawer that was right under the cabinet main doors, and then blinked in mild confusion.  Uh, what were these thingies?  There was some sort of molded form placed into the bottom of the drawer, shaped indentations that were all filled up with strange objects.  They were elongated and very multi-colored, in quite a variety of shapes and sizes.  Some looked like carrots, while others kinda more like wiggly pencils of some sort.  One was even colored like a carrot!  I tilted my head, glancing over them while sliding the drawer out more.  Had I stumbled upon some sort of Equestrian culture that I had yet been aware of?

Tentatively, my left hoof extended down and poked the closest, pink one.  It was easy enough to pick up the enchantment on it, and I perked up.  Oh, they were some sort of specialized device, then!  Drawing that one out of the mold, I looked it over more closely.  It didn’t really have any smell to it, and looked thoroughly and meticulously cleaned.  Maybe it had to do with her vet practices?  Although why it wasn’t with the other tools downstairs, I didn’t know.  Scanning the enchantment over, I found the ‘on’ nub at the base of it a moment later.

It only confused me further after I activated it, however, and it started vibrating around on my hoof.  What purpose was that supposed to serve?  My eyes widened and I let out a startled squeak as it accidentally fell off the side of my hoof and landed on the floor, despite me trying to catch it again twice.  I stared as it bounced around on the floor, its function suddenly dawning on me!  Ooooooh, these were animal toys!  Snickering to myself and watching it bounce around, I created a little walled off section for it with small barriers and just stared for a second.  It was quite an energetic little thing, and I pictured a kitty or something bounding about after it.

Looking back in the drawer, I stared at the different shapes and tried to guess what animals they were for.  Maybe each different animal liked a different color?  I tilted my head and slid the drawer out a little more, to its maximum, then widened my eyes at the massive toy in the back.  It was oddly reddish in color along the majority of it with a more mottled brown spot thing going, and the base where the activator was appeared to be made of gemstones, both blue and white in color.  I tilted my head towards it, immediately thinking of Rarity with the colors and gemstone usage.  Trying not to laugh, I imagined the pearly unicorn bounding around after the thing, trying to pounce on it like a cat would.  

Okay, that was adorable.  Rarity would probably find it undignified, however, so I decided to definitely not tell her about that one.  Besides, it was huge!  Actually, it was almost Big Mac sized, being probably a little shorter than one of his forelegs.  The mental images of ‘him’ pouncing at it weren’t as cute, being more just strange, and I shuddered, banishing the mental images.  Actually, now that I looked at it, its color was very similar to his coat.  Staring a little harder, I noticed it also wasn’t as smooth and uniform as the others, looking like it actually had veins running through it.  Creepy!  Eh, actually it had a lot of dust on it, so maybe Fluttershy thought it was creepy, too?

Deciding it was for a meat eater or something, I slid the drawer a bit further closed to banish it from sight, and peeked at some of the others.  Heh, these were kinda fun!

A minute later, I had five of them bouncing around inside of the open-topped box I had formed, snickering in amusement as I watched their ‘battle’ progress.  So far, the wiggly and floppy one with the prong-thingy at the base of it was winning due to sheer mass, but the tiny pink one was really dodgy!  Debating who’d win in the end, I suddenly realized why these thingies weren’t down with the other tools.

“Oh, these things are for playtime instead,” I muttered, perking at my realization.  Equestrian society was getting easier for me to grasp!

“Oh?  What’s for playtime?” I heard Fluttershy ask in her usual happy yet soft, sing-song voice.  Oops!  In my attempts to figure out what the victory conditions would be for the animal toys, I hadn’t heard the water stop in the bathroom.  Fluttershy stepped out, rotating around with a small towel in her mouth before immediately freezing in place, dropping it when she saw what I was doing.

Swallowing, I snickered sheepishly and nodded.  “Oh, sorry.  I found your animal toys and was having a ‘battle’ with them.  Uh, I’ll put them back,” I apologized quickly, shrinking the box to gather them up again.

Fluttershy’s jaw dangled loosely, the pink tint in her cheeks shifting to a full-blown red color that expanded over her entire face in an instant.  “An-Animal t-to…  Ah… ha…..aaa,” she whispered, it slowly turning into an airy squeak as her eyes rolled up.  Mine widened at the same time as she sagged and simply fell over sideways.  Ah!

Standing, I rapidly rushed over to where she was, panicking!  What had I done this time?!


* * * * *


"Fluttershy, it's natural.  I don't think any less of you," I assured weakly, faint blush still on my cheeks after she finally managed to get me to understand what they actually were for.  Of course, it was nowhere near the pronounced, full-faced blush she still sported.  I kept fanning her with a thin barrier to cool her off regardless. 

She looked less than assured, and continued shivering and hiding most of her body under the blankets.  Okay, so I felt like a total asshole.  Keldarian females didn't have toys like that.  I thought it was only a male thing!  The only accessories I knew existed for that sort of thing were the, well, holes for males and specialized clothing for the females that 'really' liked to exercise their dominant status...

"I, um, I don't use them very often a-at, uh, no!  I barely used any of th-them!  And the big one is Rarity's!" the shivering mare protested.  Huh.  I had guessed right after all.  Uh, wait, why was it the same color as...  No, never mind.  There were some places even my exuberant curiosity refused to tread. 

New tactic!  "Fluttershy, I kinda already knew you were with Twilight in a significantly more than friendly way.  I didn't think that was strange, did I?" I pointed out quietly.  Heartbreaking and traumatic, yes, but definitely not strange. 

Fluttershy peeked up at me again, her left ear popping out and showing one of the only non-pink tinted areas of her fur that was visible.  "R-Really?  You don't think I'm, well, w-weird?" she hesitantly stuttered out, making me want to haul her out and hug her tight.  That probably wouldn't go over well, though.  Eh, I was just happy Angel hadn't bound up here upon hearing her collapse and kick my face in again.

Smiling through my flush, I nodded lightly, averting my eyes slightly.  Regardless of what she thought, the revelation of the toys' existence was an interesting one, to say the least.  I decided it was more the stallion in me thinking that, though, and pushed it down.  Fluttershy frowned, however, and shrank back into her blankets.  Crap.  Figured she’d pick up on that.

"P-Please be honest, Mender.  Um, you can tell me what, well, what you really think," she spoke, followed by a weak whimper.

My flushed tint probably got a little darker as her question pulled what I 'really' thought of it right back to the forefront.  No, that would just freak her out more!  "I'm telling the truth, Flut-" I started to reassure, looking back down at her again.  I froze when I saw the look in her eyes, coupled with them starting to look wetter.  Ack!

"F-Fluttershy, I don't think you want to, um, hear about that.  I promise I absolutely don't think that, well, you're weird or anything," I muttered, looking away from her again awkwardly.  No, I couldn't keep looking into those eyes.  Even when she wasn't doing that potent technique from earlier, it still tore me apart inside.

She rapidly shook her head, coming a little more out of the blankets in my peripheral vision.  "Please?  I really do want to, um, hear," she asked, almost pleading.  I was going to be lucky if I ended up in a comfortable enough bush outside to sleep in tonight.  Well, here goes.

"I, well, I didn't know females had toys for that sort of thing before now.  Um, honestly, thinking about you, uh, using them...  Well, it's actually kind of hot," I admitted.  A long second passed and the anticipated shriek of despair and assault didn't come.  Had it happened so fast I hadn't realized I was dead yet?

Deciding that was unlikely, I peeked back over at Fluttershy to see, awareness extending heavily towards my own flushed cheeks with the movement of my head.  She stared at me in shock, her jaw hanging slightly open.  Honestly, I couldn't tell if she was blushing any more than before or not, which was a little awkward in and of itself.  My eyebrow rose slightly, however, as I saw two little bumps start to rise up a little in the blanket over her back.  Was she...?

The second she saw me look, she shrank down again, this time the blush flaring up even more as she squeaked, shaking under the blanket like a dog until it was all wrapped around her, significantly tighter than before.  "Ah, I'm sorry!  Um, that wasn't...  I didn't expect that.  It's really, um, h-hot?"  I barely heard her ask as she dropped yet again in volume, and the blankets had been added to the barriers between my ears and her mouth.

"Well, yeah.  I'm really, really attracted to you.  Um, in every way, Fluttershy.  Thinking of you enjoying yourself is kinda nice," I reiterated, shrinking down a little into a lying position as I felt an awkward stirring.  Could we please just go to bed?!  I'd committed enough faux pas today!

Oddly, she just watched me from under the blankets for a moment before the shivering stopped.  I gazed back, noticing a timid lifting of the corners of her mouth.  She was happy?  I stayed perfectly still as she slowly slipped out of the blanket a little more and leaned over, pecking me lightly on the nose.  She was still blushing enough to make me a tad concerned for her circulation, but she finally wore a tiny smile, which was an improvement in my opinion.

"Thank you, Mender.  Um, I wish I was as b-brave as you.  I'm really, uh...  What I mean is, you're really handsome and, well...  Oh, I can't seem to say it!" she whined, clamping her eyes closed in obvious frustration.  Well, it leaked down the link easily enough, anyways.

Slipping forwards, I lay next to her instead, but on top of the blankets, of course.  She gave me a surprised glance, but gently started to widen her smile a little more as I returned her nose-kiss.  "Relax, Fluttershy.  I promise.  Absolutely promise that you can talk to me about anything you wish.  I'm not going to judge you, or even think less of you in the slightest.  I just, um, I want to help you, Fluttershy," I explained, resting my head on the mattress next to her.

Her eyes shimmered again and she nodded twice, switching back to a shy smile before nuzzling against the side of my muzzle.  "Thank you, Mender.  I, um, understand.  To be honest then, I...  I'm attracted to you like that, too!  At first I was super worried about still having the estrus hormones in my body and having my smells bother you.  I check at least three times a day to see what my, um, level thingy is so I know how often I need to, well, wash up.  But you actually staying here is..." she started rapidly explaining, and then froze for a moment, shivering again.  Everything she'd said so far was perfectly understandable.  Out of all of my friends, her home had the most 'occupants' apart from her, so she was undoubtedly more self-conscious of her pheromones.

"It's scary.  I want you to be happy and, um, you finding those made me think I screwed up and...  I thought you'd think I was a weirdo or something, and you'd never want to come here again," she finally admitted, her ears lowering a bit as she looked down and away from me.

Leaning in, I kissed her forehead instead before squeezing her with my left foreleg through the blanket.  She relaxed against me a second later, and I shook my head.  "Well, you didn't screw up, and I'm very, very happy to be here, Fluttershy.  I was already considering talking to Twilight about that, actually," I admitted, honestly.  This was as good a time as any to bring it up, I guessed.

Her ears perked up and she gave me a curious glance, of course, her flush returning to normal Fluttershy-levels, finally.  Elaborating, I explained, "Oh, I just thought that once we actually became a proper herd, maybe it would be a good idea to take turns sleeping at either the library or the cottage?  That way you could keep a close eye on your animals and she could keep the library updated, but the three of us could get to snuggle each night."

Her teal eyes were dancing by the time I finished, and she rapidly nodded, looking significantly happier at that idea.  "Oh, yes!  Very much, yes.  I'd be delighted!  Until we can figure out a more permanent arrangement, that's a really good compromise," she agreed.  I could always tell her comfort level without even needing her link, based off how loud her voice was, I noticed.

Kissing her on the lips this time, I felt her shiver once, then push into me a bit more.  I smiled but kept it chaste, leaning back a moment later and nodding.  "I'm glad you like it, and also happy you're not getting after yourself anymore about earlier.  It's normal, and not only do I think you're perfectly fine in doing so, I also think it's rather appealing, so relax about it, okay?"

She was still a little pink, but her smile stayed this time as she nodded.  I resisted the urge to pounce her adorable self and kiss her more, and instead returned her nod, a pleased smile on my muzzle.  I'd actually managed to help rectify a social situation!  By myself!

"Okay, well, you get ready for bed, okay?  I'm going to go brush my teeth, and then I'll be back," I said, standing up again now that I was assured my body was a bit more relaxed than before.

Fluttershy gave me another happy nod before sinking into her blankets more, giving a content sigh.  It was enough for me that she was happy, and I hopped off my side of the bed before trotting around and over to the bathroom, giving a quick glance to the special drawer again as I passed by it.  Maybe, just maybe, once we finally got comfortable with each other a ways down the road, she'd show me how they worked.  Heh, that was undoubtedly a long ways off, but maybe I'd ask her one day.  Snickering silently in my mind, I went into the bathroom, the image of a toothbrush forming from my magic...


* * * * *


It was no good.  Terribly improper thoughts of the mare next to me kept plaguing my mind, and it just refused to settle down.  Sleep just wasn't working.  Staring up at the ceiling, I tried to drive the echoes of what I imagined her soft moans to sound like out of my head.  Even more of my focus was going into locking down hard on the link so none of this accidentally slipped through!  Damn it!  I was supposed to be a 'gentlecolt'!  If anypony else saw what was going through my head, I'd probably be arrested. 

My eyes shifted back over to Fluttershy a moment later.  Even though I was suppressing the link, it felt oddly like she was still awake.  She stirred every couple of minutes as well, shifting about to a different position.  I was a little sad when she suddenly decided against snuggling, too. 

Surprise was an understatement when she suddenly slipped, mid-rotation, and her wing slipped out from under her.  It shot across the distance to my face in half a second flat, sadly.  Thankfully I had been zoning out prior to that and didn't instinctively throw up my armor, which could have injured her.  Instead, I winced as the feathered appendage smashed me in the face, giving out a surprised yelp.

"Ah!  I'm sorry, Mender!  Oh no, oh no, oh no," Fluttershy instantly apologized, not only revealing that she had been totally awake, but also knocking my senses out enough for me to drop the hold on the link.  My mind reared as her feelings shot into me, rather than the other way around, bombarding my mind with a flood of raw feelings and desires, no image or words put to them.  My tongue went dry as they washed over me alongside her sudden squeak of realization.  These were...  They were primal and base desires, and I knew them well enough.

Frowning, I extended my left hoof up and lit it with magic, revealing the entirety of events under the covers.  Fluttershy had rolled onto her side and froze, mid-way through trying to physically force her wing back down, a furious blush on her cheeks.  Her eyes locked with mine and she swallowed heavily before rapidly starting to shake her head. 

"This isn't, um, oh dear.  This wasn't supposed to happen!  Why won't they go down?" she groaned, frustration seeping through her quiet voice as she resumed trying to push them down.  She was having problems with the post-estrus hormones!  I should have realized me staying here might cause her to be affected, too.  My mind whirled and I realized how hot it was under the covers, and saw via the link that her body temperature was quite high.  Yet she was just silently lying there, trying to suffer through it rather than bother me.

Frowning, I lifted the blankets off us, causing her to shudder as the cooler room temperatures hit her body.  I was distinctly aware of the, well, interesting smells that drifted up off her, oh so like Fluttershy but with a distinctive, heavier undertone.  "Fluttershy, you should have said something," I whispered, pulling out the trusty barrier fan again and trying to cool her down.

She blushed a little more, but finally stopped trying to push her wing back, looking up with a rather miserable expression.  "It's the post-estrus stuff.  Um, I'm sorry, Mender.  I know you're trying to sleep and-" she started to apologize.

I lifted my hoof up instantly and shook my head.  "Don't even think of apologizing.  I should have been more considerate of you.  I'm, well, supposed to be your mate, and I didn't even think of how me staying here would affect you.  Don't push them down, though.  You'll hurt your wing muscles.  Let me try to get them to relax," I suggested, sliding over to her instead.

Fluttershy's eyes widened as she stared at me, but ever so slowly, she nodded and rotated, giving me full access to her stiff wings.  The muscles responsible were readily apparent, but I didn't know which I should do.  Rainbow got significantly more relaxed until she fell asleep when I applied magic to hers, but her muscles were exhausted and not in an active state.

Taking a shot in the dark, I hoped Fluttershy would have the same reaction and finally get to sleep.  Gently massaging along her shivering flight muscles, I shot a couple bursts of energy down and along them.  Their shaking picked up, and her whole body shivered for a moment as she released a soft squeak.  Okay, that was adorable.  I had no idea if it 'helped' her or not, but it was very cute!

Sadly, the more energy I put into the affected muscles, the tenser Fluttershy seemed to get, her wings now rigid and unmoving as she quietly gasped against the mattress.  Okay, yeah, it was having the opposite effect I wanted.  Switching, I shifted to the upper muscles instead, trying to draw some of the tension and heat away from the sensitive areas.

To my surprise, Fluttershy gave out a slow groan, followed by, "N-No, Mender.  Could you please, um, keep doing that other thing?  It feels...  Oh my...  If it's not too much... Hah..."  My eyes widened a little.  Tentatively, I sniffed the air again, only to discover that scent had saturated the air around us, stirred up ever so slightly by her little pants as she shyly glanced back at me, eyes pleading.  Was she...?

My blush deepened as the bad thoughts came back.  I was technically supposed to be her mate.  I didn't know much about how Equestria did things like this, but if a Keldarian female was this badly in need, it was the responsibility of the male she chose to 'fix' that as best he could.  Fluttershy had chosen me, and I was the only one here for her.  Was it so wrong to help her as best I could?

Swallowing, I released her back muscles, earning a frustrated groan as I pulled away completely.  Based on the feelings coming from the link, she probably assumed I was uncomfortable with the situation and stopping.  "I...  I'm so sorry, Mender.  I shouldn't h-have actually," she started to whisper, flush deepening before she hesitated.  She froze, however, as I lit my hoof up instead with another bit of magic, illuminating her lower body.  Her tail covered her up nicely, but I could see the soaked areas of her inner thighs well enough.  She definitely needed help.

"It's okay, Fluttershy.  I'm sorry I got you more worked up with the massage.  Um, I know we've not, well, progressed this far, but I want to offer to, well, help you calm down so you can sleep?" I questioned, watching my wording as I looked back up at her.  Her eyes widened a little bit, and I saw them lower slightly, aiming further down my stomach into the shadows still concealing between my back legs.  She then froze, her inner thoughts doing well to paralyze her. 

Shaking my head, I corrected, "N-No.  I want to help you out.  This isn't about, well, me."  Those lovely teal eyes shot back up towards me, and I felt her mind whirling behind them, through the link.  Temptation, mixed with confusion.  That wouldn't do.  She wanted to say yes oh so badly, but didn't know what I intended to do.  I smiled as I felt that, and her flush widened, extending all the way down to her neck now as she realized I'd picked up on the thought.  Giving the final little push, I showed her my intent, slipped my tongue out of my mouth, slowly letting out almost half a meter of it as I undulated it around.  Her eyes hazed a little, and either intentionally or subconsciously, her tail flagged me lightly.  I shuddered as I realized how wet it was, and my tongue actually got the tiniest sample of her taste.  A tangy honey assaulted my senses, followed by that delightful scent that made my heart beat faster and my blood rush through my body.  Her tail didn't lower again, however, and she silently swallowed, starting to shiver there again as her back legs oh so slowly slid apart a tiny bit more.

It took an epic feat of will, but I made myself stay focused on her eyes, heat drifting up into my face, amongst other places.  Was this really happening?!  "Are you sure, Fluttershy?  I want you to be comfortable with this," I asked once more, leaning down a bit as she finally closed her mouth again.  A flurry of emotions rushed inside of her, panic and shock fighting with a deeper hunger and...  Was that affection?  Then she nodded.  My heart raced as I fully processed her affirmation.  

Fluttershy finally opened her eyes a moment later.  "Y-Yes.  Please, Mender?  I trust you," she finally begged, giving in and actually raising herself with her rear legs to lift her butt up off the mattress, tail folding over her left hip.  There was no way I could resist that any further, and my eyes locked onto the one bit of her I'd never fully seen prior. 

My breathe caught, eyes widening as I took in every little detail, hardly even realizing I wasn't dreaming, and indeed seeing Fluttershy's most private place with her complete consent.  I'd only caught tiny glimpses before now, which did nothing to prepare me for the full view.  Admittedly, I didn't know what an equine was supposed to look like back there, but it was familiar enough for me to easily identify the parts.  Her puffy and partially parted slit was totally soaked, letting free thick streams of her juices to slide down her inner thighs, now leaving spots on her blanket.  It wasn't purely symmetrical, having a thicker, more puffed out lower half, sort of like a light teardrop shape.  It was a darker yellow than the rest of her as well, which I didn't remember seeing before.  The skin must darken with blood during arousal?  That made sense, as they were thicker and more pronounced as well.  So, not that different from a Keldarian.

Feeling a little more sure of myself now that I realized how 'familiar' it was, I suddenly became conscious of the sheer amount of fluid she was producing, I shifted slightly and slid the blankets across and under her rear legs, causing her to shiver as I raised them individually to do so.  There, now her bedspread wouldn't get wet.

The scent, however, was far more potent at this range and with nothing covering it, and I freely let myself inhale, feeling it shoot through my body as my pulse quickened.  She shuddered at the same time, my own empathy sliding down the link, and suddenly I was surprised by a bit of movement as something popped out of the thicker, bottom portion of her lips, sending a light spray of her liquid right into my face.  What was that?!  She groaned heatedly as my breath hit her, and I realized that whatever it was, it obviously wasn't bringing her any discomfort.  Actually, its position seemed to indicate...

It popped out again a few seconds later, tossing a bit more of her fluids out.  Ah, her clitoris?  Okay, so it, um, moved on mares.  That was new and different from Keldarians, but I didn't have the availability of asking questions as I already promised to help her.  I stored it away for later instead.

Moving in a bit more, I felt her jump as I lightly placed a hoof on each of her Cutie Marks.  Heh, she had gotten adjusted to me not touching her, I noticed.  Deciding to be just a little teasing, I ignored her soaked lips for a moment and slowly kissed her left cheek instead, just under the connection to the rest of her hip.  Fluttershy shuddered and let out a low whine, a flicker of motion accompanying another spray of her juices at the same time.  Smiling, I teased just along her inner thigh, making sure to clean up the mess she was making of her own fur as her breathing deepened.  She certainly made a lot of juice.  I wondered idly if it was normal for a mare as I tasted it.  It was a unique blend of sweet and tangy, not quite sour but definitely having that lightly tart aftertaste.  Yeah, I could definitely get to like the flavor.

Her wings were held out rigid to each side of her as I held her steady, switching to the other leg as I made sure she was clean again.  The smell was all around me now, somewhat like honey with a light flowery smell mixed in, which I assumed was her shampoo.  A heady scent seeped through it all, however, and I knew I was inhaling tons of pheromones, given my light-headedness.  I was wrong, then…  She did produce them during post-estrus still.  I guess she had reasons to worry about her smell after all.  The blood rushed hot through my veins as I licked up to the meeting of her leg and body.  At this point, my willpower had melted away, and I just let myself fully extend, throbbing against my stomach as I shivered.  Oh, it would be so easy to convince her to let me go even further, but no.  This was all for her.  I wasn't going to be selfish, and it wasn't my place to be.  The little pants and squeaks she let out were reward enough. 

Her right cheek got a little nip as I finished kissing lightly up it, and she let out a yelp.  "M-Mender, please, if it's not...  Ah!  Please, no more teasing," Fluttershy managed to gasp out.  True to her tone, her puffed lips had swollen even more during my teasing, and I slipped my long tongue down her navel to catch the liberal flood she was releasing as it ran down her torso instead.

Smiling, I slipped further upwards without another word, and both of us shuddered as the flat of my long tongue made contact with her folds directly.  Her rear immediately raised a bit more, giving me more access to herself as her back legs spread apart.  Oh so carefully, I licked up the entirety of her slit, gathering up all the moisture on the top of my tongue before drinking it in.  I could barely think beyond the idea of giving her as much pleasure as I could manage!  

Fluttershy buried her face into her pillow, giving out an airy, muffled whimper.  Her swollen lips were easy enough to part with my dexterous organ, and I gave a content groan myself as her clit slipped out again, this time directly into my waiting mouth.  She gave a sharp intake as I 'caught' her surprisingly mobile button and gave it a light twirl at the base of my tongue.  Her inner muscles clenched down at the same time, and it stayed outside for significantly longer as she pushed herself back against my muzzle.

That was all it took.  Her pushing back against me, wanton need flooding down her connection as I pushed it right back.  I lost restraint and slipped my tongue inside of her, tasting along the wet, hot walls inside her body.  Her forelegs gave out completely as my muzzle pushed against her pussy, parting the top with my nose while I dug deeper inside.  My nose actually pushed inside of her as well, sinking ever so slightly into her and inhaling her scent, drinking it in as I let it flood through my body.  Fluttershy gave out a long whimper that slowly turned into a tiny moan the deeper into her I got, surprisingly loud for Fluttershy. 

A heartbeat later, the tip of my tongue brushed into something, barely a third of the distance I predicted.  Huh?  The haze of my mind managed to halt my actions as she gave a sudden intake, freezing on the spot.  A tingle of pain drifted through our connection, and my eyes widened.  Fluttershy was physically a virgin.  Ponies must have hymens, then?

Adjusting my mental tactics, I retreated from the newfound barrier and gave her throbbing clit an apologetic nuzzle as it popped out again.  The pain felt through the link melted away into a miasma of lust and pleasure almost instantly, and I felt her relax against my muzzle.  She trusted me completely, despite the compromising position she was in, and that thought spurred me on even more.

Shifting a bit more creative as I picked up my rhythm, I folded my tongue over on itself as I gave shallow thrusts, avoiding the barrier while doubling back with the tip.  I'd rapidly discovered that when not popping outside of her, her clit was on the bottom of her tunnel, and still very sensitive.  The tip of my tongue found it easily enough, manipulating it in time to each thrust I did with the majority of the flexible appendage.

Fluttershy, while predictably quiet, was far from idle and soundless, giving out a pleased squeak with each thrust before actually starting to push backwards in time to the rhythm I'd set, mouth hanging open while her eyes squeezed shut.  Her inner walls clenched repeatedly down on the invader, and I felt her body trying to pull my tongue deeper inside, my muzzle buried into her soaked lips.  Thankfully I held her steady with a hoof to each flank, and massaged her Cutie Marks as I worked.  Her rear was decidedly larger than Twilight's, with more give and a bit more bounce.  For the moment, it was my new favorite thing as I drank in her taste and scent, listening to the wonderful sounds she made with every movement I did.  Suddenly, I understood why this was sometimes compared to playing an instrument...

Being in a hypersensitive state already, with my teasing only adding to it, I was surprised she lasted as long as she did.  But as fun as it was, it couldn't last forever, and I felt her breathing get faster, less time between the clenching and shivers going through her tight walls.  Murmuring contentedly, I pushed a bit harder against her, sensing her gasp and push back at the vibration my voice induced.  The distinct smell of 'Fluttershy' was all around me, the dull thud beating through my ears alongside her moans and gasps, making it impossible to think through the haze.   If I paid close attention to the sensations, I could almost feel my own tongue touching upon wonderful nerves inside of me. 

"A-Ah, please, Mender..." she managed to gasp out, widening her stance as best she could and giving me all the access she could manage.  Disappointing her was the last thing I wanted to do, so I pulled out another ace.  Magic shot down my tongue, me finally realizing a practical application for tongue casting, and her discovering a unique property of having a coltfriend who was a cyborg.

Her voice hit something comparable to normal talking volumes as she gasped out, it failing a second later as her whole body shivered.  Every little spot I'd memorized that got a particularly good whimper or moan from her, I shot full of heat and energy, and her body melted against my mouth.  Her spasms cut all strength she had, and I held her up myself as I continued thrusting up until the point she locked down hard on my tongue, entire body going rigid with spasms shooting through her.  Copious amounts of her liquid shot out of her while she trembled there, soaking my muzzle in an instant and running down my neck as I tried to drink as much as I could manage.  The feedback through our link was incredible at this distance, and I felt smaller tingling shooting through my body, too!

She held herself there for almost twenty seconds, it seemingly endless at the time.  Her elongated outcry rang through the room the entire time, literally the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard.  It coming from Fluttershy at the height of bliss might have made me biased, though.  I just kept swallowing, her warm fluids easily going down my throat and I imagined it pooling in my stomach with each gulp.

Afterwards, she collapsed onto the mattress with a limp flop.  The silence suddenly made my head spin, the distinctive feeling of my heart pounding inside my chest threatening to overwhelm.  I was dizzy and could barely think, only able to see out of one eye as I tried to wipe the slick fluids from the other, almost stumbling in the process.  I realized a second later that it had even gotten up my nose, several sneezes wracking my frame, knocking me onto my rump from the force.  It felt like a fever danced through my mind as I looked back up at her, unmoving on the bed.

Well, that wasn’t as clean as I’d imagined it to be.  "F-Fluttershy, do you think we could, um," I started to ask, voice barely a whisper as I coughed again, feeling the inside of my throat uncharacteristically slippery.  She didn't move, however, breathing having deepened and her eyes closed.  She fell asleep?!  Urges and thoughts burned through my mind.  I wanted so badly to climb fully on top of her, waking her up to the sensation of me sliding inside her body.  It would be so amazing, and surely she wouldn't...

No.  No, she was asleep!  She was...  Stumbling, I rocked on the surface of the mattress before intentionally falling off the side of the bed.  Landing like a bag of wet potatoes on my side jarred my mind out of the haze and I winced, gasping out as I realized I was fully extended and absolutely rock hard.  The pheromones had affected me to this degree?!  In blind panic, no longer trusting my own judgments, I slid myself around and took off for her bathroom as fast as I could.

It wasn't pleasant, but I didn't have a choice.  It only took forty seconds under the shower head with the spray set to what I could only imagine was 'liquid helium' temperature.  Well, no, I'd be dead then, and probably everypony in the cottage shortly thereafter from thermal radiation.  Turns out, it's really hard to get just a single object cold without making everything around it so as well.

But given that I had the ability to actually reason that out was enough for me, and I retreated from the water to dry off and warm myself up, blood no longer pooling in troublesome spots.  That unfortunately left a different task next, however.  One I was responsible for all the same, not only as the 'male' from a Keldarian standpoint, but also as the only conscious party capable of doing so.

Gently, I used my magic and a soft, damp towel to properly clean Fluttershy up as well.  She was a mess, having leaked a substantial amount of fluids during the event and finale.  It took me almost ten minutes to make sure she was spotless and brushed back to satisfaction.  Then I had to get her top blanket into the laundry hamper, of course.  And even then, I had to figure out where she kept her replacement blankets in the closet downstairs.  Thankfully, I had help in that regard.

Angel crossed his front paws and watched me gently tuck Fluttershy back in and give her a kiss on the forehead.  The little bunny had investigated after I'd gotten out of the shower and, surprisingly enough, only watched as I made sure Fluttershy was clean and dry, and the blanket taken care of.  There was almost a familiar look of understanding in his eyes.  I had expected to get attacked again, so this was an uncertain change of pace.  Thankfully, the little guy was intelligent to an extreme and led me to where the closet was, and the extra blankets!

Nodding to him, I suddenly realized I was unsure of if her earlier offer still stood after everything that happened.  No, it was better to be safe than sorry in the morning.  Acknowledging that to myself, I headed for the couch instead, eyeing up the small blanket that she had laid out over the top of it.  Making up for lost time, Angel came out of nowhere and drop kicked me in the side of the head, making me veer off course and smash into the small coffee table in front of the couch instead.  Reeling, I stumbled backwards and fell into a sitting position, clutching both sides of my muzzle while glaring at the small, white rabbit.

He glared back a second later, and for a moment, we just stared each other down while I waited for my head to stop ringing.  It was hard to believe I thought he was a Grosh when we first met.  The ears were what got me the most.  I was already uneasy way back then, and on the edge of my nerves.  Turning to the side and seeing him just staring at me was all it had taken to almost have a heart attack, the memory of them blowing the crap out of everything I loved rather fresh in my mind.  Now, however, he was just a tiny rabbit who was seriously annoying me.  Why attack me when I was leaving Fluttershy, like he wanted earlier?!

Almost ten seconds later, he stubbornly shook his head and pointed at the couch, making an 'X' motion with his right arm.  Eh?  His other arm rose up as that one dropped a moment later, and he pointed back towards the bed with Fluttershy, giving the direction a double jab, as if imagining my face was next to him, getting repeatedly punched.

"W-What?!  I can't...  I shouldn't assume she wants me to sleep in her bed after..." I hissed before cutting myself off.  I also shouldn't assume he knew what had transpired, even though I had a sneaking suspicion he was even more aware of what had happened than I was.  My mind personally still reeled with the implications of what I had just done with Fluttershy.

He kicked me in the right forehoof with his paw and jabbed over to the bed again, eyes narrowing a little more.  Okay, so he had changed his mind about me?  Or was there something else he was trying to point out by the bed?  Sighing, I turned around and walked back over there instead, hopping up on the mattress and looking around for anything specific that might be wrong.  Fluttershy was still asleep and tucked in comfortably enough, although I noticed she shivered lightly, her ear twitching in time with it.  Was she cold?

Turning, I started for the edge of the mattress again to grab the other blanket on the couch.  I could do without so long as I knew she was warm.  The little bunny cut me off, however, giving me another stern glare and pointing back over at Fluttershy.  What did he want me to do if I couldn't go get another blanket?!

His arms wrapped around himself a moment later and he swayed, pantomiming a hugging motion, and I blushed.  Oh.  It all fell into place.  How well did he know Fluttershy?  Was his suggestion accurate, and she wouldn't be angry when she woke up?  How many times would he kick my face in should I ignore his suggestion?

Sighing, I decided the noises of him bashing on my armor would undoubtedly wake her up anyway, and I gave in, sliding up and under the covers with her.  She shivered again over her whole body as I moved forwards, wrapping my forelegs around her and hugging her closer.  She didn't wake, to my surprise, instead exhaling gently and resting her forehead against my chest, as if somehow aware it was me.  Did she have that much control over the link that she could feel it subconsciously?  The draw was there as well, which was something I'd never felt after the sleeping individual, usually Twilight, had already fallen asleep.  Was it possible to enter somepony's dream after they were already unconscious?

Angel gave a small smile, so quick I almost didn't see it before he whipped around and hopped out the door to her room, slowly closing it as he left.  Well, that was interesting.  He trusted me with his 'mom' now?  Deciding not to mention it to Fluttershy, I turned and pushed my forehead into hers a second later.  I guessed it was okay to be a little greedy and see if I could have company for tonight.  Curious to see how my test would go, I closed my eyes and let my energy flow into her mind, drifting into the dream she was already having...
> Forgiveness Pending - Chapter 61
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't know how she was able to do it, but Fluttershy held her link open specifically for me.  It was a subconscious thing, it seemed, with me being lightly tugged through an area of her mind that appeared fully dedicated to me.   I watched memories drifting past like faint video screens as I walked, surrounded by the haze of emotions danced around me.  Her dream was happy, I knew that much.  Further, it shocked me to realize that she devoted this much to me.  A light flush drifted into my face as I continued towards the distant sunlight, through the mists and floating memories. 

Fluttershy was beautiful, and I had to fully admit that as I stepped out onto the grass.  The pleasant smell of a warm summer day greeted me, with flowery fragrances both soft and vivid, and the smell of the pine she was under.  Fluttershy lay happily on her side facing me, in the shade of a large tree, with her long mane drifting out so carefree, spread over the grass.  A deer lay nearby, and she was surrounded by at least a dozen bunnies, one of whom was Angel.  Predictably, none of the animals even looked concerned with my presence as I walked closer. 

Something beyond my senses must have told her of my approach, and her eyes opened up as I got closer.  Shifting slightly, she gave me a soft smile and stretched her legs out languidly.  Surprise shot through me, even though I knew this was a dream, as my eyes fell upon her swollen tummy as her leg no longer partially obscured it.  Was this what a pregnant mare looked like?  It was curious as to why she was dreaming about being pregnant.

There was no need to say anything.  The sky brightened around us, emphasizing the emotions I could already see in her eyes.  Reaching out with a hoof, she pulled me gently down next to her, folding her tummy and chest against me as our legs entwined.  This was a dream I could definitely get used to!  Why was she pregnant, though?  I knew she would be a good mother, and guessed that my help before she fell asleep spurred slightly more sexual thoughts, despite not going quite that far.  My eyes widened a little more as I felt something move inside of her as she settled in.  Was this…  Was she dreaming that this was mine?

Fluttershy gave me a little kiss, then tucked her head under my chin and simply rested against me.  Even the bunnies relocated around me, a warm sensation of understanding coming to mind.  Yeah, Fluttershy was my mate, and I was 'supposed' to be as close to her as possible.  That was the way of things.  Relaxing, both of us just let things drift around us... 


* * * * *


My eyes stirred and opened after I felt Fluttershy drift out of the hazy dream world, pulling myself alongside her.  The light sound of birds chirping and soft morning sun greeted me, as I stretched along my back, yawning.  Both Fluttershy and her sheets smelled really good, and I turned to my right, wrapping my left foreleg around the soft mare next to me.  She let out a tired murmur, before rolling and pushing her forehead into my chest, her right wing draping over me.

I don't know how long we stayed like that, but I felt a soft smile drift onto her muzzle against my chest.  "You're still here.  I really thought that yesterday might have been a dream," she whispered quietly after another moment.  I smiled as well, even though I knew she couldn't see. 

"Your actual dream was beautiful, too.  You make a gorgeous pregnant mare," I complimented, now that I knew she was lucid.  In the dream, I knew that she wasn't fully in control, as I didn't go with her as she fell asleep, so I just contented myself with keeping her rest as pleasant as possible. 

Her teal eyes brightened as she pushed a little more into my fur.  "That really was you!  I, um, I somehow knew it."  She didn't seem too surprised, which was a definite plus.  Her empathy and awareness of that link between us was amazing!  Her ears twitched a second later, however, and she looked back up at me, a light tint to her cheeks as she asked, "Wait, you thought I was...  I was pretty, even pregnant?"

"You held the way open just for me, so of course I was going to join you.  And no, I said gorgeous, Fluttershy.  You were beautiful and very motherly.  I just wish I'd been able to fall asleep with you.  You'd have been aware of everything, then," I lamented.  Not that it had been a very 'bad' dream.  Definitely not.  Next time I'd have to show her around the dreamscape.  I had so many things I wanted her to see!

Unexpectedly, her blush deepened a bit and she shrank down against me, pushing her nose back into my fur.  "Oh.  Oh, my...  Then that means, um, all of last night happened.  You really..." she muttered, almost inaudibly.  Oh.

I nodded and held her closer, gently rubbing her back as she looked back up towards me, an intense mixture of different emotions in her eyes.  I couldn't tell exactly which was winning as the chaotic thoughts bounced down the link, but I tried to assure her anyways.  "I did it to try to help you, Fluttershy, and I won't do anything without your direct consent.  I'm your mate, right?  Making sure you're not in distress, and helping you when you need it is something I'd do regardless of that, but that makes it okay to take care of your other needs, too, right?" I questioned, both as assurance to her, and to make sure I fully understood the situation.  This was the absolute last thing I wanted to get wrong!

Her rushing emotions calmed a little, and a light smile played at her muzzle while she relaxed.  Seeing her calmer relaxed me, too, of course, and I broached another important point.  "Also, if you need anything, don't be afraid to ask me next time.  That includes with your urges.  I'd gladly help you out any way I can, including with my, well, mouth again," I reassured, unable to fully stop the blush at that last part, rapidly remembering last night.  Oh dear...

Fluttershy's blush didn't get better or worse at that, and she just shrank a bit more, timidly nodding.  "Y-You really didn't mind?  Um, I mean, stallions don't usually do that sort of, well...  Oh my," she tried to say, stumbling over her own words before falling silent and pushing her face into my coat again.  My smile widened as I wrapped my right foreleg around her too and just held her there.

Finally, working a bit of courage up, I managed to admit, "Well, yes, Fluttershy.  Um, I actually rather liked it, too.  Not as much as it looked like you did, but just making you feel so good made me really, really happy."  It was difficult to explain, mixing both affection and happiness with lust and attraction.  The feelings were complex, I decided.

Okay, that time her blush intensified.  She gave me a smile, however, despite trying to burrow into me and hide herself as best she could.  Then she scared the crap out of me by suddenly gasping and bringing booth hooves up to her muzzle, eyes expanding rapidly.  What?!

"Oh, oh no!  I just, um, realized, I just fell asleep afterwards!  B-But you were, well, r-right there when...  You must have gotten pheromones all over you.  Are you okay?  I didn't mean to fall asleep before I could help y-you, too," she squeaked out a second later, surprising me in a different way instead.

"Ah, no, it's okay, Fluttershy!  I, well, had a few problems afterwards, but it was nothing a cold shower couldn't fix.  Then I cleaned you up and changed your blanket, so you don't have to worry about, well, the mess, either," I assured, trying to distract her away from what seemed to be her main concern.  It was for her, not for her to return the favor, too.

Sadly, my mention of the shower appeared to have the opposite of desired effects as her face fell when I said it.  "Oh no.  No, this isn't...  I'm a horrible fillyfriend to put you through all that and then not help you, too," she murmured, voice becoming more stable as her blush died down.  Unfortunately, it was due to her being sad instead, so this wouldn't do at all.

"Fluttershy, I did it for you, not for me.  You got right to sleep afterwards, which was exactly why I asked if I could help you, remember?  My momentary comfort comes very much last in that case," I tried to remind, earning a frown instead.

"Mender, no!  I, um, know what pheromones do to stallions.  Really, I...  I, um..."  Her eyes widened a little as she trailed off, staring blankly into my chest as I could feel her mind going a mile a second.  Uh oh.  Did she think of something else traumatic?  Her eyes snapped into focus again a second later as they slid down my chest, dropping past my stomach and into the shadows under our covers.  Uh? 

Her blush came back in full force as her eyes shivered lightly, nodding to herself a moment later.  "I could fix it.  I could make it up to you!  R-right now even.  I, well, I have to!  I'm not going to be a bad fillyfriend," she declared, seemingly to herself as she got a determined look in her eyes.  Make it up to me?  Why did I not like the sounds of that?

"Fluttershy, you're not a bad fillyfriend.  Is this actually about-" I started, putting two and two together. 

"N-No!  It's not about, um...  I want to make it up to you, but I also want to, well, I want to be with you like this, too.  Just like Twilight.  A stallion is a little scarier, but I trust you and want to be with you, too," she whispered, eyes softening as she eased against me softly.  Fluttershy...  She felt nervous through the link, but also honest, her heart fluttering against my chest.  She really wanted this, and it wasn't just to 'fix' what happened over estrus? 

My hesitation spiked, but I felt her pick up on it through our link, and she released steady reassurance back.  Relaxing, I gave a nervous swallow, and then nodded to her.  That was all that was needed and I gave in, my body readily agreeing with my choice, to my mild disgust.  “A-All right, Fluttershy.  Just, um, stop immediately if you feel uncomfortable,” I requested, sighing hesitantly.

Fluttershy smiled up at me timidly, flush hot across her cheeks as she kissed lightly against my chest, moving further down my stomach with each repeated peck.  Oh hell.  Was this really happening?!  I mean, last night was crazy enough, but was she really going to do this?!

The answer was fairly obvious as she ducked down under the blanket, mostly covered from the nippy room air, but easily visible to me as her wings tented out the cover over herself.  If it bothered her, she didn't show it, and heated up even more, that familiar murky haze starting to drift down the link as her tongue got more involved in each little kiss, paying homage to a trail down my body.

Despite fighting it at this point, trying not to seem, well, eager, my body was doing an amazing job of betraying me, the tip of my cock already peeking out of the sheath between my legs.  Her eyes locked onto it, and I froze, suddenly realizing that Fluttershy was staring at my most intimate of places most intently.  Did she really want to do this?!

Her heartbeat sped up as I watched the flush deepen in her cheeks, and I started to pull away.  No, this wasn’t worth upsetting her or…  She gave a start and put a hoof to each side of my hips, gripping me appropriately enough by the heart in both Cutie Marks.  "N-No!  I want to, um, do this.  Just relax and, um, please enjoy it?" she asked softly, the last part barely audible and didn't sound like it was directed at me, oddly.  It almost sounded like she was begging.  She was worried about not being good, I suddenly realized. 

Regardless, she took advantage of my distraction and slipped downwards, past the opening in my sheath and down to the two orbs below instead.  Eh?!  My eyes widened and I let out a gasp at the sensation as hot breath suddenly shot across the sensitive skin.  Surely, she wasn't going to-

The thought blanked out of my mind as the warm, wet sensation touched upon the bottom of my balls, slowly sliding upwards with the utmost care as my nerves lit up.  Tentatively, she just tasted them right up the middle, sliding her tongue up along the skin all the way to the base of my sheath, sending sparks up my spine.  Whatever she decided about the taste, apparently it wasn't a detriment as her tongue shot out again, this time lifting the left one up and carefully massaging it, her mouth lightly kissing along the underside.  Oh!  Oh, this was...

She let out a soft 'Hmm!" noise a moment later, not seeming to mind my legs shivering uncontrollably as the vibration shot through my sensitive orbs.  Her kiss became more a nuzzle than anything as she pushed under them and gently inhaled, the air intake tickling them further and making me shudder. She was smelling me down there?!  Her breathing deepened and she gave my balls another long, now much wetter lick, all the way up and along the top of them this time.  With a certain sense of urgency, her path continued, tasting along my sheath, her giving out an oh so tiny moan as she kissed along it all the way to the tip.  I felt the haze building in her already, her actions giving away more to instinct now as I felt her decide on something. 

My willpower had melted into a puddle of rut at this point, and I was fully extended out and along my stomach for all of Fluttershy's viewing pleasure, throbbing in time to my heart.  She stopped and hesitated, my eyes opening in a haze to look back down at her, even though I didn't remember closing them.  Her eyes were massive, eating up the sight of my throbbing cock as it bobbed there, lightly poking me in the bottom of the ribs with every dip.  The flush covered all of her cheeks and tinted her neck now, an almost hunger slipping down from the link, despite her trying to fight it.

The sensation from her was totally foreign.  What did that mean?  I doubted she could possibly like its looks.  I couldn't compare mine really to other stallions, having never, well, looked at theirs in the first place.  I knew I was somewhat on the thick side, but the length seemed, I don't know, rather short to me.  The coloring was a light skin tone, as was most of my 'inner' skin not connected to my coat.  Mottled splotches of the light blue covered it still, however, including the thick vein that ran along the underside, all the way up along my slightly larger balls before branching outwards.

I didn't have time to even contemplate moving my legs together to shield myself when she dipped down again and licked along the very base of my shaft, just above where it slipped inside of the sheath.  The sensations exploded behind my eyes again and I barely stifled a groan, shivering as her hot tongue slid up along my member.  Oh, oh wow.  She was serious after all!  Her breath slid out along the sensitive skin as she moved all the way up to the tip, lightly teasing along the edge with her tongue as she settled more onto my body.  I shivered again, unable to stop my back legs from shaking as her chest lifted my balls up and lightly pushed them into my sheath as she settled against my rear.

This time, I couldn't manage to even close my eyes or break away as I watched her look back up at me, that heavy flush over her entire face as her lips and tongue teased around the ridge at the tip of my cock, cradling it with her two forehooves as she licked carefully and took in another heady spurt of pre.  She was oh so gentle, but that sense of underlying urgency shot up the link, and I couldn't place it as her eyes hazed over slightly, tongue slipping out as she teased along the opening in my tip, milking out more fluids to take into her mouth.  I could barely think, and the haze drifted into me, too, the feverish urge to lift my hips upwards, to try to push the tip into her muzzle with each lick.  

There was no fighting it.  I groaned and feebly tried to nudge her in the nose with the tip of my cock.  The pink tint was across her shoulders now, but that nervous sensation was gone, I suddenly noticed.  Instead, she smiled heatedly at me and nodded, teasing around the ridge with her tongue again before taking just the tip into her muzzle.  

A throb shot through me as she moaned, feeling the sensation coming from me and into her this time.  The vibrations hit hard and I writhed, shooting more feelings into her and causing her to groan out again, making a vicious cycle.  Shivering, she froze for a moment before sliding down a little further, the tip of my cock being enveloped in tight, slick heat.  I thought I was too thick for this sort of thing, but she was going for it anyway, swallowing with her throat and shifting her muzzle up and down until she got a better angle with her head.  I felt her tongue fondle the underside of the ridge before sliding upwards, oh so dexterous, and teasing another glob from my urethra opening.  Everything blanked at that, and I throbbed again, sending a small spurt instead, right down her throat.

The heat flared up from her, and the haze magnified as she cradled the parts of the shaft still outside of her mouth to her chest with her forelegs.  I couldn't even look straight anymore, my eyes closing as I just gave in and let the smells and heat push my mind away.  She moved, again and again, taking me just a tiny bit further with each downwards motion, and sliding her tongue about the top of my shaft in such delightful ways. 

It was beyond anything I could have ever anticipated, and I felt the tightening barely a few minutes in.  Crap!  I tried to remember something.  There was...  Sparks danced inside my mind and I shuddered, feeling my balls pull up even harder.  Oh!  "F-Fluttershy, I'm...  Pull it out!" I managed to stutter out, eyes opening slowly as I barely managed to focus on her.  My hooves managed to nudge her off me in time and I panted, mind swirling and achingly hard, my body complaining at the sudden loss of sensation.  I froze, however, when I looked back down at Fluttershy. 

That heated smile consumed everything as I felt her right foreleg holding my cock to her chest, her free left forehoof gently massaging my balls instead.  "Just let go," she whispered quietly up at me before inhaling sharply.  Confusion and lack of comprehension defined my muddled mind, and then everything shot away as she ducked down and opened her mouth fully after her large breath.

The tip hit a slight curve, and then she tilted, and the curve was gone, sliding further in along slick, tight, hot wetness.  Fluttershy gave a startled, muffled noise that shot vibrations along the bottom of my shaft, but held it inside of her.  The heated white sensation exploded behind my eyes and I cried out, forelegs trying to slide along each side of me, feebly trying to catch the mattress and stop me from falling into the heavens as my mind reeled backwards.

Throb after throb shot through me, running along my length as I fired ribbons of warm cum straight down her throat.  The link was everywhere, a sudden explosion of hot bliss that distinctly didn't come from myself.  I felt the heat flood in and pool in my stomach, expanding out and causing my whole body to feel like it was on fire.  She held my shaft to her tenderly, almost preciously, as she rubbed up and down the top of it, swallowing repeatedly and milking the tip of my cock with her throat.  

Everything spun, the sensations of hazy heat blinding me as I gasped, rigid for almost thirty seconds before the spell let me go and I slumped my hips backwards against the mattress, the wave of sudden tiredness smashing over me.  Fluttershy kept me inside of her, milking my cock for another few seconds before sliding me out, extra spurts pooling around her mouth as she backed off the tip and carefully closed her lips, sealing all but a strand inside.  She lifted her head, cheeks slightly puffy and eyes glazed over before I saw her swallow, the link sending the sensation of the hot cream sliding down my throat, too.  Oh.  Oh wow.  She shivered at the same time as we bounced the sensation off each other, her forelegs reaching up to cradle her own stomach, where I knew the pool of heat was.  

Slowly, her tongue peeked out and licked along the strand hanging from her lips, still connected to the tip of my cock.  I shivered, as did she, before she slipped sideways next to me and tucked into my side.  Her blush was still there, and I couldn't help it.  Wrapping my forelegs around her, I pushed through the haze and pressed my muzzle tight against hers.

The sparks exploded again as I tasted myself along her tongue.  I'd never heard Fluttershy outright moan before, but she released the wonderful noise as she pulled me tight against her, the heat that was pooling in her stomach rushing downwards.  She...  She liked doing that to me?  Her smell was evident enough on the air, overwhelming my senses rapidly as I felt my heartbeat refuse to calm down.  I was rock hard again, barely softening even a little as she pushed my stallionhood between our bodies.  Ah, a downside of the link, I guessed.  Now she needed help herself.  This could be a nasty but very enjoyable catch twenty-two, I suddenly realized.  I helped her and got turned on, and then she helped me and got turned on again. 

A flash of realization shot through her eyes as she backed away from our kiss, a strand of saliva and other fluids momentarily linking our lips.  Oh so slowly, she looked down towards our pushed together bodies. 

"Do you want me to help you again?  I can just, um, use the shower to..." I started to offer, trailing off as she smiled heatedly back up at me, shaking her head.  She didn't want help? 

Hesitation.  Her eyes softened as she watched me for a moment, and I felt hesitation drift through her.  “Um, M-Mender, could I ask you something?” she finally spoke up, voice tired and broken between the light pants.  Her hesitation made me uneasy, too, but I wasn't about to make the situation worse.

"Of course, Fluttershy," I assured as softly as I could.  Her flush deepened and she hesitated once more, as if not expecting me to actually let her ask whatever it was.  It must be a really big question!

I waited patiently, watching her fiddle her hooves together against my chest momentarily while the heat increased against me from her skin, her blush getting worse.  Finally, her shivering eyes locked onto me again, and she swallowed weakly.  I braced for impact.  Metaphorically, of course.

"I, well, I r-really, um..." she started, stammering and shaking now.  Relaxing a bit more out of instinct, I wrapped my forelegs around her and felt her ease a little against me before closing her eyes and nodding to herself.  They flicked open again a second later with a more determined look to them.  "Mender, I, um...  You're going to eventually mate with me, well, fully.  I wanted to say that I...  I trust you to be gentle with me and really nice and..."

The topic took a steamy turn and I blushed lightly as she steadily continued with, "I really care for you and I know I'm not going to ever be with any other stallion, and you're going to, um, be with me eventually like that, so what I wanted to ask was..." she whispered, shivering again and swallowing.  Oh.  Oh, she wasn't going to...  I widened my eyes as I felt a distinctive wetness starting to soak into my groin that was definitely not from me.

"I want you i-inside of me!  Um, properly.  Take my v-virginity.  Please?  I want to feel what it's, well, like.  Inside me.  It's so warm in my stomach and...  Haaaah...  With it being you, I don’t have to… be afraid…" she finally finished, smashing me in the face with the metaphorical hammer of shock at the same time her own wanting slipped down the link in full force.  She had been holding it back.  The heat liberally rushed down from her stomach directly into her lower lips, and I felt them push into the underside of my now very hard cock.  Ah!

"F-Fluttershy!  N-No, this isn't a good idea…  You might not be safe and, well, I don't think you're thinking clearly," I managed to whine out, closing my eyes as my body sent the exact opposite message to her, throbbing pleasantly as she groaned, sliding slowly up and down the underside of my shaft with her soaked lips.  The heat that spread out along it was amazing, and it took everything I had to not slide back against her.

She let out a groan of frustration and piled away from me suddenly, my whole body shivering at the sudden loss of heat against me.  Had I upset her?!  Wincing, I swallowed and opened my eyes again in time to see her not get off the bed like I thought was coming, but root around inside her bedside drawer, looking for something.  My blush deepened as I got a perfect view of her slightly parted pussy, her own fluid matting the fur around it and running down her back left leg.  Oh, it would be so easy to just walk up behind her and mount her.  She wanted it!

I jumped as she suddenly hopped up again, the motion snapping me out of my daze as I watched her with a bewildered expression as she whipped around with a stick of sorts in her mouth.  It was a small thing, barely longer than her muzzle from what I could see of it.  It was thick as well, like a carrot, but covered in small markings that looked remarkably like runes.  To my surprise, she pushed it with her mouth and held it up to me, solidly sealing her lips over the other end.  Er, what was this?

Half a second later, a little bar lit up on the side, revealing a range of numbers from one to eight with various markings evenly distributed down the line.  The light sat at the zero mark, however, glowing a deep red color as the stick produced a very negative sounding chime.  Fluttershy presented it to me expectantly, but I only gave her a confused expression, blinking towards her absently.  

She exhaled a moment later and nodded, shakily turning and dropping it back into her drawer before tipping over onto the bed again, spreading her back legs completely to me and earning another shocked blush as she lay on her back.  "T-That means I'm completely safe.  There's no chance at all for me to, um, get pregnant, so please?  Please, Mender?  If you, um, really aren't ready for this, it's okay.  I don't want to push you!" she squeaked out, suddenly snapping away from her own proposal halfway through.  Heh.  She was still Fluttershy, regardless of the situation.

What exactly was stopping me, then?  My body wanted it.  She wanted it.  She was safe.  Twilight said she wanted me to join them soon as well.  I myself...  It felt a little selfish, but I discovered that I really, really did want to take Fluttershy's offer.  She was right there, spreading her back legs for me.  The smells saturated the air around the bed and I let myself inhale them softly, feeling myself throb again underneath.  She was so gorgeous.  She was also amazingly sexy.  I didn't see myself without her for even a second in the future, so wasn't she right?  Why be afraid of each other?

Blushing, I slowly walked towards her, covers sliding off my back as I moved towards the pillows where she lay.  Her blush deepened, but a smile flicked onto her muzzle as she slid her legs open a bit more, the stretching parting her lips and releasing more of her fluids.  I could literally see everything from my position, and inhaled sharply, kissing the top of her swelled pussy, tasting her tentatively as she shuddered.  Yeah, I couldn't say no.

After another light, teasing lick, I peeked back up at Fluttershy again.  "Um, how do you, uh," I started to ask, before realizing I had no idea exactly how to ask it.

"I...  I want to see you the whole time.  Your face," she whispered, tucking her head down a bit and shrinking, as if embarrassed by her own choice.  I smiled, my heart warming a bit at her answer as I nodded and slid over her instead, shivering as my stomach rested upon hers.  Her breathing deepened as her wings slowly slid out to each side of her, rigid and trying to get comfortable.  She blushed but nodded to me as I slid myself up and down her lips, wetting my cock down with her fluids.

Both of us groaned at the sensation until I couldn't take it anymore and slid backwards a bit more, lightly sliding the tip along her lips until I felt them give oh so slightly and part, my ridge slowly sinking into her body.  Her mouth opened but she didn't make any sound, silently gasping as her eyes slammed shut.  My own breathing caught as I slowed again, holding myself there until she nodded timidly.  It felt like I was sinking into a furnace.  A wet, tight, silky furnace that massaged my tip as I moved.  Oh, oh wow.

Slowly, I shifted inside, a few centimeters at a time, her adjusting to my thickness gradually as I went, nodding every time she was ready.  The fur around her lips tickled me lightly with each little push, sending a shiver up my spine.  Finally, my tip bumped up against the barrier I knew was inside of her, and I swallowed, feeling a spike of pain shoot down the link.

"D-Do it fast!" she whimpered out, wrapping all four legs around my torso and hips, clinging to me hard.  Swallowing, I nodded to her and kissed her forehead.  She relaxed, and I slid back just a little ways before stabbing in a short thrust.  It was surprisingly tough, but gave away an instant later.  Keeping my control as best I could, I froze as Fluttershy shuddered and cried out, burying her face into my chest.  While I held perfectly still, her lower muscles twitched repeatedly around my shaft, pain shooting through them and relaying to me through our bond.  Fluttershy…

Gritting my teeth, I pulled as much of the pain into myself as I could to get it away from my mate as she gasped there.  Tilting her head up with my muzzle, I kissed her softly on the lips, holding her close as she shivered under me.  Tight, hot wetness surrounded me on all sides and I so wanted to sink even further into her body, but no.  Not until the pain was gone.

It dawned on me a second later, fully.  I'd just taken Fluttershy's virginity.  Well, some would argue Twilight already did, but I broke her hymen.  I was sliding inside of her!  I was actually having sex with Fluttershy.  The very reality of the situation threatened to overwhelm me, as my chest heated up again with the happy thoughts, my kiss also becoming heavier.

I felt Fluttershy feel along my own sensations suddenly and warm up, giving back more into the kiss as her stomach relaxed and her muscles eased up on my thickness inside of her.  The pain was drifting down to a dull ache now, and tingles starting to dance up and down her.  She shivered and nodded against me, breaking the kiss and opening her eyes again, locking them with mine.

"M-More.  I want to feel, um, all of it..." she requested in a whisper, voice barely there.  At this range, however, that was all that was needed and I gave a soft nod, kissing her again as I slowly slid in a bit more.

She shivered again, but this time as the feelings danced up through her rather than pain, she groaned out, starting to get wetter around me.  I blushed against her and broke the kiss again, nuzzling down along her neck as I finally hilted all the way inside of her, my balls pushing firmly against her tail hole.  For a moment, she just gave a long and drawn out groan as she pulled me tighter to her with her back legs, and I knew her senses locked hard onto that full sensation with all of me inside her.  Her heart hammered against my chest as fast as mine was, in time with the throbbing inside her body that she felt.  It was so full.  No, she was so full.  It was hard to separate our feelings suddenly.  I was completely inside of her, pushed up against something with my tip.

Fluttershy seemed to pick up on the realization, too, and suddenly shrank a bit, tucking her face into my collarbone as a light burst of embarrassment shot through her.  It overwhelmed the ache that still radiated from the loss of her hymen, but it still wasn't a good thing.  I nudged her in the forehead, gently lifting her head up again before kissing her softly.  She shivered into the kiss before releasing a soft sigh as I backed up again.

"You're beautiful, Fluttershy.  You don't have to hide anything," I whispered to her as her eyes opened again.  The two teal pools softened as a light smile came onto her muzzle, her body relaxing a little bit under me and that embarrassment lessening.

Relaxing a bit, I settled a little more of my weight on top of her as I shifted into a better position to support myself with my back legs.  She shivered again as my weight increased against her and let out a sudden soft moan, my cock sliding slightly out of her as my legs moved.  Oh?  The pain was fading, and she seemed to like me on top of her, I discovered.

It was my turn to exhale, my mind eating up the sensations as I pushed back into her depths fully, feeling her tense under me again, then flush further and relax when no pain came.  Instead, I felt the sparks shoot up her spine as if it were my own, her mouth opening limply as she gasped.

Now it was starting to feel good for her.  My eyes searched hers, finding nothing but affection and a bit of hunger as she nodded back.  Permission granted, I slid out again, almost halfway this time before pushing back in and shuddering as my balls hit against her rear.  Fluttershy's eyes widened in surprise and her mouth dropped open again as she let out a little squeak.  This time, I kept my rhythm going and slid back out, turning her squeak into an airy moan.

Her tiny little murmurs were music to my ears as I continued slowly sliding in and out of her, never leaving more than halfway before her legs clenched and she insisted I slide back in.  It seemed subconscious, as she tried to keep as much of me inside her body as possible.  There was nothing but us now as the sensations shot back and forth, interchanging freely between our bodies.  Her feelings were there, and I knew how much she wanted me to be here suddenly.  Me.  Nopony else.

True to her word, her eyes stayed locked with mine, hazing over as I gradually sped up just a little bit.  Finally, something spilled over inside her chest, a bolt of affection shooting down our link before she reached up and pulled me closer again, pushing her muzzle against mine.  The sensations continued rapidly firing through her, a storm of emotions that I recognized as the same revelation I had made when we started.  She was having sex with me.  We were making love, and I felt her...  She was happy.  Happy!

The kiss deepened, my tongue tasting her lips as she opened them, letting me inside in two spots now.  For the first time, I felt Fluttershy abandon herself fully to me, the sensations flooding through her as she moaned into my mouth, feeling my long tongue slide out and into hers.  She played with it, heatedly trying to pin it down as it explored the inside of her mouth and the base of her throat, already knowing that she didn't have a gag reflex.

Switching my technique, I slid all the way inside of her again before pushing into her groin, the tip of my cock sealing tight against her cervix.  Her mouth opened into mine fully as she lost focus, her mind and body eating up the full sensation that I knew she liked the most.  With that, I started rocking my hips instead, turning the thrusting motion into more of an inner massaging sensation, the link revealed.  Fluttershy's moans turned into pants as her body heated up and her breathing increased.

Her affection shot up again, some part of her realizing I'd figured out she liked the deep penetration and delighted over me trying to bring her as much pleasure as possible.  She gave out a happy groan as her back legs tightened and massaged my lower back and rear, her front ones extending up and around my neck as she kissed me intently.  To my surprise, her hips started gyrating in time with mine, making me lock up and shiver, groaning into her mouth as I pulled her tight.  Oh, that felt...  Wow.

The tightening sensation was definitely there, and I knew this couldn't go on much longer as I returned her kiss actively again, focus coming back.  Her clenching around my cock got more frequent as her clit moved about at the base of my shaft, occasionally popping out and tasting open air.  She was close, and I had to get her to go over the edge, too!

Sliding out just slightly, I felt her whine out before I pushed all the way back into her again, right up against the entry to her womb with the tip of my stallionhood before rocking it against her, feeling her gasp out and shiver, slamming her eyes shut again.  More of my weight shifted down onto her and around her back as I held her close, feeling her wiggle and rock her pelvis against me as I massaged her flight muscles along her back.  Her mind was a haze, hauling me down with it.  I already knew what she wanted, so I gave a few more pushes against her, rocking my hips into hers before I felt everything blank.  No, not yet!

Half a second later, I realized the sparks dancing through me weren't from me exactly, feeling her clench hard around my cock as she cried out, liquid starting to spray up and onto my balls and running down her rear.  Everything fell apart as I kissed her again fiercely, rocketing over the edge a half a second later.  The seal was formed against her cervix, ensuring every shot of cum went right into her womb, just how she wanted it.  Wings flailing, her shout shifted into an airy whimper as spasms rocked her body, holding her rigid against me as I filled her with warm cream.  It just kept coming, light exploding behind my eyelids as throb after throb fired off inside of her.  She filled up completely and started leaking out around my member, unable to hold any more of it by the time my mind fell back down to reality.

Gradually, she relaxed in my embrace, eyes weakly opening as she smiled up at me, flushed.  There was nothing but pleasure and happiness from the link, however, and she kissed me more softly this time.  “Y-You claimed me, and I’m all yours, Mender.  You’re, um, mine, too, right?” she whispered, making no motion at all to let me slide out of her, even if I’d wanted to.

A smile slipped onto my muzzle before I even told it to and I nodded.  “Of course, Fluttershy.  Forever and ever, all yours,” I assured, giving her a soft nuzzle.  On top of her, being buried inside her soaked lips, and her saying that suddenly made me realize how much she might actually be right.  She really was mine.  We belonged to each other.

Rolling to the side, I felt her roll with me as we relaxed, me not wanting my weight to be uncomfortable or anything.  Gently, I leaned forwards and kissed her on the lips, feeling her shudder and push into me with her entire body again.  Yeah, this was enough for now, and I contented myself to just cuddling.  Hmm.  Although maybe a shower would be good for both of us before we went to visit Twilight.

Fluttershy felt my thoughts and smirked against my chest, but made no motion to even get out of bed, let alone head towards the bathroom.  Instead, she cooed lightly and tucked her face under my chin, softly inhaling and enjoying my smells and closeness, from what I could feel.  Yeah, we could stay like this a bit longer…


* * * * *


"Um, are you sure you don't want any help?" Fluttershy whispered yet again, sitting down on my right, next to her toilet.

Smiling absently, I shook my head again as all eight tentacles busied themselves, moving washing rags in the tub.  "No, having eight extra limbs makes this rather efficient, don't worry.  Besides, um, most of the mess was mine, after all," I reminded, my naughty mind replaying how our shower had gone.  Fluttershy definitely surprised me, so far proving almost insatiable!

As if she picked up on my thoughts, I felt Fluttershy blush furiously through the link, not even needing to turn and look at her.  "O-Oh.  No, um, I made a...  Well, I know I'm, well, messier than most mares," she barely managed to get out, voice dying shortly after.

I hesitated, then smiled softly and leaned over, finally turning my head enough to nuzzle into the side of her cheek and kiss her lightly.  "It's perfectly fine.  Natural, even.  Regardless, it obviously doesn't change how I feel about you," I reminded.  It also suddenly wasn't so hard to believe that she and Twilight had gotten intimate over the estrus break now, both because of seeing how the hormones affected her, and being much more intimate with her myself now.  I wasn't as mad anymore, I decided.  It was sad that they did that without me, yeah, but we technically just did the same without Twilight now.  I was more concerned and distraught over them filling out the paperwork and forming the herd than anything else.

Not that the mare next to me wasn't amazingly skilled at distracting me from my concerns, first with affection and now with downright seduction.  Three times now and it wasn't even noon yet!  Fluttershy smiled happily towards me, nuzzling back before giving a soft kiss on my lips.  "I know, Mender.  Thank you.  I'm very, very happy that you're my special somepony.  Well, my mate now.  I'm still, um, a little worried about Twilight being upset, but I guess neither of us have much room to complain, and I'm sure she'll want to join in when she's safe again," she admitted.

I didn't have the heart to remind her that was technically today.  As much as I was sad that Twilight didn't get to be with us, she couldn't without risking other things.  Further, Fluttershy had legitimate needs last night, due no small part to my own stupidity with her toys I discovered.

"We'll make it up to her, don't worry.  Let's head over there and see if she's up to eating breakfast with us?" I suggested, putting all seven rags together again and wincing at the light squishing noise they made.  There had been a lot to clean up after all.  Yikes.  I wondered idly if that was a side effect of my cybernetics.

Fluttershy let out a light squeak and rapidly shook her head as I gathered up the rags, however.  "No!  Um, I mean, I'll make it up to Twilight.  Then both of us will continue to make it up to you!  What happened with the herd is far, far worse than, well, this," she insisted, edging a bit closer to me again with a rather pleading gaze.

I swallowed and edged back a bit, then noticed her cough lightly, wings rising up a little.  It took me a moment, but I realized where the rags were and lifted them away from the side of her head with my tentacles.  "Er, sorry.  Um, hamper?" I suggested as she rapidly shook the dazed look out of her eyes.  Another new thing I'd discovered!  Mares were just as susceptible to stallion smells as we were to theirs.  Well, I'd figured that out last night, but it was a good thing to commit to memory, I decided.

"Ah, yeah.  Same spot as the blanket, please.  Um, and breakfast with Twilight is a good idea.  We should talk to her as soon as possible," she agreed, stepping back as I moved past her and out into her bedroom again, trotting over to the large hamper next to the stairs down.  It was almost twice the size of Twilight's, which made sense considering how many animals Fluttershy cleans up after.

Fluttershy slipped up next to me as I closed the lid again, and shot me a warm smile regardless of the nervous sensations coming down her link from talking about Twilight.  She was in a good mood, despite having the 'tiniest complaint' that she was 'just a little' sore, but insisted that I didn't have to worry at all.  Of course, I'd pounced and hugged her immediately afterwards, which just made her squeak and seem even cuter.  I swear, living here was going to give me diabetes in less than a week.

She followed a step behind me as I walked down the stairs, then dashed past at the bottom and put out several dishes of animal food while I watched.  Turns out, they get their breakfast in the morning, too.  They literally came out of the walls in droves as she set the dishes out, each giving their own special good morning to Fluttershy in the form of chirps, squeaks, and purrs.  Three cats, a dozen mice, four birds, and a strangely mutated squirrel all pounced on the dishes, amazingly enough, side by side.  Uh, weren't some of those natural predators to the others?

The yellow mare smiled happily as she turned back to me and ran back up, simultaneously answering my question as I remembered who their owner was.  I smiled and nodded a second before she plowed into me, kissing me on the cheek before fluttering her wings out and swaying next to me, subtly energetic, if that was possible.  Eh, I was just happy that she was happy.

"Are you set, then?" I asked, nudging my head towards the door.

She stopped swaying, then blushed lightly and nodded, earning a raised eyebrow from me.  The link pulsed with sudden awkward embarrassment, and she looked away from me, giggling weakly.  "Um, I know it's silly, but a part of me is, um, a little worried that others are suddenly going to know when they look at me.  Um, you know," she muttered, both of us skipping the part where I try to get her to tell me the problem.  She knew that I wasn't going to make fun of her as much as she knew I wasn't going to give up until she said what was wrong.

"Know?  What do you-" I started to ask before it suddenly dawned on me and I blushed, coughing lightly.  "Oh, that.  Um, you look exactly the same, Fluttershy, and we're both fresh out of the shower so I really don't think that's possible.  Just relax, okay?  Besides, it's normal.  Does it matter if they find out?  We're both consenting adults, and very much with each other," I reasoned, trying to give her a reassuring smile as I pulled her a little closer.  It might be a little embarrassing when the Element Bearers found out, and I sensed an awkward conversation with Twilight coming up fast, but that didn't mean it was going to change anything about our relationships.  Oddly, I decided the concept of them knowing was actually worse because they were closer to me.  I didn't so much mind even the rest of Ponyville knowing.  Well, unless they found out all at once through something horribly unfortunate happening, which was actually a possibility in this town.  Note to self, stay away from Vinyl and Pinkie for the morning.

Fluttershy still blushed lightly, but a smile came to her face and she nodded twice, kissing me lightly on the cheek before resting her forehead against my shoulder.  I gestured towards the door again, and this time she gave a nod.  I'd honestly never thought of them somehow figuring out that we'd upgraded our relationship.  Idly, I wondered if there was some sort of body language or something that we'd give off indicating as such.  I certainly didn't 'feel' particularly different, apart from being even closer to Fluttershy than before.

Regardless, we finally made it out the door, and a flock of birds almost flew up my nose, singing greetings towards Fluttershy, me just being the unfortunate bystander.  Her nervousness was forgotten as she greeted all her flying friends, saying pleasant tidings to each individually.  I just smiled softly while watching her, a few birds seeing fit to use me as a perch while waiting their turn to say hello.  This was a new sensation indeed, but I just stood there and let the feelings soak in.  Being treated as non-threatening and normal was definitely something I could get used to!

"Well, I'm glad you're all doing well and that nopony's sick or anything.  Mender and I have to go visit Twilight now, so if you need anything, I'll be there.  Oh, and he might be staying with us more often from now on, as he's part of my herd and I care very much for him.  He's a very nice stallion, however, so you can trust him just as much as you trust me, okay?" Fluttershy informed, wrapping up and addressing all the birds at once.  I blushed, staring at her in surprise as the birds let out a flood of chirps, several dozen circling me with a rather fast pace.  I blinked a few times as a feather or two drifted down, and then lightly brushed my mane back, looking on in wonder as they shot off in every direction into the forest around us.

"They'll spread the word," she spoke up, smiling softly towards me as I turned back to her.

She'd done that for me?  "Fluttershy, um, I'm really happy to hear you say those things.  I mean-" I started to thank.  She ducked in, however, and kissed me on the mouth shyly, giving a bashful smile as she backed up again a second later.

"It's the truth, Silly.  You'd never hurt any of these animals.  In fact, I've heard several nice things about you from one family of birds in particular, and more recently, from a couple of fish!" she chirped, looking pleased at me.

My eyes widened a little.  Fish?!  No, it couldn't be...  "Um, from the lake?  I didn't realize word would, uh, spread like that.  How do you talk to the animals, anyways?" I asked, curious now.  She was a pegasus, so it didn't make sense that she'd have Earth Pony powers.

She sighed and shook her head, ears lowering a little as she tucked in against my chest.  "I know it's weird.  A pegasus on the ground and living with, and talking to a bunch of animals.  I've just, well, I've always found empathy with them.  I can feel them, just like I heard an Earth Pony can.  Maybe that's a literal application of my special talent?  I just love them all so much, and hearing them is just, well, normal for me," she whispered.  It turned into a squeak as I pulled her tight against me and shook my head, smiling finally.

"I didn't mean that, Fluttershy.  I think it's amazing, not weird or unnatural.  Plus, your relationship with them all is nothing short of beautiful.  I'm even a little jealous," I pointed out, snickering afterwards.  Fluttershy had an enormous heart, and a ton of love and caring to go around, I suddenly realized.  Her being 'Kindness' made a lot of sense to me.

Her eyes lowered a bit shyly and she blushed fully now rather than just a light tinting.  "Mender, I care about you just as much.  Um, you also have all of me, in every way.  I'm a mom and friend to them but, well, you're my mate," she assured quietly, just to me.  It made me feel happy that she was comfortable enough with me to say that, even if it was just for my ears.  I nuzzled back and felt her give a content sigh, pushing a little harder into me as her warm fur slid across my shoulder.  She was amazing, and I felt lighter.  Like it was okay to just spend as long as I wanted with her for the rest of time.  But that wouldn't do.  We had another member of our herd to talk to, who was just as important.

Gesturing back towards the direction of the library, I gave her a soft nod and smile.  Fluttershy perked up and nodded back, following after me as I headed towards town.  I enjoyed the sensation of her walking right next to me as I went, brushing against my side with every other step.  We were a pair, and finally, it felt like I was supposed to be here.  Things felt right, and I held that feeling as close as I could to my chest as we headed towards Twilight...


* * * * *


It was definitely chilly as we trotted through town square.  Fall was upon us fully, and soon it would be winter.  It made me rather thankful for my heavier coat.  Fluttershy was thankful for it, too, pushing up against me as we walked side by side.  Every few steps, I felt a light shiver go through her as the wind would hit us.

It didn't take us long, however, to cross the square, which presented us with a new set of circumstances.  "Oh!  Fluttershy!  Mender!" I heard Rarity call out as we walked.  Both of us stopped and turned, watching the pearly unicorn trot up quickly from behind us, shopping bags drifting after her in a faint blue light.  My nose picked up the smells of potent bases, and I wiggled it, trying not to sneeze.  Soaps?

"Oh, sorry for the smell.  I had to pick up more cleaning supplies for day two of Operation Clean the Library.  It's quite a mess," she informed, taking notice of my expression.

"Ah.  Well we're on our way to the library anyways.  Is it, err, safe for me to enter today?" I inquired, my tail flicking slightly behind me in mild frustration.  After everything that happened last night with Fluttershy, I completely forgot to tweak my filter to include pheromones.

Rarity smiled, however, and nodded, adding, "Of course!  It's pretty well cleaned now, and the only area we have left is the basement.  Sadly, it was hit the hardest and will probably take most of our time today."  Yikes!  Well, Twilight had spent most of her time down in there, if the radar had been accurate.  Wait...

"We?  Are the girls helping you again?" I inquired curiously, tilting my head as my ears twitched lightly.

"Heck yeah!  Of course we're helping!" I heard shouted out, my ping giving me a good three seconds warning.  I ducked, pulling Fluttershy down with me as Rainbow shot overhead, spinning happily before whipping into a tight flip and landing next to us in a mostly graceful landing.  Only 'mostly' because her saddlebags kept going with downwards inertia and hauled her off her hooves.  My left foreleg shot out and actually managed to grab her, slowing her down and only earning a little ache in the process as I steadied her.  Not that I usually encouraged live field-testing, but I think that meant the leg was healing nicely.

Dash grinned and nodded up to me as she straightened herself out a bit.  "Um, thanks.  You so didn't see that.  Did I hear that you're heading to Twilight's?" she asked curiously, gesturing towards the library.

I nodded, and then glanced to Fluttershy on my right as she bumped into me, blushing quite a bit now and looking back and forth between Rarity and Rainbow Dash.  Uh...  Well, they wouldn’t know anything happened unless Fluttershy kept acting like this.  "Um, are you okay, Fluttershy?" I asked softly, earning a start and rapid nod.

"O-Of course!  Um, I'm fine!" she quickly reassured, not sounding very reassuring at all.  Of course, Rarity picked up on it instantly, giving a curious head tilt towards the yellow mare.

"You're awfully flushed, Dear.  Are you certain you don't have a fever?" she inquired, stepping forwards and lightly pushing an ankle into the now shivering mare's head.  Rainbow shot her friend a skeptical look as she shrunk away from the touch.  This was going, well, badly.

Think, Mender!  Lacking a reasonably formed plan, or a plan in the first place, I decided the next best thing was to simply draw fire, so to speak.  "She's fine, just don't push her too hard.  I did something stupid last night and embarrassed her, and she hasn't recovered yet," I spoke up, pushing Rarity's hoof away as the mare gasped.

Predictably, Rainbow's eyes narrowed and I prepared my inner armor just in case things got out of hoof.  "What?!  What did you do to Fluttershy?" she asked almost instantly.  Huh, she was actually inquiring first rather than just attacking me.  I guess I really did get on her good side.

Rarity frowned towards me, but more in a skeptical manner while Dash stalked closer, eyeing me up as I tried to think of something while remaining stoic towards the mare.  I could tell them about the toy incident, but I didn't know if Rainbow knew about Fluttershy's 'collection', and that would be even worse.  Blatant lie time, then.

Fluttershy looked uncertain as she turned back to look at me, obviously not knowing which thing I was referring to, and Rarity glanced back at her instead, raising an eyebrow.  Damn it.  I couldn't give that devious mare time to think!

"I accidentally walked in on Fluttershy while she was taking a shower and ended up staring for longer than I should have," I blurted out.  Rainbow bristled, but Rarity outright smirked instead, seemingly looking right through me.  She said absolutely nothing, however, which somehow scared me more.

"You did what?!" Rainbow hissed, fury bubbling up in her eyes.  Fluttershy freaked out and flailed before hopping between Rainbow and I instead.  What was she doing?!

Rainbow looked momentarily surprised, but Fluttershy rapidly shook her head.  "N-No!  He's lying!  He's just trying to...  This is all my fault.  If I could have just acted like normal, this wouldn't have happened," the yellow mare squeaked, slumping down to the ground after getting it out.  Sighing, I wrapped my forelegs around her from behind, feeling her sink back against me and hide her face using my limbs.

"Er, wait, what?" Rainbow asked, shifting from surprise to confusion as Rarity started snickering.

She walked up instead and bumped Rainbow into a relaxed sitting position, rather than frozen in her prior threatening stance with the blank look on her face.  "Relax, Rainbow.  It was a fabrication, his intent to take the focus away from Fluttershy, who I believe is embarrassed due to something else entirely.  And given his blush and defensive stance towards her, and their closeness and body language, I believe I know what," she explained coyly, eyes shifting rather devious as they locked onto me instead.  Damn it!

"This is exactly what I promised Fluttershy I'd avoid today, so if you'd be so kind as to drop it and let us go into the library," I offered, narrowing my eyes towards Rarity instead, who shifted to a more startled expression.  If I had to resort to bluntness, so be it.  If I had to physically move them out of the way and escort Fluttershy inside, that would work, too.

Fluttershy rested a hoof on my foreleg, causing me to look down at her again.  She shook her head up at me, and then blushed before turning back to the girls.  "This isn't your fault, Mender.  I goofed up and, um, they were going to find out eventually anyway, so it might as well be now," she murmured, ears lowering a bit.  Rarity shifted to a more concerned smile towards her friend, and Rainbow just looked confused.  This definitely wasn't the ideal way to do this, but I guess we didn't have much choice.

My eyes widened as I saw Applejack, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom approaching from the corner of my vision, suddenly.  I turned to look at them, Applejack smiling and waving towards me as she saw me look over.  Uh, that shouldn't...  I started to open my mouth to tell Fluttershy when she blurted out, "Mender and I mated!"

Never mind.  I closed my mouth and just sighed, resigning to watching the fireball expand from the crashing train.  Rarity looked momentarily happy before freezing, also having spotted the three Apple siblings.  Rainbow went from confused, to shocked, to blushing furiously with wide eyes towards me instead.  Okay, that didn't help much, but thanks for that, Dash.

Applejack froze on the spot, mid step as her eyes widened, locking onto Fluttershy for half a heartbeat before they whipped to her brother instead?  To my surprise, he looked actually stunned.  I'd never seen Big Mac look surprised by anything, and had no idea what to think of it.  Worse yet, Apple Bloom looked surprised as well, but then started blushing and looked away from the two of us really fast.  Oh crap.  She knew what that meant?!

Rainbow saw my stare and looked to her right as well, then gave a start as she saw the three of them, blushing starting to become a downright pandemic.  Big Mac slowly closed his jaw again as his eyes softened, shifting away from the shock to something else entirely as Fluttershy looked over towards them as well, seeing all of us shifting our attention.  She froze when she saw them, her flush expanding over her entire face as she started to shiver there.

Big Mac broke the silence like a sledgehammer to an ice sculpture.  "Ah don't think we were supposed ta hear that," he muttered, voice far harder than I'd heard him use before.  Okay, I was missing something.  To my surprise, he hiked up his shoulders that were attached to the wagon supports and continued, walking right past us and on down the road towards the farm.  Um...

"Uh, Mac, Ah-" Applejack started, trotting to try to catch up with his sudden departure.

"Cleanin', Ah know.  Go fer it," he returned without turning around.  I sensed overwhelming hostility suddenly, and shivered.  Well, actually it wasn't that different from his usual behavior, so I couldn't tell. 

Applejack looked uncertain, her right foreleg in the air towards him still as if trying to will him back to talk.  Apple Bloom rapidly shook her head and sprang forwards instead.  "Ah'll go talk ta him, Sis.  You go help Twi an' tha others," she said before booking after her brother and hopping up into the back of the wagon instead.

"Oh dear," Rarity whispered, watching the large stallion leave, this time with Rainbow, Fluttershy, and I shifting to confused looks.

"Okay, now I'm really confused.  Why the hay is he acting mad?" Rainbow asked, gesturing in frustration towards Big Mac with both forelegs, the remains of her blush slowly fading on her cheeks.  Well, this had certainly distracted from Fluttershy's dilemma, but potentially not in a good way.

Applejack sighed and shook her head, looking a little sad instead.  "Ah imagine he's upset with Mender an' didn't want ta say nothin'.  Ah thought he'd gotten over tha anger but Ah wasn't expectin' this so soon.  Probably happened 'cause o' Twi and Flutters durin' heat, right?" she asked, glancing towards Rarity instead.  What?!  Why was he mad at me?!

Fluttershy swallowed, looking back and forth between the three mares as Rarity shook her head and returned, "I've no idea.  You'd have to ask Fluttershy what happened, but you know how estrus is, Applejack.  Do not blame her for this."  Why did we have to blame anypony?

Applejack flashed her ears back and rapidly shook her head, stomping the ground instead.  "Ah ain't blamin' nopony!  It's just frustratin' ta not have anypony ta punch when mah brother's hurtin' so much," she growled, looking a bit irate.  Could these two talk without almost coming to blows each time?

"I'm confused.  Why is he upset in the first place?" Rainbow asked, bringing the topic back to what I was curious about.  Wait...  My mind flashed back to our 'detailed' talk about Cheerilee, and I suddenly remembered way back at the very beginning of that topic, Big Mac had mentioned a second mare, but dropped it almost instantly after I inquired.  If he was acting like this...

Applejack sighed and revealed, "It's because mah brother, fer years an' years before Mender even showed up, had ah crush on Fluttershy."  Oh hell.  I gave in right now and checked another day off my 'normal' wishlist.


* * * * *


Why, oh why was life never simple here?  Well, not that I'd call my past existence simple, even though it technically really was. Fighting an almost omnipresent malevolent race of space bunnies hell-bent on driving all existing creatures of sapience into a violent, early extinction was honestly rather straightforward.  You could generally assume that, when you saw one, the reaction was going to be it attempting to murder you.  That left fairly little variance to interactions when my only purpose was to make sure they died first.

Equestria, while indescribably more peaceful, also was beset by many problems revolving around not having a malevolent race attempting to make everything else extinct.  No unified front, no objectified lifestyle set on specific goals, and no overarching structure to society in general.  Oh, and most of the ponies appeared to be totally crazy, myself included.  There was that, too.  I was just a little more efficient at it, was all.

Lying on my back, I batted up towards the ceiling with my forelegs out of moderate boredom.  The couch was comfy, and I was at risk of falling asleep if I didn't keep moving.  Listening to the rather earnest conversation of conviction that happened to be centered on me like a sword poised to fall on my head was only vaguely interesting.  It wasn't that I didn't understand the details or felt I shouldn't be involved, honestly.  No, it was more akin to thinking that they shouldn't be involved instead.

"Ah know how it works.  Fluttershy chose Mender, an' Ah ain't angry at her fer that!  Fer cryin' out loud, Ah'm happy she's happy.  Ah'm just worried fer mah brother, is all," Applejack reiterated for probably the sixth time.  I honestly felt a little bad for her, given the fact that she tried to keep the conversation from spiraling out of control, kept smashing down blame when she could, and generally attempted to keep things civil and focused towards recommendations on how to cheer up Big Mac.  Her not mentioning me in that non-angry list kept my pity a bit tempered with caution, armor ready in case I got bucked in the side or something.  I doubted she'd do that at this point, but I was all for precautions.

Rarity huffed, being less for moderation herself as much as attempting to imprint some sort of lesson upon us.  "I warned you that this should have been addressed much sooner.  Honestly, we should have talked things over with him and helped him over this a week ago.  Why don't we all just march over there right now and simply talk with him in a calm and collected manner?" she suggested.  Was I honestly the only one who thought everypony should just dip their heads in cold water for a few seconds and calm down?  Frankly, what he wanted and decided to do really wasn't any of their business in the first place.  Of course, mentioning that would get me murdered on several fronts.

"Oh yeah, he wouldn't think that was suspicious or demeaning at all.  Shouldn't we just give him some time to cool off?" Rainbow suggested irritably, the distinct sensation of impatience coming down her link that was quite contrary to her statement.  Given Rainbow typically lacked the ability to be that subtle, that meant she was impatient about something else.  Probably a change in topic, like me.

"Oh no.  Oh dear.  This is bad.  I didn't...  I mean, I never knew that he...  Oh, what am I supposed to do?" Fluttershy whispered quietly to herself.  Despite being in severe inner turmoil, and me being what I thought to be the cause for that, she wedged herself as tightly as she could into my back legs, tangling her forelegs around my limbs and using my tail like some sort of comfort blanket.  Not that I really minded, of course.

Sighing, I gave her a gentle squeeze with my back legs before using them to tow her upwards and on top of me.  She didn't resist in the slightest, and instead buried her face into my chest.  Nopony noticed, of course, despite her technically being the subject of the conversation.  I held her against me rather tightly, feeling those possessive urges drifting back up inside of me.  She'd told me she was mine, and I hers, so I wasn't about to let anypony get in the way of that.  Not even Big Mac.

The most annoying thing is, he knew that.  He knew that eventually, Fluttershy and I would mate.  We were in a relationship, a herd.  Twilight was as well, and I didn't see her freaking out over the whole ordeal.  He wasn't stupid, and acting like he was kinda insulted him.  Sure, Applejack was only worried about cheering him up a bit, but the others were acting like he was some sort of helpless emotional invalid, when honestly, it shouldn't even be their business.

Twilight herself got our 'news' in the worst way possible thanks to all this, of course, but oddly seemed more happy about it than anything.  Almost gleeful, in kind of a scary, 'please don't experiment on me' way.  Of course, she started asking Fluttershy all sorts of questions about it, but that was sort of flattened by all the drama surrounding Big Mac suddenly.  Now she lay on the other side of me, lightly holding my head in her forelegs while watching and listening to everything fall apart right next to us.

Twilight turned and smiled as she saw me pull Fluttershy up and hug her.  She herself leaned in and snuggled into the other side of my neck, bringing all three of our heads within touching distance as she gave Fluttershy a peck on the jaw.  The mare momentarily blushed, smiling at both of us pleasantly.  This.  This was all that was really important.  What she wanted.

"You did nothing wrong, Fluttershy.  None of this is your fault, and we'll get it straightened out.  Wanna just go and talk to him real quick?" Twilight asked, both surprising me ever so slightly, and delighting me that she had decided on such a simplistic solution to the 'problem' that didn't require lengthy planning and parties.

Rarity looked shocked and horrified at the suggestion, somehow hearing it despite being in the middle of a rant on ethics and courtesies in a relationship, despite that not applying to Big Mac in the first place.  "W-What?!  His cool down period isn't even up!  You can't just go and 'talk' to him!  You should at least let Apple Bloom-"

Making a filly try to handle everything by herself didn't seem very responsible to me.  That irritation that had been oh so familiar the last few days built up in my system again, and I sighed.  "Watch us," I 'suggested', before looking back and nodding to Twilight.  She grinned, and the world disappeared as her horn flared to life, reality itself seeming to suck inwards upon us and snap down into an almost impossible singularity that we drifted away from.  An instant later, like a rubber band, it snapped out again.

Just like that, the couch was gone.  Instead, the three of us lay on the open grass with the overcast sky overhead.  Fluttershy shivered, and then looked up and around before starting, seeing Big Mac and Apple Bloom all of three meters away from us.  Three wagons full of apples rested on the dirt path next to them, and they sat next to a stump with what looked like a checkers board between them.  Err...

"Yer learnin' right quick!  That was ah good move," he complimented, momentarily looking up at the flash of light and nodding to us before returning his attention to the board.

"Ah learned from tha best!  Hiya, Mender!  Twilight!  Fluttershy!  What're ya doin' 'ere?" the little yellow filly asked, smiling over at us.  Heh, thought as much.

Twilight giggled lightly as Fluttershy looked more shocked than anything.  The lavender unicorn walked up towards them, stretching her back legs a bit.  "Getting away from a whole lot of drama and settling it at the same time, hopefully," she explained.

Big Mac smirked as he slid another piece forwards, snapping Apple Bloom's attention back to the game instead.  "They're still goin' on 'bout that?  Ah said it was none o' our business," he asked softly, leaning back as his little sister ducked in to look at the game board instead.

"Um, y-you're not upset or, um," Fluttershy asked quietly, taking a couple steps forwards and catching up with Twilight, despite moving like a scared deer.

Big Mac stared at her for a moment before chuckling and shaking his head.  "Ah should'a known ya'd worry yerself over me.  Nah.  Mah crush on ya was, well, ah long time ago.  Sure, Ah wouldn't have turned ya down had ya suddenly gotten interested, but Ah ain't mad that ya found yerself ah right kind an' proper stallion," he assured, after a moment of thinking about it.

Exhaling softly, I shook my head towards him.  "All I can do is give everything I can.  Everything always was, and always will be their choice to accept me or not," I reminded, agreeing with his implication fully.

Twilight frowned and turned back towards me again a second later, shaking her head.  "Mender, you need to accept us, too, you know.  Our herd forms a triangle, and each bond has to be unbreakable for it to work," she reminded.  I blushed slightly and looked away from her, unsure of what exactly to say to that.  She was right, of course, but, well...  There were still little nagging doubts in my mind.  I doubt Fluttershy intended our experience specifically to counter those, but it had indeed helped.  I wasn't where I wanted to be, though.

"Sounds like ya'all got ah lot ta talk about, too.  If ya want, ya could do it 'ere, away from all tha hubbub," Apple Bloom suggested, sliding another piece across the board and earning a grin from her brother.  It being a particularly awesome move, or him agreeing with her suggestion, I'd never know.  I didn't know how to play checkers, after all.  A pop-up shot up a second later, offering its data entry, and I promptly hit the cancel button.  Why it looked like a paperclip with eyes was beyond me, but it was bloody annoying!  That was the third time it had bugged me about inane stuff.

Snapping out of it, I suddenly became distinctly aware that Big Mac was staring right at me, unwavering.  I perked, widening my eyes a bit as I instinctively shrank back.  Eh?!  His viewpoint didn't flinch, but a tiny smirk played across his muzzle.  "Yer ah kind, strong stallion, an' ah good match fer Fluttershy an' Twilight.  But yer not ah perfect match," he suddenly spoke up.  I swallowed, unsure of how to take that or what he meant.  Fluttershy's eyes widened and she squeaked in surprise, but Twilight frowned and turned back to him instead.

"Isn't that up to us to decide?" she pointed out, voice calculated and level.  Was she upset by that?

"Ah-nope!  Tha only one that can improve Mender is Mender, really.  He has ta make the effort ta be better.  More decisive an' focused on what he wants an' needs, in order ta better be with you two," he reasoned quietly.  Oh.  It wasn't about them thinking I was a good match for them, but the fact that I could make myself an even better match.  Decisive, though?  That didn't feel very comfortable at all, as thoughts went.

Twilight didn't reason as far as I did, it would seem.  "What does him being indecisive have to do with us liking him?  Does it matter?  Wait, decisive about what?" she asked, shifting from mildly irritated to simply confused as she looked back towards me with uneasy eyes.  Fluttershy started to rapidly look between us, her heart rate gradually increasing the wider her eyes got.  What was going on?

Big Mac shifted to staring at Twilight instead, fully drawing her attention back to him with his stoic gaze.  She backed up a little the same way I did, but he suddenly shook his head.  "It don't matter at all," he admitted.  Wait, what?  Twilight started to relax, when he frowned suddenly and tacked on, "Ya don't need ta worry about what he wants ah bit if yer goal is ta just control an' lead tha herd by yerself."

My eyes widened, and Twilight suddenly looked like she had been physically slapped by the stallion.  Fluttershy outright panicked, letting out a low whimper as she rapidly shook her head.  "N-No!  We're not trying to, um, control Mender or anything!  I'd never do that, and neither w-would Twilight," she defended hesitantly, her voice losing strength as her nervousness shot through the roof.  Why was Big Mac doing this?!

My first instinct was to be angry with him, but his tone wasn't accusing or even aggressive, and I knew him well enough to know that he wasn't one to simply provoke a situation.  I held my tongue, looking back to the red stallion instead as he kept staring at Twilight.

"Ah believe in accidents.  Ah know that heat can make things seem like ah good idea when they ain't, but Ah also know that ah mare is still in full control o' herself.  Ya both signed tha paperwork fer tha herd, or it wouldn't be official-like.  Twilight 'ere even sent it out, despite knowin' on some level what it'd cause.  Now she's 'head' o' tha herd, an' its official voice, an' Mender ain't even ah member.  Ah don't judge, an' know mah sister can get right outta shape over things she don't like, but it still don't look too good from this perspective," he explained, doing a rather good job of highlighting the core of the issue.  Applejack must have been upset after yesterday.  Part of me wondered how much Rainbow told her.  I felt a little colder, and didn't know what to do suddenly.  That frigid doubt crept up into my chest again, and I closed the link before Fluttershy could feel it at this range.

Predictably, the yellow mare gave a sudden start and looked over at me, but I stayed locked on Big Mac, frowning a little.  He wanted to help us and felt it warranted a bit of direct interference.  That much I got and understood.  Maybe a part of him only wanted to help Fluttershy, but that seemed unlikely, as he'd included her in the accusation.  But she had indeed signed the herd paperwork.  Twilight said she didn't know about the waiting period, though.  I trusted her, right?

Apple Bloom looked up from the board and frowned up at Big Mac as Twilight fell to her haunches, shaking her head rapidly and sending out a sudden spray of tears.  "No!  It was a stupid accident and we weren't thinking of the consequences, but we didn't do any of it intentionally!  If I could turn over the leadership position, I would in a heartbeat, but," she tried to reason.  It wasn't really about the-

"Ah doubt Mender cares 'bout bein' leader so much as he'd rather just be ah part o' tha herd in tha first place.  Ah'm also not lookin' ta accuse ya o' nothin'.  Ah'm only pointin' this out ta show ya that maybe, just maybe, ya don't know Mender so good.  Yer not even sure what's really upsettin' him," he finalized, leaning back calmly against the tree behind him.  Upsetting me.

It reared up again, and I knew in that instant that it was still there.  As much as I tried to bury it with logic and understanding, realization of how hard it was for them and what I 'should' do because they're females...  I was angry.  They'd hurt me, and I felt betrayed.  But it was an accident, right?  It's not like Twilight had ever shown lack of trust in me before, to the point of trying to circumvent my own wishes or anything.  Especially not in regards to my feelings for pricing my own business practices.  I tried really hard not to start laughing, a bit concerned that I'd start screaming at the same time.  It all bubbled inside of my chest and I wanted to throw up, as if it would get it out of me.  I wasn't built for anger.  I didn't handle it well, nor was I comfortable with it, but it just kept building inside of me over the past few weeks.

Twilight shivered and continued shaking her head before muttering, "Mender said he wasn't upset with us.  We need to make it up to him somehow still but, well, we're trying and..."  Fluttershy continued staring at me, her features starting to fall as her ears lowered.

"Mender..." she whispered, causing Twilight's ears to perk up as she slowly turned to look at me instead.  I could see them.  I could see them and my eyes were closed!  They were closed, weren't they?  I snapped back to awareness as I noticed the graphical pixel distortions playing across my vision, my eyes fully open unlike what I remembered.  Trying not to panic, I disabled the targeting reticles that were flicking across the large stallion I was locked onto.  The system refused to respond to me, however, and I force closed the entire process as I shivered, feeling the pressure building behind my eyes as a headache reared up.

I wanted to scream.  I wanted to cry and lash out, beating on the ground until it crumbled to dust around me in rage and frustration.  But no, that was childish.  That would get me in trouble and lose the trust of everypony close to me.  I wasn't allowed to do that, and I definitely didn't want to hurt Big Mac!  What the hell was wrong with me?!  He wasn't angry with me, and I knew he wasn't trying to steal Fluttershy from me.  I didn't even own her like that!  I...

Fluttershy landed on me hard as I tried to shakily back up into a retreat that I didn't realize I was doing.  I exhaled sharply as she tackled me to the ground instead with her full weight before everything went to teal at point blank range.  It was a totally new version of what I'd experienced yesterday as everything fell away, but this time, it wasn't disapproving but wanting instead, her muzzle locked with mine at the same time.

My chest heated up, and everything became a jumble as she released me from the powerful spell a few seconds later.  I was confused now, and really, I just wanted to take a nap and think about all of this later.  Fatigue caught up with me hard, and my muscles sagged, just letting her lay on top of me, eyes unable to leave hers regardless.

"Don't run, Mender.  Please?  We don't understand.  You're, um, hurting a lot and we want to make it better, so talk to us.  Y-You can rest first if you need to but, um, we have to talk about this!  I can't l-lose you!" she outright pleaded, stunning me into inability to think again.

"We, Fluttershy.  We can't lose him.  I...  Rarity's right.  There's just no trust here.  We need to fix that, too.  Fast.  She told me a few ideas and exercises to help but, um, can we, Mender?  I want this to work," Twilight requested softly, edging closer and looking surprisingly earnest.  It was true.  Yeah, Rarity is right.  I didn't trust Twilight.  Even if I wanted to, my mind still remembered everything she'd done.  I wasn't as nice and forgiving a pony as I wanted to be, which horrified me.

Trust.  To have that, we needed truth first.  I made up my mind for once.  "Then I can't keep secrets if I want you to trust me.  There are, um, things you should know about," I finally admitted. 

Twilight and Fluttershy both stared at me and nodded, one looking apprehensive and the other concerned, respectively.  This wasn't going to be pleasant.

After a moment's hesitation, I just started from the top... 


* * * * *


I told them everything, feeling a remarkable sense of Deja Vu while doing so; almost like it wasn't the first time I spilled my guts to these two mares.  Our friends caught up to us just after I finished talking about the incident and went into how frustrated I'd become.  It wasn't just the missing Elements of Harmony, but also Spike and the other two Crusaders as well.  I momentarily wondered what brought all of them, but Big Mac silenced them with a sharp stare, and I just kept talking, happy to avoid the tangent.  It was hard enough to start the first time.  

Stress, frustration, betrayal, female attention, the disks, the Nirru thing, Purdue, the glitches, my being a real pony...  I covered everything until there was nothing left and I felt beyond empty.  There was nothing in me, leaving me with a cold, hollow sensation inside. 

And there I sat, staring blankly at the ground with nothing but dead silence from everypony.  I didn't bother hiding the links, so at least three of the mares knew what I was feeling.  Although, by the expressions, I guessed that more than that knew.  The disks were a big enough shock, I imagined, but then to find out that a pony had made the transition across the dimensions before and apparently not survived the experience...   Everything else about me was just icing on the cake, I felt. 

"There are little things inside us?" Rarity asked again, still looking at her forehooves with a shocked expression. 

I nodded without looking up.  "Yeah.  They're inactive until you finalize the link, and only do passive operations without," I summarized, that tired sensation coming back again. 

Rainbow tilted to her side and checked the spot where I'd hit her earlier.  I winced from the memory, but nodded, them having already heard that story.  Well, minus the parts about her liking Applejack, me just excusing it to only wanting to be with Fluttershy and Twilight at the moment.  I got the strange sensation that effectively everypony listening knew I was lying, but nopony said anything. 

"Yeah, it speeds up regeneration, so you'll heal a lot faster.  It also actively fights infection and disease, so you won't get sick again.  I can also find your location with them.  Then, after I finalize the link, it establishes the mental link for communication and activates a lot of functions that I haven't finished analyzing yet," I confirmed, feeling like I had to keep talking or everything was going to fall apart. 

A light clapping noise sounded out as Big Mac closed the checkers board up, it having been forgotten for twenty minutes anyway.  Fluttershy looked uncertain, fidgeting a meter or so away from me where she'd sat down when I started talking.  "Um, I'm more worried about you.  If there's something wrong, how do we fix it?  I don't want you to be stressed out so much anymore," she whispered, sliding forward and pushing her muzzle under mine, lifting my head up again so I was looking at her.  Fix? 

"I'm running scans right now to see if there's anything wrong with my cybernetic parts, but I...   I might simply be going crazy.  I don't know what to think anymore."  That concept was a lot scarier out loud, I suddenly realized.  I shivered, but she shifted forwards again and lightly hugged herself to my chest.  Twilight watched her for a moment, her eyes softening a little before she stood and walked towards me as well.

She froze less than a meter away from me as I turned my head to look at her.  Hesitating, her right forehoof scrapped the ground a couple times before she shook her head and swallowed.  "Um, through all of that, you talked a lot about, well, how frustrated you'd gotten, and you never technically forgave us for what happened.  At least not me," she pointed out quietly, earning a frown from me.

"Twilight, I said I wasn't ang-" I started to remind.

"Ya also lied 'bout that.  Ah'm guessin' yer actually angrier than ah coon danglin' by its tail, given yer reaction while talkin' earlier," Applejack interrupted, sharp eyes locking onto me fully as I looked away.  Damn it.  I forgot she was kinda like a living lie detector.  

Twilight waited patiently, but I just shrugged, looking back over at Applejack instead.  "Yeah, I was upset.  Sad that they'd made the herd without me, and did the exact thing they said they weren't ready for after sending me away.  I...  Yeah, I was angry, too.  To be honest, I felt betrayed, but none of that really matters anymore.  We have bigger issues than my feelings, both in the glitches, and the disks," I reminded, frowning towards the end at her.  She knew that.  She even knew that the same machines floated around inside of her, too.  Didn't that bother her at all?!

The lavender unicorn rapidly shook her head in front of me, however, tricking my focus back to her with the movement before I remembered it was awkward looking at her.  "No, your feelings are important, too, Mender.  We can't do anything about the information about the other pony until we can talk to Princess Celestia, and I'll help you run all the experiments we need on the disks later, but not until all of us talk about everything that's been happening," she corrected.  I swallowed uneasily.  Everything?

Pinkie exploded into movement before I could even gather my wits enough to muster a response to that, hopping up above her friends before landing a few meters away from me into a cartwheel, shouting, "Yes!  We need to get you cheerful and happy again!  I've got to throw a super, duper, awesome herd formation party, and you can't be sad for it.  So really, tell us what we need to do to cheer you up!"

A pang stabbed through my chest, and I looked away from her as fast as I could.  She froze as I realized the links were still open, and Fluttershy pushed even harder against my fur.  "P-Pinkie, please don't, um, throw a party for that until Mender joins, too?  If it's not too much trouble and you don't have everything set up yet.  It, um, it's only going to remind us of how we screwed up," Fluttershy requested, turning and looking at her friend.  Turning down the party?  I hadn't anticipated that from either of them, but realized I'd never considered it a possibility.  Normally one didn't just turn down a Pinkie Pie Party.

Pinkie slowly sat down normally again, looking surprised for a moment before her muzzle slowly closed into a soft smile.  She nodded towards me instead, relaxing there.  She'd felt my reaction to it, I realized.  She was actually agreeing not to do it?  I stared at her for a moment before slowly smiling a little myself.

Twilight snickered a moment later, looking pleased at the outcome regardless.  "Yeah, I don't want to have a party either until all of us can enjoy it.  Everything you said was important, Mender.  We just can't deal with a majority of it yet, however.  The information about the pony that the reports talked about will have to wait until we can meet with Princess Celestia.  The disks need a lot more testing, but it's up to Applejack and Rarity if they want to get their links finalized.  I...  Well, I made up my mind about it finally, yesterday," she suddenly revealed.  My ears perked up and I turned back to her fully, surprised by that.  Normally, Twilight was indecisive about things revolving around me, and that sounded rather final, in one direction or the other.

The lavender mare watched me for a moment, all attention pulled to herself as I waited patiently.  Big Mac finally walked up to join the three mares watching, Apple Bloom trotting up alongside him before joining the two other Crusaders, standing next to Rarity.  Nopony had gotten upset or angry about the disks, and there hadn't been any panic or hostility about the other news from the report I'd found.  That only proved to me that this was a far different place than what resided in my memories.  If we recovered from this and stayed friends, we could make it past anything, really.

Twilight nodded to herself a moment later, as if finalizing the conclusion in her head before snapping her focus onto me.  "I want you to finalize my disk," she finally stated.  I was surprised, but prepared for either answer and tilted my head to her.  She rapidly shook hers, probably anticipating my doubt.

"No, I've thought it through for more than enough time, Mender.  Fluttershy's right, of course.  I'm not ever going to be with anypony else apart from this herd, so there's no reason to be scared of you.  I want to be a full member of the herd and join in on everything, even if the links turn out to be detrimental.  You and Fluttershy already have to deal with that, so me being the same changes nothing," she explained, apparently having indeed thought about it a lot.  It was her decision of course, and admittedly, a part of me loved the idea of her completing the link.  It felt like commitment, and her saying she wanted to be connected to me forever, which did a lot to warm my chest up.  

There was nothing else for it.  I nodded, and she exhaled softly, apparently having been holding her breath.  Silly mare.  My left eye lit up as my menus flicked to life, scanners activating and locating the connection inside of her, matching the registration on the disk database inside of me.  She gave a start, and I smiled lightly, realizing I probably looked weird with one eye glowing blue.

"What's that, Mender?" Fluttershy asked, not showing the concern Twilight had a second ago.  There was no worry coming from her at all, and my smile widened, enjoying the sensation of her trusting me.

"I saw something earlier that I wanted to see if it worked or not.  A second," I explained, flicking Twilight's data readout into my left eye.  Then I activated the mental ping to do a status update.  It was something I couldn't do on an individual not with the full link.  My smile shifted into a smirk as the 'are you sure' message from before popped up again, exactly like when I had activated Pinkie's disk.  Guess I technically didn't have to be touching them after all.

With no more ceremony, I hit yes and the link activated a second later, lighting up and registering Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic.  I shifted back to a soft smile towards her, left eye going dark as I mentally greeted, "Welcome, Twilight."

Her eyes widened drastically, easily seeing my mouth not moving as Pinkie burst into a fit of mental giggling, and Dash tossed in a mental snicker.  "This...  This is what your mental communication is like?" Twilight asked, both in her head and out loud as she looked back and forth between Pinkie and me.

Fluttershy rested her cheek against my chest, but nodded gently with her eyes still closed, 'feeling' Twilight without needing to look over at her.  "Yes.  It's amazing for other reasons, though.  Emotions can be felt through it, too," the yellow pegasus mentally whispered, a flare of affection and happiness drifting from her and aimed right at Twilight, who outright shuddered and blushed.

"Oh, oh wow.  It's sorta like how my mom described the soul linking," Twilight muttered, looking slightly dazed.  Heh, Fluttershy's feelings were quite the inverse to her normal interactions, running strong and deep with enough force to overwhelm.  Being used to it, however, I loved the sensation and missed the mare greatly over the last week!

Rainbow coughed lightly, snapping everypony's attention to her in an instant after the reasonable silence.  "Ah, no, that link is, well, considerably more intense," she admitted.  I exhaled softly and looked away from her, awkwardly rubbing at my right temple.  Everypony else shot her skeptical looks, and she flattened her ears back a second later.

"What?!  It's not a full link, I already said I was sorry, and it was an accident!" she protested an instant later, earning an eye roll from Applejack.  I honestly hoped this wasn't detrimental to their relationship, especially if Rainbow ever actually asked her out.

That thought earned me an annoyed glare as I pushed it towards the cyan mare in particular.  I sighed as I thought of the additional complications involved therein, but then gave a start as I felt a burst of affection from Twilight instead.  Eh?!  The distinct feeling of being suddenly pleased about my honesty shot into my chest as she smiled and slipped in next to Fluttershy against me, leaning up and gently kissing me on the lips.

The feedback loop took her by surprise an instant later as I kissed back, her undoubtedly feeling the hot sensations of herself kissing me as I did.  She gave a stifled moan into the kiss instead of backing away, however, a newfound sense of trust dancing through her emotions.  Now that she realized I had been honest about the situation involving Rainbow, I think she suddenly realized how honest I had been with her so far.  Did that mean she was starting to trust me more?

My mind blanked slightly as things distinctly 'more' drifted from her emotions, her wrapping her forelegs around my neck in order to pull me down into her fully, her body heating up against mine.  Uh oh.  Snapping out of it, everything around me came back into focus as I backed up a few millimeters, coughing lightly.  Twilight looked dazed and slightly confused until I gestured to the side at all her friends, giving us a totally stunned look.  Well, except for Big Mac, who just lightly smiled.  Oh, and Rarity who looked coy.  Pinkie looked delighted as well, but I'd anticipated that.  The CMC were surprisingly blushing furiously, especially Scootaloo who had rotated around completely and was now pouting in the other direction.  Okay, so maybe it was really just Applejack who looked shocked.  I intentionally ignored Rainbow, of course, and the slowly rising wings on her back.

"Ah!  Err, sorry!  Um, I'm still, uh...  It's these post-estrus hormones!" Twilight whined, blushing furiously as she shrank down in my embrace.  Fluttershy smiled and pulled her closer, hugging her softly while I held onto both mares.

Rarity scoffed, however, walking over to us with an air of amusement, Spike tentatively following her, but keeping his eyes on Twilight instead, as if she might burst into flames in rage or something if he wasn't careful.  Actually, she could technically do that, apparently...  "Twilight, you simply must not be afraid of your emotions, Dear.  You were romantically embracing a stallion whom you care very deeply for, and he for you.  Feeling that and wanting more is natural, and you can't be ashamed of that!" she scolded in a lighthearted manner.  Natural?  Did she just use a sentence involving 'natural' in reference to me?  Huh.  That was new. 

"Regardless, these little things in our bodies don't change nothin'.  It ain't like you knew 'bout' em, an' they certainly haven't hurt us yet!  Ah say yer fine," Applejack suddenly cut in, thankfully snapping the topic out of the embarrassing directions it had been plummeting.  I smiled softly towards her, and she tipped her hat to me.  Well, this was turning out better than anticipated so far.  Instead of relaxing, however, I turned to Rarity. 

Her expression was softer as she examined her right forehoof.  I couldn't read her beyond that, deciding she looked either slightly relieved, or slightly shocked still.  She hadn't taken it well at all. 

"It won't change me or make all my fur fall out or anything, right?" she asked without looking up, as if feeling my eyes on her.

"Not a thing.  They don't touch vitamins or minerals, only repairing tissue when needed and fighting foreign agents in your body, such as infection and sickness," I assured, trying to smile warmly towards her.  I didn't even know if it was possible for me to make them remove fur in the first place, if I was trying!

She stared at her hoof for another moment before sighing and nodding to herself, setting it back down onto the loose dirt that composed the path through the orchard.  "Well, I suppose it will have to do, then.  Not getting sick will be a boon, I believe," she muttered, giving me an uncertain gaze that made me feel distinctly sad that I couldn't make her happy.

"Hey, you won't get behind on your work this winter if you don't get sick again!  But then I won't get to cook you breakfast in bed or-" Sweetie suddenly started to lament.  Wait, cook?!  Oh hell!

Rarity glared back over at the filly, shutting her up instantly and causing her to slip backwards a bit, shrinking.  "That's quite enough, young lady.  You're already in a lot of trouble, so don't press it," Rarity reminded pointedly, causing me to shiver.  Yikes!

"Aww, but you told me I cou-" the filly tried to retort.

"I told you no such thing!  My permission extended towards 'talking' to Mender about your future and seriously considering what his reply was.  Nowhere in that is 'poisoning' him, you'll note!" the pearly unicorn shot back in a surprisingly hostile fashion.  She was more than a little scary, but she had a point.  Sweetie was a little, well, strange in that regard.  Well, no, more desperate than anything.  Now we just had to see if any feelings for me at all remained in two years’ time.

A sudden thought danced into my head about Rarity, however, causing me to perk.  Everypony looked over at me as my right eye lit up, projecting my data screens from it as I flicked through them with my free left hoof, the other busy hugging two mares to my barrel, of course.  It didn't take me long to get back to the actual disk documentation, and slide down to the functions I could input into them.  It took a decent amount of scrolling, but I finally found the function I remembered seeing earlier.

"Ah, I forgot.  This function actually controls the minerals and vitamins supplemented into, or removed from your system, if I had the full link to you.  If you were truly worried, I could use this function to doubly make sure it doesn't mess with any delicate vitamin balances, and whatnot," I offered the mare, looking back to her as she stared in surprise at the writing explaining its use.

"W-Wait, um, when you say supplemented, you mean it can add vitamins to my system?  In specific spots?" she inquired, eyes locking onto the 'location' field in the arguments I could pass along.

"Er, well yeah.  I'm not a doctor, though, so I've no idea how much to add, or where to apply it, or even what to use, so I was just going to ignore that," I spoke, mostly to myself, I noticed, as Rarity got a faraway look before smiling softly.

I raised my eyebrow towards her, but she suddenly focused back on me specifically, grinning this time.  "I'll get you a full list!  If you could add things directly to my coat and mane, I shall not only forgive this intrusion into my body, but reward you handsomely!" she assured, apparently totally forgetting about her disgust.  Or at least she was giving me the benefit of the doubt now and trying to see the positives.

Smiling, I gave her a steady nod, which she returned, now looking pleased and managing to make me feel significantly better.  Applejack shot her a disbelieving glance, but snickered afterwards and shook her head.

"Anywho, Big Mac an' Ah need ta get back ta work.  If Ah'm leavin' fer ah few days tomorrow, we gotta catch up on tha farm work.  Ah think these ponies have ah bit ta talk about, anyways," she deduced, gesturing towards the three of us as Fluttershy nodded rapidly.

Rainbow finally grinned and nodded towards her friend, agreeing with, "Heck yeah!  So leave 'em alone for a bit or I'll toss you into the lake!  In the meantime, I'll be helping you catch up with the farm work, AJ."  Ha!  The lake was a ways from here now, but she probably could pull that off.  Applejack probably had a lot of work, however, and I kinda doubted Rainbow could pay much attention to 'guarding' us after she got busy.

"Thank ya, Sugar.  We gotta work hard ta catch up an' make up fer lost time after Ah take off again, so yer help's much appreciated!" Applejack thanked, earning a soft blush and nod from her 'friend'.  Although, I also noticed she knocked the 'cube' part off of Sugarcube, and wondered at its significance.

"I agree.  Let the rest of us depart and give them some privacy.  Oh, and any one of us are here to talk if you need it, Big Mac," Rarity spoke up as she trotted past him on the way towards the exit.  He nodded back, of course, and for a moment, I impishly wondered what he'd think of the 'toy' she'd had crafted in his likeness.  No, I was nicer than that, though.

Sweetie smiled happily and made a beeline towards me instead despite the questionable glances of her friends.  Rarity made a harsh clearing of her throat, however, freezing the small filly in her tracks.  "Aww!  But I just wanted to hug him!" she whined, turning to face her sister again.

"You're still grounded," Rarity returned simply before a blue aura lit up her horn.  The white filly drifted into the air in a pout, slowly following her sister to the rhythm of Scootaloo's snickering.

"We'll see ya tomorrow before you leave, Mender!" Scootaloo called out, waving to me happily before bursting off after Rainbow instead, leaving Apple Bloom to trot after her siblings at a slower pace, waving to me as she left.  Well, huh.

Only Spike remained, to my surprise.  I would have thought he'd have left with Rarity, but instead he stood looking at Twilight.  "Can I do anything, Twi?  I know you've been, well, upset," he asked, looking a bit concerned for the mare.  All three of us smiled at him in our own way, Twilight's looking downright grateful.

"You've been a huge help, Spike.  Go with Rarity and give her some help with the cleaning.  Since AJ needs all the help she can get, too, you're very much needed back at the library," she assured, causing him to perk up and nod, smiling to the lavender mare.  Heh.  I could understand a desire to be useful and needed, that was for sure.

"Okay, Twi!  All three of you should come back when you're done.  I'll get supper ready for everypony," he assured before turning and sprinting after the white unicorn.

I smiled as he left before relaxing, letting myself slide sideways onto the grass next to the path and pulling both mares down with me.  Fluttershy gave a surprised squeak, but Twilight started giggling as she pulled the yellow mare further down onto her, both of them pressing into my chest.  It was just the three of us now.  Like it should have been for Twilight to find out in the first place, but I guess that couldn't be helped.

Relaxing, I went into the last little bit of my 'truth' session, the only other bits of information being just for them instead...
> Forgiveness Pending - Chapter 81
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sighing, I slowly opened the door and peeked out into the room, not sure what to expect in the slightest.  I was dry and the tub was fully drained now, so I really couldn't delay any longer, even for a panic attack.  Would there be panic, excitement, something in between, or would both mares be gone, entirely changing their minds and abandoning ship to find a more private spot?  Given the myriad of thoughts and feelings rushing through me, I didn't know if I was disappointed or delighted to find both mares watching me from the bed.  Maybe Fluttershy springing our first time on me by total surprise was a more merciful method, given that I had no time to think.

An awkward four seconds passed with us just staring at each other.  There were no new, Twilight-shaped holes in the wall afterwards, so I assumed we were off to a good start.  The lavender mare herself appeared to be utterly frozen in place, but Fluttershy smiled softly and gestured for me to approach.  I ran through a nervous checklist in my head while carefully approaching, sensations somewhere between eager and horrified bouncing in my chest.  Tub draining?  Check.  Every inch of me clean and dry?  Check.  Subdermal armor operating at peak performance?  Double check!

The yellow mare smiled to me as I climbed up onto the bed like I had a half dozen times prior.  This time it was nerve wracking, however.  Twilight's head rotated in time with my movements as she watched me, eyes massive.  She looked as if she were watching some huge tiger stalking up towards her, which was actually kind of sad.  My heart sunk a little, but Fluttershy slipped between the two of us and smiled softly at me.

"Did you remember to drain the tub?" she asked quietly, momentarily distracting me as my mind was forced to process something other than the sheer horror of the situation.

Blinking once, I gathered my wits and nodded.  "Yes, it should be draining right now," I informed, earning a pleased nod as she relaxed.  To my surprise, she laid down on the blankets instead, partially in-between Twilight and me before settling into a relaxed posture.  Wait, what?  Twilight looked just as surprised as I felt, and I wondered idly if I had misread her statement as innuendo when it actually wasn't.  She really wanted to just cuddle?

"I missed this last night," Fluttershy murmured wistfully as she looked over at the lavender mare next to her instead.  "Um, don't get me wrong!  I love being with you and snuggling and everything, Twilight.  I don't mean to imply I don't.  It's just...  I like it when all three of us are together.  We should spend more time as a herd," she quickly elaborated, eyes flashing apologetic as she quickly corrected herself.

Twilight visibly relaxed a bit and smiled finally, nodding to her.  "I knew what you meant, Fluttershy.  But you're right, of course.  We should strive to be together at least a few hours each day, not including sleep.  We also owe it to Mender to make him feel welcome," she agreed, looking over at me as she added the last part. 

Relaxing, I smiled and nodded to her.  "Thank you, girls.  Still, don't neglect your own relationship in order to do so," I warned.  That was the last thing I wanted to see!  Both mares looked at each other, then Fluttershy smiled and shook her head, sliding up further and snuggling into Twilight’s side.  I found myself smiling a bit wider at the adorable display, and Twilight obviously couldn’t help but slide her forelegs around Fluttershy, who nuzzled up into her chest.  Yeah, I could watch Fluttershy all day, honestly…

Fluttershy wrapped her forelegs around Twilight’s as they rested together, then her left one extended out to gesture to me with a smile.  Ha!  Now she wanted snuggles from both of us.  Sliding forward, I hugged the yellow mare as well, and Twilight sighed and leaned forward, resting her forehead against mine as we sandwiched Fluttershy between us.  Yeah, we definitely needed to spend more time like this.  The pegasus gave a content murmur as she wiggled to rotate and snuggle into both of us about equally.  I let her adjust, then smirked as she leaned up and kissed Twilight under the chin.  She was staying true to her other little secret, anyway.  I think I was one of the only ponies in Equestria who knew that baths made Fluttershy really, really affectionate.

I decided to potentially reevaluate my conclusion, however, as Twilight sighed and leaned down instead, capturing Fluttershy’s kiss with her own.  Maybe it just made mares more affectionate in general?  Wait…  I watched them kiss for a bit as Fluttershy sighed into it and gave Twilight a squeeze, then felt a familiar twitch.  Ah.  Fluttershy had managed to defuse that situation expertly.  Despite suddenly realizing this, I still felt rather relaxed seeing Twilight happy over it all, so I just rested there, gently rubbing Fluttershy’s back as her wings slowly shivered.  Yup, she was still turned on.

As the kiss got more involved, and the familiar flush crept up onto each of their chests and cheeks, I suddenly got the random urge to look away in order to give them ‘privacy’.  It was kind of silly, really, now that I considered it fully.  I was supposed to be here, and that was the entire point of this, well, whatever you’d call it.  Exercise in gaining familiarity?  Yeah, that was a polite way to phrase it.  I felt a little Rarity in my head nodding back to me, and smirked.

It was almost thirty seconds later when Fluttershy finally shivered and broke away, her wings shifting back and forth as I slowly massaged around their base.  A little strand of saliva connected the two mares, and Twilight was blushing softly as well, and gave an almost hungry grin towards the yellow pegasus, who winked and looked back over at me as well.  “We can’t leave Mender out either, though.  He deserves a little attention now,” she reminded, causing Twilight’s eyes to flick to the side and lock onto me as well.  She hesitated, but Fluttershy shifted around and slipped out of her lap, moving into mine instead as she pushed me gently to the side, into the pillows.  Oh?  She had a plan, then?

“Just to get Twilight more used to you, she’s going to instead watch us, okay?” Fluttershy suggested softly, smiling down at me from over my chest now, blush getting a bit stronger as she searched my expression for affirmation.

I nodded upwards, understanding the premise, and she smiled before turning to Twilight and nodding to her as well.  “Are you comfortable just watching for a little bit?  It’ll let you get adjusted more slowly,” she suggested softly.

Twilight’s blush had returned full force, but she nodded and hesitantly slid just a little closer to me, now within elbow’s distance, anyway.  She’d calmed down significantly from the bathroom, having looked like she was about to panic prior, so I guess Fluttershy really knew her stuff.  Wait, that meant that she and I were going to be…

The yellow mare smiled and turned around again, then grinned down at me with that oh so familiar smile at this point.  Slightly innocent happiness mixed with a hopeful look to her eyes.  I knew what she wanted, and snickered before nodding.  She squeaked lightly, perking at my approval before slowly kissing down my chest immediately, using her tummy to slowly slide over my private spots and get a shiver out of me.  Oh boy.

As she slowly teased lower, those turquoise eyes gleaming up at me, I considered the influence that my past ‘life’, or at least the memories of my donor, had on my outlook and experiences here.  This, for example, was almost unheard of for Keldarians.  Females rarely if ever gave any oral attention whatsoever.  As much as she had convinced me, however, I now at least accepted that Fluttershy genuinely liked giving me oral.  She had tried twice now to explain it, but the most I got so far was that it made her feel naughty and powerful at the same time to be given such control over my pleasure and be able to watch my every reaction.  

I could sort of understand that, but sadly, she had continued on to point out that I also trusted her enough to put my most sensitive body part in her mouth, so close to her teeth.  While hers were obviously not as sharp as a carnivore, she did point out that they could do some serious damage if she bit down and used a grinding motion.  She failed to see why I had lost my erection afterwards, and why I was no longer willing to let her use her mouth that night, no matter how many times she explained that it was just how herbivores ate things. 

My train of thought was thankfully lost as she shifted to kissing up my sheath instead, teasing my tip that was just poking out at this point.  My willpower faltered as she licked around my ridge in a circle, then actually slipped to the slightly bumped out center and suckled.  My mind blanked momentarily as I felt my hips shiver, and I extended rapidly from my sheath.  To my surprise, she neither moved her mouth or lifted her head, instead just opening as much as she could and letting me extend directly into the back of her throat.

I let out a heated groan as she finally lifted her head, then bobbing once before licking around the shaft in her mouth before rising off it again and winking over at the now extremely flushed Twilight.  Of course, our observer looked about equally shocked at seeing ‘me’ for the first time as noting how sexy Fluttershy could act while doing this.  Of course, if the pegasus really did feel empowered with it, she probably lost a lot of inhibitions, which didn’t bother me in the slightest.

Once I was to full size, she leaned back a little and looked over at Twilight, who had her wide eyes uncomfortably locked onto my cock in potentially the most awkward way possible.  I shifted lightly, causing myself to sway, and I saw her eyes tracking my motions, the red in her cheeks expanding a little.

“Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, sounding a little uncertain as she tilted her head to the mare.

Twilight shivered, then looked over at her with a surprised expression before snapping back to my length instead.  “It…  Whoa.  Uh…  It seems about normal for length but… is it supposed to be that thick?!  D-Does it even fit?!” she asked, looking shocked again as it was my turn to blush.  Fluttershy had actually said I was a little shorter than average, but I knew I was wider.  Still, it fit inside her!

The yellow pegasus smiled at that and nodded enthusiastically.  “Oh my, yes, of course it does.  He also tastes really sweet, too.  It’s yummy,” she assured, looking back to me with a softer smile.  She didn’t have to say that much!  I felt my cheeks heating up even further.

Twilight coughed lightly and finally managed to pry her eyes away, adding an amused chuckle.  “Actually, that’s probably all the bread he eats.  Stallions more directly process their flavor from their food, and that would give him a softer, sweeter flavor as opposed to if he ate a lot of greens.  If he added more fruit in, it would probably be even sweeter,” she pointed out, slipping back into her observational mode reasonably easily.

The yellow mare blushed at that, then gave my tip another lick as a bead of pre formed up on it.  I shuddered, then watched with slightly naughty fascination as she ‘tasted’ it in her mouth.  Oh wow.  “Hmm.  I don’t think he needs to be too much sweeter.  Pinkie would like it, but he might get too sweet, you know?” she suggested.  ACK!

Twilight giggled at that, relaxing a bit and nodding before informing, “Eh, they make flavor pills for that.”  Flavor pills?  If that was what I thought it was…  She moved on before I could ask, however, asking instead, “Um, c-could I maybe, well…”  Her hooves reached out for me slowly.  Fluttershy gave her some room, then looked to me for permission.  Hesitating, I slowly nodded, looking back to Twilight instead.

The first touch was surprisingly hesitant by her, and she gave a little squeak as she poked my cock and rocked it back and forth.  After it didn’t grow a mouth and bite her, she slid her hooves back and touched it with both instead, stabilizing it.  Her blush grew heavier as she felt up and down it, and I shuddered, watching another bead form at the tip.

Twilight giggled, adding, “Wow.  It’s firm and surprisingly stiff.  It feels funny…”  I blushed and just let her rub up and down it, her showing fascination similar to a filly with a new toy.  Okay, no, I shouldn’t have made that comparison…  Thankfully, she continued and put my mind off it.  “Mmm, it’s surprisingly not very bendy, too.  Huh,” she murmured, tilting her head and wobbling it about as Fluttershy rose an eyebrow to her.  Uh…

Despite me not getting much from her just swaying it around, I let her do what she wanted anyway.  “Well, I didn’t think they were supposed to be ‘bendy’.  The Baculum isn’t exactly the most flexible, no?” I pointed out.  Twilight froze instantly, eyes widening a little as they locked onto my penis with a far different interest, suddenly.  Huh?  Her right hoof lifted up instead, lightly pushing on the top of my shaft, just under the flare, while her left hoof stayed near the base where it slipped out of the sheath.  It bent a little, and I winced lightly at the pushing sensation, but there was no major shifting, as I’d told her.

“W-Wait…  It really does have…  What?!  Wait, what?!” she asked in shock, eyes widening even further.  Ah!  What, what?!  Fluttershy looked surprised as well, not from Twilight’s reaction, but at me instead.  What did I do?!

“It does?!  Um, but that doesn’t make sense.  Ponies don’t have baculums.  We evolved them out a long, long time ago,” she explained, tilting her head as she looked back at me instead.  They…  They didn’t?

Twilight almost knocked the lamp off our bedside stand as she scrambled to the side of the bed, opening the drawer and pulling a large notebook out of it.  Wait, did she keep emergency notebooks in every room of the building or something, just in case?  I blinked, starting to feel a little awkward as she opened the thing right next to me and pulled out a pencil from the drawer with her magic.

“Um, just a second, Mender!  This is crazy and I need to do some readings.  I’m really guessing that this is cybernetic in nature from your other enhancements, but if it’s not, that means that for some strange reason, you backwards evolved a baculum, which is a biological design for stallions that hasn’t been seen for at least a hundred thousand years…” she explained, her horn lighting up as she looked back at my oh so sensitive length of flesh with an entirely different kind of interest.  Ah!  Uh, wait a second…

Too late, of course.  The bolt of magic exited her horn and punched right through the center of my shaft.  It momentarily felt like somebody put an icicle through it completely, giving a blast of painful aching followed by a frozen numbness down the entire thing that made me yelp and wince.  I grabbed it instead, holding it closer to my body to try to warm it up and protect it from any further magical attacks!  Fluttershy squeaked in surprise at the sudden blast, but Twilight shifted her attention to the notepad instead, her horn glowing lightly still as a small, cylindrical image slid up in front of her, slowly spinning.  She depth checked my penis?!

“T-Twilight!  What are you doing?!” Fluttershy asked in shock, her well-orchestrated plan undoubtedly crashing and burning into a giant fireball.  I hardly cared, mind reeling as I held my now softening and aching member as it rapidly retreated inside of my body again.  Okay, I totally didn’t blame it, honestly.

Twilight, meanwhile, had made a rough sketch of the depth pattern, and particular emphasis on the ‘core’ she discovered as she switched the colors of the glowing image several times, probably different readings it had taken.  “Checking the density.  He’s right!  It’s remarkably similar to the density of his organic metal bone structure, leading me to believe this might actually be a naturally occurring baculum!  It’s even fully formed, going almost the full length of the penis.  Hmm, but how to test to see if it’s formed naturally or a cybernetic addition?” she inquired, mostly to herself.

Fluttershy shifted to anger far faster than I anticipated from her link, and Twilight perked, looking back at her just in time to get a sharp glare.  “No, what are you doing to Mender?!  You…  You blasted him!  Not to mention this is supposed to be our first time as a herd,” she asked again, rather sharply for Fluttershy.

The lavender mare blinked, then looked fully back at me before tilting her head.  “Oh, it should only cause momentary numbness for a few minutes.  We can, um, continue again after that, don’t worry.  This however!  Imagine, Fluttershy!  If he really did evolve a baculum, or even if he had access to an artificial one, we could help a lot of stallions with this!  Did you know that three point six percent of stallions suffer from erectile issues?” she informed.  Why did she even memorize that number?!  No, I didn’t care.  Why was it still hurting?!

“Twilight, feel the links!  It’s hurting!” Fluttershy yelped, shifting over to me instead and trying to help me back against the pillows.  The numb, icy sensation was still there, but it was so cold that it ached all the way up my spine!  Adjusting the output of the nerves did absolutely nothing as I realized that whatever magic she’d used had reverberated all the way to my spinal column.

“W-What?  It shouldn’t…  Wait…  Oh.  Oops.  I just remembered that spell wasn’t supposed to be used on metal objects...” she muttered a moment later, eyes widening.  Arg!  Damn it all to hell!  The cold sensation just got worse as I realized she’d caused high intensity vibrations to go right up the very baculum she had intended to scan.  It turns out, when inside of your body, that really, really hurt.  Wait… oh hell.

“How long does the numbness last?!” I asked rapidly, eyes widening.  Fluttershy squeaked, then looked over to Twilight almost as quickly.  Once that ran out…

Twilight paled a little, pupils shrinking as she realized where I was going with that.  “Oh no, oh no, oh no…  Uh… here, hold on, Mender!” she ordered, ducking towards both of us and lighting her horn up.  Damn it.  Once again, the world imploded around me as we fell away, rushing to Celestia knows where…


* * * * *


“And what did we learn?” Fluttershy asked, sounding more than a little annoyed and frustrated over the whole thing.

Sighing, I lay carefully on my side on the hospital bed, more IVs put into my foreleg to do pain management along my spine and back, where the spell had shot once it got done ravaging my far more sensitive areas.  I still couldn’t feel anything in it, which I was both thankful for, and a little concerned over.  That was perfect.  Just perfect.

“Stop being stupid…?” Twilight groaned, face still buried in my thigh as she wrapped her forelegs around my waist.  That was… rather generic, and untrue in her case.  If anything, she desperately lacked common sense, not intelligence.  Fluttershy kissed the back of my neck softly, snuggling into my back instead as we relaxed there and waited for the full diagnostic to be read out loud.

Nurse Redheart looked over the paper in front of her on my bedside table with a healthy expression of skepticism before flipping to the second page.  “Admittedly, I didn’t expect you back so soon, or to be assigned yet another night in the hospital, this time for pain management…” she muttered, scanning over the second page much faster.

Twilight gave another frustrated groan into my hip, still not looking up at anypony.  Exhaling, I leaned back against the two of them a bit more, kind of disappointed that it had all turned out so poorly.  “I’m going to be here for a while.  You two should at least go home and get some sleep,” I pointed out, checking Clocky only to note it was twenty-three hundred hours.

“Mender…  Please, I’m sorry.  I’m going to make it up to you tomorrow for sure,” Twilight promised yet again, still not looking up from my hip.

“It was a mistake, Twilight.  They happen.  Relax and go get some rest with Fluttershy.  It’s late,” I suggested to both of them.  Fluttershy kissed the back of my neck once more before slowly standing again. Behind me on the bed, the lavender mare attached to my hip didn’t move, however.  I’d be concerned if I didn’t still feel her breath tickling the fur on my Cutie Mark.  It was even well past ‘visiting’ hours, but Red wasn’t about to kick them out, obviously.

Fluttershy slipped up next to her and nudged her in the side until she at least rolled over.  She looked up at the yellow mare with red eyes, still looking rather miserable, despite not being the one that got their spine vibrated.  Okay, so maybe I was a little miffed still.  But it was hard to stay angry at her when she was so good at beating herself up over it.  Wait, that sounded familiar.  Oh yeah, it was exactly what Applejack and I were also good at.

“Come on, Twilight.  Let’s go get some sleep and let Mender do the same.  We’ll hold you to your promise for tomorrow instead,” the yellow mare spoke, still sounding more than a little upset.  She of course had mentioned that she had missed me the night before when I was stuck in the hospital.  This was almost as if the universe was rubbing it in her face now.

Twilight nodded and stood at that, exhaling quietly before reiterating, “Again, tomorrow.  I will make it up to you.”  I gave her a weak smile and she just winced and quickly looked away for a moment before reaching up and brushing her hoof against Fluttershy’s shoulder.  They were gone in a flash of illumination to the room.

Red shook her head as she turned back to the first page and slid it idly around on the table for a moment, looking tired still.  “I definitely need a break soon, so try not to let her maim you tomorrow while ‘making it up’ to you, okay?” the nurse requested weakly, sliding sideways and resting her head on my mattress close to my forelegs.

Smiling at that, I offered, “Once you get me set up here, just go rest, Red.  I’ve got, what, four hours of pain meds in the bags?”  She smiled as well towards me and nodded at that.

“You’re a sweetheart.  Yeah, I might go take a nap once you get settled.  Still, the call button works if you need anything,” she agreed, relaxing a little as she slid the paper onto her clipboard instead.  It was amazing how good she was at balancing that thing on her forelegs…

I nodded to her and closed my eyes, relaxing against the pillows as I felt her slide the sheets up over me and suggest, “Try to get some sleep, Mender.  We’ll make sure you’re okay in the morning, then get you on your way.”  Well, with any luck, I should still be able to do the job for the Cakes tomorrow.  That I had been worried about, admittedly.

“Good night, Red,” I muttered, and the lights turned out as I heard her hoofsteps heading out the door of the room…


* * * * *


Ugh.  What a day.  Resting on my back, upside down and looking up at the ceiling of Sugarcube Corner, I stretched out and slid my plans up in front of me again.  One master support for both ends of the ‘racing’ stretch would cover the weight of the entire thing, plus an extra forty pounds, so I assumed I was covered there.  If the Cakes started making twenty pound donuts, they’d have to come talk to me first…  The smaller brackets that held the individual track pieces up were a fourth of the size of the master supports, but I’d need a whole heck of a lot more of them.  I also needed four trolleys for the treats themselves, one for each track.  They were already built now, and the enchantments were put on them.  It was rather simple really.  Four spots on the counter where the little baskets would sit.  A treat put on the baskets would initiate the tiny side barriers to hold it in place.  Once they were ready for delivery, with any number of the baskets filled, a gem under the counter could be tapped and it would form a thin barrier line up to the rail connectors on the ceiling.  That would lift all four up, or however many were filled, and start the race.  Each treat basket had two possible delivery points to cover the eight tables the Cakes had set up, toggle-able with levers under the counter.  The solar rechargeable battery that powered the whole thing was sitting in the window charging right now, and I’d made two replacement gem batteries for them, with the resources already purchased.  These gems were really useful for storing energy!

So far, I’d gotten the counter set up, the four baskets made, and the complicated starting line finished.  Oh, and the three batteries, of course.  Which was another issue.  If I knew more about the gems and how they worked, I could probably have set up my device to use the universal ‘batteries’ that I saw already being produced, but as it stood so far, I had to modify the battery in order to get it to work with my design.  So if they wanted more batteries, for now, they’d have to get them from me instead.  Maybe I could upgrade that later down the road once I figure out how the gems functioned.  Mrs. Cake was more than understanding, thankfully.  She acted like it was already a shock that I’d made them two extra batteries from the resources, which was kind of weird, honestly.

Now I was working on the tracks themselves.  I’d already had most of the track rails made now, but it was getting on supper time, and I was running out of day to finish all of this in.  This was going to take a while to make the entire tracks as well.  My barriers held nicely, connected into the ceiling and holding all of my tools while giving me a spot to lay on as I worked.  These I worked into enchantments so I could detach them from my energy supply, which was a good thing or I’d be dead tired by now.  They also had a solar feed that was stuck out two different windows now, which should be workable for a few more hours anyway.  I was running out of sunlight, too, which was another reason to finish this part of the project now, while I still had the barriers.

My stomach growled, and I growled back, then proceeded to ignore it.  Spike had been the only one at the library when I’d gotten myself checked out of the hospital.  Interestingly enough, he refrained from admitting where he’d been the night before.  Regardless, Fluttershy had left early before breakfast even, excusing herself over some sort of animal problem to look into.  I had the sneaking suspicion it was more than that, given how uneasy Spike had looked over it.  Twilight had left as well, apparently for a meeting with Mayor Mare over the upcoming events tomorrow and scheduling things.  She’d skipped breakfast, too, and left abruptly, which also sounded bad.  So between the two, he hadn’t cooked breakfast.  He offered to for just me, but I couldn’t make him whip up an entire meal for one pony.  Sheesh.  So I’d skipped breakfast, too.  And lunch, because I was working.  And now supper, because I was still working.

Attaching the third bracket, I slid further down the barrier, taking my tools with me as I moved to the next track location.  I heard laughter echo out from behind the closed door of the kitchen and tried not to grumble to myself.  Not having eaten anything all day caused the lovely smells coming from the kitchen to be agonizing.  No, focus!

Intentionally speeding up, I went through three more brackets rather mindlessly, following the instructions I’d made myself for position and how far down they needed to be.  Working and keeping myself busy was a good way to keep my mind off all of the usual troubles I was having.  Of course, I had been worried about what happened to cause everypony to behave so strangely.

“Are ya sure he’s in ‘ere somewhere?  Ain’t Sugarcube Corner closed anyway?” I suddenly heard in a very familiar sounding dialect.  Freezing, my eyes widened as I still stuck to the ceiling, screwing in the fifth bracket for the track.  Oh no.  Those three could potentially eat up a tremendous amount of my time, and then I wouldn’t finish by tonight!

“Of course!  Totally saw him go in this morning.  I think he’s setting up that cool track thing for the Cakes!” Scootaloo chirped, sounding excited.  Figured she’d be interested in ‘anything’ racing.  It sounded almost like they were just outside.  Looking to my left, down through the window below me, I saw just the tip of a purple tail, which confirmed that all three were looking right at the door.  Crap.

There was a soft sigh, then Sweetie’s voice added, “Aww, come on.  I really wanted to see him today.  I haven’t gotten to see him since he got back!  Stupid hospital…”  It was hardly the hospital’s fault that Twilight blasted me in the… no, no, I was trying to calm down and stay relaxed.  Calm, peaceful thoughts!

“Uh, ah yah suah?  If it’s closed, I don’t wanna get in trawble,” came a very unfamiliar voice, in a hard to place dialect.  I remembered back to that interesting newspaper mare, and took a guess at Manehatten.  This was a much younger voice, however.

Scootaloo assured whomever it was with a, “Yeah!  Pinkie Pie’s cool, and so are the Cakes, so I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if we just went in to see Mender.  Like we told ya, he’s super cool!”  Sighing, I decided it was probably inevitable that they’d be coming in, and quickly got back to work to finish as much as I could before getting interrupted.

“So ya say.  I guess he must be, given haw much ya tawk ahbout him.  Sweetie’s crushin awn him hawd, too,” the new foal pointed out.  It sounded like a filly, however.

Sweetie giggled at that as she opened the door, explaining, “Of course I do!  He even knows about it!  He says I have to wait a few years, and if I still have feelings for him then, I can talk to him seriously about it.”  I blinked at that, finishing adjusting the bracket I was working on while listening.  Admittedly, that was a lot more level-headed than I’d last heard her talk about it.  Maybe Rarity had indeed calmed her down a bit.

“Aww.  Ah thought ya said he was ‘ere, Scoots!” Apple Bloom whined, walking into the room further and practically right under me.  Nopony ever looked up…

Peeking over my barrier, I saw the three of them slip into the shop, followed by a filly looking to be roughly the same age.  She was an Earth Pony, and sported a darker orange coat, short cropped strawberry mane and tail, pretty green eyes, and also no Cutie Mark.  She ‘felt’ like a member of the Apple Family just by looking.  I assumed it was the colors.

Eh.  Rolling off my platform, I fell the three meters or so to the floor.  All four fillies squeaked and jumped at the same time as I landed, a loud thump and shake going through the floorboards.  That wouldn’t have been fun had the floor given away.  I was glad I wasn’t in any of my armor.  Apple Bloom recovered first, despite being the closest to me when I landed, and smirked at me as I stood up fully again.

“Hey, girls.  Is there something you needed?” I asked politely, giving the three of them a warm smile, and peeking curiously over at the newcomer.  Her wide eyes were shrinking a little, and she looked up at my glowing platform for a moment before returning her gaze to me, looking surprised now but not utterly shocked.

“Mender!” Sweetie chirped, running past Apple Bloom in an instant and lightly pouncing my left foreleg, smiling up at me as she hugged it to herself.  I smiled down at her and rubbed the top of her head, earning a giggle and a nuzzle to my shoulder.

Scootaloo recovered next and smirked, nodding in amusement to me.  “I knew you’d be in here working on the Cake’s race thingy!  We wanted to introduce ya to the fourth Cutie Mark Crusader!” she cheered, causing me to look back at the new filly, who was now suddenly blushing under the spotlight of the situation.  Ah, she had a shy streak in her…

AB, however, puffed up and properly introduced, “This ‘ere’s mah cousin, Babs Seed.  She’s from Manehatten!  She’s visitin’ all o’ us fer tha Fall Festivities.  Ah told ya you’d meet her.”

Smiling towards the filly, I lifted my right forehoof up towards her.  She shrank back slightly and stared at it for a moment before hesitantly stepping up and touching her much smaller hoof to mine, shaking it up and down slowly.

“I thawt ya told me he has tentahcles,” Babs inquired a moment later, lifting an eyebrow at me.  I raised an eyebrow as well, but shifted to the now sheepish looking Apple Bloom.

The yellow filly chuckled weakly, looking back over at Babs before hastily reminding, “Ah told ya!  He can pop ‘em in an’ out!”  Uh…

Sweetie winced at that, and then hissed, “I told you it probably wasn’t a good idea to tell her before getting permission from Mender.”

Rolling my eyes, I nodded to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, then instructed, “Close the shades.”  They both grinned and shot off to the various windows as Sweetie sat down next to me, in the same instant I sat down.  Babs watched them with slight amusement before looking back at me and giving me the appraising eye.  I just sat there and let her check me over.  It was interesting that she took a short cropped mane and tail approach, giving her a bit less feminine appearance.  Still, her build and muzzle structure gave her gender away readily enough.  I wondered if the longer styles for mares were just a thing here in Canterlot and Ponyville.

The room slowly lessened in light until it was getting hard to see the others.  Once the last curtain was pulled, I inquired, “How much did they tell you?  And you do realize this is technically a national secret at the moment, right?”

Her eyes widened a little and she swallowed before nodding.  “Dey said it wos ah big, impawtant secret, yah.  That you’re an alien, and some sawt of mechanicol pony?” she explained, tilting her head to me as I nodded.

“Yeah, Ti… err…  Princess Celestia doesn’t want the secret spread around yet, and neither do I, really.  It’s hard enough thinking of myself as a normal pony when I don’t have… large amounts of attention drawn to it.  Regardless..." I started, deciding that I might as well get this over with.

I closed my eyes and flicked on my full scanners, opening them a second later and spreading blue light across the fillies, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo catching up again.  Babs perked up as she saw the sudden color shift and now light being produced by my eyes, the mechanical whirling noise plainly audible in the quiet room as I knew the zoom lenses were rotating around in them, focusing in slowly on Babs as all my eye displays lit up.  Her eyes widened as she peeked closer into my actual pupils where she could see the moving images.

Smiling at her curiosity, I wondered if she’d be the same once she saw the armor.  It folded out as I thought about it, her eyes widening even further as she stepped backwards half a step, shifting to an uncertain look as the ridges of my blackened gray armor appeared.  The layers of it folded over my shoulders, torso, back, and down my legs as I left the helmet off intentionally, stepping up as it finished plating over my hooves as well.  Now I was taller, larger, and significantly heavier by a good hundred and twenty pounds.

“Whoa…” was all she managed to say as she stood her ground and looked me over, her cousin slipped up next to her.

“Told ya it was cool!  Show her tha tentacles!” the yellow filly chirped, smiling up in the blue light coming off me.

Smirking, I nodded as my armor folded over my head, and felt them spasm along my back before slowly extending out.  The filly’s eyes got bigger and bigger as the cluster of tentacles extended off my back, going skywards while wiggling slightly as I stretched them out.  It had been a while since I used them, but thankfully they weren’t all that stiff.  Lowering them to generally drift around me, I extended my right shoulder one, one of the larger ones by a small degree, in front of her slowly.

Apple Bloom bumped up against her side and nodded as she calmed down a little, then turned and looked down at the tentacle gently displayed for her.  Hesitantly, she reached out and nudged it with her hoof for just a moment before tilting her head to the side.  It didn’t move any when she poked it, so she then reached out with both forehooves and squished them around it, letting them poke to each side of it.  After a few seconds of this, she smiled again and relaxed, wiggling it about a little.  Apple Bloom lifted both hooves up to me and grinned, hopping lightly until my other tentacle slipped down and wrapped around her torso.  Apple Bloom cheered happily, earning a surprised stare from Babs as she watched her cousin lifted up with her legs out, pretending she was flying.

Scootaloo grinned and leapt over Babs with a flap of energy from her wings, and was snatched out of the air by another of my tentacles.  She grinned, then ‘chased’ after Apple Bloom, directing where my tentacle went by which way her torso was turned.  Sweetie was content to just smile up at me, two of my tentacles sliding down to wrap around her and gently squish her against my left side, giving her an excuse to nuzzle my shoulder again.

“Wow.  Ya con control dem awll at once, den?” Babs asked, watching her friend and cousin get spun around in the air laughing, then looking down at Sweetie, who was playing with one of the ones wrapped over her shoulder.

Nodding, I added, “Yeah, I can control each one separately.  They’re also really strong, but obviously I have to be careful that nopony sees me with all of this stuff-“  As if I’d summoned it myself, the door into the kitchen took that exact moment to open up.  Scootaloo and Apple Bloom dropped, landing on my back thankfully after my armor collapsed into me at frighteningly quick speeds, and I sucked tentacles in left and right.  By the time Mrs. Cake turned and looked over at me, I was back to my normal self, amber-gold eyes included as I returned her gaze.

She raised an eyebrow as she looked around again, looking at the darkened room.  For a tense moment, I realized Babs was still holding the one tentacle that was outside of my body, and I didn’t want to just rip it away from her and hurt her.  Instead, however, she shifted to the side and covered the tentacle from sight with her body as I rotated it down my foreleg to extend from my elbow instead.  Cup Cake looked back to me finally before asking, “Why is it so dark in here, Mender?  Surely you could work better with the shades up?”

Thinking fast, I simply explained, “I was just showing the fillies magic tricks.”  My hoof extended up to form a fun pyramid shape made out of simple barriers above it in the dark, glowing and illuminating the area with the silvery blue light.

She perked at the mention of fillies, then looked up at my back as Apple Bloom and Scootaloo waved innocently at her.  That brought out a smile and she nodded happily to them.  “Ah, distracting him, are you?  Well, it’s probably about time for supper anyway, so why don’t you all come in here to get some food?” she chirped, totally buying my blatant lie.  Wait, food?

My stomach rumbled loud enough to echo in the quiet house and I, and apparently every other pony in the room, turned to look at it.  Oh, right.  Food.  “Um, I’d love to but I didn’t bring any bits with me,” I explained, giving a sheepish look up at Cup’s knowing smirk.

“Really, Mender?  You’re doing a ton of work for us, and have almost completed it after working for most of the day non-stop.  The least we can do is give you a bonus and feed you.  Get in here,” she ordered, leaving no room for denial.  Shrinking a bit, I nodded to her and earned giggles from my spontaneous passengers.

Babs puffed up and smirked at me, nodding as well.  “Yah, get in dere and eat wit us!” she echoed.

“Oh, now you’re tough stuff, huh?” I asked playfully as I pounced at her, the other two on my back squeaking, then laughing as Babs squealed and slipped under the table, running for the kitchen.  Grinning, I continued, “Hang on!”  With that, to the surprise of both fillies and Mrs. Cake, I turned once and then leapt sideways.  We cleared the top of the table as I tucked my legs up, then descended over the other side.  Babs laughed and yelped as we hit right behind her, and we all shot into the kitchen, Sweetie giggling and running under the table after us…


* * * * *


Over the course of the really nice meal the Cakes and Pinkie had provided, I’d actually learned quite a bit about Babs.  Bullying was definitely something I could relate to, of course.  It driving her to be the bully was something I’d seen a lot, and admittedly, my donor Keldarian fell victim to, at least in how he handled Keela after the incident.  It was all understandable, and she seemed relieved to some extent anyway that I thought as much.

She also talked about her life in Manehatten to some extent.  Large cities didn’t really bother me, but the other three crusaders seemed almost captivated by it.  I didn’t particularly care where I was living at, so long as the ponies I cared about were there.  And given that they were all here in Ponyville for the most part, this is where I lived, of course.  Rather simple, and I really liked things simple.  Babs’ life was a fairly stable one as well.  She went to school in Manehatten, but was planning on potentially moving to Ponyville here after graduating.  She and Apple Bloom had really hit it off.  She even started her own ‘chapter’ of the CMC.  It was exceptionally cute.

"So yoah really ah membah of the CMC?  Yah already gaht yoah Cutie Mark, dough," she pointed out, gesturing to the mark on my hip.

Smiling as I ate another piece of the extremely tasty banana bread, I looked over at Pinkie, who grinned and nodded twice, happy to explain it for me.  "He totally lost his memory, and apparently forgot what his Cutie Mark was, too!  When he showed up in the hospital here about a month or so ago, he was a blank flank, too!" she chirped.  Mr. Cake smirked behind her while wiping the kitchen counter down, probably having heard a lot about it already.

"Noh way!  Fer reahl?" Babs asked, eyes widening as she looked over at me yet again, from my left.  Pinkie was across from me, having just plowed through four slices of the bread herself.  Sweetie was to my immediate right, Apple Bloom to Babs' left, and Scootaloo across from her, next to Pinkie.  The Cakes had given us an entire tray of banana bread slices, which they'd technically run out of frosting for.  Without the super sweet layer, however, they made a rather decent 'normal' meal.  The fillies were disappointed, but I was pleased just to have the sustenance.

Scootaloo smirked and shot back, "Of course!  We were the ones who found him hurt near the stream and went to get Applejack.  He was closer to the farm by the time he finished washing down the stream," she added.  I inwardly sighed as I swallowed my current bite, kinda wishing she'd left choice bits of that out.

Aiming to switch the topic back to the intended one, I quickly added, "It's true.  I didn't have a Cutie Mark when I got here, and your cousin swore me into the Crusaders before I got it back.  I've only had it for about two weeks now.  I'm still going to help the Crusaders regardless, though.  Friendship is even deeper than finding your Cutie Marks, no?"  I had a sneaking suspicion these fillies would remain friends long, long after they all had their marks, after all.

Sweetie giggled, then spoke up from the other side of me with, “Once a Crusader, always a Crusader!  We’re stuck with each other.”  She jutted her hoof into the air as she said it, making it sound more like a rallying cry.  The other three smiled and did the same, however, so maybe it was?  Snickering, I set my sandwich down and mimicked them, earning a squeak and hug from my right from the little unicorn.

Scootaloo frowned for a moment, however, lowering her hoof and scratching at her chin before asking, “What’s going to happen to the Cutie Mark Crusaders after we all get our Cutie Marks, though?”  Hmm?  Oh.

“Yah mean the club, roit?” Babs asked, tilting her head to the pegasus.

To my surprise, Mrs. Cake smiled softly as she set another tray of bread down, this time cooked just for us.  “It doesn’t have to stop with you fillies.  I imagine that, in all of Equestria, there’s quite a lot of fillies and colts that are frustrated over not having their Cutie Marks.  Instead of it being something to be put down, however, you could help them to instead see that it’s something that brings them together, just like you girls,” she pointed out, smiling at them all as their eyes widened.

“Ya think we could, I dunno, help out fillies an’ colts in other cities?  Or even after we get our marks?” Apple Bloom asked, instead looking to her fellow Crusaders.

They all hesitated, unsure of that answer, but it seemed fairly obvious to me, anyway.  “Sounds like a youth group to me.  That said, yeah, I think you could do it.  Maybe even register it officially as an Equestrian club?” I suggested.  Mrs. Cake was right.  The Crusaders were definitely a good thing, and encouraging good things to continue was something I definitely could stand for.

“Oh, hey, that’s right!  Mender knows Princess Celestia and Princess Luna personally!  Could you maybe put in a good word for us?” Scoots asked hopefully, her wings fluttering behind her as she smiled.  Heh, I wouldn’t have told her no anyway, so acting absurdly cute was just overkill.  I’d expected that when I suggested it, though.

Snickering, I responded with, “I’ll tell them if you four want, but I have a feeling they’d think it was a good idea even without me saying anything.  Why don’t you ask Princess Celestia and Princess Luna about it yourselves?  I think they’d be very happy to hear about it.”

Scootaloo gasped at that, but Apple Bloom grinned and nodded rapidly, whacking her hoof against the table.  “It’s settled, then!  Ah think we should talk ta tha Princesses about maybe makin’ tha Cutie Mark Crusaders official!  Think o’ all tha fillies an’ colts like us that we could help find their Cutie Marks fer!” she announced wistfully.  I just smiled at that, not saying anything as I munched down another slice of bread, and Mrs. Cake snickered quietly.  All four were in agreement with that, of course, and I had a feeling we might be bringing them with our next excursion to Canterlot.  Wait, actually, that was a fairly good idea.

Perking, I turned and looked to my left at the majority of the Crusaders and revealed, “Actually, I’m headed back to Canterlot for a day or so in a week or two from now.  DReg has its first established meeting, and I’ll be meeting with the Princesses then.  What would you say to coming along with, if Babs is sticking around that long?”  All three perked up as well, then Sweetie leaned over from my right.

“Really?  You’d take us to Canterlot with you just for the Cutie Mark Crusaders?!” she asked, stabbing me in the face again with the cute levels.  I was going to get diabetes yet, at this rate…

Rubbing her on the head, I reminded, “I told you, I’m a Crusader, too, and I’m going to help you all as much as I can.  Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow are coming along anyway, so I doubt they’d mind if their little sisters come, too.  Although…”  Turning and looking at Babs, she smirked and shook her head.

“I won’t be stayin in Ponyville dat long, but I dawt my folks will have any prawblems lettin me come bock fer somethin so important.  Could I meet yah, like, the day befoah?” she asked hopefully.

Apple Bloom quickly answered, “O’ course!  Tha Apple Family don’t turn its back on anypony, especially family!”  They smiled at each other, and I nodded in agreement.

“Same.  I don’t think the Crusaders should do it without you, so we’ll wait,” I assured.  All four smiled at me and nodded in unison, and I was pleased to make them happy, even if it did mean delaying my own work.  Eh, I’d just stay late if I had to.

There was a quiet moment as the fillies dug into the next tray of bread, and I relaxed, finishing the piece I was currently working on.  Mrs. Cake sat down to finish a piece herself, then smiled softly at me before commenting, “I’m probably not the first to tell you this, but you’d make a really good father, I suspect.”  I felt my cheeks heat a bit as I looked away, and she started snickering, of course.  “Ah, I knew I wasn’t the first to tell you that,” she added, somehow magically reading my mind.  Or at least my body language.  Why did so many mares think that?!  I liked foals, yeah, but I didn’t think I was particularly responsible, or amazingly good at taking care of them.

Sweetie grinned, of course, then spoke up with, “I think Fluttershy will be the first to have a foal with him!”  Ah!  I gave her an annoyed shove just under her horn, but she only grinned up at me as she rocked playfully in her chair.

“Enough of that.  Sheesh.  Anyway, I really do need to get back to work, you four.  I’ve got to finish this by tonight,” I reminded, gesturing back towards the still open door to the main room.

Pinkie giggled at that and hopped up from her chair, nodding.  “I know!  Why don’t we all help you out?!  I mean, I’m done cooking for the night in here and we have all the treats ready for tomorrow, so why don’t we make sure the track is all super decorated and awesome looking!  Plus, you’ll get it done much faster!” she cheered.  Oh hell.  I had a feeling that exactly the opposite of that would prove true, but it was too late now as all of the fillies cheered, minus Babs who looked surprised at the sudden turn of events more than anything.

Trying not to sigh out loud, I weakly smiled and nodded to the bouncing mare, then hoped for the best.  No, no I didn’t.  I was going to be here well into the night at this rate…


* * * * *


Sliding along my barrier platform, I hooked up the last bracket into the ceiling in its proper location, making sure to get it nice and secure.  Pinkie giggled, her back hooves resting on my shoulders as she ‘followed’ me along my sliding motion, laying the track for the treat gondolas right behind me laying the brackets down.  I was eating my own words, admittedly, as Pinkie proved quite dedicated as a worker when she put her mind to it, and somehow managed to still have fun while doing so.

“This is the last of the track.  After this, we just have the start and finish line, then trial runs,” I confirmed, looking up at her before remembering her tail was literally sitting on top of my head, and saw nothing but pink.

I did hear a giggle, however, and she chirped, “I can’t wait for the testing!  Plus, I got the start and finish lines done last night, so we just have to hook them up!  They’re exactly the length you told me to make them.”  She seemed proud of that, and I smiled up into her tail, causing her to snicker.  No, I didn’t even try to consider if she could ‘feel’ me smiling through her tail.  Some things weren’t meant for mortal minds to ponder.

Spinning to my hooves, I rotated and caught Pinkie’s as she giggled and slid down to where I just was, then hooked up the last section of the track into the bracket I just placed.  “And done!” she announced in a singsong tone as she clipped it firmly into its spot.  Smirking, I nodded to her, then lowered our platform segment towards the floor as Babs trotted up with the full tray of tools still balanced on her back, a smile on her face.

“This looks reahlly awesome.  Ahr we gonna git to see it wohrk tonight?” she asked, sounding more than a little excited, despite her attempts to play the stoic, collected, and mature filly.  I was starting to get to know her a little bit, anyway.

“Yup.  That’s what the test runs are for.  To make sure it runs smoothly and nothing catches on fire!” I assured, smirking towards her as her eyes widened a little bit.

Scootaloo snickered in amusement before tacking on, “He’s joking.  Probably.”  She zipped up with her energy wings on, hooking the wire up along the track that Pinkie just laid, not needing the platform obviously to reach it.  Flying must be so amazing.  Although the other phenotypes had their perks, too.  Sweetie sat on the counter, humming a tune to herself as her horn glowed softly.  Tiny felt flags that Pinkie had made drifted in the air around her, lifting towards the ceiling and sliding into place along the brackets.  Only a single extension of my enchantment came off her horn to power it, indicating she’d gotten better at controlling her magic since I gave it to her.

Apple Bloom was also abusing her enchantment, her legs glowing softly and sliding up her back as she lifted the entire parts box, which was significantly larger than she was, and rested it on her back while following Sweetie around the top of the counter, extra decorations drifting out of it with magic.  They were all a good team, that was for sure.  Mr. and Mrs. Cake also were working around the room, cleaning and wiping things down carefully to prepare for tomorrow.  Well, at least when there weren’t cries coming from upstairs that would send one of them running towards it.  Little foals seemed a lot harder to take care of.

To my surprise, the door opened as Pinkie and I were headed back to the counter to get the actual ‘racing’ components.  The setting sun illuminated the pearly unicorn, who gave us a rather radiant smile as she trotted in, looking quite pleased with life in general at the moment.

“Good evening, Pinkie Pie.  Hello again, Mender.  Ah, and Sweetie.  How’d I guess I’d find you here?” Rarity chirped, not missing a beat as she swished her mane out of her face and headed over to us.

Sweetie blushed softly and fidgeted, but I quickly assured, “She’s actually been quite good.  And very helpful.”  This only made her hue shift from pink to red, but Rarity smiled more warmly towards me.

“I’m glad to hear that.  We had many a talking about what she did, and I think she understands now.  I’m quite pleased to see her behaving like a proper filly,” she complimented, nodding towards her little sister, who exhaled softly and looked away from us.  Heh, she’d probably been expecting a lecture.

Nodding, I changed the topic with, “You seem in a good mood, Rarity.  Did you catch up on those orders?”  I remembered she was worried about being behind after our trip to Canterlot.

The mare perked at that, and nodded back with a pleased smile.  “Why yes, I did.  A wave of inspiration hit me this afternoon, and I just found myself blurring effortlessly through them all.  I’m quite pleased.  So much so, I decided to visit some friends for the rest of the day and check on how everypony is doing!” she revealed, definitely in good spirits.  I wondered at how much of her ‘inspiration’ was shipping Sweetie out of the house for a while, but refrained from commenting on that.

“Did ya visit mah sister an’ brother?” the moving box asked, confusing Rarity for a brief moment before she giggled and shook her head, despite the filly obviously not able to see her body language from under there.

“Why no, I didn’t have to.  Your dear sister delivered food supplies to me that I had ordered earlier this month.  She stayed for a good hour talking about the farm, harvest, and preparations for winter.  I believe this year is the first in three that she’s actually pleased with the progress,” Rarity admitted, making me wonder what exactly had changed apart from the new lift and conveyor.  Still, I doubted they’d make THAT much difference.

She continued, however, with, “Afterwards, I visited Fluttershy for a while.  Then I tried to visit Mender and Twilight, but remembered that Twilight was at the town hall laying out plans, and Mender was here working for the Cakes!”  Her being here led me to assume that this was the next place she visited, but I had to ask anyway.

“Did you visit Twilight at town hall?” I inquired, moving the large box off Apple Bloom and setting it down beside the filly, who smiled up at me and stopped glowing a moment later.

“Ah, no.  Twilight usually doesn’t like getting distracted while trying to plan,” Rarity excused, earning a raised eyebrow from me.  The pearly mare hesitated and coughed lightly before adding, “And I heard from a reliable source that she’s in a foul mood.  Fluttershy wasn’t doing well either, despite her animal friends trying to cheer her.  I believe they got into a nasty fight last night.”  Ah.  Well, that would explain it.

“Oh no!  I’m gonna have to go around and cheer them up after this!” Pinkie gasped out, eyes widening as she held her hooves to her mouth while sitting next to me.  Well, she didn’t have to, but…  Well, okay, actually she might.  I momentarily forgot who I was considering.

Rarity gave a somber nod to that, then guessed, “I have a feeling it had something to do with you arriving in the hospital last night?”  Ah, right, I forgot she was a very observant mare.

Sighing, I nodded and added, “You could say that.  I, uh… shouldn’t talk about it here, though.”  My eye flicked ever so slightly towards the fillies, and a burst of realization shot down Rarity’s link as I realized she caught my hint.

“Oh, oh dear.  Okay.  Do stop by after you’re finished with this, however.  Oh, and if you could be a dear and deliver the girls as well?  I believe we’re having a slumber party tonight,” she requested, smiling down at the fillies as they gathered closer, Babs catching up from the other side of the room.

They gave happy nods, and I snickered before adding to it.  “Sure.  I’ll walk them over when we finish testing the tracks, then.  It should only be another twenty minutes or so,” I estimated, looking up at the starting line directly above me.  There was a big asterisk attached to that, of course, as I always planned for the worst of the whole thing just catching on fire, and then me having to rush everypony outside of the blazing building, then battle the flames back and try to save as much of the establishment as I could, hopefully as the fireponies arrived.

“You’re a doll, Mender.  I’ll see you in a half an hour or so, then,” Rarity agreed, giving me a warm smile before heading towards the door.  The short visit led me to believe she planned on continuing our discussion at her place.  She probably wanted to know all the dirty gossip, heh.  Well, I trusted her enough as a close friend to give her the details, anyway.  I wondered idly if she’d laugh.

Pinkie nodded enthusiastically at that, however.  “Good idea!  I’ll walk with you to Rarity’s, then split off to go see Fluttershy!  She’ll need the cheering up more, I think,” the pink mare deduced empathically.  I nodded, then whispered a short summary of the ‘issue’ into the mare through the link.  Her pink cheeks lit up a little and she gave me a sheepish grin before nodding.

“Yeah, um, that would probably bother Fluttershy.  I’ll go visit her and calm her down, then,” she assured in an uncharacteristically calm manner.  Returning her smile, I looked back up at the starting line again.  Oh boy.  Well, might as well bite the bullet and see if we can get the flag systems to work, then test it.  Here’s hoping the fire department had a fast response time…
> Forgiveness Pending - Chapter 83
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was something strange about it, but Fluttershy’s bed was just more comfortable than most that I’d been on.  It was probably something psychological involved, as I didn’t think it had any different traits than Twilight’s, or the bed in Canterlot.  Maybe it was the warm orange and white checker pattern to the bedspread, mixed with the butterfly motif?  Maybe it was the gentle temperature she managed to keep the whole cottage at compared to the harsher winds outside at the moment?  Maybe it was the steamy haze that came from the upstairs bathroom after our relaxing forty minute soak in the tub by candlelight?  Regardless of the reasons behind it, I found the bed to be particularly relaxing at the moment as I rested softly on my side, watching my two mares next to me.  My mares?  Heh, maybe…

Twilight looked equally relaxed this time, her tongue hanging out limply as another soft crack and pop came from her back, Fluttershy resting on her rump while massaging along her muscles.  My back and calf muscles had already been ‘serviced’ in a similar way by both of them, and I was feeling about like sleeping if I didn’t suspect that Fluttershy had other plans.  The movement of the mare’s hips against Twilight’s unsuspecting derrière gave away how heated the mare was getting.  I was getting pretty good at picking out the signs that she wanted a bit of fun by now.

Eventually Twilight shifted to a more passive relaxation as she let the mare on top of her work.  I couldn’t help but notice her tail slightly rising, however.  Slowly, a blush slipped onto Twilight’s cheeks alongside a more knowing smirk.  “Mmm, feeling a bit wet back there, and it’s not me…” Twilight finally pointed out, glancing back up at Fluttershy, who only blushed and rocked down a little harder.  The lavender mare shivered, then rotated around under Fluttershy, moving the mare’s hips out to either side of her own as she pulled her down into a gentle kiss.

My eyes widened a little, the scene becoming all the more interesting to watch as the kiss didn’t stay gentle for long at all.  Fluttershy let Twilight into her mouth fairly fast, then let out a moan as she pushed down harder against the mare’s thighs.  Turning, I shifted a little more onto my stomach to keep myself comfortable, the thickening ‘problem’ I was having kept out of sight, thankfully.  The last thing I wanted to do was disturb them.

It felt a bit weird just intently watching, but at the same time, I knew that if I tried to give them privacy, it would go poorly.  Fluttershy probably wanted me here, so here I’d stay.  My free entertainment only got more heated, however, as Fluttershy kept rocking and undulating her hips, and the mare under her started to squirm and pant as they switched to full on making out, a string of drool slipping out of the corner of Twilight’s mouth and down her cheek.  She refused to let go of Fluttershy to wipe it, however, instead massaging under the base of the yellow mare’s wings and earning a soft gasp and moan as their mouths momentarily parted.  It felt like a diamond log under me now, and I resisted starting to rock my own hips as I just watched them quietly, trying my hardest not to intrude or do anything wrong.

Both mares were getting more animate, the wet squishing sound starting to fill the room alongside scents drifting into the air, Fluttershy rocking down at her in time for her pushing upwards.  They ground together again and again, the flush slipping down to their chests now as Fluttershy’s glazed over eyes slid back down to look at Twilight for just a moment before she ducked in again. Their lips locked together once more as their stomachs and chests pushed against each other at the same time.  Fluttershy added a small, full body ‘bounce’ to her motions, and Twilight went crazy, groaning out into the yellow mare’s mouth as she shivered and shuddered.  It only took me a moment to realize she was timing Twilight’s winking motions with her rocks, rubbing her own lower lips up Twilight’s clit each time it popped out.

My mind was a haze as I fought tooth and nail to not move.  To not get up and move over there and pin them both down.  My head spun and I knew I was probably just as flushed as they were, but I kept my hips locked and completely still, a hot liquid starting to gather against my sternum as I lay on myself, keeping it locked down.  I was almost afraid it would lash out with a mind of its own if I dare raise my chest up even a little bit.

Twilight’s outcry snapped me back to immediate focus on the scene in front of me.  Her body tensed up under Fluttershy and pushed up hard.  Fluttershy shivered on top of her, their mouths slipping out of contact as all of the lavender mare’s focus melted away.  Fluttershy instead slipped lower and suckled gently on Twilight’s neck instead, shivering and moaning into her lover’s fur as her hips sped up against the undoubtedly constantly out clit now.  It felt like an eternity, but it was actually only a few seconds before Fluttershy too cried out, squeezing the mare under her tight as their hips held solid together.  The room was absolutely flooded with the thick pheromones, my mind swimming in a deluge of it with no relief whatsoever as I watched the mares peak.

Long seconds passed, Fluttershy collapsing on top of Twilight, who looked just as dazed.  The room was heavy with the smell of sex now on top of the scented candles, and the only sounds were their labored breathing.  Twilight looked almost in a daze, which I could definitely relate to.  I felt so hard that I considered possibly being able to cut diamonds at this point, and shuddered, trying to calm it down under me.  I could barely think, and the room was rocking back and forth in the pure saturation of the smells and probable overdose of pheromones I was getting.  My body felt heavy and hot, and honestly, I just wanted to pounce on Fluttershy and hilt myself as hard as I could.  The suddenness made it feel…  It didn’t feel like me to think like that.  My mind snapped back to what happened with my first encounter with Snapshot, and I focused, trying to fight that heat back down a bit.

I’d not seen her move, however.  Suddenly, my vision filled with teal as Fluttershy nuzzled my nose with hers, ever so gently.  “Calm, Mender.  There’s nothing to be scared of.  Let it out.  You need a bit of relief now, too,” the mare murmured, still flushed heavily as she turned the nuzzle into a soft kiss.  That sensation reared up again and I tried to hold it back, but Fluttershy just kissed me even harder.  I groaned into her lips, feeling that aching need slide free and pop out as she rolled me over, settling on my chest.  Parted finally away from my stomach a little, I felt my length ride upwards a bit more as Fluttershy settled on my chest fully, still kissing me and holding me close.  It slid up between her two butt cheeks, and she shuddered as the ridge momentarily grazed her tailhole before bumping into the glands just under her dock.

“No moving now.  Just let me do all the work,” she whispered, breaking the kiss to nuzzle me along the cheek as I groaned out.  Twilight was heavily flushed still as well, but rotated now and was watching us with surprised, yet highly curious eyes.  They remained locked on my thickness as Fluttershy slid up and down it, her tail swaying across the tip repeatedly as she smeared her own dock with my fluid.  She shuddered at the sensation before sliding upwards again, leaving a sopping wet trail up my stomach.  I didn’t care even slightly.

The yellow mare shivered, then whined momentarily before suddenly apologizing.  “Um, I’m s-sorry Mender.  I can’t tease anymore.  I need you i-inside, really, really badly!” she hissed out, eyes shifting momentarily unfocused as she pushed her hips upwards ever so slightly.  I shuddered, not even able to groan as my flare pushed along her folds, parting them with just the edge and letting a small lake of fluid spill out across it.  She was beyond soaked from the one orgasm already, and now significantly more worked up than that, even.

Holding that position for a delirious second, she let herself wink once, then twice more as her clit momentarily pushed out into my urethra, earning another spasm and shudder from me and getting it covered in my pre.  In a long, drawn out groan, she pushed backwards instead, completely parting herself against my head and pushing almost half of me inside of her with one thrust.

My mind went numb as it got really hard not to just growl and slam in fully.  No, she said no moving!  Fluttershy herself went rigid on top of me as well, her eyes widening drastically and her tongue hanging out.  Twilight’s eyes were huge as well, staring at where we were joined instead as she sat up now, moving closer to get a better perspective, by the looks of it.  I didn’t mind, her obviously perfectly okay to be there, and the fact that I was far too busy with the raw sensation burning up my spine of having Fluttershy all around me.

Slowly, Fluttershy’s eyes lost focus and she shuddered again before whispering, “Mmm, oh yes.  I needed this so bad…  It’s not… ah, it’s not fair to go without after I know what it’s like…”  Giving up teasing herself, she just pushed all the way back finally, taking me completely inside of herself with one wet squish and pressing her rump up against my thick balls.  I felt the mess she’d made on her dock prior as her tail rested across my two orbs, and shuddered again as that meant I was buried as far inside of her as I could go, just slightly shy of her cervix.

My forelegs twitched, pushed out to either side of me now as I fought hard not to reach up and-  “Hold me, Mender,” Fluttershy requested gently, seeing my predicament.  I shuddered in visible relief before reaching up and wrapping them gently around her back and waist.  She murmured happily as I held onto her, and then everything washed away as she started to rock her hips slowly.  Twilight stayed slightly behind us now, staring in absolute fascination at Fluttershy’s rear as she took all of me.  The fascination was no longer pure curiosity, however, and I saw that haze returning to her eyes as her hoof slid down her own body as she watched, rubbing momentarily at her exceedingly hard teats.

Unfortunately, due to the ‘show’ I’d gotten before this, I was quite a bit worked up already.  Fluttershy seemed even more sensitive, however, not having fully come down from her first orgasm before coming over to me, it would seem.  She whimpered on top of me, and I felt her body making milking motions against my cock, trying to pull me a little deeper with each pulse.  Her movements became more frantic as she added a little bounce to her motions, and I suddenly recognized what she’d done earlier.  That was the same motion she usually took while riding on top of me instead!  She’d done the same with Twilight!  I was suddenly curious as to what she’d been thinking at that moment, but it all blanked out as she gasped and cried out on top of me, slamming her hips down as hard as she could and massaging my balls upwards with the slick underside of her tail.

My body tensed as everything seemed to tighten at once, her muzzle pushing along the side of mine as she almost tried to bury herself against my chest.  “Aaah!  G-give it to me,” she managed to whisper, her body shivering as her inner walls massaged me upwards.  My mind blanked completely as I felt my flare expand inside of her, pushing a little up and expanding out until it pressed tight into her cervix.  Everything washed away as I felt throb after throb fire off directly into her.  The seal was tight though, and there was nowhere to go but inwards.  I felt it release over and over again, nothing rushing past my flare yet, each shot filling up her womb.  She knew I was messy, and it didn’t take long for her to fill up completely.  She let out a second cry as the pressure inside of her gave away and fluid rushed out around the seal my flare had made, washing out over my balls and spilling onto the bedspread as I kept pumping.

For just that moment, there was nothing else in the world except for us.  I held my mate against my chest and kissed her, feeling her tongue dance out and tease mine into her mouth as my balls slowly churned, turning lazy in their pulses and squeezing out just a little more into her body as she shuddered against me.  She was mine, and I wasn’t going to let anypony else ever have her.  The thought felt so greedy and possessive, yet it burned through my mind as she let herself get filled with my seed.  She wanted it, too.  We were close enough now that I could feel her desires.

The room finally spun back into place, both of us panting heavily now as a small river of fluid ran down my rear.  My ears twitched lightly as I picked up a third set of pants, however, and looked over at Twilight in mild surprise.  Her eyes remained locked on our rears and the fluid now everywhere.  She was sitting down and partially leaned back, one hoof rubbing across a badly swollen teat, and the other furiously hoofing her own soaked slit.  Admittedly, this was the first time I’d gotten a good look at her most private areas, and I’d never seen the mare actively aroused before like this.  She didn’t seem to care that I was looking, either, shuddering as her eyes flicked up to see both of us watching her.

Fluttershy smiled, that thick blush looking gorgeous now along her chest and cheeks as she slid forwards, causing another small pool of fluid to exit her now slightly full looking tummy.  She almost looked pregnant for a moment, and fantasies ran rampant through my mind.  Breeding her suddenly felt so right…

“Mmm, I think Twilight needs a little more relief, Mender,” Fluttershy noted, rolling over to my left, which put her next to Twilight as well.  The lavender mare flushed hard, mouth opening to say something, but her voice faded as her eyes locked onto my still throbbing thickness laid out across my stomach, now covered in clear and white fluid.  They snapped to the right a moment later, instead locking onto Fluttershy’s slightly gaped pussy.  The yellow mare blushed a bit more, then slid her hooves down and parted her folds a little, causing another small river to slide down between the cheeks of her rump.  “He gave me a lot of cream, but he can usually go two or three times before needing a break.  Move over onto him, Twilight…” she suggested, smiling softly at her.

Twilight froze, looking back over to me as I relaxed against the pillows again.  She hesitated, and I could see the sudden uncertainty in her eyes.  Fluttershy leaned forward, however, and kissed her cheek gently, a rather messy hoof lifting up and pushing Twilight’s hooves aside, rubbing her lower lips with some of the milky fluid.  The lavender mare shuddered and softened there as Fluttershy took over masturbating her for a long moment while I watched.

After the mare was nice and relaxed, Fluttershy leaned up again and kissed her nose before gesturing over to me.  “He cares for you, Twilight.  He’s not going to do anything scary or painful to you.  I’ll be right here to help, too.  We both love you, Twilight.  It will feel really good,” she promised, voice soft and assuring.

Twilight flushed as she looked over at me, and I nodded to her, extending my right hoof out towards her if she wished.  “I won’t move at all.  You can be completely in control,” I added.  She shuddered and visibly swallowed before reaching over with her left foreleg and hooking mine.  Slowly, I helped her over, and Twilight slipped on top of me with a shudder.  Her superheated nethers touched down on the slightly cooling patch of slickness up my stomach, and she groaned, suddenly rubbing along it a little bit.  I smiled and helped her steady herself as she rocked on me a little, not moving at all.  Still, I wasn’t sure if Fluttershy’s statement was true or not.

“Um, actually it might hurt a little bit, Fluttershy,” I reminded, looking over at the mare.  Oddly, she just blushed and snickered, causing me to lift an eyebrow and look back at Twilight, who stopped rocking and blushed, eyes focusing again for a moment.

“Um, I don’t have my hymen.  Don’t worry about that,” she murmured, wiggling her forehooves together.  Oh!  Oh.  Wait, what?  I thought she was a…

She detected the question before it even fully formed in my mind and rapidly shook her head.  “No!  You’re…  You’re definitely my first stallion.  I broke it on accident.  Um, long story.  Hydra chased me off a cliff.  I’ll tell you later,” she summarized, coughing lightly.

I blinked at that.  A hydra?  No, wait, focus.  Stay focused, Mender.  “Never a dull moment in Ponyville.  I’ll ask later…” I agreed, chuckling to myself lightly as Twilight smiled finally on top of me.  Actually, the distraction might have helped her out…

“Let’s try just rubbing, Twi,” Fluttershy suggested, gaining the lavender mare’s attention again.  I shivered as the yellow mare slipped behind us and lifted my cock up, gently positioning it against Twilight's lips.  The first contact was electric, sending a spark up my spine as I saw Twilight’s eyes widen again, and she shivered.  There was no penetration, however, and Fluttershy just slid my slick tip up and down Twilight’s pussy, letting her winking clit flick across the head a couple times and getting another shudder out of both of us.

Slumping, Twilight settled with my head against her chest, unable to slide down all the way due to the length of my cock.  “Oh… oh wow.  This feels… it’s more flexible than a dildo… and so much warmer!  Mmm, it’s pulsing, too,” she murmured, incidentally revealing at least a little experimentation with toys.  At this point, however, that was the least of my concern.

Fluttershy smiled at that, kissing Twilight’s rump for a moment before sliding my flare a little bit more against her.  This time it was enough to part the plump folds and spill a bit of fluid out across my head as it slid along the inside.  The mare on top of me gasped, losing strength in her legs and collapsing against the pillows around me.  I gently held her there, rubbing and massaging her sides as Fluttershy continued the relentless rubbing, now inside the folds of her body.

“So thick… ha…  Mmm, I need a little more, Fluttershy.  Can you fit the flare in…?” Twilight asked softly, shivering on top of me as her body’s urges started to climb once more.

The yellow mare nodded twice, surprisingly confident as she slid me up a little more, then rocked to the right and left instead, taking advantage of my natural flexibility.  I might not have as much as a normal stallion, but there was still quite a bit of give to it.  Twilight shuddered, feeling the ridges of my flare slide into her alternatingly.  Oh so slowly, Fluttershy widened her out, pushing a little deeper with each sideways movement until there was only internal motion.  I groaned under Twilight, and Fluttershy suddenly stopped, smirking as I realized the entire flare was buried inside Twilight.  I was inside of her for the first time…

“Ah… why did you stop?  Wait, did I actually…  It fit?” Twilight asked hesitantly a moment later, trying to look back over her shoulder.  Fluttershy just giggled and nodded, however, giving me a little nudge and pushing me a little deeper.  Both Twilight and I groaned at the sensation.  She was absurdly tight!  Still, she was soaked enough for it to not really matter, and she squeezed so deliciously around my head.  I could probably orgasm just from this, but that would upset the girls, so I refrained.

Twilight shivered, finally realizing that I was partly inside of her now.  Turning back to face me, she looked down at my face instead, shakily lifting herself again with her legs.  I steadied her, massaging her sides as I smiled upwards at her, seeing her eyes soften slowly.  A smile formed on her muzzle as she shuddered again, then slowly leaned down.

Holding the side of her head, I kissed her softly as she slid, inch by inch downwards.  She hesitated only a few times, stopping to let herself adjust as I nuzzled and kissed her cheeks.  Her flush was back, but this time something else was in her eyes as she stared into mine.  There was a sort of thankfulness there.  A desire, too, that was rapidly building as she kissed me deeper.

Her rump pushed into my balls and she shuddered, filled to the brim completely with every inch of my cock.  I was completely inside Twilight, and she looked like she was in heaven.  She was a lot tighter than Fluttershy, and not quite as wet as I was used to, which made the movements slower but quite sensitive.  She rested on my chest fully, keeping her lips pressed to mine as I let her tongue into my mouth, earning a soft groan as she heatedly kissed me.

It felt like hours passed as she lay on me, with me stretching out inside of her.  Slowly, her inner muscles started rippling and clenching, gripping along my shaft as she shuddered.  Her clit winked out again into my base, and I squeezed her tight, kissing her neck as she slipped free of my lips.  Incidentally, my squeeze caused myself to push a bit deeper into her again, and she locked up instantly, wantonly groaning out.

“Oh… oh wow.  It fits, and this is so much more amazing than I thought it would be…” she admitted, lifting herself slightly and, to my surprise, she felt along her navel and pressed.  I FELT her hoof along the outside of her as she pressed in and shuddered.  “You’re so thick… oh, I could almost cum around you already… ah!  I… I need to move…” 

She lifted up me slightly, then slid back down, thrusting me into her yet again and groaning, the movement a bit faster and easier this time.  Every thrust, she’d move me a few more centimeters out, and get more and more used to my girth.  Fluttershy grinned as she watched, looking delighted that Twilight was getting into it.  Where Fluttershy liked rocking her hips, Twilight liked actual pistoning motion, I quickly realized.

Again and again, Twilight pushed me deep into her body, making sure to press up into my balls with each backwards motion.  Fluttershy slipped up behind us finally, and I suddenly felt something impossibly soaked and quite hot press oh so gently into my balls as the yellow mare settled in on my lap, bumping hips with Twilight with every back thrust.

Getting adjusted to the motion, I held Twilight down to me as she did long and powerful thrusts, making sure to bottom herself out with each one as her eyes rolled up until she closed them.  My forelegs wrapped around her hips, giving her tension and holding her to me with each thrust, causing her to cry out and clench even harder around me every time she filled up completely.  Mine.  They were both mine now, and it felt amazing.  

I didn’t even realize what was happening as the haze took over.  Twilight groaned into my mouth as I found myself kissing her again, my tongue chasing hers this time as she messily let me taste into her mouth.  I tilted my head to the side to let more into her, and she flushed as I pushed her hips down possessively at the same time, breaking my promise to not move a little.  She didn’t have any complaints, however, instead groaning into my throat as my other hoof held the back of her head to me as I filled her pussy up as much as I could.

Shorter thrusts started, this time with me helping her push downwards and inwards.  That hunger flooded me, and tasted wonderful as I got exactly what I was starving for.  Her body shuddered on top of me as her plump folds pushed down against my balls, meeting Fluttershy’s as she pushed into Twilight’s rump.  Both mares cried out at the sensation, and I felt a new flood of fluid around my two orbs as at least Fluttershy came once more.  

I was proved wrong as Twilight clenched down hard as well, calling out sharply in an almost scream as fluid rushed around my shaft.  Letting myself fall into the haze, I kissed her hard as she turned the scream into a long moan and milked my shaft with her body.  It was too much, and I felt the tightening as, just like Fluttershy before her, my flare widened and sealed against Twilight’s cervix.  For just a moment, I pretended the mare was in heat and fertile for the seed I was about to flood her with.  I didn’t realize that the images would flood through our link at this distance, however.  

Twilight’s eyes rolled back again as her body locked up on top of me, the only spasming movement coming from deep inside of her as her body begged for me to release into it.  Again and again I felt myself pulse, flooding her womb with thick seed.  I couldn’t stop kissing her, possessively holding her there as she filled up with my fluids and it rushed out around my cock, spraying across Fluttershy’s pussy as the yellow mare panted and slumped to the side.

Minutes seemed to pass.  Everything finally stopped spinning as Twilight panted on top of me, and Fluttershy was tucked into my side.  Wow.  Just…  I couldn’t think of any possible words, and just let myself blank out as Fluttershy kissed my cheek gently.

“Thank you, Mender.  You made her first time gentle,” the mare added, a happy and pleased flush and smile to her face.  Twilight smiled as well against me finally, kissing my collarbone.

“That…  Mmm.  We need to do this again.  A lot.  I…  I wanna try you on top next time…” Twilight requested, lavender eyes finally opening as she smiled up at me.  I was still hard inside of her, and she shivered lightly as I hugged her close, but that urge was gone from both of us, and I felt something else coming from her now.  Something warm, and happy.  She kissed the underside of my chin before sliding to the other side of me, opposite of Fluttershy.

Smiling, I assured, “We have the whole future ahead of us.  I have a feeling we’ll be doing this lots, don’t worry.”  The mare grinned and Fluttershy giggled as she tucked into my back.

“Mmm, I think I can handle that…” Twilight admitted, letting me finally slide out of her gently as she slipped up and tucked herself against my chest.  With that long romp between the three of us, it didn’t take long at all for us to fall asleep…


* * * * *


Stretching slowly, I yawned and cracked my eyes open.  Mmm, that had been an interesting dream adventure.  Awareness slowly focused back into place, and I smiled gently as I realized the lavender unicorn was still snuggling softly into my forelegs, muzzle pressed into my chest and a soft smile apparent on her face.  She had gotten a lot closer to both of us last night, it felt like.  Plus, it was the start of a celebration today!  Oh, and my jaw hadn't been impaled on a horn as I slept!  The possibility of that happening hadn't eluded me, but hers was kind of rounded, so it probably wouldn't hurt too badly.  Regardless, a good day overall!

Fluttershy was snuggled into my back at the same time.  I chalked up tomorrow night as when both of us snuggled Twilight, if I had my rotations right.  Twilight had made a rather easy to follow schedule which fit rather easily into every month having thirty days, which was divisible by three, of course.  She really liked that part.  Then each of us would get exactly ten nights getting pancaked between the other two.  Secretly, I didn't mind regardless.  Watching them snuggle together was beyond adorable as well.  The only thing that changed was who I happened to be holding.  She started going into a more elaborate formula to figure out which direction the center pony would be facing, but we stopped her there, thankfully.

The yellow mare stirred behind me first, leaning forward and pushing her face into my mane with a pleased murmur, nuzzling the back of my neck softly.  Twilight's ears twitched against my chin as she heard the soft noise, and she started moving as well.  Both were the gentle sort of wake ups, not that cold sweat jerking awake halfway through a terrified scream as something murdered you.  As Redheart had found out, I was no stranger to those either.  Ironically, it was usually me that was killing me.  Well, maybe it was just my armor.  Either way, I was really scary.

Twilight's eyes slowly opened, the two pretty, violet orbs lifted upwards to look at me, her smile widening a little.  Ducking her horn, I kissed between them gently, causing her to close them for a second and giggle.  I felt Fluttershy smile through our link before she spoke, "I'm glad you two are getting along much better."  Her voice was a bit softer than normal with a slight sleepy slur to it that she always had when just waking up.

The lavender mare giggled more at that, seeming in fine spirits indeed.  "I think that's an understatement after...  Well, after all that,” she murmured, a light blush coming back to her cheeks as she buried her muzzle in my neck again, as if to hide herself.

As cute as it was, it wouldn't do.  Feeling Fluttershy think the same thing and urge me forwards, I nodded and used my right forehoof to slip up Twilight's back, raising her head up gently from the side.  Fluttershy peeked around my head at the same time and instead spoke for me.  "We really love you, Twilight.  Um, you don't need to get embarrassed about showing affection and enjoying each other's company, especially when it's just us here," she assured softly.

Twilight watched us for a moment before her eyes softened a little and she nodded, the flushed cheeks still there regardless.  "I know.  This'll just take me some time to get used to, is all.  Um," she started, before hesitating and frowning slightly.  I felt her shift around a little under the blankets, and then her cheeks went from pink to red again.  "Um, do you think we could take another shower before breakfast?" she asked hesitantly.

Gasping, I pretended to be shocked before pointing out, "Twilight!  We just took a shower last night!  Why do we need to take another one so soon?"  I felt light amusement come from Fluttershy, but Twilight squeaked and held her hooves up to me.  

"But...  But after all that..." she tried to protest.  I started snickering, unable to keep my poker face at that.  She gave me a scowl, instantly realizing I'd been screwing with her, and Fluttershy giggled.

"We usually take a morning shower, too, Twilight.  Don't worry.  We can go get cleaned up,” she assured, letting the mare relax against my chest again.  

Twilight exhaled softly in relief, then smirked up at me.  "Then what are we waiting for?  We have a rather big day ahead of us, after all, and the shower takes at least forty-five minutes!" she reminded, hopping out of bed in an instant and bringing that horrible, dreaded cold in from beyond.  Arg!  Wait, what?

"Wait, forty-five minutes?  For a shower?" I asked, trying to sit up at least as my body screamed in protest.  Fluttershy giggled at that, then kissed my cheek and fluttered past.  I gave her a confused look until she glanced back over her left shoulder and winked at me, her tail lightly flicking up and smacking me in the nose.  Oh.  Oh...  

Finding motivation from somewhere, I hopped up in bed and stretched.  Right.  Long showers were cool, too!  This day was starting to turn out awesome!


* * * * *


Sort of.  I sighed, staring at the rather significant crowds of ponies practically everywhere along town square and the paths leading to and from it.  The direction heading towards the Southeast field was particularly crowded, and I knew that was both the starting line for the Running of the Leaves, and the main cloud bank they'd set up for the Cloudy Sky Dash afterwards.  Several friends were in the first race, with both Applejack and Rainbow Dash competing against each other in it, and Pinkie Pie and Spike doing their annual announcing.  They also announced for the second race, too, which I heard was quite a bit rougher.  I was a bit concerned for Rainbow, hoping she didn't tire herself out in the first race before even getting to the second.  Normally she was fine with pacing, but if she got into her 'hot blooded' mode, that might go out the window.

Still, there wasn't a lot I could do about it.  For now, I had a specific list of things I needed to get done, of course.  Twilight had given me a lot to do, and I'd only managed a few of them so far.  The mass against my back moved again, and I glanced back at Spike as he readjusted himself on top of me, still reading over a checklist.

"Okay, so we picked up the blanket and picnic basket from the library.  We got some veggies from both Applejack and Carrot Top.  Now we just need to get some sandwich materials from Lily and Daisy, then pick up some refreshments at Sugarcube Corner.  Mmm, they do sell those soda bottles there," he read off, checking things off as we finished them.  He was looking rather lonely at the library when I arrived with Twilight's list, having spent the night there by himself, so I asked if he wanted to come with and help me get things done.  He agreed surprisingly quickly.

"The flower trio’s stand is closer, so we'll head there next," I suggested idly, spotting it in the corner of the market.  It turns out they don't just offer flowers for decoration, but also ground and snipped flower product for food purposes, in many tasty and varied types.  Given that was one of my favorite sandwich stuffers, I was more than pleased to hear this.  Plus, they typically had freshly baked bread there as well, more as a matter of convenience than anything.  Sugarcube Corner didn't just make sugary treats, ironically, but also baked a lot of more normal bread products.  They shared a bit of the profit with the flower trio for selling at their shop, it would seem.

Spike snickered at that, then pointed out in an amused voice, "You just want to get the sandwich materials!"  I rolled my eyes at that.  Admittedly, they were my favorite food, but this was just practical!

"Hey, they're closer.  Besides, if you behave, we'll pick up Rarity after we get done at Sugarcube Corner," I offered.  He froze momentarily, eyes widening before he rapidly nodded and grinned at me.  Heh.  Predictable, but that wasn't necesarily a bad thing.

Squeezing through the crowd, I slipped closer towards the stand, only to note Rose sitting at it instead, surprising me a little.  Normally she tended to their stocks instead behind their stand, conveniently where their house was.  Lily and Daisy were nowhere to be seen, however.  The cream colored mare smiled at me and waved as I approached, and I gave a less enthusiastic one in return, nodding.  Crowds made me uneasy, especially when there were so many ponies I didn't know in it.  Lots of visitors had come in from practically the entire nation, with Ponyville's wide open expanse of fields and winding country roads being ideal for the Running of the Leaves.  The Cloudy Sky Dash was slightly newer, it would seem, having only become tradition about ten or twelve years ago.  It was also more commercial, and seemed to take advantage of the large crowds gathered by the older race to get some nice, sky high advertising going on.  It sort of made me wonder what kind of economy Equestria had.  I'd never paid that much attention.

"Glad to see a friendly, familiar face!" Rose chirped as I slipped up in front of the stand, Spike leaning over my head to wave at her as well.

I snickered at that, still a bit skittish as my proximity sensors kept pinging against passing ponies.  I carefully checked each and every one of them, too, not too keen to be surprised by BEID or something amidst the crowd.  "It's strange to hear that, given that I only moved here a month or so back," I admitted, relaxing a little as I turned to look at her again.

She gave me a warm smile as she snickered, then assured, "We make friends fast in Ponyville.  You're old hat by now, and a nice stallion to boot, so that's grade A in my book."  There were a lot of different phrases in there that I didn't quite get, but she kept going before I could inquire, and instead asked, "You're looking a bit... uneasy, though.  Any national emergencies we should know about?"  Heh.

"Haha, no, thankfully.  I just don't like crowds, is all," I assured, remembering how easily panicked ponies could get sometimes.

She visibly relaxed, then grinned, and I winced.  That reaction was usually never good for me.  "Aww!  You're shy, then!  That's really adorable.  I thought an important pony like yourself would have been the opposite, but that's just fine regardless!  Anyway, are you here for something in particular?" she inquired, perking up afterwards.  Whew.  I only blushed slightly, having expected something far worse to come out of her mouth.  Maybe I was just used to dealing with Rainbow too much?

"Yeah, we're here to pick up sandwich supplies for the events later!  We're having a picnic after the first race," Spike cut in, slipping the list down over my face and letting it unfurl, completely blocking my sight of Rose as he pointed out the ingredients Twi had written down.  Well, this worked, too...

The cream colored mare giggled again before starting to move about behind her stand.  "Ah, Twilight sent you, then.  I'd recognize her writing anywhere.  Where's she at, then?" she asked, shifting to a 'polite conversation' tone while grabbing what I assumed was the ingredients on the list.  I hoped.

"She's the organizer for the events, so she had to go and help them set up about two hours ago.  Fluttershy's at Rarity's and awaiting my arrival," I explained idly, shifting about as I stared at the back of the list paper, still keeping an eye on my proximity sensors.  Thankfully I didn't need to be able to see in order to detect threats.

Rose let out a wistful sigh as she started putting things in the basket for me.  "I guess all of us know what it's like to be stuck working during the festivities.  Lily and Daisy are down at the field, getting the decorations set up right now.  Sometimes, I kinda wish I was a tourist instead, so I could just enjoy the show," she revealed, sounding a bit sad at that.

I shook my head, then suggested, "Can't you close up shop after the festival starts?"  Of course, the Cakes weren't either, as ponies came in all during the day to get food and drinks.  It was unfortunate that Equestria didn't have some sort of broadcasting ability for situations like this.

She let out another, softer giggle before hesitating.  "No, I really shouldn't.  I have morning shift, and ponies are going to be coming all day for food.  We're taking turns with watching the shop so the other two can watch the races.  They get to see the first race, then I get to see the second with Daisy," she explained, putting the last of the ingredients into the basket.  Spike rolled the scroll up again and put it into my saddlebag as I set the pink coin purse on the stand and slid six bits out of it.  Spike shook his head at that as I counted out the tiny coins.  This was harder than it looked with hooves, but I didn't want to draw undue attention using my magic.

"So Daisy gets to see both races?  That doesn't seem fair," the dragon pointed out, sounding surprisingly irate about it, despite it technically not being any of our business.

Rose blushed lightly at that, then snickered and shook her head.  "Oh, well, uh, no, Daisy's paying us both back for it later," she assured vaguely.  Huh.  

"Oh?  Okay!  I guess it's really none of my business.  You're all my friends though and yeah..." he excused, scratching the back spines behind his head in a sort of awkward manner.  That I could relate to.  My special talent should have been the faux pas.  Although what would that Cutie Mark look like?  Two ponies in one of those awkward hugs that lasted two seconds too long?

My proximity alert going off again snapped me out of it, triggering right behind me and almost making me freak out and fall into a guard stance.  Almost, thankfully, or I might have caused another one of those situations.  A glance over my shoulder, however, only showed another mare slipping into the queue behind me, looking up at the 'menu' that was hung under the "Three Flower's Delights" sign.  Okay, Fluttershy was right.  Maybe I should release some tranquilizers into my system.

I moved out of the way as I slid my bits forward, Rose taking them and nodding, sliding my basket to me in return with a smile.  "I understand, Spike.  I know you're just concerned," she returned, giving him a happy expression before, without missing a beat, turning to the mare and adding, "Hello, Miss!  How may I help you?"  Okay, she'd definitely done this before.

I glanced over at the white mare as she trotted up, still looking up at the menu as she brushed a bit of her dark green mane out of her lighter green eyes.  Something about her seemed strange, but I was probably being paranoid again.  "Um, I'm still looking.  Give me a moment," she requested in a gentle sounding voice.  Rose gave her a pleasant nod before looking back to me instead.  Scratch that.  It was probably her vacant, spaced out looking stare as she looked at the board that gave me the strange vibes.

"Don't think we forgot what you requested, either!  We wanted to let you know that the day after the festivities, we're open for talking a bit about herds, if you're still interested.  Lots of ponies have herd troubles," she reminded.  Oh!  Admittedly, between everything that happened in Canterlot, then falling out of a train while on fire, I'd totally forgotten that I'd requested to talk to them about that.  Still, it wasn't too bad of an idea.

Nodding, I agreed with, "I should be fine for then.  We do have to go back to Canterlot a few days after the festival, but I should still have plenty of time."  Assuming nothing disastrous happened, of course.  Given my luck, I could be anywhere at that point.  The moon, swimming away from sharks in the ocean, Pony Hell if it existed, or far more likely, in the hospital.  Again.

Motion out of the corner of my eye drew my attention again, snapping me out of my various imagined scenarios of differing degrees of doom.  Proximity scans had nothing new, and I turned to note the white mare now staring up at Spike instead of the menu.  Oh, I guessed it was a little weird to be walking around with a small dragon on my back.  He didn't notice her attention until she spoke, however.

"Uhm, I don't mean to intrude, but did you say your name was Spike?" she inquired softly, in a polite but curious tone.  The lack of energy behind her words made me a little tired just hearing her talk, but I kept a smile on all the same.  Shining Armor had said I needed to at least attempt to appear confident and assured of myself, even when I was totally the opposite.  It hadn't been really applicable until now, however.

The dragon perked and looked over at her curiously, but I saw no dawning recognition on his face.  So he didn't know her, then.  "Oh, yes, I am.  Heh.  Ponyville's resident dragon," he confirmed, giving a somewhat awkward smile.

There was a long, even more awkward pause as she just blankly stared at him for almost five seconds.  Even Rose blinked slowly and frowned towards the mare after it started to get strange.  "Oh.  As in, Element Bearer Twilight Sparkle's assistant?  A dragon?" she inquired next, still not blinking towards him as she took in details of his form, then slowly lowered her eyes to me instead.  They were a pretty bluish green in color, and held surprisingly more warmth than her general presentation betrayed.  I got those strange vibes again.

"Uh, yeah.  I live with Twilight at the library.  Um, and yeah, I'm a dragon," Spike answered, shifting to a more confused expression, probably also wondering where this was going.  My subdermal armor folded up just in case.

Even more startling, she frowned the second my armor went up.  Before I could even tilt my head, she asked, "Are you all right, Sir?  Your life force just significantly deminished."  What?!  Alert flags went off in my head and I frowned at her.  She could see my life force?  She had training of some sort.  Lately, 'training' was a bad sign for me, I noted.  I couldn't do a scan of her with my eyes while she was looking right at me, but I could use my magic instead.

My energy drifted up into my eyes for just a moment, giving me a flickering image of her inner energy paths.  That instant was all my computer side needed to get a snapshot, and I examined it while staring at her.  To my surprise, while she had a normal web of energy running through her body like a standard unicorn, a huge amount of pooling was behind her eyes, forming two additional 'pockets' of reserved energy that I normally only saw in the chest and head of a pony.  Even weirder, instead of 'veins' of energy extending up into her horn, her head reservoir bulged upwards and pushed right up against the base of it.  What that would do to her magic, I couldn't really guess.

She smiled, however, a heartbeat later, in a disarmingly warm manner.  "You don't have to scan me.  I'm really a pony.  I'm just a necromancer.  We train our eyes to be able to see things more readily missed by others.  I was only concerned for your wellbeing, but you appear unharmed.  And an Earth Pony with the ability to perform magical scans?" she asked, a bit of energy shifting into her voice, coming off as what I could only assume was excitement.  A necromancer?  Yet again, I had to banish the image left behind by the Keldarian version of that profession, it definitely clashing violently with the Equus varient, it would seem.  They almost reminded me more of seers than some 'raising of undead' variety.

"Uh, I'm not exactly a normal stallion.  Is there a reason you were interested in Spike?" I asked, trying to focus her back on the prior event.  Wait, I didn't even know her name.

She paused, expression blanking out for a moment as she was apparently caught completely off guard.  Rose continued giving her a questioning stare, looking a little creeped out herself.  Finally, she seemed to remember with a small start, then smiled again.  "Oh, right.  I was looking for the library, and knew Twilight Sparkle lived there.  I was looking for Twilight Sparkle so I could find the library, and knew Spike was her assistant.  Could you please show me where the library is, Mister Spike?" she requested politely, drawing that series of connections out about three times more than needed.

He stared blankly at her still, then frowned, looking down at me instead.  "Do you think we have time, Mender?" he asked, sounding beyond unnerved by this entire encounter.  Admittedly, I sort of agreed with him.  My mouth started to open again when the white mare let out a little gasp, eyes widening as she locked onto me instead.  There was a surprisingly intense amount of focus in them, as if she was memorizing exactly what I looked like.  Okay, I was tempted to see if I could just arrest her right now on account of highly suspicious behavior.  I didn't feel comfortable leading her to the library at all.

"Did you say his name was Mender?" she asked quickly, her speed belaying a certain eagerness to her.  Okay, that made it even worse.  Was she trying to be as creepy as possible?

"Uh, yeah.  Moon Mender.  Why do you want to find the library so-" I started to ask.  All of my proximity alerts kicked on less than an instant later, and my eyes widened as I started to shift to the left in order to brace, a fast moving object coming in from my right.

"Mender!" the cyan mare called out as she dove in.  That was all the warning I got to throw a shield up over the surprised Spike, locking him to my back.  She hit us with a surprisingly soft thud and kept going, wings a blazing flare of rainbow light as she arced sharply upwards, taking us with her.  Slipping my forelegs around her shoulders, I just held on as she grabbed me, and we rocketed upwards and away from Ponyville at about a forty degree angle and at least a hundred and twenty kilometers per hour.  Damn it!


* * * * *


I really didn't know why her house had a door.  Rainbow shot right in through the open window, and before I even had a chance to ask her where we were going, Spike and I were spilled out onto a rather soft surface, coming to a stop abruptly as we hit a stack of pillows.  Ah, she had a convenient landing platform.  That's why she didn't use the door.

The 'landing platform' turned out to be a bed when I finally got my face out of the distinctly Rainbow smelling pile of pillows.  The room was smaller in size, housing only the bed, a dresser and mirror combo, and a bookshelf filled to the brim with Daring Do novels.  Rainbow herself stood up slowly on the bed, flexing her wings a bit before tucking them up again.  I helped Spike out of the overly fluffy pile, and both of us gave an inquiring stare at the mare that had delivered us here.  Well, he had a stare.  Mine was more of a glare.

"Don't mares usually ask for a date first?" I asked, shifting to a more skeptical expression once my irritation died down.

Dash and Spike both flushed lightly, and the mare flailed her hooves at me.  "No teasing!  I need your help, Mender!  Really, really bad!  Can you please, please help me?!  I'll do anything!" she requested, oddly enough tossing a 'blank check' into my lap, so to speak.  Whatever it was, it must have been really important.

"I kinda need to know what it is before agreeing to it, Dash.  Are you okay?" I asked, frowning as I took in more of her appearance.  She had darker circles under her eyes and her coat and mane were slightly more disheveled than usual.  She also had a strange scent about her that definitely wasn't from the shower.  This was more feminine, yet smelled distinctly like Rainbow.  Weird...

She huffed momentarily before tossing out, "Okay, so I didn't really sleep more than a few hours last night.  No, I'm too freaked out over the races today!  Especially the second one!  I need more practice, Mender.  Bad!  You need to help me practice with my wings more!  Please?  I'll do literally anything you want if you do!" Admittedly, the 'begging' tone didn't fit her very well.

Spike frowned finally, looking around the room while doing so.  "Uh, why'd ya have to bring us up here just to ask for practice?" he asked, rubbing the side of his head with a claw.  Rainbow's ears drooped a little as she sat up fully on the bed, averting her eyes and hesitating.  

"Look, I...  I'm not comfortable with other ponies seeing me like this.  You and Mender I trust, and I know you aren't gonna laugh at me or anything.  I'm a mess right now.  I need to win the race today, big time, but..." she muttered, sounding just as freaked out as she looked.

“But…?” I encouraged, tilting my head as I leaned back against the pillows instead.  This was still better than crashing us into hay, I supposed, although she could have had better timing.  I was still a bit concerned about the ‘necromancer’ mare who so badly wanted to find the library.  It explained her abilities to see life force, but she was still a bit strange.

Rainbow fidgeted back and forth for a moment before rapidly spitting out, “I just found out that the Wonderbolts are going to be there, too!  They might even be competing in the race!  If they're going to be there, I'll need a serious edge to win.  Plus, both you and Fluttershy seem to think that confessing with the sky writing thing is a bad idea!  Now I'm starting to have second thoughts about that, too, and I don't know what I'm going to do about it."

Taking a moment to process all of that, I exhaled softly and stood.  Wobbling a little on the unstable surface, I walked over to Rainbow instead, who gave me a confused look.  She didn't move, however, as I shifted behind her instead and brushed down her twitching wings, kneading my hooves gently into her back.  She got the hint and relaxed a little, shivering as I massaged her flight muscles and lower back.  She was a mess of knots and spasms, of course, hinting at the stress that lay beneath, even if I couldn't feel it directly at this range.

"Rainbow, calm down.  In my honest opinion, you've staked too much on this one event.  Putting all of your hope in one maneuver or tactic is never a very sound strategy unless you're confident of its outcome.  You're not, so maybe you should consider confessing to Applejack at some later time?" I suggested, massaging along her lower back.  She groaned, then huffed at that, starting to open her mouth to probably refute that, but I pushed a knot down at the same time and turned it into a stifled moan instead, causing her to shiver.  I was kind of surprised she was even able to fly us up here with her muscles like this...

Spike nodded at my words before pointing out, "Yeah, Applejack's not going anywhere, and seems to really value your relationship already, so you can honestly tell her any time, can't you?  I mean, it might not be as flashy as a huge air show, but maybe she'd appreciate 'subtle' a little more?"  Surprisingly wise words for somepony who didn't know the meaning of subtle in his own infatuation.  Still, I wasn't one to give good relationship advice either.

Rainbow exhaled wearily, then fell forward onto her stomach, letting me follow her back down and get more leverage against her as she relaxed and closed her eyes.  "Mmm.  I just wanted it to be 'awesome', ya know?  She deserves my best, but...  I suppose if I scare her off with it, it's definitely not sending the right message.  Arg!  Feelings and relationships are so complicated!" the mare groaned out, whacking her forehead into her thankfully soft sheets.

"I hear you there.  I'm sure you heard all about the little event two nights ago by now," I pointed out, deciding that was probably a perfect example of 'complicated' as far as relationships go.

Rainbow started snickering at that, and I knew I'd guessed right, a little flush coming to my cheeks.  She assured, however, "Don't worry.  We made Pinkie swear to not tell anypony else.  Rarity doesn't normally gossip either, but there's no secrets between us Elements.  That sounded seriously painful."  Her tone was surprisingly sympathetic rather than teasing, and I relaxed a little and nodded.  'Painful' was one word for it.  I'd have used 'Mind-numbingly Agonizing and Traumatic', but that was just me.

"Aww, nopony told me," Spike complained, frowning at the sudden realization of being left out.  Exhaling softly, I debated it for a moment before shrugging.

"Don't spread it around.  It was kind of traumatic for me.  Twilight made a discovery about my anatomy and ended up blasting me with an unexpectedly horrendously agonizing spell in a very sensitive and private area," I summarized.  Sonic vibrations sent up something with a metal core didn't feel the greatest, it turns out.

The dragon winced almost instantly, lowering himself a little closer to the bed and pushing his legs together.  "Oh...  That's horrible!  Why did she do that?!" he demanded, voice strained with sympathetic empathy pain.  

Dash rolled her eyes at that one before reminding, "It's Twilight.  When it comes to 'science', she doesn't exactly pull punches.  That's already gotten her in trouble before.  This time just caused somepony else to get hurt instead of just her."  Ah.  Honestly, that didn't surprise me either.

Shaking my head, I felt compelled to at least defend the mare, as she wasn't here to represent herself.  "She felt truly bad for it already.  She made it up to Fluttershy and me," I assured, only realizing the implications of that statement after I'd said it.  Unfortunately, the implications in this case were true, which Rainbow undoubtedly knew already.

It didn't stop her from grinning, however.  "Oooh, you'll have to give me the juicy details later!" she cooed, eyes opening again as she looked back up at me.  Shooting her a mildly annoyed glare, I leaned in more and cracked her back in three spots, earning a wince and sharp exhale from her due to my weight.  She went right back to smirking after, however, and I just rolled my eyes.

"Uh, ew.  She's kinda like my sister.  I don't wanna hear about it," Spike groaned, covering those fins along the side of his head that I assumed aided his hearing in some way.

"Aww, are ya sure?  Sometimes sisters and brothers do kinda-" Rainbow started to tease before Spike let out a pained yelp and squeezed his head harder.

"Nope!  Definitely not!  Helping her into the bondage outfit back in Canterlot was bad enough!" he exclaimed, quickly denying her as I chuckled.  Ah, right.  That was an experience.  First time I learned about those anti-magic horn ring thingies.  And learned that they violently combust and explode if the unicorn overpowers them with a pure ocean of magic.  All in the same evening!  I should start keeping a quota for explosions.  It might help me make more sense of my life, giving a bit of organization.

Rainbow almost choked on her tongue, however.  "What?!  Why didn't I hear about this?!  I have to hear about this!" she exclaimed, sounding absolutely gleeful.  I suspected it was less to do with gossip and more to do with laughing hysterically at the story...

“As much as I hate to remind you, we’re kind of on a time limit right now, Rainbow.  Are you sure you should be practicing this soon before the race, though?” I reminded, not really knowing much about competition events like this.  Also, it got me out of having to tell that story, which was always a good thing.

Dash groaned, then buried her face back into the sheets instead.  “No, it’s a bad idea.  I’ll probably get ‘dead wings’ and not even be able to fly up to the starting line,” she admitted, scraping her right forehoof along the mattress.  I shifted up to working with her upper back muscles, and she switched to a soft sigh, relaxing against my hooves.  “Mmm, I probably shouldn’t even run in the Running of the Leaves, but the two races are four hours apart, so I should be able to rest up between,” she tacked on, starting to plan out things better already.

Smiling, I nodded to that, feeling her relax a little already.  “I’ll give you a long massage between races, too, don’t worry.  We’ll get you back in top shape for the second one,” I assured.  She blushed a little at that, a warmer smile on her face as she rested on her tummy.

“Mmm, that sounds awesome.  Gotta make sure I’m nice and rested up.  Might even take a nap right now…” she contemplated, sighing contentedly.

Spike lifted an eyebrow at that before inquiring, “Uh, how are we gonna get down then?  We kind of need to get our basket back.  We accidentally left it at the flower stand.”  Oh, oops.  He was right.  Well, I’m sure Rose would hold onto it for us…

Cue snickering.  Ugh.  “Even if I have a reputation to keep, there’s nopony to see us all the way up here, so I can afford to get a bit of snuggle time in with the two cute boys I got hostage,” she deduced, rose colored eyes opening again to smirk back up at me.

I rolled my eyes at that.  “Suck up.  You just want more massaging.  You owe us for the kidnapping, though,” I warned her, smirking right back.  She outright grinned, then giggled as she relaxed again.

“I’m cute?” Spike asked, sounding genuinely perplexed by that concept, which was kind of sad now that I thought about it.

Not losing a beat, Rainbow immediately answered, “Of course!  Of course, I’m not going to get in the way of you and Rarity.  Looks like she’s finally starting ta get the hots for ya, after all!”  Oh, that wasn’t fair!  The little dragon blushed furiously as his eyes widened quite a bit.  Of course, maybe the encouragement was justified.  I thought Rarity was still in the ‘tentative consideration’ stage, but considering there were no secrets between the Elements of Harmony, maybe she knew something I didn’t?

“R-Really?!  She is?!” he quickly asked, earning an even wider grin from the cyan mare.

Sighing, I cut him off and asked, “Do you need anything else, Rainbow?  If not, we really do need to finish getting the food for the picnic later tonight after the races.”  It was interesting having a ‘picnic’ in the evening, honestly.  I always thought they were more an afternoon sort of thing, but I guess that wasn’t completely true.

She paused for a moment, and I knew there was something else.  “Uh, yeah, actually.  I have sort of a…  Well, it’s a problem of mine,” she started to explain, hesitating and frowning for a moment.  A problem?  Thankfully I didn’t have to wait long while coming up with dreadful possibilities for what it could be, as she immediately continued with, “Right.  I’ll just say it.  I like using my wings.  Like, a lot.  I have to physically tie them down in order to run hoof races now, as it’s just second nature for me to open them and take to the sky.  I’m a bit…  Well, I’m worried that it’s going to take a bit more than hemp rope to tie them down after you put the rockets in them.”  Oh.  Right, those.

“Ah, yeah, that’s a legitimate problem.  Do you want me to build a kill switch into them?” I offered, that being really the only solution that I could think of.

Rainbow blinked, then swallowed at that.  “A w-what?!” she asked almost immediately.  Oh, right.  They weren’t really familiar with electronics here at all.  That being so, that undoubtedly sounded horrible.

“Ah, no, not like that!” I quickly assured, nudging her back down into a more relaxed position before continuing with, “A kill switch is something that ‘kills’ the functioning of something else.  In this case, it’s a switch that I’ll give you that will manually turn off your wing jets.  It’ll take me a little bit, though.  I have the basic one set up, but I’m going to have to give you control over it.”

She nodded back at me, then let me spread her wings out as I brought up the linked node system that was connected to each jet.  It wouldn’t be too complicated, but would take a bit of time.  Making an actual energy interrupter at the base of the system would be fastest, but the fraction of a second lag that would introduce into the system each time she gave her wings an ‘order’ would be bad.  Instead, I used the ones that reworked the base jets themselves, to also get around having to re-calibrate them all to her movements and nerves again.  Besides, they were already basically in place, and I was really lazy.  Of course, at this point, her ‘enchantment’ was practically cybernetics themselves, given that they were ‘wired’ up to her nervous system.  So yeah, a kill switch was strangely appropriate.  This one would just turn the jets off.  The energy coating on the wings when they powered up was more than likely harmless and gave no speed benefits, so that could stay.  I hoped…

The process itself took about twenty minutes or so.  Showing her how to access the newly implemented toggle switch took a little longer.  Given that I knew she had nanites in her body at this point, I simply broke down and took the easy way out, having them project an image onto the inside of her eye, like they do with mine.  That showed her the status of her wings and let her toggle them with her mind, which unsurprisingly, she found all sorts of awesome.  Heh.

“This should let me do the races without being tempted to cheat, then!” she chirped as she flexed her wings out to each side of her, stretching the now relaxed muscles to full extension.  I smiled and nodded in return as Spike watched the whole process with a certain curiosity.

“Does it feel weird to have tiny little things floating around inside of you?” he asked a moment later, surprising me somewhat.  That was one of those awkward questions, considering Rainbow technically didn’t give her consent to have them implanted.

If she was bothered by it, it didn’t show, however.  “Nope!  I feel exactly like my old self still.  Actually, so far, they’ve only made me even more awesome!  Totally clipped my wing on my window earlier.  Uh, I don’t always fly the greatest when I’m stressed out.  Got a really fun bruise on my left wing tip, but it healed up and went away in, like, thirty seconds!  Totally awesome.  The talking in our heads is kinda cool, too, at least when Pinkie doesn’t go all out and make everything go crazy…”  Ugh.  She had to remind me of that.

“Crazy?” Spike asked, looking a little uncertain over it suddenly.  Wait, was he…?

“Yeah!  She’s so hyperactive, and the faster she starts thinking, the faster things start happening from her link and all sorts of images and stuff start appearing everywhere.  To be honest, I kinda felt like throwing up,” Rainbow admitted.

Smirking, I inquired, “You were thinking about asking for them, too, weren’t you?”  His eyes widened a little, followed by his cheeks tinting pink again as he wiggled his claws together.  Yup.  Thought as much.

“Well, um, yeah!  They sounded really cool and everything, and…  Being able to talk to Rarity and the others in my head would be really nice,” he admitted, turning even redder as Rainbow got a knowing grin on her face.

“Careful there, lover boy.  If she can hear things from your mind, what if she hears things you don’t want her to hear?” Rainbow teased, having had that exact problem herself, if I remembered properly.  Well, it was a valid concern, but she didn’t mention to him that it usually takes a conscious effort to send actual words along.  Empathy was the only thing transferred automatically, with no real decision on the pony’s part.  Oh, and biological information, but that was only sent to me.

His eyes widened a little, a look of dawning horror on his face, of course.  I sighed and shook my head, bonking Rainbow on hers and earning a snicker from the mare.  “Don’t scare him, Dash.  The links don’t transmit actual words unless you consciously tell them to, so relax.  It’s a moot point, however, as I’m still not entirely sure how to make more of the disks.  In theory, I know how, but I’ve never actually tried to before, so you’ll have to wait for a little bit,” I warned.  Adding him to the list of ponies that wanted it so far, which was four and counting.  Could the Crusaders technically give their own consent, though?  Babs had wanted one, too, after learning about the ones from the others.  I hadn’t had time to give her an enchantment yet, however, but had already explained that I wasn’t comfortable with her being so far away from me, just in case something went wrong with it.  

Relaxing a bit at that, Spike sighed and flopped back against the pillows.  “Eh, I can wait a bit.  We should get going, however, and get our basket back.  Twilight won’t be happy that we’re late as is,” he reminded after a moment’s thought.  Ah, right.

The cyan mare rolled her eyes at that and hopped to her hooves.  “Eh, Twilight plans too much.  She needs to be more spontaneous.  Don’t worry, I’ll let her know that I was the one who distracted you two.  It was important, though!  I was seriously freaking out.  Uh… don’t tell anypony else that,” she assured, adding the last thought as a suddenly realized afterthought, by the sounds of it.  It was kind of sweet that she trusted us enough to not remember until afterwards to tack on the nondisclosure request.  Heh.

“You didn’t have to worry about us gossiping in the first place, Rainbow.  Anyway, can we get a ride back down?  Preferably close to the market if you can,” I requested, gesturing towards her window.

She gave us a warmer smile before stretching her back out and fluttering her wings a little.  “Heck, after an awesome massage like that, I’ll fly ya both to Canterlot and back.  Probably safer than the train for you anyway,” she suggested, winking as she hopped off her bed and trotted over to the window.  I just snickered, unable to actually disagree with that assessment.  She was probably right!

Pointedly ignoring the mare’s sudden blush as I climbed up onto her back, I nodded at Spike, who scrambled off the bed and hopped onto mine as well.  Grinning, Dash hopped into the air almost effortlessly, despite having the huge amount of extra weight on her back.  With a flick of her wings and a burst of energy, we cleared the window in a fraction of a second, and Equestria opened up underneath of us, expanding off into the distance…
> Forgiveness Pending - Chapter 88
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had taken a little bit of work, but we got it to re-activate itself, and it folded back up into its usual jewelry box shape afterwards.  There were no bends or folds or anything at all in the main rod of the 'key', however, which could only mean that there was some seriously weird folding space thing going on with it.  This didn't add up, however, as Twilight didn't detect any magic whatsoever coming from the box, and that sort of enchantment would apparently be very noticeable.  That only meant one thing.  It was folded space that wasn't using magic to create it.  My parents' research...

I stared at the box still sitting on the table, a light frown across my features.  It was a key, but I had no idea where the lock was.  An awkward problem to have, admittedly.  I felt Twilight nuzzle me in the cheek, however, standing to my right still.  "Relax, Mender.  Staring a hole into the side of it isn't going to solve the mystery any faster," she reminded, earning a nose twitch on my account.  Maybe if I put a hole in it, I'd figure out how it worked and solve it, though!  But no, I didn't want to break my parents’ jewelry box.

Everypony was still there, of course.  It was starting to become evening, and the Crusaders should be back in a little bit as well, probably with a huge amount of loot from the fair.  Twilight and Fluttershy had stuck surprisingly close to me, for reasons I didn't entirely grasp, but wasn't going to complain about.  The yellow mare sat at the table to my left, sipping tea and chatting something about a migration or something with Rarity.  Well, it was Fall, so creatures probably would be migrating soon.  She was essentially Ponyville's resident 'Woodland Caretaker', I think they called the position.  It seemed sort of like a forest Ranger to me, but they might not have had those.

Applejack and Rainbow were together, of course, snickering about something over by the fire.  I really didn't want to know.  I had no idea where Pinkie was, just assuming she was within earshot should I say her name out loud.  That was probably how you summoned her, as far as those things worked.  That left just my niece and her library guide.

Glancing to my right, I looked past Twilight and watched Spike show off another collection of books to Aura, who appeared enraptured by both them and the baby dragon himself.  She acted like she'd never met a dragon before, which did kind of make sense, especially given her reaction to him earlier, when we first met.  Still, he appeared to be enjoying the attention, showing her book collections she was interested in at Twilight's request.  Rarity shot them glances occasionally, which was kind of creepy if I thought about it for too long.  Of course, thinking of the mare as my niece was weird enough as it was, even after we decided to drop the tiring amount of 'Greats' before our titles.

"I know.  I just really wish things could be simpler.  Why can't this 'friend' just talk to me like normal?" I muttered, looking away from Aura and back towards Twilight instead.

She pondered that for a moment, then shrugged.  "It's hard to say.  They're probably the same pony, the one that left you that lead on the cafe also signing the letter as 'a friend'.  There might be some sort of danger in them revealing themselves, not to you but from somepony else who might find the letters.  Or maybe they want to gauge your reaction first?" she suggested, tilting her head to me.  That last one would imply they were watching me, which honestly wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.  Still...

"Oooh, or they like games and are being all mysterious on purpose!" Pinkie chirped suddenly, hopping in from the kitchen while balancing another tray of tea on her head.  Uh...

I watched her bounce, the tray of tea rocking back and forth and up and down precariously as she moved over to the table.  My urge to dive for it as it wobbled around was almost overwhelming, and I saw Twilight smirk as she watched me.  "Trust me, it's best to just not watch.  I've never actually seen Pinkie spill anything before, if it makes you feel better," she pointed out, gesturing back towards the scene.

I almost had a heart attack as Pinkie flicked her head back, the tray launching itself violently into the air and actually flipping as it went over the table.  Rarity moved her own cup back slightly, still talking with Fluttershy and not actually looking as the tray flipped once fully and landed flat on the table with a smack.  The cups vibrated slightly, but all of the liquid in them 'landed' back inside without the slightest spill onto the tray.  Witchcraft!  Pinkie was somehow using magic!  She had to be!  No, just no!

Feeling my eye twitch, I stomped my forehooves twice, huffing repeatedly as Pinkie looked back and grinned at me.  Rarity's horn glowed softly, and the pot of tea lifted off the tray and refilled her own cup, her still not breaking conversation.  They...  They all ignored it.  Probably for their own sanity, I suddenly realized.  They were the smart ones here...  Ugh.

"Nope.  I give up," I admitted, exhaling softly and just shaking my head.  Twilight scrunched her muzzle up a moment later, then exhaled, her horn lighting up instead.  I watched curiously as her saddlebag by the door glowed lightly, and two bits drifted out of it and over to Pinkie's bag instead.  Eh?!

"You were right.  He just accepted it without questioning," Twilight agreed, earning a giggle from Pinkie in amusement.  Oh, they were betting on me.  Of course.

Pinkie just smiled warmly after that, then shook her head.  "I wasn't serious!  But I did know that Mender would accept it.  We've talked together before, and he's my super-duper best friend, just like you all are!" she chirped, somehow getting me to blush, even though it technically had nothing to do with me accepting it or not.  Being her friend was entirely different from watching somepony break physics, attend its funeral, then reveal it was still alive by dancing the tango with it in front of the coffin.  She broke my brain so hard that even my metaphors stopped making sense!

Twilight only smiled, however, looking happy at the results regardless.  I nodded, then admitted, "Eh, with Pinkie, I stopped questioning most things.  You're definitely one of a kind."  I said it with a smile, and she picked up seamlessly that it was a compliment.  At least, I assumed she did as she promptly started smiling herself and nodded to me.  After a moment, I decided that one of these days, I should probably get to know the mare better.  All of them, actually.  I knew about them all fairly well, but I'd never really sat down one on one with practically half of them.  Pinkie and Applejack especially, in regards to how little I'd spent with them individually.  I was the most curious about Pinkie, but Applejack would probably benefit more from that sort of thing.  We...  We really should talk more about what happened as well, instead of just letting it hang over our heads like this.  Just us, this time, with no peer pressure on either of us.

A light popping up in the corner of my vision snapped me out of my thoughts.  A glance surprised me; a status readout in my right eye display showed that the decryption on my black box had just finished, and a file check was being run to confirm that there was nothing corrupted.  That wouldn't take long at all, and I realized I'd get to look over it all tonight.  That would give me some peace of mind, regardless.  Mysteries inside me were even worse!

"The black box just finished decrypting," I informed, snapping Twilight back to attention again almost immediately.

"Oh!  Excellent.  Can I still be there to go over it all with you?  I'd really like to know more about it, too," she requested, smiling hopefully towards me, and generally looking cute.

Chuckling, I nodded to her, and she did a tiny little hop, looking quite pleased.  My heart felt like it flipped in my chest with her, and the urge to just pounce and snuggle her was almost overwhelming.  "Excellent!  I'll go get a new cup from the kitchen, then we can have tea while we peek!" she chirped, trotting energetically off into the kitchen instead.  Her trot in particular caused quite a sway to her posterior, and I found myself staring before I even realized what I'd been looking at.  Ah!  No, that sort of thing could wait until later!  Yikes.  Seriously, body?

Turning, I instead saw a smirking Pinkie looking right at me.  She wiggled her eyebrows, then winked at me before hopping back over to the table and leaving me with what felt like a small sun in each cheek.  Crap.  Busted.  Wait, Twilight was with me like that, so did it even matter?!  Wasn't it my right to stare and admire when I felt like it?!  I pouted for a moment before rolling my eyes and deciding to help her with the tea, needing a new cup myself regardless.  Both of ours, as well as Aura's and Rainbow's, had met with misfortune, having been sent flying in the mad dash to get away from the potential 'bomb' on the table earlier.  Twilight was amazing with transmutation magic, putting them back together again from the fragments seamlessly.  She still insisted they be washed, however.  Never a dull moment...

A distortion flickered across my vision, and I sighed.  Nope, spoke too soon.  It had been far too long since my eye interfaces had screwed up.  Was it her again?  Looking about, I didn't notice anything unusual, and frowned.  No chill going up my spine, or sensation of some horrible abomination smiling widely at me from behind, or even a shadow moving by itself in a corner.  I was mildly disappointed, in truth.  Another flicker hit a moment later, this time with me alert and waiting for it.  My eyes locked on to an image of Purdue instead, standing in the doorway of the kitchen, Twilight sluggishly lifting up a cup in the background as things slowed down.  The little filly was shouting something to me, but no sound came out.  Her eyes opened midway through and I gave a start, seeing two inky pools of black darkness instead of eyes.  She flickered, then vanished again a moment later.  Huh.  Okay, so that was the first time that had happened.

"Persistent little bitch, I'll give her that.  Careful, though.  She'll stab you in the back eventually, just like all females do," came from my right.  Ah, and here I was hoping she'd crawled off somewhere and died.

Glancing to my right, I was surprised to find an almost pristine image of Twilight walking up and standing not facing me, but looking at the spot where Purdue was in the kitchen.  There was no damage at all on her this time, even her horn restored to its original shape.  It was off, however, her eyes the most vibrant blue I'd ever seen, instantly drawing my attention to them.  Even weirder were the wings extending off her back, tucked lightly to her sides.  What, did she have allusions of being a powerful Alicorn now?

Time was frozen again, which was normally Purdue's domain, but I anticipated something was different this time.  "Long time no see.  What do you want this time?  Apart from reminding me that I should trust nopony, and that they'll all inevitably betray me," I inquired, turning to face her fully instead.  She just smiled, however, a rather disarmingly happy one at that.

"Nah.  Pretty sure you have the yellow one hooked on you by now.  She'd probably side with you if you decided to take your rightful place.  This time, though, I'm here in celebration, and to share my honest happiness with you," she chirped, turning to face me instead, that proud smile still on her face.  Uh huh.  New angle, undoubtedly same old tricks.  Although she'd at least gotten me to automatically mistrust her.  Still, she'd been getting more and more helpful with each visit, which if anything, was a cause for concern.  I preferred my enemies in front of me.

She stared at me for a moment before smirking and snickering.  "So distrustful.  Here I am trying to be helpful even.  Today, a celebration!  A celebration of me finally being able to show you everything that you could have.  Trust me, it was a bitch keeping this a secret from that traitor cunt you seem to like so much," she pointed out, gesturing to the right again, towards the doorframe.  It didn't take a genius to figure out whom she was referring to.

"Being rude isn't going to earn you brownie points with me," I murmured, idly wondering what she'd been keeping secret from Purdue.

The Twilight doppelganger smirked.  Fully and outright smirked.  I was suddenly struck with unease as I frowned, another distorted image of the black eyed Purdue shouting from behind her.  She glanced back over her shoulder with just her eyes, then giggled again and looked back to me.  "She's a book.  Her powers are extreme, but predictable.  A mystery is just that, and maybe it was safe because of the allure of its mysterious nature, or maybe something about the black box itself hid from her powers of exposition.  Regardless, with much stealth and a backdoor access point, through a whole lot of patience, I did manage to toss quite a few injectors into the thing, just waiting for you to open your present," she revealed.  

My blood froze as I snapped to the output window for the copy, in time to note it frozen at eighty-nine percent, errors popping up and warnings about hostile code injection into the mainframe.  Aww hell.  My vision snapped back to her as I activated the firewall on the entire CPU Core.  That left me with only two CPUs, with one now quarantined and the other malfunctioning.  She grinned wider, and my eyes expanded in sudden realization.

Shit.  Her grin was right there.  I'd seen it so many times but I'd never paid any attention.  Probably because I hadn't expected to see anything weird there.  Now I did.  She had two incisors, to each side of her smirk.  They were barely enough to hang over her bottom lip, but now that I saw them, they were extremely obvious.

"You're not a female, are you?" I asked, looking back up into her eyes.  She laughed at that, sounding outright mirthful.  My mind searched for any male Keldarians I knew who might be responsible for this, but the only one I knew who could even vaguely pull this off would be Tym, and he honestly lacked the motivation.

"Yeah, I'm not.  Sorry.  Makes all that flirting awkward as hell, doesn't it?  Trust me, I didn't like it either, but this image was convenient, no?  Plus, keeping you interested in the pussy is all part of the plan," 'she' pointed out, suddenly making me want to throw up.  That had been intentional, not just to get under my skin?!

My mind flicked into action and I dispelled her image, turning and focusing on blocking all incoming connections from the CPU while attempting to get my OS to initiate a lock down on it.  I had no idea where the processes were for it, unfortunately, having not foreseen a need to terminate one of my own CPU cores before.  Shit.

More flickering, as my targeting system engaged again and started freaking out, making a little smiled face with all the target locks.  I ignored it, distortions so bad now that I couldn't see through all the pixel garbage in my eyes.  "Oh come now, pay attention to me, Mender!" the fake Twilight's voice sounded out, immediately from my left.  I ignored it and kept focusing on the flurry of command line instructions I executed.

"Would you, um, prefer me instead?" a Fluttershy voice asked softly.  Bastard!  I ignored her, too, frantically looking through the root access of the OS for command executables.  It would be ugly, but if all else failed...  I prepared a file list that was located on that core, and readied a batch wipe of the entire CPU Core.  It would probably terminate my OS, but that might be able to be rebooted.  I didn't know where 'he' was, though, which was the problem.  Was the CPU just a distraction?!

More voices.  Seductive whispers, heated groans, laughter.  It was coming from all of them.  Everypony I knew, including the Crusaders, and I felt sick.  He knew them all, too, and had been watching.  Damn it!  I terminated all of the sound processes I could find, holding my hooves to my head.  Damn him!  More laughter, as he flickered in right in front of me, wearing Fluttershy's image.  I glared, and shattered it away from me, the real Fluttershy not deserving the mockery.  He just laughed more, in Pinkie's voice this time as he reappeared to my right.  I spun, whipping my hoof out and shattering that image, too.  A glance showed me that my root scan of all processes was at seventy percent.  Almost!  The hooks from the malicious code had obviously hijacked my vision and hearing input already.

More laughter, this time in Applejack's voice to my right.  No, he didn't deserve to mimic her after what he did.  My tail flicked out and shattered that image, too, as two more appeared to my left, of Apple Bloom and Scootaloo gently singing.  It was distorted, and I could only make out something about roses and rings.  I ignored them.

A glance around showed distortions around the library.  Everypony was turned to me, laughing and frozen in time as their faces distorted and warped.  Taking a moment to appreciate his assuming lack of sanity, I growled as I heard him giggle again, switching back to Twilight and behind me again.  All I needed was the shutdown command for the CPU Core, and this would be over!

"Mmm, I suggest taking the orange one first.  She'll get dependent on you fast, and has a nice sturdy body to make lots of foals," the 'Twilight' whispered from behind me.  I shivered, and then snarled as I whipped around, shattering that illusion, too.

My eyes widened.  No, I hadn't told them to...  A display popped up on my right eye, showing 'Aggression Sensitivity' set to several thousand percent.  No...  My eyes looked up again, my tentacle having extended as I spun all of its own accord, forming one of those long scythe blades out of frosted metal, fresh out of subspace.

The image was so realistic, Twilight's eyes widening in an instant.  Time was frozen, almost for the image too it looked like, a sharp splatter of blood going across her back from the half a meter of metal sticking out the back of her neck.  Strands of her mane fluttered to the side, severed abruptly by my blade.  My breath caught, her lavender eyes locking with mine, pain and confusion abruptly dancing through them as her body shivered lightly.  Red flowed freely down her chest, staining her fur as her right leg gave a spasm, nerve endings no longer connected to her head with her spine severed completely.

Everything grew cold as she fell, her own weight enough to pull the blade out of her neck as she just dropped to the floor, eyes looking panicked as her legs continued twitching, a sharp gurgling noise coming from her mouth as blood flowed out of there as well.  There was a sharp gasp behind me, and I realized everything was moving again, suddenly.  Oh.  Oh fuck.

"Ooooh, oops!  Well, what's one less mare for our harem?" the voice whispered in my ear.  I didn't even hear it, taking a shaky step towards Twilight.

My body like ice, I ducked forward and held my hoof to the hole in her neck, eyes wide as she didn't focus on me anymore, mouth moving but no sound coming out except for the choking splatters and more blood.  No, no, no, this wasn't... this couldn't...

The numb, frozen chill consumed me, the acrid scent of urine filling the air suddenly, her body giving one more spasm before going limp.  Her eyes stopped shivering finally, and she just lay there, a pool of her own blood expanding under her head.  Hoofsteps to my left.  Applejack stared in shock down at Twilight, eyes wide with horror as she took in the sight.  No.  No, this wasn't...  I felt like throwing up, but I couldn't feel my chest, or anything for that matter.  I just stared down at her unmoving eyes, unable to look away.  My hoof was stained with her blood, and I lifted it, looking at the carved in rune as it pooled in the cracks.  I had...

No.  This wasn't happening.  I shook her shoulder, trying to dispel whatever trick this was.  She didn't respond, eyes still staring forward as a bit more blood oozed out of the gore in the middle of her neck.  The smell was everywhere now, more of blood than anything, and I choked back a spasm through me, my vision getting blurry.  I shook her harder, trying to will her awake.  There was nothing.  It wasn't...

"Mender, w-what...  What did you do?!" Rainbow asked, her voice sounding echoing and distant, flying in fast to my left.  What did I do?  What...  No, this couldn’t be…  I didn’t…

"Mender!" she shouted again, and I shivered.  I'd heard her the first time.  But...

"Mender!"  It came again, this time right against my ear and in Purdue's voice.  Crying out, I clutched at both sides of my head and screamed, the throb going through me as I felt like ice water filled the core of my body.  My eyes opened as I clutched at my sides, the distorted image of Purdue fading from in front of me, in the doorway again.  Twilight wasn't there.  What?  Twilight wasn't... 

Rainbow shook my harder, and I shivered, snapping my attention to the left at her, looking more than a little concerned.  Huh?  "Mender, are you okay?!" she asked, worry in her voice.  Was I okay?!  No, she was supposed to be worried about...

My eyes shifted back to the right.  There was no smell, and no blood.  There was no Twilight.  They widened as I looked up instead, seeing a very much moving and concerned looking Twilight coming in from the kitchen, two cups of tea dropped on the floor behind her as she ran up.  Oh.  Oh thank you.  Thank you.  No, she was... okay...  She wasn't...  She wasn’t not moving!

"Mender, what's going on?!" she asked, rushing up.  They were all approaching, and I realized I really had screamed.  But that meant...  It was fake.  It was a distraction.  He had wanted me distracted, and knew the perfect way to do it.

My eyes looked back to the search progress.  It showed completed, and highlighted the shutdown executable I'd been looking for.  The user interface showed non-responsive, however.  The process had crashed, and dumped the results.  Shit.  Other windows had popped up of their own accord, showing a decrypting process running on my own encryption of the links to the Element Bearers.  No.  No!

"Twilight, I'm being hijacked.  Get yourself and the Elements of Harmony as far away from me as possible.  All the way to Canterlot if you can teleport that far.  Hurry!" I hissed out, realizing I couldn't move anything below my neck.  The cold was him shutting off my nervous system!

Her eyes widened, surprise meeting confusion as she asked, "Hijacked?!  By what?!"  No, no time for questions!  I was still reeling from the image of her lying on the floor, but there was no time to even look up at her.

"There's no time!  Run!  Teleport as far as you can with the Elements of Harmony!" I hissed, feeling the paralysis creeping up my neck.  I quarantined off the remaining two cores, hoping he hadn't gotten to them yet, and started using them to slow down his progress on the encryption, spamming his core with garbage data and slowing the connection speed down.  He was attacking each link separately, and I tried to quickly bring up the individual statuses as more fake pop-ups displayed in my eyes.

"I c-can't!" Fluttershy whined, standing slightly behind me and to the right.

Damn it.  "Fluttershy, leave me.  You have to," I pleaded, trying to force my eyes as far to the right as I could, only managing to make out a yellow shape in my peripheral vision.  Twilight gasped, however, and my blood chilled yet again.

"I can't...  I can't move!" she repeated instead.  A sunken feeling entered my chest as I forced all the windows closed except for the status panel.  Fluttershy and Rarity were already reading red.  Damn it!

Thinking quickly, I instead ordered, "Pinkie, Applejack!  Grab Rarity and Fluttershy and carry them."  Could Twilight teleport them all, and far enough away to get out of my control range?!  I didn't know if I could control them at the limit of my broadcast range, but I was banking on not being able to.

I gave a start instead as my left eye flicked on, projector activating.  The strange Alicorn Twilight appeared in my projector, smirking in amusement.  I tried to turn him off, but my eye wasn't listening.  A horrific realization later showed me that my tentacles were extending, too.

"Oh dear.  It looks like I can remotely turn off her heart right now if I wanted to.  Did you know he had such power over you all?  I wouldn't be going anywhere, if you want your two friends to live for any great lengths of time," he pointed out, sitting down in the image.  Fluttershy let out a soft whimper, and I heard Rarity give out a weak, choked groan somewhere behind me.  Damn it.  Damn it!  I switched one CPU off interception, realizing it was already too late, and instead sent the other looking for the prior process list of the third CPU.  Affecting my entire OS was impossible now, but I could halt his ability to give commands if I hijacked the only working CPU that he had.  Them being completely independent data storage and processing was rather inconvenient for me, now.

Twilight snarled, eyes narrowing at the image before demanding, "What do you want from us?  Don't you just want to kill us anyway?"  That...  That was a good point.

The fake Twilight laughed, spreading her wings out a little before shaking her head.  "Of course not!  That would be a horrible waste of genetic material.  But I will be forced to kill whomever tries to run.  But still, is being a slave to this particular stallion really that bad?" he inquired.  Uh...  What?  My mind blanked, any and all motivation I'd given the fake Nirru prior flying out the window.  I'd thought that whole flirting thing, and all the crap she was feeding Applejack, was all just to mess with us.

"S-Slave?!" Rainbow asked, flattening her ears back before gasping and squeaking.  Her body went rigid, and I watched her link go red.  Tch!  It was too late.  I switched both processors to directly attacking his processor instead.  He saw me do it, but just laughed and focused on taking over the Elements instead.  Damn him.  Wait, no...

A memory flashed through me a moment later.  It wasn't mine.  It was my DNA donor's, and it surprised me.  He had been special operations, that much I knew.  He was the captain of his own special operations squad, for all the good it had done him.  His training, however, was put to excellent use.  These CPU cores were a new thing.  Combining storage capacity with individual processors hadn't been done before.  We'd only been using them for maybe a year prior to the bombardment.  They were still experimental, though, and not in mass production!  These were the default, prototype models, I guessed.  His memories of them came back to me, and in my surprise, I realized he'd studied them for some reason.  Weird.  Regardless...

I now knew there was a factory override still built in, due to their 'beta' status.  A diagnostics console could be very, very useful about now.  Focusing on that memory, I typed in the command prompt and ran the main CPU executable with a few additional runtime flags instead.  Sure enough, instead of trying to reboot the CPU, which I knew would fail, it opened up the command window again, but in diagnostic mode.  Ha!

"Of course.  It's all part of the plan.  We were hunted by an obviously superior enemy, and without some sort of coherent plan, the only result would have been our extinction," he deduced.  It sounded beyond disturbing hearing it in Twilight's voice.

The real Twilight hissed, her link going red, but her horn starting to glow fiercely, energy gathering around her throat instead.  "You're the one responsible for the bioweapon going off!  You intentionally wanted to kill all of those Keldarians, because you wanted their DNA!" she deduced, her voice echoing out into the air without her mouth moving.  Her magic still worked?!  It didn't matter, though, so long as he held the others hostage.  Although...  If she killed me, my control over them all would end.  I swallowed uneasily, realizing I didn't exactly want to die.  Last resort, then.

The fake Twilight giggled and nodded at that, and I inwardly groaned.  Well, I had a target, as soon as I figured out who exactly he was.  A stirring came from inside of me, and I felt my own anger starting to build.  In front of me was more a monster than I ever estimated, and I couldn't do anything to him.  Yet.

"Of course.  We couldn't win.  We were going to die regardless.  But what if I could make those deaths mean something?  What if instead of dying, I could give every one of those Keldarians a second chance?  Isn't that for the greater good?  That's why I so heavily modified this subject's reproductive systems, both to make pregnancy almost assured, and to make sure that he could switch out the DNA he was using for such.  We might not be Keldarians anymore, but we'll have escaped to a place those monsters can never follow.  You six will be the first mares to start producing the new Keldarians, of course," he explained.  My mind blanked again.  He was totally insane!  They couldn't escape death, so he let them 'escape' by murdering them all himself, instead?!  All to 'protect' his race?!

"Yer completely insane.  Ah kinda knew that already, though," Applejack admitted, walking up next to me instead and glaring at the image.  Her right foreleg was twitching, but she shook it off and ignored it instead.  Her anger could be felt through her link without even needing my displays, and I could almost taste how badly she wanted to buck his face off.

The corners of the fake Twilight’s mouth turned up slowly at that.  “Fighting off the paralysis order.  I’m impressed!” he chirped, then followed it up with, “But out of every ‘pony’ here that has dark, hidden little fantasies and secrets, I don’t think you have room to talk about my goals.”  Her ears flattened back as she glared at him, but I just wanted to tear him in half even more.  He didn’t deserve to know her secrets in the first place.

Shaking my head slowly, as best I could, I instead asked, “What, you expect me to just agree with you and go along with turning them all into slaves or something?  Seriously?  You’ve been inside of my head for weeks now.  You should know that’s about the exact opposite of what I’d do.”  I felt them all still around me, all six links red now.  He knew all I had to do was keep him talking, so he was on a time limit.  What would he do, then?  If his plan really was what he just said it was, he had to find a way to remove my ability to use my two CPU cores, which to my understanding, wasn’t possible now that the firewall was up.  He couldn’t honestly be expecting me to actually agree to his plan.  Just in case, I started a smaller scan on the two cores I controlled, just to make sure there weren’t any backdoor links to them.  Uh, like the one I’d just used to secure and take them over.

His hoof lifted, and he brushed the digital mane away from his eyes before smiling again, that grin looking downright creepy on Twilight’s expression, especially because he forgot to change the teeth.  Ponies with canines were disturbing.  Actually, that meant that what I was seeing was a residual self-image.  That’s the only way the tooth incident would have happened.  Like the real Nirru before him, she didn’t ‘think’ to consciously change her eye color, and her illusion ‘defaulted’ to what her real colors were.  But that meant that he had a consciousness behind him that could make that mistake.  A psyche that was actually controlling his efforts.  An AI couldn’t do that.  But how did he transfer his actual psyche into some sort of digital form?  Or did he…?

“Oh, come now.  Surely the more…  Mmm, base parts of you sees the benefit,” he pointed out, gesturing instead to Rainbow on the other side of me.  Huh?  I couldn’t exactly turn to look at her, and he blinked for a moment before coughing to himself.  “Oh, right.  Sorry,” he oddly apologized, then clapped his hooves together once.  Rainbow let out a low whine, then stood up shakily, not of her own accord it would seem.  She stumbled forwards a few steps, then almost fell on her face as her body started fighting against the movements again.

He only chuckled at that, however, and let her stumble, falling onto her chest with a dull thud and wince, her back legs going rigid.  She looked rather silly until he smirked yet again and gestured to her.  My head rotated by itself to look at her just as her tail flicked up and out of the way.  AH!  

Rainbow let out a sharp squeak, and thankfully I didn’t see much for very long before slamming my eyes shut, him not yet having control over that much.  What the hell?!  I heard him start to laugh instead, which probably seemed weird to everypony else as he disappeared completely, his projector getting covered suddenly.  “Such the gentlecolt!  See what I mean, though?  Surely you can feel the stirring.  The primal urges.  The want to claim such a lovely mare as your own, like you have with two already?  You could have all the mares you ever want.  Nothing in this entire universe could stand up to you at your full potential!  You could have it all, yet you deny it.  For what?  The passing favor of two mares only?  If they feel like it?” he asked, obviously not getting it at all.  Twilight snorted at that, however, slightly further to my right.

“You’d never understand.  He’s not like you, and doesn’t need all of that!  He’s a good pony,” she defended.  Uh oh.  I really did feel ‘stirrings’, and realized that he was triggering other things in me too.  My body started attempting to shakily stand up, and I winced as I fought against my own muscles, the tentacles expanding from my back.  Shit!  No, no, I wasn’t going to let him do this to me.

The fake Twilight just chuckled darkly, however, as I stood up, wobbling then almost falling sideways from my own inner struggle, one of my tentacles managing to brace against the ground on that side.  “We’ll see how much he likes this, first.  I’m sure she will, too, of course,” he assured.  I felt myself shakily step forward, reaching out and placing a hoof on something soft and furred.  No!  This wasn’t happening.  This couldn’t be happening!

“Yer ah monster!  Let her go!” Applejack snarled, and I felt her tense to my left, fighting to leap forward and tackle Rainbow away from me.  She wasn’t moving, so I could only assume she had lost her battle against the nanites already.

Growling, I pushed against the movements as much as I could, freezing in place for a moment as he chuckled again, voice deeper this time.  Rainbow whimpered, and I felt my hoof moving to squeeze and rub at what I was touching, my tentacles extending without my consent in a downwards direction.  I felt them wrap around her waist, pulling her forward instead as I refused to move.  Damn it!  One of the lower tentacles slid forward as well, and I froze, mind going blank as it started to slide up and down something warm and wet.

Then it stopped.  Huh?  I heard them first.  Very light hoofsteps and the creaking of the front door knob starting to turn.  But nopony should have been able to mo…  Aura and Spike!  “Hello!  I forgot you two were here still!” the fake Twilight suddenly exclaimed, suddenly in a very unfamiliar male voice.  Three of my tentacles whipped out sideways, and flicked over to the door in an instant!  No!

I couldn’t pull them back, and instead I heard Aura scream as they caught and wrapped around her waist, then smacked into Spike an instant later, knocking him flying into the bookshelf to the right.  I heard my niece start to cry as she got dragged back over to where I was by the tentacle, the second one staying to push the door shut again.

“Ah, never mind this cunt.  Let’s have you mate with this mare instead!” he chirped.  I froze, processing that slowly.  No.  He wasn’t going to do this.  Even if he lost later and all I had to do was wait it out, he wasn’t going to get away with hurting them like this.  He was using me, and using my…  He was using the fact that I was a monster to make me even more of a monster.

It didn’t surprise me when I felt that raw anger and hatred inside of me.  I was never going to be an ideal pony.  I gave up.  I hated him.  Admitting it felt liberating, and I felt my eyes snap open again instead, my vision running red as I gritted my teeth.  He almost looked surprised that I had opened my eyes again, his projection snapping back into place and rapidly looking over at me, smirk shifting to a questioning glance instead.

I didn’t care anymore.  My muscles screamed, and I almost laughed as I literally forced myself backwards.  I heard a snap from my left shoulder, but I kicked off the floor and flung myself away from both Aura and Rainbow in one fluid motion.  The monster’s eyes widened, but I was already a bigger monster.  It boiled up from inside me, and everything in my mind drenched with the color of blood as I snarled and lashed out directly at the psyche in front of my vision.  He was an actual thinking entity, and something I could attack directly!

His scream of surprise was satisfying, and I just let them come.  I realized it now.  That other me was me, but it wasn’t at the same time.  I felt them, and knew that deep down, it was also Malice.  Focusing up every ounce of willpower I had, I screamed in rage and tore into him, gashing and ripping at every ounce of mental substance I could find with claws made of burning hatred in my mind.  He switched to blind, instinctive panic in an instant, and I followed him.  We kept attacking until he barely managed to get a mental barrier up, falling back several more steps.  Clarity burned through my hatred, and I snapped back to attention as I again used that backdoor access I had found and pulled the control links for the various command prompts right out of his psyche.  There was no time.

I felt his eyes widen as he lost control, but it was already too late.  I ran a lockdown command through all six links and on myself.  I felt my entire throbbing body go rigid, the tentacles freezing in their blind flailing as I crashed into the table and broke it in half.  The Element Bearers froze up, too, and I felt him struggle to try to get control back.  No.  I ran a new re-encryption on all seven command prompts, locking them down completely, and then turned to face him in my mind again.  The formless image of him started to recover, but I was already moving.

No, I could finally do something, and I was going to take him with me.  Leaping at him yet again, I focused, then pulled us both deep into my own mind, shutting off my consciousness as we fell into the dark.


* * * * *


The landing was abrupt.  He hit in his back, glowing armor making a dull crashing noise as the air left him, the rocks breaking as we hit.  I landed on him with all my weight, cracking his now humanoid chest plate before rolling and sliding along the dirt and rock under us.  Rock?  The sky was inverted while I was upside down, but was golden orange in color, filled with turmoil and clouds, flares of fire escaping between them.  The ground under me as I came up to my hooves was broken and barren, cracks running through the stone and dirt that looked bleached with age.  The sky ended where the ground began some two hundred meters from in front of me, and I guessed we were on some sort of rocky plateau.  Wait, energy armor...?  Abjuration?!

Fights between two Abjuration users were typically over in the first three seconds, given our usual attack methods of extending planes of force through our targets at brutal speed.  I came out of my roll into a spin, whipping an energy blade up from my left forehoof and parrying the stabbing spear attack up and away from my chest.  This wasn't going to be one of those fights...

He stood now, having rolled backwards and to his feet just as fast.  He'd not fully caught his breath yet, panting bringing attention to the glowing silver, broken-to-hell chest shield as it fell away, then snapped back to reformed an instant later. He also pulled up a few arm and leg plates, and a groin shield, given he was naked apart from those.  He was a male Keldarian, looking just shy of a hundred centimeters and covered in moderate amounts of blue fur.  I probably outweighed him by a factor of two, but the speed of his attack put me on guard.  He was no amateur.  The spear yanked back into his left hand as his right whipped down instead a second later, a follow up attack incoming.

My tentacle had already shot out when I rolled.  It tugging against my left shoulder, I yanked myself sideways as the ground where I was shattered upwards from the force of the massive hammer impact, made entirely from barrier energy, and actually launched me into the air.  Acting fast, my right shoulder's tentacle whipped around the hammer an instant later as he pulled it back, too.  Using the momentum, I released my still pulling left tentacle, firing myself in an arc like a slingshot, using his own weapon.

His eyes widened as he saw the tentacle on his hammer, and he barely twisted to the side as my blade smashed into the hilt of his hammer grip instead, the edge sliding through the pummel like butter and cutting an inch into his shoulder plate before he rolled away.  His right arm flicked back as he came out of the roll, and I kicked the pole of the hammer back up and into his cut, simultaneously rolling back out and under the slash as sparks of magic fell around me.  He cried out, his other hand holding his head from the feedback of cutting through his own handle, where he'd been controlling the hammer from.

Rolling twice more, but leaving my tentacle hooked into the ground, I shot myself at him yet again.  This time he realized what I could do and dove sideways, a few strands of his ear fur drifting up and catching fire as he barely managed to bring a leg up into my chest.  I went over backwards as he kicked me into the air with his plating re-enforced leg, then spun around with the force, bringing his left hand up with another blade, trying to cut me in half.

Doing something I forgot I could do, my left back hoof generated a blade as well, smashing into his in midair as I kicked off it, whipping a tentacle right at his face, gleam of the metal blade reflecting his widening eyes.  He dodged it a fraction of a second later, then rolled as I embedded the energy blade into the ground right where he'd been, throwing myself downwards again using the tentacle.  I instinctively whipped my left forehoof blade up, driving the tip of it into the very point of his newly formed spear that had been heading right at my face.  My other hoof swung around at the same time, but he snapped the shaft of the spear in half, swinging his other hand up to parry the second blade, gritting his teeth as my Earth Pony strength brought it within an inch of his neck.  He wasn't an amateur at all!

"Tch, it would seem we're evenly matched," he admitted, before tacking on, "Which I expected, from a creature who's using my memories."  My eyes widened, and in my instant of hesitation, he spun away from my left blade attack, using my stabbing momentum to pull me off balance and lash backwards with the other end of the broken off piece of spear.  The point whipped into my face, and I violently bit down at the same time.

Everything halted for a moment, him raising an eyebrow to me, and me grinning, now sharp teeth glowing with barrier energy as I held the point of his spear between them.  It was him.  It was him all along.  He killed all of those Keldarians in some fucked up Knight's Templar attempt at 'saving' them.  Was he that broken by what he went through and the imagined slights he'd gotten from Keela?  Did I even care?  That anger boiled in me, and my jaw tensed, cracks going down the tip of his barrier spear as I slowly started to crush it.

"I told you, you're me.  It's ironic that it's come down to this," he muttered, smirking again as he pulled his spear away and backed up.

"You're not me.  You're not even you anymore.  You used to actually want to save them all," I returned, landing on all four hooves again now that the spear wasn't propping me up.  To hell with it.  He didn't deserve my pity, just because I suddenly knew who he was.  I didn't know how he'd gotten here, but it was really his mind, and I was going to kill him, even if it killed me to do it.  If he died here, in our minds, he died in real life, too.  So did I, but like hell I was going to go down without hauling him to hell with me.

"I am saving them!" he screamed out, snarling before spinning and lashing out with his spear in a long sweep.  The tentacle I'd snuck along the ground while he was talking went taut, and I fell backwards, passing under his sweep before yanking myself into a slide and twisting.  My right flank raised as I crashed into his legs, directly into his knees as hard as I could.

He cried out in agony as I felt them snap against my weight, me taking him off his feet in an instant with my sheer mass.  I grappled another tentacle out to my right side as I came out of the slide into a roll.  He hit and rolled to the side as I swung around on my tentacle, building up more momentum as I slingshot around.

The air left me as we brutally collided, and I winced as I felt the blade bite into my left cheek.  It only stung, however, just the base of his blade remaining as the majority of it spun away to my right, cut clean through.  My blade fractured instead, shattering along my hoof in long, bleeding smears as both my back knees went into his gut, right between the two plates of armor.  My weight carried us backwards, and everything jarred as we smashed into the broken, raised section of rock, made by his earlier hammer attack.  My teeth gritted as the blade formed out of my mouth and cut into his left cheek, mirroring my own wound as he barely moved his head out of the way in time.  My own blade dug into the solid rock behind him and stuck, of course.  Tch.

He let go of the blade in his right hand, whipping it up into a palm strike towards my head instead.  My bleeding left hoof knocked his hand up and out of the way as I kneed him again in the gut.  He winced, then his face suddenly got a lot closer to me!  The smash in my teeth was jarring, but I still had the barrier up over them, and he came back with a bleeding forehead, before his other, good leg kicked my hip downwards.  Instinctively, I brought my left foreleg down as I fell, belting him in the side of the head and hauling him down next to me.

I knew what he was trying, and blocked his right hand's bashing motion with my left foreleg, which was still hooked over his shoulder.  I felt it twist, and winced as he tried to wrap around it to grab at my face, but it was too late as I braced my thigh against the ground.  His eyes widened.  He hadn't noticed that as we fell, my left shoulder's tentacle had latched onto the rock we'd been up against.  He tried to bring his left hand up, manifesting a blade to slice my tentacle, but I'd already torn myself backwards, spinning with the force of my own pull, and whipped him sideways with all my strength...

Sadly, the force of my own throw unbalanced me drastically.  Landing, I winced and rolled as I hit hard, moving backwards until I flipped to my hooves again, magic churning from overuse alongside the throb in my skull.  He hit almost ten meters from me, landing hard on his side but rolling out of it and stumbling up to his feet just the same.  I spat out blood from his head butt, and he wiped some away from his left eye as he glared at me.  The energy had tightened up around his shattered left knee, forming a makeshift brace as he stood fully.  I felt warmth coming down my cheek as I steadied myself, my left leg still hurting from that throw.  We were fairly evenly matched, but from the looks of it, I was coming out slightly ahead.  Maybe I'd win this and be able to return victorious?

Spitting blood out of his mouth, he chuckled as he formed another spear of force in his left hand, his right rapidly bruising from my throw.  "Looks like your pure, monstrous ferocity gives you an edge on me, Mender.  I'll definitely give you that mu-" he started to admit.  My eyes widened, and so did his, as the massive ball of radiating purple and red energy crashed into his back.  He was taken completely off his feet, the ball wobbling and pulsating for a moment against his armor before exploding, chunks of rock shattering out around the blast as he was flung like a rag doll through the air.  Holy shit!

Bits of his armor and shattered spear drifted around him, mixing with prismatic energy that had come out of nowhere.  My eyes couldn't track it as the cyan mare flickered in out of nowhere, look of absolute rage on her face.  The pink blur she was carrying was casually tossed into his falling form like one might deliver a bomb at point blank range.  Of course, that description wasn't that far from the truth as the mare flipped once, pile driving him into the ground hard enough to break the stone before giggling and hooking his armor with her hooves, kicking off him in a roll and knocking him into the air again.  What was left of his armor shattered completely as an orange blur shot past her, spinning and driving two back hooves into his chest, 'serving' him like a high speed volleyball off to my left.  Rainbow appeared behind him again less than a heartbeat later, her wings blazing with rainbow light as she drove all four hooves into his back.  I watched the spray of blood come out his mouth almost in slow motion as she whipped him upwards and right towards me, completing their 'pass' between each other.  They'd followed me here...

I didn't have time to consider that, however.  My body felt cold as I took two bounds, then whipped the elongated blade downwards from my mouth.  He managed to rotate in the air, but not enough.  He hit hard behind me, a sharp and wet crack sounding out, screaming and thrashing as his armor failed him across the remainder of his body and his right leg went limp at the knee.  His left arm, shoulder down, landed at my hooves, and I smirked, that hatred twisting inside me at the fitting bit of ironic revenge.  Malice was still with me, even here.

He writhed, screaming again before clutching the shredded stump of his left shoulder, no real shoulder there at all anymore, it now being just a mass of blood, gore, and bone.  I looked up and saw all of them there, Twilight looking utterly pissed with her horn radiating with light.  Fluttershy looked horrified over at him for a brief moment before it melted into a look of worry instead, her snapping to me.  She started in my direction, but Rarity held her left leg up and stopped her, shaking her head.  Right.  First things first...

Turning, I extended my mouth blade again as I walked in his direction.  Flickering barriers held his leg together as he stumbled to his feet, another tight barrier going over what was left of his shoulder to hold those important bodily fluids in.  I embraced the cold hatred, and stopped caring how he'd managed to get here.  I didn't care what his plan was or if he really thought he was 'helping' those Keldarians.  I didn't even care about what Keela would think of me after this point.  He'd hurt my friends.  He tried to hurt me.  He tried to make me hurt my friends.  He threatened to kill Fluttershy.  He did kill billions of Keldarians, and probably Doctor Kyliona.  I was going to end him, and I doubted I'd lose a wink of sleep over it.  Applejack and Pinkie caught up fast as I walked towards him, flanking on the left and right, respectively.  My 'other' link with Rainbow warned me ahead of time before she even landed, off to Applejack's left, looking equally pissed.  I wasn't sure if any of them had the intent to actually kill him, but that wasn't going to save him from me, unfortunately.

"Heh.  You're all monsters.  I try to do the right thing...  I was the only one trying to save our race.  She wanted to sacrifice us all, just so a furry rat could live.  And I'm the crazy one?!" he asked, his right arm forming a shorter, flickering blade as he struggled to keep his footing.  It was an act, of course, and I prepared my full defenses as I took another bound forward and full out sprinted at him.

He smirked, recognition of me calling his bluff flashing through his eyes.  My own widened as he whipped his arm upwards, and I prepared to roll to the side.  The blade wasn't in his hand when it completed its arc, however.  I spun, turning to the left as the blade rotated in the air past me, shooting off in slow motion.  It had made it three meters before I completed my spin, Applejack's eyes widening as she swerved to avoid me.  It was six meters by the time I came to a complete stop, tentacles anchoring me into the ground.  Fluttershy's eyes widened as she looked back up, the point of the blade a meter from her head.

Images of head whipping back, blood spraying upwards with the energy blade sticking out of it echoed all around me.  It felt like my soul screamed out.  A hundred tentacles descended, tearing through chests and flinging broken bodies through walls.  A Keldarian's head was torn free as another tentacle ate his body into a smear of gore.  Some attacked, their spells and weapons shattering or reflecting away from the horrible darkness before it consumed them.  A thousand souls screamed out in pain, all at once, mirroring my own as the blade closed a few centimeters with her face, me in mid-sprint.  Everything fell apart, the world seemingly collapsing around me as my vision focused only on the blade and making my legs move faster.  

My left foreleg extended, a massive claw of pure darkness grabbing the shard of energy out of the air, stopping it a centimeter from her left eye.  Both eyes widened and she looked at the blade, then up at me, look of shock evident in her expression.  Rarity gasped next to her, also looking up at me.  My vision was hazy and red tinted as I slowly turned and looked back at the monster who'd thrown the blade.  It was so hard to think, a thousand voices a second screaming out in my mind, baying for his blood.  He was staring at me, eyes wide, just like my three friends were a half a dozen yards in front of him.  I didn't know how I'd gotten over here to catch the blade, but I didn't care as I crushed it in my 'claw'.  Part of me knew something was wrong, but the rest of me was only focused on making him suffer.  I knew what this was...

Malice.  They were pissed off, and through all of this, they'd thought I was the one who'd killed them.  They saw through my eyes, however, and he'd completely admitted to being the one who turned me into a weapon against my will.  I felt their hatred, and for the first time, it wasn't directed at me.  They felt my pain in that instant Fluttershy was attacked, and for this moment, they agreed with me completely.  He needed to die.  We'd work together towards that goal.

A hundred eyes slowly opened on my left foreleg, the inky, pitch black darkness surrounding it completely.  They all locked on to him, the form starting to leak away from my leg as a few mouths with bared fangs, and arms with claws extended, 'melted' out of my form.  I felt powerful, and much bigger than I was before.  I felt strong enough to shatter the stone with a flick of my claw.  Most of all, I really wanted to kill him.  Maybe even take a few bites out of his chest as he lay there screaming in his own blood.  Slow bites.  Had to savor the taste of his failure, of course.  So did he, I decided.

He leapt forward, only remaining arm extending to grab at Rainbow's back as she looked at me in shock.  A hostage?  This only worsened the anger in my mind.  I felt myself flow like blood, and in between my blinks, I was next to him, his body sprawled out in midair.  His eyes widened, sensing my presence just slightly before I whipped my right foreleg to the side, bitch slapping his body away from Rainbow.  He hit against the same rock as before, almost thirty meters to my right now, his newly reformed full body barrier shattering on impact as he silently screamed, blood coming from his mouth.  Momentarily surprised, I realized his hand was missing on his only remaining arm now, then looked downwards in time to see a fanged mouth biting into it and swallowing the mangled limb.  It burned away into black flames as it absorbed into my body, and I added its mass to my own.

Five or six more of my eyes opened, and I smiled at him as I turned, suddenly finding myself over in front of him while he tried to stand up.  "Well?  You're obviously superior to me, the monstrous furred rat.  Heal yourself.  Stand up, recoup, and fight.  Oh wait, you never learned any healing magic," I reminded, not really surprised when my voice came out in about sixteen different tones.  The same reason I was 'standing' on my back legs for now.

"F-Fuck you, you monster..." he coughed out, rolling over to look up at me.  I smirked and lifted my huge, left arm up, the eyes on it all narrowing as additional clawed hands, and one clawed foot, extended out around my main claw.  Foot?  Eh, whatever.  I felt nothing at all as I brought it down into his chest.

It smashed through and into rock that was under him.  I raised an eyebrow, noting no gore at all as he suddenly wasn't there anymore.  That was interesting.  Teleportation?  A new technique?  No, he would have used teleportation to save his arm had he had that all along.  Standing up fully again, I crushed the bits of rock my claw took with it.  Looking about, I saw him at the far end of the stone plateau we were on, now floating in the air and locked in what looked like some sort of crystal with raw lines of data running through it.  Aww, hell.

A spike of anger had me in front of the crystal, my eyes staying open this time to note the distorted warping that hauled me over to him.  My large claw sunk into the surface of it and passed completely through the other side in an instant, unfortunately.  He smirked as it kept going, me hitting nothing but air as I stood fully upright again.  Illusion?  No, it felt like he was there, by his psyche, but he wasn't there at the same time.  Clearing my head trying to think, I winced and felt the darkness fall away from me, landing on all four hooves again.  They were powerful, but how any of them could think at all with that thick, heady rage they felt constantly was beyond me.  But I knew their pain.  I died once, too.

Twilight flashed in next to me in a teleport an instant later, with the others running up almost as fast.  Rainbow, of course, beat them all there, followed very shortly by Pinkie and Applejack.  The captain, whose name I'd never learned, smirked down at me, looking like he'd been put through a blender.  "You're right.  Your friends are dangerous enough, but you're a complete monster.  There's no way I could win against all of you in a straight fight,” he admitted, relaxing in the strange, red crystal, the data access pointers looking almost like an exotic set of runes as they drifted over the surface of it.  What was this?

As if hearing my question, he nodded to me, then continued with, "This was the only card I had left to play, if I couldn't just kill you and take your body.  Instead, I'll ignore you and take your body.  You might have re-encrypted all of the access points but I'll have access to them again in, uh...  Four and a half hours?  Damn, I forgot how long that took," he muttered a moment later, checking his side screen.  Wow.  I’m so glad I re-encrypted everything.  So he was just going to sit in whatever this was until he finished hacking back into me?  Well, admittedly it was probably the smart course of action.  We couldn't mock him on his lack of bravery if he won and we were all dead.

"You coward!  You just don't want to fight us because you were losing!" Rainbow shouted, fur raising up with the newly revealed information.  Well, I guess we could try to mock him.  Just a little.  It was rather therapeutic.

He stared at her for a moment before shrugging.  "Yeah, that's about it.  Why should I get myself killed fighting you and your monster coltfriend when I can win just by waiting in here for the time to run out?" he pointed out.  I was a bit surprised when Rainbow bothered blushing at his comment, still glaring at him regardless.

"What exactly is 'here'?" Twilight asked, looking more annoyed as her horn lit up, a small beam of energy passing cleanly through the crystal, and his neck in the same instant.  I kind of wondered what she would have done if that had worked and she'd taken his head off...

He averted his eyes until her light show was done, then shook his head.  "I'm kind of glad now that Mender never repaired the fourth core.  If he did, it might have been reattached at this point and you'd be able to get to me.  As it stands, I just have to wait it out in here for the third core to slowly break the encryptions.  Again," he answered, smirking down at Twilight once more.  Fourth core?  But it was broken!  In its current state, it wouldn't be able to store an AI on it, much less an actual...  Psyche...  

My eyes widened, and the captain smirked knowingly at me through the red tint.  I looked up at him in surprise.  "You're not in the core... you are the core!  You're...  You turned yourself into an Aegis Artifact?!" I asked, eyes widening.  How?!  Wait, no, when?!  Twilight perked up next to me, then looked back up to him in equal surprise.

He chuckled in amusement before nodding.  "You caught me.  Not actually entirely sure what I am at this point, or even how much of me got transferred in that instant.  It was either this or let you leave me, stranded and dying on that hellhole of a planet.  I mean, fuck.  What would you have done?  So I used the shards of what was left of my Aegis Barrier, and lashed out with my soul link as you started to power up the FTL jump, aiming for whatever part I could reach.  Pity that bitch that was helping you realized it and turned the shielding off to my core..." he revealed.  My head spun, and I frowned, trying to remember what he was talking about.  Everything was a haze, and it was suddenly hard for me to remember what memories were my own.  Something seemed so...  It was distant, like it was far off and in a fog.  Bitch?  Who was he talking about?

The tiny cat face came to mind, and I took an educated guess that it belonged to Doctor Kyliona.  Had she included some sort of Aegis detection code in that final upload to me?  I didn't even think that was possible, so maybe I was wrong about whom he was referring to.  It didn't matter, though, as I had to figure out a way to access my fourth core in the next four hours or so, despite it not being physically plugged into my systems.  Him being able to cheat and connect using just a soul connection was completely unfair.  Wait...

"Why did all of you follow me?" I asked, looking over to Twilight an instant later.  She snapped back to attention, previously being deep in thought by the looks of it, and glanced over at me.  Her eyes softened, and she shook her head sadly after a moment's hesitation.

"You were acting weird, then talking about being hijacked before this monster pops out and gives us death threats.  Why would we make you face him alone after we felt you haul him inside yourself?" she asked, sounding like she thought the very notion was completely crazy.  I frowned, not understanding her question fully.

Rainbow huffed, however, stomping her right forehoof against the rocks while glaring at me.  "You have to stop trying to do things by yourself!  We can handle ourselves and help you.  You're our friend, too, Mender, and we're not going to let you face things alone," she declared, chest puffing up after she said it.

But now all six of them were stuck in here with me.  We were all comatose now, instead of them simply being 'slaves' if I'd lost to the captain.  I couldn't decide if their fate was better or worse, actually, all things considered.  Either way, Equestria was denied the use of the Elements of Harmony at the same time.

Exhaling softly, I nodded slowly to Rainbow, looking back up at her as she momentarily looked surprised I didn't try to disagree, then softened in her stance and smiled at me, nodding as well.  Yeah, they were my friends, and there wasn't really a point for them not following me this time, I admitted.

"You all are so disgustingly sappy.  Seriously?  Females always want something, so why don't you just do him the favor of telling him outright instead of trying to make him buy all of this love and friendship bullshit.  That's what I hated most about females," the captain spat out, glaring at Rainbow in particular.  I couldn't honestly tell if he was just trying to get under our skin, or honestly believed his own garbage.  I also didn't care, and frowned, looking up at the gem again.  Could I use the same soul link technique to 'connect' to his core, or was it just an Aegis Artifact trick?  I kind of wished that Purdue was here to give me some advice on it, but we hadn't gotten around to introducing her into my dreams yet, so I doubted she knew how to follow me anyway.  Damn it!

"We ain't tryin' ta use him, despite how much ya think otherwise.  Ya must o' had some real bad experiences with mares if yer sayin' stuff like that," Applejack murmured, sounding more sad than angry over his comment.  He just glared at her, of course.

"I don't need your pity, bitch.  You're not fooling me, and I know precisely what you want from him!  So take your self-righteousness and go fuck yourself," he spat out, actually spitting at her a moment later.  It passed through the crystal and faded long before it got to us, making me realize that the intangible effect went both ways.  The orange mare still instinctively stepped back to avoid its original trajectory, though.

Dash bristled again, glaring at him before pointedly gesturing to her fillyfriend.  "Applejack isn't a dog, so stop calling her that!  And what does 'fuck' even mean?!" she asked, making me wince slightly.  Ugh, I so didn't want to hear her say that.  This is why I had avoided all swearing!  Twilight coughed lightly at that, probably understanding it a bit better.

"Uh, based on the context, both are probably derogatory in nature.  'Bitch' appears to represent an individual whom he dislikes, potentially a female only, whom he feels is being dishonest or similar, from what I gather.  'Fuck' appears to be a verb, though, as well as an exclamation of exasperation over something.  Not sure what it implies, but..." she started to deduce, switching into her scientific mode and making me cringe outright.

Bristling, I finally exclaimed, "Stop saying that!  It sounds horrible coming from your mouths.  Please stop."  Twilight blinked at me, then snickered in sudden realization.

"Oh, you know what they mean, then!  Um..." she stated, then paused, looking more fully at me in an almost expectant way.  Sighing, I rolled my eyes before giving in.

"Bitch is still a female dog, but it's also derogatory for either a female who's cruel or traitorous, mostly, or a male who's particularly 'wimpy' or a pushover," I explained, sighing and then continuing with, "The other is mostly used as a verb.  It's slang and synonymous for sexual intercourse, but can also be used for surprise, exasperation, and lots of other things."  How had it come to me having to explain swear words to them?!

Pinkie was giggling almost uncontrollably before immediately pointing out, "Wait, he just asked Applejack to go have sex with herself, then?!  That's silly!  Unless she was like, using her hoof and-"

"Pinkie!  Stop!" the orange mare pleaded, flushed red coloring her cheeks now.  Yup, this conversation had gone completely downhill, and off on a huge tangent away from, I don't know, actually stopping him from taking over my body and screwing us all over?!

Twilight wasn't paying attention anymore, however, and frowned instead, looking back up at the gem.  Eh?  "I kind of wish we had the Elements of Harmony here.  I bet they'd work against the crystal," she wistfully murmured.  I'm sure she knew the crystal was just a graphical representation of the fact that he'd retreated behind a physical separation from us, so I assumed she was actually referring to the CPU core he resided in.  Would the Elements affect electronics like that, though?  I somehow doubted the concept of bit wiping or electromagnetic disruption existed here.  They didn't appear to have electricity, instead using something called 'Ether Energy'.  Huh.

Fluttershy suddenly gasped, however, giving me a start.  I turned sharply to look at her, only for her to push up against me instead, lifting my left leg up for examination.  Oh.  “You’re hurt!” she squeaked, carefully brushing the fur over the now bruising area.  It would probably cause mild sympathetic damage to my real body, but unlike here, that one had nanites and cybernetics to repair itself.

“I’ll be fine,” I murmured to her, only getting half of the last word out before she kissed me gently.  I leaned into it, and she shivered, smiling against my muzzle before releasing me.  She’d been surprised by my form earlier when I caught the blade, I realized, but it felt like she was refusing to let it get to her this time.  I felt warm inside at that, before Twilight frowned in my background vision, past Fluttershy’s head.

Fluttershy saw me glancing past her, and turned to look back at Twilight, who was feeling her chest with her own hoof.  Oh no.  What now?  It didn’t look like a pained expression, though, so I relaxed a little.  Fluttershy gasped a moment later, and reached down, touching the same spot on her chest as well.  Eh?!

“I…  I feel it!  Why can I feel the Element on my chest?” she asked quietly, touching the spot where the jewel should normally hang.  I lifted my eyebrow up, then looked as the others each did the same.

Rarity shook her head absently, then deduced, “That shouldn’t be possible, should it?  We weren’t wearing the Elements when we fell in here.  Did somepony put them on us?”  They couldn’t use the Elements unless the jewels themselves were on them?  For empathic weaponry, that was sort of a weird limitation, admittedly.  Twilight nodded to her, regardless.

“Spike and Aura were fine before we followed Mender in here.  I used my magic and the bits of the table to scratch them a message to get help and send a letter to Princess Celestia.  Maybe they put them on us?” she suggested, a very sound idea at that.  Well, if they knew where the key to the cabinet was.  It was admittedly the only thing I’d seen locked in a while.  Not that it mattered, with the big display made out of glass, of course.  I tried not to twitch as I considered Equestria’s security measures.

Fluttershy closed her eyes a moment later, drawing my attention back to her as a soft, pink glow started emanating from her chest.  She surprised me by questioning, “Do we need the necklaces to use the Elements of Harmony?”  Oh?  A gemstone butterfly, made out of a similar shade as her hair, faded in on her chest, radiating a soft pink light.  My eyes widened as no necklace appeared with it, and she smiled, turning to look at Twilight with the glowing jewel just resting against her chest and utterly ignoring gravity.  Eh, it wasn’t the weirdest thing I’d seen in my time so far in Equus.

Twilight’s eyes widened, and she focused next, an equally soft, rosy hue appearing on her chest as well, in the shape of a starburst.  One by one, they each closed their eyes, radiance expanding into the ambiance of the area with six different, vibrant colors now.  This finally snapped the captain out of his code work, turning to frown as they all stood around me, covering the area in a soft glow.  With all six gems there, they all magnified, and Twilight suddenly smiled.

“We can feel them!  It doesn’t matter where they are.  The only thing that matters is that this is working!  We can use the Elements of Harmony here!” she squeaked, trotting happily back and forth on her legs.  My mind wavered, and I tried really hard not to suddenly picture that image of her lying on the floor of the kitchen.  I suddenly didn’t feel so good…

“Uh, hate ta ruin anythin’, but where exactly is ‘ere?  If we’re inside Mender’s mind, what happens if we fire off tha Elements ‘ere?” Applejack asked, snapping me out of my thoughts, thankfully.  Oh.  Oh, right.  Would I be targeted by the Elements, too, due to pure proximity?

Everypony froze at that, Pinkie blinking twice before reasoning, “But Mender’s not a bad pony.  The Elements would ignore him, right?”  If only I could be so idealistic to that theory.

“It doesn’t matter.  We don’t have any other options to use at the moment.  I suggest using the Elements of Harmony regardless,” I pointed out, taking a few steps back and away from the crystal, suddenly realizing I had no idea on the radius of those gems.  Wait, did the radius even matter?  He was technically embedded inside my chest in real life.  You couldn’t get much ‘closer’ in proximity there.  Twilight looked just as unsure as I did, either worried about the proximity as well, or wondering how ‘picky’ the Elements really were.  Princess Luna was a good pony, too, but because she was ‘infected’ with the evil that was Nightmare Moon, the Elements banished her completely the first time for a thousand years!  If I had to sit for a thousand years on the moon, I wouldn’t be a happy individual either.

They all looked doubtful still, and I stomped my hoof down onto the rocks, immediately regretting picking my left one for the task.  I recovered my ‘stern’ look after the wince fairly quickly, then proceeded to append, “We don’t have a choice!  It’s either use the Elements or just sit here and wait to lose.  You six are too important regardless.  You have to use them!”

The captain snorted at that, however.  “And what, pray tell, are these ‘Elements of Harmony’?  What, are you going to love and friendship me to death?” he inquired, not looking impressed by the gems in the slightest.  Twilight didn’t pay attention to him, instead turning to the rest of the girls.

“He’s right.  We don’t have any other options other than just waiting to lose.  If that happens, it’s not only a problem for us, but we’ll be leaving all of Equus in danger!” she exclaimed, looking back and forth between them all, searching expressions hopefully.

It was a long and painful five seconds before Applejack slowly nodded and stood up again, her orange and green apple gem starting to pulse with light.  Rainbow didn’t look pleased, but she sighed and made hers start pulsing as well.  “This better not hurt Mender, or I’m going to be really upset,” she warned.  Well, I’d probably be ‘upset’, too.  Big footnote there, depending on what state it left me in, of course.  It was hard to be upset when I was dead, I imagine.  Or maybe not, ‘ghosts’ being a thing in Equus.

Soon, all six gems were pulsing with their individual colors as the girls backed up and away from the captain, who was looking a little concerned now as the area started to fill with the ambient energy coming off them.  I’d be concerned for how much this was irradiating my soul or something, but we didn’t have a whole lot of options.

“Guess you’re about to find out what the Elements of Harmony are.  This is the first time I’ve seen them fired as well, so I guess we’ll both see something new,” I admitted, finally addressing the captain as I sat down a few meters away from him.

“Fired?” he immediately asked, ‘standing up’ again in his gem as he looked at the six mares some distance behind me.  I didn’t need to turn around to note the glow had picked up tremendously, sympathetic ambiance and energy drifting past me now on the air, like flakes of stardust.  Well, if I did die, at least this was possibly the prettiest way I could imagine.

Rarity coughed lightly, then added, “You may wish to back up a little, Mender.  I know you don’t think it matters, but it might.”  I blinked at that, then sighed.  Okay, yeah, she was right.  It might matter.  Standing again, I trotted back a ways to stand off to the side of the six mares instead, watching all of them focus on the huge, radiating glows coming from their chests.  The light was soft, and warm, and I found it hard to be scared of it, though.  A part of me wondered what it would feel like to be hit with it, but the rest of me realized how crazy that sounded an instant later.  Maybe I was more suicidal than I realized?

The calming effect was apparently lost on the captain, however, who looked more ‘horrified’ than anything.  “Wait, that level of energy…  It shouldn’t be possible to bring that much energy into a mindscape!  You’re going to kill both of us!” he warned.  Fluttershy paused first, but I just snorted.

“He’s bluffing.  He’ll say anything to save himself,” I assured.  Maybe I was the one bluffing instead?  Regardless, it had the desired effect, and they all focused again, the radiance burning around them now as the air almost lit on colored fire.  It was rather pretty, the swirls of light and energy around them.  Then they started drifting into the air, and I realized things were probably going to get weird.

Reality itself, for what it was worth in here, started to twist and warp away from them as the energy focused into a single point, being ‘aimed’ towards the captain by Twilight.  I realized a moment later that I’d never asked him what his name was.  Eh, it didn’t matter, really.  The ball of rainbow colored whirling energy expanded slowly, until it was larger than they were and I couldn’t see their forms anymore through the massive glow of the energy.  Well, my choice was made.  I was glad I didn’t mention my plan to try to copy what he did and make an empathy link in order to connect to the CPU Core.  It probably wouldn’t have worked and just gotten us all stuck here anyway.

Wait, he was able to bring up interfaces here…  It took a few tries, but I finally got it to respond to my will.  Bringing up my command prompt using that back door again, I noted that the defenses were still in place, and logged into my own systems from where I was.  Everything was on lockdown, tied to the operation of my OS, like I requested.  I queued a lockdown removal for the paralysis effects on each of the girls, scheduled to be appended to their nanites in about three hundred seconds.  One way or another, his control over them would be gone by then.  Apart from the instructions to undo what I did already, however, there was nothing more I could do in my systems, all of them still in lockdown.

My attention was drawn back upwards with the blinding flash of light, and I flicked the command prompt closed again.  The captain’s breath caught as he took a step back in his crystal, bumping into the other edge of it and not passing through.  Oh, he was stuck there.  That’s why he hadn’t just used it to avoid attacks earlier.  Well, that didn’t work out well for him.

There was no time for him to formulate plans or make an attempt to escape.  The huge ‘wave’ of light washed out his entire crystal in an instant, a scream of panic sounding off and cut short as the entire thing was washed away in the radiance.  I winced, shielding my eyes from the intense light as it arced upwards, as if it had a mind of its own, crashing into the burning sky and exploding into a prismatic ring of color, expanding outwards like one of Rainbow’s Sonic Rainbooms.  Huh.  Well, I’m sure that wouldn’t have consequences at all!

Reality itself shook violently a moment later, the sky warping and twisting into white clouds with blasts of prismatic fire falling from the heavens.  The ground around me warped and shattered, crystals jutting out of it in various spots and splotches of grass and a few trees ruptured out of the ground.  Holy hell!  It was like an inverse apocalypse was happening with me right in the center of it!  What did you even call that?!  

I flailed, then squeaked as a tree erupted under me and carried me up about five meters a moment later, and I decided that I had mixed feelings on this sort of apocalypse.  The captain and his gem were nowhere to be seen, and with the lake of colors under me like a thick fog, I couldn’t see the girls either.  The sky exploded into white as the backdrop fell away into a huge, bright blue and a golden sun somewhere above.  My eyes widened, staring up at the huge, crystal blue abyss above me, clouds swirling out from the beacon of prismatic light going straight up into the blue.  It was the calmest I’d ever felt, as a soft and warm rain started to fall all around me.

My operating system was less happy.  Errors spanned the entire network, showing critical information failure on two of my CPU Cores, being the broken one and the third one that he’d hijacked.  Generic exceptions were coming from CPU Core Three, which I contributed to suddenly losing all of the hooks he’d placed into it.  Violently.  Through whatever the hell energy the Elements of Harmony used.  CPU Core Four was simply gone, showing up as one giant null pointer reference.  I had no clue what that meant in the slightest, but imagined the captain wasn’t the happiest individual at the moment.

It didn’t matter, though.  The structure of this ‘virtual’ empathic world I’d created on the fly was falling apart, my OS rebooting itself to try to recover from the catastrophic amount of damage it had just suffered.  The Element Bearers got ‘disconnected’ a moment later, only Rainbow’s and Fluttershy’s sensations remained lingering for a moment, Fluttershy crying out and reaching for me, and Rainbow looking shocked.

They were gone a moment later, and everything was suddenly quiet.  I was scared to move for a while, glancing down at the grass beneath me, hazy mist having risen up all around.  There was no operating system.  This had become just my mindscape, with no computer calculations or control whatsoever.  I dropped down out of the spontaneous tree a second later and looked around through the sun-lit haze.  It was a weird place to be, with a haphazardly thrown together mixture of different elements from a lot of different areas, including a grassland and forest at least.  The prismatic fog didn’t help make the area feel any more normal, especially with the sun shining down in the blue sky above.  I wasn’t waking up, and couldn’t will myself awake.  Further, my OS wasn’t coming back, and I idly wondered if there was physical damage it had to repair first.  Or maybe something had gone wrong and I’d been nonchalantly tossed into the afterlife with no transition at all?

Walking over to where the gem was, I was surprised to see the captain there.  He shakily stood up off the ground, bits of his damaged leg and shoulder burning away around him in prismatic light.  He was translucent now, and I wasn’t even certain he was fully there as crystal fragments jutted out from him in various spots.

“You bastard.  You fucking bastard.  They infected me!  They infected me with this pathetic sugar-bowl fantasy shit that’s all around us…  You should have just killed me!  It would have been more pleasant!” he groaned out, voice elevating as he glared up at me, eyes empty and white.  His colors were fading, being drawn out by the prismatic ‘leaking’ coming from around the crystals and his damaged areas.  He was dying.  Sort of.  Maybe.

I sat down in front of him, no real feelings at all coming up as I watched him shakily stumble towards me.  There was so much hate in him.  The sun was gone now above, with gray winter clouds returning as it started to snow.  The temperature dropped around us, and I realized something was indeed wrong, the colors starting to leave everything, not just him.  We might be dying, instead.

“You really do hate everything, don’t you?” I asked quietly, watching him slip and fall into the snow that was rapidly gathering around us, landing messily on his chest, having only the stump of one forearm to catch him.

He glared up at me for a long moment before simply answering with, “Fuck you.”  That was really all the answer I needed.  This wasn’t him.  This was some sad shard of his prior form.  Just a remnant of the captain who hadn’t died with him on that far away planet.  Killing this sad creature would be more a mercy than anything.  It was like it was some sort of twisted mockery of what he used to be, and what he’d originally wanted.  I suddenly felt sick just looking at the image in front of me.

Smiling softly at him, I whispered, “Goodbye, then.”  He only glared before shakily standing up defiantly once more.

“I may be dying, but you’re going out with me, you monster!  You’re not going to beat me so easily that-“ he started to deny.

I knew where they were now.  Feeling them there was as simple as breathing.  Still smiling, I just focused and completely opened the connection to Malice.  The harsh blackness exploded out of me, not even hesitating for a second.  The captain screamed, whipping an energy blade up in panic.  He cut off one of the six hundred or so limbs that expanded out of the miasma of hate in front of him.  I looked away as his screaming ceased, being replaced by a constant tearing sound of flesh, bone, and sinew.  Their rage turned white hot and blinding, me pushing it away just so it didn’t consume myself as well.  He apparently wasn’t incorporeal enough to avoid their wrath, and dark crimson lined the snow, spraying past me in long lines as bits of flesh and meat landed around me.  The warm dots hitting my fur were the only warmth left in the area, and I sighed softly.  That was that, then.  I hoped it bought them some measure of peace.

Almost a minute later, the sounds finally stopped.  I turned and looked back at the mass of concentrated black nothing as it turned slowly, almost looking disappointed at the five meter wide spray of gore in front of it.  It moved like a singular entity, despite thousands of eyes opening up all over its form as it turned to look at me.  Mmm.  Was I next, then?

The creature just stared at me, however, the eyes suddenly softening all over it and almost looking sad.  I felt so cold, the drops of red spotting my coat rapidly cooling in the air around me.  I shivered, then winced as another flare of light came down out of the sky, a blast parting the clouds in an instant.  What?!

Malice made a hissing sound, suddenly looking up as the prismatic column of light crashed down into it before it could even move.  They weren’t done yet?!  My eyes widened as the deafening thunder of a billion souls all screaming at once shattered through the air all around me, the sound vibrations actually blasting the snow away from both of us as I screamed, holding a hoof to each ear.  I didn’t hear the explosion, but I felt it as the force shadowed me out, suddenly.  The heat flashed my fur back, my silent scream getting sucked away behind me as I was flung like a ragdoll backwards.

I felt nothing as I crashed into the snow covered ground two dozen meters away.  I skipped once, then twice more before rolling and coming to a crashed rest in the silent snow, the world going cold and empty again a heartbeat later.  My body refused to move as I lay on my side, the snow coming down in full force once more, slowly erasing the long path my body had made.  Crimson red expanded across it moving away from my vision, and I shivered, just closing my eyes and letting the numbness take me.  After everything I’d been through, the last month just piled up all at once.  I was so tired.  I’d been almost killed so many times, fought tooth and nail literally for what I wanted to protect, and all of it was pointless in the end, wasn’t it?  Would I even be around to enjoy what I worked so hard for?  Or was it to be my legacy to just clear the way for better ponies who were less broken?

The energy faded from my body, and I no longer had the will to even shiver as the cold disappeared, too, falling away to numbness and a vast emptiness.  No, I wasn’t going to fight any longer.  There was nothing left in me at all, and I felt so very, very tired.  The rest of them could have the future.  For now, I think I needed a little rest…

Everything faded away completely.
> Forgiveness Pending - Ending 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's really difficult to grasp exactly how large space is.  The easiest way to fully understand it was actually through the opposite, by realizing exactly how small you were.  Slowly, I stepped out of the distortion, feeling reality 'roll' me out into this place and my hooves finding purchase on the rock beneath me.  And all around me, really.  Some were the size of a car, and other floating chunks were as big as moons.  Reality was slightly tinted now, my eyes covered in the crystal lenses that folded seamlessly out of my skin.  My dermal layer made me immune to the effects of atmospheric differences up to a few thousand atmospheres anyway, so as long as I didn't fall into a black hole... or turn into a black hole... I should be fine.

I'd been here before, of course.  This was the same spot we'd entered into the last time Rainbow and I had skipped through dimensions.  The long cold, broken remains of ship parts drifted around me as well, evidence that the Grosh hadn't bothered returning for the wreckage of their fallen comrade.  It only added to the miasma of debris that was in the localized space, thin atmosphere still present causing an eerie effect of being able to hear faint echoing sounds in the otherwise silence.  Heavily muted, given that it was probably dozens of tons of rock crashing into each other somewhere in this mess.  Given a few million years or so, assuming our star didn't go supernova or something otherwise drastic, this would probably be a planet again.  Gravity had a way of attracting things together like that.  It didn't bring the inhabitants back, of course, but they were in a better place now.  Marginally.  Well, about a third of them, anyway.  I didn't think the afterlife was quite as clear cut here as it was in Equus.

Keela's ship rested amongst the debris.  This was as close as I'd gotten to her since leaving this dimension, I suddenly realized.  I looked the ship over, noting it was heavily repaired since it was attacked by the Grosh.  The missing wing had been simply welded over, converting the usual 'C' shape of the mining vessel to more of a banana shape instead.  It would have to do, though.  It didn't comfort me in the slightest to see the rudimentary missile pods and lasers strapped to it either.

Instead, I looked out through the debris.  My eyes zoomed in, telescopic lenses rotating into place as I magnified several hundred times across the open space.  My stomach felt cold as I saw them.  It was a full preliminary invasion force.  I counted three main siege ships, about four times larger than the science vessel Rainbow and I had taken out.  That put them at about eight kilometers long, and about one wide.  They were armed to the teeth with standard armaments, and each carried two planet buster particle cannons.  Worse yet, there was a flagship present.  It was easily twelve kilometers long, and two wide.  Three times the firepower and probably just as impressive shielding and armor.  Accompanying the four giants were around two hundred support vessels, varying in size between a kilometer long to the seven meters or so.  This wasn't going to be easy.  Thankfully, I already assumed it wouldn't be and prepared accordingly.

Keela flicked onto my display on the right side, picture absurdly crystal clear.  She looked tense, which was understandable, but gave me a nod and weak smile.  "Seeing you right here is...  There are a lot of emotions running through me right now..." she admitted, sighing a little.

I smirked to her and nodded.  "Don't worry.  We can talk face to face once you're safely in Equus and we've kicked their flanks all over space..." I assured, 'looking' right at her.  She relaxed a little, then smirked back, which was exactly what I was trying for.  If I was stuck being a 'leader' here, I had to at least appear confident.  I was confident, but clear-headed.  That familiar cold sensation had already set in, making everything seem crisp and focused.  Emotions lessened, and my head got very active as I embraced the sensations.  Thinking during combat, especially when I was also the tactician, was a must.

The amused snort over short feed communications to my right alerted me that they'd also made it through.  Rainbow walked up next to me, wearing a coy grin as she looked out right at the target fleet instead.  "Psh, ha!  Seriously?  That's all they brought?!  I was expecting three times that number.  We'll have this wrapped up before supper!" she chirped, snickering afterwards.  Not that I really needed to act confident when I was entirely overshadowed by my companions anyway.  But they were way more used to the spotlight than I, so they were welcome to it.

All six of them were in emergency harnesses similar to mine, the leather bands wrapping over their backs to secure the air tanks, then down and around their stomach to lock together.  There were a half a dozen extra straps, however, including one that slid back behind their rumps and under them there, and another two that went around their shoulders, one going under their forelegs along their chests, and the other forming a sort of collar around their necks.  Once padded, I’m told the harness of sorts formed the bases for what a construction pony wore for protection, and what the guard’s armor locked onto as a support frame.  Theirs was just the strappings, however, for it was lined with strands of silver that the Ether flowed through, supplying energy for the enchantment covering them in a thin layer of pressure-resisting barrier energy.  All of it was supplied by the heavy crystals on their chest, also enchanted with an emergency teleportation spell, just in case.  I was proud of throwing all that together on such short notice!

"Rarity?" I asked, but she gave me a smooth nod before I could even continue my train of thoughts.

"Feed back to Equestria is loud and clear, it says.  Further, our 'selfie' cams are working properly.  That's such a cute name, by the way!  I don't imagine you came up with it yourself, did you?" she reported, smirking after as I gave her an annoyed look back.

Applejack snickered, causing her smirk to instantly falter into a glare as well, aimed at the orange mare.  She shot a wink back to the unicorn in return, then reminded, "Mender can be plenty cute when he wants ta be.  Ah admit, when he's serious-like, Ah doubt he'd have come up with tha name, so yer probably right.  But Ah know ya know about that cute bit..."  Oh hell.  Nope, changed my mind.  Didn't care.  Shoot me now.

That left both Rarity and me blushing furiously, but Fluttershy just giggled as she caught up with me, Pinkie doing long, slow hops next to her in the 'almost' zero gravity.  I nodded to all of them, just as Twi brought up the rear, wings flicking lightly as she looked over the glowing display that floated after her.  Rarity had control points floating all around us in her own custom system, of course, controlled by her ribbon effect.  Some acted as cameras for the ponies back in Equestria, while the others displayed small holographic information panels on barrier surfaces.  Same tech my orb system worked on, and it was all networked into me.

"I'm seeing several larger chunks that are suitable for our needs, as well as several hundred smaller pieces, also useful," Twilight reported, straight to business as I'd expected.  My cheeks calmed down and I gave her a nod, looking out and around at the bits of planet around us.  Useful indeed.

Nodding, I inquired, "And how's thing's Equus-side?"  Rarity gave me a pleased, toothy smile and nod a moment later, after checking her own data screens.  It had been fairly simple yesterday to use their already existing nanites to install small 'display' upgrades in their eyes.  Now they could get computer projections like I could, all linked through my computer systems.

"Connection loud and clear.  Patching us through to Cadance," she reported, yet another window opening in my vision.  I looked to it, immediately spotting Cadance in the image, mid-shout.

"No, move the first aid supplies over there!  I want easy access for all of the doctors and nurses, just in case!" she shouted, then perked as she spotted the orb drifting around her.

Twilight grinned to her, and she winked back before assuring, "I know it's on your checklist, Dear, but everything is running smoothly here.  We have Equus' best assistant on the case, remember?"

Spike, who was all of three meters from her, wasn't quite out of earshot and blushed, smirking back in her direction.  "Of course!  Just double checked, and all readings from the generator are nominal.  I'll report any strange readings immediately!  All of the three hundred guard stations are also online and displaying ready status!" he assured, gesturing to the large display in front of him that was hooked into the main systems.  Cadance was in charge of the staff directly tending to the guards, as well as all the medical staff that was there.  Spike, meanwhile, was in direct contact with Twilight and keeping a close eye on the magical and technological equipment in Equus for us.  Given his vast experience with being Twilight's number one assistant, there was literally nopony more qualified.

The lavender alicorn gave a relaxed sigh, then nodded to the dragon.  "I'm glad.  Keep an eye on things and page me immediately if there are any abnormalities.  And good work, Cadance.  We're counting on you to keep everything in order there..." she confirmed, smiling more softly again.

The Princess of Love snickered, then gave a hoof motion and exhale towards Twi, who nodded and repeated it, visibly calming down.  Cadance gave a nod in return finally after, then assured, "I'm on it.  I've got to go check on the engineering team to make sure they're ready for the activation then.  Once things start, I'll be right here with Spike, don't worry."

I nodded to her, smiling as well as the screen flicked off again with a little static, then blip noise.  There were several beeps after that, and our Keldarian ally on this end gave an annoyed growl.  Raising my eyebrow to her through the viewscreen again, she noticed my attention and nodded.  If it was what I figured it would be...

Keela sighed, then warned, "We're being hailed.  I'm patching it through..."  Of course.  If we could see them...

"You're kidding.  You're kidding, right?" Nirru asked, sounding a mixture of surprised and amused over the intercom.  She then continued with, "The deal was that they go onto the vessel, Sister.  That's the only way I'm sparing them.  Not that I really care that much about seven tiny ponies out on the rocks in space, but it was indeed part of my very reasonable and remarkably charitable-"  Ugh.  That offer to shoot me still stood.

"Oh, shut up," I finally interrupted, giving an annoyed stare in the direction of the ship, then added, "I think you just like to hear the sound of your own voice.  Nopony here cares about anything you have to offer, unless it's a surrender.  You have one... single... chance.  Turn around now.  You can't log out this time."

Her image on the data display as it finally patched through was priceless, expression shifting from smug to outright surprised.  Then there was a flicker of hesitation in her eyes before they narrowed.  She didn't look so great actually, now that I looked her over more in the camera shot Keela’s magic offered.  She had a deep gash that looked barely patched shut running into the collar of her space suit, and multiple scars across her neck and face.  The lines were jagged, definitely not made by anything all that sharp, and I immediately guessed shrapnel.  Guess her pick-up by her 'saviors' hadn't been as gentle as she'd anticipated.

"You little bastard.  You're taking my offer and just throwing it away, huh?  I guess your ego isn't going to let you just step aside," she spat out, hitting a few keys on her dash.  The ships started moving into position, and I nodded once.  Twilight's eyes softened slightly at the sign, and I saw the energy shift in her horn ever so slightly.  The data panel lit up, and I felt the massive energy engines that were constructed just on the other side of reality hum to life.  Thanks, Dad.  I'll blow up one of the assholes for you.

Keela glared at her at that.  "I was wrong, Sister.  There's nothing good in you left at all, is there?  This isn't ego.  Compassion, honor, and duty are all I see.  They're willing to stand against you to protect their loved ones, which is something you can't even understand, can you?  And they're right..." she declared.  I smirked, and Nirru's eyes widened as Keela stood up in her display, the camera panning back to catch all of her as she stepped back from the console.

Her controls folded away, data displays shifting purely holographic as they expanded around her from multiple floating orbs.  The lights in the command center dimmed entirely, then shifted red as the entire vessel went into battle mode, weapons activating over the entire thing as her crew turned and faced their stations all around her.  Her outfit was finally revealed, and I was surprised she'd brought one with her.

Segmented plates covered her vital areas, with skin-tight synthetic rubber underneath covering her whole body.  Blue lines, glowing with fiery energy, ran the full length of the armor.  An Amplification Battle Armor.  Keldarians invented it a half a dozen years ago in order to magnify their natural spellcasting abilities.  They were rare, though, due to the expensive materials that formed the magnification lines.  She'd found two in the supplies they'd acquired when they first appropriated the mining vessel.  We found no trace of them in the logs of the ship, and still had no idea what they were even doing there.  Tym stood in the background wearing the second one, which scared me just about as much.  He was disgustingly powerful, but sometimes I forget that Keela was a full council member, which actually put her magic abilities a rank above his.

"You're... going to fight me, too, Sister?" Nirru asked, frowning in the display, a look of momentary sadness almost rapidly passing through her expression.  Keela's scans finally came through, showing her as indeed the only living entity on the entire flagship.  The other three siege ships had three Grosh each, which was standard.  They didn't like sacrificing their own, so most of their vessel designs were heavily automated.  Their life support was also immensely expensive, logistically, to maintain, so it made sense.

Keela shook her head slowly, her suit flaring up with energy.  I was surprised Nirru hadn't noticed the lines were already glowing, which would have indicated that her sister had been using her magic already the entire time.  "No, Sister.  You're going to leave, surrender, or we're going to destroy you.  I cannot forgive you this time, and I'm not going to lie to myself any longer..." she muttered, swallowing weakly and blinking away the water forming in her eyes before glaring upwards again.  Her hand moved.

"Fire," Nirru growled, on edge already apparently.  Space lit up in the direction of the enemy fleet.  Seven intense beams of energy streaked across the distance in less than a hundredth of a second, shattering through the mining vessel in multiple places and almost blowing it in half.  Parts of it exploded violently, ripping apart and sending bits of debris into space.  Nirru frowned, but I just turned and looked back to the enemy fleet instead, not all that surprised.  She was willing to attempt to kill her sister to achieve her goals.  That told me all I needed to know.

"It's too late, Sister," Keela warned calmly.  The almost destroyed mining vessel warped and faded away in a distortion of light, eight copies of it warping back into place randomly in the five kilometer radius of space we were guarding.  She'd never been there to begin with, and her magic was strong enough to fool organic and electronic senses alike.

Nirru snorted at that, shaking her head before finally shooting back with, "It doesn't matter.  Your illusion and clairvoyance magic isn't going to win this fight.  And seven ponies aren't going to be enough to-"

"Not just seven," I assured, then gave another nod.  We'd stalled long enough now.  The rocks were fully tagged and the engine was charged entirely.  Further, we had two full charges of magic ready now, and the plan was set.  Time to trigger it and take full advantage of her blinding overconfidence.

Keela's magic had been in effect the entire time.  The spell was maintained over the entire area, and she manipulated the senses everywhere within.  The rocks were already warping around us as my master enchantment fired off.  The echoing creaks and groans shattered the peace of space, absurdly loud even through the thin, almost non-existent atmosphere around us.  My eyes widened, feeling the energy surge through me from our Ether Engine back in Equus.  My magic flooded out in all directions, warping the fabric of the rocks nearby in my already pre-determined pattern.  All I needed to do was channel it.

For a moment, I knew what Twilight felt like for most of her life.  An ocean of magic passed through me, directed by my pattern and spell.  For that brief moment, my blue and silver energy cascaded outwards like a small sun on the surface of the rock we were on.  Except it wasn't a rock anymore.  I tore the mineral deposits from the very chunks of planet around us.  Stepping forward, my hooves made clanging noises on metal suddenly, a full sized command center forming around me out of the rocks.  It came together blindingly fast, etched from the pattern and flowing like water until it solidified.  Impossibly huge, I directed five pieces of the actual continental shelf under us to break apart, drawing in literally billions of kilograms of matter.  It was beyond intense, and I gritted my teeth as it flowed through me with the force of a waterfall from space.

All of my training aided in simply letting it slide through me, and a bead of blood still slid from my nose, spikes of pain shooting through my skull.  The blueprints were all ready to go in the mechanical parts of my mind.  Metal, mechanics, instruments, generators...  A mixture of technology and magic to form the universe's first hybrid space vessel, all in about twenty seconds.  My eyes opened again, wafting energy radiating off my body as I stood in the fully formed command center of our flagship.  Six kilometers long, and one and a half wide, we fit the mass specifications of a 'dreadnought' class warship, the second largest classification of space vessels the Keldarians had.

"Rest, Mender.  We have it from here..." Twilight assured, stepping past me.  Inside the vessel, Keela's illusion had been dropped, and I smirked as I saw her literally radiating with lavender and darker red energy, her eyes two beacons of light.  Her horn was expanded from her head by my enchantment, and I counted over seventy increments as it split itself eight times, branching off her horn like a single, exotic antler instead.  Magnification.  I'd taken her enchantment concept from Sweetie's design, and ran with it.  Twilight's was unbound, causing branching 'horns' the more energy she channeled, and magnifying her natural energy levels by a factor of five.  It scared the hell out of me, and I was rather glad she was on our side.

Dash grinned from her spot in the back and nodded.  "Oh yeah!  Engines, on!" she announced.  I 'felt' the back part of the ship light up, looking like six large 'wings' expanding backwards, and based off Rainbow's own enchantment.  She was in full control over it, and it was wired right into our main engine clusters.  She controlled our speed completely.

"S-Stabilization, on!" Fluttershy added, giving a nod and a surprisingly focused look as her wings lit up as well, expanding ten fold off her back in lines of energy.  She stood slightly in front of Rainbow, behind me still, and the cyan mare grinned at her as she activated her enchantment.  The two massive stabilization planes to either side of our ship lit up, radiating energy from the thrusters that were spread out along them.  This vessel had easily twenty times the maneuverability of its weight class, and Fluttershy was in direct control of our movements, synced to Rainbow's reaction speed.

Rarity smirked to my right, swishing her mane once to the side before declaring, "Subsystem and Ribbon Array, on."  Thousands of spires activated and detached across our hull, floating free as hundreds of screens appeared around her.  Her horn lit up, thousands of lines of energy expanding off it instead in a completely different enchantment than Twilight's.  Multitasking and precision control, and every single spire reacted to her magic around our entire vessel.  Of course, each spire also had a micromissile system and laser array for attacking purposes.  Our main guns couldn't be expected to handle swarms of smaller craft accurately, after all.

"Heee, main shields, so totally on!" Pinkie chipped in, hopping in place to my left inside of a sphere of energy.  A spring platform sat in the center of the sphere where she stood, and four disks activated along the surface of the bubble, tracking the location of her hooves at all times.  She grinned and did a rapid, effortless flip, causing our projection shields to expand around the vessel at the same time, the four concentrated Aegis Barriers following her hoof movements along the outside of our ship.  Her own senses were hooked directly into the computer's as well, and it was already tested.  Her Pinkie Sense worked at whatever range she experienced things at.  This also scared me.

I nodded, standing up straight again and wiping my nose off.  "Data center and tactical overlay, on," I announced, my processing cores all activating at once, including the one I'd replaced to make up for the petrified one I'd lost.  Sensor arrays activated across the entire ship, and I took over management of all of the electronic and computer systems therein.  Maps opened up in front of me, and I nodded, just as we burst forward out of the illusion.  To finalize it, I called out, "Royal Equestrian Spaceforce, RES Celestia reporting for duty."  Tia had been saddened by the name, insisting that naming a mountain after her was already overkill, but Shining refused to listen.  Heh.

Nirru's eyes widened as a massive dreadnought with thirty times the speed and twenty times the maneuverability of the norm shot forward into space, seemingly out of ‘nothingness’, thanks to Keela’s illusion magic.  No, she wouldn't even get time to react.  "Applejack!" I called out.

The orange mare was already at her station in front of us all, smirking.  "Main batteries, on!" she declared.  A hundred rail cannons folded out of our hull, her forelegs raising and causing them all to extend as her armor folded over her body.  The harness activated, and I gave her the data stream of all of the rocks around the enemy fleet.

"Openin’ fire," she announced, eyes flashing green for a moment.  Faster than any targeting computer could manage, she 'felt' out each and every rock I'd selected.  They were locked onto in half a second, and every single cannon fired at once.  A hundred bright red apples sailed off into space, each moving at about fifty thousand meters a second, give or take.

Even at that immense speed, it still took about four seconds for the barrage to reach the enemy fleet.  "Apples?" Nirru managed to ask skeptically, a second before the now glowing fruit collided with the rocks and debris around them.  "Shi-" she added, but it was drown out as the entire area lit up in massive explosions, undoubtedly erasing that skeptical look entirely, much to my satisfaction.  Of course, the apples had been accelerated through about ten of my barriers on their way out of the cannons, which effectively put the energy they contained equal to about three hundred times what we were using in the tests earlier.  The only thing that prevented them from exploding instantly was the sheer acceleration they'd been hit with before going through the barriers.

"Now!" I shouted.  Fluttershy gave a shout, whipping her wings downwards in an instant, just as Rainbow almost screamed as her own wings flared with energy.  Then, for the first time ever, a six kilometer long dreadnought pulled a ninety degree 'backflip', blasting in reverse as hard as it could manage.  Twilight smiled, her magic releasing the two hundred kilometer wide chunk of planet we'd been hauling, it passing under us at almost forty thousand meters a second.  We rotated, and the lavender alicorn stepped into her station just in front of me.

"Ether Furnace Main Cannon, on!" Twilight shouted, her horn radiating out light as it split momentarily into hundreds of branches.  Damn.

The entire bow of our ship opened up, just as we completed our 'flip'.  A massive lock targeted the chunk of planet as it sailed right into the enemy fleet, and Twilight let out a loud bellow at the top of her lungs, her magic momentarily washing out my sight of the cabin around us.

It all flooded right down the main barrel, twisted into as tight a corkscrew as she could manage.  The beam of pure Ether still expanded out to almost a kilometer wide, tearing out of the front of the ship like a vast solar flare.  There was no registered passage of time before it struck the chunk of planet in front of us, the explosion of energy ruptured across the mantle of the plate, and it fragmented, shattering into thousands of superheated chunks that blasted across the entire enemy fleet like a shotgun from Tartarus.  My sensors were disrupted from the levels of heat and debris, and I nodded.

"Move in for the kill from the right flank," I ordered.  No mercy or hesitation now.  I closed my eyes, feeling inside of myself at the same time.  Smiling, I felt them, billions of eyes all opening at once at the same time as mine did again, feeling the stirring all around me.

Twilight nodded, turning back and focusing on recharging the Ether Core while Fluttershy and Rainbow shot us around to the side, bits of burning planet fragments skipping off our shields as we moved...  I sighed, and then swallowed before bracing myself.

"Malice, awaken..." I finally announced.

It was simple, really.  We were surrounded by billions of kilograms of matter.  We ultimately needed more than one ship to defend this large of an area.  Ships needed pilots and crew.  Solution!

They formed ten at a time, less than two seconds per 'ship'.  A base structure of my enchantment carried to a suitably sized rock by a few dozen Malice spirits.  They pushed my magic into the rock, my awareness traveling with them all the way back to where we first entered.  I could see through their eyes, which was a bit strange at first, just like when we tested this back in Equus.  Together, they controlled the transmutation and animated the mechanisms.  The crystal warped into its core a moment later, and the clear glass at the top lit up, the image of one of the three hundred guards back home.  

One by one, they powered up, mechanized ponies made out of bits of planet, each about seven meters tall, and piloted by a guard.  Shields and lances formed, carried to each side of their shoulders, both enhanced with Aegis Barriers.  The jets were the last to form, and I saw hundreds of trails light up behind us, spreading out over the entire area, then forming a massive Aegis Barrier all interlinked between the points on their shields like a great net.  Well, a great net with sharp and pointy things sticking out everywhere, that were actually a combination of lance and cannon.  Pony training was amazing fighting in phalanx, I'd discovered.

"New technique, Aegis Net established," Twilight confirmed, looking over her data panel before looking back at me.  Perfect.

Nodding to her, I ordered, "Surprise advantage is ours.  Move in for the kill, ponies!"  No hesitation.  Fluttershy whipped her wings to the side, and Rainbow flared hers with energy behind her.  We were gone in an instant, rocketing through space and far to the right of the panicked enemy vessels.  Shots were being fired almost randomly through the debris, which was actually doing an amazing job at making it worse, given they were hitting and exploding more of the chunks of planet, and incandescent plasma was drifting everywhere now.  Of course, it was also making it kind of hard for us to get target acquisitions, but that didn't really matter.

"Twilight?" I asked, checking my system displays.

"Twenty seconds," she reported back, and I nodded.  No time, then.

"Applejack, can you feel them?" I asked instead.  Several stray beams flew in while we skidded to the right, and I could have sworn I heard 'twitchy twitch' before three Aegis clusters whipped around and parried them.

I saw her focus for a moment, then smirk.  "Lively little buggers.  Ah can see 'em clear as day with all tha movements they're doin'," she murmured, which was ironic given her eyes were closed.  Not that she needed them to ‘see’ her targets, given that they were made out of metal in a complete void.  A highly pure grade of metal, which apparently a skilled Earth Pony hooked up to a magical empathy amplifier could ‘feel’ instead.

"Open fire, full barrage," I returned, flicking my display over to scans instead.

The image feed showed Big Mac grin, then give a shove to the trough feed in Equus.  Thousands of apples flooded down the troughs and right into the portal, my displays suddenly picking up on six thousand two hundred and fifty-three 'ammunition' quantities loaded into us.

She got the green light and grinned, her magic feeling them out as the cannons opened fire.  Each of them targeted individually with brutal precision, as she 'harvested' the enemy fleet with her magic.  Apples sailed in-between rocks and timed to arc around minor gravity flows, each smashing almost dead on with their targets.  The entire area in front of us suddenly was ablaze in burning orange orbs of flame.  A few dozen ships shot through the fire, of course, flying towards us fast.  Some were hit, but most of the second wave of apples missed due to evasive maneuvers.

"Rarity, you're up.  Applejack, switch to the frigates!" I ordered quickly.  Rarity's horn lit up just as the fighters swarmed in...

Most of them didn't swarm out.  Spikes of crystal came alive like a thousand swords floating around our massive vessel, even as we charged through the cloud of fighters at thirty thousand meters per second.  Her ribbons came alive, and her precision was absurd as she sliced and cut, ground and ripped.  Some were cut in half entirely.  More lost wings and thirds of their vessel.  Every single one of them exploded violently when hit, leaving single digits left to the swarm as we carried through.

"Twilight!" I called out, just as Fluttershy gave a sharp left and spun us away from one of the large planet bits.  Pinkie was a blur, shields bouncing around the front of the vessel and parrying bits of rock as we shot into the cloud.

"Ninety-eight percent!" she shouted back, her entire body burning with lavender energy as it flicked off the massive crystal orb in front of her.  Almost!  The third volley from our batteries fired, this time centered in clusters on the larger of the support ships as they turned to try to position guns on us.  Flames lit up space in large orbs as dozens of them shattered away, and I heard a chorus of squeaky screams over the intercom from the first Grosh siege ship as they suddenly realized we were literally right there, practically within ramming distance.

Missiles fired from the massive ship as we tore through their support like leaves to a shredder.  As predicted, they opened up with every port they had, thousands of missiles flying free into space and homing in on us.  I smiled.  Right into the trap...

"Flak," I ordered rather easily.  Hundreds of pointed blades zipped around to the front of our ship as we sailed in, not slowing down even slightly.  The missiles clustered in to get at our smaller vessel, and Rarity fired.  Their barrage of missiles was met with thousands of shards of flickering energy, cascading like snow through space.  Every one of her spires was capable of firing off a cluster of raw Ether shards for anti-missile protection.  The waves of explosions removed all visibility in a heartbeat, washing away both visual and thermal sensors in a sea of fire.

Fluttershy had her cue already rehearsed.  She gave a surprisingly loud shout, at least for her, and whipped to the side, and we dipped into a barrel roll under the wave of flames.  They didn't track us.  Their bottom defenses didn't even come online by the time we shifted under them.  At the speed we had been moving, any other ship in our size class would have been limited to just plowing through the flames.  "Fire," I ordered, and Twilight smirked.

My scans showed the inside of the ship through already established information.  We had lined up with their formation perfectly with that roll, though, and I directed the angle upwards.  We whipped out of our spin under them, the front of our bow already open and burning with energy.  The lance of power ripped through space, smashing hard into the underside of the ship and punching right up through the space that I knew their main coil generator was located at.  Being less dense than normal to account for the heat sinks, our main cannon ripped through it like wet tissue paper, punching straight out the other side of their ship at an angle upwards.  They all screamed, and the entire center of the ship suddenly erupted into flames and shattering metal.

The beam kept going, shattering into the other area of their formation and blowing right into the side of siege ship two, tearing into the exposed coil generator on the side that powered the left planet buster.  The explosion was massive, rocking the entire ship to the side as it lurched, catering through several more parts of planet before hitting the third siege ship.  The impact was immense, and another huge explosion rocked out from between them as the second siege ship shattered the coil generator on its other side as well, blowing the bottom out of the third ship.

We shot past the first one in a heartbeat, Dash opening us up again to full speed.  It exploded behind us, tearing itself into three pieces as it disintegrated under the heat of its own generator output going nova.  Thirty seconds on the clock, one siege ship down, one incapacitated, and another reeling.  Every support ship connected to the first siege ship had also disabled, as anticipated.  We were ahead of schedule!

Nirru knew we were behind her at this point.  "You little fuckers!" she screamed out, now seething with rage as she tried to rotate the flagship.  We outclassed it about fifty times in speed, however, and our two pegasi worked in tandem, dropping us beneath the range of the upper guns and under the cluster of forces now above us.  The bottom cannons opened fire, of course, but Pinkie was already moving before we even turned.  Shields parried the five beams, instead sending them lancing across the scrambling support ships.

"Charging?" Twilight asked, but I shook my head this time.  

"No time.  Keep the second shot in reserve and power the batteries instead.  Full cannon support," I ordered, just as we whipped under the two struggling siege ships as they tried to disengage from each other's hulls without destroying the third ship's planet busters.  Heh.

"Ah see tha soft spots!" Applejack murmured, looking up as all the batteries followed her gaze.  I smirked.

Pinkie giggled gleefully, flipping onto her front hooves as her two back ones parried another three beams.  "Oooh, tickle their tummies, AJ!" she called out.  I nodded to that, trying not to laugh.

The cannons opened up again, this time the apples leaving burning streaks through space as Twilight flooded our attack systems with more power.  Something was being screamed from the second siege vessel, my translator activating through Keela's relay with it.  The Grosh native tongue was translated a moment later, coming up as, "You said the small equines were defenseless, feline whore!"  Okay, I laughed.

My eyes widened a moment later as the third ship did something mildly unexpected.  It rotated instead.  The cloud of apples that were incoming instead had the entire second ship 'flung' sideways into them.  Dozens scored across the bottom of the second ship, blowing bits of paneling away and tearing off most of the lower armor, but none of them struck true to actually hit the generator as the ship rotated.  Over half of them instead crashed into the badly damaged side, exploding mostly harmlessly off the ablative surfaces.  Tch.

"Evasive maneuvers, roll and get some distance.  Twilight, start charging again," I ordered.  No, save the other shot... charge again.  Plus, our cannon probably couldn't survive the stored shot.  At the angle of their rotation, we could dodge their ship, but that would bring us into line with their upper guns, which would hurt.  No, better to go into the range of their smaller front bottom guns and get some distance.

"Wait!" Applejack shouted, then called out, "One more burst under, everypony!  Big Mac, load it!"  Wait, what?  Load what?

Rainbow grinned, and suddenly I got a really bad feeling about this.  But no, I trusted them, so I nodded and we lurched forward, rolling and flipping under the rotating ship again.  Big Mac looked surprised on the viewscreen and swallowed uncomfortably, which really made me nervous, but then he tossed a single apple down the chutes a second later.  I frowned, having never seen an apple like that before at all.  It was surprisingly... colorful.

"Load it, Twilight, an' charge just that cannon!" Applejack ordered, taking aim as we spun out under them and they opened fire with missiles instead.

The alicorn flared with magic, radiating out power that shot right into only one cannon, smack in the middle of our upper deck.  Applejack cried out, aiming as her eyes almost glowed with her magic, and the cannon roared to life, firing the apple at almost six times normal speed.  Despite being well within the energy levels of the coils, the cannon literally tore itself apart as it fired.  Uh...  What...  What had we just launched?

The energy radiated out of the apple as it passed by the swarm of missiles as if they were standing still.  They exploded in a long trail following the shot, and my eyes widened at the sheer level of energy put out by the fruit.  "Full shields!  Evade!" I shouted, Applejack squeaking as we rocked to the side and Pinkie landed on her back, slamming all four hooves together towards the departing apple's direction.

There was no traditional explosion.  Instead, it almost looked like space 'distorted' for a moment in a huge wave away from the ship.  The missiles all exploded instantly, and for a brief second, everything was still.  Then the single apple hit the underside of the ship's hull, briefly registering an impact of around a hundred petajoules, hitting with pure kinetic damage as it shattered out into the armor.  The shockwave exploded outwards, blasting across our shields in a massive wave of debris and kinetic energy in a fraction of a second.

My eyes widened as it didn't stop.  The siege ship's armor folded away, almost as if it was just dust being blown by a stiff breeze.  It kept going, and going, until I saw clear space on the other side, the ship bending as the shockwave and blast tore it into two halves.  Bits of ship drifted for just a moment in a miasma of damage as it buckled to the side from the impact.  The clean tear was replaced by fire a second later, and more screaming as the ship suddenly exploded violently.  Well hell, we didn't really have to bother targeting the weak spot with that thing!

"That woulda made such ah nice pie," Applejack lamented, and I raised my eyebrow over at her skeptically.  She just winked at me, though, and suddenly I was terrified.  Whatever that apple was, ponies ate it?!  They put that inside of their bodies?!

I didn't have time to ask, sadly.  "Damn it!" Nirru shouted out, blasting all three primary engines off from the back of her flagship.  Ah!  Instead of attacking us as I thought she would, she instead made a break right for the portal zone with the entire flagship.  Okay, so that attack might have been a little too intimidating.

"Tch, after her!" I called out, causing Fluttershy to flip us right-side up, and Dash opened us up again.  We were faster than her for the first six seconds of her acceleration, I knew, and we reached top speed in ten seconds instead.

My vision expanded out, aware of hundreds of different perspectives as I looked 'ahead' of the flagship, to the other end of the battle.  As I'd anticipated, she'd sent the smaller ships that were able to navigate through the barrage of rocks forward, almost half of the support fleet attacking our fortification.  It looked like it was going very, very poorly for them.

Pony mechs were everywhere, floating to and fro, on and between bits of the planet as they shifted and moved the massive net of energy around, entirely blocking off entrance into the weakened area.  Shining Armor was right at the front, and gave another bark of orders as he smashed his Barrier Lance right through an incoming ship, kicking off them and drifting back into the main net.  Oh!  He was leading sallying forces to smash at support ships out of range from the flanks while the bulk of the guard defended the area.  I watched him and his assault squad twist and warp away as they retreated again, and realized he was also coordinating with Keela for illusion support.

To my surprise, Tym had joined the sortie himself as well.  A full exo-suit was attached to his armor, looking like it was an old mining getup.  It provided both air and multi-directional boosting power as he nimbly shot in-between enemy ships, pushing their line back almost by himself on the other side.  Each flick and movement of his hands caused precise blasts of energy to tear through space in sharp crescents, searing ships in half with ease no matter their size.  He zipped away long before they exploded, moving on to more and leaving a wide swath of destruction.  I was honestly surprised he wasn't on heavy siege, as his strongest spells could easily level a good chunk of the support fleet.  Although that would come at the cost of announcing his immediate presence as he charged the spell, too.  No, he was a professional, so there was no sense in doubting him.  Keela trusted him as well to do what he was best at.

Speaking of Keela, her mining ship still distorted in multiple spots, one occasionally moving and causing the support ships to try to attack it as it charged forward, only to waste a lot of ammo into open space.  Flash rewind display in my computer database showed her actually using missile pods deployed all around the battlefield now to fire off ordinances from some of her 'images', lending credibility to her illusions and drawing more fire.

Drawing my focus back to the flagship, I winced, watching it bash its way out of the rubble field that we'd scattered, all shields flicking to the front of the ship to absorb damage from the huge chunks of planet it just rammed out of the way.  I gestured us down, following into its wake instead just in time to avoid broken bits of the ship's satellite array that had been bashed free.  I didn't even want to see the front of her ship at this point, even with full frontal barriers.  It would make the engineer in me cry.

Still, all shielding focus was now on the front of her ship...  "Fire into her engines.  Aim for those three main clusters in the back there, Applejack," I ordered, highlighting the area in her display.  I then added, "Switch back to charging, Twilight."  Without shielding, our batteries weren't going to need the full powered umph to tear up the engines.

The ship was unorthodox for Grosh standards.  It had two long 'fins' that jutted from the sides of the ship, both mounting a long tube of sorts that ran horizontal to the back engine.  Both had thrusters on them, so I assumed they were for assistance and stabilization of the three powerful hybrid engines in the center.  Those, forming a triangle, were used for traditional jumping, and as the primary hyperspace propulsion as well, by their shape.  Grosh ships didn't use slipstream, like we did, instead using a surprisingly rudimentary hyperspace borehole effect.  Powerful and fast, but no ability to turn whatsoever, and unlike our allies, once they went in, they couldn't go out again except for at their destination determined ahead of time.  Well, okay, they could, but their ship would come out in pieces and on fire.

Applejack needed less than a second to lock onto the engines, opening fire immediately.  Dozens of explosions tore through the metal and supplemental shielding almost as if it wasn't there, shredding the exhaust and propulsion emitters in an instant, and even blowing the hell out of the heat sinks further along the sides.  The energy overloaded along the right, causing a surprisingly large blast of flames and radiation off into space, and I gestured to the left, our two expert fliers having us swerving in that direction just to be on the safe side.  Predictably, the remains of the engine spontaneously vented and performed a rapid, unplanned disassembly mere moments later.

The ship rocked, jutting at an angle almost immediately from the force of the explosion.  To my surprise, the shield emitters didn't slide backwards into the normal position, however.  I raised an eyebrow, then heard a rather pissed off sounding, "Tch!" over the feed through Keela’s magic.

"Damn you, rodents!  Okay, you surprised me.  I'll definitely give you that.  But you're going to die horribly regardless," she warned, smirking has she flicked her hand downwards, shattering through a glass panel and smashing down on a button that was apparently on her dash.  My eyes widened as the four shield emitters suddenly slid forward instead, powering up to about six times the strength they were before then...  No.  No!

The curving wings of energy formed off them, even as the decoupling discharges tore the back of the ship off.  What I thought were the thruster fins slid downwards to each side as the entire ship suddenly accelerated, a hybrid Keldarian engine hidden behind the remains.  Shit!  She had Slipstream and Aegis Barriers! 

"Full speed!" I shouted out, even before she suddenly lurched forward at three times her prior speed.  Rainbow fired her wings up again and we shot after her, both massive ships streaking towards the weakened area.  Of course!  She gave us way longer than the Grosh would have needed to prepare... because they had to build the flagship!  Her plan had never been to assault and capture the area... 

Twilight looked to me in surprise, but I growled suddenly.  "She's going to make a portal here and now.  That's not a flagship.  It's a giant makeshift portal engine!" I warned.  Keela gasped over the feed, looking towards me in surprise, then checking her scanners just in time to see our two ships hurtling towards her area.

"What's the plan?!" Shining asked sharply less than a second later, his location reporting as to the left flank of the field of operations again, locking onto the massive ship instead.  My eyes looked over the new shape of the ship, with the primary thrusters not actually running, and the entire thrust being provided by the two fin boosters.  That was...

"Twilight, Keela, can you get me scans and a readout of the output from the main engines?  Fast!" I requested instead.  Twilight flicked the data screen up instantly, just as Keela started feeding the data into it. 

"It looks like she's keeping them in standby mode.  Oh hell," Keela groaned out.  I nodded, seeing the power spikes further inside.  

Shaking my head, I instead ordered, "Not standby.  She's powering up an FTL jump.  Twilight, load the backup charge and switch to powering the batteries.  Applejack, tear the right fin off.  Hard.  She'll veer to the right, opening her whole flank to Shining.  Shining, there's power couplings behind the two massive shield emitters on that side.  Giving you the data display now.  Slice one, or both of them if you can..."

Shining nodded, slamming his shield onto the mech's flank, then using his forelegs to both grip the massive blade, all energy switching to that instead.  "Understood.  I'm guessing it'll be a tough cut?" he inquired, narrowing his eyes as we came in.

"Like steel cutting through a brick," I warned, then nodded as Twilight switched the two main plugs into the crystal orb in front of her, then flared with energy again.

"Full power to batteries.  Backup charge allocated," she declared, smirking as all of our guns radiated the same purple energy as the alicorn.  The 'backup' charge kicked in, and I smiled.

Keela raised an eyebrow, however, then added, "You never mentioned a 'backup' charge in the plan..."

Shaking my head, I explained, "There were a few last minute additions.  Sorry.  Are you ready then, 'backup charge'?"

Glancing to my right, I smiled as the second viewscreen opened up.  Tia smiled back, nodding through massively glowing eyes.  I couldn't see any of her surroundings at all, the entire area looking like the inside of a star, ten large crystal orbs floating around her and radiating with pure Ether.  Wait, ten?

"Backup charge is very, very fully charged.  I added a few more crystals because I was bored," she warned, winking towards me.  Oh hell.  Sighing, I activated the extra shielding around the cannon and nodded.  There definitely wouldn't be a main cannon after this.

"Locked and loaded.  Open fire, AJ," I ordered, nodding as she glared at the right fin.  Flak cannons in the back opened up even as she fired.  Rarity fired, too, however, hundreds of mini-missiles swarming into the field of view between the target and us, shooting every which way.  Missiles that tiny had limited use in space battles, but I packed most of their mass into the propulsion system for just this use.  They lacked the 'punch' the apples obviously had, but ninety percent of the cannons picked up on their much larger heat sources, opening fire on the missiles instead of the apples.  Most of the apples streaked through the flames of the detonations everywhere, smashing into their targets with precision.

Being hidden primary thrusters, I wasn't surprised in the least when the strut connecting the right thruster literally exploded when the apples tore through the top of it.  All that energy shattered out through the side of the ship, sending a flare of power that tore the engine to pieces as it was flung from the ship.  Everything happened so fast.

Shining and six other guards burst forward, rocketing towards the side of the ship even as the explosion lit up space around us, all prepped for killing blows as their back legs folded up into full thrusters.  The explosion rocked the entire flagship's rear to the left, exposing its entire side, just as two charged particle cannons lanced across our stern, tearing half of our engine off as Rainbow screamed.  I winced as we rocked from the impact, Pinkie still rolling, her hoof blocking four more as her eyes widened in surprise.  She was surprised?!  No, wait...

Pinkie looked back forward instead, eyes still wide.  No, something else had her attention.  "No, it didn't work!" she screamed out as well, just as Nirru growled through her comm, Keela’s magic giving us a perfect image of her whipping a stick to the left while pulling another straight down.  The left fin booster decoupled instead, exploding out to the side as it detonated.  Shining shouted, veering hard to the left as the massive blast of debris scattered through his formation, sparks and smaller explosions raining amongst them.  He spun, shield activating instead as he blocked the remaining debris from his troops, but their momentum was gone.  The main engines of the flagship went into full burn a second later, and she shot forward, already starting her Slipstream jaunt as the Wings of Icarus expanded from her four engine clusters.  The entire ship momentarily looked like an arrow as it started to blur and distort.

Everything slowed.  I felt myself exhale slowly as I looked back at our display.  Engines damaged down to thirty percent.  We weren't going to catch up.  I looked back up, watching Applejack switch over her display and reload the batteries.  Too slow.  Rarity looked at a loss, and Twilight was turning back to me, gesturing to the readings that showed the damaged siege warship approaching behind us.

"The Elements!" she shouted, nudging her hoof towards the display.  On the Grosh ship?!  I was suddenly torn, in that instant, as I looked towards the energy output display.  Twenty seconds until enemy ship entered Slipstream.  Shit.  Doubt hit me a moment later almost out of nowhere, but I realized it was right.  No, it was a bad idea.

"No, decouple, Dash!" I ordered instead, Twilight giving me an intense frown even as I pulled my harness off and ran past her.

Rainbow didn't hesitate, even for a second, as she yanked a cord to her left.  Our engines decoupled instantly, launching backwards in a blast of power that sent it flinging towards the huge warship.  I watched them veer to try to avoid the huge chunk of our ship, their main guns momentarily moving off course.  The cyan mare ran after me, knowing what was next but arguing, "The Elements can hit that thing!  It might stop it entirely, and we'll still have plenty of time!"

"Then we might ruin our whole point of doing this, if they can get data readings from the Elements themselves!  It's not worth the risk!  Keela, mining laser on the underside of the hull as they veer.  Rainbow, we're launching!" I ordered, looking back at her as she ran up.  She frowned but nodded, ducking low into a slide a second later.  I jumped, landing on her back as she went under me instead, and she opened her wings up, bursting while in the ship as we flew right for the nose instead.  Keela only had two charges ready for the mining laser, but with the way the ship was swerving to avoid impact with our engine, she had a clear shot.

The second blast door partition snapped shut behind us, shooting the nose of the command center out like a missile in front of the ship.  Rainbow kept her balance, and I grabbed the pull cord on the right, nodding into the left viewscreen.  "Twilight, fire!" I ordered.  Her eyes widened, starting to open her mouth, but I shook my head, interrupting her with, "We'll be fine!  Fire!"

She swallowed but nodded, then hit the other button.  I looked down through the lower viewing port, watching the massive main gun under us flare up with golden light.  It looked like a star itself being loaded into the chamber, flashing out like a spotlight onto Nirru's ship.  Well, that wasn't entirely inaccurate, I admitted.  Prudentia started to glow at my side, and Purdue nodded in my mind, the Aegis Barrier forming under us just as the massive shockwave hit.

Our mech soldiers had scattered already.  I had lined up the trajectory.  The angle was perfect.  None of it prepared me in the slightest for seeing a raw magnified release from the Princess of the Sun, however.  Our main cannon magnified it by a factor of ten, and then burned away under the force of the raw power.  The front of our ship ruptured from the heat stress, and it was like watching a supernova open up and radiate out under us.  My eyes widened, the corona of energy swallowing us up entirely and flinging us along like a spec of dust caught up in a hurricane.  We were nothing to the raw power, and Rainbow silently screamed, her voice drown out by the raw noise of the shockwave smashing through our tiny escape pod cabin. 

Pushing hard and fast, I shoved the barrier straight down, the cabin blowing apart around us.  The barrier was shaped, however, and we rode it out of the wave of raw energy like a surfer would on actual water.  Getting flung out of the huge beam, I could only stare in shock as it lanced off into dark space, stretching out beyond my sensors, even.  It was over two kilometers wide, actually dwarfing the flagship as it crashed along its side, violently shoving it out of its initial path, even as the two left Aegis Barrier emitters turned to so much ash.  Nirru's image disappeared into the light as she silently screamed, the flagship spinning as flames burned off its side, explosions and sparks following the debris into space.  If I had anticipated even half of that power, I would have just targeted it directly.  Who cared about the Slipstream explosion if the wave of energy you were using sent it all into the next star system anyway?!

The engines exploded into light behind her, the ship managing to lurch forward on its side as the two remaining emitters warped and distorted reality around the bow.  Damn it!  The tear through reality never stabilized, however, opening a jagged sideways hole as the ship started to push its way through.  "Rainbow, after them!" I shouted as we came out of our spin.  Her wings were already fully expanded, and this time, it was just us again in open space.  Her wings flared with energy as we shot forward and after the ship.  "Follow its draft," I warned a second later, watching as the wings snapped inwards and the entire flagship vanished in a distorted warp.  No, even if she didn't have siege weapons, there was no way I was going to let that batshit crazy bitch get through to Equus unchecked.  She had traditional weapons and her magic, which was dangerous enough as is.  I'd promised that not a single pony would be injured, and I meant it.

Looking back to Twilight, I saw my screen split between her and Shining on the left.  "Are you two okay?" I quickly asked as Dash leveled us off with the tear that was slowly starting to collapse on itself.

"We're recovered, and running interception for The Celestia," Shining assured.  I watched him spin and easily dodge support ship fire as he impaled a missile cruiser with his massive lance.

Twilight smirked to me and nodded, adding, "We're just blockading at this point.  We don't have engines, so you and Rainbow are best at going after Nirru.  So get going!"

"Roger!" Rainbow confirmed, wings opening up to full burst.  We were through the tear in reality before I could even register her answer.

Going through Slipstream without a ship was always an interesting experience.  It was actually less disorienting using it to hop dimensions, it turns out, due to lack of normal geometric input.  As far as I could tell, the space 'between' dimensions was entirely empty.  Or at least, it appeared that way through standard visual observation.  Slipstream normally screwed with optical sensors because it started translating the optics into non-euclidean geometry.  Perspective was shot at that point, almost impossible to predict, so we used spatial location software to navigate instead.  Having no geometric inputs at all meant there was, thus, nothing to translate into non-euclidean geometries.  It looked like a mostly black 'tunnel', with distorted prismatic light forming the walls that held back the darkness on the other side.  I so didn't want to try to punch through those...

The flagship was a ways ahead of us, but we were closing fast, Rainbow squeaking in surprise as she dodged some burning, distorted debris.  "Careful, Dash!  Her ship is heavily damaged..." I warned, earning a nod from her as she zipped over to the other side of the tunnel, and the side of the flagship that hadn't been pulverized by a massive solar blast of death.

Rainbow gritted her teeth, her wings opening up to full tilt as we burned after the ship that was rapidly getting larger again in the tunnel.  I nodded, leaning as far into her back as I could as I switched through my internal data panels.  "We're catching up now.  Fifty seconds until interception.  Ninety seconds until exit into Equus.  You need to get me onto the hull, on the top preferably," I instructed.  She nodded, determination shooting through her expression as her eyes narrowed down.  The hull had small sentry lasers, but my shielding would be more than enough to guard us as we went past.  It wasn't time to play around, and I fully intended to just get up to the control center and tear the entire thing apart.  No more Nirru, no more threat.

Marking the cockpit for Rainbow, I sent the schematic down her link, then accessed the comm feeds again.  "What's happening?" I asked, video feed taking a moment to link up.  It popped on a moment later with Keela looking frantic.  Great.

"We only scored an indirect hit with the mining laser!  I didn't expect it, but they ejected the entire remaining planet buster array into the path of the beam as we lined up the lower hull shot!" she reported an instant later.  Ah, crap.  They realized they weren't going to get through the portal to use them at this point, then.

Twilight gritted her teeth in the other screen, then shouted out, "I can't charge the main gun.  It's destroyed, and we lost four clusters of the battery cannons when we fired that last shot!  We're down to sixty battery cannons for attack, and are relying on flak and Pinkie's shielding for defense."  Shit.

"Keela, start charging the cannon's second shot, then stealth around for a sneak attack.  Shining, take your skirmish force and try to guard them with a small Aegis Net.  Twilight, start charging up the teleport escapes," I called back.  The lavender mare hesitated for only a moment before nodding and unhooking her own secondary harness.  Applejack growled, then got one more volley off before kicking her own harness off, pushing herself out of it.  I watched Rarity unhook hers, then run over and help Fluttershy start to undo her own, but Pinkie’s eyes widened instead, still in her spot.

I looked over at the enemy ship again, just as she whispered, “Uh oh…  We…  We should run!”  Three large pods ejected off the top of the ship, even as the front of it opened up and folded out.  Oh.  Shit!  Twilight’s eyes widened as she watched their engines flare to full speed, looking back to the massive, full bow length armored ‘blade’ folded into place.

Tym distorted back into reality as he looked back at the ship as well, muttering, “Tch, shit, it’s ramming!”  He rotated away from the now exploding and burning remains of the three escape pods and burst towards the side of the ship at full speed, which wasn’t that great for his mining suit.  Oh, well at least the Grosh weren’t going to be escaping to warn the others…

“Evacuate, now!” Shining screamed out, already in front of the massive ship with his full shields up.  There was no way he could stop that!

“My…  My wing’s stuck!” Fluttershy yelped, fighting with her harness to get the stabilization sensors off her wing.  Rarity frowned, tugging at the harness as well to try to rip it out of the wall instead, as Applejack ran over towards her station.  No, she couldn’t teleport with that extra mass attached to her.  The emergency teleports were built for speed of charge and that would burn out the charge in it!

“Fluttershy!  Applejack, get her free!” Rainbow shouted out, getting the audio feed at the same time as me.

Applejack spun as she ran in, then shouted out, “Ah’m sorry, Flutters!  Ah broken wing is better than dyin’, though!”  The yellow mare’s eyes widened, but it was too late for her to even react as her friend smashed both of her back hooves straight into the release clamps.  She screamed out, her left wing twisting with a snap as the release clamp tore off, metal shattering under the impact of Applejack’s enhanced legs.  Rarity winced, tears sliding down her face, but immediately reached out and hit the gem on Fluttershy’s chest as she collapsed, unmoving.  My breath caught, and I looked to her monitor, which displayed low pulse rate.  Unconscious…  Damn.  I couldn’t take this…

The orange mare gritted her teeth, wiping tears from her own eyes as she hit her chest gem, too.  Rarity, Pinkie, and Twilight followed suit, all five gems starting to glow.  “Ah…  Ah’m sorry, Sugar.  Forgive me later…?” Applejack asked softly to the now unconscious pegasus.

“Ten seconds until teleportation…” Twilight announced, looking down at her own gem, then biting her lip and looking up at the massive ship approaching, filling up the entire viewscreen on that side.  No…  It was too close.  Her breath caught, and her brother gritted his teeth in the display, activating full speed on his mech.

His entire squad smashed into the side of the warship as it came in.  Abandoning weapons, they all hit the armor plating in front of the ship, crashing hard into it and holding on as their mechs switched to full thrust mode instead.  Hull lasers opened fire on them, but they just kept pushing, slowly starting to turn the massive ship, ever so slightly.

“We have to turn around!” Rainbow screamed, looking back at me frantically as she watched.

“We can’t!” I shouted back, knowing it wasn’t possible now that we were already in the slipstream and being pulled along in the flagship’s wake at full speed.

Twilight gave a whimper, backing up against the wall of the command center, the four other mares pushed into her as her horn started to glow.  A barrier went up around them, and she reported, “F-Five seconds!”

My breath caught, the ship barely two seconds from impact, the blade coming in that was three times the width of the entire command center.  Pinkie cried out, turning to the side and exiting the shield as she ran for her harness.  “Pinkie!” Twilight screamed, left foreleg reaching out for her.  The signals in Shining’s squad were disconnecting rapidly as the mechs were destroyed.  Tym gave out a growl, still four kilometers out as he charged a massive orb of energy from his right hand.  No.  No!

Pinkie’s eyes widened to full, tears sliding down them as she looked to her right, mid-sprint.  Time ground to a halt as a distortion hit the side of the ship, and then exploded.  Shattering metal and rupturing armor sounded out, deafening at point blank range just as the ship smashed into the side of The Celestia.  My jaw dropped as I watched, almost in slow motion, as the entire mining vessel came out of nowhere and blindsided the siege ship.  Its armor wasn’t even a comparison, the metal of the mining vessel caving and crumpling under the huge impact.  Its sheer mass, however…

It almost completely nullified the forward momentum of the siege ship, smashing into its armored side and blowing through plating like a massive wrecking ball.  The huge blade smashed into the side of The Celestia at the same time, and the viewpoint for my camera rocked violently as all four mares screamed out, sparks falling down everywhere as the lights died and they were jarred from their hooves.  Twilight’s shield flickered as the four of them were smashed up against the wall behind her, but Pinkie hit the side of her station hard, giving a pained yelp as she fell onto her stomach instead.  The siege ship and Keela’s mining vessel ‘rolled’ along the side of The Celestia, violent explosions rupturing from both of them, the huge mining laser underneath starting to flare up and burn with sixty percent charge in it still.  She’d…

“No, Keela!” Tym screamed, staring in shock at the massive collision, even as he slowed down.  Rainbow and I looked to Keela’s monitor at the same time, it having gone dark when she’d slipped into hiding to line up the shot.  She winced in it, on the floor of her command station with nothing but red light flickering overhead.  Litta was in the image, too, lying on the floor a few meters away with blood pooling under her.  Blood was on Keela, too, flowing down the left side of her head, but she smiled up at me and rapidly shook her head.

“No, this…  It’s payment, Mender.  I was so stupid for believing my sister and enabling her all this time to do all this evil.  This was always our mess to clean up, not yours.  We couldn’t let anypony die for our mess!  S-Stop her.  For me!” she ordered.  I clenched my teeth as she gasped, another rock going through the command center that knocked her to the floor again.

“No!  No, I can still telepo-“ Twilight started to shout out.  She was gone a second later, communication feed interrupted with all five of them as they winked out of existence, one by one.

Swallowing, I felt my eyes start to get wet as I shook my head rapidly.  “You…  You need to get out of there!” I called out, feeling my legs start to shiver against Rainbow.

Keela smiled, pushing her upper torso off the floor again before shaking her head slowly.  “No time.  Can’t… walk…” she whispered, then shivered again, wincing.  I widened my eyes, looking to her right, and saw the broken railing of the captain’s platform.  She’d fallen off it…  Her legs were okay, but the way her waist was twisted…  She instead looked up at me, then slowly shook her head again.  “Stop her.  For me.  Mender, I love y-“

Her viewscreen disappeared in a sudden radiance of flame and energy, then cut to static.  My breath caught, and I watched the mining laser explode.  It consumed the entirety of her ship in an instant, and blew the Grosh siege ship in half, sending its parts scattering across what was left of The Celestia.  The last of the enemy ships halted all at once, and suddenly, the entire battlefield just stopped, much like my heart did.  No.  No, it couldn’t have…

“Did…  Is she…” Rainbow whispered, staring in shock at the snow on the monitor.  I shuddered, swallowing as I tore my eyes from it.  Swallowing, I refused to process any of it and instead looked at our own data panels.  The link to her…  It was gone.  I watched the connection redline, and the pony mechs started turning off, dozens at a time as their connections severed.  That meant Tym…

Then I saw that our time until intercept was well past, and my eyes widened drastically.  “Dash, we’re behind!  Three seconds until exit!” I warned, looking back at her, then up ahead of us, just as she gasped and looked forward again as well.  My eyes widened as we were almost on top of the ship, just as it exited the other side of the tunnel and caught the burnt remains of the left wing engine on the lip.

Rainbow swerved hard, me bringing my shields up to bare against the huge cloud of debris as it came in.  She cried out an instant later, and I winced as well as a large strut smashed off my left shoulder.  We were flung sideways into a spiral out into real space again alongside the broken-to-bits flagship.

Blood.  I gasped as I watched it drift up, some escaping from the thin barrier around her before it sealed back up again.  Her left eye… was a mess, looking like a sheet of metal had lacerated it open, and there was a three centimeter wide bar of metal sticking out from the top of her left shoulder.  The other end passed out under her foreleg, and she grit her teeth, that leg shaking violently now.  Shit!

“Rainbow, evac!” I ordered, turning myself as we drifted so her front faced me, reaching for her crystal.

“N-No!  I can…  Hah… I can still get you to the front of the ship!” she assured, trying to weakly push my arm away.  More blood flowed down from both her eye and shoulder, sliding across her torso now.  No, she needed medical attention.

Shaking my head, I leaned forward and lightly kissed the bridge of her muzzle, causing her other eye to widen just a bit.  My hoof contacted her crystal at the same time, and she yelped when she realized what I was doing.  “Hey, no, I can still-!” she started to protest, but I lightly pushed off of her and drifted towards the badly damaged flagship.  The spell that… Keela had been using to talk to Nirru was gone.  I didn’t know if it would have worked between dimensions anyway, but regardless, I had no idea what she was doing.  The engine read as powered down, probably having baked itself in the Slipstream transfer, but slowly powering up again.  It was only at forty percent output, however, and flames and bits of debris drifted aimlessly off into space.

“Mender!  You jerk!  You’d better be okay!  You’re going to be a dad soon!” Rainbow shouted after me, over our short range comm.  I turned again, then nodded to her, not having the energy to smile.  Maybe I’d smile after the mission was done, and I had that bitch’s head launched into the sun.  Firing my tentacles backwards, I latched onto the armor of the ship and yanked myself forward towards the front of the thing just as Rainbow winked away.  I exhaled.  She was safe now, and they could help her no problem.  Pony medical care was amazing…  They’d put me back together again after I’d burned my skin off, essentially, plus she had the nanites…

Assuring myself that she’d be fine, I flipped as I came in against the hull, hard.  My legs didn’t even bend as I hit and slid, skidding across the metal armor as the magnets engaged in my hooves.  The armor around me expanded as I slowly walked forward, tentacles fully extended around me as I watched her hull defenses come online.  Yup, figured she’d know I was here.

Three were sliced in half before they even fired.  I parried a laser as it came in, slicing that turret in half, too, as I disengaged the magnets and jumped.  A vast majority of the guns went utterly ignored as I used my tentacles to whip myself in the direction of her cockpit instead.  Trajectory in place, I threw shields up over myself and curled into a ball as I shot the full length of the ship.  Lasers bounced off me rapidly as I moved, and I flung out another tentacle, hooking the bow plating on the side and swinging myself around, only to crater into the metal directly over the command center.

Looking down, I saw one of the dozens of cameras focusing on me, and glared down with it, even as my hud lit up with a short range comm communication.  Against my better judgement, I patched her through as I stood upright on her hull.

“Figures you’d follow me even here.  It really is your destiny to try to get in the way of my-“ she started to declare.

I interrupted immediately with, “Shut the fuck up.”  Keela’s smile flashed through my head, and I gritted my teeth, my hoof cratering hard into the metal.  The fracture shattered through the plating, and I pulled back and smashed into it again even harder.  The ablative charge fired off, launching the plate into me, but I swatted it away in an instant and launched it sideways off into space.

Turning to face the ship again, I pulled my hoof back, then momentarily raised an eyebrow as I saw the golden glow over the hull instead.  “You…  You’re not getting inside through that.  You don’t have anything that can destroy an Aegis Barrier, and soon, I’ll have the engines back on and be able to…” she started to warn.  She trailed off, and I frowned, suddenly noticing the same thing.  We were… drifting.  She had kept her forward momentum a little as we’d exited the slipstream, but now… we were going sideways?  Gravity…

Looking to our left in the direction we were being pulled slowly in, I widened my eyes a little.  Oh.  It was coming up from under the bottom of the ship, from my perspective, which is why I hadn’t seen it before.  We were rotating slowly, however, while drifting forward, and now I could readily see the massive wall of gray moving in at frightening speeds.

My eyes drifted to the edges of the moon, picking up a purple and blue tint, and confirmed it as I saw the silhouette.  There was the glow of magic around the entire thing.  Luna was moving it.  No, she was swinging the entire moon at the flagship like it was a giant mace.  The surface was coming at us at a good dozen meters per second, which, due to the pure mass, would be enough to paste this entire flagship and flatten it into one of the craters.  I ran the calculation, and came up with about a hundred and eighty seconds until impact.

“What…. the hell?  It’s steering towards me?!” Nirru asked, mostly to herself, over the audio.

I snorted, then pointed out, “You pissed off one of the two physical goddesses that lead us all, I guess.  Oh, you didn’t know about that?  Oops.  Pity…”  Not that I was going to let the moon kill her.  Instead, I pulled my data panel open and accessed my subspace storage.

“It…  It doesn’t matter!  Nothing matters anymore.  It’s too late.  If I’m going to die, I’m going to take all of you little rats with me.  Try to stop me, I dare you.  It’s too late, and you can’t-“ she started to retort.

She hesitated as I drew Ventosus Lacuna out of subspace, the sheath locking to my side with the straps tying around my barrel automatically.  “That…  You can’t use my own sword against me.  Hell, it barely listened to me and I’m a family member.  It’s not even going to turn on for-“ she started to point out, apparently failing to notice its changed color schemes.

I drew it directly from the sheath and right into the barrier and metal plating behind it with a flick of my neck, holding it in my teeth.  It sliced through like butter, flaring with light as it sliced ahead in measured precision.  One flick backwards, and there was a nice 'V’ shape in the hull, that I immediately stomped inwards before dropping through into the command center.

She stared at me as I stood fully upright, her mouth hanging open.  The hull sealed itself up behind me, the atmosphere loss only causing papers to go flying everywhere.  Sparks came down from the ceiling light I accidentally cut through, but I walked through them as I got closer to her.  She shifted to a glare a moment later, spitting at me as she stood up from her console.

“Why?!  Why does the sword listen to you and not me?!” she screamed out as I slid it back into its sheath.

That was an easy question, anyway.  “Probably because you’re a psychotic, egotistical bitch.  Just a thought,” I explained, earning a more pointed glare as I looked around the control room.  My systems had already hacked into her data stream, and I saw outputs powering up, which would probably be her engines again.  But they were drawing in way too much energy to be that alone.  I glanced to the side, and saw her corrective navigational course simply switching our orientation to point at the planet.  Ah.

“Yeah, you can see it.  If I’m going to die one way or another, I’m dying on my terms.  Ever wonder what happens when a dreadnaught class flagship crashes into a planet at several hundred times the speed of light?  We’re about to find out…” she confirmed.  My eyes narrowed inside my helmet as she smirked.

“You have one chance.  Turn it off, and I won’t show you how a real black ops tortures someone.  Not for information, of course.  Just to see how long it takes before you’re begging me to kill you, like so many others you did the same to,” I spat out, starting to walk towards her again.  Her eyes narrowed and she backed up until she bumped into the rear wall.

She snorted at that, standing straighter finally.  “I…  I’m not afraid of you, Mender.  Plus I’m in my real body now, with my full magical powers.  Do you honestly think you’re capable of winning?  Besides, even if I could turn it off at this point, why would I?  You’re a pathetic little pony.  I don’t think you’re even capable of cold-blooded torture…” she reminded.

I shivered lightly.  She couldn’t turn it off.  That told me everything I needed to know.  I watched the flames spark into both of her palms and she smirked, dropping down into a magical combat stance.  I simply stood there, however.  “You killed her.  For you, I’ll gladly make an exception.  But, unfortunately, I don’t have time for this now,” I lamented.

She frowned, a look of confusion dancing across her expression.  “Killed her?  Who’s her?” she started to ask.  She’d join her in a second, and know then, I supposed.  The second she hesitated, I flicked my shoulders back.  There was a big downside to a combat style largely encompassing the use of fire.

Two tentacles moved up and back behind me as fast as I could whip them.  She gasped, but didn’t have time for anything else as I sliced a truly massive ‘V’ cut right across the top of the entire command center.  Several explosions later with the air and energy lines being cut, the armor ruptured and blew around us and the entire room was vented into space.

Her flame magic went out before it even left her hand as both of us went with most of the room.  I rotated once, standing on the ceiling for support as we spiraled out into space amidst a sea of loose papers.  Seven orbs of energy were charged along my leg as I spun, and after righting myself, I watched her rotate in a tight circle, fighting and thrashing to pull her helmet up over her head.  She was in a Keldarian spacesuit, model at least three hundred or more.  A trained military professional could deploy the helmet hood in four and a half seconds.  I’d given myself three and took aim while focusing.

She finally pulled it over her head, grinning triumphantly at me from upside down as she rotated around to face me again.  There was no emotion at all as I fired, putting seven spears of barrier energy through her body an instant later.  She stared at me in shock, the thin beams of energy going through both lungs, her heart, her stomach, both kidneys, and right between her eyes.  Holding her there for a moment as she started to spasm, blood momentarily began filling her spacesuit before I shifted all of the poles to blades instead, and yanked them all in separate directions.  “Ask her when you see her again.  I’m sure she’ll have words for you…” I spoke gently, finally.  There wasn’t an answer, of course.

The mess of gore drifted off into space, and I watched it for a moment before turning and dropping down into the remains of the command center again.  Hope she wasn’t expecting an epic magic duel or something.  That’s not how reality worked.

The navigation computer was still running perfectly fine, not caring at all that the whole room was depressurized.  The automatic repair plating couldn’t do much about missing most of the roof.  The computer reported full charge of the Slipstream engines in twenty five seconds, however.  It also reported that the actual folding engine had been turned off.  This came with a whole slew of warnings about the fact that we could hit something in the middle of the jump, of course.  The engine read as locked out, which meant I’d have to manually go down there and disable the Slipstream countdown in less than twenty five seconds…  It would take me longer to just reach the panel at this point.  The moon was still forty seconds away from impact.  Did the sisters have a way to block a ship hitting the planet at hundreds of times the speed of light?

There just wasn’t any time.  I racked my brain as my processors tried to brute force their way past the locks, but the system just disconnected itself fully.  Damn it!  Options…  I couldn’t stop the drive, so that left only two solutions.  Slow the jump down long enough for the moon to hit us, or make sure the ship didn’t hit the planet.  If I started screwing with the gravity effects from myself, it would force the computer to repeatedly recalculate the pathing, but not slow it down a tremendous amount.  Not the dozen seconds or so I needed for it to fall into the moon.  Shit.

I grew cold, swallowing again before detaching my magnetic locks and floating into space.  My tentacles guided me as I latched onto the nose of the ship and pulled myself to it.  Engaging them again after, I snapped my legs down to the surface of the nose, the very peak of the bow.

Equus expanded out in front of me.  It was a beautiful blue planet, mattings of greens and browns for the continents.  I recognized Equestria, still on the dark side of the planet.  They would have slept through it all.  I closed my eyes, smiling finally as my whole body shivered.  I felt the water in my eyes, pressing up against the crystal plates now.  Keela…

I wanted to enable the long range antenna and talk to them again.  They were probably wondering what was going on.  Smiling, I closed my eyes and just let the light of the sun dance over me.  My back opened up again, folds of my armor coming out as the Wings of Icarus spread wide.  My own FTL software, badly gutted out and only rudimentarily operational at this point, would still suffice.  No, calling them would soothe me, but it would only bring them additional pain.  There wasn’t any other choice I could think of!

The concept was simple.  The only issue was, my own FTL drive didn’t have any charge.  I set it to charging immediately, but what energy it would be able to gather in the few seconds I had would only power a jump that was all of a fraction of a nanosecond.  I calculated that, if I synced my field with the ship’s as it formed, I could use its own field to move in my slipstream effect.  But with my calculations, I could only move the ship thirty thousand meters or so before running out of power.  That wasn’t enough to even get it a full percent away from hitting the planet.

So instead, I was only going to use mine to form the initial Slipstream tunnel.  I had enough power to turn the ship.  Just barely.  Unfortunately, that meant that the ship would take over after I finished turning and just go straight until it ran out of power in the capacitor.  About five seconds or so.  With me stuck on it.  I ran the calculation based on the speed of FTL Slipstream movement, and that would only take me about a hundred and sixty million kilometers away from Equus…  I’d hit the shield the ancients set up long, long before that.  Which meant I just had to be clever with my aim.  I set the coordinates for the sun instead.

Looking forward again, I stared down at the planet once more, clenching my teeth.  It wasn’t fair.  I wanted to scream that at the top of my lungs, but even if I did, it wouldn’t reach anypony that would care.  The multi-verse is a rather cruel one.  But maybe I was pony enough to make it to the Ether?  I smiled at that, then laughed to myself.  Prudentia, or should I say Purdue, pinged urgently at my side, almost desperately.  No, she deserved another chance, too.

Detaching the book, I gave her a smile as I saw her reflection in the gem on the cover.  Then I put it into a tentacle and whipped it at the planet as hard as I could, aiming a bit above Equestria.  They’d find her rather fast, given the energy the book put out.  I detached Ventosus Lacuna, staring at it for a long moment before nodding and instead turning around, releasing it in the direction of what was left of Nirru’s body.

Seven seconds until the flagship activated Slipstream.  I turned and looked back towards Equus, no longer smiling.  There was nothing left now.  I wasn’t brave, or fearless, or even honorable.  I clenched my teeth again, feeling tears sliding down my cheeks as I shook my head.  I wished it was somepony else here.  I didn’t want to die.  I wished there were other options.  But… no, I didn’t want somepony else to die for me either.  

The energy around the flagship finished radiating out, forming the field of quantum energy.  My field synced into it as it started its countdown to engagement at five seconds.  That was that, then.  Was it a good life?  Did I make a difference?  I nodded to nothing in particular, shivering as I closed my eyes for the last time.  Two seconds left, as the engines started to fire up far behind me.  I started to tremble, but I suddenly felt it.  Two warm forelegs slid around my shoulders, holding me tight.  I smiled.

“I love you, Mom.  See you guys soon…” I whispered.  My drive activated, and reality warped away…






Epilogue


Twilight gave a sigh, walking down the path through the royal gardens.  Left, then right, she glanced both ways after clearing the hedge wall, finally spotting her two wayward companions.  Walking up, she gave a soft smile to Fluttershy and Rarity, who turned their heads to look her direction.  The unicorn returned her smile, but Fluttershy faltered for a moment before managing a weaker one of her own.  She had three flowers fixed to her mane now, matching her eyes and coat.  Her flowing dress matched the flowers, of course.  Rarity was good at what she did, even if the white bandaging around the left wing stood out a little.

"Hey, girls.  How are you doing?" the alicorn asked, swallowing lightly and looking back and forth between them.

Rarity shook her head gently, suggesting, "My injuries are superficial.  The numbing spell is hardly ideal for Fluttershy, however, and only had a few hours duration at most, I should remind.  Couldn't this have waited a few more-"

"No!" Fluttershy exclaimed, and then coughed lightly, correcting her tone and adding, "I'm not going to wait.  He doesn't deserve to have to wait for me.  He deserves to be honored."  Her voice was strong, with uncharacteristic levels of conviction to it.

Twilight had already talked to her, of course, and smiled.  "The wing is healing, and she can manage a few hours.  This is important to her, and me, Rarity," she reminded, nodding to the unicorn, who managed a soft chuckle.

"I know, Dear.  I only worry.  Mender would be very much against, and insist on waiting, but I do understand, you know.  It's important to me, too.  How are preparations?" Rarity asked, moving back to adjusting the flowers in Fluttershy's mane, tucked behind her right ear.

"Everypony's already started to file in.  It's... more than accounted for.  We started adding seating in the street outside the garden theatre, and expanded the speakers and screen.  Well, second screen.  Snapshot started crying hysterically while setting the first one up and put it through the stage floorboards..." Twilight reported, giving a small sigh after.  Rarity smiled, and Fluttershy looked down, but the alicorn shook her head after and continued with, "After everypony is seated, it's just you two..."

Fluttershy finally nodded, standing again with a light wince.  Rarity helped her stabilize, but she just shook her head and straightened herself.  "How...  How's Pinkie and Rainbow?" she asked quietly, looking back to Twilight instead.

The lavender mare gave a soft sigh, then shook her head weakly.  "Insisting on not missing anything, of course.  I helped Pinkie get comfortable, and Applejack was helping Rainbow into the front row when I left.  Dash can't stay for very long, though..." she revealed.

"We'd best get going then," Rarity agreed, looking to the pegasus, who only nodded.  Together, the three of them headed back the way Twilight came from.  After clearing the hedge wall and heading along the side of the stage, Rarity and Fluttershy moved to take their seats as the alicorn turned up the incline and onto the platform instead.  Princess Celestia smiled softly to Twilight, who nodded in return, then looked out into the ocean of ponies, a soft smile playing at her lips...


* * * * *


"We are gathered here today to honor the memory of a fallen hero.  A hero that sacrificed his life in order to save not just his friends...  Not just his town...  Not even his country...  He sacrificed everything in order to save all of Equus.  There are no words I could possibly give to honor this magnitude of service to our world," Princess Celestia spoke, staring out into the massive crowd.

Thousands of ponies watched, gathered from all corners of Equestria and beyond.  Hundreds of griffons attended, as well as a few dozen dragons, an entire honor guard of Zebra, and an assortment of others.  They spilled out of the garden auditorium and five blocks down the streets of Canterlot, view screens set up to project sound and images from the stage.  Most had never even met the stallion, but they had all heard of what he had done.  And what it had cost.

The Princess of the Sun smiled after that, then gave a weak chuckle.  "Yet, reality is sometimes cruel indeed.  Despite his unrivaled sense of duty and honor, he was forced to sacrifice everything in order to protect us all.  Our only recourse is to do everything in our power to honor our fallen hero, and give him our absolute best.  For he might have died to ensure all of us could live, but we can make him live forever by remembering his deeds.  That's how legends are born," she continued.

Rainbow watched from the front row, no expression to her face whatsoever.  The wheelchair looked unnatural with her, as did the heavy bandaging around her torso and shoulder.  Bandaging wrapped over her left eye as well, now dead and glass underneath.  Applejack sat next to her, staring blankly alongside her marefriend, both just watching the picture that sat on top of the empty coffin, as if looking through it.  There weren't any words left to say that would matter to them.

The Princess gave them both a smile before looking back out onto the crowd.  The silence almost ached as it hung on the air, before a small chuckle escaped her lips.  "Of course, if you'd known the stallion himself, becoming a 'legend' would be more terrifying than appealing, but he also knew that sometimes, things happened that we didn't have any say over.  He was fast to forgive like that.  Just like that..." she admitted, ending it in a whisper before slowly shaking her head, letting a tear slide down her left cheek.

Pinkie held no such reservations.  Rarity gently massaged her shoulders as she silently sobbed, staring at his picture on top of the coffin the entire time.  Spike sat on the other side of the pink mare, frowning as he stared at the grass under his chair instead.  He'd not said a word all day.

Celestia shook her head slowly, still smiling yet staring down at the blank podium.  "It was probably his defining virtue, if I were to be honest," she admitted finally, then went on to reveal, "Due to my oversight and mistake, I ruined his entire life.  I cost him and his family the life of his mother, a very brave mare who was loyal to the end and beyond.  I cost him his chance to live like a normal pony, displacing him three hundred years into the future in a cybernetic body."  A rare show of frustration danced across her features, and her right foreleg started to tremble gently as she closed her eyes.

Twilight and Cadance frowned to her right, then looked to each other as she undoubtedly departed any script she might have had.  Her sister on the other side just smiled, however, finally speaking up with, "Our sister is right.  Forgiveness came so simply to him that it wasn't even a thought.  He forgave her... us... for everything.  It was just that easy.  Yet it was something he himself struggled with in return.  He blamed himself for everything that had happened.  As if it were somehow his fault that the other dimension had discovered Equestria.  That a monster, the very one he personally defeated, was willing to sacrifice innumerable lives to get what they wanted."

Celestia smiled at that and shook her head.  "I told it to him first, but he summarized it the best.  The hardest pony to forgive is yourself.  But... It doesn't matter now.  I think he has the forgiveness he so desperately sought.  Now, I have to try to abide by the lesson I taught him myself, because that same mistake that I made cost him everything.  So much that it's now costing the loved ones he left behind, including a foal who no longer has a father, and two mares who have lost their stallion," she continued, losing her smile yet again as she looked to the right.

Twilight gave her a more sympathetic look instead, frowning, then looking down to her left at the yellow pegasus that was resting against her legs.  Fluttershy stared at the floorboards of the stage still, expression blank minus the tears that wet her entire face.  Her left forehoof strayed over her stomach, and she shivered at the Princess' words.

Turning away again, the Princess of the Sun looked out at the crowd, eyes tracing amongst the thousands of faces.  Finally, she concluded with, "Open talking shall commence for anypony who wishes to speak.  But first, let us bow our heads in a moment of silence for our departed hero."

Thousands of heads lowered, like a great wave in the silence.  The gesture showed countless thanks, personal and impersonal alike.  Eyes closed to the sun, the large and golden orb slowly sinking below the horizon in the distance, soft hues of light dancing across the clouds above.  The event was scheduled for long into the night regardless, and it would be quite a few hours before sleep for many a pony even after that, tonight…


* * * * *


"Was all this really needed?" I finally asked, staring across the thousands of golden orbs that lit up the night air.  Ponies mingled all around, a long line leading up to the coffin in the distance.  Everything was through a thick haze, of course.  It seemed to settle down like a blanket over reality.

Tia smiled softly, sitting next to me on the hill I relaxed on.  It overlooked the small pond in the royal gardens, and had served as quite a scenic spot to watch the funeral from.  "I didn't send out invites, Mender.  The initial advertisement is all I did.  I'm sorry, but these ponies are here of their own accord," she assured, of course.  I sighed, my voice echoing lightly in the soft mist.  It was a superfluous gesture, given that I didn't have lungs.

I shook my head.  "It's only hurting them.  Why didn't you tell everypony my wishes?" I asked, still upset with her.

She stared, watching Fluttershy sitting next to the coffin, Twilight and Spike next to her giving gentle comforts, even as the lavender mare herself cried.  We both just watched for a moment before she shook her head.  "Grieving is important.  For you as well, Mender.  Even for me.  Why did you forgive me for everything...?" she asked quietly, still not looking my way despite being one of the very few here that could see me.

I sat there, the warm mists drifting around me before I closed my eyes.  Forgiveness.  "You're not that different from a normal pony, Tia.  Life here has slowed you down so you match their pace now.  You cry and laugh with your little ponies, too.  That means you're subject to the exact same mistakes," I explained as simply as I could.

She watched me for a moment, then closed her eyes as well, resting there.  It took a while, but she finally asked, "Do you think it's worth it?"

"Without a doubt," I assured, no consideration needed.  She deserved to be as 'normal' as she could muster.

She smiled softly, and we sat there in silence for a long while.  Ponies came and went.  Everything was a haze, the world only partially in focus for me.  Everything felt detached and cold inside as I watched all of my friends move on without me.  That was how it was supposed to work, wasn't it?  It happened to everypony eventually, right?  Except it didn't.

Tia stirred again, then smiled back at me.  There were only a few ponies left at the viewing, and slowly, I stood up.  My limbs almost ached from the cold, and I knew if I focused on it too much, it could be maddening.  The longer I stayed here, the worse it would get.  She nodded, then suggested, "Everything is about concluded, Mender.  You should rest now."  I knew what she was talking about.  I'd felt the 'draw' already, and ignored it.  The funeral felt important to me, but I knew I wasn't satisfied.  Was that it, then?  I was dead and gone now, just like that?  Now I knew how my father had felt, undoubtedly.

"Rest," I muttered, then chuckled weakly and shook my head, admitting, "I feel restless instead.  I don't think I'm ready quite yet."

She lost her smile, of course, and gave a small sigh.  "Should I talk to Aura and see if she can aid you?  Some ghosts do find it difficult to-" she started to offer.

My vision flickered, and for the briefest of moments, a few thousand memories flashed past me at the speed of light.  Millions of different lives, all wound up with mine now.  My eyes locked with hers, a billion other pairs mirroring the gesture within, and she looked surprised as she trailed off to me shaking my head.  "No, what I meant was, I'm not going.  I'm staying here," I corrected, just getting it over with and fully embracing the cold.  They were all still attached to me, woven through my soul itself.  Billions of souls all tied into mine, and I knew they gave me an immense energy density to me.  Any necromancer in Equus would require my direct cooperation to 'send' me into the Ether.  That meant they couldn't make me, even if they'd wanted to.

Tia frowned at that, slowly turning to face me fully.  "Mender, this can't be ideal.  What...  What's holding you here?  A ghost needs a reason to not move on..." she asked, searching my expression before I turned and looked towards my coffin again.  They were still there, all seven of them seemingly standing out through the mists.  Twilight especially.

She followed my vision, but I answered anyway.  "Them.  Twilight could take years before she's as attuned to the Ether as you.  At least enough to interact with me.  Fluttershy can't at all.  I... no.  I won't accept being apart from them.  I'm staying here, and I'm going to continue research on the techniques my father started.  It may take me a hundred years or more, but I'm going to find a way back..." I spoke with conviction, looking back at her.  She momentarily looked horrified at the mention of that particular line of research.

"M-Mender!  No, you can't be serious.  This happens to everypony, and you need to accept that.  Twilight will become attuned enough to even touch you again soon enough, and eventually, Fluttershy will-" she tried to point out.  No.  She didn’t get it yet.  She didn’t realize…

I shook my head again, then turned and walked slowly away, letting the mists drift around me as I went.  "I’ve already decided," I muttered as I walked.  She didn't understand, and it wasn't going to work like that.  Not now.  It was too late.  "I... can't accept being apart from them forever.  My mind is made up.  I guess misbehaving runs in my family..." I mused, almost to myself.  I felt sad eyes on my back as I walked off into the dark night, that crushing cold all around me...


* * * * *


“No.  No, this won’t do at all…”
> Forgiveness Pending - Ending 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wincing, I felt the two impacts as they lanced across our stern, tearing our engine to shreds.  Pinkie gasped as well, whipping fast and blocking four more with her right forehoof in a sweep as she spun.  She completed the turn, looking back at the broken remains of the flagship in front of us, nervousness flashing through her eyes.  "It didn't work!" she shouted.

My double-check of the flagship's engine showed it was indeed still online, and Nirru pushed all power to the remaining two Aegis Barrier Emitters.  She was still going to try to make the jump, even with her ship half blown to hell?!  Twilight gestured to her viewscreen, showing the only remaining siege ship heading up fast behind us.  Shit.  Instinct told me they were probably going for a ramming attack now that we didn't have engines.

"We need to use the Elements of Harmony!  If we hit them with it, we should still have plenty of time to go after Nirru!" she shouted.

I frowned at that, warning, "But if they can pick up on the Element's energy signatures like Kyliona did..."  I didn't feel comfortable with it, even leaving the husk of a ship floating here with those energy signatures on it.

"We don't have a choice!  We can't leave that thing behind us, and we don't have our main gun anymore!" she shot back.  I hesitated, but my gut told me that she was probably right.  Kyliona had detected the energy signatures in a pony in order to get the full reading.  I had no proof at all that the signature would linger from a flash exposure.

I looked back once more before I nodded.  "All right.  Everypony detach!  Use the Elements on the siege ship, then you're with me, Rainbow.  We're going after Nirru directly," I ordered.  All six nodded, starting to detach as I decoupled myself from the deck.  One good part about having magnetic hooves, anyway.

While they unhooked their harnesses, I booked towards the front of the command center, sliding in next to the release hatch, and started getting the escape pod ready.  The familiar bursts of light started to glow behind me, flooding the entire cabin with rainbow ambiance.

Priming the energy release that launched the pod, I glanced back at them, watching all six radiating out their own colors as they lifted into the air.  The Elements of Harmony.  According to the stories, it was the spirit of Equus itself reaching out to ponies that embodied its natural virtues.  Generosity, Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Loyalty, and Magic, working together to attempt to instill hope when all was lost.  I think this was definitely a situation that called for that.

For a moment, I was lost myself.  I looked back inside and realized that, honestly, I was just a spectator.  I was seven months old.  Ultimately, I'd adopted Equus and the pony's plights as my own, because that's what I was.  A pony.  But they were the ones fighting for their world.  They were the ones that had lived in it for their entire lives.  It was them that were the embodiments of those virtues, and despite bringing my own skills and abilities to play, they were actual heroines.  Stuff of legend.  Ponies would pass on their names until the end of time.

Of course, when talking about legendary things, normally I reserved a certain level of skepticism.  In this case, however, getting hit by the Elements of Harmony I knew to be very much not a pleasant thing.  In a 'sugar-coated apocalypse' sort of way.  The energy spiraled around them in a corkscrew, then shot out in shattering prismatic energy.  Admittedly, a part of me flinched before it turned away from me entirely and smashed through the wall of the command center.

The siege ship didn't even have time to turn to avoid it.  Further, the 'beam' of prismatic energy hit open space and exponentially expanded.  By the time it hit the ship, it was big enough to encompass the entire thing.  It didn't stop, crashing over them like a massive wave before actually doubling back.  My eyes widened as I saw it hit and smash through eight or nine times, making sharp loops before all the coils crushed down upon themselves and compacted before exploding in a prismatic blast.

I blinked once, and then twice as my eyes cleared.  The siege ship drifted towards us still, but their engines were off.  Apart from that, it didn't look like anything had happened.  "Uh, Keela...?" I asked, looking towards the equally confused looking Keldarian on my right viewscreen.

"Uh, life signs are still functioning on board.  Weapon systems are on but no longer active.  Same with engines.  What did it do...?" she asked, focusing her magic towards it.  I'd noticed all of the support ships halted as well, leaving our side the only moving thing on the battlefield.  Shining frowned, drifting nearby our viewscreens as he looked around the field.

"Did it...  Did it work?" Twilight asked, landing gently on her hooves and running towards me.

I switched Keela up to the projection display, just in time for her to patch us magically into the enemy ship.  Neither she nor I were prepared for what we saw.  The command center was three major banks of electronic panels and viewscreens, with the central life support column between them, sort of forming a three leaf clover shape of sorts.  All three Grosh were plainly visible, a twisted form of a sort of anthropomorphic rabbit mixed with metal cybernetics.  Only...

They were huddling together near the central column.  A quick glance showed life support still functioning, and I raised an eyebrow until the one pointed.  The speech was almost so fast that the translator on Keela's station didn't pick up on it.  "Feline magic!  Please!" it shouted out, all three of them bounding for the orb of magic that undoubtedly showed up inside their command station.  Wait, were they...?

All three piled on top of each other, looking up into the orb.  They were sobbing hysterically.  I didn't even know Grosh could cry.  "Oh great Gods of the Green Pastures!  Please, we're sorry!  We're so, so sorry.  What...  What have we done?!" the one in the middle screamed out.  Uh... what?

"Is...  Is your translator working, Keela?" I asked uncertainly.  She slowly nodded, looking just about as floored, but the other Grosh piped up first.

"Please!  Kind ponies and felines!  You have liberated us from seventeen millenia of hatred!  Please, we must do something to fix all of this!" he screamed out, almost hysterical as he started shaking there.  Oh.  Oh hell.  The Elements gave them a conscience?!  That was a crueler fate than just murdering the hell out of them.

Shaking my head rapidly, I finally just muttered, "You deal with them, Keela.  Try talking, for once.  Never thought I'd say that..."  Turning back to the escape pod, I realized that still left us with one psychotic bitch to deal with, who had already slipped through a non-stable portal to Equus.  "Rainbow, with me.  Everypony else, Evac.  Shining, stick with Keela and help defend her if this is some elaborate, absurd trap," I continued, nodding to him as he returned it in his viewing screen.

Applejack stepped up before anypony else could react, however.  "No.  Ah'm comin', too.  Shift some o' those gun thingies over onto tha escape pod.  Dashie has enough umph ta pull it like ah sled, easy!" she declared.  I frowned, then looked to Rainbow a split second later, who nodded in return.  Tch.

"Fine, just hurry!" I ordered.  Thankfully, at the speed that the flagship had limped through the tear into Equus, we were sure to catch up fairly fast.  I'm not sure entirely what compelled me to fire Tia's charge directly against the side of the flagship.  It would have been far more tactical to target the Aegis Barrier emitters on the front directly, but I wasn't regretting it.  The shot was absurdly larger than I could have ever imagined, and we scored an almost direct hit against the side of the flagship.  Most of its engine now lay on this side of space, and it barely fired off the FTL jump to activate the tear.

Pulling four of the guns and two ammo pods up into the escape pod, I nodded to Rainbow, who had already slipped onto the outside of the hull.  AJ and I closed the door to the pod, then ejected the entire thing, just as I saw the other four elements wink out of existence.  They were safe.

Smiling, I gave a nod again to Dash as she latched onto the energy tethers and locked them into her harness.  "Going!" she declared before blasting forward as fast as she could go.  I saw the massive jets fire off on her wings, then go prismatic a moment later as we suddenly lurched and were rocketing across space at absurd speeds.

Applejack slipped, sliding sideways before I caught her, both of us getting pushed back against the back wall from the pure acceleration.  We were through the tear before I even had a chance to look up again, and the eerie distortions of the Slipstream tunnel greeted me outside of the windows.

Looking to my left with my eyes, I saw Keela's viewscreen go slightly static, and she nodded to me, smiling again.  "Tear is closed on this end.  We should be secure for the moment.  The Grosh have ejected all of their weapon energy cells and have powered down all non-vital areas of the ship, claiming they wish to cooperate fully.  Orders, Mender?" she asked curiously, looking down at her own display as she took in the data.

"Is Tym back inside of the ship?" I asked, feeling inside of myself for a moment.  They were following me.  I felt Malice getting pulled along with us, which meant all of the pony mechs had probably gone inert on that side, nothing remaining to direct the synced movement.

"Right here," he answered for her, walking up and ducking down inside the viewing screen with a curt nod.  Apart from a light sheen of sweat, I didn't see any further evidence that he'd just been in pitched battle.  My display showed his 'kill' count up to a hundred and sixteen support vessels, which scarily meant he took out more than the Celestia had while geared up in a makeshift mining rig by himself.

I nodded in return, then ordered, "That means it's safe to power down the relay system.  Conserve the power in it, and take all of the energy cells they ejected.  That'll stop them from readily reactivating their weapons."

"You want DReg's forces pulling back for now?  All we can do is watch now anyway…" Shining asked, flicking online on my left viewscreen and giving me a curious look.

Keela nodded towards him instead, hitting a few more keys.  "Yes, you'll have to once the relay is powered down.  But Mender's right.  It'll conserve on our power, at least until we can acquire all of the Grosh energy cells.  Plus, I think you're more needed on Equus' side to intercept my sister, now," she reasoned.

He considered it for a moment before agreeing with, "Done.  Log out, everypony.  We're going back to Equus and continuing the campaign there.  I'll see you there, Mender."  He gave me a smirk, and I returned it before his screen flicked away.  Keela adjusted more of her consoles, and I watched the lights all flick red on the pony mechs, almost all at once.  After they were all red, the relay itself powered down, and Keela looked back up to me, expression going a little grim.

"She has only basic weaponry left that can't do bombardment, and a crippled ship.  You shouldn't have a problem stopping her at this point, but be careful.  She's still got her magic that she can engage you with on a personal level.  I...  I don't think you're going to be able to capture her.  It's too dangerous to try to, Mender..." she warned, swallowing uneasily.  I knew that much already, but it was a bit surprising hearing it from her.

I nodded slowly before asking, "Are you sure you're okay with this?"  It was her sister, after all.  Even if she was a complete sociopathic monster hell-bent on committing genocide, family was family.

The Keldarian gave a sigh in return.  Tym nodded slowly, looking towards her as she hesitated, but Litta slipped up out of seemingly nowhere a second later, wrapping both of her arms over Keela's shoulders.  "I'm sorry, Keela.  You knew it would come to this when you heard her message, though.  We've talked about it," she reminded softly, giving her friend's left cheek a soft nuzzle.

Keela's shoulders sagged a little, and she nodded slowly after.  "I... know.  Make it fast, Mender.  Please?  I know you have every right to get revenge on her, but... for me, make it fast and painless?" she requested, ears lowering.  Applejack looked hesitantly to me, but I nodded slowly after a moment's consideration.  I'd not really thought about drawing out her death, actually.  I was angry with her, but to be honest, I'd rather just make sure she was out of the picture as fast as possible.  Drawing out her end might have been fitting for her, but it was also illogical, giving her more opportunities to act herself.  I guess I more associated myself with the 'assassin' mindset than anything.  It's what my magic was geared towards.

"She won't feel a thing," I assured, nodding towards my friend.  She slowly returned my gesture, then closed the comm feed a moment later, shifting to radio silence once more.  Would she really forgive me for this?  She understood what was at stake, but...

Applejack gave a little smirk, sidetracking me for a moment as my eyes snapped to the movement of her lips.  Wait...  "Ah don't mean ta distract, but are ya at least comfortable?" she asked, sounding coy instead.  I'm pretty sure that's exactly what she intended to do, and it worked.

My cheeks felt hot as I realized I'd not paid even the slightest bit of attention to my physical body after switching over to communicating with the other dimension.  Applejack had still been 'caught' by me, although now I was more 'holding' her instead as she remained tucked against my chest, both of us resting against the back wall.  Rainbow smirked at the two of us and gave a wink, causing a light pink tint to go over her fillyfriend's cheeks as well.

Flailing lightly, I quickly let go of the mare, feeling like my cheeks were practically burning.  "S-Sorry!  I got distracted dealing with-" I started to excuse.

She giggled, sounding more than a little amused, but interrupted with, "Ah know, Mender.  Relax.  Yer display thingy says forty seconds ta arrival, though..."  Oh!

Looking forward again, I saw Dash dodge another cluster of debris as we closed in on the large flagship.  The end of the tunnel was closing fast, however, and I estimated that we'd have just exited before catching up with the thing.  Eh, it was safer that way anyway.  Engaging in a firefight in the middle of a Slipstream transfer was usually reserved for the desperate or suicidal.  Or both.  Our ability to drop out of FTL at any point came at a price.  If a shot disrupted enough of the Slipstream tunnel, it could 'collapse' instead, dropping all of the ships out into subspace rather than real space.  There was generally no returning from there after the link was lost on both ends, and all unlucky ships were doomed to drift in absolute void between points of existence until the end of time itself, essentially.  Of course, starvation and loss of life support usually struck first, I reasoned.  Not that we could 'prove' that.

Examining her flagship, I saw that she'd shifted her Aegis Barriers backwards now, covering her rear and single remaining engine.  Heh, she probably didn't trust us to not shoot at her in transfer.  "Her barriers are up in the back now instead.  When she exits, we're going to accelerate and try to get around to the front of the flagship instead.  When we do, unload everything you can right into the highlighted part of the command center, Applejack.  With luck, we'll just blow away the entire command center with her still in it," I ordered, getting a nod back from the orange mare as she slipped up into the center of the pod again and activated her harness.

All four cannons synced with her a moment later, starting to move while tracking where she willed them.  "Batteries, activated.  Ammunition is kinda low, but we should have enough ta wipe her out..." Applejack announced, engaging her systems with the command phrase.

I stood next to her, Prudentia slipping out of subspace at my side, with the image of Purdue flickering in next to me as I walked.  "Um, I'm ready with shielding, big brother.  Just focus on the strategic highlights," she assured, giving me a soft smile even under the glowing eyes.  The book started to radiate a gentle blue ambiance as well, the deep reserve of almost impossibly large energy swelling up.  Similar to Twilight, when I 'felt' the book, it was like looking into an impossibly deep abyss.  I didn't know how she managed it, to be honest, knowing that ocean of raw energy was inside of her.  Of course, she wasn't the only one holding something monstrous within.

My eyes lit up just as we snapped out of the other end of the rip, the flagship falling into real space right next to us.  The transition was smooth, Rainbow swerving to dodge the last bit of debris as the huge thing cleared the jagged end and snapped the burnt up strut of what used to be the side engine off.  My scanners swept the surface as we shot up to it, moving suddenly far faster than it could muster.

Turrets slid out everywhere, and my eyes widened.  Mentally, I started highlighting them all as I shot a warning to Dash with, "Turrets, Rainbow!  Incoming fire!"  She winced, watching a blast skip off one of our barriers, the plane of force showing ripples and distortions along its surface before fading back into invisibility.  She tucked into a tight roll, sending us further from the ship as we spun to avoid three more shots, arching around to the side.  My eyes and electronic suites worked in tandem to highlight the turrets, check their energy output, predict when they were firing, then give the shot angle before they did, the lines displaying in dangerous red in the pegasus' vision overlay.  They'd get brighter as they were about to fire, and she started dodging them before they even did, weaving through shots with expert precision as we rocketed along the side of the ship now.

To my mild surprise, Nirru didn't shift the Aegis Barrier Emitters up further to match our pace, instead leaving them back by the engines to protect what was left of them.  Was she seriously thinking that she was still going to get away?  A nagging sensation drifted into me, but I had to focus on highlighting threats for Dash as we shot along.

We swerved around the main bridge, starting to make our descent towards the command area around the side in a big swoop, spinning and darting to avoid the incoming blasts of what looked like plasma cartridges.  It was a bit strange given the Grosh used largely flash laser and physical shells in order to avoid any extra heat emission that might set off their rather sensitive life support systems.  That meant this ship was constructed with a mixture of Grosh and Keldarian tech.  The Slipstream FTL didn't seem so odd anymore.  Wait...

Rainbow was panting hard now, her wings still burning at full strength.  The energy fluctuated in them, and I frowned.  She was getting tired.  That risked the Ether Furnace reaction in her body going out of control again, I realized.  I looked back to the fully shielded engines still.  No, that would be crazy.  But...  Nirru was crazy.  If that was the case, we didn't have time for a bombardment.

Suddenly, Dash hesitated and I frowned, looking back at her.  She was looking off to her left instead, however.  "Uh, is... is the moon supposed to be, uh... so big?" she asked hesitantly, sounding a little concerned.  Eh?  I checked my gravity readings, then noticed we were indeed being drawn to the left at a small fraction of Equus gravity.  Oh hell.

Almost afraid to, I forced myself to look where she was looking.  Sure enough, almost forty percent of my vision in that direction was now filled up with rapidly approaching gray moon surface.  It was moving quite a bit faster than its usual rotation, and I did a rough speed calculation based off perspective, realizing it would go through our exact location in space in less than two minutes.  Shit...  The dark purple glow coming off the surface, visible easiest at the outline of the giant celestial body, indicated it was more than a little intentional.  Luna was swinging the moon at the flagship like a massive, planetary mace.  Wow...

"Change of plans.  Rainbow, slow down and keep us close instead.  Applejack, target all forward battery turrets and eliminate incoming attacks.  We're a lot shorter on time, I think," I ordered suddenly.  Both mares perked at that, Applejack giving me a frown towards my back that I 'felt' through our link regardless.

"No bombardment?" she asked cautiously a moment later.

Shaking my head, I reported, "No.  It could take us almost a minute to get through her armor.  I suddenly realized why she's guarding her engines.  One strategy open to her still is to just Slipstream the entire flagship into the planet..."  I wasn't sure without more detailed readings, but she might be able to pull that off before the moon splattered the ship into a glorified lunar monument to her troubles.

I heard an audible swallow from Rainbow as she swerved in, then asked, "That...  That's bad, right?"  Oh, redefineable for the term.  My eyes highlighted all the forward facing turrets within our angle of the command center, and I nodded, moving towards the front of the escape pod.

"Applejack, target those turrets.  Annihilate them," I ordered, readying the release of the pod's front panel.  Rainbow drifted backwards, having slowed to a stop as whisks of her sweat escaped from the one way vents in her 'spacesuit'.  Our shields shifted to full frontal protection, hundreds of shots bouncing off us to the sides as the farm mare took aim.

Her blitz of glowing apples took several seconds, three dozen that I counted whipping into the hull at high velocity.  The apples alone might have been enough to put large holes into it, but the series of explosions literally scoured the surface of the hull near the command center, sending millions of shards of superheated metal off into space around Equus.  Probably the first artificial satellites the planet had ever seen, if I broadened my definition a little.

After Applejack was done firing, I popped the front of the escape pod, my tentacles already out to the sides and whipping me forward like a slingshot right at the command center, my thoughts searching through my subspace database for another useful item.  “If she were to fire off the FTL, it would get up to just around one point three times the speed of light in relative motion as it passed into the location of the planet.  But if she disabled the barrier that caused her to pass into subspace, she'd literally hit the planet with the flagship.  It looks to be at least four and a half million metric tons.  I don't want to stop to do the calculation, but all life on the planet would be eliminated at the very least, if there's much of the planet left, physically.  At that speed, it would probably be a very fine dust, to be honest,” I warned, causing the orange mare to pale a little.

She was crazy to even consider this.  Normal drives had limiters fundamentally built into them to not only prevent the subspace phasing drive from being disabled, but to physically disable the Slipstream drive if it was.  This was a custom flagship, though, so I couldn't make that assumption.  That sort of attack was...  It didn't have a lot of applicable use.  Space wasn't exactly 'empty', but actually contained very thin traces of gas in most spots, especially where you saw a lot of activity like planets and solar systems.  A ship, or anything really, traveling at hundreds of times the speed of light without having phased into subspace would hit those gaseous molecules as if they were literally bullets shredding the moving object to bits probably before it made it more than a light year or so.  But... her ship didn't need to make it a light year, if she only intended to turn it into a glorified superluminal 'bullet' at this distance.  I kinda doubted Equus had early warning subspace disruption systems in place.  I made a mental note to suggest that to Tia, assuming we were all alive within the hour.

"That's bad.  Really bad.  Let's go!" Applejack agreed, kicking off the back wall and shooting herself after me.  Rainbow followed with a gentle burst of her wing's energy, at least looking better than she was half a minute ago.

Mentally sighing, I inquired, "I imagine asking you two to teleport out would be out of the question?"

Applejack smirked, but Rainbow answered for both of them with, "Of course!  I think you're starting ta get us a little.  We're not abandoning you at this point!"  She grinned after, and I really did sigh finally.

The orange mare snorted, smashing into the metal of the hull next to me, denting it inwards as her legs glowed a fiery orange color.  I watched the kinetic energy from her impact distort back up her legs, rippling around over her back as it flooded through the magnification coils, and she huffed, her own energy pushing in and kicking it back down her legs in a distorted rush.  I hopped for a moment, and Rainbow flapped once to slow her descent for a split second as she came in behind us.  My hooves detached from the hull just as Applejack's magic washed into it, along with the huge impact vibration, and I felt her energy 'flex' itself as the metal surface tore itself apart under us.  She shredded the plating downwards almost a meter, disintegrating through the ablative layer in an instant as it became nothing more than a fine sand drifting off into space, blown away from the point where the mare stood.

Dash landed next to me at the same instant I touched down from my hop.  Scary!  Applejack gave a nod, and I looked back down to note the glowing energy protecting the inner bulkhead.  Aegis, personally created by Nirru.  Her close range comm hailed me, and I patched her through as I finished finding the object I had been looking for.

"It's too late!  You'll never get through the barrier before-" she started to gloat.

"-before ya smash yer ship thingy inta tha planet with tha FTL thingy, we know.  Shut yer pie hole, if all yer gonna do is listen ta yerself talk," Applejack cut her off, her giving a surprised look over the video feed, even as I withdrew Ventosus Lacuna.

The Keldarian frowned as she saw it, her mouth starting to open, undoubtedly to point out that it wouldn't listen to me, when I drew the blade directly into the hull.  It seared with energy, momentarily folding time and space around it as it 'melted' through the void and sliced the magic that was supporting it.  That was the issue with Aegis Barriers, apart from the other drawbacks.  Sure, they were energy expensive to maintain, dangerous to practice and use, and didn't let anything through, including air, but a fundamental flaw in their design meant that if you got someone batshit crazy enough to use an unbound one in an attack...  The Aegis Barrier folded along the unbound blade, and just became another extension of it as it sliced through her bulkhead like butter.  I made a sharp 'V' shaped cut, then kicked downwards, snapping the sparking metal down into the room below.  Sparks showered around it as I realized I had incidentally sliced through a ceiling light, but it hardly mattered, the three of us diving through the rapidly sealing hole.  Ah, nanite regenerative bulkheads.

Nirru surprisingly wasn't smiling, hitting a button on her console before standing up, then just leaning back against the wall, her arms crossed.  "Didn't expect to see you three face to face when I woke up today, but a lot of unexpected things happened, it would seem.  And here we are, at the end of everything, face to face again..." she muttered, a rare moment of clarity in her eyes by the looks of it.

My localized quantum network had already cracked into her operating system, and I saw the disconnected Slipstream system in countdown to full charge already.  It was physically removed now from the network, and I sighed.  "It seems that way, yeah.  Last resort ramming, hmm?" I replied, looking around the command area.  There weren't any further networks that I could make use of, the system already having disconnected from the engines of the ship.  Weapons were offline, looking to be battle damage rather than intentional sabotage.  Life support had failed, but there was enough auxiliary left over to live until it didn't matter anymore, and it wouldn't have stopped the ship anyway.

"Yup.  No other choice really.  No weapons left, no backup, and a mostly crippled ship.  I'll admit, damn can you rats fight when backed into a corner.  You've impressed me, and at least earned my respect," she admitted, then pushed off the wall, her hands igniting in flames.  My barriers slid over myself like armor, me focusing on dumping energy into them as I shifted into a sitting position.  I drew Ventosus Lacuna again, this time holding it level in front of me as Applejack and Rainbow Dash followed my cue, lowering into combat positions.  She snorted at that, then warned, "At this range, even if my traitorous sword won't listen to me, I can still suppress its abilities.  It won't activate for you anymore."

To be honest, I wasn't trained as a fighter.  My entire repertoire of moves and techniques were all geared towards avoiding or ending a fight before it really began.  At best, neutralization.  At worst, assassination.  In this case, I sure as hell wasn't going to try to take her alive.  Normally, I also prepared barriers to attack with in the form of orbs.  However, that was only a habit, and I was in no way, shape, or form limited to using them as such.

Reaching full charge, my 'armor' activated, not actually being armor at all.  The foreleg barriers expanded like two huge pistons towards Nirru.  Her eyes widened in the briefest fraction of an instant before the huge blocks of force crushed both of her shoulders into the wall behind her, turning bone to paste without effort.  My hoof barriers activated next, attached to the two points in her shoulders now and momentarily becoming a really huge slingshot, with the end point on the handle of the sword.  She was in the middle of starting to scream in raw agony from the pain from her shoulders, when I let go of her sword and it rubber-banded right at her.  The point went a little off course, missing her nose and instead going through her left eye, smashing through the back of her head with a wet crunch, and stabbing a good seven or eight centimeters into the metal bulkhead behind her.  She spasmed once, then went limp as she hung there, remaining eye still wide in shock as blood poured out the other gored hole and down her chest.

Both mares jumped to either side of me almost half a second too late, Dash letting out a surprised yelp.  I shook my head to the corpse after, then spoke up with, "Disabled or not, it's still a sword.  Good luck, wherever you end up..."

Applejack gave her a grim stare, then swallowed as she looked back at me instead.  "Guess ya really did have it covered.  Wow..." she muttered, looking to the cyan pegasus past me.  Dash had turned around quickly, fanning her face and looking a little more pale as she swallowed uneasily, but didn't say anything.

Sighing, I explained, "Something threatens everypony I know and love, and the planet I care for with everything I am, and I will stop it.  No matter what I have to do..."  The orange mare nodded slowly to that, then stood again and walked over to Rainbow instead.  I looked up at the slowly healing ceiling, then flicked my tentacles out in an instant, smashing it open again.  Her barrier was gone now, having dropped a few seconds after we breached the hull, undoubtedly at her whim to conserve her strength.  I looked back to Nirru one last time, her body now burning as her own magic went out of control on her arms.  The flames flickered, starting to die as the air was vented out of the cabin, and for a moment, I pitied her.  If I could go back in time, would it be possible to find the point where it had all gone wrong?  That question would take a far wiser pony than myself, and I dismissed it, quickly running out of time.

"How long until tha moon hits?" Applejack asked, stuck to the floor of the command center by her own magic as she held Rainbow, the pegasus suddenly weightless.  The gravity systems for the room failed, and I kicked off the floor and headed back into space following the ceiling and bits of hull.

The scans in my eyes picked up the new distance from the ship, then ran the velocity calculations as I drifted upwards.  "Looks to be... forty to forty-two seconds.  The FTL jump fires off in thirty one.  Gravity isn't going to be strong enough by then to intercept it.  We need to do something about the ship still..." I reported, starting to rotate to grapple back down to the hull.

Dash caught me instead first, jetting us back downwards as I relaxed.  "Blow tha engine?" Applejack suggested, looking over at the two of us as the cyan mare set us back down against the hull next to her.  

Swallowing, I warned, "It's got a charge already.  It'll explode..."

"Ain't that tha... oh.  We'd get caught in it, too..." she realized, halfway through asking as her ears lowered.  I nodded, and Rainbow frowned to my left, looking between us both.

"If...  If that's what it takes to save all of Equus, do we really have a choice?" she asked a second later.  I stood, then chuckled and shook my head. 

"You two do," I reminded, gesturing to their gemstones before looking back at the engine.  There was an alternative, but...

Applejack scowled at that, but I was busy running other calculations as I switched to looking at the front of the ship instead.  My own gem sat heavy on my chest, and the temptation was there.  Mine took over twice as long as theirs did and generated six times the energy output in order to teleport me, due to complications thanks to my excessive amount of folded subspace around me.

"There's got to be another way!" Dash exclaimed, looking towards the front of the ship with me.

Nodding, I started into a run before adding, "There is.  I open my own Slipstream effect in front of the ship as it's about to launch, and use my wake to turn the jump into the sun instead.  Launch the ship out into the raw Ether to be burned up."  Faster than destroying the engine, no damage to Luna's moon, and more chance of actual success.  The explosion still had a chance of just propelling a good chunk of the ship down to the planet instead.  Nowhere near as destructive, but it would still leave a rather big hole.

"Wait, you can do that...?" Dash asked, running along with me almost immediately.  Applejack hesitated, then frowned and took off after us.

Nodding as I ran, I explained, "Yeah, it's a tunnel that it opens.  Like the 'wake' of an object moving through the air, but in spatial movement instead.  That's how Slipstream tunnels wo-"

She cut me off with, "Like a bird moving through the air, leading a flock!"  I blinked slowly once, then nodded to her, sliding to a stop as she suddenly ground to a halt, widening her eyes.  Eh?!  "Like...  Like that sensation transferring dimensions?" she continued, looking back towards the front of the vessel.  

It felt like she was getting a plan, but I questioned the validity of whether it was actually being applicable.  She took off running again a moment later, far faster this time.  Applejack sprinted after her, and I had to activate my leg boosters to keep up.  She quickly explained, "Activate it on top of me like you did before!  I'm way better at maneuvering than you are."  What?!

"Rainbow, we won't have time to get off the ship!  It'll be going too fast and-" I started to protest.

"Horseapples!  Just trust me, Mender!  You have to trust me for this!" she shouted.  But...

Applejack bound forward, leaping a warped chunk of metal and landing back in my vision as we sprinted.  "Listen ta her!  Element o' loyalty, remember?  Ya have ta trust us, Mender," she called out.  Tch.  If they died pointlessly for this, I was haunting the hell out of their ghosts.

"Fine, activating Slipstream Icarus drive!" I shouted back, relenting as the energy flared up off my back.  My surprise spiked when Rainbow left the hull, wings flaring with energy again as she gritted her teeth.  Wait, no, we had to stay connected to the ship to...

Her wings expanded out to almost three times what was needed, but she slowed down instead, then looked back at me.  I heard her voice in my mind rather than out loud, her breathing already labored against her chest.  Jump.  Trust her, huh?  Applejack took two more full strides before bounding upwards, arching through the air while reaching towards Dash.  Swallowing, I pushed back the thousand nagging thoughts and leapt.

For a brief second, Rainbow flicked her wings sideways and slowed.  That was all it took, and I landed on her back in a fraction of an instant.  Applejack went under her instead, and she snatched the mare up with all four legs before her wings flared out again.  I draped my forelegs over her shoulders and held on as I tucked myself as close to her body as I could for ease of energy flow.

We were gone in an instant.  I timed it, then called out, "Seven seconds until the ship jumps!  We need to jump before it!"  Rainbow's eyes narrowed, the front of the ship looming in front of us and approaching fast.  

Determination flooded off her, and her form straightened out, profile going trim and sleek as she picked up even more speed.  Five seconds and we crossed over the nose of the ship.  Three seconds until jump, and we tucked into a spin off the nose of the vessel, her mentally screaming out, "Hit it!"

The Wings of Icarus opened up behind me, folding along Rainbow's as she spread them fully.  I synced them with her blast of raw magic, and reality folded away in front of us.  There was no hesitation, and she was through the distortion in the flick of an eye.  She turned hard, whipping us in the direction of the sun, everything distorting and twisting as I projected the movement vector into her eye display.  She followed it perfectly, ignoring the warped viewpoints all around us, and we were past the moon entirely a second later.  We sped up, and the moon became a spec in the next instant.  The ship lurched up, and was suddenly right behind us, burning along the tunnel we were paving for it.  I glanced back at it, and felt Rainbow tense as the very tip started to brush against her tail.  She screamed, and her wings flared out even more as we shot forward, the sun looming in front of us.

My speedometer hit just over 20c, way outside of relative space now.  At this speed, we'd hit the sun in less than twenty seconds.  Damn.  Her plan worked and redirected the ship but...  My hoof hit her chest gem, and nothing happened.  I hit it twice more, then growled, but shook my head.  "The emergency teleport gems aren't working!" I warned in a mental growl.  The magic must not function at superluminous speeds.  That's just... great.

"I'm gonna turn out of the way!" she called out mentally.  Uh, w-what?!  But if she turned, it would follow us!

"Dash, you're paving a path for-" I started to warn.  She cut me off with a low growl an instant later.

"No, just trust me!" she reminded, pushing faster and faster.  Ah!  The sun expanded in front of us, impossibly large now as the tunnel started to wobble and shake.  The ship behind us twisted and shook as it ground along after us.  Rainbow's Ether Furnace was the only thing holding our FTL tunnel open at this point, which meant she was 'naturally' moving at twenty times the speed of light, under her own power, technically.  If we lived, I'd have to mention that to her and really stroke her ego.  She deserved it after this one, though!

The tunnel was starting to come apart under the intensity of the Ether flowing against us.  And then Rainbow turned...  My eyes widened drastically as she twisted sideways, and then we spun.  Her wings folded over us, blurring and distorting, and with a scream of what sounded like pure rage, she smashed straight into the side of the tunnel we were just making!

Everything tumbled forward as the wall distorted and warped around her hooves.  Her wings folded, remarkably like the Wings of Icarus, and the ship shot up in an instant.  Everything ground to a halt as my breath caught.  Her hoof touched the nose of the ship and she pushed off, kicking sideways as we flipped backwards.  Thousands and thousands of tons of metal passed barely a centimeter in front of my muzzle, and my eyes widened as I watched the engine of the ship disappearing into the sun a heartbeat later as she came out of her tight back flip.  We shot sideways out of the tunnel... in a totally new tunnel instead.

Her wings warped through space itself as she manually made a new Slipstream tunnel after punching sideways out of our last one.  But...  But how?!  She didn't seem to care as space seemed to fall away from us, flames and energy lashing out behind as we were driven forward down her new tunnel, it rapidly collapsing inwards behind us.  The huge ship hadn't made it to the sun hole.  The raw Ether output had torn it apart before it could reach, and it had exploded... inside the Slipstream tunnel while ours was still connected to it!

She went faster and faster, teeth gritting as her wings became massive pillars of energy cascading out behind us.  I looked away from the wall of flames giving chase, instead reaching down and grabbing on to Applejack who was still hanging on to the cyan mare's stomach for dear life.  All three of us yelped as the tunnel fell away less than ten seconds later and dumped us out into space, a huge blast of flame exiting behind us as Dash burst to the side instead.

My eyes widened as I watched the burning, gaping maw of a dimensional tear slowly close.  Wait, that was a dimensional shift...  Sitting up on her, a shot of ice rushed through my blood as I saw Keela's ship looming next to us.  Oh...  Oh shit.  We were in the other dimension and our only link just went up in flames...  Keela gave me a surprised stare as she patched through to my comm, obviously already realizing the same thing.






Epilogue


My hooves made light clanking noises against the steel floors of the long corridor.  My eyes closed, I simply listened to my hoofsteps on the metal and the gentle hum of the air units along the walls.  The metallic clang would echo out with each press, the entire hallway feeling empty.  Add the light chill to the air that electronics kept best at, and it was a rather clinical sensation.  The atmosphere was more geared for our equipment to survive than us.  That wasn't very 'pony', I didn't think.  Of course, I wasn't very 'pony' either.

My eyes opened, scans sweeping ahead from them in spiraling, mechanical precision.  The door slid open in front of me with enough time for me to not have to interrupt my walking speed, and I stepped out into a massive room.  Hundreds of holographic displays lined the walls as it expanded forwards into a partial cone shape, shrinking slightly in width as it neared the nose of our vessel.  Keela's right ear slowly rotated to point in my direction, and I saw a slight smile play at the corner of her lips on this side.

"Welcome to the bridge, Captain," she greeted, turning to look at me with a full smile.  Her face showed off her youth, not having aged a single day since we'd met.  The mechanical rotation I saw in her pupil for a moment revealed the reason why before my full sensor readings of her body even needed to remind me.

"Psh, you know it's Mender to you," I reminded, hopping up and standing on the raised command platform next to the rail she leaned against.  She gave a gentle giggle, but a more amused scoff sounded further ahead of me.

Dash rotated around in her seat, wry smile on her expression before chastising with, "Flirting while on duty!  What a terrible example you set for the crew!"  Her voice was lighthearted, and I knew better than to take that seriously.

With a snort, Applejack shook her head, then chuckled in the seat next to hers.  Both were elevated from the main floor and literally right in front of me, normally positioning them back to back as they worked.  They liked it that way, of course, and they got their way being our main gunner and pilot.  "Ya only know ta say that 'cause he's had ta tell us tha same tease so often..." she chirped a second later, winking back over her right shoulder at her lover.

The cyan mare huffed at that, glaring back at her long time friend, and I chuckled watching the two of them.  It warmed me up from the perpetual chilled air, it seemed.  Keela gave me a softer, knowing smile, then nodded to me as she relaxed again.  She knew most of all.  This had been a long journey indeed.

"What's the status of the fifth colony?" I asked her, more gently as I glanced back towards the Keldarian.  Her smile flicked back to a brighter one, and she nodded to me before replying.

"Significantly better than the second, if that's what you're worried about.  Our new habitat technology is taking well, and we've managed to colonize four bubbles now, with minimal changes to the outside planet, as you requested.  Four hundred Keldarians and growing..." she revealed.  I exhaled, then nodded.  They got their second chance, given all of the genetic data I'd saved.  Rescuing survivors and providing raw genetic data let them spread and grow yet again.  Yeah, survivors.  Heh.

The Keldarians got their second chance at the cost of the last chance for the Grosh.  My eyes felt heavy as I looked back up at the scanners, then asked, "How are our friends?"

Her smile twisted up lightly at the corner of her mouth.  She knew what it was like to hate, too.  It was an ugly sensation, but this was an ugly place and we needed it to survive.  It made her love a bit more raw and feral, but that was okay, too.  "Terrified and in pure defense, just the way you like them.  Are we set, then...?" she asked, a bit of excitement building in her eyes.  Our real friends had changed everything.  Three Grosh turned traitor, and that was all it had taken.  They'd given us everything out of pure penance for the atrocity that was their race.  We suddenly knew everything about them and their technology.  I'd capitalized on that for everything it was worth, of course.  Blending our technology together, ours had advanced a thousand years or more.  Maybe this is what they'd been afraid of the entire time?

Fear.  Deep down, they were small little rabbits in a very large universe.  A big and scary universe that had treated them like shit in their formative years.  I guess if your environment is filled with hatred and death, in order to survive, you transcend.  Now, karma turned out to be a harsh mistress, and we were her bloody sword.  I nodded to the Keldarian finally.

"Yes, we're in position.  RES Celestia and Luna, you're on flanking duties as usual.  RES Cadance, stay back with fire support and communications.  We'll take up point in the RES Twilight.  Is munitions ready, Tym?" I asked, glancing to my right viewport.  He nodded to me, surrounded by monitors and status displays, most of them with various targeting lock systems.  His demeanor shifted serious for a moment as he looked over the master display, then he smirked and it faded just as fast.

"Locked on and ready to rip them a new asshole.  Communications go first, of course, then engine weak points.  No escapes or survivors..." he assured, nodding in my direction again.  We'd done this... a lot.  We sent a message to each system one week ahead of time.  A warning, listing their crimes as a race and our intent to attack.  The first three times we did this, they reinforced.  The first time their effort was minimal and they laughed it off.  We took them apart.  There was no call for help, no sound of battle, and no wounded survivors limping home.  Their colony went dark, fading into the black abyss of space like so many stars.  We destroy communication first, cripple their ships, and then systematically destroy weak spots and defenses.  Hit and run tactics out of subspace maneuvers we'd only dreamed of prior.  We were 'ghosts' that they didn't even detect until they were already amidst the destruction.  Azure's Ghosts is what they called the fleet.  Our fleet.  Personally, I thought it was the paint job, but it was rather poignant.

We were four capital ships strong, beyond bleeding edge technology.  Hundreds of support ships backed us up, traveling along our 'wake' and taking advantage of our ability to ghost in and out of subspace.  It left only a fraction of a second attack window open for both us and them.  The difference is that we had our alpha strikes ready and targets locked, and they didn't even know we were there.  Then they died.

The only thing we ever left behind was our original message and the utterly hollow husks of their civilizations, with everything burnt to a charred dust as it drifted through space.  No messages out.  No survivors.  They just faded away and we were gone by the time they investigated.

Their second and third warnings, they sent the whole fleet.  With our tactics, overwhelming maneuverability and firepower superiority, and an immense knowledge of their own tactics, we won.  They didn't get any outward communication of us even arriving apart from sudden radio silence.  They only repeated this once, however.

Now, we were the boogeyman.  Our messages arriving was a sign for full scale evacuation.  We picked strategic targets, removing power bases and separating their escape paths one by one.  It was a long war, and we'd fought it for a very long time.  This was our two hundred and sixteenth year since becoming trapped in this dimension.  That meant it was another eighty-four years at least before Equus lined back up with us.  We had the technology to make the jump right now if we could.  I even had their coordinates.  So if we were stuck here, we might as well make a difference in the meantime.

"Forces?" I asked, staring at the screen of our scans in front of me.

Litta shook her head from the second row down.  "One siege fleet and one defensive fleet.  They're not even going to have time to scream..." she revealed.

Shaking my head, I ordered, "No chance at all.  No mercy.  Communications with overwhelming firepower, then weak points.  Cripple then destroy them outright.  No escapes..."  She sighed at that, but nodded, repeating my words to the other ships.  I wasn't going to ever take a chance.  These creatures were going to systematically be wiped out or 'converted', one way or another.

Applejack sighed, and I saw it coming.  Again.  "Mender, we've been doin' this fer ah long time.  Are ya sure ya really want ta-" she started to ask.

I let my nostrils flare for a moment, that chill coming over me again before nodding.  "Yup.  They had their chance to surrender or run.  Now they face justice and get erased," I cut off, staring at her intently.  Justice, revenge, war crimes...  Whatever you wanted to call it at this point.  She looked away, and I knew she'd given up.  She lacked the conviction of trying to be my moral compass these days.  Even if my own actions damned me in the long run, someone had to do this.  The universe wasn't going to give out any freebies at this point, and if someone didn't step up and do something unsavory, we'd all be wiped out by these monsters.  When it came down to hospital ships or residential areas, I made sure to do the shooting myself, of course.

Tym smirked again.  He'd been with me the whole time.  He agreed with every word I'd said, of course, and had seen exactly what these creatures were with his own eyes.  "If we're done with the traditional pussy-footing around morality up there, we have some monsters to destroy before the day's out.  We ready, Mender?" he asked, shifting his full attention to only me finally.

"Of course.  Fangs out, and move in for the kill," I ordered, gesturing my hoof downwards towards the lock-on displays in the main screen.  We shuddered all at once as the ship lurched forward.  The orange mare sighed and turned away fully, her blue lover giving her an assuring smile.  They'd talk to me later tonight, of course, when the four of us were alone.  I...  They were my lovers, too, of course.  They were all I had left apart from Keela, and it had been... a very long time.

For a brief moment, the shimmering yellow mare smiled in my memories, hazy now as all I'd felt of her were pictures over the hundreds of years.  Lavender danced amidst, and I smiled, fighting back that spike of pain inside.  It had been so very long since I'd seen them.  The machines in my blood made me immortal, just like Applejack and Rainbow.  They regenerated my biological structure, refreshing my DNA and cells with each cycle.  That meant the others would be immortal, too.  At least I knew that Twilight and Fluttershy would be waiting when I got back.  If we got back.

At this point, I'd promised myself to get the two of them home.  The three of us included Keela now, and she'd made her own promises.  She sought to follow me wherever I go, and got a blood transfer from me to facilitate just that.  Then they all promised to follow me, including Tym.  Although I suspected he didn't age anyway, with or without nanite assistance.

We'd fought relentlessly for this.  The monsters had been beat back mercilessly again and again.  We'd severed them, cut them off, starved them, and utterly defeated them for two hundred years.  Now they had six systems left.  They had started with over three thousand.  By the time we saw Equus again, they would be gone.

I went cold again as our engines hummed, and we flickered out of existence once more...


* * * * *


We were making a difference.  We had found Keldarian survivors and aided them.  With the DNA I had, they had started to pick up the pieces of their race.  Of course, there was a price.  Getting the DNA from me brought my energy with it, and permanently changed them.  It corroded the blockages and energy buildup in their magic system.  It healed their DNA, and slowly brought them peace.  They were returning, day by day, back to the people they used to be before.  Happy again, and peaceful.  Gentle.  Males were treated with respect and equality again, despite being more numerous.  That was a price the council had been unwilling to pay, seeing my energy as corrupting and evil, ironically.

Our victories carried through and bolstered hope and morale, of course.  But it was the technology to survive and thrive that helped them grow.  We had multiple colonies now, thousands strong, and they were well on their way to a stable DNA base without needing my input.  Almost.  They easily would be by the time Equus matched up with us again.  And the differences we were making for life here was what kept them going.  Applejack and Rainbow saw we were helping, and thus, they allowed me to keep going, too.  Allowed it, but definitely didn't like it one bit.

"Yer losin' yerself, Mender.  Ya need ta stop this.  They're almost gone now, and ya know them other aliens could finish 'em off," Applejack murmured gently, resting next to me in bed with her nose against mine.

Slowly, I sighed, then shook my head towards her.  "You know you'd never leave a job to somepony else, unfinished.  It's too risky.  We have to make sure that no other race has to deal with these monsters..." I reminded.  Her eyes softened a little, and she nuzzled me again.  For a moment, we just listened to the sounds of teeth being brushed, and an idle, quiet conversation from the bathroom between the other two.  Probably talking about our victory today...

"If... that's really why ya do it, then okay.  We can see this through ta tha end... but is it really why yer doin' this?" she asked, almost a whisper as her eyes met mine again.  I swallowed, then sighed, but all she did was lean in and give me a softer kiss.  I returned it, feeling that ice in my chest lessen just a little, and she smiled, breaking away again.

"Ah know.  Ya miss 'em.  Ah do, too.  Just... don't lose yerself before we can see 'em again..." she continued gently.  She'd lost far more than I.  I'd see Fluttershy and Twilight again.  But by the time we got back, her sister, brother, and grandma...  They were already gone.  Guaranteed.  We might get to see their foals if they had any, but...

Softly, I massaged her chest, and she smiled at my touch.  The mattress got weighed down slightly, and a cyan mare flopped onto us an instant later, grinning.  "Getting started without me, huh?!" she asked, shooting me a wink as I felt my face flush.  Two hundred years and she could still make me turn red.  Ugh.

"Heh, talkin', Dashie.  But Ah think ya knew that..." Applejack shot back, earning a giggle from the other mare.  I smiled 'up' at her, then turned and looked in time to see Keela exit the bathroom, entirely nude.  It was a rather welcome sight, and she winked to me before sliding in behind me, shorter muzzle nuzzling into the back of my neck.  No matter what we faced, we stuck together, and that...  That was the important part.


* * * * *


"No.  This just...  I can't do this.  This isn't right.  Not yet.  Not just for him anymore..."
> Forgiveness Pending - Ending 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I looked up at the slowly repairing ceiling, and then flicked my tentacles out in an instant, smashing it open again.  Her barrier was gone now, having dropped a few seconds after we breached the hull, undoubtedly at her whim to conserve her strength.  I looked back to Nirru one last time, her body now burning as her own magic went out of control on her arms.  The flames flickered, starting to die as the air was vented out of the cabin, and for a moment, I pitied her.  If I could go back in time, would it be possible to find the point where it had all gone wrong?  That question would take a far wiser pony than myself, and I dismissed it, quickly running out of time.

"How long until tha moon hits?" Applejack asked, stuck to the floor of the command center by her own magic as she held Rainbow, the pegasus suddenly weightless.  The gravity systems for the room failed, and I kicked off the floor and headed back into space following the ceiling and bits of hull.

Everything seemed to slow down, and I frowned as I rotated upside down, touching back onto the bits of ceiling drifting upwards.  A glance to my left showed Prudentia glowing a fiery blue color on my side, the rest of the color draining out of the world, even as Applejack and Rainbow Dash followed me.  This time, their colors stayed, too, however, them not noticing, or be affected by the sudden grinding halt of temporal movement.  At least until they got out here with me and spotted the debris stuck in time.

"Eh?  W-Wait, what's goin' on...?" Applejack asked, noting the ceiling not budge when they hit it, then further discovering the bits of hull frozen in time around us.

Nodding, I released Prudentia, letting it float off my side as Purdue slowly manifested on the front of the book, the main gem glowing with energy and projecting her image above it.  I explained after, "This is her doing.  She's halted time just for the three of us.  What's going on, Purdue?"

The little filly's soft blue ears lowered, and she momentarily looked uncertain before swallowing intensely.  "B-Bro... n-no, Mender...  I...  I need to talk to you.  Bad!  I have to warn you!" she suddenly exclaimed out of nowhere.  Eh?  Her timing indicated that this was probably vital.

"Warn?  About what?" Rainbow asked, flipping and landing gently next to me, still holding Applejack and helping her latch onto the ceiling.  Now we were all 'upside down' compared to the command center above us, but perspective was funny like that.

The filly gave a little whine before fidgeting and adding, "I'm almost out of energy.  I've... stressed my personal energy through this entire battle repeatedly, but I c-can never make it last long enough!  I...  I don't know what to do, Mender!  I...  I can't save you and I'm out of options!"  Eh?!  My mind was already trying to process what she was saying, but it was reaching blanks.  What did she mean, 'can never'?

Frowning, I corrected, "It's still Brother, Little Sis.  And save me from what?"  I tried to keep my voice level and calm for her.  She flinched regardless, shifting back and forth on her hooves.

It took her a few seconds, but she looked back up at me, tears in her amber eyes.  "This.  No matter what I do, I can't save you.  I've tried over and over and over again.  You get the idea to redirect the shuttle after this with your own Slipstream effect, but to escape dying, you have to dimension warp.  You get stuck in the other dimension with Keela!  All three of you!" she suddenly said outright.  Well, there went that calm bit... as that was the plan I had indeed started to form.  I knew Purdue had that 'probability profiling' ability, but that was crazy!

My eyes widened, both mares next to me following almost instantly.  "W-What?!  How did you know that.... wait..." I started to mutter before my brain skipped a few gears again.  Trying.... to save me?  Over and over again...?  She could stop time, at least from the perspective of an individual, which was self evident in this situation.  But...

She winced, as if expecting to be slapped for a moment, but when nothing came, she instead broke into tears.  "I lied!  I've been lying to you over and over again!  Telling y-you never helps!  You just sacrifice yourself instead and try to let me free of the Geas...  I don't want to be free!  I've repeated this same month and a half over and over and over again, trying to find a way to come out without losing anything..." Purdue revealed instead.  Oh.  Shit. 

"Uh... what?" Applejack asked, giving her a bewildered stare before looking over at me.  I couldn't process it fully, however, and fought my own mind to pull it all back together.

It all snapped into place a moment later.  "Your powers...  Are literally everything to do with a book, aren't they?  That includes flipping back to the beginning and starting to read it again... doesn't it?" I asked quietly.  She swallowed, then slowly nodded to me instead, looking down and away.  She had been...  But that meant...

My eyes widened a little, and I continued with, "Oh...  Your power...  Does that include 'writing' in the book, too?"  Her wince told me yes before her mouth needed to.

"Y-Yeah.  It costs me a lot of energy, but I can 'write' tiny things into the book, changing things each time I start over.  I've... been doing this for a long time, trying to find the right combination of things that will save you.  This is as far as I can get, though.  There's just... no energy left to change anything else, and...  I don't know what to do," she finished explaining, slumping against the gem on the front of the book.  Then... why tell me directly?  Why now, of all times?

Both mares with me looked more than a little stunned, Rainbow looking between Purdue and myself before finally settling her gaze on the small filly.  "So you're...  Well, you're a time traveler?  You're a time traveler from Mender's dimension who's linked to him in the form of a strange spirit bound to a book that's been trying to save him from... whatever this is that's going to happen...?  This is... what?!" she asked, freaking out halfway through and flailing her forelegs to either side of her.  I raised an eyebrow at the pegasus, but Applejack actually chuckled and rubbed her hoof along Rainbow's muzzle, calming the mare.

"It's... surprisin', but if that's what she says she is, that's what she is.  She ain't lyin'.  So, maybe we can put our noggins together an' come up with somethin'?  What exactly is tha problem, Sugar?" she asked instead, accepting it all rather easily.

It took me a moment, but I pieced all of it back together again.  "I...  It doesn't matter, no.  Nothing's changed in how I consider you, Little Sis.  You say the plan works, but in order to avoid getting caught on the ship as it goes into the sun, we have to do a dimensional transfer... which gets us stuck on the other side?" I summarized.  Considering everything at once made my head spin, so I just focused on the current problem instead.

Purdue looked stunned for a moment, but then nodded, looking to her left.  The book projected an image next to her in the same moment, and my eyes widened.  There we were, a brilliant miasma of energy washed around us in thick torrents, Dash gritting her teeth as her wings turned into flares behind her.  They were two long ribbons of prismatic light dancing off into the dark of space behind us, splashing along the sides of the massive vessel following us.  My mind tingled as I watched, and suddenly I started to remember alongside the image.  That...  It happened.  That really happened!

I was riding on Rainbow's back, and she was carrying Applejack in her legs.  I looked over to the two of them and saw the same look of realization starting to show across their expressions.  Slowly, Dash's jaw lowered, and she exclaimed, "I remember this!  This is...  I did this!  Oh my gosh, this is so awesome!"  Uh, dramatically missing the point, but yes, she did!

Turning, I looked back at the image, remembering three or four different ways suddenly that it could have gone.  Frowning, the image felt strange, and I reached forward with my left forehoof and touched it softly.  Branches.  Every decision made a branch as to how it could have gone.  Not just our choices, but how our choices made other choices, and even the inanimate objects we affected.

Applejack frowned, watching me as the image started to split and schism.  It slowly became a great tree of images, each one varying just a little as it branched out and out.  She hesitated, then asked, "Mender, what are ya doin'?"

Purdue just watched, eyes softening a little as I spread the image out into three-dozen others.  "I've...  I've done this before," I muttered, surprised at my own memories.  They weren't coming 'back', but were instead appending to the memories I already had.  They were there, but I distinctly understood that they were also from alternative timelines.  Did that mean that, somehow, I was able to 'remember' all of these branches?  Is that how this worked?

The little translucent filly shook her head slowly, explaining, "Those are my memories.  I've done it... for a very long time.  I get the branches of you, master of the book, and anyone you interact with in your 'story'."  Oh, that meant...

She nodded, and suddenly time seemed to stretch backwards.  It was no longer an image just being projected to her left, but all around us in thousands of branches.  It curled backwards, some branches joining with others and some spiraling away and into the distance.  No, not away.  We were going backwards, so that was when they joined, not separated.

Images all over, of not just my own memories, but...  Rushing through an ancient castle with the others.  Constructing a barn.  Harvesting apples from the entire orchard.  Winning so many races.  Flying around in a giant tornado.  Helping move massive thunderclouds over the town.  It showed all of our memories, not just my own.

Spiraling backwards, it went further and further, but...  I went the other direction, following the fourth spiraling thread connected to our group.  It struck me almost instantly, and I just had to know.  There were literally millions of branches.  I could see every adjustment she'd made.  Over and over, she'd repeated everything.  I wanted to tell her to stop, to rest and stop doing this to herself.  I followed that thread instead.

"M-Mender, stop, what are you...?" Purdue started to ask.  I had to know.  It was important!  Something about how all of this mess actually began was important.  It was too late to stop me, and I hauled all four of us down the thread and into a completely foreign set of memories...


* * * * *


Dancing.  Her first memory was dancing.  She looked so happy as she laughed and spun, arms extended.  It was the sensation of the air on her fur, the weight of her arms pulling at her body, and even her own balance as she moved that attracted her.  She'd never seen anything her entire life, after all, cloudy gray pupils looking empty and distant, yet she actually saw forever.

She'd been born a mutation.  A genetically deformed child.  They were getting more and more frequent, and it was always a 'tragedy' when it happened to a female kitten.  She'd been born not only a runt, but blind as well.  If she were a male, she wouldn't have lasted the night, but because females were important even without sight and strength of body, she was kept alive and simply slotted for breeding instead.  Of course, that didn't mean her childhood was much different...

The memories flickered like a candle in the wind.  So long ago.  Something else, too.  It didn't exist.  Somehow, it felt like the memories didn't exist.  Not that they weren't real, but that they were no longer real, somehow.

He'd found her.  He was a veteran soldier by then, and held a good chunk of rank.  He was up for review for both the special forces, and slotted for work as a training instructor.  Alongside his magical aptitude and generally acknowledged cleverness, he held quite a lot of prestige.  A male such as him was 'allowed' to enter themselves into the breeding programs.  Encouraged even.  Genetics were valuable, it would seem.  It could have been blind luck, or maybe it was some sort of skill or training on his part.  Maybe you could even call it 'providence'.  But he found her less than two years before she was slotted to begin the breeding program.  She was nine at the time, a rather sickly child who seemed naturally scared of everything.  He saw past that, however, and realized it was more than fear.

She giggled then, sitting down next to me as the events flickered around us, through both vision and memory.  Applejack looked horrified by the thoughts and images, but Rainbow purely focused on the small Keldarian in front of us.  Purdue smiled, however, and explained, "I was completely blind, but they didn't understand.  My mutation was a burden, but also a boon.  My dead eyes saw past reality to the temporal streams beyond.  It started just a few seconds displaced in any direction.  That's forward or back in time, that is.  Or maybe it was up and down.  It doesn't matter..."

The small kitten was curled up on her bed, uniform on and wet moisture dampening the fur of her cheeks.  She was waiting for the male who'd 'ordered' her to come pick her up.  Males of status were allowed to select personal breeders, after all, and despite being too young, she was volunteered.  Largely because they saw her as broken and useless anyway.

She wasn't expecting him to smile at her.  Or to sit next to her bed for over an hour just talking with her.  She didn't expect her first meal to be actual food, and for him to have a room prepared for her.  He even had education books ready, and while he was a very busy male, he spent a surprising amount of time with her.

Purdue sighed at that, lowering her head and ears as she rested her cheek against my leg.  "He started off a lot like you are, Mender.  My big brother.  He told me that he saw me for what I was, a little girl who wasn't broken and damaged like they thought, who needed to be rescued.  Ordering me as a breeder was just his excuse to get me out of there..." she explained, closing her eyes again.  Pulling her over, I felt her relax in my forelegs, a smile playing back at her muzzle.

The memories jumped and spun, fluttering like a hundred moths around a flame.  Hard to track and follow just one.  We fell out of focus, a memory of learning here, reading together on a garden moon there, learning how to properly dance even.  The little kitten was happy, and she'd found her big brother to protect her.  That perverse sense of wrongness still invaded the memories.  Like they didn't exist, but did at the same time.  Another thing I noticed was that there were no branches here.  Just one long line.

Three years.  I, no, she, remembered it as the third anniversary of the day he'd picked her up.  Her big brother, who'd proven time and time again to love and care for her.  She even helped him celebrate when he found another female who liked spending time with him.  Things were tense, though, and going badly with the war effort against the Grosh, which was putting a lot of stress on him.

Purdue nodded along, watching the older looking female Keldarian waiting patiently in a modern apartment hallway, staring at the door curiously yet with empty eyes, seeing through it.  She'd been taught to 'look' at things she was addressing or examining, if only to keep up the appearance of being active and aware.  One of the many things he taught her, of course.

"He met Keela after he saved her from one of the world's under siege.  She was a shy girl, who was always second most important to her sister.  She fell for the dashing rogue who'd saved her life in the middle of live combat, and started meeting him in secret.  She hadn't been ready to tell her sister yet about her relationship, but she was nice to me, and treated me like a little sister when she watched over me.  Even started teaching me magic and how to use my powers, seeing as she was a clairvoyance specialist," she explained.  A lot of that I'd already known from Keela, but...

The little kitten girl sighed, resting with her back to the wall now as she sat on the floor.  It had been hours since he'd left, and still, he wasn't back.  His dates with Keela usually only ran a few hours, but it had been six now.  Keela came in instead, looking a mess and in a panic.  There'd been a misunderstanding.

This much I knew, too.  They'd been caught together, Nirru jumped to conclusions, and he'd been arrested.  Keela went to her mentor, Kyliona, for help, but it took time.  And in the meantime, he was busy being tortured.  It didn't do his sanity any favors...  We watched the blur, and after sighing, Purdue narrated with, "She took me to the lab for a few days.  It took two and a half days for Kyliona to clear him with the council and essentially draft him into her service.  He was in rough shape by then, and blamed Keela for not standing up to her sister, breaking off their relationship.  It was... bad.  He didn't even talk to me, and he usually told me about everything..."

Images of her being pulled through a blurred and stormy street, barely avoiding people as he hauled her along.  He was frustrated and angry, and probably more than a little crazy at that point.  He had been forced to aid Kyliona in her project as part of the excuse for freeing him.  They'd replaced the missing body parts with cybernetics, but couldn't do much for his mind.  I knew now that his DNA had gone into me to stabilize my missing bits resulting from the three hundred years of cryostasis and being removed from my mother exceptionally early.  As a result, I had his memories and training, intentionally given, from what I understood.  They were originally using me as a scout, and didn't know what they'd be sending me into, after all.  None of them predicted that it would also transfer Purdue's magical Geas to me as well, after he died...

"Raaaah!  That's it!" he screamed out, violently kicking his dresser and smashing the front of its drawers open.  Purdue sat on the bed, large ears lowered as she kept herself shrunk down, despite him only taking his anger out on inanimate objects.

"B-Brother, calm down.  I know a lot happened to you, but let me help you!  I'll do anything to help you, you know that!" the young kitten pleaded in a low whine.

He slowed, breathing hard as he sunk to his knees and leaned against the bed.  Purdue slid over to where he rested, putting a paw on his arm, which caused him to start shivering.  This wasn't how I anticipated it at all.  He was... crying?  I frowned, but filly Purdue shook her head.  "He was a completely different person originally.  Driven, and wanting to make a difference.  He only became the individual you knew after having decided that difference was worth any cost.  That's when he decided that only he could adequately 'judge' individuals for their 'sins', at least as he put it..." she explained, closing her eyes and sagging against my forelegs.  I held her closer, watching her other self trying to comfort the crying Keldarian.

Slowly, he looked up at her and shook his head.  "It's too late, Purdue.  They're all dead...  That... monster...  She killed my entire team right in front of me.  Even if I was set free, I'm stripped of my ranks and titles, and we're probably mere days away from losing this war..." he whispered, shuddering again.  His eyes let streams of tears down his cheeks, but within, I saw an even deeper pain stirring.  That level of darkness gave way to madness fairly fast, I knew...  It was a pity he couldn't see his own eyes.

"I'm still here, Big Brother," Purdue tried to whisper, leaning in and nuzzling him gently.  He relaxed a little, giving her a shaky smile before closing his eyes again.

"You are...  If only your powers were stronger.  We might be able to save the Keldarians...  But we're almost entirely out of time..." he muttered.  His hand clenched, his claws digging into his blanket as he gave a half-hysterical snarl of frustration.

Purdue persisted, giving soft and gentle nuzzles the whole time, until he relaxed again.  Slowly, his ears perked up, and he suddenly widened his eyes.  "Wait... no...  There's...  It's a long shot, but there is one more hope.  Only one.  But if we're all going to die anyway..." he muttered, shakily looking up at her again.  They stared at each other for a surprisingly intense dozen seconds or so, his eyes searching hers as she slowly tilted her head.  Instead, he asked, "You said you'd do anything, right?  And you trust me?"  Oh hell...

She momentarily looked confused, but nodded a second later, smiling again.  "Of course, Big Brother.  I trust you with my life..." she assured.  A knot formed in my throat, and I felt the little filly start to shake against me.  No, these were memories.  It was all over already, right?  The real her wasn't what we were watching, but the one snuggling against my legs.

I held her tighter, only now starting to grasp just how desperately she needed a hug.  The Keldarian in the image nodded, and then stood rapidly.  "This is our last chance, then.  We can still save them all, but we literally need more time.  Of course, it's all just pure theory, but we don't really have a choice, or the time to run comprehensive tests.  Stay here.  I'll be right back..." he instructed.  Purdue nodded, still looking a little confused, but he took off out of the room rapidly, leaving her resting on the bed instead.

Time stepped forward again, and a sense of dread hit me.  For reasons not entirely known to me, I pulled Purdue closer and rotated her around so her face was pressed into my chest.  She shivered, and I felt the barest hint of a smile.  "I don't need to see it to know what happened.  I lived it..." she reminded, although there was a hinting of affection in her voice.

Snorting lightly, I assured her, "Real big brothers don't listen to logic like that.  They just guard you anyway..."  There was a surprising emphasis on 'real' that I used, but she smiled fully anyway, pushing her muzzle in a bit closer to my chest and letting it brush over my fur.

Applejack smirked at my statement and nodded in agreement, then slid over closer and pressed into my side.  Her face buried into my shoulder, she helped me snuggle Purdue, then muttered, "Big Mac ain't 'ere, so ya can guard me, too.  Ah don't have no desire ta see this either..."

Chuckling, I looked over to Dash, too, and then lifted an eyebrow as she stayed staring at the images, ears flicking lightly.  She flinched as I turned towards her, and I knew she knew I was watching.  "Nope.  Not gonna make you watch this alone, Mender..." she suddenly defended, crossing her forelegs over her chest and giving a stubborn huff after.

She'd probably been anticipating me to talk her out of it.  She wasn't expecting me to just grab her right shoulder and spin her around, pulling her against me, too, instead.  She gave a squeak, but I cut her off with, "Good, because I don't want to watch it either.  Plus, we have a little filly here who's in desperate need of snuggles."  My head lowered, too, resting on top of both of theirs, and then none of us were watching.  Not that I needed to.  I'd touched the stream, and that told me exactly what had happened.  I 'felt' it in my memories.

She trusted him absolutely, and he took that and used it to betray her just as completely.  There was that sense of surprise at being grabbed, but it was fine, of course.  It was her big brother.  Muscles relaxed, and she smiled up at him, even as he rested her down on the bed again.  Blind eyes sought out his essence, but she'd never been able to read him properly.  He always held everything inside as much as possible.  But for just that instant, she was surprised to feel a single thing sliding out of his mind.  An apology.

It was too late to ask him, however.  The biting sting slid into her chest, white hot and tearing.  She screamed silently, but no sound came out as her strength failed her completely.  The heavy blade parted through her tissue, smashing deep into the very beating sensation at her center, then cut away.  The pain became blinding, white hot dissolving into numb cold instead as all feeling fell away.  Weak thrashing turned into spasms, liquid heat rushing out of her center and leaving her cold and empty inside.  He tore the pulsing free of her chest completely, letting the hot fluid splatter over her as he pulled it free of her body.  She was left alone, laying there in the cold darkness as it sank around her.

He wanted more, however.  Her heart was just the catalyst, of course.  Out of that cold, freezing abyss, he reached out of nowhere and drove a thousand fish hooks right into her essence itself.  The link between them turned absolute, and the Geas tore into her soul, even as he completed the ritual with her lifeblood against the Aegis Barrier.  Then it was activated...

I held Purdue close, even as she shivered and cried.  The other Purdue did the same, but without anyone there to hug her.  Instead, she was bound into the barrier itself, which was sealed inside the book in a massive explosion of energy.  An Aegis Artifact was born, her life unbound to fuel its energy and creation.  The power of the essence, or a 'soul' was used, unshackled by a corporeal form and left to grow upon itself without limit.  Hers was unique, however.  It was the first Artifact created where the caster didn't sacrifice themself to make it.  The trick was in the Geas spell itself...

All three of us snuggled Purdue, blocking out the visions entirely.  It was a long moment, and minutes passed in silence, the memories having bled off to blissful nothingness instead.  I just let her rest, no questions asked, and we formed a furry cocoon around her of warm bodies.  She shivered again, snuggling into my chest even as the two mares pushed closer.

Applejack felt utmost concern for the filly we held, but Rainbow's thoughts stayed focused entirely on the sensation of my foreleg over her, an uncomfortable feeling shifting through her from our link. She, nor Applejack, had felt any of Purdue’s memories about getting sacrificed, I knew. Left to her own devices, she'd instead been thinking about the other timeline.  Purdue had shown us what would happen if we’d gotten trapped in the other dimension.  All of our memories, at least of that particular thread of time, had returned fully. I knew all about the Grosh, the technology that we'd recovered from them and where I'd advanced with it, and what I'd fallen into in order to annihilate them from the universe. 

At the same time, I also felt the connection to Keela and the two mares magnify dozens of times. They'd both been my lovers for hundreds of years, and it was rather hard to ignore that sensation. Things were... getting complicated now. No, we needed to focus on the present.  Things could be dealt with in time after.  There was only one more piece missing, then.  "We're almost there.  What did he do, Purdue?  I think that's the important part..." I muttered, working off gut instinct now.  Or maybe it wasn't gut instinct at all, given how crazy this was all getting.  The beginning of this.  It was more than just curiosity.  It had to hold the key...

She sighed, and then nodded slowly.  "After turning me into an Aegis Artifact using the ritual, he had to act fast.  My awakening released an energy pulse that could be felt hundreds of miles away, like all Aegis Artifacts.  It set off alarms everywhere, and special operations squads were already on their way towards our apartment..." she explained.  How on earth did he get out of that?!  And get reinstated as an agent somehow...?  Wait...  No, they didn't know about her being an Artifact either! 

Purdue swallowed, her empty eyes looking up towards me pointlessly for a long moment.  Or maybe she really did see something, but it wasn't likely to be something I could comprehend.  Her eyes seemed to soften, ears lowering as they closed slowly.  "I asked myself a lot over the years, why he was the only individual that my vision didn't work on.  At first I thought he was just too powerful, but things didn't add up.  I realize now why my vision didn't work on him.  It's because he broke everything, and to save me from the madness, my mind blocked him out completely..." she revealed, voice dull and without variation.  Broke...?

"Broke."  Her voice answered it, but didn't at the same time as it echoed around us instead.  I was treated to the sensation of the sound 'tearing', and a pang shot through my skull in an instant.  No, that wasn't a tearing sound.  I watched the sound tear inside of my brain, and it refused to process it.

The image was distorted now.  Fragmented, I realize.  Like the memory was literally coming apart at the seams with warped, blank 'nothing' filling the gaps.  He smiled, a distorted grin with bladed teeth warping around and out his face as perspective melted like heated butter.  Wait, no, that was the smile he’d given me as ‘Nirru’.  My own memories were bleeding in now?  "You belong to me now, Purdue.  You are now Prudentia.  Foresight, in all aspects.  Bound to a book, and thus acting as one," he declared.  It wrote itself inside of the cover of the book, like absolute law, even as the hooks into her soul twisted and tore.  She spoke, even without wanting to.

"Yes, Master.  What is your command?" she asked, voice empty and hollow, her life's essence held up overlaying the book like some twisted marionette on rusted, bloody chains.  Her actual blood drifted around them, still pooling from her discarded physical form, and drifted free of gravity in long strands as the energy exploded out.  For that instant, frozen in time, he was at the center of a great explosion of life and power, realized in the exact moment of her death.

He lost his grin, causing a chill to go down my spine.  "Take my energy, too.  All of it.  I have only one order," he continued.  What...?  His eyes closed, even though I could no longer see them, and I simply 'knew' what was happening now.  No... this wasn't...  He finally ordered, "Erase Purdue from existence entirely..."  My mind blanked, reality starting to froth into a boil around us as I heard Rainbow silently screaming, her voice dancing forward like streams of water into the air rather than producing sound.  Applejack clutched at her head, body warping partly through mine as we started to burn away.

"Yes, Master."  With those words, we were undone and torn asunder.  Purdue existed.  But then she suddenly didn't exist.  But then her power left with her, removing the very force that had removed her.  Suddenly she existed again.  But then time repeated in an instant and she was forced to erase herself in the same moment.  Again and again and again.  The thread of continuity frayed, and he wielded a paradox as if it were a weapon, striking one single, very precise blow into the thread itself using his very existence.

Reality and causality, however, wasn't such a stable thing.  It buckled under the weight of the twisting, infinite repetition in that same moment.  There were safeguards, of course.  That was the moment I realized that reality strove for balance.  It had the ability to fix itself.  It wasn't due to some magical contrived plot device from within the paradox loop, but time itself stepping back and mentioning, "Wow, that got fucked up."

Purdue smiled, guiding us through the abyss with practiced precision.  "That's why I didn't want you going back.  Watching that..." she whispered, tears sliding down her cheeks.  It was the worst moment, and last, of her life, and her soul had been used to destroy all of existence.

Purdue's mother smiled, giving a nuzzle to her father, but fragmentation stripped their identities away already.  Nothing but the 'knowing' of the roles they played was left.  Well, more accurately, the roles they no longer played.  Purdue herself was erased.  Instead, their love didn't bear a child, but a power.  At that exact moment...

He was past the checkpoints now.  It had been a long week of security clearances, and he was on to basic training.  So young.  He rested on his mattress and gave a tired sigh, closing his eyes for a moment before he remembered.  His mother's journal.  He smiled, innocent and pure as he pulled it out of his bag to write a new entry in it... and his eyes widened.  She had awoken, in the only form she could to both satisfy her destruction and existence at the same time.  She was the book.  Past security, and fully awoken as an Aegis Artifact, subtly, in that instant of her birth.  That brilliant bastard.  And he didn't even know...

Time flew by, showing him experimenting with the strange new powers of the book, seemingly coming out of nowhere and being served by an obedient soul that was forced to obey him.  Laws inside of the cover instructed her to always obey, never tell, and to be a book.  He didn't care, of course, not even knowing her real name, and used the book to its full advantage... and that's how everything snapped into place.  He'd achieved a rank similar to Tym in a tenth of the timeframe, and set up everything so he was exactly where he needed to be with exactly the resources he wanted.  How?  By fucking writing it in and reading ahead!

I hated him all over again.  He hadn't even tried to understand the nature of the sudden change to the book.  He hadn't even tried to free her.  It was a 'her' and he hated females anyway.  At least until Keela.  He could be as innocent and idealistic as possible, and it was still all his fault for being a complete idiot instead!

I gritted my teeth, even as Applejack slumped against me, and Rainbow shivered at my hooves holding her head.  They'd seen everything, too.  Everything in that timeline, and everything in the timeline right before us where we were stuck for hundreds of years.  I had all of my knowledge of that event, but still...

That was the answer, but I didn't know how to actually utilize it.  It was right in front of me, and I understood what had to be done, but I didn't know how to get to that point.  We were back in that instant, having never departed, of course.  All three of us stood on the surface of the ship, having just stopped running.  It was pointless.  We'd just get stuck again, or die trying.

"I don't have anything left.  The reserves are empty, even if you ordered me to try to change something..." Purdue whispered, closing her eyes as she slumped against my leg.  I didn't feel any weight at all now, and knew we were outside of her mind.  But the book was still open, and I could feel it.  The massive tree of probability anchored around us, impossibly huge yet all of it fit inside my perspective, even in detail.  My own mind gave up trying to figure that one out, and I refused to try.  Now I knew she didn't stop time, however.  She'd only ever stopped reading, and left our perspectives out of it.  Time wasn't stopped at all.  We were.

Frowning, I immediately asked, "What about my own energy?  I saw you took his in the flashback."  Applejack recovered fast and immediately shot me a glare, but Purdue's ears just lowered.

"Even if I wanted to risk that, he was the one that gave me his energy, not the other way around.  I...  I couldn't see him.  Even then.  Especially then.  I was never able to see him.  He used a spell effect, but I have no idea how he did it, so I couldn't even begin to tell you..." she whispered, starting to shiver lightly.  Damn it!

Giving a frustrated grunt, I slid my left forehoof across the metal of the deck.  No energy left in the tanks, can't access the backup tanks, can't slow the ship down enough, can't redirect it...  There was really only one outcome that we could possibly do.  There was no choice but to just let it happen and get trapped in the other dimension...

I felt him before I noticed him, my senses ablaze and tuned directly into the hundreds of thousands of threads running around me.  A new thread just 'appearing' as a single point out of nowhere was definitely unexpected, and caught my full attention.  A moment later, I watched a very, very small Draconequus 'slide' down the thread closest to my head, as if it were a fire pony's pole or something.

"Ooooh, is this a secret club?!  I find ponies in the strangest places sometime, but I do wish they'd inform me when we got a new extradimensional club outside of the chronological flow of space itself...  And, of course, it's, uh..." he started before suddenly blanking and staring at me for a long moment.  Seriously?  Again?

My mouth opened, but he held up his paw.  It suddenly felt like my lips were all sticky and gummed up!  I flailed, but he continued with, "No, no, don't tell me.  Uh... bandaid flank?  No, wait... that's what you used to be...  Gear Butt?  Wait, no, I guessed that last time... it had something to do with butt, right?"

I force regenerated my lips, but just glared at him.  Applejack gave him a skeptical stare, but to my surprise, Dash didn't laugh, rolling her eyes instead.  "You're not fooling anypony, Discord.  You know Mender's name.  Now why are you here?" she asked instead, looking tired as she sized him up.

He took it literally, of course, immediately growing back to his normal size.  Purdue seemed concerned for a moment before asking, "And how are you here?!  This is my own domain outside of time itself!  You shouldn't even be aware this instant exists, let alone be able to interact with it!"

Applejack raised an eyebrow to her, and then finally smiled at that.  "Long story, don't ask.  Short story, he's basically ah physical god o' chaos an' has done far stranger..." she explained.

Discord, of course, snickered merrily, lounging back on several threads of time like a giant hammock.  "Good answer!  As to why, well, do I ever need a reason?  I mean, really, Rainbow.  You know what I'm like when bored, and then you wonderful ponies go out and have a full on battle in space without me!  It's like the showing of all time, one night only, and nopony bothered to get me a ticket.  I'm truly upset!" he revealed, waving his clawed appendage over his forehead in a surprisingly dramatic tone and gesture.

"You're supposed to use a couch, not a hammock," I reminded, relaxing again and deciding I really didn't care why he was here in the first place.

He blinked once, looking momentarily surprised before grinning and snapping his fingers.  It didn't surprise me in the least, however, when the strands of light reshaped themselves into the exact replica of Rarity's couch, him still on them.  Rainbow finally smirked and laughed lightly.

"Why thank you!  I believe I get to ask 'why' now, right?  What's this gathering about?!" he asked, sounding more than a little pleased.  Mostly with himself, of course.  He used his pawed hand to rub at his goatee while waiting.

Applejack sighed, and then quickly explained, "About tha same as usual, Ah reckon.  We're stuck 'ere with no way ta get back ta Equus while still divertin' tha ship.  Ah don't imagine ya got any fancy powers that'll teleport us back ta tha surface, do ya?"  Oh!  He was indeed an Ancient.  Shouldn't he have the ability to teleport, too?

He looked momentarily amused at that, throwing his paw up to his forehead dramatically again before replying, "Oh my!  I so wish I could, but truthfully, my magic doesn't function like that.  I mean, I could certainly try to move you three such a vast distance, but there'd be no promises that you'd arrive... in one piece..."  His body shivered for a moment, then his fingers and arm fell off on the side against his forehead, and he gasped in faux shock.  Shit...  That probably wouldn't be nearly as pleasant looking if it happened to us.

"Uh... that's bad.  Is there anything you can do to help us or...?" Rainbow started to ask, shifting to looking mildly annoyed.  Predictably, she was ignored as he began blowing on the thumb of his other hand until his arm 'inflated' out of the shoulder, regenerating instantly.

After he wiggled his fingers tentatively, he shifted back to dramatic lamenting, continuing with, "Why, it could be even worse!  You might end up switching body parts!  Or somepony might end up with foal!"  Weren't those just generic 'teleportation' myths and superstitions?

Despite flushing lightly, Dash glared at him regardless, shaking her head after and turning back to Applejack, Purdue and me instead.  "...yup.  He's just here to be annoying and useless.  So, back to the drawing board?" she offered.  Discord frowned, looking a bit annoyed, but I cut him off before he could continue.

Sighing, I glanced back to Purdue before asking, "How long can you keep time paused like this?"

"About ten more minutes or so before it starts wearing me down.  After, I don't know..." she admitted, frowning again at that as her left ear flicked lightly.

Applejack recovered next, sighing and glaring back over at the laughing chimera.  "Can ya help us at all, or was Dashie right an' yer just here ta be annoyin'?" she asked, a hint of needling in her tone.

Discord looked even more peeved before gasping, suddenly standing as his 'couch' vanished as if it had never been there, the strings returned to their prior imagery.  "Me?  Annoying?!  Well, fine!  If you truly find my presence such an inconvenience, I shall depart.  How very rude, especially treating a friend," he declared, looking offended instead.  I still couldn't tell if he was serious or not, sadly.  As hammy as he acted most of the time, it was just that, an act, and him shifting to a more normal expression after threw me off completely.  He was... remarkably hard to read.

The orange mare flattened her ears down, and then sighed before hastily correcting, "Sorry!  We're sorry.  Yer right, o' course.  So we apologize.  We'll ask ya more polite-like.  Do ya think that ya could help us out, Discord?  We're in ah bit o' ah jam..."  She lowered her head in a slight bow towards him at the same time, and I almost caught a light bristling to Dash before she whipped her head around to look at Discord again.

The draconequus smirked at that, and I repressed a groan.  "That's more like it!  Hmm, and I'd maybe consider helping you, yes.  It's what such good friends do, of course...  Plus, it would be a tragedy if something were to happen to Mender.  Poor Fluttershy would be heartbroken and have nopony to turn to at all!  Except, of course, for her friends, including me, banish the thought..." he assured, suddenly shifting topics in a significantly concerning way.  I lifted an eyebrow as his eyes locked onto me instead, a hint of something in them, regardless.  I got the sensation before that he didn't like me, but if he really was as 'redeemed' as they claimed, would he really resort to letting us all be 'banished' for hundreds of years, just to get rid of me?  Wait... Fluttershy specifically?  What was he to her...?

He watched me carefully, a smirk playing at his mouth as some sort of acknowledgement undoubtedly flickered onto my expression.  He knew exactly what was going on when he arrived, as he'd already acknowledged being aware of the temporal tree that Purdue was manifesting.  But he'd benefit somehow from me going away...?

Rainbow's ears lowered, and she quickly retorted, "You're not making any sense!  If you were our 'friend', you would just help us!  This is a serious situation we're in, and you're playing games!"  

He never flinched for a second, continuing to smirk.  "Why, everypony loves games, Rainbow!  They're such an enjoyable way to pass the time... oh!  I know!  Seeing as you won't do something as simple as begging, how about we settle things with a game instead?  If you beat me, I'll help you all," he chirped, grinning as he snapped his fingers again, a game board appearing between him and Dash, looking remarkably like checkers.  Oh hell...  We didn't have time to do that!

The cyan mare glared back at him, but everything suddenly felt colder.  My eyes widened a little as I glanced down and to the left again, noting Applejack also looking at the small filly in surprise.  Her eyes had shifted from the empty gray to a brightly glowing white, focused on the draconequus like two bright spotlights.  He froze for a second, looking back over at us with confusion before...  His eyes slowly started to widen as he regarded the little filly instead.

Slowly, Purdue warned, "You regard Mender, my master, as a rival for Fluttershy's attention now.  With that, you've entered into his story.  ...I can see you now, Discord."  What...?  Oh.  Uh oh...

He hesitated, starting to frown at that.  Rainbow perked, losing her glare as she shot a questioning glance back at us instead.  Discord quickly defended with, "A... rival?  I most certainly do not!  I'm far more mature than-"

Purdue smirked instead, causing him to freeze again as she continued with, "I see you now.  Even you cast threads of choice and thought, Ancient.  You wish to selfishly hoard all of Fluttershy's time because she's the only one who acknowledged you without asking for a single thing in return.  Who forgave you without hesitation.  She lets you forgive yourself, just a little.  But in trying to be selfish, you're falling right back into your old ways, Discord.  You came here to see if there was a way to subtly make sure at least Mender was lost to the other dimension, so you could see her link with him fade away.  This isn't who you want to be, is it?"  My eyes widened, and I looked back at the Ancient as he glared towards her, taking two steps slowly back away from us.  The mare to each side of me rapidly returned his glare twofold, and I sighed.  The game was just to buy time until Purdue ran out of energy for the time stop effect, then.

Interestingly enough, a momentary guilty look flickered across his expression.  "I... was going to do no such thing!" he quickly assured, crossing his arms over his chest as he pouted, looking away from us and closing his eyes before adding, "My intent was merely to try to encourage you all to solve your problem yourself first, of course!  Celestia does that all the time, because ponies learn better when they get themselves out of their own difficulties, right?"  Wow, her powers put him on the defensive...  I didn't know him very well, but that felt sort of like a rare occurrence.

My eyes widened an instant later.  Solve it ourselves.  No, he was right!  That was...  Everything snapped into place an instant later.  I had just defaulted to assuming Purdue's powers and will was the only way out of this mess the second I learned about her full abilities.  But that... sensation.  It had told me that the start of all of this had been important.  I thought it was so I could understand Purdue's ability to manipulate time, but...

That wasn't the case at all.  It was so I could see that the captain gave her his own energy to fuel the effect.  Even if she didn't know how it worked, that meant it was possible.  Solve it ourselves, then.  That instinct was back, and now I knew what it was, finally, as all of the pieces fell into place.  It was him.  His memories affected more than just the training and skills put into my head.  It wasn't that unexpected, I decided, that I also got his instincts as well.  He had years of experience in using Prudentia, and all of that translated into a certain level of understanding about how the forces worked behind the scenes.

"Discord, you're a genius.  Thank you," I suddenly interrupted, smiling more earnestly up at the draconequus.  He blanched completely, snapping back to look at me with a surprised expression.

"I...  I am...?" he asked, confusion matching the three other females as they all looked back at me at the same time.  I simply nodded, however.

"You are.  Do it ourselves...  That's it.  It's what my own instincts had been trying to tell me when I looked back into Purdue's past.  I had to understand that it was possible to directly manipulate Prudentia..." I elaborated, turning to the small filly after, who widened her eyes even further.

Nodding down at her, I asked, "You revealed all of this to me.  That means you trust me, right, Sis?"

Her ears flicked before she perked and rapidly nodded, no hesitation at all.  Smiling, I then asked, "Every time you've revealed your full powers to me in the past, I ignored it and attempted to free you instead, right?"

The ears lowered again as she sighed and nodded.  "Yeah.  You put my well-being above your own each time.  You can't free me from the Geas, however..." she warned, obviously guessing where I was going with this.  She was wrong, however.

I shook my head, correcting, "Actually, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is more than a little crazy, right?  I have a new idea.  This time, I'm going to take you up on that offer.  You trust me, right?  You don't need to do a thing.  Just let me use the book directly instead..."

Purdue's eyes almost widened out of her skull, although Applejack and Rainbow just looked even more confused.  The little filly rapidly shook her head, warning, "Brother, you can't!  Well, you can, but...  No!  It uses a tremendous amount of energy and even if you used up your entire life force, there's no way you can stop the ship in time!"

The orange mare frowned at that, turning to look back at me, but I held my hoof up to her and just smiled.  "I don't have to stop the ship.  And I won't kill myself, don't worry.  Inverted logic a given, Discord is right.  Fluttershy wants to see me again and for me to come home.  So do a lot of ponies, so I can't just assume my life is for only me anymore..." I assured, giving her a softer smile.  The two mares with me had also proven that.  They had no reason to go along with me like they did, but each of them had aided in helping me get here regardless.  They came along because they not only wanted us to succeed, but to add their abilities to mine to help me survive, too.

The filly bit her lower lip, but Applejack just looked sternly at me for a long moment before slowly nodding.  "Ah trust ya, too.  Ah believe ya," she assured.  Rainbow looked less than pleased, but huffed and added her own nod as well.

"Fine, but if you die, I'm going to go get your soul myself and drag you back here.  Don't think I can't, because I'll practice until I can!  Then we will have words!" the cyan mare finally announced, glaring at me until I smirked at her.  Her anger shifted away into a grin herself, and I nodded to her.

"Done.  Which is good, because I need both of your help still to do this..." I revealed finally.  Purdue finally relaxed a little and nodded towards me as well, but both mares just grinned...


* * * * *


The time distortion dropped.  I barely even noticed it, us already flickering forward in a distorted blur of motion.  With her newfound ability to abuse physics, fire off her perpetual Ether Furnace uncontrollably, then just toss all that power into warping her wing jets, Rainbow had discovered that she was capable of mimicking the Icarus Effect and temporarily entering Slipstream.  Thus, she was the first living organism ever to enter, however temporary, a state of faster than light travel without any assistance whatsoever.

She had assistance this time, however.  My computer systems had already locked onto Discord, who had teleported ahead, and now held up a massive, billboard sized neon sign with an arrow pointed downwards at where the panel was that I had described to him, almost at the back of the six some kilometer long ship.  We arrived in less than the span of a heartbeat...

Dash flipped, letting us go as she spun out of control, completely unable to stop as she exited FTL going over six hundred meters a second.  While she spun backwards and fired off her wing jets to slow herself, Applejack and I descended hard directly into the plate, just as Discord hopped away.

Purdue shouted, energy flowing around her as her barriers expanded around me, and I hit the plate at over the speed of sound, in full armor.  With her barriers focusing on inertia dampening, I put all four hooves down into the metal and watched it twist and buckle, even as my vision shook from the impact.  Shielded, Applejack 'rode' down on my back, letting me absorb the entire wave of vibration from the hit, then 'pulling' it out of me as she used her armor to 'sync' with my body.

I rolled, tossing myself out of the way as she kept going, then gave a snarled scream as she spun and drove both her back hooves into the same plate.  The vibration she ate from me was transferred right through her legs, and for a moment, I watched the pulse distort off the plate as it tried to register the damage.  The ablative armor was useless as the entire system disintegrated into a fine dust in a blinding flare of orange light.

Trying to catch myself with tentacles to stop my spin, I instead felt forelegs snatch me from space, boosting us both back towards the now gratuitous impact crater.  Discord was already down in the center, of course, even as Applejack drifted away into space.  Teleportation was cheating...  He pointed frantically down towards the side of the crater instead, however.

"Oooh, oooh!  I found the vibrating bits!" he called out, sounding gleeful, probably due to completely ignoring the laws of physics and somehow transmitting sound inside a vacuum.

Rainbow nodded once, and I braced as she flung me at the area he was pointing at.  I rotated, pointing my hooves down towards the crater, and got an excellent view of her bursting after Applejack, making a speedy space rescue even before my hooves contacted the broken metal below.  Focusing, however, I looked down at the massive power couplings, and then smirked as I felt Purdue fade in next to me, Prudentia open and radiating energy out as she passed the control directly to me.  My eyes widened, but she quickly directed me at the couplings, barely saving me from a whole world of torment.  Literally.

In that instant, everything blurred through my head at once.  I saw them being manufactured in the Grosh labs.  I saw them being touched up and tweaked for a perfect fit.  Them being installed was even shown to me, details of the sealant they were using flicking past, too.  I focused, trying to get a grip on the absolute bombardment of data, my head spinning and screaming out in agony, even as I made sure to keep my forehooves connected to the parts in question.

"Focus, Azure!" suddenly rang out in my mind.  Kyliona.  My eyes snapped forward again, and I watched the departed doctor's form gesture with her left arm, parting the haze as she directed me to exactly where I was looking for.  She smiled, starting to fade, but then looked surprised as I latched onto her sensation instead, refusing to let go.

"No, I'm not losing you again!  You're staying at the forefront!" I shouted, her hazy and distorted image snapping into focus, even as she looked surprised.  My attention shifted back to the parts, however, running through the final metal restructuring in the facility.  Nodding, I pulled my right hoof up, the book drifting up in front of me, even as I kept my eyes trained on those three couplings.  They were each the size of a car, but it didn't matter.  My own engineering knowledge pointed me right to the three seal lines, and I pushed my hoof down against the book.

The effect was instant.  The writing started to change on the page, shifting to exactly what I wanted instead.  It also simultaneously felt like someone spun around and smashed a sledgehammer into my chest, unfortunately.  My magic supplies were depleted immediately, and it felt like my heart skipped a few beats even as my body jerked, and I winced.  Shit!

It was too late, though, even as the screaming ache sensation tore through my legs.  The energy was gone and used.  Minimal changes to very small details, and it still hurt like hell.  For just that moment, the cooling cycle on the machine as it rotated around to harden the sealant also skipped a beat.  One little fault introduced to the code running the machine was all it took.  No longer cooled down, the seal on the coupler would begin to warp and bend from the heat.  It would start on the microscopic level, of course, but when the engines activated and Nirru did her first FTL transfer to get into Equus, the heat would utterly tear the metal apart at the seams, leaving long splits along its surface that would cause large energy leaks.

Shivering, I looked to the second and third couplers, however.  One might not be enough.  Swallowing, I shifted back to the beginning of this 'scene' in the book and prepared to modify the other, my chest still screaming out in that cold ache.

"Brother, stop it!  Y-You can't get all three!  One should be enough to slow it down!" I heard Purdue whisper in my mind.  Tch...

Hesitating, I shook my head before asking, "Even if you can just rewind this, I can handle at least one more, so doesn't it make sense to maximize your chances of this working?"

Not giving her a chance to actually answer, my hoof touched the book once again, and I gritted my teeth.  If the first one felt like a sledgehammer, this time they'd installed a rocket engine to the back of it or something.  My air left me as the shattering pain tore into my chest.  The hoof touching the book went numb even as I felt it tugging hard at my life force instead of my magic.  Something warm was sliding down my muzzle, a sharp contrast to how cold I suddenly felt, even as I tried to push the change into place.  It was hard to focus, my vision swimming even as I felt Kyliona trying to direct me.  This wasn't enough!

The energy pushed hard against causality.  The odds of a second error happening started to go up, but my body faltered before I could push it past the fifty percent mark.  I felt my back legs go out, even in the distorted time field that Purdue had created, and winced as my knees hit the cold metal.  Head swimming, I focused as hard as I could on my forehooves instead, watching reality mix with my vision of the past back and forth, starting to time itself to the pounding in my skull.  Shit...

For a moment, I hesitated.  This had to be done.  There wasn't a choice.  With just one, it might slow it down by a half a dozen seconds or so.  But with two, they'd cause additional overheating and larger cracks, venting almost three times the energy together.  That was guaranteed to slow it down enough...

But she could just rewind if it didn't work, right?  I swallowed the hard lump in my throat.  None of this had ever been about me, had it?  The book wasn't actually about the one written in it.  No, she had been controlling everything from the very start.  She was the hero, if anypony was.

My eyes closed, stuck in time as I sagged slightly.  Why did I always push myself so hard?  I wasn't the hero.  I was just another cog in her grand design, and my success or failure was up to the roll of a die, basically.  Was I actually wanting to be a hero?  Was that the reason I didn't have any issue with sacrifice whatsoever?  Or was there something darker there...?

She had fallen behind.  It wouldn't take her long to find me again, but for now, I was frozen in time an instant ahead of her.  I looked back at the small filly, crying out towards me.  She was doing all of this for 'me', right?  I didn't even pretend to understand why, or what made her decide I was worth the immense, unimaginable effort she'd put in so far.

Kyliona smiled, sitting on the coupler next to me as she looked up into the shifting and twisting sensation and textures past our image.  Slowly, she chuckled and pointed out, "It's ironic if you examine it a step further.  She's doing all of this for you, and you're doing all of this for them.  Your species, and those ponies you love.  Of course, it's more than that, isn't it?"

Her eyes seemed to slice into me as she turned and directed them my way.  I shuddered, some of that dizziness sliding away as I stood again, then closed my eyes.  More?  My mother immediately came to mind, having not only sacrificed her life to save mine, but spent three hundred years in what could only be described as a personal hell in order to stay by my side, so I wouldn't be alone instead.  She was selfless and loved me completely, and I realized that I'd changed the second I learned about her story.  It was something to look up to, and strive towards.

The Keldarian smiled and nodded, looking amused, even with my eyes closed.  I remembered she was 'inside' of me a moment later and sighed.  Not only did closing my eyes do nothing, she had direct access to my surface thoughts regardless.  "The moral of her story, however, is to strive for selflessness while staying true to what you believe in... not that the only way to achieve that is by sacrificing yourself...  Maybe it's time you included Purdue in who you were doing this for...?" Kyliona asked, tilting her head slowly towards me.

My eyes widened a little.  Doing it for Purdue, too?  But...  I remembered my promise to Applejack and Rainbow, too, and sighed.  What could I do, then?  Looking back up to my longtime friend for possible suggestions, I was surprised to note her frowning as she stared past me to the left instead.  Looking over my shoulder, I froze the instant I spotted her.

Nirru was moving, regardless of the temporal freezing, which left rather unfortunate implications as to her current state of existence.  There was an empty, yet somehow haunted expression on her face as she walked up towards us.  To add to the overall sensation that she'd been run through an industrial power washer, her movements were jerky and she slid her back paws across the lower boundary of our reality with every step.  Her colors were faded, looking muted and dull as she got closer, slowing to a halt next to me and staring towards the ground between Kyliona and me.

A hesitant, guarded dozen seconds passed, but she didn't even flinch.  There were no attacks incoming, and she didn't have her guard up at all.  What... was she?  She smiled at that thought, but it wasn't her usual sneer.  Instead, it was weak and barely existent, her looking even more tired for a second before she stood up a bit straighter.

"I'm dead.  I'd call you a cheater, but admittedly, there aren't any 'rules' when it comes down to real combat... so truly, good move," she muttered, voice rasping lightly as she finally met my eyes with her own.  There was no color left in them whatsoever, nothing but gray emptiness within, giving an exceptionally creepy vibe.

Not knowing what else to say or do, I went with, "Thanks, I guess.  You look remarkably lively for a dead person.  Sort of..."

She chuckled at that, sagging again before sliding down to a sitting position instead, legs tucked up against her chest as she rested her forehead on her knees.  She was oddly naked, I noticed, however her body was surprisingly formless, showing she had fur covering her but leaving the more specific and finely detailed aspects overly smoothed out and undefined.

"It's your weapon," she revealed, explaining with, "You already know it attempts to eat the life energy of individuals, too.  Well, it turns out it does that automatically.  At range.  You might not have gotten my body, but you ate my soul, so to speak..."  What...?  Aww, crap.

She held a paw up before I could respond, and shook her head.  "There's nothing to say.  Dying...  It's amazing how much it clarifies things.  Suddenly, the urgency of everything just sort of bleeds away, and in an instant, I was able to reflect upon everything in my life.  Maybe that's what they mean when they say your life flashes before your eyes... Although I always thought they indicated it would happen before you died," she added, letting her arm fall limp at her side again after.

I watched her for a moment, definitely completely unsure of what to say.  The pure stupefied sensation made me entirely forget about the raw agony my body was in.  For a moment, anyway.  It didn't stop me from narrowing my eyes and taking a step to the side as she suddenly moved closer, however.  I didn't predict she could do much to me in her current state, but I wasn't about to take any chances!

My eyes widened when she instead knelt down and placed both of her paws onto the middle energy coupler.  Her energy stores flooded forth suddenly, and she shivered, watching Purdue's effect start to fire off.  "W-What are you doing...?!" I asked her, wondering if she realized she was technically sabotaging herself or not.  She was powering the effect!

She didn't hesitate, only continued to push her own power into it.  "Powering your effect to destroy my own ship's FTL drive...  And before you ask, no, I'm not helping you," she assured, earning a frown from my very confused self.  Uh, it kinda looked like she was helping me.

Shaking her head, she corrected, "I'm helping my sister.  You're still a dick, but... she likes you, and she was right.  I let my own feelings turn me into a monster, and did nothing but hurt her.  She was... the only one I ever loved, and I have to at least try to make things right again for her."  Ah.  She wasn't apologizing, then.  Of course, I probably would have just laughed if she tried, which she understood.

She just kept pushing, however.  I sighed, then warned, "That's enough of your energy, Nirru.  I know you aren't exactly at risk of dying, but if you push any more forward, you're going to mix it with mine and it might make you... more stuck in the cluster inside of me..."  That probably wouldn't be pleasant for her, or any of the souls she had gotten mixed in with, I'd imagine.

To my surprise, Kyliona had snapped out of it at that point and also stepped forward.  "I didn't know this was possible.  But she's stuck regardless, so I might as well help, too.  Along with a few others that you've made very happy today..." she suddenly informed.

My eyes got even wider as image after image distorted along behind her, making her almost look like the head of a massive snake.  Paws joined my hooves, some merging out of my legs and chest, and others coming from the side.  They rested around and on mine, and energy started to flow freely forward.

"What are you all doing?!  It's fine enough as is, but...  If you guys do this, you're just going to tie yourselves even closer with me!" I tried to warn, looking at the now hundreds of faces of Keldarians I didn't know, all around me now.  Every push they made, their energy was getting more and more tangled with mine!

Nirru looked up from the flood of energy, locking eyes with me for the first time since dying.  If anything, my longtime enemy just looked mildly amused.  "I openly admit that I was a fool turning to the Grosh for help.  You let our fallen comrades taste victory for the first time in their lives, however.  I think you've done a lot of impressing this day..." she pointed out idly.  Was that enough to let them risk possibly getting stuck even harder to me?!

Kyliona nodded at that, then added, "The energy within you, and in Equus itself, is also liberating them of all that magical congestion you're familiar with.  It's a paradise, and I doubt any of us have any qualms with following you back there."  Nirru said nothing, and I just closed my eyes and sighed.  It wasn't like I could stop them anyway.  I wasn't the one in control of the link, after all, with the energy couplers.

Opening my eyes again, I looked to the left and spotted a sheepish looking Purdue, sending a glare her way.  She just shrugged, however, then added, "Maximizing possibility of success, right?  You said so yourself..."  I gave a start, then glared even harder.  That brat!

By then, it was too late, however.  All three coupler seals had been skipped, and Purdue cut the link in an instant.  The true agony my body was in suddenly readily apparent once more, and I gasped, coughing twice as I watched a splatter of my own blood hit across the coupler I was touching.  The coupler that was now partly melted due to a faulty seal line.  My eyes widened in an instant, even as Purdue's barrier blocked the sudden gout of radiation coming out of the fracture.  Discord's paw touched down on my back a moment later, and we were gone...

Pain...  It was one of those times again.  Although for literally cheating 'fate' itself this time, I guess the bill had come due much faster for me.  Rainbow caught me, even after Discord finished his teleport.  I hadn't even seen anything about how he did it, momentarily blacking out for completely different reasons.  Applejack said something, but it was echoing too bad to hear, even as she helped stabilize me in Rainbow's forelegs.  Both of them...  Wait...

The orange mare leaned forward, nuzzling some of the blood off my muzzle, and then winking as she pushed her nose against mine, our foreheads touching.  The stubborn brat...  Her energy flowed into me, slowing the spinning in my skull as the pain vanished completely.  True.  She'd used the least energy out of the three of us there, Rainbow looking about ready to pass out as well.  That was the one flaw of her technique, I noted.  Well, apart from only lasting about two seconds, of course.

Applejack's warmth drifted all around me, slowing my energy down and refilling my very base supply, her smiling as she felt me stabilize.  "Gotcha, Mender.  Don't worry.  Ah'm ah tough gal.  It worked..." she reported, pulling back a little, then grinning as she rotated me around in her forelegs.

Rainbow was tucked into my other side, looking happy towards me before she turned to watch as well.  Discord was even here, too, drifting half a meter away and looking a mixture of pleased and awkwardly embarrassed at the events.  I tried not to chuckle, if only to preserve his dignity.  With the rotation completed, I saw that the massive ship was still visible, although quite a distance away now.  A massive gout of green flames expanded from its side, and my scanners picked up its engine output even from here.  It was still powering up the FTL, but its engines had dropped from eighty-seven to fourteen percent output in an instant, pushing its required jump time from twenty seconds all the way up to three and a half minutes.  Ha!

I grinned and nodded to them both, a look of relief washing over their expressions as they had waited, with bated breath, for my final verdict.  We had fought our first, and hopefully only, full-scale battle... and Equestria prevailed.  We won...

Luna's voice exploded through space itself, telepathic vibrations distorting from the very moon.  I winced, recognizing the Royal Canterlot Voice even before her first word formed.  "MOST FOUL ENEMY!  CONSUME UPON THIS!!!" radiated out, causing the other two to wince as well.

"Eat!" Rainbow shouted, correcting her with, "It's supposed to be 'Eat this!'"

If the Princess of the Moon heard her, she certainly didn't act like it.  Instead, she just appended, "AND ENJOY EVERY MOMENT OF IT!"  My eyes widened as I watched what my scanners picked up as a fifteen kilometer wide patch on the surface of the moon suddenly rupture upwards with dark energy, popping out into serrated and jagged spikes instead, even as it careened towards the flagship at several hundred meters per second.  My jaw dropped, the unpleasant taste of getting my own blood in my mouth completely overshadowed by watching a celestial body smash into a huge space dreadnought.  Well, technically, it was more like the dreadnought hit it, but that hardly mattered!

Luna just kept laughing.  Even Discord looked horrified as the four of us watched in shock.  It was like seeing a big slice of cake get launched out of a potato cannon into a razor wire covered brick wall.  The moon didn't even notice, of course.  Hell, the ship was a speck compared to it, and I doubt it even slowed it by a few appreciable fractions of momentum.  The metal came apart in an instant, the massive vessel flattening, then buckling in slow motion as the expanding fireball was released into space, in a remarkably well-shaped sphere.  Having a pre-shaped direction to be released in, thanks to Prudentia's powers, all of the energy inside the FTL drive was released a heartbeat later, like a shaped explosive charge.  The gout of green light expanded off into space, like a colorful fountain of energy off the moon for several seconds before it faded completely.

Everything went quiet, minus Luna's hysterical laughter, and I slowly blinked, staring at the sheer destruction as I watched the still glowing chunks of moon start to move.  Within seconds, the spikes had all but ground up the remains of the huge flagship, pulling it beneath the surface of the celestial body like a million tiny 'mouths' eating the metal and bits of the ship completely.  Okay, Luna was absolutely terrifying...

I gave a shiver, looking to my right just in time to see Ventosus Lacuna warp into existence next to me.  Ah.  "Heh, you didn't want to be down there either, huh?  I don't blame you..." I admitted, drawing everypony's attention back to me, then to the sword.

Applejack snickered, then nodded.  "Remind me not ta upset Princess Luna.  Ah guess tha sword's yours now..." she pointed out.

Nodding, I reached over and used my right forehoof to close Rainbow's jaw, earning a light blush from the mare, who then shivered.  "Can we go home now?  I need a nap..." she finally muttered, using her left forehoof to wipe some of the blood from her own muzzle.  That...  That I could heartily agree with.

Discord rolled his eyes, and then rotated back to face us, wearing a smirk again.  "But the day is young, and I'm sure all your fellow ponies are all set to throw a massive victory celebration in your honor!" he suddenly reminded, voice full of mirth.

All three of us groaned, even as I felt Twilight's magic finally find us.  Her spell pulled us all away in an instant, reality crushing in upon itself as we were yanked back towards the massive planet below...






Epilogue


Falling.  It always felt like falling.  This time, we drifted through emptiness for a long time.  Everything had collapsed away into a singularity, crackling with energy that protectively folded around us, probably shifting us into some sub-dimension while we physically transferred ourselves.  Rainbow and Applejack both rested against me, my sensation extending to them despite my eyes being closed.  We stayed stuck together and held on, until reality tossed us out sideways.

It was more violent than her usual teleports, but given the distance we had traversed, it didn't really surprise me.  Rainbow's eyes widened, and before either Applejack or I could react, her wings flicked open.  She corrected our spin with a burst of her jets, slowing our velocity even as we sailed into the camp.  We spun once, lazily through the air as I rotated, tentacles extending from all four legs and six from my back.

Tucking, we became a cushioned ball a moment later.  Both mares grabbed on tight and I just let us bounce once, then roll to a gentle stop.  Tentacles collapsing into me again as the three of us slumped to the grass, dozens of ponies converged on our location in an instant, most wearing medical gear.  Ah... hah...  It was real.  We had won...

It was the only thought I had time for before a blur of yellow and lavender crashed into me from the side...


* * * * *


Everything was happening so very quickly now.  Redheart smiled and nodded once to me, pulling back and taking the stethoscope out of her ears.  "All of you are in good condition.  Injuries are superficial at most, largely consisting of minor contusions and lacerations..." she reported, earning a warmer smile from Tia.  We were in an informal circle now on the grass, joined by the previously wayward Luna and Discord, whom everypony apart from the three of us were surprised to see.  Turns out, he had been invited to aid and had simply neglected to respond.  He of course claimed it had gotten lost in the mail...

Absently, I gave a nod while adjusting the ping controls.  My transmitters had gotten a little wonky in all of the FTL jumps we'd done, and needed recalibration.  The projection orbs drifted around me, showing everything I was doing while the large projection screen displayed my image to the entire field.  Hundreds of ponies watched nervously as I finished the adjustments, then sent the ping through to Keela.  Luna had set up the projector screen for us to let the guards watch.

She picked up instantly, of course.  "Mender!  You're okay!" she exclaimed, popping up on the screen with her expression looking tense.  She sighed a second later, visibly relaxing, and I nodded confirmation to her.

"We're all fine.  Minor injuries.  Are you okay?" I asked immediately.  The odds that the Grosh had pulled off a really bizarre and elaborate trap hadn't slipped my mind, and I was eager to hear the outcome.

The Keldarian nodded, glancing out at the crowd of ponies through my display for a brief moment before reporting, "The Grosh surrendered completely.  They jettisoned their weapons and armor, and we've already pulled the gear on board, so they're literally defenseless.  We haven't done anything to them apart from talk, however.  They want to make 'amends' and help us..."  Her voice was strained, and she sounded like she didn't believe what she was saying.

Twilight made an awkward coughing noise, and then asked, "Well, the Elements of Harmony are a form of exceptionally powerful magic which has effects we've not documented yet.  This is definitely new but, uh, is it really that unwelcome?"

I was the one who shook my head first, earning a surprised glance from both females.  "No, it's very welcome.  You can backwards engineer the technology from their vessels and blueprints available.  I'll draw up more for you later, too," I offered softly.  It had been a long day and I was almost completely out of energy.  Applejack shot me a knowing glance from across our circle, forelegs still wrapped around Dashie, who was snoozing out already in an exhausted looking collapsed position.  The lavender mare next to me lifted an eyebrow to my seemingly inside information, but didn't say anything for now.

Keela exhaled, then nodded, still looking a little confused but apparently willing to accept it for now.  There'd be a great many things that we'd have to talk about in the future, I imagined.  She hesitated, and I felt it coming now.  "I...  That means you stopped her, right?" she asked, voice softer now as her eyes lowered.  How exactly do you tell somepony this...?  She already knew the answer, and she was really only looking for confirmation, but...

I lowered my eyes instead, and she bit her lip for a moment, but Rarity sighed instead, drawing our attention over to her instead.  Once we all glanced over, she shook her head and added, "We all know that our course of action had been sealed the moment she refused to surrender.  That said, given the fact that we're still here, the outcome should be fairly obvious."  Keela winced lightly, but the pearly mare shook her head and continued, "We understand, Keela.  She was your sister.  I'm just worried for Mender, who's also my friend.  I don't believe he derived any pleasure from what he was forced to do, either."  That...

Searching my own heart, I felt back on it.  I 'remembered' killing her twice, but given how many times we'd been rewound, it was undoubtedly more than that.  Both of those times... were just empty.  The first time, I was so angry right up to the point, but when she was actually in front of me... it just went blank.  It became a job that had to be completed.  So yes, Rarity was right.  It gave me nothing, and left me with nothing.

Swallowing, I snapped out of it in time to note everypony looking at me, including Keela.  The Keldarian looked close to tears, but bit her lower lip and nodded, meeting my eyes instead.  "I...  I know.  I'm s-sorry I didn't have the guts to... do it myself and had to ask you, Mender.  It..." she whispered, a tear sliding down her left cheek.

Sighing, I slowly shook my head.  No, there was no point in hiding other things as well.  My mind flashed back to the teleport ride back to Equus' surface just a few minutes ago.  Nirru had retreated, and started to slide back into the darker recesses of my mind, sinking away into the miasma of souls within.

I had stopped her, of course.  She demanded why I was helping her, but naturally...  I wasn't helping her.  I was helping her sister.  Looking back up at them, I instead corrected, "Nirru's not gone..."  Her eyes widened, and almost everypony near me promptly gasped...


* * * * *


Things moved remarkably fast.  Not quite as fast as when the threat of alien invasion was imminent, but still fairly fast for standard pony life.  My eyes scanned over the screen, but it was still reading all nominal.  Not that I doubted Luna's abilities, but this was...

Looking up and away from the holographic screen in front of me, I saw into the night sky.  Dozens of stars danced above, and for just a moment, I felt things slow down and get peaceful again.  My long awaited 'nap' had been delayed, of course.  It was now five hours since the battle, and DReg was still on full alert...  I watched the stars for just a moment before yawning, glancing to the moon instead.

It was full, glowing bright in the sky and spreading its luminance over the landscape.  This time, however...  The dark spot was visible at about seventy magnification of my eyes.  A few more rotations of my lenses showed a picture of the portal slowly closing and sealing, ripped right across the surface of the moon.  They were suppressing it as well as sealing it, strengthening that 'weak spot' that was on the other side even as they closed the hole.  The massive dark spot was an entire mining vessel floating in geostationary orbit between the moon and Equus.  Quite a feat, despite Luna's expert control over gravity.

And there it would stay.  I smiled, watching the dim glow of the dropship as it slowly entered the atmosphere.  Well, slow was a relative term, but I digress.  They had made it.  Tia had stayed true to her word, and about four hours after the battle, had opened up a portal and, to my surprise and Keela's, pulled the entire mining vessel through.  Mostly.

Looking to my right, I saw another panel on display, showing space coordinates in the other dimension.  Quantum entanglement was a rather powerful communication method, it would seem.  It didn't even need a direct 'link' between places to function.  The one given to me, for example, was from another dimension, and linked to a rather large Grosh ship that had been left in contact with a large colony of escaped Keldarians.  Keela thankfully hadn't questioned yet how I happened to know exactly where they had escaped to, including exact space coordinates.  Sadly, Twilight wasn't as forgiving.

The lavender mare shot a curious glance at me through the translucent image, and my eyes focused past the screen onto her instead.  She pushed her face through the image and stared pointedly at me, narrowing her eyes a little and I lifted an eyebrow.  "You've been acting weird.  I know it was intense, and I know the battle was hard on you, but...  This is different.  What happened, Mender?!  We're worried.  You three are... different," she suddenly explained, eyes softening again as she straightened and withdrew her face from my hologram.

Looking over it at her instead, I sighed, then closed my eyes.  I felt where they all were at this range without needing them open anyway.  Applejack and Rainbow were unconscious and curled up against each other on our blanket half a meter behind me.  No backup for me this time.  It was interesting how I considered those two my closest backup now, my memories from the other timeline left intact.  It had already changed our relationship, and I didn't know where.

One source of backup remained, however.  I looked to my left, eyes still closed, and felt Purdue there, lingering next to her book.  Dutifully, Prudentia started to glow, and an image of the little filly appeared next to me.  I opened my eyes again and smiled to her, earning a hesitant one back.  My relationship with her had changed, too.  Although definitely for the better, I knew.  She'd been through hell to save me, and...  There were no words to express thanks for that.

"It's a long story, Twi.  And I really, really need to sleep.  How about we compromise after this is done.  This is our last thing to do tonight, right?" I inquired, shooting her a skeptical glance instead.  Debriefing from the battle, navigating Keela to the other Keldarians, laying out a plan for their survival against the Grosh and development of the ghost fleet I knew they could make, organizing Keela's retrieval alongside her whole team over to here, explaining about the fact that I apparently absorb ghosts at ranges of a few meters without intending to, and of course that her sister was still 'here' and inside of me...  I was really, really tired.  And this was after getting up early, eating a terrible breakfast, and going through a mortal battle for the fate of Equus.  Now it was one in the morning and frankly, today had sucked.

She looked at me for a long moment before smiling softly and nodding.  "Apart from welcoming Keela, who's probably just as tired as you, yeah, sleep is next..." she assured.  Several guards towards the edge of the camp breathed sighs of relief, apparently listening in.  Campfires danced in the night all around us, and the field was lit up like a small city at this point.  They had three flags up, one waving to signal the completion of the landing pad, and I nodded.

"Ugh... all right.  You let me sleep after, and I'll talk our dream away, sharing with all of you," I assured, gesturing to the mares already sleeping behind us.  Well, mares plus Spike, who was definitely not a mare, and quite lacked those parts.  My tired brain stalled out for a moment imagining a female Spike, and I sighed, sagging where I sat.  Damn it...  His head rested against Rarity, and I knew he'd be joining us in our dream shortly.  Of course, I had ulterior motives regardless...  If I told them in the dream, I'd not only have Purdue, Applejack, and Rainbow as backup, I could also use visuals.

The small filly grinned and nodded at that, assuring, "I'll help explain, too.  After all this... I...  We really won, didn't we?  This isn't just a dream, is it?"  Her eyes met mine, bright and hopeful, my own colors shining looking up at me.  Smiling softly to her, I nodded, then reached down and scooped her up, even as she clung to my chest.  I felt her shivering as I just held her there, and Twi smiled gently again, relaxing.  It didn't matter.  They'd have the truth, and it didn't matter, because everything was going to be good again.  Purdue was right.  Compared to what we'd been through already, the future was looking a hell of a lot brighter...

Fluttershy stirred against my back and I smiled backwards, feeling her eyes open sleepily.  She just returned my smile upon seeing I was still there, and then nuzzled against Purdue in my forelegs.  "Mmm, practicing?" she whispered, a quiet murmur compared to our voices before.  I blushed regardless, of course.

Purdue herself snickered, however, and then assured, "Big Brother's good at being a hero, so I'm sure he's good at being a dad, too.  I totally wouldn't mind if he was my dad, as a vote of confidence!"  She grinned, of course, but I scowled down at her.

"Hitting me with both the 'good father' and 'hero' lines at the same time isn't fair!" I shot back, then reasoned, "I can't decide which to be more annoyed over...."  Both were just downright embarrassing, and I'd really rather somepony else take the credit.  Then they can deal with the spotlight and talking to others and I could do something relaxing...  Like a nap, or mechanical physics.

Twilight giggled, then assured, "Eh, you'll get used to it.  Besides, it doesn't really matter what you call it.  If you don't like 'hero', just instead put it as somepony who wants to help and protect others..."  That was...  Huh.  I blanked at that, blinking once, then once again as that screen below my view of Twilight blinked again.

A glance told me that the Grosh were reporting in.  The Keldarians had accepted their information and surrender based on Keela's explanation, and were very interested in my extensive data.  Moving my right hoof up, I typed at the panel for a few seconds, agreeing to the three week observation and transfer of information.  DReg was officially multidimensional now, and had Keldarian and Grosh members to account for.  Time to make that other time stream at least partly true.

Letting Fluttershy slip up and snuggle into my left side, I smiled to her with a nod, then looked past Twilight as the large dropship slowly lowered itself towards the landing platform, several ponies guiding it visually down from the sides.  Lots of new things were going to be happening now, and I'd get to see them with my own eyes...  Thanks to Purdue, we all were going to see a new tomorrow.  Twilight slid into my other side as we snuggled and watched it land not twenty meters away.  I felt Pinkie stir behind me at the noise, and the others started to reluctantly drag themselves back to reality at my mental call.  We might as well greet our guests before fully committing to that nap...


* * * * *


Life moved both slow and fast, I realized.  You either lived in the moment, or you were a spectator.  Sometimes, your role changed depending on the scene, but we were all actors, moving to and fro at the beckoning of fate.  Although 'fate' was a tricky concept, especially when my little sister could screw with it at will.  Or did she prefer 'daughter' instead?  Admittedly, the line was rather blurry sometimes, not that it really mattered.

Sometimes I played the joker.  Sometimes the knight.  Sadly, sometimes I played the prince, too, all paperwork included in that position.  I preferred to play the wizard and inventor, of course, challenging myself to new problems and discovering new ideas at the same time.  Of  course, I was also a lover and friend to quite a few, with those lines getting equally as blurry.  But again, blurry lines didn't matter at all, just being a sign that relationships were organic and not to be labeled.

Today, or rather tonight at this point, I was to accept yet another title, and stood on ceremony waiting to be called upon.  Well, 'on ceremony' hardly adequately described the levels of panic, terror, enthusiasm, apprehension, and glee that tore through my heart in a blinding flurry similar to a house flattening tornado.  Did they have tornados in Equestria?  Oh Celestia, I hoped not.

There was a small crowd at this point, and I certainly hadn't predicted it would be a widely viewed occasion like this, but I suppose it was a festival.  The 'Harvest Moon Festival' to be exact.  The name felt familiar, but it didn't really matter.  Two weeks of more laid back celebration, evenly bracketing Nightmare Night on both sides, the festival was to commemorate a good yearly 'harvest', for all meanings of the word.  It made sense really, to be honest.  When your species had two very specific times that the females were fertile for, and eleven month gestation periods, it meant that there'd be a whole cluster of births all during a fairly specific time period.  Why not make a celebration out of it?  This was different, though!

Hearing a faint cry from the field hospital tent in front of me, the small crowd of ponies all let out a little cheer, causing me to almost jump out of my skin.  I definitely had never heard that voice before!  Oh hell, oh hell, oh hell...  Twilight gave a giddy little squeal next to me, stamping up and down on her forelegs while grinning at the door to the tent, waiting just as impatiently as I was, it would seem.

Dash made a huffing noise behind us, pouting as she sat there on the grass.  "Why aren't we in there with her?!  This is silly!" she declared, sounding a bit frustrated.  I agreed fully!  I'd wanted to be in there the whole time, not be kicked out all of ten minutes before the final act!

Applejack smirked and gave Dash a gentle shove in the shoulder, causing the cyan pegasus to wobble and steady herself with her forelegs for a moment, looking a bit startled.  The orange mare answered, "We're not 'cause it's Fluttershy.  Ya know she's self-conscious 'bout things, an' trust me.  Ah've grown up on ah farm an' seen it lots.  Givin' birth ain't always tha most glamorous o' events..."

My mind spiraled at that, and I flailed.  "Aaaah!  I thought you said it was reasonably safe!" I exclaimed, spinning around to glare at the mare who looked momentarily surprised, then grinned again.

Rarity giggled on her other side, then shook her head, the much larger looking Spike holding her from behind, with his arms wrapped under her forelegs.  He'd really hit a growth spurt over the winter...  "Dear, she means appearance-wise.  There's the mess involved, and the smells, and you saw how much liquid was released when her amniotic sac broke!  I'm sure she just doesn't want you to see her in such a light," she assured.  I huffed lightly, but Twilight smiled more gently to my left now and nodded as well.

"We ponies don't have much issues with foal birth, plus she's in expert hooves with highly trained professionals, including your favorite nurse in Equestria.  Redheart's not going to let anything happen to your foal especially, don't worry, Mender," she pointed out, causing my heart to skip a beat.  My....  My foal.  

Pinkie just couldn't take it anymore.  The tape over her muzzle was already ripping in spots, and her vibration despite being tied up with four tentacles from my back was starting to cause her to shift across the ground.  The tape ripped with a loud tearing motion and she squealed, immediately tacking on, "Oh gosh, oh gosh!  It's all gonna be fine anyway!  There's a new foal coming, and it's Fluttershy's and Mender's!"  It was about a hundred times louder than needed, and of course caused even more ponies to head towards our rapidly growing crowd.  All of us winced, being much too close for her 'megaphone' voice.  Glaring at her, I slipped a third tentacle up and unceremoniously shoved it into her mouth, earning a grin from the pink mare.  She wasn't dissuaded by anything...

"Pinkie!  We taped your muzzle shut so you'd stop being so loud!  It's interrupting the doctors and nurses in with Fluttershy!" Twilight hissed, glaring at her as she gave an apologetic look.

I pulled my tendril out, and she gave a whine and wiggle, then murmured in a much lower voice, "I'm just so excited...  It's Fluttershy having a foal!"  At her outburst, my mind began to whirl again, just in time for Rainbow to reach over and whack me in the shoulder instead.

"Calm down, Mender.  And relax, Pinkie, you're not helping him either..." she pointed out, causing me to exhale nervously.  I couldn't deal with this.  Why weren't they calling us in yet?!

"We found them!" was suddenly shouted in a very Scootaloo-sounding voice from my right.  Perking my ears up, I looked to the side just in time to watch the three Crusaders rushing up, alongside my two nieces.  Aura had been in town for the festival and dropped in earlier that morning to visit regardless.  Derpy had hung out with us for most of the day at this point, but both had left to go check out the midway.

Interestingly enough, looking over to them, I noted that Keela was riding on Aura's back.  No, they all had a Keldarian on them!  Litta was riding on Derpy, Mirin was on Scootaloo, who was actually flying with her, and Amre and Kyre were on Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom respectively.  Of course, they were smaller than your average pony and all three Crusaders had hit the same growth spurt that Spike had, so honestly it didn't really surprise me.  They were still 'Crusaders', too, even though they all had their marks now.

"They're way faster running!" Keela called out as she slid in on Aura, who carefully let her off.  All five of them were wearing custom fit, matching jumpsuits with a single stripe going down the side of each in the color of their hair, the rest a blueish gray color.  Rarity thought they were adorable, and I had to agree, especially the twins with their matching ones.

"We're not sure how far along she is.  She kicked us out!" Rainbow grumbled, huffing as she gave a grumpy look in Keela's direction as the rest of the Keldarians dismounted.  Scootaloo almost crashed on her face as she slowed down, landing hard and spilling the laughing Mirin against the back of her head for a moment.  Figures, she'd pick the rough but exciting 'ride'.

"Aww!  Is everything okay?" Derpy asked, giving a concerned look towards the door.  

Aura's eyes lit up almost immediately, and she rapidly assured, "Everypony's health looks fine in there.  Awww!  And there's definitely a new little aura present now!"

There were two gasps next to her, from both Scoots and Sweetie, and the white filly quickly asked, "Little Aura?!  Are you pregnant too, Miss Auramirror?"

My niece blushed almost instantly, widening her eyes, but Apple Bloom snickered and shook her head, interrupting with, "Ah don't think she's talkin' about a filly named 'Aura'.  An aura is another name for life force that's all swirly around ah pony.  Mah Sis taught me that!"  They both shot her a skeptical look but Applejack snickered and nodded.

"That's right!  Yer life force drifts up around ya, an' fer ponies trained in it, it's real easy ta see, even through walls," she confirmed.  Huh.  I think I'd heard about something akin to that.  Was it in one of Twilight's books?  Wait, no, another time.  Fluttershy was giving birth, and I was supposed to be panicking!  I flailed abruptly and immediately for good measure.

"Is the aura separate from Fluttershy now?!" I asked Auramirror almost immediately, turning fully towards her.  Twilight perked her ears up and turned with me, realizing the same thing I did, of course.  

The still blushing mare looked promptly surprised, then shifted a bit, hesitating before answering with, "Well, actually yes it-"

She was cut off by the tent flap opening up, and a smiling Redheart peeking out.  She spotted me instantly, and I froze, head snapping in her direction as I waited for... well, something to come out of her mouth.  She snickered, then assured, "Calm down, Mender.  You're the father of a very healthy looking little filly.  The herd can come in now, as we've cleaned her and her mother up..."

My mind blanked, and I was only aware of Pinkie deflating visibly in my tentacles to my right.  "Whaaaat?!  We all can't go in?!" she asked instantly, starting to vibrate again.  I frowned at that, then shook my head, drawing her startled glance.

"No, Pinkie.  Slow and steady.  You'll see her in a few minutes, I'm sure, but Fluttershy and she have just had a rather rough experience, so let Fluttershy rest for a moment, and the filly slowly adapt," I suggested.  Well, more told, as I wasn't exactly going to grant leeway there.  She relaxed a little, then smiled again and nodded to me, causing me to exhale.  I hadn't realized I'd been holding my breath.

The uninvolved crowd started to disperse a little at news that the filly was fine, but our immediate group stayed, of course.  Keela smiled and nodded to me, looking pleased before adding, "See?  You're a natural.  Now stop fidgeting and go comfort them..."  Ah!  Right. 

Rarity snickered, then nodded, assuring, "We'll all be right out here.  You two go in first, then give us a call when everything's okay."  I nodded to her, then looked to Twilight, who seemed almost as nervous as I was.

"We...  We have everything set in the room in the castle, right?  I mean...  I think we set everything up right and you're a trained engineer and..." she started rambling, shivering lightly as her wings twitched and fluttered.  I leaned in and gently nuzzled her, earning a more relaxed sigh before she nodded again, and we stood.

"That I can say for certain.  The room is very well set up, structurally sound, and quite ready for an occupant..." I assured.  If anything, I was at least certain of my engineering ability.  Moving forward, I 'felt' Twilight following after me slowly, and Red nodded, turning around and heading back into the tent.

Touching the flap, I hesitated for a moment before Derpy grinned to my right and gestured in with her head.  Sighing again, I pushed forward, bumping the flap open with my head before slipping inside.  It took a second for my eyes to adjust to the brighter interior, and I blinked twice in the lamplight before my eyes made out the 'room' within.

It was rather simplistic, but well stocked for a temporary infirmary.  Two large medical trunks with shelves folding out of the top of them were on one wall, lined with equipment and medicine.  There was a freezer box for food supplies, and two comfortable looking medical cots on the left side of the room.  The mattresses themselves were waterproof by the looks of it, and both were well cleaned.  My eyes widened as I spotted Fluttershy resting on the closest one, and I made a beeline towards her immediately.

Her eyes opened gently as she felt me approach, and a smile danced across her muzzle as I slid over next to her.  Twi was right on my tail and sat down behind her instead, gently resting her forelegs against the pegasus' back.

"Mmm, hey," Fluttershy whispered, looking a bit tired, but healthy.  She assured a moment later with, "We're both okay..."  I leaned in and bumped noses with her softly for a moment before she gave me a little kiss, then smiled warmly up at me.  We...  She'd said 'we'.  Her left wing lifted and slid back a little, and my eyes widened as it revealed a very light blue fur.  It was similar to mine, but lighter, and very fine.  More of a 'fuzz' than outright fur.  My breath caught, spotting little tufts of pink amidst it, and what could clearly be seen as a little tail starting to grow out.  Pink that was remarkably similar to Fluttershy's mane.  Her rump was towards me, seemingly oblivious as her head rested further back on Fluttershy's navel.  The up and down motions slowed a little, and I recognized almost immediately that she'd been drinking.

Twilight's eyes widened too as she spotted her at almost the same time, both of us watching, unable to even blink as the little filly slowly and carefully raised her head.  She gave a little hiccup, and Fluttershy reached her left hoof down to lightly rub at her side, massaging it carefully as her eyes opened again.  She looked a bit sleepy, and her muzzle was slightly damp still from the milk, but she turned and gave a tiny smile towards Fluttershy again.  That's when she noticed Twilight instead and froze.

I blinked once, a bit surprised when I saw her head rotate fully.  Her eyes...  To my surprise, I'd originally seen just her right eye when she first opened them, and it was an amber color, maybe a little lighter than my own.  But as she turned and looked back at Fluttershy, I realized her left was teal, with maybe a bit more blue mixed in than Fluttershy had.  Heterochromia?  That was a thing ponies could get?

She watched Twilight fully now, and I looked between the little filly and the lavender alicorn.  Fluttershy giggled lightly and leaned in, nuzzling the small foal's left cheek lightly.  "Don't worry.  This is Twilight Sparkle.  Your other mommy I told you about, remember?" she whispered softly.  The small filly relaxed a little, and I suddenly found myself wondering how intelligent foals started at.  Maybe intelligent wasn't the right word, but...

The little filly perked up after, then gave a little smile before murmuring lightly.  The tiniest of squeaks came out of her muzzle, not forming anything really intelligible, but making my heart absolutely melt all the same.  Twilight smiled, leaning down to make herself smaller as she rested her chin on Fluttershy's side.  "Hey there, little one.  I'm your other mommy, yes," she assured quietly, blushing a little after.  My heart fluttered again, and I didn't want to even make a sound to ruin the moment.

Fluttershy was less reserved and giggled lightly, drawing the attention of the little filly again.  "I wanted to run it past you two, but... given her coloring, it just sort of popped into my head.  How does 'Sugar Snowflake' sound?" she asked gently.  Oh!  A name!

Twilight grinned at that and nodded, then tried out, "Sugar Snowflake?  Snow."

Smiling at that, I nodded, then added, "Snowy."  That was an adorable nickname.  Wait...  My hooves moved up to my muzzle to stop the noise, but it was too late.  Fluttershy giggled as the little filly perked, rotating around the other direction instead.  In that instant, those two eyes, one teal and one gold, met with mine and locked on like a guided missile right into my heart.  I froze, of course, the only thing my mind processed was her slow blink, and then she tilted her head towards me.  Her little face was framed with the start of a thin pink mane, and it all smashed into me right then and there.  She was my daughter.  My little filly.

Fluttershy nuzzled her again, and then assured, "He's safe, too.  That's your daddy.  Moon Mender.  I told you about him, too."  Snowy relaxed, then gave me a tiny little smile, and I felt my chest getting warmer.  I couldn't make my voice work, so I just smiled back, probably rather goofily, and slid down a bit closer to her.  My forelegs resting against Fluttershy's back legs, I laid my head on my own right foreleg and watched the little filly watch me instead.

Time almost froze, my heart swelling in my chest, and my eyes widened just a little as she shifted, then lifted her right foreleg up.  My breath caught and my barrel tensed as she reached forward and tentatively brushed her tiny hoof against my nose.  I wiggled it for her, and she giggled, one of the most beautiful noises I'd ever heard, causing me to smile fully again.  It didn't matter anymore if I was ready or not.  She was right here in front of me, and that's all that I really needed.  I suddenly just 'knew' that I was going to guard and comfort her, and not let a single thing harm her.  I wanted her to grow and thrive and be happy, and nothing was going to get in the way of that.

Her hoof pressed a little, and she made a murmuring noise again, relaxing as she watched me.  Little wings moved on her back, and I realized she was a pegasus like her mom.  But it didn't matter, because I realized she was touching me when I understood that.  She understood it, too.  That was how Fluttershy had been 'talking' to her.

Fluttershy smiled to me at my expression shift, then nodded.  "She knows who both of you are now.  I...  I asked for just you two first because of that.  She's a very timid little filly..." she whispered, looking back to Snowy and looking her up and down.

To my surprise, the little filly shifted again, using my nose to push herself upwards.  She wobbled once, and my eyes widened as she carefully stood up on all four legs.  They shook under her, wobbling at the knees and ankles as she tried to steady herself.  Twilight smiled and slid closer, lifting her right hoof and lightly touching the filly's left flank to steady her.  I moved over, then mirrored her on the other side, both of us helping to keep Snowy balanced as she stood fully for the first time.  I'd read that much already.  Foals learned to walk rather fast, a carry over from herd migration periods almost thirty thousand years ago.  The ability to walk and run was needed for survival and taught fast.

Wobbling, Snowy carefully rotated herself, turning around so she was facing Fluttershy's head again, then carefully started to make shaky steps towards the yellow mare.  Our hooves rested lightly to both sides of her, helping her stay steady as she wobbled forward.  She managed to make it halfway up Fluttershy over the course of half a minute, then stumbled.  The yellow mare moved her forelegs up in an instant and caught the little filly, giggling again as she held her to her chest.

"She's perfect.  I love her... and I love you both," Fluttershy murmured, eyes shifting over to Twilight, then to me as well.  I grinned, then slid over and lightly kissed her on the forehead, earning a shiver.  Twilight nuzzled into the side of Fluttershy's neck as the four of us relaxed there.

The flash of light hit next, and I winced.  Redheart grinned as she set the camera down, then winked to us.  "Hey, her first picture.  It's a moment I figured you all would want to remember, after all..." she pointed out.  Heh, okay, she had us there.

Fluttershy giggled again, then looked back over at me instead.  Hmm?  "Mmm, I'm a bit tired, though.  Could you watch over her for a few minutes while I rest, Mender?  I'm sure our friends will want to see her, too, and she'll need somepony to protect her while she meets them all..." she murmured.  Eh...?  Me specifically?  But... wait...

Twilight smirked at that, then nodded, standing once more.  "She's right.  I'll have time with her, too, don't worry.  But her overprotective daddy should handle this," she teased.  Arg!  I scowled at her, earning a wink from the mare, and to my surprise, another soft giggle from my new daughter.  Looking back down at her, I saw she was watching me again.  Fluttershy smiled and nodded before fully lifting her wing up, revealing the entirety of the filly once again.

My mind blanked as she stood again.  She managed three shaky steps on her own before swaying to the side.  I caught her immediately, then widened my eyes as she relaxed into my forelegs.  Ever so carefully, I shifted her until I was cradling her to my chest.  She was so light and soft, and I did my best to carefully hold her, lightly rubbing her side as she looked up at me again.  Fluttershy's eyes softened as she watched me, warm smile playing across her muzzle.

Red grinned again, then let Twilight back out of the tent before heading over to us both.  "You two are natural parents, don't worry.  You'll have to show Twilight the ropes, I think.  Heh.  I'm actually going to go over Fluttershy once again as a final checkup, now that she's separated from the little one for a few minutes," she revealed, slipping over to where Twilight had been a moment ago.

I nodded to her, then looked back to Fluttershy before asking, "Just a precaution?"  Okay, so maybe I was a little protective...

She snickered before nodding, then revealed, "Policy, actually.  It's part of our regulations.  To be honest, Fluttershy was one of the smoothest cases we've had so far this year.  I'm impressed.  Everything went about as perfectly as possible, and she's amazingly healthy..."  I relaxed at that and smiled, nodding to her again.

Looking back down at the filly in my arms, I blinked and froze for a moment, noticing she was looking over my left foreleg instead.  Purdue sat there next to me now, glowing lightly as she looked back at Snowy, and for a moment, they both just stared at each other.  Oh.

Relaxing a little, I explained, "This is Purdue.  She's going to be your sister."  Purdue perked at that, blushing lightly as she glanced up at me instead, but I smiled and winked down at her.  "Purdue, this is Sugar Snowflake, or Snowy.  My..." I started, then hesitated for a moment.  Fluttershy's eyes opened again as Redheart felt along her side with her hooves, and the mare looked over at me curiously.

Relaxing again, I smiled, looking the small filly over again before gently finishing, "She's my daughter."  Purdue smiled, then turned to face her again as the filly relaxed, then smiled as well.  Just a little.  ...and just for a moment before the flap to the tent opened again rather abruptly...  So much for gentle relaxation.  Looking to my right, I shielded Snowy against my chest, the warm glow of my barrier going over her even as I spotted Pinkie and Sweetie leading the charge...  Heh.  Life never slowed down, did it...?


* * * * *


Three years passed, uneasy and unwelcome for their empire.  Terror had been struck into their very souls.  Less than a year prior, a new foe had emerged.  A terrible, terrible force that struck suddenly and without warning out of the darkness of space.  They seemed to fold out of the inky black between stars, striking and destroying facility after facility before disappearing without a trace.  There was no identity, and no quarter given.

Far worse, three months prior, they had lost the entirety of their energy production and research on top of the unidentified attacks.  A single beam had come out of nowhere, from the dark of space.  It was a brilliant gold in color, and somehow moved many hundred times the speed of light while still in relative space.  It was an enigma, not able to exist under their understanding of physics, but there it was regardless.  It bypassed all sensors, having struck by the time they even detected it, and released no FTL emissions to be tracked at further range.  It hit with precision, and worse yet, all Grosh on-site accounted for what could only be described as a mass hallucination.  

The explosion took the form of a brilliant and fiery equine, possibly native to species 1459's habitat.  It reared up, and for just a moment, they all claim to have perfectly understood a 'Gotcha!' as it rang out through space.  At first, they suspected telepathy, but no known translation of the word of sorts was found.  Fear was all that was left as the detonation lost shape and destroyed the entire gravity generator.

The great experimental megastructure collapsed.  They had almost completed the awe-inspiring 'net' that had completely surrounded the star itself.  Capturing an appreciable percentage of the energy released from the massive star, the superstructure would have allowed leaps and bounds of research, and almost unlimited energy for the Grosh.

With the gravity field destroyed, almost half of the net collapsed into the star itself.  Experimental generators detonated, setting off a massive chain reaction.  Half a day later, the entire star went nova.

The beam was traced back to the one and only known battle with species 1687.  The image in the mass hallucination was further attributed to their image.  No explanation was ever found, and all interaction with the species has now been blacklisted.  Research has ended in regards to finding them, and all insisting on trying to continue were silenced by the governing body.  Nothing further exists of the star system that used to house their vast energy systems.  Just cold and empty space, driving home the fear they now held for an entity they only knew as 'Celestia'...


The End